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Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan helped bring about Turkey-Russia rapprochement

Catherine Putz
The Diplomat
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 18:06 UTC
nazarbayev

Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The quick thawing of icy relations between Russia and Turkey came with thanks to both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told Turkish media last week, "The ice in relations of the two countries has melt[ed], thanks to the contribution of our fraternal countries — Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan — who exerted every effort to normalize the relations between Turkey and Russia. We express our gratitude to these countries."

The sentiment was echoed by the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, from Sochi where he met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization foreign ministers meeting. Cavusoglu reportedly noted the important role both Baku and Astana played in bringing about the normalization process now underway.

Comment: Despite the rapprochement, Russia has yet to halt the sanctions on Turkish food imports, probably waiting for the signs that Turkey will actually show some results by closing its border to terrorists and weapons. As for the Istanbul bombings, here's the latest:
Moscow has repeatedly warned Turkey and the EU that suspected terrorists are hiding on their territories, but both Ankara and Brussels largely ignored the calls, the Kremlin said, adding that a recent attack at Istanbul Airport may a cost of their disregard.

"Over the past years, Russia has informed our Turkish and European colleagues that people suspected of having links to terrorism, people who are suspected of planning to join terrorist groups, find shelter both in Turkey and in a number of European countries," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"In most cases such signals from the Russian side have not been given proper attention or any reaction by our colleagues [from the EU or Turkey]."

"To our regret, this [a terror attack on Istanbul Ataturk airport] may be a consequence of such disregard," he added.

On Tuesday, Dogan news agency reported that 17 people, including 11 Russians had been charged over the Istanbul Airport attack.


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Bomb

Putin to foreign journalist - World is headed towards nuclear war


Sputnik News
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 15:07 UTC
Putin
© Russia Insider
'You people do not feel the impending danger'.
Vladimir Putin has finally taken the kid gloves off.

The Russian president was meeting with foreign journalists at the conclusion of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 17th, when he left no one in any doubt that the world is headed down a course which could lead to nuclear war.

Putin railed against the journalists for their "tall tales" in blindly repeating lies and misinformation provided to them by the United States on its anti-ballistic missile systems being constructed in Eastern Europe. He pointed out that since the Iran nuclear deal, the claim the system is to protect against Iranian missiles has been exposed as a lie.

The journalists were informed that within a few years, Russia predicted the US would be able to extend the range of the system to 1000 km. At that point, Russia's nuclear potential, and thus the nuclear balance between the US and Russia, would be placed in jeopardy.
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Post-It Note

Parliamentary inquiry into France terror attacks' intel failure


RT
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 17:09 UTC
Eifle Tower
© Philippe Wojazer / Reuters
French intelligence bosses admitted the recent terror attacks in France were a "global intelligence failure," a parliamentary inquiry has said, advising to unite the country's numerous intelligence services into a national counter-terrorism agency. The commission on terrorism was set up after the Paris terror attacks on November 13, 2015 which killed at least 130 people. On Tuesday, it unveiled its findings to the French media. The full report requested by the conservative opposition Republicans party, is expected to be released later on Tuesday.

The members of the commission endured 200 hours of hearings and conducted some 200 interviews. The lawmakers issued at least 39 recommendations on how to prevent similar attacks in the future.

French intelligence bosses admitted that the attacks that shook France in 2015 represented a "global intelligence failure," according to the inquiry. France has numerous intelligence agencies, including the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security), the DGSI (General Directorate for Internal Security) and the DPSD (Directorate for Defense Protection and Security). They all collaborate with the French national police, the National Gendarmerie and the Army.

Head of the inquiry Georges Fenech told French media that "neither the head of the Israeli, Greek or American intelligence services were able to identify their French counterpart in charge of counter-terrorism" during their trips abroad within the investigation.

Comment: Perhaps the intel failures were not completely the miscommunications of the various agencies, but instead purposely planted misleading information to confuse, disguise and obfuscate investigations with false connections. The advisement to unite agencies under one command is an end unto itself...the convenient, persuadable culmination of "investigative failure."

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Jet4

Who's whom? Russian warplanes to fly with transponders on if NATO does the same


RT
Sat, 02 Jul 2016 14:50 UTC
2 jets
© www.youtube.com
Mid-air interception.
All Russian military aircraft could begin flying their missions over the Baltic Sea with their identification transponders switched on as part of a package of trust-building measures with NATO, Russia's defense minister said. Following a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered "technical and organizational measures" to be taken to improve air traffic security in the Baltic region, which include the Russian Air Force flying missions with their transponders activated.

This would allow regional flight control services to identify Russian military aircraft, the Defense Ministry's press-service reported. However, the ministry is only prepared to implement the measure if NATO member states are willing to do the same. The issue of air traffic control and safety is likely to be discussed at the upcoming Russia-NATO Council planned for July 13 after the NATO summit in Warsaw, which is set to kick off on July 8.

When Russia's leader was visiting Finland on Friday, the host country's president, Sauli Niinisto, said Russian military aircraft should avoid turning off their identification devices in the region, which is frequented by both Russian and NATO planes. "We all know the risk with these flights and I have suggested that we should agree that transponders are used on all flights in the Baltic Sea region," Niinisto said.

In turn, Putin noted that "The number of NATO planes [with transponders off] is twice as high as that of Russian planes." "We welcome the Finnish President's proposal. Upon my arrival back in Moscow I will order the Foreign and Defense Ministries to raise this matter at the upcoming Russia-NATO Council meeting," the Russian president said.

There has been a string of air incidents involving NATO surveillance aircraft and Russian fighter jets scrambled to intercept them, when both parties were flying with their transponders turned off. In late April, the Russian Defense Ministry suggested that US surveillance planes should either keep their distance from Russia's borders while flying over the Baltic Sea, or at least keep transponders switched on for identification purposes.
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Radar

New Russian long-range radar, monitor NATO vessels in Bosphorus and Black Seas


RT
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 07:10 UTC
Russian radar
© Aleksandr Yurev / Sputnik
Russia's state of the art, long range watch tower.
The Russian military will deploy its newest long-range radars in the Baltic and Black Seas to keep a weather eye on NATO operations, according to Interfax. The radars are capable of monitoring warships and aircraft at a distance of up to 450km. "We expect the upgraded Podsolnukh over-the-horizon radar to come online in the Baltic by 2017," a military source told Interfax on Wednesday. He said a similar radar station is likely to be installed in Crimea, "able to detect any [foreign] warship passing through the Bosphorus."

Both radars would significantly reinforce Russia's capacity to monitor NATO's assets in these regions, where there has been a dramatic increase in the alliance's military exercises, surveillance operations and multiple naval deployments.

The Podsolnukh (Russian for "Sunflower") over-the-horizon radar is designed to detect, track and classify up to 300 sea and 100 aerial targets in automated mode at ranges of up to 450km (280 miles). It can also provide target acquisition for friendly warships and air defense systems beyond the radar horizon, which is the distance limit for most conventional radars. Three Podsolnukh stations are currently operational in Russia's Far East and the Caspian Sea.

RTI Systems, Podsolnukh's manufacturer, said it will deliver several radar stations to the Defense Ministry in 2017. "In 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry plans to procure several stations for the Navy that would be deployed in the Arctic as well as in Russia's southern and western frontiers," Sergey Baev, director general of RTI Systems, told Interfax.

Over-the-horizon (OTH) radars typically use ionospheric reflection, meaning that radio signals sent towards the ionosphere are reflected back towards the ground. A small amount of the signal will then reflect off the ground back towards the atmosphere, and a small proportion of it will reflect back towards the broadcaster. Sea- and shore-based non-military OTH radars are also becoming increasingly popular with coastal countries, to protect their exclusive economic zones from piracy, smuggling and illegal fishing.

Comment: We are relegated to spending billions and trillions on offense/defense systems when we could be feeding the entire world instead. It boggles the mind. Truly.

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Tornado1

OSCE resolutions on Crimea blasted by Russian senator


RT
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 14:37 UTC
OSCE meeting
© en.trend.az
Defending the interests of NATO.
The latest resolutions on Crimea, Abkhazia and South Ossetia passed by the OSCE demonstrate that the organization only defends the interests of NATO member states, the head of the Russian Upper House Committee for International Affairs has said.

"The resolution on Crimea passed at the Tbilisi session of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] Parliamentary Assembly as well as its resolutions on Abkhazia and South Ossetia would be worthy of attention only under the following condition: if they were among many resolutions that prove that this assembly cares about human rights all over the world regardless of geopolitical preferences of majority of its member nations," senator Konstantin Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday. "The Tbilisi resolutions only demonstrate selectiveness of this body and crocodile tears shed on order," he added.

Kosachev emphasized that Russia's attitude to the OSCE would change radically only if the organization passed resolutions mentioning the rights of Russian-speaking minorities in Baltic countries and in Ukraine, the rights of the Serbian minority in Kosovo, or the legal status of Northern Cyprus.

Comment: NATO members obviously believe their own narratives beyond reasonable doubt, beyond facts.

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Attention

The real EU: Powerhouse and protection mechanism for pedophile elite

Wayne Madsen
Intrepid Report
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 16:23 UTC
mccann

Madelaine Mccann went missing in May 2007 in Portugal. Her disappearance and probable murder were covered up by UK intelligence-linked firms.
It is entirely fitting that the European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi has decided to convene the annual meeting of ECB bankers in the Portuguese city of Sintra. Draghi and his fellow bankers are trying to decide how to mitigate the effects of the Brexit vote by Britain to leave the European Union. Sintra, which is outside of Lisbon, is a three hour drive from Praia da Luz, Portugal. And it is in the coastal resort town of Praia de Luz where the real story behind the British, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and other EU nationalities' rejection of the evil artifice of the EU infrastructure begins.

The European Union and its goal of a borderless Europe, the euro common currency, a common police force—EUROPOL—benefits only one major and influential group: the pedophile network that dominates the EU and individual member states like the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, and others. The Schengen system, which drops intra-European border controls, permits pedophiles, even those with prior criminal records, to travel unchallenged throughout the Schengen group of countries. Schengen also permits pedophiles to transport kidnapped minors across national boundaries. The euro permits the pedophile networks to engage in money laundering with ease. The EU enables investors to build and maintain "family friendly" resort complexes in countries like Portugal, Spain, and France. These resorts actually cater to the whims of pedophiles. The EU also supports the political and social "rights" of various practitioners of sexual deviancy, which provides legal cover for pedophiles to establish various NGOs across Europe to push their political agenda. Two such outfits are the UK's Pedophile Information Exchange (PIE) and its ally, the National Council for Civil Liberties, which advocate for the decriminalization of sex between adults and children as young as ten years of age. In other words, the EU and member states like the UK have enabled a virtual continental-wide paradise for pedophiles.

Comment: And it's not just an EU problem: Men Who Hate Women: The Franklin Scandal and the Truth About Our Leaders

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Attention

UN Chief slams Israel as Netanyahu approves more housing for West Bank settlement


Sputnik
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 16:29 UTC
West Bank Settlements
© AFP 2016/ Thomas Coex
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has hit out at Israel following the approval of a new wave of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, labeling the decision "deeply disappointing." It comes just days after international diplomats warned such actions could erode the possibility of a two-state solution.

Ban reaffirmed his opposition towards the construction of Israeli settlements in Palestinian Territories, saying that they "are illegal under international law" and called on the Israeli government to "halt and reverse such decisions in the interest of peace and a just final status agreement."

The criticism came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman approved the planning of 560 new Jewish homes to be built in the Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem.


​The settlement, established in 1975, already has a population of 37,000.

Comment: See: The Jewish colonization of Palestine: Why Palestinian violence against its illegal occupiers is absolutely justified

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Chess

Pepe Escobar: Chilcot report reveals Blair was a puppet of the US Empire who followed Bush's lead in declaring war in Iraq

Pepe Escobar
RT
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 15:52 UTC
bush blair chilcot
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
It's all here; 12 volumes, 2.6 million words (almost four-and-a-half times as long as War and Peace), seven years in the making, including analyses of 150,000 British government documents.

Chaired by Sir John Chilcot, former Whitehall insider, and officially known as "the Iraq Inquiry", this Proustian investigation allegedly explores every nook and cranny in the UK's run-up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq as well as its aftermath.

Let's cut to the chase. This is not a whitewash by the British establishment; it's actually much stronger than many analysts expected. Advance leaks had hinted blame would be apportioned to quite a few figures in the UK's politico/military/intel apparatus - and that's indeed the case.

The key questions are known to all. Did Tony Blair lie about the need to go to war? Was the war legal? Did the war - as Blair vociferously promised - make Britain "safer"? What did Blair promise George Bush? Did he lie about those non-existent weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)? Was MI6 intelligence compromised? Did the British military fail to stand up to Blair?

It will take days to get through the whole report. But based on Chilcot's own initial statement, some conclusions are absolutely stark. There was "no need" to go to war in March 2003. All decisions were made "on the basis of flawed intelligence and assessments".
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Airplane

Dutch MH17 crash investigators visit Moscow for 2-day visit


RFE/RL
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 15:41 UTC
mh17
Representatives of the Joint International Criminal Investigation Team have arrived in Moscow to discuss their probe into the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine two years ago.

Team spokesman Wim de Bruin told TASS on July 5 that the delegation of investigators, prosecutors, and police will stay in Moscow for two days to discuss the downing of the Boeing 777, which investigators have said was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile, killing all 298 people on board.

He did not disclose who he would meet with and said he would not make any statements on the Moscow visit. Interfax reported that the team would meet with representatives from Russia's defense sector.

Comment: Very curious! The two-year anniversary of the downing of MH17 is coming in just a couple weeks. Consider these two facts: 1) Western governments and media have unanimously blamed Russia and/or Russian-backed rebels for downing the jet. 2) Russia has not been officially blamed by the official investigative bodies charged with the task of investigating the incident. The most likely possibility: Russia is innocent, which puts said bodies in a bind - they know Russia didn't do it, but they can't blame the guilty (Ukrainian?) parties for 'political' reasons.

Update
During the talks, "Russia has once again confirmed its unconditional commitment to maximum efficient, swift cooperation with the Netherlands in order to clarify the circumstances of this terrible tragedy," Russia's Prosecutor General's Office said in statement.
...
The Prosecutor General's Office said that it saw "the most thorough and timely execution of the latest Dutch request for legal assistance" as its main objective of the Moscow meeting.

Russia's Investigative Committee also expressed its readiness to provide all the necessary assistance to the MH17 crash probe. However, it stressed that "the transfer of information related to the plane crash is, to date, carried out unilaterally" by Russia.

"The Dutch side isn't sharing the data it possesses with the Russian side, although the bilateral exchange of information would have sped up the investigation multifold," Vladimir Markin, an Investigative Committee representative, said in a statement.

Markin also drew attention to the fact that the Netherlands-led investigation is "ignoring calls for the Ukrainian side to provide such important information... as primary radar data, the conversations of military air traffic controllers and recordings of negotiations of the military sector."


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