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Ahead of Feb. 26th election, Iran's leader warns of Western 'plot'

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
© Reuters/Khamenei.ir
Iran's top leader warned voters on Wednesday the West was plotting to influence elections pitting centrists close to President Hassan Rouhani against conservative hardliners in a contest that could shape the Islamic Republic for years to come.

In remarks reflecting an abiding mistrust of Rouhani's rapprochement with the West, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he was confident Iranians would vote in favor of keeping Iran's anti-Western stance on Friday in the first elections since last year's nuclear accord with world powers.

Rouhani's allies, who hope the deal will hasten Iran's opening up to the world after years of sanctions, have come under increasing pressure in the election campaign from hardliners who accuse them of links to Western powers including the United States and Britain.

Snakes in Suits

SCOTUS stonewall: Republicans will refuse to have hearing on new Obama Supreme Court nominee

evil republicans
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have come to a consensus decision to not have hearings or a vote on a Supreme Court nominee in 2016.

"We believe the American people need to decide who is going to make this appointment rather than a lame-duck president," Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas) told reporters Tuesday after a special meeting of the committee.


Comment: The American people won't decide anything. The next president will nominate him/her and the Judiciary Committee will approve or disapprove.


Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said members of the panel reached a "consensus" that there should not be hearings or a vote on President Obama's nominee.

"My decision is that I don't think we should have a hearing. We should let the next president pick the Supreme Court justice," he said after emerging from a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) office.

Heart - Black

Gazan agricultural lands and homes flooded after Israel once again deliberately opens dams

israel dam gaza flooded
© Palestine TV
Large areas of Palestinians lands, and several homes, in the al-Meghraqa and Gaza Valley areas, in central Gaza, have been completely flooded after Israel opened its dams towards Gaza
The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that the army deliberately opened the dams, that were overloaded with rainwater, and flooded large areas in Gaza, drowning agricultural lands, and some homes, causing significant property damage.

Israel repeatedly opens its dams towards the besieged Gaza Strip during winter time, especially following heavy rain, inflicting serious losses and destruction in various areas of the coastal region, in addition to many injuries.

Comment: ‌Israel's creativity in inflicting misery on the Gazan Palestinians is endless.


Arrow Down

New York hospital that treated Eric Garner to pay family a measly $1 million

Eric Garner protest sign
© Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
A New York hospital center that dispatched paramedics and treated Eric Garner as he died after being placed in a chokehold by police, has agreed to pay the family $1 million, according to court records.

The settlement with Richmond University Medical Center and Eric Garner family is confidential, but court records obtained by the Associated Press disclosed the dollar amount. It is the maximum sum allowed under the hospital's insurance policy.

"The EMTs did not conduct the appropriate examination" of Garner at the scene and "failed to provide him with the necessary life-saving procedures," according to the court documents.

Garner, a 43-year-old African-American father of six, died during an arrest on July 17, 2014. Video of the arrest was widely circulated online and showed Garner yelling, "I can't breathe!" after the white police officer Daniel Pantaleo wrapped his arm around Garner's neck and wrestled him to the ground.

Emergency workers arrived after officers call 911, checked Garner's pulse and made sure he was breathing before placing him on the stretcher.Garner had repeatedly told officers he couldn't breathe as he was being subdued.

Hospital records filed with the court documents showed that Garner went into cardiac arrest on the stretcher. Medics tried to resuscitate Garner in the ambulance and doctors performed CPR at the emergency room before pronouncing him dead.

The medical examiner determined his death was caused by the chokehold and restraint by police, coupled with acute asthma, obesity and heart disease.

Comment: The below $72 million for ovarian cancer is insane relative to Garner's murder and low settlement amounts.

Court orders Johnson & Johnson to pay $72 million to family in ovarian cancer case


Play

South Front Foreign Policy Diary: Syria ceasefire - strategic implications

south front
Foreign Policy Diary - Syria Ceasefire. Strategic Implications


Bad Guys

Examining Kerry's 'Plan B' for Syria

lavrov kerry
© Sputnik
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington is considering a "plan B" in Syria, if peace negotiations and the ceasefire fail. Media reports suggest that the backup plan could include the division of Syria.

Mr. Kerry's comments came after Russia and the US agreed a document on the cessation of hostilities in the Arab republic. According to the deal, the ceasefire will start on February 27 and will last for one week.

The truce is applied to all parties of the conflict, which indicated their commitment to accept the terms of the deal, except for the terrorist groups Daesh and al-Nusra Front.

Comment: Further reading:
"On the same day the presidents of Russia and the United States approved a joint initiative on the cessation of hostilities in Syria calls were heard from US allies and Washington itself questioning the viability of this agreement," Lavrov said at a meeting with former US Senator Sam Nunn.

Earlier, Kerry announced steps that would be made toward a backup plan that could include the division of Syria if the ceasefire planned for February 27 did not work or if an actual swing to a transient government does not happen within the next few months.

"We want to frankly say that these voices appear to be seeking war and not peace," he added.

Blame Russia: John Kerry says partition of Syria could be part of 'plan B' if peace talks fail



Jet5

The Syrian ceasefire: A big win, even if the offensive stalls

Osama bin Laden 911

Erdogan: "Al-Qaeda fights ISIS too! Why are they bad?"
The Russian/Syrian agreement to the cessation of hostilities in Syria is seen critical from a military point of view. It would have been better to use the current momentum and to proceed fighting instead of giving respite to the enemy.

But the agreement has one huge advantage. It excludes the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra. Every "western" media report on the agreement and its likelihood to proceed now has to admit what has long been denied. That the unicorn U.S. supported "moderate rebels" are in deep alliance with al-Qaeda.

Even the grey lady now concedes:
many of the anti-Assad groups aligned with the United States fight alongside the Nusra Front
The readers of such piece note that the U.S. is actually supporting the terrorists it claimed to be fighting for the last 13 years. Somehow that does not compute. This will put pressure the Obama administration. It can hardly blame Russia and Syria for continuing a campaign against Al-Qaeda even during a cessation of hostility with U.S. supported "moderates". The U.S. lauds itself over killing alleged Al-Qaeda followers in drone strikes all over the world. How can it blame Russia for doing likewise in Syria?

Comment: 15 years ago, could any Americans predict that the U.S. would ally itself with al-Qaeda? Doubtful... It's completely absurd, but at least the U.S. is finally publicly exposing itself. It was always allied with al-Qaeda.


Telephone

Dozen of calls received by Russian ceasefire center in Syria

Syria destruction
© Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
The coordination center on the ceasefire set up by the Russian Defense Ministry in Syria has already received over a dozen calls, the ministry's spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.

"These are not rare cases, there are dozens of them," he said.

The center received about ten calls from those areas in Syria where Russian servicemen are carrying out active work, he said. Thus, the center's staff members are working with representatives of the opposition groups in the Hama, Homs, Latakia provinces and the cities of Damascus and Daraa.

"Application papers for the cessation of hostilities have been signed as a result of this work, like it happened in the village of Dzhavalik and other localities in the Homs province," the Russian general said.

Chess

What is the practical significance of the US-Russia 'ceasefire'?

kerry putin talks
© kremlin.ru
The US-Russian Joint Statement on Syria is attracting a lot of attention. Its text - as provided by the US Statement Department - is set out below.

The Statement is being misinterpreted as a declaration of a ceasefire.

It is nothing of the sort and the term "ceasefire" does not appear in it, though it is used in one or two places in the Annex.

A ceasefire require a complete end to all hostilities.

The Statement not only does not require this, but on the contrary it specifically authorises military action by the Russian and Syrian armed forces against armed jihadi groups operating in Syria which are classified as terrorist groups by the UN Security Council.

Comment: Further reading: Pepe Escobar interview: Making sense of the Syria 'ceasefire'


Attention

Request for top aides' email-server testimony could throw Clinton campaign a curveball

Hillary Clinton
© Melina Mara/The Washington Post
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that top aides to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton should be questioned under oath about her use of a private email server as secretary of state, raising new political and legal complications for Clinton as she tries to maintain momentum for her campaign.

The ruling granted a request from the conservative group Judicial Watch, which sought testimony from State Department officials and members of Clinton's inner circle to determine whether Clinton's email arrangement thwarted federal open-records laws.

Comment: Is this a concerted effort to keep Hillary out of the White House?