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Washington's attempts to undermine economic growth of Russia & China is bad mistake that will backfire on US - Putin


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:13 UTC
Kremlin Moscow Russia
© REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia (file photo)
Washington is making a serious mistake as it aims to deter the development of Russia and China, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an investment forum in Moscow.

"Balanced international economic relations is not their [US] main goal, but their main strategic goal is curbing the development of China and Russia," the Russian leader told the 'Russia Calling' forum, adding that such an approach is a "deep" mistake that can backfire on the US and undermine its position.

Another reason for Washington's restrictions against its trade war rival, Beijing, is that the Chinese economy has proven to be more effective than the US economy, according to the Russian president. This could be the key factor of the trade war, and not the trade deficit as the US claims.
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Star of David

Lieberman refuses to back either Netanyahu or Gantz as coalition deadline looms - third election likely


Middle East Eye
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:07 UTC
lieberman
© AFP
Yisrael Beitenu's party head Avigdor Lieberman delivers a statement to the press in Knesset
Israel is moving closer to a third legislative election after Yisrael Beiteinu party leader, Avigdor Lieberman, announced on Wednesday that he would not join a coalition government headed by Benny Gantz, the leader of Blue and White political alliance.

Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) won eight seats in September elections, ranking it fourth after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, Blue and White, and the Arab Joint List, a coalition of parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel.

These seats in the Knesset made Lieberman the kingmaker of Israeli politics, as Netanyahu and Gantz have successively been tasked with trying to form a coalition government.

Netanyahu failed to do so before the imposed deadline in October, and with Gantz's deadline set for midnight on Wednesday, the odds are high that the former army chief will also come out empty handed.

In his speech Wednesday, Lieberman said that he had held talks with Netanyahu and Gantz in recent days, but that both the incumbent and aspiring prime minister had attempted to make coalitions including "anti-Zionist" parties - referring to the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties Netanyahu has long courted, as well as Gantz's attempts to rally to his cause leaders of the Palestinian community of Israel.


A secular far-right Zionist, Lieberman is staunchly opposed to Ultra-Orthodox influence in Israeli politics, and has called Palestinian citizens of Israel a "fifth column" in the country.


Comment: The real fifth column, the real usurpers, and the real villains are the odious freaks like Lieberman. The history of Israeli politics has been a history of theft, murder, and institutionalized criminality. They should really just go back to Europe and New York. But they won't. The only hope is that one day, a one-state solution will take effect. But it will be a long road, and the chauvinist Zionists will do everything they can to stop that from happening.

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War Whore

Pentagon & war-hawks agree: US troops should stay in Syria - 'because ISIS'


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 17:07 UTC
soldiers
© REUTERS/Rodi Said 45
The withdrawal of American troops from Syria has set the stage for a return of Islamic State, claims a new Pentagon report. The report aligns the Pentagon with war-hungry lawmakers who opposed the withdrawal from the outset.

In a report released on Tuesday, the Defense Department's Inspector General warns that without a US presence in northeastern Syria, the terror group will "likely be able to rebuild and carry out more sophisticated operations."


Comment: That's a preposterous statement, it is Syria/Russia/Iran that are responsible for cleansing the country of terrorists, not the Americans.


The withdrawal from Syria - where the US has no legal right to be in the first place - is only a partial one, with some troops and assets remaining behind to deny Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and the Syrian government access to vital oil. In the eyes of the Pentagon, however, it's a bridge too far.

Citing information from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the report states that IS has "activated sleeper cells" to attack the Kurdish militias now left opposing them, and with the Kurds also fending off a Turkish incursion, has the "time and space" to plan attacks in the West.
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Star of David

Israel claims it hit 'dozens' of Iranian & Syrian military targets in 'response' to rocket fire


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:34 UTC
israel missile syria
© AP Photo / SANA / File
This frame grab from a video provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA shows missiles flying into the sky near Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018.
Israeli fighter jets have pummeled Syrian territory with missiles, targeting dozens of installations belonging to the Syrian Army and Iranian Quds Force, Israel has claimed amid reports of civilian casualties.

Following reports in Syrian state media that air defense systems shot down hostile missiles, destroying the majority of the projectiles before they could reach their targets, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the attack, saying it conducted "wide-scale strikes of Iranian Quds Force & Syrian Armed Forces targets in Syria" on Wednesday night.

Comment: Syria claims its missile defense shield downed most of the barrage, though fires broke out in several targeted areas. Sputnik reports:
Several powerful explosions were heard in Damascus as air defenses engaged several hostile targets in the city's southern region around 1:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday. Approximately 20 blasts occurred in seconds-long intervals that shortened as time passed.

Social media footage from the region shows fires that resulted from the the strikes. Unconfirmed reports say the missiles originated from the Israeli Air Force (IAF).


Additional video from Syrian state media shows the air defenses launching a missile that collides with an adversarial projectile. Syria's state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported several missiles were taken down as defense systems countered the attack on Damascus.


Early reports claim the area targeted by the strike is a missile base of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.


The southern Damascus-area missile defenses' engagement with enemy targets is the latest in a series of strikes carried out between Israel and Syria.
Western propaganda mouthpiece RFE/RL chimed in, slanting the coverage in Israel's favor:
The Israeli military says it has struck Iranian targets in Syria in what it said was retaliation for rockets fired on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights region.

Fighter jets on November 20 hit targets belonging to the elite Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), including surface-to-air missiles, weapons warehouses, and military bases, the Israeli military said.

Israel has frequently targeted Iranian interests in Syria with hundreds of strikes in a bid to prevent Tehran from establishing a permanent military presence there.

On November 19, Israel said its missile-defense system shot down four rockets fired from Syria toward the disputed Golan Heights, a week after an Israeli air strike targeted a top Palestinian militant based in Syria.

Akram al-Ajouri of the Islamic Jihad group survived the attack but family members were killed.

"Yesterday's Iranian attack towards Israel is further clear proof of the purpose of the Iranian entrenchment in Syria, which threatens Israeli security, regional stability, and the Syrian regime," the Israeli military said.

"Whoever harms us, we will harm them. That's what we did tonight," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding that Israel "will continue to aggressively protect Israel's security."
Moscow deplored Israel's actions as a 'violation of Syrian sovereignty':
Israel's attacks against Syria are a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and only serve to escalate tensions in the region, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
"Recently, the intensity of Israeli rocket and bomb attacks on Syrian territory have increased sharply...This development evokes the most serious concern and opposition in Moscow. We consider it critically important to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and other states in the region."

"In the meantime, Israel's actions only add to tensions and strength the potential for conflict around Syria, and run counter to efforts to normalise the situation, achieve stability in Syria, and see a political settlement reached in this country."
In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks in Syria, and dozens more in Lebanon, Gaza, and Iraq against what it has said was an alleged Iranian presence. The Syrian government invited Iranian advisors and Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah into the country during the foreign-backed civil conflict in the country to assist in Damascus's fight against terrorism. Tel Aviv has argued that these forces could be used in an Iranian proxy war against Israel.
With Bibi fighting for his political life, it's hardly likely he is wishing to 'achieve stability in Syria'. Expect more attacks as Israel's internal situation heats up.

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Question

Impeachment hearing raises question who is in charge of US foreign policy: Trump or 'interagency consensus'?

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:40 UTC
Alexander Vindman
© REUTERS/Loren Elliott
The US Constitution clearly says that the president creates foreign policy. Listening to the impeachment hearings, however, one might be tempted to think it's really the "interagency consensus" or National Security Council staff.

With all due respect to Vice President Mike Pence's adviser Jennifer Williams, the real "star" of Tuesday's Schiff Show was Lieutenant Colonel - and don't you forget that! - Alexander Semyon Vindman, the "top Ukraine expert" on the NSC.

Vindman emphasized his military service and immigrant background as a shield from criticism, and even admitted he wore his uniform in response to "attacks" on Twitter. His vast Ukraine expertise, he argued, qualified him to judge that US President Donald Trump asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into Ukraine's possible role in 2016 US election meddling, or former VP Joe Biden and his son's service on a corrupt Ukrainian company's board, was inappropriate.

To use his words from an earlier deposition, it was "inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency." Vindman also lamented that the president did not follow the "talking points" about corruption drawn up by the NSC staff before the Zelensky phone call.
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Network

Iran promises to restore internet access once situation in country stabilizes


Sputnik
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 15:31 UTC
Iran protests
© Reuters / Hannibal Hanschike
People attend a protest organised by National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany to support nationwide demonstrations in Iran against the rise in gasoline prices, in Berlin, Germany November 17, 2019
Iran will bring back stable Internet connection as soon as the situation in the country becomes stable, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Tuesday.

According to Netblocks civil society group, Tehran has recently managed to achieve a nearly complete shutdown of the Internet in Iran.

Comment: Make no mistake. The current wave of protests in Iran are in response to the decade of suffering inflicted by increasingly brutal sanctions by the US, and being egged on by western social media psyops. Hence Iran feels the need to 'quarantine' the internet, until cooler heads prevail. John Bolton takes the lead here, as a backer of the opposition terrorist group MEK. It's fortunate he is no longer a White House staffer.

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Dollar

The cost of war: The so-called 'war on terror' has killed over 801,000 people and cost taxpayers $6.4 Trillion

Jessica Corbett
Common Dreams
Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
US soldier
© Capt. Charlie Emmons/U.S. Army/Flickr/cc
A U.S. Army soldier fires an M4 carbine rifle during partnered live fire range training at Tactical Base Gamberi, Afghanistan on May 29, 2015.
"The numbers continue to accelerate, not only because many wars continue to be waged, but also because wars don't end when soldiers come home."

The so-called War on Terror launched by the United States government in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks has cost at least 801,000 lives and $6.4 trillion according to a pair of reports published Wednesday by the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

"The numbers continue to accelerate, not only because many wars continue to be waged, but also because wars don't end when soldiers come home," said Costs of War co-director and Brown professor Catherine Lutz, who co-authored the project's report on deaths.

"These reports provide a reminder that even if fewer soldiers are dying and the U.S. is spending a little less on the immediate costs of war today, the financial impact is still as bad as, or worse than, it was 10 years ago," Lutz added. "We will still be paying the bill for these wars on terror into the 22nd century."


Comment: The war on terror has also paved the way for a domestic police state where agencies of all stripes have effectively made the US citizenry the enemy - and have been preparing to treat them as such. A study on this development would be useful as well, and round out the picture.

See also:

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Windsock

Guardian journalists are Kremlin and Qatari agents: Russian tycoon trolls newspaper after 'KGB agent' smear job


Sputnik
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 22:46 UTC
Alexander Lebedev
© Global Look Press / ZUMA Press / Ray Tang
Alexander Lebedev
After a sensational headline in The Guardian dished the dirt on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's meeting with an "ex-KGB agent" in Italy, the Russian businessman involved has hit back, with some trolling accusations of his own.

"Boris Johnson met an ex-KGB agent during a highly controversial trip to attend a party two days after attending a high-level Nato summit that focused on Russia," The Guardian reported on Sunday. No details of the meeting are revealed in the report, but through heavy use of context - the meeting took place last year, a month after the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury - it was nonetheless portrayed as a shady one. All that is put at the background of the delay in the publication of 'Russia interference report.'


Comment: Is this another bizarre attempt at throwing anti-Russian sentiment into the General Election mess? The report apparently, yet again, found no evidence of Russian meddling in British politics and Downing street delayed it's release until after the election; likely because the facts do not support their agenda.


The "agent" in question is billionaire Alexander Lebedev, but rather than some sort of secret agent of a long-defunct Soviet spy service, he is currently a British media mogul and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Comment: As for The Guardian, recent exposés detail who's running the show there: And the Independent: Editorial freedom? UK's 'Independent' partners with Saudi Arabia to expand international media influence

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Broom

'We have our own problems': Ukrainian president says country is 'sick' of US impeachment drama


RT
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 18:38 UTC
zelensky
© Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
As impeachment mania grips the US, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed a question from CNN about whether he would open an investigation into the Biden family, saying people in Ukraine are "so tired" of the scandal.

Zelensky, who has found himself at the center of the seemingly never-ending political saga, was visibly annoyed when asked by a CNN reporter if he would launch an investigation over claims that former US Vice President Joe Biden had pressured a Ukrainian prosecutor to drop a corruption probe into the Burisma natural gas company where his son Hunter sat on the board.

"I think everybody in Ukraine is so tired about Burisma," Zelensky told the reporter, according to Politico.

Comment: See also:

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Bulb

Let's stop pretending every impeachment witness is a selfless hero

John Daniel Davidson
The Federalist
Mon, 18 Nov 2019 23:38 UTC
Lt Col Alexander Vindman
It's become clear that some witnesses in the impeachment probe have their own agenda, and not all of them are courageous martyrs for the truth.

Throughout this impeachment charade we've been told by the media and House Democrats that a cadre of unelected career bureaucrats in the State Department and the National Security Council who are cooperating with the impeachment inquiry are heroes, patriots, and paragons of virtue and self-sacrifice for defying President Trump and proclaiming the truth about Trump corruption and self-dealing in Ukraine.

Last week, the media portrayed former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch as a courageous martyr recalled from her post by Trump for no reason and then viciously attacked by him on Twitter while she was testifying before the House Intelligence Committee. Trump's attack was immediately characterized as "witness intimidation" by House Democrats and the media, who played up the notion that Yovanovitch was a victim being punished for nothing more than her commitment to the truth.
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