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North Macedonia becomes official NATO pawn


RFE/RL
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 18:43 UTC
NATO North Macedonia

Members of an honor guard raise the NATO flag in front of North Macedonia's parliament to mark the ratification of accession to the alliance in Skopje on February 11.
North Macedonia has officially become NATO's 30th member, the military alliance says.

North Macedonia became NATO's newest member with the presentation of its "instrument of accession" to the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C., NATO said in a statement from its headquarters in Brussels.

NATO allies signed North Macedonia's accession protocol in February 2019. Since then all NATO-member parliaments have voted to ratify the country's membership.
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Popcorn

EU drops QE nuke, investors fleeing to Russia

Tom Luongo
tomluongo.me
Thu, 26 Mar 2020 12:00 UTC
putin merkel
Russia is going to be a destination for safe-haven flows in the post-COVID-19 world. It will be due to its vast savings, prudent fiscal policy and maneuver room available in monetary policy.

The biggest reason, however, for why I think Russia looks attractive to foreign investors is simply because of its political stability. Putin deftly proposed to devolve power out of the presidency and reorganize both his cabinet and the current government before the outbreak.

And while the final vote on these changes has been delayed because of COVID-19 they will very likely pass without incident when the worst of the crisis in Russia is over.

The same cannot be said for Russia's neighbors in Europe, where the response has been both heavy-handed and inadequate to stem the tide against the virus.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

The Syrian peace process is slowly beginning to look realistic

Vladimir Platov
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:40 UTC
Syrian arab army soldiers flag
Nine years have already passed since the first anti-government protests of Syria's civil uprising, the so-called "Arab Spring", organized from overseas by those pulling the strings in the Middle East and North Africa and broken up by the police. This civil uprising phase is said to have marked the beginning of the Syrian Civil War. According to the Spanish online newspaper Público, the West played a crucial role by intervening in the initial stage of the conflict in the Siege of Daraa, which would lead to the escalation of the Syrian conflict into a full-blown civil war. The newspaper goes on to describe how the United States and their allies armed and bankrolled a tiny minority they called "moderate rebels", and gave the green light to countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to do the same.

Over the years, the civilian population in Syria have suffered terrible losses, and their country's infrastructure and economy have been left in ruins. The situation has also been made worse by terrorist activities carried out by DAESH and affiliated militants, as well as openly subversive and aggressive policy of the US, a country which is still trying to use militants and various extremist groups to shamelessly plunder Syria's national assets and energy resources to this day.

Comment: Assad has been very clear over who will get to cash in on the reconstruction of his country. It certainly won't be those who stoked the forces of its devastation The Empire is a sore loser:

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Pumpkin 2

Russkie ships invade the Channel! UK establishment never misses a chance to stoke Russophobia despite coronavirus pandemic

Neil Clark
RT
Thu, 26 Mar 2020 15:38 UTC
british ship russian ship UK coast
© Royal Navy/Handout via REUTERS
British Royal Navy's HMS Tyne shadows the Russian corvette Steregushchiy
Even during the Covid-19 crisis the Russian scare card is being played in the UK. While flights from virus hotspots continue to land unchecked, the British media is fussing about Russian ships' 'high activity' in the Channel.

As if we Brits didn't have enough to worry about. We're in lockdown over coronavirus but now we also have to fear the evil Putin taking advantage of the situation and launching a full-scale naval invasion of the country. Well, that's what you might be thinking if you've been watching today's news.

Sky News Breaking informed its audience that Royal Navy ships have been shadowing seven Russian warships following "unusually high levels of activity" in the Channel and North Sea.
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NPC

US media lackeys defend Al Qaeda in Syria on behalf of the Empire

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 26 Mar 2020 17:22 UTC
Hayat Tahrir al Sham militants HTS

Hayat Tahrir al Sham militants
When is a terrorist group not a terrorist group? Apparently when US foreign policy requires it not to be. This is precisely the case regarding Al Qaeda's Syrian branch - Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) - the most recent rebrand of Jabhat Al Nusra - which currently occupies the northern Syrian governorate of Idlib.

The US corporate media has recently attempted to generate public sympathy for HTS - as well as animosity toward Syrian, Russian, and Iranian forces seeking to liberate the supposedly one million people trapped under the terrorist organization's rule.

Another factor behind US media support for HTS is the necessity to explain why NATO member Turkey is providing direct military and material support for a US-designated terrorist organization, and why the US itself is in turn providing Turkey support to do so.
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Snakes in Suits

Female prosecutor politicians & their lust for war


New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 11:46 UTC
Samantha Power

Samantha Power
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," wrote the playwright,William Congreve in 1697. Though Congreve is long forgotten, his quote has been immortalized, surfacing over and over as gender-related issues continuously pop up in US politics. The presidency of Donald Trump, known for his crude comments and surrounded by accusations of sexual assault and misconduct, gave birth to "Women's Marches" and huge efforts to promote the role of women in politics.

Many of Trump's critics viewed his attacks and ultimate defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign as appealing to sexist tropes. A New York Times op-ed referred to Hillary Clinton as "The Bitch America Needs" and attempted to own the female-specific label often pinned on the former US Senator and First Lady.

As women become and more prominent in US politics, the public is becoming aware of the different personality types of politically-bent women. Elizabeth Warren's path to fame involved a reputation as a financial regulator who stood up to corporate power. Sarah Palin's following, now mostly eroded, centered on the image of tough "Hockey Mom" who was dedicated to her kids.

Comment: Some pathological females may be the result of a dysfunctional childhood, whereas some are simply be born like that: Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes

Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Pirates

Trump signs TAIPEI Act, threatening "consequences" for nations that fail to toe US line on Taiwan


RT
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 06:06 UTC
taipei
© Reuters / Stephen Lam
FILE PHOTO.
US President Donald Trump has signed the TAIPEI Act, a bill expressing American support for Taiwan and vowing to punish countries that side with Beijing on the issue, a move which is bound to further strain US-China relations.

Signed into law late on Thursday night, the bill requires the US State Department to help Taiwan strengthen diplomatic ties in the Indo-Pacific region, threatening to penalize nations that "undermine the security or prosperity" of the Chinese territory.

The law is supposed to "send a strong message to nations that there will be consequences for supporting Chinese actions that undermine Taiwan," according to its authors, Senators Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) and Chris Coons (D-Delaware).

Comment: See also:

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TV

US State Dept accuses China of attaching "strings" to Covid-19 aid, citing media reports as 'proof'


RT
Fri, 27 Mar 2020 04:52 UTC
supplies
© REUTERS/Cindy Liu N
Medical supplies are seen on plane seats as a flight arrives from China to Cambodia with donated supplies and doctors to help contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, March 23, 2020
The US State Department has accused Beijing of attaching '"strings" to aid given to countries battling Covid-19, but was unable to name specifics, only citing press reports, while also invoking a Chinese "coverup."

Senior State Department official James Richardson - who runs the Office of Foreign Assistance Resources - levied the charges to reporters during a briefing on Thursday night. Calling on China to provide "no-strings-attached" assistance, Richardson suggested Beijing had placed conditions on its coronavirus aid. When asked to elaborate, however, the official punted, confessing he had no specific evidence and was merely relaying what he read in the media.

"On the strings attached, I mean, I'm not the intelligence folks, so I don't know what exactly has been proven," Richardson said.

"I read the same articles that you do... And so I think - I don't have any hard proof besides the articles that I've seen, but that certainly rings true."

Comment: It looks like at least part of the coverup is going on in Washington: Coronavirus Did NOT Originate in China: Lombardy Doctors Have Been Dealing With 'Strange Pneumonia' Since at Least NOVEMBER

See also:

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Chess

Russian, Turkish military conduct joint patrols in Syria


Sputnik
Thu, 26 Mar 2020 21:09 UTC
syria russia
© AP Photo / Baderkhan Ahmad
Russian and Turkish troops have conducted joint patrolling in Syria's north, Oleg Zhuravlev, the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's centre for the Syrian Reconciliation, said.

"Another joint Russian-Turkish patrol took place along the Qamishli-Sheyrek-Javharia-Sheyrek-Qamishli route," Zhuravlev said, in addition to patrolling by the military police in the provinces of Aleppo and Hasakah.

The military official said air force had conducted surveillance as well.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Canada 'strongly opposed' to US stationing troops near shared border

Catharine Tunney, Alexander Panetta, Philip Ling
CBC
Thu, 26 Mar 2020 12:10 UTC
Chrystia Freeland
© Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Chrystia Freeland responds to a question during a news conference in Ottawa, Thursday March 26, 2020.
The federal government says it's "strongly opposed" to the idea of sending American troops to the border to intercept illegal migrants as part of the United States' response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"This is an entirely unnecessary step, which we would view as damaging to our relationship," said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland this morning, following the first public report from Global News that White House officials are thinking about stationing soldiers near the Canadian border.

"Canada is strongly opposed to this U.S. proposal and we've made that opposition very, very clear to our American counterparts.
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