Puppet Masters

Zarif to E3: Stop 20 months of bowing down to US diktat

Press TV
Tue, 14 Jan 2020 01:36 UTC

Iran's foreign minister has urged the three European powers - France, Germany, and the UK - to stop bowing to the US' diktat and rather "muster the courage" to fulfill their obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

"For 20 months, the E3-following UK appeasement policy-has bowed to US diktat. That hasn't gotten it anywhere-and it never will," Zarif said in a Monday tweet.

He pointed to Europe's failure to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) following the US' withdrawal last year, and said "the E3 can save JCPOA but not by appeasing the bully and pressuring the complying party. Rather it should muster the courage to fulfill its own obligations," Zarif said.

His comments came after the leaders of Britain, France and Germany called in a joint statement on Iran to return to full compliance with their 2015 nuclear deal and reverse its countermeasures against the West's failures vis-a-vis Tehran.

Comment: Twitter had these responses:

ISIS again on the rise! But due to the US, will never be defeated

Scott Ritter
RT
Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:21 UTC

Donald Trump once bragged about the total demolition of Islamic State. Today, thanks to his and previous presidents' policies, IS is making a dangerous comeback. Now, even staunch American supporters are ringing alarm bells.

King Abdullah's concern

In a stark warning, Jordan's King Abdullah told French reporters that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) is regrouping and is on the rise in the Middle East. The reason for this resurgence is simple: the manifestation of the political division that exists in Syria and Iraq brought on by the US-led effort to push back on Iranian influence in the region. This division has led to the collapse of the US military position in northeastern Syria brought on by last year's military incursion by Turkey, and the recent cessation of US-led anti-IS operations in Iraq in the aftermath of the fallout from the US assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian military commander who orchestrated Iran's anti-IS efforts in Iraq and Syria.

This is a far cry from February 2019, when President Trump announced that the US had defeated "100 percent" of the physical territory once held by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Comment: See also:
Expert reveals US plan to transfer thousands of ISIS terrorists from Syria to Iraq

Can the US bomb Iran? Wishy-washy Defense Sec. Esper says no, then changes his mind

RT
Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:49 UTC

Defense Secretary Mark Esper told an NPR journalist that the US cannot strike Iran in retaliation for proxy attacks. However, with the interview concluded, he beckoned the journalist back and said it could.

Though President Donald Trump opted not to respond to an Iranian missile attack on bases housing US troops in Iraq last week, tensions between Washington and Tehran remain high. The fallout from the American assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad several days prior was not limited to the missile attack, and American bases in Iraq have continued to come under sporadic rocket fire in the wake of Soleimani's execution.

Esper told NPR on Monday that the US is still considering retaliatory action for these proxy attacks.

"We hold Iran responsible for its proxies, and we will retain the right to exercise self-defense and take action, where legally available and appropriate, to hold those proxies accountable for their actions."

However, Esper seemed confused over whether this potential retaliation would be limited to Iraqi soil, or could include strikes on Iran itself.

Flynn to withdraw guilty plea a week before sentencing

Tierney Sneed
TPM
Tue, 14 Jan 2020 08:46 UTC

Days before he is scheduled to be sentenced, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is seeking to withdraw his guilty plea.

"Michael T. Flynn ("Mr. Flynn") hereby moves to withdraw his plea because of the government's bad faith, vindictiveness, and breach of the plea agreement," Flynn's lawyers said in a court document filed Tuesday.

Flynn originally pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts. As part of the plea, he cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller.

In December 2018, he appeared on track for a light sentence until he filed a sentencing memo downplaying his guilt that clearly perturbed the judge in the case, prompting his original lawyers to seek a delay in sentencing.

Since then, he hired a new set of attorneys, led by a prominent Mueller critic, who took an increasingly hostile posture towards the Justice Department that has now culminated in Tuesday's request to withdraw his guilty plea.

Russian experts: US bears partial responsibility for 'human error' causing the Ukrainian plane crash

Global Research
Sun, 12 Jan 2020 00:00 UTC

A Russian military site Avia.pro has addressed the issue of "human error" relating to the crash of Ukraine's Boeing 737 [departing from Tehran] on January 8, minutes after takeoff, which resulted in the death of 179 passengers and members of the crew.

Relying on military experts, the report intimates that the incident bears a canny (point by point) resemblance to the destruction of a Russian IL-20 in Latakia, Syria in September 2018. Israeli fighters, followed by Syrian missiles, used the Russian plane as a shield, even if it meant its destruction and the death of 15 passengers.

The Russian military website refers to an independent investigation that concluded the US is "at least partial US responsibility" in the January 8 tragedy:

"According to experts, the US military had deliberately changed the information on the Ukrainian Boeing 737 flight, making it a real target for the Iranian air defense systems."

Comment: Business Insider, 14/1/2020

A video, shared by state-run media outlet the Iranian Students' News Agency, appears to show the plane on fire in the air before hitting the ground and filling the sky with flames. The video's content and connection to this crash has not yet been confirmed.

Russia: Non-commitment probe into Iran by France, Germany, UK is groundless, ups tensions re: nuclear deal

RT
Tue, 14 Jan 2020 19:57 UTC

The European trio's accusation that Iran violates the key restrictions of the nuclear deal are unjustified, the Russian Foreign Ministry said urging the countries not to increase tensions that could endanger the pact.

Paris, Berlin and London officially reported Iran's non-compliance with the 2015 agreement to the Joint Commission under the Dispute Resolution Mechanism. This step could potentially lead to the UN Security Council being forced to decide on whether or not to bring back sanctions against Tehran.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement:

"We can't rule out that the ill-considered actions of the European trio will lead to a new escalation around the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and make the return to the implementation of the 'nuclear deal' in its initially agreed format unachievable."

Federal budget deficit topped $1T in 2019

Donna Borak
CNN
Mon, 13 Jan 2020 05:56 UTC

The federal government budget deficit surpassed $1 trillion in 2019, marking the first time the country has crossed that threshold in a calendar year since 2012.

The budget deficit reached $1.02 trillion for the 12-month calendar year ending in December, according to data released by the Treasury Department on Monday. And the gap appears to be widening.

For the first quarter of fiscal year 2020, which began on October 1, the deficit grew 12% over last year.

The deficit -- the gap between how much the government spends versus how much it takes in -- increased to $357 billion in the first three months of the fiscal year as military spending and health care costs continued to eclipse federal tax receipts.

The shortfall stood at $319 billion for the same period in fiscal 2019.

Comment: See also:
2019 US federal budget deficit surges to nearly $1 trillion, highest in 7 years

Iraqi TV network: Iranian airstrikes on al-Assad airbase resulted in hundreds of US casualties and extensive damage - UPDATE: 'Letter is fake'

araq.tv
Wed, 15 Jan 2020 19:00 UTC

us soldiers assad airbase damage airstrikes

US soldiers survey the damage following the Iranian airstrikes on their base in Ain al-Assad, western Iraq last week

According to a document circulating in cyberspace, James Hogan (a Pentagon official), during his correspondence with Bennie Thompson (Chairman of the US House Committee on Homeland Security), officially announced the damage to the Ain al-Assad air base. The statistics published in his letter show that the United States, contrary to what the media has reported, suffered heavy losses. The information provided in the document is as follows:

285 casualties (139 deaths plus 146 injuries)
Extensive damage to 15 helicopters, including 1 Blackhawk, two cargo aircraft and 3 MQ-1 Predator drones
Extensive damage to the Base Command Center, 3 hangars, 3 barracks, and 10 military tents.
Relative damage to the Air Traffic Control Tower and the base's runway

According to James Hogan, based on preliminary estimates, activities at this base have experienced a major breakdown, and may have to stop entirely for at least three weeks.

Department Defense FOIA casualties Iraq base

Comment: We're trying to verify whether this letter is indeed a Pentagon response to a FOIA request by the congressman. Format-wise, it does look like previously-published DoD FOIA letters.

The claimed sender is indeed the Chief of DoD FOIA Policy, and the claimed recipient is indeed the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the US House of Representatives.

We encourage readers to contact Congressman Thompson in order to verify that this is in fact a letter he received from DoD. Here is his Twitter account, his Facebook page, and his contact details on his website.

In the meantime, reports have begun to emerge in US media that soldiers were 'thrown through windows' and 'suffered concussions' - but for now, officially, those don't count as 'injuries'...

UPDATE 23:30 CET

Congressman Thompson has responded to inquiries about this letter, saying that he neither wrote the DoD, nor received anything from them, on this topic:

Bundestag research unit reports no Russian invasion of Donbass, rejects media and government propaganda

John Helmer
Dances With Bears
Wed, 15 Jan 2020 19:45 UTC

A report by a research unit of the German Bundestag, just released in Berlin, has defied the narrative of the European Union, NATO and the US, with the conclusion that since the Ukraine civil war began in early 2014, there has been no reliable evidence of Russian troop invasion or intervention by regular Russian military forces in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

After a review of the press, official public releases and reports, as well as European court rulings, the Bundestag's experts have described the outcome with the German phrase, ohne belastbares Faktenmaterial - "without reliable fact material."

The Bundestag report, which runs to 17 pages and was completed on December 9, has been noted in the German-language media. To date, however, it has been ignored by the Anglo-American press, including the alt-media.

Comment: Which Putin has been saying all along. The dispute between Ukraine and its breakaway provinces are an internal matter. That the Kiev government is getting the worst of the war is not an indication the Russian government is actively involved. They've restricted their overt activities to easing the humanitarian crisis created in the region by the government of Ukraine, while their covert activities - whatever they are - remain undetected, a far cry from 'Russia has invaded Ukraine with 10,000 troops'...

Trump bragging tells the truth about the Empire's goals

Makia Freeman
The Freedom Articles
Tue, 14 Jan 2020 19:07 UTC

© Official Khamenei website/Handout via Reuters
A funeral procession for General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis

The Soleimani assassination was an outright, aggressive and unbridled Act of War committed by the US against Iran on January 3rd, 2020. US President Donald Trump chose to order the murder of the Iranian general, who was the head of the elite Quds Force, part of the IRGC (the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps). Sometimes Trump is a blabbermouth who is a bit too honest for the swamp-dwellers surrounding him, while other times he is a compulsive liar. We saw both sides of Trump in the Soleimani assassination incident; firstly by claiming and boasting that he had ordered the assassination, and conversely by falsely claiming that Soleimani was about to order attacks on US embassies and US forces. Meanwhile, now that a little time has passed since the event, the truth is coming out - namely that the hit on Soleimani was pre-planned months or years in advance, that Israel was involved in the planning and execution and that there was no evidence the US was about to be attacked by Soleimani or Iranian forces.

Early closure of bars and restaurants had no impact on the spread of Covid in Japan How could it .. :) In other words - what shall we deduce from...

codis

I would say 'want', not 'need'. No one NEEDS the jab.

ROEL

Telling the truth? What a fucking joke. Liz Cheney is the spawn of Satan.

tekdude

Why, even Inspector Clouseau could crack this case. His first and most important clue was THE GREAT DECEPTION (CB), from there on out it was an...

Solare

The covid smokescreen is slowly being lifted. This is bad. Really bad. I f the US go for this crap it is just a question of time for Canadians...

Demore

Puppet Masters

Zarif to E3: Stop 20 months of bowing down to US diktat

ISIS again on the rise! But due to the US, will never be defeated

Can the US bomb Iran? Wishy-washy Defense Sec. Esper says no, then changes his mind

Flynn to withdraw guilty plea a week before sentencing

Russian experts: US bears partial responsibility for 'human error' causing the Ukrainian plane crash

Russia: Non-commitment probe into Iran by France, Germany, UK is groundless, ups tensions re: nuclear deal

Federal budget deficit topped $1T in 2019

Iraqi TV network: Iranian airstrikes on al-Assad airbase resulted in hundreds of US casualties and extensive damage - UPDATE: 'Letter is fake'

Bundestag research unit reports no Russian invasion of Donbass, rejects media and government propaganda

Trump bragging tells the truth about the Empire's goals

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