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Germany considering European sanctions against Russia over actions in Syria


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
Merkel with Putin
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
A push to slap more European sanctions on Russia is being considered in Berlin due to Moscow's actions in Syria, a person familiar with the deliberations told the Wall Street Journal.

According to the source, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is looking for ways to push Moscow into changing course in Syria, where Russia is supporting the Syrian army in a siege of areas of Aleppo held by terrorists.

One measure Berlin is considering involves putting new European Union economic sanctions on Russia - a move that Merkel already persuaded the bloc to do in 2014, over Russia's alleged involvement in Ukraine.

Comment: See also:

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Chess

Putin's handling of plutonium disposal deal is signal of both Russia's displeasure with Washington and its willingness to cooperate

Jonathan Marshall
Consortium News
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 20:15 UTC
Despite America's constant demonization of Russian President Vladimir Putin, few world leaders have collaborated as effectively with Washington on matters of critical national security, including overflight rights to Afghanistan, disposal of Syria's chemical weapons stocks, and the agreement to prevent Iran from undertaking a nuclear weapons program.

Now he's done it again. In the guise of punishing the United States by suspending a nuclear disarmament agreement, Putin has generously relieved the Obama administration of a budgetary headache of Excedrin proportions.

Vladimir Putin
© Russian government
Russian President Vladimir Putin answering questions from Russian citizens at his annual Q&A event on April 14, 2016.
On Monday, Putin issued a decree suspending a bilateral agreement for the disposal of each side's weapons-grade plutonium, complaining that Washington's economic sanctions and military buildup in Eastern Europe have "radically changed" relations between the world's two major nuclear powers.

"The Obama administration has done everything in its power to destroy the atmosphere of trust which could have encouraged cooperation," the Russian foreign ministry explained. "We want Washington to understand that you cannot, with one hand, introduce sanctions against us . . . and with the other hand continue selective cooperation in areas where it suits them."

An instant analysis by Stratfor, a private risk consulting firm, warned that "other nuclear disarmament cooperation deals between the United States and Russia are at risk of being undermined. The decision is likely an attempt to convey to Washington the price of cutting off dialogue on Syria and other issues."

There's some truth to that gloomy forecast. But Putin was well aware of Washington's own eagerness to find a way out of the agreement due to the spiraling cost of compliance. He thus succeeded in sending a message without risking serious additional damage to the already frayed U.S.-Russia relationship.

Comment: Russia has since suspended two other nuclear agreements it had with the US. The first was an agreement that provided for research into the possibility of converting six Russian reactors from the use of dangerous highly enriched uranium to more secure low enriched uranium, and the second agreement was meant to facilitate co-operation in nuclear and energy-related scientific research. The Russian Foreign Ministry said, "We can no longer trust Washington in such a sensitive area as the modernization and security of Russian nuclear facilities." And who can blame them?

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has also said that these suspensions were merely a legal balancing of the scales for the sanctions imposed on Russia and that if the US really wants the suspensions lifted it need only to lift its sanctions against Russia.

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USA

Hooah, 'We will stop you...beat you': US Army chief offers stark warning to potential rivals and enemies


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 20:29 UTC
U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley
© Mark Schiefelbein / Reuters
The US Army Chief of Staff warned the enemies of the United States that "we will beat you harder than you've ever been beaten before." The list of rivals and foes is predictably Russia, Iran and China. He also admitted that the US Army's readiness to fight had been eroded recently.

The US Army Chief of Staff, Mark Milley delivered his remarks before the army's annual meeting on Tuesday in Washington, DC, and said it was the military's aim "to deter war but if deterrents fail we as an army, we as a nation must be prepared to fight."


Comment: Cheer leading for a new war?


General Milley said deterrents were expensive but more expensive was fighting a war, and then fighting and winning a war but most expensive is fighting and losing a war.

"Our readiness to fight a war against a high-end, near peer adversary has eroded in the last 15 years as we fought and continue to fight against terrorists and guerillas in Afghanistan Iraq and elsewhere," said Gen. Milley. "We were highly successful in ripping apart Saddam's military in 1991, ejecting him from Kuwait and we shattered his army in 2003. Similarly, we destroyed the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in very short order."

Comment: What he doesn't mention is if the US is confronted with multiple 'enemies' like a combined Russia and China. Would the US military even stand a chance?

At 34 mins. Talking about a Russian ambassador's comment about the foundations of world order undergoing a radical change, and Russia being able to win a war in Europe and the USA being dispensable. General blowhard says the US should take that seriously because "Most nations tend to telegraph their strategic intentions"

Apparently being smart enough to lead an arrogant nation into a trap with such "telegraphing" hasn't occurred to General Blowhard

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Bad Guys

UK defense secretary ramps up the fear: 'Alive & kicking' Al-Qaeda poses 'very direct threat' to Britain


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 20:56 UTC
jihadist terrorist Al Nusra
© Ammar Abdullah / Reuters
Member of al-Qaeda's Nusra Front
A resurgent Al-Qaeda poses a growing threat to the West as Islamic State is driven out of its strongholds, British Secretary of Defense Michael Fallon and security experts told media. They warn its branch in Syria, Al-Nusra Front, may be planning attacks.

"Al-Qaeda is still alive and kicking in Afghanistan, in Syria, in Yemen and elsewhere," Fallon said, as reported by the Times newspaper.

"It has not been finally defeated and we are very conscious of that [...] It is a very direct threat to the UK. Not just the [defense] ministry, but the security agencies are very much aware of that," he added. He claimed that is one of the reasons the UK is keeping troops in Afghanistan, as Al-Qaeda has been setting up camps in the south of the country, where British forces were based.

Al-Qaeda is a militant Sunni Islamist multi-national organization founded back in 1988 by Osama Bin Laden, the man behind the 9/11 terror attacks in the US. It spawned an offshoot terror organization in war-torn Syria, Al-Nusra Front, which has recently been renamed Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

Considered one of the strongest jihadist groups in the region, it is currently battling President Bashar Assad's army in Syria. One of the group's leaders, Abu Mohammad Julani, was named a "specially designated global terrorist" by the US State Department in 2013.

Comment: Be very afraid. If you don't fall into line with the elites' plans, they'll sic their proxy army on your country.

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Eye 1

UK Muslims view Prevent as an anti-extremism spy program


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 16:26 UTC
Muslim and cutout star
© Darren Staples / Reuters
Muslim communities in the UK regard Prevent - the government's anti-extremism strategy - as a "spying programme" which targets followers of the Islamic faith, according to the UK's terror law watchdog. The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism, David Anderson QC, said Muslim fears around the controversial programme were "exaggerated" but "very real."

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Program, Anderson called for an independent review and overhaul of the controversial strategy, which was set up to counter radicalisation. "There is a strong feeling in Muslim communities that I visit that Prevent is, if not a spying programme, at least a programme that is targeted on them," he said.

"In some cases it is even felt it is targeted not just at Islamist terrorism or extremism, but at the practice of Islam. People who pray or who wear the veil, for example, are sometimes felt to be under suspicion. Now, I'm sure those fears are exaggerated, and they are certainly not what the programme is supposed to be about, but the fact is that they are very real," he added.

Anderson called for an independent review of the Prevent program to restore trust among Muslim communities. The barrister also said there should be greater transparency about what the program is doing and better engagement with the Muslim community. "The government has to be more open about what it is doing, and it has to subject itself to some kind of independent scrutiny that can judge whether it's effective or whether it isn't," Anderson said.

Comment: As with many countermeasures, what is not fair nor transparent about Prevent likely adds to the fervor and paranoia surrounding the strategy.

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Bomb

Aleppo hotel shelled, hosting international journalists and humanitarian staff


RT
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 17:15 UTC
bombed hotel Aleppo
© en.alalam.ir
A hotel in Aleppo, Syria housing international journalists and humanitarian aid workers was shelled overnight, according to the Russian media. The fire presumably came from a rebel-controlled area. The militants shelled a hotel in the center of Aleppo, Syria, which is known to house many foreigners, including a group of journalists and the representatives of several humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, UNICEF, and Red Crescent, Russian TVC channel reported.

According to the broadcaster, employees of Russia's "Zvezda" TV channel were in the hotel at the time. Journalists from Russia's Channel 1, VGTRK, and REN TV broadcasters were also staying at the hotel, and Channel 1 also recounted the shelling.

Eighty-millimeter mortar guns were fired at the hotel, according to Channel 1. Six mortars were reportedly fired at the complex. One leveled the hotel-staff building, and another destroyed the roof of the gym. The windows of the building were shattered by the blast wave, and several trees were ripped out in the hotel yard. "A bomb fell into the yard and shrapnel flew into the window. I was sitting on a chair and just fell to the floor, I was so scared," a woman who lives in a nearby house told Channel 1.

All of the guests were evacuated just in time. They were led downstairs where they were protected by concrete walls. No one was killed and no major injuries have been reported. "These were unguided missiles, so it's hard to tell where they came from. Most probably, from the Bustan al-Qasr area. It's good there were no victims this time," a source in the Syrian military told Channel 1.

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Telephone

Doubling back? John Kerry consults with FM Lavrov on Syria less than 48 hours after suspending ties

John Hudson
FP
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 04:10 UTC
Kerry Lavrov Phone
© english.irib.ir
Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the situation in Syria with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday, less than 48 hours after the State Department announced a suspension in "bilateral channels with Russia" related to reducing the violence in Syria. The Wednesday phone call between the two diplomats, first disclosed by the Russian Foreign Ministry, raised immediate questions about whether the United States was already backtracking on its threat to cut off ties with Moscow.

In acknowledging the phone call, State Department spokesman Mark Toner defended the high-level contact. "They did talk about the situation on the ground in Syria," he said, "my argument back to you would be it would be irresponsible for Secretary Kerry not to raise what's happening in Syria and make our concerns clear about what's happening there."

Toner faced stiff push back from reporters seeking to understand the practical extent of the suspension of ties. "You tell the Russians one thing, and then you turn around and don't follow through on it," Associated Press reporter Matt Lee said.

Toner said the suspension only applied to a diplomatic channel setup to sustain a cessation of hostilities in the country. Such a suspension apparently did not preclude talks between Kerry and Lavrov on Syria who have remained in near constant contact throughout the deadly civil war. "While that particular bilateral channel has been suspended we're not going to just walk away from what's happening in Syria," Toner said.

Comment: As usual, the US is as clear as mud in actions and policy.

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Stock Up

The great debt unwind: Business bankruptcies soar 38%, commercial loans decline

Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 19:42 UTC
Bankrupt graphic
Six years of Fed & Wall Street hype come home to roost.

Something funny happened on the way to the bank: In August, commercial and industrial loans outstanding at all banks in the US fell for the first time month-to-month since October 2010, which had marked the end of the collapse of credit during the Financial Crisis.

In October 2008, the absolute peak of the prior credit bubble, there were $1.59 trillion commercial and industrial loans outstanding. As the Great Recession chewed into the economy, C&I loans plunged. Many of them were cleansed from bank balance sheets via charge-offs. But then the Fed decided what the US needed was more debt to fix the problem of too much debt, thus kicking off what would become the greatest credit bubble in US history. By July 2016, C&I loans had surged to $2.064 trillion, 30% above their prior bubble peak.
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Take 2

Killary caught using a child actor at town hall event to create some good publicity, and the MSM spread the lie - no questions asked

Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 18:54 UTC
Hillary Clinton town hall Brannan Leach
© CNN
The Clinton presidential campaign has been caught scripting reality, this time at a town hall in Haverford, Pennsylvania. During the town hall meeting, a 15-year-old girl was supposedly "chosen at random" out of the audience to ask Hillary Clinton a question.

The young lady gave a such a well-scripted performance that a suspicious individual on YouTube going by @Spanglevision chose to further investigate.

After some online investigative work, it was revealed that the "randomly selected" audience member - who was also the only person with a question written on a prepared script - was child actor Brannan Leach, who just so happens to be the daughter of democratic Pennsylvania state senator Daylin Leach; a Hillary supporter.

Here is the obviously staged "random" question from Brennan to Hillary Clinton:
Brennan:

"Hi Madam Secretary. I'm Brennan and I'm 15 years old. At my school, body image is a really big issue for girls my age. I see with my own eyes the damage Donald Trump does when he talks about women and how they look. As the first female president how would you undo some of that damage and help girls understand that they're so much more than just what they look like?"
And, this folks, is what life is like in the Matrix; where politicians script questions for little girls and feign that they are random, while knowing full well what question will asked be and having an answer already in the can.
Hillary Clinton:

"I'm so proud of you for asking that question. You are right — my opponent has just taken this concern to a new level of difficulty and meanness. And, it's shocking when women are called names and judged solely on the basis of physical attributes.

"My opponent insulted Miss Universe. I mean, how do you get more acclaimed than that? But, it wasn't good enough. So we can't take any of this seriously any more. We need to laugh at it. We need to refute it. We need to ignore it. And we need to stand up to it."
Here is the full analysis from Spanglevision.

Comment:

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Gold Bar

Citing security concerns, Dutch Central Bank to move its gold from Amsterdam to a former military air base

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 19:26 UTC
Gold stored in the central bank vaults
© DNB
Nearly two years after the Netherlands made waves in the gold market when it announced that it had secretly repatriated 122 tons of physical gold from the New York Fed, this morning there was another surprising announcement out of the Dutch central bank which said is was planning to move the country's gold reserves from the center of Amsterdam to land owned by the defense ministry near Zeist. According to a statement by the bank, the security measures necessary to guard the gold are a problem for both staff and visitors, and as a result it would transfer the assets to a safer location.

The aim is to move the gold to the new location, Camp New Amsterdam, at the beginning of 2022. The new complex, dubbed the Cash Centre, will also be used to sort and distribute bank notes and to hunt for fake cash.

According to official data, some 189 tons of gold are stored in Amsterdam but the bank has total reserves of 612 tons. In order to spread the risk, Dutch gold is also held in central banks in New York, Ottawa and London.
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