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Russian military death count in Syria reaches 112


RFE/RL
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 03:18 UTC
Colonel General Victor Bondarev
© Sergei Bobylyov/TASS
Colonel General Victor Bondarev
The Russian military has lost 112 personnel in the Syrian civil war over the past three years, according to a senior lawmaker who heads a defense committee in Russia's parliament.

Nearly half of the total were killed in two incidents: 15 personnel died when a reconnaissance plane was shot down last month and 39 died in a transport plane crash earlier this year, the lawmaker said on September 30, according to Russian news agencies.

"Currently the losses of our armed forces in Syria have amounted to 112 people, almost half of which were claimed by the An-26 [transport plane] catastrophe and the downed Il-20," Viktor Bondarev, the former commander of Russian Aerospace Forces and chairman of the Defense and Security Committee in the Federation Council, was quoted as saying.

Despite the growing death toll, Bondarev claimed it compares favorably with the thousands of Russians killed during its 1980s war in Afghanistan and with the thousands of Americans killed after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Regarding equipment, Russia has lost a total of eight planes, seven helicopters, and one or two armored vehicles, Bondarev was quoted as saying.

Comment: Russia fights a smart war - not willing to sacrifice its military under any circumstance - a prime consideration in handling conflict.

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Eagle

The stupid, rapaciously corrupt and evil US Empire is rapidly losing world respect

Robert Gore
Straight Line Logic
Mon, 24 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
US flag
What happens when most of your military infrastructure is suddenly obsolete?

The emperor was the last to realize he was naked. This is not unusual, emperors are the last to find out anything. Who has the fortitude to tell them the truth, especially an upsetting truth? And so it is with the US's empire, the existence of which most of its citizens, media organs, and officials are unaware or won't acknowledge. The truth is, the American empire, acknowledged or not, is over. It will be years before that's accepted by the governing class. They'll never officially inform their subjects, who are stuck with the tab for its immensely wasteful spending.

Empires are built on military strength. The American empire was no exception. Many Americans still think the US military enjoys the dominance it had back in 1946, a notion Vladimir Putin buried March 1. On that date he announced new weaponry which will render our naval surface fleet, ground forces, worldwide bases, and antiballistic systems obsolete (see here, here, and here). The US military leadership has grudgingly acknowledged many of Putin's claims.
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Eye 2

War crimes in LNR and DNR - The Unannounced War

GH Eliason
The Saker
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 17:59 UTC
donbass war crimes
On September 28th, Lugansk Peoples Republic (LNR)Deputy Foreign Minister Anna Soroka and Andrey Chernov gave a presentation unveiling a photo album entitled Unanounced war. This collection of 150 images details the war crimes by the Ukrainian government during the war from 2014-2018.

Over the last 4 years, many journalists including myself reported on the war crimes committed by Ukrainian punisher battalions and sometimes the Ukrainian army. These war crimes are privately funded by Ukrainian Diaspora groupsled primarily by US and Canadian citizens.

The Ukrainian punisher battalions and Ukrainian volunteer battalions take pride in the fact there is no need to hide any of Ukraine's crimes from the West's prying eyes.
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Dominoes

The case against Kavanaugh is collapsing

David French
National Review
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 17:52 UTC
kavanaugh
© Jim Bourg/Reuters
There is entirely insufficient evidence to prove even one of the terrible allegations against President Trump's Supreme Court nominee.

A very strange thing happened over the weekend: If you follow Twitter closely, you'll notice that the debate over Brett Kavanaugh moved significantly from the central question of last Thursday's hearing - did he commit sexual assault? - to a raging debate over whether he lied about high-school slang, college drinking, and inside jokes, and whether he was just too "angry" to be a Supreme Court judge.

This torrent of commentary (most of it silly, including competing, furious arguments about how people described anal sex in 1982) obscures an important development: The sexual-assault claims against Kavanaugh are in a state of collapse.
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Chess

Analyst: Iran capable of bringing financial collapse to the West by cutting off access to Strait of Hormuz


PressTV
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 17:41 UTC
Hormuz
The Islamic Republic of Iran is capable of bringing about the financial collapse of the West by blockading and cutting off the world's energy supplies, according to E. Michael Jones, an American scholar and political analyst.

"If there is one country that is capable of blockading and cutting off the world's energy supplies, it is Iran, because Iran can cut off the Strait Hormuz. If Iran does that, it will bring about the financial collapse of the West," Jones told Press TV on Monday.

The analyst also said that the United States and Britain are no longer capable of imposing an economic blockade on Russia or any other powerful country.
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Russian Flag

Putin supports plan to de-dollarize Russian economy


RT
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 16:51 UTC
dollar and ruble
© Alexandr Demyanchuk / Sputnik
Russian President Vladimir Putin supports weaning the country's financial sector off the US dollar, VTB Bank head Andrey Kostin told RIA Novosti. He added the move doesn't mean the complete phasing-out of the American currency.

The idea of de-dollarizing the Russian economy has been actively discussed in the country lately due to the tightening of US sanctions.

In July, Kostin, who is president and chairman of the management board of Russia's second largest bank VTB, submitted a suite of proposals to move away from the greenback and further promote the Russian ruble in international settlements. His plan consists of four major steps.

First, it assumes an accelerated transition to payments in other currencies when carrying out export-import transactions with foreign countries. The alternative currencies include the euro, Chinese yuan and the ruble.
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Bad Guys

Trump spars with 'loco' media over trade, Kavanaugh - comments 'I know you're not thinking, you never do'


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 16:42 UTC
Trump not thinking
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
US President Donald Trump
Eager to promote his new trade deal with Canada and Mexico, US President Donald Trump got a little salty when reporters insisted on asking about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh instead.

During the White House press conference on Monday, Trump insisted on answering questions about the trade deal before addressing the Kavanaugh confirmation controversy. When ABC's Cecilia Vega tried to bring up the judge, this exchange ensued.


"She's shocked that I picked her. It's like in a state of shock," Trump comments.

"I'm not, thank you Mr. President," says Vega, standing up.

"That's OK, I know you're not thinking, you never do," the president retorts.

"I'm sorry?" says Vega.

"No, go ahead. Go ahead," says Trump.
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Stock Down

Erdogan charges the US has lost credibility by engaging in trade war with the world


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 20:16 UTC
erdogan
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
The US has lost its credibility since Donald Trump unleashed a global trade war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, slamming Washington for sanctioning Turkey and trying to isolate Iran.

"The US has embarked on a false path of solving political problems not through negotiations, but through the language of blackmail and threats," Erdogan told the Turkish parliament on Monday.

He said that Washington has "lost its credibility engaging in a trade war with the world" after Turkey, Russia, China, Iran and other countries were recently hit by American sanctions.

Comment: Turkey is in an interesting position as a NATO member and the host of one of the largest airbases in the NATO system. It will be interesting to see if Erdogan will leverage that fact.

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Vader

US hints at naval blockade of Russian energy exports - Moscow warns would be "an act of war"

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 15:00 UTC
Ryan Zinke Interior secretary US
© State Impact Pennsylvania
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaking at an industry event on Friday, September 28, 2018.
In a interview about fracking and the implications of making the United States less dependent on foreign sources of energy, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told the Washington Examiner that the US Navy has the ability to blockade Russia from controlling energy supplies in the Middle East.

"The United States has that ability, with our Navy, to make sure the sea lanes are open, and, if necessary, to blockade... to make sure that their energy does not go to market," Zinke said on Friday at a Consumer Energy Alliance event in Pittsburg.

The comments came as Russia, Germany and other European partners move forward on the Nord Stream II pipeline - something President Trump has vehemently opposed because of the leverage it gives Russia over Europe, and something which US officials have discussed sanctions over if Russia decides to play dirty with the pipeline.

Comment: If the US is hoping to get some bargaining leverage with such a veiled threat, they are mistaken. Between China and Russia, shipping lanes in the Pacific will be very well defended. Let's hope the US doesn't do anything stupid.

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Broom

Iran and Hezbollah are ready to face any challenge, but are Israel and the US?

Elijah J. Magnier
American Herald Tribune
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 12:21 UTC
netanyahu
Israel, through its Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, is waving the flag of war in the face of Iran and Hezbollah, showing what is claimed to be a "secret nuclear facility in Iran and Hezbollah strategic missile warehouse in the heart of the capital Beirut". The "secret nuclear facility" has been debunked by Iranians living in the area- the pictures were taken in front of what turned out to be a carpet factory. In Beirut, the AMAL movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri constructed a gate long ago, closing the visible path towards a boat repair hangar at Ouzai. The real question is: What Israel is trying to do or say?

No one in Lebanon can be certain whether a war is being prepared against Hezbollah, Iran's partner which shares its ideology and objectives to "support the oppressed around the world". Israel and the US may, in fact, be preparing war against Iran and Hezbollah, in which case the possibility of war against Lebanon is not far-fetched. I say against Lebanon because Hezbollah, along with the Shia society that protects and is part of the organization, represents around 25 to 30 percent of the Lebanese population - not counting other religions and secular political parties who share Hezbollah's goal to serve as a balancing power protecting Lebanon from Israel.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Israeli-French Deception Downs Russian Spy Plane Off Syria, US Escalates 'Regime Change' Against Iran

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