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Obama approved U.S. drone strikes despite knowledge of faulty intelligence leading to civilian massacres


Sputnik
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
Obama drone
© SOTT.net
"Hey kids, I've got two words for you: Predator Drones"
Secret US government documents acquired by The Intercept showed that the Obama administration's preference for drone strikes took place despite knowledge that the intelligence they provided was faulty, leading to massacres which killed hundreds of innocent civilians.

The US military faced "critical shortfalls of capabilities" in surveillance prior to executing drone strikes in Somalia and Yemen, secret documents acquired by the Intercept found.

Poor quality of data collected by drones also contributed to hundreds of innocent civilian casualties in the Yemen and Somalia operations. The Intercept's documents also showed that drones often spent more time in transit rather than collecting surveillance.

Comment: The Obama administration has been rather adept at murdering innocent civilians, but quite tellingly, has not been quite as skilled at destroying terrorists.

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Attention

Leaked: Anonymous whistleblower releases Obama's drone program papers


RT
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:44 UTC
Drone
© Patrick T. Fallon / Reuters
A cache of classified documents has revealed the inner workings of US drone operations in Somalia and Yemen, including the mechanism of targeting suspects slated for assassination.

The documents were provided to The Intercept by a source within the US intelligence community who wished to remain anonymous because of the government's aggressive prosecution of whistleblowers. The documents, slides, visuals and analysis have been posted by The Intercept on Thursday as "The Drone Papers."

He says the American public has the right to know about the process by which people are placed on kill lists and assassinated on orders from US government officials.

Comment: The US drone program is quite clearly an assassination tool. No judge, jury, or court. No public transparency. Somehow this drone program must stop.

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Eye 1

Department of Justice creates new position to target those with "anti-government views"

Joe Wright
Activist Post
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 00:00 UTC
Image
© Anthony Freda
"Americans motivated by anti-government views and racist ideologies" will be the focus of a new Department of Justice position, John Carlin told a George Washington University crowd today.

The Associated Press reports:
The Justice Department is creating a new position to coordinate investigations into violent homegrown extremism, a department official said Wednesday.

Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, head of the department's national security division, said that while the international terror threat occupies the public attention, federal officials remain just as concerned about the prospect of violence from Americans motivated by anti-government views and racist ideologies.

"We need to make sure we have the mechanisms in place so that we can continue to remain just as focused on the domestic terrorism threat while addressing the international terrorism threat," Carlin said in a question-and-answer session after a George Washington University speech.

Comment: There's more than abundant information available that points to the above assertion:

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Mr. Potato

SOTT Exclusive: Mush for brains - US admits 'rebel-training' program didn't work, finds new 'moderate rebels' to train

Aeneas Georg
Sott.net
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 12:18 UTC
Image
© Latuff
Spot the difference
Ever since Russia called the Empire of Chaos' bluff and shone a light on the web of lies with which the West has for so long held a stranglehold over much of the world, spin-doctors in Western capitals and have been working overtime to prevent the catastrophic collapse of the 'West is the best' narrative. Obama claimed in a recent interview that he had never had much confidence in the Pentagon program to train 'moderate rebels'. So despite training and arming these head-choppers, it has taken the US government four years to discover that they 'never really had much faith in that program'.

This doesn't mean, of course, that the Empire is about to change its course of action in Syria. US Defense [sic] Secretary Ash Carter has declared support for a new group of 'moderate rebels'. Yes, it boggles the (human) mind how this textbook example of 'failing to learn from mistakes' can be coming from the most powerful circles on the planet, but then, as Putin pointed out, some of these guys have mush for brains.

Just as a ball can be given so much backward spin that it can return and hit you hard in the face, so too with spinning lies. Turkish prime minister Davutoglu, waxing philosophical on the subtleties between Islam as defended by Turkey and the variant espoused by ISIS/ISIL, this week assured local reporters that "there is not a 180 degree difference, but a 360 degree difference."
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Question

Putin: How can US criticize Russian counterterrorism effort in Syria while refusing dialogue?


RT
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 11:38 UTC
Russian President Vladimir Putin
© Alexey Nikolsky / RIA Novosti
Washington's decision to obstruct Russia's call for diplomatic engagement on Syria is unconstructive and apparently shows a lack of will to negotiate, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"I don't really understand how our American partners can criticize Russia's counterterrorism effort in Syria while refusing direct dialogue on the all-important issue of political settlement," Putin explained.

Putin was commenting on the refusal by the Obama administration to receive a Russian delegation headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the differences the two nations have on the Syrian crisis. The US said it would not talk unless Russia followed Washington's lead and stopped helping the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad.

"I believe this position to be unconstructive. The weakness of this position is apparently based on a lack of agenda. It seems they have nothing to discuss," Putin said at a meeting with the Kazakhstan president in Astana.

Comment: Putin continually exposes the fallacy of US exceptionalism. More and more people are beginning to see this fallacy and agree with Russia's effort in Syria.

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Blackbox

Turkey accuses Russia AND the U.S. of backing Kurds: Is the Empire turning on Erdogan?


Moon of Alabama
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 16:38 UTC
kurds

Anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters.
It's official! The New York Times finally admits that the "CIA rebels" in Syria who received tons of TOW anti-tank missiles are working under the field command of al-Qaeda/Jabhat al Nusra:
Rebel commanders scoffed when asked about reports of the delivery of 500 TOWs from Saudi Arabia, saying it was an insignificant number compared with what is available. Saudi Arabia in 2013 ordered more than 13,000 of them. Given that American weapons contracts require disclosure of the "end user," insurgents said they were being delivered with Washington's approval.
But, be assured, because these "CIA rebels" feel bad about it, they are still "moderate" or somewhat "relatively moderate".
Advancing alongside the Islamist groups, and sometimes aiding them, have been several of the relatively secular groups, like the Free Syrian Army, which have gained new prominence and status because of their access to the TOWs.
...
It is a tactical alliance that Free Syrian Army commanders describe as an uncomfortable marriage of necessity, because they cannot operate without the consent of the larger and stronger Nusra Front. But Mr. Assad and his allies cite the arrangement as proof that there is little difference between insurgent groups, calling them all terrorists that are legitimate targets.
That these "relatively secular" al-Qaeda auxiliaries are threatening suicide attacks against Russians only confirms their secularism. Judging from the reader comments to that NYT piece the U.S. people are pretty aghast about this now openly admitted cooperation. They, and a realist op-ed in the NYT, call for cooperation with Russia and the Syrian government.

Comment: Whatever is going on with Turkey, Erdogan should remember that being an ally of the U.S. is no guarantee of anything. Love quickly turns to hate in American geopolitics. While the Turks are unlikely to give up on their anti-Kurdish stand anytime soon, they really would be better off sloughing off the skin of the American Empire and siding with Russia. Like Saudi Arabia, they can't have it both ways. Either give up on your own 'interests' when they conflict with America's, or suffer the fate of daring to go against the U.S.'s orders.

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Mr. Potato

Totally delusional and Mush for Brains: Yatsenyuk threatens to sue Russia for...one trillion dollars!


Sputnik
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 11:59 UTC
Yatsenyuk
© RIA Novosti / Aleksandr Maksimenko
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned Thursday that Ukraine would take Russia to court if Moscow did not agree to Kiev's terms for debt restructuring. He also warned that Kiev was preparing for a "legal war," and would demand over $1 trillion dollars from Russia for the loss of Crimea and Donbass.

Speaking before Ukraine's parliament on Thursday, Yatsenyuk suggested that Russia should accept Kiev's conditions on the restructuring of its $3 billion sovereign debt, warning that if Russia does not accept conditions proposed by Kiev, it won't pay anything and will take Russia to court.

"The question of the debt amounting to $3 billion, which Russia must restructure and partially write off, has not been resolved. [By] October 29, we propose that Russia decide for themselves: do they want to accept the conditions that we proposed to all other creditors, or do they believe that they are unique? If they believe that they are unique, we are ready for a legal case with Russia," Yatsenyuk warned.
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Bad Guys

China 'may use force' if US continues with plans to sail warship into South China Sea


RT
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 12:41 UTC
South China Sea
© Ritchie B. Tongo / Pool / Reuters
South China Sea
China may use force if the US proceeds with its plan to sail within 12 miles of a reclaimed island in the South China Sea. Australia, which previously supported the American plan, said it wouldn't be part of it.

"We wouldn't participate in any surveillance or whatever other activities the United States might have talked about," Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said on Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg. He was commenting on the Pentagon's plan to test China's resolve to protect the waters around its artificial islands.

"On that issue, we're not taking sides," Robb added.

Comment: The US' days of acting unilaterally are numbered, and the world knows it.

Also see: Iran, Hezbollah begin ground operations in Syria under cover of Russia's air strikes

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Chess

Putin's words and deeds have Washington on the defensive, exposed their 'dirty double game'

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 12:06 UTC
putin syria
© AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman
In this March 4, 2012 file photo, a Syrian woman kisses a poster of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a pro-Syrian government protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Damascus, Syria.
Russia and its President, Vladimir Putin, a little more than a year ago, in July 2014 were the focus of attention in Europe and North America, accused, without a shred of forensic evidence, of shooting down an unarmed civilian Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine. The Russians were deemed out to restore the Soviet Union with their agreement to the popular referendum of Crimean citizens to annex into the Russian Federation and not Ukraine. Western sanctions were being thrown at Russia by both Washington and the EU. People spoke of a new Cold War. Today the picture is changing, and profoundly. It is Washington that is on the defensive, exposed for the criminal actions it has been doing in Syria and across the Middle East, including creating the recent asylum crisis in Germany and large parts of the EU.

As a student of international politics and economics for most of my adult life, I must say the emotional restraint that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government have shown against tasteless ad hominem attacks, from people such as Hillary Clinton who likened Putin to Adolf Hitler, is remarkable. But more than restraint is required to bring our world from the brink or some might say, the onset of a World War III. Brilliant and directed action is essential. Here something extraordinary has taken place in the very few days since President Vladimir Putin's September 28, UNGA speech in New York.

Comment: Also see: Will Europe ally with Russia after Putin's actions in Syria?

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Yoda

Putin: Washington is not cooperating and unresponsive on effort to combine efforts to fight ISIS in Syria

Kenneth Rapoza
Forbes
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 12:14 UTC
Image
© AFP Photo/Sergei
Tell us who not to pound and we won't pound them, Russian president Vladimir Putin said. He was paraphrasing from a conversation he says his government had recently with Washington about Syria.

Russia is bombing Washington's friends; an anti-Assad crowd that Putin believes is as bad news as ISIS. His view is not popular in the U.S..


Comment: Washington's "friends" are terrorists, whether they are labeled ISIS, Syrian Free Army, or Daesh. Putin is absolutely within his right bomb them. It's completely legal, as the elected president of Syria has asked Russia for help in fighting terrorists. People in the U.S. would be wise to think twice before supporting those groups.


But here in Russia, this is the most popular man alive. People crowd into a room to hear him. It's standing room only in fact. Before he comes onto the stage at the Crown Plaza Hotel convention center in Moscow, it's pin-drop silence. Then, all rise.

This is the most Americans have seen or heard of the Russian military since the 1980s, only this time the Russian in charge is more charismatic. Putin knows how to get his point across. It's not charm, necessarily. He's kissing no one's behind. It's Putin straight talk... believe it or disbelieve it. Tuesday was Putin's "charm offensive" to global investors, many of whom traveled to Moscow to hear Putin out. He's helped push his country into pariah state status, at least through a Western looking glass.
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