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Extortion? Erdogan demands NATO give 'assistance' on Syria and migrant release, as his plans derail


RT
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 19:05 UTC
Migrants
© Reuters/Huseyin Aldemir
Migrants gather on the Turkish side of the border at Pazarkule crossing in Edirne, trying to break through into Kastanies, Greece, March 7, 2020.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Brussels, demanding help from NATO with both the conflict on his southern border and the migrants he tried to unleash on the West, now that neither situation is going according to plan.

After meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday, the Turkish leader said he requested "additional assistance" from the alliance, for the "defense" of the Turkish border with Syria and "in connection with the migration challenge."

"We expect concrete support from all our allies to this struggle," Erdogan added, urging the allies to support Turkey "without discrimination and with no political preconditions."

Comment: See also:

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Footprints

US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan has begun


RFE/RL
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 17:26 UTC
Chopper Afghanistan
© Thomas Watkins/AFP
A U.S. official says U.S. forces have begun leaving Afghanistan under the first phase of an initial troop withdrawal required under the newly signed U.S.-Taliban peace agreement. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press on March 9 that hundreds of U.S. soldiers are now heading out of Afghanistan.

He said the soldiers originally were meant to leave under a rotation plan created before the peace deal was signed in Doha on February 29. With the peace deal, however, the official said the departing U.S. soldiers will not be replaced.

That means the United States is now effectively moving ahead with an initial reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan from about 13,000 to 8,600 soldiers. The long-term plan is for the United States to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan within 14 months if security conditions are met.

But a political dispute over the official results of Afghanistan's September 2019 presidential election threatens to complicate Washington's attempts to move forward on the U.S.-Taliban agreement and end Afghanistan's 18-year war. Afghanistan's rival leaders -- President Ashraf Ghani and former Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah -- were each sworn in as president in separate, parallel ceremonies on March 9.

Comment: See also:

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Rocket

Afghanistan: Ghani's presidential inauguration ceremony interrupted by nearby ISIS rocket attack

Tom O'Connor
Newsweek
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 10:19 UTC
Ghani
© AFP/Getty Images/Wakil Kohsar
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the swearing-in ceremony interrupted by rocket blasts.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's inauguration ceremony was interrupted by the sound of explosions Monday after a suspected rocket attack claimed by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).

Ghani was delivering a speech at the podium outside the presidential palace in the capital Kabul when the explosions were heard, causing the recently re-elected leader to pause and stirring a brief panic among attendees. The president returned to the mic and stated he would not be intimidated by a suspected attack.

The Afghan president then opened his suit to reveal he was not wearing a bulletproof vest and announced that he would sacrifice himself for his country and its people. The source of the explosions and the number of injuries was not clear.

Hours later, ISIS' official news agency Amaq published a statement claiming that
"soldiers of the caliphate targeted the inauguration of the tyrant (Ashraf Ghani) near the presidential residence in the (fourth) district of the city of Kabul with ten rockets, and the injury was delivered, praise be to God."
The blasts came as the country is struggling to overcome ongoing unrest in the wake of a historic peace deal signed by the United States and the Taliban.

Comment: Twitter captured the explosions as President Ghani was speaking:
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No Entry

Europe must not fall victim to Erdoğan's migrant blackmail

Burak Bekdil
Gatestone Institute
Fri, 06 Mar 2020 05:00 UTC
Migrants pull fence
© Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images
Migrants at the Turkey-Greece border try to pull down the Greek border fence and enter Greece, near Edirne, Turkey, on March 4, 2020.
Turkey's Islamist strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has threatened Europe several times with "sending millions of refugees your way." Turkey would apparently like to see more progress in the talks to grant it admission as a full member of the European Union. At the moment, these membership negotiations have stalled. He may also wish for Western support -- from the EU, the United States and all of NATO -- for his ideal architecture to install Turkey in northwest Syria.

As Turkish servicemen were recently killed in Syria, with direct Russian military involvement, it is probably safe to assume that the support Erdoğan is seeking, both directly and indirectly, is "support for a NATO ally against Russian aggression". In addition, Erdoğan would also most certainly like the West overlook his massive democratic deficit, and to help Turkey secure even more dominance over the Greek islands off its coast, as well as its claims on the gas fields beneath the eastern Mediterranean.

On February 27, the Turkish government finally pressed the button to execute the threat: Millions of (mostly Syrian) migrants on Turkish soil were now free to travel to Europe; Turkish border gates were now open.

Why did Erdoğan decide now to resort to the "nuclear option" in his country's deeply problematic relations with the European Union? It seems, bizarrely, that Erdoğan decided to punish the EU because he was angry with... Russia.

Comment: See also:

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Calendar

60 days notice: Republika Srpska threatens secession from Bosnia


RFE/RL
Tue, 18 Feb 2020 09:26 UTC
Milorad Dodik
© AP/Darko Vojinovic
Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia’s multiethnic presidency
Lawmakers in Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia's Serb entity, have given a 60-day deadline for the reform of Bosnia's Constitutional Court, threatening secession following the court's rejection of a move by Bosnian Serbs to claim federal agricultural land.

During an extraordinary session on February 17, Bosnian Serb lawmakers voted 72-2 to suspend the work of all RS representatives in Bosnia's institutions until the federal parliament terminates the mandates of the three international members of the Constitutional Court.

Addressing Republika Srpska's legislature in Banja Luka on February 17, Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia's multiethnic presidency, said: "Goodbye [Bosnia], welcome [Republika Srpska's] exit. We will see each other in 60 days."

Following the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the Bosnian war, three foreign judges serve on the court along with two Croats, two Muslims, and two Serbs.

Tensions have flared in Bosnia since the Constitutional Court earlier this month ruled that unclaimed agricultural land automatically became the property of the central Bosnian state rather than Republika Srpska -- contradicting Bosnian Serb law.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

US-led coalition forces withdraw from base in western Iraq

Drago Bosnic
Fort Russ News
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
US troops in Iraq
The US-led coalition has fully pulled out its forces from a base in the al-Anbar Province in western Iraq, security sources said on Monday amid increasing efforts by Baghdad to expel the United States military from the country.
"All forces and equipment of the US-led coalition have withdrawn from a base in the Southern parts of al-Qaem," the security source told the Arabic-language al-Soumeriyeh news website.
He added that the US-led coalition forces were pulled out from a base near the al-Fousfat railway station in the southern parts of al-Qaem, 310km away from western Ramadi in al-Anbar near the borders with Syria. The source said the military equipment deployed at the base has been transferred to Ein al-Assad base in the al-Baghdadi district.

Comment: But will this relatively small withdrawal (or relocation) count for much? Quite probably not:

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Vader

Lunatic warmonger Lindsey Graham urges NATO to 'get more involved' in Idlib, Syria to stop 'Syrian aggression'


RT
Tue, 10 Mar 2020 16:01 UTC
turkey flag nato
© Reuters/Francois Lenoir
A Turkish flag flies at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, February 28, 2020.
Veteran chickenhawk Lindsey Graham once again beat his over-used war drum, this time because he wants NATO to get involved in Idlib, Syria to stop "Syrian aggression." Yes, when will Syria stop intervening in its own country?

The South Carolina senator said that he fully supports US President Donald Trump's efforts to "get NATO more involved in Syria," arguing that the defensive alliance should aid Turkey as it "defends Idlib against Russian/Syrian aggression." He further argued that the "fall" of Idlib would result in a humanitarian crisis felt around the world, which is why NATO should be more "supportive" of its Turkish ally.

Comment: Graham has been nothing but consistent in his warmongering, not just in Syria, but wherever he feels US hegemony is under threat. Rand Paul was right to call him out.

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Dollar

AOC's pitch for the Green New Deal is unhinged from reality

James D. Agresti
Just Facts Daily
Wed, 04 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
green new deal
Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently gave an impassioned pitch for her "Green New Deal" on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. After stating that her opponents were misrepresenting the legislation, she read the full text of it into the Congressional Record and claimed that the reason it is "so, so controversial" is "because for years we have prioritized the pursuit of profit at any and all human and environmental cost."

That statement, along with the actual text of her bill, are at odds with numerous facts about pollution, regulations, and the economics of energy.

Environmental Trends

Contrary to AOC's allegation that the U.S. doesn't prioritize the environment, the nation's air has become significantly cleaner over the past 40 years. Under federal law, the EPA monitors the outdoor concentrations of six major "criteria pollutants" that are widespread and likely "to endanger public health or welfare." According to the latest and earliest primary measures of these pollutants, the average U.S. outdoor levels of:

Comment: Besides how unfeasible the Green New Deal would appear to be - there are a whole other slew of reasons why this set of policies - and the thinking that goes behind it - are, in fact, dangerous to the vast majority of people:

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Propaganda

MH17 trial SHOW starts in Amsterdam without evidence: Interview with Donetsk's ex-commander


South Front
Tue, 10 Mar 2020 09:15 UTC
MH17 suspects on trail
On March 9th, the trial of four men accused of downing the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 began in Amsterdam. Prosecutors say the suspects, three Russians and a Ukrainian, helped organise the Russian missile system used to shoot down MH17, a civilian aircraft.

The suspects, who are believed to be in Russia, face preliminary charges of the murder of 298 people and of causing the aircraft to crash, resulting in the death of all aboard.

Head judge Hendrik Steenhuis introduced the trial, saying:
"Many have longed for this process for a long time ... The next of kin of these 298 deceased enjoy legal rights given to victims."
A Dutch-led international Joint Investigation (JIT) team spent years collecting evidence before issuing arrest warrants In 2019 for the four suspects: Russians Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Igor Girkin, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.

The JIT consists of Ukraine, the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia and Belgium, and back in 2017 agreed to hold the trials in the Netherlands, under Dutch law after attempts to set up a United Nations-backed tribunal failed.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Heaven protect us from men who live the illusion of danger: Pete Buttigieg and the US military

Matthew Hoh
Counterpunch
Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
Buttigieg
© Alan Light – CC BY 2.0
"America deserves a Commander-in-Chief who knows what that sacrifice means and who will honor the sacred promise we make to our veterans."

- Pete Buttigieg January 6, 2020
#CIAPete has been trending on social media this past month as stories and commentaries have emerged telling and re-telling Pete Buttigieg's role as a naval intelligence officer in Afghanistan, his duties in his assignment in Kabul as a member of the Afghan Threat Finance Cell, and his relationship to CIA colleagues. This would be all rather amusing and just another dust speck of non-sense in the vast universe of inanity that is the US presidential race, if it were not for Buttigieg's own use of his time in uniform and in Afghanistan as a cudgel to silence others from both an informed and moral perspective on issues of foreign policy and war.

Buttigieg worked alongside CIA officers in a multi-agency organization in Kabul, hence the hashtag #CIAPete. According to his own autobiography he didn't spend much time working on intelligence and fighting the Taliban, but rather worked as a driver, chauffeuring other officers during an admitted eight hour work day in Kabul. As someone who did three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, I know very few military officers who experienced 8 hour work days in either country, nearly all officers I knew, including myself, worked 12-18 hour days - and there were plenty of times, especially during my second deployment, that 20 hour days were common. That Buttigieg was a driver in Afghanistan is more telling than anything else about Buttigieg's time in Afghanistan, more so since he speaks so assuredly and confidently of his time in Afghanistan as he runs for president and uses that experience to pronounce himself as personally informed about matters of war and peace.


Comment: Mayor Pete may not be running for office anymore, but make no mistake. he's still running for Power.

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