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Kashmir crisis: Though tempers run high, India and Pakistan to avoid all-out war say analysts


RT
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 16:06 UTC
IndiaPak borderguards
© REUTERS/Munish Sharma
Indian and Pakistani border guards face each other at Wagah checkpoint.
Despite growing tensions over Kashmir and cross-border skirmishes, the two nuclear-armed rivals don't want to take the conflict to a new stage, choosing instead to keep a safe distance from the point of no return, analysts told RT.

The simmering conflict between India and Pakistan returned to front-page news in late February when India launched air strikes on what it claimed was a terrorist training camp located in Pakistan after a deadly attack by a jihadist group, prompting Islamabad to retaliate.

Both countries scrambled jets and sent them into their neighbor's airspace. India said it hit one Pakistani jet, which fell on their side of the border. An Indian MiG-21 was shot down and its pilot captured, although returned later.


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Propaganda

Trump, lambasting the media for twisting his words on Warmbier, issues non-apology


RT
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 00:35 UTC
Trump
© REUTERS/Leah Millis
US President Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, February 28, 2019
President Donald Trump has scolded the media for "misrepresenting" his words on Otto Warmbier, a US student who died shortly after his release from a North Korean jail, saying that he still holds the reclusive nation responsible.

Trump faced massive backlash after he told a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam on Thursday that he takes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "on his word" that he had no prior knowledge about the Warmbier ordeal before the US negotiated the student's return.

"I don't think that the top leadership knew about it," Trump said, noting that Kim gained nothing from Warmbier's death. "I don't believe that he would have allowed that to happen. Just wasn't to his advantage to allow that to happen."

Mainstream media immediately jumped on the remark, accusing Trump of "absolving" the "brutal dictator" at the expense of an American citizen.

Warmbier's parents have also poured fuel on the fire online, blaming the North Korean leader for their son's death and seemingly reprimanding Trump for his reluctance to do the same.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Trump blamed the media for putting him in the crosshairs.

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Footprints

US notifies Turkey of its plans to withdraw troops from Syria by summer


Sputnik
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 02:50 UTC
US military
© Getty Images
Washington has informed Ankara about its intention to pull out US troops from Syria by the summer of this year, noting, however, that the schedule can be adjusted depending on the situation on the ground, Turkish media reported on Friday.

According to the Anadolu news agency, Washington made the announcement during the meeting of the Turkey-US joint working group aimed at coordinating the US troop withdrawal from Syria. The meeting was focused on the situation in the northern Syrian city of Manbij and Syrian territories to the east of the Euphrates River, the media outlet specified.

The Turkish side firmly opposed a possible transfer of former US bases to militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terror group by Turkey, after the US withdrawal, saying that they either must be destroyed or handed over to the Turkish military, the news agency added.

Ankara also reportedly informed the US side that if Washington withdrew troops without a mutual agreement with Turkey in line with its security concerns, it would reserve its right to self-defense.

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Arrow Up

Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is 70% complete


RT
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 09:17 UTC
Pipelay vessel Pioneering Spirit
© 5Pipelay vessel Pioneering Spirit in the Gulf of Finland Nord Stream 2 AG
Pipelay vessel Pioneering Spirit in the Gulf of Finland
More than 800km of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has already been laid under the Baltic Sea, the project's operator announced. The gas pipeline is scheduled to be fully finished by the end of this year.

Some 400km of pipes along the 1,200km route were laid along the seabed since the beginning of the year. In January, the Nord Stream 2 operator reported that 400km of the line had been completed by the end of 2018.

"We have a complex, non-linear schedule for laying the twin Nord Stream 2 pipelines, taking into account the environmental requirements and using a large number of vessels for the implementation of various activities," Nord Stream 2's Chief Project Officer Henning Kothe said on Friday. He added that the works are progressing according to the schedule, which will [guarantee] the gas pipeline completed by the end of 2019 as the company earlier promised.

Over 1,000 people are currently working on some 20 vessels for the project in the Baltic Sea. However, the heavy lift and pipe lay vessel 'Pioneering Spirit,' the world's largest of its kind, will temporarily be used in another project in the North Sea. The construction vessel is set to continue laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in around one month.

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Bad Guys

Pepe Escobar: Kashmir, Korea, Venezuela, Iran - Hot, cold, hybrid war

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Thu, 28 Feb 2019 12:00 UTC
convoy Kashmir
© iStock
The hottest border in Asia is now the Line of Control, but talk of regime change centers on other states
Turning and turning in a widening gyre, the geopolitics of the young 21st century resembles a psychedelic mandala conceived by Yama, the Lord of Death.

Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, fresh from a 70-hour train journey, meets in prosperous, communist Hanoi with fellow Nobel Peace Prize contender Donald Trump under the benevolent gaze of Uncle Ho.

This very sentence, if announced not long ago, would have elicited transcontinental howls of derision.

Chairman Kim, owner of a small nuclear arsenal, is deemed worthy of dialogue by the hyperpower while the nuclear-deprived leadership in Iran is not, even as the hyperpower ditched a multilateral, UN-approved, working nuclear deal.

In parallel, the hottest border in Asia reveals itself not to be the DMZ between the Koreas, but once again the Line of Control between nuclear powers India and Pakistan in Kashmir.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Passport

Michelle Malkin excoriates abuse of US immigration system at CPAC meeting - slams both political parties

Michelle Moons
Breitbart News
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 20:16 UTC
Michelle Malkin CPAC
© c-SPAN2
Michelle Malkin speaks at the 2019 meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
Conservative powerhouse Michelle Malkin took aim directly from the CPAC main stage Friday, at the lack of immigration focus while delivering fuel for the fight against longstanding abuses of the American immigration system.

"The most important issue we face is immigration and we need to be talking about it for more than one panel for 20 minutes," Malkin charged from the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) stage. "My first CPAC in 2002 was to talk about my very first book Invasion which exposed how border failures and systemic non-enforcement of our visa program rules created the national security crisis that led to 9/11."

Immigration was a defining issue in the 2016 election that saw the American people make Donald Trump President of the United States. Malkin hailed President Donald Trump "as he battles the Beltway swamp, the deep state, the administrative state, and the fake news fourth estate. But there is no sugarcoating America's long-term forecast."
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Binoculars

US envoy to Venezuela and convicted felon Abrams confirms plans to hold direct talks with Russia


TASS
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 19:47 UTC
Elliot Abrams
© EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO
US Special Representative for Venezuela and convicted felon Elliott Abrams
US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams confirmed on Friday US plans to hold direct talks with the Russian side.

"Yes, there are conversations, obviously constantly between the United States and Russia on a variety of issues including this one [Venezuela]," the diplomat said, noting that he takes part in these talks.

The special envoy noted that on Thursday he had "a very nice conversation" with Russia's UN Envoy Vasily Nebenzya prior to the UN Security Council's session on Venezuela.

Comment: Time and time again Russia in recent years has given individuals following world events the ability to see the lawlessness of the actions of the United States. They have pointing toward the direction of the importance of international law and the rule of law in the conduct between nations mostly in response to the United States' total disregard for such things. In the process of doing so, the United States has been exposed for all to see as a nation with the characteristics of a bully, a liar and a murderer. Convicted felon Abrams' involvement in the openly acknowledged attempted coup in Venezuela is a sign in itself of just how far the United States has strayed. One must wonder what the leaders of Russia actually think of those they are forced to interact with.

From the New York Times in 1991:

"Mr. Abrams stands convicted of two misdemeanors, violations of the contempt of Congress law. Its felony counterpart would have been perjury, but the charges employ the euphemism that he "withheld" information when he told two Congressional committees something other than what he knew. What he "withheld" were the facts that the Reagan Administration was hip-deep in the contra arms supply business and that Mr. Abrams had solicited $10 million in purported contra aid from the Sultan of Brunei.

Few members of the Iran-contra crew more symbolized the lawlessness of the Reagan Administration than Mr. Abrams. His guilty pleas, and whatever help he can give to ferreting out other offenses, are as welcome as they are late."

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Broom

Netanyahu cries leftist conspiracy over decision to indict him for bribery and corruption

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 12:00 UTC
Netanyahu
© AP/Sebastian Scheiner
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three separate cases, pending a hearing.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced his decision on Thursday after two years of investigations and months of speculation as to whether he would pursue charges prior to April 9 elections.

When Netanyahu first called for snap elections last December, it was widely believed that his decision was made in attempts to get ahead of any indictment announcements that could potentially hurt his prospects of winning.

The premier's legal team had previously pressured Mandelblit to delay his announcement until after the elections, to which the Attorney General responded saying postponing his recommendations would "be a violation of the principle of equality before the law" and "is not in keeping with the public's right to know."

Comment: It seems Netanyahu's time may be up. But you can bet another head will emerge from the hydra to take up where he leaves off:

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Brick Wall

Moscow and Damascus begin Rukban refugee evacuation plan - UPDATE: Access Denied! US military blocks buses from entering


Sputnik
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 19:58 UTC
rukban camp evacuation
© Russian Ministry of Defense
Buses accompanied by Russian miltiary policy heading to the Rukban refugee camp in the US-controlled zone of Syria
Russia and Syria have sent bus convoys to the Rukban refugee camp to evacuate people seeking to leave the US-controlled territory, with no response received from the United States to guarantee the safety of the operation, head of the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation Lt. Gen. Sergei Solomatin said on Friday.

"In accordance with the 1 March decision made at the meeting of the Russian-Syrian Joint Coordination Committee for the return of refugees, in order to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the Rukban refugee camp, bus convoys were formed and sent to the Jleb checkpoint for the voluntary and unhindered return of Rukban camp residents from at-Tanf to the places of their permanent residence", Solomatin said.

Solomatin added that "no response has been received from the American side to allow the passage of the humanitarian convoy and guarantee the safety of its movement" in the 34-mile zone around the US base in at-Tanf.

The Syrian government, meanwhile, guarantees the security of returning temporarily displaced persons and a simplified procedure for retrieving their documents, according to Solomatin.

Solomatin also added that as of 28 February, a total of 224,740 Syrian refugees returned to their home country.

Comment: The US government is insane. Even as it berates Damascus for 'not assisting the poor refugees' trapped in the camp near At-Tanf, it has today blocked the aid convoy from entering.
...the planned operation was apparently aborted after the US military, which controls the 55km area around the US military base at Al-Tanf, which also includes Rukban camp, refused to grant permission for the buses to proceed, Sergey Solomatin, head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties in Syria, said on Saturday.
What else can we conclude from this but that the US government is holding 40,000 war refugees hostage as a bargaining chip against Damascus/Moscow?

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Info

Canada approves Huawei extradition proceedings

David Ljunggren
Reuters
Sat, 02 Mar 2019 19:49 UTC
huawei
The Canadian government, as expected, on Friday approved extradition proceedings against the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, prompting a furious reaction from China.

Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei's founder, was detained in Vancouver last December and is under house arrest. In late January the U.S. Justice Department charged Meng and Huawei with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Meng is due to appear in a Vancouver court at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1800 GMT) on March 6, when a date will be set for her extradition hearing.

"Today, department of Justice Canada officials issued an authority to proceed, formally commencing an extradition process in the case of Ms. Meng Wanzhou," the government said in a statement.

China, whose relations with Canada have deteriorated badly over the affair, denounced the decision and repeated previous demands for Meng's release.

U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Nicole Navas Oxman said Washington thanked the Canadian government for its assistance. "We greatly appreciate Canada's steadfast commitment to the rule of law," she said in a statement.

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