Welcome to Sott.net
Tue, 02 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Network

Iran rightfully declines participation in oil production freeze


RT
Fri, 11 Mar 2016 17:28 UTC
Tehran Iran oil
© Caren Firouz / Reuters
An engineer speaks on his radio at the Phase 4 and Phase 5 gas refineries in Assalouyeh, 1,000 km (621 miles) south of Tehran
As things stand today, Iran has no interest in participating in a production freeze agreement led by Russia and Saudi Arabia, Reuters reports. This threatens to delay the meeting of the world's biggest crude producers scheduled for March 20 in Moscow. Last week, Nigeria's Oil Minister Emmanuel Kachikwu said the meeting would take place in the Russian capital. The meeting is seen as a key step to freezing output at January levels, as agreed by the world's two biggest oil producers Russia and Saudi Arabia and later joined by OPEC members Venezuela and Qatar.

Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said the day and place of the meeting are yet to be set, as it could take place on any day from March 20 to April 1 in a Russian city, Doha or Vienna. At present Iran says it doesn't want to be included in the deal, as it wants to return to pre-sanctions crude output levels, according to Reuters sources in OPEC. Kuwait reportedly announced it would join the pact only if every OPEC member, including Iran, is joining.

Comment: Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United States each produce between 8-10 million bpd. Given the over four-decades long sanctions that were unjustly imposed upon Iran, their request for a freeze based on 4 million bpd is entirely reasonable.

      Read More...
Vader

Pepe Escobar: Europe to sell its soul in a deal with the Turkish devil

Pepe Escobar
Strategic Culture Foundation
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 16:51 UTC
Davutoglu
Anyone who haggled about the price of a carpet in a Turkish bazaar knows these guys are more reptilian than Henry Kissinger. They always get what they want by letting you leave with the impression you got what you want for a price way higher than you were initially inclined to pay.

Cue to a bunch of clueless European tourists haggling about a refugee deal with carpet bazaar ace Ahmet Davutoglu - Turkey's Prime Minister and grand vizier of Sultan Erdogan. Much more than clinching a sleazy deal, the EU may end up selling what's left of its allegedly humanitarian and democratic «principles», a.k.a. soul, to the carpet man. Did neither of these Eurocrats ever read Goethe's Faust?

So let's recap what the EU will get from Ankara's masterful extortion racket. Instead of paying 3 billion euros for the refugee «carpet», it will pay 6.6 billion euros. It will facilitate visa-free travel for what's left of the Schengen space to 75 million Turks. It will accelerate the bureaucratic road map for Turkish pre-accession to the EU. And it will comply with Ankara's demand that for every Syrian re-expelled from Greece back to Turkey - over 2,000 arrive everyday as we speak - one Turk will be allowed to settle in the EU's austerity purgatory.

This is what the Mob usually dubs «an offer you can't refuse».
      Read More...
Light Saber

Moscow set to add Albright's National Democratic Institute to list of undesirable organizations


RT
Fri, 11 Mar 2016 10:31 UTC
Madeleine K. Albright
© Andrew Burton / Reuters
Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State and chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group.
The Prosecutor General's Office has ruled that the National Democratic Institute, chaired by a former US secretary of state, poses a threat to Russian security and constitutional order. It proposed including the NGO on the list of undesirable organizations.

The proposal to blacklist Madeleine Albright's NDI group has been forwarded to the Justice Ministry, but as everything that is left is pure formalities the ban can be considered as already imposed.

According to NDI's website the group operated in Russia directly since late 1980s. In 2012 it closed its office in the country, but continued to implement its programs through partner organizations.

Russia introduced the Law on Undesirable Foreign Organizations in late May 2015. The act requires the Prosecutor General's Office and the Foreign Ministry to make an official list of undesirable foreign groups and outlaw their activities. Once the group is recognized as undesirable, all its assets in Russia must be frozen, offices closed and distribution of any of its information materials must be banned.

Comment: Russia understands the devious methods that these 'fifth-columnist' organizations use to undermine governments while claiming to represent 'democracy', and is taking the necessary steps to protect its interests.
9 key points of Russia's national security strategy for 2016

"Color Revolutions" and corruption among key threats to Russia's security

Listed among threats to national security are"color revolutions" and their instigation, the undermining of traditional values, and corruption.

Who could be engaged in such activities? According to the document, "radical social groups which use nationalist and religious extremist ideologies, foreign and international NGOs, and also private citizens" who work to undermine Russia's territorial integrity and destabilize political processes.

The activities of foreign intelligence services, terrorist and extremist organizations, and criminal groups are also classified as threats.


      Read More...
Bullseye

Stunning achievement: Putin saved Syria from Western-backed terrorists and regime change

Finian Cunningham
RT
Tue, 15 Mar 2016 15:44 UTC
children playing syria
© Rodi Said / Reuters
School children play with a ball in a playground in Ras al-Ain city, Syria
Five years of war, five months of Russian military intervention, and now peace talks are underway. It's as simple as that.

However, rather than acknowledging a successful Russian mission, Western media outlets immediately began speculating that President Putin's surprise announcement to withdraw Russian forces from Syria indicates a "rift" between Moscow and Damascus.

This is just more of the same Western media weapon of mass distraction that has obscured the real nature of the five-year war.

The sovereignty of Syria is the central principle officially underpinning peace talks that resumed in Geneva this week. Without Russia's military intervention, Syria would not have the chance to pursue a political settlement on such solid footing.

By contrast, after nearly two years of US-led military intervention allegedly to "defeat terrorism", the Syrian state was on the brink of collapse from a largely foreign-backed terrorist assault. Until, that is, Russia intervened at the end of September last year.

Comment: The leaders of the Western world have repeatedly painted Russia and Putin as "aggressors", as enemies of the free world who are going around causing trouble. The reality is that Putin is saving the world from the real aggressors, the psychopathic leaders in the US and their lackeys in Europe who are hell-bent on maintaining their hegemonic control across the world. They are willing to destroy entire nations (Libya, Iraq, Syria) to further their sick, twisted needs for domination. That they then project all their inner desires and outward actions onto Putin and Russia is doubly despicable. Luckily for the majority of the world, he's demoralized their proxy terrorists and he's even fought to keep democracy alive in Syria by not allowing the removal of Assad from power to go forward. Who knows what the world would be like had Putin not stood up to the West and fought for humanity's best interests.

      Read More...
Star of David

No one is stopping them: Israel seizes large tracts of land in West Bank


PressTV
Tue, 15 Mar 2016 14:51 UTC
an Israeli settlement in East al-Quds
© AFP
A general view shows buildings under construction of an Israeli settlement in East al-Quds, March 7, 2016.
Israel has seized a large piece of land in the occupied West Bank, a report says, as the regime in Tel Aviv continues to defy international calls to stop its expansionist policy in the Palestinian territories.

Israeli Army Radio said on Tuesday that the confiscated land is about 579 acres (234 hectares) and is located near the Dead Sea and the city of Jericho.

A campaigning group based in the occupied territories said the appropriation is the largest land confiscation in the West Bank in recent years. The Peace Now movement, which opposes Israel's building of settlements, said Tel Aviv plans to expand settlements and build tourism and other commercial facilities in the area.

The Palestinian Authority, which rules the occupied West Bank, issued a statement Tuesday calling on the international community to press Israel to stop land confiscations.
      Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Obama reservedly welcomes Russia's decision on military pullout from Syria


ITAR-TASS
Tue, 15 Mar 2016 14:29 UTC
Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama
© Mikhail Klimentyev/TASS
President of the United States Barack Obama discussed with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the announced decision of Russia's leader to begin withdrawal of the country's military forces from war-torn Syria, the White House said in its statement.

"President Obama spoke today by phone with President Vladimir Putin of Russia to discuss progress on the implementation of the nationwide Cessation of Hostilities between the Syrian regime and its allies on the one hand and the armed opposition on the other," the statement said.

"They discussed President Putin's announcement today of a partial withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria and next steps required to fully implement the cessation of hostilities with the goal of advancing the political negotiations on resolution of the conflict," according to the White House.

"President Obama welcomed the much-needed reduction in violence since the beginning of the cessation, but stressed that continuing offensive actions by Syrian regime forces risk undermining both the Cessation of Hostilities and the UN-led political process," the statement added.


Comment: Of course Obama is still not happy and wants the Syrian army to just lay down their arms and stop destroying the US headchoppers.

      Read More...
Magnify

Europe getting increasingly desperate to save face as they stare at total failure in Ukraine

Alexander Mercouris
Russia Insider
Sat, 12 Mar 2016 12:15 UTC
european foreign ministers

A trio of desperate Euro-frauds: French Foreign Minister Ayrault (left) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Klimkin (centre) and German Foreign Minister Steinmeier (right) in Kiev
As the political situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate - with the government paralysed as a result of the power struggle between Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk - the Europeans are becoming increasingly desperate.

They are also becoming increasingly frustrated with the Ukrainians whose intransigence is prolonging the crisis. However the Europeans have no exit strategy and are staring at total failure.

The reason is the growing anger across Europe with the sanctions policy, and a growing sense that the diplomatic window for finding a face saving way to end the sanctions before European leverage completely runs out is closing fast.

The problem the Europeans have is that they have committed themselves to maintaining the sanctions against Russia until the terms of Minsk II are carried out.

When they did this the Europeans however failed to take the basic precaution of linking the lifting of the sanctions not just to Russian adherence to Minsk II but to Ukrainian adherence as well.
      Read More...
Jet1

Navy has been secretly conducting EM warfare training on Washington state's roads for 5 years

Dahr Jamail
Truthout
Mon, 07 Mar 2016 00:00 UTC
2 planes
© beforeitsnews.com
Rendering of two EA-18G Growlers flying over the Colonel Bob Wilderness, located SW corner of Olympic National Forest in the state of Washington, USA
Without public notification of any kind, the US Navy has secretly been conducting electromagnetic warfare testing and training on public roads in western Washington State for more than five years. An email thread between the Navy and the US Forest Service between 2010 and 2012, recently obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Oregon-based author and activist Carol Van Strum in November 2014, revealed that the Navy has likely been driving mobile electromagnetic warfare emitters and conducting electromagnetic warfare training in the Olympic National Forest and on public roads on Washington's Olympic Peninsula since 2010.

In one of the 2012 emails, Navy contractor Gerald Sodano explained that the Navy "utilized EW [electronic warfare] ranges outside the local vicinity." But he went on to say that the aim of establishing an electromagnetic warfare range on the Olympic Peninsula would be to conduct all training locally on the Olympic Peninsula, rather than further afield. This means that rather than using expansive training areas the Navy already has access to in Yakima in eastern Washington State, the Navy aims to use the Olympic National Forest and areas adjacent to Olympic National Park instead.


Comment: Included are also Okanogan-Wenatchee and Colville National Forests.


"What the Navy is doing we have no idea because they don't tell us."

As Truthout previously reported, the Navy itself has produced a medical study showing that exposure to electromagnetic radiation causes a myriad of human health problems, including corneal damage, tubular degeneration of testicles, brain heating, sterility, altered penile function, death, cranial nerve disorders, seizures, convulsions, depression, insomnia, chest pain, and even sparking between dental fillings. [more extensive list below]

Other reports by the US Air Force, NASA, medical doctors and scientific publications confirm these and other deleterious health effects that would result from the Navy's electromagnetic weaponry arsenal, in addition to large-scale negative impacts on birds, aquatic life and other biota.


Comment: Sadly, this project is not merely about having three trucks on Forest Service roads. Instead, the three trucks are an essential component in turning the Olympic Peninsula into an Electronic Warfare Range. The project includes building a new stationary electronic warfare transmitter - emitting the equivalent of a thousand microwave ovens of radiation - and three mobile electronic warfare transmitters - each emitting the equivalent of 100 microwave ovens - to be attacked by more than 100 "Growler" military jets - each emitting thousands of microwave ovens worth of radiation...

Here's just one example of its impact:
Old Growth forests have been rated as among the quietest places on earth at only 10 to 20 decibels - and a normal conversation is 32 times louder than the Hoh Rain Forest. It is one of the only remaining habitats for endangered Spotted Owls. [For them], sleeping in their nests near the tops of 300-foot-tall, one-thousand-year-old trees, the toxic sound will begin as a low rumble approaching from the west. Within twenty seconds, the rumble will rise to a deafening roar of a million canons all going off at the same time. The roar will continue for twenty horrifying seconds of Hell-on-Earth as the defenseless owls lack not only protective ear muffs - but lack even human hands to put over their acutely sensitive ears. Twenty seconds later, one minute after the torture began, the roar will go back to a rumble and then end.

[But], the relief will only be temporary. Just as the first squadron lands back at the Naval base, another squadron of 4 to 8 more Growler jets will be taking off. At 7 am, they will begin their assault on the mobile transmitters and on the spotted owls - subjecting the owls to yet another minute of Hell on Earth. Then at 8 am, another attack by another squadron. At 9 am, another attack. At 10 am, another attack. At 11 am, another attack. And again and again and again and again and again - up to 11 sudden sneak attacks over a 16 hour period [and] will be repeated the following morning - and repeated again every morning and throughout every day up to 5 days a week and 52 weeks and 260 days per year - for the next 10 to 20 years!
The decision: Of 3300 public comments, all were opposed but for 31. This is a problem for the Navy because the Forest Service is taking them seriously enough to have hired a contractor and delayed the decision into early 2016.

The Olympic Peninsula is one of the most beautiful and fascinating places on earth with a magnificent and fragile bio-diversity. This travesty is a war on nature and humanity that, if played out, will dramatically ruin this pristine area, and all life within it, forever.

      Read More...
Bomb

Russian jets bomb column of terrorists entering Syria from Turkey


FARS News Agency
Tue, 15 Mar 2016 14:20 UTC
Russian warplane
The Russian Air Force tracked and targeted a long column of terrorists crossing Turkish border to join their comrades in Northern and Northwestern battlefields in Syria.

The terrorists, that were mainly Turkmen, were caught by the Russian Air Force's reconnaissance planes attempting to enter the Lattakia province from one of the Turkish border-crossings near Yayladagi.

Upon the entry of Jeish al-Turkmen and al-Nusra Front into Syria, the Russian air fleet struck their convoy of vehicles in the Furniluk Forests, ending in the rebel fighters scattering around the border in order to evade the powerful aerial assault.

When the Russian warplanes backed off, the Syrian Air Force launched their own airstrikes over the Furniluk Forests, keeping up the pressure on the trapped rebel fighters.
      Read More...
Attention

From regime change to ISIS: 5 years of US meddling in Syria


RT
Sat, 12 Mar 2016 22:01 UTC
ISIS on a van
© Stringer / Reuters
The Syrian civil war began as protesters toppled governments across North Africa in the so-called "Arab Spring." Washington has insisted on regime change in Damascus ever since, yet their rhetoric adapted over the years.

President Ben Ali of Tunisia was ousted in January, followed by protests demanding the resignation of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and an armed rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. A "Day of Rage" protest in Damascus and Aleppo on March 15, 2011 is commonly considered the start of the Syrian civil war. Protests escalated into an armed rebellion by July, after NATO warplanes intervened in Libya on behalf of the rebels.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts