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Turkey wants 10km secure zone within northern Syria created


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:42 UTC
turkish military
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
Turkey wants to create a secure zone 10km within Syria, which would include the town of Azaz, Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan stated, as cited by Reuters. The move comes after Ankara's shelling of Syrian Kurds for four successive days.

"What we want is to create a secure strip, including Azaz, 10km deep inside Syria and this zone should be free from clashes," Akdogan said in an interview on Turkey's AHaber television station, Reuters reports.

However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned on Wednesday that Ankara does not intend to stop shelling Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. He also called on the US to choose whether it wanted to back Turkey or the Syrian Kurds.

Turkey has shelled Syrian Kurdish forces in northern Syria for four consecutive days as Ankara tries to stop the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) from claiming the town of Azaz, just 8km from the Turkish border.


Comment: The likely reason for this is that Turkey wants to create a secure zone where it can safely deal with the terrorists within Syria, from selling arms to buying oil and treating the wounded.

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War Whore

"American warplanes destroyed it": Russia rejects Turkey claim on MSF hospital missile strike


Telesurtv.net
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC
Syria hospital bombing
© Reuters
People gather near what is said to be a hospital damaged by missile attacks in Azaz, Aleppo, Syria, February 15, 2016 in this still image taken from a video on a social media website.
"The Caspian Sea fleet has no ships capable of launches of ballistic missiles," a Russian Defense spokesperson said.

Russian officials have rejected accusations by Turkey that Russia was responsible for an attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Syria that killed scores of people a day earlier.

A Ministry of Defense spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov, said Tuesday that Russia has no ships in the Caspian Sea fleet that could have hit the Syrian hospital in Idlib province.

"The Caspian Sea fleet has no ships capable of launches of ballistic missiles," Konashenkov told reporters.

Comment: Just how low can they go in order to demonize Russia?

They're bombing hospitals just so they can say 'Russia did it'.

It's the 'babies in incubators' routine all over again, brought to you by Hill & Knowlton.

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Yoda

Iranian Defense Minister: Russian airstrikes in Syria have shifted the balance of power in the region


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:34 UTC
SU-34
© Dmitriy Vinogradov / Sputnik
SU-34
The Russian anti-terror campaign in Syria has shifted the balance of power in the region, the Iranian Defense Minister said while visiting Moscow, eager to purchase billions of dollars worth of "defensive" weapons to secure its own position in the region.

"Russia's presence in Syria, of course, changed the security atmosphere, [and] changed the balance of power," Hosein Dehghan said in an interview with Rossiya 24 news channel.

Dehghan also stressed that Iran, which has "a unique position in its region" and is a "big, influential regional nation," wants to expand military, technical and industrial ties with Moscow. Iran is also seeking Russia's consultations on the "security of the region."

Calling the security situation in the region and the entire world "turbulent" and characterized by a "lack of stability" with different countries playing "their own role," especially Washington which wants to "destabilize the region," Dehghan stressed that Iran wants to purchase "defensive" weapons from Russia.


Comment: It certainly looks like Iran is going to be getting some of that quality Russian military equipment:

"The most important thing is to raise the level of our security [both] qualitatively and quantitatively, so that we could insure protection against possible attacks of our enemies," Dehghan said.
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Eye 1

Neoconservative lunacy: A strategy of tension for a wider war in Syria

Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research
Sun, 14 Feb 2016 04:37 UTC
dead tank
© n/a
While you are enjoying your Sunday, the insane neoconservatives who control Western foreign policy and their Turkish and Saudi Arabian vassals might be preparing the end of the world.

Any person who relies on Western media has no accurate idea of what is happening in Syria.

I will provide a brief summary and then send you to two detailed accounts.

The neoconservative Obama regime set-up the Syrian government headed by Assad for overthrow. A long propaganda campaign conducted in Washington's behalf by the Western media portrayed the democratically-elected Assad as a "brutal dictator who uses chemical weapons against his own people." Washington organized and supported a front group posing as democrats and involved them in conflict with the Syrian military.

Comment: Also of late:

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Eye 2

IDF soldier who electrocuted blindfolded Palestinian for fun, laughed while filming gets light sentence, keeps job


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:55 UTC
IDF soldiers palestine
© Mohamad Torokman / Reuters (file photo)
One soldier from the Netzach Yehuda battalion has been sentenced to seven months in prison for his role in the abuse of a Palestinian detainee who was blindfolded and zapped with electrodes as soldiers laughed and filmed the abuse.

The military trial of four members of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) centred on mobile phone footage showing soldiers laughing as a blindfolded Palestinian man is subjected to electric shocks with a medical device.

The incident was uncovered after authorities, suspicious of abusive treatment towards prisoners, confiscated one of the soldiers' phones, report Mako.

The helpless detainee was also struck by soldiers as the attack was being filmed, reports Israeli news agency Haaretz.

The unnamed soldier will now spend seven months behind bars. He will, however, be allowed to keep his job and is set to be demoted to the rank of private.

IDF officials say they condemn the actions of those involved: "The IDF sees in these extreme incidents a total violation and disregard of the IDF's Code of Conduct and strongly condemns these actions. The court has not yet come to decisions regarding other suspects involved in these extreme incidents."

The sentencing comes after an Israeli border police officer was filmed Sunday flipping a disabled Palestinian man's wheelchair to the ground.

Comment: Nothing speaks to the actual values of the 'most moral army in the world' than events like this one.

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Attention

Breaking ranks: Hungarian PM Orban meets Putin in Moscow, calls for 'normal' Europe-Russia


RT
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:49 UTC
Hungary russia putin orban
© Aleksey Nikolskyi / Sputnik
February 17, 2016. Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a meeting at Novo-Ogaryovo residence in the Moscow Region.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says it is important for Russia's relations with the EU to return to normal following a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, who in turn described Budapest as an "old and faithful partner."

Putin was meeting with Orban at his residence outside of Moscow, after the pair met a year ago in Hungary.

"We are all interested in relations between Russia and Europe returning to normal and this is in the interest of Russian and Hungarian relations," Orban mentioned.

The two parties agreed to extend a gas deal, which will see Russia supply Hungary until the end of 2019. About 85 percent of Hungary's gas flows from Russia.

Last year, Putin and Orban signed a new gas deal that replaced a 20-year contract that expired in December 2015. Under the agreement, Budapest is paying only for the gas it actually consumes, as opposed to the volume it contracts, making it a lucrative offer for the low-demand client.

Putin said he's happy with the quality of relations between Russian and Hungary, though he accepts there has been a drop in trade.

Comment: More European leaders and citizens are breaking ranks with the Washington consensus: French farmers protest low prices of agricultural products due to sanctions against Russia

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Bad Guys

Operation SOPHIA: The EU's secret anti-migrant smuggling operation revealed by WikiLeaks


Sputnik
Wed, 17 Feb 2016 12:47 UTC
Libyan refugees
© AP Photo
Earlier today WikiLeaks released a classified report about the work of Operation SOPHIA, the EU military intervention against so-called "refugee boats" off the coast of Libya, WikiLeaks said in a statement.

The program was started only six months, so the release of secret files would show the effectiveness of the operation.

The report, dated back to January 29, 2016, was written by Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino, the commander of the Operation SOPHIA, for the EU's Military Committee and the EU's Political and Security Committee.

Comment: Across the board the EU's response to the refugee crisis has been a horrifying mess. There's been the destruction of the Schengen zone, the closing of borders, the herding of refugees into camps, an hysterical political reaction, and a distinct refusal to admit what has caused the crisis - NATO's illegal wars. Focusing on smuggling routes won't solve the problem, especially when these idiots are working towards another invasion of Libya, causing even more mayhem.

Further reading:

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Chess

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin resigns

Euan MacDonald
Kyiv Post
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 13:39 UTC
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin
© Volodymyr Petrov
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin speaks after a press conference in Kyiv on Nov. 2. Media reported that Shokin had submitted his resignation on Feb. 16, hours after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he had asked the official to quit.
Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin resigned on Feb. 16, a Kyiv Post source in his office said.

"Yes, he resigned," the source said.

Several Ukrainian media outlets also reported Shokin's resignation, citing their own sources.

The reports came shortly after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he'd asked his appointed prosecutor, who has failed to bring a single major criminal case to trial in a year, to leave.

"The prosecutor general, unfortunately, wasn't able to win the support of society. So now the issue of the resignation of the prosecutor general is on the agenda," Poroshenko said after the meeting with Shokin. "The same approach should be also applied to the government."

Shokin's deputy Yury Sevruk told the Kyiv Post that Shokin had been on vacation since Feb. 15.

Shokin has been under fire for months by his critics, who accused him of stalling reform in the Prosecutor General's Office, and covering up cases of corruption among his subordinates.

Comment: Poroshenko seems to be re-arranging the chairs on the decks of the Titanic. No doubt the renewed trouble in Ukraine will be exploited once again, and it will be the citizens who suffer.

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Black Cat

More Ukraine turmoil: PM dodges no confidence vote despite president's discontent, protests


RT
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 12:55 UTC
Ukraine protests Yatsenyuk
© Stringer / Sputnik
Ukraine's PM dodges no confidence vote despite president's discontent, protests
A vote of no-confidence on the ousting of PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk's government has failed to secure enough votes in the Ukrainian parliament. The result comes despite President Petro Poroshenko's call for the PM to step down and protests against the current cabinet head.

Only 194 MPs supported to the motion, out of the required 226 on Tuesday, although the lawmakers had previously denounced the cabinet's work saying it had been unsatisfactory.

"To restore confidence in government the president urged the General Prosecutor and PM to resign," said Svyatoslav Tsegolko on his Twitter account.
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Red Flag

Defense Ministry: Estonia doesn't want activists joining anti-migrants patrols


RT
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 21:40 UTC
Soldier of Odin
© Sam Kingsley/AFP
Soldiers of Odin
Activists who want to make the streets of Estonian cities safer should address the national police volunteer organization instead of joining anti-migrant patrols organized by suspicious organizations with questionable aims, the country's defense minister said.

The organization Soldiers of Odin that first emerged in Finland is now also gaining popularity in Estonia. According to the Delfi media outlet, its members are planning to conduct regular street patrols to keep a close eye on refugees. The country has received fewer than 1,000 since the 1990s, and none of the current EU-established quota of 550.

According to open data on Facebook, there are up to 5,000 members of Soldiers of Odin in Estonia. Some of them, Eesti Päevaleht newspaper reports, are high-ranking military officials and members of Kaitseliit (Defense Union), Estonia's volunteer paramilitary unit and an integral part of the national military.

Estonia's Minister of Defense Hannes Hanso has spoken against the members of the national military joining groups with "unclear goals." Law enforcement functions should be reserved for state structures, Hanso said. "Those eager to contribute to the security of the society should side with police voluntary helpers, which stand guard over the values of democratic society, have fulfilled the necessary training and have no criminal past," the minister said.

Hanso made a point that every serviceman and Kaitseliit member has sworn to protect the Estonian state and all of its citizens not selectively but as a whole entity, stressing that patrols of self-proclaimed groups would never help to ensure the feeling of safety of the citizens, and lead "rather to the contrary."

Comment: 'ISIS among the refugees' - Prelude to another European "terror attack"?

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