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Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi: Putin hosts ALL African leaders and 3,000 delegates in gargantuan round of trade talks - UPDATES


RT
Tue, 22 Oct 2019 20:34 UTC

Comment: We can only imagine the conversations that led to this...
Advisor: Mr. President, we were thinking of getting a few African leaders together for talks...

Putin: Yes. How about all of them?

russia africa summit
Heads of African countries have flocked to Russia for a first-of-its-kind summit, where Moscow will be offering business ties and security arrangements alternative to 'colonial-style' relations with the West.

Over the past decade, the African continent has become a battleground for geostrategic competition involving China, the US, and the EU, which compete with each for military access, economic superiority, and soft power supremacy.

Countries like India, South Korea, and Gulf monarchies have interests in Africa too. So does Russia, which has the advantage of old ties in the region and touts itself as an ideology-free pragmatic partner that wouldn't leverage its offers to extort geopolitical allegiances.

"We have something to offer our African friends. This, in particular, will be discussed at the upcoming summit. And of course, we aim, together with our African partners, to uphold common economic interests and protect them from unilateral sanctions, including by reducing the share of the dollar and switching to other currencies in mutual settlements," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a recent interview for TASS.


Comment: That's not all he said.
"We see how an array of Western countries are resorting to pressure, intimidation and blackmail of sovereign African governments. They are using such methods to try to return lost influence and dominance in their former colonies in a new guise and rushing to pump out maximum profits and to exploit the continent."

Comment: By that he doesn't mean that Africa 'stay civilized'; he means that the modern 'scramble for Africa' between competing geopolitical interests stay civilized.

This is why when people equate Chinese activities in Africa with past (and present) Western ones, they have no idea what they're talking about.

UPDATE 23 Oct 12:00 CET

The deals are coming in thick and fast. So far...

Russia writes off African debt worth over $20 BILLION
Moscow has written off more than $20 billion in debt accumulated by African countries during the Soviet era. [...]

"It was not only an act of generosity, but also a manifestation of pragmatism, because many of the African states were not able to pay interest on these loans," Putin told TASS on the eve of the summit.

While addressing the Russia-Africa forum in Sochi, he called for trade between Russia and African countries to be doubled in the next four to five years.
Russia aims to double agricultural exports to Africa

Russia & Niger ink deal for delivery of MI-35 combat helicopters
A contract for the supply of 12 Mi-35 attack helicopters has been sealed by Russia and Niger on Wednesday in Sochi at the Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum.

Niger's Foreign Minister Kalla Ankourao said the aircraft will be used to fight the Boko Haram terrorist organization.
Russia & Ethiopia agree cooperation on peaceful use of nuclear energy
An intergovernmental agreement for cooperation on peaceful use of nuclear energy has been signed by Moscow and Addis Ababa, according to the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.
UPDATE 23 Oct 21:00 CET

Driving the message home for Washington, two Russian 'Blackjack' Tu-160 strategic bombers have just landed in South Africa "for joint military exercises..."



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Heart - Black

Only Cowards, Sadists And Sellouts Support The Persecution of Assange

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Tue, 22 Oct 2019 20:37 UTC
assange court
© Matt Dunham/Associated Press
Julain Assange is taken from court, where he appeared on charges of jumping bail seven years ago, in London.
Former British ambassador Craig Murray has published a very disturbing account of Julian Assange's court appearance yesterday which I recommend reading in full. There have been many reports published about Assange's case management hearing, but the combination of Murray's prior experience with torture victims, his familiarity with British courts, his friendship with Assange, and his lack of reverence for western power structures allowed for a much more penetrating insight into what happened than anyone else has been able to provide so far.

Here is a small excerpt:

Comment: Ruptly (again) managed to get more footage of Assange, this time inside a paddywagon transporting him from court back to prison:



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Caesar

Indian PM Modi is winning his biggest war, and it's not against Pakistan

Ashish Shukla
RT
Tue, 22 Oct 2019 20:03 UTC
modi crowd rally
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has engaged in his country's most significant war - the war against extreme poverty. Based on personal experience, he has transformed India on several parameters beyond belief.

Modi, who could well win a popular five-year mandate for the third time in 2024, would by then be within touching distance of lifting India's entire populace from the dumps of extreme poverty. The World Bank reckons this could happen as early as 2030.

Some 364 million Indians - a bigger number than the entire population of the United States - are still extremely poor, but this figure has been halved from 640 million to 369 million (from 55 percent to 28 percent) in the last decade, most of which progress occurred during Modi's first term (2014-2019).


Comment: That's jaw-dropping. At this rate, they'll do it in half the time it took China.


Extreme poverty isn't about the money you have in your pockets, which incidentally is less than $1.90 per day in monetary terms. Global standards follow the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which focuses on health, education and living standards; measuring them through 10 indicators of nutrition, child mortality, schooling years, school attendance, sanitation, cooking fuel, drinking water, electricity, housing, and assets. Those who are lacking in one-third of these parameters are considered extremely poor.

Comment: Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

If you just get basic services and infrastructure to people, not 'jobs', they'll do the rest themselves. India is doing this at a time when it's easier and cheaper than ever before to roll out mass infrastructure, but still, it takes high levels of organization and leadership to make it happen.

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Bad Guys

Trump authorizes $4.5m in funding to terrorist public relations organization in Syria


RT
Tue, 22 Oct 2019 20:03 UTC

Comment: Donald, Donald, Donald. And you were doing so well on Syria...


White Helmets and terrorists Nusra
© Youtube / ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ALDEBARAN
White Helmets, seen here celebrating with Nusra extremists
US president Donald Trump has authorized $4.5 million in aid to the so-called Syrian Civil Defense (SCD), aka "White Helmets," calling their work "important and highly valued." The group's critics point to its terrorist ties.

"Over the course of the 8-year conflict in Syria, the SCD has rescued more than 115,000 people, including many ethnic and religious minorities," the White House said, announcing the aid on Tuesday.

However, the source of this figure is the group itself, and it has not been independently verified. Likewise, the organization has only been around since 2013.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Fiona Hill: Schiff's top witness, connected to Soros and the Deep State

Joe Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Fiona Hill
© Fox News
Fiona Hill
Corrupt and compulsive liar Adam Schiff is attempting to unseat the President of the United States Donald Trump using characters like Fiona Hill. The list of her connections to corrupt players in the Deep State is long and wide.

As we previously mentioned Roger Stone outed Fiona Hill in 2017 as a Deep State spy in the White House under then NSA Advisor General H. R. McMaster. The George Soros connected traitor was outed by Israeli spies as was reported by Stone at InfoWars.

InfoWars reported on Hill and suggested she may be one of the current deep state anti-Trump "whistleblowers:"
The second White House whistleblower in the Democrats' Ukraine witch hunt is none other than George Soros operative Fiona Hill, Infowars has learned.

Infowars was contacted by sources close to the president confirming our suspicions that Fiona Hill is definitely one of the so-called White House whistleblowers involved in the current Ukraine witch hunt against President Trump.

Infowars first reported that Hill worked as a mole for Soros when Trump confidante Roger Stone broke the bombshell in May 2017, revealing that Hill was serving as Soros' mole under the supervision of former NSA adviser H.R. McMaster.

The video below shows Trump confidante Roger Stone in July 2017 warning that he was told he would be "targeted for annihilation" by the FBI for exposing the mole. Stone was raided by the FBI and arrested in January.


Comment: For more on Fiona Hill's past connections, see also:

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Quenelle

Bernie Sanders: 'It's outrageous to suggest Gabbard is a foreign asset'

John Bowden
The Hill
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 06:39 UTC

Comment: A bit slow on the ball there, Bernie...

Oh well, better late than never.


Bernie/Tulsi
© John Taggart/Bloomberg/Getty Images/Twitter
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders • Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) lashed out Monday at critics of fellow 2020 presidential hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) including Hillary Clinton, after Clinton and others suggested that Gabbard is a "foreign asset" for Russia amid reports that Moscow's online bots and trolls are supporting her campaign.

In a tweet, the Vermont senator and runner-up for the 2016 Democratic nomination called such accusations "outrageous," pointing to Gabbard's background as a military veteran.

Sanders's comments come after Clinton said during a podcast on Thursday that she believes Moscow is "grooming" a candidate, clearly referring to Gabbard, to run as a third-party candidate and split the Democratic vote in 2020. "I'm not making any predictions, but I think they've got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate," Clinton said.

Comment: From RT, 22/10/2019:


See also:

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Star of David

Central American dictators: Jerusalem is their ticket to influence US policy

James North
Mondoweiss
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Guatemala embassy Jerusalem
© Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara stand with Hilda Patricia Marroquin, wife of Guatemala President Jimmy Morales (center) as she cuts the ribbon during the dedication ceremony of the Guatemala Embassy in Jerusalem.
Here's the latest debacle for the United States in Central America, the region that has already sent several hundred thousand refugees fleeing northward. On Friday, a New York court found the brother of Honduras's dictator guilty of drug trafficking. Angry anti-regime demonstrations erupted all over Honduras, but the U.S. showed no sign that it will abandon the dictator, Juan Orlando Hernández. (A poor New York Times article rattled on at unnecessary length about the specifics of the case, but took until paragraph 24 to briefly point out that the Hernández regime is sustained by Washington.)

What's the Israel connection? First, let's be clear; the U.S. all by itself has promoted one crisis after another across Central America since back in the 1980s, when the Reagan administration supported and financed right-wing allies in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua who murdered tens of thousands of their countrymen who were only struggling for a better life.

And back in 2009, before Donald Trump was anywhere near the White House, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tacitly approved a right-wing coup d'etat in Honduras, in which the elected president was kidnapped and flown out of the country.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

Another term for Trudeau? Liberals win plurality

Justin Wise
The Hill
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 10:47 UTC
Justin Trudeau
© UPI
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
Justin Trudeau is poised to serve another term as Canadian prime minister after his Liberal Party earned a plurality of seats in the general election, according to projections from CBC News.

The news network is projecting that the Liberals will form a minority government.


The official results will be announced once all of the votes are counted, according to NBC News. Trudeau's victory comes after polls indicated he would be pitted in a tight race against the Conservative Party's Andrew Scheer.
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Binoculars

Putin-Erdogan agreement: Russian & Syrian forces to deploy to northeastern Syria, police limit of Turkey's operation zone


RT
Tue, 22 Oct 2019 19:36 UTC

Comment: And so Damascus regains more territory, step-by-step...


putin erdogan sochi
© Reuters / Mustafa Kamaci
Russian military police and Syrian servicemen will be deployed to northeastern Syria, while Turkey's operation 'Peace Spring' will continue in a limited area, presidents of the two countries have agreed after lengthy talks.

Moscow understands the reasons behind the ongoing Turkish military incursion into Syria, Putin said, though he stressed it must not play into the hands of terrorists and that the territorial integrity of Syria must be preserved. Ultimately, the country must be freed from all "illegal foreign military presence," the President added, reiterating Moscow's long-time position.

The almost-seven-hour-long talks in Sochi, Russia were focused on the situation in Syria, particularly the ongoing offensive in its northeastern region.

Comment: In case readers haven't seen such footage, American forces withdrawing from northeastern Syria got a rough send-off from locals:



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Bullseye

Everyone is a Russian asset

Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone
Mon, 21 Oct 2019 11:02 UTC
Tulsi Gabbard
© Charlie Neibergall/AP/Shutterstock
Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard reacts as she listens to a question from the audience during the Presidential Gun Sense Forum, in Des Moines, Iowa.
America laughed at Hillary Clinton's remarks about Tulsi Gabbard, but her ideas fit perfectly in the intellectual mainstream

Hillary Clinton, not long ago the nominee of the Democratic Party, had some choice words about the state of American politics Friday.

"I'm not making any predictions, but I think they've got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate," Clinton said on a podcast with former Barack Obama aide David Plouffe. "She's the favorite of the Russians."

Clinton appeared to be talking about Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a combat veteran. She wasn't done, teeing off on former Green Party candidate Jill Stein:

"[Jill Stein's] also a Russian asset... Yeah, she's a Russian asset — I mean, totally. They know they can't win without a third-party candidate."

Comment: See also:

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