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Israeli airstrikes in Syria - was it 'a dialogue by fire'?


RT
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 03:12 UTC
Israeli Helicopter
© RT.com
Israeli helicopter intercepts Iranian drone.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has pounded a dozen targets in Syria and one of its own fighter jets crashed under anti-aircraft fire, sparking fears it may wade deeper into the conflict. But is Israel really looking for a fight?

In the incident on Saturday morning, an Iranian drone allegedly crossed into Israeli territory where it was promptly shot down by an IDF helicopter. The Israeli Air Force then retaliated for the incursion by dispatching its fighter jets to hit government and Iranian targets in Syria, only for one of its F-16s to crash to the ground after coming under heavy anti-aircraft fire.

The Israeli military then launched another series of airstrikes, which a leading commander said was Israel's largest such operation since the 1982 Lebanese campaign.

On the face of it, it does look as though Israel may be wading into a battlefield which has already played host to a myriad of foreign actors. Brigadier General Hossein Salami of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps said his forces could create "hell for the Zionists," while the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern that Israeli involvement could throw the fragile Syrian peace process into jeopardy.


Comment: If Israel didn't want an escalation, it would not have entered Syrian air space and bombed both Syrian and Iranian targets. Israel's aggression hides behind narratives accusing the 'other guy.'

From Sputnik: (Propaganda alert!)
The United States considers the latest incident on the Israeli-Syrian border to be Iran's "calculated escalation" of tension, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Saturday.
"The United States is deeply concerned about today's escalation of violence over Israel's border and strongly supports Israel's sovereign right to defend itself. Iran's calculated escalation of threat and its ambition to project its power and dominance, places all the people of the‎ region - from Yemen to Lebanon - at risk.‎ The U.S. continues to push back on the totality of Iran's malign activities in the region and calls for an end to Iranian behavior that threatens peace and stability," Nauert said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway told Sputnik that the United States is concerned about "destabilizing activities" of Iran and supports Israel's right to defend itself.
"Israel is our closest security partner in the region and we fully support Israel's inherent right to defend itself against threats to its territory and its people. We share the concerns of many throughout the region that Iran's destabilizing activities that threaten international peace and security, and we seek greater international resolve in countering Iran's malign activities," Rankine-Galloway said. The spokesman stressed that the US Defense Department did not take part in this military operation.
From Haaretz:
IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Ronen Manelis said
"We identified an Iranian drone UAV which took off from Syrian territory. The drone was identified by IAF systems and was downed by an IAF helicopter.The Iranian drone fell in our territory and is in our possession."

"As part of the country's defenses, sirens were activated but there was no danger for the residents of Beit She'an. It was decided to attack the trailer from which the Iranians launched the UAV. This was a surgical action deep in Syria, target destroyed."

"This is a serious Iranian attack on Israeli territory. Iran is dragging the region into a situation in which it doesn't know how it will end. We are prepared for a variety of incidents...whoever is responsible for this incident is the one who will pay the price."


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Attention

Iranian security chief on Israel's latest strikes: Era of 'hit-and-run' is over


Sputnik
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 18:55 UTC
Israelitank
© Reuters/Ammar Awad
israeli tank overlooking Mazdal Shams in the Golan Heights
The Iranian security chief has commented on the Israeli airstrikes in Syria on February 10, which triggered retaliatory fire from Syrian air defense.

"The Syrian nation proved this time that it will respond to any act of aggression, as the era of hit and run is over," Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council told reporters in Tehran on Sunday, speaking on the sidelines of rallies marking the victory anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

The official went on by responding to Israel's Defense Forces' report of attacks against "additional Iranian targets in Syria," referring to an alleged Iranian drone in the area.

"The claim by the Zionists (that they have carried out sorties) to damage Iranian bases in Syria is a lie," Ali Shamkhani stated, adding that Iran had an "advisory, not a military presence" in Syria, the security official reiterated, denying Israeli allegations that its warplanes had scrambled in reaction to an Iranian drone.

Shamkhani explained that no forces would fly military jets to hit a drone.

Comment: RT reports Israel intercepted the drone by helicopter and Israel says it has it in its possession. Israel struck Syrian and Iran targets in Syria and a Syrian retaliation downed an Israeli jet that crashed in the Golan Heights. Perhaps this is an example of how information conforms to suit the teller. See also: Israeli airstrikes in Syria - was it 'a dialogue by fire'?

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Arrow Down

Pelosi underwhelms Dems with her Dreamers protest

Heather Caygle
Politico
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 10:36 UTC
Pelosi
© Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor Wednesday for a record-breaking eight hours, vowing to speak - and stand - until Republicans concede protections for so-called Dreamers. But for some members on both ends of her caucus who tuned in, the daylong protest did little to repair the fissure pitting lawmakers against one another on immigration and budget talks.

"There's all kinds of ways, I assure you, that leadership exercises its influence - the least of which is a floor speech," said Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), an unabashed critic of leadership on immigration issues.

Gutiérrez, one of the most vocal members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and who is retiring at the end of this year, has been torching House and Senate Democratic leadership all week over a bipartisan agreement to raise long-term funding levels for defense and domestic programs.

Though Pelosi participated in the negotiations that produced Wednesday's deal, she had the least leverage of all the leaders. That sway diminished even further after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) enthusiastically endorsed the deal. Pelosi could still rally her caucus to oppose the agreement, but at the very real risk of shutting down the government.
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Snakes in Suits

UN human rights chief: 'assault on democracy' in the Maldives


ABC News
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 11:01 UTC
Gayoom
© Deccan Chronicle
President Yameen Abdul Gayoom
The U.N. human rights chief on Wednesday called the declaration of a state of emergency in the Maldives and the resulting suspension of constitutional guarantees an "all-out assault on democracy."

Political turmoil has swept the Maldives since a surprise court ruling last week that ordered the release of jailed opposition leaders, including many of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's main political rivals. He imposed a state of emergency on Monday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said the restrictions "create a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of the president."

Maldives became a multiparty democracy 10 years ago but lost much of those gains after Yameen was elected in 2013. Zeid said in a statement issued by his office in Geneva that Yameen
"has, to put it bluntly, usurped the authority of the state's rule-of-law institutions and its ability to work independently from the executive." What is happening now, he said, "is tantamount to an all-out assault on democracy."
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Magnify

DNA testing may provide answers on thousands of missing babies in Israel

Jonathan Cook
Al Jazeera News
Thu, 08 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
stolen babies
© Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
As many as 8,000 babies may have been stolen or killed in experiments during the early 1950s in Israel
Thousands of Israeli families who have been searching in vain for answers since their babies mysteriously disappeared in the early 1950s - shortly after Israel's creation - have been thrown a lifeline.

The mystery of the missing children has plagued Israel for decades, with evidence mounting that at least some of the babies were trafficked by hospitals and orphanages - possibly with the connivance of Israeli officials.

Other documents indicate some children may have died during experiments conducted by hospitals without the parents' knowledge or consent.

The families hope two new initiatives based on DNA testing - including the opening of graves - will reveal whether their children were abducted, as many have long suspected, or died of natural causes, as Israeli officials maintain.

The vast majority of the children - potentially as many as 8,000 - were from Jewish families that had recently immigrated to Israel from Arab countries such as Yemen, Iraq, Tunisia and Morocco.

The Arab Jews, known in Israel as the Mizrahim, have faced well-documented racism and discrimination from Israeli authorities.


Comment: See: Israel's regime of separation extends to Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews

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Attention

Cuban investigators dismiss sonic weapons as cause of US diplomat's health attacks, theorize it's stress over shifting US-Cuban relations

Mimi Whitefield
Miami Herald
Thu, 08 Feb 2018 17:05 UTC
US Embassy havana cuba
© Emily Michot
Workers at the U.S. Embassy in Havana leave the building on Sept. 29, 2017, after the State Department announced that it was withdrawing all but essential personnel from the embassy because Cuba could no longer guarantee diplomats’ safety.
Cuban investigators have discarded widespread speculation that a sonic weapon is to blame for damaging the health of two dozen American diplomats stationed in Havana.

Among their own theories? That stress over shifting U.S.-Cuba relations could have exacerbated health problems.

Initial news reports in August, citing unnamed U.S. officials, blamed a mysterious host of symptoms - hearing loss, ringing in the ears, disequilibrium, headaches, fatigue, facial and abdominal pain, memory and sleep disorders, mild concussions and nausea - on attacks using a "covert sonic device."

In an exclusive interview with the Miami Herald, five top members of the Cuban team investigating the incidents described their hypotheses and preliminary findings in a case that threatens to put U.S.-Cuba relations in the deep freeze. The United States has already withdrawn most American diplomats from Havana, expelled 17 Cuban diplomats from Washington and warned that Americans should reconsider travel to Cuba and avoid two hotels, the Nacional and Capri.

Comment: See also:

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Bizarro Earth

How liberalism in the US has come to mirror Soviet Russia

Dmitry Babich
The Duran
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 20:24 UTC
Clinton Weinstein
One more sign indicating that the ultra-liberalism now reigning in the US and the EU is a totalitarian ideology akin to Soviet communism or even "puritan" jihadism - that is, ultra-liberalism's control of sexuality.

If in Afghan Taliban-ruled areas women are prohibited from demonstrating sexual initiative, in the Western Taliban, MEN are quickly getting more and more limited in demonstrating sexual initiative.

Jokes about this side of human life are quickly becoming in the West something as "sinful" as showing female hair in the presence of Mullah Omar. (Bush the senior, despite being over 90 years old, got "disciplined" on this by an American Feminaliban member - in the same way an 80 years old "beauty" would be scolded for showing something as natural as white hair in Saudi Arabia.)

The punishments are actually similar for both underprivileged groups in East and West - women in the East and men in the West are getting "pilloried" for sexual misbehavior. Somewhere in Kandahar "sluts" were lapidated until recently - with everyone encouraged to cast a stone. But wasn't everyone encouraged to cast a "media stone" at Harvey Weinstein in much the same way?

Comment:

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Cult

George Galloway: UK crackdown on rich Russians is 'politically driven by Cold War mentality'


RT
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 06:00 UTC
London fog
© Toby Melville / Reuters
The UK government this week issued a warning to oligarchs and rich Russians living in Britain and suspected of corruption.

They will be forced to explain their luxury lifestyles in the UK as part of a crackdown on organized crime, security minister Ben Wallace said. Officials could seize suspicious assets worth more than £50,000 ($70,565).

RT talked to George Galloway, former UK member of parliament, to understand why the British authorities were not concerned about the issue before, when the same wealthy Russians began moving to the UK in the 1990s.

"They were not concerned before because they approved of the wholesale theft of Russia's wealth back then, and the Yeltsin regime which facilitated it," said Galloway.
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MIB

NYT: A Russian spy may have outsmarted US intelligence agents over supposed Trump 'kompromat' - UPDATE


Sputnik
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 18:45 UTC
human eye closeup
© Flickr/ Dennis Skley
US intelligence officials striving to repossess stolen cyberweapons reportedly paid $100,000 to a Russian operative who claimed he possessed not only the hacking tools but what Russians call "kompromat" (compromising material) this time, on President Donald Trump.

The New York Times wrote on Friday that the alleged anonymous Russian spy, took the money but failed to provide the stolen material, nor did he come up with any dirt on Trump.

He actually tried to once, as he handed a short video clip showing a man talking to two women over to a Berlin-based American businessman who was communicating on behalf of the US intelligence agents, but failed to verify it was actually the American President.

No sound could be actually heard on it, which ultimately diminished its importance, although originally it was promised the video would show Trump hanging out with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room back in 2013 - something Mr. President emphatically denied outright.

Comment: Further evidence of Trump derangement syndrome.

Update: Yahoo reports CIA denies story
"The fictional story that CIA was bilked out of $100,000 is patently false," the Central Intelligence Agency said in a statement sent to AFP.

"The people swindled here were James Risen and Matt Rosenberg," the CIA said, referring to Times reporter Rosenberg, who wrote the story, and Risen, a former Times reporter who authored The Intercept's article.

Both reports appeared on Friday.

The president tweeted approvingly that The Times article shows a need to "drain the swamp" in Washington.

[...]

The Intercept reported that the "off-the-books communications channel" with Russia created rifts in the CIA. The agency is led by Trump loyalist Mike Pompeo, but many of its staffers are still smarting over Trump's repeated harsh comments about the intelligence community's role in the Russia meddling investigation.

If that's true, Lieu said, "the CIA Director needs to explain his actions to Congress. He took an oath to the Constitution, not to Trump."

Trump on Saturday referred favorably to the Times article about the Russian who "sold phony secrets on 'Trump' to the US," and noted the operative reportedly had drastically lowered his original price.

"I hope people are now seeing and understanding what is going on here. It is all now starting to come out -- DRAIN THE SWAMP!" he tweeted, in a reference to what he sees as a need for reform.

Trump has frequently criticized the Times, which has published numerous investigative reports about him and his administration, calling it a "failing" newspaper providing "fake news."

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia.

The Times reported that, in the end, the deal with the Russian broke down last month as the Russian failed to come up with any of the sought-after NSA materials, and the Trump-related material was either already known or untrustworthy.

The Russian was told by the Americans to leave Western Europe and not return, according to the Times.


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Newspaper

Trans lobby tries to silence healthy debate

John Carpay
The Post Millenial
Sun, 11 Feb 2018 19:20 UTC
Barry Neufeld

Barry Neufeld
Barry Neufeld dares to say out loud what millions of Canadians are thinking privately but are too afraid to express publicly.

An elected school trustee on the Chilliwack Board of Education, Mr Neufeld has questioned the value and merit of the new "sexual orientation and gender identity" (SOGI) additions to the BC school curriculum.

Comment: Chilliwack school official protests 'transgender education' - and pays the price

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