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Moscow denounces French report on "Syrian chemical weapons" based on social media posts


RT
Sat, 14 Apr 2018 17:49 UTC
French jets attack syria
© Reuters / ECPAD/French Military
French Rafale fighter jets prepare to take off late April 13, 2018 from the Saint-Dizier military base in eastern France in this picture released April 14, 2018 by the French Military
Shortly after the US along with the UK and France launched a missile strike against Syria over an alleged gassing of civilians in Douma, French intelligence services released a report claiming that the Syrian government maintained a covert chemical weapons program since 2013.

Russian Foreign Ministry sharply criticized a report regarding the alleged April 7 chemical attack in Syria published by Paris in an apparent attempt to justify the recent missile strikes against the Middle Eastern country.

"The pretext for the attack, according to the statements made by US officials and the so called secret report recently published by French intelligence agencies, were mass media and social media publications," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Comment: RT adds:
On Saturday, the French Ministry of Defense published a report compiled by the intelligence services regarding the possible use of chemical weapons in the Syrian city of Douma last week.

"French intelligence services estimate that Syria did not declare all of its chemical weapon stockpiles and capabilities with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in October 2013."

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked why France did not come forward with it before the US-led strikes early Saturday.

"It [France] says that it is supposedly a secret report, according to which Damascus has been carrying out certain secret programs for the production of chemical weapons since 2013," Zakharova said on the 60 Minutes program aired on Rossiya-1.

"So where was France? Where were the official representatives of the French Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Defense, the president? Where was France's permanent representative to the UN Security Council? Why did they all remain silent all this time?" Zakharova said.

[...]

On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry presented what it says is proof that the reported chemical weapon attack in Douma was staged. During a briefing, the ministry showed interviews with two people, who, it said, are medical professionals working in the only hospital operating in Douma, near the Syrian capital. In the interviews released to the media, the two men reported how footage was shot of people dousing each other with water and treating children, which was claimed to show the aftermath of the April 7 chemical weapon attack.

According to the ministry, the patients shown in the video suffered from smoke poisoning and the water was poured on them by their relatives after a false claim that chemical weapons were used. "Please, notice. These people do not hide their names. These are not some faceless claims on social media by anonymous activists. They took part in taking that footage," the ministry spokesman noted.

Moscow also accused the British government of pressuring the perpetrators to speed up the "provocation."

"The Russian Defense Ministry also has evidence that Britain had direct involvement in arranging this provocation in Eastern Ghouta," Major-General Igor Konashenkov added, referring to the neighborhood of which Douma is a part. "We know for certain that between April 3 and April 6 the so-called White Helmets were seriously pressured from London to speed up the provocation that they were preparing."

The UK rejected the accusations. The reported chemical weapons attack escalated tensions over Syria, just as Damascus was about to seize full control of Eastern Ghouta. Last week, rebel-linked activists, including the White Helmets group (which has been plagued by allegations of ties to terrorist organizations), accused the Syrian government of carrying out a chemical attack that allegedly affected dozens of civilians in Douma. Damascus, which regards the White Helmets as a foreign-funded terrorist propaganda mouthpiece, rejected these allegations as "fabrications."
The Russians never bluff. Hopefully they will release the information regarding the UK and White Helmet connection soon.

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Attention

'Cynical and illegal': Journalists, activists blast US-led missile strike against Syria


RT
Sat, 14 Apr 2018 18:07 UTC
US President Donald Trump
© Yuri Gripas / Reuters
US President Donald Trump
The US-led missile attack against Syria demonstrates Washington's complete disregard for international law, and its timing, before a proper investigation was conducted, raises serious questions, experts told RT.

Describing Saturday morning's missile attack as illegal, Joe Lauria, an independent journalist and former Wall Street Journal correspondent, told RT that the strike was shocking - but not surprising.

"They did not prove that they were acting under Article 51 of the UN Charter, which is self-defense - the US was not acting in self-defense," Lauria told RT. "They did not get Security Council authorization, and the US Congress did not weigh in on this, so it's illegal internationally and under US law."

The decision to launch the missiles just hours before inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were scheduled to begin a fact-finding mission at the site of the alleged gas attack in Douma on Saturday represents "quite an extraordinary moment," Lauria told RT. "But I should say it's not unusual. The United States has done this kind of thing before," he added.

Comment: See also: Attacked by The Times: The academic working group on Syria, Propaganda and Media for looking at the evidence

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No Entry

Citizen-led group in North Carolina works to stop CIA's secret torture program

Alexandra Moore
The Conversation
Fri, 13 Apr 2018 06:41 UTC
North Carolina Stop Torture Now advocacy group.
© djbiesack, CC BY-NC-SA
North Carolina Stop Torture Now advocacy group.
President Donald Trump's nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel, is reported to have overseen a U.S. site in Thailand where torture of a suspected terrorist took place. Later she allegedly helped destroy evidence of torture.

Her nomination, pending congressional approval, is viewed by many as further evidence of this administration's support of torture and an undoing of Obama-era efforts to end it. Her work was allegedly part of a program the CIA launched after 9/11 called Rendition, Detention and Interrogation. From 2002 to at least 2006, the CIA orchestrated disappearances, torture and indefinite detention without charge of suspected terrorists.

What can a small group of committed citizens who oppose these practices do to push back? A commission against torture in North Carolina may serve as a model for how citizen-led initiatives can create transparency and accountability for abuses of power in government.

North Carolina's Involvement in CIA Torture

In 2005, The New York Times reported that two planes used in the CIA torture program were operated by a contractor based in North Carolina. Forty-nine of the known 119 CIA prisoners were flown from two rural North Carolina airfields to secret prisons or nations with lax policies on torture for violent interrogation. Haspel allegedly oversaw the so-called "black site" in Thailand, starting in 2002 where two of those suspects were held for interrogation.

The revelation about the CIA program angered a number of North Carolinians. They condemned the use of tax dollars to fund an aviation facility that was involved in what they believed was illegal and immoral activity. They wanted to end the state's participation in torture and hold accountable those who were responsible.

Comment: This is it. Right here. The war between people who have humanity and conscience against those who do evil things unapologetically, and happen to hold powerful positions in our government.

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Arrow Up

Russian tech giant dumps SWIFT in favor of domestic alternative


RT
Sat, 14 Apr 2018 18:07 UTC
A Ka-52
© Vitaliy Ankov / Sputnik
A Ka-52 "Alligator" helicopter.
Russian state tech giant Rostec will use Russia's analogue of SWIFT interbank cash transfer services, the company said in a press release.

The tech firm will connect to the Russian system for transfer of financial messages (SPFS) to make its payments safer. "The digital infrastructure will help to exchange data in encrypted mode, which reduces the risk of external intrusion into the system and the likelihood of hacker attacks," Rostec said.

Rostec was established in late 2007 to consolidate strategically important Russian companies. It has divisions in aircraft, electronics, and armaments. It unites companies like Russian Helicopters, Kalashnikov Concern, and Rosoboronexport.

Comment: Slowly but surely Russia is removing itself from the West's death grip, and soon enough, it will be free of it all together: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and anti-Russia Sanctions: Interview with Alex Krainer

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Megaphone

Le Pen: France "lost opportunity to act independently and balanced" by joining illegal strikes on Syria


Sputnik
Sat, 14 Apr 2018 10:38 UTC
France syria bomb
© AP Photo / Hassan Ammar
French involvement in the Western military strikes on Syria deprived Paris of an opportunity to play the role of an independent actor at the international arena, French right-wing National Front party leader Marine Le Pen said on Saturday.

"The strikes on Syria are involving us in unpredictable and potentially dramatic consequences. France has again lost an opportunity to act as an independent and balanced state," Le Pen wrote on her Twitter page.

Earlier in the day, France, along with the United States and the United Kingdom, launched strikes on a number of targets in Syria in response to the alleged chemical incident in the Damascus' suburb of Duma. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the three countries fired over 100 cruise as well as air-to-surface missiles.

Comment: Since Macron took the helm, France has been just another lapdog of the demented Western elites:

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Bullseye

Attacked by The Times: The academic working group on Syria, Propaganda and Media for looking at the evidence

Tim Hayward
Tim Hayward wordpress
Sat, 14 Apr 2018 16:42 UTC
Times Headline April 14 2018
Today I find myself on the front page of The Times, as one of the members of the recently formed academic working group on Syria, Propaganda and Media.

Members of the working group have so far published just one item, a research note on the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury. Although still work in progress, the piece, Update to briefing note "Doubts about Novichoks" has been well-received by academics and serious commentators. It has been singled out by Cornell University's Professor of Organic Chemistry, David B Collum, as the most definitive work on the novichok nerve agent scandal.
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Stop

Signs of sanity: Durham, NC rejects 'military-style training' by Israeli police


Middle East Monitor
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 15:00 UTC
Israeli soldiers

Israeli soldiers during a training session
A US city has rejected "military-style training" by the Israeli police following a local campaign by a wide coalition of human rights activist, according to a 5 April report by local paper the Herald-Sun.

The Durham City Council released a statement expressing its opposition to "international exchanges with any country in which Durham officers receive military-style training since such exchanges do not support the kind of policing we want here in the City of Durham".

"We recognise and share the deep concern about militarisation of police forces around the country. We know that racial profiling and its subsequent harms to communities of colour have plagued policing in our nation and in our own community," the statement added.

"Black lives matter. We can make that phrase real in Durham by rejecting the militarisation of our police force in favour of a different kind of policing, and that is what we are doing in Durham now."

Comment: Unfortunately, other cities in the US have not resisted the IDF's offer to help turn their police into storm troopers:

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Family

Damascus residents gather in city center to support Syrian Army and Assad after bombing


Sputnik
Sat, 14 Apr 2018 14:46 UTC
Syrian girls Assad supporters
© AFP 2018 / Louai Beshara
Damascus - Residents of the Syrian capital of Damascus are gathering in the center of the city to express their support to the country's army and President Bashar Assad after the United States and its allies hit multiple government targets in the country with air strikes.

The attack by United States, the United Kingdom and France was in response to the alleged chemical incident in the Damascus' suburb of Douma.

Dozens of Damascus residents gathered in the city's center waiving Syrian flags and chanting anti-US slogans.

Comment:



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Take 2

Rachel Maddow suggests Trump ordered Syria strikes to 'wag the dog' away from Mueller's investigation

Ross A. Lincoln
The Wrap
Fri, 13 Apr 2018 14:02 UTC
Rachel Maddow MSNBC
© MSNBC
Minutes after Donald Trump's announced U.S. military airstrikes in Syria, Rachel Maddow said on her MSNBC show that no matter how the decision was made, the timing has the appearance of a "wag the dog" situation.

"There are national security consequences to having a presidency that is as chaotic as Mr. Trump's presidency, that is as consumed by scandal and criminal intrigue as his presidency is," Maddow said Friday night, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and the FBI raid on Trump attorney Michael Cohen, among other things.

According to Maddow, enemies and allies alike may believe that Trump "issued the order to launch this strike tonight, even in part, because... he wanted to distract from a catastrophic domestic scandal that is blowing up at home at the same time."

Comment: It's good that Rachel Maddow is questioning the illegal and immoral bombing of Syria - but notice how she is coming from the wrong angle. She is obsessed with the 'Russia collusion' story, when the bigger picture speaks of groups of power and dynamics way beyond impeaching or not impeaching Trump. Would she have been critical if it had been Hillary Clinton who ordered the attacks (and there's no doubt she would have)?

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Map

Small burned out dwelling in Silicon Valley hits property market with $800,000 price tag


RT
Sat, 14 Apr 2018 13:42 UTC
House fire
© Willow Glen Charm / Facebook
A small house with major fire damage was put up for sale for $800,000 in San Jose, California. It's become the latest internet joke about Silicon Valley's property market bubble.

The realtor behind the sale insists on the asking price, saying that the area and the land itself JUSTIFIES it. The small burned-out dwelling is located on a 5,800 sq ft (0.0005 sq km) lot in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood.

"If you are in the market, you know real estate, you know that this is what it's worth and the buyers set the price," realtor Holly Barr told KTVU-TV.
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