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Thread: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Quote Posted by Iyakum (here)
    @ Herve,
    [...]
    Iyakum, have a look at this thread: When Vested Interests Take Education over...
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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    ‘Americans will RESPAWN al-Baghdadi’: Assad casts doubt on ISIS leader’s death, draws parallels with Bin Laden’s killing

    RT
    31 Oct, 2019 21:26
    Updated 1 hour ago
    Get short URL


    FILE PHOTO. © Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresenskiy / Global Look Press

    Take any words from US politicians with a grain of salt, Syria’s Bashar Assad has urged, as he cast doubt on the story of the Islamic State leader being killed in US a raid, and compared it to the shady killing of Osama Bin Laden.

    The widely publicized US special forces raid that allegedly killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group, left more questions than answers and it should not be taken at the face value, the Syrian President cautioned, during a lengthy interview with state media on Thursday.

    Damascus did not participate in the raid by any means, Assad stated, adding that he'd learned about the claim only through media reports. Adding imaginary participants into the operation is likely supposed to give it credibility, he added, while countries on such a list would likely be flattered to be a “part of a ‘great’ operation.”
    We do not need such credit. We are the ones fighting terrorism. We have no relations and have had no contact with any American institutions.

    Washington’s loud praise of its own actions, a picture of the ‘hero dog’ that took part in the raid and footage purportedly of the aerial strikes have not convinced Assad if it “actually took place or not.” Moreover, he thought the whole affair suspiciously resembled the 2011 killing of another notorious terrorist – Al Qaeda’s head Osama Bin Laden.
    “Why were the remains of Baghdadi not shown? This is the same scenario that was followed with Bin Laden. If they are going to use different pretexts in order not to show the remains, let us recall how [former Iraqi] President Saddam Hussein was captured and how the whole operation was shown from A to Z; they showed pictures and video clips after they captured him.”
    The killing of Saddam’s sons was also well-documented and widely publicized, Assad went on to add, suggesting that the Americans “hide everything” about both the killing of bin Laden and that of al-Baghdadi for a reason.
    This is part of the tricks played by the Americans. That is why we should not believe everything they say unless they come up with evidence. American politicians are actually guilty until proven innocent, not the other way around.
    All in all, it’s unlikely that death of the IS leader – if he really was killed – and even the ultimate destruction of the terrorist group would change anything, Assad said. The root of the problem – the Wahhabi ideology that is “more than two centuries old” would not disappear at once. The radical Islamist thought and al-Baghdadi were merely US tools all along, Assad claimed, adding that those tools could easily be re-purposed elsewhere.
    “I believe the whole thing regarding this operation is a trick. Baghdadi will be recreated under a different name, a different individual, or ISIS in its entirety might be reproduced as needed under a different name but with the same thought and the same purpose. The director of the whole scenario is the same, the Americans.”
    Related:
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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Quote How is it that 3 years after the liberation of Aushwitz, there was a Nakba in Palestine?
    A talk given by Gilad at Chester Interfaith Palestine 2019 (2.1.2019). Zionist and Israel's advocacy groups were desperate to cancel the scholarly oriented gathering of many local peace enthusiasts. But the pro- Israeli bigoted efforts backfired - - the interest in the conference grew immediately, the local community stood for palestine, peace and harmony...

    the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated --- Gandhi

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Quote Posted by Akasha (here)
    Quote How is it that 3 years after the liberation of Aushwitz, there was a Nakba in Palestine?
    A talk given by Gilad at Chester Interfaith Palestine 2019 (2.1.2019). Zionist and Israel's advocacy groups were desperate to cancel the scholarly oriented gathering of many local peace enthusiasts. But the pro- Israeli bigoted efforts backfired - - the interest in the conference grew immediately, the local community stood for palestine, peace and harmony...

    Only thing i would like to say is that mixing groups or generalizing is not a great way to make positions clear, i'm not quite sure about what you think of people from Israel due to this, as opposed to the government or some specific groups otherwise.

    I mean i understand what's going on but i always noticed sometimes the line is blurred between exposing a corrupt group and basically pointing the finger to an entire country, regardless of what they did/did not or if they even support their government.

    I have seen it and experienced it myself way too many times already so i always try to avoid falling into that situation
    Last edited by Mashika; 5th November 2019 at 06:15.
    Tired

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Quote Posted by Mashika (here)
    Only thing i would like to say is that mixing groups or generalizing is not a great way to make positions clear, i'm not quite sure about what you think of people from Israel due to this, as opposed to the government or some specific groups otherwise.

    I mean i understand what's going on but i always noticed sometimes the line is blurred between exposing a corrupt group and basically pointing the finger to an entire country, regardless of what they did/did not or if they even support their government.

    I have seen it and experienced it myself way too many times already so i always try to avoid falling into that situation
    Akasha said "Zionist and Israel's advocacy groups..." Probably the same groups mentioned in The Lobby

    Nowhere in Akasha's post does he/she point at or blame the entire country of Israel

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III


    by Thierry Meyssan Voltaire Network
    Damascus (Syria) 12 November 2019

    We only know what is happening in the Levant through the war propaganda of the country in which we live. We ignore other points of view and, more importantly, how our armies have behaved. To disentangle the true from the false, historians will have to examine the available documents. However, what the Western military literature tells us contradicts the statements of politicians and the narrative in the newspapers. It is only by becoming aware of the existence of the Pentagon’s strategy since 2001 that we will be able to understand what really happened and why such contradictions are occurring today.





    The remodeling of the Levant according to the Pentagon headquarters in the Levant. This map was described by Colonel Ralph Peters in an article on September 13, 2001, but he did not publish it until 2006.

    We do not understand what is happening in northern Syria because we believe a priori that there was a fight between the evil Daesh jihadists and the kind Kurds of the PKK/YPG. That is absolutely not true. This struggle existed only to limit their respective territories or out of ethnic solidarity, never for ideological or religious reasons.

    On the other hand, we do not see the role played by Donald Trump. As the press spends its time insulting the President-elect of the United States, it cannot be counted on to analyze and understand its policy in the broader Middle East. However, it has a clear guideline: the end of the Rumsfeld/Cebrowski doctrine, a legacy of 9/11. In doing so, he opposes his generals - all trained under the Bush Jr and Obama mandates to govern the world - and the Western European political class.

    To understand what is happening, we must take the facts upstream and not downstream. Let us return to the plan drawn up by the Pentagon at the beginning of the Bush administration in 2001 and revealed, two days after the attacks of September 11, by Colonel Ralph Peters in Parameters [1], the review of the US Army: the "remodelling" of the world, starting with the broader Middle East. This plan was confirmed a month later by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who appointed its main designer, Admiral Arthur Cebrowski, Director of the Force Transformation Office. It was explained by his assistant, Thomas Barnett, in 2005 in The Pentagon’s New Map [2]. And illustrated by the same Ralph Peters when he published the map in the Armed Forces Journal in 2006 for the first episode: what the broader Middle East was to become [3]. Given the difficulties encountered in the field, it was the subject of an amendment published by a Pentagon researcher, Robin Wright, in the Sunday supplement of the New York Times [4] in 2013.

    According to these documents, five States were to be dismembered into fourteen entities: Syria and Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Saudi Arabia.


    Map published by Robin Wright in 2013, one year before Daesh’s transformation and before that of the PKK/YPG.

    With regard to Syria and Iraq, these two States were to be divided into four. The map published in 2013 outlines a "Sunnistan" and a "Kurdistan", both straddling the two current states. The following year, the first was created by Daesh, the second by the YPG. At the time this map was published, Daesh was just one of hundreds of tiny anti-Syrian terrorist organizations; while the PYG was a pro-government militia whose fighters’ salaries were paid by the Syrian Arab Republic. There was nothing on the ground to predict the creation of the Caliphate and Rojava wanted by the Pentagon.

    The Turkish Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem [5] published the decision statement of the meeting during which the CIA prepared the way Daesh would invade Iraq from Raqqa. This document indicates that Masrour "Jomaaa" Barzani, then Head of Intelligence of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, attended this planning meeting on 1 June 2014 in Amman, Jordan. He became Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government last July.

    It is important to note that, according to Robin Wright’s map, US "Kurdistan" should include northeastern Syria (like French "Kurdistan" of 1936) and the Kurdish region of Iraq (which the French had not considered).

    The support of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government for Daesh’s invasion of Iraq is indisputable: it allowed jihadists to massacre Kurds of Yazi religion in Sinjar and enslave their women. Those who were rescued were rescued by Turkish and Syrian Kurds who had come specially to assist them under the mocking eye of the peshmergas, the Iraqi Kurdish soldiers.

    Daesh committed many atrocities, imposing its reign through terror. Il carried out a religious cleansing against the Yazidi Kurds, Assyrian Christians, Shia Arabs etc. These "rebels" have received financial and military assistance from the CIA, the Pentagon and at least 17 states, as reported and documented by the Bulgarian daily newspapers Trud [6] and the Croatian Jutarnji list [7]. With trained staff in Fort Benning (USA), Daesh collected taxes and opened public services until it became a "state" although no one recognized it as such.

    We do not know how the PKK transformed itself in 2005 from a pro-Soviet Marxist-Leninist political party into a pro-Atlantic libertarian and environmentalist militia. And even less how the Syrian YPG operated its transformation in 2014. It came under the operational command of Turkish officers from the PKK and NATO. Depending on the side of the Turkish-Syrian border, the PKK-YPG is internationally qualified differently. If it is positioned in Turkey, it is "a terrorist organization", but if it is in Syria, it becomes "a political party opposed to the dictatorship". Yet until 2014, it did not see a dictatorship in Syria. It was fighting for the defence of the Syrian Arab Republic and the retention of President Bashar al-Assad in power.

    The YPG has respected the laws of war and has not committed atrocities comparable to those of Daesh, but it has not hesitated to ethnically clean up the north-east of Syria to create the "Rojava", which constitutes a crime against humanity. It despoiled and expelled hundreds of thousands of Assyrians and Arabs. It thought it was fighting for its people, but it was only making the Pentagon’s dreams come true. To do so, it publicly benefited from the Pentagon’s armament, as well as the British military weekly Jane’s [8] and the Italian daily Il Manifesto [9] have shown, and France, as François Hollande has revealed. Rojava did not have time to merge with the Kurdish region of Iraq.

    After the fall of the Caliphate, among other things under the blows of the PKK/PYG, the latter asked the Damascus government for permission to cross the lines of the Syrian Arab army to rescue the North-West Kurds threatened by the Turkish army. Permission was granted.. But when the PKK/YPG moved, it was transporting fugitive Daesh officers who were arrested by the Syrian Arab Republic.

    These documents and facts do not tell us which protagonists are right or wrong, that is another matter. But on the ground, it is impossible to be both against Daesh and for the PKK/YPG without falling into irreconcilable contradictions.

    Donald Trump’s actions consisted in destroying the pseudo-states manufactured by the Pentagon: the Caliphate and the Rojava; this does not mean the end of Daesh or the end of the PKK/YPG.


    Translation Roger Lagassé


    [1] “Stability, America’s Ennemy”, Ralph Peters, Parameters, Winter 2001-02, pp. 5-20. Also in Beyond Terror: Strategy in a Changing World, Stackpole Books.

    [2] The Pentagon’s New Map, Thomas P. M. Barnett, Putnam Publishing Group, 2004.

    [3] “Blood borders - How a better Middle East would look”, Colonel Ralph Peters, Armed Forces Journal, June 2006

    [4] “Imagining a Remapped Middle East”, Robin Wright, The New York Times Sunday Review, 28 septembre 2013.

    [5] « Yer : Amman, Tarih : 1, Konu : Musul », Akif Serhat, Özgür Gündem, 6 temmuz 2014.

    [6] “350 diplomatic flights carry weapons for terrorists”, Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, Trud, July 2, 2017.

    [7] “TAJNA LETOVA JORDANSKIH AVIONA S PLESA Sirijski pobunjenici dobivaju oružje preko Zagreba!”, Krešimir Žabec, Jutarnji list, 23 veljača 2013. «TRANSFER HRVATSKOG ORUŽJA POBUNJENICIMA U SIRIJI Sve je dogovoreno prošlog ljeta u Washingtonu!», Krešimir Žabec, Jutarnji list, 26 veljača 2013. “VIDEO: JUTARNJI OTKRIVA U 4 mjeseca za Siriju sa zagrebačkog aerodroma Pleso otišlo 75 aviona sa 3000 tona oružja!”, Krešimir Žabec, Jutarnji list, 7 ožujak 2013. “PUT KROZ ASADOVU SIRIJU Nevjerojatna priča o državi sravnjenoj sa zemljom i njezinim uništenim ljudima: ’Živote su nam ukrali, snove ubili...’”, Antonija Handabaka, Jutarnji list, 9 ožujak 2013.

    [8] “US arms shipment to Syrian rebels detailed”, Jeremy Binnie & Neil Gibson, Jane’s, April 7th, 2016.

    [9] “Da Camp Darby armi Usa per la guerra in Siria e Yemen”, Manlio Dinucci, Il Manifesto, 18 aprile 2017. English translation : “From Camp Darby US weapons for the war in Syria and Yemen”, by Manlio Dinucci, Translation Anoosha Boralessa, Voltaire Network, 18 April 2017.
    Last edited by Hervé; 27th November 2019 at 19:55.
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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    [QUOTE=Mashika;1322111]
    Quote Posted by Akasha (here)
    I have seen it and experienced it myself way too many times already so i always try to avoid falling into that situation
    By posting a response you are falling into that situation.
    When you oppose or challenge an opinion here, you start a flaming war. Many time I prefer to be smart rather than correct.
    Post for the guests not for the members.
    We are playing a virtual reality game, of duality. In the game of choices, align your choices with your ideals. Everything is whole, complete and perfect. Even yourself. Love is the power to change/create.

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Quote Posted by Mashika (here)
    Quote Posted by Akasha (here)
    Quote How is it that 3 years after the liberation of Aushwitz, there was a Nakba in Palestine?
    A talk given by Gilad at Chester Interfaith Palestine 2019 (2.1.2019). Zionist and Israel's advocacy groups were desperate to cancel the scholarly oriented gathering of many local peace enthusiasts. But the pro- Israeli bigoted efforts backfired - - the interest in the conference grew immediately, the local community stood for palestine, peace and harmony...

    Only thing i would like to say is that mixing groups or generalizing is not a great way to make positions clear, i'm not quite sure about what you think of people from Israel due to this, as opposed to the government or some specific groups otherwise.

    I mean i understand what's going on but i always noticed sometimes the line is blurred between exposing a corrupt group and basically pointing the finger to an entire country, regardless of what they did/did not or if they even support their government.

    I have seen it and experienced it myself way too many times already so i always try to avoid falling into that situation
    Hi Mashika

    The words in my post, apart from the quote which was from Gilad during his presentation, were quickly cut and pasted from the “about” section below the video on Youtube. It is not in any way generalising but is a concise report on exactly what happened by those groups which identify under those labels as they tried (and failed) to silence Gilad (again).

    Regarding what I think of people of Israel, I am disappointed that collectively, they seem happy, even proud of the apartheid perception they conjure to onlookers given their ongoing actions and attitude towards the Palestinians. Of course within that collective, I am extremely sympathetic to those who oppose the ongoing atrocities against the Palestinian people. Unfortunately though, it is all too clear that they are a minority.

    If you haven’t already, please watch the video and, if you like, share your thoughts on what Gilad is saying.

    All the best.
    the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated --- Gandhi

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Quote Posted by Hervé (here)
    .....five States were to be dismembered into fourteen entities: Syria and Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Saudi Arabia.....
    Text book balkanization, or in other words and to quote Wiki' (safely for once),

    Quote .....the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or uncooperative with one another.....
    Many here will be familiar with Israeli foreign policy strategist, Oded Yinon, but for those who are not and for some invaluable context regarding the initial quote in this post, please read the following two articles:

    Greater Israel and the Balkanization of the Middle East - Oden Yinon's Strategy for Israel

    Greater Israel - The Zionist Plan for the Middle East
    Last edited by Akasha; 14th November 2019 at 22:21.
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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    RAY McGOVERN: Ukraine For Dummies
    November 14, 2019

    Ray McGovern: Ukraine For Dummies

    There was no excuse for Congress’ ignorance of Ukraine. Here is a guide to help.

    By Ray McGovern
    Special to Consortium News

    At Wednesday’s debut of the impeachment hearings there was one issue upon which both sides of the aisle seemed to agree, and it was a comic-book caricature of reality.

    House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff led off the proceedings with this: “In 2014, Russia invaded a United States ally, Ukraine, to reverse that nation’s embrace of the West, and to fulfill Vladimir Putin’s desire to rebuild a Russian empire…”

    Five years ago, when Ukraine first came into the news, those Americans who thought Ukraine was an island in the Pacific can perhaps be forgiven. That members of the House Intelligence Committee don’t know — or pretend not to know — more accurate information about Ukraine is a scandal, and a consequential one.

    As Professor Stephen Cohen has warned, if the impeachment process does not deal in objective fact, already high tensions with Russia are likely to become even more dangerous.

    So here is a kind of primer for those who might be interested in some Ukraine history:

    Late 1700s: Catherine the Great consolidated her rule; established Russia’s first and only warm-water naval base in Crimea.

    In 1919, after the Bolshevik Revolution, Moscow defeated resistance in Ukraine and the country becomes one of 15 Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

    Khrushchev: Gave Crimea away. (Wikipedia)

    In 1954, after Stalin’s death the year before, Nikita Khrushchev, a Ukrainian, assumed power. Pandering to Ukrainian supporters, he unilaterally decreed that henceforth Crimea would be part of the Ukrainian SSR, not the Russian SSR. Since all 15 Republics of the USSR were under tight rule from Moscow, the switch was a distinction without much of a difference — until later, when the USSR fell apart..

    Nov. 1989: Berlin wall down.

    Dec. 2-3, 1989: President George H. W. Bush invites Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to summit talks in Malta; reassures him “the U.S. will not take advantage” of Soviet troubles in Eastern Europe. Bush had already been pushing the idea of a Europe whole and free, from Portugal to Vladivostok.

    A Consequential Quid Pro Quo

    Feb. 7-10, 1990: Secretary of State James Baker negotiates a quid pro quo; Soviet acceptance of the bitter pill of a reunited Germany (inside NATO), in return for an oral U.S. promise not to enlarge NATO “one inch more” to the East.

    Dec. 1991: the USSR falls apart. Suddenly it does matter that Khrushchev gave Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR; Moscow and Kyiv work out long-term arrangements for the Soviet navy to use the naval base at Sevastopol.

    Name:  ukraine map.png
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    The quid pro quo began to unravel in October 1996 during the last weeks of President Bill Clinton’s campaign when he said he would welcome Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO — the earlier promise to Moscow notwithstanding. Former U.S. Ambassador to the USSR Jack Matlock, who took part in both the Bush-Gorbachev early-December 1989 summit in Malta and the Baker-Gorbachev discussions in early February 1990, has said, “The language used was absolute, including no ‘taking advantage’ by the U.S. … I don’t see how anybody could view the subsequent expansion of NATO as anything but ‘taking advantage,’ particularly since, by then, Russia was hardly a credible threat.” (From 16 members in 1990, NATO has grown to 29 member states — the additional 13 all lie east of Germany.)

    Feb. 1, 2008: Amid rumors of NATO planning to offer membership to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warns U.S. Ambassador William Burns that “Nyet Means Nyet.” Russia will react strongly to any move to bring Ukraine or Georgia into NATO. Thanks to WikiLeaks, we have Burns’s original cable from embassy in Moscow.

    April 3, 2008: Included in Final Declaration from NATO summit in Bucharest: “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO.”

    Early September 2013: Putin helps Obama resist neocon demands to do “shock and awe” on Syria; Russians persuade President Bashar al-Assad to give up Syrian army chemical weapons for destruction on a U.S. ship outfitted for chemical weapons destruction. Neocons are outraged over failing to mousetrap Obama into attacking Syria.

    Meanwhile in Ukraine

    Nuland-Pyatt Leaked Phone Conversation



    Dec. 2013: In a speech to the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland says: “The United States has supported Ukraine’s European aspirations. … We have invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine.”

    Feb. 4, 2014: Amid rioting on the Maidan in Kiev, YouTube carries Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s last minute instructions to U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt regarding the U.S. pick for new Ukrainian prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk (aka “Yats”) and other plans for the imminent coup d’etat in Kiev. When Pyatt expresses concern about EU misgivings about mounting a coup, Nuland says “**** the EU.” She then apologizes to the EU a day or two later — for the profanity, not for the coup. She also says that Vice President Joe Biden will help “glue this thing together”, meaning the coup.

    Feb. 22, 2014: Coup d’etat in Kyiv; appropriately labeled “the most blatant coup in history” by George Friedman, then President of the widely respected think-tank STRATFOR.

    Feb. 23, 2014: The date that NATO, Western diplomats, and the corporate media have chosen – disingenuously – as the beginning of recent European history, with silence about the coup orchestrated in Kyiv the day before. President Vladimir Putin returns to Moscow from the winter olympics in Sochi; confers with advisers about Crimea, deciding — unlike Khrushchev in 1954 — to arrange a plebiscite to let the people of Crimea, most of whom strongly opposed the coup regime, decide their own future.

    March 16, 2014: The official result from the voters in Crimea voted overwhelmingly for independence from Ukraine and to join Russia. Following the referendum, Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and asked to join the Russian Federation. On March 18, the Russian Federal Assembly ratified the incorporation of Crimea into Russia.

    In the following days, Putin made it immediately (and publicly) clear that Yatsenyuk’s early statement about Ukraine joining NATO and – even more important – the U.S./NATO plans to deploy ABM systems around Russia’s western periphery and in the Black Sea, were the prime motivating forces behind the post-referendum re-incorporation of Crimea into Russia.

    No one with rudimentary knowledge of Russian history should have been surprised that Moscow would take no chances of letting NATO grab Crimea and Russia’s only warm-water naval base. The Nuland neocons seized on the opportunity to accuse Russia of aggression and told obedient European governments to follow suit. Washington could not persuade its European allies to impose stringent sanctions on Russia, though, until the downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17 over Ukraine.

    Airplane Downed; 298 Killed

    July 17, 2014: MH 17 shot down

    July 20, 2014: Secretary of State John Kerry told NBC’s David Gregory, “We picked up the imagery of this launch. We know the trajectory. We know where it came from. We know the timing. And it was exactly at the time that this aircraft disappeared from the radar.” The U.S., however, has not shared any evidence of this.

    Given the way U.S. intelligence collectors had been focused, laser-like, on that part of the Ukrainian-Russian border at that time, it is a near certainty that the U.S. has highly relevant intelligence regarding what actually happened and who was most likely responsible. If that intelligence supported the accusations made by Kerry, it would almost certainly have been publicized.

    Less than two weeks after the shoot-down, the Europeans were persuaded to impose sanctions that hurt their own businesses and economies about as much as they hurt Russia’s – and far more than they hurt the U.S. There is no sign that, in succumbing to U.S. pressure, the Europeans mustered the courage to ask for a peek at the “intelligence” Kerry bragged about on NBC TV.

    Oct. 27, 2016: Putin speaks at the Valdai International Discussion Club.

    How did the “growing trust” that Russian President Putin wrote about in his
    September 11, 2013 New York Times op-ed evaporate?

    How did what Putin called his close “working and personal relationship with President Obama” change into today’s deep distrust and saber-rattling? A short three years later after the close collaboration to resolve the Syrian problem peacefully, Putin spoke of the “feverish” state of international relations and lamented: “My personal agreements with the President of the United States have not produced results.” And things have gone downhill from there.

    Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. His 27 years as a CIA analyst included leading the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and conducting the morning briefings of the President’s Daily Brief. In retirement he co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

    Consortium News does not necessarily agree or disagree with all positions taken by its columnists.
    A million galaxies are a little foam on that shoreless sea. ~ Rumi

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Kevin Barrett and Gilad Atzmon on Netanyahu's Indictment:

    the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated --- Gandhi

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Hungarian Jewish physician and best-selling author, Gabor Maté shares his thoughts on the weaponisation of anti-semitism and how it is negatively affecting the diaspora’s perception of “The Promised Land”.

    the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated --- Gandhi

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    With the scenario in mind of a Moscow-Kiev based axis the Ukranian-Israeli oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky in a New York Times interview recently said;

    Quote "Russian tanks will be stationed near Krakow and Warsaw. Your NATO will be soiling its pants and buying Pampers"
    and;

    Quote "They’re stronger anyway,” he said of Moscow. “We have to improve our relations. People want peace, a good life, they don’t want to be at war. And you” – i.e. the United States – “are forcing us to be at war, and not even giving us the money for it."
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------


    The Oligarch Makes a Comeback in America’s ‘Strategic Ally’ Ukraine

    strategic-culture.org
    November 26, 2019
    Daniel Lazare



    The New York Times is not known for its wit, but an interview it recently published with the Ukrainian billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky was little less than side-splitting. A big bearish man who doesn’t believe in shades of gray – except when it comes to his own whiskers – Kolomoisky didn’t hold back when it came to American double-dealing and his belief that a rapprochement with Russia is the Ukraine’s only way out.

    “They’re stronger anyway,” he said of Moscow. “We have to improve our relations. People want peace, a good life, they don’t want to be at war. And you” – i.e. the United States – “are forcing us to be at war, and not even giving us the money for it.”

    That’s not what a parade of State Department personnel are telling the House intelligence committee these days. To a person, they agree that the US policy is tip-top, exemplary, brilliantly designed to help poor little Ukraine get back on its feet and fend off Russian aggression. Yet here was a Ukrainian oligarch saying the opposite: that Washington is using Kiev for its own selfish ends and that Moscow is looking better and better by comparison.

    “You won’t all take us,” Kolomoisky said of NATO and the Ukraine’s long-standing bid for membership. “There’s no use in wasting time on empty talk. Whereas Russia would love to bring us into a new Warsaw Pact.”

    Then came the kicker: if Kiev ends up joining forces with Moscow, then “Russian tanks will be stationed near Krakow and Warsaw. Your NATO will be soiling its pants and buying Pampers.”

    Where the Polish-American strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski once advised using a pliant Ukraine to encircle Russia, Kolomoisky was now warning that Russia might join with the Ukraine in encircling Poland.

    What makes this all the more extraordinary is that Kolomoisky is not some minor player, but the power behind the throne of an increasingly beleaguered Volodymyr Zelensky.

    Zelensky, of course, is the comedian who began his climb to fame on a Kolomoisky-owned TV channel known as 1+1 and who then used his hit sitcom, “Servant of the People,” a show about an ordinary man running for president, to launch his own real-life presidential bid.

    Zelensky ran on an anti-corruption platform just as the fictional Zelensky did on TV, and he won handily just as he did on TV as well. It’s proof that if Paris was the surrealist capital of the world in the 1930s, Kiev is the same today.

    The result is to make Zelensky doubly or even triply beholden to his former business partner. The New Yorker reports that he’s flown thirteen times by private jet to Geneva and Tel Aviv where Kolomoisky has homes.

    His fellow traveler on many of those flights, it adds, was Andriy Bohdan, Kolomoisky’s lawyer and now the president’s chief of staff. According to Ukrainian press reports, eleven members of Zelensky’s parliamentary faction may have accepted bribes of up to $30,000 to block an anti-corruption measure aimed at a Kolomoisky ally named Anton Yatsenko.

    Then there’s Valeria Gontareva, former head of the Ukraine’s central bank, whom Kolomoisky’s supporters helped drive out of town in 2017. This was after she wrested away control of a financial institution known as PrivatBank from which Kolomoisky had allegedly looted $5.5 billion and all but driven into insolvency.

    After Zelensky took office in May, a car plowed into the 55-year-old Gontareva as she was crossing a street in central London, putting her in a wheelchair. After that, someone set fire to her son’s car in Kiev. Then someone torched her family home.

    “Revenge,” Gontareva calls it. Zelensky stayed mum while one of his old 1+1 pals regaled audiences with a satirical song about a house burning down and a woman “weeping in London.”

    Suggesting that the attacks were fake, Alexander Dubinsky, a 1+1 veteran who is a member of Zelensky’s parliamentary faction, urged his 130,000 Facebook followers to begin a letter-writing campaign to get Gontareva fired from the London School of Economics where she is on a fellowship.

    All of which suggests that Kolomoisky is not the type to forgive or forget and that Zelensky is not the type to rein him in. If so, then Kolomoisky’s comments about US-Ukrainian relations are the opinion not of a lone individual, but of a major faction of the Ukrainian ruling class.

    This is worth keeping in mind as one impeachment witness after another pillories Donald Trump for supposedly undermining the Ukraine. Based on Kolomoisky’s remarks to the Times, it’s not Trump who’s responsible for the Ukrainian disaster, but decades of US policy.

    By pumping in $5 billion to “insure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine,” as former State Department boss Victoria (“**** the EU”) Nuland put it, the US triggered a cascade of events that were little short of catastrophic.

    It encouraged the Nazi-spearheaded 2014 Euromaidan coup, which took a weak state and rendered it even weaker by triggered a parallel revolt in the Russian-speaking east. It tossed out a corrupt pro-Russian president named Viktor Yanukovych and brought in the pro-American president Petro Poroshenko, who may have been even worse.

    Now it has brought in Zelensky, a nice guy who may well prove to be the most disastrous of all because he seems to be little more than a stand-in for an oligarch so outrageous that he puts all other oligarchs to shame.

    It’s not as if the experts weren’t warned. Back in 2014, when the New York Times was celebrating Kolomoisky as a hero of the battle against anti-Semitism, the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz described him much more accurately as a crude mob boss who spews profanities and insults; who keeps a massive shark-filled tank in his office so he can toss in live shrimp and watch how visitors react to the resultant feeding frenzy, and who was once spotted wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “Zhidobandera” – a double insult aimed at Jews (“Zhid” is an ethnic slur) and Ukrainian nationalists (known as “Banderovtzi” by opponents because they worship the World War II Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera).

    Vladimir Putin issued a similar warning around the same time. Kolomoisky’s crookedness, he said, was “unique.”

    “He even managed to cheat our oligarch Roman Abramovich two or three years ago,” the Russian president observed of the billionaire owner of England’s Chelsea soccer team. “Scammed him, as our intellectuals like to say. They signed some deal, Abramovich transferred several billion dollars, while this guy never delivered and pocketed the money. When I asked, ‘Why did you do it?’ he [Abramovich] said, ‘I never thought this was possible.’”

    But who listens to Putin? And who bothers to read Haaretz? If the Russians said that Kolomoisky was a no-goodnik, the State Department assumed that he had to be the opposite. But now that he turns out to be precisely the gonif that Putin said he was, the experts are blaming Trump, Zelensky, and Russia – everyone and anyone, that is, except themselves.

    Source

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Quote Posted by Sophocles (here)
    Vladimir Putin issued a similar warning around the same time. Kolomoisky’s crookedness, he said, was “unique.”
    For sure! Kolomoisky stole about 5.6 billion USD from the US and IMF loans to Ukraine. The reason for Kolomoisky's sudden change of heart toward Russia is pretty obvious.

    Emphasis is mine:

    Quote Waring Sides

    Side 1: Igor Kolomoisky and allies

    After the US refused to support Petro Poroshenko in the last presidential elections, leading to his defeat, Kolomoisky is the most powerful and most aggressive of what was left of Ukrainian post-Soviet oligarchy. Kolomoisky was a former ally of Poroshenko, he supported Western-backed Maidan coup of 2014, and then funded first neo-Nazi battalions for the civil war in the east of the country. In 2016 through his bank PrivatBank stole about 5.6 billion USD from the US and IMF loans to Ukraine with the help of then-president Poroshenko and head of Ukrainian national bank Valerya Hontareva. Kolomoisky then used money to buy different assets in the USA itself. That angered US government (back then during Barack Obama’s presidency) and IMF, who forced Poroshenko and Hontareva to nationalize PrivatBank, leading to the conflict between Poroshenko and Kolomoisky. The battle that Kolomoisky had lost and was forced to leave Ukrainian politics. Kolomoisky, Ukrainian government, PrivatBank, US government, and IMF fight over those 5.6 billion ever since in numerous court cases in Ukraine, Great Britain, and the USA.

    After last elections of 2019 and the defeat of Poroshenko, Kolomoysky is back in power. He controls Ukrainian security and police apparatus via his ally Arsen Avakov -Ukrainian minister of internal affairs. He also controls largest faction inside ruling party of president Zelensky. Zelensky himself is close to Kolomoyski as he was working for TV channel owned by Kolomoisky. Work that made him popular in Ukraine. Popularity that in turn was crucial for his election victory. One can say that it was his work for Kolomoisky that made him president.

    Arsen Avakov is a shadowy figure controlling not just Ukrainian security and police services and National Guard but also neo-Nazi and radical organizations and paramilitary formations in Ukraine. Avakov is also former Poroshenko’s ally and minister who played a crucial role in civil war and suppression of the opposition. However, sensing the changes in the political climate, he betrayed Poroshenko before elections and switched sides allying with Kolomoisky. As a result, he was able to keep his post as a minister of internal affairs in the new government.

    --- snip ---

    But that’s not all. Even more dangerous for Kolomoisky is that the FBI had instituted criminal proceedings concerning his shenanigans. The investigation that threatens Kolomoisky with extradition to the USA. The trip that he is unlikely to return from, regardless even of his Israeli citizenship. Thus Kolomoisky is fighting not just for his (stolen) money, but his very survival.

    That’s also probably the reason for his sudden change of heart toward Russia in his well-timed interview to the Washington Post, although that’s nothing more than a rather weak and transparent attempt to scare his opponents in USA.
    http://thesaker.is/war-in-ukraine-th...en-told-about/

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    I believe this goes here

    Newsweek reporter resigns after accusing outlet of SUPPRESSING story about OPCW leak that undermines Syria ‘gas attack’ narrative

    Quote A reporter for Newsweek says he has quit his job after his editor allegedly refused to publish an article about an internal email that raises serious questions about the OPCW’s findings on an alleged gas attack in Douma, Syria.
    “Yesterday I resigned from Newsweek after my attempts to publish newsworthy revelations about the leaked OPCW letter were refused for no valid reason,” Tareq Haddad tweeted out on Saturday.
    --

    Reporter Accuses Newsweek of Muzzling 'Inconvenient Info' on OPCW Probe of Syrian Chemical Attack
    Quote The journalist accused his former employer of acting in a biased way by "suppressing" his story about the leaked letter along with some evidence in another article, which contained "info inconvenient to the US government" despite it being "factually correct", while releasing other stories related to the OPCW probe. A Newsweek spokesperson commented on Haddad’s accusations in response to a Fox News’ request for comment, stating that "the writer pitched a conspiracy theory rather than an idea for objective reporting" and that this pitch was rejected by the outlet’s editors.

    Haddad didn't elaborate any further on what information was allegedly muzzled by Newsweek, but announced his intention to publish the full story "shortly". He also showed interest in revealing facts proving that Newsweek had originally supressed the story, but said his former employer threatened him with legal action, citing "confidentiality clauses" in his contract.
    Tired

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    The interview that Italian Rai News 24 refrained from broadcasting…President al-Assad: Europe was the main player in creating chaos in Syria-video




    sana.sy/en
    9 December، 2019


    Damascus, SANA-President Bashar al-Assad said that Syria is going to come out of the war stronger and the future of Syria is promising and the situation is much better, pointing out to the achievements of the Syrian Arab army in the war against terrorism.

    The President, in an interview given to Italian Rai News 24 TV on November 26,2019 and was expected to be broadcast on December 2nd and the Italian TV refrained from broadcasting it for non-understandable reasons, added that Europe was the main player in creating chaos in Syria and the problem of refugees in it was because of its direct support to terrorism along with the US, Turkey and many other countries.

    President al-Assad stressed that since the beginning of the narrative regarding the chemical weapons, Syria has affirmed it didn’t use them.

    The President affirmed that what the OPCW organization did was to fake and falsify the report about using chemical weapons, just because the Americans wanted them to do so. So, fortunately, this report proved that everything we said during the last few years, since 2013, is correct.


    Following is the full text of the interview;


    Question 1: Mr. President, thanks for having us here. Let us know please, what’s the situation in Syria now, what’s the situation on the ground, what is happening in the country?

    President Assad: If we want to talk about Syrian society: the situation is much, much better, as we learned so many lessons from this war and I think the future of Syria is promising; we are going to come out of this war stronger.

    Talking about the situation on the ground: The Syrian Army has been advancing for the last few years and has liberated many areas from the terrorists, there still remains Idleb where you have al-Nusra that’s being supported by the Turks, and you have the northern part of Syria where the Turks have invaded our territory last month.

    So, regarding the political situation, you can say it’s becoming much more complicated, because you have many more players that are involved in the Syrian conflict in order to make it drag on and to turn it into a war of attrition.

    Question 2: When you speak about liberating, we know that there is a military vision on that, but the point is: how is the situation now for the people that decided to be back in society? The process of reconciliation, now at what point? Is it working or not?

    President Assad: Actually, the methodology that we adopted when we wanted to create let’s say, a good atmosphere – we called it reconciliation, for the people to live together, and for those people who lived outside the control of government areas to go back to the order of law and institutions. It was to give amnesty to anyone, who gives up his armament and obey the law. The situation is not complicated regarding this issue, if you have the chance to visit any area, you’ll see that life is getting back to normal.

    The problem wasn’t people fighting with each other; it wasn’t like the Western narrative may have tried to show – as Syrians fighting with each other, or as they call it a “civil war,” which is misleading. The situation was terrorists taking control of areas, and implementing their rules. When you don’t have those terrorists, people will go back to their normal life and live with each other. There was no sectarian war, there was no ethnical war, there was no political war; it was terrorists supported by outside powers, they have money and armaments, and they occupy those areas.

    Question 3: Aren’t you afraid that this kind of ideology that took place and, you know, was the basis of everyday life for people for so many years, in some ways can stay in the society and sooner or later will be back?

    President Assad: This is one of the main challenges that we’ve been facing. What you’re asking about is very correct. You have two problems. Those areas that were out of the control of government were ruled by two things: chaos, because there is no law, so people – especially the younger generation – know nothing about the state and law and institutions.

    The second thing, which is deeply rooted in the minds, is the ideology, the dark ideology, the Wahabi ideology – ISIS or al-Nusra or Ahrar al-Cham, or whatever kind of these Islamist terrorist extremist ideologies.

    Now we have started dealing with this reality, because when you liberate an area you have to solve this problem otherwise what’s the meaning of liberating? The first part of the solution is religious, because this ideology is a religious ideology, and the Syrian religious clerics, or let’s say the religious institution in Syria, is making a very strong effort in this regard, and they have succeeded; they succeeded at helping those people understanding the real religion, not the religion that they’ve been taught by al-Nusra or ISIS or other factions.

    Question 4: So basically, clerics and mosques are part of this reconciliation process?

    President Assad: This is the most important part. The second part is the schools. In schools, you have teachers, you have education, and you have the national curriculum, and this curriculum is very important to change the minds of those young generations. Third, you have the culture, you have the role of arts, intellectuals, and so on. In some areas, it’s still difficult to play that role, so it was much easier for us to start with the religion, second with the schools.

    Question 5: Mr. President, let me just go back to politics for an instant. You mentioned Turkey, okay? Russia has been your best ally these years, it’s not a secret, but now Russia is compromising with Turkey on some areas that are part of Syrian area, so how do you assess this?

    President Assad: To understand the Russian role, we have to understand the Russian principles. For Russia, they believe that international law – and international order based on that law – is in the interest of Russia and in the interest of everybody in the world. So, for them, by supporting Syria they are supporting international law; this is one point. Secondly, being against the terrorists is in the interest of the Russian people and the rest of the world.

    So, being with Turkey and making this compromise doesn’t mean they support the Turkish invasion; rather they wanted to play a role in order to convince the Turks that you have to leave Syria. They are not supporting the Turks, they don’t say “this is a good reality, we accept it and Syria must accept it.” No, they don’t. But because of the American negative role and the Western negative role regarding Turkey and the Kurds, the Russians stepped in, in order to balance that role, to make the situation… I wouldn’t say better, but less bad if you want to be more precise. So, in the meantime, that’s their role. In the future, their position is very clear: Syrian integrity and Syrian sovereignty. Syrian integrity and sovereignty are in contradiction with the Turkish invasion, that is very obvious and clear.

    Question 6: So, you’re telling me that the Russians could compromise, but Syria is not going to compromise with Turkey. I mean, the relation is still quite tense.

    President Assad:
    No, even the Russians didn’t make a compromise regarding the sovereignty. No, they deal with reality. Now, you have a bad reality, you have to be involved to make some… I wouldn’t say compromise because it’s not a final solution. It could be a compromise regarding the short-term situation, but in the long-term or the mid-term, Turkey should leave. There is no question about it.

    Question 7:
    And in the long-term, any plan of discussions between you and Mr. Erdogan?

    President Assad:
    I wouldn’t feel proud if I have to someday. I would feel disgusted to deal with those kinds of opportunistic Islamists, not Muslims, Islamists – it’s another term, it’s a political term. But again, I always say: my job is not to be happy with what I’m doing or not happy or whatever. It’s not about my feelings, it’s about the interests of Syria, so wherever our interests go, I will go.

    Question 8: In this moment, when Europe looks at Syria, apart from the considerations about the country, there are two major issues: one is refugees, and the other one is the Jihadists or foreign fighters coming back to Europe. How do you see these European worries?

    President Assad:
    We have to start with a simple question: who created this problem? Why do you have refugees in Europe? It’s a simple question: because of terrorism that’s being supported by Europe – and of course the United States and Turkey and others – but Europe was the main player in creating chaos in Syria. So, what goes around comes around.

    Question 9: Why do you say it was the main player?

    President Assad: Because they publicly supported, the EU supported the terrorists in Syria from day one, week one or from the very beginning. They blamed the Syrian government, and some regimes like the French regime sent armaments, they said – one of their officials – I think their Minister of Foreign Affairs, maybe Fabius said “we send.” They sent armaments; they created this chaos. That’s why a lot of people find it difficult to stay in Syria; millions of people couldn’t live here so they had to get out of Syria.

    Question 10: In this moment, in the region, there are turmoil, and there is a certain chaos. One of the other allies of Syria is Iran, and the situation there is getting complicated. Does it have any reflection on the situation in Syria?

    President Assad: Definitely, whenever you have chaos, it’s going to be bad for everyone, it’s going to have side-effects and repercussions, especially when there is external interference. If it’s spontaneous, if you talk about demonstrations and people asking for reform or for a better situation economically or any other rights, that’s positive. But when it’s for vandalism and destroying and killing and interfering from outside powers, then no – it’s definitely nothing but negative, nothing but bad, and a danger on everyone in this region.

    Question 11: Are you worried about what’s happening in Lebanon, which is really the real neighbor?

    President Assad: Yes, in the same way. Of course, Lebanon would affect Syria more than any other country because it is our direct neighbor. But again, if it’s spontaneous and it’s about reform and getting rid of the sectarian political system, that would be good for Lebanon. Again, that depends on the awareness of the Lebanese people in order not to allow anyone from the outside to try to manipulate the spontaneous movement or demonstrations in Lebanon.

    Question 12: Let’s go back to what is happening in Syria. In June, Pope Francis wrote you a letter asking you to pay attention and to respect the population, especially in Idleb where the situation is still very tense, because there is fighting there, and when it comes even to the way prisoners are treated in jails. Did you answer him, and what did you answer?

    President Assad: The letter of the Pope was about his worry for civilians in Syria and I had the impression that maybe the picture in the Vatican is not complete. That’s to be expected, since the mainstream narrative in the West is about this “bad government” killing the “good people;” as you see and hear in the same media – every bullet of the Syrian Army and every bomb only kills civilians and only hospitals! they don’t kill terrorists as they target those civilians! which is not correct.

    So, I responded with a letter explaining to the Pope the reality in Syria – as we are the most, or the first to be concerned about civilian lives, because you cannot liberate an area while the people are against you. You cannot talk about liberation while the civilians are against you or the society. The most crucial part in liberating any area militarily is to have the support of the public in that area or in the region in general. That has been clear for the last nine years and that’s against our interests.

    Question 13: But that kind of call, in some ways, made you also think again about the importance of protecting civilians and people of your country.

    President Assad: No, this is something we think about every day, not only as morals, principles and values but as interests. As I just mentioned, without this support – without public support, you cannot achieve anything… you cannot advance politically, militarily, economically and in every aspect. We couldn’t withstand this war for nine years without the public support and you cannot have public support while you’re killing civilians. This is an equation, this is a self-evident equation, nobody can refute it. So, that’s why I said, regardless of this letter, this is our concern.

    But again, the Vatican is a state, and we think that the role of any state – if they worry about those civilians, is to go to the main reason. The main reason is the Western role in supporting the terrorists, and it is the sanctions on the Syrian people that have made the situation much worse – and this is another reason for the refugees that you have in Europe now. You don’t want refugees but at the same time you create the situation or the atmosphere that will tell them “go outside Syria, somewhere else,” and of course they will go to Europe. So, this state, or any state, should deal with the reasons and we hope the Vatican can play that role within Europe and around the world; to convince many states that you should stop meddling in the Syrian issue, stop breaching international law. That’s enough, we only need people to follow international law. The civilians will be safe, the order will be back, everything will be fine. Nothing else.

    Question 14:
    Mr. President, you’ve been accused several times of using chemical weapons, and this has been the instrument of many decisions and a key point, the red line, for many decisions. One year ago, more than one year ago, there has been the Douma event that has been considered another red line. After that, there has been bombings, and it could it have been even worse, but something stopped. These days, through WikiLeaks, it’s coming out that something wrong in the report could have taken place. So, nobody yet is be able to say what has happened, but something wrong in reporting what has happened could have taken place.

    President Assad: We have always – since the beginning of this narrative regarding the chemical weapons – we have said that we didn’t use it; we cannot use it, it’s impossible to be used in our situation for many reasons, let’s say – logistical reasons.

    Intervention:
    Give me one.

    President Assad: One reason, a very simple one: when you’re advancing, why would you use chemical weapons?! We are advancing, why do we need to use it?! We are in a very good situation so why use it, especially in 2018? This is one reason.

    Second, very concrete evidence that refutes this narrative: when you use chemical weapons – this is a weapon of mass destruction, you talk about thousands of dead or at least hundreds. That never happened, never – you only have these videos of staged chemical weapons attacks. In the recent report that you’ve mentioned, there’s a mismatch between what we saw in the video and what they saw as technicians or as experts. The amount of chlorine that they’ve been talking about: first of all, chlorine is not a mass destruction material, second, the amount that they found is the same amount that you can have in your house, it exists in many households and used maybe for cleaning and whatever. The same amount exactly. That’s what the OPCW organisation did – they faked and falsified the report, just because the Americans wanted them to do so. So, fortunately, this report proved that everything we said during the last few years, since 2013, is correct. We were right, they were wrong. This is proof, this is concrete proof regarding this issue. So, again, the OPCW is biased, is being politicized and is being immoral, and those organisations that should work in parallel with the United Nations to create more stability around the world – they’ve been used as American arms and Western arms to create more chaos.

    Question 15: Mr. President, after nine years of war, you are speaking about the mistakes of the others. I would like you to speak about your own mistakes, if any. Is there something you would have done in a different way, and which is the lesson learned that can help your country?

    President Assad: Definitely, for when you talk about doing anything, you always find mistakes; this is human nature. But when you talk about political practice, you have two things: you have strategies or big decisions, and you have tactics – or in this context, the implementation. So, our strategic decisions or main decisions were to stand against terrorism, to make reconciliation and to stand against the external meddling in our affairs. Today, after nine years, we still adopt the same policy; we are more adherent to this policy. If we thought it was wrong, we would have changed it; actually no, we don’t think there is anything wrong in this policy. We did our mission; we implemented the constitution by protecting the people.

    Now, if you talk about mistakes in implementation, of course you have so many mistakes. I think if you want to talk about the mistakes regarding this war, we shouldn’t talk about the decisions taken during the war because the war – or part of it, is a result of something before.

    Two things we faced during this war: the first one was extremism. The extremism started in this region in the late 60s and accelerated in the 80s, especially the Wahabi ideology. If you want to talk about mistakes in dealing with this issue: then yes, I will say we were very tolerant of something very dangerous. This is a big mistake we committed over decades; I’m talking about different governments, including myself before this war.

    The second one, when you have people who are ready to revolt against the order, to destroy public properties, to commit vandalism and so on, they work against their country, they are ready to go and work for foreign powers – foreign intelligence, they ask for external military interference against their country. So, this is another question: how did we have those? If you ask me how, I would tell you that before the war we had more than 50,000 outlaws that weren’t captured by the police for example; for those outlaws, their natural enemy is the government because they don’t want to go to prison.

    Question 16: And how about also the economic situation? Because part of it – I don’t know if it was a big or small part of it – but part of it has also been the discontent and the problems of population in certain areas in which economy was not working. Is it a lesson learned somewhere?

    President Assad:
    It could be a factor, but definitely not a main factor. Some people talk about the four years of drought that pushed the people to leave their land in the rural areas to go to the city… it could be a problem, but this is not the main problem. They talked about the liberal policy… we didn’t have a liberal policy, we’re still socialist, we still have a public sector – a very big public sector in government. You cannot talk about liberal policy while you have a big public sector. We had growth, good growth.

    Of course, in the implementation of our policy, again, you have mistakes. How can you create equal opportunities between people? Between rural areas and between the cities? When you open up the economy, the cities will benefit more, that will create more immigration from rural areas to the cities… these are factors, that could play some role, but this is not the issue. In the rural areas where you have more poverty, the money of the Qataris played a more actual role than in the cities, that’s natural. You pay them in half an hour what they get in one week; that’s very good for them.

    Question 17: We are almost there, but there are two more questions that I want to ask you. One is about reconstruction, and reconstruction is going to be very costly. How can you imagine to afford this reconstruction, who could be your allies in reconstruction?

    President Assad:
    We don’t have a big problem with that. Talking that Syria has no money… no, actually Syrians have a lot of money; the Syrian people around the world have a lot of money, and they want to come and build their country. Because when you talk about building the country, it is not giving money to the people, it’s about getting benefit – it’s a business. So, many people, not only Syrians, want to do business in Syria. So, talking about where you can have funds for this reconstruction, we already have, but the problem is that these sanctions prevent those businessmen or companies from coming and working in Syria. In spite of that, we started and in spite of that, some foreign companies have started finding ways to evade these sanctions and we have started planning. It’s going to be slow, without the sanctions we wouldn’t have a problem with funding.

    Question 18: Ending on a very personal note, Mr. President; do you feel like a survivor?

    President Assad: If you want to talk about a national war like this, where nearly every city has been harmed by terrorism or external bombardment and other things, then you can talk about all the Syrians as survivors. I think this is human nature: to be a survivor.

    Intervention: And you yourself?

    President Assad: I’m a part of those Syrians. I cannot be disconnected from them; I have the same feeling. Again, it’s not about being a strong person who is a survivor. If you don’t have this atmosphere, this society, or this incubator to survive, you cannot survive. It’s collective; it’s not a single person, it’s not a one-man show.

    Journalist: Thank you very much, Mr. President.

    President Assad: Thank you.



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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Looks like things are getting pretty (bloody) serious at the Greek border after Erdogan opened Turkeys western borders:


    Erdoğan says border will stay open as Greece tries to repel influx

    Thousands of migrants gather on Turkey-Greece border amid Erdogan threat

    FIERCE clashes, tear gas at border as Greece vows to ‘turn back’ flow of migrants from Turkey (VIDEOS)


    Rocks vs. tear gas:




    This Twitter link shows representatives of NGO’s arriving at Lesbos being sent home by locals.

    This Twitter link shows a short interview with an Afghan guy at the border. He says he was just released from Turkish prison after 1 month and wants to go to Europe for a better life. He also says they have no money or phones.

    -----------------------------------

    Added March 5. - EU statement:

    Quote While the Council acknowledges the increased migratory burden and risks Turkey is facing on its territory and the substantial efforts it has made in hosting 3,7 million migrants and refugees, it strongly rejects Turkey's use of migratory pressure for political purposes. This situation at EU’s external borders is not acceptable.
    Full text
    Last edited by Sophocles; 5th March 2020 at 06:02. Reason: Info added

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Report exposes relations between Turkey and the Islamic State

    Saturday, 27 Jul 2019
    anfenglishmobile.com

    The Rojava Center for Strategic Studies (NRLS) published a detailed report on the foreign relations of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization and the Turkish state.




    The report showed with concrete evidences how the Erdogan regime played a central role also in ISIS increased financial and military strength.

    These relations have a negative impact on stability and development in the Middle East, said the NRLS, causing "the loss of security and stability in Syria, the displacement of millions, the deaths of hundreds of thousands, massive destruction of infrastructure, and the loss of Syrian national identity."

    The documentation of the relations between the Turkish state and the Islamic State relies on the testimonies of a number of IS elements and their families, interviews with prisoners, and the observations and research conducted by NRLS in the archives of military forces, security forces and news agencies operating in North and East Syria.

    The documents that have been collected, said the report, "indicate the issues that determine the relationship between Turkey and IS."

    The report exposed the reality of the security, military, economic and political relations between them. The most prominent feature, said the report, "is that the Turkish authorities allowed foreign fighters and their families to travel back and forth across the border with Syria, and also turned a blind eye to IS activities in Turkey while hardening repression on the political forces advocating democracy and human rights. They also provided military and security support to IS indirectly, and made security, financial, and business agreements with ISIS."

    The report analyse above all three types of relations between Turkey and the Islamic State: security relations, military relations and financial and commercial relations.


    Security Relations between Turkey and ISIS

    The report states: "The documents in our possession contain a number of secret agreements, such as the facilitation of the passage of foreign jihadists and their families across the Turkish border into the areas controlled by ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the treatment of ISIS wounded in Turkish hospitals, overlooking ISIS activities in Turkey, attacking the Self-Administration in Rojava - North and East Syria, and carrying out massacres against the Kurds.

    In exchange for these agreements, ISIS committed to handing over Turkish nationals to the Turkish authorities, not considering Turkey an enemy to ISIS, a monopoly of the oil trade and stolen antiquities, and most importantly, supporting the Turkish state policy aimed at preventing the establishment of any democratic entity which would the Kurds their rights, and carrying out military operations against them."

    The report then lists a number of testimonies that confirm the links and relations.


    Military relations

    As to military relations perhaps one of the most interesting testimonies is that of Yaseen Akumi, known as Abu al-Battar al-Jabali, a prominent ISIS commander.

    The report describes him like this: "Yaseen Akumi, known as Abu al-Battar al-Jabali, is a Moroccan born in 1989. He was the commander of the Saifullah al-Maslool Battalion, which included around 100 members of various nationalities. He joined ISIS in June 2013 and participated in the second massacre of civilians in Kobane in 2015, led by the commander of Kobane campaign Abu al-Battar al-Misri. He was aided by two commanders, a Chechen and Bosnian, at the command center in the city of Raqqa. He was captured by the YPG after the death of most of his group. He was described by the anti-terror units affiliated to SDF as a dangerous extremist and a suicide bomber."

    The report quotes Akumi as confirming that "he had travelled from Casablanca airport in Morocco to Istanbul airport as a tourist, and was not subjected to any questioning or security procedures either at the airport or in the hotel. During his transport from Istanbul airport to the city of Antakya, there was no interference from Turkish border guards as he crossed the border through Mount Turkmen to Latakia via a Turkish smuggler whose Arabic language was weak."

    Akumi also confirmed that "the main objective in taking control of the city of Kobane in June 2015 was to control the border gate between Kobane and Turkey, and stressed that the commander of the operation, Abu Hafsa, assured them that there would be no direct interference from Turkish authorities if ISIS controlled the border gate."

    He also confirmed that "ISIS wounded members received the necessary medical care in Turkish hospitals, and that Turkish authorities were aware of this.

    Furthermore Akumi confirmed that "ISIS used the money obtained from oil trade in the purchase of weapons; that Turkey is ready to agree with any faction, on the condition that they fight against Kurds; that Turkey employs jihadists to serve its policies. He stressed that Turkey cares about the Turkmen, Chinese, Kazakhs and others, and does not give importance to the Arab jihadists, but rather seeks to kill them in Syria by using them to fight their enemies and protect their interests."

    Finally, Akumi underlined that "the sex-slave trade targeted only Kurdish Yezidi women, and no woman was taken as a captive from any other minority group. He said this was systematic against Yezidis. (This is consistent with the processes of demographic change and ethnic cleansing practiced by Turkey in the region of Afrin against the Kurdish people there, in particular the Yezidis.)"


    Commercial and financial relations

    The report said: "The obtainment of financial and logistic resources for ISIS is no less important than ISIS’s military activity. Through these resources, ISIS procured different weapons and financed their terrorist operations around world.

    An organization without money cannot make travel arrangements for its members or buy necessary equipment like weapons, cars, and communication devices. In addition, it must propagandize and publishing its philosophy and ideology on paper and electronically, and finance its military operations. Giving any financial aid to ISIS is just as dangerous as giving direct military support.

    Most of ISIS’s trade was done with Turkish individuals and companies, and it would never have happened if the Turkish authorities had not nipped this type of activity in the bud. Until now, Turkey applies martial law and anti-terrorism laws. Because of this, any type of activity cannot be done without the advance knowledge of Turkish intelligence – especially in the buying of electronic devices, weapons, oil, etc."


    Source

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    Developing story - in response to missile attacks on Riyadh and other cities, intercepted thankfully, the Saudis are mobilising their air force. Planes taking off now.
    we have subcontracted the business of healing people to Companies who profit from sickness.

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    Default Re: Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

    A timely reminder for those of you who have yet to watch it that we have Zero Days in the Avalon Library which is more than relevant to what has been reported here today in the Observer (Sunday Guardian) newspaper.

    This is by all accounts an alarming story, with precedent.

    ZERO DAYS - 2016 documentary directed by Alex Gibney



    _____________

    Israel appears to confirm it carried out cyberattack on Iran nuclear facility
    Shutdown happened hours after Natanz reactor’s new centrifuges were started

    Martin Chulov - Middle East correspondent
    April 11, 2021

    Source: Guardian

    Israel appeared to confirm claims that it was behind a cyber-attack on Iran’s main nuclear facility on Sunday, which Tehran’s nuclear energy chief described as an act of terrorism that warranted a response against its perpetrators.

    The apparent attack took place hours after officials at the Natanz reactor restarted spinning advanced centrifuges that could speed up the production of enriched uranium, in what had been billed as a pivotal moment in the country’s nuclear programme.

    As Iranian authorities scrambled to deal with a large-scale blackout at Natanz, which the country’s Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged had damaged the electricity grid at the site, the Israeli defence chief, Aviv Kochavi, said the country’s “operations in the Middle East are not hidden from the eyes of the enemy”.

    Israel imposed no censorship restrictions on coverage as it had often done after similar previous incidents and the apparent attack was widely covered by Israeli media. Public radio took the unusual step of claiming that the Mossad intelligence agency had played a central role.

    The unexplained shutdown is thought to be the latest in a series of exchanges between the two arch-enemies, who have fought an extensive and escalating shadow war across the Middle East over more than decade, centred on Iran’s nuclear programme and its involvement in matters beyond its borders.

    Clashes have more recently been fought in the open, with strikes against shipping, the execution of Iran’s chief nuclear scientist, hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian proxies in Syria, and even a mysterious oil spill in northern Israel, which officials there have claimed was environmental sabotage.

    Natanz has remained a focal point of Israeli fears, with an explosion damaging a centrifuge assembly plant last July, and a combined CIA and Mossad cyber-attack using a computer virus called Stuxnet in 2010 that caused widespread disruption and delayed Iran’s nuclear programme for several years.

    Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, urged the international community and the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) to take action against the perpetrators of the attack. He confirmed that a “terrorist attack” had damaged the electricity grid of the Natanz site. The IAEA said it was aware of the reports but declined to comment further.

    The developments came as US president Joe Biden prepared to reactivate a bitterly contested deal to offer sanctions relief in return for Tehran limiting its nuclear programme and not pursuing the development of a nuclear weapon. The 2015 pact was the foreign policy centrepiece of Barack Obama’s administration, but was quickly shredded by his successor, Donald Trump, who instead shifted to an aggressive posture to strangle Iran’s economy while bolstering its regional foes.

    The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday, partly to sell Washington’s new position to sceptical Israeli officials, who fear that even a scaled-back Iranian programme would offer cover for building a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the eastern Mediterranean.

    After meeting Austin, Israel’s defence minister, Benny Gantz, said: “We will work closely with our American allies to ensure that any new agreement with Iran will secure the vital interests of the world, of the United States, prevent a dangerous arms race in our region, and protect the state of Israel.”

    The attack on Natanz came five days after an apparent Israeli mine attack on an Iranian freighter in the Red Sea, which western intelligence officials have long claimed was a command and control vessel used to support the Tehran-backed Houthis in the war in Yemen.

    The cargo ship, known as the Saviz, was seriously damaged by at least one mine, which detonated below the waterline. The ship sent several mayday calls, which were received by the nearby Saudi Arabian coastguard. The strike was the latest in a series of reprisal attacks on shipping from each country on regional waters over several years, much of which has gone unacknowledged.

    It was followed by a series of Israeli airstrikes in Syria that damaged a military base near Damascus allegedly used by proxies loyal to Iran providing support to the Lebanese militia and political powerhouse, Hezbollah, which remains an essential arm of Iranian foreign policy.

    Israel last year broke its silence on eight years of airstrikes in Syria, acknowledging that it had been responsible for about 1,000 attacks, which it says were primarily aimed at preventing Hezbollah from fitting advanced guidance systems to rudimentary rockets on Lebanese soil.

    The Israeli strikes in Syria have caused widespread damage to the country’s military infrastructure, already ravaged by a decade of uprising and war, and have driven diplomatic efforts, led by the United Arab Emirates, to pressure the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to sever an alliance with Iran that has helped him to remain as leader. Despite the urging of several trusted security officials, and the backing of Russia, which has also played a role in securing his regime, Assad has refused the overtures.

    Hezbollah, which has provided military muscle on behalf of Iran, remains vehemently opposed to such a suggestion, with senior officials fearing that such a repositioning may be aimed at eventually forcing peace talks with its archfoe.

    Western officials believe Israel has become increasingly brazen in its attempts to disrupt the Iranian programme, pointing to the killing of the country’s leading nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, last November, who was shot dead along with his bodyguards on a rural highway. Iran claims that artificial intelligence was used to identify Fakhrizadeh, who was gunned down by a remotely operated automatic weapon. The small lorry carrying the weapon then exploded.
    “If a man does not keep pace with [fall into line with] his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” - Thoreau

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