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

[Hervé]

Iraqi forces take control over last ISIS stronghold in Ramadi - military spokesman

Published time: 27 Dec, 2015 15:56
Edited time: 27 Dec, 2015 19:33

Iraqi security forces gather to advance towards the centre of Ramadi city, December 25, 2015. © Reuters

Iraqi government forces have seized the government complex in the center of Ramadi – the last Islamic State stronghold in the western city, a military spokesman told Reuters.

"By controlling the complex this means that they [Islamic State, IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] have been defeated in Ramadi," Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the Iraqi counter-terrorism units leading the fight, told the news agency.

Al-Numani stressed the complex is under full control of the Iraqi forces with “no presence whatsoever of Daesh [ISIS] fighters” adding that some militants could still be hiding in “pockets that could exist here or there in the city.”

According to al-Numan, a major clearing effort is still needed to allow Iraqi troops to move freely around the city as IS militants had filled the area with bombs and booby-traps. The necessity of a clear-up operation prevented the Iraqi government and the military from declaring a victory immediately, although some people in a number of cities were already celebrating, AFP reports.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=he7CIQTOcN8

Iraqi forces advanced to the provincial government compound in Ramadi overnight and encircled the terrorists in the complex earlier on Sunday.

The Ramadi offensive has been supported by airstrikes from the US-led coalition, but Iran-backed Shiite militias were barred from the operation by the government, in order to avoid sectarian violence in the mainly Sunni Anbar province.

The city was seriously damaged during the fighting with some districts being completely destroyed by the Iraqi Army advance, Reuters reports. Falih al-Essawi, a regional council member of the Anbar province, urged the government to start rebuilding the city quickly.

"It will not be easy to convince families to return to a city that lacks basic human needs," he said as quoted by Reuters.

The Iraqi government plans to hand the city over to the local police and local Sunni tribal forces in order to convince the local community to join the fight against Islamic State.

"We have trained hundreds of tribal fighters, their role will be holding the ground," Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, the spokesman for the Iraqi joint operations command, said as quoted by Reuters.

"Seeing their own tribes responsible for security will be a relief for the civilians,” he added.

Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province, was seized by IS militants in May after about a week of fighting with the governmental forces.

[Hervé]

Love Thy Enemy? US Plot to Evacuate Top Jihadis From Ramadi Uncovered

© AFP 2015/ PATRICK BAZ
Middle East15:32 27.12.2015
(updated 17:50 27.12.2015)

© AFP 2015/ PATRICK BAZ

A US plot to evacuate Daesh leaders from the strategic city of Ramadi in central Iraq has reportedly been disclosed by a volunteer forces commander.

An Iraqi volunteer forces commander has revealed US plans to evacuate Daesh (ISIL/ISIS) leaders from the central Iraqi city of Ramadi, according to the Iranian news agency FARS. The disclosure comes as the Iraqi army and popular troops are attempting to secure victory over the jihadist group in Ramadi.

FARS quoted Imam Khamenei Battalion Commander Haidar al-Hosseini al-Ardavi as saying that "the delay in operations to liberate the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in Anbar province has been the result of US interference."

"It seems that the US intends to evacuate the ISIL terrorist group's infamous ringleaders secretly (with helicopters) from Ramadi to unknown places," he was quoted by FARS as saying.

His remarks came amid efforts by Iraqi security forces to continue gaining ground in Ramadi's central areas, where hundreds of Daesh terrorists are trapped under siege.

© AP Photo

On Wednesday, it was reported that the Iraqi troops had managed to make significant advances in Ramadi after they reached the Tigris River and started entering the city center after crossing the al-Khor Bridge. In another development, the army's special forces attacked Daesh hideouts in the al-Zubat neighborhood of the city, and started liberating government buildings in the al-Hoz district of Ramadi.

Earlier this week, Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Othman al-Ghanimi said his troops needed only days to completely drive Daesh out of Ramadi, which has been under Daesh control since May 2015.

[Morbid]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HnJKZ1pdvTM

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4dS5_pfEf6E

[Hervé]

---

What!?! No news!... let's brew some fresh ones:

Iran denies it fired rockets near US aircraft carrier in Gulf, brands claim 'psychological warfare'

Published time: 31 Dec, 2015 08:52
Edited time: 31 Dec, 2015 12:14

The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman © Kristina Young / Reuters

Tehran has officially denied that its Revolutionary Guards’ patrol vessel launched rockets in imminent proximity to the USS Harry S. Truman and its convoy entering the Persian Gulf, calling the allegation an act of “psychological warfare.”

On Tuesday, reports emerged that last Saturday the US aircraft carrier was intimidated after missiles were launched by an Iranian patrol vessel on a parallel course with the American naval convoy.

"The naval forces of the Guards have not had any exercises in the Strait of Hormuz during the past week and the period claimed by the Americans, for them to have launched missiles and rockets," Reuters quoted Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif as saying.

The alleged dangerous missile launch was reported by NBC News, which cited two unnamed US military officials as saying that the USS Harry S. Truman was about 1,400 meters away from the Iranian vessels, which launched two missiles as part of naval exercises.

"The publication of such false news under the present circumstances is akin to psychological warfare," Sharif said.

[Hervé]

More on that Ramadi extraction/exfiltration:

U.S. Accused Of Smuggling 2000 ISIS Fighters Out Of Ramadi

Fort Russ - 31st December, 2015
by Elijah J. Magnier
Edited by Ollie Richardson

Reuters

The Iraqi Army, the Counter Terrorism units, the Federal police, and Anbar tribes entered the city of Ramadi that was occupied by the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” group (ISIS) for several months. To their biggest surprise, only a few bodies of the terrorist group were found when intelligence gathering by the U.S led coalition and the Iraqi intelligence service confirmed the presence of around 2000 fighters in the city until days before the final assault. Six ISIS fighters were arrested while trying to flee Ramadi among the 442 civilians who left the city one day before the final assault on the city center.

The same phenomena of “ISIS evaporation” was registered in Sinjar when 7500 Kurds, supported by the U.S Air Force, occupied the key northern Iraqi city, finding a very small number of ISIS fighters in it.

So where did all these ISIS fighters go to?
A high-ranking source within the Iraqi government told me:

“The US forces operating in Iraq within the military operation room in Baghdad are the ones who define the units and the time (day and hour) of attacks against ISIS. If we want to benefit from an Air Force to defeat the terrorist group, we should bow to the American command. It is not unlikely for a possible American – Turkish coordination to communicate with “ISIS” and give a free way out to fighters to withdraw in the direction of the Syrian – Iraqi borders. That’s the information our drones collected in the last few days prior the attack of Ramadi.

Our signals and Human Intelligence informed the Americans and us about ISIS movement of troops. We were not allowed to engage against these and no one in the government can contradict the Americans for the moment. The U.S ordered Baghdad to keep al-Hashd al-Sha’bi (PMUs) away from the battlefield of Anbar perhaps to ensure a free passage to ISIS and to reduce the Iranian influence and credit of victories in Iraq”.

“America has asked decision makers in Baghdad to change the heads of anti-terrorism, intelligence and security services of the army and Interior Ministry. Moreover, the Secretary General of the Council of Minister was also suggested by the Americans and in consequences he has been appointed to this position. The U.S wants a homogeneous team that is friendly to its policy and presence of these (US forces) on the ground in Iraq.

The hostile Era – created by the former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that led to a withdrawal of the forces from Mesopotamia – is over and the policy adopted at the moment consists of reducing the influence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani over a few Iraqi armed groups. What is contributing to the success of such a policy is the fact that the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is in a bad terms with Soleimani. Since the start, PM Abadi believed that Soleimani was planning to remove him from power, supporting al-Maliki and promoting other choices to replace the actual Premier”, said the source.

The source concluded:

”Iran controls various military organisations fighting within the Popular Mobilisation Units that are strongly present in the battlefield in Iraq and in Syria. Such an influence persuaded al-Abadi to choose the path that leads to ” Uncle Sam ” instead of choosing the one of Welayat-el-faqih. This is why Abadi rejected, following an explicit American demand, to reject any Russia military assistance in the air, in Iraq, unlike the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Iraqi Prime Minister is aware of the possibility that the U.S would like to see 3 Iraqi cantons, one for the Kurds, one for the Sunni and another one for the Shia. The Americans are also supporting the Turkish presence in Iraq, and met with the Director of the French Intelligence Service who said: The Middle East will never be the same as before. What is becoming more clear now [is] that ISIS is a toy used by players for their agenda and plan to reshuffle the map of the Middle East”.

[Hervé]

Western media AWOL as 'Islamic State' regroups in Libya: Interview with James & Joanne Moriarty

By Niall Bradley Sott.net Sat, 02 Jan 2016 13:57 UTC

From Texas to Libya, via Turkey and Syria: terrorism has never been more 'homegrown'

The nightmare is not over for Libya. In fact, it may only have just begun. Sirte, Muammar Gadaffi's birthplace and the last major city to fall to the 'rebels' in 2011, is once again occupied by terrorists. In recent communication with the leadership of Libya's Tribes' Council, US contacts James and Joanne Moriarty were told that the leadership of ISIS (Islamic State), Boko Harim ('ISIS in Nigeria'), Ansar al-Sharia ('ISIS in Libya'), and possibly others, all gathered in Sirte, Libya, for meetings that took place around the 9th and 10th of December 2015.

No kidding: This is the actual fleet of cars that rolled off a cargo ship into Sirte port when Libya was (re)invaded by ISIS terrorists in early 2015.

In their discussion with myself and Joe Quinn on our Behind the Headlines radio show on Sunday December 13th, the Moriartys relayed how Sirte, once a thriving city on Libya's Mediterranean coast, but now a stronghold of cut-throats and bandits, was placed on full lock-down for the mid-December terrorist coven.

Much of Sirte's population of 300,000 either succumbed to genocide or fled during and after the violent 2011 coup and NATO bombardment in Libya (told fully in horrific detail for the first time here). By mid-2012, about 70% of the population had returned to Sirte, then spent three years attempting to rebuild until, in February 2015, 'ISIS' terrorists appeared out of nowhere - in a fleet of brand, spanking new Toyota pick-ups - and commenced a siege of the city.

In August 2015, ISIS brutally quelled a rebellion by citizens who took up arms to try to push the terrorists away from their city. Desperate, the Council of Deputies (one of Libya's two 'legitimate' governments - three if you include ISIS) formally requested support from the Arab League in the form of airstrikes against the terrorists.

The international community's response? Nothing, nada, zilch. The Saudi-led alliance of rich Gulf states was too busy targeting civilians in the uprising against Western-backed dictatorship in Yemen, while the US and friends just watched from their aircraft carriers, warships, jets, satellites, and regional military bases as ISIS rapidly took control of about half of Libya over the course of last year.

By late November 2015, Sirte was under the complete control of ISIS. With the Russian airstrike campaign against ISIS targets in Syria by then two months old, a UN report in early December warned that up to 5,000 ISIS terrorists were in Libya, with half of them concentrated in Sirte, and that the terrorist organization "sees the country as a retreat zone and strategic hub for recruits unable to reach its Syrian heartland."

US military propagandist Joseph V. Micallef lays out the 'retreat', which is really a vast expansion:

It's believed that about 70% of the Islamic State militants in Libya are foreigners, with the bulk coming from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan and Tunisia. In recent months there have been consistent reports that Islamic State has been transferring "administrators" and "military commanders" to Libya to take direct control of its militants there. Moreover, Islamic State websites in Libya have been prominently featuring the slogan that "Sirte will be no less than Raqqa," suggesting that if Raqqa falls, Sirte may become the new capital of Islamic State. [...]

Islamic State is not being contained. It has now expanded to 35 international affiliates. It is zeroing in on North Africa in general, and on Libya in particular, in an attempt to create, on a far vaster scale, an even bigger Islamic State on the very edge of Europe's doorstep.

'Retired' Israeli spook Jacques Neriah was kind enough to round out the nightmare scenario for Europeans:

"We are talking about kamikaze pilots who can take off in [one of the aircraft stolen from the Libyan military and various local airports] and crash themselves into the Vatican, for instance. It only takes an hour and a half across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Rome.''

Big Bad Baghdadi, Mossad asset?

On the heels of the UN report, Iranian news agency FARS reported that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi fled Syria via Turkey, and with CIA assistance. The story goes that Baghdadi was treated in Turkey for injuries sustained in an Iraqi airstrike against his convoy, presumably based on intelligence provided to Baghdad by the Russians, in October. With the Russians carrying out actual airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, Baghdadi's handlers decided he couldn't return to Raqqa, so he was spirited out of Turkey... and arrived in Sirte, now ''the safest jihadist stronghold in the world'', around December 9th.

And so, while there were media reports about al-Baghdadi's retreat to Sirte, observers on the ground have provided a far more detailed account of what's going on there to James and Joanne Moriarty. According to their sources in the Libyan Tribes' Council, the terrorists in Sirte initiated a complex operation to make safe passage for their leaders - residents were cleared out, a perimeter was imposed, and a communications black-out thrown over the city. The Moriartys even know the exact address at which Baghdadi and friends were gathering.

One would think, given Western leaders' commitment to defeating 'world enemy number 1', the Islamic State terror group, that their media arms would have reported this 24/7, and that their intelligence and security services would have either tracked the world's most wanted arriving in Libya, or capitalized on the Libyan tribal leaders' intelligence to launch an airstrike and take out al-Baghdadi and his cohorts all at once. But then, to believe that, one would have to believe that the 'war on terror' really is a 'clash of civilizations', and not a charade managed by Western intelligence to justify imperial control of the Middle East and beyond...

Here is the real story about the 'Islamic State' you won't hear anywhere else:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AOPUcaHujf0

[Hervé]

How Bulgaria supplied drugs and weapons to Al-Qaïda and Daesh

by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network | Damascus (Syria) | 4 January 2016


français ελληνικά Español فارسى Português русский Türkçe Nederlands italiano

The best-kept secrets must be revealed in the end. The mafia cartel which governs Bulgaria has been caught supplying drugs and weapons to Al-Qaïda and Daesh, at the demand of the CIA, both in Libya and Syria. The affair is all the more serious since Bulgaria is a member of NATO and the European Union.

Head of one of the two Bulgarian mafia cartels, the SIC, Boïko Borissov has occupied the post of Prime Minister since 2014. While his country was a member of both NATO and the European Union, he supplied drugs and weapons to Al-Qaïda and Daesh in Libya and Syria.

It seems that everything began by accident. For about thirty years, fenetylline was used as a performance-enhancing drug in the West German sports world. According to trainer Peter Neururer, more than half of the athletes took it regularly [1]. Bulgarian drug dealers spotted an opportunity in this situation, and from the dissolution of the Soviet Union until Bulgaria’s entry into the European Union, they began to produce it and illegally export it to Germany under the name of Captagon.

Two mafia groups were locked in serious competition - Vasil Iliev Security (VIS), and Security Insurance Company (SIC), the company which employed the karateka Boïko Borissov. This high-level athlete, professor at the Police Academy, created a company supplying protection for important personalities, and became the body-guard for pro-Soviet ex-President Todor Jivkov as well as for pro-US Simeon II Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha. As soon as Simeon II became Prime Minister, Borissov was named as the central Director of the Ministry of the Interior, then was elected mayor of Sofia.

In 2006, the United States ambassador in Bulgaria (and future ambassador to Russia), John Beyrle, sketched his character in a confidential cable which was revealed by Wikileaks. He presented Borissov as being connected to two major mafia bosses, Mladen Mihalev (alias « Madzho ») and Roumen Nikolov (alias « The Pacha ») [2], the founders of SIC.

In 2007, basing its article on a report drawn up by a large Swiss company, the U.S. Congressional Quarterly claimed that he had smothered a number of enquiries at the Ministry of the Interior, and was himself implicated in 28 mafia murders. He apparently became a partner of John E. McLaughlin, Deputy Director of the CIA. He is said to have set up a secret prison for the Agency in Bulgaria, and helped to provide a military base in the context of the project for an attack on Iran, the Quarterly continued [3].

In 2008, the German specialist in organised crime, Jürgen Roth, qualified Boïko Borissov as a « Bulgarian Al Capone » [4].

Having himself become Prime Minister, and while his country was already a member of NATO and the EU, he was solicited by the Agency to help in the secret war against Mouamar el-Kadhafi. Boïko Borissov supplied Captagon, manufactured by the SIC, to the al-Qaïda jihadists in Libya. The CIA rendered this synthetic drug more attractive and more powerful by mixing it with a natural drug, hashish, which made it easier to manipulate the fighters and make them more terrifying, in line with the work of Bernard Lewis [5]. Following that, Borissov extended this market to Syria.

But most importantly, the CIA, using the profile of an ex-Warsaw Pact member which had recently joined NATO, bought from him 500 million dollars’ worth of Soviet-type weaponry and transported it to Syria — mainly 18,800 portable anti-tank grenade launchers and 700 Konkurs anti-tank missile systems.

When Hezbollah sent a team to Bulgaria to gather information about this traffic, a bus-load of Israeli holiday-makers were the object of a terrorist attack in Burgas, leaving 32 wounded. Immediately, Benjamin Netanyahu and Boïko Borissov accused the Lebanese resistance, while the Atlantist Press spread a number of allegations about the supposed Hezbollah kamikaze. Finally, the forensic scientist, Dr. Galina Mileva, noticed that the corpse did not correspond to the witness descriptions – while a counter-intelligence chief, Colonel Lubomir Dimitrov, noted that he was not a kamikaze, but a simple carrier, and that the bomb had been triggered from a distance, probably without his knowledge. The Press accused two Arabs of Canadian and Australian nationality, but the Sofia News Agency quoted a US accomplice known by the pseudonym of David Jefferson. The outcome was that when the European Union sought to use the affair in order to classify Hezbollah as a « terrorist organisation », the Minister for Foreign Affairs - during the short period when Borissov was excluded from executive power - Kristian Vigenine, made it clear that in reality, nothing was found that could tie the attack to the Lebanese resistance [6].

From the end of 2014, the CIA ceased its orders and was replaced by Saudi Arabia, who were thus able to buy weapons which were no longer ex-Soviet left-overs, but modern NATO material, such as the wire-guided anti-tank BGM-71 TOW missiles. Soon, Riyadh was supported by the United Arab Emirates [7]. The two Gulf states themselves handled the deliveries to Al-Qaïda and Daesh, via Saudi Arabian Cargo and Etihad Cargo, either at Tabuk, on the Saudi-Jordanian border, or the Emirati-Franco-US base at Al-Dhafra.

In June 2014, the CIA turned up the pressure. This time, they forbade Bulgaria to allow access to the Russian gas pipeline South Stream, which could have supplied Western Europe [8].This decision, which deprived Bulgaria of some very important income, not only helped to slow down the growth of the European Union, as described in the Wolfowitz plan [9], but also to apply the European sanctions against Russia which had been implemented under the pretext of the Ukranian crisis, to develop the exploitation of shale gas in Eastern Europe [10], and finally, to maintain the interest of overthrowing the Syrian Arab Republic, a possible major gas exporter [11].

The latest news is that Bulgaria – a member-state of NATO and the European Union – continues to illegally supply drugs and weapons to Al-Qaïda and Daesh, despite the recent Resolution 2253, which was unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council.

Thierry Meyssan

Translation Pete Kimberley

References:
[1] „Doping war im Fußball gang und gäbe“, Frankfürter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 13th, 2007.
[2] “Bulgaria’s most popular politician: great hopes, murky ties”, John Beyrle, May 5th, 2006.
[3] “Bush’s Bulgarian Partner in the Terror War Has Mob History, Investigators Say”, Jeff Stein, U.S. Congressional Quarterly, May 2007.
[4] Die neuen Dämonen, Jürgen Roth, 2008.
[5] The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam, Bernard Lewis, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967.
[6] “Bulgaria discards Hezbollah involvement in Burgas bombing”, Voltaire Network, June 8th, 2013.
[7] « Mise à jour d’une nouvelle filière de trafic d’armes pour les jihadistes », par Valentin Vasilescu, Traduction Avic, Réseau Voltaire, December 24th, 2015.
[8] « Le sabotage du gazoduc South Stream », par Manlio Dinucci, Tommaso di Francesco, Traduction Marie-Ange Patrizio, Il Manifesto (Italie), Réseau Voltaire, June 10th, 2014.
[9] « US Strategy Plan Calls For Insuring No Rivals Develop » and « Excerpts from Pentagon’s Plan : "Prevent the Re-Emergence of a New Rival » », Patrick E. Tyler, New York Times, March 8th, 1992. « Keeping the US First, Pentagon Would preclude a Rival Superpower », Barton Gellman, The Washington Post, March 11th, 1992.
[10] « South Stream bloqué, la "claque" des États-Unis à l’Union européenne », par Manlio Dinucci, Traduction Marie-Ange Patrizio, Il Manifesto (Italie), Réseau Voltaire, December 5th, 2014.
[11] “Struggle over the Middle East: Gas Ranks First”, by Imad Fawzi Shueibi, Voltaire Network, 17 April 2012.

[Sophocles]

Putin Shares His View on Russia's Role in Emerging World Order

Sputniknews.com 20:12 20.12.2015

The new documentary film “World Order” was aired on Rossiya 1 television channel Sunday. Vladimir Putin was among those interviewed for the documentary. For your convenience Sputnik compiled best bits and pieces of the interview with the Russian president.

Putin emphasized the importance of being careful when it comes to nuclear weapons, stating that although Russia has its nukes ready, it "never either swung or would never swing its nuclear club at others."

"I hope no person is insane enough on Planet Earth who would dare to use nuclear weapons," Putin said.

On the issue of foreign interference into internal affairs of countries, the Russian president said a national government's drawbacks shouldn't be a reason for an intervention.

"The most important thing is not to undermine legitimate governments, not to destroy their statehood even if it appears to be imperfect," the president said.

"I think that no one should ever impose any values, which he/she considers to be correct, on others. We [Russia] have our own values and our own ideas about justice," Putin explained.

Some countries out there have "lost a sense of reality" thinking that they could tell Russia how to conduct its politics. That isn't going to happen, according to Putin.

"I guess that political nouveaux riches have lost a sense of reality… There are some countries and nations that will never accept a secondary role, a role of an occupied country or some kind of a vassal. It will end sooner or later. Soon enough, I guess," Putin said.

Geopolitics is an important issue the world has always faced. Putin thinks if the geopolitical struggle cannot be avoided, then it should at least be civilized, with its principles uniformly understood and supervised.

"It is essential for future development to build relations of the so-called geopolitical struggle. The fight is inevitable and it is normal. It is only necessary to conduct it in compliance with the civilized rules," Putin said.

Obviously, Ukraine was also on Putin's mind.

"In relation to Ukraine and the post-Soviet countries in general, I am convinced that the position of our Western partners — Europe and the US — is not to do with the protection of Ukraine's interests, but with attempts to prevent the re-creation of the Soviet Union. And nobody wants to believe us that Russia doesn't aim to re-create the Soviet Union," the president said.

According to Putin, the West has now realized that it made a mistake by supporting an anti-government coup in Ukraine. However, now the West isn't willing to admit it.

"You cannot improve anything by organizing a coup. Has anything improved in the country? The power is in the hands of oligarchs," Putin said.

"Nobody wants to financially support Ukraine… At the same time, they [the West] want to shift the financial burden to Russia… Let's share the risks, we said. We are ready to restructure Ukraine's debt to us… They do not want to share this risk."

Putin also touched upon his neighbors on the European continent, stating that "Europe's problem is that it doesn't have independent foreign policy. At all."

"The role of Germany, which can and should act at international stage, cannot be ignored in order to change the existing international climate to increase stability," Putin said.

Source

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

The documentary "World Order" at the Saker:

Russian Documentary “World Order” with English subs (MUST SEE)

(or at LiveLeak)

[Sophocles]

Vladimir Putin Fights the War Party on All Fronts

By Pepe Escobar, 29. December 2015

The Obama administration still sticks to the Cold War 2.0 script on Russia.

Let’s talk about “Russian aggression.”

The fight to the death in Moscow’s inner circles is really between the Eurasianists and the so-called Atlantic integrationists, a.k.a. the Western fifth column. The crux of the battle is arguably the Russian Central Bank and the Finance Ministry – where some key liberalcon monetarist players are remote-controlled by the usual suspects, the Masters of the Universe.

The same mechanism applies, geopolitically, to any side, in any latitude, which has linked its own fiat money to Western central banks. The Masters of the Universe always seek to exercise hegemony by manipulating usury and fiat money control.

So why President Putin does not fire the head of the Russian Central Bank, Elvira Nabiulina, and a great deal of his financial team - as they keep buying U.S. bonds and propping up the U.S. dollar instead of the ruble? What’s really being aggressed here if not Russian interests?

That Stab in the Back

It’s clear by now which party profited from the downing of the Russian Su-24 by the Turkish Air Force – a graphic act of war. The immediate result was the suspension – which could lead to the cancelling – of a crucial Pipelineistan plank: Turkish Stream, which is a bête noire for the Masters of the Universe as Turkey was about to become the key alternative bypassing failed state Ukraine for supplying natural gas to southern Europe.

On top if it the EU paid Ankara 3 billion euros for its “indirect” services (the official excuse is to allow Turkey to control Syrian immigration to the EU.) And EU sanctions to Russia were extended for another six months.

A fitting Russian response would be Moscow defaulting on all debt to Western banks in retaliation for the sanctions. An extreme step would be blocking natural gas shipments to the EU. If Russia even floated one of these moves, not to mention both, sanctions would be lifted in a flash. So who’s really being “aggressed” here?

Putin – and Russian intel – didn't see it coming: Sultan Erdogan’s “stab in the back.” So a case can be made that Russian intel seriously underestimated Erdogan’s massive investment on regime change in Syria.

Whatever happens on the ground – much more than in the Vienna-Geneva charade now passing for a “peace process” – the future of Syria bears two stark options; a neo-Ottoman colony, but essentially subordinated to the whims of the Masters of the Universe; or a unitary sovereign nation, not partitioned, with a strong relationship to both Russia and Iran.

The question, though, remains; how does Turkey get away with such a provocation, with Russia imposing just a few sanctions?

That Fuzzy Agenda

The missing link in the puzzle is Israel. Contradictions became glaringly obvious with the flattening of a building in Jaramana, in Damascus, by Israeli missiles, killing nine civilians as well as Hezbollah-linked Samir Kuntar.

This could not have happened, in any way, without Russian acquiescence – considering Russian missile defense now protects Syrian territory. So the message is clear; Russia won’t interfere with Israel’s priorities in Syria/Lebanon – and vice-versa.

“Vice-versa” couldn’t be trickier. Tel Aviv tacitly “supports” the Nusra Front, a.k.a. al-Qaida in Syria, which even the Obama administration finally has been forced to admit is a terrorist outfit.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry – as well as independent Turkish investigations - most of the stolen Syrian/Iraqi oil Islamic State group scam ends up with the oil being bought by Israel. Tel Aviv happens to be the top buyer of the stolen-from-Baghdad Iraqi Kurdistan oil with which stolen Daesh oil is mixed.

And to top it off, Tel Aviv is a mortal enemy of both Iran and Hezbollah – which are essential nodes of the “4+1” coalition (Russia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, plus Hezbollah) fighting the Islamic State group. Not to mention that Tel Aviv – which favors a partitioned Syria - wants to gobble up the energy-rich Golan Heights for perpetuity.

So how does Israel get away with it?

That War Party “Offer”

The bottom line of these three scenarios – the Russian economy, Turkey and Israel – is that a lethal, devastating response is an easily available option for Putin on all three. Yet he refuses to be trapped by a war logic. Putin is the ultimate adversary of “Russian aggression.”

A full confrontation with Turkey will unite a disunited NATO. Now Russian intel has connected the dots on how the Masters of the Universe are trying to use Ankara as bait to trap Moscow, as they extensively used a now discarded, irrelevant Kiev. Turkey’s top three import nations happen to be Russia (10.4 percent), China (10.3 percent) and Germany (9.2 percent); deep trouble in Turkey would be a major headache for the trio, much to the delight of the Empire of Chaos.

A confrontation with Israel will obviously bring about the full force of the Masters of the Universe. Not to mention that the last thing Moscow needs is to open a new front in the Levant. Here is a meticulous attempt by The Saker to clarify the dangerous liaisons between Israel and Russia.

The key front though is the Russian economy; sooner or later there’s got to be a purge of the Russian Central Bank and the Finance Ministry, but Putin will only act when he has surefire internal support, and that’s far from given.

The lame duck Obama administration – whatever rhetorical and/or legalistic contortions – still sticks to the Cold War 2.0 script on Russia, duly prescribed by Obama mentor Dr. Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski.

That follows a “tradition” Bill Blum, for instance, has extensively documented, as since the end of WWII Washington attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments – the absolute majority full democracies; dropped bombs on the civilian population of over 30 nations; attempted to assassinate over 50 foreign leaders; attempted to suppress nationalist movements in 20 nations; interfered on countless democratic elections; taught torture through manuals and “advisers”; and the list goes on.

Putin and the best and the brightest of Russian intel very well know it.

And yet they do maintain a decent margin of maneuver; establishing Russia as an indispensable power all across Southwest Asia (after smashing the fake “Caliphate” from Raqqa to Mosul); preventing any Masters of the Universe encroachment on the Black Sea; and putting up a real fight in the near future in the Balkans.

The real advances will keep coming as spin-offs of the Russia-China diplomatic/strategic partnership – from energy to trade to the military sphere. And that projects us once again towards the New Silk Roads – and the convergence of the China-driven One Belt, One Road with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

The bottom line is that in 2016 the option will continue to be stark; it’s either the hegemony of the War Party – with the subtext of a Washington “willfully” condoned Salafi-jihadi “offer” to young, disaffected Muslims; or the vision of a full, prosperous trade/commerce/communication network for the whole of Eurasia. Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets.

Full article at telesurtv.net

[Hervé]

OPWC report: rebels used chemical weapons – not Assad

Written by Chris Tomson on 08/01/2016 1:31 pm

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPWC) has confirmed the traces of the sarin gas used in Syria are not linked with the Syrian government’s former stockpile of chemical weapons. The report corroborates the Syrian government’s assertions that the faction responsible for the chemical attack, as well as 11 other instances of chemical weapons use, was the Syrian opposition.

The report also substantiates last month’s claims from Ahmed al-Gaddafi al-Qahsi, cousin of Muammar Gaddafi, who said that the chemical weapons used in the incident had been stolen from Libya and later smuggled into Syria via Turkey by militants.

The announcement follows an investigation carried out by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at the request of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government.

“In one instance, analysis of some blood samples indicates that individuals were at some point exposed to sarin or a sarin-like substance” said Ahmet Uzumcu, the head of the OPCW. He later added that the sarin gas examined bore different characteristics to the one formerly owned by the Syrian government.

When the devastating sarin gas incident left some 1400 civilians dead in East Ghouta in 2013, the United States, European Union and Arab League were quick to accuse Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian military of utilizing its chemical weapons to combat Islamist rebels in the Syrian capital.

Subsequently, the Syrian government agreed with Russia and the US administration to have its stockpile safely demolished in Norway. Less than a month ago, it was announced that the entirety of the chemical stockpile had been safely disposed of.

Prior to the 2013 attack, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the Syrian Army had seized chemical gas equipment from a militant field hospital in the western port city of Latakia. It cited a field commander stating that the nature of the equipment suggested militants had been planning to carry out chemical or biological attacks and blame the government.

http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/...st-rebels-did/ | Al-Masdar News

[Hervé]

Gaddafi's Grim Prophecy Fulfills as Terrorism Spreads Across Europe

Africa 21:54 07.01.2016
(updated 00:14 08.01.2016)

© Sputnik/ Andrey Stenin

Turns out Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was right when he told former British Prime Minister Tony Blair that if his regime failed then Islamic extremists would attack Europe, leaked phone conversations between the two leaders revealed, according to the Telegraph.

Gaddafi tried to explain Tony Blair in two phone conversations in February 2011 that if foreign powers helped Libyan rebels to overthrow his government then next thing Europeans would know jihadists would carry out terrorist attacks across the European continent.

"It's a Jihad situation. They have arms and are terrorizing people in the street… Can't reason with them. They keep saying things like Mohammad is the profit [the Prophet]. Similar to Bin Laden," Gaddafi told Blaire, according to excerpts from their 2011 phone conversation, the Telegraph reported.

Gaddafi also welcomed foreign journalists to come over to Libya and see the situation for themselves, so the world would know the truth about those so-called "rebels" who eventually toppled his government. "Need to explain to the international community. Reporters can come to make sure this is the truth, they are welcome," Gaddafi told the former Prime Minister.

When Blair told Gaddafi to step down as the head of the state, the former Libyan leader insisted that he was defending his country and the entire North African coast from Islamic extremists.

"We are not fighting them, they are attacking us… The story is simply this: an organization has laid down sleeping cells in North Africa. Called the Al-Qaeda Organization in North Africa," Gaddafi said.

During his second conversation with Blair, in which the former British Prime Minister re-iterated that Gaddafi must step down to bring peaceful changes to his country, Gaddafi refused to leave and said he'd have to arm troops loyal to him to crush jihadist groups taking over Libya and the Mediterranean Sea.

"Libyan people will die, damage will be on the med, Europe and the whole world these armed groups are using the situation as a justification — and we shall fight them," Gaddafi said, according to excerpts from their 2011 phone conversation with Blair, the Telegraph reported.

In the end, Gaddafi's words were ignored and three weeks later NATO began bombing the Libyan Armed Forces, which soon led to the overthrow of the Libyan government. After Gaddafi's government was overthrown and Colonel himself killed, the country failed to form a stable government and Libya descended into chaos. Various groups of Islamic extremists, including Daesh (Islamic State), took advantage of the situation and increased their influence in the country.

Gaddafi's warnings were prophetic. In fact, he predicted everything. As soon as Libya fell into the hands of Islamic extremists, the country became the hotbed of terrorism. In November 2015, Daesh terrorists carried out a series of terrorist attacks in Paris killing 130 people and injuring 368. At the same time, a growing number of jihadists are said to be crossing into Europe from North Africa.


Related:
Hotbed of Terrorism: Post-Gaddafi Libya is Becoming New Daesh Stronghold
Allons-y! Is France Ready to Bomb Daesh in Libya?

[Hervé]

Anti-Assad Propaganda Exposed: ‘Starving Syrian Child’ Revealed as Healthy Lebanese Girl

Rudy Panko 3 hours ago

Filed under 'Saddam's incubator babies'

Neither of these images are from Madaya

A viral photo depicting a "malnourished Syrian child" being "starved" by the "evil Syrian army" is a bona fide fraud. The details, via Lebanon's Daily Star ('Starving Syria child' revealed as south Lebanon girl):

The family of a south Lebanon girl depicted in a photo that went viral alleging to show a starving child from a besieged Syrian border town has expressed anger over the incident.

"They took it too far this time," Rosine Mazeh, the grandmother of 7-year-old Marianna Mazeh, told Al-Jadeed from their village of Tay Filsey in a report broadcast Saturday.

She said the photo of her smiling brown-haired, blue-eyed granddaughter was originally posted to Facebook three years ago and had been doctored several times in the past by individuals promoting different causes.

Most recently, the photo was circulated in a side-by-side with images depicting a skeletal figure said to be suffering from malnutrition as a result of a Syrian army siege in the town of Madaya, located several kilometers east of Lebanon's border.

Several other photos circulating on social media and picked up by some international news agencies that alleged to show starvation from the town have also been revealed as fakes.

Next time try congressional testimony from a teary-eyed daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador? It has a 100% success rate with justifying bogus wars of aggression.

[Shannon]

Posted by Hervé (here)
Anti-Assad Propaganda Exposed: ‘Starving Syrian Child’ Revealed as Healthy Lebanese Girl

Rudy Panko 3 hours ago

Filed under 'Saddam's incubator babies'

Neither of these images are from Madaya

A viral photo depicting a "malnourished Syrian child" being "starved" by the "evil Syrian army" is a bona fide fraud. The details, via Lebanon's Daily Star ('Starving Syria child' revealed as south Lebanon girl):

The family of a south Lebanon girl depicted in a photo that went viral alleging to show a starving child from a besieged Syrian border town has expressed anger over the incident.

"They took it too far this time," Rosine Mazeh, the grandmother of 7-year-old Marianna Mazeh, told Al-Jadeed from their village of Tay Filsey in a report broadcast Saturday.

She said the photo of her smiling brown-haired, blue-eyed granddaughter was originally posted to Facebook three years ago and had been doctored several times in the past by individuals promoting different causes.

Most recently, the photo was circulated in a side-by-side with images depicting a skeletal figure said to be suffering from malnutrition as a result of a Syrian army siege in the town of Madaya, located several kilometers east of Lebanon's border.

Several other photos circulating on social media and picked up by some international news agencies that alleged to show starvation from the town have also been revealed as fakes.

Next time try congressional testimony from a teary-eyed daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador? It has a 100% success rate with justifying bogus wars of aggression.

Just last night the topic of these children being starved was on the local news These photoshopped images were shown as well as doctors over there in Syria talking about what they are doing to help. It didn't feel right to me. I know there is terrible crimes being committed and the victims are innocent women and children but idk. I just didn't like how it was being presented and it felt so deceiving.

Thank you those links are full of relevant info.


*also I couldn't help but think of the Palestinians being starved via Israel.

[Hervé]

French delegation on the trail of Ukraine war crimes

Laurent BRAYARD In DONiPRESS, January 10 2016

Translated from French by Tom Winter

Things are getting nailed down in the case of thousands of war crimes committed by neo-Nazi reprisal battalions -- or by the Ukrainian army that is plaguing the Donbass and also the territory itself of Kievan Ukraine.

So far the first series of 800 war crimes dossiers have been filed to the European Court of Human Rights, and 1500 others are awaiting deposit. Lawyers of Lugansk and Donetsk are still at it, hard at work gathering testimony, because the crimes continue and survivors of the Ukrainian prisons or escapees flood month after month to the Donbass or appear in other parts of the world sometimes after long and very dangerous journeys, journeys to escape the clutches of the political police of Kiev.

But the noose tightens tirelessly. In addition to the issues that come together and will be filed in the competent courts, about 12 000 cases of elderly people who, in the depth of winter, had been deprived of their pensions by Kiev and left in danger of death are already collected and will be joined by several thousands more. This decision, putting lives of the vulnerable citizens at risk, contravenes international law. Taken by Kiev, it should cost them dearly and it will not be forgotten in the future courts that will rule on Ukrainian war criminals at all levels of the state apparatus where they are found.

The French delegation that will arrive Monday in Donetsk is a vanguard, officially coming to meet the authorities and their fellow lawyers to establish the first collaborations for the legal actions to be undertaken.

According to commitments made by the delegation, another, more important and prestigious in its composition, will strengthen contacts and can allow the start of work. It is quite significant that it is France that, despite its government being quite involved in supporting the illegal and criminal government of Kiev, will be at the forefront of legal battles that will probably last many years.

An important aspect of the visit will be also the legal proceedings to be conducted against French war criminals in Ukrainian battalions, including the infamous Azov. In maximum secrecy a French team gathered key information, non-disputable evidence, involving at least one of the "French" of Azov battalion who is also organizing a neo-Nazi meeting in the city of Nantes.

In this regard, various institutions have already been at work and identification of participants is underway for justice to do its work in France, where the glorification and promotion of neo-Nazism is prohibited, fortunately. The main document, overwhelmingly themed with the killing of civilians, will be handed over to the French delegation for justice to be done.

The tremendous investigative work is therefore continuing at all levels, both in the Donbass, Europe, and now in France. The French government when faced with thousands of incontrovertible documents will find it increasingly difficult to support the cause of Kyiv and especially the neo-Nazis behind it, in Ukraine ... and France.

One day or another, the party will end for them, in competent tribunals through the patient work of collecting information on the underground activists of Ukraine in France that can equally be put to good use when the first conviction will set a precedent. The time will come for the denazification of Ukraine, which inevitably will lead to the dismantling of French cells organized even in our territory, in the wake of the murderous war of brown Ukraine.

Recall that the Ukrainian networks include a lot of journalists, and political personalties that have infiltrated a number of French parties, including and especially the Socialist Party, the Republicans and the UDI, not to mention various fauna supporting Ukraine, camouflaged in various associations that raise funds, money and weapons for Ukraine, practicing criminal disinformation about the war waged by the Ukrainian killers in the Donbass and the terrible political repression conducted by the regime in Kiev.

The content of the documents gathered at this time for the meeting of the first international courts have terrible cases of torture, rape, summary executions, looting, political repression, political assassinations, kidnappings, extortion, religious persecution, ethnic persecution, violations of Human Rights and Democracy.

I myself have consulted some of the documents and statements in interviews attesting terrible things, some of which have already been made public. Justice is on, nothing will stop it, any more than it could stop the truth and I can say that sooner or later all those who directly or indirectly have supported the brown Ukraine, in France or elsewhere, will hardly have any more arrogance than Nazis had in 1945!

Related:
Study proves Maidan massacre was carried out by current Ukrainian government

[Hervé]

Syria. Analyzing Madaya’s Starvation Falsification. Western Media Propaganda in Support of US-NATO War Crimes

By Paul Antonopoulos Global Research, January 11, 2016
Al-Masdar News 9 January 2016

Public outcry and condemnation against the Syrian government spread like wildfire across mainstream news and social media when the horrific photos of starved children and civilians from the besieged town of Madaya emerged. No one could understand why Assad would allow this to happen to his own people, especially since videos emerged (that can be seen on my last Madaya article) under a month ago that displayed rallies against the occupying terrorist forces and in support of the Syrian government.

Hours after my last article, truth seekers quickly unveiled the lies shrouding around the starvation of the people.

It was also interesting to see that an official statement by the neutral Red Cross could not verify or deny the systematic starvation of Madaya’s people.

However, for the sake of analysis, I must now retract from my previous refusal of posting photos of malnourished people so that the truth can be open.

One of the first and most heartbreaking was one of a healthy young girl followed by a new photo of her on the verge of death because of starvation.

This photo published by Saudi owned Al-Arabiya soon quickly engulfed media platforms and the calls for humanitarian intervention was called. However, it was quickly revealed by the Lebanese Daily Star that the girl in question is actually a south Lebanese girl who is in safe hands with her family, and is fit and healthy.

Although this does not discount the hunger permeating in Madaya, and the shocking condition of the girl starved in the photo, what it does present is an obvious media distortion of the truth. This propaganda was well received by war mongering interventionists, Syrian ‘opposition’ (jihadists and their sympathizers), and the trendy Western left.

When this truth was exposed, calls for people to retract their propaganda were denied.

This shocking tweet is just one upon hundreds I personally saw of people refusing to revert their falsifications, or admittance that they will keep up with the propaganda campaign till intervention against the Syrian government is achieved. It must be questioned however why people automatically assumed that the Syrian government were responsible for the starvation of Madaya. Throughout the war we have seen efforts of terrorist militants attempting to force an international intervention as seen in Libya that provided the conditions of a stable ruler to be overthrown and where jihadists can prosper.

This began with the chemical weapon allegations, despite prominent U.N. Weapons Inspector on the ground in Syria, Carla del Ponte, stating there is little evidence that the government were responsible for the sarin gas attack in Ghouta in 2013. She alluded that it was most likely the terrorist forces, but of course, the usual social justice warriors and international community ignored her, and continued with the false narrative.

Then of course there is the narrative that Assad is supposedly barrel bombing his own people in a systematic effort, despite Assad fighting a war for the support of his people, as well as the war against the terrorist forces. It seems that would be a little counter-productive to systematically target your own innocent civilians. Of course, this simple notion seems to be a little perplexing for the terrorist sympathizers.

However, the case of Madaya was not reduced to one southern Lebanese girl, the propaganda was far and wide.

Al-Jazeera published a photo of a man supposedly starved in Madaya, which turns out to be a photo of a refugee in Europe from 2009.

Then of course we had the shocking photo of the malnourished baby ‘from Madaya’, who actually turned out to be a child from the Yarmouk Palestinian camp on the outskirts of Damascus. The photo was taken in 2014.

The Western media narrative has focused on Hezbollah and the Syrian Arab Army forces conducting a food blockade on the town. However, these allegations ignore that truckloads of food and medical aid that have reached Madaya and that have been turned into a weaponized tool by the terrorist forces holed up in the town. As seen in my previous Madaya piece, which was linked earlier in the article, the people of Madaya support the government and confronted the militants on why they have no food. Images have appeared of hunger sticken women and children, yet all the militants seem to be in fit and healthy conditions. One must question why is this?
More importantly, this propaganda campaign has remained defiant, and the public outcry for intervention stonger then ever, despite the irrefutable evidence on the falsification of the situation in Madaya. We have had the Middle East’s largest media services blatantly posting false images from Madaya. This is not to discount the pain and suffering of the people starved in the photos, this should not exist anywhere in the world, but we set a dangerous precedence when we apply these photos to the wrong context. Most disturbing however are the acknowledgement on the false photos, but people still wanting to use them for their own agendas that serve to only increase the suffering in Syria through the expansion of war and intervention.

Before submitting to the western narrative that leads to calls of intervention, always take a step back and find the truth on the issue, because just like the chemical weapons and the systematic targeting of civilians that led to calls for intervention, this is just another false red line that was once again quickly disproven.

Paul Antonopoulos is currently a Candidate for an MA Degree, writing his dissertation on the Saudi-Iranian Geopolitical Rivalry in the Syrian War.

Related:
Syria: BBC Fabricates Again, Uses Recycled Photos. Madaya Residents used as Human Shields by US-NATO Backed Terrorists

[Hervé]

First aid convoys enter besieged Syrian town of Madaya

Published time: 11 Jan, 2016 12:22
Edited time: 11 Jan, 2016 16:53

[for pictures and videos, see original article at: https://www.rt.com/news/328503-syria...-fake-photos/]



Aid convoys carrying food, medicine and blankets, leave the Syrian capital Damascus as they head to the besieged town of Madaya on January 11, 2015. (AFP photo)

A humanitarian aid convoy has entered the besieged town of Madaya in southern Syria, where people are said to be dying of starvation. Locals say rebels are charging them $250 for a kilogram of rice, an RT crew on the spot says.

The UN confirms the convoy’s presence in the city. Lorries are carrying basic food items as well as water, baby food, blankets, medicines and surgical supplies.

"Two trucks carrying food and two others full of blankets entered Madaya at 5:00 pm [15:00 GMT]," an official from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent also told AFP.

Simultaneously, first aid convoys arrived in the villages of Foah and Kefraya besieged by rebels in the northern Syrian province of Idlib, the BBC reports.

Several convoys consisting of 60 lorries operated by the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Syrian Red Crescent and the World Food Program left for Madaya, Foah and Kefraya on Monday morning. Earlier, the UN said it had received credible reports of people dying of starvation in these settlements.

Humanitarian aid on 39 trucks is expected in Madaya, RT’s Murad Gazdiev said, reporting from the area.

The humanitarian aid comes thanks to an agreement between the warring sides in the areas where thousands of people are under siege.

Media coverage is low, and there are no Western journalists there, according to Gazdiev.

However, since the start of January, social media and MSM have been flooded with reports, saying many have died of starvation in the besieged town of Madaya, and that government forces loyal to President Assad are to blame.

Various media outlets, including the Telegraph, the Independent, BBC, CNN and Fox news said Syrians were eating domestic animals, and had been left without any help. Some media didn’t bother to re-check the authenticity of images allegedly showing dying Madaya residents.

No one has as yet been able to confirm that the images are actually authentic. RT decided to investigate the photos.

One haunting image posted on Arab-speaking social media shows a starving man supposedly lying somewhere in the streets of Madaya, a town with a population of about 9,000 people.

"The victims of starvation caused by Bashar Assad, Hezbollah and Iranian militias on Madaya and Al-Zabadani,” says the caption under the image.

However, the story behind the starving man turned out to be fabricated. In fact, he starved to death in the city of Ghouta a year ago, according to the Syrian American Medical Society. The picture was taken on January 13, 2015.

“Mohammad Yoususf An-Najjar, disabled, from Damascus died on 13 January due to extreme cold and lack of food during the government forces’ siege of Eastern Ghouta,” the Syrian network of human rights said.

An image of a Syrian girl that appeared in Arab media prompted global condemnation of Assad’s policies. It was claimed she had turned into a lifeless shadow of herself due to extreme starvation.

However, the girl appears to be safe and sound in Jordan. According to MBC TV, this picture was taken in the streets of Amman, the Jordanian capital, in January 2014.

An image published by the Telegraph and Aljazeera shows a starving boy, who they said was in Madaya.

However, it turned out that a YouTube video featured the Syrian boy in May 2015, before the crisis in the town started.

Another horrendous picture of a starving man in Madaya has turned out to be a drug addict (or refugee, according to other sources) taken in Europe in 2009. His eyes were even Photoshopped to hide the fact they are blue. The image originally appeared on Al Jazeera. It was subsequently deleted, but not before it had been retweeted many times.

The Red Cross said they can’t confirm the authenticity of the images.

[Hervé]

After Saudis Beheaded 47 People, Belgium Now Refusing to Sell them Arms, Germany May Follow

By Matt Agorist on January 7, 2016

On Saturday, the Saudi Arabian government beheaded 47 people, one of whom was prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a senior opposition figure. He and the others were all killed for their charges of “undermining the national security” of the kingdom.

Immediately following the beheadings, countries across the globe–except for the United States– denounced the barbaric move.

Rightfully outraged with the beheadings, Shiite Muslims in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Bahrain angrily condemned the executions, and Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

These inhumane acts of murder on the part of the Saudis have forced the hands of those who sell them weapons and on Monday, Germany became the first country to question their arms trade deal.

“We must now review whether in the future we should take a more critical stance” on selling arms to Saudi Arabia, German Vice Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel said Monday.

While Germany has said they will review their decision, Belgium just took it a step further on Tuesday, by immediately declining Saudi Arabia’s request for military equipment supplies.

“We have rejected the request [for military equipment supplies to Saudi Arabia],” Geert Bourgeois told the Flemish Parliament, as quoted by the RTBF broadcaster. “If there is a possibility that the weapons may be used for internal repression, I refuse.”

The moves by Germany to advocate for a review, and Belgium to renounce the selling of weapons to such a repressive regime are heartening and should be a model for all those involved in arming a country who beheads more people than ISIS.

Of course, the US is not about to give up their largest weapons export contract, even if the weapons are used to oppress entire nations and murder their children.

Immediately after the beheadings, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce took to CNN to blame the Saudi’s executions on Iranians.

As Daniel McAdams reports for the Ron Paul Institute, Royce falsely claimed that the Iranian military invaded Yemen. But that is demonstrably untrue. It was the Saudis who invaded Yemen.

It seems that the Saudi influence over the United States is far and wide, even spreading to the presidential candidates, who all curtsey to “our Saudi ally” by pledging their blind support of the terrorist regime.

It’s no coincidence that President Obama was showered with $1.3 million in gifts from the Saudi King last year. Obama is responsible for forging the largest weapons sale in American history, all of which went to Saudi Arabia.

[Hervé]

West’s airstrikes cost ‘billions’ to Syria economy – Damascus’ UN envoy

Published time: 12 Jan, 2016 12:32

© Alaa Faqir / Reuters

Bombing raids in Syria by the US-led coalition target civilian and industrial infrastructure worth billions of dollars, while Western airstrikes aim to exhaust the “capacities of the people” and halt post-war reconstruction, Syria’s envoy to the UN says.

“Those attacks aim at devastating capacities of the Syrian people and complicate development and reconstruction of the country,”

Bashar Ja’afari was quoted as saying by TASS on Tuesday.

The Western coalition’s air raids are hitting facilities critical for ordinary Syrians to survive, he stressed, mentioning recent bombing of water tower facility in the province of Raqqa that deprived people of an access to pure water in surrounding villages and towns. In October 2015, the coalition’s warplanes bombed Radwaniyah area outside Aleppo, severely damaging two power plants, with the damage estimated at €1.2 billion, Ja’afari added.

Except the civilian infrastructure, Ja’afari stressed, Syria’s oil and gas industries are also targeted. In early January the coalition bombed and hit oil refineries 80km away from Raqqa, he said.

Syrian oil is also being stolen by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and “delivered to Turkey’s refineries owned by the son of [Turkish President] Erdogan, then to Turkish port of Jeyhan, and then to Israel,” the envoy told journalists. “It’s quite a profitable business.” Purchasing oil from terrorist groups is prohibited by the UN Security Council’s resolutions, Ja’afari reiterated.

He went on to address humanitarian situation in a town of Madaya where inhabitants are said to be dying of starvation. He dismissed the Western accusations Damascus is hampering deliveries of aid as having been falsified to undermine the Geneva peace talks, according to TASS.

“Every time when a step forward is made towards political reconciliation in Syria, information on certain incidents is fabricated to slander the Syrian government and negatively impact the political process,” he said.

The bloody conflict has been ongoing in Syria since 2011, claiming the lives of some 220,000 Syrians while around 12 million people are in constant humanitarian need, according to the latest UN Human Rights Office’s estimates. Some 7,632,500 Syrians have been internally displaced, with 4,194,554 seeking refuge outside the country.

Related:
‘Thanks for destroying our country’: Angry Libyans lash out at Obama’s independence congratulations

[Yetti]

Ok Bill, let say you nailed , the question here is : Is there any hope for us ? with all those warmongers criminals , who not only have the power of government also the weapons? . From my point of view, not a referendum nor any election would put them aside , they laugh on us. It's is time for get some help from our friends, real help. Another tough, if they plan to use nukes, is because they have the technology to suppress the rads effect, otherwise a nuclear war is nonsense. Or, they have somewhere else to go after destroy the planet. Any comments?

[GlassSteagallfan]

INTERVIEW with Hon Sen Richard Black

Published on Jan 10, 2016

Video interview with Hon. Senator Richard Black - Commonwealth of Virginia State Senate - about Seymour Hersh's report "Military to military" and the actual situation in Syria and Middle Est.
January 6th, 2016

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tNMM4KlYFfY