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Monday 26 September 2016

What you did in Iraq & Libya is the real barbarism – Russian FM spox rebukes US envoy to UN

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power ( © Anindito Mukherjee / Reuters) and Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova( © Iliya Pitalev / Sputnik)
The US envoy to the UN, who recently called Russia's actions in Syria “barbarism,” is hypocritical, because nothing in modern history is more barbaric than what the US has done in Iraq and Libya, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a fiery rebuke.
The American envoy to the UN, Samantha Power, blasted Russia on Sunday at a Security Council meeting, accusing Moscow of civilian deaths in Aleppo in the wake of the collapse of a US-Russian ceasefire.
"What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counter-terrorism, it is barbarism," the US diplomat said in reference to the renewed hostilities in Syria.
She delivered an emotional speech, accusing Russia and Syria of attacks on aid workers, civilian infrastructure and residential areas, while omitting the fact that armed groups – including Al-Qaeda offshoot Al-Nusra Front – are in control of large parts of Aleppo and are using its population as human shields.
The use of the term 'barbarism' by the American envoy drew sarcastic remarks from Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
“Historically speaking... a barbarian is someone not belonging to an empire, and we have only one of those today,” she noted on her Facebook page.
“As for the imagery... the world has seen nothing more barbaric in modern history than Iraq and Libya done the Washington way.”
Zakharova believes that Power's remarks were meant to draw attention from the American attack on Syrian troops near Deir ez-Zor, which happened amid the ceasefire and almost resulted in the Syrian Army's positions being overrun by the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), which the US is supposedly seeking to eradicate.
Moscow blames the US for the failed truce, saying it was incapable of reining in rebel groups who would not commit to it, and would not agree to designating them as legitimate targets for counter-attacks.
Power, who received her current appointment in 2013, was among the most vocal supporters of the concept of“humanitarian interventionalism” – the use of military force on humanitarian grounds.
The invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq and the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya are both examples of such actions. In both cases, interventions meant to prevent human suffering actually caused huge tragedies in the long run.

Damascus Has Audio of Daesh Talks With US Military Before Strike on Syrian Army

US air force F-16 jet fighter
The Syrian intelligence possesses an audio recording of conversation between Daesh terrorists and US military prior to the Washington-led coalition's airstrikes on the government troops near Deir ez-Zor on September 17, the speaker of the People's Council of Syria said Monday.

US warplanes hit Syrian government troops near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor on September 17, leaving 62 military personnel killed and a hundred wounded. 

 The Pentagon said initially that the airstrike was a mistake and targeted Daesh militants. The attack on government positions put to test a US-Russia brokered nationwide ceasefire that came into being in Syria earlier that week. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last Friday it was necessary to separate Daesh terrorists from "moderate" opposition forces in order to salvage the truce. 
Hadiya Khalaf Abbas, the head of the Syrian parliament, added during her visit to Iran that after the coalition's airstrikes on the government troops US military directed terrorists' attack on the Syrian army.

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Saturday 24 September 2016

Deir ez-Zor Attack: Pentagon Could Have Something to Hide in Syria

A-10 Thunderbolt
The US attack against the Syrian Arab Army in the Deir ez-Zor region leaves more questions than answers, although Washington has declared the airstrikes an "accident." It could not have simply been a mistake, Pakistani political analyst Salman Rafi Sheikh believes.

It is unlikely that the US-led coalition's airstrikes in Syria's Deir ez-Zor region against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) positions took place due to a mere "accident," Salman Rafi Sheikh, a political analyst and expert on Pakistani foreign affairs believes.

 "A look at the pattern of how the US-led coalition has been striking in the region would further reveal that the last strike, which killed more than 60 Syrian soldiers, was not simply a mistake," Sheikh writes in his article for New Eastern Outlook.
Sheikh pointed out that the SAA has been fighting against Daesh in the Deir ez-Zor region for a long time. However, the US-led coalition did not attack the terrorist group when it countered the SAA's attacks and seized Palmyra.

Surprisingly, the deadly strike has been conducted at a time when the SAA was gaining momentum on the ground.



"The fact remains that the strike has taken place at a time when the Syrian army was successfully pushing ISIS [Daesh] back and bringing more and more [of the] region under its control," Sheikh underscored.

It seems that the SAA's military success "was clearly running counter" to the US' objective to weaken the Syrian government forces and prevent them from re-establishing Assad's authority in the country's troubled regions. As the situation unfolds, the US is pursuing two conflicting goals in Syria: first, they seek to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while on the other hand they want to defeat Daesh.

  The situation is further complicated by the fact that the Pentagon, most notably Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, is opposing the US-Russian ceasefire deal on Syria, the analyst noted.

"With many high-ranking US officials, including those from its Defense establishment, being skeptical about the deal and opposing it to keep Russia from buttressing Assad, could it not be that the strike, which certainly could not have taken place without the Pentagon's approval, was actually meant to derail the deal?" Sheikh asked.
To add to the embarrassment, it was Daesh who directly benefited from the US air strike against the SAA, the analyst remarked, calling attention to the fact that the terrorist group "launched an attack on the Syrian army immediately after the coalition jet had struck them."

First Deputy Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee in Russia's Federation Council Franz Klintsevich shares a similar stance, believing that the Deir ez-Zor attack was hardly an "accident." "The US conducted airstrikes on government forces in Syria deliberately and thoughtfully," he suggested.

  According to Klintsevich, Washington's major goal is "to depose President Bashar al-Assad, bring the opposition to power and maintain their economic interests." Russian envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin echoed Klintsevich, stressing that "some aspects of the situation suggest that it could well have been a provocation."

Commenting on the issue, Yevgeny Satanovsky, head of the Moscow-based Middle East Institute, told the Russian online newspaper Vzglyad that there is something fishy about the US-led coalition's "accidental" airstrike against the SAA. Either the Pentagon's intelligence is worth nothing, or the US Department of Defense interpreted the US-Russian agreement on Syria in a pretty warped way, the expert underscored.
At the same time, Russian journalist and political analyst Yevgeny Krutikov has repeatedly noted in his articles for Vzglyad that the SAA's achievements on the ground are causing irritation in the Pentagon.

To add more fuel to the fire, the SAA is about to defeat a very suspicious Islamist group — Jund al-Aqsa — known to have earlier been supported by the US. Despite the group being relatively small, it possesses modern weapons and even surveillance drones. Jund al-Aqsa was designated as a terrorist entity by the US only four days ago. However, it has been spotted colluding with both the former al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army — the so-called "moderate opposition." 

 Given this, it is really hard to separate the wheat from the chaff on the ground, Krutikov noted. In any event, the possible defeat of Jund al-Aqsa will shed the light on a wide range of questions, especially about the groups drones and the identity of the leader of the group operating under the alias Abu Abdul Aziz al-Qatari, the political analyst stressed. 
It seems, however, that some Washington officials would rather leave a vast array of inconvenient truths about the Syrian war swept under the rug. 



Trains collide in Algeria, multiple casualties reported (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

© Mounir Ben
At least one person has been killed and up to 60 have been injured after two trains collided in Boumerdes, Algeria, according to local media.
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Clinton’s aide left classified briefing paper in Russian hotel – FBI documents

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Moscow, March 18, 2010. © Sergey Pyatakov
The FBI investigation looking into Hillary Clinton’s breaches of professional conduct has made public another violation, which culminated in “verbal security counselling,” after an aide to the secretary of state left sensitive documents at a Moscow hotel.
Amidst another 189 pages of various interviews looking into Hillary Clinton’s use of her private email account during her work as secretary of state in 2009-2013, the FBI published an incident with Monica Hanley, one of the former aides who was closely involved into the scandal.
According to earlier reports, Hanley bought multiple BlackBerry smartphones for Clinton from AT&T stores located in the Washington, DC, area, which were potentially used to send work emails and which the FBI now cannot find.
In an interview with Hanley, which was conducted in January, it was revealed that during one of Clinton’s trips to Russia, Hanley was given a diplomatic pouch with the secretary of state’s briefing book. The aide took the pouch to the suite of the Russian hotel she was sharing with Clinton.
US Diplomatic Security (DS) “found a classified document from the briefing book in the suite during a sweep following Clinton and Hanley’s departure.”
As a result Hanley received “verbal security counseling” from the DS who told her that the briefing book and document“should never have been in the suite.”
According to the documents, much of the carelessness in handling the classified information over email was due to the staffers thinking they were doing nothing wrong, due to a lack of training.
In 2014, Clinton’s office released some 55,000 emails to State Department investigators, while admitting that she erased another 33,000. The Judicial Watch filed lawsuits demanding that another cache of 14,900 emails uncovered by the FBI are also released.
While the FBI began its investigation in July 2015 at the request of the US Intelligence Community Inspector General, most of the recovered emails – around 1,050 pages – are not expected to be available until after the November 8 presidential election, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper said that the material could be as much as 10,000 pages.

4 dead, 1 injured, manhunt for mall shooter underway in Burlington, Washington

Police said in their latest briefing that four female victims have been confirmed dead, while one man was taken to hospital. Earlier a man was reported to be in a critical condition, while only three fatalities were confirmed.
"We're doing everything we can to find this person. Stay vigilant. If you see something, just like they say, say something," said Washington State Patrol spokesman Mark Francis as quoted by local Komo News TV. "Avoid the area. If you live close to the area, stay inside - lock your doors."
Police released a still from CCTV footage showing the suspect. Francis tweeted the shooter was "armed with rifle." He reportedly entered a Macy's department store around 7:00pm.
Police also confirmed they are looking for a "single shooter", while some reports on Twitter suggested the attacker could have an accomplice.
Skagit County police and fire scanner audio described the suspect as appearing between 20 to 25 years old, with a "skinny build," black messy hair and wearing a black shirt.
The motives of the shooter have not yet been revealed. The FBI has been investigating the attack as a potential act of terrorism, Reuters reported.
Earlier, it was reported that a person identifying as the shooter called into police, and crisis negotiators were being assembled, according to KIRO.
The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is on scene as well as the FBI.
Police evacuated the mall, then escorted emergency medical services inside to attend to those injured. The number of injured is unknown at this time, but according to some reports stands at one or two.
The Department of Emergency Management of Skagit County is asking the public to avoid the area.
SWAT teams are inside and outside of the mall, which features several large retails stores, cafes and a cinema; all roads in and out of the area are closed, according to KIRO reporter Gary Horcher. The manhunt is now continuing in a near-by area, where the suspect was sighted. 
“I think it’s too early to call it terrorism, but it’s also too early to take that off the table," Director of the Center for the Study of Extramism, Bryan Levin, told RT.
"Although, a couple of things: the fact that the casualty level is relatively low for someone who’s armed like that suggests to me that this could also be some personal issue, such as a targeted killing. But in the very early hours of these type of events, you want to make sure you have everything on the table, in case the facts change, and you need those resources. So, there’s certain operational reasons that one does not want to take the potentiality of terrorism off the table. But, unfortunately, most of these kinds of shootings are not terrorism-related.”
A witness who was trapped in a fitting room at the time of the shooting says she heard the shooter yell out a woman's name while going after escaping shoppers, according to Skagit Breaking News.
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