re 197
“11 million dollars for Jammeh’s holidays in Guinea”
Actually, Mina, didn’t you think how little that was, only 11 million? Normally that would be in the billions. But then Gambia is a

Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 23 2017 10:53 utc | 203

In reply to “Passerby”, entry 147. I can’t say 100% that you’re wrong because Western intervention in the Ukraine and the ME is such a big subject. One reads any number of explanations or justifications for that intervention and there’s no certainty any of them are right. There’s one justification I don’t see put forward, however, unless for PR purposes and then only as a matter of form, and that is the excuse that our interventions in these regions are for the purpose of protecting Human Rights. Yet this, I’m pretty sure, is what you are saying when you write this:-
“With Trump, decisions seem made by asking “Does this benefit me? If it doesn’t benefit me, why should I do it?” Making decisions because of abstract values – human rights, or free trade – just became as old-fashioned as flying dinosaurs.”
This can only mean that you are asserting that Western foreign policy in the Ukraine and the ME up until the Trump presidency was based on the pursuit of abstract values such as Human Rights. Have I read you correctly, and if so could you indicate where the evidence that substantiates that assertion is to be found?
A long winded but I hope precise way of expressing the question that came into my mind when I first saw your post: “Where the hell are these flying dinosaurs? I’ve never seen any.”

Posted by: EnglishOutsider | Jan 23 2017 11:29 utc | 205

first drone strikes under Trump administration kills…

Posted by: john | Jan 23 2017 12:10 utc | 207

@201 smuks
Your logic is, to put it mildly, illogical .
The US needs Israel to control MENA, so yes, of course there is a strong lobby in DC which makes sure that this crucial alliance isn’t put in question
If, as you assert, the US ‘needs’ Israel, then, ipso facto, there is no need for a strong lobby. The US has numerous military bases in the mid-east, none of which are in Israel – so what exactly is Israel’s practical contribution to this ‘crucial alliance’ that is worth $3.8 billion per year.
United they stand
WTF does that even mean? That the US or its foreign policy would fall apart without Israel bravely propping it up? Hilarious.
the US has 100 times greater resources, so it’s quite obvious they’re the dominant side in this alliance.
Another slider. Its not the size of resources but, crucially, the control of those resources that matters, as in where and why said resources are allocated. Control the decision makers and you control the resources.
As to who is wagging what, perhaps you should google Netanyahoo’s speech to Congress, the one where he received at least 26 standing ovations in less than 39 minutes; that’s an average of one ovation every 1 ½ minutes. Perhaps that will shed some light on your ‘wagging’ conundrum.

Posted by: pantaraxia | Jan 23 2017 12:37 utc | 209

Dang!..you people you are missing the reality train again,come on get up to speed while your mind is being messed up!The reality ‘setters’ are creating new paradoxs while you are still frozen like a deer caught in the old fake highlights.
The old soldiers known as Pentagon have got their man in the white house with a little help from Jerusalem?maybe who knows but the team chaos is not using the old bogey man ”terrorism” cos they are the one with the copyright on real terrorist,they are now using ”women right” as the attacking ramp on the mind of the yet to awake ‘american’ mind.
Take 2 images ,one of mad madame Madonna ”bombing w.h” and not being dragged away to Guantanamo bay with soros on the other side of the bond declaring war on ‘fascism’ actually on ‘pentagon sized w.h”…
The next image of triumphant new POTUS voted rightfully being faked as ‘not my president’……”women &not my president anarchy” is coming to your living room.
While in the background receding is view of ‘moderate freedom fighters” narrative franchise is being buried in Dier E. Zur!

Posted by: Nur Adlina | Jan 23 2017 14:02 utc | 211

Laguerre@195, mina – Re: Asharq Al-Awsat – their banner looks a little familiar so I must have seen things on their site before, but I’m surprised they haven’t come up more often in search results. Some sites do not allow search engine indexing of their english-language editions. I don’t recall the newspaper being cited much in other on-line sources or linked to in articles/blogs, but maybe I just haven’t noticed (or it’s peculiar to Syrian coverage). Al Hayat / Al Monitor is familiar, but I never knew it was the ‘other’ major Arab-language newspaper. I feel like a perfect fool now, but thanks for the education.
Laguerre Re Ar Raqqa – The whole ‘Wrath of Euphrates’ operation has been peculiar since day one. Nobody could figure out why Kurds (SDF) would die to take back ar Raqqa and there were only a thousand or two Arabs in the SDF at the time, but they announced the operation anyway. A couple of weeks in, the U.S. clarified that this was only Phase I of Wrath of Euphrates – the SDF was just taking back the little villages north of ar Raqqa, but wouldn’t enter the city itself. Phase II was suppose to be left up to the Arab contingents. That went on for a couple of months with slow (but steady, I guess) progress.
Now the U.S. and SDF claim an Arab force of several thousand in SDF and they are nearly ready to move into ar Raqqa itself. The entire thing seems impossible and there’s no way U.S. advisers and several thousand casual soldiers with a few months of training are going to make much progress in the city. I’m still suspicious that most of this Arab SDF contingent are trained mercs hired by the U.S. – someone to step aside after the fighting so the U.S. can cram their paid-off administration lackeys into ar Raqqa. Sort of a permanent spy base/listening post for the U.S., I guess.
Ar Raqqa is the U.S.’s last-ditch effort to have something on the Euphrates to serve as a moderate Sunnistan capital. I don’t see how they can take it, but the U.S. just seems obsessed with it. Maybe the dam is part of it – selling Syria back it’s own electricity from an Arab federation may be a more realistic scheme than trying to get Assad to buy it from the Kurds. All this assuming the U.S. resource theft schemes and soft partitioning in Syria goes off as planned.

Posted by: PavewayIV | Jan 23 2017 15:01 utc | 213

@ Posted by: Not outraged | Jan 23, 2017 10:37:15 AM | 214
How droll & laced with sarcasm. Thank you for the latest #Fake ID creation. A backhanded form of compliment, no doubt 🙂

‘Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence.’

If the latter part of the quote didn’t give the quote away, given the fact the quote is from Oscar Wilde, a very well-known ‘wit’, should provide an ‘indicator’.
It’s generally accepted that Oscar was being ‘sarcastic‘, when he said it. 😉

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 23 2017 16:02 utc | 215

Mina at 205. I was struck by this passage: Les « Casques blancs », que le gouvernement français a financé entre autres et que nous avons reçus à l’Elysée sont, pour un grand nombre d’entre eux, secouristes le jour et terroristes la nuit, et vice-versa ; Ils ont prêté allégeance à Jabhat al-Nosra (Al-Qaïda), comme le prouvent les documents retrouvés après leur départ et comme en témoignent les habitants.
Because until now I have not read/seen anyone who says that, but I’m sure it’s true.

Posted by: Noirette | Jan 23 2017 16:45 utc | 217

Noirette @217, there was a video of some guy cutting off a Palestinian refugee kid’s head off with a pen knife. He was identified later as a White Helmet and a lot of media carried that story.

Posted by: mischi | Jan 23 2017 17:08 utc | 219

@219 circe.. 64,000 question is does the us remain in the un?

Posted by: james | Jan 23 2017 17:22 utc | 221

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUSKBN157231
Iraqi forces have captured all of eastern Mosul, dislodging Islamic State militants from the last pocket they held east of Tigris river, the defense ministry said on Monday.
Mosul is Islamic State’s last major city stronghold in Iraq.
“The armed forces succeeded in liberating the left bank of the city of Mosul completely, after inflicting heavy losses in lives and equipment to the enemy,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Iraqi forces launched a U.S.-backed campaign in October to retake Mosul from the hardline Sunni group, which captured the city in 2014, declaring from its Grand Mosque a “caliphate” that also spanned parts of Syria.

Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 23 2017 17:37 utc | 223

People in the U.S. seem unaware of the economic tsunami that is coming with the automation of workplaces with new technology to eliminate human workers, starting with self-driving vehicles, and moving on down the line until at least 50 percent of the working age population can’t find any job outside of sub-minimum work in the service sector – if they’re lucky. TPP was the keystone of this with it’s provision that national law is “trumped” – pardon the expression – by the interests of investors, and that democratically decreed laws can be repealed by nameless, unaccountable and secret trade courts.
Can’t happen you say. We live in a democracy? As soon as enough workplaces are converted to the point that human beings physically __can’t__ work in them, the next step is to take the vote away from the “losers” who have been left behind.
Any ideas or comments as to how this situation is going play out?

Posted by: rackstraw | Jan 23 2017 17:41 utc | 225

Seeing initial sketchy reports in foreign news of US and Russia conducting joint air operations in Syria.

Posted by: Les | Jan 23 2017 17:50 utc | 227

Russia has received coordinates of Daesh targets in Al-Bab, Aleppo Province, from the US via the ‘direct line,’ the Russian Defense Minsitry said Monday.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201701231049927674-russia-us-daesh-coordinates/

Posted by: From The Hague | Jan 23 2017 18:12 utc | 229

Already two days prior to the inauguration, the US attacks on al-Nusra in Idlib started. The US militaries did give a “F” on weather Obama likes it or not ..
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-air-strikes-syria-isis-al-qaeda-jabhat-fateh-al-sham-nusra-aleppo-idlib-training-camp-100-killed-a7539571.html

Posted by: From The Hague | Jan 23 2017 18:16 utc | 231

Trump and Sisi discussed fighting terrorism in phone call: statement
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed fighting terrorism and extremism with U.S. President Donald Trump in a telephone call, and Trump applauded Egypt’s efforts on those fronts, Sisi’s office said on Monday.
Trump told Sisi he appreciates the difficulties faced by Egypt in its “war on terror” and affirmed his administration’s commitment to supporting the country, Sisi’s spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a statement.
“The U.S. President also expressed during the call his looking forward to the President’s awaited visit to Washington which is being prepared for through diplomatic channels,” the statement said

Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 23 2017 18:24 utc | 233

Correction: Tasimnews.com is an Iranian news site.

Posted by: Wwinsti | Jan 23 2017 18:29 utc | 235

@ Posted by: From The Hague | Jan 23, 2017 1:16:31 PM | 231
Key quotes from above link:

Monitors say target jointly controlled by group previously ‘vetted’ and armed by US
Drones and bombers were used to raze the camp to the ground.
More than 100 Islamist fighters have been killed by US air strikes on a training camp in Syria as American forces expand their assault beyond Isis.
The Department of Defense said planes and drones were involved in Thursday’s operation on the Shaykh Sulayman camp in northern Syria, on the last day of Barack Obama’s presidency.
A statement described the target as an “al-Qaeda training camp”, but monitors say it was controlled by Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) and Hakarat Nour al-Din al-Zenki.
JFS claimed it split from al-Qaeda last year, when it changed its name from Jabhat al-Nusra, while the Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement received American weapons including TOW anti-tank missiles as one of dozens of “vetted groups”.
Its fighters filmed themselves beheading a Palestinian boy accused of spying last year, and has abducted and tortured journalists and humanitarian workers.
Captain Jeff Davis, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, said the camp had been operational since at least 2013.
“The removal of this training camp disrupts training operations and discourages hardline Islamist and Syrian opposition groups from joining or cooperating with al-Qaeda on the battlefield,” he added.
…
JFS released a statement condemning the strike and accusing the US of aiding Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which Mr Obama’s administration opposed.
…
The targeted camp is in a region expected to be a key battleground for Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
…
An official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the strike was carried out by a B-52 bomber and unmanned aircraft that dropped 14 munitions.
The camp, near the border between Aleppo and Idlib province, is in a region expected to be the Syrian President’s next target following his force’s assault on rebel-held parts of Aleppo city.
…
Islamist activists accused the US of injuring children and civilians in recent strikes, including one on a car carrying a high profile militant, showing a young boy in hospital.
…
Air strikes continued on Friday, with Isis militants, vehicles, oil wells, weapons and infrastructure targeted in the Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and Homs provinces of Syria, as well as near Mosul, Kisik and Kirkuk in Iraq.
US-led forces carried out a three-day campaign to prevent Isis transporting fighters and equipment across the Tigris River in Mosul, where they have been driven out of eastern parts by Iraqi security forces.
Coalition planes struck 90 watercraft and three barges, Central Command said.
“We believe this was a desperate attempt to retrograde Isil (Isis) fighters now that the Iraqi Security Forces own the eastern bank of every bridge in Mosul,” said Col John L Dorrian.
…

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 23 2017 18:42 utc | 237

@ 221: Gee, thanks for the revelation that Obama was, and is, a hypocrite and a liar. Who knew? But then, that’s what it takes to front for the empire.
Some of us are waiting to see if Mr. Trump fulfills the same role. Unless he controls his cabinet picks history proven inclinations, it could well be a case of…
“meet the new boss, same as the old boss”
Still, too soon to tell, but here’s one indicator, unless, he takes Mr. Ryan to the woodshed.
http://www.salon.com/2016/12/08/house-gop-bucks-donald-trump-scrap-legislation-to-buy-american-iron-and-steel/

Posted by: ben | Jan 23 2017 19:05 utc | 239

@ Posted by: Peter AU | Jan 23, 2017 1:58:23 PM | 238
As discussed previously.
The suborned & politicized Generals have received new orders WEF Trump’s inauguration and the removal of Neocon chickhenhawk warmonger’s minion’s, such as Ash Carter.
The Professional Military has been executing the new CIC’s mission literally within an hour of taking office. This has now been corroborated and confirmed by multiple sources and reports over the last 48 hours, beyond any reasonable doubt. IMV

.. “defeating ISIS and other radical Islamic terror groups will be our highest priority,” referring to the Islamic State terror network.

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 23 2017 19:07 utc | 241

Draft translation of:
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 23, 2017 11:45:09 AM | 217

The “White Helmets“, which the French government financed, among others, and which we have received at the Elysee, are, for many of them, first-aiders during the day and terrorists at night, and vice versa; They pledged allegiance to Jabhat al-Nosra (al Qaeda), as evidenced by the documents found after their departure and as witnessed by the inhabitants.

YMMV

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 23 2017 19:18 utc | 243

Outraged | Jan 23, 2017 2:07:58 PM | 241
Yes. It is good to see. A number of positive actions already by Trump. TPP is gone which was a big concern for me, plus the turn around in Syria, though I see from the Department of Defence site, the destruction of Syrian infrastructure by operation Inherent Resolve has continued. Will wait and watch on that one.
Regarding the US embassy move to Jerusalem. Any chance on this being a move to put the embassy closer to the Palestinians? As in being halfway between Palestinian Israel and Jewish Israel. Any thoughts on this. Trump seems to be purely pragmatic rather than ideological or religious. Perhaps the move is just to appease zionists? But I feel there may be more in it than meets the eye.

Posted by: Peter AU | Jan 23 2017 19:22 utc | 245

MUST SEE
save it on mirrors and spread it via youtube and elsewhere because FB will probably take if off
https://www.facebook.com/pierrelecorf/posts/10155035638889925
Someone filmed the 9 first days of the war in his street, in Aleppo, August 2012

Posted by: Mina | Jan 23 2017 19:26 utc | 247

@ Posted by: Peter AU | Jan 23, 2017 2:22:47 PM | 245

Any thoughts on this. Trump seems to be purely pragmatic rather than ideological or religious.

My thoughts align with the former, a pragmatist, an American historical Nativist closest to the strain circa 1800 thru to 1890’s, with a strong strain of jingoistic ‘Patriotism’ of the old school traditional kind. Though just merely an overall impression.
Have a hunch I’m researching that he was burnt in his business dealings/career by the Globalist(?) faction, more than once for failing to ‘co-operate’, and that is at the core of his efforts one now percieves to have begun around ~8-10 years ago, to directly take on the Globalists(?) through the office of the Presidency and in effect an internal coup within the GOP. Raw draft assessment, not refined or fleshed out … YMMV

Perhaps the move is just to appease zionists? But I feel there may be more in it than meets the eye.

It’s all very opaque. Destroying ISIS and the moderate head-choppers is directly against Israel’s strategic interests & policies. Only time and Deeds will elucidate. IMV
Have noted he doesn’t, unlike other patently ‘bought & paid for‘ shill’s/sock-puppets, quote/read-out aloud verbatim statements faxed/emailed/mailed by AIPAC … always a good indicator. So ? ? ? Who knows … just yet.

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 23 2017 19:47 utc | 249

Israel is pro-ISIS and rejects the notion of a U.S.-Russian alliance to destroy ISIS:

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Tuesday that Iran poses a greater threat than the Islamic State, and that if the Syrian regime were to fall, Israel would prefer that IS was in control of the territory than an Iranian proxy. – Times of Israel, Jan 19 2016

Hillary Clinton and Ashton Carter and John McCain, in contrast to Trump, were promoters of a no-fly zone in Syria that would have given Al Qaeda and ISIS an advantage over the Syrian government, even if it meant direct military conflict between American and Russian air forces. That earns them the lunatic-of-the-year award. And just to review, here are some quotes on why there was so much eagerness to implement regime change in Syria, related to Aleppo and Deir Ezzor:

2008: On October 14, the official Syrian news agency SANA announced that the Russian Stroytransgaz had been awarded a USD 71 million contract to build a 38-mile (62 km) gas pipeline from Aleppo to the Turkish border over the next 18 months. (Note: While the SARG may spin this project as the final “link” in the “Arab Gas Line” project to export Egyptian gas to Europe, industry experts believe the pipeline’s actual purpose will be to bring Iranian gas to the Syrian market. End note.) – US State Department cable

This expansion of Syrian-Iranian-Russian economic cooperation seems to have greatly alarmed Israel and the US and Saudi Arabia, and is the best explanation for the covert regime change effort in Syria since 2011, which notably had an Aleppo and Deir Ezzor focus:

May 2009: Further, both sides [Syria & Iran] expressed a desire to link their electrical grids via the Deir Ezzor power station in eastern Syria and the Al Qaim station in western Iraq. Finally, the two delegations agreed they should facilitate bilateral trade by connecting their railroad network, with the Iranians noting their existing track is only 10km from the Iraqi port of Um Qasr. – US State Department cable

In contrast, the rational perspective is that the US can live with this kind of situation, and even profit off it by continuing to do business with all parties (mainly Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran) in the region, but that the Israelis have to be soothed and coddled as usual, so give them the Jerusalem embassy to ease their fears. I’d hope that’s what Trump is planning on, we’ll see.
Not that Israel has anything to fear from its neighbors with its massive nuclear arsenal and increased U.S. military aid package, as this underreported story details:
http://courthousenews.com/on-eve-of-aid-boost-researcher-flags-israels-clandestine-nukes/

“Defendants have collectively engaged in a violation of administrative procedure and the Take Care Clause by unlawful failure to act upon facts long in their possession while prohibiting the release of official government information about Israel”s nuclear weapons program, particularly ongoing illicit transfers of nuclear weapons material and technology from the U.S. to Israel,” the 33-page complaint states.

Posted by: nonsense factory | Jan 23 2017 20:26 utc | 251

That was a pretty good idea. It took only four years to transform it into the so called Arab spring. And now no one will care about it anymore.
http://www.btselem.org/video/cdp_background

Posted by: Mina | Jan 23 2017 20:42 utc | 253

@214 pw, ‘Ar Raqqa is the U.S.’s last-ditch effort to have something on the Euphrates to serve as a moderate Sunnistan capital.’
does this mean you’ve reassessed deir ezzor as a failure? i hope. not that your prognostications are better than anyone else’s … but i guess i think they are 🙂

Posted by: jfl | Jan 23 2017 21:18 utc | 255

jfl@257 – Re: U.S. designs on Ar Raqqa. It strikes me that the U.S. has an obsession with ar Raqqa and Tabqa. That doesn’t strike me as any kind of pure ISIS-battling motive. They would be better off leaving it for now, I mean – what’s the hurry? ISIS capitol – who cares? It is not an immediate threat to the Kurds. Why the U.S. interest there and (apparently) little interest in al Bab or Deir EzZor?
Al bab is taking care of itself so the U.S. has no kind of future presence or influence there. I think they would have loved the Kurds to make it that far, but that’s not happening now (nor will Turkey let it). So the U.S. writes off any al Bab land theft through proxy and plays nice with Turkey to get rid of ISIS there. If the U.S. can’t have it, then the second most important goal is “not liberated by Syria.” Syrian control means no U.S. foot in the door. Turkey controlling al Bab would mean a permanent terrorist base camp close to Aleppo for endless mischief – the U.S.’s “Keep Syria on it’s Knees Forever” campaign.
Deir EzZor is just the opposite – the U.S. seems to want ISIS to take it over completely. Why? Well, ISIS are our placeholder terrorists – they provide a permanent casus belli for someone (like a U.S. proxy) to grab it later on. Who would complain about someone kicking out ISIS? A suitable U.S. stooge just needs to be tasked with the job.
The most important thing for Deir EzZor right now is that it remain “not liberated by Syria.” Palmyra/Tadmor is part of that strategy – tying up Syria and blocking the roads so they can’t relieve the siege of Deir EzZor. If Deir EzZor is under ISIS control and the SAA is still stalled in Palmyra/Tadmor, then the U.S. still has a chance at their land theft by proxy. I don’t know who the proxy would be. Kurds? That’s pretty far south for them. Arab militias? Sure – dust of the failed New Syria Army or whatever they were called. The point is that it eventually can be liberated by someone, as long as that someone is not Syria. I don’t suggest this scheme will succeed – I’m just offering evidence for a motive.
The U.S. goal here is a “not Syrian” ar Raqqa and a “not Syrian” Euphrates all the way down to “not Syrian” Deir EzZor and “not Syrian” al Bukamal. The Proxy isn’t important, as long as they were a U.S. stooge somehow dependent on us. Dependency is control. Iraq will never be free of the U.S. parasite, and that’s the plan for as much of north and east Syria as possible. To what ends? Well, the usual suspects.

Posted by: PavewayIV | Jan 23 2017 22:43 utc | 257

2017 Is 1984 Psycho-Feudalism In America
International researchers develop ‘vaccine’ against ‘fake news’
23 Jan, 2017
https://www.rt.com/news/374799-study-fake-news-vaccine/
Scientists at Cambridge, Yale and George Mason are seriously considering a “vaccine” against fake news, and believe they’ve found a solution – one that’s not too different from immunization against an ordinary viral pathogen.
According to social psychologist Dr. Sander van der Linden, “Misinformation can be sticky, spreading and replicating like a virus.” Therefore, new research has found that treating it like an actual virus may do the trick.
The research focused on fake news about climate change, though the model can potentially be applied anywhere else to “inoculate” the public against misinformation. It discovered that when two types of information are presented consecutively, the wrong information would completely cancel out what was said before. In other words, the opinion would go full circle.
So the solution would then be to introduce small amounts of misinformation together with the correct information. They would stand out obviously, and act not as distortion, but as something the mind could immediately compare with the correct information, preventing a shift of the resulting opinion to either side too strongly.
Read more
© Dado Ruvic ‘Facebook deals first blow in the fake war against fake news’
Regardless of any follow-up exposure to fake news, the method would still do the trick, researchers discovered.
“We wanted to see if we could find a ‘vaccine’ by pre-emptively exposing people to a small amount of the type of misinformation they might experience. A warning that helps preserve the facts,” van der Linden went on.
The point was to create “a cognitive repertoire that helps build up resistance to misinformation,” thereby weakening its effect the next time around.
The researchers tested their hypothesis – the so-called ‘inoculation theory’ – by inventing a pretend scenario that would closely mimic the dynamics of misinformation on a highly-publicized subject as they play out in real life.
The study was performed on Republicans, Democrats and Independents equally, and achieved a high degree of efficacy with their sample size of 2,000 people. The participants were all given popular false statements on prominent topics. Each was rated for familiarity and the persuasiveness of its arguments.

Posted by: blues | Jan 24 2017 2:37 utc | 259

In reply to “EnglishOutsider”, entry 205.
Until now, Western leaders used values as an excuse when invading, overthrowing, or bombing. Human rights, democracy, free trade, or, in the case of Ukraine, “European values”.
Trump does away with that. With Trump it’s “Does it benefit America? If not, why should I do it?”. That’s Trump: the change from value-based decisions to profit-based decisions.

Posted by: passerby | Jan 24 2017 9:00 utc | 261

Empire Files: US-Russia Relations in “Most Dangerous Moment”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op6Qr7uuMy8

Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 24 2017 10:35 utc | 263

So, Trump has been president for 3 days now. When will HE get his Nobel Peace Prize? mischi @ 248.
Heh 🙂 — Putin joked about that in the last presser. Saying that he didn’t know If Trump would be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics or Mathematics!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYdQJ3HNdqU (F subtitles)
In the eng. version on Youtube this passage has been cut. As has the passage where he says that prostitution is a scourge, but it is an outcome of Sate and Society.
https://nyti.ms/2jWGvXv (Eng subtitles.)

Posted by: Noirette | Jan 24 2017 18:22 utc | 265

this leader of the opposition Mohammed Alloush is connected to Jaysh al-Islam.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaysh_al-Islam
Zahran Alloush was the son of an exiled Salafi preacher living in Saudi Arabia, jailed for his own “salafist activisties,” reports Syria Deeply, but was released in 2011, after which he quietly formed a militant group late in the year.
Zahran’s close relative Mohammed Alloush studied marketing in Saudi Arabia, and then Islamic banking in Lebanon, “but he dropped out before completion, joining Jaish Al Islam,” apparently in 2012, when they started receiving Saudi Arabian funding, Gulf News reports. “(Mohammed) was the founder of underground cells in Douma, 10-km northeast of Damascus, and rose in rank quickly to become a member of Jaish Al Islam’s Political Bureau.” [4] (In March, 2016, Mohammed would be selected, at Saudi insistence, as the chief negotiator for the Western-and-Saudi-backed High Negotiating Commiittee heading what’s supposed to be peace talks with the Syrian government.) http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Army_of_Islam
The group along with Ahrar ash-Sham are the main rebel groups supported by Saudi Arabia.[41] The group aims to create an Islamic state under Sharia law.[42][43]
Ideology
Sunni Islamism[1]
Salafism[1]
this is the opposition the USA is supporting? go figure…

Posted by: james | Jan 24 2017 19:49 utc | 267

@ Posted by: juliania | Jan 24, 2017 2:21:53 PM | 268
Indeed. And these Faux arguments, faux hand-wringing and faux/suborned NGO’s, R2P & faux Human Rights & ‘Oh the Humanity‘, #Fake ‘pretexts’ have rarely been genuine, always in the interests of Supra-National, Multi-National Corporate interests, championed fraudulently & relentlessly by the trumpet of the small cabal of, owned by other corporate entities further up the chain, MEGA-Media-Corpses, benefiting … Globalists(?) (Financiers/Bankster mega-corporations, & their ultimate owners) perhaps, pulling the strings, behind the curtain of the Empire ?
Often to the detriment of the nations serving Empire, including the citizens of the US itself ?

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 25 2017 1:35 utc | 269

@ Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 25, 2017 11:32:12 AM | 272
It takes time, planning & available means (logistics) to turn them around and bring ’em back, even once a directive is issued, if that is intended(happened).
What is more relevant, is there a continuation or lack of accompanying bellicose rhetoric, if there is a lack thereof, then they likely won’t be there long … 😉

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 26 2017 2:02 utc | 271

While the fake, irrational, confused left continue their wayward march to the piper’s tune, there are, and have been, educated voices inside the real left that are genuine about serious reform, which includes a return to sound money that ideas like public banking would provide.
Great 18 minute radio interview by Yanis Varoufakis with ABC Radio National (Australia) ~ Trump, Brexit and the European New Deal .
Worth listening to a guy that has been head-to-head-toe-to-toe with the failing neoliberal beast. He refuses to believe that Trump brings hope, and provides solutions to obvious financial problems via European institutions that already exist (just not used for the people).

Posted by: MadMax2 | Jan 26 2017 3:45 utc | 273

Chelsea Manning Op-Ed
Manning’s selective amnesia is pervasive on the left. There is an abundance of evidence that Obama was never progressive. Obama simply put a smiley-face on neolib/neocon polices.
Manning also fails to denounce the corrupt Democratic Party. They are the principle reason that we have Trump.
It’s sad to see genuinely progressive people that still don’t get it.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 26 2017 16:47 utc | 275

Buttressing the narrative of Obama as a well-meaning progressive that was blocked by the dark forces of the right ONLY serves the interests of the Democratic Party establishment.
There are already many true progressives that have figured that out. Sheepdog Bernie Sanders campaign inadvertently(!) showed that progressives don’t need the corrupt Democratic Party.
Establishment liberals and faux progressives that such at the diseased teat of the Democratic Party will fight tooth and nail to oppose any Movement that rejects Centrist puppets, puppet masters, and puppet promoters (MSM).

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 26 2017 18:29 utc | 277

A top hacker-hunter at Russia’s largest cybersecurity firm has been arrested on charges of treason
A key cybercrime investigator at Russia’s biggest cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky, was arrested on charges of treason last month, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Kaspersky Lab confirmed to the Associated Press that Ruslan Stoyanov, head of its computer incidents investigations unit, was arrested in December.
Stoyanov was arrested along with a senior Russian FSB intelligence officer, Sergei Mikhailov, according to Kommersant. Mikhailov, who also faces treason charges, was the deputy head of the information security department of the FSB, Russia’s national security service.
Investigators are examining money that Stoyanov allegedly received from foreign companies or entities, according to Kommersant. A source told the paper that the case has been filed under article 275 of Russia’s criminal code, which allows the government to prosecute an individual suspected of aiding a foreign state or organization.

Posted by: Outraged | Jan 26 2017 23:57 utc | 279

jfl, its Chinese New year today and I presume it must be wild with firecrackers? I believe there are more than 10 overseas Chinese in where you are living?

Posted by: OJS | Jan 27 2017 4:50 utc | 281

ojs,
wikipedia says 9,392,792 … 14% of the population. thailand has the largest number of overseas chinese of any nation, although not the largest percentage of it’s population, singapore is 74.1% chinese, and malaysia 23.4% according to wikipedia.
this year chinese new years will be subdued, due to the official mourning for king bhumibol, who died just 106 days ago, on 13 october. there is an official year’s mourning. the chakri dynasty itself has rivers of chinese blood in its veins.

Posted by: jfl | Jan 27 2017 6:54 utc | 283

Russia betrays Syria with constitutional draft that decentralizes the Ba’athist Syrian state. Exactly what Israel & US want:
https://twitter.com/PhilGreaves01/status/824976256957571077
Phil Greaves predicted Russia would do this nearly a year ago.

Posted by: David | Jan 28 2017 8:54 utc | 285

@289 pp
thanks for the link. the biggest problem the brits have with the russians is the latter control so much land and wealth and the former control so little. having punched beyond their weight for centuries the brits are still up for it – the tories whose feet never have touched the ground anyway – and so they have always kept the russians in the hardly human category … ready to be warred and done away with … whenever they can get the americans to do it for them.
ancient greed and exploitation … norbert haering has a series on the us involvement in the financial exploitation of the hitherto un-banked indian millions …
– A well-kept open secret: Washington is behind India’s brutal experiment of abolishing most cash
– More evidence of early US involvement in Indian demonetisation
– Catalyst’s Malick, unhappy with report on US influence on India’s demonetisation, hits back with false claim
– The Group of Thirty might finally end its scandalous existence
– A $500 bn pot of gold: How Boston Consulting and Google pushed Modi to end the era of cash
… the ruthless post-modern greed of the tecno-financial western ruling class piling on top of the equally ruthless greed of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the ancient indian ruling class.

Posted by: jfl | Jan 30 2017 9:46 utc | 287