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Ukraine security headquarters bombed – Odessa partisans in action

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September 30th, 2015 –
By: Alexander Sivov, SVPressa –
Translated for Fort Russ by Paul Siebert –

“A bomb for the SBU – Odessa partisans in action”.

On September 27, around 04:45, a bomb blew up the building of the SBU headquarters in the Odessa region.

The blast exploded on the entrance side. In accordance with its old habit, SBU deliberately understated the power of the homemade bomb: “According to the preliminary information, the power of the explosive device was not less than 1 kilogram of TNT.”

Then this figure increased to 8-10 kg. The local media reported that it was the most powerful bomb detonated by Odessa partisans in the past year and a half. In two or three blocks from the scene of the explosion glass flew from the windows.

The next day, the Security Service and the authorities began to frantically “sweep the dust under the closet”, pretending that nothing serious had happened. The damaged section of the wall was covered with unremarkable gray film. At public expense the glass was inserted in the residents’ windows — a rare event for Odessa.

Considering that the goal of the underground movement in the city at this stage of guerrilla warfare is not so much in causing a military or material damage as in making “Sound Effect”, it was a total success.

The incident occurred in the city center, the explosion was heard by everyone.

Kiev became hysterical, in particular, an adviser to the interior minister Zorian Shkiryak announced on his Facebook page:

“The main shadow patron of the terrorist attacks on August 31 and September 27 in Odessa is the Kremlin! .. Thus, the Russian dictator blackmails Ukraine and the whole civilized world”.

In the recent months, in their reports to Kiev, Odessa SBU management announced the disclosure of more and more new conspiracies: of the radical left, Communists, activists of Antimaidan, agents of FSB and GRU, of blocking the channels for the financing of “terrorists”… As an illustration of the SBU motions we will quote another of its documents dated mid-September:

“Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Odessa region have detained members of a sabotage group that was planning a series of high-profile terrorist attacks and assassinations.”

“On the instructions of the curators of the General Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of Russia, members of the group, in particular, were going to carry out the bombings of law enforcement agencies, voluntary and public pro-Ukrainian organizations and military installations. The group was formed by a former employee of the Russian special service in the temporarily occupied territory of the Crimea. “
“Its first mission was a physical elimination of the leader of Odessa Euromaidan … The murder was planned to be carried out in September 2015 by members of the Communist Party of Ukraine … The detainees are testifying about their direct participation and the distribution of roles in implementing this criminal plan … “.
 
According to style, terminology, content and the spirit all this reminds of NKVD documents of late 30’s.
However, this fuss has little impact on the activity of Odessa Resistance. Those in the know laugh at these wild fantasies churned out by the press-service of the SBU.
A few hours after the explosion of the SBU, the Odessa underground on its YouTube channel “Odessa Ghost” told about the conducted operation:
“… Our today’s episode is dedicated to the operation of Odessa partisans, namely, blowing up of the building of the SBU headquarters in the Odessa region…
This summer SBU once again reported the elimination of the Odessa resistance. Our reply to this is very simple – you heard it last night. “
“However, the reason why the building of SBU was selected as a target was not only the desire to dispel the disinformation spread by this agency. There is another reason. The reason is that, among other law enforcement agencies serving the Kiev regime in conducting its criminal policies, the SBU plays a special role. This is the structure that was the first to serve Russophobic forces that seized power in Ukraine in 2014. This is not surprising in view of its close supervision by Western intelligence agencies.”
“During 2014 and 2015, the SBU carried out mass repressions against anyone who did not accept the coup of Ukrainian nationalists and fought them in different ways. From the instrument for protecting the security of the state and society, the SBU has turned into an ordinary secret police, serving the nationalists and the Nazis in power in Ukraine and fighting its own people.”
“Frankly speaking, it was a pity to detonate the building. The fact is that in the past it housed a regional Department of the KGB — an organization that defended the security of the country and its people … But today, sitting in the building are not the heirs of Dzerzhinsky and Sudoplatov, but the followers of Mazepa and Shukhevych. These are the people who have not just forgotten what the officer’s honor is and what serving the people is, but have deliberately chosen the side of those the ancestors of whom were destroyed  by the State Security officers. And that is why we decided to blast the building. “
“May all those who persecute true patriots and suppress all Russian in our beloved Odessa trying to turn it from the Russian southern capital into Ukrainian “Misto Odesa” feel that they are in our city, and strange and hostile to them …
Therefore, we sent them our present. Today we can state that the cargo reached its destination”.
Once in the network, this video was a resounding success: in the first 30 hours it had more than 40 thousand views, and this figure is growing.

Russia begins bombing ISIS

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Translated by Kristina Rus

MOSCOW, September 30  — RIA News. Russian Air and Space forces began conducting air operations with targeted strikes on the terrorists from the “Islamic state” in Syria, said the official representative of the Defense Ministry, major general, Igor Konashenkov.

“In accordance with the decision of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, the Russian planes of the Air and Space forces (VKS) today began conducting air operations with point strikes on ground targets of ISIS terrorists on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic,” – he told reporters.

Konashenkov also said that the Russian defense minister, army general Sergei Shoigu informed his colleagues in the CSTO that during the air operations in Syria, the Russian VKS aircraft strike military equipment, communications, vehicles, weapons, ammunition and fuel warehouses of ISIS terrorists.

On Wednesday the President of Russia Vladimir Putin submitted to the Federation Council a request for the approval to use the armed forces abroad. The Federation Council issued permission. The head of the Kremlin administration Sergei Ivanov told journalists that Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad appealed to the Russian Federation with the request for military assistance. Ivanov stressed the actions of the Russian armed forces abroad only pertain to air operations.

The use of military personnel in ground operations is out of question.

Russia enters a new war

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September 30, 2015
Oleg Nemen
Translated by Kristina Rus

Russia entered a war. A major war, probably long.
The result is not guaranteed, its course hard to predict.
Russia is forced to do it. Indeed, soon it will be too late but we will still have to fight, only in a worse position.

But I don’t understand this universal joy. Like a holiday!

That the USA is forced to concede defeat in the Middle East policy and agree with the Russian plan is, of course, cool. It really changes the international position of Russia.

But the very fact that Russia took responsibility for all the mess, brewed by Washington in the Middle East, is not encouraging. Russia had no choice. This is a risky and dangerous step.

To think that Russia will now shoot and solve all the problems, on which the US with the EU broke its teeth, is naive. This is a huge, very expensive and very hard war. And, of course, not only in Syria.

At the same time the West will lead a global information war against Russia – every day they will show “children murdered by the Russians,” etc.

This does not mean that we should not engage. It is necessary, we have to, but it’s not an occasion to celebrate.

God willing, it is successful. But a natural feeling at its beginning – worry. But all around – “Hooray, we won, we are a world power!”

A “world power” which cannot even defend Russians near our  borders…

Fascists from Pravy Sektor barricade Greek delegation in their Odessa hotel

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From the Greek newspaper Iskra. Picture was taken from inside the hotel. See video at end of source article.

Iskra
September 30, 2015
Translated from Greek by Tom Winter

Fascists of Right Sektor hold a Greek delegation barricaded in Odessa — Kostas Isychos, Nadia Valavani, Vassilis Hadjilambrou, Aris Hadjistefanou and the other members of the invited Greek delegation.

Wednesday morning a group from the Ukrainian Nazi organization “Right Sector” barricaded the Greek Mission in their hotel, the hotel “Duke” in the center of Odessa. The Greek delegation had been making contact with representatives of the Greek community there and the organization for Black Sea Ethnic Minorities.

The Greek mission includes the former Deputy Minister of Defence Costas Isuchos, the former Minister of Finance Nadia Valavani; the former Chairman of Foreign Affairs and Defence Claus Hadjilambrou and the journalist Aris Hajistefanou.

At this point officials of the Greek Consulate in Odessa and members of the OSCE mission in Ukraine are following developments.

The Greek mission came to Odessa at the invitation of the organization on Ethnic Minorities in Ukraine, and to meet with the Greek minority institutions to inquire into their problems and express support with the Hellenism of Ukraine.

By Wednesday morning, Ukrainian right-wing publications and websites were publishing diatribes against the Greek delegation, even to the point of accusing them of working for the dismemberment of Ukraine!

Speaking at the Athens agency, Nadia Valavani complained that members of the Ukrainian extreme right organization were constantly harassing them, insisting they “explain” why they are in Odessa.

“The right-wing extremists were telling us we are enemies of Ukraine,” Valavani said, adding that it is the first time that a foreign delegation has essentially put under guard by right-wing elements in Odessa.

 Meanwhile, gradually towards noon, it became possible to evacuate the Greek delegation from the hotel through a crowd of Ukrainian fascist paramilitary groups, all wearing masks and holding provocative slogans and banners. 

According to the same source, the Greek delegation was thus unable to make it to the main meeting with representatives of the Greek minority.  A guide, of Greek origin, for the Greek delegation had been arrested without cause the night before, by Ukrainian State Security.

Panagiotis Lafazanis, chief of the Popular Unity Party (Λαϊκή Ενότητα) denounced the arbitrary abuses against the Greek mission and informed Giannis Amanatidis, Deputy Foreign Minister responsible for issues of Greeks Abroad, of the unacceptable situation experienced by the Greek delegation and asked for the intervention of the Greek government on behalf of the diaspora in Ukraine.

Translator note: For the setting, and the recent sorrows of Odessa, good backgrounder can be read here.

Assad and Syrian opposition plan to sign a ceasefire in Prague

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From Fort Russ

September 30, 2015
TASS
Translated by Kristina Rus

“They are already beginning to call this document the “Prague Declaration”, – said the President of the Czech Republic

 The talks, which aim to conclude a truce between the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition in Geneva, will continue for several months, after which the parties intend to sign the corresponding agreement in Prague, on Tuesday said the Czech President Milos Zeman to the journalists at the UN headquarters in New York.

“Then (after negotiations) a cease-fire agreement, satisfying both sides of the conflict, will be signed in Prague,” – he said.

 “They (the Syrians – TASS) are already starting to call this document the “Prague Declaration”, – he stressed. – On the other hand, I want to be a realist and therefore expect that the Geneva talks will continue for several months. So the “Prague Declaration” is visible only on the horizon”.

Zeman on Tuesday met in New York with Syrian foreign Minister Walid Muallem, a meeting with representatives of the Syrian opposition was also planned, who themselves asked the President about it, but it did not take place “because of transportation issues” in New York’s Manhattan.

“I expressed a desire to support their proposal (the signing of the agreement in Prague – TASS), if the agreement will be concluded with representatives of the democratic opposition. I can’t imagine the agreement with terrorist organizations such as Islamic state or Al Qaeda -, said the Czech leader.

Putin on U.S. foreign policy and McCain

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Posted on Fort Russ

September  30th, 2015
Inessa Sinchougova

In recent days , Mr. Saakashvili (newly appointed Governor of Odessa) held a conference with Mr. John McCain in the Ukraine. Mr Saakashvili appears to have lost interest in the whole thing but Mr McCain proceeds to tell us why Mr Putin is a ‘thug and a bully’. The conference can be found here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cd9F…

This video [below] goes back to a Russian TV show in 2011, when Putin’s foreign policy wasn’t quite as clear to the Russian public as it is today. Nevertheless, he makes his stance known on US foreign policy, and notably, his feelings toward Mr McCain.

Four years later, it appears Mr Putin has delivered on his words that Russia will not be ostracised when it comes to allies on the international arena.

http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/09/video-putin-on-us-foreign-policy-and.html

An analysis of Obama’s speech at the UN, September 28

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By Barry Grey
Global Research, September 29, 2015
World Socialist Web Site
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, President Barack Obama portrayed himself and the US government as the preeminent defenders of international law and diplomacy. He did so even as the catastrophic consequences of the illegal wars of aggression he has overseen continued to send waves of refugees fleeing the ruins of entire countries—including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen—and as Washington took new steps to turn Eastern Europe into a militarized zone for eventual war against Russia. 

With his trademark hypocrisy and contempt for the intelligence of his audience, Obama hailed “an international system that imposes a cost on those who choose conflict over cooperation.” He proclaimed his support for the “international principles that helped constrain bigger countries from imposing our will on smaller ones,” and denounced those who maintain “that might makes right; that strong states must impose their will on weaker ones; that the rights of individuals don’t matter; and that in a time of rapid change, order must be imposed by force.”

This from a man who asserts the right of his government to launch “preemptive” wars against any country or group deemed hostile to Washington’s drive for hegemony over the oil-rich Middle East and the rest of the world; who has killed untold thousands in drone missile assassinations; waged an unprovoked war against Libya and murdered its leader, Gaddafi; and armed and financed a sectarian civil war using Al Qaeda-linked killers as its proxy force, turning Syria into a chamber of horrors.

The main focus of Obama’s remarks was Syria, where the debacle of US policy had become so pronounced that Obama was obliged to pull back from his previous demand for the immediate removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He has proposed talks with the Baathist regime’s main allies, Russia and Iran, on a “managed transition” that would likely retain elements of the current government while eventually easing Assad out of power.

Later on Monday, Obama met with Russian President Putin to discuss the possibility of engineering such a settlement of the four-and-a-half-year war. It was the first formal face to face meeting between the two since 2013, when the White House cancelled discussions with Putin in retaliation for Moscow’s decision to grant NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden temporary asylum. That was followed by a freeze on all high-level talks after the US-sponsored and fascist-led coup last year that overthrew Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych. Since it installed the ultra-nationalist and fascistic regime in Kiev, Washington has backed a brutal assault on pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine that has killed thousands and devastated entire cities.

The US finds its position in Syria and the broader region severely weakened, despite the mass killing in the country—estimated at 200,000 deaths in a country with a population of 23 million—caused by the sectarian civil war instigated by Washington and its regional allies, Turkey and the semi-feudal sheikdoms of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Iraq’s announcement Sunday that it had signed an agreement with Syria, Iran and Russia to share intelligence and coordinate security in the battle against Islamic State forces in Syria and Iraq appeared to take Washington by surprise.

It was preceded by a series of developments exposing Washington’s failure to create a non-jihadist “moderate” force to fight both ISIS and Assad. These included the resignation of the top US commander in the anti-ISIS war; congressional testimony by a leading general admitting that after more than a year and the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars, the US had trained “four or five” fighters; reports that the ranks of ISIS fighters were rising despite months of US and coalition bombing; and other reports that forces trained by the US in Turkey had defected or turned over their weapons to Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the al-Nusra Front.

Moreover, recent weeks have seen an increase in Russian military support to the Assad regime, which Washington has been unable to block.

The net result of Washington’s reckless and murderous war for regime-change in Syria has been to turn the country into yet another geopolitical flashpoint where US and allied military forces face off against those of Russia, raising the very real danger of an armed clash and the eruption of a wider war between nuclear armed powers. On the eve of the UN assembly, France began its own bombing campaign in Syria, making clear that it was prepared to attack forces allied with Assad, potentially including Russian forces, as well as ISIS. Britain is lining up to begin bombing the country later this year.

It would be a dangerous mistake to believe that Washington’s decision to seek talks with Russia and Iran means the US is backing off from the use of military violence. On the contrary, with its economic and diplomatic position weakening, the response of American imperialism will be to ratchet up its bullying and military aggression.

This was clear from Obama’s speech. He denounced the main targets of US aggression, calling Assad a “tyrant,” accusing Russia of violating “the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Ukraine, implied that China was attacking “the basic principles of freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce” in the South China Sea and singled out Iran for continuing to “deploy violent proxies to advance its interests.” The chief backer of tyrants in the Middle East, violator of national sovereignty and territorial integrity in Ukraine, threat to freedom of navigation in East Asia and deployer of violent proxies is, of course, the United States.

In the midst of his cynical paean to the international law and diplomacy, Obama issued an unambiguous threat to any nation that dared to get in America’s way, declaring: “I lead the strongest military that the world has ever known, and I will never hesitate to protect my country and our allies, unilaterally and by force where necessary.”

The preparations for a US military escalation against both Syria and Russia are well underway. Last week, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius reported that discussions are being held between US military officials and leaders of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria for Washington to step up its military support, including close air support for YPG fighters on the ground.

Powerful factions within the US ruling elite and state are opposed to any talks with Russia or Iran and are demanding the creation of so-called “safe havens” policed by US and allied forces in Syria and an all-out drive for regime-change.

At the same time, the Pentagon and CIA are stepping up their war preparations against Russia. The upcoming US-NATO Trident Juncture 2015 war games, the largest held since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, are designed to prepare Western forces to engage in hybrid warfare operations in the Baltic region and beyond.

Last week, an article appeared in Foreign Policy magazine with the title: “The Pentagon is Preparing New War Plans for a Baltic Battle Against Russia.” The article stated, “For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US Department of Defense is reviewing and updating its contingency plans for armed conflict with Russia.”

Finally, the US is planning to upgrade its nuclear arsenal in Europe with highly sophisticated B61-12 guided nuclear bombs, each one of which is more than three times as powerful as the atomic bomb that killed over 130,000 people in Hiroshima.

For decades, US imperialism has sought to overcome the decline in its global economic position by relying on its military supremacy. In response to its latest setbacks in the Middle East, this tendency will only be expressed with greater brutality and recklessness.

U.S. is blockading Syria — a war crime

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By Christopher Black
Global Research, September 25, 2015
New Eastern Outlook 24 September 2015

The news that the United States asked both Greece and Bulgaria to block Russian flights over their air space headed for Syria is a logical extension of the criminality of the aggression against Syria being conducted by the NATO powers and their allies in the region. The NATO alliance has been conducting a war of aggression against Syria since 2011 when it succeeded in destroying Libya and it was responsible for the waves of humanity who fled the NATO bombing and who now flee the Takfiri militants NATO used as their auxiliaries.

These actions are clearly war crimes of the highest order, contemptuous violations of the UN Charter, international law and of all morality. The resulting misery of the peoples of the countries under attack, who are forced to flee and become refugees in the heart of the very alliance that is attacking them, is beyond words. The images bombard us daily. But the images are not placed in the western media to create a call for peace in the region. Instead, as we see from the recent statements of the British, French and American leaders, they are used to manipulate the emotions of the citizens of the NATO countries to justify a call for more military aggression against Syria which will create more misery, more death and more refugees.

That the flood of stories in the western press about the Syrian refugees is being used as a propaganda tool to is easy to see when we compare the situation regarding refugees from Libya and Ukraine. The Libyan people have been fleeing the hell that NATO created for four years now, with thousands of people arriving in Europe, mostly on the shores of Italy. But there has been no call to attack the vicious thugs that NATO installed in place of the progressive socialist Libyan Republic, no call to bring back the civilized society that existed before Gaddafi was brutally murdered by the same forces, no call for regime change in Tripoli. Instead, chaos and gangsterism prevail, and all is well.

In Ukraine over a million people have fled the Kiev junta’s massive armed attacks on its own people, the type of attacks that NATO countries alleged Gaddafi had used on his own people to justify their attack on Libya. The US puppets in Kiev have used bombing raids on civilians, white phosphorus shells, cluster bombs and other banned weapons and they have used them not on military targets of the peoples resistance forces but on civilian houses, shops, schools, hospitals, power stations and other civilian infrastructure. Food and medical supplies are blockaded. The people of the Donbas are under siege. All these actions are war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yet the western media says not a single word about them. There is no call from Washington or London or Paris or Ottawa to bomb Kiev and remove Poroshenko. Instead they supply him and his Nazi friends with weapons, supplies and money and send in their own forces to assist in these criminal attacks. The double standards applied and the deep hypocrisy and cynicism displayed by the NATO governments and the western news media that provide the information flow to the people, must shake anyone’s belief in the viability of western civilization.

In stark contrast, Russia has taken in over a million refugees so far from Ukraine without complaint while the EU countries argue bitterly amongst themselves as to who should take the refugees they have created and while they fan the flames of xenophobia among their own populations. But then the motivations are completely different. The Russians want to help the people being attacked by NATO and its puppet regime in Kiev. The Europeans only want to use the refugees as a means of creating hysteria in Europe so that their people will support a combined NATO attack on Syria.

Since these EU countries in one way or another support the forces attacking Syria they are responsible under international law for receiving and caring for the refugees they have created. They must follow certain humane standards in the treatment of them, but instead we see images of them being fed like animals or being kicked and tripped up by the very media sent to report on the crisis.

But now the situation has escalated further with the United States demanding that Greece and Bulgaria block relief supplies from Russia from using their air space, an attempt to completely block these supplies. Greece has found the courage to refuse the request. Bulgaria to its shame has decided to lick their boots.

The Americans try to justify their demand by claiming that some of those flights are used to deliver military supplies to Syria. Yes, and so what? Russia has every right to support the Syrian government in its fight against the Nato-Saudi, Israeli auxiliaries who are fighting in Syria under the acronyms ISIS or ISIL or Al Qaeda and has been openly doing so since the beginning. There is no UN approved arms embargo against Syria and the United States and its allies are daily dropping supplies to these same groups and have let it be known that their special forces are operating on the ground alongside those forces. Just the other day another story broke of the Israeli Army airlifting wounded from these groups for treatment in Israeli occupied zones and one must wonder if those selectively helped are not indeed Israeli special forces themselves. The Americans and Bulgarians are not just worried about more Russian military supplies from being delivered. They also want the Syrian people to experience the maximum state of misery and despair to punish them for their support of their government and to try to force them to turn against it.

Indeed, the Russian and Syrian governments affirm that many of those flights are delivering much needed humanitarian relief including medical supplies, generators for hospitals, food, tents for internal refugees, and related supplies to relieve the distress of the Syrian people in the face of the American provoked attacks on them. One has to ask, where are the American and European relief supplies for the Syrian people? Where are the ships and planes that should be carrying the same supplies the Russians are delivering? If they had delivered them and if they had insisted that the attacks on Syria stop there would not be any refugees. But they want the refugees to generate war propaganda and so they do not want relief supplies to get through.

The attempt to blockade the delivery of humanitarian assistance amounts to a war crime under international law, including the the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremburg Principles and the Statute of Rome that sets out the definitions of war crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The attempted blockade of humanitarian assistance constitutes murder, inhuman treatment, collective punishment, an action designed to bring about the physical destruction of the population and the nation, and other related crimes committed against the Syrian civilian population. Every European leader who takes part in this criminal conspiracy should be charged with war crimes. The American president should be Number One in the dock. But international criminal law continues to be administered by criminals and we watch with disbelief the complete silence of the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court who sits in her office in The Hague and twiddles her thumbs while Damascus, Aleppo and Donetsk burn.

The cartloads of the dead overflow the cemeteries. The misery of the living mounts. The hope that is left for peace and security, even for a little kindness in this life, drips out of our veins with every drop of blood shed by the victims of these NATO wars. It is very easy to despair. I despair. But we must resist. We must demand these wars stop, We must stop sitting around face booking and surfing the internet, get out of these artificial worlds they have built to turn us into zombies of the living and get back on the streets where we still count, where they still fear us and where we can shout our demands so loud they will shake the walls of the state itself.

Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer based in Toronto, he is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and he is known for a number of high-profile cases involving human rights and war crimes, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-blockade-of-syria-a-war-crime/5478059