The US just bombed Germany
by David Swanson
May 3, 2016
If the bombing occurs when the bombs that have been dropped from U.S. airplanes explode, then the United States just bombed Germany and has been bombing Germany every year for over 70 years.
There are still over 100,000 yet-to-explode U.S. and British bombs from World War II lying hidden in the ground in Germany. Notes the Smithsonian Magazine:
“Before any construction project begins in Germany, from the extension of a home to track-laying by the national railroad authority, the ground must be certified as cleared of unexploded ordnance. Still, last May, some 20,000 people were cleared from an area of Cologne while authorities removed a one-ton bomb that had been discovered during construction work. In November 2013, another 20,000 people in Dortmund were evacuated while experts defused a 4,000-pound ‘Blockbuster’ bomb that could destroy most of a city block. In 2011, 45,000 people—the largest evacuation in Germany since World War II—were forced to leave their homes when a drought revealed a similar device lying on the bed of the Rhine in the middle of Koblenz. Although the country has been at peace for three generations, German bomb-disposal squads are among the busiest in the world. Eleven bomb technicians have been killed in Germany since 2000, including three who died in a single explosion while trying to defuse a 1,000-pound bomb on the site of a popular flea market in Göttingen in 2010.”
A new film called The Bomb Huntersfocuses on the town of Oranienburg, where a huge concentration of bombs keeps up a constant menace. In particular the film focuses on one man whose house blew up in 2013. He lost everything.Oranienburg, now known as the city of bombs, was a center of nuclear research that the U.S. government did not want the advancing Soviets to acquire. At least that’s one reason offered for the massive bombing of Oranienburg. Rather than possibly speed up the Soviet acquisition of nukes by a handful of years, Oranienburg had to be rained on with blankets of enormous bombs — to explode for decades to come.
They weren’t just bombs. They were delayed-fuse bombs, all of them. Delayed-fuse bombs were usually included along with non-delaying bombs in order to terrorize a population further and hinder humanitarian rescue operations after a bombing, similar to how cluster bombs have been used in recent U.S. wars to extend the terrorizing of a population by blowing up children for months to come, and similar to “double taps” in the business of drone murder — the first missile or “tap” to kill, the second to kill any rescuer bringing aid. Delayed-fuse bombs go off some hours or days after landing, but only if they land the right way up. Otherwise they can go off some hours or days or weeks or months or years or decades or god-knows-when later.
Presumably this was understood at the time and intended.
So, that intention perhaps adds to the logic of my headline above. Perhaps the United States didn’t just intend to bomb Germany, but it intended 70 years ago to bomb Germany this year.
A bomb or two goes off every year, but the greatest concentration is in Oranienburg where thousands and thousands of bombs were dropped. The town has been making a concerted effort to find and eliminate the bombs. Hundreds may remain. When bombs are found, neighborhoods are evacuated. The bomb is disabled, or it is detonated. Even during the search for bombs, the government must damage houses as it drills test holes into the ground at evenly spaced intervals. Sometimes the government even tears down a house in order to conduct the search for bombs beneath it.
A U.S. pilot involved in this madness way back when says in the film that he thought about those under the bombs, but believed the war to be for the salvation of humanity, thus justifying anything. Now, he says, he can see no justification for war.
Also in the film, a U.S. veteran writes to the Mayor of Oranienburg and sends $100 to apologize. But the Mayor says there’s nothing to be sorry for, that the United States was only doing what it had to. Well, thanks for the codependency, Mr. Mayor. I’d love to get you on a talk show with Kurt Vonnegut’s ghost. Seriously, Germany’s guilt is immensely admirable and worthy of emulation in the guilt-free United States, which grotesquely imagines itself forever sinless. But these two extremes build on each other in a toxic relationship.
When imagining that you’ve justified a war involves imagining that you’ve thereby justified any and every atrocity in that war, the results are things like nuclear bombings and bombings so intense that a country remains covered with unexploded bombs at a time when almost nobody involved in the war is alive anymore. Germany should strengthen its peace-identity by shaking off its guilt-ridden subservience to the United States and putting an end to U.S. warmaking from bases on German soil. It should ask the U.S. military to get out and to take all of its bombs with it.
Is this confirmation of what we’ve already known for a very long time?
Watch a video of this report here:
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has alleged that the US attempted to include territories under the control of al-Nusra, AKA al-Qaeda in Syria, in the ceasefire that has just come into effect in Aleppo.
“During the negotiations, our US partners actually tried to draw the borders of this ‘zone of silence’ to include a significant number of positions occupied by the al-Nusra Front. We managed to exclude this as it is absolutely unacceptable,”
“This indicates that someone wants to use the Americans. I do not believe that it is in their interest to shield the al-Nusra Front. But someone wants to use the Americans to shield the al-Nusra Front from strikes.”
It is little wonder Russia found this ‘absolutely unacceptable’, as they have just spent the last 6-7 months conducting a full scale air campaign against all such terrorist forces throughout Syria.
In regards to the second half of Lavrov’s bombshell statement, it can be seen as very naïve to think that anyone could actually ‘use the Americans’. The US is, without question, the global hegemon and is used to using others to accomplish its own goals.
Yet, Lavrov is far from naïve. It is possible that he is referring to a number of political actors instead.
The first, and most likely candidate, is the CIA. It was reported earlier in the year that the agency’s weapon smuggling program to terrorists in Syria was completely destroyed by Russian airstrikes, and they may have been an interfering with American diplomats’ plans to save what little is left of their covert ‘rebel’ force.
It is certainly possible that the CIA convinced diplomats to include areas in the deal under false pretences. For example, the CIA could frame the need for including a certain area in the deal in many different ways to suggest its necessity for ‘strategic importance’, without outrightly saying it was to shield a covert army of terrorists.
The CIA’s expertise in slight of hand and human manipulation were revealed earlier this year, when it emerged that only the top elites in the organisation ever know the full truth about any given situation.
The other actors that might be seen as trying to ‘use the Americans’ are Turkey and Israel. Both nations have been accused of working with terrorist groups in Syria, like al-Nusra, to accomplish their own regional goals.
Whatever the true source of this attempt to shield terrorists, it is truly scary to know that they were able to get this outlandish goal to an international negotiating table. Moreover, it calls into question the entire foreign policy history of the US from the past 15 years.
Photo de la maternité frappée le 3 mai 2016 par les groupes islamistes
Les bombes qui pleuvent sur Alep depuis ce matin 3 mai sont lancées par les groupes terroristes que la presse de l’establishment qualifie de « révolutionnaires ». SC
Mardi 3 mai 2016 – 15.00
Aujourd’hui déluge de bombes sur Alep, dont une sur le principal hôpital d’obstétrique. De nombreux tués et blessés. [Nabil Antaki]
Mardi 3 mai 2016 – 12.30
Une grosse explosion… Les combats n’ont pas cessé… Plus de 100 mortiers depuis ce matin… Les élèves d’Alep doivent présenter des examens de fin d’année… Ça tire de tout côté…
Les sirènes des ambulances sillonnent la ville. Ce n’est pas nouveau mais c’est horrible! [Frère Georges Sabe]
Les terroristes pilonnent la partie Ouest d’Alep le 3 mai
The missiles raining down upon Aleppo since dawn on the 3rd May 2016 are being launched by the terrorist groups our media like to call “revolutionaries”.
“Today, the deluge of bombs striking Aleppo have targeted the Obstetric hospital. Huge numbers of dead and wounded.” ~ Dr Nabil Antaki, 3pm
“A massive explosion. The battles have not stopped. More than 100 mortars since this morning. The Aleppo students should have sat end of year exams today. There is firing from all sides.
Ambulance sirens can be heard everywhere. This is nothing new, but today its horrible! ” ~ Father Georges Sabe, 12.30pm
“The whole building where I am has just shook, it was almost lifted off the ground. The battles are terrible outside, you have no idea”. ~ Pierre le Corf
I would like to point out something, if you open the trending section in Facebook you will see that Aleppo, Syria is trending. They say the Syrian government is continuing air-strikes on Aleppo. The funny thing is we don’t see or hear any planes.” ~ Marianne R Bedoun, Aleppo
The following photo was taken from US funded ANA Press director, Deiaa Dughmoch’s Facebook page. Translated as Aleppo citizens searching the skies for war-planes. According to Marianne Bedoun, they might be there some time.
Marianne was immediately targeted by hate speech from the followers of mainstream media and the US NATO governed propaganda outlets who are controlling the Aleppo narrative. This from one UK based Facebook responder:
“Its about hiding the truth that Assad is massacring the Syrian people to keep himself in power and the US and NATO are backing him up rather than engaging in any Wahhabi terrorist support operation. Its really quite racist to call those defending their homes and lives NATO backed terrorists but I guess you are so deep in this shit you cant see.”
Dick Gregory. [Juggler, also available for children’s parties]
Marianne responded from inside Aleppo:
“You are right I am so deep in this I cant exit because I am a Syrian living in Aleppo. And please tell me where did you get your facts? Your brain-washing western media? I am telling you what I see every minute. Racist? We are the ones defending our homes against their brutal ways…hell cannons, hand-made missiles etc every day since day one”
This social media exchange exemplifies the ever widening chasm between the reports from the Syrian people living in areas under siege or occupied by US NATO backed terrorists and the blatant bias from western and gulf funded journalists.
“The Pentagon has now designated “information operations” as its fifth “core competency” alongside land, sea, air and special forces. Since October 2006, every brigade, division and corps in the US military has had its own “psyop” element producing output for local media.
This military activity is linked to the State Department’s campaign of “public diplomacy” which includes funding radio stations and news websites. InBritain, the Directorate of Targeting and Information Operations in the Ministry of Defence works with specialists from 15 UK psyops, based at the Defence Intelligence and Security School at Chicksands in Bedfordshire.
In the case of British intelligence, you can see this combination of reckless propaganda and failure of oversight at work in the case of Operation Mass Appeal.
This was exposed by the former UN arms inspector Scott Ritter, who describes in his book, Iraq Confidential, how, in London in June 1998, he was introduced to two “black propaganda specialists” from MI6 who wanted him to give them material which they could spread through “editors and writers who work with us from time to time”.
The Aleppo Spin
A very quick look at who has rapidly generated the #AleppoIsBurning campaign that has made red the new black on Facebook and Twitter brings us rapidly to the Purpose Manhattan PR company and their Syria cohorts. Syria Campaign, the White Helmets are implicated and the actual event has been created by none other than Rami Jarrah of Soros funded ANA Press based in Southern Turkey and operating with the explicit approval of chief terrorism supporter, Sultan Erdogan.
Deiaa Dughmoch and Rami Jarrah are co-founders of ANA Press. Sarah Dadouch works for ANA Press and is based in Istanbul, Turkey according to her Facebook page.
Co-initiator of the #AleppoIsBurning campaign is Lilah Khoja who has been instrumental in promoting the “Worldwide Red Protest”. Khoja is on the team of the Karam Foundation as their advocacy co-ordinator. While there is minimal financial information on the Karam Foundation, set up in 2007 by co-founder and CEO, Lina Sergie Attar, Attar is on the board of the Muslim Brotherhood Syrian American Council.
“The Syrian American Council is one of the largest American based Syrian lobbying organizations and key SAC leaders are tied to the Muslim Brotherhood in the US:
The last known SAC President was Talal Sunbulli (aka Talal Sunulle ) who was listed as the Syrian coordinator in the international phone book of Muslim Brotherhood members seized by federal investigators during the Holy Land Foundation investigation.
The last known SAC Chairman was Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of the California office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a part of the Us Muslim Brotherhood.
US Muslim Brotherhood figure Louay Safi is known to have been a leading member of the SAC.”
Attar is in fact Chair of the Humanitarian Committee as well as being on the National Board of Directors under one of her many name variations, Lina Segie.
According to Attar’s biography on the Karam Foundation site, she is a Syrian-American architect and writer from Aleppo.
“Sergie Attar frequently travels to the Syrian border in southern Turkey to run Karam’s Smart Aid programs.”
Perhaps of even greater interest, Attar “serves on the board of directors” of the Avaaz/Purpose created Syria Campaign.
“Heimans, the Avaaz front man of Purpose, is a darling of the high-finance corporate world. “In 2011, Jeremy received the Ford Foundation’s 75th anniversary Visionaries Award. The World Economic Forum at Davos has named him a Young Global Leader, and the World e-Government Forum has named Jeremy and Purpose co-founder David Madden among the “Top 10 People Who Are Changing the World of the Internet and Politics.” [Source]
In February 2016 Attar appeared with alleged death squad creator and ex US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford at the “War on the Innocents: The Syrian Humanitarian Crisis” conference held at Phillips Exeter Academy. Ford has been singularly involved in the creation of the so called “moderate rebels” in Syria, a euphemism that is rapidly losing all credibility despite his best efforts to shore up their crumbling facade of respectability.
The final member of the #AleppoIsBurning marketing team we will discuss is Noha Kamseh, based in Gazientep, Turkey. Kamseh works for the Syrian Forum.
According to their website, the Syrian Forum is registered in Turkey, Austria and the US. It supports “Local Administration Councils as an utmost priority” and “Aspires to contribute to the rebuilding of a democratic Syria under the Rule of Law.”
“Local Administrative Councils (LACs) are well positioned to take the place of government municipalities, especially in the areas of the north devoid of government services. The SOC [Syrian Opposition Council] should provision funding and resources to the identification, development, and training of civil society groups in watchdog functions so that they can monitor the LACs for transparency and accountability where appropriate.”
Are we seeing a US NATO funded Syrian Shadow State creation supported by the Syria Forum? They aspire to “rebuilding a democratic Syria under the rule of Law”, one wonders which law they are talking about as there is no mention of the existing Syrian constitution, nor any reference to the recent widely accepted, reformed and democratic elections.
“The Syrian Forum operates with institutionalized, yet dynamic processes that seek out unique and creative initiatives. Its work is supported through private donations from Syrians, and international partnerships with governments, foundations, academic institutions, and other non-profit organizations”
The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development and the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, various UN Agencies and a few other organisations heavily invested economically and geopolitically in “regime change” in Syria.
Qatar has defended Riyadh funded and Al Qaeda affiliate Ahrar Al Sham currently besieging and daily shelling or sniping the Idlib villages of Kafarya and Foua among many others across Syria including the village of Madaya where Ahrar Al Sham terrorist factions are occupying the village and stockpiling humanitarian aid before selling it at extortionate prices to the civilians. This narrative was naturally distorted by many members of the same team, now generating the #AleppoIsBurning reports.
“I am telling you that Ahrar al Sham is a Syrian group, they look for their liberation, and they are working among other moderate groups,” ~ Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid al Attiyah
As Canadian peace campaigner and writer, Ken Stone said in 2013, Canada has also been pivotal in the war against Syria and the “regime change” objectives of the US and NATO alliance.
“1. Organizing the covert mercenary war against Syria through the Group of Friends of the Syrian People (“Friends of Syria Group”);
2. Establishing a regime of economic sanctions against Syria and hosting, in Ottawa, the Friends of Syria Group’s International Working Group on Sanctions;
3. Funding and supporting the so-called “rebel” side;
4. Planning for an overt western military action against Syria;
5. Working with Syrian-Canadians antagonistic to the Assad government;
6. Contributing to the demonization of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and to the de-legitimation and isolation of his government.”
The Aleppo Narrative from Doctors in Government Held Areas
On the 30th April we received an exclusive report from Dr Nabil Antaki also based in western Aleppo, in which he stated the following facts:
1: The majority of Aleppo civilians are living in the Syrian government held sectors of western Aleppo. Over 1.5 million in these areas compared to 300,000 in the primarily Al Nusra occupied eastern sectors.
2: The western media lies and distorts the truth. They do not mention the terrorist blockade of western Aleppo or the constant food, water and electricity shortages.
3: Terrorist bombardment of civilians in western Aleppo is relentless and unreported. Mosques and hospitals are regularly targeted. No sector is spared the onslaught.
We also asked Dr Antaki to verify the existence of the MSF “supported” Al Quds hospital allegedly bombed by Syrian or Russian air-strikes, consistently denied by both governments. We sent him the Channel 4 video allegedly taken from the hospital CCTV recording of the last moments before the attack. This was his response:
“This hospital [Al Quds] did not exist before the war started. It must have been installed in a building after the war began. I dont know anyone in the East of Aleppo who could confirm this hospital is Al Quds.”
Dr Zaher Hajo who is head of Forensic Medicine in Aleppo also confirmed the deaths of 90 civilians of whom 30 were children from the US and NATO backed terrorist hell cannon and mortar fired into western Aleppo sectors over the last week. 8 of those murdered were targeted as they left the Mosque in the Bab al Faraj area after Friday prayers on the 30th April 2016.
Dr Hajo reported over 500 civilians injured in the ongoing terrorist attacks.
The following report has just come in from Al Masdar News on Tuesday 3rd May 2016:
“The jihadist rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) fired several rockets at the Dubayt Hospital in government controlled Aleppo City on Tuesday, killing and wounding several patients and staff members.
According to local reports from Aleppo City, the Jihadist rebel forces were seen targeting the Dubayt Hospital with multiple rockets; these fighters were from the Free Syrian Army and Jabhat Al-Nusra. The total death toll is unknown at the moment; however, local activists stated the dead and wounded are still being rescued from the burning hospital.”
“Terrorists targeted al-Razi Hospital with rocket shells and fired others on al-Jamiliyeh and al-Mohafaza (governorate) neighborhoods, leaving 4 people dead and 38 others injured and causing material damage to the hospital and the locals’ houses.”
Aleppo Christian Community Responds to Western Media Lies
“We have been under continuous bombardment over the past few days in Aleppo with civilian deaths, injuries and destruction.” Last night “in our neighborhoods we had four dead and over 15 injured, in addition to homes and buildings damaged. And these attacks are being carried out by the so-called “moderate opposition groups”. ~ Vicar of Aleppo: Msgr. Georges Abou Khazen
The Vicar went on to say that “foreign jihadists have been given the green light to intensify the bombing of civilians” by the US and NATO in response to recent Syrian Arab Army advances towards the liberation of Aleppo from the occupying and surrounding terrorist factions.
On a recent trip to Canada, Archbishop Jean-Clément Jeanbart, Melkite Catholic archbishop of Aleppo, Syria spoke about one Christian neighbourhood targeted by the US NATO “moderate rebels”. The 13 year old son of one family, Fouad Banna, was killed instantly in the attack:
“It was awful: a bomb that the rebels deliberately launched on a Christian neighbourhood, on a popular borough. It has blown everything apart, destroyed countless houses. Such was the case of Fouad’s home” ~ Catholic Herald
Where are the Syria White Helmets and Western Media?
One can be forgiven for asking where the neutral and unarmed saviours of all Syrians are when the US NATO terrorists rain missiles down upon Syrian people living in the government held western sectors of Aleppo. While photos circulating in western media are entirely of White Helmet “first responders” during the bombing of known Al Nusra terrorist zones, they are conspicuously absent from photos & scant reports covering the “moderate rebel” murderous excesses.
However one video released by the Syria White Helmets during the massacres of the Syrian people and targeting of civilian facilities in Aleppo, reveals what they were doing, while on the other side of the demarcation line, Syrians were dying.
The White Helmets are embedded in the eastern, terrorist held sectors of Aleppo. While the western media runs unquestioningly with the US NATO narrative of Syrian and Russian aggression against terrorists portrayed as civilians we have to ask the question, where is their objective reporting? Why are the massacres of Syrian civilians in western Aleppo being ignored?
Why are the White Helmets, icons and heroes for the misled and deceived, busy filming a promo video for the Soros “turn the world red” campaign when the Syrian people they claim to defend and cherish are being maimed and murdered a few blocks away?
As Doctor Nabil Antaki said on the 30th April:
“With regards to recent events in Aleppo, I state very clearly that the mainstream media are lying by omission. Since the beginning of the war in Aleppo that began 4 years ago, they have consistently failed to report all the facts.”
In 2013 Al Kindi hospital in Aleppo was targeted by the US NATO “moderate rebels”. Al Kindi was the 4th biggest hospital, specialising in cancer treatment, in the Middle East.
After days of heavy shelling, the terrrorists drove a truck up to the front of the hospital and detonated it. The remaining Syrian Arab Army soldiers defending Al Kindi were executed and this horrific execution was filmed by the US and NATO terrorists. Their videos are still available but are graphic and not for the faint hearted.
A Syrian tragedy ignored by a western media in the midst of fomenting anti Assad fervour.
The US NATO Media Campaign Objectives
The US NATO campaign driven by this team of Soros funded agents of change depends entirely upon unproven accusations levied against the Syrian & Russian governments of bombing civilians in Aleppo and the alleged bombing of an MSF “supported” hospital in eastern Aleppo, the Al Quds.
[Germany conducts aerial reconnaissance of Syria with Tornado units and they survey airspace]
“It is not very likely, but we cannot completely rule out the possibility that the anti-ISIS coalition [US NATO] has been responsible for the attack on the MSF hospital.”
We have come full circle from the early “No Fly Zone” to the “Safe Zone” and finally to the “No Bomb Zone”. The objective is clear. This campaign like so many before it,is attempting to re-generate public outrage and support of the implementation of a No Fly Zone in Syria. A No Fly Zone that would ensure the unmitigated devastation of Syria and its reduction to a Libya style failed state in preparation for Imperialist looting and pillaging.
So our media are working as a megaphone for US and NATO propaganda, the Humanitarian NGOs in Syria are embedded in terrorist areas and are not saving lives, rather they are prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people.
The humanitarians who are calling Syrians “racist” for telling the truth should perhaps have more respect for those who are living through hell because they have consciously chosen to remain ignorant of the facts.
Author Vanessa Beeley is a contributor to 21WIRE, and since 2011, she has spent most of her time in the Middle East reporting on events there – as a independent researcher, writer, photographer and peace activist. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Syria Solidarity Movement, and a volunteer with the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine. See more of her work at her blog The Wall Will Fall.
“The attacks by terrorists against civilian targets”…
Just like in Ukraine, Libya, Iraq, Guatemala, Honduras, Yemen, and on and on.
The goal is to create terror. This isn’t a war that fights against military targets. This is about destroying nations and bombing people back to the stone age. Who does that? Who has the resources on such a massive scale to accomplish that so that resources can be stripped?
Cui bono?
Stand down, soldiers of Western nations. If you believe in freedom and democracy, stand down. And citizens of Western nations, particularly America, stand up.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi informed on Tuesday that thousands of terrorists have crossed the border into his country in the last few days.
“Around 6,000 terrorists have crossed the border and entered Syrian territories in recent days,” the Arabic-language media outlets quoted al-Zoubi as saying on Tuesday.
Late in April, Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi also warned that more than 5,000 fresh militants crossed the border into the Northwestern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib from Turkey, stressing that the ceasefire agreement was being violated by certain parties.
“In the end we see that Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar, as well as Western countries such as Great Britain and France have no real desire to move the process of the political settlement in Syria forward,” al-Halqi said.
The Syrian prime minister stressed that it’s “just the opposite, they are aiding in the escalation of terrorist activity and arming terrorists. Over the last week, more than 5,000 troops crossed the border with Turkey into the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib.”
As terrorist groups continue to target residential areas in Aleppo city, al-Zoubi stressed that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are responsible for the bloody acts of Takfiri militants against innocent civilians.
“Turkish and Saudi commanders have issued the order for targeting Syrian civilians and army troops in Aleppo,” the Syrian information minister said.
Al-Zoubi also criticized the international bodies and countries for keeping mum about the crimes of the Takfiri terrorists in Aleppo, calling it as “suspicious and questionable”.
Violence in Syria, and particularly in Aleppo, has intensified in recent days, despite a partial truce.
Almost a dozen civilians were killed and several more wounded in the terrorist groups’ rocket attack on a hospital inside Aleppo earlier today.
“The terrorist groups’ shelling of the hospital of al-Deet in the Central part of Aleppo city has ended in a large number of civilian casualties,” local residents said on Tuesday.
“The number of civilian casualties is on the rise,” they further added.
Meanwhile, The Takfiri terrorist groups’ rocket units, once again, targeted two neighborhoods and a hospital in Aleppo, inflicting heavy casualties on the civilians, patients and hospital staff.
“At least 11 civilians were killed and many more were wounded in over 65 cases of terrorists’ rocket attacks on residential areas along the streets of al-Neel, al-Sabeel, Mocambo and al-Razi hospital,” the sources said, adding, “The terrorist groups also detonated a tunnel-bomb near Air Force Intel before launching attacks on the army-controlled Jam’iyat al-Zahra area.”
The attacks by terrorists against civilian targets come as Syrian Army forces and their allies are surging in Aleppo to begin a massive operation against the Takfiri militants that are mostly from the Al-Nusra Front – the Al-Qaeda’s official branch in Syria – and a number of other allied terrorist groups, including several units of the Free Syria Army (FSA) that has been branded by the US and the West as “moderates”.
LPR intelligence revealed the arrival of new units from the Ukrainian Army to the contact line. This was stated today to a correspondent from the Novorossia news agency by Andrey Marochko – the official speaker of the people’s militia.
“Our intelligence revealed that in the settlement of Stanitsa, Lugansk, a number of units from the battalion “Lugansk 1″ arrived to strengthen their checkpoints. We also detected the movement of personnel and equipment along the contact line near the settlement of Staryi Aidar,” he said.
“In Stanitsa, Trokhizbenka, and Schastia the arrival of the Special Operation Forces (SSO) of the UAF was observed, who’s primary purpose is sabotage on the territory of the Republics – against both military facilities and civilian infrastructure,” said the representative of the LPR Defense Ministry.
“This and similar facts give a pretext for the leadership of the Republic and the people’s militia to remain vigilant, paying particular attention to the protection and security of the LPR, especially on the eve of Victory Day,” concluded Andrey Marochko.
more than 50 million people in the European Union are forced to choose between buying food and paying electricity bills…Bulgarians find themselves in the most critical such situation, where such a choice haunts 40% of the population. In such a civilized country as the United Kingdom, moreover, according to “Home and Renting” magazine, 2,700 people die every year from hypothermia, as heating homes with electricity is too expensive.
As is well known, the contract on the transit of natural gas through Ukraine ends in 2019 and alternative supply routes to Europe are required to be built before this time. During recent discussions at the European Parliament, delegates from the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine and Naftogaz called the “Nord Stream-2” a “gas-killer” and appealed to the mercy of Europeans.
Just the other day during the Central European Gas Forum in Bratislava, “Gazprom Exports” advisor Andrey Konoplyanik mentioned the possibility of resuming the “South Stream” project in a new version based out of Crimea. He stated: “Russia has the right to seek a route for gas exports with the lowest risk for the fulfillments of agreements.”
Such statements are far from groundless, and there is a serious probability that South Stream will be revived. Meanwhile, Nord Stream and its extension is all well and good, but guaranteeing an alternative and, most importantly, a reliable path for deliveries would be well advised. Therefore, according to Konoplyanik, Russia is developing routes which can bypass Ukraine and avoid Turkey’s participation.
Moreover, it has been reported that the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov, even hinted at the unofficial continuation of work on the project.
Poor Bulgaria is being shoved around here and there. In December, Borisov pointed to the reason for the cancellation of the project as being Brussel’s orders. Borisov stated: “Today the Russian President confirmed the understand that the halt to the South Stream project has occurred not because Bulgaria is against Russia, but because, as a loyal member of the EU, Bulgaria must fulfill all demands [of the European Commission], comply with the sanctions regime, and fulfill provisions for a third energy packet and other requirements related to gas projects.”
In January 2016, the news appeared that the South Stream project would be revived, but in February the Bulgarian Parliament once again, finally rejected the idea of the gas pipeline.
Why is Bulgaria so feverish? Or, more precisely, why is Brussels hampering its will? Or even more precisely: Why is Washington so nervous?
Russia firmly intends to supply gas to Europe and, moreover, intends to strengthen its position in the energy market, something that the US is not too comfortable with. In order to undermine the position of our country, at the very onset the US yanked Bulgaria into rejecting the South Stream, and then Turkey into rejecting the Turkish Stream. The US even began shipping its own liquified natural gas to Europe, something that our domestic experts even dared to call a “gas attack.”
But Nord Stream-2 has still managed to get off the launch pad since Germany still considers itself strong enough to have its own opinion despite Merkel’s apparent obedience to Washington. And, of course, it is clear that Germany is very aware of the benefits of the pipeline – it’s not a bad idea to be at the center of the distribution of Russian gas to the rest of Europe.
Washington, in turn, is perfectly aware that such a course would significantly strengthen the position of Germany in Europe, and that then Berlin would become even less bendable to its will. Against this background, a few [US] tankers carrying liquified gas or shale gas pale in comparison [to the prospects of Russian gas]. Even more so if the South Stream is added to all of this.
At the same time, as the studies of “Energy Insight” show, more than 50 million people in the European Union are forced to choose between buying food and paying electricity bills. Impressive, is it not? Bulgarians find themselves in the most critical such situation, where such a choice haunts 40% of the population. In such a civilized country as the United Kingdom, moreover, according to “Home and Renting” magazine, 2,700 people die every year from hypothermia, as heating homes with electricity is too expensive. And, mind you, this is not Soviet central heating…
Germany is additionally motivated to obtain Russian gas because of the Green Party’s (with Merkel’s support) imposition of the necessity of destroying nuclear power plants. The result is the following:
“Germany is planning to abandon nuclear and conventional energy. This is a utopian plan that will never work. 85% of the population still support this idea, but this will change once it becomes clear just how much energy will actually start to cost. The laws of economics and physics are apparently being thrown out the window with this…Despite the fact that solar and wind generators are being actively constructed in Germany, they provide on average less than 3% of the energy consumed, and guarantee a minimum generation of only .4%…In order to reach 3% of the guaranteed energy generation and abandon Germany’s three nuclear power plants, the Germans will need the same amount of funds for which 85 new nuclear power plants could be built.”
The absurdity of such a path is clear, but Sweden is also phasing out nuclear power under “green” pressure. Alternative energy using renewable resources has become quite fashionable in today’s Europe even though it has a fairly narrow niche – using such energy is only logical in a specific climate and under particular conditions. In Germany, in the conditions of the Old World, “green” energy is doomed to fail.
Back in 2014, President Jerome Ferrier of the International Gas Union openly assessed the situation in the following way:
“In the current situation of tension between Russia and Ukraine, some activists are trying to convince us that Europe can get along without Russian gas by seeking other supplies. This is a completely false conviction.”
Although news is spreading of the possible resumption of negotiations on the South Stream project, there is yet another interesting point. Not a single European country officially recognizes Crimea as Russian.
As they say, however, hunger is not an aunt, especially not energy-related hunger. Europe and especially Bulgaria’s needs for gas could ultimately overcome all political factors. In fact, the carrot has already been hung in front of Bulgaria’s nose: if you want gas, then recognize Crimea.
We will find out later what the final decision will be. In the meanwhile, Russia is already very successfully probing the soil.
Donbass, which today is the subject of a humanitarian, financial and transport blockade by the Ukrainian authorities, as well as being constantly shelled and destroyed, has already paid a one-time cash assistance to veterans for Victory Day, but the Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman is still looking for reserves.
Last week the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraineadopted a decree that establishes the amount and procedure of payment of a one-time annual cash assistance on May 9th to combatants, war invalids, participants of war, persons who have special merits from the Homeland, and persons subject to the law of Ukraine, “On the status of war veterans and guarantees of their social protection”, as well as victims of Nazi persecution.
According to the document, the participants of war will receive 170 UAH. However, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said at a Cabinet meeting broadcasted to the whole country that this amount is too low for veterans, so he search for some reserves, and now the combatants in world war II will receive 400 UAH.
Note that this money is not enough for veterans to even pay monthly utility bills, and when you consider today’s gas prices, which the same Groysman raised, it is not enough to pay even half the community.
However, the Cabinet’s website published a resolution dated May 3rd, 2016, which clearly states: to pay 170 UAH to war veterans and former prisoners of concentration camps, ghetto, other places of forced detention, people who were violently exported for forced labor, children of guerrillas, underground workers, and other participants of fight against the national socialist regime in the enemy’s rear. And there is not a single word about 400 UAH.
At the same time, Donbass, which today is suffering a humanitarian, financial, and transport blockade by the Ukrainian authorities has already paid a one-time cash assistance for Victory Day. Moreover, the amount of the payments, given the time at war, is pretty decent in the DPR and LPR.
The relevant decrees of the heads of the two Republics was published at the official sites of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
Thus, invalids of war, persons categorised as disabled war veterans, former minor (which at the time of conclusion was 14 years of age) prisoners of concentration camps, ghettos, and other places of detention that are recognized as being disabled from general disease, labour mutilation, and for other reasons are paid:
Disabled of group I – 6,000 rubles (about 2,400 UAH);
Disabled of group II – 5,200 rubles (about 2,050 UAH);
Disabled of group III – 4,700 rubles (about 1,900 UAH);
Combatants during the great Patriotic war of 1941-1945 and war invalids of groups II and III over the age of 85 years and more – 6,000 rubles (about 2,400 UAH).
In addition, persons having the legal status of a combatant and a former minor (those who at the time of conclusion did not attained the age of 18) prisoner of a concentration camp, ghetto, and other places of detention, as well as children who were born in the specified places of their parents’ forced detention with the appropriate license are paid the amount of 2,000 rubles (about 800 UAH).
Persons who have special merits from the Motherland received a grant in the amount of 6,000 rubles (about 2,400 UAH). And the families of the victims and wives/husbands of deceased disabled veterans and participants of hostilities in the war and participants of war and victims of Nazi persecution received 1,000 rubles (about 400 UAH) from the state.
In addition, veterans in the two Republics were given food packages. Thus, we can see how the veterans are today cared for in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and the attitude of the Rada towards the people who were involved in the feat that we are able to live today because of. And this is not to mention how today there are parades in Kiev with the St. George’s ribbon and honorary awards for veterans.
As a reminder, it was earlier reported that under the government of ex-Minister Azarov, veterans received a lump sum payment of between 1,720 to 2,200 UAH.
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