NATO

Russian navy holds drills to ‘repel strikes’ on Crimea

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From Strategic Culture Foundation
Press TV
10-27-15

Russian military forces have staged a navy exercise off the coast of the city of Sevastopol in the Black Sea Crimean peninsula to “thwart any possible aggression by the West.”

“Today and tomorrow ships… will practice the organization of repelling strikes by the enemy from the air in the Black Sea fleet’s naval range near the Crimean coast,” fleet spokesman Nikolai Voskresensky was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying on Monday.

Russian navy’s guided missile hovercraft, Samum, as well as several smaller ships, in addition to Su-24 bombers, will take part in drills for preparing Russian navy forces to “repel strikes” on Crimea, he said.

The spokesman added that the naval exercise will be wrapped up by launching a cruise missile strike.

Russia military forces were deployed in military bases across Crimea after the region separated from Ukraine in March last year and re-joined Moscow in a referendum.

The Ukrainian crisis last year and Crimea’s reunion with Russia has plunged Kremlin’s relations with the West to their lowest point since the Cold War.

This as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces have escalated their military maneuvers along the Russian border, in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe.

Russia and the West are also at loggerheads over the conflict in Syria.

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/10/27/russian-navy-holds-drills-to-repel-strikes-on-crimea.html

Ukrainian radicals in NATO uniforms killed in Syria

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From Fort Russ

October 24, 2015
Segodnia.ru
Translated by Kristina Rus
Oleg Petrovsky

While pro-Kiev media compete with each other in the horrifying forecasts of the fate of Russia in its participation in the operation to destroy the “Islamic state”, the world was stunned by the news of the appearance of Ukrainians among the terrorists.

The press service of the Defense Ministry of the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR) reported that in the liberated villages of Kafr- Azhus and Kafr-Delba were found the remains of two militants, sporting the symbols of Ukraine.

“A detailed study of the skin of corpses showed the presence on one of them of a tattoo on the shoulder of the right arm in the form of a stylized coat of arms of Ukraine, with an upward sword in the center”… “Dead militants were of European appearance. One had “straw” color hair, light blue (grey) eyes, fair skin with traces of old pigmentation on the shoulders, characteristic of one-two month old sunburn. The other had brown hair, bright blue eyes, light, not tanned skin, indicating his recent arrival to the region”…

The most notable is the fact that “both corpses had uniform of mixed type with a predominance of elements of NATO ground troops used in desert and semi-desert areas… On the left shoulder in place of the stripes they wore khaki chevrons, depicting the Trident amid a stylized bicolor flag with horizontal bands.

The environment in which these corpses have been discovered suggests that the militants wore their symbols openly, showing that they belong to the ethnic group of Ukrainians”…

Investigation about the circumstances of these specified findings have been started. But now “the analysis of the data showed the presence of openly operating Ukrainian militants in the ISIS terrorist group“. 

 “The situation is not conducive to peace on the Syrian land and undermines the trust built over the years. In addition, aiding terrorists by individual citizens of Ukraine, creates for this country a threat to national security, expressed in the possible export of extremist activity to its territory”.

Well, I guess the fate of the two parts of the one Slavic people is closely connected, even if at the other “end” of the Earth they met facing each other…

Russia’s unbelievable transparency in Syria surprises, astonishes, shocks!

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An Su-34

MAMAFRICA.TV
OCTOBER 14, 2015

October 17, 2015
Translated from French by Tom Winter

While the coalition always keeps the lid on what it does, which indicates its insincerity about its so-called struggle against terrorism, Moscow hides nothing. This poses a real difficulty for the coalition, whose second nature is mendacious propaganda.

The customary bellicose rhetoric of NATO continues its old ways, but [without details] it is not possible to rebut. Assisted by the propaganda of the mainstream media, NATO attempts in vain to make believe that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists.

Russian aviation has bombarded 40 “terrorist targets” in Syria in the course of the last 24 hours — a significant decrease compared to preceding days, the Russian defense minister announced Wednesday. 

 General Igor Konachenkov, spokesman for the ministry, specified that tactical fighter bombers of the type Su-34, and ground attack machines, Su-24M and Su-25M, have completed 41 aerial sorties to strike “40 terrorist targets” in the provinces of Aleppo (north), Idleb (northwest), Hama (center), Latakia (northwest), and Deir Ezzor (east). The Russian jets have notably targeted “infrastructures of the group “Islamic State,” he added. 

 

The others, unable to justify their aerial sorties in Syria or in Iraq are shocked. Actually, they are not bombing anything but the desert.

______________________________________________________
Translator note: The original headline is just as emphatic as the above:
“L’incroyable transparence russe étonne, détonne et choque”

  I love it. INCROYABLE!

NATO front crumbles: Slovakia welcomes Russian intervention in Syria

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From Fort Russ

Russian President Putin with Slovak Premier Fico in Moscow
Fico’s view: it is necessary to include Bashar al Assad to resolve the conflict in Syria

Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten
October 18, 2015
Translated from German by Tom Winter

 The Russian intervention in Syria has now led to a rift in NATO with Slovakia becoming the first NATO country to side with the Russians. German Foreign Minister Steinmeier, meanwhile, tries to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to the table to promote a diplomatic solution.

But the Prime Minister of NATO member country Slovakia, Robert Fico, is not wedded to the Russian intervention in principle: “Whether an American attack or a Russian attack on ISIS targets is now successful, in either case it counts the same,” the Social Democrat said Saturday on Slovak Radio. He has no ideological blinkers. According to Fico’s view it is necessary to include longtime ruler Bashar al Assad to resolve the conflict in the country.

 Russia continued its airstrikes against ISIS through the weekend. “First, we are defending our national interests, and second, we have the approval of the local leadership,” said Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in an interview with Russian state television.

Medvedev also slightly distanced himself from President Assad: “He is the legitimate president, but we aren’t fighting there for a particular politician. Who leads Syria — the people should decide,” he said in the interview broadcast on Saturday.

The Russians have already said at the beginning of their military strikes that they do not intendf to support Assad no matter what. However, they reject the overthrow of an elected head of state by military force from outside, as a breach of International Law.

According to the Defense Ministry in Moscow the Russian Air Force flew about 40 new attacks in Syria in 24 hours. “…in which 49 terrorist targets were destroyed,” said Major General Igor Konaschenkov.

The terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) have changed their tactics because of the bombing and are now having to decentralize ammunition dumps and command posts. The fighter jets discovered and destroyed several positions anyway, said Konaschenkov.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Iran to cooperate in the efforts to end the war in Syria. “My desire is that Iran use its influence on the government, and on Assad and his circle so we can take the first steps towards a de-escalation in Syria,” Steinmeier said on Saturday during a visit to Tehran.

All attempts to move Iran, along with other regional powers such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, to Syrian peace talks, so far have been fruitless. On Sunday, Steinmeier will travel to Saudi Arabia, the main opponent of Iran in the region. At the same time German Chancellor Angela Merkel travels to Turkey.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif showed himself to be open, in principle, to participation in the search for a peaceful solution for Syria. His country was ready for a “constructive role” and also to hold talks with all its neighbors.

Steinmeier appealed to both to overcome the previous lack of discussion: “Every player in the region has a responsibility that goes beyond the national interest. This responsibility is more important than ambition and national pride. “

 With a view to Iran’s role in Syria Steinmeier said: “It’s no secret that our position is not congruent in all respects. But we have a common interest in ensuring that the killing comes to an end and that Syria will remain as a state.” Zarif said that when it comes to Assad’s future, in the past we have focused too much on the fate of individuals. It would be better to take care of the preservation of the state institutions. “The people in Syria will decide who will be there at the beginning and who at the end.”

Your translator cannot resist a comment on Steinmeier’s assertion that Syria remain as a state: unlike some governments, Germany is thinking ahead realizing what will happen if the “rebels” win.

US-led bombing raids target Syrian civilians in an area which has “never been in the hands of ISIS”; on Oct. 11, coalition destroys Syrian power plant

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By ITAR-TASS
Global Research, October 17, 2015
Tass 16 October 2015

This territory has never been in the hands of the Islamic State, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff Andrey Kartapolov points out

Traces of airstrikes against household buildings have been found at the Syria-Jordan border, where Russian warplanes have performed no missions, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff Andrey Kartapolov said on Friday.

“We have spotted ruins of household buildings destroyed by bombing near the settlement of Kherbet Ghazala at the Syrian-Jordan border,” he told a briefing for foreign military attaches and journalists.

“Russian warplanes have never performed any missions there and, as far as we know, the Syrian aviation has not been used there either,” he stressed. “This territory has never been in the hands of the Islamic State. Moreover, this area has been controlled by the Free Syrian Army since 2013.”

He demonstrated photos of the area featuring bomb-destroyed buildings. “You can see on these photos that there are no signs of military activity around these cottages, there are no military hardware, not even signs of military hardware. These are regular gardens and fields with buildings to keep farming tools,” he said.

“Why destroy these buildings? It looks like somebody’s pilots were just training their skills or dropped bombs to report to their command about completed mission,” Kartapolov said.

Airstrikes by US-led coalition in Syria increase refugee flow to Europe

Airstrikes of US-led coalition on civilian facilities o the Syrian territory lead to increasing refugee flows to the European Union, Kartapolov went on to say.

“Over the last two weeks, we have provided enough video materials confirming the precision of [Russian] airstrikes. Our jets deliver airstrikes at facilities located outside of settlements,” Kartapolov said.

“It is not in our rules to advise colleagues on where to deliver their airstrikes. However, on October 11, near the settlement of Tel-Alam, the coalition’s jets destroyed by airstrikes a thermal power plant and transformer substation,” he added. As a result, hospitals and schools in Aleppo were left without electricity. Water pumping stations and sewage also stopped working which can be very harmful in the conditions of high temperatures.

“I think that it is unlikely that our partners did not know that the thermal power plant worked only eight hours per day. Airstrikes were delivered for several days, and on October 11, the power station was completely destroyed. One might het an impression that someone is deliberately destroying infrastructure in settlements, thus making the life of local population impossible. Because of that, civilians leave these settlements after losing living conditions and increase the refugee flow to Europe,” Kartapolov noted.

Copyright © ITAR-TASS, Tass, 2015

NATO’s terror hordes in Iraq a pretext for Syria invasion

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From New Eastern Outlook
Originally published 6-13-14

All roads lead to Baghdad and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is following them all, north from Syria and Turkey to south. Reading Western headlines, two fact-deficient narratives have begun gaining traction. The first is that this constitutes a “failure” of US policy in the Middle East, an alibi as to how the US and its NATO partners should in no way be seen as complicit in the current coordinated, massive, immensely funded and heavily armed terror blitzkrieg toward Baghdad. The second is how ISIS appears to have “sprung” from the sand dunes and date trees as a nearly professional military traveling in convoys of matching Toyota trucks without explanation.

In actuality, ISIS is the product of a joint NATO-GCC conspiracy stretching back as far as 2007 where US-Saudi policymakers sought to ignite a region-wide sectarian war to purge the Middle East of Iran’s arch of influence stretching from its borders, across Syria and Iraq, and as far west as Lebanon and the coast of the Mediterranean. ISIS has been harbored, trained, armed, and extensively funded by a coalition of NATO and Persian Gulf states within Turkey’s (NATO territory) borders and has launched invasions into northern Syria with, at times, both Turkish artillery and air cover.  The most recent example of this was the cross-border invasion by Al Qaeda into Kasab village, Latikia province in northwest Syria.

In March, ISIS withdrew its terror battalions from Latikia and Idlib provinces and repositioned them in the east of Syria, now clearly in preparations for invading northern Iraq. The Daily Star reported in a March 2014 article titled, “Al-Qaeda splinter group in Syria leaves two provinces: activists,” that:

On Friday, ISIS – which alienated many rebels by seizing territory and killing rival commanders – finished withdrawing from the Idlib and Latakia provinces and moved its forces toward the eastern Raqqa province and the eastern outskirts of the northern city of Aleppo, activists said.  

The alleged territorial holdings of ISIS cross over both Syrian and Iraqi borders meaning that any campaign to eradicate them from Iraqi territory can easily spill over into Syria’s borders. And that is exactly the point. With ISIS having ravaged Mosul, Iraq near the Turkish border and moving south in a terror blitzkrieg now threatening the Iraqi capital of Baghdad itself, the Iraqi government is allegedly considering calling for US and/or NATO assistance to break the terror wave. Adding to the pretext, ISIS, defying any sound tactical or strategic thinking, has seized a Turkish consulate in Mosul, taking over 80 Turkish hostages – serendipitous giving Turkey not only a new pretext to invade northern Iraq as it has done many times in pursuit of alleged Kurdish militants, but to invade Syrian territory where ISIS is also based.

Turkey Has Already Attempted to Use Al Qaeda False Flag Attacks to Justify Invading Syria 

Click on the picture to enlarge it

It had been revealed that NATO has been planning a false flag attack against Turkey to justify the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, the International Business Times reported in its article, “Turkey YouTube Ban: Full Transcript of Leaked Syria ‘War’ Conversation Between Erdogan Officials.” It released the full transcript of a leaked conversation between the head of Turkish intelligence Hakan Fidan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. The Times reported:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ban of YouTube occurred after a leaked conversation between Head of Turkish Intelligence Hakan Fidan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu that he wanted removed from the video-sharing website.

The leaked call details Erdogan’s thoughts that an attack on Syria “must be seen as an opportunity for us [Turkey]”.

In the conversation, intelligence chief Fidan says that he will send four men from Syria to attack Turkey to “make up a cause of war”.

The report would also state:

In the leaked video, Fidan is discussing with Davutoğlu, Güler and other officials a possible operation within Syria to secure the tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman empire.

Instead of four men carrying out a false flag to secure a tomb, it appears now that an entire mercenary army will be used as a pretext to secure all of northern Iraq and eastern Syria.

Banks Robbed After Invasion Funded the Invasion? Western Media Puts Cart Before the Horse 

Tales of ISIS looting armories, vehicle depots, and banks are being carefully planted throughout the Western media in an attempt to portray the invasion as a terrorist uprising, sustaining itself on plundered supplies, weapons, and cash. In reality, ISIS already possessed all that it needed before beginning its campaign from Syrian and Turkish territory.

The International Business Times in its article, “Mosul Seized: Jihadis Loot $429m from City’s Central Bank to Make Isis World’s Richest Terror Force,” claims:

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (Isis) has become the richest terror group ever after looting 500 billion Iraqi dinars – the equivalent of $429m (£256m) – from Mosul’s central bank, according to the regional governor.

Nineveh governor Atheel al-Nujaifi confirmed Kurdish televison reports that Isis militants had stolen millions from numerous banks across Mosul. A large quantity of gold bullion is also believed to have been stolen.

Following the siege of the country’s second city, the bounty collected by the group has left it richer than al-Qaeda itself and as wealthy as small nations such as Tonga, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Falkland Islands.

This cover story is the latest in a long propaganda campaign designed to cover up the extensively documented state sponsorship of ISIS and other Al Qaeda franchises by the United States, NATO, and the Persian Gulf monarchies. Previous attempts to explain why alleged “moderates” being funded billions by the West were being displaced by Al Qaeda in Syria have included claims that “Twitter donations” were eclipsing the combined aid provided by the US, EU, NATO, and Persian Gulf states.

The US, NATO, and Persian Gulf States are Behind ISIS 

Published in 2007 – a full 4 years before the 2011 “Arab Spring” would begin – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh’s New Yorker article titled, “”The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?” stated specifically (emphasis added):

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

Throughout the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011, the West and its regional partners have sent billions in cash, weapons, and equipment. In the March 2013 Telegraph article titled, “US and Europe in ‘major airlift of arms to Syrian rebels through Zagreb’,” it is reported:

It claimed 3,000 tons of weapons dating back to the former Yugoslavia have been sent in 75 planeloads from Zagreb airport to the rebels, largely via Jordan since November
The story confirmed the origins of ex-Yugoslav weapons seen in growing numbers in rebel hands in online videos, as described last month by The Daily Telegraph and other newspapers, but suggests far bigger quantities than previously suspected.
The shipments were allegedly paid for by Saudi Arabia at the bidding of the United States, with assistance on supplying the weapons organised through Turkey and Jordan, Syria’s neighbours. But the report added that as well as from Croatia, weapons came “from several other European countries including Britain”, without specifying if they were British-supplied or British-procured arms.
British military advisers however are known to be operating in countries bordering Syria alongside French and Americans, offering training to rebel leaders and former Syrian army officers. The Americans are also believed to be providing training on securing chemical weapons sites inside Syria.

Additionally, The New York Times in its article, “Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With C.I.A. Aid,” admits that:

With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders.

The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.

With the pledge of fresh aid, the total amount of nonlethal assistance from the United States to the coalition and civic groups inside the country is $250 million. During the meeting here, Mr. Kerry urged other nations to step up their assistance, with the objective of providing $1 billion in international aid. 

The US has also admitted that it is now officially arming and equipping terrorists inside of Syria. The Washington Post’s article, “U.S. weapons reaching Syrian rebels,” reported:

The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures. The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear — a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria’s civil war.

Click on the picture to enlarge it

The Western media and the governments providing them their talking points now expect the general public to believe that somehow “Twitter donations” and “bank robberies” have managed to outpace this unprecedented multinational logistical feat and give Al Qaeda the edge over the West’s nonexistent “moderate” forces in Syria and give rise to phantom terrorist legions capable of seizing entire provinces across multiple national borders. The evidence simply doesn’t add up. 

Combined with reports from the US Army’s West Point Countering Terrorism Center, “Bombers, Bank Accounts and Bleedout: al-Qa’ida’s Road In and Out of Iraq,” and “Al-Qa’ida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq,” it is clear that Iraq’s Al Qaeda/ISIS legions were created, funded, and armed by Persian Gulf states and are augmented with foreign fighters drawn from Libya’s terror epicenter of Benghazi, and Saudi Arabia in particular. These legions have been in operation in one form or another since they were first created by the US CIA, Saudi Arabia and Pakistani intelligence during the 1980’s to combat Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

A Pretext for NATO Invasion 

The alleged territory of ISIS overlaps the Iraqi-Syrian border constituting a region nearly the size of Syria itself. With Baghdad asking for foreign intervention, and ISIS giving NATO the perfect pretext to do so by seizing a Turkish consulate in Mosul, making the case for (re)invading Iraq may be feasible. With the Western media capitalizing on ISIS’ notorious brutality, including mass beheadings and hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing before them, a demonstrable campaign to sway public opinion toward intervention is clearly under way.

Invading northern Iraq will allow NATO to then justify cross-border operations into eastern Syria. In reality what NATO will be doing is establishing their long desired “buffer zone” where terrorists can launch attacks deeper and more effectively into Syrian territory. With western Syria returning to peace and order after a series of victories for the Syrian government, the last front NATO’s proxy forces have is Al Qaeda’s arch of terror running along Turkey’s border and now, across eastern Syria and northern Iraq. NATO’s presence in northern Iraq would also provide an obstacle for Iranian-Syrian trade and logistics.

The idea of such a buffer zone has been in the works since at least March 2012, where the idea was proposed by the US corporate-financier funded Brookings Institution in their “Middle East Memo #21″ “Assessing Options for Regime Change” where it stated specifically (emphasis added):

“An alternative is for diplomatic efforts to focus first on how to end the violence and how to gain humanitarian access, as is being done under Annan’s leadership. This may lead to the creation of safe-havens and humanitarian corridors, which would have to be backed by limited military power. This would, of course, fall short of U.S. goals for Syria and could preserve Asad in power. From that starting point, however, it is possible that a broad coalition with the appropriate international mandate could add further coercive action to its efforts.” 

Through Iraq, NATO has used its terrorist proxies to create a pretext to put this “buffer zone” strategy back into motion. The prospect of the US, NATO, or the Persian Gulf states delivering Iraq from ISIS is an ironic tragedy – as definitive evidence reveals ISIS’ brutal incursion was of this collective coalition’s own doing to begin with, and for its own insidious ends. Instead, a joint Iranian-Iraqi-Syrian anti-terror campaign should be conducted to corner and crush NATO’s terrorist mercenary expeditionary force once and for all.

Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2014/06/13/nato-s-terror-hordes-in-iraq-a-pretext-for-syria-invasion/

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

The Ambassador of Latvia to NATO: our biggest threats are the inflow of Ukrainian refugees and the outflow of our population

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From Fort Russ

August 4, 2015
Translated by Kristina Rus
The Ambassador of Latvia to NATO, Indulis Berzins announced the list of the biggest threats to the country on the program “900 seconds” on the channel LNT.

Indulis Berzins, who previously held various government posts, entered the position of Ambassador to NATO last week. He shared his perspective about the security of the state on a TV program. The greatest threat is a huge influx of refugees from Ukraine. As the diplomat noted, he was warned about such a scenario by the experts involved in the Ukrainian crisis.

 Additionally, Indulis Berzins said that a threat to Latvia is the pessimistic mood of its inhabitants, many of whom resent their country and move abroad. 

“If the citizens of Latvia will not agree that we need this state, it will create the greatest threat to the security of the country,” – the Ambassador said. 


 He also noted that “a group of professional commentators appeared online, which rejects the transatlantic orientation of Latvia”.

Indulis Berzins added that “the most important thing now is to ensure the security of the entire region.” In his words, “the increased presence of allies in the Baltic States, including Latvia, would enhance security and would give a clear signal to any country, that would want to somehow interfere in our internal affairs”.

Speaking about the possible deployment of NATO bases in the Baltic States, the Ambassador said that “now we are working hard to implement the decisions of the Wales summit, not requiring a permanent presence of military forces of other countries of the Alliance in Latvia”.

At the same time, he said, “various military exercises and maneuvers conducted in Latvia, are the guarantor of the policy of containment”.

Indulis Berzins added: “This format does not involve the need for permanent bases. It involves provision of weapons, ammunition and arms, which is very significant — if the situation gets worse, the soldiers, coming over here, will not have to bring equipment.”

However, he stressed that “a permanent base of the Alliance was established in Latvia or the presence of allies was increased, it would only help its security”. At the same time a new envoy to NATO has recognized that there is no direct military threat to Latvia today.

 

http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-ambassador-of-latvia-to-nato-our.html

“Europa braucht Russland und Russland braucht Europa”; Erklärung des Willy-Brandt-Kreises für einen neuen europäischen Umgang mit der Ukraine-Krise

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Sperrfrist: 21. Juli 2015, 12.00 Uhr!

Erklärung des Willy-Brandt-Kreises

Zum bedrohten Frieden –

für einen neuen europäischen Umgang mit der Ukraine-Krise

Europa durchlebt die schwerste Krise seit dem Ende des Ost-West-Konflikts. Nicht nur der Umgang mit Griechenland und den Flüchtlingsströmen hält den Kontinent in Atem, auch der mühsam ausgehandelte Waffenstillstand in der östlichen Ukraine ist brüchig. Solange der Konflikt um die Zukunft der Ukraine ungelöst ist, besteht die ständige Gefahr eines Abstur-zes.

Eine umfassende Friedensordnung für Europa, dieses Versprechen der Charta von Paris von 1990, ist unerfüllt geblieben. Doch Europa kann kein Interesse daran haben, die alte Rivalität der Supermächte USA und Sowjetunion fortzusetzen und Russland in die Knie zu zwingen. Das unterscheidet die europäische von der amerikanischen Interessenlage: Ohne Russland o-der gar gegen Russland kann kaum ein Problem gelöst werden, das Europa als Ganzes betrifft. Das zeigt die jüngste Geschichte: Russland und die Völker der Sowjetunion haben entschei-dend zur Befreiung Europas vom Faschismus beigetragen, aber auch zur deutschen Vereini-gung. Deutschland hat daher eine besondere Verantwortung, Russland als Partner in einer eu-ropäischen Friedensordnung zu gewinnen.

1990 schien diese Frage ein für alle Mal beantwortet: Russland als Mitarchitekt der europäi-schen Einigung, würde natürlich – wie auch die USA – ein Anker und ein gleichberechtigter Partner sein. Russland sah sich seither in seinen Erwartungen enttäuscht: Die Erweiterungspo-litik der EU und vor allem der NATO schloss eine Mitgliedschaft Russlands ausdrücklich aus: zu groß, zu komplex, hieß es damals – während einige Staaten im östlichen Europa das Ziel ihres Beitritts zur westlichen Allianz offen als Sicherheitsvorsorge vor Russland betrieben. Ohne eigene Beitrittsperspektive Russlands nährte die Erweiterung der westlichen Bünd-nisstrukturen alte russische Einkreisungsängste, welche nationalistische Reflexe und den all-mählichen Rückfall in das Denken in geopolitischen Kategorien und Einflusszonen begünstig-ten.

Die ukrainische Krise ist somit Ausdruck eines heraufziehenden russisch -euroatlantischen Großkonflikts, der in eine Katastrophe münden kann, wenn die sich bereits drehende Spirale des Wettrüstens, der militärischen Provokationen und konfrontativen Rhetorik nicht gestoppt wird. Wir wenden uns daher an alle verantwortlichen Politiker und friedensbewegten Bürger, aber vor allem ganz direkt an die SPD:

In dieser Situation ist eine mutige politische Initiative gefordert, vergleichbar jener, die nach Mauerbau und Kubakrise in der Hochzeit des Kalten Krieges den Ausbruch aus der Logik der Konfrontation mit der Sowjetunion wagte. Damals war es in Europa allen voran die deutsche Sozialdemokratie, die mit der neuen Ostpolitik Willy Brandts einer europäischen Entspan-nungspolitik den Weg ebnete. 2015 bedarf es ebensolchen Mutes und politischer Klugheit, um der drohenden Spirale neuerlicher Konfrontation und Spaltung Europas zu begegnen. Wir for-dern daher innezuhalten und einen Neustart der Beziehungen mit Russland zu wagen, bevor es für Alle und Alles zu spät ist!

(1) Die Ukraine-Krise lässt sich durch politische Sanktionen gegen Russland nicht lösen. Die tieferliegenden Ursachen der russisch-europäischen Entfremdung gehören auf die politische Tagesordnung europäisch-russischer Gipfelgespräche. Dauerhafter Interes-senausgleich gelingt nur durch Dialog und Verhandlungen. Die wirtschaftlichen Sank-tionen unterminieren die Entwicklung Europas als gemeinsamer Wirtschaftsraum. Zu-sammenarbeit ist ein Motor der Vertrauensbildung. Eine intakte Energieinfrastruktur, die durch die aktuellen Spannungen bereits in Mitleidenschaft gezogen wurde, liegt genauso im gemeinsamen Interesse wie wechselseitige Handelsbeziehungen.

(2) Die Europäische Union darf sich infolge ihrer Mitverantwortung für das Entstehen dieser Krise nicht der Mitwirkung an deren einvernehmlicher Lösung entziehen. Das Zusammenwirken von Deutschland, Frankreich und Polen mit der Ukraine und Russ-land beim Minsk II-Abkommen, ist ein innovativer Ansatz. Von dessen Umsetzung hängt es ab, gestörtes Vertrauen zurückzugewinnen. Aber eine breitere europäische Einbettung tut not. Deutschland muss hierfür im kommenden Jahr seine Verantwor-tung in der OSZE-Präsidentschaft in die Waagschale werfen und konzeptionell wie di-alogorientiert agieren.

(3) Weil auch die USA als wichtigster Partner der neuen ukrainischen Regierung eine hohe Verantwortung für die Lösung der Krise haben, sind alle Gremien wichtig, die Russland und die USA zusammenbringen. Gerade in Krisenzeiten bedarf es besonders engmaschiger Kommunikation. Daher sollten die G7 Russland sofort wieder einbezie-hen, der NATO-Russland Rat muss seine Arbeit schnellstmöglich wieder aufnehmen. Notwendige Krisenkommunikation darf nicht beschränkt oder gar verhindert, sondern muss ausgebaut werden.

(4) Die Einverleibung der Krim durch Russland ist ein Verstoß gegen internationale Ab-kommen und zugleich eine politische Realität, die nicht gegen den Mehrheitswillen der Bevölkerung der Krim rückgängig gemacht werden kann. Der Status Quo darf die Notwendigkeit der konstruktiven Zusammenarbeit mit den Beteiligten im gemeinsa-men europäischen Interesse nicht unterbinden.

(5) Die Ukraine-Krise ist auch das Ergebnis einer schwachen föderalen Struktur in einem noch jungen Staat. Nur eine starke föderale Ordnung kann das Land vor ethnischer Spaltung und drohender Sezession bewahren. Die Erfahrungen anderer europäischer Staaten mit föderalen Strukturen sollten von den Parteien in der Ukraine abgerufen werden können, wenn sie dies wünschen.

(6) Eine Mitgliedschaft der Ukraine in der NATO würde kein Mehr an Sicherheit bringen. Sie würde im Gegenteil russische Befürchtungen über die Ziele der NATO weiter be-feuern und die Risiken ungewollter militärischer Konfrontation noch erhöhen. Die Vertrauensbildung zwischen den politischen und militärischen Gremien aller europäi-schen Staaten, wie sie im Rahmen des „Wiener Dokuments” der OSZE, zuletzt 2011, vorgesehen ist, ist gerade in Krisenzeiten auszubauen.

(7) Die Ukraine-Krise gefährdet die europäische Rüstungskontrolle. Wettrüsten, die Ver-lagerung von militärischen Ausrüstungen und neue Truppenstationierungen beiderseits der russischen Grenze legen die Axt an das bestehende System von Verträgen. Die Be-teiligung deutscher Truppen bei der Aufstellung von „Eingreiftruppen” kann auf russi-scher Seite Erinnerungen an den deutschen Überfall auslösen und unnötig Öl ins Feuer gießen. Militärische Entflechtung, Nichtverbreitung und die Begrenzung von Waffen-arsenalen und Truppen sind Aufgaben, die keinen Aufschub dulden.

 

(8) Die im Zusammenhang mit der Ukraine-Krise erneut aufgebrochenen Drohungen mit dem Einsatz von Atom-Waffen sind alarmierend. Es droht eine Neuauflage der „Nach-rüstung” der 80er Jahre mit atomaren Mittelstreckenraketen in Europa. Atom-Waffen müssen endlich geächtet werden. In ihrer die ganze Welt erreichenden Vernichtungs-kraft müssen sie als prinzipiell nicht einsetzbar gelten.

(9) Die Friedensordnung Europas ist nicht nur eine Ordnung der Staaten. Sie beruht auf starken Zivilgesellschaften, grenzüberschreitender Zusammenarbeit in den Bereichen Kultur, Medien, Sport, Wissenschaft u.a.m. Auch durch die Neubelebung des europäi-schen Jugendaustauschs mit Russland und der Ukraine können stereotype Denkweisen überwunden und generationenübergreifend Impulse für ein besseres Verständnis von-einander – und ein gutes Verhältnis miteinander – gesetzt werden.

Europa braucht Russland und Russland braucht Europa. Wir stehen vor der Weichenstel-lung, in einen neuen, mehr oder weniger Kalten Krieg mit ungewisser Perspektive abzuglei-ten oder uns auf das Ziel einer gemeinsamen europäischen Friedensordnung zu besinnen.

Die Zeit zum Handeln ist jetzt!

Berlin, den 21. Juli 2015

Prof. Egon Bahr, Prof. Dr. Elmar Brähler, Prof. Dr. Peter Brandt, Volker Braun, Daniela Dahn, Dr. Friedrich Dieckmann, Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Gießmann, Prof. Dr. Lutz Götze, Prof. Dr. Ingomar Hauchler, Dr. Enrico Heitzer, Gunter Hofmann, Prof. Dr. Gustav Horn, Prof. Dr. Dieter Klein, Dr. Rainer Land, Dr. Hans Misselwitz, Dr. Irina Mohr, Prof. Dr. Götz Neuneck, Prof. Dr. Rolf Reissig, Dr. Edelbert Richter, Wolfgang Schmidt, Axel Schmidt-Gödelitz, Prof. Dr. Michael Schneider, Dr. Friedrich Schorlemmer, Ingo Schulze, Prof. Klaus Staeck, Prof. Dr. Walther Stützle, Antje Vollmer, Dr. Christoph Zöpel

Click to access 150721-zum-bedrohten-frieden-erklaerung-des-willy-brandt-kreises_juli2015.pdf

 

Interview with Michel Chossudovsky: US/NATO playing war games on Russia’s doorstep, threatening Russia with a first-strike nuclear attack

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By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, June 28, 2015
Press TV

Press TV has conducted an interview with Michel Chossudovsky, of the Centre for Research on Globalization in Montreal, concerning NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calling on Moscow to stop “supporting” pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine.
Press TV: Do you think it is in the role of NATO Secretary General to warn Russia against the situation in eastern Ukraine?

Chossudovsky: I think NATO has the ability of turning the realities upside down, because recent reports confirm that it is not Russia which is supporting the rebels but NATO and the United States which are supporting Ukraine not only with so-called nonlethal weapons but also with military advisers, training and so on. Moreover, they are now providing core support not only to the armed forces but also to the neo-Nazi National Guard. And the US Congress has debated this issue and they said yes, we will support the National Guard but we will not support the Neo-Nazi Azov battalion.

Other countries such as Canada are supporting the Azov battalion, but I should say that while the Azov battalion has been recognized as a neo-Nazi entity, the Right Sector Nazi party has an oversight and control over the entire National Guard.

In recent developments, Ukraine’s military has been bombing civilian areas including schools. There is ample evidence to that effect, and ironically NATO is accusing the separatist forces of Donbass of killing their own people, so to speak, when in fact those strikes were perpetrated by the Ukrainian armed forces.

Press TV: Basically you are saying that the US and NATO have set the grounds to ensure this grace period that there is of relative calm in eastern Ukraine is used to basically once again increase hostilities and ensure that there is no separatist movement left within eastern Ukraine. However, my question to you is what does NATO get out of it?

Chossudovsky: I think we have to look at the broader military agenda, because NATO – and when we say NATO we are saying the United States – the United States and NATO are involved in war games on Russia’s doorstep.

They have several initiatives, they are moving military hardware to Eastern Europe, and this serves as an act of provocation directed against the Russian Federation; and they accuse Russia without evidence of supporting the rebels when in fact they have their own troops right on Russia’s doorstep supporting the Ukrainian government, which is an illegitimate government.

And I think there is another element which has not been understood or even reported in the media, is that the president of Ukraine, President Poroshenko, has made the statement and it is with Ukraine Constitutional Court that the coup directed against his predecessor Yanukovych was an illegal act rather than a “transition towards democracy” n.

So within Ukraine there is there is division within the leadership. The country is in crisis situation following the imposition of the IMF’s deadly microeconomic reforms and the impoverishment of large sectors of the population. And within the armed forces there are also divisions and there is also a movement at the grassroots to refuse to fight, in other words not to join the armed forces, not to be involved in a civil war in eastern Ukraine.

Press TV: So if Russia is the big enemy here, what do you make of that? Is Russia a threat to the West – militarily or strategically speaking?

Chossudovsky: I think that Russia is not a threat and neither is China. The United States is engaged on a very dangerous path, because they have adopted the doctrine of preemptive war and they are in fact also saying that they can use nuclear weapons against Russia on a preemptive first strike basis.

Now that type of discourse is extremely dangerous, because it could ignite a World War III scenario.

First of all, they say that the new generation of nuclear weapons, namely the tactical nuclear weapons, are harmless to civilians and can be used against non-nuclear states; this is an outright lie.

And now they that they are threatening Russia with nuclear weapons, and this is very clear, the nuclear option has been debated in the US Congress.

We are at a very dangerous crossroads in our history – the unthinkable: a possible World War III scenario.

And this is no longer at the abstract level, it has been envisaged by decision makers in the Pentagon and it could unleash World War III.

Order Michel Chossudovsky’s Book directly from GR,  

Towards a World War III Scenario, TheDangers of Nuclear War,

Global Research, Montreal, 2011, also available in pdf.

WWIII Scenario

Nuclear war has become a multibillion dollar undertaking, which fills the pockets of US defense contractors. What is at stake is the outright “privatization of nuclear war”.

The Pentagon’s global military design is one of world conquest. The military deployment of US-NATO forces is occurring in several regions of the world simultaneously.

Central to an understanding of war, is the media campaign which grants it legitimacy in the eyes of public opinion. A good versus evil dichotomy prevails. The perpetrators of war are presented as the victims. Public opinion is misled.

Breaking the “big lie”, which upholds war as a humanitarian undertaking, means breaking a criminal project of global destruction, in which the quest for profit is the overriding force. This profit-driven military agenda destroys human values and transforms people into unconscious zombies.

The object of this book is to forcefully reverse the tide of war, challenge the war criminals in high office and the powerful corporate lobby groups which support them.

Reviews

“This book is a ‘must’ resource – a richly documented and systematic diagnosis of the supremely pathological geo-strategic planning of US wars since ‘9-11’ against non-nuclear countries to seize their oil fields and resources under cover of ‘freedom and democracy’.”
–John McMurtry, Professor of Philosophy, Guelph University

“In a world where engineered, pre-emptive, or more fashionably “humanitarian” wars of aggression have become the norm, this challenging book may be our final wake-up call.”
-Denis Halliday, Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations

Michel Chossudovsky exposes the insanity of our privatized war machine. Iran is being targeted with nuclear weapons as part of a war agenda built on distortions and lies for the purpose of private profit. The real aims are oil, financial hegemony and global control. The price could be nuclear holocaust. When weapons become the hottest export of the world’s only superpower, and diplomats work as salesmen for the defense industry, the whole world is recklessly endangered. If we must have a military, it belongs entirely in the public sector. No one should profit from mass death and destruction.
–Ellen Brown, author of ‘Web of Debt’ and president of the Public Banking Institute

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/06/26/417607/Russia-Ukraine-NATO-US-Europe

http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-nato-playing-war-games-on-russias-doorstep-threaten-russia-with-a-first-strike-nuclear-attack-michel-chossudovsky/5458752