Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Tuesday 29 December 2015

The European Union Times


Posted: 28 Dec 2015 09:45 AM PST

In what a new Ministry of Defense (MoD) report circulating in the Kremlin today is describing as President Barack Obama’s “worst nightmare”, the Ministry of National Defense (MoND) of the People’s Republic of China has secured the permission of the Syria Arab Republic to begin “flooding” into theLevant War Zone up to 5,000 of its most elite military forces, and which will first include the fearedShenyang Military Region “Siberian Tiger” Special Forces and Lanzhou Military Region “Night Tiger” Special Forces Units.
According to this MoD report, this extraordinary move by China to enter into this war was authorized by China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) yesterday by their passing that country’s first anti-terrorism law making it legal for the People’s Liberation Army to take part in counter-terrorism missions abroad—and which fulfils the 30 November vow made to President Putin by Chinese President Xi Jinping that his nation would work to take on a broader role in the international war against terrorism and that China would be at Russia’s disposal to aid in global anti-terror efforts.
Most critical to China in entering this war, this report continues, is the “grave” national security threat it faces from both the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh) and Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT)—and as, perhaps, best described by the noted award winning American military-intelligence journalist Seymour M. Hersh who in his latest article warned of this threat by stating:
“China, an ally of [Syrian leader] Assad has committed more than $30 billion to postwar reconstruction in Syria. China, too, is worried about the Islamic State. China regards the Syrian crisis from three perspectives: international law and legitimacy; global strategic positioning; and the activities of jihadist Uighurs, from Xinjiang province in China’s far west.
Xinjiang borders eight nations – Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India – and, in China’s view, serves as a funnel for terrorism around the world and within China.
Many Uighur fighters now in Syria are known to be members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement—an often violent separatist organization that seeks to establish an Islamist Uighur state in Xinjiang.
The fact that they have been aided by Turkish intelligence to move from China into Syria through Turkey has caused a tremendous amount of tension between the Chinese and Turkish intelligence and China is concerned that the Turkish role of supporting the Uighur fighters in Syria may be extended in the future to support Turkey’s agenda in Xinjiang.”

Though the US corporate-propaganda media continues to blackball from the American people Hersh’s “bombshell” article, this report notes, 2015 has become the year Russia exposed the barbaric nature of Western powers—from their criminal conspiracy for regime change in Syria, to aggression against Yemen, Iran, Russia, China and any country that does not toe the line—and has, also, exposed for the entire world to see that the Obama regimes fight against the Islamic State has all been pretended.
And with the Obama regime reported to be scrambling to come up with new lies to tell the American people about this war, this report says, only one person in that government, US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, just weeks ago warned the American public that not only is the Obama regime lying to them, they may end up inadvertently starting World War III.
Echoing Congresswoman Gabbard’s fears, this report further notes, is billionaire investor George Soros, who warned the Obama regime this past summer that China might use the Levant War to mask its mounting economic problems and stated “should the external conflict escalate into a military confrontation with an ally of the United States such as Turkey or Japan, it is not an exaggeration to say that we would be on the threshold of a third world war.”

As to why the Obama regime is still protecting the terrorist-supporting nation of Turkey and daily sending in more NATO forces to defend risking world war, this report notes, is beyond insanity—especially when viewed of the light of Turkish leader Erdogan refusing President Obama’s order to remove Turkish troops who illegally invaded Iraq, and, just yesterday, Turkish intelligence servicesassassinating another journalist, Naji Jerf, editor-in-chief of the Hentah monthly, for exposing Erdogan’s support of Islamic State terrorists.
So as President Putin’s special envoy, Alexander Lavrentyev, continues today visiting and informing various Middle East nations of Russia’s new alliance with China against Turkey and the Islamic State, this report concludes, it is, also, preparing for the worst—and which is why the Western Military District, equipped with Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile systems, was put on alert just hours ago.
Source
        
Posted: 28 Dec 2015 03:58 AM PST

Imagine if a leading news organization based in a major country was colluding with government officials to ensure their content satisfied those same apparatchiks? Ponder the reaction in Washington?
It’s almost certain that words like “condemn,” “regrettable” and “affront” would be used. Probably by the State Department.
After all, the State Department was so alarmed about “Russian propaganda” earlier this year that “it appealed to major media companies, including Sony Pictures, for help,” according to The Guardian. Now, envisage John Kerry’s merry band armed with proof of RT journalists taking orders DIRECTLY from Russian Foreign Ministry personnel? It’s fair to assume that the outrage would be audible on the dark side of the moon. Doubtless, the likes of Buzzfeed, the BBC and the New York Times would splash the story with giddy abandon.
Isn’t it curious then, that when a State Department email dump revealed, in late October, that CNN actually coordinated their coverage of a 2013 congressional hearing on Libya with a former Hillary Clinton aide, the MSM didn’t pay much attention to the revelations? Even when they touched on them, most just wanted to defend Elise Labott, the reporter involved, and explained away the apparent collusion as “business as usual.”
Meanwhile, the State Department itself was silent. No condemnations, no expressions of regret and no descriptions of the move as an “affront to democracy” or the like. Incredibly, many of the same media outlets weren’t half as supportive of Labott when she was recently suspended by CNN for expressing sympathy with Syrian refugees on Twitter. Thus we can assume that they believe that sacrificing journalistic principles is far more acceptable than showing solidarity with some of the weakest and most vulnerable people on earth.
Collusion for favors
Gawker published a batch of State Department emails, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. Through it, we learned that Labott, the CNN global affairs correspondent was in regular contact with Hillary Clinton’s then-personal spokesman and aide, Philippe Reines, on Jan. 23, 2013. That was the day when the former Secretary of State (who is again seeking the Democratic Party nod as a Presidential candidate) testified before Congress about her role in the events surrounding the deadly Sept 11, 2012 attacks on US facilities in Benghazi in Libya.
Reines suggested a number of Tweets to Labott, who duly obliged by posting them (mostly verbatim) on her own personal feed. For example, Reines emailed Labott: “You should tweet something like ‘Feb. 1st looking like Hillary’s last day’ and link to the story. That will drive your colleagues nuts.” The CNN reporter later tweeted almost the very same words.
Earlier that January, Labott apparently admitted in an email to Reines that she deliberately misled other networks on behalf of Clinton’s State Department team. “I did get several emails from networks today asking if I thought the reason there was no on-[camera] was because you guys were trying to hide something. I just answered that it was customary in the week of new years (even though that’s not entirely true) but frankly nobody believes me,” she wrote. “So there shouldn’t be a big deal about an on camera briefing right? You know better than anyone that optics matter. I’m just saying.”
Remarkably, some of the high-profile media colleagues who leaped to Labott’s defense are often disturbed at what they term ‘propaganda’ in other countries. Take Andrew Kaczynski of Buzzfeed who whitewashed the CNN reporter’s actions.
“This exchange seems like normal source [conversation] to be honest,” he told the Washington Examiner, referring to the State emails. “[I] feel like people would be pretty surprised at stuff operatives and reporters from both parties say to each other.”
Apparently , there’s nothing objectionable in a reporter trying to ingratiate themselves with authority in exchange for a story. Unless you’re a reporter who’s not working for the right kind of western MSM.
It’s not only CNN, of course.
Reines also interacted with Politico’s Mike Allen that very same month. In a January 10 email he offers Hillary’s daughter, Chelsea, a “no-surprises” interview with questions agreed in advance. Hilariously, Allen later criticized Barack Obama in Politico for an alleged preference for “softball” interviews.
The menace of mendacity
For Russian watchers, this is all very strange. Especially given the vitriol usually thrown at RT for imagined transgressions. For example, the Wall Street Journal’s Lukas Alpert once tried to convince Slate podcast listeners that “RT coordinates its activities with the Russian Foreign Ministry to prepare news packages supporting Foreign Ministry issues of the day; and that, according to unnamed former RT employees, ‘Foreign Ministry handlers’ vet all of RT’s political reporting.”
Naturally, this is complete nonsense – and no proof to substantiate these ridiculous allegations was ever presented. Amazingly, however, Alpert has completely ignored the, actually proven, story of CNN doing more-or-less what he, falsely, accused RT of.
Speaking of the Foreign Ministry, BBC’s Andrew Neil once (also falsely) stated that RT’s reporter Anastasia Churkina had interviewed her father Vitaly Churkin (the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations) “live on air.” She had never done any such thing and the BBC had to apologize. Nevertheless, it’s stunning that Neil has nothing to stay about the CNN incident, obsessed as he claims to be about media balance and integrity.
Here’s to the state of Mississippi
American mainstream media has a habit of censoring dissenting voices. Who can forget how Phil Donahue was fired by MSNBC when he refused to alter his, principled, anti-war, views as the MSM whipped the nation into a frenzy over Iraq? Odd then, that they made a martyr of Liz Wahl following her on-air resignation from RT in 2014 – a stunt that was actually stage-managed by a neocon think-tank, helped by a few loyal MSM journos. Wahl is now being used as a – this is not a joke – a Russian foreign policy expert by CNN. Her expertise on the subject extends to having read a tele-prompter for two years at RT America, a Washington-based, US affairs-focused channel.
Other MSM scandals that have been brushed under the carpet recently include the UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom finding the BBC to have broken its “rules on sponsored and free content funded by governments, NGOs and charities” (i.e. disseminating “propaganda”) – in more than 20 instances. CNN and CNBC were also cited. The story was barely reported. Even when it was – by the London Independent, which actually did use the term “propaganda” in describing the case – it simply vanished from their site shortly thereafter. The original headline “How the BBC showed propaganda films – but didn’t tell its viewers” now only survives as a Tweet.
The Independent has given no indication as to where the article has gone or why it was removed. The first half of it survives here. A milder take of the story does still exist at The Guardian.
When Ofcom finds RT to be in breach of its rules, the UK media obliges by going to town on the story, with The Guardian,Independent, Financial Times and the BBC itself all giving huge coverage to the issue, and regurgitating it virtually every time they report on RT from whatever angle, no matter how unrelated the development.
That BBC rules breach story broke in August. The following month, the BBC’s announcement of new plans to expand its reach in Russia and the Middle East were greeted with delight by the Guardian. There wasn’t a mention of “propaganda” anywhere, even though its geographical focus is clearly politically motivated, and comes amidst the ‘Beeb’s’ frequent lamentations about losing the “information war” to Russia.
Of course, when RT announced similar projects for France and Germany, these were only ever treated as “propaganda” by the same Guardian.
Thus, when the BBC, found guilty of broadcasting “propaganda,” expands its foreign messaging efforts (ones they are happy to dub as “propaganda” when coming from outside the US or Europe), the Guardian is overjoyed defining it as news and the proliferation of virtuous “British values.” However, when RT seeks new audiences, it can only be sinister propaganda. The logic doesn’t jump off the page.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there are five direct synonyms for “hypocrisy.” At the rate MSM is guilty of it, wordsmiths will have to invent a few more.
Source
        
Posted: 28 Dec 2015 03:50 AM PST

Norway’s state broadcaster, NRK, has put in place a 5-year plan in order to chip away at its mostly Norwegian workforce and talent.
“The aim is to reflect the population to a greater extent than we do today” said Director of Broadcasting, Thor Gjermund Eriksen.
Currently about 4% of NRK’s permanent staff are from a “multicultural background.” About 13% ofNorway’s total population are immigrants, and about 6% are from non-Western countries.
NRK is not very interested in catering to Western immigrants, and instead wants to focus on “children of immigrants from Asia, Africa and South America.”
“NRK’s ​​ambition is to be a generous and diverse public arena” said Eriksen.
“If an increasing part of the population does not feel included, as are some of the arguments for having a public broadcaster weakened.”
NRK describe this racial quota as “multicultural competence.” It also brags that having employees who speak Urdu, and Vietnamese are “success stories.”
Norway is predicted to become minority white Norwegian by 2045. This, of course, is because of mass non-European immigration.
If it was just Norway where this was happening, it might be excused as just an accident. However, within this century, European people are predicted to be a minority in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Sweden, Ireland, and Norway by 2050. Germany and France have just joined the wagon thanks to Merkel’s decision to flood the EU with millions of “refugees”. With the current ongoing trend of irresponsible massive immigration from non-European nations this can only be described as self-inflicted genocide.
        
Posted: 28 Dec 2015 03:24 AM PST

The US government’s recent order of Russian rocket engines shows that America has become inferior to Russia in space technology, says an American analyst and former US Army officer.
United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, said Wednesday it had ordered 20 new RD-180 rocket engines from Russia on top of 29 engines it ordered last year.
The Russian engines will be used to lift off the Atlas 5 rockets until a new American-made engine is developed and certified, the ULA said.
The new order came after Congress enacted a massive spending bill that eased a ban on using Russian engines to launch US military and intelligence satellites for the 2016 fiscal year.
In an interview with Press TV on Friday, counter-terrorism analyst Scott Bennett described the deal as “comical” and a sign of lacking American technology.
“[The deal] is really comical if it was not so sad and so illustrative of the real fall of the American technological sector and education, as well as the American society,” he said.
In the 1980s, during former president Ronald Reagan’s administration, the US trounced the Soviet Union in space technology, a superiority that Americans celebrated as a “major victory,” the analyst said.
However, he noted, what Reagan started was never advanced by his successors. “Sad to say, none of them have ever been able to hold a light to Ronald Reagan, because over the past 30 years the US has slowly deteriorated and degenerated educationally, leaving the basic foundation of its space engineering mathematical programs, where the Russians have not. ”
“We see that Russia now is in the position that the US was in 1980s,” Bennett said. “Russia has superior technology.”
According to Bennett, who is also a former US Army psychological warfare officer, Moscow is now far ahead of Washington in terms of satellite and aircraft engine technology.
“This is widely known by those in the military sectors that has been evidenced by certain drones flying over the US naval vessels, shattering their capability,” Bennett claimed.
The analyst noted that Russia has every right to sanction the US and refuse selling its space technology to Washington, which serves as a counter-measure to the Western sanctions imposed against Moscow last year.
The US and the European Union have imposed several sets of economic sanctions against Russia over the conflict in east Ukraine since the early 2014. Moscow denies any involvement, saying the sanctions will not change its stance on its western neighbor.
The news came on the heels of a recent decision by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to end its reliance on Russian technology for manned missions to the International Space Station.
Source
       
Posted: 28 Dec 2015 03:21 AM PST

Victoria state in Australia is suffering raging bushfires that have already claimed over 100 homes in one of the country’s famous tourist areas. Emergency authorities scrambled to fight the disaster and warn more fires will come by the New Year.
Massive bushfires were fanned by winds and rapidly made advances across residential areas in the townships of Wye River and Separation Creek on Friday.
Victoria PM Daniel Andrews told journalists on Saturday, 116 homes are confirmed lost in the fires in Wye River and Separation Creek, though earlier assessments totaled 103 homes destroyed.
The fires started on 19 December with a lightning strike and have already burned more than 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) of bush in Victoria state.
The fire also approached the popular tourist town of Lorne, 120 kilometers south of Melbourne, known for its picturesque Great Ocean Road route. Residents and tourists were told to flee in the middle of Christmas celebrations, but the alert was lifted shortly 9am as the bushfires began to ease.
However, emergency authorities said the fires are far from over, urging the population to stay vigilant. Although the firestorms are very intense, no fatalities have been reported.
Emergency warnings still remain in place for Wye River and Separation Creek, with the areas closed after residents evacuated on Christmas Day.
Traffic has been disrupted, with walking trails in nearby Great Otway National Park closed to the public, as some of the fires are in the park. A country fire authority notice said power is out, and fallen domestic solar power lines remain a threat.
The devastating fires are expected to last until January or even February in the hot, dry weather conditions – even rain will not do much to help fight the flames.
“This fire doesn’t go away,” emergency services commissioner Craig Lapsley told the news conference on Saturday, quoted by Reuters. “We will be back into hot, windy weather in January without a doubt. Everything’s available to burn,” he warned.
The area is one of Australia’s most beautiful tourist locations, famous for its amazing scenery, forests and offshore rock formations in the Southern Ocean.
Source
        
Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 12:16