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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
5/24/2015 12:50:31 AM

BREAKING: Failure of the US coup d’État in Macedonia

Posted on

Thierry Meyssan
SOURCE
May 23, 2015
Thanks to J.

Macedonia has just neutralised an armed group whose sponsors had been under surveillance for at least eight months. By doing so, it has prevented a new attempt at a coup d’État, planned by Washington for the 17th of May. The aim was to spread the chaos already infecting Ukraine into Macedonia in order to stall the passage of a Russian gas pipeline to the European Union.

| DAMASCUS (SYRIA) | 23 MAY 2015

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The Macedonian Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, announces the end of the assault against the terrorists.

The Kumanavo affair

On the 9th of May, 2015, the Macedonian police launched a dawn operation to arrest an armed group which had infiltrated the country and which was suspected of preparing a number of attacks.

The police evacuated the civilian population before launching the assault.

The suspects opened fire, which led to a bitter firefight, leaving 14 terrorists and 8 members of the police forces dead. 30 people were taken prisoner. There were a large number of wounded


Not a terrorist act, but an attempted coup d’État

The Macedonian police were clearly well-informed before they launched their operation. According to the Minister for the Interior, Ivo Kotevski, the group was preparing a very important operation for the 17th May (the date of the demonstration organised by the Albanophone opposition in Skopje).

The identification of the suspects has made it possible to determine that they were almost all ex-members of the UÇK (Kosovo Liberation Army) [1].



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The headquarters of the armed group in Kumanovo,
after the assault.
Among them were :

• Sami Ukshini, known as « Commandant Sokoli », whose family played a historic rôle in the UÇK.
• Rijai Bey, ex-bodyguard of Ramush Haradinaj (himself a drug trafficker, military head of the UÇK, then Prime Minister of Kosovo. He was twice condemned for war crimes by the International Penal Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia, but was acquitted because 9 crucial witnesses were murdered during the trial).
• Dem Shehu, currently bodyguard for the Albanophone leader and founder of the BDI party, Ali Ahmeti.
• Mirsad Ndrecaj, known as the « NATO Commandant », grandson of Malic Ndrecaj, who is commander of the 132nd Brigade of the UÇK.

The principal leaders of this operation, including Fadil Fejzullahu (killed during the assault), are close to the United States ambassador in Skopje, Paul Wohlers.

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Fadil Fejzullahu, one of the leaders of the armed group, killed during the assault, with his boss, the United States ambassador in Skopje, Paul Wohlers.

Paul Wohlers is the son of US diplomat Lester Wohlers, who played an important part in Atlantist propaganda, and directed the cinematographic service of the U.S. Information Agency. Paul’s brother, Laurence Wohlers, is presently an ambassador in the Central African Republic. Paul Wohlers himself, an ex-Navy pilot, is a specialist in counter-espionage. He was the assistant director of the United States Department of State Operations Center (in other words, the service for the surveillance and protection of diplomats).

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Although Macedonia is not a member of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg was « following » the police operation in Kumanovo.

To eliminate any doubt about the identity of the operation’s sponsors, the General Secretary of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, intervened even before the assault was over – not to declare his condemnation of terrorism and his support for the constitutional government of Macedonia, but to paint a picture of the terrorist group as a legitimate ethnic opposition : « I am following the events in Kumanovo with deep concern. I would like to express my sympathy to the families of those who were killed or wounded. It is important that all polititcal and community leaders work together to restore order and begin a transparent investigation in order to find out what happened. I am calling for everyone to show reserve and avoid any new escalation of violence, in the intersts of the nation and also the whole region. »

You would have to be blind not to understand.

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When he was the governor of the Stroumitsa region, Zoran Zaev was accused of having favoured the construction of a commercial centre, and arrested for corruption. His party left the Parliament as a show of support for him. Finally, he was pardoned by the President of the Republic, Branko Crvenkovski, who then took leadership of his party. He was elected President of the SDSM in June 2013.

In January 2015, Macedonia foiled an attempted coup d’état organised for the head of the opposition, the social-democrat Zoran Zaev. Four peole were arrested, and Mr. Zaev had his passport confiscated, while the Atlantist press began its denunciation of an « authoritarian drift by the régime » (sic).

Zoran Zaev is publicly supported by the embassies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Holland. But the only trace left of this attempted coup d’état indicates the repsponsibility of the US.

On the 17th May, Zoran Zaev’s social-democrat party (SDSM) [2] was supposed to organise a demonstration. It intended to distribute 2,000 masks in order to prevent the police from identifying the terrorists taking part in the march. During the demonstration, the armed group, concealed behind their masks, were supposed to attack several institutions and launch a pseudo-« revolution » comparable to the events in Maidan Square, Kiev.

This coup d’État was coordinated by Mile Zechevich, an ex-employee of one of George Soros’ foundations.

In order to understand Washington’s urgency to overthrow the Macedonian government, we have to go back and look at the gas pipeline war. Because international politics is a huge chess-board on which every move by any piece causes consequences for all the others.

The gas war

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The gas pipieline Turkish Stream was intended to pass through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia in order to supply the European Union with Russian gas. On the initiative of Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of each of the countries concerned met on the 7th April in Budapest to coordinate their position facing the United States and the European Union.

The United States have been attempting to sever communications between Russia and the European Union since 2007. They managed to sabotage the projet South Stream by obliging Bulgaria to cancel its participation, but on the 1st December 2014, to everyone’s surprise, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a new project when he succeeded in convincing his Turkish opposite number, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to sign an agreement with him, despite the fact that Turkey is a member of NATO [3]. It was agreed that Moscow would deliver gas to Ankara, and that in return, Ankara would deliver gas to the European Union, thus bypassing the anti-Russian embargo by Brussels. On the 18th of April 2015, the new Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsípras, gave his agreement that the pipeline could cross his country [4] . As for Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, he had already conluded discrete negotiations last March [5]. Finally, Serbia, which had been a partner in the South Stream project, indicated to the Russian Minister for Energy Aleksandar Novak, during his reception in Belgrade in April, that Serbia was ready to switch to the Turkish Stream project [6].

To halt the Russian project, Washington has multiplied its initiatives :
- in Turkey, it is supporting the CHP against President Erdoğan, hoping this will cause him to lose the elections;
- in Greece, on the 8th May, it sent Amos Hochstein, Directeur of the Bureau of Energy Ressources, to demand that the Tsípras government give up its agreement with Gazprom;
- it plans – just in case – to block the route of the pipeline by placing one of its puppets in power in Macedonia;
- and in Serbia, it has restarted the project for the secession of the small piece of territory – Voïvodine – which allows the junction with Hungary [7].

Last comment, but not the least: Turkish Stream will also supply Hungary and Austria, thus ending the alternative project negotiated by the United States with President Hassan Rohani (against the advice of the Revolutionary Guards) for supplying them with Iranian gas [8].

Translation
Pete Kimberley

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
5/24/2015 1:13:59 AM

US Launches New Assault Against Russia

http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/us-has-launched-new-assault-against-russia/ri7292

US diplomacy is nothing but a smokescreen to hide true intentions – now involved in multiple fronts to weaken Russia.

This article originally appeared at New Eastern Outlook

If someone had the impression that the visit of Secretary of State John 17007Kerry to the town of Sochi, followed by negotiations with Victoria Nuland, his deputy in Moscow, could be regarded as first steps in the direction of normalization of US-Russian relations, they would be deeply mistaken. In short, Washington, particularly the Obama administration, is trying to solve its problems at the expense or rather with the help of Russia, to ensure the victory of Hillary Clinton in the upcoming elections. However, the United States continues to apply pressure on Russia, using a variety of different strategies.

Special attention is now paid to Syria and the weakened regime of Bashar al-Assad in the face of a new armed assault against Damascus. The attempts to trade the support of Syria for a number of concessions on Ukraine and Crimea allegedly made by John Kerry failed. Then Americans attempted blackmail, which is the strategy of choice for Washington in the countries that resist its dictate. On May 19 the Russian embassy in Syria was shelled by militants, presumably Jaysh al-Islam, which resulted in one of the shells exploding in the main building of the diplomatic mission. Fortunately, there was nobody there in the room destroyed by the explosion. Immediately after the attack the State Department swiftly condemned this act of terrorism. But we all are well aware of the fact that the “southern front” operating in the suburbs of the Syrian capital is controlled by Jordan with a certain amount of US assistance, unlike the “northern front” guided by Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The shelling of the Russian embassy – is clearly a signal to Russia that it should abandon its support of the Syrian regime.

The White House continues to exploit the Iranian theme to dissuade Moscow supplying the Islamic Republic with S-300 air defense systems. But America didn’t even try to propose a fair exchange. Yet, Washington think tanks are well of aware of the fact that Moscow will no longer buy any of America’s fraudulent tricks, as happened a few years ago with the introduction of sanctions against Iran and the freezing of the contract to supply the S-300s.The US goal is clear and simple – to sow doubts in Tehran about the principal position of Russia on Iran, thus pushing Iranians to unnecessary concessions in discussions on the Iranian nuclear program.

Another old trick has been the alleged desire of the GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia, to launch a full-scale cooperation with Russia, particularly in the coordination of global oil prices. The emissaries of the Arabian monarchies one by one have been visiting the Russian capital with handfuls of promises. Naturally, none of those were planned to be implemented, as they are designed to lure Russia’s leadership into a trap. But this lesson has already been learned as well, especially in the times when the former Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Saudi Prince Bandar were eager to promise billions of dollars of investment in the Russian economy, the purchase of Russian weapons, and lucrative contracts, yet no concrete steps followed.

Now a new player is being used – Turkey, which seems to be seriously offended by Russia’s position on the Armenian Genocide. Turkey, for which the question of recognition or non-recognition of the genocide is the most painful of all, instantly responded to the fact that on 24 April, Vladimir Putin visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial, built in memory of the genocide victims of 1915. Turkish officials said that there could be no justification for this visit, three days later, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “remembered” events regarding the Crimea. The Turkish leader said that Russia should account for their actions in Crimea and Ukraine before condemning the massacre of Armenians by the Ottomans in 1915.

Washington was eager to request even more anti-Russian statements from Turkey, including those relating to the Crimea, that followed one after the other. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, said that the recent unofficial Turkish delegation that was visiting the Crimea, found signs of human rights violations. Such an assessment on the situation on the ground from Cavusoglu looks rather strange, since they contradict statements made by members of the delegation themselves. On April 29 the head of the unofficial delegation Mehmet Uskyul said that he is satisfied with the treatment of Crimean Tatars on the peninsula. Even more dramatic statements were made by Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on May 14 at a meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers. According to this Turkish official “The illegal annexation of the Crimea can not be tolerated”. The Turkish prime minister also urged NATO states to support Ukraine so it could better ensure the security of its own people. Ahmet Davutoğlu went as far as stressing that NATO states should not forget about the suffering of the people of the Crimea…

Ankara canceled a regular meeting of the Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council and the arrival of Sergey Lavrov to Antalya that was scheduled on May 16. Formally – under the pretext of difficulties caused by the forthcoming parliamentary elections, after which a new government will be formed. But all that buzz can negatively affect a project of fundamental importance for Russia – the “Turkish Stream”, which couldn’t make the United States any more happier.

Another front of this anti-Russian campaign was opened in Macedonia. The United States is actively advancing a possible regime change in Skopje to counter Russian influence. It’s also important to note that the “Turkish Stream” would stretch across Macedonian soil. That’s what Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week about those events: “Objectively speaking, the events in Macedonia are unfolding against the background of the government’s refusal to join the policy of sanctions against Russia and the vigorous support Skopje gave to the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project, to which many people oppose, both in Brussels and across the ocean. So we can’t help but feeling that there is some sort of connection here.”

In fact, Washington has tried to stage a “color revolution” by organizing mass demonstrations launched by the local opposition. Even the country’s Albanian minority, which has nothing in common with Macedonian opposition came out to the streets to support rallies in the capital, Skopje. For Moscow this looks all too familiar. Events are moving in the same direction as they were in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014, when the corrupt regime of Viktor Yanukovych was ousted during mass demonstrations organized by the United States and Poland.

So the latest maneuvers of American diplomacy – is nothing but a smokescreen designed to hide the true intentions of the Obama administration. Washington’s strategic goal remains the same – to weaken Russia by all means necessary and break it apart from those countries which are engaged in cooperation with Moscow. Therefore there’s no trusting US promises or even reaching deals with them. All this smooth-talking is a mere trap in the hope that Russian pro-Western liberals might convince President Putin that the White House is sincere. But US think tanks have missed one thing – “Ukrainian lessons” have not been lost on the Kremlin.

Peter Lvov, Ph.D in political science, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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5/24/2015 2:04:43 AM

Putin enacts law banning 'undesirable' NGOs

AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin, pictured here at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 19, 2015, enacted a controversial law banning "undesirable" non-governmental organisations (AFP Photo/Alexander Nemenov)

Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin officially enacted a controversial law banning "undesirable" non-governmental organisations, the Kremlin said Saturday, in a move condemned by human rights groups across the board.

The law allows authorities to bar foreign civil society groups seen as threatening Russia's "defence capabilities" or "constitutional foundations" and go after local activists working with them, the Kremlin statement said.

Supporters presented the law as a "preventative measure", necessary after the wave of Western sanctions put in place over the Ukraine conflict.

Under the law, passed by the Russian parliament this week, authorities can ban foreign NGOs and go after their employees, who risk up to six years in prison or being barred from the country.

It also allows them to block the bank accounts of the organisations until the NGOs "account for their actions" to the Russian authorities.

Lawmakers cited the need to stop "destructive organisations" working in Russia, which could threaten the "value of the Russian state" and stir up "colour revolutions", the name given to pro-Western movements seen in some former Soviet republics over the last several years.

Critics have said that the vague wording of the law -- which gives Russia's general prosecutor the right to impose the "undesirable" tag without going to court -- could allow officials to target foreign businesses working in Russia.

Amnesty International called it "the last chapter in the unprecedented repression against non-governmental organisations."

The measure complements legislation already passed in 2012, which forces NGOs that receive foreign funds to register as a "foreign agent."

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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5/24/2015 10:10:02 AM

Israel thanks U.S. for stand on Mideast nuclear arms ban at U.N.

Reuters


Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before a group photo with ministers of the new Israeli government in Jerusalem May 19, 2015. REUTERS/Nir Elias

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the United States for blocking an Egyptian-led drive on a possible Middle East nuclear weapons ban at a major United Nations conference, an Israeli official said on Saturday.

It was a rare expression of diplomatic harmony with the United States from Netanyahu, whose relations with President Barack Obama have been strained over U.S.-led nuclear talks with Iran and differences over Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy.

A month-long conference on the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ended in failure on Friday over disagreements on how to achieve a Middle East atomic weapons ban. Washington blamed the failure on Egypt, which in turn blamed the U.S., British and Canadian delegations.

Netanyahu conveyed his gratitude to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry in a call to Kerry, said a senior Israeli official, requesting anonymity.

"The United States kept its commitment to Israel by preventing a Middle East resolution that would single out Israel and ignore its security interests and the threats posed to it by an increasingly turbulent Middle East," the official said.

Israel also thanked Britain and Canada for joining the United States in blocking consensus, the official said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced disappointment that NPT parties were "unable to narrow their differences on the future of nuclear disarmament or to arrive at a new collective vision on how to achieve a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction (WMD)."

Last month, Egypt, backed by other Arab and non-aligned states, proposed that Ban convene a regional conference on banning WMD as called for at the 2010 NPT review meeting. A planned 2012 conference on the issue never took place.

According to Egypt's proposal, that conference could take place with or without Israel's participation, and could be held without agreement on an agenda or discussion of regional security issues - two of Israel's conditions for participating.

Israel neither confirms nor denies the widespread assumption that it controls the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal. Israel, which has never joined the NPT, agreed to take part in the review meeting as an observer, ending a 20-year absence.

Egypt's proposals, Western diplomats say, were aimed at pressuring Israel. Washington and Israel say Iran's nuclear program is the real regional threat.

Iran says its program is peaceful. It is negotiating with world powers to curb it in exchange for lifting sanctions.

Israel has said it would consider joining the NPT only once at peace with its Arab neighbors and Iran.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Dan Grebler)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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5/24/2015 10:14:52 AM

Saudi clerics urge calm as village hit by Islamic State seethes

Reuters

Family members of victims and well wishers are seen after a suicide bomb attack at the Imam Ali mosque in the village of al-Qadeeh in the eastern province of Gatif, Saudi Arabia, May 22, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

By Noah Browning

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's top Sunni cleric on Saturday branded a deadly attack on Shi'ite Muslims a bid to sow chaos, after villagers targeted in the bombing vented their anger at what they saw as the Sunni-dominated government's indifference to their safety.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of al-Qadeeh town on Friday evening, hours after a suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers in a packed Shi'ite mosque, the first attack in the conservative kingdom to be claimed by Islamic State militants.

The Saudi interior ministry identified the perpetrator as Saleh bin Abdul Rahman Saleh Qashimi, a Saudi citizen wanted for belonging to Islamic State. The militant group had identified him the day before by a nom de guerre, Abu 'Ammar al-Najdi.

Saudi authorities determined that Qashimi belonged to a wider militant cell, from which 26 suspects have been arrested to date, the ministry said, without providing any details.

Demonstrators mourning the victims said security forces had left their communities unprotected, arguing that the official Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam inspires Sunni militants and encourages intolerance of the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.

It was one of the deadliest assaults in recent years in the largest Gulf Arab country, where sectarian tensions have been aggravated by nearly two months of Saudi-led air strikes on Shi'ite Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen.

The kingdom's top Sunni cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, told state Al Ekhbariya TV on Saturday: "This totally criminal plot aims to split our ranks and sow chaos in our country but, God be praised, it will not find a way. The nation and society are united and under a wise leadership."

Sheikh Mohammed Obeidan, a top local Shi'ite cleric, urged followers not to give into their anger and to keep the peace.

"We'll stand before anyone who thinks that our creed is a cause for fear or worry ... mass prayer - in a calm, orderly way with self restraint - is the right way to respond to this corrupt force and hateful darkness," he told worshippers.

REGIONAL RIVAL

But resentment in al-Qadeeh was running high.

A video posted online by local activists showed a policeman standing over the limbs of the bomber inside the stricken mosque and apparently saying "God rest his soul", only to get screamed at by residents whose white robes were smeared with blood. Reuters was unable immediately to verify its authenticity.

"Our streets are patrolled by armored vehicles - this makes people think their forces are against us," said a local activist reached by telephone. "After the attack yesterday they deployed eight - why send these damn things? We're peaceful people."

"From grade one, the state curriculum tells us Shi'ites aren't real Muslims. I'm a Saudi citizen, why do you force me to study this?" he said.

Most Saudis adhere to the rigid Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam that deems Shi'ism heretical, and some members of the majority fear Shi'ites' first loyalty is to regional rival Iran.

The community denies this and demands an end to what Shi'ites see as neglect. Most Shi'ites live in Eastern Province, where Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, pumps the bulk of its petroleum.

Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Turki told state television the kingdom was seeking to root out Islamic State's presence, especially after a gun attack on a Shi'ite mosque that killed five people in nearby Ahsa village in November.

The ministry said last month that it had arrested 93 suspected members of the group.

(Additional reporting by Sam Wilkin; Editing by William Maclean and Robin Pomeroy)

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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