Menu



error This forum is not active, and new posts may not be made in it.
PromoteFacebookTwitter!
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
10/4/2017 6:10:59 PM

US staging ‘fatal provocations’ against Russian forces in Syria – Lavrov

Edited time: 4 Oct, 2017 08:15

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov © Eduard Pesov / Sputnik


Washington is playing a dangerous game of encouraging terrorists in Syria to attack government forces and the Russian military, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Moscow won’t leave aggressive US steps unanswered, but wants to overcome the political deadlock, he added.

In an interview with the London-based, Arabic-language Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, taken ahead of the visit of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Moscow, Lavrov noted that the US-led coalition and the Syrian rebel forces they support consistently act in a way that helps Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist groups.

“In some cases, these forces mount allegedly accidental strikes against the Syrian Armed Forces, after which Islamic State [banned in Russia] counterattacks. In other cases, they inspire other terrorists to attack strategic locations over which official Damascus has restored its legitimate authority, or to stage fatal provocations against our military personnel,” Lavrov said.

Washington is guided by “double standards” in Syria, the Russian foreign minister said, slamming the US for failing to acknowledge that there are no such things as bad or good terrorists.

“If you apply double standards, divide terrorists into ‘bad’ and ‘very bad,’ force others to enter the coalition on political motives, forgetting about the necessary UN sanction to approve these actions, then it’s hard to speak about the effectiveness of an anti-terror campaign,” he said.

Russia’s involvement in the campaign against ISIS in Syria aids not only Russia’s national security, but also regional stability, Lavrov said. He added that it is not enough to defeat terrorists on the ground to bring peace to embattled regions, noting the importance of diplomatic efforts.

READ MORE: 2 years of Russia in Syria: ISIS shrinking, Iran & Turkey linking, conflict risk with US lurking

“It’s impossible to eradicate terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa through military means only. We are deeply convinced about that. The advantage of our policy lies in that it is not self-interested and does not have a hidden agenda,” he said.

Moscow will continue to engage in the process of conflict resolution in these regions through peaceful political and diplomatic efforts, and it “invites everyone interested to participate in this joint and honest work,” Russia’s top diplomat said.

The major contribution to the defeat of IS in Syria has been made by the Syrian Armed Forces and the Russian Air Force, Lavrov noted.

With regard to Syria and Iraq, where government armed forces and allied militias are pushing to take the remaining jihadists’ strongholds, the cooperation between Moscow, Ankara and Teheran is playing a decisive role in bringing back stability, Lavrov argued.

READ MORE: Russian op saved Syria from being overrun by ISIS – analysts to RT

“Our practical cooperation at all levels and inter-agency daily contacts illustrate that Turkey and Iran play, in the full sense of the word, the key role in terms of stabilizing the situation in Syria and Iraq,” he told the publication.

He also hailed Saudi Arabia for its lead in forming a Syrian opposition delegation at the Geneva talks so that it “could become a fair merit partner of the delegation of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic at the talks under the UN auspices in Geneva.”

Speaking of the upcoming visit of Saudi King Salman Al Saud to Moscow, Lavrov expressed the hope that it would“bring our cooperation to a totally different level” and pave way for a more stable Middle East and North Africa region.

‘Sanctions won’t go unanswered’

Speaking about the chances of US-Russia relations improving, Lavrov said that anti-Russian hysteria in the US has become a huge obstacle on the road to normalizing relations. Reiterating that Moscow did not meddle in the US presidential elections, Lavrov argued that by making Russia a scapegoat, “someone in Washington doesn’t’ want to accept the result of the vote” while “shamelessly exploiting the Russian card in the power struggle.”

While Moscow takes into account the complex inner political situation in the US, it will have to prepare a set of counter-measures of its own.

“We cannot let such aggressive US steps, as, for instance, “Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act” adopted in July, go unanswered. We hope that reason will prevail in Washington and a spiral of confrontation will be stopped. On our part, we are not aiming for it.”

Lavrov stressed that it will takes political will on both sides to find a way out of an “artificially created deadlock” in US-Russia cooperation.

READ MORE: US 'completely & unlawfully seize' Russian SF consulate as blacksmith breaks lock (VIDEO)

With Russia-US relations currently at rock bottom, the potential for joint work in various areas is wasted, Lavrov lamented, adding that Moscow has consistently called on Washington to upgrade the cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

"The potential for Russian-American cooperation in international affairs is great, although in many respects it remains underdeveloped. We have long been urging our colleagues to establish real coordination in the area of counter-terrorism and in dealing with other dangerous challenges, i.e. the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, drug trafficking and cybercrime,” Lavrov said.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin also called for “constructive, predictable and mutually-beneficial cooperation” with Washington as he accepted the credentials of the newly appointed US ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman.

Huntsman, for his part, said he would strive to rebuild the trust eroded in recent years and work to strengthen cooperation.


(RT)

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

+1
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
10/5/2017 11:26:53 AM
North Korea promises to bring 'nuclear clouds' to Japan, mocks PM as 'headless chicken'



Eric Shawn reports: The Kim Jong Un dilemma

Judy Miller on talks, tweets, and increasing tensions.

North Korea threatened to bring “nuclear clouds” to Japan and mocked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for acting like a “headless chicken” at the United Nations General Assembly when the leader urged U.N. members to force North Korea to end its nuclear and missile programs.

Pyongyang claimed Japan was inciting more tension in the Korean peninsula, calling its plea to end Kim Jong Un’s nuclear goal a “suicidal deed” that will end with a nuclear attack to sink the island, according to a statement released Monday by the state’s official Korean Central News Agency.

“Japan's such rackets inciting the tension of the Korean peninsula is a suicidal deed that will bring nuclear clouds to the Japanese archipelago,” the statement said. “No one knows when the touch-and-go situation will lead to a nuclear war, but if so, the Japanese archipelago will be engulfed in flames in a moment. This is too self-evident."

NORTH KOREA'S HISTORY OF DECLARING WAR ON US

North Korea called Abe a “headless chicken” and said the country could be “the first victim of nuclear disaster in the world.”

North Korea has already fired two missiles that flew over Japan in the last two months. The missile from the latest launch in September reached a height of 480 miles and flew 2,300 miles out, putting it in range of U.S. territory Guam. North Korea then threatened to “sink” Japan and reduce the U.S. to “ashes and darkness.”

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a snap election expected to take place next month. (Reuters)

"The four islands of the archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche. Japan is no longer needed to exist near us," KCNA said in another message.

A top government spokesman for Japan responded to the threat by calling it outrageous and provocative.

The growing nuclear threat pushed Abe to seek a public mandate on his tougher diplomatic and defense policies to deal with escalating threats from North Korea. He dissolved Japan’s lower house of parliament and called for a snap election to be held this month.

CHINA CLOSES NORTH KOREAN BUSINESSES; NORTH KOREA ALLEGEDLY SWELLS ARMY TO FIGHT US

North Korea’s string of belligerent threats have continued since President Trump vowed to “totally destroy” the dictatorship in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly. North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Yong-ho said Trump’s threatening words was a “declaration of war,” though the White House insisted no such explicit statement was made.

Trump once again ripped “Little Rocket Man” Kim Jong Un in a series of tweets over the weekend after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said there was “lines of communication” to Pyongyang. Trump urged Tillerson to “save [his] energy” because he was “wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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

+1
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
10/5/2017 2:09:08 PM

CIA Official Predicts North Korean Provocation on Columbus Day

The things Kim Jong Un used to fear most about China and the U.S. are no longer a concern, the CIA Korea Mission Center’s Yong Suk Lee says.

By Paul D. Shinkman, Senior National Security Writer |Oct. 4, 2017, at 10:56 a.m.






North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the test launch of a missile, Sept. 16, 2017, in North Korea.
(Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service /AP)

A top CIA official for the Korean Peninsula warned Wednesday that the U.S. should be ready for a new provocation by North Korea on Columbus Day on Oct. 9, which coincides with the anniversary of the founding of the political party that governs in Pyongyang.

"Stand by your phones," Yong Suk Lee, deputy assistant director of the CIA's Korea Mission Center, said while speaking at a conference organized by the agency at The George Washington University.

Lee did not speculate what North Korea might do, though it frequently carries out missile launches or nuclear tests on major state anniversaries, such as the birthday of leader Kim Jong Un or other dates associated with the lives of his father or grandfather. Oct. 10 marks the anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea in 1945.

Tensions with North Korea have reached new extremes in recent weeks, following months of increased weapons tests combined with new U.S. appraisals that Pyongyang is close to perfecting or perhaps already has made an intercontinental ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and hit targets accurately.

Lee added that Pyongyang historically has been controlled by its fear of the Chinese abandoning its support for the Hermit Kingdom, or that the U.S. would carry out a military strike. Kim Jong Un no longer has those fears, Lee said.

"There's a clarity of purpose in what Kim Jong Un has done," Lee said.

He added, however, that the likelihood remains low of North Korea purposefully starting a war with the U.S. or its allies like South Korea.

"The last person who wants conflict on the peninsula is actually Kim Jong Un," Lee said, adding that Kim, like all authoritarian leaders, wishes to rule for a long time and die in his own bed. "We have a tendency in this country and elsewhere to underestimate the conservatism that runs in these authoritarian regimes."

President Donald Trump, who continues to utter and tweet threats against North Korea, will visit South Korea, Japan and China on a trip throughout Asia in November.


Paul D. Shinkman is a national security reporter for U.S. News & World Report. You can follow him onTwitter or reach him at pshinkman@usnews.com


(usnews.com)


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

+1
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
10/5/2017 4:12:45 PM

TRUMP TREATING US LIKE 'DOGS,' SAY PUERTO RICANS

BY


During the hours he spent in Puerto Rico Tuesday President Donald Trump threw paper towels to needy people and handed out flashlights while joking "you don't need them anymore," despite the fact that 94 percent of the island still has no power.

The president’s behaviour led some Puerto Ricans to say he was treating them like second class citizens.

“He arrives with a smile on his face, makes fun of the situation, shows no empathy, lies and lies on camera as he does 24-7. And then throws paper towel rolls to people in need as if he was playing Go Fetch with dogs,” Joel Isaac, a Puerto Rican who moved to New York three years ago told The Toronto Star. Most of Isaac’s family still live on the island.

Donald Trump at Virginia Beach, Virginia, September 6, 2016.ALEX WONG/GETTY

“Does he think this is a show? A game? The first reaction that I had: why is he throwing things to Puerto Ricans like we’re animals?” said Frances Alvarado, a Puerto Rican living in North Carolina.

The president was also greeted by pre-selected families as he met them in front of their homes on the island. “Thank you for being here, it's so good to see you,” one man told the president in Spanish.

Trump has been criticized for his administration’s reaction time to deliver relief efforts on the island and for taking two weeks to visit the disaster zone where 3.5 million American citizens live. The president visited Texas and Florida within days after they were respectively hit by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in August and September.

The mayor of Puerto Rico’s capital and largest city San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz, called out Trump last week after aid was slow to arrive. “Dammit, this is not a good-news story. This is a people-are-dying story,” Yulin Cruz said during an interview with CNN last Friday.

“This is a life or death story. This is—there’s a truck load of stuff that cannot be taken to people story. This is a story of a devastation that continues to worsen because people are not getting food and water.”

Trump then slammed Cruz for her criticism, accusing her of “poor leadership” in the wake of the disaster.

“The federal response has been very slow and uncoordinated,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), a ranking member of the subcommittee on maritime transportation, told Newsweek of efforts to get aid to the island last week. “What needs to be done is freight movement on the island itself.” Officials said aid was slow moving and poorly organized.

Nevertheless, Puerto Rico hadn’t experienced the death toll of “a real catastrophe like Katrina” after Hurricane Maria—a Category 5 storm—made landfall there nearly two weeks ago, Trump said Tuesday. Later in the day the U.S. territory's governor increased the official death toll from the storm from 16 to 34.

“[The] operative question here is how many have died during the ensuring response, when they *could have been saved.* We don't yet know,” wrote Jeremy Konyndyk, chief of foreign disaster assistance during the Obama administration on Twitter Tuesday following Trump’s comments. “Claiming the response was fine and dandy when most of the island was (and is) without power and water? That's on him,” Konyndyk wrote.

Only 45 percent of people have access to drinking water on the island. The island’s Governor Ricardo Rossello says he hopes 25 percent of residents will have their electricity restored by the end of October, estimating the total cost of damage across the island at $90 billion. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says it now has 10,000 federal officials helping out in Puerto Rico.

After his visiting the island Tuesday Trump said he had a "terrific visit" and the island’s residents “are so thankful for what we've done,” telling reporters on Air Force One that “we only heard thank-yous.”

“You've thrown our budget a little out of whack,” Trump told a meeting of officials, including Governor Rossello Tuesday, “because we've spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico.”

(Newsweek)

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

+1
Luis Miguel Goitizolo

1162
61587 Posts
61587
Invite Me as a Friend
Top 25 Poster
Person Of The Week
RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
10/5/2017 6:02:15 PM

ANTI-ABORTION REPRESENTATIVE WANTS HIS MISTRESS TO ABORT THEIR BABY

BY


Republican Representative Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania is reportedly lying to both his wife and the American people.

Early this year, he sent a text message to his mistress and asked her to get an abortion after pushing for anti-abortion legislation, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"And you have zero issue posting your pro-life stance all over the place when you had no issue asking me to abort our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options," Shannon Edwards, Murphy’s extramarital girlfriend and a forensic psychologist in Pittsburgh, wrote him on January 25, according to a series of documents obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The text messages showed Murphy’s cellphone number, the newspaper reported.

Murphy responded by telling Edwards that it’s OK to be anti-abortion at work since he doesn’t really mean it.

"I get what you say about my March for life messages,” he texted to Edwards. “I've never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced. I told staff don't write anymore. I will."

He’s supposed to be one of the many anti-abortion congressmen. In fact, after news of his extramarital affair broke out in September, he was still endorsed by LifePAC and the Family Research Council. Furthermore, he’s a member of the House Pro-Life Caucus and is currently co-sponsoring the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban abortion after 20 weeks except in cases of rape, incest or where the pregnancy poses a threat to the life or physical health of the mother.

“Last year, I became involved in an affair with a personal friend,” Murphy said in a public statement last year after he publicly admitted to the affair. “This is nobody’s fault but my own, and I offer no excuses. To the extent that there should be any blame in this matter, it falls solely upon me.”

Moreover, a June memo titled "Office Conduct and Behavior: Harassment/Legal Compliance," apparently authored by Murphy's chief of staff, Susan Mosychuk, stated that there had been an "ongoing and ever more pronounced pattern of sustained inappropriate behavior" from the congressman, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Post-Gazette wrote that the memo criticized his "inability to hire and retain competent staff, abysmal office morale," as well as "hostile, erratic, unstable, angry, aggressive and abusive behavior." His office has had an almost 100 percent staff turnover this year.

Murphy was not immediately available to comment at the time of publication.


(Newsweek)

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

+1


facebook
Like us on Facebook!