ISIL Ringleader's Mobile Phone Speaks Loud of Turkey's Support for Terrorism
TEHRAN
(FNA)- A commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi)
revealed that a mobile phone found with one of the killed ISIL
ringleaders proved the Turkish spy agency's support for the terrorist
group.
"The mobile phone
was found with one of the killed ISIL leaders in the Northern parts of
Salahuddin province two days ago," Jabbar al-Ma'mouri told Soumeriya
news on Monday.
He said that the mobile set and
history files contain messages from the Turkish intelligence agency
which show that Ankara supports the ISIL terrorist group through
providing security at the points of entry used by ISIL militants from
Turkey to Iraq.
"The mobile phone also contains
other important information which cannot be disclosed now, and it has
been delivered to the specialized security groups for further scrutiny,"
Ma'mouri said.
SHAMED AT LAST: AIDS-drug gouger
Martin Shkreli is marched to court by FBI after securities fraud arrest
for running a Ponzi scheme to pay debts - and freed on $5 MILLION bond
Martin
Shkreli, 32, has been arrested on charges of securities fraud and
running a Ponzi scheme to pay off debts from an old company
It
is also alleged he illegally used stock from the biotechnology firm he
owned, Retrophin Inc., to pay off debts related to MSMB
Retrophin
and its investors suffered a loss in excess of $11million because of
Shkreli's scheme according to United States Attorney Robert Capers
He
earned the moniker of 'most hated man' in September after raising the
cost of an AIDS and cancer drug from $13.50 per tablet to $750
overnight
MSMB Capital Management was
founded by Shkreli in 2009 and shuttered in 2012, the same year
Retrophin was founded and Shkreli became CEO
He was released on a $5million bond after bring arraigned in federal court on Friday
Published: 07:17 EST, 17 December 2015 | Updated: 23:18 EST, 17 December 2015
Martin
Shkreli was released on a $5million bond after being arraigned on
charges of securities fraud in federal court in Brooklyn Thursday
afternoon.
Shkreli, the son of immigrants, was also forced to forfeit his passport.
The
price-hiking pharmaceutical entrepreneur was picked up by the FBI in
the early hours of Thursday following an investigation into a former
hedge fund and drug company he previously headed.
It
is alleged he illegally used stock from the biotechnology firm
Retrophin Inc. to pay off debts related to his struggling hedge fund and
to pay back angry investors.
He is
being charged with seven counts of fraud for running what United States
Attorney Robert L. Capers of the Eastern District of New York is calling
a Ponzi scheme.
Shkreli, 32, pleaded not guilty to these allegations.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Free: Martin Shkreli was released on a $5million bond Thursday afternoon
Art: A
courtroom sketch shows defendants Shkreli (C) and Greebel (R) a former
partner at law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman (R) during their arraignment
ISIS driving Toyotas a little too often, US Treasury wonders why
Published time: 7 Oct, 2015 16:23
ISIS
has many faults, but it sure knows a good car when it sees one. The US
Treasury is now pressing Toyota about why so many of its vehicles are
being driven around by the terrorist group, as evidenced in their
propaganda videos.
Toyota has
issued a statement to explain that this is part of a wider probe into
terrorist supply chains and capital flow, according to ABC. The company
also says it does not know how its trucks ended up in ISIS hands in such
a quantity, and is “supporting” the inquiry.
The
model most popular with Islamic State drivers seems to be the Hilux,
similar to Tacomas and Land Cruisers. This overseas version is a
mainstay in ISIS propaganda videos, often loaded to the brim with heavy
weapons.
The company says the cars in the videos aren’t recent
models, but ABC spoke to the Iraqi ambassador to the US, Lukman Faily,
who said that in addition to re-purposing old vehicles, the terrorist
group has been acquiring “hundreds” of “brand new” ones in recent years.
“This is a question we’ve been asking our neighbors,” the ambassador said. "How could these brand new trucks... these four-wheel drives, hundreds of them - where are they coming from?”
Some of the other cars paraded in victory parade videos include Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Isuzu. “Regrettably, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux have effectively become almost part of the ISIS brand,”
said Mark Wallace, a former US ambassador to the United Nations.
Wallace is CEO of the Counter Extremism Project, a group specializing in
tracking terrorist finance channels.
“ISIS has used these vehicles in order to engage in military-type activities, terror activities, and the like,” he said. “But in nearly every ISIS video, they show a fleet - a convoy of Toyota vehicles and that’s very concerning to us.”
But according to Lewis, “It
is impossible for Toyota to completely control indirect or illegal
channels through which our vehicles could be misappropriated.”
The
current inquiry isn’t the first time somebody’s asked about Toyota
popping up frequently in IS hands. A report last year by Public Radio
International exposed a delivery by the US State
Department of 43 Toyota
trucks to Syrian rebels – the “moderate” ones, as has been the
Western line since the start of the Syrian war in 2011. Australian
media has also this year been circulating reports of some 800 vehicles
stolen, and authorities believing they may have been shipped to war
zones in the Middle East.
Rebels
operating under the Free Syrian Army sit in a Hilux pickup truck on one
of the battlefronts in Jobar, Damascus, August 2013
Credit: REUTERS/ Mohamed Abdullah
The
Hilux, a pickup truck Toyota has built since the late 1960s, isn't
available in the US, but it's popular around the globe, including with
insurgent groups such as the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram.
This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview.
Recently,
when the US State Department resumed sending non-lethal aid to Syrian
rebels, the delivery list included 43 Toyota trucks.
Hiluxes were
on the Free Syrian Army's wish list. Oubai Shahbander, a
Washington-based advisor to the Syrian National Coalition, is a fan of
the truck.
"Specific equipment like the Toyota Hiluxes are what we
refer to as force enablers for the moderate opposition forces on the
ground," he adds. Shahbander says the US-supplied pickups will be
delivering troops and supplies into battle. Some of the fleet will even
become battlefield weapons.
"You can absolutely expect for many of
those trucks to be mounted with crew-served machine guns or other type
of equipment, military equipment, that the opposition forces have access
to. I mean, that's one of the reasons why the Toyota Hilux is such an
important force multiplier, because it could be used both for
humanitarian purposes and for operational purposes as well."
Syria
is only the latest war zone where the Hilux has been a vehicle of
choice. The BBC's Kabul correspondent, David Loyn, saw the Hilux put
through its paces by the Taliban in the 1990s, and credits the truck
with having given Taliban forces a battlefield edge.
‘Turkey acts like ISIS ally, should not be EU member’– Czech president
Turkey should not become an EU member, said Czech President Milos Zeman, adding that Ankara sometimes behaves like an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) ally, even though Turkey is part of NATO.
"I think Turkey is indeed a member of NATO, but sometimes behaves as if it’s more an ally of Islamic State. It removes oil from Syria which finances Islamic State," Zeman said, as quoted by Czech newspaper Parlamentni Listy.
By shooting down Russian jet, Turkey exposed as more than terrorist accomplice
The president’s remarks came on Tuesday while addressing voters at the end of a three-day visit to the Czech town of Kadan, North Bohemia, local media reported.
Zeman suggested Turkish policy stems from the principle “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” referring to Turkey’s suppression of the Kurds, “who are the only ones who have fought effectively with IS,” the newspaper reported.
The president maintained this is the reason why Turkey should be approached with caution and has no reason to be an EU member.
Turkey has signed an agreement with the EU at a summit in Brussels in which the country will help stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for €3 billion ($3.18bn) of support and the reestablishing of talks on EU accession.
1. The EU agrees to provide "an initial" €3 billion ($3.18bn) over two years for Turkey to better cater for the needs of 2.2 million Syrian refugees in the country.
2. The EU promises to open a new chapter in negotiations regarding Turkey's EU ascension and to bring the country's standards in economic and financial policies up to scratch.
3. The EU pledges to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens in the Schengen zone by October 2016 once all the requirements set forth in the EU roadmap are met.
The European Union, struggling with the flow of refugees coming from the war-torn Middle East and North Africa, will allocate €3 billion of initial aid to Turkey that will help with managing the crisis by taking in some 1.5 million migrants, Chancellor Merkel has confirmed, Reuters reports. The sum can be adjusted with time depending on circumstances.
Apart from that, the EU has promised to renew talks on Turkey’s EU membership that haven’t seen much progress since 2005. The new chapter of discussions will open in December while further chapters are expected to come in the first three months of 2016.
“We agreed that [Turkey's] accession process needs to be re-energized,” European Council President Donald Tusk told a news conference after the summit, Reuters reported.
President
Barack Obama addresses the nation from the Oval Office at the White
House in Washington, Sunday night, Dec. 6, 2016. In a rare Oval Office
address, Obama vowed the United States would overcome a terror threat
that has entered a "new phase" as he sought to reassure Americans shaken
by recent attacks in Paris and California. (Photo: Saul Loeb, AP)
In
the many strategies proposed to defeat the Islamic State (IS) by
presidential candidates, policymakers, and media pundits alike across
the American political spectrum, one common element stands out: someone
else should really do it. The United States will send in planes,
advisers, and special ops guys, but it would be best -- and this varies
depending on which pseudo-strategist you cite -- if the Arabs, Kurds,
Turks, Sunnis, and/or Shias would please step in soon and get America
off the hook.
The idea of seeing other-than-American boots on the ground, like Washington’s recently deep-sixed scheme
to create some “moderate” Syrian rebels out of whole cloth, is
attractive on paper. Let someone else fight America's wars for American
goals. Put an Arab face on the conflict, or if not that at least a
Kurdish one (since, though they may not be Arabs, they’re close enough
in an American calculus). Let the U.S. focus on its “bloodless” use of
air power and covert ops. Somebody else, Washington’s top brains
repeatedly suggest, should put their feet on the embattled, contested
ground of Syria and Iraq. Why, the U.S. might even gift them with nice,
new boots as a thank-you.
Is this, however, a realistic strategy for winning America’s war(s) in the Middle East?
The Great Champions of the Grand Strategy
Recently, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton openly called for
the U.S. to round up some Arab allies, Kurds, and Iraqi Sunnis to drive
the Islamic State’s fighters out of Iraq and Syria. On the same day
that Clinton made her proposal, Bernie Sanders called
for “destroying” the Islamic State, but suggested that it “must be done
primarily by Muslim nations.” It’s doubtful he meant Indonesia or
Malaysia.
Among the Republican contenders, Marco Rubio proposed that the U.S. “provide arms directly to Sunni tribal and Kurdish forces.” Ted Cruz threw his support behind arming the Kurds, while Donald Trump appeared to favor more violence in the region by whoever might be willing to jump in.
The Pentagon has long been in favor of arming both the Kurds and whatever Sunni tribal groups it could round up in Iraq or Syria. Variouspundits across the political spectrum say much the same.
They may all mean well, but their plans are guaranteed to fail. Here’s why, group by group.
Interior
Sally Jewell testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec.
9, 2015, before the House Natural Resources Oversight Committee hearing
on the Animas River Spill in Colorado. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) more >
By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell
said Wednesday she is unaware of anyone being fired, fined or even
demoted for the Gold King Mine spill, prompting Republicans to accuse
her of taking the EPA off the hook for the toxic blowout.
“So you’re letting the EPA get off scot-free it sounds like. They are not being held accountable,” said Rep. Doug Lamborn, Colorado Republican, at the House Natural Resources Committee hearing.
Republicans took Ms. Jewell to task for the Interior Department’s
investigation into the Aug. 5 spill, saying the October report failed
to hold anyone responsible for unleashing 3 million gallons of orange,
toxic wastewater into the Animas River near Silverton, Colorado.
“You’re directly responsible for this report. The EPA
had promised this committee a thorough investigation,” said Rep. Tom
McClintock, California Republican. “We have not gotten one. What we have
gotten is a complete, deliberate whitewash.”
Are You Prepared For The Coming Economic Collapse And The Next Great Depression?
JP Morgan And Citigroup Agree That The U.S. Economy Is Steamrolling Toward A Recession
By Michael Snyder, on December 6th, 2015
As
we approach the end of 2015, researchers at both JP Morgan and
Citigroup agree that the probability that the U.S. economy will soon
plunge into recession is rising. Just last week, a member of the U.S.
House of Representatives asked Janet Yellen about Citigroup’s assessment
that there is a 65 percent chance that the United States will
experience an economic recession in 2016. You can read her answer
below. And just a few days ago, JP Morgan economists Michael Feroli,
Daniel Silver, Jesse Edgerton, and Robert Mellman released a report in
which they declared that “the probability of recession within three
years” has risen to “an eye-catching 76%”…
“Our
longer-run indicators, however, continue to suggest an elevated risk
that the expansion is nearing its end, and our preferred model now puts
the probability of recession within three years at an eye-catching 76%.”
The
good news is that the economists at JP Morgan believe that a recession
will probably not hit us within the next six months. But due to
steadily weakening economic conditions, they are convinced that one is
almost certain to strike within the next few years…
“When
we first wrote, only manufacturing sentiment was signaling an
above-average probability of imminent recession,” they said. “But recent
weakening in the Richmond Fed services survey and the ISM
nonmanufacturing index have now pushed the nonmanufacturing sentiment
probability up somewhat as well.”
In the short term, the note says
that the 6-month likelihood is only 5%, but within a year it stands at
23%, in two years 48%, and in three years the “eye-popping” 76%.
To
be honest, I believe that this assessment is far too optimistic, and it
appears that researchers at Citigroup agree with me. According to
them, there is a 65 percent chance that the U.S. economy will plunge into recession by the end of next year. Last week, Janet Yellen was asked about this during testimony before Congress…
In
testimony before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, Yellen was asked
by Rep. Pat Tiberi about a piece of research released by Citigroup’s
rates strategy team Monday.
Specifically, Tiberi, an Ohio
Republican, wanted to know what Yellen made of Citi’s conclusion that
there is a 65 percent chance of a U.S. recession in 2016.
“The
economists said that they would assign about a 65 percent likelihood of a
recession in the United States in 2016. Now, 65 percent sounds high to
me, but I’m not an economist and I’m not the Fed chair. But zero risk
might be too low as well. So what would you assign a risk level of a
recession next year?” Tiberi asked.
Monday, December 7th, 2015 | Posted by WorldTribune
Russia accuses U.S. of cover-up over ISIL-Turkey oil smuggling
Special to WorldTribune.com
The
United States is involved in a “cover-up” over Turkey’s alleged
smuggling of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) oil, Russia’s
defense ministry said on Dec. 5.
“When U.S. officials say they
don’t see how the terrorists’ oil is smuggled to Turkey… it smells badly
of a desire to cover up these acts,” the ministry said in a statement
on its Facebook page.
An oil convoy was destroyed when it was hit by a Russian air strike in Syria. /Twitter
ISIL’s
sales of captured oil assets on the black market is credited with
making it the best-funded terror organization in history.
“The
declarations of the Pentagon and the State Department seem like a
theater of the absurd,” the statement said, adding that Washington
should “watch the videos taken by its (own) drones which have recently
been three times as numerous over the Turkey-Syria border and above the
oil zones.”
Speaking at a United Nations “climate” summit in Paris, Obama blamed America for alleged man-made global warming and claimed that the nation embraces its responsibility to “do something” about the alleged problem. That “something,” of course, at least in the administration's view, involves redistributing the wealth of embattled U.S. taxpayers to Third World governments and dictatorships for climate reparations, as well as shackling the American economy with draconian controls to reduce emissions of what serious scientists know as the “gas of life.” Sounding like a wannabe messiah, Obama even claimed that “we finally determined we would save our planet.” However, lawmakers in Congress and the American people have made clear that they neither believe in the increasingly discredited anthropogenic global-warming (AGW) theory nor in the alleged solutions to the supposed problem.
Dictators and other heads of state have typically arrived at UN conferences toward the end of the show. This time, however, hoping desperately to secure a global “climate” agreement where past summits have failed, UN organizers decided Obama and other “world leaders” should show up at the start. Obama complied, spewing gargantuan amounts of CO2 and arriving in Paris to deliver various speeches hyping the AGW theory, along with illegal pledges to hand out your money. “I've come here personally, as the leader of the world's largest economy and the second-largest emitter, to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it,” Obama claimed at the ongoing conference, which featured some 150 dictators and heads of government and state.
Of course, Obama is not the “leader” of the “world's largest economy.” His job description is to serve as the chief executive of the federal government, to faithfully execute the laws, and to uphold and defend the Constitution. His other claims were even more ludicrous. For instance, the notion that America recognizes its alleged role in creating the alleged problem could not be more wrong. According to a Pew survey released last year, just 40 percent of Americans even believe the increasingly discredited AGW theory. And without a doubt, far less than that would agree that the nation should shackle its economy and redistribute its wealth to Third World regimes under the guise of dealing with a problem that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not even believe exists.
Obama blames America for non-existent global warming
Barack Obama speaks at U.N. climate summit.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
While speaking at the United Nations on Tuesday, President Obama blamed the United States for global warming, even though there has been no global warming for nearly 18 years. While the administration insists global warming is a real threat, one professor issued a paper saying there has been no global warming for 19 years.
"But there should be no question that the United States of America is stepping up to the plate," Obama said. "We recognize our role in creating this problem; we embrace our responsibility to combat it. We will do our part, and we will help developing nations do theirs. But we can only succeed in combating climate change if we are joined in this effort by every nation –- developed and developing alike. Nobody gets a pass."
Obama hyped action the United States has taken, touting moves taken against power companies in what has been described as a "war on coal." According to the president, the United States has reduced its total "carbon pollution" by more than any other nation.
Carolyn is a staff writer for Science and is the editor of the In Brief section.
..........
It’s getting hot in here. A dispute between the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) over a climate change paper published this summer is escalating. The latest salvos include a second letter from Representative Lamar Smith (R–TX) to NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan seeking internal communications and documents authored by NOAA employees and a letter from the American Meteorological Society condemning Smith’s demands and warning about its implications for all federally funded research.
The quarrel began with a paper by NOAA scientists published 5 June in Science that revised historical atmosphere and ocean temperature data records found to have been poorly calibrated. In 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had noted that the temperature data seemed to suggest that global warming had slowed down beginning around 1998. But the Science paper showed that apparent slowdown in global warming vanished when the data were corrected to account for various sources of bias.
That paper immediately caught Smith’s attention, triggering multiple committee requests for data and methodologies related to the study. NOAA told the committee that the findings were already publicly available and met twice with committee staff to brief them on the results.
But that response didn’t satisfy Smith. On 13 October, he subpoenaed all of NOAA’s internal emails related to the paper, asking for the information by 27 October. In response, the committee’s Democrats wrote to Smith on 23 October, noting that the subpoena “appears to be furthering a fishing expedition” and saying that it oversteps the committee’s bounds, as the paper is a research study and not a policy decision. House Republican leadership this year had given Smith the authority to issue subpoenas without the consent of the minority party.
Did Federal Agency Commit Climate Fraud? Sure Looks Like It
10/28/2015 06:30 PM ET
Junk Science: Worried about climate fraud, Congress is investigating a federal agency for allegedly manipulating weather data to show recent global warming when there is none. So why is the agency refusing to cooperate?
First, a little background: Satellite temperature readings clearly show no warming trend for the last 18 years, 8 months and counting. None.
This fact is significant for two reasons: One, satellite temperature readings are the most comprehensive and thus the most accurate. And, two, the pause in warming since 1998 undercuts the entire global warming agenda of the environmental movement and its allies on the left who see in climate change an opportunity to impose greater government control over our lives.
Yes, we're skeptical of "climate change," at least as defined by the green extremists. Climate is always changing. No one denies that. What's at issue is how it's changing and why. The science is still unclear.
Earlier this year, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists took part in a study that found — no surprise — that the "pause" in global warming from 1998 to 2013 didn't exist.
Their change didn't come from actual temperature readings. It came from extensive data manipulation and tinkering. Instead of a pause, they found a surge.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is refusing to hand over its climate scientists' emails to Rep. Lamar Smith.
See more at http://www.newsy.com/
Popular Forces' Commanders: Ramadi Liberation Operation Blocked by US
TEHRAN
(FNA)- Commanders of Iraq's popular forces complain that the US is
hindering the start of final phase of the operation to free Ramadi, the
capital of Anbar province, from ISIL control.
"The
US bargains and pressures on the Baghdad government have prevented
accomplishment of Ramadi liberation operation," Abu Yousef al-Khazali, a
commander of Seyed al-Shohada battalion, told FNA on Thursday.
"The
US has long been seeking to force the government to stop using the
popular forces in military operations against ISIL, specially in the
liberation operations conducted in different Iraqi regions," he added.
Also,
Karim al-Nouri, the spokesman of Iraq's popular forces, told FNA that
the "the Americans' interference has distorted plans to free Ramadi".
He added that "the Americans are not serious about bringing the battles to an end".
A
commander of Iraq's volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) complained in
similar remarks that the US meddling in the fight against the ISIL has
impeded their victory over the Takfiri terrorist group and prevented
them from winning back the strategic cities of Ramadi and Fallujah.
"The
US meddling prevents the Iraqi army and popular forces from concluding
their battles against the ISIL in Ramadi and Fallujah cities," Commander
of Imam Khamenei Battalion Haidar al-Hosseini al-Ardavi told FNA on
Sunday.
He noted that the US is doing its best to prevent mop-up operations by the popular forces in Anbar province.
Suspicion
that the US is collaborating with Daesh (also known as ISIL/The Islamic
State), instead of fighting the military group, is spreading among
Iraqis, primarily due to the country's minimalist approach toward the
crisis.
To
Americans, accusations that the US government is helping Daesh may seem
ludicrous. However, many Iraqi fighters and civilians claim they have
seen evidence of collusion between the US and the notorious terrorist
group citing, for instance, videos allegedly showing US helicopters
airdropping weapons to the militants, The Washington Post reported.
The
idea that the US is supporting Daesh is being persistently promoted
via social media and voiced in parliament by Shiite politicians in Iraq,
US military officials claim. In one popular video, recently released
on a Shiite militia group's Facebook page, a lawmaker with the country's
biggest militia group, the Badr Organization, waves seemingly new US
military MREs (meals ready to eat), allegedly found at a recently seized
Daesh base in Baiji, saying it is proof that the US supports
terrorists.The US military's Baghdad-based spokesman Colonel Steve
Warren said the charges are "beyond ridiculous."
"The
Iranians and the Iranian-backed Shiite militias are really pushing this
line of propaganda, that the United States is supporting ISIL," he
said. "There's clearly no one in the West who buys it,
but unfortunately, this is something that a segment of the Iraqi
population believes."
Russia Insider
reports that the ambush on the Russian U-24 bomber was guided by the US
Airforce. In an interview with the Russian news agency Regnum, a
Russian military expert said that “A US Air Force Boeing E-3
Sentry AWACS plane took off on 24 November from the Preveza airbase in
Greece. A second E-3A of the Saudi Arabian air force took off from the
Riyadh airbase. Both planes were executing a common task—determining the
precise location of Russian aircraft. It is they that picked the
“victim.”
The American E-3A was supposed to
determine the activity of the Su-24M2′s onboard targeting radar, to
determine if it was in search mode or if it had already locked on to a
target and was processing launch-data. It is known that the AWACS can
direct the activity of aircraft in battle, conveying information to
their avionics and flight computers.
The expert
went on explaining the technical details of how the US and Saudi AF
planes guided the Turkish F-16s to a sure missile launch in ‘target
illumination’ mode, meaning that the radar was turned off as soon as the
missile locket into its target.
This elevates the US-NATO war
crime on Russia to an even higher level. The leaders involved in this
heinous aggression should clearly be subjected to a Nuremberg style
tribunal with all its dire consequences. Instead, hypocrite Obama in a
side meeting of the Paris COP21 conference laments the event to
President Putin, while still supporting Turkey in their right of
self-defense.
What self-defense? – At the G20 summit in Antalya,
Turkey, a week before the SU-24 downing, all conference members
allegedly unanimously agreed to join forces in their fight against ISIS /
Daesh. Therefore, even if the Russian bomber would have overflown
Turkish territory – which according to Russian military monitors it did
not – it would not have threatened Turkey at all, as they were, Russia
and Turkey along with the other G20 attendees, on the same wave length:
object eradicating terror in Syria.
Or were they really? – Or was
this apparent commitment just another lie, as everything coming from the
west is a lie, a deceit? – No agreement, no commitment is honored, no
law is obeyed – the west under the leadership (sic) of
Zionist-Washington has become a bunch of criminal rogue states.
ATHENS,
December 2. /TASS/. The Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber was brought down
by the Turkish Air Force in Syrian airspace, Greek Minister of National
Defense Panos Kammenos said in an interview to the Mega TV channel on
Wednesday.
"The attack (on Su-24M) took place in Syrian airspace.
This is beyond doubt," he said. "The Turkish side knows that, otherwise
Ankara would ask to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter, requesting the
Alliance’s help."
"This is undoubtedly a military action in the
territory of another state," Kammenos said. "But even more important
point is the murder of the pilot, who was shot dead by members of the
Turkish extremist group Grey Wolves."
Asked
which side Greece should take, as a NATO member, the minister said -
"the truth". "If Russia had violated Turkish airspace, we would support
Ankara", the defense minister said.
An F-16 fighter jet of the
Turkish Air Force shot down Russia’s Su-24M bomber on Tuesday, November
24. Ankara claims the Su-24M bomber violated the Turkish airspace in the
area of the border with Syria. However, Russia’s Defense Ministry has
said the Su-24M plane stayed exclusively over the Syrian territory and
"there was no violation of the Turkish air space."
Turkey’s F-16
fighter that shot down the Russian Aerospace Forces’ Sukhoi Su-24M
bomber was in Syria’s airspace for 40 seconds and went inside its
territory by 2 kilometers, while the Russian bomber did not violate the
Turkish state border, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace
Forces, Viktor Bondarev, said on November 27. "In line with air defense
means objective control materials, the Turkish plane was in Syria’s
airspace for 40 seconds and flew two kilometres inside its territory,
whereas the Russian bomber did not violate the state border of Turkey,"
Bondarev said. He said the crew of the second Su-24 plane confirmed the
launch of the missile from the F-16. After the combat employment at the
mentioned target and left turn to 130-degree course "it observed on the
left side of it flame and a tail of white smoke, which it reported to
the flight operations director," he said.
Israel has become the main buyer for oil from ISIS controlled territory, reports "al-Araby al-Jadeed."
Kurdish
and Turkish smugglers are transporting oil from ISIS controlled
territory in Syria and Iraq and selling it to Israel, according to
several reports in the Arab and Russian media. An estimated
20,000-40,000 barrels of oil are produced daily in ISIS controlled
territory generating $1-1.5 million daily profit for the terrorist
organization.The oil is extracted from Dir A-Zur in Syria and two
fields in Iraq and transported to the Kurdish city of Zakhu in a
triangle of land near the borders of Syria, Iraq and Turkey. Israeli and
Turkish mediators come to the city and when prices are agreed, the oil
is smuggled to the Turkish city of Silop marked as originating from
Kurdish regions of Iraq and sold for $15-18 per barrel (WTI and Brent
Crude currently sell for $41 and $45 per barrel) to the Israeli
mediator, a man in his 50s with dual Greek-Israeli citizenship known as
Dr. Farid. He transports the oil via several Turkish ports and then onto
other ports, with Israel among the main destinations.
In August,
the "Financial Times" reported that Israel obtained 75% of its oil
supplies from Iraqi Kurdistan. More than a third of such exports go
through the port of Ceyhan, which the FT describe as a “potential
gateway for ISIS-smuggled crude."
The
evidence presented by the Russian Defense Ministry will be “partly
ignored and distorted” by Western MSM, says Foreign Affairs Editor Srdja Trifkovic.
“I
think that Erdogan will scream ‘blue murder’ and claim that this is all
a set-up and a reaction to what he calls ‘justified downing of the
Russian plane’. The real issue is what the US will do about this.
Because it is quite obvious the Turkish tail has been wagging the
American dog for far too long,” he said.
“My hunch is
that the US will continue to be reluctant to really do something about
it. They have had a chance to do so for 15 months prior to the beginning
of the Russian air strikes on September, 25. The question of all
questions is whether Erdogan will finally be pressed by his Western
partners to shape up and to act like a civilized person, which
unfortunately he is not,” Trifkovic told RT.
By Michael Snyder, on December 6th, 2015
