The jig is up! Putin , promises swift response as he acknowledges US missile defense aimed at neutralizing Russia nukes. N.Korea and Iran just a cover story.

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Putin: US missile defense aimed at neutralizing Russia nukes, N. Korea & Iran just a cover

Published time: 10 Nov, 2015 15:06Edited time: 10 Nov, 2015 19:46

 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin. © Alexei Druzhinin / RIA Novosti

 

 

Vladimir Putin said the US is trying to “neutralize Russia’s nuclear potential” with its on-going deployment of a missile defense shield in Europe. The Russian president has promised a response.

“References to Iran and North Korea nuclear threats are just a cover for the true purpose [of NATO missile defense]. That is to neutralize the potential of other nuclear states not the US or its allies – primarily Russia,” Putin said during a meeting in Sochi dedicated to national military development. “The US is attempting to achieve strategic military superiority, with all the consequences that entails.”

Vladimir Putin has reminded that Iran reached a landmark nuclear deal with world powers in July. The agreement would remove sanctions that have crippled its economy, in exchange for severe restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Russia has been repeatedly told Iran is the main threat.

“Now, the Iranian problem is off the table – treaties have been signed and ratified. Yet, the work on missile defense continues, as before,” Putin said.

The Russian leader promised Russia would take the “necessary measures to respond by strengthening its own missile defense.”

“And at the first stage we are also going to develop strike weapons that can penetrate any missile defense shield.”

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The head of the commission has also called for accurate media coverage of the A321 crash investigation.

 Sputnik

A321 Crash Investigators Call on Media to Stop Using Anonymous Sources

© Sputnik/ Maxim Grigoryev 

World

19:21 08.11.2015(updated 19:33 08.11.2015) Get short URL

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — While covering the developments related to the Russian A321 plane crash in Egypt, media should rely exclusively on official statements, while any "uncertain" sources should be avoided, the head of the Egypt-led investigation committee said on Sunday.

© Press-service of Russian Emergency Situations Ministry

Russian, German, French Experts Arrive at A321 Crash Site for Investigation

On Saturday, the Egypt-led investigation committee issued a statement, according to which the reason for the Russian Kogalymavia plane crash in Sinai is yet to be determined. The following day, Reuters reported, citing a unidentified member of the inquiry, that investigators into the plane crash in Egypt were "90 percent sure" the noise heard on the final seconds of a cockpit recording was an explosion caused by a bomb.

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“The killings in East Ukraine by sending in the Right Sector thugs to do the dirty work will be remembered as an example of Western moral bankruptcy” : Jim W. Dean

Ukraine crisis leaves stain on West: Analyst

A cyclist rides past a burned Ukrainian army vehicle in the eastern Ukrainian village of Oktyabrskoe, near Kramatorsk, on May 14, 2014.

Wed May 14, 2014 12:22PM

The prevailing crisis in Ukraine following a US-backed coup will remain a stain on the reputation of Western governments, an analyst writes in a column for the Press TV website.

“The killings in East Ukraine by sending in the Right Sector thugs to do the dirty work will be remembered as an example of Western moral bankruptcy,” Jim W. Dean wrote.
He stated that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the coup government in Kiev organized a “stupid anti-terror operation” which led to dozens of deaths in the southern city of Odessa on May 2.

Dean described the status quo in Ukraine as “a disgraceful episode” for the Western governments, adding, “Some political careers deserve to be destroyed for their ill-planned and motivated failure. It was a criminal plan.”

The analyst said the Western governments “have made fools of themselves” in the eyes of people.

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Ukraine Crisis Leaves Stain on West: Analyst

 

Ukraine crisis leaves stain on West: Analyst

… by  Jim W. Dean, VT Editor,   … with Press TV,  Tehran

This poor woman must be avenged

[Update:  Our VT crisis team analysis concluded that the photographic evidence showed  the inconsistent burn injuries to be indicative of obscuring how and what was used to kill many of these people.
The only options really on the table was lethal gas, and we surmized Vx...something that lung tissue analysis would confirm or not.
We now have partial confirmation that we were right from RT today. "Victims of the Odessa fire massacre died within seconds, but not from smoke or carbon monoxide suffocation, the head of Odessa's emergency service department, Vladimir Bodelan, said on his Facebook page."
Witnesses reported bodies and people being herded into the basement, and then this dissapeared from the news. Not a word about "missing" people was mentioned by the Odessa authorities. And of course it is easy to have confusion here with witnesses hiding out who would like to stay alive.
Despite all the witnesses to building escapees being beaten to death by the Right Sector mob, Kiev preferred to give tag them as "jumpers". Of course on a frame of video of a jumped has emerged. I wonder why?

Smoke inhalation deaths can be confirmed by visual autopsies simply from the visible soot residue in the lungs. The good news is that foreign experts are supposed to be involved, but after all of thise time the chain of command of the evidence will be in question.]

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Ukrainian military simulate gunfight near Kramatorsk and now under UN investigation for using UN symbols in East Ukraine.

ITAR-TASS News Agency

Ukrainian military simulate gunfight near Kramatorsk — self-defense militia

World

May 15, 21:35 UTC+4
The man who witnessed the events said “they were shooting at nowhere, in the sky and into the open field as there aren't any woods nearby”

© EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

KRAMATORSK, May 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian military “simulated armed clashes” against a self-defense group on the outskirts of the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, a representative of voluntary guard of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic told ITAR-TASS on Thursday.

Ukraine’s army and security forces kill three civilians near Kramatorsk

“A ten-vehicle-strong armored column under the cover of six helicopters entered the township of Solntsevo” and the entry was followed by brisk fire involving large-caliber automatic weapons,” he said.
The man who witnessed the events said “they were shooting at nowhere, in the sky and into the open field as there aren't any woods nearby.” Upon hearing the shooting, locals “took shelter in cellars.”
“There were no self-defense fighters in this area, to say nothing of bases,” he said.

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Ukrainian military storm Kramatorsk, 1 dead, 9 injured

Published time: May 02, 2014 20:05
Edited time: May 03, 2014 03:58

The Ukrainian army’s assault on Kramatorsk has finished, witnesses say, adding that the military did not enter the town. Preliminary reports say that one self-defense activist was killed and nine were injured.
It is unclear whether there are any casualties on the army’s side.
Meanwhile coup-appointed interior minister Arsen Avakov has said on his Facebook page that Kiev is not planning to stop the special military operation in Kramatorsk, adding that the military assault will continue at sunrise. He added that the military took control of a TV tower in Kramatorsk overnight.
“The military attacked the barricade on the road to Yasnogorka (town adjacent to Kramatorsk),” an eye-witness in Kramatorsk told RT when the assault started late on Friday. “The lights have been turned off on the nearby street. Shots are being heard across the city, signal rockets light up the sky from time to time. People are saying the Ukrainian army is shooting at everything that moves right now.”
Medics told RIA Novosti that 10 people sustained wounds, one of whom died in hospital. At least one of the injured is a woman. It was earlier reported that dozens had been killed or injured.
Meanwhile, the army has resumed its special operation in Slavyansk on Friday evening. The headquarters of the people’s self-defense is under snipers’ fire, according to Itar-Tass. There are reports of injuries among protesters.

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Three injured as Ukrainian military take control of Kramatorsk military airfield in Donetsk Oblast

April 16, 2014, 1:02 a.m. | Photo — by Anastasia Vlasova,

The poster reads "Don't shoot the citizens of Kramatorsk."
© Anastasia Vlasova

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine -- For 30-year old Oleksiy, April 15 wasn't a good day. He was one of 300 or so Russian-backed militants from Kramatorsk who attempted to take over the Ukrainian military airfield in Donetsk Oblast's Kramatorsk.
But Ukraine's army repelled them, in one of the first -- and Ukrainians hope not the last -- battlefield victories since April 6, when Kremlin-supported and heavily armed insurgents started taking over key government buildings and installations throughout Ukraine's most populous oblast.
But contrary to Russian media reports that 11 people were killed, the Ukrainian military operation left only three wounded -- including Oleksiy, who refused to give his full name. He was lucky to get away with a grazed hip when Ukrainian officers shot him. Two others weren't so lucky and were hospitalized with more serious gunshot wounds. They are expected to live, however.
"Our guys only had three machine guns with them, and they weren't the first to shoot. The soldiers started shooting at us when we just tried to enter the base," said Oleksiy, who sounded surprised that he couldn't enter a Ukrainian military base with a machine gun. His side got off some gunshots, but all missed their targets.
However, the crowd was ready for more violent attacks: They prepared dozens of Molotov cocktails, but never used them -- just left them there, near the airfield gates.
The military airfield near Kramatorsk, a city of some 250,000 people, has been out of use for years.
However, when pro-Russian separatist protests escalated in Donetsk Oblast over the weekend, the old airfield sparkled suspicion among the local protesters. They expected the Ukrainian army to put it to use to bring troops to suppress the uprising, so they kept watch over it since April 12 and tried to gain entry on April 15 -- which turned out to be a poor decision.

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ITAR-TASS News Agency

Response to Ukraine’s use of UN symbols near Ukraine’s Kramatorsk matter of UN secretariat

World

May 15, 14:09 UTC+4

"This (use of UN symbols) is inadmissible according to UN rules," Russian deputy minister of foreign affairs said

A helicopter seen in the background of a UN flag (archive)

© EPA/MAZEN MAHDI

UN to verify information about helicopters with their logo in east Ukraine

ST. PETERSBURG, May 15. /ITAR-TASS/. A response to Ukraine’s use of UN symbols on helicopter gunships which Ukrainian military forces use in a punitive operation near the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk is a matter of the international organization’s secretariat, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told reporters on Thursday.

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President Obama’s wrongheaded view of the world has weakened America’s military and turned foreign policy into a “mess” — and Republicans bear some of the responsibility : Rep. Buck McKeon

The Heritage Foundation

Armed Services Chairman on Obama: ‘Our Foreign Policy Is a Mess’

Ken McIntyre

May 7, 2014 at 5:50 pm

President Obama’s wrongheaded view of the world has weakened America’s military and turned foreign policy into a “mess” — and Republicans bear some of the responsibility, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said yesterday.
“It is no accident that the expansion of Russia and China has come at the exact moment when we are dismantling our military and retreating from the world,” Rep. Buck McKeon (R- Calif.) said in a speech at The Heritage Foundation aimed at drawing attention to defense and national security issues.
“With Russia invading Ukraine, China provoking our Pacific allies, al-Qaeda regrouping, North Korea banging the drum, and ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, I think the president has lost sight of his purpose here,” McKeon said.
McKeon’s appearance at Heritage was part of “Protect America Month” events organized by the think tank.
Americans, McKeon argued, ought to be asking what the nation’s central foreign policy goal is, and what role the U.S. military has in advancing it.  He said:

“Put plainly, our foreign policy is a mess. We have no coherent strategy.  I’m not sure if we’re supposed to be pivoting to Asia, pivoting to the Middle East, or pivoting back to Europe.”

The California Republican, who announced four months ago that he will retire next January after 22 years in Congress, argued that most Americans want to live “in peace and security,” free to prosper and make their own decisions without worrying about what’s going on in “faraway lands.”
He cited Abraham Lincoln’s formula that government’s legitimate aim is “to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do for themselves.”
“An individual can go out and find health care coverage without the government,” McKeon said. “They can save for retirement without the government. They can start a business without the government. But they cannot resist foreign aggression without a strong standing military.”

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Torture committee dismisses Holy See's argument that its obligation to enforce UN treaty stops at boundaries of city state

The  Vatican  - View from Castel Sant'Angelo
By  :  Jorge Valenzuela A
wikimedia.org
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Vatican tries to draw line under clerical sex abuse scandals at UN hearing

• John Hooper in Rome
• theguardian.com, Monday 5 May 2014 10.46 EDT

The Vatican has been given another hostile interrogation by a United Nations committee over its record on clerical sex abuse.
One member after another of the committee against torture brushed aside the Holy See's argument that its obligation to enforce the UN convention against torture stopped at the boundaries of the world's smallest country, the Vatican City state. They demanded the pope's representative give answers to a long list of questions about the treatment of sex abuse claims against clergy throughout the world.
The Holy See, which long predates the city state, is a sovereign entity without territory. It is as the Holy See that the Catholic leadership maintains diplomatic relations and signs treaties such as the convention against torture.
But Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's UN ambassador in Geneva, told the committee: "The Holy See intends to focus exclusively on Vatican City state."
The American expert on the committee, Felice Gaer, made plain her disagreement. She said the Holy See had to "show us that, as a party to the convention, you have a system in place to prohibit torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment when it is acquiesced to by anyone under the effective control of the officials of the Holy See and the institutions that operate in the Vatican City state".

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• Irish Times

Vatican faces tough questions at UN torture committee

Vatican to answer questions on past, present and future handling of clerical sex abuse

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, (R), Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Office of the United Nations in Geneva, and Vincenzo Buonomo, (L), of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See prior to the UN torture committee hearing on the Vatican, at the headquarters of the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Palais Wilson, in Geneva, Switzerland. Photograph: Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA

Paddy Agnew

• Silvano Tomasi

Tue, May 6, 2014, 01:00

First published: Tue, May 6, 2014, 01:00

As expected, a Holy See delegation faced tough questioning at the UN’s Committee Against Torture in Geneva yesterday. For the second time in three months, the Vatican was appearing before a UN body to answer questions about its ratification of a UN treaty, especially with regard to is past, present and future handling of clerical sex abuse.

In his opening address to the committee, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s permanent representative at the UN in Geneva, argued that while the Holy See lent “its moral support and collaboration . . . to the elimination of torture”, it had signed the torture convention in 2002 “on behalf of the Vatican city state”.

No jurisdictionArchbishop Tomasi said he intended to “focus exclusively on the Vatican city state”, the 100 -acre statelet that surrounds the Basilica of St Peter’s.

In that sense, he claimed, the Holy See had “no jurisdiction over every member of the Catholic Church”. Rather, he said, persons who “live in a particular country are under the jurisdiction of the legitimate authorities of that country and are thus subject to the domestic law [of that country]”.

Inevitably, that assertion prompted a critical reaction from the UN committee, with US human rights activist Felice Gaer accusing Archbishop Tomasi of making an “alleged distinction” between the Holy See and the Vatican city state.

She questioned the Holy See’s apparent assumption that the torture convention applied only to the “four corners of Vatican City”, saying that as far as she could see, Vatican City was simply a “sub-division” of the Holy See.

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Rupert Murdoch hints at more scandal woes in store for Christie

Murdoch: 'More stuff coming out' to hobble Chris Christie's 2016 hopes

News Corp boss, hosted by Rand Paul, attends Kentucky Derby and hints at his thoughts for Republican presidential field

• • Tom McCarthy
  • theguardian.com, Monday 5 May 2014 11.56 EDT

Rupert Murdoch talked about the race he cares most about at the race Americans cared about Saturday. Photograph: Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/AFP/Getty Images

The main business of the day on Saturday was America’s most famous horse race. It was also a chance for Rupert Murdoch to check out the Kentucky Derby.
Murdoch, the media boss and Republican party kingmaker, cast his view over the GOP presidential field on Saturday and thought some mounts looked stronger than others. In particular, Murdoch thought New Jersey governor Chris Christie, hobbled this winter by an abuse-of-power scandal, looked weak down the stretch.

“He’ll be a very strong, fighting candidate in the primaries, but there will be more and more stuff coming out, I think,” Murdoch told New York Times reporter Jason Horowitz in a private suite at Churchill Downs in Kentucky, as Derby Day went on below. “Not him but, you know, on his aides. There will be more stories.”


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