Thousands attend funeral for Texas deputy killed at gas station – video by Guardian Staff - Saturday September 5th, 2015 at 11:59 AM
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Thousands of civilians and law enforcement officers attend the funeral of Harris County deputy Darren Goforth, who was fatally shot at a Houston-area gas station last month. Hundreds of cars from police, deputies and emergency workers lined the roads while an honor guard stood near Goforth’s casket at the Second Baptist church. Goforth, 47, was shot several times while filling up his patrol car at a suburban gas station on 28 August
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(BUDAPEST, Hungary) — Thousands of exhausted, elated people fleeing their Arab and Asian homelands reached their dream destinations of Germany and Austria on Saturday, completing epic journeys by boat, bus, train and foot to escape war and poverty.
Before dawn, they clambered off a fleet of Hungarian buses at the Austrian border to find a warm welcome from charity workers offering beds and hot tea. Within a few more hours of rapid-fire aid, many found themselves whisked by train to the Austrian capital, Vienna, and the southern German city of Munich.
The surprise overnight effort eased immediate pressure on Hungary, which has struggled to manage the flow of thousands of migrants arriving daily from non-EU member Serbia. But officials warned that the human tide south of Hungary still was rising, and more westward-bound travelers arrived in Budapest within hours of an exodus from the capital’s central rail station.
The apparent futility of stopping the migrants’ progress west was underscored when Hungary announced Saturday that its bus service to the border had finished and would not be repeated. Almost immediately two groups hit the pavement to start walking to the border: about 200 peoplewho walked out of an open-door refugee camp near the city of Gyor, and about 300 who left Budapest’s central Keleti train station, the epicenter of Hungary’s recent migrant crisis.
Austrian police spokesman Helmut Marban said more than 5,000 asylum seekers crossed into Austria from Hungary by the afternoon and most had traveled by train to Vienna or beyond. Germany said more than 600 of those have reached Munich. And officials in both Austria and Germany said the unregulated flow of people Saturday from Hungary meant that up to 10,000 might
reach Austria by nightfall.Hungarian authorities
had spent most of the week trying to force those flooding into the country to report to government-run refugee centers to apply for asylum in their initial EU entry point as the 28-nation bloc’s rules require. But thousands refused — some expressing fears that Hungary would deport or detain them indefinitely — and demanded free passage chiefly to Germany.
After a three-day standoff with police, thousands marched west Friday from the Keleti train station along Hungary’s major motorway and camped overnight in the rain by the roadside. Hundreds more broke through police lines at a train station in the western town of Bicske, where police were trying to take them to a refugee camp, and blocked the main rail line as they, too, marched west.
Austria and Germany made the breakthrough possible by announcing they would take responsibility for the mass of humanity that was already on the move west or camped out in their thousands at Keleti. Hungary on Tuesday had suspended train services from that station to Austria and Germany, compounding the build-up there as it sought to compel the visitors to register for asylum in Hungary.
Austrian Federal Railways said the arrivals, once they passed through hastily assembled border shelters and enjoyed refreshments, were being placed on trains to both Vienna and the western city of Salzburg and, for those who requested it, links onward to German cities. Hundreds more also were making their way independently to the border on foot.
The human rights watchdog Amnesty International welcomed the initiative to clear Hungary’s humanitarian traffic jam.
“After endless examples of shameful treatment by governments of refugees and migrants in Europe, it is a relief to finally see a sliver of humanity. But this is far from over, both in Hungary and in Europe as a whole,” said Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty’s deputy director for Europe. “The pragmatic and humane approach finally applied here should become the rule, not the exception.”
But Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, told reporters the opposite was more likely. He said Hungary collected and drove the migrants to the border only because they were posing a public menace, particularly by snarling the country’s major motorway and rail lines west of Budapest.
“It is unacceptable for them to paralyze traffic on the highway and they are putting their own lives at risk,” Orban said at his ruling party’s annual picnic in a village near Lake Balaton. “We proved that we were able to protect both their safety and that of Hungarians.”
Orban said Hungary was determined to reduce the flow of foreigners trying to traverse the country en route to the wealthier, more immigrant-friendly West. He criticized European Union plans to reach a bloc-wide agreement at a summit Sept. 14 committing each nation to accept a new quota of foreigners to shelter, arguing that this would only spur more one-way traffic.
“What will it solve if we divide 50,000 or 100,000 migrants among us, when uncountable millions will be on the way?” Orban said.
When the first group of 400 arrived in Vienna, charity workers offered a wide choice of supplies displayed in separately labeled shopping carts containing food, water and packages of hygiene products for men and women. A mixed crowd of friends and Austrian onlookers cheered their arrival, with many shouting “Welcome!” in both German and Arabic. One Austrian woman pulled from her handbag a pair of children’s rubber rain boots and handed them to a Middle Eastern woman carrying a small boy.
“Austria is very good,” said Merhan Harshiri, a 23-year-old Iraqi who smiled broadly as he walked toward the supply line, where newcomers munched on fresh fruit. “We have been treated very well by Austrian police.”
“I am very happy,” said Firas Al Tahan, 38, a laundry worker from the Syrian capital, Damascus. Seated beside him on the train station’s concrete pavement were his 33-year-old wife, Baneaa, in her lap 1-month-old daughter Dahab, and beside them four other children aged 5 to 12, all smiling beside a cart containing green and red apples.
Earlier in jubilant scenes on the border, about 100 busloads of migrants and refugees disembarked on the Hungarian side of the border and walked a short distance into Austria, where volunteers at a roadside Red Cross shelter welcomed them with tea and handshakes. Many of the travelers slumped in exhaustion on the floor, evident relief etched on their faces.
Many had been awoken by friends at Keleti around midnight with news many didn’t believe after days of deadlock: Hungary was granting their demand to be allowed to reach Austria and, for many, onward travel to Germany. Many feared that the scores of buses assembling at the terminal instead would take them to Hungarian camps for asylum-seekers, as the government previously insisted must happen. At times, it took extended negotiation at the bus doors to persuade people to climb aboard.
Keleti appeared transformed Saturday as cleaners used power washers to clear what had become a squalid urban refugee camp of approximately 3,000 residents sprawled about every courtyard and tunnel leading to Budapest’s subway system. Only about 10 police remained to supervise a much-thinned presence of approximately 500 campers sleeping in pup tents or on blankets and carpets.
Keleti’s transient population dwindled further in the afternoon as about 300 headed west through the city on foot. One marcher displayed a handwritten cardboard banner reading “Walking on foot to Austria.” Unlike Friday, when police tried to block marchers initially, officers this time offered practical assistance in controlling traffic and providing directions to the marchers. They quickly crossed a major bridge spanning the Danube River as police in two vans and on two motorcycles stopped traffic to ease the trekkers’ safe passage.
Many travelers have spent months in Turkish refugee camps, taken long and risky journeys by boat, train and foot through Greece and the Balkans, and crawled under barbed wire on Hungary’s southern frontier to a generally frosty welcome in this country with strong anti-immigrant sentiments.
In Berlin, German officials said they felt it was necessary to take responsibility given Hungary’s apparent inability to manage the challenge. But they emphasized that Hungary, as an EU member and first port of call for many migrants, needed to do more to ensure that new arrivals filed for asylum there rather than travel deeper into Europe.
German government spokesman Georg Streiter told The Associated Press that Saturday’s acceptance of migrants represented “an attempt to help solve an emergency situation. But we continue to expect Hungary to meet its European obligations.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has led calls for other EU members to shelter more migrants as potential refugees, particularly those fleeing civil war in Syria, said in comments published Saturday that her country would observe no legal limit on the number of asylum seekers it might take.
Merkel told the Funke consortium of newspapers that “the right to political asylum has no limits on the number of asylum seekers.”
“As a strong, economically healthy country we have the strength to do what is necessary” and ensure that every asylum seeker gets a fair hearing, she was quoted as saying.
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Associated Press reporters Marko Drobnjakovic and Alexander Kuli in Budapest; Bela Szandelszky and Frank Augstein in Hegyeshalom, Hungary; Balint Szlanko and Petr Josek in Nickelsdorf, Austria; George Jahn in Vienna and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
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 Fox News |
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 New York Daily News |
Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio hold dueling campaign events in Puerto Rico
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Meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House on Friday, Saudi Arabia's King Salman expressed support for the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated by six world powers – but that wasn’t the only big topic discussed. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti reports from the White House.
Originally published at - http://www.voanews.com/media/video/obama-wins-saudi-endorsement-of-iran-nuclear-deal/2948968.html
Russian president talks of desire for "international coalition" to fight terrorism and extremism and does not rule out possibility of direct military intervention in Syria
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U.S. President Barack Obama and King Salman of Saudi Arabia pledged to strengthen ties between their countries ahead of their meeting Friday at the White House to discuss concerns over the conflicts in Syria and Yemen and the Iran nuclear deal.
Deportations along once-porous frontier leave citizens on both sides dazed and bereft, even as the two countries agree to open a passage for schoolchildren.
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Guatemalans go to polls Sunday to vote for a new president amid a wave of popular anger over politics as usual, days after the resignation of President Otto Pérez Molina amid a corruption scandal.
Several hundred migrants, desperate to leave Hungary for Western Europe, boarded buses provided by the government in the early hours of Saturday to go to Austria and Germany.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels were behind a rocket attack that killed 45 soldiers from the United Arab Emirates, as the country increased airstrikes against the militants in retaliation.
About 4,000 migrants, desperate to leave Hungary for Western Europe, reached Austria in the early hours of Saturday, police said, adding that the number could double.
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President Vladimir Putin says Russia wants to form an international anti-terrorism coalition, and that Syria's president is ready to hold early parliamentary elections and even include members of the opposition in running Syria. "We really want to create some kind of international coalition to fight terrorism and extremism," Putin said Friday at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. He said his government is “holding consultations with our American partners” on the...
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Saturday that the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine has been respected for a week. Speaking on Ukrainian national television, Poroshenko said that this is the first time since the Western-brokered agreement was signed in Minsk in February, that no Ukrainian soldier has died in fighting. It has been reported, however, that several servicemen and civilians died or were wounded since Wednesday. Pro-Russian separatists also announced Saturday that a...
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LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Arab countries will join the Middle East Quartet in New York at the end of September to seek ways to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the EU's top diplomat said on Friday, part of a new European diplomatic initiative.
Too Early To Rejoice, Activists Tell Lawmaker Who 'Squeezed Out' Gays From St. Petersburgby support@pangea-cms.com (Claire Bigg, Dmitry Volchek)
Gay-rights activists in St. Petersburg say they have no intention of emigrating or going back into the closet despite claims by a Russian lawmaker that all gays have been "squeezed out" of the city.
Why Don't Rich Arab Gulf States Welcome Syrian Refugees?by support@pangea-cms.com (Charles Recknagel)
Amid the desperate images of Syrians risking their lives at sea to reach Europe, social media is abuzz with the question of why they don't flee to nearby, wealthy Arab Persian Gulf states instead. The answer may lie in those states' own highly ambivalent feelings about refugees.
The Demise Of Tajikistan's Islamic Partyby support@pangea-cms.com (Bruce Pannier)
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Saudi Arabia is satisfied with U.S. President Barack Obama's assurances about the Iran nuclear deal and believes the agreement will contribute to security and stability in the Middle East.
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Russian Moves in Syria Pose Concerns for U.S.by MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITT
President Vladimir V. Putin has sent a military advance team to Syria and is taking other steps that the United States fears could lead Russia to expand its military support for President Bashar al-Assad, administration officials said.
On Tuesday, we celebrated Lawfare’s 5th birthday, and in traditional fashion, we observed the day with a cake for the handmaidens of power. In all seriousness, we’d like to extend a very sincere thank you to all those who have helped Lawfare develop and grow over the last half decade!
The biggest news of the week came when Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) announced her intentions to support the Iran nuclear deal, assuring that Congress will be unable to override President Obama’s veto should it pass a resolution of disapproval. After the announcement, I linkedto Senator Mikulski’s letter of support, which explained why she thinks the deal was the best way to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
On Monday, I linked to the final Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order authorizing the extension of the NSA’s collection of bulk telephony metadata under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Later in the week, Ben discussed the rather persistent “standing” confusion in Obama v. Klayman, which was vacated and remanded back to the D.C. Circuit on Friday.
Apropos of the NSA, Wells shared the video of a debate between former NSA Director Keith Alexander and Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept on privacy and security.
The former head of the Israel Defense Forces’ International Law Department, Daniel Reisner, completed his three-part series on the UN Commission of Inquiry Gaza Report (the first part can be found here). His second post explored who exactly was the target audience of the report, while his third piece examined the clash between human rights and law of war specialists.
Aaron Zelin brought us the latest Jihadology Podcast on Turkish jihadism at home and in Syria, featuring the folks from North Caucasus Caucus.
Ben linked to Brookings senior fellow William McCants’s excellent profile of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, who McCants describes as a “true believer.”
Speaking of true believers, Ben also shared this week’s Rational Security Podcast with Shane Harris and Tamara Wittes. The gang discusses McCants’s new piece on al Baghdadi, General David Petraeus's plan to prompt the Al Qaeda awakening in Syria, and New York Times reporter Scott Shane’s new book on Anwar al Awlaki.
In dealing with radicalized folk on the homefront, the Justice Department has employed one tool above all others: indicting them before they depart for the battlefields of the Middle East on charges of material support for terrorism. Seamus Hughes wrote this week’s Foreign Policy Essay on the use of material support to prosecute radicalized young people in the United States, asking if there isn’t a better way to stem the tide of foreign fighters flowing into Iraq and Syria.
Don’t know much about Wu Tien Lu-Shou v. United States? Eugene Kontorovick explains what the case means for the political question doctrine as it relates to non-traditional military operations such as anti-piracy.
In the final Kyiv Dispatch, Stephanie Leutert described the rising challenges presented by Ukraine’s “volunteer battalions,” many of whom are ferociously nationalistic and almost as prone to attack government police as they are Russian-backed separatists.
This week saw yet another lame leak that the Obama administration is contemplating sanctions against China for its role in cyber espionage. In response, Jack shared his thoughts on the “harmful public hand-wringing on possible sanctions against China for cyber theft,” which instead strengthening U.S. deterrence is “devastating to our public and private security.”
Speaking of Chinese hacks, Paul Rosenzweig asked the Office of Personnel Management, “where’s my letter?” Paul is offended because he is yet to receive notification from the federal agency that his information has been compromised, let alone any support for securing his identity and personal information.
Carrie Cordero shared her story of standing atop the World Trade Center fourteen years ago, explaining that her experience in the days following 9/11 shaped her desire to “ensure that the nation addresses security threats directly, proactively, and thoughtfully.”
Ben also posted the week’s Lawfare Podcast, featuring a special summer re-airing of a previous discussion on a crucial legal question: how to legally prepare for an imminent zombie apocalypse. Do we need a prior AUMF for the un-dead? How else can we demonstrate our determination to not go quietly into the night?
Matt Waxman provided a review of his Lawfare-ish summer reading. His recommendations includeDead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, The Officer and the Spy, and The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789.
Finally, we’ve that seen bears get anxious around drones, and that eagles will fight one to the death. This week, we learned that kangaroos take no drone junk; instead they just box them out of the sky.
And that was the week that was.
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Russian Moves in Syria Pose Concerns for US
New York Times - 13 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Russia has sent a military advance team to Syria and is taking other steps the United States fears may signal that President Vladimir V. Putin is planning to vastly expand his military support for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, ...
Russia may be escalating military role in Syria
Los Angeles Times - 13 hours ago
U.S. intelligence has captured evidence of a significant escalation of Russia's military engagement inSyria's civil war, including satellite images of an apparent Russian base for staging troops and heavy equipment under construction near a port city ...
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Telegraph.co.uk - 19 hours ago
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Newsweek - Sep 3, 2015
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These photos suggest Russian Air Force jets and drones are already operating ...
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<a href="http://DefenseNews.com" rel="nofollow">DefenseNews.com</a> - Sep 1, 2015
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Russian troops allegedly fighting alongside Assad's forces in Syria
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Russians Battle Terrorists in Syria
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The Japan Times - Sep 3, 2015
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Mission Creep: Russian Troops Alongside Assad's Army Fighting Syria Rebels
Breitbart News - Sep 3, 2015
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Leaked Video Shows Russian Troops Fighting Rebels in Syria
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A leaked video that was broadcasted on Syrian television shows Russian troops battling armed rebels alongside forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. In the clip, which was recently broadcast by the State-run Damascus television station, Kremlin ...
Russians are coming, what's Obama doing?
Asia Times - Sep 4, 2015
The Israeli website Ynetnews first wrote on August 31 that Russian forces have been deployed inSyria to launch attacks against the Islamic State. The story carried the byline of Alex Fishman, a military correspondent who enjoys good connections with ...
Russia sends men and arms to prop up dying Assad regime in Syria
The Australian (blog) - Sep 2, 2015
“The Russians have been there a long time,” an activist with the Free Syrian Army 1st Division said. “There are more Russian officials who came to Slunfeh in recent weeks. We don't know how many but can assure you there has been Russian reinforcement.”.
Putin says Assad open to sharing power
Irish Times - 14 hours ago
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U.S. intelligence has captured evidence of a significant escalation of Russia's military engagement in Syria's civil war, including satellite images of an apparent Russian base for staging troops and heavy equipment under construction near a port city that is a stronghold for Syrian President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials say.
The reconnaissance photos of possible military housing being built near the international airport in Latakia province provides strong evidence of deepening involvement by President Vladimir Putin's government in the four-year-old Syrian war, according to the officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
In addition, the Russians have asked at least one country bordering Syria for a window of time to fly a detachment of warplanes over its territory and into Syria, the officials said. The officials would not name the country, but Turkey lies between Russia and Syria.
U.S. officials have not come to a firm conclusion about Russia's military intentions in Syria. But they fear Moscow will help Assad's forces attack the government's opponents, some of whom the U.S. backs. The increased Russian involvement could extend Assad's hold on power and further prolong a civil war that has pitted shifting alliances of dozens of armed factions, including the Islamic State militant group, against the government in Damascus.
"It's obviously a big concern," one official said. "If they're moving people in to help the Syrian government fight their own fight, that's one thing. But if they're moving in ground forces and dropping bombs on populated areas, that's an entirely different matter."
Until now, the Russian government has provided the Assad government financial support, intelligence information, weapons and spare parts for its Russian-made military equipment, but had not sent troops to Syria.
The White House said it was closely monitoring reports of Russian military operations in Syria after images of Russian-built warplanes and reconnaissance drones appeared on social media accounts belonging to Syrian opposition fighters. The pictures purportedly showed the aircraft operating near Idlib province in northwestern Syria. Idlib, like Latakia, is in the part of the country dominated by the Alawite sect, the religious minority group to which the Assad family belongs.
"Any military support to the Assad regime for any purpose, whether it's in the form of military personnel, aircraft supplies, weapons or funding, is both destabilizing and counterproductive," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday.
Russian Embassy officials in Washington did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said last month that Russia had no plans to send troops to Syria.
Still, the Kremlin has long stated its support for Assad in the fight against insurgent groups, including the Islamic State militants who control large swaths of Iraq as well as Syria.
The Syrian government is one of Russia's only allies in the region. Russia's sole military installation outside the borders of the former Soviet Union is a Cold War-era naval base in the Syrian city of Tartus. The base is some 35 miles south of Bassel al Assad International Airport, where the new Russian staging area is apparently being built.
With the buildup, the Russians could be looking to increase their ability to resupply Assad's forces and bolster his tenuous hold on power. Assad's army has lost large numbers of soldiers and weapons amid rebel advances. The Russians also could help guard the Alawite home territory to ensure that Assad has a secure escape route and refuge if he loses control of the capital.
While Putin routinely rejects Western demands that Assad step down and make way for peace and a new government of national unity, the Kremlin leader has lately intimated that his support for the embattled Syrian leader may have its limits.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Putin in June and told journalists that he sensed a change in the Russian leader's previously unfettered backing of Assad.
"He is no longer of the opinion that Russia will support Assad to the end. I believe he can give up Assad," Erdogan said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has been on a diplomatic offensive in recent weeks trying to marshal support for a plan to bring peace to Syria that would include a role for Assad. But those talks with Saudi and other Middle East leaders have failed to win over opponents.
The new military buildup could reflect a recognition by the Russians that with those talks going nowhere, Assad needs more help from them.
"It's pretty obvious that all the Russian logistics preparation is to do something significant in support of Assad," said Christopher Harmer, a military analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, a nonpartisan public policy group in Washington. "At this point, it's too big to be a misdirection."
The U.S. and its allies have repeatedly called on Assad to step down, but American military attention has been focused against Islamic State militants, who have been hit with near-daily airstrikes. The U.S. and its allies also have begun training and equipping ground forces allied with some rebel groups.
The Obama administration has said it would welcome Russia's involvement to help defeat Islamic State, the Sunni Muslim group also known as ISIS or ISIL. So far Russia has not joined the campaign against the militants and has avoided direct involvement in the fight.
Asked Friday about that possibility, Putin brushed it aside.
"We are already providing Syria with quite strong support in terms of equipment, training of military servicemen and weapons," he said during an appearance in the Russian city of Vladivostok, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
Dmitry Gorenburg, a senior research scientist at CNA, a nonprofit think tank based in Arlington, Va., said the Russians might seek to escalate their involvement "if they believe Assad needs more help to deal with ISIS."
Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, a steady stream of Russian weapons and resupply shipments have entered Syria to help Assad's forces. But in recent weeks, reports show that assistance escalating.
In August, news footage from Syria showed updated versions of Russian-made BTR-82A fighting vehicles with Russian military markings that hadn't been seen before in the country. A video clip from the conflict also appeared to show orders being given in Russian to a tank operator.
Also last month, a website that tracks ships moving through the strait between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean published photos of a Russian landing ship that appeared to be carrying several armored vehicles under camouflage netting and four military transport trucks.
This week, a Twitter account associated with the Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate fighting Assad's forces, published what appeared to be images of Russian attack aircraft, including a Russian-made drone and a Sukhoi SU-34 fighter jet. The account claimed the aircraft were photographed flying over Idlib, where Syrian opposition forces recently have made advances into government-controlled territory.
"Russia is one of Syria's most important allies and has supplied military and political support to the Assad regime since the beginning of this crisis," a U.S. intelligence official said. "Whether stories of increased Russian assistance are wishful thinking or real support, they do highlight the increasing desperation of the Assad regime."
Times staff writer Carol J. Williams in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times
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Transgender people are present in the armed services at a higher rate than in the general population. The latest analysis, published last year by UCLA researchers, estimated that nearly 150,000 transgender people have served in the military, or about 21% of all transgender adults in the U.S. By comparison, 10% of the general population has served.
The White House said it is closely monitoring reports that Russia is carrying out military operations in Syria and warned such operations could be "destabilizing and counter-productive."
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Iraq’s ability to fight Islamic State extremists who control roughly a third of the country is hampered by a financial crisis that has left the Baghdad government operating “hand to mouth,” Iraqi Ambassador Lukman Faily warned this week.
There is growing speculation in Yemen that the Saudi-led coalition battling Houthi rebels may be on the verge of a ground operation to retake the capital, Sana'a, from the northern militants who captured swaths of the country earlier this year forced the president into exile.
President Barack Obama said Friday that the United States and Saudi Arabia continue to cooperate closely in countering terrorist activity in the Middle East and around the world, including the battle against Islamic State militants.
Weapons experts say the systems on display showed hallmarks of China’s reputation for stealing technology and adapting it to its requirements.
China's military parade was a 'peaceful' show of force
Washington Post IN MOST of the world, military parades, with their goose-stepping troops, rolling guns and jet flyovers, are considered ugly relics of the 20th century, and rightly so. They evoke Hitler and Stalin, aggression and dictatorship, and an ideology that ... and more » |
September 5, 2015, 10:23 AM (IDT)
US sources suggested Saturday that Moscow has asked at least one country bordering Syria for a window of time to fly a detachment of warplanes over its territory and into Syria – suggesting it was Turkey. They also report that US intelligence reconnaissance photos show military construction - apparently of a base for staging troops and equipment near the western Syrian port of Latakia, which is a stronghold of the Assad regime. Friday night, the White House noted that the US was following possible Russian military movements against ISIS targets in the wake of an Islamist attack on a Russian military base in Dagestan.
Tuesday, Sept. 1, DEBKAfile reported that Russia was to be the first outside power to put boots on the ground in Syria and had begun building a military base at Jablah near Latakia.
Tuesday, Sept. 1, DEBKAfile reported that Russia was to be the first outside power to put boots on the ground in Syria and had begun building a military base at Jablah near Latakia.
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I. The Fourth Amendment
Jeffrey Vagle, Guest Post: The Difficulty With Metaphors and the Fourth Amendment (Monday, August 31) Jennifer Daskal, The Microsoft Warrant Case: A Response to Orin Kerr (Thursday, September 3)
II. Drones & Targeted Killings
John Reed, Questions the Media Should Be Asking About DOD’s Latest Targeted Killing (Tuesday, September 1)
III. Iran Deal
Andy Wright, There’s Still Room for Mischief After Iran Deal Vote (Friday, September 4)
IV. Detention
Daphne Eviatar, What’s Lost in the Move-Guantánamo-North Debate (Thursday, September 3) Ezequiel Heffes, Guest Post: Armed Opposition Groups’ Courts: Challenging the Lawfulness of Detentions in Light of the Serdar Mohammed Appeals Judgment (Wednesday, September 2)
V. Politicizing Intelligence Reports
Patrick Eddington, Guest Post: Politicization of Intelligence: Lessons From a Long, Dishonorable History (Monday, August 31) Read on Just Security »
Congress returns on Tuesday with a critical need for a characteristic rarely evident through a contentious spring and summer — cooperation between Republicans and President Barack Obama.
U.S. intelligence has captured evidence of a significant escalation of Russia’s military engagement in Syria’s civil war, including satellite images of an apparent Russian base for staging troops and heavy equipment under construction near a port city that is a stronghold for Syrian President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials say.
Worn out, but defiant, thousands of migrants march; Austria's Chancellor said his country and Germany will allow migrants to enter their territory
Carrying their belongings, the migrants continue to march along the highway from Keleti railway station in Budapest towards Austria after Hungarian authorities blocked them from boarding trains.
Architectural historian Despina Stratigakos explores how the Fuhrer carefully curated his private light to project an image as a 'charming neighbor' in her new book, Hitler at Home.
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WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is monitoring a scenario with ominous implications: the prospect of American and Russian warplanes fighting on opposite sides in the skies over Syria.
In a development that caught U.S. intelligence by surprise, Russia has set up an air traffic control tower and modular housing units for hundreds of personnel at an airfield near Syria's Mediterranean port of Latikia.
At the same time, Russia has requested the necessary over-flight rights to fly military cargo aircraft into the airfield.
Some U.S. intelligence analysts believe Russia is preparing to insert combat aircraft into Syria, presumably to conduct strikes against rebel forces threatening its longtime ally, the regime of Bashar al Assad.
One U.S. official said Russian military intervention in Syria would be a game changer, among other things raising the possibility of run-ins with U.S. warplanes conducting air strikes against ISIS in Syria.
However, other analysts caution Russia could simply be gearing up for a humanitarian relief operation for the tens of thousands of Syrian civilians forced by the fighting to flee their homes.
Appearing at an economic conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that although he continues to supply the Assad regime with arms, military intervention in Syria is "not yet on our agenda."
Given Putin's track record of denying Russia's military involvement in Ukraine, U.S. officials say they are not putting much stock in his public statements about Syria.
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Russia could be preparing to put combat aircraft in Syria, presumably to conduct strikes against forces fighting Assad regime
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad is ready to hold parliamentary elections and share power with a "healthy opposition" in order to end the country's devastating civil war.
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 12 Issue: 159
September 4, 2015 05:38 PM Age: 14 min
Category: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Home Page, Foreign Policy, Military/Security, Middle East, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Russia
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with Vladimir Putin (Source: AP)
Throughout the year, the Middle East has remained engulfed in conflict as well as intense international diplomatic negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. And just as the United States and other powers are grappling with the threats posed by the violence in the Middle East, so too is Russia. In fact, Russia has been trying to engage every possible and actual conflict in the region to obtain not only necessary economic benefits—such as, for example, the Saudi agreement to cut energy production so that global oil prices could rise (<a href="http://Oilprice.com" rel="nofollow">Oilprice.com</a>, July 1)—but also to seek a solution to the civil war in Syria. At the same time, Moscow’s propaganda mouthpiece Sputnik claims that Russia has “serious influence” as a mediator in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians (Sputnik News, August 13). And in the wake of the 5 + 1 agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, Moscow has stepped up its efforts to regenerate the old deal for S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Discussions on broader weapons sales to Iran are also in the works—including the Su-30 fighter (Fars, August 26)
The above examples underscore the scope of Moscow’s efforts to supplant the US in the Middle East and gain acceptance there as a partner on par with Washington. This goal has been a key objective of Russian diplomacy since Yevgeny Primakov’s tenure as foreign minister (1996–1999) and is no less crucial for Russia today. Indeed, as the region continues to be gripped by terrorism and war, Moscow has tried to insert itself into every local conflict and peace process in the hopes of being seen as indispensable for achieving a resolution to all of them. Thus both Foreign Minister Lavrov and Director of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev have called the Islamic State Russia’s greatest threat or enemy (<a href="http://Al-arabiya.com" rel="nofollow">Al-arabiya.com</a>, April 22), which purportedly drives Russia’s urgent efforts—described by Patrushev—to form an international coalition against this extremist militant group (RT, March 5). Yet, at the same time, Patrushev admitted that Russia cannot stop the flow of its jihadist fighters to the Islamic State (The Guardian, July 15). And subsequently it has been revealed that Moscow is actually facilitating the movement of terrorists from its territory to Syria so that the Russian authorities will not have to deal with them domestically (seeEDM, August 3).
Syria, due to its civil war, is at the center of Russia’s proposals for the Middle East. Despite the fact that Moscow contributes to the flow of fighters to Syria, it still publicly stands unreservedly behind Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and insists on his staying in power. In turn, al-Assad professes full confidence in Iran and Russia’s backing (Sputnik News, BBC News, August 26). This confidence in both Moscow and Tehran suggests the other side of Russia’s Syrian gambit, namely supporting Syria’s main patron in the Middle East—Iran. Already in 2014, some analysts regarded Iran as Russia’s “most reliable partner” in the region (Vestnik Kavkaza, September 14, 2014); and the new multi-party nuclear agreement with Iran removes all barriers to enhanced cooperation. President Vladimir Putin’s recent proposal to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt to collaborate with Russia in the fight against Islamic State (<a href="http://Jordantimes.com" rel="nofollow">Jordantimes.com</a>, July 13) complicates such calculations, however. Specifically, it calls on Sunnis to fight other Sunnis for the benefit of Shiite-majority Iran’s Shiite client, al-Assad and to take out one of Iran’s number one rivals in the Muslim world—the Islamic State. Viewed in this light, it is not likely that the Kremlin’s proposal will enjoy much success, as it is too transparent a move against Sunni, and especially Saudi and Turkish interests. But it underscores Moscow’s efforts to play all sides against the middle in the region.
Nonetheless, in August–September 2015, Moscow’s anxiety about the Islamic State has apparently reached beyond these political gambits. Israeli and Western sources now report that Russian instructors are giving combat training to al-Assad’s forces using Russian armored personnel carriers; that a new Russian “expeditionary force” has arrived in Damascus; and that a Syrian air force facility has been converted into a forward operating base for Russian forces to fly combat missions in Syria. Photos suggest that Russian forces are flying MiG-29, Su-27 and Su-29 fighters, and operating the Pchela-1T drone in Syria. Il-76s have also flown to and from Damascus. Unconfirmed reports circulate as well of Russian militias in Salfana in Latakia; of Russia building a second base at Jableh, 25 kilometers north of Latakia; and of Russia allegedly providing satellite imagery to al-Assad’s forces and preparing to launch, either under United Nations or Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) auspices, a separate Russian operation, possibly using airborne forces (Ynetnews.com, August 31; Washington Post, BBC News, The Daily Beast, The Aviationist, September 2).
Moscow has denied all these stories (Sputnik News, September 2). But if true, cumulatively they suggest a combined arms or a series of operations meant to rescue President al-Assad and essentially partition Syria between the contending forces to keep him in power. Indeed, if there is any credibility to these reports, this would mark a giant step forward in Russia’s determination to project military power beyond its borders—and particularly outside the former Soviet space.
At the same time, outside of Syria, Russia may be trying to again forge Palestinian unity in league with itself by inviting Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to Moscow. But Russia may also be trying to forge unity with Egypt, which is categorically opposed to Hamas’ support of Egyptian jihadists (<a href="http://Al-monitor.com" rel="nofollow">Al-monitor.com</a>, August 6). While a Middle Eastern coalition birthed and led by Moscow could possibly emerge, it is an unlikely prospect and it would only mean more regional war. Whereas strengthening Iran—which continues to support anti-Israeli and anti-Sunni terrorism and will, over time, be free to rebuild many of its capabilities with Western and Russian help—is hardly a blueprint for Middle Eastern peace. But then is that really Moscow’s goal?
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The military's Critical Reagents Program provides biological specimens to other labs. This logo appears on the program's product catalog.(Photo: Defense Department)
The discovery of live anthrax outside a containment area at a military lab in Utah prompted military officials to order an immediate freeze on operations at nine biodefense laboratories that work with dangerous viruses, toxins and bacteria, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
The moratorium, first reported by USA TODAY, came after officials took a detailed look at policies and procedures at the labs and found them wanting, according to Defense officials. Labs at the Army's Dugway Proving Ground facility in Utah have been the focus of international concern since May, when the first clues emerged that the facility had been mistakenly shipping live anthrax — instead of killed specimens — to labs in the USA and abroad for years.
An ongoing USA TODAY Media Network investigation has revealed numerous safety problems at government, university and private labs that operate in the secretive world of biodefense research. Federal lab regulators are conducting comprehensive reviews of how they oversee lab safety and security.
Army Secretary John McHugh ordered the moratorium on the laboratories, including facilities run by the Army, Air Force and Navy. The Army is the top agency for the labs. McHugh acted out of an abundance of caution, according to the Army.
Activities at the labs will restart when the Army determines they can be conducted safely, said three military officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. McHugh will have the authority to approve work if needed for national security.
McHugh issued his order for the sweeping safety review after lab regulators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered Dugway Proving Ground’s labs on Aug. 31 to suspend work with all types of “select agent” pathogens because of new revelations about sloppy biosafety practices at the Utah facility.
Dugway officials, in testing surfaces in their laboratories, detected anthrax bacteria on the floors of two rooms where staff had worked with the deadly pathogen. “If proper biosafety procedures had been followed, these surfaces should have been free of the agent,” the CDC said in a statement in response to questions from USA TODAY. “Following the suspension, the Department of Defense has begun an immediate safety review at all DoD labs and facilities involved in production, shipment and handling of live and inactivated select agents and toxins.” The CDC said there is “no identifiable risk to the public” from the Dugway incident.
Anthrax spores. (Photo: CDC)
According to a memo issued Wednesday by McHugh, the safety review involves all labs involved in the production, shipment and handling of any live or inactivated pathogens that are designated as “select agents,” because of their potential to be used as bioterror agents and the threat they pose to public health.
The review calls for the military labs to ensure that personnel are properly trained on lab safety procedures and that necessary maintenance is conducted on biosafety level 3 lab facilities that work with some of the most dangerous pathogens. It calls for validating record-keeping and inventories of the military’s “Critical Reagents Program” — including “ensuring that all materials associated with the CRP are properly accounted for.”
The Critical Reagents Program provides biological specimens used as reference materials to other DoD labs and to “interagency partners” for use in research and the evaluation of various biodefense products, according to the program’s website. Pathogens listed in the program's catalog of antigens include the bacteria that cause plague and anthrax and Ebola and Dengue viruses. The catalog says the antigens listed are "an inactivated version of an entire organism or a toxin."
The memo calls for several of the labs to cease production and handling of any materials associated with the Critical Reagents Program.
Labs covered by the expanded moratorium include the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center, and the Naval Medical Research Center, which are all in Maryland.
The latest safety concerns at the labs stem from an anthrax deactivation scandal that emerged in May when a private biotech company in Maryland discovered that a sample of what was supposed to be dead anthrax sent from a lab at the Army’s Dugway Proving Ground was still capable of growing. The specimen was part of a project to develop a diagnostic test for potential bioterror pathogens.
Investigations by the military and lab regulators at the CDC determined that Dugway had been mistakenly shipping hundreds of live anthrax specimens — labeled as killed — for more than a decade that ended up in194 labs located in every state and nine foreign countries. Anthrax can cause fatal illnesses if inhaled. Though no illnesses were reported stemming from Dugway’s mistakes, several people who worked with the specimens were put on antibiotics as a precaution.
Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook acknowledged that live anthrax had been sent to all 50 states and that a report on the botched handling of the pathogen was due in October.
The problems with the military labs are the latest in a series of serious mistakes made by federal research facilities that do biodefense research on dangerous viruses, bacteria and toxins that have the potential to be used in a bioterrorism attack. Other incidents have involved mishaps last year by labs at the CDC in Atlanta involving anthrax, Ebola and a deadly strain of avian influenza. Last year, forgotten vials of deadly smallpox virus were discovered in a storage room at the National Institutes of Health.
Several congressional committees have been investigating lab safety and regulatory issues as a result. A subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing in July. An ongoing USA TODAY Media Network investigation has revealed that more than 100 public and private labs faced sanctions in recent years because of serious violations of safety regulations in their research on potential bioterror pathogens; however, the government keeps their names secret.
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The Pentagon(Photo: STAFF, AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Concern is growing on Capitol Hill that the Pentagon's problems containing live anthrax spores could extend to other lethal toxins that could be used as weapons against troops and civilians, members of Congress and their staff told USA TODAY.
The discovery of anthrax outside a containment area at the Army's Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah led the Pentagon to shut down work at nine of its laboratories that work on bioterror agents until procedures for handling them are deemed safe.
A joint statement from the chairman and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Frank Pallone, D-N.J., expressed alarm at the military's growing problem with anthrax and other so-called select agents, including viruses, toxins and bacteria.
The military's Critical Reagents Program is under review. (Photo: Defense Department)
"These repeated failures are eroding all confidence, and they have got to stop," the congressmen said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Our nation's bioterrorism response efforts are in jeopardy as we continue to uncover problems at select agent laboratories and critical research is halted. The Energy and Commerce Committee continues to take this investigation extremely seriously, and we will work together to address the root issues and identify a path forward."
The worry is that procedures that did not contain anthrax won't prevent the escape of other toxins the labs study, said a senior Capitol Hill staffer who studies the issue but spoke on condition of anonymity because staff members are not authorized to speak publicly about it. Those toxins include chemical and biological agents the military fears could be turned into a weapon.
The live anthrax found at Dugway indicates the military has a systematic problem keeping its most deadly toxins contained, the staffer said. Initial indications show anthrax escaped because the procedures and safeguards in place were not adequate to contain it — not through sloppy lab workers.
The result has been a widening scope of potential contamination. The more deeply investigators look into the anthrax issue, the more problems they find, said a senior Defense official familiar with the military's investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to talk publicly about it.
No illnesses or deaths have been linked to the improper anthrax shipments. Military officials maintain that the live samples have been at such low concentrations and have been packaged in ways that expose the public to little or no risk.
Early in the summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Dugway had inadvertently sent live anthrax to labs across the country and to several foreign countries for 10 years. The mistake was discovered in May, and several government investigations launched.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work branded the botched handling of anthrax "a massive institutional failure." His report on the issue is likely next month.
The concern is that the scope of the anthrax problem could be even larger and that other toxins may have escaped containment, the staffer said.
Halting the laboratories' work carries risk, too, as Upton and Pallone noted. The research into deadly agents is conducted to save troops' lives from biological and chemical attack.
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Published on Sep 4, 2015
President Obama delivers remarks before meeting with King Salman bin Abd alAziz of Saudi Arabia. September 4, 2015.
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