Millions more government fingerprints deemed stolen
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of people applying for or receiving security clearances whose fingerprint images were stolen in one of the worst government data breaches is now believed to be 5.6 million, not 1.1 million as first thought, the Office of Personnel Management announced Wednesday.
The agency was the ...
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he's ready to discuss cybersecurity concerns raised by American officials amid reports that the White House is weighing whether to impose sanctions in response to data breaches blamed on China.
Speaking Tuesday evening at an event in Seattle, Mr. Xi said China too is often ...
 New York Times |
Hackers Took Fingerprints of 5.6 Million US Workers, Government Says
New York Times In fact, the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., said over the summer that if the United States had the opportunity to steal that much data about an adversary, it would probably try to do it. But despite those public statements ... and more » |
BEIRUT (AP) - U.S.-trained rebels who recently returned to Syria said Wednesday they have lost contact with one of their officers and that they are investigating reports that he defected and handed over his weapons to al-Qaida's branch in the country.
The U.S. military said it had no indication that ...
President Barack Obama warmly welcomed Pope Francis to the White House Wednesday as the Pontiff formally began his visit to the United States. VOA'S Jeff Custer reports from Washington where an estimated 15,000 people were on hand to greet the pope.
Новые спутниковые фотографии позволяют предположить, что Москва готовится направить в Сирию более значительный военный контингент
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/media/video/russia-syria/2975502.html
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Pope Francis was greeted warmly on his first visit to America, first at the White House, then by a cheering crowd of thousands along the parade route. My Hidden Text
Proposals would create a pan-European coast guard and border agency
President Barack Obama welcomes Pope Francis in White House ceremony as crowds gather on the streets of Washington to catch a glimpse
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 USA TODAY |
2016 general election debate schedule set
USA TODAY It may seem difficult to think about the fall 2016 debates when there are still 20 candidates in the race, but we now know the dates and sites. The Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Wednesday the schedule for three 2016 presidential ... Wright State to host first 2016 general election presidential debateColumbus Dispatch Presidential debate schedule set for next yearPolitico Belmont won't get to host presidential debateThe Tennessean The Hill (blog) all 27 news articles » |
 CNN |
Hillary Clinton unveils plan to lower Americans' medical costs
CNN A day after taking on price gouging by drug companies, Hillary Clinton unveiled a plan to help Americans' afford the rising cost of seeing the doctor. Under the Democratic presidential candidate's proposal, patients would be able to visit the doctor ... Hillary Clinton Aims to Limit Consumers' Health-Insurance CostsWall Street Journal Clinton plan to cut health costs includes tax credits, more sick visitsReuters Clinton Builds on Obamacare With New Health Care PlanTIME ABC News -Washington Post -NOLA.com all 48 news articles » |
 Chicago Tribune |
Attorney for accuser in Patrick Kane case says evidence was tampered with
Chicago Tribune An attorney for the woman who has accused Blackhawks star Patrick Kane of sexual assault claimed the police evidence bag containing the accuser's rape kit showed up on her mother's doorstep, an explosive allegation that could taint the ongoing ... Patrick Kane accuser's lawyer to hold news conferenceYahoo Sports Attorney of Patrick Kane's accuser: Rape kit tampered withChicago Sun-Times Kane Accuser's Attorney Claims Evidence in Rape Kit Tampered With, Delivered ...NBC Chicago (blog) all 262 news articles » |
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Afghanistan Vows Measures Against Child Sex Abuseby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Afghanistan's government say it has undertaken “serious measures” to enforce the law and prevent sexual abuse reportedly committed by local police commanders against children. A presidential statement issued Wednesday evening in Kabul has condemned as an "iniquitious, inhumane and irreligious act” the abuse, known as bacha baazi, or “boy play." A New York Times report this week detailed extensive rape and other sexual abuse of young boys at the hands of local...
Hundreds of people have gathered in the Belarusian capital Minsk for a rare unsanctioned protest which did not provoke police violence.
Amina Axelsson, a Swedish adult entertainer and animal rights activist, jumped into a bullring in Marbella in southern Spain earlier this week. Report by Conor Mcnally.
One Direction Announce New Album, Release Album Artby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Chart-topping boy band One Direction have revealed the name and artwork for their fifth album, to be called "Made in the A.M." One Direction have also released a track from the album, "Infinity," for anybody who pre-orders the album, to be released on November 13, or streams it through online retailers. The announcement came on Tuesday ahead of the band's concert at Camden's Roundhouse Theater in London, where they were performing as part of the Apple Music...
The Office of Personnel Management said that when hackers, said to have been Chinese, took security dossiers, they also got the fingerprints, a much larger theft than previously disclosed.
 Reuters |
Divided EU leaders to offer cash for Syria refugees
Reuters BRUSSELS European Union leaders could promise billions of euros in new funding for Syrian refugees at an emergency summit on Wednesday where they will also try to patch up bitter divisions over the migration crisis. Meeting for dinner a day after ... Call for unity as EU leaders debate migrant crisisCNN International EU to Grapple Over Border Policing, Syria, at Refugee SummitBloomberg Deeply-divided EU to hold emergency summit on migrant crisisChicago Tribune EUobserver all 212 news articles » |
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 NBCNews.com |
Trump Reignites Feud with Fox News
NBCNews.com Donald Trump is reigniting his feud with Fox News, saying he is boycotting appearances after being treated "very unfairly" by the cable network. .@FoxNews has been treating me very unfairly & I have therefore decided that I won't be doing any more Fox ... Donald Trump resumes feud with Fox News, tweets that he won't be 'doing any ...New York Daily News Trump puts moratorium on Fox interviewsThe Hill (blog) Donald Trump Blasts Fox News, Vows To Stay Off Network For 'Foreseeable Future'Variety USA TODAY -Business Insider -Hollywood Reporter all 89 news articles » |
BEIRUT (Reuters) - An insurgent group fighting in Syria made up of around 1,500 Chechen, Uzbek and Tajik fighters has pledged allegiance to al Qaeda's Syria wing Nusra Front, a group monitoring the war said on Wednesday.
Pope Francis unites divided Americans as Obama praises his work by Rory Carroll in Washington
Amid adoring crowds, the pope addresses climate change and touches on immigration as president reflects: ‘You shake our conscience from slumber’
How many divisions has the pope? Stalin once sneered – but that was before the world’s superpower swooned over Pope Francis. Rapturous crowds, a reverential White House welcome, a trumpet fanfare, TV networks hanging on his every word: the United States isn’t merciful with his desire to be humble.
The pontiff’s journey through the centres of US power and history began on Wednesday with an elaborate arrival ceremony and balmy sunshine at the White House’s south lawn. “What a beautiful day the Lord has made,” President Barack Obama beamed.
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CAIRO—Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi issued a raft of pardons of political prisoners on Wednesday, including journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, who were jailed more than a year ago over their work with Al Jazeera English.
The move was regarded as an attempt to burnish the image of Sisi’s government after two years marred by the arrest of thousands of dissidents, protesters, students and journalists. The announcement came on the eve of Sisi’s visit to New York for meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, a moment in the spotlight when the Egyptian regime could face increased scrutiny of its rights record.
The list of 100 pardons includes some of Egypt’s most famous political prisoners. Most prominent among them are Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, who spent more then 400 days in prison over their work with Al Jazeera English. The pair were released by police on Wednesday afternoon.
The journalists had been convicted of broadcasting “false news” in a trial that came to epitomize the way freedom of expression in the country has shrunk over the two years since Egypt’s military ousted the elected President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The pair were sentenced to three years in prison in August at the conclusion of a retrial, in a turn that surprised analysts, who expected the journalists to be acquitted of the most serious charges against them. A third journalist sentenced in the case, Peter Greste, was deported to his home country of Australia last February. It was not immediately clear if Greste was included in the list of pardons.
Also pardoned on Wednesday were Sana Seif, a prominent human rights activist, and Yara Sallam, a respected human rights lawyer with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. The two were arrested in 2014 following a demonstration against a law that bans any street protest staged without government permission. Ironically, they were sentenced along with a group of others under the same law they were protesting.
The friends and families of the prisoners reacted to news of the pardons with disbelief, which soon gave way to joy.
“We took it with a lot of skepticism at the beginning, but when it was confirmed by many different sources we were extremely pleased, ecstatic,” says Soha Abdelaty, a close friend of Yara Sallam and operations coordinator at the international feminist group RESURJ. “We had prepared ourselves psychologically that she’d be there for the full term.”
International human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represented Fahmy said in a statement, “I am absolutely delighted that Mohamed Fahmy and his colleague Baher Mohamed have been pardoned today. It has been a long ordeal, and we are grateful to President Sisi for exercising his power to pardon the two journalists. This is a historic day in Egypt where the government has finally corrected a longstanding injustice, and set two innocent men free.”
But thousands of others remain in prison under a vast political clampdown that began in 2013 after the military takeover, which was led by Sisi, who had been a military chief at the time. More than 40,000 people were arrested in the first year following the takeover, according to a count by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights. More than a thousand died in security forces’ assaults on demonstrations.
Among those still behind bars is Mahmoud Abu Zied, known by his nickname Shawkan, a young photojournalist held in pre-trial detention for more than two years after he was arrested while attempting to document a lethal assault security forces on protesters in August 2013. The presidential pardon only extended to those already sentenced, according to a statement from the president’s office.
“There are thousands of people like Yara who are unfortunately not very well known among our circles who will probably end up spending years in prison because of judges who have been politicized and want to punish them for what they’ve done, the role they’ve played in the revolution,” says Abdelaty, the rights activist and friend of Yara Sallam.
Many of those jailed under the anti-protest law are activists who were the public faces of Egypt’s Arab Spring uprising in 2011 that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, an autocrat whose ruled for some 30 years.
The Egyptian president’s office said in a statement that the pardons included those convicted of violating the anti-protest law and “assaulting police forces.” The statement said, ‘Other prisoners were pardoned due to their health conditions and on humanitarian grounds.”
Sisi had previously ruled out intervening in the Al Jazeera case, saying he would not disrupt the independence of Egypt’s judiciary. Egyptian judges have emerged as key agents in the political crackdown since 2013, sentencing hundreds to death in prison in mass trials.
The three Al Jazeera journalists had been arrested in December 2013 following a raid on a Marriott hotel in December 2013. They were accused of aiding the Muslim brotherhood and branded the “Marriott cell” by Egypt’s pro-government media. The journalists’ initial trial in 2014 was derided by rights groups and news organizations as a farce. During the trial prosecutors cited basic news reports and video clips found stored the journalists’ electronics as evidence of a plot to undermine Egypt’s national security.
Read the whole story
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[Proving that the Syrian war is being imposed upon the country from outside powers. If the fighting age males are the primary element of the tsunami of Syrian refugees, and there is no shortage of cannon fodder fighting the Syrian Army, then it cannot be called a “civil war.” The Syrian war is a pre-planned […]
September 23, 2015, 7:50 PM (IDT)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan met in Moscow on Wednesday and discussed Russia’s arming and strengthening of the Syrian military, which Ankara opposes. Erdogan also attended the opening of the new mosque in Moscow where he mentioned the ongoing refugee crisis, saying that his country has taken in two million Syrian refugees. The Turkish leader is also scheduled to meet Putin again on Thursday to discuss the restarting of a project to supply Russian gas to Turkey via the Black Sea.
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September 23, 2015, 7:52 PM (IDT)
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Wednesday pardoned 100 prisoners, including three Al Jazeera televiion journalists, a day before setting off for the annual United Nations summit of world leaders in New York. The journalists, Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, Egyptian Baher Mohamed and Australian Peter Greste, were sentenced to three years in prison in a retrial last month for operating without a press license and broadcasting material harmful to Egypt. Greste had already been deported in February.
К чему ведет блокада Крыма? by SvobodaRadio
Что даст Украине продуктовая блокада Крыма? Будет ли начата и энергетическая блокада Крыма ? Обострится ли конфронтация с Россией? Возможно ли возобновление Россией войны в Донбассе? Что ждать от речи Владимира Путина в ООН?
Обсуждают зам главного редактора телеканала ATR Айдер Муждабаев, политолог Виктор Мироненко, обозреватель Радио Свобода Виталий Портников.
Ведет пердачу Михаил Соколов.
 International Business Times |
Russia Threatening Nuclear Standoff In Europe? Moscow Vows Countermeasures ...
International Business Times Russia is threatening to place nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in Europe in response to a U.S. threat. Pictured: Russian servicemen equip an Iskander tactical missile system at the Army-2015 international military-technical forum in Kubinka, outside ... Russia pledges counter measures if US upgrades nuclear arms in GermanyReuters Russia warns US off new nukes in GermanyThe Local.de Russia pledges counter measures if United States upgrades nuclear arms in GermanyStuff.co.nz ABC News -Express.co.uk all 63 news articles » |
As long as Britain and its allies refuse to entertain a negotiated agreement with the Syrian president, Islamic State will be free to continue its reign of terror
The civil war in Syria has been raging for four years and its consequences have been nothing short of catastrophic: 250,000 Syrians have been killed, 12 million – or half the population – have become refugees and whole cities have been reduced to rubble. Islamic State controls a swath of territory almost the size of Britain, stretching from eastern Syria to western Iraq.
The plight of the Syrian refugees who recently reached Europe’s shores made this a burning issue in British politics. David Cameron, as is his wont, followed where he was supposed to lead. Public opinion shamed his government into doing something. Grudgingly, he announced that Britain would take in 20,000 Syrian refugees but only over a period of five years and the cost would come out of the overseas aid budget. Given the scale and urgency of the problem, this response is woefully inadequate.
British ministers keep repeating the mantra that Assad is part of the problem, not part of the solution
Continue reading... CNN |
France to sell Egypt two warships previously contracted to Russia
CNN In July 2014, the West imposed stringent sanctions on Russia, which included a ban on future arms imports and exports. While existing contracts, including the Mistral deal, were allowed to go ahead under the sanctions, French President Francois ... Egypt to buy French Mistral landing ships originally intended for RussiaWashington Post France sells 2 disputed Mistral warships to Egypt after Russia deal derailedFox News Egypt agrees to buy warships built for Russia from FranceBBC News Egypt to buy French Mistral warshipsFinancial Times Fox News-Yahoo News-Deutsche Welle all 200 news articles » |
Newly-Reopened Mosque Anchor for Moscow’s 2.5 Million Muslims by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, September 23 – Vladimir Putin and other dignitaries attended the re-opening of the Cathedral Mosque in Moscow today. Russian media celebrated this as the largest mosque in Europe; they mostly did focus on the fact that Moscow’s Muslim community is the largest in any European capital or that the Russian city has only three other officially registered mosques.
The mosque, first built in 1904 and in the process of being remodeled over the last decade, is now 20 times larger than it was, with space for 10,000 of the faithful, an expansion that both Muslim and secular officials in Moscow have been emphasizing makes it the largest mosque in Europe. Its new minaret rises 78 meters and is visible in many parts of Moscow.
Among those attending the reopening yesterday were Putin and the presidents of Turkey and Palestine and also the heads of Chechnya, Daghestan, Ingushetiya and Tatarstan as well as the leaders of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate of European Russia, but not those of the rival Central MSD in Ufa (vestikavkaza.ru/news/V-Moskve-otkryvaetsya-Sobornaya-mechet.html).
In his address at the ceremony, Ravil Gainutdin, head of the MSD of European Russia and also of the Union of Muftis of Russia, stressed that “more than ten years ago, our national leader Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin became the first of the leaders of our state in its entire history to call Russia a Muslim country.”
“Neither the tsars no the emperors nor the general secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee ever did this.” Moreover, Gainutdin continued, Putin “also stressed that Islam always was one of the foundations of Russian statehood” and that he viewed Russia “as the truest, most consistent and most reliable of the Islamic religion and the Islamic world.”
In his speech today, Putin said the re-opening of the mosque was “a big event for russia’s Muslims” because “one of the oldest mosques of Moscow has been reconstructed in his historic place. It has become the largest in Europe and acquired a new contemporary aspect, worth of the capital of single multi-national and multi-confessional country and worthy of Russia in which Islam by law is one of the traditional Russian religions.”
“Russia was established via the mutual enrichment of different traditions, cultures, and religions, and it is in this that the strength of our motherland consists,” the Russian president said. “The Muslim community of Moscow was established already in medieval times, as shown by the Tatar roots of its street names.”
“Today,” the Kremlin leader continued, “traditional Islam is an inalienable part of the spiritual life of the country. Its humanist values teach people mercy, justice, and concern about those near to them. We value all of this very highly. Over the course of the last 20 years, the number of Islamic cult institutions has grown several orders of magnitude.”
Many striking new mosques have appeared “in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chechnya and other regions of Russia,” Putin said. And that in turn means there have been established more medrassahs and schools attached to mosques, an important means of blocking the influence of those who attempt to exploit Islam for un-Islamic political goals.
“Today,” Putin said, “efforts are being made to cynically exploit religious feelings for political goals. We see this happening in the Near East where terrorists of the Islamic State by compromising a great world religion are sowing hatred, killing people, and barbarously destroying monuments of world culture.”
“They pervert Islam,” the Russian president says, “and they are trying to recruit people” in Russia as well.
In advance of the ceremony, “Moskovsky komsomolets” decided to investigate “how Islamicized” the area around the restored Cathedral Mosque had become and whether one could speak yet of a Muslim “quarter” in Russia’s capital (mk.ru/moscow/2015/09/21/v-moskve-mozhet-poyavitsya-musulmanskiy-kvartal.html).
The paper reported that approximately 3,000 Muslims have been praying at the construction site every evening, that their participation in religious life has led to the emergence of cafes and restaurants where they can cleanse themselves before prayer, and that the restored mosque is already “a mini-city” with schools, stores, a hotel, and other facilities.
At the same time, “Moskovsky komsomolets” continued, most people in the region speak Russian rather than other languages and most of the stores are “’secular’” rather than Muslim-oriented. That means, Roman Silantyev, a specialist on Islam notorious for his anti-MSD positions, that it is “premature” to speak about the formation of Muslim “quarters” in Moscow.
But he conceded that “it is difficult to predict what will take place in Moscow in this sense in the future.”
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The only defendant in the case involving the 2011 crash of a plane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice-hockey team has been sentenced to prison and amnestied.
Staunton, September 22 – Russia faces a humanitarian catastrophe of extraordinary proportions this winter, Konstantin Borovoy says, with many Russians now not simply below the poverty line but at risk of survival, a trend that the Russian government has implicitly acknowledged by introducing ration cards for certain categories of the population.
Unless Moscow gets enough food into the hands of large families, pensioners, children and other at-risk groups, Russia will face a crime wave as people try to get money for food anyway they can or “people will begin to die from hunger,” the Russian opposition politician and analyst says.
Unfortunately, he says, the Russian authorities are responding in the worst possible way. Instead of using market methods to stimulate the production and distribution of needed foods, Moscow is destroying imported foods and distributing other food via ration cards, an approach that will lead to “the growth of a black market, speculation and an increase in criminal activity.”
There are already reports that Russians are stealing food from stores and even “killing those who are incapable of defending themselves. (That Moscow is turning away from helping the most defenseless, those with handicaps, is suggested by another report about Russian social policy here.)
“The introduction of ration cards,” he continues, reflects the collapse of the Russian economy, “which has ceased to function.” It is, as the doctors say, “a palliative” that will reduce the pain somewhat but will not cure the patient. For that to happen, Russia must reconnect with the outside world and reform at home.
But as “we see, the situation is developing now in a completely different direction: Russia is throwing its forces into Syria,” something that will rapidly make the bad situation of the Russian economy even worse.
Russian rulers should know better: At the start of the Russo-Japanese war, the tsarist government thought it could defeat the Japanese with Russian arms alone. It was wrong, the war ended not only with a Russian defeat but also with the triggering of a revolution inside Russia itself.
Today, it appears, Borovoy says, that Russia’s rulers “are trying to repeat this negative example. And this could lead also to the destruction of the Russian state because the Syrian adventure cannot bring any military successes. The defense of Assad and the military bases can end only in a tragedy.”
In fact, it is already clear that the Syrian people have a double enemy: Assad and Russian forces defending him. “Now everything possible is being done to prevent the clash of coalition forces with Russian ones. But such clashes are inevitable. In fact, they have already begun,” and that will expand the conflict not only there but in Russia itself.
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President Barack Obama welcomed Pope Francis to the White House Wednesday with an official arrival ceremony on the South Lawn and an estimated 15,000 people in attendance.
ValueWalk |
Russia plans second big military base near Ukrainian border
Reuters BOGUCHAR, Russia Russia is planning a second major military base near the border with Ukraine, where NATO accuses Russian troops of helping pro-Moscow separatists fight Kiev's forces. The new base will house 5,000 soldiers and heavy weaponry, ... Pentagon Plans To Go To War With RussiaValueWalk Trial of Ukrainian pilot accused of murdering Russian journalists beginsThe Guardian Ukrainian Pilot Goes on Trial in RussiaVoice of America BBC News -Washington Post all 449 news articles » |
Staunton, September 22 The Mensk Center for Strategic and Foreign Policy Research says that Moscow has not succeeded in gaining the agreement of the Belarusian side to the establishment of a Russian airbase in Belarus but is going ahead anyway, confident that it can push Mensk around given Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s lack of allies elsewhere.
In a report released September 22, the Center points out that even the language the Russians used when they announced that Vladimir Putin had been presented with an accord on the issue on September 2 shows that there was no agreement to the base from the Belarusian side.
In a report released September 22, the Center points out that even the language the Russians used when they announced that Vladimir Putin had been presented with an accord on the issue on September 2 shows that there was no agreement to the base from the Belarusian side.
The Russian side described the accord as one that had been “worked up with the Belarusian side” rather than the traditional terminology, “agreed to” by both. This means, the report continues, that over the last three months, “consensus on the issue of creating a Russian air base” in Belarus “had not been achieved.”
It also means that the Moscow announcement “is a unilateral initiative” by the Russian side and intended to “accelerate the process” toward an agreement “by the Belarusian side.” And that is the case, the report continues, even though Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev declared that an agreement “should be signed at a comfortable time” for Mensk.
That formulation too is important, the Belarusian Center report continues, because the current moment is “extremely unfavorable” from the point of view of the Belarusian side. First of all, “almost half of the population of the country – more than 45 percent – are against” an agreement. Lukashenka would not want to offend voters just before the presidential election.
Second, the report continues, “the creation of a Russian military base in Belarus instantly crosses out the diplomatic efforts of Mensk, undertaken in 2014-2015 in support of the peace process in Ukraine.” A base would cost Mensk its “neutral status” and undermine Ukraine’s trust in Mensk.
Third, the establishment of such a base would “complicate [Belarusian] relations with Western partners and in fact stop the process of normalization which has been going on for several years.” That in turn would reduce the chances that Belarus could get loans from the IMF or other international bodies.
And fourth, “the establishment of a Russian military base would mean the drawing in of Mensk into the logic of confrontation in Eastern Europe, something which would have negative consequences for Belarus’ cooperation with China” and especially with the possibility that Belarus would be part of a new China-sponsored Silk Road to Europe.
In addition to the issue of timing, there are serious questions arising from the draft agreement. The agreement as written opens the way for further Russian expansion of its forces in Belarus and seeks to force Mensk to agree to any of them in advance, something that a sovereign government inevitably will resist.
The draft accord also includes a “no less strange” provision calling for the base to be used to repel” acts of armed aggression by international terrorist formations,” a proposition that given Moscow’s tendency to refer to Ukrainian resistance as terrorist opens the door for the use of this base against Belarusians as well.
The accord also gives the base commander a unilateral right to make use of Belarusian airspace, a provision that could be used to introduce forces into Belarus against its will that could threaten Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries and at the very least raise tensions across the entire region.
And perhaps most worrisome of all, the accord says that Russian military personnel based there can be used “outside the boundaries of the base” if the Belarusian side is kept informed. How that could be used is obvious given how Moscow made use of Russian military personnel in Crimea.
In short, this accord would drag Belarus into a new cold war with the West, “a development of events which for Belarus would be a catastrophe,” the report concludes. But it points out that this would have negative consequences for Russia as well because it would further isolate Russia and keep it from going beyond its raw materials-based economy.
“War, the escalation of tensions in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the entire post-Soviet space destroys the chance for development” in Russia, the report says. “This is obvious including from the publicly recognized failure of the import substitution policy in Russia over the last years.”
One of the authors of this report, Yury Tsarik, repeated its arguments to Kseniya Kirillova, adding importantly that at his September 18 meeting with Vladimir Putin, Lukashenka continued to resist signing the base accord despite Russian pressure for him to do so and an indications Moscow will go ahead regardless.
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 РБК |
СМИ узнали о решении провести встречу Обамы и Путина на Генассамблее ООН
РБК Встреча Барака Обамы и Владимира Путина во время визита президента России в ООН на следующей неделе состоится, сообщает ТАСС со ссылкой на свой источник. Пресс-секретарь президента Дмитрий Песков это не подтверждает. Президент США Барак Обама и президент ... Источник: Путин встретится с Обамой во время своего визита в ООН Политика 23 сентября, 17:42Информационное агентство России ТАСС Названа дата встречи Путина и ОбамыМосковский комсомолец Песков не подтверждает встречу Путина и Обамы в ООНГазета.Ru NEWSru.com -РИА Новости -Аргументы.ру Все похожие статьи: 42 » |
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 TheBlaze.com |
Why The Panic Over Russia's Involvement in Syria?
TheBlaze.com Tarek Ragheb is an Egyptian American. Senior Adviser to U.S. Aerospace & Defense Corporations (and former VP), he is the founding Chair of the African Business Aviation Association. Ragheb has served as an Officer in the U.S. Air Force and as a U.S. ... and more » |
An already unpredictable global landscape could worsen, writes Robert Service
Russian officials have brushed aside questions about Russia’s military deployment to Syria and warned ominously that there is “only a slim window of opportunity for the USA and Russia to cooperate in Syria.”
The previous post in our Putin in Syria blog can be found here.
Ghani Takes 'Serious Measures' Against Child Sexual Abuseby support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL)
The Afghan presidency says President Ashraf Ghani has undertaken "serious measures" to prevent sexual abuse of children in the country.
Следственный комитет провел эксгумацию останков Николая II и его супруги
Коммерсантъ В Санкт-Петербурге следственная группа Следственного комитета России (СКР) в ходе расследования дела о гибели семьи Романовых в 1918 году провела эксгумацию останков императора Николая II и его супруги Александры Федоровны для проведения дополнительных ... и другие » |
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov did not confirm the news reported by some Russian media earlier today that President Vladimir Putin will meet with US President Barack Obama
Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies.
Special features:
– ‘I Was on Active Duty’: Interview with Captured GRU Officer Aleksandrov
– Meet The Russian Fighters Building A Base Between Mariupol And Donetsk
– ‘There Was No Buk in Our Field’
– With Cash and Conspiracy Theories, Russian Orthodox Philanthropist Malofeyev is Useful to the Kremlin
– Meet The Russian Fighters Building A Base Between Mariupol And Donetsk
– ‘There Was No Buk in Our Field’
– With Cash and Conspiracy Theories, Russian Orthodox Philanthropist Malofeyev is Useful to the Kremlin
UPDATES BELOW
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Many Russians clearly yearn for walls and closed gates and consider it pure madness to open the gates of Europe to those who need help, writes columnist Ivan Sukhov.
A Politician Can't Be Afraid:' Russian Lawmaker Stands To Lose Seat After Taking On Governor, Kremlinby support@pangea-cms.com (Claire Bigg)
An opposition lawmaker known for his vocal criticism of the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine could lose his regional parliamentary seat amid a bitter political standoff with authorities in Russia's Pskov region.
The federal government has been busy creating unconstitutional agencies co-opting policing while simultaneously using a “carrot and stick” approach — unconstitutional federal aid and federal mandates — to absorb and coerce the local police, transforming them into instruments of an emerging national police force.
This subversive transformation of America’s way of policing has been under way for a long time. The American ideal of local police — locally funded and locally controlled — whose job it is to protect the public against violent and fraudulent criminal elements that will always be found in every society, is being radically changed. Over the past decade, this process has accelerated dramatically, with every terrorist incident, riot, police shooting, or upsurge in criminal activity serving as an excuse to further nationalize.
All of us who fly have become accustomed (willing or otherwise) to TSA pat-downs, body scans, interrogations, and other indignities and violations. That is part of the political fallout of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks: the birth of another federal agency, the Transportation Security Administration, TSA. But as is always the case with government, it seems, it did not take long for mission creep to set in. Federal Homeland Security officials soon had TSA units in black military gear leading multiple federal and local agencies in police sweeps of Amtrak and Greyhound bus stations, as well as other “transportation infrastructure” nationwide. By 2011, according to TSA chief John Pistole in testimony to Congress, the TSA was carrying out more than 8,000 of these sweeps a year.
But the TSA’s stupendous growth and reach within the span of a decade represents only a fraction of the spiraling federal police state presence. Virtually every federal agency now has its own SWAT-style paramilitary “police” unit to enforce its edicts and “protect the homeland”: the Departments of State, Education, Agriculture, Energy, and Treasury, for instance, and agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Social Security Administration, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, etc. Not to mention the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, the Federal Protective Police Service, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
There are now tens of thousands of federal “police” running around in an assortment of uniforms, even though the U.S. Constitution provides no authority for — and in fact prohibits — any such federal police agencies. Congress doesn’t even know how many of these rogue units are out there operating. In an attempt to get some handle on this matter, Representative Chris Stewart (R-Utah) introduced, in 2014, the Regulatory Agency Demilitarization Act (H.R.4934) directing the U.S. Comptroller General to submit an annual report to Congress providing details on the number and description of SWAT-style units of federal regulatory agencies and their weapons, training, and purpose. The bill has 31 cosponsors but has gone nowhere in the GOP-controlled House; Republicans have been as blasé toward the dangers of a national police state as have Democrats.
Just as important as, if not more important than, this burgeoning federal police-state apparatus are the various means by which federal politicians and bureaucrats are transforming our local police into fedgov adjuncts by coopting them with grants, equipment, and training. The FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, for example, trains thousands of local peace officers and law-enforcement executives. Less well known are the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), which, according to the FLETC website, “provide tuition-free and low cost training to state, local, campus, tribal and territorial law enforcement agencies. Programs are conducted across the United States and are normally hosted by a local law enforcement agency. Training is also conducted at FLETC facilities located in Glynco (Brunswick), GA; Artesia, NM; Charleston, SC; and Cheltenham, MD.”
Although these programs predate his administration, President Obama has been moving full speed ahead for nationalization and militarization of America’s local law enforcement. Indeed, he has done more to militarize law enforcement and transferred more weapons and military equipment to local law enforcement than perhaps any other president in U.S. history. When the riots and violence broke out in Ferguson, Missouri, following the police shooting of Michael Brown, many television viewers nationwide were as alarmed by the fearsome images of armored military vehicles and police in military gear as by the scenes of rioting and looting. Incredibly (but true to form, nevertheless), in his August 14, 2014 press conference, President Obama denounced the Ferguson police response. And he warned, “There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement, and we don’t want those lines blurred,” as though he had had nothing to do with blurring those lines. Likewise, Obama’s liberal Democratic sidekick in Missouri, Governor Jay Nixon, claimed he was “thunderstruck” by the sight of police in military gear on the streets of Ferguson. But only a few months earlier, Governor Nixon himself had signed off on delivery of the military equipment to Missouri police.
President’s Task Force
At a May 2015 press conference in Camden, New Jersey, President Obama announced plans to implement recommendations laid out by the “President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing,” a multi-agency body that he had created by decree to examine law-enforcement issues. Unsurprisingly, the outfit recommended national “standards” for police, and much more, be implemented at state and local government levels, using unconstitutional federal bribes as a primary mechanism.
The new set of rules on military gear endorsed by Obama reportedly does include rolling back, if only slightly, a 25-year-old federal program established under Section 1033 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) used to militarize local police with “surplus” war-fighting tools. But his administration has previously used that authority to expand police militarization to unprecedented levels, even while attacking gun rights of American citizens and claiming “weapons of war” do not belong in the hands of civilians.
“We’ve seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like there’s an occupying force as opposed to a force that’s part of the community that’s protecting them and serving them,” Obama said at his speech in Camden, which employed a backdrop of police officers in uniform. “It can alienate and intimidate local residents and send the wrong message.” But it is the fedgov military gear and the adversarial attitude instilled by fedgov training that are alienating local citizens.
The measures Obama has taken toward reining in federal distribution of certain types of military equipment to local police forces include limiting the dispersal of vehicles that use tank-style tracks instead of wheels, bayonets, weaponized aerial vehicles, certain high-caliber guns, grenade launchers, camouflage uniforms, and more.
But as The New American has been reporting for years, even though the federal government has no business militarizing or meddling in local law enforcement to begin with, the feds, and especially the Obama administration, have played a crucial role in transforming and arming America’s police departments. Now that cops are addicted to federal aid, the White House plans to use that addiction to close the trap and increase federal control over local departments.
Buried in the details is an element of the Obama rules that has received far less public attention and scrutiny. “There’s other equipment that may be needed in certain cases, but only with proper training,” Obama said, hinting at the elephant in the room that went mostly unnoticed by the press. In other words, the feds will continue to militarize local law enforcement — provided officers receive additional federally mandated “training” and comply with new “record-keeping” demands and “standards” promulgated by the administration. Police departments that submit to the Obama administration’s control will be able to continue receiving armored vehicles, specialized weaponry, manned aircraft, drones, battering rams, and even explosives, a fact most of the media ignored.
If you are concerned that your local police have taken on too much the appearance of Imperial Stormtroopers out of Star Wars, do not be misled into believing the new Obama regulations will remedy that disturbing trend; they are aimed more at making sure the Stormtroopers are under the control of a federal Empire, rather than a local governing authority.
In his famous work A Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations (1868), Judge Thomas Cooley, one of America’s eminent jurists of the 19th century, noted:
In the American constitutional system the power to establish the ordinary regulations of police has been left to the individual States, and it cannot be taken from them, either wholly or in part, and exercised under legislation by Congress.
Judge Cooley was not expressing sentiments that were out of the mainstream. Indeed, he was merely stating commonly understood and accepted jurisprudence.
In the The Federalist, No. 45, James Madison underscored the strict limitations on the proposed new national government. “The powers delegated by the … Constitution to the federal government are few and defined,” he declared. “Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite,” Madison continued. “The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.” The regulation of the “internal order” of communities — that is to say, “police powers” — was clearly understood as among the “unenumerated powers” reserved to the states and the people.
Our Constitution only provides for the federal government to punish three crimes: treason, piracy, and counterfeiting. Yet, today, we have thousands of crimes listed in the federal code — from robbery, rape, and arson to mislabeling produce and spray-painting graffiti. This has happened by steady usurpation, without constitutional amendment. It is not unusual now for local police and sheriff departments to assist federal agencies in illegal, warrantless searches/seizures/arrests, such as aiding, for instance, the FDA or the EPA, as their SWAT units swoop down on a farmer who is selling raw milk or whose cows have, allegedly, pooped in a stream.
Why do local police chiefs and sheriffs meekly (or in some cases, enthusiastically) accept this fedgov violation of their constitutionally protected local jurisdiction? Part of the answer is that many have been bought off. Literally. They have received millions of dollars in federal grants and/or equipment and training.
Other federal programs that are coopting and corrupting local police include:
• The federal war on drugs: Regardless of one’s opinion on what the proper governmental response should be to individual use of “recreational” narcotics, under our Constitution, the federal government’s authority is very limited, extending only to interstate commerce in drugs, interdicting drugs entering the United States, drug use by U.S. military personnel, drug possession and use on federal property, and use of the U.S. Mail for drug transport. Our Constitution leaves to each state the authority to craft the laws and policies on this matter. Yet, federal authorities have usurped this power, and state and local governments have weakly acquiesced.
• Asset forfeiture, or property confiscation: A major feature of the “war on drugs,” asset forfeiture allows local police to share in the booty confiscated from alleged illegal drug offenders. Not only does this greatly incentivize police corruption, but it has also resulted in the violation of the rights of many innocent citizens, whose properties have been seized even though they have no involvement in the drug trade.
• Buffer Zone Protection Program (BZPP): Under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the BZPP is flooding local jurisdictions with Big Brother surveillance technology: night vision cameras, facial recognition technology, license plate readers, stop light camera video feeds, etc.
• Fusion centers: According to the DHS, “Fusion centers conduct analysis and facilitate information sharing, assisting law enforcement and homeland security partners in preventing, protecting against, and responding to crime and terrorism.” By the end of 2012, the DHS had marked 1,849 locations scattered throughout the 50 states that would serve as regional surveillance collection centers. The DHS has spent many millions of dollars establishing these federal-local “collaborative” efforts. Yet they have not exhibited a single terrorist caught during the program, though thwarting terrorism served as justification for the program.
Federal Coercion
But fear of losing their welfare dole is not the only reason local police and sheriffs cower before the unconstitutional trespasses of federal authorities. Another reason is the fear of federal prosecution. Over the past two decades, many local law-enforcement organizations have been threatened with lawsuits by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. That legislation, signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton, is most remembered as the so-called “three strikes” law, which, like similar state laws, mandates life imprisonment for three-time offenders. The mass incarceration of African-American men — which is now being decried as evidence of America’s “structural racism” — can be traced to this law, which was written by “liberal” Democrats Representative Jack Brooks of Texas and then-Senator (now Vice President) Joe Biden of Delaware. Another feature of this law was to establish in the DOJ Civil Rights Division the pretended authority to investigate and prosecute local law-enforcement agencies for an alleged “pattern and practice” of violating the rights of citizens. Usually this has centered on charges by local activists that police use racial profiling or excessive force.
To avoid costly legal battles and the prospect of a possible court-ordered “reform” mandate, many cities and counties enter into “consent decrees” with the Justice Department that require the law-enforcement agencies in question to jump through hoops designed by the federal dictocrats. The Obama administration has been especially aggressive in pushing this DOJ takeover of local policing. In a December 4, 2014 press release entitled “Police Reform and Accountability Accomplishments Under Attorney General Eric Holder,” the DOJ boasted: “In the past five fiscal years, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has opened over 20 investigations into police departments, more than twice as many investigations than were opened in the previous five fiscal years. The department has entered into 15 agreements with law enforcement agencies, including nine consent decrees.”
Those consent decrees cover the police departments of New Orleans, Portland (Oregon), Detroit, Albuquerque, East Haven (Connecticut), Warren (Ohio), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Eric Holder’s successor, Loretta Lynch, has continued the Obama legacy, using the conflagrations in Ferguson and Baltimore to kick up the DOJ’s activities in this arena even more.
Thus, wielding both the carrot and the stick, the would-be federal overlords are dramatically changing the face of policing in America. However, in using illegal, unconstitutional methods to do so, they are guilty of precisely what they are charging local police with doing, which is violating the law (the Constitution) under the color of law.
Americans who mistakenly believe that these “reforms” will yield more accountable, responsive police forces are in for a rude awakening. As alarming trends already show, the centralizing/nationalizing movement will always tend to lead toward a police model that more closely resembles Hitler’s Gestapo or Stalin’s KGB than Andy of Mayberry’s friendly force.
The above article appears in our "Police Under Fire" special report. (Click on the image to download a PDF of the full report.)
Photo at top: AP Images
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Last Updated Sep 23, 2015 11:38 AM EDT
BEIRUT - U.S.-trained rebels who recently returned to Syria said Wednesday they have lost contact with one of their officers and that they are investigating reports he defected and handed over his weapons to al Qaeda's branch in the country.
The allegations come only days after the group of about 70 rebels returned to Syria after training in Turkey as part of the U.S. program to train and equip rebels to take part in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS.)
If confirmed, defection among the ranks of U.S.-trained rebels would be an embarrassment to the program, which has already been criticized as offering too little too late and failing to provide enough protection for those trained rebels once inside Syria.
U.S. Central Command released a statement Wednesday denying reports of the defection and loss of arms.
"Approximately 70 graduates of the Coalition's Syria Train and Equip Program successfully returned to Syria over the weekend and are currently operating there as New Syrian Forces," the statement read.
Central command added that the rebels do not operate directly under their control, but are supported by them, and their mission is to fight ISIS.
U.S. officials have begun an overhaul of the efforts, including suggesting that the newly trained fighters operate as the New Syrian Forces alongside Syrian Kurds, Sunni Arab and other anti-ISIS forces.
The American program to train rebels to fight ISIS was once housed under the title of "Division 30." However, Pentagon officials appear to be distancing themselves from that moniker.
On Wednesday, the commander of Division 30, Major Anas Ibrahim Ubayd, announced that he and his men now operate under the name "The Atarib Revolutionaries Group" which he defines as "an independent rebel groups" dedicated to fighting the Syrian regime, and not ISIS, reports CBS News' Khaled Wassef.
The U.S. Central Command confirmed Monday the graduates have re-entered Syria with their weapons and equipment and were to operate alongside existing western-allied forces.
Another previous batch of rebels trained by the U.S. had previously been hit hard by their rival the Nusra Front, the al Qaeda branch in Syria.
The first trained group, made up of 54 fighters, was wiped out by the Nusra Front soon after it returned to Syria in July. In the attack, several members of the group were killed and others taken hostage while many fighters fled. U.S. Central Command spokesman, Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder, said that those rebels largely disbanded - of the 54, one was killed; one is being held captive; nine are back in the fight; 11 are available but not in Syria; 14 returned to Syria but quit the U.S. program and 18 are unaccounted for.
The new allegations, pertaining to the second group of U.S.-trained rebels, were first circulated on social media after the group returned to Syria last week. The U.S.-based SITE intelligence group, which monitors militant websites, said supporters of the Nusra Front first reported that a group of those newly trained by America had handed over their weapons to the militants after they were arrested. The report made no mention of a defecting officer.
Other supporters of the Nusra Front posted pictures of what they said were weapons seized from the U.S. trained rebels.
In response to the allegations, Division 30 posted a statement on its Facebook page saying it is investigating. If allegations are true, the group said, it will refer the officer in question to a military tribunal on charges of treason because the weapons "belong to the Syrian people." The group acknowledged losing contact with the officer but denied any contacts with al Qaeda's affiliate.
The Times of London reports that the chief of staff of Division 30, Colonel Mohammad al-Daher, confirmed the reports of the mass defection in an interview from Turkey, and he slammed the American effort on the ground.
"The program of establishing and training 30th Division is not serious: 30th Division was not well equipped to go into action," he said, adding the force had been infiltrated by Islamic extremists.
The program to train and equip fighters on the ground aligned with the U.S. aim of ridding the country of ISIS has been pilloried on Capitol Hill. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called the program an "abysmal failure" last week.
Gen. Lloyd Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that the U.S. is looking at better ways to deploy the Syrian forces, but he agreed that the U.S. will not reach its goal of training 5,000 in the near term. He said only four or five U.S-trained Syrian fighters remain on the battlefield against ISIS militants.
© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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President Obama welcomes Pope Francis at the White House, hails his message of 'love and hope'.
The pontiff appears to be addressing the child abuse scandal.
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