The European Union Times |
- Russia and NATO ready for confrontation
- Qatar Threatens Military Intervention in Syria, Damascus Warns of “Harsh Response”
- UN blames Israel for escalation of violence
- IMF Warns Saudi Arabia May Go Bankrupt by 2020
- MTV Wishes Car Accidents on Kids Dressed in “Offensive” Halloween Costumes
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Posted: 22 Oct 2015 03:39 PM PDT
 On October 21, NATO’s Trident Juncture large-scale military exercises have entered their active phase. In turn, Russia is holding large-scale combat shooting drills in the south of the country. There are 36,000 troops taking part in the NATO drills in the Mediterranean region. The active phase of the NATO drills will take place from October 21 till November 6. More than 30 member countries of the alliance, as well as their partners will participate: 140 combat aircraft and 60 warships will be involved in the drills. The exercises will test NATO’s rapid deployment forces and the new joint task group. The latter is a part of the grand plan “of action to prepare for war.” Meanwhile, Russia is conducting large-scale combat shooting exercises with the participation of over 2,000 troops, T-90 tanks, Grad multiple rocket launchers – more than 300 pieces of equipment in total. Reportedly, the command of the Russian Army was left satisfied with the results of the drills. Source           |
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Posted: 22 Oct 2015 03:33 PM PDT
 Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiyah said on Wednesday his nation is considering direct military intervention in Syria to help jihadi mercenaries overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad. “If a military intervention will protect the Syrian people from the brutality of the regime, we will do it,” Attiyah said. “If Qatar carries out its threat to militarily intervene in Syria, then we will consider this a direct aggression … Our response will be very harsh,” Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad said in response to Attiyah’s remark. Qatar has played a major role in arming and supporting the Wahhabist mercenaries. Gulf States, Turkey Arm and Support Jihadists In April it was reported Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar had increased the transfer of weapons and financial aid to Jaish al-Fatah, or the Army of Conquest, a command structure for jihadist groups in Syria that includes Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar ash-Sham, Jund al-Aqsa and the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria linked Sham Legion. In March Jaish al-Fatah captured the provincial capital of the Idlib province and the following month took Jisr al-Shughur. It also took al-Mastumah, a large military base in the area. More recently al-Nusra, Ahrar al Sham, Jund al Aqsa, and the Turkistan Islamic Party targeted Shiite villages in the Idlib province. Jaish al-Fatah launched an offensive in July to take neighboring Latakia and Hama provinces. Latakia is home to the al-Assad family. The Tartus province lies south of Latakia. The Russians have a naval facility on the Mediterranean in the province’s capital city. Jaish al-Fatah has also fought to take the Sahl al-Ghab, a strategic area that lies between Latakia, Hama and Idlib provinces. Joureen in Sahl al-Ghab is a supply line for the Syrian Army. Syrian Coalition Moves to Take Back Territory The Syrian military, backed up Russian air support and the participation of Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah troops, announced on October 1 it is prepared to launch an offensive to take back the Idlib and Hama countryside from the jihadist mercenaries. On October 14 the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami claimed Cuban troops have joined Russian, Iranian, Lebanese Hezbollah and possibly Chinese soldiers assisting the al-Assad government. The foreign troops are required because thousands of military-age men in Syria have fled the country. “The Syrian army was about to collapse because none of the young people wanted to do their military service and went to Europe,” a Lebanese intelligence official told McClatchy. “Putin brought weapons, planes and artillery, but this is never enough, you need men,” he added. “And the Iranians produced them by bringing in more from (Hezbollah), Iraq and even other places.” Source      |
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Posted: 22 Oct 2015 03:27 PM PDT
 UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson addresses the Security Council during a debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the violence in the occupied Palestinian territories, on October 22, 2015.UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson said on Thursday that the crisis in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, is the result of Israel’s “stifling and humiliating occupation of Palestinian territories for almost half a century.” Eliasson made the remarks in a briefing to the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East in a meeting chaired by Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, the foreign minister of Spain, which holds the 15-member body’s presidency for October. “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has, once again, entered a dangerous phase. The eruption of violence gripping the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, as well as Israel and Gaza shows no signs of abating. From 1 to 21 October, 47 Palestinians and seven Israelis have been killed. More than 5,000 Palestinians and some 70 Israelis have been injured,” he noted. During the meeting, the official also referred to Israel’s settlement constructions as one of the causes of the growing violence in the occupied territories. “This crisis would not have erupted… if the Palestinian people had a perspective of hope towards a viable Palestinian state,” he stated. “They see, instead, the growth of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, which… poses growing security risks to the Palestinian population,” the UN official stressed, adding, “They see the emergence of a parallel de facto settler community, with better infrastructure, better services and better security than in Palestinian populated areas.” He also warned Israel against any move to change the status quo of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, slammed “the level of force used by Israeli security forces,” and called on Israeli authorities “to ensure a prompt and independent investigation into incidents where use of force has resulted in death or injury, and to ensure accountability where there is evidence of wrongdoing.” The fresh wave of tensions was triggered by the Israeli regime’s imposition of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque in August. Palestinians are also angry at increasing violence by Israeli settlers who frequently storm the mosque, the third holiest site in Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina. They say the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the compound. Source      |
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Posted: 22 Oct 2015 03:12 PM PDT
 Saudi Arabia may go bankrupt within the next five years if the government maintains its current spending habits, the International Monetary Fund said in a report Wednesday. Saudi authorities are already planning spending cuts as the world’s biggest oil exporter seeks to cut its budget deficit created by the drop in crude prices. Saudi officials have repeatedly said that the kingdom’s economy is strong enough to weather the plunge in crude prices as it did in similar crises, when its finances were under more strain. But the IMF said measures being considered by oil exporters “are likely to be inadequate to achieve the needed medium-term fiscal consolidation. Under current policies, countries would run out of buffers in less than five years because of large fiscal deficits.” The fall of the price of oil, which accounts for about 80% of Saudi Arabia’s economy, has been absorbed by the hundreds of billions of dollars the kingdom has accumulated in the past decade. Saudi’s debt as a percentage of gross domestic product fell to less than 2% in 2014, the lowest in the world, Bloomberg reported. In August, net foreign assets fell to the lowest level in more than two years. The drop in oil prices has prompted the government to sell bonds for the first time since 2007, with the kingdom’s finances further strained by its war in Yemen. The IMF expects Saudi’s budget deficit to rise to more than 20% of GDP this year after King Salman announced one-time bonuses for public-sector workers following his accession to the throne in January. A number of such one-off spending proposals this year have added to the spending needs, Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department at the IMF, told Bloomberg in an interview in Dubai. “The budget deficit in Saudi Arabia does go down substantially as a share of GDP over the next five years but it still remains high over this period, all the more reason to identify ways in which it can be brought down further to more a manageable level,” he said. David Butter, associate fellow at Chatham House in London, told Bloomberg that a crisis is not imminent, but if the government fails to develop sustainable non-oil revenue over the next five to 10 years, “then of course, they’re in big trouble,” he said. Source      |
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Posted: 22 Oct 2015 03:05 PM PDT
An MTV News video wishes violent car accidents on parents who dress their kids up in “offensive” Halloween costumes, another insight into how the cult of political correctness is increasingly driven by radical ideology. The clip features a number of Halloween costumes that the MTV presenters deem to be politically incorrect, including a Native American outfit, a Geisha Girl, an Arabian Sultan and a Rastafarian. The MTV video does not make reference to Cowboy outfits, which by the rules of their argument would be considered offensive because they culturally appropriate white 19th century Americans from the old west, or Oktoberfest costumes – which might be considered xenophobic since they mimic white German beer maids. One of the presenters suggests that Child Protective Services should be called on parents who dress their toddlers like Arabian belly dancers, while another host goes even further. Referring to a Confederate General outfit, the presenter states, “If you buy this costume for your kid, I hope that you get into a car accident and have to be saved by black paramedics.” Another woman featured in the video also invokes the racist stereotype that all white people like to run around in Confederate General outfits. The video serves as a reminder that joyless progressives and social justice warriors are on a crusade to have absolutely everything imaginable – even down to kids’ Halloween costumes – deemed “racist” or “offensive” as part of their war on fun. They’re also not afraid to invoke violence as a punishment for anyone who dares dissent against their radical new form of puritanism. Source     |
