Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday 4 November 2015

The European Union Times


Posted: 03 Nov 2015 07:39 AM PST

A very curious Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that Chairman of The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), Alexander Bastrykin, has opened a single proceeding criminal case under Article 263, Part 3 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code on the fact of the Islamic State’s shootdown of Flight 9268 en route from Egypt to St. Petersburg and has further labeled this catastrophe as a “political event”.
According to this report, Chairman Bastrykin communicated these orders to the Federation Security Council (FSC) from Cairo today where he is meeting with various Russian, Egyptian, and other interested international officials, regarding the senseless slaughter of 244 innocents aboard Flight 9268, and where the Obama regime provided “simultaneous” proof that their satellites too had detected the firing of a missile towards this aircraft—and which we had previously reported on in our 1 November report titled Islamic State Shootdown Of Russian Plane “Will Be Avenged” Vows Russia.

Though Obama regime “anonymous” officials have told their American mainstream press sycophants only that their satellites detected a “heat flash” at the time Flight 9268 was destroyed, and US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated it was possible the Islamic State was responsible, this report continues, the classified versions of this information provided to the Federation by them shows the “devastating truth” of what occurred.
And most horrible about the information provided to the Federation by the Americans, this report says, is the “apparent” assistance of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the shootdown of Flight 9268.
Fueling the SVR’s concerns of the CIA’s complicity with the Islamic State in the shooting down of Flight 9268, this report notes, was the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) warning issued on 9 September telling British aircraft overflying the area where this disaster took place not to fly below 25,000 feet and US aircraft not to fly below 26,000 feet.

In tracing the origination of this 9 September warning to British and American flights over Egypt’s Sinai, this report continues, SVR intelligence analysts tracked it to the US Defense Internet NOTAM Service, which in turn had issued it based on CIA information they had received from Yemen.
While continuing to follow the “information tree” related to this 9 September warning, this report says, SVR “ground analysts” discovered a CIA operating base in Yemen’s capital Sanaa wherein was discovered highly sophisticated aircraft radar and communication equipment whose purpose of use is as yet still unknown. [Note: speculation in this report suggests this equipment has the ability to alter/mask an aircrafts radar path and altitude making it appear to be flying higher or lower than it actually is]
Upon the discovery of this CIA base, this report continues, SVR “ground analysts” operating in Yemen affected the “arrest/detention” of the two American nationals found in possession of this equipment within 3 hours of the destruction of Flight 9268—and who immediately claimed they worked for the United Nations, but which the UN stated they did not.
Important to note, SVR analysts in this report state, is that with the destruction of Flight 9268 now being classified as a “political event”, its ramifications extend well beyond “normal considerations” and are now at a level of those events gravely affecting the national security of the entire Federation.
And to how grave this situation actually is, this report concludes, was evidenced by President Putin earlier today when after receiving Chairman Bastrykin’s report he ordered the Federation Security Council to assess Russia’s readiness to survive a nuclear, chemical or biological disaster and told them to stockpile protective equipment if necessary.
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Posted: 03 Nov 2015 05:49 AM PST



How scary are your jack-o’-lanterns? Scarier than you think, according to the Energy Department, which claims the holiday squash is responsible for unleashing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Most of the 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins produced in the U.S. end up in the trash, says the Energy Department’s website, becoming part of the “more than 254 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) produced in the United States every year.”
Municipal solid waste decomposes into methane, “a harmful greenhouse gas that plays a part in climate change, with more than 20 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide,” Energy says.
What’s a Halloween-loving pumpkin carver to do?
Turn that pumpkin in to … energy?
Municipal solid waste can be used to harness bioenergy, the Energy Department says, which can help the U.S. become less dependent on carbon-based fuels while limiting stress on landfills by reducing waste. The agency has partnered with industry to develop and test two integrated biorefineries — “facilities capable of efficiently converting plant and waste material into affordable biofuels, biopower and other products.”
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Posted: 03 Nov 2015 05:12 AM PST

Fresh back from Kiev, Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley called Russia “aggressive” and “adversarial to the interests of the United States,” claiming that having nuclear weapons and the ability to use them makes Russia the foremost threat to the US.
Russia is the only country in the world with the nuclear capability to destroy the United States, which makes it an existential threat, Milley told the audience at the Defense One summit in Washington, DC on Monday. Moscow’s recent behavior suggested that Russia would be willing to use such weapons, the general added, saying that Russia has been violating “the Westphalian order” since about 2008 by “invading sovereign nations.”
If that sounds familiar, that’s because Milley used the exact same phrases during his confirmation hearing before the US Senate this July. The only difference is that he wore a blue service uniform then, and chose a camouflage combat uniform (ACU) for his conference appearance Monday.
What’s more, the phrasing most likely was not even his own: Two weeks prior to Milley’s confirmation hearing, General James Dunford used the exact same language at his own Senate confirmation hearing for the post of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dunford previously commanded the US Marine Corps.
“I would say that Russia’s recent behavior is adversarial to the interests of the United States,” Milley said, citing “aggressive” exercises and patrols by Russian aircraft, submarines and troops – inside Russia – for the past “four-five-six-seven” years.
“Russia bears close watching,” the general added.
When asked whether this means Russia should be treated like a foe and not a partner, Milley executed a fighting retreat, urging a “strength and balance sort of approach, which is our current policy.”
Diplomacy is a “bit more nuanced” than a binary calculation, he noted. While Russian “aggression” should be fought with sanctions and NATO posturing, the US should work with Moscow on matters of mutual interest and convenience, such as the Iran nuclear deal.
This just happens to be the official party line of the Obama administration, as espoused by Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and President Barack Obama himself on a number of occasions.
Between the talking points and clichés, such as “Freedom isn’t free,” Milley leavened his presentation with references to the army’s favorite book on military philosophy, On War, which was written almost two centuries ago by Prussian officer Carl von Clausewitz. The unfinished book was published in 1832, following Clausewitz’s death during a cholera outbreak.
Though many of his observations have been questioned since, and others grown into truisms from overuse, Clausewitz at least knew a thing or two about Russians, having fought alongside them against Bonaparte in the Napoleonic wars.
Instead of honoring the Pentagon tradition of treating his audience to a PowerPoint presentation, Milley offered canned responses to questions from Fox News defense analyst Jennifer Griffin.
One of Griffin’s remarkably insightful inquiries was whether the US could defeat Russia in a ground war.
“Our capabilities today are plenty good enough to deal with anything that Russia has,” Milley retorted, ignoring his own words about Russia’s nuclear capabilities.
Milley had the unenviable job of arguing that the US Army was not “hollow” and could do everything asked of it, while at the same time pleading for more funding, troops and gear.
“To maintain our way of life, to maintain a military that protects that way of life, is a very expensive endeavor,” he said.
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Posted: 03 Nov 2015 04:27 AM PST

Toddlers in Australian childcare centres would inevitably come under the radar of spy organisations and counter-terrorism police, a gathering of hundreds of Muslim men, women and children has been told.
More than 500 people flocked on Sunday to a forum in south-western Sydney addressing the “criminalisation” of the Islamic community in Australia.
They were told Muslim children should not be forced to sing the Australian anthem and that “deradicalisation” was an agenda of forced assimilation.
Organised by the controversial Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) – the organisation that former prime minister Tony Abbott wanted banned – the conference heard the Muslims were being demonised over their faith.
“Deradicalisation has come to mean making Muslims less Islamic, more Western, more secular, more submissive to secular, Liberal political … norms,” HuT spokesman Uthman Badar said.
“It is nothing more than an agenda of forced assimilation justified by exaggerated fears of a security threat.”
He said Muslim children should not be forced to sing the national anthem.
“The insistence of senior government ministers that Muslim children sing the national anthem – an anthem that reflects a particular disputed view of history and celebrates particular ideological values … Why should they be forced to sing it?” he asked the crowd, gathered at The Bellevue function centre in Bankstown.
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Posted: 03 Nov 2015 04:07 AM PST

Obama’s decision to send Special Forces into Syria is being widely viewed as a US military escalation in the country. The troop dispatch also signals that the US trying to forestall Russian successes in wiping out Washington’s regime-change assets in Syria.
In short, the US Special Forces are being used as “human shields” to curb Russian air strikes against anti-government mercenaries, many of whom are instrumental in Washington’s regime-change objective in Syria.
First of all, we need to view a host of developments, including the hastily convened “peace talks” in Vienna, as a response by the US and its allies to the game-changing military intervention by Russia. That intervention, beginning on September 30, has not only dealt massive blows to militants, it has completely changed the balance of forces to give the Assad government the upper hand in the war against foreign-backed extremists. That, in turn, has sent the US-led powers trying to topple Damascus into disarray.
Recall the scattered reactions from Washington and its allies, including Britain, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. At first, Washington tried to rubbish Vladimir Putin’s order to aid his Syrian ally with airstrikes as “doomed to fail”.
Then there were overblown, unverified, claims of civilian casualties from Russian strikes, plus there were American claims that Russian cruise missiles had gone wildly astray, hitting Iran. There was also much angst over Russia striking “moderate rebels” instead of the Islamic State terror network. All such accusations, encouraged with Western media amplification, were designed to undermine Russia’s military operation.
Then there were threats from Saudi Arabia and Qatar that they would launch direct military action in Syria to “protect” the populace from the joint firepower of Assad and Putin. That idea was quickly shelved (one wonders by whom?).
Another seeming knee-jerk response came from Turkey and rightwing politicians and pundits in the US which revived talks about the creation of “safe havens” in northern Syria, ostensibly to protect civilian refugees, but also tacitly and more importantly, to give cover to “rebel” groups from Russian air strikes and Syrian government ground troops.
None of these reactions have gained credibility despite Western media hype. On the contrary, it soon became clear that Russia’s military intervention in Syria was a masterstroke by Putin, wiping out large swathes of the anti-government mercenaries, stabilizing the Assad government, and winning much popular support both within Syria and across the Middle East, and indeed around the world.
Last week, America’s top military official, General Joseph F Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate committee that Russia’s air support had changed everything. “The balance of forces right now are in Assad’s advantage,” he said.
This is the context in which to interpret the latest, surprise move by Obama to send Special Forces into Syria. It is more about inhibiting Russian success in destroying the sundry anti-regime forces on the ground than about either “helping the fight against Islamic State” as claimed, or about misgivings of a large-scale American invasion.
The troop contingent that Obama has ordered amounts to 50 Special Forces personnel. That is hardly going to be a decisive blow to Islamic State militants, even if we believe the official rationale for their deployment.
The White House, in its announcement, was at pains to emphasize that the troops would not be in a combat role and would only be acting to “advise and train” Kurdish fighters and others belonging to the little-known Syrian Arab Coalition.
But here is perhaps the significant part of the story. “The move could potentially put the American troops in the cross hairs of Russia,” reports the New York Times. Significantly, too, the Pentagon will not be informing the Russian military of the exact whereabouts of its ground personnel.
That suggests that the real purpose for Obama sending in the troops is to restrict Russian offensive operations by introducing the risk of bombing American forces. In effect, the US Special Forces are being used as human shields to protect American regime-change assets on the ground.
These assets include an array of jihadist mercenary brigades, which the US and its allies have invested billions of dollars in for the objective of regime change in Syria. The misnomer of “moderate rebels” belies abundant evidence that the mercenaries include Al Qaeda-linked terror groups, including Islamic State. CIA supplies of anti-tank TOW missiles as well as Toyota jeeps are just a glimpse of the foreign covert-sponsorship.
Russia’s devastating air campaign over the past month – over 1,600 targets destroyed according to Moscow – has no doubt caused apoplexy in Washington, London, Paris, Ankara, Riyadh and Doha. An urgent stop to their “losses” had to be invoked. But the foreign sponsors can’t say it openly otherwise that gives the game away about their criminal involvement in Syria’s war.
This perspective most likely explains the hastily convened “peace conference” in Vienna. US Secretary of State John Kerry’s apparent concern to “stop the bloodshed” does not seem credible as the primary motive. Why the concern now after nearly five years of bloodshed?
It is not about a “quest for peace” as the BBC reported. The move is more credibly about Washington and its allies maneuvering to give their regime-change assets in Syria a reprieve from Russia’s firepower. One of the main points agreed in Vienna this weekend is the implementation of a “nation-wide ceasefire”.
Another indicator of what is really going on are reports this week of the large-scale airlifting of jihadist mercenary groups out of Syria. According to senior Syrian army intelligence, up to 500 mercenaries were flown to Yemen onboard Turkish, Qatari and Emirati planes. The fighters were brought to Yemen’s southern city of Aden from where they were dispatched to battle zones inside Yemen by the American-coordinated Saudi coalition. The US-Saudi coalition is waging war in Yemen to reinstall the regime of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi ousted by Houthi rebels earlier this year.
Aden is under the military control of Saudi and Emirati forces and Yemen’s airspace has been closed off by the coalition coordinated by US and British military planners based in Saudi capital Riyadh. It is inconceivable that plane loads of jihadists could be flown into southern Yemen without the knowledge of Washington.
So what we are seeing here is a concerted effort by Washington and its allies to stem their covert military losses in Syria. Sending in American Special Forces – a seemingly dramatic U-turn by Obama to put boots on the ground in Syria – is just one part of a wider effort to forestall Russian success in stabilizing Syria. These US forces are not about a “deepening of American involvement in a war [Obama] has tried to avoid”, as the New York Times would have us believe. They are being sent in to act as human shields against Russian airstrikes.
The putative ceasefire under a so-called peace process is another element of the US-led salvage operation. The real agenda is about giving Western, Turk and Arab-sponsored jihadists a space to regroup, and if needs be flown out of the Syrian theatre to resume their imperialist function in Yemen and, no doubt, elsewhere when required.
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Posted: 03 Nov 2015 04:02 AM PST

Illegal immigrants in Germany feel they are entitled to homes and cars, according to an article appearing in Dachauer Rundschau.
“I realize that most of them with unrealistic ideas and expectations when they come here. They often ask me: ‘When will I get my house and my car?’” asylum coordinator Isabell Sittner told the newspaper.
In mid-October Syrian migrants filed a case against the state government in Berlin demanding immediate access to shelter and benefits.
Germany is struggling to process the flood of migrants and has proposed establishing transit zones on its borders.
In St. Kanzian in the Austrian state of Carinthia, illegals engaged in a hunger strike and demanded the state give them 2,000 euros each a month, according to a report posted on Unzensuriert.at, an Austrian web portal.
Christian Ragger, the chairman of the Carinthian Freedom Party, said the migrants have misconceptions about Austria and Germany.
In 2012 Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled asylum seekers are entitled to receive the same level of benefits as the country’s welfare recipients.
More than 80% if migrants streaming into Europe are “without formal qualifications,” reports Junge Freiheit daily, citing Germany’s Federal Employment Agency. Only 8% have a college degree and 11% vocational training.
The agency said it will require 3,500 new employees and an increased budget of around 855 million euros to deal with placing hundreds of thousands of migrants in jobs.
The chief executive of Airbus Group, Tom Enders, has called for Germany to deregulate its labor market and create “mini-jobs or low-paid jobs” for unskilled migrants.
“Hundreds of thousands of young people in the refugees centers should not be condemned to sitting around and doing nothing. They will only find an entry into the labour market if we open it up and make it flexible,” Enders wrote in an op-ed appearing in the Sueddeutsche newspaper on October 26.
German states and municipalities are finding it difficult to finance food, supplies, personal monetary allowances, policing, education, childcare, and affordable accommodation.
“Refugees—just like other residents—need a flat, and access to the city’s schools and childcare facilities.,” Helmut Dedy, a bureaucrat at Deutscher Städtetag (the German Association of Cities) told Deutsche Welle.
The German government has denied that it is discussing with the European Union a “solidarity tax” to pay for the massive and unprecedented influx of migrants.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 09:34