Minggu, 31 Agustus 2014

Siwon SJ Menjadi Desainer Tas ‘Helianthus’

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What KPOP - Siwon Super Junior telah menunjukkan sisi lain dari dirinya dengan menjadi desainer tas untuk 'Helianthus'. Siwon telah berkolaborasi dengan mereka untuk merilis koleksi tas yang ia rancang secara pribadi.
Foto Siwon dan tas yang ia rancang  telah dirilis dan terlihat mewah. Desain menampilkan pola bintang 3D yang terlihat chic dan stylist dalam warna hitam dan putih.
Tas ini hanya dirilis sebanyak 200 dengan edisi terbatas pada tanggal 1 September di Lotte Duty Free Shop, Seoul.


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source: dkpopnews 
(whatkpop.blogspot.com)

Foto Kelulusan Nana Orange Caramel Menarik Perhatian di “Roommate”

whatkpop.blogspot.com-Nana_Orange_Caramel

What KPOP - Nana Orange Caramel memiliki kesempatan untuk mengunjungi almamaternya baru-baru ini melalui SBS "Good Sunday-Roommate."
Pada 31 Agustus siaran "Good Sunday-Roommate," Nana kembali ke kota kelahirannya Cheonju bersama dengan Hong Soo Hyun.
Pada hari yang sama, Nana dan Hong Soo Hyun mengunjungi SMA Nana. Sementara di sana, Nana menyelinap mengintip rapornya. Foto kelulusannya kemudian telah menarik perhatian publik.
Melihat dia foto tersebut, Hong Soo Hyun mengatakan, "Yah, menggemaskan."
Dalam rapornya, Nana menulis bahwa keahlian khususnya yaitu penggunaan makeup dan harapannya adalah untuk menjadi stylist di masa depan. Hal ini juga dicatat oleh guru-gurunya bahwa Nana bahagia bersekolah dan berpartisipasi aktif dalam kegiatan sekolah.

source: soompi 
(whatkpop.blogspot.com)

Somalia's Intelligence HQ Attacked By Islamist Rebels

A Somali government soldier holds his fighting position against suspected militants during an attack at the Jilacow underground cell inside a national security compound in Mogadishu August 31, 2014.
Credit: REUTERS/Feisal Omar

Islamist Rebels Attack Intelligence Site In Somalia, 12 Killed -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Islamist rebels blew up a car bomb and gunmen attacked a national intelligence site in Somalia's capital where suspected militants are held, in an assault on Sunday that left at least 12 people dead.

Three soldiers and two civilians were killed along with seven militants, including the suicide bomber who detonated the vehicle packed with explosives, government officials said.

After the initial blast, gunmen stormed the compound but did not reach the underground cells where suspected militants were being detained, Security Ministry spokesman Mohamed Yusuf told reporters at the site.

Read more ....

Update #1: Shebab rebels stage major attack on Somalia intelligence HQ -- AFP
Update #2: Al-Shabab attacks Somalia's intelligence HQ -- Al Jazeera

My Comment: This is an embarrassing intelligence failure.

Islamist Fighters Have Taken Over The Abandoned U.S. Embassy In Libya



Islamist Militia 'Seize' U.S. Embassy Compound In Libya And Post Video Online Of Triumphant Gunmen Leaping Into The POOL While Giving Tours Around The Evacuated Residents Quarters -- Daily Mail

* Footage reportedly taken inside the compound shows men gathered around the embassy villa's swimming pool, with some even jumping in
* An official claims the compound is being 'safeguarded' and was not 'ransacked'
* The compound has been unoccupied since July 26 when U.S. diplomats evacuated to neighboring Tunisia under a U.S. military escort
* It comes near the two-year anniversary of the death of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi

Islamist militiamen stormed the residential annex of America's embassy in Tripoli on Sunday then took the time to give curious journalists in the Libyan capital a tour.

The group has taken up residence in the annex just over a month after diplomats fled to Tunisia over fears of mounting violence in the North African nation in recent months.

An Associated Press journalist walked through the U.S. Embassy compound Sunday after the Dawn of Libya, an umbrella group for Islamist militias, invited onlookers inside.

Windows at the compound had been broken, but it appeared most of the equipment there remained untouched.

A commander for the Dawn of Libya group said his forces had entered and been in control of the compound since last week and are there to protect the compound from looters.

Read more ....

Update #1: Islamist militia now guards US Embassy in Libya -- AP
Update #2: Libyan Armed Faction Takes Over U.S. Embassy Annex In Tripoli -- Reuters

My Comment: I have a feeling that communiques have already been sent to the U.S. State Department from this militia .... and they are promising that they will guard the abandoned U.S. embassy .... but for a price.

Israel To Expand Settlements In West Bank: U.S., Palestinians Protest




State Seizes 1,000 Acres In West Bank


The state has announced plans to appropriate about 1,000 acres of land in the West Bank, close to the spot where three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped in June, the military said Sunday.
“On the instructions of the political echelon… 4,000 dunams at (the settlement of) Gvaot is declared as state land,” the army department charged with administering civil affairs in occupied territory said, adding that concerned parties have 45 days to appeal.
Critics said the move to expropriate the land near Gvaot in the Gush Etzion region, south of Jerusalem, was “a stab in the back” for the Palestinian leadership.


Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Major-General Yoav Mordechai said that the move comes “as the continuation of the political leadership’s directives given at the end of Operation Brothers’ Keeper.”
The Israeli army declared that there was no claim of Palestinian ownership on the land in question, the Ynet news site reported.
Israel accused Hamas of being behind the June 12 abduction and killing of Naftali Fraenkel, 16, Gil-ad Shaar, 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19. The three were last seen at a hitchhiking post outside the settlement of Alon Shvut in the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem.
The abduction sparked Operation Brother’s Keeper, a massive search to locate the teenagers and a crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank, with hundreds arrested. The bodies of the three teens were found near Hebron on June 30, and a number of Israeli hardliners set up unauthorized West Bank outposts in reaction.

The Etzion settlements council welcomed Sunday’s announcement, and said it was the prelude to expansion of the current Gvaot settlement.
It “paves the way for the new city of Gvaot,” a statement said.
“The goal of the murderers of those three youths was to sow fear among us, to disrupt our daily lives and to call into doubt our right to the land,” it said. “Our response is to strengthen settlement.”
Yariv Oppenheimer, the head of dovish group Peace Now, strongly criticized the move and accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having no real diplomatic plan.
“The expropriation is a stab in the back for [Palestinian leader] Mahmoud Abbas and the moderates in the Palestinian Authority, proving again that violence delivers Israeli concessions while nonviolence results in settlement expansion,” Oppenheimer said. “The Israeli government has once again proven that Netanyahu has no diplomatic horizon.”







The US has called for Israel to cancel its plan to appropriate about 1,000 acres of land in the West Bank, close to the spot where three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped in June.
“We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity,” a US official told Reuters. “ This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes… is counterproductive to Israel’s stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians.”

“We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision,” the official said in Washington.
Earlier Sunday, The Palestinian Authority decried Israel’s announcement, with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called for diplomatic action against Israel.

“The Israeli government is committing various crimes against the Palestinian people and their occupied land,” he told AFP.
“The international community should hold Israel accountable as soon as possible for its crimes and raids against our people in Gaza and the ongoing Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the announcement would cause the situation in the region to deteriorate further, and added that settlements in general are illegal, Israel Radio reported.


The Israeli army declared that there was no claim of Palestinian ownership on the land in question, the Ynet news site reported.











Washington says Israel's decision to assign land in Gush Etzion as state land is “counterproductive”.

The United States on Sunday condemned Israel over its decision to assign about 4,000 dunams (988 acres) of land in Judea and Samaria, mostly in Gush Etzion, as state land.
Officials in Washington quoted by the Reuters news agency said that the U.S. sees Israel’s announcement as “counterproductive” to peace efforts.
“We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity,” a State Department official said.

“This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes, planning step they approve and construction tender they issue is counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solutionwith the Palestinians,” the official added.
“We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision,” the official said.
Sunday’s decision is one of Israel's responses to the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teens Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Frenkel, and Gilad Sha'ar. The three were kidnapped in Gush Etzion and their bodies were found several weeks later in a field near Hevron.







Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a Fatah conference in Ramallah that if Israel did not agree to negotiate over a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, he would join international bodies, including the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Israel Radio reported.

“Is the Palestinian nation so trivial in our eyes?” he asked.

Abbas also repeated his criticism of Hamas for refusing to accept a ceasefire in Gaza, causing the deaths of thousands of Palestinians.

On Friday, the International Criminal Court prosecutor said that Palestine was now eligible to join the Rome Statute and file war crimes charges against Israel.

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on August 29 wrote an op-ed in the British newspaper The Guardian to answer charges that the ICC has avoided opening an investigation into alleged war crimes in Gaza due to political pressure.
The Palestinian Authority sought to join the court in May 2009. After three years of research and analysis, the ICC Prosecutor’s Office determined in April 2012 that since Palestine was an “observer entity,” it could not sign on to the Rome Statute.
Several months later, in November 2012, Palestine’s status was upgraded in the United Nations to “non-member observer state,” which gives it legitimacy to join the Rome Statute, Bensouda told The Guardian.
Membership in the ICC would grant Palestine the right to file war crimes against Israel and Israeli figures with the court.
“I have made it clear in no uncertain terms that the office of the prosecutor will execute its mandate, without fear or favor, where jurisdiction is established and will vigorously pursue those — irrespective of status or affiliation — who commit mass crimes that shock the conscience of humanity. My office’s approach to Palestine will be no different if the court’s jurisdiction is ever triggered over the situation,” Bensouda wrote.





An Amazing Video Featuring Some Really Cool Planes And Flying Scenes



WNU Editor: Director Eric Magnan from Airborne Films shares his showreel featuring some really cool planes and flying scenes.

Hat Tip: Theo Spark

A Look At The Legacy Of Adm. William McRaven, The Man Who Hunted Bin Laden, Saddam And Pirates



The Man Who Hunted bin Laden, Saddam And The Pirates -- Peter Bergen, CNN

(CNN) -- On Thursday in Tampa, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel presided over a change of command ceremony during which Adm. William "Bill" McRaven handed over the reins of Special Operations Command to his successor, Gen. Joseph Votel.

As McRaven stepped down he observed, "We are in perilous times." He pointed out that U.S. Special Operations Forces are helping to fight the fast-growing Islamic State in Iraq; the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines; the militant group Boko Haram in Nigeria, and al Qaeda and the Taliban in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

McRaven also said, "We are in the golden age of Special Operations" in which elements of the 67,000 men and women under his command have deployed to 92 countries.

Read more ....

My Comment: A truly long and distinguished career.

A Small But Significant Military Defeat For The Islamic State In Iraq

BBC

Iraqi Forces Said To Break Islamic State’s Siege -- Washington Post

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military carried out airstrikes on Islamic State militants near the besieged Iraqi town of Amerli on Saturday night, boosting morale for thousands of residents who have been trapped inside for two months, Iraqi officials and the Pentagon said.

The assault, which came alongside a coordinated humanitarian aid drop, marks the second time this month that the United States has intervened militarily in Iraq to prevent an Islamic State attack on thousands of trapped civilians.

Iraqi state media said Sunday afternoon that government forces had broken the siege. Kurdish pesh merga fighters also battling the militants near Amerli and reached by telephone confirmed that Iraqi army forces aided by Shiite militias had entered the town. But Kurdish forces continued to fight the jihadists in surrounding villages, they said.

Read more ....



Iraqi And Kurdish Forces With Assistance From U.S. Air Strikes Break The ISIS Siege Of Amerli

Iraqi forces break two-month siege of Amerli: officials -- Reuters
Iraqi Forces Enter Besieged Northern Iraqi Town -- VOA
Iraqi forces break jihadist siege of Amerli -- AFP
US planes drop aid and strike IS positions near Iraq's Amerli -- BBC
Islamic State siege of Amerli broken by Iraqi forces -- Channel 4 News
ISIS siege of Iraqi town over after U.S. airstrikes, aid drops -- BBC
IS in Retreat as Kurdish, Iraqi Forces Advance to Amerli with US Air Support -- Rudaw
Iraqi forces ‘break’ Islamic State’s two-month Amerli siege -- Irish Times

No Democracy For Hong Kong



China Denies Open Elections For Hong Kong -- Globe and Mail

A billionaire media baron pledged to join pro-democracy protests after Beijing offered Hong Kong a form of election that requires patriotic candidates and gives China significant influence in who leads the financial centre.

For months, protesters have threatened to shut down Hong Kong if Beijing did not provide the right to openly nominate and vote for the territory’s powerful chief executive position.

On Sunday, Chinese authorities offered a broad rejection of those pleas, allowing only a form of partially open election — derided by critics as a “bird-cage democracy” — that maintains a secretive system where candidates are nominated by a 1,200-person committee. Those candidates must, the National People’s Congress said Sunday, bear allegiance to China.

“The chief executive shall be a person who loves the country and loves Hong Kong,” the decision text says.

Read more ....

Update #1: China: No open nominations for Hong Kong leader -- AP
Update #2: Fully democratic Hong Kong vote ruled out by China -- Irish Times

My Comment: Here comes the protests.

Iran Lashes At The U.S. Over New Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrives at the airport in Baghdad August 24, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Hadi Mizban/Pool

Iran Says Possible Response To New U.S. Sanctions Could Not Be 'Pleasant' -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Iran's possible response to new U.S. sanctions could "not be pleasant", its foreign minister said on Sunday, raising the prospect of tit-for-tat retribution against the Islamic Republic's old adversary weeks ahead of fresh nuclear talks.

Iranian leaders reacted with dismay to Friday's announcement that Washington was going to penalize a number of Iranian and other foreign companies, banks and airlines for violating sanctions against Tehran, most of which are tied to a decade-old dispute about its nuclear program.

Washington said the moves were a signal that there would be no let-up of sanctions while international talks were underway to ease the economic measures in exchange for Iran's agreement to curb its nuclear activities.

Read more ....

Update #1: Facing Hard-Liners and Sanctions, Iran's Leader Toughens Talk -- NYT
Update #2: Iran FM: Sanctions May Meet Iran's Retaliatory Move -- Fars News Agency

My Comment: Both sides are far apart on resolving the nuclear issue .... but some in the U.S. media still have hope .... Elusive Deal With Iran Could Yield Foreign Policy Legacy for Obama (VOA)

Ukrainian Volunteer Battalions Are Now Claiming That "Hundreds" Of Their Men Have Been Killed In The Past Few Days

Armed pro-Russian separatists escort a column of Ukrainian prisoners of war (L) as they walk across central Donetsk August 24. Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Fears Of Massacre After Accusations Russians Reneged On Safe Passage For Ukrainian Forces -- The Telegraph

Ukrainian forces said pro-Putin forces went back on a promise to allow them to leave encircled town.

Ukrainian volunteer battalions claim "hundreds" of their men have been killed and dozens taken prisoner after pro-Russian forces reneged on an agreement to allow them to withdraw from a besieged town 20 miles east of Donetsk.

The losses came during attempts to withdraw from Ilovaisk, a town of southeast of Donetsk where a Ukrainian force had been surrounded for more than 10 days.

Following days of intense fighting and repeated failures to relieve the trapped troops, the Ukrainian government announced it would surrender the town on Saturday, under a deal that would allow them to withdraw through a so-called "green corridor."

Read more ....

My Comment: I cannot say that I am surprised by these reports .... these Ukrainian volunteer battalions are hated by separatists forces and are a high priority target. As to the fighting .... media reports are more focused on Western reaction to Russia's involvement in the Ukraine civil war ... but my sources .... in both Russia and Ukraine are telling me that many Ukrainian military units have been decimated in the past few days and that casualty rates are in the hundreds (if not more).

Islamic State To Seek Biological Weapons: Barbarians At The Gate





Plans Discovered: Islamic State Said To Seek Biological Weapons




Plans to develop biological weapons and instructions on how to weaponize the bubonic plague from infected animals were found on a laptop belonging to a Tunisian Islamic State jihadist, by a Syrian rebel commander from a moderate group in northern Syria.

The laptop was seized during an attack on an IS hideout in Idlib province, near the Turkish border, in January, according to the Syrian commander, dubbed Abu Ali, Foreign Policy Magazine reported.

He said IS men fled the building before it was attacked by his men.

Among the over 30,000 files found on the machine — including a trove of documents containing jihadist propaganda, instructions on bomb-making, training for deadly campaigns and lessons on how to use disguises to evade capture — Foreign Policy said it found evidence that the laptop user was teaching himself about biological weapons, “in preparation for a potential attack that would have shocked the world.”


Information gleaned from the laptop revealed that it belonged to a Muhammad S, a Tunisian national with a background in physics and chemistry. Details indicated he joined the Islamic State after having left Tunisia sometime in 2011.
A 19-page document in Arabic on the laptop detailed the “advantages” of the deadly weapons and included instructions of how to test them safely, before use in an attack.






Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices (VBIED). High-level federal law enforcement, intelligence and other sources have confirmed to Judicial Watch that a warning bulletin for an imminent terrorist attack on the border has been issued. Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies have all been placed on alert and instructed to aggressively work all possible leads and sources concerning this imminent terrorist threat.
Specifically, Judicial Watch sources reveal that the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) is confirmed to now be operating in Juarez, a famously crime-infested narcotics hotbed situated across from El Paso, Texas. Violent crimes are so rampant in Juarez that the U.S. State Department has issued a number of travel warnings for anyone planning to go there. The last one was issued just a few days ago.
Intelligence officials have picked up radio talk and chatter indicating that the terrorist groups are going to “carry out an attack on the border,” according to one JW source. “It’s coming very soon,” according to this high-level source, who clearly identified the groups planning the plots as “ISIS and Al Qaeda.” An attack is so imminent that the commanding general at Ft. Bliss, the U.S. Army post in El Paso, is being briefed, another source confirms. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to multiple inquiries from Judicial Watch, both telephonic and in writing, about this information.


Judicial Watch is not disclosing their sources out of fear for their safety and rightly so. A warning bulletin of an imminent terrorist attack was issued to ‘agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies,’ instructing them ‘to aggressively work all possible leads and sources’ to head it off. Good luck with that since we don’t search trucks crossing the border. The commander of Fort Bliss has also been allegedly briefed on this. What do you say we shut down the freaking border before a nuke goes off in Texas or Arizona? Hell… I don’t even want one going off in California, although it is tempting.
This is not a game… it is deadly serious. If we don’t stop this, a lot of people are going to die and it will happen over and over. And guess what? Obama and Holder will just let it — I’m sure they have a ton of excuses all lined up as the blood and body parts flow. They want the death, destruction and mayhem this will bring. And Obama’s Jayvee has now joined with al-Qaeda and are actively planning a party on or around 9-11. Bring out the party favors and the Burqas boys… it’s Jihad time on the Southern border.
There are now multiple sources (Fox NewsBreitbart, Judicial Watch) out there with multiple bulletins that are screaming something very wicked this way comes and fast. In response to a dire and elevated risk, what does our esteemed leader do? Nothing, except maybe golf a little more.



The Border Patrol is handcuffed and can’t do their job… orders have been issued to release illegal immigrants, including violent felons, from jail… 10′s of thousands of illegal immigrant children are being bussed to every corner of the US, with special emphasis on Conservative areas to change the voting block there… violence, drug trafficking and human slavery have skyrocketed on the border and Americans are told that our borders have never been safer or more secure. That we should do this for the children and trust our glorious leaders. Lenin and Stalin would have been impressed.
Saudi Arabia is now warning that there will be attacks here in the West within a month or two, if we do not confront the enemy and put them down:


The Texas Department of Public Safety is warning that ISIS is actively promoting and encouraging supporters to take advantage of the porous Texas-Mexico border to carry out terrorist attacks against US citizens – they also released this in a document yesterday. Texas knows what is at their doorstep and what is coming and they are getting ready for a fight. We all should be getting ready, because the time has finally arrived that fighting Islamic terrorists will be the greatest battle of our lives. It will be a fight to the death – Islam against everyone else and it will be brutal. Radical Islamists have no pity, only the will to conquer, rape and pillage.
Britain has raised their terror level to severe — one step below critical. Even the Brits realize that things are about to get very, very real. ISIS is also threatening the Pope and Italy is on alert. Let’s not forget the million or so Christians, Muslims and others who have been slaughtered in all of this as the Caliphate sweeps the planet. It’s only getting started folks. You want a plague? Well, look no further.
The terrorist chatter on communication channels and social media is off the charts. It far eclipses the traffic pre-9-11. Obama won’t raise our threat level because frankly, he doesn’t give a crap. Americans might want to move to do something before a nuke goes off on the White House lawn and the black flag of ISIS is raised there for realsies.
The ISIS barbarians are at our gates and Obama is holding those gates wide open… maybe it’s time for the American people to bypass the Executive Branch, just as Obama bypasses Congress, to protect our borders and our people from Islamic terrorists and Jihadist hordes. I say bomb the asshats back to the Stone Age wherever we find them. Level the playing field and leave nothing but rubble and dust.







The celebrations by thousands of Gaza Strip residents on Wednesday evening appeared genuine. The sense, at least to the outside observer (watching television), was that more than a few Gazans truly wanted to show their feeling that Hamas had been victorious in the 50-day conflict. Nobody was forced to go out into the streets to celebrate at gunpoint.

Still, in the age of the Hamas dictatorship, in which dozens of people without any connection with Israel are summarily executed (said by Hamas to be “Zionist agents”), one doesn’t argue with the boss. When Hamas announces a victory celebration, the masses celebrate a victory.


Or perhaps, as a Gazan friend explained to me, the truth lies somewhere in the middle: “They went out to celebrate the end of the war, make no mistake. Never mind the Hamas claims of victory. People are happy that this story’s over. Life here became hell.”

Al Jazeera put aside its regular coverage of Iraq, Syria and the other Middle East conflicts and launched a special news edition on Thursday morning on the celebrations. A woman interviewed from the floor of parliament in central Gaza shouted, “We won, we won, we are the people of the resistance,” as if she were trying to convince someone that the public still supports Hamas (whose nickname is “the resistance”). Reporter Tamer al-Mishal interviewed a young man who lost both his legs and his hand who vowed that the struggle will continue.


The rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip is expected to be the most immediate problem with which the Israeli government, Hamas and the Palestinian government will be forced to contend. In order to allow the rebuilding of those same thousands of homes (according to UN statistics, roughly 17,000 families lost their homes, which were completely destroyed or unsuitable for habitation) and the rehabilitation of tens of thousands of others, and to provide even temporary shelter for all the new refugees that filled the streets of Gaza for the past 50 days, it’s necessary to permit the import of huge amounts of building materials into the Strip. The government of Israel will insist, of course, on some kind of oversight mechanism to ensure that the materials let into Gaza won’t be used by Hamas to build new tunnels.


Beyond the threats, the regional changes also highlight new — and some not-so-new — opportunities created for Israel. The war and ceasefire in Gaza brought two Arab leaders to the fore.
The first is Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Contrary to the halting Israeli leadership, which lacks a clear policy, el-Sissi practically led the Israeli policy in the negotiations with Hamas. He’s the one who from the second day of the conflict (with Israeli consultation, apparently) set the terms of the ceasefire.
El-Sissi demonstrated leadership and determination that isn’t often seen in this region, including in Israel, anymore. Time after time he explained to Hamas, to US Secretary of State John Kerry, and to his rivals in Doha and Ankara that it was not his intention to change the ceasefire proposal. What it was, it would be: a return to the ceasefire terms of November 2012, at the end of Operation Pillar of Defense, with the remaining issues to be discussed at a later date.









The latest Washington lie, this one coming from NATO, is that Russia has invaded Ukraine with 1,000 troops and self-propelled artillery.
How do we know that this is a lie? Is it because we have heard nothing but lies about Russia from NATO, from US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, from assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland, from Obama and his entire regime of pathological liars, and from the British, German, and French governments along with the BBC and the entirety of the Western media?
This, of course, is a good reason for knowing that the latest Western propaganda is a lie. Those who are pathological liars don’t suddenly start telling the truth.
But there are even better reasons for understanding that Russia has not invaded Ukraine with 1,000 troops.
One reason is that Putin has invested heavily in diplomacy backed by unprovocative behavior. He would not risk his bet on diplomacy by sending in troops too few in number to have a decisive effect on the outcome.
Another reason is that if Putin decides he has no alternative to sending the Russian military to protect the Russian residents in eastern and southern Ukraine, Putin will send in enough troops to do the job quickly as he did in Georgia when the American and Israeli trained Georgian army invaded South Ossetia and was destroyed in a few hours by the Russian response. If you hear that 100,000 Russian troops accompanied by air cover have invaded Ukraine, it would be a more believable claim.
A third reason is that the Russian military does not need to send troops into Ukraine in order to stop the bombing and artillery shelling of the Russian populations by Washington’s puppet government in Kiev. The Russian air force can easily and quickly destroy the Ukrainian air force and artillery and, thereby, stop the Ukrainian attack on the secessionist provinces.


It was only two weeks ago that a fabricated report spread by the UK Guardian and the BBC that a Russian armored convoy entered Ukraine and was destroyed by the Ukrainian Military. And two weeks prior to that we had the hoax of the satellite images allegedly released by the US State Department that the corrupt US ambassador in Kiev spread around the world on social media allegedly showing that Russian forces were firing into Ukraine. One or two weeks from now we will have another lie, and another a week or two after that, and so on.
The cumulative effect of lie piled upon lie for most people is to build the view that the Russians are up to no good. Once this view is established, Western governments can take more serious moves against Russia.


The alleged entry of 1,000 Russian soldiers into Ukraine has been declared by NATO Brigadier General Niko Tak to be a “significant escalation in Russia’s military interference in Ukraine.” The champion liar Samantha Power told the US Security Council that “Russia has to stop lying.” The UK ambassador to the UN said that Russia was guilty of “a clear violation of sovereign Ukrainian territory.” UK prime minister Cameron warned Russia of “further consequences.” German chancellor Merkel announced that there would be more sanctions. A German Security Council advisor declared that “war with Russia is an option.” Polish foreign minister Sikorski called it Russian aggression that required international action. French president Hollande declared Russia’s behavior to be “intolerable.” Ukraine’s security council imposed mandatory conscription.
This suicidal drive toward war with Russia by Europe’s leaders is based entirely on a transparent lie that 1,000 Russian troops crossed into Ukraine


Of course the Western media followed in lock-step. The BBC, CNN, and Die Welt are among the most reckless and irresponsible.
The mountain of lies piled up by Western governments and media has obscured the true story. The US government orchestrated the overthrow of the elected government in Ukraine and imposed a US puppet in Kiev. Washington’s puppet government began issuing threats and committing violent acts against the Russian populations in the former Russian territories that Soviet leaders attached to Ukraine. The Russian people in eastern and southern Ukraine resisted the threat brought to them by Washington’s puppet government in Kiev.


The only possible conclusion from the facts is that Washington is determined to involve Europe in a war with Russia or at least in an armed standoff in order to break up Europe’s political and economic relations with Russia.
Europe’s leaders are going along with this because European countries, except for Charles de Gaulle’s France, have not had independent foreign policies since the end of World War II. They follow Washington’s lead and are well paid for doing so.







This article is the first of a two part series which details the coming war. This war will not be a simple war of occupation such as what we saw in Iran and presently in Afghanistan. This war will be utterly devastating and has the potential to escalate into a conflict befitting the over-used term, "Armageddon."


The coming war will largely feature what pundits call the BRIC nations and the USA and her allies. Each side of this coming conflict possesses widely divergent military strengths, weaknesses and strategies.
The United States and her allies have a decided advantage of quick strike, long range battlefield capabilities because of superior aircraft and carrier strike capabilities. The BRIC nations have an advantage with manpower, rocket propelled weapons and tanks. The USA and her allies cannot win a sustained battlefield campaign because of the attrition factor. The Chinese have demonstrated the ability to negate the United States Navy's technological advantage through the use of killer satellites. Therefore, the entire US strategy is predicated on a first strike before the Chinese can destroy the majority of the eyes and ears of the US military, namely, its superior satellite capabilities in which the US forces can quickly locate and destroy the enemy with its smart weapons before the enemy knows what hit them.

Nuclear submarines are often looked at as the great equalizer. No matter who is winning on the ground, in the air and on the surface of the oceans, the submarine force has the capability to reign down unimaginable destruction upon their enemy. In the case of submarines, the USA and her allies are matched by their BRIC counterparts. Most subs carry eight nuclear missiles, each capable of destroying a major city. The USA presumably has superior evasive techniques and therefore, would presumably survive sub-killer strategies with greater frequency that their BRIC adversaries. Therefore, the BRIC nations might win every land battle, however, the victorious BRIC nations would not have many of its cities left to return to in the case of a nuclear war. The US submarines are, in effect, a formidable doomsday weapon.

For the United States and her allies to win a conventional war, a quick strike, surprise engagement is critical to the success of these forces. The BRICS would have an advantage in a longer prolonged conflict. This is particularly true when one considers that if time permitted, the Chinese have bragged that they could put 100 million men on a battlefield. Following the teachings of Sun Tsu in the famous book, The Art of War, it is critical that the BRIC nations be brought to the battlefield of choice by the USA for a quick and decisive engagement.


From a conventional warfare standpoint, the engagement is likely to be naval and involve aircraft. This plays to the advantage to the USA, whose superior long range strike capability is enhanced by their superior aircraft carriers. The USA forces would likely engage in a distracting land engagement first to hold and occupy the maximum number of the BRIC forces. The land strike, a first strike, will be directed at Syria. Given the present crisis, the Russians would have to decide on choosing between protecting its eastern border with the NATO forces poised to attack, or launching an offensive directed at protecting Syria. The Russians will choose self-defense. The timing of the American invasion of Syria will take place when a sufficient number of American naval vessels are present in the Black Sea to checkmate the Russia military buildup in Crimea which would serve as a staging area for military action in Syria. At the end of the day, once a large contingent of the American navy has moved into position off of the Baltic states, Russia will be powerless to prevent an US takeover of Syria. The path and progress of the CIA force, ISIS, as it creates more designed havoc in Syria, will provide the impetus for US forces to enter Syria, thus provoking a Russian and a BRIC nation unified response.

Conventional wisdom states that once the US occupies Syria, Russia will be powerless to intervene on behalf of America's next target, Iran because the US medium range missile batteries will prevent the Russian army from moving south into the region. With Russia out of the way, Iran will capitulate and stop selling oil for gold to the BRIC nations and the Petrodollar will be preserved. Iran will agree to the control of their oil fields by the US to avoid an invasion. They will capitulate because nobody will come to their rescue. At least that is what the US is hoping for. In part two, I will present a more likely scenario.

Russian President Putin Urges Ukraine To Start Peace Talks With Separatist Forces

Putin Calls For Talks On 'Statehood' For Eastern Ukraine -- Business Insider/AFP

Moscow (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin on Sunday dramatically raised the stakes in the Ukraine conflict by calling for the first time for statehood to be considered for the restive east of the former Soviet state.

"We need to immediately begin substantive talks ... on questions of the political organisation of society and statehood for southeastern Ukraine with the goal of protecting the lawful interests of the people who live there," Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies on a TV show broadcast in the far east of the country.

Read more ....

More News On Putin Urging Ukraine To Accommodate Separatist Aspirations

Putin to Ukraine: Begin Immediate Talks on East -- AP
Putin: Russia can't stand aside if people being shot at in Ukraine - agencies -- Reuters
Events in Donetsk, Luhansk Result of Ukraine’s Political Situation – Putin -- RIA Novosti
Putin Urges Kiev Cease Hostilities, Start Restoring Infrastructure in East Ukraine -- RIA Novosti

My Comment: Everyone knows that Putin is pushing for statehood for the eastern Ukrainian provinces .... and everyone also knows that Kiev will decline such a proposition. But still .... Putin is offering an olive branch to Ukrainian Poroshenko for a possible face-saving way out of this mess. My advice to the Ukrainian President is that unless he wants to be fighting a war for the rest of his term in office .... he should take it.

Update: I guess Ukrainian President Poroshenko has declined Putin's advice .... Ukraine president warns Europe nearing 'point of no return' (The Guardian).

Russia And Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War



Moscow, Kiev Swap Troops As Ukraine Port Girds For Pro-Russian Assault -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Ukraine and Russia swapped soldiers who had entered each other's territory near the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev says Moscow's forces have come to the aid of pro-Russian insurgents advancing for an assault on a major port.

Ukrainian troops and local residents were reinforcing the port of Mariupol on Sunday, the next big city in the path of pro-Russian fighters who pushed back government forces along the Azov Sea this past week in an offensive on a new front.

The new rebel advance has drawn increasing concern from Ukraine's Western allies, who say its success is a result of reinforcement by armoured columns of Russian troops.

Read more ....

Update #1: Militia Releases Over 220 Ukrainian Soldiers to Kiev -- RIA Novosti
Update #2: ‘Common sense prevailed’: Ukraine releases Russian paratroopers -- RT

My Comment: A rare gesture to ease tension .... which will last about 5 minutes.

Ukraine President Poroshenko Believes The War Will End In September. Russian President Putin Says No

Petro Poroshenko said he expects that his peace plan for the crisis in eastern Ukraine can stop the war in the region in early September. © RIA Novosti. Alexei Druzhinin

Poroshenko’s Statement That Ukraine Conflict Can End by September Far From Reality - DPR -- RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) – The Kiev authorities’ statements that conflict in eastern Ukraine can be ended by September are idealistic and far from reality, Deputy Prime Minister of Donetsk People’s Republic Andrei Purgin said in an interview with RIA Novosti Saturday.

"Their statements are of Martian nature, these people are dwelling in an emerald garden on Mars and commenting on the situation, which has nothing to do with reality. In fact, all these comments are often made not for internal use but for external use, for Europe. Such claims hit the headlines, then the IMF allocates money, so their goal is to get money from the IMF," Purgin said.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he expects that implementation of his peace plan for the crisis in eastern Ukraine can stop the war in the region in early September.

Read more ....

Update: Putin: Impossible to say when political crisis in Ukraine will end -- RT

My Comment: If there was an eagerness on both sides for peace talks .... the civil war could end in weeks. But there is no sentiment for such talks .... especially now. Thousands have been killed (not the official tally of 2,600) .... thousands even more wounded. Infrastructure and property destroyed on a massive scale. One million refugees. Nope .... this war is not going to end in September .... in fact .... my biggest fear now is that this war is just starting.