All posts by TiLT News

The Freedom to speak honestly and from your heart is being eradicated. Truth is being skewed and creating a reality that none recognize. Criminals freed reek havoc. Law and order, the thin line between chaos and order are all on the chopping block. Your way of life is changing and not for the better. It takes ONE generation to flip any civilized society by indoctrinating your children and removing your connection to God. WHAT are you going to do about it! Spread the word.

Black Sites Revealed: UK Journos Uncover Chilling Details of CIA Prisons

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) logo is displayed in the lobby of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on August 14, 2008

 

© AFP 2015/ SAUL LOEB

WORLD

09:06 16.10.2015(updated 10:11 16.10.2015) Get short URL

A group of journalists and a human rights watchdog in the UK have put forth an unprecedented array of data on the CIA’s notorious secret detention centers, where terrorist suspects were kept and tortured in the early-2000s.

Torture is being practiced in the United States’ prison system, formerly incarcerated Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) whistleblower John Kiriakou told a public meeting

© FLICKR/ JUSTIN NORMAN

Torture Is Still Taking Place Within US Prisons – CIA Whistleblower

The investigation reveals the realnames of detainees for the first time, as well as the locations they were kept in at the behest of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) around the world and the exact dates of events connected to their detention and torture.

In late 2014, a 480-page-long summary on the CIA detention centers was published by the US Senate Intelligence Committee after having been heavily redacted by the secret service. It is only a prelude to the original 6,000-page report, which remains secret.

It took nine months for the independent UK-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, in cooperation with The Rendition Project to reveal what was cut off from the government report using open sources and investigative techniques. All the data they discovered is available online.

“Although many published accounts of individual journeys through the black site network exist, this is the first comprehensive portrayal of the system’s inner dynamics from beginning to end,” the Bureau of Investigative Journalism stated.

The testimonies of former prisoners, flight records, commercial contracts, court cases, declassified government documents, information leaks and NGO reports, along with media coverage, were put together and compiled into accessible interactive databases and maps revealing the locations of the CIA black sites.

Map credit: Victoria Parsons

The countries that participated in the CIA’s terrorist detainee interrogation and transfer program had full knowledge of what was being done within their borders, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell told Sputnik earlier this year.

In May, the European Court of Human Rights forced the government of Poland to pay approximately $250,000 in reparations to two terrorist suspects who had reported being tortured at a CIA black site in Poland.

According to reports, the United States gave Poland and other countries millions of dollars to allow the CIA to operate a detention center within their borders in 2002 and 2003.

Morell noted that the countries hosting CIA sites supported the program “”because they thought that we would be able to keep all of this secret.”

“This was facilitated, supported and was very closely monitored at the highest level of the United States government, up to and including the White House,” former senior executive at the National Security Agency (NSA) and whistleblower Thomas Drake commented to Sputnik earlier.

The 2014 report produced by the US Senate provided official documentation of numerous incidents of torture, and so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” used against enemy combatants in US-controlled detention facilities. Little has been revealed about the foreign sites or the practices there.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, then the chair of the Intelligence Committee, released the report’s 480-page executive summary, over objections from CIA and White House officials.

After the release in December, the US government publicized 27 pages of interview notes compiled by lawyers for Guantanamo detainee Majid Khan in which he described his torture.

Khan said interrogators poured ice water on his genitals, videotaped him naked and repeatedly touched his “private parts” – details which were not described in the Senate report.

A month after the summary’s release, in January 2015, the government said it had issued new classification rules that permitted only the release of “general allegations of torture,” and “information regarding the conditions of confinement.”

But, they said, the names of CIA employees and locations of secret CIA “black sites” could not be released.

Later, the US government blocked the release of 116 pages of notes detailing the torture another Guantanamo Bay detainee, Abu Zubaydah, says he endured while in CIA custody, defense lawyers said in September.

Zubaydah, a 44-year-old Saudi national, has been held in Guantanamo for nine years despite not ever being charged with a crime.

Share on Google+

130

Related:

Torture Is Still Taking Place Within US Prisons – CIA Whistleblower
CIA Torturers Should be Held Accountable to Prevent Future Abuses
US Unlikely to Assist Poland in CIA Blacksite Probe – Lawmaker

Tags:

prisons, torture, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Community standardsDISCUSSION

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/world/20151016/1028603545/CIA-Prisons.html#ixzz3on15oxhg

TiLTNews Network

McDonald’s on Last Leg as ‘All Day Breakfast’ Gimmick Implodes

Last ditch effort actually causing stores to lose more money, customers

Adan Salazar
Prison Planet.com
October 16, 2015

An ill-thought scheme intended to retain the last of McDonald’s’ customers has blown up in franchise owners’ faces, showing how little can be done to save the fast food giant from imminent collapse.

After seven straight quarters of declining sales, McDonald’s decided to implement an all day breakfast menu earlier this month in hopes to revive their bottom line.

The president of the company’s US division called the launch a “success,” but that statement is at odds with franchise owners’ sentiments, one of whom says the new policy is driving customers away “in droves.”

In a survey conducted by Nomura, franchise owners revealed how the launch of all-day breakfast is costing their businesses money and time, and is overall a disaster.

“In small stores, the problems are vast with people falling over each other and equipment jammed in everywhere,” one franchise owner said, according to Business Insider.

Another franchisee called the gimmick “a non-starter” and said it’s causing his or her store to lose money, as cheaper foods on the breakfast menu produce lower average ticket costs.

“We are trading customers down from regular menu to lower-priced breakfast items. Not generating new traffic,” they said.

Yet another owner described the sudden change as an “erratic, distorted, disorganized direction from McDonald’s,” while another revealed that “Customers are abandoning us in droves because we are either too slow, or sub-par quality.”

“Unfortunately, with the current labor pool in our area, we are struggling to have enough people to run the shift, much less add an extra person,” another franchise owner wrote.

One franchise operator also expressed McDonald’s is in the “throes of a deep depression,” and another added the restaurant could be “facing its final days.”

“The CEO is sowing the seeds of our demise,” the franchise owner wrote. “We are a quick-serve fast-food restaurant, not a fast casual like Five Guys or Chipotle. The system may be facing its final days.”

The company did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

The massive fail of 24-hour breakfast is just the latest indication of McDonald’s demise after numerous attempts by the company to bring it back into the public’s favor.

In May, the company announced they would no longer report monthly same-store sales, instead switching to quarterly data following “11 straight months of declining global comparable-store sales,” according toBloomberg Business.

That followed the closure of 350 stores by April of this year, and an announcement that they would close an additional 350 by 2016.

Some analysts attribute the company’s decline to consumers who are growing more conscious of unhealthy food choices and rejecting the industry altogether in favor of gmo-free, healthier fresh foods.

“McDonald’s is a huge company, a huge supply chain spread everywhere, and it’s kind of getting nibbled at the margins by all these upscale burger chains, organic places [and] locally sourced food,” Yahoo finance columnist Rick Newman wrote in April.

This article was posted: Friday, October 16, 2015 at 3:46 pm

McDonald’s on Last Leg as ‘All Day Breakfast’ Gimmick Implodes
adans
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 20:46:53 GMT

TiLTNews Network

Reality Check: What We Know About TPP Makes It The Worst Trade Deal Ever

Is the TPP literally the worst trade deal in the world? Ben Swann investigates in this edition of Reality Check.

By Ben Swann

Oct 14, 2015

Truth In Media

Right here in Atlanta, a dozen Pacific nations along with the United States have finalized a massive trade agreement called the Trans Pacific Partnership. But is the TPP literally the worst trade deal in the world?

This is a Reality Check you won’t see anywhere else.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, like President Barack Obama, is a big supporter of the TPP. The mayor told Sharon Reed that what is really important about the TPP is beating China to other Asian-Pacific countries.

“It really is essential that we beat China into a relationship with these Asian-Pacific countries and that the United States the rules of the road and the terms of the engagement and we have an important ally in Japan and that we send a message about who they want to place their global future,” Reed said.

Is that the case?

The truth is that defining what the TPP actually is, is very, very difficult. Why? Because the text of the agreement is super secret.

Seriously—it is so secret that not even all members of Congress have been allowed to read it. Even weirder, those who have been allowed to read it must do so in a secret room in the basement of the Capitol building. Seriously.

That doesn’t mean, however, that we don’t know anything about the TPP. And the bits that we do know about it reveal that this really isn’t a trade deal.

Take, for instance, the latest meeting over the TPP with world leaders who met here in Atlanta. What were they discussing?

The United States argued for longer protections for exclusivity for prescription drugs. The U.S. delegation was arguing that the trade agreement should expand globally at a 12-year exclusivity period for drugs that treat diseases like cancer.

Australia, which only allows five years of exclusivity, and five other delegations argued against it, saying that would keep life-saving medicines from patients who cannot afford them.

Doctors Without Borders came out against this stating:

“TPP countries have agreed to United States government and multinational drug company demands that will raise the price of medicines for millions. . . . The big losers in TPP are patients and treatment providers in developing countries. . . . The TPP will still go down in history as the worst trade agreement for access to medicines in developing countries.”

That’s not very encouraging. What else do we know about the TPP? Well, it is not just an agreement extending monopolies for drug companies. It is also an agreement that creates massive copyright protections.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation says that, “Despite its earlier promises that the TPP would bring ‘greater balance’ to copyright, more than any other recent trade agreement, the most recent leak of the intellectual property chapter belies their claims. The U.S. Trade Representative [Michael Froman] (USTR) has still failed to live up to its word that it would enshrine meaningful public rights to use copyrighted content in this agreement.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said otherwise: “…It will create jobs. The net result for the United States is that it will grow our economy and strengthen America’s position in the world.”

But that’s not actually true, according to the Washington Post who gave Kerry four “Pinochios” for that statement.

The claim that the TPP would create jobs does not take into account income gains and changing wages. According to the government’s own sources, imports and exports would increase by the same amount, resulting in a net number of zero new jobs.

A trade agreement that creates no jobs sounds like NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement). A trade agreement that creates greater global monopolies on medicine, and one that creates more enforcement of copyright and intellectual property, would make it much worse than NAFTA.

President Obama must wait at least 90 days after notifying congress of the deal before he can sign it and sent it to Capitol Hill, and the full text of the agreement must be made public for at least 60 of those days. We’ll learn more then.

But what you need to know is that the worst thing about the TPP is something called the ISDS—the Investor-State Dispute Settlement.

Under the ISDS, foreign corporations would be allowed to appeal legal decisions to international tribunals rather than face domestic courts.

Profile photo of Ben Swann

Ben Swann

Ben Swann is an investigative journalist working tirelessly to dissolve the left/right paradigm prevalent in most mainstream media narratives. As a news reporter and anchor in the earlier days of his career, he has gained a wealth of experience while earning two Emmy Awards and two Edward R. Murrow awards. In addition to heading the Truth In Media Project, Ben is the prime anchor at WGCL-TV in Atlanta, GA. He can be seen anchoring live at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday. A stream is available at cbs46.com.

TiLTNews Network

The U.S. Government Supplied ISIS’ Iconic Pickup Trucks

October 14, 2015

ISIS Hilux

This article comes from WashingtonsBlog.com

U.S. counter-terror officials have launched an investigation into how ISIS got so many of those identical Toyota pickup trucks which they use in their convoys.

They don’t have to look very far …

The Spectator reported last year:

The [Toyota] Hilux [pics] is light, fast, manoeuvrable and all but indestructible (‘bomb-proof’ might not, in this instance, be a happy usage).  The weapons experts Jane’s claimed for the Hilux a similar significance to the longbows of Agincourt or the Huey choppers of Nam. A US Army Ranger said the Toyota sure ‘kicks the hell out of a Humvee’ (referring to the clumsy and over-sized High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle made by AM General).

***

The fact is the Toyotas were supplied by the US government to the Al Nusra Front as ‘non-lethal aid’ then ‘acquired’ by ISIS.

Al Nusra Front is literally Al Qaeda.

Public Radio International – an American public radio outlet – also documented a specific shipment of Toyotas by the U.S. State Department in 2014:

Recently, when the US State Department resumed sending non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels, the delivery list included 43 Toyota trucks.

Hiluxes were on the Free Syrian Army’s wish list. Oubai Shahbander, a Washington-based advisor to the Syrian National Coalition, is a fan of the truck.

“Specific equipment like the Toyota Hiluxes are what we refer to as force enablers for the moderate opposition forces on the ground,” he adds. Shahbander says the US-supplied pickups will be delivering troops and supplies into battle. Some of the fleet will even become battlefield weapons.

That’s exactly what happened …

TiLTNews Network

Clinton Cash Connections Exposed – New Docs Raise Questions on Clinton Conflicts of Interest

Source: Clinton Cash Scandal News – Judicial Watch

Clinton Cash Scandal News

OCTOBER 09, 2015

Clinton Cash Connections Exposed – New Docs Raise Questions on Clinton Conflicts of Interest

Courts Put an End to Obama Administration Obstruction Gambit in Clinton Scandal

The Clinton email scandal is serious enough.  Nonetheless, it is useful to remember what exactly Mrs. Clinton was trying to hide before our litigation forced the disclosure of her separate email system.  You can bet that the cover up of the depth of her abuse of office for private gain is one thing about which she does not want you to know the full truth.

Judicial Watch is in the lead in uncovering these Clinton cash abuses.

This week, we released 789 pages of State Department “ethics” review documents concerning former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, revealing that at least one speech by Bill Clinton appeared to take place without the required State Department ethics approval.  The documents also include a copy of Bill Clinton’s draft consultant agreement with Laureate Education, Inc., which was submitted for ethics review by the State Department.  But the State Department redacted the information regarding compensation and the specific services Bill Clinton was hired to provide to the controversial “for profit” education company.  The documents were released as a result of a federal court order in our history-making Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department on May 28, 2013, (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-00772)).

The documents include heavily redacted emails from 2009 about the review of a speech Bill Clinton was set to give to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI).  An April 1, 2009, email from then-State Department Senior Ethics Counsel Waldo W. “Chip” Brooks notes that the ethics review approval of the speech “was in the hands of Jim [Thessin] and Cheryl Mills.  They were to discuss with Counsel to the former President.  I do not know if either ever did.”

A follow-up September 1, 2009, email to Brooks from a colleague asks, “[W]as there ever a decision on the Clinton request involving scrap recycling?  Below is the last e-mail I have on it – I assume it just died since I don’t’ have an outgoing memo approving the event …”

Brooks responds two minutes later:

“I think the decision was a soft call to Clinton’s attorney and the talk did not take place.  You might want to send an email to [Clinton Foundation Director of Scheduling and Advance] Terry [Krinvic] and tell her that you have a gap in your records because you were gone and wanted to know if the President ever did talk before ISRI?

In fact, Bill Clinton spoke to the scrap recycling group on April 30, 2009, for a reported fee off $250,000.

The documents also include a request from Doug Band of the Clinton Foundation for an ethics review of Mr. Clinton’s proposed consulting arrangement, through WJC LLC, with Laureate Education, Inc.  The Obama State Department redacted key terms of the attached May 1, 2010, draft agreement, including Mr. Clinton’s fees and the nature of Mr. Clinton’s services.

Laureate Education, Inc. is the world’s largest, for-profit, international higher education chain and reportedly uses many of the same practices that spurred a 2014 regulatory crackdown by the Obama administration on for-profit colleges in the United States.  In 2010, according to The Washington Post, the company hired former President Clinton to serve as its honorary chancellor, and since that time the former president has made more than a dozen appearances in countries such as Malaysia, Peru, and Spain on the company’s behalf.  Since 2010, the former president reportedly has been paid more than $16 million from the company for his services.

The Clinton-Laureate connection is rich.  The Daily Caller did some digging into the Clinton tax returns that were highly revealing:

Clinton signed on as the honorary chancellor of Laureate International Universities, a subsidiary of Laureate Education, in 2010. Despite the honorary nature of his position, that didn’t stop the company from paying him on average approximately $3 million a year. The investment likely paid off, though, as Clinton has lent Laureate significant legitimacy and has served as an advocate for the company overseas, making appearance in countries like Peru and Malaysia to praise it. In addition to these direct payments, Laureate also donated to the Clinton Foundation and has cooperated with the Clinton Global Initiative.

The latest State Department documents also show some push-back by ethics officials concerning proposed Clinton speeches to Chinese government-linked entities.  State Department officials, for example, had several questions about a proposed 2009 speech to a subsidiary of the Shanghai Sports Development Corporation, a Chinese “quasi-government” agency.  Rather than answer the questions, the Clinton Foundation representative emailed “we are not going to proceed with this.”  State Department ethics official “Chip” Brooks commented on the withdrawal of the Chinese speech in December 2009 to then-Deputy Legal Adviser Jim Thessin, “Cooler heads have prevailed.”

The documents show the State Department approved scores of requests by former President Bill Clinton to appear as the featured speaker at events sponsored by some of the world’s leading international investment and banking firms, including J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Merrill Lynch, Sweden’s ABG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Brazil’s Banco Itau, Vista Equity Partners, Goldman Sachs, Vanguard Group (described as “one of the world’s largest investment management companies”), Canada’s Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Saudi Arabia’s SAGIA conglomerate (which claims to be the “gateway to investments in Saudi Arabia”).

While the majority of the documents do not contain the fees that Clinton charged for his speaking services, those that are disclosed reveal that the former president routinely received six-figure honorariums for his advice to the international investment counseling firms and banking institutions, including:

  • Barclays Capital Singapore – $325,000
  • Needham Partners South Africa – $350,000
  • Cumbre de Negocios (sponsored by Nacional Financiera and El Banco Fuerte de Mexico) – $275,000 and $125,000)
  • NTRPLC (which describes itself as “developing a new investment portfolio of wind projects in Ireland and the UK”) – $125,000

The documents reveal that between 2009 and 2011, former President Clinton spoke to more than two dozen leading international investment firms and banking institutions, many of them on more than one occasion.  At least one of the documents shows that Hillary Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills used a non-governmental email account for the Clinton ethics reviews. Mills reportedly negotiated the “ethics agreement” on behalf of the Clintons and the Foundation that required the Clintons to submit to rigorous conflict-of-interest checks. Despite this, and in apparent violation of Obama administration ethics rules, the documents reveal that Bill Clinton’s requests for speaking engagement approval were invariably copied to Mills, who was involved in ethics reviews as chief of staff for Mrs. Clinton at the State Department.

The documents also include the demands that Bill Clinton’s speakers bureau, The Harry Walker Agency, laid out for a speech sponsor in Slovenia.  Notably, the documents require that press be kept in a “designated, roped off area in the back of the room with a staff escort” and that the “press should not be given access to any area where the President likely may be.”

This JW lawsuit broke open the Clinton cash scandal by forcing the disclosure of documents that provided a road map for over 200 conflict-of-interest rulings that led to at least $48 million for the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of State. Previously disclosed documents in this lawsuit, for example, raise questions about funds Clinton accepted from entities linked to Saudi Arabia, China and Iran, among others.  This and other JW lawsuits on Benghazi were the key pressure that forced the disclosure of the Clinton email system.

Judicial Watch’s litigation to obtain these conflict of interest records is ongoing.  The State Department has yet to search the email records Mrs. Clinton purportedly turned over to the agency last year, despite Judicial Watch’s first requesting these records in 2011 and filing this lawsuit in 2013.  The State Department also has yet to explain why it failed to conduct a proper, timely search in the 20 months between when it received our request on May 2, 2011, and February 1, 2013, when Secretary Clinton left office.

Judicial Watch also is pressing the State Department to conduct a reasonable search for records, including any emails on the Hillary Clinton email server.  On September 3, Judicial Watch filed a request with the court for discovery from the State Department and/or Mrs. Clinton in order to find these records so they might finally be searched as the law requires.  Specifically, Judicial Watch’s attorneys ask the court to take steps to obtain the records directly:

To the extent Secretary Clinton or her agents or vendors continue to have access to this agency system of records, or any records from the system that have migrated or been transferred to any new servers, storage devices, or back-up systems, Judicial Watch respectfully submits that a constructive trust must be imposed on any such records and systems so that the State Department can access and search them for records…

Accordingly, Judicial Watch asks the court to order the State Department:

To identify, either through declarations or discovery, all information in its possession or control about the transfer of any data from the “clintonemail.com” server to Secretary Clinton’s vendor and whether any such data is still available or otherwise recoverable from the vendor’s server, storage devices, or back-up systems.  If the State Department asserts that it does not have this information or cannot obtain it, limited third-party discovery of Secretary Clinton and/or her vendor should be authorized to enable the Court to obtain the information, which is necessary to remedy the State Department’s failure to search the server during Secretary Clinton’s tenure in office, its further failure to secure all federal records on the server when Secretary Clinton left office, and Secretary Clinton’s wrongful retention of these records after she left office.

Judicial Watch’s court filing details how it was “wrongful and in violation of federal law and State Department regulations” to allow Hillary Clinton “to retain exclusive access to this agency system of records (Clinton’s separate email server) and the official State Department communications and records it contains after she left office on February 1, 2013.”

In short, we’re asking the court to allow us to figure out where the Clinton documents are and to take steps to make sure they are preserved and searched as the law requires.

These records show that the “ethics reviews” of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s potential conflicts of interest was a joke.

JW supporters should be proud of how their support resulted in a lawsuit that helped force the disclosure of Hillary Clinton’s separate email system.  And now we hope that it results in getting all the Clinton emails searched to find out what else Hillary Clinton didn’t want the American people to see about her shady dealings.

Judicial Watch’s FOIA lawsuit has become particularly noteworthy because it has been reported that the Clinton Foundation, now known as the Bill, Hillary, & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, accepted millions of dollars from at least seven foreign governments while Mrs. Clinton served as secretary of State.  The Clinton Foundation has acknowledged that a $500,000 donation it received from the government of Algeria while Mrs. Clinton served as secretary of State violated a 2008 ethics agreement between the foundation and the Obama administration.  Some of the foreign governments that have made donations to the Clinton Foundation include Algeria, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman, have questionable human rights records.

Links to the full production of documents can be found here:  May 4, 2015; June 15, 2015; July 27, 2015 and September 4, 2015.  Feel free to review the documents and let us know if you find anything important that we might have missed!


Courts Put an End to Obama Administration Obstruction Gambit in Clinton Scandal

I reported to you last week how the State Department (with the help of Obama Justice Department lawyers) sought to delay dozens Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits (of which Judicial Watch filed 18) – under the guise of a coordination motion with the court.  It created a lot of extra, costly work for us.  But we won!

A few days ago, federal judges here in DC rejected the Obama gang’s meritless stalling tactic.  Below is the statement I made on behalf of Judicial Watch in response to this important victory:

Judicial Watch applauds the decision made by federal judges of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss quickly the State Department’s desperate effort to buy time for itself and Hillary Clinton.  Today’s decision confirms Judicial Watch’s  contention that the State Department knew that its action had no basis in law – certainly none that it could identify – but nonetheless filed the action despite the time and expense Judicial Watch would be forced to incur as a result.  With this obstruction out of the way, we are one step closer to the legal reckoning for Mrs. Clinton’s and the State Department’s contempt for the rule of law.  Judicial Watch’s massive legal effort – 18 cases to date – will insure that the emails on Hillary Clinton’s illicit email systems will be recovered, preserved, and reviewed for public disclosure as the law requires.

Sure enough, things picked up a bit as a result of this important ruling.  For example, one court almost immediately ordered the State Department to start answering question about the status of Judicial Watch’s FOIA requests concerning the Clinton email issue.  Here’s the text of the court order, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson:

MINUTE ORDER. In light of the Order entered in No. 15-mc-1188 denying the government’s motion for the designation of a coordinating judge, it is ORDERED that the stay of this case is hereby lifted. It is FURTHER ORDERED that defendant shall file on or before October 15, 2015 a proposed updated schedule for the production of any and all additional responsive records, taking into consideration the information the defendant provided to the Court in Leopold v. U.S. Department of State, No. 15-cv-123 (RC) concerning the status of the release of non-exempt portions of records subject to FOIA contained in the emails provided to State by former Secretary Clinton, but also including information concerning the status of the release of records subject to FOIA contained in the emails provided to State by other former employees, such as Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Jacob Sullivan, and Phillippe Reines. Plaintiff shall then have until October 19, 2015, to indicate to the Court whether it has any objections to defendant’s proposal. SO ORDERED. Signed by Judge Amy Berman Jackson on 10/8/2015.

Nice to go from a dead stop to answers in a week or two!  Our lawyers worked hard to oppose this delaying game and I’m happy to see their work bear fruit.

There have been many other developments this week, so be sure to go our Internet site for other news that we don’t have space for this week!

TiLTNews Network

The Tragic Ending To Obama’s Bay Of Pigs: CIA Hands Over Syria To Russia

 

Tyler Durden's picture Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/10/2015 22:06 -0400

One week ago, when summarizing the current state of play in Syria, we said that for Obama, “this is shaping up to be the most spectacular US foreign policy debacle since Vietnam.” Yesterday, in tacit confirmation of this assessment, the Obama administration threw in the towel on one of the most contentious programs it has implemented in “fighting ISIS”, when the Defense Department announced it was abandoning the goal of a U.S.-trained Syrian force.

But this, so far, partial admission of failure only takes care of one part of Obama’s problem: there is the question of the “other” rebels supported by the US, those who are not part of the officially-disclosed public program with the fake goal of fighting ISIS; we are talking, of course, about the nearly 10,000 CIA-supported “other rebels”, or technically mercenaries, whose only task is to take down Assad.

The same “rebels” whose fate the AP profiles today when it writes that the CIA began a covert operation in 2013 to arm, fund and train a moderate opposition to Assad. Over that time, the CIA has trained an estimated 10,000 fighters, although the number still fighting with so-called moderate forces is unclear.

The effort was separate from the one run by the military, which trained militants willing to promise to take on IS exclusively. That program was widely considered a failure, and on Friday, the Defense Department announced it was abandoning the goal of a U.S.-trained Syrian force, instead opting to equip established groups to fight IS.

It is this effort, too, that in the span of just one month Vladimir Putin has managed to render utterly useless, as it is officially “off the books” and thus the US can’t formally support these thousands of “rebel-fighters” whose only real task was to repeat the “success” of Ukraine and overthrow Syria’s legitimate president: something which runs counter to the US image of a dignified democracy not still resorting to 1960s tactics of government overthrow. That, and coupled with Russia and Iran set to take strategic control of Syria in the coming months, the US simply has no toehold any more in the critical mid-eastern nation.

And so another sad chapter in the CIA’s book of failed government overthrows comes to a close, leaving the “rebels” that the CIA had supported for years, to fend for themselves.

From AP:

CIA-backed rebels in Syria, who had begun to put serious pressure on President Bashar Assad’s forces, are now under Russian bombardment with little prospect of rescue by their American patrons, U.S. officials say.

Over the past week, Russia has directed parts of its air campaign against U.S.-funded groups and other moderate opposition in a concerted effort to weaken them, the officials say. The Obama administration has few options to defend those it had secretly armed and trained.

The Russians “know their targets, and they have a sophisticated capacity to understand the battlefield situation,” said Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., who serves on the House Intelligence Committee and was careful not to confirm a classified program. “They are bombing in locations that are not connected to the Islamic State” group.

With the US now in damage control mode, the finger pointing begins.

First, it is only natural that finger will point at Putin – after all he is an easy target:

U.S. intelligence officials see many factors motivating Russia’s intervention: Moscow’s reasserting its primacy as a great power, propping up Assad and wanting to deal a blow to the United States, which has insisted that Assad must go to end Syria’s civil war.

Russia is also interested in containing IS, an organization that includes thousands of Chechen fighters who may pose a threat to Russia, officials say.

But in the short term, “my conclusion is that the timing of their intervention was driven by Assad really going critical,” said Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., also a House Intelligence Committee member.

Alas, blaming Putin only underscores his latest victory over the US state department, leaving the US diplomatic corps no choice but to blame its own. This is imminent, and many heads will – or should – roll.

The administration is scrambling to come up with a response to Russia’s moves, but few believe the U.S. can protect its secret rebel allies. The administration has all but ruled out providing CIA-backed groups with surface-to-air missiles that can down aircraft, fearing such weapons would end up in the wrong hands, officials say.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, says the U.S. should consider establishing a no-fly zone that allows rebels a safe place from which to operate, and shooting down Syrian helicopters that are bombing civilians. He said the U.S. also should provide arms to the Ukrainian government fighting Russian-backed separatists.

A no-fly zone would require the U.S. military to be ready to engage in air battles with the Syrian government, something it is not prepared to do.

Why? Because it is not the Syrian government that is flying those sorties above Syria, it is Putin, and despite all the posturing, Obama is unwilling to risk World War III just to stop a Qatar gas pipeline to Europe.

Which means Obama now has just one option: admitting that his latest gamble to overthrow Assad, one which started in 2013 with the fake YouTube clips of “chemical attacks”, and the resultant naval escalation, coupled with the CIA’s training of thousands of local rebels mercenaries, and which escalated with the “appearance” of ISIS in the summer of 2014, is about to end with Obama admitting yet another major political defeat.

The administration “is debating the merits of taking further action or whether they are better off letting Putin hang himself,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Because somehow handing over control of the Middle East to the Russian-controlled axis – incidentally the topic of another article yesterday in the WSJ “America’s Fading Footprint in the Middle East” – is now spun as a defeat for Putin.

“Our options are much narrower than they were two weeks ago,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who serves on the Intelligence and Armed Services committees. “I don’t think there is any simple answer. … Further air involvement has become very problematic because of the Russian engagement.”

* * *

And so Putin has once again “won”, or as the administration would prefer to spin it, “has hung himself.”

Incidentally, this is just the beginning. Now that the U.S. has begun its pivot out of the middle-east, handing it over to Putin as Russia’s latest sphere of influence on a silver platter, there will be staggering consequences for middle-east geopolitics. In out preview of things to come last week, we concluded by laying these out; we will do the same again:

The US, in conjunction with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, attempted to train and support Sunni extremists to overthrow the Assad regime. Some of those Sunni extremists ended up going crazy and declaring a Medeival caliphate putting the Pentagon and Langley in the hilarious position of being forced to classify al-Qaeda as “moderate.” The situation spun out of control leading to hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths and when Washington finally decided to try and find real “moderates” to help contain the Frankenstein monster the CIA had created in ISIS (there were of course numerous other CIA efforts to arm and train anti-Assad fighters, see below for the fate of the most “successful” of those groups), the effort ended up being a complete embarrassment that culminated with the admission that only “four or five” remained and just days after that admission, those “four or five” were car jacked by al-Qaeda in what was perhaps the most under-reported piece of foreign policy comedy in history.

Meanwhile, Iran sensed an epic opportunity to capitalize on Washington’s incompetence. Tehran then sent its most powerful general to Russia where a pitch was made to upend the Mid-East balance of power. The Kremlin loved the idea because after all, Moscow is stinging from Western economic sanctions and Vladimir Putin is keen on showing the West that, in the wake of the controversy surrounding the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russia isn’t set to back down. Thanks to the fact that the US chose extremists as its weapon of choice in Syria, Russia gets to frame its involvement as a “war on terror” and thanks to Russia’s involvement, Iran gets to safely broadcast its military support for Assad just weeks after the nuclear deal was struck. Now, Russian airstrikes have debilitated the only group of CIA-backed fighters that had actually proven to be somewhat effective and Iran and Hezbollah are preparing a massive ground invasion under cover of Russian air support. Worse still, the entire on-the-ground effort is being coordinated by the Iranian general who is public enemy number one in Western intelligence circles and he’s effectively operating at the behest of Putin, the man that Western media paints as the most dangerous person on the planet.

As incompetent as the US has proven to be throughout the entire debacle, it’s still difficult to imagine that Washington, Riyadh, London, Doha, and Jerusalem are going to take this laying down and on that note, we close with our assessment from Thursday:  “If Russia ends up bolstering Iran’s position in Syria (by expanding Hezbollah’s influence and capabilities) and if the Russian air force effectively takes control of Iraq thus allowing Iran to exert a greater influence over the government in Baghdad, the fragile balance of power that has existed in the region will be turned on its head and in the event this plays out, one should not expect Washington, Riyadh, Jerusalem, and London to simply go gentle into that good night.”

Which is not to say that the latest US failure to overthrow a mid-east government was a total failure. As Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma says “probably 60 to 80 percent of the arms that America shoveled in have gone to al-Qaida and its affiliates.”

Which is at least great news for the military-industrial complex. It means more “terrorist attacks” on U.S. “friends and allies”, and perhaps even on U.S. soil – all courtesy of the US government supplying the weapons – are imminent.

TiLTNews Network

Powerful explosions kill dozens at peace rally in Ankara

Published time: 10 Oct, 2015 07:30Edited time: 10 Oct, 2015 20:33

https://www.rt.com/news/318185-ankara-road-junction-blast/video/

A man helps an injured woman after an explosion during a peace march in Ankara, Turkey, October 10, 2015. © Recep Yilmaz / Reuters

2.7K2.2K12

Dozens of people have been killed and scores injured in two blasts at a peace rally in the Turkish capital, Ankara, officials said. According to the Turkish government, the explosions appeared to be the result of suicide bomb attacks.

The death toll from the tragedy has reached 95 people, the office of Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said.
Earlier, Health Minister, Mehmet Muezzinoglu, said that at least 186 people have also been injured in the incident, with 28 of them in intensive care.

READ MORE: Deadly blasts rock Turkish capital LIVE UPDATES

According to local media, the explosion took place near Ankara Central railway station, the busiest in Turkey, which serves 181 trains daily. Several ambulances have been reportedly seen at the scene.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgfAYkZdnEM]

According to Lami Ozgen, head of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK, the bombs “exploded in very short intervals,” AP reported.

The explosions occurred at a rally dubbed “Labor, Peace, Democracy” that kicked off at 10:00 local time (0700 GMT). Turkey’s largest trade unions were planning to get together for a demonstration to protest the Turkish government’s renewed military campaign against Kurdish rebels.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DvplRGMp3Y]

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a meeting with security officials following the tragedy, his office said.

“We are investigating the explosion and will share our findings with the public as soon as possible,” a Turkish official told AFP.

Later, Davutoglu said the attack could have been carried out by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), Kurdish militants, or radical leftist groups.

“Since now ISIS is having hard times in Syria. Those fighters might be coming back to Turkey; might be planning more attacks in central location; in possibly touristic areas or in Istanbul, which is the economic capital of Turkey,” journalist Isil Sariyuce told RT.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has commented on the attack, calling for “solidarity and determination as the most meaningful response to terror.”

“Like other terror attacks, the one at the Ankara train station targets our unity, togetherness, brotherhood and future,” he said. 

The hashtag #Ankaradayız (We are Ankara) has been used in 35,000 retweets in the hours since the attack.

Turkish labor unions, who were among the organizers of the peace rally, have called for a two-day strike from October 12 to 13 in response to the bombing.

Embedded image permalink

Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, condemned the attack.

“The news from Ankara this morning is shocking and disturbing. This is a ruthless and barbaric attack on peaceful demonstrators. I express my condolences to all who have lost their friends and loved ones. Freedom of assembly and freedom of expression are fundamental pillars of democracy,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his condolences to Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan over the Ankara tragedy, the Kremlin press service said in a statement.

In his telegram, Putin expressed the hope “that the perpetrators of this cynical crime would be brought to justice, and confirmed readiness for close cooperation with the Turkish authorities in the fight against the terrorist threat,” the statement added.

Shortly after the attack, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) announced it was planning to halt its activity in Turkey, a news website close to the PKK reported, as cited by Reuters.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) claimed that their members were especially targeted in the deadly explosions.

“Just after the beginning of the march, at about 10:04 a.m., two bomb attacks occurred among the HDP cortege. For this reason, it is understood that the main target of the attacks was the HDP,” the party said.“Many of the injured people are heavily injured, so there is a fear that the number of dead people may increase.”

HDP leader, Selahattin Demirtas, blamed the government for the attack, saying that it was part of Erdogan’s campaign against the Kurds. 

“The government’s right and chance to hum and haw has long expired. You are murderers. Your hand is bloody. Blood has splattered from your face, your mouth to your nails and all over you. You are the biggest supporters of terror,” Demirtas said, as cited by Reuters. 

PM Davutoglu refuted the accusations, calling them an “open provocation.”

No one has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack, but it comes amid renewed fighting between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebel forces.

READ MORE: At least 30 killed, 100 injured in ‘terrorist attack’ on Turkish town near Kobani

In July at least 30 people were killed and over 100 injured in an explosion that struck a cultural center in the town of Suruc, southeast Turkey, near the Syrian border, in what the authorities called a “terrorist attack.”

The Kurds have been fighting Turkish authorities for several decades, demanding an independent state or at least greater autonomy. The Turkish Kurds’ main insurgent group, the PKK, considered as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and NATO, was founded in 1978 and has been engaged in fighting with Turkey since 1984.

In September, the PKK claimed that its fighters had killed 15 Turkish soldiers in a surprise attack on an armored convoy.

READ MORE: 17 PKK members killed in Turkish military assault on Kurdish city of Silvan – reports

Earlier this month, Turkey mounted a military assault on the city of Silvan, which has a mainly Kurdish population, killing at least 17 militants.

TiLTNews Network

The First Crack: Deutsche Bank Preannounces Massive Loss, May Cut Dividend

Tyler Durden's picture

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/07/2015 16:20 -0400

Amid numerous rumors that Deutsche Bank is among the corporations exposed to the VW fiasco, and to be clear there is no news to confirm that, DB has just kitchen-sinked it in a pre-announcement:

  • *DEUTSCHE BANK SEES 3Q NET LOSS EUR 6.2 BLN
  • *DEUTSCHE BANK TO RECOMMEND DIVIDEND CUT OR POSSIBLE ELIMINATION

Deutsche Bank stock is crashing down around 6% after-hours on the news.

*  *  *

Full Press release: Deutsche Bank expects to incur charges that will materially impact third quarter 2015 results:

An impairment of all goodwill and certain intangibles in Corporate Banking & Securities (CB&S) and Private & Business Clients (PBC) of approximately EUR 5.8 billion. This is largely driven by the impact of expected higher regulatory capital requirements on the measurement of the value of these segments as well as current expectations regarding the disposal of Postbank.

An impairment of the carrying value of Deutsche Bank’s 19.99% stake in Hua Xia Bank Co. Ltd. of approximately EUR 0.6 billion. This reflects an updated valuation triggered by a change of the intent of the holding as Deutsche Bank no longer considers this stake to be strategic.

Litigation provisions of approximately EUR 1.2 billion, the majority of which are not expected to be tax deductible. Final litigation provisions in the quarter may be affected by further events before we finalize and report third quarter results.

The impairment of goodwill and intangibles and of the Hua Xia investment will have no significant impact on Deutsche Bank’s regulatory capital ratios. Deutsche Bank currently expects to report a fully-loaded CRR/CRD4 Common Equity Tier 1 ratio for the third quarter of approximately 11%, which includes the impact of European Banking Authority Regulatory Technical Standards (\”Prudential Valuation\”) that were adopted in the quarter.

Based on these charges, Deutsche Bank expects to report a third quarter income before income taxes (IBIT) loss of approximately EUR 6.0 billion and a net loss of EUR 6.2 billion. Year-to-date results through the third quarter are expected to be an IBIT loss of approximately EUR 3.3 billion and a net loss of EUR 4.8 billion.

Excluding the impact of the impairment of goodwill and intangibles, the third quarter IBIT loss would be approximately EUR 0.2 billion and the net loss would be approximately EUR 0.4 billion, largely reflecting the litigation provisions and Hua Xia impairment. On the same basis, Deutsche Bank expects to remain profitable year-to-date through the third quarter with IBIT of approximately EUR 2.5 billion and net income of approximately EUR 0.9 billion.

As part of the planning for the implementation of Strategy 2020, the Management Board will recommend a reduction or possible elimination of the Deutsche Bank common share dividend for the fiscal year of 2015.

All the aforementioned amounts are estimates. The final amounts will be determined in the coming weeks and will be disclosed in our announcement of  third quarter results, together with details of the implementation of  Strategy 2020, which is now scheduled to occur on October 29.

*  *  *

Is this the first crack (or the kitchen-sink’d last one?) As we asked previously, Is Deutsche Bank the next Lehman?

Submitted by NotQuant.com

Looking back at the Lehman Brothers collapse of 2008, it’s amazing how quickly it all happened.  In hindsight there were a few early-warning signs,  but the true scale of the disaster publicly unfolded only in the final moments before it became apparent that Lehman was doomed.

MI-CB391_PECK_G_20140218184730

First, for purposes of drawing a parallel, let’s re-cap the events of 2007-2008:

There were few early indicators of Lehman’s plight.   Insiders however, were well aware:   In late 2007, Goldman Sachs placed a massive proprietary bet against Lehman which would be known internally as the “Big Short”.  (It’s a bet that would later profit from during the crisis).

In the summer 2007 subprime loans were beginning to perform poorly in the marketplace.  By August of 2007, the commercial paper market saw liquidity evaporating quickly and funding for all types of asset-backed security was drying up.

But still — even in late 2007,  there was little public indication that Lehman was circling the drain.

Probably the first public indication that things were heading downhill for Lehman wasn’t until June 9th, 2008,  when Fitch Ratings cut Lehman’s rating to AA-minus, outlook negative. (ironically, 7 years to the day before S&P would cut DB)

The “negative outlook” indicates that another further downgrade is likely.   In this particular case, it was the understatement of all time.

A mere 3 months later, in the course of just one week,  Lehman would announce a major loss and file for bankruptcy.

article-2203390-1504DEE9000005DC-669_634x346

And the rest is history.

Could this happen to Deutsche Bank?

First, we must state the obvious:  If Deutsche Bank is the next Lehman, we will not know until events are moving at an uncontrollable and accelerating speed.   The nature of all fractional-reserve banks — who are by definition bankrupt at all times – is to project an aura of stability until that illusion has already begun to implode.

By the time we are aware of a crisis – if one is in the offing — it will already be a roaring blaze by the time it is known publicly.   It is by now well-established that truth is the first casualty of all banking crises.  There will be little in the way of early warnings.   To that end, we begin connecting the dots:

Here’s a re-cap of what’s happened at Deutsche Bank over the past 15 months:

  • In April of 2014,  Deutsche Bank was forced to raise an additional 1.5 Billion of Tier 1 capital to support it’s capital structure.  Why?
  • 1 month later in May of 2014, the scramble for liquidity continued as DB announced the selling of 8 billion euros worth of stock – at up to a 30% discount. Why again?  It was a move which raised eyebrows across the financial media.  The calm outward image of Deutsche Bank did not seem to reflect their rushed efforts to raise liquidity.  Something was decidedly rotten behind the curtain.
  • Fast forwarding to March of this year:   Deutsche Bank fails the banking industry’s “stress tests” and is given a stern warning to shore up it’s capital structure.
  • In April,  Deutsche Bank confirms it’s agreement to a joint settlement with the US and UK regarding the manipulation of LIBOR.   The bank is saddled with a massive $2.1 billion payment to the DOJ.  (Still, a small fraction of their winnings from the crime).
  • In May,  one of Deutsche Bank’s CEOs, Anshu Jain is given an enormous amount of new authority by the board of directors.  We guess that this is a “crisis move”.  In times of crisis the power of the executive is often increased.
  • June 5: Greece misses it’s payment to the IMF.   The risk of default across all of it’s debt is now considered acute.   This has massive implications for Deutsche Bank.
  • June 6/7:  (A Saturday/Sunday, and immediately following Greece’s missed payment to the IMF) Deutsche Bank’s two CEO’s announce their surprise departure from the company.  (Just one month after Jain is given his new expanded powers).   Anshu Jain will step down first at the end of June.  Jürgen Fitschen will step down next May.
  • June 9: S&P lowers the rating of Deutsche Bank to BBB+  Just three notches above “junk”.  (Incidentally,  BBB+ is even lower than Lehman’s downgrade – which preceded it’s collapse by just 3 months)

And that’s where we are now.  How bad is it?  We don’t know because we won’t be permitted to know.  But these are not the moves of a healthy company.

deutsche_ceos2

Jürgen Fitschen will step down May 2016. Jain will step down at the end of this month.

How exposed is Deutsche Bank?

The trouble for Deutsche Bank is that it’s conventional retail banking operations are not a significant profit center.  To maintain margins, Deutsche Bank has been forced into riskier asset classes than it’s peers.

Deutsche Bank is sitting on more than $75 Trillion in derivatives bets — an amount that is twenty times greater than German GDP.    Their derivatives exposure dwarfs even JP Morgan’s exposure –by a staggering $5 trillion.

With that kind of exposure, relatively small moves can precipitate catastrophic losses.   Again, we must note that Greece just missed it’s payment to the IMF – and further defaults are most certainly not beyond the realm of possibility.

Not good.

Not good.

And if the dominos were not adequately stacked already, there is one final domino which perfects the setup.

Meet Tom Humphrey.  He heads up Deutsche Bank’s Investment Banking operations on Wall Street.

He was also head of fixed income at Lehman.

Prior history.

Prior history.

History never repeats.   But it does rhyme.    In market terms, it tends to rhyme just about every 7 years.

* * *

For more read the Zero Hedge piece from April 2014: The Elephant In The Room: Deutsche Bank’s $75 Trillion In Derivatives Is 20 Times Greater Than German GDP

TiLTNews Network

The Grand Canyon Gold and The Fed

Bix Weir
Printer-Friendly Format


Many people will find this interview is just too “out there” to be true but please listen with an open mind and follow the research where it leads you. This is amazing stuff when you think about it because it explains WHY and HOW we got here.

Note: I was just contacted by someone that knows first hand that there is a secret operation still going on in the Grand Canyon as he was “detained” in the 1960’s while on a fishing expedition and was taken to a military base within the cordoned off area. He claims to have SEEN mining operations going on as well as some of the Egyptian artifacts. This source is more than credible to me and his description and detail of the area fits exactly with my analysis of what happened with the Fed in 1913.

Enjoy hearing one of the greatest secrets of all time!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVxIwdFdSKM]

More proof of the NY Times article and Golden Secrets here:

http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/181.cfm

May the Road you choose be the Right Road.

Bix Weir
www.RoadtoRoota.com

TiLTNews Network

Saudis Mull Launch Of Regional War As Russia Pounds Targets In Syria For Fourth Day

Tyler Durden's picture

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/04/2015 11:15 -0400

Image result for images of Russia in Syria 

Image result for images of Russia in SyriaImage result for images of Russia in Syria

While the US has certainly made some epic strategic blunders in Syria that raise serious questions about just how “intelligent” US intelligence actually is, there’s little doubt that if one were to look behind all of the media parroting, the Pentagon and Langley understand all too well what’s going on in the Middle East.

That is, the significance of the Russia-Iran “nexus” in Syria isn’t lost on anyone in the US military and you can bet there have been quite a few high level discussions over the past 72 hours about the best way to counter Moscow and Tehran’s powerplay before it spills over into Iraq and ends up degrading Washington’s influence in Baghdad.

As we put it on Friday, “if Russia ends up bolstering Iran’s position in Syria (by expanding Hezbollah’s influence and capabilities) and if the Russian air force effectively takes control of Iraq thus allowing Iran to exert a greater influence over the government in Baghdad, the fragile balance of power that has existed in the region will be turned on its head and in the event this plays out, one should not expect Washington, Riyadh, Jerusalem, and London to simply go gentle into that good night.”

Sure enough, some experts now predict Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey will move to counter Russia militarily if Moscow continues to rack up gains for Assad. Here’s The Guardian with more:

Regional powers have quietly, but effectively, channelled funds, weapons and other support to rebel groups making the biggest inroads against the forces from Damascus. In doing so, they are investing heavily in a conflict which they see as part of a wider regional struggle for influence with bitter rival Iran.

In a week when Russia made dozens of bombing raids, those countries have made it clear that they remain at least as committed to removing Assad as Moscow is to preserving him.

“There is no future for Assad in Syria,” Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir warned, a few hours before the first Russian bombing sorties began. If that was not blunt enough, he spelled out that if the president did not step down as part of a political transition, his country would embrace a military option, “which also would end with the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power”. With at least 39 civilians reported dead in the first bombing raids, the prospect of an escalation between backers of Assad and his opponents is likely to spell more misery for ordinary Syrians.

“The Russian intervention is a massive setback for those states backing the opposition, particularly within the region – Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – and is likely to elicit a strong response in terms of a counter-escalation,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

As the Syrian civil war has unfolded, Saudi Arabia has been clear about its position, say analysts. “Since the beginning of the uprising in Syria, the view in Riyadh has been that Bashar al-Assad must go. There is no indication what-soever that Riyadh will change this position,” said Mohammed Alyahya, associate fellow at the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh.

“What is clear to Riyadh and its regional allies is that the recent Russian and Iranian escalation will only create a more unstable region and spill more blood,” he said.

Riyadh has focused support on rebels in the south, say analysts, while allies Turkey and Qatar have reportedly backed northern rebels, including conservative Islamist militias such as Ahrar al Sham.

That group, in alliance with the al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al Nusra, recently reached a local ceasefire deal with Assad in the north. Its success in taking on government forces is thought to have been one trigger for the Russian bombing campaign and put them among the jets’ first targets.

“Most probably, the coming efforts will focus on boosting the effectiveness of major coalitions, co-ordination and co-operation between the most influential and effective groups in Syria,” said regional analyst Ali Bakeer.

Of course that isn’t going to work.

Say what you will about how successful guerilla/urban warfare can be when it comes to bogging down a conventional army (examples of this include Vietnam, the Soviet-Afghan war, and Somalia during the Black Hawk down debacle), but the disorganization of the Syrian resistance combined with the fact that Iran has its own well-armed militias on the ground that, in combination with Hezbollah, are providing the ground support for Russian airstrikes, means the situation is all but hopeless for the various Riyadh- and Doha-backed groups operating in Syria.

The only way to turn the tide here would be to intervene directly.

But just as Iran is unwilling to risk direct intervention on behalf of the Houthis in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Qatar will likely be unwilling to risk direct intervention on behalf of their proxy armies in Syria. The problem for Riyadh and Doha: Syria is a lot more strategically important than Yemen. Here’s The Guardian again:

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already embroiled in an expensive and bloody war in Yemen that may limit both their military and financial resources. They have also so far deferred to western bans on transferring hi-tech weapons – including missiles that could take down aircraft – over fears that they might change hands in the chaos of the war and be used against their makers.

“The uncertain question today is the degree of power combined with efficiency that regional powers will be willing to bring to the table,” said Barnes-Dacey. “Do the Saudis now try to take matters decisively into their hands, including by providing rebels with sophisticated weaponry long denied them?

“The new [Saudi] king [Salman] has shown a willingness to be much more assertive and take measures into the kingdom’s own hands. If the Saudis see the situation slipping out of their hands, and there is a real sense that the Iranians are consolidating their position in Syria, you could see much stronger response.”

And speaking of a “strong response,” Russia continued to hit anti-regime targets for a fourth consecutive day on Sunday, making good on the Defense Ministry’s promise to step up strikes. Here’sReuters:

Air strikes by suspected Russian jets hit targets around the town of Talbiseh in western Syria on Sunday, residents and a group which monitors the civil war in Syria said, a day after Russia promised to step up its air campaign.

Ambulances rushed wounded people to hospital in Talbiseh, north of the city of Homs, and one resident said at least five bodies had been recovered from the western part of the town.

“So far there are seven or six raids in the town,” said Abdul Ghafar al Dweik, a former government employee and volunteer rescue worker.

He said he believed the raid was carried out by Russian jets. “They come suddenly… With the Syrian planes, we would get a warning but now all of a sudden we see it over our heads,” he said.

We have said time and again that there’s no question Russian airstrikes will contribute to human suffering in Syria. After all, when you drop bombs on populated areas you’re bound to kill civilians (including women and children) no matter what Moscow says. However, the highlighted passages above shouldn’t come as a surprise. If you want your airstrikes to be effective, you’re not going to warn anyone about them beforehand unless of course you’re dropping a nuke in which case you can tell civilians to leave ahead of time because you’re reasonably sure the destruction will be so vast as to make the element of surprise a non-factor.

As for the effectiveness of the strikes, The Kremlin is out again claiming that ISIS is on its heels. Via Bloomberg and the Russian Defense Ministry (translated):

  • Russian warplanes have made 20 sorties, attacked 10 ISIS targets in Syria in past 24h, Russian Defense Ministry says on website.
  • Air force has attacked militant training camps in Raqqa, Idlib provinces; destroyed explosives workshop
  • Warplanes destroyed at least 4 ammunition depots, several command posts
  • Russian forces have broken “the management and logistics of the terrorist organization” and caused “significant damage to the infrastructure used for preparation of terrorist attacks”

And here’s David Cameron repeating the Assad “butcher” accustations (again, via Bloomberg):

Russia is “backing the butcher Assad, which is a terrible mistake for them and for the world,” Cameron told BBC Television’s “Andrew Marr Show” on Sunday. “It’s going to make the region more unstable, which will lead to further radicalization and increased terrorism.”

Cameron continued: “I would say to them change direction, join us in attacking ISIL but recognize that if we want to have a secure region we need an alternative to Assad,” using an alternative designation for Islamic State. Assad “can’t unite the Syrian people.”

Yes, Assad “can’t unite the Syrian people”, because clearly that’s what this is all about, which explains why the West has been doing anything and everything to promote disunity among Syrians for the better part of a decade, and on that note, we close with the following excerpt from a leaked diplomatic cable penned by then-Deputy Head of Mission in Syria William Roebuck in 2006 which shows just how concerned the West is with Syrian “unity”:

— PLAY ON SUNNI FEARS OF IRANIAN INFLUENCE:  There are fears in Syria that the Iranians are active in both Shia proselytizing and conversion of, mostly poor, Sunnis.  Though often exaggerated, such fears reflect an element of the Sunni community in Syria that is increasingly upset by and focused on the spread of Iranian influence in their country through activities ranging from mosque construction to business. Both the local Egyptian and Saudi missions here, (as well as prominent Syrian Sunni religious leaders), are giving increasing attention to the matter and we should coordinate more closely with their governments on ways to better publicize and focus regional attention on the issue.

Average:

TiLTNews Network

GOFUNDME PAGE FOR OREGON HERO CHRIS MINTZ TOPS 1/2 MILLION DOLLARS IN 24 HOURS

 

The vet is being hailed as a real life hero

GoFundMe Page For Oregon Hero Chris Mintz Tops 1/2 Million Dollars In 24 Hours

by BIZPAC REVIEW | TOM TILLISON | OCTOBER 4, 2015


If it’s possible for a feel-good story to emerge from the tragic shooting in Oregon that saw ten people die, including the gunman who was killed by police, it would be the story of Army veteran Chris Mintz.

And the generosity of the American people.

The vet is being hailed as a real life hero after being shot seven times while charging to block a door to prevent the crazed gunman from entering the room, according to the New York Daily News.

His aunt, Wanda Mintz, said after being shot several times, Mintz cried out to the shooter, “It’s my son’s birthday!” — Oct. 1 was his son’s sixth birthday — but the killer showed no mercy, shooting him two more times.

Miraculously, Mintz survived!

“He just tried to do the right thing,” the aunt said of her nephew. “That’s just how he is. If he sees someone who needs help, he just helps. He just tried to intervene.”

In addition to seven gun shot wounds, Mintz somehow broke both his legs, prompting his cousin, Derek Bourgeois, to create a GoFundMe page to help pay for the medical bills, the International Business Times reported.

“Yesterday, my cousin Chris Mintz was shot 7 times while trying to protect others from the gunman at Umpqua Community College,” Bourgeois wrote. “He is a father, a veteran, a student, and now, he’s a hero.”

“While Chris is not the type of person to ask for it, he is going to need all of the help he can get while he recovers!” he added. “Myself and many family members have been swamped with requests for us to set up a GoFundMe page, so this is us fulfilling that request, and we appreciate your concerns and assistance.”

The page had a modest goal of $10,000, but as of Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after being set up, it had already topped half a million dollars — $570,176 to be exact.

It’s safe to say that in these troubling times, America still loves a hero. God Bless you Chris Mintz, and may the donations continue to flow.

TiLTNews Network

Meet Oregon School Shooter Chris Harper-Mercer: “You’re Going To See God In Just About One Second”

Tyler Durden's picture

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/02/2015 09:20 -0400

Sadly, the post-mass-shooting killer profile has become something of a media tradition in the US of late as a string of violence that includes the execution of nine African American churchgoers in Charleston and the on-air murder of a TV reporter has delivered a shock to the collective psyche of Americans and served notice that tragedies like those that occurred at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook may well become commonplace going forward. 

The latest “incident” in the mass shooting tradition came on Thursday when someone described only as “a 20-year-old man” went on a rampage at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. According to some eyewitness accounts, the shooter demanded that victims “stand up and state their religion” before summarily executing them. 

On Friday, the first details are beginning to emerge about the identity of the shooter. Here’s Reuters with more:

The man killed by police on Thursday after he fatally shot nine people at a community college in southern Oregon was a nervy 26-year-old who lived close to the campus and described himself as shy, according to neighbors, media and online reports.

A law enforcement source said multiple agencies had identified the shooter as Chris Harper-Mercer. Online directories list a man of that name as having lived in Torrance, California, before moving to Winchester, Oregon.

The killer used four guns, including a type of assault rifle, in the classroom attack, CNN said. Seven people were also wounded at the Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, a timber town of about 20,000 people that adjoins Winchester.

A photo posted on a MySpace profile belonging to someone named Chris Harper-Mercer, from Torrance, showed a young man with a shaved head, dark-rimmed glasses and a serious expression. He was holding a long-barreled gun.

A neighbor next door to the Winchester building said Thursday night he recognized online photos of Harper-Mercer as being his neighbor.

In an Internet posting on the Spiritual Passions dating and social networking site, a user posted a picture that appears to be Harper-Mercer under the user name IRONCROSS45, a handle Harper-Mercer used as his email.

He described himself on the site as a 26-year-old, mixed-race “man looking for a woman.” He said he was “not religious, but spiritual,” and was a “teetotaler” living with his parents and a conservative Republican. Socially, he said, he was “shy at first” and “better in small groups.” He described himself as “always dieting” and looking for “the yin to my yang.”

And here’s further color from The New York Times:

Chris Harper Mercer, the man identified as the gunman in the deadly rampage at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., on Thursday, was a withdrawn young man who neighbors said wore the same outfit every day — combat boots, green Army pants and a white T-shirt — and was close to his mother, who fiercely protected him.

Neighbors in Winchester, Ore., and Torrance, Calif., where Mr. Mercer, 26, lived with his mother, Laurel Harper, remember a reclusive and seemingly fragile young man with a shaved head and dark glasses who seemed to recoil from social interaction.

“He always seemed anxious,” said Rosario Lucumi, 51, who rode the same bus in Torrance as Mr. Mercer when she went to work. She said she believed he took it to El Camino College. “He always had earphones in, listening to music.”

“He and his mother were really close,” said Ms. Lucumi, who estimated that Mr. Mercer and his mother, who shared a small one-bedroom apartment in Torrance, lived there for less than a year. “They were always together.”

Bryan Clay, 18, said he once asked Mr. Mercer why he wore “a military get-up” every day.

“He kind of just didn’t want of talk about it” and changed the subject, Mr. Clay said.

“He didn’t say anything about himself,” he added.

Mr. Mercer appeared to have sought community on the Internet. A picture of him holding a rifle appeared on a MySpace page with a post expressing a deep interest in the Irish Republican Army. It included footage from the conflict in Northern Ireland set to “The Men Behind the Wire,” an Irish republican song, and several pictures of gunmen in black balaclavas. Another picture showed the front page of An Phoblacht, the party newspaper of Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the I.R.A.


A picture of Mr. Mercer also appeared on a long-dormant dating website profile registered in Los Angeles. On it, he described himself as an “introvert” with a dislike for “organized religion.”

Here are the images from Mercer’s MySpace page

…here is the above mentioned “Spiritual Passions” profile…

…and here is a review penned by someone with the same username (IRONCROSS45) after purchasing Nazi attire:

According to reports, Mercer’s professed “dislike for organized religion” led him to “target” Christians, although the chilling details presented below may simply indicate that Mercer was attempting to terrorize his victims before killing them. Via CNN:

The gunman who opened fire at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College singled out Christians, according to the father of a wounded student.

Before going into spinal surgery, Anastasia Boylan told her father the gunman entered her classroom firing.

“I’ve been waiting to do this for years,” the gunman told the professor teaching the class. He shot him point blank, Boylan recounted.

Others were hit too, she told her family.

Everyone in the classroom dropped to the ground.

The gunman, while reloading his handgun, ordered the students to stand up and asked if they were Christians, Boylan told her family.

“And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second,'” Boylan’s father, Stacy, told CNN, relaying her account.

“And then he shot and killed them.”

Mercer’s blog posts, which were penned under the name “lithium_love” have apparently been removed (see here) but here are some excerpts via CNN and via another blogger who copied the entries before they were taken down. The first two paragraphs reference Virginia shooter Vester Flanagan:

I have noticed that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.

And I have to say, anyone who knew him could have seen this coming. People like him have nothing left to live for, and the only thing left to do is lash out at a society that has abandoned them.

I just read about the houston cop shooting. Figured I’d post this since the response to my previous blog post on vester flanagan was so interesting. On the houston shooting it was reported that the suspect was influenced by black lives matter protests/movement. Although I don’t know if thats true, with all the issues about police and blacks/protestors in the news the past couple of years, it certainly seems like someone would be inspired to take action. With the constant chants of anti police rhetoric this was bound to happen. I don’t disagree that police brutality and excessive use of force is a problem, but killing an officer that never did anything to you is not the answer.

This whole event seems similar to the one in new york earlier this year where that guy killed those two cops sitting in a parked car. The inflammatory rhetoric on both sides, whether warranted or not will only continue to agitate the situation and events such as these will happen more and more. These are just my thoughts on the matter. Will continue to post more blogs on related subjects, as well any interesting thoughts I may have.

We’ll leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions as to what this says about race relations in America, religion, the copy cat effect, and the outright disintegration of society. We close by noting that sadly, we doubt this is the last time we’ll find ourselves profiling someone who carries out a mass shooting and we leave you with the following rather unnerving bit from The New York Times piece excerpted above:

In the offline world, Mr. Mercer’s mother sought to protect him from all manner of neighborhood annoyances, former neighbors in Torrance said, from loud children and barking dogs to household pests. Once, neighbors said, she went door-to-door with a petition to get the landlord to exterminate cockroaches in her apartment, saying they bothered her son.

“She said, ‘My son is dealing with some mental issues, and the roaches are really irritating him,’ ” Julia Winstead, 55, said.

TiLTNews Network