19 December 2015 — Strategic Culture Foundation
Turkish-ISIL Oil Trade: The Roles of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Britain, and Israel (III)
19.12.2015 | 00:00 | Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
Turkish officials were involved in illegal transport of oil from Iraq long before the emergence of the so-called Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS/IS/DAESH). Their illegal trade expanded to the Syrian Arab Republic with the intensification of the conflict in Syria. Turkey, however, is not the only player involved in the illegal oil trade in Syria and Iraq. The operations of the Anglo-Turkish company Genel Energy PLC, which works in Iraqi Kurdistan and Malta, illustrates the constellation of financial and energy sector interests involved…
With World Attention Riveted on Middle East US Revs Up Global Missile Defense Push
19.12.2015 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
The first Aegis Ashore installation in Romania is nearing the Dec. 31 light off. The presidential mandate requires the system to be online by the end of 2015. After the light off, MDA will make a technical capability declaration (TCD) similar to an initial operational capability (IOC) declaration. After the final Board of Inspection and Survey inspection the site will be activated…
Turkish-ISIL Oil Trade: Did the Turkish Military Enter Mosul to Protect its Oil Trade? (II)
18.12.2015 | 00:00 | Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
A few weeks after shooting down a Sukhoi Su-24M tactical bomber jet operating in Syrian airspace, Turkey sent a heavily armed battalion into the Zilkan military base in Iraq. The move can be seen as a compensation for the weakening of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS/IS/DAESH) and the ISIL’s oil smuggling infrastructure. It can also be viewed as a Turkish preparation for the aftermath of the future defeat of the ISIL in Iraq…
John Kerry Visits Moscow: Important Step to Coordinate Efforts to Tackle Burning Issues
18.12.2015 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
US State Secretary John Kerry travelled to Moscow on December 15 to bridge gaps over ways to end the Syrian conflict and discuss other hot issues of mutual concern. With the holidays and New Year approaching, Mr. Kerry’s visit could be the last chance to achieve progress between Russia and the US before 2016. Prior to the negotiations a calico cat appeared in the yard of the Foreign Ministry’s mansion – a good sign and a symbol of good luck. To some extent, it has proven to be true. The United States and Russia are demonstrating readiness for cooperation…
Global Financial Order Could Utterly Collapse on Dec. 21
17.12.2015 | 08:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
The world is entering a chaotic phase. There have been recent claims that the US has begun to create «manageable chaos» globally. But events in the Middle East have dispelled the illusion that the instigator of this chaos is capable of managing it. And that unmanageable chaos may very soon overtake the world of international finance. The US is once again guilty of having ushered in unmanageable financial chaos, and Ukraine’s $3 billion debt to Russia will serve to detonate the process…
Turkish-ISIL Oil Trade: Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Russia All Accuse Turkey of Smuggling Oil (I)
17.12.2015 | 00:00 | Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
Because of the Turkish government’s role in the multi-spectrum US-led war against the Syrian Arab Republic, a war of words has ignited between Ankara and Moscow. Russia, however, is not alone in accusing Turkey of being involved in the theft of Syrian and Iraqi oil. Turkish opposition politicians, Turkish media, and various governments in the Middle East have also raised their voices about the role of Turkish officials in smuggling from the conflict zones in Syria and Iraq…
US Leverages Ukraine for Regime Change in Syria
17.12.2015 | 00:00 | Finian CUNNINGHAM
US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Moscow this week bearing what can only be described as a bribe to Russia. The unspoken essence of Washington’s arm twisting towards Moscow is this: give us Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s head on a platter – and we’ll call off the dogs of war in Ukraine. The latter part of the deal also comes with the added “sweetener» that the US and its European allies would lift economic sanctions off Russia…
Sick Man of Europe: Britain and Nonsensical EU Referendum
16.12.2015 | 08:00 | Matthew JAMISON
When Margaret Thatcher was running to become Britain’s first female Prime Minister in the 1979 General Election she passionately exclaimed during a television interview: «I can’t bear Britain in decline. I just can’t»…
How Aristocracy Revs Up Its Suckers
16.12.2015 | 00:00 | Eric ZUESSE
On December 10th, the far-right Rosemary Righter («Righter» is her actual name, not merely her ideology), of the fascist Rupert Murdoch’s London Times, presented an opinion-piece in America’s Politico (which derives from Republican Joe Allbritton’s now-defunct Washington DC conservative newspaper the Star), titled, «NATO’s ‘Obama problem’: The alliance is hamstrung by the least Atlanticist president since World War II»…
Syria Shatters Pentagon Dream
16.12.2015 | 00:00 | Pepe ESCOBAR
No wonder Full Spectrum Dominance practitioners in the Beltway and beyond are consumed by deep denial…
The Failed State of Ukraine: Join Most of It to Russia
15.12.2015 | 00:00 | Wayne MADSEN
The recent display of Third World-style political immaturity in the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) when Oleg Barna, a deputy from President Petro Poroshenko’s eponymously-named Petro Poroshenko Bloc (PPB), assaulted Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk by grabbing him by his genitals and neck, pulling him away from the dais, and shuffling him off the stage displayed for the world to witness the utterly failed state of Ukraine. Yatsenyuk, the favorite Ukrainian leader of the foul-mouthed Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, responded to the incident by calling the Poroshenko Bloc deputies «morons»…
Terrorist Groups in Africa: LRA Patronized
15.12.2015 | 00:00 | Alexander MEZYAEV
The stability in Africa is undermined by many militant groups, including Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al-Shabaab in Somalia and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb spreading terrorist activities to Mali, Niger and other countries. The Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, deserves special attention. It has been going on a rampage in Uganda since 1987 when it started to fight the government of Yoweri Museveni that came to power in 1986. The group attacks civilians, kills and kidnaps people, including women and children. One of the main accusations against the leaders of the LRA is military use of children…
Turkish Delight and Spanking for Naughty Puppy
14.12.2015 | 00:00 | Brian CLOUGHLEY
Turkey has an appalling human rights record and recently arrested the editor and Ankara bureau chief of The Daily Cumhuriyet newspaper. According to the BBC, «During Mr Erdogan’s time in office (prime minister 2003-14, president from 2014), 63 journalists have been sentenced to a total of 32 years in prison» – and that was only up to March this year…
Iraq, Syria: Prospects for Multinational Military Operation
14.12.2015 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
On Dec. 9, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the U.S. is willing to assist the Iraqi army with more personnel and attack helicopters to help it fight Islamic State militants, especially in the battle to retake a key city in Iraq…
Qatar Will Not Help Europe
13.12.2015 | 15:00 | Pyotr ISKENDEROV
Yet another scheme with dubious prospects is taking place in Europe’s energy market. On 11 December, a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas will arrive at the Polish port of Swinoujscie from Qatar. As a result, the Polish LNG terminal at Swinoujscie will receive its first 200,000 cubic metres of liquefied fuel, which corresponds to approximately 120 million cubic metres of natural gas…
Rome Conference: International Military Operation in Libya Hot on Agenda
13.12.2015 | 14:32 | Andrei AKULOV
The world attention is focused on the events in Iraq and Syria. Perhaps to lesser extent, it is also focused on Libya – the country where the Islamic State (IS) has strengthened its position in the stronghold of Sirte, a key city in Libya less than 400 miles away from the Italian island of Sicily, which now has become a new focal point for the group. The massive Sirte Basin is the centre of Libya’s oil industry. According to the US Department of Energy report, about 80% of Libya’s accessible oil is located in the Sirte basin…
US May be Salvaging Victory for Jihadists in Syria: How & Why
13.12.2015 | 00:00 | Eric ZUESSE
According to Britain’s Telegraph, in a recent report, the US TOW antitank missiles that US President Barack Obama sent in October to the Islamic Sunni fighters in Syria to use against the forces of the non-sectarian Shiite ruler there, Bashar al-Assad, have been so effective against Russia’s forces that Assad had invited in, that Russia – defending (upon Syria’s legal request) President Assad’s forces, and attacking the jihadists imported into Syria by the Saudis and the West – is now being forced to send into the battle Russia’s costly T-90 tanks, which are less vulnerable to America’s missiles…
Neoconservatives’ Hegemonic Goal of Making Sovereign Countries Extinct is Bringing Instead Extinction of Planet Earth
12.12.2015 | 22:13 | Paul Craig ROBERTS
My warning that the neoconservatives have resurrected the threat of nuclear Armageddon, which was removed by Reagan and Gorbachev, is also being given by Noam Chomsky, former US Secretary of Defense William Perry, and other sentient observers of the neoconservatives’ aggressive policies toward Russia and China…
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