The Texas senator,Ted Cruz,, said America should focus on its own security rather than toppling dictators abroad.

………………………………………………………………

‘It’s not even a close call’: Ted Cruz insists the Middle East was a safer place when dictators Saddam Hussein and Colonel Gaddafi were alive

• The presidential candidate, 44, said US should focus on its own security
• Said Middle East was more secure when Iraq and Libya dictators were alive
• Cruz said Libya was now a ‘chaotic war zone ruled by radical Islamic terrorists’

By Julian Robinson for MailOnline

Published: 04:10 EST, 11 December 2015 | Updated: 19:04 EST, 11 December 2015

Ted Cruz believes the Middle East was a safer place before the US helped to overthrow tyrants Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, it has been reported.

The Texas senator, a Republican presidential candidate, said America should focus on its own security rather than toppling dictators abroad.

He said it was ‘not even a close call’ when asked whether the Middle East was more secure when Gaddafi and Hussein were dictators of their respective countries.

 

Ted Cruz believes the Middle East was a safer place before the US helped to overthrow Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, it has been reported

Cruz said the toppling of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had shown the US has not learned lessons from history

In an interview with MSNBC, Cruz told Joe Scarborough: ‘Now, what has been a mistake – and we’ve seen a consistent mistake in foreign policy – is far too often, we’ve seen Democrats and a lot of establishment Republicans in Washington get involved in toppling Middle Eastern governments.

‘And it ends up benefiting the bad guys. It ends up handing them over to radical Islamic terrorists,’

He described Syrian president Bashar Assad as a ‘monster’ but warned that ISIS extremists would sweep further across the country were he to be overthrown.

He said: ‘My view, instead of getting in the middle of a civil war in Syria, where we don’t have a dog in the fight, our focus should be on killing ISIS. Why? Because ISIS has declared war on America. They’re waging jihad.’

Read More and Watch Video Here

Russians demolish 200 ISIL targets , a column of oil tanker trucks and over 100 fuel-transfer stations in 7 Syrian provinces over the past 24 hours,

…………………………………………………………..

 

 

Thu Dec 17, 2015 12:33

Russian Warplanes Destroy ISIL’s Tanker Column, 100 Fuel-Transfer Stations in Syria

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Russian Air Force has conducted 59 combat missions hitting 200 ISIL targets in 7 Syrian provinces over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense ministry said.

“Over the past 24 hours Russian warplanes have conducted 59 sorties, hitting 212 ISIL targets in the Syrian province of Aleppo, Idlib, Lattakia, Hama, Homs, al-Hasakah an Raqqa,” the Defense Ministry spokesman told journalists.

Aircraft from Russia’s Aerospace Forces in Syria have also destroyed more than 300 militants and scores of armored vehicles over the last 24 hours, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday, Sputnik reported.

“More than 320 militants and 34 armored vehicles of terrorists, including two tanks, one infantry fighting vehicle, 15 jeeps equipped with large-caliber guns were destroyed,” Konashenkov told journalists in Syria’s Lattakia.

In the past 24 hours, Russian jets have also destroyed a column of tanker trucks and more than 100 fuel-transfer stations used by terrorists, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov added.

“In order to disrupt terrorists’ sources of income, Russian Su-34 bomber jets destroyed 94 fuel-transfer stations near Deir Ezzur,” he said.

Read More Here

The EU says it may retaliate if the US goes ahead with plans to impose visas reform on members already part of the Visa Waiver Program.

……………………………………………………………

 

EU warns of visas for US citizens if Washington implements visa waiver reforms

Published time: 17 Dec, 2015 14:59Edited time: 17 Dec, 2015

© Fred Greaves / Reuters

 

The EU says it may retaliate if the US goes ahead with plans to impose visas for some members of the bloc who are currently part of the Visa Waiver Program. Brussels says it will not increase security and that US nationals may require visas to enter the EU.

A letter signed by 28 European member state ambassadors to the US was published in The Hill after Europe reacted furiously and with disbelief to plans by Washington to tighten-up the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which currently lets millions of citizens from the bloc travel to the US each year without a visa.

 

OP-ED: EU warns of visas for US citizens if Washington implements visa waiver reforms

 

Last week, the US House of Representatives adopted a bill to reform the visa program that would ban certain EU nationals from entering the US without a visa if they had visited Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan after March 2011. Some US politicians want the legislation introduced to tighten security following the November 13 Paris terror attacks.

“A blanket restriction on those who have visited Syria or Iraq, for example, would most likely only affect legitimate travel by businesspeople, journalists, humanitarian or medical workers while doing little to detect those who travel by more clandestine means overland,” the letter signed by the 28 ambassadors stated.

At present, 23 of the EU’s 28 member states enjoy visa-free travel to the US, with the remaining five nations keen to join the VWP. The bloc says it is imperative to keep the visa waiver program intact for business and tourism purposes, while the current system does not mean that it is “a license to enter the US with nothing more than the wave of a passport of an allied country.”

 

Read More Here

“Few things in this mess are more clear than the fact that White House policy has been to contain and, use ISIS (Daesh) to spread insecurity and perhaps to force regime change ” , states Barry Grossman, International lawyer,

……………………………………………………….

PRESS TV

ISIL fueling US psychological warfare: Analyst

Mon Dec 14, 2015 11:29AM

 

The Obama administration relies heavily on Daesh (ISIL) to push ahead with its psychological warfare, Grossman says.

US President Barack Obama’s government has no intention of destroying the Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri group and is using the terror organization as an instrument to push ahead with its agenda through psychological warfare, an American analyst says.

It was announced on Monday that Obama was planning to visit Defense Secretary Ashton Carter later in the day to review the US-led military campaign against Daesh with his national security advisers.

This would be the American leader’s first visit to the Pentagon since the recent terrorist attacks in California and Paris.

The attacks that left scores of people dead are believed to have been carried out by people who share ideologies with the terrorist group.

“Few things in this mess are more clear than the fact that White House policy has been to contain and, many people argue, use ISIS (Daesh) to spread insecurity and perhaps to force regime change, rather than to destroy the phenomena,”  Barry Grossman, an international lawyer, told Press TV on Monday.

 

Read More Here

Mark-1 Plumbing Ford F-250 sold to Autonation in Houston, Texas. Ends up in Syria being used as a weapons platform with US company signage intacty!

……………………………………………………….

 

Texas plumber wants $1 million from dealership that sold his truck to jihadists

Published time: 14 Dec, 2015 19:48

A December 2014 photo of the Ford truck used by jihadists in Syria. The “Mark-1 Plumbing” sign is clearly visible © Twitter

 

A Texas plumber has dealt with death threats and abusive phone calls after the Ford truck he sold to a local dealership showed up in the hands of jihadists in Syria ‒ with his company sign intact. Now he is suing for at least $1 million in damages.

TrendsSyria unrest

Mark Oberholtzer, who runs Mark-1 Plumbing in Galveston, Texas, says that Autonation Ford Gulf Freeway, a dealership in Houston, resold his 2005 Ford F-250 pick-up without removing the decal with his company’s name and phone number. After the truck ended up in the hands of a Syrian rebel group, a photo of it showed up on Twitter and was featured on the final episode of Comedy Central’s ‘Colbert Report’.

Colbert joked that Syria “is going down the toilet, but for the first time, they know who to call to unclog it.”

By the end of that day, “Mark-1’s office, Mark-1’s business phone, and Mark’s personal cell phone had received over 1,000 phone calls from around the nation,” ranging from degrading to expletive-laced death threats, according to the lawsuit filed in Harris County by Oberholtzer’s attorneys. Up to 200 calls per day continued to come in over the next three weeks, and the plumber still gets calls to this day, especially after Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) commits an atrocity somewhere, the lawsuit said.

View image on Twitter

Follow

Caleb Weiss @Weissenberg7

Chechen Jaish al Muhajireen wal Ansar using plumbing truck against regime in #Aleppo

12:37 PM – 15 Dec 2014

In the complaint, Oberholtzer says the dealership stopped him from removing the decal, claiming that doing so would damage the paint. At no time did anyone at the dealership inform Oberholtzer that they would “leave the decals on the truck, which would be transferred in some fashion to international jihadists conducting warfare upon innocents in Syria,” the lawsuit stated, calling what happened an “incomprehensible and horrific eventuality.”

Noting that the plumber had sold several of his old trucks to dealerships in Texas over the years, the lawsuit goes on to add: “On none of these occasions have any of those dealers transferred to international jihadists the traded-in vehicle with Plaintiffs’ identifying marking still upon them.”

According to Carfax vehicle history reports, attached to the lawsuit as evidence, the truck was sold at an auction on November 11, 2013. It was exported from Houston and ended up in Mersin, a port in southeastern Turkey. On December 15, 2014, a photo of the truck posted on Twitter showed it being used as a weapons platform by a jihadist group in Syria – with the “Mark-1 Plumbing” sign still there.

 

Read More Here

Montenegro : Thousands flooded the streets of the capital to protest membership to the North Atlantic Alliance and remind people of the NATO invasion of 1999.

          

………………………………………………………………………………….

 

‘Murderers’: Thousands gather in Montenegro capital to protest NATO membership (VIDEO)

Published time: 13 Dec, 2015 09:20

© Ruptly

 

Shortly after Montenegro’s bid to join the North Atlantic Alliance was given the green light, thousands flooded the streets of the capital to protest the upcoming membership and remind people of lives taken during the NATO invasion of 1999.

Former Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic and opposition leaders called the rally on Saturday in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica. They gathered at least 5,000 supporters outside the parliament, according to the local Vijesti newspaper. The protesters held national flags while patriotic and pro-Russian chants ringing out from the assembled crowd.

Bulatovic, who was also prime minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1998 to 2000, told the rally that joining NATO would mean “blood of innocent people on our hands,” and emphasized his country had been against the alliance’s wars until recently.

“What has Afghanistan done wrong, what has Iraq done wrong? Why has Libya been destroyed, what’s happening today in Syria? Can we close our eyes to that?” he said.

 

Read More Here

US , Daesh and Turkey the makings of a depraved (wealth, oil and Serin nerve gas) and deadly threesome.

……………………………………………………………..

 

PRESS TV

Daesh acquiring sarin nerve gas materials via Turkey: Turkish MP

Mon Dec 14, 2015 11:52PM

United Nations arms experts collecting samples as they inspect the site of a suspected chemical weapons strike near the Syrian capital Damascus (AFP)

The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group acquired the necessary materials to produce deadly sarin gas via Turkey, a Turkish MP says.

Citing evidence from a suddenly-closed criminal case, Eren Erdem, a member of Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told RT on Monday that Ankara had failed to investigate the supply routes used to provide Daesh with the ingredients of the toxic gas.

“There is data in this indictment. Chemical weapon materials are being brought to Turkey and being put together in Syria in camps of Daesh,” he said.

On August 21, 2013, a chemical weapon was used in the Ghouta area of Damascus suburbs. Hundreds of people died in the attack. According to reports, the rockets used in the attack were handmade and contained sarin.

Erdem, who claims the Turkish government is covering up the subject, brought the matter up in parliament on Thursday. He referred to a criminal case with the number 2013/12 opened by Adana’s General Prosecutor’s Office.

 

Read More Here

 

………………………………………………………………………………………

Daily Star

TOXIC TERROR: ISIS ‘obtained nerve gas via Turkey’ to use on the WEST

ISIS militants obtained the deadly nerve gas Sarin via Turkey sparking fears the murderous regime is producing chemical weapons to use against the West.

By Rory McKeown/Published 14th December 2015

THREAT: Claims have emerged ISIS obtained sarin gas material via Turkey

TWITTER  CLAIMS: Turkish MP Eren Erdem

“There are phone recordings of this shipment like ‘don’t worry about the border, we’ll take care of it’ and we also see the bureaucracy is being used”

Eren Erdem

Turkish MP Eren Erdem claims Daesh warmongers obtained the materials to produce the deadly chemical in Turkey – and said a cover-up may have taken place.

It was feared ISIS murderers may have smuggled the nerve gas into Europe by militants posing as migrants.And officials believe ISIS are “aggressively developing chemical weapons” and even set up a new cell dedicated to creating weapons of mass destruction. 

Read More Here

………………………………………………………………………………………

 Sputnik

European MP Claims ‘US Doing Business on Daesh Oil’

© Flickr/ olle svensson

Europe

10:46 12.12.2015(updated 10:53 12.12.2015)

Turkey is buying oil from Daesh terrorists at half the price and resells it to third countries, a Polish member of the European parliament said Friday, adding that the US shows a great deal of interest in the oil supplied by the terrorists.

Janusz Korwin-Mikke said that the United States was “doing business” on buying stolen oil from Daesh terrorists using Turkey as a middleman.

“I have information from America. America is doing business. Turkey is buying oil from the Caliphate [Daesh] at half the price and America is showing a great deal of interest in this oil,” the European MEP emphasized, adding that this information had been confirmed by top government officials in Lebanon.

Read More Here

………………………………………………………………………………..

EXCLUSIVE: Sarin materials brought via Turkey & mixed in Syrian ISIS camps – Turkish MP to RT

Published time: 14 Dec, 2015 05:03Edited time: 14 Dec, 2015

Islamic State terrorists in Syria received all necessary materials to produce deadly sarin gas via Turkey, Turkish MP Eren Erdem has told RT, insisting there are grounds to believe a cover up has taken place.

TrendsIslamic State, Syria unrest

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) member, Erdem, brought up the issue for public discussion in parliament last week, citing evidence from an abruptly-closed criminal case. He accused Ankara of failing to investigate Turkish supply routes used to provide terrorists with toxic sarin gas ingredients.

“There is data in this indictment. Chemical weapon materials are being brought to Turkey and being put together in Syria in camps of ISIS which was known as Iraqi Al Qaeda during that time,” Erdem told RT.

Sarin gas is a military-grade chemical that was used in a notorious attack on Ghouta and several other neighborhoods near the Syrian capital of Damascus in 2013. The attacks were pinned on the Syrian leadership, who in turn agreed to get rid of all chemical weapons stockpiles under a UN-brokered deal amid an imminent threat of US intervention.

Addressing parliamentarians on Thursday, Erdem showed a copy of the criminal case number 2013/120 that was opened by the General Prosecutor’s Office in the city of Adana in southern Turkey.

The investigation revealed that a number of Turkish citizens took part in negotiations with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) representatives on the supply of sarin gas. Pointing to evidence cited in the criminal case, he said that wiretapped phone conversations proved that an Al-Qaeda militant, Hayyam Kasap, acquired sarin.

“These are all detected. There are phone recordings of this shipment like ‘don’t worry about the border, we’ll take care of it’ and we also see the bureaucracy is being used,” continued Erdem.

Based on the gathered evidence Adana authorities conducted raids and arrested 13 suspects in the case. But a week later, inexplicably, the case was closed and all the suspects immediately crossed the Turkish-Syrian border, Erdem said.

 

Read More Here

Turkey’s ‘Sunnistan’ in Iraq. Sultan Erdogan’s calculated move into the ultimate ‘Pipelineistan’ war.

…………………………………………………………….

 

 

Crippled in Syria, Turkey goes for a ‘Sunnistan’ in Iraq

Published time: 9 Dec, 2015 13:01

© Fatih Saribas / Reuters

 

Turkey’s “incursion” into Iraq is a cold, calculated move. And once again, the name of the game is – what else? – Divide and Rule.

TrendsSyria unrest, Syria-Turkey

Turkey sent to Iraqi Kurdistan – which is part of the state of Iraq – no less than a 400-strong battalion supported by 25 M-60A3 tanks. Now the Turkish boots on the ground at Bashiqa camp, northeast of Mosul, have reportedly reached a total of around 600.

The short breakdown: this is not a “training camp”– as Ankara is spinning. It’s a full-blown, perhaps permanent, military base.

The dodgy deal was struck between the ultra-corrupt Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and then-Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu in Erbil last month.

Torrents of Turkish spin swear this is only about “training” Peshmergas to fight ISIS/ISIL/Daesh.

Absolute nonsense. The crucial fact is that Ankara is terrified of the “4+1” alliance fighting Islamic State, which unites Iran, Iraqi Shiites and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), as well as Hezbollah, with Russia.

In Syria, Ankara is virtually paralyzed, after the “stab in the back”downing of the Su-24; the Russian revelations of complicity between Turkey’s first family and stolen Syrian oil (Bilal Erdogan, a.k.a. Erdogan ‘Mini Me’, denies everything); and the Russian Air Force relentless pounding of Turkey’s fifth column Turkmen. Not to mention the deployment of S-400s and even a third-generation submarine complete with Kalibr cruise missiles.

So Ankara now switches the attention to Iraq with a “counter-alliance”, made up of Turkey; the KRG (which – illegally – sells oil to Turkey); and Sunnis in northern Iraq under the supposed leadership of the sprawling Nuceyfi tribe in Mosul.

© Stringer / Reuters

This is textbook neo-Ottomanism in action. We should never forget that for the AKP in power in Ankara, northern Syria and northern Iraq are nothing but former Ottoman Empire provinces, an eastward extension of Turkey’s Hatay province. ‘Sultan’ Erdogan’s (unstated) wet dream is to annex the whole lot.

Read More Here

 

 

Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst. He writes for RT, Sputnik and TomDispatch, and is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the former roving correspondent for Asia Times Online. Born in Brazil, he’s been a foreign correspondent since 1985, and has lived in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Washington, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Even before 9/11 he specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central and East Asia, with an emphasis on Big Power geopolitics and energy wars. He is the author of “Globalistan” (2007), “Red Zone Blues” (2007), “Obama does Globalistan” (2009) and “Empire of Chaos” (2014), all published by Nimble Books. His latest book is “2030”, also by Nimble Books, out in December 2015.

The EU buys Turkey’s assistance with migrant crisis to the tune of €3 billion ($3.18bn) of support and the reestablishing of talks on EU accession. Czech President Milos Zeman offers a few choice words……

……………………………………………………….

 

‘Turkey acts like ISIS ally, should not be EU member’– Czech president

Published time: 10 Dec, 2015 15:31Edited time: 10 Dec, 2015 16:26

Czech President Milos Zeman. © Petr Josek / Reuters

 

Turkey should not become an EU member, said Czech President Milos Zeman, adding that Ankara sometimes behaves like an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) ally, even though Turkey is part of NATO.

“I think Turkey is indeed a member of NATO, but sometimes behaves as if it’s more an ally of Islamic State. It removes oil from Syria which finances Islamic State,” Zeman said, as quoted by Czech newspaper Parlamentni Listy.

By shooting down Russian jet, Turkey exposed as more than terrorist accomplice

The president’s remarks came on Tuesday while addressing voters at the end of a three-day visit to the Czech town of Kadan, North Bohemia, local media reported.

Zeman suggested Turkish policy stems from the principle “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” referring to Turkey’s suppression of the Kurds, “who are the only ones who have fought effectively with IS,” the newspaper reported.

The president maintained this is the reason why Turkey should be approached with caution and has no reason to be an EU member.

 

Read More Here

 

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Turkey to help EU stem migrant crisis for €3bn and membership talks

Published time: 29 Nov, 2015 19:08Edited time: 29 Nov, 2015

© Francois Lenoir / Reuters

3.9K1

Turkey has signed an agreement with the EU at a summit in Brussels in which the country will help stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for €3 billion ($3.18bn) of support and the reestablishing of talks on EU accession.

TrendsEU refugee & migrant influx

Key points of Turkey-EU refugee deal:
1. The EU agrees to provide “an initial” €3 billion ($3.18bn) over two years for Turkey to better cater for the needs of 2.2 million Syrian refugees in the country.
2. The EU promises to open a new chapter in negotiations regarding Turkey’s EU ascension and to bring the country’s standards in economic and financial policies up to scratch.
3. The EU pledges to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens in the Schengen zone by October 2016 once all the requirements set forth in the EU roadmap are met.

The European Union, struggling with the flow of refugees coming from the war-torn Middle East and North Africa, will allocate €3 billion of initial aid to Turkey that will help with managing the crisis by taking in some 1.5 million migrants, Chancellor Merkel has confirmed, Reuters reports. The sum can be adjusted with time depending on circumstances.

Apart from that, the EU has promised to renew talks on Turkey’s EU membership that haven’t seen much progress since 2005. The new chapter of discussions will open in December while further chapters are expected to come in the first three months of 2016.

“We agreed that [Turkey’s] accession process needs to be re-energized,” European Council President Donald Tusk told a news conference after the summit, Reuters reported.

 

Read More Here

Court: Obama Can Continue Assassination Program in Secret, Even Against Americans

…………………………………………………………..

 

Activist Post

Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program

December 8, 2015

By Derrick Broze

While much of the media has focused on the recent violence in Paris, Georgia, and San Bernardino, as well as the escalating conflicts in Iraq and Syria, another profound and troubling domestic issue seems to have been overlooked.

Indeed, the issue at hand was first reported on November 24th — and covered for roughly a day — before it was quickly forgotten in the daily barrage of news stories. But we should not be so quick to dismiss the possibility of a future president (maybe one with fascist leanings?) choosing to exercise “targeted killings” against the American public. This practice, of course, is embodied by the Obama administration’s program of assassinating individuals suspected of terrorism, also known as the “disposition matrix.”

The Washington Post first reported on the disposition matrix in 2012:

Over the past two years, the Obama administration has been secretly developing a new blueprint for pursuing terrorists, a next-generation targeting list called the ‘disposition matrix.’

The matrix contains the names of terrorism suspects arrayed against an accounting of the resources being marshaled to track them down, including sealed indictments and clandestine operations. U.S. officials said the database is designed to go beyond existing kill lists, mapping plans for the ‘disposition’ of suspects beyond the reach of American drones.

Although the matrix is a work in progress, the effort to create it reflects a reality setting in among the nation’s counterterrorism ranks: The United States’ conventional wars are winding down, but the government expects to continue adding names to kill or capture lists for years.

For the last four years, New York Times journalist Charlie Savage has waged a legal battle against the Obama administration, seeking to reveal the government’s legal justifications for assassinating terror suspects without a trial. Specifically, Savage sued the Obama administration in an attempt to obtain details about the murder of al-Qaeda affiliated cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico and eventually found himself on the U.S. government’s radar under suspicion of terrorism.

 

Read More Here