New Attacks on Iranian Oil Tankers, Deems Red Sea "Unsafe"

Iran Informs Global Maritime Body of Two New Attacks on Its Tankers, Calls Red Sea 'Unsafe' – Report

by Tim Korso - Sputnik

November 7, 2019

Tehran had previously only reported a single attack on one of its tankers, which took place in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia on 11 October. The country promised to conduct a full investigation of the incident before pointing the finger at those responsible, but noted that the incident must have been organised by "one or more" states.

Iranian authorities have notified the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) that a total of three of its oil tankers have been attacked over the course of six months, all in the same region – in the Red Sea, off the Saudi coast, The Wall Street Journal reported. In its letter to the international body, Tehran indicated that the attacks, which it argues were likely "organised by one or more states", had impacted regional maritime security in a negative way.

"A major concern in this respect is that the organised and directed pattern of these attacks within a short time and similar locations have rendered the Red Sea as an unsafe route for ships to adopt for their voyages", the Iranian letter reportedly stated.

Are We Done Fighting?

Are We Done Fighting Video Trailer

by Mathew Legge

November 2019

Matthew Legge loves exploring the evidence and sharing interesting stories. He’s particularly passionate about making communication honest, simple, and accessible.

Matthew’s fascination with how diverse cultures organize themselves to address different challenges led him to get a degree in Anthropology from the University of Toronto. He served for six years on the board of directors of the Ontario Council for International Cooperation. This is his first book. He writes the popular blog Are We Done Fighting? for Psychology Today.

As CFSC’s Peace Program Coordinator, Matthew has had the opportunity to learn from Quakers across Canada and in the US, Europe, and Africa. Are We Done Fighting? is written for a general audience as part of Matthew’s work for CFSC, and proceeds go toward CFSC’s peace and justice work.

Bethune 'Wounds'

"Wounds"

by Norman Bethune

1939

The following article, "Wounds" is by the Canadian communist and medical doctor, Norman Bethune, who died in China serving the revolution. It is a scathing critique of imperialist war. written 1939, published 1940.

The kerosene lamp overhead makes a steady buzzing sound like an incandescent hive of bees. Mud walls. Mud floor. Mud bed. White paper windows. Smell of blood and chloroform. Cold. Three o'clock in the morning, December 1, North China, near Lin Chu, with the 8th Route Army. Men with wounds. Wounds like little dried pools, caked with blackbrown earth; wounds with torn edges frilled with black gangrene; neat wounds, concealing beneath the abscess in their depths, burrowing into and around the great firm muscles like a dammed-back river, running around and between the muscles like a hot stream; wounds, expanding outward, decaying orchids or crushed carnations, terrible flowers of flesh; wounds from which the dark blood is spewed out in clots, mixed with the ominous gas bubbles, floating on the fresh flood of the still-continuing secondary haemorrhage.

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Mathew Legge, Larry Hannant, Janine Bandcroft November 7, 2019

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

November 7, 2019

More than a century and half after Dickens' observation of living in the "best and worst of times", we living now on the verge of transformative technologies promising to make of our existence the paradise on Earth so long promised are, instead of grasping the best of all times, stuck in an Iron Age paradigm of endless war and violence.

And worse yet, according to my first guest, things are getting worse yet.

Mathew Legge is Peace Program Coordinator for the Canadian Friends Services Committee, the peace and social justice agency of Quakers in Canada. He's also a researcher in the fields of neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioral economics whose blog, Are We Done Fighting? appears at the Psychology Today website.


Listen. Hear.

Matthew will be on the island next week to speak on the issues presented in his newly released book, 'Are We Done Fighting? Building Understanding in a World of Hate and Division'.

Mathew Legge in the first half.

And; Canadians seem never to tire of making connections with native sons and daughters who have achieved great things abroad. Just one such person is Dr. Norman Bethune. A national hero in China, Bethune's communist sympathies though has long presented government of Canada propagandists with a dilemma; so, while his humanitarian contributions are undeniable, Norman Bethune may just be, 80 years after his death, the most famous Canadian hero most Canadians have never heard of!  

Larry Hannant is a writer, historian, educator, social justice advocate and activist. He's author of the Robert S. Kenny Prize-winning book, 'The Politics of Passion: Norman Bethune's Writing and Art', the soon to be released, 'Bucking Conservatism: Alternative Stories of Alberta in the 1960s and 1970s', 'The Infernal Machine: Investigating the Loyalty of Canada's Citizens', and the just out, 'All My Politics Are Poetry'. Hannant and fellow speakers, Eric Zhao, Parneyan Weera, and Florian Castle will be presenting a commemoration of the life and times of Norman Bethune and simultaneous launch of Larry's book tonight at the Victoria Event Centre on Broad Street at 7pm sharp.

Larry Hannant, Norman Bethune and the politics of poetry in the second half.

And; Victoria-based activist and long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Mathew Legge and strategizing responses to the current wave of hate and divisiveness.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Scores of Civilians Shot Down, Including 43 Children at Gaza Great March of Return 80

PCHR Gaza: 95 Civilians Shot And Injured, Including 43 Children, At 80th Great March Of Return

by Staff - Imemc.org 

via Popular Resistance

October 31, 2019

In Gaza on Friday, 95 Palestinian civilians, including 43 children, a woman, 2 paramedics and a journalist, were shot and injured by Israeli forces, who fired live rounds against peaceful Palestinian protesters at the 80th Great March of Return. 

Photo: Imemc.org

Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against peaceful protesters, wounding 36 civilians with live bullets and shrapnel in addition to other injuries in the upper body due to direct targeting with rubber bullets and tear gas canisters.

Thousands of civilians took part in this week’s peaceful protests entitled: “For our Prisoners in Israeli Jails and al-Aqsa Mosque”, raising the Palestinian flag and chanting national slogans.

A Cowardly Press Averts Its Eye: The Taking of Max Blumenthal

Mainstream Journalists Who Refuse To Defend Dissident Journalists Are Worshippers Of Power

by Caitlin Johnstone - Rogue Journalist

October 31, 2019

Alternative media circles have been buzzing for the last two days ever since news broke about the arrest of Grayzone journalist Max Blumenthal, who was reportedly jailed for two days after a SWAT-style police team showed up threatening to break his door down last Friday.

Blumenthal is charged with simple assault alleged to have taken place five months ago during the notorious standoff when the US government was working to remove the official Venezuelan government from its DC embassy and replace it with diplomats from the Guaido-led puppet government it was attempting to force into power. Dissident journalists, including Blumenthal, stationed themselves in the embassy in opposition to the illegal eviction and to document the behavior of the evictors. Blumenthal calls the assault charge “a 100 percent false, fabricated, bogus, untrue, and malicious lie.”

I watched the news of the embassy standoff with much interest, largely because the obnoxious, oafish behavior of the anti-Maduro counter-protesters on the scene were a perfect reflection of the obnoxious, oafish behavior I’d experienced from anti-Maduro accounts online.

I’ve argued with every major political faction in America at one point or another, and some of them can be downright vile, but I’ve never run into such an intellectually dishonest, crude, nasty group of people in my three years on this job as those who’ve been cheering on the Trump administration’s regime change agenda in Venezuela.

Chile Rising: “It’s not about 30 pesos; it’s about 30 years.”

Chilean Protests: A Revolt against Neoliberalism the Media Refuses to Acknowledge

by Alan Macleod  - MintPress News

October 29th, 2019  

“Neoliberalism was born in Chile and will die in Chile” has become a rallying cry for the movement. Yet few in the West are aware of the country’s tumultuous history as an experimental laboratory for free market economics imposed on Chile by the United States.

photo: Susana Hidalgo | Twitter

Santiago, Chile — “We are at war with a powerful, relentless enemy that respects nothing nor anyone” thundered Chilean President Sebastian Piñera during a speech to the nation, deliberately echoing the infamous catchphrase of fascist military dictator Augusto Pinochet.

The “enemy” he was referencing were Chilean citizens, more than one million of them taking to the streets Friday afternoon in a revolt against the neoliberal system Piñera was implementing against their will, demanding his resignation.

The spark for the revolt that started October 14 was a 30-Peso increase to the subway fare in Santiago, the country’s capital and by far its largest and most important city. But demonstrations quickly escalated into a general protest against the decades of neoliberal economic policies carried out by successive governments that increased the cost of living and marginalized and disenfranchised the population, leading to greater social and economic inequality. As a popular slogan of the protest goes: 

“It’s not about 30 pesos; it’s about 30 years.”

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, David Boudinot, Daniel Kovalik, Janine Bandcroft October 31, 2019

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

October 31, 2019

Everyone knows plastic, the stuff almost all of us use daily, as the greatest bane modern civilization has bestowed upon the natural environment. Destined by design to outlive both humanity and the rest of biological life, it seems hardly a day goes by without a new and more destructive facet of this ubiquitous material being unearthed.

My first guest discovered this firsthand when he found "nurdles" while taking part in a Surfrider beach cleanup at Victoria's picturesque Willow's Beach.

David Boudinot is the lead Plastic Pellet Researcher at the Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island Chapter.

David Boudinot in the first half.


Listen. Hear.

And; those believing the Bolivarian Revolution down for the count following the death of its most emblematic spokesperson, Hugo Chavez will just have to keep counting.

Though it looked for a while in Latin America, with the wave of corporate cadres and military strongmen brought into power, that the Pink Tide had ebbed, perhaps forever, but the people long benighted by death squad dictators and their Yankee bank backers are risen again.

From Mexico to Argentina, Atlantic to Pacific, there is a groundswell of activism determined to throw off again the yolk of tyranny.

Daniel Kovalik is a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist and author. He teaches international human rights law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and was until recently Senior Associate General Counsel for the United Steel Workers Union. Kovalik has observed elections in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Colombia, where he too witnessed the 2016 peace plebiscite promising an end to the generational war there.

Dan’s also served as an attorney for Colombian plaintiffs in cases alleging corporate human rights violations, and is co-recipient of a Project Censored Award for chronicling the murder of trade unionists in Colombia. Some of his many book titles include: ‘The Plot to Scapegoat Russia: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Putin’, ‘The Plot to Attack Iran: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Iran’, ‘The Plot to Control the World: How the US Spent Billions to Change the Outcome of Elections Around the World, and his latest, ‘The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela: How the US Is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil.’

Dan Kovalik and the rising waters of justice south in the second half.

And; Victoria-based activist and long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what’s good to get up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, David Boudinot and the trouble with nurdles.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Suscríbete al canal oficial de Victor Jara aquí http://bit.ly/VictorJara

The Trouble with Nurdles: Virgin Plastics Despoiling Pristine BC Waters

Solidified Oil Spill (S.O.S.)

by Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island

October 2019

Pre-consumer plastic production pellets (nurdles) are being discharged into British Columbia waterways by plastic manufacturing facilities

The plastics manufacturing industry uses plastic polymer pellets to manufacture bags, bottles, containers, packaging, and other plastic products for commercial and industrial uses.

Over the last three years we have been researching pre-consumer plastic production pellet spills happening at plastics manufacturing industry sites. We have found direct evidence that these plastic pellets are entering the marine environment from plastic production facilities in the Lower Mainland, particularly along multiple arms of the Fraser River.

We have identified and mapped locations around Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, San Juan Islands, Sunshine Coast, and the Lower Main-land where pre-consumer plastic pellets are washing up on waterfronts.

Fighting Wad Guano's War: US Journalist Arrested in Washington for Exposing Venezuela Coup Plotters' Paymaster

‘This charge is 100% false’: Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal arrested months after reporting on Venezuelan opposition violence

by Ben Norton - The Grayzone

October 28, 2019

The Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal has been arrested on false charges after reporting on Venezuelan opposition violence outside the DC embassy. He describes the manufactured case as part of a wider campaign of political persecution.

Max Blumenthal, the editor of the news site The Grayzone, was arrested on the morning of October 25 on a fabricated charge related to the siege of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC that took place between April and May.

A team of DC police officers appeared at Blumenthal’s door at just after 9 AM, demanding entry and threatening to break his door down. A number of officers had taken positions on the side of his home as though they were prepared for a SWAT-style raid.

Blumenthal was hauled into a police van and ultimately taken to DC central jail, where he was held for two days in various cells and cages. He was shackled by his hands and ankles for over five hours in one such cage along with other inmates. His request for a phone call was denied by DC police and corrections officers, effectively denying him access to the outside world.

Blumenthal was informed that he was accused of simple assault by a Venezuelan opposition member. He declared the charge completely baseless.

“This charge is a 100 percent false, fabricated, bogus, untrue, and malicious lie,” Blumenthal declared.

“It is clearly part of a campaign of political persecution designed to silence me and the The Grayzone for our factual journalism exposing the deceptions, corruption and violence of the far-right Venezuelan opposition.”

The arrest warrant was five months old. According to an individual familiar with the case, the warrant for Blumenthal’s arrest was initially rejected. Strangely, this false charge was revived months later without the defendant’s knowledge.

“If the government had at least told me I had a warrant I could have voluntarily surrendered and appeared at my own arraignment. I have nothing to fear because I’m completely innocent of this bogus charge,” Blumenthal stated.

“Instead, the federal government essentially enlisted the DC police to SWAT me, ensuring that I would be subjected to an early morning raid and then languish in prison for days without even the ability to call an attorney.”

[For complete article, please see source at The Grayzone here.]

The Revolutions Not Being Televised: Some Movements Bear Watching, While Others Disappear

The Revolution Isn’t Being Televised

by Alan MacLeod  - FAIR

October 26, 2019

Media uninterested in protest movements around the world

Protest march in Ecuador (photo: Voice of America, 10/11/19)

It’s all kicking off everywhere in 2019. Haitians are revolting against a corrupt political system and their President Jovenel Moïse, who many see as a kleptocratic US puppet. In Ecuador, huge public manifestations managed to force President Lenín Moreno to backtrack on his IMF-backed neoliberal package that would have sharply cut government spending and increased transport prices (FAIR.org, 10/23/19).

Meanwhile, popular Chilean frustration at the conservative Piñera administration boiled over into massive protests that were immediately met with force.

10,000 Years in 200 Seconds: Supercomputing Arrives Early

Google announces a new breakthrough for quantum computing

by Bryan Dyne - WSWS

26 October 2019

Researchers at Google AI Quantum have announced a successful experiment in which for the first time a quantum computer has performed a task that ordinary computers based on integrated circuits are incapable of doing in a reasonable amount of time. This technical milestone paves the way for far-reaching advances in physics, chemistry, astronomy, materials science, machine learning and a host of other fields.

The results were produced using Google’s quantum computer, dubbed Sycamore. It is the product of a collaboration between 75 scientists led by Frank Arute at Google, NASA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and more than a dozen other facilities in Germany and the United States. They compared how fast their machine and the world’s most powerful supercomputer, Summit, could produce a random number from a specially designed circuit one million times.

The experiment was then repeated multiple times on increasingly complex algorithms until they could show that while a quantum computer generated a result, a classical computer could not. During their final experiment, Sycamore produced its one million random numbers in 200 seconds. Summit was estimated to need 10,000 years to perform the same calculations.

American Pacifists Face Long Sentences for Anti-Nuke Demonstration

Trident Is the Crime

by Kathy Kelly - VCNV.org

October 25, 2019

On October 24, following a three-day trial in Brunswick, GA, seven Catholic Workers who acted to disarm a nuclear submarine base were convicted on three felony counts and one misdemeanor. The defendants face 20 years in prison, yet they emerged from their trial seeming quite ready for next steps in their ongoing witness. 

Steve Kelly, a Jesuit priest who has already spent ten years in prison for protesting nuclear weapons, returned, in shackles, to the local jail. Because of an outstanding warrant, Steve has been locked up for over eighteen months, since the day of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 action.

On that day, April 4, 2018, the group had entered a U.S. Navy Submarine base which is a home port for the Trident nuclear missile fleet. Just one of those nuclear missiles, if launched, would cause 1,825 times more damage than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Plowshares activists aimed to expose illegal and immoral weapons that threaten all life on earth.

"Flabbergasted and Horrified": Waters on Assange Kangaroo Extradition Court

Pink Floyd Co-Founder Roger Waters: The US and UK are Trying to KILL Julian Assange!

by Going Underground - RT

October 26, 2019

On this episode of Going Underground, legendary former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters discusses Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s latest extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court and why it makes him ashamed to be English, why he believes the UK and US are attempting to kill Julian, why the extradition case shouldn’t even be happening and is a mockery of British justice.

[And], the mass protests in Chile against the neoliberal US-backed President Sebastián Piñera and how the military crackdown is reminiscent of the Pinochet era. Finally we speak to Priscillia Ludosky, one of the founders of France’s Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) movement on the French police’s use of flash-ball riot control guns against protesters, the massive amount of injuries recorded among the Gilets Jaunes protesters, the European Commission’s role in fermenting the anger in France and more!

An "Incandescent" Bias: John Pilger on Assange Hearing

John Pilger - Julian Assange Could Barely Speak in Court!

by Going Underground - RT

October 23, 2019

We speak to legendary journalist and filmmaker John Pilger on Julian Assange’s latest extradition hearing this Monday, which he attended. He discusses how Julian appeared at the trial, the bias of the judge against Julian Assange, the lack of mainstream media coverage of Julian’s persecution, his health and conditions in Belmarsh prison, CIA spying on Julian Assange and more!

Going Underground http://fb.me/GoingUndergroundRT 

Going Underground http://twitter.com/Underground_RT 

Afshin Rattansi http://twitter.com/AfshinRattansi 

Instagram http://instagram.com/underground_rt 

Trying Julian Assange to Death

As a Frail and Confused Julian Assange Appears in Court, It’s Time For the U.K. to Stop His Proposed Extradition to the U.S. 

by Andy Worthington - Close Guantanamo

October 24, 2019

A court sketch, by Julia Quenzler, of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in court on Monday October 21, 2019, looking noticeably older than before he was imprisoned in the maximum-security Belmarsh prison in south east London in April.

On Monday, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, looked frail and, at times, appeared confused as his lawyers sought a delay to a hearing regarding his proposed extradition to the U.S. to face dubious — and potentially punitive — espionage charges relating to WikiLeaks’ work as a publisher of classified U.S. government information; in particular, "Collateral Murder," a “classified U.S. military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff,” war logs from the Afghan and Iraq wars, a vast number of U.S. diplomatic cables from around the world, and, in 2011, classified military files relating to Guantánamo, on which I worked as media partner, along with the Washington Post, McClatchy, the Daily Telegraph and others.

Assange and the UK Kangaroo Court

Julian Assange’s court hearing in London: Britain stages a lawless show-trial

by Oscar Grenfell - WSWS

24 October 2019

Julian Assange’s hearing in London’s Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday was a despicable show trial. Any pretence that this was somehow a legal proceeding, aiming to enforce the law and respect the rights of the accused, has been abandoned.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange [AP Photo/Matt Dunham]

Assange, who defied the most powerful governments by revealing to the world’s people war crimes and corruption, appeared gaunt and tormented by what a leading UN expert has described as torture.

Craig Murray, a former British diplomat and current human rights activist, wrote that he was “shocked by just how much weight my friend has lost, by the speed his hair has receded and by the appearance of premature and vastly accelerated ageing. He has a pronounced limp I have never seen before. Since his arrest he has lost over 15 kg in weight.”

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Pablo Ouziel, John Helmer, Janine Bandcroft October 24, 2019

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

October 24, 2019

Barcelona has seen street protests, police violence, and property damage for more than a week and half, since the sentencing of separatist leaders to lengthy prison terms for their part in the 2017 unsanctioned Catalonia independence referendum.

Thousands have nightly filled the streets, while an estimated 2 million came out in protest in Barcelona to demonstrate against the court's heavy-handed rulings. Hong Kong-style disruption tactics have spread too to Barcelona's El Prat airport, while last Friday a general strike paralyzed the heart of Spain's richest region.

All this comes as Madrid's failed federal government readies for a November election; the second this year.


Listen. Hear.

Dr. Pablo Ouziel is Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria’s Political Science Department and Centre for Global Studies. He’s also a native of Barcelona whose Fellowship project at UVic is, ‘Democracy Here and Now: The Exemplary Case of Spain’.

Pablo Ouziel from Barcelona in the first half.

And; two weeks into Turkey's Syria incursion another mass exodus of civilians from Syria has rendered tens of thousands homeless. It has also forced a veritable blitz of diplomatic efforts from West Asia to Sochi, Russia. Earlier this week, American vice-president, Mike Pence met with Turkish president, Recep Erdogan to negotiate a cessation of hostilities. Tuesday, Erdogan and Russian president, Vladimir Putin agreed a deal that would divide policing of the territory of concern to Turkey, actually halting its military offensive; for now.

John Helmer is a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to governments, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Some of Helmer's book titles include: ‘The Deadly Simple Mechanics of Society’, ‘The Jackal’s Wedding – American Power, Arab Revolt’, (co-authored with Claudia Wright) and his latest is the political memoir, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’. His latest article at Dances with Bears is, 'THE SULTAN BLINKED, THE TSAR AGREED TO CLOSE HIS EYES – THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE EXPANDS BY 118 KILOMETRES OF SYRIA'

John Helmer and Russia's hand in the Grand Syria Game in the second half.

And; Victoria-based activist and long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what’s good to get up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Pablo Ouziel and Catalonia's lengthening winter of discontent.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Shifting Alliances: Germany, America, Russia, and Turkey Spar Over Syria's Fate

Germany, US threaten war amid Russia-Turkey summit on Syria

by Alex Lantier - WSWS

23 October 2019

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan flew to the Russian resort of Sochi for a summit yesterday with President Vladimir Putin on the war in Syria, Berlin and Washington issued bloodcurdling threats of all-out war in the Middle East.

In Washington, where a bitter debate is unfolding over Trump’s Middle East policy, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened war with Turkey, a NATO ally and major regional military power. Asked for his reaction to the Turkish military offensive against the Kurds, Pompeo replied:

“We prefer peace to war. But in the event that kinetic action or military action is needed, you should know that President Trump is fully prepared to undertake that action.”

The most aggressive proposal, however, came from Berlin, where Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer called for a massive European Union (EU) force to occupy northern Syria, supposedly working in coordination with Russia and Turkey.

“My proposal is that we would set up an internationally controlled safe zone, involving Turkey and Russia,” she said. 

“I believe that would be a strong political and diplomatic response of the European powers in NATO.”

Erdogan Pinches a Quarter Loaf: Russia Dictates Terms of Turkish Territorial Enclave in Syria

THE SULTAN BLINKED, THE TSAR AGREED TO CLOSE HIS EYES – THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE EXPANDS BY 118 KILOMETRES OF SYRIA

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

October 23, 2019

After one of the longest, bitterest negotiations ever held between President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov forced the Turks into an agreement for a Turkish military enclave inside Syrian territory between Tal Abiad and Ras Al-Ain (Sari Kani). That is less than one-quarter of the Syrian territory Erdogan was demanding at the start of the Sochi talks.

Moscow - The western towns of Manbij and Kobani will remain Syrian, guaranteed by Russian arms and denied to Operation Peace Spring, as the Turks are calling their invasion since October 9.

The Turkish advance eastwards along the Syrian Highway M4 to the Iraqi border has been stopped. The Syrian Army will reoccupy the eastern zone to the Yarubiya crossing, with Russian military police on the ground; that also means the Russian Air Force in the air.

The practical result is that Russia accepts that the Turkish capture of Tal Abiad and Ras-Al-Ain since October 9 will not be reversed. This territory will thus be added to the Turkish hold on Afrin and Idlib in Syria’s northwest.

Shoigu told reporters there was no discussion of how long the Turkish forces will occupy these areas. This is a major Russian concession to the Turkish demand for permanent military occupation and partition of Syria.