Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From PressTV
Russia’s turkey airspace violation lasted 17 seconds: WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks says Turkey sent a letter to the UN after shooting down a Russian Su-24 jet stating that it violated Turkish air space for 17 seconds.
According to the leaked letter addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, aircraft with “unknown” nationality “violated Turkish national airspace to a depth of 1.36 miles and 1.15 miles in length for 17 seconds from 9:24:05 local time,” RT reported on Tuesday.
The letter, sent by Turkish UN Ambassador Yasar Halit Cevik, claims that the jets were called upon “10 times during a period of five minutes via ‘emergency’ channels” to alter their course.
Cevik said that one of the planes left Turkish airspace, but “plane two was fired at while in Turkish airspace by Turkish F-16s,” which resulted in its crash on the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian border.
Russia denies all of Turkey’s claims maintaining that the jet was downed in Syrian airspace where Russia has been carrying out operations against the Daesh Takfiri terrorists since September 30 upon a request by the Damascus government.
Based on radar imaging from Russia’s Hmeymim base in Syria, the Turkish jet actually violated Syrian airspace to attack the Russian jet.
From PressTV
Syrian army making more advances against terrorists
The Syrian armed forces have succeeded in taking control of more strategic areas across the Arab country, targeting positions of Takfiri terrorist groups operating against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Army units and allied forces established control over several areas and a village in the northeastern countryside of the western province of Latakia, the official SANA news agency quoted a Syrian military source as saying on Tuesday.
The Syrian army also made significant gains in other provinces, killing a number of terrorists and destroying their arms and ammunitions.
According to SANA, the Syrian air force launched intensive strikes against positions and hideouts of the Daesh Takfiri terrorists and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front militants in the eastern and northern countryside of the central province of Homs.
The foreign-backed militants suffered heavy losses as a number of their members were killed in the attacks and their weapons and ammunition destroyed.
Similar air raids were carried out in the villages and countryside of the provinces of Hama and Aleppo against positions and vehicles belonging to the Takfiri terrorists.
Syrian forces in the southwestern province of Dara’a hit terrorists’ vehicles and hideouts, while army units fired two guided missiles at a vehicle and a hideout of terrorists in the northwestern province of Idlib on the border with Hama.
From Russia Today
‘Turkish jets gave us no warning before shooting’ – rescued pilot of downed Russian Su-24
Published time: 25 Nov, 2015 14:33
Edited time: 25 Nov, 2015 16:18
Rescued pilot of the Russian Air Force’s Su-24 jet, Captain Konstantin Murakhtin, center, answers journalists’ questions at Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia. © Dmitriy Vinogradov / Sputnik The navigator of the Russian Su-24 shot down by a Turkish fighter jet on Tuesday insists that his plane did not cross into Turkey’s airspace, and says he was given no visual or radio warning before being fired at.
“It’s impossible that we violated their airspace even for a second,” Konstantin Murakhtin told RT and other Russian media. “We were flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters in completely clear weather, and I had total control of our flight path throughout.”
MORE: Rescued pilot of downed Su-24 says his plane didn’t cross into Turkey’s airspacehttps://t.co/649F83MEzRpic.twitter.com/5gnvC77n0x
— RT (@RT_com) November 25, 2015
As well as denying Ankara’s assertions that the plane was in Turkey’s airspace, Murakhtin, who says he knows the mission area “like the back of my hand,” also refuted Turkish officials’ claims that the pilots were warned repeatedly.
“In actual fact, there were no warnings at all. Neither through the radio, nor visually, so we did not at any point adjust our course. You need to understand the difference in speed between a tactical bomber like a Su-24, and that of the F16. If they wanted to warn us, they could have sat on our wing,” said Murakhtin, who is currently recuperating at Russia’s airbase in Latakia, northern Syria.
“As it was, the missile hit the back of our plane out of nowhere. We didn’t even have time to make an evasive maneuver.”
From Russia Today
‘They know how it’s done’: Turkey violated Greek airspace 2,244 times in 2014 alone
Published time: 25 Nov, 2015 14:28
FILE PHOTO: A Greek Air Force officer operates the radar of a Patriot air defence missiles at Tatoi air base, north of Athens © Yiorgos Karahalis / Reuters Turkish claims that the downed Russian Su-24 jet “violated” its airspace have sparked outrage among Greeks, who took to social media to say it is a clear-cut case of double standards as Turkish jets breached Greek airspace 2,244 times in 2014 alone.
They wondered what would happen if Greece had authorized engagement of Turkish aircraft, which breach the country’s borders on a regular basis.
Turkey violating Greece Airspace 40 times a day@tpel78@TouchMyTweets@JohnJwso@ArRuplehttps://t.co/DKD6WLc3mOpic.twitter.com/XBXyDyQGBA
— Aud رمز (@CodeAud) November 25, 2015
On Wednesday, the Protothema newspaper released the numbers of breaches saying the Turkish Air Force is usually reluctant to share any details when it comes to such violations.
The newspaper quoted University of Thessaly statistics based on the Greek military’s count – there were 2,244 violations in 2014, an increase from 636 in 2013.
Pot… ketel…. Violations of Greek airspace by Turkish Airforcehttps://t.co/P2RBisbFICpic.twitter.com/EE3lGJa8pT
— Stephan Okhuijsen (@steeph) November 24, 2015
“The Turks are trying to enforce sovereignty over disputed islands and bring Greece to the negotiating table,” Thanos Dokos, the director general of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, told the Politico news website in July. “What’s worrying are the low-altitude flights, often by helicopters, over these islands.”
Turkey fails to respect the 10-mile airspace surrounding the Aegean Islands, which causes numerous dogfights between Greek and Turkish aircraft invading the area. From January to October 2015, the country’s airspace was violated 1,233 times including 31 flights over Greek territory itself, according to the Greek Air Force’s headquarters. Greek media noted the Turks are taking advantage of the country’s economic hardships.
From Russia Today
NATO fails to show unanimity on Turkey’s shooting of Russian bomber – reports
Published time: 25 Nov, 2015 12:52
Edited time: 25 Nov, 2015 12:54
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks after a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, November 24, 2015. © Francois Lenoir / Reuters NATO members failed to come out with a unified show of support to Turkey following an emergency meeting it called on Tuesday. There were also serious concerns about Turkish conduct and discord about the crash location, sources say.TrendsRussian anti-terror op in Syria
LIVE UPDATES: Russian warplane shot down at Syria-Turkey border
Despite formal solidarity expressed by Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in a brief low-key statement after the emergency meeting of NATO’s North Atlantic Council (NAC) called upon Turkey’s request over downing of the Russian jet bomber, there were signs of disagreement between some NATO
Stoltenberg said he certainly believes the solution could only come in “further contacts between Ankara and Moscow and […] calm and de-escalation,” having stressed NATO will rely solely on“diplomacy and de-escalation” rather than other options.
From Russia Today
Turkey violated Syria sovereignty by attacking Su-24 in its airspace – Syrian FM
Published time: 25 Nov, 2015 11:54
Edited time: 25 Nov, 2015 16:16
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem. © Maxim Zmeyev / Reuters The downing of the Russian warplane, which aggressively violated Syria’s sovereignty, is proof to the world of Turkish support for terrorism. This has been going on for years, the Syrian foreign minister said. TrendsRussian anti-terror op in Syria
LIVE UPDATES: Russian warplane shot down at Syria-Turkey border
“This incident has shown the world that [Turkish President Recep] Erdogan and his government are helping terrorists in Syria,”Walid Muallem said after meeting Speaker of the Russian Parliament Sergey Naryshkin.
Muallem expressed his condolences over the death of the Russian pilot and later a marine in the incident.
Read more
From Russia Today
Ankara defends ISIS, Turkish officials have financial interest in oil trade with group – PM Medvedev
Published time: 25 Nov, 2015 06:53
Edited time: 25 Nov, 2015 15:59
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. © Ekaterina Shtukina / Sputnik Some Turkish officials have ‘direct financial interest’ in the oil trade with the terrorist group Islamic State, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev said as he detailed possible Russian retaliation to Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane in Syria on Tuesday.
LIVE UPDATES: Russian warplane shot down at Syria-Turkey border
“Turkey’s actions are de facto protection of Islamic State,”Medvedev said, calling the group formerly known as ISIS by its new name. “This is no surprise, considering the information we have about direct financial interest of some Turkish officials relating to the supply of oil products refined by plants controlled by ISIS.”
“The reckless and criminal actions of the Turkish authorities… have caused a dangerous escalation of relations between Russia and NATO, which cannot be justified by any interest, including protection of state borders,” Medvedev said.
From The Times of Israel
Obama, Hollande swear unity against IS, leave Putin in the cold
US president vows ‘we will win and Islamic State will lose,’ says Russia is ‘coalition of two — Iran and Russia supporting Assad’
November 24, 2015, 9:33 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pledging solidarity after the Paris attacks, President Barack Obama promised Tuesday to work with France and other allies to intensify the US-led campaign against the Islamic State, saying America would not be cowed by the scourge of terrorism. To this point, Obama said, Russia is an “outlier” in the fight.
“We cannot succumb to fear,” Obama said, standing alongside French President Francois Hollande after they met at the White House to discuss the anti-IS mission. “Make no mistake, we will win, and groups like ISIL [Islamic State] will lose.”
Hollande’s trip to Washington was part of a diplomatic push to get the US and other nations to bolster efforts to destroy the militant group that has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks. Hollande emerged from his meeting with Obama saying that France and the United States had agreed to step up a “joint response,” including new efforts to target terrorists’ financial networks, take back IS-controlled territory, scale up efforts in Syria and Iraq and increase intelligence sharing.
The US and France “share the determination to fight terrorism anywhere,” Hollande said, through a translator.
The French president had planned to urge Obama to work with Russia to build a new coalition to fight the extremists. But Hollande’s mission quickly became entangled with the fallout from a Russian military plane downed by Turkey — an incident with echoes of the Cold War. The shootdown underscored what some see as a need for better coordination among the sprawling cast of interests engaged on the battlefields and in the skies above Iraq and Syria. At the same time, conflicting accounts and rising tensions stood to make any closer contact between interests more difficult.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Gunmen holding hostages, possibly children, in northern France
(JTA) — Police said gunmen fired shots near a school before taking hostages in the town of Roubaix.
Unconfirmed reports are circulating that children are among the hostages. There are also reports that a banker and his family have been targeted. The gunmen appeared to have no connection to the Nov. 13 attacks by Islamist militants in Paris but were probably robbers, police sources said, according to Reuters.
The neighborhood where the situation is occurring has been cordoned off, according to Reuters.
Belgian police are continuing to hunt for two suspects in the Nov. 13 attacks. Belgium has been the site of numerous raids in search of terrorists.
From PressTV
Russian marine killed in chopper crash while on rescue operation in Syria
Russia says a member of the country’s Naval Infantry was killed after his Mi-8 helicopter made an emergency landing shortly after coming under militant fire in northwestern Syria.
A Tuesday statement by Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoy said that two Mi-8 helicopters had been deployed to the region to conduct a search-and-rescue operation to retrieve the two pilots aboard a Russian warplane that had been shot down by Turkish fighter jets earlier in the day.
In the course of the rescue operation, one of the choppers, “damaged by small-arms fire”, made an emergency landing “on neutral territory”, he said.
“The personnel of the search-and-rescue team and the helicopter crew were evacuated and are now at the Hmeymim airbase (in Syria’s western Latakia province). The helicopter was destroyed by mortar fire conducted from the territory controlled by illegal armed groups,” Rudskoy further noted, adding that the rescue operation was still under way.
On Tuesday morning, NATO member Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24M Fencer jet with two pilots aboard, claiming the warplane had repeatedly violated its airspace.
Russia, however, denies all of Ankara’s claims, maintaining that the jet was downed in Syrian airspace where Russia has been carrying out operations against the Daesh Takfiri terrorists since September 30 upon a request by the Damascus government.
Based on radar imaging from Russia’s Hmeymim airbase, the Turkish jet actually violated Syrian airspace to attack the Russian jet.
From PressTV
Iraq forces gain more grounds against Daesh in Ramadi
Iraqi military forces and volunteer fighters have retaken more than half of the areas controlled by the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in the city of Ramadi, west of the country.
A spokesman for Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Force said on Tuesday that the allied forces have managed to liberate 22 neighborhoods from a total of 39 in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province.
Samir al-Shovaili said the pro-government forces have inched closer on Daesh militants inside Ramadi, forcing them to hide out in the central parts of the city. He said between 50 and 100 Daesh terrorists were killed in a fresh operation in the city earlier in the day while huge losses were inflicted on their vehicles and ammunition depots.
Other officials said the Iraqi forces have completely purged the terrorists from a key district in Ramadi: the 5 Kilometer area. Reports also said 22 civilians who were used by Daesh as human shields have been freed by Iraqi forces.
Ramadi has been one of the two major bastions of Daesh in Iraq, along Mosul, the capital of the northern province of Nineveh. The terrorist group launched its offensive in Iraq in July 2014 carrying out mass executions and killings inside the towns and villages.
Pro-government forces have managed to push back the terrorists from some of their major strongholds, including the cities of Tikrit and Baiji in Salahuddin Province, while the operation continues to liberate Ramadi and Mosul.
From Russia Today
One of 2 Russian pilots shot down by Turkey rescued, back to airbase in Syria
Published time: 25 Nov, 2015 07:51
Edited time: 25 Nov, 2015 10:53
Russian Su-24 crash scheme © Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation The second Russian pilot, who ejected from the Su-24 bomber shot down by Turkey on Tuesday over Syria, is safe and sound and has been taken to the Russian airbase in Latakia, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said. TrendsRussian anti-terror op in Syria
LIVE UPDATES: Russian warplane shot down at Syria-Turkey border
“The [rescue] operation is successfully over. The pilot has been delivered to our base. Safe and sound,” Shoigu said during a meeting of the Defense Committee, adding that the operation was performed by Russian and Syrian special forces.
Shoigu said the joint operation had taken about 12 hours and thanked all special forces’ personnel that took part in the operation to rescue the pilot.
From Russia Today
Russia deploys missile cruiser off Syria coast, ordered to destroy any target posing danger
Published time: 24 Nov, 2015 18:16
Edited time: 25 Nov, 2015 04:16
A missile cruiser “Moscow” firing anti-aircraft missiles during the joint sailing of various fleets’ vessels for combat training. © Vitaliy Ankov / Sputnik Moscow plans to suspend military cooperation with Ankara after the downing of a Russian bomber by Turkish air forces, Russian General Staff representatives said on Tuesday. Further measures to beef up Russian air base security in Syria will also be taken.
Three steps as announced by top brass:
- Each and every strike groups’ operation is to be carried out under the guise of fighter jets
- Air defense to be boosted with the deployment of Moskva guided missile cruiser off Latakia coast with an aim to destroy any target that may pose danger
- Military contacts with Turkey to be suspended
Follow LIVE UPDATES on Russian warplane shot down at Syria-Turkey border
Sergey Rudskoy, a top official with the Russian General Staff, condemned the attack on the Russian bomber in Syrian airspace by a Turkish fighter jet as “a severe violation of international law”. He stressed that the Su-24 was downed over the Syrian territory. The crash site was four kilometers away from the Turkish border, he said.
Rudskoy said the Russian warplane did not violate Turkish airspace. Additionally, according to the Hmeymim airfield radar, it was the Turkish fighter jet that actually entered Syrian airspace as it attacked the Russian bomber.
#SYRIA#MoDprotest Efforts of Rus MoD specialists to organize coopertion with Turkish party by emergency communiction link were unsuccessful
— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) November 24, 2015
The Turkish fighter jet made no attempts to contact Russian pilots before attacking the bomber, Rudskoy added.
“We assume the strike was carried out with a close range missile with an infra-red seeker,” Rudskoy said. “The Turkish jet made no attempts to communicate or establish visual contact with our crew that our equipment would have registered. The Su-24 was hit by a missile over Syria’s territory.”
#MoDprotest Combat actions against terrorists in #SYRIA will be continued
— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) November 24, 2015
Russia now plans to implement new measures aimed at strengthening the security of the country’s air base in Syria and in particular to bolster air defense.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
For Jewish groups, Syrian refugees are a reminder — not a threat
WASHINGTON (JTA) – American Jewish organizations don’t see the Syrian refugees as a threat; they see them as a reminder.
With rare unanimity on an issue that has stirred partisan passion, a cross-section of the community has defended the Obama administration’s refugee policy in terms recalling the plight of Jews fleeing Nazi Europe who were refused entry into the United States.
“The Jewish community has an important perspective on this debate,” the Orthodox Union said in its statement. “Just a few decades ago, refugees from the terror and violence in Hitler’s Europe sought refuge in the United States and were turned away due to suspicions about their nationality.”
Echoed the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly: “We can sadly remember all too well the Jews who were turned away when they sought refuge in the United States on the eve of, and during, World War II.”
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Billionaire Haim Saban walks back call for greater scrutiny of Muslim refugees
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Haim Saban, the Israeli-American billionaire who is a major backer of Hillary Rodham Clinton, said he did not mean to suggest that Muslims entering the United States from Syria should be subject to greater scrutiny.
“I misspoke,” Saban, an entertainment mogul, told TheWrap, an entertainment news website in an interview on Nov. 19.
“I believe that all refugees coming from Syria — a war-torn country that ISIS calls home — regardless of religion require additional scrutiny before entering the United States,” he said. “At this moment in time, with hundreds killed in Paris and thousands more around the world, freedom as we know it is under existential threat.”
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Einstein once kept kosher, and 7 other Jewish facts for relativity’s 100th b’day
Wednesday marks the centennial of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, a discovery that forever revolutionized the study of gravity, space and time. While Einstein’s genius was well established by 1915, the year the theory was published (he devised the famed E=mc2 equation 10 years earlier), the physicists’ relationship to Judaism and Zionism was still evolving.
Here are seven facts about Einstein on religion, World War II and Israel.
1. He kept kosher at age 12
Young Einstein went through an observant phase at 12, even though his parents were secular Ashkenazi German Jews. He didn’t stay interested in Judaism long enough to have a bar mitzvah though. A Jewish medical student and family friend — named, ironically enough, Max Talmud — introduced the creative boy to popular science books, which Einstein saw as contradicting religious teachings.
From PressTV
3,500 Gaza patients threatened by Rafah closure: PA
Palestinian officials have warned about the deteriorating health conditions of thousands of patients in the besieged Gaza Strip following Egypt’s closure of the Rafah crossing.
The spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qidra, said that some 3,500 Palestinian patients are in dire need of medical treatment in the coastal sliver which is under Israeli siege.
Qidra warned that Palestinians were eagerly waiting for the Rafah crossing, along the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, to open as they must travel to the neighboring country in order to receive much-needed treatment.
He called on the International Red Cross and human rights organizations to pressure Egypt to open the Rafah crossing and to allow patients to travel to receive medical treatment.
The crossing was last opened for four days in August. Following its closure, Palestinian border official Maher Abu Sabha expressed hope that the crossing would soon “reopen in both directions permanently.”
The Rafah crossing serves as the only gateway out of the blockaded Palestinian territory bypassing Israel, which closed all other crossings several years ago.
