Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From Russia Today
Assad says sees risk of Turkey, Saudi Arabia invading Syria
Published time: 12 Feb, 2016 19:12
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad © SANA / Reuters
Syrian President Bashar Assad admits Turkey and Saudi Arabia could soon send troops into the country, but remains confident that he can retake the war-torn nation. The statement comes as Riyadh has reiterated its goal of ousting the leader from office.
In an exclusive interview with AFP, Assad said he saw a risk that Turkey and Saudi Arabia – key backers of the opposition – could send their soldiers into the fray in Syria.
Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
‘15yo’ boy who killed Swedish social worker is in fact an adult – migration agency
Published time: 12 Feb, 2016 19:57
© Johan Nilsson / Reuters
A Somali-born refugee charged with the murder of a Swedish social worker is not 15 years old, as previously believed, but is likely over 18, which means he could face trial in an adult court.
The new conclusion about the age of Youssaf Khaliif Nuur, who is accused of killing 22-year-old social worker Alexandra Mezher, is based on interviews a migration officer conducted with him after he had applied for residence and work permits, a spokesperson for Sweden’s migration agency said Thursday.
If an asylum seeker doesn’t possess any identity documents upon arrival or if there are doubts about a person’s age, the migration board officer has to determine a person’s age in an interview. The officer also informs the applicant of the possibility to undergo a medical assessment procedure.
“The applicant did not make it probable that he was under 18,” migration agency spokesperson Johanna Mahlen told The Local, referring to the interview. However, Mahlen did not specify what exactly in the interview led to this reasoning.
Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
Merkel’s migrant policy ‘unsustainable,’ says French PM
Published time: 12 Feb, 2016 16:11
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls © Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
The foreign policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel towards asylum seekers is “unsustainable in the long term” and Europe is simply not able to take in all the refugees arriving from Syria, Iraq or African countries, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said.
“This [Merkel’s] policy which is justified temporarily, is unsustainable in the long term,” Valls told German media, as cited by AFP.
The French PM said he believes Germany is not the only country that is unable to take all those willing to seek asylum there.
Click here for the full story
From Ynet News
Ya’alon meets with Jordan’s King Abdullah
Defense minister and Jordanian king meet on sidelines of security conference in Munich to discuss ties between the two nations, regional developments and Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon met with Jordan’s King Abdullah on Friday on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, Germany.
The Defense Ministry said the two discussed “the bilateral ties between Jordan and Israel, the latest development in the Middle East, and the possibility of advancing the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.”
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jordan’s king: Solving Israeli-Palestinian conflict necessary to defeat ISIS
(JTA) — The Islamic State cannot be defeated until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved, Jordan’s king said.
Speaking Friday at the Munich Security Conference, an international gathering of foreign and defense policy leaders held in Germany, King Abdullah II said, “Left unresolved, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will become a religious conflict of a global dimension,” according to the Times of Israel.
Abdullah noted that the “festering injustice” of the unresolved conflict “continues to be exploited by [ISIS] and its kind.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Russia blocks, repels any foreign intervention in Syria: US think tank
A US think tank says Russia has boosted its military presence in Syria to block and repel any possible military intervention by other countries against the central government in Damascus.
The Texas-based Stratfor Global Intelligence company, also known as Shadow CIA, recently published a brief analysis about the Russian military presence in the war-torn Arab country, claiming that downing the Russian Su-24 warplane over Syria by Turkish jets last November not only soured relations between Moscow and Ankara and locked them in a war of words but also gave “Russia a reason to build up its air defense capabilities in Syria.”
Russia noticed reports of possible direct military intervention by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, so it “enhanced its air defenses to prevent other countries from entering the Syrian conflict,” and “in mid-January reportedly began operating A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft, which provide better situational awareness and bolster air responsiveness, over the country.”
The think tank added that Ankara and Riyadh had long sought to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, “but any attempt to unilaterally support the rebels with their own air assets would be met with significant Russian air defenses.”
The analysis, which is accompanied by some satellite images of a buildup of Russian air power at the Bassel al-Assad Airbase in the western Syrian province of Latakia, also claims that after the downing incident, Su-34 fighter jets were spotted carrying R-27 air-to-air missiles.
Moreover, advanced surface-to-air missile systems — including Buk and S-400, four advanced Su-35 fighter jets, and newly-built Pantsyr-S2 combined air-defense missile-gun system — were also added to the Russian arsenal in Syria.
From PressTV
Lavrov calls for Russia-US cooperation in Syria
Russia’s foreign minister attached significance Friday to cooperation between Moscow and Washington in Syria in order to facilitate a truce and humanitarian access agreed upon by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG).
“For this to work… cooperation between the militaries on the ground is needed, both on humanitarian issues and issues related to implementing the ceasefire,” Sergei Lavrov said in Munich, Germany.
The ISSG members agreed on a ceasefire in Syria following a meeting in the city on Thursday.
Lavrov also criticized the United States for its rejection of previous Russian requests for military cooperation in Syria aimed at finding a solution to the crisis in the Arab country, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.
“From the very beginning of our operation in Syria at the invitation of the country’s government, we proposed military contacts between Russia and the US-led coalition,” the Russian foreign minister said.
The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against purported positions of terrorists inside Syria. The airstrikes have been going on without any authorization from the Syrian government or a UN mandate since September 2014.
Russia launched its own aerial campaign against the Takfiri Daesh terrorists and other militant groups in Syria on September 30, 2015, upon a request from the Damascus government. The air raids have expedited the advances of Syrian forces against militants.
“Unfortunately, the United States avoided cooperation in the military sphere except on issues related to procedures to avoid conflict,” Lavrov stated.
Click here for the full story
From PressTV
President Assad vows recapture of ‘whole of Syria’
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad says the government forces will retake the whole country from terrorists.
In an interview with AFP released on Friday, the Syrian president said the process could “take a long time.”
Assad said the eventual goal of the government is to liberate the whole country from the control of the terrorists.
“Regardless of whether we can do that or not, this is a goal we are seeking to achieve without any hesitation,” President Assad stated. “It makes no sense for us to say that we will give up any part.”
He said that it would be possible to “put an end to this problem in less than a year” if all terrorists’ supply routes from Turkey, Jordan and Iraq were cut, otherwise “the solution will take a long time and will incur a heavy price.”
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011, has claimed the lives of some 470,000 people.
President Assad also said his government “fully believed in negotiations and in political action since the beginning of the crisis,” but stressed that negotiations have nothing to do with uprooting terrorism. “If we negotiate, it does not mean that we stop fighting terrorism. The two tracks are inevitable in Syria.”
The latest round of talks on the conflict in Syria, which was held in Geneva on February 3, were suspended after the Saudi-backed opposition group, known as the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), refused to attend the sessions.
Observers say the so-called HNC refused to continue after the Syrian army, backed by Russian air cover, made significant gains against Takfiri militant groups on several fronts, particularly in the strategic northern province of Aleppo.
The opposition has now called for a halt in Russia’s campaign as a condition for its participation in the negotiations, which are expected to resume on February 25.
Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
‘Russians made peace possible’: Ex-NATO military committee chief praises Syria op
Published time: 12 Feb, 2016 12:10
A multifunctional fighter-bomber Su-34 of the Russian Aerospace Forces lands at Hemeimeem air base in Syria. © Dmitriy Vinogradov / Reuters
Russia was the first to do the groundwork for peace in Syria by launching its anti-IS operation, while both Washington and Brussels lacked any kind of strategy, the ex-chairman of NATO’s Military Committee has said.
Lieutenant General Harald Kujat, who was chief of staff of the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) from 2000-2002 and served as NATO’s Military Committee chairman from 2002-2005, made the comments on the Syrian crisis in an interview with Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Sanders, Clinton clash over whether to establish ties with Iran
(JTA) — Bernie Sanders and Hillary Rodham Clinton sharply differed over whether to establish diplomatic relations with Iran.
Meeting in Milwaukee Thursday night for the latest debate in the race for the Democratic presidential nod, Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont and Clinton, the former secretary of state, drew pronounced distinctions on Iran policy.
Sanders avoided using the word “normalize” relations, as he had in previous debates, but said improving relations with Iran was more likely to roll back its backing for terrorism than isolating it.
Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
‘Never’: Erdogan ‘tells’ Russian pranksters no chance he would apologize to Russia for downed Su-24
Published time: 13 Feb, 2016 05:50
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. © Christian Hartmann / Reuters
Two Russian pranksters known for high-level prank calls claim they spoke to Turkish President Erdogan posing as Ukraine’s President Poroshenko and PM Yatsenyuk. The 13-minute exchange, which a Turkish source denied ever took place, is explicitly anti-Russian.
The alleged tricksters are Vladimir Krasnov and Aleksey Stolyarov, known as Vovan and Lexus on the internet, who have a history of impersonating Ukrainian and other politicians to try and prank high-level officials of different states.
In the audio, uploaded online by the duo, a voice similar to that of Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the “fake” Petro Poroshenko via an interpreter translating from Turkish into Russian.
The Turkish speaker says he would “gladly” take part in an economic – and even “naval” – blockade of Crimea and join “a dialog of states that suffered from the Russian sanctions.” The two sides exchange warm words pledging mutual support of the unofficial Crimean Tatar body Mejlis, which has opposed Russia’s reunification with the peninsula.
The supposed Turkish leader then stressed he would “never, never” apologize to Russian President Vladimir Putin for downing the Su-24 bomber on the Syrian-Turkish border in November of 2015.
Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
What Medvedev never said: Reuters misquotes Russian PM on ‘new world war’
Published time: 12 Feb, 2016 14:14
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev © Ekaterina Shtukina/
A Reuters article quoted Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as “raising the specter of a world war” in an interview to a German newspaper. The problem is – he didn’t say any such words.
The leading world news agency reported on an interview that Medvedev gave Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper on the eve of talks on Syria in Munich.
“All sides must be compelled to sit at the negotiating table, instead of unleashing a new world war,” the agency quoted the head of the Russian government as saying.
The report referred to a German translation of his words, which is incorrect and implies that Russia is warning that a full-scale war between leading world powers may be ignited from the Syrian conflict.
Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
‘Depressed? Smoking? It’s the Neanderthal in you,’ scientists say in first study of its kind
Published time: 12 Feb, 2016 09:45
© Nikola Solic / Reuters
A whole range of health and psychological disorders, including depression and nicotine addiction, have been confirmed as relating the presence of Neanderthal genes in our DNA by US scientists.
The rigorous genome comparison is the first study of its kind.
It’s been known since 2010 that Eurasian genes may suffer from a series of health problems associated with Neanderthal DNA, after the fact of interbreeding with Homo sapiens was confirmed. But this was the first direct study of the two DNA types, undertaken by scientists at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
“Our main finding is that Neanderthal DNA does influence clinical traits in modern humans: We discovered associations between Neanderthal DNA and a wide range of traits, including immunological, dermatological, neurological, psychiatric and reproductive diseases,” senior author on the paper and evolutionary scientist John Capra said.
The study was published in the February 12 issue of the journal Science.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Serbia passes Holocaust restitution law
Parliament approves law allowing heirless and unclaimed property taken during World War II to be returned to Jewish owners
Serbian lawmakers have voted on a bill allowing the restitution of heirless and unclaimed Jewish property expropriated during the Holocaust.
The World Jewish Restitution Organization said Friday Serbia is one of the first countries in Eastern Europe to pass such a bill, which means the property will be returned to the local Jewish community.
Gideon Taylor, WJRO chair of operations, says “this is a step toward justice and the recognition of history.”
Taylor said in a statement “we look to other countries to follow Serbia’s lead.”
The organization had actively campaigned for the law to be passed.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Cruz-backer Bickle pledges commitment to Israel, Jews, explains his Hitler comments
In Op-Ed on The Times of Israel, evangelical leader apologizes if he has ‘communicated beliefs poorly’
Declaring that his views on Israel have been misunderstood, evangelical Christian leader Mike Bickle has written an Op-Ed on The Times of Israel expressing his commitment to Israel and explaining remarks in which he cited Adolf Hitler as being among the “hunters” sent by God as mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah.
“Let me make clear,” Bickle wrote. “What Hitler did was evil, an utter atrocity to the Jewish people and to all of mankind. The creation of the modern state of Israel after the Holocaust is a testament to God’s enduring love for His beloved people.”
“I have been and remain committed to the spiritual and material defense of Israel and the Jewish people, as is my ministry,” Bickle went on. Later in the article, he added, “For those times when I have communicated my beliefs poorly, I apologize.”
Bickle has made headlines in recent days after he endorsed presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, and after Cruz touted his backing.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks during the Sunshine Summit conference being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek on November 13, 2015, Orlando, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP)
