From Russia Today
Poland wants NATO nukes to counter Russia threat
Published time: 6 Dec, 2015 13:32
© Kacper Pempel / Reuters
The Polish Defense Minister says he is thinking of asking NATO to allow nuclear weapons to be deployed on its territory. The alliance’s program allows non-nuclear countries to borrow US missiles. However, such a move would unlikely be taken kindly by Russia.
Defense Minister Tomasz Szatkowski made the statement on Saturday during an interview with the Polish broadcaster Polsat, as cited by AP. He says that the ministry is contemplating whether to ask for access to the nuclear sharing program, which would allow Warsaw to boost its defenses.Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
Marine Le Pen’s National Front leads in first round of French regional elections – exit poll
Published time: 6 Dec, 2015 19:15
French National Front political party leader and candidate Marine Le Pen © Pascal Rossignol / Reuters Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front is leading in the first round of regional elections, leading all parties in six out of 13 regions and garnering 28 percent of the national vote, according to Interior Ministry estimates.
Le Pen and her niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, are both set to take more than 40 percent of the vote in the north and southeast of the country, TV exit polls showed on Sunday.
“Le Front national est le seul front véritablement républicain car il est le seul à défendre la nation et sa souveraineté.” #régionales2015
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) December 6, 2015
“Ladies and gentlemen, the people have spoken out and France can now hold her head high. This vote confirms what has not been confirmed by official observers – the National Front is now the leading party in the country,” Le Pen told her supporters.
Meanwhile, the ruling Socialist Party and its allies received 23.5 percent of the vote, with over 85% of the ballots counted.
About 45 million French people came out to vote on Sunday.
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From Russia Today
Removing Assad ‘not necessary’ before political transition in Syria – French FM
Published time: 6 Dec, 2015 10:50
French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius © Stephane Mahe / Reuters
France has changed its hardline stance on the government in Damascus, with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius saying he no longer believes that Syrian President Bashar Assad necessarily has to step down before a political transition takes place in the war-torn country.
“The fight against Daesh [Islamic State, or ISIS/ISIL] is crucial but it will only be totally effective if all the Syrian and regional forces are united,” Fabius told the French regional newspaper Le Progres.
This marks an apparent shift of priorities by France to tackling Islamic State, which staged a series of attacks on the French capital last month, killing 130 and injuring 352 others. Until recently, Paris echoed Washington in saying that Assad’s resignation is key to any political solution to the four-year Syrian conflict. Paris has repeatedly insisted on the removal of the Syrian president describing him as a “butcher” of his own people.
Paris now seems to accept that the Syrian army has to play a role in the fight against ISIS. “The operations must be led by local forces: moderate Syrian, Arab, Kurdish, and if necessary, in coordination with the Syrian army, which is impossible without a political transition,” Fabius told Le Progres, explaining that “the experience of the recent decades, whether it is in Iraq or in Afghanistan, shows that Western forces on the ground quickly appear like occupation forces.”
From The Independent
Saudi Arabia’s unity summit will only highlight Arab disunity
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Hillary Clinton: Educate youth about Israel-U.S. bond
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Young people in the United States and Israel need to be educated about the value of the relationship between the two countries, Hillary Rodham Clinton said.
“With every passing year we must tie the bonds tighter, reach out to the next generation,” the front-runner for the Democratic Party presidential nomination said Sunday to the Saban Forum in Washington, an annual conference of American and Israeli leaders.
Clinton, born just before Israel’s independence in 1948, said she belonged to a generation that thrilled to Israel’s successes, but that the admiration was receding.
“There is a generation in both countries today that does not remember that shared past,” she said.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Netanyahu responds to Kerry: ‘Israel will not be a binational state’
JERUSALEM (JTA) — “Israel will not be a binational state,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in response to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s warning that Israel is moving toward a one-state situation with the Palestinians.
“”I would like to make it clear – Israel will not be a binational state. But in order for there to be peace, the other side needs to decide that it also wants peace. To my regret, this is not what we see,” Netanyahu said Sunday morning at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.
John Kerry questioned Israel’s commitment to coming to a resolution with the Palestinians and wondered how it maintains its character as a Jewish democratic state while denying rights to the Palestinians, such as building permits, during a speech Saturday at the Saban Forum in Washington, D.C.
Kerry also criticized incendiary rhetoric on the part of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and criticized Palestinian incitement during his speech to the gathering of Israeli and American leaders, sponsored by Israeli American entertainment mogul Haim Saban and convened by the Brookings Institution.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
San Bernardino killer’s father: Son was obsessed with Israel
(JTA) — The father of San Bernardino killer Sayed Rizan Farook said his son was obsessed with Israel, which shaped his Islamisist worldview.
Sayed Farook told the Italian newspaper La Stampa that he tried to persuade his son not to act on his hatred of Israel.
“I told him he had to stay calm and be patient because in two years Israel will not exist anymore. Geopolitics is changing: Russia, China and America don’t want Jews there anymore. They are going to bring the Jews back to Ukraine,” Sayed Farook said.
“What is the point of fighting? We have already done it and we lost. Israel is not to be fought with weapons, but with politics. But he did not listen to me, he was obsessed.”
Click here for the full story
