Category: News

Turkish assault on Kurdish forces in Syria

Ankara, August 30 — In a situation which can be described as “enemy of my enemy is still my enemy” a Turkish offensive operation against Kurdish force positions in Syria is being heavily criticized by US.

US is asking Turkey to remain focused on fighting ISIL/ISIS. Turkey considers Kurdish fighters as “terrorists” (HurrietDailyNews) while the US considers same as “friendlies”, all three consider ISIL/ISIS “terrorist”. It appears based on early reports the two sides have come to a some sort of a ceasefire for the time being.

Read full article at HurriyetDailyNews.

US Navy’s new Gerald Ford carrier class under review

US Navy, August 30 — US Navy’s latest Gerald Ford-class aircraft carrier project under review by Pentagon. Among cited issues are “performance of key systems aboard” reports USNI (via August 23 memo obtained by USNI).

Estimated cost is $12.8 billion according to nationalinterest.org

The article continues listing some of the project related issues citing “Transformation” doctrine of early 2000s under which many latest, bleeding-edge systems were to be used – and unproven.

It is interesting how this particular project review coincides with the fact that Russian 3M22 Zircon anti-ship hypersonic (speeds mach 5-6) missiles are to go into serial production in 2018. Read this as a system of direct threat to entire carrier groups.

These are newest generation of anti-ship missiles as an addition to already vast Russian arsenal. See P-800 Oniks/Yakhont, Brahmos, etc. These are some of the issues to think about.

Read the full article at USNI.

Abu Mohamed al-Adnani killed in Aleppo

Aleppo, Syria, August 30 — According to Amaq News Agency ISIL/ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani was killed in Syria. al-Adnani was responsible for inciting global violence against non-muslims. DW continues to report al-Adnani was a terrorist propaganda chief also responsible for recruiting new fighters.

Interestingly and [not surprisingly] he was previously imprisoned by US troops during Iraq campaign.

Read the full article at DW.
Read the report at SiteIntelGroup.

US-EU TIPP trade agreement utter failure

Germany, August 28 — The United States and Germany negotiations over The European Union Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TIPP) have effectively failed after three years of talks.

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said “in my opinion the negotiations with the United States have de facto failed, even though nobody is really admitting it,” adding “nothing is moving” — via DW and German broadcaster ZDF.

Mr. Gabriel continued to say that after 14 rounds of talks and of 27 chapters under discussion the two sides did not agree even on one chapter. When asked why such a lack a progress Mr. Gabriel answered “we Europeans did not want to subject ourselves to American demands,“.

Read the full article at DW.

Unarmed Palestinian charges IDF post

West Bank, August 27 — An unarmed Palestinian man, a 38-year-old Eyad Zakaria Hamed died in what appeared to be a charge at an IDF guard post. In following the procedures for “stopping suspicious individual[s]” IDF opened fired killing the man. No IDF soldiers sustained injuries.

An unnamed Palestinian official said the deceased individual “suffered from mental illness and was not found to have any weapons on his person when searched…”, reports Ynetnews.

Read full article at Ynetnews.

 

Possible deal reached over Syrian conflict by Lavrov and Kerry

Geneva, August 26 — US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov met in Geneva to discuss possible end-of war strategy in Syria. After a ten hour meeting Mr. Kerry said the two nations “achieved clarity on the path forward“.

Nationwide ceasefire technical aspects are still under discussion. Russian and American diplomats are to continue talks in the coming days to collaborate on a key unresolved issues in Syria, reports DW.

Continue reading full article at DW.

China readying LM-5 rocket

Tianjin, August 26 — China’s LM-5 largest carrier rocket (Long March-5) has departed Tianjin Port heading to the launch base in southern Hainan. The rocket is scheduled for maiden flight later this year, reports Xinhuanet.

The large carrier rocket has a payload of 25 tonnes in low orbit and 14 tonnes in geostationary orbit. The rocket is planned to carry Chang’e-5 lunar probe for 2017 and launching various space satellites and Mars probes.

Read the full article at Xinhuanet.

Germans want a burqa ban says survey

Germany, August 26 — In a recently conducted poll in Germany more than three quarters of Germans do not want to see burqas in public, reports DW. Burqas are a full face, full head-to-toe covering in which not even eyes can be seen.

The poll was conducted by Infratest dimap polling institute and surveyed 1008 adult Germans. Results showed that 81 percent of respondents favored ban of burqas in public areas. Some 51 percent favored entire ban on burqas in Germany.

This has been an extremely heated issue of recent where a Palestinian intern was fired for not removing her head cover (not a burqa) and France was considering a ban on Islamic swimsuits.

Read full article at DW.

Turkey declares “total war” on terror

Istanbul, August 26 — During a press conference in Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim declared total war on terrorism and continued to say Turkey will “bear their pain and continue to fight against terror” referring to most recent terrorist attack in city of Cizre by Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK).

No terrorist group could hold Turkey captive

“No terrorist group could hold Turkey captive” continued PM Yildirim.

Read full article at HurriyetDailyNews.

Palestinian intern fired by German town mayor

Luckenwalde, Germany, August 25 — Luckenwalde mayor Elisabeth Herzog-vod der Heide has fired her Palestinian intern after just one day on the job.

The reason for termination from internship notes mayor is refusal by the intern to remove her headscarf at work in presence of men which is a violation of “neutrality policy” according to  Herzog-von der Heide.

Read the full article at DW.