SYRIA UPDATE

Lavrov, Turkish counterpart discuss prospects of political settlement in Syria

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the two sides discussed key points related to mutual cooperation during a meeting on Friday on the sidelines of the periodical meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) member states.

Considerable attention during the meeting was given to the political settlement of the crisis in Syria, particularly the implementation of the Sochi agreement on Idleb, the outcomes of the 11th international meeting on Syria in Astana on Nov 28 and 29, the prospects of preparing conditions for rebuilding Syria’s infrastructure and the return of the displaced Syrians to their country.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=153505

YPG Claims 5 Turkish Soldiers Were Killed In Guided Missile Strike In Northern Syria

On December 14, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) claimed that their members had killed 5 Turkish soldiers near the village of Kimar in the Afrin region in northern Syria. According to the statement, the attack was carried out with an anti-tank guided missile on December 14. In response, it carried out a series of artillery strikes on positions of the YPG and the Syrian Army near the town of Tell Rifaat. The YPG attack was allegedly conducted from this very area.

https://southfront.org/ypg-claims-5-turkish-soldiers-were-killed-in-guided-missile-strike-in-northern-syria-video/

Turkey To Enter Syria’s Manbij If Kurdish Militias Fail To Leave Area, Erdogan Warns

Turkish troops will enter Syria’s Manbij if Kurdish units fail to leave the city, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) event in Istanbul on Friday.

“We are determined to ensure stability and security east of the Euphrates River [in Syria]. If Manbij is not cleared [of Kurdish units], then we will enter the city,” he said.

According to the Turkish president, “the United States is trying to distract Turkey by delaying the implementation of the Manbij roadmap.”

“The US seeks to weaken our resolve to fight against terrorists,” Erdogan added.

https://southfront.org/turkey-to-enter-syrias-manbij-if-kurdish-militias-fail-to-leave-area-erdogan-warns/

Syria, Russia sign protocol of Joint Syrian-Russian Commission’s 11th session

The two sides signed the framework agreement to implement a roadmap for trade and industrial cooperation signed by Chairman of Planning and International Cooperation Authority Imad Sabouni and the Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Georgy Kalamanov.

An agreement in the Housing and Public Works was signed with the initials by Deputy Minister of Public Works and Housing Mazen al-Laham and the First Deputy Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation Leonid Stavitsky.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=153494

On anniversary of Israeli void annexation decision, locals of Quneitra and occupied Golan reiterate their steadfastness

Citizens of the occupied Syrian Golan and Quneitra province reiterated confidence in the inevitability of fully liberation of Golan at the hands of heroes of the Syrian Arab Army who managed to eliminate terrorism supported by the Zionist entity.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=153487

Reports Say Hajin Is Under SDF Control, But Clashes Are Ongoing

The SDF media center confirmed earlier that US-backed forces had advanced inside Hajin after foiling a new counter-attack by ISIS. However, the group is yet to confirm that the town has been fully liberated.

From its side, the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq said that the clashes are still ongoing inside Hajin. According to source, the terrorist group’s fighters attacked three gatherings of SDF troops with anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) in the town killing ten and injuring many others.

https://southfront.org/reports-say-hajin-is-under-sdf-control-but-clashes-are-ongoing-video/

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>>4310774

2/2

Additional Details Of Clashes Between Government Forces And US-backed Militants Near Al-Tanaf

According to the activists, a convoy of the Revolutionary Commando Army approached a position of the SAA 1st Division outside of the 55km de-escalation zone on December 13. This action triggered a response from the SAA which attacked the convoy killing three fighters.

From its side, the Revolutionary Commando Army claimed in a new official statement that its fighters attacked a unit of the SAA which was trying to establish a fortified positions inside the 55km de-escalation zone.

However, the US-led coalition didn’t confirm the Revolutionary Commando Army’s claims, and didn’t participate in the clashes. This led many local observers into doubting the group’s claims.

Pro-government activists suggested that the US-backed group was carrying out a smuggling operation when it approached the SAA position by mistake. The Revolutionary Commando Army leadership is well-known for being involved in such illegal actions.

https://southfront.org/additional-details-of-clashes-between-government-forces-and-us-backed-militants-near-al-tanaf/

Russian Forces Start Siege of “US Controlled Zone” (Military Base) in At-Tanf, Southeastern Syria. Unconfirmed Report

Image:

https://www.globalresearch.ca/video-russian-forces-start-siege-of-us-controlled-zone-military-base-in-at-tanf-southeastern-syria/5662982

Bolton: China and Russia ‘Interfere with U.S. Military’ in Africa

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, unveiling President Donald Trump’s Africa strategy on Thursday, accused Russia and China of “predatory practices” that interfere with American military operations on the continent and pose a significant threat to America’s homeland security interests.

In a speech at the Heritage Foundation, Bolton said:

Great power competitors, namely China and Russia, are rapidly expanding their financial and political influence across Africa. They are deliberately and aggressively targeting their investments in the region to gain a competitive advantage over the United States. …The predatory practices pursued by China and Russia stunt economic growth in Africa; threaten the financial independence of African nations; inhibit opportunities for U.S. investment; interfere with U.S. military operations; and pose a significant threat to U.S. national security interests.

The national security adviser asserted that the new Africa strategy will counter Russia and China.

Echoing the U.S. Department of State (DOS), Bolton indicated that China is using so-called “debt traps” to encourage financial dependency and undermine the sovereignty of the borrowers, noting: “China uses bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands. Its investment ventures are riddled with corruption, and do not meet the same environmental or ethical standards as U.S. development projects.”

The national security adviser said that China’s “predatory” financial practices are a component of its ambitious multi-trillion dollar One Belt, One Road (OBOR) project, also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which some U.S. military officials consider a threat to the United States.

Beijing’s “predatory actions are sub-components of broader Chinese strategic initiatives, including ‘One Belt, One Road’—a plan to develop a series of trade routes leading to and from China with the ultimate goal of advancing China’s global dominance,” Bolton explained, stressing that China is actively seeking to “obtain more political, economic, and military power.”

Djibouti, which is located in the Horn of Africa, houses China’s first overseas military base, which experts like Judd Devermont from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) believe may hinder U.S. military access and operations. The base is located a few miles from America’s Camp Lemonnier

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/12/13/bolton-china-and-russia-interfere-with-u-s-military-in-africa/

All this guy does is stir up trouble and ignore the hypocrisy of his statements

Bokhari: 5 Whoppers Google CEO Sundar Pichai Told Congress

Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified on Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee. Despite testifying under oath, Pichai’s statements were riddled with demonstrable falsehoods — here are some of Pichai’s biggest whoppers.

1. The Google CEO leads the company “without political bias”

There are at least two ways this statement can be interpreted. First, Pichai may be referring to his personal lack of political biases. Second, he may be referring to the lack of bias in Google’s product.

On both interpretations, Pichai wasn’t telling the truth. Breitbart News put Pichai’s biases on display for the world with our publication of a leaked 1-hour video of the Google CEO and other company executives dismayed reactions to Donald Trump’s win in 2016. In it, Pichai and his colleagues applauded an employee’s far-left racist rant about “white privilege,” and promised to respond to the election result by promising to tackle “misinformation” by investing in A.I. So there’s no doubt that Pichai himself isn’t free of political bias.

And his product isn’t free of it either. Earlier this year, Breitbart revealed that Google’s ad services team contacted advertisers to warn them away from Breitbart News. Just yesterday, Breitbart revealed that the company’s director of monetization kept a close watch on this website following the company’s “fake news kick-off discussion.” In the past year alone, Google has banned alternative media figures and free speech apps from its services, and refused service to both Republican senator-elect Marsha Blackburn in the U.S. midterm race and Toronto mayoral candidate Faith Goldy in Canada.

Perhaps the starkest evidence of Google’s bias is its decision to allow Wikipedia, a site dominated by far-left propaganda, a privileged position in its search results and YouTube video descriptions.

1. Google did not try and turn out Latino voters in key states

Perhaps the most astonishing part of Pichai’s testimony was when he denied that Google tried to turn out Latino voters in “key states” in 2016.

“Key states,” as Rep. Jim Jordan noted, is crucial — it separates nonpartisan voter participation boosting from an active attempt to influence an election. Pichai himself acknowledged that any attempt by Google to activate particular demographics in such a manner would be partisan — which is probably why he denied it.

The denial was astonishing because leaked emails from Google’s then-head of Multicultural Marketing, Eliana Murillo, which Rep. Jordan read out to Pichai during the hearing, directly contradicted him. The emails even described the turnout efforts as a “silent donation” and clearly stated they were targeted at “key states” including Florida, Nevada, and Arizona. Yet Pichai, testifying under oath, continued to deny it.

The way Pichai denied it was also egregious. In the leaked emails, Murillo wrote about the company’s voter turnout operations using the word “we” and “our” to refer to the company. There was no ambiguity in Murillo’s words: she wrote that “people were beyond thrilled to see Google’s support and acknowledgment of the Latino community.” [emphasis ours]. Yet Pichai’s argument was that Murillo was not referring to Google when she used the words “we” and “our” elsewhere in the emails.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/12/12/bokhari-5-whoppers-google-ceo-sundar-pichai-told-congress/

Judicial Watch: Documents Reveal Obama State Department Urgently Provided Classified ‘Russiagate’ Documents to Multiple Senators Immediately Ahead of Trump Inauguration

We made the deadline! Thank you everyone for what was truly a Department-wide effort!’ – former senior advisor to the assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, less than 24 hours before Trump inauguration

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch today released two sets of heavily redacted State Department documents, 38 pages and 48 pages, showing classified information was researched and disseminated to multiple U.S. Senators by the Obama administration immediately prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The documents reveal that among those receiving the classified documents were Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN).

Judicial Watch obtained the documents through a June 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department after it failed to respond to a February 2018 request seeking records of the Obama State Department’s last-minute efforts to share classified information about Russia election interference issues with Democratic Senator Ben Cardin (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:18-cv-01381)).

The documents reveal the Obama State Department urgently gathering classified Russia investigation information and disseminating it to members of Congress within hours of Donald Trump taking office.

In a Thursday, January 5, 2017, email chain then-State Department Congressional Advisor Hera Abassi indicates that then-Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland’s bureau was attempting to get Russian investigation related documents to the office of Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) office as quickly as possible. (In June 2016 Nuland permitted a meeting between Steele and the FBI’s legal attaché in Rome. Nuland told CBS News that the State Department knew about the Steele dossier by July 2016.)

In the email, with the subject line “For Immediate Review – Call Sheet for S Call with Senator Warner,” Abassi writes:

“I told Cardin’s folks … that the process is long. Can we ensure that there are no holdups on our end?”

Minutes later, Abassi confirms that Nuland was fully aware of the information that the State Department was providing to members of Congress alleging Russia interference information:

“This is definitely on EUR A/S radar!”

Leaving no doubt that the State Department officials knew they were transmitting classified information, in a Wednesday, January 18, 2017, email with the subject line “Cables/M,” Former Foreign Service Officer Kerem Bilge writes to State Department Congressional advisor Hilary Johnson and others: “Highest class is SECRET/NOFORN.”

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-documents-reveal-obama-state-department-urgently-provided-classified-russiagate-documents-to-multiple-senators-immediately-ahead-of-trump-inauguration/

Fiscal Year 2018 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Report

Overview

Consistent with President Trump’s Executive Orders issued in early 2017, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) has continued to use resources as effectively and efficiently as possible to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.

https://www.ice.gov/features/ERO-2018

Mueller Team Scrubbed Peter Strzok’s Texts Before Giving Phone to Inspector General

The Office of the Special Counsel deleted text messages from the iPhone of fired FBI agent Peter Strzok before turning it over to the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG), according to a report released by the federal watchdog.

On Thursday, the Justice Department’s inspector general released a report stating thousands of text messages exchanged between Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page could not be recovered after Mueller’s team wiped clean the phones it had issued them.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/14/mueller-team-scrubbed-peter-strzoks-texts-before-giving-phone-to-inspector-general/

California Chief Justice Quits GOP Over Kavanaugh Confirmation

"I felt compelled to make a choice now"

California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has quit the GOP for confirming Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Appointed in 2011 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cantil-Sakauye was the first Asian-Filipino American and the second woman to serve as California's Chief Justice. Though a lifelong Republican, she has now disavowed the party to become an independent.

In a phone interview with CALMatters on Thursday, the Chief Justice of California said she made her final decision to leave the GOP after watching the U.S. Senate's Kavanaugh confirmation hearings.

"You can draw your own conclusions," she told the outlet.

One possible conclusion one might draw is that Cantil-Sakauye wants the Republican Party to abandon due process and embrace empty slogans like "Believe All Women" instead of examining facts. During the Senate hearings, Kavanaugh was accused in an 11th-hour ambush of attempting to sexually assault Palo Alto professor, Christine Blasey Ford, at a pool party 36 years ago while both were in high school. Despite Ford's emotional testimony, she provided no corroborating evidence nor a single corroborating witness. In fact, the witnesses that Ford named not only denied her claims, they either downright refuted them. Her best friend at the time of the alleged incident, Leland Keyser, stated under penalty of felony that she never even met Brett Kavanaugh. Add on to the fact that Ford could not remember how she got to or home from the party in question and the case falls apart.

In the end, due process prevailed and Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court, with the deciding vote provided by none other than a woman: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). "I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the Court,” said Collins at the time. Though Collins certainly understood the seriousness of Ford’s claims and said she believed her contention that something happened to her, the senator noted that the evidence does not support Kavanaugh’s guilt. "Nevertheless, the four witnesses she named could not corroborate any of the events of that evening gathering," said Collins.

Cantil-Sakauye told CALMatters that she had been considering her leave of the Republican Party for "some time" and she only made her final decision after thoroughly discussing it with family and friends. "You didn’t leave the party. The party left you," they reportedly told her.

"I felt compelled to make a choice now,” said Cantil-Sakauye. "It better suits what I do and how I approach issues."

In truth, the California Chief Justice has been flirting with an exit from the GOP under President Trump for some time. Last year, she strongly advised U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to cease having law enforcement "stalk" illegal immigrants to arrest them at courthouses, cautioning it would persuade them from reporting crimes.

"Enforcement policies that include stalking courthouses and arresting undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom pose no risk to public safety, are neither safe nor fair," she wrote.

Kelly and Sessions dismissed her request and told her to bring her concern to Gov. Jerry Brown.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/39365/california-chief-justice-quits-gop-over-kavanaugh-paul-bois

>>4310974

The conflicts are unfathomable yet nothing is done.

ProPublica — Without Evidence — Implies Gov. Matt Bevin Is Anti-Semitic

ProPublica implied Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin is anti-Semitic on Wednesday after he singled out left-wing, Jewish billionaire George Soros as one of their donors in a video he tweeted.

The accusation came after Bevin pointed out that Soros donates to ProPublica following their announcement of a partnership with the Louisville Courier-Journal, Kentucky’s largest newspaper. The partnership is one of 14 that ProPublica announced on Wednesday in an attempt to support local newsrooms’ investigative teams.

While it’s not entirely clear what prompted Bevin’s critical video, the Courier-Journal did uncover that the governor hired one of his friends for a government position and then gave him a raise of $215,000.

Bevin labeled ProPublica a “biased, left-wing organization,” and nicknamed Soros, “George ‘I Hate America’ Soros,” in the video.

In response, ProPublica tweeted, “We noticed you mentioned two of our donors — who just happen to be Jewish. So here are a few facts about our funding: We had 34,000 donors last year. George Soros provided less than 2 percent of our revenue.”

When asked by The Daily Caller about the implication that Bevin’s comments were under a guise of anti-Semitism, ProPublica’s president, Dick Tofel, stated, “Singling him out in this context — Gov. Bevin used the phrase ‘the likes of George Soros’ — is classic anti-Semitic dog whistling.”

He did add that criticizing Soros is not inherently anti-Semitic and that he was unsure if Bevin had expressed anti-Semitic views previously.

Despite the claims, he signed an executive order to become the 26th state to pass legislation against the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement last month. It prohibits state contracts to be awarded to organizations that partake in the movement.

The BDS movement describes itself as one trying to uphold “the simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity,” but many accuse the movement of being anti-Semitic because it “rejects Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Further, he also signed the Ann Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act, which officially requires Kentucky public schools to teach about the Holocaust and other acts of genocide.

https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/14/propublica-anti-semitism-bevin-soros/

The curious case of Michael Flynn: Timeline of twists and turns in ex-official's prosecution

Special Counsel Robert Mueller faces a Friday afternoon deadline to turn over documents related to former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s first interview with federal prosecutors, marking the latest twist in his turbulent prosecution dating back to his fateful Jan. 24, 2017 interview with agents at the White House.

Flynn’s legal team earlier this week made the bombshell allegation that the FBI had pushed him not to bring a lawyer to that interview. His attorneys further claim Flynn was not advised that any false statements he made could constitute a crime, as he was questioned about communications with the Russian ambassador.

Now, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who is tasked with overseeing Flynn’s criminal case, is demanding details from Mueller and seeking 302s—or FBI documents memorializing interviews with witnesses. 302s are often critical pieces of evidence in false statements cases where, as in the Flynn case, the FBI does not have recordings. Sullivan is weighing Flynn's sentencing, following recommendations from Mueller’s office of little to no prison time for the former Army lieutenant general.

Here’s a look back at everything that’s happened in the case so far:

Jan. 24, 2017

Flynn, who at the time was national security adviser to President Trump, was approached by a pair of FBI agents for an interview at the White House. They wanted to discuss his communications with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak regarding sanctions in December 2016, which unbeknownst to Flynn had been picked up in wiretapped discussions. This interview would later form the basis for a false-statement charge and guilty plea.

Feb. 13, 2017

Flynn resigned from his White House post. The resignation came as he was accused of misleading Vice President Pence and other senior White House officials about those same communications with Kislyak. Pence, after being briefed by Flynn, had said in television interviews that Flynn did not discuss sanctions with the ambassador.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/case-michael-flynn-timeline

Sullivan has the authority to toss Flynn’s guilty plea and the charge against him if he concludes that the FBI interfered with Flynn’s constitutional right to counsel, although he has given no indications that he intends to do so.

Macron Had Helicopter on Standby to Escape Presidential Palace During Protests

French President Emmanuel Macron was not only present at the Élysée Palace during “Act IV” of the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) protests but had a helicopter on standby to escape in case protesters broke in, according to reports.

The French leader fortified the Élysée Palace last Saturday with an unprecedented amount of security, including 500 republican guards, around a hundred police and gendarmes armed with water cannons, and other anti-riot measures, Le Dauphine reports.

Should the protesters have managed to storm the Élysée and get past security, President Macron is also said to have had a helicopter on standby to evacuate him and others in what could have echoed the escape of former Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu, who fled a popular uprising by helicopter during the collapse of his Communist regime on December 22, 1989.

Witnesses at the Élysée last Saturday described the French leader as “like marble” in front of the protests that not only saw high levels of violence in Paris but also in other French cities like Toulouse and Bordeaux.

The protests have put the French president on the back foot for the past several weeks and have continued even after the government agreed to the initial demand of cancelling a tax hike on fuel.

Earlier this week, Macron offered several more concessions including a 100 euro per month increase in the French minimum wage and several tax breaks such as making overtime work tax-free and calling for companies to give employees year-end bonuses that would also not be taxed.

Despite the new policies, which are likely to take France over the European Union’s three per cent of GDP deficit limit, many have called for the protests to continue including far-left France Insoumise (Unsubmissive France) leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon who said, “To the indignation of the large number against the fact that some have everything and others nothing, the president thought that a distribution of money would suffice to calm the current citizen uprising.”

The sentiment has carried over to the French public, with a recent poll showing 54 per cent of French saying the protests should continue as the country braces for “Act V” on Saturday.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/12/14/fearful-yellow-vests-macron-helicopter-standby-escape-elysee-palace/

Q TEAM

Are you planning on giving the Anon's a Christmas present?

Big name scalp would be nice!

>>4311346

be like da wader