SYRIA UPDATE

Over 400 displaced Syrians return via Nassib border crossing

Daraa, SANA- over 400 Syrians who had been displaced due to terrorist acts returned home via Nassib border crossing with Jordan.

https://sana.sy/en/?p=155046

President al-Assad meets Arab Lawyers’ Union delegation

President al-Assad affirmed the important role of public organizations and unions in protecting Arab societies and raising awareness in them, especially in light of the conspiracies and dangers that threaten them, mainly the attempts to obliterate identity and undermine the culture of belonging among the Arab people in order to weaken them and undermine their belief in their causes and ability to defend their rights.

https://sana.sy/en/?p=155050

Syria – Turkey Fails In Idleb, Is Unwilling To Take The Northeast

The neoconservatives in the Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton and the Syria envoy James Jeffery, are scrambling to save their plans for Syria that President Trump disposed of when he ordered a complete retreat.

Those plans were for a permanent U.S. occupation of northeast Syria, the reduction of Iranian influence within the government held parts of Syria and an eventual disposal of the Syrian government under President Assad through negotiations. These were unicorn aims that had no chance to ever be achieved. Moreover Trump had never signed off on these ideas.

https://southfront.org/syria-turkey-fails-in-idleb-is-unwilling-to-take-the-northeast/

US Forces Deployed In Syria’s At-Tanf Reportedly Conducted Live-Fire Drill Involving M142 HIMARS System

The video, which allegedly shows a part of the drills, appeared on YouTube on January 3, 2019. However, it remains unclear when it was filmed.

If the development is confirmed, this will be another confirmation that the announced withdrawal of US troops from Syria does not mean that the US is really going to withdraw all of its forces from the country.

https://southfront.org/us-forces-deployed-in-syrias-at-tanf-reportedly-conducted-live-fire-drill-involving-m142-himars-system-video/

Military Situation In Syria On January 7, 2019 (Map Update)

Turkish-backed militants, which were defeated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the Idlib de-escalation zone, are fleeing to Afrin;

Aditional units from the Syrian Army’s 1st and 9th Divisions were deployed to reinforce the government positions in northern Hama;

Security forces continue to discover weapons caches, which have been left behind by militants in northern Homs

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-syria-on-january-7-2019-map-update/

Syrian serviceman injured in attack by militants on community in Hama Governorate

"Militants attacked the community of Tell al-Maktaa in the Hama Governorate from the Idlib de-escalation zone during the day, injuring one serviceman of the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as the Al-Sukkari district and the northwestern outskirts of the city of Aleppo," Solomatin said.

http://tass.com/politics/1039057

Russian Warplanes Strike Terrorists in Idlib De-escalation Zone

Starting from January 4th, the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out a series of airstrikes on terrorists’ positions in the Idlib de-escalation zone. The airstrikes targeted Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces in the towns of Darat Izza, Kafrnaha, Jamiat al-Rahal, Urum al-Kubra and the 111th Regiment base in the western Aleppo countryside.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/video-russian-warplanes-strike-terrorists-in-idlib-de-escalation-zone/5664892

Egyptian president admits cooperation with Israel 'closest, deepest' than ever before

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has acknowledged that his administration has maintained very deep relations with the Tel Aviv regime and is engaged in military cooperation with Israel in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

Sisi made the rare acknowledgment during an interview with US television network CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which was aired on Sunday.

This comes as Egypt, under Sis’s rule, has quietly cooperated with Israel on security in the desert peninsula.

Asked whether the cooperation was the closest and deepest that he has had with Israel, Sisi responded, "That is correct. The Air Force sometimes needs to cross to the Israeli side. And that's why we have a wide range of coordination with the Israelis."

Asked why he had not managed to wipe the ongoing militancy out after receiving more than $1bn in annual US military aid, Sisi responded by pointing to the challenges that Washington has faced in Afghanistan against the Taliban.

"Why hasn't the US eliminated the terrorists in Afghanistan after 17 years and spending a trillion dollars?" Sisi asked.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Sisi, who won a second four-year term in office last year after running virtually unopposed, said that cooperation with Israel can be a sensitive and potentially damaging topic in Egypt.

Egypt's military last year denied media reports that it was cooperating with Israel in the violence-hit region of northern Sinai.

The CBS networks broadcast the interview with Sisi despite a request by the Egyptian government not to air the program.

Before the airing of the interview, CBS had said the information given by Sisi was "not the kind of news his government wanted broadcast."

"The 60 Minutes team was contacted by the Egyptian ambassador shortly after and told the interview could not be aired," the network said.

Israel has full diplomatic relations with only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, but reports suggest the regime is working behind the scenes to establish formal contact with Saudi Arabia and its allies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly traveled to Egypt in May last year for talks with Sisi.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/01/07/585144/Egypt-Abdel-Fattah-elSisiBin-Salman-MBS-Benjamin-Netanyahu-Trump

Shooting going on at the border close to the bridge to Pharr, TX

>>4647596

Shut it all down take out the cabal

>>4647606

Didn't see video the other day tho

President Trump Sets Trip to Border; Asks Networks for Prime Time to Address Shutdown

President Trump is scheduled to visit the Southern border on Thursday, according to White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders who made the announcement via Twitter on Monday. Trump visited the border in San Diego last March to review border wall prototypes.

“President @realDonaldTrump will travel to the Southern border on Thursday to meet with those on the frontlines of the national security and humanitarian crisis. More details will be announced soon.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/president-trump-sets-trip-to-border-asks-networks-for-prime-time-to-address-shutdown/

>>4647645

Fuck this cunt

Meanwhile while no-one was looking

US and North Korean Officials Met in Vietnam to Discuss Second Trump-Kim Summit

Officials from the United States and North Korea met in Hanoi, Vietnam, to discuss planning for a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to anonymous diplomatic sources in Seoul and Washington cited in a Monday report by a South Korean newspaper.

The location of the talks suggest that the second summit between the two leaders may take place in Vietnam, Munhwa Ilbo reported.

Vietnam could play a symbolic role for the summit since it is a communist country with a reformed economy. Vietnam has diplomatic relations with both the United States and North Korea. Pyongyang has a diplomatic office in Hanoi.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Seoul did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump told reporters at the White House on Jan. 6 that the United States and North Korea are “negotiating a location for the second summit.”

“It will be announced probably in the not too distant future,” the president said. “They do want to meet and we want to meet and we’ll see what happens.”

Trump said he spoke to Kim indirectly and that the two nations maintain “a very good dialogue.”

North Korea has not conducted tests of missiles or nuclear weapons since Trump met Kim in Singapore last June. The two leaders signed a joint statement agreeing to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, establish peaceful relations, to repatriate the remains of U.S. soldiers. The agreement also includes security guarantees for North Korea.

Kim said in a televised New Year address that he is willing to meet Trump anytime to continue discussions on denuclearization.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-and-north-korean-officials-met-in-vietnam-to-discuss-second-trump-kim-summit_2759019.html

North Korea’s Kim to Visit China for Fourth Summit

SEOUL—North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is on his way to China for his fourth summit with China’s Xi Jinping, South Korean media said on Jan. 7.

South Korea’s Hankyoreh newspaper, citing an unidentified source with close knowledge of North Korea-China affairs, reported that Kim was traveling to Beijing late on Monday to meet with Xi.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing an unspecified source familiar with North Korea issues, said a North Korean train possibly carrying a “high-level” official had crossed the border into China.

The source told Yonhap it had not been confirmed whether a senior official was on board, but that dozens of security vehicles and officials had blocked the roads around a station in the Chinese border city of Dandong as the train passed.

Last year Kim traveled to China three times to meet with Xi, before and after Kim held other summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Kim is expected to meet again with both the U.S. and South Korean presidents in the near future, and another visit to China has been seen as a possible move before those summits.

Earlier on Monday the South Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbo reported that U.S. State Department officials recently met multiple times with North Korean counterparts in Hanoi and discussed planning a second summit between Trump and Kim, fueling speculation that Vietnam could host the event.

At their landmark June summit in Singapore, Kim and Trump pledged to work toward denuclearization, but the pact was light on details and talks since have made little headway.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/north-koreas-kim-to-visit-china-for-fourth-summit_2759202.html

Where we are – and where we’re going – in the NXIVM Numbskulls Case

Well, here we are, one week already gone by in 2019 – and awaiting more developments in the U.S. v. Raniere Et Al case. Right now, all we know for certain is that there will be another Status Conference – and some other case-related proceedings – taking place on Wednesday, January 9th.

With all the parties basically on holiday break for the last couple of weeks, there are now a significant number of unresolved matters pending before the presiding judge, Nicholas G. Garaufis. These include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

(1) Defendants’ Pending Motions For Dismissal Of Charges

Each of the defendants – by themselves and/or in concert with one or more of their co-defendants – has filed a motion to request that some/all of the pending charges against them be dismissed. The prosecution has vigorously argued that none of those motions should be granted and that all the current charges should be part of the trial that is still scheduled to start on March 18th (More on that later).

At some point, Judge Garaufis will likely hear oral arguments on each of the pending motions for dismissal. Hopefully, we’ll get some clarification on this matter at this week’s hearing.

(2) Claims Of Attorney-Client Privilege

Despite numerous meetings and a plethora of correspondence, the defense attorneys and the prosecution have still not been able to reach agreement as to whether the following documents are entitled to attorney/client privilege: (a) communications between Clare Bronfman with various attorneys who were hired to assist foreign nationals in obtaining U.S. visas; (b) communications between Clare Bronfman, Kathy Russell and others with various foreign nationals who were trying to obtain U.S. visas; and (c) communications between Clare Bronfman and Keith Raniere with two attorneys in Mexico: Diego Ruiz Durán and Olmedo Gaxiola. Copies of all these communications were seized from Nancy Salzman’s former home back in March.

Judge Garaufis will be the one to decide whether any of the above-referenced communications are entitled to attorney/client privilege. Any such documents that he deems to be entitled to that privilege will not be admissible as evidence at the trial.

(3) Curcio Hearings

Because the prosecution has raised the question of whether there is an inherent conflict-of-interest in having all the attorneys representing Keith Raniere, Nancy Salzman, Lauren Salzman, Allison Mack, and Kathy Russell paid for out of a Defense Trust Fund that was set up by Clare Bronfman just before she was arrested, Judge Garaufis will be conducting a Curcio Hearing for each of Clare’s co-defendants. During these hearings, each of those individuals will be asked a series of questions – and offered an opportunity to have the judge appoint another attorney to represent them from this point forward (Court-appointed attorneys have already been appointed to represent Keith, Nancy, Lauren, Allison and Kathy at the Curcio Hearings).

https://frankreport.com/2019/01/07/where-we-are-and-where-were-going-in-the-nxivm-numbskulls-case/

'Mass Casualties Happen In Places That Forbid Firearms' – Ex-US Official

A US government panel tasked to study the Parkland high school shooting has recently come up with a surprising proposal for the US school system. Instead of hiring armed guards or introducing other protective measures, the panel's report suggested training and arming teachers who could protect students in case of an attack.

Steven Howard, a former federal agent with the US Border Patrol and weapons expert, admitted that the solution proposed by the Parkland shooting panel to arm school teachers is "not a perfect cure", but still "makes the most sense". Howard said that if there are three or more armed teachers at a school, they could at least stall the attacker until police arrive.

The former agent argued that as long as schools remain gun-free zones, they will be easy targets for attackers.

"They're at higher risk. They are basically putting out a great big sign that says 'please come kill us'. […] These mass casualties happen in places that specifically forbid firearms, because [perpetrators] know that in schools, theatres, guns are not allowed", Howard said.

Dr James Jacobs, director of the Centre for Research in Crime and Justice at the New York University School of Law, doesn't think that teachers with guns can prevent school shootings, noting that even the presence of trained armed guards at Parkland high school didn't stop Nicolas Cruz.

"While a couple of armed teachers in every school could conceivably interrupt a shooting, if the armed teacher were at the right place at the right time and succeeded in the shootout, those are big ifs", Jacobs said.

Jaclyn Schildkraut, associate professor of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Oswego and an expert on mass shootings, supported Jacobs' point. According to her, the introduction of such a measure would only increase the number of fatalities at schools. She argued that no school shooting has been brought to an end by a "good Samaritan" with a gun so far.

More Guns Means More Security?

While James Jacobs suggested that more guns in schools could lead to "risks of accidents and mistake", Schildkraut went even further by saying that an attempt to stop the attacker by an unexperienced shooter could lead to a teacher accidently shooting innocent bystanders.

"A look at the accuracy rates of officers, who do receive considerable training on firing their weapons[…], provides concerning evidence — in situations where no one is firing back at them, police have a hit rate of just 30%. When a subject is returning fire at them, it drops to 18%", she said.

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201901071071283525-mass-shooting-parkland/

U.S. Interstate highways need overhaul, requiring government’s commitment, funding

The future of the U.S. Interstate Highway System is threatened by a persistent and growing backlog of structural and operational deficiencies and by various looming challenges, such as the progress of automated vehicles, developments in electric vehicles, and vulnerabilities due to climate change. Unless a commitment is made to remedy the system’s deficiencies and prepare for these oncoming challenges, there is a real risk that the nation’s interstates will become increasingly unreliable and congested, far more costly to maintain, less safe, incompatible with evolving technology, and vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report calls for a 20-year “blueprint for action,” which includes creating an “Interstate Highway System Renewal and Modernization Program,” increasing the federal fuel tax to help pay for it, and allowing tolls and per-mile-charges on more interstate routes.

“The interstates have long been the backbone of our country’s transportation system, but most of them have exceeded their design lives and in many places are worn and overused,” said Norman Augustine, former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp. and chair of the committee that wrote the report. “These aging interstates are highly congested oftentimes and in need of reconstruction. Furthermore, technological advances are offering new opportunities, but they may also undermine a principal source of income for the interstates, namely the tax on fuel. We recommend a course of action that is aggressive and ambitious, but by no means novel. Essentially, we need a reinvigoration of the federal and state partnership that produced the Interstate Highway System in the first place.”

NAS says that the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways was authorized in 1956 and designed to provide safe and efficient transportation across states. The highways serve as both urban commuter and inter-urban travel corridors, integrate the country’s freight system by connecting to major ports and rail hubs, and are critical to the logistics of national defense. Constituting about 1 percent of public road mileage, the interstates carry about one-fourth of the nation’s vehicle miles traveled, including about one-half of the miles traveled by heavy trucks. Moreover, per vehicle mile traveled, interstate highways are the safest roads in the country. Because of their heavy use, however, they still account for more than 5,000 traffic deaths per year. Nevertheless, today they suffer from severe congestion, mainly in urban areas, and in many cases are in need of costly reconstruction.

http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20190107-u-s-interstate-highways-need-overhaul-requiring-government-s-commitment-funding

NBC and MSNBC Blamed Russia for Using “Sophisticated Microwaves” to Cause “Brain Injuries” in U.S. “Diplomats” in Cuba. The Culprits Were Likely Crickets.

NBC News and MSNBC specialize in repeating and disseminating what U.S intelligence officials tell them to say and then calling that servitude “reporting.” Those two networks really are the all-but-official outlets for CIA messaging. And this status has led their brightest on-air stars to broadcast a series of extremely consequential stories that turned out to be humiliatingly wrong.

This stenographic and highly jingoistic practice of mindlessly reciting the whispered claims of anonymous “intelligence officials” is what notoriously led the New York Times and other leading U.S. media outlets to deceive the country into believing Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz’s fairy tales about Iraqi WMDs and Jeffrey Goldberg’s tales about Saddam’s alliance with Al Qaeda.

But while many of those outlets apologized for that behavior and vowed to avoid it in the future, NBC and MSNBC have committed themselves to it with greater vigor than ever, as evidenced by the increasing prominence of their national security reporter Ken Dilanian, whose entire career has been defined by repeating what the CIA tells him to say – and has thus been plagued by one embarrassing false story after the next.

On Friday, veteran national security reporter William Arkin announced his departure from those networks, blasting them as stenographic servants of the security state agencies and pro-war propaganda. Noting that ex-generals and CIA officials dominate the NBC/MSNBC airwaves, Arkin wrote: “in many ways NBC just began emulating the national security state itself – busy and profitable,” adding: “the national security leaders and generals we have are allowed to do their thing unmolested.”

We now have what might be the most vivid, reckless and dangerous illustration yet of how NBC and MSNBC functions. If their behavior weren’t so journalistically shameful and destructive, this would be darkly humorous.

Last September – on the symbolically meaningful date of September 11 – NBC and MSNBC breathlessly trumpeted what they regarded as a major exclusive scoop: that Russia is “the main suspect” in what the network called “mysterious attacks” that led to “brain injuries” in U.S. personnel in Cuba.” They put CIA loyalist Ken Dilanian on the air to explain – based, needless to say, on the script given to him by intelligence officials who, as always, are shielded from accountability by them with anonymity – that “sophisticated microwaves or another type of electromagnetic weapon were likely used on the U.S. government workers” and that it was Russia which likely engineered the attack. Watch their dramatic scoop in all of its glory:

More

https://theintercept.com/2019/01/07/nbc-and-msnbc-blamed-russia-for-using-sophisticated-microwaves-to-cause-brain-injuries-in-u-s-diplomats-in-cuba-the-culprits-were-likely-crickets/

Wikileaks’ Assange Issues Official Denial of Russian Collusion in Release of Podesta Emails; NO CONTACTS With Don Jr., R. Stone, J. Corsi, Manafort, etc

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange released an official denial of any contacts with Trump election officials on Monday.

Assange said he never provided election information to people in the Trump campaign and specifically named Don Jr., Manafort, Mike Flynn and Mike Flynn Jr and others.

WikiLeaks posted the official denial to its Twitter account Monday with each rebuttal beginning with the phrase, “It is false and defamatory to suggest…”

It is false and defamatory to suggest that WikiLeaks or Julian Assange privately provided information about its then pending 2016 U.S. election-related publications to any outside party, including Nigel Farage, Roger Stone, Jerome Corsi, Donald Trump Jr., Michael Flynn, Michael Flynn Jr., Cambridge Analytica, or Rebecca Mercer [it is defamatory because it falsely imputes that Julian Assange acted without integrity in his role as the editor of WikiLeaks, associates with criminals, or has committed a crime].

Assange also rejected the fake news Guardian article that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort secretly met with him at the embassy.

These defamation efforts have reached a new nadir with the recent front page fabrication by Guardian newspaper, which falsely claimed that Julian Assange had multiple secret meetings with Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, right down to a made up description of latter’s pants at the fabricated meetings (“sandy coloured chinos”)

It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange has ever met or communicated with Paul Manafort.

The entire Russian collusion hoax and Mueller witch hunt revolves around the fake news that Donald Trump told the Russians to hack the DNC server then give the information to WikiLeaks.

To this day, the FBI has never done a forensic inspection of the DNC servers and WikiLeaks has denied any collusion with the Russian government.

Assange is now officially denying he had any contact with Roger Stone, Jerome Corsi and Donald Trump Jr., the very people Mueller has in his cross hairs.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/wikileaks-assange-issues-official-denial-of-russian-collusion-in-release-of-podesta-emails-no-contacts-with-don-jr-r-stone-j-corsi-manafort-etc/

Rest of statement https://pastelink.net/m69m

So it seems to me that Bolton / Netanyahu and Co are trying to keep the US in Syria to limit their ability to be state side to protect the US from the cabal's planned invasion via the southern border.

Thoughts???

>>4648222

Trips of approval