How Russia Is Lying to Us About Syria

/2 Comments/in , /by

I2ExDlublYfgAT4J3FSotqA5HEjPJr5YWhat seemed like an encouraging headline a few weeks ago was really all smoke and mirrors—far from pulling out of Syria, Russia has been rolling in even more troops and equipment. Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again proven that he cannot be trusted.

On March 14, Putin began ordering troops to return home from Syria. It is true that some troops did leave the country, but we now know that this announcement was more about distracting the world and portraying Russia as part of the solution in Syria rather than being part of the problem.

Even though Russia might have removed some troops, it left behind advanced anti-aircraft systems, plenty of fighter planes and bombers, and hundreds of troops and special forces. Don’t forget that Russia entered Syria last year with only a naval base located at Tartus and is now leaving Syria with an additional air base at Hmeimim.

Less than a month later, evidence was released of more troops filtering back into the war-torn country. The cover story was that they were supposedly there to clear out a number of mines, but no one really knew their true intentions.

Russia is still conducting airstrikes, even after their cessation of hostilities agreement with the United States. Russian special forces and air force helping Assad’s army were involved in fighting for the ancient city of Palmyra. There is talk that a Russian-supported offensive against Aleppo is in the works.

Currently, Russia is transporting artillery units into northern Syria and the White House is definitely concerned. According to Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser for the U.S., President Barack Obama told Putin that “Russia should focus its efforts on the diplomatic process.” However, it doesn’t seem like Moscow will heed this instruction.

As shown, Russia doesn’t exactly have the best track record for keeping its word. Moscow routinely violates its cease-fire arrangement with Ukraine and continues to supply weapons to Ukrainian separatists.

So why is Russia even in Syria to begin with? One explanation could be its desired military presence around the world to show that it is a global power. Another explanation is to use its influence in Syria to secure a stronger negotiating position on other issues like Ukraine.

Clever propaganda run directly from the Kremlin has largely affected the world’s perception of the country. The Kremlin wants the world to think of Russia as part of the solution to many of the world’s problems when the opposite is true. The Russian people have done poorly in a declining economy while Putin and his cronies become richer and richer each year.

Whether it is in Georgia, Ukraine, or Syria, Putin will do anything to make it seem that Russia is a global power on equal footing with the United States. As long as the West lets him get away with it, Putin will keep on lying. It is time for the world to wake up. (For more from the author of “How Russia Is Lying to Us About Syria” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Venezuela Economic Crisis Means Fewer Meals

/1 Comment/in , /by

Turkish_foodVenezuela’s soaring prices and chronic shortages have left 65-year-old homemaker Alida Gonzalez struggling to put meals on the table.

She and her four family members in the Caracas slum of Petare now routinely skip one meal per day and increasingly rely on starches to make up for proteins that are too expensive or simply unavailable.

“With the money we used to spend on breakfast, lunch and dinner, we can now buy only breakfast, and not a very good one,” said Gonzalez in her home, which on a recent day contained just half a kilo of chicken (about a pound), four plantains, some cooking oil, a small packet of rice, and a mango . . .

Recession and a dysfunctional state-run economy are forcing many in the South American OPEC country of 30 million to reduce consumption and eat less-balanced meals.

In a recent survey by researchers from three major universities often critical of the government, 87 percent of the respondents said their income was insufficient to purchase food. (Read more from “Venezuela Economic Crisis Means Fewer Meals” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Norway Is Offering to Pay Refugees to Leave the Country

/2 Comments/in , /by

maxresdefaultNorwegian authorities are offering a “bonus” 10,000 kroner (£1,000) to asylum seekers willing to leave the country voluntarily.

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) says the measure is less expensive than keeping refugees in immigration centres in the country.

Launched on Monday, the scheme will run for six weeks, state broadcaster NRK reported UDI saying.

The money will be paid to the first 500 asylum seekers to apply on a first-come, first-served basis.

“We need to entice more [people] to voluntarily travel back by giving them a bit more money on their way out. This will save us a lot of money because it is expensive to have people in the asylum centres,” Sylvi Listhaug, integration minister, said. (Read more from “Norway Is Offering to Pay Refugees to Leave the Country” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Obama on Why the U.S. Won’t ‘Destroy North Korea’

/2 Comments/in , /by

hqdefaultPresident Obama is back at the White House after a week in the Middle East and Europe. During his trip, “CBS This Morning” co-host Charlie Rose spoke with the president in Germany for a wide-ranging interview. Mr. Obama had just announced 250 additional American troops will go to Syria to help in the fight against ISIS . . .

In regards to North Korea, Mr. Obama described the regime as “a massive challenge.”

“Our first priority is to protect the American people and our allies, the Republic of Korea, Japan, that are vulnerable to the provocative actions that North Korea is engaging in,” Mr. Obama said.

He said North Korea is “erratic enough” and the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is “irresponsible enough that we don’t want them getting close.”

“But it’s not something that lends itself to an easy solution,” Mr. Obama said. “We could, obviously, destroy North Korea with our arsenals. But aside from the humanitarian costs of that, they are right next door to our vital ally, Republic of Korea.” (Read more from “Obama on Why the U.S. Won’t ‘Destroy North Korea'” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Dog Dies From Exhaustion After Rescuing Seven People From Earthquake

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Facebook

Photo Credit: Facebook

A four-year-old white Labrador called Dayko has been hailed as a hero after rescuing seven people from the aftermath of the Ecuador earthquake – before dying from exhaustion.

Dayko, a rescue dog for the Ibara fire service, died last Friday, having spent the previous days searching for survivors in the rubble left by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake which hit Ecuador last week.

According to a post on Ibara fire service’s Facebook page the cause of death was “massive coronary myocardial infarction and acute respiratory failure.” He had been working as a rescue dog for three and a half years.

“We regret to inform you that today the [fire service] is in mourning because [we] just lost Dayko who participated in the work of searching in Pedernales,” said the fire service.

“This four legged friend gave his life in the line of duty. Thank you Dayko for your heroic efforts in Pedernales and in various emergencies where you were present. (Read more from “Dog Dies From Exhaustion After Rescuing Seven People From Earthquake” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Report: U.N. Pressing for ‘Alternative’ Ways to Admit More Syrian Refugees to U.S.

/4 Comments/in , /by

21238173466_b97a203635_bUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is considering “alternative” ways to admit more Syrian refugees to the United States, beyond the current refugee resettlement program, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

“The legitimacy and transparency of these new ‘alternative pathways,’ aimed at admitting increasing numbers of Syrian refugees into the United States without calling them ‘refugees,’ remain to be seen,” CIS senior researcher Nayla Rush wrote in a report Monday. “They might even amount to convenient admissions detours at a time when the U.S. refugee resettlement program is under tight scrutiny.”

According to Rush, facing a target to resettle 480,000 Syrian refugees over the next three years, U.N. representatives have already been laying the rhetorical groundwork for pursuing such alternatives to resettlement. During a panel discussion at the Brookings Institution in February, Rush detailed, Beth Harris, Research Professor at Georgetown University and adviser to the United Nations Secretary General on humanitarian refugee policy noted the possibility of alternative paths.

Refugees and government officials are expecting this crisis to last 10 or 15 years. It’s time that we no longer work as business as usual … UNHCR next month [March 2016] is convening a meeting to look at what are being called “alternative safe pathways” for Syrian refugees. Maybe it’s hard for the U.S. to go from 2,000 to 200,000 refugees resettled in a year, but maybe there are ways we can ask our universities to offer scholarships to Syrian students. Maybe we can tweak some of our immigration policies to enable Syrian-Americans who have lived here to bring not only their kids and spouses but their uncles and their grandmothers. There may be ways that we could encourage Syrians to come to the U.S. without going through this laborious, time-consuming process of refugee resettlement.” (Emphasis Rush’s).

At the UNHCR March “high level” meeting in Geneva, Rush detailed, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called for “alternative avenues” for countries to admit more Syrian refugees. (Read more from “Report: U.N. Pressing for ‘Alternative’ Ways to Admit More Syrian Refugees to U.S.” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

European Ministers Lay out Explicit Plan to Create United States of Europe

/3 Comments/in , /by

pAAUsLlkMzcGe9MPu7eqJdWhmB71ky6eEuropean ministers have explicitly laid out their intentions to create a federal Unites States of Europe, directly contradicting the British Prime Minister, David Cameron’s claims that Britain will not be sucked into a European superstate should the people of Britain vote to remain within the European Union (EU).

Presenting his renegotiated deal on EU membership in February, Mr Cameron insisted: “Britain will be permanently out of ever closer union, never part of a European super-state.”

But the emergence of a declaration signed in Rome by European ministers five months previously to Mr Cameron’s announcement reveals that the intention on the continent is to press ahead with the creation of a federal Europe.

Not content with merely monetary union and free movement, the declaration, signed by the speakers of the national parliaments in Germany, France, Italy and Luxembourg states that they want to integrate a broad spectrum of policies. “It should include all matters pertaining to the European ideal — social and cultural affairs as well as foreign, security and defence policy,” the declaration states.

It adds: “We are convinced that new impetus must be given to European integration. We believe that more, not less, Europe is needed to respond to the challenges we face. (Read more from “European Ministers Lay out Explicit Plan to Create United States of Europe” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Obama Plans 250 More U.S. Troops for Syria, Boosting Force to 300

/2 Comments/in , /by

President Barack Obama will announce on Monday he plans to send as many as 250 additional U.S. troops to Syria, a sharp increase in the American presence working with local Syrian forces fighting Islamic State militants, U.S. officials said.

The deployment, which will increase U.S. forces in Syria to about 300, aims to accelerate recent gains against Islamic State and appears to reflect growing confidence in the ability of U.S.-backed forces inside Syria and Iraq to claw back territory from the hardline Sunni Islamist group.

Obama will explain his decision in a speech at 11:25 a.m. (0925 GMT) in Hanover, where he discussed the Syria crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday. They will meet with other major European leaders after his remarks.

Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, controls the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria and is proving a potent threat abroad, claiming credit for major attacks in Paris in November and Brussels in March.

While Obama has resisted putting U.S. troops into Syria, where a five-year civil war has killed at least 250,000 people, he sent 50 U.S. special operations forces to Syria last year in what U.S. officials described as a “counterterrorism” mission rather than an effort to tip the scales in the war. (Read more from “Obama Plans 250 More U.S. Troops for Syria, Boosting Force to 300” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

London Mayor Describes Obama as ‘Part-Kenyan’

/4 Comments/in , /by

obama-356133_960_720London Mayor Boris Johnson offered a cold welcome to President Obama on Friday as the president opened his visit to the city with a call for the United Kingdom to stay in the European Union.

Johnson, a member of the Conservative Party and an advocate for Britain’s exit from the EU, published an article noting Obama’s “part-Kenyan” roots while highlighting the often repeated claim of the Obama administration returning a bust of Winston Churchill to the British embassy in D.C.

“Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan President’s ancestral dislike of the British empire — of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender,” Johnson wrote in an op-ed published in The Sun, referencing Obama’s father, who was born in Kenya.

“For the United States to tell us in the UK that we must surrender control of so much of our democracy — it is a breathtaking example of the principle of do-as-I-say-but-not-as-I-do,” Johnson wrote . . .

The Guardian reports that Johnson has come under fire for the comment on Kenya, with Labour Party politician Yvette Cooper saying, “As ever, it’s more bad judgment from Boris Johnson. Is this really how a man who wants to be prime minister should be talking about the president of the United States?” (Read more from “London Mayor Describes Obama as ‘Part-Kenyan'” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Islamist Turkey Seizes ALL Christian Churches in City

/1 Comment/in , /by

cross-66700_960_720 (1)President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken control of six churches in the war-torn southeastern city of Diyarbakir in his latest move to squash freedom of speech and religious movement.

The state-sanctioned seizure is just the latest in a number of worrying developments to come out of increasingly hardline Turkey, which is in advanced talks with the EU over visa-free travel for its 80 million citizens.

Included in the seizures are Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, one of which is over 1,700 years old.

They have now effectively become state property – meaning they are run by the government – in a country with a dire human rights record where about 98 percent of the population is Muslim.

The order to seize the churches was made on March 25 by Erdogan’s council of ministers, according to the website World Watch Monitor. (Read more from “Islamist Turkey Seizes ALL Christian Churches in City” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.