ET Williams

The Doctor of Common Sense

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North Korea and Syria to Align Against US

 

Asad “Friendship? No, I am going to blow your fat ass up”

North Korea: Friendship with Syria ‘Will Be Strengthened and Developed’

The government of North Korea sent a “message of greeting to Bashar al-Assad” on Thursday meant to congratulate Assad for “the 70th anniversary of the [Baath Arab Socialist] Party’s founding.” North Korean state media published the congratulatory note on Friday, following the Trump administration’s decision to conduct airstrikes on a key Assad military base.

“Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Thursday sent a message of greeting to Bashar Al-Assad, president of the Syrian Arab Republic who doubles as regional secretary of the Baath Arab Socialist Party,” the North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported on Friday.

“Today the Party is resolutely struggling to courageously shatter the vicious challenge and aggressive moves of the hostile forces at home and abroad and defend the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity under the leadership of Bashar Al-Assad,” Kim, the dictator of North Korea, is said to have written to Assad.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap noted that observers see the note as “showing friendly ties between Pyongyang and Damascus” in a particularly volatile political moment for Assad, as President Donald Trump approves of using American military strength to punish the Assad regime for an alleged chemical weapons attack in Idlib province, which left hundreds of Syrian civilians dead or injured.

North Korea’s ambassador to Moscow also weighed in on Trump’s airstrikes specifically, threatening a “most ruthless blow” against the United States should the United States exercises “even the smallest provocation” against Pyongyang, a sign that North Korea interpreted the attack on Syria as a warning to other rogue states like itself that America was not afraid of military responses to international human rights law violations.

In addition to the litany of human rights offenses the communist regime in Pyongyang has been accused of, Yonhap notes that North Korea keeps close ties to Syria and “has long been suspected of cooperating with Syria over nuclear programs.”

Trump ordered the airstrikes Thursday night while hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. China is North Korea’s biggest trade partner and a fellow Communist nation many accuse of not doing enough to curb Kim’s erratic and belligerent foreign policy.

Trump praised his discusses with Xi on Friday as “outstanding” and announced that the two world leaders had made “tremendous progress” on a host of issues. “I believe that lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away,” Trump declared.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed with reporters that Trump and Xi had discussed North Korea. “We are hopeful that China will find ways to exercise influence over North Korea’s actions to dismantle their nuclear weapons and their missile technology programs,” he told reporters.

North Korea’s message to Assad on Friday was particularly notable for the timing of Trump’s airstrikes, but it was far from the first time Pyongyang has reached out to Damascus. A month ago, Rodong published a story reporting on a senior North Korean official sending “a message of sympathy to Bashar al-Assad” to express “the firm belief that the Syrian government and people would eradicate the aftereffects of the recent incident as soon as possible and firmly defend the security and stability of the country.”

Kim Jong-un personally sent a “message of greeting” to Assad that month, extending “firm support and solidarity to the Syrian government and people in their just struggle for frustrating the aggression and challenges of the hostile forces.”

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/04/07/north-korea-syria-strength-friendship/

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Terrorist in Stockholm Attack Targeted Young Children

Here’s the piece of shit terrorist.

Stockholm attack driver ‘deliberately targeted young children’ as he drove hijacked lorry into crowd

  • Truck is hijacked and driven into Stockholm department store
  • Man ‘arrested and claims responsibility for attack’
  • At least four dead and 15 injured
  • Swedish Prime Minister: Everything indicates this is terrorism
  • Crash comes after trucks used in Nice and Berlin atrocities
  • Suspect reported to be 39-year-old Uzbek father of four
  • How a terrorist brought carnage to the streets of Stockholm

A suspected terrorist targeted young children as he drove a hijacked lorry into a crowded shopping street in Stockholm, witnesses claimed last night.

Infants’ buggies were sent “flying through the air”, one Swedish broadcaster reported, as the vehicle zigzagged along the pedestrianised Queen Street shopping district and embedded itself in the window of a department store.

“It swerved from side to side. It didn’t look out of control, it was trying to hit people,” a second witness, Glen Foran, an Australian tourist, told Reuters. “It hit people, it was terrible. It hit a pram with a kid in it, demolished it.”

Swedish police said on Saturday morning that they believe a 39-year-old suspect was behind the truck attack which left four dead and 15 injured, but declined to comment on reports that the suspect was a father-of-four from Uzbekistan.

The unnamed suspect reportedly confessed to the attack after being detained in Marsta, which is around 25 miles north of the Swedish capital.

Some reports suggested he had previously posted jihadist propaganda on his Facebook page and had images of people injured in the explosion at the Boston marathon in April 2013.

Police found explosives in the truck used in the attack in Stockholm, Swedish television said on Saturday citing multiple unnamed police sources.

Eight victims, including children, remain in hospital, according to Swedish media. Three of the victims died at the scene, a report said, while one died after arriving at the hospital.

Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Löfven, said everything indicated the incident was terrorism.

It happened less than two weeks after the Westminster Bridge attack and stirred up memories of the attacks in Nice and Berlin where Islamist sympathisers used lorries as weapons – a tactic first suggested in a 2010 directive from al-Qaeda commanders to their supporters.

The attack also came less than two months after Donald Trump provoked a row with Sweden after suggesting that immigration had led to rising crime in the country.

Television footage showed hundreds of shoppers and office workers fleeing the scene after the lorry careered down the pedestrian precinct, killing a dog and crushing flowerpots and litter bins as it went.

“We stood inside a shoe store and heard something  and then people started to scream. I looked out of the store and saw a big truck,” Jan Granroth told Aftonbladet.

Another witness said: “When I came out, I saw a lorry standing there, with smoke coming from it, and there were loads of bits of cars and broken flowerpots along the street.”

Annevi Petersson, a photographer, ran out from a store when she heard screaming coming from outside. “I saw a woman had a partly severed foot. People screaming in panic, others ran. I saw people laying bloody on the street and got out of there.”

Stockholm was put on lockdown, with the metro and mainline trains closed, as police fanned out across the city in pursuit of the suspect. Stockholm city council announced that it was opening public buildings for those stranded by the train and bus closures.

The attack, which used a truck hijacked from a Swedish brewing company as it made its deliveries yesterday morning, drew condemnation and condolences from around the world.

Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, said he was “deeply concerned”. “Britain’s thoughts are with the victims, their families and the whole of Sweden,” he added.

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, expressed his sympathies, saying his city shared a “steely determination with the people of Stockholm that we will never allow terrorists to succeed”.

The European Union and countries across the continent added their voices of support, led by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and François Hollande, the French president, who expressed “outrage” at the attack in a statement from the Elysée Palace. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said that Europe would face down terrorism.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/07/truck-crashes-crowd-people-stockholm/

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Iran Says the US Is in Cahoots With al-Qaeda & ISIS

Who the fuck are we helping? Answer: anyone But Asad. WHY damit!

U.S. Strike in Syria Raises Tensions With Iran

Officials in Iran accuse White House of violating international law and siding with Islamic State

WASHINGTON—The U.S. airstrikes on Syria stoked new tensions with Iran and generated calls in Tehran for increased military support for President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Iranian officials said on Friday the U.S. attack violated international law and accused President Donald Trump of siding with Islamic State and al Qaeda in Syria.

“Not even two decades after 9/11, [the] U.S. military is fighting on same side as al-Qaeda & ISIS in Yemen & Syria,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted on Friday. “Time to stop hype and coverups.”

But Mr. Trump and his advisers have already taken steps in recent months to try to roll back Iranian influence in the Middle East, despite the landmark nuclear agreement forged between Tehran and global powers in 2015.

Many Middle East analysts said Iran could seek to mobilize even more military support for Mr. Assad in coming months. This is in addition to the thousands of Shiite fighters it has already deployed in Syria since civil war broke out in the country in 2011.

Syria serves as Iran’s closest regional ally and the land bridge for Iranian supplies going to Lebanese and Palestinian militias at war with Israel.

“The key question now is, what’s the Iranian response to the attack? Do they double down,” said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Iranian experts said the government has no choice, given the billions of dollars it has already invested in Mr. Assad over the past six years.

“Iran and Russia have paid a high cost in Syria, both financially and in human life, and Iran has lost even more than Russia,” said Foad Izadi, a professor at Tehran University. “Therefore, Iran will not sit back indifferent.”

Mr. Trump, a Republican, campaigned last year against former President Barack Obama’s diplomatic outreach to Iran and the nuclear deal, which constrained Tehran’s capabilities but also released billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets.

Since taking office, Mr. Trump has signaled he will abide by the agreement. But he has also taken steps to try to constrain Tehran’s military capabilities and presence across the Mideast.

Mr. Trump’s administration has sanctioned dozens of Iranian companies since January for allegedly aiding Tehran’s development of ballistic missiles. And it has also increased support for a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia that is fighting an Iranian-backed militia in Yemen.

Military analysts said Mr. Assad may have deployed chemical weapons on Tuesday because his troops have been stretched thin by the civil war.

Iran has mobilized as many as 10,000 militiamen from Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan in a largely successful military effort to buttress Mr. Assad’s defenses.

But U.S. and Arab officials believe the Syrian government has inadequate forces to hold territory it has reclaimed in recent months from rebel militias.

U.S. officials have said in recent days that they believe Thursday’s airstrikes will renew pressure on Damascus and potentially serve as a warning that Mr. Trump’s administration won’t tolerate future chemical weapons attacks. Shutting down chemical attacks, they argue, will force Iran and Russia to either pour more resources into Syria or to engage in a diplomatic process to end the Syrian civil war.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is scheduled to visit Moscow next week for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. The Syrian conflict is expected to top their agenda.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-strike-in-syria-raises-tensions-with-iran-1491607144

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Trump Warns: War With Russia ‘One Step Away’

WTF is Trump thinking?

Donald Trump warned he is ‘one step away from military clashes with Russia’ after Syria blitz

US president insisted it was time the Assad regime was reined in from its attacks on innocent Syrians

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump were last night urged to hold emergency talks as growing tensions in the Middle East ­threatened to explode into war.

The Russian president sent the missile warship Admiral Grigorovich to Syria after the US leader yesterday unleashed 59 ­Tomahawk cruise missiles on the airfield from where Bashar al-Assad launched a sarin gas attack on his own people.

A British nuclear submarine is patrolling the Mediterranean and Nato forces were on high alert throughout the region.

As the region teetered on the brink, world leaders, including Theresa May, backed the American strikes at al-Shayrat base, but there were calls for talks in a bid to prevent the crisis turning into a wider conflict.

Russia’s Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev claimed the US missile strike was illegal and warned Mr Trump had been “one step away from military clashes with Russia”.

But the US president insisted it was time the Assad regime was reined in from its barbarous attacks on innocent Syrians.

Tuesday’s gas strike at the city of Khan Sheikhoun killed 86 ­civilians, including 30 children and 20 women.

Mr Trump said: “Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the life of innocent men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many, even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.

“I ordered a targeted military strike on the airbase in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council.

“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behaviour have all failed dramatically.As a result, the refugee crisis deepens, and the region continues to destabilise, threatening the United States and its allies.

“I call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria.”

Downing Street said Mrs May was kept “fully informed” of the US airstrike, which killed nine people and destroyed nine fighter jets as well as several buildings.

A spokesman added: “The ­Government fully supports the action, which we believe was an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks.”

It first appeared No 10 had no idea the raid was about to happen when officials insisted on Wednesday “nobody is talking about that”.

But Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon yesterday insisted his US counterpart James “Mad Dog” Mattis told him about it on Thursday night.

He added: “He called to advise us of the president’s decision and to give us notice of the attack.”

Mr Fallon revealed Britain took no part in the raid but refused to confirm it would have joined in if asked.

He added: “The United States made it clear that this was to be a United States operation.”

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron also supported the US attack. But Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn warned the action “risks escalating the war in Syria still further”. Britain’s Nato allies, including Germany, France and Canada, backed Mr Trump’s raid.

In a joint statement, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande said Assad “bears full responsibility” for the attack following his use of nerve gas against his own people.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault added: “Here we have an action that is a condemnation of what this criminal regime is doing.”

The EU also supported the raid. President Donald Tusk tweeted: “US strikes show needed resolve against barbaric chemical attacks.

“EU will work with the US to end brutality in Syria.”

Western allies in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia and the UAE hailed the strike as a “courageous decision”. Turkey and Israel also praised it. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said it was a “positive” first step but demanded an escalation against Syria from the West.

He added: “We find it a positive and concrete step taken against the war crimes of the Assad regime. Is it enough? I don’t find it enough.

“It is time to take serious steps for the protection of innocent Syrian people.” The airstrike was the first direct US assault on Assad’s ­government in the six years of a civil war that has killed as many as 400,000 and displaced millions of people.

White House officials insisted the raid was a “one-off” intended to deter future chemical weapons attacks, and not an escalation of the American role in Syria. But the swift action is thought also to be a big warning to Russia, as well as to other countries such as North Korea, China and Iran to steer clear of gas warfare.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson added: “This clearly ­indicates the ­president is willing to take decisive action when called for. I would not in any way attempt to extrapolate that to a change in our policy or our posture relative to our military ­activities in Syria today. There has been no change in that status.”

But Jane’s analyst Reed Foster said while the airstrike will further weaken the Syrian air force’s ­capabilities, he warned “it will not significantly diminish the ability of the Assad regime to conduct further chemical weapons attacks”.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov condemned the raid, insisting the gas attacks were as a result of a direct hit on a rebel base hiding chemicals.

The Kremlin said: ­“President Putin views the US strikes as ­aggression against a ­sovereign state in violation of the norms of ­international law and on a made-up pretext. This step by Washington will inflict major damage on US-Russia ties, which are already in a lamentable state.” Only Iran and terror group Hizbollah supported Assad after the attack. Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesman Bahrem Qasemi said: “Such measures will strengthen terrorists in Syria.”

The American raid, with missiles fired from destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross in the ­Mediterranean, took place in the early hours and under the cover of darkness and with little warning. Although Russia was tipped off before the missiles hit.

Moscow has suspended ­communication with US forces designed to stop planes colliding over Syria.

The RAF temporarily halted operations in the country amid fears of a mid-air crash.

Russia and the US have been co-operating over the safe use of airspace in Syria since 2015 in a protocol that involves military planners sending daily reports to each other about areas they intend to operate in. The battered airfield, near Homs, has also been used by Putin’s attack helicopters in support of ground operations. But none of Putin’s aircraft were there when it was hit.

Assad’s military strength is bolstered by Russian S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, which threaten US manned strike aircraft on missions against IS.

Britain has more than 16 Tornado and Typhoon fighter aircraft supporting Operation Shader, from its base in Cyprus, as well as Rivet Joint and Sentinel surveillance planes.

  • Oil prices yesterday leapt after the US air strikes. Brent crude rose 2% to more than $56 a barrel in a knee-jerk reaction to the attacks. It could put up the price of petrol and diesel.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/donald-trump-warned-one-step-10181568?service=responsive

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Moscow Warns US: Don’t Strike Syria

UN: Russian UN ambassador denies reports that air strikes hit Sarmin hospital in Syria

Russia warns of ‘negative consequences’ if U.S. targets Syria

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy,, warned on Thursday of “negative consequences” if the United States carries out military strikes on Syria over a deadly toxic gas attack.

“We have to think about negative consequences, negative consequences, and all the responsibility if military action occurred will be on shoulders of those who initiated such doubtful and tragic enterprise,” Safronkov told reporters when asked about possible U.S. strikes.

When asked what those negative consequences could be, he said: “Look at Iraq, look at Libya.”

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/russia-warns-negative-consequences-u-targets-syria-005056501.html

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US Strikes Syria With Cruise Missiles

U.S. Launches Cruise Missiles at Syrian Air Base in Response to Chemical Attack

Strikes represent first time a U.S. military operation deliberately targeted the regime of President Bashar al-Assad

WASHINGTON—The U.S. military launched dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles against a Syrian air base Friday, responding to mounting calls for a display of force in the wake of this week’s suspected chemical-weapons attack in Syria.

The strikes represented the first time a U.S. military operation deliberately targeted the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said the chemical attack in Idlib province earlier this week had changed his thinking on Syria and Mr. Assad.

Expect this to escalate

Speaking inside his Mar-a-Lago resort, President Trump said he ordered targeted missile strikes at a Syrian airfield as a response to the “barbaric” chemical weapons attack, saying they were in the interest of U.S. national security to prevent and deter the use and spread of such weapons. The Assad regime, Mr. Trump said, “choked out the lives of helpless” people in Syria.

“It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” Mr. Trump said. “There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons.”

The U.S. strikes targeted the Shayrat Airfield near Homs, Syria, and were meant to cripple the base’s airfield and other infrastructure, preventing the regime from using the facility or fueling its planes. But the strikes also were intended as a signal—a limited U.S. strike to indicate that the chemical attack by Mr. Assad was unacceptable to the U.S.

 

The air base was thought by U.S. officials to be connected to the chemical attack. A U.S. military official said earlier Thursday that the U.S. had intelligence that traced the attack to a particular plane, and therefore might have sought to target the plane’s air base.

Russia, which had troops on the targeted air base, was warned in advance of the U.S. strike and the military took pains to target only the parts of the base where the Russians weren’t located, a military official said.

Asian stock markets erased their early gains on news of the airstrikes, as investors looked for lower-risk places to park their cash. Safe-haven assets like the Japanese yen and gold gained, while oil prices jumped on concerns that the U.S. military action could disrupt production in the Middle East.

The Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.1%, after opening up 0.6%. The yen rose 0.6% against the U.S. dollar in the minutes after the strikes were announced. London spot gold prices spiked to their highest level since November, and Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was up 1.4% at $55.66 a barrel.

More than 50 Tomahawk missiles were launched from two American destroyers, the USS Porter and the USS Ross, both in the Mediterranean Sea, the Pentagon said. The cruise missiles struck aircraft, a runway, fuel pumps and other infrastructure, military officials said.

The pro-regime media outlet Al Masdar News on Friday said the attack caused significant damage to the air base and multiple casualties.

The attacks came as Mr. Trump was hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida resort, and planned a full day of meetings Friday with Chinese official focusing on economics, trade and security issues including North Korea’s nuclear program.

In Washington, senior Defense Department staff and other top officers were meeting late Thursday in the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon basement regarding the military operation.

U.S. lawmakers had urged Mr. Trump to strike the Assad regime. There is a growing consensus that the regime used banned chemical weapons in the attack, which killed at least 85 people, including 27 children, and injured about 550.

The strike drew praise from lawmakers, who drew a contrast to former President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel a planned airstrike in 2013 in response to a similar chemical attack. That strike was called off after the U.S. and Russia agreed on a deal to dismantle Syria’s chemical weapons program.

“Unlike the previous administration, President Trump confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action,” Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said in a joint statement.

The two said that the U.S. needed a “new, comprehensive strategy” and that the first such step “must be to take Assad’s air force—which is responsible not just for the latest chemical weapons attack, but countless atrocities against the Syrian people—completely out of the fight.”

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday evening canceled a planned vote on a resolution backed by the U.S. and European allies condemning the attack and calling for a full U.N. investigation.

Diplomats said the U.S. and Russia exchanged heated words with neither side compromising on their views of what occurred on Tuesday in Syria. The meeting concluded without a concession and with no scheduled vote planned for a resolution.

Planning for a possible military strike accelerated after Mr. Trump said Wednesday the suspected Syrian regime strike went “beyond a red line” for him, Pentagon officials said.

U.S. defense officials had said that they have little doubt that the attack was carried out by Mr. Assad’s air force.

Pentagon officials said that radar imagery showed Syrian bombers carrying out a strike on the village of Khan Sheikhoun in northwestern Syria, and added that the victims were killed by chemical weapons. The strike, Pentagon officials said, hit a hospital used by al Qaeda-linked militants, not a rebel chemical depot, as Russia has contended.

“The case is pretty concrete,” one U.S. military official said Thursday.

The Turkish health ministry said Thursday that autopsy results of three victims of Tuesday’s attack suggest the banned chemical agent sarin was the cause of death.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem reiterated his government’s claim that the Syrian army has never used chemical weapons in the country. He repeated accusations that extremist groups fighting the government possessed such banned weapons.

Graphic images and video of dead and dying Syrian children hit by the strike galvanized world anger and triggered a swift policy reversal from the Trump administration, which indicated last week that it wasn’t pushing for the Syrian leader’s removal.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been more explicit than Mr. Trump in calling for Mr. Assad’s removal, saying the U.S. would be working with international partners on a transition plan.

“With the acts that he has taken, there would be no role for him to govern the Syrian people,” Mr. Tillerson said.

The U.S. military already had plans for striking the Assad regime that it can use as a template for hitting Syria, U.S. officials said. In 2013, the Pentagon crafted plans to hit Mr. Assad’s chemical weapons storage sites after the Syrian regime used sarin gas in a strike near Damascus, killing 1,400 people, according to U.S. estimates.

One big concern for the U.S. military is the potential for a backlash from a U.S. strike on Mr. Assad for American forces operating in Syria. The U.S. has been sending more forces into northern Syria as part of an intensifying campaign against Islamic State.

Another major complication is Moscow, which is aiding Mr. Assad. Russia has created a sophisticated air defense system for the Syrian regime. Russian pilots and soldiers work side by side with their Syrian counterparts. President Vladimir Putin, during a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, criticized what the Kremlin called “baseless” accusations against the Syrian leader.

“There are a lot of things you have to consider,” a U.S. military official said.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-launches-cruise-missiles-at-syrian-regime-airbase-in-response-to-chemical-attack-1491528268