PressTV & The Daily Mail & TASS – 2016-01-28 01:06:17
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/01/27/447542/US-Russia-conflict-Putin-/
US Determined to ‘Draw Russia into Conflict’: Analyst
PressTV
(January 27, 2016) — The United States is determined to lead Russia toward an escalation of tensions, putting the whole world at risk of a major military conflict, says an American professor and political commentator.
“It’s pretty evident that Washington is doing everything it can to draw Russia into a much larger-scale military event than Russia is willing to be pulled into,” Dr. Guy McPherson said in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday.
He said that only Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “restraint has prevented a major escalation of military conflict.”
A group of scientists, policy experts, and former officials have warned that the world is much closer to destruction than it was at the height of the US-Russia rivalry during the Cold War.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Tuesday unveiled the latest version of the metaphorical “Doomsday Clock” — created in 1947 to reflect the likelihood of a global cataclysm arising from military conflicts, nuclear weapons, climate change and new technologies.
The symbolic clock remained unchanged this year– at three minutes to midnight, the Bulletin announced. Midnight represents an apocalyptic disaster and end of humanity.
In 1991, when the threat of a nuclear catastrophe dissipated with the end of the Cold War, the clock stood at 17 minutes to midnight. It has been adjusted 18 times since its inception.
McPherson, professor emeritus of natural resources, ecology, and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, said he anticipated that “they would move it ahead a minute or two” this year.
“The evidence with respect to abrupt climate change is much clearer than it was last year. In addition, the regional military conflict in and around Ukraine is really on the verge of going global,” the analyst explained.
“So between a nuclear Armageddon on the horizon . . . and the increased evidence for abrupt climate change that has arisen, I’m surprised that the Bulletin has kept the Doomsday Clock at three minutes to midnight,” he reiterated.
The Bulletin said the US-Russia tensions, conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, a recent nuclear test by North Korea as well as nuclear modernization by the US and others, have offset the positive achievements of the past year, namely the Iran nuclear accord and the Paris climate agreement.
Relations between the United States and Russia are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, largely due to the crisis in eastern Ukraine and Russia’s air campaign in Syria.
FLASHBACK: US ‘Backed Plan to Launch Chemical Weapon Attack on Syria and Blame It on Assad’s Regime’
Louise Boyle / The Daily Mail
LONDON (January 29, 2013) — Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad’s regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country.
A report released on Monday contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence where a scheme ‘approved by Washington’ is outlined explaining that Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons.
Barack Obama made it clear to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that the US would not tolerate Syria using chemical weapons against its own people.
According to Infowars.com, the December 25 email was sent from Britam’s Business Development Director David Goulding to company founder Philip Doughty.
It reads:
‘Phil . . . We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington.
‘We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have.
‘They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.
‘Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?
‘Kind regards, David.’
Britam Defence had not yet returned a request for comment to MailOnline.
The emails were released by a Malaysian hacker who also obtained senior executives resumes and copies of passports via an unprotected company server, according to Cyber War News.
Dave Goulding’s Linkedin profile lists him as Business Development Director at Britam Defence Ltd in Security and Investigations. A business networking profile for Phil Doughty lists him as Chief Operationg Officer for Britam, United Arab Emirates, Security and Investigations.
The US State Department had not returned a request for comment on the alleged emails to MailOnline today at time of publication.
However the use of chemical warfare was raised at a press briefing in D.C. on January 28. A spokesman said that the US joined the international community in ‘setting common redlines about the consequences of using chemical weapons’.
A leaked US government cable revealed that the Syrian army more than likely had used chemical weapons during an attack in the city of Homs in December.
The document, revealed in The Cable, revealed the findings of an investigation by Scott Frederic Kilner, the US consul general in Istanbul, into accusations that the Syrian army used chemical weapons in the December 23 attack.
An Obama administration official who had access to the document was reported as saying: ‘We can’t definitely say 100 percent, but Syrian contacts made a compelling case that Agent 15 was used in Homs on Dec. 23.’
Mr Kilner’s investigation included interviews with civilians, doctors, and rebels present during the attack, as well as the former general and head of the Syrian WMD program, Mustafa al-Sheikh.
Dr. Nashwan Abu Abdo, a neurologist in Homs, is certain chemical weapons were used. He told The Cable: ‘It was a chemical weapon, we are sure of that, because tear gas can’t cause the death of people.’
Eye witness accounts from the investigation revealed that a tank launched chemical weapons and caused people exposed to them to suffer nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, delirium, seizures, and respiratory distress.
The symptoms suggest that the weaponized compound Agent-15 was responsible. Syria denied using chemical weapons and said it would never use them against citizens.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters at the time, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said his biggest concern was how the US and allies would secure the chemical and biological weapons sites scattered across Syria and ensure the components don’t end up in the wrong hands if the regime falls, particularly under violent conditions.
Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out brutal warfare in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
NOTE
Global Research
Archives.org has published the record of the controversial Daily Mail article pertaining to an alleged US sponsored intelligence operation to launch a chemical weapons attack on Syria and blame it on President Bashar al-Assad. It is our understanding that the Daily Mail report was removed following a libel suit launched by Britam Defense and Intelligence against the Daily Mail
The original article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270219/U-S-planned-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-Syria-blame-Assad.html has been removed from the archives of the Daily Mail. It is nonetheless available at http://web.archive.org/web/20130130091742/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270219/U-S-planned-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-Syria-blame-Assad.html
Ten Regiments of Russia’s Strategic Missile Force Placed on Highest Alert
TASS
MOSCOW (January 26, 2016) — Ten missile regiments of Russia’s Strategic Missile Force have assumed combat duty and the highest level of alert, the Strategic Missile Force’s press office said on Tuesday.
Seven regiments armed with Topol, Topol-M and Yars mobile missile systems will advance for combat patrols in the Ivanovo, Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Kirov and Irkutsk Regions, the Altai Territory and the Republic of Mary El, the press office said.
“The strategic missile forces will practice moving missile systems to field positions, performing marches with the change of field positions, carrying out measures for organization of the ground, camouflaging, protecting and defending military hardware and field positions,” the press office said.
Counter-sabotage units will block and destroy notional subversive groups, including with the use of counter-sabotage combat vehicles Taifun-M equipped with drones. The missile teams will also repel a ground and air attack of an imaginary enemy and carry out simulated missile launches.
In addition, about 20 missile units are preparing to assume combat duty in field positions and over 30 protection formations will also perform missions during field marches.
Russia’s Strategic Missile Force is scheduled to hold over 100 command and staff, tactical and special exercises in 2016. Also, the practice of snap combat readiness checks will be continued in the Russian Strategic Missile Force this year.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
