Daily Archives: October 21, 2020

2020-10-21: News Headlines

Mehr News Agency (2020-10-21). PGCC Sec. Gen. accuses Iran of creating tension in region. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Oct. 21 (MNA) — On baseless and repetitive allegations, Secretary-General of the PGCC accused Iran of creating tensions in countries in the region such as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

Aaron Maté (2020-10-20). Chomsky: OPCW cover-up of Syria probe is 'shocking'. thegrayzone.com Noam Chomsky says that the OPCW's cover-up, under US pressure, of a Syria chemical weapons probe raises "very severe suspicions." In his first public comments on the OPCW's Syria cover-up scandal, Noam Chomsky criticizes the chemical watchdog for suppressing, under US pressure, evidence that undermined the pretext for the US-led bombing of Syria in April 2018. The censorship recently extended to the UN Security Council, where the US, UK, and France blocked former OPCW Director General José Bustani from testifying …

Staff (2020-10-20). Headlines for October 20, 2020. democracynow.org Trump Continues Attack on Fauci as U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surge and Death Toll Mounts, SCOTUS Deadlock Hands Victory to Voters in Pennsylvania as Floridians Break Early Voting Record, Debate Commission Announces Changes Ahead of Final Presidential Face-Off, Evo Morales Celebrates Victory of MAS Party, Says He Will Return to Bolivia, Trump Admin to Remove Sudan from U.S. List of Terrorist States, At Least 15 People Killed as Nigerian Protests Against Police Violence Continue, WSJ: U.S. Held Talks with Syrian Intelligence About Missing U.S. Citizens, Palestinian Prisoner in Critical Condition After Nearly 3 Months…

MEE staff (2020-10-20). Turkish forces exit encircled military post in northern Syria. middleeasteye.net Turkish forces exit encircled military post in northern Syria | Sources told MEE that a combination of Russian and Syrian civilian pressure had forced Turkey's hand | Tue, 10/20/2020 – 15: 35 | A Turkish military convoy vacates the Morek post in Hama's countryside on 20 October 2020 (MEE/Ali Haj Suleiman) | Turkey has evacuated an observation station in Syria's northwestern Hama province that had been encircle…

Sondoss Al Assad (2020-10-20). Bahrain's Mounting Anger over the Monarchy's Official Formalization of Ties with Tel Aviv. thealtworld.com A joint delegation, led by US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, headed to Manama on Sunday, hoping to ink a communique that officially bolster the US-brokered normalization deal and establish the embassies in the two capitals. | According to the US Treasury, the trip focused on inking memorandums of understanding that cover trade, aviation services, telecommunications, finance as well as economic cooperation, tourism, science and technology. | Public Outrage: | Streams of citizens, from different backgrounds and affiliations, flood the streets across Bahrain in huge peaceful push to vehemently denounce the visit.

Tony Cartalucci (2020-10-20). US Seeks to Prolong Terrorism in Syria, Not Defeat It. globalresearch.ca Recent attacks on Syrian positions from terrorists of the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (ISIS) and the release of thousands of prisoners in US-occupied eastern Syria illustrate how Washington is demonstratably prolonging instability in Syria as part of its promise to transform …

yenisafak (2020-10-20). Bread crisis deepens in regions under Assad control. yenisafak.com The Bashar al-Assad regime, which is incapable of meeting the basic needs of the people living in the regions it controls in Syria, cannot prevent a bread crisis from worsening.The bread crisis has deepened in the last two weeks and turned into an endless ordeal to the people in regime-held areas.Due to the ongoing fuel crisis, some bakeries in crowded cities such as the capital Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama have come to a standstill.The regime, which is trying to maintain its power by killing hundreds of thousands of civilians in the country, cannot provide flour for bakeries in the regions under its control.F…

MEE and agencies (2020-10-19). White House official went to Syria seeking Americans' release. middleeasteye.net White House official went to Syria seeking Americans' release | Trump wrote to Assad in March proposing 'direct dialogue' over the release of one of the US citizens, reports WSJ | Mon, 10/19/2020 – 09: 30 | A White House official travelled to Damascus earlier this year for secret meetings with the Syrian government, a Trump administration official said on Sunday (Reuters) | A White House o…

Ragip Soylu (2020-10-19). EXCLUSIVE: Turkey to abandon some observation stations in Syria's Idlib. middleeasteye.net EXCLUSIVE: Turkey to abandon some observation stations in Syria's Idlib | Withdrawal comes as Russians hinder resupply efforts and Damascus stokes protests against Turkish presence | Mon, 10/19/2020 – 08: 53 | A Syrian army soldier looks at a Turkish military observation post in al-Rashidin district, in Aleppo's southwestern countryside in January (AFP) | Turkey has decided to abandon some of its militar…

Elijah J. Magnier (2020-10-19). Lebanon: "The Political Game" globalresearch.ca French President Emmanuel Macron does not want his

Yves Engler (2020-10-19). Antiwar Forces Need to Challenge Trudeau Government, Not Praise It. globalresearch.ca Should antiwar forces challenge power or praise government officials in the hopes of getting some crumbs for their pet issue? | Douglas Roche's recent Hill Times column suggests the latter. In an article extolling Canada's new ambassador to the UN Roche …

_____ (2020-10-19). Two Deep Mysteries of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. strategic-culture.org Eric S. MARGOLIS | Forty-seven years ago, Egypt and Syria launched a massive surprise attack on Israeli forces dug into fortifications along the Suez Canal and Golan Heights. The 'limited' Arab objective was to recapture both strategic areas that had been seized from the two Arab states in Israel's victorious 1967 War. | Re-armed with modern — but by no means top drawer — Soviet weapons, Egypt and Syria sought to drive the Israelis back, then wait for the great powers to impose a truce. It was a badly flawed strategy, which assured the heavily armed Israelis would control the military initiative with…

Mehr News Agency (2020-10-19). Envoy submits credentials to president of Equatorial Guinea. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Oct. 20 (MNA) — The accredited ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Equatorial Guinea submitted his credentials to the country's president.

Mehr News Agency (2020-10-19). Iran-Syria keen of development of trade transactions. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Oct. 20 (MNA) — In a Monday meeting with the Syrian envoy to Tehran, the ICIAMA head said the implementation of the free trade agreement between Iran and Syria will bring good days in mutual trade, which is what the two countries want.

Staff (2020-10-19). Headlines for October 19, 2020. 18.224.45.15 U.S. COVID-19 Cases Surge as Trump Continues Unmasked Campaign Rallies, Cases Mounting Across Europe as New Restrictions Enacted, Top Palestinian Official Saeb Erekat in Critical Condition with COVID-19, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Accuses Trump of Inspiring, Incentivizing and Inciting Terrorism, White Supremacists Indicted for Arms Trafficking, Murder and Plotting to Bomb Synagogue, Death Toll in Nagorno-Karabakh Fighting Mounts as New Ceasefire Falls Apart, Kyrgyzstan Installs New President, Who Will Also Serve as Prime Minister, Alexei Navalny Calls on Trump to Denounce Use of Chemical Weapons, Car Bomb in…

Aaron Maté (2020-10-18). Ex-OPCW chief defends Syria whistleblowers and reveals he was spied on before Iraq war. thegrayzone.com Exclusive: former OPCW chief José Bustani defends the whistleblowers who challenged a cover-up of their Syria probe; reacts to the US and allies recently blocking his UN testimony; and reveals he was spied on before the Bush administration ousted him over the Iraq war. In a Grayzone exclusive, José Bustani, the former head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, speaks out in support of two veteran OPCW inspectors who challenged a US-backed cover-up of their investigation in …

Yves Engler (2020-10-18). Canada's Anti-War Movement needs to Challenge Government. dissidentvoice.org Should antiwar forces challenge power or praise government officials in the hopes of getting some crumbs for their pet issue? Douglas Roche's recent Hill Times column suggests the latter. In an article extolling Canada's new ambassador to the UN Roche writes: "When Canada lost its bid for a seat on the UN Security Council the …

Steven Sahiounie (2020-10-18). Will the Mediterranean Sea Save Lebanon from Drowning in Debt? globalresearch.ca The Lebanese population faces between six to twelve hours of electricity cuts per day, and in some rural areas, there is simply no electricity provided by the government grid. Amid the backdrop of decrepit infrastructure, government corruption, devalued currency, and …

Mehr News Agency (2020-10-18). Iran to export, import weapons based on its defense policy. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Oct. 18 (MNA) — Iranian Ambassador to UK Hamid Baeedinejad said that as of today, Iran will export and import weapons based on its defense policy principles.

Paul Antonopoulos (2020-10-17). War in Nagorno-Karabakh Is a Gamechanger in Russian-Turkish Relations. globalresearch.ca After Turkey downed a Russian jet operating in Syria in late 2015, there was a major risk that the Syrian War could explode into a greater conflict between the two Eurasian countries. The Turkish attack resulted in the death of …

Elijah Magnier (2020-10-17). This is what happens when Sunnis and Shiites agree in Lebanon. thealtworld.com French President Emmanuel Macron does not want his

teleSUR (2020-10-17). Colombia: New Scandal Links Politicians With Narcotraffic. telesurenglish.net The Colombian Prosecutor's Office Saturday withdrew a pre-agreement reached with Laureano Martinez, former butler of the farm owned by the family of Colombian ex-ambassador to Uruguay Fernando Sanclemente, where authorities found a narcotics processing laboratory. | RELATED: | This statement comes after it became known that Sanclemente did know about the drug business and tried to get his employee to plead guilt…

_____ (2020-10-17). Why Conflict in Caucasus Is Erdogan's Revenge for Syria. strategic-culture.org Turkey's outsize role in fueling the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is becoming more apparent. That's why a peace deal will be hard to cut and indeed the conflict may blow up further into a protracted regional war. A war that could drag Russia into battling in the Caucasus on its southern periphery against NATO proxies. | In a phone call this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan

sputniknews (2020-10-17). Russia to Respond to US Deployment of Missiles in Asia-Pacific Region, Ambassador Says. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Moscow will adequately respond to Washington's deployment of intermediate and short-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said.