Re: #25 - Main news thread - conflicts, terrorism, crisis from around the globe

[Anon]

Sri Lanka has revised down the death toll from Sunday's blasts by more than 100, to "about 253", the health ministry says.

It has blamed a calculation error.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48059328


What in the unholy fuck.

[Anon]

English Defence League (EDL) founder Tommy Robinson has announced he will stand in the upcoming European Parliament elections.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-48055802

Where did ROBINSON get tens of thousands of pounds to fight the European Elections? I think we should be told. This is him on a recent holiday... pic.twitter.com/K4FuXJUzCE

— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) April 25, 2019

[Zambeezi]

A new report in Wired magazine details how Iran has been target of a "Shadow Brokers-style" hack campaign  which seeks to expose methods, names, and activities behind an elite  cyber-espionage team linked to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence.
 The Shadow Brokers leaks from 2016 famously targeted the National  Security Agency, dumping tools used by the agency online, and later  resulted some of the most devastating cyberattacks in history such as  the NotPetya and Wannacry attacks, which devastated networks all over  the world. Now it appears it's Iran's turn to be targeted by a powerful mystery group doxing Iran's foremost hacking team.
 
 The leaks have been ongoing for the past month, as Wired reports:

Since March 25, a Telegram channel called Read My Lips or Lab  Dookhtegan—which translates from Farsi as "sewn lips"—has been  systematically spilling the secrets of a hacker group known as APT34 or  OilRig, which researchers have long believed to be working in service of  the Iranian government. So far, the leaker or leakers have published a  collection of the hackers' tools, evidence of their intrusion points  for 66 victim organizations across the world, the IP addresses of  servers used by Iranian intelligence, and even the identities and  photographs of alleged hackers working with the OilRig group.

The motive appears political in nature, given that along with the  Iranian hackers' code being dumped online, the mystery agent behind the  leaks posted the following message to Telegram in late March: "We are  exposing here the cyber tools (APT34 / OILRIG) that the ruthless Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has been using against Iran's neighboring countries, including names of the cruel managers, and information about the activities and the goals of these cyber-attacks."
 And further, the initial message ended with, "We hope that other  Iranian citizens will act for exposing this regime's real ugly face!"
 OilRig has long been seen by researchers as an arm of the the Iranian  Ministry of Intelligence, active for several years against a number of  Middle East and international companies and organizations, and  often often starts by executing intrusions against organizations in the  supply chain of a larger target.

Whoever is dumping Iran’s  cyber-tools is deliberately excising core elements of the code so others  can’t easily re-purpose them for nefarious reasons (unlike The Shadow  Brokers) https://t.co/K1Ie3gxR4p
— Aki Peritz (@AkiPeritz) April 19, 2019[/INDENT] According to the Wired report the leaks have continued up through late last week, with signs that they are to continue:

As of Thursday morning, the Read My Lips leakers continued to post  names, photos, and even contact details of alleged OilRig members to  Telegram, though WIRED couldn't confirm that any of the identified men  were actually connected to the Iranian hacker group. "From now  on, we will expose every few days the personal information of one of the  cursed staff and secret information from the vicious Ministry of  Intelligence so to destroy this betraying ministry," a message posted by the leakers on Thursday read.

A private cybersecurity research firm cited in the report has  confirmed that at least some of the hacking tools released in the  mystery attacks and code dumps match OilRig's hacking tools, and have  identified victim companies that have been known to have been targeted  by Iranian intelligence in the past.
 It further appears a major and "embarrassing" setback for Iranian  cyberintelligence, given further that "the Read My Lips leaker also  claims to have wiped the contents of Iranian intelligence  servers and posted screenshots of the message it says it left behind,  like the one shown below," according to the report.
 Screenshot of message left by mystery hackers targeting Iranian intelligence, via Wired:
 
 "We have more secret information about the crimes of the Iranian  Ministry of Intelligence and its managers," a message from the mystery  agent posted last week promises. "We are determined to continue to  expose them. Follow us and share!"
 A number of online commentators have speculated that it could be US or Israeli intelligence  conducting the current cyberattacks on the Iranian group, while under  the guise of a Shadow Brokers-style independent hacker group.


https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-22/iranian-intelligence-targeted-shadow-brokers-style-hack-and-doxing

[Zambeezi]

Iranian-Indian relations might be about to enter their worst-ever period in modern history as a result of two very important and uncoordinated moves undertaken at almost the exact same time by the American and Pakistani leaders. PM Khan just paid his first visit to Iran where he and his hosts announced that they’ll enter into a new era of anti-terrorist cooperation that geopolitical analyst Adam Garrie comprehensively analyzed in his recent piece on this breaking news event. The ball was indeed in Iran’s court to stop India’s anti-Pakistani Baloch terrorism like I wrote the other day, and to Tehran’s credit, its leadership finally understood this and decided to expand its military partnership with the global pivot state of Pakistan. This will greatly complicate India’s Hybrid War capabilities in clandestinely using Iranian territory to carry out terrorist attacks against Pakistan by proxy as it obsessively seeks to sabotage CPEC, meaning that PM Khan’s visit will have far-reaching and long-term geostrategic security consequences in the New Cold War.

In parallel with this, Trump decided that the US won’t renew its Iranian oil sanctions waivers and that Washington’s GCC partners of Saudi Arabia and the UAE will help the Islamic Republic’s energy customers replace their imports with Gulf resources instead. India was very vocal last year about its intent to defy the US’ unilateral sanctions against Iran, but as I wrote in my piece at the time about the “Indian Illusion“, all of this was just rhetoric to hide the fact that New Delhi was quietly implementing its new American patron’s will. Trump just put Modi on the spot, however, and it might augur negatively for the Indian leader during the ongoing month-long electoral process if he publicly capitulates to the US’ demands and replaces Iranian resources with Gulf ones like I suspected he’s been planning to do since late last year after his summit in Argentina with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. As such, this American move might also be yet another “bad cop” tactic against Modi to get more strategic concessions out of India.
It therefore wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Trump and PM Khan might have just ruined Iranian-Indian relations for good when considering the combined effect of their latest moves to that relationship. The Pakistani leader exposed India’s Hybrid War terrorist plot during his talks with the Iranian leadership which probably explains why the two neighboring nations decided to take their military cooperation with one another to the next level, while the American leader is forcing India to stop importing Iranian oil under the threat of potentially crippling “secondary sanctions” and to replace its resources with those from the Islamic Republic’s hated GCC foes.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/trump-pm-khan-ruined-iranian-indian-relations/5675276

[Zambeezi]

IMF bailout may now be inevitable

What until this morning was a bad dream for Turkish Lira longs just became a full-blown nightmare.



now that the central bank has capitulated in its response to soaring inflation, the focus shifts to the central bank's supply of reserves.
And this is where it gets interesting, because as the FT reported, Turkey’s hard currency reserves fell by another $1.8 billion last week, "highlighting the country’s deteriorating financial defences and piling pressure on the central bank to spell out the unusual accounting methods behind the funds."
Specifically, net foreign currency reserves fell to $26.9 billion in the week to April 19, down from $28.7 billion in the previous week, fresh data from the Turkish central bank show. However, the net reserves excluding bank swaps have tumbled to only $14.9 billion, a number which may not last the country even one month if it engages in another episode of full-blown lira defense, which in turn suggests that an IMF bailout may now be inevitable.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-25/much-worse-expected-lira-craters-after-turkish-central-bank-ends-defense
and
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-17/they-dont-have-enough-how-turkey-misrepresenting-its-fx-reserves-100

[Zambeezi]

Poland Suspends Russian Oil Intake On Contamination

Poland has shut down the flow of Russian crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline after traces of contamination were found, Reuters reports. An earlier report  that Germany had also stopped taking in Russian crude because of the  contamination was refuted by the German oil industry association, which  said it had not yet encountered problems with oil quality.
The oil  was contaminated with organic chlorine, and apparently originated with a  Russian oil producer that remained unnamed at the time of writing. The  amounts of the chemical were found to be at levels much higher than the  maximum allowable amount, with refiners risking damage to their  equipment.
Reuters quoted European traders as saying the oil  contained as much as 150-330 parts per million of the output-boosting  chemical, when the maximum safe amount was 10 ppm. The usual level of  organic chloride in crude is between 1 and 3 parts per million.
Russia  has said that Transneft, the oil pipeline monopoly in Russia, is  working to fix the problem. In the meantime, Russian government  officials are meeting urgently to discuss the problem, unnamed sources told Reuters.
The  Druzhba pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany with branches into  countries along the way has the capacity to transport up to 1 million  barrels of crude daily. Yet the contamination has also been found in  tanker cargoes loaded at the Ust Luga port.
According to Reuters  trading sources, at least five vessels belonging to Rosneft,  Surgutneftegaz, and Kazakh companies, have set sail from the terminal  with contaminated cargo. The buyers of the cargoes include Total,  Trafigura, Vitol, and Equinor.
“No one wants to stop the  refineries in Germany. They will be operating at lower capacity now and  may import some crude from the sea,” one of the sources said.
This is the first time in about ten years that Russia crude was found to be contaminated with organic chloride.


https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Poland-Suspends-Russian-Oil-Intake-On-Contamination.html

[Zambeezi]

Me: Guys they're not actually going to do a horrible modern redesign of Notre Dame, please get a grip

The Architectural Profession: Hold my beer pal pic.twitter.com/LQfIaYOygi

— Mike Bird (@Birdyword) April 20, 2019

[KneelB4Zod!]

Al-Masdar News
@TheArabSource
12 min.
FBI files reveal how Hitler allegedly lost his mustache, fled to Argentina

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/fbi-files-reveal-how-hitler-allegedly-lost-his-mustache-fled-to-argentina/

[KneelB4Zod!]

Al-Masdar News
@TheArabSource
1 min.
#Baghdadi’s whereabouts are currently unknown: Russia https://aml.ink/PzJwG #Iraq #ISIS #Syria

[KneelB4Zod!]

Al-Masdar News
@TheArabSource
4 min.
Breaking: Jihadists launch powerful attack on #Latakia city https://aml.ink/3nmCs #Syria

[Anon]

Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has told Sky News the country's government knew Sri Lankan nationals who had joined Islamic State had returned to the country but they could not be arrested as joining a foreign terrorist organisation is not against the law

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/1121445572991488000

[KneelB4Zod!]

Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has told Sky News the country's government knew Sri Lankan nationals who had joined Islamic State had returned to the country but they could not be arrested as joining a foreign terrorist organisation is not against the law

https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/1121445572991488000

[KneelB4Zod!]

Al-Masdar News‏@TheArabSource · 3 min.
Breaking: #Haftar-led Libyan Army captures key area en route to #Tripoli https://aml.ink/SXPiU #Libya

[KneelB4Zod!]

Al-Masdar News‏@TheArabSource · 7 min.
#Russia begins naval drills off Syrian coast as #US aircraft carriers enter #Mediterranean https://aml.ink/H0924 #Syria

[KneelB4Zod!]

New satellite imagery shows Russian Antonov An-124 at Tiyas Military (T-4) Airbase, Syria.

(S-300?) pic.twitter.com/Uq6520Obg9

— Already Happened (@M3t4_tr0n) 23. dubna 2019

Update Tiyas Military (T-4) Airbase, Syria pic.twitter.com/EpEjJWqFkf

— Already Happened (@M3t4_tr0n) 26. dubna 2019

[KneelB4Zod!]

SouthFront‏ @southfronteng · 12 min.
"Orderly And Responsible Withdrawal": U.S. Officially Admits It Lost War In Afghanistan

https://southfront.org/orderly-and-responsible-withdrawal-u-s-officially-admits-it-lost-war-in-afghanistan/

[KneelB4Zod!]

SouthFront‏ @southfronteng · 16 sek.
Syrian Army Eliminated Rocket System Used By Militants To Shell Latakia City

https://southfront.org/syrian-army-eliminated-rocket-system-used-by-militants-to-shell-latakia-city/

[Anon]

KCNA - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accused the US of acting in "bad faith" during the summit earlier this year with President Donald Trump.

He also said peace in the Korean peninsula would depend entirely on Washington.

Mr Kim made his remarks at Thursday's summit with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok.

President Putin accepted an invitation to visit North Korea, KCNA reported.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48062071

[KneelB4Zod!]

news agency‏@AFP · 15 min
#BREAKING Sri Lanka govt says fears up to $1.5 billion tourism losses over blasts

Reply:

Send the bill to the Rothschilds.

— GREEKWARHAMMER (@greekwarhammer) 26. dubna 2019

[KneelB4Zod!]

tim anderson‏ @timand2037 · 1 hod.
Former #WhiteHelmets - a branch of #AlQaeda in #Syria - are now 'spilling the beans'.

https://www.sott.net/article/411839-More-than-40-members-of-the-White-Helmets-admit-to-staging-of-chemical-attacks-in-Syria

Original article here:

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201904251074466112-40-members-white-helmets-admit-staging-syria-chemical-attacks/

[KneelB4Zod!]

Air strikes in northern #Hama area. Almost daily stuff-raids, artillery and air bombardment from #Aleppo all the way to #Latakia via @PetTheGreat1 pic.twitter.com/meIucmIaxP

— Drexl Spivey (@RisboLensky) 26. dubna 2019

[Zambeezi]

With art imitating life presidential elections in Ukraine ended with  Volodymyr Zelenski garnering a massive majority over incumbent Petro  Poroshenko. So, let’s get right to the point.
 Will this change anything?
 The West poured a lot of money and time into Poroshenko.  It was obvious months ago he was not going to win a second term no  matter what he did. With him mostly gone from the scene it is now up to Zelensky to put together a plan which goes far beyond the protest vote against Poroshenko’s obvious corruption.
 The problem is we have no idea if he’s 1) capable of doing this or 2) strong enough to implement anything he comes up with.
 With his party polling below 30% it’s clear this wasn’t a mandate for  him but one against Poroshenko. The probability is high that he will be  unable to form a stable, majority government later this year if his  election isn’t a country-wide revolution but rather a short-lived temper  tantrum.
 Let’s hope it’s the former. Given just how deep the US ties into Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko are I would bet on the latter, unfortunately.
 So, his next steps are important. And the issues facing him are severe.
 From the Donbass, which he supported reconciling with versus  Poroshenko’s unbridled belligerence, to Crimea. Zelensky will have to  face down enormous political pressure to solve them in ways that reflect  reality.
 That means mending some of the bridges burned under Poroshenko with Russia, which he says he wants.  But the question is whether he realizes that much of the  anti-Poroshenko vote is tied into this. And just how tenuous his  position as president truly is.
 It means he will need to look Southeast to Pakistan where  outsider and supposed political neophyte Imran Khan is walking a similar  tightrope as a geopolitical hot potato. Khan is trying to do unite the civilian and military arms of Pakistan’s leadership under one roof.
 It’s no small task.
 And, so far, Khan has acquitted himself well. He’s cut deals with  both Saudi Arabia on energy and Iran on border security/terrorism. He’s  survived major conflagrations with India and Iran; false flag operations  timed to create maximal chaos and paralyze his government and any  reforms.
 In short, Zelensky will have to lead. It will mean talking  with Putin. It will mean giving up something to put the Western  vultures, both in the US and Europe, at bay. And he needs to do so in a  way that is orthogonal to Poroshenko.
 If Zelensky is going to survive and bring Ukraine out of the mess  that it’s in, he’s going to have to realize that rapprochement with  Russia is the way forward.
 It means having the courage to not make unruly demands on Putin.  Poroshenko spent the last year of his presidency leaving poison pills  behind for whoever succeeded him.
 Breaking the Treaty of Friendship and attacking the Kerch  Strait Bridge being the two big ones. He has to agree to back off on  military use of the Sea of Azov and accept blame for the incident in  return for getting the sailors Russia holds freed.
 Ending the bombing of the Donbass is also needed, disengaging back to  the Minsk contact lines and stop lying about the situation. This would  go a long way to establish a baseline of trust.
 And it’s low-hanging fruit. Ukrainians outside of the insane American  diaspora, want this done. But, it’s also on a short-timer because 2019  is slipping away and a lot of energy issues have to be solved.
 Putin upped the ante barring coal and oil exports to Ukraine  last week placing Ukraine in a very vulnerable position come this  winter. And remember, no gas transport deal at the end of this year as  well.
 He is not without leverage as the EU has dragged its feet on the  final approvals of the Nordstream 2 pipeline. This is a pivotal moment.  Gazprom and Russia are pot-committed to the project, with it nearly  complete and the EU is now trying to leave it unfinished to inflict  maximum pain.
 The Ukrainian economy is collapsing. Coal production is down  8% year-over-year. Putin knows this and has Zelensky in a stranglehold.
 Angela Merkel has made no bones about how important securing gas  transit through Ukraine is to getting the EU to change its policies  towards Russia. And Vladimir Putin will not budge on his negotiating any  new deals until Ukraine changes.
 So, all of these competing agendas are coming to a climax in the next  couple of months. And off in the corner is the European Parliamentary  elections in a month. And they could easily change the entire political  will of the European Union.
 Euroskeptics like Matteo Salvini could finally push for ending  sanctions against Russia if Putin and Zelensky bury the hatchet on some  of the latest issues left behind by Poroshenko. Returning the sailors  would undercut the need for the latest sanctions. Withdrawing the  Ukrainian Army from the contact line in accordance with the now only  symbolic Minsk II agreement would melt EU resistance to lifting  sanctions.
 But, lastly, these things would allow for a nominal gas transit  contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz which would end-run around the  opposition to Nordstream 2 as Merkel tells her people and Denmark to  stand down on the final permits.
 Lots of ifs, I know. But that’s the path in front of Zelensky  if he’s serious about making substantive changes to the dynamic in  Eastern Europe. The incalculable damage that’s been done to the region for cynical geopolitical goals can never be undone but it can stop.


https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-25/poroshenko-out-zelensky-will-things-change-ukraine

[KneelB4Zod!]

Ian56‏ @Ian56789 · 2 min.
Macron pursuing journalists who exposed French complicity in Saudi war crimes in Yemen
https://www.rt.com/news/457602-macron-prosecute-journalists-yemen-coverage/ …

The #FreePress is under attack everywhere in the West

[KneelB4Zod!]

Russia's President Vladimir Putin exchanged weapons as presents with DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un during their first-ever meeting in Vladivostok on Thursday. As is customary when gifting blades in Russia, Putin included a coin with the sword to avoid bad luck. #PutinKimSummit pic.twitter.com/aAMMZJgzAz

— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) 25. dubna 2019

[KneelB4Zod!]

So just to clarify that, Sri Lankan authorities already admitted they know of terrorists on the loose who have explosives with them so now they tell everyone not to panic...

Crazy shit is going on over there. And all of it has the very patterns as any other such large scale attack we've witnessed in last years. Known threat, known suspects, known backers. When Duterte came closer to China and Russia ISIS took over Marawi. When Assad was defiant to the globalist policy and intended to maintain partnership with Russia ISIS attacked the country. Sri Lanka intends to be a part of "Belt and Road" and cooperate with China and, suddenly, ISIS appears and strucks the country with large scale terror attack. No coinkidink here. The ISIS, irregular globalist army, has same sponsors and backers for decades. US/NATO/KSA

What's your feeling about the Sri Lanka President? Do you think he was kept in the dark about all the terror info or you think he knew and turned a blind eye?

Well, following the reasoning I can asume that he was rather kept in blind than a part of the plot. If he represents official state policy, that is open to Chinese initiative, then it would be highly contradictory to support such operation that was, in fact, attack against him as well. Not even two weeks ahead of the attack this article was published by Financial Times:

April 12, 2019

Malaysia to resume China-built Belt and Road rail project

"The Malaysian government said on Friday it would allow construction of a controversial Chinese railway to resume after it negotiated a cost reduction, breaking an almost year-long impasse over one of China’s highest-profile Belt and Road projects."

https://www.ft.com/content/8bc8cb02-5ceb-11e9-9dde-7aedca0a081a

Well, I need to explain little bit further as the article itself is about Malaysia. Further in the article is written:

In Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena beat Mahinda Rajapaksa in a presidential election in 2015 and launched a series of reviews of Beijing-led infrastructure projects on the island nation, as well as negotiating revised financial terms with Chinese state-owned enterprises, including CCCC.

This is what I looked for but quoted wrong part of the article. So it was quite confusing I guess. Even for me today.



Earlier this month HindustanTimes wrote:

Under Belt and Road Initiative, China builds rail line in Sri Lanka, a first since 1948

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/under-belt-and-road-initiative-china-builds-first-rail-line-in-sri-lanka/story-pO2qHyvJLSyGNq07lHFieP.html

Also this article is quite interesting:

China, Sri Lanka jointly build green Belt and Road projects

https://eng.yidaiyilu.gov.cn/qwyw/rdxw/82666.htm

[KneelB4Zod!]

Al-Masdar News‏@TheArabSource · 2 min.
Jihadists go all out in western #Syria, launch new attack on Russian base https://aml.ink/8Xk3y #Hmeimim #Latakia #Russia


Second Wave Of Russian Airstrikes On Terrorists Positions In Southern Idlib

https://southfront.org/second-wave-of-russian-airstrikes-on-terrorists-positions-in-southern-idlib/

[Böhse Tante]

Ian56‏ @Ian56789 · 2 min.
Macron pursuing journalists who exposed French complicity in Saudi war crimes in Yemen
https://www.rt.com/news/457602-macron-prosecute-journalists-yemen-coverage/ …

The #FreePress is under attack everywhere in the West

Free press is nearly as free as in China, it seems. A German blogger is there for business and writes that TV isn't much different to ours, except less "American".

The disinfo brigades are doing their best to kill every information here, dunno how it is in former sovjet countries. Meanwhile all msm are telling the same things, the best you can get that some are using other words.

[Slovák]

Fire at Krasmash, manufacturer of Sineva ICBMs, not jeopardizing plant – Roscosmos
EMERGENCY SITUATIONS MINISTRY CONFIRMS THAT AREA OF 5,000 SQ M ENGULFED BY FIRE AT KRASMASH MISSILE PLANT; FOURTH LEVEL OF COMPLEXITY ATTRIBUTED TO FIRE
ROOF OVER KRASMASH DEFENSE PLANT BUILDING ON FIRE COLLAPSES - EMERGENCY SITUATIONS MINISTRY
REFRIGERATION UNITS SECTION ON FIRE AT KRASMASH PLANT, WHICH PRODUCES BALLISTIC MISSILES; AFFECTED AREA 5,000 SQ M - SOURCE
WAREHOUSE WITH REFRIGERATORS IS ON FIRE ON PREMISES OF KRASMASH PLANT, THERE IS NO MILITARY HARDWARE THERE, OTHER PRODUCTION FACILITIES NOT IN JEOPARDY
http://www.interfax.com/news.asp?y=2019&m=4&d=26&pg=3

[boris]

[boris]

Trump signed something, anyone know what it was ?