At Least 5 Dead After Massive Explosion In Turkish Capital, Military Dormitory Targeted

Zero Hedge | February 17, 2016

With Turkey on the brink of going to war with Russia and, implicitly, Iran, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is looking for an excuse to invade Syria.

The rebels Turkey and Saudi Arabia back are staging what amounts to a last stand at Aleppo and the Kurdish YPG is moving to cut the Azaz corridor, which would effectively mean that Turkey has no way of resupplying the insurgency.

For the past five days, Ankara has been shelling the YPG in a futile attempt to stop their advance.

The only thing that can save the rebellion against Bashar al-Assad is an outright ground operation by the rebels' Sunni benefactors, including Turkey.

All Erdogan needs is a pretext and he may have just gotten one as reports indicate there's been a huge explosion in Ankara near parliament and at least 5 people are dead.

Early indications are that military barracks were targeted. A "large number of casulaties" are rumored. Expect this to be pinned on either ISIS or the PKK. If it's the latter, Ankara will once again claim that the group is working in concert with the YPG and that will be all the evidence Erdogan needs to march across the border.

• EXPLOSION REPORTED IN TURKISH CAPITAL ANKARA, AHABER SAYS
• ANKARA EXPLOSION OCCURRED NEAR MILITARY RESIDENCES: OFFICIAL
• 5 PEOPLE KILLED IN ANKARA BLAST: T24 CITES ANKARA GOVERNOR
• ANKARA BLAST WAS SUSPECTED CAR BOMB: CNN-TURK CITES GOVERNOR

SAUDI ARABIA PREPARES TO INVADE SYRIA

Kurt Nimmo | Infowars - FEBRUARY 8, 2016

CNN’s Arabic division in Dubai reports Saudi Arabia is planning to invade Syria and has mobilized 150,000 troops in the kingdom.

Two sources cited by CNN say “trainees” preparing for the effort are from Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Turkey. Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei will also participate.

The invasion scheduled for March will be led by the Saudis and Turks and will originate in Turkey, according to CNN.

Last week the US Defense boss Ash Carter said he welcomed a Saudi offer to participate in ground operations. “That kind of news is very welcome,” he told reporters while on a visit to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Carter will meet in Brussels this week with the Saudis. The Saudis confirmed they will also be in Brussels to discuss details of the invasion.

Last week Saudi Brig. Gen. Ahmad Asiri told the United States his country is willing to send troops into Syria. On Friday Saudi officials announced the formation of the Sunni coalition and said military exercises will be held in preparation for an invasion.

Iran mocked the Saudi plan. “They claim they will send troops (to Syria), but I don’t think they will dare do so,” Maj. Gen. Ali Jafari told reporters in Tehran, according to Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency. “They have a classic army and history tells us such armies stand no chance in fighting irregular resistance forces.”

Middle East experts believe the move by Saudi Arabia is not about defeating the Islamic State but confronting Iran.

Iranian security and intelligence services are advising and assisting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in his fight against US and Gulf Emirate proxies. In addition to sending the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Quds Force to fight on the ground in Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah has taken on a direct combat role. Iraqi Shi‘a brigades are also involved in the fighting.

“Saudi Arabia’s strategic goals in Syria are very different from ours. And any new introduction of foreign ground troops into Syria would be greatly complicating efforts to focus attention on ISIS as the threat,” Stephen Kinzer, a senior fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, told US News & World Report. “The Saudis know what their goal is. They want to overthrow Assad. Period.”

“I would consider any introduction of foreign ground troops [into Syria] to be destabilizing. You’re pushing Saudi Arabian power closer and closer to Iran,” Kinzer added. “That kind of ground deployment would certainly undermine the already weak efforts toward peaceful resolution of this conflict.”

Last week UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura postponed Syria peace talks brokered by the internationalist organization. The State Department has blamed Russia “in part” for the failure of the talks.

The proxy forces have refused to participate in talks unless the al-Assad government stops attempting to regain territory overtaken by al-Nusra, IS and other jihadist groups.

Russian Hackers Moved Currency Rate With Malware, Group-IB Says

Bloomberg | Jake Rudnitsky & Ilya Khrennikov | February 8, 2016 — 5:42 AM EST

Hackers used malware to penetrate the defenses of a Russian regional bank and move the ruble-dollar rate more than 15 percent in minutes, according to a Moscow-based cyber-security firm hired to investigate the attack.

Russian-language hackers deployed a virus known as the Corkow Trojan to infect Kazan-based Energobank and place more than $500 million in orders at non-market rates in February 2015, Group-IB told Bloomberg, without identifying individuals behind the attack. The resulting rate swing prompted a Russian central bank investigation last year into potential market manipulation.

Malicious software of the type used in the attack can open a back door into computers via seemingly legitimate websites or files and then force them to carry out hackers’ orders. Corkow, which regularly updates itself to evade detection by anti-virus programs, has infiltrated 250,000 computers worldwide and infected more than 100 financial institutions, according to Group-IB, which investigated the attack on behalf of Energobank.

“This is the first documented attack using this virus and it has potential to do much more damage,” Dmitry Volkov, the head of Group-IB’s cyber intelligence department, said by phone. “Once the malware has penetrated a local network, it is sophisticated enough to infect computers that are even not connected to the Internet.”

The Moscow Exchange has said its systems were not hacked in the incident on Feb. 27, 2015. In a separate investigation, the central bank said it found no evidence of currency market manipulation, noting the fluctuations could have been caused by traders’ mistakes.

The volatility lasted 14 minutes and caused the exchange rate to swing between 55 and 66 rubles per dollar, which “significantly differed from the prevailing market rate,” the central bank said in a statement on Dec. 17.

The bank claimed losses of 244 million rubles ($3.2 million) due to the trades, Vedomosti newspaper reported last year, citing a suit filed by Energobank in a Kazan court. There is no evidence that the hackers profited from the operation and it may have been a test to prepare for future attacks, according to Group-IB.

Energobank, the exchange and the central bank did not respond to e-mailed queries.

The virus was also used in an attack on a Russian bank card system that resulted in hundreds of millions of rubles being stolen via ATMs in August, Group-IB said.

Obama depicted as murderous devil in downtown Moscow

By Andrew Blake - The Washington Times - February 5, 2016

United States President Barack Obama, right, and Russia’s President President Vladimir Putin pose for members of the media before a bilateral meeting Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

A video depicting President Obama feasting on the souls of a half-million people was reportedly projected onto buildings in downtown Moscow early Friday along with a message calling for him to be tried in international court.

Video footage uploaded to YouTube shows a computer-generated version of Mr. Obama picking up little spheres colored in the national flags of several countries and placing them in his mouth.

The president’s face gradually turns red and horns sprout from his head as he begins to chew and symbolically destroys the populations of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine and Libya.

A death toll next to Mr. Obama’s face rises to 561,832 as the video concludes with a caption reading: “Obama, welcome to the Hague tribunal in 2016.”

The footage was projected onto a building in Moscow’s Pushking Square next to Russia’s first-ever McDonald’s location, then on a nearby wall not far from the British Embassy, according to the video clip uploaded by 60sec, a Russian documentary project.

RSN, a Russian news agency that first reported the projection, said that “many experts” believe coups, civil wars and civilian slayings in the countries shown in the clip were “organized by a direct or indirect participation of American political consultants … and NGOs, as well as directly on the orders of the U.S. president,” according to an English translation.

Late last month, activists unfurled a three-story banner across from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow that showed Mr. Obama above the word “KILLER,” then projected the words “Obama killer” onto the American statehouse.

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who is running to succeed Mr. Obama, said Thursday that Russia is the “greatest threat” to U.S. national security, even more so than North Korea and China.

“Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe,” she said. “The way that [Russia] is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea, beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics.”

Russia Releases Video Of Turkey Shelling "Syrian Civilian Settlements", Demands "Immediate Explanation"

Zero Hedge - FEBRUARY 1, 2016

Last week, tempers flared anew between Ankara and Moscow after Turkey accused Russia of violating its airspace near the Syrian border.

This time around, Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador – a much more prudent course of action than shooting down a Russian warplane, which is what Ankara decided to do back in November.

Of course every geopolitical action has an equal and opposite reaction. Russia’s response to the downing of its Su-24 by Turkish F-16s was to tarnish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s international image by linking his government to Islamic State’s illicit crude trade. The Kremlin’s anti-Erdogan PR campaign came complete with dozens of videos depicting oil tankers barreling across Turkey’s border with Syria unimpeded and the Russian Defense Ministry delighted in broadcasting footage of airstrikes that turned hundreds of the tankers to dust.

Now, Russia is hitting back at Turkey after the latest spat over Moscow’s alleged incursion into Ankara’s airspace and once again, The Kremlin is breaking out the videos.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Turkey is shelling civilian areas in Syria from a border outpost. Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov showed video footage depicting the attacks at a press conference.

“This facility is a Turkish border outpost, which did not have any firing points a few months ago,” he said, adding that “This is called fact. This is irrefutable proof that the Turkish Armed Forces are shelling settlements on the Syrian border from heavy artillery systems.”

So why is Turkey shelling Syria you ask? Well that’s an open question but there are two rather obvious possibilities. First, Ankara could be hitting the YPG, who Erdogan deeply distrusts and equates with the PKK.

It’s also possible Turkey is attempting to assist the opposition as Russia and Iran bear down on the rebels and militants. Sputnik said on Monday that one Syrian soldier was killed in shelling from Turkey in norther Latakia. “At present, it is the region where the Syrian Armed Forces are carrying out an offensive against the Nusra Front militants and a number of other extremists,” Sputnik notes. “The jihadists aim to establish full control over the Turkish border, through which they regularly receive reinforcements such as equipment and fighters.”

So Turkey, it would appear, is now actively involved in the ground battle – on the side of the terrorists.

“We expect an immediate reaction and explanations of the actions of Turkish military by NATO and the Pentagon,” Gen. Konashenkov says.

Good luck with that.

Russian Fighter Conducts Dangerous Intercept of U.S. Recon Jet

Washington Free Beacon | BY: Bill Gertz | January 28, 2016 2:02 pm

IMAGE SOURCE: WIKIMEDIA

A Russian Su-27 jet fighter came within 20 feet of a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the Black Sea on Monday in Moscow’s latest military provocation involving dangerous aerial encounters.

“On Jan. 25 an RC-135 aircraft flying a routine route in international airspace over the Black Sea was intercepted by a Russian Su-27 in an unsafe and unprofessional manner,” Navy Capt. Daniel Hernandez, chief spokesman for the U.S. European Command, told the Washington Free Beacon. “We are looking into the issue.”

Defense officials said the Su-27 flew alongside the RC-135, an electronic intelligence-gathering aircraft, and then performed what they said was an aggressive banking turn away from the intelligence jet.

The thrust from the Su-27 “disturbed the controllability” of the RC-135, said one official familiar with details of the incident.

A second official said the reconnaissance aircraft was flying 30 miles from the coast—well within international airspace and far away from any Russian territory—at the time of the encounter.

The Pentagon announced Thursday that it has concluded a flight safety memorandum with Russia after holding a video conference with Russian Defense Ministry officials.

The areas of discussion included air safety over the skies in Syria as well as “the means to avoid accidents and unintended confrontation between coalition and Russian forces whenever the two sides operate in close proximity,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.

The statement made no mention of Monday’s dangerous aerial encounter.

The Black Sea encounter was the latest in a series of aggressive Russian military activities aimed coercing or harassing U.S. military aircraft and ships in both Europe and Asia.

The provocations are not limited to U.S. forces. On Tuesday, Japan’s Defense Ministry revealed that Japanese interceptor jets were scrambled to chase two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers that approached the northern end of Japan and flew just outside that country’s airspace in maneuvers described by analysts as unusually close.

Other incidents included a similar near-collision between a Russian fighter and RC-135, a militarized Boeing 707, over the Black Sea on May 30. Around the same time, a Russian Su-24 jet buzzed the destroyer USS Ross in the Black Sea near occupied Crimea.

Earlier, on April 7, another Su-27 flew within 20 feet of an RC-135, this time over the Baltic Sea.

The RC-135 intercept over the Black Sea took place around the same time as a Russian Su-24 jet interceptor buzzed the destroyer USS Ross in the Black Sea, near occupied Crimea.

Navy footage showed the jet made several low-level passes over the Ross.

In October, two Russian Tu-142 bombers made low passes near the aircraft carrier USS Reagan as it sailed in the Sea of Japan near the Korean peninsula.

Navy F-18 jets were scrambled to intercept the bombers during that incident.

And last July 4, two Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers flew within 40 miles of the California coast and communicated a “happy birthday” message to intercepting U.S. pilots. That incident took place the same day President Obama held a telephone conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Russian Tu-95 bombers also circumnavigated Guam in December, for the second time in two months. Guam is the U.S. military’s major hub and a key facility in the American military rebalance to Asia.

“Much of what Russia is doing today is aimed at generating fear of Russian military power and the possibility of war,” said former Pentagon Russia expert Mark Schneider.

“That is broadcast on a daily basis in the state media and through Russian military actions,” Schneider added. “Provocations involving aircraft are now common place. Russia also tends to be paranoid concerning foreign espionage and the protection of state secrets.”

Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command said Russian military activities, including aircraft flights, are an increasing concern as Moscow seeks to reemerge as a world power.

Haney voiced concerns about Russian nuclear-capable bomber flights around the world, and large-scale ground forces nuclear exercises, along with vocal statements threatening the use of nuclear weapons.

Russian military aircraft have been conducting flights in Europe without the use of air-traffic control tracking transponders, a practice Haney called “reckless.”

Russia has stepped up aggressive military activities in response to NATO’s deployment of forces closer to Russian borders following Moscow’s military annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and continuing covert military destabilization of eastern Ukraine.

NATO has increased its force posture with additional military exercises, troop deployments and increased intelligence-gathering to support NATO allies that are threatened by Russian military revanchism.

Russia announced a new military strategy in December that increases the country’s reliance on nuclear forces over conventional troops and weapons.

Russia also is expected to announce a new military doctrine, a senior Russian commander announced on Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Sergey Chvarkov, deputy chief of the general staff academy said the United States is seeking to weaken Russia and is creating new national security threats to Moscow.

“At the foundation of the negative development of the international situation lie the USA’s actions, which in striving for global hegemony intentionally forms global instability to weaken strategic opponents, primarily Russia, creating national security threats to our country,” Chvarkov said, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

Western policies are fomenting global and internal conflicts that have produced the flood of refugees in Europe, Chvarkov said. He added that the West is waging “information war” on Russia.