Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Hillary Clinton takes aim at Aetna-Humana merger
In her first remarks about the deal, she expressed "serious concern" about the proposed union, as well as one between Cigna and Anthem. Clinton is urging regulators to closely scrutinize the mergers.
"I’m worried that the balance of power is moving too far away from consumers,’’ Clinton said in a statement provided by a campaign official.
"Companies proposing to merge bear the heavy burden of demonstrating that consumers will benefit,’’ said Clinton, noting that "too often the companies end up pocketing profits rather than passing savings to consumers.’’
Aetna and Humana shareholders voted Monday to approve the two companies’ merger, but like the Cigna-Anthem deal still must be approved by antitrust enforcers.
n her statement, Clinton said the companies should "commit to passing on savings and efficiencies to consumers as lower premiums and out-of-pocket costs.’’
Her comments are part of a broader health care agenda focused on the need to lower prescription drug and other out-of-pocket health care costs.
As she attempts to strengthen her position in the Democratic presidential field, Clinton is appealing to her party’s progressive base that has made reining in corporate excess, particularly on Wall Street, a top priority.
n the first Democratic debate last week in Las Vegas, Clinton mentioned health insurers among the top enemies she’s made during her political career, listing them before the Iranians and Republicans.
Clinton’s strongest competitor, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, is a self-described democratic socialist who blames growing income inequality and corporate greed, or what he’s called "casino-type capitalism’’ — including tax policies favoring the wealthy — for the nation’s economic struggles.
While Clinton is less adversarial in her approach to corporate America, she is trying to strike a similarly populist tone. On Tuesday, Clinton wrote an opinion editorial titled "Being pro-business doesn’t mean hanging consumers out to dry’’ that outlines problems she thinks are needed to "fix’’ the capitalist system in America.
According to Clinton, this includes: pharmaceutical companies gouging patients on drugs they provide for cheaper in other countries; airlines overcharging passengers even as oil prices fall; and local monopolies’’ that cause higher prices for high-speed broadband.
"Rather than offering better products for lower prices, they are using their power to raise prices, limit choices for consumers, lower wages for workers and hold back competition from startups and small businesses,’’ Clinton wrote in Quartz .
Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said Clinton is complaining "about the side effects of Obamacare while she continues to stand by this failed and unpopular law.''
"One really has to wonder whether Hillary Clinton is simply trying to have it both ways on health care or if this is a back-door strategy to bring about single payer,'' Short said in a statement.
In wading into the debate over the insurance company mega mergers, Clinton joins a number of consumer groups, lawmakers and groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association , who’ve expressed concern that the deals would limit consumer choice and lead to an unhealthy concentration in a number of local markets.
Massive consolidation among hospitals and physician groups is one of the driving factors behind the insurer mergers. Yet with less competition, consumer groups say it will be easier for companies to offer inferior plans with higher premiums.
USA TODAY has found that areas with this little insurer competition tended to have the highest deductibles in states that use the federal HealthCare.gov exchange.
Neither deal is expected to close until at least mid-2016. That means they won't affect insurance premiums or plan choices until 2017 at the earliest.
After the shareholder vote Monday, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said the merger would offer consumers a “a broader choice of products, access to higher quality and more affordable care, and a better overall experience in more geographic locations across the country.”
Are We Losing Afghanistan Again?
“ALLAH has promised us victory and America has promised us defeat,” Mullah Muhammad Omar, the first head of the Taliban, once said, “so we shall see which of the two promises will be fulfilled.” When his colleagues admitted this summer that Mullah Omar had died, Al Qaeda and affiliated groups around the globe remembered those words — victory is a divine certainty — in their eulogies. And in Afghanistan today, though the majority of Afghans still do not identify with the Taliban or Al Qaeda, Mullah Omar’s bold defiance in the face of a superpower is beginning to look prescient.
Since early September, the Taliban have swept through Afghanistan’s north, seizing numerous districts and even, briefly, the provincial capital Kunduz. The United Nations has determined that the Taliban threat to approximately half of the country’s 398 districts is either “high” or “extreme.” Indeed, by our count, more than 30 districts are already under Taliban control. And the insurgents are currently threatening provincial capitals in both northern and southern Afghanistan.Confronted with this grim reality, President Obama has decided to keep 9,800 American troops in the country through much of 2016 and 5,500 thereafter. The president was right to change course, but it is difficult to see how much of a difference this small force can make. The United States troops currently in Afghanistan have not been able to thwart the Taliban’s advance. They were able to help push them out of Kunduz, but only after the Taliban’s two-week reign of terror. This suggests that additional troops are needed, not fewer. When justifying his decision last week, the president explained that American troops would “remain engaged in two narrow but critical missions — training Afghan forces, and supporting counterterrorism operations against the remnants of Al Qaeda.” He added, “We’ve always known that we had to maintain a counterterrorism operation in that region in order to tamp down any re-emergence of active Al Qaeda networks.” But the president has not explained the full scope of what is at stake. Al Qaeda has already re-emerged. Just two days before the president’s statement, the military announced that it led raids against two Qaeda training camps in the south, one of which was an astonishing 30 square miles in size. The operation lasted several days, and involved 63 airstrikes and more than 200 ground troops, including both Americans and Afghan commandos. “We struck a major Al Qaeda sanctuary in the center of the Taliban’s historic heartland,” Brig. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner, a military spokesman, said. General Shoffner described it as “one of the largest joint ground-assault operations we have ever conducted in Afghanistan.” Other significant Qaeda facilities are already being identified in local press reporting. Recently, Hossam Abdul Raouf, a chief lieutenant of the Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, confirmed in an audio message that Qaeda’s senior leadership has relocated out of northern Pakistan — no secret to the military and the C.I.A., which have been hunting senior Qaeda figures in Afghanistan and elsewhere throughout the year. The Taliban are not hiding their continuing alliance with Al Qaeda. In August, Mr. Zawahri pledged his allegiance to Mullah Omar’s successor, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. Within hours, Mullah Mansour publicly accepted the “esteemed” Mr. Zawahri’s oath of fealty. And Qaeda members are integrated into the Taliban’s chain of command. In fact, foreign fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda played a significant role in the Taliban-led assault on Kunduz. The United States made many mistakes in the 9/11 wars. After routing the Taliban and Al Qaeda in late 2001, President George W. Bush did not dedicate the resources necessary to finish the fight. President Obama was right in December 2009 to announce a surge of forces in Afghanistan, but it was short-lived. Al Qaeda is not nearly as “decimated” in South Asia as Mr. Obama has claimed. We don’t think 5,500 troops is enough. No one is calling for a full-scale occupation of the country. But a force of as many as 20,000 to 25,000 would far better support our local Afghan allies, helping them defend multiple provincial capitals at the same time and fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban in their strongholds. While many believe that Al Qaeda is solely focused on attacking the West, it has devoted most of its efforts to waging insurgencies. This is the key to understanding how it has been able to regenerate repeatedly over the past 14 years. Al Qaeda draws would-be terrorists from the larger pool of paramilitary forces fighting to restore the Taliban to power in Afghanistan or to build radical nation-states elsewhere. Therefore, the mission of the United States is bigger than the one Mr. Obama envisions. Drones and select counterterrorism raids are not enough to end the threat. Al Qaeda and like-minded groups were founded on the myth that the Soviet Union was defeated in Afghanistan because of the mujahedeen’s faith in Allah alone. This helped spawn a generation of new wars and terrorist attacks, most of which have targeted Muslims. Should the Afghans suffer additional territorial losses, Mullah Omar’s words will appear prophetic. And a new myth, one that will feed the Taliban’s and Al Qaeda’s violence for years to come, will be born.
"فاټا له خېبر پښتونخوا سره د یوځای کولو ملاتړ کوو'' - اسفندیار ولي
د عوامي نېشنل پارټۍ مشر اسفندیار ولي خان وايي، ګوند یې د فاټا «د پاکستان مرکزي حکومت تر واک لاندې قبایلي سمې» له خېبر پښتونخوا سره د ځای کېدل غواړي. د ده په خبره قامي اسمبلۍ ته د فاټا پارلماني غړیو له لوري د وړاندې کړل شوي بل د مسودې ملاتړ کوي. د مشال راډيو خبریال خالد خان ورسره خبرې کړې.
Pakistan - Surge in terror
A new spate of terrorist violence is emerging in the country. Evil mongers let loose all hell on the passengers of a bus in Quetta only a week after the Taunsa attack. Innocent citizens, mostly daily-wage labourers, became the victims of merciless terrorists. Eleven people were killed and more than 22 sustained critical injuries when a 4-5 kilogramme planted bomb ripped through the bus in Saryab Town area of the provincial capital. Quetta has long been a victim of terrorism and the incidents of target killing of the Hazara community are still fresh in memory. Militant groups have long targeted Shia pilgrims in Balochistan travelling to and from Iran. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the latest blast. However, certain facts help narrow down the identification of the possible perpetrators of this heinous crime. As the victims were mostly ordinary citizens, there are few chances of the involvement of Baloch nationalist insurgents in the attack. Neither does the attack bear any resemblance to the acts of sectarian killings. This perhaps means elements are involved in the attack whose sole aim is to spread terror and create anarchy.
Though Operation Zarb-e-Azb has caused a considerable reduction in terrorist activities and controlled militancy to some extent, yet it does not mean that all terrorists have been wiped out and militancy has been completely eliminated. Rather, they have started carrying out scattered attacks in small towns instead of targeting big cities where the deployment of security forces has increased. It is a pattern of militancy all over the world that militants remain hidden and strike whenever they find an opportunity. This new developing trend of terror has put a question mark on the working of the security agencies. The government need not be complacent as we are still facing a war-like situation because of terrorism. The only methodology to nip terror in the bud is pre-emptive strikes. The security agencies need to make coordinated efforts at all levels to eliminate this latest scourge of terrorism. Although it is not possible to guard every place, yet our forces need to be extra vigilant to thwart any act of terror. In order to pre-empt terrorist activities, coordinated efforts are needed among all concerned departments and ministries. There is a need for a centralised system to coordinate and implement plans to curb militancy all over the country. The federal and provincial governments are working autonomously to deter terrorist activities. But a forum must be established at the Centre to supervise and monitor all operations against terrorists. Unless there are coordinated efforts and data sharing, the war against terrorism cannot succeed. An organistion at the federal level must be activated with all necessary resources to coordinate all efforts against terrorism.
Terrorist attacks on the margins can derail and weaken the fabric of society. How can a terrorist or evil monger orchestrate violence in society if vigilant eyes are there and every authority is efficiently disposing of its respective duty? Unless we unite against the menace of terror, there will be no end to such activities and the country will continue to mourn the deaths of its innocent citizens. It is high time that the federal government should intervene and bring the concerned departments and security agencies together against all terrorist groups. A more vibrant centralised force is needed to clamp down on the safe havens of the terrorists. Where is the National Action Plan? It should be implemented in letter and spirit. The prime minister has reiterated his resolve to wipe out terrorism at all costs. But only passing resolutions and condemnation will not work unless some critical practical steps are taken. In order to root out terrorism, coordination amongst the provincial and federal levels is necessary. We are fighting against terrorism and we need to keep fighting until the last terrorist is eliminated.
Pakistan - Aseefa Bhutto visits the families of Karsaz martyrs in their homes
Aseefa Bhutto Zardari visited the families of three martyrs of Karsaz bomb blasts of October 18, 2007 at their respective houses in Karachi to personally meet their loved ones and reassure them that PPP, its leadership and workers will never forget them.
“Families of martyrs have high regards in PPP as we are ourselves are also members of the family of martyrs,” she told the members of martyrs’ families and inquired about their day to day life, including education of the martyrs children and other problems.
Aseefa Bhutto Zardari today drove to the residences of Shaheed Tahir Narejo in Gizri, Shaheed Ayaz in Manzoor Colony and Shaheed Mohammad Rafi in Mehmoodabad.
Families of martyrs received the daughter of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto affectionately and appreciated her for remembering them. She spent some time with each family and told them that the martyrs sacrificed their lives for democracy, rights of common people and they will live forever in our hearts.
https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/2015/10/21/aseefa-bhutto-zardari-visits-the-families-of-karsaz-martyrs-in-their-homes/
Assad thanks Russia for helping to avert tragic scenario in Syria
President Bashar Assad at the meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday extended thanks to the Russian authorities and people for helping to preserve the unity and independence of Syria.
"First of all, I would like to express huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation and the Russian people for the assistance they are rendering to Syria. Thanks to them for standing for Syria’s unity and independence," the Kremlin’s website quoted Assad as saying.
"The most important thing is that all this is being done in the framework of the international legislation," Assad said according to the transcript.
The political steps taken by Russia since the beginning of the Syrian crisis did not allow the situation to evolve in accordance with a more tragic scenario, Assad said.
"The political steps taken by Russia since the beginning of the crisis have prevented the situation in Syria from evolving in accordance with a more tragic scenario," he said during the meeting. "But for your actions and your decisions, terrorism that has spread in the region would have taken a larger area and spread to an even larger territory." "These steps were confirmed by the fact that you took part in the fighting in a united front to combat terrorism," the Kremlin website quoted Assad as saying.
Assad arrived in Moscow on Tuesday on a working visit, the first trip abroad since the civil war hit the country in 2011. The Kremlin hosted the Russian-Syrian talks in the narrow and extended format with the participation of the representatives of the Russian leadership.
Russia’s warplanes have been pounding Islamic State (IS) terrorist targets in Syria since September 30 at the request of Syria’s President Bashar Assad. The Russian aerospace group in Syria consists of more than 50 planes and helicopters.
Any military action suggests further political steps
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has spoken in favor of a political solution to the crisis in his country, saying that military operations should be followed by political actions.
"Any military action suggests that it will be followed by political steps," Bashar al-Assad said. The Syrian president noted, "It is necessary to stop any kind of support to terrorist groups and let the Syrian people determine the future of their country." According to him, "the goal of the combat operations [of the government forces in Syria] is the destruction of terrorism, which hinders the political solution [to the crisis in the country]."
Assad Shuns Anti-ISIL Coalition, Turns to Moscow for Cooperation
President Assad's personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin signals that the realities of postwar Syria are already being considered.
Syrian President Bashar Assad visited Moscow and held talks with Vladimir Putin, according to a statement made by the press spokesman for the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov.
The growing rapport between the two countries hardly comes as a surprise, considering how during the last few years Russia has been upholding Bashar Assad’s legal right to rule in Syria, Shoeib Bahman, a political observer at IranianPolicy.net analytical web portal, told Sputnik. But it seems that for the first time in the five years of Syrian civil war, Assad and Putin needed to meet face to face to reiterate their willingness for direct cooperation.
"It’s obvious that Putin declared his support for Assad’s government and assured him that the anti-terrorist operation conducted by the Russian Air Force in Syria will lead to dramatic changes in the internal crisis in the country," Bahman said.
"It is clear that by visiting Moscow Assad shows his willingness to expand cooperation with Russia – the most influential force in the Syrian crisis today and the force that could help rebuild Syria tomorrow. The Syrian leader seeks help from Moscow and not from the members of the anti-ISIL coalition. Russia and Syria already consider the postwar future of the Arab republic," Bahman added.
He also pointed out that it is unlikely that the two leaders considered some sort of Russian ground forces operation in Syria, considering how Russian military leadership always insisted on a strictly airborne campaign.
"Russian Air Force actions are effective. It also provides air support for the Syrian army which has already launched an offensive against the terrorists and possesses the necessary potential to destroy the enemy,” Bahman observed. "This arrangement works, and the operation is very likely to succeed. So I believe that there were no obvious reasons for Assad to ask Putin to deploy Russian ground troops to Syria."
Bahman also remarked that while the Russian warplanes in Syria continue to destroy the designated targets, the enemy is highly mobile and dangerous and it is clear that the bombing campaign will continue for some time.
"However, there is no doubt that the Russian military operation will ultimately succeed, especially considering Russia’s cooperation with the information center in Baghdad,” Bahman said.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/analysis/20151021/1028875095/putin-assad-moscow-talks-cooperation.html#ixzz3pCzDtgpA
Video Report - Putin & Assad hold surprise meeting in Moscow: Key points
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar Assad held talks in Moscow on Tuesday. The Syrian leader said Russia’s actions have prevented the terrorists from seizing larger areas in his country.
“Yesterday evening Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in Moscow for a working visit,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. “President [Putin] was informed in detail by his Syrian counterpart about the current state of affairs in Syria and the long-range plan.”
The two leaders conducted lengthy negotiations, which then continued in the presence of Russia’s top policymakers.
Vladimir Putin said that the Syrian people have been confronting terrorists “practically single-handedly” for years, withstanding considerable casualties. Lately, they have achieved serious and positive results in this fight, he added.
The terrorists’ attempts to destabilize the situation in the Middle East arouse deep concern in Russia because“unfortunately, people from the former Soviet republics, at least 4,000 of them, are fighting against the Syrian army,” the Russian leader said. “Naturally, we cannot allow them to appear on Russian territory with all the combat experience and ideological brainwashing they have gone through.”
Syria is a country friendly to Russia, and Moscow is ready not only to assist with fighting terrorism, but also in reaching a peaceful political settlement to the Syrian conflict in cooperation with other global and regional powers, Putin said.
“The decisive word, without any doubt, must belong solely to the Syrian people,” Vladimir Putin stressed.
Bashar Assad thanked Russia for the support provided to Syria in fighting for its sovereignty and unity.
“Terrorists would have occupied far greater territories if it were not for Russia’s military assistance,” President Assad said, adding that political steps are due to follow military action. “The only aim for all of us should be what the Syrian people want as a future for their country.”
Once the terrorists are defeated, it will take a united effort to rebuild the country economically and politically and to ensure peaceful coexistence for all, Assad concluded.
“We are seeing Russia take the role of leadership on the international stage,” geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen told RT, stressing that western efforts to defeat Islamic State have been “dragging on with no conclusive results.”
Russia has “basically gatecrashed an underground party that has been going on for four years,” Henningsen said. “Countries like the US, Turkey, Jordan and NATO allies like the UK and France have been able to operate in the shadows. Russia has basically barged in, switched on the lights and said the party’s over.
“They are very upset in Washington and are still throwing temper tantrums, saying Russia has made a horrible move,” Henningsen said, adding that the US would like very much to see Russia in another Afghanistan.
Yet the Russian military operation in Syria is “very different from Afghanistan” because Russia has been “invited in by the legal democratically elected government in Damascus.”
Yet the Russian military operation in Syria is “very different from Afghanistan” because Russia has been “invited in by the legal democratically elected government in Damascus.”
Henningsen said that if the West was really serious about dealing with the terrorist threat, they would have worked with the Assad government because that is the ground force and they have the most ground intelligence.
“This is what Russia is doing. It has just gone in and has worked with the key player they needed to work with.”
Henningsen added that with the 22,000 bombs that were dropped on Islamic State by the western anti-ISIS alliance in the last 13 months, Islamic State should have disappeared already.
Middle East expert Willy Van Damme said the US is “in a quagmire and their friends, the whole Western-Turkey-Saudi alliance is in a complete mess and they are arguing amongst themselves, they don’t trust each other and everyone has their own idea.”
He added: “Some want to divide up Syria, others want to conquer it like the French, Turkey wants part of the north of Syria to incorporated in a sort of Ottoman Empire with “Sultan” [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan.”
Daniele Ganser, a peace researcher and expert on NATO, said the Pentagon's strategy of fighting against ISIS and simultaneously supporting militants fighting against Assad isn’t working.
“The Pentagon always says, ‘We did not want to drop any weapons to ISIS,’ and they always say they do not support the radical enemies of Assad – ‘We support the moderate enemies of Assad,’” Genser said. “This has always been a very difficult distinction to, make and we have people in Iraq who came forward many years ago and said, ‘There are weapons being dropped by the British and the US’ and these went into the hands of ISIS.”
The US “always made this very strange mix of communications by saying, ‘Yes, we want to topple Assad,’ and, ‘We also want to fight IS,’” he said. “This was always bewildering to any peace researcher or historian who looked into the situation, and I do not think they had a clear strategy in Syria."
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
#Turkey - Main opposition leader says gov’t thwarting police from cracking down on ISIL
“The police and intelligence knew everything. They were monitoring them, wiretapping their communication and even had a photo of the suicide bombers,” he told Today's Zaman in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
“The government was certainly aware of the Ankara process,” Kılıçdaroğlu remarked, accusing the government of allowing ISIL to operate freely in several provinces across Turkey.
The Turkish media have been extensively covering a series of failures on the capture of the two suspected suicide bombers, who killed 102 people in the heart of the Turkish capital of Ankara on Oct. 10. The reports showed they were on a list of potential suicide bombers the police were keeping track of.
“The police wanted to take security measures. The reason why security measures were not implemented or why these suspects were not taken into custody is the absence of orders by the political authority to do what was required of the police,” he explained.
“I mean clearly that the government has protected ISIL,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.
Official tape recordings acquired from an indictment that was prepared in May by the Adıyaman Chief Public Prosecutor's Office -- based on the findings of an investigation that was launched in 2013 after the families of some of the suspects told the authorities that they believed their sons had joined the terrorist ISIL group -- have also confirmed that the two suspected Ankara bombers were under police surveillance before the attack, intensifying suspicions of serious negligence on the part of the government in the months leading up to the attack.
The records were shared with the press by CHP deputies Eren Erdem and Ali Şeker at a press conference in Parliament last week.
The indictment listed 19 people as suspected al-Qaeda members; however, the charges were eventually dropped.
The security footage revealed in the media showed that the suspects came to Ankara's Gölbaşı district in a vehicle on Oct. 10, the day the Ankara attack took place. They then got into a taxi and went to a cafe in the city's Balgat neighborhood. The two bombers had breakfast together there and then went to the front of the Ankara train station, where the rally was going to take place.
Kılıçdaroğlu said the government defense that there had been no security breach was a laughable claim, given that the bombers were roaming freely all the way from southeast Turkey to Ankara and even having breakfast and taking a stroll before the attack without the police noticing them.
The main opposition leader emphasized that if they come to power either alone in a single-party government or with a coalition partner, the CHP will insist on a 180-degree reversal of Turkey's foreign policy.
“I will seal the border with Syria to prevent radicals from crossing either way. I will never allow ISIL to operate inside Turkey,” he vowed.
Noting that the government knows all the ISIL cells in Turkey and is familiar with the neighborhoods where ISIL has raised funds and recruited members, he said, “They did not do anything about them, however.”
Gov't does not consider ISIL a terrorist group
The main opposition leader went as far as to accuse the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government of not considering ISIL a terrorist group.
He recalled that Prime Minister and AK Party Chairman Ahmet Davutoğlu admitted last week that the authorities had a list of potential suicide bombers but could not arrest them unless those bombers act. “In our penal code, being a member of a terrorist organization is enough to get arrested,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.
He noted that the government is not arresting ISIL members because it does not consider them as terrorists. “Davutoğlu's admission that they cannot round them up unless they act is an open admission of that fact,” he lamented.
“It does not matter whether they blow themselves up or possess firearms. Simply being a member of a terrorist group is enough to charge and prosecute them,” he explained. “Otherwise, why have the police and the Interior Ministry been distributing photos of these bombers and issued an alert?” he asked.
In sharp contrast, he said the government has been cracking down on critics and arresting them based on a “reasonable suspicion” clause enacted into the penal code last year to detain and prosecute suspects on less solid grounds.
Penal courts of peace must be abolished
Commenting on the penal courts of peace that were established in 2014 as part of what then-Prime Minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called a "special project," to go after critics and opponents, Kılıçdaroğlu said these courts must be abolished.
“This is nothing but a continuation of the State Security Courts [DGM],” he said, stressing that the judiciary is under government pressure and judges are simply doing the bidding of the political authority.
“They just changed the name of the DGM to penal courts of peace,” he said.
The notorious DGMs were abolished a decade ago under pressure from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which made it clear that the DGMs were no longer considered to be an effective remedy after so many complaints had been filed about these courts with the ECtHR.
“The judiciary must be independent and impartial,” Kılıçdaroğlu underlined.
He warned civil servants to avoid complying with unlawful orders issued by the government, saying the civil service law is very clear that any governor, police chief or other public employee has to refuse to obey an unlawfully issued order.
“Those who have violated the laws in line with the government's wishes will be held accountable for what they did,” the CHP leader noted.
Press freedom getting worse
Kılıçdaroğlu also talked about the problems of the right to free speech and freedom of the press under the AK Party government, saying that censorship has reached a new peak with government-controlled service companies unlawfully removing critical and independent networks from their line-ups.
Earlier this month, the Digiturk satellite network stopped broadcasting seven stations thought to be critical of the government, prompting a boycott by thousands of viewers who have canceled their subscriptions.
In reaction to Digiturk's decision, main opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu said he canceled the CHP's subscription to Digiturk and called on millions of his supporters to do the same.
He underlined that the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), which asked the Digiturk satellite network to explain why it had stopped broadcasting seven TV stations that are critical of the government, must follow up on this issue. “If legally possible, RTÜK must revoke Digiturk's license,” he said.
Kılıçdaroğlu promised that he will ask RTÜK members who were elected from the CHP's quota to weigh in on this matter.
In its decision, RTÜK members decided to ask Digiturk to issue a written statement to explain the grounds for the controversial removal of the channels. RTÜK officials will later decide whether or not to impose a sanction on the network after receiving the statement.
The RTÜK decision was won by five votes to four, with the two members from the CHP, two from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a member from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) voting for the decision, while the four members from the AK Party voted against it.
The main opposition leader also criticized Turkcell, the mobile phone operator, for becoming a government-owned company. “It only gives advertisements to pro-government media outlets. This is also the same for public banks,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, stressing that this practice is a kind of indirect censorship and a major obstacle to press freedom. “The competition authority must intervene in this,” he said.
Turkcell TV+, an online TV streaming service from Internet provider Superonline and Tivibu, another service provided by TTNet, previously announced that they had removed the stations in question from their platforms by order of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on the suspicion that they support a terrorist organization.
Even a children's station, Yumurcak TV, was dropped, prompting anger from some users who were perplexed at the idea that a children's TV station could support terrorism. Teledünya and Kablo TV, two digital satellite platforms that use the satellite company Türksat's infrastructure, also stopped the broadcast of the channels on Monday.
Kılıçdaroğlu also reacted to recent news that the state-owned Turkish Satellite Communications Company (Türksat) gave three TV channels notice that their contracts would not be renewed as of next month.
TV channels Irmak TV, Bugün TV and Kanaltürk, known for their critical stance against the government, were recently notified by Türksat that their contracts would not be renewed as of November.
The channels were told to remove their platforms from Türksat's infrastructure by the end of the month.
The CHP leader said the government has been trying to silence opposition voices, including theirs, by shutting down critical and independent TV stations.
Foreign policy must be changed
Asked whether he had heard any regrets from Prime Minister Davutoğlu on any failures in foreign policy during his private exchanges with him, Kılıçdaroğlu replied, “Never.”
“I never heard him saying, ‘We made a mistake here',” he recounted. “In contrast, from the first day I became the chairman of the CHP, I've been saying that Turkey's foreign policy must change,” the CHP leader added.
“I sent a letter to Erdoğan on Aug. 24, 2012, asking him to convene a major international conference with the participation of the US, Russia, the EU, the Arab League, Iran and all the opposing sides from Syria. Turkey could have led this initiative. The response I received was mind your own business,” he said.
Kılıçdaroğlu made it clear that he would never allow arms transfers to Syria if the CHP comes to power.
“The American and Russian roles are very important in resolving the Syrian conflict. We could help them out,” he said.
Regarding the refugee crisis, the CHP leader said two actions must be taken to address this growing problem. “First of all, we need to stop the bloodshed in Syria. All countries must aim for that. With or without Bashar al-Assad, this conflict must end. Second, Syria must be rebuilt. The European states must delve into their pockets,” he stressed.
On the EU's latest offer concerning the refugee crisis and the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Turkey, the CHP leader said he cannot agree with the proposed plan. “Turkey is a collection camp for refugees,” he said.
Stampede At Hajj In Saudi Arabia Reportedly Killed At Least 2,177
The toll keeps rising from the Sept. 24 disaster outside Mecca as individual countries identify bodies and work to determine the whereabouts of hundreds of pilgrims still missing.
The crush and stampede that struck the hajj last month in Saudi Arabia killed at least 2,177 pilgrims, a new Associated Press tally showed Monday, after officials in the kingdom met to discuss the tragedy.
The toll keeps rising from the Sept. 24 disaster outside Mecca as individual countries identify bodies and work to determine the whereabouts of hundreds of pilgrims still missing. The official Saudi toll of 769 people killed and 934 injured has not changed since Sept. 26, and officials have yet to address the discrepancy.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdul Aziz, who is also the kingdom's interior minister, oversaw a meeting late Sunday about the disaster in Mina, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. The agency's report did not mention any official response to the rising death toll.
"The crown prince was reassured on the progress of the investigations," the SPA report said. "He directed the committee's members to continue their efforts to find the causes of the accident, praying to Allah Almighty to accept the martyrs and wishing the injured a speedy recovery."
King Salman ordered the investigation into the disaster, the deadliest in the history of the annual pilgrimage. It came after a crane collapse in Mecca earlier that month killed 111 worshippers, and the twin disasters marred the first hajj to be overseen by the king since he ascended to the throne at the start of this year.
The Saudi king holds the title of "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques," and the monarchy's supervision of the hajj is a source of great prestige in the Muslim world. Riyadh has rejected a suggestion by Shiite power Iran, its main regional rival, to have an independent body take over planning and administering the five-day hajj pilgrimage, which is required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their lifetimes.
Iran has repeatedly blamed the disaster on the Saudi royal family, accusing it of mismanagement and of covering up the real death toll, which Tehran says exceeds 4,700, without providing evidence.
"The lying and hypercritical bodies, which claim to (be promoting) human rights, as well as the Western governments, which sometimes make great fuss over the death of a single person, remained dead silent in this incident in favor of their allied government," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday, according to a transcript on his website.
"If they were sincere, these self-proclaimed advocates of human rights should have demanded accountability, compensation, guarantee for non-recurrence and punishment for the perpetrators of this catastrophe."
Iran and Saudi Arabia are deeply divided on a host of regional issues and back opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, since March.
Saudi Arabia has meanwhile been targeted in gun and bomb attacks by an affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group, which holds a third of Iraq and Syria in its self-declared "caliphate." Like al-Qaida before it, the IS group views the Saudi royal family as illegitimate because of alleged corruption and its alliance with the United States.
The AP count of the dead from the Mina crush and stampede comes from state media reports and officials' comments from 30 of the over 180 countries that sent citizens to the hajj.
Iran leads all the affected countries, saying it had 465 pilgrims killed. Many of the dead also came from Africa. Mali said it lost 254 people, while Nigeria lost 199, Cameroon lost 76, Niger lost 72, Senegal lost 61, and Ivory Coast and Benin both lost 52.
Others include Egypt with 182, Bangladesh with 137, Indonesia with 126, India with 116, Pakistan with 102, Ethiopia with 47, Chad with 43, Morocco with 36, Algeria with 33, Sudan with 30, Burkina Faso with 22, Tanzania with 20, Somalia with 10, Kenya with eight, Ghana and Turkey with seven, Myanmar and Libya with six, China with four, Afghanistan with two and Jordan and Malaysia with one.
The previous deadliest-ever incident at hajj was a 1990 stampede that killed 1,426 people.
Humanitarian catastrophe: UNICEF says 537,000 Yemeni children at risk of malnutrition
The humanitarian situation in Yemen is reaching disturbing proportions, with half a million children now facing life-threatening malnutrition and imminent famine, according to a senior UNICEF official.
An announcement made on Friday by the organization represents a three-fold increase in numbers of those not receiving enough food since fighting began in March. Afshan Khan, director of the UN Children’s Fund’s emergency programs worldwide, told Reuters Friday that “We are facing the potential of a huge humanitarian catastrophe… The levels of malnutrition that are being reported for children are extremely critical.
“A nutritional survey will be done at the end of October. How close are we to a famine declaration? We see some zones that are worse than others,” she confirmed.
The World Food Program (WFP) has been ringing the alarm over the situation since the summer. Some 13 million people have not had access to adequate food, six million of which were in a particularly difficult situation. The number of children under five facing severe acute malnutrition continues to grow.
Currently the figure stands at 537,000, with visible bodily changes; another 1.3 million are moderately malnourished, latest UN figures claim.
Fewer than one in five feeding centers are functioning in the country. But even with UNICEF programs being set up, the situation isn’t likely to get better soon, as some of the existing centers are in Al-Qaeda-held regions – such as the eastern province of Hadramawr. The agency operates 43 mobile screening teams that monitor malnutrition.
audi Arabia has been battling Houthi rebels in its support of the exiled Yemeni government. Violence has been ongoing since late March, with barely any halt in hostilities – a fact that has rendered most humanitarian efforts almost useless, sinking the country into further oblivion and displacing an estimated 10 percent of Yemen’s population, of about 23 million people.
The conflict is seen by observers to largely be a proxy war between outside forces loyal to Sunni monarchies and those on those on the Shia side, like Iran, which are strongly opposed by the Western powers.
The death toll has climbed to 5,400 people in one of the poorest Arab countries. The figure includes at least 502 children, according to UNICEF.
Despite both sides being blamed for not placing the population’s security first, the Saudi-led bombings haven been causing untold collateral damage, and contributing to the deadly food shortages, while the Kingdom has completely blockaded commercial vessels from reaching the country. Before the conflict started, 90 percent of all food was imported, which is plunging Yemen to the brink of starvation.
The UNICEF emergencies director explains that the agency is only “allowed small passages of goods where the papers are clear. We have been unable to sufficiently replenish medical supplies.” The same goes for fuel – which affects multiple sectors, including the grinding of grain in the mills.
"Humanitarian access is getting more and more difficult ... We hope fuel imports are restored so the cold chain (for vaccines) is re-established and sufficient fuel is available for running water treatment," Khan said.
A glimmer of hope for the country is the Saturday invitation from the United Nations the Saudi-backed govenrment has received to sit down for more peace talks - something the country has failed at over and over again.
"The Yemeni government confirms that we're always ready for and committed to peace," spokesman Rajeh Badi told Reuters.
"We value the role of the United Nations and thank its special envoy to Yemen, who has exerted great efforts toward achieving a peaceful resolution," he said, giving a 48-hour time frame for responce.
The Houthi rebels have not responded as of yet.
Putin’s Success in Syria Increasing Russia’s Role in World Affairs
Russia has caught the United States and its allies by surprise by successfully getting involved in Syria and de-facto becoming a key player in the fight against ISIL, said French academic and head of the think tank Grece, Alain de Benoist.
With his bold actions in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin showed everyone that international relations are quickly moving towards a multipolar world in which Russia will be a key actor that would change the existing balance of power, de Benoist wrote for Boulevard Voltaire.
The French academic added that Russia's airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria are a major event in world politics.
"Russia has caught the United States and its allies by surprise. Due to his pragmatism, knowledge of geopolitics and strategic thinking, Putin has strengthened Russia's weight in international politics," de Benoist said.
On September 30, following a request from Syria's legitimate government, Russia launched a multinational aerial campaign aimed at assisting Damascus-led forces in their fight against a four-and-a-half-year old insurgency in the country.
By creating an alliance with Iran, China and other countries within the Eurasian Union, Russia is changing the current geopolitical structure in the world, the French academic explained.
At the same time, Russia stepped up its cooperation with Latin America and BRICS countries in light of poor relations with the West. Earlier this year, Argentina's Ambassador to Russia, Pablo Anselmo Tettamanti, said that the two countries are currently experiencing their best level of communication in their 130-year-long history of bilateral relations.
Russia's relations with the United States and the EU became strained in 2014 after the West accused Russia of fueling the internal conflict in Ukraine, a claim that Moscow has repeatedly denied.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151020/1028833268/syria-shows-russia-key-player-world-affairs.html#ixzz3p967FrfD
Russia, US sign cooperation deal on Syria airstrikes
The agreement, whose full name is "The Memorandum of Mutual Understanding between the Defense Ministries of Russia and the United States on preventing incidents and providing for aviation flights during operations in Syria" is hailed as a 'positive step', the Russian Defense Ministry said in a press release.
The document "has important practical value. It regulates the actions of manned and unmanned aircraft in the airspace above Syria. The Memorandum contains a set of rules and limitations aimed at preventing incidents between the air forces of Russia and the US," the Defense Ministry says.
As soon as the agreement comes into force, there will be 24/7 communication channels established between the Russian and American military commanders. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, its US counterparts have pledged to convey the agreement's details to their anti-Islamic State coalition partners, so that they, too, follow the rules it sets.
The signing of the Memorandum "shows a high potential for cooperation between Russia and the US, including in the fight against terrorism".
However, the Defense Ministry stresses that the Memorandum is strictly "military and technical" and it's signing does not change Russia's principal position, which is that "its military is acting in Syria at the request of the legitimate authorities, whereas the use of force in one country's territory by another country without its authorities' agreement or a ruling by the UN Security Council is against international law."
The ratification of the memorandum was preceded by three televised conferences between Russian and American military representatives, who prepared the final text of the document, Colonel-General Andrey Kartapolov said, TASS reported.
Russia’s Defense Ministry is urging the Pentagon to conduct joint efforts to rescue any pilots downed in Syria, but the US military forces seem reluctant to cooperate, the ministry’s spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said while commenting on the new agreement, RIA Novosti reports.
“First of all, we are talking about rescue operations of any pilot involved in military commitment in Syria. This won’t be a matter of hours or even minutes but of seconds and the pilot's life will depend on our teamwork.”
“Unfortunately, our western colleagues still don’t appreciate the full gravity of the situation,” Konashenkov added.
The memorandum signed both by Russia and the USA has already come into force, according to Pentagon. The document doesn’t suggest establishing cooperation zones or sharing intelligence information.
The classified document specifies the radio frequencies that should be used by both sides for communication, sets up a ground hot line, and appoints an ad hoc working group to facilitate further talks, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook added, as reported by AP.
When asked about how far Russia and the US might be from establishing zones of cooperation, in an interview to RT, former US diplomat Jim Jatras said the Obama administration “can’t admit that it is weakly following the Russian lead and its policy remains completely incoherent.” Therefore, Russia and the US are still “a while away from that,” according to Jatras.
“Changing the US policy is a long process,” he said, adding that the Russian military operation in Syria has been“encouraging” so far and is opening people’s eyes. “There are no so-called moderates and the US has been supporting jihad terrorists since 9/11 attacks.”
Jatras has also expressed hope that the US will eventually share intelligence information with Russia.
Jatras has also expressed hope that the US will eventually share intelligence information with Russia.
Russia has been conducting a campaign of airstrikes against Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Syria for three weeks now. Daily reports from the Defense Ministry indicate dozens of IS targets have been hit, including weapon and ammunition depots, supply and communication lines, headquarters and command posts. The bombing campaign has been timed together with the Syrian army's push against ISIS terrorists.
Washington has been accusing Russia of hitting non-terrorist targets, including those belonging to so-called “moderate” rebels whom the US supports in the fight against Syria's President Bashar Assad. Russian officials, including the president and the foreign minister, have repeatedly said the goal of the airstrikes is to combat terrorism, not help Assad reassert his power.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition forces are carrying out bombing operations of their own – with Moscow accusing them of lacking a UN Security Council mandate or approval from Syria's legal authorities.
Hillary Clinton solidifies her lead in Democratic race
DAVID LAUTER
Maybe it was the debate or maybe just the race snapping back to its natural pattern after an aberrant month or so, but whatever the reason, Hillary Rodham Clinton appears to be firmly back in the lead of the Democratic presidential fight.
The evidence comes from three new national polls.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll has Clinton leading Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont by 54% to 23%, with Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn't said whether he'll run, at 16%. That's a big shift from last month, when a Post/ABC survey put Clinton at 42%.
Sanders' support has not changed, but Biden's waned, the poll found.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal survey also showed Clinton widening her lead in the race. Clinton led Sanders, 49%-29%, with Biden at 15% in that poll.
Without Biden in the race, Clinton led Sanders, 58%-33%, in the NBC/WSJ poll. Unlike the Post/ABC survey, this one showed support for Sanders dropping compared with a predebate survey.
A third poll, for Reuters by the Ipsos polling firm, showed a similarly large Clinton lead. And a poll this week by CNN showed Clinton, the former secretary of State, leading Sanders, 45%-29%, with Biden at 18%.
The polling figures are significant for a couple of reasons. They might contribute to deterring Biden from running. They also have calmed a jittery mood among prominent Clinton backers who, a month ago, were starting to panic over mediocre poll results. And they come as Clinton prepares for a showdown Thursday with Republicans on the House committee investigating the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012.
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