Daily Archives: January 4, 2021

2021-01-04: News Headlines

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-04). Iran missile program must be 'on the table' for JCPOA talks. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 04 (MNA) — Jake Sullivan, Biden's incoming national security adviser, says Iran's missile program should be on the table when talking about probable US's return to the nuclear deal.

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-04). Iran's nuclear program fully transparent, verifiable. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 02 (MNA) — Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna noted that Iran's nuclear program is fully transparent and verifiable.

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-04). Netanyahu reacts to resumption of 20% enrichment by Iran. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 04 (MNA) — In his latest baseless claim, Zionists' Netanyahu said Iran's resumption of 20 percent uranium enrichment is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-04). Russian official warns increased ISIL movements in Syria. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 04 (MNA) — A Russian official noted that ISIL movements in east of Euphrates in Syria have increased significantly and termed areas outside control of Damascus as "tense" regions.

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-04). Iran, Russia & Turkey cooperating to push US aside. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 04 (MNA) — A Zionist newspaper wrote in a report that Iran, Turkey, and Russia are cooperating with one another against the influence and presence of the US in the region.

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-04). Iran, Russia preparing meeting on coronavirus vaccines: envoy. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 04 (MNA) — Iran's Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said that Iran and Russia are preparing a personal meeting on cooperation in producing vaccines against the coronavirus.

_____ (2021-01-04). This Book Turns Everything You Thought You Knew About North Korea Upside Down. popularresistance.org In the United States today, North Korea is the standard reference point for modern-day totalitarianism: a land of darkness that is considered a dangerous security threat because of the development of nuclear missiles capable of striking the U.S. | A.B. Abrams' new book, Immovable Object: North Korea's 70 Years at War with American Power (Clarity Press, 2020), shows that the common perceptions in the U.S. of North Korea are mostly wrong. | Though the Kim dynasty has ruled through autocratic methods, it has also adopted rational and at times intelligent policies, which have enabled North Korea to weather unpreceden…

RT (2021-01-03). Border row reignites between Estonia & Russia as Baltic country's top MP reopens WW2 territorial claims, ignoring NATO objections. rt.com Russian officials have accused a senior politician in Tallinn of seeking to reignite old tensions, after the Estonian parliament's speaker said his country still lays claim to swaths of territory on Russia's Baltic coast. | In an address to mark the New Year on Friday, Henn Polluaas, the most senior figure in Estonia's legislative assembly (the Riigikogu), decided to remind the Estonians of the Treaty of Tartu — a post-World War I peace agreement struck between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and Estonia. | "On February 2, we celebrated the centenary of the signing of the Tartu Peace Trea…

RT (2021-01-03). Feeling triggered? More than one in three Latvians feel urge to 'SHOOT' fellow citizens who make life in the country worse. rt.com Parties and people refusing to wear masks during lockdown have sparked anger across the world, but, according to a new poll, many Latvians are ready to take drastic action to combat those who make life in the country worse. | Local media in the Baltic nation reported on Sunday that a new study by public pollster SKDS found a large proportion of those surveyed felt aggression towards those "who make life in the country what it is at the moment." | More than one in ten respondents said they often experienced the desire to "shoot" those they hold responsible, while a further 28 percent said they sometimes felt th…

RT (2021-01-03). Moscow finance staff now eligible for Russian Sputnik V Covid-19 jab — in line behind doctors, teachers & industrial workers. rt.com More Russians will become eligible for the country's mass immunization program against Covid-19 from Monday, with plans already made in the capital to hand out jabs to people working in a range of different industries. | The Mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, announced on Sunday on his personal website that registration would open for employees of banking and finance businesses, as well as for government workers. They will be able to sign up to receive their first dose of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine at one of 70 centers set up across the city. | This weekend, Russia announced that it had already rolled o…

Aaron Maté (2021-01-03). OPCW chief dodges questions on Syria cover-up after new leaks, attacks on whistleblowers. thegrayzone.com For the first time, OPCW chief Fernando Arias was asked a series of direct questions at the United Nations about the cover-up of a Syria chemical weapons probe. He answered none of them. Russia's UN ambassador asked Arias about several damning leaks, some revealed by The Grayzone, as well as ongoing deceptive attacks on the veteran scientists who challenged the censorship of their investigation. Arias refused to answer in public session, and gave vague, non-substantive answers in private. Aaron Maté …

Andrew Korybko (2021-01-03). Russia's Constitutional Amendments. Domestic Law Takes Precedence over International Law. globalresearch.ca The recent amendments to the Russian Constitution confirm that domestic document's precedence over international law, and while Russia still respects the latter, it won't ever let it be exploited for "lawfare" like in the Yukos case. | The Russian people overwhelmingly …

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-03). A commander with ubiquitous influence on the ground. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 03 (MNA) — Five years ago in the midst of the Syria war, when militants were only 400 meters away from the Syrian presidential palace, a top Iranian General held a long, unusual meeting with the Russian president for over 2 hours.

RT (2021-01-02). Relations between Russia & China at 'historic high' after 'once-in-century epidemic,' says Chinese foreign minister. rt.com The relationship between Beijing and Moscow has remained close throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and the two countries have emerged from the crisis as stronger allies, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday. | In recent times, China and Russia have pulled away from the West and grown closer to each other with ever-strengthening economic ties. The new paradigm marks a profound geopolitical shift, given that, until the events of 2014 in Ukraine, Moscow had spent around 25 years pursuing a path to Western integration, which included membership of the G8. | In the Soviet-era, the USSR and Beijing viewed…

Eric van de Beek (2021-01-02). US govt-sponsored website Bellingcat disrupts MH17 trial in Netherlands. thegrayzone.com Bellingcat has attacked defense attorneys and smeared witnesses in the trial over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Is it being used by Western intelligence services to steer the case in a particular direction? (This report was originally published at Eric van de Beek's personal website.) For six years the British website Bellingcat has promoted Ukraine's narrative that Russia shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). With the start of the MH17 trial in March 2020, the self-proclaimed "collective …

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-02). Syrian army launches extensive operations against ISIL. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 02 (MNA) — The Syrian army, with support of Russian air force, has launched a large-scale operation in country's deserts against remnants of ISIL.

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-02). Iran's plan to start 20% uranium enrichment predictable. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 02 (MNA) — Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna said that Iran's decision to initiate 20% uranium enrichment was predictable.

Online News Editor (2021-01-02). Iran says it will enrich uranium up to 20 percent. laprensalatina.com Vienna, Jan 2 (efe-epa).- Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it plans to enrich uranium to up to 20 percent purity, a level it reached before the historic 2015 nuclear agreement it signed with six world powers. "Iran has informed the agency that in order to comply with a legal act …

sputniknews (2021-01-02). Rescue Operation to Find 9 Missing People at Landslide Site in Norway Enters 3rd Day. sputniknews.com MURMANSK, Russia (Sputnik) – Norwegian rescuers continue to search for eight missing people at the site of a giant mudslide about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Oslo after one body was found, the public NRK broadcaster reported on Saturday.

RT (2021-01-01). It can't get any worse! Russians say 2021 will be a better year in new poll, although one in four anxious about future. rt.com Pandemics, wars and rampaging wildfires. The news from 2020 read more like a script for a Hollywood disaster film. But, now it's over, the majority of Russians think that things can only get better, according to a new poll. | A study of more than 1,600 people in the world's largest country However, one in four of those surveyed said they were looking to the new year with a…

RT (2021-01-01). Russia's Asian path may benefit stability in Europe by forcing declining EU to deal with Moscow as it is not as it wants it to be. rt.com After the fall of communism, the NATO powers expected Russia to fall into line and Westernize, but without the prospect of Western integration. But that plan has blown up in their faces. | It has pushed Moscow towards Asia, just as the global balance of power flipped. The historical shift of economic power from the West to the East is a catalyst for a revolutionary change in EU-Russian relations. While Asia continues its rise, economic stagnation and relative decline has seemingly destined Europe to growing irrelevance in the world. | For the first time in its history, Russia does not need to look towards Euro…

teleSUR, CE (2021-01-01). Colombia Ends the Year 2020 with 91st Massacre. telesurenglish.net Seven people were killed and one person was injured in the Colombian city of Buenaventura, the Valle del Cauca department, on the night of the 30th/morning of the 31st of December, in the 91st massacre of the year 2020. | RELATED: | According to authorities, this was a case of settling of accounts by criminal gangs that are disputing the territory. The mayor of Buenaventura, Mauricio Aguirre Obando, stated that…

teleSUR (2021-01-01). Russia: Putin Voices Confidence in Overcoming 2020 Challenges. telesurenglish.net Russia's President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual New Year speech on Thursday, during which he expressed the belief that his nation will be able to overcome existing challenges and restore normalcy. | RELATED: | "I am convinced that together we will overcome everything, establish and restore normal life and with renewed vigor continue to solve the tasks facing Russia in the coming third decade of the 21st centu…

John Laforge (2021-01-01). Court Orders Veterans Affairs Department to Replace Flawed Science in Plutonium Disaster Case. counterpunch.org In a major class action ruling issued December 17, the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in Washington, DC has ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to re-examine how it evaluates disability claims from veterans exposed to deadly alpha radiation during cleanup operations following a disastrous nuclear weapons accident at Palomares, Spain. The

Mehr News Agency (2021-01-01). US maximum pressure policy against Iran 'failed': Ulyanov. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 01 (MNA) — Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna said that maximum pressure policy exerted by the United States against Iran did not produce any positive result and failed.