I am looking at a fully-packed schedule for today. Peter and I will be interviewing Pepe Escobar on Syria-Turkey-Jordan. I am scheduled for an interview-analysis session with Russia Today. I have several phone calls scheduled with my sources on the latest developments in Syria. And there are tons of topics/issues/cases I want to cover and talk about that have to wait until things calm down a bit … which almost never happens.

Let’s start with Jordan. Last week we broke the story on reported US-NATO troops and operations in Jordan- on the Jordanian-Syrian border. Follow-ups to our report were carried out by only a few select international news organizations. Pepe Escobar had an excellent article on that (see here).

Today I received this report on the generous financial aid granted to Jordan by the United States.

US to Provide Jordan with $660 Million in Aid in 2012

AMMAN, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) — The United States will provide Jordan with 660 million U.S. dollars in 2012 as economic and military assistance, Jordan’s ministry of planning and international cooperation said Tuesday…The U.S. assistance to Jordan from 2007 to 2011 reached 2.4 billion, according to the ministry.
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You see, Jordan is fairly dependent on US generosity, aka military-financial aid. And as expected, that dependency tends to ‘color’ a lot of things. Come to think of it, almost every member of the so-called Arab League appears to have similar dependencies: US financial-military aid and support to maintain and sustain their regimes’ existence. Hello, you remember our atrocious Bahrain regime, no? Oh well, they too are part of this ‘Arab League.’ So basically, these dependent puppet dictator regimes are now in charge of determining Syria’s level of dictatorship and soon–to-come final destiny. Ironic, no? Okay, I’ll have more on this when I reach the ‘calm’ period…

Next, I want you to monitor the Antiwar.Com website for a while. This once-upon-a-time excellent website has been going through tremendous not so pretty changes. Coincidentally, these changes coincide with recent mysterious appearances of their donor angels. What I want you to look for and keep tabs on: Read more È

Spotlight: Kyrgyzstan

The Manas Air Base, situated near the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, has played a key role in the increasingly important Central Asian region since its inception. First opened in December 2001 to support the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the Manas Air Base plays host to the US Ninth Air Force and serves primarily as a transit point for US goods and personnel coming and going from Afghanistan. As part of the so-called Northern Distribution Network, a key supply route for NATO troops in Afghanistan that bypasses the now-blockaded Pakistani borders, Manas continues to be a strategically vital asset for the US. At the same time, the base has also been a point of contention with the locals for years, and the controversy doesn’t seem likely to die down any time soon.

As important as the base is to the Kyrgyz people, the true nature of Manas remains an open question. For years, it has been at the centre of a string of allegations revolving around drug-running, terrorism and stage-managed revolutions.

This is our EyeOpener Report by James Corbett, presenting Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Air Base, and exploring its reported position as a center where the US conducts covert meetings and operations with various militant Islamic groups such as Pakistani Jundullah, its importance as a major transit point for Western controlled and routed Afghan heroin, the true nature of the Tulip Revolution, the incoming Kyrgyz president’s latest threats to close the base, and the nation’s position on a fault line in the tectonics of geopolitics.

Watch the Preview Here:

Watch the Full Video Report Here:

*The Transcript for this video is available at Corbett Report: Click Here

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Geostrategy on the New Silk Road

The large, sparsely-populated nation of Kazakhstan has become in recent years the poster child of a new type of geopolitics: celebrating only its 20th year since declaring independence from the Soviet Union, with a population of just 16 million, this unlikely Central Asian state is gradually becoming a dominant player in the region for its rich oil and gas reserves and its strategic position as a key land bridge between Europe and Asia.

Part of the so-called “New Silk Road” countries facilitating trade between East Asia and Western Europe, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are assuming a new role in international relations as they become more important in trans-continental trade and as their energy resources are opened up to foreign business interests. Chief amongst these emerging lynchpin countries is Kazakhstan, a nation whose international star is rising as it adds its recent chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the world’s largest regional security pact, to its growing list of organizational affiliations, including its seat at the UN, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as its partnership action plan with NATO.

This is our EyeOpener Report by James Corbett, presenting Kazakhstan, its vast untapped oil, gas and mineral reserves resources, the fierce competition between the US, China and Russia for access to its resources and transportation corridors, the tug-of-war of sorts that is happening as the country positions itself in an emerging power struggle between the East and West, and the role of Islamic radicalism as a proxy strike force to be funded, armed, trained, and used by the West for terrorizing the country should they stray too far from Washington’s agenda.

Watch the Preview Here:

Watch the Full Video Report Here

*The Transcript for this video is available at Corbett Report: Click Here

 

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Faux Syria Coverage by Western Media’s Illegitimate Child

Yesterday we broke the developing story of US-NATO troop deployment on the Jordanian-Syrian Border. I’ve been monitoring the media for any relevant coverage. So far I have found ‘none.’ Then, today I found a very twisted, one-sided, and completely West-Driven video report on some developments along the Syrian-Jordanian border. The report comes from the long-bought and independent-imposter news agency Al-Jazeera, you know the one who heavily beat the war drums during the Libya development? Okay, please watch the following Faux Video Report by the Al-Jazeera Drummer Boys and Girls, and let me know all the things you find wrong, missing, and ‘influenced’ within it:

Allow me to go first: no comments asked or requested from the Syrian government. No mentioning of the recent developments in Jordan … I think these pretenders have some gene-pool connection to the US media. Maybe a distant cousin? An illegitimate child? Now your turn…

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US-NATO Forces Begin to Spread Near the Villages of Al-Mafraq

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Report: Foreign Troops Begin to Spread Near the Villages of Al-Mafraq

Update 1: Today at 12:00 P.M. we contacted DOD Press Office via two voicemail messages and one e-mail asking for comment(s) on this story. As of 6:00 P.M. EST we have not heard back.

Update 2: Another journalist with a major mainstream media publication was told by his editors that there would be no coverage or follow up on these developments.

Update 3: DEBKA File Breaking News: US Units Exiting Iraq Deployed in Jordan to Forestall Syrian Attack

Update 4: Syrian Arab News Agency: Jordan denies troop presence and affirms rejecting foreign military intervention in Syria

According to first-hand accounts and reports provided to Boiling Frogs Post by several sources in Jordan, during the last few hours foreign military groups, estimated at hundreds of individuals, began to spread near the villages of the north-Jordan city of “Al-Mafraq”, which is adjacent to the Jordanian and Syrian border.

According to one Jordanian military officer who asked to remain anonymous, hundreds of soldiers who speak languages ​other than Arabic were seen during the past two days in those areas moving back and forth in military vehicles between the King Hussein Air Base of al-Mafraq (10 km from the Syrian border), and the vicinity of Jordanian villages adjacent to the Syrian border, such as village Albaej (5 km from the border), the area around the dam of Sarhan, the villages of Zubaydiah and al-Nahdah adjacent to the Syrian border.

Another report received from our source in Amman identified an additional US-NATO Command Center in “al-Houshah,’ a village near Mafraq.

Our Iraqi journalist source in London provided us with the following related information:

“Some of the US forces that left the Ain al-Assad Air base in Iraq last Thursday, did not come back to the USA or its base in Germany, but were transferred to Jordan during the evening hours.�

The above information was further corroborated by our correspondent and advisor Nizar Nayouf who interviewed an employee in the London-based office of Royal Jordanian Airlines: Read more È

Another Case of Convenient US Media Amnesia as War Propagandists

For the past few months on a daily basis we have been forced to read, watch and listen to the awful deeds of select dictators here and there, but not everywhere. Our war-drummer TV networks suddenly found an atrocious dictator in Libya, and at lightning speed lined up victim after victim of this long-ruling but suddenly popular dictator called Gaddafi. Remember this CNN episode? Yes I am sure you do. How could anyone erase these horrifying images from memory? Our public was far too horrified and disgusted to stop and wonder why now; why so suddenly. No. For years while our government and corporate partners supplied this dictator with an expansive array of deadly war and police tools, while they basked in the profit’s glow, no one in our media showed the slightest interest in or desire for widely and readily available atrocity documents, victims and witnesses. They waited until their government-corporate masters gave them the expedited green light for manic-continuous coverage. Oh how the majority longed for and anticipated our government’s regime change there…How they clamored for the barbaric ridding of this ruthless evil dictator. One down. A few more to go. Only here and there. Certainly not everywhere.

In recent months we have been presented daily, perhaps more accurately, hourly, with another dictator’s atrocious deeds. Every hour seems to be ‘the Syria Hour’ in our media. Oh, those poor freedom fighters falling one after another…The innocent people up against the heavily armed ferocious army…The daily massacres …all televised, intensely written about, loudly talked about; everywhere. That evil Bashar Assad and his regime. That evil dictator…

Granted on and off we’ve been hearing about the Assad regime’s evilness and its status on our decade-ago designated axis of evil list. But now, well now it is a different deal. Out of the blue, suddenly, this regime and its deeds have become the center of our focus, and it has been forced into our living rooms, newspaper baskets, and car radios; on an hourly basis. Oh how our people’s hearts are bleeding for those freedom-seeking revolutionary rebels…How we despise this stinky mean dictator … We can’t wait to see the bastard taken out and beheaded; preferably live on TV.

Now, here is what you won’t be hearing from our corporate-government-owned mainstream and corporate-foundation-owned pseudo alternative media. Up until very recently, as recent as two years ago, our government, our military and intelligence agencies worked hand-in-hand with this dictator and his regime. After 9/11 this dictator and his regime became one of our top choices for outsourcing our illegal torture and detention practices. In fact, our government always coordinated its bashing and name-calling of this dictator directly with him to help him boost his public standing and popularity in Syria. You see, there are ways to support dictator regimes, and then there are other ways. In ‘certain’ cases it is strategically beneficial to a dictator, or a military regime, or a kingdom, to be outwardly bashed and be cosmetically antagonized by ‘certain’ superpowers, or Israel. Those cosmetically issued bashing-threats go a long way towards improving a dictator’s popularity at home. You know what I’m talking about, right? Think the Saudi Kingdom and Israel. The Kingdom, while best friend and partner with Israel, prefers to be shown and known as Anti-Israel. It is a matter of survival … for ‘certain’ dictators. Now back to Syria. Read more È

Russia on Georgia’s Ticket to NATO Membership

Yesterday, in my brief commentary, Hail! NATO Expands Again!, I questioned NATO’s ever-expanding territories and global meddling sphere here at Boiling Frogs Post. Included in my commentary was NATO’s pursuit of resource-rich and strategically positioned  nations in Central Asia and the Caucasus for its new round of membership acquisition:

Due to the recent decision of the Pentagon to develop military cooperation with Azerbaijan by offering a 10 million dollar military support for the improvement of the Azeri military marine performances in the fight against terrorism, there are voices in Baku that support the interest of both parts in developing bilateral military cooperation till the level of Azerbaijan’s membership to the North Atlantic Alliance. In fact, there are estimates that this is likely to happen on medium term.

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The following article appeared this morning on my ‘morning radar’:

Russia Says Georgia’s Entry to NATO Could Lead to War

Russia’s foreign minister has warned of a repetition of its 2008 war with Georgia if the South Caucasus state joins NATO.

Speaking at a news conference after the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels on Thursday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had warned NATO foreign ministers against “pushing the current Georgian regime towards a repetition of their August 2008 gamble.�

Georgia has been pursuing NATO membership but the five-day war in 2008 over Georgia’s breakaway territory of South Ossetia has made the alliance wary of taking it on.

Speaking during a visit to Georgia last month, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the country had “come a lot closer� to joining, but added that Tbilisi should pursue reforms.

“Further reforms will be Georgia’s ticket to membership and NATO is here to help,� Rasmussen told Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

…

Let’s watch these heated developments. Make sure you place this topic on your radar. Our media here is busy diverting attention, and will not give you the scoops on the troubling and escalating developments and tensions on this significant topic. So it is left up to you and me.

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Another Move for the Imperial West?

What the heck is NATO? What’s it about? What’s it for? Not many people bother to ask any more. As with many New World organizations originally created under the guise of a temporary measure or a situation-based project or specific goal-oriented institution (think IMF, think World Bank), this one too has far exceeded its supposed originally intended mission, its sphere of control and operation, its size and budget, and basically everything it was marketed under when it was established. Also, as with all these institutions long-past and long-exceeding their originally marketed role, people cease to question or even critically think of the actual purpose, performance and results of supporting, keeping and funding this costly new world military body called NATO.

So, what was the ‘supposed’ role of this gigantic hawk of imperials’ tool originally? Check all the ‘legitimate’ reference bodies of literature, and what you get is what was marketed and sold over six decades ago:

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, and the organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

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For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, famously stated the organization’s goal was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”

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After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization became drawn into the Breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s which resulted in NATO’s first military operations in Bosnia from 1991 to 1995 and later Yugoslavia in 1999.

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The September 2001 attacks signaled the only occasion in NATO’s history that Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty has been invoked and consequently the 11 September attacks were deemed to be an attack on all nineteen NATO members. After 11 September, troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF and the organization continues to operate in a range of roles sending trainers to Iraq, assisting in counter-piracy operations and most recently enforced a NATO-led no-fly zone over Libya in 2011.

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Okay, so after the fall of the Soviet Union the enemy went from Russia to the Serbs, and later, after 9/11, the enemy became Al Qaeda, aka terrorists, and went on to include ‘select’ dictators designated as ‘certain dictatorships.’ It went from defense to ethnic conflicts, from terrorism to reinterpreted and reinvented human rights causes.

How about the membership; the team? Well, right after the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. promised the Russians that they will not expand beyond Germany: Read more È

Marching Ineluctably Towards an Pre-emptive Nuclear War?

By William Engdahl

Most in the civilized world are blissfully unaware that we are marching ineluctably towards an increasingly likely pre-emptive nuclear war. No, it’s not at all about Iran and Israel. It’s about the decision of Washington and the Pentagon to push Moscow up against the wall with what is euphemistically called Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD).

On November 23, a normally low-keyed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the world in clear terms that Russia was prepared to deploy its missiles on the border to the EU between Poland and Lithuania, and possibly in the south near Georgia and NATO member Turkey to counter the advanced construction process of the US ballistic missile defense shield: “The Russian Federation will deploy in the west and the south of the country modern weapons systems that could be used to destroy the European component of the US missile defense,” he announced on Russian television. “One of these steps could be the deployment of the Iskander missile systems in Kaliningrad.” [i] Those would be theatre ballistic missile systems. The latest version of Iskander, the Iskander-K, whose details remain top secret, reportedly has a range up to 2000 km and carries cruise missiles and a target accuracy to 7 meters or less.

Medvedev declared he has ordered the Russian defense ministry to “immediately” put radar systems in Kaliningrad that warn of incoming missile attacks on a state of combat readiness. He called for extending the targeting range of Russia’s strategic nuclear missile forces and re-equipping Russia’s nuclear arsenal with new warheads capable of piercing the US/NATO defense shield due to become operational in six years, by 2018. Medvedev also threatened to pull Russia out of the New START missile reduction treaty if the United States moves as announced. Read more È