Politics

The Syrian army have seized two trucks loaded with US and Israel-made weapons destined for ISIS militants in Sweida, Syria.  The troops say the weapons include 20 RPG shells,  landmines, 90 anti-tanks, BKS machinegun boxes, and various types of ammunition. Sott.net reports: The cargos of militants’ weapons and ammunition, including RPG, landmines and various types of ammunition, were seized by the Syrian army in two separate operation in the Eastern and Northeastern deserts of Sweida province.

President Vladimir Putin is on a mission to expand Russian ideology and is employing social media trolls to effect political change. The director of NATO’s strategic communications command in Riga, Latvia, says that the Russians are using modern propaganda methods to effect change in their favor and that Britain is not immune from the results. Jānis Sārts says that the Russians are in a digital information offensive against non-Russians.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is taking over independent media outlets in Turkey, in an effort to suppress growing dissent in Turkey among journalists who are attempting to report on Turkey’s support of ISIS.  On Friday this week, the leading opposition newspaper Zaman was hijacked by Turkish authorities, followed by the disabling of another newspaper, Cihan News Agency, the very next day. Erdogan is desperate to hide the fact that the Turkish government have allowed a transit route for the U.S. to supply weapons to ISIS in order to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey and Israel are holding diplomatic talks in an effort to ‘normalise’ the relationship between the two countries, after relations deteriorated six years ago following the murder of 10 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists near the Gaza strip in 2010.  Turkish newspaper Hürriyet says that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has confirmed that “Israel and Turkey will publish a statement about this in the coming days.” Ejpress.org reports: Turkey has repeatedly insisted on three conditions for normalisation: the lifting of the Gaza blockade, compensation for the Mavi Marmara victims and an apol

Submitted by Andrew Bacevich via TomDispatch.com,