Putin says Russia's ready to improve ties with the US

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MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia is ready to improve ties with the United States and work with whomever is elected its next president, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. He said his talks with U.S. Secretary John Kerry earlier this week showed that Washington is ready to "move toward settling the issues that can only be settled through joint efforts."

Addressing Russia's strained relations with some of its neighbors at his annual news conference, attended by hundreds of Russian and foreign journalists, Putin said he saw no possibility of overcoming the tensions with Turkey under its current leadership, and wanted to see the conflict in Ukraine settled as soon as possible.

Putin said the Russian military operation in Syria will continue until a political process starts, but it is up to the Syrians to decide when to stop fighting and sit down for talks. "We aren't going to be more Syrian than the Syrians themselves," he added.

He also offered assurances that the Russian economy was showing signs of stabilization despite plummeting oil prices, in fielding an array of questions from journalists representing state-owned media organizations about whether the government was coping with the challenges and whether the country could afford waging a war.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_PUTIN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-17-06-26-58

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1. Russian Operation in Syria Puts Minor Load on Budget - Putin

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian military operation in Syria is not bear a serious burden for the country's budget, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

"We did not start the war, we are carrying out separate operations using our Air Forces, our space forces, air defense systems, intelligence. This does not carry any serious burden for our budget," Putin said during his annual press conference.

"It is hard to imagine better training [than the operation in Syria]. Therefore we basically can train there without substantial harm to our budget," Putin added.

http://sputniknews.com/world/20151217/1031894640/russia-syria-operation-budget.html

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2. Putin on S-400 deployment in Syria: Let Turkish aviation fly now

urkey will not be able to violate the Syria airspace after Russia had deployed S-400 defense system in Hmeymim airabse, Russian president Vladimir Putin told journalists during the press-conference in Moscow, Sputnik News reports.

With Russia’s deployment of the S-400 anti-aircraft system, Turkey will not be able to violate Syria’s airspace with impunity, as they had previously done, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at his annual press conference.

“They [Turkish authorities] thought that we would turn tail and run! No, Russia is not that country. We have increased our presence in Syria, have increased the number of combat aircraft deployed there. There was no Russian air defense system there –now there’s the S-400. If before, Turkey had constantly violated Syrian airspace, let them try it now.”

http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/12/17/putin-on-s-400-deployment-in-syria-let-turkish-aviation-fly-now/

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3. Putin basks in the limelight of global media

Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Thursday during his annual press conference was that Russian military personnel were in eastern Ukraine carrying out "certain military tasks" though he denied a regular troop presence in the region.

"We never said there were no people there who were carrying out certain tasks including in the military sphere," Putin told an annual news conference. "But that does not mean there are Russian troops there, feel the difference."

Summary of Putin's new Ukraine line: they weren't soldiers, but certain people carrying out certain tasks of a certain military nature.
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) December 17, 2015

His remarks are a shift in the oft repeated line that Russia is not backing pro-Moscow separatists who have been warring with pro-Kiev forces since last year. Putin also said Moscow is ready to persuade separatists to work toward a political compromise and said he expects relations with Ukraine to further deteriorate following its decision to enter a trade deal with the European Union.

http://www.dw.com/en/putin-basks-in-the-limelight-of-global-media/a-18924143

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4. Turkey deploying 30 percent of army in Syrian border clampdown

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The Turkish Army says it has 30 percent of its land forces deployed for border control.

A more than 80 km-long wall is under construction, to separate Turkey’s Kilis and Gaziantep provinces from the area of Aleppo in Syria.

Colonel Arik said: “To strengthen our border, three-meter high modular wall sections have been erected, and construction is continuing. In this way, we hope to increase effective control of refugee flows and to stop any illegal breach of our borders.”

The EU has pledged €3bn and promised Ankara political concessions in exchange for stepping up border patrols. That includes the task of controlling the influx of refugees crossing from Syria.

http://www.euronews.com/2015/12/17/turkey-deploying-30-percent-of-army-in-syrian-border-clampdown/

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8. Syria activists in hiding after Islamic State group killing

ISTANBUL (AP) -- The murder of the young Syrian activist took place close enough to his family's home that his youngest brother heard his piercing scream. Ibrahim Abdelqader's attackers stabbed him dozens of times and left his partially decapitated corpse hanging from a doorframe.

His family and colleagues say he was killed by a secret operative from the Islamic State group who befriended him before he struck. The message from IS was clear: Its enemies are not safe, even across borders.

More than a month after the slaying of Abdelqader and his friend Fares Hamadi, the media collective that Abdelqader belonged to - which secretly documents life at the heart of the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed caliphate - has been forced into deep hiding.

IS claimed responsibility for the murders in a video message warning that "every apostate will be slaughtered silently." It was a grim riff on the media collective's name - Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, a reference to the Syrian city of Raqqa that has become synonymous with IS and its efforts to build a caliphate.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_TURKEY_IS_KILLING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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5. Russia travel agency offers vacations to Syria conflict

(CNN)A deadly conflict zone that has seen more than four million of its own citizens flee the country seems unlikely to make anyone's travel wish list for 2016, but Russian travel agency Megapolis thinks otherwise.

Starting next year, it's reportedly hoping to sell what it has dubbed Assad Tours: four- to five-day trips to the Syrian front line.

Named for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime Russian ally, the expeditions would cost $1,500. That covers flights, accommodation, food and the guide's services -- but not insurance.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/17/travel/russia-vacations-syria-conflict/index.html

[KoKo]

10. Seems Putin has other ideas....

The photos at the link are incredibly beautiful and sad to read how much destruction and looting there has been... I guess there are always the greedy, hoping to make a buck now off of Disaster Tourism/Voyeurism. On the other hand, maybe some would actually invest in helping rebuild some of what has been destroyed for the future--which would be a good thing.

I thought the rest of the article was amusing.
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Against Russian law

Megapolis is reported to already be in talks with hotels and transportation services in Syria.

However, the Russian Federal Tourism Agency (Rosturizm), told Russian news agency Interfax on Tuesday that it had not yet received the company's application.

Izo Arakhamiya, head of its legal department, said: "There is no Assad Tour in the register and they haven't filed an application. Therefore they are not authorized to sell these trips."

Interfax also spoke to Irina Tyrurina, spokesperson for the Russian Travel Industry Union, who pointed out that sending tourists to conflict zones actually runs counter to Russian law, because the company is unable to guarantee the travelers' safety.

'All tourists are crazy'

Last year, Russian newspaper Izvestia reported on a company called Megapolis Kurort's plans to run similar trips to eastern Ukraine -- although it's not been confirmed if the two companies are related.

According to U.N. estimates, the violence in Syria has so far seen more than 250,000 people killed and 7.6 million internally displaced.

Aronov predicts that the trips will attract men aged 30 to 45 who are "educated, intelligent, perhaps, traders, or commercial directors. They are curious about new impressions, new 'hot spots'."

More candidly, he tells the Daily Mail: "You're asking how many crazies will show up? All tourists are crazy -- they are paying money for things they can see free on television."

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12. Hey, it's CNN. No point in analyzing it very much.

However, I am sure they would get plenty of customers until the first couple of hostage crises.

[KoKo]

13. ....!

For sure..

However, I am sure they would get plenty of customers until the first couple of hostage crises.

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6. Shots fired across Syrian border into Turkey

Machine guns reportedly opened fire from the Syrian side of the Turkey-Syria border in the Yayladağı district of southeastern Hatay province on Dec. 16, targeting a military station.

A total of 20 gunshots were reportedly fired from Acısı village of Syria’s Kesab province, which is under the control of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, into the military station zone. No casualties were reported, as Turkish soldiers responded to the attack within the rules of engagement.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/shots-fired-across-syrian-border-into-turkey.aspx?pageID=238&nID=92661&NewsCatID=341

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7. Army of Islam mulls backing out of Riyadh agreement

BEIRUT - The largest rebel group operating near the Damascus has said that it might back out of the Riyadh agreement in which opposition factions agreed to form a unified team to negotiate with Syrian regime.

The Army of Islam announced that its leadership council “is studying the possibility of withdrawing” from the accord after its representatives signed on to the closing statement for the Saudi-sponsored conference that brought together over 100 opposition figures.

“This is because the closing statement did not embody the fundamentals that the Army [of Islam]’s delegate read out and agreed upon,” the rebel group said on Twitter Wednesday evening.

Army of Islam leader Zahran Alloush—who is considered close to Saudi Arabia—did not join the conference last week, saying that security concerns prohibited him from slipping out of the rebel group’s besieged base of operations in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of the Syrian capital.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566385-army-of-islam-mulls-backing-out-of-riyadh-agreement

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9. .

Edit: I do wonder what the Army of Capitalism thinks about it.

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11. Putin’s best Q&A quotes from ‘Ankara sucking up to US’ to ‘Trump being absolute frontrunner’

Never at loss for words, Putin was as straight-forward as ever at his annual Q&A session. Russian relations with Turkey, the Syrian and Ukrainian crises, as well as the US presidential race were the highlights of the 3-hour long marathon attended by 1,400 journalists.

When asked about third party interests contributing to the deterioration of Russia-Turkey relations, Putin wondered if Washington might have something to do with it.

“We don’t know that for sure, but if someone in the Turkish leadership wanted to suck up to the Americans, I’m not sure whether they did the right thing or not,” he said.

“First of all I don’t know whether the Americans need it or not, it’s possible there was a certain agreement on some level: ‘we down a Russian plane and you turn a blind eye,’ ‘we deploy our troops to Iraq and occupy a part of Iraq’.”

https://www.rt.com/news/326354-putins-turkey-trump-quotes/

[Jefferson23]

14. I really don't like that guy, at all..but that is funny as hell..ha ha. n/t

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15. Yah.

Many comments come to mind, but I think I will suppress them all.

[Jefferson23]

16. I hear ya. n/t