What Russia sending more air defense missiles to Syria means
Oren Dorell , USA TODAY 4:59 p.m. EDT October 5, 2016
AP RUSSIA SYRIA I FILE RUS

(Photo: Ivan Sekretarev, AP)

Russia on Wednesday turned to Twitter to justify its deployment of advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria.

The tweet, posted by the official Twitter account of the Russian embassy in Washington, @RusEmbUSA, was attached to photos of White House spokesman Josh Earnest and an S-300 missile battery with the caption “…because you never really know what kind of assistance terrorists might get.”

“All jokes aside, #Russia will take every defensive measure necessary to protect its personnel stationed in #Syria from terrorist threat,” the tweet said.

The message reinforces previous warnings against United States' interference with a combined Russian and Syrian air campaign in Syria. The U.S. says Russian and Syrian aircraft have targeted primarily opposition forces and civilian areas in Syria, especially in the northern city of Aleppo, where several hospitals have been bombed and a United Nations aid convoy was hit on Oct. 19., killing 20 people.

The recent bombing campaign, which ended a Sept. 12 cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia, is the worst in Aleppo’s history and marks an escalation by Russia and its ally. The State Department has said the Obama administration is considering various options, including a military response. Secretary of State John Kerry has warned Russia that one result of its actions could be that “more Russian aircraft will be shot down.”

The timing, however, weeks before a close presidential election, makes it unlikely the U.S. will embark on a military adventure in the waning months of President Obama’s last term. It may be a warning to the next president, whether it be Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump's running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana and Clinton have expressed support for imposing a no-fly zone to protect civilians in Syria.

"The Russian move might be more a message to Hillary and Trump, to make the battle space in Syria to look too dangerous," said Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

The missile system the Russians are touting is an excellent ambush weapon that adds a significant threat to U.S. air operations in Syria, unless American leaders are willing to accept a few losses, O'Hanlon said. Even if U.S. aircraft use radar jamming devices, the S-300, which works in a network connected by fiber-optic cables, can develop a picture of the battle space using the signal of U.S. aircraft trying to jam enemy radar.

"It can easily shoot down a U.S. fighter jet with virtually no warning," he said. "I’ve never heard an American military or intelligence official poo poo the S-300."

The S-300 deployment would also change the kind of no fly zone that a future president might impose, O'Hanlon said.

Rather than shooting down aircraft, as the U.S. did in Iraq during the 1990s, grounding aircraft in the presence of S-300 systems is more likely to focus on destroying runways, fuel depots and aircraft on the ground, while avoiding Russian personnel.

In the wrong hands, it could also threaten military and civilian air traffic in neighboring countries that are U.S. allies.

Here are five things we know about it:

Range and capability: Versions of the S-300 have a range of 250 miles, at Mach 7.5 (7.5 times the speed of sound)

Who has the missiles in the Middle East: Russia has talked for years of selling its premier air defense system to Iran and Syria. Deployments in Iran began last month.

Why they are controversial: The system’s range would extend into the territory of neighboring states, including Turkey, which shot down a Russian fighter jet last year, Iraq, where the U.S. is conducting air strikes against the Islamic State, Jordan, which also conducts air strikes in Iraq, and Israel, which has conducted several air strikes in Syria to prevent the transfer of “game changing” weapons to Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite militia backed by Iran.

How would Syria’s neighbors react? Israel sees S-300 as a “game changing” weapon and therefore a legitimate target, and has vowed to do what it must to preserve its freedom to operate over Syria and Lebanon. But Israel is unlikely to conduct a strike that would harm Russian operators or advisers.

Where have they been used before? While it’s not clear if an S-300 was involved, the missile can be fired from a BUK system, which includes sensors and launch vehicles. Such a system is suspected in the downing of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, which crashed in eastern Ukraine in 2014. A recent Dutch report said the system traveled from Russia before the shootdown, and later returned to Russia.

The incident, which resulted in 298 deaths, is a potent example of what could go wrong.

Israel gets F 35 fighter jets after Iran’s Russian S 300 missiles become operational

Hillary LOSES CNN…Host Slams Her On National TV! – WOW [WATCH]
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Journalists love to brag about “speaking truth to power” but most of them are really more concerned about pushing a liberal agenda. One reporter, however, is doing his job and he’s taking on not just a powerful government agency but the left’s favored candidate for president.Breitbart has the story:

In a video collaboration between CNN’s “State of the Union” and FactCheck.org released on Friday, CNN anchor Jake Tapper stated that Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s claim during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” that FBI Director James Comey testified that her statements about her emails were true was a false claim, and “all you politicians out there, you are perfectly entitled to your own opinions, not to your own facts.”
Tapper said, “Is that true? Did FBI Director James Comey testify that the repeated comments Hillary Clinton had made to the public about her private email server ‘were truthful’? No, that is not true.”

Tapper set the record straight about which of Hillary Clinton’s emails were classified, which contradicts the Democrat’s campaign spin:

“Hillary Clinton had repeatedly told the public that none of the emails contained information that was classified in any way,” Tapper said, and then proved that was false.

It’s heartening to see that even the mainstream media is now holding Hillary Clinton’s feet to the fire, but she’s already the Democratic nominee. All this truth-telling may be too little, too late.

Source: Breitbart

DAMN! The US Military Takes A Stand Against Obama…HISTORIC & SHOCKING!
“Mutiny,” like “treason,” isn’t a word anyone should throw around lightly. When a distinguished soldier uses it, civilians should sit up and take notice.
Normally no soldier would celebrate a mutiny, either, but these aren’t ordinary times, and the soldier in question is no ordinary man in uniform, either.

Allen West is one such extraordinary man, and he’s penned a lengthy reaction to a new Washington Times report that:

Rifts have emerged between U.S. military leaders and the Obama White House on Washington’s future role in Libya, with the generals questioning the White House’s argument that the recent success against Islamic State shows Libya can go it alone in the fight against terrorism, without direct U.S. assistance.

West starts off:

[Y]ou know something is happening when uniformed members of the military, finally, stand up and openly criticize the state of our force readiness and the lack of strategy. Yes, I know what y’all are saying, what took so long?

The deteriorating situation in Libya is a direct result of Obama’s ill-conceived intervention there. (…)

Now, if this was all happening during a Republican administration, the liberal progressive media would be screaming from the rafters — heck, they still attack Reagan over Iran-Contra. But this is “their guy” and he can do no wrong. Things are slowly unraveling right before Obama’s eyes, but the leftist media will not expose him — or Hillary Clinton — on the issue.

West ends with a dire warning:

The next presidential administration will have the challenge of rebuilding our military while it is in contact with the enemy who has been aided and abetted by the president of the United States, Barack Obama — it happened on his watch, and Libya is a direct result of a failed Obama policy. Then again, if it’s a Hillary Clinton administration, we’ll be getting more of the same.

West also points out that the United States has been at war with Islamists since the days of the Barbary pirates. Obama hasn’t made America any safer from this scourge. Clearly only a Republican successor to the Oval Office will even attempt to do so.

Credit: AllenBWest.com

Dangote Group To Meet Nigeria’s Gas Requirement

Olushola Bello
— Oct 24, 2016 3:47 am | Leave a comment

Nigeria is a well-known leading oil producer and a key member of the Organisation of Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC). It is the highest oil producer in Africa.

Nigeria currently produces about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. While Nigeria is well known for its abundant oil resources, the country is not as well-known for its gas potential. Gas has the potential to power Nigeria and its neighbours and it offers a relatively cheaper, more secure and cleaner way of generating energy.

Ironically, Nigeria appears to be more endowed in gas than oil, yet cannot provide enough natural gas to thermal power plants in the south to generate electricity for use by homes and industries.

It is therefore not surprising that the gas sector has recently been receiving increased attention, especially with the dwindling fortunes of the oil business.

Nigeria’s gas reserve is put at around 180 trillion standard cubic feet (SCF). It is in the top-10 bracket of the world in terms of its gas reserves and it is the leader in Africa. If its enormous gas potential is properly harnessed, Nigeria is capable of experiencing great developmental strides and growth that should naturally accrue to a country as blessed with so much abundant resources as Nigeria is. To achieve its potential, however, Nigeria has to overcome some critical challenges.

As part of its strategy to meet Nigeria’s gas requirements, Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) has recently completed the acquisition of Twister B.V., a company headquartered in the Netherlands.

Twister B.V. delivers reliable, high-yield and robust solutions in natural gas processing and separation to the upstream and midstream oil and gas sectors. Twister’s unique separation capabilities are designed for augmenting production and streamlining processes, to capitalise on high-yield gas processing for maximising revenues. Twister B.V. used to be owned by Shell Technology Ventures Fund 1, before its recent acquisition by DIL together with its partner – First E&P.

Based on sophisticated patented technology, Twister gas plants are typically cheaper to build and operate compared to alternative technologies, and also deliver better performance levels. The company has customers in Nigeria, Malaysia, and South America.

The acquisition complements DIL’s portfolio of investments in the upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of the Oil & Gas sector. The company will help design and build the gas plants which would be critical in processing gas from oil fields for transportation via Dangote’s planned sub-sea pipeline (EWOGGS) for ultimate consumption by various industries and power plants.

The president and CEO of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote said, “This was an important acquisition for us. Twister’s cutting edge gas processing technology is fundamental to delivering our strategy to unlock about 3 bcfd of gas in order to meet Nigeria’s gas needs.”

The CEO of Twister, John Young said “We are delighted in the confidence Dangote Industries Limited and First E&P have shown in Twister to be their core provider of gas separation solutions. After a very thorough due diligence our technology has been recognised as a key enabler to reduce gas project costs which is crucial in this current environment. We are excited to be part of the Dangote family of companies.”

It would be recalled that the refinery and fertilizer projects of Dangote Industries Limited is reported to have the capacity of creating a minimum of 235,000 new jobs, both direct and indirect jobs, as it becomes operational in the first quarter of 2019.

Dangote, who revealed this recently, also stated that the projects would cost a minimum of $17 billion.

He said the $12 billion refinery would have a capacity of 650,000 barrels a day. He assured that there will be market for the refined products because even in Africa, only three countries have effective functioning refinery with others importing from abroad.

Dangote named the countries with refinery as Egypt, South Africa and Cote d’Ivoire, saying “Our refinery will be ready in the first quarter of 2019. Mechanical completion will be end of 2018 but we will start producing in 2019.”

When the projects fully take off in 2019, Dangote said it would help the country save $5 billion spent on the importation of oil into the country.

The refinery, petrochemicals and fertilizer in one spot according to him is the single largest stream in the world. “This site is the biggest site in the world, the refinery is the biggest single refinery in the world, the petrochemicals are 13 times bigger than Eleme Petrochemicals while the fertilizer plant will be 10 times bigger than former National Fertilizer Company. He explained that the project with the $2 billion fertilizer unit was funded through loans, export credit agencies and our own equity.”

Recently, the vice president, prof. Yemi osibanjo at the ninth annual conference of the Nigerian Association of Energy Economics (NAEE) stated that because of Nigeria’s inability to provide gas for her thermal electricity generation plants, the country currently has up to 3132 megawatts (MW) of available electricity generation capacity constrained from getting into the national grid.

He explained that the situation has largely remained as it is because there had been no investment in gas gathering and processing facilities for domestic consumption especially for gas power plants.

He, however, stated that the federal government was determined to sustainably resolve the country’s energy challenges using institutional and regulatory policy framework that will incentivise the development of her natural gas sector.

“It is almost a cliché now to state that Nigeria abundant natural gas reserves and great renewable energy potentials especially in hydro power and high solar irradiation.

“Despite these huge resources, we still face huge energy supply problems. In fact, it is an irony that we do not have sufficient gas to fire our power plants up to 7000MW, yet in energy industry circle, Nigeria is described as more a gas territory than an oil territory,” said Osinbajo.

He further explained, “Currently, the country has over 12,500MW of installed electricity generating capacity, consisting of gas thermal and hydropower plants. About 7,000mw of that is available, however, from the System Operator’s report, the average energy generated and sent out to end users in the past weeks was less than 4,000mw due largely to gas constraints.”

“We have limited gas molecules to supply to the power plants. This is as a result of many years of underinvestment in gas gathering and processing for domestic consumption and also many years of gas flaring.

“In addition, there is also the challenge of inadequate infrastructure to transport the available gas to the power plants due also to lack of investment in gas transportation infrastructure and to vandalism of existing infrastructure,” Osibanjo added.

According to him, the present administration acknowledges that there is no alternative to electric energy for energising and powering Nigeria’s economy to economic growth and development, thus, we are determined to resolve the challenges to achieving sustainable energy supply in the country.

“We are working towards resolving the gas-to-power challenges, ensuring that the needed investments will be made in gas gathering and processing for domestic consumption, especially for power plants,” he said.

Also, stakeholders have said the country needs to increase power production, saying “Nigeria lags behind many of its developing country peers in electricity production per capita. The limited access to power is widely recognised as a critical constraint on growth, and indeed a tragedy given the vast oil and gas reserves in Nigeria.”

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Recession: Dangote group sacks 48 workers On October 24, 20165:33 amIn NewsComments By Daud Olatunji ABEOKUTA—No fewer than 48 workers have been allegedly sacked by Dangote Group due to the economic recession in the country. Vanguard gathered that those affected were 36 expatriate and 12 local staff serving in Dangote Cement Plc and Dangote Industries Limited. Further findings showed that the reason for their sack was in connection with the current high cost of running business in the country, occasioned by unavailability of foreign exchange and the unprecedented hike in exchange rate. In a letter signed by the President/CEO, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, dated October 20, 2016 and obtained by our correspondent, Dangote stated that the group was constrained to take the ‘tough’ decision because of the present high cost of production. Alhaji Aliko Dangote Alhaji Aliko Dangote The letter, entitled Recent Retirement Exercise, however, appreciated those affected, thanking them for their contributions to the group. The letter read in part: “This year has been a very challenging one for us as a business. The unavailability of foreign exchange, coupled with an unprecendented hike in exchange rate has resulted in increased costs across the organisation. “This called for a proper review and adjustment of our costs across board to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the deployment of our factors of production in a bid to eliminate redundancy that we know exist, which resulted in some tough decisions which means losing staff, including some of our colleagues.” “On Friday, October 14, 2016, we began the process of staff cutbacks as it is imperative to review our human capital deployment for required cutbacks that would ensure efficiency and eliminate redundancies in the allocation of human resources. “This first phase of this exercise involved the cutback of 36 expatriate staff across the Dangote Cement Plc and Dangote Industries Limited and 12 local staff in Dangote Industries Limited.” The group, however, promised that it would continue to review and restructure its human capital deployment to ensure optimal allocation of skill sets and size of workforce as an international organisation. The group urged its workers to shun late coming, improper dressing and other unsavoury behaviours in the workplace.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/201....6/10/recession-dango

98% of dairy products in Nigeria are imported – Dangote On October 17, 20167:59 pmIn BusinessComments Lagos – Mr Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Dangote Group, says 98 per cent of all dairy products consumed in the country are imported. Dangote made this assertion in lagos on Monday while addressing some students of the Executive MBA class of the Lagos Business School who visited the Dangote Petrochemical Refinery. He said that the nation was at the risk of hunger in the next few years if the mass food importation was not checked. “Ninety-eight per cent of all the milk and dairy products we consume in Nigeria are imported. Alhaji Aliko Alhaji Aliko “This is why Dangote Group has planned to develop dairy plants, and develop homegrown milk production, to reduce importation. “By 2020, it is estimated that the Nigerian population would have risen to between 207 million and 210 million. If we do not make efforts to grow and process our own foods, God forbid, we will go hungry. “We have been in talks with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on ways we can add value to our local produce, and we have marked massive dairy production for the next three years. “We cannot solve all Nigeria’s problems, but at least we can embrace and add value to areas where we have comparative advantage, ” Dangote said. He said that Dangote Group was the most capitalised company on the stock exchange, with investments which include six ongoing projects that would create not less than 250,000 jobs across the nation. He said that the refinery, which primarily majored in gas plants, petrochemicals and fertilizer production, could generate an annual foreign exchange savings and earnings of 15 billion dollars. He said it would also generate up to 1500 direct jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs in support services and logistics, which would also include up to 22,000 housing facilities. Dangote also said that the East West Onshore Gas Gathering Section (EWOGGS) pipeline of the refinery was a three-billion dollar investment specially dedicated to generate 12,000 mega watts of power for industries. He urged the students and other potential entrepreneurs to endeavour to venture into businesses that they are familiar with. (NAN)

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/201....6/10/98-dairy-produc

Nigeria Collapse Drastically As More Companies Sack Workers, Reduce Production
October 23, 2016 News No comments
nigeria-recession

The Nigeria’s current economic recession has caused anxiety and tension in the country as more companies over the weekend sackad some of their workers and reduced production.

According to report at the weekend, Dansa Foods, one of the companies in the Dangote Group, has not only scaled down its operation and laid off staff, but is also owing its employees up to six months in salaries.

The report by PM News on Saturday, says that the company has been forced to limit its production activities to only Mowa Bottle Water while suspending the production of other items as a consequence of high cost of production occasioned by high exchange rate of naira to the dollar.

We also gathered that an Ibadan-based food manufacturing company had scaled down its staff strength as well as its production level considerably, due to its inability to source raw material.

An employee of the company confided in Sunday Tribune that since the ban on wheat, the company had been facing serious challenges as it had found it difficult to access flour, its major raw material, a situation that had compelled it to cancel its multi-shift operation.

According to the employee who pleaded anonymity, “For over six months now, we have not been able to meet our production target because of our inability to get the critical raw material. As a result of this, our production has gone down. We no longer work on weekends and this has resulted in many of our staff being disengaged. Every remaining member of staff is worried about the trend as we are not sure who would be spared should this trend continue.”

Although the employee said that the company was still paying salaries, he regretted that all other perks had been cancelled.

The development underscores the fact that the food and beverage industry appears especially hit by the inclement economic weather which has rendered many companies in the country comatose.

Earlier in the year, the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTO had lamented that about three million workers in the sector could lose their jobs as major companies in the sector had concluded plans to massively sack their staff because of their inability to access forex and raw materials.

According to Quadri Olaleye, FOBTOB president, already no fewer than 3,405 workers had lost their jobs in the sub-sector.

But the development is not restricted to the food and beverage sector as even banks have been sacking their employees.

Earlier in the year, Diamond Bank Plc sacked about 200 members of its workforce. Explaining the reason for the development, the bank said it was rightsizing. It said the rightsizing was a core strategic exercise in line with the bank’s growth objective “and the will to continue the drive to optimise cost and enhance value for the shareholders at the end of the business year.”

Ecobank Nigeria also sacked over 1,000 of its employees. While confirming the development, the bank said the initial list of those to be sacked had over 1,400 workers but it was later reduced to “a little above 1,000.” It added that about 200 casual staff had their appointment regularized as they were absorbed fully into the bank.

Other banks have also had to retrench some of their staff in the course of the year. These include First Bank, FCMB and Unity Bank, among others.

The disengagement of bank employees attracted the ire of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who issued a statement directing the lenders to stop disengaging their staff.

That has put a stop to the trend in the industry at least for now.

The aviation sector has also had a taste of the bitter pill of mass sacking as quite a number of employees in the industry have had their appointments terminated following the relocation out of the country by some of the operators as a result of the difficulty they encounter with sourcing aviation fuel and repatriating their sales to their headquarters. Iberia and United Airlines are some of the airline operators that have stopped flying into Nigeria.

The media industry has not been spared either as quite a number of newspaper companies have had to lay off their staff.

Two other Lagos-based media outfits are also reportedly about to sack hundreds of their staff in the days and weeks to come as they cold no longer cope with paying salaries.

The major challenge of newspaper companies in the country is with sourcing their major production inputs such as newsprints, films and inks, all of which are imported. The exchange rate of naira to the dollar has made the cost of these items prohibitively expensive.

One of the companies in the industry that recently sacked some of its workforce premised it on the high cost of production “which has made it impossible for us to retain the current wage bill.”

EU Summit refuses to adopt "Syria sanctions" against Russia
October 21, 2016 - Fort Russ News -
RusVesna, RIA Novosti - translated by J. Arnoldski -



As a result of the summit of 28 EU leaders on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, the EU did not adopt new sanctions against Russia over Syria. This is indicated by the summit’s final communique.

However, the adopted document did say that “The European Council condemns the Syrian regime and its allies, including Russia’s attack on civilians in Aleppo.”

Western countries continue to blame Moscow and Damascus for bombardments on civilians and the armed opposition. Syria and Russia insist that strikes are only made against terrorists, and blame the US for being incapable of influencing the so-called “moderate opposition” to disassociate from radicals.

After the summit, Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern stated that not a single EU member country demanded that sanctions be imposed against Russia over Syria.

The Russian president’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, earlier reported that the Kremlin would wait to comment on the possible introduction of sanctions by the EU against Russia over Syria until the final resolution of the European leaders’ summit was adopted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that no concrete problems are solved by sanctions against Russia over Ukraine or Syria, but are merely a policy of containment against Russia to hinder its development.

Russia has repeatedly stated that it wants to develop partnership with the EU, but is compelled to react to unfriendly moves, such as the EU’s imposition of sanctions against Moscow after Crimea’s reunification with Russia and events in Ukraine.

If I were Buhari I will be suspicious of anyone who advises me to ignore Biafra - Soludo - Vanguard News
Biafra: Kanu threw a bait, Nigeria took it
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