Lincoln: “The Yankee Nero,” Comic News, London, 1864
Abraham Lincoln is a butcher who attacks his own people. He is responsible for the blood of countless Americans and has to go. He declared a brutal war on the democratic, peace-loving opposition in the South. There is no end in sight to the bloodshed until Lincoln steps down or is removed from power. We can’t just stand idly by and watch the carnage as the death toll grows by the day. We have to do something!
Mr. Lincoln has lost his legitimacy and is no longer fit to rule!
Yes, that’s right! Not Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but LINCOLN!
If you had lived in London or Paris during the time of the American Civil War, this is the Abraham Lincoln you would have known – not the great (or perhaps greatest) American President, liberator of slaves, preserver of the Union, proponent of the American system of economics, etc. The aristocracy of Great Britain (especially Lord Palmerston) and France were anti-Lincoln and pro-Confederacy, and there was a very strong sentiment among their ranks that Britain and France should intervene in order to stop the bloodshed and help the rebels gain their freedom from the tyrant Lincoln who was not only slaughtering his own people but was even cracking down on the once free press of the United States and exercising total government control over the media. As current US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power would say, Britain and France had the “responsibility to protect”.
The moderate opposition
If all of this sounds very familiar – wait, there’s more!
You’ll never guess in a million years which nation actually intervened in order to stop this planned Anglo-French intervention. Go ahead and try anyway!
Did you say Canada? Sorry, guess again. That was the place where the British troops were waiting to swoop in and bring “peace and freedom”.
Mexico? No, not them either.
Japan? No, you’re thinking of something else.
Did you by any chance say Russia? Really? Russia? The evil Czarist Russian Empire? That’s insane!
What’s even more insane is that you would be correct! It was Russia – Lincoln’s only significant international friend was Czar Alexander II of Russia, and yes, they did intervene on behalf of the Union. If you didn’t hear about this in school, you might want to ask yourself why.
I highly recommend listening to Dr. Webster G. Tarpley’s excellent and scrupulously researched 2013 CSPAN Lecture on the Russian Fleets of 1863:
In 2013, the leader of Russia intervened to keep the peace yet again.
Much more serious was the situation that developed late in the summer of 1862. At that time, as far as any European could see, the Confederacy was beginning to look very much like a winner – a point which James Mason insistently pressed home with British officialdom. The Northern attempt to capture the Confederate capital had failed, Virginia’s soil had been cleared of invaders, and in the East and West alike the Confederates were on the offensive. Minister Adams warned Seward that the British government might very soon offer to mediate the difficulty between North and South, which would be a polite but effective way of intimating that in the opinion of Great Britain the quarrel had gone on long enough and ought to be ended-by giving the South what it wanted. Adams knew what he was talking about. Earl Russell had given Mason no encouragement whatever, but after news of the Second Battle of Bull Pun reached London, he and Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, agreed that along in late September or thereabouts there should be a cabinet meeting at which Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary would ask approval of the mediation proposal. (Implicit in all of this was the idea that if the Northern government should refuse to accept mediation, Britain would go ahead and recognize the Confederacy.) With a saving note of caution, Russell and Palmerston concluded not to bring the plan before the cabinet until they got further word about Lee’s invasion of the North. If the Federals were beaten, then the proposal would go through; if Lee failed, then it might be well to wait a little longer before taking any action.
Undeniable, glaringly obvious facts about the US, Russia & Syria that people need to get into their heads:http://tinyurl.com/qx5fbyf
Keep this little history lesson in mind the next time the media start another smear campaign against whatever evil dictator du jour finds his or her way onto the Pentagon hit list.
Terms like “the responsibility to protect”, “moderate rebels”, “humanitarian intervention”, and “evil dictator” are usually nothing more than doublespeak dreamed up by some PR agency. Ask the people of Libya what they think of the US / EU “humanitarian intervention” now that they live in the chaos and hell that followed the removal of their “evil dictator” from power.
If nothing else, consider all the taxpayer money wasted on these interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, just to name a few. You pay for all of this.
Ignore the consequences of endless foreign interventions at your own peril.
Rest in peace, little boy.
Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend the general cause, by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself, beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. The frontlet upon her brows would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of freedom and independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an imperial diadem, flashing in false and tarnished lustre the murky radiance of dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the world: she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.
1. The democratically-elected government of Syria invited Russia to help them fight ISIS and related terrorist groups. This is in accordance with international law (host-state consent, intervention by invitation). The United States was never invited by the Syrian government to intervene.
2. There are no moderate rebels fighting against the government of Syria. The moderate opposition is in the parliament. The armed opposition outside the parliament that’s attempting to overthrow the government are terrorists. These so-called “moderate” rebels are linked with well-known terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Nusra, and are responsible for handing US weapons over to ISIS. It is simply a matter of playing with words to speak of moderate rebels or relatively moderate rebels or reconcilables as Former CIA Director and CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus recently put it. The reconcilable, relatively moderate Syrian rebels are doing the same things and pose the same threat to civilization that ISIS, ISIL, or IS do.
Can we get over this “moderate Syrian rebels” myth, for crying out loud? There is no “moderate” opposition running around with machine guns and shooting at people, even if the people they’re shooting at are all military and police. What would you call, say, “moderate” Tea Party rebels (and this is totally hypothetical) trying to remove Obama from office through an armed uprising? Would you call that a “legitimate” and “pro-democracy” moderate opposition? And what would you call it if another country actively supported and funded it? Would it matter to you if you approved of President Obama’s activities or not?
Bashar al-Assad: Do you have military opposition in the United States? Would you accept it? You wouldn’t!
3. Bashar al-Assad (the democratically-elected leader of Syria) has never attacked and has never even threatened to attack the United States.
Assad has warned of blowback against the West if they attack Syria, but he has never threatened the United States or the NATO allies. Newspapers such as The Guardian try to spin his warnings into direct threats:
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has hinted at terrorist reprisals against western interests in the event of a US strike against his country, saying he could not rule out that chemical weapons might be used.
If you read his actual statements, it becomes clear that Assad is simply warning of repercussions in the region (or blowback) as many western analysts have also said:
Assad: “If you strike somewhere, you have to expect repercussions somewhere else. It may take different forms, direct and indirect. Direct when governments want to retaliate, and indirect when you are going to have instability and the spread of terrorism over the region that will influence the west directly.”
Asked if chemical warfare could be one repercussion, Assad added: “That depends if the rebels or the terrorists in this region or any other group have it. It could happen. You are going to pay the price if you are not wise with dealing with terrorists.”
What he is saying is factual and based on historical precedent – if you attack Syria, you will unleash forces that neither I (Assad) nor you (the West) can predict or control. This is actually a friendly warning and nothing more.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has also made the same type of warning to Russia for being involved in Syria, but the Western media do not attempt to spin this into a direct threat.
4. The refugee crisis in Europe was caused by ISIS and their allies, the “moderate” Syrian rebels, not Assad.
5. The regime-change policies of the United States have ended in catastrophe in every case.
6. “Humanitarian intervention” means war. This is doublespeak.
“Police actions” are wars. The Vietnam “conflict” or “police action” was a war, and it doesn’t matter what words are used to designate it.
“Kinetic military actions with no boots on the ground” are wars. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a kinetic military action with no boots on the ground, and it was indeed an act of war.
This also applies to the following (real) examples: limited operations; time-limited, scope-limited military action; a very limited operation that is geared to save lives; an unbelievably small military action; a response to violations of a norm; surge; overseas contingency operation; humanitarian mission; nation-building mission; action limited in duration and scope; a signal; the authorized use of force; a very limited, very targeted, short-term effort; putting enablers on the ground.
7. The US and UK governments lied about Saddam Hussein having nuclear weapons. They invaded Iraq and overthrew his government. The US, UK, and France lied about Muammar Gaddafi killing peaceful protesters and overthew his government. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton then gloated over his brutal death. The US and UK lied about Assad using chemical weapons on his own supporters. They’ve been obsessed with overthrowing his government ever since.
8. If pro-American, anti-Russia propaganda is OK, then so is Russian propaganda. The difference is that the US media does it on a much larger scale with a lot more money and bigger audiences, and relies more on lies (eg. Saddam’s nuclear weapons), deception, doublespeak (eg. kinetic military actions), twisted logic, blatant hypocrisy (eg. accusing Russia of bombing “moderate” rebels in Syria at the same time the US bombed a hospital in Afghanistan), constantly claiming to be unbiased (eg. Fox News), and faked evidence (eg. the September Dossier).
A bias in reporting the news will always be present – it can’t be avoided. In telling any story, decisions have to be made about what to leave in and what to leave out. It is impossible to present every angle to a story and to do so in an entirely neutral way. Nor is this necessarily a bad thing. Who, for example, would care to see the History Channel give a “fair and balanced” or unbiased account of Nazi Germany, giving equal time and weight to both the pro- and anti-Nazi sides?
Nearly the entire US media tells the US side (or the Pentagon side) while bashing Putin at every opportunity. Why shouldn’t Russia be allowed to tell their side of the story? Why is it always propaganda when they do it, and “investigative journalism” when we do it?
9. Russian news outlets RT and Sputnik are state-funded.So is the BBC. In shaping public opinion against the Assad government and their supposed war crimes against the Syrian people, the BBC and other news outlets have relied heavily upon “evidence” gathered from “experts” such as Eliot Higgins (an unemployed office worker with no training in weapons) and his Brown Moses blog. There is also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (according to Wikipedia: cited by virtually every western news outlet since the beginning of the uprising), which is run by Rami Abdulrahman (a shop owner in Coventry, England) from his home.
10. Russia (unprovoked) poses no threat to American national security – on the contrary, they are vital partners in the national security of the United States. Russia has neither attacked nor even threatened to attack the United States or Europe.
On September 11, 2001, Vladimir Putin was the first international leader to call President George Bush to express his sympathy and to offer the support of Russia in the war on terror. When the US was preparing to launch the invasion of Afghanistan, Putin said, “Russia will continue to provide intelligence information we have collected on the infrastructure, location and training of international terrorists.” He also allowed and coordinated for the US the use of former Soviet military bases in central Asia. Until 2015, Russia generously gave the US and NATO allies access to Afghanistan through a vital transit route for military and non-lethal supplies.
On two occasions, Russian authorities warned the US government about the Tsarnaev brothers who were accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings.
When the US and UK governments were planning a lunatic invasion of Syria over the made-up story of Assad gassing his own people, it was not Obama (the Nobel Peace Prize winner) who prevented the US from leaping into yet another Iraq war disaster, it was Putin and Lavrov who gave Obama a way of getting out of his foolish “red line” promise. It was Putin and Lavrov who saved American and British kids from getting plunged into the chaos of the Syrian Civil War.
And now Russia is joining Assad in the fight against ISIS in Syria. This means that Russian soldiers are now putting their lives at risk instead of Americans. Isn’t this worth our gratitude?
11. Putin never said that he wants to bring back the Soviet Union. Here’s what he said:
“Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory. Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself.”
“Anyone who doesn’t regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.”
12. Syria, Ukraine, and Crimea are all of vital national security interest to Russia. Russia has close ties to Assad and has a naval base in Syria, as well as in Crimea. The United States may have some security or economic interests in Syria, but is currently unwelcomed there. The United States has countless military bases all over the world. Ukraine and Crimea represent no national security interests for the United States.
13. The US strategy in Syria has been muddle-headed (at best) and doomed to failure from the beginning. This is due in large part to the unwillingness of the US government to work with Assad. Instead, the US has adopted the hopeless strategy of working with so-called moderate rebels to overthrow Assad while at the same time fighting terrorist groups who also seek to overthrow Assad. The worst-kept secret in the world is that these “moderate” rebels have been working with ISIS to overthrow Assad all along. As pointed out by Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Javad Zarif in an interview with Charlie Rose, the US government didn’t care about ISIS until they started attacking Iraq. Before that, the US was content to sit back and watch ISIS attack the Syrian government.
Now, after over a year of fighting ISIS, the US and NATO allies have achieved practically nothing.
In spite of this, we still have people like David Ignatius, one of the US State Dept. mouthpieces at The Washington Post, saying that the Pentagon needs to find a more secretive way to work with al Qaeda in Syria: “The Pentagon needs to assess immediately why this overt, U.S.-backed program failed so badly, and whether it can be rebuilt. A better bet may be the CIA’s covert training program, whose fighters can make tactical battlefield deals with Jabhat al-Nusra without publicly allying with it.”
By working with the government of Syria and refusing to work with any terrorist groups, Russia has a much better chance of eliminating the threat of ISIS and alleviating the refugee crisis in Europe. This should be cause for celebration everywhere.
14. Everyone, starting with the United States, should be happy that Russia is fighting terrorists in Syria, but instead they whine, criticize, and even threaten military retaliation against Russia!
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov: “One would think the world should applaud, but then we have US and the West worrying about ISIL losses. Yesterday they said it was evil, yet as soon as Russian aviation started conducting airstrikes, they suddenly condemn bombings and call for taking measures against Russia. But there’s the nation behind our army, and nobody cares about the West’s whining.”
Among the lunatics in the US who have actually called for military action against Russia to protect our so-called “assets” in Syria, we have: Presidential candidates Carly Fiorina and Senator Marco Rubio, career Russophobe Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Senator John McCain. I submit to you that these people are traitors to the real national security interests of the United States. These fascist lunatics talk about “standing up to Russia” and protecting our “assets” in Syria, but nobody wants to call it what it really would be: World War III. We have no assets in Syria worth that! We need to get our ASSETS out of Syria now if they’re so important, and anyway, didn’t we already say NO several times to “intervention” in Syria?
15. Obama’s (now former) ISIS Czar General John Allen conducted the “fight” against ISIS by doing everything possible to undermine the main enemy of ISIS – Assad. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has employed the same strategy by working to overthrow Assad, bombing ISIS a little from time to time, bombing the Kurds (true enemies of ISIS and effective fighters as well) a lot, and refusing to seal the Syria-Turkey border, allowing ISIS terrorists in and out of Syria. Erdogan’s daughter even runs a covert hospital to treat wounded ISIS terrorists!
15. Globalization (including the Washington Consensus and global free trade policies with America as the world policeman) has been an unmitigated disaster for the entire world, including the United States.
The unipolar world led by the United States as the lone superpower (otherwise known as the world police) has not led to a golden age of universal democracy and freedom and the free market utopia promised in the post-USSR 90s. It has led instead to a world of brutal IMF-style austerity, out-of-control speculation and toxic derivatives markets, the absolute rule of finance capitalism in place of industrial capitalism, a Wall Street / military-industrial-complex oligarchy with an utterly subservient, toothless political class to do their bidding (lest the Too-Big-To-Fails fail and the apocalypse ensues, bringing, so they say, death, destruction, anarchy and martial law), seemingly endless wars (not of conquest of land, but of the vital assets and resources of nations), nation-building (doublespeak for attacking nations), CIA-backed color revolutions and uprisings (the disastrous Arab Spring, the Euromaidan in Kiev), speculation-driven financial warfare on nations such as Greece (followed of course by demands for ruthless, barbaric austerity), and low-wage, rip-off, monetarist economies in place of the high-wage, productive labor-oriented economies of the past, just to name a few glorious triumphs of the globalized / free trade world. The living standards of the lower and middle classes have declined throughout Europe and America, while the wealthiest of the wealthy, the one percent of the one percent, have acquired ungodly, incalculable wealth, expanding the gap between the rich and the poor to unprecedented levels. Borders open up everywhere, first world jobs are lost, third world sweat shops thrive, profits roll in, bankers rejoice, the jobless recovery is trumpeted from the mountaintops, and Ross Perot’s “giant sucking sound” gets louder and louder year after year.
The return to a multipolar world will not solve all of these problems, nor will socialism, or communism, or Bernie Sanders, or anything we can imagine. Jeremy Corbyn can’t save us and neither can Putin. But as Russia takes back their rightful place as a global power, along with China and the BRICS nations, what we can now hope for is the beginning of the end of Francis Fukuyama’s prophesied pseudo-Hegelian “End of History” American style – the ultimate and utter triumph of “Washington Consensus” liberal democracy, small (and feckless) government dominated by multi-national corporations and cocaine-addicted Wall Street speculators, and at the very least we can hope for an end to the nightmare of the lunatic “Wolfowitz Doctrine” neocon wars to spread democracy and topple governments around the world without any meaningful dissent. As Peter Lavelle put it, “Finally we are witnessing the first steps beyond the post-Cold War order – and praise God for this!” Since the neolibs and neocons couldn’t care less what the people think about all of this, we should all welcome Vladimir Putin’s insistent NYET, and we should all be asking our leaders the same question Putin put to them at the UN General Assembly:
Marco Rubio Would Risk War With Russia In Order To Enforce Safe Zone In Syria:http://tinyurl.com/qc55qkb
War Psychosis Grips Washington Elites as Russia Hits CIA’S Pet Syrian Terrorist Rebels with Ship-Launched Cruise Missiles from Caspian Sea:http://tinyurl.com/p434lzu
Soros-Sponsored NGO (The White Helmets) in Syria Aims at Ousting Assad, Not Saving Civilians:http://tinyurl.com/p9txfcb
Counting the Dead in Syria:
Consistent with earlier analyses, most people who have tragically lost their lives in Syria are not civilians, but rather active combatants. This is worth bearing in mind when U.S. senators repeat the inaccurate statement that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has “massacred” 200,000 of his own people.
When you said you were going to bomb the terrorists, we didn’t think you were serious!
The US couldn’t find any “moderate” rebels in 3 years. Apparently the Russians did within 24 hours! – Mark Adomanis
The anti-Putin, Russophobe whine-fest is about to reach a new peak of absurdity as the US accuses Russia of bombing the moderate Syrian rebels instead of ISIS – the problem is that there has never been a “moderate” opposition in Syria distinguishable from ISIS. This is why more than a year of American “attacks” on ISIS have yielded no results. The US has been supporting and funding the “moderate” opposition to Assad while supposedly attacking ISIS, only to find that our own weapons end up in the hands of ISIS! And now, Russia is going after all of them, whatever they may call themselves: ISIS, ISIL, IS, Nusra, al Qaeda, the moderate Syrian rebels, the Free Syria Army, the moderate Syrian ISIS terrorists…
So now, the message Russia is getting from Washington is: stop bombing the Nusra branch of al Qaeda and bomb the ISIS branch of al Qaeda! But since they all work together to overthrow President Assad, they are all on the same side and completely indistinguishable from each other.
The US government and military-industrial complex are furious at Vladimir Putin for coming to the UNGA in New York and trolling everyone by offering to help America in the fight against ISIS, because the sad truth is, America has not been fighting ISIS – they have, along with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, been trying to remove Assad from power at all costs. Putin (displaying the skills of both master statesman and expert troll) called everyone on this bluff and left the “international community” with a question which will echo down through the years as the iconic quote of the age of the War on Terror: DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU’VE DONE?
So let the next round of hysterical Russia-bashing begin!
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Russian Airstrike in Syria Targeted CIA-Backed Rebels, U.S. Officials Say
Russia launched airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday, catching U.S. and Western officials off guard and drawing new condemnation as evidence suggested Moscow wasn’t targeting extremist group Islamic State, but rather other opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. One of the airstrikes hit an area primarily held by rebels backed by the Central Intelligence Agency and allied spy services, U.S. officials said, catapulting the Syrian crisis to a new level of danger and uncertainty. Moscow’s entry means the world’s most powerful militaries—including the U.S., Britain and France—now are flying uncoordinated combat missions, heightening the risk of conflict in the skies over Syria. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Russia’s approach to the Syrian war—defending Mr. Assad while ostensibly targeting extremists—was tantamount to “pouring gasoline on the fire.” “I have been dealing with them for a long time. And this is not the kind of behavior that we should expect professionally from the Russian military,” Mr. Carter said at a Pentagon news conference. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and said he raised U.S. concerns about attacks that target regime opponents other than Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. In Syria’s multi-sided war, Mr. Assad’s military—aided by Iran and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah—is fighting both Islamic State and opposition rebel groups, some of which are supported by the U.S. and its allies.
Don’t expect a lot of thanks from the US, Russia, but maybe the Europeans will at least give you a tip of the hat for doing something constructive to address the refugee crisis!
Webster G. Tarpley: After a year of phony war vs ISIS, US whines that Russia is hitting al Qaeda-Nusra, not al Qaeda-ISIS.
Jeffrey Laubach: “Enough is enough. Mainstream media are now reporting that Russian airstrikes targeted “Western-backed moderate” rebel forces, rather than ISIS. Please keep in mind that the U.S. just cancelled a failed program to train and arm “moderate” rebel forces that spent $500 million and yielded only a few dozen fighters who are now either dead or have defected to al-Qaeda. So now who is this magical army of moderate freedom fighters that the Western governments are supposedly backing that the Russians have just hit? The FSA? The same second rate mafia made up of thieves and brigands who have made absolutely no secret of their alliance with al-Qaeda? Or is it the Islamic Front? The so-called “moderate” Islamists backed by Saudi Arabia whose leader, Zahran Alloush (who’s known to carry a Hello Kitty notebook) has openly called for the extermination of all of Syria’s Alawis and Shias? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
This Is How Russia Handles Terrorists: Moscow Releases Video Of Syria Strikes
Now that Russia has officially begun conducting airstrikes on anti-regime forces operating in Syria, commentators, pundits, and analysts around the world will be keen to compare and contrast the results of Moscow’s efforts with the year-old US-led air campaign against ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq. Clearly, Russia has a very real incentive to ensure that its airstrikes are effective. Preserving the global balance of power means preserving the Assad regime and, by extension, ensuring that Iran maintains its regional influence. On the other hand, the US and its regional allies actually have an incentive to ensure that their airstrikes are minimally effective. That is, for the US, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, the idea is not to kill Frankenstein, but rather to ensure that he doesn’t escape the lab.
Russia in Syria: When the propaganda is kind of true – Russia bombing ‘U.S.-trained’ nutjobs
Kerry and Lavrov both know what’s really going on here: the U.S. has numerous assets among the terrorist groups, it doesn’t really want them defeated, but it must make a show of it in order to keep up the public pretense of wanting to fight terrorism. Perhaps Russia is even giving the U.S. and its allies a chance to remove key assets from within their mercenary groups operating in Syria. There’s not much else they can do, having been cornered by Russia’s quick action. And, what? No mention of Assad resigning? Whodathunkit! Kerry basically admitted defeat, and Lavrov didn’t even gloat. After being caught with their pants down, the U.S.’s options are rather limited at this point in time in response to Russia. But they’re really trying their best, making two basic claims via the media: 1) Russia isn’t really targeting ISIS, 2) Russia is killing civilians. For example, yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that at least one airstrike targeted U.S.-trained and -supported rebels.
Vladimir Putin:The only real way to fight international terrorism is to take the initiative and fight and destroy the terrorists in the territory they have already captured rather than waiting for them to arrive on our soil.
ISIS ON THE RUN: Russian Airstrikes Totally Obliterate Terrorist Forces in Just 72 Hours
Russian Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov said that “intelligence has captured that militants are leaving the areas under their control”, and, most importantly, he added that “panic and desertion have begun in their ranks. About 600 mercenaries have left their positions and are trying to get to Europe”. Due to this runaway success, Kartapolov said “we will not only continue conducting our airstrikes, but will also increase their intensity”
Keep in mind that during the anti-Assad “regime change” hysteria of 2013, not one shred of hard evidence that “Assad gassed his own people” was ever put forward by the lunatic, fascist neocons and mush-head, neolib humanitarian bombers:
Did Assad gas his own people, or is this a false flag attack by the opposition?http://tinyurl.com/n9pkd69
Any attempts by the Western media to present “evidence” have usually come from utterly dubious sources like the unemployed office-worker Eliot Higgins of the Brown Moses blog:
Obama Accuses Russia of Going After America’s “Good Guy Terrorists”
Russia is being blamed for targeting a terrorist entity which is not only on the UN Security Council blacklist but which has ties to the Islamic State (ISIS).
Max Abrahms: The Pentagon suspended the train & equip program because we couldn’t find moderates. But now we’re told moderates abound & are under attack.
The Saudis are furious at Russia for bombing their “moderate” terrorists:
There is no difference between McCain’s “moderate” terrorist friends and ISIS – none! McCain is very much part of the problem. This is why Russia has to clean this mess up, because after the US enables ISIS to take over Syria, they will be in Russia! Thank God McCain is not President!
And thank God for Russia!
#Lavrov: We are not planning to expand airstrikes to Iraq, we weren’t asked; we are #politepeople
Peter Lavelle:Finally we are witnessing the first steps beyond the post-Cold War order – and praise God for this! For the last two decades Washington has been sloppy and arrogant in its foreign policy all over the world. It has acted like a criminal – like when the police are on strike or non-existent. The Syrian civil war (encouraged by the west) and the migrant/refugee crisis intentionally or unintentionally created by the west are clear examples of this. Russia’s enhanced intervention in Syria (at the invitation of the Damascus government) is a game changer. Washington and its minions need to stop playing God and return to environment of diplomacy and negotiations.
“We in Russia, and me personally a few years ago, said it straight that pervasive problems would emerge, if our so-called Western partners continue maintaining their flawed … foreign policy, especially in the regions of the Muslim world, Middle East, North Africa, which they pursue to date… I think the crisis was absolutely expected.”
“… if we act unilaterally and argue about the quasi-democratic principles and procedures for certain areas, that will lead us to an even greater impasse.”
Remember that it was Vladimir Putin who warned the US to back off the planned humanitarian (regime change) invasion of Syria in 2013 with his historic New York Times op ed:
A Plea for Caution From Russia:
Putin: The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance. Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.
Putin – People flee from Syria because of ISIS, not Assad regime:
“Of course, we know that there are different approaches to Syria. By the way, people are running away not from the regime of Bashar Assad, but from Islamic State, which seized large areas in Syria and Iraq, and are committing atrocities there. That is what they are escaping from,” RIA Novosti quoted Vladimir Putin as saying on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
Russia Was Right About How to Deal with Syrian Crisis:
Russia’s assistance might’ve helped the Syrian crisis long ago if only the West would’ve listened, according to Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö.
According to (Finland’s former president Martti) Ahtisaari, Russia had been willing to cooperate with the West since 2012, but the US and the UK were only interested in removing Assad. “Ahtisaari was right,” Niinistö told Nykypäivä ja Verkkouutiset.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said everything you ever really needed to know about the refugee crisis… in August 2013! (while former British Secretary of State William Hague also took the opportunity at the time to demonstrate that he’s a hopeless scoundrel).
Russia warns West over ‘illegal’ Syria intervention:
“Lavrov warned that in any case Western intervention on the side of the opposition forces would be a “grave mistake” and scupper any hopes of convening a peace conference to resolve the conflict. “If anyone thinks that destroying Syria’s military infrastructure and leaving the battleground open for the opposition to take victory would be the end of it, that is an illusion,” said Lavrov. Speaking at a hastily convened news conference, he (Lavrov) added that the West was currently moving towards “a very dangerous path, a very slippery path”.
His comments came after William Hague today refused to rule out bombing Assad regime targets within days, warning that the Syrian regime could not be allowed to use chemical weapons against its own people “with impunity”, following an alleged attack last week in which at least 355 people were killed and 3,600 injured.”
Hague said the UK did not rule out anything for the future as the situation in Syria was unpredictable and may get even worse. He reiterated that to date, the help the UK was giving the Syrian opposition was largely made up of a humanitarian nature and was designed to save lives.
The Syrian “opposition” as Hague called them, also described as the “moderate Syrian rebels”, has never been anything other than ISIS! The entire point of the Anglo-American-EU outrage over the situation in Syria from day one has been the removal of Assad from power and the continuation of the destabilization of the Middle East. Control over resources and pipeline routes is one of the main motives, as most people are able to deduce, but it must also be kept in mind that Syria is more or less within the Russian sphere of influence, and Assad is a key ally to Russia. Those who are unable to connect the dots regarding Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Russia, the EU, and the US (as well as US allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey) are likely to be led astray by mainstream media talking heads who tend to separate these matters in order to more easily demonize Putin and Assad.
Studying the works of key Western insiders like Zbigniew Brzezinski helps to clear away the fog of confusion which currently prevails in Europe and the Anglo-American world.
Brzezinski Mapped Out the Battle for Ukraine in 1997:
Assad is not and never has been the problem – Erdogan is!
The duplicitous Turkish leader Erdogan also blames the West.
On Thursday, Erdogan “expressed with sorrow” that some European countries have “double standards,” slamming the West for drowning “humanity,” Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Erdogan is one of the biggest problems in the Middle East right now. Everyone who is freaking out over Iran needs to shift the focus of their hysteria to this guy. Turkey claims to be fighting ISIS, while in reality continuing to bomb the Kurds – the people who are actually fighting ISIS and doing so successfully. All that Erdogan’s pathetic bombing campaigns against ISIS are doing is driving them closer to Iran and Russia. He’s using the Syrian civil war as an excuse to attack Assad, thinking some day he can carve off a few slices of Syria for his neo-Ottoman empire.
Anyone who is attacking Assad right now is out of their mind!
The myth that Assad gassed his own supporters (in the vicinity of the UN building the day before the weapons inspectors were due to arrive) has been conclusively debunked by numerous investigative journalists. Here is my contribution from those deeply Orwellian days of 2013:
Did Assad gas his own people, or is this a false flag attack by the opposition?
The cynicism and hypocrisy of the neocons and “humanitarian” neolibs knows no bounds – blaming the refugee crisis on Assad and using this as an excuse to bomb Syria! When you think about the Syrian boy lying face down on the beach, remember the neocon lunatics who see this as an opportunity for regime change in Syria. Erdogan is also posturing over this picture – yes, the ISIS caliph himself! The man who could allow these refugees to pass to Europe over land, BUT DOESN’T! That boy’s blood is on Erdogan’s hands!
No more humanitarian bombing! No more Libyan adventures, no more Syrian adventures! Work with Assad, work with Putin. Anything else is nuts!
Beware the do-gooders who never give up on their dream of bombing Syria and removing Assad!
Piers Morgan wrote an article in the Daily Mail in which he puts the blame on us, the West! This is largely true, thanks to all the humanitarian bombers, the neolib R2Pers, and our old friends the neocon madmen who started everything with the criminal invasion of Iraq. Morgan says that we now have to “make it right”, which suggests duplicity and neoliberal delusion on his part.
PIERS MORGAN: Don’t shut your eyes to this picture because WE did this. Now we have to make it right:
The method of doublespeak being used by The Sun is similar:
“bringing an end to the war” = bombing Syria now!
British PM David Cameron, on the other hand, does not even attempt to conceal his chicanery with doublespeak, opting instead to flaunt his stupidity and repugnant nature as some kind of badge of honor.
Assad & ISIS responsible for drowned Syrian boy, says Cameron:
Prime Minister David Cameron has blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad and Islamic State militants for the “terrible scenes” on Europe’s beaches as the refugee crisis worsens. Speaking after MPs from across the political spectrum called for Britain to accept more refugees, Cameron said the crisis needs a “comprehensive solution” which includes a new government in Libya and being “tough” on Assad…
Funny how Syrians didn’t flee en masse from Assad’s “tyranny” before the uprising of the “moderate” rebels, and Libyans didn’t flee Gaddafi’s Libya but are fleeing “liberated” Libya.
Isn’t it also odd that all the Samantha Powers, Eliot Higginses, and similar neolib R2Pers and Euro-do-gooders were willing to spare no cost to “save” the children then, but not so much now?
Europe can’t afford to take care of so many refugees (from conflicts they started), but they can give hundreds of millions of euros to the Ukrainian Nazis!
Whenever you see that heartbreaking, iconic photograph of poor Aylan Kurdi (and it is indeed heartbreaking – I don’t do a lot of crying myself, and I don’t like to wear my emotions on my sleeve, but I cry almost every time I see or think about that poor, innocent toddler lying face down on the beach), do not forget for one second where the blame lies!
The blame lies squarely with: US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ISIS Czar General John Allen, US Secretary of State John Kerry, former British Secretary of State William Hague, the shameless, pathetic Brown Moses Blog liar and BBC’s go-to weapons “expert” Eliot Higgins, Keating Five and 47 Traitors member, and ISIS supporter – US Senator John McCain, and former CIA director David Petraeus, among many others, including the rotten Saudi royal family, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (who takes every opportunity to attack Assad), and to some degree the pathetic President Obama, who has, however, lately backed off the lunatic agenda of warmongering in the Middle East, so we can give him the benefit of the doubt for now – something we are not willing to do for his predecessor, the idiot George W. Bush and his insane VP Dick Cheney.
Soros-funded White Helmets are in Syria rescuing terrorists and attacking Assad:
Don’t let anyone fool you: Sectarian strife in Syria has been engineered to provide cover for a war for access to oil and gas, and the power and money that come along with it:
If you ask why the Maidan uprising took place in late 2013 to early 2014, you’ll get different answers depending on who you ask. If you ask anyone who is familiar with the Brzezinski Plan (See: The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski) and understands CIA color revolution / destabilization strategies and neoliberal soft power politics, they will tell you that the Maidan coup happened as a result of US State Department, CIA, EU, and western NGO / foundation-funded meddling. Of course we shouldn’t leave out Victoria Nuland’s friends at Chevron who also sponsored the Maidan coup!
If you ask others, perhaps those who watched the famous viral video entitled “I am a Ukrainian” and were moved to tears by the emotional pleas of the young actress posing as a brave activist, they may tell you that the people of Ukraine rose up against their pro-Russia government because they wanted “freedom.”
But freedom from what? Freedom from Russia? Is that all? Has Russia oppressed Ukraine so horribly in recent years, since the fall of the USSR and Ukraine’s independence from Russia which was won without a single shot being fired? Surely the people who gathered in Maidan must have had some notion of economic freedom as well? Freedom from want – call it what you may. Freedom and democracy are simply a means to an end, and that end is usually regarded in one way or another to be economic prosperity, or at least freedom from the economic oppression of a ruling oligarchical class.
So one question is rarely asked in this regard: what has the new government of Ukraine done for Ukrainians? What have they delivered besides bombs and Russophobic rhetoric? What have they actually done for the economy? Does anyone even remember the mantra – it’s the economy, stupid?
Well, it depends which government you’re talking about. If you mean the government in Kiev, led nowadays by the candy oligarch Poroshenko, they have done very little apart from killing eastern Ukrainians (at the time of writing, Shirokino and Gorlovka in Donetsk are being shelled by Ukrainian forces, with women and children among the many casualties) and making fools of themselves on the world stage with their hysterical Russophobic raving and extreme tolerance of open fascists, many of whom occupy positions of power within the government.
If, however, you mean the government of Novorossiya, they have done a lot of very real, and very promising, things in a very short period of time.
Let’s take a look first at what the new government of Kiev has to offer
In the words of Professor Stephen Cohen, there is “a deepening economic, financial, political and military crisis in Kiev… The regime is becoming wobbly. It can’t do anything except call for war.”
It all actually started before Maidan with the Ukraine EU Association Agreement which then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign, and with good reason.
According to Alexander Mercouris of Russia Insider, the agreement calls for Ukraine to surrender “regulation of its economy to the EU in Brussels. Questions of regulation of Ukraine’s economy will no longer be decided by the Ukrainian government and parliament in Kiev, but by the European Council and the EU Commission in Brussels.” This, by the way, comes with no commitment on the part of the EU to actually accept Ukraine as a member of the EU. “Ukraine is surrendering control of its economy to the EU without the corresponding benefit of EU membership” says Mercouris.
And then there’s the IMF. Crimea’s deputy prime minister, Olga Kovitidi, described the “tentative agreement with the IMF which the Ukrainian authorities signed with the IMF on March 2, 2014.” In an article for Voice of Russia she revealed that “the country’s entire gas pipeline system will be handed over for free” to Chevron, “while the owners of the Mariupol, Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk steel mills will be obliged to surrender their 50% stakes to Germany’s Ruhr.”
She continues:
The Donbass coal industry will be handed over to Ruhr’s subsidiary in Finland… Gas prices for municipal companies will have to be increased by 50% and for private will double. Electricity tariffs will be raised by 40%, housing utility tariffs will be raised, too, gasoline excises will go up 60% and transportation tariffs 50%, while state support for childbirth will be cancelled, the free distribution of textbooks will be annulled at schools and the VAT relief will be scrapped in rural regions… VAT will be introduced on medications, which will push up prices and bring citizens’ living standards down… The planned annulment of the moratorium on the sale of farmland looks appalling. The selloff of Ukraine’s black soil zone, including to foreign countries, may have disastrous economic and social consequences.
Fast-forward to June 1, 2015, and believe it or not, the situation is worse than Olga Kovitidi could have imagined! From TASS News Agency:
Ukraine has stopped paying out welfare payments for pensioners, World War Two veterans, people with disabilities, liquidators of the Chernobyl disaster beginning with Monday, since the law of December 28, 2014, on stabilizing the financial condition of the state has come into force. It affects practically all social security beneficiaries, without defining the mechanisms for providing targeted assistance to low-income groups. Kiev has eliminated transport, healthcare, utilities and financial benefits for former prisoners of Nazi concentration camps and recipients of some Soviet-era orders and titles. Compensations to families with children living in the areas contaminated by radiation from the Chernobyl accident will be no longer paid either.
By February of 2015, RT reported that “Ukrainian supermarkets have imposed rationing of basic products after the drastic fall in the value of the hryvnia. The currency has lost 70 percent of its value causing people to stockpile food and buy electronics as a hedge.”
In May of 2015, Reuters reported that “Ukraine faces highest inflation since 1996.”
Valentyna Lozova, a Kiev-based accountant and business owner said (as reported by Bloomberg) that her business “is about to close and there are many more like it… Salaries aren’t rising, inflation is galloping and the hryvnia’s (Ukraine’s currency) in freefall. I’m afraid of the future.”
I challenge anyone to point out one measure, anything at all, which has been implemented by the Kiev circus masquerading as a government since 2014, that provides any benefit to the people of Ukraine – not the banks, not the oligarchs, not the IMF or EU, but the people. You know – the 99%!
Novorossiya – a huge social experiment and dirigist economic recovery program
Compare this nightmare of IMF/EU austerity and oligarchical government with Novorossiya. According to author and historian Dr. Webster G. Tarpley, who has recently visited the Donetsk Republic on two separate occasions, a huge social experiment is underway in the Donetsk Republic.
This is what an economic recovery plan looks like.
Boris Litvinov, member of the joint parliament of Novorossiya (Lugansk and Donetsk Republics), speaking to visiting western journalists such as Webster Tarpley and Pepe Escobar, reports that the fledgling government of Novorossiya has nationalized the entire banking system – all private banks have been made national or shut down. The bank of Ukrainian multibillionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi (a citizen of Ukraine, Israel, and Cyprus) has been seized, kept open, nationalized and used to start paying pensions again. For those in the United States who dream of ending or (better yet) nationalizing the Federal Reserve, these moves are exemplary, and alone should be sufficient cause to pop open some champagne and give a nice round of applause.
Webster Tarpley writes on tarpley.net:
The Kiev regime had ostentatiously cut off pensions and other social benefits it owed to residents of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. Kiev regime boss Poroshenko formally promised at the Minsk 2 accords to resume these payments, but so far has failed to do so. But now the DPR has stepped in to make the payments for April, using the nationalized bank branches formerly controlled by the oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi.
Litvinov: “the state needs to push”
Novorossiya is implementing an ambitious program of strong dirigism, and a revolution built on the rejection of the Maidan-style “national fascism” as they call it.
In an interview with Halyna Mokrushyna for New Cold War.org in November 2014, he said, “we do not want Kyiv’s idea of building a mono-ethnic state.”
I was on Maidan Square three times – in November, when it all started, in December, and in early February. I saw how it all unfolded. In the second half of February, the wave reached us in Donetsk and Donetsk region. We stood up because we did not want Maidan ideology to invade our land…
We want to build a parliamentarian republic, based on the state’s ownership of land and its resources, of air and water spaces, a state’s strong control of economic process, and a socially oriented state.
Litvinov says that Novorossiya rejects the Feindbild of Russia being built up by the Kiev fascist clique, as well as their oligarchical economy.
In the above-mentioned interview with Halyna Mokrushyna, he states:
A third contradiction is the image of Russia as the enemy, which has been formed and imposed during 23 years of Ukrainian independence. It has been formed through education, ideology, arts. If a state creates an enemy, it has to protect itself against this enemy, or to fight it. Because Ukraine is too weak, it appeals to NATO and other Western allies. We know quite well that NATO cannot be allowed here, because this would be a direct threat to us and to our brothers and sisters in Russia…
As for Russia, we want to become a member of the Eurasian Union and we will do everything to make that happen.
Turning away from the Neoliberal rip-off economy
As reported by Webster Tarpley, they are building a mixed economy: private companies + a strong state sector. Electrical energy, for example, is viewed as a vital necessity and has been placed under control of the state and made a public utility. They are also fighting to restart their coal plants, a crucial element of the eastern Ukrainian economy. Half of their coal industry has been shut down, due to the war waged by Kiev against Donbass.
Litvinov, from businessweek.com, 18 Sept 2014:
“Our constitution says that the land, minerals, forests, water, and air resources belong to the state,” he says. And he should know-he wrote it. “The DPR believes that basic industries should be kept under state control,” he says, adding that it will also “nationalize the entire chain of electricity production.”
“At some stage,” Litvinov says, a public-private partnership in steel and energy “will be possible, with a controlling interest owned by the state, and the remaining shares controlled by the private investor.”
Novorossiya intends to be the world leader in the area of coal machine tools, something they have long excelled at. As Webster Tarpley points out, one of the key features of a viable and modern nation-state is being the world leader in something! China and Vietnamese delegations have already visited to consider buying coal machine tools which are gaining a great reputation.
Families must have the necessities
New, modern, state-owned supermarkets have been opened in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and agricultural cooperatives are being launched. It is simply not possible to build a real economy when people can’t afford to feed themselves! Someone needs to tell this to Poroshenko.
The first state-owned supermarket in Donetsk
Webster Tarpley: “These new supermarkets, along with energy, agriculture, and other industries, are launching a revived state sector in a mixed economy.”
Population has declined significantly since the days of the USSR, and many people have fled (mostly to Russia) since Kiev began the war against eastern Ukraine. In order to build a viable and sustainable economy and society, the government of Novorossiya wants to encourage population growth – the opposite of the disastrous one-child policy of China. Indeed, the target is three children per family. They hope to encourage an increase in marriages by providing the economic basis of the family – something seldom or never heard from the “family values” politicians of the American Republican Party! Families must have the necessities of life. Without this, any economic recovery program is simply not feasible. The US government perhaps doesn’t understand this, as shown by frequent talk of “jobless recoveries” – one of the great oxymorons of recent history. It is doubtful that the new government in Kiev could grasp such a concept, as they continue to bomb civilians in eastern Ukraine and never miss an opportunity to bow to their oligarchical masters who demand more and more austerity.
These are just a few of the measures being discussed and implemented in Novorossiya to relaunch their economy. If they are successful in their struggle to break away from the Kiev fascist clique – and it is sad that hardly anyone in the West, least of all American left liberals, supports them in this fight against fascism and neoliberal financiers – Novorossiya is positioned to become an economic success story, and the contrast between the two Ukraines will stand as a historical case study in how to and how not to run a nation.
Webster G. Tarpley and Boris Litvinov
As Webster Tarpley notes:
In addition to formulating economic policy, Litvinov can be considered the Thomas Jefferson of his country, since it was he — aided in the drafting by colleagues Cherkashin and Purgin — who worked through the night of April 6 to 7, 2015 to compose the Declaration of Independence of the new People’s Republic of Donetsk. In contrast to the wildly false and defamatory portrayal of these events by Wikipedia (“The entity was declared on 7 April 2014 by a group of armed and masked militants …”), Litvinov and his associates — all leading intellectuals — carefully studied precedents in international law as they prepared for independence. Livinov has been working with two economic institutes in Moscow in developing his reform plans. The result may establish the DPR as one of the leading laboratories for anti-globalization and anti-IMF economic reform worldwide.
American left libs, take note! Compare and contrast the economic program of Boris Litvinov and company, and the economic program of whoever it is you plan on voting for in 2016. You have much to ponder!
Webster G. Tarpley’s Eyewitness Report from the Donetsk People’s Republic:
As I write this blog post, 1 US Dollar equals 57.90 Russian Ruble. In late 2014, the Ruble was plunging beyond 1 Dollar to 80+ Rubles.
In December of 2014, the Western media was overflowing with Schadenfreude over the declining Ruble, and predictions of total economic collapse and misery for Russia. Bloomberg (or Gloomberg) provides one example of Western media gloating over the prospects of Russian misery:
Putin’s Mantra of Russia Stability Unravels as Ruble in Meltdown:
“How many bankruptcies await us in January?” opposition lawmaker Dmitry Gudkov said on Twitter. “People will be out of work, out of money. The nightmare is only just beginning.”
“People thought: ‘he’s a strong leader who brought order and helped improve our living standards,” said Dmitry Oreshkin, an independent political analyst in Moscow. “And now it’s the same Putin, he’s still got all the power, but everything is collapsing.”
“After 2009, there was a quick recovery,” Rogov said. “Now we’re facing an uncontrollable shock. This undermines trust in Putin’s whole economic model.”
Color Revolutions & Financial Warfare against Russia:
The Ruble Crisis of December 2014 and Gloating Hyenas: As the ruble slides, many pundits point to Western sanctions as the cause. This is pure fantasy! The main reason is the falling price of oil. And where should we look for the cause of this? Let’s go back to last year and look at Putin’s support of Assad in the face of Western plans for invasion of Syria on the ridiculous pretext that Assad gassed his own people in a chemical weapon attack. Many Western leaders, especially in London and in the US State Department, were annoyed with Putin and his support of Assad, but only one person actually visited Moscow to threaten Putin in person if he wouldn’t back down: Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar! At the time, he issued thinly veiled threats of terrorist attacks at the upcoming Sochi Olympics, but are we now seeing Prince Bandar’s threats manifesting themselves in the form of plunging oil prices?
The Russian economy has seen a notable rebound with businesses recovering despite a year of contraction caused by Western sanctions. Fluctuations in the domestic currency have narrowed, which brought investors back into the market.
Investors in Russian government securities denominated in rubles have earned the equivalent of 7 cents on the dollar so far this year, as measured by the Bloomberg Russia Local Sovereign Bond Index. In contrast, anyone holding similar government debt in emerging markets across-the-board has lost 1.1 percent in 2015.
The picture is even rosier for Russia’s corporate bondholders; they’ve had a 7.3 percent total return in 2015, leading the gains in the index for emerging market corporate bonds compiled by Bloomberg. And while shareholders in the global emerging market stocks measured by the MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 1.7 percent this year, the 50 Russian stocks in the Micex index are up 11.9 percent — better than the Standard & Poor’s 500 or any other North American market.
The ruble’s relative value helps explain why there are some signs of confidence in Russia. Although the ruble remains the most volatile of the 31 most-traded currencies this year, its swings are narrowing. This is visible in implied volatility, a measure of traders’ bets on how much the currency’s value will change day-to-day. After surging in late 2014 amid the widening Ukraine crisis, the ruble now is fluctuating the way it did in 2009.
Business also appears to be on the rebound. Some 78 percent of the Russian companies in the Micex index showed greater annual sales growth than their global peers, even though the shares of these Russian companies lagged behind their international competitors, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s consistent with a two-year improvement in the relative value of Russian companies.
One possible reason for the growth? Sanctions. With foreign goods unavailable, Russians had to choose homegrown products and services.
So the Russian misery Schadenfreude party has to be postponed. It’s just too bad these media outlets never apologize for their appallingly poor analytical skills and lack of any journalistic integrity – which unfortunately leads them to rely on some of the most spurious sources available on the Internet, like the Brown Moses Blog:
The West’s Go-to MH17 Expert Is a Social Media Hack Who Pushed Syria Chemical Attack Lies:
Desperate for details to confirm US/Kiev accusations about MH17, Western media outlets turn to a dubious social media aggregator whose claims about the East Ghouta chemical attack in Syria were debunked by an actual arms control expert from MIT.
Der Spiegel publishes a “scoop” by Berlin-based Corrrectiv magazine and British blogger Eliot Higgins alleging that MH17 was shot down by a BUK surface to air missile launcher from Russia
Human Rights Watch – Attacks on Ghouta – Methodology:
In its investigation, Human Rights Watch was assisted by arms experts including Nic Jenzen-Jones, author of “The Rogue Adventurer”, as well as the independent investigation conducted by Eliot Higgins of the “Brown Moses” blog, who collected and analyzed photos and videos from the attacks.
The mainstream western media has been woeful in its coverage of the recent crises in Ukraine and Syria, demonstrating deficiencies in their research and reporting that go far beyond the typical biases against all things Russian and Arab, in many cases displaying sheer ignorance of the basic issues at stake in the two regions on a grand scale.
BBC Now Admits: Armed Nazis Led “Revolution” in Kiev, Ukraine:
Western mainstream media cannot be singled out for criticism without mentioning a few of the rotten alternative sources which have appeared and have been quoted from frequently of late. Many of them trace back to the ultra-dubious Sorcha Faal of whatdoesitmean.com.
The way it seems to work is, something gets posted to Sorcha Faal’s website whatdoesitmean.com, and immediately gets picked up by a host of similarly delusional sites – perhaps even related, sister sites. These include The European Union Times and YourNewsWire.com.
Who is Sorcha Faal? The short answer is, he/she is a disinfo agent.
For the long answer, the entry on Rational Wiki will suffice:
Any time you see extremely sensationalist headlines of this nature, run the titles through a search engine and see if the exact same headlines are copied at whatdoesitmean.com or The European Union Times. Make a note of any other websites that are playing along in this game of disinfo and discrediting legitimate criticism of NATO/Anglo-American foreign policy.
Here’s a recent one from yournewswire.com:
Russia may lift food embargo for Greece if they leave the EU:
Russia has indicated that they will lift the food embargo on Greece, Cyprus and Hungary, but have not made it contingent upon Greece leaving the EU. Stories like this are made up out of thin air. The ultimate motives of these websites can only be imagined until they are linked conclusively to whatever foundations and NGOs support or create them.
Hungary, Cyprus and Greece first to return to Russian market after sanctions lifted:
Food products from Hungary, Greece and Cyprus may be the first to return to Russian supermarket shelves once the food embargo ends, said Sergei Dankvert, head of Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian agricultural watchdog.
Round Table on ‘Defining a New Security Architecture for Europe that Brings Russia in from the Cold’ with John Mearsheimer, Stephen F. Cohen, Katrina Vandenheuvel. Q&A. Gilbert Doctorow, moderator:
On the night of February 27, 2015, Boris Nemtsov was shot and killed in Moscow. Nemtsov was a leading Kremlin critic in Russia, and, along with Alexei Navalny and others, was planning and organizing the Vesna opposition march set to take place on March 1.
Boris Nemtsov killed in Moscow LIVE UPDATES from RT:
An Opposition Leader’s Death Could Spark a Backlash, from Stratfor:
There are reports that Nemtsov was shot four to seven times in the chest by multiple assailants who jumped out of a car on a bridge just south of Red Square. The shooting was professional and smooth, with well-aimed fire and no deaths of bystanders. The bridge served as a channel to trap the victim, giving him nowhere to run. The killing was also brazen, taking place near the Kremlin, which has heavy security and heavy CCTV coverage. He reportedly was walking with a woman from Kiev, who was approximately 24 years old, and without a security detail.
Nemtsov is among a group of established anti-Putin leaders that include Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Mikhail Kasyanov (People’s Democratic Union), Garry Kasparov (Other Russia coalition) and Vladimir Ryzhkov (Republican Party of Russia). Nemtsov, like most of these leaders, has a mixed reputation in Russia. Much of the population associates Nemtsov with former President Boris Yeltsin’s disastrous economic plan of the 1990s. But Nemtsov jumped onto the anti-Kremlin bandwagon of Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption blogger who is considered the chief opposition leader in Russia.
Reminiscent of the immediate rush to judgement to blame Putin for the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17, the implication that this was an assassination ordered by the Kremlin came before any clear details emerged – indicating that another Putin demonization campaign was already in the works.
The phrase “Putin critic” is currently the omnipresent headline in the Western media. A simple Google search will suffice:
Boris Nemtsov, outspoken Putin critic… – CNN.com; Boris Nemtsov, leading Putin critic, shot… – Fox News; Putin Critic Boris Nemtsov Shot Dead – NPR; Major Putin Critic Gunned Down in Moscow – The Daily Beast; Leading Putin critic gunned down outside Kremlin – Telegraph; Putin Critic Boris Nemtsov Shot Dead in Moscow – NBC News; Putin Critic Boris Nemtsov Shot Dead in Moscow – Newsweek
This swiftly-appearing implication is not based on any evidence. Putin is the automatic Lee Harvey Oswald in the fantasies of the Russophobic western media.
ABC News – Boris Nemtsov Joins List of Dead Vladimir Putin Critics:
Navalny and his followers plan to hold mass rallies in Moscow and 14 other cities on March 1 — the first such rally possible since the 2011-2012 demonstrations against the Kremlin — to protest Russia’s actions in Ukraine…
Nemtsov’s death makes this weekend’s events even more important. The shooting will bring out a string of conspiracy theories in Russia because the Kremlin has long wanted Nemtsov out of the way. Nemtsov reportedly told the media just weeks ago that he feared Putin would kill him. However, the Kremlin also knows that Nemtsov’s death the day before the rally could spark a backlash and bring out more protesters. March 1 is a day to watch Moscow for the size of the protests, and whether Putin can maintain the peace. As Lenin said, the purpose of terrorism is to terrify. Nemtsov’s death had the purpose of creating terror. The question is who wanted to create it.
People who normally whine about “conspiracy theorists” will eagerly accept the Putin-did-it conspiracy theory! Contrary to what Stratfor is suggesting, however, these nouveau conspiracy theorists are much more likely to be American and European than Russian.
With the Vesna march only two days away, why would Vladimir Putin want to give this anti-Kremlin event all this wonderful free publicity? Why would Putin want to give Vesna a martyr?
Eric Kraus: Had the Kremlin wanted him out of the way there were other ways – especially in Moscow. A car crash. An (induced) heart attack. Poisons. Why do a public hit within sight of St. Basel’s Cathedral on Red Square so as to provide a public feast for the foreign press picture editors? The timing is equally suspicious. Perfectly timed to draw maximum attention to the upcoming opposition March which had risked falling flat. (Eric Kraus, Facebook status update.)
Peter Lavelle: “…and of course Putin is at fault.” Of course we all know that is how the west will read this. Nonetheless, before all the low-octane analysis and clueless reporting starts let’s be clear: Nemtsov was politically so (self-) marginalized in Russia that he had to go aboard for anyone to notice him (like Kiev). He was political dead before he was murdered. Thus, there can be no doubt this is a false flag op. Many in Washington are grinning and probably celebrating. No matter. Russians will not be fooled by this kind of cheap and deadly propaganda attack. (Peter Lavelle, Facebook status update.)
Major Critic Of Vladimir Putin Shot Dead In Moscow:
Irina Khakamada, a prominent opposition figure who co-founded a liberal party with Nemtsov, blamed a climate of intimidation and warned that the murder could herald a dangerous destabilization. “It’s a provocation that is clearly not in Putin’s interests, it’s aimed at rocking the situation,” she said in remarks carried by RIA Novosti news agency.
Why wouldn’t the BBC look to other Russian news sites in Moscow, opting instead to use a fledgling Riga, Latvia-based news aggregator as their source?
What is Meduza?
Meduza is a news website formed from the ashes of Lenta.ru, which some claim was smashed to pieces by the Kremlin. Some of the top people from Lenta decided to set up shop outside of Russia, and they chose former Soviet city and modern-day neo-Nazi stronghold Riga, Latvia as their base of operations for this anti-Putin project. They have tried to deny ties to Kremlin opposition leader and notorious oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, but some insiders claim that Meduza is one of Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia projects – itself being a George Soros Open Society project. One of the editors at Meduza has admitted…
that Mikhail Khodorkovsky… was a passive investor, however she refused to name any other backers…
Open Russia was launched by Mikhail Khodorkovsky during an online conference held on September 20, 2014.
Open Russia today is about bringing together citizens living both inside and outside of Russia, who share the European values of a strong, dynamic, and forward-looking state founded upon effective democratic institutions and the rule of law. Open Russia will enable these citizens to communicate and work together, to make their voices heard, and to mobilise effectively in the cause of common interests and goals.
Citizens “who share European values”? That sounds a little like Euromaidan – they talk about change, democracy, European values, working together and making your voice heard, and fighting corruption, but have no real program for economic prosperity.
But Open Russia also sounds like something else: the Open Society of George Soros!
George Soros is the founder and chairman of Open Society—a network of foundations, partners, and projects in more than 100 countries.
With his new billions in effect stolen from the Russian people, he made some powerful friends. He set up a foundation modeled on US billionaire George Soros’ Open Society, calling it the Open Russia Foundation. He invited two powerful Westerners to its board—Henry Kissinger and Jacob Lord Rothschild.
The Vesna march, or Vesna (Spring) Youth Movement march, is set to kick off on March 1.
The organizers of the opposition march Vesna, which is scheduled for March 1, have agreed to hold it in the Moscow Maryino area, Boris Nemtsov, co-chairman of the party RPR-PARNAS, told a press conference on Friday. “After intensive debate and consultations, we came to the conclusion that we agree to hold the march in Maryino,” Nemtsov said. Nemtsov emphasized that the demands of the march are more important to the opposition that its venue. “The main thing to us is that all residents, including residents of Maryino, hear our demands,” Nemtsov said.
Navalny is a right-wing populist. No doubt. But I would submit he’s more of an American variety than a European facsimile. His xenophobia comes with an anti-elitist élan tinged with a libertarian distrust of big government. If Navalny ran in a US election, he’d find common cause with the Tea Party. He’d make an excellent Fox News pundit if he added flamboyancy to his abrasiveness.
The political front that will take to Russia’s streets has already long been identified. It includes the same brand of extreme “nationalists” and ultra-right groups seen overrunning Ukraine’s political order. This includes literal Neo-Nazis. One of the prevailing figures among Russia’s ultra-right is US-backed Alexey Navalny – billed by the West as an “anti-corruption activist,” who is in all reality a neo-fascist operating openly in the service of Wall Street.
Alexey Navalny was a Yale World Fellow, and in his profile it states: Navalny spearheads legal challenges on behalf of minority shareholders in large Russian companies, including Gazprom, Bank VTB, Sberbank, Rosneft, Transneft, and Surgutneftegaz, through the Union of Minority Shareholders… Navalny is also co-founder of the Democratic Alternative movement…
The Democratic Alternative, also written DA!, is a US State Department National Endowment for Democracy (NED) fund recipient, implicating Alexey Navalny as an agent of US-funded sedition. The US State Department itself reveals this as they list DA! among many of the “youth movements” they support operating in Russia…
That this funding is nowhere on NED’s official website indicates that full disclosures are not being made and that NED is engaged in clandestine funding.
Navalny was detained for handing out Vesna fliers in the Metro, and now, one of the key organizers of Vesna, Nemtsov, has been shot. Again, it is hard to imagine what possible gain this shooting could be for the Kremlin, especially following the large anti-Maidan march in Moscow of the previous weekend, and Putin’s growing approval ratings.
This obviously could be to the benefit of any number of Putin enemies, including the Russian opposition to Putin, the Kiev fascist clique, the CIA, and NATO. It remains to be seen which suspect emerges as the strongest, whether it is one of these suspects or someone else.
Anti-Putin Opposition Looks to Russian Spring for Revival:
Just before he was jailed for handing out leaflets at a metro station, Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny used his last moments in a Moscow court to record a video urging supporters to join a March 1 protest against President Vladimir Putin.
The opposition “hasn’t been this weak for many years,” Stefan Meister, an analyst at the German Council of Foreign Relations in Berlin, said by phone. “Even when we have a growing economic crisis in Russia, there’s still high support for Putin.”
US-Backed Opposition Leader Gunned Down in Moscow:
Clearly to match the expectations the “spring” rally was meant to have, to infuse the “virus” US Senator McCain had claimed was intended for Moscow, something drastic would have to be done to change the current calculus.
The “current calculus” has indeed been changed. It remains to be seen who will benefit from this and how each side will react. The Vesna marches will go on as planned, apart from the one in Moscow.
Funeral March to Replace Moscow Opposition Rally After Nemtsov Murder:
The planned Vesna (“Spring”) opposition rallies will take place as scheduled outside of Moscow, but the one in the Russian capital will be replaced with a funeral march in memory of Boris Nemtsov, a Russian politician killed late Friday night, co-chair of the RPR-PARNAS political party, Mikhail Kasyanov, has told journalists.
Russian Investigators: Nemtsov Killing Linked to Charlie Hebdo Comments:
Investigators are working on the hypothesis that the killing of Boris Nemtsov was related to his stance on the attack of Charlie Hebdo magazine. “Nemtsov received threats related to his position on the shooting of journalists in the office of Charlie Hebdo edition in Paris,” Vladimir Markin, who represents the Investigative Committee of the Russian Fedеration…
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tweets a photo of himself with slain Russian politician Boris Nemtsov and says he is ‘very saddened’ by his death – @SenJohnMcCain
John McCain is ashamed of America, supports fascists and terrorists:
Mr Nemtsov was prominent during Ukraine’s Orange Revolution.
Nemtsov with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
Anna Durytska
Nemtsov was shot and killed… when walking with Ukranian model Anna Durytska… The killing happened the day before the opposition march Vesna (Russian for “spring”), a street demonstration organised to protest against economic conditions in Russia and the war in Ukraine.
Police Arrest Ukrainian Lawmaker at Nemtsov’s Funeral March in Moscow:
Moscow police confirmed the arrest of Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Goncharenko ahead of the march commemorating slain Russian politician Boris Nemtsov on Sunday. Goncharenko took part in the violent events in southern Ukraine’s Odessa on May 2, 2014, when far-right activists blocked anti-EU protesters inside the city’s House of Trade Unions and set the building on fire. According to official statistics, the incident killed 48 people and wounded over 250.
Goncharenko posted photos of dead activists in Odessa on Twitter and expressed public support for “cleansing” of the camp of the opponents of the newly-installed Ukrainian authorities.
Senator John McCain has been one of the leading advocates of arming the fascist junta of Kiev and the ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria. Now he says he is ashamed of America!
John McCain: I’m ashamed of my country:
“This is a shameful chapter. I’m ashamed of my country. I’m ashamed of my president. And I’m ashamed of myself,” McCain said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
McCain, a former presidential candidate, strongly believes the US should be providing weapons to Ukraine’s government, which is battling Russian-backed separatists.
John McCain has lost his mind. He has become a reckless warmonger and a raving, hysterical Russophobe with absolutely no regard for American interests or the lives of American troops, who are being put at risk of a bloody, devastating war with Russia for the benefit of his fascist friends in Kiev.
John McCain with Ukrainian fascist Oleh Tyahnibok.
John McCain Went To Ukraine And Stood On Stage With A Man Accused Of Being An Anti-Semitic Neo-Nazi:
McCain to Protesters: Get out of here, you lowlife scum!
Senator McCain is willing to risk a war with Russia (a great strategic ally of the US) over Ukraine (a country of no strategic value to the US) in order to bring “democacy” to Ukraine (which they already had.) But notice how he reacts when American citizens dare to speak up:
John McCain tells protesters at hearing – Get out of here, you lowlife scum:
So John McCain supports Neo-Nazis in Kiev and ISIS terrorists in Syria… and now he says he’s ashamed of America?
As many people have pointed out, if George W. Bush had done any of the things Obama has been doing, like drone-striking women and children throughout the Middle East and helping to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, leaving Libya in utter chaos and turmoil, the left libs would be screaming bloody murder!
But now imagine if Obama had said the things John McCain has said. What if Obama announced that he was ashamed of America? How would the right-wingers on Fox News react to that? Probably the same way they reacted to these less harmful incidents:
Fox Analyst – Obama’s Prayer Breakfast Speech Sounded Like Rev. Wright:
Johnson ultimately declared that Obama’s message was one of “guilt,” “shame,” and “remorse,” and said the entire Obama Administration is “confused” and “needs therapy.” He added that the U.S. has nothing to be ashamed of and should not be showing sympathy. “The president’s comments, in my view, are not helpful and are confused and confusing,” Johnson concluded. “And he needs quickly to make it clear what he really means about American exceptionalism, superiority, and keeping America safe.”
I never thought I would find myself defending President Obama, but here we are! Obama is far from perfect, but he has tried (in his own pathetic way) to slow down the “bomb everything that moves” agenda, at least since the disaster of Libya, and now he finds himself under constant attack by neocon nutjobs like John McCain. Obama should at least be supported when he wavers on the warmongering agenda, because wavering is better than what the Republicans have in mind, which is – war with Russia to oust Putin and support Kiev’s genocide in eastern Ukraine, war in Syria to remove Assad, and more war in Iraq.
Enough is Enough!
Senator John McCain is a lowlife scum, and I am ashamed of him! #ArrestMcCain4ISIS
Forget all our other troubles – the Russians are coming!:
The gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow. Train and bus fares continue to rise. Twice as many people are living in poverty than 30 years ago. And our National Health Service is being privatized before our very eyes. But hey – we Brits must forget about all those things – because there’s something far more important to worry about. The Russians are coming!
Beware the neocon warmonger clique: NATO Commander Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, US Army European Commander Gen. Ben Hodges, ISIS Czar John Allen, Secretary of State John Forbes Kerry, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, Gen. Jack Keane, Gen. David Petraeus, US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Jen Psaki, and Senator John McCain.
In Bertrand Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy, the philosopher delivered his summarization of the writings of Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas thusly, “Before he begins to philosophize, he already knows the truth; it is declared in the Catholic faith. If he can find apparently rational arguments for some parts of the faith, so much the better; if he cannot, he need only fall back on revelation. The finding of arguments for a conclusion given in advance is not philosophy, but special pleading.”
American foreign policy is determined in much the same fashion…
One lie is that Putin has a feverishly expansionist foreign policy. No evidence exists for this claim, repeated ad nauseum in the West…
Another lie is that we know Russia was behind the downing of MH17…
A third lie is that the toppling of Viktor Yanukovych was a democratic uprising…
A fourth lie is that Western sanctions against Russia are merited, since they are based on Russian aggression…
This isn’t nuanced propaganda. It isn’t hedging or garden variety bias. It’s flat-out mendacity…
How soon before the term “Hun” starts circulating?
There is the idea that if you argue in favor of the Russian perspective, or against the Kiev fascist clique/Euromaidan perspective, this means you have become a victim (or are a paid agent) of Russian propaganda, or the “Kremlin propaganda machine” as it’s often called.
This issue is a distraction, but it keeps coming up, so we’re going to address it here. People like this guy can’t formulate an argument based on facts and evidence, so they believe they can counter anything they disagree with by saying it’s from a Russian source:
Roman K: Try to do a little research (not katsap sources) and maybe you will learn a little history and reality… you are aware that muscovy is home to nearly half the world’s fascists & nazis, right? Many are putler’s buddies… You are aware that katsaps, including the main katsap, collaborated with hitler, right? You are aware that you are so full of katsap useful idiot propaganda, right?
Note: Katsap is a derogatory term for Russian used by Ukrainians.
We haven’t done “a little research” and don’t know “a little history” like you, Roman. We’ve done a lot of research and know a lot of history too. Perhaps it isn’t the Russophobic, revanchist, whine-fest version of history taught in Ukrainian and other eastern European schools, but it’s never too late for you!
Here are just a few of the non-Katsap, non-Kremlin-funded, non-Russian sources we use in our research of the Ukraine crisis and its connection to the political situation in Russia. Inclusion in this list does not denote endorsement of the individual’s overall views:
Henry Kissinger: American diplomat and political scientist, former National Security Advisor, and Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Spiegel Interview with Henry Kissinger – Do We Achieve World Order Through Chaos or Insight?:
Dennis Kucinich: former U.S. Representative from Ohio, and candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008.
Pat Buchanan: American conservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, former Presidential candidate, senior advisor to Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and an original host on CNN’s Crossfire.
It’s too late for Ukraine to take this advice, but not too late for Russia. Maybe it’s not too late for Americans and Europeans to wise up?
Head of Stratfor, ‘Private CIA,’ Says Overthrow of Yanukovych Was ‘The Most Blatant Coup in History’
George Friedman, who is the Founder and CEO of Stratfor, the ‘Shadow CIA’ firm, says of the overthrow of Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych that occurred on February 22nd of 2014: “It really was the most blatant coup in history.” Friedman further says that “The Russian authorities can not tolerate a situation in which western armed forces will be [in Ukraine] a hundred kilometers from Kursk or Voronezh [in Russia]”, and that the goal of the U.S. is to “maintain the balance of power in Europe, helping the weaker party,” which he says is Europe. He furthermore says, “The United States considers the most dangerous potential alliance to be between Russia and Germany. This would be an alliance of German technology and capital with Russian natural and human resources.”
Stratfor – Ukraine Coup Plotted by US Over Russian Stance on Syria:
The head of Stratfor… insisted that Russia’s involvement in Syria was not the only reason for the Ukrainian crisis. However, many in Washington started to perceive Russia as a problem, the expert told the newspaper, adding that at that time the US decided to divert Russia’s attention away from the Middle East.
For those among us who are still confused about recent events in Ukraine, it is absolutely essential to read up on Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Brzezinski Mapped Out the Battle for Ukraine in 1997
Zbigniew Brzezinski: “Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire.”
“However, if Moscow regains control over Ukraine, with its 52 million people and major resources as well as access to the Black Sea, Russia automatically again regains the wherewithal to become a powerful imperial state, spanning Europe and Asia.” The former national security advisor to Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981 and top foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama, Brzezinski wrote that US policy should be “unapologetic” in perpetuating “America’s own dominant position for at least a generation and preferably longer still.” Brzezinski delved into the importance of little known Ukraine by explaining in his 1997 book, “Geopolitical pivots are the states whose importance is derived not from their power and motivation but rather from their sensitive location… which in some cases gives them a special role in either defining access to important areas or in denying resources to a significant player.” “Ukraine, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Turkey and Iran play the role of critically important geopolitical pivots,” he wrote in The Grand Chessboard, a book viewed by many as a blueprint for US world domination.
Brzezinski Clan Color Revolution vs Diebold Vote Fraud In New Hampshire, by Webster G. Tarpley:
It is widely recognized that Zbig has provided the playbook for Obama. David Ignatius made this relationship clear enough in his review of Second Chance in the Washington Post when he wrote: “The most intriguing part of Brzezinski’s book is what I would describe as the Obama manifesto. (He doesn’t call it that, but I don’t think he would quarrel with that characterization, either.) Brzezinski argues that the world is undergoing a “global political awakening,” which is apparent in radically different forms from Iraq to Indonesia, from Bolivia to Tibet. Though America has focused on its notion of what people want (democracy and the wealth created by free trade and open markets), Brzezinski points in a different direction: It’s about dignity.” (March 14, 2007) Zbig’s brand of dignity is the kind attained through secession, balkanization, and the creation of a weak petty state for each ethnic minority starting with Kosovo and Chechenia. This is the mine of neo-Wilsonian demagogy that an Obama administration will exploit in the service not of peace but of US world domination and encirclement of Russia.
What would the United States do if a hypothetical Russian Empire were to incorporate Mexico or Canada into a military alliance? To ask the question is to answer it. Why is it so difficult to understand that the best way to start a war is to threaten a country’s vital interests?
The endgame is to weaken the Russian Federation, undermine its institutions, impoverish its population. Meanwhile, the US Congress has passed enabling legislation which provides a de facto green light to president Obama to declare war on Russia. Reports have also confirmed that Washington is contemplating “regime change” in the Russian Federation with a view to installing a more compliant government in the Kremlin.
According to President Vladimir Putin: “We see the tragic consequences of the so-called color revolutions and ordeals survived by the peoples of the states that faced these irresponsible experiments of covert and sometimes even… overt interference into their lives… This is a lesson and warning for us and we will do everything possible to prevent this from happening in Russia.”
The whole thing is quite clear: the deployment of NATO’s forces around Russia was a preventive measure. If Russia’s reaction is to be defensive, it means that it is planning to restore its empire and totalitarianism.
Ukraine And Its Position on Brzezinski’s Grand Chessboard:
The choices provided to Russia by Brzezinski’s philosophy are between total fealty to the European Soviet and total irrelevance. No self-respecting nation would choose either of these two options for its future and this is a fact that Brzezinski is undoubtedly aware of. Thus, it is clear that the Russians are being faced with the non-choice that is the Brzezinski doctrine, a philosophy that, when put into practice, makes conflict virtually inevitable.
Could we even see a Siberian Spring in the next year or two? That would fit in very well with the Brzezinski Plan, so don’t be surprised.
US Attempted Color Revolution in Russia?:
Russia is mindful of America’s intentions. Putin blamed illegal sanctions and manipulated oil prices for Russia’s economic woes. “They will always try to chain the bear,” he said. “And once it’s chained, they’ll rip out its teeth and claws.” “They’ll stuff it. And start to put their hands on its Taiga (Siberian forest belt). We’ve heard statements from Western officials that Russia owning Siberia (isn’t) fair.”
Color Revolution – coming soon to a theater near you in Moscow?
How will the color revolution come to Moscow? It’s probably already underway in the form of Alexei Navalny’s Tea Party-style anti-corruption campaign, targeting yuppies, hipsters, neo-libs, techies, and “office plankton”:
Kremlin critic Navalny: To Moscow via Yale
The 37-year old blogger is the first Russian opposition figure who was partly educated in the US. Running for mayor is the high point of his political career thus far. “The Yale World Fellows Program is extremely proud” to have Navalny as one of their alumni, Cappello told DW. The US university supports Navalny’s hopes to foster democracy in Russia.
Incubator for future leaders
In August 2010, Navalny went for four months from Moscow to New Haven, Connecticut. At that time, he already was a famous Internet activist. The scholarship for Yale was a stroke of luck, he wrote in his blog. “There are said to have been around 1000 applicants for 15 places.” But it’s not only luck – his Yale grant also came thanks to recommendations from former chess world champion and turned opposition activist Gari Kasparov.
The Yale World Fellows Program has existed since 2001 and offers courses in philosophy, world politics and economy. It sees itself as an incubator for global leaders. The candidates are selected from a pool of successful politicians, businessmen and journalists around the world – people “whose biggest achievements are yet to come,” explains Cappello. Former Yale graduates like Berlin politician Sergei Lagodinsky confirm that Navalny fits that description. “You had the immediate feeling that he could become a leader of the opposition,” Lagodinsky told DW.
While others would try to brag about their stint at an Ivy League university, Navalny doesn’t make much of a fuss about it. In the CV he’s handing out as part of the Moscow campaign, the time in the US isn’t even mentioned. Navalny wants to avoid being branded as a pro-Western candidate.
Alexei Navalny – the next hero of democracy? “He’d make an excellent Fox News pundit if he added flamboyancy to his abrasiveness.”
Exploring the possibility of a ‘Russian Maidan’
The political front that will take to Russia’s streets has already long been identified. It includes the same brand of extreme “nationalists” and ultra-right groups seen overrunning Ukraine’s political order. This includes literal Neo-Nazis. One of the prevailing figures among Russia’s ultra-right is US-backed Alexey Navalny – billed by the West as an “anti-corruption activist,” who is in all reality a neo-fascist operating openly in the service of Wall Street.
Alexey Navalny was a Yale World Fellow, and in his profile it states: Navalny spearheads legal challenges on behalf of minority shareholders in large Russian companies, including Gazprom, Bank VTB, Sberbank, Rosneft, Transneft, and Surgutneftegaz, through the Union of Minority Shareholders… Navalny is also co-founder of the Democratic Alternative movement…
The Democratic Alternative, also written DA!, is a US State Department National Endowment for Democracy (NED) fund recipient, implicating Alexey Navalny as an agent of US-funded sedition. The US State Department itself reveals this as they list DA! among many of the “youth movements” they support operating in Russia…
That this funding is nowhere on NED’s official website indicates that full disclosures are not being made and that NED is engaged in clandestine funding.
Navalny is a right-wing populist. No doubt. But I would submit he’s more of an American variety than a European facsimile. His xenophobia comes with an anti-elitist élan tinged with a libertarian distrust of big government. If Navalny ran in a US election, he’d find common cause with the Tea Party. He’d make an excellent Fox News pundit if he added flamboyancy to his abrasiveness.
See this intriguing article for a great (critical but realistic) breakdown of Putin’s Nixon-like turn from the “Petersburg liberals” to the Russian “silent majority”:
Ukrainian ‘Protesters’ Backed by KONY 2012-style Scam:
The video, entitled I am a Ukrainian, already has over 3 million views. It features an attractive woman insistently claiming that the Ukrainian uprising is solely about freedom and democracy.
The origins of the video are not quite as ‘grass roots’ as is portrayed. The clip was produced by the team behind A Whisper to a Roar, a documentary about the “fight for democracy” all over the world, which was funded by Prince Moulay Hicham of Morocco. The “inspiration” behind the documentary was none other than Larry Diamond, a Council on Foreign Relations member. The Council on Foreign Relations is considered to be America’s “most influential foreign-policy think tank” and has deep connections with the U.S. State Department. Diamond has also worked closely with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The National Endowment for Democracy is considered to be the CIA’s “civilian arm” and has been deeply embroiled in innumerable instigated uprisings, attempted coups and acts of neo-colonial regime change since its creation in 1983, including the contrived 2004 “Orange Revolution” that brought US puppet Viktor Yushchenko to power in Ukraine. Larry Diamond also played an instrumental role in the Arab Spring under the auspices of the NED, a series of supposedly grass roots revolts that were in fact organized and managed by some of the most powerful western institutions on the planet.
Lavrov says he has reasons to believe US sanctions aim at Russia regime change:
December 16, 2014 – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday he has serious reasons to believe that the United States is attempting to change the regime and destabilize the situation in Russia with the help of sanctions. “Some politicians don’t even hide it,” Lavrov said. “Of course sanctions hurt, but I don’t believe the sanctions will help the European Union. The United States ordered the EU to impose sanctions and frankly we have overestimated the independence of the European Union (from the US),” the minister said. Lavrov said sanctions could not be considered an “instrument of serious policies.” “Sanctions are a sign of irritation,” he said. Russia will overcome the West’s sanctions, which will only make the country stronger, Lavrov said on Tuesday. “Russia will not only survive but will come out much stronger,” Lavrov said in an interview with France 24 TV channel. “We have been in much worse situations in our history and every time we have got out of our fix much stronger,” he said.
Sergey Lavrov interview with France 24:
Regime Change: NPR is National Public Radio, or National Pentagon Radio?
NPR Propagandizes Against Putin, for Regime-Change in Russia:
Open Russia was launched by Mikhail Khodorkovsky during an online conference held on September 20, 2014.
Open Russia today is about bringing together citizens living both inside and outside of Russia, who share the European values of a strong, dynamic, and forward-looking state founded upon effective democratic institutions and the rule of law. Open Russia will enable these citizens to communicate and work together, to make their voices heard, and to mobilise effectively in the cause of common interests and goals.
Citizens “who share European values”? That sounds a little like Euromaidan – they talk about change, democracy, European values, working together and making your voice heard, and fighting corruption, but have no real program for economic prosperity.
But Open Russia also sounds like something else: the Open Society of George Soros!
George Soros is the founder and chairman of Open Society—a network of foundations, partners, and projects in more than 100 countries.
With his new billions in effect stolen from the Russian people, he made some powerful friends. He set up a foundation modeled on US billionaire George Soros’ Open Society, calling it the Open Russia Foundation. He invited two powerful Westerners to its board—Henry Kissinger and Jacob Lord Rothschild.
Here’s Conchita Wurst, another would-be color revolution operative, who has asked to meet with Vladimir Putin. It probably won’t help that she’s holding up a “Euro-Manezhka” sign! Manege Square is adjacent to Red Square in Moscow.
But notice the location of the Euro-Manezhka Twitter account! Hint: it’s not in Russia:
Ukrainians could get visa-free regime for EU Schengen zone by May 2015:
Success at last! That’s all the Maidan kids wanted anyway, right? To flush Ukraine down the IMF toilet, get the hell out and never come back? Sorry about your pension, grandma, but I’ve got a job interview at Starbucks in Berlin!
The Ruble Crisis of December 2014 and Gloating Hyenas:
As the ruble slides, many pundits point to Western sanctions as the cause. This is pure fantasy! The main reason is the falling price of oil. And where should we look for the cause of this? Let’s go back to last year and look at Putin’s support of Assad in the face of Western plans for invasion of Syria on the ridiculous pretext that Assad gassed his own people in a chemical weapon attack. Many Western leaders, especially in London and in the US State Department, were annoyed with Putin and his support of Assad, but only one person actually visited Moscow to threaten Putin in person if he wouldn’t back down: Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar! At the time, he issued thinly veiled threats of terrorist attacks at the upcoming Sochi Olympics, but are we now seeing Prince Bandar’s threats manifesting themselves in the form of plunging oil prices?
See World Crisis Radio for a discussion of this issue among others:
McCain – Saudis troubled Russia not Obama:
“It has nothing to do with any action taken by the President of the United States,” [the] Arizona senator said…
Prince Bandar threatens Putin with Chechen terror attacks:
According to a diplomatic leak detailing the Bandar-Putin meeting in Moscow on July 31, Bandar suggested that Putin’s agreement to abandon the government of Bashar al-Assad would lead Saudi Arabia to restrain its Chechen terrorist clients who have been attacking Russia targets for years. Putin reportedly grew furious, interpreting Bandar’s offer as a warning that the Sochi games would be threatened by terrorism if Putin didn’t comply, according to opednews.com website.
Saudis offer Russia secret oil deal if it drops Syria:
Prince Bandar, head of Saudi intelligence, allegedly confronted the Kremlin with a mix of inducements and threats in a bid to break the deadlock over Syria. “Let us examine how to put together a unified Russian-Saudi strategy on the subject of oil. The aim is to agree on the price of oil and production quantities that keep the price stable in global oil markets,” he said at the four-hour meeting with Mr Putin. “We understand Russia’s great interest in the oil and gas in the Mediterranean from Israel to Cyprus. And we understand the importance of the Russian gas pipeline to Europe. We are not interested in competing with that. We can cooperate in this area,” he said, purporting to speak with the full backing of the US.
Keep in mind – so far, actual prices within Russia haven’t gone up so much (certainly not matching the plunge in the ruble-dollar rate) which reminds me of the obviously manipulated price of silver and gold right now. $17 for an ounce of silver? Sure! Too bad nobody’s dumb enough to sell at that price. The other thing – the ruble has already stabilized somewhat. Now if Russia can put a stop to any new hot money attacks from abroad (ahem, George “I didn’t even know what a credit-default swap was” Soros) then I think this will pass and the big Washington Post “gloat-over-Russian-misery” party will have to be postponed.
Washington Post: Russians are doomed this time, don’t you think, Lee Corso?
Panchi Belaunde: It looks like a massacre. If you listen to conventional financial news, they’ll all tell you that you’d have to be insane to own anything in Russia right now—stocks, bonds, currency, etc. They’ll tell you that the ruble is in freefall, and that the dollar is the place to be. Appearances are deceiving but the numbers [are] not. As with any bank, one of the most important metrics in determining a central bank’s financial health is its level of solvency. Specifically we look at the bank’s capital (i.e. net assets) as a percentage of its total balance sheet. The US Federal Reserve only has a basic capital ratio of 1.26%. Talk about razor thin. (This is down from 4.5% just a few years ago). That means if the value of the Fed’s assets declines by only 1.26%, the issuer of the world’s dominant reserve currency becomes insolvent. On the other hand, the Russian central bank’s ratio is 12.5%—literally almost ten times greater than the Fed. Capital cushion is crucial because when the unsuspected happens, this is what can help keep you afloat. Another important metric is gold. It’s important to see the amount of REAL ASSETS that a central bank holds in reserve. We look at a central bank’s GOLD reserves as a percentage of the money supply, i.e. how much gold backs the money supply. In Russia, it’s 6.2%. And rising. Last year it was 5.5%, and the central bank is continuing to heavily stockpile more. How much gold backs the dollar? Precisely zero point zero percent: Nothing. With no gold and pitifully razor thin solvency levels, it really wouldn’t take much of a shock to topple the dollar. By comparison, the ruble is much better capitalized and actually has something backing it.
Russia is not “losing their savings”, as Western corporate media gloats. Russia can always require foreign companies to relocate to Russia. Apple, for instance, may open a manufacturing plant in Russia. The recent Russia-China deals include the Chinese building factories in Russia. With a depreciated ruble, Russia is able to force manufacturing that might have been located in the EU to be located in Russia; otherwise these companies lose the market. Putin somewhat admitted that Russia should have been demanding this much earlier. The – positive – process is now inevitable. And then there’s a “nuclear” option – which Putin didn’t even have to mention. If Russia decides to impose capital controls and/or imposes a “holiday” on repayment of larger debt tranches coming due in early 2015, the European financial system will be bombed – Shock and Awe-style; after all, much of the Russian bank and corporate funding was underwritten in Europe.
Russian Roulette – Taxpayers Could Be on the Hook for Trillions in Oil Derivatives:
The sudden dramatic collapse in the price of oil appears to be an act of geopolitical warfare against Russia. The result could be trillions of dollars in oil derivative losses; and the FDIC could be liable, following repeal of key portions of the Dodd-Frank Act last weekend.
Whatever happened behind closed doors, we the people could again be stuck with the tab.
We Are Headed For A Major Dis-location And It Revolves Around The Dollar:
“How should the U.S. deal with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine? We should do to Russia what Ronald Reagan did to its predecessor, the old Soviet Union. We should drive them into bankruptcy by stabilizing the U.S. dollar.”
Forget ‘evil’ Putin – we are the bloodthirsty warmongers:
Stupid, ill-informed people nowadays like to compare Mr Putin with Hitler. I warn them and you that, if we succeed in overthrowing Mr Putin by unleashing hyper-inflation in Russia, we may find out what a Russian Hitler is really like. And that a war in Europe is anything but fun. So, as it’s almost Christmas, let us sing with some attention that bleakest and yet loveliest of carols, It Came Upon The Midnight Clear, stressing the lines that run ‘Man at war with man hears not the love song which they bring. Oh, hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing’.
Or gloat at your peril over the scenes of panic in Moscow.
It is an excellent rule to be observed in all disputes, that men should give soft words and hard arguments; that they should not so much strive to vex as to convince each other.
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Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms.. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
Lincoln: “The Yankee Nero,” Comic News, London, 1864
The moderate opposition
Rest in peace, little boy.
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