‘US drawing Europe into crusade against Russia, against our interests’

The US is drawing European states into a “crusade” against Russia, which goes against Europe’s interests, former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said. Speaking to French media, he stressed that Europe now is dependent on Washington.

“Today, Europe is not independent… The US is drawing us [the EU] into a crusade against Russia, which contradicts the interests of Europe,” Fillon told the BFMTV channel.

The ex-French prime minister, who served in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government from 2007 till 2012, lashed out at Washington and its policies.

Washington, Fillon said, pursues “extremely dangerous” policies in the Middle East that the EU and European states have to agree with.

He accused German intelligence of spying on France “not in the interests of Germany but in the interests of the United States.”

Fillon pointed out that Washington is pressurizing Germany to concede to Greece and find a compromise.

He noted the “American justice system” often interferes with the work of “European justice systems.”

“Europe is not independent,” the ex-PM said, calling for “a broad debate on how Europe can regain its independence.”

This, however, would not be possible if Europe goes ahead and signs the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a proposed EU-US treaty, which has drawn much criticism for its secretiveness and lack of accountability.

“I am definitely against signing this agreement [TTIP] in the form in which it is now,” he added.

The TTIP agreement seeks to formalize the economic relationship between the EU and US economies across the board. The two partners trade nearly €1 billion (US$1.1 billion) worth of goods and services annually.

Its supporters promise €100 billion in GDP growth for the EU and almost $90-billion growth for the US, as well as the creation of over 700,000 extra jobs in the US. However, TTIP critics warn the deal would create environmental problems, a loss of economic sovereignty, bring in torrents of genetically modified food and cause unemployment.

Berlusconi’s party urge lifting of anti-Russian sanctions

The members of the Forza Italia party plan to come forth with the initiative that envisages the lifting of sanctions imposed on Russia by Italy, party leader Silvio Berlusconi said

Silvio Berlusconi’s party, Forza Italia, will urge the government to lift anti-Russian sanctions, which are crippling bilateral ties and harming Italy’s national interests, the former Prime Minister said after his meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

“Tomorrow we will present a motion calling on [the] government not to continue the sanctions against Russia, sanctions which harm our interests, causing significant financial losses,” Silvio Berlusconi said after his meeting with Putin at Fiumicino airport in Rome.

Berlusconi also said his Forza Italia party was planning to urge the Italian government to “commit itself” in convincing other European countries to follow its lead in lifting sanctions and “convince our American friends that the return to the atmosphere of the Cold War is inadmissible.”

The issue of Western sanctions and bilateral trade ties took center stage of Putin’s short visit to Italy.

While meeting with the current Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Milan, Putin was quick to point out that Italian companies had lost more than $1 billion due to the restrictive measures, while the trading volume shrank by one quarter in the first three months of 2015. The Russian president said that the sanctions also affected Russian-Italian military cooperation.

In Rome, meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, the leaders discussed the necessity of maintaining strategic bilateral relations in “all spheres” and not allowing them to “become hostage” of current difficulties, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added both Mattarella and Putin agreed “all countries in Europe are paying too high a price for the ongoing internal Ukrainian conflict.”

Mattarella’s stance seems to echo statements by the Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni who recently said that “Italy can’t afford to close the doors to Russia” and “can’t cut ties” with Moscow.

Berlusconi got a chance to meet Putin right before his departure to Moscow, and reminisce about the good old days of positive NATO-Russia relations.

The 78-year-old Italian said he remembers the times when world peace was fragile between the two nuclear superpowers. Berlusconi and Putin recalled the 2002 dialogue and cooperation, which established the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), which the former Italian Prime Minister said had put an end to the nuclear “nightmare.”

Berlusconi stressed the need to normalize relations between the West and Russia, insisting that is vital for cooperation on a global scale.

The 78 year-old said he is happy that Putin found time to visit Italy and even meet him personally, announcing that he will soon return the favor and come to Moscow. Berlusconi and Putin share a long personal connection over the years, and according to the Russian President, the bond of friendship they share doesn’t depend on political necessities.

French media call G7 ‘idiots’

Nicolas Bonnal of Boulevard Voltaire believes Russia is lucky that it wasn’t invited to the G7 summit this year, comparing the group to the company of hypocritical “idiots.”

As the West is reaching new heights of absurdity, Russia should be happy that it didn’t end up in the company of “idiots,” Nicolas Bonnal said in Boulevard Voltaire.

Russia certainly shouldn’t be ashamed of not being invited to the G7 summit this year. The group of the richest Western nations gathered in Germany, without Russia and China, but with “Italy and its crowds of Libyan refugees,” Bonnal said, comparing the summit akin to being in a luxurious hotel up in mountains, but with non-alcoholic beer.

Even Ethiopia was invited to attend the summit, but not Russia. Russia was punished for not dancing to Washington’s tune.

Moscow was put in a corner for the alleged aggression against Ukraine and the lack of respect for human rights, the author said.

Meanwhile, the United States has 2.2 million prisoners, Guantanamo Bay and the Patriot Act, 1,200 victims of police brutality and over a million people killed because of drug-related gang wars.

American neoconservatives started a series of atrocious wars in Libya, Iraq, and Syria in their “irrational and even frightening desire to harm,” Bonnal said.

The contemporary G7, which was originally seen as the collection of the world’s largest economies, lacks not only Russia, but also China, India and Brazil. Currently, the group consists of the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Japan, Canada and Italy. And almost no economic growth.

Source: Sputnik News

Letter: Why Niël Barnard was both right and wrong

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union without it waging a nuclear war, the United States of America became the world’s sole hyperpower.

During the 1990s a powerless Russia was ruled by US-serving oligarchs, denying Russia the opportunity to ever accumulate sufficient domestic capital to rise again.

Former US enemies, Japan and Germany, had already become occupied American vassal states after World War II.

Chinese trade was totally controlled by the US, as mainland China itself was like an island in the Pacific, completely surrounded by the US and its subordinate states at sea and on land.

On the Sub-Saharan African subcontinent, an industrialised nuclear-armed superpower capable of sovereign political and economic policies, had completely given up its vast regional power by implementing UN Security Council Resolution 436. The Western-backed ANC that subsequently took power in South Africa, was denied the uranium enrichment, nuclear-weapon as well as ballistic-missile technology of the preceding Afrikaner state. The ANC-controlled South African state was set to fully cooperate with the unipolar world hegemon, the likewise multicultural USA.

By the turn of the millennium in the year 2000 after Christ, the USA was set to rule the world in a new American Century. The old American century was the 20th century in which it won World War II against Germany and Japan, but only with the help of the USSR as its good ally. The USSR though as a Eurasian power, automatically filled the vacuum left by the destruction of Germany, and as such prevented the US from ruling the world. The new American Century, the 21st century, was without the USSR or sovereign Russia. This time the new American Century would last a thousand years, meaning forever.

Considering pre-enlightenment Western Judeo-Christian religious traditions, as well as modern evangelical Judeo-American millennialism, factually in the year 2000 the exceptional reign of God had settled on American soil. This was to be the end of total global wars due to no opposing state competition, and thus the end of political-state history as the Western-European culture had known it.

Against this global backdrop, with the USA as the exceptional and sole ruler of planet Earth and its moon, intelligent Afrikaners like Niël Barnard, FW de Klerk and also the late PW Botha were vindicated in their clever strategy to trade totalitarian military South African regional domination amidst American sanctions, for a peaceful, American-approved permanent domestic political settlement under the eternal protection of said Western hyperpower as the sole ruler of the global post-WWII world order.

The year 2000 marked the appropriate commencement date of a visible New Age and the rational Project for a New American Century.

In the year 2000, no person could have predicted the Twin Tower collapse in New York, inside the USA of all places on this planet.

Bombs could explode over Lockerbie on a Pan-American plane en route to New York where the New York Accord between South Africa, Cuba, the USA and USSR was signed in 1988, but by 2001 there was no state power that could pull off an immense New York Twin Tower collapse operation within the territory of the hyperpowerful United States, except the US itself. The US Government would never ever commit a 9/11 against itself. There was no conspiracy. The fact that 9/11 did occur in 2001, points to something exceptional in world history: the US is a non-sovereign hyperstate.

In the year 2000 no political analyst would have predicted the deliberate destruction of the artificially created Iraqi state and its associated global power balance in 2003. It was inconceivable that a rational USA would utterly destroy its own strategic vassal state, and thereby its own global power balance by providing Iran, Russia and China with the opportunity to gain power and sovereignty, which in turn destroyed global US hedemony and its exceptional unipolar world order.

Was the US irrational when destroying its important geopolitical tool, the Iraqi state? Were US decision makers stupid? Or was the US intelligence service plain dumb as proposed by Niël Barnard? None of these course.

The fact that the Iraqi state was destroyed by the US, and the fact that this power vacuum automatically favoured Iran, as well as presented both Russia and China with the opportunity to coordinate their gain of sovereign power and thus end the ultra-short-lived unipolar world order that was supposed to last for a thousand years, points to something exceptional in world history: the US is a non-sovereign hyperpower.

Both the unlikely Twin Tower collapse in New York, as well as the subsequent destruction of the US-strategic Iraqi state during the start of the 21st century, when the USA was the world’s sole hyperpower and almighty ruler of the total globe, point to one and the same political principle, which has nothing to do with conspiracy, but is called non-sovereignty by academics and political scientists.

Non-sovereign is a state that conducts a war in which it reduces its power, which is the same as conducting a war against a friend, instead of against a true enemy of that state.

Stupid the non-sovereign USA was and is definitely not. The US government knew in 2003 that it could not destroy the Iraqi state, and let Iran gain power by stepping into the power vacuum, which Iran would certainly do and did.

Shortly after the Twin Tower collapse in New York, David Frum shocked the political world, by inserting into the US President’s speech the state of Iran as part of the evil axis. For the US to destroy Iraq in favour of the state of Israel, it was absolutely necessary to simultaneously destroy the state of Iran.

Instead of bunker-buster bombing and thereafter invading to destroy the sovereign state of Iran, the US government after proper investigation and scientific risk-analysis, decided to do the most sensible thing, and as during the 20th century, opted to rather engineer regime change in Iran.

During 2005 Ariel Sharon warned against this covert US approach to conquering Iran, as he was certain that it would fail, with dire consequences for the unipolar world order. An unfortunate stroke put Sharon in a vegetative state, thus ending his attempts to save the exceptional Judeo-Christian ruled world order.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei saw the US-sponsored colour revolution coming, and had engineer Mahmoud Ahmedinejad elected as Iranian state president to resist and foil US-engineered regime change.

Had South Africa had a Supreme Leader or sovereign Ayatollah, to engineer the rise of a State President other than FW de Klerk, South Africa would not necessarily have taken a vastly different path than before.

As mentioned, by 1990, South Africa had already implemented Resolution 436, thereby giving up on its 21st-century imperative for regional integration via proxy power in Southwest Africa, Angola, the DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Tanzania.

Also in the early 1990s it became evident that the USA was by then the world’s sole ruling hyperpower, and most of the Afrikaner ruling elite if not all, including Dr Nieël Barnard who cooperated closely with the US since his nuclear state power studies there in 1979, did not believe the USA to be non-sovereign, unlike the assassinated Dr Verwoerd.

– Madelein Louw

Washington politicizes soccer

Washington’s attack on world soccer is following the script of Washington’s attack on the Russian-hosted Sochi Olympics. The difference is that Washington couldn’t stop the Olympics from being held in Sochi, and was limited to scaring off westerners with lies and propaganda.

In the current scandal orchestrated by Washington, Washington intends to use its takeover of FIFA to renege on FIFA’s decision that Russia host the next World Cup.

This is part of Washington’s agenda of isolating Russia from the World.

This Washington-orchestrated scandal stinks to high heaven. It seems obvious that the FIFA officials have been arrested for political reasons and that the recently overwhelmingly-reelected FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, was forced to resign by Washington’s threats to indict him as well. This can happen because Washington no longer is subject to the rule of law. In Washington’s hands, law is a weapon that is used against everyone, every organization, and every country that takes a position independent of Washington.

This clears the deck for Washington and its British lapdog to take over FIFA, which henceforth will be used to reward countries that comply with Washington’s foreign policy and to punish those who pursue an independent foreign policy.

The only hope for South America, Asia, and Russia is to form their own World Cup and turn their backs on the corrupt West.

It is astonishing that Russia, Asia, and South America so much desire to be part of the corrupt and immoral Western world. Why do countries wish to be associated with evil? Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and perhaps Argentina and Brazil have learned that being in the Western orbit means putting their country under Washington’s control.

Putin, Lavrov, and China’s leaders say that being associated with the West is like being associated with the plague. Yet they still want to be associated with the West. Why do Russia and China think that their self-esteem depends on Washington’s approval?

FIFA is a Swiss-based organization. Yet the arrests of FIFA officials is based on a Washington-initiated “investigation” by the FBI. By asserting the universality of US law, Washington is asserting the authority of its police and prosecutors over sovereign countries.

Why did Switzerland, and why do other countries lay down in obedience to Washington’s assertion of the universality of its laws? Are the political leaders paid off or are they threatened with assassination or false indictments?

What explains that of all countries on earth only Washington’s law is universal, acknowledged and bowed down before in other countries? Is if fear of retribution?

Possibly, but one answer is that the entire point of being a leader of a foreign country is to be made rich by kowtowing to Washington. One year out of office and Tony Blair was reported to be worth $50 million. Where did the money come from? No one wanted to listen to Blair’s speeches when he was Prime Minister. Why did Americans pay him six-figure sums to give speeches?

Putin can become rich, too. All he needs to do is to turn Russia over to Washington.

Here we are in an orchestrated soccer scandal hyped to the hilt by the presstitute media while all the real scandals go unremarked.

For example, a number of the mega-banks in the West have pleaded guilty to felony charges and only suffered fines. As Finian Cunningham has pointed out, the money laundering and price-rigging by the “banks too big to jail” dwarfs the alleged criminality at FIFA. The Securities and Exchange Commission actually issues waivers to the banks for their criminal activity. One dissenting SEC commissioner accuses her colleagues of encouraging “recidivism” by the constant issue of waivers.

Washington itself cannot be believed as not a single significant statement out of Washington’s mouth since the Clinton regime has been true; yet, Washington still parades around as the arbiter of truth.

Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. Assad did not use chemical weapons. Iran did not have a nuclear weapons program. Russia did not invade Ukraine. But Washington convinced the world that its lies were true.

It is almost a certainty that politicians up in arms over unsubstantiated charges that FIFA took bribes have themselves taken bribes. Just look at the bribes given to Congress by corporations to vote fast track for TTIP.

Can anyone name even one leader of one EU country (other perhaps than Greece at the moment) who doesn’t take bribes from Washington?

According to Udo Ulfkotte, no one can name even one British or EU newspaper that doesn’t take bribes from the CIA.

How many UN votes are determined by Washington’s threats and bribes?

Whether or not FIFA decisions are tainted by bribery, the purpose of the “investigation” is to cast doubt on the decision to hold the World Cup in Russia. The World Cup is a global spectacle and conveys prestige on the host country. Washington intends to deny this prestige to Russia. That is what the “investigation” is about.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts’ latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.

Putins awards parents with seven or more kids

This is a wonderful event promoting family values. You don’t get to have dinner with the President every day, but these families deserved it!

The Order of Parental Glory is awarded to parents (including adoptive parents), who have raised seven or more children and pay great care to the next generation’s health, education, and physical, spiritual and moral development.

The decoration was instituted by a presidential executive order in May 2008, and was first awarded on January 13, 2009.

Russian investigators release name of key witness in MH17

The Russian Investigation Committee released the name of the key witness to the Malaysian Airlines flight that had been downed over eastern Ukraine last year, Russian Investigation Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Wednesday.

Markin said that investigators had decided to release the name in light of the numerous media reports that were somewhat doubtful.

“The [key] witness is a Ukrainian, Evgeniy Agapov, who served as a mechanic in the First Squadron Brigade of Tactical Aviation of the Ukrainian Air Force (Military Unit Number A4465).”

“[Agapov] is currently under state protection,” Markin added.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was downed by a Buk 9М38-М1 guided missile fired from Ukrainian military-controlled territory, Russia’s air defense systems manufacturer Almaz-Antey said in a press conference presenting its report on Tuesday.

The investigation into the crash that killed all 298 people on board is headed by the Dutch Safety Board.

According to a September preliminary report, the plane was hit by multiple high-energy objects causing it to break up in mid-air. The final report on the crash is due by October 2015.

The Russian maker of the Buk air defense missile system said Tuesday that it has concluded that Malaysian Airlines flight 17 was downed by an older version of the missile, which isn’t in service with the Russian military but is in Ukrainian arsenals.

Controversy continues over who shot down the plane last summer over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.

Ukraine and the West suspect it was destroyed by a “Russian surface-to-air missile fired by Russian soldiers or Russia-backed separatist rebels” fighting in the area, but refuse to release evidence to back their claims.

Russia has denied the allegations and has provided material in support.

Mikhail Malyshevsky, an adviser to the director general of the missile maker, state-controlled Almaz-Antei consortium, said at a news conference Tuesday that its analysis was based on photographs of the wreckage available to the public. He said the holes in the plane’s parts were consistent with a specific type of Buk missile and its warhead.

Source: Sputniknews

FIFA’s Blatter resigns

Sepp Blatter has announced he is stepping down as president of FIFA, football’s governing body, and has called on a special congress to elect a successor. The news comes less than a week after Blatter was reelected as FIFA chief amid a bribery scandal.

Switzerland’s office of attorney general (OAG) said that it is not investigating Blatter in connection with the FIFA corruption probe.

“Joseph S. Blatter is not under investigation by the OAG. His announced resignation will have no influence on the ongoing criminal proceedings,” the attorney general is cited as saying by Reuters.

Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, who gave in to Blatter during the vote last Friday, will run in the new FIFA election for president, AFP reported.

Sepp Blatter has taken this step to save the organization, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has told the Tass news agency.

The new congress will take place between December 2015 and March 2016, the chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee, Domenico Scala, has said. He has taken the floor after Blatter.

Former Daily Show host, the very unfunny John Oliver made Sepp Blatter his personal White Whale, repeatedly calling out the FIFA President on his show with lengthy items detailing the FIFA corruption scandals.

On last Sunday’s show, Oliver begged FIFA sponsors – which include McDonalds, Adidas and Budweiser, to pull their support.

The Guardian as well as the Financial Times singled out South Africa. From The Guardian:

Blatter’s announcement comes after Fifa had admitted it paid $10million destined for the South Africa World Cup to an account controlled by the disgraced former vice-president Jack Warner. The payment followed a letter from the South African FA to Fifa secretary general Jérôme Valcke.

From the FT:

His resignation came at the end of another bruising day for Fifa, after one of his most senior lieutenants, Jérôme Valcke, was alleged to have had personal knowledge of a $10m payment at the heart of a US corruption probe.

Mr Valcke was the recipient of a letter from the South African football association on March 4, 2008, asking him to withhold $10m from the funding of the World Cup “operational budget” and for the money to be “advanced” to a fund controlled by the then “President of Concacaf”, Jack Warner.

The letter, which was shown on South African television, was confirmed by its South African signatory, Molefi Oliphant. “The copy is official,” he said. “That is the copy, you have it, so you can draw any opinion you want to. That is the correct letter,” he said.

Blatter understands New World Order

Fifa boss understood very early that there’s a new world order in which westerners don’t matter much, writes Simon Kuper in the FT.

Blatter knows which of the soccer nations have money, and that is why he will be re-elected.

In the 19th century, it was the British, later Americans, then Russians and currently Gulf Arabs.

That’s why on Friday he will be re-elected to his fifth term as president of Fifa, the corrupt global football authority. Western countries rightly decry Blatter. However, we ought to recognise his genius. This 79-year-old understood very early that there’s a new world order in which westerners don’t matter much.

I only realised how deluded most of us westerners were on December 2 2010. That afternoon Fifa’s executive committee (Exco) chose Russia to host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar to stage the 2022 tournament. I had followed the bidding campaigns for years. I had had many off-the-record conversations with western bidders. A few had predicted Russia’s victory. Almost nobody foresaw Qatar’s.

Writing in the Financial Times before the vote, I chastised bookmakers William Hill for making Qatar runaway favourites. Hadn’t Fifa’s own evaluation report called Qatar’s extreme heat “a potential health risk for players, officials, the Fifa family and spectators”? I tipped Russia and the US to win. I was wrong. So were almost all other western observers. Theo van Seggelen, president of the international footballers’ trade union Fifpro, says: “For me — and I was reasonably close to the fire — the vote was a complete surprise.”

It turned out that Fifa cared only about naked power and money. In addition, more than a third of Exco’s 24 members were accused of corruption linked to the vote. Several resigned from football. Jérôme Valcke, Fifa’s secretary-general, wrote in a leaked memo that Qatar “bought” the World Cup. (He later said he’d been misinterpreted.) Last year The Sunday Times alleged that a Qatari, Mohamed bin Hammam, made payments totalling $5m to win support for Qatar’s bid.

Western countries, hopping mad to lose the World Cups, have cried “corruption!” But most non-western participants dismiss them (with some justification) as hypocritical, whining losers. Richard Attias, a French communications consultant who works with Qatar, told me: “Only a microcosm is interested in how World Cups are attributed — a very British microcosm.”

Fifa’s vote presciently recognised the geopolitical rise of Qatar and Russia. Fifteen days after the vote, a Tunisian fruit seller set himself on fire, and north Africans rose in revolt. Qatar, “flush with the success of winning the rights to host the . . . World Cup and with its international recognition soaring as a result,” then helped spark the Arab spring, writes Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Baker Institute fellow for the Middle East. Qatar funded Islamists across north Africa, and helped unseat Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea. We live in a new world order.

It suits Blatter. Coming from a small country, he is skilled at accommodating big power brokers.

Moreover, he thinks like them: Blatter, too, likes legal immunity, motorcades on empty highways, and respectful underlings. The central American football officials who recently compared him with Jesus and Nelson Mandela presumably knew the comparisons were absurd. But the absurdity simply emphasised their loyalty.

Western countries are powerless to change Fifa. They could boycott the World Cup but, characteristically, they won’t make sacrifices for their principles.

Now some westerners are complaining about Blatter’s unfair advantages over any opponent in Friday’s vote. Many national football associations fear their supposedly secret ballots won’t stay secret.

SA soccer bid got clean audit from EY

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said that the claims that a South African official paid a bribe to FIFA to host the 2010 World Cup are untrue.

The awarding of the 2010 FIFA World Cup to South Africa is being investigated by the FBI.

The US Attorney General told a press conference on Wednesday that bribes were allegedly paid to FIFA officials to award the 2010 tournament to South Africa.

“As far as we were concerned, we received a clean audit report from Ernst and Young a reputable audit firm.

“There has never been a suggestion that anything untoward happened,” Radebe said.

Radebe was speaking at a post cabinet briefing in Pretoria on Thursday.

“I was also part of the local organising committee,” Radebe said laughing.

He reminded journalists that at the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the event in South Africa was one of the best ever.

“About what came yesterday [Wednesday], the due process will take place,” he said.

Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula is expected to release a statement on the issue later on Thursday.

Source: eNCA

Failure of the US coup d’État in Macedonia

Macedonia has just neutralised an armed group whose sponsors had been under surveillance for at least eight months writes Thierry Meyssan.

By doing so, it has prevented a new attempt at a coup d’État, planned by Washington for the 17th of May. The aim was to spread the chaos already infecting Ukraine into Macedonia in order to stall the passage of a Russian gas pipeline to the European Union.

On the 9th of May, 2015, the Macedonian police launched a dawn operation to arrest an armed group which had infiltrated the country and which was suspected of preparing a number of attacks.

The police evacuated the civilian population before launching the assault.

The suspects opened fire, which led to a bitter firefight, leaving 14 terrorists and 8 members of the police forces dead. 30 people were taken prisoner. There were a large number of wounded

The Macedonian police were clearly well-informed before they launched their operation. According to the Minister for the Interior, Ivo Kotevski, the group was preparing a very important operation for the 17th May, the date of the demonstration organised by the Albanophone opposition in Skopje.

The identification of the suspects has made it possible to determine that they were almost all ex-members of the Kosovo Liberation Army).

The principal leaders of this operation, including Fadil Fejzullahu killed during the assault, are all close to the United States ambassador in Skopje, Paul Wohlers.

Paul Wohlers is the son of US diplomat Lester Wohlers, who played an important part in Atlantist propaganda, and directed the cinematographic service of the U.S. Information Agency. Paul’s brother, Laurence Wohlers, is presently an ambassador in the Central African Republic.

Paul Wohlers himself is a specialist in counter-espionage. He was the assistant director of the United States Department of State Operations Center, in other words, the service for the surveillance and protection of diplomats.

Although Macedonia is not a member of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg was « following » the police operation in Kumanovo.

To eliminate any doubt about the identity of the operation’s sponsors, the General Secretary of NATO Stoltenberg, intervened even before the assault was over – not to declare his condemnation of terrorism and his support for the constitutional government of Macedonia, but to paint a picture of the terrorist group as a legitimate ethnic opposition.

In January 2015, Macedonia foiled an attempted coup d’état organised for the head of the opposition, the social-democrat Zoran Zaev. Four peole were arrested, and Mr. Zaev had his passport confiscated, while the Atlantist press began its denunciation of an “authoritarian drift by the régime”.

Zoran Zaev is publicly supported by the embassies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Holland. But the only trace left of this attempted coup d’état indicates the responsibility of the US because this coup was coordinated by Mile Zechevich, an employee of one of George Soros’ foundations.

In order to understand Washington’s urgency to overthrow the Macedonian government, we have to go back and look at the gas pipeline war. Because international politics is a huge chess-board on which every move by any piece causes consequences for all the others.

The gas pipieline Turkish Stream was intended to pass through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia in order to supply the European Union with Russian gas. On the initiative of Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of each of the countries concerned met on the 7th April in Budapest to coordinate their position facing the United States and the European Union.

The United States have been attempting to sever communications between Russia and the European Union since 2007.

They managed to sabotage the projet South Stream by obliging Bulgaria to cancel its participation, but on the 1st December 2014, to everyone’s surprise, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a new project when he succeeded in convincing his Turkish opposite number, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to sign an agreement with him, despite the fact that Turkey is a member of NATO.

It was agreed that Moscow would deliver gas to Ankara, and that in return, Ankara would deliver gas to the European Union, thus bypassing the anti-Russian embargo by Brussels. On the 18th of April 2015, the new Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsípras, gave his agreement that the pipeline could cross his country.

As for Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, he had already conluded discrete negotiations last March.

Finally, Serbia, which had been a partner in the South Stream project, indicated to the Russian Minister for Energy Aleksandar Novak, during his reception in Belgrade in April, that Serbia was ready to switch to the Turkish Stream project.

To halt the Russian project, Washington has multiplied its initiatives in Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia.

Last comment, but not the least: Turkish Stream will also supply Hungary and Austria, thus ending the alternative project negotiated by the United States with President Hassan Rohani – against the advice of the Revolutionary Guards – for supplying them with Iranian gas.

Thierry Meyssan French intellectual, founder and chairman of Voltaire Network. His columns specializing in international relations feature in daily newspapers and weekly magazines in Arabic, Spanish and Russian. His last two books published in English : 9/11 the Big Lie and Pentagate.

Russia to Deliver S-300 Missiles to Iran

Russia lifted a ban on sending Iran its sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missile system, officials said Monday. The weapons could be shipped shortly, giving Tehran a new way to defend itself against any future bombing campaign.

The decision was made as Iran continues to negotiate with the United States and five other world powers about its nuclear program in return for an easing of sanctions.

The S-300 missile system is able to hit multiple targets at once, and is typically launched from the back of a truck. The missiles can target aircraft and missiles flying more than 16 miles high, according to specifications published by the American Federation of Scientists, a nonprofit organization that provides analysis on national security issues.

Russia signed an $800 million deal to deliver S-300s to Iran in 2007, but decided to halt the weapons delivery after the United States and Israel protested that Tehran could use them to protect its nuclear facilities. Russian officials said Monday that sending the missile system to Iran wouldn’t jeopardize security in the region.

The Kremlin wanted to sell the system to Syria in 2013, but came under pressure. Secretary of State John F. Kerry warned Russia at the time.

Israeli officials also warned that if Russia completed the S-300 deal with Syria, they would use military force to ensure the system didn’t become operational.

Source: Washington Post

BRICS face huge security issues says Putin

Security issues are an important sphere in the activity of BRICS member states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and they are related to the challenges the world community is currently facing, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at a meeting with the Security Council secretaries of the BRICS countries.

“Obviously, for our organization, for BRICS, it’s an important sphere of activity, considering the challenges the entire international community and our countries have to face at present. It’s obvious that the fight against organized crime, terrorism, financial crime is certainly on the agenda of the international community,” Putin said.

According to the president, it is also obvious that BRICS member countries are facing major threats. “It is also clear that our countries are facing considerable threats in connection with violation of international law norms, in connection with violation of sovereignty of different states, their activity spheres,” Putin said.

Source: Itar-TASS

Over 80% of Russians Against Same-Sex ‘Marriages’

The percentage of Russians who are positive about the law banning the propaganda of homosexuality is increasing and is now 77% against 67% in 2013, Levada Center told Interfax.

Fifteen percent of the respondents do not support this law and 7% said they are not interested, a poll surveying 800 people conducted in 46 regions of Russia shows.

Over half of the respondents said they see this law aims to protect morals (67% against 60% in 2013), while 14% believe it aims to distract public attention from other problems and 7% believe it is aimed at fanning feud.

Seven percent of the respondents said they support the idea to allow same-sex “marriage” in Russia and 84% said they are negative towards it.

Twenty-nine percent of the respondents believe homosexuals are subjected to physical violence in Russia, while 32% believe they are discriminated against (psychological pressure, encroachments on rights, etc.). Thirty-seven percent of the respondents and 33% of the respondents respectively, have the opposite opinion.

A little more than one-third of the respondents (37%) believe homosexuality is a disease that needs to be treated (against 34% in 2013). One-fourth of the respondents (26% against 17% in 2013) see homosexuality as a result of bad upbringing, promiscuity and a bad habit.

The percentage of respondents who see homosexuality as a result of seduction has decreased from 23% to 13% in the past two years. One out of every ten respondents believe homosexuality is innate (11% against 16% in 2013).

Two-thirds of Russians said their feelings about homosexuals are manly negative: fear and loathing (24%), irritation (22%), and tension (19%). One out of every four respondents (26%) reacts to homosexuals and lesbians “calmly, without any special emotion.” Only 3% are friendly to homosexuals or interested in them.

Source: Interfax