putin – praag.org

Democratic revolutions have sown violence, social disaster says Putin

The export of the so-called democratic revolutions continues, as the international community fails to learn from mistakes, which have already been made, Russian President Vladimir Putin said addressing the UNGA.

He cited the example of the revolutions in the Middle East, when people wished for change, “but how did that turn out?”

He said that instead of triumph of democracy “we have violence and social disaster,” where no one cares about human rights, including the right to life.

Actions carried out without a UN mandate could destroy the system of international relations, Putin said in his address.

“Russia is ready to work on the basis of broad consensus on the further development of the United Nations with all partners. But we believe that attempts to undermine the authority and legitimacy of the United Nations are extremely dangerous. This can lead to the collapse of the entire architecture of international relations,” Putin said.

In this case there would be no other rules left “but the rule of force,” he warned. The world would be dominated by “selfishness rather than collective work” and characterized by “dictate rather than equality.”

Putin said that the power vacuums in the Middle East and North Africa regions have led to the emergence of extremists. The Islamic State militants (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), who gained foothold in Iraq and Syria, are now seeking to dominate in the whole Islamic world, he said. Some of them have defected from the ‘moderate’ opposition in Syria, who has been supported by some Western states, he stressed.

ISIS trains militants from many nations, including Europe, and Russia is not an exception, he said. Putin urged to cooperate with the Syrian government forces fighting terrorists on the ground.

“We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the Syrian government and its armed forces who are valiantly fighting terrorism face to face,” he said.

“We should finally acknowledge that no one but President Assad’s armed forces and [Kurdish] militia are truly fighting Islamic State and other terrorist organizations in Syria,” he added.

Source: RT

The “R” in evolution.

The world has had its fair share of revolutions in the past few centuries, most notably the French, the Russian and perhaps slightly less so the South African “transformation”.

The narrative abounds that life has become either too complicated or daunting to continue on its path and therefore is in need of change. The desire for wanton destruction then becomes the norm. No stone is left unturned and people are killed in droves, their demise often being met with mirth and mockery.

While the images of the French and Bolshevik Revolutions are well documented and the savagery well-known, it appears that the dynamism behind them has itself undergone an evolution. No longer do we see a uniform ideology to abide by, but a caricature of one’s own culture is used. The motor behind revolution has gone global and uses different means depending on the local circumstances.

Actually, a global revolution is taking place at present, and has been doing so for decades. We feel the tremors but the epicentre is hidden. We have seen South Africa fall, and are watching how the United States is following suit, yet nations that are rising from the ashes, like Russia for instance, has become the new thorn in the side of the world’s shadow elite. No doubt, a firm nationalist and religious identity works wonders to abate any such dangerous revolutionary takeovers. In that sense Russia has a lot to teach us because they have been there.

In the news today, we see the following “random” events taking place:
Back in 2010 the journalist and Bilderberg Group investigator Daniel Estulin mentioned that thirteen US military bases were being built in Afghanistan with the intention of threatening Russia. Need we not forget that the eastern block has done away with the Warsaw Pact decades ago, but NATO – its military contender in the West – is still rattling its sabre. Otherwise, various fringe groups such as pop stars and gay rights activists have been implemented to stem the tide of Russian nationalism. Not to mention the State Department’s Victoria Nuland’s leaked phone call wherein the political dislodging of Ukraine from its powerful neighbour was discussed. And yet they still want us to believe that Putin is the bogeyman.

Elsewhere, the United States is still reeling from the various racially related riots that have taken place at home. Arguably, it started off when George Soros’ puppet president Barack Obama commented on the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case in 2012. In contrast to the ruling of the court, the president defended the African American teenager, effectively criminalising the defendant further and undermining the rule of law; a dictator in the making. Setting such precedents are not productive when it comes to quelling race relations, not to mention how the defendant, who had previously referred to himself as Hispanic all of a sudden became “white” in the eyes of the public. This hand-picked incident of violence (one out of 8,855 hand gun related homicides that year) had to have a white man killing a black youngster in order to pass muster, otherwise it would have disappeared down the memory hole and would have been seen as no more than an everyday act of violence. The ensuing race related incidents in Ferguson, New York and Baltimore demonstrated how violence with indirect approval from the Commander in Chief begets further violence. The Washington Post has mentioned how, once again, George Soros bankrolled $33 mln to Ferguson to fan the flames of racial tensions. Apparently – and to no surprise one might add – even the race-baiting reverend Jeremiah Wright is on Soros’ dime.

In other parts of the world, especially the Middle-East, we are witnessing the rise of Islamic State, a new type of extremist militia group with lofty ambitions of establishing a global caliphate. Interestingly, where the US had helped to topple local dictators and warlords, IS is taking over with unseen ferocity. First there was Saddam who had to be ousted, and a few years later Khaddafi followed him into the grave. In both instances and beyond, IS rose out of the chaos, beheading people and destroying ancient statues wherever they went. The destructive allure of IS has transcended national borders not only in the Middle-East but even Muslims in Europe are enticed by their boldness and are risking life and limb to fight and die for them. And then we have to hear how none other than puppet master Henry Kissinger mentioned that IS is fighting with weapons manufactured in the United States, while Republican senator John McCain was seen holding a meeting with the IS ringleaders.

Do we see a pattern emerge?

In Russia, the Western elite wants to destroy their sense of nationhood using religion as an important target. In the US they are using trumped up charges of racism to destroy the White Anglo Saxon Protestant character, and in the Middle-East uncompromising savagery is used to kill and intimidate minorities in the name of Islam, all happening at the same time.

In all these cases, religion is used either as a lance or as a target, depending on the local circumstances.

One of the ideals of Communism, as explained in Marx and Engels’ manifesto is to destroy religion. In the case of IS, religion is used as a means to traumatise the various populations in order to ultimately convert the masses to atheism, as religion is perceived as a source of violence. Apparently a new force of atheism is emerging within the spindle of the Islamic world, namely Saudi Arabia. Even though statistics are hard to come by in this reclusive state, the general opinion seems to be that the veils and religious garb are rather concealing unbelief than immorality nowadays.

As Lenin once wrote, the best revolutionary is a youth devoid of morals. From this point of view, it appears as if IS has taken a leaf from the book of global revolution and are using the most severe forms of barbarism to put Lenin’s credo to the test. Any successful megalomaniac could attest to the joys of a traumatised and docile populace, as they often make the best slaves.

Whereas in the United States and South Africa, the destruction of the middle class is taking place, with white Americans and South Africans slowly becoming the nouveau pauvre, the Russian Bear is on the rise, and Putin has achieved everything the globalists had hoped would not happen. The entire revolutionary character and spirit of Russia has been disbanded and the rumors are circulating that the czar is to be restored as a final triumph of nationalism over internationalism.

To create a world of poverty and unbelief appears to be one of the means the elite is using to encapsulate the world by locking its people up in an unbreakable caste.

In our modern times people are once again searching for a sense of being authentic. Realising that the general narrative that has been told to us does not reflect people’s true feelings, the search for a more authentic identity then comes to the fore.

This would explain the primary reason why revolutions, which cost billions in modern day cash, cannot hold up against nationalist sentiments. Just as historian Oswald Spengler wrote about a hundred years ago a sense of one’s own culture and way of life cannot be crushed, simply because self-reflection is free and more captivating than the primitive one-dimensional ideologies proposed by revolutionary ideologues. Conversely, the revolutionary thinkers have to pressure themselves into preventing this return to nationalist based thoughts, ultimately fighting a losing battle.

Regardless of the fact that revolutions have evolved, once the tricks that are being used are exposed, people will naturally return to their own sense of authenticity, causing revolutionary thoughts to dissolve and go gently into that good night.

Let’s hope it’s not too late for that.

Putin smiles at rumours of his ‘disappearance’

President Vladimir Putin commented on reports on the state of his health as various media had speculated during more than a week on the reasons why the Russian leader “had disappeared.”

“It’d be boring if there weren’t rumors,” Putin said.

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev on Monday killed all rumors about the Russian president’s health, saying Putin’s not just on his feet, but also “hotrodding behind the wheel.”

“[Russian President] Vladimir Vladimirovich just drove me around the territory. That’s just so there’s no rumors,” Atambayev said during a meeting with Putin outside St. Petersburg.

The Kyrgyz president said rumors often spread about his own health, which he believes is unnecessary.

“But the president of Russia isn’t just walking, he’s hotrodding around, driving his guests around behind the wheel,” Atambayev said.

The British press reported earlier that “Putin is alive but neutralised as shadowy security chiefs stage a stealthy coup in Moscow”.

Source: Sputnik News

The geopolitics of South Africa’s puppet scandals

To say that popular singer Steve Hofmeyr and author Dan Roodt are targeted by the South African media monopoly, is putting it mildly. They are hounded and smeared daily by paid employees on social media.

With senior staff now openly revolting against Media24, most journalists are searching for new horizons in a job market reeling from the internet.

The only other paying jobs that are not in newsprint are websites flush with Soros money. It thus pays to be a basher of anything sane and conservative.

So sharing deep thoughts with local neo-cons whose articles, full of wishful thinking, are just as short-lived as the latest “racist scandal” editors dream up in an effort to cover up the inevitable decline.

The current malaise is linked to BRICS of which South Africa is a member. Neo-cons tell their stooges in the media giant that America and China will reshape the world order, but only last week China picked Russia and officially recognized the Crimean referendum.

Media24’s official Russia-basher Leopold Scholtz, reporting from the EU, was again refuted by developments in Germany just days ago. He keeps pretending not to notice the earth moving beneath his feet.

So the Steve-and-Dan smear campaign has gained momentum in order not to tackle the large elephant in the room.

A pock-faced jester was even hauled out to spout libel and vile insults, taunting the two Afrikaners in the latest desperate attempt to incite racial animosity or whatever it is that will not dig the printed news hole deeper.

As readers also found out last week, Merkel’s Brisbane speech may actually bring in a major shift in German politics. Afrikaners adore Germans, even though they hate Nazis. A shift from a long phase of Merkel’s undisputed leadership to one where she gets increasingly challenged by furious industrialists, is afoot.

Scholtz – his father was historian to the architect of Apartheid Verwoerd, ironically – has become accustomed to framing Afrikaners as Nazis in tendentious articles, a distinctly anti-German and Atlanticist pastime. But failing to find actual evidence, he has had to invent it with the help of a devious editor from one dwindling sheet called Beeld.

A recent Der Spiegel cover on the G20 read “Summit of Failure: How the EU lost Russia over Ukraine”, making Scholtz’s task all the more difficult to paint Afrikaners as Nazis and rant on about Russian aggression.

Signed, in an unprecedented move, by Spiegel Staff as a whole – hence indicating an overall editorial stance – the leading article refused to blame Putin for the Ukraine crisis. It instead blamed Merkel, Scholtz’s darling.

Just as Merkel’s political opponents smell victory, Germany’s leading weekly equates Merkel’s faults to Putin’s. But the turn-around will not be smooth for Media24, a blind neo-con sycophant.

And just a week earlier, ARD had given 30 minutes of airtime to Putin, who was finally able put forward his views in full before a major Western audience. ARD’s editorial decision was also unprecedented.

Meanwhile senior German politicians endorsed the Russian annexation of Crimea.

The Anglo-American media retaliated at full tilt, screeching with indignation: “Why Angela Merkel is saying farewell to Ostpolitik”.

Had they been interested in journalism, and reporting instead of Russia-bashing and race-baiting, they would have asked some pertinent questions about South Africa, BRICS and Europe.

Scholtz, who fancies himself as an honorary re-educated German, is strangely mum, pointing to the fact that there is no editiorial independance from neo-con manipulation in South Africa.

From the English press in the country Atlantic subservience is a given and a constant, but Afrikaners thrive on anti-colonialism and independence.

The big cheeses in Media24 would rather like to forget that fact and concentrate on ad hominem tags.

How more subservient to the US, and deaf to their own readers and businesses, can a media monopoly become? Especially when Afrikaner farmers are killed by the thousands and white crosses dot the countryside marking their torture and demise.

The resentment that Media24’s stubborn Atlanticism and anglophilia arouses among ordinary Afrikaners is thus an old story from our concentration camp past from Aliwal North to Bethulie, Balmoral and the long list of wanton destruction, rape and war crimes by Englishmen.

The news is that even senior politicians and business leaders are now getting tired of Atlanticism, and this may eventually lead to Media24’s downfall.

In their eagerness to bad mouth Steve and Dan, factual errors are overlooked, and outright lies told. Ordinary Afrikaners inundated the media with complaints, calling their reports inadequate, one-sided and biased. But this has strengthened Media24’s resolve to find a “racist” scapegoat or two and save their Atlanticist neo-colonial project.

They also attack the increasingly economically fragile Afrikaners and accuse them of militaristic nationalism.

In their deluded, scapegoating mood, nobody in the crumbling edifice wants to address the real issues. That alone may go down as a major shift in geopolitics.

Putin on NATO expansion, ethnic cleansing

President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with German television that NATO expansion since 2001 significantly changed the geo-political situation.

“We have witnessed two waves of NATO expansion since 2001,” Putin said. “If I remember correctly, seven countries – Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – joined NATO in 2004. Two more countries joined in 2009. Those were significant geopolitical game changers.

“Furthermore, the number of military bases is growing,” he said. “Does Russia have military bases around the world? NATO and the United States have military bases scattered all over the globe, including in areas close to our borders, and their number is growing.”

“Moreover, just recently it was decided to deploy Special Operations Forces, again in close proximity to our borders,” Putin said.

The president also said that Russia resumed the flights of its strategic aviation several years ago since it saw no moves on behalf of the United States and NATO to meet Russia halfway.

“You have mentioned various exercises, flights, ship movements, and so on,” the Russian president said in response to a question from the German correspondent. “Is all of this going on? Yes, it is indeed.”

“However, first of all, you said… that they have been conducted in the international European airspace. Well, it is either international [neutral] or European airspace,” Putin said. “So, please note that our exercises have been conducted exclusively in international waters and international airspace.”

In the interview with ARD Putin also said that Moscow was concerned by the risk of ethnic cleansing in Ukraine, adding that Kiev should stop using force in southeastern regions and create conditions for a political dialogue.

“It is important to stop the bloodshed, mutual attacks and create the conditions for a political dialogue. This is important. You have none of this — you have no political dialogue,” the Russian leader said.

“We are very concerned that an idea of ethnic cleansing could arise there. We are afraid of Ukraine slipping into neo-Nazism,” the Russian leader warned.

“Today there is fighting in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian central authorities have sent the armed forces there and they even use ballistic missiles.

“Does anybody speak about it? Not a single word. Does it mean that you want the Ukrainian government to annihilate everyone there, all political enemies and opponents? Is that what you want? We do not want it and will not let it happen,” he added.

“There’s one thing missing: for an understanding to be successful, stable and grow, everyone needs to have a feeling that this is their land, their home no matter what language they speak — whether it’s Hungarian, Russian, Ukrainian or Polish,” Putin told the German channel.

But he added that relations with Germany are an example to follow. “Look at the friendship that has been established between Russia and Germany in the past 10–15 years,” Putin said.

“I see it as a very good base, a good foundation for the development of relations not only between our two countries, but also between Russia and Europe as a whole, for the harmonization of relations in the world. It will be a pity if we let it go to waste,” he added.

‘Keep sanctions, Putin is winning’

Vladimir Putin has outmaneuvered his opponents and humiliated Ukraine by continuing to back pro-Russian separatists and flouting a cease-fire, making it crucial that sanctions on Russia remain firm, France’s ambassador to the U.S. said.

The Russian president “has won because we were not ready to die for Ukraine, while apparently he was,” Ambassador Gerard Araud said yesterday at a Bloomberg Government breakfast in Washington… Echoing the view of other European envoys in Washington, Araud expressed concern that the Ukraine conflict has hit an impasse, leaving Putin the winner by default.

Poroshenko is “kneeling in front of Putin with the cord around his neck and saying, ‘You know, you have won,’” and Putin is still not backing down, Araud said.

While many observers have called Putin a geopolitical chess player, he said, the Russian leader is more a “poker player really, putting all the money on the table, saying, ‘Do the same,’ and of course we blink. We don’t do the same.”

The economic sanctions against Russia must stay in place to prevent Putin from going further, said Araud, who moved to Washington in September after serving as the French ambassador to the United Nations.

“Whatever we decide is a disaster for us,” Araud said, again expressing his personal view. On one side, he said, lies France’s credibility as an arms supplier who delivers on contracts, and on the other, the difficulty of delivering a weapons system to Putin, who might use it against Ukraine or a European ally.

Araud concludes – rather ominously – and far too honestly for a paid-up member of the European elite:

“The question is there on the table: When is Putin going to stop?” Araud said. “That’s the reason that we need to keep the sanctions” because, “let’s be frank, it’s more or less the only weapon that we have. We are not going to send our soldiers in Ukraine. It does not make sense to send weapons to the Ukrainians, because the Ukrainians would be defeated real easily, so it will only prolong the war” and lead to a “still bigger Russian victory.”

The various oligarch controlled parties seem to have won a strong victory against the various Nazi parties in the elections being held by the junta currently: 44% vs 16%, but the official and final results will only be known on Wednesday.

Source: Bloomberg

Total CEO dies in crash at Moscow airport

French oil giant Total’s prices on the Euronext stock exchange dropped 2 percent after the death of the company’s CEO in a plane crash in Moscow, the market reported Tuesday.

On the Euronext Exchange, Total’s stocks dropped by 2 percent on the Paris market after news from Moscow verified that CEO Christophe de Margerie had died in a crash with a snowplow on the runway of Vnukovo Airport late Monday night, killing all four individuals on board the aircraft.

Russian investigators have confirmed that the driver of the snowplow was drunk.

The Falcon 50 jet crashed late Monday night in the Vnukovo-3 Airport in Moscow after the aircraft hit a snow removal vehicle on takeoff. The aircraft was flying from Moscow to Paris with energy giant Total’s head Christophe de Margerie as the only passenger on board besides three crew members, also French citizens.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a telegram to his French counterpart Francois Hollande expressing condolences over the death of Total’s CEO and crew members

“I am shocked by the report of an air crash at the Moscow Vnukovo airport, which has led to the death of the chairman of the board of directors and the president of the Total oil concern, Christophe de Margerie, and the crew members,” Putin said in the telegram.
“I ask you to convey the most sincere condolences and regrets to the relatives and friends of Christophe de Margerie, a distinguished French businessman who stood at the origins of the major joint projects which have laid the basis for the fruitful cooperation between Russia and France in the energy sphere for many years,” the telegram reads.
The president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Putin knew Margerie and maintained close working contacts with him. The president highly valued Margerie’s business qualities and his consistent commitment to the development of Russian-French relations and mutually beneficial cooperation on the whole, Peskov said.

Russia’s former finance minister Alexey Kudrin said on his page in Twitter Christophe de Margerie did a great deal in order to promote investments in the Russian economy. Kudrin also offered condolences over Margerie’s death in the crash.

“It is a grave tragedy,” he said.

De Margerie, who joined the French oil giant in 1974, has been credited with significantly expanding the company’s operations in Russia, which accounted for about nine percent of Total’s oil and gas output in 2013.

The late Total CEO was an outspoken critic of Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

In July, he told Reuters news agency that Europe should stop thinking about cutting its dependence on Russian gas and focus instead on making those deliveries safer.

Total said last month that sanctions would not halt its involvement in the so-called Yamal project, a $27 billion joint venture investment to tap vast natural gas reserves in northwest Siberia.

Lavrov: There will be no military interference in Ukraine

There will be no military interference to Ukraine, and Russia is for peaceful settlement. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, has made this statement on Monday at an annual meeting with students and teachers of Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs.

“There will be no military interference. We are committed exclusively to the peaceful settlement of this deep crisis, this tragedy,” Lavrov stated.

He noted that the demand to the militia to lay down arms was unrealistic.

The minister said that Washington and Brussels should demand that Kiev quit using heavy weaponry against civilians.

“The most important is that Washington and Brussels demand from Kiev the same that they demand in all other conflicts: to stop using heavy weaponry and aviation against civil facilities and civilians,” the minister stressed.

The demand to the militia to lay down arms is unrealistic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“Let’s sit for talks, but not threaten with sanctions against Russia and insist on quite unrealistic demands for the militia to lay down their arms and allow to kill them,” the minister said.

“Unfortunately, our western partners are blinded with the situation and give their support to any statements and actions of the current Ukrainian authorities,” Lavrov said adding that this position was biased and non-critical.

Moscow hopes that Contact Group at session in Minsk will discuss cessation of fire, Lavrov added.

“I expect that the talks started earlier in the day will be dedicated to a task of fixing, immediately and without preconditions, terms for a ceasefire,” the minister said.

The foreign minister noted that it was possible and necessary to return to pragmatic cooperation in relations of Russia with the United States and the EU.

“We believe that in relations with the European Union and the United States it is possible and necessary to return to pragmatic cooperation based on equality of rights and mutual respect. But for this, it is necessary to give up the absolutely hopeless policy of ultimatums, threats and sanctions,” the minister said.

I believe the Ukraine crisis should show everyone the absolute harmfulness of a stance, which puts particular countries, especially those close to us, like Ukraine, before a choice: ‘either you go to us or you go to Russia and then we’ll build new dividing lines and walls between us,” Lavrov said.

This choice of either with us or against us, which Brussels sometimes demands from Ukraine and other countries of the post-Soviet space, “is prevocational,” the Russian foreign minister said. “I would say this is worse than a crime, this is a big mistake,” Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister said that “you can’t make a stake on a military force, especially in the 21st century.” “I hope that we’ll move away from a dangerous line as far as the Ukraine crisis is concerned,” Lavrov said.

“As far as the WTO is concerned (namely, Russia’s withdrawal in reply to possible new sanctions), we shall not withdraw. On the contrary, we want more actively to master the WTO instruments, including those concerning trade disputes,” Lavrov said. “We have already used those instruments in order to overcome, what we believe, the EU’s discriminatory policy with regard to anti-dumping procedures”.

Investigators must also be returned to the Boeing crash site in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“No facts are given to us. They persuade us to believe their words,” he said.

“The European Council wrote in a document that it demanded immediate access to the site of the Malaysian Boeing crash. Where have they been until now. There was no threat from the militia,” Lavrov said.

“There was a demand of the UN Security Council to ensure ceasefire in the area of the crash. But Kiev stated the same day that they would stop firing after taking control of the area,” the minister said.

Prospects for abrogation of visa formalities between Russia and the European Union countries are not very reassuring, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov stated.

“The prospects are not very reassuring, frankly speaking,” the Minister pointed out. “A not very numerous but pushy group formed in the European Union. That group came out against abrogating visas. They made no bones of speaking about that”.

Source: Itar TASS

Washington has placed the world on the road to war

Does the world have a death wish?

by Paul Craig Roberts

Update: A fabricated report was spread by the UK Guardian newspaper and BBC that a Russian armored convoy entered Ukraine and was destroyed by the Ukrainian military. The German media including Die Welt picked up the false report and spread the hysteria. Once again we have confirmation that the Western media is corrupt and unreliable.

The drums for war are being loudly beaten in Washington, European capitals, and the presstitute Western media. A headline in the Asia Times is “NATO Is Desperate For War.” This time the target is Russia, a major nuclear power.

The deadly consequences of such a war would extend beyond Russia, Europe, and the US to the entire world. The Western use of lies to demonize Russia endangers life on earth and reveals the West to be both reckless and irresponsible. Yet, few voices are raised against this recklessness and irresponsibility.

Ron Unz brings to our attention the important voice of a distinguished Dutch journalist, Karel Van Wolferen. Wolferen and Unz himself are important offsets to what Unz regards, correctly in my opinion, as “the utter corruption and unreliability of the mainstream American media.”

Wolferen’s article is long but very important. Readers will see analysis akin to my own.

Wolferen shows how the Washington hegemon has captured Europe within an Atlanticist ideology that forecloses any independent thinking or foreign policy on the part of Europeans who are reduced to a state of vassalage. Wolferen concludes that as Washington drives Europe toward war, “Europeans cannot bring themselves to believe in the dysfunction and utter irresponsibility of the American state.”

With no internal checks on Washington’s recklessness from allies, the media, and US Senators, the only brake on Washington’s drive to war is Russian, Chinese, Indian, and South American diplomacy. If this diplomacy fails, Fukushima, as bad as it is, becomes a mere raindrop in the ocean.

The slaughter by Washington, Washington’s Kiev stooges and Washington’s EU vassals of civilians in the former Russian territories that comprise the southern and eastern borders of present-day Ukraine is not only largely unreported in the Western media, but also denied or blamed on Russia.

The crimes that Washington is perpetrating while blaming Russia have aroused a high level of anger among the Russian people. Such anger is dangerous as it could force Putin, who continues to emphasize non-confrontation , to turn away from diplomacy to violence.

Egor Prosvirnin, the chief editor of a Russian news site, shows us the extent of the anger in Russia caused by the dangerous mixture of Washington’s broken promises with the vicious propaganda war against Russia and the German government’s complicity.

Prosvirnin expresses anger that is white hot: “Germans have failed their test. When Evil has returned again to Europe, you do not even attempt to resist it, and immediately fall prostrate at its feet like a slave.” As Russians see it, all of Europe is a slave to the evil emanating from Washington.

Why did Merkel allow Washington to force Germany into a conflict with Russia that has produced enormous Russian anger toward Germany? What accounts for Merkel’s total failure as a leader?

The Clinton, Bush, and Obama regimes have set the world on the path to the final war.
How is it possible for their evil to go unrecognized?

The two murderous states are the US and Israel. By tolerating their endless slaughters and endless lies, the world prepares its own demise.

The only hope for life and truth is that the world unite against these two criminal governments, isolate them diplomatically and economically, and make it impossible for their government officials to travel abroad without being arrested and placed on trial.

Why does the world need Washington and Israel? Unless the world has a death wish, the world does not need Washington and Israel.

Putin and Obama discuss situation in Ukraine

The presidents agreed that the current state of things is in the interests of neither of the two states

Russian President Vladimir Putin, said after a telephone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday, that Washington’s course towards building up sanction pressure was counterproductive and damaging bilateral relations and international stability, the Kremlin press service reported.

The two presidents exchanged views on the development of the acute crisis in Ukraine. “Despite considerable differences in assessments of a number of key aspects, both sides stressed that the top priority task was to immediately stop hostilities in Ukraine’s southeastern regions and launch a political process,” the press service said.

“In this context, the leaders of the two countries positively assessed the Minsk consultations of the Contact Group and stressed the necessity of continuing negotiations in this format,” the Kremlin said.

“The presidents agreed that the current state of things is in the interests of neither of the two states. In this context, they exchanged views on the prospects for the Russia-U.S. dialogue,” the press service said.

The telephone conversation was initiated by the U.S. side.

Source: Itar-Tass

Merkel, Putin in secret deal to end Ukraine tensions

Germany and Russia have been working on a secret plan to broker a peaceful solution to end international tensions over the Ukraine.

The Independent can reveal that the peace plan, being worked on by both Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin, hinges on two main ambitions: stabilising the borders of Ukraine and providing the financially troubled country with a strong economic boost, particularly a new energy agreement ensuring security of gas supplies.

More controversially, if Ms Merkel’s deal were to be acceptable to the Russians, the international community would need to recognise Crimea’s independence and its annexation by Russia, a move that some members of the United Nations might find difficult to stomach.

Sources close to the secret negotiations claim that the first part of the stabilisation plan requires Russia to withdraw its financial and military support for the various pro-separatist groups operating in eastern Ukraine. As part of any such agreement, the region would be allowed some devolved powers.

At the same time, the Ukrainian President would agree not to apply to join Nato. In return, President Putin would not seek to block or interfere with the Ukraine’s new trade relations with the European Union under a pact signed a few weeks ago.

Second, the Ukraine would be offered a new long-term agreement with Russia’s Gazprom, the giant gas supplier, for future gas supplies and pricing. At present, there is no gas deal in place; Ukraine’s gas supplies are running low and are likely to run out before this winter, which would spell economic and social ruin for the country.

Vladimir Putin at a natural gas pipeline in Vladivostok in Russia’s far east in 2011 (Getty) Vladimir Putin at a natural gas pipeline in Vladivostok in Russia’s far east in 2011 (Getty)
As part of the deal, Russia would compensate Ukraine with a billion-dollar financial package for the loss of the rent it used to pay for stationing its fleets in the Crimea and at the port of Sevastopol on the Black Sea until Crimea voted for independence in March.

However, these attempts by Ms Merkel to act as a broker between President Putin and the Ukraine’s President, Petro Poroshenko, were put on the back-burner following the shooting down of the MH17 plane in eastern Ukraine.

But insiders who are party to the discussions said yesterday that the “German peace plan is still on the table and the only deal around. Negotiations have stalled because of the MH17 disaster but they are expected to restart once the investigation has taken place.”

Source: The Independent

Dining with POTUS

Order one with mustard, and cross your fingers

The golden age of political poisoning has largely come and gone. POTUS, however, still eats the way a ruler of an Empire did.

We know Saddam Hussein, for one, had people on the payroll to sample his dinner. His son Uday apparently incurred his wrath by having a favorite food taster killed.

Figureheads seem to have let their guard down a bit. Royals in the UK and imperials in Japan have reportedly been eating taster-free for some time now. But others a finger on the reins of world power consider the possibility that he or she might get poisoned.

Which is why, though there may not be anyone who puts down “presidential food taster” under “occupation” on his 1040, there are definitely mechanisms in place to ensure that the U.S. president doesn’t eat anything dangerous. How these mechanisms work in practice, however . . . well, the White House, as one might imagine, plays the topic exceedingly close to the vest, and writers’ requests for details (even mine) tend to go unheeded. So we’ve been left to piece things together as best we can from the occasional news account or memoir.

What seems clear is that when the president eats somewhere other than 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., tasters — in the form of Secret Service agents or military personnel — are likely to be involved. According to a Washington Post article from July 1990, George H.W. Bush ate out at Washington restaurants a lot by presidential standards, about once a month, and when he did he brought along his own condiments, bottled water, and a taster. On at least one occasion the taster was seen to personally wash all of George and Barbara’s tableware before use and subsequently monitor its whereabouts, sample the food, supervise its service, and uncork and taste the first couple’s wine.

Reports from early in Bill Clinton’s first term suggest inconsistent taster use: a March ’93 Post account of an impromptu dinner with the Gores at a restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia, has a trio of Secret Service agents scrutinizing the preparation of Clinton’s food but not actually trying any. But an “official” food taster (described as a “veteran of three presidencies”) turns up in a local paper’s feature on a Clinton get-together with Silicon Valley types in Los Gatos, California, a month earlier. And lest you think tasters are deployed only when the president ventures off government turf, a detachment of navy culinary specialists did the tasting (per the New York Times) at a congressional lunch held at the Capitol during George W. Bush’s inaugural festivities in 2001. One presumes security has gotten tighter since (a) the 9/11 attacks and (b) the descent of W’s approval ratings to depths previously plumbed only by hostage-crisis Jimmy Carter and athlete’s foot.

The presidential food safety team’s responsibilities go well beyond packing up a squeeze bottle of Horsey Sauce if the POTUS indicates that he’s thinking Arby’s. In his 2005 book Standing Next to History, former Secret Service agent Joseph Petro — who spent 23 years in the suit and shades — writes, “In principle nothing edible gets near the President unless we know where it comes from and who has handled it.” When the president digs in at a state banquet, Petro informs us, he’s eating basically the same stuff as everyone else in the room, but his helping has been prepared specially by White House stewards, who suit up to match the other servers at the event and carry his plate out themselves. For events in foreign countries, it’s the same thing but more so. Petro writes: “Stewards find out what’s being served at the banquet and bring the ingredients with them from the United States.”

OK, but try this one. The president (Reagan) is at a baseball game (opening day 1984, Baltimore), and his handlers decide they need a photo op of him eating a hot dog. You’re the Secret Service guy. What do you do? According to Petro’s account, you do the only thing you can: you pick a vendor at random, order one with mustard, and cross your fingers.

Vladimir Putin brings his own salt, pepper, bottled water and napkin along with him, it is rumoured. Just to be on the safe side when dealing with the Empire.

US blackmailing French banks says Putin

Vladimir Putin said that Russia was aware of pressure that the United States puts on France over the deal to build the Mistral warships for Russia and views it as blackmail, RIA reports. “What is being done now with the French banks causes nothing but outrage in Europe and in our country as well,” Putin said at a meeting with Russian ambassadors and permanent envoys.

“We are aware of the pressure that our American partners exert on France with a purpose of not to deliver the Mistral warships to Russia. And we know even that the United States hinted that if the French do not deliver the Mistrals, then sanctions will gradually be lifted from the banks, or at least be reduced to minimum. If this is not blackmail, then what is it?” he added.

His comments came after leading French bank BNP Paribas pleaded guilty Monday to US criminal charges of violating sanctions on Iran and Sudan for eight years and was fined a record $8.9 billion.

France’s largest bank BNP Paribas has sufficient funding to back the fine and penalties it needs to pay under settlements with US authorities over sanctions busting, the French bank’s top executives said on Tuesday.

“Our liquidity situation, we always guided it as being ample,” said Chief Financial Officer Lars Machenil, “At Q1 we had an overall excess of stable funding of 100 billion in euros out of which 50 billion was in US dollars. Yesterday when I looked into the systems…, that figure was basically unchanged at the end of the (second) quarter. This should allow having relevant cash for the settlement.”

The Financial Officer added that there was “no hurry” to seek the additional tier 1 funding that is seen as a key measure of bank stability as a result of having to pay the fine, set at almost $9 under a settlement announced late on Monday in the US.

Machenil also said that the bank plans to offer cash dividends for this year at 1.5 euro per share, the same as it was in 2013.

France’s largest bank becomes the seventh bank to settle a violations case. “Like other banks, BNP hid the names of Sudanese and Iranian clients when sending transactions coursing through its New York operations and the broader American financial system,” media report.

France’s BNP to pay US $9 bln for violating American sanctions
BNP Paribas has neared a deal with US prosecutors that would see the French bank pay $8 billion to $9 billion and accept other punitive measures for violating American sanctions, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

It also demonstrates that in the increasingly more fragile alliance against Russia, more of Obama’s foreign policy partners are turning their backs on the US.

The WSJ reports “a group of 400 Russian sailors are scheduled to arrive on June 22 in the French Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire to undergo months of instruction before some of them pilot the first of two Mistral-class carriers back to Russia in the fall, said one of these people.”

As the WSJ explains, the training is a pivotal step that deepens France’s commitment to fulfilling the €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) contract to supply Russia with the carriers, which are built to launch amphibious attacks with landing craft, helicopters and tanks.

Calling off the Mistral contract, a French official said, would be akin to “shooting yourself in the foot,” forcing Paris to take the costly step of reimbursing Moscow.

France has already completed the first ship and built half of the second Mistral, which is scheduled for delivery in 2015. The second ship is named The Sevastopol after the Crimean port that serves as a headquarters for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

The Mistral is a potent weapon. The length of more than two football fields, the ship is designed to edge up to a shoreline and deploy more than a dozen tanks and attack helicopters as well as hundreds of troops.

The ship also plugs a crucial gap in Russia’s armed forces. Moscow boasts one of the world’s largest armies and a formidable air force. But Russia’s Black Sea fleet lacks an amphibious vessel like the Mistral, capable of launching a land invasion. That weakness deprived Moscow of a crucial knockout punch in 2008, when Russian troops invaded Georgia but never managed to dominate the former Soviet countries shoreline, forcing a stalemate.

“A ship like that would have allowed the Black Sea Fleet to accomplish its mission in 40 minutes,” Russian Navy Admiral Vladimir Vysotkiy said at the time.

‘Russia has almost no troops abroad’

Russia is still ready for a dialogue with the US, which is the best way to reach mutual understanding, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with French TF-1 TV channel and radio station Europe-1, according to ITAR-TASS news agency. Extracts from the interview were released on Wednesday morning.

“I have no reasons to believe the US president does not want to talk to the Russian president, but, after all, he is free to do so,” Putin said. “I am always ready for a dialogue and think this is the best way to build bridges.” Until now, the two leaders had spoken on the telephone several times, he added.

Putin pointed to Washington’s highly aggressive actions on the international arena.

“It is no secret that the most aggressive, the most rigid policy on protection of own interests, as understood by the US Administration, is pursued exactly by the US, year in, year out,” Putin said. “We have barely any troops abroad, whereas the US has troops everywhere, it has military bases all over the world, and everywhere they participate in deciding the fates of other nations that are thousands of miles away from their own borders.”

Source: Voice of Russia