And all the while we should not lose focus of why those sanctions were imposed: Officially, because Russia will not invade Ukraine and stop the war there (how else can Russia stop a war in another country, when all diplomatic initiatives have systematically been blocked by EU/US): See today's speech from Lavrov: http://ria.ru/world/20140827/1021634114.htmlhttp://rt.com/news/183136-west-russia-confrontation-lavrov/In reality, it's because of BRICS and Russia not wanting to play the dollar game any more. In either case, these sanctions against Russia are a de-juro declaration of war. Ah, I see some sense from the Communist Party of Russian Federation: Communists say Russia should throw off ‘strangling noose’ of WTO http://rt.com/politics/182560-russia-communists-wto-quit/ “In reality it is a strangling noose on our country’s neck, and an attempt to introduce external management of Russia as a nation,” the head of the Communist Party’s legal department Vadim Solovyov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency.
The move was timed to coincide with the two-year anniversary of Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization, and MP Rashkin called it a “sad date.”
“Those who had actively lobbied the entry promised that it would open new markets and give access to the latest technologies, the much needed modernization, but instead we got a sharp fall in GDP growth in just two years – from an acceptable 3.4 percent to a puny 0.2 percent. Capital outflow has intensified as well as the inflow of imports that destroy domestic production. The investment activity has plunged and even the most powerful enterprises and industries are suffering from gigantic losses,” the lawmaker said in an interview with the Interfax news agency.
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There are conspiracy theories, and then there are conspiracy facts. I have a feeling that a lot of the latter has been put together with the former, just to stigmatise and discredit independent thinking and investigation.
A derogatory "hey, it's a conspiracy theory" has much the same effect as telling the kid "stop asking silly questions" or telling an adult "it's god's will" - it stops a line of questioning that might be undesirable.
An example of a conspiracy theory: aliens conspire with the US government (lack of any solid proof, which is the burden of the one putting forth a hypothesis) An example of a conspiracy fact: KAL-007 was destroyed over the sea of Japan, near Niigata some 45 minutes after the official stated time of destruction. (Multiple cross-referencing proofs, such as debris found up the predominant current, speech analysis of control tower recordings, cross-referenced disagreeing witness accounts pointing to shoot-downs of multiple military aircraft)
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Greeks Fighting Alongside Donetsk People’s Republic Militia - Reports http://en.ria.ru/world/20140827/192384386/Greeks-Fighting-Alongside-Donetsk-Peoples-Republic-Militia--.htmlVolunteers from Greece are among the representatives of various nationalities in the ranks of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) indepedence forces, the Athens Courier newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, there is a large community of Greeks in the east of Ukraine, who have suffered as much as other residents of the region and many of them fled for Russia’s Rostov and Kuban regions.
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In the meantime, some good news for the dollar http://en.ria.ru/business/20140827/192383783/Russias-Gazprom-Neft-to-Sell-Oil-For-Rubles-Yuan.htmlThe Russian oil company Gazprom Neft has agreed to export 80,000 tons of oil from Novoportovskoye field in the Arctic; it will accept payment in rubles, and will also deliver oil via the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO), accepting payment in Chinese yuan for the transfers, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported Wednesday.
The Russian government and several of the country’s largest exporters have widely discussed the possibility of accepting payments in rubles for oil exports.
Last week, Russia began to ship oil from the Novoportovskoye field to Europe by sea. Two oil tankers are expected to arrive in Europe in September. According to Kommersant, the payment for these shipments will be received in rubles.
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The Jalta Cinema studio, that was the birthplace of many a beloved Soviet film will see a revival after 25 years of decay and plunder: http://ria.ru/culture/20140814/1020045423.htmlAfter all the legal matters with the current unknown owners are settled. During the Ukraine reign, it was systematically destroyed, slated for demolition so as to get to the prised land: http://www.yaltarealestate.com/news.php?readmore=261And to that end, United Russia is preparing a law proposition that will allow RF to forcefully buy out from Ukraine or Ukrainian owners property in Crimea and Sevastopol. http://ria.ru/crimea_today/20140827/1021593429.htmlOf which there is a lot of in Crimea in strategically and culturally important places. Worth noting, that this will not not expropriation, even though the legality of ownership of the real estate is questionable in the first place.
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Orwell wrote 1984 as a warning. NSA mistook it for an instruction manual.
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yet you fail to see why am i asking you if you hold same views about nowaday Russia? in the end isn't it the same KGB in power that ruled USSR for decades? do you expect them all of the sudden to be example of honesty and transparency?
No, the KGB is not ruling Russia. You are living in a delusional fantasy world. If he is regular West-Ukrainian living in Ukraine, then he might just be brainwashed by the media there. I watched a selection Ukrainian TV for an hour, and, well, Goebbels is an innocent child by comparison. What is happening in MSM in Ukraine can be describes as a full-scale social-control experiment at a state level. If he is not, then he is an accessory to the atrocities committed in Ukraine though his targeted spreading of disinformation. I am leaning towards the second.
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On the contrary, he's one who sees things clearly.
gmat, might be another one deployed troll, candidate for the global ignore list.
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No incentive to burn up your troops or use your equipment stores if the Americans keep on sending you money and supplies. I'm starting to think the ATO is just a way for the Ukrainian Government to get freebies from NATO and to get accelerated into NATO and Europe.
Pretty much this. The money that Ukraine got from IMF to repay the gas debt are already divided between the (figure)heads. The money that US sends to buy weapons for killing Russians in the East are also syphoning into the (figure)heads' pockets. NATO gets an added bonus of weakening Russia, while stoking up the fires under the conflict. Thinking ahead, it will be Russia rebuilding Ukraine and supporting. Again. And again getting only blame in the way of thanks. *Sigh* A revealing comment to that article: Cass 25.08.2014 04:18
Hmmm. He advises prompt post-hostilities disbanding of the ATO (as it were) and acquires three bullets in the BACK???
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Ha, nice parallel. Another one: at least German journalists in US feel as safe as Russian journalists in Ukraine http://futuristrendcast.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/germans-fed-up-with-nato-lies-us-wars/In a recent story Die Welt journalist Ansgar Graw wrote: “The day when the U.S. police became my enemy.” Even Washington’s German media vassals reporting for Die Welt have now experienced firsthand the full brunt of American police violence. See http://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article131363772/Der-Tag-an-dem-die-US-Polizei-mein-Feind-wurde.html andhttp://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/krawalle-in-ferguson-panzer-gegen-protestler/10356412.html German journalists who have been living in the United States for 15 years are telling their readers that they have come to the decision to leave the US. They report that things have changed for the worse in the “land of the free” since 9/11, and that they were threatened, handcuffed and arrested for covering the protests in Ferguson.
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A few days ago a well-renowned German economist, industrialist and a former owner of a multinational company Vorstandschef der Thyssen AG, Dieter Spethmann, published an open letter addressing the German politicians to open their eyes on the events in Ukraine. He first tried to publish his open letter in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, but was declined. He published his letter then in Geolitico: http://www.geolitico.de/2014/08/22/berlin-und-der-krieg-der-kiew-junta/Google translateOne of the aspects that he draw the attention of the Germany’s politicians to, is that Yatsenjuk and the coup-government always make their announcements against the background of Ukrainian and EU flags. The fact that Europe keeps silent about the atrocities committed in East-Ukraine, and gives a silent go-ahead to commit them under the EU flag, makes EU complicit in these atrocities. The politicians of EU will do well in re-reading the verdicts of the Nürenberg process. Then, there is this Dutch open letter, translated into three other languages: http://ommekeer-nederland.nl/brief-met-excuses-aan-president-putin/People's comments there are well worth reading as well. Many pleas from Russia to Europe to stop the madness and open its eyes. Also on topic this digest blog post: http://futuristrendcast.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/germans-fed-up-with-nato-lies-us-wars/And: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/08/25/guest-column-germany-america-frightens-us-roman-baudzus/Dear Friends: I am pleased to be able to share with you this revealing article written for our website by the editor of an important website in Germany.
Washington’s lies echoed by the presstitute media that serves Washington are destroying Washington’s credibility and that of the Western media among Europeans, especially Germans who understand that the threat to peace comes from across the Atlantic, not from east of the Oder River.
The success or failure of Vladimir Putin’s bet that reasonable diplomacy and unprovocative behavior on Russia’s part will contrast favorably with the shrill provocations by Washington depends upon whether European politicians respond to their own citizens or continue in their role as Washington’s whores. PCR
Nothing revolutionary after Poroshenko-Putin meeting in Minsk: http://en.ria.ru/world/20140827/192388946/Questions-Left-Unanswered-at-Putin-Poroshenko-Minsk-Talks.html“We didn’t substantively discuss that, and we, Russia, can’t substantively discuss the conditions for a ceasefire, or agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk. That’s not our business, it’s up to Ukraine itself," Putin told reporters early Wednesday.
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Three Russians killed after UN peacekeeping helicopter downed in South Sudan http://en.itar-tass.com/world/746785Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary General confirmed that the three killed helicopter pilots were Russian citizens. He added that the helicopter was chartered from a Russian company.
Earlier, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) issued a statement saying that three crew members died and one survived in a helicopter crash. It has confirmed that three crew members of a Mi-8 helicopter contracted by the UN have died as a result of the helicopter's crash near Bentiu, Unity state Tuesday evening. The survivor has been provided medical aid by a Medics Without Borders team in Bentiu, according to the statement. I find it ironic that Russia is helping with peacekeeping efforts in Africa, yet are denied all peace-promoting initiatives in a war and ethnic cleansing that is happening right on its border.
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Over one month later, and still no preliminary reports. The tapes with communication between the tower in Dniepropetrovsk (Kolomojskij's headquarters) and the plane are not made public, and ICAO is still not involved. Curkin has several questions to the investigation process in the UN, especially since everyone was so quick to blame Russia for everything with zero evidence.
By the way, when the plane with the Polish president fell in Russia, the communications between the plane and the ground were made public by Russia. Why is Holland procrastinating?
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Oh, but the outcome is not yet decided... Besides, is Holland at war with Russia? I guess refusing to return the items is in a way a declaration of war.
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Yatsenjuk said yesterday that Ukraine is 5 billion cubic meter short to be able to survive the winter and to ensure transit to Europe. EU, Ukraine and Russia will try with tri-lateral talks: http://en.itar-tass.com/economy/746781In the meantime, Ukraine is switching to wood and grass. A furniture factory sells furniture for burning. While TV/media are full of commercials blaming Russia for stopping supplies of free gas and telling people to save fuel.
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Russia sent a special mobile laboratory and specialists virologists to Guinea as humanitarian aid. The situation looks grim.
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But surely, you would not want the Crimean Junta to get their greedy hands on expensive museum pieces?! What next? "Returning" priceless Inca artefacts to some drug lords just because their private army happened to recently take over some South American country? So much gold in the hands of Crimeanals would be risky I think Egypt is also missing quite a lot of items... They do, but the British Museum did return a huge chunk of the collection to Egypt (which then proceeded to be plundered a few years later during the US-staged coup.)
Here are the newsitems in English on the Scythian gold matter from the last couple of days. The titles alone speak volumes! Disputed Scythian gold collection to remain in Netherlands http://en.itar-tass.com/world/745952Crimean Scythian gold issues must be settled by museums http://en.itar-tass.com/non-political/746085Kiev insists on return of Scythian gold to Ukraine http://en.itar-tass.com/world/746096Judge representing non-interested side might decide fate of Skiff gold collection http://en.itar-tass.com/world/746297Crimea wants to see Scythian gold back because Kiev is unable to protect these exhibits http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/746342
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