Some Recent Issues: Ukraine, Iran, U.S., China

December 1, 2013

Some remarks on recent issues (I should have blogged about):

1. Ukraine

The south and east of Ukraine are ethnically Russian. It is also where the Ukrainian industries are. Those industries are not (yet) capable of competing with western European industries and depend on business with Russia. In contrast to that the western Ukraine is mostly agricultural and some there would probably profit from a deeper association with the European Union. But over all the recent attempt of an EU-Ukrainian trade pact makes no sense. Many countries in the EU (France, Spain etc.) do not favor it and have contained the level of bribery the EU can undertake to buy the Ukraine. So the EU was somewhat restricted to offer "values" where Russia can offer cheep gas and a viable market for Ukrainian goods and services. Looking at Greece and Spain European "values" do not look that valuable these days. It was therefore right for the Ukrainian president to reject the EU deal. Some well paid EU claqueurs and "Orange Revolution" left behinds are now demonstrating against that. Ignore them.

2. Iran

Iran's foreign policy activity is breathtaking. Recently the Turkish foreign minister visited Tehran. Then the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates came. The Iranian foreign minister is currently in Kuwait and will next travel to Oman. While there was also an outreach to Saudi Arabia an offer to visit was rejected by Riyadh. Together with the recent temporary nuclear deal with the P5+1 this looks like a strategy to isolate Saudi Arabia and to thereby find unity against the Saudi-Israeli assault on Syria. This comes as the Syrian president Assad has (finally) declared war against Saudi Arabia and European diplomats are trickling back to Damascus. I am more confident now than ever that Syria, though at high costs, can and will win this war.

3. United States

There is some talk of a "Saudi America" because shale-oil and shale-gas exploration now allows for internal production of more than 50% of the hydrocarbons the U.S. is using. This is, in my view, nonsense. The break even for producing shale-hydrocarbons is mostly above $50 (and in some cases much higher) per barrel. The break even for producing hydrocarbons in the Middle East is as low as $1 to $5 a barrel. When Iraqi and Iranian production will be back online prices will fall and domestic U.S. shale production will no longer be profitable. As shale production is short term (the drill holes exhaust quite fast) even a short dip in hydrocarbon prices will put most of it to a halt.

4. China

Years after the Japanese and other East Asian countries declared Air Defense Information Zones, which require planes flying through them to inform those countries on their flights, China has done the same. The map shows that the Chinese zone is less extensive than the Japanese one. Some U.S. media now claim that China declared an "Air Defense Zone" and is about to go to war over it which is all wrong and stupid war propaganda. An information zone is far larger than a defense zone and its purpose is to give head ups of intentions to not waste defensive air power on innocent flights. The U.S. ADIZ has – by the way – much more restrictive rules than the Chinese one.

Posted by b on December 1, 2013 at 16:34 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Iran’s foreign policy activity is breathtaking.
Agreed.
And Iran’s diplomatic skills make the Yankees look like children.
Insular, dopey children…

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 1 2013 17:38 utc | 1

Hypothesis: EU is finished with its expansion phase. At best, they can begin to consolidate some of the new members. Ukraine might be setting a precedent which other non-EU might begin to follow: playing off the Customs Union agaisn’t the EU to extract better deals.
“The break even for producing shale-hydrocarbons is mostly above $50 (and in some cases much higher) per barrel.”
On average it has to be $85+ per barrel.

Posted by: Chico | Dec 1 2013 17:51 utc | 2

And that’s one explanation of the Canadian (Oil Corporation owned)government’s aggressive ultra zionism. It fears a drop in oil prices will drive tar sands goop off the market. And not a minute too soon.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 1 2013 18:07 utc | 3

To declare Eastern & Southern Ukrainians to be of a distinct Russian ethnicity than people in Western Ukraine is bullshit. It’s like to declare Saxonians and Bavarians to be of a distinct ethnicity.
The whole of Ukraine is a mix of various Slavic people. While in larger towns many people accomodated to speak Russian in Soviet times, in villages they mostly preserved to speak the Ukrainian variant of that language family. In Soviet times Ukrainian was seen as a dialect, now it’s seen as a language again. However one may judge that, Ukrainian is not so much different from Russian.
Though different history plays also a part in the divisions between Western and Eastern Ukraine, it’s not crucial. What’s crucial is economy. Eastern Ukraine has heavy industry which is dependent on good ties to Russia, while many Western Ukrainians make their money as migrant workers in the EU. So, when Ukraine is moving closer to EU at the expense of ties to Russia, it’s better for the migrant workers in Western Ukraine, but bad for the Eastern industry and vice versa.
That’s where the divisions between Western and Eastern Ukraine come from, not a different “ethnicity.”

Posted by: Bandolero | Dec 1 2013 18:33 utc | 4

thanks b. i am in agreement with your assessment.
bevin – as a canuck – i really hope that happens.. these freaks in power in ottawa need to be removed from power as quickly as possible.

Posted by: james | Dec 1 2013 18:33 utc | 5

EU now fund violent people in Ukraine? Yes it seems so. EU really go bonkers now on Ukraine/Russia. Sick!

Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 1 2013 18:55 utc | 6

Bandolero @4
There are also the historic ties between the three powers that divided Poland between them in the C18th.
Western Ukraine was, unless I am mistaken, divide between the Hapsburg and Hohenzollern empires. In fact Namier in “Vanished Supremacies’ talks about the effect that Ukrainian nationalism had in the failure of Polish revolts in the C19th.
Joseph Conrad in his memoirs recalls a visit to his Polish grandfather’s estate in the Ukraine.
So what we really have are three layers of ethnicity, the Ukrainians, (always bearing in mind that Kiev was the original Russian capital), the Poles and Lithuanians who included most of Ukraine in their state, and the Prussian, Austrian (German) and Russians who divided “Poland” between them.
Add to this borders which have shifted drastically, several times since 1917 alone and, I’m inclined to agree that ethnicity is a minor issue.
What makes it important I suspect is that German and Polish influences remain strong in the west and retain an important, Orange Coloured, clientele whose minds are still trapped in the Cold War. Brought up on Radio Free Europe and other propaganda their anti-communism has morphed effortlessly into slavophobia. A pretty weird disease for Ukrainians to contract, with elements of self hatred in it.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 1 2013 19:18 utc | 7

Bevin and James. Zteven Harper is today’s hero, who’ll get a bird sanctuary bearing his name: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-harper-to-be-feted-for-support-of-israel-at-negev-dinner-1.2446730 Just wondering if the birds will be allowed to fly…

Posted by: gregg | Dec 1 2013 19:19 utc | 8

Ukraine is a mix up as Bandolero wrote. The history is very important, West of the country has been part of Poland under the Jagellon and spoke polish, not even ukrainian, the country was “russified” brutally in 1939 by Kroutchev see the testimony of A. Wat on it,I seize the opportunity to make a statement about the war against peasants set up by Lenin in 1919 to build up a working class. There was no working clas snumerously significant at that time but a country of peasants, most of them revolutionary socialists or anarchists ( Makhno in Ukraine), the Antonov insurrection in 1926, 100 00 peasants marching on Moscow ( again, the beautiful testimony of Boris Pilnik) that led to the great famine, and lasted up to the 50’s.
You also must remember the independant leaders, Petlioura in 1918, and the absurd geographical misconception of the country by Stalin, with Odessa, Sebastospol and Crimée, always russian for centuries included in Ukraine…
UE want the market and a revenge for Syria…

Posted by: André | Dec 1 2013 19:36 utc | 9

I hope the Axis of resistance can give the Saudis a taste of their own medicine, unattributed of course. People in glass houses.

Posted by: harrylaw | Dec 1 2013 19:52 utc | 10

Sorry, Boris Pilniak…

Posted by: André | Dec 1 2013 19:58 utc | 11

1. Ukraine
I don’t know. Together with 2 & 4 this is demonstrating what an imperial piece of fish wrap the Guardian is, though.
2. Iran
Hurray for Iran. I hope they emerge as the leader in the Middle East. The world will be better off.
3. USSA
It may be short term hydrocarbon production but it will be long term aquifer pollution … wonder what the price of water will be as a result?
4. China
What China ought to do is propose a regional ADIZ, wherein the Plutocrats’ Republic, Taiwan, Japan, and the Koreas all specify common data to be supplied by all flights entering the region and disseminate same to all as received.
5. Canada
Feds to monitor social media round-the-clock

The federal government is seeking a firm that “continuously monitors social media content on a daily basis in near real time and (can) provide web-based, online media metrics and reporting capabilities.”
That includes combing through “blogs, micro-blogs, social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter, forums and message boards, traditional news websites and comment sections, media sharing websites (videos, photos and user-generated content websites including YouTube).”
The contractor is also being asked to keep tabs on English- and French-language internet news sites and blogs. Tone and reach
The document specifies that the contractor must be able to provide the service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Posted by: john francis lee | Dec 1 2013 20:24 utc | 12

bird sanctuary named after a birdbrain.. it won’t fly with most canadians..
this bullshit happens while israel continues to pull up olive trees and steal land that doesn’t belong to them.. harpers priorities are really messed up.

Posted by: james | Dec 1 2013 20:38 utc | 13

Unfortunately I don’t think Yanukovich can just ignore these protesters. The demonstrations today seem quite significant. The country seems to be split about 50 50 between Ukrainian nationalists and those with a stronger identification with Russia. I don’t know if Putin would like it but probably one solution to this problem would be to split the Ukraine. Kieve and lands South and West can join the EU while the Donbas region, Crimea and probably Odessa could form their own state and ally with Russia. Secession certainly would be preferable to civil war. This division was evident during the Orange revolution that was orchestrated by the US State Department and all of the presidential elections since.
I guess the big problem with that solution is the Ukrainians would want to join Nato. Now that could create some big problems if avoiding war is our goal.

Posted by: ToivoS | Dec 1 2013 20:58 utc | 14

strange world when conservatives make more sense of current affairs than leftists
It has been called the most important news you may have missed. After a long consideration Ukraine has turned against a European Union offer of associated membership, refusing to sign an agreement that would have brought the former Soviet Republic into the EU political orbit.
As one might expect, the Western mainstream media has portrayed Ukraine’s rejection of an “Eastern partnership” as a turn away from civilized democracy and toward the “autocracy” of Russia’s Putin. In fact, one reads the Russian president’s name in such articles more often than that of his Ukrainian counterpart. It was only Russian bullying and blackmail, they write, that has frightened Ukraine away from the EU’s kind and generous offer.
There must be more to the story. And there is. Watch Ron Paul Institute Academic Advisor John Laughland and others debate the issue on RT’s must-watch Crosstalk program with Peter Lavelle:
etc
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/peace-and-prosperity/2013/november/30/ukraine-bullied-and-blackmailed.aspx

Posted by: brian | Dec 1 2013 21:19 utc | 15

“the big problem with that solution is the Ukrainians would want to join Nato. ”
That is the core problem. The EU’s interest in Ukraine is all about pushing NATO’s frontiers east. Belarus is the next target.
For Russia this is an existential issue, not because it would be difficult to live with an independent Ukraine but because the “westernisers” in the Ukraine want to become a province in the Empire again. Poland’s neo-liberal, crypto-fascist government is likely to be deeply involved.
The post Soviet era with ultra right wing, emigre neo-liberal regimes taking power, thanks to massive western backing for reactionary parties, drags on, despite the clear gulf between the interests of the masses and their persecutors in government who wave the old flags of nationalism, pour salt on ethnic wounds and encourage racism while stripping the nations’ assets and sending their young people into the EU to look for work.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 1 2013 21:28 utc | 16

#Ukraine is a country like #Lebanon with allegiances among politicians dividing country between East & West. None can triumph decisively.

Posted by: brian | Dec 1 2013 21:37 utc | 17

As we know the two-headed eagle the symbol of Russia represent the Russian state and the Russian Church. The Russian Orthodox Church never recognized autocephalous Ukraine Church. In similar manner, Serbian Church doesn’t recognize autocephalous Macedonia’s and Montenegro’s church either. As we can see from this sit http://orthodoxwiki.org/List_of_autocephalous_and_autonomous_churches
I have no idea who maintain this site but obviously someone who is playing the hand of Moscow. In both cases a church is extension of the state policy, hegemony, imperialism and pan-slavism. Also the fact is that official Moscow never get over of an independence of Ukraine and Odessa. Hello, The Saker!
“I’m inclined to agree that ethnicity is a minor issue.”
In the Soviet time this is probably valid statement, but now I would say it is ridiculous. Now, they are two distinct people which are speaking (officially) different languages. Ethnic groups, unfortunately, are not a factors which connecting people those are rather tools in hand of a competing forces from East and West. And both have failed, and have nothing to offer to Ukraine. The German’s Eastern Partnership and Russian one too. What they what is foothold on potentially big market and highly fertile Ukraine soil Chernozem or Black Soil, and Ukraine could be “Basket of Europe”.
From what I gather Russia have offered to Kiev is far more tangible than the West one, which is “structural adjustment” and “painfull reconstruction” all in tune with traditional neocon economic policy. As things stand right now they are better off with Russia (although we do not know what is they offering), than with land-human-destroyers from the West. In any case the West had offered nothing.
“What makes it important I suspect is that German and Polish influences remain strong…”
I for one very strongly doubt that Germany has any influence as well as Poland. It was Ukraine along with Belarus, not Russia, that suffered the most in WWII. Obviously, Ukraine’s “entrepreneurs” and westernized liberals are not in tune with politicians

Posted by: neretva’43 | Dec 1 2013 21:54 utc | 18

“the big problem with that solution is the Ukrainians would want to join Nato. ”
do they? by this do u mean ALL ukrainians? or just a certain segment?

Posted by: brian | Dec 1 2013 21:57 utc | 19

1. Ukraine:
Balkanizing countries is a bad strategy leading to trouble. Ukraine should stay out of the EU where the bankers have the people by the throat. No good for Ukranians can come from having NATO get their hooks into the country. And regional security, not to mention world peace, is reduced in proportion to the diminishing distance between NATO and the Russian border.
2. Iran:
According to Sibel Edmonds, The US is running back door, Kissinger-type tactics, to get Iranian president Rouhani to look bad in the eyes of his country’s hardliners, as the result of secret dealings with the US; and she believes, such dealings were leaked on purpose, by Obama administration sources, (as Edmonds sees it, toward the end of undermining the Iranian president). The back door treatment is thus pursued, when the front door invasion and destruction of Syria, is for the time being, put on hold.
Of course, others would say this was to keep Israel out of the loop during the delicate, initial stage of negotiations; but this idea is supporting the idea that Obama has really had a change of heart. Does Israeli intelligence, that taps into NSA resources, have the wool pulled over its eyes at any point?
3.USA:
Americans are facing a sad legacy of toxic buildup within their natural environment: the permanent toxicity of millions and millions of gallons of water from shale gas corporations, with their fracking practices. There are also the worn-out nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons facilities, that are seeping radioactive contaminants. Long into our future the greed, corruption, and the life that’s become dependent and addicted to living in fear, will be taking a grim toll on our health.
4. China:
China is perfectly within its rights to ask any aircraft that’s passing through defensive identification zones, to identify itself. As our host has pointed out, other countries have similar setups, including the USA. And one would think that turning off transponders, and keeping radio silence, especially when those aircraft are, in fact, heavy bombers, is the act of provocation, and not the defensive zone itself.

Posted by: Copeland | Dec 1 2013 22:10 utc | 20

what’s really going on in Ukraine? the media (including RT) has painted it as “revolution” by people who got slapped around by their police for protesting the failure of the agreement with the EU, but the entire explanation for this is that the people wanted to “look to the EU”… and there are photos of protesters wielding clubs which the caption said was practice in defending themselves against police…
okay, that’s just a little too much propaganda. it does NOT sound like any reason for the average Ukrainian to want to toss out its government and smash the state. getting hit by police isn’t a massacre. and no article says WHY joe schmoe wanted that particular agreement so badly… I can imagine why some powerful interests would, but who is in the street calling for burning the state? what are they thinking is going to take over?
where is the fact-based journalism on this? there must be some outside agitators that the typical media is smoochy with in order for this to be playing out like a new version of the Arab “spring”. we can ignore a few protests, but if powerful interests from outside are staging something bigger, it can’t be ignored. where’s the scoop?

Posted by: anon | Dec 1 2013 22:18 utc | 21

james@13
‘ while israel continues to pull up olive trees and steal land that doesn’t belong to them.. harpers priorities are really messed up. ‘
But isn’t Harper uprooting permafrost and stealing land that does not belong to him … and isn’t the long UK/North American/South Pacific history of such behavior cover for and a good part of the reason for 5 eyes support of Zion ?

Posted by: john francis lee | Dec 1 2013 22:23 utc | 22

Just like unannounced war against Iran, open war against Syria, there is mulitpronged war against Ukraine. It is no accident that Femen is there and the opposition leader Vitaly Klitschko (he is a boxer) of UDAR made its careers in Germany. Now with help of The American Chamber of Commerce (ACC) in Ukraine they are trying to open a market of Ukraine. ACC is the most fascist of all organization.

The chamber’s member companies also expressed their readiness to use their expertise and practical skills to assist the businesses and the government of Ukraine in facilitating this process and attracting more business and investment, thus stimulating economic growth, creating more jobs and raising living standards in the country.

Some people apparently have brought this message from a sociopath. But, only God himself may save the Ukrainian farmers from Monsanto, DuPont, Bayer, Cargill etc.

Posted by: neretva’43 | Dec 1 2013 22:59 utc | 23

Support the people of Ukraine in the peaceful overthrow of the current government

The current government of Ukraine is corrupt and not think about people.
The country has a terrible road conditions, a large number of people are living beyond poverty, officials and their families are above the law.
President of Ukraine and the ruling party massively stolen state budget, fool the people, and have repeatedly demonstrated their arrogant attitude on it. They do not fulfill their duties.
The last straw was the rejection of President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to sign an association agreement with the EU.
We ask to support Ukraine in the overthrow of the current government peacefully, holding democratic elections for a new parliament and bring to justice all present perpetrators of state power.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/support-people-ukraine-peaceful-overthrow-current-government/8D5CRgJg
I have not seen something more absurdly written than this.

Posted by: neretva’43 | Dec 1 2013 23:06 utc | 24

Yes, neretva’43, you have hit the proverbial nail on the head.
There is no more viscous, sludge-like evil, than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
They have stuck their massive thumb into many a coup d’etat.

Posted by: Copeland | Dec 2 2013 0:04 utc | 25

Wonder how much cash the west has spent to support anti-Russian elements in the Ukraine? Many millions I suspect.

Posted by: Andoheb | Dec 2 2013 2:38 utc | 26

john francis lee @22 – yes to your question.

Posted by: james | Dec 2 2013 2:41 utc | 27

@21 fact based journalism is a myth like the Loch Ness monster

Posted by: Brian | Dec 2 2013 3:16 utc | 28

@24 its not a ‘peaceful revolution’ and the only reason motivating this rent a mob is to get Ukraine to he a servant state of US via EU

Posted by: Brian | Dec 2 2013 3:20 utc | 29

behind the headlines….
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37025.htm

Posted by: denk | Dec 2 2013 4:28 utc | 30

the loud mouth muricuns strikes again…
*Without the 130 odd U.S. military bases to keep the order in Japan, indications are Japanese’s “rule of law”, “human rights”, “international law”, and “democracy” will quickly descend into something akin to the Philippines. Given the current “crisis”, I’d say the US should establish more military bases in Japan, say 200 will suffice. But Tokyo needs to foot the bill, there is nothing as a free lunch in this world.*
i cant even fuck him coz it contravenes the *community rules* !

Posted by: denk | Dec 2 2013 6:13 utc | 31

n i have good reason to
fukusa [ustralia]
http://www.4thmedia.org/2013/12/01/tony-abbott-refuses-to-back-down-over-china-comments/

Posted by: denk | Dec 2 2013 6:57 utc | 32

Bevin (7) & Andre (9)
The core Ukrainian region inhabited by people desiring access to the EU is the Lviv region. The history of the region is very complex, for a short introduction, see the wikipedia article History of Galicia.
It is there where parties like Batkivshchyna and “Svoboda” (a follow up of the Social-National Party of Ukraine) blossom and get huge majorities, much of it on the rhetorical paths of controversial historical “Ukrainian nationalist” figure Stepan Bandera. When the EU and the US organized the “color revolution” in 2004, which made Yushchenko, the husband of a Chicago-born former member of the Ronald Reagan administration, president of Ukraine, the US tapped into the potentials the complex history offered, and, of course, the Lviv region was central to that. And much of the “nationalist campaign” today is made by an aggressive promotion of the Ukrainian language.
But that’s all not central to the power of the movement and the geografical split between Eastern and Western Ukraine. In Eastern Ukraine where people in villages also speak Ukrainian dialects since centuries, the pro-EU campaign driven by anti-Russian and nationalist sentiments doesn’t fly. And the reason for that is clearly economical. Stoking the “nationalist” pro-EU campaign using history and language is only successful where people see economic benefit to it.
So, while on the surface a “nationalist” Ukrainian language campaign and historic feelings are seen the economy is the real and powerful basis for all these divisional campaigns between Eastern and Western Ukraine.

Posted by: Bandolero | Dec 2 2013 7:24 utc | 33

“Brought up on Radio Free Europe and other propaganda their anti-communism has morphed effortlessly into slavophobia. A pretty weird disease for Ukrainians to contract, with elements of self hatred in it. ”
Oh, it’s older than that. One of Orange Ukraine’s heros, Stepan Bandera, came to Ukraine in 1941 behind the Wehrmacht, whose mission it was to implement Generalplan Ost, the extermination of Europe’s Slavs (a category that very much included Ukrainians).
The funny part was, once he got there, he thought he was in charge of something, lol.
So, such is Orange Ukraine’s hatred of the eeevul Moskali that their heroes were willing to make common cause for a while with Nazis who intended to kill or expel to western Siberia around 2/3 of Ukrainians. The rest were to be Germanized, their culture and language destroyed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalplan_Ost

Posted by: rkka | Dec 2 2013 9:46 utc | 34

Denk @32
“It’s certainly a slap in the face for the diplomatic position that Australia, the US and Japan have been taking on this issue,” Rory Medcalf, the director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute, said.
The Lowy institute is speaking. Abbot doesn’t understand much. He’s just a politician (read that as sock puppet).

Posted by: DM | Dec 2 2013 12:06 utc | 35

on the right, yugoslavia, OTPOR and its fake revolution to destry the country inthe name of NATO, on the left, the ukrainians and their fake revolution, not to aid the people but to join the empire, destroy the country in the name of NATO
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151898920403197&set=a.229627273196.132977.618568196&type=1&theater&notif_t=like

Posted by: brian | Dec 2 2013 12:12 utc | 36

Note EU on Thailand protests vs Ukraine protests, the protesters is threatened with death but no, EU still support the thai-regime.

Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 2 2013 15:11 utc | 37

“Note EU on Thailand protests vs Ukraine protests, the protesters is threatened with death but no, EU still support the thai-regime.
Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 2, 2013 10:11:42 AM | 37”
In contrast to Western Media/govt’s stance on Ukraine violence: Thai Police Threaten to “Shoot-to-Kill” Anyone Using Vehicles to Remove Barriers

December 2, 2013 – 1820 local time (Tony Cartalucci) – Taking their cue from US-backed pro-EU protesters in Ukraine, anti-regime protesters in Thailand have mobilized their own bulldozers to remove barriers. Unlike in Ukraine, where despite the West calling the police crackdown “violent,” they did not shoot protesters operating bulldozers near their lines.
Image: Protesters in Ukraine, backed by the US, UK, and EU, have used earthmovers against police barriers in the capital city of Kiev. Ukrainian police did not use live fire on the protesters, and protesters have been allowed to storm government buildings. What little force the police have used has been utterly condemned by the West.
In stark contrast, the embattled US-backed regime in Bangkok, Thailand has insisted it will shoot-to-kill any drivers attempting to remove barriers (not attack police) to gain entrance into the last of several buildings left unoccupied by protesters.
Several vehicles have been mobilized by protesters near Metro Police Headquarters and Government House after protesters weathered CS tear gas, OC pepper powder, rubber bullets, and fire hoses all day as they worked police back through several rings of barriers already. Many were taken down by hand, using rope and manpower.
URGENT: Thai Police Threaten to “Shoot-to-Kill” Anyone Using Vehicles to Remove Barriers
December 2, 2013 – 1820 local time (Tony Cartalucci) – Taking their cue from US-backed pro-EU protesters in Ukraine, anti-regime protesters in Thailand have mobilized their own bulldozers to remove barriers. Unlike in Ukraine, where despite the West calling the police crackdown “violent,” they did not shoot protesters operating bulldozers near their lines.
Image: Protesters in Ukraine, backed by the US, UK, and EU, have used earthmovers against police barriers in the capital city of Kiev. Ukrainian police did not use live fire on the protesters, and protesters have been allowed to storm government buildings. What little force the police have used has been utterly condemned by the West.
In stark contrast, the embattled US-backed regime in Bangkok, Thailand has insisted it will shoot-to-kill any drivers attempting to remove barriers (not attack police) to gain entrance into the last of several buildings left unoccupied by protesters.
Several vehicles have been mobilized by protesters near Metro Police Headquarters and Government House after protesters weathered CS tear gas, OC pepper powder, rubber bullets, and fire hoses all day as they worked police back through several rings of barriers already. Many were taken down by hand, using rope and manpower.
Image: Earth-movers have arrived at Government House, Bangkok, Thailand to breach the final barricades standing between anti-regime protesters and the taking back of their nation’s building. They have repeated told police they have no intention of harming them with the machinery, nor plan to harm or humiliate the police once they cross the barriers. Police have claimed they will shoot dead anyone who attempts to cross the final line. The West is suspiciously silent in light of the recent threats made by the Thai regime, whom it backs.

Posted by: foff | Dec 2 2013 15:19 utc | 38

“let them come to Syria so we can hand over power to them”
I love that.

Posted by: hilmi hakim | Dec 2 2013 16:34 utc | 39

dm 35
*It’s certainly a slap in the face for the diplomatic position that Australia, the US and Japan have been taking on this issue,” Rory Medcalf, the director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute, said.*
the only kind of *diplomatic* activities all yr round seem to be conducted on those aircraft carrier groups at china’s doorstep !
http://www.globalresearch.ca/u-s-china-crisis-from-gunboat-diplomacy-to-confrontation/20673
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0715-04.htm
http://www.globalresearch.ca/americas-pivot-to-asia-threatens-china-us-stages-show-of-naval-force-in-south-china-sea-war-games
while china’s adiz is *highly provocative* !
both abbot n abe are lapdogs, so when the master ask them to show their middle finger to china, their biggest market, they did it without a second thought !

Posted by: denk | Dec 2 2013 16:59 utc | 40

@6, “the war against peasants set up by Lenin in 1919 to build up a working class.”
Lenin is a hero of mine. So I went sleuthing, naturally. Long story short: Makhno was a self-described anarchist who spouted revolutionary slogans(much like these Ukrainian “dissidents”) to the detriment of party unity. In effect, he was doing the work of the White Army, who, despite many advantages over the Bolsheviks, were unable to defeat them. This was 1921, not ’26, BTW.

Posted by: ruralito | Dec 2 2013 17:34 utc | 41

B, you’re right. The ‘fracking revolution’ is beyond a joke. They would fucking love to make the united states a double rentier state, but they can only destroy so many aquifers and cause so many earthquakes before the entire gas complex collapses. There are indications that we’ve already passed peak shale, but it’s too early to say.

Posted by: Crest | Dec 2 2013 21:49 utc | 42

In regards to shale oil (and natural gas)…
Fracking has been around for over 50 years, so has structural mapping.
Recently the techniques has become commonly available to the small oil companies who do most of the drilling in the US.
Though the peak oil idea is true in the long run, that point has been pushed back maybe decades or more.
In the Bakken oil play in North Dakota production is limited by infrastructure. The building of it is a sight to behold.
Fracked well production does drop sharply but it stabilizes at a lower level and produces for years.
Delta Airlines, vertically integrating by buying their own refinery, has closed long term contracts to purchase Bakken oil (and tuned their refinery to accept it).

Posted by: Kirby | Dec 2 2013 22:05 utc | 43

in Assad’s statements (related by a third person, though) I read a distance from Russia, in the sense that Syria won’t become a Russian client state – at least, that’s the impression I got

Posted by: claudio | Dec 2 2013 22:23 utc | 44

Punish the EU: let the Ukraine join EU . Those pushing to join are ultra nationalists neo nazi types . Let them filter into Western Europe

Posted by: Brian | Dec 2 2013 22:47 utc | 45

Those in Ukraine who are pushing for EU should look in what they may be getting themselves in. Best case scenario a second fiddle to the Germans and French. Worst case scenario – Greece. I cried when Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons. That was the (hopefully temporary) end of its independence. Restore the nuclear deterrent and believe in yourself. It is not through others (NATO, EU, US or Russia) will you achieve greatness and prosperity, but only through yourself.

Posted by: traveler | Dec 2 2013 23:30 utc | 46

This is an interesting take, from Justin Raimondo. Those who fear being seduced by people with different ideas, in this case Ayn Rand meets Isolationism, should probably spare themselves the shock of finding themselves, largely, in agreement on the Ukraine.
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/12/01/ukraine-defends-its-sovereignty/

Posted by: bevin | Dec 2 2013 23:55 utc | 47

@44
I read the quotes as Assad being grateful to Russia—and that their interests are aligned.
His support for al-Sisi was also interesting.
BTW, I am disturbed by recent news reports about al-Sisi that gloss over the civilian massacres when giving an account of the coup.

Posted by: ess emm | Dec 3 2013 4:23 utc | 48

Kirby,
When I was growing up in the 50s, surrounded by Oklahoma oil patch, there was a company called Perforating Guns Atlas, headquartered in Davis, OK that provided explosive charges in heavy pipes same size as drill stem that went down drill holes. The charges were set off when the ‘perforating guns’ were in rock formations containing oil or gas. Yes, they called it fracturing, and that was over 70 years ago.

Posted by: okie farmer | Dec 3 2013 7:02 utc | 49

Putin: Kiev protests have nothing to do with Ukraine-EU relations, prepared ahead of elections
….
Speaking in Yerevan during his official visit to Armenia, Putin argued that the protests in Ukraine had been prepared by the opposition in advance to undermine the legitimate government of the country. However, it is “apparent” that the opposition had meant them to take place during the Ukrainian presidential campaign in March 2015, the Russian President said.
“What is happening now is a little false start due to certain circumstances… This all has been prepared for the presidential election. And that these were preparations, in my opinion, is an apparent fact for all objective observers,” Putin stressed.
He has said that now the Ukrainian opposition is either not in control of the protests, or it may serve as a cover-up for extremist activities.
The footage from Kiev clearly shows “how well-organized and trained militant groups operate,” the Russian President said.
etc
http://rt.com/news/ukraine-putin-riots-foreign-602/

Posted by: brian | Dec 3 2013 7:35 utc | 50

#47 Bevin you are right this is an interesting take. As an old time lefty I discovered about 10 years ago that Raimondo’s perspectives on Russia and the other former Soviet Republics were much closer to my thinking than most of the progressive or liberal views in the west. Also discovered that Pat Buchanan had a pretty good understanding of those policies. It was a humbling realization that many I considered political enemies were actually more on my side on important foreign policy issues while what I thought were on my side were not.
I remain true to my roots that the state must reign in the horrors of true free market capitalism and modern finance corporatism but I do accept alliance with rightwingers that want to reign in US imperialism.
This is a dilemma. My socialist grandfather who during his prime was active in supporting social security worried that giving every citizen a SS# provided the state with a powerful tool to control individuals. Wow was he right about that. He had no idea about the power of the NSA in monitoring citizens. There might be a solution to this dilemma — central control over economic activity but preserving individual liberty — but before we solve that dilemma we should be willing to join forces with those on the right that focus on individual liberty who want to reign in US imperialism.

Posted by: ToivoS | Dec 3 2013 7:44 utc | 51

nobody heeds this warning…
*Anti-war activists are still fixated on Iran, but not Brzezinski is not – his target is China, TWENTY times bigger than Iran, with ICBMs ready to launch, followed by Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power. Such confused activists need to focus on stopping the next war – the final global showdown with Pakistan, China, and Russia. That means rejecting Brzezinski’s puppet candidate Obama.*
http://www.rense.com/general81/abig.htm

Posted by: denk | Dec 3 2013 10:09 utc | 52

ToivoS —
I too have been more than a bit stumped as to why so-called liberal progressives are not more critical of all the vilification of Putin in the MSM. For example, I’ve found the coverage of Putin/Russia over at sites like Commondreams & Huffpo no different than what you get in the corporate MSM. It’s BS. I’ve heard them sit back and pontificate about how “stupid” the Russian people are for supporting an “ex-KGB leader” while being oblivious to the fact that he has eliminated a majority of poverty in the country and taken the middle class from a meager 8% in 2000 to over 65% today – higher than it is in the US – which is trending in the OPPOSITE direction as the middle-class continues to dwindle. Raised the average life-expectancy from 58 to 71, made the country a G8 nation and a major power with its OWN INDEPEDENT foreign policy debt free and with cash reserves – something the west finds intolerable. When you point these facts out to these so-called US progressives that the Russian public just maybe isn’t so stupid and that just maybe THEY are the ones being kept in the dark over these general facts, they don’t want to hear it (just ask Mark Adomanis over at Forbes, who regular comes under attack for providing hard data on Russia from the World Bank). Hence we get exaggerated yarns about Pussy Riot, the fifth-column opposition, the ever omnipotent “Russian mafia” and Putin’s dream to recreate the Soviet Union because he’s the reincarnation of Stalin.
I’ve found that as I’ve aged that I’ve gravitated away from the usual progressive watering holes and now get my information from a wide-range of sources like antiwar.com. I don’t care if it’s run by libertarians or extraterrestrials, what’s important is the information presented from all sides of the political spectrum. Justin Raimondo and I can agree on much even though I’m not by any stretch a fan of Ayn Rand. I’ve found that we have a lot more in common with others than we usually care to think.

Posted by: RC | Dec 3 2013 10:14 utc | 53

@52….’I too have been more than a bit stumped as to why so-called liberal progressives are not more critical of all the vilification of Putin in the MSM.;’
why not ask them? remember liberal ‘progressive’ (or is that liberal regressives?) also believe Assad is bad because the media says so. The attacks on Putin by the media make Putin seem bad: whether it be Pussy Riot or Gay olympic or whatever…he is presented as repressive, KGB , dictatorial etc,,,
‘ I’ve heard them sit back and pontificate about how “stupid” the Russian people are for supporting an “ex-KGB leader” ;
its perception management: its what they are pounded with in the media

Posted by: brian | Dec 3 2013 12:30 utc | 54

I don’t see the ukrainian people in this “peaceful coup” attempt, but an answer to the failure of their politics (UE, NATO etc…)in Middle East and an internal conflict between oligarques…
@41, Makhno met Lenin to get an agreement which failed, but (I’m sorry for you) Lenin and Trotsky were from a URBAN bourgeoisie background and hated these peasants they were unable to conceive as allies and revolutionaries too, nor a marxist thinker tried to analyze this mistake that obliterated the future of USSR…Concerning these trotkyists traitors we have many in UE that converted themselves to the worst capitalism…

Posted by: André | Dec 3 2013 13:03 utc | 55

I recently read a very good book about the Russian ‘reforms’:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Tragedy-Russias-Reforms-Bolshevism/dp/1929223064/
The authors claim that apart from a few hard core market nihilists around Jeffrey Sachs, nobody in the US knew anything much about Russia or wanted to know much about it. The Washington policy was simply based on personalities. They liked Yeltsin and they were easily fooled by his claims that all his opponents were ‘red-brown’ totalitarians. But as usual, this is casually telling us that the world’s most evil and sophisticated men simply weren’t paying attention to what they were doing. I think one of the great masterstrokes of US psyops must be the universal readiness to believe that the Joint Chiefs, the Directors of the Umpteen Intelligence Agencies, the National Security Council, etc etc, that they’re all just ignorant, absent-minded old codgers who decide everything on the basis of personal prejudice. And of course it’s not so. The ruin of Russia was intentional.

Posted by: Rowan Berkeley | Dec 3 2013 14:24 utc | 56

# 54 – @41, Makhno met Lenin to get an agreement which failed, but (I’m sorry for you) Lenin and Trotsky were from a URBAN bourgeoisie background and hated these peasants they were unable to conceive as allies and revolutionaries too,
Sounds just like every sanctimonious (aren’t they all?) smug (aren’t they all?) lefty I ever met.
——-
#50 – “It was a humbling realization that many I considered political enemies were actually more on my side on important foreign policy issues while what I thought were on my side were not.”
Problem for the lefties, here anyway, is that whenever they do actually meet someone not of their political persuasion, in between screaming “Nazi”, and in between lying through their teeth, and what with all the smug sanctimoniousness (not to mention the sanctimonious smugness), they just don’t have enough time to build all those bridges that people here claim they should be building.
The irony for example is that some of the people here whining about this are some of the worst offenders when it comes to this ridiculously childish and hilariously dishonest behaviour towards perceived political enemies.

Posted by: foff | Dec 3 2013 14:24 utc | 57

” think one of the great masterstrokes of US psyops must be the universal readiness to believe that the Joint Chiefs, the Directors of the Umpteen Intelligence Agencies, the National Security Council, etc etc, that they’re all just ignorant, absent-minded old codgers who decide everything on the basis of personal prejudice. And of course it’s not so. The ruin of Russia was intentional.”
The Devil’s best trick is to persuade you that he doesn’t exist

Posted by: foff | Dec 3 2013 14:27 utc | 58

@54, “Lenin and Trotsky were from a URBAN bourgeoisie background and hated these peasants they were unable to conceive as allies and revolutionaries…” Wrong. At the end of WW1, the Russian economy was in a shambles. Russia was being invaded. The Soviets needed all the help they could get.

The reality was quite different. In October 1917, Petrograd was down to less than four days of food.59 Although peasants had access to food, the cities were starving and the war-ravaged economy was in shambles. The Makhnovist solution was unworkable: decentralized anarchy to leap over the real problems of production. In reality, local autonomy would mean no coordinated, centralized plan for war production and defense. If implemented on a wide scale, the Makhnovist approach would have led to a swift White victory with an immediate reversal of all of the peasantry’s gains.

…

Trotsky neatly summarized the Marxist position on the state:
The bourgeoisie says: don’t touch the state power; it is the sacred hereditary privilege of the educated classes. But the Anarchists say: don’t touch it, it is an infernal invention, a diabolical device, don’t have anything to do with it. The bourgeoisie says, don’t touch it, it’s sacred. The Anarchists say: don’t touch it, because it’s sinful. Both say: don’t touch it. But we say: don’t just touch it, take it in your hands, and set it to work in your own interests, for the abolition of private ownership and the emancipation of the working class.114

http://www.isreview.org/issues/53/makhno.shtml

Posted by: ruralito | Dec 3 2013 15:31 utc | 59

“Sounds just like every sanctimonious (aren’t they all?) smug (aren’t they all?) lefty I ever met”
How very “sanctimonious” and “smug” of you.
Do you ever engage in any introspection? You really should you know. Don’t be suprised if you find a hypocritical and opinionated asshole.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 3 2013 16:29 utc | 60

Rereading #56, I feel I must comment further. What is it about these jackasses like foff that makes them feel the need to rathole people into these obnoxiously defined and maligned categories????
So driven by a self-percieved intellectual superiority, is it impossible for them to recognize the epic hypocricy contained in their own blather, as exhibited in post #56???
Good lord, you can’t get much more “sanctimonious” or “smug” than this jackass’s short comment about “lefties”. His own self percieved intellectual and moral superiority drips off every word of his comment. I’d be embarrassed to display such a lack of honest introspection.
Read it again. If his post doesn’t rise to the epitomy of being sanctimonious and smug…..
It’d be comical if it wasn’t so obscenely revealing.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 3 2013 16:43 utc | 61

“Rereading #56, I feel I must comment further.
well, of course you do – If there’s one thing you’ve proved it’s that you never get tired of the sound of yourself ranting like a drunk loon

Posted by: foff | Dec 3 2013 16:55 utc | 62

I rest my case.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 3 2013 16:55 utc | 63

In reply to the ranter @ #62, this applies:

The irony for example is that some of the people here whining about this are some of the worst offenders when it comes to this ridiculously childish and hilariously dishonest behaviour towards perceived political enemies.
Posted by: foff | Dec 3, 2013 9:24:46 AM | 56

. . . . in spades.

Posted by: foff | Dec 3 2013 17:02 utc | 64

foff comes into this room, mouthing meaningless jargon but surrounded by a gas cloud of malignity and abuse designed to hide the fact that apart from insults he has nothing to add.
It is a pity because everyone has something to say and the more it differs from what others are saying the more welcome it should be.
@58 My recollection is that Mr David Bronstein, Lev’s dad was a farmer in the Ukraine.
Rowan, I don’t doubt that the ruin of Russia was intentional but the instrument of that ruination was the empowerment of insensitive philistines who combined ignorance with indifference to the fate of their victims.
They were empowered by the wittering chorus of economists assuring them that, contrary to all evidence, what they were doing was the best thing possible in the circumstances. The theory of “shock therapy,” with its echoes of creative destruction economics and electroshock lobotomising psychiatry, was designed to ruin Russia by people who believed that ruining it was good for it, and that purging every trace of collectivity out of society would strengthen it for the struggle of life.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 3 2013 17:08 utc | 65

You haven’t dug your hole deep enough, asshole? Do you think the people here, reading our exchange, fail to note the blatantly hypocritical nature of your obnoxious contributions? Keep digging. You dig the hole deep enough, you might finally get an echo you can examine. It’ll do ya good.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 3 2013 17:10 utc | 66

the fact that apart from insults he has nothing to add.
Other than pointing out your own blatant hypocrisy, of course.

Posted by: foff | Dec 3 2013 17:10 utc | 67

make way fUKus, here come fukusA !
http://www.dangerouscreation.com/2013/11/australia-the-tinhorn-american-base-in-the-south-pacific/

Posted by: denk | Dec 3 2013 17:34 utc | 68

The Guardian is not “rogue”, or is it?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25205846

Posted by: Mina | Dec 3 2013 19:18 utc | 69

yeah, the Nazi doth protest too much… what a clown.

Posted by: guest77 | Dec 3 2013 23:42 utc | 70

“The theory of “shock therapy,” with its echoes of creative destruction economics and electroshock lobotomising psychiatry, was designed to ruin Russia by people who believed that ruining it was good for it, and that purging every trace of collectivity out of society would strengthen it for the struggle of life.”
Precisely. By 1994, US demographers were reporting sharply higher death rates for people in their -30s-, to say nothing of older age groups. And after a decade of it, deaths in Russia were exceeding births by a million a year.
And no one in the USG was particularly upset about it.
Now, births in Russia exceed deaths, and Russia has population growth of ~300k/year due to immigration. And the USG are deeply upset that the Russian state has taken an increased role in the Russian economy.
You read that right. The USG are more upset about how Russia got out of its demographic death spiral than they ever were about Russia’s demographic death spiral itself.

Posted by: rkka | Dec 4 2013 0:13 utc | 71

I consider being called a “clown” or even a “nazi”, by a dishonest historically ignorant, mathematical and scientific illiterate (who gets completely defeated by the decimal system of all things) to be high praise indeed.
In fact were such a person to regularly agree with me, that’s when I’d start to seriously worry about where I went wrong.

Posted by: foff | Dec 4 2013 1:01 utc | 72

rkka #71
Yes, I think Putin is hitting all of the right “chords” which is why he’s so vilified. I think the west has lost Russia (not that they really ever had it)for good and that’s something they can’t accept, especially after all the grandiose schemes they envisioned after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The reality is that the west does NOT like strong dependent leaders of sovereign nations, only stooges they can control. Things are changing as the empire enters its twilight. They will soon also have to accept defeat in Afghanistan and an Assad victory in Syria.

Posted by: RC | Dec 4 2013 1:14 utc | 73

As per Justin Raimondo and Ayn Rand, please note-libertarians are not Objectivists. Rand was a pro-Israel hawk. Raimondo is not.
Rand disdained the Libertarian Party and non-interventionism. She would have haughtily dismissed Ron Paul. I hate to have to capitalize Objectivists,btw, but I suppose a cult is deserving.

Posted by: truthbetold | Dec 4 2013 1:20 utc | 74

Actually, you asshole, its not “high praise”. Its derision that you have nurtured and earned by the manner that you interact with us.
Ignorance doesn’t have to be a matter of IQ. Even those with high IQ can exhibit a pathetic degree of ignorance by the manner in which they interact with thier fellows. And considering that basic truth, one easily concludes that you are an ignorant buffoon whose ego far surpasses any useful “intelligence” that may be stagnating between your ears.
Lets try a simple manner of concluding this debate, shall we? Why don’t you pause long enough in your self-congratulatory braying long enough to reread your comment contained in post #57?
Then, answer this simple question; Was your comment smug and sanctimonious, or not?

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 4 2013 1:20 utc | 75

Mother Agnes in Toronto….telling it like it is in syria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YUxNmiMlD-I
Q and A with Mother Agnes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dhsvrkkDmVU

Posted by: brian | Dec 4 2013 6:27 utc | 76

elements of the ‘syrian opposition’ in canada have sought to get Customs to Ban Mother Agnes! (in Q and A video at 1.40)

Posted by: brian | Dec 4 2013 8:20 utc | 77

Israel murder Hizbollah commander.
http://presstv.com/detail/2013/12/04/338149/hezbollah-cmdr-assassinated-near-beirut/

Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 4 2013 9:21 utc | 78

RC@73 I think the West coulda had Russia, if they had delivered serious assistance in the 1990s. Instead they left Russians to die. And sane Russians know this, which is why the Russian government have their compradore ‘Western-oriented’ minority, and the West itself, on ‘Ignore’

Posted by: rkka | Dec 4 2013 10:47 utc | 79

Thanks to France/UK/NATO, Libya now resembles a little more to Afghanistan
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/88269/World/Region/Libyan-assembly-votes-to-follow-Islamic-law.aspx
“Libya spends $7 billion from reserves to cover loss of oil revenues”
http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/03/libya-oil-budget-idINL5N0JI3GV20131203

Posted by: Mina | Dec 4 2013 14:10 utc | 80

rkka @71
What was done to Russia’s vulnerable people by the US and its allies was genocidal.
Other nations should take warning: those pitilessly left to die had been the objects, over decades, of pretended concern and oceans of crocodile tears. These were the people who, mere months before being reduced to selling their war medals and personal effects for kitchen scraps, Radio Free Europe used to agonise over because supermarket shelves were empty or Levis unavailable.
The people of Russia must never forget what was done to them, never forget how the “west” applauded as its old people and children died of want. And they must always tell the world what western imperialism means by its sympathy for the victims of its trade boycotts, sanctions and abuses of its powerful place in the economy.
Iranians would do well to note what awaits those who surrender to the imperialists.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 5 2013 2:13 utc | 81

Talking of Ukraine. This piece in Monday’s Counterpunch helps put the protests into perspective.
One of the tragedies of the era is the way in which some of the most energetic and gifted young people have been seduced into working for the sleaziest people on the planet. At a time when there is a desperate need for agitators and organisers they are working for imperialist intelligence agencies. And worse.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 5 2013 3:14 utc | 82

so the cunning one has done a myanmar [1] on iran [2].
we now know that uncle sham had started secret talks with iran way back in 2011, while all the ostensible sabre rattling had been going on, it was so secret that israel was kept completely in the dark ! [3]
remember those secret trips to nk that tokyo knew nothing about ? [4]
dont be surprised if nk embrace the evil empire one of this day.
there could be more than meets the eyes behind that denis rodman sojourn, [5]
during which the xinghua reporters in Pyongyang were the only ones kept persona non grata !
[1]
http://www.voltairenet.org/article174240.html
[2]
http://www.voltairenet.org/article181291.html
[3]
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/11/how-a-series-of-secret-meetings-between-us-and-iran-led-to-historic-agreement.html
[4]
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2013/02/withheld-intelligence-shows-mistrust-between-allies.html
[5]
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/dec/04/dennis-rodman-return-north-korea-train-basketball-team

Posted by: denk | Dec 5 2013 10:41 utc | 83

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/05/the-next-boogeymen/

Posted by: bevin | Dec 5 2013 16:56 utc | 84

@81 That was put so well bevin. I’m floored.
@82 That article was great, and should definitely be read along with this one which exposes the “colour revolutions” for what they were. SellOut Exposed: Globally Renowned Activist Collaborated with Stratfor
I think it is very important that this was exposed by Assange.
…
@72 lol. That’s all you have? You’re really on the ropes these days. “And he’s bad at math!” haha. holy shit…

Posted by: guest77 | Dec 6 2013 3:24 utc | 85

is iran co-opted ?
http://www.4thmedia.org/2013/12/06/is-iran-being-lured-to-shore-up-us-hegemony-in-middle-east/
iraq, libya, syria, myanmar, iran….
can we say pnac …mission accomplished ?
[83]
********
meanwhile , kim just dumb his uncle , the no2 man in nk, a known sinophile.
whereas kim himself is an unabashed anglophile.
xi n co have better prepared themselves for another nasty shock !

Posted by: denk | Dec 7 2013 7:03 utc | 86

86
dump

Posted by: denk | Dec 7 2013 7:21 utc | 87

“11:45 GMT: The former Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, has arrived in Kiev and met the leader of the opposition party Strike (Udar), Vitaly Klitchko, UNIAN news agency reports.
According to Ukrainian media, Saakashvili and Klitchko will both deliver speeches to demonstrators on Independence Square in Kiev.”
What else needs to be said about these protestors when they get that Bush boot-licker (and tie-eater) Saakashvili to speak for them. Who wants that loser, who killed so many and destroyed his country for nothing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj-L8F_y040

Posted by: guest77 | Dec 7 2013 21:19 utc | 88

#75…..
Not suprising that our resident expert on climate, politics, and global affairs is flummoxed by the terrifying specter of a simple question that, (to be answered), requires honest introspection.
Theres more than one way to silence the braying of an ass.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 8 2013 19:26 utc | 89

@76 Thanks Brian, watching now.

Posted by: guest77 | Dec 8 2013 19:46 utc | 90

Is anyone else seeing that RT has been impossible to load completely over the last few days?

Posted by: guest77 | Dec 8 2013 19:49 utc | 91

RT has an article up that radiation levels in an area at Fukushima will cause death within twenty minutes. I tried to access RT and it would not load.
However, RT is linked to on many sites as the source for aticles posted, so I am hoping an internet search will allow me to find the article at another site.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Dec 8 2013 21:00 utc | 92

I’m not having a problem with RT.
The fun there is just about to start: taking down the Lenin statue is the easy part, putting up the Hitler one will require all the help the EU can offer.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 8 2013 23:55 utc | 93

This link worked for me, in Canada.
http://rt.com/news/fukushima-radiation-record-outdoor-912/

Posted by: bevin | Dec 8 2013 23:57 utc | 94

@93 lol. But knowing the troika, they’ll probably have to settle for a poster Goering.

Posted by: guest77 | Dec 9 2013 0:31 utc | 95

@93 lol. But knowing the troika, they’ll probably have to settle for a poster of Goering.

Posted by: guest77 | Dec 9 2013 0:36 utc | 96

@96 I think Himmler is more their style. Waffen SS veterans being the living link between shooting communists in 1941 and pulverising granite in 2013.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 10 2013 0:00 utc | 97

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