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October 21, 2014
Open Thread 2014-24
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He still seeks the headlines, Sikorski under fire for remarks in Politico interview …
○ Sikorski: Spotkanie z dziennikarzami skrócone z powodu presji czasu
Rano Sikorski pytany przez dziennikarzy o wypowiedź dla portalu Politico odesłał ich do wywiadu dla portalu wyborcza.pl.
Politico napisał, że Rosja usiłowała wplątać Polskę w inwazję na Ukrainę i przytoczył słowa Sikorskiego: “Chciał (Putin), żebyśmy uczestniczyli w podziale Ukrainy”. “Od lat wiedzieliśmy, że tak myślą. Była to jedna z pierwszych rzeczy, jakie Putin powiedział premierowi Donaldowi Tuskowi w czasie jego wizyty w Moskwie. Mówił, że Ukraina jest sztucznym krajem, a Lwów jest polskim miastem i dlaczego by nie załatwić tego wspólnie. Na szczęście Tusk nie odpowiedział. Wiedział, że jest nagrywany” – zacytował portal b. szefa polskiej dyplomacji.
○ Radek Sikorski Returns to Ukraine’s Headlines: Putin’s Coup
Afghanistan: ‘A Shocking Indictment’ by Rory Stewart
A review of:
No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal
Quite a lot of information that i wasn’t aware of. Excellent article.
Posted by: david | Oct 21 2014 18:14 utc | 2
I was thinking about the narrative of Putin’s actions toward the Ukraine as told by the MSM, and it just doesn’t make any sense.
If Putin “AKA, the new Hitler” wanted Ukraine – and it has never been explained why he would – then all he had to do was to pull out all the stops to keep Yanukovich in power by promoting and supporting internal security methods, and without having to send his “stealth” troops, tanks and missiles over the border.
And if Yanukovich was really a Russian puppet, as he has been portrayed, then he would have no problem taking orders from his puppeteer Putin.
Posted by: rackstraw | Oct 21 2014 18:29 utc | 3
Special Investigator General for Afghanistan Reconstruction reports today that despite $7.6 billion of expenditure on counternarcotics strategy, poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is now at an all time high: http://irrussianality.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/another-policy-success/
Posted by: KMF | Oct 21 2014 18:41 utc | 4
Webster Tarpley built whole radio show around McCain’s meeting with al Baghdadi, using those same photos as Thierry Meyssan, without crediting him at all.
I don’t know if i am misreading this or if it is completely intellectually shady business.
Posted by: guest77 | Oct 21 2014 18:49 utc | 5
guest77
Not sure why it so important to name who found it first? Even though Mccain camp have debunked that..
Posted by: Anonymous | Oct 21 2014 18:57 utc | 6
Dmitry Orlov has an interesting new article up on US self defeatism:
“Is it because the US is collapsing more rapidly than most people can imagine? This line of reasoning goes like this: the American scheme of world domination through military aggression and unlimited money-printing is failing before our eyes. The public has no interest in any more “boots on the ground,” bombing campaigns do nothing to reign in militants that Americans themselves helped organize and equip, dollar hegemony is slipping away with each passing day, and the Federal Reserve is fresh out of magic bullets and faces a choice between crashing the stock market and crashing the bond market. In order to stop, or at least forestall this downward slide into financial/economic/political oblivion, the US must move quickly to undermine every competing economy in the world through whatever means it has left at its disposal, be it a bombing campaign, a revolution or a pandemic (although this last one can be a bit hard to keep under control). Russia is an obvious target, because it is the only country in the world that has had the gumption to actually show international leadership in confronting the US and wrestling it down; therefore, Russia must be punished first, to keep the others in line.”
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-to-start-war-and-lose-empire.html
Posted by: Nana2007 | Oct 21 2014 19:35 utc | 7
@7 nana –
kinda like being a passenger in a car with the driver out of control and you have no say in any of it… in this example the car is owned by the financiers / military complex folks who want to crash the car! yea – war=money.. usa is a vehicle serving the purposes of none of the passengers at this point..
my friend in the music biz has a term for musicians/performers only in it for themselvesn who operate from a place of desperation.. he calls them ‘shit artists’! that is what we have for a political class circa 2014 in the western world.. shit artists.
Posted by: james | Oct 21 2014 19:52 utc | 8
@James exactly. Well maybe we’ll stumble along til we all get driverless cars and can complete our evolution into two legged potatoes.
Posted by: Nana2007 | Oct 21 2014 20:06 utc | 9
Colonel Cassad reports that voentorg is open again. (In Russan. For those who don’t know what that is: it is Russian military assistance to Novorossiya.) He also notes that Donetsk experienced the worst shelling since the beginning of the war. Apparently the Ukies were furious that they did not make any headway in retaking the airport.
@10 demian. thanks for the updates. i saw on i believe it was novorossia.today – (yesterday as it doesn’t open for me today) an article where some indiscriminate bomb had landed in someone’s backyard and the 2 people living their died.. the neighbour was interviewed while showing the aftermath of the small bomb type thing that caused the damage..
apparently kiev has convinced anyone who will believe them that these indiscriminate acts of murder are being caused by the local terrorists.. that makes about as much sense as the rest of ukraines meltdown being the result of only russian meddling which is to say – none at all. i had also read somewhere in the past 2 weeks how the only reason those fuck-ups holding out at the airport are still their is to cause this specific type of indiscriminate violence/murder on the local folks of donetsk.. that makes a lot of sense and would also suggest why they don’t want to surrender as they will be dealt with differently then elsewhere.. how are they continuing on? where do they get food to continue from?
Posted by: james | Oct 21 2014 20:31 utc | 11
@james #11:
I do not believe that there is an airtight cordon around the airport. Yes, Ukies remain in the airport in order to terrorize the civilian population of Donetsk. They do that by randomly shelling it, but as I noted before, Joaquin Flores believes death squads are also operating out of the airport.
@Nana2007 #7:
I think that’s the best post by Orlov I’ve ever read. I especially like this part:
We are coming up on the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II—a momentous occasion for Russians, who pride themselves on defeating Hitler almost single-handedly. At the same time, the US (Russia’s self-appointed arch-enemy) has taken this opportunity to reawaken and feed the monster of Nazism right on Russia’s border (inside Russia’s borders, some Russians/Ukrainians would say). This, in turn, makes the Russians remember [what] Russia’s unique historical mission is among the nations of the world: it is to thwart all other nations’ attempts at world domination, be it Napoleonic France or Hitleresque Germany or Obamaniac America. Every century or so some nation forgets its history lessons and attacks Russia. The result is always the same: lots of corpse-studded snowdrifts, and then Russian cavalry galloping into Paris, or Russian tanks rolling into Berlin. Who knows how it will end this time around? Perhaps it will involve polite, well-armed men in green uniforms without insignia patrolling the streets of Brussels and Washington, DC. Only time will tell. …
In case you missed it, look up [Obama’s] speech before the UN General Assembly. It’s up on the White House web site. He placed Russia directly between Ebola and ISIS among the three topmost threats facing the world. Through Russian eyes his speech reads as a declaration of war.
This is definitely how Russians see what is happening. The same thought occurred to me, without reading it anywhere. The Americans are doing the same thing the French and then the Germans did. What makes the Americans think it will be any different this time?
That Pentagon, they sure have a sense of humor.
Stripes, Oct 21
Pentagon determining whether Islamic State has weapons from US airdrop
WASHINGTON – Officials are trying to determine whether a bundle of weapons intended for Kurdish forces has ended up in the hands of the Islamic State terrorist group, according to the Pentagon.
A video surfaced Tuesday on YouTube that seemed to show Islamic State fighters looking through boxes of weapons that were airdropped by the U.S. military in the vicinity of the Syrian town of Kobani, where Kurdish fighters are under siege by the militants. In the video, a parachute is attached to the bundle of supplies.
“We’re still taking a look at [the video] and assessing the validity of it. So I honestly don’t know if that was one of the [bundles] dropped, and whether … the contents of it are, in fact, in the hands of ISIL,” Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters, using an acronym to refer to the Islamic State.
@Demian,12/James11- from the saker:
“For *months* now the Ukie forces at the airport have been resisting in very hard conditions, often completely surrounded and very rarely resupplied. The Novorussians have offered them innumerable times to do what most other Junta forces did: leave through a corridor. But the folks at the airport refused. Sure, the (previously) ultra-modern Sergei Prokofiev Donetsk airport gave them a lot of very strong buildings and plenty of underground tunnels and facilities to hide, but their conditions there were not made much easier by that: they have been shelled, submitted to sniper fire, attacked by special commandos and basically starved and one can only imagine their morale considering that the chances for victory or even evacuation were close to zero. And yet they resisted with a fierce determination. According to one Novorussian source, over 1000 Ukies have already died in and around this airport.”
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2014/10/what-battle-for-donetsk-airport-reveals.html
I seem to remember a resistance field commander, Givi, mentioning the tunnels the JRF are using might have outlets they are unable to locate. That must still be the case. Those few JRF forces remaining at the airport sneak out at night to spot coordinates to the Grad installations in JRF held territory to shell civilians in Donetsk.
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2014/10/novorussian-field-commander-givi-talks.html
Posted by: Nana2007 | Oct 21 2014 21:46 utc | 14
Fellow Barflies —
Interesting goings on in Donetsk, local broadsheet had it too.
If I may interject something from Rada elections politics — it seems there as been a bit of a row of voting for the “heroes of the ATO” on the front. Members from the former Party of Regions, CPUkr., and other parties objected to the proposal from the “Popular Front” (ironic leftist name, no?). PF wants to change the rules, apparently, to let them vote at the front. The opponents smelled the opportunity for ballot stuffing and other manipulation, resulting in, an over-representation of volunteer “battalion commanders” i.e., right-wing death squad leaders. Guess which party list has the most “commanders” on it?
Courtesy of Komsomolskaya Pravda v Ukraine
Posted by: rufus magister | Oct 21 2014 23:15 utc | 16
In my humble 99%’er opinion, the US currently has two political parties. Those political parties are the War Monger Party and the Anti-War Monger Party. Currently all the political party monikers from Republican, Democrat, etc. reside in the dumpster and mean nothing. In these trying and difficult times (btw, which really should not be happening) politicians are either for interventionist, hegemon wars or the peaceful economic, social and infrastructure restoration of America.
Most over-the-top imperial propagandist? Got to be Michael Weiss. This Politico article is astonishing. A firm believer in moderate rebels, he also says
the Syrian regime…formerly ran al Qaeda operatives into Iraq to kill American troops.
Assad’s Army no longer exists in any meaningful sense except on paper and in regime propaganda
Garbage.
Posted by: ess emm | Oct 22 2014 2:06 utc | 18
Pentagon spokesman two days ago.
Rear Adm. John Kirby @PentagonPresSec · Oct 19
US military aircraft drop supplies to Kurdish forces in Kobani. Another example of US resolve to deny ISIL key terrain.
That’s this guy.
@16-Rufus, thanks for the update, I hadn’t seen any coverage of the elections. Wonder why.
Interestingly, Joaquin Flores speculated over a month ago that the next move to keep the great game going would be a pravy sector putsch. What was Victoria Nuland doing again in the Ukraine recently?
http://syncreticstudies.com/2014/09/15/pravy-sektor-coup-as-isis-scenario-nato-to-feign-a-unilaterial-alliance-with-russia/#more-1261
@19- Don, is it just me or does he bear an uncanny resemblance to a ventriloquists dummy?
Posted by: Nana2007 | Oct 22 2014 2:27 utc | 20
…We’re still taking a look at [the video] and assessing the validity of it. So I honestly don’t know if that was one of the[bundles] dropped, and whether … the contents of it are, in fact, in the hands of ISIL,” Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm fact, in the hands of ISIL,” Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm John Kirby told reporters, using an acronym to refer to the Islamic State.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 21, 2014 5:42:14 PM | 13
You mean to tell me the US dropped weapons meant for the kurds in territory that may have been occupied by ISIL terrorists? What happen to the logical logistics of the kurds being present in the drop area? Come on man. The pentagon has got to be kidding or McCain coordinated the drop.
@really #21
You mean to tell me the US dropped weapons meant for the kurds in territory that may have been occupied by ISIL terrorists?
It’s okay — they do the opposite with their bombs.
Russian Spring
10/21/2014-16:45
Commentary:
North wind
It is often said that “Northers” rescued the combatants from being crushed. That reinforcement would come just few hours before Ukrainian military decisive victory. This is conscientious lie! The mid August situation was grave, but not critical. That time, Ukrainian military practically used up all reserves, was mired in heavy battles in north districts of Donetsk, in area of Ilovaysk and approaches to Lugansk at Novosvetlovka-Lutunino. A potential to cleave the territory of Novorossia was missing, but the war had immersed in a bloody chaos – densely populated areas of Donbass evolved into combat zones. Count of fallen civilians grew by hundreds. It was necessary to stop this slaughter and compel Ukraine to halt combat activities and begin peaceful negotiations. An operation was developed, and we proceeded its implementation.
Except small mistakes, everything went smooth. The opponent failed to discover our advance and deployment early, and realized our presence after direct engagement. Ukrainian military had not assessed our force, Ukrainian reports still circulate fantastic numbers indeed.
None were such global objectives for us as to march upto Kiev. In essence, the formula was to inflict a defeat and create conditions of cessation of military compaign to begin negotiations.
About “Northers”
I am satisfied by how “Northers” operated. “Northers” had demonstrated a type of combat West calls “cetecentric(?) war”. It is constant movement, constant reconnaissance, timely targets discovering and their timely destruction. Despite very limited theater of military operation, “Northers” almost never engaged Ukrainian military short-range, did not fight “eye-to-eye”, so to say, instead, damage was inflicted from remote. Just in handful of incidents battles erupted. In one case, severan “Northers” surrended to Ukrainian military, because of violation of the combat documents and negligence of junior commanders.
Why was not Mariupol’ taken?
Continue …
Posted by: Fete | Oct 22 2014 4:18 utc | 23
Asides from the apparent rogue airdrop reaching IS militants being a point to call on whenever the fool proof issue of sending weapons to vetted cuddly moderate rebels crops up, it is astounding that the US is having to resort to dropping weapons from the sky when the target destination borders a NATO member state.
From what I’ve seen in the video, it’s interesting that for an organisation whose fighters have no problem showing their identity when they’re not murdering Western hostages, that on this occasion they choose to conceal their identity as they attempt to humiliate the US and inevitably lead to questioning and condemnation of a strategy which I imagine Turkey was opposed.
I wonder who’s really hiding behind the mask.
Posted by: Pat Bateman | Oct 22 2014 10:24 utc | 26
@kmf#4-if ‘H’ was stopped the US health system would fold, alone the detention (prison) systems in the US has more that a million users, and this is a rolling number (in/out). So just think if ‘H’ was stopped what would happen?
Posted by: kjs | Oct 22 2014 11:38 utc | 27
There’s Only One Way to Beat ISIS: Work With Assad and Iran
Only Assad’s Syria and Iran can and would provide plausible ground forces in short order. … Assad has thus far proved cagey. He hasn’t made the defeat of ISIS his top priority. ..t. Recently, however, Assad has been signaling that he sees things differently, but he won’t turn his attention fully to ISIS without quiet assurances from the Americans—and probably the Russians, too—that this won’t disadvantage him against the rebels. Russia, brimming with unhappy, armed Muslims, is even more threatened by the existence of ISIS than the United States. Moscow could help facilitate cooperation between Syria, Iran, and the U.S., not because Vladimir Putin is kind-hearted, but because it is in his obvious interest.
From Leslie Gelb via Justin Raimondo.
@Demian – MH17 story
I just saw a RT news item about the downing of the Boeing 777. The Russian military demonstrated the firing of a BUK missile and it’s vapor trail (visible for 10 min) including the explosion near the target. A retired air force officer stated the specifics of a Su-25 fighter plane and demonstrated the effect of 30mm rounds on the fusilage of planes. It’s not yet visible on RT website for review.
Interesting discussion from TRNN:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=12550
Posted by: ben | Oct 22 2014 15:14 utc | 30
28;Exactly,the clear day produced no image of smoke(vapor)trail.In a world of cellphone cameras?
Posted by: dahoit | Oct 22 2014 15:16 utc | 31
Russia has called the EU’s bluff re Ukraine gas supply.
Russia has demanded Ukraine demonstrate its ability to actually pay its Gas debt and its ability to pay in advance, each month, for Gazprom gas from October thru to March. In desperation, Ukraine has directly requested further financial aid from the EU to the tune of at least $2Bn as well as reverse gas flows from the EU to 5bcm+ whilst planning to exhaust its own gas stores thru to March. Ukraine has a week to demonstrate the ability to pay, or no supply.
This raises a number of questions:
Will the EU cough up ?
Will the EU ‘gift’ the reverse gas flows to Ukraine ? What will Russia think about that and will it permit it ?
If they do, how much money will the EU sink into to the economic black hole that is now Ukraine ?
What will Ukraine do come March with its gas storage exhausted and even less cash ?
Is Ukraine actually solvent ?!
Lastly, how are those EU sanctions against Russia coming along …
Posted by: Outraged | Oct 22 2014 15:18 utc | 32
@Demian
It’s listed on RT as a documentary …
○ MH-17: the untold story
Pretty much follows the narrative of my two diaries:
○ Shrapnel damage of cockpit devastating | July 23 | and Downed by Su-25 fighter planes? | Aug. 10 |.
Smearing one’s enemy with ones own rotten perversions (ergo “imperialist”) is old hat in US political circles, especially the arch rightwing circles Mr. Applebaum inhabits.
Posted by: nomas | Oct 22 2014 17:01 utc | 34
Here’s some bullshit from German intelligence on the MH17.
They flat out say that there is “ample evidence” that the novorussya rebels shot down MH17 with a stolen Ukrainian BUK missile. They also say that the Russian claims (backed up with radar, mind you) that a military aircraft in the vicinity of MH17 are false.
oh for sure man
Posted by: ess emm | Oct 22 2014 18:43 utc | 35
@Oui #33:
Thanks. That’s well worth watching.
@ess emm #35:
The Deep Resource blog has three posts about that:
German Intelligence: Separatists Downed MH17
Hans-Christian Ströbele Denies BND Delivered Proof
BND MH17 Intelligence Report: Hot Air
Putin’s advisor and experts discuss economy,sanctions & central bank..
posted 2 days ago on youtube.. anyone watch this? .. it is an hour and 20 minutes long.. i will see if i can get around to it much later tonight.. a summary from anyone would be nice. thanks.
Posted by: james | Oct 22 2014 21:10 utc | 37
from iran’s far news..
Over 100 ISIL Terrorists Surrender in Iraq’s Hilla
link here.
bottom line quote from the article – The ISIL has links with Saudi intelligence and is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.
Posted by: james | Oct 22 2014 21:15 utc | 38
@36 Thanks.
And why should people believe the BND, lying is in their job description.
Posted by: ess emm | Oct 22 2014 22:08 utc | 39
@6 – Yeah, I suppose. But that makes it even weirder.
I’m interested by the LaRouche/Tarpley aspect especially.
Posted by: guest77 | Oct 22 2014 22:15 utc | 40
@ess emm #39:
That blogger has a pretty idiosyncratic point of view, and I think his blog is worth following. He’s a Dutchman who hates Atlanticism and the Anglosphere – unusual, no? And he’s the only Westerner who I’ve seen to root for ISIS in a way. He seems to like what ISIS is doing, because it is putting a spammer in the Empire’s plans for world domination.
Why are these ISIS chaps so interesting, if not fascinating and the absolute horror for the ruling elites of the West? Because they refuse to play the role these western globalist elites had in store for them. In the minds of the West, the idea was to ‘integrate’ these folks into a globalist system. …
The general rule is that history is made by a small but determined minority and that the silent majority simply waits to see who will win and change sides if that is opportune. In 1917 there were only a few thousand members of the Bolshevik party in Russia, when they took over from the government that had lost the war against Germany. A civil war followed and five years later the Reds had defeated the Whites and could begin to consolidate a victory that would comprise the larger part of Eurasia. A similar development could very well happen again. The estimated 100,000 and counting black-dressed angry young ISIS warriors could very well be enough to conquer the entire Middle-East, south of Turkey plus Maghreb. The liberal multicultural globalist model, as promoted by the US, could very well die in the Middle-East.
This Dutchman sounds like a soul brother of Alexander Dugin. (He comments at the Saker occasionally.)
@37- James,thanks for posting this. It’s an unusually candid discussion viewing it from a western perspective- imagine Jack Lew going on meet the press to discuss how the Fed’s jury-rigging has screwed the US economy for generations to come.
Khazin discusses the paradigm shift for the Russian Economy. There are two options- wait for uncle Sammy to start playing nice again, or set about building an alternative system to petrodollar dominance.
Glazeav discusses the role the Russian Central bank has played in crippling the economy- shrinking credit to nil and not overseeing capital flight. Russia is heavily dependent on western engineering and credit markets. He seems to be confident these issues can be remedied- expand monetary supply, lower credit, and rebuild the science and design bureaus that were privatized in the 90’s.
Fascinating stuff. I would be very nervous if I was a Russian central banker.
Posted by: Nana2007 | Oct 22 2014 23:28 utc | 42
Ukraine mini-SITREP: very ominous developments
Following the use of a tactical ballistic missile against Donetsk by the Ukies, Zakharchenko has declared that the ceasefire was basically over.
According to Strelkov, the Ukie plan is for a very short and very rapid “push” towards Donestk and the Russian border to make any Novorussian state non-viable and thus to negotiate from a position of force.
Russian sources – including the excellent Colonel Cassad blog – report that the voentorg aid-spigot has been fully re-opened including for some major deliveries.
Whether Poroshenko and his US master’s really believe that an attack can succeed (I doubt it) or whether they really want to force Russia into openly intervening (which I see as almost inevitable), the fact is that starting a major war might well be the only way to save the Poroshenko regime which currently is in free fall.
Russian Spring
10/21/2014-16:45
Commentary:
… Continued from #23
Why was not Mariupol’ taken?
For lack of time, probably. But personally, one serious issue was that we “Northers” would have to take the city – with all ensuing drawbacks such as full exposure and “amenities” of storming a city like destruction of inrastructure, death of civilians. The Ukrainian side kept fifteen hundred of all kind of “troops” in Mariupol` and area. At that time, number of combatants was hardly sufficient for outposts and organizing a frontier echelon of offensive, which in fact was reconnaissance, which having advanced forward, discovered nodes of defense, we pulled artillery and pried these nodes open. In open space this tactic worked well, as for a big city it would hardly do.
Therefore, I was relieved by the truce – even for encirclement and sustainable blockade the capacity was insufficient.
On time or too early?
Sure, we could significantly expand territory under combatants’ control. At the moment of cessation of active combat, almost all ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation) units were either engaged in heavy fights or crushed. There was simply no one to plug breaches due to crushed caldrons. Would the fight continue for another week, I think, Kiev had faced a perspective of military catastrophe – otherwise only Ukrainian military command and political leadership knew the real situation and adequately assessed the threat.
Overall, I think, the bulk of responsibility for current situation lies on those who negotiated in Minsk. The negotiators from Donbass possessed far more advantage and leverage than Kiev. Kiev in effect was compelled for peace. Kiev would accept any conditions for fear to lose even more. From other hand, Russia was pressed by West, and the pressure increased by day. Understandably, the negotiators were pressed from Russia too.
At the end, they signed what it was. Since then, the Ukrainian side is not in hurry to fulfill the signed.
What is next?
The current situation is “provocative” for Kiev. Russia wraps up the withdrawal of its troop to their original dislocations. This threat overhanging Kiev ceases to exist. Battle worthiness of troops has relatively restored. Crushed units are replenished with personnel and combat hardware. The rear is being overhauled. The military training has been organized. Areas of dislocation and key nodes of defense are engineered. Now, the top political leadership of Ukraine and the ATO command face a dilemma – leave for the winter accepting defeat of the spring-summer campaign, or in last weeks of warmth achieve though small but victory to offset the August crush.
It seems, the time before elections is most suitable. One, though formal, restraining factor is the ceasefire agreement. Then a caution exists if a new offense as the previous falters and ends in defeat…
If until 20th of November the exacerbation will not erupt, it is fair to assume subsiding the conflict “into winter” – positional face-off, artillery duels, escalating of saboteur-reconnaissance activities…
Posted by: Fete | Oct 23 2014 4:29 utc | 44
James@38
Any reports from Iran or Iraqi sources about the conflict in Iraq should be taken with a large grain of salt. Islamic State soldiers know they face summary execution if they surrender and hundreds have been murdered already after their capture. These numbers boost morale in the Iraqi Forces and population just as the inflated body count numbers do but they are rarely verified.
The claims about Saudi and Israeli connections to the IS are old weak propaganda designed for local consumption.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Oct 23 2014 4:37 utc | 45
Video of Kolomoisky talking with henchman re MH17:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/NrfKZUttEwE
Posted by: Nana2007 | Oct 23 2014 4:40 utc | 46
@Wayoutwest
“The claims about Saudi and Israeli connections to the IS …”
The Saudis have admitted as much, especially it’s origin in Iraq and support for the insurgency since March 2003. Prince Bandar had ‘some’ involvement in Syria with the anyi-Assad coalition until his forced resignation. A few weeks ago, Joe Biden in a public statement repeated the accusation. The Gulf States plus Turkey got quite upset. As for Israel, it has protected the Jablat al-Nusra fighters on more than one occasion. See the Latakia raids and the recent Golan Heights intrusion plus liberation of US hostage Curtis.
Israel always willing to oblige neocon policy in creating chaos in the Arab world plus Iran. See the universal Islamophobia movement in the US and Europe, sponsoring persons and events. Who equated Palestinian resistance to Al Qaeda after 9/11 and recently to IS and Boko Haram. You know the answer.
@42 nana, regarding the link i provided @37 which i will again provide here, i just finished watching.. it’s an extremely fascinating english transcription based on their conversation.. you are right about members of russias central bank being in the target scope of all 3 of putin’s advisor and guests – Sergey Glazyev (S.G) Khazin Mikhail Leonidovich (M.L) and Vladimir Yuryevich Levchenko (V.Y).
the first commentary which struck me as fascinating occurred from about 4-6 minutes into the video.. although all of it was fascinating, that motivated me to want to watch the rest of it.. i wasn’t disappointed when the interview opened up to questions around the 1 hour mark.. in fact the last 20 minutes was especially fascinating for what glazyev and leonidovich said.. i have never heard of this person leonidovich, but he is incredibly articulate and knowledgeable.. it goes without say glazyev is.. the other fellow – head of the russian stock market – levchenko is also a bright light.. all 3 of them converse on a topic which should be of great interest in understanding how events are unfolding for russia and the world by extension.. highly worth watching for anyone who can find the hour and 20 minutes to do so.
Posted by: james | Oct 23 2014 6:51 utc | 48
speaking of Khazin Mikhail Leonidovich, here is another 9 minute video on him talking about putin from august this year.. fascinating stuff for those interested in this sort of thing.. i don’t know how the russian language works, but he is referred to as Mikhail Khazin without the last name in this.. and, the first two names are reversed.. makes one wonder how effective google searches are when you have to remove a last name and reverse the first two..
Posted by: james | Oct 23 2014 7:15 utc | 49
Wonder if this is true?!
Obama Fights Ebola With a Czar and Soldiers | Authors | RIA Novosti
University of Illinois law professor Francis Boyle, an expert of the perfidies of the US government, reminds us that Sierra Leone and Liberia, the countries most affected by the Ebola outbreak, are two West African countries that host US biological warfare laboratories. Professor Boyle asks how the disease, which is mainly associated with equatorial Congo reached West Africa thousands of kilometers away.
Posted by: Fran | Oct 23 2014 7:20 utc | 50
as fate would have it the saker made a post at his site a little less then a week ago which you can read here.. it’s titled : EXCLUSIVE: Mikhail Khazin Q&A with Saker Blog readers and dated oct 18th.. direct questions to him are open until tomorrow… i have asked one based on watching the video in my posts @37/48.. perhaps others would like to take advantage of this too..
Posted by: james | Oct 23 2014 7:29 utc | 51
Plane crash of Total Boss de Margerie in Russia.
Cursory take by yours truly.
1) There was no snow. Goog. provides several pix of the crashed plane when it became light. All show green grass, no snow, and to my eyes, wet tarmac. So what was a snow-plow (if that is what it was?) doing on the runway? I found no pictures of the thing, but didn’t look very hard.
2) The weather conditions were: light rain, good visibility (for night!) No wind. There was no fog. The pictures of fog you can see on some sites are pictures of runways in fog, not of that runway.
3) That the snow-plow driver was drunk has been vigorously denied by his lawyer, and one article I read said that he had (of course) been tested and showed 00.
4) The accident was due to, one or several: a) bad organisation of control (mix ups about where the plow was, etc.), b) very poor security conditions at that airport (lighting and so on, it is apparently well-known to be horrible), c) downsizing of staff there in order to save money, d) miscommunication between the AC and the pilot of the plane (the French pilot spoke poor English, the AC presumably spoke in Russian English – 11% of airplane accidents are due to misunderstandings between these parties) …Imho it is quite possible the pilot misunderstood and took off on the wrong runway e) the snow-plow guy having “lost his bearings and being unaware of being on the runway” as he reportedly stated.
At fault: one or combination: the airport / the AC .. ground control / miscommunication / the lost snow-plow guy who btw should have been visible with gyrating lights
(The 11% is from a very large study performed some years ago, I don’t have a link, and can’t find the paper version easily. For some years now there has been a movement to change the international flying language to Italian!)
some of the info above comes from (french)
http://tinyurl.com/pukkkdq
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 23 2014 12:14 utc | 53
@ really #17…
It’s a fun game to try to keep up with. Apparently, the rules are that you must vote for the Good Cop Party or else the Bad Cop Party will expand military adventurism. That way, when the Good Cop party does the same thing, you get to say how deeply surprised and disappointed you are and threaten to vote for the Bad Cop Party the next time around to send a message to the Good Cop Party.
Posted by: Monolycus | Oct 23 2014 13:00 utc | 54
Oui@47
As I said, old and weak propaganda designed to deflect responsibility away from Iran for their part in creating the situation in Iraq. At least, for now, they have stopped saying that Edward Snowden has proof of Mossad training al-Baghdadi.
The Saudis had good reasons to support Sunni groups in Iraq especially because of the ethnic cleansing during the civil war. The Iranian led Shia militias have returned to their tactic of terrorizing Sunni civilians in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Oct 23 2014 15:08 utc | 55
@50 fran.. it does make one wonder given that info..
@53 noirette.. emptywheel’s site had an article up on this topic which you may or may not have read here.
Posted by: james | Oct 23 2014 17:00 utc | 56
@really 17 and Monolycus 54:
Ha, for years I’ve been calling them the Abuser Party and the Enabler Party…
Posted by: Vintage Red | Oct 23 2014 17:03 utc | 57
@54 Monoylcus
The problem with the Dems and Repubs is that they have forgitten and or refuse ti meaningfully compromise for the benefit of their constituents. Capitol hill has become a political barren wasteland of apathy and rigamortis.
from Nils Van Der Vegte:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/10152755563213328/
A guide to lazy Russia journalism
October 17, 2014 at 5:04pm
I wrote this article some time ago, but I will repost it here after receiving multiple requests.
A SHORT GUIDE TO LAZY RUSSIA JOURNALISM
So you’re a Brit or an American who wants to become a Russia journalist? Once you get past the self-serving bluster, it’s really a very safe, well-paid, and rewarding job – but only on condition that you follow a set of guidelines. Inspired by a post at the blog Kosmopolito on lazy EU journalism200, I decided to provide a similar service for work ethic-challenged Russia journalists. Enjoy!
1. Mastering and parroting a limited set of tropes is probably the most important part of your work as a journalist in Russia. Never forget to mention that Putin used to work for the KGB. Readers should always be reminded of this: The «former KGB spy», the «former KGB agent», etc. Other examples include (but are not limited to) «Putin destroyed democracy», «The Russian economy is dependent on oil», «There is no media freedom», «Russia is more corrupt than Zimbabwe», «Khodorkovsky is a political prisoner and Russia’s next Sakharov», «Russia is really weak» (but also a dire threat!), «Russia is a Potemkin village» and «a dying bear» that is ruled by «a kleptocratic mafia.»You get the drift…
2. Not sure who is doing what? Not sure how Russia works? Just make a sentence with the word «Kremlin». Examples include «this will create problems for the Kremlin», «the Kremlin is insecure», «the Kremlin’s support of anti-Westerndictators», etc.
3. This «Kremlin» is always wrong, and its motives are always nefarious. If it requires many signatures to register a party – that is authoritarianism, meant to repress liberal voices. If it requires only a few signatures to register a party – that is also authoritarianism, a dastardly plot to drown out the «genuine opposition» amidst a flood of Kremlin-created fake opposition parties.
4. If visitors to your blog or website criticize you for your one-sided coverage, don’t try to argue with them (or explain your reasoning). This will only hurt your professionalism. If one comes a-knocking, call him or her a «KGB agent», «FSB agent» (names of security services always work well), «fellow traveller»,«Stalinist», «useful idiot», «Kremlin troll», «Kremlin bot», «Putin’s pilot fish»,or «Surkov propagandist». If they persist, start deleting their comments and banning them.
5. Your job as a journalist isn’t to be objective. Instead, personal grievancesagainst the Russian authorities should always be prioritized. Remember, Putin is the Stalin of our age. If the Russian police are trying to arrest someone because he violated the law, it is perfectly acceptable to try to physically prevent the police from arresting him. In no way will this impinge on your professionalism.
6. Hyping anti-government demonstrations is of the utmost importance. A demonstration in downtown Moscow of 500 people at which your fellow journalists outnumber the protesters? ¡Viva la Revolución!
7. An important rule is that reporting on Russia means NOT researching important issues or looking past the rhetoric. To partially invert what C. P. Scott once said, «Comment is free, and facts aren’t sacred.» If various anonymous «experts» say that corruption in Russia is worse than in Zimbabwe, but the Russians themselves only report paying bribes as frequently as Hungarians, it is clear which line you should copy and paste. «Russia is dying out» is another good trope to raise at any opportunity, even if (obviously Putin-controlled) statistics agencies are saying that the Russian population is now growing.
8. You must also learn to suppress any cognitive dissonance you might get from arguing that Russia is really weak and in a state of seemingly perpetual collapse («dying bear», «rusting tanks», «mafia state», etc), but at the same time a dire threat to Western security and civilization itself.
9. Every non-systemic opposition member is a potential ally. Don’t cover any negative sides of these people, as this will only complicate things for your reader.Though it may be true that the leftwing activist Sergey Udaltsov is known for his Stalin admiration, that the anti-corruption blogger Navalny is prone to making racist remarks, that liberal journalist Latynina doesn’t want poor people voting, and that Khodorkovsky is a mega-crook even according to the European Court of Human Rights, these are all unimportant details that detract from the overall goal of overthrowing the bloody regime and true democratization.
10. Speaking of democracy – as far as a democratic journalist like yourself is concerned, anybody who is against Putin is a democrat. No matter if the demos, the people, only favor him or her with single-digit approval ratings (and evenregardless of his or her own views on democracy). To the contrary, any Russian who supports Putin is part of the «sovok» cattle herd, and his or her opinions are invalid due to their inherent stupidity or Kremlin brainwashing. Feel free to express these sentiments on Twitter, but do make an effort to cloak them in political correctness when writing at more august venues.
11. The systemic opposition – i.e., those who participate in the farce knownas Russian elections – are really Kremlin stooges in disguise. Even though the Communists are by far the formal biggest opposition bloc, it is non-systemic activists and sundry «dissidents» who are the «genuine Russian opposition».
12. Everything in Russia involves around Putin. There is no one else in Russia, never was, and it is he who decides everything in the biggest country on this planet. Did it take an annoyingly long time for you to get your clothes back that one time you lost your dry cleaning ticket? Or maybe someone stole your purse in Moscow? All Putin’s fault!
13. Don’t bother learning Russian. It does not help to increase the quality of your articles. You can always rely on your fellow non-Russian journalists for juicy rumors about Putin’s Swiss bank accounts and nubile mistresses. If anything, learning Russian will put your professionalism at risk by exposing you to the opinions of ordinary Russians, which may accidentally leak out in your articles.
14. If you do end up learning Russian, make sure to keep your circle of Russian acquaintances limited to other democratic journalists and leading members of the liberal opposition. Never mingle with non-opposition Russian journalists, i.e. propaganda mouthpieces of the regime.
15. Above all, you must cultivate a burning, righteous hatred for «the Kremlin’s TV channel», RT, and anyone who works or even appears there. It is «low brow», «full of conspiracies», «slavishly pro-Putin», «anti-American», etc. Never directly compare it with Western media bias, because that is «moral relativism» and «whataboutism» (see below). It’s one thing if Kremlin propagandists broadcast in Russian, it’s quite another when they directly compete for your Anglophone audience by covering irrelevant and anti-American stuff like Occupy protests, Wikileaks, or US indefinite detention laws. Attack them like yourprofession’s reputation is on the line!
16. Whenever you study conflicts between Russia and other countries, always blame everything on Russia – regardless of objective facts, and especially when the conflict is with a staunch Western ally. So, even when Russia bans wine imports from a country one of whose own Ministers described said wine in scatological terms, it is «economic warfare». Ergo for cutting off gas supplies to a country that refuses to pay for them. Killing Russian soldiers is always commendable; any Russian retaliation is typically «imperialist», «nationalist», «neo-Soviet revanchist», and various combinations thereof. Never forget that Putin hates the West and dreams of building a fascist neo-Tsarist empire. Any expression of Russian goodwill is a dastardly plot to dupe or divide the West, which is tragically all too trusting. Any expression of Western goodwill towards Russiais «appeasement», and is to be condemned in no uncertain terms. Never forget Munich! Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it!!!
17. Guessing is fun! In the event you find guessing a bit too taxing on yourimagination, just interview some marginal, highly unpopular Russian politician.Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Ryzhkov, and Gorbachev are usually good bets. Their guesses are usually a lot more creative than what you could have come up with yourself.
18. Never try to place Russia’s problems in a broader perspective. Don’t mentionthat population decline is far steeper in the Baltics, that more Americans were arrested in Occupy events than Russians protesting against Putin, or that more Britons say they want to emigrate than Russians. This is called «Sovietstyle whataboutism», and only «Kremlin trolls» engage in it. Leave logic and statistics to those losers; your weapons of choice as a democratic journalist are rhetoric, personal attacks and insinuations.
19. Always remind readers that Putin kills critical reporters – brave journalists kind of like yourself, in fact! – and prove it by quoting one he has not, or by including in your examples murdered journalists who were supporters of Putin.Under no circumstance should you mention that the rate of journalist murders was much higher under Yeltsin, or that it is lower in Russia today than in «democratic» Mexico and Brazil, or that unlike Russia, Israel currently imprisons several journalists.
20. Stalin. Always remind readers that Russians like Stalin very much. Putin,even more so. Their names both have two syllables and share the last two letters,what more evidence do you need? Every time Stalin appears on a bus or in a school notebook, or is described as an «effective manager» in one of dozens of textbooks, it must be on orders from Putin himself. Do not mention any instances of historic revisionism involving glorification of SS and nationalist war criminalsin the Baltics and Ukraine.Good luck on your new career as a Russia journalist!
Posted by: brian | Oct 24 2014 3:43 utc | 59
Russian Spring
10/24/2014-01:04
Combatant Prokhorov informs that situation escalates in area of Mariupol`
Yesterday night, to the north-east of Mariupol`, a blow was inflicted on special battalion “Saint Mariya”. Several troops were eliminated. The head of the unit is D. Kochinskiy (who deliberately left “Shakhtersk” for his mates in regiment “Azov”).
Artillery strikes began from two directions toward Mariupol`
At the same time area of settlements Pavlopole (a dam of a water storage reservoir) and Kominternovo is being thrashed by artillery. The thrashing is lively and accurate. Such an activity has not been seen for long time. Aim is to break through the reservoir – suitable for a passage of tanks.
Russian Spring
10/24/2014-00:53
Summary from fronts by combatant Prokhorov
Artillery skirmishes are reported in settlement(?) Bugas near Volnovakha, same – near Debal`tsevo.
At Bakhmutka, Ukrainians provided help – arrived together with the OSCE mission. Brought some water and food, and, since Cossacks permitted, removed bodies of fallen between outposts 31 and 32.
Freshly staffed (do not remember how many times already – the personnel keeps constantly changing) 128th brigade is again sent in Donbass. Without winter uniform. At all. But soldiers do not protest for the officers promised a hospital to anyone sick. Everyone is happy.
Russian Spring
10/23/2014-14:13
Prime-Minister of Donetsk Republic Aleksandr Zakharchenko announced plans to regain control of a number of Donbass cities and warned of a possibility of new heave battles.
“Kramatorsk, Mariupol`, Slavyansk – these will be ours. We want them back, intend to return. Therefore, a heavy military campaign is not ruled out.”
Posted by: Fete | Oct 24 2014 4:28 utc | 60
@brian #59:
Thanks for that. I especially liked 8 & 18.
@Noirette #53:
Thanks for that summary. The Deep Resource blogger, who is prone to what the mainstream people call conspiracy theories, didn’t think there was a conspiracy in this case, either.
@45 Wayoutwest.. for some reason i missed seeing your post til now.. i think you hve it exactly backwards my friend…
Posted by: james | Oct 24 2014 5:53 utc | 62
@james #62:
Not only does he think that Iran runs Iraqi death squads. He also thinks that ISIS are freedom fighters.
BTW, I just watched an episode of The Blacklist. An American character in it says, when he meets a Mossad agent, “I’m half Jewish. I’ve got some Muslim, too.” I don’t think that was meant as a joke. But who knows: in American spy shows nowadays, America’s only ally is Israel. It’s like Britain and Germany don’t exist. At least the East European country that’s portrayed as having an utterly corrupt police force is Poland, not Russia. That’s a bit of a relief.
james, thx for the link, I had not seen it (emptywheel on de Margerie’s crash.) Some similar points are brought up.
I attribute the various and too early reports of drunken snow plow guy as The Airport hysterically trying, in an uncoordinated way, to cover their asses. Everyone learnt lessons from 9/11 and more recently from MH17: get your accusations in first. These ppl no longer say “We are saddened by this horrific accident all our sympathy to the family a full investigation will take place, etc.”
There were other contributing factors which I did not mention: the plane left around 3 am. with an unexplained 2-3 hour delay. Not a good time to take off! Even when it is allowed (as at that airport), staff is at minimum, with ppl replacing each other, some poorly qualified and paid (there were several mentions of a ‘trainee’ or ‘intern’ ‘who wasn’t up to speed’ ..), not alert, etc. The pilot has been hanging around waiting…And 3 am. in the morning is when, in all airports in the world, maintenance, checking lights, signals, damage, on the ground, takes place. As well as running vehicles…
De Margerie one supposes as a powerful person expects all to flow smoothly, ppl obey, as they are paid to do so, and he is full of confidence. It is all absolutely typical of private plane crashes.
Moreover, I see no solid reason for either Russians or Westerners to want to kill this man.
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 24 2014 14:38 utc | 65
64;Uh,I guarantee you Isis(ISUS)considers themselves freedom fighters.
They want the freedom to impose sharia law,which of course to many,doesn’t represent freedom.Me,it aint my country or religion,so I’m neutral.
Posted by: dahoit | Oct 24 2014 16:33 utc | 66
Junta is preparing to use air force in the offensive
The intelligence service reports that a large amount of aviation fuel has arrived to the military air fields in a single delivery, from which we can conclude that the enemy is planning a full-scale use of air force. Particularly, according to the reconnaissance data, hundreds of tons of aviation fuel were delivered to the airport of Mirgorod.
People’s Militia is getting ready for the street fighting in Donetsk
The militiamen are preparing for the street clashes in the territory of Donetsk and are occupying defensive positions before the forthcoming offensive of Ukrainian troops.
@64 demian and @65 noirette. thanks for the additional comments.
noirette, regarding the time of the crash, i had 1157pm airport time for this event. where are you getting the data on a delay of 3 hours and flight not happening til much later? thanks
Posted by: james | Oct 24 2014 20:39 utc | 68
Interesting speach by Putin:
Putin lashes out at US, West for destabilizing world — RT News
Vladimir Putin lashed out at the United States and the West for destabilizing the world order of checks and balances for its own gains. He also accused the West of inflaming the situation in Ukraine and said Russia is not interested in building an empire.
‘Global media control allows US to sell black for white’: Putin’s key Valdai quotes — RT News
Vladimir Putin criticized the west for “sawing at branches” with sanctions against Russia and releasing a “genie in a bottle” with color revolutions. RT looks at the Russian President’s best five quotes from his speech in Sochi.
And here the full speach on youtube:
▶ Putin at Valdai – World Order: New Rules or a Game without Rules (FULL VIDEO) – YouTube
Russian President Vladimir Putin is delivering a speech at the plenary session of Valdai International Discussion Club, a forum involving the world leading experts at foreign and domestic policy.
RIA has also plenty of excerpts.
Posted by: Fran | Oct 24 2014 21:16 utc | 69
Ukrainian election info. The choices are…well…the choices are interesting to say the least.
http://m.strategic-culture.org/news/2014/10/24/ukraine-election-without-voters.html
really @ 70 —
Nice summation of the situation. I esp. like the photo of Lyashko’s billboard. I googled he and his party for images, he’s apparently been using that peasant blouse and pitchfork for a while. “The leader to give a deposit to Oschadbank” is roughly what it says. Oschadbank, or State Savings Bank is the local successor to Sberbank in the Ukraine, a big financier of corporations, i.e., oligarchs. Dragon Capital, a Ukr. investment bank, says “The bank acts as the state’s lending agent serving various state-owned companies. Over 95% of Oschadbank’s loans have been made to corporates.”
From the Saker’s latest Sitrep —
“In the meantime, in Banderastan, things are getting worse and worse every day and the only thing holding back a full scale Ukie attack on Novorussia is the fear of further military defeats before the elections. But short of a major change in dynamic, a Ukie attack will happen as soon as the elections are over. One thing which could delay such an attack would be an anti-Poroshenko coup in Kiev.”
I saw yesterday on HuffPost that Yatsenyuk of Popular Front believes that Russian security services are plotting to sabotage the election. He’s apparently ordered “a full security mobilization.” Could that be the pretext for an coup, I wonder? HuffPost says Poroshenko is likely to get sizeable vote, PF and it’s friends might want to forestall that. I wonder how many anti-fascist voters might be seized as “terorists.” Or maybe it’s just another log on fires of paranoia and grandiose delusion that pass for policy in Kiev?
Anyway, the new Rada should be an interesting lot.
Posted by: rufus magister | Oct 25 2014 3:16 utc | 71
Russian Spring
10/24/2014-15:34
Summary from fronts by combatant Prokhorov
The night went on as usual – somewhere loud, relatively quiet in other places.
At about 2 a.m. the combatants slightly battered Ukrainian artillery in Avdeenka; did it so well, those in Avdeevka decided not to spoil sleep of Donetsk denizens. Similar prophylactic was implemented near settlements Karlovka and Peski. Many Ukrainians were impressed. After 9 a.m. Ukrainians in Avdeevka were punished again.
Heavy clashes are reported from area of Nikishino-Faschevka-Redkodub (south-east to Debal`tsevo). Howitzers, “Grads” are working.
From 6 a.m. skirmishes started near Debal`tsevo and Uglegorsk.
Bakhmutka is under bombardment but somewhat languid – probably fair targets are scarce for Ukrainians dug in up to nostrils.
Yet Ukrainians brought in more errand boys – 128th brigade (traditionally designated to Lugansk region) adding to the list of “cyborgs” (token of respect by combatants of Ukrainian forces defending Donetsk airport). This is the list:
10th airmobile detachment of Chief Reconnaissance Control of Ministry of Defence (lost more than half of personnel)
93rd mechanized brigade (lost all armor and third of personnel)
8th commando regiment (newcomers, fresh meat – from Lugansk region)
3rd commando regiment (old-timers from May – 3 times staffed, last rotation in this month)
79th airmobile (was withdrawn entirely because of losses, would be second incarnation)
74th battalion – often “Poles” in reports
95th airmobile (some units – were withdrawn along with 79th)
91st special police unit “Krim” (instead stirring Tatars and sabotages in Crimea, dying in the airport)
5th battalion of “Right Sector” (lost count of rotations)
Battalion Dnepr-1 (withdrawn)
Company tactical group of regiment “Azov” (whereabouts unknown, but they are not in the air either)
Beg for pardon if missed any “cyborg”.
The combatants are presented just by two company tactical groups “Somaly” and “Sparta”.
Ukrainians scream that Peski, Opitnoye and Avdeevka are going to be taken. Something is shaping – not necessarily bad.
“Kiev-2” is being evacuated from Nonotroitskoye (Vonovakha area) – saying that would head to Kiev. By order or deliberately – not clear. Information is circulation that battalion “Khar`kov-1” returning home. In Anticipation of riots?
Posted by: Fete | Oct 25 2014 5:36 utc | 72
Thanks, Fete.
Regarding the turn of the worm on Israel …
Israeli Troops Kills U.S.-Palestinian Boy
The U.S. State Department confirmed that Hammad was an U.S. citizen, and called for a “speedy and transparent investigation.”
“The United States expresses its deepest condolences to the family of a U.S. citizen minor who was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces during clashes in Silwad on October 24,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki.
Washington snubs Israeli minister of military affairs
Moshe Ya’alon met with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.
But the White House and State Department reportedly refused Israeli proposals for meetings with Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and Secretary of State John Kerry.
It’s not much … but any criticism of Israel at all by its hand puppets in Washington Is news.
Expressing condolences to the family of a US citizen minor killed by the IDF … Psaki must have bitten her tongue after those words came out.
What about Furkan Dogan? What about Rachel Corrie? It was under the bulldozer with Rachel in Gaza and an executioner’s death for Furkan in international waters … and the position of the US government was utter silence … leading one to believe that, according to the US government, they ‘got what was coming to them’ for opposing Washington’s patrons.
Maybe the revulsion of the whole world – even including (some) normally comatose American Xtians – is becoming a political opportunity? a last minute swing at a peripheral wedge before the election?
It’s OK with me if they do the right thing for the wrong reasons. This is politics not religion.
I’m probably foolishly working myself up … after the election the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate will be kissing Netanyahu’s ass as usual, and bombing Syrian oil pipelines.
Packed IYSSE meeting at Humboldt University in Berlin
It was no exaggeration to speak of a direct line leading from the Wilhelmenian Reich, through the Third Reich, to the Foreign Ministry today under Steinmeier. As in the past, German imperialism had set itself the goal of integrating Ukraine, Georgia and other countries that had previously belonged to the Soviet Union or the Tsarist Empire into the German sphere of influence. Today, German imperialism uses for this purpose the European Union, which it dominates.
“In this,” Schwarz said, “it is cooperating closely with political forces such as the Svoboda Party and the Fatherland Party, which hail Skoropadsky and the Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera as national heroes.”
Schwarz showed how the return of German imperialist politics was combined with a revision of history. Right at Humboldt University, he said, there were professors such as political scientist Herfried Münckler and the head of the Department for the History of Eastern Europe, Jörg Baberowski, who were systematically working to revise the previous understanding of the origins of both world wars and Germany’s responsibility. Both were using their academic positions to publicly beat the drum for a more aggressive German foreign policy.
In this context, Schwarz discussed the conflict between the IYSSE and the university administration in the lead-up to the meeting. The administration had attempted to politically censor the IYSSE meeting, he explained, by presenting the critique of the right-wing professors as an “insult” and “smear that violated the standards of academic discourse.”
Schwarz firmly rejected this accusation. The IYSSE had never insulted or smeared anyone, but merely “very soberly and objectively analysed what the Humboldt professors Münckler and Baberowski said on talk shows, in radio interviews and newspaper articles, and in public panel discussions.”
Baberowski’s statements were particularly scandalous. Students did not only have the right, but also the duty to protest against them, Schwarz declared. He presented several citations.
On February 10 of this year, Baberowski stated in Der Spiegel: “Hitler was not a psychopath, he was not evil. He did not want the extermination of the Jews to be discussed at his table.”
At the beginning of October, in a public discussion at the German Historical Museum on military combat against non-state actors such as ISIS and the Taliban, Baberowski said, “And if one is not prepared to take hostages, burn down villages and hang people, and spread terror and fear as the terrorists do, if one isn’t prepared to do that, one will not win such a conflict.”
I hope the Russians will not fall for some kind of ‘deal’ from the Germans again. There’s no reason to believe it would work out any differently now, Merkel/Putin, than it did then, Hitler/Stalin.
Also note the ‘civility’ argument by the right-wing in the US and Germany… used in the US at Berkley and at the University of Illinois. No doubt it is another Zionist invention to crush criticism of the pariah state of Israel. And in Germany to crush criticism ot the “wollen die Deutschen Eliten wieder Krieg.”
jfl @ 74
Enforced “civility” is part of Marcusean “One Dimensional Thought.” Not only is any alternative to the status quo “irrational” or literally “unthinkable,” it’s impolite to point this out, let alone challenge it. Is it accidental that the status quo encourages the vulgarity of the Tea Partiers, while having it’s academic viceroys enforce politesse?
Saker has a transcript of Putin’s remarks at Sochi. RT had a clip of nice riff by Putin on the bear and his climate, the taiga, apparently during questions. They say they have higlights, but no time to find them now.
My favorite bit from the transcript —
“I never cease to be amazed by the way that our partners just keep stepping on the same rake, as we say here in Russia, that is to say, make the same mistake over and over.
“They once sponsored Islamic extremist movements to fight the Soviet Union. Those groups got their battle experience in Afghanistan and later gave birth to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The West if not supported, at least closed its eyes, and, I would say, gave information, political and financial support to international terrorists’ invasion of Russia (we have not forgotten this) and the Central Asian region’s countries. Only after horrific terrorist attacks were committed on US soil itself did the United States wake up to the common threat of terrorism. Let me remind you that we were the first country to support the American people back then, the first to react as friends and partners to the terrible tragedy of September 11.”
Posted by: rufus magister | Oct 25 2014 15:38 utc | 75
Oh, so Marcuse discovered ‘incivility’ … like Columbus discovered America?
‘ Is it accidental that the status quo encourages the vulgarity of the Tea Partiers, while having it’s academic viceroys enforce politesse? ‘
I enjoyed Putin’s repeated references to ‘double standards’ … although he didn’t claim the concept was invented in Russia, or even in the Soviet Union. Or that he discovered the discoverer …
jfl at 75 — I don’t think Marcuse said anything about it, and I said nothing about him discovering it. I cited it as sort of sub-species of One-Dimensional Thought.
Posted by: rufus magister | Oct 25 2014 20:25 utc | 77
Another fail for the Empire:
Brazilians Re-elect Dilma Rousseff as President
Judging by a Google News search, the Western press really went after her. Alas, that plane crash didn’t pan out. The BRICS project is still on.
In the last days before the Scottish independence referendum, I ran across the blog of a certain Craig Murray, who describes himself as a former ambassador. Now he’s made a post which explains why he’s no longer an ambassador:
It is ten years since I ended my FCO career by going on the Today programme and blowing the whistle on CIA/MI6 complicity in torture. It was on my 46th birthday, and I was in my second year as an Ambassador and my seventh as a top Whitehall civil servant, a member of the Senior Civil Service.
I should have looked him up in Wikipedia: he is literally a dissident. In today’s strange new world, it is the US and UK which have dissidents, not Russia. (I remember reading about him at the time; I just didn’t recall the name.)
@78 demian.. according to wayne madsen “Soros and the CIA Now Banking on Neves to Defeat Rousseff”. fortunately that didn’t happen..
Posted by: james | Oct 27 2014 6:23 utc | 80
It is funny how halloween, in the American version, also informs the US election taking place soon thereafter. Truly ghosts and vampires inherit the ruling seats in the legislature of the “Empire of Chaos”. Our panties will be sniffed by the victors, whether Republican or Democratic.
Posted by: Jay M | Oct 28 2014 0:48 utc | 81
US Used 1000 Nazis Spies During Cold War
The first evidence of these facts appeared in the 1970s but the recently disclosed archives, featured in the book, show that the number of recruited Nazis was much higher than previously thought. It also shows that the U.S. government was trying to conceal the evidence until recently.
Records found by the researchers indicate that former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover personally approved the use of ex-Nazis as spies and dismissed the acts they had been involved in during the war as “Soviet propaganda”.
As though they ever stopped … their new generation in the Ukraine is working out to their satisfaction. I mean, what else could anyone have expected from Nazis?
The “Soviet propaganda” line has moved on too. Now it’s “conspiracy theories”.
The General Assembly, voting nearly-unanimously, adopted its twenty-second consecutive resolution calling for an end to the United States’ decades-long economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba.
By the text, adopted by a recorded vote of 188 in favour to 2 against (United States and Israel) with 3 abstentions (Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau) … The resolution reiterated the call on States to refrain from applying such measures, in conformity with their obligations under the Charter, and urged those that had applied such laws to repeal or invalidate them as soon as possible.
And the US claims it is isolating Russia? The US and Israel float alone, literally with the support of islands colonized in the Pacific … almost with their support, the best they could do was abstain.
Cuba, the ‘monstrusous socialist’ state in the Caribbean, this relatively tiny country of 11 miillion, that – despite 54 years of the brutal US embargo – has now by itself, on its own, built up the wherewithal to send more doctors and medical personnel to help the countries stricken by this latest Ebola outbreak than any other country on earth – the Ebola outbreak which may well have issued from US Biowarfare labs in west Africa – than the World’s Sole Remainin Superpower – which has itself sent, not doctors, but occupying troops to West Africa, opportunistically exploiting militarily the results of the ongoing neo-liberal economic exploitation of the region.
Which government is isolated as the vile, biosphere-hating, capitalist tool?
Yet millions of people pick up their ‘newspapers’ and sit somnolent before their TV sets and soak up ‘news’ of the opposite.
Look at what the poor nation of Cuba has done despite the constant attacks of that capitalist tool over more than half a century, and imagine what the governmant of the USA might have done over that same period.
Newsreaders and TV watchers, open your eyes and look at what it has done in Iran, Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya … and is doing in Palestine, Syria, Ukraine, Iraq and Iran.
Not only to the poor all over the world, but now to its own citizens at home in Detroit and Ferguson and less ‘news-worthy’ points all across the USA.
This must be the textbook taught in American classrooms.
Come home, America. There’s room for improvement at home.
@78 @80
After reading Electronic Elections: A Balancing Act and noting the crash of Silva and then the ‘too close’ to call theme in the media I was afraid the fix was in, in an election system built to be fixed.
But it didn’t happen and I’m delighted that it did not.
That must mean that Dilma’s forces have the TSE under their own control and were able to thwart the CIA, which must surely have tried to throw the election.
But the means of throwing elections in Brazil remains, and Dilma ought to do away with electronic elections in Brazil. When it comes to elections ballots within envelopes within envelopes tallied in public in situ in two stages by two teams of locals with broadcast results seems to me the only credible way to go.
Meanwhile, Dilma Rousseff and Cristina Fernandez to Strengthen Mercosur Trade Bloc.
I guess the American position is to permeate the cultural sphere and hence claim the inheritance from the Enlightenment therefore the cultural revolution represents freedom from boundaries, often represented by schools of thinkers. Or represented negativity, ie canvas that are merely black.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_Reinhardt
Go Giants.
Posted by: Jay M | Oct 29 2014 1:22 utc | 85
I had read with alarm this post on Putin, now disparaged by Saker.
When I had read it I viewed it as a call for Putin’s assassination, as did a commenter on Saker’s take. I hope that he and I are as wrong as I was on Dilma, but another commenter on Saker’s “don’t worry, be happy” take linked the growing “problem” of the BRICS and doesn’t rule out assassination for either Rousseff or Putin … or both. The end game is on and they are all in.
The vicious behavior of the CIA is getting so desperate that it seems the pale has collapsed … the inside is out and the outside is in … and nothing lies beyond.
Russia Delivers Cargo to Space Station After U.S. Setback
A robotic Russian supply ship delivered nearly 3 tons of cargo to the International Space Station on Wednesday, just hours after a commercial U.S. rocket exploded while attempting a similar mission.
The robotic Progress 57 spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Russian Soyuz rocket at 3:09 a.m. ET to begin its space station mission. The spacecraft linked up with the orbiting lab six hours later after a trouble-free trip.
If the crew in charge in the USA now were in charge in 1969 … they probably would have staged the whole thing on a Hollywood backlot. And messed that up as well … zippers on the fake spacesuits showing, or the equivalent.
What do the ‘millenials’ know about the USA, other than the lying, cheating, murderous bogosity it has become. Who can blame them for thinking that’s normal. It’s the new Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-Obama-Brenner normal.
If you want a spyPod … get the Chinese to make it for you. If you want to keep the people on the ISS alive … get the Russians to do it for you. If you want perpetual war … buy the bozo playing the role of President a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, right up front.
Europe threatened with deflationary spiral
New data released this week on the German economy has intensified fears that Europe’s euro zone is slipping into its third recession in six years and may have entered a downward deflationary spiral of the type that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The dismal business confidence figure follows a series of reports showing that Europe’s biggest economy is contracting. German industrial production fell 4 percent between July and August. Factory orders and exports in August the saw their steepest plunge since 2009. The country’s gross domestic product shrank in the April-June quarter. Its inflation rate is just 0.8 percent, far below the target set by the Bundesbank and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Germany, the industrial powerhouse of Europe, was supposed to be the engine that would pull the continent out of its economic malaise. Instead, its highly export-dependent economy is being undermined by a global slowdown in demand, including from China, its third largest market, the so-called “emerging economies” such as Brazil, and the rest of Europe. The government’s own policies—economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, war in the Middle East, and relentless austerity throughout Europe—are contributing to Germany’s slump.
The current (October 25-31) issue of the British Economist magazine focuses on the deflationary crisis in Europe and its disastrous global implications. In a lead editorial headlined “The world’s biggest economic problem: Deflation in the euro zone is all too close and extremely dangerous,” the magazine notes that Europe’s slump is part of a global tendency. It cites the fact that China is now growing more slowly than at any time since 2009.
In Europe itself, prices are falling in eight countries. In Italy, Spain and Greece, inflation is below zero.
The Economist goes on to note that the International Monetary Fund has estimated the odds of deflation in the euro zone, defined as two quarters of falling prices in a 12-month span, at 30 percent for the coming year.
“As debt burdens soar from Italy to Greece,” writes the magazine, “investors will take fright, populist politicians will gain ground, and—sooner rather than later—the euro will collapse.”
They’re thinking in Washington, “too bad, so sad, but … can’t see it from our house”. That’s how delusional they are? Or do they *know* what’s in store and are trying definitely to start that third world war because, while all they have is greenbacks, they do still have more bullets than anyone else?