In his post giving the translation of the Glaziev paper, the Saker links to the following piece by an American consulting firm:
Putin 2000 – 2014, Midterm Interim Results: Diversfication, Modernization and the Role of the State in Russia’s economy

“The Russian economy is much more diversified and modernized than critics claim. The contention that it is only about oil and gas is total nonsense”, says Jon Hellevig, chief researcher for the study. “This is why Russia will not only stay afloat under the conditions of sanctions, but actually will make the industrial breakthrough that President Putin has announced”, Hellevig continues. …
Far from “relying” on oil & gas, the Russian government is engaged in massive investments in all sectors of the economy, biggest investments going to aviation, shipbuilding, and manufacturing of high-value machinery and technological equipment.
Totally contrary to these facts, the Western media, financial analysts, and even leaders such as U.S. President Obama keep parroting the refrain that “Russia only relies on oil and gas” and “Russia does not produce anything”. Clearly, Barack Obama has not been analyzing the Russian economy, so this must mean that those whose job it is to do so are misleading the President.
We strongly believe that everyone benefits from knowing the true state of Russia’s economy, its real track record over the past decade, and its true potential.

I guess the folks at Awara have stopped believing that “everyone benefits from knowing the true state of Russia’s economy”: they removed this report and the blog post about it. Down the memory hole. (The link I gave is to the Google cache of the blog post.) Maybe they got a call from the US embassy? Truth is one of the main problems for USG nowadays.

Posted by: Demian | Dec 14 2014 2:57 utc | 104

@Oi #103:
Didn’t the Ukies get the memo? Malaysia is a member of the Joint Investigation Team now.
Ukie officials never miss an opportunity to smear Russia.
A previous post I made didn’t go through, probably because it had a link to the Saker. This is really annoying. I’m going to try it again without the link.

Posted by: Demian | Dec 14 2014 3:18 utc | 106

And while I’m here prattling on, something noteworthy. Again, from the always-informative folks at NewColdWar. A Ukrainian leftist reports on The political situation in odessa.

There are now about 100 inhabitants of Odessa imprisoned; those who dared to challenge the system of violence and terror. Some managed to get word out, but the names of many heroes we do not even know. The information we have is on the website of the Committee for the Liberation of Odessa…. They are trying to destroy in prison those who were not killed in the House of Trade Unions. The authorities are doing everything to ensure that our friends, colleagues, and comrades simply rot in the torture chambers.

Posted by: rufus magister | Dec 14 2014 3:27 utc | 108

music – rufus/demian…
i look at it like a smorgasboard of sounds to choose from. i love the sound of vibes – have a cd in the car right now with a group that has a vibes player on it. great stuff.. as a drummer growing up on rock music, i ended up getting exposed to a lot of different music, but have always gravitated towards improvisation. funny thing about improv in music is that you can find it most anywhere, but generally pop music comes as pre-fab that seems to be based on music industry types and what they think will sell more. this really became evident in the 70’s which in spite of some of the great music of the 70’s – the advent of punk and etc – was also a sad time where formulaic shite was being generated more regularly.. drum machines were part of this – of course now we have had one man groups where everything is controlled by a machine and etc.. bottom line – the improv has gone out of a lot of it. same deal classical music in terms of improv unless it is new or more modern classical.. some rock bands have improv, but the idea of communicating thru music in a pre fab world of music just doesn’t happen much, with the exception of jazz. even jazz can be standardized in a way which lacks soul too.
there are so many different types of all of these categories that i touch on, that it isn’t fair to stereo type about any of it, but those are some of my observations with involvement in the music business the past 35 odd years. started out playing rock in mor bands – that is middle of the road – and continued on doing country, r&b, funk, disco, prog rock – rush covers and all sorts of stuff, but as a drummer i have always gravitated to somewhere that i can get a chance to get off the redundancy of what a drum machine could just as easily do.. i also like dynamics and some music is completely devoid of it by being all loud, all the time. to me that ain’t all that musical. of course drums are one of the most dynamic instruments, if not the most dynamic instrument in the band – all controlled by the feel and imagination of the drummer.. it helps if the folks writing the songs have a concept too.. ‘stairway to heaven’ is a good example of a song with dynamics.. too much of rock and pop nowadays is 1 dynamic setting which i find boring..
there you have some of my thoughts on some of the music world and what a feast it offers all of us. thanks for the links to those different bands rufus.. some good stuff their. the band live in austin was kinda coolm – keyboard replicating orchestral sounds.. thank the keyboard for replacing strings and horns and all the rest of it, lol.. at least some of these keyboard bands are wanting to play with some old sounds in a new way. that was one of the things i liked about the prog rock i used to listen to back in the early 70’s – king crimson, genesis, gentle giant and etc.. nice to see bands continuing on in that type of tradition, although generally and as was the case in that same live video from austin – boring typical rock beat, lol..

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2014 4:49 utc | 110

rufus – keys hey? cool. i have a lot of piano player friends.
copeland is an original, innovative and fantastic drummer. that said – i could do without the 1/2 time rock groove he has going with the west african group and just take the west african music without his groove, lol.. he did that in 85 and i was unaware of this. thanks for pointing it out to me.. he has essentially just layered himself on the top of it.. kinda boring. i will take king sunny ade over this any day, lol. ginger baker did something similar. actually he was hanging out with fela kuti and the gang.. he must have seen tony allen at some point. tony allen was the drummer for many years with fela kuti. he moved to paris many years ago and plays out of paris mostly. here check this out. you’ll dig the keyboards further into the track. – the title is good for this blog, lol.. it is off his homecooking album from 2003. the whole recording is fantastic..
you like keyboards? check this out.. young piano player from armenia in his mid 20’s. it may or may not appeal to you. demian might even like it, lol.
here’s a track from a fine guitar player with greek ancestry – lives in new york.. wrote the song in 21/8 which is a reflection of his greek heritage.. i have played this song for a friends grad recital in the past year.

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2014 5:59 utc | 112

@rufus magister #95, 104:
MBV aren’t dark at all: you can’t get any brighter. And their first album, Ecstasy and Wine, has a positively southern California mood, like the Beach Boys. Pink Floyd got dark starting with Dark Side of the Moon (legend has it that that was because of Roger Waters’ girl friend breaking up with him), but there were a lot of idyllic and raptuous songs before that, so it is wrong to call the Floyd dark in general.
Fusion reminds me of high school (as do Jethro Tull and King Krimson). I don’t think I encountered fusion at all after high school. There are only two piece of jazz I like: Take Five and the soundtrack of Blowup. Come to think of it, the soundtrack of Bullitt isn’t bad, either. So jazz has value as incidental music for 1960 and 1970s movies.
I watched Beautiful Noise. I disagree with the three out of four negative reviews on Internet Movie Database: I think it’s a worthwhile documentary. It was interesting to hear what Robert Smith had to say about My Bloody Valentine and Ride. And the film reminded me of the obscure band The Telescopes, who came out with one of my favorite songs in this genre: Please Tell Mother. This is the only shoegaze I’m aware of that’s jazzy.
Since I mentioned 24 Hour Party People, I might as well give a link to a song by one of the bands that the movie is about: they have a pretty unique sound. Happy Mondays: Loose Fit.
Americans are incapable of creating music like this. One of the main problems with American pop music is that American musicians do not have a sense of rhythm. Rhythm is a Germanic thing: only Brits and Germans understand rhythm. In an interview, one of the members of Rammstein said that one of the things that makes them a good band is that because they are Germans, they do rhythm well.

Posted by: Demian | Dec 14 2014 6:03 utc | 114

hey demian – lush – gala.. sounds pretty good.. hadn’t heard it before.. reminds me a bit like u2 with the constant strumming sound, lol.. 2nd track into this – not the same as u2 and a bit more reflective and dreamy without some big drum track jumping in the middle of the tune, lol..
happy mondays – loose fit sounds pretty cool.. kinda trancy.. watered down punk when the vocals comes in, lol.. i think i agree with you on the idea of no american bands doing this kind of thing. mind you the states produced ‘they might be giants’ and they were pretty interesting and quirky in a way i wouldn’t expect..
the telescope track was interesting.. sounds retro.. the vocals are a throw back to the 60’s almost, or so it seems to me.. the guitar sound seems to be trying to mimic ravi shanker or something, lol.. i keep on hearing a lot of u2 influence for some reason.. pop is not my thing, but i am always interested.. at least the drum beat is broken up and more improvisational.. they even stop which i like – and then it comes back in..
demian – here is an american musical product/genius that i really admire – brian blade.. born into a gospel family in the south – has played with many wonderful musicians from joni mitchell to daniel lanois and countless others too.. he is a soulful guitar singer songwriter, but mostly known as a premier drummer in the jazz world.. this is a 51 minute thing at a jazz festival that might surprise you in so far as it gets classified as ‘jazz’.. start it up at 15 minutes and if you like that you can explore more..

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2014 6:37 utc | 116

@james #114:
Thanks for that link. I will listen to that later. I have lost count of the number of times I have tried to get into jazz. 😉 I have always been into only classical music and pop, mostly from Britain. (An interesting thing about Britain when it comes to music is that their last great composer was Purcell, whereas when it comes to pop, they have full spectrum dominance, as far as I’m concerned. Brits dominate pop in the same way that the Germans dominate classical music, with the Russians coming in second, I would say.)
I agree that the Telescopes have a retro sound. I’m glad that film mentioned them, because they are pretty obscure. Shoegaze appears to be experiencing a kind of revival, which wa one of the points of that documentary. There are some new bands that have a shoegaze sound. I guess shoegaze was the British equivalent of grunge. The difference between the two is that shoegaze creates beauty out of noise, whereas grunge, Sonic Youth for example, stays with noise. One could write an essay trying to explain this difference. I think it shows that despite appearances, there are significant cultural differences between Brits and Americans.
Yes, Gala is very bright and cheerful. But Lush’s best album is Split. Their greatest track is probably Never-Never. Since you’re a drummer, you may find it interesting. It is put together like a Joy Division song: it begins by the drums establishing the pattern they will follow for the whole song.
You mention U2 (whom I adore). But there’s a notable difference between US and shoegaze: like most rock, the music of U2 is very male, whereas shoegaze bands had a lot of girls in them. (The major exception is probably Ride, but they were from Oxford and had a very gentle, wistful manner.) I think bands like MBV and Lush shows what a tremendous limitation it is for rock/pop to use only male vocals: male vocals simply can’t attain the level of the sublime that female vocals can. (As far as I know, American pop music never exploits this aspect of the female voice. The female voice as presented in American pop compared to how it is used in shoegaze is as breasts with silicon implants to real breasts.)
@rufus magister #115:
Thanks for recommendations. I will look into them.
As for rhythm and blues influencing the Brits when it comes to rhythm, I would say that the Brits didn’t really acquire a sense of rhythm in the sense I mean until after punk. So as far as I’m concerned, Eric Clapton, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones did not have a sense of rhythm. Only the Floyd did. One needs only think of Syncopated Pandemonium.

Posted by: Demian | Dec 14 2014 7:51 utc | 118

115 rufus – girl from ipanema is very old! jobim hit.. they named the airport in rio de janiero after jobim.. jobim airport, lol.. he wrote that song in 1960 or thereabouts.. seu jorge has been around almost as long, lol..roy ayers.. now i see why you are saying you like vibes! they have a name for his music – i forget what it is called.. so many names for sounds and styles…
116 demian. thanks for the never never link. that is cool.. they like the reverb buttons, lol.. the drum pattern is cool, but it becomes redundant after a while.. it is like a lot of modern music that may as well be a loop. i criticize my own song writing when i do this sort of thing.. maybe the vocals are the redeeming characteristic.. i can’t tell. i like how it ended with the string sounds – whether fabricated via keyboard or the real thing..
i have never heard of this term ‘shoegaze’. interesting. i can see how you would enjoy u2 if you like some of these sounds i am hearing. u2 is a neat band and i have liked some of their songs, but i don’t know there music well. i don’t listen to lyrics which my folk musician friends who are lyricists find strange.. i am mostly just into the melody – no words needed..
demian – i find your comments on the male verses female energy in the music very interesting. i have a friend who is transgender who i have played a lot of music with. it makes me think of that. i mostly think the military type stuff is very male energy.. some of the drumming to some of the tough guy music is like marching to war. i think that is why it appeals to young males. tough guy music has got that i am tough vibe with machine gun type drumming.. punk was headed in that direction, but without the precision. that is why i like punk better. it is more authentic/real.. i grew up in vancouver and was friends with some of the early punk musicians on the scene. subhumans, doa, joey shithead.. if you are into punk – you would know these names. i was in new york in 1982 and happened to bump into doa on 42nd. they were doing a gig in alphabetland. i sat in with them for a few songs. that was a long time ago when i lived in new york for about 5 months.
it is also very interesting what you are saying about brits and rhythm. i don’t know i agree with you on all that, but i am trying to appreciate your perspective. i think rufus is sort of saying that much of the blues movement in britian – john mayall and the heartbreakers, or even led zeppelin and etc. etc. were very much influenced by the robert johnsons of the south, not to mention jerry lee lewis and new orleans music more generally.. well the whole spirit of the mississippi delta from the mouth at new orleans all the way up to chicago – that was a travel route for the black musicians from the 20’s 30’s and a lot of it had to do with music from new orleans and up..
in fact the history of north american music could be understood the best from the angle of new orleans.. new orleans was a melting pot of the slave trade, the Caribbean, creole, acadian and a few other cultures all swirled into one big gumbo.. the rhythms are from africa, but also from the blues which is about the black mans struggle to deal with slavery and such stuff as that.. i don’t exclude the whites from this either.
speaking of which my friend andrew has insisted that i watch all 4 seasons of treme. i watched episode 1 season 2 earlier tonight.. good night!

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2014 8:56 utc | 120

james,
I don’t mind in the least that you have commented on the Joy Division song I gave a link to. I am just thankful that you listened to it. And I am grateful to you for your expressing an opinion about it.
It is part of the Joy Division mythology that the drummer said that his ambition was to become a drum machine. As for your point that “the rhythm is a boxed in boring fucking rhythm that defines much of pop music”: I don’t see a resemblance between rhytmm as it is incorporated in commercial pop music and as it is present in the music of Joy Division. In Joy Division, observing the strictness of the rhythm involves taking a moral, existential stand; with American pop, maintaining some kind of rhythm is just a stratagem to keep naive consumers of music from getting confused.

Posted by: Demian | Dec 14 2014 10:57 utc | 122

Interesting comments at saker:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4046811478707691837&postID=2896140936558870392
Apparently Kodorovsky tring to take power in Russia. Why did Russia let this guy out of jail to begin with?

Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 14 2014 15:13 utc | 124

remember the cheonan ?
hmm, moa was off the air when it happened …
http://www.4thmedia.org/2014/12/rogue-sub-killed-46-us-and-sk-government-cover-up/

Posted by: denk | Dec 14 2014 16:25 utc | 126

demian @120 thanks. re your last paragraph – that may be so.. it is hard to get inside a persons head to know how they view what they are doing philosophically which is what this would require. i therefore am not convinced of the generalizations broken down along national lines regarding the music.
@124 denk. interesting. thanks.

Posted by: james | Dec 14 2014 17:40 utc | 128

Pyongyang sees US role in Cheonan sinking | Asia Times – May 2010 |
Among the fleet were four Aegis ships: the USS Shiloh (CG-67), a 9,600-ton Ticonderoga class cruiser, the USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54), a 6,800-ton Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, the USS Lassen, a 9,200-ton Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer and Sejong the Great, a 8,500-ton South Korean guided-missile destroyer.
The four surface ships are the most important assets of the two navies, and have multi-mission platforms capable of conducting various tasks, such as anti-submarine warfare. There is every likelihood that they were supported by nuclear-powered US submarines and a South Korean “Type 214” submarine (65m) that uses AIP technology.
…
Obama must have felt relieved at the South Korean president’s ready acceptance of his offer of compensation. One article carried in the April 14 edition of Joong Ang Ilbo was headlined “Veep Biden Says LMB [Lee Myung-bak] Is Obama’s Favorite Man”. The comment was made by Biden on April 12, one day before the nuclear summit.
Sharp unexpectedly attended the April 3 funeral of a South Korean rescue diver, Han Ju Ho, who died while participating in the search for missing sailors from the corvette. Sharp was seen consoling the bereaved family in an unprecedented expression of sympathy.
Joong Ang Ilbo reported on April 27 that the South Korean government would deal strictly with rumors rampant on the Internet that a collision with a US nuclear submarine had caused the sinking.

Posted by: Oui | Dec 14 2014 19:59 utc | 130

@WoW – awesome. Did you ever see the Stooges?

Posted by: guest77 | Dec 14 2014 22:02 utc | 132

This may seem a little alarmist but then who better to take over the White House in 2016?

Every time I see Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz on television, I am overcome with the sense that he spends all his free time in the hidden room in his basement torturing the vagrants he keeps locked up down there with a cattle prod. He is a doughy, sunken-eyed alsoran, with a chip on his shoulder and undiagnosed sociopathy pulsing through his brilliant mind. He’s an unattractive, brilliant and deranged narcissist who plays on the fear of the people to gain power and influence using an army of uneducated, but incredibly loud imbeciles to do his dirty work. Visually, Ted Cruz brings to mind Hitler because they are both schlubby, mousy haired everymen, with the general bearing of Lord Voldemort. But there are more similarities than a lack of physical creepiness, there are also similarities in their biographies, viewpoints and paranoias.

http://www.ryot.org/opinion-ted-cruz-is-the-most-dangerous-man-in-america/423753

Posted by: Nana2007 | Dec 14 2014 22:31 utc | 134

james 128
if u’r an murcun *ally*, expect *friendly fire*, its comes with the deal 🙁
http://www.antiwar.com/rep/jared5.html

Posted by: denk | Dec 15 2014 3:01 utc | 136

Oz’s MSM is ‘enjoying’ its very own (unresolved) Hostage Crisis in Sydney’s Martin Place right now. Traffic and transport are in chaos due to precautionary road closures and diversions. Sydney Opera House and the US Consulate and other nearby buildings and public spaces have been evacuated. We already know that it’s related to Bush & Obama (and BBC’s) Fake War On Terror because the hostage-takers hung a black banner inside one window of the site, the Lindt Coffee Shop, extolling the virtues of Allah and Mohammed.
Unsurprisingly, the NSA’s Industrial Espionage outfit didn’t predict, or detect, this event. On the other hand ABC2 pulled a doco called The Fog Of War scheduled to be broadcast at 10-50pm last night, on short notice.
Canada’s Neocon PM Harper has tweeted a message of s(t)olidarity to Neocon PM Abbot.
No demands have been made (due to insufficient world-wide publicity at this moment in time?).
PM Abbott has called for calm.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 15 2014 3:51 utc | 138

Demian @ 122 et al.
First, let me say that I admire your rigour and consistency. I think it’s lead you into an untenable position, but it’s admirable.
I am unsurprised about your position of the morality of the drum machine. Plato, the Arch-Idealist, says “Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue” as well as “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe… and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”
Me, humble historical materialist I am, I can’t help but get bogged down in means of musical production and reproduction and it’s dialectical nature with culture. So I take an amoral and promiscuous approach to rhythm.
If your division in CE and BCE (Computer Era and Before…) in music stands, what then is the moral and aesthetic status of music in the cult On The Beat? Aesthetically, the amoralists have taken quite a bit of ground.
Let me hazard a guess — you’re not a player, are you? I have an early Roland drum machine myself, TR909 I think it is. Many players and listeners found the unvarying exactitude of the early devices unpleasant. I can tell you as a user of contemporary musical technology, there are parameters you can adjust to increase and decrease the randomness. Digital echoes and arpeggiators, e.g., will have a “swing” control.
Let me clarify what I meant by asking about american rhythm.
I mean to ask, how is it then that a land lacking in rhythm could be so fruitful in producing innovations in the use of time and metre? I think jas. unpacked it pretty well, at 120.
The Floyd not dark ’til late? How is playing in an ancient colosseum in a town buried by a volcano not dark, even without a repertoire that includes “Careful with That Axe, Eugene;” “A Saucerful of Secrets” and “One of These Days”? Not even to mention Syd Barrett himself.
And so here’s what I think of for rhythm. Here’s Talking Heads at their heigth, “Once in a Lifetime”. “And you may ask yourself, my god, what have I done?” And from a little earlier, their “I Zimbra”. The clip is from German TV, and the vocals are an experiment in Dadaism. Eno, their producer, was in his German-Bauhaus period, he used a Kurt Schwitters vocal track on “Before and After Science” shortly before this.
Jas. @ 120
Well, I was born during the Eisenhower Administration. We had Beatles and Monkees singles at home, I saw all the biggees on Sullivan, etc. Not that I remember them — it was the sound of the day, of course it was on TV, I thought little of it at the time. But I do recall where I was when Devo did their cover of “Satisfaction” on SNL. Nice bit if you like your rhythm right on the beat, btw. The first song I remember being struck by was Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” on a diner jukebox.
I try to stay current, at least somewhat. I agree with you on the monotony of much pop music, and the lazy use of drum machines — to say nothing of samples. Boring, lazy people make boring, lazy music.
You might like “Liberte” or “Coco” from Copeland’s album; “Koteja” was the only one with a proper video.
Nana2007 @ 133
Perhaps a shouldn’t have started this, I keep exposing gaps in my music ed. Sorry to say Cave is also someone I know by reputation only, I’ll see if I can fix that.

Posted by: rufus magister | Dec 15 2014 4:38 utc | 140

if u sign on to the *deal* dont complain !
*Italian prosecutors had wanted four US airmen, including Ashby and co-pilot, Capt. Joseph Schweitzer, and three officers from the US base at Aviano to face charges of manslaughter and endangering the safety of transport. An Italian judge rejected that attempt last July, ruling that the US courts, under a NATO agreement, had sole jurisdiction over the men.*
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/03/ital-m06.html

Posted by: denk | Dec 15 2014 4:56 utc | 142

Why doesn’t Abbot just walk in there and shirtfront the terrorist?
I feel bad for these innocent folks but… we just go along with these “leaders” of ours and we get what comes our way. When will we learn that we can’t just bury our heads in the latest TV shows?

Posted by: guest77 | Dec 15 2014 5:42 utc | 144

Man behind sydney hostage affair exposed.
http://rt.com/news/214547-sydney-hostage-gunman-identified/

Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 15 2014 16:09 utc | 146

Correction, my 140 should read —
“….what then is the moral and aesthetic status of music produced before 1 CE in the cult On The Beat?”
jas @ 147 —
Thanks for saying so, efforts to stay au courant working then to some degree.
I remember one of the first records I bought with heavy drum machine usage, Phil Manzanera’s “Primitive Guitars.” Here’s “Impossible Guitars” from it. First listen, I was so annoyed, this is so cheap and cheesey. A few months later, I put back on the turntable, and thought “Man, this is so cool, what was I bitching about?”
That’s the great thing about contemporary musical technology — you can do stuff that used to be impossible, and do it in the privacy of your own home. That changes the aesthetics and expectations.
But the downside — unthinking overuse, cliches. This is not unique to technology or music, of course.

Posted by: rufus magister | Dec 15 2014 23:41 utc | 148

Russian Spring
12/15/2014-18:21
Overview of the military campaign from combatant Prokhorov:
Stanitsa-Luganskaya is divided and generally represents a neutral zone. The assumed separation line is the railway track: south is combatants’, north – occupants’.
The combatants withdrew heavy weapons that besieged outpost 31. Ukrainians are not harassed anymore. They do not hold outpost 31 all the time, periodically come back, and then leave.
From the morning the ceasefire is happening in area of Schast`ye (by artillery), also In Debal’tsevo pocket (Gorodische, Chernukhino, Zorinsk), also in area of Bakhmutka.
“Praviy Sector” (its military wing – Volunteer Ukrainian Corps), regiment “Dnepr-1”, battalions “Donbass” and “Krivbass” (the latter holds 6 outposts) do not let humanitarian aid to Donetsk/Lugansk Republics through their outposts. It is like a mutiny that they ignore Poroshenko plus starve to death denizens of the Republics.
The combatants currently hold a council – possibly to provide humanitarian aid of “Grad” kind to above named “combat worthy” units.

Posted by: Fete | Dec 16 2014 4:27 utc | 150

Looks like my happy talk above was just that[T]he Russian Central Bank has suddenly raised its interest rates from 10,5% to 17%..

Posted by: jfl | Dec 16 2014 9:43 utc | 152

I agree with the Saker …
The Russian Central Bank’s “counterattack” lasted 30 mins!

I see only one way to reverse this death spiral: not only to fire Nabiulina, but to fully nationalize the Central Bank, fire the totality of its current top management and to appoint a new team with Sergei Glaziev as it’s director with a rank of Minister of Finance. Then Russia must take the strategic decision drop the current system of backing each printed Ruble with purchased US Dollar and instead back the Ruble with either energy or metals or a combo of real-word resources.

Posted by: jfl | Dec 16 2014 23:20 utc | 154

@152-154 – jfl.. thanks for trying to stay on top of this.. regarding saker and @154 comments – they can’t replace the leadership of the russian central bank with their own choices as i understand it and they can’t do what saker is suggesting unless they want to pull out of the world trade organization, imf and a few other things like that.. i believe they are bound by law on these issues too, but maybe i am wrong.. they have to figure out an alternative path for sure, but i don’t believe they can do what saker suggests or you agree with.. it would be good if they could, but i don’t believe they can without blowing up a number of agreements they have signed onto.. leaving for 5 days early tomorrow.

Posted by: james | Dec 17 2014 2:32 utc | 156

Russian Spring
12/17/2014-22:26
From Pyotr Poroshenko (President of Ukraine) words the Minsk meeting (peace negotiations) may restart this Sunday, December 21. Preliminary video conferences were planned on December 18 and 19.
Zakharchenko (Head of Donetsk Republic) also admitted that the meeting was indeed planned on December 21 in Minsk. He, though, noted of undetermined agenda and that a similar meeting was to hold on December 9, but deferred indefinitely by Ukrainian side.
Now as then, without agenda and list of issues, to assert that the meeting will happen is difficult.
Commentary: No significant military events were registered today.

Posted by: Fete | Dec 18 2014 4:06 utc | 158

There are any no. of reasons why the turn to post-modernism is a dead end.
At the Jacobin website (“Reason in Revolt”), Brussels sociology grad. student Daniel Zamora discusses Foucault’s Responsibility for the rightward drift in French and international Left.

My problem with Michel Foucault, then, is not that he seeks to “move beyond” the welfare state, but that he actively contributed to its destruction, and that he did so in a way that was entirely in step with the neoliberal critiques of the moment. His objective was not to move towards “socialism,” but to be rid of it….
Foucault, then, doesn’t advocate neoliberalism, but he adopts all of its critiques of the welfare state. He attacks the supposed “dependency” it produces, the very notion of “rights,” and its negative effect on the poor. His objective is thus not to move towards a totally neoliberal society, but to incorporate within the socialist corpus some of the decisive elements of the neoliberal critique of the state…. a sort of precursor to Blairism… [and] of the “social-libéralisme” now dominant within the French Socialist Party.
Moreover, it is in this light that we should understand Foucault’s support for the anticommunist New Philosophers of the 1970s… aimed equally against the Union of the Left and the whole ideology it represented….
To my mind, Foucault was thus not asking the “right questions.” On the contrary, he popularized a good part of the neoliberal common sense that constituted the theoretical basis of the war waged against the welfare state. This common sense, far from being a secondary issue, represents in my view one of the principal obstacles to the institution of far-reaching social policies.

That pretty much somes up PoMo — talks radical, walks (when it can) reactionary.

Posted by: rufus magister | Dec 18 2014 5:35 utc | 160

That was a follow-up idea to denk and Oui‘s 127 and 130 respectively, incidentally. In case it wasn’t clear.

Posted by: Monolycus | Dec 18 2014 7:20 utc | 162

I had missed the references above to the Cheonan sinking by the City of Corpus Christi and the following coverup.
I thought I had read here, yesterday, the unbelievable story of the sinking of the Ehime Maru by the Greenville in 2001. But I couldn’t find it here when I looked, must have been somewhere else … here’s the story

It is now three weeks since the U.S. submarine Greeneville shot up 405 feet from the ocean depths and rammed a Japanese teaching trawler, the Ehime Maru. Nine people on the trawler were killed. Four were teenagers.
From the start the question was: how could the sub commander not know there was a ship nearby? Especially since this was a nuclear submarine. How could the commander not check thoroughly before performing a dangerous emergency procedure, a “rapid ascent”?
For two weeks the Navy stonewalled. Information emerged in dribs and drabs. We learned there were civilians on board, but the Navy said: so what?
“Adm. FARGO: These embarkations for civilian people are very routine, and they would not affect the procedures that we use to surface the submarine in any way, shape or form.” (CBS EVENING NEWS, February 11, 2001)
Routine? One of the civilians went on TV and with cheerful idiocy revealed that he had actually been at the controls when the sub hit – but:
“I mean, what’s important to know here is you don’t do anything on this vessel without someone either showing you how to do it, telling you how to do it, or escorting you around.” (Washington Post, 2-15-2001)

Oil execs out for a joyride on a nuclear submarine! The Captain let’s them drive the thing!! One of them does … and rams a Japanese fisheries teaching ship, killing 9 people!!!
I hope they fired the right guys with their triggers of the nukes in North Dakota/Wyoming … can you imagine them starting a nuclear war with Russia at this point?
I’ve known for a lot of years that the only way to deal with the CIA is to utterly disband it, kill it and retire all the people in it forever.
I’ve known for a few years now that the only way to deal with the NSA is to utterly disband it, kill it, and retire all the people in it forever.
I now know that the only way to deal with the Pentagon and the standing armed forces is to utterly disband them, kill them, and retire all the people in them forever.
We need a defense … militias in each state. When we’re attacked we’ll defend ourselves … successfully. If the Afghans can beat us – we can beat whoever is foolish enough to attack us.
The standing armed forces have perverted this country, taken it to hell … made the Great Satan of us … just as Ike said they would.

Posted by: jfl | Dec 18 2014 9:30 utc | 164

Transcript of Vlad’s Dec 18 Press Conference via Kremlin website.
http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/23406

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 18 2014 16:24 utc | 166

@166- good question. William Engdahl has a good piece up on that:

“The details are emerging of a new secret and quite stupid Saudi-US deal on Syria and the so-called IS. It involves oil and gas control of the entire region and the weakening of Russia and Iran by Saudi Arabian flooding the world market with cheap oil. Details were concluded in the September meeting by US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Saudi King…
..the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has been flooding the market with deep discounted oil, triggering a price war within OPEC… The Saudis are targeting sales to Asia for the discounts and in particular, its major Asian customer, China where it is reportedly offering its crude for a mere $50 to $60 a barrel rather than the earlier price of around $100. That Saudi financial discounting operation in turn is by all appearance being coordinated with a US Treasury financial warfare operation, via its Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, in cooperation with a handful of inside players on Wall Street who control oil derivatives trading. The result is a market panic that is gaining momentum daily. China is quite happy to buy the cheap oil, but her close allies, Russia and Iran, are being hit severely…
According to Rashid Abanmy, President of the Riyadh-based Saudi Arabia Oil Policies and Strategic Expectations Center, the dramatic price collapse is being deliberately caused by the Saudis, OPEC’s largest producer. The public reason claimed is to gain new markets in a global market of weakening oil demand. The real reason, according to Abanmy, is to put pressure on Iran on her nuclear program, and on Russia to end her support for Bashar al-Assad in Syria….More than 50% of Russian state revenue comes from its export sales of oil and gas. The US-Saudi oil price manipulation is aimed at destabilizing several strong opponents of US globalist policies. Targets include Iran and Syria, both allies of Russia in opposing a US sole Superpower. The principal target, however, is Putin’s Russia, the single greatest threat today to that Superpower hegemony. (The Secret Stupid Saudi-US Deal on Syria, F. William Engdahl, BFP)”

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2014/10/24/the-secret-stupid-saudi-us-deal-on-syria/

Posted by: Nana2007 | Dec 18 2014 19:13 utc | 168

US set to veto UNSC resolution on Palestine
http://rt.com/news/line/2014-12-18/#77211

Posted by: Anonymous | Dec 18 2014 19:55 utc | 170

@168
Thanks for the link to PC Roberts …

The greatest harm that is being done to the Russian economy is not due to sanctions and the US attack on the ruble. The greatest harm is being done by Russia’s neoliberal economists.
Neoliberal economics is not merely incorrect. It is an ideology that fosters US economic imperialism. By following neoliberal prescriptions, Russian economists are helping Washington’s attack on the Russian economy.
Apparently, Putin has been sold, along with his internal enemies the Atlanticist integrationists, on “free trade globalism.” Globalism destroys the sovereignty of every country except the world reserve currency country that controls the system.
As Michael Hudson has shown, neoliberal economics is “junk economics.” But it is also a tool of American financial imperialism, and this makes neoliberal Russian economists tools of American imperialism.
The remaining sovereign countries are slowly learning that Western economic institutions are deceptive and that placing trust in them is a threat to national sovereignty.
Washington intends to subvert Russia and to turn Russia into a vassal state like Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, the UK and Ukraine. If Russia is to survive, Putin must protect Russia from Western economic institutions and Western trained economists.
It is too risky for the US to take on Russia militarily. Instead, Washington is using its unique symbiotic relationship with Western financial institutions to attack an incautious Russia that foolishly opened itself to Western financial predation.

No one in the US listens to him … let’s hope Putin does.

Posted by: jfl | Dec 19 2014 0:30 utc | 172

News from Banderastan.
At Fort Russ, Ivan Pechernikov writes from Kiev in Captivity – Notes From the Occupation. He seems like one of those modestly devout people one wishes the great religions produced more reliably and in greater numbers. He seems to view the Maidan as the seemingly naive encampment it began as, before turning into a fascist coup. But this fine bit of prose is too evocative to overlook. He also writes that is widely shared by intellectuals and believers. There are proposals to ban all Russian-language books and periodicals and criminalize the Orthodox Church.

The stream of events, flashing through my memory, seems joyless, thoughtless, an uncivilized time… I ask myself: this beastliness, this ugliness of Ukrainian life — where does it come from…? It seems clear – nationalist propaganda and nationalist power not only distort the perception of the picture of the world, but also uglify the world itself…. Yes, there is a sense of godlessness, that in Kiev, Ukraine, in the words of Dostoevsky’s hero, “everything is permitted” …
Russophobia has become synonymous with Ukrainian patriotism. Anyone arouses suspicion who keeps silent and does not contribute to trash talk about Russia and Russians. Many actually believe that Ukraine is in a real state of war with Russia. Some know it’s a lie, but pretend anyway. After all, without war, without “Russian aggression” it’s impossible to explain the economic and legal chaos that blankets Ukraine. Again, they need to recognize that the Maidan was in vain, that a bunch of their own and foreign villains bamboozled the participants of Maidan. They don’t want to feel cheated and humiliated. And here television agitprop continues coverage from morning till night about the “Russian-Ukrainian front.” And my heart calms down – we are undeceived, we are not fools; it’s just that war destroys everything, but the idea of revolution itself, is good….
Most Kievans relate their “surprise” in a whisper. If the slow-witted reader will ask “why in whispers,” I answer bluntly: They are afraid. The right-wing national-fascist dictatorship has been installed in the government and people don’t risk quarreling with it, because it can kill, maim….
God calls for his workers. He saves the faithful – those who are jealous of salvation. Brother-hating fascism will not go away by itself, it will need to be destroyed. And to destroy it – in the sight of God, is a good cause. Yes, may it be accomplished!

Can I get an “Amen” from the deacons? Doin’ the deity’s work here, it seems.
I earlier posted an item about humanitarian aid being blocked, and this amounted to a mutiny against the central authorities who sanctioned it; can’t find it immediately. Here’s a report from the Kyiv Post, Warning of humanitarian catastrophe comes as trucks with humanitarian aid turned back on way to Donbas, doesn’t use the word but makes the attitude plain. Special guest appearance by Amb. Pyatt, saying “tsk, tsk.”

“No humanitarian convoys are going to the terrorists until our prisoners are released. The Donbas Battalion will see to it in Luhansk Oblast,” said former Donbas Battalion commander and current member of parliament Semen Semenchenko via Facebook….
The events have garnered international concern with US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt tweeting that “all legitimate humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach civilian victims of Russian aggression in Donbas.”
He said the Cabinet deemed Akhmetov’s aid as legitimate, and also called on “other wealthy Ukrainian individuals” to “lend their efforts and resources to help these innocent victims….”
Battalion commanders have said they turned back some 40 trucks…. Semenchenko, however, doubted these supplies were really needed and on Dec. 17 said there was currently no humanitarian crisis in Donbas at a briefing at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center.

I don’t think Nuland will be sending Christmas cookies to Kiev this year.

Posted by: rufus magister | Dec 19 2014 1:25 utc | 174

@167
Thanks for the link to Putin’s press conference. His endorsement of the Central Bank’s action is not encouraging, but he certainly knows what’s possible in Russia better than I. I hope Russia can pull through, whatever path she takes. The hole left by the collapse of Russia would be vast indeed. And the states in Latin America and other TIAA states around the world would sorely miss her leadership.
The Russians have had to fight constantly, and have beat back all modern invaders to date. I have faith that they will again, and I count myself and my fellow citizens in my own country among those in need of her leadership and inspiration in the struggle against transnational corporate totalitarianism.

Posted by: jfl | Dec 19 2014 2:50 utc | 176

Russian Spring
12/18/2014-21:42
Evening message from Information Center of Novorossia combatants:
The ceasefire regimen between Donetsk and Lugansk military forces and the troops of Kiev junta was generally maintained.
According to today’s reconnaissance the Bandera adherents were not backing off heavy weapons or military hardware.

Posted by: Fete | Dec 19 2014 3:51 utc | 178

Absolute nonsense. Blaming Assad for the creation of his enemies that are trying to kill him and destroy the nation of Syria.
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2014/12/16/regime-change-makeover-blaming-syria-for-the-rise-of-isis.html

Posted by: really | Dec 19 2014 11:07 utc | 180

That would account for the willingness of German business – managers and workers – to suffer the collapse of trade with Russia … ‘pre-settlement’. Wouldn’t it?

Posted by: jfl | Dec 19 2014 21:13 utc | 182

dahoit at 84 —
Hey, sorry, I just noticed this.
Regrettably, early Tull never appealed to me, still a little to jazzy, I think. A few songs from “This Was” are on the live Album, “Living in the Past” (which is a great record and a great song too, BTW).
I started listening to them in the mid 70’s, they were my first rock concert (“Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die.” — their last great album). I went back as far as “Benefit,” which has some great material on it (e.g., “To Cry You a Song”) and quit after “Heavy Horses.” I just couldn’t take Anderson as the country squire.
That was right around the time punk and new wave hit, and I was ripe for their critique of big bloated overproduced epics.
I think I remember reading that one reason Metallica recorded it was that they were Thin Lizzie fans. I noticed their version on YouTube when I searched for it.
I actually encountered the acoustic Celtic version first, courtesy of Mrs M. (she does like her Irish rebel songs).

Posted by: rufus magister | Dec 20 2014 2:58 utc | 184

what a god damned screwed up cuntry
http://wate.com/2014/12/13/washington-avoids-government-shutdown/
then
http://www.professionalmariner.com/December-January-2015/Lockheed-Austal-unscathed-in-Hagels-new-littoral-ship-plan/

Posted by: denk | Dec 20 2014 4:26 utc | 186

Russian Spring
12/20/2014-02:53
Overview of military campaign map (video):
… Today Ukrainian military was provoking the combatants for response of fire. On west frontiers of Donetsk Republic such provocations took place near settlement Krasnogorovka. On north-east, the provocations were registered in Peski and Donetsk airport.
In the latter, some culpability rests on the combatants agreed on rotation of Ukrainian forces in Donetsk airport. Arrived fresh troops opened fire at the combatants.
From area of settlement Mayorsk, which faces Gorlovka, Ukrainian forces resumed artillery strikes firing from light as well as heavy artillery.
In Debal`tsevo pocket the situation remained calm with exception of active work of saboteur-reconnaissance groups.
In Lugansk Republic Ukrainian forces launched local attacks and assaulted by mortars and heavy artillery. Combatants’ positions came under artillery fire under settlements NizhneTeploye, Valuyskoye, Kolesnikovka and Ol`khovoye. Combatants’ artillery received an order to liquidate enemy’s fire emplacements. Currently the artillery duels are still going.
Russian Spring
12/19/2014-22:23
Kiev and Donetsk Republic failed to reconcile on agenda of upcoming Minsk meeting.
… Deputy of Chairman of Donetsk Republic People’s Council Denis Pushilin confirmed that two-hour conversation with Kiev achieved no result. Ukraine insists on moving the meeting to the next year. The representatives of Republics want the meeting before 2014 ends for all documents to sign on their part are ready.

Posted by: Fete | Dec 20 2014 5:50 utc | 188

Demian at 190 —
You cited the JD drummer, who admired the drum machine. I listened to the “Don’t Ask.” Didn’t think much of it, certainly was not a revelation of rhythm. I always preferred the “Unknown Pleasures” LP.
“I am not interested in your sclerotic pedestrian American retro primitive musical taste.” Glad you made that clear, I would not have guessed. It may well be sclerotic and pedestrian, but I demur on primitive and retro.

Posted by: rufus magister | Dec 20 2014 6:59 utc | 190

Ruble Takedown Exposes Cracks in Putin’s Defense

Putin’s not going to roll over and play dead for these vipers. He’s got to much on the ball for that. He’s going to beat them at their own game, fair and square. He’s going to implement capital controls, restructure the economy away from the west, and aggressively look for ways to deter Washington from spreading its heinous resource war to Central Asia and beyond.
He’s not going to give an inch. You’ll see.

MW plays the dirge, but then projects Putin Triumphant, using the Malaysian template to pull Russia through … and wreaking more, perhaps terminal havoc on the European Unit at the same time.
It seems to me that the real 5th column is the members of the EU and the ‘big’ states in Europe, betraying the folks at home in thrall to the USA, chasing the same neo-liberal pipe dream as the relatively much smaller, derivative 5th column in Russia. So if Putin takes Mike’s advice and Europe does collapse, our brothers ans sisters in Europe ought to know who deserves the blame … it won’t be Putin.
He’ll be reacting to the US and its European Unit’s perfidiousness as seems mete and just and necessary for Russia’s salvation.
I think that there are lots of options open to the Russians. I think they’ll avail themselves of what makes sense to them. I think they will survive.
I personally hope they take the opportunity to get off the endless escalator of ‘the miracle of compound interest’, restore state seigniorage, and pull the plug on the RCP’s lending money into existence. Because, if they do … it’ll catch on.

Posted by: jfl | Dec 20 2014 11:12 utc | 192

@Demian
My new diary …
○ MH17 Investigation: Not Exclusive the BUK Missile Scenario

Posted by: Oui | Dec 20 2014 11:55 utc | 194

Meanwhile, back in Bandarestan, workers are starting to take to the streets despite the repression. The Editors at New Cold War report that Working class resistance to austerity and factory closings is rising in [the] Ukraine. “There are growing protests by the working class in Ukraine against the economic calamity gripping the country.” They discuss actions in Kiev, Odessa and Lugansk.
jfl @ 193 —
I don’t know if you noticed 184, but I had a look at Whitney myself. I think you’re right about the overall arc — I think it’s not “Triumphant” now, but “you could be, with changes.” I think he’s a little too gloomy. Russia Insider gives the other side; see e.g. postings from Nikolas K. Gvosdev and Patrick L. Smith. I posted somewhere earlier this fairly balanced analysis from the Christian Science Monitor Oil prices, ruble, inflation all bite Russia, but how badly?

Posted by: rufus magister | Dec 20 2014 18:01 utc | 196

Russian Spring
12/21/2014-00:52
Summary from fronts from combatant Prokhorov:
In the evening Ukrainians shelled Gorlovka. Retaliation went without delay at Svetlogorsk and Debal`tsevo.
Skirmishes are taking place near Avdeevka. Also fighting broke out again in area Pervomaysk-Gorsk.
A credit line of $0.3 billion has become available to Ukraine to purchase weapons.
Russian Spring
12/20/2014-14:36
Summary from fronts from combatant Prokhorov:
… This night the combatants fired back “Grads” at Ukrainians troops in area of Ol`khovatka (Debal`tsevo pocket). The combatants launched grenades near Nikishino (also Debal`tsevo).
The combatants were forced to use firearms in area of settlements Opitnoye, Peski, Debal`tsevo and Donetsk airport’s new terminal – Donetsk; Sokol`niki, Krimskoye – Lugansk.
Russian Spring
12/20/2014-06:30
Summary from fronts from combatant Prokhorov:
20:35. Today’s savage ceasefire occured in many places along the front line: in area of Mayorsk (Gorlovka), Chernukhino, Maloivanovka, Central`niy (Debal`tsevo).
Ukrainians urgently build a military hospital in Severodonetsk, for Svatovo is too far (many do not make it).
Bakhmutka’s outpost 32 plus 2 trophy APC are combatants’.
00:04. Debal`tsevo-Yenakiyevo – powerful artillery duel. In Chernukhino – pile of dead among Ukrainian troops.
Day before yesterday mortar squads of combatants did a good job near Frunze (Lugansk).
It is how the ceasefire is like.

Posted by: Fete | Dec 21 2014 4:34 utc | 198

Russian Roulette: (American) Taxpayers Could Be on the Hook for Trillions in Oil Derivatives
So now they want a bailout for oil derivatives. These one trick vponies are bleeding the economic life out of the Ameican public. This not only affects the American economy and public buying power, this will create significant damage to the global economy. We are talikng about $280 trillion dollars ($280,000,000,000) here not $280 bucks.

Posted by: really | Dec 21 2014 6:25 utc | 200