Putin was about to spill the 9/11 beans so he had to vaporized.

Posted by: Anonymous | Mar 13 2015 19:55 utc | 4

Ann Curry and NBC Distort Iran on Israel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWF6Pd7-tqw&list=PLfrlsC1yJ2dQHlNrxIiN9dy3AnL5GTs5N

Posted by: Tom Murphy | Mar 13 2015 20:20 utc | 6

@1
The Russia BAD meme must penetrate all manner of skulls.
If virtuous and peace-loving AmeriKa rolled out of bed and decided that Putin’s Russia is BAD, and we were going to pick a fight with her (no of course not directly, they can fight back), then by golly manufacturing consent for this view is paramount, even with geeks who care more about the next Comicon or Star Trek convention and cosplay than politics.

Posted by: Farflungstar | Mar 13 2015 20:37 utc | 8

Western presstitutes are now circulating the idea
that Putin may be dead or seriously ill.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/no-one-knows-why-putin-153541686.html

Posted by: Luca K | Mar 13 2015 21:10 utc | 10

A real work of art is convincing everyone that an aluminum tube (an aircraft) smashing at supposedly 500 mph into structural steel and concrete leaves a perfect imprint of its entry into the building of even the outer wings that are so weak you cannot walk on them. Then the tail keeps perfect trajectory as it goes in. Not even a shake. Waow.

Posted by: Lochearn | Mar 13 2015 22:12 utc | 12

Teachers Can Once Again Wear Headscarves in Germany

In 2003, a German court ruled that it was “dangerous” for schools if teachers wore headscarves.
Germany ‘s top court reversed a “general ban” on teachers wearing headscarves on Friday.
In 2003, the court had ruled that teachers could not wear headscarves in schools because doing so would supposedly violate the state’s neutrality, although the wearing of Christian symbols was not outlawed by the court.
The Berlin daily paper Taz wrote that Pegida, an Islamophobic movement whose name is an acronym for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, would use this ruling as an example of Islam taking over Europe. On the front page Taz said, “Pegida will celebrate.”
There are 4 million Muslims in Germany. In 2014, a poll revealed that 57 percent of Germans saw Islam as a threat to the nation.

Primo Levi said the everybody was someone’s Jew, and his Italian interlocutor added that the Palestinians are Israel’s Jews. Clearly, Muslims are PEGIDA’s Jews, and they are trying to make Muslims Germany’s and Europe’s Jews.
The USofA has been prosecuting a pogrom against Muslims in their own homes in Central Asia, the Middle East, and now in Northern and Western Africa in this New Neo-con, Thousand Year American Century.
It feels like its been a century already. At least that’s how far distant seem the days we called ‘civilized’ in the USofA, pre-judicial coup at the millennium and Reichstag fire of 9/11.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 13 2015 22:32 utc | 14

But 9/11, like the JFK assassination,is very much a current issue. One ensured the power of the present ruling group in the U.S. (and therefore elsewhere in the world), and the other enabled them to greatly increase that power.
Maybe it’s impossible, in either case, to prove exactly what happened. But it is possible to prove that both official accounts are wrong, and that illegitimate means have been used to squelch other accounts, and that governments have clearly lied. Why isn’t that enough to justify discussion?

Posted by: lysias | Mar 13 2015 22:40 utc | 16

Sorry b, but I think you’re about to get a lesson in the Streisand Effect.
Those who would say the matter doesn’t warrant a serious look is, I think, wrong. But so are those who want to use the issue as some sort of litmus test – dividing otherwise serious and well meaning people.

Posted by: guest77 | Mar 13 2015 23:24 utc | 18

I think this is interesting – though a clear majority of US citizens in 2013 (61%) still believe JFK was killed by a conspiracy, it seems to have begun a decline around 9/11.
I would suggest this is a knock on effect of efforts to attack “conspiracy theories” in general. Speaking of attacking “conspiracy theories”, here is a CIA document from 1967 on how to attack critics of the Warren Commission. It sounds remarkably like material the Third Reich put out to the German press, telling magazine editors how to approach certain issues.

Posted by: guest77 | Mar 13 2015 23:33 utc | 20

http://www.presstv.ir/Video/2015/03/13/401641/US-foreign-policy–GOP-letter-to-Iran
George Galloway’s Comment

Earlier this week, 47 Republican senators signed an open letter warning the Islamic Republic of Iran that a nuclear deal being negotiated with the United States and other countries might only remain in place while President Barack Obama was in office.
The letter has drawn strong criticism from the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, who have dismissed it as a GOP effort to sabotage the nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany — which have now entered a sensitive final stage.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Americans have signed a petition to the White House demanding treason charges against the 47 Republican senators who signed the controversial letter.
Tehran has dismissed the GOP move as a publicity stunt that has no legal value. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was ironic that members of the US Congress find it appropriate to write to leaders of another country against their own president.

Posted by: guest77 | Mar 13 2015 23:44 utc | 22

9/11 is history so there’s that and believe in what you want. I believe in that it was game to get to get to this point in time. No rights and no recourse to any of your rights in the New and Improved Amerika. Those puppet county’s ou better decide soon on what side of the Amerika bus you are on. Sad day for us workers in the world.

Posted by: jo6pac | Mar 14 2015 0:15 utc | 24

Israeli right-wing nutjob defends nuking both Iran and Germany:
op-ed-calls-on-israel-to-nuke-germany-iran

Posted by: Ed Lozano | Mar 14 2015 0:47 utc | 26

#25
If supplies keep rising that might turn out nos to good for consumers too, for it’s a clear sign demand is weakening, for a great share of new oil drilling projects gave already been called off over last months. And that would mean world economic recovery is far from strong, even in US. Right now Brent is still above 2008 price level. If it do goes below that, even as a consumer I would be much worried.

Posted by: Ed Lozano | Mar 14 2015 2:22 utc | 28

LW@29
This could be a body double and why are the pictures only side shots with no frontal exposure? Putin looked unwell in the 3/6 pictures and could have a bad cold or possibly Polonium poisoning.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 14 2015 3:15 utc | 30

Several noteworthy items at Fort Russ, including a report naming the employer of Nemtsov’s assassins. But I found J. Hawk’s report on the “Pre-Revolutionary Situation” in the UAF the most interesting. A colonel commanding a Ukrainian armored battalion used the phrase in an open letter, which Hawk quotes.

The UAF as a system are in a classic pre-revolutionary situation where the lower ranks, who have already experienced the reality of combat operations and life at the front, cannot and do not want to fight under this kind of leadership, while the highest ranks are incapable of fundamentally reforming themselves…. Should this process adopt a revolutionary form, the consequences may be unpredictable. The mass of mobilized soldiers is liable to stick its bayonets into the ground and go home, while the mass of ideologically-motivated volunteers is liable to stick its bayonets into the political apparatus of the state….

“One is left,” Hawk writes, “with a picture of a really badly organized military effort which is disjointed at every imaginable level—tactical, operational, strategic.”
Hawk notes that it is one of “many “what is to be done”-style pieces to appear in the Ukrainian media.” They contain some good advice, but “None of it has any likelihood of ever being adopted. The level of effort required to reform any aspect of the Ukrainian state is quite beyond the level of competence of the country’s leadership.”

Posted by: rufus magister | Mar 14 2015 4:09 utc | 32

citizen at 33 — That may well have been the most sensible thing said about this topic of late.

Posted by: rufus magister | Mar 14 2015 4:13 utc | 34

03/13/2015-05:00
Russian Spring
In Shirokino (faces Mariupol`, the shore of Azov sea), clashes lasted several hours to control this bridgehead on the shore line. The combatants’ positions endured constant fire from tanks and mortars. In overall though, the situation remains a stalemate.
A reason of incessant fighting for Shirokino is not obvious. Possibly, it is the settlement’s placement near strategically valued route M14 Rostov-Odessa. For combatants, allowing the invaders to build a new fortified region here would be tantamount to subsequent assault on Novoazovsk (combatants’).
In settlement Granitniy (Ukrainian, north of Shirokino), a four-hour combat took place. The sides clashed using mortars, grenade launchers and small arms. This combat was provoked by the punitive forces who engaged in diversion-reconnaissance activities a day before.
In Donetsk, multiple of lightly wounded combatants were arriving from settlement Peski, where local clashes continued through night.
In Debal`tsevo, skirmishes throughout fringes were consequence of liquidation of small subversion groups of the opponent. There is data that the nazi battalions are still nourishing a crazy idea of returning Debal`tsevo at any price. Therefore, recourses are being drawn in Artemovsk (north of Debal`tsevo) to revenge the defeat.
Military journalist “Step`”

Posted by: Fete | Mar 14 2015 4:22 utc | 36

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/opinion/turkeys-drift-from-nato.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0
Turkey’s Drift From NATO
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDMARCH 13, 2015
The website of Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledges that NATO has played a “central role” in the country’s security and insists that Turkey, which became a member in 1952, “attaches utmost importance” to it. Yet Turkey’s commitment to the alliance has never seemed more ambivalent than it does now.
On crucial issues — from fighting the Islamic State to fielding integrated defense systems, which share information and operate together, to standing firm against Russian aggression in Ukraine — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government either are not cooperating fully or are acting in outright defiance of NATO’s priorities and interests. Add the fact that Turkey under Mr. Erdogan has become increasingly authoritarian, and it becomes apparent that the country is drifting away from an alliance whose treaty says it is “founded on the principles of democracy” as much as defense.
For months, the Western allies have pressured Turkey to close its porous border, which has allowed thousands of jihadists to cross into Syria to join the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and has enabled ISIS to smuggle in weapons and smuggle out oil on which it relies for revenue.
Although the Turkish government has taken some steps to make transit harder, it has been unwilling, or unable, to stem the flow, according to Tim Arango and Eric Schmitt’s reporting in The Times. One smuggler said that while his job has become more difficult, sometimes the Turkish border guards look the other way.
Completely shutting down the long border may be impossible, but given the country’s large military and well-regarded intelligence service, it is inexcusable that Turkey is not doing a better job. Turkey should also be making military bases and troops available to the American-led coalition, but James Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, told Congress recently that he was not optimistic that Turkey would do more against ISIS because it had “other priorities and other interests.”
Public opinion polls show that the Turks don’t consider ISIS a primary threat, and Mr. Erdogan is more concerned with opposing Kurdish autonomy within Syria and with bringing down the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
There are other troubling aspects of Turkey’s behavior. The government says it is still considering buying from China a $3.4 billion air defense system that involves radars and long-range ground-to-air missiles that can shoot down enemy missiles. The purchase is opposed by the American and European allies because they view this military purchase from China as a risk. They are also disturbed that Turkey is not purchasing a system from them, because they have borne the cost of defending Turkey against a Syrian attack by stationing Patriot missile batteries on Turkish territory. Moreover, the Turkish defense minister last month said the government did not plan to integrate whatever air defense system it bought with NATO’s air defenses and radars so that the various parts would work together, though the presidential spokesman later said the system would be integrated with NATO’s.
NATO would not integrate its system with a Chinese system because the two are not compatible, a Chinese system might contain risky software, and members of Congress oppose it. If Turkey refuses to link its defense system with NATO’s, “they are weakening the defense of their territory and weakening NATO at the same time,” said Ivo Daalder, a former American ambassador to NATO.
Meanwhile, Turkey is supposed to sign an agreement this year that will allow Russia to build a natural gas pipeline to Turkey, thus bypassing Ukraine. The Erdogan government, ignoring Western sanctions, has been exploiting a rift between Russia and the West over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to gain energy supplies at bargain prices. Russia also plans to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
American officials say they don’t think Turkey will ever withdraw from NATO. Of course, such a move would be a catastrophic mistake. But the fact that the possibility is even raised by officials and defense experts shows how concerned the allies are about relying on Turkey in any crisis.

Posted by: okie farmer | Mar 14 2015 4:56 utc | 38

and then my ps at 17 went here.

Posted by: rufus magister | Mar 14 2015 6:30 utc | 40

Israel treating al-Qaida fighters wounded in Syria civil war

Israel has opened its borders with Syria in order to provide medical treatment to Nusra Front and al-Qaida fighters wounded in the ongoing civil war, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The prominent American newspaper reported that Nusra Front, the Sunni Muslim al-Qaida offshoot which is currently fighting the Iranian-backed axis of Bashar Assad and Hezbollah, “hasn’t bothered Israel since seizing the border area last summer” along the Golan Heights.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, which has claimed the lives of upwards of 200,000 people, Israel has provided medical assistance to nearly 2,000 Syrians.
“We don’t ask who they are, we don’t do any screening,” the official said. “Once the treatment is done, we take them back to the border and they go on their way.”

In Israel they sell the Palestinians body parts, don’t they?
USA+GCCs+ISIS+IDF vs Syria+Iraq+Iran, with Turkey working the fence.
Russia’s in there somewhere, further back from the blood, sweat, and tears, offering Iran anti-aircraft defensive armament, someday … maybe.
Russia said it would aid Syria with same at one point, I believe, and never came across. Previously stiffed Iran on same as well.
What the KSA and GCC pirates need is a little more BS&T action back home themselves, to help them focus on just what it is they and their new ‘best friends’ are doing to their ‘brother Muslims’ abroad.
Blood may be thicker than water but oil does seem to be thicker than either.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 14 2015 8:56 utc | 42

25
$45 was the ‘strike price’ at which USAians will launch it’s Oil Crusade III, and right on schedule, their Declaration of National Emergency against Venezuelan oil, and soon Declaration of National Emergency against Russian and Iranian oil, with all their oil $ assets frozen in world banks, allegedly because they are ‘tied to or part of the sanctioned leadership’.
Read the Venezuelan Emergency Declaration. What Venezuela, Russia and Iran need to do is pump like it’s 1999. They can actually succeed in collapsing the US-UK-KSA ‘petrodollar’ Wehrmacht … or at least bring on the Global Oilpocalypse.
NOT to do so, to cave to US-UK-KSA, makes them forever NYCWS-WADC-NOVA’s bitches.
Meanwhile, gasoline and diesel prices in USA just went UP! Because they OWN you!

Posted by: NoReply | Mar 14 2015 9:45 utc | 44

9/11: A Conspiracy Theory : The Corbett Report
Everything you ever wanted to know about the 9/11 conspiracy theory in under 5 minutes.
(Watch French, German, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, Dutch or Portuguese translations of this video.)
TRANSCRIPT: On the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 men armed with boxcutters directed by a man on dialysis in a cave fortress halfway around the world using a satellite phone and a laptop directed the most sophisticated penetration of the most heavily-defended airspace in the world, overpowering the passengers and the military combat-trained pilots on 4 commercial aircraft before flying those planes wildly off course for over an hour without being molested by a single fighter interceptor.
These 19 hijackers, devout religious fundamentalists who liked to drink alcohol, snort cocaine, and live with pink-haired strippers, managed to knock down 3 buildings with 2 planes in New York, while in Washington a pilot who couldn’t handle a single engine Cessna was able to fly a 757 in an 8,000 foot descending 270 degree corskscrew turn to come exactly level with the ground, hitting the Pentagon in the budget analyst office where DoD staffers were working on the mystery of the 2.3 trillion dollars that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had announced “missing” from the Pentagon’s coffers in a press conference the day before, on September 10, 2001.
Luckily, the news anchors knew who did it within minutes, the pundits knew within hours, the Administration knew within the day, and the evidence literally fell into the FBI’s lap. But for some reason a bunch of crazy conspiracy theorists demanded an investigation into the greatest attack on American soil in history.
The investigation was delayed, underfunded, set up to fail, a conflict of interest and a cover up from start to finish. It was based on testimony extracted through torture, the records of which were destroyed. It failed to mention the existence of WTC7, Able Danger, Ptech, Sibel Edmonds, OBL and the CIA, and the drills of hijacked aircraft being flown into buildings that were being simulated at the precise same time that those events were actually happening. It was lied to by the Pentagon, the CIA, the Bush Administration and as for Bush and Cheney…well, no one knows what they told it because they testified in secret, off the record, not under oath and behind closed doors. It didn’t bother to look at who funded the attacks because that question is of “little practical significance“. Still, the 9/11 Commission did brilliantly, answering all of the questions the public had (except most of the victims’ family members’ questions) and pinned blame on all the people responsible (although no one so much as lost their job), determining the attacks were “a failure of imagination” because “I don’t think anyone could envision flying airplanes into buildings ” except the Pentagon and FEMA and NORAD and the NRO.
The DIA destroyed 2.5 TB of data on Able Danger, but that’s OK because it probably wasn’t important.
The SEC destroyed their records on the investigation into the insider trading before the attacks, but that’s OK because destroying the records of the largest investigation in SEC history is just part of routine record keeping.
NIST has classified the data that they used for their model of WTC7’s collapse, but that’s OK because knowing how they made their model of that collapse would “jeopardize public safety“.
The FBI has argued that all material related to their investigation of 9/11 should be kept secret from the public, but that’s OK because the FBI probably has nothing to hide…

Posted by: ProsperityAndPeace | Mar 14 2015 11:34 utc | 46

Russia Warns “State Of War” Exists As UK Nukes Prepare First Strike
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) is reporting today that the Federation is now in a “state of war” thus bringing to full activation President Putin’s “Dead Hand” nuclear order issued 29 July 2014 to The Strategic Missile Forces (SMF).
According to this report, the full activation of the much feared “Dead Hand” nuclear option was authorized under President Putin’s previous order due to the discovery that the nuclear forces of the United Kingdom (UK) were preparing a first strike against military and civilian targets located in the Federation.
The intention of the nuclear forces of the UK preparing a first strike against the Federation, this report says, was revealed by Federal Security Services (FSB) electronic intelligence experts working in conjunction with Kaspersky Lab who discovered last month a massive US National Security Agency (NSA) cyber espionage programme targeting not just Russia, but everyone else on Earth…

Posted by: ProsperityAndPeace | Mar 14 2015 13:16 utc | 48

Posted by: ProsperityAndPeace | Mar 14, 2015 9:16:27 AM | 48
Thanks for the laugh. Yeah, I’m sure little ‘ol Great Britain is considering a 1st strike against Russia. Makes perfect sense. I didn’t click the link, but I’m guessing it directs us to Charlie Hebdo’s latest edition, right? Or The Onion?
They better extricate Putin from the crapper before the UK strikes or else the Dead Hand (so scary a term) is useless without Putin’s finger to push the button.

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Mar 14 2015 13:41 utc | 50

Oh please, Putin’s lack of a public appearance for a week means diddly squat.
This crap is right up there with the theories of that Saudi prince having been assassinated – totally ridiculous.
Of course, when you have Western media articles about Putin being mentally defective in some way – seeded by a Defense University grant to a professor who lied about why he was meeting Putin, and the entire affair arranged by an ONA/Marshall staffer … just sad.

Posted by: ǝn⇂ɔ | Mar 14 2015 15:04 utc | 52

rm @ 41: Good interview, thanks for the link.

Posted by: ben | Mar 14 2015 15:19 utc | 54

RM@39
This is a good example how a poorly worded headline can create an image never supported by the body of the article.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 14 2015 15:37 utc | 56

Wayout at 56 — Effective click bait, “Expert believes US Mulls Replacement” might be more accurate. I thought Cohen made some nice points, particularly that Poroshenko faces constraints from his right, and let the headline pass.
Poroshenko is marginally effective, IMHO. It might be difficult to finesse another extra-constitutional replacement, but Wash. keeps its options open. Like Traffic says, Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring?. This live version by Tedeschi/Trucks Band has the nice visuals — and horns! Nice version, good Sat. am. jam.

Posted by: rufus magister | Mar 14 2015 16:05 utc | 58

RM@57
The confab you linked to was three years ago and I doubt any of the participants are in possession of any real power in Russia. If there is regime change in Russia it will come from much more powerful forces than these people represent. If Putin is pushed aside by more authoritarian forces this also plays into US propaganda and sanction demands.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Mar 14 2015 16:43 utc | 60

Meanwhile a huge number of unmarked white trucks streaming into red square tonight pictures included:
– Read more: http://www.disclose.tv/news/kremlin_prepares_for_major_mystery_annoucement__something_important_will_happen/115348#ixzz3UNdjoDlh
Follow us: @Disclosetv on Twitter | Dsclosetv on Facebook

Posted by: Alberto | Mar 14 2015 17:01 utc | 62

Wayout at 60 — Since McFaul is out after a short term there (I do not recall the personal matter that drove him out), of course his contact meeting with friendly opponents of the Kremlin is old news. I just liked the account.
First, very useful summary of who’s on the Establishment “Payables” ledger. No doubt the compensation continues to be paid. Others may benefit from their spade work in preparing the ground, they will create a clime where such a move is necessary and/or possible. Should an attempt be made, prior interest suggesting motive and opportunity is on the record.
As you may know, the sorts of attitudes expressed then are current as well. See MP Gives a ‘How To’ Lecture on Russia Regime Change in Washington from Jan. 2015.
Second, it shows that we would briddle at what DC expects to intervene in others politics.
Of course, with “dark money” sloshing around now thanks to “Citizens United”, who knows what sort of spending has been made by disinterested, well-heeled, and generous foreign philanthropists? Let a hundred “Manchurian Candidates” bloom! Who needs brainwashing? Money is an easier and more reliable means of control.

Posted by: rufus magister | Mar 14 2015 17:26 utc | 64

a couple of stories on adam osmayev.. i put them on the wrong thread (the “Most Outlandish” Empire Semantics) just a moment ago..

Posted by: james | Mar 14 2015 17:45 utc | 66

The Coincidence Theorist’s Guide to 9/11
At Last, A Cogent Response to Those Nutty 911 Conspiracy Theories

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 14 2015 18:29 utc | 68

@63 james
This coming from National Post is very interesting :
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/03/13/stephen-maher-canadian-spies-not-ready-for-the-big-league/
Stevie believes that he can do better or may be just playing second fiddle to MI6

Posted by: Yul | Mar 14 2015 18:37 utc | 70

@69 yul.. thanks…
wow – wake me up when there is some legitimate opposition to the black house and the financial/military complex it supports 100%..

Posted by: james | Mar 14 2015 19:05 utc | 72

STRATFOR’s George Friedman on dividing Russia & Germany…

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Stratfor founder and CEO George Friedman present a discussion on the emerging crisis in Europe.
Europe has inherent flashpoints smoldering beneath the surface which are destined to erupt again, including half a dozen locations, borderlands, and cultural dynamics that have the potential to upend Europe as we know it, says Friedman. He identifies the flashpoints and discusses how can we prepare.

Some unusually frank words about the aims and methods of US foreign policy, past and present, from a speech delivered by George Friedman to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on February 4th 2015 — just posted to YouTube two days ago and now making some waves in Germany.
What a jovial little goblin he is.
“>http://rigorousintuition.ca/board2/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=38880&p=563882#p563882

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 14 2015 23:49 utc | 74

@73 RT are buying CNN is my guess.

Posted by: dh | Mar 15 2015 2:06 utc | 76

03/14/2015-03
Russian Spring
Combatant Aleksandr Zhuchkovskiy reviews situation on the border (with Russia):
The control to pass the border has become extremely tough. Stern screening, very long confirmations, which far for any cargo nor for everyone. I decided to avoid dealing with such a hardship and carried over the last lot by a roundabout route (bringing up unmanned aircraft was urgent).
I do not link this toughening of the border regimen with giving up Novorossia but rather with contrary to that. Some “preparatory work” is going on in the border zone; our forces try hard to ensure the maximum governance of the territory (no errant ones would interfere).
Blocking harmless private cargo, medicine in particular, is not fair anyway. Comrades are overly cautious in my opinion.
These “preparatory work” may only delight, for the impression is that our are readying to punt Ukrainians decisively.
The odds of resumption of the large-scale military campaign in coming days are very high. Likely – second half of March and firstly in Lugansk Republic. The “hot phase” – after 25 of March.
This is my view of dynamics of the situation. But to see what shape the reality will take is matter of few days or weeks.
One is clear; there will not be same protracted truce as the previous one. It is not just the visible opposing sides (Ukrainian / Novorossian forces) are ready to pull a trigger, but those who stand behind us / them.

Posted by: Fete | Mar 15 2015 4:40 utc | 78

T.O.T., the Typhoon Pam in Vanuatu reached steady wind damage levels rarely seen and made direct landfall on many of their major island groups. Most people have been through a 65mph blow or a 85mph storm, some may have been through 130mph, but not many. Wind pressure varies as the SQUARE of wind speed, so the Vanuatu typhoon was 2/3rds again as strong as the strongest hurricane, in a region without building standards. To put it into even starker contrast, 155mph to 200mph gusts is average 100 pounds per square foot. It would be like getting hit by an NFL linebacker. Including suction on the rear wall, wind force on a small 3m x 5m island house would be over TEN TONS. When the leader of Vanuatu said ‘everything is gone’, he is not exaggerating. Entire villages and many of their populations may have been blown out to sea.
“We’ve seen villages literally blown away.”
Something to think about when you’re making idle chatter about ‘Crimea in China’ over e-scotch and cigars.

Posted by: NoReply | Mar 15 2015 7:29 utc | 80

75
Post Hanging Chad Coup of 2000, SecDef Rumsfeld reported $2,300 BILLION ‘missing and unaccounted for’ during his first watch on 9/10. 24 hours later the Pentagon had a smoking hole in it (but no luggage, no engines, no wings, no tail assembly, no dead bodies, all magically ‘vaporized’ by the impact and fire, although there was no fire, a Big Lie that the MSM repeated incessantly), and all the Congressional records of that malfeasance, which had FORCED Rumsfeld to address the Grandest of Larceny’s, were destroyed in exactly the one wing in the Pentagon where they were stored, by allegedly Arab pilots who couldn’t pass a single-engine solo flight, yet managed to pull a 180-degree high-angle turn in a fully-fueled 757, then come in at 500-mph, right down on the deck, and slam into the building, an aerial feat that Boeing said would have sheared the wings off long before, and seasoned professional commercial and military pilots said was impossible.
Seven years later, SecDef Panetta promised an audit, or at lease ‘fixin’ to have’ an audit by ‘preparing the mechanisms for’ fixin’ to have an audit, at least by making the necessary recommendations to Congress preparing for the mechanisms for fixin’ to have an audit.
Of course, he never had an audit, they let the Pentagon audit itself, (A-OK here!) and then ‘lost track of’ $1,000 BILLION on Panetta’s watch, for an average Grandest Larceny of All Time over twelve years of $250 BILLION a year gone AWOL.
Most people can’t comprehend $250 in their wallet much less $250 BILLION, so let’s put it into human terms. There are 250,000,000 American taxpayers, each getting skinned by the Pentagon and their war profiteers for $1000 a year, the equivalent of all their groceries and fuel. There are 21,000,000 American college students, each getting skinned by the Pentagon and their war profiteers for $12,000 a year, it’s not quite an Ivy League education, but would get you through most colleges free of tuition.
Put another way, there are 3,878 US cities with populations over 10,000, most of those just towns and villages. For $250 BILLION in recovered Pentagon loot, every US city over 10,000 could build their own Harvard University, complete with the best academic staff on earth, and that’s just the first year of Pentagon looting. For $250 BILLION, every US city over 10,000 could build their own $65M super sports complex, complete with the best equipment and best training staff on earth. That’s just the second year of Pentagon looting. Then
for $250 BILLION, every US city over 10,000 could build their own Mayo Clinic, complete with the best medical staff on earth, and from that point on, Pentagon looting would pay for all the operations, staffing and capital costs for those universities, sports complexes and medical clinics, the best on earth, forever, without raising income taxes by ONE PENNY.
Or, like SecDef Hagel said, “The ($250 BILLION every year looted from) the defense (sic) budget is critical to funding ongoing (war crimes) operations around the world and to pursuing cost-saving measures essential to fielding a ready and capable (Wehrmacht) force.”
So there’s that. Be all that you can be, …in your crappy little Amero-ican village of 10,000, without even a movie theater or a mall.
Remember their National Security State Crypto-Zionist motto: “We won, you lost. It’s just business, get over it. NOW GET OFF OUR LAND!”

Posted by: NoReply | Mar 15 2015 8:25 utc | 82

3
IGNORE THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!”

Posted by: NoReply | Mar 15 2015 8:59 utc | 84

Here is the explanation about the letter handed by the cops to the teenage girls, instead of the parents.
Today the Turkish police arrested 3 other British teenagers heading for Syria. Anyone knows how function the law in the UK? Can UK teenagers travel without authorizations, as long as they have their own passports?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/07/us-mideast-crisis-britain-schoolgirls-idUSKBN0M30OI20150307
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31897667

Posted by: Mina | Mar 15 2015 14:40 utc | 86

Houps, wrong link, the correct one is
http://www.channel4.com/news/syria-islamic-state-militants-teenage-girls-sharmeena-begum
http://www.newsweek.com/three-british-teens-who-ran-away-join-isis-spotted-syrian-sharia-camp-312278

Posted by: Mina | Mar 15 2015 14:46 utc | 88

53
In the comment above, we read:

In 1964, Charles Whitman shot over 50 people from the 28th floor of the Austin Clock tower including 2 kids riding a bicycle 800 meters/1,500 feet away.
Yet morons continue to insist that it is impossible for someone to have shot Kennedy from 81 meters away – individuals whom I guarantee have never shot or even seen trained or even just naturally skilled individuals shoot. Much as with the previous discussion – facts don’t matter to these types of people. [my emphasis]

This writer is a clever propagandist, and his output demonstrates the truth of Orwell’s observation that, “the most powerful lie is the lie of omission”. And he encloses his trickiest deception, within a kind of parenthesis of insult.
Whitman, infamous for the Austin Clock Tower shooting spree, had ample time; and with his marksmanship, his shots were taken, as the opportunity presented itself. Oswald, on the other hand, who allegedly fired 3 shots at Kennedy’s open limousine, only had a few seconds to get off those shots. And what’s more, the Italian rifle he bought, and was alleged to have used that day, was one of the crappiest infantry weapons used in World War 2. Researchers, in a meticulous recreation of the angles, height, distance–and using expert shooters–as well as repeated attempts, could not duplicate the shot, using that war surplus, bolt-action rifle.
Also omitted from the post above, is any mention of the subsequent Congressional investigation on assassinations, which offered a finding that some conspiracy was involved; and whatever role Oswald had played in those events, it was unlikely that he had been acting alone.

Posted by: Copeland | Mar 15 2015 16:40 utc | 90

Use of the term “conspiracy theory” in publications since the 1800s.

Posted by: guest77 | Mar 15 2015 19:12 utc | 92

Dont be a jerk by spreading stupid lies by russophobes.

Posted by: Anonymous | Mar 15 2015 20:18 utc | 94

@94 Aslund is not just a run of the mill russophobe, like that journalist turned Canadian politician Chrystia Freeland, he is an economist that celebrated the ‘transition’ to capitalism that was the theft, plunder and rape of Russia during the post-1990 Yeltsin period. Their was a virtual cottage industry that was dedicated to the ‘scientific’ study of this ‘transition’ called … transitology (i kid you not). Seemingly harmless and neutral academics such as Aslund and more significantly people like Jeffery Sachs and his ‘comrades’ at the Center for International Development at Harvard University were literally feeding off the suffering, death, and did i say plunder of Russia’s vast wealth.
The fact they keep the pretense of caring for the welfare of the Russian people is as convincing as the affections of a date rapist. Aslund and is his kind should always be called out for their criminality whenever they venture to come out in public and voice their filth opinions.

Posted by: thirsty | Mar 15 2015 20:36 utc | 96

I didn’t thing Louis Proyect could sink much further, but in his latest CounterPunch article – print edition – he
has the gall to compare rebelling slaves in the early 1800s with today’s CIA, Feudalist sponsored Jihadists.
In a review of a book by Greg Grandin*, “The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World”
Proyects notes that Grandin tells the story of captured African slaves rebelling and taking over the ship they were being held captive on.
Grandin research shows that these men were probably committed Muslims – a fine and interesting point. But Louis Proyect decides ro
goes a step further. Proyect – proving his sympathy for the puppets of the Empire in the Middle East – makes the
wild claim that these men:

Are the forerunners of many of the [jihadist] fighters in the news today, even if they saw their struggle more in returning home
than in global jihad.

Ridiculous! These slaves, kidnapped from their homelands in Africa and held on slave ships to be tortured and eventually sold in the
America’s have no relation at all to the CIA puppets jihadists of today. Yet Proyect has the hutzpah to go around and compare
these heroes, these 18th Century slave rebels, with those who today are the slave masters. Slave masters of the Yazidi people,
torturers of the Syrian people, slave masters of anyone within their grasp.
Louis has gone too far in his praise for imperial puppets this time. His ridiculous comparison in his shoddy article says nothing
about the brave men who fought for their freedom 200 years ago, yet it says everything about the depths phony “intellectuals”
will descend to to provide cover for the empire they support.
__
* Grandin is the author of the excellent “The last colonial massacre: Latin America
in the Cold War” which is really about the genocide and economic exploitation of Guatemala that the United States led.
It show that what amounts to serfdom existed in the country in to the 1960s, its extension helped along by the CIA
coup that overthrew Arbez in 1954.

Posted by: guest77 | Mar 16 2015 0:47 utc | 98

I saw a story about at Russian film named White Tiger at Fort Russ, and I’m interested in Russian films … any non-hollywood films, actually. Although it is not on youtube (that I know of) I have found it over the wire. I have not yet watched the film, but it is available with English subtitles.

Posted by: jfl | Mar 16 2015 10:38 utc | 100