by GH Eliason for The Saker Blog Leonid Pasechnik, the acting Head of Lugansk People’s Republic (LNR)has been in office for almost one year. With the state of his reforms in LNR, you want to judge him against leaders of countries at peace, not as one that just formed in the middle of a war four years ago. For the last thirty years, Donbass was neglected in Ukraine. The infrastructure
Translated and captioned by Leo. Make sure to press CC for English captions. Latvia showed by its own example that the Russophobe only squeaks about the “damned Muscovites” while it still has something to eat. As soon as the food runs dry, he is immediately ready to skip to Russia, buying almost all the export rye. When the Balts with all their strength struggled to get European
By Rostislav Ishchenko Translated by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard cross posted with http://www.stalkerzone.org/rostislav-ishchenko-post-maidan-suicide-of-ukrainian-small-business/ source: https://ukraina.ru/opinion/20181025/1021545197.html In February, 2014, on the day that Yanukovych fled, the Ukrainian state not only refused the monopoly on violence, but also in principle ceased to carry out the functions of the state. Small and medium sized business very much rejoiced. But they shouldn’t have… It seemed only from aside that, by discharging the incumbent
by Peter Koenig for The Saker Blog The European Parliament has asked yesterday (25 October) for an immediate embargo on the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, hence sanctioning the Kingdom of rogue Saudi Arabia which is joining the United States and Israel as the main purveyor of crime throughout the Middle East and the world. France still said they will apply sanctions only if it is proven that Riyadh
by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) The US move to shelve the Intermediate-range Nuclear-Forces treaty could accelerate the demise of the whole post-WWII Western alliance, and herald a bad remix of the 1930s The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved its Doomsday Clock to only 2 minutes to midnight. It might be tempting to turn this into a mere squabble about
by Norman Ball for The Saker Blog “[W]e, as serious people, cannot examine the concrete problems that are thrown when the Russian Federation is accused of all mortal sins without recourse to the processes (norms) created for similar cases,” –from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s October 18th interview with RT France. Russia labors under a West-imposed Original Sin that can obtain dispensation only with the former’s existential cessation. The root
by Ghassan Kadi for The Saker Blog With the ever-changing and escalating aftermath of the Khashoggi disappearance episode, there remain many fixed marks that are interesting to identify. But before we do, we must stop and briefly look at the official American, Turkish and Saudi stands on this issue. The Americans are best seen to be playing yoyo with their Saudi “friends”. One moment they seem to be totally abandoning
by Ramin Mazaheri for The Saker Blog It seems unlikely – as it defies 73 years of ongoing aggression, warfare, the near-warfare of constant tap dancing on the border, starvation-creating sanctions, false promises, broken promises, racist caricaturing, hysterical knee-jerk anti-socialism, and more besides – but what if Washington finally allows North Korea to reintegrate into the multinational world? North Korea has been so politically oppressed from without that they are
English translation and subtitles by Eugenia
By Rostislav Ishchenko Translated by Ollie Richardson and Angelina Siard cross posted with http://www.stalkerzone.org/rostislav-ishchenko-striking-a-strategic-balance-putins-preventive-response/ source: https://ukraina.ru/opinion/20181022/1021492985.html I think that Vladimir Putin at Valdai not at all incidentally started talking about the increased danger of nuclear war, repeated the axiom about the readiness of Russia to take away the whole world with itself, and discussed the existence of the right to make a preventive strike. Concerning the latter issue experts immediately
Full official English language transcript. Vladimir Putin took part in the plenary session of the 15th anniversary meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club. October 18, 2018 Sochi The main topic is The World We Will Live In: Stability and Development in the 21st Century. The plenary session moderator is Fyodor Lukyanov, Research Director of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club. The Valdai Forum opened in Sochi on October 15. Its participants – 130 experts from 33 countries – are discussing Russia’s political and socioeconomic prospects as well as social and cultural development
by Ghassan Kadi for The Saker Blog In this insane historical era in which we currently live, events, their causes and consequences do not necessarily follow this particular logical sequence of reporting and analyzing; and we have to get used to much worse. To this effect, a week ago, it was almost impossible to work out who “killed” Khashoggi and why even though the financial and political and consequences were
by Peter Koenig for The Saker Blog One week before the second round of voting in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, the extreme right-wing candidate from the Social Liberal Party (PSL), against Fernando Haddad from the Worker’s Party (PT), Lula’s Party, for Brazil’s Presidential run-off elections – Bolsonaro leads to polls by double digits, about 58 against 42. And the gap is growing, despite the fact that as recent as end of
Irenic& Official visit of His Beatitude Patriarch JOHN X to the Serbian Orthodox Church From October 11to 19, 2018 BELGRADE – 19th of October 2018 – This historical visit, the first since Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch THEODOSIOS VI (Abou-Rjaili) visited Belgrade, was made in the context of the difficult and painful circumstances that are facing the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Syria, Lebanon and the Middle East. This visit also coincides with
Translated and subtitled by Scott Humor Click “CC” button for English subtitles. Soon, Belarus won’t be able to make money on re-export to Ukraine oil products they receive from Russia. The restrictions are temporary, but is it so? As a known saying goes, there is nothing more permanent than temporary. In Minsk, this saying is also, probably, remembered regarding the Moscow’s decision to ban the supply of gasoline, diesel
Translated and captioned by Leo. Make sure to press CC for English captions. A Ukrainian female journalist published a video capturing the movement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the direction of Zakarpattia. Against this background, a question arises: did they really hit their heads in Kiev so much that they decided to start a second ATO? Svidomo journalist Anna Kulchitskaya claims that in the Starosamborsky district of
Freedom and Other Illusions – Further excursions into what used to be called “high versus low culture” (or, further illusions concerning American art & the Medium / et cetera) With a concluding Postscript by David A. Powell for The Saker Blog Part 3 of 3 parts ” ‘Genius is only seen in those who are successful…’ an anonymous author announced in the [American art publication] Art Amateur (1896). This criterion
[This analysis was written for the Unz Review] In previous articles about this topic I have tried to set the context and explain why most Orthodox Churches are still used as pawns in purely political machinations and how the most commentators who discuss these issues today are using words and concepts in a totally twisted, secular and non-Christian way (which is about as absurd as discussing medicine while using a
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Euronews, Moscow, October 16, 2018 Question: The issue of Russia’s financial contribution to the Council of Europe has long been on the agenda after Russia’s voting right was suspended. How important is the Council of Europe to Russia? What, in your view, is the likely solution to this impasse? Sergey Lavrov: The Council of Europe is going through a serious crisis and not
The Pentagon may not be advocating total war against both Russia and China – as it has been interpreted in some quarters by Pepe Escobar (cross-posted with The Asia Times by special agreement with the author) A crucial Pentagon report on the US defense industrial base and “supply chain resiliency” bluntly accuses China of “military expansion” and “a strategy of economic aggression,” mostly because Beijing is the only source for
