by Scott Humor
I find an argument that Putin rules America to be ridiculous. If it were true, the U.S. would have paid most of it sovereign debt while employing millions, and building high speed railroads, best rocket engines, mega bridges and churches; medical care and education would become free, mothers would be getting “maternal capital” to buy homes, and agents of foreign interests with corrupt government officials would be dispatched to courts.
Our president leads by personal example.
On June 22nd, while laying wreath to the Unknown Soldier Tomb, he declined an umbrella despite of pouring rain.
June 22nd is an anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War with fascist Europe. This day we remember out fathers and grandfathers that fought and won this war.
June 24, 1945 in Moscow, took place a parade to commemorate the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany
June 24, 1945 in #Moscow, took place a parade to commemorate the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany pic.twitter.com/mporTjI2vU
— ГК РФ 🇷🇺 в Женеве (@RusConsulGen) June 24, 2017
Speaking of allies… Erdogan is our guy, as I wrote many times before. He is intelligent and good looking, so I recommend you to start liking him, if you haven’t done so already.
Turkey buys coal from Donetsk and Lugansk republics. According to invoices made public by an online publication Economicheskaya Pravda, Donbass coal export to Turkey is being conducted by Sergey Kurchenko’s companies Petroleum Capital, registered in Russia, and Emet Trading LP, registered in California and in the UK.
Since the Rada deputies, Semenchenko and Parasyuk, initiated a blockade of Donbass, and Kiev started buying coal from the U.S. and Saturn, guys from Donetsk and Lugansk were looking for buyers that would stand up to the EU and U.S. sanctions. They started shipping coal to Turkey in April, and this month they have been transporting via Rostov two 20,000 ton bulk carriers per week.
Also, those who are not familiar with a colorful character dubbed Parasyuk, I refer to my book, with an entire section dedicated to him.
On June 23rd, Putin gave a start to Turkish Stream pipeline segments jointing, and said that he will supervise the construction personally.
Jun 23, 2017
Russian President Vladimir Putin said “If our partners want it to happen” the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline would be “ready to supply South and South East Europe through Turkish territory”, while speaking over the phone line with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on board the Pioneering Spirit pipelaying ship in the Black Sea near Anapa, Friday.
SOT, Vladimir Putin, Russian President (Russian): “I am here to launch a deep-water phase of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.”
SOT, Vladimir Putin, Russian President (Russian): “We still need to agree on some things, such as pipeline entry point, passage of the pipeline through Turkish territory, issues related to environmental safety but if we continue to move forward at the same pace, we will realise all our plans.”
SOT, Vladimir Putin, Russian President (Russian): “If our partners want it to happen, we will be ready to supply gas to South and South East Europe through the Turkish territory.”
SOT, Vladimir Putin, Russian President (Russian): “I want to thank you for issuing a power generation license for the Russian company which will allow selling electricity until 2066.”
SOT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President (Turkish): “Energy projects, especially gas projects, being realised between our countries for almost 30 years are a very important and reliable part of energy security in our country.”
SOT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President (Turkish): “We expect such large projects as the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant and Turkish Stream to be fully completed and thanks to these projects our relations will be further strengthened.”
Gazprom has resumed offshore construction of Turkish Stream pipeline in May
Russia’s Gazprom began construction of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline on Sunday, off the coast of Krasnodarskiy Krai.
The length of the entire offshore section is over 900 kilometers (559 miles). An Audacia multi-purpose pipe-laying vessel, owned by Allseas, is carrying out the initial construction works, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller announced on Sunday. The twin-legged pipeline is designed to supply gas to Turkey and Europe separately.
The opening of Turkish Stream is planned for year-end 2019, according to Miller.
While looking for logic behind current events like senseless terror attacks that are being forgotten the following day and contradicting statements being made by politicians, and some members of military and Intelligence communities, we have to take into consideration one peculiarity of the deep state’s operations. They plan years and decades in advance. Their plans are simple and formulaic, and they allocate funds to their contractors in advance. After payments are received, contractors go ahead with their work according to their tender specifications even if a situation changes dramatically. It doesn’t matter what needs to be done. Anything from developing media talking points for “synergy between promoting active participation in work and in society and social, health and long-term care strategies” for the EU parliament, to the U.S. government tenders to build NATO bases in Crimea, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia
Below is a link to an analysis of some statements made by the U.S. media about the war in Syria. This is how they announce their plans, even so we know that it’s all bark and no bite, now.
A recent headline in The Atlantic (6/9/17) earnestly pondered if the US was “Getting Sucked Into More War in Syria.” “Even as Washington potentially stumbles into war…” was how the article’s discussion began.
That’s why we hear these announcements, and know that they are just talking to each other over our heads according to their plans, blind to the fact that conditions have been absolutely, dramatically and permanently changed.
That’s why we witness now so many loose ends and random blocks of some grandiose wargaming all over the place. That’s why we watch the Gulf states rushing to give their ultimatum to Qatar and hitting an invisible cast-iron wall. The wall just came up. It wasn’t there a year ago, and it couldn’t be there when they planned to attack and loot Qatar. The deep state needs to devour a nation every year to keep going.
Baaz discovered an interview of the former Ambassador Robert Ford. It’s fun to watch how he tries to push square pegs of neo-liberal propaganda through round holes of geo-political reality that are not even there anymore, because someone very intelligently had removed them.
Interview with former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford by the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on June 20.
Ford: Kurds will pay the price for trusting the Americans…
- Let us start with an essential point: your visit to Hama in June 2011. Why did you go? And do you think this was a wise decision?
“A. The two questions are legit. Why did I go? The answer is easy. We obtained information indicating that Hama was besieged and that the army is besieging the city. We were worried about violence during the protests on the following day. I went there on Thursday to be a witness to any potential violence and to know who started it because the main question in Washington will be: Who started the violence? Was it the protestors or the government…? Also my visit included a message to the Syrian government indicating that we’re taking this matter seriously and you should not be dispatching the army to the city…
“Q. Was that a wise decision?
“A. There are two aspects: one positive and one negative aspect. My visit showed the Syrians that we’re interested in Human Rights issues. I still meet Syrian people now who tell me: Thank you for visiting Hama… But there are also two negative points concerning my visit: First, the Syrian government used the visit to support its propaganda on the Syrian revolution being an external conspiracy. Second, one student of mine at Yale is writing a thesis about this: my visit and other actions in Syria in 2011 encouraged the growth of the protest movement. However, the Americans were not willing to dispatch the army to help the Syrians. This means that we gave the Syrians a fake hope.
“…Q. After six years, did you expect that Al-Assad will still be in power despite all that happened in the country?
“A. In late 2013, I thought the attrition war will be harsh on the regime and that they will be negotiating a deal. Some will ask for a pardon and leave to Algeria or Russia or Cuba. [I thought] that a coalition cabinet will be formed…and because the Syrian army will be weak, the regime will accept to save itself in return of giving up on the Al-Assad and Makhlouf families.
“Q. Did you really think that the regime will be negotiating its end?
“A. Yes. This is the biggest political mistake that I made. I did not expect Iran and Hezbollah to send thousands of fighters. I did not expect Hezbollah to sacrifice its reputation in the Arab world for Al-Assad…
“Q. Why has Washington failed to modify the state of stagnation?
“A. Al-Assad won. He’s a victor or so he thinks. Maybe in ten years, he will take the whole country. The regime won’t be held accountable for the chemical weapons, the killings, the torture, the explosive barrels, the refugees and the displaced people. No accountability. Al-Assad might be visiting Paris or London, but no one will visit Damascus to take the regime’s officials to be tried in The Hague. No one. The regime might require some time to restore Deraa. Sooner or later, it will go to Idleb. The Russians will help. It [the regime] will go to Qamishli and strike a deal with Iran and Turkey to destroy the Kurds.
“Q. What about the Americans? Will they not protect the Kurds?
“A. Do you think the Americans will be fighting in Qamishli?
“Q. The Americans are supporting the Kurds to liberate Raqqa from ISIL
“A. Did you hear an American official say, or read an American statement indicating: we will defend West Kurdistan after ISIL’s defeat?
“Q. No. What does that mean?
“A. Is this a coincidence? They will not defend the Kurds against the Al-Assad forces.
“Q. So they’re using the Kurds only to free Raqqa from ISIL?
“A. Yes. For this reason, I believe that what we’re doing with the Kurds is not only political stupidity but also something immoral. The Americans used the Kurds for long years during the Saddam Hussein rule… The Syrian Kurds are making the biggest mistake by trusting the Americans…
“Q. What is Trump’s ultimate goal?
“A. He wants to reduce the Iranian authority. That’s what I heard from one of Trump’s advisors a few weeks back. But he doesn’t know that the game is over. They are very late. Obama did not leave the Trump Administration with many choices to realize its objectives.”
Israel keeps heating up its own borders by bombing Syrian troops deep inside Syrian territory
Israel attacked SAA deep inside Syrian territory, claims self defense
The al-Qaeda fire-request-by-mortar scheme in Syria run by Israel
Israel has openly been aiding Al Qaeda in Syria; A man was arrested for taking photo showings IDF & AQ on the Golan border
What secret? #Israel has openly been aiding Al Qaeda in #Syria;
A man was arrested for taking photo showings #IDF & AQ on the Golan border pic.twitter.com/PJru0cvDbU— H e b a (@HKX07) June 18, 2017
Syria: Israel coordinated attack with Islamist militants, giving air support to Nusra assault on Quneitra https://t.co/noklCfRpr2
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) June 24, 2017
The #IDF continues to strike targets in the #GolanHeights after an enemy artillery barrage spilled into the region. pic.twitter.com/aLF9bcDMta
— The Intel Crab (@IntelCrab) June 24, 2017
On June 21st, Rosoboronexport representative Sergei Kornev and an unnamed female security service employee were attacked in Paris . Kornev and his bodyguard arrived to France for the 52nd International Paris Air Show in Le Bourget. Two robbers broke the glass of the Russian delegation car stopped at traffic light and, threatening with physical violence, stole money and valuables. Kornev and his coworker chased the robbers driving behind them all over Paris, until they end up in a suburb of Paris of Saint-Denis. Per witness accounts, the robbers called the Police to get protection from two enraged Russians, who, surrounded by fifty locals, forced them to return the stolen items. Some of them complained to the Police about being injured.
The following day the French press came out with the headlines like “Two Russian chased fifty robbers all over Paris” and “Courage: Russian and his bodyguard fought against 50 attackers”.
It seems only a year ago 300 Russian football fans fought against mob of 1200 servicemen of the British Army in Marseille, France.
At this year Air Show Russia was represented by 34 companies, but because of hostile attitude of the French regime, they couldn’t bring any life-size products like in the past few years.
According to Jane’s Defence Weekly
The Russian Helicopters holding company, a subsidiary of the Rostec state corporation, is planning to extend its order backlog to 500 helicopters by the end of 2017, company director-general Andrey Boginsky told Jane’s at the 52nd Paris Air Show in Le Bourget.
“In 2015-16, a range of customers, primarily foreign ones, had a wait-and-see attitude towards co-operation with Russia due to the geopolitical situation. However, they see that the Russian Helicopters holding fulfills its contract obligations fully and does not have financial problems, as well as boosting its efforts in this area. India, China, Egypt, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Niger, Burkina Faso, and other countries are among these partners.
Featured image new Ka-226T helicopter
The end of school year is marked by the annual Scarlet Sails festival in St. Petersburg
Scarlet Sails (tradition)
The Scarlet Sails (Russian: Алые паруса) is a celebration in St. Petersburg, Russia, the most massive and famous public event during the White Nights Festival. The tradition is highly popular for its spectacular fireworks, numerous music concerts, and a massive water show. The Scarlet Sails show celebrating the end of the 2007 school year was attended by more than one million people. In 2010, public attendance grew to 3 million, and entertainers were such stars as the Cirque du Soleil, Mariinsky Ballet and Antonio Banderas, among others.
This tradition began after the end of World War II, when several Leningrad schools united to celebrate the end of the school year in connection with the symbolism of the popular 1922 children’s book Scarlet Sails by Alexander Grin. During the first celebration, a boat with scarlet sails sailed along the English Embankment and the Admiralty Embankment towards the Winter Palace. Although it was designed to update the rusty revolutionary propaganda, the “Scarlet Sails” tradition eventually evolved into a massive demonstration of freedom from “schools and rules” and has become the most popular public event annually celebrating the end of school year.
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Scott Humor
Director of Research and Development
author of The enemy of the State
In case you have forgotten what happened in Ukraine, this book should refresh your memory with the incredibly precise and humorous chronicles: ANTHOLOGY OF RUSSIAN HUMOR: FROM MAIDAN TO TRUMP
Thank you Scott.
Congrats to Russia/VVP on Southstream – looks like the Germans are now having problems with Nordstream…….
This sentence was very telling:
“Anything from developing media talking points for “synergy between promoting active participation in work and in society and social, health and long-term care strategies” for the EU parliament, to the U.S. government tenders to build NATO bases in Crimea, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia”
That just sums up the whole Ukraine campaign – they thought they had it in the bag……
Thanks for the interview by the former Ambassador Robert Ford. Of course they are just using the Kurds to their own ends.The Kurds are greedy and stupid enough to believe the US. History shows you the future. The last answer also states the obvious….but hey Trump is surrounded by the Deep State who cannot accept defeat!
Another persepctive on Israel’s attack yesterday. Russian Defence Ministry has stated today that Israel attacked Al-Nusra front not SAA:
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201706251054955612-irael-golan-heights-nusra/
“The Saturday strike of the Israeli air force aircraft in the Golan Heights area was in fact carried out against the armored vehicles of the Jabhat al-Nusra militants. The Israelis simply struck at the place from which the firing was conducted. As a result of this air strike, two tanks and a large-caliber machine gun of the terrorists were destroyed,” the source said…..”
Hmm – so they attacked their own allies by attacking the place where the fire came from. This is one to watch……
The West is so jealous of Russian successes that the only way they can compete is to cheat! The airshow is another example of this. Oh well people see their products in action in Syria etc. and people are ordering.
I love how the Russians took no prisoners with the theft :). Bravo Sergei Kornev and security team.
Scott thanks for link to the US contract for Crimea.
I had read, ages back, about this. But. Well it seemed a bit “out there”. Now you’ve linked to the contract specs. It’s not a “conspiracy theory” – once again, a conspiracy “fact”.
White Whale, it is no joke. NATO was in Sevastopol and Feodosya on the south coast since 2010. They were quiet but did not hide their presence in the least. The plans for Sevastopol were taken when Sevastopol NATO was invited to leave shortly after the Maidan debacle in Kiev. The cadre in Feodosya did not leave until that base was taken in a sham fight to have the Ukraine Spetznaz based there save face. Blanks were used in the extensive noise and turmoil, used that is until some bright light decided to try to take the base armory to obtain live ammo. Didn’t work and that’s where the few wounded were found. That little mess will be in one of my coming short stories.
The Russian base on the north side of Simonka Street and fronting on Chelyuskintsev was to be US Navy HQ. The extensive dacha areas to the west of the base and going all the way down to the best beaches in Sevastopol were to be taken over, flattened and become a piece of American Suburbia, IOW an American town was to be built there complete with shopping centers, schools and other amenities with orderly streets and neighborhoods and all closed off to the locals. Think gated community for Americans only. The plans for Sevastopol were so complete even the location, staffing and logistics for the POW compounds were in them.
I do not know who knew what in regards to NATO in Sevastopol but the alacrity with which NATO, read US, was put out of Sevastopol points to extensive knowledges and informations detailed enough to have them tossed out immediately.
Sevastopol was the prize, the end all be all of the coup in Kiev. US may have cared who did what in Ukraine but only in respect of how many sticks would be available to poke the Russian bear, otherwise US cared not one whit about the citizens or the country of Ukraine.
There is an old saying, he who controls Sevastopol owns the Black Sea, and this is very true. The plan for Sevastopol in particular and Krimea in general was to be a huge American Navy and Air Force base on the very borders of southern Russia, putting the majority of the population and industrial centers well within range of American ordinance. Is it any wonder why VVP responded to Krimea’s pleas for help instantly?
Auslander
Author
Never The Last One http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK, a deep look in to Russian Culture
An Incident On Simonka, NATO Is Invited To Leave https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ERKH3IU
I believe the Ukro unit at Feodosia was a marine battalion but your point is well taken. There was a (rather reasonable) rumor that they were already integrated into NATO’s chain of command and were in fact ready for operational tasking. Too bad for them they couldn’t even get out the door, so to speak.
Wow (re Sevastopol School # 5 contract)
Isn’t this a smoking gun of some kind?’
Has any investigative journalist contacted Maura Hoesly to interview her on the progress on this contract, and teh identities of those responding to the RFP?
I guess I am really naive.
To me this looks like an admission of guilt in the Kiev coup.
Katherine
admits zero. proves everything…ie prior intent to wage war of aggression,,,Nuremberg 2.0 is on the list
Nuremberg, people have finally to understand, was a Zionist kangaroo court of the flimsiest sort, nothing any nation that adheres to International Law wants to emulate.
Perhaps it is so, I myself tend to agree that it was, as the fat nazi suicider said, “victor’s justice”.
It was better than the suggestion Ike made (told in memoirs of Ike’s “naval aide”) to shoot every nazi party member (I believe) over a fairly low rank, and every member of the SS above the rank of major…or so my recollection is) So, if Ike had been a zionist, there might have been some sort of an interesting claim, but, alas…he was not. Rather otherwise.
That does not bear any relationship at all to what must occur after this war or any war – “pharmacos” cannot be avoided…so, shall humanity drive the innocent into the wilderness to die (this is to ask, shall the innocent take the blame for the crime, or shall the guilty?).
Obviously it’s victor’s justice. It is also unavoidable. What man can control is whether it is done better, or worse… Because there is going to be blame, we can only control where it rests…
I cannot agree that the previous N-1 trials were “zionist”…Nuremberg is pretty far from Theodore Hertzel. However one can make a trace, as one can to almost any intelop – because of the “6 degrees of separation realities” one can always find a false pattern among some that have substance, Comrade. The technical term is “scrying” you see what’s in yourself, or maybe the spirit, or God..who knows?…anyway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrying
Pax
LZ
Muddy waters. Putin ensures Russia is a rock solid ally of Israel and Saudi Arabia, so Russia would arrange a propaganda coup for zionist terrorists by allowing them to hit islamic terrorists while implying (for Israeli and American public consumption) that Israel had actually attacked Syrian government forces. The truth is the last casualty of war.
But for those of you claiming this is a clever move by Putin- getting Israel to fight on Russia’s side- well it is anything but. It is Russia teaching Israel that it has a ***right*** to directly militarily interfere in Syria- just as Russia did with Turkey (leading to a massively increased long term problem with the Kurds- that plays wholly into the hands of the West).
Does NATO or the West request or assist third party nations to attack locations in allied nations of the West under ***any*** excuse? Of course not- this would be just insane. Yet Putin is telling Israel that it is free to roll its army into Syria, so long as that army is there just to engage ‘isis’. I cannot belive what I am seeing.
The problem with Israel and the West is ***not*** that they attack the ‘wrong’ targets but that they think, through reasons of ‘master race supremacy’ philosophy, that their opinions define the ‘law’, so they are entitled to use force whenever and wherever they like. And Putin states- as per the Stone tapes- that so long as they ***do*** strike the ‘right’ targets, they have Russia’s full support in their self-appointed role as ‘world police’.
Our ‘muscular vicar’ gets it so very wrong again in trying to see ‘good intentions’ in people who are completely evil in the most ruthless fashion imaginable. Every break the West is given is treated as a weakness of fools.
Everyone of us here knows Israel would love to murder every significant Syrian and their families if they could only get away with it. Zionist run website, Vice.com, a few days ago salivated imaginaing a scenario where America and Israeli forces entered Iran to butcher every major scientist and their families. Our enemies never hide their insanely depraved intentions. Just as Adolf Hitler did with Mein Kampf, they actually proudly write down their hopes and intentions for the immediate future.
But too many on our side say “but they really can’t mean what they say/write”.
Those evil nations directly invited by Putin to fight in Syria (if they target ‘enemy’ forces) are waiting for the day Russia scales back or turns tail, cuts and runs. They see (correctly) Syria as another Afghanistan. Of course Russia is currently doing far better in Syria now than Afghanistan then- but Russia’s strategy in both has/had no mid-term future, let alone a long-term one. Unlike Ukraine, Russia does not border Syria. So once Russia gets ‘bored’ or intimidated by an out-of-control wider conflict (say a war on Iran that begins with Saudi Strikes against Qatar), Russia is out of there- and Assad either legs it to Russia or more likely chooses to bravely stay and go down with the ship.
And again I’d remind everyone that Putin is a rock-solid 100% supporter of Israel and Saudi Arabia. And in return for Russia’s ‘friendship’, both of these ‘friends’ have declared publicly again and again and again their intent to destroy Assad and replace him with Saudi wahhabi rule.
“Does NATO or the West request or assist third party nations to attack locations in allied nations of the West under ***any*** excuse? Of course not- this would be just insane.”
Again, you come a cropper when assessing NATO’s benign protection which you evidently hold in higher esteem than Russia’s. You seem to have missed out on the fact that NATO and the West happily does assist third party nations to attack locations in allied nations of the West. The obvious case is of course Saudi Arabia. If your perception of Putin as a rock solid ally of the Saudis were correct (it is not), then you might just as well blame Putin for violent Wahhabism in the West. Of course the West doesn’t admit in public its total contempt of its domestic subjects all along the line. That would be political suicide.
“Our enemies never hide their insanely depraved intentions. Just as Adolf Hitler did with Mein Kampf, they actually proudly write down their hopes and intentions for the immediate future.”
That is only partly true. The West and its Ziomedia produce reactionary, violently insane garbage because that is what can be sold to the average Western zombies as long as they believe in the benign protection of Western imperialism; a belief the reactionary garbage boosts accordingly. I have yet to see Soros, BHL, Breedlove and what-have-you writing to their hearts’ content — for public consumption — of what to do with the Pindos and the Euro-trash.
Verdict: Your hasbara is getting tiresome.
Just an update on Israel watch:
https://www.rt.com/news/394026-israel-targets-syria-truck/
They have targeted Syrian positions and ammunition today. So yet again they push the boundaries. Daesh’s airforce. “By the way of deception thou shalt do war…..”
“That just sums up the whole Ukraine campaign – they thought they had it in the bag…”
-Indeed, however there is no justification for acting self-assured, USA still won. Sure they lost Crimea, but they wont the rest of Ukraine, excluding Donbass, that is around 35 million more hysterically anti-Russians, and these are on Russia border.
So make no mistake, USA won in Ukraine, they didn’t lost anything, sure they didn’t achieve all their objectives, but then they didn’t lost anything either, just the 5 billion it toke to overthrow the government, Russia on the otherhand, what did she win, Crimea? And she lost, all of Ukraine, was it a good trade? Crimea for Russia and the rest of Ukraine to USA?
“Russia on the otherhand, what did she win, Crimea? And she lost, all of Ukraine, was it a good trade? Crimea for Russia and the rest of Ukraine to USA?”
Actually, that was a very good trade indeed. Russia would have suffocated had she been forced to save the Ukro garbage from self-destructing. You should absolutely not waste energy, time, and resources where your competence isn’t wanted. Saving Crimea was the crucial task at hand, more worth than the rest of “Ukraine” many times over.
flies win 200 more miles of fly-paper…
Who wants Ukraine?, bankrupt, corrupt. No problem the US/EU can have it, keep it!
Thanks Scott, for all this very interesting information.
Especially those plans to immediately build a NATO base in Crimea is precious, is just underlines the real motive to grab Ukraine. I suppose an ‘anti-missile system against Iran’ would be placed there too (with its missiles pointing northeast).
I was somewhat astonished about the interview with ambassador Robert Ford. He just says is loud and open, that the Kurds will be betrayed (again). They are just ‘useful’ to gain some ground and letting ISIS fighters escape Raqqa.
My guess is, that it won’t take long before ISIS starts getting ‘useful’ in Qatar.
I like to highlight an interesting detail.
If you look at the tender document, it is dated September 26, 2013.
The coup in the Ukraine was in February 2014.
Were the Americans really that naive to think that the Russians would ‘just’ give up their major naval base?
Oh, and btw Crimea has also voted for independence in 1991, after the dissolution of the USSR. It yielded roughly the same result, but was denied by Ukraine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_sovereignty_referendum,_1991
@Scott,
As usual excellent, I was actually wondering why you haven’t posted anything lately.
As for the VVP, that was precisely my thought when I saw the picture. VVP showed everyone and especially the guards that he is one of them.
Another interesting update – thank you Scott.
These pipelines are interesting – one question
If the Europeans decide to take gas via turkey – will Russia have to pay them transit fees or does this go to Turkey ?
Thanks for the report, Scott. Always good to hear what’s really happening, and to see things from a different perspective. Even if not good Amerikanski news… the local news outlets either completely black out this news, or write muddy, vague reports that fail to explain anything, based on ‘facts’ that change from day-to-day.
As for this:
I think the reality is that Mr. Erdogan (I’ve never met him but he doesn’t seem too likeable) is simply trying to do whatever is best for his country. So when NATO wanted to set up shop in Turkey, it was all OK with him — they’d help him with the Kurds, and pump lots of money in, etc. etc.. Now, since the coup attempt, it doesn’t look like NATO is all that heplful. But how to get rid of them?
Oops, sorry. Forgot to fill in the nom-du-net panel. That ^^^^ was from me fwiw.
Regarding Syria and ISIS, today I found these interesting news links.
Apparantly the Afghan army -with heavy losses- managed to throw ISIS out of Tora Bora: https://sputniknews.com/asia/201706251054958233-daesh-bin-laden-caves/
Still unconfirmed, but if true great news.
And then this. A Saudi prince living in Germany has tweeted a few ‘revelations’ he heared within his royal family about the ‘tasks’ for the new crown prince. One of them is the creation of a new Palestinian state in the north of Syria: http://www.globalresearch.ca/saudi-prince-reveals-us-conditions-for-mohamed-bin-salman-to-be-king/5596179
This, of course will never be confirmed (only when realized). It sounds quite probable to me. And I’m curious how long this tweeter will still be a prince.
Maybe we should change the name ‘Middle East’ in ‘Meddle East’?
I’ve read too fast. It states ‘north Sinai’, not ‘north Syria’.
My excuses, it was my fault.
But still challenging.
Analysis of what Putin and Trump are up against, trying to save the world from voting for Nuclear Armageddon. Trump seems to be caving in to the war maniacs; that leaves Putin as our only beacon of light on a dark horizon. Others like Dr. Assad of Syria may have the intellect and the courage, but only president Putin has the clout – because he has the resurgent Russia behind him.
https://www.facebook.com/
“Speaking of allies… Erdogan is our guy, as I wrote many times before. He is intelligent and good looking, so I recommend you to start liking him, if you haven’t done so already.”
Granted, Erdogan is no spineless zio-gay but a strong-willed power politician. As regards his intelligence, suffice it to say that he has a firm grasp of the degeneracy of all things West. That became very clear when the refugee torrents were let loose upon the EU in a “Gentlemens’ agreement” where Erdogan took advantage of the ever worsening Western neoliberal rot (and the criminal Syrian debacle). But still, Erdogan is a very deluded person. Putin and Assad surpass his abilities by at least one order of magnitude.
“Speaking of allies… Erdogan is our guy, as I wrote many times before. He is intelligent and good looking, so I recommend you to start liking him, if you haven’t done so already.”
Good-looking?hohoho! Is this a joke reason to suggest people like him. It isems more appropriate of a spoiled teenage brat speaking of her new beau, captain of the football team. Other than which…Yes yes, the information regarding the $ connexions between Turkey and Russia are very welcome and of great value, but to refer to Erdogan as a friend of Russia, as ‘our guy’ seems a little way off some of the other impressions I have been given of the Russian people, and my own of comrade Vlad.
In another piece I came across, one of those times you refer to as when you mentioned the relationship, you had also included reference to the pride of the Russians, that they would hunt down and destroy anyone who killed their servicemen or civilians, to the last man. To then go onto proudly confirming Russian friendship with Erdogan, a man who in recent memory gave the green light to take down a Russian jet containing a russian serviceman, one who survived the other who was shot as he floated to the earth.
Erdogan has also been complicit in mass funding of IS and Nusra in Syria, allowing oil, supplies, recruits, guns to cross over, unhindered, with Erdogan assuredly getting his cut.
And you think he is a friend of Russia? He seems more like a chap who might not be around too long, who understands as does Putin that the countries must work together for mutual economic benefit. This is different to an ally. It is a relationship of economic convenience.
Or perhaps you are asserting that Putin, Russia has no problem with Erdogan attacking their servicemen? Or working with ISIS? Perhaps also Grey Wolves involvement in Sinai attack?
I would like to understand this more clearly…
“Speaking of allies… Erdogan is our guy, as I wrote many times before. He is intelligent and good looking, so I recommend you to start liking him, if you haven’t done so already.”
Erdogan is not to be ‘liked’. He is quite unpredictable, has a volatile character and is a dictator. There are many striking resemblances between his behaviour and the behaviour of Hitler in the thirties.
Working between Russia and Turkey is a pragmatic working together, like alliances between companies, not more. E.g. the Turkish intelligence has informed Russiathat ISIS was planning attacks on Russian ships sailing through the narrow Street of Marmara.
I think Russia has covertly told Erdogan, that they know something dark about him. His family has probably not only traded in stolen oil from ISIS.
It is no secret that organ trafficking is going on: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-trafficking-idUSKBN17S1V8 . However, there is more. In Aleppo they have found various mass graves with heavily mutilated victims: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/aleppo-syria-mass-graves-russia-claims-rebels-torture-mutilation-massacre-a7496066.html
A few days thereafter, an article was published on Sputniknews, including interviews, that claimed that those victims were missing all kinds of organs, and that it was no secret that organ trafficking was involved (this time without permission of the ‘donors’). The article stated that the organ trafficking went through Turkey, and ‘very high placed persons’ organised it.
Just an hour later the article was disappeared. I think a certain phone call had been made.
Now that, Rob, is a markedly different from an explanation, and one with which I agree. Erdogan is not considered a friend by any measure, he is not anything but an ally of economic and political necessity, expedience.
I could never believe Putin or any other truly patriotic Russian could refer to him as ‘our guy’. Not after the events I outlined above.
I prefer the russian way. They do not react, they wait, keep calm, position themselves and their enemies imperceptibly into a situation where their revenge is their enemies forced to ‘work with Russia’ often whilst their relations with the US or KSA or another Zionist vassal are weakened in the process. Judo master indeed…
I read the hersh piece on a German site yesterday. Nothing surprising…yet worthy of sharing as I have done elsewhere. He is one of so very few impartial commentators, lacking any bothersome religious flavouring or chest beating patriotism.
Thanks for the reply.
NB. I meant ‘a markedly different explanation’…mangled by my morning tapping of dwarf keys on my phone.
I want to share with you an excellent article from Seymour Hersh about the alleged sarin gas attack on Khan Sheikhoun, and the strange decision taking of Trump to bomb (‘babies, beautiful babies’), while the American intelligence new it was not a sarin attack.
I knew right away that the footage flooding social media were BS. You can’t see or smell sarin, victims of sarin have heavy contracting of their muscles, and when they are touched with bare hands on the skin, well, then the helper is dead too in a few minutes. No White Helmet man wore gloves.
My guess is that Trump took that decision just to raise the approval rates. The American public was cheering again, to feel being on the ‘good’ side while ‘bombing brown people’. It costed some 90 million dollars to cause some 2 million dollars damage (not to mention that 2 Tomahawks hit civilian houses, with casualties).
The SAA bombing (thereby releasing unexpected chlorine gas) and the whole decision taking process is detailed described: http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/sy-hersh-bombshell-us-knew-no-sarin-syria-gas-attack-trump-bombed-anyway/ri20206
Trump doesn’t appear too good…
The fact of no sarin would also be obvious to just about every person on the planet who has ever been through even basic military training. I mean most veterans, all active duty…all enlisted, all noncoms…think about that…
Thus, one might speculate, the ministry of propaganda of 4th Reich undermines the credibility of itself in the eyes of the very forces upon which it depends upon.
I wonder if their Lordships intended such an outcome, and I remember that they’re delusional…
Oh well…
LZ
The description (in Hersch’s article) of the “four choices” presented to Trump, when everyone in the room knows there was no sarin attack, are madness. They did it to make him “feel good.” Is this the way the US military conducts business at the highest level? Apparently so. If I think about the implications too much I’ll go crazy too. This is pre-school level reasoning at best, in a sane world you’d be put in a loony bin for making military decisions this way.
Also, note the blase, ho-hum, aw shucks, go-along-to-get-along attitudes of the CIA/JCS guys who are Hersch’s informants; intelligent people who should know better, but say nothing. You know, “that would ruin my career”, put into an infinity mirror. This is terminal imperial blight.
WP headline to-day “Syria prepares new gas attack…dadada…
is this their only gimmick in agitpropfalseflagbs?
I agree. Has it become too much these days to ask the Ziomedia for a good old LGBTQWERTY sob-story? Like “Assad terrorizes paedophiles; millions of Syrian children traumatized”
Thank you Scott.
A brave and considerate soul thou art.
Bravo.!
Re: the U.S. would have paid most of its sovereign debt.
Scott, the sovereign debt of a country that issues its own currency (US, Great Britain, and most developed nations, excluding the Euro countries) is an accounting matter. The monetary system works like a spreadsheet, to use Galbraith’s very accurate image.The “debt” of the US is denominated in dollars. It is not a debt owed to foreign countries and denominated in foreign currencies. Such debt must indeed be earned by exports and so on. The US debt is denominated in dollars, and the US is the monopoly issuer of dollars. People are thinking in terms of pre-Bretton Woods arrangement. The “debt” is the total amount the US has spent into the economy, by buying goods and services from the private sector. The “debt” is balanced to the penny by the amount of dollars in the private sector. This is the basic accounting equation. To whom would the US “owe” dollars that it itself has issued and spent into the economy?
Countries like those of the European Union that foolishly renounced their sovereignty do indeed have to earn Euros. Likewise, the several US states have to earn dollars by taxing or issuing bonds, and of course all private entities must earn dollars to pay taxes.
However, the US gov’t doesn’t “need” taxes to be able to buy from the private sector. Federal taxes do not serve the same function as do state taxes. Why would the federal gov’t need the dollars that were issued by it in the first place and then spent into the private sector? The wider public just can’t wrap its head around these simple banking facts, and this includes most gov’t officials.
I’ve simplified things somewhat, since I’ve overlooked the function of the commercial banks, but the principle remains the same.
See this for full explanation:
Money Creation in the Modern Economy
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/2014/qb14q1prereleasemoneycreation.pdf
I’m not a financial expert (I guess you are), but at least I have a mortgage.
I’m missing one crucial thing in your interesting post. I’ll try to explain that in my layman words.
Money in itself has no value. It is just a claim on something of value.
So, just like my mortgage I got money from the bank, and I ‘promised’ to pay that back over a couple of years. With that ‘promise’ the bank can now leverage this sum up to 9 times. But, the actual value still has to be created.
Or, to sum it up cynically: the unborn cannot vote.
The tragic of the Greek debt, is that they can never ever pay it back. Even when they will find oil, gas, kryptonite or the alloy from the shield of Captain America. It takes 3P’s (paper, pencil, pocket calculator) and 2 minutes with high school math to show that. They are destroyed to save the Deutsche Bank. Nearly half of the graduated students immediately leave the country, to start working in e.g. Germany, while an investment was made in these people.
I would do that too, btw.
The Target-2 system (politicians will never talk about that), whereby no money transfer takes place between countries anymore, but is simply put on a balance sheet, has resulted in the fact that every German household has a secret debt of about 50000 Euros against the PIIGS countries. A debt that these countries can never pay, there is simply no value created.
I have some doubts whether this can be saved by just money printing. My guess is that in the end the ‘claimed value’ of the euro will simply collapse. And then we’re all screwed.
Maybe I see it too simple as a layman, but I’d appreciate it when you could explain that to me.
Well, some time ago I read a very informative article about money and banking. In short our debt (yours, mine) is different than bank’s. We go to the bank, borrow their fake money (the money they do not actually have) and we pay them back with our hard earned real money.
This is how the USofA makes a racket on their money, countries buy their certificates or I owe you’s if you like and have to pay for them with their hard earned money. The same goes for the your government bonds you bought thinking that it’s a good investment. Keep in mind that you have to pay your government back 50% of any interest earned on those investments. And the racked goes on and on.
@ Mark
Thank you for the lesson. This message has to be publicised non-stop to people everywhere so that they can understand what’s going on, namely that we are all, everywhere on Earth, paying tribute to US and in turn contribute towards our own subjection to Yankee domination. Basically there is no limit to how much the US Treasury can spend on wars or debt as long as the US$ has any value internationally. As someone said before, the Pentagon is free to spend as much as they can possibly, physically, spend on weaponry, salaries, infrastructure, contractual bribes and so on regardless of budgetary allocations. It’s an enormous black-hole where trillions are thrown in without financial audit. That’s the sinew of the Empire.
That’s right, Mark. Technically or operationally, a fiat currency gov’t monopoly regimen (unconvertible to specie such as gold, and “free floating” in the currency markets) has no intrinsic spending limit, since all it takes to “create” or “print” it is computer strokes–crediting bank accounts of the entities it buys from. Practically, however, “deficit spending” by the government should correspond to the actual productive capacity of the country. Countries which have know-how and resources can spend more–and their currency is worth more–than poor countries with low education levels. They may have resources, but typically their elites sell out to developed countries who sack the resources and enrich the few “comprador” elites (“Confessions of an Economic Hitman” explains this well). Our high deficit is badly spent on the military rather than on our overall productive sector, thus there is plenty of productive labor that cannot find work–our industries have been largely offshored, thanks to a corrupt government in cahoots with Wall St. and with corrupt corporate CEO’s. (See Paul Craig Roberts’ book “How the Economy was Lost.”
The US has ruined to a large degree its productive capacity by moving it abroad under Wall St. presssure for easy profits from labor arbitrage. What is left to take its place is a monster armaments and security industry. In short, it now spends to enrich the few and not on its infrastructure or on its productive capacity. Add to this the fact that most of the world must buy oil with dollars. Those dollars typically find their way back to savings/checking accounts at the Treasury (T-Bills and Bonds). Contrary to popular opinion, paying interest on these deposits is no problem: the account are simply credited with computer key strokes. This is also, by the way, how the “too big to fail” banks were bailed out, and not, as popularly thought, with “taxpayers money.”
The great problem in the US is this monstrous growth of the imperialist military-security state and the offshoring of productive work,on the one hand, and on the other, the financialization of the economy, with the result that the US population is terribly in debt. It lives on credit. The level of private debt, not the high “national debt”, is the big problem. The US population is reduced to “debt peonage,” as Michael Hudson explains in his books, most recently in “J is for Junk Economics.”
Please see my post at the Cafe [http://thesaker.is/moveable-feast-cafe-2017-06-25/] where I refer to Bill Mitchell’s article on these monetary issues in relation to Europe currently.
“The analogy of relations modulating like a pendulum between negative and positive, or good and bad, or war and peace, is flawed. Because relations under a sought-after unipolar world of American domination will inevitably be subject to antagonism and, if needs be, all-out conflict and war.
Rather than a pendulum, perhaps a more fitting analogy is a giant wrecking ball. The would-be American hegemonic power says: «Do as I demand and the wrecking ball is held back. If not, then here comes the force of destruction».
How to transcend this appalling situation is the challenge of our times. But one surmises that the emancipation depends on ending American-led capitalism and its hegemonic dictate to the rest of the world.”
Why Putin’s Cold War Pendulum Analogy Is Wrong
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/06/24/why-putin-cold-war-pendulum-analogy-is-wrong.html
To all on this site. Thank you Saker My way of showing sympathy with all Russians, who gave everything to stop the Nazi hordes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXBO8w8IzFY
Out of Topic but important.
Russia has destroyed 99% of its chemical weapons – supervising general
“Russia only has only one percent of its chemical weapons stockpile left. The rest has been destroyed, according to the head of the country’s Federal Administration for the Safe Storage and Destruction of Chemical Weapons, Major General Valery Kapashin. The remaining 400 tons of weaponized chemicals is currently “at the last facility in operation to store and destroy the chemical weapons, in the Kizner village in the Udmurt region,” Kapashin added.
Consequently, Russia meets the conditions stipulated in the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which it joined 20 years ago.
“We’re finishing Stage Four a year earlier, too, and will destroy all 100 percent of the chemical weapons stockpile by the end of 2017, not 2018,” Kapashin concluded, speaking to Interfax.” Quote
https://www.rt.com/news/394103-russia-chemical-weapons-destroy/
excellent informative update! thank you Scott!
” Al-Assad won. He’s a victor or so he thinks. Maybe in ten years, he will take the whole country. The regime won’t be held accountable for the chemical weapons, the killings, the torture, the explosive barrels, the refugees and the displaced people. No accountability.”
Robert Ford is a former US ambassador to Syria and beyond, a major supporter, some would say part engineer, of the rise of Daesh, Nusra and the destruction of countless lives and infrastructure in Syria, and yet people here cherry pick what they would like to consider Truth from his propaganda campaign?
The problem with dealing with mass deceit merchants is that you can never be sure where Fact and Reality begin and End. These people cannot even see their own reflection in a mirror, let alone hear their own words…
You do not leave that horrific realm of Death and Carnage in the name of Profit and Power whilst lying to the American people, to All people, and suddenly become a credible source of Truth. Woe betide those who assume otherwise.
Robert Ford, like Adolf Eichmann, “the banality of Evil”. An insignificant little cog in a gigantic killing machine.