2016/04/09 08:30:01
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I wonder how much of the Panama Papers are aimed at Iceland. USA used the air base at Keflavik earlier, and wants to reopen it, but the Icelanders have been somewhat reluctant.
I came across this article in a rather “special” page, but it really beautifully links both topics.
I believe it is more than possible that the presence of Gunnlaugsson in the Panama Papers could have been the trigger of a color revolution in Iceland.
http://www.theeventchronicle.com/intel/david-wilcock-panama-toilet-papers/
Happy reading,
cheers
I am not a fan of Wilcock, but he is right about Gunnlaugson and the banksters. He writes:
>Here is an article from only three months ago about the 29 bankers Gunnlaugsson helped to imprison:
1/5: Iceland Has Jailed 29 Bankers. Why Can’t the UK and US Do the Same?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stefan-simanowitz/iceland-has-jailed-29-bankers_b_8908536.html
Just before Christmas, the former CEO of Iceland’s Glitnir bank and two other senior bankers were sentenced to jail terms of up to five years for market manipulation and breach of fiduciary duties.
This brings the total number of senior Icelandic bankers so far sentenced for crimes in the run-up to the 2008 banking crash to 29.
Hi, I’m posting my first comment here after reading this superb blog for two years now. I stumbled accros on Katehon site just recently and found out that they have a few videos of Alexandr Dugin “rants”. I’ve read some of his articles and found them quite interesting. Since Dugin has not been discussed on Saker blog so much I would like to know what is Saker’s and his community’s view on him? Why is he such a bad person?
Hi boojumi,
I’ve read Dugin’s Fourth Political Theory and followed him fairly closely for two years.
His diagnosis is excellent. His solution is a pre planned disaster.
Dugin is Hitlerian, minus the rampant anti Russian, anti Jewish sentiment, a neccessity if one doesn’t want to be marginalized in a nazi averse political environment like Russia. Outside of Russia his supporters are more ‘flexible’ on these subjects.
Dugin has been associated with National Bolshevism. I suggest you look into it yourself to get a flavour.
Once delivered into Hitler’s arms, Germany was nearly destroyed.
Dugin’s anglophile finance oligarch friend and backer, Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, has similar plans for Europe and despite appearances, also for Russia.
Do your due diligence. I can’t believe how many people interested in Fourth Political Theory don’t do their D.D.
Well, thanks for your reply. I’ve understood that Dugin has a very bad reputation among western sources and yes he has been pejoratively presented with a nazi card obviously. Hence it’s kinda hard to find a balanced source for him (other than reading his book for sure..)
I don’t know the history and how he’s related to national bolshevism. However I’m not interested in guilt by association or other similar claims. He is certainly not the only current political actor throwing around politically incorrect ideas, e.g. just think of Alain Soral.
But yes he seems to have an inclination towards building some kind of an Empire. Is it good/bad, I must say I do not know.. But a nazi? i’ve understood that Dugin rejects race/nation as a basis for ideology?
As I insinuated, Dugin has repackaged himself for the Russian poltical ‘market.’
I believe in guiltlessness by disassociation. If you no longer support an idea, renounce it clearly and I will understand.
Try this one:
http://4pt.su/en
I too, read Dugin’s Fourth Political Theory mainly on account of the hysterical reaction it has provoked in certain quarters. I guess that one could categorize him as an Narod-realist who couches his arguments in Heidiggerian terms. The germ of his thought, however, isn’t new. See for example the exchange between Shatov and Stavrogin chapter 1, part two of Dostoevsky’s Demons (Pevear and Volokhensky pp 249-251): (Shatov): Reason and science always, now, and from the beginning of the ages, have performed only a secondary and auxiliary tas in the life of nations; and so they will to the end of the ages. Nations are formed and moved by another ruling and dominating force, whose origin is unknown and inexplicable. This force is the force of the unquenchable desire to get to the end (emphasis mine), while at the same time denying the end …
Greetings. I am wondering what your views are on the significance of the following: Israel’s Chief Sephardic Rabbi confirming Putin is a Jew by his address at a meeting with Putin in July 2014. Rabbi Yosef began by saying “according to the Jewish tradition, your leadership is decided by the kingdom of G-d, King of the world, and therefore we bless you: Blessed is the One who gave of His glory to flesh and blood.”
To understand the significance of this – So according to Jewish tradition, the specific blessing one gives to a Jewish king – which is worded differently than the specific blessing for a gentile king – is “Blessed be He … who gave some of His glory to flesh and blood.”
And the rabbis greeted Putin with “Blessed is the One who gave of His glory to flesh and blood.” If Putin were actually a gentile, they would have instead greeted him with “Blessed is the One who gave of His glory to His creatures.”
This is the first confirmation that the rabbis know Putin to be a Jew.
And according to Jewish thought, a Jewish king is appointed by God.
Since the rabbis greeted him with “according to the Jewish tradition, your leadership is decided by the kingdom of G-d,” this is the second confirmation that they know him to be a Jew.
greeting by Rabbi Yosef
Vango
Please link to sources.
Here you go –
this was the meeting:
http://www.jta.org/2014/07/10/news-opinion/world/putin-thanks-rabbis-for-communities-fight-against-nazi-revival-1
this is what appeared in the press including the quotation of the prayers:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182754#.Vwsppk1f1LO
this explains the significance of the Jewish Prayers for the Government:
https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-373371536/jewish-prayers-for-the-government
The entirely natural human tendency of tribalism notwithstanding, I doubt that the terms ‘gentile’ and ‘jew’ have any real meaning nowadays, other than as code which says more about the people who use those terms than the reality they propose to describe.
While I would have no problem if Putin was Jewish. I’ve never seen any trace of evidence,nor provable claim he was. The only people that seem to claim that, are Putin-haters. Who think that they are slandering him by that claim. Unless “you” have provable evidence that no one else in the entire World seems to have been able to find (and you can bet if its there they have tried to find it).Then I’ll just count you as another of the long list of Putin-haters.
I think the rabbi fancies having such an illustrious and epoch-making figure in the fold.
No doubt he accepted the blessing gracefully.
Like he would from a peace-promoting mullah.
Even if he had a little Jewish heritage, it has not the slightest relevance to his objectives for Russia and all of its people.
I assume the rabbi is sincere, if, like many such in religious hierarchies, a little politically opportunistic.
But even if he isn’t, he would be seriously deluded if he thinks he could co-opt Putin for any agenda that doesn’t support his vision for Russia.
What is interesting here is that Putin has been blessed by Israel’s Chief Sephardic Rabbi.And not an Ashkenazi one.You believe it or not,God put the blessing in his mouth.I know,this sounds very superficial for many and I accept your critics but if you may want me to explain more deeply the cause and roots of this,it may take several pages.Far for me to be a bigot Christian,I just studied deeply the Scriptures(on the book and on my skin),and not just Christian ones but this is my business,my own life.I grew up in a place – Transylvania – where the freedom of all religions have been granted in the early mid-ages,in a time when in the west the Inquisition was at his stage.
just adding some corrections to my previous comment :
‘In 1558, the Transylvanian Diet of Torda declared free practice of both the Catholic and Lutheran religions, but prohibited Calvinism. Ten years later, in 1568, the Diet extended the freedom to all religions, declaring that “It is not allowed to anybody to intimidate anybody with captivity or expelling for his religion”. However, it was more than a religious tolerance, it declared the equality of the religions. The emergence in social hierarchy wasn’t depend on the religion of the person thus Transylvania had also Catholic and Protestant monarchs (Princes). The lack of state religion was unique for centuries in Europe. Therefore, the Edict of Torda is considered by mostly Hungarian historians as the first legal guarantee of religious freedom in Christian Europe.
ACT OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE: His majesty, our Lord, in what manner he – together with his realm – legislated in the matter of religion at the previous Diets, in the same matter now, in this Diet, reaffirms that in every place the preachers shall preach and explain the Gospel each according to his understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well. If not, no one shall compel them for their souls would not be satisfied, but they shall be permitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve. Therefore none of the superintendents or others shall abuse the preachers, no one shall be reviled for his religion by anyone, according to the previous statutes, and it is not permitted that anyone should threaten anyone else by imprisonment or by removal from his post for his teaching. For faith is the gift of God and this comes from hearing, which hearings is by the word of God.
—Diet at Torda, 1568 : King John Sigismund[28]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion
Iaon,
That’s interesting.
Particularly for those Orthodox Jews who are supporting the Israeli colony.
Where does the rabbi stand on Zionism and Israel?
Eimar
Very good question.Some orthodox Jews are not supporting the Jewish State at all – you can see them sometimes at pro-Palestinian demonstrations in New-York or other places.They participate in various conferences regarding the holocaust and the state of Israel,thus their opinions may differ from that of the official sate,that’s why they are seen as “rebellious” in Israel.According to their interpretation of the BIble,the state of Israel should never had been declared.As somebody noted,the realities are not just black and white – even in the case of Israel.
“Saudi news anchor urges fellow Muslims to ‘feel shame’ over terrorist attacks”
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Watch-Saudi-news-anchor-urges-fellow-Muslims-to-feel-shame-over-terrorist-attacks-450688
What is that all about?
It’s the same trick used by Ghassan-id Kadi.
The strategy of shaming is used to cause disonance and weaken resistance to illegitimate authority, ie. in CIA controlled regimes like Saudi Arabia or Canada.
Blaming the victim goes back to Deuteronomy at least.
It is one of the questions, I’ve tried to answer myself in a comprehensible way: why there is an economical & info war between the “West” & Russia, but the space cooperation goes on smoothly, as a banana down the throat…
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/04/russia-should-ban-sale-of-rockets-to-us.html
Geoppolitical Plato’s cage pseudo-drama for the sleeping masses? Or is Russia so desperate to sold it’s technology and that is the reason for this seemingly masochistic behaviour? Any intelligent advise?
I think the USA do not implement many of the sanctions the EU imposes on Russia as requested by the US. Hence, it makes sense to keep the Russian-US trade alive. With respect to the EU, Russia can only wait on either the implosion of the EU bureaucracy or the withdrawal of the EU sanctions. I guess the first outcome is more likely.
Thanks for reply. Yes, I got your point. But, if the economical war is indeed serious, and when it starts to really hurt Russia. Why wouldn’t they just cut off the space cooperation, even if it costs US just couple of years to develop its own technology?
ps: it’s difficult to keep my pesimistic & conspirational alter ego satisfied… ;)
Sorry for my late reply.
US companies produce rocket motors also. However, changing the motors involves an adaptation of the rocket. In pure capitalistic terms, changing cheaper motors against more expensive ones with extra spending for the redesign of the rocket does not pay off. Launching commercial satellites is an ever more important revenue stream for rocket manufacturers. Due to stiff competition, offering top price versus reliability performance a must.
@Rublev
Note the contradiction and account for it.
Always account for the contradiction. It tells you so much.
Thx for your comment.
Any more specific 5cents for thought? ;)
The goal of classical Trivium (= ideal thinking process) is resolving contradictions in the pursuit of the Truth. But with this one (and others connected) I’m still a bit stuck…
Of course, I consider possible judo, Sun Tzu etc. strategies, so often attributed to VVP. But without sufficient & credible info, we are doomed to speculation, right?
Analysis of France? What is going on there? Saker not long ago said that if any country in the EU can launch a popular movement against its depredations, it would be France?
RT coverage is blah…( surprise, surprise) by the way.
We here, in the Mossad, since we are going to take holiday from our activities in The Vineyard of the Saker, we are thinking stroll around Paris next week.
We will keep you informed.
We call on all Parisian supporters to walk around with us, if you survive the gas attacks and blows of the police, and grab a “Yiddish Sandwich” “Chez Finkelstein”, the yellow shop on rue des Rosiers right in front of “Chez Marianne”, and then, if good weather, eat in the sun at Jardin des Rosiers. We will be eating over there every day, other days we can grab some falafel Chez “L´As du Falafel” and again to the jardin. The poshest from you can go eating at Place des Vosges, with the cream of the cream of Parisian Jewry….We are more kinda guys from kibbutz…
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/14/18386936_8cbf45c009.jpg
http://boulderlocavore.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Cafe-Marianne-Marais-Paris-BoulderLocavore.com-316-e1413432526792.jpg
http://ouialwayshaveparis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Sacha-8.jpg
http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq228/kerouac2/Paris%201234/ruedesRosiers046.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/P1280189_Paris_IV_Jardin_des_Rosiers_mur_tour_rwk.jpg/335px-P1280189_Paris_IV_Jardin_des_Rosiers_mur_tour_rwk.jpg
http://www.evous.fr/local/cache-vignettes/L400xH300/P1000946-cecf8.jpg
http://ws.apps-panel.net/data/baladesdurables_dev/jardin%20francs%20bourgeois%20rosier2%20(2).jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Places_des_Vosges,_Paris_-_NW_Fountain.jpg
https://viviparigi.it/images/viviparigi/place-des-vosges.jpg
We hope not been burying anything with this last post before our holidays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPkJM_P4XV8
Hi elsi
Pretending to be Mossad may sound funny in your head, but on the page and the humour is lost. Just my 2 cents worth.
@ Anon:
Oh! ! Let her be! She probably has her reasons…
Don’t like her comments? Just scroll past them! Is that simple!
—
@ elsi:
Meanwhile; LoL at ‘Chez Finkelstein,’ which for some reason I misread as: Che Finkelstein ;-)
But yeah, the French are kicking some Plutocrat ass, but in return they’re getting gassed, beaten, arrested, aimed at with sound cannons (?!), dispersed, and thrown some unidentified small explosive devices too… as what happened to an RT camera-woman on the scene…
RT camerawoman injured amid Paris anti-labor reform protests
https://www.rt.com/news/339072-rt-crew-paris-protests/
^ But hey! Good job they’re just French people protesting against French labor laws instead of a bunch of feral rapefugees molesting anything with a pulse in a large gatherings, otherwise the cornucopia of Human Rights groups would be falling on those ‘waycist’ cops like a tone of bricks :/
-TL2Q
PS; as a side note, Saker wasn’t kidding when he put his money on the French revolting first. We have this anti-labor reform protests, and before them we had pissed-off French farmers too, not that long ago, I may add…
Hi Tl2Q,
A good one is in the making, they have taken already 7 days in protests and they say that tonight people will take the streets.
The people has been provoked to the limit, the thing has an origin previous to the sharp labor reform, the thing started much before. See for yourself.
“Paris is Burning”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prnRMMGq-dk&nohtml5=False
But I can not avoid the feeling that this is exactly the result the elites are looking for, to have an aliby to stablish a state of site or something like.
So, as you see, obviously, some people could be starting getting very nervous, specially bourgueoisie. Perhaps our anon above is one of them. If I were he/she, taking advantage that we are in a cafe, I would take a glass of wine or something harder to take it better.
Always is better take all in life with a bit of humour, after all, money is only that…money.
If you go to Paris, do not miss the Yiddish Sandwich at Finkelstein, but go with hunger, take a look, it´s the best, to go to the riots or wherever:
http://img.over-blog.com/500×375/4/06/73/16/Paris/Boutique-Jaune/bj_sanw03.jpg
http://s3.amazonaws.com/foodspotting-ec2/reviews/1880238/thumb_600.jpg?1339410809
It will be made by some lovely ladies with white aprons, meanwhile, you must go to pay the bill to the old man in the box at the bottom. You can take your drinks there also.
Coffee express is also good.
@ elsi:
“If you go to Paris, do not miss the Yiddish Sandwich at Finkelstein, but go with hunger, take a look, it´s the best, to go to the riots or wherever”
That sounds yummy. And going by the picture, looks like the sandwich has brisket… which is usually marinated for days on end then slow-cooked for hours until it just crumbles…
Nom-noms… no doubt.
I’d love to try that one day.
Good call, elsi! *thumbs-up*
-TL2Q
It is pastrami.
I like also the the cheesecake and Borek of cheese and spinachs.
The truth is that all is delicious there, you can find the best of Ashkenazi gastronomy.
Really worth it
@ elsi:
Not to get too technical about it, but pastrami is now usually made out of brisket ;-)
Best ones are the pastrami made in-house. A chef committed to his craft will make his/her own pastrami. How do I know this? When I’m not reading the news (and that’s like 90% of my free time), I do watch food programs to wind down and keep my sanity :)
-TL2Q
Open thread, huh?
OK, I want to talk about Iran. And the frustration of US ideological/intellectual hegemony . . . even when the US loses, their enemies often then busily set about defeating themselves by things like buying into free trade/globalization economic snake oil.
Which brings us to Iran, and this article:
Rouhani’s “Open-Door” Economic Policy for Iran: Recipe for Indebtedness, Deindustrialization and Dependence
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/01/rouhanis-open-door-economic-policy-for-iran-recipe-for-indebtedness-deindustrialization-and-dependence/
The title pretty much sums it up, but the article goes in depth about the already-starting demise of home-grown Iranian industry as Rouhani and associated elites set about underdeveloping the country so they can be in the US club.
But as the economy goes, so will the politics tend to. How long can Iran stay politically independent, how long can it be a halfway reliable ally for Russia, Syria, China, Hezbollah and so on, if it lets itself be dominated by imperial financial interests?
At the rate things are going, the victory in Syria and the apparent victory of the US-Iran nuke deal and lifting of sanctions, could mask a greater defeat as the Iranian leadership hand the country over to the imperialists for free (or for some crumbs off the exploitation table for themselve personally). Meanwhile in more human terms, Iranians are likely to see ever increasing poverty, insecurity and inequality as the country goes in this direction.
— if it lets itself be dominated by imperial financial interests?
People/countries, underestimating Persians/Iranians’ smartness, suffer later on
That’s cute but meaningless. And Rouhani may well be smart enough to end up with a huge fortune tucked away in the Caiman Islands, while his countrymen suffer for his actions.
Mullah Rafsanjani and his family’s foreign investment in Canada
http://iranzamin2500.blogspot.ca/2007/01/re-mullah-rafsanjani-and-his-familys.html?m=1
No question, Rouhani and backers like Hashemi Rafsanjani, are thoroughly backed by, and indebted to, anglozionists.
Interesting.
This is the kind of reason why it’s usually futile to resist the empire using local elites. Members of local elites will tend to want to get in on the big global elite game, where the real action is, where the profits are highest. But this can only be done by betraying the national project, by undermining the local resistance. So if elite leaders dominate a society, it will roll over to the empire sooner or later, much to the disadvantage of society at large. There has to be at least enough popular power to discard leaders that betray them.
I wouldn’t underestimate the IRG.
@ Purple Library Guy:
“How long can Iran stay politically independent, how long can it be a halfway reliable ally for Russia, Syria, China, Hezbollah and so on, if it lets itself be dominated by imperial financial interests?”
^ See? This was what I was afraid of. [Hence; the reason why I wasn’t so optimistic about the Iranian deal]
Aaaand this is why you can’t trust Oligarchs of any kind, doesn’t matter if they’re Iranian, Russian, American or whatever…
Thanks for the link, Purple Library Guy, btw.
-TL2Q
I’m sorry for the OT. I don’t know of anywhere appropriate to post this where people will see it.
This is a presentation of Professor Penner at MIT on the use of aerosols in the environment to “decrease global warming” . It’s complete w graphs summing experiments some of which she admits are already occurring. I have been trying forever to get people to be aware of the fact that our skies look nothing like they used to look. Where I live (central coast CA) and in several other places I have been aerial spraying (so-called condensation contrails) have been going on for years. The sky looks normal only after a hard rain or terrific winds– and then only till they come & spray again. It takes 20-30 minutes after appearance of the
contrail-producing aircraft for the normal deep-blue sky w beautiful white clouds to be replaced by a powdered-whitish pale blue usually w no clouds at all. It’s easy to look at it & think that it’s just overcast. It’s only when you watch the transition that you become convinced. Anyway here’s the professor. Copy it if you can in case it’s taken down. http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/mit-using-aerosol-injections-for-geoengineering/
I moved your comment to MFC, I think more people will see it here. Mod.
I have seen exactly the same Penelope. Thank you for your crystal clear description.
Unfortunately, fighting global warming is just a pretext. Once accepted, aerosol spraying can be used for much more nefarious purposes.
By their nature, zionists are genocidal. We will not escape their globalist concentration camp until we remove them from power.
I know what you mean. We always had a boat and there were beautiful skies or clouds to see. Never were those awful stripes behind planes on beautiful blue sky summer days, turning into gray the following hours and the next days. I do’nt know exactly when it began, I think the end of the nineties.
A researcher here recently discovered the term being used by professionals and on government level is ALBEDO-management. We know it as chems/chemtrails or geo-engineering. Google it and you find some interesting sites.
I did not see any chemtrails on the beautiful Russian video’s Scott introduced here. So are there no chemtrails in Russia?
chemtrail sky
Thanks for bringing this up, Pen. Links lead to this utterly nefarious Dov, will attach link. My take is the RC on planes is pervasive and has been a long time, same cabal work is chemtrails and 9/11 and other air disasters, the “agenda”. Only thing incomprehensible is how there is never a defector; or if so, he/she simply has no-one to turn to and gets snuffed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XPEz0d1rWI
better than u tube
http://911review.org/brad.com/batcave/Dov_Zakheim_911.html
The toxic lozenge was the migration path for Homo Habilis, who later became Neanderthal. This human subgroup interbred with Cro-Magnon Atlantic (seafaring) peoples who migrated Eastward, after the fourth ice age climate change. Prior to melt water over-running the Bosporus and creating black sea, the Red Sea was only a river. The crossing of these people was on land, and they crossed over water at/around Medina in Today’s Saudi Arabia. Those that understand Islam also know the importance of Medina, and hence it is no accident about genetic proclivities of this regions people.
Neanderthalic people are today’s Semites. They are characterized by high in-group cohesion, high outward violence toward others not of their group, monotheism, and abstract numerical thinking. Their art is geometric and typically they do not create carvings or realistic renderings of the world – hence no graven images; they are intent on one god/father paternalism cultures. Women are always second class in this people group.
The toxic lozenge is a straight narrow path drawn from Kenya to Southern Ukraine. Today, these peoples are genetic mixtures of Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal, and still have vestigal outward characteristics, such as unique skull features, facial features, and wide plantar feet.
Ukrainians, especially remnant neandethalics are genetically similar to Judaics and Middle Eastern Islamics. Not all Ukranians of course, but enough to make them incompatible with the more consensual formerly polytheistic Atlantic Cro-Magnons. Ukraine is a redoubt of Khazarian neanderthalics, so why is there any doubt that today’s Zionists want it back?
http://www.michaelbradley.info/esau/esau-chapter1.pdf
Modern humans are guided by prices and money, much like a fish in water responds to salinity and pressure.
Today’s usury money system is Private bank credit, stock exchange capital, and exchange rates.
This system is a mental construct of Neanderthalic Sephardic Jews who invaded Amsterdam after Vasco de Gama broke the East West Caravan Routes. These caravan routes allowed Jewish and Islamic merchants (across Medina even) to move spices and metal as money.
When former rent scheme of metal money was broken, they invented today’s rental credit schemes. Neanderthal’s high affinity with numbers and counting and their in-group collusion allow today’s modern more trusting Cro-magnon humans to be controlled through debt means.
It is a religious, debt money, and genetic war. Debt money with reserve petrodollars, funnel and pyramid to fund this war.
Atlantic consenual type Cro-Magnons will not survive the more agressive in-group neanderthalics if they are allowed to immigrate in high numbers. Han tribes would be wise to continue their exclusion policies.
Riverine and Sea Faring type Cro-Magnon Russo’s and Slav’s have found ways to control their Neanderthalic elements. Atlantic Cro’s need to wake up and take a page from the Russian playbook.
I have one question: where is Dennis ? his place is reserved at the Cafe.
Question for Saker: any comments about the Patriarch Kirill / Pope Francis meeting in Havana?
Mark,
I seem to remember the Saker already has, er, ‘commented.’
‘Traitor!’
First comment at The Saker: I am an American with a Russian wife. We live in the USA. I am a life-long (since late teens) anarchist with roots in Bakunin, Voline, Ward, and I am deeply interested in the emergence and destiny of Rojava.
As a person residing in the USA, I am acutely aware of the politics being played out. This is my deepest concern and interest from this vantage point:
Will people be emotionally able to deal with it when the real depth of global, and particularly Western, corruption seriously begins stripping away the current systemic tools of protest and resistance and people have to become very strong and creative to keep from being completely overwhelmed by the oligarch tyrannical power? Sanders offers some hope in the domestic domain, but he plays right into the oligarch global agenda with his support of privately-owned major means of production and his foreign policy. What he is currently offering does not address this larger and inevitable problem. When this became obvious in a Sanders Presidency, I think the primary problem would be the inability of masses of people to be able to process it and resist it in a coherent, effective and necessarily creative way. There needs to be preparation for that now. And I am concerned that people are letting themselves become euphoric and detached from reality by their transference of personal identity into the Sanders collective identity. They are in fact weakening themselves, not strengthening themselves, by doing this. They will not be prepared. And we already know that the Hillary supporters and the Republican candidate supporters are hopeless in relation to this approaching crisis. So how will we avoid merely chaotic revolt and paranoid support of the oligarchs by terrified citizens when this inevitable problem begins to become the concrete immediate reality?
My wife has considered our moving back to Russia as a preferable place to be as all this unfolds. But wherever we live, it will ultimately be the same world confronted with the same looming nightmarish challenges.
@Arian: I too, am an American, born 1940. One important thing I discovered back in my anti-establishment , anti-Viet Nam, War-Pro Civil Rights days (I saw Malcolm X speak) was to Never-Ever trust politicians! Even by 1964, I realized I was living in a Corpratocracy run by hidden Oligarchs and the Military Defense system which thrives on War-no matter what size.
These creatures combined with 100s of thousands of entrenched technocrats in the Executive Branch(Article 2 Of the US constitution) now have some 3Million workers who never were elected!!
This can be called the DEEP STATE–now with too many neocons.
My point: These silly puppet to be –presidential candidate nothings– can do nothing but follow the inertia of THE EMPIRE. And THE EMPIRE looks shaky. Reality is a brute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RD-ISImWgw&feature=em-share_video_user
Such has always been the case with empires…sooner or later..
‘Russians Reading Classics, Not Contemporary Literature Out Of Fear Of Putin (according to The Guardian ):
https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=2&hl=en&nv=1&rurl=translate.google.com&u=http://news-front.info/2016/04/09/iz-za-straxa-pered-putinym-marina-yudenich/&usg=ALkJrhjvyhQ76NgKW_K–N4FwcowQNk5xA
Scary stuff.
What if Vlad the Bad catches you in the park reading Harry Potter instead of Gorky?
Will you plead a mental age of ten to avoid an adult sentence?
Haha, make that
Russians Reading Classics, Not The Guardian Out Of Fear Of Putin.
It’s stupidity almost bordering on criminal neglect on the part of The Guano to botch such really golden opportunities of immense self-promotion.
Putin: your enemies are going from strength to strength. Stay strong!
April 19
Check out what these evil war-financing hypocrites are up to—right after Palmyra was liberated, but many of its mllennial architecture destroyed & artifacts plundered (like Iraq/mesopotamia), they have this planned:
On April 19, 2016, in cooperation with national and international cultural heritage preservation organizations, and in conjunction with World Heritage Week 2016, the Institute for Digital Archaeology will install a monumental scale reconstruction of Palmyra’s Triumphal Arch on Trafalgar Square.
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/april-19-temple-of-baal-in-new-york-is-going-up-same-day-the-blood-sacrifice-to-the-beast-begins
The following list of events that have happened on or around April 19th comes from Vigilant Citizen…
April 19, 1993 – Waco Massacre: An FBI assault lead to the burning down of the compound of a sect named Branch Davidians, killing 76 men, women and children.
April 19, 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing – 168 people killed.
April 20, 1999 – Columbine High School Massacre – 13 people murdered, 21 injured.
April 16, 2007 – Virginia Tech Massacre – 32 killed; 17 injured.
April 16, 2013 – Boston Marathon Explosions – 3 killed; 107 injured.
In addition, let’s not forget that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot to death on April 19th, and the explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon took place on April 20th.
BTW, Hitler’s birthday was April 20.
The European restaurant-café photos displayed here reminded me of something exhilarating from good old times!
It is 23 May 1938, restaurant “Atlanta” in Rotterdam, Nederland.
Legendary Soviet intelligence lieutenant general Pavel Sudoplatov (Павел Анатольевич Судоплатов, 1907-1996, aptly nicknamed “Stalin’s Terminator”), using a charming “gift box of chocolates from Kiev”, blows to Kingdom Come the leader of the “OUN”, the notorious fascist “Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists” (whose progeny are today’s fascist Kiev factions), Yevhen Konovalets, whose Earthly remains fly through the restaurant window :-)
Don’t miss the first couple of minutes of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bJfKxhRTZY , has English subtitles.
Thanks for the link and the story.
Qué vuelva Pavel!
@ elsi
The entire 4-part series “Диверсанты/Subversives” is at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB6oym9r5uU&index=2&list=PLhuA9d7RIOdbia3wsqsHxcCTVwebFo3RB
There are many other most interesting Russian docudramas, documentaries and historical reconstructions, by Star Media and by others. Among those with English subtitles, or just in English:
“Открытый Космос/Open Space” (history of Soviet cosmonautics, 4 parts)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=EL6geumGTjnE0
“Война в Корее/The Korean War” (4 parts)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=EL_wBInZa5_upa8qwPKm1rGw
“Soviet Storm: World War II — In The East” (in English, 18 parts)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhuA9d7RIOdaJ8jAIBVwV3ToGxzo3AK0h
(The same in Russian, “Великая Война” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDzq67FM0kg&list=PLhuA9d7RIOdZW5GMDfDzPZSIffFYUogL-)
Etc.
*
And there are a very great number of exceptionally interesting documentaries that are only in Russian. For instance.
Did you know that on the very threshold of World War II Britain and France decided to bomb the Soviet Union – specifically, the vast oil fields of the Caucasus – Baku in particular, to devastate Stalin’s oil industry? Bombing that would have burnt alive an incredible number of people in those fields. It was only Hitler’s conquest of France in June of 1940 that stopped the French participation. And yet, Britain’s bombers in Africa were just about to fly on their bombing of Baku, when Britain learned of Hitler’s invasion of USSR in June of 1941.
Just imagine: Hitler’s invasion of USSR renders British imminent bombing of USSR unnecessary!
The 2012 documentary “Черная кровь” (Black Blood) reveals this based on declassified secret diplomatic correspondence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC7ezpt4SrM
http://www.tvc.ru/channel/brand/id/1725
Thanks for the info !
Thanks a lot, Sergey, I do not know when I will have the time to see all these videos, for you can have for sure that I will do it.
I did not know even about the existence of Pavel Sudoplatov.
Are there other intelligence officials who were noteworthy and who remained always loyal to the USSR/ Russia? Or there is any book about this?
I would like to know about their doings ( I like a lot to know about their nicknames also ).
@ elsi
check
/moveable-feast-cafe-2016-04-09/comment-page-1/#comment-228654
(formatting would be too narrow here).
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/09/459940/US-North-Korea-missiles/
The United States has censured North Korea over ‘destabilizing’ the region with what Washington has described as Pyongyang’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) program.
“We have seen the reports of North Korea’s claims to have developed new engine technology for its ICBMs,” said a statement by State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner.
Spot the difference:
http://www.e-forwards.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/North-Korea-funny-missiles.jpg
http://orig10.deviantart.net/f52e/f/2013/048/3/7/coyote_rocket_by_mreiof-d5va4sl.jpg
Dear Saker, sorry for of topic I have just one wish. Today is 75 years of creation of NDH Croatian Nazi state and monstrous killing of Serbs. If possible you should write about it to the world so they know. They are same to us as nazi Ukranian freaks to Russia. With most respect. Dan
Dan, I moved your comment to MFC, I think this is a better place for it. Mod.
“Sanders homecoming: New York native returns to old neighborhood days before primary (VIDEO)”
https://www.rt.com/usa/339040-sanders-new-york-saturday/
Read all till below to find news about “The Butcher of Benghazi” .
Elsi,
that last link with the photo of Hillary Clinton standing next to the Butcher is brilliant!! Maybe next time she’ll pose with blood on her hands…or maybe get herself the same apron with her name on it ..
“Crowds march in London to demand Cameron resignation following Panama Papers leak (IMAGES)”
https://www.rt.com/uk/339026-london-protest-cameron-resign/
“(…)Cameron said he sold the shares for around £30,000 (US$42,000) in 2010, four months before becoming PM.
On Saturday Cameron said that this week wasn’t great. “I know that I should have handled this better, I could have handled this better. I know there are lessons to learn and I will learn them.”
Hmmm….that reminds me of something……
“King Juan Carlos apologizes for hunting elephants in Botswana”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTd5IRa_eVg
“#ResignCameron protest: ‘Main charge against PM is hypocrisy’ “
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/339064-cameron-protest-panama-papers-london/
“Britain is the heart and soul of tax evasion”
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/338961-cameron-tax-haven-uk-evasion/
Ratz jumping ship … now for some 5-star panama funded Zio-villa on a choice plot of stolen Palestinian land.
“After weeks of political crisis in Kiev, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has announced his long-expected resignation.
Yatsenyuk made his decision public on Sunday in a televised address, saying he would formally submit his resignation to parliament on Tuesday.”
https://www.rt.com/news/339119-ukraine-pm-yatsenyuk-resigns/
The rats abandon ship:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36010511
Let us redact this article:
From the parallel narrative department of the current universe: “Pro US State Department flunky Ukrainian Prime Minister , Arseiy Yatsenyuk, also fondly referred to as “Yats” by his language impaired American handlers has announced he will flee to his bank account nest egg in Reno, NV. USA next week, blaming other politicians’ failure to completely help him rob and subjugate the Ukrainian people and to convince the rest of the world that this is a “good thing”.
Yats in office since former pro Russian and duly elected President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in February 2014 by a classically orchestrated CIA-US State Department coup said he would flee for his life and be out of the country by next Tuesday if Lady Luck was still minimally on his side.
The current President, Petro Proshenko, tried to dump him in February offering him up to enraged Nazi supporters as blood sacrifice in lieu of himself.
His government has been accused of gross incompetence and of helping other oligarch’s to shamelessly rob the World Bank with no return on its investment in sight since the Ukrainian people are currently penniless and starving and unable to flee to the EU.
Now, the Azov and Aidar battalions have an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that they are not the “death squads” of Big Money in the US and EU stopping him from fleeing and taking him responsible to court for the looting and destruction of the Ukraine.
People of the Ukraine, remember how in the beginning of his finger appointed mandate, this financial wizard flew all the Ukrainian gold to the US!
People of the Ukraine, rise up and catch the thief, to not scape!
T 13 thanks for the excuse to bring some music into the cafe!
Reno can be a very rough town. Yats may discover that he is like a moth drawn to the lights that spell his end. Reminds me of this portion of the lyrics of a CW song:
Scared money bad whiskey
There ain’t no way to win
This ain’t the first time
It’s the way it’s always been
You know the Lady’s a lot like Reno
She ain’t got a heart
And she don’t care when your down
Just like the lights of a casino
She’ll pull you in
And play with you awhile
But there ain’t no way to win
I know, she’s a lot like Reno
They’re both out to break you
Take everything you got
When you finally win the hand
There ain’t nothing in the pot
Full song: https://youtu.be/0GmbEn6iza8
Or Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues https://youtu.be/bDktBZzQIiU
When I was just a little boy
My mama told me, “Son,
Always be a good boy
Don’t ever play with guns.”
But I shot a man in Reno
Just to watch him die………….
For the military-minded folks:
http://russia-insider.com/en/su-25-attack-helicopters/ri13814
This may be way, way too untasteful but it reflects my heartfelt sentiments about “Yats”—the song “Another One bites the dust”
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Another+one+bites+the+dust+song&pc=MOZI&form=MOZSPG
US directly involved in Yemen war: Analyst
So, even though the arms sales enable the Saudis to do what they’re doing, the US is actually involved in the target identification and acquisition aspect, and so they are directly involved as well.
That’s sort of analogous to all of the other arms sales by the US to the Saudis, for example if you look at the fact that Daesh and some of the other terrorist groups operating in Iraq and in Syria end up with US arms,
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/08/459687/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-US-DeBar/
Just realized this could be what the Qatar B-52s have just moved in for.
This is an escalation, not the opposite.
Could these criminal SOBs be so arrogant & reckless to try to—Bomb a ‘path’ into Syria for some group (not necessarily the Saudis).
Sun Apr 10, 2016 3:56
Egyptian Political Analyst: Ground Incursion into Syria to Cut Short Saudi Regime’s Life
TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Egyptian political analyst and journalist underlined that Saudi Arabia’s ground military incursion into Syria would expedite the Saudi regime’s fall in the near future.
“Saudi Arabia cannot play an effective role in Saudi Arabia with its incompetent army,” Youssef Hassan said.
He reiterated that Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Syria will only contribute to the collapse of that regime in the near future, and said, “Saudi Arabia’s performance in Syria is a fiasco.”
“Tens of billions of dollars of costs supplied by Saudi Arabia to the ISIL, Al-Nusra Front and Al-Qaeda have failed to help Saudi Arabia, and its proxy war in Syria with the help of terrorists is facing a tragic defeat now,” Hassan added.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950122000947
I wanted to know your favorite russian literature books, like the alltime classics Tolstoi for example. Of course also not from the Saker or Scott, but from anyone :-)
My friend Arkady tells me that Leskov is best, but I’m for Tolstoy. Arkady put me onto Resurrection as his most popular novel in Russia, though not well known outside. It is a revelation.
The Death of Ivan Illyich by Leo Tolstoy is one of the most important classic short stories about death and dying ( he has the five stages made known by Kubler-Ross) and having been in the medical field for 20 years I can assure you that he has the universal psychology of every character down to a T..
I loved Dostoyevsky when younger and would recommend anything by him. Yevgeny Zamyatin who wrote SF and political satire and inspired George Orwell is another favourite worth looking into.
Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, one of the great 20th century novels – must read this again –
for the military minded, Memoirs by Grigorenko- must read this again –
for the musically minded, Testimony by Shostakovitch – in process of –
There are so many, I have made lists here before of some of my favourite books from Mother Russia’s twentieth century gold mine of writings, many of which were first published in the West and were still completely unknown of by young students in Russia even until the 1980’s . . .
pfb
I recommend reading the traditional Russian Fairy Tales (Folk Tales). There are collections recorded by folklorist Alexander Afanasyev (1826-1871). Look for editions beautifully illustrated by Ivan Bilibin, a famous Russian illustrator. These are not merely entertaining childrens’ fantasy stories, but very old traditional tales that were handed down orally from generation to generation to convey the deep and timeless wisdom at the roots of folk-culture.
k
Thanks for that. Alexander Afanasyev is new to me but I’ve just ordered a collection mainly for the stunning illustrations.
Yes they are gorgeous.
Remind me of Edmund DuLac in their exquisite detail and ornamentation.
Why doesn’t some entrepreneurial spirit do decks of playing cards – some limited edition – with classic Russian illustrations (including folk)?
They’d sell like hotcakes.
A gorgeous Russian animated film ‘The Frog Princess’ from 1954 clearly takes inspiration from classic Russian illustration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIsAwnot_RE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
While slightly old news, anyone who thought that the anti-Putin russophobia, spouted through its public broadcaster the CBC, might tone down with Canada’s new government will be disappointed. The latest scandalous tale of political indiscretion is all Putin’s fault apparently:
Sex tape scandal was work of Putin, says Russian political activist exposed in video
“Natalia Pelevina says Russian president ordered FSB to record her and fellow Putin opponent having sex”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russian-sex-tape-1.3526425?cmp=googleeditorspick&google_editors_picks=true
From what I read of the comments though they appear on balance pro-Putin and to lean more against the CBC and the West in general rather than Russia.
Zakharova makes a vivid metaphor combined with a wry understatement: her comment on the Dutch “no-vote”:
Maria ZAKHAROVA, Director of Information and Press Department of the MFA of Russia: For political science and the study of contemporary international relations, this is an incredibly curious moment. The only thing that is deeply regrettable is that this experiment is being conducted on the live, non anesthetized body of the Ukrainian people.
Whadda you know—maybe Vlad really does need some version of Homeland Security like what is exactly being planned.
Some are even calling it his praetorian guard, but the numbers I saw look kinda big for that, even for an emperor.
I just hope he picks an original name. The Romans wore out that Maximus thing.
Three men, including at least one bomber, have attacked a rural police station in southern Russia, the Interior Ministry says.
The incident took place on Monday in Novoseletsky village in the southern Stavropol region, which is located near the North Caucasus area.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/11/460217/Russia-Novoseletsky-Stavropol-North-Caucasus-Kremlin/
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/10/459985/US-planning-first-strike-China/
‘US planning nuclear first strike attack on Russia or China’
An American anti-war activist and journalist says that the THAAD missile deployment in South Korea proposed by the United States, is part of a US plan to launch a nuclear “first strike” attack on Russia or China.”
Bruce Gagnon, the coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday, after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the United States will go ahead with the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea despite Chin
The Egyptian government has handed over the ownership of disputed Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia amid strong objection from several former officials as well as the Muslim Brotherhood.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/10/460015/Egypt-Tiran-Sanabis-Saudi-Arabia/
says Egypt blocked this strait in 1955 as a buildup to the1956 Suez Crisis w/Nasser.:
https://akashma.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/tiran-and-sanafir-island.jpg
Even taken from a MSM perspective, the Panama hack has blown up in the face of the ruling groups, because everything is open to question now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1-JCf1P8o8&nohtml5=False
@ elsi
(Re.: /moveable-feast-cafe-2016-04-09/comment-page-1/#comment-228485
“… Are there other intelligence officials who were noteworthy and who remained always loyal to the USSR/ Russia? …”)
The famous Soviet intelligence agent who immediately comes to mind is colonel Gevork Andreevich Vartanian (Геворк Андреевич Вартанян, 1924-2012; pseudonym “Amir” (Амир)), Hero of the Soviet Union, who is credited with preventing the elaborate Nazi triple assassination attempt on Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt at the Tehran conference in November 1943.
When he died at the age of 87 in Moscow, Putin himself attended his funeral and paid respects to his widow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GYx1ocNuKo .
Incidentally, his wife, Goar Levonovna Vartanian (b. 1926), whom he married in 1946, was also a Soviet intelligence agent (since 1942). They worked throughout their careers as a highly efficient husband-wife intelligence team!
His professional biography, well documented in Russian wikipedia ( https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Вартанян,_Геворк_Андреевич ), reads as a true spy thriller!…
(Only a small portion of it all is in English wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gevork_Vartanian .)
Here is an excerpt (my translation):
… After a number of European countries, the Vartanians went to the place of their main work in Southern Europe. Their main illegal base for many years was Italy, from where the Vartanians periodically went to a number of countries to fulfil their intelligence tasks [25].
During the first five years, the couple went on to legalize themselves, establish business, grow the right connections, establish themselves as affluent, exquisitely dressed and wearing tasteful jewellery, able to provide favours, give advice and recommendations of economic character; many have turned to Gevork Andreyevich with questions on investing money [26][11]. Then the Vartanians focused on how to create a circle of friends, which would include influential people through which they could gain access to sources of information, and were gradually integrated into the environment close to the circles of military and political officials, businessmen and journalists. Sociability, external openness, elegant and expensive suits, courtesy visits to ambassadors and diplomats, Caucasian sense of humor, an exceptional talent for improvisation in the conversation, the emotional attitude towards people, and in an number of cases – the ability to present a gift, to help with money, “offer hospitality at the right time”, to say the right words, to offer work [27] helped Gevork Andreyevich the opportunity to win any interlocutors. As recalled Vartanian, his marital status significantly increased the respectability and enhanced his ability to gather intelligence: according to a widespread in Southern Europe etiquette, to many closed private events (dinners, dinners, cocktails, parties) with the participation of high-ranking and influential individuals (especially archbishops and cardinals) it was possible to get the invitation strictly if accompanied by the spouse; the appearance at the evening of a lone middle-aged gentleman asking a lot of questions, would have been perceived as bad manners [17].
All subsequent years Gevork and Goar Vartanian worked together under the pseudonyms of “Henri” and “Anita”, not allowing a single failure, and have never been arrested anywhere [28].
During years 1975-1979 the Vartanians worked in Italy, providing Soviet intelligence information about the southern flank of NATO. Occupying a rather high position in society, they were acquainted and talking with the Commander in Chief of NATO in Southern Europe the American Admiral C. Turner, with the Italian cabinet ministers, with the Italian President Giovanni Leone, and in their field of vision came the media mogul Silvio Berlusconi who was starting his political career. Vartanian recalled:
I could move about at the top of the government — where the information is, and where those from whom it was possible to get information are. Thanks to that government, many people knew me, and if I would appear in another country, there would be known what my status was… Why is it good for an illegal to have a personal business? Because he is then free, his own master. When you serve others, work in some office from morning to 6 in the evening — your options are limited, and the right connections hard to come by. But when your own a business you are free, travelling on business all over the world… Our means justified our existence, our position, and all connections, and so on. How they accept you is based on which position you occupy. You cannot be the underdog in any establishment, and then suddenly climb to the top… Who would then need you, who you would be friends with you? [21]
The Vartanians were granted Italian citizenship and passports, allowing them without problems to travel the world. On instructions of the illegal intelligence, the couple occasionally travelled to the United States, using the assistance of unsuspecting American naval officers, and once they even made a flight to the USA on Turner’s plane [29]. In many cases, the results brought contacts that had lasted for decades: so, in the USA Gevork Andreevich, according to Goar Vartanian, managed to recruit a responsible employee of the CIA, whom he had known since childhood, buying the boy gifts [30].
In the spring of 1978 in Rome during a police operation against the “Red Brigades”, who kidnapped and then killed a retired Prime Minister of Italy Aldo Moro, a policeman inspecting the car of Vartanian (who was confidentially trying to establish a dialogue with the kidnappers and save Moro) accidentally forgot it its trunk his automatic rifle, which was subsequently discovered at the next police post, almost creating a trouble for Vartanian. Vartanian himself related this anecdotal case in an interview to “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” [11].
By the early 1980s, the Vartanians had to prepare for a new location and to urgently learn German. To this end they were temporarily recalled to the USSR, where they studied the language for eight hours a day, mastering German in 8 months. The couple completed their intelligence activities in West Germany. In this country was the main bridgehead of NATO, and here was stationed the most powerful armed force of the block. American strategists, fearing from receiving from the USSR a retaliatory nuclear strike on its territory, decided to place medium-range ballistic missiles in West Germany. In three missile operating bases deployed were 108 launchers for missiles “Pershing-2”. A special risk factor for the USSR was that the flight time of missiles “Pershing-2”, from the starting positions in the wooded areas of Bavaria to objects in the center of the European part of the Soviet Union, was only 8-10 minutes, making them an extremely dangerous weapon of first strike. Vartanian managed to recruit or to make the acquaintance of a number of senior military officials who had information about the organization, strength, deployment and armaments of NATO forces, their combat training, the equipment of the theatre of operations, location and construction plans of the positions of medium-range missiles and storage of nuclear weapons. The efforts of politicians, diplomats and intelligence agents, including the Vartanians, contributed to the December 1987 signing by the leaders of the USSR and the USA of the Treaty on the elimination of intermediate-range and short-range missiles [31][13][32][21][33].
Altogether the Vartanians acquired the secret information about several bases of the NATO in Europe — first of all, in Italy, Greece and Germany. Gevork Andreevich was friends with officers from different intelligence services in the world, but for them he was just an Iranian businessman, or a Spanish journalist. He was lucky, he has not encountered a traitor on his path, the always alert intelligence agent has never ran risk of being exposed. High professionalism allowed the Vartanians 30 years of illegal work using intellectual and analytical methods, without the use of weapons or threats. Concern on the part of the Center, always carefully protecting one of the best Soviet spies, sometimes brought him trouble: in an interview, Vartanian, who usually avoided geographical references, mentioned a trouble he had with the intelligence residency in West Berlin, when, for fear of exposure, his extra cautious colleagues almost took him forcibly to Moscow [21].
During their work abroad Vartanians visited about a hundred countries. Periodically the spouses were recalled to the USSR, where they mastered new methods of operational illegal work, took linguistic training; every few years they went on a vacation to Armenia [31]. The main conspiratorial activity of the spouses-intelligence agents for the 30 post-war years was concentrated in several tens of countries, including Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, USA, Japan, Syria and Lebanon, and through the rest of the countries Goar and Gevork Vartanian only passed [34][21][10][35][16].
In 1986, Gevork and Goar Vartanian eventually completed illegal activity abroad and returned to the USSR, all their property consisting of only two travel suitcases [10]. …
***
Some photos: https://yandex.ru/images/search?text=геворк андреевич вартанян&stype=image&lr=103347&noreask=1&source=wiz
***
P.S. Concerning Sudoplatov. Video in Russian: “Who are you, general Sudoplatov” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBowdp6nEG8&nohtml . One of the many Russian videos about him – unfortunately all without English subtitles. As you know, Stalin died in March 1953, and it was five months later that Sudoplatov was arrested on the revisionist (and perhaps even Stalin’s murderer) Khrushchev’s directive and sentenced to spend the following 15 years in prison…)
Sergey! Thanks a lot for this report!
I loved to know about this comrade Vartanian ( he has the same first name as an old friend ), his heroic doings, and also loved to know about the tandem he formed with his wife. And since I am seeing that she is still alive, I can imagine how it could be being her daughter, or her grand-daughter and be able to hear her stories, oh!….fascinating! OMG, how I would like to talk to this woman! And their destination mission, in Iran, oh the Middle East!, my favourite destination….
Comrade, is it that you love also this world of “foreign intelligence”?
I feel that I love it, but, since some time ago, and by the experience in this blog, where I have no doubt some intelligence operatives are deploying their intrigues, I sometimes ( well almost all the time lately ) feel disgusted feeling that I can trust almost nobody.
But I know, and the story about Comrade Vartanian confirms this, that would be really exciting and great to be able to form your own trusted team and achieve the essential goals you have been entrusted with.
Although it is a hided job that almost never is rewarded and recognized except for your direct manager and perhaps only when you have already died, this, precisely, is what makes this job so beautiful, because those who perform it, clearly do not do it in hope of any reward apart from benefiting their own country.
Where are you from, comrade? It is since not so long that I have seen you around here….
Oh, wait! Comrade Vartanian, in this excerpt you have translated, Sergey, is saying that one must be married to be a good foreign agent? ….. OMG! Give me a break!
I would had never thought … rather thought otherwise would make things easier …..for to be ready for depart anytime without having to give many explanations….
To marry and attend receptions at embassies as vase woman with my new husband was not what I had always dreamed of … I think I get along better with the people from the mountains …..Bedouins and people like that ….
In any case, I would like to hear any other opinion about this from another comrade who has worked in the foreign service ( V.V.Putin? ) and if in the end is essential, ok, I will get married, but have to be a nice guy who let me loose the reins well ….. otherwise it will not work.
“… Vartanian … is saying that one must be married to be a good foreign agent …”
No, that is not what Vartanian is saying, not at all.
The exact statement was, again, quote:
“As recalled Vartanian,his marital status significantly increased the respectability and enhanced his ability to gather intelligence: according to a widespread in Southern Europe etiquette, to many closed private events (dinners, dinners, cocktails, parties) with the participation of high-ranking and influential individuals (especially archbishops and cardinals) it was possible to get the invitation strictly if accompanied by the spouse; the appearance at the evening of a lone middle-aged gentleman asking a lot of questions, would have been perceived as bad manners.”
He was referring specifically to the traditional cultural milieu of the conservative circles of the countries of Southern Europe in which he moved, at that particular time.
A simple statement of true fact. Unrelated to whether anyone likes, dislikes, approves or disapproves of the fact.
I had understood, Sergey, only trying to do a bit of humour, how serious you get….
I liked a lot your post. A pity those videos in Russian, still I do not know the language, only two or three words like, i.e,
Spasiba!
ne serdites’.
“… I will get married, but have to be a nice guy who let me loose the reins well …”
I am afraid, it wouldn’t work. Age shouldn’t be a problem (I’m still 75; you are not older?), but you are a Catholic and so…
Well, I am not a Catholic, but of Catholic upbringing, which is not the same.
I do not practice any religion and at the same time all of them, because I try always to be good people, only what I find the most difficult is to turn the other cheek.
I like to hear what have to say religious people of all religions, especially those who are very pious and fulfill what they preach. Those who do not deserve to me any respect are those of the modality “praying to God and hitting with the hammer” which in this blog there are some, those who are able to recite the scriptures every few minutes, but then they have a lot of prejudices against too much people in the world ( Communists, Jews, well, come on, what more? ).
Well, Sergey, last night I went to bed a bit worry after reading your response, thinking that perhaps it would not be so good idea traveling to Russia as I was planning to do, since the Russians I am meeting here seem to have very little sense of humor and I was wondering if in the end will not be this the overall trend, Although, I do not know why, but I find difficult to believe. Anyway I am already a little afraid.
Age would not be a problem, at least to be friends first of all, I guess we are not in a hurry, are we? I wonder if you have more stories on spies to tell me, that will be a good hook to retain me hearing you for hours……and if, at the same time, you can teach me the Russian language I think that could be a good deal.
Show me all the secrets of the foreign service and we’ll see…..
@ elsi
An interesting book for you to read would be “By Way of Deception” by former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky. From a reader’s review on amazon.com:
“… Most of the book focuses on how the Mossad pick and train their agents, along with the author’s experience with the training methods. It also touches upon the politics and foreign relationships within the intelligence community. The last part of the book details several missions of the Mossad from an insider’s perspective. This gave real insight into details often missed when reading newspapers (often manipulated by the intelligence community). …”
It has one valuable message (my reason for mentioning the book). If one could very roughly summarise it … “for others you are what you say that you are” (barring obvious contradictions etc.)… Or to state the same from the other end: people are not necessarily what they say they are or appear to be. Ostrovsky gives examples of how this is exploited “professionally” (in Part I of the book).
As for far simpler examples, one need not look any further than any “blog” where people use “nicks”. Such as this particular one :-)
Oh yes, the book, a free copy, pdf format: http://vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres11/OSTROVbywayofdecep.pdf
:-) :-) :-)
P.S. forgot to sign the above…
Well, Sergey, I was thinking more in the Soviet school of foreign service.
In any case, I guess this gentleman who left the Mossad because he did not like their expeditious methods, also has interesting things to say.
So, thank you very much for the book, I will read it.
P.S: I was reading about the author and the book and have read that in the Mossad training camp is also located the summer residence of Israeli Prime Minister……. I had no idea, but…… if you have to spend at least three years there, well, vaya tres veranitos!, no?
@ elsi
“thank you very much for the book”
You are indeed welcome, elsi.
“I was thinking more in the Soviet school of foreign service”
And I was also thinking about “blogs” – including this particular “blog”. We can not possibly know who is actually behind mere “nicks”, can we. And. in the final analysis, even behind the entire setup.
Best regards to you.
instead of having sterile, sectarian arguments about Stalin-Trotsky-Lenin etc. why not spend some energy figuring this one out?
http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/04/bausman-and-fraud-at-russia-insider.html
Or do we want to degenerate into labeling each other and roaring “off with their heads” and “the ends justify the means” or sweet words to that effect?