The Kremlin reports:
Vladimir Putin had a working meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev talked about the establishment of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs.
The issue of extending the current discount price of natural gas for Ukraine was also discussed.
* * *
PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Mr Medvedev, you and I have had many discussions concerning the importance of closer coordination on matters that are particularly significant for a nation like ours. I am referring to ethnic policy. Such structures have existed at various times within central government agencies. Right now, we are getting requests to create such an agency, primarily from ethnic republics, to help people in the regions coordinate with the central Government and between one another.
I know that the Government has also worked on these issues and passed a corresponding draft executive order. How do you assess the ideas that emerged during the discussion with your colleagues in the Government?
PRIME MINISTER DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Mr President, indeed, in accordance with your instructions and a wide range of ideas and suggestions we received from the regions, we have prepared a draft executive order on creating a special agency – the Agency for Ethnic Affairs – for submission to the President.
If the Executive Order is signed, this Agency should be part of the Government structure and provide coordination in addressing challenges related to ethnic issues. Naturally, not all of them, because some of the matters are being resolved by other agencies, but its task would be to formulate the common foundations of ethnic policy, as well as work with government programmes in ethnic affairs, tackling complex problems, including ethnic and faith-based issues, and resolving various conflicts that sometimes occur in a nation as large and complex as ours.
Therefore, we suggest that this compact agency should have relatively few staff. We will see how it works, and I hope it will be able to resolve these difficult challenges pertaining to ethnic issues in our country.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good. I will read this draft today and sign a corresponding Executive Order. I very much expect that the Government will work closely with the Presidential Executive Office and give this matter significantly more attention. Especially since these issues certainly merit greater efforts in everything we are doing in this area so that we can take this work to a qualitatively new level. Russia is a multi-ethnic nation, home to over 100 ethnic groups, and certain matters are a cause for concern.
We know how issues pertaining to culture, literature and publications in ethnic languages were dealt with in the past. Unfortunately, much has been lost in recent times. Therefore, we certainly have an obligation not only to restore everything that was good before, but also, as I already said, to raise this work to a qualitatively higher level.
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: We will try to do this jointly – not as it was done before, but in accordance with modern approaches to resolving ethnic issues.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Ok.
And another issue I want to discuss, which has concerned us fairly often in recent times: our relations with our neighbours – in this case, in the economy and energy sector.
Tomorrow, the discounted energy supplies to Ukraine – in this case, natural gas – will end. I know that Naftogaz of Ukraine has asked Gazprom to extend this discounted package, and Gazprom intended to address the Government Cabinet about this.
Mr Medvedev, how does the Cabinet feel about this request and what do you plan to do?
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Mr President, we received a request from Gazprom that follows from their Ukrainian partners’ request, which essentially boils down to extending the discounted package for the next quarter – in other words, through July 1, for three months.
We feel that currently, the Ukrainian economy is in a fairly difficult position. And although waiving some of the export duties would mean less than optimal results for our budget, under these circumstances, we feel it is possible to support the request from Gazprom and, accordingly, the Ukrainian side. That’s proceeding from the fact that the terms and conditions of the current contract between Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine will be strictly complied with, including the repayment of accumulated debt.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Then let’s do that: we can extend the current conditions for three more months with the understanding that the ultimate gas price for our consumers abroad is, one way or another, connected to oil prices. And oil prices in the global market are quite volatile, so we will need to see what is happening in this area in three months and then make subsequent decisions.
DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Then the Government will issue a resolution to extend the natural gas discount for three more months.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Excellent.
source: http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/23790
Hi Saker,
What is the logic of giving gas discount to ukraine which is openly hostile to Russia. May, here Russia has no other choice. The price is now at some 250 dollars (as wanted by the Ukranian ministers, may be even lower than what was offered to Yanukovich (Yeah oil was higher then)) for 1000 cubic meters. It seems like the Ukranians are in the driving seat here.
How does the price for Ukraine compare with others in the Eurasian union? Is there any advantage in gas price for those countries in the EEU.
You ask too many questions.
Everybody wants from Russia transparency, on other hand EU countries don’t publish data at what price they buy LNG which enters the European ports.
You may find this really strange but prices are not what is apparent. You don’t pay the price that is quoted at the pump and large contracts like this are written years in advance and for many years and the prices are within a band no matter what the market prices are, otherwise you will never have suppliers building infrastructure to deliver products to you to use. In many cases, oil, gas, metals, the prices companies pay to receive the stuff are based on these contracts. The market prices determine only what you can buy in very small amounts. If you try to buy as much as you want, you cant get it like you would think the gold price is so low why not buy a few tons. Well as many have found out, there are excuses.. delays and other odd things happening. Imagine that Russia spent 20 bil to build a pipeline to Europe with gas at like $600.. Then they take the gas prices down to 100 after the pipeline is built.. With Russia holding the bag for that 20 bil in pipelines. That’s why China has not renegotiated prices because they have a contract for 30 years and to build the pipeline to deliver it for 30 years. its part of security.. If prices go to $1000, china will still only pay like under $400 for the gas, depending on where the band is.. Russia would not spend 100 bil to build the pipeline if they would have to sell the gas itself at a loss and eat the cost of the pipeline. You can also buy futures to hedge risks like this but that don’t work for very large amounts over long time frames.
So there are prices AND then there are Prices.. The empire can say we will pay this much, now some might decide to deliver for that price and some are forced to deliver for that price and some will take their products elsewhere.. It happened with Rome and Egypt where rome took over Egypt so they could control the food supply themselves.
Thanks for your summary. I realize it’s a complicated topic, with some items that are held above the highest secret classifications. After all – this involves money.
I do wonder what clauses are placed in these contracts for ‘force majeure’ such as the ‘accidental’ destruction of a major portion of an undersea pipeline.
There was a story that I cant reference about a joint US/candian intel op to allow soviets to steal software that was designed to destroy the compressor turbines that pumped gas from Russia to western Europe. It was the precurser to Stuxnet.
My point is that there must be in place secret codicils to handle the inevitable assault on the newly proposed alternatives to the western colonial construct.
T1 I’ve always assumed that because everyone is vulnerable to destruction of infrastructure that this comprises a measure of protection. That is, its own Mutually Assured Destruction.
I think it’s not that Ukraine is in the driving seat but that Russia has no interest in Ukraine’s simply falling apart – that doesn’t solve anything for Russia. This helps postpone the collapse until warmer weather, perhaps, and the civilians of Ukraine, though badly brainwashed, are still brothers and sisters to Russia. It almost seems as if this summer Russia is going to have to put some serious effort into finding some ways for Ukraine to fall and still land in a way that doesn’t benefit the US.
(I don’t mean to suggest that Russia has been slacking, by the way)
Excellent and precise comment, Grieved.
Of course Russians and Ukrainians are all brothers and sisters – always were – and always will be.
To other contributors to this post who cannot see why Russia acts in this way – do not fall on the dark road travelled by the Western enemies – we must be on the road of compassion, despite the war, as this is key to retaining one’s humanity. War must always end and then it’s learning how to live the peace.
My father’s people were Cossacks come from this area and my grandmother was from the Ukraine. And so they all got along – this is how it should be in a healthy society and let’s pray that Ukrainians DO land in a way that does not benefit the Zionists. BTW forget the US – simply a tool for the Zionists. The US also needs “saving” – but cleaning occurs first.
“forget the US – simply a tool for the Zionists. The US also needs “saving”
How right you are but with the addition that the UK, France, Australia, and Canada have all become “tools” and need “daving” as well.
i think things are going to get much worse…i read, i think pepe’s that 120 men in NAF were killed recently….things are much worse, and russia’s going to have to tolerate much worse or get into the fray in the summer
Russia´s behaviour is inscrutable.
————-
From: Mark Sleboda @MarkSleboda1
Kremlin said to be giving #Ukraine Kiev regime >$100 discount price for gas. How thoughtful. Regime can spend more killing Donbass ppl now
How many votes did Mark Sleboda get in the last Presidential election?
All these know-it-alls who want Russia to conquer Ukraine, to have no relationship with Ukraine, do not have a strategy that fits the future for Russia. It is all about conquering Ukraine.
then Russia has to feed and control 42 million people.
Put a price tag of dead and wounded soldiers for that, and the rubles needed to support those deadbeat Russophobes.
Oh, Mark S. doesn’t want to address that. Nor El Murid nor Strelkov, nor any of the other experts who have the easy victory in their head but don’t know what the reality will be on the ground.
It would be utter catastrophe for Russia. Five years later, Sleboda would be talking Ukrainian at the point of a US rifle.
It may seem incongruous to some people to sell gas to Ukraine, but Donbass sells coal to them.
It is similar to the tactic of treating the Ukie soldiers so tenderly when captured. All those mothers who got their sons back love the Russian-speakers (Putin included).
There are apparently 100,000 young men from Ukraine living in Russia, hiding from the war.
There mothers love Putin.
People with illness who have heating are thankful for gas from Russia.
It is a very useful wedge against the hate spurned by the propaganda machine.
The two nations are not at war with one another. The junta is at war with Russia. It will fall and there will be new leadership and eventually the reality is that Ukraine will not be part of the EU or NATO. That is the goal, and this is part of that strategy.
You actually are very sensible. Real Russians don’t hate Ukrainians, they have too much history. Just because some nutters have taken over the Govt does not mean Putin has to lower himself and behave like those pigs.
I get very annoyed with those who post wanting war, war, war, just like Americans; in this case soft power is the way forward.
Mark sleboda is an American in his attitude. Very full of hate
Why of course,why didn’t I think of that. I guess I’m just too American? All Stalin would have needed to do at the sieges of Stalingrad and Leningrad was to offer Hitler cheaper Soviet oil prices.Instead of using the Red Army to liberate the Soviet peoples.All that “war,war,war” for nothing.When just talking to their nazi “colleagues” with soft power would have done the trick.Such a shame we can’t return to those days and advise the Soviets of their errors in fighting fascism.
@ Uncle Bob 1
Right. And offer to Mr. Hitler not only cheap oil prices to assist him at Leningrad and Stalingrad, but also some warm clothing for his men for the successful siege of Moscow! But no, Stalin wouldn’t do that. Just think about it: those poor German soldiers were human beings too, they and their dear awaiting families were Indo-European brothers and sisters to Russians (or in Christ, or whatever) – but that cruel Stalin hated them so much – and let them freeze… Bad Stalin. Good Putin. Good Medvedev. (Besides, Putin is so smart, and I trust him.)
Haha,yes exactly.Now don’t get me wrong.I believe this struggle is multi-level,with more than one strategy needed.But force to defeat men killing you and your families is a big part of it too.Standing by and burying your children and friends waiting for “soft power” to convince your enemy to stop murdering you is NOT an acceptable plan to follow.How many posters would think it was if it was their children being killed.I know for a fact I’m not one of those that would.
To add to what Uncle Bob and Johan were saying, nobody was arguing that Russia needs to launch a full on attack on Ukraine here.
People like us are simply saying, 26% discount (TWENTY-SIX!), WTF?
The problem on the Saker blog is that too many commenters seems to be too emotionally attached to Putin personally.
A few of us are just arguing that we should always be wary of all politicians. And we ask sensible questions on certain (quite strange) developments.
And then we get called “trolls”.
Charette says “The problem on the Saker blog is that too many commenters seems to be too emotionally attached to Putin personally.”
Can you understand, Charette, that it appears to some of us that too many commenters seem to be too emotionally attached to a simplistic view of the Ukraine, in which every babushka and child are as guilty as Right Sector?
Enough with the “emotionally attached” argument from both of us. We have a difference of opinion and we get nowhere by belittling the opinion of the other, or by assigning stupid motives.
The situation is complex and people can legitimately differ in the priorities given the different factors. Obviously some of us think showing compassion to the Ukrainian population is more important than depriving Ukraine of the discount. Others think the reverse. It’s stupid to assign motives to total strangers, so let’s try not to do that, OK?
“We have a difference of opinion”
why don’t you either:
(i) stop reading the blog
or
(ii) request only pro-Putin posts be posted by mods
Why do you even have an opinion: Russians are now the same consumer oriented sheeple as those in the West – they want “a lucky one” http://rbth.co.uk/articles/2012/03/02/russias_poverty_putins_popularity_14972.html
“Ordinary Russians have a different take, however, agreeing with Napoleon’s dictum: “I don’t want a good general, I want a lucky one.” They see Putin as a winner, in stark contrast to his hapless predecessors Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev, who were losers struggling with low oil prices.
It is, for instance, telling that while the protests in Greece largely reflect economic problems and to some extent the country’s traditional extreme politics, in Russia they are, at least so far, purely political, and began only after widespread accusations of electoral fraud at the parliamentary elections on Dec. 4, 2011. Most Russians remain blithely unaware of the risks to Russia’s economy from its undiversified economy, rampant bureaucracy and corruption, a possible European and global recession, heavy dependence on commodities and the transformational change in energy now underway globally due to shale oil and gas. Nor do they understand that Putin’s pre-election promises of budget largesse simply do not add up and are unsustainable.
Moreover, many buy into Putin’s campaign slogan of stability, little realizing that this is a non-starter meaning stagnation in a globalizing world.
But economic illiteracy and the desire for stability after the turbulent 1990s are not the only reasons many Russians will vote for Putin. To really understand his large support base, it has to be remembered that Russia’s current level of per capita GDP is of very recent coinage. In fact, until the 1990s, there was no such thing as a consumer society anywhere in the former Soviet Union.
It is hard to believe today, but while the privileged of the Soviet era may have had larger apartments and country houses than the rest of the population, even senior communist party officials lacked Western-standard cars, TVs, radios, refrigerators and washing machines. And even this class of people didn’t own their own homes; all property belonged to the state.
Additionally, the special shops for the elite may have offered more than what ordinary people had access to, but they did not offer anything like the range and choice of a normal Western supermarket. Ordinary household items were simply unavailable, forcing generations of Western diplomats, tourists and students to bring their own supplies of plugs, toilet paper and toothpaste.
So while ordinary North Americans and Western Europeans have had decades of experience with all manner of modern conveniences, modern Russians are the first generation who can enjoy the consumer society – a major reason for their ostentatious displays of consumerism.
But at the same time, they also realize all too well its “fragility” in the context of their country’s turbulent history and past. Maintaining the new lifestyle in the 2010s is expensive. Russians who pay a mortgage of a few thousand dollars a month are probably even more vulnerable to downswings in such a very narrowly-based economy than their counterparts in the West. And that is even truer in regions outside Moscow and St. Petersburg, which is where much of the country’s wealth is concentrated. This is just one more reason why the government is hell bent on stability.”
“… A few of us are just arguing that we should always be wary of all politicians. …”
Exactly.
People have the right to have different opinions. Your tone is very off putting, and negative.
ukraine is at war with itself. Trying to drag Russia in. To justify is Russophobia.
Russian polls show that they support the govt approach. There is no appetite for full blown war in Russia. That is what matters. Not what you or I say sitting in our armchairs.
I think Russians don’t want to get involved directly in the civil war,and I don’t think unless they have to,they should.It should be anti-junta Ukrainians,and other volunteers that fight the war.And the latest poll in Russia had 65% of Russians that said they supported Russians that volunteered to fight the junta.
Personally,I’m very attached to Putin.I think he should/will rank as one of the all time best rulers Russia has ever had.But just as with any ruler,one shouldn’t have to agree with them 100% of the time.I agree with him at least 85% of the time.I consider myself very pro-Putin.And yes,you are right.It’s never a good idea to always put all your faith in any politician.I don’t believe Putin would even want that.From what I see he isn’t trying to create a “cult of personality” in Russia.But instead wants a functioning stable modern government.Russia is just lucky to have a man that is beyond doubt one of the most gifted leaders of this century at its helm.As we see daily,few countries today,are that lucky.
This isn’t about hitler or Stalin. Why bring that into it.
Medvedev has said they can extend if the details of the contract including debt are satisfied.
What does this mean?
As we know the debt cannot be paid.
Guest, Russia made the last gas contract conditional upon repaying a part of what is owed. Ukraine receives IMF loans, most of which ends up in oligarchs’ pockets. Terms of the gas contract require them to spend part of it paying down Russian debt.
Ukraine is imposing austerity (pension cuts, end of subsidies) upon the population to enable their repaying earlier IMF loans– or at least that’s the theory. In reality it probably just means there’s more available to steal.
Russia’s insistence upon being paid is just a way to make EU pay for a fraction of what the West has done to Ukraine.
Indeed. Handle things right and when the Junta falls apart and the Ukrainian people are primed to hate everything it stood for, there will be Russia who has been doing their best to be a good neighbour despite everything and the Ukrainians will be thinking “Man, those bastards tried to make us hate Russia’s guts and what did it get us?” and Russia will step in and help with reconstruction and integrate the economies more, and the end result will be a Ukraine much closer to Russia both economically and emotionally.
Well. That’s a rather best-case scenario based on some pretty fancy dancing, but I can see it as a goal.
The two nations are not at war with one another. The junta is at war with Russia. It will fall and there will be new leadership and eventually the reality is that Ukraine will not be part of the EU or NATO. That is the goal, and this is part of that strategy.
I would say the pro-American regime in Kiev is at war with Russia on American behalf.
El Murid , Strelkov want peace for Russia and the rest of the World.Peace will not come if Putin show weakness and retreat like now ,this make neocon in USA to demand more and more from Russia.Kremlin advisors like Sourkov hope to give Novorussija with exchange of reconize from the west Crimea and to have buisness us usual with the West ,but Usa has turn down this option.Putins weaknes give the illusion of USA that will atack Russia first ,without Putin to react ,and because of panic and catastrofe in Russia ,will be a coup in Kremlin like in Beogrand with Milosevits.One decisive and dynamic Russia will calm down many arogant westerns leaders.
Now Russia is financing or forced to finance the Kiev junta. So much for the south stream delays! So much for the EU ‘partners’! Russia have put itself in a weak spot. Kiev and EU can happily exploit Russian gas until the Turk stream is built. Whether or not it is built, better find alternate Asian customers for the entire transit volumes through Ukraine.
Ha ha!
What were (a few others) and I saying a couple days ago, huh? Of course we were all called trolls asking certain questions (Exxon Mobile investments, increased trade between the U.S. and Russia, new space station, Visa and Matercard welcome in Russia, and on and on).
Now
Something stinks in all this… and I increasingly think we’ve been taken for a ride.
Russia will not attack ukraine what for?
If the conflict is frozen that is enough.
Who wants more Refugees coming across the border, not Russia.
Ukraine will crash, and Russia knows it better than anyone.
These statements on public TV are cosmetic to feed into their agenda. People seem to not understand that Russians do not see ukraine people as enemies. They have over 6 million of them in there country. Lots of intermarriage.
As to trade 7% with usa is nothing.
Russia has more trade with Poland and the Baltics!!!!
It doesn’t matter how the Russian people see Ukrainians.It only matters how Ukrainians see Russians.Under the junta,the 80+% Ukrainians that saw Russia as a friend is now 50-%.And daily the Ukrainians are fed for 24/7 of more propaganda about the “evil Moskals”,and the numbers drop further.Because the Ukrainians are losing support for the junta doesn’t mean they are supporting Russia more.The two are not the same.Only an end to the anti-Russian propaganda,and a re-education campaign in the schools and media will change that.The anti-Russian propaganda that built up the nazis and support for a maidan was carried out for over 20 years in their schools and through their media without there being a junta.The fall of the junta is not enough to change that.Only the liberation and uprooting of fascism in the schools and media can change that.
I disagree with your “only”, and support the soft power advocates. Putin has succeeded in averting a fullscale conflagration, such as we now see in Yemen, by considering the enormity of chaotic events on Russia’s border. So, I praise his efforts to tamp down the fires of war.
The greater good will be served by compassion towards the ordinary population which is not involved in the internal struggle except as it tries to survive. This is a general tactic the West has not pursued in the interest of its own and other ordinary populations, fixed as it has become on issues of plutocracy. The people are not being brought into the equation, and the situation is becoming a desperate one. My hope is that the most desperate are the plutocrats, and that they will not succeed in turning the entire world into a cauldron of conflagration.
It needs steady hands at the helm and constant reminders of the normalities of civilization. Otherwise we are all lost. It is utterly stupid to advocate confrontational tactics in this perilous situation.
Charette, All of the items which you find so suspicious are merely things which benefit Russia as well. Trade, for example. I’m sure you can see that trade benefits both parties; otherwise it doesn’t occur.
“… Something stinks in all this… …”
None so blind as those who will not see.
A lot of people are upset that Russia can give some discount to Ukraine. One must understand that what is at stakes is nearly all Ukraine.
It’s doubtful that the current government will last long. Sooner or later, there will be an uprising, because no one can accept such a stupid (and fast) destruction of the infrastructure. Then, a lot of these people currently anti-Russian will turn to Russia for help, and they will badly need help.
Russia certainly considers Ukraine as a part of the “Russky Mir” temporarily occupied and will do everything to lighten the burden of the Ukrainian people.
@Henon
There may be an uprising. Will it matter then? Even now a lot people who are unsatisfied with the junta are mainly concerned about their ability to not win the war. They are not satisfied that the junta is not getting the super weapons from the west. Only a very few are recognize the fascist nature of their government. Propagandists have taken full advantage of events in Crimea and the East. Even if there is a new maidan the outcome may be even worse (may be one reason Russia is being forced to give this discounts). It does not matter what Russia thinks about the Ukr people. People like Yarosh and his unit are getting embedded into the Ukr ministry of offense. Foreigners are brought in to replace Ukrainians from important positions. What is happening is a hard wiring of real fascists into the all important power structures – economic, military, police, media , propaganda. Unraveling this mess without a war is impossible. If the Donbass does not autonomy now, in terms of political influence, they will be forced to become like the russian minority in Estonia. They will forced to watch the ukranization silently. This is true for those minority of Ukranians who see the truth but unfortunately are under Kiev’s control. A hostile Ukraine is the reality for Russia.
it is not even certain IMF will give final/next funding segment due to lack of progress, Minsk collapses etc etc , maybe if there is no money anyways how can Russia sell any gas/Kiev not able to buy-note one of the european countries is way cutting back reverse flows(wonder if they got payed-but summer is a’comming,) and but also industry that uses gas is probably near finished, it could be a means of seemingly keeping Eu happy that Rus is still having -for the moment- humanitarian concerns, and to persuade Ukrainians “don’t forget Russia is the good guy’, also Ukr will not recieve transit fees when transit is ceased so Rus saves money there……..not sure if Rus will charge Kiev with the 3bcm? gas it is supplying to Donbass directly, not sure how easy it is to cut off supplies from Donbass to the remainder of the Ukraine, maybe Rus wants for definite it bond interests etc payed back at the end of the year…….was Ukr asking EU to give loans/help subsidise buy gas????
They fixed and reopened an old pipeline that serves only Donbass and, importantly, crosses out of Russia in Republic territory. In February when Kiev cut off gas to Donbass (allegedly to repair the pipes) Gazprom started using this side pipe. Kiev said it refuses to pay for any gas sent that way, because they have no access to check the meters. A few days later the Russian Duma passed a law allowing Gazprom to be paid gas supplies to Donbass from humanitarian aid funds.
This side pipe originally went through to Mariupol, probably still does, but would need some taps turned in territory that is in Kiev control. Other than that, is the main gas gets turned off, nobody else would have any.
We’ve not heard anything about how they pay for the reverse flows. Certainly none of the neighbours can afford to give away 1/2 billion worth if gas for free.
Russia needs a leader and not a tank station manager puppet of oligarchs.Putin fiften years in power and Russia still depented from gas and oil like Saudi Arabia.Russia with area half of earth with space technology and educated workforce made poor from natural resources Germany to be the unbeatable ecomic power in world.West demonised Putin give the support of russian peope and restricts the opportunity for to come in power patriotic leader who will make again Russia ,super power economically with industrial and agricultural revolution and geopolically with to come really closed with Cina and India.West needs Putin to keep Russia DOWN only for to supply them with cheap natural resourses and to have the monopole in industtrial production.
ps Never in Russia history leader lost Ucrania ,no even Jeltsin ,and never 6 th.etnic russians genocided like in Donbass .
Byzantines, You are mistaken in your belief that the Russian economy continues to be dependent only on gas & oil.
Study shows a range of impressive indicators of economic development 2000-2013 and the health of the Russian economy.
http://www.awarablogs.com/putin-midterm-interim-results/
So who allowed for creation of Ukraine that included ethnic Russian territories including Crimea and Donbas?
i will wait for 2.April news. they will be more “accurate”. ;-)
@ Sanjin
The same here. I too would wish to wake up tomorrow and learn that the above bad news was merely a Kremlin-staged video “April joke” in very poor taste…
(strike that “video”)
Classic case here of reality spun 180 degrees and propagandized as world events.
http://rt.com/usa/245877-afghanistan-pentagon-blackwater-opium/
Opium production has been on the rise in Afghanistan over recent years despite US counternarcotics efforts. Infamous mercenary firm, formerly known as Blackwater, has creamed off $569 million from the Pentagon in this unsuccessful drive.
The money the company received from US tax-payers was used for “training, equipment, and logistical support” for Afghan forces engaged in counternarcotics operations. These agencies included the “Afghan National Interdiction Unit, the Ministry of Interior, and the Afghan Border Police,” says a report from The Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, cited by the Guardian.
A ‘war on drugs’ meticulously audited, no doubt..the American tax-payer can rest assured not ONE RED CENT has gone astray.
Funny how there’s been an increase in the North American drug supply since the ‘war’ in Afghanistan. Funnier still is that 90% is coming from there.
Just ‘one of those things’ I guess..
MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has data on subversive groups who, under the guise of militiamen, will stage provocations and open fire on Ukrainian positions, DPR Defense Ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin said Wednesday.
“Our intelligence service has obtained a document confirming these plans. This is an electronic version of the Plan of special operation in sector B obtained by our agent. The document has been signed and is effective now,” Basurin said.
http://tass.ru/en/world/786580
Big news here breaking—
Looks like they’re now goading Putin to react & actually do something now in this recent “war theater” hotspot Yemen.
ABU DHABI, April 1 /TASS/. The coalition of Arab states which is carrying out a military operation against Houthi fighters in Yemen has banned a Russian plane to evacuate Russian nationals from the conflict-stricken country despite preliminary permission to do that, the Al Mayadeen TV channel said on its website on Wednesday.
http://tass.ru/en/world/786569
Sudden spate of Russian news:
-Russian trawler sunk Sea of Akhotsk (between Kamchatka peninsula & Kuril Islands)
-Russian embassy or consulate fired upon by coalition forces in Yemen. (US is handling the targeting for Saudis in air attacks)
-Russian plane was granted permkission to land in Yemen to evacuate Russians, but when it got to the airport was turned away by coalition forces.
charette, I guess you have to get used to this place. you’re the newcomer right ?
charette, you have to distinguish an oldcomer from a newcomer. Now, those who get on the bus earlier (rightfully deemed oldcomers), no matter how obviously mentally retarded they might be, are the ones who have the Right to tell what to say n’ how to behave to those miserable wretches who get on the bus later (newcomers). The Prerogative is Enshrined in Right-of-the-first-gotten-on-the-bus Rule (noun). Political Correctness Rules (verb). So, charette, shut up and obey.
Very interesting, in contrast to those bashing Putin and Russia for being ‘anti-gay’. It shows how sick and hypocritical the US is.
In any case, all of this stuff about LBGT refers to a scant few percent of the population, which stays pretty much constant among humans (and other animals) regardless of public policy or law, and it’s the political exploitation of peoples’ emotions and misconceptions which drive it.
And, as Black explains, this touches on much more than just LGBT issues,
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2015/03/the-homophobic-law-and-the-indiana-governor-who-dares-not-speak-its-purpose.html#more-9295
The Homophobic Law and the Indiana Governor Who Dares Not Speak Its Purpose
Posted on March 31, 2015 by William Black | Leave a comment
By William K. Black
Bloomington: March 29, 2015
[…]