by Scott Humor
In the last days of 2016, one couldn’t do enough to avoid announcements of 35 Russian diplomats being expelled from the US and Russian government-owned property being seized.
Every five minutes on every channel, there was footage of people burdened with children and suitcases waiting on wet tarmac for a plane to pick them up, because they weren’t allowed to remain inside the airport building.
Also, there was the same, it seemed, footage of a modest red three-story turn of the century waterfront house with a simple garden bench near water, that was inevitably referred to by every US and EU channels as a “Russian secret services center” despite the notable absence of any satellite antennas so prevalent around the American Embassies all over the world, in Ukraine, for example, or in Venezuela.
One, however, would be hard pressed to find any information about the American diplomats being expelled from Russia. Fox News had a 24 second announcement:
CNN managed 1:37 minutes announcement. Bloomberg TV in a 1:19 minute segment asks “are we committing the foreign policy out of the legislative branch?” and decided that it is just “tit for tat.”
All of these channels concentrate mostly on the properties, and on the Senate taking over from the “executive branch” meaning here the president and his power to run the foreign policy. In essence they leave him with nothing more but to greet the local Police departments and open baseball matches while Tillerson issues three sentence statements.
For everyone living outside of OCONUS, it means that the US won’t have anyone to call directly. And that US foreign policy will have no “face,” if you don’t count McCain after his brain surgery. Last year, I wrote that we will see times when we will remember John F. Kerry as a good guy. Those times are upon us.
Short of PBS, none of these media announcements mentioned the number of the US diplomats being expelled. PBS, a government owned broadcasting company, reveals the extent of the operation in its segment, “why Moscow’s retaliation for U.S. sanctions is a major escalation.”
PBS corresponded, Nick Schifrin, reported that by September 1, the US will have to reduce its stuffs inside of Russia to 455, at the Embassy in Moscow and three consulates around the country. By Monday, they will lose access to the storage facility inside Moscow, as well as a country house that they generally use right outside of Moscow.
In terms of Russia’s property, it was reported as “seized,” while in the case of US property in Moscow, it was reported as a “lost access.” The language here is important, because its reflects the actual right of ownership, which I will illustrate later.
PBS also dutifully explains why this is a major escalation. “Former US officials told me that there are anywhere from 1100 to 1500 staff in Russia. So, to bring that down to 455 could mean expelling hundreds, and hundreds and hundreds US staff. This is on the magnitude much higher that the expelling of 35 Russians being to be intelligence officers by President Obama last year.
[At 1:40] Clearly, today’s announcement is designed not just to affect the US’ ability to conduct intelligence in Russia, but the US’ ability entirely…the US government’s entire ability to conduct its operations in Russia.”
“It could be a turning point, because it does seem to signify that President Vladimir Putin has given up his hope that the relationship could get better. ”
“One Russian official told me today, “We came to the point where there was no hope.”
On July 29, 2017, in response, the State Department issued a short statement signed by the Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson saying that the U.S. has started the sanctions war on Russia with the aim to improve relations between two great nations, because the American people have a collective delusion that the US’ war against any nation tends to greatly improve relations with this nation.
At least that’s how his statement was understood in Russia.
His statement is so short, I am quoting it here verbatim.
“The near unanimous votes for the sanctions legislation in Congress represent the strong will of the American people to see Russia take steps to improve relations with the United States. We hope that there will be cooperation between our two countries on major global issues and these sanctions will no longer be necessary.
We will work closely with our friends and Allies to ensure our messages to Russia, Iran, and North Korea are clearly understood.”
In essence, he blames this unprecedented diplomatic crisis and military tensions on the American people, who allegedly want to strong will the Russian nation into submitting to the US dictate.
I beg to differ with him here. Since the end of the WWII, only candidates who promised to improve relations with Russia won presidential elections. Not one has ever fulfilled this promise. Maybe, with the exceptions of Bush Jr., but that is open for debate.
In his Saturday statement, Tillerson doesn’t leave any room for expectations that improvement of bilateral relations is possible. He warns the US allies, that they will be pressured to join this sanction war and to be forced to walk goose steps behind the US.
Also that sanctions are imposed on Iran, Russia, and North Korea, but only Russia has to cooperate on “major global issues.”
Tillerson doesn’t gives any specifics on what those “major global issues” are, meaning that no matter what Russia agrees to, the US will be able to say that they meant something totally different.
It’s impossible to find out what exactly a “strong will of the people” entails in this case, since the referendums as a form of direct democracy are banned in the U.S. Taking a totally unscientific poll of ZeroHedge readers, one would opine that people want stronger Russia’s response, that the idea of parity of the number of diplomats at each embassy. is great.
Every time the Americans expel Russians now, they expel their own as well. Very Putinesque. Also, thanks to the deep state for greatly improving Russian relations with Germany and Europe. Ukraine was a total mess, and Russia got Crimea, making the whole exercise a costly waste. Many agree that Europe must see that the US is a dying waste pile and that the future is with China, Russia, India etc.
Also, that these uncalled for sanctions against Russia, based on lies, won’t go unnoticed by China, who realizes that the USA can never be trusted. A deal made with them now means nothing tomorrow. Thus pushing China closer to Russia.
While President Putin spoke in Finland about international laws and the WTO rules and regulations, Tillerson indicates US actions are governed by the “strong will of American people,” substituting the vox populi expressed by a handful of politicians for all of the laws and regulations, agreements and rules ever invented.
In three sentences, Tillerson stated that the US government is “недоговороспособное” or is “not-agreement-capable,” that the whims of the US law makers override all the international laws, as it would for any rogue state. All attempts to reason with the current US government are futile.
I personally like Tillerson, He is a typical Republican businessman. You would be surprised, but most of them are actually decent people. I am talking about people who run real companies, not the money-from-air mobsters. He is not brainwashed and doesn’t even mention any “democratic values” and other such neo-liberal nonsense. He says what it is. He says that the US government is a runaway train, and that there is no way for him and the Trump to stop it while it’s heading into abyss and taking many of its friends with it.
So far, Trump has not tweeted a word about the new anti-Russia sanctions bill.
Since the presidential elections, the US seemingly descended into chaos, but up-close the chaos is orchestrated and irrelevant. The general political movement of the country has not changed much in following the general path of the Obama/Clinton neo-liberal policies. The supra-national para-state needs to consume at least one country a year to have money to pay for its armies of mercenaries and political engineers. There is a color revolution underway in Venezuela; so far it has been unsuccessful due to a strong support of the people and military for their elected government. There is also a strong support by Russia and other allies for Maduro government and secret services in curtailing the putsch, just like a year ago in Turkey.
Friday July 28 decision to evacuate families and some of the personnel from the American Embassy in Venezuela, indicates that the putsch failed, and an operative relocation operation was underway.
In parallel to this we also see an ongoing efforts to undermine the political stability in Russia for the next March Presidential elections. We have discussed different aspects of this process regularly, but for those who missed it: a basic color revolution formula in development. There are three non-systemic ideological opposition groups of the liberal democrats, “communists,” and nationalist-patriots, all of them want to bring the country to a “revolution” that would topple not just the elected government, but an entire country. Not one of them presented any program for the “day after.”
All of them have something in common, they are controlled and paid by the Western government and private institutions via the U.S. Embassy. All of them are being closely watched by Russian intelligence and active part of the population. Blogs have been dedicated to the photo reports of the opposition members movements and activities. Anyone reading those reports can see that the opposition in Russia gravitates to the same few centers that just happened to be the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and its Consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok.
In Russia, it’s been dubbed a “raid on the American barbecue.” A true extent of this isn’t immediately obvious due to the secrecy surrounding the US Embassy’s activities in Russia. The Russia’s officials are not releasing any information, information in the open sources have been collected by the journalists, bloggers and commentators.
These are a few facts that you probably won’t find anywhere else.
On Friday morning of July 28, Russia’s Foreign Ministry ordered the United States to cut the number of its diplomatic staff and Embassy workers on the territory of Russia to be equal to the number of Russian diplomatic missions in the United States as of the time in December, when former president Obama ordered 35 Russian diplomats to live the country. Reportedly Russia had 455 at that time.
What many people fail to understand, that it’s not a number that is important, but the parity principle, when countries have the same number of people in corresponding embassies. Since the 1990s, the US had much larger representation on the territory of Russia.
From PBS, we know that the US has anywhere from 1100 to over 1500 personnel in Russia.
This workforce will be reduced to 455. If, however, the US decides to expel more Russian diplomats on Monday in retaliation, the same number of the US diplomats will be added to the equation. Until, as you might guess, there will be none, since we know that US Senators are not rational beings and prone to uncontrollable rage, lapses of judgment, and other public demonstrations of senility. I personally think that the next step will be revoking the visas of the Russia UN representatives.
There is also a very interesting and delicate situation with the Ambassadors, because as of July 26, the US Senate stalls appointment of new ambassador to Russia.
“The US Senate has deliberately put off the hearing on the appointment of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman as new Ambassador to Russia, some Russian diplomatic sources told Izvestia. According to the diplomats interviewed by the paper, should there be a simultaneous change in the chiefs of diplomatic missions, they would assume office practically at the same time.
Washington has already approved the nomination of numerous ambassadors to various countries, but the hearing on the new envoy to Moscow has not been held yet. A source in the US Department of State said talking to the paper that they are waiting for the new ambassador to Russia to be appointed but cannot influence the procedure in anyway.
The US Embassy in Moscow likewise said they have no specific information on the issue, as the Senate does not notify anyone about anything.
Because of this, Moscow cannot send Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Antonov to replace Sergey Kislyak who has already left Washington, while US Ambassador John Tefft is waiting for Huntsman’s arrival.”
As of Saturday July 29, Putin has not signed a decree to appoint the new Ambassador to the US, per Peskov’s statement.
Diplomatic Offense: Replacements for Expelled Russian Diplomats Denied US Visas, July 16
It’s mirroring a current situation in Ukraine, with two countries having no working Ambassadors.
The Diplomatic properties
The Russian side is suspending the use of all storage facilities on Dorozhnaya Street in Moscow, and a cottage in Serebryaniy Bor by the US Embassy in Russia as of August 1.
Moscow property that Putin could close for Washington
US compounds in Moscow: What they lose and what they get to keep (PHOTOS)
Russia: Drone captures US embassy dacha as sanctions standoff spirals
LIVE from outside the US embassy in Moscow after Russia retaliates to US sanctions
Russia owns outright properties that were seized by the US government. It also owns its Embassy building in Washington, D.C. These properties were purchased by Soviet Russia back in the 1930s – ’50s.
The US owns the building in Moscow where the Embassy is located. All other buildings around Russia including the Spaco House, a home of the US ambassadors, are being leased from the cities. The general lease on properties in Moscow expired in 2049. The US doesn’t pay for the Moscow properties. In other words, it uses them for free.
The Storage facility
Russia: Drone captures US storage facility following clear out order in wake of sanctions
Jul 29, 2017 Drone footage captured activity at what is believed to be a US embassy storage facility on Dorozhnaya Street in Moscow, Saturday, a day after Russia instructed the US to clear the unit before August 1 as part of Russia’s response to further US sanctions.
The Silver Wood “Serebryanny Bor” property
Currently, groups of journos are reportedly stalking those properties, hoping for something interesting to take place.
Judging by this video, however, nothing much was happening. I suspect that Americans have moved most valuable stuff in the past six months.
Through the fence: Journalists struggle to get pics of Russian US Embassy ‘dacha’
Drone captures US embassy dacha as sanctions standoff spirals
Issues of personnel
The decision of the Russian government leaves the US with full freedom to decide who goes and who should stay.
As I mentioned above, the Russian opposition’s activities depend on the US Embassy. Allegedly, members of the opposition to the government receive instructions, money, and intelligent support. After decades of activity, the US developed an army of agents, and built structural support for the US policies inside the Russian society. The US intelligence operatives are working in Russia with diplomatic passports. The sudden removal of 1000 of these people, is going to bring devastation to the US color revolution processes that are underway right now and were expected to intensify for the time of the presidential elections.
Before that, Russia had no legitimate reason to expel those people, until this fateful decision of Obama to expel the Russian diplomats.
Back in December President Putin said that they would wait with the retaliation, hoping for the improvement of the bilateral relations. In the US Senate, it was understood that Putin was waiting to expel 35 diplomats and take away a barbecue pit, which is useless during the winter, anyway. By spring, they thought ,they might have someone else in the Kremlin altogether. They have been accumulating the NATO troops on Russia’s borders and training hundred thousands of Eastern European mercenaries in case the liberal part of Russian government would take over and invite NATO’s invasion, by blocking the military response.
If you remember, last week HBO’s Real Sports interview with Ramzan Kadyrov,
Kadyrov said, “America is not really a strong enough state for us to regard it as an enemy of Russia. We have a strong government and are a nuclear state. Even if our government was completely destroyed, our nuclear missiles would be automatically deployed. We will put the whole world on its knees and screw it from behind.”
That comment certainly puts the left’s insistence on a war with Russia in perspective. And Kadyrov is probably being more accurate than not in that statement.”
As an illustration, take October 31, 2015.
“Hours after the Russia-bound Metrojet flight 9268 A321 with Russian vacationers exploded in the sky over Sinai on October 31st, 2015, President Putin had not come on TV to address the people of Russia. Many immediately questioned why. Many observers had also noticed that before this act of terror and hours after it there was a coordinated influx of messages on social media declaring that Russian planes would be dropping down from the skies everywhere until, mind you, Russians surrender to some mysterious forces. If you go back on Twitter and search for those messages you might still find some of them, but the majority of them mysteriously vanished just as coordinated as they appeared. Russian planes have not been dropping from the skies by the hundreds, as it was projected.
So… Where was President Putin for several hours between the explosion of the plane and him talking to the Minister of Defense, Shoigu, on the news?
Minutes after the terror attack on the Russian passenger jet, the airborne strategic command center aboard an Ilyushin Il-80 aircraft, took off.
Immediately after, far away in the US, Obama was whisked away from Washington on his helicopter and the US “Doomsday plane” took off and started circling around. Russia’s nuclear forces took aim at major US targets. Apparently, some exchange of words took place between the Russians and Washingtonians.
When President Putin was finally seen on the news many people commented that he looked like he was “just taken off a cross.”
Whatever gleeful reaction was expressed by some Europeans and Americans on the account of the death of many Russian passengers, they apparently didn’t realize that these could be their last day on earth.
I am bringing up this little known factoid to illustrate that Russia’s government is not going to dance around when it comes to the preservation of peace and stability in the country. And that any attempt of such will be immediately forwarded back to Washington, militarily speaking. This all in accord with Russia’s new Military Doctrine 2014. “
Kadyrov routinely delivers messages that other Russian officials couldn’t. To bring you up to speed, according to the new Military Doctrine, the color revolution is an act of foreign war. According to the same doctrine, Russia won’t have a ground war, and any acts of war will be answered with the nuclear strike against a potential aggressors. All this, not because we, Russians, are “evil,” but because after a century of wars and the Red Terror and the Liberal Terror, we simply don’t have enough people for ground wars.
My pure speculation is that maybe, the ousting of 35 Russian diplomats, and the birth of Senate Bill 722, was orchestrated by US intelligence with Trump’s and Putin’s agreement to have an excuse to remove over 1000 of deep state’s operatives who have been working non-stop to push the color revolution situation in Russia. From this perspective, the removal of the operatives from Russia could be qualified as “draining the swamp.”
In this way, Trump is not to blamed for signing this bill, since the Russia’s decision came prior. He never said anything about this on twitter. The PBS came out with perfectly reasonable explanation of the situation. All the liberal media outlets are subdued and hashed in their reporting.
It sounds like everybody’s intention to softly cover this up and remove the issue from the public eyes like this never happened.
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Russian deputy FM: US sanctions will compel Moscow to seek alternatives to the dollar-based reserve currency system
McFaul forgot why he was kicked out of the country
Yanks to the rescue: The secret story of how American advisers helped Yeltsin win
Warm greeting while driving by the US Embassy
Opposition inside the Silver Wood US property
Liberal opposition nurtured by the US Embassy
—–
Scott Humor
Director of Research and Development
author of The enemy of the State
In case you have forgotten what happened in Ukraine, this book should refresh your memory with the incredibly precise and humorous chronicles: ANTHOLOGY OF RUSSIAN HUMOR: FROM MAIDAN TO TRUMP
Trump slips further into the neocon/deep state agenda – Russia placed next to China!
http://bit.ly/2ijx4jB
Six months old link. The first moments of his Presidency.
How is it fit into “slips further”?
Thank you Scott.
President Putin has confirmed the number of US “diplomats” to leave as 755:
https://www.rt.com/news/398019-putin-us-diplomats-sanctions/
A question Scott in regard to this comment “I personally think that the next step will be revoking the visas of the Russia UN representatives.”
Are preparations underway to move the UNSC to Geneva? – if the US is going to play silly games with the UN – which is illegal – shouldn’t Russia and other countries be moving the UNSC to a new location sooner rather than later?
Thanks for this Veritas
Good! 755!!! That they have to get out.
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/trump-has-all-room-not-enforce-russia-sanctions-if-he-has-spine/ri20528
An interesting article on how Trump has the room to not enforce the Russia sanctions – utilising a “signing statement” as Obama and Bush did or else he could simply opt not to enforce the bill. Does he have the guts?
August is the best month to visit and travel in Russia. Hotel rates and air fares are at a peak (long summer holidays). Many embassy staff will be on holidays travelling with spouses and children. Suddenly, the embassy must choose who goes and who stays, with lots of effort to reach key decision-makers, then the protests and recriminations for the unhappy dislodged staffers told to leave. They will need to immediately cancel their current activities, rush home, try to hire packers and movers or do it themselves, fire their cleaners, cooks, nannies, desperately find a school for their children when schools are already sending out acceptance letters for the new school year.
Many will not be back in time to give 30 days notice, so they can pay an extra month’s salary. Obama’s delayed Christmas present!
The about to be unseated are civil servants with an internal priority system, bidding for open positions. With almost all of them being Russian speakers, the only destination open to them will be the Ukraine, which is already fully staffed. The only other alternative is to return to the US, but then they will lose their diplomatic privileges, tax-free advantages and other perks. Often this was one of the reasons many of them joined the foreign service, so doubtfully they are pleased by the news.
John Tefft, the current US ambassador, and many of his color-revolution underlings were moved from the Ukraine after the Putsch on the Maidan to Moscow. There are not enough vacant seats on the merri-go-round. Perhaps there will be a new color revolution in Kiev?
Imagine the internal uproar!
There could be an old offer by then chancellor Helmut Kohl on the table to move the UN headquarters to Bonn. That was made shortly after the reunification of the two Germanys and the relocation of the capital to Berlin. Bonn had/has all the facilities needed to accommodate a large organization like the UN. Noervenich airbase could be offered as a unique UN airport/airbase. The UN will however make due without the substantial financial contributions the USA makes to it’s budget.
“to softly cover this up … like it never happened”?
Or they don’t want the American people to know about the reality of what a report describes as “post-primacy” – the US now lives in a world that challenges its “primacy” position (“At Our Own Peril: DoD Risk Assessment in a Post-Primacy World”, June 2017).
I note that the bit about the dollar alternative in Ryabkov’s interview was left out on the ABC week – transcript.”
Scott,
Curious as to why you would think that Trump and Putin would be working together regarding sanctions?
These sanctions are aimed at destroying Russia’s key sectors and its partnership with Europe especially Germany.
Trump is a hopeless fool who allowed himself to be brow beaten by McCain and the media.
He stands for nothing and is now a lame duck president who can negotiate
nothing.
Russia needs defend itself and its economy and go its own way. America is not your friend or ally and never will be.
Can big businessmen be decent people? Only startup inventor/entrepreneurs in reality. Personally, I can vouch that the late David Packard (HP) was a decent person. Steve Wozniak (Apple) is a decent person. The next generation of leadership is chosen by Luciferian bankers as described by Ronald Bernard. Carly Fiorina (destroyer of HP) and Tom Cook (now at Apple) were selected not for brilliance or even competence, but for their services advancing the Luciferian agenda.
As for Exxon, don’t make me laugh. Even if Exxon were not a direct descendant of Luciferian John D Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, it is a very mature company. All of the C suites in large mature companies are staffed by Luciferian tools, 100%, forever and always, as long as the Luciferian BIS rules the world.
Before hp Carly destroyed Lucent technologies.
“Friday July 28 decision to evacuate families and some of the personnel from the American Embassy in Venezuela, indicates that the putsch failed, and an operative relocation operation was underway.”
I’m not sure about this. It might also be the other way around. That the US plotting for a color revolution is getting close to the main attacks.And they want some of their personnel out of the way of the coming massive violence.
UB1
I think the pull out is prepatory to increased iraeloamerican covert regime change aggression. These sorts of pullouts usually preceed planned aggressions.
Russia has so far been very restrained and patient with the U.S. The (public) impression seems to have been that Moscow hoped to reach some kind of accommodation with the Trump administration. At least, it was something that high ranking Russian officials stated. My personal opinion, however, is that Russia never had any illusions regarding the possibility of improved relations with the U.S. under the Trump presidency.
It’s not too hard to come to a conclusion why Russia acted in the way it did. Firstly, not only Russia refrained from an immediate response to extremely hostile actions by the U.S. (expulsion of diplomats, seizure of property), it acted in a constructive and responsible manner. It’s all about the image. On one hand we have U.S. with its open and crude hostility and rampant Russophobia, and on the other, a thought-out and balanced response from the Russians.
In this sense, it’s good that Russia was not caught up in the game of exchanging hostilities with the U.S. and always left open a possibility for compromise solution.
After all, it is consistent with Putin’s method of avoiding to play by his opponents rules. Instead of being forced to play Washington’s game, he decided to respond in the time and place of his choosing.
That’s for the good side of the story, but there’s a bad side also. Washington’s actions in the last few years clearly demonstrate the intention to put increasing pressure on both China and Russia. The U.S. is ramping up pressure in the Pacific, expanding and strengthening its military capacity in the region, with the intention of increasing pressure on China. The region is full of U.S. military bases and Washington has a string of allies all hostile to Beijing.
It’s obvious that there is a long term strategy to strangle China by cutting it off from vital oil supplies through South China Sea. Trump’s stance on China is also very indicative of the fear of China’s economic strength: here Trump embodies the interests of the U.S. establishment and the aim of weakening Chinese economic base.
Of course, China’s integration into the global economy, the fact it’s an engine of real economic growth, and, last but not least, a major economic partner of the U.S., make China more resilient to pressures.
Russia, on the other hand, is still bogged down by a relatively stagnant, energy-dependent economy, and is more vulnerable to economic pressure. So far, Russia has managed to resist Western sanctions, but not without a price. Maybe a price Russian leadership and people are willing to pay, but a price that is still not to small.
So far, U.S. strategy of isolating and strangling Russia has only had limited results. But for how long can Russia afford to pay the price of conflict with the Empire which controls the bulk of world’s resources, production and its financial and banking system?
It’s encouraging that Russia is working to expand its partnership with China, the Eurasian Union project and reducing the dependence on energy exports.
But all of this takes will take a long time to happen.
So we are at some crucial points. What can Russia do to respond? Retaliatory actions like the expulsion of U.S. diplomats are a token one (but still important), yet not enough. U.S. sanctions are aimed to hurt the vital sectors of Russian economy, and from this reason, I believe Russia must adopt some stronger counter-measures.
Some days ago, Senator Kosachev said that the Russian response should be asymmetrical. I highly agree with him.
Ultimately, there should be a clear sign from Russia it’s ready to hit back. Not only to show it’s willingness to stand up to its interests, but also reassure its allies.
While I agree with the first half of your comment, I think that you are pretty wrong in the second part. Actually, it’s Russia that is by far less vulnerable to economic pressure. While energy exports make up 58 % of Russia’s exports, the oil and gas sector represents only 8 % of GDP. Exports as a whole represent only a tiny fraction of the GDP. The same is true for imports which are even smaller.
This means that Russia is the most self-sufficient country in the world. And we can see that the sanctions have had close to zero impact. Unemployment is stable, debt is the lowest in the world among major countries, GDP is growing again after a marginal recession and so on. The Russian energy sector should be considered as a valuable asset and not as a weak point and dependency. Russia has a diversified and functioning economy plus on top of that a lot of easy money through oil and gas sales. Besides North Korea and Iran I don’t see any other country in the world that could have survived the economic warfare being waged since 2014 against Russia.
China on the other hand is very dependent on exports, more than 150 billion $ to Japan, more than 300 billion $ to the EU and more than 400 billion $ to the US. Its imports could be physically cut off by the US Navy, including crucial oil imports. The integration into the world economy and the lack of oil and gas make China, contrary to your statement, less resilient to pressure.
Just ask yourself a simple question: Would Russia or China survive better if they were completely cut off from the rest of the world?
Dear Oliver you forget the Central Bank which is structurally part of the international Banking System.
They just let your Ruble plunge into a hole without a bottoem end, very, very simple to do IF you are in control, and we know who is in control don’t we ? Of course you can cut yourself loose and do barter with your neighbours, but then you will very, very certainly have a war at your feet against the so called Western Free World. Beside that your Oligarschs and large Companies will loose all their assets abroad which are huge, they all will turn on you – with the Tribe in charge in the background directing the whole thing.
Putin is clever, he is not a Hitler who was foolish enough to think he could solve everything by a big blow. I hope for the sake of Russia that Putin knows that he must get rid of the Tribe or he will be subjugated, they have time, at the end they win no matter what. Let them in and you are to become slaves of them, there is no other outcome yet.
Well, I hope you are right. Despite the apparent resilience to Western sanctions Russia has demonstrated, it’s still remains problematic in the long run. For sure, Russia has a big opportunity to re-haul its economy. It’s encouraging that European sanctions, for example, have reduced dependence on Western products, which has benefited home production, especially in the agriculture sector. Russia can produce that without a problem, and there are new and lucrative opportunities for trade with Asia, Latin America and even Africa.
But it has already been pointed out that Russia’s financial sector is vulnerable to Western pressures. Eg, the Central Bank, which is still the hotbed of neo-liberal clique.
But there is still the whole socio-political element that has to be considered. Putin has tamed the oligarchs, and destroyed only the most dangerous ones. But they could still come to surface in case of political turmoil.
As for China, I agree. I’ve already mentioned that it seems a long-term U.S. plan to strangle China, and put more economic and political pressure on it. Though, it being firmly integrated global economy could also mean that hurting China could also hurt Western financial and political structures themselves.
In any case, both Russia and China are at an advantage right now, but it doesn’t mean they have time to be passive and wait for Western hegemony to implode on itself. It won’t happen. If anything, we have ample proof that the Empire is capable of renewing and reinventing itself each time it seems it’s going down.
Speaking only to the parts of the sanctions I personally know and witness the effects of:
Some of the most restrictive sanctions are placed targeting Russia’s offshore Oil and Gas development where U.S. companies are the technological leaders in. Without help from U.S. companies, Russia will have a hard time developing the find in the Kara Sea.
Information on discovery:
http://www.geoexpro.com/articles/2016/01/western-arctic-russia-the-kara-sea
(I was involved in prepping the W Alpha for this.)
Sanctions affect on development:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-rosneft-kara-sea-idUSKBN0OR16H20150611
Gazprom shopping around for assets to develop field:
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2017/02/gazprom-resume-kara-sea-drilling
The thing is, people are resourceful. With the long downturn in O&G there are a lot of stacked rigs out there and some that would be decent candidates to complete the work. Say (as a random example) a Brazilian driller filed bankruptcy and sold off assets. Maybe a Chinese bank (China has no sanctions against Russia) might pick that asset up. Maybe that Chinese bank is open to the idea of offloading that asset to Gazprom. Maybe another driller from a country that does not support sanctions picks it up. All kinds of ways to get a rig up to Kara Sea.
Point is the sanctions were designed to hurt Russia and have but, that cannot last forever. They have gutted the whole Oil and Gas industry to try to hurt Russia. Many people I know lost their jobs and went through a lot of turmoil so these shitbags could play their games. All for nothing. In fact I will make the prediction that the U.S. O&G industry never returns to what it was pre-Nov2014.
Re sanctions, why doesn’t Russia slap sanctions on the USA for the rocket engines.
Now, before the USA has developed a substitute.
Katherine
Why shoot yourself in the foot to show your enemy that you’re no fool?
Since this new “war” against Russia began in 2013 (it started with the maidan,in my opinion). Russia has made 6 outstanding moves. Three of them brilliant, uniting Crimea to Russia,the agricultural sanctions,and now the cutting of the US diplomatic (spy) staff inside Russia.And three moves that are still uncertain of results,but important. Support for Donbass to keep free from the neo-nazi Ukrainian regime,legal intervention in Syria against the jihadi supporters of the US,and the “pivot” economically to the East.
This latest move (the diplomatic staff reduction),should make it harder for the US to coordinate with their 5th column supporters. At the very least it will make it easier for the FSB to monitor 455 US agents,instead of 1200. And as for the Trump regime.Ironically,it helps them a small amount too.It cuts the need to pay salaries for 1200 agents in Russia,down to only 455. That should be a savings of several million dollars in the State Department budget over a year’s time.A little of the “swamp draining” Trump talked about.
Thank you.If there is so little left to lose by Russia…declining support by usa for ukraine….a split usa and europe re sanctions and within eu… a divided usa government ability….maybe this is the time and opportunity for the Donbass to be protected (finally)on humanitarian grounds( at the very least) by Pres. Putin.
In the new bill, old sanctions made harder to remove, and details on new sanctions on Russian energy, defense, financial sectors threatened. Impact of all that, if it gets fully implemented, is double-edged but significant.
What Russia should do, or will do, is, as they say, a good question, –with an impression that there is nothing immediate coming on top of the described expulsions (without something else happening further to cause or provide an opportunity for it)
“/…/ started the sanctions war on Russia with the aim to improve relations between two great nations, because the American people have a collective delusion that the US’ war against any nation tends to greatly improve relations with this nation.”
First and foremost, “the American people” have their perceptions of the outside world based upon violent hatred, contempt, disgust, or total indifference. On this basis, they are correct that US violence and lawlessness internationally do bring “improved relations” since imperialist loot brought to the US is what counts in the minds of militant parasites, not least of the “exceptional” and “indispensable” kind, mind you.
With exceptions, Nick Schifrin comes over as mostly reasonable in the PBS clip above compared to the blatant lies, ommissions and propaganda smear in his PBS 5 part series intro.:
http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/nick-schifrin-discusses-russia-reporting-pbs-newshour-facebook-live
I don’t own or watch any TV and have not for decades, the better to be inoculated against insidious deceptions. I’d therefore be iinterested in any comments on the series beyond the Rick Sterling links below.
These two links which are mostly the same, if read first, make excellent ‘anti-virus protection’ for anyone beyond the Saker readership or those uninformed of real news regarding Russia.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/half-truth-and-falsehoods-in-pbs-series-inside-putins-russia/5601434
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/27/pbs-anti-russia-propaganda-series/
Caution! Highly toxic, ensure prophylactic perimeter enabled :
http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/nick-schifrin-discusses-russia-reporting-pbs-newshour-facebook-live
Nick Schriffin from PBS peddles the same American bullsh!t fake news.
I watched that video 50% were complete falsehoods & lies.
That the sanctions bill was helped along by intelligence groups is obvious. The idea that Putin approved it or had any input on it is a near impossibility. We have to face the message of these events: the situation is getting very dangerous. Russia and Putin are doing what they have to do to remain sovereign. The US attempts to hold onto and extend its hegemony.
Let’s put it this way: the West is unable to stop trying to plow and plunder the world, while the East cannot back up and is saying ‘no more’. The unstoppable comes to blows with the unmovable. This can only end in a major catastrophe. I don’t know the scale of destruction but it will be at the inflection point of a five hundred year or greater cycle of history.
Most likely, it will be a slow rot of the West with lots of hysteria, but without any major blows.
Scott,
History teaches us otherwise. What you think unthinkable might be a reality tomorrow. Don’t let yourself be fooled by the awful might of nuclear weapon. If the one, who wants a war can arrange his own safety why not start a nuclear war? If afterwards he is King over the planet, a planet which by no means will become inhabitable, the whole Southern Hemisphere will be touched only for a short period. The amount of nuclear material in the Bombs is less than 240 Tons add ten fold (improbable secondary effect induced radiation products) and you are at 3000 Tons that’s not much at all and will most certainly not kill humanity or the planet. However – of course – hundreds of millions will die,no doubt, but what is this with 8 billions in total – a welcome little reduction – especially if they are Christians who are so hated by a certain fraction so loved and admired in the West – you know Who, don’t you ?
So one little advice WATCH these bastard’s every step very,very closely, the hotter it gets the more !!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has become eeriely silent around them somehow……
>> The amount of nuclear material in the Bombs is less than 240 Tons add ten fold (improbable secondary effect induced radiation products) and you are at 3000 Tons that’s not much at all and will most certainly not kill humanity or the planet.<<
Radiation is only one of many factors following a nuclear war, possibly the least significant if your assessment of radio-active fallout is correct, but before you conclude that nuclear war is not so bad after all (especially for those in the southern hemisphere) have a look at the link that follows: Link: http://www.nucleardarkness.org/web/whatisnucleardarkness/
+Brian That animation is just hogwash. A nuclear explosion is a very short timed event, the amount of material ejected into the atmosphere is miniscule even in comparison to a small volcano eruption. What is different though, some of the dust is transferred into higher atmospheric layers where it then can be distributed to a larger area, but still the amount is a tiny fraction of the total propelled into the air. A Mount St.Helens type eruption blasts far, far, far more material into the sky, not to mention a Pinatubo super caldera one. There will be no nuclear darkness, just a slight reduction in incoming sunlight, but on the other hand it also reflects IR-radiation back, so the net effect is small. See I am not a proponent of nuclear war, but want to warn from a wrong sense of security people get from it being unthinkable, that is the main danger!! The current situation is far worse than it had ever been the last fifty years, get that? No, the Politicians and Military will not protect you, they are pawns and cowards! What is deemed unthinkable most often becomes very real….the more so if approved psychopaths are in control.
Folks. Please remember (see the Moderation Rules) that there is to be no use of capital letters as that is considered screaming. Thanks, Mod
The animation does not attempt to illustrate sunlight blockage after just *one* nuclear explosion, but after a **large nuclear war**.
It may be slightly exaggerated, sure, but you are being dishonest in suggesting it refers to a “nuclear explosion”, or else you have not read what it says above and below it.
I agree with Scott, but wish the rot would go faster
Is it pivotal/crucial what EU countries or EU qua EU do/does at this point?
Or not?
To “steer” which way the “inflection” goes.
Curious to hear what my betters think.
Can strong European reaction bring Washington to its senses?
Katherine
Putin Says Russia Will Cut US Diplomatic Presence by 755 People
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201707301056018566-putin-russia-755-diplomats/
“The personnel of the US diplomatic missions in Russia will be cut by 755 people and will now equal the number of the Russian diplomatic personnel in the United States, 455 people on each side,” Putin said in an interview with Vesti.ru channel.
“Because over a thousand employees, diplomats and technical personnel have been working and are still working in Russia, and 755 of them will have to seize their work in the Russian Federation. It’s considerable,” Putin added.
Speaking on the new sanctions, Putin said that Russia will not leave the Congress bill without a response.
“We could imagine, theoretically, that one day a moment would come when the damage of attempts to put pressure on Russia will be comparable to the negative consequences of certain limitations of our cooperation. Well, if that moment ever comes, we could discuss other response options. But I hope it will not come to that. As of today, I am against it.”
That means the Russians calculate there are 1210 personnel attached to the pindo embassy. These reductions are in response to the american dip provocation of dec. 2016. Should the aipac engineered sanctions bill get signed and go into force, the Russians will then respond to it.
Since this was an explicit quote,
” >> Because over a thousand employees, diplomats and technical personnel have been working and are still working in Russia, and 755 of them will have to seize their work in the Russian Federation. It’s considerable >>, Putin added.”
the notion that the soon-to-be Pindo expellees will have to seize their work looks pretty damn accurate :-)
BTW, seen a lot of talk about the aipac engineered sanctions on Russia being intended to scupper nordstream 2 so american lng can move in and replace Russian gas. Lng is expensive and Europe has other choices besides Russian and american gas.
The zionazi engineered row against qatar is gas related. So is zio-kurd real estate grab attempt. Then there is Leviathan, the east Med. is full of gas, which israel is going gaga trying take over.
Aipac sanctions Russian gas exports, while zionazi, inc. works to secure alternative sources for sale to Europe. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to connect the dots, here, why is no one mentioning the israeli angle?
Great point!
Part of the natural gas flowing through Russia’s pipelines are Qatar’s. Two countries have an order fulfillment agreement. Russia delivers gas to fulfill Qatar’s orders, and Qatar fulfills Russia’s customers orders.
It means, that the US sanctions Qatar along with Russia, Iran, North Korea, Turkey, China and Germany.
In other words: The expelling of 755 US personnel from Russia, as timely and symbolically appropriate as that may be, is not Russia’s real answer to the new US sanctions.
Those will come later, with perfect timing, very unexpectedly, and be much more severe.
Indeed.
The latest sanctions put the ball largely into the eu court. Russia will wait to see how they react before responding.
We certainly live in interesting times.
Sanctionstein: What is the real cause of America’s latest sanctions regime?
http://theduran.com/sanctions/
Russia’s expulsion of staff from the US embassy in Moscow is unprecedented and huge.
http://theduran.com/russia-expulsion-us-embassy-unprecedented-huge/
And suddenly…no more russiagate,even in the MSM
Even The Washington Post Admits “The Quest To Prove Russian Collusion Is Crumbling”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-30/even-washington-post-admits-quest-prove-collusion-crumbling
WSJ Asks “Who Paid For The ‘Trump Dossier’?”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-30/wsj-asks-who-paid-trump-dossier
To war is coming:
There is someone in the room who now has a nice new pet dog. The dog just mastered another task he got, sit !!! Yeah, goood Dog ! Now give paw !
In the sinister scenario Trump was the vehicle to cut Europe from the US and prepare a secret reverse – the US public and the goon heads and shoe lickers in the Parliament are to be kept busy and distracted. Some Heads in the Tribe might have found a solution for their dilemma to start a nice new profitable war to propel them finally to Kings of the Planet, they might have come to the conclusion that they need that war, in order to speed things up a little bit. To do so you must yourself be invisible, because you cannot be invisible the next best thing is to be everywhere but in the shadows, you play all sides. Now in this case the ill Superpower (the US) must somehow be activated while being self in safety. How can you do that ? By having a deal with the other side in secrecy. The first thinks you are their standfast Ally no matter what comes, while in reality you have an arrangment with the other side for certain circumstances. See what I mean ? Christians vs. Christians is that not very nice a thing ?
When is the war coming. People have been saying for 3 or more years that “war is coming” or “war is coming to Europe” but they don’t say when or give an estimate even.
Perhaps war is coming – but in 25 years.
Nice one Scott. Best SITREP yet.
The US diplomats could simply refuse to leave.
What is the process, should they refuse to leave?
I am reminded of the Petrov affair – a Cold War spy incident in Australia in April 1954, concerning Vladimir Petrov, Third Secretary of the Soviet embassy in Canberra.
These dramatic events were flashed around the world giving immediate sense to a world public of the real life drama. The photos of Evdokia Petrova being rough-handled by KGB agents at Sydney Airport and her agonised last-moment decision to defect with her husband, made at Darwin Airport, have become iconic Australian images of the 1950s.
Can we expect similar scenes? No of course not.
I am sure there is room for them in the Lubyanka -and if ther is insufficient space in ‘Adult’s World’ then, helpfully, you can apparently see all the way to Siberia from the top of that building. Plenty of room there.
Or perhaps they will be sent to Siberia to count trees. (Quoting from Auslander)
That woul be great for Russia, becouse FSB could hand pick 755 names they dont want most and block their visas :))
Former NATO Secretary General calls on Europe to submit to US sanctions.
Saturday, July 29, 2017 – 14:48
Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that Europe should stop complaining and support sanctions against Russia.
As Rasmussen wrote in an article for the Financial Times, this is the only way to stop the “cold war till there’s nothing left” which Russia is allegedly waging against the West.
The NATO ex-secretary general also said that the war till there’s nothing left is designed to exhaust the enemy and show whose nerves are firmer. According to Rasmussen, Russia is now allegedly conducting a “cold war” against the West and Moscow’s tactics are to disrupt transatlantic unity, especially with regard to sanctions policy.
“A couple of weeks ago, I started to fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin would win in this war. If this happens, we will have tragic consequences,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen also said that instead of undermining the effectiveness of sanctions, Europe should strengthen them.
“America and Europe have common goals in Eastern Europe – the establishment of security. One cannot sacrifice these goals for commercial interests,” the former NATO Secretary General wrote.
We recall, on Thursday, the German government’s government commissioner for co-operation with Russia, Gernot Erler, said that the sanctions planned by the US could cause damage, including the energy supply to Europe.
Notably, Brussels has already threatened Washington with retaliatory measures on sanctions.
DONi News Agency
https://dninews.com/article/nato-secretary-general-calls-europe-submit-us-sanctions?_utl_t=fb
” >> A couple of weeks ago, I started to fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin would win in this war. If this happens, we will have tragic consequences >>, Rasmussen said.”
Sounds promising — is Rasmussen contemplating suicide here?
As crazy as it seems.I think I’m beginning to see the “new” US deep state attack on Russia. On a lot of the talk shows they are starting to admit that Trump wasn’t working with Putin. The “new” claim is that Russia was not trying to hack the election for Trump. But instead Putin wanted to spread chaos throughout the US political scene. And it was part of his plot, that Democrats would turn on Trump. And the US political situation would be in total chaos.
Seriously,you can’t make this stuff up. They spend months destroying themselves with fake news that Russia interfered in the US election to elect Trump.Then they said Trump knew about it and helped Russia. And when those lies crumbled.Now the story has “morphed” into “Putin” interfered in the election ,not to help Trump, but instead to just spread chaos throughout the US political system.In that way they can end their war with Trump. While still feeding the “its Russia’s doing” at the same time. The US is truly insane today.
Next time there is a Pindo schoolyard shooting spree, Putin will have to explain “Please forgive me, I thought you’d never find me out on this one”.
Hmm…
I must think slightly like Putin. The only reason I voted for Trump was in the hope that it would create chaos in the U.S. political system.
That is the one way I have not been disappointed in Trump. Bring it all on, let everyone expose themselves once and for all as the corrupt traitorous scum they are.
If the US congress is now in the foreign policy business, Trump and Tillerson may as well grab themselves each a pole and hang “gone fishin'” signs on their doors.
The rest of the world now knows without a doubt that the US is agreement incapable and will remain so for some time.
Way to go, folks. You’ve just delivered veto-proof insanity!!!
50.something percent of the US population voted for Hollery which’s camp is now in total control. Only around 15% of Americans life in rural areas, whereas 30% of the Russians. Of those 85% metropolitan dwellers the majority voted for Hollery.
To sum it up, some Nukes wisely placed would most certainly solve the problem on the surface. Of course the US people are taken for a ride – only how much time is left for them to right the thing – the clock is ticking, tick-tack-tick-tack.
If a war between the two Nuke powers is provoked, who would gain from it ? Christianity would be wiped out. It is rumored that the chosen Tribe has a deal with Russia and probably China, they told them sweet stuff as they always do, and will keep to their promise at first, as they always do. Do you sense the smell ? There must be an unexpected changeover by them in order to really cash in, because only then will they be safe.
An intermediate solution would be to always have 10-20 200 KT devices aimed at the sand pit down there (They are all bunched up thight you cannot miss), just in case. Even a rumor would do wonders I suspect. Make sure you have control of an ICBM Sub or the like, a rumor would already be enough…..
I concur with you last statement Scott (and everything else too) the expulsions are part of the swamp draining effort.
Diplopundit:
Putin Says 755 U.S. Diplomats Must Leave, Let’s Break Down the Numbers
https://diplopundit.net/2017/07/30/putin-says-755-u-s-diplomats-must-leave-lets-break-down-the-numbers/
Washignton Post reporter in Moscow:
Putin says the U.S. Mission in Russia needs to cut 755 employees. What do all these people do?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/31/putin-says-the-u-s-mission-in-russia-needs-to-cut-755-employees-what-do-all-these-people-do/?utm_term=.6ce551b8ee1a
According to those articles. All or almost all the reduction in staff will be local Russian employee’s. And that few or no Americans will be expelled. Hopefully that is not correct. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. As a side note all the comments on the Wapo article were by brain dead Russophobes. And full of lies.No a single sane comment on that article.
Russia expels the U.S. diplomats, a.k.a.. Foreign Service officers
To become a Foreign Service officer U.S. citizenship is a requirement.
https://careers.state.gov/uploads/82/8d/828dd9d3767f997acb7de795e62a55a3/Foreign-Service-Selection-Process-Brochure-for-Officers-and-Specialists.pdf
Foreign Service careers are global and require … These include U.S. citizenship
The locals cannot possibly become the US diplomats.
The meme that Russia expelling to the US the Russian citizens, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, who allegedly work for the US embassy is intended to confuse the public about the brilliant kick in the collective American ass.
I think its a question of numbers. And I’ll need to see actual figures to decide. Putin said 755 would be cut,and the rest left would be 455 .The two figures together are 1,210. In 2013 the last time the numbers were calculated in the press,the US Mission held around that same number. But only around 350 ( or less) were Americans. So unless a huge number of Americans were brought in recently (very unlikely).Then Putin’s 455 figure would cover all, and more, of the actual US citizens.So unless the US decided to keep more locals and send Americans home instead. Then it doesn’t affect Americans. If you are correct that the numbers “only” mean US citizens. Then there aren’t enough of them there to make Putin’s 755 number. And it would leave -0- American diplomats in Russia. I’m totally sure that isn’t the case.So the “reduction of the US Mission” must by fact of numbers,if nothing else,mean “all employee’s of the Mission and not just US officials.
Now it is still a good move. Almost all the “locals” working “for the enemy” are almost certain to be 5th columnists. And are used to spread pro-US influence inside Russia. Separating them from their US paymasters is a good thing. But it won’t go as far as I hoped in getting US citizen spies out of Russia.
An interesting article that in a round about way says Putin needs to do more to combat US aggression before its too late. And he has the Lion vs Tiger choice only.
“The Tiger Who Would Be King
One morning the tiger woke up in the jungle and told his mate that he was king of beasts.
“Leo, the lion, is king of beasts,” she said.
“We need a change,” said the tiger. “The creatures are crying for a change.”
The tigress listened but she could hear no crying, except that of her cubs.
“I’ll be king of beasts by the time the moon rises,” said the tiger. “It will be a yellow moon with black stripes, in my honor.”
“Oh, sure,” said the tigress as she went to look after her young, one of whom, a male, very like his father, had got an imaginary thorn in his paw.
The tiger prowled through the jungle till he came to the lion’s den. “Come out,” he roared, “and greet the king of beasts! The king is dead, long live the king!”
Inside the den, the lioness woke her mate. “The king is here to see you,” she said.
“What king?” he inquired, sleepily.
“The king of beasts,” she said.
“I am the king of beasts,” roared Leo, and he charged out of the den to defend his crown against the pretender.
It was a terrible fight, and it lasted until the setting of the sun. All the animals of the jungle joined in, some taking the side of the tiger and others the side of the lion. Every creature[Pg 125] from the aardvark to the zebra took part in the struggle to overthrow the lion or to repulse the tiger, and some did not know which they were fighting for, and some fought for both, and some fought whoever was nearest, and some fought for the sake of fighting.
“What are we fighting for?” someone asked the aardvark.
“The old order,” said the aardvark.
“What are we dying for?” someone asked the zebra.
“The new order,” said the zebra.
When the moon rose, fevered and gibbous, it shone upon a jungle in which nothing stirred except a macaw and a cockatoo, screaming in horror. All the beasts were dead except the tiger, and his days were numbered and his time was ticking away. He was monarch of all he surveyed, but it didn’t seem to mean anything.
MORAL: You can’t very well be king of beasts if there aren’t any.
http://johnhelmer.net/james-thurbers-lesson-for-power-talking-to-americans-which-president-vladimir-putin-hasnt-learned-yet/
That Helmer article appears confused. It doesn’t describe Russian actions against the israeloamerican aggressions at all, Helmer seems to claim there haven’t been any, and then infers Putin wants to be king of beasts. Hence the lame Thurber take. Perhaps Helmer just wanted to write about the Thurber story and tossed in some Putin bashing for form?
> He warns the US allies, that they will be pressured to join this sanction war and to be forced to walk goose steps behind the US.
Actually not. They are obliged to run far far ahead of USA, be kinda human shield.
https://plus.google.com/+Michaeltaradus/posts/Jy8f9zFRuEA
An extremely important CrossTalk on the sanctions issue.Near the end Mark and Peter both echo what I and several others have said before. That Russia needs to do away with Western trading. That their interests can never be reconciled.With the insanity in the US. And with the EU under US control.That it is time to part company with the West :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4vX7RECzG8
Czech Physicist Lubos Motl, who used to be very pro-US a few years ago, is now seething with rage at the patent absurdity and insanity of US behavior with regards to Russia. He says he is beginning to think Russians are actually saints, to show such calm and restraint. He muses on the possibilities Russia have of playing with space things.
Assuming the present trend, Russia will remove the GPS, U.S. satellites by 2020
http://motls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/assuming-present-trend-russia-will.html#more
John McCain was a top hateful scumbag who led the U.S. lawmakers to approve a new wave of broad and idiotic sanctions against Russia. They have absolutely no justification, they will damage the relationships in the world, and they will damage the European companies as well. That’s why the Austrian chancellor and the German minister and SPD boss angrily responded and started to consider European countries’ sanctions against the U.S. Great. The American politicians are absolutely inconsiderate. They don’t give a damn when they hurt third parties equally if they decided that the primary goal is to hurt someone, in this case Russia.
Russia was placed on equal footing with Iran and North Korea – the latter country just fired an intercontinental (!) ballistic missile to the sea off Japan. Days ago, the U.S. stole some real estate that Russians bought for $1.2 million 40 years ago. Lots of self-evident crime is taking place overtly, a daylight robbery. Also, a lawmaker paid millions of dollars believes that Putin keeps on invading Korea. You get in trouble in the U.S. when you just point out that she is a stupid ape because she’s the true representative of the American nations right now.
One reason why the brain-dead far left jerk Mr John McCain (the brain cancer has utterly failed to kill him so far) keeps on being reelected in the U.S. is the Americans’ frantic religious and utterly irrational cult worshiping their “troops” – which is not really one of the most commendable jobs. This old and counterproductive man still paints himself as a soldier and the stupid Americans are buying it. It’s apparently enough for many of them. But it’s not just John McCain. Only 2+3 U.S. lawmakers voted against the sanctions. The degree of the lawmakers’ group think is stunning. Even if Donald Trump vetoed the bill, the lawmakers will have the much higher majority that is enough to overrule Trump’s veto. And don’t forget that Trump was promising to veto the sanctions in order to propose even tougher ones. He probably thinks it’s a good idea to join the contest looking for the most fanatical lunatic.
Interventions against the U.S. elections were quoted as a reason for the sanctions. There is zero evidence supporting any of these claims. But even if Russia did influence the U.S. elections – what staggeringly double standards the U.S. would display. After the war, the U.S. intervened in 81 elections held in 47 countries of the world. Those efforts included several brutal interventions into the Ukrainian politics which consumed billions of American taxpayers’ dollars and all of them were directed against Russia. So either it’s nonsense that such interventions are utterly criminal, or the U.S. is the leading criminal regime in the world, isn’t it?
Russia’s restraint and patience look incredible to me. I often say that Russians aren’t saints and they aren’t supposed to be saints. But when I look at things like their reactions to the sanctions, I do often think that Russians actually are saints. Only now, in July, they are really readying a response to December 2016 sanctions which were imposed during the last Obama months. A few percent of the U.S. diplomats will have to leave Moscow, the remaining ones won’t be able to travel to their dachas, store some things in a warehouse, less sugar will be placed on their pirozhki, and they will get fewer Russian prostitutes every week, and only the brunettes, not blondes.
Great.
I suspect that this staggering reticence is an illusion – it’s the calm before the storm. We have repeatedly discussed the Russian nuclear arsenal that may trump the American one and may be combined with some cool gadgets and the greater Russian will to sacrifice their lives – even when the sacrifices are due to the imperfect technology or organization. Again, I am absolutely uncertain, about 50-50, who would be the winner of the U.S.-Russian hot war if there were a winner at all.
Assuming that the relationships between the U.S. and Russia so far could have been described as a Cold War v2.0 and the nuclear exchanges would be called a Hot War, there may exist another era, the era of the Lukewarm War. Maybe the situation is evolving towards that stage. What could happen in the Lukewarm War? […]
full article:
http://motls.blogspot.ca/2017/07/assuming-present-trend-russia-will.html#more
The comments to this article by Lubos Motl are also quite interesting, including replies to comments by Lubos himself. I can’t believe how completely his views regarding America have changed in the last 3 years or so. Believe it or not, he used to be a great admirer of, and believer in, the American economic and political system. Now, kin a reply to a comment he says: “…Even days later, I am extremely angry about your f—ed-up lawmakers – and because they clearly represent the dominant attitudes in the U.S. public, I am upset about almost all Americans, too, and I am spending quite some time thinking what would be an effective nice way to bring the U.S. to the knees.
And when some commenter named “putinism” gave a link to a site (in Russian) where the supposedly horrible spookiness and evilness of Putin was supposedly explained in great detail, this what Lubos replied:
“The website you linked to looks like a collection of conspiracy theories by nut jobs but I cannot be sure about the validity content. However, I am sure that most of *your* comment is composed of lies and stupid racism.
Even if Putin has killed somebody, that doesn’t mean that there is a justification to treat Russians and Russian economy as if they were scum, let alone Europeans who have nothing to do with any of these things.
Russia is the least aggressive power in this world – I do follow the normal discourse in Russia rather closely. You’re just shamelessly lying.
I have various economic relationships to subjects that have Russian connections or owners, I find their harassment based on nothing else than their nationality absolutely unacceptable, and if Putin finally started to murder the people who are doing such things, I approve of this treatment for the same reason why I would have rooted for Stalin during the Second World War.”
Jews got mad at having Russian peace keepers at the Golan Heights. So the Jews ordered Congress to vote sanctions and they almost 100% did as ordered. So Russia should target israel.And China should too. And North Korea should too. And Iran should be given nukes.
By going to the talking points of the ‘proper’ newspapers and their modern equivalents in the independent internet media, you are all missing the bigger picture.
1- only ***five*** US politicians in the two houses voted against the sanctions bill. This means the overwhelming majority of US politicians, Democrat, Republican and independent, support the most extreme anti-Russian possible. The only other time one witnesses such groupthink in the US Congress is when Congress votes to support Israel in its acts of holocaust against those the zionists label as ‘sub-Human’ (as with the recent zionist holocaust in Gaza). So now America sees Russia as it sees the direct ‘enemies’ of Israel.
2- the sanctions bill purposely conflated Russia with Iran and N Korea. And we all know America is on course to nuke Iran just as soon as it can justify a war there. N Korea, despite being a creation of the USA to serve Japan’s regional needs, is widely (and incorrectly) seen by US sheeple as the nation the US government would most like to nuke if only it could. So by joining Russia to Iran and N Korea, the US Congress is stating that a way must be found to ***destroy*** Russia at all costs.
So the USA has declared that it is on a direct path to war with Russia. And before the war turns hot, America will act to demolish every achievement Russia has created across the globe- political, economic, societal, religious, diplomatic.
No Empire power can allow such a brazen attack against its interests. Yet Putin responds by publicly inviting the Americans and others to continue their illegal activities in Syria- so long as those activities assist the Syrian government. To encourage American lawlessness (the government of Syria has stated that the USA is an illegal unwanted invader, and that should be the end of it), suggesting that the USA is above the Laws of Man, is a fatal mistake by Putin- and one he makes over and over and over again.
Russia instead should publicly hold America’s feet to the fire over all the sickening Crimes against Humanity America has carried out since WW2- and especially in the last two decades. Far from suggesting America could and should be a ‘friend’, Putin should shout from the rooftops that the USA is a rabid dog- and constantly give examples to prove the point.
With 99% of Congress being rabidly anti-Russian, a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Russia could come at any time. Utter madness, of course, and the end of all life in the mainland of the USA- but the simple-minded vindictive zionists that now occupy Congress woudln’t even care- jointly pressing the ‘red’ button would be the highlight of their (now vanishingly short) lives. The US Congress as a metaphorical ‘suicide bomber’. And the psychology of suicide bombers is all to real.
During the Cold War, the US Congress could never have been so stupidly malicious- the voters would never have stood for it. But the sheeple of today’s America have been groomed for decades to accept the ‘logic’ of aggressive warfare- the ultimate Crime Against Humanity in the opinion of the courts that tried the nazis after WW2. And Putin never ever condemns America for its policy of aggressive warfare- making it seem that it is OK when the USA choses to put a nation to the sword. Indeed, Putin’s vote at the UN enabled Britain, France and the USA to destroy Libya with the fig-leaf of ‘legality’.
The removal of US diplomats from Russia is perceived as a ‘desperate’ act by Putin because of the very foolish delay between it and the Obama expulsion of Russia diplomats last year. Giving America a chance to rethink its foreign policy after the election of Trump would have made sense ***only*** if Putin had taken advantage of the election immediately, and made a beeline for Trump in the first few days. Instead Putin held back, stung by the clever zionist propaganda campaign falsely accusing Russia of having ‘fixed’ the US election. And in holding back, the Deep State had plent of time to co-opt Trump, and hog tie him to the usual zionist agenda.
Putin left Trump to flounder and ‘die’ as an alternative voice. Now Trump is a crazier, less predictable version of Obama. In some ways Trump has become more dangerous than Clinton- simply because in dealing with Trump, the Deep State is going to places it previously didn’t dare. The Deep State, for instance, is now happy that the perception of the Democrats and Republicans as ‘real’ opposite political forces is over. They’ve bit that bullet- got both parties to vote as one in Congress- and the US sheeple haven’t even murmered a protest. By having Trump as the ‘one true enemy’, the US sheeple have swallowed the idea that Democrats and Republicans believe in the same thing. This is an astonishing and terrifying sea change in US politics.
To illustrate just how bad this is, remember that Pearl Harbour (a false flag) was completely neccessary to get the US Congress at the time to unify behind America’s entry to WW2. Without Pearl Harbour, a significant minority of the US Congress would have opposed all serious attempts by the US president to fight WW2, and America’s war effort would have been vastly more half-hearted.
Yet no such false flag was needed to get US Congress 99% behind effectively total war with Russia today. The Deep State have finally converted Congress into a ‘rubber stamp’- and this is the big picture most of you miss as you cheer Putin’s latest very late and ineffective jab against America.
Sadly America had a large diplomatic mission in Russia because it was very much in Russia’s interests for this to be so. On the other hand, America had almost nothing to gain from Russia diplomats in America. With America failing to reverse Obama’s vindictive actions, Russia had no choice but to match the expulsion diplomatically- but to see this one act as a ‘Russian victory’ is the height of foolishness. Only if it marks the start of Russia finally standing up to the Empire of the West properly in the immediate future can we start to cheer. And that should involve the expulsion of the USA from Iraq and Syria, and the liberation of East Ukraine.
Putin Actually Defeated a “full sized Battalion” of American spies with the stroke of his pen. An extra feather to his full Hat.
In the modern world embassies are nothing more than bases for intel agencies. This has been true since WW2. Telegraphs and telephones removed the purpose of a resident ambassador, and the proliferation of intel agencies after WW2 gave the useless offices a new purpose.
So a shutdown of embassies is really a restriction of human intel as a punishment for perceived misuse of human intel.
I am trying to read in, but I cannot follow all media outlets. Has Trump accepted the law? If he does, he will not be popular with future presidents. The law is a precedent and limits the power of the president.
I imagine his advisors are standing in queue to tell him what they think. CIA and the department of state want to keep their employees in Russia. The embassy needs the warehouses more than the dacha. Some energy companies are about to lose money. They probably contact Tillerson.
The funny thing is the US must decide who stays and who goes. 755 employees. Something like a buraucratic civil war is enjoyable. I feel sorry for the Russian employees, drivers for example. The good thing is it will be more difficult for the US to influence the presidential elections.
Trump will suffer from a veto, but it would make Congress responsible for the mess.
Information is scant, but it is to be expected, and highly likely, that most (or perhaps all) of those excess 755 people employed by the US in its embassy and consultes in Russia, are in fact US citizens. Most of them anyway. These are the ones who would be asked to go first, I imagine.
If this request by the Russians to reduce the US staff is applied mostly to Russian employees, then it looks like a very inneffective and weak reply. But even then, you cannot underestimate the intelligence-gathering field work that local employees can accomplish in a very discreet manner. In fact, their capabilities in this respect would be in some ways enhanced by the very fact that they are both locals AND employees, or so it seems to me.
But it could be that a great many of the local employees are in fact working for the opposition in Russia an being a a link between US embassy and opposition and this will of course make their work tougher.
This is an excellent article as to how the neo cons have completely neutered trump-it is called the romney team. I had to stop reading several times to control my rage:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-romney-loyalists-hijacked-trumps-foreign-policy/
Some big shots, like Tillerson, are very good at playing the role of ‘decent human being’ when it’s convenient. In fact, Tillerson makes for a great grandpa. He’s even a bit of a teddy bear.
A friend of mine told me she does a lot of work for billionaires and that they are just like everyone else. Was she expecting Reptilians?
W’s only political strength was that he seemed to half the population like a good guy. Obama convinced the other half the same thing.
The worst people in the world can seem nice when they want to and to whom they want to.