tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63125741699068882972024-03-18T20:07:25.142-07:00Geofinancial"Force does not reveal to the victim the strength of his adversary...On the contrary, it reveals the weakness, even the panic of his adversary and this revelation invests the victim with patience..."
Honesty, integrity, ethics, caring, morality, love thy neighbor as you love thyself...Truth just might be a more effective path to Justice....
The USA is yet much too drunk of its own illusions to see the writings on the walls all over the World...HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.comBlogger1606125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-14186716873800045702015-03-13T23:38:00.002-07:002015-03-13T23:38:36.125-07:00Time to plan for the rapidly waning US-dollar hegemony.....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3-p29-e6NjMSKBJeBTCqC-0NQySyTwYoSAx1C-ItcW5Rz5mCrM2F11VQkCxpksh_q1TDgpR-c6XduvipwvkxcpwuoFoL71B9e4eKZP3FAynjUZqQiAVWUZTtZgeVHBIlsAoWQyztw6Y/s1600/temple+crooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3-p29-e6NjMSKBJeBTCqC-0NQySyTwYoSAx1C-ItcW5Rz5mCrM2F11VQkCxpksh_q1TDgpR-c6XduvipwvkxcpwuoFoL71B9e4eKZP3FAynjUZqQiAVWUZTtZgeVHBIlsAoWQyztw6Y/s1600/temple+crooks.jpg" height="320" width="309" /></a></div>
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">In another awkward blow to the rapidly waning US-dollar hegemony, the government of the United Kingdom announced that they would be applying to join the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member. Right now, the United States dominates the global financial system. But after years of endless wars, spying, debt, money printing, bailouts, and insane regulations, the rest of the world has had enough. And they’re looking for an alternative. China is coming up with an answer. The soon-to-be-live Chinese International Payment System (CIPS) will provide a way for banks to transfer funds to one another without having to use the US banking system or the US dollar. China is also the ringleader behind both the BRICS development bank (called the New Development Bank, or NDB) as well as the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Both of these are multilateral development banks that aim to end the dominance of the western-controlled World Bank and IMF. NDB includes all the BRICS nations– Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Founding members of the AIIB include China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, etc. They’re typically all rapidly growing and/or resource-rich developing nations. New Zealand was the first western nation to join AIIB back in October. And yesterday afternoon, Britain announced its intention to become the second. (Of course in the UK’s eyes they’re the first since New Zealand still belongs to the Queen!). This is a massive, embarrassing blow to the United States, and to the future of the US dollar. It’s pretty obvious when you look at the dozens of signatories to the NDB and AIIB charter documents: the rest of the world is sick and tired of the United States dominating the global financial system. And by putting these new development banks and alternative payment systems together, they’re actually doing something about it.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Even America’s own allies have supported this anti-dollar movement. Last summer the French Finance Minister slammed the US government for arrogantly fining French bank BNP a whopping $9 billion for doing business with countries that the US doesn’t like. (One of the ‘evil’ countries BNP did business with was Cuba, and they were heavily punished for this, even though BNP broke no law in France. But now all of a sudden the US and Cuba are buddy-buddy again. Is BNP going to get a refund?) His conclusion? It’s time for a ‘rebalancing’ of the global financial system away from the US dollar. Other political allies of the United States have echoed similar sentiment. But now we can see words are turning into action.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">Britain might be too polite to tell the US straight up– “Look, you have $18.1 trillion in official debt, you have $42 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and you’re kind of a dick. I’m dumping you.” So instead they’re going with the “it’s not you, it’s me” approach.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">But to anyone paying attention, it’s pretty obvious where this trend is going. It won’t be long before other western nations jump on the anti-dollar bandwagon with action and not just words. Bottom line: this isn’t theory or conjecture anymore. Every shred of objective evidence suggests that the dollar’s dominance is coming to an end. It’s happening. Time to plan for it...</span><br />
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-23934409996384653562014-11-17T01:42:00.001-08:002014-11-17T01:42:11.925-08:00زمن الشيطان، فمتى يُسْحَقُ الرأسُين....؟<div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;">زمن الشيطان، فمتى يُسْحَقُ
الرأسُين....؟<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="_ctl130_HtmlPlaceholderTwo"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;">في
علامات الازمنة، نقرأ انقلاباً على الله، وعَرْبَدةً جماعية مستدامة، إنه زمنُ
الشيطانِ بامتياز!<br />فما الذي يحصل؟ ولماذا ضاع السلامُ على الارض، وهجرتِ
المسرَّةُ الناسَ؟<br /><br />ما من عقلٍ سوي، يمكنه أن يفهم ما يحدث اليوم، في كثير من
بقاع الارض، حفل جنون جماعي؛ فلا ضوابط ترسم الحدود بين الحق والباطل، ولا سلطة
تحفظ الحقوق، وتصون الكرامات، أما الشعوب فمصابة بفقدان الذاكرة، أو أنها ارتوت من
النبع المسحور، فأصيبت بعمى البصر و البصيرة. <br /><br />آمَنَّا أنَّ الانسان هو على
صورة الله ومثاله!فأيُّ انسانٍ هو هذا، الذي يفوق بسلوكه، كل عصور التوحش؟فهل
نصدِّق، أنَّ ما يَجري اليوم، فوق أرض لبنان، والعراق، وسوريا، وليبيا، ومصر،
وغيرها، صانِعُه ومنفِّذه، انسانٌ يحملُ صورة الله؟!<br /><br />لا تَكْفِرُوا، ولا
تَضَلوا، ولا تُخطِئوا، فهؤلاء، كائنات لا تشبهُ البشر! ما يحصل، انقلابٌ على الله،
أوانتفاضةٌ تشبه تلك التي قادها "يوسيفورس"، الذي سقط بغروره، وكبريائه، من أعلى
المراتب الملائكية، الى دونيَّة الابْلَسَةِ في رئاسة الجحيم؛ انه صراعٌ بين الخير
المطلق، والشر المطلق. فهل يسقط الانسان، كما سقط من قَبْلُ؟<br /><br />ما نشهده
اليوم، عَصْفٌ جارفٌ لما بنته الانسانية، عبر تاريخها من حضارات، وابداعات، وفكر،
وثقافة، وقيم. هؤلاء يتَّخِذون من "تيولوجيا" الدين مطيَّةً، لأحفاد إبليس
وزبانيته!<br />تطلبون أدلةً، وهي كثيرة؛ فنحن مع الذين هالهم هذا السقوط العظيم،
نستعيد بعضاً من مسلسلات العنف، والرعب، والاجرام، والتوحش، والفساد، والانحراف،
التي أصبحت–مع الاسف الشديد- ثقافة، يُسوِّقُ لها، ويُفاخر بها تكفيريو هذا الزمن
التعيس، ويعملون على تعميمها، بحد السيف، وسفك الدماء، وانتزاع
القلوب.<br /><br />هؤلاء، يتظللون راية الله، ويحتكرون التحدث باسمه، نسألهم باسم من
تذبحون، وقد قال تعالى في وصيته الرابعة، لا تقتل، وباسم من تغتصبون النساء، وغيرهم
من البشر وغير البشر، يا مجاهدي النكاح، وهو الذي نهاكم عن الزنى، وحتى عن اشتهاء
امرأة القريب، ومقتناه، فأي دين يحضُّكم على سبي النساء، وبيعهن في ألاسواق كما
تباع المواشي؟ <br /><br />أي دين يبرر لكم خطف الاطفال والرضَّع، وسوقهم الى متعتكم،
أو الى تذهينهم على الذبح وسفك الدماء، فمن تعبدون أنتم، وقد نهاكم، عن (القتل،
والزنى، والسرقة، و حتى عن اشتهاء امرأة القريب. . . )؛ فماذا تفعلون
أنتم؟<br /><br /> نسألكم، كيف تفجِّرون المدارس، والجامعات، ودورالعبادة والمستشفيات،
وتقطعون الاعناق والارزاق، وأنتم تكبِّرون وتهلِّلون؟<br /><br />قد يسأل بعضُكم، عن
هويَّةِ هذا المسخ، الذي يعيث في الارض فساداً ورعباً، ويقضُّ مضاجعَ الابرياء
المسالمين. ولمن يجهل نقول، يكفيكم مراقبة حركة السلاح والتسلح، مصدرها، حجمها،
أنواعها، اضافة الى تدفُّق آلاف الارهابيين من كل أصقاع العالم، عبر مسالك آمنة،
محميَّة من دول اقليمية ودولية، معروفة بالصوت والصورة، راقبوا كذلك، حركة تدفق
الاموال العربية-الخليجية، والاقليمية-الدولية، عثمانية، أميركية، وأوروبية وغيرها،
وهي جميعها، من أموال الشعوب الجائعة والمشردة، والمنبوذة، حتى يتكشَّفَ لكم، ودون
الحاجة الى فحص الحمض النووي، نَسَبَ هذا المسخ، الذي ينتظر عودة (الخُضْرِ)،
ليَسْحَقَ رأسه، وترتاحَ حسناوات هذا الزمان!<br /><br />مئات المليارات من الدولارات،
إستُثمرت من أجل تدمير المجتمعات العربية؛ فلو يقرأ العرب ! لوجدوا أنَّ حكوماتهم
تدفع أكثر من مئة مليار دولار سنوياً، بدل السلاح الاميركي، وتحديداً من دول
الخليج، التي تُؤمِّن السيولة نقداً، وكلَّ حاجاتِ الارهابيين، ومستلزماتهم
اللوجستية، بكرم عربي غير مسبوق. <br /><br />جاء في صحيفة العرب، التي تأسست في لندن
عام 1977، بتاريخ 19/11 /2013، ما حرفيته:" ان شركات السلاح الاميركية بدأت تنظر
الى الشرق الاوسط كملاذٍ يمكن أن ينقذها من الانكماش وربما الافلاس". <br /><br />لمن
لم يقتنع بعد، نُحيله الى ما صدر في دوائر الامم المتحدة، والذي تناقلته معظم وسائل
الاعلام ذات المصداقية، وفيه تأكيد على أن الكثير من التحويلات المالية، المرسلة
اليوم الى "داعش"، والمنظمات الارهابية الاخرى، تمر عبر المصارف الاوروبية!
<br /><br />من أفواههم ندينهم، ونؤكِّد أنَّ تحالفهم الدولي لمقاتلة الارهاب، هو خدعة
العصر بامتياز. يقاتلون الارهاب بيد، ويمدونه بكل أشكال الدعم، باليد الاخرى،
يقصفونه في بعض مواقع الميدان، ثم يوفرون كل ما يحتاجه، بأمرهم وبأموالهم.
<br /><br />هكذا نفهم لماذا، تجْهَدُ أميركا باستمرار، لتصعيد الخلاف وتأجيجه في
الشرق، لاسيما بين ايران، والبلدان العربية التي تملك الثروات الطائلة؛ فهي بحاجة
ماسة الى عدو اسطوري دائم، يبرر لها نهب ثروات العرب، و"شفط أموالهم "، حتى تجف
المنابع. <br /><br />هؤلاء هم الذين صنعوا هذا الوحش الداعشي وغيره، وعندما كَبُر وخرج
عن السيطرة، عملوا على لجمه، واذا اقتضى الامر دمَّروه، واستبدلوه بوحش أكثر
ترويضاً، وهكذا بدأت أميركا، والدول الاوروبية التي تدور في فلكها، انشاء مخيمات
حاضنة، للوحش الجديد، في أمبراطورية بني عثمان، وبتنسيق كامل مع عملائهم العرب،
وبالدعم المفتوح! <br /><br /><br />العلَّة اذاً تكمن، في رأس الافعى، لا في ذنبها، وما
لم يُسْحَق الرأسُ <b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span id="_ctl130_HtmlPlaceholderTwo">إسرائيل</span></span></b> <b><span style="font-size: x-large;">وأميركا </span></b> ، سيبقى الخطرُ قائماً،
وستبقى شعوب العرب تبكي حاضرَها ومستقبَلها، كما بَكَتْ دائماً
تاريخَها</span></span></div>
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-84241715278714841422014-06-03T22:53:00.000-07:002014-06-03T22:53:04.173-07:00Russian tanks might roll into Warsaw, Athens, Rome or Lisbon at any time... LOL :)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">You probably heard it by now: Obama has pledged a
billion dollars to what my "beloved" </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27671691"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">BBC called</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
"European security". The official name for this initiative is the
"European Reassurance Initiative". You see, Obama and the BBC
apparently believe that Europeans are really terrified and that they believe
that the Russian tanks might roll into Warsaw, Athens, Rome or Lisbon at any
time. The good news is that Uncle Sam is here to reassure them that he
will let no such thing happen and that this additional 1 billion dollars will
deter the Russian Bear…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
Have you ever read something more ridiculous?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
So what is really going on here?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
There is a wonderful American expression which says that "<i>to a man with
a hammer everything looks like a nail</i>". Well, to Obama, the EU
and the Ukraine sure do look like nails because the only instrument the USA has
used in its foreign policy for many decades now is a "hammer"
composed of money and guns. But let's backtrack for a second.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
I submit that the US policy in Europe is nothing short of a total
failure. Not only has the US-instigated coup in the Ukraine turned into a
full-spectrum disaster, but the latest elections in Europe clearly show that
the European public is becoming more anti-EU and more anti-US. In fact,
since the EU is nothing more than a US instrument of colonial domination over
Europe, being anti-EU <u>is</u> being anti-US. Bernard-Henri Levi, the
hyper-Zionist clown who fancies himself a "philosopher" and who is
the darling of the European elites, once said that "anti-Americanism is a
metaphor for anti-Semitism". To paraphrase him I would say that
"anti-Europeanism is a metaphor for anti-Americanism" (at least if by
"Europe" we understand that trans-national horror known as the EU and
not the "Europe of the fatherlands" which de Gaulle, a true patriot
of France and Europe, had called for). And the folks in DC understand
that too, they are not stupid. Worse of all for them, time is running out
and the situation on the ground is getting worse and worse not by the day, but
by the hour. France, in particular, might explode literally any day.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
But the real problem is not in Europe or in the Ukraine, it is in the
USA. The US leadership, clearly intoxicated on imperial hubris and 1%
class arrogance, has simply forgotten Bismark's motto that "<i>politics is
the art of the possible</i>" and this is why instead of seeking some kind
of best possible compromise leading to the best possible outcome, they are
holding on with a desperate death-grip to an <i>impossible</i> outcome: a
Europe run by the EU and a unitary state of Banderastan on the border with
Russia. That ain't gonna happen, of course. In fact, the harder the
US pushes for such an outcome, the less likely it is to ever become
reality. No need to read Hegel to understand that - a quick look at the
recent events in Europe clearly shows that the AngloZionist imperial design for
the ATTU (Atlantic to the Ural) zone is going nowhere and will end up in an
embarrassing meltdown.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
Faced with this prospect, the White House does what the French call "<i>fuite
en avant</i>" ("fleeing forward" if you want, or "advancing
even faster into the quicksands"). The Russians did not take the
Ukrainian bait? Fine - we will pretend like they did anyway and
"reassure" the Europeans by </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27671691"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">declaring</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> that
"the security of America's European allies is sacrosanct" with enough
gravitas to hopefully make them believe that they are really threatened. The
neo-Nazi junta has just engaged in yet another massacre in the east? No
problem, we will simply praise the regime for its restraint and
"democratic nature". The EU leaders are having a panic attack
over the latest elections? No problem either, we will just give them a
one billion dollar bribe to show them that we will stand by them no matter what
and regardless of whom those pesky Europeans might vote for the next time
around.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
Because, of course, this is what this billion dollar is all about. It's
just bribe money for the 1% in the US and the EU to be distributed amongst
these plutocrats under the guise of "reassuring Europe". In
reality, the "European Reassurance Initiative" only serves to
reassure the European elites and the Eurobureaucrats as they are the only ones
who will truly benefit from it. And where shall the money come
from? Well, hell, Uncle Sam can just create it out of thin air with a few
keystrokes on the right computer… And as long as the EU and the rest of
the US-colonized planet continues to accept payments in dollars, they will be
the ones really paying for this "EU plutocracy reassurance
initiative"…</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
You might retort that this is a stupid strategy which will only make things
worse. And you would be right. But not in the <u>very short term</u>,
which is really the only term which has ever mattered to capitalists
anyway. Besides, money and guns are the only two "policy
instruments" the US elites understand, so why not throw some money at the
issue and hope that guns will make the Empire look stronger?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
It is as pathetic as it is immoral. The good news is that the AngloZionist
Empire is really sabotaging itself and that it does so faster and better than
any outside power could ever dream of. And we are far from having seen
the worst of it (just think of what a Hillary Presidency would look like!)…</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
As for the people of Novorossia and Russia - they should keep their cool and
realize that all this hot air blowing from the West is just that - hot
air. Yes, sometimes they *sound* scary, but that only because American
politicians are the masters of make believe and that they are running what
Chris Hedges so brilliantly called the "</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Empire of Illusions</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">".
No matter what they say, the reality on the ground, in the real world, is that
Kiev does not have any military option in the Donbass just like the
AngloZionist Empire has no military option against Russia. Yes, they can
*pretend* like they have, but that does not make it so…</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
What we all should keep in mind is that neither money nor guns win wars.
Yes, they are important factors, but they cannot decide an outcome.
Willpower does. The Americans, by the way, are quite aware of that.
The dumb ones really believe their own propaganda, but the smart ones know that
the real purpose of the US "make believe propaganda" is not to really
make it happen, but to demoralize the opponent and break down his will to
resist. The danger of that is that the moment your opponent really
understands that he will immediately understand something else too: that your
bark is far bigger than your bite. This is what has happened with Hezbollah…</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
For years the AngloZionist propaganda has presented the IDF as some kind of
elite, almost invincible, force (which they never were, as anybody who has
trained with them knows)… And that myth of Israeli invincibility has
literally paralyzed the entire Middle-East until Hezbollah challenged it.
As in 2006 "while in the past the Lebanese would jump into their cars and
drive north as soon as an Israeli attack was announced, now they would jump in
their cars and drive south". That "switch" in the mind of
the Lebanese is what really defeated the IDF in 2006, not some kind of
Hezbollah super-weapon…</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
What does this mean for Novorossia?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
It means that the people of Novorossia must truly believe in themselves and
stop hoping for a Russian intervention which is not going to happen, at least
at this moment in time. Let Obama shake his billion dollar hammer until
he drops in exhaustion, but never let that distract you from a victory which is
very much within your reach. Yes, the massacres in Qana1&Qana2&Qana3,
in Odessa, Mariupol, Slaviansk, Kramatorsk, Donetsk and now Lugansk are
disgusting atrocities which cannot be forgiven or forgotten, but they are not
on the same scale as the horrors of WWII and yet the Russian people eventually
also won that war…and so did we in Lebanon!!!</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
Lies and terror have the exact same purpose: to defeat the will of their target
and we can expect a lot more lies and terror from the neo-Nazis in Kiev and
from the AngloZionist Empire. But if we take heed of Hezbollah's example
in Lebanon and if we keep in mind that time is very much on our side, we will
prevail, sooner rather than later…</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">HK</span></div>
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-49558960079918517742014-05-29T01:49:00.002-07:002014-05-29T01:49:38.398-07:00China pivot fuels Eurasian century… Exit the Petrodollar, enter the Gas-o-Yuan…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR;">China pivot
fuels Eurasian century… Exit the Petrodollar, enter the Gas-o-Yuan…</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR;">A specter is haunting Washington, an unnerving vision of a Sino-Russian
alliance wedded to an expansive symbiosis of trade and commerce across much of
the Eurasian land mass - at the expense of the United States. <br />
And no wonder Washington is anxious. That alliance is already a done deal in a
variety of ways: through the BRICS group of emerging powers (Brazil, Russia,
India, China, and South Africa); at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the
Asian counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; inside the Group
of 20; and via the 120-member-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). <br />
Trade and commerce are just part of the future bargain. Synergies </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR; mso-no-proof: yes;"><img alt="http://asianmedia.com/GAAN/www/delivery/lg.php?bannerid=1945&campaignid=23&zoneid=36&loc=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atimes.com%2Fatimes%2FChina%2FCHIN-01-190514.html&cb=80976d31be" height="1" src="file:///C:\Users\RIFE\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif" width="1" /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR;">in the development of new
military technologies beckon as well. After Russia's Star Wars-style,
ultra-sophisticated S-500 air defense anti-missile system comes online in 2018,
Beijing is sure to want a version of it. Meanwhile, Russia is about to sell
dozens of state-of-the-art Sukhoi Su-35 jet fighters to the Chinese as Beijing
and Moscow move to seal an aviation-industrial partnership. <br />
This week should provide the first real fireworks in the celebration of a new
Eurasian century-in-the-making when Russian President Vladimir Putin drops in
on Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. <br />
You remember "Pipelineistan," all those crucial oil and gas pipelines
crisscrossing Eurasia that make up the true circulatory system for the life of
the region. Now, it looks like the ultimate Pipelineistan deal, worth US$1
trillion and 10 years in the making, will be signed off on as well. In it, the
giant, state-controlled Russian energy giant Gazprom will agree to supply the
giant state-controlled China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) with 3.75
billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas a day for no less than 30 years,
starting in 2018. That's the equivalent of a quarter of Russia's gas exports to
all of Europe. China's present daily gas demand is around 16 billion cubic feet
a day, and imports account for 31.6% of total consumption. <br />
Gazprom may still collect the bulk of its profits from Europe, but Asia could
turn out to be its Everest. The company will use this mega-deal to boost
investment in Eastern Siberia and the whole region will be reconfigured as a
privileged gas hub for Japan and South Korea as well. If you want to know why
no key country in Asia has been willing to "isolate" Russia in the
midst of the Ukrainian crisis - and in defiance of the Obama administration -
look no further than Pipelineistan….<br />
<br />
<b>Exit the Petrodollar, enter the Gas-o-Yuan…</b><br />
And then, talking about anxiety in Washington, there's the fate of the
petrodollar to consider, or rather the "thermonuclear" possibility
that Moscow and Beijing will agree on payment for the Gazprom-CNPC deal not in
petrodollars but in Chinese yuan. <br />
<br />
One can hardly imagine a more tectonic shift, with Pipelineistan intersecting
with a growing Sino-Russian political-economic-energy partnership. Along with
it goes the future possibility of a push, led again by China and Russia, toward
a new international reserve currency - actually a basket of currencies - that
would supersede the dollar (at least in the optimistic dreams of BRICS
members). <br />
<br />
Right after the potentially game-changing Sino-Russian summit comes a BRICS
summit in Brazil in July. That's when a $100 billion BRICS development bank,
announced in 2012, will officially be born as a potential alternative to the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as a source of project financing
for the developing world. <br />
<br />
More BRICS cooperation meant to bypass the dollar is reflected in the
"Gas-o-yuan", as in natural gas bought and paid for in Chinese
currency. Gazprom is even considering marketing bonds in yuan as part of the
financial planning for its expansion. Yuan-backed bonds are already trading in
Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and most recently Frankfurt. <br />
<br />
Nothing could be more sensible for the new Pipelineistan deal than to have it
settled in yuan. Beijing would pay Gazprom in that currency (convertible into
roubles); Gazprom would accumulate the yuan; Russia would then buy myriad
made-in-China goods and services in yuan convertible into roubles. <br />
<br />
It's common knowledge that banks in Hong Kong, from Standard Chartered to HSBC
- as well as others closely linked to China via trade deals - have been
diversifying into the yuan, which implies that it could become one of the de
facto global reserve currencies even before it's fully convertible. (Beijing is
unofficially working for a fully convertible yuan by 2018.) <br />
<br />
The Russia-China gas deal is inextricably tied up with the energy relationship
between the European Union and Russia. After all, the bulk of Russia's gross
domestic product comes from oil and gas sales, as does much of its leverage in
the Ukraine crisis. In turn, Germany depends on Russia for a hefty 30% of its
natural gas supplies. Yet Washington's geopolitical imperatives - spiced up
with Polish hysteria - have meant pushing Brussels to find ways to
"punish" Moscow in the future energy sphere (while not imperiling
present day energy relationships). <br />
<br />
There's a consistent rumble in Brussels these days about the possible
cancellation of the projected 16 billion euro (US$22 billion) South Stream
pipeline, whose construction is to start in June. On completion, it would pump
yet more Russian natural gas to Europe - in this case, underneath the Black Sea
(bypassing Ukraine) to Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Greece,
Italy, and Austria. <br />
<br />
Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have already made it clear that they
are firmly opposed to any cancellation, and cancellation is probably not in the
cards. After all, the only obvious alternative is Caspian Sea gas from
Azerbaijan, and that isn't likely to happen unless the EU develops its own construction
projects. <br />
<br />
In any case, Azerbaijan doesn't have enough capacity to supply the levels of
natural gas needed, and other actors like Kazakhstan, plagued with
infrastructure problems, or unreliable Turkmenistan, which prefers to sell its
gas to China, are already largely out of the picture. And don't forget that
South Stream, coupled with subsidiary energy projects, will create a lot of
jobs and investment in many of the most economically devastated EU nations. <br />
<br />
Nonetheless, such EU threats, however unrealistic, only serve to accelerate
Russia's increasing symbiosis with Asian markets. For Beijing especially, it's
a win-win situation. After all, between energy supplied across seas policed and
controlled by the US Navy and steady, stable land routes out of Siberia, it's
no contest. <br />
<br />
<b>Pick your own Silk Road</b><br />
Of course, the US dollar remains the top global reserve currency, involving 33%
of global foreign exchange holdings at the end of 2013, according to the IMF.
It was, however, at 55% in 2000. Nobody knows the percentage in yuan (and
Beijing isn't talking), but the IMF notes that reserves in "other
currencies" in emerging markets have been up 400% since 2003. <br />
<br />
The Federal Reserve is arguably monetizing 70% of the US government debt in an
attempt to keep interest rates from heading skywards. Pentagon adviser Jim
Rickards, as well as every Hong Kong-based banker, tends to believe that the
Fed is bust (though they won't say it on the record). No one can even imagine
the extent of the possible future deluge the US dollar might experience amid a
$1.4 quadrillion Mount Ararat of financial derivatives. <br />
<br />
Don't think that this is the death knell of Western capitalism, however, just
the faltering of that reigning economic faith, neoliberalism, still the
official ideology of the United States, the overwhelming majority of the
European Union, and parts of Asia and South America. <br />
<br />
As far as what might be called the "authoritarian neoliberalism" of
the Middle Kingdom, what's not to like at the moment? China has proven that
there is a result-oriented alternative to the Western "democratic"
capitalist model for nations aiming to be successful. It's building not one,
but myriad new Silk Roads, far-reaching webs of high-speed railways, highways,
pipelines, ports, and fiber-optic networks across huge parts of Eurasia. These
include a Southeast Asian road, a Central Asian road, an Indian Ocean
"maritime highway" and even a high-speed rail line through Iran and
Turkey reaching all the way to Germany. <br />
<br />
In April, when President Xi Jinping visited the city of Duisburg on the Rhine
River, with the world's largest inland harbor and right in the heartland of
Germany's Ruhr steel industry, he made an audacious proposal: a new
"economic Silk Road" should be built between China and Europe, on the
basis of the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe railway, which already runs from China
to Kazakhstan, to continue through Russia, Belarus, Poland, and finally
Germany. That's 15 days by train, 20 less than for cargo ships sailing from
China's eastern seaboard. Now that would represent the ultimate geopolitical
earthquake in terms of integrating economic growth across Eurasia. <br />
<br />
Keep in mind that, if no bubbles burst, China is about to become - and remain -
the number one global economic power, a position it enjoyed for 18 of the past
20 centuries. But don't tell London hagiographers; they still believe that US
hegemony will last, well, forever….<br />
<b>Take me to Cold War 2.0</b><br />
Despite recent serious financial struggles, the BRICS countries have been
consciously working to become a counterforce to the original and - having
tossed Russia out in March - once again Group of 7, or G-7. They are eager to
create a global architecture to replace the one first imposed in the wake of
World War II, and they see themselves as a potential challenge to the
exceptionalist and unipolar world that Washington imagines for our future (with
itself as the global robocop and NATO as its robo-police force). Historian and
imperialist cheerleader Ian Morris, in his book <i>War! What is it Good For?</i>,
defines the US as the ultimate "globocop" and "the last best
hope of Earth". If that globocop "wearies of its </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR; mso-no-proof: yes;"><img alt="http://asianmedia.com/GAAN/www/delivery/lg.php?bannerid=1945&campaignid=23&zoneid=36&loc=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atimes.com%2Fatimes%2FChina%2FCHIN-02-190514.html&cb=5e821ab60e" height="1" src="file:///C:\Users\RIFE\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif" width="1" /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR;">role", he writes,
"there is no plan B". <br />
<br />
Well, there is a plan BRICS - or so the BRICS nations would like to think, at
least. And when the BRICS do act in this spirit on the global stage, they
quickly conjure up a curious mix of fear, hysteria, and pugnaciousness in the
Washington establishment. <br />
<br />
Take Christopher Hill as an example. The former assistant secretary of state
for East Asia and US ambassador to Iraq is now an advisor with the Albright
Stonebridge Group, a consulting firm deeply connected to the White House and
the State Department. When Russia was down and out, Hill used to dream of a
hegemonic American "new world order". Now that the ungrateful
Russians have spurned what "the West has been offering" - that is,
"special status with NATO, a privileged relationship with the European
Union, and partnership in international diplomatic endeavors" - they are,
in his view, busy trying to revive the Soviet empire. Translation: if you're
not our vassals, you're against us. Welcome to Cold War 2.0. <br />
<br />
The Pentagon has its own version of this directed not so much at Russia as at
China, which, its think tank on future warfare claims, is already at war with
Washington in a number of ways. So if it's not apocalypse now, it's Armageddon
tomorrow. And it goes without saying that whatever's going wrong, as the Obama
administration very publicly "pivots" to Asia and the American media
fills with talk about a revival of Cold War-era "containment policy"
in the Pacific, it's all China's fault. <br />
<br />
Embedded in the mad dash toward Cold War 2.0 are some ludicrous
facts-on-the-ground: the US government, with $17.5 trillion in national debt
and counting, is contemplating a financial showdown with Russia, the largest
global energy producer and a major nuclear power, just as it's also promoting
an economically unsustainable military encirclement of its largest creditor,
China. <br />
<br />
Russia runs a sizeable trade surplus. Humongous Chinese banks will have no
trouble helping Russian banks out if Western funds dry up. In terms of
inter-BRICS cooperation, few projects beat a $30 billion oil pipeline in the
planning stages that will stretch from Russia to India via Northwest China. <br />
<br />
Chinese companies are already eagerly discussing the possibility of taking part
in the creation of a transport corridor from Russia into Crimea, as well as an
airport, shipyard, and liquid natural gas terminal there. And there's another
"thermonuclear" gambit in the making: the birth of a natural gas
equivalent to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that would
include Russia, Iran, and reportedly disgruntled US ally Qatar. <br />
<br />
The (unstated) BRICS long-term plan involves the creation of an alternative
economic system featuring a basket of gold-backed currencies that would bypass
the present America-centric global financial system. (No wonder Russia and
China are amassing as much gold as they can.) The euro - a sound currency
backed by large liquid bond markets and huge gold reserves - would be welcomed
in as well. <br />
<br />
It's no secret in Hong Kong that the Bank of China has been using a parallel
SWIFT network to conduct every kind of trade with Tehran, which is under a
heavy US sanctions regime. With Washington wielding Visa and MasterCard as
weapons in a growing Cold War-style economic campaign against Russia, Moscow is
about to implement an alternative payment and credit card system not controlled
by Western finance. An even easier route would be to adopt the Chinese Union
Pay system, whose operations have already overtaken American Express in global
volume. <br />
<br />
<b>I'm just pivoting with myself</b><br />
No amount of Obama administration "pivoting" to Asia to contain China
(and threaten it with US Navy control of the energy sea lanes to that country)
is likely to push Beijing far from its Deng Xiaoping-inspired, self-described
"peaceful development" strategy meant to turn it into a global
powerhouse of trade. <br />
<br />
Nor are the forward deployment of US or NATO troops in Eastern Europe or other
such Cold-War-ish acts likely to deter Moscow from a careful balancing act:
ensuring that Russia's sphere of influence in Ukraine remains strong without
compromising trade and commercial, as well as political, ties with the European
Union - above all, with strategic partner Germany. This is Moscow's Holy Grail;
a free-trade zone from Lisbon to Vladivostok, which (not by accident) is
mirrored in China's dream of a new Silk Road to Germany. <br />
<br />
Increasingly wary of Washington, Berlin for its part abhors the notion of
Europe being caught in the grips of a Cold War 2.0. German leaders have more
important fish to fry, including trying to stabilize a wobbly EU while warding
off an economic collapse in southern and central Europe and the advance of ever
more extreme rightwing parties. <br />
<br />
On the other side of the Atlantic, President Obama and his top officials show
every sign of becoming entangled in their own pivoting - to Iran, to China, to
Russia's eastern borderlands, and (under the radar) to Africa. The irony of all
these military-first maneuvers is that they are actually helping Moscow,
Tehran, and Beijing build up their own strategic depth in Eurasia and
elsewhere, as reflected in Syria, or crucially in ever more energy deals. They are
also helping cement the growing strategic partnership between China and Iran.
The unrelenting Ministry of Truth narrative out of Washington about all these
developments now carefully ignores the fact that, without Moscow, the
"West" would never have sat down to discuss a final nuclear deal with
Iran or gotten a chemical disarmament agreement out of Damascus. <br />
<br />
When the disputes between China and its neighbors in the South China Sea and
between that country and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyou islands meet the
Ukraine crisis, the inevitable conclusion will be that both Russia and China
consider their borderlands and sea lanes private property and aren't going to
take challenges quietly - be it via NATO expansion, US military encirclement,
or missile shields. Neither Beijing nor Moscow is bent on the usual form of
imperialist expansion, despite the version of events now being fed to Western
publics. Their "red lines" remain essentially defensive in nature, no
matter the bluster sometimes involved in securing them. <br />
<br />
Whatever Washington may want or fear or try to prevent, the facts on the ground
suggest that, in the years ahead, Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran will only grow
closer, slowly but surely creating a new geopolitical axis in Eurasia.
Meanwhile, a discombobulated America seems to be aiding and abetting the
deconstruction of its own unipolar world order, while offering the BRICS a
genuine window of opportunity to try to change the rules of the game. <br />
<br />
<b>Russia and China in pivot mode</b><br />
In Washington's think-tank land, the conviction that the Obama administration
should be focused on replaying the Cold War via a new version of containment
policy to "limit the development of Russia as a hegemonic power" has
taken hold. The recipe: weaponize the neighbors from the Baltic states to
Azerbaijan to "contain" Russia. Cold War 2.0 is on because, from the
point of view of Washington's elites, the first one never really left town. <br />
<br />
Yet as much as the US may fight the emergence of a multipolar, multi-powered
world, economic facts on the ground regularly point to such developments. The
question remains: will the decline of the hegemon be slow and reasonably
dignified, or will the whole world be dragged down with it in what has been
called "the Samson option"? <br />
<br />
While we watch the spectacle unfold, with no end-game in sight, keep in mind
that a new force is growing in Eurasia, with the Sino-Russian strategic
alliance threatening to dominate its heartland along with great stretches of
its inner rim. Now, that's a nightmare of Mackinderesque proportions from
Washington's point of view. Think, for instance, of how Zbigniew Brzezinski,
the former national security adviser who became a mentor on global politics to
President Obama, would see it. <br />
<br />
In his 1997 book <i>The Grand Chessboard</i>, Brzezinski argued that "the
struggle for global primacy [would] continue to be played" on the Eurasian
"chessboard", of which "Ukraine was a geopolitical pivot".
"If Moscow regains control over Ukraine," he wrote at the time,
Russia would "automatically regain the wherewithal to become a powerful
imperial state, spanning Europe and Asia." <br />
<br />
That remains most of the rationale behind the American imperial containment
policy - from Russia's European "near abroad" to the South China Sea.
Still, with no end-game in sight, keep your eye on Russia pivoting to Asia,
China pivoting across the world, and the BRICS hard at work trying to bring
about the new Eurasian Century. <br />
<br />
</span><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: FR;">Pepe.</span></i></b></div>
HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-58734578537309874482014-04-22T22:16:00.002-07:002014-04-22T22:16:23.931-07:00 The Militarizing Of The Arctic...<br />
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<br />
<br />
The Arctic melt is uncovering more than just resources and trade
routes – it is also opening up a whole new theatre of military
operations.<br />
<br />
Of all the world’s territorial disputes, the ones in the Arctic – and
there are plenty – used to matter the least: the only prize at stake was
frozen ocean, and most of the time it was too cold for military forces
to operate there anyway. National boundaries were left to blur among the
floes.<br />
<br />
Suddenly those vague Arctic territories matter. The region is
increasingly ice-free and the open ocean means rich fishing, undersea
mineral and energy resources and new sea lanes. The Arctic, in other
words, has become a valuable commodity.<br />
<br />
Best placed to assert ownership are the “Arctic Five”, littoral Arctic
Ocean states with well-established territorial claims and regional
bases. “Russia and Norway are the two states most active and deliberate
in raising their capacity for operating in the Arctic,” says Ernie
Regehr, senior fellow in Arctic security at the Simons Foundation – a
Canadian think-tank. Canada, Regehr says, made some “dramatic
announcements regarding enhanced military capacity in the north”, but
these have since run up against financial realities, while the US has
been too preoccupied elsewhere to devote much energy to revamping its
Arctic presence.<br />
<br />
Russia is arguably doing the most: its North Sea Fleet is being
restocked and is due to receive a new Mistral-class amphibious assault
ship from France; six new $1.1bn (€816m) icebreakers, which, at 170
metres in length, will be the world’s biggest; and later new aircraft
carriers. The Norwegians, meanwhile, have procured a new fleet of five
Fridtjof Nansen-class frigates, which, together with its six Ula-class
submarines, have significantly boosted its naval clout.<br />
<br />
Yet it would be misleading to suggest that an Arctic arms race is
underway. Bases are being upgraded, ice-breaking fleets expanded and
modernised, and Arctic battalions retrained and uparmed. But the sheer
remoteness of the Arctic makes conflict almost unthinkable, says Regehr.<br />
<br />
“Military preparedness in the Arctic is really only meaningful if it
enhances a capacity to contribute effectively to search and rescue,
emergency response and support for public safety,” he says, citing a
“universal insistence” among the Arctic Five that any competition will
remain amicable.<br />
<br />
New interest in the Arctic threatens to make it a crowded place,
however.The Arctic Council – which already includes Finland, Iceland and
Sweden in addition to the Five – voted in May to admit several new
observer members, including China, India and Japan. Of these, China has
taken the keenest interest: in 2012 its sole icebreaker, Xuelong,
completed the first transarctic voyage by a Chinese vessel and a new
$200m (€150m) icebreaker is due for delivery in 2014, with additional
ships planned, as Beijing seeks to open up the High North as a conduit
for Chinese trade.<br />
<br />
Regehr is optimistic that these new players can be peacefully
accommodated. “The risks are not China or India specifically,” he says.
The concern is that more and more ships will be operating in waters
which will remain dangerous even as they become navigable. “Human and
commercial activity are in a sharply ascending arch; so too are the
risks.” — (M)<br />
<div class="rtecenter">
<strong><a href="http://www.worldpolicy.org/sites/default/files/uploaded/image/68_a_briefing_defence.pdf"><img src="http://www.worldpolicy.org/sites/default/files/uploaded/image/Screen%20Shot%202014-04-22%20at%201.10.29%20PM_0.png" style="height: 442px; width: 460px;" /></a></strong></div>
<a href="http://www.worldpolicy.org/sites/default/files/uploaded/image/68_a_briefing_defence.pdf"><img src="http://www.worldpolicy.org/sites/default/files/uploaded/image/Screen%20Shot%202014-04-22%20at%201.11.05%20PM.png" style="height: 212px; width: 450px;" /></a><br />
<strong>Five </strong><strong>Arctic Flaspoints: Territorial Disputes </strong><br />
<br />
<strong>1) The Barents Sea:</strong> Cold War rivals Norway and Russia
settled their decades-old Barents Sea border dispute in 2010. However,
the subsequent discovery of huge oil and gas deposits on Norway’s side
of the line has left some Russians questioning whether they’re getting
their full share.<br />
<strong>2) The Bering Strait:</strong> China plans to start using the
Arctic as a key trade route to cut long-distance transit times. But
ships must access the region via the Bering Strait – a narrow chokepoint
between Russia and Alaska. A blockade of this chokepoint would be an
obvious play should conflict arise between China and another power.<br />
<strong>3) Greenland: </strong>The retreat of the icecap covering
Greenland – an autonomous territory that is part of Denmark – is
attracting foreign firms keen to exploit the island’s resources. But
commercial pressures are making it a contentious place to operate, while
over-exploitation of its fragile environment could stir up trouble
between local Inuit people, foreign business and the Danish government.<br />
<strong>4) The North Pole: </strong>Ever since a Russian submarine
planted a national flag on the seabed at the Pole in 2007, ownership of
the High North has been a contentious issue. The Pole itself matters
much less than the vast hydrocarbon resources thought to lie beneath it.
Canada, Denmark, Russia and the US all have overlapping claims based on
their conflicting interpretations of the maritime borders.<br />
<strong>5) The Northwest Passage: </strong>Melting sea ice has opened
up the fabled Northwest Passage, which runs along northern Canada and
links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. But while Canada claims
sovereignty over the route, citing its proximity to the Canadian coast,
other Arctic claimants – plus China – say the Passage is in
international waters. As more ships ply the route, Canada must choose
whether to enforce its claim or bow to pressure...<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In mid-March, around the
same time that Russia annexed Crimea, Russian officials announced another
territorial coup: 52,000 square kilometers in the Sea of Okhotsk, a splotch of
Pacific Ocean known as the "</span><a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/11/russia_through_the_peanut_hole.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Peanut Hole</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">" and believed to be rich in oil and gas.
A UN commission had recognized the maritime territory as part of Russia's
continental shelf, Russia's minister of natural resources and environment </span><a href="http://rt.com/news/okhotsk-sea-shelf-russia-038/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">proudly announced</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, and the decision would only advance the
territorial claims in the Arctic that Russia had pending before the same
committee.After a decade and a half of painstaking petitioning, the Peanut Hole
was Russia's…Russian officials were getting a bit ahead of themselves.
Technically, the UN commission had </span><a href="http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2014/sea1999.doc.htm"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">approved Russia's recommendations</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on the outer limits of its
continental shelf—and only when Russia acts on these suggestions is its control
of the Sea of Okhotsk "</span><a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part6.htm"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">final and binding</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">." Still, these technicalities shouldn't
obscure the larger point: Russia isn't only pursuing its territorial ambitions
in Ukraine and other former Soviet states. It's particularly active in the
Arctic Circle, and, until recently, these efforts engendered international
cooperation, not conflict.But the Crimean crisis has complicated matters. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Take Hillary Clinton's </span><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/clinton-warns-montreal-crowd-of-russias-increased-activity-in-arctic/article17560676/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">call</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> last week for Canada and the United States to form a "united
front" in response to Russia "aggressively reopening military bases”
in the Arctic. Or the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/business/energy-environment/potential-crackdown-on-russia-risks-also-punishing-western-oil-companies.html"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">difficulties </span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">U.S. officials are having in designing
sanctions against Russia that won't harm Western oil companies like Exxon
Mobil, which are engaged in oil-and-gas exploration with their Russian
counterparts in parts of the Russian Arctic.In a dispatch from "beneath
the Arctic ocean" this week, </span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304679404579461630946609454?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304679404579461630946609454.html"><em><span lang="EN-US" style="color: blue; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Wall Street Journal</span></em></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> reported on a U.S. navy exercise,
scheduled before the crisis in Ukraine, that included a simulated attack on a
Russian submarine. The U.S. has now canceled a joint naval exercise with Russia
in the region and put various other partnerships there on hold.This week, the
Council on Foreign Relations published a </span><a href="http://www.cfr.org/arctic/emerging-arctic/p32620#%21/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">very helpful guide</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> on the jostling among countries to capitalize
on the shipping routes and energy resources that could be unlocked as the
Arctic melts. The main players are the countries with Arctic Ocean coastlines:
Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russia, the United States (Alaska)—and, to
a lesser extent, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden. These nations have </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/science/earth/29arctic.html?_r=1&"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">generally agreed</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> to work together to resolve territorial and
environmental issues. But some sovereignty disputes persist, including American
opposition to Russia's claims to parts of the Northern Sea Route above Siberia.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Here's CFR's infographic on
where the Arctic's shipping and natural-resource potential is, and where the
"Arctic Five" are most at odds with each other (you can even layer
summer sea ice onto the map!):"Few countries have been as keen to invest
in the Arctic as Russia, whose economy and federal budget rely heavily on hydrocarbons,"
CFR writes. "Of the nearly sixty large oil and natural-gas fields
discovered in the Arctic, there are forty-three in Russia, eleven in Canada,
six in Alaska, and one in Norway, according to a 2009 U.S. Department of Energy
report."</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">"Russia, the only
non-NATO littoral Arctic state, has made a military buildup in the Arctic a
strategic priority, restoring Soviet-era airfields and ports and marshaling
naval assets," the guide adds. "In late 2013, President Vladimir
Putin instructed his military leadership to pay particular attention to the
Arctic, saying Russia needed 'every lever for the protection of its security
and national interests there.' He also ordered the creation of a new strategic
military command in the Russian Arctic by the end of 2014."</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ultimately, the remarkable
international cooperation we've seen in the North Pole may continue even amid
the standoff in Ukraine. This week, for instance, government officials from the
eight members of the </span><a href="http://www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Arctic Council</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, including Russia and the United States, went
ahead with a summit in Canada. "The Russians have been quite cooperative
in the Arctic during the past decade," international-law professor Michael
Byers told </span><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-continues-talks-with-russia-as-part-of-arctic-council-1.2587566"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Canadian Press</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">, "probably because they realize how
expensive it would be to take another approach, especially one involving
militarization….."</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgws0nxKl10P8RU9UXnjz2fjFxotnmxPCQ28gFUrjsqg6jd8CyENN_4betxEWTp8tm81dxeGb7uZ2w49ARecfdzLMWqNxNY2HzWF00aa05GdtE75zignKhD35b0HVipQD2d6ZX0YA9kWoo/s1600/Vlad+in+heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgws0nxKl10P8RU9UXnjz2fjFxotnmxPCQ28gFUrjsqg6jd8CyENN_4betxEWTp8tm81dxeGb7uZ2w49ARecfdzLMWqNxNY2HzWF00aa05GdtE75zignKhD35b0HVipQD2d6ZX0YA9kWoo/s1600/Vlad+in+heart.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></span><br />
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<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 9.65pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #141823; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Democracy promotion
and regime change is the primary goal for Zio-Neo-conservative empire building…
An example is the Director of Freedom House, he was previously with the
criminal PNAC crowds..., the Jacobin club of our generation, received a
government post for resume padding , and eventually winds up in this ZOG’s
current post… It is how they place their people in key organizations to pursue
the ZIO-agenda. The Founding Mothers of R2P are Obama’s key advisers so their
influence will naturally be reflected in his sordid public comments. As the
Mommas wanted to bomb away on Syria and he didn't…, points to him not being a
true R2Per or at least not as ideologically strident. I believe his problem is
there are differing factions within his administration pushing their goals and
undermining him at the same time, one in particular doing it intentionally… He
lacks the experience or understanding to thwart this and therefore he goes from
one crisis on fire to the next…, instigated by his own pyromaniacs. In the current
day affairs, it is best to understand Russia, India and China along with many
smaller countries as the rational actors with the US and EU in a stupor of
false thinking caused by drinking from the poisoned chalice of
ZIO-Western/moral superiority…. LOL!!! The rational actors are working for a
global system of stability and peace for their own domestic prosperity through
international institutions… After all the disruptions ( NATO expansion, Iraq,
Georgia, Libya etc.), the Ukrainian Cris</span>is was the proverbial straw breaking
the camel’s back for Russia, because a plan for a transitional government was
diplomatically agreed to, then broken with a violent overthrow (courtesy of the
intentional pyromaniac). If this action was accepted, then could any agreement
in the future (i.e. Syria) be trusted? Vlad Putin responded as a responsible
statesman would, when the national interests were directly challenged… Too
fanciful, what the Rational Actors would want from a future US president, is
one who will keep their word , respect the interests of others, and have enough
control over the administration that the rest of the government follows suit…,
but a criminal run-amock ZOG is never easy to control or tame… LOL<br />
If the clowns and criminals who make up the "leadership" of the West
attempt to get too cheeky with Putin he can remind them that most of the
supplies and equipment that goes to the troops in Afghanistan use Russian
railroads. I think this would stop this nonsense real quick… The greatest
danger is to the USA economy, if Mr. Putin is forced by sanctions or other
nonsense to<br />
to react strongly: destroy the petrodollar economy - demand payment in species,
other fiat currencies excluding the $. [Do recall that Saudi's greatest trade
partner is China, another major power wanting to get out of the petrodollar
business] … Diversifying his commodity trade to the Far East, thus cutting
dependence on EU/NATO cohort and the game is up… There is no way that the USA
will have the capacity to export oil and gas in sufficient quantities to save
EU from the wrath of Russian Federation, were Mrs. Zio/Merkel and the rest are
way too obnoxious…<br />
The real issue is that a faction of the Elite has some control and is full
steam ahead for their idolatrous vision, damn us all if we get in the way…The
neocons probably couldn't believe their luck."… America's current heading
aims towards implosion. Bush started at $5.7T 58% national debt/GDP ratio 2000.
Neocons took advantage of the barbaric inside job of 9/11 to foist a revenge
war in Iraq; we won every battle, and lost the war, ending at $10T 70% ND/GDP
2008. Wall St's subprime meltdown now has us at over 100%, $17T, and
ballooning, with over two hundred Trillion USD in unfunded liabilities…. We're
running $0.6T - $1.1T deficits. This scenario has the US currency / Medicare
imploding in about 15-30 years, if interest rates never go up and no other wars
are started--unrealistic… The takeaway is, survival after 2009 requires a
substantially different set of reflexes than even 2000. Neocons are replaying
the 1960's. The next $5T war may very well sink the economy…</span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://consortiumnews.com/2014/03/14/neocons-have-weathered-the-storm/" style="cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3b5998; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://consortiumnews.com/2014/03/14/neocons-have-weathered-the-storm/</span></a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Many aspects of these various Neocon/Ziocon projects is daunting… On the
one hand, the observation that much of what is underway is a long-term project
following the defeat of Senator Barry Goldwater in 1964 and a concerted effort
to build up a constituency for conservative values, one result being massive
investments in think tanks and programs with endowments provided by wealthy
benefactors to promote their vision of conservatism and what was needed to
reverse the apparent decline in support for conservatives… I would cite those
of Adolph Coors and William Scaife-Mellon to name just two… One result of these
programs was what I think of as the indoctrination and funding of future
intellectuals, the result of which bears only some resemblance to the values of
Goldwater… I would cite this from his 1960 ghosted autobiography in 1960:
“Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard
as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven
on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the
most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must
be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions
of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as the
founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of
creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our
time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism” (The Conscience of a
Conservative) </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater."><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater.</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> I
believe his warning here was not taken to heart. The current-day Jacobins
appear to have honored it only in the breach.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I would add to this the war-weariness of many Americans after the very
divisive period of our involvement in Vietnam, especially the sacrifices of
more than 55,000 Americans often perceived as wasted blood and treasure. The
debacle of Nixon’s Whitehouse with Watergate along with the failure to provide
both guns and butter as promised by Johnson earlier, followed by Carter’s
presidency, with stagflation and the lack of foresight in regard to Lebanon,
Palestine, Syria, Jordan…., and the fall of the Shah, the hostage crisis in
1979 and the failed rescue attempt followed by the election of President Reagan
in 1980, and his ability to provide the pretexts for interventions in Granada
and Nicaragua seemed to give Americans a sense that we could succeed where
previously we had failed in military interventions. George H. W. Bush’s
destruction of Saddam Hussein’s forces and tanks, in which the operant term for
me was “air supremacy” not “air superiority” led to the belief that with such
supremacy we could project force across the globe unchallenged, especially
after MAD seemed to be off the cards. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the
fall of the Berlin Wall and the raising of the Iron Curtain after 1989 led to a
progressive NATO expansion toward the very heart of any invasion of Russia… </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The trauma of the despicable and barbaric inside job of 9-11 (with the
irony that Putin the first foreign leader to express condolences and support
for our anti-terrorism campaign) and the invasion of Afghanistan led to
American access to the various Stans, a vital logistical supply line for our
forces there, the multiple colored revolutions…, further encircled Russia…All
of this is background to the current stand-off involving the United States and
Russia, especially with the possibility of the Ukraine becoming a member of
NATO, a situation that would put Russia in an even more threatened
geo-political position. While the United States has advanced the Monroe
Doctrine in regard to its security for over 200 years, Vlad Putin will be seen
by many Russians and others as calling hypocrisy on the recent statements from
the US, whether by Secretary Kerry, Vice-president Biden, or President Obama…
or the stupid followers of ZOG USA in the NAZI EU Scum... This is just one part
of the analysis . Professor Chalmers Johnson’s wonderful, knowledgeable and
prescient analyses in his trilogy: Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and
Nemesis, that might provide one more line of analysis, perhaps in need of
updating, for a further chorus in the discussion of the utterly corrupt and
criminal Zio-Anglo/Empire shenanigans...</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I will add by way of personal anecdote that among my earliest memories
as a child was overhearing hushed voices discussing Korea, then I recall the
term Suez, and my parents fear, more palpable a few years later, Makarios and
Cyprus, the various middle east wars and various deliberate fires and wars in
the Lebanon over decades…, and violence against the British colonials, the
Sputnik, Battista and Castro, the space race, along with decolonization in
Africa, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs and fallout shelters and
air-raid drills throughout our elementary and junior high-school years. It
seems to me that many among those younger and some among those older than I
seem to have forgotten or repressed them—or perhaps never experienced them…</span><br />
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-6756762366276257742014-03-20T03:34:00.001-07:002014-03-20T03:34:36.979-07:00Vlad Putin's message to the world…<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEe75Tzody6ahIO_pUu-Aq75-fctv-iYeovgVpmqanl_pPMXha7W5k3b3epZvCALJurIqMNt8-xu9H0qP8vuDrzxUCEeA3xfNNg71oJCZMY9NET1kk9IY5Yzs58MFXsoFHuKXxpl4MyPaH/s1600/vlad+dog+merkel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEe75Tzody6ahIO_pUu-Aq75-fctv-iYeovgVpmqanl_pPMXha7W5k3b3epZvCALJurIqMNt8-xu9H0qP8vuDrzxUCEeA3xfNNg71oJCZMY9NET1kk9IY5Yzs58MFXsoFHuKXxpl4MyPaH/s1600/vlad+dog+merkel.jpg" height="252" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYwTL_tb7Lwd1czbFCccvvkxXlBPa71_4uhV8r7QB84vKp3gYomTCuXci-PG-Ku8WJKvS8fPVH_YIuHuPCZZEV_kMIMDbQhQpyUhEPWgUwhhVJHdbuJo3UAsaRPaUphkEcDkfixnKkbl81/s1600/vlad+obomba+shaking+hands.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYwTL_tb7Lwd1czbFCccvvkxXlBPa71_4uhV8r7QB84vKp3gYomTCuXci-PG-Ku8WJKvS8fPVH_YIuHuPCZZEV_kMIMDbQhQpyUhEPWgUwhhVJHdbuJo3UAsaRPaUphkEcDkfixnKkbl81/s1600/vlad+obomba+shaking+hands.jpg" height="189" width="320" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Vlad Putin's message to the world… </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
<br />
Predictably, Vlad Putin's speech began by discussing the recent events in
Crimea including the results of the referendum. He spoke about what Crimea and
Sevastopol meant for the Russian history, culture and nation, and he recalled
the horrors suffered by the Tatar people during the Soviet era. He then
outlined the circumstances in which Nikita Khrushchev single-handedly (and
illegally) transferred Crimea from the Ru</span>ssian Federation to the Ukraine and
how, after the fall of the Soviet Union the Ukraine suffered under the rule of
corrupt leaders. And then he explained how the legitimate protests of the
Ukrainian people were literally hijacked by very different and violent people: </span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I understand those who came out on Maidan with
peaceful slogans against corruption, inefficient state management and poverty.
The right to peaceful protest, democratic procedures and elections exist for
the sole purpose of replacing the authorities that do not satisfy the people.
However, those who stood behind the latest events in Ukraine had a different
agenda: they were preparing yet another government takeover; they wanted to
seize power and would stop short of nothing. They resorted to terror, murder
and riots. Nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites executed this
coup. They continue to set the tone in Ukraine to this day (...) we can all
clearly see the intentions of these ideological heirs of Bandera, Hitler’s
accomplice during World War II. </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This reference to WWII is not just a politician's
rhetorical exaggeration aimed at eliciting a knee-jerk reaction from the
audience, it is something much more important – an unambiguous statement that
today, just as during WWII, the very existence of Russia as a country, a
culture and a nation was at stake… Of course, the threat to Russia does not
come from a few baseball bat wielding nationalist thugs in Kiev or from the new
regime in power, if only because this new regime is a complete fiction anyway: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is also obvious that there is no legitimate
executive authority in Ukraine now, nobody to talk to. Many government agencies
have been taken over by the impostors, but they do not have any control in the
country, while they themselves – and I would like to stress this – are often
controlled by radicals. In some cases, you need a special permit from the
militants on Maidan to meet with certain ministers of the current government.
This is not a joke – this is reality. Those who opposed the coup were
immediately threatened with repression… </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So where does the real danger come from and who is the
real aggressor threatening Russia at least as much has Hitler did in WWII?
Before answering that question, I would like to note that Vlad Putin made a
rather candid admission about the so-called “polite armed men in green”. He
said:(emphasis added)….</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The President of the Russian Federation received
permission from the Upper House of Parliament to use the Armed Forces in
Ukraine. However, <b>strictly speaking</b>, nobody has acted on this permission
yet. Russia’s Armed Forces never entered Crimea; they were there already in
line with an international agreement. True, <b>we did enhance our forces</b>
there; however – this is something I would like everyone to hear and know – <b>we
did not exceed the personnel limit</b> of our Armed Forces in Crimea, which is
set at 25,000, because there was no need to do so.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So the mystery of the “polite armed men in green” is
now solved: “strictly speaking” they were an “enhancement” to the Russian
forces in Crimea which did not exceed the maximal total number of troops
allowed by the treaty with the Ukraine. In other words, the number of Spetsnaz
GRU troops sent to Crimea was within the terms of the treaty and the other
forces seen were, indeed, local self-defense units and not part of the Russian
military. Elegant formulation, for sure… </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDLwu4E35us">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDLwu4E35us</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
Vlad Putin then quoted the position of the UN International Court and the
United States on the issue of the secession of Kosovo: “General international
law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence” (UNIC) and “
Declarations of independence may, and often do, violate domestic legislation.
However, this does not make them violations of international law” (USA) and
added: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For some reason, things that Kosovo Albanians (and we
have full respect for them) were permitted to do, Russians, Ukrainians and
Crimean Tatars in Crimea are not allowed. Again, one wonders why…. </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Here we are getting at the core of his argument: the
Empire has no other use for International Law then to use it as a fig leaf for
its project of world hegemony and when that is not possible, then the Empire
simply ignores it and uses brute force:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This is not even double standards; this is amazing,
primitive, blunt cynicism. One should not try so crudely to make everything
suit their interests, calling the same thing white today and black tomorrow (…)
After the dissolution of bipolarity on the planet, we no longer have stability.
Key international institutions are not getting any stronger; on the contrary,
in many cases, they are sadly degrading. Our western partners, led by the
United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their
practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in
their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the
world, that only they can ever be right. They act as they please: here and
there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on
the principle “If you are not with us, you are against us.” To make this
aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from
international organizations, and if for some reason this does not work, they
simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall. (…) We understand
what is happening; we understand that these actions were aimed against Ukraine
and Russia and against Eurasian integration (…) we have every reason to assume
that the infamous policy of containment, led in the 18th, 19th and 20th
centuries, continues today. They are constantly trying to sweep us into a
corner because we have an independent position, because we maintain it and
because we call things like they are and do not engage in hypocrisy... But
there is a limit to everything. And with Ukraine, our western partners have
crossed the line, playing the bear and acting irresponsibly and
unprofessionally. </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Amazing words coming from the President of a
nuclear-armed superpower: not only does he denounce the complete and total
hypocrisy of the AngloZionist Empire, he even places it in the direct
continuation of three centuries of anti-Russian policies by Western European
powers! Not only does he denounce the Empire's double-standards, he even openly
ridicules the incompetence of its leaders: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">After all, they were fully aware that there are
millions of Russians living in Ukraine and in Crimea. They must have really
lacked political instinct and common sense not to foresee all the consequences
of their actions. Russia found itself in a position it could not retreat from.
If you compress the spring all the way to its limit, it will snap back hard.
You must always remember this. </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Indeed, one can only wonder what in the world they
were thinking in the “imperial high command” when they decided to use Nazis in
the Ukraine just like they used al-Qaeda in Afghanistan: did they really think
that Russia would yield yet again? Did it even have such an option? Not
according to Vlad Putin:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is at historic turning points such as these that a
nation demonstrates its maturity and strength of spirit… The Russian people
showed this maturity and strength through their united support for their
compatriots. Russia’s foreign policy position on this matter drew its firmness
from the will of millions of our people, our national unity and the support of
our country’s main political and public forces. (…) Obviously, we will
encounter external opposition, but this is a decision that we need to make for
ourselves. Are we ready to consistently defend our national interests, or will
we forever give in, retreat to who knows where? (…) Russia will also have to
make a difficult decision now, taking into account the various domestic and
external considerations. What do people here in Russia think? Here, like in any
democratic country, people have different points of view, but I want to make
the point that the absolute majority of our people clearly do support what is
happening</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Let's sum up. Vlad Putin has now openly stated that: <br />
<br />
1) There is no limit to the hypocrisy, lies, evil, stupidity and aggressive
nature of the AngloZionist Empire. <br />
2) That this Empire represents by its very nature an existential threat to
Russia. <br />
3) That the Russian people are united in their determination to resist this disgusting
and utterly criminal Empire. <br />
<br />
Frankly, to me <b>this sounds very much like a declaration of war</b>… Not
necessarily a hot war with military forces fighting each other, but something
more than a Cold War in which the status quo is an acceptable option. Vlad Putin
is suggesting that <b>the next war will be a civilizational one, a cultural one
and even a moral one</b>, a war in which one side will stand for absolute rule
of a cynical world hegemon and the other side for a multi-polar world in which
all countries are to be subjected to the same set of rules and principles. But
even more importantly than a single set of rules, the kind of international
system Russia is seeking to establish is one in which each nation, culture and
religion would have the actual, not just theoretical, freedom to live as it
want. He clearly said so in </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/6402"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">his 2013 annual Presidential address to the Federal Assembly</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
when he said: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Today, many nations are revising their moral values
and ethical norms, eroding ethnic traditions and differences between peoples
and cultures. Society is now required not only to recognize everyone’s right to
the freedom of consciousness, political views and privacy, but also to accept
without question the equality of good and evil, strange as it seems, concepts
that are opposite in meaning. This destruction of traditional values from above
not only leads to negative consequences for society, but is also essentially
anti-democratic, since it is carried out on the basis of abstract, speculative
ideas, contrary to the will of the majority, which does not accept the changes
occurring or the proposed revision of values. We know that there are more and
more people in the world who support our position on defending traditional
values that have made up the spiritual and moral foundation of civilization in
every nation for thousands of years: the values of traditional families, real
human life, including religious life, not just material existence but also
spirituality, the values of humanism and global diversity. Of course, this is a
conservative position. But speaking in the words of Nikolai Berdyaev, the point
of conservatism is not that it prevents movement forward and upward, but that
it prevents movement backward and downward, into chaotic darkness and a return
to a primitive state. </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is pretty clear that this last sentence expresses
Russia's view on the level of civilizational and cultural degradation the
AngloZionist Empire has imposed upon the people of Europe and the USA.
Furthermore, when Vlad Putin says that “<i>destruction of traditional values
from above not only leads to negative consequences for society, but is also
essentially anti-democratic, since it is carried out on the basis of abstract,
speculative ideas, contrary to the will of the majority</i>” he is clearly
stating that the AngoZionist Empire is not ruled by the people which live in
it, but by minorities, special interest groups, behind the scenes lobbies and
cabals who impose their warped agenda upon the rest of the people…. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
<br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Again, the bottom line is this: <b>the President of Russia has made an
open declaration of war against the 1% elite which currently is in control the
AngloZionist Empire</b>. This war will be a multi-level one combining “soft
power” (cultural resistance, religious resistance, informational resistance,
financial and economic warfare) with “hard power” (a military ready fight the
US/NATO if needed, the use of the “energy weapon” to retaliate against economic
warfare). In an ironical twist of history, especially for a capitalist society
which has ridiculed Marx and repudiated the concept of class warfare, <b>this
war will also profoundly be a class war</b> in which oligarchs from different countries
will support each other and in which the regular, 99%, people will work
together on, for example, the “virtual battlefields” of the Internet. <br />
<br />
<b>The crucial battlefield: “global information operations” </b><br />
<br />
“</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Operations_%28United_States%29"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Information operations</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">”
is the term used by the US military to refer to “direct and indirect support
operations for the United States Military”. Psychological operations, or
PSYOPs, are seen as a subset of IO. For our purposes, however, is to extend
this concept to not only military operations, but to the full spectrum of
national security policies of a country and, in our case, for the “deep state”
which holds the reins of power in the AngloZionist Empire. I will thus speak of
Global Information Operations or GIOs, the FDDC etc etc, the core component of
which is represented by the despicable western corporate media… <br />
<br />
For a while in my life I, like many other people, made my days by, among other
things, reading the Soviet press every day. Not just the <i>Pravda</i> or <i>Izvestia</i>,
but also even more boring or specialized newspapers, magazines and reviews. I
listen to the Soviet radio as often as I could, and I never missed a chance to
watch the Soviet TV, especially the news shows. At the time I was young, very
naïve and very dumb, and I sincerely believed that the Soviet Union was a
mortal threat to western Europe and that the only thing which stood between
them, the evil commies, and us, the free world, was the military power of the
NATO alliance. Looking back at myself and the utter garbage I had in my brain
then, I feel embarrassed and, frankly, ashamed of my total credulity. But at
the time I was a dedicated soldier of the Cold War whose motto was “know thy
enemy”. And I knew my "enemy" really, really, well. I want to explain
all of the above before stating the following: <br />
<br />
In all honesty and sincerity, I have to say here that <i>in comparison to the
modern western corporate media the Soviet press was far more pluralistic, more
diverse and more trustworthy</i>. True, the Soviet press simply did not mention
certain topics, but that goes to show that, unlike the western corporate media,
it did not feel that it could brazenly lie to the point where even what is
obvious is categorically and totally denied. For one thing, the Soviet public
was far better educated. We all, including myself, used to poke fun at the
obligatory lessons in Marxism-Leninism in Soviet schools, but we overlooked
that any halfway decent course in Marxism-Leninism will include topics like
dialectics, historical materialism and economics: stuff that makes you <u>think</u>.
This is not to say that the Soviet people could not be lied to – they could and
they have been – but only that the lies had to be at least halfway credible and
present a plausible scenario. In contrast, for a public raised on CNN, BBC or
MTV, CNBC, NTV, etc etc, the lies need not be even capable of passing a basic
common sense test (as is so vividly illustrated by the western corporate
media's coverage of the 08.08.08 war or the events in the Ukraine): the <i>Doublethink</i>
</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublethink"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">predicted by Orwell in his book 1984</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> is
now fully upon us and black can be called white and vice-versa with no problems
at all. I would even argue that, in comparison, even the Nazi <i>Völkischer
Beobachter </i>contained more information than, say, the NYT, WSJ or the BBC,
etc etc etc whose level of brazen lying I could only compare to, maybe, the <i>Der
Stürmer</i>. <br />
<br />
I first noticed this absolutely unprecedented level of outright lying by the
western corporate media during the US/NATO war on Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia,
Kosovo), but I think that it has only gotten much worse since 2000…. In
contrast, the modern Russian press is extremely diverse and the people in
Russia are regularly shown the type of coverage the current events in the
Ukraine get in the western press and it leave them baffled. They simply cannot
understand how this is possible in a society which externally seems to have all
the characteristics of a free and pluralistic society. In the bad old days of
the USSR, it was all simple: there was state censorship. But there is no state
censorship in the West, no </span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Directorate_for_the_Protection_of_State_Secrets_in_the_Press"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Glavlit</span></a></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
and no </span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goskomizdat"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Goskomizdat</span></a></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">,
and yet the western press is far more monolithic and dishonest then even the
official party press in the USSR. But there is one crucial difference between
the USSR and today's AngloZionist Empire: the Internet. <br />
<br />
Simply put, <b>the Internet is the only global media not controlled by either
governments or corporations</b> (which is really the same thing). Yes, there
are numerous attempts by both governments and corporations to change this, but
at least for the time being, information is circulating freely throughout the
Internet. This introduced amazing changes: <br />
<br />
1) a single citizen with a minimal income now has the means to meaningfully
oppose the lies of even major corporations or governments: the case of Alain
Soral in France is typical of this amazing trend. <br />
2) the resistance to the Empire is now geographically decentralized: as this illustrates
so well with the amazing diversity of its readers. <br />
3) information simply cannot be suppressed: the world learned of the massacres
and atrocities of the Wahhabi scum/insurgents in Syria even though the
corporate media tried hard to ignore them. <br />
4) low-level classified government documents do regularly get compromised by
various individuals who can then leak it without anybody being able to stop it
(Assange, Snowden, Manning). <br />
5) an increasing number of people sever their exposure to the corporate media
which now mostly subsists on government grants. <br />
6) even those who still watch TV or read the press are aware that they are
being lied to daily for decades… <br />
<br />
All this means that we live in a new reality in which the global AngloZionist
Empire is now actively opposed by a <b>global resistance</b> which knows no
borders, no nationalities and no religions: people from different countries,
nations and religions stand together against a common hegemon not just in
theory like in “<i>Proletarians of all countries – unite!</i>” slogan, but in
actuality and they actively collaborate with each other. <br />
<br />
<b><i>It is to this global resistance to the Empire and its GIOs that Vlad Putin
addressed his words</i></b>. Sure, of course, he was primarily speaking to the
people of Russia, Crimea and the Ukraine, but he was also reaching far beyond,
to all those, probably many millions, who would make the effort to listen to
him on YouTube or read a transcript of his speech. Because, of course, all this
is much bigger than just a power struggle over a relatively small peninsula in
the Black Sea: yesterday, for the first time, a powerful and determined leader
openly told the Empire: <i>we know you, we understand what you are trying to
do, and we are not going to let you do it. In fact, we reject everything you
stand for and we will never let you rule the planet. And today, we have the
means to stop you! </i><br />
<br />
<b>Dust storms reported world wide…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LOL
</b><br />
<br />
I think that we are entering a new era which many of us had been hoping for a
very long time ago... An era when a resistance which used to be only local has
finally found a leader capable not of commanding it, no, but capable of
representing and inspiring it. I honestly don't think that Vlad Putin wanted
that. He would have much preferred to be in the shoes of Chinese President Xi
Jinping who fully supports Vlad Putin, but who prefers to avoid an open
confrontation with the Empire, at least until such time when China becomes
truly powerful. Iran and Hezbollah have been openly resisting for many years,
but they simply did not have the means to reach much further beyond the
Middle-East. As for the resistance in Latin America (Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba,
Nicaragua, Bolivia) it has not been able to effectively deal with more lukewarm
or hesitating leaders (Brazil, Chile, Argentina) or with outright US puppet
states (Colombia). If anything, the recent vote at the UNSC in which only China
abstained and every other member voted against Russia goes to show that on the
global scale Russia is alone and that no world leader has the courage or guts
to openly stand next to Vlad Putin… <br />
<br />
Even though I had been following Vlad Putin's career very carefully since 1999,
it took me until 2008 to fully get a sense of what this man was all about.
Still, I know that a lot of people remained skeptical: was he really what he
appeared to be or was he simply playing a sophisticated game of “good cop – bad
cop” with Medvedev, with each of them catering to their own audience? When
Russia was invited to the G8 and when it acceded to the WTO a lot of careful
observers wondered whether Vlad Putin was really as "anti-Empire" as
he claimed to be, or whether he was just conducting a hard bargain for better
conditions inside the Empire's international system. I hope that today these
skeptics see that Vlad Putin is “for real” and that he is now the de-facto
leader of the global resistance against the AngoZionist Empire. <br />
<br />
As I have mentioned above, a lot of readers, with no personal connections to
Russia at all, reported yesterday that they had listened to Vlad Putin's
address with tears in their eyes. This resulted in a rather moving discussion
of red-eye triggering “dust storms” reported from various parts of the world
(Germany, USA, Uruguay, Austria, Canada and, of course, Russia). One though did
not want to use a cute euphemism and simply told me : “<i>Here it wasn't a
dust, it was just a sincere pure cry for the hope of the all humanity around
the world, that we can live in peace, mutual respect , abundance and prosperity
for everyone around this beautiful earth. I do believe that this is the start
of the new era</i>.” In other words: Vlad Putin – we heard you! <br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion – a victory which belongs to every free person… </b><br />
<br />
First, let me be clear about this: what happened in Crimea is definitely a
victory, but only one in a much wider war which is far from over. The first
rule of warfare is to never underestimate your enemy and to never do what the
French call “<i>sell the bear's skin before having killed it</i>”. This is far
from over and if this is indeed the “beginning of the end” for the Empire, this
is still only the very beginning of a long and most dangerous process. Some
Empires die more or less peacefully, destroyed by economic ruin and over-reach,
but others need to be defeated in an orgy of violence. Though on my bad days I
sometimes daydream about seeing a private of the Russian army plant a Russian
flag on the Capitol as </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meliton_Kantaria"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Meliton Kantaria</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
did over the Reichstag, I don't think that this would be much of a cause for
joy in the midst of a nuclear winter. So the task is to bring down the Empire
without bringing down the rest of the planet with it. <br />
<br />
Those parts of the planet which have been “liberated” (Russia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, China, Iran, etc.) need to resist, if needed by force, and remain
free. Those parts which are still fought over ( Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Venezuela,
etc.) need to continue their struggle, as for the rest of the world it needs to
continue its non-violent, ideological and informational resistance against the
Empire and it's lies. We can use the well-known image of a swarm of bees
attacking a large animal – individually the bees can do little, but in a
coordinated attack they can defeat and even kill the much larger animal. <br />
<br />
In the meantime, yes, we can rejoice over our common victory this week and
paraphrase the words of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in his absolutely beautiful
“Divine Victory” speech and say: “<i>We feel that we won; Russia won; Crimea
won; the Slavic nations won, and every oppressed, aggrieved person in this
world also won. It is not the victory of a party or a community; rather it is a
victory for true Russia, the true European people, and every free person in the
world. Don’t distort this big historic victory. Do not contain it in party,
sectarian, communal, or regional clans. This victory is too big to be
comprehended by us</i>”. <br />
<br />
There is a song about war as a metaphor for any resistance to evil and
brutality which is very popular in Russia called “<i>A toast to</i>” which has
the following words: (see </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdXsDR0dgz0"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">home-made music video here</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">) …..<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdXsDR0dgz0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdXsDR0dgz0</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
<i><br />
Let's toast to life, come on brother, until the end <br />
Let's toast to those who were with us then</i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Let's</span></i><span class="hps"><i><span id="result_box"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> toast to life</span></span></i></span><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;">, and may
all wars be accursed! <br />
<span class="hps">We'll remember</span> <span class="hps">those</span> <br />
<span class="hps">Who</span> were<span class="hps"> with us</span> <span class="hps">then.</span></span></i><i><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A toast to them, a toast to us <br />
And to Siberia and the Caucasus <br />
To light of distant cities <br />
And to friendship and to love <br />
A toast to you, a toast for us, <br />
To the Airborne Troops and the Spetsnaz… <br />
To combat decorations <br />
Let's lift a toast, my old friend! </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
<br />
In the same spirit, I toast to you, in the resistance, and I wish you courage
and steadfastness in the long struggle ahead. But today, let us celebrate
indeed!...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-81335368530655774772014-02-18T03:48:00.001-08:002014-02-18T03:48:57.218-08:00From 2000 onwards we entered into the "Polar round"…., Russian military to have special command for Arctic operations…<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBmYtHUJKPr_T-UaDMc_W1U_jpL4nctlbMdCW8KOBEpw0BniwBUbhm97M4ARqIpFTsN6h1mIC4lXOWEyL6TWsGRiuHxglL_dqoHo1lKf7hB74yFqH-w4Kq_w9kA_YuMuuOrv7RZu0Iyfs/s1600/Kazakhstan%2527s+offshore+Kashagan+oil+costs+surge.....jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBmYtHUJKPr_T-UaDMc_W1U_jpL4nctlbMdCW8KOBEpw0BniwBUbhm97M4ARqIpFTsN6h1mIC4lXOWEyL6TWsGRiuHxglL_dqoHo1lKf7hB74yFqH-w4Kq_w9kA_YuMuuOrv7RZu0Iyfs/s1600/Kazakhstan%2527s+offshore+Kashagan+oil+costs+surge.....jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
Russia is creating a new command for the armed forces to defend Russia’s
strategic interests in the Arctic region, based on the present Northern Fleet
Navy division and include various existing Arctic-based military units as well
as new formations.<br />
The HQ will be named the Northern Fleet – Joint Strategic Command, and its main
task will be to defend Russia’s national interest in the Arctic, the Itar-Tass
news agency reported Monday, quoting an unnamed source in the Russian General
Staff. <br />
The protection of national interests includes both the security of military and
merchant ships and of the vast mineral resources of the region, including those
located on the Arctic shelf, the source said. <br />
The new command will be similar in status to the existing unit of the territorial
division of the Russian military forces – the military district. However, while
it bears a different name, the number of military districts will remain the
same – there are currently four of them. The Northern Fleet Strategic Command
will report to the General Staff and the Defense Minister at first and by the
end of 2014 future it will become subject to the National Center of Defense
Command the new military structure that is currently in development. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br />
Russia is seeking to secure and reinforce its military presence in the Arctic
for some time now, after other nations started to express interest in the
regions vast resources. The Basic Concept of State Policy in the Arctic,
approved in 2009, outlined the creation of a dedicated military force as a
primary objective. <br />
In December 2013, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at the ministry collegium
that the Arctic group of forces will be created in 2014. Soon after that the
minister ordered the general staff to develop a set of instructions on restoration
of the Arctic bases and deployment of new forces to the region. <br />
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated the importance of the Arctic
region and the necessity to pay major attention to their defense. <br />
Last month, Putin ordered the head of the Russian arms industry, Deputy Prime
Minister Dmitry Rogozin, to concentrate the efforts on creation of Arctic
infrastructure for the soonest deployment of troops. Rogozin reported that all
Russian weapons systems can be produced with special features needed in the
extreme North and the weapons companies were ready to supply such arms to the
Defense Ministry. <br />
In 2012, Rogozin said in a public speech that Russia might lose its sovereignty
in about 40 years if it fails to clearly set out its national interests in the
Arctic. <br />
However, not all Russian officials share this position. Also in 2012, a
representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Aleksandr Gorban, told
reporters that that there will never be a “war for resources” – or an even
“hotter” conflict – in the Arctic Region. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Securing of
the Northern Sea Route the main objective of Russia? The Northern Sea Route and
the fast railways between China and Europe would make the "Asian
pivot" (meant to strangle the sea communications of China) almost
irrelevant. I remember with relish arguing (long ago) with friends the many
pluses of the "Eurasian" approach. Against their opinions (invariably
Eurolâtres and Américanolâtres) and anti-Russo-Chinese, I was reminding them
that the communications between China and Russia and Europe are mainly
terrestrials. The Russian petrol could be transported by rail, by road (even by
camels) and certainly by Northern Sea Route… The future is of Eurasia… That is
definitely a major objective. But the overall strategic goal is even bigger
than that - it is the develop the Russian North from the European part of
Russia, through all of Siberia. Therein lies the real future of Russia, the
North, and its immense resources including those who will see a huge surge in
demand during the 21st century: water, organic foodstuffs, bioengineering
resources, tourism and, of course, energy. The untapped wealth of the Russian
North is huge, absolutely immense, but it will also require tremendous efforts
and resources to actually convert that into a real source of wealth for the
Russian people. Putin has started this effort, but it will take decades before
the returns on investment really begin coming in. What is much more immediately
doable is to create a network of cities along the northern coast of Russia with
ports, airfields, roads and a modern infrastructure - this will achieve the
double purpose of securing the Northern Sea Route and prepare for a
"penetration" of the immense landmass of northern Russia… <br />
And if Russia turns in face to the East, it will show its butt to Europe which
deserves nothing more…</span></div>
HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-79980602508653951862014-01-14T08:52:00.001-08:002014-01-14T08:52:06.504-08:00Les boules de neige en Israël ....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQI4_6SyzIfA6b0Ukk1rRmKkgTs1wQpx4YZAtOn_R_BJtRuWVokVIfjcYFxEXTWUFGQoANbtEJn1Q2oAuaGxq7nLaXmNLRdQPvWHRuH4A3AGray9swMqzjIvCd1iFdML-lrCEbK62TTO4/s1600/9K22+Tunguska+2A38M+30+mm+autocannons..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQI4_6SyzIfA6b0Ukk1rRmKkgTs1wQpx4YZAtOn_R_BJtRuWVokVIfjcYFxEXTWUFGQoANbtEJn1Q2oAuaGxq7nLaXmNLRdQPvWHRuH4A3AGray9swMqzjIvCd1iFdML-lrCEbK62TTO4/s1600/9K22+Tunguska+2A38M+30+mm+autocannons..jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5pF4pctyNWlrY2pBee5Me2q0mj0lOd1RmnJBO0zZKGSWA66_545wHffHInrQMLaFVGwO-VYgbQ_PKWkWorKBRsbo8gNiEYj9uFIhS3JicfgbnJZvt0xLnWPH70FTIcnt6RaodUmCkVU4/s1600/jabal+el-cheikh+israel++spying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5pF4pctyNWlrY2pBee5Me2q0mj0lOd1RmnJBO0zZKGSWA66_545wHffHInrQMLaFVGwO-VYgbQ_PKWkWorKBRsbo8gNiEYj9uFIhS3JicfgbnJZvt0xLnWPH70FTIcnt6RaodUmCkVU4/s1600/jabal+el-cheikh+israel++spying.jpg" /></a></div>
Les boules de neige en Israël et des sociétés <br />privées commencent à annoncer
des plans pour <br />des exportations, il est devenu bien trop clair <br />que le
pays manque de la sorte de politique <br />énergétique compréhensive dont un état
riche en <br />ressources a besoin. Entre l'incapacité du <br />gouvernement
d'allouer des fonds spécifiques et <br />suffisants pour défendre des
installations de <br />gaz naturel, le règlement environnemental minimal, <br />le
manque d'infrastructure et de nouvelles menaces <br />comme la guerre cyber et
l'accumulation de systèmes <br />d'armes avancés par des acteurs non
gouvernementaux, <br />Israël est non préparé pour faire face aux défis
<br />associés à la protection de sa réserve de gaz.<br /><br /><a href="http://tinyurl.com/q9fk6fp">http://tinyurl.com/q9fk6fp</a><br />HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-895246770332399232013-11-19T08:36:00.003-08:002013-11-19T08:36:35.003-08:00The Arctic is on the move under Vlad Putin...<div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9AvOTlkZq9CkMEdTAi93wTEPiZAxdxZyCGr5Gqr-1yP5vvv7h3sUuhEcohK2cL6RfzAk-ypNKjs2YzMhWFrPic5ohizNAX_-dVLB1Lx7AgLkjzw05kbyzqw2AQNloM2I9qcMkI5ati0/s1600/6th+generation+fighter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9AvOTlkZq9CkMEdTAi93wTEPiZAxdxZyCGr5Gqr-1yP5vvv7h3sUuhEcohK2cL6RfzAk-ypNKjs2YzMhWFrPic5ohizNAX_-dVLB1Lx7AgLkjzw05kbyzqw2AQNloM2I9qcMkI5ati0/s320/6th+generation+fighter.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="goog_573017641"></span><span id="goog_573017642"></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Arctic related activities
initiated under Vladimir Putin:</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">
</span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>A few years ago, a Russian
submarine placed a Russian flag on the North Pole as a clear sign that Russia
was claiming its share of the polar resources. Needless to say, the US, Canada
and the EU are not happy at all about it. But there is nothing much they can do,
if only because Russian polar technologies are way ahead of what exists in the
West. Not only are Russian submarines far better suited for polar operations
than their western counterparts, the Russians also have unique nuclear
icebreakers which make it possible for them to open routes in very thick ice
(more are currently being build). Western technologies have always been far
more "equator oriented". For example, the US GPS navigation system is more
accurate on the lower latitudes while the Russian GLONASS is more accurate in
the polar regions. Most of the US Navy's power is centered on warmer regions of
the globe. In contrast the most powerful and best equipped Russian fleet has
always been the Northern Fleet which is used to operate in polar conditions.
Under Putin, Russia has embarked on an ambitious plan to defend its interest in
the Arctic: old abandoned polar bases are now being reopened and a special
Arctic motor-rifle division is being created. The Russian Air Force has resumed
an intensive program of Arctic operations while the Navy has embarked on a cycle
of regular Arctic maneuvers involving its most advanced surface vessels (...)
The fact is that the West has neither the know-how nor the money needed to try
to match the Russian moves.</i></span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And concluded by
explaining that the West still has is some very useful Cold War era tools: the
"independent" non-governmental organizations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What I did not know at the time
is that while I was writing this the Russian Northern Fleet was in the middle of
a massive, truly unprecedented, mission to built an "arctic airport" in just one
month. A few days ago the Russian armed forces TV channel Zvezda released a
very interesting report about this mission which shows a lot of the technologies
I was referring to in my October article. The video is in Russian, but it is
also very self-explanatory. I also will write a summary of the important
points right under this video. Check it out:</span></div>
<div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRLxsbV4CR0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRLxsbV4CR0</a></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These are some of the key things
shown or mentioned in the video:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-------</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In early September 10 ships
sailed from Severomosrk to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotelny_Island" target="_blank">Kotelnyi Island</a>. The official goal of the mission was
to:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1)
maintain Russian military presence in the Arctic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2) defend Russian economic
interests in the Arctic</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As part of the mission, this
task force was ordered to build a fully functional airport in less than one
month and to finish the entire mission before the beginning of November.
Besides a few transport ships, the following ships were included in the task
force:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The heavy nuclear
missile cruiser Peter Velikii (the most heavily armed ship on the
planet)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2 Large Amphibious
assault ships</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The nuclear icebreaker
Vaigach</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The nuclear icebreaker
Iamal</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The nuclear icebreaker
Taimyr</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The nuclear icebreaker
"50 years of the Victory"</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This means that the
full nuclear fleet of Russia was sent over the 73rd parallel to cross three
arctic seas (the sea of Barents, the sea of Karsk, and the sea of Laptev) which
is over 2000 miles less than one week. The task force was commanded by
Vladimir Korolev, C-in-C Northern Fleet and included the flagship of the Russian
Navy, the heavy nuclear missile cruiser Peter Velikii under the command of First
Captain Vladislav Malakhovskii.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the course of its journey,
the naval task force practiced beyond-visual-range missile interceptions, and
also practiced helicopter reconnaissance missions as far as 200km away from the
task force </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once the task force arrived to
Kotelnyi Island, Naval Infantry amphibious assault units began by securing the
landing area. More forces were then disembarked to clean up the area (which
will be declared a natural preserve) and scouts were sent to locate sources of
fresh water. Special polar tents with powerful heaters were deployed. Such
tents are capable of maintaining an internal temperature of 25C-28C/77F-83F
regardless of the conditions outside.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The task force began working 24
hours a day (a "day" lasts 4 hours here) and 13 living modules and 4 containers
bought in by helicopters. Tons of heavy gear was brought in with pontoon
boats. Soon satellite communications and the Internet were restored. A
hospital, including a full surgical suite, was built.</span></span></div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Kotelnyy_Bunge_Faddeyevsky_MODIS.jpg/800px-Kotelnyy_Bunge_Faddeyevsky_MODIS.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="438" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Kotelnyy_Bunge_Faddeyevsky_MODIS.jpg/800px-Kotelnyy_Bunge_Faddeyevsky_MODIS.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Satellite view of Kotelnyi
Island</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The building of the
airport began with the creation of a fully paved runway. Special transport
means were then brought over from the cargo ship to assist in the mobility of
the disembarked forces including tracked vehicles and
hovercraft.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In less than a month, an airport
capable of receiving aircraft year-long and 24 hours a day was built, including
modern radar and air defense systems. 8500 tons of ground material had to be
brought in to build the foundation for this modern airport.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The first aircraft to land at
the "Temp" airport was an An-72. Soon heavy-lift Il-76 transport aircraft began
dropping even more supplies by parachuted palettes. The airport </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">also</span> received its full
complement of personnel (50 military specialists).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Eventually, the polar tents were
replaced with solid modular living facilities which are built with advanced
materials which naturally retain heat in conditions as severe as
-40C/F.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Next, similar bases will be
built on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Josef_Land" target="_blank">Franz-Joseph</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrangel_Island" target="_blank">Wrangel</a>
islands and then all along the northern coast of Russia. These bases will serve
to guide and protect commercial and civilian shipping </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">throughout the "Northern
Passage" of Russia.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-------</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Due to its very "public
relations" nature this video is focused on equipment and technology, and what is
only mentioned in passing is the huge, crucial importance of the experience of
operating in Arctic conditions. Only at one specific moment in the video do we
see an officer commenting on the complexity of the landing operation in these
circumstances saying "<i>there is enough study material here to write a
thesis</i>" and he is correct. There is much more to military operations in the
Arctic than just dressing warm: the conditions are so dramatically different
that it would be more accurate to think of this environment as a different
planet. This is the reason why the video shows the commander in chief of the
Northern Fleet proudly commenting that "<i>we could really be called the
Northern and Arctic Fleet</i>".</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.svs.is/vefsetur%20vilhjalms%20stefanssonar/iexp/Arctic_Region_pol97.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.svs.is/vefsetur%20vilhjalms%20stefanssonar/iexp/Arctic_Region_pol97.jpg" width="306" /></a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">No other country in
the world currently has the know-how and capabilities which Russia has in the
Arctic, not even close, and Putin's Russia is pushing that advantage full steam
ahead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Take a look at the map to the
right. It shows the main advantage Russia has over other Arctic nations: Russia
has a longer Arctic coastline and keep in mind that the Russian far north is
inhabited. While the US, Canada, Denmark or Norway will have Arctic bases,
these are always far away from the rest of the country. This is not the case
for Russia where the outposts at the far north are organically linked to the
"big land" as the Russians often call the more accessible part of their
country.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another <a href="https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ibru/arctic.pdf" target="_blank">map worth
looking at one one developed by the International Boundaries Research Unit at
Durham University</a> which shows the potential maritime jurisdictions and
exclusive economic zones if the Law of the Sea treaty was fully implemented.
Here is the map itself:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuHQMftOE1dnRIJ_KtcUxro0AMxc_-iLfDYtfc8iuKFlmFYIfcBHvmSMeOp_KFC8BQuNgxhPlzW58PPnbjUUMWa7HzCQSGfVzR8uUU9SSN_Y_jzNZ4AZiNEmFQt-GvJPI2Jp9hrLlirbg/s1600/Maritime+Jurisdictions+and+boundries.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuHQMftOE1dnRIJ_KtcUxro0AMxc_-iLfDYtfc8iuKFlmFYIfcBHvmSMeOp_KFC8BQuNgxhPlzW58PPnbjUUMWa7HzCQSGfVzR8uUU9SSN_Y_jzNZ4AZiNEmFQt-GvJPI2Jp9hrLlirbg/s640/Maritime+Jurisdictions+and+boundries.png" width="606" /></a></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;">
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<td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijp4R-T6eTi3YBFls6gBqL8qyPcAn-7VS_S19dVPd40e3HJU_jitSNC7bPONqqM0nQU6k64ceD_wivFvrZu07EQ_1PVMmM9H6q8U-NJi25PvYVz8fAiq1laUyZWGA2duPoMhkc6sz9T9g/s1600/Maritime+Jurisdictions+and+boundries+-+colors+and+codes.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="99" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijp4R-T6eTi3YBFls6gBqL8qyPcAn-7VS_S19dVPd40e3HJU_jitSNC7bPONqqM0nQU6k64ceD_wivFvrZu07EQ_1PVMmM9H6q8U-NJi25PvYVz8fAiq1laUyZWGA2duPoMhkc6sz9T9g/s200/Maritime+Jurisdictions+and+boundries+-+colors+and+codes.png" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Click for
legend</span></i></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea" target="_blank">The Law of the Sea Convention</a> was signed at the United Nations
by 157 countries. Looking at the map above can you guess which major country
did not sign this document? Yup! The USA, of course, since all it gets from
the big pie is a narrow slice over Alaska (for more on this topic click <a href="http://geology.com/articles/who-owns-the-arctic.shtml" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://geology.com/articles/arctic-ocean-features/" target="_blank">here</a>). So far, the US government itself has not made any
aggressive claims, but several US politicians have and most experts agree that
the combination of the effects of global warming and economic imperatives will
make the Arctic a crucial arena of competing international interests very
soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is this context that the
entire Greenpeace operation must be understood: Russia has the geographical and
technological advantage in the Arctic. Russia is also the only country with a
meaningful Arctic power projection capability. Russia has the political will
and financial resources to back up its rightful claims under the Law of the
Sea. Now Russia has also demonstrated that it also has unique military and
technological capabilities. The only option for the Anglosphere is to try to
either block Russia politically or, at least, to slow it down as much as
possible.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And Mother Nature in all that?
Let's just say that her importance is proportional to the wealth she offers in
any one specific location. As long as the North Pole was pretty much a no-go
area, nobody gave a damn about how much pollution the USSR or Russia could
potentially create there. But now, all of a sudden, this is a top priority
topic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The really sad thing is that the
Soviet legacy of pollution is particularly terrible in the Russian north and
that we should not yield to the temptation of dismissing very real ecological
issues in the Arctic with the antics of the hyper-politicized group like
Greenpeace. In other words, if Greenpeace is a joke, the preservation of the
Arctic is not, and all the countries with access to the Arctic should be put
under pressure to respect this unique ecosystem. The fact that the Russian
military operation in Kotelnyi Island began with a huge cleanup operation is
good news, as is the fact that this island will now be declared a natural
preserve. Hopefully, this will not be a one time PR stunt and this model will
be implemented for all the future Russian expeditions in the
Arctic...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span> </div>
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-38482543635475171442013-10-12T21:19:00.000-07:002013-10-12T21:19:28.170-07:00Vlad Putin, Hero to the World and a nightmare for the few...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixa8NXNG5gM2sD7UlR98CKUc8IV6yKTlNRaGoHVsNCLGfrmLhq3PCNo1REHYxd6Gc9X4yjhbuEKRR6gOeMjA-Q1rKnr6ZnRH_2HBnNl2QWH_nChU2bqjTtzcXhwuodUBW00YScFD_KUtM/s1600/Vladimir+Putin+re-enters+the+dragon%2527s+den+.....jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixa8NXNG5gM2sD7UlR98CKUc8IV6yKTlNRaGoHVsNCLGfrmLhq3PCNo1REHYxd6Gc9X4yjhbuEKRR6gOeMjA-Q1rKnr6ZnRH_2HBnNl2QWH_nChU2bqjTtzcXhwuodUBW00YScFD_KUtM/s320/Vladimir+Putin+re-enters+the+dragon%2527s+den+.....jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The latest tensions between the EU and Russia over Greenpeace's stunt in the Arctic only confirmed a fact which nobody really bothers denying anymore: Western political and financial elites absolutely hate Vladimir Putin and they are appalled at Russia's behavior, both inside Russia and on the international scene. This tension was quite visible on the faces of Obama and Putin at the <a href="http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2013/06/they-really-hate-each-other.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">G8 summit in Lough Erne</a> where both leaders looked absolutely disgusted with each other. Things got even worse when Vlad Putin did something quite unheard of in the Russian diplomatic history: he publicly said that Kerry was dishonest and even <a href="http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2013/09/putin-calls-kerry-liar.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">called him a liar</a>....<br /><br />While tensions have reached some sort of climax over the Syrian issue, problems between Russia and the USA are really nothing new. A quick look at the recent past will show that the western corporate media has been engaged in a sustained strategic campaign to identify and exploit any possible weaknesses in the Russian "political armor" and to paint Russia like a very nasty, undemocratic and authoritarian country, in other words a threat to the West. Let me mention a few episodes of this Russia-bashing campaign (in no particular order):</span><br />
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<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Berezovsky as a "persecuted" businessman</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Politkovskaya "murdered by KGB goons"</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Khodorkovsky jailed for his love of "liberty"</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Russia's "aggression" against Georgia </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Russian "genocidal" wars against the Chechen people</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Pussy Riot" as "prisoners of conscience"</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Litvinenko "murdered by Putin"</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Russian homosexuals "persecuted" and "mistreated" by the state</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Magnitsky and the subsequent "Magnitsky law</span></li>
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<li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Snowed as a "traitor hiding in Russia"</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The "stolen elections" to the Duma and the Presidency</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The "White Revoluton" on the Bolotnaya square</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The "new Sakharov" - Alexei Navalnyi</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Russia's "support for Assad", the (Chemical) "Butcher of Baghdad"</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Russian constant "intervention" in Ukrainian affairs</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The "complete control" of the Kremlin over the Russian media</span></li>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This list is far from complete, but its sufficient for our purposes. Let me also immediately add here that it is not my purpose today to debunk these allegations one by one. I have done so many times the recent past.... I will just state here one very important thing which I cannot prove, but of which I am absolutely certain: 90% or more of the Russian public believe that all these issues are absolute nonsense, completely overblown non-issues. Furthermore, most Russians believe that the so-called "democratic forces" which the Western elites support in Russia (Iabloko, Parnas, Golos, etc.) are basically agents of influence for the West paid for by the CIA, MI6, Soros and exiled Jewish oligarchs. What is certain is that besides these small liberal/democratic groups, nobody in Russia takes these accusations seriously. Most people see them exactly for what they are: a smear campaign, done by crooked Western media, that start to make Old Pravda pale in comparison.... LOL<br /><br />In many ways, this is rather reminiscent of how things stood during the Cold War where the West used its immense propaganda resources to demonize the Soviet Union and to support anti-Soviet forces worldwide, including inside the USSR itself. I would argue that these efforts were, by and large, very successful and that by 1990s the vast majority of Soviets, including Russians, were rather disgusted with their leaders. So why the big difference today?<br /><br />To answer that question, we need to look back at the processes which took place in Russia in the last 20 years or so because only a look at what happened during these two decades will allows us to get to the root of the current problem(s) between the USA and Russia...<br /><br /><b>When did the Soviet Union truly disappear?</b><br /><br />The official date of the end of the Soviet Union is 26 December 1991, the day of the adoption by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union of the Declaration № 142-Н which officially recognized dissolution of the Soviet Union as a state and subject of international law. But that is a very superficial, formal view of things. One could argue that even though the Soviet Union had shrunk to the size of the Russian Federation it still survived within these smaller borders. After all, the laws did not change overnight, neither did most of the bureaucracy, and even though the Communist Party itself had been banned following the August 1991 coup, the rest of the state apparatus still continued to exist.<br /><br />For Eltsin and his supporters this reality created a <i>very</i> difficult situation. Having banned the CPUS and dismantled the KGB, Eltsin's liberals still face a formidable adversary: the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, the Parliament of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, elected by the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation. Nobody had abolished this *very* Soviet institution which rapidly became the center of almost all of the anti-Eltsin and pro-Soviet forces in the country. I cannot go in all the details of this legal nightmare, suffice to say that the Supreme Soviet presented itself as the "Russian Parliament" (which is not quite true) and that its members engaged in a systematic campaign to prevent Eltsin to implement his "reforms" (in hindsight, one could say that they tried to prevent Eltsin from ruining the country). One could say that the "new Russia" and the "old USSR" were fighting each other for the future of the country. Predictably, the Supreme Soviet wanted a parliamentary democracy while Eltsin and his liberals wanted a presidential democracy. The two sides presented what appeared to be a stark contrast to most Russians:<br /><br /><br />1) The Russian President Eltsin: officially he represented Russia, as opposed to the Soviet Union; he presented himself as an anti-Communist and as a democrat (nevermind that he himself had been a high ranking member of the CPSU and even a non-voting member to the Politburo!). Eltsin was also clearly the darling of the West and he promised to integrate Russia into the western world.<br /><br />2) The Supreme Soviet: headed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khasbulatov" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Ruslan Khasbulatov</a> with the support of the Vice-President of Russia,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Rutskoy" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Alexander Rutskoi</a>, the Supreme Soviet became the rallying point of all those who believed that the Soviet Union had been dissolved illegally (which is true) and against the will of the majority of its people (which is also true). Most, though not all, the supporters of the Supreme Soviet were if not outright Communists, then at least socialists and anti-capitalists. A good part of the rather disorganized Russian nationalist movement also supported the Supreme Soviet.<br /><br />We all know what eventually happened: Eltsin crushed the opposition in a huge bloodbath, far worse than what was reported in the Western (or even Russian) media. I write that with a high degree of confidence because I have personally received this information from a very good source: it so happens that I was in Moscow during those tragic days and that I was in constant contact with a Colonel of a Special Forces unit of the KGB (called "Vympel") who told me that the internal KGB estimate of the number of people killed in the Moscow Oblast was close to 3'000 people. I can also personally attest that the combats lasted for far longer than the official narrative claims: I witnessed a very sustained machine gun battle right under my windows <i>a full 5 days after the Supreme Soviet had surrendered</i>. I want to stress this here because I think that this illustrates an often overlooked reality: the so-called "constitutional crisis of 1993" was really a mini civil war for the fate of the Soviet Union and only by the end of this crisis did the Soviet Union really truly disappear.<br /><br />In the days preceeding the tank assault against the Supreme Soviet I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with supporters of the President and the Supreme Soviet. I took the time to engage them in long conversations to try to find out for myself what each side stood for and whether I should side with either party. The conclusion I came to was a rather sad one: <i>both</i> sides were primarily composed of ex- (or not ex-) Communists, <i>both</i> sides claimed that they were defending democracy and <i>both</i> sides accused each other of being Fascists. In reality both sides were in reality very much alike. I think that I was not the only person to feel that way in these days and I suspect that most of the people of Russia deeply felt this and ended up being really disgusted with all of the politicians involved.<br /><br />I would like to share one more personal anecdote here: these tragic days were personally quite amazing for me. Here I was, a young man born in a family of rabidly anti-Soviets, who has spent many years fighting the Soviet system and, especially, the KGB. And yet, ironically, I ended up spending most of my time in the company of a Colonel of a special forces unit of the KGB (how we met is a long story for another post). Even more amazing for me was the fact that for all our differences, we had the exact same reaction to the events taking place before our eyes. We both decided that we could not side with either party engaged in this conflict - both sides were equally repugnant to us. I was in his apartment when he received a call from the KGB headquarters ordering to show up at a location downtown to prepare a special forces assault against the "White House" (that was the street nickname of the Russian Parliament building) - he refused to obey, told his bosses to get lost, and hung up. He was not alone in that decision: just as in 1991, neither the Russian paratroopers nor the special forces agreed to shoot at their own people (others, supposedly "democratic" forces showed no such scruples). Instead of obeying his bosses orders, my new friend took the time to give me some very valuable advice about how to safely get a relative of mine out of Moscow without getting shot or detained.... Having a foreign passport was not a very safe thing in these days)...<br /><br />I wanted to retell this story here because it shows something very important: by 1993 a vast majority of Russians, even exiled emigrés and KGB special forces Colonels, were deeply disgusted and fed up with <i>both</i>parties to this crisis. In a way, one could say that most Russians were waiting for a THIRD force to appear on the political scene.<br /><br /><b>From 1993 to 1999 - a democratic nightmare</b><br /><br />After the crushing of the opposition by Eltsin's thugs, the gates of Hades truly opened for Russia: the entire country was taken over by various Mafias and the vast natural resources were pillaged by (mostly Jewish) oligarchs. The so-called "privatization" of the Russian economy created both a new class of multi-millionaires and many tens of millions of very poor people who could barely survive. A huge crime wave overtook every city, the entire infrastructure of the country collapsed and many regions of Russia began actively planning their secession from the Russian Federation. Chechnia was allowed to secede from the Russian Federation after a grotesque and bloody war which saw the Russian military back-stabbed by the Kremlin. And throughout these truly hellish years, the Western elites gave their fullest support to Eltsin and his oligarchs. The only exception to this love-fest was the political, economic and military support given by the Anglosphere to the Chechen insurgency. Eventually, what had to happen did happen: the country declared bankruptcy in 1998 by devaluing the Ruble and defaulting on its debt. Though we will never know for sure, I firmly believe that by 1999 Russia was only a few steps away from completely disappearing as a country and as a nation....<br /><br /><b>The legacy left by the liberals/democrats</b><br /><br />Having crushed the opposition in 1993, the Russian liberals acquired the complete freedom to write a new constitution which would perfectly suit their purpose, and with their typical short-sightedness they adopted a new Constitution which gave immense powers to the President and really very little to the new Parliament, the Russian Duma. They even went as far as abolishing the post of Vice-President (they did not want another Rutskoi to sabotage their plans)... By the way, they did the very same thing in Egypt and Tunis and Libya very recently...., the crooked CIA Mossad twins/thugs never learn from past mistakes....<br /><br />And yet, in the 1996 Presidential elections the liberals almost lost it all. To their horror, the Communist Candidate Gennadi Zuiganov won most of the votes in the 1st round, which forced the liberals to do two things: first, of course, they falsified the official results and, second, they passed an alliance with a rather popular Army General, Alexander Lebed. These two moves made it possible for them to declare that they had won the 2nd round (even though in reality Ziuganov won). Here again, the West fully supported Eltsin. Well, why not? Having given Eltsin full support for his bloody crackdown on the supporters of the Supreme Soviet, why not also support Eltisin in a stolen election, right? In for a dime, in for a dollar.<br /><br />Eltsin himself, however spent most of his time drinking himself to death and it soon became rather clear that he would not last very long. Panic seized the liberal camp which ended up committing a huge mistake: they allowed a little-known and rather unimpressive bureaucrat from Saint Petersburg to replace Eltsin as Acting President: Vladimir Putin.<br /><br />Putin was a quiet, low key, competent bureaucrat whose main quality appeared to be his lack of a strong personality, or so did the liberals think. And, boy, was that one big miscalculation!<br /><br />As soon as he was appointed, Vlad Putin acted with lightening speed. He immediately surprised everybody by becoming personally involved the the 2nd Chechen war. Unlike his predecessor, Vlad Putin gave all the freedom to the military commanders to wage this war as they wanted. Vlad Putin surprized everybody again when he made a truly historic deal with Ahmad Hadji Kadyrov to bring peace to Chechnia even though the latter had been a leader of the insurgency during the first Chechen war.<br /><br />Vlad Putin's popularity soared and he immediately used that to his advantage.<br /><br />In an amazing twist of history, Putin used the Constitution developed and adopted by the Russian liberals to implement a very rapid series of crucial reforms and to eliminate the power basis of the liberals: the Jewish oligarchs (Berezovksy, Khorodkovsky, Fridman, Gusinsky, etc.). He also passed many laws destined to "strengthen the vertical power" which gave the Federal Center direct control over the local administrations. This, in turn, not only crushed many of the local Mafias who had managed to corrupt and infiltrate the local authorities, it also rapidly stopped all the various secessionist movements inside Russia. Finally, he used what is called the "administrative resource" to create his United Russia party and to give it the full support from the state. The irony here is that Vlad <i>Putin would never have succeeded in these efforts had the Russian liberals not created a hyper-Presidential Constitution which gave Putin the means to achieve his goals</i>. To paraphrase Lenin, I would say that the Russian liberals gave Vlad Putin the rope to hang them... LOL<br /><br />The West, of course, rapidly understood what was going on, but it was too late: the liberals had lost power forever (God willing!) and the country was clearly being taken over by a third, previously unseen force.<br /><br /><b>Who really put Vlad Putin into power?</b><br /><br />That is the $10'000 question. Formally, the official answer is straightforward: Eltsin's entourage. Still, it is rather obvious that some other unidentified group of people managed to brilliantly con the liberals into letting the fox inside their hen house.<br /><br />Now remember that the pro-Soviet forces were comprehensively defeated in 1993. So this was not the result of some nostalgic revanchists who wanted to resurrect the old Soviet Union. So no need to look to this camp who in fact, has mostly remained opposed to Vlad Putin to this very day. So who else then?<br /><br />It was an alliance of <i>two</i> forces, really: elements of the ex "PGU KGB SSSR" and a number of key industrial and financial leaders. Let's take them one by one:<br /><br />The first force was the PGU KGB SSSR: the foreign intelligence branch of the Soviet KGB. It's official name was First Chief Directorate of the Committee of State Security of the USSR. This would be the rough equivalent of the British MI6. This was beyond any doubt the most elite part of the KGB, and also its most autonomous one (it even had its own headquarters in the south of Moscow). Though the PGU dealt with a number of issues, it was also very closely linked to, and interested by the world of big business, in the USSR and abroad. Since the PGU had nothing to do with the KGB's most ugly activities such as the persecution of dissidents (that was the role of the 5th Directorate) and since it has little to do with internal security (that was the prerogative of the 2nd Chief Directorate), it was not high on the list of institutions to reform simply because it was not hated as much as the more visible part of the KGB.<br /><br />The second force which put Vlad Putin in power was constituted by young people coming from key ministries of the former Soviet Union which dealt with industrial and financial issues and which hated Eltin's Jewish oligarchs. Unlike Eltin's oligarchs, these young leaders did not want to simply pillage all the resources of Russia and later retire in the US or Israel, but they did want Russia to become a powerful market economy integrated into the international financial system.<br /><br />Later, the first group would turn into what I call the "<b>Eurasian Sovereignists</b>" while the second one would become what I call "<b>Atlantic Integrationists</b>" ..... We could think of them as the "Putin people" and the "Medvedev people".<br /><br />Lastly, it should not be overlooked that there is, of course, a third force which threw its full support behind this Putin-Medvedev tandem - the Russian people themselves who have, so far, always voted to keep them in power.<br /><br /><b>An absolutely brilliant formula but which has now outlived its shelf life....</b><br /><br />There is no doubt in my mind that the idea to create this "tandem" has been nothing short of brilliant:Vlad Putin would cater to the nationalists, Medvedev to the more liberally oriented folk. Putin would get the support of the "power ministries" (defense, security, intelligence) while Medvedev would get the support of the business community. Putin could scare the local authorities into compliance with the orders from the federal center, while Medvedev would make the US and EU feel good at Davos. Or, let's put it this way: who would be <i>against</i> the Putin & Medvedev duo? Diehard supporters of the Soviet Union, rabid xenophobic nationalists, rabid pro-US liberals and Jewish exiles. That's pretty much it, and that ain't much...<br /><br />By the way - what do we see in today's opposition? A Communist Party catering to those nostalgic of the Soviet era, a Liberal-Democratic Party catering to the nationalists, and a pretty small "Just Russia" party whose sole purpose appear to be to take votes off the other two and coopt some of the rabid liberals. In other words, Medvedev and Putin have basically eliminated any type of credible opposition.<br /><br />As I have mentioned in past posts, there are now clear signs of serious tensions between the "Eurasian Sovereignists" and the "Atlantic Integrationists" to the point that Vlad Putin has now created his own movement (the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Russia_People%27s_Front" style="text-decoration: none;">All-Russia People's Front</a>", created by Vlad Putin in 2011...<br /><br />Having looked at the complex processes which ended up creating the Putin Presidency in Russia, we need to look at what took place in the USA during the same time period.<br /><br /><b>In the meantime - the US gets NeoZioConned...</b><br /><br />Unlike the Soviet Union which basically disappeared from the map of our planet, the USA "won" the Cold War (this is not factually quite true, but this is how many Americans see it) and having become the last and only real super-power, the US immediately embarked on a series of very serious external wars to establish its "full spectrum dominance" over the planet, especially after the barbaric inside job of 9/11 which deeply transformed the nature of the US society itself.<br /><br />Sill, the post 9/11 False Flag society has its roots in a far more distant past: the Reagan years.<br /><br />During the Presidency of Ronald Reagan a group which later become known as the "Necons" made a strategic decision to take over the Republican Party, its affiliated institutions and think tanks. While in the past ex-Trotskyites had been more inclined to support the putatively more Left-leaning Democratic Party, the "new and improved GOP" under Reagan offered the Neocons some extremely attractive features:<br /><br />1) Money: Reagan was an unconditional supporter of big business and the corporate world. His mantra "government is the problem" fitted perfectly with the historical closeness of the Neocons with the Robber Barons, Mafia bosses and big bankers. For them, de-regulation meant freedom of action, something which was bound to make speculators and Wall Street wise guys immensely rich.<br /><br />2) Violence: Reagan also firmly stood behind the US Military-Industrial complex and a policy of intervention in any country on the planet. That fascination with brute force and, let be honest here, terrorism also fitted the Trotskyite-Neocon mindset perfectly.<br /><br />3) Illegality: Reagan did not care at all about the law, be it international law or domestic law. Sure, as long as the law happens to be advantageous to US or GOP interests, it was upheld with great ceremony. But if it didn't, the Reaganites would break it with no compunction whatsoever.<br /><br />4) Arrogance: under Reagan, patriotism and feel-good imperial hubris reached a new height. More than ever before, the US saw itself as not only the "Leader of the Free World" protecting the planet against the "Evil Empire", but also as unique and superior to the rest of mankind (like in the Ford commercial of the 1980s: "<i>we're number one, second to none</i>!")<br /><br />5) Systematic deception: under Reagan lying turned from an occasional if regular tactics used in politics to the key form of public communication: Reagan, and his administration, could say one thing and then deny it in the same breath. They could make promises which were clearly impossible to keep (Star Wars anybody?). They could solemnly take an oath and than break it (Iran-Contra). And, if confronted by proof of these lies, all Reagan had to do is to say: "well, no, I don't remember".<br /><br />6) Messianism: not only did Reagan get a huge support basis amongst the various crazy religious denominations in the USA (including all of the Bible Belt), Reagan also promoted a weird can of secular Messianism featuring a toxic mix of xenophobia bordering on racism with a narcissistic fascination with anything patriotic, no matter how stupid, bordering on self-worship.<br /><br />So let's add it all up:<br /><br />Money+violence+illegality+arrogance+deception+Messianism equals what? The most infamous, odious, despicable White House Murder Inc,.... Which cowardly assassinated my Hero, HK. Elie Hobeika, January 24th 2002 in Hazmieh Lebanon... Tfeh....<br /><br />Does that not all look very, very familiar? Is that not a perfect description of Zionism and Israel?<br /><br />No wonder the Neocons flocked in greater and greater number to this new GOP! Reagan's GOP was the perfect Petri dish for the Zionist bacteria to grow, and grow it really did. A lot.<br /><br />I think that it would be reasonable to say that the USA underwent a two-decades long process of "Zionisation" which culminated in the grand 9/11 false flag operation in which the <a href="http://www.newamericancentury.org/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">PNAC</a>-types basically used their access to the centers of power in the USA, Israel and the KSA to conjure up a new enemy - "Islamo-Fascist Terror" - which would not only justify a planetary war against "terrorism" (the GWOT) but also an unconditional support for Israel.<br /><br />There were also losers in this evolution, primarily what I call the "<a href="http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2007/05/daddy-whats-neocon-ethnic-mafia-wars-is.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">old Anglo camp</a>" which basically lost control of most of its domestic political power and all of its foreign policy power: for the first time <a href="http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2008/04/acting-as-one-which-of-course-they-are.html" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a new course in foreign policy</a> gradually began to take shape under the leadership of a group of people which would in time be identified as "Israel Firsters". For a short time the old Anglos seemed to have retaken the reigns of power - under George Bush Senior - only to immediately loose it again with the election of Bill Clinton. But the apogee of Ziocon power was only reached under the Presidency of George W. Bush who basically presided over a massive purge of Anglos from key positions in government (especially the Pentagon and the CIA). Predictably, having the folks which Bush Senior called "the <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11811.htm" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">crazies in the basement</a>" actually in power rapidly brought the USA to the edge of a global collapse: externally the massive worldwide sympathy for the USA after 911 turned into a tsunami of loathing and resentment, while internally the country was faced with a massive banking crisis which <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2008/10/77860/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">almost resulted in the imposition of martial law</a> over the USA.<br /><br /><b>In comes Barak CIA Obama - "<i>change we can believe in!</i>"</b><br /><br />The election of Barak Obama to the White House truly was a momentous historical event. Not only because a majority White population had elected a Black man to the highest office in the country (this was really mainly an expression of despair and of a deep yearning for change), but because after one of the most effective PR campaigns in history, the vast majority of Americans and many, if not most, people abroad, really, truly believed that Obama would make some deep, meaningful changes. The disillusion with Obama was as great as the hopes millions had in him. I personally feel that history will remember Obama not only as one of the worst Presidents in history, but also, and that is more important, as the last chance for the "system" to reform itself. That chance was missed. And while some, in utter disgust, described Obama as "Bush light", I think that his Presidency can be better described as "more of the same, only worse".<br /><br />Having said that, there is something which, to my absolute amazement, Obama's election did achieve: the removal of (most, but not all) Neocons from (most, but not all) key positions of power and a re-orientation of (most, but not all) of US foreign policy in a more traditional "USA first" line, usually supported by the "old Anglo" interests. Sure, the Neocons are still firmly in control of Congress and the US corporate media, but the Executive Branch is, at least for the time being, back under Anglo control (this is, of course, a generalization: Dick Cheney was neither Jewish nor Zionist, while the Henry Kissinger can hardly be described as an "Anglo"). And even though Bibi Netanyahu got more standing ovations in Congress (29) than any US President, the attack on Iran he wanted so badly did not happen. Instead, Hillary and Petraeus got kicked out, and Chuck Hagel and John Kerry got in. That is hardly "change we can believe in", but at least this shows that the Likud is not controlling the White House any more.... Or so it seems for the Sheeple in USA....and it's ZOG....<br /><br />Of course, this is far from over. If anything the current game of chicken played between the White House and Congress over the budget with its inherent risk of a US default shows that this conflict is far from settled.<br /><br /><b>The current real power matrix in the USA and Russia</b><br /><br />We have shown that there are two unofficial parties in Russia which are locked in a deadly conflict for power, the "<i>Eurasian Sovereignists</i>" and "<i>Atlantic Integrationists</i>". There are also two unofficial parties in the USA who are also locked in a deadly conflict for power: the <i>Neocons</i> and the "<i>old Anglos imperialists</i>". I would argue that, at least for the time being, the "Eurasian Sovereignists" and the "old Anglos" have prevailed over their internal competitor but that the Russian "Eurasian Sovereignists" are in a far stronger position that the American "old Anglos". There are two main reasons for that:<br /><br />1) Russia has already had its economic collapse and default and<br />2) a majority of Russians fully support President Putin and his "<i>Eurasian Sovereignist</i>" policies.<br /><br /> In contrast, the USA is on the brink of an economic collapse and the 1% clique which is running the USA is absolutely hated and despised by most Americans.<br /><br />After the immense and, really, heart-breaking disillusionment with Obama, more and more Americans are becoming convinced that changing the puppet in the White House is meaningless and that what the US really needs is <i>regime change</i>.... LOL.....<br /> <b><br /></b><b>The USSR and the USA - back to the future?</b><br /><br />Is is quite amazing for those who remember the Soviet Union of the late 1980 how much the US under Obama has become similar to the USSR under Brezhnev: internally it is characterized by a general sense of disgust and alienation of the people triggered by the undeniable stagnation of a system rotten to its very core... A bloated military and police state with uniforms everywhere, while more and more people live in abject poverty. A public propaganda machine which, like in Orwell's 1984, constantly boasts of successes everywhere while everybody knows that these are all lies...., and the very same thing goes on on the good old Zioconned Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.... Terres Fertiles for CIA thugs and criminals to recruit from, especially for the den of spies called STL/TSL..... LOL. Externally, the US is hopelessly overstretched and either hated and mocked abroad. Just as in the Soviet days, the US leaders are clearly afraid of their own people so they protect themselves by a immense and costly global network of spies and propagandists who are terrified of dissent and who see the main enemy in their own people....<br /><br />Add to that a political system which far from co-opting the best of its citizens deeply alienates them while promoting the most immoral and corrupt ones into the positions of power. A booming prison-industrial complex and a military-industrial complex which the country simply cannot afford maintaining. A crumbling public infrastructure combined with a totally dysfunctional health care system in which only the wealthy and well-connected can get good treatment. And above it all, a terminally sclerotic public discourse, full of ideological clichés and completely disconnected from reality...<br /><br />I will never forget the words of a Pakistani Ambassador to the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 1992 who, addressing an assembly of smug Zio/western diplomats, said the following words: "<i>you seem to believe that you won the Cold War, but did you ever consider the possibility that what has really happened is that the internal contradictions of communism caught up with communism before the internal contradictions of capitalism could catch up with capitalism?!</i>". Needless to say, these prophetic words were greeted by a stunned silence and soon forgotten. But the man was, I believe, absolutely right: capitalism has now reached a crisis as deep as the one affecting the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and there is zero chance to reform or otherwise change it. Regime change is the only possible outcome....<br /><b><br /></b><b>The historical roots of the russophobia of the American elites</b><br /><br />Having said all of the above, its actually pretty simple to understand why Russia in general, and Vlad Putin in particular, elicits such a deep hatred from the Western plutocracy: having convinced themselves that they won the Cold War, they are now facing the double disappointment of a rapidly recovering Russia and a Western economic and political decline turning into what seems to be a slow and painful agony...<br /><br />In their bitterness and spite, Western leaders overlook the fact that Russia has nothing to do with the West's current problems. Quite to the contrary, in fact: the main impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union on the US-run international economic system was to prolong its existence, by creating a new demand for US dollars in Eastern Europe and Russia (some economists - such as Nikolai Starikov - estimate that the collapse of the USSR gave an extra 10+ years of life to the US dollar).<br /><br />In the past, Russia has been the historical arch-enemy of the British Empire. As for Jews - they have always harbored many grievances towards pre-revolutionary Tsarist Russia. The Revolution of 1917 brought a great deal of hope for many East-European Jews, but it was short lived as Stalin defeated Trotsky and the Communist Party was purged from many of its Jewish members. Over and over again Russia has played a tragic role in the history of the Ashkenazi Jews and this, of course, has left a deep mark on the worldview of the Neocons who are all deeply russophobic, even today. Somebody might object that many Jews are deeply grateful for the Soviet Army's liberation of Jews from the Nazi concentration camps, or for the fact that the Soviet Union was the first country to recognize Israel. But in both cases, the country which is credited with these actions is the <i>Soviet Union</i> and not Russia which most Ashkenazi Jews still typically associate with anti-Jewish policies and values.<br /><br />It is thus not surprising that both the Anglo and the Jewish elites in the US would harbor an almost instinctive dislike for, and fear of Russia, especially one perceived as resurgent or anti-American. And the fact is that they are not wrong in this perception: Russia is most definitely resurgent, and the vast majority of the Russian public opinion is vehemently anti-American, at least if by "America" we refer to the civilizational model or current utterly corrupt economic and political system....<br /><br /><b>Anti-American sentiment in Russia</b><br /><br />Feelings about the USA underwent a dramatic change since the fall of the Soviet Union. In the 1980 the USA was not only rather popular, it was also deeply in fashion: Russian youth created many rock groups (some of them became immensely popular and still are popular today, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT_%28band%29" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the group DDT</a> from Saint Petersburg), American fashion and fast foods were the dream of every Russian teenager, while most intellectuals sincerely saw the US as "leader of the free world". Of course, the state propaganda of the USSR always wanted to present the USA as an aggressive imperialistic country, but that effort failed: most of the people were actually quite fond of the US. One of the most popular pop group of the 1990s (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus_Pompilius_%28band%29" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Nautilus Pompilius</a>) had a song with the following lyrics:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin: 1em 20px;">
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><i>Good bye America, oh</i><br /><i>Where I have never ever been</i><br /><i>Farewell forever!</i><br /><i>Take your banjo</i><br /><i>And play for my departure</i><br /><i>la-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la</i><br /><i>Your worn out blue jeans</i><br /><i>Became too tight for me</i><br /><i>We’ve been taught for too long</i><br /><i>To be in love with your forbidden fruits.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While there were exceptions to this rule, I would say that by the beginning of the 1990 most of the Russian people, especially the youth, had swallowed the US propaganda line hook and sinker - Russia was hopelessly pro-American.<br /><br />The catastrophic collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the West's total and unconditional backing for Eltsin and his oligarchs changed that. Instead of trying to help Russia, the USA and the West used every single opportunity to weaken Russia externally (by taking all of Eastern Europe into NATO even though they had promised never to do so). Internally, the crooked West supported the Jewish oligarchs who were literally sucking out wealth out of Russia like satanic vampires suck blood, while supporting every imaginable form of separatism. By the end of the 1990s the words "democrat" and "liberal" became offensive curse words. This joke of the late 1990s is a good example of these feelings (Notice the association between liberalism and Jews):</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin: 1em 20px;">
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><i>A new teacher comes into the class:</i><br /><i>- My name is Abram Davidovich, I'm a liberal. And now all stand up and introduce yourself like I did ...</i><br /><i>- My name is Masha I liberal ...</i><br /><i>- My name is Petia, I'm a liberal ...</i><br /><i>- My Little Johnny, I'm a Stalinist.</i><br /><i>- Little Johnny, why are you a Stalinist? !</i><br /><i>- My mom is a Stalinist, my dad is a Stalinist, my friends are Stalinists and I too am a Stalinist.</i><br /><i>- Little Johnny, and if your mother was a whore, your father - a drug addict, your friends - homos, what would you be then in that case? !</i><br /><i>- Then I would be a liberal.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Notice the association between being a liberal and Jews (Abram Davidovich is a typical Jewish name). Notice also the inclusion of the category "homosexual" in between a whore and drug addicts and remember that when evaluating the typical Russian reaction to the anti-Russian campaign waged by western homosexual organizations.<br /><br />The political effect of these feelings is rather obvious: in the last elections not a single pro-Western political party has even managed to get enough votes to make it into the Parliament. And no - this is not because Putin has outlawed them (as some propagandists in the West like to imagine). There are currently 57 political parties in Russia, and quite a few of them are pro-Western. And yet it is an undeniable fact that the percentage of Russians which are favorably inclined towards the USA and NATO/EU is roughly in the 5% range. I can also put it this way: every single political party represented in the Duma is deeply anti-American, even the very moderate "Just Russia".<br /><b><br /></b><b>Anti-Russian feelings in the USA?</b><br /><br />Considering the never ending barrage of anti-Russian propaganda in the Zio western corporate media...., one could wonder how strong anti-Russian feelings are in the West. This is really hard to measure objectively, but as somebody born in ?... and who has lived a total of 10 years in the USA.... I would say that anti-Russian sentiment in the West is very rare, almost non-existent. In the USA there have always been strong anti-Communist feelings - there still are today - but somehow most Americans do make the difference between a political ideology that they don't really understand, but that they dislike anyway, and the people which in the past used to be associated with it..... <br /><br />US *politicians*, of course, mostly hate Russia, but most Americans seem to harbor very little bad feelings or apprehension about Russia or the Russian people. I explain that by a combination of factors.<br /><br />First, since more and more people in the West realize that they are not living in a democracy, but in a plutocracy of the 1%, they tend to take the official propaganda line with more than a grain of salt (which, by the way, is exactly what was happening to most Soviet people in the 1980s). Furthermore, more and more people in the West who oppose the plutocratic imperial order which impoverishes and disenfranchises them into corporate serfs, are quite sympathetic to Russia and Vlad Putin for "standing up to the bastards in Washington and Tel Aviv....". But even more fundamentally, there is the fact that in a bizarre twist of history Russia today stands for the values of the West of yesterday: international law, pluralism, freedom of speech, social rights, anti-imperialism, opposition to intervention inside sovereign states, rejection of wars as a means to settle disputes, etc.<br /><br />In the case of the war in Syria, Russia's absolutely consistent stance in defense of international law has impressed many people in the USA and Europe and one can hear more and more praise for my Vlad Putin from people who in the past had deep suspicions about him...<br /><br />Russia, of course, is hardly a utopia or some kind of perfect society, far from it, but it has taken the fundamental decision to become a *normal* country, as opposed to being a global empire, and <i>any</i> normal country will agree to uphold the principles of the "West of yesterday", not only Russia. In fact, Russia is very un-exceptional in its pragmatic realization that to uphold these principles is not a matter of naive idealism, but a sound realistic policy goal. People in the West are told by their rulers and the corporate media that Vlad Putin in an evil ex-KGB dictator who is a danger for the US and its allies, but as soon as these people actually read or listen to what Vlad Putin actually says, they find themselves in a great deal of agreement with him...<br /><br />In another funny twist of history, while the Soviet population used to turn to the BBC, Voice of America or Radio Liberty for news and information, more and more people in the West are turning to Russia Today, Press TV, or Telesur to get their information. Hence the panicked reaction of Walter Isaacson, Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the US outfit overseeing US media directed at foreign audiences, who declared that “<i>we can't allow ourselves to be out-communicated by our enemies. You've got Russia Today, Iran's Press TV, Venezuela's TeleSUR, and of course, China is launching an international broadcasting 24-hour news channel with correspondents around the world</i>". Folks like Isaacson know that they are slowly but surely loosing the informational battle for the control of the minds of the general public... LOL<br /><br />And now, with the entire Snowden affair, Russia is becoming the safe harbor for those political activists who are fleeing Uncle Sam's wrath. A quick search on the Internet will show you that more and more people are referring to Vlad Putin as the "leader of the Free World" while other are collecting signatures to have Obama give his Nobel Prize to Putin. Truly, for those like myself who have actually fought against the Soviet system....., it is absolutely amazing to see the 180 degree turn the world has taken since the 1970/80s....<br /><br /><b>Western elites - still stuck in the Cold War</b><br /><br />If the world has radically changed in the last 20 years, the Western elites did not. Faced with a very frustrating reality they are desperately trying to re-fight the Cold War with the hope of re-winning it again. Hence the never ending cycle of Russia-bashing campaigns I mentioned at the beginning of this post. They try to re-brand Russia as the new Soviet Union, with oppressed minorities, jailed or murdered dissidents, little or no freedom of speech, a monolithic state controlled media and an all seeing security apparatus overseeing it all. The problem, of course, is that they are 20 years late and that these accusations don't stick very well with the western public opinion and get exactly *zero* traction inside Russia. In fact, every attempt at interfering inside Russian political affairs has been so inept and clumsy that it backfired every single time. From the absolutely futile attempts of the West to organize a color-coded revolution in the streets of Moscow to the totally counter-productive attempts to create some kind of crisis around homosexual human rights in Russia - every step taken by the western propaganda machine has only strengthened Vladimir Putin and his the "Eurasian Sovereignists" at the expense of the "Atlantic Integrationist" faction inside the Kremlin...<br /><br />There was a deep and poignant symbolism in the latest meeting of the 21 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia-Pacific_Economic_Cooperation" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">APEC countries</a> in Bali. Obama had to cancel his trip because of the US budget crisis while Vlad Putin was treated to a musically horrible but politically deeply significant rendition of "Happy birthday to you!" by a spontaneous choir composed of the leaders of the Pacific Rim countries. I can just imagine the rage of the White House when they saw "their" Pacific allies serenading Vlad Putin for his birthday! Yuppie!!!! Viva Vlad. HK<br /><br /><b>Conclusion: "we are everywhere"</b><br /><br />In one of his most beautiful songs, David Rovics sings the following words which I want to write in full, as each line fully applies to the current situation:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin: 1em 20px;">
<i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When I say the hungry should have food<br />I speak for many<br />When I say no one should have seven homes<br />While some don't have any<br />Though I may find myself stranded in some strange place<br />With naught but a vapid stare<br />I remember the world and I know<br />We are everywhere<br /><br />When I say the time for the rich, it will come<br />Let me count the ways<br />Victories or hints of the future<br />Havana, Caracas, Chiapas, Buenos Aires<br />How many people are wanting and waiting<br />And fighting for their share<br />They hide in their ivory towers<br />But we are everywhere<br /><br />Religions and prisons and races<br />Borders and nations<br />FBI agents and congressmen<br />And corporate radio stations<br />They try to keep us apart, but we find each other<br />And the rulers are always aware<br />That they're a tiny minority<br />And we are everywhere<br /><br />With every bomb that they drop, every home they destroy<br />Every land they invade<br />Comes a new generation from under the rubble<br />Saying "we are not afraid"<br />They will pretend we are few<br />But with each child that a billion mothers bear<br />Comes the next demonstration<br />That we are everywhere. </i></blockquote>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(you can listen to the song by clicking <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8j8BmgeYLA" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>) .....<br /><br />These words are a beautiful expression for the hope which should inspire all those who are now opposing the US-Zionist Empire: we are everywhere, literally. On one side we have the 1%, the Anglo imperialists and the Ziocons, while on the other we have the rest of the planet, including potentially 99% of the American people. If it is true that at this moment in time Vlad Putin and his Eurasian Sovereignists are the most powerful and best organized faction of the worldwide resistance to the Empire, they are far from being central, or even less so, crucial, to it. Yes, Russia can, and will, play its role, but only as a <i>normal country</i> amongst many other normal countries, some small and economically weak like Ecuador, other huge and powerful like China. But even small Ecuador was "big enough" to grant refuge to Julian Assange while China seems to have asked Snowden to please leave. So Ecuador is not that small after all?<br /><br />It would be naive to hope that this "de-imperialization" process of the USA could happen without violence. The French and British Empires collapsed against the bloody backdrop of WWII, while did the Nazi and Japanese Empires were crushed under a carpet of bombs. The Soviet Empire collapsed with comparatively less victims, and most of the violence which did take place during that process happened on the Soviet periphery. In Russia itself, the number of death of the mini civil war of 1993 was counted in the thousands and not in the millions. And by God's great mercy, not a single nuclear weapon was detonated anywhere.... HK. Keep your blessings strong from high above.... HK4EVER<br /><br />So what will likely happen when the US-Ziocon Empire finally collapses under its own weight? Nobody can tell for sure, but we can at least hope that just as no major force appeared to rescue the Soviet Empire in 1991-1993, no major force will attempt to save the US Empire either. As David Rovic's puts it so well, the big weakness of the 1% which rule the US-Ziocon Empire is that "<i>they are a tiny minority and we are everywhere</i>".<br /><br />In the past 20 years the US and Russia have followed diametrically opposed courses and their roles appear to have been reversed. That "pas de deux" is coming to some kind of an end now. Objective circumstances have now again placed these two countries in opposition to each other, but this is solely due to the nature of the regime in Washington DC. Russian leaders could repeat the words of the English rapper Lowkey and declare "<i>I'm not anti-America, America is anti-me!</i>" and they could potentially be joined by 99% of Americans who, whether they already realize it or not, are also the victims of the US-Ziocon Empire... HK<br /><br />In the meantime, the barrage of anti-Russian propaganda campaigns will continue unabated simply because this seems to have become a form of psychotherapy for a panicked and clueless Zio western plutocracy. And just as in all the previous cases, this propaganda campaign will have no effect at all... HK<br /><br />It is my hope that next time we hear about whatever comes next after the current "Greenpeace" campaign you will keep all this in mind...</span></div>
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-91067537105287177622013-10-11T22:46:00.001-07:002013-10-11T22:48:11.891-07:00America's nickname at IMF: "Stagnation Nation".... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">America's nickname at IMF: "Stagnation Nation".... inside the annual IMF and World Bank meetings
in Washington... A one-time
economics adviser to the Obama White House let us in on some of the
conversations percolating at this week's annual meetings of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington, DC. The news about the
foreseeable future of the U.S. economy is bleak...<br />The U.S. economy can be
summed up in two words: "Stagnation Nation," according to our ears inside the
meetings in the nation's capital. One thing is for certain. The world's central
bankers, including IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, agree that the
"papering" of the U.S. economy by the Federal Reserve, a policy maintained by
outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in order to stem inflation, must come to an
end. Incoming Fed Chair Janet Yellen has signaled an intention to drastically
change Bernanke's policy of giving $80 to $90 billion in cash to U.S. banks per
month to keep Treasury bond yields high and the stock market in a bullish
condition. The Bernanke program, called Quantitative Easing II or QEII, has seen
banks purchasing stocks with their glut of cash in record fashion.<br />The other
two word heard at the IMF and World Bank meetings are "taper off." Lagarde,
backed by Yellen, say it is time for QEII to be "tapered off" and the pumping of
cash from the Fed to the banks and stock market must end at its current pace.
<br />That means the Bernanke policy of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars
into the U.S. economy in order to pump up the stock market and hedge funds may
stop. The glut of Fed money on Wall Street
has resulted in hedge finds buying up as many assets from companies as is
possible. With nothing more to extract from companies, hedge funds have started
investing in one another. <br /><br />None of the money being pumped into the banks,
the stock market, and the hedge funds are reaching the American people,
according to our source. Lagarde and Yellen want that to change by forcing
companies to invest their money in quality job-creating ventures and the
government beefing up infrastructure modernization projects. <br /><br />The other
word heard at the IMF and World bank conferences is "austerity." Although the
twin U.S. debt ceiling and shutdown crises have resulted in public warnings from
Lagarde and World Bank President Jim Yong
Kim for the U.S. to get its financial house in order, austerity has somewhat
become a problematic word.<br /><br />Lagarde told delegates and bankers that the
previous IMF policy of imposing stark austerity regimes on countries like
Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and others was ill-conceived and did more
damage than necessary. <br /><br />We asked
our source about the rumor circulating around Washington that the Tea Party's
forcing of a U.S. government shutdown was done with the acquiescence of the
Obama administration and congressional Democratic and Republican leadership to
prime the American public for the imposition of Greece-style austerity programs.
The response was that the U.S. remains the number one donor to the IMF and World
Bank so it could never be ordered by the two institutions to adopt the same
measures that were imposed on Greece. However, that is not to say that there
will not be severe belt tightening by cities and counties to avoid the fate of
Detroit and Stockton.<br /><br />Although the IMF and World Bank don't have the
massive sell-off of U.S. government assets in their crystal balls, that does not
mean the Tea party is not looking at a mass divestment of U.S. government
assets. A number of Tea Party congressmen, all of whom have been financed by the
anti-government Koch brothers, have called for the selling off of national
parks, national forests, national seashores, national marine reserves, national
wildlife refuges, and other land managed by the Bureau of Land
Management. These congressmen include
Representatives Jason Chaffetz of Utah who has introduced the Disposal of Excess
Federal Lands Act of 2013 to sell off public lands to the highest bidder.
<br /><br />The highest bidders in such a case would be Charles and David Koch whose
business empire includes paper product manufacturing. To buy up the government's
"green gold" -- forests -- in the Rocky Mountain West's would be a
dream-come-true for the Kochs and their compatriots. The Kochs have funded the
American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC) to draw up model bills in state legislatures that would sell off
state-operated parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and other public
land.<br /><br />The closing of public parks and lands to the American people,
therefore, serves as a useful psychological "shock and awe" tactic to give the
public a taste for future austerity plans...</span></b></div>
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-841357830805917092013-10-08T23:04:00.000-07:002013-10-08T23:04:20.272-07:00Russia bashing run amok over the Arctic fast dash, and all the rest of it....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Europe the Russia-bashing campaigns come and go with the regularity reminiscent of times. Let's try to recall some of them (in not particular order): Berezovsky as a "persecuted" businessman, Politkovskaya "murdered by KGB goons", Khodorkovsky jailed for his love of liberty, the "Pussy Riot" "prisoners of conscience", Litvinenko "murdered by Putin", the homo-lobby's call to boycott Russian vodka, the homo-lobby's call to boycott the Sotchi Olympics, Magnitsky and the subsequent "Magnitsky law", the Snowden affair, the "stolen elections", the "White Revoluton" on the Bolotnaya square and the new "Sakharov" Alexei Navalnyi, etc. etc. etc. I am probably forgetting quite a few.<br /><br />What is certain is that as soon as Putin came to power in 2000 and all throughout the past 13 years the western plutocracy has fought a sustained, if not very effective, political propaganda campaign against Russia in general and against the Eurasian Souverainistes.... In response to that campaign, Putin has very successfully responded with a kind of a "judo-move" in which he turned every one of these campaigns into an electoral argument in support of his policies by showing the Russian people how utterly absurd these Russia-bashing campaigns were, And, truth be told, these were absolutely ridiculous, every single one of them, and this is also</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">why none of them ever had any bigger impact than a wet firecracker.<br /><br />This time, however, the latest Russia-bashing campaign is qualitatively different in which it links a non-issue (the non-existing pollution threat to the Arctic from the new Russian oil drilling platform) with a very real and even strategic issue: the future of the Arctic.<br /><br />I have to provide some context here.<br /><br /><b>The crucial context to understand current events</b><br /><br />For the last decade Russia has embarked on a very ambitious plan to fully exploit the immense potential of the Arctic. Call it an unintended but positive impact from the Global Warming phenomenon, but it has now become possible to use the so-called "Northern Route" to link Europe and Asia by a maritime corridor along the northern coast of Russia. Russia has also developed a unique type of oil drilling platform which can operate in waters saturated with drifting icebergs. A few years ago, a Russian submarine placed a Russian flag on the North Pole as a clear sign that Russia was claiming its share of the polar resources. Needless to say, the US, Canada and the EU are not happy at all about it. But there is nothing much they can do, if only because Russian polar technologies are way ahead of what exists in the West. Not only are Russian submarines far better suited for polar operations than their western counterparts, the Russians also have unique nuclear icebreakers which make it possible for them to open routes in very thick ice (more are currently being built... ) Western technologies have always been far more "equator oriented". For example, the US GPS navigation system is more accurate on the lower latitudes while the Russian GLONASS is more accurate in the polar regions. Most of the US Navy's power is centred on warmer regions of the globe. In contrast the most powerful and best equipped Russian fleet has always been the Northern Fleet which is used to operate in polar conditions.<br /><br />Under Putin, Russia has embarked on an ambitious plan to defend its interest in the Arctic: old abandoned polar bases are now being reopened and a special Arctic motor-rifle division is being created. The Russian Air Force has resumed an intensive program of Arctic operations while the Navy has embarked on a cycle of regular Arctic manoeuvres involving its most advanced surface vessels...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><i style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The flagship of the Northern Fleet: the nuclear heavy guided missile cruiser Petr Velikii - here on manoeuvres escorted by four (unseen) nuclear attack submarines.</i></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What can the West do about it?<br /><br />The fact is that <i>the West has neither the know-how nor the money needed to try to match the Russian moves</i>. But what it still has is some very useful Cold War era tools: the "independent" non-governmental organizations.... LOL<br /><br />In this context, the recent move by Greenpeace to create yet another Russia-bashing PR campaign, this time combined with a campaign to shut down the first Russian Arctic oil drilling platform. We all know what happened after that: in the course of their second attempt at boarding the oil rig, the Greenpeaceniks were arrested by security forces and their vessels seized.<br /><br />This time around, however, its Greenpeace which skilfully put a "judo-move" on Russia by turning the arrest of its activists into an international campaign to free these "political prisoners" and, unlike the previous Russia-bashing campaigns, this one appears to have more traction with the western public opinion, primarily because the western media does not provide the context which I gave above. Simply put, this is not about pollution, its about who will get to use the Arctic resources. As Roger Waters used to sing: "can't you see? it all makes perfect sense, expressed in dollars and cents, pounds shillings and pence..."<br /><br />Regardless of whether the arrested Greenpeace activists realize this or not (they probably don't), they are the pawns, the "useful idiots" used by western plutocrats in their fight against Gazprom and Russia.<br /><br />And this morning I read that the Dutch cops seemed to have gone totally apeshit and actually <a href="http://rt.com/news/putin-punishment-attack-diplomat-888/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">assaulted and beat-up a senior Russian diplomat in The Hague</a>. Clearly things are getting ugly. So what could Russia do?<br /><br /><b>Hit them where they care: their money</b><br /><br />I think that Russia should not bother with the Greenpeace activists who, at any rate, are probably all sincere and naive folks who really care about the Arctic and pollution and who are utterly unaware of being used. Russia should simply expel them and ban them from re-entering into Russia for a decade or so. That would deflate the "innocent prisoners of conscience" crap. But what Russia should also do, is seize all the equipment used in this operation and, in particular, the main Greenpeace ship used, the Arctic Sunrise. That would hit these folks where it counts: their pocketbooks. In fact, Russia should make that a policy: all the equipment used by foreign nationals to illegally cross the Russian borders or to violate Russian law should be automatically confiscated. I bet you that this would very rapidly have its intended effect.</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> I can attest to the fact that the vast majority of the people working there are absolutely honest and sincere folks who have no idea at all of how they are being used. The people who do know that are at the very top of these organizations, they are those who are officially in charge of fundraising. They spend most of their time speaking to "generous donors" and they are very much attuned to the, shall we say, "sensitivities" of their donors. All you need to do to understand who is using what organization is take a look at the list of donors, in particular the top five or so and everything will become immediately clear. Just "follow the money" and all the naive talk about noble causes vanishes in thin air.</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /><br />It is precisely <i>because</i> these so-called non-governmental and humanitarian organizations are used by their donors that countries which are the target of these operations should aim their responses at the financial aspect of these operations. Holding the militants/volunteers makes no sense. In fact, I can attest to the fact that the top brass of these organizations considers the "basic" volunteer as canon-fodder for good PR (because good PR means more money from the donors).<br /><br />So, Russia - do the right thing: let the dummies go home, but seize all their gear and assets and impose huge fines on the organizations. Hit them where it <i>really</i> hurts!<br /></span></div>
HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-47589534703554160112013-09-18T09:25:00.000-07:002013-09-18T09:25:15.417-07:00Big Brother is now watching 24/7, IPhone5 NSA will do the trick...<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IQQH_A9qVgs" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-25966032985364233072013-09-08T04:26:00.002-07:002013-09-08T04:26:44.192-07:00Iraq To Build $18 Billion Oil Pipeline To Aqaba, Jordan... <br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Iraq shortlists
global contractors to build $18 billion pipeline to export crude...ZOG-USA on the way out of MENA, back to the shore-lines of the YankeeLandistan... & Wahhabistan will be soundly defeated for good!!!</span></h2>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Iraq has shortlisted 12 international companies and consortiums to
build the country’s first oil export pipeline in decades, and will ask them to
submit their bids by the end of this year for an $18 billion project that will
make the country less dependent on Persian Gulf export terminals... </span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">By HASSAN HAFIDH</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Iraq has shortlisted 12 international companies and
consortiums to build the country’s first oil export pipeline in decades, and
will ask them to submit their bids by the end of this year for an $18 billion
</span><a class="ContextualLink" href="http://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="font-family: Arial;">project</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> that will make the country less dependent on Persian Gulf export
terminals, two oil industry sources said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Iraq’s oil ministry has chosen these companies out of more
than 80 international companies which submitted their credentials to build a
section of the 1,680 km pipeline stretching from the oil hub of Basra in
southern Iraq to Jordanian port of Aqaba in the Red Sea, the first person
said.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The short listed companies and consortiums are: Lukoil,
China National Petroleum Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsui & Co., Toyota Tsusho,
Punj Lloyd (India) and Mass Global International (Iraq), Saipem, Daewoo
International Corp., Consolidated Contractors Co. (Greece), Go Gas, L&T and
Fuis Capital, Petrofac and Stroygazconsulting, or SGC, and Orascom and Petrojet
(Egypt).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">SCOP will invite the short listed companies to receive the
tender package, the second person said. SCOP will also propose that companies
need to submit their offers by November or December, he added.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Iraq and Jordan signed a preliminary agreement in April to
build the section of the pipeline that would stretch from an Iraqi oil pumping
station in Haditha, west of Iraq, to Aqaba. The rest of the pipeline, which is
680 km long, linking a Basra pumping station with the one in Haditha would be
built and financed by the Iraqi oil ministry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Iraq hopes the pipeline will make it less dependent on
Persian Gulf export terminals, providing the country with an alternative route
if Iran closes the Strait of Hormus. Tehran has threatened on several occasions
to close the strategic waterway through which 35% of the world’s shipborne oil
is exported, most recently in response to international sanctions over its
suspect nuclear program.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Last year Iraq started design and feasibility studies on the
pipeline that’s expected to carry 2.25 MMbpd. The country is now preparing to
start work on the section from Haditha to Aqaba, with a capacity of 1
MMbpd.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A third section of the pipeline, running to Syria’s Banias
port in the Mediterranean, has been postponed because of the conflict in the
neighboring country. It would have a capacity of 1.25 MMbpd.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Under the agreement signed in April, Iraq would supply
energy poor Jordan with 150,000 bpd to feed its Zarqa </span><a class="ContextualLink" href="http://www.blogger.com/null"><span style="font-family: Arial;">refinery</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> near
Amman. Iraq will also supply Jordan with 100 MMcfd of gas via another pipeline
that will be built parallel to the oil line.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">On Tuesday, Iraq decided to extend an oil export agreement
to supply Jordan with crude for one year, without giving more details. Iraq
exports some 10,000 to 15,000 bpd to Jordan at a heavily discounted price of
dated Brent minus $18 a barrel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Iraq sits on some of the world’s largest oil reserves and
was once a major exporter of crude. It’s now trying to rebuild an industry that
was devastated by years of war and sanctions...</span><br />
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-58230678000545604822013-08-22T09:14:00.002-07:002013-08-22T09:14:56.797-07:00Presidential Meeting Signals Catastrophic Event, “There Is a Crisis Unfolding Somewhere in the Background”<div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Réunion de crise à huis clos à Ouachinton: la fraude au déficit, ça a eu
payé!</span><br />
<br />
Entre l'accumulation vertigineuse des déficits et la<br />remontée des taux
d'intérêt, rien ne va plus chez les<br />croupiers du casino fédéral étasunien,
incapable de<br />poursuivre indéfiniment le financement de ses déficits...<br />Oui
mais voilà: Obama, le giton des banksters, s'obstine<br />bêtement et a préféré
risquer de planter le dollar US en<br />beauté plutôt que de remettre en cause le
système khazare<br />à bout de souffle...<br />Voilà donc aussi à quoi servait
l'abaissement artificiel<br />des taux pratiqués par la FED - du moins tant
qu'elle le<br />pouvait encore - la remontée des taux d'intérêt étant
la<br />conséquence directe de la raréfaction progressive des<br />bailleurs
idiots...<br />Et ce n'est pas le niveau réel des stocks d'or physique<br />de la
FED qui va leur permettre d'éviter le bouillon....<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.infowars.com/presidential-meeting-signals-catastrophic-event-there-is-a-crisis-unfolding-somewhere-in-the-background/">http://www.infowars.com/presidential-meeting-signals-catastrophic-event-there-is-a-crisis-unfolding-somewhere-in-the-background/</a>
<br /><br /><br />(et les nombreux liens cités dans l'article)...<br />
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</span></div>
HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-68796148088434908892013-08-16T20:40:00.003-07:002013-08-16T20:40:38.376-07:00Afghanistan’s Rare Earth Element Bonanza...<div>
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<h1 class="documentFirstHeading">
<span style="font-size: small;">Afghanistan’s Rare Earth
Element Bonanza...</span></h1>
<div id="article-byline">
<span class="article_author highlight"><a href="http://www.american.com/author_search?Creator=Alan%20W.%20Dowd">By Alan W.
Dowd</a></span> </div>
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Afghanistan’s recently mapped deposits of rare
earth elements provide hope that the war-torn nation can achieve peace and
prosperity.</div>
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After more than a decade of war and nation building, members of the
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan are heading for
the exits. Although what the ISAF will <span class="link-external"><a href="http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/02/10-afghanistan-john-allen-ohanlon" target="_blank">leave behind</a></span> is <span class="link-external"><a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/03/04/what_went_right?page=full" target="_blank">better</a></span> than what was there in 2001, Afghanistan remains
a battered land. However, the resources Afghanistan’s land holds — copper,
cobalt, iron, barite, sulfur, lead, silver, zinc, niobium, and 1.4 million
metric tons of rare earth elements (REEs) — may be a silver lining.<br />
U.S. agencies estimate Afghanistan’s mineral deposits to be worth upwards of
$1 trillion. In fact, a classified Pentagon <span class="link-external"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">memo</a></span> called Afghanistan the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.”
(Although lithium is technically not a rare earth element, it serves some of the
same purposes.)<br />
Of course, the fact that Afghanistan is rich in minerals is not necessarily
new information. The Soviets identified mineral deposits in Afghanistan during
their decade-long occupation. What is new is the volume and precision of
mineral-related information. Afghanistan has been <span class="link-external"><a href="http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3280&from=rss_home" target="_blank">mapped</a></span> using what is known as “broad-scale
hyper-spectral data” — highly precise technologies deployed by aircraft that, in
effect, allow U.S. military and geological experts to peer beneath Afghanistan’s
skin and paint a picture of its vast mineral wealth. According to Jim Bullion,
who heads a Pentagon task force on postwar development, these maps reveal that
Afghanistan could “become a world leader in the minerals sector.”<br />
There’s another set of factors at work today that were not present during the
Soviet period: REEs are in high demand, the dependability of the REE supply
chain is in question, and Afghanistan’s mineral wealth may be able to help knit
the country back together after decades of war.<br />
But simply having a rich mineral endowment doesn’t mean that Afghanistan is
poised to tap it quickly. Challenges abound.<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Supply Chain Worries</span><br />
The importance of REEs to the global economy cannot be overstated. They are
essential to the manufacture of a host of modern technologies, including cell
phones, televisions, hybrid engines, computer components, lasers, batteries,
fiber optics, and superconductors. Congressional <span class="link-external"><a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1388ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr1388ih.pdf" target="_blank">findings</a></span> have called rare earth elements “critical to
national security,” and understandably so. REEs are key to the production of
tank navigation systems, missile guidance systems, fighter jet engines, missile
defense components, satellites, and military grade communications gear.<br />
The supply of REEs and similar minerals is critical to today’s
technology-dependent economy, which is highly dependent on a reliable supply
chain. Regrettably, the main supplier of REEs, China, has proven itself
undependable.<br />
<blockquote class="pullquote">
Building a rare earth mining system from scratch in
one of the world’s most broken countries will not happen overnight.</blockquote>
The Chinese produce 97 percent of the world’s REEs, but have begun to
manipulate the global REE market by dramatically slowing, and in some cases
halting, export of these materials. After a maritime dispute with Japan, China
stopped supplying REEs to Japanese customers, reduced overall global exports by
72 percent in the second half of 2010, <span class="link-external"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203513204576047041493111426.html" target="_blank">cut export quotas</a></span> for the first half of 2011 by 35
percent, and slashed REE mining permits by <span class="link-external"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-14/china-cuts-rare-earths-mine-permits-41-to-boost-control-1-.html" target="_blank">41 percent in 2012</a></span>, claiming its actions were a
function of efforts to fight pollution.<br />
Although Beijing has resumed delivery of REEs, China’s actions have prompted
the United States, Japan, and Europe to explore alternative sources. The good
news is that market forces are already at work diversifying the REE supply
chain.<br />
Australia has new REE mines coming online, and mines in Brazil, Canada,
Vietnam, and the United States could start producing REEs by 2015. Thanks to REE
finds, Mongolia’s GDP is also primed to <span class="link-external"><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/166605-deepening-us-mongolian-ties" target="_blank">triple</a></span> in the next 10 years.<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Leverage</span><br />
Afghanistan can be part of the long term solution to the REE supply problem.
However, building a rare earth mining system from scratch in one of the world’s
most broken countries will not happen overnight.<br />
Corruption remains a challenge, stability and security exist only in pockets,
and the ingredients that encourage foreign investment — the rule of law, human
capital, and infrastructure — are in short supply. For instance, <span class="link-external"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444223104578034742974438144.html" target="_blank">political dysfunction</a></span> is plaguing efforts to build rail
lines considered crucial to transporting Afghanistan’s mineral wealth.<br />
Yet what Afghanistan lacks in infrastructure, it makes up for in rare earth
riches, which explains why some governments are willing to look past the many
impediments to development. Of course, those impediments are significant, and
removing them will require a commitment within Afghanistan to embrace economic
freedom, the foundations of which — personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom
to enter and compete in markets, and property rights — have yet to fully take
root.<br />
<blockquote class="pullquote">
What Afghanistan lacks in infrastructure, it makes
up for in rare earth riches.</blockquote>
Aiming to build up what the <span class="link-external"><a href="http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/edg/news/documents/criticalmaterialsstrategy.pdf" target="_blank">Department of Energy</a></span> calls “sizable stockpiles” of
REEs, Beijing is eager to develop Afghanistan’s mineral wealth. China has won
exploration rights for copper, coal, oil, and lithium deposits across
Afghanistan, and there are <span class="link-external"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" target="_blank">reports</a></span> that Beijing won the rights to develop a copper
mine by bribing Afghan mining officials.<br />
Make no mistake: China can play an important and constructive role in
Afghanistan. Development in Afghanistan can be aided by foreign investment, and
Beijing has the resources to make crucial investments in Afghanistan’s future.
But given China’s stranglehold on the REE market — and the West’s commitment in
blood and treasure to Afghanistan’s future — allowing China to stroll in and
harvest Afghanistan’s rare earth riches seems both unwise and unfair. Before
they withdraw, ISAF nations should use their considerable leverage not to secure
sweetheart deals for Western investors and developers, but to ensure a level
playing field for any firm willing to take a risk on developing Afghanistan’s
mineral wealth.<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Curse or Blessing?</span><br />
Some observers warn that if Afghanistan’s mining sector does take off, the
country could succumb to the so-called “resource curse” — the notion that
natural-resource wealth can actually hinder economic growth by diverting
investment away from other sectors and encouraging high levels of government
spending.<br />
There are two ways to answer the resource-curse naysayers: first, on a very
practical level, the world should be so lucky if the resource curse becomes the
main concern for Afghanistan — a country that has endured and caused so much
heartache.<br />
Second, the resource curse may be a bit overblown. A Fraser Institute <span class="link-external"><a href="http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/display.aspx?id=13115" target="_blank">report </a></span>found that early studies on the resource curse
“overlooked the role of economic institutions and the possible interaction
between natural resources and the quality of institutions. Nations with economic
institutions of higher quality are more capable of managing their resource
revenue.” To be sure, those institutions remain nascent in Afghanistan. This
underscores the importance of policy prescriptions geared toward economic
freedom.<br />
Stephen Haber and Victor Menaldo, political scientists specializing in the
research of mineral booms, <span class="link-https"><a href="https://iriss.stanford.edu/sites/all/files/sshp/docs/Haber%20and%20Menaldo%20WSJ.pdf" target="_blank">note</a></span> that “roughly twice as many countries have been
blessed by resource booms as cursed by them.” Citing poor infrastructure, a
largely illiterate population, and a weak central government hampered by
warlordism, they report that “until its late 19th century oil and mineral boom,
Mexico was not a whole lot different from Afghanistan.”<br />
Oil and mineral discoveries did not cure all of Mexico’s ills, of course. To
this day, Mexico struggles with corruption, ranking 105th out of 176 countries
surveyed on a <span class="link-external"><a href="http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/in_detail" target="_blank">global
corruption index</a></span>. However, natural-resource wealth did help stabilize
Mexico’s political system and legitimize the state.<br />
Similarly, there are too many challenges in Afghanistan to think of REEs as a
panacea. Political corruption runs high in Kabul, Afghanistan’s geographic
remoteness will always be an issue, and Afghanistan’s neighbors to the east and
west are mischievous, to put it politely. But if something akin to the Mexican
model can take root in Afghanistan, then the world can help solve Afghanistan’s
instability problem — and Afghanistan can help solve the world’s rare earth
supply problem.<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Alan W. Dowd is a senior fellow with the
Fraser
Institute.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</span></div>
HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-84854537894414804372013-07-19T07:47:00.001-07:002013-07-19T07:47:19.025-07:00Russia breaks into top 5 world economies, displacing Germany...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMOkAxuh2pswpIUPoLLu5LBmmttefIg4i5kDfYNLf-kHiuNXSrzGmeLe7PGoFIFV8x1Gf-PiB3WI0DcouNPfwp3eVL0HPfHZ25L_xDXFjWZDttiLoGJNdNWDP8ysI4fmKzlmmrvlV_mCg/s1600/Russian-German+relations+warm+,+meetings+between+Putin+and+Merkel+tend+to+be+friendly+and+business-like.....jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMOkAxuh2pswpIUPoLLu5LBmmttefIg4i5kDfYNLf-kHiuNXSrzGmeLe7PGoFIFV8x1Gf-PiB3WI0DcouNPfwp3eVL0HPfHZ25L_xDXFjWZDttiLoGJNdNWDP8ysI4fmKzlmmrvlV_mCg/s320/Russian-German+relations+warm+,+meetings+between+Putin+and+Merkel+tend+to+be+friendly+and+business-like.....jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://rt.com/business/russia-gdp-5th-largest-158/">RT reports:</a>
<br /><br />Russia has overtaken Germany as the fifth largest economy in terms of
purchasing power parity, according to the latest World Bank ranking that
measures 214 economies based on their 2012 GDP performance. <br /><br />Russia's oil
and export driven economy, ranked fifth amongst the top ten economies in the
world with $3.4 trillion in GDP. In 2011, Germany surpassed Russia in GDP with
$3.227 trillion compared to Russia’s $3.203 trillion. In 2005, Russia was in
eighth place. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigoPaglER5F2_uj4pRSRd7Vh03nEtl0qp7NyeGkpMriTb5L8iD2q0cbRsQJThmHfLUzyjLnXgeVPeCTJGTLplI6ZwZFK1jWBAeqrNyhbrVypfzNjL50uEFP5VEO7WZNxZp_j-AOK2RjE/s1600/world+economies.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigoPaglER5F2_uj4pRSRd7Vh03nEtl0qp7NyeGkpMriTb5L8iD2q0cbRsQJThmHfLUzyjLnXgeVPeCTJGTLplI6ZwZFK1jWBAeqrNyhbrVypfzNjL50uEFP5VEO7WZNxZp_j-AOK2RjE/s640/world+economies.png" /></a><br /><br />The
report was published last week in an annual ranking of GDP. The World Bank also
updated their ranking of countries in terms of gross national product (GNP) per
capita, grouping Russia in the ‘high income’ nation block, with individuals
yearly income of $12,616 or more. <br /><br />The United States was ranked by the
World Bank as the world's largest economy by purchasing power parity last year
with $15.7 trillion, followed by China with $12.5 trillion, India with $4.8
trillion, and Japan with $4.5 trillion. <br /><br />Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev
publicly lauded the advance on Monday, as did President Vladimir Putin, but
warning his country still needs to be financially vigilant. <br /><br />"The World
Bank has concluded that Russia has the purchasing power of the fifth economy in
the world. According to this indicator, we are ahead of the Federal Republic of
Germany. But we have a lot of areas that still need special attention", Putin
said at a socio-economic meeting in the Sakhalin region, an energy rich Far East
island north of Japan where Rosneft just put the final touches on a new drilling
platform ‘Orlan’ in the Sea of Okhotsk. Sakhalin-1, a joint venture with Japan,
India, and the US, has reserves of 2.3 billion barrels of oil and 485 billion
cubic meters of gas. <br /><br />In June, the World Bank cut its growth forecast for
Russia to less than 2.2 percent in 2013 and 3 percent in 2014, after revising
January forecast the economy would grow by 3.6 percent in and 3.9 percent in
2014. This is the <a href="http://rt.com/business/world-bank-global-economy-forecast-619/">'new
normal'</a> for lethargic global demand and momentum, according to the report's
author Andrew Burns. <br /><br />The World Bank rating differs from the
International Monetary Fund, where Russia is listed as the eighth largest
economy with a GDP of $2 trillion. The same matrix calculates the US GDP as the
first with $15.7 trillion, China second with $8.2 trillion, Japan third with $6
trillion, Germany fourth with $3.4 trillion, France fifth with $2.6 trillion,
the United Kingdom sixth with $2.4 trillion, and Brazil seventh with $2.4
trillion. <br /><br />The purchasing power parity rate is determined on how many
goods and services $1.00 can buy in different countries. <br /><br />Rankings were
only assigned to economies with confirmed PPP GDP estimates. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-------</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Commentary</b>: though this
report does point to something relevant, it is easy to misunderstand what it
really says about the Russian economy or, for that matter, the US economy.
First, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity" target="_blank">purchasing power parity</a> (PPP) is a rather weird economic
indicator. The excellent "<a href="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">Simple English Wikipedia</a>" <a href="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_Power_Parity" target="_blank">explains it</a> with a well chosen example: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
is measured by finding the values (in USD) of a basket of consumer goods that
are present in each country (such as orange juice, pencils, etc.). If that
basket costs $100 in the US and $200 in England, than purchasing power parity
exchange rate is 1:2.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Clearly PPP is centered on the
costs of living and not really on how much is produced by an economy. In simple
terms, it measure how "relatively rich" the population is. Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) is also a weird indicator (check <a href="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDP" target="_blank">here</a> for more
details).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What I am getting at here is
that when the media says that "Russia displaces Germany" by the size of its
economy this elicits images of Russian manufacturers outperforming BMW, Siemens
or Deutsche Telekom. This is not so. Simply put, the huge natural reserves of
Russia, in particular in energy products, generate a lot of wealth in Russia and
this output of raw materials has a direct impact on both the PPP and the GDP.
So yes, there is a lot of money in Russia but no, this is not the result of the
Russian economy outperforming Germany's in manufacturing or services. BTW - if
the Russian PPP and GDP as skewed by the export of Russian raw materials, the US
PPP and GDP are skewed by the huge size of the US banking/financial sector which
also does not really "produce" anything. Bottom line: PPP and GDP are tricky
indicators which should not be used as a way of measuring the "real world"
capabilities of an economy...</span></div>
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-25389800176468707472013-07-05T20:54:00.003-07:002013-07-05T20:54:52.165-07:00Nabucco: How the pipeline became a pipedream...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fpcOoUKk3lhENNROmrgDWLJqgP5GeCDUfeWj8eNhyphenhyphen75OF3zgbqBzMJjy0xG7pf0RXOql8GU93X60sRdBPnkgFVmTC22yohxyl83FJbtTO0xy5mOX-3a3jj2QNTYZgwpMk6sMrG5RpWg/s1600/south_stream_468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fpcOoUKk3lhENNROmrgDWLJqgP5GeCDUfeWj8eNhyphenhyphen75OF3zgbqBzMJjy0xG7pf0RXOql8GU93X60sRdBPnkgFVmTC22yohxyl83FJbtTO0xy5mOX-3a3jj2QNTYZgwpMk6sMrG5RpWg/s320/south_stream_468.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixqw7MDv2qom2wuwKOUOX4dIFXBaUJrAlREFCJKDhJXfFEZxMxh49RydhJ2OdDwNVUxzHBnVXd1fjdggqhKHdxdxTuAelpWeZATdbSwIxfVVwIhged2IisNEkSCAhStjsPu-JosNBx_E/s1600/Nabucco+officials+claim+that+the+agreement+signed+by+the+prime+ministers+of+Turkey%252C+Austria%252C+Bulgaria%252C+Hungary+and+Romania+included+provisions+for+Iranian+involvement+hidden+in+some+articles.+....jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixqw7MDv2qom2wuwKOUOX4dIFXBaUJrAlREFCJKDhJXfFEZxMxh49RydhJ2OdDwNVUxzHBnVXd1fjdggqhKHdxdxTuAelpWeZATdbSwIxfVVwIhged2IisNEkSCAhStjsPu-JosNBx_E/s1600/Nabucco+officials+claim+that+the+agreement+signed+by+the+prime+ministers+of+Turkey%252C+Austria%252C+Bulgaria%252C+Hungary+and+Romania+included+provisions+for+Iranian+involvement+hidden+in+some+articles.+....jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Nabucco: How the pipeline became a pipedream...</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><a href="http://indrus.in/blogs/2013/07/02/nabucco_how_the_pipeline_became_a_pipedream_26663.html" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">http://indrus.in/blogs/2013/07/02/nabucco_how_the_pipeline_became_a_pipedream_26663.html</a><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Nabucco was the lynchpin of America’s grand strategy to isolate Russia, but in the end the hunter became the hunted.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">The covert energy war for domination of Caspian energy has ended in a humiliating defeat for the West, with the American midwifed Nabucco pipeline being stillborn.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Nabucco failed because it was a political pipeline. The $31 billion gas bridge was conceived to detach Central Asia from Russian influence. This gigantic pump was designed to divert 30 billion cubic metres of gas (nearly 10 percent of Europe’s annual consumption) away from Russian pipelines.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Egged on by the United States, the Europeans began to have fantasies about dirt cheap energy from a region floating on a sea of oil and gas. Like small minded shopkeepers they forgot that barring the 2006 spat with Ukraine, the Russians had been reliable suppliers of Siberian gas for over 30 years.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">However, the Russians had the foresight – and the diplomatic muscle – to see the project fail. In June 2009 when the Europeans were about to ink an agreement on Nabucco, a leading Moscow-based commentator ridiculed their “chaotic chanting”.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Alexander Knyazev, director of the regional branch of the Institute of the CIS, said the support for the project reminded him of the haunting chorus of Hebrew slaves from Verdi's opera – “beautiful, yet altogether gloomy and hopeless”.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">It was an eerily prescient remark.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Nabucco: Dubious intent</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Washington's geopolitical bible is "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives". In this misguided tome, former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski says by creating instability in every country in Russia’s neighbourhood, especially in the Central Asian stans and Ukraine, and disrupting the flow of oil and gas, the US can isolate Russia, so that Moscow ceases to be a great power.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Brzezinski openly espouses provoking instability by exploiting the ethnic and religious diversity of the region. The term "Arc of Instability" came into use in the1970s to refer to a 'Muslim Crescent' extending from Afghanistan to the stans in the southern part of the former Soviet Union.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Nabucco was one of the ways the United States tried to turn this baleful fantasy into reality.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Russia steps on the gas</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Nabucco was actually the West’s Plan B. The original pipeline envisaged bringing gas from Turkmenistan and even arch enemy Iran. However, the problem was Turkmenistan never seemed to make up its mind.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">It doesn’t take a petroleum scientist to guess that Russians may have applied pressure. But what finally made Turkmenistan cry off was the sharp increase in instability in neighbouring Uzbekistan after the country opened up to Westerners. Wisely, the Turkmens decided all the petro dollars in the world weren’t worth it if it meant Western meddling in their internal affairs.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Iran now became Europe’s new poster boy. However, with the United States going after Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons programme, Iranian gas became more hot air than reality. The dominoes were falling.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Europe and the United States now decided to skip Turkmenistan altogether and instead decided to start in Azerbaijan. The new section was named Nabucco.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">The problem now was that the pipeline had lost its main objective – to cut the Central Asian republics loose from Russia. So a new raison d’être was found. Nabucco was, said its backers, the key to weakening Russian influence on Europe by reducing dependency on Siberian gas. In reality, the West was spending a fortune on advertising a rank bad product.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Streams of gas</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Because Nabucco’s sole purpose was to eat Russia’s lunch, the Russians went after it with a vengeance. Firstly, like a giant sponge, the Russian gas conglomerates soaked up all available natural gas in Central Asia and the Caspian to deny supplies to Nabucco. Secondly, in 2007, Vladimir Putin unveiled – or rather unleashed – South Stream.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">South Stream is a $39 billion competing pipeline crisscrossing Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia and Italy that would carry gas to Europe. Importantly, the pipeline would bypass troublesome Ukraine, which seemed to be doing exactly what the United States wants – block Russian gas.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Then with the speed of a mechanised column – and against very obstacle put in its way by Eastern European nations – the Russians, with German backing, built Nord Stream. This 1222 km natural gas pipeline transports gas from Vyborg in northern Russia to Greifswald in Germany. Again, it bypassed the Baltic countries, thereby removing any possibility of disruption.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Nord Stream was crucial to Russia’s energy strategy because it demonstrated to Western Europe – its main gas consumer – that Moscow was serious about ensuring uninterrupted flow of energy to Europe. It deflated allegations that Russia wanted to strangle Europe.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Putin’s Stream strategy paid off. As Nabucco kept getting shorter, newer and more nimble players saw an opportunity and jumped in. Finally, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) got the nod. Because TAP can only transport a third of what Nabucco planned to, it doesn’t pose a threat to Russia’s interests.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Day after Nabucco</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">The very nature of a gas war makes it an extremely high stakes affair. Because gas pipelines are so expensive to build and cannot be rerouted (like ships), it is normal for buyers and sellers to ink long-term – often 20-30 year – agreements. This brings together producers and consumers as well as transit countries in a sort of pipeline alliance. Because all transit nations get a fee from the pipeline owners, there is every reason for them to have stables relations with one another.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">For the Americans, that is bad news. Russia’s linkages with German, for instance, deepened after Moscow built the Siberian natural gas pipeline into the heart of Europe in the 1980s. That pipeline was built despite immense American pressure to scuttle the project...</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Biggest losers</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">No.1 United States; No.2 Turkey. Having outsized geopolitical ambitions, Turkey was hoping to draw the Central Asian Stans away from Russia into a Turkic embrace.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Plus, by becoming the main transit hub of Central Asian gas to Europe, it hoped to cozy up to Europe, which has rebuffed all attempts by Ankara to enter the European Union. Germany and France have made it abundantly clear that Europe ends at Turkey’s border. With Nabucco, Turkey was hoping to redraw that line.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">The Turks were among the biggest cheerleaders for Nabucco as they were expecting a $680 million transit fee. That annual bonus is not coming back.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Endgame</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">While the crystal would surely be clinking in the Kremlin, what remains to be seen is if South Stream would proceed as planned. In the near future, the bulk of Russian gas is destined to go east, not west. It is Asia’s ravenous economies, especially China’s, that will sustain tomorrow’s energy industry, while Europe is still on its knees...</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">No new European deals are in sight currently but Russia has entered into a 25-year gas contract with China, for which Beijing will pay an unprecedented $60 billion advance. In this backdrop it remains to be seen if Europe gets the leftovers or whether it regains its place in Russia’s export strategy...</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">As for the United States, the Nabucco wipeout, coming shortly after the global spying expose, is a taste of things to come in an increasingly multi-polar world...</span><br />
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-78410771998903360442013-07-02T20:42:00.001-07:002013-07-02T20:42:34.047-07:00Europeans all play "raped virgins" yet not a single one is offering to receive the man who let them know about them being raped...<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Zioconned Europeans all play "raped virgins" yet not a
single one is offering to receive the man who let them know about them being
raped...they are the worst hypocrites on the Planet...<br /><br />European politicians are one sorry bunch of spineless liars.
Man, each time I see their faces I feel like smashing it with a brick. They are
ALL the same - the "New Europe" or the "Old Europe" spineless, sold out, lying
hypocrites, people of no honor, no decency, no vision, no opinion, nothing. Just
little grey bureaucrats who take themselves oh so seriously, but who sell their
own mothers in a blink of an eye.<br /><br />As a person who knows Europe well, I
will say this: Europe *deserves* to be America's bitch, a pompous vapid
collection of banana republics whom the Anglos are literally pillaging (thanks
to the printing press of the Fed) but who just have no courage to object,
however meekly.<br /><br />De Gaulle was probably the last real European. After May
68 a generation of terminal morons took over and corrupted everything they
touched.<br /><br />From De Gaulle to Hollandouille sans couilles, via Cohen-Bendit.
Nuff said.<br /><br />RIP Europe...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>I
have read a report about all the outrage the so-called "Snowden revelation" have
triggered in Europe. I was particularly amused by German politicians asking why
New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the UK were *allegedly* excluded from the NSA
spying program while Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission,
has ordered a massive security sweep of the EC offices.</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>What massive load of bovine
excreta!!</span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>First, let me assure you that all the European
politicians have known for *years* that the US spies on them. The French, in
particular, have lost many juicy contracts to the USA because of successful US
spying. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>Second, all European governments participate to various
degrees in one form or another of electronic spying. Even independent
Switzerland has its own mini-ECHELON called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onyx_(interception_system)" target="_blank">Onyx</a>.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>Third, all European politicians and government
officials know that continental Europe is a US colony and that while NATO
countries can play at the silly "partnership game", some are more equal then
others, in this case: it is an Anglo Empire, for and by Anglos, and all others
can go and screw themselves.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>Fourth, European intelligences services share massive
amount of data with each other and, of course, with the Anglo "Big Brothers".
That is also something which every single European politician or government
official knows.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>So why the big hysteria? Why all the dramatic
posturing?</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>For one simple reason: <b>European politicians and
government officials do not want the general population of Europe to realize
that the entire continent is just a pathetic, submissive and fully controlled US
colony, run by local satraps who all, repeat, ALL work for Uncle
Sam</b>!</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>That is what is going on. Uncle Sam does not want the
US public to know that there is no such thing as private communications in the
USA, while European politicians do not want the European public to know that
they are all prostitutes working for the Anglos.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>As for Snowden, and I will repeat it here: he did not
"reveal" anything.... Don't take my word on it, but you can trust Putin who
openly said so as have quite a few Russian experts including and at least one
former FAPSI official, Duma members, and others. Snowden was a <u>junior
sysadmin</u> for CIA, NSA and Booz Allen Hamilton who knew <u>far less</u> than
any medium ranked Russian intelligence official would <span>know</span>. His "revelations" are only "revelations"
for the general public, not for professionals.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>The sweep of EC offices ordered by Barroso is just part
of some kind of ridiculous Kabuki theater aimed at convincing the European
public that EU officials are both upset and determined. Let me tell you this:
Barroso knows full well that the NSA does not need to put bugs in his office to
snoop on his telephone calls or emails.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>What we are fed by the politicians and their corporate
media is absolute, total and unadulterated baloney. Crap. Bull. Nonsense.
Garbage. Call it whatever you want, but for Heaven's sake do not take that
seriously.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>I
find it revolting that not a single European politician, NOT ONE, has had the
guts to say what I wrote above. They all know it, every single one of them, and
yet they are playing "raped virgins"...</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span>Disgusting beyond words.</span></span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PS: thanks to Wikileaks, I
discovered that besides having its own mini-ECHELON "Onyx", <a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Big_Brother_Switzerland:_real-time_internet_interception_to_start_on_August_1,_2009" target="_blank">Switzerland also has a</a><a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Big_Brother_Switzerland:_real-time_internet_interception_to_start_on_August_1,_2009" target="_blank"> real-time Internet interce</a><a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Big_Brother_Switzerland:_real-time_internet_interception_to_start_on_August_1,_2009" target="_blank">ption program of its own</a> which has been working since August
1, 2009. Makes me wonder if Andorra, Lichtenstein and Monaco also engage in that
kind of spying...</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">HK4EVER</span></div>
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-75984958621877485272013-06-24T20:23:00.002-07:002013-06-24T20:23:46.033-07:00Obnoxious and brazen example of double-standards and hypocrisy by the Western capitals at G8...<div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Following the 08.08.08 war
between Georgia and Russia and the crushing military defeat of the US-backed
Saakashvili regime...i said,</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" itemprop="description articleBody">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>The ugly attack by
Washington's Georgian puppet on the Russian peacekeepers combined with the
absolutely amazing hypocrisy of the Western media and politicians who all fully
sided with the aggressor turned into something of a “last straw” for Russia.
This seemingly marginal development, at least when assessed quantitatively
(“what else is new?”) ended up making a huge qualitative difference: it brought
up a new Russian resolve to deal with, to use a favorite Neocon expression, an
existential threat represented by the Western Empire. It will take a long while
for the West to realize what has really happened and the most obtuse of pundits
and politicians will probably hang on to their usual self-righteous rhetoric
forever, but historians will probably look back at the month of August 2008 as
the moment when Russia decided to strike back at the Empire for the first
time.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Something very similar has, I
strongly believe, happened again, but this time in Libya and, even more so, in
Syria. Again what we saw was "an ugly attack by Washington's puppets" and,
again, the Western media and politicians fully sided with the aggressor. The
images of NATO unleashing a full-scale bombing campaign against Libya under the
pretext of "protecting civilians" and the images of Gaddafi lynched by a mob of
thugs who jammed a knife in his anus while screaming that "God is great" also
infuriated the Russian political leadership and public opinion. This anger
combined with the shameful realization that Russia did carry a large portion of
the guilt for what happened in Libya (through its monumentally stupid abstention
at the UNSC), explains why there was a total consensus in Russia not to have the
same thing happen in Syria.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The big difference with Russia's
response in 2008 is primarily geographical: Syria is not on the Russian border
and Russian peacekeepers were not attacked. Besides, it is one thing take on
the US-backed but fundamentally inept Georgian military and quite another to
take military action against the combined might of CENTOM/NATO and the US. So
the Russian reaction had to be of a non-military nature. It now appears that
Russia did two thing:</span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Russia gave full and
uncompromising diplomatic backing to Syria at the UN and on the international
political scene.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It carefully
coordinated with Iran and Hezbollah a covert military support
plan.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I do want to return to the first, political, part of the Russian
response. Primarily, I want to do this because I am amazed to see that, at
least as far as I know, no commentator or analyst has truly understood its
importance. So let's look a little deeper into this.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">First, Russia was not alone.
China took exactly the same stance. In fact, both Russian and Chinese diplomats
confirmed that the level of political coordination and cooperation between
Russia and China were "unprecedented". What does that mean?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nobody denies that in the Syrian
conflict Russia is the primary player. China is hardly mentioned and, when it
is, it is only in passing. And in this case, this focus on Russia is the result
of the undeniable fact that Russia is in charge of the "Syrian dossier" while
China is backing Russia. You want proof? Look at where all the Western
politicians go to try to get Moscow and Beijing to desist from their current
stance: Russia. Nobody travels to Beijing to try to argue with the Chinese. To
say that is in no way a criticism of China. If the issue was something of
primarily Chinese interest, say the Spratly Islands, China would be at the front
of the struggle and Russia in the back seat. What this means for Russia is that
it is taking far more "heat" for its stance than China and yet, very little
credit is given to it for this. Most pro-Syrian commentators want Russia to do
even more, primarily because they don't understand how much Russia has already
done.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let me ask you this: when is the
last time that you remember a Russian or even Soviet leader openly standing up
and defying the combined power of the entire Western world? The answer depends
on your criteria I guess, but I would submit that in my opinion the last
Russian/Soviet leader who dared to truly stand up to the West was Stalin during
WWII. Krushchev waved his shoe, but eventually backed down, Brezhnev really did
not take any strong positions on anything, Andropov soon died, Chernenko got
into power half-dead already, while Gorbachev, Eltsin and Medvedev really were
"yes men" towards the West.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Putin in contrast not only dared
to openly defy the other G8 leaders who were united against him and dead set
into making him comply, he actually forced <i>them</i> to comply to <i>his</i>
terms. I cannot recall the last time when the combined power of the Western
diplomacy was so completely routed. The G8 leaders, who used to look down on
Russia and who all thought of themselves as G7+1 (not only that idiot Harper)
suddenly found themselves in a situation I called "Putin and the Seven
Dwarfs":</span><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How did that happen? Why is it
that in an organization which presumably represents the eight largest economies
on the planet (it does not: Brazil, India and China are missing) a country like
Russia, with a comparatively tiny economy, small military and very few other
assets, could turn giants into dwarfs? Surely not because of Russian nukes
(which the US, UK and France also have) or the Russian veto power at the UN
(which the US, UK, France and China also have).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Something much more complex
happened here. For the first time in many decades a country made a
comprehensive <u>moral</u> and <u>legal</u> argument. Russia openly told the
West that what it was doing was wrong on moral and on legal grounds and that
what was at stake at this point was much more than Syria, it was the kind of
international system the entire planet has to live in. To put it more directly
and in simple and non-diplomatic turn, Russia called the West a hypocritical
thug and it rejected the right of the hypocritical thugs to lead anything, much
less so a military intervention against a sovereign nation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While this <i>moral</i> and
<i>legal</i> stance absolutely enraged the Western political elites and
corporate Zio-media, it deeply "resonated" in the world public opinion. And
here, we see something very typically Russian which a lot of Russian leaders
have done in history and which Putin has already done twice: he <i>bypassed the
elites and appealed directly to the of people</i>. Putin is doing that right
now in Russia (all his recent political moves as based on mass popular support
and his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Front_for_Russia" target="_blank">All-Russia People's Front</a> is fully centered on this method)
and Putin is also doing that in his foreign policy. And just as the pro-Western
political elites in Russia are shamed and rendered flaccid by the political
climate in Russia, so are the Western political leaders who simply do not have
the political courage to openly start yet another illegal war in support of
organ-eating religious crazies.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I personally believe that if
historians look back at August 2008 as "<i>the moment when Russia decided to
strike back at the Empire for the first time"</i> they will also come to realize
that <b><i>June 2013 is the moment when Russia decided to strike back at the
Empire for the second time</i></b>. The first strike was a local military
strike while the second strike was a planetary, global, moral and political
strike and I am aghast at the fact that nobody seems to realize that this is
truly a huge development.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The current Anglo Empire stands
on two key pillars: its willingness to bully and terrorize the planet with
violence (military or covert) and its amazing ability to carefully frame the
international public discourse in such a manner as to make the most obnoxious
and brazen example of double-standards and hypocrisy appear fully logical and
consistent with values of democracy, international law and humanitarian
concerns. And, of course, this has been denounced by many people worldwide, but
it has never been so openly and directly challenged by a top world leader. Make
no mistake - <b><i>Putin did not only challenge the Empire's right to overthrow
Assad, he really challenged the very nature of the Anglo-dominated international
system</i></b> since semi-covertly 1945 and openly since 1995 (Anglo aggression
on the Serb nation in Bosnia).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Russian military victory in
08.08.08 did not mark the end of what is really a <i><b><a href="http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2013/03/russia-and-islam-part-six-kremlin.html" target="_blank">struggle for national liberation of Russia</a> from the Anglo
Empire</b></i>. Far from it. Nor will the Russian diplomatic victory at the
recent G8 summit in Ireland mark the end of this long process. But with each
such Russian counter-strike against the Empire the Anglo domination over the
planet is getting weaker and weaker while it becomes easier for other nations to
find a voice and maybe even dare to have an opinion? In the Western
<i>cultural</i> "heartland" (US and EU) there is gradually more and more hell to
pay for politicians who dare to ignore their own public opinion. Look what
happened recently to a Russian TV crew in Paris which was making a report on the
daily protests against the laws adopted by the French parliament which now makes
it legal for homosexuals to adopt children:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They were literally mobbed by a
crowd chanting "<i>La Russie avec nous! La Russie avec nous!</i>" (Russia with
us! Russia with us!). You might wonder what the link is between 08.08.08 and
Syria on one hand, and homopolitics in France on the other, but I would suggest
that the link is obvious: <b><i>in the process of its struggle for national
liberation from the Anglo Empire Russia is also positioning itself as an
alternative civilizational model</i></b>. So its not only about respect for
international law or the rejection of the Western "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Turbo-Capitalism-Winners-Losers-Global-Economy/dp/006093137X/" target="_blank">turbocapitalist</a>" model, it is also about the determined
defense of the traditional family structure, about the categorical rejection of
sexual psychopathologies or the respect of national traditions (try having a
"gay pride parade" in downtown Grozny!).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course, countries like Iran
have been doing that for years, but being Muslim and very different historically
and culturally, the Iranian model has very little "traction" in Europe. Not
that the "Russian model" (which really is only under development to begin with!)
has a much bigger potential: in reality Russia is as different a civilization
from the West as Iran, but being being geographically closer and politically and
historically more connected, Russia has just barely enough "traction" to be
noted by those who Europeans who are already alienated from their own political
elites. Let's face it - Ahmadinejad and Putin can say the exact same thins
about sexual psychopathologies, but it is much harder to ignore Putin, in
particular when he speaks in Germany, Holland or the UK (as he did recently).
Still, savvy political dissidents in France, like Alain Soral, always mention
Russia <i>and</i> Iran.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In economic terms, the
alternative civilizational model being developed is, of course, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRICS" target="_blank">BRICS</a> model (and,
maybe, its junior Latin-American counterpart, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALBA" target="_blank">ALBA</a>).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In military terms, the
alternative model being worked on is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation" target="_blank">SCO</a> with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSTO" target="_blank">CSTO</a> as its current military "core" (this could dramatically
change if China decided to enter into a formal defense treaty, but that is
unlikely).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The G8 summit at Lough Erne
showed that the Anglo Empire is not nearly as powerful as most people thought.
This, however, does not at all mean that it is weak, not by a long shot. The
Empire will adapt, it will come to terms with new, more difficult,
circumstances, and it will still remain the foremost planetary power for the
foreseeable future. But the overall trend, I believe, clear. And this is why
the corporate Zio-media made as little as possible from the comprehensive defeat
of the Western diplomacy in Lough Erne. There will be throwbacks,
disappointments and even defeats in the future, but at the very least we have
good reasons to continue hoping for an eventual victory.....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=smT3wQ7Uisk#action=share">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=smT3wQ7Uisk#action=share</a></span></div>
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-45993439506695439512013-06-20T09:24:00.001-07:002013-06-20T09:24:12.007-07:00Whither China? Ambitions in Excess...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<strong>Contributed by John Mauldin, of </strong><a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxdHv/TES" target="_blank"><strong>Mauldin Economics</strong></a>:<br />
<br />
<img alt="" src="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/images/uploads/newsletters/130618_OTB_sm.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px;" /><br />
All weekend long and this morning as I wake up in Monaco, the number of
disparate publications screaming at me about problems in China is just
overwhelming. Then I get myself up early to hear a speech by the esteemed
British economist Charles Dumas of Lombard Street fame, and I am confronted with
even more China. I have been watching China for a long time, expecting a crisis,
as I readily admit I simply do not understand a country that has defied so many
of the economic laws of gravity for so long. Some kind of return to normal
economic paradigms seems almost mandated, but the question has always been when.
Have the Chinese discovered some new control mechanism, found some different
levers to pull that they should share with the rest of the world, or will we see
them revert to something that looks more like whatever it is that passes for
"normal" these days? My bet has always been the latter.<br />
That said, I do not expect China to slip silently away. It is here to stay,
and it will be bigger and more dynamic in the future, but the transition from an
economy driven by investment and massive debt into one more soundly based on
domestic consumption will not be easy. Today's <em>Outside the Box</em> will
focus on two readings on China that came my way this weekend. The first is from
the formidable <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxdCn/TES">Lyric
Hughes Hale</a>, an expert on Japan and Asia, founder of <em>China Online,</em>
who is married to the eminent economist David Hale. I have had the pleasure of
meeting with them and find them quite the economic power couple. She gives us a
tour of recent work on China. Perhaps, as she asserts, the current Chinese
economic model, based on cheap labor and cheap money, has run its course. The
challenges that face China are daunting.<br />
Then we turn to a thought-provoking piece of analysis from the <em>Financial
Times</em> that underscores Hale's central point. China is grossly inefficient,
with severe overcapacity in many industries: "The problem with subsidies
everywhere is they tend to support activity not outcomes and they become more of
a problem when they're just subsidizing inefficiencies…"<br />
Just a few quotes from some of the other pieces I read in the last 48
hours:<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
China's shadow banking system is out of control
and under mounting stress as borrowers struggle to roll over short-term debts,
Fitch Ratings has warned. The agency said the scale of credit was so extreme
that the country would find it very hard to grow its way out of the excesses as
in past episodes, implying tougher times ahead. "The credit-driven growth model
is clearly falling apart. This could feed into a massive over-capacity problem,
and potentially into a Japanese-style deflation," said Charlene Chu, the
agency's senior director in Beijing." (<a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxdDW/TES">from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
in the London <em>Telegraph</em></a><em>)</em></div>
And then Stratfor writes:<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
A cash crunch over the past three weeks has caused
rates on loans between banks to spike to the highest levels since mid-2011,
drawing attention back to China's financial instability. Rates have since
subsided, but conditions exist for them to remain elevated over the next month
or beyond. Unlike two years ago, at least one bank has already defaulted on a
loan and there are rumors that other defaults have occurred. The emergence of
bank defaults poses a serious challenge to the central government's efforts to
clamp down on credit growth as part of its broader attempt to reform the
country's economy.</div>
And finally, my friend Simon Hunt, who has been deeply involved in China for
decades and spends many months each year traveling throughout the country
meeting manufacturers, writes:<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
The credit crisis that we have been warning about
has arrived. Debt has reached such peak levels that it can no longer be put
under the carpet and rolled over for another day. The economy is having a
mini-recovery this month but will weaken again in July.</div>
Not expecting a collapse, Simon does see that serious adjustments are needed
and believes they will be enacted:<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
Nor is there much of a risk that China's credit
markets will implode because banks have built up a US$3 trillion war chest which
is lodged with the PBOC and because [the] government has assets that can be
utilized. The question is how the pain will be shared out throughout the
country.</div>
China always has my attention. I believe that Japan is forcing their hand
with its own massive quantitative easing. China may have the easiest answer of
all the major global trading countries, however. All they have to do is
gradually float their currency. As Charles Dumas noted, they have $4 trillion in
savings that will look for a home outside of China. A floating currency will
weaken the renminbi against major world currencies and help their export
businesses. It will also drive US Senators Schumer and Graham nuts, which is a
side benefit. A floating currency with no significant QE when the Fed is
printing with full abandon will be the strongest argument against the accusation
that China is manipulating its currency. Interesting times.<br />
My speech at GAIM will be tomorrow, and then I will take a few days to
explore the south of France before heading off to Cyprus. I will speak at a
venue that is being arranged on Wednesday in Nicosia, and the event will be open
to the public. I will announce the time and place in this weekend's letter. And
then it's on to Croatia and a long weekend with David McWilliams and his family
on some idyllic little island in the middle of nowhere. Sounds divine. I hope
you are enjoying your summer, wherever you may be.<br />
<h1 class="signature">
<strong><span style="font-size: small;">China’s Innovation
Hurdle</span></strong></h1>
By Lyric Hughes Hale<br />
At a <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxdFv/TES" target="_hplink">meeting</a> in Chicago, the China-United States Exchange
Foundation released a report, "<a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxdPk/TES">U.S.-China Relations in the
Next Ten Years</a>." Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel opened the meeting, chaired by
CH Tung, the former Hong Kong chief executive, as well as Henry Paulson, the
former U.S. treasury secretary. The mood was celebratory, especially after the
overnight announcement that the presidents of both countries would be meeting in
California in June, sooner than expected.<br />
The idea of a bilateral U.S.-China free trade agreement was floated, in
effect to create a new G2. The two countries are currently so interdependent
that in some ways China and the U.S. are already one nation. I could only
imagine the reactions of Japan and the EU to a formal alliance of the world's
two largest economies.<br />
My mind wandered back to the book I have been reading recently, Timothy
Beardson's <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxdQT/TES" target="_hplink"><em>Stumbling Giant - The Threats to China's Future</em></a>. In
particular I remembered one of the author's pithier comments. He said that when
commentators coined the new term 'Chimerica' to describe the interconnectedness
of both countries, they might have missed the allusion to the word chimerical or
fanciful.<br />
In spite of their opposing points of view, both the conference participants
and Mr Beardson would agree on at least one point: the current Chinese economic
model, based on cheap labor and cheap money, has run its course.<br />
The demographic challenge is the greatest of all. Here is a bracing forecast:
China's population in 2100 will shrink to 941 million, but the U.S. population
will grow to 478 million. Instead of four Chinese to every American, there will
be two. As Beardson notes:<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
Societies with steadily falling populations do not
normally have a sustained high rate of economic expansion. As China's population
is estimated to peak around 2026 and then to fall, there is a narrowing window
for China to continue its high economic growth rates.</div>
Comprehensive reforms are needed in the Chinese economy. Absent government
policies that will quickly alter the longstanding behavior patterns of Chinese
consumers, the middle class and especially the poor will be incentivized to save
for retirement, for health care, and for education. Chinese leaders however have
fully subscribed to the mantra of gradualism, and what is missing is a sense of
urgency about the transition. While Mr Beardson does not completely dismiss the
possibility, he seems unconvinced that these changes, especially the transition
to an <strong>innovation economy</strong>, can be made in time:<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
The model is comprehensively broken and it faces
multiple challenges. China is no longer the cheapest country in which to
manufacture. Currency movements have disadvantaged it, wages have risen, social
and environmental costs are increasing. Export margins were always thin, but
with rising costs there is a little buffer available to absorb the impact... If
the old cheap export and fixed investment model is broken, the alternative
should be a combination of the long-awaited innovation and domestic consumption.
However, the downturn showed that the country's technological and economic
competitiveness still lags behind world standards.</div>
Being a superpower involves hard power, military might, soft power and
economic dominance. Of course, these are all related, and all are dependent upon
the ability to innovate. This, of course, has long been the strong suit of the
U.S.<br />
Will China be able to meet the innovation challenge? One of the great
successes of Beardson's book is his chapter 'The Elusive Knowledge Economy' in
which he describes the current state of innovation in China, as well as the
historical and cultural factors that will affect its future development.<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
The world appears genuinely worried by China's
scientific advances. However, I will argue that the platform is lacking for
China to create an innovative economy. This is for reasons of education,
history, culture, ethics and politics.</div>
His overall conclusion is stark: <em>'China is failing in innovation'
</em>but he leaves open the possibility that this might change. He knocks down
false indicators, pointing out that China's high ranking in terms of R&D
spending has been falsely adjusted to reflect local living standards (PPP) while
the costs of laboratory equipment, for example, are really based on global
standards. These are the fine distinctions that explain a lot.<br />
Based upon Beardson's long and successful history in Asia, unsurprisingly
Chinese culture is not neglected. Here he touches on a subject near to my heart,
which is the absolute necessity of freedom of information as the basis for
innovation. This is also the Achilles heel of Chinese soft power, which suffers
when freedom of expression in China is visibly repressed. According to the
<em>South China Morning Post</em>, recently university professors in China were
given a directive not to discuss the following seven topics: freedom of the
press, civil society, civic rights, historical mistakes by the Communist Party,
elite cronyism, and an independent judiciary. If universities are the cradle of
innovation, this is not the atmosphere in which critical and independent thought
can possibly thrive.<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
In other words, China may accumulate the funding,
build the laboratories and staff them, but it might not possess a
'non-hierarchical scientific culture, fertile institutional framework and
critical thinking' -- the necessary soft skills... If critical thinking and
social stability are seen as opposites in a zero-sum game, China will be the
loser. However, China can achieve much if it wills it.</div>
Essentially, Beardson's argument is that China's heretofore-successful model
is about to run out of steam, and it will not be able to innovate its way out of
this corner without essential political reforms. Some would disagree and cite
China's economic success. They note that Haier has become a global company and
brand, and that the Internet in China in particular has created many innovations
and changed the lives of hundreds of millions of Chinese. Steve Blank, of the
Haas School of Business at Berkeley, recently visited web companies in both
China and Japan. He sees China at a turning point, rather than reaching a hard
limit, as he describes innovation with Chinese characteristics:<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
For the last 10 years China essentially closed its
search, media and social network software market to foreign companies with the
result that Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Dropbox, and 30,000 other
websites were not accessible from China. This left an open playing field for
Chinese software startups as they 'copy to China' existing U.S. business models.
Of course 'copy' is too strong a word. Adapt, adopt and extend is probably a
better description. But for the last decade 'innovation' in Chinese software
meant something different than it did in Silicon Valley. China Startups-The Gold
Rush & the Fire Extinguishers</div>
Dan Harris, an intellectual property attorney and author at China Law Blog,
looks at another aspect of innovation that is often cited as evidence that China
is pulling ahead of the U.S. – the number of patent applications filed by
Chinese companies. In a recent article he cites the $18B China now pays for
licensing foreign technologies.<br />
Those who say China is innovating often cite the massive numbers of IP
filings being made by Chinese companies in China. I use those numbers to counter
those who allege that filing trademarks, copyrights and patents in China is a
waste of time, but I do not think they show much regarding innovation.<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
But the new (to me anyway) numbers that I found
most salient are those relating to patent licensing. In 2012 (according to the
Financial Times) 'China had a record deficit in royalties and license fees of
nearly $17bn – compared with an $82bn surplus for the US'. China's $17bn deficit
is a result of China paying out $18bn in royalties and license fees and
collecting only $1bn in such fees. I see these numbers as extremely meaningful
and what they say is that China is having to pay huge sums to other countries
for innovations created outside of China and substantially less is being paid to
China for innovations created there. Indeed, it is quite possible that a large
chunk of the $1bn going into China for licensing and royalty payments is for
innovations created by foreign subsidiaries doing research and development work
within China.</div>
<em><strong>Is China Really Innovating? The China Licensing Numbers Say
No.</strong></em><br />
Innovation can be negative as well as positive. China's cyber security and
hacking activities are front-page news. The Chinese are investing in U.S.
telecommunications companies, and it is a good bet, according to an official at
Google, that they have visited you already. According to Beardson however, a
good offense doesn't necessarily mean that you can play great defense.<br />
<div style="margin-left: 0.5in;">
Surprisingly, an American security researcher,
Dillon Beresford, claims to have successfully hacked into many highly classified
Chinese military facilities: aggressive behavior is not always matched by
proficient cyber security Indeed, he states that China has 'an almost total lack
of basic cyber defense'.</div>
China is also behind on some key metrics in defense technology. To give just
one example, the traditional blue water navy paradigm leaves China far behind.
The U.S. has 19 aircraft carriers, including ten Nimitz class super carriers
that are powered by nuclear reactors. China has one aircraft carrier, the
Liaoning, which is actually a rebuilt Soviet-era ship, and it is not
nuclear-powered.<br />
Health care is another area where the U.S. leads the world in innovation,
even if our own citizens pay a high price. China has more pressing concerns
however. Lack of access to basic care has erupted into violence against health
care workers in China, as illustrated in Yanzhong Huang's seminal article "The
Sick Man of Asia." In spite of the high density of mobile technology, which
could be an ideal platform for telemedicine, there are simply not enough trained
health care workers to make this a feasible alternative to bricks and mortar
hospitals, and can never replace long term care for China's rapidly growing
population of over 65's. Beardson muses that the aforementioned aircraft carrier
might have to be scrapped in order to pay for housing for 150 million elderly
Chinese with no place to go.<br />
Worries that China will fizzle out are not new. Back in 2011 I wrote an
article … entitled <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxdKc/TES" target="_hplink">China's 99%: Why China Will Not Surpass the United States.</a>
Books on China and its relationship to the rest of the world abound. A quick
look at Amazon for titles by country returned the following results:<br />
U.S. 1,631,884<br />Great Britain 502,241<br />China 398,784<br />France
298,075<br />India 220,043<br />Canada 201,182<br />Japan 199,255<br />Mexico
195,511<br />Germany 130,885<br />Russia 74,433<br />Iran 22,866<br />Iraq
24,475<br />Afghanistan 13,956<br />
China is certainly top of mind in the U.S. However, if you are going to read
one book on China this year, <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxdLL/TES" target="_hplink">Stumbling
Giant</a> should be it, because of its depth and scope and the even-handedness
of its author. I have focused on the subject of innovation, which is a constant
throughout the book, but other vital topics are covered as well, such as the
environment, military power, and China's relationship with the rest of the
world. Beardson recounts vital history that is largely unknown to Westerners. I
particularly liked the section on China's relationship with Russia, which was
disconcerting – I now feel that Russia has more to fear from Chinese border
disputes than Japan.<br />
I would have liked to have seen maps, given the geographically challenged
nature of most Americans, and more graphs, given my economic propensities. The
addition of photographs might have turned the book into an encyclopaedia, but
they would have added to the narrative as well.<br />
Ever since we gained the top spot, Americans have been obsessed with the
possibility that other countries might upset our global dominance. After World
War II we actively feared the Soviet Union. Then in the 70's we worried that
Japan would be Number One, until it suddenly wasn't. Now we look to the Chinese
to fill the competitive void.<br />
In spite of a spate of reports from the OECD about China's economic
dominance, and breathless media coverage declaring that China will overtake the
United States any moment, a sense of reality is returning. China faces a myriad
of huge challenges. Their traditional markets have slowed down, and their GDP is
falling. A real estate bubble, civic unrest, and massive corporate and local
government debt are worrying signs.<br />
While the size of China's economy in absolute terms could be larger than that
of the U.S., it certainly isn't on a per capita basis, and that's what counts in
terms of satisfaction of a country's citizenry and the stability of its
government. China's income inequality is now greater than in the US. Which might
be all right if income opportunity were the same, but corruption blocks equal
access.<br />
<a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxdNk/TES" target="_hplink">Stumbling Giant</a> should convince you in a highly nuanced way
that China is far from unassailable, but we should all hope, very fervently,
that she keeps her balance.<br />
<em>Lyric Hughes Hale</em><em> is the author of</em> <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjOv/TES" target="_hplink">What's
Next</a><em> and a contributor to a range of publications, including the
</em>Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Current History,<em> and
</em>Institutional Investor. China Takes Off,<em> published in 2003 and written
jointly with her husband David Hale, is one of the most oft-cited surveys of
China's economic ascendency. Ms. Hale studied Japanese at Northwestern
University and graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Near
Eastern Languages and Civilizations. She has lived and studied in Europe, Asia,
and the Middle East.</em><br />
<h1>
<strong><span style="font-size: small;">Chinese industry: Ambitions in
excess</span></strong></h1>
By Jamil Anderlini<br />
<em>Overcapacity fuelled by subsidies threatens the world's second-biggest
economy</em><br />
Shi Zhengrong became known as the "sun king" around the time he was named
China's fifth-richest man in 2006. Barely three years later, <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjP4/TES">Suntech</a>, his New
York-listed company, was the world's largest solar panel-maker, producing enough
solar cells each year to power 1m energy-guzzling US homes.<br />
To struggling manufacturers in the US and Germany, Suntech was part of an <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjJn/TES" title="China clash on solar panels exposes trade splits within Europe - FT.com">unstoppable juggernaut that
undercut markets</a>, flooded the world with ultra-cheap products and put
competitors out of business. Indeed, the European Commission is <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjKW/TES" title="A trade escalation perilous for Europe - FT.com">threatening to raise import
tariffs</a> on Chinese producers for allegedly selling solar panels in Europe
for less than they cost to make.<br />
But China's business model is far from unassailable. In March, <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjMv/TES" title="Suntech unit declared bankrupt - FT.com">Suntech filed for bankruptcy
protection</a>. From a market value of $16bn at its peak, the company is now
worth about $180m. The <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjWk/TES" title="Dark times for Suntech’s solar star - FT.com">sun king has been dethroned
as chairman</a>.<br />
In fact, the solar industry is only the most pronounced example of broader
overcapacity in China. Its rise and fall has followed a pattern that is becoming
familiar across the world's second-biggest economy.<br />
The problems stem from China's industrial policies and a vast array of
subsidies that allow whole sectors to spring up overnight. <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjXT/TES" title="Economy: Out of proportion - FT.com">Ambitious local officials
are keen to lavish government money</a> on what they hope will be success
stories that can further their careers.<br />
"When you have administrative measures you get huge overcapacity and this
country has created overcapacity in a whole lot of areas," says Hank Paulson,
former US Treasury secretary, who often visits China. "It's not just clean
technologies; steel, shipbuilding we can name all the areas."<br />
From chemicals and cement to earthmovers and flatscreen televisions, Chinese
industry is awash with excess capacity that is driving down profits inside and
outside the country and threatens to further destabilise China's already shaky
growth.<br />
It is not a new problem; it was exacerbated by Beijing's response to the
financial crisis in 2008 and continues to worsen despite years of government
efforts to curtail it. China produces nearly half of the <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjZs/TES" title="Iron ore hit by Chinese steel doldrums - FT.com">world's aluminium and
steel</a> and about 60 per cent of the world's cement but new production is
being added rapidly, even as the economy cools.<br />
China's output expanded 7.8 per cent last year – its slowest pace in 13 years
– and after a brief rebound in the fourth quarter, growth has slumped further in
the first half of this year.<br />
Aluminium prices have <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjSL/TES" title="Aluminium: Shock and ore - FT.com">dropped precipitously in
recent years</a> and more than half of China's aluminium producers operate at a
loss. Despite this, smelters are being built nationwide, even though producing
the metal requires huge amounts of energy, water and bauxite, all of which are
scarce in China. Foreign producers are also being forced to close because of the
excess supply spilling out of China.<br />
Only about two-thirds of cement capacity was used last year, according to a
survey from the China Enterprise Confederation.<br />
For global manufacturers, the China effect over the past decade has been
fearsome. It has destroyed jobs and capacity all over the world, shuttering
factories in competitor nations.<br />
But in almost every sector where China's low-cost goods have come to
dominate, something strange has happened. Once the bulk of global manufacturing
in a given industry has moved to China, overcapacity quickly follows and these
sectors begin to cannibalise themselves. Suntech was a prime example.<br />
Li Junfeng, a senior energy policy adviser at China's state planning agency,
likens the country's solar sector to a patient on life support and says at least
half of global solar capacity needs to be shut. "Overcapacity results in
low-price competition; all industries experiencing overcapacity have this
problem," Mr Li says.<br />
An older example is the mobile handset market, which the Chinese government
set out to dominate a decade ago with national champions sporting names such as
Panda, Konka and Ningbo Bird.<br />
Even in China not one of these companies is a household name today. But many
analysts had once predicted these low-cost producers would rise to become the
Chinese equivalents of Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola.<br />
The Chinese government, particularly local authorities, poured vast subsidies
into these companies in the hope of turning them into global forces but they all
eventually lost the race to develop new technology.<br />
"There was a lot of talk back then about how these companies would become
great new Chinese technology giants and they certainly threatened their
international competitors by eating away at the low end of the value chain,"
says Anne Stevenson-Yang, research director at J Capital Research. "But over
time Chinese companies tend to remain factories that manufacture huge amounts of
low-end, undifferentiated stuff."<br />
Several studies have found that the ability of Chinese industry to dominate
global manufacturing in certain sectors is largely due to subsidies, most of
which are provided by local and provincial governments.<br />
In a recent study, Usha and George Haley, US-based academics, studied how
Chinese steel, glass, paper and auto parts producers turned from bit players and
net importers to the world's largest manufacturers and exporters in just a
couple of years.<br />
In each of these highly fragmented, capital-intensive industries, labour
accounted for between 2 and 7 per cent of costs and the vast majority of
companies enjoyed no economies of scope or scale.<br />
"Our findings contradict the widespread belief that China's enormous success
as an exporting nation derives primarily from low labour costs and deliberate
currency undervaluation," says Usha Haley. "There is enormous overcapacity and
no gauging of supply and demand and we found that subsidies account for about 30
per cent of industrial output. Most of the companies we looked at would probably
be bankrupt without subsidies."<br />
Besides direct cash infusions, many local governments in China provide very
cheap land, cheap credit, discounted utilities and tax breaks to state-owned and
private companies that set up in their backyards.<br />
In a research report on government subsidies to non-state owned Chinese
companies, Matthew Forney and Laila Khawaja from the research consultancy Fathom
China found that most companies surveyed received some form of direct
subsidy.<br />
"The bottom line is that officials who climb the [Communist] party ladder
fastest are usually those who oversee the most flashy investment projects and
the fastest growth," Mr Forney and Ms Khawaja say. "Offering subsidies to
private companies looking to expand can help localities clinch an investment
deal that brings jobs and tax revenue."<br />
<strong>. . .</strong><br />
Some of the <a href="http://www.mauldineconomics.com/go/bxjUk/TES" title="Chinese car market recovery continues - FT.com">most heavily subsidised
companies in China are automakers</a>, such as Chery, BYD and Geely. Some
analysts predict they will ultimately meet the same fate as the handset
makers.<br />
Overcapacity in the auto industry is rampant and in the case of Geely, which
bought Volvo in 2010, more than half of its net profits came directly from
subsidies in 2011. In fact, subsidy income for Geely that year was more than 15
times greater than the next biggest source of net profits – "sales of scrap
metal" – according to analysis from Fathom China.<br />
In the case of Mr Shi the sun king, subsidies and grants from a local
government were crucial in convincing him to return to China from Sydney, where
he lived in the suburbs and drove a Toyota Camry to his job as an executive in a
solar start-up company. Mr Shi and Suntech both declined to comment. In 2000,
the government of Wuxi, near Mr Shi's birthplace in eastern China's Jiangsu
province, was eager to establish a solar industry so officials set out to lure
him back with promises of support.<br />
"Suntech is a seed sown by the Communist party committee of the Wuxi
government," Mr Shi said in a speech in March 2011 to welcome Yang Weize, the
former Wuxi party secretary, to Suntech's new headquarters in the city. "During
Suntech's start-up phase we experienced intense pressure but Wuxi continuously
watered and nurtured this seed."<br />
Thanks partly to his success in fostering Wuxi's solar industry, Mr Yang was
promoted in 2010 to become the party secretary of Nanjing, one of China's
largest cities. Throughout the country, party officials take note of this kind
of meteoric rise and arrive at the conclusion that they too can reach great
heights by subsidising businesses.<br />
This drives intense inter-regional competition and a race to the bottom
between local governments, which often decide not to enforce environmental,
safety and labour laws in order to keep jobs and taxes (and kickbacks) in their
jurisdictions.<br />
Another big problem for almost every industry is that companies' investment
and growth plans have been predicated on the belief that the government would
never allow growth to drop below 8 or 9 per cent.<br />
This perception was encouraged by Beijing's response to the 2008 crisis, when
it launched a Rmb4tn ($650bn) stimulus, unleashing a construction boom to prop
up stumbling growth.<br />
<strong>. . .</strong><br />
Today, as growth slips towards 7.5 per cent and lower, China's new leaders do
appear more determined than their predecessors to tackle overcapacity.<br />
"We intend to accelerate the transformation of the economic development model
and vigorously adjust and optimise the economic structure," said Zhang Gaoli,
the executive vice-premier in charge of the economy and a member of the
all-powerful Standing Committee of the politburo, in a speech this month. "We
will strictly ban approvals for new projects in industries experiencing
overcapacity and resolutely halt construction of projects that violate
regulations."<br />
However, Beijing has tried for years to tackle this problem but meets fierce
resistance from local governments trying to protect their local "seeds".
Analysts and officials say bankruptcies such as that of Suntech are still
unusual and tend to happen only when a company is beyond rescue or local
officials want to seize ownership. But the scale of overcapacity and the
slowdown in Chinese growth suggest many more people will suffer the fate of the
sun king.<br />
Mr Shi remains in Wuxi and is still the largest single shareholder in Suntech
but, according to Chinese media, he is the subject of an investigation into his
role in the company's fall.<br />
"The problem with subsidies everywhere is they tend to support activity not
outcomes and they become more of a problem when they're just subsidising
inefficiencies," says John Rice, vice-chairman of General Electric, who heads
GE's global operations from Hong Kong.<br />
"If you do that in perpetuity it just increases the size of the anchor that
drags down growth."<br />
<em>Additional reporting by Leslie Hook</em><br />
<strong>Steelmakers struggle to shut down capacity</strong><br />
When economic growth in the west evaporated during the global financial
crisis, China rode to the rescue with a colossal stimulus package that helped
the global economy out of the downturn, <em>writes Leslie Hook</em>.<br />
Powered by a binge in government spending on infrastructure and construction,
as well as an injection of cheap credit into industrial sectors, China's economy
steamed along, growing 8.7 per cent and 10.3 per cent in 2009 and 2010.<br />
But today the price of that stimulus is becoming more apparent. Five years
on, many of the industries that were beneficiaries of the stimulus – from steel
to shipbuilding to metals smelting – are bloated with overcapacity.<br />
For these sectors, the recent slowdown in China's economic growth spells
serious losses and a painful process of elimination.<br />
"Five years ago, steel was an industry of huge profits," explains Zhang
Xiaogang, who heads Anshan Iron and Steel, China's fourth-largest
steelmaker.<br />
"Precisely because it was so lucrative, there was a lot of repetitive
construction and a huge amount of assets pouring into the field, causing the
overproduction nowadays."<br />
Those boom days derailed the long-planned consolidation and reorganisation of
China's steel sector, which has for decades been an illusive goal for Beijing's
policy makers.<br />
Today, even though China's steel production is running at record levels, only
about 80 per cent of the country's production capacity is being used. Industry
chiefs and government officials say more excess capacity needs to be shut down
in order for the sector to come back into balance.<br />
But this is easier said than done. Previous efforts to consolidate the steel
sector have been sidelined repeatedly.<br />
Regardless of their profitability, steel mills have proved to be almost
impossible to close down because of their role in providing employment and
providing tax revenues to cash-strapped local governments.<br />
"It is very difficult to find an effective remedy for China's production
overcapacity problem," says Mr Zhang.<br />
"Which company are you going to tell to shut down? Do you choose the ones
that are losing money, or are heavily polluting, or are violating industry
standards, and make them close? This part is quite hard."<br />
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-54681625144286387542013-05-30T09:58:00.003-07:002013-05-30T09:58:28.018-07:00America's covert reconnaissance program using SR-71 and U-2 ...<div>
<span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8zLsQUf-je3Bm1R3mk7TIUq5U3pcGD9qIY9DqHphPSs33rIyUNs5oufyy8pl2yTh5zDn_DeImQfeaHsmi69z-Z5baVsE7W9ZHgsrZ16rGNbvkh7votdHpQZvjmTZ1TNyXYw_sJLlHG4/s1600/airport++palau.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8zLsQUf-je3Bm1R3mk7TIUq5U3pcGD9qIY9DqHphPSs33rIyUNs5oufyy8pl2yTh5zDn_DeImQfeaHsmi69z-Z5baVsE7W9ZHgsrZ16rGNbvkh7votdHpQZvjmTZ1TNyXYw_sJLlHG4/s320/airport++palau.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div>
<div>
<span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div>
<div>
<span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Chinese cyber-threat hype is a ruse to engage China
in a military showdown...<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pentagon Cold
Warriors try to resurrect the "good old days" by confronting
China...</span></strong></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Just as U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon was wrapping up
his meetings with top Chinese officials in Beijing to set the stage for
President Obama's June 7-8 summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in
Rancho Mirage, California, The Washington Post published from a leaked
Confidential report prepared by the Defense Science Board claiming that Chinese
cyber-spies have gained access to the technological secrets of America's most
advanced weapon systems. The advisory board largely consists of retired flag
rank military officers, the top corporate leadership of large contractors, and
members of academia who collectively make up the "military-industrial complex,"
which President Dwight Eisenhower once warned the nation about...<br /><br />It is
clear that the "leak" of the report was authorized by the Obama administration
and Attorney General Eric Holder will not be issuing warrants for the telephone
records of the Post reporters who revealed the contents of the Chinese
cyber-espionage report. In fact, Obama has attempted to turn up the heat on
China as part of his strategic "pivot to Asia," the reassignment of much of
America's air and naval forces to the Pacific theater. <br /><br />It is also clear
that Obama's love affair with drone technology will soon be turned toward China.
Some of the old-timers on the Defense Science Board recall a time when the
Pentagon and the CIA cooperated in sending unmanned drones on reconnaissance
missions over China, North Vietnam, and North Korea and some of these nostalgic
Cold War policy makers would like to see China and North Korea, once again,
subjected to stealthy U.S. reconnaissance missions using state-of-the-art drone
technology.<br /><br />One of the secrets the CIA continues to maintain is the
extent of <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8zLsQUf-je3Bm1R3mk7TIUq5U3pcGD9qIY9DqHphPSs33rIyUNs5oufyy8pl2yTh5zDn_DeImQfeaHsmi69z-Z5baVsE7W9ZHgsrZ16rGNbvkh7votdHpQZvjmTZ1TNyXYw_sJLlHG4/s1600/airport++palau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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America's covert reconnaissance program using SR-71 and U-2 manned
reconnaissance aircraft, as well as unmanned drones, over China and other
"denied territory" during the Cold War. Although spy satellites took over much
of the surveillance coverage of China, some Pentagon brass would like to see the
United States make more use of its sophisticated robotic and miniaturized drone
capabilities against Chinese military and scientific research and development
centers, where the prying lenses and sensitive electronic ears of spy satellites
are difficult to reach.<br /><br />As late as the mid-1970s, even after President
Richard Nixon's landmark visit to China in 1972, the CIA and the Air Force and
Navy were flying secret reconnaissance missions over China. From 1963, the CIA
used Taiwanese pilots, trained to fly the U-2, to fly highly-classified CHURCH
DOOR reconnaissance mis</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">sions over China. The Taiwanese pilots took off from Taoyuan, Taiwan
and conducted surveillance of missile sites, radar bases, arsenals, airfields,
aircraft and rocket manufacturing facilities, ports, submarine bases, oil
refineries, and industrial plants. <br /><br />Some of the Cold War low-altitude
drone photo-reconnaissance missions targeting China, North Korea, and North
Vietnam were the responsibility of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and the
Ryan/Teledyne "Firebee" drone operations were known by the cover names BLUE
SPRINGS, BUMPY ACTION, LIGHTNING BUG, BUMBLE BUG, BUFFALO HUNTER, and BUFFALO
ACTION. U-2 drone operations were code named LUCKY DRAGON, TROJAN HORSE, and
GIANT DRAGON. B-52 aircraft launched supersonic drones in the 1960s that were
known by the classified code word TAGBOARD and the unclassified cover name
TIGER. The Firebee drones were classified under the Air Force's BIG SAFARI
intelligence modification of aircraft project and were launched by a special
C-130 Hercules aircraft. Drones flew with imagery intelligence, signals
intelligence (SIGINT), and electronics intelligence (ELINT) collection packages.
The imagery intelligence was protected under the BYEMAN Sensitive Compartmented
Information (SCI) category, retired from use in 2005.</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Some members on the Defense
Science Board want to return to the CIA's and Pentagon's</em> <em>days of yore
by using modern versions of drones like the Firebee (above), which targeted
China and other Asian countries during the Cold War.</em><br /><br />As part of the
CIA's OXCART surveillance program, high altitude A-12s, later called SR-71s,
flew reconnaissance missions over China, North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia that
were known as GIANT SCALE missions. The missions were first flown out of Beale
Air Force Base in California and later moved to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa
under the CIA's CAROUSEL project.<br /><br />Other SR-71 missions targeted North
Korea. Other CIA reconnaissance mission cover names for Asian and/or Soviet Far
East operations were COMMAND CLINCH, COMMANDO CLASP, FOOD FAIR, OLD HEAD, EDGE
TRACE, BLACK SHIELD, EBONY, ISINGLASS, OLYMPIC TORCH, SENIOR BOOK, and GLASS
LAMP. Some other reconnaissance missions were staged from Udorn, Thailand and
reconnaissance drones took off from the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and
ships off the Chinese coast to photograph targets in China and return the film
canisters to anxious CIA and U.S. military ground personnel.<br /><br />The U.S. is
establishing drone bases all around China in anticipation of the use of aerial,
undersea, and possible even small land drones to spy on China. The undersea
drones are seen as useful against China's underwater submarine pens on Hainan
island. U.S. drone bases are known to exist or will soon exist in the
Philippines; Japan; Okinawa, Guam, South Korea; Thailand; Kyrgyzstan; Cocos
(Keeling) Islands; Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Taiwan; and
Palau.</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><em><span style="font-family: Arial;">Secret U.S. drone bases in Zamboanga, Philippines (above) and
proposed base at Palau International Airport (below). Drones to be based in
Palau are said to be used for marine fishery protection, a CIA cover
story.</span></em></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Barack Obama, a product of the CIA's deep recruitment efforts during
the Cold War, has called China a "rival," not a "friend" or "partner." If the
Pentagon Cold Warriors get their way, America's drones will, again, be flying
over China...</span></span></span></div>
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312574169906888297.post-9618457269404071052013-05-24T10:10:00.001-07:002013-05-24T10:10:12.428-07:00Andros Island. AN/WQC-2A Sonar Communications.... <dl class="admincomment"><dd class="link cat-teaser">
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</span></dd><dd class="link cat-teaser"><span> </span></dd><dd class="link cat-teaser"><span> </span></dd><dd class="link cat-teaser"><span>The deep water Weapons Range lies roughly parallel to the
east coast of Andros Island. It is the largest and most versatile of the
AUTEC ranges, and it is capable of tracking up to 63 in-water objects
simultaneously... The range is supported by the Main Base (Site 1) and
various smaller sites located to the south along the east coast of
Andros Island. AN/WQC-2A Sonar Communications Sets and Bi-Directional
Communications Nodes provide underwater voice communications for mobile
target and emergency command signal coverage, while HF, UHF, and VHF
radio communications are available over the entire range...</span></dd></dl>
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<span>Despite the government´s best efforts, The Bahamas continues
to be regarded as a 'major money laundering territory,' whose financial
institutions engage in currency transactions involving significant
amounts of proceeds from international drug trafficking... LOL</span></dd><dd class="link cat-teaser"><span> </span></dd><dd class="link cat-teaser"><span> </span>
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HKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03583773682140307056noreply@blogger.com0