Post Bilderberg 2015 Sergey Guriev demands from the Western governments to take over Russia, or else …
A growing numbers of neo-conservative, free market doctrine worshiping, liberal ex-Russian citizens are settling into their new role as “prophets of doom in exile.”
More on the Russian neo-conservative liberals here
Considering that they have managed to steal humongous amounts of money from the Russian people, they, (the prophets, not the Russian people), will be fabulously comfortable. They don’t have to work as cab drivers, but they are eager to prostitute with the Western media and Western think tanks, eager to one day to achieve their lofty political goal: to come back to Russia and steal more money.
Sergey Guriev is just one of many.
Sergei Guriev – former Dean of the New Economic School in Moscow and member of the Sberbank Supervisory Board. Sberbank is one of the Russia’s top three banks.
Sergey Guriev, a neo-con liberal pro-Washington economist, fled Russia because of his alleged involvement in murders around Yukos. He has not been in Russia for about three years, but for some reasons he is believed to posses some kind of special knowledge of Russia’s present and future.
After ritual immersion in Bilderberg 2915 Mikveh, Sergey Guriev gave birth to verbal vomit on his opinion of Russia’s future for the Washington Post. Let’s consider this to be the Bilderberg club’s message given to the Russian people.
Guriev claims that Russia doesn’t have a future, because it doesn’t have long term policy and economic plans for the development of industries beyond the next three years. Which is very bizarre, considering that in every one of his previous verbal vomits he claims that even a one year economic plan would be a return to a Soviet regime. After all, the chaotic free market with no central planning was the dogma that neo-cons like Guriev were insisting for the past 25 years. It has cost the Russian economy two trillion dollars. That’s what Giruev was teaching students in his HSE Higher School of Economic.
It’s hard to take these dissipated people seriously and because they are running from justice, they’re saying what they are told to say. He calls on the West not to “loose Russia,” and to have a “Marshall Plan-style program” to “rebuild” Russia’s economy that “only” grows 2% a year. WTF? He wants the West take over the rule in Russia, or in neo-con doublespeak ” supporting governance.” He wants the West to take over education “reforms” to create young orks like the neo-fascists in Ukraine.
And for the West to conduct “health-care reforms” – this is truly scary. You are aware of the unspeakable hate that the West, the US and Europe are showing to Russia right now. Can you imagine, the same western nations coming to Russia with chemicals and injections, and vaccinations to “treat” Russian people? Will it be like during the fascist Germany and fascist Finland occupation of Russia in 1941-1944? Death camps named after Doctor Mendele?
And “investing in Russia’s infrastructure.” Let’s take over the Russia’s TV translations, press, internet, communication lines, satellites, roads, so no one in the World would ever know that horrors are being conducted by the West in Russia.
“The West should be clear about what it will take for Russia to reengage with the European Union, NATO, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and other international bodies,” Guriev says.
No. Russia makes it clear that the country won’t reengage with all those anti-Russia and anti-Eurasia pro-Western outdated and antiquated organizations. Russia and the rest of the non-Western world are creating new organizations, beneficial for their founders, and not for the indebted, broke, and dissipated West.
Banned by the government, Carnegie Moscow Center likes to point out that Liberals in Russia are “selflessly bearing the burden of running” Russian banks, universities, and mineral extraction companies. The fact that they become billionaires in the process and transfer these fortunes to the West of the Russia’s borders, is being omitted from the Western narration.
Sergei Guriev is the only Russian attending the Bilderberg summit, June 9th-14th in Austria.
He has the usual Soros and Khodorkovsky connections. It’s safe to presume he will advice the Atlanticist elite on how to proceed against Russia.
On this (Soros-sponsored) website
“With the funds amounting to only about 6% of GDP, Russia can maintain a 3.7% deficit for less than two years before it either has to withdraw from Ukraine to gain relief from Western sanctions, or undertake a major – and, for Putin, politically dangerous – fiscal adjustment.”
And this revealing piece in the Washington Post, splattered with wishful sentences like
“The Kremlin has no credible financial plan beyond 2016 except for hoping for oil prices to recover.”
“regime survival” “widespread panic and the collapse of the regime. ”
“At some point, this regime will have to go”
“the best scenario one can hope for is some form of transitional government that would provide certain guarantees to the outgoing elites and oversee new elections.”
“The West should get prepared now for sudden and turbulent change in Russia.”
I’m guessing it is close to what he has presented at the Bilderberg meeting, and might give some indicators on what the western elites plan for Russia in the next future (coup d’etat?).
Bilderberg Meetings 63rd Bilderberg conference took place from 11 – 14 June 2015 in Telfs-Buchen, Austria.
Bilderberg 2015 and attendee list and agenda
A total of around 140 participants from 22 countries have confirmed their attendance. As ever, a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media have been invited. The list of participants is available on www.bilderbergmeetings.org
There is no application process. The key question is whether participants can bring an interesting perspective to the discussions. Participants are invited because they can offer a different point of view.
The key topics for discussion this year include:
Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Chemical Weapons Threats, Current Economic Issues, European Strategy, Globalisation. Greece, Iran, Middle East, NATO, Russia, Terrorism, United Kingdom, USA, US Elections
Meanwhile, Russia’s Minister of Economical Development Alexei Ulyukayev which was not invited to Brilderberg, gives an interview to Stephen Sackur, BBC HARDTalk [Source]
The interview in which Ulyukayev compares Russian people to flies that being poisoned by the West and that those flies will die slow but eventually. Russia’s Minister of Finance also said the Russia needs 50 years of development to catch up with the economies of Japan and the US.
This interview made quite an impact on everyone in Russia. An eye opener, so to speak.
FYI: Ulyukayev is a neo-con liberal, which means a neoconservative follower of Free Market dogmas. Free Market means unrestrained by any state laws or government control, labor protection, environments regulation flow of capital. “Liberal” has nothing to do with personal people liberties. It’s quite opposite. It’s liberty of international capital rule over sovereign nations and people.
For Russia it means that capital and raw mineral resources are being taken out of the country and never reinvested inside the country. Neo-con liberals have been in power in Russia for the past 25 years. I made an introduction to the neo-cons run private New Economic School NSE and the state financed the Higher School of Economics HSE in Moscow and the Washington control Central bank of Russia here
All perfectly timed just as Bilderberg ended and on the first day of 2015 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum opens, the West goes full assault on Russia
Belgium Moves to Seize Russian Assets in Yukos Case [Source]
A group of former Yukos shareholders has called in bailiffs to investigate 47 organizations based in Belgium, with a view to seizing any Russian state assets they might own
Russia’s assets arrested in Belgium (and France)
Российские активы в Бельгии арестованы по иску ЮКОСа
Here some background for this story
LEFTOVERS OF THE KHODORKOVSKY FORTUNE PURSUED BY FRIENDS AND FOES
Yukos v. Russia: Issues and legal reasoning behind US$50 billion awards
Belgium Moves to Seize Russian Assets in Yukos Case
http://johnhelmer.net/?p=10029
http://johnhelmer.net/?p=6872
Russia rules out possibility of compensation payment to ex-Yukos shareholders — minister
June 18, 14:12 UTC+3 In 2014, The Hague Arbitral Tribunal ruled that Russia should pay almost $50 billion to the companies affiliated with the former Yukos shareholders
Colonel Cassad believes, just like myself, that this extortion scheme is just a test to see Russia’s reaction.
If Russian government does nothing and let these assets to be taken, or if it pays, the flood of frivolous lawsuits will follow, including those of Ukraine’s.
Again, as I wrote prior, it’s all in the Russia’s Constitution as a colony of the “international community.” It’s all in the articles of the Russia’s Constitution that international laws take priority over the domestic laws.
It’s defines comprehension that the Russia’s lawmakers are sitting on their hands. Even if 50% of them are traitors and on the Washington’s payroll, what the other 50% is doing?
France arrests Russia’s assets Франция наложила арест на российские активы [Source] [Source]
So far we know about seized properties of:
Russian Orthodox Church, Russia Today RT.com, TASS and VTB Bank
Russia Today (RT.COM) announced that their bank accounts in Belgium and France are frozen and that they took measures to prevent the similar situation in other European countries and in the US.
Vise-President of Rosneft Mikhail Leontyev says that this decision of French and Belgium courts are not based on any law and it’s a fact of pure and blatant theft. “This decision is a threat to everyone.”
“The situation in Belgium and France is not a seizure of assets, which implies a legal procedure. This is a robbery conducted outside of the framework of the laws in those countries,” said Mikhail Leontyev.
According to Leontiev, the use of legal tools to assess the situation in this case is meaningless. He compared abusive behavior of small European nations like Belgium and France toward Russia to a “self-gratification play with their reproductive organs.”
Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev announced that more arrests of Russian properties in Europe and the US are imminent and calls for assessment of risks.
There are two major ground shifting consequences to the Russia’s assets freeze in Europe.
1. The EU is aiming to take over the Gazprom assets and property located in Europe. I see this happening before winter sets in. In this case Russia will have to either keep pumping gas via stolen by EU infrastructure, or to stop pumping gas entirely. That most likely will result in multibillion Euros lawsuits from each individual European country against Russia filed in European courts.
It looks like President Putin considers this as a possibility. On Tuesday June 18th he said that Russia’s energy production and transportation might be the target for foreign countries. “Our “partners” do everything to make our life difficult,” Putin says. http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2749285
2. Europe expropriating taking over private, Russia’s Church owned, NGOs, and state properties of Russia, including diplomatic properties, is a warning to the Chinese government and investors. The easiness with which the EU arbitration and human rights courts expropriate the foreign nationals owned properties is dizzying. This demonstrates that the property ownership protection in the EU and across the Commonwealth is annulled and void. China, which is buying the European and North American properties and assets, might be up to a rude awakening very soon.
Russian government and businesses have to stop pretending that it’s business as usual and take more decisive steps like, freezing all repayments of foreign debt until the situation is resolve; freezing all the deliveries of gas to Europe until there are guarantees of Russia’s assets safety; suspension of the diplomatic missions to the EU; denouncing the membership in Belgium based SWIFT and other steps.
We have to keep in mind that Russia’s state assets belong to the people of Russia. The EU’s attempts to extract 1.8 billion Euros and 50 billion Euros from the people of Russia means to hurt the people. The EU sanctions have already resulted in sharp increase in mortality rate in Russia. The EU sanctions kill Russian people, just as effectively as the EU junta kills Russian Ukrainians by military means and the blockade of food, water and medicine. Just as Ukraine is blocking and redirecting the natural river flow into Crimea and causing the ecological catastrophe in Crimea itself and in the Black sea around the peninsula.
The mood on the Russian street is anger toward Europe and the US, and unyielding understanding of mortal danger coming from the West. European countries and the USA express desire to own territories of Russia without Russians. Essentially, facing imminent death, Russians intent to win, or to take Europe and the US with them.
The bottom line: if Russia pays this extra-judicial European court actions, it will open the floodgate for all kinds of frivolous lawsuit demanding trillions of dollars from the Russian taxpayers.
To say that the European courts abuse the Russian taxpayers is an understatement.
The Yukos extortion is just a testing ground. I see the Ukraine’s lawsuits for Crimea and Donbass are coming down the European court system pipes. Russia has to put a stoppage for this now, before it’s too late.
Russia
1. Russians have become the most discriminated nation in Europe
On June 16, 2015 Russian politicians and experts that were invited by the Alliance for Peace and Freedom (APF)
were banned from entering the Euro-parliament. Euro-parliament is open for tourists and visitors from any countries, but Russia.
We have to notice the political stance that the European Union has taken towards Russia and the Russian people:
1. The EU has turned Russian people into the most discriminated nation in Europe;
2. The EU placed sanctions against Russia and Russian people;
3. The EU published a “black list” of Russian politicians and celebrities;
4. The European Union declared the Russia’s “black list” of unwanted persons “illegal,” because according to the EU Russia is accused in “mistreating gay people,” “starting war in Donbass,” and “shooting down MH17.”
5. The EU completely blocked communication between the citizens of Russia and the EU apparatchiks;
6. The EU member Belgium arrested all the assets of the Russian federation and Russian Orthodox Church, NGOs and privately hold companies registered in Belgium due to the fake court ruling against Russia in Yukos extortion scheme;
7. Ukraine is attacking Russia’s embassies with the backup of the European Union;
8. The EU media is blaming Russian for all the world ills including Daesh/ISIS.
9. The EU arrests and prosecute anti-war activists and people who try to express support for Russia;
10. The West is clearly set to make up an image of Russia as a “death camp” like it does with the North Korea, Syria and Iran, or until recently. Cuba.
The West is conducting a war on every front including the real front on the historical territory of Russia. The government of Russia has to stop pretending that nothing is happening and to react appropriately.. [Source]
Russia
1. Russia 2015: Who are we, and what do we want? By Eduard Birov
2. 2015 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum LIVE UPDATES
3. Rostec has developed super-high-frequency air defense anti-aircraft cannon
В России создали «СВЧ-пушку», выводящую из строя самолеты и беспилотники противника
Also,
Russia Develops ‘Microwave Gun‘ Able to Deactivate Drones, Warheads
“The new system is equipped with a high-power relativistic generator and reflector antenna, management and control system, and a transmission system which is fixed on the chassis of BUK surface-to-air missile systems. When mounted on a special platform, the ‘microwave gun’ is capable of ensuring perimeter defense at 360 degrees,” the representative said.
The system is capable of out-of-band suppression of the radio electronic equipment of low-altitude aircraft and the assault elements of precision weapons. The gun is able to deactivate the equipment of aircraft and UAVs, and neutralize precision weapons.”
4. Innopolis University, focused on information technology and robotics, opens in Kazan, Russia
Also, an electric bus Kamaz as a guest of Innopolis University. After also 6 minutes charge, this bus is ready to go for up to 100 kilometers.
and, Students and faculty will be able to move around using these green electro cars .
5. Greece and Russia Agree Political Deal on Turkish Stream Extension
ATHENS (Sputnik) — Greek delegation intends to sign a political Russia-Greece agreement on the support of a pipeline with Russian gas on the territory of Greece during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Lafazanis added.
6. June 18–20, 2015 – St. Petersburg International Economic Forum
Also: More than 2,000 reporters from 42 countries to cover SPIEF-2015
7. Russia’s Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems company has put the advanced Glonass-K1 navigation satellite into mass production
8. OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said that the organization’s new envoy at the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine is a qualified Austrian diplomat, without disclosing his or her name
9. Russia’s arms export orders stand at $50 bln — official
Donesk Donbass DPR LPR Novorossia
1. Donetsk under threat of radioactive contamination – Ukrainian expert
На химическом заводе в Донецке, где был взрыв, находится хранилище ядерных отходов. Фон радиации никто не измеряет – эксперт
on: June 18, 2015
The radiation background level could have grown in Donetsk due to the powerful explosion in the State Factory of Chemical Products, because a nuclear waste depository is situated there, claimed executive director of the state enterprise East Ukrainian Ecological University Dmitriy Averin according to OstrovV website.
“It is not reliably known what exactly happened there (at the chemical works in Donetsk. – ed.). This is the third explosion occurring in its territory. It is there that one of the nuclear waste depositories of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is situated”, – the expert remarked, having added that there is a chance of destruction of this depository.
Averin also said that no one is monitoring the environment in the “occupied territories”, as he put it, that is why people might know nothing about the contamination.
Fortunately, he is mistaken, but he could have unintentionally revealed the purpose of Ukrainian Army repeated attempts to turn the area of the chemical plant in Donetsk into a replica of the Moon surface.
2. Russian humanitarian convoy sets off for Donbass [Source]
June 18, 2015
3. OSCE Confronted By Angry Residents Of Gorlovika About Their Covering Up For The Kiev Regime And Falsifying Reports [Source]
4. Dmytro Korchinskiy, a well-known fascist: “Lets destroy Donbass”
Dmytro Korchinskiy, a well-known fascist, openly admitted that Kiev junta’s goal is to destroy the areas that can not be conquered
5. Fights In Donbass 17.06.2015
6. Fights In Donbass 18.06.2015
Ukraine
1. Chechen refugees harassing Ukrainian and Georgian refugees in a refugee centre in Poland [Source]
Basically, the Chechens tell the Ukrainians not to wear clothes with too short sleeves and turn-ups. They claim “the refugee centre is an Islamic state, as Muslims live here”. An Ukrainian woman starts complaining about it to a Polish guard, but he ignores her, telling her the Chechens had been behaving like that before.
What’s interesting, this Chechen “refugee” is harassing other Russian speaking people in this camp, but he is claiming that his harassment is Russia’s fault. He is clearly an agent provocateur inside this refugee camp.
2. Stephen Cohen: The US and NATO are escalating their assault on Kerry and Putin’s agreement to seek a diplomatic solution to Ukrainian conflict [Source]
Nothing new here, just updates.
What everything comes down to is that you can’t pursue a deliberate policy of encirclement without eventually provoking the country you encircle to strike back. The West really overstepped their mark by betting everything on gaining Ukraine as the last piece of their encirclement puzzle. If the West wanted another outcome it would have treated Russia completely different, creating genuine partnership with it, alas that was never a goal from the part of the West.
3. Anti-US mood rising among the Kiev locals [Source]
Anti-war march in central Kiev for resignation of Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk June 17, 2015
I see no reason to title these SitReps ‘Ukraine SitRep’.
Ukraine is a self-destroying criminal conspiracy, bereft of leadership, without a soul or conscience, fed monies from the West as a proxy in a war against Russia.
Why honor it?
Russia needs honoring not the fascists in Kiev.
In fact, East Ukraine is gone from the former nation of Ukraine. We all refer to it as Donbass or Novorossiya.
Let’s devalue the former entity of Ukraine to its proper status.
Russia is the great nation, the great culture, the great civilization.
Yet we monkey around with a SitRep title that perpetuates a myth.
Treat it the way Ukraine and its “leader” were treated at Minsk 2 by Putin and even by the other three principals.
Porky was there to sign the deal. He was there to take home the document that finished his sovereignty and tied his “realm” to Russia forever. He was an errand boy without a seat at the table, without an iota of input.
“Russian SitRep” makes total sense. The content and the reality of the SitReps all say ‘Russia’.
Ukraine is not a sovereign any longer. It is bankrupt. It is erasing its own history and fabricating a new “history” to further defraud its own people of any semblance of a rational future. It imports its ministers and governors. Its Intel agency is subservient to the CIA. Its military is run by the USA and NATO.
There is no there there, to quote Gertrude Stern.
It may have a large land mass and 40 million people living there, but it is a failed state in every sense of the term.
but what about people who want to google articles about the ukraine crisis?
Search engine spiders read the entire article and thus its contents about Ukraine will be captured.
By the way, I totally agree with Larch.
And another is two for Larchmonter. Scotts sit reps are more an excellent resource/analysis of Russia’s situation.
Regarding Scott: I totally agree with you.
Scott’s Sitereps are right on point, a great mix of wit, appropriate sarcasm saturated with the truth and well researched facts. I’m really taken by how well they’re done.
My only complaint is the stomach cramps I get from laughing too hard after one his classic zingers like:
Liberals in Russia are “selflessly bearing the burden of running” Russian banks, universities, and mineral extraction companies. The fact that they become billionaires in the process and transfer these fortunes to the West of the Russia’s borders, is being omitted from the Western narration.
-Or-
“After Kiev found itself in a ring of fire, finally some refreshing moisture: In Troeshchina area, a (sewer) pipe busted. A fountain of shit achieved a height of 25 meters. I simply cannot imagine what further hints can God make?”
:))
The nomadic herders of Mongolia are being brutalised by the power centres of eastern Mongolia and together with the fact and a handy meme based on the largescale death of antelope is a dangerous combination which could see a rip along underbelly of Russia from Afghanistan through to Mongolia with a hold out or two Stans pincered in between. Why are western peacekeepers in Mongolia…? Doesn’t anyone understand the sacredness of the antelope. Doesn’t anyone understand that the antelope and the land and the sky and the old ways are sacred..? Awaken or be damned..! A hidden existential crisis is about to engulf Mongolia..!
When the flood gates open I’m hoping the Russian people will deal fully with the traitors among them.Half-measures are just that,half-measures.Its not an accident that Russia’s decline has come from the de-industrialization of the post-Soviet era.And from the collapse of the USSR.Will there be a man in Russia strong enough to change that.And answer the call of the Russian people for “what is to be done”.I have thought that man was Putin.But so far he hasn’t made the needed reforms.So maybe Putin is not that man.Maybe it will take another to steel himself to the tasks needed.But whoever it is,Putin or another.He needs to appear soon and start to work.
Yesterday, there was an article on vz.ru I believe that said that Putin has proposed bringing back some economic planning system from the Soviet days. One has to assume that there is at least some planning going on in the bowels of the neoliberal bureaucratic swamp in Moscow’s civil service. So one wonders how this would be different. Of course, this might be “ideological” and violate the Western-installed constitution that bans any ideology other than consumerism.
As I’ve said before.History shows that “Constitutions” can be changed to meet current needs.Some in the US believe that constitutions are sacred (because of the myth of our own).But even the US one,while keeping the basics has had (and probably will have in the future) “amendments” tacked on to them. When the people demand it (or a government has enough power) a constitution never stands in the way to change.And in this case,the Russian people certainly do demand it.And with a government support of 80+%, changing the constitution should not be a problem,”if” you have the will to do so.It seems the problem may lay in the “will to do so” part.
“The EU sanctions kill Russian people, just as effectively as the EU junta kills Russian Ukrainians by military means and the blockade of food, water and medicine.”
What? I thought all was well, that the sanctions did not have an impact…
So of us who pointed all those things up were called trolls.
We knew that the west did not play poker but practiced street fight where everything is allowed.
Strelkov was right. They will push and push and push. There are only two things that will make them stop: Russia submits or Russia fights back.
How much longer can you keep this pretense that “the west is about to collapse” and do nothing?
I think it’s difficult to make a case that EU sanctions are killing Russians, except maybe in isolated circumstances, or due to inadequate support of people thrown into poverty because their particular source of income was damaged.
Some sanctions are hurting Russia, but others are good in the long run even though difficult in the short term, like how getting a new computer can damage you productivity for a while until adjustments are made.
“only two things that will make them stop: Russia submits or Russia fights back” is not correct; Russia can simply close the door to the empire since it is well able to live exclusively on it’s own resources — but it will take adjusting. As Russia becomes more self-sufficient it can also engage in trade with other countries, such as the BRICS, which will be good for Russia, and trading partners, even while not becoming dependent on it. Russia is, really, not simply a country but virtually an entire continent. The problem in Russia is that it’s core economy was compromised to the West, so that has to be corrected.
This will take radical changes — changes at the root (radical), but no more so than integrating with the capitalist fascists as it had been attempting, and much less so than being destroyed by the empire. There is no alternative to change — really — not just a slogan — things cannot continue as they have without Russia’s destruction. But that doesn’t mean submission or war, but a big nuisance, like getting a new house, computer, or even getting a divorce.
Russia is like another planet. it’s not a cornered rat by any means. Just close the window on the west and look eastward. no reason to strike back unless physically attacked.
Blue, Russia cannot be self-sustaining or independent until she determines her own monetary policy. Until Russia decides upon the quantity of currency and credit she needs and prints it or creates it on a keyboard– until that day Russia is vulnerable and inhibited from normal development.
If Russia decides to do that it can happen almost overnight. There may be plans set up for it now — I would expect that to be considered as much as military defense plans — which are not public.
The question may be more of timing than it being needed. In the meantime there are interim measures possible: creation of a national bank or federal fund to finance building and hiring (no need to lend money or charge interest of course — FDR’s programs were not loans), direct spending by the Russian government, as well as sorts of possible loan programs could be created, and even administered by RCB.
Yoda says “Do or do not. There is no try” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ4yd2W50No
It is a matter of realization of consciousness and decision — when it is decided the time is right. (A lot of ‘zen’ in here.)
I like your optimism. The issue with change is that those now in high places might lose it. When the USSR morphed into a piratized swamp of neoliberalism, a large percentage of people in high places prospered. In the current situation, a high percentage of people in high places need to be escorted to the border and given a map showing how to get to London.
Gazprom can adjust to selling to China. But there is an entire neoliberal infrastructure, including the bureaucracy, educational establishment, media, and banking. Or more. And who else besides the West needs an unemployed specialist in something taught at Yale or the University of Chicago?
It’s easy enough to get some people form UMKC, or maybe Bill Mitchell, to give a crash course in MMT, especially when they understand the alternative is for them to become chamber maids for the empire’s head fascists — or be retired to a nice little cabin in the tundra. This *is* an existential threat — it’s not like there is an easy way out by playing silly games. That must be recognized.
Maybe Putin recognizes it now and is ‘finessing’, or maybe he is on the way to recognizing it, or maybe he is laying the roadway for someone else with more of ‘the Force’ to do it — or maybe someone else who understands will grab the reins, with the people behind him (her?) and see it through — but if it isn’t done then Russia will finally be destroyed.
Before I moved to my current location I had a job which could not pay the ridiculous real estate taxes and meet my other expenses where I was, and there were no prospects for anything better. I recognized I was in a situation of slow death, which I could not survive. So as difficult as it was I uprooted myself and moved, and lost a fair bit in the process, Now things are not good, but I am so far surviving — and things where I was have gotten much worse. I am a refugee of the class war, as many others are, but there was no rational choice. The refugees of shooting wars have made similar decisions, albeit in much more harrowing circumstances. Russia is not in as nearly bad shape — and yet it also is faced with the same sort of decision: change direction or perish, as has the other victims of the fascist empire. It’s up to them.
When I first read about the asset freezes/outright thefts, I told my wife: “It looks like France and Belgium really crave war with Russia. What a bunch of insane fools!!!!”
The upcoming SCO and BRICS summits in Ufa were scheduled very timely and will have some extremely important discussions as war looks more certain now than previously.
I also see that Kudrin is using a different tactic to destabilize Russia’s internal situation, http://rt.com/politics/268114-russia-kudrin-early-elections/ Need for a new president because greater “credibility” is required!! Putin’s approval is over 80% and clearly has plenty of credibility.
Lets be clear on one thing first: the US/EU empire is out to destroy Russia and steal all its resources. Now it’s an information and economic war, but it will go military if the fascists think they can get away with it — its an all-out war as far as the end goals go. Russia, and China, and the rest of the world not yet subservient to the empire must understand this as an existential threat and act accordingly. The people of other nations which have been subsumed by the empire must also understand the vampires in their midst and stop the draining of their life blood.
Russia will take a hit to the extent that it has in the past allowed itself to become vulnerable to these vampires, but it can recover if it locks the door to them now and routes out the enemies within. The vampires will die when they are exposed to the sunlight of the truth and deprived of blood. Business deals with the EU may seem attractive but when the EU ignores law and civilized norms of trade then it’s not possible to depend on it for anything other than Russia setting itself up for being cheated and abused in the future.
If a burglar breaks in and steals some of your stuff, you may not be able to recover it, but you can sure make sure the door is locked so no more will be stolen, and the burglars do not kill family members while they sleep. This is an appropriate analogy: Russia, China, and the world is under attack, and has been for many decades. Actions to counter this must be understood and decisive, and the geopolitical context must be re-examined down to the core to dispense with incorrect assumptions and habits.
Variation of old joke:
A nation calls up the police and says “there is a fascist in my basement”.
The police say “Put a trail of money from basement to the outdoors and wait for the fascist to follow it outside”.
An hour later the nation calls the police and says “I did what you said, and now there are two fascists in my basement”.
A brief run down of the environmental impact of the conflict in Donbass:
http://lepontduhadu.blogspot.fr/2015/05/blog-ecological-dimension-of-donbass.html
Thank you Scott.
On the topic of the 5th column – they seem to be out in their element at the St. Petersburg Forum.
http://tass.ru/en/economy/801928
http://tass.ru/en/russia/801723
Who needs enemies when you have Kudrin.
The Russian repsonse to Belgian extortion:
http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150618/1023540442.html
You freeze our assets – we freeze yours. The EU are lawless. Thoroughly disgusted with the EU. Bunch of gangsters……
Gazprom to have new pipeling under Baltic to Germany – goodbye Baltic states and Poland. Like Ukraine no Russian gas direct to you.
India signs free trade zone with Eurasian E.U.
Greece signs up for Turkstream
Saudis rush to Russia to discuss deals too…..and on and on and on – whilst the miserable 5th column and West try and push doom and gloom and extortion/thievery.
In Ukraine
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150618/1023545492.html
Volunteer batallion vs Govt. forces – its all starting to fall apart with infighting…..
Rgds,
Veritas
” http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150618/1023545492.html ”
…
Tornado Batallion forces, numbering about 170 fighters, “mined the perimeter of their base, set up point defense, including automatic grenade launchers across several locations, and factually blocked off the path to the base,” mining vehicles and declaring that “they would shoot” if Kiev made “any attempts to resolve the situation by decisive action, or if the investigation committee attempted to enter the base.”
…
Idiots — they have trapped themselves. If they don’t surrender Kiev can just drop a few bombs on them without even getting close. Or just close off the area, cut water and power, and let them starve.
@Veritas,
Your SITREP was great too, thanks man, that was just great coverage.
India signing a freetrade agreement with the Eurasian Union is surprising because I didn’t expect it would happen that quickly: it was supposed to take 8-11 months before a decision was to be made; but India announces decision at SPIEF on June 18th (months early). It looks like PM Modi is serious about making fast decisions and cutting thru red-tape. That would make India the largest economy within the free-trade framework with the Eurasian Union.
So much for the bulls**t rhetoric about Russia being isolated. I’d say this decision by India is a clear endorsement of the Russian economy. Why bother signing up a freetrade deal with a shrinking and failing economy? Maybe because its not shrinking and failing? Could it be that Russia’s long term prospects as a market for Indian goods (pharmaceuticals, engineered goods, etc) is very good?
If the Indians, who are known to be risk-averse and meticulous in their analysis, are signing up to such an agreement, I think it makes a mockery of the ‘Liberal’ 5-columnist (kudrin, guriev, etc) propaganda (sour-grapes) commentary.
Too bad for Europe, they’ve reduced to going back to open theft (of Russian assets) and aggression instead of civilized trade. Maybe the Galicians understand EU values better than the rest of us.
Thanks for your work on the “liberals”, asset freezes and sanctions Scott.
The blatant robbery of assets, the sanctions, and basically diplomatic isolation of Russia by Europe, puts Russia and Europe on a war footing. It seems these attacks will only continue and intensify.
It seems just a matter of time until the shooting starts unless Europe changes its course.
It is interesting to relate the Yukos verdict to the recent discussion about TPP and TIPP and their investor protection clauses.
“According to Leontiev, the use of legal tools to assess the situation in this case is meaningless. He compared abusive behavior of small European nations like Belgium and France toward Russia to a “self-gratification play with their reproductive organs.”
Liers, criminals, and imbecilles addicted to masturbation.
I have a lot of respect for Scott, based on past performance, but I think the seizure stories are a little alarmist, and I also was not aware of any life-threatening impacts on Russian people from the EU sanctions.
I looked at the RT story on asset seizure – it gives a better sense that these steps are in their preliminary stages, are being treated as outrageous and illegal by Russian diplomacy, and are being readied to be met with reciprocal action:
Moscow summons Belgian envoy over seizure of state assets, threatens retaliation
I always recall a thing President Putin said in that great Crimea documentary. Certain officers within the military were raising the issue of nuclear readiness during the Crimea crisis. Putin answered with three elements:
1. The Cold War is over.
2. The situation doesn’t demand that level of action.
3. The nuclear weapons are on permanent stand-by anyway.
What we will see from Russia are precisely measured responses equivalent to the actions from the west. If EU wants to escalate, the willingness of Russia to go all the way is always ready.
I think all commenters here should truly audit their own levels of confidence in Russia’s ability to act like an adult – frankly it gets wearisome with every slight crisis to see everyone cave in to fear and doubt, and urge Russia to stronger actions. I know it comes from most people out of genuine concern, but it muddies the waters because it’s also a prevalent troll meme.
There’s no need to panic yet, let’s give Russia some room to breathe, and to act with maximum responsibility.
Wisdom!
Well said, Grieved.
Good thing most of Gazprom’s European physical assets are underwater and essentially untouchable. But I wouldn’t be surprised to read of one of its pipelines being breached–bombed–as that’s the next step in the escalation game. So, yes, I think it’s a poor decision to lay another pipeline to Germany. When the sanctions finally end, certainly, but not before.
It should be noted that the actions of Belgium and France would constitute a cassus belli for Russian military action.
Let them seize the pipelines, Putin can just turn gas off for the coming Winter!
Putin also said that elements of the West want to chain and perhaps kill the bear in the Taiga, and that is probably the more relevant meme for our times. It isn’t a Cold War as much as a Bear Hunt.
Actually, though, it is true that the West doesn’t really want war. What they want is to drive Putin out and put in someone like Yeltsin. A lot of progress from the Western point of view was achieved in his time. This kind of compromise is still on offer, but it hasn’t been accepted. As most of us here are against the Anglo-Zionist Empire, this is good news indeed.
Anyway, the bigger picture is that Russia seems to be stalling for time, and that some of these maneuvers by the EU or US are not that important in the grand scheme of things. The important thing is for Russia to use this time wisely.
Nifty video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQLfcHh6eOE
attacking a russian spetsnaz guy – bad idea – YouTube
Now, who is the ‘adult’ in that video? The spetsnaz guy gives a measured, but decisive response.
The problem is not whether Russia can act appropriately, but whether the empire can, and will. From what we have seen the empire can’t and won’t, so Russia needs to be prepared to cut bait and give it up when she judges the effort given and damage taken is no longer worth the hope that anything will improve. Given what I’ve seen over the last 30 odd years I see no hope at all left that the US (and puppet EU now) will change direction or smarten up for a very long time to come. What’s new that would cause a change?
Scott, one of the scariest things in Russia is that the West already IS treating Russians w injections, etc. There have been medical NGOs in Russia for 20 years!
Thanks, guys.
Let’s hope I am wrong about the severity of complications due to the Yukos lawsuits.
About the EU and the US sanctions causing an increase in mortality rate. It’s a fact
http://in.rbth.com/society/2015/05/27/sudden_rise_in_russias_mortality_rate_puzzling_43351.html
“An alarming rise of 22% in mortality rates of those suffering respiratory ailments in Russia this year has left researchers and analysts puzzled. Equally inexplicable is the worrying rise of 5.2 % in overall death rates during the first quarter of 2015. ”
I checked and the facts are that people are dying more from the respiratory problems, cardio and strokes. Plus, more people are dying in hospitals with severe cases.
I have my theory about this…
When old people and people in fragile health have their pensions and life savings, they feel financially secure, even those who are by no means wealthy. Suddenly, they are experiencing 50% to 75% reduction in the value of their savings. It came before the New Year Eve and before Christmas. People still remember the horrors of 90s. A psychological trauma to go through all these again proves unbearable for many. People are dying more because they are upset about losing money and loosing the sense of stability in their lives.
I blamed sanctions, but essentially the blame should be divided between sanctions and the liberal anti-people monetary policies of the Central Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance. Maybe a class action lawsuit against these two entities is needed.
Scott, this is really interesting about the mortality rate. As I read it, I’m struck by one of the most profound things I’ve observed about Putin from various documentaries, which is that he genuinely venerates old people. He honors his own parents, and he sees all people of that generation as heroes and survivors, people who gave his generation a chance at life, the absolute foundation of the society. I can only guess how he must feel to read these statistics about old people.
And yet I also find it strange that they in turn wouldn’t take immense solace from the fact that Russia is being run by a good man. I’ve seen old women venerate Putin, with the certainty of folk wisdom and common sense that the country is in good hands. Very puzzling.
I encourage you to keep your interest in these matters. I’m sure we’ll all be grateful to discover what Russian researchers determine to be the cause of this change. I’m also grateful for all your work, which I didn’t take the time to say. Your thinking is a great asset here.
remember EU quite happily noticing and officially noted the rise in poverty rate from c 16 to 17%, , an increase in people living below the poverty line………….so they were/are quite happy to see how their sanctions are working and so voted to continue them.
More state support for the poor stresses the state, people caring for older relatives get stressed, feel the pinch on them, harder to buy medical treatment, demoralises, dis-inencitivises working families, has a knock on effect to industrial production, what people buy to support the economy etc etc
so it is ‘economic war’,
just like Kiev is endlessly making attritional war on the Donbass, damage land housing infrastructure, traumatic stresses on peoples and local government, which stress we have seen expressed in those interviews with Zakharchenko-summer is only just getting going, so the people saying they do not have water, gas, electricity, are already thinking of next winter and wondering should they stay or go, they can only stand so much. As Saker said a while ago, it is a legitimate tactic for an army to retreat………notice Donbass was arranging evacuations of some people, communities..people sense the AFU are still building up to a summer offensive and will try to hold the ground they will “occupy”( I mean within shelling range eg Pion 40k range, the range of Tochku and other missiles, thermobaric bombs they are experimenting with) because Merkel and Holland have been shown to be spineless cretins, and the west is mostly not at all interested, except some enlightened political parties, peoples, a few of the older ex-politicians, who know what is going on whilst Zak and co are most admirably attempting to fashion a new state.
I am not sure if Rus humanitarian convoys will be enough to make people stay except in concentrated areas eg Donetsk using airport to fly in winter supplies as villages could not be strong enough next winter if Ukr continues its expanding actions, as clearly those people were expressing to OSCE (lady shelled 3 times for example), and were raising the question with Zak. is the AFN strong enough to withstand, what long term future is there……..is it better to move eastwards now in the summer months and build a new life rather than be forced to in the winter, as the economic blockade is getting even stronger, with almost weekly announcements by Poro it seems to me of some extra ‘punishment’ for simply trying to live in the Donbass, and Zak saying they are trying their best but where is the money coming from eg 140m owed for coal production that Ukraine historically has bought, but the coal company is bankrupt, there may not be Ukr money to buy coal from Donbass? Mines are still being targeted by shelling-60000 miners were employed, how risky are their jobs?
BTW, I remember Saker saying please could we say “The Ukraine” , …..maybe he might agree we drop this pretence?
!!!!!!!!!!
The choice’s are clear in Donbass.Do you desert your homeland and ethnically cleanse yourselves from the land of your ancestors.Or do you fight to have a future in your own homeland.I say don’t go to the East to build a new life.Instead go to the West and build a new life for your country.And take your army along with you.West all the way to Transnistria,and possibly to Kiev.But without even a question to Kharkov,Mariupol,and Slavyansk.
An admirable intention,but i think most want a peaceful life with a fair chance or a reasonable wage and life in a friendly community….moving west has too many uncertainties for anyone but young strong pioneering generation…..and rus people being very family minded i would think would prefer to stick together where it feels stronger to go economically,wheras westwards they see greek problems,transnystria problems, and it will be too challenging to set up new lives, eastwards are more certainties for these traditional peoples. I just feel if the situation worsens there will be an exodus of some kinds………i would pdefer to be optimistic….but……..i feel things are on a bIt of a knife edge unless there is much more open and real support from rus.
I think you misunderstood what I was advocating.I didn’t mean really “moving” West.I was advocating attacking to the West and liberating the country from the junta forces (hence the “and take your army along with you”).
Thanks Scott.
Did a little recce on the Wa-post. A big increase in the ‘Russia Aggression’ rhetoric. But then, an election is coming up, and the selectees need serious dollars from their old friends the MIC. Seems not even 40% of the 2014 discretionary budget – a whopping 444billion$ – is enough for Lockheed and Co..
So don’t be too surprised Sergey gets wheeled out – a *Russian* neo-con no less! Nothing but PR for Insane Mc Cain and his numerous backers behind the Senate Arms Committee.
Deflects attention away from TIPP and an increasingly jittery Texas..and that mass shooting in Charleston..
Tho Belgium FM – only days ago – was sending out friendly signals to Russia and complaining of EU sanctions (no link, so I am paraphrasing, but the message was anything but hostile) so the timing – and location – of the assets seizure is particularly interesting. The original ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) awarded the claimants only around a billion. This direction seems to have come from the Council of Europe, though not sure.
If so, we see different EU institutions in conflict with each other, so making implementation pretty difficult. Soros has been pledging various bribes – sorry, funds – to the CoE lately, so I suppose he is a main player in the stunt.
It will be interesting to see what ‘concerns’ the Chinese might raise about the application of European law and what impacts/implications such moves might have on their own – substantial – investments. Or what precedents are being established in by-passing international norms..
Frankly, along with the Kudrin outburst, I get the impression the Russian neo-liberals are getting desperate.
Watch out for Italian reaction.
Penelope.
Panic not.
Do you seriously think those jabs haven’t been thoroughly assessed by the Russians?
A recent piece on Doctors Without Borders operating Turkmenistan (from a Turkmenistan.ru news agency) was scathing. The article reported that a considerable number of their personnel did not have MD qualifications, but were merely paramedics. Their behaviour – at least among some of their personnel – went down like a lead balloon. They were put under notice to resolve their inadequacies by Turkmenistan authorities. Now, why do you think the Turkmenistan authorities were so suspicious in the first place (and turned out to be rightly so?) Yep, because Mother Russia has been onto them for years..
Even the Haitians are no longer tolerating the use of humanitarian ‘brands’ to hide crime: the SRed Cross has been accused of embezzling half a billion dollars intended for post-earthquake re-building: they only constructed around six. And medical doctors working for a Catholic relief agency in Kenya discovered HCG ( a long-known delay-contraceptive agent which induces miscarriage after first birth) in anti-tetanus vaccines in Kenya. Their suspicions were aroused because only women and girls of reproductive age were ‘eligible’ for the scheme, the shots were multiple (tetanus shots are neither sex-specific nor multiple) and tetanus is not an epidemiological disease-event.i or even common. More Africans die of heart disease and diabetes than any of these vaccine-treated diseases.
You can be absolutely certain the Russians have been alert to Western health agendas – and their potential for subversion – for a long time, and proceed with due caution.
Iranians are the smartest and most well-informed of all. Should be interesting to see if they can use their brainpower to thwart a neocon Bush or Clinton war after O’s out of office.
Yes, I believe quite a bit of “Doctors without Borders” are a scam. They are really one of those NGOs that are there to support/stir up/encourage color revolutions.
I hope you are right. But Russia was overwhelmingly dominated by the West not that long ago, and the society is very corrupt, so it makes it easy to get around laws. Perhaps a more important difference is that the people are not as dumbed down and brain dead and fearful. So nurses and doctors would actually respond if a vaccine caused hundreds or horrible reactions.
Still, it does look like a serious cleaning of NGOs is under way, and not just in Russia. Good news indeed.
Thank you Scott for an excellent Sitrep. You expressed perfectly the outrage we all feel over the Belgium and French “pseudo legal” actions against Russia. It’s hard to know what an appropriate response should be. The only reason they can do this junk is that they have full confidence that Russia will respond rationally. They wouldn’t DARE do this to Israel or even the US. It is so UNFAIR.
Yes, thank you, Russia, for always behaving in a mature, spiritually advanced, ethical, and humane manner. Sergei Lavrov, you are a true gentleman. Just look at these horrible (but funny) characters from “Deep Space 9.” You are nothing like these nasty brutish awful conniving slippery manipulative brutes. Thank God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rACCZaBcq1g
> The only reason they can do this junk is that they have full confidence that Russia will respond rationally.
A truly excellent insight.
The power mad do act irrationally — deliberately so. And Putin is not power-mad: he acts from a genuine, diamond-hard calling to protect his nation and his people. Such honest, steely resolve drives his enemies to further madness because he’s not playing by the rules.
And so when Russia eventually reciprocates, expect great surprise and howls of outrage.
What most people fail to realize — because most people understand why hypocrisy is bad (despite their own moral lapses) — is that these neo-con “liberals” (and vorocrats in general) have no moral center, and thus no sense of hypocrisy: hypocrisy is just another shameless tool they use to win the game at any cost. (One of their lesser thinkers even wrote a book called In Defense of Hypocrisy.)
An interesting article that ties well into the report here:
Kiev: Chestnuts Blossom Again
I had to whip up my courage to go to the Ukraine. There was a recent spate of political killings in the unhappy and lovely land, and the perpetrators never apprehended; among those killed was Oles Buzina, a renowned writer and a dear friend. Two years ago, well before the troubles, we had a drink under a chestnut tree in a riverside café. Buzina was in his forties, rather tall and slim, had a narrow sarcastic face of Mephistopheles, a bald head, a hint of moustache and a bad temper. He was a Thersites among the warlike nationalists of Kiev, laughing at their sacred myths of eternal Ukraine Above All. He called their beloved nationalist poet, the first one to write in the local dialect, “a vampire” for his predilection to bloody scenes. Buzina wrote in Russian, the language educated writers of the Ukraine preferred and perfected since Gogol, and he rejected the parochial narrative of the recent coup d’état.
He was shot at high noon, in a street near his home in central Kiev, and the killers just vanished in thin April air. He was not alone: opposition journalists were killed, shot like Buzina and Suchobok, parliament members, governors and officers of law were defenestrated like Chechetov, MP in the “epidemics of suicides”. Were they killed by local extremists freely operating in the land, or did they become victims of Seal Team Six, the feared American assassins who kill enemies of the Empire by their thousands from Afghanistan to Ukraine to Venezuela? Who knows. Many more independent journalists and writers escaped by the skin of their teeth – to Russia like Alexander Chalenko or to Europe like Anatol Shary.
I’ve met them in Kiev before the troubles, I’ve met them in their exile, and they told me of threats, of gangs of armed football fans and neo-Nazis roaming the land. I was scared, as in my advanced age I did not fancy a sojourn in a torture cellar, but curiosity, desire to see with my own eyes and judge for myself, and above all, the attraction of chestnuts in full tender bloom defeated the fear, and I took a rare Moscow-Kiev train. Always full in normal days, it was half empty. Other travellers were also worried: the Ukrainian border guards were known to arrest people on slightest suspicion or to ban entry after a few hours in a police cooler.
The border guard that checked my Israeli passport was a huge man in a military camouflage with a large strip displaying his blood type in bold Latin numerals: IV Rhesus-. Still, he let me in after checking with his computer and asking a few questions. I was to see many soldiers and officers in battle dress all over Ukraine, as many as in Israel, perhaps. The Kiev government obviously took a leaf from Israel’s cookbook: schmaltzy advertising for military is ubiquitous, including calls to join the army, to support soldiers, to feed soldiers, to entertain soldiers, as if these soldiers of theirs are defending the homeland from barbarians. In reality, they are shelling and looting the breakaway provinces, like the Yankees in the Gone with the Wind.
The looting made the war quite popular for a while with an average Ukrainian. That is, until coffins began to arrive from two major defeats of the Kiev army, under Ilovaisk and Debaltsevo. Pictures of young men who died fighting to regain Donbass are displayed in prominent places in Ukrainian cities – there are too many of these martyrs for a small victorious war. The stream of volunteers dried up, and the regime began drafting able-bodied men. A number of draftees chose to flee to Russia or went into hiding, but the army is being beefed up all the same – by the mercenaries of Western private companies as well.
The Minsk agreements quelled the war, though shooting and shelling goes on. The Renewal of full-scale hostilities is still very possible: the US wants a proxy war against Russia. The regime may choose war for economic reasons as things go from bad to worse. Standards of living dropped sharply: hryvna, the currency, went down, prices went up, while salaries and pensions remained as they were.
Do people complain, do they regret the February 2014 coup? Not really. They blame Russia’s Putin in all their misfortunes and refer to him by an obscene nickname. “Putin is envious of us for we shall join the EU”, a burly internet café owner in camouflage told me, though at that very time, in Riga, the EU leaders made it clear that in no way Ukraine will become a full member of EU. Rather, an associated one, like Turkey or North Africa. Militarist propaganda (“stand by our boys”) made an impact. As does the nationalist one. Many Ukrainians speak with palpable hatred of Russia, though with surprising ease they go to work and live in Russia if and when an opportunity arises.
Russians believe that deprivations will sober the people of Ukraine, but it seems unlikely. The Ukrainians, like all Russians (and that’s what they are, for Ukraine is the south-western part of historical Russia, and as Russian as any place) are hardy, stubborn, patient, frugal and able to survive in most adverse conditions. A reverse could be possible: in 2004, the first Maidan coup (also sponsored by the West) installed a pro-Western president, but he earned universal scorn and failed to get re-elected. The second Maidan coup could suffer a similar fate, but this time the regime decided to ban the opposition parties. The Communist Party is banned, and the previously ruling Regions Party was dismantled and its members are forbidden to participate in elections. The Kiev regime does not need an appearance of democracy, as they have the West’s support.
I do not want to exaggerate: Kiev is not hell on earth; it is still a comfortable city. People are reluctant to express their views in public, and some do not want to be seen with a man from Moscow, but their fear is not overwhelming. Communists and pro-Russian people in general are more likely to lose their job than their life. And a lot of Ukrainians look at Russia with love and sorrow, and express it. These are the Communists, who suffer daily threats; these are the Orthodox Christians, for the regime favours the Uniate Catholic Church of Eastern Rite and strong-arms the Orthodox from their churches; these are Russian-language writers and intellectuals who had their newspapers closed down and books removed; last but not least, there are industrial workers employed in still-surviving industries, for the Ukraine was the most industrialised part of Russia.
In the South-East of Ukraine, they fight with weapons; elsewhere, a slow-going war of words and ideas goes on. What do they fight for? The Russian version of the story – ethnic Ukrainian Neo-Nazi followers of Bandera persecute Russians of Ukraine – is a great over-simplification. So is the Ukrainian version of Ukraine choosing Europe against Russia pulling it back into its unwanted embrace. The reality is quite different. You understand that when you encounter pro-Ukrainian Russians of Russia. They are numerous, influential, prominently placed in Moscow, as opposed to numerous but disenfranchised pro-Russian Ukrainians of Kiev. The civil war goes in Ukraine and Russia, and it is not ethnic strife, as both sides often pretend.
This is the ongoing struggle between comprador bourgeoisie and its enemies: the industrialists, workers, military. This struggle has gone on since 1985, for 30 years. In 1991, the Empire won. The Soviet Union was undone. Its Industry and armed forces were dismantled. Science was eliminated. Workers lost their jobs. The state (in both Russia and Ukraine) became subservient to the Empire. This was a tragedy for ordinary people, but an opportunity for collaborationists.
Many people prospered at the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Not only the oligarchs – a whole class of people who could get a piece at privatisation. The Western companies bought a lot of industries and dismantled them. The agricultural complex was destroyed. Russia and Ukraine were hooked to the global imperial economy: they bought manufactured goods and food from the West, or from China for US dollars. The only produce of Russia has been its oil and gas.
There were two failed attempts to reverse the tide in Russia. Yeltsin blocked both with tanks. Worn and hated, he appointed Putin to succeed him. Putin was chosen and supported by oligarchs and by the West to rule Russia with an iron fist in a velvet glove and to keep it hooked and subservient. Very slowly he began to shift ground to independence. Putin’s Russia is still far away from full independence; it is far from clear Putin even wants that. Putin is not a communist, he does not want to restore the Soviet Union; he is loyal to Russia’s rich, he sticks to the monetarist school of thought, he trades in dollars through Western banks, he did not nationalise the many industries and lands taken over by the crooks.
Still Putin’s became the third attempt to reverse the tide. He did much more than it was permitted by the Empire. He crossed red lines in his internal policies by banning Western companies from buying Russian resources; he crossed the red line in his foreign policy while protecting Syria and securing Crimea. He began to re-industrialise Russia, produce wheat and buy Chinese goods bypassing dollar. He limited power of oligarchs.
But Yeltsin’s people, the Reaganite compradors, retained their positions of power in Moscow. They control the most prestigious universities and the High School of Economics, they run the magazines and newspapers, they have financial support of the oligarchs and of foreign funds, they are represented in the government, they have the mind of Russian intelligentsia, they miss Yeltsin’s days and they do love America and support the Kiev regime for they correctly see it as direct continuation of Yeltsin’s.
Yes, there is a big difference: Yeltsin was an enemy of nationalists, while Kiev uses nationalism as the means to consolidate its hold. Kiev is also much more militarised than Moscow ever was. The common ground is their hatred of the Soviet past, of communism and socialism. Kiev decided to destroy all monuments of the Soviet era and rename all the streets bearing Soviet names. Moscow anti-communists loudly supported this move and called to emulate it in Russia. Gorbachev’s intellectual elite, elderly but still going strong, also supported Kiev’s resolute anticommunism.
Putin hardly moved these people out of power. He cherishes his ties with Anatoly Chubays, an arch-thief of Yeltsin’s days, and with Kudrin, the Friedmanite economist. Recently he began to deal with their supply lines: Western NGOs and funds have to register, their transactions have been made visible and revealed huge financial injections from abroad into their media. Still, people identified as pro-Putin are a minority in Moscow establishment. So much for his “ruthless dictator” image!
This duality of Russian power structure influences Russian policy towards Ukraine. A minority that is “more pro-Putin than Putin”, calls for war and liberation of the eastern provinces of the Ukraine. They see confrontation with the West as unavoidable. The powerful comprador group calls to abandon Donbass and to make peace with Kiev and with New York. They want Russia to follow in the footsteps of Kiev, minus its nationalism. Putin rejects both extremes and treads the middle ground, annoying both groups.
The Kiev regime could use this reluctance of Putin and broker a good stable peace. But their sponsors want war. The breakaway Donbass was the power engine of all the Ukraine. The new regime is keen to de-industrialise the land: industrial workers and engineers speak Russian and relate to the Soviet Union and to Russia its heir, while Ukrainian-speakers and supporters of the regime are mainly small farmers or shopkeepers. This is a standard fare of ex-USSR: de-industrialisation is the weapon of choice for pro-Western regimes from Tajikistan to Latvia. Of Russia, too: the first thing carried out by pro-Western reformers in Gorbachev and Yeltsin’s days was de-industrialisation. It is said that Obama’s Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) will de-industrialise Germany and France. Thus industrial Donbass has good reasons resisting its inclusion in the Ukraine, unless this will be a federated state leaving much of its authority to the provinces. Kiev prefers war depopulating the region.
So in Ukraine I found a follow-up to dramatic events of 1990s. Who will win: the next generation of Gorbachev’s reformers in the nationalist folkish dress – or the industrial workers? Perhaps Putin could answer this question, but he is not in haste. In the second article we shall look at Moscow and its recent moves.
http://www.unz.com/ishamir/kiev-chestnuts-blossom-again/
Uncle Bob,
Thanks for that. It illustrates the similarities and differences between Russia and the Ukraine quite well. And the fact that the pro-Western establishment is quite strong in Moscow.
Speaking of the pro-Western folks in Moscow, the big reason for all the hate against Strelkov is not his past mistakes or personality, it is that he says things that that establishment doesn’t want to here, or, perhaps more honestly, doesn’t want the masses to hear. For example, here is something he wrote yesterday:
—
The key to victory and the subsequent revival of New Russia has been, and remained in Moscow. And the hope that Putin finally realize that the complete defeat of the Nazis in Kiev is necessary for his own political (and probably physical ) Survival – still remains.
…
Too much I said and wrote truthful words about some of the “untouchables” gentlemen who shuffled with one place to another decade and a half in the Kremlin “card deck”. While the “deck” tenure and its “cards” after each of the next debacle get new responsible assignment, I did not hope for that (except for an early funeral at public expense). I would not be surprised if Mr. Zurabov will, for example, become the Minister of Sports, and Mr. Mutko Assistant to the President in charge of Ukraine. Both work on their plots failed in the trash. Why not swap them? Well, Mr. Surkov’s not going to go away anywhere … ”
On the relationship between the time: “In 1915-1516, the Russian newspapers quite seriously discussed that” Germany will collapse under the weight of the problems – just pass the time. “Indeed, collapsed! Only the Russian Empire died a year earlier, and by the time the fall of the German Empire has already begun plunge into civil war.
In the middle of 1916 to finalize and raised in its membership a number of senior military authorities (including NS Bids gen.Alekseeva, commander of the northern front gen.Ruzskogo and probably the commander of the Southwestern Front gen.Brusilova) group of conspirators, which included the tip of the then Gos.Dumy and a number of grand dukes. The British and the French Embassy to coordinate their activities (especially prominent French Freemason and in combination – Ambassador to Russia, M.Paleolog).
I think that this (and have maybe been in the past) year at one of the villas on the French Riviera (or in Courchevel, or somewhere else) have already been very closed meetings, one to one (in essence) repeating similar hundred years ago. Prominent American “creator revolutions” Tefft (analogue .Paleologa) freely travels to Russia and conducts private interviews with governors (for example, in Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk region), as well as with the tip of the “liberal political beau monde” …
History is such a thing – it is repeated at each turn. Every time a little differently, but its basic laws are immutable.”
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The pro-Western establishment in Moscow does not want people to think that there is no way to go back to business as usual with the West or that there are more than a couple of things that remind one of the end times of the Russian Empire, the most obvious of which is the ease with which pro-Western traitors roam the streets and the halls of power and interface with the Westerners who are working to destroy Russia. Obviously, these traitors own half of the media, and thus hysterically attack Strelkov. (Not that he was right about invading, but there were a lot of more aggressive actions possible.)
One of the best examples of what you said was last year in April.The junta forces were massing to attack Donbass. Russia warned the junta it was wrong to attack your own population.And Russian troops started maneuvers near the border.The junta pulled its troops back.And only when the Russian troops left the border region did they begin their assaults. That showed clearly they feared Russian intervention. But once they understood Russia would not intervene they began the slaughter in Donbass. How many lives would have been saved,how much damage undone.If Russia have left the troops there.Or returned them whenever the junta made a move to attack.Time has clearly shown Russia earned no points with the West by her inaction,and never will.Only a strong Russia can protect herself and her friends.A weak Russia is worthless for her citizens,and the World. Alexander III wasn’t just making a cute quip for history writers to report on, when he said “Russia’s only allies, are her army and navy”.He was saying a truism for his age that is no less true for ours.Russia must be strong or she is destroyed.He knew it then,we should understand it now.
With the close relationship between the two countries, Russia must have had the ability to do a lot inside the Ukraine. An example is that three or four of the main players in something like the Odessa pogrom could have had accidents every week or two after it happened. “Actions speak louder than words” as the old English saying goes. The US called Putin’s bluff and he folded in the case you mentioned. The strategy of not wanting to escalate things is understandable up to the point where things have gotten really nasty. So Georgia until the attack on South Ossetia or Kiev until Odessa and Mariupol. But you actually encourage bullies to do more if you don’t resist. If Saakashvili had taken South Ossetia, he would have gone for Abkhazia and then perhaps ethnic cleansing of the Armenian province, which is also under the gun to some extent today. He did get Adjara and had the Russian base removed in the Armenian area.
Paul II
Reading your posts and others, reading a lot about Putin – Putin will only act when he has the necessary support and can be successful.
He has his own thoughts and knows what needs to be done. If he is ousted, that cannot be accomplished. Putin has his own agenda that is kept out of sight of the “liberals”
I think these couple of paragraphs from above cover it.
> Yeltsin blocked both with tanks. Worn and hated, he appointed Putin to succeed him. Putin was chosen and supported by oligarchs and by the West to rule Russia with an iron fist in a velvet glove and to keep it hooked and subservient. Very slowly he began to shift ground to independence. Putin hardly moved these people out of power. He cherishes his ties with Anatoly Chubays, an arch-thief of Yeltsin’s days, and with Kudrin, the Friedmanite economist. Recently he began to deal with their supply lines: Western NGOs and funds have to register, their transactions have been made visible and revealed huge financial injections from abroad into their media<
Peter,
You are making a very important point, and that is the heart of what Ischenko has said. Putin has achieved a consensus of the elites, and to break it would be foolish. That consensus keeps liberals and national interest folks on the same page for the time being. In the Ukraine, the deal is “no intervention, but don’t let the Donbass fall”. The counter-argument is that this consensus can’t actually last, as it is like the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, so be honest about that and start the modern equivalent of mobilizing. An example of the problem is that it won’t solve the issue with Transdenistria being strangled. At the end of the day, you will have to act.
I don’t pretend to know the answers, and you are almost certainly correct about Putin’s pragmatic approach. I, too, assume he is only pretending to be friends and allies with many of the liberals. He just has to time his moves very carefully. He deceived the oligarchs back in the day, and let’s hope he is doing the same today.
The book of Revelations can’t be true is the Prince is prevented from turning up due to these little troubles or if Russia is collapsed irrevocably. Besides which the Gog Magog war has only just begun in the region known as the ukraine. I was slightly stunned to learn Shoigu is from Tuvul making him a possibility he is the prince of Tubal. And this firmed in my mind that Putin was the prince of Magog. And as the prince of Gog must be in train too this seems to indicate that Kiev is not ultimately lost to Russia’s at all. Then of course the Greeks it is written are allied with the above…the others in that list are obscure as yet to my eye but who knows perhaps soon more clarity comes…but it is true that a Baruch is a small vigorous horn…just as a gore is a horn and if one were to follow the other then it would be difficult to deny the connotations. Perhaps one should look at the trans pacific and atlantic pacts in term of what their ability would be to drive through the change to a carbon based value system wherein value is measured not in gold but in ability to absorb carbon…a different kind of card game than the one we have now wherein it is who can amasse gold but rather who has the least outstanding carbon debt and who can offer the most absorption… And perhaps this is the Achilles heal Russia has not kenned to as yet that the true resource it holds in the coming carbon system is the steppe and its mooted ability to be forested over the grasslands as a debt absorbing mechanism
..no man shall buy or sell except he who has the signifier of what unites all life…carbon…forget reading the beast as a monster in the context in the above paraphrase and go look up the original Greek word for beast in the line ‘mark of the beast’ because you will see in that instance of use the ‘beast’ is nothing more than ‘life form without terms denoting type’ and so simply means ‘all lifeforms’…and the mark or so to speak signifier of all life is carbon.
Probably the funniest western psy-op is the ebola lime green color scheme so that people associate ebola with lime green – the exact same lime green color in RT’s logo, LOL. Remember that Dallas nurse who caught ebola and lived in a lime green apartment building? You can’t make this stuff up. These cats sure are funny the way they want to connect Russia with every imaginable pestilence out there. Time to decalcify pineal glands or these nonsenses will never stop.
Scott,
Thanks for these reports. They are quite helpful.
One gathers that the main goal in much of this is to put pressure on Putin and the leadership class in general. If they don’t respond, they will look helpless and hapless at some point. Some already feel that is the situation with Minsk today. In addition, Putin’s popularity is somewhat based on being strong, so a lack of response to a long series of abuses will likely damage his reputation significantly.
In other words, it isn’t really about “Russians being discriminated against” or “the arrogance of Western courts”. This is all part of a policy to put rising pressure on the Kremlin. It is simply war in an ages of nukes. One hopes that the problem of half the government and media being in cahoots with the enemy will be addressed before long.
No one should be surprised by the latest stupidity of Belgium and France attempting to seize Russian assets, Countries under Zionist occupation including my own are bankrupt and dependent on easy monetary policy to present a false illusion of prosperity through increasing asset prices.
They are on the ropes and know it. Thus the plan to entice Russia and China into aggression in order to hide the criminal activities of the political and bankster class. The plan is obvious, poke the Bear and Dragon and then when they attack, let the economy collapse and blame it on the aggressive actions of foreign governments.
However, I am confident (hoping might be a better assessment) that the Bear and Dragon will continue their superior chess play and will deftly avoid the schemes of these miserable worm traitors and usurers leaving them to us to enact rightful judgement on their deeds.
BTW, tomorrow is the day when $75 million interest on Ukraine’s $3 billion eurobond debt issued for Russia in the end of 2013 is to be repaid.
This far the Ukrainian government has not used the right to a moratorium, will pay and try to keep it quiet. Has it something to do with Greece may be?
@ Scott,
Thanks, my man.
:[]:
Scott writes:
“No. Russia makes it clear that the country won’t reengage with all those anti-Russia and anti-Eurasia pro-Western outdated and antiquated organizations. Russia and the rest of the non-Western world are creating new organizations, beneficial for their founders, and not for the indebted, broke, and dissipated West.”
It would be satisfying if Russia were making the above clear. Unfortunately, Russia’s response to the relentless harrassmente, calumniation and thievery by the West doesn’t give reason to be so optimistic. The response is extremely servile, and has the painful effect of watching a forced pathetic grin in the face of someone who is being persistently humiliated. That is the only reading one can take from continuous timorous statements about the desire to “work with our partners” and so on. Hell, they’ve recently said they are not even contemplating continuing the import countersanctions against the EU.
@Anonymous
‘Servile’?
Putin has said the NATO escalation will be met in kind. Blunt, to the point.
Lavrov has responded to the French/Belgian ‘seizures’ in exactly the same way. When the Belgian authorities began bleating that they knew nothing about the them, Lavrov refused to believe them, dismissing them completely. He also warned that reciprocal action would be taken and that a group had been convened to examine both the immediate crisis and its broader implications.
‘Partners’ is clearly used ironically. And when they have to deal with those ‘partners’ face-to-face, the term’s blandness allows at least for communication lines to be kept open. Since much is happening on many fronts – the Middle East, Central Caucusus, Eastern Europe – total shutdown is not practical.
Timing is all.
http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-arrest-of-russian-assets-exists.html
The arrest of Russian assets exists only in the media
Let’s be quick, rough and to the point. There is no “arrest” as such, and it’s not expected. I can explain it literally on the fingers, but the problem is that our journalists are more interested in headlines rather than the facts and a correct understanding of what is happening.
Let’s define the terms: arrest involves a situation in which by a decision of the court (or other competent authority), legal or physical person loses the ability to control its assets. What do we have in the case of Belgium: we have letters from bailiffs sent to dozens of organizations, among which there many are European (for example Eurocontrol), with two questions:
1. Do you have assets under management that belong to the Russian state?
2. Do you have debts to the Russian state?
If there is a positive response to these questions, the next step is the demand to transfer these assets to the bailiffs and/or demand to pay the debt not to the Russian government, but Yukos.
[…]
I wouldn’t put it down to lack of will Uncle Bob.
Even the most specific tweak can fall victim to the Law of Unintended Consequences.
The US 14th Amendment which lifted the ban on interracial marriage was the central plank for launching the case for gay marriage, even though re-defining the institutions of marriage was not in fact an equality issue, as its function is to legitimatize the offspring of men and women. ( Civil unions which do not have that function were an equality issue.)
As a result, Principle has been replaced by Precedent allowing any lobby to set others – polygamy, incest etc., if they can get enough money behind it.
Who would ever have predicted twenty years ago that something which has never happened in the history of mankind is now the New Normal?
That’s why constitutional change requires law-makers to proceed with due caution.