Russia
- President Putin and Prime Minister Medvedev attend Orthodox Easter Liturgy Mass in Moscow
-
Chechen special forces in Arctic military drills (GoPro & drone footage)
Chechen special forces on an expedition in the Arctic for military
drills. The troops parachuted from an Ilyushin IL-76 from a height of
2,000 meters (6,561 ft), and then ‘attacked’ an enemy camp.
- Russian new Anti-Aircrafts defense system S-500 SAM
- Moscow wants Turkey to return cathedral of Agia Aophia to Orthodox Church
- Russia, China to hold anti-missile drill as US mulls radar deployment
in S. Korea
- Slovakia: Night Wolves lay wreath in Bratislava after entering EU despite Poland’s ban
- President Putin puts another stop to Alexei Kudrin’s ambition – Kudrin isn’t an Avis rent-a-car — won’t be number 2, won’t try harder
- Kudrin Returns? Why did Putin bring Alexey Kudrin back? by Alexander Mercouris
- Russia: Military divisions to be stationed in western Russia to resist NATO presence – Sergei Shoigu
Published on May 4, 2016 – Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced new measures to resist the strengthened NATO forces stationed on Russian borders, during a press briefing in Moscow, Wednesday.
Shoigu announced two new divisions will be established in the Western Military District and one in the Southern Military District by the end of the year. He explained that the measures are to counter the strengthening of NATO forces close to Russian borders.
Ukraine
- Ukrainian “expert”: Ukraine is faced with a Biblical endeavor
- In memory of the Odessa massacre. R.I.P. The YATSENYUK strategy
NATO
“NATO deployment near Russia borders dangerous”
NATO’s new supreme commander US General Curtis Scaparrotti says he will strengthen the alliance’s stance against Russia in eastern Europe. At a handover ceremony from his predecessor, Scaparrotti said NATO should consider whether to provide Ukraine’s government troops with weaponry as it battles pro-Russia forces. NATO has already said it will station four battalions in Poland and the Baltics near Russia’s border. In response, Moscow says it’s going to set up three new divisions in the west and south to counter NATO forces close to its border. Moscow argues NATO’s decision to station four battalions in the regions is quote-a very dangerous military build-up.
- NATO to Form Allied Fleet in the Black Sea: Plans Fraught with Great Risks
-
Turkey’s ruling party set to replace PM Davatuglu
- Moldova: Anti-NATO rally blocks US military vehicles as joint drills begin
- Kurdish MP To Turkish Parliament, ‘Turkey Is The Stolen Land Of Greeks, Armenians And Kurds’ [Video]
- CrossTalk on Trump and Clinton: Realist vs. Hawk?
Published on May 4, 2016
On this edition of CrossTalk we ask some simple questions: What kind of foreign policy would Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump pursue as president – would that foreign policy be good for the world and the United States – or are they two sides of the same exceptionalist coin?
CrossTalking with Stephen Schlesinger, Ray McGovern, and Jeffrey Tayler.
- The Debate – Leaked TTIP documents
This trade agreement has been touted as being good for the countries involved: that it would offer benefits for both people and businesses, like improved purchasing power, more jobs, cheaper products: the list is long. But a recent leak by Greenpeace has put the US and EU wide-ranging TTIP trade deal in jeopardy.
In this edition of the debate, we’ll discuss what those leaks were, and why this trade agreement would weaken standards and protections for the benefit of corporate interests.
Guests:
– Fmr. Assistant Secy. of US Treasury, Paul Craig Roberts (from FLORIDA)
– Finance Editor, The Independent, Sean O’Grady (from LONDON)
Middle East
3. In the Name of the Profit. 49 minutes Extended Version
An RT Documentary crew filming in northern Syria has seen Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL) documents abandoned by retreating terrorists and found by the Kurds that, along with captured IS recruits, provide a stunning insight into the ISIS oil trade.
Only ten days after the town of Shaddadi in Syrian Kurdistan was liberated from the ISIS militants, an RT Doc film crew followed Kurdish soldiers around houses that had been abandoned in haste by fleeing jihadists. There, they found documents shedding light on the ISIS oil trade, jihadist passports with Turkish entry stamps, an instruction booklet – printed in Turkey – on how to wage war against the Syrian government, and more.
The areas surrounding Shaddadi has large natural oil reserves, and until recently, ISIS militants profited from it, forcing members of the local population to work in their oil industry. Piles of detailed invoices used by ISIS to calculate daily revenues from selling oil were found on the site. Local residents attested that intermediaries from Raqqa and Aleppo arrived to pick up the oil and often mentioned Turkey, while a captured ISIS recruit admitted on camera that the terrorist group sells oil to Turkey. He and another foreign fighter from Saudi Arabia also revealed that it had been easy to cross the Turkish border.
The documentary contains exclusive footage from towns liberated from ISIS, and features interviews with locals who had worked on ISIS oil refineries as well as testimonies from the ISIS members captured by Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units) soldiers. Discover what RT Doc crew found in oil-rich areas that were under ISIS occupation only days ago.
Thank you for the links. I like these paragraphs from: 7. President Putin puts another stop to Alexei Kudrin’s ambition – Kudrin isn’t an Avis rent-a-car — won’t be number 2, won’t try harder
“…..For the man who has considered himself prime minister in waiting for fifteen years, and not less than Number-1 in economic policymaking, Putin’s offer of these two places to Kudrin was the final kiss-off. Either Kudrin accepts the “possibility” of the number-2 chair in an organization that is less than number-10 in economic policymaking power, or else.
Or else what? Kudrin is obliged to ask. Lunch with the Financial Times was the recent award for peers like former economic minister of Greece, Iannis Varoufakis; an honorary lectureship at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard is the award for former foreign minister of Poland, Radoslaw Sikorski (below centre); promotion to Washington, then prison in New York, exile in Morocco, and litigation in Paris are the rewards of former French finance minister, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Can Kudrin (left) hope for better?…”
‘Praying for Palmyra’: Russian orchestra performs concert honoring victims of Syria war
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b0hFIf4Zaw
Praying for Palmyra: Russian maestro leads orchestra in ruins of ancient city
A Russian symphony orchestra led by Valery Gergiev has given a unique performance in ancient Palmyra, recently liberated from Islamic State militants. The concert was devoted to the victims of extremists, and intends to instill hope that peace can triumph over war and terrorism.
The works of such composers as Sergey Prokofiev, Johann Sebastian Bach and Rodion Shchedrin were performed in the concert, during which renowned cellist Sergey Roldugin and violinist Pavel Milyukov also appeared on stage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he sees the concert as a sign of remembrance for victims of extremism, and as a promise of hope for victory over terrorism worldwide.
“I regard it [the concert] as a sign of gratitude, remembrance and hope,” he said, adding that all should be grateful to “those who fight terrorism without sparing one’s own life.”
Putin called on people to remember “all victims of terror” and to “hope not just for the revival of Palmyra as cultural heritage of humanity, but for the rescue of modern civilization from this terrible menace – international terrorism.”
https://www.rt.com/news/341983-russia-gergiev-orchestra-palmyra/
Have you seen this, Saker?
John Kerry just drew a new red line for Assad in Syria
http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-assad-red-line-2016-5
———————-
The US is really outrageous. But what puzzles me is why Putin allows the US its illegal activity in Syria, and above all why it does not draw its own red line. Why isn’t Russia helping Assad to regain Aleppo? What exactly is going on here? I hope you will write an update on the situation in Syria vis a vis the Russian commitment to the Syrians. What do you think the immediate to short term future is for the Syrian situation?
Also, do you think Russia will ever intervene in Iraq? The situation there threatens the entire raison d’etre for the Russian intervention in the Middle East to begin with, don’t you think–as does the American intervention in Aleppo, of course.
Ask the Fm Lavrov who is always on hand to give ceasefire to the western organised terrorists when western proxi is losing.
Yes, there have been too many such cases.
Nobody can tell me that’s not treason.
Kerry again calls for removal of Syria’s president
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-U6JN8gZgE
As the Veterans Today put it, it looks as though the US is simply under Israel’s thumb when it comes to the Mid East: and that means “Plan B”, the Balkanization of Syria, in accordance with the Oden Yinon plan.
Let’s face it, underneath it all it’s the Zionist evil that is manipulating events to a large extent. That is the deep reality of the deep state. It’s also the elephant in the room in Western discourse. The taboo subject. They have the money and they have the media.
Putin probably just wants to prevent these evil ones from jumping the gun before Russia is fully able to protect itself. But unless the Scriptures are wrong–both Islamic and Christian–regarding the war of Armageddon, armed conflict between Russia and the West is inevitable. The Zionists will not stop before creating the conditions for Antichrist, and that means the dissolution of the Middle East states. Russia can’t really stop this, it can only ultimately try to protect its own territory. For Israel to rule, the US and Russia must essentially be rendered powerless, hence the need to goad them into armed war. As for China, they will probably get drawn in to some extent or other, but perhaps the Asians have their own particular destiny in the “last days.”
It would be great to have Saker’s view of all this.
Robert,it’s very interesting what you wrote,but we entering into all kind of scenarios with which I agree but the topics here in the vineyard are running so fast one may skip this or other thread for instance or going back and forward like a tiger in his garden.
I regularly check Breitbart, a supposedly ‘conservative’ online tabloid, but blatantly Zionist.
It didn’t report Kerry and has little or no anti-Assad coverage. It concentrates instead on general anti-Muslim – ‘they-are-all-terrorists’ so-called ‘coverage.’
It mainly tries to paint the Palestinians as terrorists and the Israelis as victims.
Interestingly, the pro-Israeli articles seem to attract little comment and most of it is hasbara. Lately, there is quite a bit of anti-neo-con, anti-Zionist sentiment in the overwhelming pro-Trump commentary.
The Tablet has also commented on the decline of support for Israeli Zionism among young American Jews. They see Israel as an apartheid state and something of an embarrassment. The Tablet says most of the pro-Zionist support comes from the Christian hard-right. But their preferred candidate, and the one ‘anointed’ by the Republican Establishment, has dropped out of the race.
There is little grass-roots Democrat support for the anti-Assad line still promoted by Kerry too. In fact, there is a growing realization that this conflict is being orchestrated by vested interests, and they are not national.
I think the increasing extremist tactics by Zionists to silence their critics is a reflection of declining support – not a position of strength.
There is also increasing dissent and hostilitiy to the Israeli government’s expansionist and aggressive approach in the region from a growing number of Israelis themselves.
So overall, it’s not looking good for the Zionists.