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Russian MPs allow use of swastika - but only to condemn Nazi ideology


RT
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 18:46 UTC
soviet nazi poster
© SputnikA Soviet patriotic poster from 1945, stating: “The enemy is insidious – don’t lose your guard.”
The swastika and other symbols of the Third Reich can be used, but only if it's done to condemn Nazism, the State Duma ruled. The previous legislation was too harsh, even making addressing classic WWII movies a problem.

There was an outright ban on Nazi symbols in Russia due to them offending the memory of the grave losses suffered by the country during the Great Patriotic War against the German invaders in 1941-45.

But the amendments to the relevant law, which MPs passed in the second reading on Tuesday, allow for the restrictions to be lifted in cases when those symbols are used "to form a negative attitude towards the ideology of Nazism and when signs of propaganda or justification of Nazism are absent." This includes art, science, education and all other areas.

The changes were needed to correct "an absurd situation," one of the deputies behind the initiative, Elena Yampolskaya, explained.
Our people want to honor the memory of their ancestors and uphold the legacy of the Great Patriotic War, but doing this through visual means, while avoiding any Nazi symbols, is almost impossible.
Yampolskaya wondered how the authors of the previous legislation could forget about the World War II movies from the "golden portfolio" of Soviet cinema; patriotic posters from that period, which may, for example, show "a Soviet soldier smashing the swastika - a Nazi symbol - with his foot," historic photos, videos and other materials.

A total ban on Nazi symbols is also wrong as "one should never forget, what his enemies look like," she added.


Comment: That's one reason. Total bans like this are ridiculous on almost every level. But it's nice to see Russian legislators at least moving in the direction of common sense. Meanwhile, in Western culture, the move is increasingly towards total bans of just this sort. For instance: Black conservative removed from meeting over Justin Trudeau blackface

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Nuke

Zarif responds to EU, asking to see 'just one' nuclear deal commitment they've upheld in last year


Sputnik
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 16:50 UTC
iran nuclear enrichment
© AFP 2019 / HO / ATOMIC ENERGY ORGANIZATION OF IRAN
Earlier, officials from the European Union, France, the UK and Germany issued a joint statement accusing Iran of "breaching" the 2015 nuclear deal and suggesting that they had upheld their commitments to the agreement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has lashed out at the European signatories of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, challenging their assertion that they had 'fully upheld commitments under the JCPOA'.

"YOU? Really?" Zarif tweeted, asking his EU, French, British and German colleagues to "just show ONE that you've upheld in the last 18 months."


On Monday, Brussels and the three European JCPOA signatories jointly accused Iran of hindering their joint efforts to defuse tensions by "breaching" the nuclear deal and increasing nuclear enrichment. "The E3/EU have fully upheld their JCPOA commitments, including sanctions-lifting as foreseen under the JCPOA. It is now critical that Iran upholds its JCPOA commitments and works with all JCPOA participants to de-escalate tensions," the European signatories said in a joint statement.

Comment: That's chutzpah. It should be amazing to see the representatives of so-called respectable and democratic countries lie so brazenly. Unfortunately, it has become standard operating procedure.

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Bad Guys

US is the source of, not "solution" to Syrian war

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 17:44 UTC
US troops Syria
After the supposed US "withdrawal" from Syria - Western media outlets have causally reported on US troops now preparing to occupy Syria's oilfields east of the Euphrates River.

Articles include carefully selected "experts" who avoid any mention of how illegal or indefensible the presence of US forces in Syria is to begin with, let alone any mention of "why" US troops are preparing to "claim" Syria's natural resources.

The Guardian in its piece, "US plans to send tanks to Syria oil fields, reversing Trump troop withdrawal - reports," illustrates a voluntary dereliction of due diligence in investigating or questioning Western actions in Syria.

One is left to assume what the US would claim as its excuse for remaining in Syria - likely based on a narrative of denying terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda or the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS) and their affiliates access to resources to "fund" their return to the region.
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Take 2

Competition for Moscow? UK election meddling accusations spread from Russia, to India... to Hillary

Simon Rite
RT
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 17:57 UTC
westminster
© AFP / ISABEL INFANTES
If you believe the daily reports, Britain's ongoing election campaign is facing more interference than an old analogue television during a rainstorm, and amazingly, it's not just Russians being accused of being behind it.

A sense of old world grandeur is easily inflated by convincing yourself that you're so important that the whole world wants to swing your election.

Of course, it is still mainly Russia which stands accused in Britain, because that is just the easiest option available, but now there are also indications of supposed Indian meddling going on, and an election wouldn't be an election if the US wasn't throwing in its two pennies as well.

Representing the old US of A this morning on the BBC was one Hillary Rodham Clinton. I know she isn't an official representative of Washington, but I'm not sure she does, so her input is significant, especially as the old glutton for punishment has been hinting she might take another tilt at the White House.
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Monkey Wrench

Scotland's leader will do a deal with Labour but wants IndyRef2 in return

Johanna Ross
InfoBrics
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 17:44 UTC
scotland independence
'The most important election of our lifetimes' said Scotland's leader Nicola Sturgeon about the upcoming UK general election as she launched the Scottish National Party's campaign last Friday. The message from Sturgeon was to vote SNP to avoid Brexit, saying that her party alone would protect Scottish interests and work to ensure that the country is not taken out of the EU against its will. She warned that the withdrawal agreement secured by Boris Johnson last month was in fact inadequate as it only covers the terms of leaving the EU but says nothing about Britain's future relationship with Europe. Forecasting 'many years of wrangling ahead' she said Johnson was still intent on a No Deal Brexit which was still a likely outcome of negotiations in a year's time.

The importance of this election is also being reflected in the rhetoric of politicians at present, with Nicola Sturgeon not hesitating to brand Conservative politicians as 'hard-line Brexit ultras', evoking images of far-right thugs. She also attacked Labour and the Liberal Democrats by suggesting that Scotland would never be a priority for either party. The Liberal Democrats for their part do pose a threat to the Nationalists with their Remain platform and Nicola Sturgeon was out canvassing in leader Jo Swinson's constituency at the weekend in a bid to try to unseat her. Jo Swinson, whose party supports the Union, has continued to hit back at the SNP for their 'obsession with independence.'

Comment: Even if Scotland did vote for independence, considering the shameless shenanigans employed to block Brexit, why would people trust that it would actually go ahead?

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Network

Putin & Xi to launch strategic natural gas pipeline from Russia to China in December


RT
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 17:33 UTC
Siberia gas pipeline
© Gazprom
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will take part in the launching ceremony of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, set to be held next month.

While the leaders will not be physically present at the event, they will join via a teleconference, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov told media on Monday. The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed the official ceremony will happen when the pipeline becomes operational in December.

"The Sino-Russian eastern route was agreed by the leaders of the two states. This is an important strategic project in the field of energy cooperation, and it is very important for both countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at the daily news conference.
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Yoda

Putin explains why Russia can afford to spend less on defense


Sputnik
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 17:28 UTC
putin
© Sputnik / Mikhail Klimentyev
Russia is one of just a handful of major military powers to actually make cuts to its defence spending in recent years, and recently dropped out of the top five countries in terms of total spending.

Reductions in Russia's defence spending are related to the country passing the "peak of modernisation," allowing the government to contribute fewer resources while maintaining the same level of defence, President Vladimir Putin has said.
"[Cuts] aren't related to us letting things slide when it comes to these issues, but due to the fact that the main planned initiatives connected to the need to intensify work on ensuring the country's security...and with regard to the need to ensure the renewal of military equipment and hardware, and we have passed the peak of this work," Putin said, speaking at a government meeting on Monday.
Putin noted that Russia's military-industrial complex will need to continue its efforts to create high-tech, competitive equipment, and not resort to "making pots and pans" (i.e. engage low-tech civilian production) as it had to in the 1990s.
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Chess

Best of the Web: MSM Adamantly Avoids the Word 'Coup' in Bolivia Reporting

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Sun, 10 Nov 2019 17:22 UTC
morales resign
There has been a military coup in Bolivia backed by violent right-wing rioters and the US government, but you'd hardly know this from any of the mainstream media headlines.
"Bolivian President Evo Morales steps down following accusations of election fraud" proclaims CNN.

"Bolivia's Morales resigns amid scathing election report, rising protests" reports The Washington Post.

"Bolivian Leader Evo Morales Steps Down" says The New York Times.

"Bolivian President Evo Morales resigns amid fraud poll protests" declares the BBC.

"President of Bolivia steps down amid allegations of election rigging" we are informed by Telegraph.

"Bolivia's President Morales resigns after backlash to disputed election" says the Sydney Morning Herald.
So there you have it. The indigenous leader of a socialist South American government which has successfully lifted masses of people out of crushing poverty, which happens to control the world's largest reserves of lithium (which may one day replace oil as a crucial energy resource due to its use in powering smartphones, laptops, hybrid and electric cars), which has an extensive and well-documented history of being targeted for regime change by the US government, simply stepped down due to some sort of scandal involving a "disputed election". Nothing to do with the fact that right-wing mobs had been terrorizing this leader's family, or the fact that the nation's military literally commanded him to step down and are now currently searching for him to arrest him, leading to ousted government officials being rounded up and held captive by soldiers wearing masks.

All perfectly normal and not suspicious at all.
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War Whore

Stick a fork in detente: We're just about done

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Sun, 10 Nov 2019 17:16 UTC
trump
Our world is burning down around us, but we're so accustomed to smoke and flames we only feel the heat warming us. Every day for a decade now I've researched and analyzed the media, geopolitics and public relations, and I've decided we cannot save Earth. For a moment there was hope. The defiant strength of Russia's Putin against the liberal order, it seemed for a brief instant that truth and decency might prevail. It cannot happen though, for the coming inferno of discontent is truly biblical, alas.

I know the reader is questioning now. "What is he saying? America's economy has never been stronger," I can just hear the Trump triumphant begin to chant angrily. In Russia, the voices will be saying; "But Putin has won. He showed them in Syria. Didn't he destroy ISIS for the world?" No, my friends, I fear the war for peace and decency is a lost cause even with these small victories in view. Let me explain, as best I can, how the cataclysm will come no matter what.

I was reading this morning a Sputnik story on the peculiar case of the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt. While I don't usually pay Sputnik a sideways glance these days, the focus on America's worst diplomat made me do it. Read Sputnik, that is. The piece spoke volumes about a man who should rightfully have been drummed out of America's diplomatic corps after Ukraine. For those unfamiliar with Pyatt, who is busy selling out the Greeks today, he helped foment a coup d'etat in Kyiv in 2014, and then he and Victoria Nuland joked about "fucking the EU" and danced on the graves of thousands of Russian speaking Ukrainians.
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Broom

Clingon Clinton interferes in UK election, demands Downing Street release fake intel report about 'Russian meddling'


RT
Tue, 12 Nov 2019 16:43 UTC
hillary
© Reuters / Simon Dawson / FileHillary Clinton promoting her book in London
Not content to beat the 'Russiagate' drum in the US, Hillary Clinton has used a book tour in the UK to sound the alarm about supposed Russian interference in British politics. Critics say her tour is election meddling in itself.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office has refused to publish an Intelligence and Security Committee report into supposed Russian meddling in the 2016 Brexit vote until after next month's general election. Though critics have accused Johnson of "sitting on" the report to hide Conservative collusion with Russia, insider sources say it reveals no evidence of interference.

Enter Hillary Clinton. The failed 2016 US presidential candidate - who has repeatedly blamed the Kremlin for her loss at the ballot box to Donald Trump - called the PM's delay "shameful," and said she is "dumbfounded that this Government won't release the report about Russian influence."

Comment: This phony report is from the same people who brought you the Golden Shower dossier - British intelligence. There's nothing to it of course, but Her Majesty's finest dangled it out there precisely for hardbroiled nuts like Clinton to 'cite' as 'evidence' of 'Russian meddling'.

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