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Russia eliminating US dollar transactions in its foreign military deals - state arms exporter


RT
Thu, 22 Jul 2021 13:27 UTC
helicopter
© Reuters / RIA Novosti
A Kamov Ka-52 Hokum-B helicopter stands at Kubinka air base before the Victory Day parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia
The US dollar's share in Russia's military contracts with other countries is approaching zero, according to the country's main defense contractor Rosoboronexport.

"Most of Rosoboronexport's contracts are currently concluded in rubles or in the national currencies of partner countries. The share of dollars in our contracts is steadily approaching zero," the company's CEO Alexander Mikheyev told reporters at MAKS 2021 Air Show.

He noted that Russia has been deliberately abandoning the dollar in payments for its export arms contracts, which, for the past few years, have brought the country about $15 billion annually in US dollar equivalent, TV channel Zvezda notes.

Comment: See also:

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Oil Well

Iran opens oil terminal in Gulf of Oman to bypass Strait of Hormuz


Reuters
Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:01 UTC
tanker
© REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
FILE PHOTO: Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018.
Iran has opened its first oil terminal in the Gulf of Oman, President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday, to allow Iranian tankers to avoid using the strategically vulnerable Strait of Hormuz, which has been a focus of regional tension for decades.

"This is a strategic move and an important step for Iran. It will secure the continuation of our oil exports," Rouhani said in a televised speech. "This new crude export terminal shows the failure of Washington's sanctions on Iran."

Rouhani said Iran aimed to export 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Bandar-e Jask, a port on Iran's Gulf of Oman coast, just south of the Strait of Hormuz.

Comment: See also:

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Eye 1

Ice Age Farmer Report: Global wheat supplies short as drought/flood ravage crops & supply chain falters


Ice Age Farmer
Fri, 23 Jul 2021 12:40 UTC
food
Wheat crops are failing in the US, Canada, and Russia--the "breadbasket" top exporters that feed the rest of the world--as other exporters like Kazakhstan restrict their exports to protect their own people. Engineered attacks on supply chains continue from South Africa to Vietnam. Food prices are exploding as shortages can no longer be hidden, and the true crisis of global food shortages lies ahead. Grow your own food now!


Sources
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Pirates

EU & US condemn Turkey's move to repopulate Cyprus buffer zone, Erdogan declares it "new era"


Euronews
Wed, 21 Jul 2021 12:05 UTC
Varosha
© Reuters / Harun Ucar
FILE PHOTO: A man holds a fence in an area fenced off by the Turkish military since 1974 in the abandoned coastal area of Varosha in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus, October 8, 2020
France on Wednesday criticised as a "provocation" a move by Turkish Cypriot authorities to partially reopen an abandoned town in Cyprus for potential resettlement, in the latest critique from the West that Ankara has dismissed.

Turkish Cypriots said on Tuesday that part of Varosha would come under civilian control and people would be able to reclaim properties - angering Greek Cypriots who accused their Turkish rivals of orchestrating a land-grab by stealth.

Varosha, an eerie collection of derelict high-rise hotels and residences in a military zone nobody has been allowed to enter, has been deserted since a 1974 war split the island.

Comment: RT reports:
Washington shoots down Turkey's two-state solution for Cyprus, as stand-off on disputed island intensifies

Sitting on the border between Greek and Turkish-held Cyprus, Varosha has remained abandoned since Turkish forces invaded the island in 1974 to stave off a Greek Cypriot coup. Though inside Turkish territory on the island, Varosha has served as a buffer between that territory and the Greek sector of the island, which is recognized internationally as Cyprus.

However, he can expect little to no international support. A senior US diplomat told Reuters shortly afterwards that Washington opposes such a deal, and Secretary of State Tony Blinken earlier condemned Turkey's planned reopening of Varosha and called on Erdogan to reverse his decision.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this month that the EU will "never, ever" accept a two-state solution.

Varosha was once the hub of Cyprus' tourism industry, and about 17,000 Gerek Cypriots lived there before the Turkish invasion. It has since remained cordoned-off by barricades and barbed wire, and patrolled by some of the 35,000 or so Turkish troops stationed in northern Cyprus. The UN's position on Varosha is that it should fall under the control of international peacekeepers, until Cyprus can be reunited as a federation or a power sharing agreement is reached.

Though peace talks over the last two decades have occasionally shown signs of progress toward this end, relations between Greece, Turkey, and their respective allies on Cyprus have taken a nosedive in recent years, due to competing claims to the energy-rich waters around the island. Greece has repeatedly warned Turkey away from exploratory oil drilling in the area, which Ankara has ignored, while claiming its own territorial rights in the region.

"One way or another...we will carry out our oil exploration operations in the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, and all those seas," Erdogan said earlier this month, despite opposition and threats of sanctions from the EU.
The number of provocations and international incidents caused by or leading back to Turkey, under Erdogan's leadership, is notable; however that's not to say that Erdogan himself is directly responsible for instigating all of them:

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Snakes in Suits

Violent extremists took over the US Capitol long before January 6

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Sat, 10 Jul 2021 00:00 UTC
Violent Extremists
No longer content with absurd claims that the January 6 Capitol riot was as bad as the 9/11 attacks, Democratic Party-aligned pundits are now insisting that it was in fact worse.

On a recent appearance with MSNBC's ReidOut with Joy Reid, former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd said he felt the Capitol riot was "much worse" than 9/11 and that this is the "most perilous point in time" since the beginning of the American Civil War.

"To me, though there was less loss of life on January 6, January 6 was worse than 9/11, because it's continued to rip our country apart and get permission for people to pursue autocratic means, and so I think we're in a much worse place than we've been," Dowd said. "I think we're in the most perilous point in time since 1861 in the advent of the Civil War."

"I do too," Reid said.

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Control Panel

Prime minister risks major rebellion over Covid jab passports, say Tory MPs

Rowena Mason, Jessica Elgot and Aubrey Allegretti
The Guardian
Wed, 21 Jul 2021 01:00 UTC
People dancing at Bar Fibre in Leeds after England’s restrictions lifted on Monday.
© Ioannis Alexopoulos/PA
People dancing at Bar Fibre in Leeds after England’s restrictions lifted on Monday.
More than 40 Conservatives said to be ready to defy government over civil liberties concerns

Conservative MPs believe Boris Johnson faces a major rebellion over Covid vaccine passports but could be supported by Labour, who were on Tuesday night wavering over whether to back them.

Tory MPs opposed to the plan for Covid passes to enter nightclubs and other crowded indoor venues said more than 40 Conservatives were prepared to defy the prime minister over civil liberties concerns, particularly as No 10 has refused to rule out extending the passes to pubs and other sectors.

The scale of the rebellion could put any vote on a knife-edge if opposition parties also oppose the idea, which was proposed by Johnson on Monday in an extraordinary U-turn hours after clubs were allowed to open in England for the first time in 16 months.

At least 42 Tory MPs have signed a cross-party Big Brother Watch declaration against "Covid status certification to deny individuals access to general services, businesses or jobs" in recent months. More MPs privately told the Guardian they were unlikely to back such a move, especially if it remained a vaccine-only pass that did not recognise a negative test result or evidence of antibodies.
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Vader

Fascist Mitch McConnell warns of lockdowns if COVID vaccine rates don't increase

David Marcus
NY Post
Wed, 21 Jul 2021 20:57 UTC
mitch mcconnell
© Sipa USA via AP
A fresh wave of pandemic lockdowns like the ones that crippled the country last year loom on the horizon if people don't wise up and get vaccinated against COVID-19, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned.

"These shots need to get in everybody's arms as rapidly as possible or we´re going to be back in a situation in the fall that we don't yearn for — that we went through last year," McConnell (R-Ky.) said at a news conference Tuesday, adding, "This is not complicated."

Asked about comments from Utah Gov. Spencer Cox alleging that conservative pundits are killing people with their rhetoric, McConnell stated that he encourages everybody to "ignore all of these other voices that are giving demonstrably bad advice."

McConnell's call to seek trusted and verified information about the virus and vaccines mirrors White House efforts this past week to counter false information that they say is spreading on social media and cable news.

Comment: Regardless of vaccines, we know lockdowns don't work other than to destroy the economy, increase depression and alcoholism, and violate countless civil rights. So what's really going on here?

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Light Sabers

UK calls for 'significant changes' to N. Ireland Protocol, EU says NO to renegotiation

Sophie Morris
Sky News
Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:14 UTC
shop empty shelves brexit

Empty shelves at a Marks & Spencer's store in Belfast
Brexit minister Lord Frost warned the "burdens" created by the Northern Ireland Protocol will "worsen, not improve over time".

The European Commission has said it "will not agree to a renegotiation" of the Northern Ireland Protocol after the UK government demanded that "significant changes" be made.

EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said the bloc are "ready to continue to seek creative solutions within the framework of the protocol" but will not reopen negotiations of the entire mechanism.


Comment: The EU will make Britain suffer for its attempts to leave the EU, to make an example of it, and to seek further 'creative solutions' to gain the most advantage from the situation as possible; and it would appear the UK is on the backfoot. Note that Brexit was, in large part, offered at the time by the Conservative Party as a means to get them into power, and it seems the establishment didn't believe the Leave vote would pass, and so little thought was given to its implementation.


Comment: See also:

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Newspaper

Man attempts to stab Mali's interim leader at Grand Mosque


The Guardian
Tue, 20 Jul 2021 15:20 UTC
Goïta
© Nicolas Remene/Le Pictorium Agency/Zuma/Rex/ShutterstockAssociated Press in Bamako
Assimi Goïta was sworn in as president of Mali's transitional government in June.
A man has tried to stab Mali's transitional president, Col Assimi Goïta, during Eid al-Adha celebrations at the Grand Mosque in Bamako.

Witnesses said the incident happened after the imam went to slaughter sheep at the mosque in the capital. One man with a knife and another with a gun participated in the attack, the witnesses said.

Goïta was not hurt and his security team quickly took him away, but one person was injured, they said.

Comment: See also:

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Chess

US strikes Ukraine-centered Nord Stream 2 'deal' with Germany - Putin & Merkel 'satisfied' with pipeline's near-completion


RT
Wed, 21 Jul 2021 20:36 UTC
nord stream pipeline
© Global Look Press / Jens Büttner / dpa
Washington and Berlin have struck a deal that would see the US drop opposition to the almost-complete Nord Stream 2 pipeline for Russian gas, in exchange for Germany promising investments in Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden administration officials confirmed the existence of the agreement on Wednesday, details of which have been leaked to the press earlier. Under the four-point plan, Germany and the US would invest in energy security and green energy in Ukraine and Europe and back the "Three Seas Initiative" spearheaded by Poland and Croatia.

Berlin also pledged to push Russia into extending the current gas arrangement with Ukraine, which provides Kiev with $3 billion in annual transit fees, through 2034 - and promised to back sanctions against Moscow if it commits "aggression" against Ukraine.
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