Puppet MastersS


War Whore

Ukraine crisis: Bloody assault in Mariupol by fascist Ukrainian army dashes hopes of avoiding civil war

Kim Sengupta
The Independent
Fri, 09 May 2014 19:03 UTC
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Caretaker government warns of further lethal action against 'terrorists'

The dead and injured are carried out of a burning building; more bodies lying in the street; prolonged exchanges of fire as armoured carriers smash through barricades; and, with the violence, anger and calls for revenge.

That was Mariupol after a day of bloody strife which slid Ukraine further towards civil war.

The country's caretaker government can be accused of trying to blow out flickering hopes of peace by launching a military operation' on one of the most revered anniversaries in the Russian speaking half of the country, the commemoration of victory over Nazi Germany.

The military action is accompanied by stridently aggressive rhetoric from politicians in Kiev who are crowing about the numbers of "terrorists" killed and threatening further lethal punishment.

By the evening there are differing body counts ranging from 20 to five, with around another 25 injured. But the accuracy of statistics has meant little in this confrontation. What matters is the perception. For many in this port on the Azov Sea, today greatly reinforced the view - relentlessly promoted by the separatist leadership - that fascists from the west of the country are coming to attack.
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War Whore

U.S., NATO military buildup near Russian borders 'unprecedented' - Russian Defense Minister


RT
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 01:32 UTC
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© RIA Novosti/ReutersRussia's Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu (L) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R)
Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has urged his Pentagon counterpart Chuck Hagel to help cool down the rhetoric over Ukraine and described NATO troops massing near Russian borders as "unprecedented."

Speaking to Hagel by phone on Monday, Shoigu also denied the accusations that there are Russian agents acting in Ukraine.

"The Russian minister has called for his colleague to help cool down the rhetoric [over Ukraine] as much as possible. He also unequivocally refuted baseless accusations that there are Russian sabotage and spy teams, purportedly destabilizing the situation in the south-east of the country," said a statement from the Russian defense ministry.

Instead, Shoigu classed the growth of NATO activity in Eastern Europe as "unprecedented", saying it was accompanied by "provocative" rhetoric about "containing" Russia.
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Eye 2

Kiev's army shoots at civilians, uses tanks, APCs in attack on Mariupol police HQ


RT
Thu, 08 May 2014 18:38 UTC
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Kiev's forces are using heavy weaponry and tanks in the eastern city of Mariupol to storm the local Interior Ministry building, where police have barricaded inside. After residents began flocking to the scene, Kiev fighters opened fire on civilians.

There are conflicting reports about the killed and injured. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said that about 20 anti-Kiev activists were killed and four more were taken captive, according to a statement posted on Interior Minister Arsen Avakov's Facebook page.

However, according to Donetsk authorities, three people have been killed and 25 injured, RIA Novosti cited the Donetsk region council's press service as saying.
At Mariupol hospital doctor has said number killed today could be over 100.

- GrahamWPhillips (@GrahamWP_UK) May 9, 2014
Many people came to mark Victory Day, but as the reports of shooting started coming in, they moved on to show support for a few dozen policemen who had barricaded inside the building, refusing to take orders from Kiev.
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Dollar

Flashback Russia primed to switch some oil trading from dollars to rubles

Andrew E. Kramer
The New York Times
Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:37 UTC
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© RIA Novosti/Anton Denisov
Russia, the world's second-largest oil-exporting nation after Saudi Arabia, has been quietly preparing to switch trading in Russian Ural Blend oil, the country's primary export, from the dollar to the ruble. But the change, if it comes, is still some time off, industry analysts and officials said.

The Russian effort began modestly this month, with trading in refined products for the domestic market.

Still, the effort to squeeze the dollar out of Russian oil sales marks another project with swagger and ambition by the Kremlin, which has already wielded its energy wealth to assert influence in Eastern Europe and in former Soviet states.

"They are serious," said Yaroslav Lissovolik, the chief economist at Deutsche Bank in Moscow. "This is something they are giving priority to."
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Che Guevara

Vladimir Putin reminds world - Soviets saved Europe from fascism during WWII

Harriet Salem and Ian Traynor
The Guardian
Fri, 09 May 2014 18:27 UTC
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© Mikhail Klimentyev/APVladimir Putin and the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, at the Victory Day parade in Red Square.
Russian president gives speech to soldiers and war veterans at Victory Day military parade in Red Square

Vladimir Putin has praised the Soviet role in defeating fascism, as Russia marked the anniversary of the second world war victory over Nazi Germany.

In a speech to soldiers and war veterans gathered on Moscow's Red Square for the annual Victory Day military parade, Putin said those who defeated fascism must never be betrayed.

The message had a poignant ring because Moscow has warned of the dangers posed by leaders it portrays as neo-fascists in Ukraine, and urged Europe to prevent the rise of the far-right.

"The iron will of the Soviet people, their fearlessness and stamina saved Europe from slavery. It was our country which chased the Nazis to their lair, achieved their full and final destruction, won at the cost of millions of victims and terrible hardships," the Russian president said.

"We will always guard this shining and unfading truth and will not allow the betrayal and obliteration of heroes, of all who, not caring about themselves, preserved peace on the planet."
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Eye 2

Watch the U.S. drop 2.5 million tons of bombs on Laos

H.F. Bhojani
Mother Jones
Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:15 UTC
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Cluster bomb leftovers
Picturing the deadly legacy of America's secret war in the world's most bombed-out country.

Between 1964 and 1973, the United States dropped around 2.5 million tons of bombs on Laos. While the American public was focused on the war in neighboring Vietnam, the US military was waging a devastating covert campaign to cut off North Vietnamese supply lines through the small Southeast Asian country.

The nearly 600,000 bombing runs delivered a staggering amount of explosives: The equivalent of a planeload of bombs every eight minutes for nine years, or a ton of bombs for every person in the country - more than what American planes unloaded on Germany and Japan combined during World War II. Laos remains, per capita, the most heavily bombed country on earth.

The map above, created by photographer Jerry Redfern, provides another view of the massive scale of the bombing. Each point on the map corresponds to one US bombing mission starting in October 1965; multiple planes often flew on missions.

The unfinished aftermath of the air campaign is the subject of Redfern and Karen Coates' new book, Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos. This stunning book, seven years in the making, documents how the secret air war is still claiming lives more than four decades after it ended.

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Shopping Bag

Global trade: What the world imports and exports

Joe Weisenthal
Business Insider
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 08:13 UTC
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© Lawcustoms.wordpress.com
Here are two awesome maps from a recent Standard Chartered report on the state of global trade.

The top map shows the big exports from every country. The bottom is the country's imports.

Each region is depicted by a few categories, and the number next to each category represents how big that category is for each country.
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Dollar

Despite U.S. sanctions BP says committed to Rosneft


The Economic Times
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 02:12 UTC
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© Ibtimes.com
British energy group BP said today it remained committed to its investment in Rosneft, despite new sanctions imposed by the United States against the Russian oil giant's chief executive Igor Sechin.

The powerful head of Russia's largest oil company was one of seven senior officials named on a new list of US punitive measures aimed at punishing President Vladimir Putin's stance on Ukraine.

Rosneft itself did not face any new restrictions. Washington's measure freezes any holdings Sechin might have in the United States and bars him from entering the country.
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USA

Fed Chair Janet Yellen won't answer question on whether U.S. is democracy or oligarchy

Travis Gettys
Raw Story
Thu, 08 May 2014 17:26 UTC
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The Federal Reserve chair told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that she shared his concerns about wealth inequality and its distorting effects on democracy, but she declined to offer any solutions.

Sanders pointed Wednesday during a Joint Economic Committee hearing to a recent study that found corporate interests dominated politics at the expense of ordinary citizens, and Fed Chair Janet Yellen said she agreed.

"All of the statistics on inequality you're cited are ones that greatly concern me, and I think for the same reasons that you're concerned about them," Yellen said.

She said money was often the deciding factor in which voices were heard during the political process, but she stopped short when Sanders asked if the United States had ceased to be a capitalist democracy but had instead become an oligarchy.

"I prefer not to give labels, but there's no question we've had the trend toward growing inequality, and I personally find it very worrisome trend that deserves the attention of policy makers," Yellen said.
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Cowboy Hat

Putin announces pullback from Ukraine border

Neil MacFarhuqar
NY Times
Wed, 07 May 2014 17:16 UTC
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© Sergei KarpukhinPresident Vladimir V. Putin pictured at the Kremlin on Wednesday. “Open, honest and equal dialogue is the only possible option,” he said of the situation in Ukraine.
President Vladimir V. Putin, faced with rising violence in southeastern Ukraine that threatened to draw in the Russian Army at great cost and prompt severe new Western economic sanctions, pressed pause on Wednesday in what had started to look like an inevitable march toward war.

But it remained unclear to analysts and political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic whether he was truly reversing course on Ukraine or if this was just another of his judo-inspired feints.

Using a far less ominous tone than in previous remarks about Ukraine, Mr. Putin told a news conference at the Kremlin that Russia had withdrawn its troops from along the border and that he had asked separatists to drop plans for a referendum on sovereignty this Sunday. Russia would even accept Ukraine's presidential election on May 25, he said, if demands for autonomy from the country's east were recognized.

Mr. Putin said Russia wanted to spur mediation efforts led by the Europeans. He said he did not know whether talks between the warring sides in Ukraine were "realistic," but was determined to give them a chance, in particular a suggestion from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany that the factions engage in a round-table discussion.
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