© MKG
Puppet Masters
Russia has been pitching a rival missile platform that costs half of those made by US companies, reports CNBC, which has resulted in several countries dealing with the Kremlin "despite the potential for blowback."
The Russian S-400 mobile long-range surface-to-air missile system costs around $500 million, vs. the $1 billion price tag for a US-made Raytheon Patriot Pac-2 battery, while a THAAD battery made by Lockheed Martin costs just about $3 billion, according to people with first-hand knowledge of a US intelligence assessment.
On the fifth anniversary of the onset of the Ukrainian crisis, in November 2013, and of Washington "punishing" Russia by attempting to "isolate" it in world affairs - a policy first declared by President Barack Obama in 2014 and continued ever since, primarily through economic sanctions - Cohen discusses the following points:
1. During the preceding Cold War with the Soviet Union, no attempt was made to "isolate" Russia abroad; instead, the goal was to "contain" it within its "bloc" of Eastern European nations and compete with it in what was called the "Third World."
2. The notion of "isolating" a country of Russia's size, Eurasian location, resources, and long history as a great power is vainglorious folly. It reflects the paucity and poverty of foreign thinking in Washington in recent decades, not the least in the US Congress and mainstream media.
© Reuters / Brendan McDermid
International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and its subsidiary Aabar filed a lawsuit against Goldman in a state court in New York. IPIC is a one-time investment partner of scandal-struck 1Malaysia Development fund, or 1MDB.
"Goldman Sachs conspired with others to bribe IPIC's and Aabar's former executives," the court filing said.
IPIC is seeking unspecified punitive damages from Goldman and individuals, including Tim Leissner, a former partner at the bank who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges over the affair.
© Getty Images
The measure has been triggered by the oil cartel's successful attempts to bring global prices for crude under control. OPEC members and their non-OPEC allies, led by Russia, managed to affect global oil prices by establishing production quotas. The step reportedly raised costs for US consumers, an unnamed department official told Bloomberg.
"That's traditionally the type of conduct the Justice Department would frown upon," the media quotes the source as saying. The anti-OPEC bills, reportedly backed by both Republicans and Democrats, were introduced in the House and Senate, but neither chamber has voted on the legislation yet.
© Police handout
Salman Abedi killed himself and 22 others in an attack at the Manchester Arena last May.
Salman Abedi killed himself and 22 others in an attack at the Manchester Arena last May.
Police and intelligence service did not do enough to monitor and restrict movements of bombers who carried out 2017 attacks, committee finds.
A number of serious mistakes by police and government officials allowed a teenager to build a bomb and partially detonate it on London's underground train network, according to an investigation by a UK parliamentary oversight body into a series of terrorist attacks in the country.
Pointing to a "litany of errors" and "fundamental failings", the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said there would need to be a further inquiry into the September 2017 tube train bombing in which 23 people suffered burns and 28 were crushed in the stampede that followed.
The ISC condemned as unacceptable the UK Home Office's failure to provide sufficient information for its inquiry.
© Washington Post
Alexander Prokopchuk, who currently serves as Interpol's vice president was the favorite to take the top job at the international policing organization, but was edged out by the South Korean amid intense lobbying from Western powers against Prokopchuk, despite being described by one source to the Times newspaper as someone who is "respected by his peers and regarded as a more competent candidate than his South Korean rival."
Almost without exception, mainstream headlines screamed that Prokopchuk had lost out on the job, with Kim Jong-yang's election mentioned as a mere side note in the articles themselves. Perhaps anti-Russian sentiment has reached the point where something not happening to a Russian is deemed to be bigger news than something that does happen to someone else. Little of Kim Jong-yang's biography, credentials or achievements is on offer in the articles either, which focus on Prokopchuk's background instead.
Comment: The West is doing all it can to smear Russia, and for the time being it is having some effect, but the delusions of an increasingly irrelevant section of society can only last so long:
- Putin, Xi & Abe: Greater Eurasia Coming Together in Russian Far East
- Pepe Escobar: The Caspian sails towards Eurasian integration
- US meddles in selection of new Interpol chief, pressures other countries to vote down Russian candidate because he's Russian
- Interpol bows to US pressure, selects South Korean over Russian for new chief
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson meets Ukrainian troops in September
Additional troops and a Royal Navy ship will be deployed to Ukraine to defend "freedom and democracy".
Comment: If this operation is as successful as the UK's involvement in bringing 'freedom and democracy' to the Middle East, god help Ukraine.
Ukrainian Special Forces and Marines will be trained by British personnel and HMS Echo, a Royal Navy hydrographic survey ship with a company of 72, will deploy to the region.
"As long as Ukraine faces Russian hostilities, it will find a steadfast partner in the United Kingdom," Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, will say.
"By continuing to work together, whether through training programmes or military exercises, we help Ukraine to stand up for our shared values.
Comment: One wonders how happy British troops will be serving alongside Ukrainian neo-Nazi's? Also: What would the UK say if Russia was to arm and train a military division on their borders?
- Hypocritical NATO 'concerned' by Russia's military build-up close to "our borders"
- The real Ukraine: Americanized, nazi-dominated
- Ukraine's neo-Nazi's hosted by US gov's 'America House', Russian rep condemns surge in extremism
- A Dynamic Analysis of Ukraine Politics: The Crooks, the Clowns and the Nazis
- Behind the Headlines: Perfidious Albion: If Russia is a Rogue State, What is the UK?
- Behind the Headlines: World in Chaos: Anti-Russia Hysteria, Israel Murders Palestinians, US Leaving Syria?
© Jiri Flogel / shutterstock.com
"In forming the governing coalition, we agreed that we make decisions only by consensus. The government has today failed to reach agreement at the Cabinet meeting on support for the UN migration pact. Therefore, the government will not join the agreement, "wrote Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center Party) on Thursday on Facebook.
The comprehensive management of immigration is important for all countries, emphasised Ratas. However, the laws of Estonia are already in line with democratic and European principles. This also applies to the future.
Comment: If enough countries refuse the UN diktats they will have no choice but to back down:
- Macron calls for sanctions on EU states that refuse migrants - Italy's Salvini denounces his "arrogance"
- Austria to follow US and Hungary by withdrawing from UN 'mixed up' migration bill
- Soros Looking to Make Obscene Profits From Funding European 'Forced Migration'
- NewsReal: California Wildfires, Climate Change, And The Impossible Brexit
- The Truth Perspective: Weapons of Mass Migration: Interview with Michael Springmann on Europe's Migrant Crisis
© AP Photo / Mosa'ab Elshamy
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia have reportedly sent troops to northeastern Syria, where US-backed Kurdish militias are stationed, the Turkish daily newspaper Yeni Şafak reported.
Neither of these countries has commented on the reports so far.
In April 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources that the administration of US President Donald Trump sought to replace the US military contingent in Syria with Arab troops.
© REUTERS / Vasily Fedosenko
An aerial view shows Maidan Nezalezhnosti or Independence Square crowded by supporters of EU integration during a rally in central Kiev
An aerial view shows Maidan Nezalezhnosti or Independence Square crowded by supporters of EU integration during a rally in central Kiev
On the evening of November 21, 2013, pro-West protesters began flocking to Kiev's Maidan Square, carrying banners and waving EU flags. Hours earlier, then-president Viktor Yanukovych had suspended preparations to sign a European Association Agreement, which would have been a potential step on the road to joining the EU - and a move which Russia had warned would be "trade suicide" for the post-Soviet state. The West, on the other hand, was determined to wrangle Ukraine out of Russia's "orbit" and lure it into its own.
Ukraine was facing an economic crossroads. The country was being pulled in two directions, asked to choose between closer alignment with the EU or Russia. When Yanukovych chose Russia by refusing to sign the Association Agreement, it sparked outrage within the EU and a protest movement which would quickly be hijacked and used to engineer a Western-backed coup - a shortcut to bringing a pro-West government to power.
Comment: The BBC's coverage of this story adds something interesting: We wonder what that might be?
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