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Russia: Election officials postpone all votes until after June 21


RFE/RL
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 14:10 UTC
Pamfilova
© Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin
CEC Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova
Russia's election authorities have postponed all upcoming local and nationwide votes in the country until after June 21.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) decided on April 3 that all votes would be held after June 21. CEC Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said:
"Taking into consideration the current situation in the country and for securing citizens' health and safety, we conclude that it is necessary to postpone all elections and referendums that have been planned for upcoming months until the improvement of the epidemiological situation in the country,"
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin signed legislation allowing the CEC to change dates for planned votes. About 100 votes had been scheduled to take place across Russia by June 21.

A nationwide vote on sweeping constitutional changes that opens the possibility of Putin remaining in power for a further 16 years was initially scheduled for April 22.
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Question

Is the former US proxy SDS preparing to join pro-Assad Syrian Army?

Riyad Farid Hijab
Fort Russ
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 18:23 UTC
Syrian Democratic Forces
© AP
Syrian Democratic Forces
The Syrian Democratic Forces have for some time been no longer completely controlled by Washington. Recall that it was the Kurdish formations that for many years were in Syria the main shock ground force of the international coalition led by the United States. They played the role of infantry, the Pentagon armed them and prepared them, and during the offensive operations, the US military carried out planning, artillery and air cover.

"You don't want to protect people, and you don't want another force to come to protect us. You betrayed us. It is immoral!" - said at the end of last year, the Kurdish commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazlum Abdi, to US Deputy Special Representative in the international coalition against terrorists William Robak.

About six months have passed since then, and the situation in relations between the SDS and the US military command has not fundamentally changed.

Comment: Apparently some form of the offer has already been made, though hashing out the terms may be protracted and difficult. In the meantime, ad hoc alliances have already been formed through Russia's diplomatic efforts.

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Oil Well

Trump claims he brokered a Saudi-Russian oil deal, but details scant


RFE/RL
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 17:32 UTC
trump

Trump press briefing
U.S. President Donald Trump says he brokered a deal with Russia and Saudi Arabia to cut oil output and end a steep decline in oil prices amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

Trump said he spoke with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on April 2, but details of how the cuts would work were unclear.

"I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happens, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Comment:

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Bad Guys

Iraqi authorities suspend Reuters' accreditation for 3 months over bogus reporting on COVID-19


Sputnik
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 16:59 UTC
maternity ward Iraq covid-19 coronavirus
© Reuters / Alaa al-Marjani
A nurse wears a protective face mask and gloves to prevent the spread of Covid-19, takes care of a new-born baby in a maternity room in Najaf, Iraq, April 2, 2020
The Iraqi authorities decided to suspend the accreditation of the Reuters news agency's office for three months after the latter had published an article about the allegedly massive spread of the coronavirus in the country, the national Communications and Media Commission said.

On Thursday, Reuters published an article, in which it said that the real number of people infected with COVID-19 in Iraq stood at 3,000-9,000, including at least 2,000 in Baghdad, despite the fact that the authorities had confirmed only 772 cases with 54 fatalities.

Comment:

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Oil Well

In the "Oil War", Washington's survival meant blinking first

Salman Rafi Sheikh
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 16:10 UTC
Oil rigs
The "oil war" started by the Saudis (and the US) has, within a matter of weeks, already led to a change in the narrative from purportedly establishing 'shale oil dominance' to 'energy market management' and avert a crisis that could ultimately destroy the very shale oil industry of the US. This resulted in the US president holding a phone conversation with Russia's Putin aimed at discussing ways and means of 'better managing' the on-going crisis. The "oil war" that was triggered by Saudi Arabia's refusal to continue and extend the previously agreed OPEC+ formula, which was instrumental for maintaining stable oil prices for years, has already led to the oil prices plummeting massively, going down to record lows of the last two decades. For the US, the oil war, whereas its initial purpose was to force an unwanted change on Russia and reduce its oil production to give way to an increase in the share of US shale oil on the global markets, could now potentially destroy over half of its shale oil industry, disrupting the very base of the US 'super-power' status.

Comment:

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Bizarro Earth

Ground Control to Planet Lockdown: This is Only a Test

Pepe Escobar
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 02 Apr 2020 00:00 UTC
Covid 19 test case
As much as Covid-19 is a circuit breaker, a time bomb and an actual weapon of mass destruction (WMD), a fierce debate is raging worldwide on the wisdom of mass quarantine applied to entire cities, states and nations.

Those against it argue Planet Lockdown not only is not stopping the spread of Covid-19 but also has landed the global economy into a cryogenic state - with unforeseen, dire consequences. Thus quarantine should apply essentially to the population with the greatest risk of death: the elderly.

With Planet Lockdown transfixed by heart-breaking reports from the Covid-19 frontline, there's no question this is an incendiary assertion.

In parallel, a total corporate media takeover is implying that if the numbers do not substantially go down, Planet Lockdown - an euphemism for house arrest - remains, indefinitely.

Michael Levitt, 2013 Nobel Prize in chemistry and Stanford biophysicist, was spot on when he calculated that China would get through the worst of Covid-19 way before throngs of health experts believed, and that "What we need is to control the panic".

Let's cross this over with some facts and dissident opinion, in the interest of fostering an informed debate.
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Document

Trump issues 4-point clarification to Schumer in blunt letter

Mimi Nguyen Ly
The Epoch Times
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 14:18 UTC
president trump
President Donald Trump late Thursday issued a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) responding to Schumer's criticisms of the federal government's handling of the CCP virus pandemic.

"Thank you for your Democrat public relations letter and incorrect sound bites, which are wrong in every way," Trump said in the letter.

In a letter earlier in the day, Schumer wrote to Trump saying that the "national response is far behind where it should be." The letter raised the issue of shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies in New York state and other areas across the United States, and called for the Trump administration to "designate a senior military officer to fix this urgent problem."

Schumer also accused Trump of having dismissed the Defense Production Act (DPA) "as not being needed," and criticized Trump's appointment of White House aide Peter Navarro as the National DPA Policy Coordinator as "woefully unqualified" for solving the PPE and ventilator shortages.
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Document

Trump to announce free virus treatment for Americans without insurance

Zachary Steiber
The Epoch Times
Fri, 03 Apr 2020 14:08 UTC
trump
© Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump holds up the results of his CCP virus test in the press briefing room with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in Washington on April 2, 2020.
President Donald Trump will announce on Friday free CCP virus treatment for uninsured Americans.

Around 30 million people in the country lack insurance.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, top administration officials are focused on a plan that would relieve people without insurance from paying for virus testing or treatment. COVID-19 is a disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

"The president has made it clear: we don't want any American to worry about the cost of getting a test or the cost of getting treatment," Vice President Mike Pence, the White House Coronavirus Task Force head, told reporters on Thursday night.

The task force is working on a proposal that would use some of the $100 billion directed toward hospitals in a recent piece of legislation to compensate hospitals directly for any CCP virus treatment they provide to uninsured Americans.

The exact details are still being worked out.
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Eye 1

Do as I say, not as I do: New Zealand health minister David Clark ignores own government rules and goes mountain biking

Emily Lawford
Evening Standard
Thu, 02 Apr 2020 15:03 UTC
David Clark
© Getty Images
David Clark ignored his own government's rules to go mountain biking.
New Zealand's health minister has confirmed he ignored his own government's advice and drove to a park to go mountain biking.

David Clark was spotted parking his van at a car park 2.3km from his home in Dunedin, after the government instructed people to exercise locally amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A Toyota Hiace van, with Mr Clark's face on it, was photographed parked near Signal Hill Lookout this morning.

Comment: Silly New Zealanders! The rules are for the plebs, not the elite!

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Snakes in Suits

US small business bailout program doomed as banks balk at terms

Helen Buyniski
RT
Thu, 02 Apr 2020 21:41 UTC
New Orleans
© Reuters / Jonathan Bachman
There's no business like no business. New Orleans, Louisiana
A $350 billion small business bailout, a vital fiscal lifeline for millions of enterprises facing certain doom at the hands of coronavirus-inspired lockdowns, may be dead on arrival due to fears of banks doing the lending.

Thousands of banks expected to participate in the Trump administration's coronavirus stimulus loan program for small businesses are getting cold feet at the eleventh hour, representatives from those banks told a handful of media outlets on Thursday. If they pull out, the entire future of the program is uncertain - and with it the future of millions of American small businesses that employ half the country's workforce and are facing utter economic devastation if the lifeline promised by their government doesn't arrive soon.

With applications for the loans due to open at midnight on Friday, time is running out for the Paycheck Protection Program to pull itself together. The $350 billion segment of the $2 trillion coronavirus fiscal stimulus package signed into law last month was designed to give the small and medium-sized enterprises a nice low-interest (0.5 percent) loan to tide them through the crisis. Applicants can ask for as much as 2.5 times their average monthly payroll and won't even have to pay back the money if they use it to keep their business running.

Comment: The situation is the same in the UK, and it's not like governments couldn't have foreseen it happening because it is simply a repeat of 2008: UK banks not lending government backed emergency loans to small businesses, up to a million may go under

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