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Good news? Kiev agrees to EU-backed roadmap for peace in E. Ukraine, elections in Donbass


RT
Wed, 02 Oct 2019 17:05 UTC
zelensky
© Reuters / Valentyn Ogirenko
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine on October 1, 2019.
The government in Kiev has agreed to the so-called 'Steinmeier Formula,' the process for Ukraine's breakaway eastern regions to receive autonomy, which is expected to revitalize the stalled peace process.

Named after Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister who suggested it back in 2015, it's an addition to the second Minsk agreement that explains exactly how elections must be held in eastern regions of Ukraine in order to end the bloodshed and reintegrate the breakaway Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

According to the formula, the "special status" - i.e. autonomy - law must enter into force temporarily on election day and become a permanent one after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) deems the elections legitimate.

All members of the three-side contact group - Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE - as well as the ones from the self-proclaimed republics, agreed to the 'Steinmeier Formula' on Tuesday, sending letters of agreement to the OSCE special representative in Ukraine, Martin Sajdik.

The official confirmed to Interfax that no joint document was signed and "the signatories have been put under separate letters." It was not immediately clear to what extent the 'Formula' has become legally binding, given this quite unusual way of approval.

Comment: RFE/RL headline: Explainer: What Is The Steinmeier Formula -- And Did Zelenskiy Just Capitulate To Moscow? If that's how RFE is framing it, it must be a good thing! The question is: will Zelensky be able to outsmart and outlive the neo-Nazi crazies who oppose peace with the Donbass? If he can, he'll have earned his position.

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Dollar

Russia ditches half of its US dollar holdings, while boosting gold, yuan and euro


RT
Wed, 02 Oct 2019 16:51 UTC
US dollar on a line
© Global Look Press
Russia has halved the US currency share from its international reserves in one year, opting instead to increase gold, yuan and euro holdings, recent data from the country's central bank shows.

The greenback share fell from 43.7 percent to 23.6 percent in 12 months from March 2018, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) said in its report released on Tuesday. The document was published with six month delay due to "high price sensitivity to the actions of major market participants," including the CBR itself, the regulator explained.
Bank of Russia Exhange chart
© The Central Bank of Russia
Chinese currency saw the biggest boost in Russian foreign reserves with yuan holdings surging from 5 percent to 14.2 percent.

The euro accounted for 30.3 percent of Russia's international holdings at the end of March, rising by 8.1 percent year-on-year.

Comment: See also: Russia dumps massive amounts of US Treasuries, but who else holds America's debt?

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Bad Guys

Is Bernie out of the race? Sanders suffers massive heart attack

Adam Edelman
NBC News
Wed, 02 Oct 2019 16:21 UTC
Bernie Sanders
© Reuters/Brian Snyder
Candidate for President Bernie Sanders, campaign event, Concord, NH, March 2019
2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was hospitalized Tuesday in Las Vegas and underwent a significant medical procedure after a blockage was found in one of his arteries, his campaign said Wednesday.

Sanders, who is 78, has canceled all of his campaign events "until further notice."

"During a campaign event yesterday evening, Sen. Sanders experienced some chest discomfort. Following medical evaluation and testing he was found to have a blockage in one artery and two stents were successfully inserted," Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to the Sanders campaign, said in a statement.


Comment: They don't want to say it of course, but this means he had a heart attack.


Comment: With Sanders out and the decent candidates deselected by the media, it's basically down to a 'choice' between Warren and Biden.

The Democrats are screwed!

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Eagle

Guns for hire: No, the US government should not be using the military to police the globe

John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Tue, 01 Oct 2019 00:00 UTC
Team America
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes... known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." — James Madison
Eventually, all military empires fall and fail by spreading themselves too thin and spending themselves to death.

It happened in Rome.

It's happening again.

At the height of its power, even the mighty Roman Empire could not stare down a collapsing economy and a burgeoning military. Prolonged periods of war and false economic prosperity largely led to its demise. As historian Chalmers Johnson predicts:
The fate of previous democratic empires suggests that such a conflict is unsustainable and will be resolved in one of two ways. Rome attempted to keep its empire and lost its democracy. Britain chose to remain democratic and in the process let go its empire. Intentionally or not, the people of the United States already are well embarked upon the course of non-democratic empire.
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Binoculars

Stephen F. Cohen interview with Aaron Maté: The emerging cracks in NATO's confrontation with Russia

Aaron Maté
The Grey Zone
Tue, 24 Sep 2019 00:00 UTC
Russia part of West

Comment: Cohen is not only one of the very few voices in the Western world who has a deep and broad historical understanding of Russia - as it pertains to contemporary geopolitical realities - but he also has the guts and conscience to speak out about the West's very destructive foreign policy approach towards it.


Stephen F. Cohen argues that cracks are emerging within the NATO-led consensus that has pushed Moscow from the West.

Guest: Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University and Princeton University, contributing editor at The Nation, and author of several "War with Russia: From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate."

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Stock Down

WTO lowers global outlook again amid trade conflicts and volatility


CNBC
Tue, 01 Oct 2019 05:39 UTC
WTO HQ
© Getty Images.
The WTO headquarters in Geneva.
World trade will grow by 1.2% this year and by 2.7% in 2020, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Tuesday, revising an earlier forecast as trade conflicts between the United States and China weigh on global trade.

"Trade conflicts pose the biggest downside risk to the forecast but macroeconomic shocks and financial volatility are also potential triggers for a steeper downturn," the WTO said in a statement.

The organization had previously lowered its forecast for trade growth to 2.6% for this year and to 3.0% in 2020.

Comment: One would suspect that many economies could not survive a "steeper downturn":

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Pirates

Netanyahu's rival abruptly cancels coalition talks - Reports


Sputnik
Wed, 02 Oct 2019 00:05 UTC
netanyahu
© AP Photo / Dan Balilty
Benny Gantz, the main rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has abruptly cancelled coalition talks, saying conditions were not right, media said on Tuesday.

Gantz's centrist secular Blue and White party came first in last month's elections — the second poll this year — winning 33 seats in the 120-member parliament. Netanyahu's Likud took 32 seats.

With neither party holding a majority, Netanyahu has been asked by President Reuven Rivlin to try to form a unity government. The talks with Gantz's party on Wednesday were to be his last attempt.

Comment: See also: Gilad Atzmon: The End of Israel

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Propaganda

CIA, climate and conspiracy: more notes from the edge of the narrative matrix

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Sun, 29 Sep 2019 00:01 UTC
CIA emblem
Take off the revolutionary's mask, and it's the CIA.
Take off the terrorist's mask, and it's the CIA.
Take off the news man's mask, and it's the CIA.
Take off the filmmaker's mask, and it's the CIA.
Take off the professor's mask, and it's the CIA.
Take off the billionaire's mask, and it's the CIA.
Take off the whistleblower's mask, and it's the motherfucking CIA.
These monsters are raping our sensemaking faculties.

Never call anyone from the CIA a "whistleblower" unless they are actually whistleblowing on the CIA, without the CIA's permission, in a way that inconveniences the CIA.

The deployment of a bomb or missile doesn't begin when a pilot pushes a button, it begins when propaganda narratives used to promote those operations start circulating in public attention. If you help circulate war propaganda, you're as complicit as the one who pushes the button.
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Red Flag

'No force can stop China': Beijing shows off new technology at massive military parade marking 70th anniversary of People's Republic


RT
Tue, 01 Oct 2019 20:45 UTC
china 70th anniversay parade
© Reuters / Thomas Peter
Beijing has unveiled its nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle and showed off other latest military tech at a grand parade at Tiananmen Square, marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Following a flag raising ceremony, President Xi Jinping addressed the nation, hailing the country's achievements over seven decades, and spoke with optimism about China's future.

"The Chinese people managed to stand up on their feet and embark on a great journey of national rejuvenation," he said. "No force can stop the Chinese people and the Chinese nation forging ahead. "

Comment: What Trump said!



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Stock Down

South African president vows to rebuild confidence in failing economy


Source
Tue, 01 Oct 2019 19:18 UTC
Cyril Ramaphosa
© PresidencyZA / Twitter
President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed on Monday to rebuild South Africans' confidence in the economy, based not merely on hope or expectation of change, but on concrete things.

South Africans want concrete things that can make a difference in the economy and real actions that "move the needle," the president said in his first weekly message "From the Desk of the President," a new platform through which the president said, "I will discuss some of the issues that interest and concern South Africans, and talk about the work we are doing in government to tackle these issues."

After a decade of low growth and deepening poverty, people are looking for signs of progress in tackling the many challenges confronting the country, the president said.

Comment: Step one to restoring confidence in economy: Don't drive out people who contribute to the strength of the economy based on the color of their skin.

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