Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that it was wrong to turn Crimean Tatars into a small coin in settling disputes between Russia and Ukraine.

"Under no circumstances can we allow that Crimean Tatars become a small coin in disputes, especially in inter-state disputes such like the one between Russia and Ukraine," Putin said at a meeting with representatives of the Crimean Tatars.

Russian human rights ombudsperson to meet Crimean Tatars "I should call your attention to one thing. We, including the federal authorities, regional and local power bodies, are ready to work with all people who genuinely, I would like to note that specially, want to improve the life of people on their land," Putin said at a meeting with representatives of Crimean Tatars.

"Nevertheless, under no circumstances can we allow that Crimean Tatars become a small coin in disputes, especially in inter-state disputes such as the one between Russia and Ukraine," Putin stressed.

The US government is considering doing away with a four-decade-old law that bans the sale and export of American oil abroad. The decision follows a slew of US-led strategic wars and sanctions in the Middle East that have raised oil prices and demand.

The policy shift comes on the heels of the crisis in Ukraine, as the US may be taking advantage of an opportunity to disrupt Russian oil exports to Europe. The US produces 10 percent of global crude oil supply, but exports precisely zero barrels because of a ban Congress set in reaction to the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo.

Washington is seriously considering changing federal laws to let oil flow abroad, according to US Energy Department Secretary Ernest Moniz.

"The issue of crude oil exports is under consideration... A driver for this consideration is that the nature of the oil we're producing may not be well matched to our current refinery capacity," Moniz said on Tuesday at the end of an energy conference in Seoul, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Many Democrats in Congress oppose the idea, as lawmakers believe newfound oil wealth should be kept inside the US to keep domestic energy prices low.

Two phone conversations have recently been intercepted by "parties unknown" (thank you Spetssviaz & 6th GRU!) which are truly revealing of the true nature of the folks put in power by the CIA.

The first one is a conversation between Igor Kolomoisky, mega-oligarch, Mafia don, dual Ukrainian-Israeli citizen and "junta governor" of the city of Dnepropetrovsk in southeastern Ukraine and Oleg Tsarev, ex-candidate in the Presidential election (ex Party of Regions, now independent), the one who was brutally assaulted in Kiev after participating to a show called - I kid you not - "free speech". This is the machine translated transcript of the conversation (slightly corrected by me):

Kolomoysky: Hi.
Tsarev: Hi.
Kolomoysky: Where are you? Same place?
Tsarev: Same place.
Kolomoysky: How are you?
Tsarev: Good.
Kolomoysky: There's big trouble happened . A Jew of the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community was killed.
Tsarev: What happened there?
Kolomoysky: Well, a Jew got killed, one of the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community . I am right now in the synagogue.
Tsarev: What was he doing there?
Kolomoysky: Well , no matter what he did. They said that they would put a contract on your life, fuck, big money.
Tsarev: For my life?
Kolomoysky: Million dollars. For your life. Yes. Moreover , they said that will be looking everywhere. Well, I just say that this so you say in Moscow, don't travel anywhere.
Tsarev: Let me tell you something . In Africa, there are ...
Kolomoysky: Tomorrow they will go after your people (family) here.
Tsarev: In Africa, there is such a ... such a poison ...
Kolomoysky: Look, I don't give a fuck about Africa. I don't care about this. I am telling you that in the synagogue on the eve of the Sabbath there was a prayer. They prayed for the slain fellow Jew, comrade Shlemkevich, who was killed in Mariupol, fuck!
Tsarev: So ...
Kolomoysky: And they said that Tsarev is to blame for it all, fuck. And tomorrow, fuck, the first thing they will do is look for all your loved ones, fuck. You better tell them to get the fuck out of here. Because we will hang them right on the public square, fuck ... And tell Markov not to come here. Well, in the Ukraine. Under any circumstances . You hear me?
Tsarev: Do not call me . Do not call me , Igor.
Kolomoysky: Not to call you? Ok. So long Tsarev
Tsarev: Come on. Bye.

Charming no?

Vietnam insists that China stops offshore oil exploration in the South China Sea within Vietnam's territorial waters, the country's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the phone on Thursday.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said on Friday the Minister had criticized Beijing's installation of the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 in early May near the Paracel Islands, which the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea defines as part of Vietnam's 200 mile exclusive economic zone. Such actions contravene all earlier agreements between the two countries about the settlement of South China disputes, said Pham Binh Minh.

The Vietnamese Minister confirmed Hanoi's adherence to peaceful settlement of the new turn in relations with the northern neighbor as "Vietnam remains moderate and is guided by good will to ease tension in the two countries' relations". Binh Minh has sent his deputy to Beijing as a special representative and hopes for China's positive reaction.

A former general is accusing the U.S. military of not even trying to save the Americans under attack at Benghazi in 2012.

A high-ranking officer in the U.S. Africa Command on the night of the Benghazi attacks is now saying that the U.S. military did not try and was never even ordered to save the Americans under attack at the U.S. diplomatic outpost on the September 11, 2012 attack.

In explosive testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Lovell said bluntly about the military's response on the night of the Benghazi attack: "The discussion is not in the 'could or could not' in relation to time, space and capability, the point is we should have tried."

The death toll in Iraq shows no signs of decreasing as the country suffered one of its deadliest months in April with 1,009 people killed, according to the country's Interior Ministry.

Civilians were the biggest casualties with 881 deaths, while 128 law enforcement members were also killed. Terrorist attacks were the biggest cause of loss of life, with these attacks killing in the region of 750. During April, 1375 Iraqi's were injured.

The figures could have been even higher but data from the restive region of Anbar in the west of the country was not included. The province borders Syria and has seen heavy fighting between government forces and Islamist terrorist groups.

Iraq has been torn by a new wave of violent attacks since April 2013, with the numbers of dead jumping to its highest levels since the worst of the country's sectarian bloodshed in 2006-2008.

The approval rating of Russian President Vladimir Putin has reached 85.9 percent, a six-year high, according to polling data by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM).

"The approval of the actions of the President of the Russian Federation has been growing for five consecutive months already. Since April, Putin's rating rose from 82.2 percent to 85.9 percent, and since the beginning of the year - by more than a third," the pollster said.

The United States plans to sell nearly $1 billion worth of warplanes, armored vehicles and surveillance aerostats to Iraq.

The deal includes 24 AT-6C Texan II light-attack aircraft, a turboprop plane manufactured by Beechcraft that has .50 caliber machine guns, advanced avionics and can carry precision-guided bombs, the Pentagon said.

The aircraft and related equipment and services are valued at $790 million.

The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency informed Congress on Tuesday of the planned sale, which will go ahead unless lawmakers block the deal.

The following solicitation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture almost defies belief. We've seen this type of bizarre behavior before, but it has mostly originated from the American Gestapo, aka the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I highlighted this trend early last year in my post: Department of Homeland Security to Purchase 7,000 "Assault Weapons".

Here's a screenshot of the solicitation from the Department of Agriculture:
What is so important to understand about the current war/civil unrest cycle that the world has now entered into is that it will affect different regions and nations differently.

Russia's foreign minister softened his tone toward Ukraine, saying his country "can do business" with any elected president and warning that fighting in the country's east risks undermining a ballot's legitimacy.


"If there is somebody who emerges as a figure with the support of the majority of Ukrainians, of course it's easier to have such an interlocutor than self-appointed people," Sergei Lavrov, Russia's top diplomat, said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Lavrov said he's well acquainted with the poll-leading candidate for the May 25 election, billionaire Petro Poroshenko, who isn't a "fascist" unlike some members of the current administration who took over after the ouster of Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych in February. "We can do business with anyone," Lavrov said.