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"I Spoke with President Putin and congratulated him on his re-election as the President of the Russian Federation. We agreed to work together to further deepen and expand the India-Russia Special & Privileged Strategic Partnership in the years ahead."I know the quote does not relay any fragility between nations that have been in good standing for decades. Still, the elites running our feudal/capitalistic system in the West - well, they can still dream. And speaking of neo-feudalism, a new book by the brilliant (if sometimes quirky) Yanis Varoufakis, speaks mightily on what's really going down in the West vs. East geopolicy wars we're in. The book, entitled Techno-feudalism: What Killed Capitalism proclaims capitalism as dead amid "an epochal shift" backwards in time. Varoufakis argues, his points about the technocrats and their fiefdoms by creating the parable below. Insert the first name "Mark" where Jeff is mentioned, and you'll see the truth of the Greek economist's theory:
"Imagine the following scene straight out of the science fiction storybook. You are beamed into a town full of people going about their business, trading in gadgets, clothes, shoes, books, songs, games and movies. At first everything looks normal. Until you begin to notice something odd. It turns out all the shops, indeed every building, belongs to a chap called Jeff. What's more, everyone walks down different streets and sees different stores because everything is intermediated by his algorithm... an algorithm that dances to Jeff's tune."The man who should have been Greece's Prime Minister years ago uses Jeff (Bezos, the owner of Amazon) to illustrate how we peons and surfs produce value for technology companies simply by tweeting or posting. In Bezos's case, Varoufakis points out that the Amazon founder does not produce capital, but he simply charges rent. He says this isn't capitalism, but feudalism, exacted upon a citizenry unaware of what's happening. I suggest you read The Guardian story about the book here.
"It is extremely important for us now, when we're dealing with what happened last Friday, to rely on these values of creativity, humanism and mercy," Putin said. "They unite us in supporting all victims, in our determination to stay strong and together."Artists and educators have a special role in preserving and promoting those values, by influencing the mood of the public and shaping the future of the nation, the Russian president added.
"But we know who carried out the attack. We want to know who ordered it."
Moscow terror attack could be linked to Ukraine - Putin
The deadly terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall was a clear attempt to intimidate Russia and serves the interests of the Ukrainian government, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.
More than 130 people were killed at the concert venue northwest of Moscow on Friday evening, when several armed men began shooting into the crowd and set the hall on fire. Speaking with law enforcement and regional officials on Monday evening, Putin argued the atrocity fit the pattern of actions by Kiev."This atrocity may be only a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been fighting our country since 2014, using the neo-Nazi Kievregime as their hand," Putin said. "And the Nazis, as is well known, never hesitated to use the most dirty and inhumane means to achieve their goals."A terrorist group calling itself Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for the concert venue massacre. The US and the EU swiftly insisted that Ukraine had nothing to do with the attack and that ISIS-K, a shadowy group allegedly operating in Afghanistan and Central Asia, was the sole culprit.
Russian security services have apprehended a dozen suspects, including seven alleged perpetrators, intercepted as they drove towards the border with Ukraine. They were identified as Tajik nationals. Speaking on Monday evening, Putin described them as "radical Islamists."
A question that needs answering is why the terrorists headed for Ukraine after carrying out the attack, Putin said."Who was waiting for them there? It is clear that those who support the Kiev regime do not want to be accomplices and sponsors of terrorism. But a lot of questions remain," he added.While Russia knows who pulled the trigger, the president said, Moscow still needs to find who gave the order. He made it clear that Kiev is his primary suspect, however.
With Ukraine's military losing on the frontline, Kiev has attempted to breach the Russian border, shelled civilians in Belgorod and launched missiles at Crimea, Putin noted at the meeting. All of these actions "create a logical sequence to a terrorist attack," seeking both to intimidate Russia and fortify domestic morale, so that Ukrainians would continue "obeying orders" from Washington and keep fighting, he added.
Comment: The Russians seemingly have no problems recruiting new soldiers, so it makes sense that there would be no reason or need to have a new mobilization. The same cannot be said of Ukraine, however.