A previous article discussed Russian economist/political analyst Mikhail Delyagin expecting a possible anti-Russian nuclear false flag.

Fort Russ now cites intelligence "about impending terrorist attacks on Ukrainian strategic objects, which will justify an attack on Donbass."

Foreign nationals and relatives of senior Ukrainian officials were evacuated from border areas, it says.

Armored vehicles with Russian and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) symbols and flags were seen in Donbas territory controlled by Ukraine's military.

Suggesting a planned provocation. Other intelligence "confirmed the arrival of large numbers of mercenaries, equipment and machinery from NATO countries."

Ukraine's general staff press service head, Vladislav Seleznev, announced possible resumed hostilities in so-called ATO (anti-terrorist operations) areas.

As well as "possible terrorist attacks by the militia on the objects of strategic importance." Because socio/political/humanitarian conditions remain tense, he said. In ATO and bordering areas.

"There is also the risk of a resumption of active hostilities," Seleznev added. "However, we do not eliminate the risk of terrorist and sabotage acts in these areas, at government and military facilities, as well as mass protests and civil disobedience."

Earlier, illegitimate oligarch president Petro Poroshenko vowed to return Crimea to Ukraine. "Crimea will be back together with us," he said.

Reframing the CIA's interrogation techniques as a violation of scientific and medical ethics may be the best way to achieve accountability.

Human experimentation was a core feature of the CIA's torture program. The experimental nature of the interrogation and detention techniques is clearly evident in the Senate Intelligence Committee's executive summary of its investigative report, despite redactions (insisted upon by the CIA) to obfuscate the locations of these laboratories of cruel science and the identities of perpetrators.

At the helm of this human experimentation project were two psychologists hired by the CIA, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen. They designed interrogation and detention protocols that they and others applied to people imprisoned in the agency's secret "black sites."

In its response to the Senate report, the CIA justified its decision to hire the duo: "We believe their expertise was so unique that we would have been derelict had we not sought them out when it became clear that CIA would be heading into the uncharted territory of the program." Mitchell and Jessen's qualifications did not include interrogation experience, specialized knowledge about Al Qaeda or relevant cultural or linguistic knowledge. What they had was Air Force experience in studying the effects of torture on American prisoners of war, as well as a curiosity about whether theories of "learned helplessness" derived from experiments on dogs might work on human enemies.

To implement those theories, Mitchell and Jessen oversaw or personally engaged in techniques intended to produce "debility, disorientation and dread." Their "theory" had a particular means-ends relationship that is not well understood, as Mitchell testily explained in an interview on Vice News: "The point of the bad cop is to get the bad guy to talk to the good cop." In other words, "enhanced interrogation techniques" (the Bush administration's euphemism for torture) do not themselves produce useful information; rather, they produce the condition of total submission that will facilitate extraction of actionable intelligence.

Mitchell, like former CIA Director Michael Hayden and others who have defended the torture program, argues that a fundamental error in the Senate report is the elision of means (waterboarding, "rectal rehydration," weeks or months of nakedness in total darkness and isolation, and other techniques intended to break prisoners) and ends - manufactured compliance, which, the defenders claim, enabled the collection of abundant intelligence that kept Americans safe. (That claim is amply and authoritatively contradicted in the report.)

For diplomats of any country, Moscow represents a plum posting. If you are selected to serve there it implies your government has great trust in your abilities and you have had a previous career of meritorious service. Or it means you are John Tefft.

Controversy follows John Tefft wherever he goes. This diplomatic pit bull has a disturbing talent for stirring up trouble - exactly the opposite of what diplomats are supposed to do. Whenever he leaves a posting local commentators assume his career is finished. Yet he keeps showing up wherever the US wants to foment trouble - pretending he is a simple functionary, out of his depth, when in fact there are few depths he will not sink to.

It is therefore strange, on the surface, that Moscow has confirmed his appointment as US Ambassador. However, as with all official actions, there is something said, something else implied and a real reason it is happening. Washington and Moscow may be trying to achieve different things through this appointment, but ultimately they both have a vested interest in it.

Even facing what under any circumstances is a perfect storm; President Putin delivered an extremely measured performance at his annual press conference and Q&A marathon.

The perfect storm evolves in two fronts; an overt economic war - as in siege by sanctions - and a concerted, covert, shadow attack to the heart of the Russian economy. Washington's endgame is clear: impoverish and defang the adversary and force him to meekly bow to the 'Empire of Chaos's' whims. And bragging about it all the way to "victory."

The problem is Moscow happens to have impeccably deciphered the game - even before Putin, at the Valdai Club in October, pinned down the Obama doctrine as "our Western partners" working as practitioners of the "theory of controlled chaos."

So Putin neatly understood this week's monster controlled chaos attack. The Empire has massive money power; a great deal of influence over the world's GDP at $85 trillion, and the banking power behind that. So nothing easier than using that power through the private banking systems that actually controls central banks to create a run on the ruble. Think about the 'Empire of Chaos' dreaming of driving the ruble down by 99% or so - thus wrecking the Russian economy. What better way to impose imperial discipline on Russia?

Bends over backwards to praise Yatseniuk in most obsequious manner. Really extraordinary.

Its amazing that a military alliance needs its own TV channel.

We suppose it helps in their basic mission of justifying their own existence to an increasingly skeptical public.

The last laugh is on them (the public), because not only do they pay for the outrageously expensive and unnecessary alliance, they also get to pay for the TV channel to justify the expense.

Here at RI we love the NATO channel, because it provides great material, - they actually excel in making themselves look ridiculous.

In this priceless episode from 15th December, NATO Chief Stoltenberg shows that far from being an obedient and prudent servant of the countries paying his salary, he is a zealous political advocate, making extremely dubious claims in an effort, we surmise, to give NATO something to do, and also, it seems, expressing his personal aggressive neo-con views.

The best part is the first 3 minutes, where he praises Yatseniuk for his commitment to democracy, says Russia's behavior is illegal and destabilizing, says Kiev has sought to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, says he is proud of NATO's commitment to the admirable Kiev government, says the Kiev government reflects the will of the people of Ukraine, and basically says NATO is 110% with Kiev and will do whatever it can to support them.

Ukrainian farmers will find themselves on the brink of survival in 2015.

On 1 January 2015, Ukraine will enact the law banning the sales of home-slaughtered meat, as well as homemade milk and cheese, the Capital reports.

Ukraine has to ban the sales of home meat, milk and curds to become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In 2013, Ukraine's Ministry for Agrarian Policy wanted to postpone the law for five years, till 2020, to obtain time to equip special slaughter houses.

The revolution in Ukraine did not let the plans materialize. The new rulers of Ukraine apparently decided not to engage in such matters.

According to the head of the All-Ukrainian Agricultural Council, Denis Marchuk, the adoption of the law will put villagers on the brink of survival.

"The imposition of the ban without a transition period will affect the work of small farms that produce about 30 percent of meat and 75 percent of milk of the total amount of these products. For many villagers, cattle farming is the only source of income," he said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said that Ukraine was ranked first in Europe in terms of the agricultural potential.

Citigroup is the Wall Street mega bank that forced the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999; blew itself up as a result of the repeal in 2008; was propped back up with the largest taxpayer bailout in the history of the world even though it was insolvent and didn't qualify for a bailout; has now written its own legislation to de-regulate itself; got the President of the United States to lobby for its passage; and received an up vote from both houses of Congress in less than a week.

And there is one more thing you should know at the outset about Citigroup: it didn't just have a hand in bringing the country to its knees in 2008; it was a key participant in the 1929 collapse under the moniker National City Bank. Both the U.S. Senate's investigation of the collapse of the financial system in 1929 and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) that investigated the 2008 collapse cited this bank as a key culprit.

Is anyone else wondering what happened to the 12th NATO General Secretary, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, after his 5-year mandate ended this past September? Rasmussen was one of the most loyal high-level officials of the US-NATO Empire for more than a decade, so I thought it would be interesting to find out what a man like that does once he's out of a job.

My findings didn't surprise me. Rasmussen is set to continue serving the goals of Empire in a different, more profitable line of work. In other words, taking cue from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President Bill Clinton, Rasmussen is now on the road to personal enrichment. The time has come for him to cash in on all the pain, suffering and death he had caused as NATO's civilian head in the operations of destabilization and the partial-to-complete destruction of the sovereign states of Libya, Syria, and Ukraine.

And so, just a day after his tenure in NATO was over, Rasmussen went into corporate business. He opened a geopolitical consultancy firm which aims to offer "strategic advice to governments, global organizations and major corporations".¹ Somewhat predictably, the firm's name is 'Rasmussen Global'; nobody will be confused as to who the boss is. Its logo is, however, more surprising: it consists of a not-too-creatively stylized map of the world, with New York City (of all places) in the background:

A Ukrainian soldier who was part of the crew that operated the supposed missile-battery that the Ukrainian Government claims shot down the Malaysian MH17 airliner on July 17th has testified publicly for the first time, saying that the missile-battery was operated by the Ukrainian military, not by the rebels as asserted, and that he and his former crew-mates who operated it laughed when they heard their Government say that this missile-battery was operated by rebels and had shot the airliner down.

An English-translated transcript of the December 15th Russian-language interview with this soldier was posted at UkraineWar.Info on December 17th by Michael Collins, an investigative journalist with UkraineWar.Info who has been following very closely the multiple investigations that are proceeding into the cause of the downing.

On October 24 of this year, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced that the fall of the Russian ruble exchange rate has a negative impact on the financial situation in Ukraine.

"In fact, today is a 'Black Friday' for the Russian economy and the Russian ruble. Usually, after this, we get a wave of financial instability due to the insolvency of Russia", - said the head of the government then.

Meanwhile he continues to urge Europe to impose new sanctions against Russia.