Puppet Masters
Moody's Investors Service held Russia's overall rating at Baa1 against a background of the country's strong fiscal and external accounts.
However, it warned that the spread of the conflict in Ukraine has raised the danger of a "geo-political event risk" for Moscow, including from Western sanctions.
Moody's said in its report that it views the situation in eastern Ukraine as more difficult compared to Crimea, "given the complicated background of separatist forces and the outbreak of violence."
The investors service also cited Russia's lower annual growth outlook, which has fallen to 1.7 percent from previous forecasts of three percent over the next five years.
Partisan polarization - the vast and growing gap between Republicans and Democrats - is a defining feature of politics today. But beyond the ideological wings, which make up a minority of the public, the political landscape includes a center that is large and diverse, unified by frustration with politics and little else. As a result, both parties face formidable challenges in reaching beyond their bases to appeal to the middle of the electorate and build sustainable coalitions.
The latest Pew Research Center political typology, which sorts voters into cohesive groups based on their attitudes and values, provides a field guide for this constantly changing landscape.
Comment: It doesn't matter what party is elected, they are one in the same. Party politics is a game of lies and manipulation created by psychopaths.
The study, issued on Thursday, calls on the Obama administration to come up with a cost-benefit analysis of drone strikes. It also urges more transparency on the targeted killings and warns the US might soon be not alone in carrying them out.
"We are concerned that the Obama administration's heavy reliance on targeted killings as a pillar of US counterterrorism strategy rests on questionable assumptions, and risks increasing instability and escalating conflicts," the report reads.
The report was compiled by a bipartisan 10-member task force, created by the Stimson Center think tank and consists of former high-ranking officials working in intelligence and counter-terrorism.
The task force has warned that the current US drone policy might lead to "uncontrolled proliferation of UAV technologies."

Apartments are seen in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem.
Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen told a business seminar organized by the Geneva Initiative on Friday that six European nations have already issued warnings to the Israeli government over expanding construction of settlements beyond the Green Line.
EU member states "are losing their patience with concerns not being treated [seriously]," by Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen said.
"The EU is more consistently implementing existing policy, and taking further steps to disengage from the settlements," said the ambassador, and warned that in case settlement construction does not stop, even more EU member states will issue an advisory not to do business with business in the settlements.
The governments of five of the largest EU economies: Germany, France, Italy and Spain, UK, as well as the Netherlands have urged businessmen nationwide to stop investing into Israeli settlements in eastern Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the West Bank.
The international community regards all Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land as illegal.
At least three shells were launched over the Russian-Ukrainian border into Russia on Saturday, with one blasting a border-crossing checkpoint in the Rostov Region.
"Today, on June 28, Gukovo checkpoint came under fire. One of the shells hit a building and exploded," a spokesman for the Federal Security Service's (FSB) Border Guard administration in Rostov Region, Vasily Malaev, told RT.
The building was severely damaged, but, luckily, nobody was injured in the blast, Malaev said. Some 30 Ukrainian refugees were completing their documents at the checkpoint at the time of the attack and were evacuated together with border guards after the shelling started.
Later on Saturday, Gukovo checkpoint resumed its work despite the damage.
Comment: If Russia were Israel, it would've already launched a dozen or more airstrikes in Ukraine as retaliation, with nary a word of condemnation from Western states. Yet, in reality, can you imagine the vitriol that would be spewed by Western media and politicians if Russia were to engage Ukraine with their military force? For reference, see: Goliath strikes back: Israel stages 12 air strikes on Gaza after rocket fire
"We also have partners across the ocean - our American colleagues - who, according to a lot of evidence, still favor pushing the Ukrainian leadership towards the path of confrontation," Lavrov told Rossiya 1 channel's news show "Sergey Brilev's News on Saturday".
The minister argues one of the reasons behind the on-going violence in Ukraine is that not all the military forces fighting self-defense squads in the country's south-east are under government control.
"Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko would like to ease tension and go on with the truce, but there are also other forces among the Ukrainian authorities - there are radicals still controlling or very closely cooperating with armed ultra nationalists, there is the "Right Sector", the battalions of Igor Kolomoysky and other serious groups, who do not obey Ukraine's Central Command and the Commander-in-Chief," Lavrov said.
Poroshenko announced on Friday he was extending the week-long cease-fire for another three days, which was about to come to an end. During the cease-fire sporadic fighting still continued throughout southeastern Ukrainian with both sides of the conflict blaming each other for outbreaks of violence.
Speaking to journalists in Brussels, the Ukrainian president accused Russia of doing nothing to help bring peace back to the country.
Comment: Not Russia's responsibility, Poroshenko! And even then, Russia's done more to stabilize the situation than you and your U.S. masters, who have done nothing but aggravate, provoke, and intensify the crackdown on legitimate dissent in 'your' country.
Maliki buys Russian jets to aid the fight against Sunni rebels in Iraq as US jets are slow in coming

"I'll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract [with the US]," Maliki said.
"God willing within one week this force will be effective and will destroy the terrorists' dens," he told BBC Arabic.
Meanwhile, Maliki criticized the process of purchasing US jets as "long-winded," adding that the radicals could have been repelled if Iraq had proper air defense.
"I'll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract [with the US]," Maliki said. "We should have sought to buy other jet fighters like British, French and Russian to secure the air cover for our forces; if we had air cover we would have averted what had happened," he went on.
Maliki said Iraq bought second-hand jet fighters from Russia and Belarus "that should arrive in Iraq in two or three days."
Comment: The slow response from the US shows their hand in covertly backing the ISIS terrorists. Aid to Syrian
The public is inundated with slick television commercials and the money pours in.
So much money that very often the American Red Cross receives 70% of ALL the donations made by the public to help the victims in any given high profile event.
Where does all that money go?
Be prepared to be shocked.
Here's how bad it is:
"Just how badly does the American Red Cross want to keep secret how it raised and spent over $300 million after Hurricane Sandy?The Red Cross' "trade secret" argument has persuaded the state to redact some material, though it's not clear yet how much since the documents haven't yet been released."
The charity has hired a fancy law firm to fight a public request we filed with New York state, arguing that information about its Sandy activities is a "trade secret."
Comment: It's also an intelligence vehicle for the US elite. When Wall Street sent an American Red Cross mission to Russia in 1917, all but two of the 'missionaries' were lawyers and financiers, present in Russia to monitor the Bolshevik Revolution and ensure optimal returns for heavy US investment in the 'communist' revolution.

Anti-goverment fighter man a road checkpoint outside the town of Lysychansk in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, June 24, 2014
CEASEFIRE
Poroshenko agreed to prolong the ceasefire until 10 p.m. local time on Monday, according to the presidential website.
Earlier on Friday, the self-proclaimed prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Aleksandr Boroday, also promised to observe a ceasefire until June 30.
However, Boroday said he doubts Kiev will fulfill its promise. "We hope that the ceasefire will be more than [Kiev's] blabbing," he said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
The UN welcomes the extension of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and calls for an end to the violence in the region, the UN's press service quoted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as saying. Ban urged all parties to abide by their promises.












Comment: Whatever.
Unemployment in the US: 38%... unemployment in Russia: 5.5%
Total national debt in the US: $17.5 trillion... total national debt in Russia: $22 billion
Frankly, Russia has 'rated' US economic prospects by wanting as little to do with it as possible.