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Russia-US trade turnover hit $25 billion in 2018 - And it's still rising, despite sanctions


RT
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 14:02 UTC
Red Square
© Reuters / Christian HartmannRed Square
Washington's sanctions against Moscow have not stopped bilateral trade from steadily growing over the past two years and it stood at $25 billion in 2018, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"This is less than the record-high level of $31 billion in 2011 but much better than the figures that we were at when the Obama administration decided to destroy the basis of our cooperation," Lavrov said on Tuesday during a meeting with representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.

In his opening remarks, the minister said that Russia is always open for US business, but the cooperation between the two sides could be much better.

"Today Russian-US cooperation falls short of its potential," Lavrov said, adding that Moscow would like to give "an additional impetus for our economic and investment cooperation."

Comment: Leave it to the inimitable Sergei Lavrov to put things so succinctly in regards to the US's idiotic Russia policy, ie. "to sacrifice economy for politics."

The really remarkable thing, however, is that they can't even sacrifice the economy: the tidal forces exerted by Russia and China are just too strong, so Western trade with both countries is increasing in spite of the hegemonists' efforts to put brakes on it!

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Heart - Black

US journalist held in locked embassy room while Ecuadorian ambassador tells Assange to 'shut up' and accept being spied on

Cassandra Fairbanks
The Gateway Pundit
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 14:59 UTC
Julian Assange
Julian Assang's health has declined rapidly as his illegal incarceration drags on.
It was meant to be a routine visit by a journalist to another journalist. Instead, I found myself locked in a cold, surveilled room for over an hour by Ecuadorian officials, as a furious argument raged between the country's ambassador and Julian Assange.

The room was inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where 2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Julian Assange currently lives under the ostensible protection of political asylum. Yet the WikiLeaks publisher was barred from entering the room, where he was supposed to join me for a pre-approved meeting, because he refused to submit to a full-body search and continuous surveillance.

In the fireworks that followed, Assange accused the ambassador of being an agent of the United States government.

The crackdown on visitors was felt before I even entered the embassy. It's the third time I've visited in the past year, and each time the atmosphere seems progressively worse.

Comment:

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Eagle

CIA, MI6 have been helping Ukraine's SBU spy agency in planning its covert operations - ex-officer


TASS
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 17:27 UTC
CIA crest
© AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Vasily Prozorov said that there are representatives of foreign non-governmental organizations, for instance, the Rand Corporation, present within the Ukrainian security agencies

Operatives from American and British intelligence services are directly participating in hatching secret plots with Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) and training personnel to carry them out, SBU ex-employee Vasily Prozorov said at a news conference on Monday.

"I do not know for what motives. I believe this is for not only security but also conspiracy reasons, because CIA employees have been present in Kiev since 2014. They are residing in clandestine apartments and suburban houses," he said.

"However, they frequently come to the SBU's central office for holding, for example, specific meetings or plotting secret operations," he said.

Comment: It should come as no surprise after all we have learned about US involvement in the 2014 coup in Ukraine that the CIA has been further advising forces there on how to solidify its stranglehold and perpetuate its western proxy war against Russia.

See also:

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Eye 2

"Morally reprehensible": 5 UK opposition parties call for an end to £4.6 billion in weapon sales for Saudi-led slaughter in Yemen

Gemma Fox
The Independent
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 12:00 UTC
girl Yemen
© ReutersHanaa Ahmad Ali Bahr, a malnourished girl sits on her father's lap in a shanty town in Hodeidah, Yemen
Five opposition parties published a letter on Monday condemning the UK's continued arms trade with the "murderous regime" of Saudi Arabia and calling the government complicit in Yemen's devastation.

The letter, published in full by The Independent, is signed by leaders of the Labour Party, SNP, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party's lone MP.

The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, is expected in London this week to discuss the redeployment of forces and the opening up of access to humanitarian supplies, especially in the rebel-held strategic port city of Hodeidah.

The city's fragile truce, negotiated in Stockholm in December, continues to hold, but any failure to implement the deal could lead to even greater devastation in a country that is experiencing what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Comment: The number of deaths is likely to be woefully underestimated.

Where there is war, injustice, death and destruction, but only when there is a profit to be made or strategic benefit to be reaped, you can be sure the UK establishment is involved in some way: And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Perfidious Albion: If Russia is a Rogue State, What is the UK?

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No Entry

How's that blockade working Trump? Not a single European country has banned Huawei

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Wed, 20 Mar 2019 10:26 UTC
huawei
© Getty Images / Guillaume Payen
For the past year, as part of Trump's escalating trade war against China, the Trump administration has been waging a parallel campaign to convince America's European "allies" (at least until the White House unleashes auto tariffs against Brussles in retaliation for China annexing Italy to the Belt and Road initiative) to bar China's Huawei Technologies from their telecom networks, a process which so far has culminated with the arrest of the Chinese telecom giant's CFO in Canada. Bolstered by the success of similar efforts in Australia and New Zealand, the White House sent envoys to European capitals with warnings that Huawei's gear would open a backdoor for Chinese spies. Last week, the U.S. even threatened to cut off intelligence sharing if Germany ignored its advice.

So far, the gamble to pressure Europe has backfired: not a single European country has banned Huawei.

Confirming that Europe and the US are now allies only on paper, was the scathing commentary by Angela Merkel at a Berlin conference on Tuesday: "There are two things I don't believe in," Merkel said: "First, to discuss these very sensitive security questions publicly, and second, to exclude a company simply because it's from a certain country."

And just like that, Europe took its place in the grand superpower race: right next to China (and Russia) against the US.

Comment: It's good that Europe is taking a stand against US bullying but considering the health risks, and if Huawei is that integral to speeding up 5G roll-out then this might be one of those rare times (strange as that is) that ceding to US demands might not be such a bad thing if it delays the process by a few years. See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Mueller exonerates Trump - now it's time for 'full disclosure'

Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 10:04 UTC
Robert Mueller
© Joshua Roberts/ReutersSpecial Counsel Robert Mueller on Capitol Hill, June 21, 2017.
The news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has closed his investigation without recommending criminal charges against President Trump is a relief. It is not a surprise.

Nor is it a surprise that the news has Trump antagonists clamoring for full disclosure of the special counsel's final report. Mind you, when skeptics of the Trump-Russia investigation asked what the criminal predicate for it was, and on what basis the Obama administration had decided to monitor the opposition party's presidential campaign, we were admonished about the wages of disclosure - the compromise of precious defense secrets, of deep-cover intelligence sources and methods. Why, to ask for such information was to be an insurrectionist seeking to destroy the FBI, the Justice Department, and the rule of law itself. Now, though, it's only the uncharged president of the United States at issue, so disclose away!

Well, if we're going to have disclosure, fine. But let's have full disclosure: Mueller's report in addition to the FISA applications; the memoranda pertinent to the opening and continuation of the investigation; the testimony in secret hearings; the scope memorandum Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein issued on August 2, 2017, after failing to cite a crime when he appointed Mueller - let's have all of it.
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Snakes in Suits

Macron wishes 'wisdom' to 73 year old injured Yellow Vest protester


RT
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 12:00 UTC
protester yellow vests
© AFP / Valery HACHEFrench police rush towards Genevieve Legay activtist, who collapsed on the ground a Yellow Vests rally in Nice
French President Emmanuel Macron, who many blame for the violence unleashed on Yellow Vest protesters, said he hopes one elderly protester whose head was severely injured during a demonstration gains "wisdom" over her injury.

Genevieve Legay, a French anti-globalization activist, was knocked over by officers wielding batons at an unauthorized rally in Nice last week. She fell and hit her head on a metal post before being rushed to the hospital for trauma care.

The incident was widely covered in French media, and Macron predictably was asked to comment on it. His response is unlikely to sit well with the Yellow Vests: "I wish her a speedy recovery, and perhaps a form of wisdom."

Comment: It would appear from Macron's comments and the repeated actions of his security services that, in Macron's France, citizens are no longer allowed the freedom to protest the increasing corruption in their government and, if they do so, the security forces apparently have license to maim them: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal #26: Globalization vs Nationalism - The Hidden Causes of The Yellow Vest Protests in France

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Newspaper

Ukrainian side involved in MH17 flight disaster over Donbass - former SBU officer


TASS
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 13:25 UTC
MH17
© Zurab Javakhadze/TASSVasily Prozorov said it was his personal opinion and it relied on certain information
The Ukrainian side was involved in the MH17 flight disaster over Donbass, a former officer of the Ukrainian security service SBU, Vasily Prozorov, told a news conference on Monday.

"It is my personal opinion and it relies on certain information. The Ukrainian side is an accomplice to the Malaysian MH17 flight disaster," he said.

"The amazingly prompt reaction of the Ukrainian leadership was the first thing that made me feel suspicious. My unequivocal opinion was President Pyotr Poroshenko and his press-service had prior knowledge of the affair. Secondly, hostilities had been underway for several months by then, but the airspace over the area was not closed," Prozorov said.

Comment: The officers comments reveal that there are some in Ukraine who are know who was responsible for the terrorist act that resulted in the tragedy of flight MH17; we already know it was carried out on Ukrainian soil using Ukrainian weapons, in a failed attempt to frame Russia: Also check out SOTT radio's coverage of the report back in 2015: Behind the Headlines: Dutch MH17 report, ISIS hipster beards, China-UK entente

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Binoculars

Trump's paramilitary plot to overthrow Maduro uncovered in Venezuela

Stephen Lendman
stephenlendman.org
Sun, 24 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
plot against Maduro
© AP Photo / Xinhua
On Saturday, Venezuelan President Maduro announced the capture of a Colombian paramilitary head of a (Trump regime) plot to oust him by brute force. More on this below.

So far, everything Trump regime hardliners threw at Venezuela to topple its democratically elected government failed.

It notably includes continued efforts to turn the country's military against President Maduro and Bolivarian governance - by pressure, false promises, perhaps threats and bribes.

It aims for gaining overwhelming popular opposition to Maduro, for acceptance of Guaido to replace him as interim president - despite nothing in Venezuela's Constitution permitting the scheme.

Comment: What we're also not hearing in the mainstream news gets fleshed out further here:
The Venezuelan president already survived an apparent assassination attempt in August 2018, when a pair of drones armed with explosives were detonated while approaching a stage where Maduro and other senior government officials were standing during a holiday. Caracas accused the US and Colombia of involvement in that attack.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused the United States and opposition leader Juan Guaido of being directly involved in a plot to kill him.

"American imperialism wants to kill me. We just exposed the plan that the devil's puppet [Guaido] personally directed to kill me," Maduro said, speaking to supporters at a rally.

"We have evidence; they could not and cannot [succeed] because we are protected by God," Maduro added.

Maduro stressed that the Prosecutor's Office had made serious progress in the case, with "new terrorists" expected to be arrested "in the coming days."

Last week, Venezuelan security arrested Guaido 'chief of staff' Robert Marrero, accusing him of organizing a terror cell and conspiring to hire professional assassins from across Central America to murder high-ranking Venezuelan officials and carry out acts of terrorism and sabotage using monies from frozen Venezuelan bank accounts abroad.

Speaking on Venezuelan television on Saturday, communication minister Jorge Rodriguez alleged that the opposition had recruited the killers and paramilitaries to send them to Colombia for training. "Marrero was involved in contracting people from Guatemala and Colombia to comply with the recruitment and training plan for assassins," he said.

Rodriguez provided detailed information about the plot, which he said included the creation of over half a dozen hit teams of eight mercenaries apiece to go after Venezuelan political and military leaders, and carry out terror plots against the state. The evidence included recordings of what were said to be WhatsApp conversations between Marrero and Guaido on the use of Venezuelan funds frozen by US sanctions to finance armed groups with Colombia's support.

Venezuelan authorities have already identified some of the estimated 30+ paramilitaries which have infiltrated into Venezuela from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala after being trained in Colombia, according to Rodriguez.

In his speech, Maduro also indicated that an unidentified Colombian paramilitary chief had also been captured and was now "giving testimony."

Marrero was arrested at his Caracas home on Thursday, with authorities finding two assault rifles and a grenade as well as large sums of cash in foreign currencies at his home. The politician claimed the weapons had been planted. The US, the US and the Lima Group of countries condemned Marrero's arrest and demanded that he be released immediately.

Venezuela's long-running political crisis escalated in late January, when Juan Guaido, head of the semi-defunct National Assembly, declared himself interim president pending fresh elections, just days after Maduro's inauguration for a second term. The plot received immediate backing from the US and its Latin American allies, as well as Europe. Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey, Syria, North Korea and a number of other countries condemned the coup attempt and urged outside powers not to interfere in Venezuela's internal affairs.


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Megaphone

UN Special Rapporteur: US sanctions don't work, are illegitimate, and worsen human rights situation


RT
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 22:53 UTC
Steven Mnuchin John Bolton
© Reuters / Jim YoungTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and security adviser John Bolton announce sanctions on Venezuela in Washington
From Venezuela to Iran, Liberia to Belarus, there's barely a corner of the world not sanctioned by the US. But economic penalties don't help regime change and unfairly impact civilians, the UN sanctions rapporteur told RT.

When direct military action is out of the question, economic sanctions are often the US' next weapon of choice. President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal last year was accompanied by the reimposition of crippling sanctions, designed to force Iran to "act like a normal country," in the words of State Secretary Mike Pompeo. Ditto in Venezuela, where US sanctions targeted President Nicolas Maduro's oil wealth, and in North Korea, where sanctions have been applied, removed and reapplied in an effort to curb Kim Jong-un's nuclear ambitions.


All in all, at least 25 percent of the world's population lives under unilateral US sanctions, their livelihoods impacted by geopolitical decisions made half a world away.
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