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Kremlin corroborates story Cohen emailed them about Trump Tower deal, shares email


RT
Sun, 02 Dec 2018 16:19 UTC
kremlin
© Sputnik / Natalia Seliverstova
Yes, Michael Cohen had really got in touch with Kremlin officials seeking help with building Trump Tower, the secretary to the Russian President has revealed - reiterating what he already told none other than CNN over a year ago.

"Indeed, there were requests from [Michael] Cohen, where he said that the company was seeking to erect a building in Moscow and struggles to establish the business contacts it needed. They asked to organize a meeting with the then-head of the President's administration - [Sergey] Ivanov, or with me," Peskov told reporters at the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Cohen pleaded guilty on Thursday to making false statements to Congress, related to a 2016 plan by then-candidate Trump to build a Trump Tower property in Moscow. The plan was eventually shelved, but Cohen initially said it had been axed several months before it actually was.

The plea does not implicate Trump in any crime, nor does it reveal any collusion with Russia to rig the 2016 election. Yet the mainstream media and the anti-Trump #Resistance greeted the news with glee, predicting it would become the "end of Trump."

Comment: See also:

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Megaphone

Ukraine sought to draw Germany into war says ex-foreign minister


TASS
Sun, 02 Dec 2018 10:46 UTC
Sigmar Gabriel
© EPA-EFE/FELIPE TRUEBASigmar Gabriel also criticized Kiev's demands to send warships to the Black Sea and its suggestion to close international ports for Russian vessels traveling from the Sea of Azov
Ukraine's authorities tried to draw Germany into a war after an incident with Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch Strait, former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told news channel NTV.

"I think we should not let Ukraine draw us into a war, and Ukraine tried to do that," Gabriel said in an interview, voicing concerns over the situation in the Sea of Azov.

In an interview, published by Tagesspiegel newspaper on Saturday, Gabriel also criticized Kiev's demands to send warships to the Black Sea and its suggestion to close international ports for Russian vessels traveling from the Sea of Azov.

Comment: Ukraine is collapsing under the weight of its own corruption and is trying to drag anyone it can down with it.

See also:

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Brain

Insane 'Mad Dog' Mattis calls Putin a 'slow learner'... then bemoans 'worsened' US relations with Russia


RT
Sun, 02 Dec 2018 15:59 UTC
James Mattis
© Reuters / Yuri Gripas
Vladimir Putin's simple-minded nature is to blame for the growing tensions between the US and Russia, Defense Secretary James Mattis has claimed, flexing his elite Marine Corps analytical skills.

The Pentagon chief on Sunday accused Russia's president of being a "slow learner" whose irresponsible denseness is creating "animosity against his people" - incendiary comments that somehow clash with the view of his current boss, Donald Trump, as well as former US President Bill Clinton.

According to 'Mad Dog' Mattis, Putin's alleged subpar intelligence has led to the deterioration of US-Russia relations, which have "worsened" since the start of the Trump administration.

The defense secretary added that the Russian leader is "someone that we simply cannot trust" because of his purported fondness for "ripping up" international agreements. Mattis might have missed a couple of things, though...

Comment: Here is the FOX News interview that highlights all that is wrong with US foreign policy:



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Calculator

Trade truce? Trump and Xi put tariff war on hold for 90 days at G20 dinner in Argentina


RT
Sun, 02 Dec 2018 15:46 UTC
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump
© Reuters / Kevin Lamarque
The two-and-a-half-hour dinner shared by Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in Argentina, where they repeatedly emphasized their great friendship, has ended with an apparent 'trade truce'.

The leaders have reached a consensus that trade talks should continue and have agreed not to impose any additional tariffs, at least for now.

"President Trump has agreed that on January 1, 2019, he will leave the tariffs on $200 billion worth of product at the 10% rate, and not raise it to 25% at this time," the White House said in a statement.

For its part, Beijing has consented to purchase a "very substantial amount" of American agricultural, energy and industrial products, to reduce the trade imbalance between the two countries, which amounted to $375 billion last year. While the list of American items to be purchased by Beijing has yet to be finalized, China agreed to start purchasing "agricultural product from our farmers immediately," the US administration claimed.

Comment: As Tyler Durden from Zerohedge remarks:
Despite the lack of material progress on the fundamental divide, the market will cheer that the deal helps to alleviate immediate concerns that trade tensions would further stoke geopolitical tensions, a prospect that has raised worries of a new Cold War. The White House emphasized that Xi agreed to continue pushing for a nuclear-free North Korea, while Beijing said Trump would respect the One-China policy regarding relations with Taiwan -- one of the biggest potential flashpoints between the nations.

More importantly, the summit showed that both sides could be pragmatic when needed, and refuted Goldman's bearish forecast that more escalation would be the immediate conclusion.


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Info

Putin and Abe agree on 'framework' to finalize WWII peace treaty


RT
Sun, 02 Dec 2018 15:40 UTC
South Kuril Islands
© Reuters / Yuri Maltsev
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have agreed to set up a framework to intensify peace treaty negotiations that were stalled decades ago, after Japan aligned militarily with the US.

"We talked about the need to set up additional mechanisms for interaction, about the need to increase the level of confidence on both sides, to expand our humanitarian contacts and our economic ties," Putin said in Argentina, following talks with the Japanese leader there.

During their brief exchange on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Putin and Abe agreed that the Prime Minister would visit Russia next year, in the hope of finalizing an accord that has been stalled for decades.
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Document

New report shows that Britain has violated every single article in the Declaration of Human Rights

T.J. Coles
RT
Fri, 30 Nov 2018 14:53 UTC
homeless girl
© Global Look Press / Peter ArkellA homeless girl inside her shelter made from crates and cardboard, London, England.
A UN report on the shocking levels of child poverty in the UK is the tip of the iceberg. Since 2000, when UNICEF raised concerns over the state of British children, UN agencies have condemned British governments multiple times.

They have found that social policies violate the rights of women, disabled people and those needing legal assistance. This year, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the treaties supposedly designed to prevent these social crimes, turns 70. The individual articles of the Declaration are supposed to safeguard everything from the right to life and freedom of expression, to civil and economic rights, such as the right to decent work and pay, education and housing.

As I document in my book Human Wrongs, the Declaration is a rather odd document. It was drafted by lawyers and championed by politicians on the winning side of the Second World War. The politicians said that the Declaration was merely aspirational and not to be taken as a legally-binding text. The lawyers, on the other hand, disagreed with the politicians and said that it should be legally binding. It was adopted in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, meaning that it had no enforcement mechanism. However, in 1976 the Declaration was finally adopted into British law as part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Despite this, successive British governments have violated, in different ways, each of the Declaration's 30 articles.
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Megaphone

Supreme Court decision on Vice Media a major 'setback' for investigative reporting in Canada: experts

Andrew Russell
Global News
Sat, 01 Dec 2018 20:05 UTC
Supreme court of canada
The Supreme Court of Canada's decision to compel a Vice Media reporter to hand over material about an accused terrorist will have a damaging effect on investigative reporting across the country and weaken Canadian democracy, say experts and press freedom advocates.

On Friday, Canada's highest court ruled in a 9-0 decision that Vice reporter Ben Makuch will have to turn over any communications with Farah Mohamed Shirdon, a Calgary man who left Canada to join the so-called Islamic State.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, director of the journalism program at the University of Toronto Scarborough, said the decision is a major "setback for journalists in Canada" as it could leave them open to being perceived as operating as "police agents."

Comment: 'Dark day for press freedom' in Canada? Supreme Court rules reporter must give RCMP material on accused terrorist

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Stormtrooper

After 67 days in solitary confinement - and close to breaking - Russian hostage Maria Butina offered plea deal by US


The Saker
Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
maria butina
© Desconocido
I guess she should be grateful that she is not beaten to death or water-boarded by "The Greatest Democracy On Earth"...

The Saker


Comment: Utterly barbaric treatment by the US. It's literally just because she's Russian.

Previously:

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Arrow Down

Brexit unraveling: Science minister Gyimah resigns over Theresa May's 'naive' deal


BBC
Sat, 01 Dec 2018 20:31 UTC
Sam Gyimah minister Brexit
© UK ParliamentMr Gyimah said he would be voting against Mrs May's Brexit deal
A minister has resigned saying a row over involvement in the EU's Galileo satellite-navigation system shows the UK will be "hammered" in negotiations over a Brexit deal. Science and universities minister Sam Gyimah quit after Mrs May said the UK was pulling out of Galileo.

The UK wanted to stay part of it but the EU said it would be banned from extra-secure elements of the project.

Mr Gyimah said it was a foretaste of the "brutal negotiations" to come. He's the 10th member of government to resign over the agreement, which he dismissed as a "deal in name only". He said he intended to vote against the deal negotiated with Brussels, and called for another referendum.
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Arrow Up

As US empire is in decline, Putin advocates for WTO reform at G-20 summit

Joaquin Flores
FRN
Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
Putin G-20
© AP/ABC NewsPresident Putin at G-20
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the G-20 summit in Argentina about the need to reform the World Trade Organization (WTO). For a number of years, several world leaders have spoken on the same subject, citing similar concerns. Chief among these are the the inability of the by-laws and governing rules of the WTO to keep up with the new global economic reality, a reality which sees the U.S empire in stark decline.

As the head of the Russian Ministry of Economy Maxim Oreshkin told reporters, the Russian leader made this statement at the opening of the second working meeting of the G-20 summit, which was devoted to the subject of risks and the current state of the global economy.

He stressed that at present the work of the WTO does not reflect current realities. In particular, it is not quite effective in regulating such new trade areas as electronic commerce, trade in services or investments.

According to the minister, those present at the meeting supported Putin's position. "This position was fully supported by the Europeans, as well as other speakers," RIA Novosti quotes Oreshkin as saying.

There is nothing strange about such support. Earlier, the countries of the "group of seven" called for reform of the WTO - the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, the USA, France and Japan. Following the June summit, the leaders of these countries also opposed protectionism in international trade.

Comment: The only constant is change - no better exemplified than in the current expansion of traditional trade parameters and revisions in fulfillment protocols.

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