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Putin's Russia plan: Halve poverty, join world's five largest economies, increase life expectancy


RT
Mon, 07 May 2018 16:07 UTC
Putin red carpet
© Russian Presidential Press OfficePresident Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin unveiled an ambitious vision for Russia for his new six-year term - including rapid economic growth, a rise in life expectancy, and a drop in inequality - hours after his inauguration.

Titled "National ideas and strategic aims for the development of the Russian Federation by 2024" the 17-point decree, "in force as of today," touches on dozens of areas from mortgages, to road safety, and the creation of a national youth orchestra. Here are the highlights...

Joining the big five

According to the document, Russia is to become one of the world's five biggest economies, maintaining GDP growth above the global average, while retaining macroeconomic stability.

Measured by nominal GDP, Russia is outside the top 10 biggest economies, and would have to produce near double-digit growth to catch up in the next six years. However, using purchasing power parity GDP, which is a better measure of the real value of the economy, Russia sits in sixth place, just behind Germany, so the target is not unrealistic, and hitting it would help halve poverty, another stated aim in Putin's plan.
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Arrow Down

The lie that Comey's leaks were non-criminal is biting the dust

Robin Ridless
The Federalist
Wed, 02 May 2018 00:00 UTC
Comey
© WJLA Washington, D.C.Former FBI director James Comey
When former FBI director James Comey disclosed at a congressional hearing last June that he had disseminated memos to a friend, his defenders scrambled to make excuses for him. The mainstream media launched either fake news or a series of legal justifications to whitewash his violations of a litany of federal rules and laws protecting his private conversations with the president.

Now that the memos have been perused, the theories of a number of such legal commentators, which were based on sketchy information to begin with, have unsurprisingly proved to be full of errors, irrelevancies, and overstatements. Rather than walk back their defense of Comey's leaks, however, they have doubled down on heroizing him.

No, Comey's Memos Are Not His Personal Property

Last May, the Washington Post called White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders a liar for saying Comey leaked privileged information. At the time, legal professor Jonathan Turley wrote eloquently in her defense. Today, he confirms his position, arguing that the media continue to allow their bias to overwhelm their objectivity in reporting on Comey's culpability.

Comment: See also:

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X

WH denies report on troop drawdown in S. Korea

John Bowden
The Hill
Fri, 04 May 2018 08:23 UTC
Bolton
© Getty ImagesNational Security Advisor John Bolton
The White House on Friday strongly denied a New York Times story claiming the administration is talking to South Korea about reducing the number of U.S. troops stationed in that country.

"The New York Times story is utter nonsense," national security adviser John Bolton said in a statement. Bolton said the Pentagon has not discussed a troop drawdown with South Korea. "The President has not asked the Pentagon to provide options for reducing American forces stationed in South Korea," he added.

The Times reported late Thursday that President Trump had asked the Pentagon to consider reducing the number of troops on the Korean Peninsula. The request reportedly worried military officials who raised concerns that it could undercut U.S. ties with South Korea and alarm Japan.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White also dismissed the report at a briefing on Thursday. "This department has not gotten any word on that," White said about a possible withdrawal. "Our posture remains the same."

Comment: This is how 'not news' becomes 'news.' The source of the story isn't verified before MSM goes to print or the story is meant to alter the facts. Either way, the public is misinformed.

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Snakes in Suits

Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping meet for the second time


RT
Tue, 08 May 2018 11:29 UTC
Kim Jong-un & Xi Jinping
© Ju Peng / Global Look PressBeijing, 7 May 2018: Kim Jong-un & Xi Jinping meet for the second time in two months (...and no, they are not sitting on their interpreters!)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has met China's Xi Jinping for the first time since historic intra-Korean talks and pledged to shut down its nuclear weapons program. It is Kim's second visit to China in a several weeks.

"Xi held talks with Kim and hosted a welcome banquet for him," China's state-run Xinhua agency reported on Tuesday. Chinese state media have confirmed that the leaders shared a "cordial and friendly atmosphere" during the talks and a luncheon in the Chinese city of Dalian.

The duo discussed bilateral relations between Beijing and Pyongyang as well as "issues of common concern."

Kim said that there would be "no need" for North Korea to be a nuclear state as soon as "relevant parties abolish their hostile policies and remove security threats."

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, who is to meet Kim in the nearest future, tweeted that he will discuss North Korea with the Chinese leader on Tuesday morning.

Comment: If Bolton gets his way and NK 'denuclearization' "follows the Libya model", China has pledged support to NK should the US 'overreach' its welcome. Then again, his agenda may be to provoke NK into not 'denuclearizing'. The Deep State needs the Korean peninsula on a permanent war footing.

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Nuke

Yuge mistake: Trump pulls out of Iran deal, plans more sanctions - Iran calls decision illegal, plans to keep deal


Moon of Alabama
Tue, 08 May 2018 19:17 UTC
trump
© Joshua Roberts / Reuters"Iran bad, Trump sad"
With a very belligerent speech Trump nixed the nuclear deal with Iran. He also lied a lot in it. Neither is a surprise. The United States only keeps agreements as long as they are to its short term advantage - just ask native Americans. One can never count on the U.S. to keep its word.

Trump will reimpose U.S. sanctions on Iran because:
  • The nuclear deal was negotiated by the Obama administration and thus must be bad;
  • Israel wants to keep Iran as the boogeyman;
  • the Zionists and right wing nuts in the U.S. want the U.S. to attack Iran;
  • MAGA - Trump needs Iran as enemy of the Gulf states to sell more U.S. weapons.
Three European countries, Britain, France and Germany, were naive enough to think they could prevent this. The EU3 offered the U.S. to put additional sanctions on Iran for other pretended reasons - ballistic missiles and the Iranian engagement in Syria. I was disgusted when I first read of the plan. It was obvious from the beginning that it would only discredit these countries AND fail.

Luckily Italy and some eastern European countries shot the effort down at the EU level. They were not willing to sacrifice their credibility over the issue. The nuclear agreement was signed and should be followed by all sides. They pointed out that there was no guarantee from Trump that any additional European effort would change his view.

Comment: Trump's speech:

Trump promised more sanctions (the "highest level"!) in the next 3-6 months, calling the deal "decaying ... rotten ... defective at its core", alleging it provided Iran funds for its "malign behavior" in the Middle East (that's rich) and promising "bigger problems than [Iran] has ever had before" if Iran develops nuclear weapons (a hollow threat, given Iran has had no such intention).
"Therefore, I am announcing today that the US will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal," Trump said. "Today's action sends a critical message: the US no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them."
And the U.S. no longer honors its deals. Good move to inspire confidence, right?
Powerful US sanctions against Iran will go into full effect, Trump said, and any country that aids Tehran's nuclear or missile programs will find itself sanctioned as well. ...

Trump professed admiration for the Iranian people, history and culture, but denounced the "dictatorship" that has held the country "hostage" for almost 40 years ...

The US president concluded his remarks on a strangely conciliatory note, saying he would be ready and willing to talk if the Iranian leadership decided to "make a new and lasting deal."

"There has been enough suffering, death and destruction. Let it end now," he said, before signing the presidential memorandum withdrawing the US from the JCPOA.

US sanctions will be reimposed over the next three to six months, the Treasury Department said following Trump's announcement. Iran will be barred from buying or acquiring US dollars after 90 days. After that, sanctions will also be reimposed on sales of steel and coal, aluminum, the automotive sector, and passenger aircraft parts and services. Financial and oil-related sanctions will be back in place after 180 days.
EU leaders decried the withdrawal and vowed to work with each other to maintain the deal. Iran's leader Rouhani responded:
Donald Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Iranian nuclear deal is illegal, illegitimate and violating international agreements, Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, in a televised address.

Rouhani said that Iran has always complied with the nuclear deal and is going to stay in the accord despite the US pullout. The Iranian Foreign Ministry was instructed to hold talks on the nuclear deal with the EU, Russia and China within the next few weeks.

"If we achieve the deal's goals in cooperation with other members of the deal, it will remain in place... By exiting the deal, America has officially undermined its commitment to an international treaty," Rouhani said.

The President called Trump's decision to quit the agreement "a historic experience for Iran," adding that Washington had never fulfilled its commitment as part of the 2015 international agreement.
But the only thing that matters: Israel is happy.

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Star of David

Best of the Web: Keep your friends close: Netanyahu guest of honour at Russia's Victory Day Celebration

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sun, 06 May 2018 17:48 UTC
putin netanyahu
© AFP Photo/Sputnik/Alexey NikolskyRussian President Vladimir Putin (L) greets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of their meeting in Sochi on August 23, 2017.
The Russian government has confirmed that Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel has been invited to attend Russia's forthcoming 9th May Victory Day Celebration as the guest of honour. He will also hold high level talks with the Russian government and with President Putin.

The Kremlin's website has published a statement to that effect:
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu will make a working visit to Moscow on May 9. He has been invited to attend a military parade marking the 73rd anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Mr Netanyahu will also hold talks with President Vladimir Putin.

Comment: The author doesn't grasp the depth of Lieberman's disingenuousness: Israel doesn't need to 'join the sanctions' because its agents set that trap for others to fall into!

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Bad Guys

With balance of power shifting, Russia teaching 'naughty' Israel a lesson - and Iran is watching

Elijah J. Magnier
ejmagnier.com
Sun, 29 Apr 2018 18:53 UTC
The Pantsir-S1 short-to-medium range gun-missile system
© Photo : Russian Defense MinistryThe Pantsir-S1 short-to-medium range gun-missile system at Russian airbase in Syria
Despite the seven meetings between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and many more encounters between Russian and Israeli officials, Tel Aviv hasn't understood it can't play freely in Syria without being punished. Russia has decided to teach the Israeli "naughty boy" a lesson by updating the Syrian defensive capabilities and delivering an updated defensive anti-air missiles system.

Moreover, the Israeli lack of understanding of the shift of balance in the Middle East and the end of unipolar dominance of the world is taking it to another direct confrontation with Iran, again due to the Syrian conflict. Iran claims it is prepared to respond to the Israeli violation of all "red lights". Russia is trying to contain the high tension between the two sworn enemies but is happy to see Netanyahu humiliated.

The Israeli prime Minister seems to be ignoring that the rules of the game in the Levant have changed and that Moscow is running the show - to the point that it has emptied the Geneva talks of their substance and is heading towards minimising the role of the international community in any peace talks over Syria. The time has come for Israel to reconsider its policy and know its relative size in the bigger game.

For decades, the Russian bear was in hibernation, gathering the necessary economic and military strength but happy - due to a lack of other alternatives - to allow the US to "rule the world". This is one of the reasons why Moscow allowed Libya to fall into the hands of the international community, a step that led - it seems intentionally - the oil-rich country into becoming a failed state.
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Attention

WikiLeaks: Hillary Clinton ordered US diplomats to steal DNA and passwords from UN leadership


The Goldwater
Sun, 06 May 2018 18:32 UTC
Assange / Clinton
There's an extremely serious dump of emails that came from Wikileaks exposing Hillary Clinton for ordering top US Diplomats to steal the DNA and passwords from United Nations leadership.

The stunning email comes from the account of Hillary Clinton that used the address "hdr22@clintonemail.com".


Below is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which released the email from Hillary Clinton, which references both Wikileaks, Julian Assange, and an article which had called for Hillary Clinton's resignation over the 2009 spying scandal ordered at the hands of Hillary Rodham Clinton towards the UN while she was Secretary of State.
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War Whore

The dogs of war meet in Israel to create total mayhem in the Middle East

Jim Jones
pravda.ru
Tue, 08 May 2018 18:54 UTC
Fighter jets
Israel, that terrorist state who openly defies UN resolutions, persecutes the Palestinian peoples and claims the right to bomb anybody while denying the right of any sort of retaliatory action, has once again embarked on a most serious provocation in the Middle East.

On 29th April, Israel launched an attack full of duplicity, on an Iranian weapons depot in Syria, the depot said to be one of the biggest in the country, is located in Mount Azzan near Aleppo and was reportedly being used by Iran's Lebanese proxy Hezbollah and other Iranian militias in Syria.

The attack caused a 2.6 magnitude earthquake [on the Richter Scale] and supposedly destroyed some 200 missiles as well as killing a number of Hezbollah soldiers and some Iranian advisors - the exact number of these casualties seems to vary from one report to another; but total number of dead would appear to be in the order of some 30 pax.

It was very interesting [and telling] that immediately after the bombing, Russia accusingly asked the US if it was responsible for this attack. The Pentagon very quickly and publically, as well as via their hot-line to Russian Command in Syria, denied that the attack was carried out by any of its planes or planes from the unholy alliance. The spotlight fell on two players, the Saudi's and the Israelis - the Saudi's didn't have the balls to do this alone and to risk Russia's ire; the culprit was exposed; Israel, although they will make no comment on this attack. And for good reason too - the Israelis realised that in carrying out this deceitful raid, they may well have crossed one bridge too many.
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Wolf

Him too? NYC attorney general Schneiderman who sued Harvey Weinstein resigns after abuse allegations


RT
Tue, 08 May 2018 16:53 UTC
Eric Schneiderman
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters / FileNew York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, famed for prosecuting disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein for sexual assaults, is now being accused of violence by four women. He says consensual role-play is what took place.

Schneiderman, who became a star proponent of the #MeToo movement after filing a civil-rights lawsuit against Weinstein, now may see the tables turned on himself, after four women who spoke to The New Yorker accused him of "nonconsensual physical violence."

Two of the women preferred to stay anonymous while two others, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, came forward with their stories of alleged abuse by Schneiderman, providing the magazine with disturbing details of their relationship with the AG.

Comment:

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