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Cow Skull

The Minsk Accord's zombie sanctions: Ukraine admits agreement is dead, but sanctions tied to them live on

Tom Winter
Fort Russ News
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 17:21 UTC
bombed out huse donbass
The Minsk Accords, a symbolic illustration
Where are the sanctions now that Ukraine has admitted the Minsk Accords were:

a) just a clever ploy from the beginning, b) dead, and c) buried?

Each time that the sanctions have come up, usually for a pro-forma extension of them, Minsk has been the linchpin. Examples:
"The European Union's policy toward Moscow will not change as long as Russia fails to fulfill the Minsk agreements, EU High Representative on Foreign and Security Policy Frederica Mogherini said on Monday."

And there is this, from March of this year:
BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe and the United States should keep sanctions in place against Russia until there is progress in implementing the 2015 Minsk accords aimed at ending the violence in eastern Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said."It is important that Europe and the United States present a unified front and stick to the sanctions against Russia until there is progress in implementing the Minsk agreements," Gabriel said in an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper, to be published on Saturday.
Not one word about Ukraine fulfilling the accords. But now that the accords are dead, when may we expect a reexamination of the anti-Russian sanctions?

Comment: More from Fort Russ:
According to Anton Gerashchenko, Ukrainian deputy and curator of the terrorist site "Peacemaker," Ukrainian President Poroshenko signed the Minsk agreements, deliberately deceiving Russia. He stated this on the air of the Ukrainian Channel 5.

"Today Arsen Avakov simply stated the fact that the Minsk agreements have exhausted themselves ... We can say that Petro Poroshenko and our diplomats simply deceived the Russian Federation, and we, concluding these agreements, understood that we would not fulfill them.

"The Minsk agreements were needed in 2014-2015. And President Poroshenko united world leaders, and they pressed Putin and we stopped the movement of military columns into the territory of Ukraine," he said.

The other day the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Avakov said that the Minsk agreements do not work
["are dead" in fact- tr], and to resolve the situation in the Donbass, new agreements must be adopted.

Previously, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Franz Klintsevich buried the Minsk agreements.


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Pumpkin 2

Not satire? PBS Frontline series "Putin's Revenge" is quite unintentionally hilarious


Off Guardian
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
putin eating popcorn
PBS's Frontline series offers what it calls the "inside story of how Vladimir Putin came to see the United States as an enemy - and why he decided to target an American election." We are publishing it here because it has to be seen to be believed.

The sinister music and Burnsian black and white photography, the gravel-voiced narrator, all trying to give gravitas to a script that is so divorced from any kind of maturity, sanity or veridical reality it will make you dizzy.

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Red Flag

'Fact checking' with a bias: Calling Pence a liar while protecting 'Pocahontas' Warren shows why people loathe mainstream media

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway
The Federalist
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
elizabeth warren

Journalists need to learn what facts are before claiming to fact check.

Earlier this week, Donald Trump made a joke at an event honoring the great World War II Navajo Code Talkers. He poked fun at Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who used to claim to be Cherokee despite not having any evidence to substantiate the claim. Democrats and their media footsoldiers decided it's racist to mock someone for falsely claiming to be Native American. For example, Jim Acosta of CNN wrote: "WH press sec says 'Pocahontas' is not a racial slur. (Fact check: it is.)"

Uh, fact check: no. For one thing, as Gabriel Malor said, "No, derogatorily referring to a person who falsely claimed to be a Native American as Pocahontas is not a racial slur. It demeans no racial or ethnic group." It definitely demeans women who claim that they're Cherokee sans evidence.

If your friends make fun of you for falsely claiming you totally have a real, live girlfriend in Toronto and she's really busy so that's why they can't meet her, that doesn't mean they hate Canadians. If people mock you for claiming to be British royalty by unceasingly addressing you as "Her Highness," that doesn't mean they hate the queen. You get the idea.

Comment: Spreading the lie: How Google and MSM use "fact checkers" to flood us with fake claims

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Pirates

Washington is using private contractors to conduct Deep State covert operations

Valery Kulikov
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 17:21 UTC
Military contractors
It is no secret that the last couple decades saw an abrupt increase in the number of private military companies or private security contractors (PMCs), the overall budgets of some easily surpass the military budgets of certain sovereign states. The turning point in the creation of such companies occurred in 1995 during military operations conducted by the Armed Forces of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbian troops, when hostilities were outsourced to a number of security contractor firms.

There can be no second opinion about Washington being the most faithful adept of the PMC concept, since the number of wars the US has been waging against other states requires the Pentagon to find extra hands to do its dirty work for it. American intelligence agencies were quick to comprehend in mid 90s that they would need a lot of private contractors if they were to carry on their dubious operations across the globe over the next several decades. Therefore, the Pentagon began encouraging various companies to handle a wide range of outsourced military tasks. As a result, over the last decade alone the US military has signed more than 3,0 00 contracts with PMCs.
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Info

The head of the State Duma Regulations Committee says Russian lower house to ban access to all US reporters


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2017 18:38 UTC
State Duma plenary meeting
© Vladimir Fedorenko / SputnikState Duma plenary meeting
The head of the State Duma Regulations Committee has said that the Russian Lower House will ban all visits by journalists working for US mass media. This is in reply to the US Congress's hostile moves towards Russia's RT America television.

"By our decision we are offering this move for the consideration of the State Duma Council and plenary session. We are expressing our attitude to the inadmissibility of attacks on democratic values, freedom of speech and the right to receive objective information," MP Olga Savastyanova told RIA Novosti on Friday.

The lawmaker added that she expected the corresponding motion to be passed on the State Duma plenary session on Wednesday and come into force before the end of next week. Federal lawmakers also plan to approve of a recommendation to Russian regional legislatures to introduce similar measures.

Comment: The United States will undoubtedly use this as a means of pointing out how they are the victim, and hypocritically exclaim how Russia is against freedom of the press. It will be lost on them that it is the US who is the aggressor, and there are natural consequences for their actions.

See also: Russian lawmakers order probe of RFE/RL, VOA, and CNN

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Pirates

US envoy for Ukraine is driving the negotiation process into the ground

Alex Gorka
Strategic Culture
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 16:50 UTC
Kurt Volker
"Kurt Volker is an experienced and tough-minded diplomat who knows how to combine principles and pragmatism into policy. He is widely respected across the political spectrum," said Paul Saunders, the executive director of the Center for the National Interest and a former George W. Bush administration official, in his comments on Kurt Volker's appointment as the Trump administration's special envoy charged with ending the war in Ukraine. "The fact that they appointed [Volker] is a sign this administration is serious about Ukraine," John Herbst, former US ambassador to Kiev, told Foreign Policy. "The United States remains fully committed to the objectives of the Minsk agreements, and I have complete confidence in Kurt to continue our efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine", said State Secretary Rex Tillerson, emphasizing that the Minsk accords were the basis for the diplomatic endeavor.

Indeed, the hopes were high. It was widely believed that a diplomat with experience as rich as Kurt Volker's was the right man for the job. Five months has passed since his appointment in July. The negotiation process is stalled and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
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Attention

Trump rallies support for tax overhaul as Senate gears up for vote


Fox News
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 01:13 UTC
Trump
President Trump on Wednesday traveled to Missouri to rally support for the tax overhaul making its way through Congress, as senators gear up to vote on the White House's top legislative priority in the coming days.

"The eyes of the world now turn to the United States Senate," the president said during a rally in St. Louis. "A successful vote in the Senate this week will bring us one giant step closer to delivering a big victory to the American people."

His speech came as the Senate was preparing to cast a procedural vote later Wednesday on the tax package. Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate "will vote to begin debate on this once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform our tax code so it works for the middle class."

Comment: See also

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Propaganda

State Dept. dismisses rumors: Trump not firing Tillerson, no changes planned


RT
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 17:11 UTC
Tillerson Trump
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have areas of disagreement when it comes to US policy, but there are no plans to replace him, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. She was later backed by the White House.

Nauert was responding to speculation in Washington, fueled by a New York Times report published Thursday morning and citing an anonymous White House official, that Trump was considering ousting Tillerson and replacing him with CIA chief Mike Pompeo. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) was mentioned as the possible replacement for Pompeo.

Trump's chief of staff, John F. Kelly, called the State Department earlier in the day and said the media reports of Tillerson's impending dismissal "were not true," Nauert said. No personnel changes were planned at the State Department, she added.

The White House also confirmed that Tillerson remains the top US diplomat.

Comment: More MSM presstitution, spreading unfounded stories in an attempt to impede government functioning, at the behest of the opponents of the administration.

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Chess

China says it could rename and reroute CPEC to keep India happy

Andrew Korybko
Oriental Review
Sat, 25 Nov 2017 15:17 UTC
india china economic corridor
The Chinese Ambassador to India suggested that his country could rename and even reroute the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, popularly known as CPEC, in order to appease New Delhi.

His Excellency Mr. Luo Zhaohui proposed this controversial idea in a speech at the Centre for Chinese and South-East Asian Studies late last week, which is the second time that he spoke about it when considering that the first instance was half a year ago in May. It's difficult to interpret why this is being brought up yet again, though there are two branches of understanding that can help with figuring out what might be going on. The first one of course is that the Ambassador isn't serious about the proposal and is simply bringing it up for diplomatic reasons and in order to temporarily alleviate India's hysterical jingoistic worries about CPEC. That's indeed very possible, though the second school of thought on this topic is equally plausible as well, and it's that Beijing might actually be somewhat serious about this suggestion.

To explain, China would ideally like for India to join its One Belt One Road (OBOR) global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, as the complementary synergy between these two Asian Great Powers could literally have world-changing consequences for International Relations, but New Delhi's ultra-nationalist government has thus far refrained from this due to its maximalist approach to the Kashmir Conflict and fears of being inundated with Chinese goods. In an attempt to temper their unease, Ambassador Zhaohui proposed that China could "create an alternative corridor through Jammu and Kashmir, Nathu La pass or Nepal to deal with India's concerns", which would in essence connect over two billion people and create a powerhouse of geopolitical gravity if it was successful.

Comment: See also:

'One Belt, One Road': How is the Chinese project perceived in India?
One Belt One Road: Japan opens door to work with China, India turns its back on emerging world
CIA-Indian intelligence psy-op on supposed Taliban-Daesh alliance exposed as anti-CPEC plot

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Network

China's Silk Roads - From the Caucasus to the Balkans, the Belt and Road Initiative is challenging the West's global domination

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 16:50 UTC
tbilisi georgia
© Reuters / David MdzinarishviliPedestrians cross a footbridge in central Tbilisi, Georgia, on November 28, 2017
The 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress made it clear that the New Silk Roads - aka, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) - launched by President Xi Jinping just four years ago, provides the concept around which all Chinese foreign policy is to revolve for the foreseeable future. Up until the symbolic 100th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, in 2049, in fact.

Virtually every nook and cranny of the Chinese administration is invested in making the BRI Grand Strategy a success: economic actors, financial players, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the private sector, the diplomatic machine, think tanks, and - of course - the media, are all on board.

It's under this long-term framework that sundry BRI projects should be examined. And their reach, let's be clear, involves most of Eurasia - including everything from the Central Asian steppes to the Caucasus and the Western Balkans.

Representatives of no fewer than 50 nations are currently gathered in Tbilisi, Georgia, for yet another BRI-related summit. The BRI master-plan details six major economic "corridors," and one of these is the Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor. That's where Georgia fits in, alongside neighboring Azerbaijan: both are vying to position themselves as the key Caucasus transit hub between Western China and the European Union.
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