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Why Russia's economy is bigger than its official GDP is telling us

Patrick Armstrong
Oriental Review
Mon, 18 Sep 2017 16:34 UTC
Moscow International Business Center
Moscow International Business Center
"Why Russia - a country with less money than Canada and fewer people than Nigeria - runs the world now" wondered the Canadian newspaper National Post in January. The piece doesn't give useful answers: nuclear weapons, good diplomacy, yes, but also the usual claptrap about "ruthlessness" and "Abandon[ing] economic worries to double down on efforts to grab geopolitical status"; in short only a brute lashing out in delirium tremens. The editors should better have wondered whether the headline even made sense: the first point is wrong and the second irrelevant. But, like so much of what passes for analysis in the Western media, it's written backwards: it's decision-based evidence-making.

Talking about the relative insignificance of Russia's GDP is an old game: Wikipedia says Canada's GDP is greater than Russia's and Germany's is about two and a half times greater. These comparisons all assume that the price of the ruble in US dollars is a measurement of Russia's production; a mere tweak in the relative exchange therefore knocks Russia from Number 8 down to below Spain according to Business Insider in 2014. Easy to calculate, easy to write, these head-nodders are just feel-good junk: Russians don't actually eat dollars, they don't buy their necessities with them and they won't have to eat grass and Putin speeches when a ruble buys fewer USDs.
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Handcuffs

Judge says Trump's anti-Bergdahl comments will not influence trial, but will be considered mitigating factor in sentencing

Greg Lacour
Reuters
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 16:44 UTC
bergdahl
The military judge hearing U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's desertion case said on Monday he would not rule out a prison sentence due to the possible influence of President Donald Trump's criticism of the soldier.

Army Colonel Jeffery Nance said he would consider the president's remarks as a mitigating factor at sentencing, however, raising the possibility of a lighter punishment.

During last year's presidential campaign, Republican Trump called Bergdahl "a no-good traitor who should have been executed." The defense said the president's more recent remarks about the case showed his opinion of Bergdahl had not changed and unfairly influenced the proceedings.

Nance ruled in court at North Carolina's Fort Bragg, where Bergdahl's sentencing hearing is underway, that no reasonable person would harbor doubt about the integrity of the proceedings due to Trump's comments.

"I am uninfluenced by the president's comments," said Nance, later adding, "However, I will consider the president's comments as mitigating factors."

Comment: Curious minds would probably like to hear more about Bergdahl's defense. What "critical problems in his chain of command" was he intending to bring to light?

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Folder

The only ones who colluded with Russia were the DNC, the Obama administration and Hillary, not Trump!

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Sat, 28 Oct 2017 16:08 UTC
The Russiagate Trump collusion was a complete hoax...pure projection from the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign.

They had paid a British washed up spy to go to Moscow and pay off various washed up Russian "agents", to fabricate tall tales about Trump and Putin.

It was a complete misdirection campaign that resulted in a weakening of American credibility and complete embarrassment for every single liberal troll who pushed the Russiagate story forward.

Comment: Goes to show how completely ridiculous the whole thing is. For more on Russiagate, see:

The Russia-gate story is jumping the shark
Russia-gate's groupthink totalitarian style

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Question

Syrian source: Raqqah is still occupied, US-led coalition claims liberation to cover up its war crimes


Fort Russ
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 16:39 UTC
Raqqa
© Bulent KilicRaqqa October 21, 2017


Breakingnews.sy - - translated by Samer Hussein

An official source from the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates assured that claims of the United States and its so-called international "anti-ISIS" on liberating the city of Raqqah from the terrorist group ISIS, are blatant lies aimed at distorting reality and diverting attention of international public from series of horrible war crimes against civilians, committed by the very same US-led coalition in Raqqah.

According to the source, Raqqah is still an occupied city and can in no way be considered liberated at this point, noting that the city will become liberated only after it will be secured by the Syrian Army and its allies, but not the illegal US-backed armed groups claiming fake patriotism, while severely lacking the basic understanding of human rights.

The source added that Syria urges the international community and all defenders of human rights to immediately dismiss the alleged counter-terrorism efforts of the United States and its coalition in order to comply with the UN Security Council resolutions, which clearly state that Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as human rights must be respected at all costs.

Comment: As much as we should distrust unnamed 'sources' as a general rule, it would not be surpising if this one would be telling the truth, given the record of US-led coalition activities in Syria.

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Nuke

7 Uranium One facts every American should know

Adam Shaw
Breitbart
Mon, 23 Oct 2017 16:21 UTC
clintons corruption
Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration find themselves at the center of an explosive scandal involving the transfer of 20 percent of all U.S. uranium to Russia via the sale of the Uranium One company, just as nine foreign investors in the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation to help grease the wheels.

Here are the seven facts about the Uranium One deal you need to know:
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Propaganda

Is the BBC posting fake history on behalf of Ukraine nationalists?

Christopher Gilley
History News Network
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 16:05 UTC
Kiev protest 1917
Ukrainian national demonstration on Sofia Square in Kiev. April 1, 1917
Recently, deeply-flawed articles on the website of BBC Ukraine have been passed off as fact.

In an era when politicians and journalists of all political stripes fling around accusations of "fake news" at their rivals, it is especially important that major news providers adhere to their own codes of conduct regarding impartiality and accuracy. Organizations such as the BBC that relay news in foreign languages face an especially difficult challenge: its regulatory bodies may simply not contain people with the language or subject knowledge to oversee and hold to account its non-English output.

Some recent articles on the website of BBC Ukraine illustrate this. On March 13, 2017, BBC Ukraine published the piece "Desiat' mifiv pro Ukrains'ku revoliutsiiu" (Ten Myths of the Ukrainian Revolution). The piece gives no author but describes itself as being based on materials supplied by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (Ukrains'kyi instytut natsional'noi pam'iati, hereafter UINP); indeed, it largely copies a section of the guidelines for schools and universities on the UINP's website that instructs teachers on how to commemorate the centenary of the Ukrainian Revolution in accordance with a presidential decree of 2016 . There is no attempt to distance BBC Ukraine from the views expressed in the materials. The text lists ten "myths," most of which are simplified statements from the Soviet historiography on the revolution in Ukraine. The piece then gives a refutation of these. Each response to the "myths" consists of a series of decontextualized facts, omissions, simplifications and logical inconsistencies that, taken together, are an attempt to create the UINP's own nationalist "myths" regarding the revolution in Ukraine, above all in relation to the Ukrainian People's Republic (Ukrains'ka narodna respublika, hereafter UNR), the Ukrainian state for which many supporters of independence fought after 1917.
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Vader

US 'ultimatum' that Serbia must choose between Russia or West blasted by Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin


TASS
Tue, 24 Oct 2017 15:50 UTC
Serbian army troops
© Associated Press/Darko VojinovicSerbian Army soldiers perform during ceremony in Batajnica, military airport near Belgrade, Friday, Oct. 20, 2017. Russia has formally handed over six MiG-29 fighter jets to Serbia, part of an arms delivery that could worsen tensions in the war-weary Balkans.
The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs said Serbia would have to choose between Russia or the West rather than sit on the fence

Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin has lambasted 'hostile' remarks by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Hoyt Brian Yee who said that Belgrade will have to make a choice between Russia and the West.

"Undoubtedly, this is the heaviest public and very undiplomatic pressure on our country and goes against our right to make our own decisions," the minister said in a statement circulated by the TANJUG news agency. "This is not a statement made by a friend or a person respecting Serbia, respecting our right to decide independently. Serbia makes its decisions on its own, without paying attention to the importance of those who believe that they can decide for us."
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Георгиевская ленточка

Sputnik Editor-in-Chief: Russia to reciprocate after Twitter bans news agency's ads


Sputnik
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 15:38 UTC
Margarita Simonyan RT
© SputnikRT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan
The micro-blogging company has announced its decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned by Sputnik and RT, citing their alleged meddling in the US affairs, particularly in the 2016 presidential election.

Russia will take tit-for-tat measures following Twitter's ban on advertisements from RT and Sputnik, "which means that work of US media in Russia will be restricted," Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of both media outlets said Sunday.

Speaking in a weekly program aired by the Russian NTV broadcaster, Margarita Simonyan said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country's foreign ministry have pledged a mirror-like response to any restrictions on Russian media.

Comment: Twitter bans ads from RT and Sputnik - RT reveals how Twitter pushed for huge ad buy in 2016 - Internet users furious with Twitter (UPDATES)

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Stock Up

Russia's economy is growing, more than most rating institutions realize

Paul Goncharoff
Russia Insider
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 15:33 UTC
ruble, russian economy
Last week the World Bank finally concluded that the Russian economy has indeed emerged from recession and has even demonstrated modest growth this year.

Based on their analysis, Russia's GDP in 2017 will grow by 1.7% and in 2018 by 1.8%. Experts at the World Bank stated that "The medium-term growth outlook for Russia has slightly increased after a faster than expected recovery in demand in the domestic market and higher exports."

Unsurprisingly both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as Fitch improved their forecast for Russia's GDP growth from 1.4 to 1.8 percent in 2017, and from 1.6% to 2% respectively.

Nevertheless the projections used by Russia's Ministry of Economic Development in drafting the budget for the next three years shows conservative growth of 2.1% in 2017, 2.1% in 2018, 2.2% in 2019 and 2.3% by 2020.

Comment: World Bank: Russia has emerged from the recession, economy moving towards growth

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Info

Hannity calls out Mueller for distracting from Hillary funding 'Trump Dossier': "Real collusion he knew about!"

Joshua Caplan
Gateway Pundit
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 00:01 UTC
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity is leading the charge among media figures calling out Special Counsel Robert Mueller for covering up corruption by Hillary Clinton. The Fox News host refuses to allow Mueller's first round of charges expected on Monday to distracted from the Clinton-Uranian One scandal, 'Trump dossier' funding bombshell or the 33,000 deleted emails.

On Sunday, President Trump called for investigators to probe Hillary Clinton's role in funding the now discredited 'Trump dossier.'
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