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Stock Up

Strengthening ruble boosting Russian imports


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 15:21 UTC
Weelcome to Russia sign
© Igor Zarembo / Reuters
Russian imports surged 36.4 percent year on year in January, as the ruble strengthened significantly, becoming the world's best-performing currency last year.


Comment: Ruble closing year as world's best-performing currency


In the first month of the year, Russia imported $11.1 billion worth of products from non-CIS countries, by far the biggest amount since the escalation of the economic crisis in the country.

According to Russian customs data, imports of machinery grew by 45 percent to $5.27 billion, chemical products by 35.7 percent to $2.1 billion, and imports of clothing rose 27.8 per cent to $828.1 million.

"The strengthening of the ruble during the year increased the purchasing power of the population and entrepreneurs, who have accumulated a pent-up demand for high-quality imported products," said Sergey Pukhov from the Russian Higher School of Economics (HSE), as quoted by Finanz.ru.

Comment: What sanctions? Russian officials may not be in a rush to have sanctions lifted

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Chess

US Senators attempting to undermine Trump foreign policy by pushing to veto any attempt to end anti-Russian sanctions


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 15:04 UTC
US Capitol building
© Uwe Kazmaier / www.globallookpress.com
A group of prominent US senators is leading a bipartisan effort to push through the so-called Russia Review Act, which would allow the Senate to veto any attempt of newcomer President Donald Trump to loosen sanctions on Moscow.

The group, which currently consists of six senators, is growing, according to a report by CNN, which sees the initiative as Congress' latest warning to Trump signifying that it will not tolerate unilateral moves by the executive branch to reconcile with Moscow, especially the lifting of sanctions.

The group led by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) also includes Marco Rubio (R-Florida), John McCain (R-Arizona), Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

On Wednesday, they are planning to introduce legislation that would subject any decision the president takes concerning Russia to a 120 day-review, during which Congress could put any move to lift sanctions to a vote, according to a copy of the draft shown to CNN.
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Info

Putin meets Volkswagen CEO and offers help in Russia, GM looking for a back door

Jack Stubbs and Gleb Stolyarov
Reuters
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:12 UTC
Vladimir Putin greets Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Matthias Mueller
© REUTERS/Ivan Sekretarev/PoolRussian President Vladimir Putin greets Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Matthias Mueller during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia February 8, 2017.
President Vladimir Putin met Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller in Moscow on Wednesday and said he was ready to help the German car giant develop its business in Russia at a time of sliding sales and weak demand.

Putin said he understood the challenges the car maker faced in Russia, where the country's once-booming auto market has fallen victim to a sustained economic downturn.

"We are very happy that your business as a whole is doing well, although we understand there are certain difficulties," Putin said after the meeting, a rare face-to-face between the Russian leader and a major European industrialist after the West sanctioned Moscow for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.

"We are always ready to discuss any questions you have to help you develop further in our country."
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Chess

Pepe Escobar: Trump Administration will never win war against Islamist terror if Trump tries dismantling Iran-China-Russia alliance

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 13:21 UTC
trump sheriff meeting
© Reuters / Kevin LamarqueUS President Donald Trump receives a figurine of a sheriff during a meeting with county sheriffs at the White House on February 7
Here we go again. General "Mad Dog" Mattis, the US Secretary of Defense, declares Iran "is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world." National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn puts Iran "on notice." President Trump says "they are not behaving," and, on his Superbowl interview, doubles down: "They are the No 1 terrorist state. They're sending money all over the place - and weapons. And... [they] can't do that." Iran is slapped with new sanctions. It's as if Dick "Dark Side" Cheney and Donald "known unknowns" Rumsfeld never left.

Never allow facts to get in the way of a bombastic quote. "State sponsor of terrorism" is a neocon meme for any nation/political system that resists US Exceptionalism. The industrial-military-intelligence-security complex feeds on massive budgets to engage these manufactured "threats" while real, on the ground terrorism - yielding from the Salafi-jihadi matrix - has absolutely nothing to do with Iran.

The birth of al-Qaeda was inbuilt in the official Dr Zbig "Grand Chessboard" Brzezinski doctrine of fighting the former USSR in Afghanistan in the 1980s via a Wahhabi-controlled Jihad Inc. Nothing to do with Iran. Even Trump's own national security advisor admitted on the record there was a "willful decision" by the Obama administration to let ISIS/ISIL/Daesh fester. Nothing to do with Iran.

As for the Iranian missile test, the UN resolution concerning the nuclear deal "called upon" Iran not to test nuclear-capable missiles. This was a conventional missile test, as even the White House admitted.

So what is it all about? We must once again resort to the shadowplay/wayang of a Henry Kissinger-devised new balance-of-power US foreign policy bent on preventing Eurasian integration by prying away Russia from China while antagonizing Iran.
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Propaganda

Can't take a joke: Trump offers to 'destroy' Texas senator, media goes ballistic


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:01 UTC
U.S. President Donald Trump
© Carlos Barria / ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump casually threatened to "destroy" the career of a Texas state senator who suggested introducing a law that would require a suspected criminal's conviction before having their assets seized.

Trump was speaking with Sheriff Harold Eavenson of Rockwell Country, along with a selected group of other sheriffs who expressed support for his policies, to discuss immigration issues at the White House Tuesday.

Eavenson was complaining to Trump of a Texas senator who dared to suggest introducing legislation that would require a criminal conviction before "we can receive that forfeiture money".

"Can you believe that?" Trump interjected with a huff before Eavenson went on to clarify that he told the senator "the cartel would build a monument to him in Mexico if he could get that legislation passed".

"Who is the state senator, do you wanna give his name?" Trump asked. When Eavenson remained tight-lipped, Trump calmly offered to "destroy his career". The room erupted into laughter.

Civil forfeiture is a legal process in which law enforcement officers can seize assets from any person suspected of having involvement with a crime or illegal activity, without having to charge the owners of any wrongdoing.

Comment: Perfect example of the level of hysteria and sheer idiocy surrounding almost every word uttered by Trump. The Western media is all a flutter with headlines like:

"Trump offers to 'destroy' Texas senator"

and

"Trump says he'll destroy Texas senator's career"

Now, here is the pertinent 26 seconds of dialogue and the context.



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Attention

Senate suppression: McConnell cuts off Warren over character assault of AG nominee


RT
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 13:54 UTC
Elizabeth Warren
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
A stunning interruption on the Senate floor led to the ban on Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren from ever speaking in the chamber on the nomination of Republican Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions' to the US Office of the Attorney General.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) quashed the progressive champion as she read from a 31-year-old letter written by Coretta Scott King, the late widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in opposition to Sessions when he was a nominee for a federal judgeship, which he lost.

McConnell called upon the rarely used, yet dynamic, Senate Rule 19: "No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator."

Comment: From the video it seems Senator Daines was being guided on how to run the chair.

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Bad Guys

US or Russia: Who's the real killer?

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 13:23 UTC
anti-Rusland propaganda
On any objective assessment the US government has killed far more people than the Russian government has done since the start of the Cold War.

US President Trump's recent interview on Fox with Bill O'Reilly has provoked anger in the US, with US politicians and commentators rounding on President Trump for appearing to put the US on the same level as Russia.

To an outsider what the episode reveals is the extent to which 'exceptionalist' thinking in the US has become mainstream so that even President Trump's statement of the obvious - that the US "has killers too" - is now taken as an unpardonable act of lèse-majesté.
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TV

Media battles: NBC's Katy turns up the heat on Twitter — Hits The Press

Christian Datoc
The Daily Caller
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 09:52 UTC
Katy Tur criticized the media for covering "Trump's demonstrably false claim" that the press "doesn't cover" terrorism on Twitter Tuesday morning.
Katy Tur
© Getty ImagesKaty Tur
Tur, who now hosts MSNBC's 2 pm, EST hour, wrote that "every time we ding" the White House, "we talk about terror, which is exactly what the White House wants."

Comment: Now that Trump's in office, media who ignored Obama's Middle East slaughter suddenly concerned that US is killing civilians

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Light Sabers

Syrian army 'nears Palmyra'

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
Russia's General Staff is reporting that the Syrian army is now within striking distance of retaking Palmyra from ISIS.
Desert Hawk brigade
© DailyMilitary.News
This comes after reports that the Syrian military has redeployed its elite Desert Hawks unit to the area, and earlier reports that the Russians are supporting the Syrian army's offensive against ISIS in the area by providing air to ground support with SU-25 ground attack aircraft and KA-52 helicopters.

The Desert Hawks are not technically a part of the Syrian army. They were originally raised in early 2013 as a paid volunteer unit by General Mohammad Jaber, a retired Syrian general turned businessman, to provide protection to his assets. Apparently most of the unit's personnel is made up of former Syrian army officers and combat veterans, many of them apparently former paratroopers. The size of the unit is unclear, but it probably numbers several hundred.

Comment:



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Jet1

Russia conducts snap air force combat readiness check, Western media accuse Moscow of 'going to war'


RT
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
Russian military drill
© Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation / Sputnik
The Russian Air Force has been put on high alert as part of a sudden combat readiness check ordered by President Vladimir Putin. The Western media reacted to the drills with headlines accusing Moscow of preparing for war.

"Today, in accordance with the order of the [Russian] Armed Forces Supreme Commander [President Vladimir Putin] a surprise inspection of the Aerospace Forces has been launched in order to evaluate the readiness of the military authorities and troops to carry out combat training missions," Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday, as cited by TASS.
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