You're fired.
It's impossible not to laugh and feel pity when looking at those who in the media and on social networks are now saying that the arrest of [Russian Economy Minister] Ulyukaev [for allegedly taking a $2 million bribe] was made possible exclusively thanks to the telephone conversation between Trump and Putin. According to this conspiracy theory, without Washington's permission, Putin never ever would have dared lay a finger on Ulyukaev and only now gathered the wiretap transcripts from many months and years before the American elections.
Guys, let's respect our country.
We are not Ukraine. Putin and the FSB don't need a nod from Washington to extinguish corruption. Open the calendar on your computer and look at what year it is. It is 2016 and those who are talking about some kind of permission from Washington are either stuck in 1995 or have confused today's Moscow with Kiev. There's no need to be like our neighbors, who to this day think that every day the sun rises only because of the State Department.
Washington is not the center of the universe or the world. It's time to get used to this.
RTTue, 15 Nov 2016 13:08 UTC
© Sergei Karpukhin / ReutersRussian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev
Russian Economy Minister Aleksey Ulyukayev has been officially accused of taking bribes and extortion on a large scale, the Russian Investigative Committee has stated.
Ulyukayev reportedly demanded a bribe for granting a positive conclusion and assessment of transaction on the acquisition of Bashneft by Russia's top oil company Rosneft. He was caught red-handed when receiving the bribe.According to the Investigative Committee, Ulyukayev threatened he would use the leverage provided by his ministerial post to hinder Rosneft's operations.
Rosneft representatives reported Ulyukayev's alleged actions to the committee.
"Thanks to the Rosneft representatives' timely address to law enforcement authorities with a statement about the economy minister's illegal actions, he was caught red-handed on November 14 this year, while receiving a bribe of US$2 million," Svetlana Petrenko, deputy head of the Investigative Committee, said in a statement.
Comment: A model that the US should emulate to eliminate corruption.
Update: After Ulyukayev's arrest, Russian
markets saw a boost for the ruble and Russian stocks (coinciding with the Trump-Putin call as well as a slight recovery in oil prices).
Russian officials
commented on the scandal: The head of the upper house's International Relations Committee, Aleksey Pushkov, pointed out that bribery is becoming "Russian roulette" in Russian business and politics. As it should be, and thanks to Putin's anti-corruption push for the last several years. State Duma MP and former Chief Prosecutor of Crimea Natalya Poklonskaya wrote on Facebook:
The detention of a civil servant of the highest rank is yet another confirmation of the official position of our state: there are no 'untouchables' in Russia. Everyone who chooses a criminal path must understand that sooner or later everything that is hidden will become public.
At the same time, these officials cautioned against hasty conclusions, adding that that's the courts' job.
A court has ordered Ulyukayev to be placed under house arrest, and Putin has
dismissed him from his position. He was questioned today for five hours, but has not pled guilty and has refused to provide testimony. His lawyers say he was framed. If found guilty, he faces a maximum penalty of a fine 80-100x what he took as a bribe, and will lose the right to serve in government for up to 15 years. Either that, or a slightly smaller fine and 8-15 years in jail.
© AP Photo/Charlie NeibergallDonald Trump
Brushing away the extreme claims and rhetoric of much election analysis, there are some observations, which deserve attention and which unfortunately mostly provide hard lessons (and not a lot of encouragement for people who hold to principles of democracy, enlightenment and progressivity).
The election demonstrated perhaps better than ever, and better than has been generally recognized, that America is, indeed, a plutocracy. It took a genuine American oligarch, a self-proclaimed billionaire, a man with a lifetime's economic empire-building, to defeat a family which could provide the very definition of being politically well-connected, a family which had laboriously constructed and carefully maintained a kind of deep well ever-flowing with money for their ambitions.It was the ever-flowing well of money, drilled by Bill Clinton with help from some extremely shady friends, such as Jeffrey Epstein, that made the Clintons keystone establishment figures in the Democratic Party. It was not personal charm or exceptional political generalship - although Bill, in his heyday, displayed some of both of those - that earned the Clintons their place, it was the money, the "mother's milk of politics." In what is euphemistically called "fund raising," many hundreds of millions of dollars were provided for the party over the last couple of decades by Bill Clinton's efforts.
© REUTERS/ Andrew Kelly
Musa Ozugurlu, a political commentator and columnist for Duvar website, spoke to Sputnik about how US President-elect Donald Trump's future foreign policy may pave the way to resolving the Syrian conflict.
Ozugurlu who has worked for many years in Damascus, writing for the online portal Duvar told
Sputnik Turkey that Trump could change the balance of power in Syria, in particularly by giving the initiative for the settlement of the crisis to Russia and Iran.
"The US has no area for maneuvers left in the Middle East and Trump understands that. Therefore, he will likely look for options to depart from active involvement in the Syrian conflict at the same time trying to keep the face of Washington," the columnist said.He further said that Russia continues to increase its influence in Syria and in the near future Russia may begin a large-scale operation in
Aleppo.
"We can assume that Trump within a foreign policy strategy aimed at finding ways to resolve
conflicts will give initiative of the settlement of the Syrian crisis to a Russian and Iran alliance."
Ekaterina Blinova
SputnikTue, 15 Nov 2016 18:43 UTC
© Flickr/ Trey RatcliffBeijing
Newly elected US President Donald Trump is likely to abolish Barack Obama's pivot to Asia policy and stop encouraging Asian Pacific nations to aggravate tensions in the South China Sea, Tom McGregor, Commentator and Editor at China Network Television (CNTV) suggested in an interview with Sputnik.
Donald Trump is likely to bring about a change in the US foreign policy, Tom McGregor, Commentator and Editor at CNTV and News Republic APP Asia-Pacific geopolitical columnist, believes.
According to the journalist, after Trump's election the US may break the ice with China and ASEAN nations.Killing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) project will become Trump's first step in this direction, he noted.
While the United States presidential election bitterly divided the American public, most Israelis were sanguine about the race. Both candidates - Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton - were keen to end eight years of icy mistrust between Barack Obama, the outgoing president, and Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli prime minister should - at least on paper - be happier with Trump.
Netanyahu, elected four times, has always faced off with Democratic incumbents. Now he has not only a right-wing Republican in the White House but a Republican-dominated Congress too.
Standing guard over the relationship will be Sheldon Adelson, a US casino magnate who is Netanyahu's most vocal supporter. It will not be lost on Trump that the billionaire is one of the Republican Party's main financiers.
Netanyahu was among the first to congratulate Trump by phone. The US president-elect reciprocated by inviting him for talks "at the first opportunity". And yet Netanyahu is reported to be anxious about a Trump White House. Why?It is certainly not because of Trump's stated policies on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
RTTue, 15 Nov 2016 18:25 UTC
© Gary Cameron / Reuters
Donald Trump's White House transition team denies claims that the president-elect requested top-secret security clearances for three of his children as well as a son-in-law. This comes amid complicated business moves to avoid any conflict of interest.
Eric, Donald, Jr. and Ivanka Trump are going to have a very busy 2017. They will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization under a "blind" trust that is traditionally for people not related to the president, as it is meant to prevent the president from having potential conflicts of interest with his policies and companies.
On top of that, they will be helping President-elect Trump as members of his transition team. And on Monday, unnamed sources claimed Trump was interested in how his children could receive top-secret security clearances, both NBC News and CBS News reported.A Trump transition team official denied the claims, telling Mic: "That's not something I'm expecting right now."
RTTue, 15 Nov 2016 13:48 UTC
© EPA
Trump's surprise victory in the US presidential election has put pressure on politicians the world over to respond to voters' demands for change by curbing the tides of globalization and immigration, the British prime minister will say. In a speech at Mansion House in London on Monday night,
Theresa May will pledge to turn the government's attention to the concerns of the marginalized working class who feel they've been left behind.
"Change is in the air. And when people demand change, it is the job of politicians to respond," she is expected to say. "They see their communities changing around them and don't remember giving their permission for that to be the case."
The PM will say that President-elect Donald Trump's victory last week
has exposed the need for a "new approach to managing the forces of globalization." During his campaign, Trump repeatedly blamed globalization and international trade deals like NAFTA for the demise of America's manufacturing sector, appealing to the Rust Belt voters that helped clinch his victory last Tuesday.
Comment: May's address is all the more farcical considering the venue:
ThereZzzzza May! PM uses Lord Mayor's Banquet speech to tell the wealthy elite to never again ignore the people on immigration
As she spoke from a gold chair in a gilded room, Mrs May and her audience dined on a menu of Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimps, fillet of British beef, mini toffee apples and 'The Lord Mayor's Knickerbocker Glory'.
And they washed their hearty meal down with a selection of the finest wines including a Chateau Lynch-Moussas 2003 - which can sell for more than £300 a bottle.
The Prime Minister was pictured in a stunning red gown as she arrived with her husband Philip, who donned a white tie tuxedo as they arrived at the Lord Mayor's Banquet tonight.
The elite apparently didn't think much of her 'rousing' speech for change:
David Davis, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, appeared to be taking a power nap as the Prime Minister read her speech
This was Mrs May's first major speech since Donald Trump's historic victory in the US election - but not everyone appeared to be hanging on her every word
The change in tone from UK leadership is interesting considering their view prior to Trump's election. The PM's joint chiefs of staff
have mocked him online, calling him a chump and that they didn't even want "any reaching out" to Trump. Now that's changed. Nigel Farage, the interim UKIP leader, was one of the first UK leaders to reach out to Trump, yet his offer of being an intermediary has been met with scorn.
© Andrew Kelly / Reuters
The news these last few days has been all about the radical left being up in arms over Donald Trump's ascendency to the US Presidency. The massive upset victory of this charismatic non-politician is crystallizing into a very divisive situation in the United States and in Europe, as EU leaders and NATO nations paint a geo-political picture of gloom and doom for us. However negative the picture may seem though, the shiny side of this leadership coin shows a glowing promise. Here's my take on what is about to happen when Donald Trump is inaugurated.
Donald Trump did not win this election on any of the bases which Clinton's supporters profess. This is crucial to accept if we are to understand what is about to happen. Trump is not a bigot, a racist, nor is he some misogynistic woman hater. Trump is a product of both American progress and to an extend hyper-capitalism. His "locker room" talk resonates no more resoundingly than his anti-establishment diatribe against the Washington elites. For those who have watched him over the years, it is so clear the man just says what he thinks at the moment. He said he would "drain the swamp" of politically corrupt in Washington, and I think he is about to. He also said , if he was elected, he would install a special prosecutor to investigate and indict Hillary Clinton for her part in illegal activities.
Those out there demonstrating do not fully understand "who" it is they are demonstrating on behalf of, nor do they understand the breadth of criminality and malfeasance Mr. Trump has suggested. WikiLeaks opened the investigation to the court of public opinion, and this is why Donald Trump is the President-elect now.
Comment: Neither Trump nor Putin can 'save the planet'. But if Trump can hold true to his word, as Putin already has, he will ease the burden of millions of his countrymen, and assuage the fears of billions more around the world. Whether that is actually possible remains to be seen. The Deep State is powerful and ruthless.
BBCTue, 15 Nov 2016 17:33 UTC
French National Front leader Marine Le Pen tells the BBC's Andrew Marr that when she takes control in France, she will defend the multipolar model begun by Russia's President Putin.
Comment: More on the case: Russian economy minister caught taking $2mn bribe from oil giant Rosneft (UPDATES)