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Russia demands apology from Bloomberg for misleading report on Putin ratings poll


RFE/RL
Mon, 25 May 2020 18:28 UTC
putin
© Aleksej Nikolsky / Ured za tisak i informiranje ruskog predsjednika / TASS
Russia has demanded an apology from the Bloomberg news agency over a report it published about President Vladimir Putin's low trust rating among Russians.

The Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., said in a post on Facebook that the article by Bloomberg, which cited a poll last month conducted by Russia's main state-funded pollster, the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), was "written to promote fake graphs and create sustainable false visual images about the 'negative dynamics' in Russia."

The report on Bloomberg noted that only 27 percent of respondents in the poll, published on April 27, named Putin when asked to name a politician they they most trust.


Comment: The implication, by Bloomberg, being that only 27% of Russians trust Putin.


The embassy, however, said that "the editors of Bloomberg continue to show complete disrespect for its readers" since the "real level of trust" is 67.9 percent, a number that refers to a second part of the poll that asked specifically whether the respondent trusted Putin.


Comment: Which is true, but RFE/RL will never frame it that way. Imagine a poll asking to list your favorite composer. 27% of people respond "Bach". Does that mean that only 27% of respondents like Bach. Obviously not. Some just prefer Beethoven, or Prokofiev.


Bloomberg has not commented publicly on the issue.
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Fire

Central Banks are destroying what was left of free markets and the value of fiat currencies

Alasdair Macleod
Mises Institute
Sat, 23 May 2020 00:00 UTC
central banks
President Reagan memorably said that the nine words you don't want to hear are "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." Governments in all the major jurisdictions are now making good on that unwanted promise and are taking responsibility for everything from our shoulders.

Those receiving subsidies and loan guarantees are no doubt grateful, though they probably see it as the government's duty and their right. But someone has to pay for it. In the past, the redistribution of wealth through taxes meant that the haves were taxed to give financial support to the have-nots, at least that was the story. Today, through monetary debasement nearly everyone benefits from monetary redistribution.

This is not a costless exercise. Governments are no longer robbing Peter to pay Paul. They are robbing Peter to pay Peter as well. You would think this is widely understood, but the Peters are so distracted by the apparent benefits they might or might not get that they don't see the cost. They fail to appreciate that printing money is not just the marginal source of financing for excess government spending, but that it has now become mainstream.

Comment: See also:

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Black Magic

The conman elites that want to "save us" from the Coronavirus

Brandon Smith
Alt-Market
Tue, 19 May 2020 00:00 UTC
false prophet
Last week the Federal Reserve released a report predicting that the next print on GDP numbers will likely show a loss 34.9% in the second quarter. This is the biggest GDP plunge since the Great Depression; even the crash of 2008 doesn't compare. And when we take into account the fact that the Fed artificially boosts GDP calculations by adding in many non-productive government programs, we have to ask, what are the REAL losses above and beyond what the Fed admits to?

With the supply chain in disarray, many companies (like Apple) are trying to shift their manufacturing base to dodge the pandemic. Of course, none of them want to bring factories back to the US; there's simply no incentive to do so. And, the small business sector has been crushed by the shutdowns, with the vast majority of those seeking bailout loans still waiting for aid and over 20.5 million employees laid off in April alone.

Needless to say, the economy has been severely affected. The problem is that many people are being led to believe that this event has been triggered by the virus outbreak alone. This is a lie. As I noted back in February in my article 'Global Centralization Is The Cause Of The Crisis - Not The Cure', the collapse of the Everything Bubble was well underway long before the pandemic. The crash was started by the Federal Reserve hiking rates into economic weakness at the end of 2018, puncturing the bubble and setting the liquidity crisis in motion.
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Newspaper

Belarus' President Lukashenko intends to discuss missile construction with China's Xi following alleged rejection from Russia


Sputnik
Mon, 25 May 2020 01:35 UTC
Lukashenko
© Sputnik / Mikhail Klementyev
President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko
In September 2019, the president of Belarus stated that he would take steps towards cooperating with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky in order for Minsk to create its own rocket.

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, expressed his desire to discuss possible cooperation in rocket construction with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Having previously suggested the possibility of building Chinese missiles in Belarus, Lukashenko insisted that there should be "no dependence" on foreign actors.

"Let me then negotiate that on my level, I'm ready to negotiate that with Xi Jinping, I don't think that will be a problem", the president said.
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UFO 2

Japan Defense Ministry to draft UFO protocols in response to US footage


Japan Times
Sat, 02 May 2020 12:00 UTC
JMOD
© ModJapan_en/ Japan Ministry of Defense/Self-Defense Forces
On May 18, JMOD established Space Operations Squadron which is the first space domain mission unit for JMOD. DM Kono handed unit-flag and gave a speech to encourage the commander and the other representative, who will be the pioneers in the new domain, with great expectation.
The Defense Ministry plans to draw up protocols for UFO encounters in light of the U.S. Defense Department's recent decision to release videos of the mysterious objects.

The ministry will consider procedures for responding to, recording and reporting on UFO encounters as their unknown nature might cause confusion among Self-Defense Forces pilots.

The videos released Monday by the U.S. Defense Department were taken in 2004 and 2015. Some show an elliptical flying object with unprecedented speed and maneuverability.

Comment: Reported a day earlier was the announcement of a new "Japan-US space domain mission unit" intended to "strengthen cooperation and the security of the Indo-Pacific region":



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Arrow Up

Second Iranian tanker reaches Venezuela's exclusive economic zone


Sputnik
Mon, 25 May 2020 11:14 UTC
tanker
© Twitter / @IRANinURUGUAY
The second tanker follows the first of five Iranian vessels carrying an estimated total 1.53 barrels of gasoline between them. The first vessel, the 'Fortune', successfully reached Venezuela the day before, and was escorted into the port by the Bolivarian Navy.

A second Iranian oil tanker, the 'Forest', entered the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Venezuela early Sunday, met by the country's navy. It followed the first tanker from Iran, the Fortune, that successfully reached the Venezuelan coast a day before.

Three more oil tankers are expected to arrive to Venezuela from Iran. The five vessels are carrying an estimated 1.53 million barrels of gasoline between them.

Comment: See also: The Saker: Will the US start two wars instead of just one?

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Question

Missing piece to the Ukraine puzzle: State Department's overture to Rudy Giuliani

John Solomon
The Hill
Fri, 20 Sep 2019 19:30 UTC
rudy guliani


Editor's note: John Solomon's columns regarding Ukraine became a subject of the House Intelligence Committee's impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Any updated information can be found at the end of the column.

When I was a young journalist decades ago, training to cover Washington, one of my mentors offered sage advice: When it comes to U.S. intelligence and diplomacy, things often aren't what they first seem.

Those words echo in my brain today, as much as they did that first day. And following the news recently, I realize they are just as relevant today with hysteria regarding presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani's contacts with Ukraine's government.
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Eye 1

Democrats face criticism for not wearing face masks, violating own rules

Joel B. Pollak
Breitbart
Sun, 24 May 2020 06:40 UTC
Ralph Northam
© JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
Several Democrats who have insisted on strict stay-at-home orders — including the wearing of face masks when out of doors — have been caught violating the rules that they wish to impose on others for fear of spreading the coronavirus.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who has suggested he might make wearing face masks mandatory, was spotted on the boardwalk in Virginia Beach on Saturday — without a mask.

The Daily Beast quoted a spokesperson for the governor, who tried to help him save face:
Alena Yarmosky, a spokeswoman for the Democratic governor — a physician who has repeatedly urged Virginians to wear face coverings in public — said he was "outside yesterday and not expecting to be within six feet of anyone. This is an important reminder to always have face coverings in case situations change," adding, "we are all learning how to operate in this new normal, and it's important to be prepared."
However, the governor was pictured taking selfies with beachgoers — at far closer range than six feet:

Comment: See also: The unaccountable elite: Bojo backs senior advisor who broke lockdown rules

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Attention

China: one country, two sessions, three threats

Pepe Escobar
The Saker
Fri, 22 May 2020 05:50 UTC
National People’s Congress
© Xinhua
The annual meeting of the National People’s Congress.
The key takeaways of the Two Sessions of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing are already in the public domain.

In a nutshell: no GDP target for 2020; a budget deficit of at least 3.6% of GDP; one trillion yuan in special treasury bonds; corporate fees/taxes cut by 2.5 trillion yuan; a defense budget rise of a modest 6.6%; and governments at all levels committed to "tighten their belts."

The focus, as predicted, is to get China's domestic economy, post-Covid-19, on track for solid growth in 2021.

Also predictably, the whole focus in the Anglo-American sphere has been on Hong Kong - as in the new legal framework, to be approved next week, engineered to prevent subversion, foreign interference "or any acts that severely endanger national security." After all, as a Global Times editorial stresses, Hong Kong is an extremely sensitive national security matter.

This is a direct result of what the Chinese observer mission based in Shenzhen learned from the attempt by assorted fifth columnists and weaponized black blocs to nearly destroy Hong Kong last summer.
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Magnify

Bojo's plan to break with Northern Ireland using Brexit as his excuse

Jason O'Toole
RT
Fri, 22 May 2020 18:53 UTC
Boris Johnson
© AFP / Tolga AKMEN
Boris Johnson
Brexit has given Boris Johnson a golden opportunity to separate Northern Ireland from Britain. Border checks on goods and pets are the first steps in BoJo's mission to dump Ulster for good.

It's easy to smell a rat when even the iconic British Bulldog needs a pet passport to get into Northern Ireland. Boris Johnson has a nasty habit of words coming back to bite him - as was evident this week when he, once again, shafted the good folks of Northern Ireland.

He once very clearly said, "There will be no checks on goods from GB to Northern Ireland or Northern Ireland to GB." Of course, it has now been announced that as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement there will be "new checks on goods entering NI from GB," as one BBC headline put it.

Comment: See also:

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