Although a direct handout is unlikely, China might help the Russian economy by boosting funding for projects, mainland analysts say
China is preparing to flex its financial strength amid the economic crisis in Russia as it closely watches how the slump of the Russian rouble affects cooperation between the two countries, mainland analysts have said.

They said Beijing was unlikely to send aid to Moscow, but it would boost infrastructure and investment projects to stop the collapse of the Russian economy, a result that would hurt the two nations' joint attempts to build influence in international affairs.

China and Russia have both described their relationship as reaching a "new stage" after the signing of massive cooperation deals in recent months, including an agreement for Beijing to import 38 billion cubic metres of gas annually, starting in 2019. Companies have already started talks about building the necessary pipeline to deliver the gas.

But a continued drop in the Russian economy could leave Moscow unable to complete the pipeline, and Chinese capital - possibly a concessionary loan - could be required, analysts said.

"This will affect delivery of the gas," said Wang Haiyun, a former attaché at the Chinese embassy in Moscow.

"China will actively consider whether Russia demands more Chinese investment input into the project."

In remarks seen as signaling Beijing's support for Moscow, foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Russia had enough reserves and resources to resolve the crisis.

China and Russia have long sought to present a united front on the global stage, often as a counterweight to the United States.

A dangerous new trend is the successful manipulation of the financial markets by the Federal Reserve, other central banks, private banks, and the US Treasury. The Federal Reserve reduced real interest rates on US government debt obligations first to zero and then pushed real interest rates into negative territory. Today the government charges you for the privilege of purchasing its bonds.

People pay to park their money in Treasury debt obligations, because they do not trust the banks and they know that the government can print the money to pay off the bonds. Today Treasury bond investors pay a fee in order to guarantee that they will receive the nominal face value (minus the fee) of their investment in government debt instruments.

The fee is paid in a premium, which raises the cost of the debt instrument above its face value and is paid again in accepting a negative rate of return, as the interest rate is less than the inflation rate.

Think about this for a minute. Allegedly the US is experiencing economic recovery. Normally with rising economic activity interest rates rise as consumers and investors bid for credit. But not in this "recovery."

The world is more nervous about the drift toward nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia than at any time since 1962's Cuban Missile Crisis. When French President Francois Hollande urgently side-tracked his return-flight from a diplomatic mission recently, in order to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, at a private room that had been scoured ahead of time to eliminate any possible bugging devices, there was speculation as to what had caused Hollande's sudden detour, and there were even rumors of a possible cause being an American "false-flag" event in the works to be blamed on Russia as a pretext for going to war against Russia, just as Russia had been falsely blamed for the Ukrainian military's downing of Malaysia's airliner MH17 on July 17th. All that was publicly released about the two-hour meeting were platitudes, hardly anything that would have justified side-tracking Hollande's flight so as to surprise intelligence agencies and be able to meet the Russian leader in an untapped room.

The level of fear is certainly rising on both sides. On the U.S. side, the CBS News Poll in summer 2007 found 6% of Americans calling Russia an "enemy"; seven years later, that same figure was 22%. However, what is not rumor nor fear, but proven fact, by Obama's own actions as will be documented here, is that he wants a war against Russia and is trying hard to get Europe (including Hollande) onboard with this goal in order to win it; and that America's Republican Party want this at least as much as he does, though the American public do not.

The Metropolitan Police are investigating the suspected murder of three boys in relation to the so-called Westminster pedophile ring, which allegedly serially abused boys during the 1970s and 80s.

Officers taking part in the investigation of the so-called "VIP" abuse ring have appealed for victims to come forward with information relating to the inquiry.

Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, who is leading the investigation, made a public plea for witnesses on Thursday.

"I appeal to men who were subjected to abuse 30 years ago to come forward. We are also investigating the murder of three young boys - we are determined to find answers."


Much of the information currently available was given by one alleged victim, known as Nick.

Nick claimed he was abused at high-profile parties and events between the ages of seven and 16 at various London locations, including a flat in Dolphin Square, Pimlico, which is currently being investigated.

McDonald said Nick was a "credible" witness who was telling the truth, and urged residents of Dolphin Square from the 1970s to come forward, as they may have "seen or heard something that they only understand the significance of now."

No details of the murder inquiries were released, but this is the first time the police have confirmed the number of possible murders they are investigating. Officers are also exploring the possibility that boys were abused at other locations in London, including military establishments.

November 18, 2014: it's a day that should live forever in history. On that day, in the city of Yiwu in China's Zhejiang province, 300 kilometers south of Shanghai, the first train carrying 82 containers of export goods weighing more than 1,000 tons left a massive warehouse complex heading for Madrid. It arrived on December 9th.

Welcome to the new trans-Eurasia choo-choo train. At over 13,000 kilometers, it will regularly traverse the longest freight train route in the world, 40% farther than the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway. Its cargo will cross China from East to West, then Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, and finally Spain.

You may not have the faintest idea where Yiwu is, but businessmen plying their trades across Eurasia, especially from the Arab world, are already hooked on the city "where amazing happens!" We're talking about the largest wholesale center for small-sized consumer goods -- from clothes to toys -- possibly anywhere on Earth.

The Yiwu-Madrid route across Eurasia represents the beginning of a set of game-changing developments. It will be an efficient logistics channel of incredible length. It will represent geopolitics with a human touch, knitting together small traders and huge markets across a vast landmass. It's already a graphic example of Eurasian integration on the go. And most of all, it's the first building block on China's "New Silk Road," conceivably the project of the new century and undoubtedly the greatest trade story in the world for the next decade.

Go west, young Han. One day, if everything happens according to plan (and according to the dreams of China's leaders), all this will be yours -- via high-speed rail, no less. The trip from China to Europe will be a two-day affair, not the 21 days of the present moment. In fact, as that freight train left Yiwu, the D8602 bullet train was leaving Urumqi in Xinjiang Province, heading for Hami in China's far west. That's the first high-speed railway built in Xinjiang, and more like it will be coming soon across China at what is likely to prove dizzying speed.

A previous article discussed Russian economist/political analyst Mikhail Delyagin expecting a possible anti-Russian nuclear false flag.

Fort Russ now cites intelligence "about impending terrorist attacks on Ukrainian strategic objects, which will justify an attack on Donbass."

Foreign nationals and relatives of senior Ukrainian officials were evacuated from border areas, it says.

Armored vehicles with Russian and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) symbols and flags were seen in Donbas territory controlled by Ukraine's military.

Suggesting a planned provocation. Other intelligence "confirmed the arrival of large numbers of mercenaries, equipment and machinery from NATO countries."

Ukraine's general staff press service head, Vladislav Seleznev, announced possible resumed hostilities in so-called ATO (anti-terrorist operations) areas.

As well as "possible terrorist attacks by the militia on the objects of strategic importance." Because socio/political/humanitarian conditions remain tense, he said. In ATO and bordering areas.

"There is also the risk of a resumption of active hostilities," Seleznev added. "However, we do not eliminate the risk of terrorist and sabotage acts in these areas, at government and military facilities, as well as mass protests and civil disobedience."

Earlier, illegitimate oligarch president Petro Poroshenko vowed to return Crimea to Ukraine. "Crimea will be back together with us," he said.

Reframing the CIA's interrogation techniques as a violation of scientific and medical ethics may be the best way to achieve accountability.

Human experimentation was a core feature of the CIA's torture program. The experimental nature of the interrogation and detention techniques is clearly evident in the Senate Intelligence Committee's executive summary of its investigative report, despite redactions (insisted upon by the CIA) to obfuscate the locations of these laboratories of cruel science and the identities of perpetrators.

At the helm of this human experimentation project were two psychologists hired by the CIA, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen. They designed interrogation and detention protocols that they and others applied to people imprisoned in the agency's secret "black sites."

In its response to the Senate report, the CIA justified its decision to hire the duo: "We believe their expertise was so unique that we would have been derelict had we not sought them out when it became clear that CIA would be heading into the uncharted territory of the program." Mitchell and Jessen's qualifications did not include interrogation experience, specialized knowledge about Al Qaeda or relevant cultural or linguistic knowledge. What they had was Air Force experience in studying the effects of torture on American prisoners of war, as well as a curiosity about whether theories of "learned helplessness" derived from experiments on dogs might work on human enemies.

To implement those theories, Mitchell and Jessen oversaw or personally engaged in techniques intended to produce "debility, disorientation and dread." Their "theory" had a particular means-ends relationship that is not well understood, as Mitchell testily explained in an interview on Vice News: "The point of the bad cop is to get the bad guy to talk to the good cop." In other words, "enhanced interrogation techniques" (the Bush administration's euphemism for torture) do not themselves produce useful information; rather, they produce the condition of total submission that will facilitate extraction of actionable intelligence.

Mitchell, like former CIA Director Michael Hayden and others who have defended the torture program, argues that a fundamental error in the Senate report is the elision of means (waterboarding, "rectal rehydration," weeks or months of nakedness in total darkness and isolation, and other techniques intended to break prisoners) and ends - manufactured compliance, which, the defenders claim, enabled the collection of abundant intelligence that kept Americans safe. (That claim is amply and authoritatively contradicted in the report.)

For diplomats of any country, Moscow represents a plum posting. If you are selected to serve there it implies your government has great trust in your abilities and you have had a previous career of meritorious service. Or it means you are John Tefft.

Controversy follows John Tefft wherever he goes. This diplomatic pit bull has a disturbing talent for stirring up trouble - exactly the opposite of what diplomats are supposed to do. Whenever he leaves a posting local commentators assume his career is finished. Yet he keeps showing up wherever the US wants to foment trouble - pretending he is a simple functionary, out of his depth, when in fact there are few depths he will not sink to.

It is therefore strange, on the surface, that Moscow has confirmed his appointment as US Ambassador. However, as with all official actions, there is something said, something else implied and a real reason it is happening. Washington and Moscow may be trying to achieve different things through this appointment, but ultimately they both have a vested interest in it.

Even facing what under any circumstances is a perfect storm; President Putin delivered an extremely measured performance at his annual press conference and Q&A marathon.

The perfect storm evolves in two fronts; an overt economic war - as in siege by sanctions - and a concerted, covert, shadow attack to the heart of the Russian economy. Washington's endgame is clear: impoverish and defang the adversary and force him to meekly bow to the 'Empire of Chaos's' whims. And bragging about it all the way to "victory."

The problem is Moscow happens to have impeccably deciphered the game - even before Putin, at the Valdai Club in October, pinned down the Obama doctrine as "our Western partners" working as practitioners of the "theory of controlled chaos."

So Putin neatly understood this week's monster controlled chaos attack. The Empire has massive money power; a great deal of influence over the world's GDP at $85 trillion, and the banking power behind that. So nothing easier than using that power through the private banking systems that actually controls central banks to create a run on the ruble. Think about the 'Empire of Chaos' dreaming of driving the ruble down by 99% or so - thus wrecking the Russian economy. What better way to impose imperial discipline on Russia?

Bends over backwards to praise Yatseniuk in most obsequious manner. Really extraordinary.

Its amazing that a military alliance needs its own TV channel.

We suppose it helps in their basic mission of justifying their own existence to an increasingly skeptical public.

The last laugh is on them (the public), because not only do they pay for the outrageously expensive and unnecessary alliance, they also get to pay for the TV channel to justify the expense.

Here at RI we love the NATO channel, because it provides great material, - they actually excel in making themselves look ridiculous.

In this priceless episode from 15th December, NATO Chief Stoltenberg shows that far from being an obedient and prudent servant of the countries paying his salary, he is a zealous political advocate, making extremely dubious claims in an effort, we surmise, to give NATO something to do, and also, it seems, expressing his personal aggressive neo-con views.

The best part is the first 3 minutes, where he praises Yatseniuk for his commitment to democracy, says Russia's behavior is illegal and destabilizing, says Kiev has sought to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, says he is proud of NATO's commitment to the admirable Kiev government, says the Kiev government reflects the will of the people of Ukraine, and basically says NATO is 110% with Kiev and will do whatever it can to support them.