Puppet MastersS


Quenelle

More Russian sanctions? Russia may close airspace in 'asymmetrical' response

Kashmira Gander
The Independent
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 11:17 UTC
Medvedev
Russia has suggested that it may ban Western airlines from flying over its territory, in what it has called an "asymmetrical" response to new EU sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine.

Calling sanctions "stupid", Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev blamed the West for damaging the Russian economy and said Moscow aimed to reduce the nation's reliance on imports - starting with increasing the output of domestic airliners.

Russia has been too patient amidst the worst confrontation with the West since the Cold War, and should have retaliated more strongly over attempts by the US and EU to punish Moscow for its role in Ukraine, Medvedev suggested.

He added Russia may decide to only allow the airlines of "friendly countries" to fly in its airspace.

"If there are sanctions related to the energy sector, or further restrictions on Russia's financial sector, we will have to respond asymmetrically," the Prime Minister told Russian daily Vedomosti.

Regarding commercial aircrafts flying in Russian airspace, he explained: "If Western carriers have to bypass our airspace, this could drive many struggling airlines into bankruptcy.

"This is not the way to go. We just hope our partners realise this at some point," he said in the interview published on Monday.


Comment: Sorry, Medvedev, but your opponents are so self-involved and stupid that they'll die before admitting they've been wrong.

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Eye 2

Ron Paul: Nixon's abuses of civil liberties pale in comparison to those of his successors


RT
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 10:28 UTC
Image
© Reuters / Laura SegallU.S. Rep. Ron Paul
In his weekly column, Dr. Ron Paul blasted the Obama and George W. Bush administrations for taking the 'imperial presidency' ‒ which was supposed to end after President Richard Nixon resigned ‒ far further than the disgraced politician ever did.

The former Republican congressman from Texas took the two most recent presidential administrations to task for abusing their power, and compared them to the actions Nixon took that forced him out of office before Congress impeached him. Paul, a three-time presidential candidate, focused his 'Nixon Vindicated' op-ed on the use of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), spying and the warfare state.

The renowned libertarian first analyzed Nixon's IRS scandal versus the current one that the Obama administration faces. In May 2013, the US tax agency confessed it had targeted conservative political groups, putting them under extra scrutiny during the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election. Nixon had used the IRS to persecute his political opponents, which was a subject of the articles of impeachment against him.
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Folder

No surprise: Dutch 'preliminary report' says MH17 broke up mid-air due to penetration by 'high-energy objects'


RT
Tue, 09 Sep 2014 09:48 UTC

Comment: So the much-delayed 'preliminary report' on MH17 has finally been released, and it's no surprise that it doesn't say anything much of relevance that we didn't already know. What's interesting is that their explanation of the cause of the crash is phrased in such a way as to be compatible with all the main rivaling positions: a Russian/Novorossiyan Buk, or a Ukrainian Buk or jet. In other words, the mainstream presstitutes and spineless politicians can freely use it as more 'evidence' of Russia's involvement, even if it says nothing of the sort.


mh17
© onderzoeksraad.nlPart of the inside cockpit roof, indicating penetration with objects outside
The MH17 crash was a result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that struck the Boeing from the outside, the preliminary report into the Malaysia Airlines disaster in Ukraine said.

"Flight MH17 with a Boeing 777-200 operated by Malaysia Airlines broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside," the Dutch Safety Board said in its preliminary report.

Dutch investigators added that "there are no indications" that the tragedy was triggered "by a technical fault or by actions of the crew."

'We need more analysis to investigate the crash" - Malaysian minister

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Tuesday that more analysis was needed to investigate the crash.


Comment: See SOTT's coverage of MH17 here:

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Piggy Bank

Russian anti-Maidan activists claim planned Yabloko party protests are US-funded


RT
Tue, 09 Sep 2014 09:32 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Maxim ShemetovMembers of the Yabloko political party wave party flags, as interior ministry troops look on, during an protest march in Moscow, June 12, 2013.
Representatives of the recently-founded anti-Maidan council claim that the veteran pro-democracy party has received millions from the US and plans to overthrow the Russian government with the help of Ukrainian and Georgian spin doctors.

The head of the Anti-Fascist anti-Maidan council, Evgeny Shabayev has told the popular mass circulation daily Izvestia that his group possessed information about Ukrainian and Georgian citizens who played major roles in preparations to the violent events leading to displacement of governments and dissolution of parliaments in these countries - the so-called 'color revolutions'. Now these people arrive in Russia and start talks with representatives of the pro-democracy opposition party Yabloko and other opposition groups in order to prepare and launch a similar regime change in Russia, the activist claimed.

According to Shabayev, at present stage Yabloko together with members of the Solidarity group are holding a string of single-person protests. Over 1,000 people have been hired to participate in them and each signed a contract to picket for 15 days for a $2,500 fee. The total budget of the event amounts to over 90 million rubles (about $2.4 million) and it will end with a massive rally on September 21.
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Quenelle

Israel rejects New Zealand's diplomatic ambassador


RT
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 14:53 UTC
Pic 2 Curr
© www.crashonline.comNew Zealand Ambassador, Jonathan Curr
Israel refused to accept New Zealand's new ambassador as he is also an envoy to the Palestinian Authority. However, New Zealand is perplexed over what it sees as a sudden change to the long-standing practice.

New Zealand does not have a separate embassy in Israel as well as many other countries near it. The island nation's embassy in Turkey has to handle ties with quite a number of nations, including Jordan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Until recently it was also responsible for New Zealand's relations with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Israel's Foreign Ministry however refused to allow New Zealand's new ambassador to the region, Jonathan Curr, to present his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin.

Reuven Rivlen
© jpupdates.comSwearing in...new Israeli president Reuven Rivlin
Curr's meeting with the Israeli president was canceled after he informed the country's Foreign Ministry that he also planned to visit Ramallah for an official ceremony with PA president Mahmoud Abbas.

"A few days ago, Israel advised New Zealand that it would not accept as ambassador a person who was also a representative to the Palestinian Authority," New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully said in a statement on Monday, according to AP.

New Zealand's authorities are perplexed, because Curr's two predecessors also did both the jobs and Israel never protested.

Comment: Is Israel trying to divide and conquer? One diplomat for two countries -- might not be biased enough for Israel, should there be a revelation of facts and a genuine comparison made? True to form, Israel is trying to control another country's affairs, instigating a diplomatic crisis with it's standard paranoia. New Zealand's closest embassy to Israel is in Ankara which handles several countries in the region. Curr was to present the Palestine Authority with a letter of introduction informing Abbas that he is the New Zealand diplomat who handles ties with the PA, apparently violating Israeli rules forbidding "dual credentials." New Zealand, shall we say, was not pleased. According to another source: A Western diplomat involved in the case said the government in Wellington, which is very pro-Israel, is furious and insulted by Israel's handling of the matter. "Israel has scored a marvelous own goal," the diplomat said.

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Safe

Albania Central Bank Governor Ardian Fullani arrested over theft of $7 million from bank vaults

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Tue, 09 Sep 2014 09:02 UTC
Image
About a month ago we mocked the Albanian central bank when reports emerged that "two employees" had been charged with the theft of some $6.6 million in cash from the bank's vaults. Specifically, back in July the arrests come five weeks after a worker at the central bank admitted to stealing money over the course of four years, taking new bank notes printed in Switzerland when they arrived at his workplace and replacing them with old books. As it turns out, since there is a central bank involved, there is once again more than meets the eye, and the story has since mutated into something far more grotesque than even we could imagine, with news coming out late last week and over the weekend that not only was the theft by "two employees" a misdirection, but that the guilty party was none other than the Albanian version of Janet Yellen, the governor of the central bank himself Ardian Fullani.

From Reuters:
Albania's central bank governor Ardian Fullani was arrested on Friday evening in his office on charges of abuse of office over the theft of 713 million lek (6.63 million US dollar) from the bank's vaults, the prosecutor's office told Reuters.

Fullani had refused to step down despite protests by citizens who started a petition to demand his dismissal. He had won a confidence vote in the supervisory board by a landslide. Fullani is the 17th bank employee to be arrested in the case.
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Stop

Donetsk fears Kiev will not return captured militias


ITAR-TASS
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 08:42 UTC
Image
© EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY
Authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic could not begin the prisoner swap as Kiev had refused to present its list of captured militias, the Novorossiya news agency said on Monday, referring to the republic's acting Defense Minister Leonid Baranov.

"We have not received from Kiev lists of prisoners they plan to release," the agency quotes the defense minister as saying. "We fear Kiev may cheat us as we release the prisoners we have."

"The Donetsk Republic fears Kiev would not return captured militias after receiving their servicemen," the agency said.

"Kiev says it holds about 200-300 prisoners," the agency quoted the defense minister. "However, they still do not have detailed lists. Besides, about one thousand of our supporters and of Donbass' civilians are unaccounted for, but in reality many of them are prisoners, too. We are releasing over one thousand in exchange to our three hundred people, and we do not want to be cheated."

On September 3, Russia's President Vladimir Putin suggested a seven-item plan to settle the crisis in Ukraine after a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko a day earlier.
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Snakes in Suits

Former US ambassador to UN Zalmay Khalilzad suspected of money laundering


RT
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 08:18 UTC
Zalmay Khalilzad
© Reuters / Joshua RobertsZalmay Khalilzad
A man who previously served as United States ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations is reportedly being investigated by authorities in the US for allegedly laundering nearly $1.5 million.

Austria's weekly news magazine, Profil, first reported on Monday that the former envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, is the subject of a probe being conducted by the US Department of Justice, according to previously unpublished court documents. Thomas Vecsey, an Austrian state prosecutor, has since verified that claim to the Associated Press.

Khalilzad, 63, served as the 26th US ambassador of the UN from 2007 through 2009, and prior to then was America's envoy to Iraq and Afghanistan under President George W. Bush - and thus the highest-ranking Muslim American to serve in the Bush administration. He is currently the president and CEO of Khalilzad Associates, a division of the DC-based Gryphon Partners group that bills itself as a global advisory firm focused on frontier markets and, according to Bloomberg News, is also on the board of two petroleum companies - one based in the UAE and another in the UK.

According to Profil, Khalilzad is accused of illegally transferring around $1.4 million to a bank account administered by his wife, social scientist and author Cheryl Benard. The funds, the magazine reported, are believed to be linked to activities involving Khalilzad and companies in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, and were transferred to his wife in May 2013.

Comment: This is merely a "wrist slap" for this slime ball.

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Bomb

Flashback NATO's 2nd-in-command: Russia is now our enemy


RT
Thu, 01 May 2014 08:01 UTC

Comment: Things have been progressing nicely for NATO since Vershbow gave the statements below. Joint NATO exercises are in the works, there are rumors of NATO personnel being sent into Ukraine, and the U.S. is "creating the reality on the ground" as only their Orwellian minds can: Ukrainian Role Reversal and Russian Freedom and Democracy


Vershbow
NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow
NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow now says that the allied group has been compelled to treat Russia "as more of an enemy than a partner," according to an Associated Press report published Thursday.

The 61-year-old former United States ambassador to Russia reportedly told journalists this week that Moscow's role in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine has forced NATO to reconsider the alliance's opinion on Russia, and that additional troops may soon be mobilized to the region as tensions worsen.

AP journalist Robert Burns wrote on Thursday that Vershbow said the Kremlin's perceived part in the recent events in Ukraine "marks a turning point in decades of effort by NATO to draw Moscow closer."


Comment: "Draw closer"? More like neuter and subjugate.


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MIB

Conflicting information: U.S. unofficially denies offer of 'lethal assistance' to Kiev

Will Dunham
Reuters
Sun, 07 Sep 2014 07:20 UTC
cia media
The United States has not made an offer of "lethal assistance" to Ukraine to help it confront pro-Russian separatists, a senior U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday.

The official made his comments after a senior aide to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said Kiev had reached agreement during the NATO summit in Wales on the provision of weapons and military advisers from the United States, France, Italy, Poland and Norway.

The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "No U.S. offer of lethal assistance has been made to Ukraine."

Comment: So, what's really going on here? Did Poroshenko's aide just make it up, or was he just so excited (and stupid), that he blew the lid on what was supposed to be a secret agreement? The lameness of U.S.'s non-response, coming from an anonymous source we have no reason to believe even exists as opposed to an official denial, seems to suggest the latter may be the case: plausible deniability.

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