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Central Bank of Russia shouldn't take orders from the financial elite

Alexander Mercouris
Russia Insider
Sat, 05 Mar 2016 15:11 UTC
Ksenia Yudaeva

Ksenia Yudaeva - Deputy Governor of Russia's Central Bank
The lack of confidence in western central banks stems from their acquiescence to Wall Street and the financial community. The Russian Central Bank should learn from this.

As regular Russia Insider readers know, Jon Hellevig and I have for some time been baffled by the Russian Central Bank's insistence on keeping interest rates high at 11%.

This despite the fact inflation is falling rapidly, and despite the fact the high interest rates are prolonging the recession.

The latest figures from Rosstat (the Russian Federal Statistics Service) show inflation at the end of February had fallen to an annualised rate of 8.2%, and weekly inflation had fallen to 0.1% in the last week of February.

The Economics Ministry is now predicting inflation will continue to fall in March, and will be well below 8% by the end of the month.

This is the diametric opposite of the course for inflation the Central Bank was predicting at the start of the year.

At that time the Central Bank was saying inflation would rise because of the further fall in the rouble. It even said it might reach 16%.

Jon Hellevig has explained why this prediction was wrong.
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Snakes in Suits

'Maladministration' or criminal behavior? EU commission illegally approved high risk pesticides

F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 11 Mar 2016 00:00 UTC
Xavier Prats Monné

Xavier Prats Monné
It's little wonder that people like many of those in the UK want to get out of the European Union. It is rapidly evolving into a concentration of corruption that rivals that of Kiev or of the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century. The most recent instance to come to light has to do with the European Commission Directorate General for Health and Food Safety, known as DG SANTE. A recent ruling by the official EU Ombudsman Office found that DG SANTE procedures for approving chemical pesticides is anything but healthy.

If one is in a senior position of responsibility for decisions that affect the health and safety of some 508 million citizens living in the European Union members states, that one or those ones we would like to believe take the moral nature of that powerful position very, very seriously.

Well, it may shock you but the ones, the faceless bureaucrats running policy today in the EU DG SANTE it seems literally don't give a shit, as the French would say, about the moral implications of their decisions.

'Maladministration' or criminal behavior?

On February 18, 2016 the EU Ombudsman issued a ruling declaring that the practice of EU Commission health service, DG SANTE, to approve pesticides despite the fact that important safety data are missing, is a case of maladministration.

There is even a fancy name to cover this "maladministration" practice, revealing how ingrained it has become. It's known as the so-called "confirmatory data procedure" (CDP).

Right there we begin to smell a strong stench. The DG SANTE's Confirmatory Data Procedure is to approve untested pesticides without having "confirmatory data." That's the so-called procedure.

Comment:


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Propaganda

Obama whitewashes years of disastrous foreign policy in new interview


Moon of Alabama
Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:00 UTC
Obama

The Atlantic publishes Obama's great whitewashing of his own foreign policy. It is the result of a series of interviews with Jefferey Goldberg written up into one gigantic piece under the headline "The Obama Doctrine". Throughout the piece Goldberg and Obama touch various foreign policy issues, mainly in the Middle East.

The ostensible purpose is to refute hawkish critics of Obama who say that he has not been militaristic enough or was 'leading from behind.' Judging from comments to the piece in various media the readers seem to fall for that. But the real purpose of the piece is to hide the militaristic, dangerous to catastrophic decision Obama has made on many foreign policy issues.

Comment: So, in other words, its just about what you'd expect Obama to say in an attempt to absolve himself from acts which pretty much point to genocide. Can't have a bad rep getting in the way of all those $250,000 speech engagements he expects to have after his term is over.

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Jet3

Syrian military source says Air Force MiG-21 jet downed, pilot killed


Sputnik
Sat, 12 Mar 2016 23:07 UTC
Syrian MiG-21 fighter jet
© Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov
Syrian Air Force MiG-21 has been downed by armed militants near a military airfield in western Hama Governorate, a military source told Sputnik. The pilot had been shot dead from the ground while parachuting, according to the source.

"A Syrian warplane MiG-21 was shot down near the Hama military airfield," the source said.
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Stormtrooper

Eight times protesters were attacked, dragged from Donald Trump rallies


RT
Sat, 12 Mar 2016 21:32 UTC
Trump with fists
© AP
Speaking about a protester, Trump is quoted as saying, "I'd like to punch him in the face" and then reminisced about the "old days" where protesters might be "carried out on a stretcher."

Comment: With incidents of violence breaking out in at least 8 Trump rallies one might begin to wonder why Trump is openly promoting it in some instances. And if he's promoting it at his own rallies then what can we expect of him as president in relation to other countries?


Tensions between Donald Trump supporters and protesters have hit an all-time high, as the latest confrontation forced the presidential candidate to cancel a Chicago rally due to outbreaks of violence amongst the clashing crowd.

Trump's campaign rallies have been marked by protests almost from the beginning of his run for the Republican presidential nomination. Given The Donald's attitude toward protesters, the escalation in violence has been simultaneously shocking and unsurprising.

Comment: See these related article for insight into how Trump himself condones, and thus promotes, the violence:

A history of Donald Trump inciting violence against protesters at his rallies and campaign events

The problem with violence at Trump rallies starts with Trump himself

Could Donald Trump be held legally responsible for inciting violence at his rallies?

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Eye 2

Kurdish Diyarbakır, city of the dead and missing after Turkish crackdown


RT
Sat, 12 Mar 2016 20:22 UTC
Kurd Diyarbakir destruction
© Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Damaged buildings in the Sur district of the mainly-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.
An RT crew has visited Diyarbakır, the unofficial capital of the Turkish Kurds, to throw light on the gruesome consequences of Turkey's crackdown on the Kurdish population. RT's William Whiteman talked to the relatives of one of the victims.

RT took an exclusive look into the mass killings of civilians allegedly committed by the Turkish military, filming the mourning of those who lost their loved ones as a result of the ongoing crackdown.


Friday prayers in Diyarbakir have also become a manifestation of the deep divide between the locals and the Turkish government.

In a further effort to quash Kurdish descent, Turkish authorities now require imams to read government-approved sermons. Thousands of local Kurds are protesting this move by boycotting the city's main mosque and holding prayers in a nearby park.

The imam speaks in both Kurdish and Turkish, condemning the government's actions.
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Eye 2

UN reports US-based companies & Turkish arms manufacturers 'breaking Libya arms sales embargo'


RT
Sat, 12 Mar 2016 20:04 UTC
Libya fighters
© Esam Al-Fetori / Reuters
Two US-based companies have allegedly broken the international arms embargo imposed on Libya during the Arab Spring revolution, UN investigators have reportedly concluded. The weapons were destined for two rival governments and allied militias fighting for control.

Investigators reportedly said the two US-based companies brokered an arms deal in 2011, as well as an Italian middleman working with a UK-based Libyan national on behalf of the Libyan authorities in control of Tripoli, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a UN report.

The oil-rich North African nation is currently ruled by two opposing governments: the internationally-recognized Council of Deputies (based in Tobruk) and the Tripoli-based General National Congress.

Libyan and international officials reportedly told UN investigators the government in Tobruk had been receiving equipment from abroad through its own procurement operations and from countries supporting it. Those countries allegedly include Egypt and the UAE, according to two sources cited in the report.

Comment: Good old 'Murrican values. Never let a little thing like an embargo get in the way of one's profits.

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Hardhat

Winning strategic allies: Russia to supply Afghanistan with over a million tons of oil


Sputnik
Sat, 12 Mar 2016 19:35 UTC
Russian pump jack
© REUTERS/ Sergei Karpukhin
Russia is considering the possibility of supplying Afghanistan with 1.5 million tons of oil per year, according to the Deputy Minister of Energy Yury Sentyurin.

According to the minister, Afghanistan consumes more than 3 million tons of petroleum products for its own personal needs and uses another 3 million for the International Security Assistance Force.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, established by the United Nations Security Council in December 2001.
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Laptop

ISIS file leak exposes previously unknown British jihadists


RT
Fri, 11 Mar 2016 18:52 UTC
british isis jihadists
© Stringer / Reuter
Leaked Islamic State membership files have exposed a number of British jihadists, recruiters and fighters in Syria and Iraq previously unknown to the UK public.

Newly revealed jihadists include fighters from Arsenal and Finsbury Park in north London, one of whom is an as yet unknown young Italian.

Fourteen Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) recruitment forms were passed to the Guardian by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The forms include names, dates of birth, home towns and recruiter details.

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Stock Down

Erdogan on the edge: Will Putin's economic sanctions bring him down?

Kerim Karakaya
Al Monitor
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:59 UTC
Turkish street market Russia
© Murad Sezer/Reuters
The Arasta Bazaar that sells leather and goods near the Blue Mosque is empty of people, Istanbul, Jan. 12, 2016.
The economic warfare declared by Russia damages the Turkish economy beyond expectations

The Russian plane shot down by the Turkish air force Nov. 24 has brought President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin into serious confrontation. The economic warfare that began shortly afterward has been inflicting heavy damage on Turkey ever since.

At the outset, Turkish politicians seemed unconcerned about possible effects of the political crisis on the economy. Back then, while Mehmet Simsek, the deputy prime minister responsible for Turkey's economic policies, stated that Russian economic sanctions would not have any — or at least only limited — effect on the economy. Erdogan was trying to ignore any such economic effects by saying that nothing would happen, even if natural gas were to be cut, because Turkish citizens are used to coping with difficulties.

The sanctions caused major problems and bankruptcy in the tourism, construction, food and textile industries, and a chain reaction in banking sectors on the day the sanctions became effective Jan. 1 — this despite the fact that Putin had not yet played his strongest trump card: energy.

Comment: It seems Erdogan's eagerness to please his western masters by attempting to provoke Russia is having long-range consequences he never considered.

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