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Yawn: US blacklists another 33 Russian individuals, companies linked to military, intelligence services

Mike Eckel
RFE/RL
Thu, 20 Sep 2018 09:27 UTC
YevgenyPrigozhin
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Yevgeny Prigozhin
The U.S. State Department said it was blacklisting nearly three dozen Russian people and companies with ties to military and intelligence agencies, in its latest effort to punish Moscow for "malign activities."

Among those targeted by the effort, announced on September 20, were the 12 military intelligence officers who had been indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller earlier this year for alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Many of those named have also been sanctioned or blacklisted previously, under different designations, meaning that the new measures were unlikely to have any significant effect.

In all, 33 Russians and Russian companies were added to the blacklist, which also included Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian tycoon known colloquially as "Putin's chef" for the catering contracts his company has with the Kremlin.
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Dollars

Lavrov: US sanctions are sign of dollar crisis & decline of confidence


RT
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 09:19 UTC
dollar bill
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
The US dollar system has completely discredited itself and the confidence in the greenback is falling very sharply, according to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Sanctions by Washington are a sign of that.

Russia is working on ways to cut its dependence on the US and the dollar system, Lavrov said Friday during his visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"We are already drawing conclusions, doing everything necessary not to depend on the countries that are acting that way with their international partners," Lavrov said. According to the Russian foreign minister, US sanctions undermine global trust in the world's most used currency.

Lavrov was reacting to the fresh US sanctions against Russia introduced Thursday. 33 people and entities were added to the US Treasury blacklist of Russian defense and intelligence sector.

"More and more of our partners in Asia, in Latin America, start to draw the same conclusions [about the US dollar]. I think that this trend will only continue," Lavrov said.

Comment: Sanctions are one of the last means of destruction and coercion left to American exceptionalists. Their military is only good for attacking weak, third-world nations. Their regime-change efforts have failed in the last few years. No one really takes them seriously anymore. The only thing left is criminal sanctions. And that will only work for so long before target nations develop the means to work around the American-centered system. The U.S. had the chance to play nice and get along with other nations, but instead chose to take on the role 'exceptional' overseer. But such arrogance can only get you so far before the underdogs team up to take you out and put someone in your place who actually deserves it.

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Snakes in Suits

German government to resume arms sales to Saudis despite own Yemen-related ban


RT
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 18:30 UTC
Saudi soldier fires a mortar
© Reuters
Saudi soldier fires a mortar
The German government is to resume arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies despite a domestic agreement not to deliver weapons to countries involved in the bloody Yemen conflict, local media report.

The Saudi kingdom may soon take delivery of four German-made artillery positioning systems, which help detect and respond to enemy fire. This is according to Spiegel magazine, citing a letter Economy Minister Peter Altmaier has sent to lawmakers.

Aside from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan are also mentioned on the list. The former is poised to receive 48 warheads and 91 target acquisition sensors for vessel-mounted anti-aircraft systems, while the latter will procure 385 anti-tank missiles.
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Radar

War of words: Netanyahu promises 'crushing blow' if Hezbollah uses its 'precision rockets'


Sputnik
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 10:17 UTC
being done
Netanyahu
© AP Photo / Sebastian Scheiner
Hassan Nasrallah has boasted that his group now has "precision rockets" despite Israeli strikes on Syria. He has once again lambasted Washington's Middle East policy, expressing support for Iran and doubts regarding Donald Trump's highly anticipated peace plan for Israel and Palestine.

Israeli PM Netanyahu has lashed out at recent comments made by Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, vowing to retaliate if Israel faces military action from the Lebanon-based Shia group.

"If they confront us, they will suffer a crushing blow, the levels of which they cannot imagine," the PM said during an event at his office on Thursday.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Mindless Poroshenko promises to remove Russian Navy from Crimea in speech to Rada

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 00:00 UTC
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
On Thursday, President of Ukraine Pyotr Poroshenko, in an annual address to the Supreme Rada (Ukrainian parliament) to deputies, addressed the internal and external situation of the country.

During the speech, the Ukrainian leader stated that when Kiev retakes the Crimea, he will remove the Russian base of the Black Sea Fleet of Sevastopol.

"It is proposed to eliminate the rule of the constitution, which allows to base the Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine," he said in a statement.

In addition, the Ukrainian president said that the country follows with conviction towards the European Union and NATO and only by adhering to these structures, peace and security will be guaranteed. He stressed that Kiev will continue to integrate into the EU space and called on the parliament to accelerate the implementation of the association agreement. The pace of implementation of the agreement, in his view, is unsatisfactory.

He also stressed that military leadership is needed to accelerate the task of getting Ukraine's defense sector to NATO standards.

Comment: There are few in positions of power on the world stage today that match Poroshenko for his greed, stupidity, arrogance, short-sightedness and malevolence. Like many despotic, incompetent and fascistic rulers - his time will come to an end eventually too - but how much carnage and suffering will he have facilitated before then?

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Eye 1

Censorship: UK government to create new internet regulator to monitor 'hate speech' and enforce 'code of conduct'


RT
Thu, 20 Sep 2018 22:28 UTC
Facebook
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Free speech advocates are appalled at news that the UK government may create a new regulator, empowered to heavily fine social media giants that fail to clamp down on rogue posts, and even banish sites for 'non-illegal' content.

The new legislation for reducing online "social harms" will be presented this winter, according to a Buzzfeed report, whose veracity has been confirmed in a statement by the Conservative government.

According to the proposals, Facebook, Twitter and other websites offering user-generated videos, photos and posts will be forced to remove content such as - but not restricted to - child pornography, terrorist incitement and hate speech within a tight time limit, or face hefty fines.

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Question

Is Vladimir Putin Evil? (1/3)

Alex Krainer
The Naked Hedgie
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 22:10 UTC
putin stern
© Alexey Druzhinin/Ria Novosti/Agence France-Presse
Western corporate media has cast Vladimir Putin as the main villain of today's geopolitics. If their coverage of Russia's president were truthful and objective, we'd have to conclude that Putin has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, that he is the greediest, most ruthless tyrant since Genghis Khan and that he had turned his government into a lawless mafia state. Indeed, unflattering, negative coverage of Vladimir Putin is pervasive, but where concrete evidence should be presented, ceaseless repetition of allegations is taken as sufficient proof.

Joseph Goebbels' technique of the big lie entails deceiving people with big, brazen lies and repeating them unrelentingly. If truth is to set us free, we must spread it with boldness and determination. We must push back and expose the lies. They who desire wars are few, and we who desire peace are many. Even if they can silence some of us, they can not silence us all. Do your part, reject fear and the lies, and together we can put an end to today's dystopian state of permanent war.
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USA

Clear Evidence of Syrian 'Rebels' Preparing Fake 'Chemical Attack'


Sott.net
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 22:24 UTC
Idlib staged chemical attack
In recent months, the Russian and Syrian governments have repeatedly claimed that Western-backed 'rebels' in Syria have been planning to stage a chemical weapons attack in the area of Idlib to provide justification to the US, UK and French governments to launch a military attack on Syrian government and military infrastructure.

In this video we see clear evidence of just such a staged provocation being prepared/rehearsed.

Remember this next time you hear Western governments claim that the Syrian (or any other) government has 'gassed its own people'.
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Chess

President Trump's new cyber strategy seeks global dominion over internet


RT
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 10:08 UTC
National Security Agency
© Pawel Kopczynski / Reuters
Setting the global standard for online behavior, preserving American dominance, political and economic interests, punishing 'malicious actors' like Russia and China: these are the ambitious goals of the new US cyber-strategy.

The White House published the 40-page document on Thursday afternoon, the first comprehensive cyber strategy in 15 years. The strategy's core assumption is that the US created the internet and that Washington must maintain the dominant role in defining, shaping and policing cyberspace in much the same way as it does the globe.

All strategies are but broad outlines of general measures and overall objectives, and this one is no different. Beyond merely defending US computer networks - that's just the first part, devoted to protecting the "American People, the Homeland, and the American Way of Life" - it wants to promote US economic prosperity while advancing influence around the world and achieving "peace through strength" as well.
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Snakes in Suits

What keeps them up at night

James Quinn
The Burning Platform
Thu, 20 Sep 2018 19:55 UTC
Bankers
© Unknown
Bank Executives: Far left: Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, 2nd Left: JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon, and others face questioning on the first day of Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearings on Capitol Hill - 2008.
"Government has coddled, accepted, and ignored white collar crime for too long. It is time the nation woke up and realized that it's not the armed robbers or drug dealers who cause the most economic harm, it's the white collar criminals living in the most expensive homes who have the most impressive resumes who harm us the most. They steal our pensions, bankrupt our companies, and destroy thousands of jobs, ruining countless lives." - Harry Markopolos, Madoff Whistleblower
The tenth anniversary of the Wall Street created financial catastrophe brought back some bittersweet memories this week. I wrote my first articles during the summer/fall of 2008 for Seeking Alpha. They included: Is The U.S Banking System Safe? (Aug 2008), The Great Consumer Crash of 2009 (Aug 2008), Looming Financial Catastrophe: A Real Inconvenient Truth (Aug 2008), Is Wachovia the Worst Run Bank in America (Sept 2008), The U.S. on the Precipice (Sept 2008), On Board the U.S.S. Titanic (Sept 2008), Our Coming Depression (Oct 2008), among others. I was pumping out 5,000 word articles every 2 or 3 days.

I was full of piss and vinegar. I was outraged by the actions taken by Paulson, Bernanke and Bush in bailing out criminal bankers with our money. This ensemble of accurate and acerbic articles led to requests for appearances on Glenn Beck's CNN show, Neil Cavuto's show, and several others. My need for my day job led me to turning down the invitations. I did several radio interviews, but kept a relatively low profile.

Ten years later, I'm running low on piss and vinegar. Irrationality reigns. Abnormal is the new normal. Delusions and new paradigms rule the day. During manias it is virtually useless to try and use facts and rational arguments against propaganda, misinformation and hype. The delusional will have to be clubbed like a baby seal once again to regain some sense of reality.

Comment: It seems there will be many sleepless nights ahead...!

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