Puppet MastersS

Bulb

Russia introduces new visa allowing for one-year-stay for Russian speakers who are interested in citizenship

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© RIA Novosti / Georgiy Kurolesin
Russian government has introduced a new type of visa allowing up to one year's stay in the country for foreigners who can speak Russian and who wish to receive Russian citizenship.

The order published on the web-portal for official information on Tuesday notes that those who will use the new type of visa will be able to get Russian citizenship through the recently introduced simplified procedure - under condition of moving to Russia for permanent residence and abandoning citizenship of foreign countries if such countries have no dual citizenship agreements with the Russian Federation.

The visa can be prolonged once, but if its holder fails to lodge an application for Russian citizenship within the two-year period it will be annulled.

Over the past few years, Russian authorities have introduced a number of measures to stimulate immigration of educated and well-trained people who can be considered holders of Russian culture.

Vader

Obama states four "facts" about Russia in interview. His facts are all wrong

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© Reuters / Larry Downing
Barack Obama has made light of Russia in his latest interview, coming up with four facts to illustrate the poor state of things in the country, which - strangely enough - had little to do with reality.

"I do think it's important to keep perspective. Russia doesn't make anything," Obama said in his interview with the Economist. "Immigrants aren't rushing to Moscow in search of opportunity. The life expectancy of the Russian male is around 60 years old. The population is shrinking."

RT has gathered the more recent statistics on the subjects touched upon by the US president.

'Russia doesn't make anything' - WRONG

According to Russia's Central Bank, the export of products and services has brought Russia $593 billion in 2013. Some $355 billion in that figure is from oil and gas sales, but the remaining $238 billion came from other - non-energy - sectors of the economy.

Eye 2

Ukraine refusing humanitarian aid from Russia for hard-hit southeaster region targeted by Kiev

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© RIA Novosti. Vladimir Makarov
Ukraine is still not accepting Russia's humanitarian aid for citizens of the southeastern regions targeted by a military operation, Russian Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Artamonov said Monday.

"There is so far no reaction [from Ukraine] concerning the humanitarian aid. The assistance we are currently rendering is aimed at refugees that are already on Russian territory," Artamonov said.

Kiev officials have been conducting a military operation targeting Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new government and chose to pursue independence.

The operation, which claimed the lives of more than 1,000 civilians, according to recent UN estimates, has also forced many citizens to flee their homes and cross into neighboring Russia in search of shelter. Many of those who stayed are now trapped in the combat zone.

Dollar

Sanctions against Russia starting to backfire, particularly in Germany

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© REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Here's the downside of sanctions: They hurt the countries applying the sanctions as well the target countries.

A fresh measure of investor sentiment from Sentix shows confidence in the eurozone plunging sharply because of the sanctions being imposed on Russia.

From Reuters:
The Sentix research group's index tracking morale among investors in the eurozone slumped to 2.7 in August, its lowest level in a year, from 10.1 in July. The consensus forecast in a Reuters poll had been for the sentiment index to ease slightly to 9.0.

"After last month's recovery the eurozone Sentix index has suffered a painful setback," Sentix said in a statement, attributing it to sharply reduced growth expectations because of the sanctions.

"As this slump derives from an event which is subject to politics and power play, the central banks, particularly the European Central Bank, will have difficulty in trying to counter this," Sentix added.

USA

While every moral country condemns Israeli genocide, US rolls over backwards to give full support to the killing machine

gaza destruction
© Reuters/Suhaib SalemA general view of destroyed and damaged houses in Beit Hanoun town, which witnesses said was heavily hit by Israeli shelling and air strikes during the Israeli offensive, in the northern Gaza Strip July 26, 2014.
The US Congress voted to support Israel; they voted for new arms supplies, while President Obama has made useless gestures and continues to equate Hamas' firecrackers with Israeli deadly bombing, expert on Israeli-Arab relations James Petras told RT.

RT: Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu has praised soldiers for their conduct during the Gaza operation, saying 'they acted in the most wonderful and admirable way'. What would you say to that?

James Petras: There is no question that the policy of the Israeli government is to destroy life as we know it in Gaza. They have destroyed all the working facilities of electricity, water supply, sewage systems; they are making it unlivable because the ultimate goal is an exclusively Jewish-Israeli state. They want to drive the entire Palestinian people out of the inhabitable region. This is one of the most brutal attacks we have seen since the demise of the Third Reich. I think there is no question that worldwide opinion is extraordinary horrified by what is going on, but Israel continues to act because it feels it has impunity, that is the US government continues to supply arms and provide diplomatic protection for the genocide which is taking place, and the EU wrings its hands, but continues to engage in business as usual with Israel. I think that world public opinion is shocked, but there is no one raising a hand to tell Israelis 'You will pay the price of this'.

Comment: As the Zionists own the media, Hollywood, the banking system, Congress, and the White House, it is unlikely that there will be any help for the beleaguered Palestinians from the psychopathic US government.

Ex-U.S. presidential candidate: 'Zionists control U.S. political apparatus'
U.S. privately gave 'green light' to Israel for its 'genocidal attack'
Earth's alpha predator: Zionist Mafia
How the U.S. was used to create Israel: The origins of the Israel Lobby in America
Selective 'empathy': Obama thinks barbarity is the abduction of one Israeli soldier, but not the massacre of thousands of Palestinians


Airplane

Moscow responds to sanctions by threatening to force European airlines to fly around Russia

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Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev threatened on Tuesday to retaliate for the grounding of a subsidiary of national airline Aeroflot because of EU sanctions, with one newspaper reporting that European flights to Asia over Siberia could be banned.

Low-cost carrier Dobrolyot, operated by Aeroflot, suspended all flights last week after its airline leasing agreement was cancelled under European Union sanctions because it flies to Crimea, a region Russia annexed from Ukraine in March.

"We should discuss possible retaliation," Medvedev said at a meeting with the Russian transport minister and a deputy chief executive of Aeroflot.

The business daily Vedomosti reported that Russia may restrict or ban European airlines from flying over Siberia on Asian routes, a move that would impose costs on European carriers by making flights take longer and require more fuel.

Star of David

Selective 'empathy': Obama thinks barbarity is the abduction of one Israeli soldier, but not the massacre of thousands of Palestinians

A very moving speech by Rania Masri, the keynote speaker, during the 'Texas For Gaza' protest on August 2 2014 in Austin Texas. (Please note that the recording missed the first few seconds. She began it by saying that "Yesterday, the Obama administration said that the abduction of the Israeli invading soldier by the Palestinian Resistance was a "barbaric act". It did miss a minute of the end - when she spoke more about organizing.)


Info

Ten PR firms say they will not represent clients that deny man-made climate change

Ten firms say they will not represent clients that deny man-made climate change or seek to block emisson-reducing regulations
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© Mayi Wong/EPAA big screen flashes commercials on the exterior of an office building in Xiโ€™an in north-west China as the air quality index reaches 282 due to pollution.
Some of the world's top PR companies have for the first time publicly ruled out working with climate change deniers, marking a fundamental shift in the multi-billion dollar industry that has grown up around the issue of global warming.

Public relations firms have played a critical role over the years in framing the debate on climate change and its solutions - as well as the extensive disinformation campaigns launched to block those initiatives.

Now a number of the top 25 global PR firms have told the Guardian they will not represent clients who deny man-made climate change, or take campaigns seeking to block regulations limiting carbon pollution. Companies include WPP, Waggener Edstrom (WE) Worldwide, Weber Shandwick, Text100, and Finn Partners.

Comment: Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction!


Sherlock

International criminal court urged to investigate Gaza 'crimes'

The Hague
© United Photos/ReutersThe Palestinian foreign minister, Riad al-Malki (centre) visits the international criminal court in The Hague.
Senior British lawyers write to ICC calling on it to launch preliminary inquiry into abuses committed during conflict


Senior British lawyers have written to the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague, urging it to investigate "crimes" committed in Gaza, including the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools.

The letter was sent by Kirsty Brimelow QC, the chair of the Bar Council's human rights committee, and was signed by a host of senior British barristers and law professors.

Addressed to the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, it calls on the court to launch a preliminary inquiry into abuses committed during the conflict.

"The initiation of an investigation would send a clear and unequivocal message to those involved in the commission of these crimes that the accountability and justice called for by the United Nations on the part of victims are not hollow watchwords," the letter states.

"It would bring about an end to the impunity which has prevailed in the region to date, fuelling ever increasingly brutal cycles of violence. The international community cannot continue to act simply as witness to such bloodshed and extreme civilian suffering."

Attention

US presidential executive order details detention of suspected sick people

Executive Orders
© Participant Media
The powers currently claimed by the federal government conceivably allow for situations where any communicable disease - even influenza - can become the basis for a large-scale military-enforced federal quarantine in which civil rights are suspended, civilian movement is restricted, and citizens are involuntarily detained - perhaps indefinitely.

On July 31st, 2014, President Obama expanded the list of communicable diseases for which the federal government is prepared to institute a quarantine. Together, with the expansions made by previous presidents, the list includes the widest set of potential triggers for suspending American rights that the country has yet seen.

It wasn't always this way. The federal government's first role in disease control was to modestly provide assistance to state-managed efforts, limited to port entry situations. Foreigners entering the USA could be checked for disease and temporarily held for a time, if necessary. This was arguably a function of border security and a valid role of the federal government under the U.S. Constitution.

However, like most government programs, it was followed by considerable "mission creep." After decades of centralizing power, checks at the border evolved into the potential for mass-suspension of Americans' rights anywhere inside the USA. The U.S. Surgeon General now has the broad and vague ability to invent regulations that "in his judgement are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases." He can enforce a quarantine in a manner he sees fit, up to and including the "apprehension and detention" of individuals - whether they are suspected of being sick or not.