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Russian UN envoy: UN Security Council will be Western rubber stamp if Russia's veto power is removed


RT
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:33 UTC
Image
© RT
Without Russia's veto power, the United Nations Security Council would just be a rubber stamp for decisions made by the US and other Western powers, eliminating possibility for consensus on important international issues, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told RT.

"It so happens that the political structure of the world is such that the US and its allies almost always have nine votes to adopt a resolution. And they almost always have seven votes to abstain and block a resolution... without a veto,"Ambassador Churkin explained.

"The Security Council will lose its relevance" if Russia were not able to exercise its veto power, he stressed. If Russia had no veto power "the UN Security Council will simply be rubberstamping decisions, which would be made in Washington, Paris, London, Brussels, you know, in Western capitals. It will lose its relevance. It won't allow the UNSC to do the important work of bringing about consensus decisions," the envoy said.

Churkin spoke exclusively to RT's Anissa Naouai ahead of Vladimir Putin's arrival at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York this weekend.

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Dollar

Non-CIS countries' exports to Russia plunge by 39 percent


RT
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 09:34 UTC
Image
© Vitaliy Ankov/RIA Novosti
Non-CIS countries' exports to Russia plunged by 39 percent to $104 billion in the first eight months of this year, compared to the same period in 2014, statistics from the Federal Customs Service showed.

Last month, the value of goods imported from those countries averaged $14 billion, which is 1.7 percent less than in July.

The figures for the August show that all the four main import sectors which are food and food processing materials, chemicals, textile and footwear, engineering products, dropped compared to the same month in 2014.

Food imports from outside the former Soviet Union were down 3 percent at $1.8 billion. Russia imported fruit and nuts worth $221 million.

Chemicals were down almost 10 percent in the first 8 months of the year, at $2.5 billion. Russia's pharmaceutical imports in August 2015 stood at $623 million.

Imports of textile and footwear stood at $1 billion last month, with a slight value growth.

The data also showed that Russia imported engineering products worth $6.3 billion over the period. In August the value of machinery and equipment imports dropped 36.7 percent compared to the same month in 2014.
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Comment: Russia won't lift the food embargo until EU shows it will play nice

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Piggy Bank

Kiev faces technical default as debt payments are halted


RT
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:24 UTC
Image
© Stringer / RIA Novosti
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, left, and President Petro Poroshenko at an expanded meeting of the government.
Ukraine says it will halt paying off its external debt on Wednesday, facing the risk of a technical default. The list of non-payments doesn't include the $3 billion owed to Russia. The debt to Moscow is due in December which Russia has insisted it wants in full.

According to a document published on the website of the Ukrainian government, the restructuring applies to the $3 billion Eurobonds purchased by Russia. However, payments on them have not been suspended.

The list included seven issues of Ukrainian government bonds.

"We are talking about restructuring $15 billion, agreed by 13 of 14 Ukrainian creditors. Russia didn't accept the haircut and, therefore, its $3 billion is not included," said an expert polled by Russian business daily Kommersant.

Comment: Will this be the start of the demise of the Kiev government?

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Vader

Ukraine attains full puppet state status, signs defense agreement with NATO


RT
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:20 UTC
Image
© Gleb Garanich / Reuters
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (R) welcomes NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg before the meeting of national security and defense council of Ukraine in Kiev September 22, 2015
Ukraine and NATO "are more than partners," Ukraine's president said after a number of agreements were signed with the alliance during a visit by NATO's Secretary General. Moscow criticized the move, saying NATO's advance on Russia's border is unwelcome.

"De jure, we are not a NATO member, but de facto we are more than partners. Ukraine is an eastern outpost of Euro-Atlantic civilization," Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko wrote on his official Twitter account.

On Tuesday, Poroshenko announced that Ukraine and NATO had signed a joint declaration on strengthening defense and technical cooperation, as well as a roadmap for a partnership between Ukraine and NATO on strategic communications. The program is aimed at supporting Kiev in counteracting "Russian propaganda" and informing the society on what's happening in Ukraine, Interfax reported.


Comment: It would probably be smart to read the above and apply the opposite to each statement. The program will not be informing Ukrainian society in any way other than spreading propaganda, and Kiev will be supported in the effort to further demonize Russia.


The North-Atlantic alliance is also ready to discuss how it can boost Kiev's military, particularly by potentially providing aid in restoring its naval forces, RIA Novosti reported, citing NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The NATO official also said that the Alliance is providing advisors to Ukraine's defense ministry and army general staff, according to TASS.
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Dollars

Egypt agrees to buy one of the two French Mistral warship originally meant for Russia


RT
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:18 UTC
Image
© Stephane Mahe / Reuters
The two Mistral-class helicopter carriers Sevastopol (Bottom) and Vladivostok are seen at the STX Les Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard site in Saint-Nazaire, western France.
France has agreed to sell two Mistral helicopter carriers to Egypt, which were originally ordered by Russia.

"They agreed on the principle and the terms of the acquisition by Egypt of the two [ships]," the French President Francois Hollande's spokesman told reporters in a statement on Wednesday.

The deal was agreed at a high-profile meeting between French and Egyptian delegations in Paris. The final decision was announced by the president's office on Wednesday, though the cost of the deal has not been released.

It had earlier been reported that several countries had been interested in purchasing the amphibious carriers, which were originally built for the Russians. The interested parties included Canada, India, Singapore and Egypt, who Paris eventually agreed to sell the ships to. However, negotiations between the two sides almost broke down last week, as Paris and Cairo could not agree on a price for the two vessels, reported La Tribune newspaper.

Comment: According to this Egyptian report, one of the Mistrals is actually being sold to UAE, and the one destined for Egypt may be bought with the help of a Russian loan, meaning that Russia may yet, indirectly, acquire ownership over, or have strategic interest in, what those two warships are used for.

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Eye 1

Another IDF soldier shoots innocent Palestinian; 18-year old woman shot 10 times, left to die in street


RT
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 13:40 UTC
Image
© al-Jabhat al-Islamiyya/Youtube
An 18-year-old Palestinian girl was shot by Israeli troops at a Hebron checkpoint for allegedly refusing to show her purse or face and "trying to attack" a soldier. She died of multiple wounds in a hospital after bleeding in the street for 30 minutes.

Hadil Hashlamoun was shot 10 times by Israeli Defense Forces at an Israeli checkpoint in Hebron near the entrance to Shuhada Street on Tuesday.

IDF soldiers did not let paramedics approach the teenager, who the Israelis claimed had tried to stab one of them. Photos posted online, however, appear to contradict the accusation.

The 18-year-old died of her wounds in the Shaare Zedek Medical Centre later in the day.

The hospital's spokesperson said Hadil had been "terribly injured, and underwent surgery upon her arrival," Maan News Agency reported.

"Three operations were performed on my daughter," Salah Hashlamoun, Hadil's father told local reporters. "A part of her intestines had to be removed. But the bullet in her chest was what killed her."

According to reports in local Palestinian media, the woman was shot after she refused to open her purse or lift her face veil, the niqab, upon request by IDF troops. She was then left out in the street to bleed for 30 minutes before Israeli soldiers allowed doctors to approach her, the Middle East Eye news agency reported.


Comment: Pure evil: Psychopathic IDF soldier shoots Palestinian youth with sniper rifle (graphic video)

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Airplane

Norway receives first of US's controversial F-35 jets, citing 'increased Russian activity' in region


RT
Tue, 22 Sep 2015 23:02 UTC
F-35
© www.defenseindustrydaily.com
F-35 on tarmac
Norway has welcomed the roll-out of the first two of 22 Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets purchased by the Scandinavian state. They are seen as a counter measure to what Norway considers Russia's boosting military capabilities in the region.

Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide celebrated the occasion at American weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin's F-35 production line in Fort Worth Texas on Tuesday. "We all know that the F-35 is not simply another fighter. We know that it is much more," the minister said at the launch, according to the Local Norway. "The F-35 provides us a capability we've never had before. It's by far the most advanced fighter ever made."

Speaking to Reuters on the eve, Defense Minister Soereide alluded to an "obvious projection of power" by Russia in the Baltic region, where NATO members have been ringing alarms over a possible Russian incursion.


Comment: The F-35, the most expensive aircraft in the world, has glitches: poor maneuverability, the plane is too heavy for its engine, short operational range, has to be invisible to radar. It won't be on patrol any time soon.

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Gift 2

Deja vu: More U.S.-trained 'Syrian rebels' surrender with weapons to Nusra nutjobs


RT
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 10:08 UTC
nusra
© Ammar Abdullah / Reuters
Members of Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. "Thanks, America!"
Around 70 US-trained Syrian rebel fighters allegedly surrendered a weapons stockpile to the extremist Jabhat al-Nusra group after crossing the Turkish border. There have been conflicting reports as to whether the recruits betrayed the US or were captured.

The Telegraph cited sources claiming that the "moderate" rebel group, known as Division 30, had surrendered their weapons to the Al-Qaeda affiliated fighters in Syria.

The British newspaper quoted a Twitter statement from a man claiming to be a member of Jabhat al-Nusra named Abu Fahd al-Tunisi: "A strong slap for America... the new group from Division 30 that entered yesterday hands over all of its weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra after being granted safe passage."


Comment: Not quite, but that's certainly the narrative the U.S. would prefer people accept.


"They handed over a very large amount of ammunition and medium weaponry and a number of pick-ups," he wrote.

Another man, Abu Khattab al-Maqdisi, who also claims to be a member of the extremist group, said that Division 30's commander, Anas Ibrahim Obaid, told Jabhat al-Nusra's leaders that he had tricked the American-led coalition to get his hands on their weapons, according to The Telegraph.

"He promised to issue a statement... repudiating Division 30, the coalition, and those who trained him," Maqdisi tweeted. "And he also gave a large amount of weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra."

Meanwhile, other media reports suggest that the group was attacked, detained, and forced to hand over their weapons.

Comment: There comes a point when incompetence cannot explain a string of events that become a clear pattern. Are we seriously to believe that the U.S. is so inept that practically all their 'moderate rebels' end up dead or end up joining Al Qaeda or ISIS? Really, it's getting old.

See also: South Front Syria military review: Forecasting the Syria War (plus Crisis News and Novorossia military reports)

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Eye 2

From American occupations to European detention camps: Remaking the World in greater Israel's image

David Sanchez
Medium
Tue, 22 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Police and refugees in Hungary

However they want to address the issue, most people are horrified at the refugee crisis now besetting Europe, with its scenes of chaos, conflict, and desperation. Yet in Israel, at least one high official sees in it not horror, but hope. As Rania Khalek has reported:
"Dore Gold, director general of the Israeli foreign ministry, expressed optimism that the refugee influx will shift Europe to the right, making it more sympathetic to Israel's 'security' justification for its ongoing colonization of Palestine.
'Israel always faced the problem in the past that its national security perspective was completely out of sync with how Europeans were viewing the emergence of the European community and the borderless world that was emerging,' the American-born hardliner told The Jerusalem Post.
'In the European models that existed 25 or 30 years ago, it is kind of difficult to hear an Israeli argument. But now things may be beginning to change a little,' posited Gold.
'The European perspective is beginning to sound a little bit more like Israel's perspective on security issues, compared to what it was in the past.'"

Comment: As the World's perceptions of the US and Israel now change, and non-psychopathic people begin to see beneath the veil of lies and manipulation these nations' governments are responsible for, we will become witness to how history is being played out yet again; and note the stark similarities the US and Israel have to regimes of the past and to each other. It will also be interesting to see, based on the unwritten laws of the universe, how their fates converge and how they differ. One thing's for sure though: it ain't gonna be pretty.

See also: Echoes of the Holocaust: Israeli leaders pleased with Europe's cruelty toward refugees

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Cell Phone

California judge blocks retail warning about cell phone radiation's harm to children

Bob Egelko
SFGate
Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:24 UTC
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© Darron Cummings/AP
A federal judge upheld Berkeley's authority Monday to require cell phone retailers to tell customers that carrying switched-on phones too close to their bodies might exceed federal radiation-exposure standards, but barred a warning that "this potential risk is greater for children."

The language on children is not based on federal safety guidelines or any scientific consensus on the effects of cell phone radiation, said U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco. Whether children are at greater risk than adults is "a matter of scientific debate," he said, and Berkeley's requirement of such a warning would probably conflict with federal regulation of cell phones.

By contrast, Chen said, Berkeley relied on the Federal Communications Commission's research and guidelines for the rest of its ordinance. It requires sellers to tell customers that the federal government sets radiation exposure guidelines for cell phones, but that a user may be exposed to higher levels by carrying the device in a pocket or tucked into a bra when it's connected to a wireless network.

Chen noted that the commission requires cell phone manufacturers to advise customers in product manuals to keep the devices a certain distance from their bodies. "There is a reasonable scientific basis to believe that (radio-frequency radiation emissions) at some levels can and do present health risks," the judge said.

Comment: Profits before health for some of societies most vulnerable and impressionable.

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