US/NATO War on Russia

[Albert Doyle]

Obama just announced that anyone who gave material support to Russia would be targeted. This is important because it invokes the worst of the War On Terror Bush rules and makes a veiled threat against anyone, including internet posters, that they will face serious US government action if they support Putin.


Some change huh? Does this mean the Bush war criminals aren't going to be prosecuted Barack?

[Kenneth Kapel]

Mr. Obama's financial supporters since at least 2004, when he ran for the U.S. Senate, have been the Lester Crown family of Chicago, Lester is the son of the late Henry Crown, both Crowns have had major financial holdings in General Dynamics, a major war contractor. Michael Isikof, of MSNBC, has twice recently(on air) called this company "the apex of the military-industrial complex", without referring to the Obama connection. Some believe that the elder Crown had a hand in the JFK assassination, thru financial backing, and the father connection to organized crime in Chicago is well documented. Btw Lester is married to Renee, nee Shine, the sister of the late David who was a close friend of Roy Cohn, Cohn being a member of the Board of Directors of Permindex, at the time of JFK's assassination. Meyer Shine, father of David & Renee was a Syracuse, New York hotelman, who was named in the Kefauver Committee Hearings as being mob connected. The Ambassador Hotel, in Los Angeles, where Robert Kennedy was assinated, was owned by the Dhines.

[Magda Hassan]

From Otto's blog at InkaCola

David Cameron's political consistency

On Ukraine

Prime Minister David Cameron says any referendum vote in Crimea this week "will be illegal, illegitimate and will not be recognised by the international community".

On Falklands/Malvinas

David Cameron has called on Argentina to respect the wishes of the people of the Falkland Islands to remain British.
The prime minister said the almost unanimous vote in favour of staying a British overseas territory was the "clearest possible result".
He said Argentina should take "careful note" of the referendum, and Britain would always defend the islands.

He's so cute.

[David Guyatt]

Shock as US and Europe impose raft of major sanctions against Russians and Ukrainian :

By an unnamed Shocked! staff reporter.

Yesterday the world was shocked by the callous toughness of sanctions imposed by United States of War and the European Union of Corruption against 31 unnamed top Russian and Ukrainian government officials for their part in thwarting the United States covert op to destabilise and then control the Ukraine.

The nameless officials will not be allowed personal entry to Disney World in either the US or France and all have had their toy town bank accounts in the tiny pacific island of TommyRot frozen with ice.

Asked for their reaction, the 31 unknown official said they were shocked.

Unnamed US officials interviewed by Shocked! said "that'll teach them to interfere with freedom and democracy". They added that they too were all shocked that the sanctions passed were so terribly tough. They added that it showed the world that the West can be both naughty and tough when there is a real need to show resolve.

Russian President Vladimir Ladyparts said he was shocked that his bank accounts in Switzerland, the Isle of Man, Vienna, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Berlin had not also been frozen. But thought it was probably due to the ongoing monthly donations he makes to "the starving of the parties" and various nominated arms companies in Europe and the US.

Said another unnamed but shocked government person interviewed by Shocked! at the White House "we think these sanctions will be effective'. The president added that "no US business can do business with them - whoever the hell they are - and that will have some real impact on some (but obviously not all - or even many) of these unnamed Russian and Ukrainian individuals, whatever their names are. If they want to transact corruption in US dollars for example, that will prove terribly tough in the future, and they will tend to have really quite a bit of difficulty in accessing their financial services in the US sand Europe. Especially if the phones are busy", he said.

Another unnamed US official said that "all these unnamed Russian and Ukrainian officials are key architects and ideologues responsible for Crimean policy' but they were also responsible for civil rights abuses in Russia and TommyRot.

The US president said if they didn't "back off they could expect another slap on the wrist".

Russia responded to this tough talk by saying they had already transferred all their financial assets from TommyRot to Switzerland, the Isle of Man, Vienna, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Berlin, following a secret agreement hammered out in London between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergie Lavrov.

The exclusive Shocked! list of the unnamed 7 Russians targeted by the ever so tough US sanction:

Vladimir Tusk - head chauffeur for President Ladyparts
Gernardy Pinktoes - a humble vodka drinker related to Tusk
Sergey Aristotle Sergey - A Duma library worker
Leonid Slut - President Ladyparts part time Judo partner
Dmity Pulloff - Masseur to the duma
Yelena Sendoff - A regular Flyer
Andrea Krisp-ears - One armed kitchen porter to President Ladyparts
Arseny Kickoff - soccer referee for the Federation Council
Boris Blinki - junior financial services janitor

Related Shocked! stories:

Do Whales Whistle Dixie?
How To Make Hay With Grade 1 Grass
John Kerry - The Musical!
It's All Cobblers Says Shoe Repairer
A Step By Step Guide to Sanction Fever
Just Why Shocked! Is Shocked

EU and US impose sanctions on Russian and Ukrainian officials

People linked to unrest in Crimea face freeze on assets and travel ban after referendum vote in favour of union with Russia

• Ewen MacAskill, Ian Traynor in Vienna and Dan Roberts in Washington
  
• The Guardian, Monday 17 March 2014 15.00 GMT
  

The US and the European Union have retaliated over the Crimea referendum by targeting sanctions against Russians and Ukrainians.
European foreign ministers imposed EU-wide sanctions on Monday against 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials linked to unrest in Crimea. Washington followed up an hour later with a list of its own, targeting seven top Russian government officials and politicians and four Crimea-based separatist leaders accused of undermining the "democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine".
Barack Obama is to visit Europe next week for discussion of the crisis with allies. Speaking to journalists at the White House, he said the new sanctions increase the costs on the Russian government for its actions
"If Russia continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions," Obama said.

A man reads a newspaper with the headline 'Crimea chooses Russia' on a street in Simferopol. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/ReutersHe added: "We will continue to make clear to Russia that further provocations will achieve nothing except to further isolate Russia and diminish its place in the world." The White House said the sanctions were "by far and away the most comprehensive sanctions since the end of the cold war", and rejected criticism that they were too limited in scope or would be easily circumvented by asset transfers.
"We think they will be effective," one senior administration official told reporters in Washington. "No US business can do business with them that will have impact on some or all of these individuals. If they want to transact in dollars, for example, they will be unable to do so and will tend to have difficulty in accessing financial services in Europe, the Middle East or Asia."
Another US official said the list included the "key architects and ideologues responsible for [the Crimea] policy" but they were also responsible for human rights abuses in Russia.
The White House reiterated its current opposition to extending the list to include Vladimir Putin, saying it would be an extraordinary step to target a head of state in that way, but left open the possibility of expanding sanctions in reaction to further escalation by Russia.
The US president said that if Russia did not back off, it could expect additional sanctions. Russia responded by insisting the sanctions would have little impact.
The punitive measures came on the eve of an address to the Russian parliament by President Vladimir Putin on Crimea. He is expected to take steps to formalise the incorporation of Crimea into Russia but, if he felt the need to try to slow the imposition of sanctions, he could opt for a more measured response.
The sanctions follow the referendum in Crimea on Sunday, in which there was an overwhelming vote in favour of union with Russia. The EU condemned the referendum as illegal and said it would not recognise the outcome.
Washington alleged multiple election violations during and leading up to the referendum.
"There has been broad speculation and some concrete evidence that ballots that arrived in Crimea for the referendum had been pre-marked in many cities," said a senior US administration official. "There are massive anomalies in the vote, even as it is recorded, including the fact that, based on census in Sevastopol city, 123% of the Sevastopol population would have had to have voted yes for the referendum."
European ministers and EU officials said the 21 people mainly political figures involved in the breakaway of Crimea rather than business figures would face a freeze on assets as well as a travel ban. That number could be expanded later in the week, they added.
It is notoriously difficult to secure EU agreement on sanctions anywhere because they require unanimity from the 28 member states. There were wide differences over the numbers of Russians and Crimeans to be punished, with countries such as Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Spain reluctant to penalise Moscow for fear of closing down channels of dialogue. The 21 named were on an original list that ran to about 120 people.
The Dutch foreign minister, Frans Timmermans, described sanctions as inevitable, saying: "I hope the Russians will realise that sanctions will hurt everyone, but no one more than the Russians themselves."
Expanding the numbers on the sanctions list is almost certain to be discussed at the EU summit on Thursday and Friday. Some EU states are torn about taking punitive measures against Russia for fear of undoing years of patient attempts to establish closer ties with Moscow as well as increase trade. The EU has already suspended talks with Russia on an economic pact and a visa agreement.
The aim of some members is to gradually increase sanctions, just as the EU did with Iran, to put pressure on Putin.
The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said any measure must leave "ways and possibilities open to prevent a further escalation that could lead to the division of Europe".
After the breakdown of 11th-hour talks in London on Friday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, hinted that a new diplomatic window might open after the referendum. But there is no sign yet of any compromise by Russia.
The seven Russians targeted by US sanctions

Vladislav Surkov, a Putin aide
Sergey Glazyev, a Putin adviser
Leonid Slutsky, a state Duma deputy
Andrei Klishas, member of the Federation Council (the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia)
Valentina Matviyenko, head of the Federation Council
Dmitry Rogozin, deputy prime minister
Yelena Mizulina, a state Duma deputy

[Paul Rigby]

Shock as US and Europe impose raft of major sanctions against Russians and Ukrainian :

By an unnamed Shocked! staff reporter.

The exclusive Shocked! list of the unnamed 7 Russians targeted by the ever so tough US sanction:

Vladimir Tusk - head chauffeur for President Ladyparts
Gernardy Pinktoes - a humble vodka drinker related to Tusk
Sergey Aristotle Sergey - A Duma library worker
Leonid Slut - President Ladyparts part time Judo partner
Dmity Pulloff - Masseur to the duma
Yelena Sendoff - A regular Flyer
Andrea Krisp-ears - One armed kitchen porter to President Ladyparts
Arseny Kickoff - soccer referee for the Federation Council
Boris Blinki - junior financial services janitor

Edmundovich Milibandov was left off the list despite fierce lobbying by The Foetus (W. Vague), not to mention a supporting affidavit from Oleg Implausibilevsky, the former Russian spook, who claims to have witnessed Milibandov's manufacture in the test tube at a notorious Chekist fertility clinic.

Foggy Bottom plumped instead for that notorious red agent, Larry Adler.

[Paul Rigby]

Global Systemic Crisis-Escalation In The US Reaction For Survival: Trigger A Cold War To Make It Easier To Annex Europe

March 17th, 2014

http://investmentwatchblog.com/global-sy...ex-europe/

by Leap2020.eu

Layout of the full article:

1. BUILD A TRAP TO DIVERT EUROPE AWAY FROM IT'S OWN DESTINY
2. MASS ATTACKS ON EUROPE
3. CAUSE A NEW IRON CURTAIN TO FALL ON EUROPE
4. FORCE EUROPE TO CHOOSE SIDES
5. FIND THE INTRINSIC RESOURCES IN EUROPE TO FREE ITSELF FROM THE TRAP Eight strategic recommendations
This public announcement contains sections 1 to 3.

BUILD A TRAP TO DIVERT EUROPE AWAY FROM IT'S OWN DESTINY

When, in November 2013, Russia asked the EU for tripartite negotiations on the Ukraine's free trade agreements with its two neighbours in order to find areas of common ground for all parties directly concerned (1), what was at stake was stability, integrity and independence for the Ukraine and that it should remain as the natural link between Europe and Russia.

But neither Baroness Ashton, nor Mr. O'Sullivan (2), in charge of the European External Action Service, nor Mr. Fule who, at the head of the Directorate General for Enlargement, spends his time trying to integrate everything that moves in Eastern Europe (3), didn't want that. On the contrary, they have forced the Ukraine to "choose sides" (4), thus creating the conditions subsequent to the inevitable events which we know: the Ukraine has in fact chosen… and the country, logically, has entered a dramatic and bloody process of decision which is only just begun. Baroness Ashton and Mr. O'Sullivan have literally set a trap for the Ukraine… and Europe.

Five months later and the damage is huge: over 100 dead (5), the Ukraine is left with an unelected government brought to power by extreme right-wing factions (6), relations between the EU and Russia are broken, the Ukraine and Russia are on the verge of a war that isn't far from being a war between Europe and Russia (7), the Russian military have retaken control of their Crimean assets, the US fleet is cruising in the Black Sea waters (8), the US army has set itself up in Europe again (in Poland, Lithuania and Romania (9)), the media, excited by blood, are a pure propaganda machine determined to push politicians and citizens into war, the EU-Ukraine free trade Treaty is about to be signed, against Russian interests, by Washington and a non-elected Ukrainian government (10) (if the same method is used for the TTIP, Washington and Baroness Ashton will have signed it in April at the latest), the West is preparing to deny the legitimacy of the Crimean referendum which will aggravate the crisis and continue to ask questions on the West's democratic struggle… (11)

From a European point of view, what a significant political and diplomatic failure! Working to rebuild the Iron Curtain in 2014 and isolate Europe from all the current dynamics in these famous emerging countries to which Russia binds us, just as the Ukraine binds us to Russia (12).

MASS ATTACKS ON EUROPE

Unfortunately, beyond a failure, this should also be seen as the result of an all-out attack on the European construction project, a project whose two main goals since the beginning have been peace through cooperation, the sharing of interests and the continent's independence by the force which, de facto, brought about its union.

The current attack is, in fact, along the lines of that conducted against the Euro in 2010, in the knowledge that in breaking the common currency and taking into account the technical impossibility of returning to national currencies, Europe would find itself de facto integrated in the Dollar zone. This time, Europe resisted and saved its currency… at the price of enormous weakness, especially political.

The TTIP and the attempts to make us urgently sign this obscure Treaty that no one wants, seemed to have the particular objective of putting politicians under economic supervision (even more so than Europe under US supervision). Whatever the case, it would actually create a huge EU-US free trade zone using Dollars and formally annexing Europe to the Dollar zone. Here again, the tools of European independence are targeted, in this particular case its judicial arsenal for trade protection, guaranteeing Europeans' economic interest, qualitative competitiveness and health. And the methods to obtain the signature of this treaty at any price are, on their own, proof of deep dishonesty.

CAUSE A NEW IRON CURTAIN TO FALL ON EUROPE

And we have seen nothing of what Washington and Brussels would be capable of in this area. The Ukrainian crisis was probably triggered for no other reason than, ultimately, to force us to buy US shale gas (13), to sign the TTIP (without which the former can't be sold in Europe (14)) and to justify a renewed increase of American-NATO military budgets (15) thanks to the restarting of a Cold War between the West and emerging nations (except for this detail that it's the West which will be on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain this time).

Notes :

1 Source: Le Monde, 05/03/2014.

2 Issue number three of the European External Action Service. A few words are necessary on his path to which investigative journalists should pay more attention. Mr. David O'Sullivan appeared on the radar of our European path at the beginning of the 90s, when he was a unit head at the Directorate General for Education running the TEMPUS programme, a programme which had been singled out by the European Court of Auditors following an open letter from Franck Biancheri denouncing embezzlement in this programme. Given this beginning, Mr. O'Sullivan's career shouldn't have gone much further. But, in the mid-90s, when we came on board the transatlantic TIESweb project in partnership with the European Commission and the White House, a diplomat from the US Embassy in Brussels one day recommended us, around a casual conversation, to follow the career of a certain David O'Sullivan… "who will go far". Surprise in our ranks, and remarks on the individual's unsavoury character…but a small smile in the direction of the good and the great. Several years later, under the Prodi commission beginning right at the end of the 90s, DavidO'Sullivan became… Secretary-General of the European Commission, the most powerful position in the whole of the European structure, no less! Under his rule and with his direct personal intervention, the project of institutional reform initiated as a logical follow-on to the resignation of the Santer Commission, which clearly revealed the inadequacy of the way in which Europe worked post the Maastricht Treaty and had brought together a group of officials on Commissioner Prodi' s instructions to form a "task force on European governance reform" whose work had resulted in aWhite Paper of the same name, had been given a decent burial (editorial work retrieved, innovative ideas suppressed, publication in August during journalists' holidays). However, this reform project was a great moment of hope for European democratization, a hope which had irreparably disappointed. Mr. O'Sullivan is now to be found at the External Action Service as part of an "unbalancing" of the head of the EEAS in favour of Anglo-Saxons: in effect, Baroness Ashton's nomination had been compensated by that of the Frenchman, Pierrre Vimont as number two (Executive Secretary General)… but the former, to get the upper hand, had created a third post (which doesn't exist in any European institution: Administrative General Director) to bring in O'Sullivan. This is how the latter found himself at Baroness Ashton's side in 2013 on the negotiations over the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement…with the results that we can see. But this isn't all: he is set to become the EU Ambassador to Washington, in order that his partnership with Ashton controls the whole signature chain of the famous TTIP. It's simple to follow the bad news for Europe, just follow Mr.O'Sullivan's career path.

3 Did you know that ? Georgia as well. Source : EuropeanVoice, 29/11/2013.

4 Source : Le Monde, 05/03/2014

5 Source : KyivPost, 11/03/2014.

6 Source : CNN, 06/11/2014.

7 Especially since the EU is doing everything to annex the Ukraine by accelerating the signing of the Association Agreement which must wait the election of a proper government but which ultimately will be signed in the meantime by the nonelected government in place (source: Radio Ukraine, 26/02/2014) because the next legitimate government could well be pro-Russian again; but also in EU integration one agreement can hide another and negotiations with Georgia especially are going in this direction, so why not the Ukraine (source : Messenger, 06/03/2014).

8 … and the U.S. Army has shown up again in Europe after so many efforts to dislodge it. Source : Chicago Tribune, 12/02/2014.

9 Source : Ouest-France, 12/03/2014.

10 This article of the 12/03/2014 in EUBusiness has the merit of being clear: "the new Ukrainian leadership will probably sign the much awaited political agreement with the EU next week, announced the interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk following a conversation with the White House"… The EU is there for the taking, we feared it was being taken by the extreme right, its worse: it's in the process of being taken by a foreign power. But the most amazing is that of 28 governments, of which most (but not all) are democratic governments accountable to their people, not one will repeat it. A US trap, EU treachery… and the European political elite who go to bed… just like the French elite went to bed in 1940. Don't even mention the Nationalists of all colours who infest national political life short of discussions on the sovereignty of nations… and don't have the slightest criticism either to make on the hijacking of the European agenda by the US (even if it was for the best, but it's obviously for the worse). But if we look at the Western-Ukrainian sympathies, they must have the hope of taking back power (a small provincial governorate here and there) in the next configuration.

11 The Soviet bloc collapsed without bloodshed thanks to Mikael Gorbachev; it's a remarkable fact in history that an empire withdrew quietly. The US doesn't give the impression of falling into line with the same dignity unfortunately. After the financial approach (after the colossal bailout in 2009, the famous $700 billion TARP, which turned the banking crisis into a country crisis, then the US Fed's quantitative easing in 2010 and 2012 especially, which have driven the whole planet into widespread indebtedness), the US has raised the tone by attacking Europe (with the collaboration of certain European elite) and attempting a takeover of the continent.

12 In fact the Ukraine is a strategic link between Europe and Russia and, therefore, between Europe and the emerging countries. LEAP knows how important it was to bring Europe closer to the BRICS, which is even why we launched the Euro-BRICS process in 2009, aimed at bringing Europe to its true destiny given its nature: its contribution to the emergence of a multipolar world. If Europe fails to play this role, there is a risk of polarization in the world, between the West and the emerging nations. But polarization needs walls… which is well and truly being rebuilt for us… in the same place as 25 years ago. Undoubtedly the Western elite haven't much imagination… or they haven't learnt much from their history books. If they had, they would have known that wars are rarely cold and that it's better not to begin to play this kind of game.

13 Source : The Guardian, 05/03/2014.

14 Shale gas is an unconventional gas, that's to say that its price has escaped indexation to that of oil, which is a competitive advantage of course, an advantage not given to it since it can't be exported. This is how the considerable investment made by the US to become a gas exporting power will only be crowned with success thanks to the signature of these famous transatlantic and trans-pacific free-trade Treaties for which Washington is literally prepared to kill. Source : Office of Fossil Energy.

15 The huge cuts imposed on the US military budget by Congress in recent days and the ensuing panic in the Pentagon's corridors will not have escaped our readers' attention. Source: USNews, 24/02/2014.

[Magda Hassan]

Shock as US and Europe impose raft of major sanctions against Russians and Ukrainian :

By an unnamed Shocked! staff reporter.

The exclusive Shocked! list of the unnamed 7 Russians targeted by the ever so tough US sanction:

Vladimir Tusk - head chauffeur for President Ladyparts
Gernardy Pinktoes - a humble vodka drinker related to Tusk
Sergey Aristotle Sergey - A Duma library worker
Leonid Slut - President Ladyparts part time Judo partner
Dmity Pulloff - Masseur to the duma
Yelena Sendoff - A regular Flyer
Andrea Krisp-ears - One armed kitchen porter to President Ladyparts
Arseny Kickoff - soccer referee for the Federation Council
Boris Blinki - junior financial services janitor

Edmundovich Milibandov was left off the list despite fierce lobbying by The Foetus (W. Vague), not to mention a supporting affidavit from Oleg Implausibilevsky, the former Russian spook, who claims to have witnessed Milibandov's manufacture in the test tube at a notorious Chekist fertility clinic.

Foggy Bottom plumped instead for that notorious red agent, Larry Adler.

I think Victorovna Novizemlya, famous for her unique and patented manufacture of delicious animal crackers, got left off too.

[Kenneth Kapel]

Professor Steven Cohen, on expert on all things Russian, just lectured Chris Hays, of MSNBC, on the real situation in the Ukraine. It was a delight to hear a non-imperalist, non neo-con, point of view being aired on a U.S. news outlet. Up until major U.S. news outlets have been all out anti-Putin and lax, to put it mildly, that the new Ukraine government was backed by the EU and the United States and that so-called interum democratic government is dominated by neo-fascists. Earlier today U.S. on MSNBC Mr. McPaul, the former U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine, said that Putin is responsible and by his (Putin's) speech today, to the Russiam parliament today, that a new cold war is at hand and that Putin is responsible.

[Peter Lemkin]

Things are moving very quickly in the last hour and in VERY ominous ways. One Ukrainian military base has been taken over [two dead] last night and as I write the Russians are apparently asking the Ukrainian Navy to surrender [they too have their main base in Crimea]...a tense standoff is now ongoing. Ukraine as asked NATO and/or USA to institute a no-fly zone.....no reply yet....this could get out of hand very quickly!

[David Guyatt]

Shock as US and Europe impose raft of major sanctions against Russians and Ukrainian :

By an unnamed Shocked! staff reporter.

The exclusive Shocked! list of the unnamed 7 Russians targeted by the ever so tough US sanction:

Vladimir Tusk - head chauffeur for President Ladyparts
Gernardy Pinktoes - a humble vodka drinker related to Tusk
Sergey Aristotle Sergey - A Duma library worker
Leonid Slut - President Ladyparts part time Judo partner
Dmity Pulloff - Masseur to the duma
Yelena Sendoff - A regular Flyer
Andrea Krisp-ears - One armed kitchen porter to President Ladyparts
Arseny Kickoff - soccer referee for the Federation Council
Boris Blinki - junior financial services janitor

Edmundovich Milibandov was left off the list despite fierce lobbying by The Foetus (W. Vague), not to mention a supporting affidavit from Oleg Implausibilevsky, the former Russian spook, who claims to have witnessed Milibandov's manufacture in the test tube at a notorious Chekist fertility clinic.

Foggy Bottom plumped instead for that notorious red agent, Larry Adler.

I've added up the seven I listed above together with the further five you have now noted - plus the 3 Magda named - and together that makes 27. And we haven't even mentioned other members of President Ladyparts entourage, like Igor Quiffoff, his personal barber, or Valentin Seudeoff, his personal shoe polisher famed for his expertise for buffing with an old WWII linen towel. We now have 72 and the list is growing.

We simply can't trust the media to tell us the truth can we. What the west seems to have done is sanction the whole population of Russia and the Ukraine, and then lie to us that there were only 31 targeted.

Btw, is Larry still blowing hard on Prince Phillip's favourite organ - or has he passed on to even more nether regions? That man has a wonderfully accented mouth you know. His real name, I'm told, was Lev Mishka Adleroff Zelakovich and he was a Colonel in the wind section of the KGB's Red Orchestra.