US/NATO War on Russia

[Magda Hassan]

Googlish of a Russian article talking about Poroshenko's ongoing investments in Russia. Surprised they havent been nationalised.

Poroshenko perepryatat its Russian business to offshore

Structures close to the President of Ukraine, and sell Chinese cars in Russia, are starch business in Lipetsk and supply batteries for car assembly at the WHA

Photo: TASS / OOO "Rodionov Publishing House"

Despite the active anti-Russian rhetoric, the president of Ukraine Poroshenko continues to earn in Russia. "Izvestia" in addition to holding the Lipetsk factory Roshen found several related Poroshenko structures that either do business in our country, or are based in Ukraine, but make deliveries to Russia. So, as the main supplier of batteries for models of Renault, produced at the plant "AvtoVAZ", stands Dnepropetrovsk battery holding ISTA. Earlier it was reported that the company belongs to Poroshenko, "Izvestia" found evidence that the president of Ukraine is still the owner of the holding.

In addition, similar to the structure of Poroshenko sell Chinese cars in Russia marks JAC, collected on the Circassian plant Derways. Avtodistributor "Auto Real" is a group of Ukrainian "Bogdan" Oleg Svinarchuk and Oleg Zimin - a long-standing friends and business partners Poroshenko, they are familiar with 1993 and included in his inner circle. It is known that "Bogdan" previously owned Poroshenko. But in 2013, he stated that he had sold his Svinarchuk - at the same time it was reported that Poroshenko was the owner of "Bogdan" and signs that are monitored by the business registers. Svinarchuk with August 2014 and another colleague Poroshenko on civil service - it is the head of the Interagency Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation and Export Control. After this appointment Svinarchuk changed his name - became Gladkovskaya (mother), and January 15, 2015 announced that Ukraine in the near future plans to join the procurement of weapons to NATO.

It also appeared that the food empire Poroshenko includes a small but profitable company Lipetsk "Starch". "Starch" in 2014 changed owners - with Ukrainian legal entities, unambiguously associated with Poroshenko, on a foggy offshore, and "Auto Real" got rid of my name (previously it was clear "Bogdan Auto Rus"). State Duma deputy Valery Rashkin send a parliamentary inquiry into the prosecutor's office and the tax office to sort out the National Guard under such financing in Ukraine.

Ukrainian batteries in the new Logan and Sandero

In the Russian office of Renault confirmed that currently purchase Ukrainian batteries, but only for their own production on "AvtoVAZ" (Renault-Nissan alliance controls 50% of the holding Volga).

- The models produced at the Moscow plant Renault, equipped with
Russian-made batteries. As for Logan and Sandero second generation, which are produced in Togliatti, now the batteries are supplied from Ukraine, but also in-depth localization process for the coming year is planned transition to the supply of Russian production. The names of companies, suppliers, we do not disclose - said "Izvestiya" spokesman Catherine Renault Tretyakov.

According to her, the capital plant Renault (formerly "Avtoframos") moved from Ukrainian domestic batteries in May 2014. Source of "Izvestia" familiar with the situation on the "AvtoVAZ", said that at the same time Togliatti auto giant stopped to complete batteries ISTA own model Lada Largus, which is based on the model of Dacia Logan MCV (analogue Largus, producing the Romanian factory Renault).

- We had a contract with the Moscow factory Renault [now produces Duster, Megane, Fluence and Logan first generation], but in 2015 it was not extended, - the "News" employee ISTA. According to him, the company in addition to Renault have another partner-car factory in Russia (except Togliatti shops "AvtoVAZ"), but refused to name his companion: a trade secret.

The site ISTA says that the company supplies batteries concern Renault-Nissan since 2007. From there it follows that two key plant groups - it Dnepropetrovsk "Energoavtomatika" and "Ista-Center". According to the Ukrainian registry of legal entities, small packets LLC "RSD" Energoavtomatika "directly from Zimin and Gladkovskaya, and 99.9% - in LLC" Oberon-Center ", which the Ukrainian media without doubt linked to Zimin.

In "Ista-Center", as follows from the list of affiliated persons of the company, at least from 2010 until the III quarter of 2014 (latest data) 40% of the shares falls on "Oberon-Center", 21.6% - in the State Property Fund of Ukraine and 23% - on the Panamanian offshore Ukrprominvest Holding Ltd (established in 1997, the owners could not figure out for sure). It was so still a lot of companies are called business empire Poroshenko, such as "Ukrprominvest-Agro" - which belongs to the Kiev fund "Prime Capital Assets" (written personally to Poroshenko, according to the register of legal entities). The name "Ukrominvest" wore existed until 2012, holding the head Poroshenko, a Panamanian company Ukrprominvest right was one of its founders (the archives of the Agency for Development infrastructure of the stock market of Ukraine) and was associated in the Ukrainian media do not have anyone else but with Poroshenko.

Edition "of Korrespondent.net" last month concluded that the only deal the president on the sale of assets in 2014 was the sale of Zimin package "Energoavtomatika." Recall Poroshenko in late May has promised to sell his business if he wins the election: The Constitution prohibits combining the presidency and entrepreneurship. In August, however, it was stated that the sale of the assets involved in the structure of the European family of bankers Rothschild, but in December Poroshenko said that "in war investment in the country do not go, no one to buy and sell anything you can not."

The press service of the Ukrainian president query "Izvestia" left unanswered.

Import ISTA in Russia falls

The Russian group of companies "Acoma" (the largest domestic producer of batteries, based in Togliatti) "News" reported that their company in the future will replace the Ukrainian ISTA in supplying the conveyor Renault.

- We have come a long way talks, nominations and audit and September 2015 begin delivery of our batteries on all plants Renault-Nissan alliance in Russia, - said the president and founder of GK "Acoma" Nikolai Ignatiev. - Before the financial crisis the most serious competition Ukrainian companies were in the retail market. If we talk about the secondary market of batteries, it is divided into approximately equal ratio between domestic and imported enterprises. Among the largest importers, in turn, allocated US company Johnson Controls [Varta brands and Optima] and Ukrainian "Vesta-Dnepr" [controlled by Ukrainian businessman Denis Dzenzerskim].

Ignatieff gave statistics on imports to Russia batteries for 11 months of 2014. So, Johnson Controls put in Russia 748 thousand. Batteries (minus 33% compared to the same period of 2013), "Vesta-Dnepr" - 203 thousand. (-72%), At the moment temporarily idle plant and plant imported ISTA 54 thousand. batteries (-63%).

- In general, imports of batteries decreased by 25%, but the Ukrainian companies fall on imports even faster than the market - said Ignatieff. - But it is not only a cooling of interest in the Ukrainian goods, but also to the general problems of these companies, as well as currency fluctuations in Russia. Of course, this is a chance for Russian players, including us.

Ignatieff also said that Ukrainian businessmen have repeatedly went to him with a proposal to buy its assets. In particular, ISTA offered "Akomu" buy all the Ukrainian company as a whole, and the plant "Vesta-Dnepr" is trying to sell contemporary Austrian assembly equipment, which recently acquired a lease. Ignatiev said that "Vesta-Dnepr" failed to pay under the lease agreement and now "Sberbank Leasing" sells this technique.

Russian division of "Bogdan" urgently renamed

If ISTA controls Zimin, the Gladkovsky is president of Ukrainian auto holding "Bogdan" (founded in 2005). But Zimin, for example, has a 9 percent stake in the "Automotive Group" Bogdan ", while Gladkovskaya it 10% through its investment fund" Owl ", but 60% of the shares owned by the company" Yaroslav ", which belongs again AH" Bogdan ". Shareholder structure holding confusing (it except AG "Bogdan" also includes "Bogdan Capital", "Bogdan industry", "Bogdan-Invest", "Hyundai Motor Ukraine" et al., With a branched cross-ownership) - and a significant proportion of the share capital as a result of falls on the Cyprus offshore, which further lead to the British Virgin Islands, where journalists find difficult to beneficiaries.

The fact that Poroshenko (his fortune is estimated at more than $ 1 billion) allegedly got rid of the "Bogdan" in 2009, he declared Ukrainian Forbes in 2013. But journalists Ukrainian edition Insider , detailed study of business Poroshenko in May 2014, found his share of "Bogdan" . Now Ukrainian corporate registries obvious traces fund "Prime Capital Assets" in the "Bogdan" has not been found, but among the shareholders "Hyundai Motor Ukraine" is still listed Cypriot Autoretail Holding Limited and Hudc Limited, which Ukrainian media in 2011 was associated with Poroshenko.

"Bogdan" sells and collects Asian cars Hyundai, Subaru, Isuzu, Daewoo, JAC, Great Wall and Lifan (as well as buses, trolley buses and trucks under its own brand), and before the start of 2014 the company produced including avtovazovskuyu model 2110. Under own brand "Bogdan" sell it in Russia, among others - used for these purposes established in 2012 Tolyatti LLC "Bogdan Auto Rus". It has been reported that this is a subsidiary of the group "Bogdan". In addition, the company in April 2014 as the exclusive distributor began selling cars Chinese brand JAC, their contract assembly adjusted at factory Derways in Cherkessk. In June 2014, "Bogdan Auto Rus", according to the database SPARK, Ltd. changed its name to "Auto Real Madrid."

Owner of "Auto Real", according to the statement from the register, is another Tolyatti Ltd. - "CB Motorinvest", it was founded in 2012 and last year (in October) also changed its name, abandoning the "Bogdan-investment." In turn, the "CB Motorinvest" controlled and monitored now Cypriot offshore Vehicles Distribution Holding Ltd. This is a Cypriot company, according to Ukrainian corporate registry, among the shareholders referred to "Hyundai Motor Ukraine". According to the register of companies of Cyprus, Vehicles Distribution belongs to the Viennese company Bogdan Holding GmbH.

Further, according to information from the Austrian registry, CEO of the company - Dmitry Livinets, and the owner - Cyprus Hesutu Limited. In 2013, the firm and Livinets member of the Board of Directors "Bogdan Motors". The sole shareholder Hesutu - Teckford Investments Financial Corporation from the British Virgin Islands.

In the company "Auto Real" to the question "News" about the involvement of structures "Bogdan" answered in the negative, to refrain from further comments. According to the Association of European Businesses, which maintains statistics on car sales in the EU and Russia (Russia - the third largest car market in Europe), last year in Russia has sold 424 car JAC. Previously, "Auto Real" stated that it plans to sell 1 thousand. Cars in 2014.

Manufacturer starch also tried to hide relationship with Poroshenko

It is curious that the Cypriot firms Hesutu Limited, Autoretail Holding Limited, Hudc Limited, Vehicles Distribution Holding Ltd - the same address (Street Kolokotronis and Hrisoroyatissa in Limassol) and the law firm secretary Ergofinance Limited, repeated and Turkish director. The same details (Director, address, secretary) have
discovered another "news" offshore - Chartomena Limited. He owns a Russian company "Starch" - and until August 2014, according to SPARC-based, "Starch" directly owned holding company mentioned Kiev "Ukrprominvest-Agro" (91% owned by the fund "Prime Assets Capital" Poroshenko).

"Starch" registered on the same street as of "Lipetsk confectionery factory" Roshen ", whose revenue for 2013 amounted to 2.2 billion rubles, net profit - 178 million rubles. Income "Starch" by orders of magnitude smaller: revenues - 35.5 million rubles, net profit - 1.8 million rubles. Phone companies have been found in open sources, not responding. Specialization of the company - "production milling industry", starch is widely used in the confectionery industry. All-Russian Research Institute of Starch "News" reported that Ukraine supplied molasses, starch, natural and modified for Russian confectionery factory, but to clarify the extent to which supply raw materials and whether the contracts are preserved to this day, the institute could not. Comment Lipetsk factory "Roshen" could not be obtained.

Owner Chartomena, by the way, is a London firm Morewig Limited, the sole shareholder of which - the same Cypriot Ergofinance. Morewig favor the original owner of all the above Cypriot offshore companies (based on historical data from the register of companies of Cyprus), so that the firm Chartomena just have not had time to re-register, say, a virgin or a Panamanian offshore.

Understand the Russian financial flows business Poroshenko and related structures intends Duma deputy Valery Rashkin.

- My opinion is always on those who profit in Russia, and then the money spent on the escalation of violence in the south-east of Ukraine, - it must stop decisively and quickly. I and his assistants will make every effort to do so, - said the source. Rashkin added that direct parliamentary inquiries in the prosecutor's office and the tax office.

http://izvestia.ru/news/582190

[Magda Hassan]

Two things came my way today from two unrelated people but I see they are both connected.
This is the first one that came to me. Two links. One form the US embassy in Ukraine and another from a tech group US astroturf of the US embassy there. The US sponsors the latter.

Here is the US embassy in the Ukraine promoting 'civil society'.....Note Microsoft's involvement...

U.S. Embassy Hosted TechCamp Kyiv 2.0 to Build Technological Capacity of Civil Society

TechCamp trainer Kalsoom Lakhani talks about fundraising using crowdsourcing

March 1, 2013
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv in partnership with Microsoft Ukraine hosted TechCamp Kyiv 2.0 on March 1, 2013 at the Microsoft Ukraine Headquarters. TechCamps support the U.S. State Department's Civil Society 2.0 initiative that builds the technological and digital capacity of civil society organizations around the world.
TechCamp trainer Volodymyr Dehtiarov gives interview

During the full day interactive workshop, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv paired leaders in the technology community with civil society organizations to provide in-depth exposure to low-cost and easy to implement technologies. More than 60 civil society leaders from throughout Ukraine came together to get hands-on training in a variety of areas ranging from fundraising using crowdsourcing, citizen journalism, PR tools for NGOs, Microsoft software and programs for NGOs, and more. These civil society organizations will be poised to use new technologies to grow their networks, communicate more efficiently, and keep pace with the changing world. To date, State Department sponsored TechCamps in Ukraine have trained more than 200 civil society organizers from throughout the country and Belarus. The technologies and approaches presented help to build new networks of relationships, enhance skill development, and create new avenues for communication. Adoption of these technologies by civil society organizations will help support the missions of these groups as well as broader social goals of democracy, transparency and good governance in the 21st Century.
TechCamp Kyiv 2.0 was a follow-up to the original TechCamp Kyiv held in September of 2012. The mission of TechCamp Kyiv 2.0 was to transform TechCamp into a sustainable movement of civil society and technology experts networking and working together to build a thriving dynamic third sector in Ukraine. Two more TechCamps 2.0 will be held in Donetsk in April and Ivano-Frankivsk in May. U.S. Embassy Kyiv is also hosting a series of virtual TechCamp Meet-Ups with U.S. technologists sharing new approaches to combat social problems.
For more information about upcoming TechCamp 2.0 activities please visit www.techcampkyiv.org.

And this is the project referred to above;

Flexispy features explained

Flexispy is a new generation phone monitoring application. This type of applications is also often called spy phone. As the app remains hidden from the users, you could retrieve tons of information that was not meant to be for you. In addition to that, you will also gain almost full control of the device, like deleting certain messages, etc., though you would need to use it wisely or otherwise a user may detect the suspicious activity on their phone. Here are just some of the features that this program provides.
Flexispy is actually very good at catching the cheaters. While in the modern era, a typical smartphone has hundreds of different contacts synched across different apps and platforms, it is easy to disguise a lover for a friend, but not when you use Flexispy J
Other than sneaking into someone's life secrets out of distrust or simple curiosity, this program can effectively protect your children. The children are very vulnerable to inappropriate conversations online, as well as being exposed to adult content while browsing. As you set up your safety filters, you will be able to effectively block most of the unnecessary explosion and also get notified if an unwanted conversation, harassment or anything of that sort is suspected.
With Flexispy you can effectively monitor your employees. Have you found Peter slacking the whole day while Bob watching some strange website and John actually gets late from his lunch? Now you can easily bust them, and or reduce their pay accordingly. If you manage to install Flexispy to their systems, they will have no chance of escaping from your meticulous eye.

This application can also help you to recover the losses of crucial data. With its constant monitoring and synching options, you can automatically back any conversation, recoding, media and really, everything. So if someone sent you an important message and you accidentally removed it, or lost the track of your device, with Flexispy you could still recover your data, having nothing to worry about your important storage.

Finally, this program provides the important security features. If, for instance, your phone gets stolen, you could easily track its coordinates and submit to the appropriate authority or police, to have it tracked. A lot of thefts are not being discovered with the use of these spy phones and Flexispy is also one of the best choices when it comes to security.



http://techcampkyiv.org/

All of the above has to be taken into consideration with the use of US government in supplying technology to overthrow various governments
that has been wonderfully covered and exposed (!) by http://bluecabinet.info/wiki/Main_Page and http://wiki.project-pm.org/wiki/Main_Page and there are various threads here on such matters.


Then I came across this later in the day from an unrelated source and it goes back to November 2013. The year before the Maidan in 2014. And curiously it is referring to the above event sponsored by the US embassy in the Ukraine.


Transcript from the video:
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Published on Jan 27, 2015
Ukrainian Deputy: US to stage a civil war in Ukraine! This was 20.11.2013!! BEFORE Maidan
TRANSCRIPT


Deputy Oleg Tsarov has the word

Honourable Colleagues
Honourable Vladimir Vasiljevitch

In my role as a representative of the Ukrainian people…
…activists of the public organisation "Volya" turned to me…
…providing clear evidence…
…that within our territory…
…with support and direct participation
…of the US Embassy in Kiev…
…the "TechCamp" project is realised…
…under which preparations are being made for a civil war in Ukraine.

The "TechCamp" project prepares specialists for information warfare…
…and the discrediting of state institutions using modern media…
…potential revolutionaries…
…for organising protests…
… and the toppling of the State Order.

The project is currently overseen and under the responsibility…
…of the US ambassador to Ukraine…
…Geoffrey R. Pyatt.

After the conversation with the organisation "Volya"…
… I have learned…
…that they succeeded to access Facilities in the project "TechCamp"…
…disguising as a team of IT specialists.

To their surprise, briefings on peculiarities of modern media were held.

American instructors explained how social networks and Internet technologies…
…can be used for targeted manipulation of public opinion…
…as well as to activate protest potential…
…to provoke violent unrest on the territory of Ukraine…
…Radicalisation of the population and triggering of infighting.

American instructors show examples of successful use of social networks…
…used to organise protests
…in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

"TechCamp" representatives currently hold conferences throughout Ukraine.

A total of five events have been held so far.

About 300 people were trained as operatives, which are now active throughout Ukraine.

The last conference "TechCamp" took place on 14 and 15 November 2013…
…in the Heart of Kiev on the territory of the US Embassy!

You tell me which country in the world would allow…
…a NGO to operate out of the ​ US Embassy?

This is disrespectful to the Ukrainian government, and against the Ukrainian People!

I appeal to the Constitutional Authorities of Ukraine with the following question:

Is it conceivable that representatives of the US Embassy…
…which organise the "TechCamp" Conferences…
…misuse their diplomatic mission?

Let him speak

Carry On

UN Resolution of 21 December 1965 regulates…
…inadmissibility of interference in the internal affairs of a state…
…to protect its independence and its sovereignty…
…in accordance with paragraphs one, two and five.

I ask you to consider this as an official beseech…
…to pursue an investigation of this case

[Magda Hassan]

A couple of interesting articles by Zero Hedge

Greece Begins The Great Pivot Toward Russia

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/27/2015 23:50 -0500







Ten days ago, before the smashing success of Greece's anti-austerity party, Syriza, we noted that Russia gave Greece a modest proposal: turn your back on Europe, whom you despise so much anyway, and we will assist your farmers by lifting the food import ban.
And, sure enough, Greece's new premier Tsipras did hint with his initial actions that Greece may indeed pivot quite aggressively away from Europe and toward Russia in general and the Eurasian Economic Union in particular (as a tangent recall "Russia's "Startling" Proposal To Europe: Dump The US, Join The Eurasian Economic Union").
Some recent examples of this dramatic shift in perspective were the following:

Tsipras's first meeting with a foreign ambassador since being elected Greek PM was with Russia's Andrey Maslov #Greece #ekloges2015
Nick Malkoutzis (@NickMalkoutzis) January 26, 2015

First act as PM, #Tsipras visits Kaisariani rifle range where Nazis executed 200 Greeks on 1 May 1944 v/@dgatopoulos pic.twitter.com/a4CeNgsw66
Damian Mac Con Uladh (@damomac) January 26, 2015

Today we got further evidence that Tsipras will substantially realign his country's national interest away from the west and toward... the east.
First, as Reuters reported, today the new premier halted the "blue light special" liquidation of Greece to those highest bidders who have the closest access to various printing presses and stopped the privatization of Greece's biggest port on Tuesday, "signaling he aims to stick to election pledges despite warning shots from the euro zone and financial markets."

One of the first decisions announced by the new government was stopping the planned sale of a 67 percent stake in the Piraeus Port Authority, agreed under its international bailout deal for which China's Cosco Group and four other suitors had been shortlisted.

"The Cosco deal will be reviewed to the benefit of the Greek people," Thodoris Dritsas, the deputy minister in charge of the shipping portfolio, told Reuters.

Europe, for one, will be most displeased that Greece has decided to put its people first in the chain of priority over offshore bidders of Greek assets. Most displeased, especially since the liquidation sale of Greece is part of the Greek bailout agreement: an agreement which as the Troika has repeatedly stated, is not up for renegotiation.

Syriza had announced before the election it would halt the sale of state assets, a plank of the 240 billion-euro bailout agreement. Stakes in the port of Thessaloniki, the country's second biggest, along with railway operator Trainose and rolling stock operator ROSCO are also slated to be sold.

And it wasn't just this open act of defiance that marked the new government's anti-European agenda:

In a separate step, the deputy minister in charge of administrative reform, George Katrougkalos said the government would reverse some layoffs of public sector workers, rolling back another key bailout measure. "It will be one of the first pieces of legislation that I will bring in as a minister," he told Mega TV.

The Germans were not happy: A German central banker warned of dire problems should the new government call the country's aid program into question, jeopardizing funding for the banks. "That would have fatal consequences for Greece's financial system. Greek banks would then lose their access to central bank money," Bundesbank board member Joachim Nagel told Handelsblatt newspaper.
Well, maybe.... Unless of course Greece finds a new, alternative source of funding, one that has nothing to do with the establishmentarian IMF, whose "bailouts" are merely a smokescreen to implement pro-western policies and to allow the rapid liquidation of any "bailed out" society.
An alternative such as the BRIC Bank for example. Recall that the "BRICS Announce $100 Billion Reserve To Bypass Fed, Developed World Central Banks."
And yes, the BRIC are going through their own share of pain right now as a result of plunging crude prices, but remember: crude is only low as long as the US shale sector is still vibrant. Once this marginal producer of crude with a $80 cost-breakeven is out of the picture, watch as Saudi Arabia tightens the spigots and Crude surges to $100, $150 or more. The question is whether Saudi FX reserves can outlast the Fed's ZIRP, which is the only reason - think idiots junk bond investors desperate for any ounce of yield - why the bulk of unprofitable and cash flow-bleeding US shale can still operate with WTI at $45.
Which naturally means that now Russia (and China) are set to become critical allies for Greece, which would immediately explain the logical pivot toward Moscow.
But wait, there's more.
As Bloomberg further reports, "Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias is due in Brussels on Thursday to discuss possible additional sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. Before the cabinet even meets for the first time tomorrow, the Greek government said that it disagreed with an EU statement in which President Donald Tusk raised the prospect of "further restrictive measures" on Russia."
The punchline:

In recent months, Kotzias wrote on Twitter that sanctions against Russia weren't in Greece's interests. He said in a blog that a new foreign policy for Greece should be focused on stopping the ongoing transformation of the EU "into an idiosyncratic empire, under the rule of Germany."

And when it comes to the natural adversary of any German imperial ambitions in recent history, Europe has been able to produce only one answer...

Putin's Unexpected Victory: Europe Furious That Greece Is Now A Russian Sanctions Veto

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/29/2015 09:57 -0500







Two days ago, Zero Hedge first, and shortly thereafter everyone else, pointed out something stunning: the biggest surprise to emerge so far out of the new anti-Troika/austerity Greek government was not so much its intention to proceed with the first test of "Odious Debt" - this was largely known in advance - but its dramatic pivot away from Germany and Europe, and toward Russia.
As we noted before, not only has Greece already blocked all ongoing privatization processes, a clear snub of Merkel and the Troika which demands the piecemeal blue light special sale of Greece to western buyers as part of the "bailout", but is also looking at plans to reinstate public sector employees and announce increased pensions for those on low incomes: further clear breaches of the Troika's austerity terms.
But the most important message that Tsipras is sending to Europe is that (after meeting the Russian ambassador first upon his election) Greece is now effectively a veto power when it comes to future Russian sanctions!
This was first hinted when the Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, who arrives in Brussels today to discuss possible additional sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, said a few days ago that the Greek government disagreed with an EU statement in which President Donald Tusk raised the prospect of "further restrictive measures" on Russia. As Bloomberg observed before, in recent months, Kotzias wrote on Twitter that sanctions against Russia weren't in Greece's interests. He said in a blog that a new foreign policy for Greece should be focused on stopping the ongoing transformation of the EU "into an idiosyncratic empire, under the rule of Germany."
And Europe, shocked that one of its own has dared to question its "unanimous" policy toward Russia, a policy driven by the US foreign state department whose opinion of Europe is best captured by the hacked and intercepted "Fuck the EU" outburst by Victoria Nuland in February 2014, has been forced to backtrack. From DPA:

The European Union denied Wednesday that it ignored Greek objections when it issued a statement raising the prospects of new sanctions against Russia.

The row is the first of several clashes expected between Brussels and Greece's new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, who was elected Sunday on promises to renegotiate the bailout granted to Greece by its European neighbours and the International Monetary Fund.

Tsipras has in the past also spoken out against sanctions on Russia, rejecting the use of "Cold War language."

The EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis, notably economic measures restricting Russian access to European credit markets and European exports. On Tuesday morning, EU leaders in a joint statement tasked their foreign ministers with considering "further restrictive measures" when they meet on Thursday.

But Tsipras complained to Greek media that his country had not been consulted on the statement. "Greece do not consent," a statement by Tsipras' office said on Tuesday evening, adding that the announcement from Brussels violated "proper procedure."

A spokesman for EU President Donald Tusk, who issued the statement on behalf of the leaders, denied that Athens had been sidelined during the preparation of the text.

"We consulted everybody, as we always do, and we didn't ignore or sidestep Greece in any way - quite to the contrary," Preben Aamann told dpa. "We tried to find a special solution that would accommodate them."

Actually what the EU "always does" is to ignore the voices and interest of everyone but the most powerful. And as for "not ignoring" Greece, apparently the EU failed. Only this time Greece, its government no longer a Eurozone lackey, will no longer let it slide: "Greek broadcaster Skai said newly appointed Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias would bring up the issue at Thursday's meeting in Brussels. Tsipras is also expected in the Belgian capital on February 12 for an EU summit that will touch upon the situation in Ukraine."
And here is how Russia just won another completely unexpected victory in Europe: "EU sanctions require unanimity to be implemented, so a Greek veto could block any further measures." And all thanks to the epic blunder by Brussels to allow a European nation to voice its opinion in a democratic fashion.
It wasn't just Zero Hedge who first suggested the Greek Russian pivot: here is RBS' Greg Gibbs who says that there are now "concerns Greek government may threaten to veto further Russian sanctions in exchange for debt relief fuels fear of conflict."
To be sure, Germany, whose theatrical opposition to money printing folded like Boehner's lawn chair last week, as it is now all too clear the preservation of German export dominance (and hence aversion to the DEM) and the sanctity of Deutsche Bank is what it is all about no matter the hyperinflationary concerns of the people, is quite furious that the grand ambitions of Europe's economic powerhouse - which as we reported moments ago has now officially entered deflation - have been crushed by tiny, depression-ridden Greece.
Here is Germany's economy minister Gabriel, who was on the tape earlier, casting fire and brimstone at Greece. From Reuters:

Greece should not burden the rest of Europe with its internal political debates, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, adding that Greece's own inequalities were to blame for problems that it tried to blame on its multilateral lenders.

Gabriel told parliament Greece should stay in the euro but the new leftist leader Alexis Tsipras must respect the terms of its bailout. Greece could not blame the "troika" of multilateral lenders for its own unfair distribution of wealth, he said.

"All democratic people must respect the democratic decision of voters and a newly-elected government's right to decide its course - but the rest of Europe's citizens should not have to expect changes in Greek politics to burden them," he said.

Of course, as long as the changes in Greek politics allowed the rest of Europe's citizens to continue to benefit at Greek expense, nobody batted an eyelid. But change the equation and all hell breaks loose.
And the final confirmation that suddenly tiny Greece may have all the leverage in Europe is that moments ago Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that European sanctions on Russia are complicated by the "new Greek government."
The good news for Greece, of course, is that it now has all the optionality: it can use its veto power as a bargaining chip to unblock US foreign policy in Ukraine (because at the end of the day, Europe is merely losing as a result of the Russian sanctions) and demand a debt haircut in exchange for siding with John Kerry on further Russian "punishment." Or he may simply hold the line and hold off for a competing, better offer from Russia and the BRICs, whose leverage may be nominal now that crude is plummeting, but if and when the last shale junk bond investor blows up and the US shale renaissance is over sending crude soaring right back to $100, then watch as the oil exporters are back with a bang, and dictating geopolitical terms.
And whatever happens, please don't remind Brussels that point 40 of Syriza's 40 Point Manifesto, aka the "nuclear option", is "Closure of all foreign bases in Greece and withdrawal from NATO."
It is so bad that Business New Europe went so far as to ask if the New Greek Government is "Russia's Trojan horse inside the EU?"
In any event, the European balance of power has just shifted and in a way that nobody anticipated:
The biggest winners: if only for now: Greece and Russia (and, while it will never be admitted, all those Europeans who desperately need the Russian import market).
The biggest losers: all the unelected Eurocrats in Brussels who at this moment are scratching their heads how to bring the bad news that there is no longer unanimity on Russian sanctions to John Kerry, and all thanks to a country nobody thought would dare to speak up.

[Paul Rigby]

...and the arming of the new, overtly fascist, junta:

Putin must be stopped. And sometimes only guns can stop guns
The time for diplomacy will come again, but it is not now: Ukraine urgently needs military support, and a counter to Russian propaganda

Timothy Garter Sash
Sunday 1 February 2015 17.58 GMT

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree...propaganda

Vladimir Putin is the Slobodan Milošević of the former Soviet Union: as bad, but bigger. Behind a smokescreen of lies he has renewed his drive to carve out a puppet para-state in eastern Ukraine.

Innocent bystanders are killed in the Black Sea port of Mariupol. In besieged Debaltseve, a woman scoops water from a giant puddle in the road. The rubble that was once Donetsk airport recalls a scene from martyred Syria. About 5,000 people have already been killed in this armed conflict, and more than 500,000 uprooted. Preoccupied by Greece and the eurozone, Europe is letting another Bosnia happen in its own front yard. Wake up, Europe. If we have learned anything from our own history, Putin must be stopped. But how?

In the end, there will have to be a negotiated solution. German chancellor Angela Merkel and foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have been right to keep trying diplomacy, but even they concluded in mid-January that it wasn't worth going to meet Putin in Kazakhstan. On Saturday another attempt to agree a ceasefire failed in Minsk. Diplomacy's time will come again, but it is not now.

We should ratchet up the economic sanctions against Russia. Combined with the impact of the fallen oil price, these are already having a significant effect. Despite a small wobble from the new Greek government, the EU last week kept its unity on extending sanctions. Won't that feed a siege mentality in Russia? Yes, but then the Putin regime is stoking that mentality with its nationalist, anti-western propaganda. If the threat did not exist, Russian television would invent it.

Like Milošević, Putin is prepared to use every instrument at his disposal, with no holds barred
Like Milošević, Putin is prepared to use every instrument at his disposal, with no holds barred. In his war against the west he has deployed heavy military equipment, energy-supply blackmail, cyber-attack, propaganda by sophisticated, well-funded broadcasters, covert operations and agents of influence in EU capitals oh yes, and Russian bombers nosing up the English Channel with their transponders off, potentially endangering civilian flights.

There is a Polish saying which translates roughly as "we play chess with them, they play kick-arse with us". (Dupniak, or kick-arse, is a Polish game in which people try to identify who kicked them from behind.) This is the problem of the democratic west in general and the slow-moving, multi-nation EU in particular. It was recently exemplified in a woefully unrealistic chess paper on strategy towards Russia prepared for Federica Mogherini, the EU's new high representative for foreign and security policy.

In the long run, Putin will lose. The people who will suffer most from his folly will be the Russians, not least those in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. But the long run for skilful, ruthless dictators in large, well-armed, resource-rich and psychologically bruised nations can be quite long. Before he goes, more blood and tears will flow unquietly down the river Donets.

So the challenge is to shorten that period and stop the mayhem. To do this Ukraine needs modern defensive weapons to counter Russia's modern offensive ones. Spurred on by John McCain, the US Congress has passed a Ukraine Freedom Support Act which allocates funds for the supply of military equipment to Ukraine. It is now up to President Obama to determine the timing and composition of those supplies.

A report by a group including Ivo Daalder, a former US ambassador to Nato, and Strobe Talbott, the veteran Russia expert, identifies the equipment needed: "counter-battery radars to locate long-range rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), electronic countermeasures for use against opposing UAVs, secure communications capabilities, armoured Humvees and medical support equipment".

Only when Ukrainian military defence can plausibly hold Russian offence to a stalemate will a negotiated settlement become possible. Sometimes it takes guns to stop the guns.

Won't such arms supplies further nourish a Russian paranoia of encirclement? Yes, but Putin is feeding the paranoia already, untroubled by the facts. He recently told students in St Petersburg that the Ukrainian army "is not an army, it is a foreign legion, in this case a Nato foreign legion".

The EU could never secure unanimity on such military supplies. If at all, it would have to be done by individual countries. Although this may bring back the old jibe that "America does the cooking and Europe the washing up", there is a case for the US doing most of the heavy military supply.

The US has the best kit, it is probably in the best position to control its use, and is less vulnerable to bilateral economic or energy-supply pressures.

The overall burden-sharing would be fair. European economies take most of the pain of sanctions, since they have more invested with Russia; they will provide a lot of the economic support Ukraine needs if it is to survive; and they are doing most of the diplomacy. In fact, McCain and Merkel make a perfect hard cop, soft cop combination.

We need to counter this propaganda. No one is better placed to do this than the BBC
There is one other area in which Europe in general, and Britain in particular, can do more. Broadcast media are usually classed as soft power, but they are as important to Putin as his T-80 tanks. He has invested in them heavily. Among Russian speakers including in eastern Ukraine and the Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic states he has used television to impose his own narrative of a socially conservative, proud Russia threatened by fascists in Kiev, an expansionist Nato and a decadent EU.

Last year a Russianist of my acquaintance was sitting naked and at ease in the hot tub with a friend of his in Moscow after several vodkas, as is the Russian custom, when this highly educated Russian asked: "So tell me, honestly, why do you support the fascists in Kiev?"

We need to counter this propaganda not with lies of our own but with reliable information and a scrupulously presented array of different views. No one is better placed to do this than the BBC. The US may have the best drones in the world, and Germany the best machine tools, but Britain has the best international broadcaster.

And there is an appetite for it: the BBC's sadly diminished online Russian-language service still has an audience of nearly seven million, and during the crisis its Ukrainian-language audience has tripled to more than 600,000.

In his excellent report on the future of news, James Harding, the head of BBC News, makes a strong commitment to growing the World Service. Immediately stepping up its Russian and Ukrainian offerings would be a good way for the BBC to show that it will put its money where its mouth is. Without compromising the BBC's independence, the British government could also chip in some extra funding.

If ever there were people in need of accurate, fair, balanced information, it is Russians and Ukrainians today. None of these things will stop Putin tomorrow, but in combination they will work in the end. Dictators win in the short run, democracies in the long.

Two observations:

1) The Gruaniad is now an overtly pro-fascist paper

2) The desperation of Washington is now palpable

[Magda Hassan]

...and the arming of the new, overtly fascist, junta:

Putin must be stopped. And sometimes only guns can stop guns
The time for diplomacy will come again, but it is not now: Ukraine urgently needs military support, and a counter to Russian propaganda


Two observations:

1) The Gruaniad is now an overtly pro-fascist paper

2) The desperation of Washington is now palpable

Agreed on both points Paul. What an extraordinarily crappy jingoistic piece of agiprop that article was.

[Lauren Johnson]

Can some fix the link on PR's Guardian article?

[Magda Hassan]

Can some fix the link on PR's Guardian article?

Fixed. I think the 'a' was missing off 'propaganda'

[Danny Jarman]

...and the arming of the new, overtly fascist, junta:

Putin must be stopped. And sometimes only guns can stop guns
The time for diplomacy will come again, but it is not now: Ukraine urgently needs military support, and a counter to Russian propaganda


Two observations:

1) The Gruaniad is now an overtly pro-fascist paper

2) The desperation of Washington is now palpable

Agreed on both points Paul. What an extraordinarily crappy jingoistic piece of agiprop that article was.

Agreed. Amazed at the lack of quality control.

Looks like if anything happens with Russia we will be dragged in along with the rest of Europe.

Apart from Germany, Western Europe's economy is in the toilet, the only thing that will temporarily keep things afloat is war...desperate times.

[David Guyatt]

...and the arming of the new, overtly fascist, junta:

Putin must be stopped. And sometimes only guns can stop guns
The time for diplomacy will come again, but it is not now: Ukraine urgently needs military support, and a counter to Russian propaganda


Two observations:

1) The Gruaniad is now an overtly pro-fascist paper

2) The desperation of Washington is now palpable

Agreed on both points Paul. What an extraordinarily crappy jingoistic piece of agiprop that article was.

Yup. The writer is married to a woman called "Danuta". Nuff said really.

[David Guyatt]

And I suppose that, besides the Sino-Russian energy deal that clearly hurt US plans, the newly announced and massive quater of a trillion dollar Beijing to Moscow rail construction project simply rubs salt into the wound.

I think Engdahl is right in saying that the Anglo-American camp is losing its grip on things.

31.01.2015 Author: F. William Engdahl

Growing the Russia-China New Relationship

Column: Economics
Region: Eastern Asia
Country: China


While the Obama Administration is preoccupied with keeping an increasingly unhappy EU firm on further economic sanctions against Vladimir Putin's Russia, Putin is busy outflanking an increasingly desperate Washington. Rather than fixate on the deliberate US and NATO provocations in Ukraine, Russia is deepening its strategic ties with the other Great Eurasian land-power, the Peoples' Republic of China. Far from Putin going begging to Beijing for money, the two powers are weaving a closer strategic counterweight to an Anglo-American elite gone bonkers as its empire slips from its hands.Unimportant are all diplomatic declarations by Chinese deputy Prime Ministers and others in recent weeks about how China so deeply respects the unique role of the United States as sole superpower. The reality on the ground speaks of a tectonic and well-thought-through change in the geopolitical world order is underway. Not only are Russia and China signing gigantic oil and gas agreements that insulate Russia from the negative effects of a potential loss of the EU energy markets in coming months.Now the two powers have agreed on one of the world's largest-ever infrastructure projects that will create huge new markets across Eurasia.

Transforming Eurasia

Russia and China have agreed to build a 7,000-kilometer high-speed rail link from Beijing to Moscow, at a cost of $242 billion, almost a quarter trillion dollars, according to the Beijing city government. The journey from Beijing to Moscow would take two days on a route passing through Kazakhstan. It will take take eight to 10 years to build. The rail project is the most ambitious rail infrastructure project in the Eurasian history, even surpassing the Trans-Siberian Railway project across Russia.The new Beijing-Moscow highspeed rail corridor shown in yellow will transform the economic space of EurasiaIn October, 2014, China and Russia signed an agreement to build the first leg of the Beijing-Moscow high-speed rail link. That specified that Chinese firms and their Russian partners will construct a 770-km high-speed line connecting Moscow and Kazan, an important metropolis on the Volga River, en route to Beiing.Then last November as US sanctions and the US-engineered oil price collapse added a new urgency to the project, Alexander Misharin, vice-president at state-owned OAO Russian Railways, said a section would cost $60 billion to reach Russia's border, and would cut the Beijing-Moscow journey from five days to 30 hours. Misharin at the time compared the new transport network to the Suez Canal "in terms of scale and significance." In reality, it has the potential to far exceed the Suez Canal as it serves to unify a high-speed transport network integration vast new markets across Eurasia from Beijing to Moscow that draw in some 4.4 billion of the world population.A close look at the new railway map by German politicians might be useful, in order for them to graphically realize where the future of Germany and of the European Union lies. A hint: it doesn't lie with a dying American debt-bloated economy that only offers Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment scams to Europe. From Berlin, the four horses atop the historic Brandenburg Gate are symbolically pointed east, to Moscow. Sanctions cut German industry from participation in one of the largest construction projects in the world history. One might ask why?

A Russian Renaissance?

The new Moscow-Beijing rail link is arguably the most significant infrastructure project in Eurasia since the brilliant Russian Railways Minister, later Finance Minister and finally Prime Minister, Count Sergei Witte, built the Trans-Siberian Railway to unify the vast expanse of Russia in the 1890's.Witte, a student of the long-forgotten German national economist, Friedrich List, realized the central role that rail and other infrastructure had played in the emergence of Germany after creation of the Customs Union in the 1830s, and of the United States with the construction of the first Transcontinental Railway.Witte's economic policies were well on the way to create a genuine economic renaissance within the Russian Empire, with peasant reforms, economic development and other policies that won him the hatred of the City of London and Wall Street. Witte argued to Czar Nicholas II on the eve of World War I that it would be a disaster for Russia to join the British in going to war against Germany. He was right and, symbolically or not, died of a brain tumor just after the Czar was pulled by various intrigues to declare war on Germany.That disastrous war a century ago, which led to the Western-financed Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, hindered the development of the enormous economic potentials of Russia and Eurasia until the present. That is now undergoing a transformation, a new kind of Russian revolution based on peace and economic stability, ironically under the pressures of the ongoing NATO war, financial and military, against Eurasian integration.That Eurasian integration, formal via Russia's Eurasian Economic Union and the Sino-Russian led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as informal via an escalating series of bilateral economic and military cooperation agreements between the two Eurasian Great PowersRussia and Chinais precisely what NATO and the neo-conservative war-hawks of the Obama Administration desperately try to prevent in Ukraine and with the Obama military Asia Pivot against China. The problem, for those poor loveless souls in Washington and Wall Street, is that wars don't work the way they used to. The world is getting fed up dying in the wars of the One Percent.
First appeared:http://journal-neo.org/2015/01/31/growin...ationship/