Listening to Lavrov in Munich !

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I have to say that I personally don't recall anything quite like what happened today in Munich. For one thing, I detected a tone in Lavrov's words which I had not felt so strongly before. Of course, Lavrov was calm, composed and polite. But this time I also felt an immense sense of disgust on his part for the audience he was addressing and for what these so-called 'leaders' had done over the past decade. In essence Lavrov told them "Putin already explained everything to you in 2007 but you have not listened to a word he had to say - and now are you really happy with the result?". Then came the Q&A and things only got worse.

Quick update on Debaltsevo

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Couple of things:

The evacuation of civilians basically failed. First, the buses got stuck and had to wait due to nearby mortar shelling, then only 3 buses (out of 20) were filled with refugees, nobody else wanted to leave and, considering the risks, I don't blame them.  This is a terrible thing to say, but not boarding these buses today was the prudent thing to do (today, the junta forces fired at refugees near Lugansk).

Now take a look at this map from militarymaps:

Fraudulent act Exposed: Rights Commissioner Decision/Recommendation - Mr. Olumide SMITH v E Manage IT Limited trading as iQuate

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E Manage IT Limited trading as iQuate has been convicted of a Breach of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 - 2001.

 For more info, see evidence when you click on the links bellow. Part Evidence - Rights Commissioner Hearing referenced by r-147620-te-14 Rights Commissioner Decision-Recommendation - Mr Olumide SMITH v E Manage IT Limited trading as iQuate (1)Part Evidence - Rights Commissioner Hearing referenced by r-147620-te-14

About US weapons deliveries & Novorussian mobilization plans

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Still no news from Moscow, so I decided to quickly address a frequent misconception: US weapon deliveries and their effectiveness.

US weapons deliveries to the junta

US political culture and propaganda has deeply ingrained in the minds of those exposed to the corporate media the notion that weapons or technologies win wars.  This is not so.  Or, not really so.

Why Can't the American Government Stop Talking about RT?

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Two reasons:

• It is fully aware of the broad, global reach RT has 
• The news RT reports is not the news the US wants people be informed of

In the current climate of political Russophobia, the American Government just can’t stop talking about RT News (Russia Today). Secretary of State John Kerry has blasted it as a “propaganda bullhorn“.

The Chair of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors labelled it beside Boko Haram and ISIS and now Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has called it a broadcaster of “untruths…with a tiny, tiny viewership”.

The obvious question to ask is, why do they insist on talking about RT if it really is all the things they call it? The answer is just as obvious. It is because they understand that RT is the opposite of all of these things, and people are beginning to find out.

Putin prefers a bad peace

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By Israel Shamir

In February, it is a long way to the spring, lamented Joseph Brodsky, the poet. Indeed, snow still falls heavily in Moscow and Kiev as well as in the rolling steppes that form Russian-Ukrainian borderlands, but there it is tinted with red. Soldiers are loth to fight in the winter, when life is difficult anyway in these latitudes, but fighting already flared up in war-torn Donbass, and the US prepares to escalate by supplying sophisticated weapons to Kiev. Tired by the siege and by intermittent shelling, the rebels disregarded snow and took the strategic Donetsk airport. This airport with its Stalin-built tunnels, a symbol of solid Soviet defence work, presented a huge challenge for underequipped militia. Its many-leveled underground facilities were built to sustain a nuclear attack; still, the rebels, after months of fighting, flushed the enemy out and took it. 

Ukraine SITREP: *Extremely* dangerous situation in Debaltsevo

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The Novorussian and the junta have agreed to a cease-fire to allow the civilian population to leave Debaltsevo.  In theory, each civilian will get to chose whether he/she wants to be evacuated to Novorussia or to the Nazi-occupied Ukraine.  The convoy of refugees will be escorted by senior OSCE officials.  Both sides to the conflict have pledged not to open fire during the time needed for this operation.  Now consider this:

From Napoleon to Adolf Hitler to Conchita Wurst

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The EU met again and, with the Greek vote, they prolonged  more sanctions on Russia.  In the meantime, the EU-backed junta is continuing to kill scores of civilians in Novorussia every day.  And while for "Charlie", we saw millions in the streets, nobody seems to care.  Worse, the EU is backing the Nazis murderers (I won't even mention the USA).

This is tragic in more then one way.  Of course, this is tragic for the people of Novorussia, but it is no less tragic for the Ukrainian people how now are living under a Nazi regime with no foreseeable hope for change.  This is also tragic for the Russian people who are suffering the economic consequences of the sanctions.  And, of course, this is tragic for the people of Europe who are also suffering from these (self-defeating) sanctions.  But there is something else happening which might have very long lasting consequences.

Interview with Dmitry Rogozin, Deputy PM of Russia

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War in the Ukraine

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by Alexander Mercouris

Russia Insider has published my latest piece on the course of the Ukrainian war. It is a more refined and thought through version of the piece I previously wrote on this Page.

http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/02/02/3054

1. My key point is that it is not minor tactical movements that are determining the course of this war. It is the level of casualties the Ukrainian military is suffering. They were hammered in the summer and they are being hammered again now.

And Hell was following them…

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source: http://actualcomment.ru/i-ad-sledoval-za-nimi.html

(Translated by Eugene)

I don’t know who exactly (Turchinov? Poroshenko?) commanded the Ukrainian army to disrupt the truce. But I am sure that this decision was taken in Washington.

It is not an accident that this suicidal provocation was preceded by the visit of G. Soros to Kiev. This elderly “philanthropist” who, together with the US Department of State, sponsored all post-soviet fascist regimes (from Saakashvili’s Georgia to Poroshenko’s Ukraine), was most qualified to assess the financial state of the regime in Kiev and to decide whether it still makes sense to continue prolongation of the agony by monetary injections. His public statement, reprinted by media on January 14, left no doubt - the patient is dead, the corpse is stiff, its resuscitation is meaningless. 

The limits of what can be expected from the SYRIZA government

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by Wayne Hall



The above analysis of the politics of SYRIZA and its government does not say anything that is untrue, but it leaves out of account a number of points that are relevant in estimating the political potential of the new Greek government.

For a start, SYRIZA does not touch on any taboo “conspiracy theory” issues, such as 911 and/or the militarization of climate. They have systematically and resolutely refused to engage any of them. They line up with the side of the climate debate that attributes all anomalous “natural” phenomena to “global warming” (of course the other side of that debate is also manipulated).

Blog Post of The day: Saker's take on the Geneva Conventions

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I get a lot of comments to the effect that the Geneva Conventions (GC) are only for victors, or inapplicable in war, or wishful thinking etc.

I very much disagree.

For the following reasons:

First, there is a difference between a solider and a thug and that difference is not in the guns they carry, but in what they do and why they do it.  Yes, there are indeed bad soldiers who act like thugs, but that does not mean that our society has to accept that and confuse aberration with the norm.  The norm, the ideal, must be upheld for the sake of being civilized.

NYT Is Lost in Its Ukraine Propaganda

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Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland during a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 7, 2014. (U.S. State Department photo)

Exclusive: One danger of lying is that you must then incorporate the falsehood into the longer narrative, somehow making the lies fit. The same is true of propaganda as the New York Times is learning as it continues to falsify the narrative of the Ukraine crisis, writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

In late February, a conference is scheduled in New York City to discuss the risk of nuclear war if computers reach the level of artificial intelligence and take decisions out of human hands. But there is already the old-fashioned danger of nuclear war, started by human miscalculation, fed by hubris and propaganda.

Ukraine Civil War: Commander Givi and the Geneva Conventions - The saker

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There has been a lot of criticisms of the battalion "Somali" and Givi for the way they treated the junta's prisoners, including the Colonel who, apparently, was the commander of the junta's 93rd Brigade.  Let me begin by agreeing with those who say that the treatment of these prisoners did violate the Geneva conventions, no doubt about it in my mind.

The law (or how it maybe would be in a perfect world)

The first thing to notice here is that the Geneva Conventions (GC) apply primarily to international conflicts, not to civil wars. They do however have a Common Article 3 which is specifically tailored to "non-international conflicts". Common article 3 has a section c which prohibit: "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment".  Since Givi's purpose was precisely to humiliate his prisoners, you can say that his actions were in violations of the GC.

"When the word comes ‘it’s time’" -- Zakharchenko's geopolitical analysis

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Translated from Russian by J.Hawk for FortRuss 

If one is to speak without geopolitical complexities and nuances, the situation is extremely simple. This is a battle for the continent, for the international system, for one’s own taiga. They are desperately attacking us and are trying to take us down quickly. They use all means at their disposal, except for direct military intervention on Russia’s territory. They are destroying Russians outside their boarders, are raising foreign legions in order to invade the country. The West undertook to destroy us for the simple reason it is trying to avert its own destruction. The main factors are the destruction of the economy and of the political authorities of Russia. 

Europe’s addiction to Russian gas: How long before withdrawal symptoms set in?

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by Leonid Krutakov for Odnako

(translated by: Robin)

In mid-January, EU Energy Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič held talks with Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in Moscow. After the talks, Mr. Šefčovič expressed surprise at three circumstances. 

First, Gazprom has no intention of building the South Stream pipeline. Second, in the future natural gas will be delivered to Europe via Turkey. And, third, Russia is not prepared to discuss the terms of its gas deliveries to Ukraine. 

To quote Mr. Šefčovič, all three circumstances, were “very surprising,” even though Russia’s decision to cancel South Stream and instead build Turkish Stream was announced in December of last year in Ankara at a joint press conference held by the Presidents of Russia and Turkey. 

Glorification of terrorism: a teenager prosecuted in France because of a cartoon on Facebook

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Translated by Jenny Bright for Tlaxcala 

A 16 year-old teenager in France was indicted for glorifying terrorism after he published a cartoon representing a character with the Charlie Hebdo journal, hit by bullets, with an accompanying ironic comment. 

The current situation is, to say the least, paradoxical. Last weekend, following the terrible attacks that took place right in the middle of Paris, large rallies were held throughout the country to denounce terrorism and to remind the world of France's commitment to the fundamental principles of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. 

Ukraine SITREP 26th January

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I have been trying to wait as long as possible to get some facts confirmed, but at this point in time I am confident enough to say that there are numerous and convergent signs that things are going extremely badly for the Kiev junta. Just look at the following recent headlines:

• ​Kiev urgently summons NATO-Ukraine meeting in Brussels
• Junta officers get the right to shoot their man in case of insubordination
• Kiev introduces state of emergency in Donbass, high alert across Ukraine
• Resistance to New Wave of Ukraine Mobilization Has Already Begun
• Panic in Kiev: Ukrainian forces surrender Donbass

Clearly, things are not going well *at all* for the Junta.

Hungary: Next Stop on the Putsch Express

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Submitted by Andrew Kahn for Voice of América
(Twitter @akahnnyc)

Once is a conspiracy theory. Twice is a coincidence. Thrice gets people wondering. Four times and the polished denials begin as conspiracy theory has become neoliberal reality.

So it is in the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet regions. Yugoslavia, Croatia, Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine. And where next? The number has gone way beyond four - the time of polished denials. To deny the conspiracy is meaningless at this point for it is not merely a conspiracy shrouded in the minds of tin-hat quacks but it is in the open for all to see; that is, whoever wishes to open their eyes to what is happening.
Continue..