Russia to protect citizens from GMO food without violating its WTO obligations - Putin - News - World - The Voice of Russia:

Russia has enough mechanisms to protect the market and citizens from genetically modified food, without violating its obligations to the WTO, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

"We must build our work so as it will not be contrary to our obligations within the WTO, but even with the circumstance taken into consideration, we nevertheless have lawful methods and instruments to protect the domestic market and citizens," the president noted during the meeting with members of the council of the parliament's upper house.

The market and citizens must be protected from poor-quality products and food, consequences of consumption of which are not fully studied yet, he notes.

"We can, must and will do it," Putin said, noting that the issue was discussed by the Security Council recently.

  

Russia to protect citizens from GMO food without violating its WTO obligations - Putin

From Libya to Ukraine » CounterPunch

On the off-chance you have not been paying attention for the last couple of weeks, the US State Department, led by Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland,  embarked on and succeeded in an overthrow of the legitimately elected government in Ukraine.

In considering the US State Department’s participation in the Ukrainian coup, it might have surprised some Americans to realize how deeply embedded the State Department was as a behind-the-scenes player, thoroughly invested in creating a  “spontaneous” rebellion.   So now, the paying-attention segment of the American public has realized that the State Department, the supposed-diplomatic arm of the US government, has been doing less diplomacy and negotiation and more organizing a team of hooligans to disrupt-and-destabilize as it gives a well-timed thumbs-up to the CIA or whoever it is who accomplishes their evil deeds.

Keeping the State Department’s Ukrainian role in mind, you might wonder  what neo-con favorite Hilary Clinton was doing during her four years as Secretary when she traveled to 112 countries, met with 1700 world leaders and racked up 956,733 miles to the kudos of the American press as the most traveled Secretary of State in history.  Well, that’s a lot of …diplomacy.   Some how I don’t think she was  brushing up on her conversational  French or appreciating Hungarian palascinta or learning new dance steps in South Africa.  Having visited an average of 425 leaders a year is some serious sightseeing …so what exactly was she talking about to1700 world leaders?

A review of Clinton’s Official State Department Travel Schedule as Secretary is worth more than a quick scrutiny especially when a series of ambiguous meetings in 2011 with the Libyan Contact Group (LCG) jumps off the page.  Perhaps the LCG were a rag tag group of well-meaning Libyans caught up in the Arab Spring phenomena – but no, they were anything but.  In a nutshell, the LCG was a US sponsored UN-like organization (but without the UN’s democratic principles) to provide the necessary political cover and create the illusion of international acceptance for the US illegal designs on Libya by fomenting a ‘rebellion’ to oust Muammar Qaddafi.  Formed on March 19 in London, the original Libya Contact Group consisted of two dozen self-appointed countries lacking the international authority to make decisions and take action regarding the sovereignty of another country. The LCG had no legal standing, acted outside the standards of international law and was not accountable to anyone.  It is politically noteworthy that the BRICS countries (Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa) all either refused to participate or only sent occasional observers.

   

From Libya to Ukraine » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

What Really Happened in Ukraine? | Dissident Voice

Russia has taught the United States a stern and embarrassing lesson in Ukraine as a riposte to Washington-backed regime change in Kiev, the capital. “So far,” Moscow in effect warned a thoroughly shocked Washington, “but no further.” President Vladimir Putin then annexed Crimea.

Nothing quite like this move on the geopolitical chessboard has happened since the U.S. became the world’s single superpower over two decades ago.

The objective of the Obama Administration’s support for a coup to remove an essentially neutral Ukrainian government (though neighborly toward Russia) was to install a regime leaning toward — and economically dependent upon — the United States and the European Union. The purpose is to compromise Russia’s revival as a regional power critical of U.S. policies.

The neutrality of the Kiev government, if not close ties, is exceptionally important to Moscow for its own long-term regional goals, and it will work toward repairing relations in time. Considerable support for Russia remains in the country.

Washington was obviously disoriented by Russia’s unexpected move in Ukraine, and perhaps even more so when Putin shrugged off President Obama’s subsequent threats. But for all the anti-Russia rhetoric, sanctions and other punishments emanating from the U.S. and EU, the danger of an armed clash or greatly heightened East-West tensions is relatively remote at the moment, but if the confrontations continue there may be more serious problems ahead.

What Really Happened in Ukraine? | Dissident Voice

Meet the Americans Who Put Together the Coup in Kiev

If the US State Department's Victoria Nuland had not said "Fuck the EU," few outsiders at the time would have heard of Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, the man on the other end of her famously bugged telephone call. But now Washington's man in Kiev is gaining fame as the face of the CIA-style "destabilization campaign" that brought down Ukraine's monumentally corrupt but legitimately elected President Viktor Yanukovych.

"Geoffrey Pyatt is one of these State Department high officials who does what he’s told and fancies himself as a kind of a CIA operator," laughs Ray McGovern, who worked for 27 years as an intelligence analyst for the agency. "It used to be the CIA doing these things," he tells Democracy Now. "I know that for a fact." Now it's the State Department, with its coat-and-tie diplomats, twitter and facebook accounts, and a trick bag of goodies to build support for American policy.

A retired apparatchik, the now repentant McGovern was debating Yale historian Timothy Snyder, a self-described left-winger and the author of two recent essays in The New York Review of Books – "The Haze of Propaganda" and "Fascism, Russia, and Ukraine." Both men speak Russian, but they come from different planets.

On Planet McGovern – or my personal take on it – realpolitik rules. The State Department controls the prime funding sources for non-military intervention, including the controversial National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which Washington created to fund covert and clandestine action after Ramparts magazine and others exposed how the CIA channeled money through private foundations, including the Ford Foundation. State also controls the far-better-funded Agency for International Development (USAID), along with a growing network of front groups, cut-outs, and private contractors. State coordinates with like-minded governments and their parallel institutions, mostly in Canada and Western Europe. State's "democracy bureaucracy" oversees nominally private but largely government funded groups like Freedom House. And through Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, State had Geoff Pyatt coordinate the coup in Kiev.

Meet the Americans Who Put Together the Coup in Kiev

The Vineyard of the Saker - Was the first shot of the upcoming Ukrainian civil war just fired?

There are pretty good signs that the shots which killed Aleksandr Muzychko might turn out to be the first ones of the upcoming civil war.

So far, what happened was not a civil war, but a armed insurrection followed by a coup, a revolution for sure, but not a civil war.  What is beginning to take place now is very different.  Consider this:

1)  There are now four very different forces in the Ukraine:

the US/EU run oligarchs (Timoshenko, Iatseniuk, etc)

the US funded but probably not really controlled neo-Nazi crazies (Tiagnibok and Right Sector

the local mobsters pretending to be revolutionaries

the Russian speakers

This makes for a very dangerous and volatile combination

2) There are numerous reports of assaults, lynchings, pogroms, murders, intimidations and robberies all over the Ukraine.  Some are committed by the neo-Nazis, some by mobsters pretending to act in the name of the revolution.  The population is very fearful not only for its future, but even for its present.

3) The state, or what remains of it, is clearly controlled by the oligarchs, but there is very little it can do since the only instrument of power which it controls is the SBU, the Ukrainian state security, which is phenomenally corrupt, whose best cadre have left a long time ago and which is basically taking orders from the CIA.  There are also some police forces (special SWAT teams, cops from the western Ukraine), but they are few in numbers.  They can kidnap this or that Russian-speaker or kill some individual (like Muzychko), but they cannot fight the neo-Nazis or mobsters.

   

The Vineyard of the Saker - Was the first shot of the upcoming Ukrainian civil war just fired?

How Much War Does Washington Want? -- Paul Craig Roberts - PaulCraigRoberts.org

“America does not at the moment have a functioning democracy.”

Former US President Jimmy Carter

I doubt that the Ukraine crisis precipitated by Washington’s overthrow of the democratic government is over. Washington has won the propaganda war everywhere outside of Russia and Ukraine itself. Within Ukraine people are aware that the coup has made them worse off. The Crimea has already separated from the US puppet government in Kiev and rejoined Russia. Other parts of Russian Ukraine could follow.

In Kiev itself where the unelected, imposed-by-Washington dictatorial government resides, extreme right-wing Ukrainian nationalists, whose roots go back to fighting for National Socialist Germany, are at work intimidating public prosecutors, media editors, and the US imposed “government” itself. There is an abundance of videos available on the Internet, some made by the extreme nationalists themselves, that clearly reveal the intimidation of the imposed and unelected government installed by Washington..

In Kiev US bribes contend with naked neo-nazi force. Which will prevail?

The murder of ultra-nationalist Right Sector militant leader Myzychko by police of the acting Interior Minister of the American stooge government in Ukraine on March 25 has resulted in another Right Sector leader, Dmitry Yarosh, demanding the resignation of Arsen Avakov, the acting Interior Minister and the arrest of the police who killed Muzychko. Yarosh declared: “We cannot watch silently as the Interior Ministry works to undermine the revolution.” Right Sector organizer Roman Koval in Rovno, Ukraine, warned: “We will take revenge on Avakov for the death of our brother.”

   

How Much War Does Washington Want? -- Paul Craig Roberts - PaulCraigRoberts.org

Crimea River, Obama’s Ukrainian Blunder By Mike Whitney

”There is no question but that Russia is confronted with an existential threat. The integration of Ukraine into the expanding anti-Moscow alliance would render Russia more vulnerable to imperialist aggression and destabilization. Future operations will unfold not only on the periphery of Russia, but within its borders. The United States and the European imperialist powers will have no difficulty finding new “human rights” causes to encourage, finance and arm.”” – The Crisis in Ukraine”, International Committee of the Fourth International

“In the eastern part of Ukraine and Crimea in particular, we have seen the emergence of people from Kiev with a clear intention of repeating what has been happening in the Western part of Ukraine.” (Coup plotters) “want to replace regional governments.” – Vitaly Churkin, the Russian Federation’s ambassador to the United Nations

Here’s something you won’t read in the mainstream media: Ukraine’s fake revolution is over. It ended when Russian Intelligence agents uncovered a plan by coup plotters to destabilize the Crimea using the same strategy they’d used in Kiev, that is, seizing government buildings, inciting violence, and spreading terror. The discovery, which included “hacked” e mails, shaped events on the ground. Russian troops were deployed to beef up security at the airports and government buildings making it impossible for the putsch to succeed. In other words, the Kremlin implemented its own ”preemption” scheme and it worked like a charm. The Washington-backed coup in the Crimea was foiled and order was maintained. Score one for Russia. Here’s the scoop from blogger Moon of Alabama from a post titled “The Crimean Anti-Coup Move”. Here’s an excerpt:

“On February 27 Russian forces stationed in the Crimea and supported by allegedly local paramilitary took over security at two airports and of some government buildings in Crimean cities. A Turkish flight to Simferopol airport was called back and further Turkish fights to Crimea were canceled.” (“The Crimean Anti-Coup Move” Moon of Alabama,)

  

Crimea River, Obama’s Ukrainian Blunder By Mike Whitney | I

Dear Ukrainians, Your Gas Bill Goes Up By 50% On May 1, Have A Nice Day | Zero Hedge

We assume this is not what President Obama meant when he said "costs"...

*UKRAINE TO RAISE GAS PRICES FOR HOUSEHOLDS 50% FROM MAY 1

*UKRAINE TO RAISE GAS PRICE FOR HEATING UTILITIES 40% FROM JULY

As we warned previously, "the honeymoon is over" and it seems, from today's address, President Obama is about to mandate who and where the free market for natgas delivers it supply.

Of course, this is not about to get better anytime soon:

*NAFTOGAZ UKRAINY SAYS GAS DEBT TO GAZPROM IS $1.7B: KOBOLYEV

But President Obama is disappointed in the free market.

“We’ve already licensed, authorized the export of as much natural gas each day as Europe uses each day; but it’s going into the open market; it’s not targeted directly,” President Obama says.

“It’s going through private companies who get these licenses and they make decisions on the world market about where that energy is going to be sold,” Obama says at news conference in Brussels

Dear Ukrainians, Your Gas Bill Goes Up By 50% On May 1, Have A Nice Day | Zero Hedge

Seattle police break promise to return drones to manufacturer — RT USA

Over a year after public outcry led the Seattle Police Department to promise to return its two drones to their manufacturer, the drones remain in its possession, albeit grounded.

The Seattle PD purchased two Draganflyer X-6 Helicopter Tech unmanned aerial vehicles for $82,000 in 2010, funded by grants from the Department of Homeland Security. Neither the city council nor the public knew of the police drone program until a 2012 lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation over the department’s application for operation certificates from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2010.

The EFF lawsuit revealed that Seattle police received Urban Area Security Initiative funding from DHS not only to buy the drones, but to pay for UAV flight training and ground school for police officers. Both of those training programs are required to receive FAA certification. The resulting public outcry over the lawsuit forced the mayor to pull the plug on the program in February 2013.

“It was time to end the unmanned aerial vehicle program, so that SPD can focus its resources on public safety and the community building work that is the department's priority," the mayor said to the media at the time. “The vehicles will be returned to the vendor.”

Seattle police break promise to return drones to manufacturer — RT USA

Western Mercenaries in Ukraine? > Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation

Recent rumors of notorious Blackwater US mercenaries operating inside of Ukraine invoked a plausible narrative so convincing even news outlets across the West began echoing it. 

UK’s Daily Mail article “Has Blackwater been deployed to Ukraine? Notorious U.S. mercenaries ‘seen on the streets of flashpoint city’ as Russia claims 300 hired guns have arrived in country” stated “a Russian diplomat in Kiev told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday that 300 employees of private security companies had arrived there.”

The article continued by stating, “‘These are soldiers of fortune proficient in combat operations. Most of them had operated under private contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other states,” the source said. Interfax reported that the diplomat did not disclose the nationalities of the mercenaries but said, ‘Most of them come from the United States’.” 

An accompanying video showed unidentified armed men running through the streets of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, however it appeared unrelated to the claims made by the Russian diplomat.

Western Mercenaries in Ukraine? > Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation

The Vineyard of the Saker: The US shale gas canard

Dear friends,

Several of you have asked my opinion about the article by U.S. Prepares to Gas Russia Into Submission by Glenn Ford.  I don't have the time for a detailed reply, but I will say this: the entire notion of US shale fracking sent to Europe to undermine Russia is a canard. Not only does the entire infrastructure for this project need to be built - at huge costs - but it would take several years. Several absolutely critical years as the crisis in Crimea has forced Putin and his "Eurasian Sovereignists" (for an explanation of these terms see here, here and here) to "come out of the closet" and openly confront the AngloZionist empire and now this is a race against time: will the Empire have the time and means to disengage Russia from the West before Russia realigns itself with China and the rest of Asia or will the West be dependent on Russia long enough to allow Russia to realign?  I am quite confident that Russia will win this race, which makes the entire issue of us gas irrelevant.

Speaking of China and the West: consider that China's energy needs are immense, as they are in most of Asia and add to this that under Obama (did this guy ever ever do something not stupid?!) the US has openly adopted a new anti-Chinese policy which aims at "containing" China, i.e. preventing it form acquiring the type of influence which it would naturally have in the Asian-Pacific region.  The Chinese are not stupid, they know that they are next in line for "democracy" and "freedom" and they understand that without Russian help (energy, weapons, political) they cannot resist the Empire. Bottom line, both China and Russia must enter into a deep symbiosis (if not a formal "alliance") and help each other.  And there is no doubt in my mind at all the both Putin and Xi Jinping are both doing exactly that.

As for Europe - it is a depressed economy, a socially bankrupt continent, and a US protectorate.  The Kremlin understands all that, and while they will be more than happy to sell energy (or anything else) to the EU, they know that they cannot make any long-term plans with such partners: the AngloZionist Empire is an existential threat to Russia and Europe is just a US protectorate with no personal opinion, identity or policy other than "yes, Mr. President, whatever you say Mr. President".

   

The Vineyard of the Saker: The US shale gas canard

Resource Insights: Ukraine, Russia and the nonexistent U.S. oil and natural gas "weapon"

Commentators were falling all over themselves last week to announce that far from being impotent in the Ukraine crisis, the United States had a very important weapon: growing oil and natural gas production which could compete on the world market and challenge Russian dominance over Ukrainian and European energy supplies--if only the U.S. government would change the laws and allow this bounty to be exported.

But, there's one very big problem with this view. The United States is still a net importer of both oil and natural gas. The economics of natural gas exports beyond Mexico and Canada--which are both integrated into a North American pipeline system--suggest that such exports will be very limited if they ever come at all. And, there is no reasonable prospect that the United States will ever become a net exporter of oil.

U.S. net imports of crude oil and petroleum products are approximately 6.4 million barrels per day (mbpd). (This estimate sits between the official U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) numbers of 5.5 mbpd of net petroleum liquids imports and 7.5 mbpd of net crude oil imports. And so, to understand my calculations, please see two comments I made in a previous piece here and here. My number is for December 2013, the latest month for which the complete statistics needed to make my more accurate calculation are available.)

The EIA in its own forecast predicts that U.S. crude oil production (defined as crude including lease condensate) will experience a tertiary peak in 2016 around 9.5 mbpd just below the all-time 1970 peak and then decline starting in 2020. This level is far below 2013 U.S. consumption of about 13.2 mbpd of actual petroleum-derived liquid fuels. (This number excludes natural gas-derived liquids which can only be substituted for petroleum-derived liquids on a very limited basis.)

So, when exactly is the United States going to drown the world market in oil and thereby challenge the Russian oil export machine? The most plausible answer is never. And, the expected 2016 peak in U.S. production is only about 1.5 mbpd higher than production today. That's really quite small compared to worldwide oil production of about 76 mbpd. And, there's no guarantee that the rest of the world isn't going to see a decline in oil production between now and then. So much for the supposed U.S. oil "weapon" taming the Russian bear.

   

Resource Insights: Ukraine, Russia and the nonexistent U.S. oil and natural gas "weapon"

The Vineyard of the Saker: Western international diplomacy as a dead baby joke

I have just been watching the news and, frankly, I ended up laughing.

First, I saw the Eurobureaucrats adding another 12 or so names to a list of 20 or so (sorry, I was not paying attention) names which are going to be on the sanctions list.  The US did something similar yesterday.  Looking at that circus, I was wondering: does these imbeciles really believe that these puny sanctions of 30-40 individuals will make Russia suddenly change course, apologize and leave Crimea? Have they forgotten that during WWII Leningrad was blockaded by German forces for nine hundred (900!  Not 33 like Hezbollah or 78 like the Serbs - 900) days and that it was pounded by the German Air Force and artillery during each one of these 900 days, that most men died and that the city at the end was defended by mostly women, that hunger was so bad that people were making "soup" from glue used to put up posters, that medicine had run out and that the winter colds were brutal and yet that the Russian people did not surrender?!  Don't they understand that for Russians Crimea is at least as important as Stalingrad was?  Do they seriously think that their stupid little sanctions will affect a country which was - and still is - willing to go to war over Crimea?

Amazing.  Just amazing...

Then, I saw that western credit rating agencies were about to lower the credit rating of Russia (which up to now had been BBB, iirr).  Russia with a debt of 12% would be lowered, while the USA with a debt over 100% maintained a AAA.  Who is going to take that seriously.  But even better, the net result of that will be that it is going to be more expensive for Russians to get financing from western banks.  Again, I wonder in total awe.  Do these western financiers really not know that the issues of the high interest rates inside Russia (in comparison to the interest rates enjoyed by Russian companies with their corporate headquarters in the EU and US) was a major political issues which constantly opposed the "Eurasian sovereignists" to the "Atlantic integrationists"?  (for an explanation of these terms see here, here and here).  Think of it - what does Putin want?  He was a) a bigger share of investment in Russia coming from Russian banks, b) more companies incorporated in Russia c) a way to prevent Russian officials from having any assets abroad.

Frankly, Russia and Putin owe the western financiers and bureaucrats a big "thank you!!" for helping the Eurasian sovereignists in their struggle against the Atlantic integrationists...

   

The Vineyard of the Saker: Western international diplomacy as a dead baby joke

The Vineyard of the Saker: Are the US elites finally coming back to their senses?

I won't even bother to discuss the topic of US and EU sanctions against Russia as this is only utter nonsense aimed at appeasing a few lobbies and proving to the general public that western leaders are "tough".  Let's, however, look at two interesting developments:

1) Obama has declared that the US will not go to war over the Ukraine.  As usual, Obama tightly wrapped the key words in a lot of nonsensical political hot air, but he did state the following: 

"We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine. What we are going to do is mobilize all of our diplomatic resources to make sure that we’ve got a strong international correlation that sends a clear message".  In other words - there is no military option.  Speaking about Putin Obama also said: "His strategic decisions are in no way based on whether he thought that we might go to war over this".  In other words, Putin is not bluffing and he does not fear us".  Good.  Somebody (Dempsey?) finally talked some sense into this man.

2) A former US ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987-1991, John Matlock, wrote an editorial for Time magazine in which he shows a surprising amount of basic common sense (illustrating yet again my thesis that the quality of US diplomats today is infinitely worse than what it used to be 20 years ago).  I recommend that you read the full editorial - just to get a sense of the man - but I want to quote what I believe is the key section of the editorial:

Though they may be difficult for all relevant parties to accept, the premises of a solution to the Ukrainian mess are clear: 1) The new constitution should provide for a federal structure of government giving at least as many rights to its provinces as American states have; 2) The Russian language must be given equal status with Ukrainian; and 3) There must be guarantees that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO, or any other military alliance that excludes Russia. 

The Vineyard of the Saker: Are the US elites finally coming back to their senses?

‘Revival of anarchy’: Ukraine radicals rob Russia-Moldova train passengers.

‘Revival of anarchy’: Ukraine radicals rob Russia-Moldova train passengers > Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation

   

The recent robbing of passengers, traveling from Russia to Moldova via Ukraine’s territory, by a local ultra-nationalist Insurgent Army is a manifestation of “anarchy,” the Russian Foreign Ministry has said.

On March 21, the train, en route from Moscow to the capital of Moldova, Chisinau, made a scheduled stop in the city of Vinnitsa in central Ukraine.

“To the horror of passengers…people dressed in the uniform of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) got into carriages and began a ‘document check’. People who showed Russian passports were then made to hand over their money and golden jewelry,” the Russian Ministry said on Monday in a statement published on its website.

The robbery was accompanied with “political sensitization,” diplomats said.

Moscow also said it was “bewildered” by the refusal of the Ukrainian police to take any action when the victims attempted to file a report.

   

‘Revival of anarchy’: Ukraine radicals rob Russia-Moldova train passengers > Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation

The Vineyard of the Saker: The Ukraine accelerates its national suicide, but then decides to think it over

As I have already written here many times, what is currently taking place in the Ukraine is basically a bizarre form of national suicide.  The strangest aspect of this is the kind of bizarre zig-zag the new revolutionary regime is constantly making like, for example, in the case of the law on languages which removed the official status of the Russian language and which was repealed almost immediately after its adoption.  Well, the Ukies did it again.

First, they passed a law introducing visas with Russia.  Then, somebody realized that the amount of money sent home by Ukrainians working in Russia was roughly equal to 12% of the Ukrainian GDP.  Then, somebody also realized that most of the folks working in Russia are not from the eastern Ukraine, which actually has a semi functional industry and economy, but from the poor western Ukraine and that the only people hurt by the passing of such a visa regime would be the western Ukrainians amongst whom the vast majority of the neo-Nazis from the Right Sector and the "Freedom" Party are recruited.  So they "suspended" that decision.

In the meantime, the Nazi thugs have stormed a well-known vodka factory in the western Ukraine.  The resulting drunken stupor must be a "fringe benefit" of revolutionary fervor...

The Saker

The Vineyard of the Saker: The Ukraine accelerates its national suicide, but then decides to think it over

The Vineyard of the Saker: Today every free person in the world has won!

We feel that we won; Lebanon won; Palestine won; the Arab nation won, and every oppressed, aggrieved person in this world also won. Our victory is not the victory of a party. I repeat what I said in Bint Jbeil on 25 May 2000: It is not the victory of a party or a community; rather it is a victory for true Lebanon, the true Lebanese people, and every free person in the world. Don’t distort this big historic victory. Do not contain it in party, sectarian, communal, or regional clans. This victory is too big to be comprehended by us. The next weeks, months, and years will confirm this.  

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, “Divine Victory Speech”, 2006

Following the past few, truly incredible, days which saw momentous developments taking place at an amazingly rapid pace, I think that it is time to take a moment to calmly and carefully reflect about what I consider to be a historical event of an immense magnitude. Formally, this event will be recorded as the “The address of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the State Duma deputies, Federation Council members, heads of Russian regions and civil society representatives in the Kremlin”. In reality, of course, this was much more. This was the address of the New Russia to the entire world and, especially, to the many people worldwide who reject the social, economic and political model embodied in the current AngloZionist Empire otherwise known as “The West”, including those inside the so-called “West”. 

The great disconnect between the 1% and 99% 

In the hours following Putin's speech I was amazed to see the total disconnect between what I just had heard, the reaction of the people in Russia, and the way the official corporate media covered the event. In Russia senior political figures compared what had just taken place with the victory against Nazi Germany in 1945, they repeated over and over again that what had just taken place would create a new world order and that the nature of the system of international relations had been changed forever.  And yet, the western corporate media spoke about the pomp of the ceremony and how Putin had justified the Russian annexation of Crimea. Had they listened to a different speech?! 

But then came the reactions of the readers of my blog who in increasing numbers were reporting that they had listening to Putin's speech with tears in their eyes. Many even praised Putin in terms that would make even a Kremlin PR officer blush with embarrassment. What was going on here? Clearly my readers were not only apprising the contents of Putin's speech and expressing their overall agreement with his views, no, they were having a deeply emotional reaction to something which they had felt deep inside their gut and in their souls, something which powerfully resonated deeply inside them. Why? Very few of these readers had any connections to Russia, even less had any Russian roots. Some had even served in the US military against the Soviet-backed Vietnamese. The vast majority were old enough to vividly remember the Cold War and how it felt to live under the bulleye of the Soviet nuclear forces. And yet these people clearly totally rejected the official view of the corporate media and adopted a radically different view. Why?

The Vineyard of the Saker: Today every free person in the world has won!

The Vineyard of the Saker: How the US dream of world supremacy was buried in Crimea

These are official results from the referendum in Crimea:

96.77% voted for Crimea to join Russia

02.51% voted for Crimea to remain a sovereign autonomous republic inside the Ukraine

00.72% of the votes were declared invalid

83.10% of the eligible voters participated in this referendum (thus:16.9% did not vote)

As a reminder, this is the official ethnic makeup of Crimea (in 2001):

58.32% Russians

24.32% Ukrainians

12.10% Crimean Tatars

Okay, so what does this mean?

First and foremost, the participation was massive and the 'yes' to Russia won by a landslide.

Second, this was not a vote along ethnic lines.  When we say that are 58.32% Russians in Crimea that does not mean that all of these are eligible voters as children are not allowed to vote.  So the real figure of eligible Russian voters in Crimea is probably well under 50%.  And yet the results show that 96.77% of the eligible voters voted to join Russia.  Where did the rest of the 43.77% (more or less) come from?  It had to be from Ukrainian and Tatar voters.  Even if we assume that 100% of the Russians in Crimea were eligible voters and that they all showed up to vote and all of them voted for the 'yes' to Russia, it still leaves 35.45% of the 'yes' vote to non-Russians.  Even 100% of the Ukrainians does not fill the gap.  In other words, the so-called "Tatar boycott" of this referendum is a complete fabrication of the western media.

Now, this begs the question: why would the Crimean Tatars, who were brutally repressed and massively deported under Stalin and many of whom were seen screaming Allahu Akbar! in clashes with pro-Russian demonstrators suddenly decide to vote for Russia?  Did they suddenly change their minds?  Did the "Polite Armed Green Men" come to their houses and force them to vote at gunpoint?  Of course not.  The explanation is much simpler: in 22 years of independence the Ukraine did exactly nothing to help the Crimean Tatar people, language or culture, nevermind compensating them for their suffering.  In contrast, Russia passed a law called "Law on the Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples"(here in Russian; here in a Bing machine translation) as early as 1991 which basically solves the problem for the Crimean Tatars who will get what they have always hoped for right along their brand new Russian passports.  Yes, of course, there are some Crimean-Tatars who would have preferred to remain under Ukrainian sovereignty because they believe that Russians are inherently capable of repeating the actions of Stalin at any time and that Russian nationalism is a threat to them.  I don't mean to suggest that they are smart - only that some of them do really believe that.  Some Muslim radicals want to either be part of Turkey or create their own Islamic state.  Fair enough - but they are a minority within a minority and thus, frankly, quite irrelevant.  The reality is that this entire "Crimean Tatar issue" is a canard cooked up in the West in the desperate hope to find some kind of "ethnic/religious fulcrum" to deny the legitimacy of this referendum and stir up more ethnic trouble.  The results show that this plan clearly failed.

So what is going to happen next?

   

The Vineyard of the Saker: How the US dream of world supremacy was buried in Crimea

Time to end condoning of Ukrainian Right Sector militants, Svoboda activists

 Time to end condoning of Ukrainian Right Sector militants, Svoboda activists - Lavrov - News - World - The Voice of Russia:

   

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told United States Secretary of State John Kerry by telephone on Thursday that Washington should stop condoning Ukrainian nationalists and extremists.

"Lavrov stressed that the decision on Crimea's reunification with Russia reflected the expression of will of the absolute majority of its people, that it may not be reviewed and must be respected. The minister noted the unacceptability of provocations aimed at destabilizing the situation in Crimea," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.

The foreign-policy chiefs continued to discuss the situation in Ukraine and possible international assistance in tackling this country's political crisis, including through the organization of international monitoring of human rights and the rights of ethnic minorities in a form that is acceptable for all Ukrainians.

"Lavrov drew particular attention to the ongoing violence by ultranationalist and extremist forces targeting businessmen and journalists, dissenters, the Russian-speaking population and our compatriots. It is time to put an end to the condoning of the Right Sector militants and Svoboda party 'activists'," the statement said.

"The Minister and the Secretary of State agreed to stay in touch over Ukraine, including to discuss ways to de-escalate the situation and assisting the launch of constitutional reform in Ukraine with full participation of all of the country's regions," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

   

Time to end condoning of Ukrainian Right Sector militants, Svoboda activists - Lavrov - News - World - The Voice of Russia:

The Ukraine Crisis and Vladimir Putin: A New Financial System Free from Wall Street and the City of London? | Global Research

The Ukrainian crisis? It is basically the opposite of what the media and politicians keep repeating both in the US and Europe. They say that the so-called International community have isolated Russia and Vladimir Putin.

In fact it is the real sponsors of the coup d’état and the violence in Ukraine who are isolated not only morally but also strategically.

And it is Putin, the first leader who resisted and defeated the strategy of world domination, who is enjoying the enthusiastic support of his people and the growing admiration of the world. The well financed media and politicians do not want to hear this, but this is the reality. Without exaggeration, one can compare this resistance to that against Napoleon and Hitler…

Only few know precisely how dangerous the situation has been. How close to a real war.

The incompetent representatives of the ‘international community’ lost any sense of reality and deployed the weapons of social destabilization, armed insurrection, assassination by snipers, a fascist March on Kiev reminiscent of Mussolini’s March on Rome, targeting of the Russian population.

They intended to give Russia the Libya treatment, and they did not make a secret of it.

After the assurances given by George H W Bush to Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO couldn’t be used for a push toward East, successive US governments did exactly that. Their objective is to surround Russia. With the smiling hypocrisy of hyenas, they made clear that there was no alternative but to surrender to the military power and propaganda capabilities of NATO.

The Ukraine Crisis and Vladimir Putin: A New Financial System Free from Wall Street and the City of London? | Global Research

Donetsk Russians say only Putin can save them | The Sofia Globe

Donetsk Russians say only Putin can save them
Written by Jamie Dettmer of VOANews on March 19, 2014 in Europe 

It is a frigid evening in Donetsk’s Lenin Square, but the cold has not deterred a small crowd from maintaining a weeks-long protest against the new Ukraine government in Kyiv. They say they want to follow Crimea and break with Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.

Denis, 70, says the new government in Kyiv is making everyone poorer and the people of eastern Ukraine can’t live with the politicians of the capital anymore.

Vera, 62, says she’d like Donetsk to stay in Ukraine but that ethnic Russians are being forced to ask Putin to help because the politicians in Kyiv don’t care about the east of Ukraine and they just think of themselves.

Donetsk is in the heart of the Donbass coalfield and is one of Ukraine’s major industrial cities. The activists in Lenin Square are demanding the release of an activist who briefly proclaimed himself “people’s governor” of the region this month.

   

Donetsk Russians say only Putin can save them | The Sofia Globe

Asia Times Online :: How Crimea plays in Beijing

How Crimea plays in Beijing

By Pepe Escobar 

"We are paying very close attention to the situation in Ukraine. We hope all parties can calmly maintain restraint to prevent the situation from further escalating and worsening. Political resolution and dialogue is the only way out." 

This, via Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong, is Beijing's quite measured, official interpretation of what's happening in Ukraine, tailored for global consumption. 

But here, in a People's Daily editorial, is what the leadership is really thinking. And the focus is clearly on the dangers of regime change, the "West's inability to understand the lessons of history", and "the final battlefield of the Cold War." 

Yet again the West misinterpreted China's abstention from the UN Security Council vote on a US-backed resolution condemning the Crimea referendum. The spin was that Russia - which vetoed the resolution - was "isolated". It's not. And the way Beijing plays geopolitics shows it's not. 

   

Asia Times Online :: How Crimea plays in Beijing

Every Country in the World Involved in a Territorial Dispute - Annalisa Merelli - The Atlantic

Crimea is hardly home to the only territorial dispute in the world right now. In the map below, every country in pink is involved in a dispute over its national borders in some way or another.

The list is compiled by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in its World Factbook and includes cases of disputed borders, contested islands, and larger areas contested by several countries.

Just about every nation is implicated, including some possibly surprising ones, like the reputedly peace-loving Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, and Finland. There are perhaps unexpected exceptions too, including the Balkan nations of Albania, Montenegro, and Bulgaria. (Maybe it’s time to rethink the use of the word “balkanized” to describe a splintering into hostile neighbor states.)

A special mention goes to Mongolia. It’s the only country of mainland Asia not involved in territorial disputes.

  

Map: Every Country in the World Involved in a Territorial Dispute - Annalisa Merelli - The Atlantic

Map at the link!

WPost’s Anti-Putin ‘Group Think’ | Consortiumnews

WPost’s Anti-Putin ‘Group Think’

March 20, 2014

Exclusive: In a stunning display of “group think,” virtually the entire Washington Post editorial section was devoted to denunciations of Russian President Putin, especially his “crazy” belief that the U.S. government often ignores international law and applies “the rule of the gun,” reports Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

Not since Feb. 6, 2003, the day after Secretary of State Colin Powell wowed the world with his slam-dunk speech “proving” that Iraq was hiding WMD, has the Washington Post’s editorial section shown this unity of “group think.” On Thursday, the Post presented a solid phalanx of denunciations directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Across the two editorial pages, Post writers and columnists stood, shoulder to shoulder, beating their chests about Putin as evil, mad or both. “A dangerous Russian doctrine,” screamed the lead editorial. “An elemental fear” was the headline of a George F. Will column. “Making Russia pay” was the goal of Sen. Marco Rubio’s opinion article. “Putin’s fantasy world” was explored by editorialist Charles Lane.

The one slightly out-of-step pundit was E.J. Dionne Jr. whose column – ”Can Crimea bring us together?” – agreed on Putin’s dastardly behavior but added the discordant note that most Americans weren’t onboard and didn’t want their government to “get too involved” in the dispute over Ukraine and Crimea.

All the other opinion articles marched in lockstep to the theme that Putin was crazy and delusional. The Post’s lead editorial favorably quoted Secretary of State John Kerry as saying that Putin’s speech about the Ukraine crisis “just didn’t jibe with reality.”

WPost’s Anti-Putin ‘Group Think’ | Consortiumnews