Category Archives: Politics & Random Musings

Turkey Exposed as More than Terrorist Accomplices by Shooting the Russian Jet Down.

This article first appeared on RT.

Turkey has shown its hand by destroying the Russian warplane over Syria and followed through on its previous threats to Russia. We must now regard Turkey as a hostile state that supports terrorism.

As has been widely reported, on the 24th November, Turkey – an EU aspirant NATO member – shot down a Russian warplane on legitimate Syrian duties. As a result, one pilot is dead and the other was rescued by Russian Special Forces. Another soldier was killed during the rescue operation and Russia lost a rescue helicopter in the process.… Click here to continue reading this article

War Returns to Ukraine

This article first appeared on Russia Insider. 

Whilst all eyes are on Syria there has been a steady deterioration of the situation in Ukraine.

In violation of the ceasefire shelling of the territories of the two people’s republics has resumed, and the OSCE has confirmed that the Ukrainian military has moved heavy weapons back to the contact line.

The Ukrainians meanwhile have extended their ban of commercial flights to and from Russia by banning also transit flights.

Ukraine has placed Crimea under food blockade. To the intense embarrassment of its Western backers (see this editorial in the Financial Times, headlined “Kiev should act to end the blockade of Crimea”) it has enlarged this to an energy blockade.… Click here to continue reading this article

Putin: The Western Media’s Villain for Every Season.

This article first appeared at RT. 

As the hysterical outpourings of the Western media and their relentless anti-Putin narrative becomes ever more ridiculous. We look at why.

Vladimir Putin wants to cut off your internet. At least, if you are a reader of the New York Times, you may well believe this. The NYT recently reported that “Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications”.

The NYT didn’t bother to expand on how a submarine might go about acting ‘aggressively’ in the presence of inert under sea cables in international waters.… Click here to continue reading this article

Book Review: Exceptional – Why the World Needs a Powerful America by Dick Cheney

For fair disclosure, before you read this review, I will say that while I enjoy visiting America from time to time, I am disdainful of American foreign policy and its continual aggression, state-sponsored terrorism, wars and regime changes around the world.

I am a Russophile. I think Vladimir Putin is one of the worlds great leaders.

An American pal of mine gifted me this book recently. I promised him I would read it with an open mind. I think I have, but it hasn’t changed my opinion.

Here is some of the book blurb:

Exceptional – Why the World Needs a Powerful America by Dick Cheney

Former vice president Dick Cheney, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, and his daughter Liz Cheney, former deputy assistant secretary of state, explain the unique and indispensable nature of American power, reveal the damage done by President Obama’s abandonment of this principle, and show how America can and must lead again.

… Click here to continue reading this article

US Complains As Russia Bombs its Terrorists

This article first appeared at journal-neo.org

The New York Times in its recent article, “Russians Strike Targets in Syria, but Not ISIS Areas,” attempts to frame Russia’s recent actions in Syria as dishonest and dangerous. It reports:

Russian aircraft carried out a bombing attack against Syrian opposition fighters on Wednesday, including at least one group trained by the C.I.A., eliciting angry protests from American officials and plunging the complex sectarian war there into dangerous new territory.

This of course would only make Russia’s actions dishonest or dangerous if groups trained by the US CIA were in fact the “moderates” the US claims they are.… Click here to continue reading this article

Taking the British Media to Task When They Lie About Russia

For the mainstream western media, lying about Russia is now just a routine part of the working day.

No British Sunday newspaper would be complete without the obligatory anti-Russian double page spread on the ‘threat’ Putin and Russia poses to somebody somewhere this week.

To get this right, one must not concern oneself with facts. Simply choose a country, any country will do, do some random Googling, make some stuff up to pad it out, but be sure to say you are “quoting a source” to absolve yourself of responsibility for what you write.… Click here to continue reading this article

America Is Using Bulgaria to Supply Arms to Ukraine

This article originally appeared at Novinite – Bulgarian news agency

The United States is delivering arms to Ukraine via Bulgaria, an article on RIA Novosti reads.

Bulgaria is also “producing ammunition for the Ukrainian army” with US money, and Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic are ready to take part in similar schemes, the text argues further.

Washington is doing so “despite official declarations” and has so far transferred about 200 sniper rifles and 400 assault rifles and 200 grenade launchers, the author, Aleksandr Hrolenko, notes [RU], arguing this “transit country” has been used for not less than 20 years “when necessary to hide traces”.… Click here to continue reading this article

Putin’s New York Speech – the Text in Full.

This speech originally appeared on kremlin.ru

70th session of the UN General Assembly.

Vladimir Putin took part in the plenary meeting of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The UN General Assembly is the United Nations Organisation’s main consultative body and examines the principles for cooperation in ensuring international peace and security.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin:

Mr. President,

Mr. Secretary General,

Distinguished heads of state and government,

Ladies and gentlemen,

The 70th anniversary of the United Nations is a good occasion to both take stock of history and talk about our common future.… Click here to continue reading this article

Media: Putin will put forward four conditions to the West at UN General Assembly

In the West, discussion continues on the upcoming speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the UN General Assembly.

According to the magazine Politico columnist Paul R. Gregory, not much can go wrong, if we assume that the main emphasis of the Russian leader is to make a speech on the wording of the terms on which Russia is ready to participate in a broad international coalition to combat Islamic state (a terrorist group banned in Russia).

The author analyses the recent statements by Vladimir Putin and comes to the conclusion that the Russian president will lay out the four key conditions for cooperation between Moscow and the West to resolve the Syrian crisis.… Click here to continue reading this article

The Global De-dollarization and the US Policies

This article first appeared at Journalneo.org.

In its quest for world domination, which the White House has been pursuing for more than a century, it relied on two primary tools: the US dollar and military might. In order to prevent Washington from establishing complete global hegemony, certain countries have recently been revising their positions towards these two elements by developing alternative military alliances and by breaking with their dependence on the US dollar.

Until the mid-twentieth century, the gold standard was the dominant monetary system, based on a fixed quantity of gold reserves stocked in national banks, which limited lending.… Click here to continue reading this article

Upper House: No request from Putin to dispatch troops in Syria

This article was first published at RT.

Russian Upper House officials and the Kremlin spokesman have dismissed media reports about an alleged request to sanction the use of Russian military forces in Syria, adding that such document never existed even in preparatory stage.

“I know nothing about this, I have seen no documents on this issue. I cannot explain where this information could be coming from,” Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday when facing the question if media reports about the request to the Federation Council to sanctions the use of the Russian military forces in Syria were true.

… Click here to continue reading this article

Russia Insider Smashes Expectations and Gains 30 Million Page Views in Under a Year

Russia Insider Smashes Expectations and Gains 30 Million Page Views in Under a Year

Russia Insider is going from strength to strength, proving that people are seeking out alternatives to the shameless bias and prescribed narratives they see and read on the ‘established’ media channels.

In a little over eleven months, Russia Insider has enjoyed over thirty MILLION page views. That is around 88,000 a day!

Page views are one of the metrics a website uses to determine its popularity. When a lot of people like and share your content, your page views increase.… Click here to continue reading this article

Ukraine and Putin: How the West May Walk into War

This is a long story. That should then but, for once, because it is a matter of life and death, war and peace. The story is about the conflict in Ukraine, and about how “we” – the West – a war sucked in danger of being with Russia. Because this happens, if we are not careful, though many Dutch it still will not even notice, busy as it is the quiet life to live in freedom that we take for granted, but so may come to an end.

To understand what is happening in Ukraine, which geopolitical game in the region is being played, who the key players – in politics, diplomacy and media – and what their goals are, we need to delve deeper into the details.… Click here to continue reading this article

Russian Ukrainian Adventures Forum Newsletter – Summer 2015

Russian Ukrainian Adventures Forum Newsletter – Summer 2015.

Hello,

It has been over a year since we sent out a newsletter, so we thought one was long overdue.

We would like to bring you up-to-date on the changes at RUA the last year.

The Forum Has Changed Direction a Little to Include More Travel, Culture, News and Politics.

The site was stuck in what is a dying and declining niche. When the site first started back in the mid naughties, it was firmly aimed at what some termed the “mail-order bride” niche.… Click here to continue reading this article

Oil: The US is in for a Bumpy Ride.

You are right to think that the US is in for a bumpy ride, it is, and for the reasons I and others have been going on about for more than a decade.

The core issue that connects all the significant actors, in different ways, is energy – its supply and its cost.

Right now US tight hydrocarbon firms are pumping for all their worth in order to generate cash flow to enable them to pay their loans. They are stuck. They simply can not reduce output by one iota, they have no choice but to pump and pump no matter how much money they lose.… Click here to continue reading this article

Two for the Price of One: De-dollarise and Reduce American Hegemony.

dedollarisation

Two for the Price of One: De-dollarise and Reduce American Hegemony.

As America’s influence in the world slowly declines, the de-dollarisation that goes along with it will benefit Russia and the rest of the world.

Russia has made no secret of the fact that it would like to see the rouble more widely used, and a reduction in the use of US dollars.

Putin and Medvedev have many times referred to a desire to see the rouble as a reserve currency. In order for this to become more of a reality, Moscow needs to continue its development as a regional financial hub.… Click here to continue reading this article

Russian-Produced Food Will Replace Imports Completely According to Russian Agriculture Minister

Russian-Produced Food Will Replace Imports Completely According to Russian Agriculture Minister

Importozameshcheniye (import substitution) is the new buzzword at the Russian Agriculture Ministry.

The Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachyov has once again underlined the ongoing policy of import substitution in Russia. He said that produce from Russian farms will eradicate the need for foreign food imports from the Russian market completely within a decade.

Some think this too optimistic, but Russia has the fourth-largest acreage of arable land in the world, and no shortage of fresh water. Analysts say this should be enough to underpin a huge ongoing increase in agricultural production.… Click here to continue reading this article

What Next After the Neocon Rape of Ukraine?

Since its divestment from the Soviet Union, Ukraine has been something of a schizophrenic nation with conflicting allegiances in the West and East of the country. In recent years, a neocon agenda has stoked up this internal strife to incendiary levels.

The people in the East speak Russian and incline towards Russia, while those in western Ukraine march to a different drum: they speak Ukrainian and foster fond hopes of becoming real Europeans. In Crimea, the majority converse in Russian and their hearts have always beaten patriotically for the motherland. Crimea, after all, was part of Russia from 1784 until 1954, at which juncture Nikita Khrushchev, a native of Ukraine incidentally, made what some consider a major blunder: the Soviet leader gift-wrapped the peninsula and handed it over to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

… Click here to continue reading this article

Russian Diplomats Being Quietly Expelled from the UK.

The UK government appears to be quietly in the process of removing Russian diplomats from the UK.

The method they are using to do this is by not renewing or issuing new visas to staff at the Russian embassies in London and Edinburgh.

Diplomatic staff, under international law, are able to bypass the normal visa process, and should be issued with automatic visas without delay or hassle. This is how it works all over the world.

The press secretary in the Russian Embassy in London today decided to go public with the dirty tricks campaign by the UK government.… Click here to continue reading this article

Russia Should Abolish Visas for the EU, America and the Developed World. Top Russian Official Agrees.

If Western sanctions against Russia are to continue, Russia is in a unique position to take advantage of the situation by relaxing visa rules and welcoming tourists.

Right now, you can get almost twice as many roubles for your money as you could a year ago. This makes Russia cheaper to visit than it ever was.

However, the current onerous requirements and unnecessary bureaucracy to obtain a visa to Russia has been holding Russian tourism back for many years. The current visa system is inconsistent, inconvenient, and puts many people off travelling to Russia.… Click here to continue reading this article