24 replies to this topic

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A Russian soldier fighting in Ukraine described himself as fighting “a holy war” for Mother Russia. There is a nationalistic-religious dimension to Russia’s war in Ukraine that Western analysts are not seeing.

Putin wants to fight off modern values that have unquestionably led to lower birthrates, which is something that Russia, facing demographic disaster, cannot afford.

Examining the Hatred of Vladimir Putin and Russia

Many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are rejecting their historic roots, including the values that constitute the very basis of Western civilisation.

Today the Russian Orthodox Church is the most conservative, traditional and anti-Communist religious body in the world.

Putin has championed Russian laws that:

(1) have practically outlawed abortion in Russia;
(2) clamp down on homosexuality and homosexual propaganda---no homosexual propaganda in Russian schools, no public displays of homosexuality;
(3) strongly support traditional marriage, especially religious marriage, with financial aid to married couples having more than two children;
(4) have established compulsory religious instruction in all Russian schools;
(5) have made religious holidays now official Russian state holidays;
(6) have instituted a nationwide program of rebuilding churches that were destroyed by the Communists; and
(7) officially support the Russian film industry in producing conservative religious and patriotic movies


http://www.unz.com/a...tin-and-russia/

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Russian Mouse Threatens U.S. Elephant

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!”

Russia’s military budget is one tenth that of the United States..

How silly. It seems the Russians have sent six tanks to Syria, some medium artillery and a bunch of military technicians to two bases on Syria’s coast near Latakia.

The United States has about 800 bases and military installations around the globe. Russia has only a handful of small bases near its borders.


http://www.unz.com/e...s-u-s-elephant/

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What Putin seems to be saying to us is this:

If America’s elites continue to assert their right to intervene in the internal affairs of nations, to make them conform to a U.S. ideal of what is a good society and legitimate government, then we are headed for endless conflict. And, one day, this will inevitably result in war, as more and more nations resist America’s moral imperialism.

Nations have a right to be themselves, Putin is saying.

They have the right to reflect in their institutions their own histories, beliefs, values and traditions, even if that results in what Americans regard as illiberal democracies or authoritarian capitalism or even Muslim theocracies.

There was a time, not so long ago, when Americans had no problem with this, when Americans accepted a diversity of regimes abroad. Indeed, a belief in nonintervention abroad was once the very cornerstone of American foreign policy.


http://www.unz.com/p...nd-of-mr-putin/

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Putin: Hottest Ticket in Town at G20; Road to Peace Runs Through Moscow

Vladimir Putin left last year’s G20 meeting in Brisbane early in a huff, tired of being chided by world leaders over Ukraine. Twelve months on, an audience with the Russian president was one of the hottest tickets in town, as western leaders were forced to recognise the road to peace in Syria inevitably runs through Moscow.

Few at the annual summit of world leaders have seen such a transformation in their fortunes, or appeared to enjoy it as much, as Mr Putin moved from a scolded diplomatic outcast to a self-styled problem-solver the west cannot ignore.



http://globaleconomi...own-at-g20.html

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Jim Rogers: Invest in North Korea, Iran and Russia

 

Rogers presents several non-traditional ideas, most notably as relates to various frontier markets he is looking at currently, as well as Russia, a market where he has notoriously been invested since the start of 2015 when he went long Russian stocks, and which recently – and very much under the radar – hit all-time highs. So Rogers takes a well-deserved victory lap.

 

Rogers describes unconventional investments including government bonds in Russia, where he proclaims, “the yields are astonishing.”

 

My three shareholdings are all making all-time highs. I own shares of Aeroflot, going through the roof. Moscow Stock Exchange, going through the roof. PhosAgro, big fertilizer. I’m a director. Big fertilizer. Making all-time highs. I mean, how can this be? A country which is a disaster, which everybody hates.

 

I own Russian government bonds in rubles. The yields are astonishing. And as long as the ruble doesn’t collapse or disappear, which it’s not doing, at least not at the moment. The yields are beyond  comprehension. If I could just have those yields for the rest of my life, I’d be in hog heaven.

 

https://www.lewrockw...gers-preparing/

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The corruption of the US backed government in Ukraine.

 

The prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, declared $1.2m (£980,000) and €460,000 (£410,000) in cash, as well as a collection of luxury watches. Many other officials declared hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash. 

“Everyone is amazed that there is so much cash in our country,” said Kristina Berdynskykh, an investigative journalist who has written extensively on corruption among the elite. 

 

Mikhail Dobkin, an opposition MP, declared 1,780 bottles of wine, while Roman Nasirov, the head of the state fiscal service, declared that together, he and his wife owned Swiss watches, diamonds, fur coats and held more than $2m in cash.

 

Observers have pointed out that when the head of the national bank keeps his savings in dollars, it can hardly fill the population with confidence about the prospects for the hryvnia, Ukraine’s national currency.

 

https://www.theguard...ite-made-public

 

 

 

 

 

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Foreign Affairs magazine, the preeminent professional journal of American diplomacy, took the extraordinary step of publishing Robert English’s article, entitled “Russia, Trump, and a new Détente,” that challenges the prevailing groupthink.  

 

“For 25 years, Republicans and Democrats have acted in ways that look much the same to Moscow. Washington has pursued policies that have ignored Russian interests (and sometimes international law as well) in order to encircle Moscow with military alliances and trade blocs conducive to U.S. interests. It is no wonder that Russia pushes back. The wonder is that the U.S. policy elite doesn’t get this, even as foreign-affairs neophyte Trump apparently does.” 

 

English’s article goes back to the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and explains why and how U.S. policy toward Russia was wrong and wrong again. He debunks the notion that Boris Yeltsin brought in a democratic age, which Vladimir Putin undid after coming to power.

 

English explains how the U.S. meddled in Russian domestic politics in the mid-1990s to falsify election results and ensure Yeltsin’s continuation in office despite his unpopularity for bringing on an economic Depression that average Russians remember bitterly to this day. That was a time when the vast majority of Russians equated democracy with “sh*tocracy.”  

 

 

https://www.lewrockw...tin-groupthink/

 

[diogenes227]

Foreign Affairs magazine, the preeminent professional journal of American diplomacy, took the extraordinary step of publishing Robert English’s article, entitled “Russia, Trump, and a new Détente,” that challenges the prevailing groupthink.  

 

“For 25 years, Republicans and Democrats have acted in ways that look much the same to Moscow. Washington has pursued policies that have ignored Russian interests (and sometimes international law as well) in order to encircle Moscow with military alliances and trade blocs conducive to U.S. interests. It is no wonder that Russia pushes back. The wonder is that the U.S. policy elite doesn’t get this, even as foreign-affairs neophyte Trump apparently does.” 

 

English’s article goes back to the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and explains why and how U.S. policy toward Russia was wrong and wrong again. He debunks the notion that Boris Yeltsin brought in a democratic age, which Vladimir Putin undid after coming to power.

 

English explains how the U.S. meddled in Russian domestic politics in the mid-1990s to falsify election results and ensure Yeltsin’s continuation in office despite his unpopularity for bringing on an economic Depression that average Russians remember bitterly to this day. That was a time when the vast majority of Russians equated democracy with “sh*tocracy.”  

 

 

https://www.lewrockw...tin-groupthink/

 

 

So you think this is  "Nixon goes to China" moment and not a Putin installs a puppet with election hacking time? Looking forward to your answer.  Thanks for your thoughts and opinion.

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"Russia Hysteria Is Making the US an International Laughing Stock"- Noam Chomsky 

 

 

 

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Juiian Assange speaks:

"The Trump-Russia collusion narrative is a political dead end," Assange writes. "Despite vast resources, enormous incentives and a year of investigation, Democratic senators who have seen the classified intelligence at CIA HQ such as Senator Feinstein (D-Calif.) (as recently as March) are forced to admit that there is no evidence of collusion."

 

"It is starkly obvious that were it not for this hysteria, insurgent narratives of the type promoted by Bernie Sanders would rapidly dominate the party's base and its relationship with the public," Assange continues. "The Democratic base should move to start a new party since the party elite shows no signs that they will give up power,"

 

Assange writes. "This reality is proven in practice with the rapid construction of the Macron, Sanders and Trump campaigns from nothing. The existing Democratic party may well have negative reputational capital, stimulating a Macron-style clean slate approach." 

 

According to Assange, the days of the old Democratic Party are numbered, whether its supporters like it or not.

 

"Regardless, in the face of such a threat, the Democratic establishment will either concede control," Assange concludes, "Or, as in the case of Macron, be eliminated by the new structure."

 

 

http://thehill.com/b...party-is-doomed