Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Pillars of American 'Democracy': Introduction

By Moti Nissani

"The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the Bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe. Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed." -- Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day."- Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States

"Do you suppose we consider it a free election when the voters of New York State have a choice only between a Harriman and a Rockefeller?"-Nikita Khruschev

"Reality is a web, not a collection of parallel lines. Those who fail to see the interconnections run the risk of one-dimensional vision. Thus, broad reviews hold a greater promise of bringing us closer to complex truths than the many important but one-sided studies upon which they are based."-Lives in the Balance, 1991

Pillars of American 'Democracy': Introduction. Pillars of American democracy

The Paradox of American "Democracy"

Reporting on a recent Gallup poll, David Swanson (2015) writes:

"There is a sizable minority in the United States that has never believed any of its recent wars were crimes or blunders, never questioned trillion dollar military spending, and never desired a world without war in it. Trying to explain that . . . can be like trying to explain why Americans don't want healthcare. . . . Further study is needed to find the roots of the relative degrees of militarism revealed."

On the face of it, such a militaristic viewpoint is nothing short of amazing. Here is Dmitry Orlov:

"Were there weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? No, and the vial of white powder which Colin Powell menacingly held up at the UN was fake. The Iraqi mobile biological weapons factories did not exist. Was Al Qaeda active in Iraq prior to the US invasion? No, we know that it wasn't. These lies are now known to be factual-uncontested, commonplace knowledge. Next: do we make the arbitrary leap of judgment and declare that that's all the lies we will have ever been told, or do we admit the possibility that this is only the tip of an iceberg of lies, that lying is a modus operandi for the operatives behind them?" (see also this link)

And this was neither a skirmish nor a war, but genocide and ecocide, pure and simple.  It led, among other things, to 2.7 million Iraqi deaths (over 8% of the Iraqi population), millions of people losing their homes, permanent poisoning of vast tracts of land, loss of ancient cultural artifacts, break-up of the country, and seemingly endless sectarian and ethnic bloodshed!

And yet, most Americans-if they think about such matters at all-choose to ignore the lies they have been told or to view them as an exception. What are the roots of this?

Moreover, the highly militaristic 44% of Americans, and the majority of their somewhat less warlike compatriots, seem oblivious to the small but real and growing risk of their own nuclear incineration. One of the Rothschilds, for example, who surely knows whereof he speaks, is on record saying that the 2015 geopolitical situation is the "most dangerous since WWII." How can you explain the proclivity of most Americans to nonchalantly accept pointless threats to their own existence?

In more general terms, the political system in the USA is clearly a far cry from genuine democracy.  In fact, the American political landscape is strewn with countless paradoxes.  For instance, why don't Americans forcefully respond to frequent assertions of government-appointed high-ranking 9/11 commissioners to the effect that "there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened." Why are Americans unaware or do not care that they could live longer and more prosperously had their country embraced a French-style health care system? Why do they consent to policies that set their country and the world on a collision course with nature--even though nature bats last? Seeing that they could be healthier and wealthier with fuel conservation, why don't they demand cars that give them 100 miles to the gallon (instead of just 24)? Why don't they realize that their country is a kleptocracy?

Why is America's CEO-worker pay gap the widest in the developed world?  Why don't Americans grasp that the private Federal Reserve is designed to steal the fruits of their labor? Why are they oblivious to vast and growing income inequalities and to their own ever-growing impoverishment? Why do they acquiesce to and parrot government outrageous lies about unemployment, inflation, war spending, and gold holdings? Why don't they perceive that a choice between a Clinton and a Bush is no choice at all?

Why don't they comprehend that American elections are a sham? Why do they permit sunshine bribery of virtually all their politicians and judges? Why don't they see that the American Constitution is gradually being abandoned and that their country is turning into a police state? Why aren't they scandalized by countless episodes of police brutality?

Why do they blithely condone the imprisonment, exile, torture, and murder of their champions (e.g., Daniel Shays, Eugene Debs, Big Bill Haywood, Walter Reuther, Martin Luther King, John Lennon, Bradley Manning, Gary Webb, Edward Snowden, John Kiriakou, Julian Assange)? Why are they indifferent to the fact that their country, which calls itself "the land of the free," has more prisoners per capita than any other country in the world?

Why don't they realize, for that matter, that a prison doesn't have to be a Gulag? Why don't they care that the USA has always promoted dictatorships abroad? How could they stand aside and look while "their" government conducted wholesale assassination campaigns against popular leaders of such faraway countries as Chile or the Congo?

The USA is clearly ruled by a financial crime syndicate (henceforth, following Lincoln, simply "the bankers").  The bankers are slowly and deliberately undermining the little there ever was of American democracy, fair play, and social justice.  They turned the USA into a rogue rampaging bull elephant, thereby visiting mayhem, needless suffering, and death on billions.  The bankers seem bent on strengthening America's banking-military-intelligence complex and gradually dismantling America's other sources of power and prosperity: its natural environment, Constitution, freedoms, moral fiber, nuclear family, social cohesiveness, justice, industrial base, infrastructure, education, credit-worthiness, currency, or gold reserves.

What is going on here? 

Resolving the Paradox of American "Democracy"

Sun Tzu said "If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt." In this he was mistaken, for geopolitical conflicts involve a great deal more than understanding yourself and your foes. Rather, the following aphorism provides a closer approximation of reality: "If you know not your enemy and know not yourself, your defeat will not stand in doubt."  Anyway, Sun was certainly right about the importance of taking a bird's eye view of the world: To prevail, at times we must move behind daily occurrences and analyze their recurrent features, underlying causes, and probable consequences.

It is in this spirit that I offer the bankers' victims-whose ranks include the majority of Russians, Americans, and every other people on earth-this forthcoming series.  This holistic view of American history and politics will seek to answer these questions:  In a country where the people are allowed to vote, how did American oligarchs manage to keep themselves in power for so long? Better still: Given the fact that, over the last 35 years, every single political decision in America served the bankers' interests and harmed the interests of the American people, how did the bankers manage to steadily increase their power and wealth at the expense of the vast majority? 

In particular, this series is intended to help Russians let go of any misconceptions they might have about the west and to help Americans understand their own plight.

In the coming years, it will be the policies of the Russian Federation that could perhaps undermine the bankers' dream of enslaving humanity.  Russia can readily accomplish this, provided it overcomes its proclivity to idolize the West.  From Russian Francophiles who looked forward to the conquest of their country by Napoleon, to Solzhenitsyn's well-meant but naive Warning to the West, to the needless and cataclysmic dissolution of the Soviet Union, to Russia's catastrophic occupation by the Chicago Boys and its inexplicable subservience to that bunch of Rockefeller thugs masquerading as intellectuals, all the way to the self-inflicted deep wounds of the Maidan and the babble of Nemtsov, Kasparov, and Navalny-an influential segment of the Russian intelligentsia has always self-effacingly romanticized the West.  They have done so, moreover, at a great cost to Russia and humanity as a whole.  If this series of articles makes a small contribution towards dispelling this naiveté, it will have accomplished its purpose.

This series is likewise written for Americans and others, who have yet to discover the enemy within.   

This series incorporates new and old writings of mine.  In turn, my writings owe everything to Fazil Iskander's (The Goatibex Constellation, 1971) "best people:" Activists and writers whose faith in rationality and goodness propels them to selflessly "struggle against the twin follies of cruelty and stupidity." 

Moti Nissani


Obama not going to apologize for Afghanistan
Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
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Is Learning To Drive A Thing Of The Past?

The foot on the pedal and the freedom of the open road could be something our kids will never experience.

Do you remember the first time you took your parents car out for a spin?

With your freshly minted license in your pocket, it was just you, the car and the road (and maybe a carful of mates) – all with an exhilarating hit of freedom.

But is this same kind of freedom going to be available to our kids?

Two recent developments in car technology are pointing to a future where kids behind the wheel will either be severely monitored, or in the case of driverless cars, will be a thing of the past.

In a new breakthrough available right now, U.S. manufacturer Chevrolet is installing ‘teen driver’ software in its Chevrolet Malibu, which will be available in Australia as the revamped Holden Malibu due for release in 2016. 

The software will create a ‘report card’ for parents each time your teen takes your car out for a spin. The seven point report will detail distance driven, the maximum speed clocked (!!), overspeed warnings, forward collision alerts, and will tell parents how many times the car’s automated stability control and collision avoidance breaking systems were activated.

Anyone else think that if these were around when we were learning to drive, that they’d be getting a D minus?

In even freakier car related news, Elon Musk, the co-founder and CEO of innovative car manufacturer, Tesla, has declared that he believes that within twenty years, human controlled cars will be outlawed in favour of ones that are controlled by robots. 

While this sounds like a complete techno freakout, Musk describes it in a way that seems to actually make sense. At the recent NVidia annual developers conference he said, "It would be like an elevator. They used to have elevator operators, and then we developed some simple circuitry to have elevators just automatically come to the floor that you're at ... the car is going to be just like that." 

What do you think about a future where our kids won’t learn how to drive? 

Does it make you feel that they’ll be that little bit safer out in the world? Or does it make you sad for their loss of freedom?

Source : nickjrparents[dot]com[dot]au
post from sitemap

Monday, March 30, 2015

Zelda Williams Opens Up About Her Father Robin Williams And Says He's 'Impossible To Forget'

no title

She's really handle it as well as anyone could.

The passage of Robin Williams left millions of people with a broken heart, but no one suffered as much as the children of the actor.

But Zelda Williams came in a rare appearance on Friday with his mother Marsha Garces to Noble Awards in Beverly Hills.

And although, of course, wants to keep the memory of her father alive - she admits is basically unlikely to ever forget the bigger man than life.

[Related: Zelda Williams Legacy Father recalls Robin Williams' In his first sit-down interview since his death]

Here's what he said:

"For me it's easy to remember someone who is impossible to forget."

Zelda also talked about back in the spotlight and like something I felt I had to do was. She explained:

"It is not difficult, it's just a strange feeling. Nothing happens, that will be fine, but it's a transition. It is recognizing that you have to stop feeling that there is a world out there, because for a short period of time doesn "t."

You may remember Zelda has a beautiful tattoo of a hummingbird in memory of his father, and she explained that the tattoo to her, saying:

"If you saw it fly, and if you know a bit about them, are impossible to keep in one place. Whenever people see them not as they say, 'Oh, my God, a hawk for a hummingbird -flor, and that was the reaction that my father has, kids, fans, old people, and that's what always hummingbirds meant to me. "

Robin Williams and Marsha Garces really did a wonderful job with their children and Zelda is a shining example of his father.

She is only 25 and yet she is so wise at this point in your life. Robin Williams would be very proud of it.

 

SuperRace 2014 Kumho Tire Race Queens

Kumho Tire racing models Cha Jung Ah, Shin Se Ha, Yoon Mi Jin and Moon Ga Kyung at Round 7 of the CJ Hello Mobile SuperRace Championship in October 2014.

SuperRace 2014 Kumho Tire race queens

SuperRace 2014 Kumho Tire race queens

SuperRace 2014 Kumho Tire race queens

SuperRace 2014 Kumho Tire race queens

SuperRace 2014 Kumho Tire race queens

Source : koreangirlshd[dot]com
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Sunday, March 29, 2015

7 life lessons learned Basketball

 

7 life lessonsAs I mentioned in the article on The 7 life

 

For example, during a basketball game, many analogies can be made to what happens in the life of a person. There are ups and downs, challenges endless, constant adversity and what it takes to find them in the head.

 

The dynamics of the game of basketball really correspond to what happens in life. As in basketball, so in life:

 

1. Understand and master the basics of the game. Before you can play the game of basketball you should learn the basics or fundamentals concepts - how to play the game, how to pass, dribble, run the floor and shoot the ball. You have to develop the skills to play at an acceptable level.

Lesson: In life must also learn the basics. You must establish what (life), what does it mean for you and you want it. Then you must develop the skills and strategies needed to achieve this.

 

2. Be prepared mentally and physically. Elite athletes know that they can not work optimally or win games if you are not prepared mentally and physically. You must be physically fit to withstand a basketball season long, tiring and demanding. Equally important, you should have a mental fitness. Includes a positive mental attitude, willing and winning mentality. One without the other will not win games.

Lesson: Being prepared mentally and physically is essential in life.

 

3. Be selfless and a team player. Basketball is a team sport, which means it requires the contribution and cooperation of all members to play well and win. Everyone should concentrate, work together and fulfill their individual roles for the common good of the team. team player

How big of a player Michael Jordan era, he did not win any championships until he learned to involve his teammates, trust them and distributing the ball.

 

In one of the biggest score of his career games, scoring 63 points and set a playoff record, his team lost to the Boston Celtics. In a sport where individual greatness is measured largely by winning a championship ring, personal glory does the job. Lesson: The same goes for life. To contribute, cooperate and share.

 

4. Be alert and aware. Anticipating the game. The best basketball players have been credited with extraordinary vision and court awareness. Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and other great players knew exactly where everyone was on the court, the trends of the other players, and performs work against different teams. The ability to anticipate and be ready for a game made active, rather than reactive, players in a match. It is a factor that separates the great players from good players.

Lesson: Be aware and conscious in life sets the stage for the performance.

 

5. If the parties are not working, reset the game plan. Every great basketball player knows that when its parts are not working you have to adjust, then adjust a little more. The strengths and different styles of different opponents require different tactics. You must be able to withstand and respond to any opponent attack uses on you. Lesson: Life presents many challenges for which we have to adjust our game plan.

 

6. Never leave the game. Persevere. never give up Another feature common to the brilliance of Larry, Magic and Michael was to never give up on a play. When they missed shots that would be the ones to recover their own rebounds, diving for loose balls, outwit defenders and make every last second count (he often did). They were willing to do the little things that statistics do not reflect. Many a dagger was thrust into the heart of an opponent when the game result seemed a foregone conclusion. How? Because we never gave up. Not in the game, not the game, not themselves!

Lesson: Persevere. Never, never, never give up.

 

7. win more games than you lose, but accept victory and defeat with grace. No matter what sport you play, you can not win every game. In a series of 7 championship game two balanced teams often win only one more than they lost game. Blood, sweat and tears to win a championship is needed. If you give everything I have, no matter what the outcome, you can keep your head up. Learn what it takes to win and come back and try again. Before they won, Larry, Magic and Michael lost many games and championships. Before they understand what it took to win, they had to learn to accept defeat.

Lesson: The same goes for life. Everything will not always go your way. There will be two defeats and victories. If you give all your best shot and learn lessons along the way, you will come out a winner.



The Western Bull Meter goes off the scale

The Western Bull Meter goes off the scale. 54829.jpeg
Guns confiscated from the Albanians

A day after Newsweek magazine published a piece claiming that Ukraine had been invaded by "little green men" sent by Putin "steel in his eyes", striding "purposefully through a field of corn" then followed by a bunch of Russophobic hysteria, now we have the Guardian newspaper, proposing to stop "Putin" "with guns". In a word, war.

The Guardian newspaper (link below), piece entitled "Putin must be stopped. And sometimes only guns can stop guns" is by one Timothy Garton Ash, Oxford University Professor who specializes in Central and Eastern Europe and the transformation from a social economic model to the boom-and-bust elitist "democratic" model we see today, where faceless professional politicians are elected because someone looks better on TV and then spend the next four years feathering their nests pandering to the whims of the lobbies which control Western policy.

The Guardian newspaper, the one which recently published a spoof autobiography of me when commenting on an op-ed piece after the Austrian PM made a jackass of himself without bothering to do any research (The Times, for example, took the trouble to ask me whether the biography in question was true, to which I replied it was written one drunken night in Moscow by a friend of mine after a bottle of vodka and five Baltika 12's each, both of us curled up giggling beside the computer).

So I made a mistake this week calling Newsweek magazine "Wacko rag of the week", for we now have The "Don't bother to do any research, just print it" Guardian and its Oxford University "Timothy Garton Ash" Professor, with a biggest pile of Russophobic, gung-ho and jingoistic bullshit I have read since Tony Blair's British Secret Services told us that Saddam Hussein was procuring "yellowcake uranium". From "Nigeria" (except he wasn't and Nigeria doesn't have any). Never mind, it's far enough away for Guardian readers to swallow it hook, line and sinker, and what the hell, it's in the newspaper so it must be true, eh what?

So here we have The "don't bother to do any research, just print it and what the hell" Guardian, with a piece from a "professor" at a supposedly reputable university claiming that the West should provide military support to Ukraine - guns - and that Putin "is the Slobodan Milošević of the former Soviet Union: as bad, but bigger" who "Behind a smokescreen of lies he has renewed his drive to carve out a puppet para-state in eastern Ukraine".

Moral of the story: Has Oxford University joined that clique of former institutions of excellence which will issue degrees like diplomas from a packet of soap if you pay tens of thousands of pounds for a degree and hundreds of thousands for a doctorate, to be taught by proponents of belligerent insolence, arrogance and ignorance of the caliber we have just read?

One supposes Garton Ash, or whatever he calls himself, has also not bothered to research that President Milosevic was kidnapped by NATO forces and detained illegally against any single precept of Yugoslav Federal or Serbian national law in the sovereign territory of the same, after spending years fighting against the terrorist organization KLA. I would wager that Garton Ash does not even know the name of that organization in Albanian nor why it is also called UCK. Except it isn't. For The "don't bother to do any research, just slap it on the page and what the heck" Guardian and Professor "shoot when you see the whites of their eyes" Garton Ash, Ushtria Çlirimiate e Kosovës is the Kosovo Liberation "Army" in Albanian, a terrorist force which trafficked in human organs, decapitated civilians, raped little girls and committed terrorist attacks against the police.

We can then only assume that by attacking Milošević, Garton "Shoot 'em in the whites of their eyes", "we'll sell you a degree" Ash and The "don't bother to do any research, sod it" Guardian, turn a blind eye to what his enemies were perpetrating, namely slicing the organs out of still living bodies in some cases, and raping little girls. I repeat, and raping little girls.

And now for Garton Ash and President Putin, and the accusations of the Russian President being a liar. That, in my book, is slanderous at the very least. And secondly, let us ask publicly and in the open to "Professor" Ash, to put up or to shut up. What "lies" is he referring to?

I repeat the question to Oxford "Pay us and we'll give you a degree" University Professor Timothy Garton Ash: What "lies" are you claiming President Putin said? And I repeat, PUT UP OR STFU!!

Is he referring to the "lies" about Saddam Hussein producing yellowcake uranium from Nigeria? Is he referring to the "lies" about Saddam Hussein's milk factories being anthrax facilities ready to bomb the West? Is he referring to the "lies" that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and posed an immediate threat to the USA and its Poodles, sorry, "allies"? Is he referring to the "lies" that Muammar al-Qathafi was bombing his own people? Is he referring to the "lies" that the Syrian Government was using chemical weapons (in areas crawling with its own troops)? Is he referring to the "lies" that Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers were rolling over the borders in their thousands? If so, where are the satellite photos, these days when a satellite can pick up a matchbox? If he referring to the "lies" that the Malaysian aircraft was shot down by Russians? 48 hours after that German crackpot murdered 149 people plus itself, we know everything and a year after the MH 17, nothing? How long does it take to doctor a black box, for flip's sake? Is he referring to the "lies" that the Crimea referendum was illegal and was carried out under threat of guns (which is a load of bullshit)?

So what "lies" is Professor Garton Ash of Oxford "My diploma is as worthless as a leaflet from a packet of soap powder" University, and The "print anything you like, don't actually bother to RESEARCH it" Guardian referring to?

And as for the military option, if Mr. Ash (pardon me but after what he wrote I would more easily call a pig "God" than a warmongering belligerent imperialist "Professor") is serious about confronting Russia with guns, then the option and the answer are here in three words: bring it on. Russian military aircraft are the best in the world, two bombing runs in the French Channel have the Royal Air Force scared sh*tless and if Argentina takes back the Malvinas, then the Royal Navy will have to ask the French for their aircraft carrier. Hoin, hoin, hoin, hoin, hoin, eh whatty what what?

As for NATO's ground forces, all they are good for is running screaming in Georgia after the West tried to start another war. And failed, as usual.

So let Mr. "Oink" Ash of Oxford "Gi'us a fiver" University and The "Bugger the research" Guardian next time come up with a piece along the lines of the West increasingly and criminally supporting terrorists to do their dirty work, arranging misfits and criminals from the fringes of the societies they are planning to destroy to install as their future puppets (before they run away with the billions they have been given of Western taxpayers' money), as their elected politicians gain millions from lobbies and to Hell with the people and any form of decency and morals.

And where, pray, is Mr. "Oink" Ash right now? Stirring up trouble in Minsk? Watch this space, ladies and gentlemen, watch this space.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru

(timothy.hinchey@gmail.com)

 

*Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey has worked as a correspondent, journalist, deputy editor, editor, chief editor, director, project manager, executive director, partner and owner of printed and online daily, weekly, monthly and yearly publications, TV stations and media groups printed, aired and distributed in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe Isles; the Russian Foreign Ministry publication Dialog and the Cuban Foreign Ministry Official Publications. He has spent the last two decades in humanitarian projects, connecting communities, working to document and catalog disappearing languages, cultures, traditions, working to network with the LGBT communities helping to set up shelters for abused or frightened victims and as Media Partner with UN Women, working to foster the UN Women project to fight against gender violence and to strive for an end to sexism, racism and homophobia. He is also a Media Partner of Humane Society International, fighting for animal rights.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/01/putin-stopped-ukraine-military-support-russian-propaganda?CMP=share_btn_fb

Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
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Saturday, March 28, 2015

UNSC: Libya in focus

UNSC: Libya in focus. 54828.jpeg
Muammar al-Gaddafy

Libya is once again under the spotlight in the United Nations Security Council as two separate resolutions were adopted calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and extending the UN Mission, UNSMIL, until September 15. This, in a country living at peace and in prosperity until Messrs. Obama and chief poodles Cameron and Sarkozy went on an imperialistic venture.

Until the end of 2010, when the French started settling into Benghazi stirring up trouble, the Jamahiriya Government had managed to establish a system of government supported largely by between 85 and 88% of the population (apart from the racist Libyan elite who wanted the spoils for themselves). Libya was at peace with its neighbors and enjoyed the highest Human Development Index in Africa.

Today the country has at least two governments, one in Tripoli and the other holed up in the East, virtually every major city has its own brigades of armed youths and the entire country has slipped into utter chaos, crawling with terrorists, including Islamic State, right on the frontiers of the European Union.

Women's rights have disappeared, children's rights have disappeared, basic freedoms have disappeared, such as being free to go to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread without being robbed, or decapitated. "Grave concern" has been expressed by the United Nations Security Council about Islamic State, or DAISH (ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fīl-ʿIrāq wash-Shām) in Libya but also "all other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with Al-Qaida", also present in Libya, when Muammar al-Qathafi was the first international figure to issue international arrest warrants for the Organization.

While al-Gaddafi (Libya), Al-Assad (Syria) and Saddam Hussein (Iraq) were fighting these terrorists, the West was funding them, aiding and abetting them, cavorting with them, meeting them, arming them and creating the conditions for them to exist.

The existence of these groups in Libya is, as is the case in the other two countries mentioned, a direct result and consequence of short-sighted and criminal western action which has to date gone unpunished. Indictments against NATO and its political and military leaders, such as the one I drew up with others in 2011, were not even given the courtesy of a reply (*). And their existence poses a direct threat to the peace and stability of the citizens of these countries going about their daily lives, as indeed they were before the USA, the UK and its friends and allies decided what was "better" for them. Then when there are terrorist attacks on their territories which are paltry in comparison with the daily carnage in their victims' countries, they complain.

The way forward

Continued encouragement of dialogue among all groups which denounce violence, but this can only be a complete process when the Jamahiriya and Green resistance is part of the scenario, given that most Libyans would tomorrow vote for a return of the Jamahiriya Government, which was based upon communities deciding on their needs, reporting these to People's Congresses and the Government answering these requests.

The UNSC has condemned "the use of violence against civilians and civilian institutions and the continuing escalation of conflict, including attacks on airports, State institutions and other vital national infrastructure and natural assets, the Council called for those responsible to be held accountable".

Suppose it held accountable those mentioned in the indictment below, those who started the problem in the first place?

(*) http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/06-11-2011/119534-indictment_nato-0/

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru

(timothy.hinchey@gmail.com)

*Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey has worked as a correspondent, journalist, deputy editor, editor, chief editor, director, project manager, executive director, partner and owner of printed and online daily, weekly, monthly and yearly publications, TV stations and media groups printed, aired and distributed in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe Isles; the Russian Foreign Ministry publication Dialog and the Cuban Foreign Ministry Official Publications. He has spent the last two decades in humanitarian projects, connecting communities, working to document and catalog disappearing languages, cultures, traditions, working to network with the LGBT communities helping to set up shelters for abused or frightened victims and as Media Partner with UN Women, working to foster the UN Women project to fight against gender violence and to strive for an end to sexism, racism and homophobia. He is also a Media Partner of Humane Society International, fighting for animal rights.

Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
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Friday, March 27, 2015

Are we on the brink of World War III?

 

Are we on the brink of World War III?. World War III

By Will Hart

 

In an article, 'US-NATO Military Overkill' published by Pravda.Ru last year, I made the case that the US and its alliances with European and Asian nations, has far greater military assets than Russia and China combined.

Does that mean that America and its allies would win a global war?

Actually, the author never tried to answer that disturbing question. One might assume that the answer would be yes but, in fact, it is no. If we do the unthinkable -- and allow another world war to erupt -- there won't be any winners, everybody on the planet will lose. Here is why.

As noted in that prior article, because of its vastly superior firepower in the air and at sea, NATO would outnumber and outgun Russia. The combined 28 nations of NATO have a combined population triple that of Russia. In addition, national budgets that are many times the size of the nation they consider their enemy.

Given those facts, in the face of being outnumbered about 10 to 1 in naval vessels and about 3 to 1 in air fighting capabilities, Mr. Putin would have no recourse but to resort to nuclear weapons.

World War III would not be a repeat of the previous global wars. It might start out looking that way but would soon get quick and dirty.

Moreover, the Russian leadership would not stand by and watch their cities be obliterated by a more intense version of 'Shock & Awe', which the US launched against Iraq. We would not see American and NATO troops storming into Russia to engage with the Russian army, no way.

The war that everyone fears we are moving inexorably toward could not be a protracted war of attrition as WWII was. It would rapidly escalate into a brutal exchange of missiles, of aerial battles between US and Russian jet fighters, of US-NATO aircraft carriers and battleships sending sorties to fire rockets and drop bombs on Russia, Iran and Syria.

We have to bring in the fact that Russia is surrounded by former allies who are now NATO signatories. At the point that WWIII erupts those nations might well regret there having switched their allegiance to America. There is no doubt in my mind that they will suffer the full wrath and fury of their former ally.

As we say in America, talk is cheap.

Once the bullets, bombs and missiles start flying and Russian blood flows the former Soviet allies, now NATO countries on or near the Russian border, will start dying. When push comes to shove the eastern Europeans are neither stupid nor naïve, they know what will happen.

Russia could easily deliver fatal or near fatal firepower to the eastern European NATO allies quickly. Even if they have the support of the American military it will not be in the form of troops on their borders. While Russia is outnumbered and outgunned overall, its military is well-equipped to quickly mobilize and defend the country.

Then we have to bring Russia's allies into the picture. These include Iran, Syria and last but not least China. Syria is already in the throes of a civil war and that would expand rapidly. Iran would mobilize, no longer just to support Assad's military, they would fully engage and make quick work out of the rebels.

Of course, Iran has been in the crosshairs of both Israel and the US ever since the latter invaded Iraq. Yes, Israel too would engage along with NATO to try to destroy Iran, Hezbollah and Syria. China would support Russia...

But wait, we are forgetting a number of important factors that have to be plugged into this scenario before any such war could be waged.

The global economy is not what it was leading up to WWII. In fact, it is nearly the opposite. The US and Europe had very little debt going into that war. They emerged with huge levels of it when it was over.

If a global war breaks out it will quickly bankrupt the world and send the global economy into a depression. People seem to think that America can wage another war right on top of two wars with impunity. But those two wars already had a large hand in ratcheting up the national debt to $18.1 trillion and counting.

The wars against Iraq and Afghanistan were puny compared to what any WWIII scenario would look like. The cost of having to fully mobilize its forces overseas would quickly drive the federal deficit through the roof. The US is already tagging along with the debtor nations of Europe having pushed its national debt to 106% over GDP in 2014.

Next we have to ask how Washington would pay the Pentagon's huge bill. That brings in the fact that China, which American politicians treat like an enemy in public, helps to finance the US debt. It does so through buying Treasury obligations and by running a trade surplus with America. 

Well, would China continue to accumulate US debt, and trade dollars, in the event of a global war? No they would not. Do Americans really think the Chinese are that gullible or stupid? US right wing propagandists claim China is an enemy then they take checks and cheap imports to keep America going.

That financing well would dry up instantly.  Given this cold reality, how would America finance its participation in WWIII? Oh I failed to mention that Russia too has purchased US Treasury obligations on a smaller scale. That would come to a halt very fast.

Of course congress could raise taxes, or could they?

Even the hawkish Republicans would get chills at the prospect of the rich actually being forced to foot the bill for a war. That would be a novel idea. Didn't they just enforce austerity? There is no slack in the federal budget they told taxpayers, none, bite the bullet.

No you millionaire congressman, you bite the bullet and your tongue as well...

Here is where the real domestic poison pill enters the picture for the US. The feared demographic 'baby boom' nightmare is unfolding like a Stephen King horror plot. For the next 15 years a shrinking workforce has to fund the social security program, whose number of recipients is and will skyrocket.

In fact, even the rosiest forecasts project that worker's will not be able to shoulder the bill. That means that the 'trust funds' will be used to make up the revenue shortfall and those will be gone no later than 2033. But that would be moved up considerably if a recession or major war were to occur.

Are the reasons behind the FED's insane and unprecedented quantitative easing becoming clearer?

The US is already imitating Japan of the 1990s and the imitation will only get more real. In the event of a full-scale war, congress would be faced with slashing social security -- and other safety net programs - as well as raising taxes... poison pills indeed.

America already has 50 million people on food stamps, many of them employed in low paying jobs or working part-time. A prudent politician might worry that all this is a recipe for social unrest.

What the FED and the Japanese and Euro central banks have proven so far is that they can print money, but not stimulate their economies. After 6 years of running the printing presses nonstop the global economy is deflating into a recession.

At this inopportune moment in history, suddenly the prospect of a global war rears its ugly snout. Is it not abundantly obvious that world war would only temporarily boost production and, in turn, inflation? But that would not result in net wealth-creation but in destruction and loss of life on a massive scale.

The already overheated printing presses would continue to run nonstop until they quit. The world would be drowning in dollars, yen and euros, literally flooded. But isn't it inundated already? Yes, of course the military-industrial complex would profit as usual.

But the game would be over because the world's currencies would end-up shredded; confidence in global trade squandered; there would be no reserve currency to replace the dollar and whoever survived would have to endure a total reset.

This is no chess match, no game of chicken this is life and death on a global scale.

NATO and its anti-Russian backers ought to realize that if global war breaks out the straits of Hormuz, which Iran borders on, gets shut down. Enjoy your cheap oil and shut up! Keep in mind that Russia, in fact, is the world's largest oil producer and if war breaks out the price of oil skyrockets...so be careful what you wish for.

Will Hart


Top 5 Russian arms NATO is afraid of
Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Ahn Hee Yeon Geek Magazine

Kpop idol Ahn Hee-yeon – better known by her stage name Hani – of girl group EXID is featured in March 2015 issue of GEEK Nagazine.

EXID Ahn Hee Yeon Geek Magazine

EXID Ahn Hee Yeon Geek Magazine

EXID Ahn Hee Yeon Geek Magazine

EXID Ahn Hee Yeon Geek Magazine

EXID Ahn Hee Yeon Geek Magazine

Source : koreangirlshd[dot]com
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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Wacko rag of the week?

Wacko rag of the week?. 54812.jpeg
Pro-Kiev western-backed Fascists

And now, ladies and gentlemen, prize for wacko rag of the week goes to Newsweek Magazine, more specifically its edition of March 27, whose central pages are dedicated to the piece called "Crimea One year on". The six-page piece by one Marc Bennetts includes references from Putin's "little green men" to references to "missing persons".

Let us get the history straight. Last February an illegal Putsch orchestrated from Washington ousted the democratically elected President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, without any of the legal precepts for an impeachment being present. Therefore, under the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea, with the maximum legal entity removed (the President), the body with powers to enforce the law was its Legislative Assembly, or Parliament. It was this body which organized the election in which a huge majority of Crimeans voted to return to Russia.

The Newsweek article says nothing of this. It starts with the opening paragraph complaining that Putin's "little green men" annexed Crimea, then the piece begins as such: "Vladimir Putin, steel in his eyes, strides purposefully through a field of corn". The article follows with paragraph headings, colored red, such as "Missing Persons", then  the two-liner in red capitals "There is an evil silence here. We are all in a prison camp. None of us is safe" and on the next page, also in red capitals, the ominous message "There is a double danger of Islamic extremism in Crimea".

I say ominous, because watch this space and see if someone somewhere in the dark corridors of Washington does not remember to do to Crimea what someone somewhere did to Chechnya: start a Wahhabist movement among the Tartars to create problems.

There is nothing in this piece about the anti-Russian slogans chanted on the streets of Kiev after last February's Putsch "Death to Russians and Jews" and no details about the Fascist massacres of Russian speakers which took place in several locations in Eastern Ukraine, which forced the people of Lugansk and Donetsk to take up arms to defend themselves.

There is nothing about the shelling of civilians by the Putsch forces loyal to Kiev or the battalions of Fascists sent to slaughter men, women and children, by Kiev.

There is also nothing in the Newsweek article about the real story behind the scenes: after failing to get its war in Syria to grab Russia's Mediterranean Sea base, NATO decided instead to go closer to home, install a NATO-friendly government on Russia's frontier and then take over Russia's Black Sea bases, which are located where? In Crimea.

So, Crimea is Russia and Russian, under the laws in existence when the West broke them. Instead of celebrating the enormous rise in pensions and the general standard of living of Crimeans since the Republic rejoined Russia, instead of concentrating on Russia's insistence that the Republic have three official languages and cultural protection programs for Tartars, Ukrainians and Russians, while Kiev was cutting Russian culture from its educational programs, Newsweek goes the same way as the rest of the bought or assimilated Press.

Instead of focusing on the huge amount of humanitarian support given by Russia and Russians to civilians being murdered and tortured by Fascist forces supported by the West. Instead of stating that it is Kiev which does  not comply with paragraphs 8 and 11 of the Minsk Accords dated 5 September 2014, as well as paragraphs 7 and 8 of the full response to the Minsk Agreement of 12 February 2015, Newsweek tries to shift the blame onto Russia.

Instead of speaking to eye-witnesses on the ground in Ukraine, who deliver reports such as this: "Ukrainian army has shelled the settlements and positions of the DPR army 16 times over the last 24 hours...16 truce violations have been registered over the past day. The attacks of Ukrainian army were mounted on Shirokino, Spartak, Tavricheskoye, Nikolayevka, Grigorovka, Staromaryevka, Gorlovka, Zhabunki, the DPR positions in the area of Peski, the "Oktyabrskaya" coal mine and the Donetsk airport", where does Newsweek stand? I will tell you:

Another rag unfit to lie in a pile beside my toilet.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru

(timothy.hinchey@gmail.com)

*Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey has worked as a correspondent, journalist, deputy editor, editor, chief editor, director, project manager, executive director, partner and owner of printed and online daily, weekly, monthly and yearly publications, TV stations and media groups printed, aired and distributed in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe Isles; the Russian Foreign Ministry publication Dialog and the Cuban Foreign Ministry Official Publications. He has spent the last two decades in humanitarian projects, connecting communities, working to document and catalog disappearing languages, cultures, traditions, working to network with the LGBT communities helping to set up shelters for abused or frightened victims and as Media Partner with UN Women, working to foster the UN Women project to fight against gender violence and to strive for an end to sexism, racism and homophobia. He is also a Media Partner of Humane Society International, fighting for animal rights.

 

Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
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Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Something in the USA has to Work Right: A Non-Profit Hospital in Virginia Actually Does

 

by John Stanton

 

Something in the USA has to Work Right: A Non-Profit Hospital in Virginia Actually Does. 54799.jpeg

It is easy to severely criticize the state of many things in the United States of America: the US President and Congress bowing to the demands of the national security community to exempt their $ 1 trillion (US) spending from sequestration mandates. The demise of Detroit, Michigan and another round of water shut-offs scheduled for April that will affect nearly 100,000 residents (the Detroit bankruptcy case judge's ruled that residents have no inherent right to clean water). The geopolitical brinkmanship with Russia and China that, if pushed too far, could lead to World War III. The odious double standards applied to "leakers" of classified military and intelligence information js repulsive: former US Army general and CIA director David Petraeus gets no jail time for passing off military secrets to his lover Paula Broadwell, yet former CIA analyst John Kiriakou gets two years in federal prison.

Then there is the much maligned Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), which happened to shed an unwanted bright light on the often seedy political/special interest mechanics of the health care industry. Open Secrets reports that for the year 2014 there were 392 hospitals and related organizations that employed 802 lobbyists (even the Carlyle Group known mainly for defense and energy related interests was a client). Over half, 54.1 percent, according to Open Secrets, of the 802 lobbyists were revolving door individuals, those that move seamlessly from government oversight of health care practice to lobbying positions in industry that seek to limit oversight of their operations. Former health industry employees move into government positions as well.

Even defense contractors have muscled their way into the health care industry. If they can track missiles, Lockheed Martin says, then they can track patients.

Is there anything in the USA worth positive coverage?

Chef Garrett: If not a Surgeon, a Chef

Inside the Washington, DC Beltway in Arlington, Virginia there is a medical facility known as the Virginia Hospital Center. It is a non-profit organization whose Chairman of the Board is a no-nonsense doctor and administrator named John Garrett.

He also is a practicing cardiologist/thoracic surgeon who takes on patients regularly (Chairman Mao would have applauded this back-to-the-fields approach for the benefit of the masses). In an interview with C-SPAN''s Brian Lamb in 2009, Garrett talked frankly and informatively about being at the helm of the Virginia Hospital Center and the issues that impact his surgical practice and the hospital operations he oversees.

It is worth tuning in to what Garrett has to say because the machinations of the health care industry in the USA, and the hospitals and practitioners who operate in that machinery, exist in a messy stew of complexity that also includes suppliers/manufacturers of drugs and medical equipment; lobbyists/lawyers, national politics, and special interests of all types ranging from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietitians to Naturopathic healers. His insights carry weight as all of us, rich or poor, or somewhere in between those poles, will ultimately turn to practitioners like Garrett, and the people and facilities he administers, to save our lives or, at least, minimize our pain and suffering.

And yet most Americans know very little about the nuts and bolts of the US healthcare industry or the people in it who brought them into this world and will likely see them out of it too. They know little abut the difference between non-profit and for-profit healthcare institutions or the challenges that medical professionals face. Americans generally are capable of talking up the soundbites from listening to many pro and con ObamaCare advertisements or the latest television commercial for 1-800-ambulance-chaser, but not what is on the minds of physicians as they ply their trade.

Roaming Clergy

Thirty days in Garrett's sprawling Virginia Hospital Center campus, as a sometimes delusional, onery patient, provided a golden opportunity to observe close-up his people at work.  Being hammered and immobilized by an MSSA staph infection is not the way I would have liked to conduct an investigation into the operation of a large hospital. On the other hand what better way to experience the healthcare system at work than by being immersed in it as patient and skeptical journalist/observer. After five surgeries, an induced coma, one failed escape attempt, in-home nursing care for two months, and umpteen visits to infectious disease, wound care, and thoracic specialists, I've earned some credentials as a veteran patient. As an assistant, teacher and coach at a high school my health plan is not gold plated, but certainly a fine one. The bills will come due shortly and there will be empty complaints on my part as the alternative involved ashes and wind. 

One oddity was notable during my hospital stay,  at least to me. Laying in the hospital bed staring at the cracks in the ceiling, I was interrupted now an then by unsolicited individuals who turned out to be lay clergy. My first encounter went something like this. Stanton: "Hello." Lay Clergy: "Hello." Stanton: "Who are you?" Lay Clergy: "I am a lay member of clergy, would you like a prayer?" Stanton: "No but thank you. What denomination are you?" Lay Clergy: "Episcopalian." Later there were members of the Catholic and Methodist Faiths who visited and one who was a multi-faith person.

At any rate, we turn to excerpts from Doctor Garrett's interview with Brian Lamb, edited for clarity.

"We are a not for profit hospital...not for profit hospital doesn't mean we don't make money. We have to make money. But it means that we don't have shareholders, that we're not responsible to anybody but our community. We are a 501(c)(3) organization, tax exempt, and basically what we do here is we try to either break even or have a small margin of profit. Last year we had a 1.6 percent margin. So what we do with that profit is we invest it back into equipment. You know we try to have the latest and greatest that medical science has to offer. Two years ago we purchased a $7 million dollar cyber knife. That's a very specialized piece of radiation equipment. But that's what we do with our money. We don't give it out to shareholders. But it's not to say that we don't need to make income...We employ a lot of people, and this is not charity..."

"So many patients just want you to do what you do, they're grateful for it, they don't need to know a lot of details, they're interested in when they can go back to work, they're interested in the likelihood of them dying. But a lot of the other details I think they're not too interested in, and so it really puts the burden on us to, I mean, we - there's certain things you need to know, and we try to tell patients those things even if they're not too interested."

"...we offer all private rooms to patients, regardless of their need to or ability to pay...I think it's unacceptable to share a room in this age with another sick person. It's better for the patient to have a private room. That's the main reason we did it. 

Medicare and Medicaid Woes

"...about half of what we do here is Medicare and Medicaid, so about half of our admissions in this hospital [are for] Medicare and Medicaid...we lose money on all Medicare and Medicaid patients. Medicare and Medicaid covers at best about 80 percent of the cost, not the charges, but the cost...And so the thing that I guess I want to tell people is that so far what we've seen is the...government controls cost [and to do so] they just pay you less, and we take that, we accept that, but we would have to change what we do if not for the private insurance carriers whom we aggressively negotiate with to get rates that are 140 percent of Medicare. Because we're able to do that, we're able to make our 1-1/2 percent margin so that we can buy a cyber knife for $7 million dollars...If we did not get extra money from your company [C-SPAN health insurance], if all we got was what Medicare paid, then do the math. We lose 20 percent. Well, we're a business. We can't lose money. So we either go out of business or we offer less so that we can break even. Well, offering less in healthcare means that we don't give you the latest and greatest, which you know is not as good."

"...Doctors charge separately in the hospital. So, if I do a Medicare operation, a Medicare coronary bypass surgery, I accept what Medicare pays me: It's about $2,000...Surgeons are paid globally, so you know if I operate on you, I get one payment and you and I are married, So, for that month or until I get you well, that's what I get paid. So, I can see you 10 times a day, I can you know if you have complications, come in in the middle of the night, do whatever it is, I get that one payment...And for the hospital it's similar. They get what's called a DRG payment, and it's based on the diagnosis. So, for bypass surgery, I think it's about $18,000 that the hospital would get from Medicare to pay for whatever happens to that patient...it costs more than that. I'm not sure exactly how much more than that. I mean, my - we're way beyond what we charge, What we charge and what we collect is totally different..."

"There used to be more money in the system...medical care gets better and better every year, New technology, it's expensive, but it's better and better. Things used to be cheaper, but you know we're of the mind that there's nothing that's too expensive. We want the latest and the greatest. We're willing to pay for it, and we have. But that occurs at the same time in parallel that we're getting paid less, the hospital's getting paid less.

You know I - most doctors--truly did not go into medicine to make a big income. I think at least the physicians in my generation were attracted to medicine by you know what you can do for people, and the idea that you could be independent, work for yourself, sort of be your own person...what we do in a hospital as our default is to help, is to save people, and in doing that we don't think about the money. We don't. It's the last thing on a physician's mind is what money we're spending to bring someone back."

Young Americans

...young physicians see a different horizon than guys and girls in my era,...and I think they're much more protective of their private time. I think that they're much more eager to be employed, to not have the responsibility to run their practice. I think part of that's because... it's hard, the opportunity to hang out your own shingle now is very difficult. It's too expensive. You can't afford it. And so you know young people don't want to take that risk, and there's more of a shift mentality you know. In my group, we sort of never get away from it, even on our nights off, you're still a little bit on edge. It's what you do. It's part of your life, and I think that the newer generation of physicians, there's more of a you know you work your shift, they're long hours, but at the end of things you really are off and you have your life. That is what it is."

Chumley, Get me Out of Here

"...a lot of people that come into emergency rooms don't want to be there, They didn't plan to be there. It's not like you have a relationship with me, you picked me as your doctor, I operate on you and something doesn't work out right, that's different. Emergency room, you come in, you don't want to be there, you don't know anybody, nobody knows you. If it's really a bad situation, there's lots of things going on, things can drop through the cracks without tight protocols.

"...what motivates someone to have a for-profit is to profit, but I think not-for-profit is the best for the country because I think it's cheaper. I think if not-for-profit hospitals can adopt some of the fiscal restraints that for profit hospitals have, it would be a valuable thing to do. But keep that savings as opposed to giving it out to shareholders. But in a full profit system, that money savings goes to shareholders. In our system it goes back into this hospital."

Scary Things

"...the thing that scares me the most [about the healthcare debate] is just the thought of having sort of like a massive [government] Medicare or Medicaid [system] and having all of the inefficiencies that brings, and ending up with a system that is poor, a hospital system that's poor and having no ability to offer really the best to our patients. That's what scares me the most...we lose 20 percent on Medicare admissions, and so if we lost 20 percent on everybody that came in, we'd have to do something different, and as part administrator, the first thing I would do is limit our capital budget. So, the new stuff that we buy, every year we buy $30 million dollars worth of new equipment here, that would stop. It would have to stop. We would have to lay off people because we'd have to ...make up that 20 percent, so the easiest way to make it up is to not buy new stuff, and that's what we do in our personal life. But when you're talking about healthcare, new technology is expensive, and the people that are driving new technology expect a return on their investment."

"I think everybody needs insurance, so you know if you don't have insurance, you need to get insurance....I'm not a politician, but there's something to be said about insurance reform and making insurance more competitive so that even people that don't have a lot of money can have some insurance...You know the only person that ever asked me about how much something cost was someone who had money but no insurance. They want to know what's it going to cost because they're going to write a check for it...Somehow we all need to feel some of the pain of other than writing a check for the insurance company. We need to feel that cost issue. But I do think there needs to be insurance reform, and I think everybody needs insurance, but I would start with trying to make there be more competition between insurance carriers so that there's affordable insurance."

John Stanton

John Stanton is a Virginia based writer. Reach him at captainkong22@gmail.com

Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
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Monday, March 23, 2015

Paul Craig Roberts: Russia under attack

Paul Craig Roberts: Russia under attack. Russia under attack

by Paul Craig Roberts


While Washington works assiduously to undermine the Minsk agreement that German chancellor Merkel and French president Hollande achieved in order to halt the military conflict in Ukraine, Washington has sent Victoria Nuland to Armenia to organize a "color revolution" or coup there, has sent Richard Miles as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan to do the same there, and has sent Pamela Spratlen as ambassador to Uzbekistan to purchase that government's allegiance away from Russia.  The result would be to break up the Collective Security Treaty Organization and present Russia and China with destabilization where they can least afford it (details here).   

Thus, Russia faces the renewal of conflict in Ukraine simultaneously with three more Ukraine-type situations along its Asian border. 

And this is only the beginning of the pressure that Washington is mounting on Russia.

On March 18 the Secretary General of NATO denounced the peace settlement between Russia and Georgia that ended Georgia's military assault on South Ossetia. The NATO Secretary General said that NATO rejects the settlement because it "hampers ongoing efforts by the international community to strengthen security and stability in the region."Look closely at this statement. It defines the "international community" as Washington's NATO puppet states, and it defines strengthening security and stability as removing buffers between Russia and Georgia so that Washington can position military bases in Georgia directly on Russia's border.

In Poland and the Baltic states Washington and NATO lies about a pending Russian invasion are being used to justify provocative war games on Russia's borders and to build up US forces in NATO military bases on Russia's borders.

We have crazed US generals on national television calling for "killing Russians."

The EU leadership has agreed to launch a propaganda war against Russia, broadcasting Washington's lies inside Russia in an effort to undermine the Russian people's support of their government. 

All of this is being done in order to coerce Russia into handing over Crimea and its Black Sea naval base to Washington and accepting vassalage under Washington's suzerainty. 

If Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, Assad, and the Taliban would not fold to Washington's threats, why do the fools in Washington think Putin, who holds in his hands the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, will fold?  

European governments, apparently, are incapable of any thought.  Washington has set London and the capitals of every European country, as well as every American city, for destruction by Russian nuclear weapons.  The stupid Europeans rush to destroy themselves in service to their Washington master.

Human intelligence has gone missing if after 14 years of US military aggression against eight countries the world does not understand that Washington is lost in arrogance and hubris and imagines itself the ruler of the universe who will tolerate no dissent from its will.  

We know that the American, British, and European media are whores well paid to lie for their master.  We know that the NATO commander and secretary general, if not the member countries, are lusting for war.  We know that the American Dr. Strangeloves in the Pentagon and armaments industry cannot wait to test their ABMs and new weapons systems in which they always place excessive confidence.  We know that the prime minister of Britain is a total cipher. But are the chancellor of Germany and the president of France ready for the destruction of their countries and of Europe?  If the EU is of such value, why is the very existence of its populations put at risk in order to bow down and accept leadership from an insane Washington whose megalomania will destroy life on earth? 

Paul Craig Roberts


For USA, Russian economic growth is aggression
Source : english[dot]pravda[dot]ru
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Could A Robot Replace Your Dog?

We’re all a bit concerned that robots will take our kids jobs one day. But pets should be worried too. We may soon have robot dogs to play fetch with. 

Meet Spot.

Spot is going to be used in space to fetch astronauts’ newspapers in the morning and also perform important tasks such as building habitats on other planets before humans set foot there.

He is a four-legged robot which is electrically powered and can run up stairs, walk on any terrain and get up easily if pushed over. Spot has a sensor on his head that lets him navigate rough terrain and avoid obstacles.  

The pros? Spot doesn’t smell, get fleas or sneak up on your bed when you’re not there.

The cons? Spot is not very soft, you can’t snuggle with him on the couch and he’s not keen on hanging his head out the window with his tongue out.  

Apart from Spot’s appeal as a pet, there is so much potential for a robot like this. 

Rescue operations are one of them: entering burning buildings to save lives, flood rescue and relief efforts could be helped enormously by this fast, strong and intelligent little guy. 

No word on whether he can catch a tennis ball yet, but the future is bright. 

Check out Spot in action here. 

Source : nickjrparents[dot]com[dot]au
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