Scam, kidnap by South African police

Scam, kidnap by South African police

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Scam, kidnap by South African police

Scam, kidnap by South African police

 
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News feed from the Kremlin

Latest Top (5) News
March 14, 2015. Where is Vladimir? Read his activities from the news from the Kremlin feed below, or from Pravda. He has not been seen in public for 10 days, and I am hearing he may have had a stroke, or has cancer, or is hanging out with a possible newborn baby. Hm. The full range from life to death.
I hope he has gone to Ukraine and Crimea, and is privately working out how to remove Russian troops as soon as possible.

The Russian Federation
Countries invade because they want war, world domination, to save inhabitants, or they want stuff. Like oil and gas. Which one is Russia? I don't know but I am listening to them. Above and below.
Flag, map and edited information from Wikipedia.

Russia is the largest country in the world,  over 12 to 13% of land mass. It borders Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azebaijian, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, North Korea. Across the waters is Japan (the Sea of Okhotsk) and the USA (Bering Strait).

Pictures above, right and below: New York City Russian Consulate one week after Russia announced it had annexed Crimea.
News feed from the Moscow Times

Latest Top (10) News
News feed from Pravda

Latest Top (10) News

Macron challenges Trump. French independence and croissants at stake
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared their positive views about the idea to establish the joint European army in the EU. Donald Trump expressed his indignation on the subject, but the master of the Elysée Palace went even further and said that he wanted to reinstate France's independence.President Charles de Gaulle had tried to conduct independent policies in France after WWII. In response, he had to deal with student riots and his own resignation, but the republic managed to withstand the turmoil. When Jacques Chirac left office, France started losing its sovereignty on almost all fronts, including in the field of foreign policy.The United States has trapped France as a military constituent of NATO and concocted a nice name for the process - the Euro-Atlantic integration.The phase of the sharp confrontation between the United States and Russia and then with China became a wakeup call for several EU leaders who paid attention to the completely unsportsmanlike behaviour of their good old transatlantic ally. They frowned but were still catering to Washington. The moment of enlightenment occurred when US sanctions started affecting European interests. USA's unceremonious attacks on the Nord Stream 2 international project made the voice of the German Chancellor sound stronger in her disputes with the United States. Washington's move to raise import tariffs on the goods that Europe traditionally supplies to the American market and manipulations with the SWIFT payment system forced EU countries to think about an independent payment system of their own.It is worth noting that the list of SWIFT founders includes 248 banks from 19 countries. Iran and North Korea were disconnected from the system on the initiative of the UN. This time, Iran was cut off from SWIFT solely at the request of the United States.Noteworthy, SWIFT discloses all data of its users to the USA after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Tracking possible terrorist transactions is an important excuse, no doubt. However, all payments that all other users of the system make through SWIFT became transparent to American special services. Russia, China and Iran have drawn their conclusions and founded their own electronic payment systems. Russia has been servicing domestic payments via the SPFS (Financial Reporting System) of the Bank of Russia. Quite possibly, the United States will not restrict Russia's access to SWIFT. However, Russia will not have trust in Washington for many years ahead. It appears that the leaders of foreign countries, including French President Emmanuel Macron, understand what they may end up with if they decide to stand up against the United States. Emmanuel Macron suddenly decided that France has to become an independent nation, including in the field of cyber security, as well as in all military areas - on land, at sea, in the air and in space. It looks like a riot. We will see how resolute Emmanuel Macron can be. Like Macron, Trump wants to make France "great again" but only under the leadership of the United States, of course. We will not be surprised if a colour revolution comes to the streets of Paris, and the US Ambassador to France will be handing out croissants to protesters.

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:23:00 +0300

Russians lose faith in their future, get ready for worse
The Russians are not expecting the bleak and poor future to come - they are getting ready for it already now, a new study by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre said. According to the study, the number of those who share a pessimistic view on the future in both personal and national terms has skyrocketed.  Fifty-seven percent of the polled said that the economic situation in the country was "average." Twenty-seven percent estimate the economic situation in Russia as "bad", whereas 14 percent said that they were happy about the state of affairs in the Russian economy. The "index of assessments of the economic situation" dropped by 16 points. The index of social optimism declined by as many as 23 points. For example, 25 percent of Russians believe that their lives will become worse in the future while, another 40 percent said that "everything will remain as it was," and 25 percent of optimists believe in the bright future of Russia. Sixteen percent of respondents said that they were concerned about their lives, while another 21 percent are partially satisfied, and 58 percent of Russians are quite satisfied with the current "stability."Experts believe that the majority of Russians have lost faith in their future because of the highly unpopular pension reform that raised the retirement age in Russia for both men and women.  Also read: Putin loses everything he has

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 15:30:00 +0300

Putin dislikes the idea of US army bases coming to Kuril Islands
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that US army bases will not appear on the southern Kuril Islands in the even Russia delivers them to Japan. In accordance with the US-Japanese Security Treaty, the United States can deploy its army bases throughout the territory of Japan, albeit with Japan's consent.Shinzo Abe wants Putin to accelerate the negotiations on the territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. It is believed that the parties are to discuss the conclusion of a peace treaty on the basis of the 1956 Joint Soviet-Japanese Declaration. According to the document, Moscow delivers Habomai and Shikotan islands to Japan after the conclusion of the peace treaty between Russia and Japan. The 1956 Declaration does not mention anything about the fate of two other islands - Kunashir and Iturup.In September, Vladimir Putin offered Shinzo Abe to sign a peace treaty before the end of 2018 without preconditions, but Japan rejected the proposal by claiming that the peace treaty would not be concluded until the countries settle the territorial dispute.Russia and Japan have been negotiating the signing of the peace treaty for more than 70 years. Tokyo insists on the return of the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai. Moscow believes that the Southern Kuriles became part of the USSR following the results of the Second World War, and sovereignty over them shall not be questioned. Also read: Kuril Islands: How Russia can make Japan see reality

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 14:51:00 +0300

Malaysia complains of faulty Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets
Malaysia needs Russia's assistance in maintaining and repairing Su-30MKM fighter jets, Free Malaysia Today reports. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said during a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit that Malaysian specialists would like to know how to maintain and repair the jets. Nothing has been reported about the details of the negotiations because journalists could attend only the protocol part of the talks prior to the actual meeting. General Dato Affendee Bin Buang, the commander-in-chief of Malaysian Air Force, said in August that the problem with the combat readiness of Russian-made fighter aircraft was exacerbated by the need for mandatory technical examination of 12 Su-30MKM fighter jets after the expiry of ten years of their service life. In July, Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu said that only four of 28 Russian fighter aircraft at the disposal of the Royal Air Force were capable of flying, while the rest remained under repairs.Sukhoi Design Bureau suggested sending out-of-order Su-30MKM for repairs to Russia, but Malaysia found the suggestion costly.From 2007 to 2009, Malaysia had received 18 heavy fourth generation Su-30MKM fighter jets. They are multipurpose aircraft that come as a development of the Su-30MKI. The export version of the plane for Malaysia was outfitted with windshield sensors, the infrared front view system and the laser illumination system made by Thales.

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 14:28:00 +0300

The Amazon and the New Conquistadores
The Amazon and the New Conquistadores When the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana in 1541, explored a majestic river, surrounded by a green oasis of unprecedented beauty in a pristine paradise and accompanied by mysterious animal sounds, he ran into a local tribe. A subsequent battle was fought at the mouth of the Madeira. In the record of the monk Gaspar de Carvajal, he wrote that their attackers consisted of female warriors. These were promptly called Amazons, after the female warriors of Greek mythology. This is how the Amazon forest and the river got their name. Now, a new conquistador has appeared in the Amazon. One that hates homosexuals, Indians, black and colored Brazilians, and women. He is a danger to the entire planet, because his government heralds the end of the Amazon rainforest. He calls himself 'the Trump of the Tropics', but he might just be much worse than Trump. Jair Bolsonaro, the new president of Brazil, desires a return of the military dictatorship. Everyone who disagrees, must pay for it. Bolsonaro owes his success largely to corruption, and the enormous anger of the people over the greedy political class. 

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 00:49:00 +0300

USA plays to pretend a mighty dragon that can no longer breathe fire
Washington threatens to impose more sanctions on Russia. The list of reasons continues growing: interference in US elections, Skripal poisoning, Donbass elections, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and even aggressive behaviour in the Sea of Azov. Next come violations of sanctions against North Korea, cyberattacks and so on and so forth. Is the Russian economy ready for all those challenges? We do not want to lose our sovereignty nor do we want to defend it at war. Sanctions have become a powerful tool of pressure on Russia. The financial supremacy of the United States and America's economic potential minimises the risks of responsive measures. In total, the Americans are running 29 sanction programs, and they are confident that the programs are useful for "restoring (American?) order" around the world. Pressure potential on Russia With regard to Russia, the USA follows the regulations of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The goal is to remove major Russian companies from the international market. It goes about such giants as Alrosa, Renova, Gazprom, Rosneft and others. Russian companies cannot access long-term loans (longer than 60 days), high technologies, nor can they participate in projects with foreign partners. These actions cut the price of companies' shares, their capitalisation, foreign exchange earnings, companies pay less taxes to the treasury, and the state is forced to cut social spending. The second line of pressure is on the financial sector. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation has been cut off from external borrowings, Russian banks lose an opportunity to raise loans taking into consideration the fact that the lion's share of their profits is based on the dollar resale. In turn, banks do not allocate loans to businesses, the latter have no funds for investment, there is no wage growth, the level of consumption among the population declines, and the economy eventually stagnates. Against such a background, the revenues generated by both private and state-run businesses are flowing out of Russia. Entrepreneurs fear the withdrawal or arrest of their dollar accounts by the Russian government. They also believe that the Russian government may ban the use of dollar settlements and the SWIFT system.The third line of pressure targets state officials and personally oligarchs in order to orchestrate a coup in Russia. Is Russia ready? For the time being, one can see only one method of defence against "draconian sanctions" - the accumulation of national reserves. Russia sends all additional oil revenues to the National Wealth Fund (NWF). The Central Bank also cuts investment in US Treasury bonds and stocks up gold and dollar assets. This is a lesson that Russia has learned from the period of the collapse of the USSR, when the country's budget deficit tripled following the collapse in oil prices. The Soviet government could not support the republics, pay off their debts, salaries to state employees, etc. Will Russia be able to support the budget and social programs, if the ruble collapses again? How long will Russia be able to stand it? Are we going to walk the beaten IMF track again? Strangely enough, the West cannot introduce most stringent sanctions on Russia, similarly to those it has imposed on Iran, because of Russia's strong involvement in the financial system and the energy sector of the world economy. Russian state-owned banks control 60 percent of the country's financial industry, they serve the majority of transactions for fuel exporters. If Russian banks fall under sanctions, oil prices may break through the critical level of more than $120 per barrel even without the imposition of an oil embargo.Alexis Rodzianko, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, said in an interview with Bloomberg that the proposals to expand sanctions against Russian banks, which US Congress is currently considering, may cause serious turmoil for the global energy market.However, one can already see the Americans taking care of only themselves and paying no attention to allies. That said, the USA may impose any sort of sanctions. The Americans can even ban the purchase of Russian oil and gas. It appears that the Russian government will not be able to respond to such a move. Konstantin Simonov, General Director of the National Energy Security Foundation, told Pravda.Ru that the confidence of the Russian government is based on the fact that the budget for 2019 will have a surplus. "Over the past year, Russia has received unreported earnings of 1.8 trillion rubles. Growing prices for oil and the weak ruble play a positive role at this point," the expert told Pravda.Ru. According to him, "collapse will never happen if you have money and live within your means rather than in debt." "The most dangerous sanctions are about the ban on the purchase of Russian raw materials, particularly oil and gas. However, the Europeans are so dependent on the Russian fuel they can never refuse from it," Mr. Simonov said. To crown it all, Russia is actively increasing its sales to Asia. For example, Rosneft's Asian sales have already outstripped European ones.

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 20:05:00 +0300

Sanctions do not stop foreign countries from buying Russia's S-400 systems
Many countries want to buy Russian S-400 air defence systems, because they want to defend themselves to avoid the fate of Iraq, which Western countries betrayed and dismembered. As many as 13 countries of the world have expressed their interest in buying Russian S-400 missile systems. They opt for Russian, rather than US weapons despite the threat of sanctions that may follow, CNBC said. The list of interested countries includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Vietnam and Iraq. However, the United States expects several countries to give up their contracts even before Washington puts "diplomatic pressure" on them.The source also said that buying weapons from Russia is more profitable, because the process of buying weapons from the US government is more complicated. The S-400 comes with a smaller package of export restrictions, let alone the fact that Russian arms are traditionally cheaper and can be used without technical maintenance. There is no arms system in the United States that could be compared to the ability of the S-400 to defend airspace at such long ranges, CNBC said with reference to its anonymous source. The Russian system can intercept stealth bombers, airplanes, cruise missiles, precision-guided munitions and tactical ballistic missiles, the source added.Viktor Murakhovsky, chief editor of Arsenal of Fatherland magazine, told Pravda.Ru that the S-400 Triumf system has no competitor in the world. "The Americans cannot offer an alternative. More importantly, many arms companies in the world do not want to be too fond of US weapons, because  it makes them dependent on the United States. Iraq had had such an experience. The Iraqi military had anti-aircraft systems manufactured in Western Europe, and those systems were remotely shut down when Iraq wanted to defend itself from Western aggression. Saudi Arabia is also interested in acquiring S-400 systems, because the country periodically suffers from missile attacks from South Yemen," the expert said. It is worthy of note that the export version of the S-400 differs from the systems that Russia uses in its own armed forces.

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 17:18:00 +0300

Putin completely satisfied with oil price of $70 per barrel
One should ensure the optimal oil price for consumers and producers, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference in Singapore."One needs an optimal price for both producers and consumers. The price that we've had just recently - about $70 per barrel - is fine with us," Putin said adding that one should not restrict oil output. Putin also said that the Russian budget was calculated on the price of $40 per barrel. "This gives us an opportunity to feel confident, to work calmly and achieve very good results, which are reflected in macroeconomics," Putin said noting that this year Russia's budget will "most likely" have a surplus. With a minimum external debt of 15% of GDP and a positive trade balance of $100-120 billion, there is a "good base" to achieve higher GDP growth rates and deal with structural changes.On November 13, oil prices fell by almost seven percent - by $4.65. January futures for Brent closed at $65.47 a barrel, whereas December futures for WTI crude also fell by $4.24 to $55.69 per barrel. However, on November 14, oil prices (Brent) climbed higher than $66 per barrel.

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 15:25:00 +0300

Putin sees no drama if Russia misses Davos forum
Russia's absence at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos will not affect the authority of the country, President Putin said at a news conference following the summit in Singapore. "The authority depends primarily on the economic power of a country, on the structure of its economy," Putin said adding that such factors as technological development, GDP growth and macroeconomic indicators also play an important role at this point. Making a reference to Russia, Putin also mentioned such indicators as low inflation, budget surplus or its minimum deficit, as well as low external debt.Putin noted that the Russian authorities achieve their goals in general, "and we feel confident," he said. Earlier, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow would not take part in the forum in Davos, unless its organizers lift restrictions for Russian businessmen. On November 6, it was reported that VTB chief Andrei Kostin, Renova CEO Viktor Vekselberg and co-owner of UC Rusal Oleg Deripaska were not invited to the forum in Davos this year because of the sanctions that the US authorities had imposed on them. Speaking in Singapore, Putin also said that Russian businessmen are "free to decide" whether they should take part in the forum.

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 14:16:00 +0300

Theatrical posters depicting naked dancers banned in Russian provincial city
Posters for the play "Adam and Eve. Life after Paradise" with pictures of dancers Arsen Aghamalyan and Oksana Vasilyeva were banned in the city of Tver in Central Russia. Dancers Arsen Aghamalyan and Oksana Vasilyeva are multiple European and world champions in sports dancing. Their first show in the Tver Drama Theatre on September 26 was a great success. The second show is to take place on November 30. The posters to the dance show are marked "16+" for viewer discretion. The photograph on the posters depicts the dancers stark naked striking a pose from their dance show. However, even though Arsen Aghamalyan and Oksana Vasilyeva are depicted naked on the photo, there is absolutely no nudity in the picture. Strangely enough, the poster did not confuse anyone two months ago, when the dancers gave their first show in the city. However, Arsen Aghamalyan wrote on his social webpage that the committee for cultural affairs of the Tver region received a complaint from local residents who claimed that there was a picture of naked people displayed in the Tver Drama Theatre. On the basis of this complaint, the committee issued an order on November 13 to remove the posters that supposedly corrupt the morality of theatre-goers.Arsen Aghamalyan was very surprised to know that officials with the committee for cultural affairs ddi not even try to look into the issue, but simply ordered to remove the posters. "What if some inadequate people write official letters to museums complaining of nudity? Will officials decide to put down all those paintings and statues not to corrupt people's morality?" the dancer wondered. The dancers decided not to make a scandal of the incident. They will simply replace the posters with those that will not display any images, but will contain only text information on them.

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 13:51:00 +0300