Thread: What Is Happening In Ukraine Is Far More Important Than Most People Realize

Hidden Motives Behind the Ukraine-Russia Conflict

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFpKw...ature=youtu.be

Russia: We Won’t Repay the Bankers if U.S. Imposes Sanctions

Russia may also dump the dollar if sanctions move forward

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
March 4, 2014

A Kremlin economist, Sergei Glazyev, told RIA Novosti the Russian government may not repay loans owed to the financial cartel if the United States imposes sanctions on the country in response to the Crimea intervention.

EU, led by Germany, is backing off the idea of sanctions.



“If sanctions are applied against state structures, we will be forced to recognize the impossibility of repayment of the loans that the US banks gave to the Russian structures. Indeed, sanctions are a double-edged weapon, and if the US chooses to freeze our assets, then our equities and liabilities in dollars will also be frozen. This means that our banks and businesses will not return the loans to American partners,” he said.
Additionally, Glazyev said, Russia would likely dump the dollar to reduce its dependence on the U.S. financial system and switch to other currencies. “We have wonderful economic and trade relations with our Southern and Eastern partners,” he said. “We will find a way not just to eliminate our dependence on the U.S. but also profit from these sanctions.”
In addition to battering the banking system, Russia has the ability to inflict serious economic damage on Europe. As noted in a report issued by the Capital Economics research group, Russia is a major supplier of oil to Germany, the Netherlands, and “Western Europe generally.” The market share of the Russian gas giant Gazprom is expected to grow in the years ahead.
The Obama administration has vacillated on sanctions, although Obama is reportedly considering issuing an Executive Order without the consent of Congress. The administration has so far taken largely token steps, including suspending preparations for the annual G8 summit scheduled for Sochi in June. Obama has also nixed trade and energy talks with Russia and has withdrawn the American delegation for the Paralympics in Sochi.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters during a conference call on Monday the U.S. has a number of options available if the situation in Ukraine escalates. “At this point, we are not just considering sanctions. Given the actions Russia is taking, it is likely we will put those in place and we are preparing that,” Psaki said.
A document leaked in the UK suggests ministers there are second guessing sanctions due in large part to the risk of losing Russian investment in the country. The government briefing document photographed as an adviser carried it on Monday said Britain “should not support, for now, trade sanctions… or close London’s financial center to Russians.” It would, instead, support visa restrictions and travel bans.



Arizona Senator McCain insists on sanctions despite economic damage.
Sanctions imposed by the United States will need the support of Britain and Europe. “Unilateral U.S. sanctions against Russia are not going to have much an effect if Europe remains a haven for Russian banks and Russian oligarchs to stash and invest their money,” said Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat. “If the United States shuts its economic doors to Russia and Europe leaves its doors open, there won’t be much change in behavior from Moscow,” he said.
U.S. lawmakers have proposed an aggressive round of sanctions against Russian banks. Congress also wants to freeze the assets of Russian public institutions and private investors. In addition to sanctions on Russia, lawmakers are looking at generous loans for the coup regime in Kyiv that overthrew the elected government of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

This article was posted: Tuesday, March 4, 2014 at 9:31 am

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http://www.infowars.com/russia-we-wo...ses-sanctions/

Mark Levin

My interview with Donald Rumsfeld - a serious man who did not hold back

RUMSFELD: Obama saying US standing with int’l community is like having both feet firmly planted in mid-air

Posted on Mar 4, 2014 at 8:01 PM in Politics | 15 Comments
By The Right Scoop

Donald Rumsfeld was on with Mark Levin tonight to discuss what’s going on with Putin invading Ukraine, and Rumsfeld plainly stated that this shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering how important Ukraine is in that part of the world. When asked what we should do now, he quipped “if you drive yourself into a cul-de-sac, your options are few.”
Rumsfeld called all this talk about the international community “mindless” and said that for Obama to say the US is standing with the international community is like having both feet firmly planted in mid-air. Rumsfeld points out that there really is no international community to stand with. He said we’re a whole rang of 100+ nations with different views, different neighbors, different histories and different cultures and there is no strategic vision or mission in this ‘international community’.
Rumsfeld says the real problem is American weakness, arguing that the US is behaving as though it is in decline. He said we’re showing the world that we’re not a reliable ally and we’ve injected instability into the world equation. We’ve created a leadership vacuum, he argues, and says it’s being filled by the Putin’s of the world whose interests are against our own interests.
When asked about our foreign policy, he said we don’t have one, that what we have is an administration “leading from the hip.” In order to have a foreign policy, he says, you must have a clarity of vision and you must decide what political, economic, and security actions will provide an appropriate deterrent to the Putin’s of the world. Then, he adds, you must develop a coalition to support that strategy.
Later in the interview, Rumsfeld also slammed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying that he doesn’t know of one thing she accomplished. He pointed out that a “trained ape” could get a status of forces agreement and we don’t have one in either of the two countries we’ve invested so much, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Listen the full interview below:

Video at the Page Link:

http://therightscoop.com/rumsfeld-ob...ed-in-mid-air/

Leaked Phone Call: Kiev Snipers Hired by US-Backed Opposition

False flag killings used to delegitimize Yanukovich government

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
March 5, 2014

Details of a leaked phone call between EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Estonian foreign affairs minister Urmas Paet suggest that the US-backed opposition was responsible for hiring snipers who gunned down protesters in Kiev and not the deposed government of Viktor Yanukovich, as the media widely claimed.

During the phone call, Paet tells Ashton that evidence presented to him by a doctor who treated victims of the sniper attacks clearly indicates both police and protesters were being shot at by the same people.

“There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition,” said Paet during the phone call, which was hacked by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

“And second, what was quite disturbing, this same Olga [Bogomolets] told as well that all the evidence shows that the people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among policemen and then people from the streets, that they were the same snipers killing people from both sides,” the Estonian FM added.

The true narrative therefore suggests that forces within the opposition hired the snipers in order to kill protesters and then blame the deaths on Yanukovich’s administration, thereby delegitimizing his bid to hold onto power. This is a classic example of the kind “false flag” attack that NATO, which has vehemently sided with the opposition, perfected in Europe throughout the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s under Operation Gladio.

“I think we do want to investigate. I mean, I didn’t pick that up, that’s interesting. Gosh,” Ashton said in response to Paet.

However, the only real “investigation” conducted into the sniper killings was overseen by a secretive British team who refused to tell the BBC who they were working for. The investigators suggested that they had already concluded the Yanukovich government was responsible for the “bloodbath” before any formal results were even published.

Paet indicated that the newly installed government had since launched a cover-up of the sniper attacks, remarking, “They don’t want to investigate what exactly happened.”

The phone call was conducted after Paet visited Kiev on February 25 at the height of the clashes between police and protesters.

Earlier in February, another hacked phone call was leaked in which US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Victoria Nuland was caught red handed plotting with top diplomat Geoffrey Pyatt to pick Ukraine’s future puppet leaders. Nuland specifically approved Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who later became Prime Minister after the coup.

Suspicion as to who was really behind the sniper attacks should be focused on armed right-wing extremists who are now patrolling Kiev after the overthrow of Yanukovich. As we previously highlighted, after both Nuland and John McCain met with the leader of the neo-nazi affiliated Svoboda Party, the organization was handed three top positions within the newly formed Ukrainian government despite its clear links to fascism and anti-Semitism.

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71

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*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

This article was posted: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 9:10 am
Tags: foreign affairs, terrorism, war

http://www.infowars.com/leaked-phone...ed-opposition/

As Putin flexes muscle in Ukraine, French-built warship destined for Russia gets 1st test run

Published March 05, 2014 Associated Press

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  French-built warship BPC Vladivostock, designed to strengthen Russia's ability to deploy troops, tanks and helicopter gunships, leaves the Saint Nazaire's harbor, western France, for its test run on the open sea off coast of France, Wednesday, March 5, 2014, just as Western powers are trying to rein in Russian President Vladimir Putin's military threat to Ukraine. The warship is part of a 1.2-billion-euro deal ($1.6-billion) that marked the biggest-ever sale of NATO weaponry to Moscow, a deal that already raised eyebrows both within Russia's military circles and among France's Western allies when it was struck in 2011. (AP Photo/David Vincent) (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
  
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  French-built warship BPC Vladivostock, designed to strengthen Russia's ability to deploy troops, tanks and helicopter gunships, leaves the Saint Nazaire's harbor, western France, for its test run on the open sea off coast of France, Wednesday, March 5, 2014, just as Western powers are trying to rein in Russian President Vladimir Putin's military threat to Ukraine. The warship is part of a 1.2-billion-euro deal ($1.6-billion) that marked the biggest-ever sale of NATO weaponry to Moscow, a deal that already raised eyebrows both within Russia's military circles and among France's Western allies when it was struck in 2011. (AP Photo/David Vincent) (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
  
• 
  French-built warship BPC Vladivostock, designed to strengthen Russia's ability to deploy troops, tanks and helicopter gunships, leaves the Saint Nazaire's harbor, western France, for its test run on the open sea off coast of France, Wednesday, March 5, 2014, just as Western powers are trying to rein in Russian President Vladimir Putin's military threat to Ukraine. The warship is part of a 1.2-billion-euro deal ($1.6-billion) that marked the biggest-ever sale of NATO weaponry to Moscow, a deal that already raised eyebrows both within Russia's military circles and among France's Western allies when it was struck in 2011. (AP Photo/David Vincent) (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
  
• 
  French-built warship BPC Vladivostock, designed to strengthen Russia's ability to deploy troops, tanks and helicopter gunships, leaves the Saint Nazaire's harbor, western France, for its test run on the open sea off coast of France, Wednesday, March 5, 2014, just as Western powers are trying to rein in Russian President Vladimir Putin's military threat to Ukraine. The warship is part of a 1.2-billion-euro deal ($1.6-billion) that marked the biggest-ever sale of NATO weaponry to Moscow, a deal that already raised eyebrows both within Russia's military circles and among France's Western allies when it was struck in 2011. (AP Photo/David Vincent) (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
  
• 
  French-built warship BPC Vladivostock, designed to strengthen Russia's ability to deploy troops, tanks and helicopter gunships, leaves the Saint Nazaire's harbor, western France, for its test run on the open sea off coast of France, Wednesday, March 5, 2014, just as Western powers are trying to rein in Russian President Vladimir Putin's military threat to Ukraine. The warship is part of a 1.2-billion-euro deal ($1.6-billion) that marked the biggest-ever sale of NATO weaponry to Moscow, a deal that already raised eyebrows both within Russia's military circles and among France's Western allies when it was struck in 2011. (AP Photo/David Vincent) (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
  

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Video at the Page Link:

PARIS – A French-built warship designed to strengthen Russia's ability to deploy troops, tanks and helicopter gunships embarked on its first test run Wednesday — just as Western powers are trying to rein in Russian President Vladimir Putin's military threat to Ukraine.
The Vladivostok helicopter carrier set sail from the French Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire, while just a few hundred kilometers (miles) away in Paris, France's government hosted American, Russian and other leading world diplomats amid mounting tensions over Ukraine.
The warship is part of a 1.2-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) deal that marked the biggest-ever sale of NATO weaponry to Moscow, a deal that already raised eyebrows both within Russia's military circles and among France's Western allies when it was struck in 2011.
France has criticized Russia's military incursion into Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, but says it has no plans to scrap the defense deal. That's because France, like many of Russia's European trading partners, has found itself wedged between efforts to squeeze Russia diplomatically and its own economic interests.
The French government's top priority is reviving a lackluster economy and reducing unemployment, and this deal underpins some 1,000 jobs.
The Vladivostok is on track to be delivered by the last quarter of this year, said spokesman Emmanuel Gaudez of DCNS, a state-backed naval shipbuilder manufacturing the warships along with South Korean-controlled shipbuilder STX.
A sister ship, the Sevastopol — named, ironically, for a Russian-controlled port in Crimea — is scheduled to be delivered about a year later. "We're not going to comment on the political situation — that's for politicians to decide," he said.
A few Russian customers and military personnel are to visit the ship later this month, and larger Russian delegation is expected in June, company officials said.
"But now with what's happening in Ukraine, perhaps they have other priorities — I don't know," said Christophe Morel, a CGT labor union delegate on the STX board.
Russian military analysts say the warships wouldn't make a big impact on Russia's aging navy, despite their large cost. However the deal still has symbolic importance because it involves sensitive military technology shared between Moscow and the West.
France has joined the United States and Britain in suspending preparations for a Group of Eight summit in Russia in June, and France and EU allies are considering possible sanctions against Russia.
But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking on RTL radio Monday, said "we're not there yet" when it comes to suspending any defense exports.
In contrast, Britain's government said Wednesday it was reviewing all U.K. arms exports to Russia "in light of recent events."
British firms sold Russia some 120 million pounds ($200 million) worth of equipment covered by export licenses between 2012 and 2013, according to information made public by the government and compiled by the London-based Campaign Against Arms Trade.
Much of it has been dual-use equipment such as machine parts, cameras, electronics, and navigation systems, but other items include riot gear, sniper rifles, and drones. Britain's Foreign Office said none of the weapons were sold to the Russian military.
The French Defense Ministry, meanwhile, trumpeted on its website the capabilities of the warships it's selling to Russia: up to 750 troops, up to 16 helicopter gunships, and as many as 60 armored vehicles.
___
Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.
___
Follow Jamey Keaten at http://twitter.com/jameykeaten .

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03...r-russia-gets/

Conservative Daily

That time Vladimir Putin met Ronald Reagan...

When Ronnie Met Vlady: Reagan’s Unlikely Encounter with Putin as a KGB Agent

By Kyle Becker 3 hours ago



On a presidential visit to Russia, Ronald Reagan had an unlikely encounter with a KGB agent posing as a tourist: future Russian president Vladimir Putin (pictured above with a camera around his neck).

Iconic Photos (via Tabitha Hale of Rare) has the backstory for the photo:

In May 1988, President Ronald Reagan travelled to Moscow for his 4th summit with Mikhail Gorbachev. The Soviets prepared a grand welcome; buildings across from the Kremlin were repainted, streets repaved and trees and flowers planted along the boulevards. [...]

The most telling incident was only revealed 20 years later. In the above photo, the man with the camera around his neck standing behind the boy was the current Russian Prime Minister (and former president) Vladimir Putin. He was pretending to be a tourist on his capacity as a KGB agent.

While on his visit, former Russian Premiere Gorbachev directed Reagan towards a number of “tourists” who then asked him politically charged questions about human rights.
At one point, Pete Souza, the photographer who snapped this picture, turned to the secret service and commented, “I can’t believe these tourists in the Soviet Union are asking these pointed questions.” The agent replied, “Oh, these are KGB families.”

Reagan called Russia a “police state” during his visit, and was well-known for his view that the Soviet Union was an “evil empire.”

• No comments from Reagan about looking into the eyes of Vladimir Putin and being “able to get a sense of his soul.”
• No remarks about there being more “flexibility” after his last election.
• No calling an invasion an “uncontested arrival.”
• No foreign policy statements made while standing on a children’s alphabet rug.

Wonder what Reagan would say about Vladimir Putin now?

Obama’s Latest Photo Op Shows Why The Global Community Doesn’t Take Him Seriously


http://www.ijreview.com/2014/03/1195...tin-kgb-agent/

Videos From Ukraine that The U.S. Media Will Never Show You

by admin · March 5, 2014

The sugar coated story that the U.S. state-run corporate media and it’s EU allies have been feeding the public is completely out of sync with the events unfolding on the ground in Ukraine. Here are six videos that you’ll never see aired on the mainstream news.



1 Ukrainian “protesters” setting fire to police officers



2 “Freedom fighters” brutally beat man with batons while he’s laying on the ground



3 Literal Neo-Nazis openly marching through Kiev displaying their emblems



Continued Below

4 Alexander Muzychko vows to fight “against Jews communists, and Russian scum” for as long as he lives.



5 Muzychko brandishing an Ak-47 in parliament and letting them know who is in charge



TRANSLATION: “The Right Sector was armed and will be armed till the time when it will be necessary, You did not give us this weapon and you will not take it away. Who wants to take away my machine gun, my pistol, my knives?”

6 Right sector members saluting Nazi style and shout nationalist slogans like “Glory to the nation! Death to enemies!” “Ukraine for Ukrainians.”



Related: The Extreme Right Emerging as the Dominant Voice in Ukraine

Sources:

Neo-Nazis at the heart of the conflict in Ukraine: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/29/ukraine-fascists-ol…

Extreme right emerging as the dominant voice in Ukraine: http://scgnews.com/the-extreme-right-emerging-as-the-dominant-voice-in-u…

Washington’s connection to the Neo-Nazi’s in Ukraine: http://scgnews.com/washingtons-role-in-the-ukrainian-coup-how-it-may-spi…

Far right asserts that this is a nationalist revolution and that joining the EU is out of the question: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/23/ukrainian-far-right-groups-…

SOURCE: scgnews.com


http://asheepnomore.net/2014/03/05/videos-ukraine-u-s-media-will-never-show/

Paul Ryan Shakes Head, Laughs: ‘I Can’t Believe We Lost To These Guys’

By Mike Miller
4 hours ago

During a discussion about Barack Obama’s Russia policy on Fox News Tuesday, Paul Ryan said he still can’t believe that he and Mitt Romney were not elected in 2012.

“There are moments when I just look down, shake my head and say, ‘I can’t believe we lost to these guys.’ This is one of those moments. Mitt was right.”

In a 2012 presidential debate, Obama chided Romney for suggesting that Russia was the number-one geopolitical threat facing the world. In classic Obama-style condescension, the president mocked Romney: “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because…the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.”

“I think the president was incredibly naive on his Russia policy His ‘reset’ has been a total failure. I think this is what happens when a superpower projects weakness in its form in defense policy. Aggression fills that vacuum. And I think that’s what is happening right now.”

Now that Vladimir Putin has ignored repeated warnings from Obama and invaded Ukraine — yes, it’s an invasion — add Paul Ryan’s name to the list of those who have a perfect right to say “We told you so.”

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/03/1194...eve-lost-guys/