Tag Archives: Vladimir Putin

Greeks Trust Putin Most Relative To Trump, Brits Undecided

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Around the world, few people trust Russian President Vladimir Putin to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs. A global median of roughly one-in-four (26%) say they have confidence in the Russian leader. However, as KeepTalkingGreece reports, Greeks love the Russian President; much more so in fact than US President Donald Trump.
According to a survey conducted by PEW Research Center, only in three countries surveyed do majorities express a favorable opinion of Russia: Vietnam (83%), Greece (64%) and the Philippines (55%).

Doubts about Putin’s handling of foreign policy, however, do not necessarily coincide with perceptions of Russia as a security risk. Across 37 countries, a median of 31% describe Russia’s power and influence as a major threat to their country – identical to the median percentage who say the same about China, and similar to the median share (35%) that sees America’s power and influence as a large threat.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 18, 2017.

The Death Of A Nation

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Authored by James George Jatras via The Strategic Culture Foundation,
Every living nation needs symbols. They tell us who we are as one people, in what we believe, and on what basis we organize our common life.
This fact seems to be very clear to the current leadership in Russia, particularly to President Vladimir Putin, in restoring and reunifying a country rent by three generations of Red and White enmity to achieve a national synthesis. With regard to things spiritual, this meant first of all the world-historic reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church, between the Moscow Patriarchate and the New York-based Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. It also meant the rebuilding of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior dynamited by the communists 1931, not coincidentally the recent target for desecration by degenerates hailed by western democracy advocates.
Civic and military symbols matter as well. After 1991 there were those who wanted landmarks of the communist era to be ruthlessly expunged the way the Bolsheviks had themselves sought (in Solzhenitsyn’s description) to rub off the age-old face of Russia and to replace it with a new, ersatz Soviet image. Instead, wisdom prevailed. The national anthem adopted in 2001 retains the Soviet melody but with new lyrics (written by Sergey Mikhalkov, who with Gabriel El-Registan had penned the original lyrics in 1944!) – Lenin and Stalin are out, God is in. The old capital is again Saint Petersburg, but the surrounding district still bears the name Leningrad. The red star marks Russia’s military aircraft and vehicles, while the blue Saint Andrew’s cross flies over the fleet. The red stars likewise are still atop the Kremlin towers while the Smolensk icon of Christ once again graces the Savior Gate. The red banner that was hoisted triumphantly on the Reichstag in 1945 is carried on Victory Day. The remains of exiled White commanders like Anton Denikin and Vladimir Kappel were repatriated and reburied at home with honor.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 18, 2017.

The Costs Of Ignoring Russia

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Current mutual hostility threatens an explosive confrontation
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Improving the dangerously unstable U. S.-Russia relationship will be very difficult, but it is important for U. S. national security. Current mutual hostility threatens an explosive confrontation that could destroy American (and Russian) civilization as we know it. Short of that, Russia can do much more than it is today to damage U. S. interests and values without taking extreme risks. Accordingly, the United States should explore normalizing its interaction with Russia. Washington should do so without illusions, and from a position of strength.
Today, America and Russia are adversaries with different approaches to key international issues, different systems of government and, in many respects, different values. Each confronts domestic obstacles to efforts to establish better relations. These obstacles are particularly challenging in the United States, where Congress, the mainstream media and much of the American public view Vladimir Putin’s Russia as a vicious enemy akin to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, if not Hitler’s Germany. Unlike China, Russia has only limited economic interaction with America – and therefore few Americans see a practical positive side to contacts with Russia. President Putin has much greater latitude in shaping his country’s foreign policy, including exploring a new beginning with Washington. Yet in a period of economic difficulty before Russia’s 2018 presidential election, Putin is loath to appear weak under foreign pressure.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 16, 2017.

Familiar Pattern: The West’s Marginalization of Venezuela

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The corporate mass media are well aware what side of the class war their bread is buttered. Their reporting of the events in Venezuela is a case in point.
‘Venezuela Leaps Towards Dictatorship,’ said The Economist.
‘Venezuela Flirts With Outright Dictatorship,’ exclaimed The Independent.
The New York Times headlined with ‘Venezuela’s Descent Into Dictatorship,’ while The Guardian’s ‘Let’s Call Venezuela What it is under Maduro: a Dictatorship,’ was even more forthright in it’s message.
To top it all, Newsweek went for the double whammy, ‘Putin Steps In To Bolster Venezuelan Dictator, Maduro.’
The sensationalist headlines that present a totally distorted picture of the events unfolding in the country, illustrate the extent of the anti-Venezuela government propaganda witnessed since president Nicolas Maduro augmented the Venezuelan constitution spearheaded by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in 1999.

This post was published at 21st Century Wire on August 11, 2017.

Trump Thanks Putin For Kicking Out 755 Diplomats: “We’ll Save A Lot Of Money”

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In a statement that has been buried by the rest of Trump’s barrage of soundbites today, including the ongoing back on forth verbal war on North Korea, as well as Mueller, Manafort and McConnell, during his second meeting with reporters at his golf complex in Bedminster, President Trump said something which could push his war with the intel community and the “deep state” into uncharted territory.
In his first public comment on the recent decision by the Kremlin to seize two US compounds and kick out 755 US diplomats in retaliation for a similar move by Obama in December, Trump said “I want to thank” Russian President Vladimir Putin for ousting hundreds of US embassy employees “because we’re trying to cut down our payroll.”

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 10, 2017.

Czar vs. Pope

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Vladimir the Great Sums Up Pope Francis the Fake
Vladimir Putin has once again demonstrated why he is the most perceptive, farsighted, and for a politician, the most honest world leader to come around in quite a while. If it had not been for his patient and wise statesmanship, the world may have already been embroiled in an all-encompassing global conflagration with the possibility of thermonuclear destruction.

This post was published at Acting-Man on August 8, 2017.

Vladimir The Great Sums Up Pope Francis The Fake!

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Vladimir Putin has once again demonstrated why he is the most perceptive, farsighted, and for a politician, the most honest world leader to come around in quite a while. If it had not been for his patient and wise statesmanship, the world may have already been embroiled in an all encompassing global configuration with the possibility of thermonuclear destruction.
His latest comments on the purported head of the Catholic Church may have been his most perceptive as of yet and should be heeded not only by Western secular leaders, but by the globe’s one billion or so Catholics, most of whom regard Jorge Bergoglio as pope.
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The Russian President’s statement came on a visit to the Naval Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Kronstadt. Mr. Putin succinctly sums up what Pope Francis is not: ‘If you look around at what he (the Pope) says it’s clear that he is not a man of God. At least not the Christian God, not the God of the Bible.’

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 8, 2017.

Vladimir Putin, At Wit’s End With Washington, Opts For Poker Over Chess

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a calculated bet that the embattled Trump administration will interpret his expulsion of hundreds of US diplomats from Russia as more of a friendly warning than an overtly hostile act.
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As US lawmakers on the weekend sent to President Trump’s desk a bill that would make it virtually impossible for the US leader to revoke a new round of anti-Russia sanctions without congressional approval, Putin announced that 755 American diplomats will have to leave Russia as a result of Washington’s own policies.
Speaking on Sunday, the Russian leader – clearly exasperated by the clinical bout of Russophobia that took possession of the American psyche long before a rich real estate developer named Donald Trump emerged on the scene – delivered a message loaded with both strength and regret when he said: We’ve been waiting for quite a long time that maybe something would change for the better, we had hopes that the situation would change. But it looks like, it’s not going to change in the near future … I decided that it is time for us to show that we will not leave anything unanswered.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 4, 2017.

“The Mood Is Very Pessimistic”: US Begins “Removing Furniture And Equipment” From Seized Compound In Russia

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Two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin formally expelled 755 American diplomats and announced plans to seize two compounds used by US State Department employees, US officials have started “removing furniture and equipment from the compounds”, according to Reuters.
The early start suggests that the US is making every effort to comply with Putin’s demand that the US reduce its 1,200 diplomatic personnel by 60% before Sept. 1, made in retaliation to a bill authorizing fresh sanctions against Russia that President Donald Trump is expected to sign. Late last year, the Obama administration expelled 35 Russian diplomats and seized two Russian diplomatic compounds near Washington, D. C. Putin refrained from responding at the time.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 2, 2017.

Sabotaging Russia-US Relations For Good

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The strategy that the American deep state intends to employ to sabotage once and for all the possibilities of a rapprochement between the United States and Russia has been revealed.
After months of debate over the bad state of relations between the United States and Russia, the G20 offered the stage for the two leaders to meet and start discussing the various problems facing the two countries. In the days following the summit in Hamburg, the Kremlin and the White House revealed that Putin and Trump met three times in bilateral talks to discuss how to improve relations between the two nations. The ceasefire reached in southern Syria is therefore intended as the first step in a new direction set for Washington and Moscow.
As was easy to foresee, the deep state did not like this prospect of cooperation, immediately unleashing the mainstream media on Trump, because repeated meetings with Putin at the G20 were apparently suggestive of some sort of collusion, as if the leaders of two nuclear powers cannot even speak with each other. Obviously uncomfortable with these meetings, the sabotaging of relations between Russia and the US has taken a new turn. The previous ceasefire in Syria, reached by Kerry and Lavrov during the previous administration a year ago, was sabotaged by the US Air Force’s bombing of Syrian troops at Deir ez-Zor, which killed and injured more than a hundred Syrian soldiers. This served to favor Daesh’s assault on government positions, hinting at some sort of cooperation between Washington and the terrorists. Moscow immediately interrupted any military-to-military communication with Washington, which included the ceasefire reached between Lavrov and Kerry.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Aug 2, 2017.

War Is Right Around The Corner: Russia Mobilizes Three Motorized Rifle Division ‘Strike Forces’ In Preparation For Rapid Offensive Assault On Ukraine

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‘Signing a bill that sanctions Russia would mark a significant shift for Trump. He’s repeatedly cast doubt on the conclusion of U. S. intelligence agencies that Russia sought to tip the election in his favor. The president also has pushed for cooperation between Moscow and Washington on various matters, such as counterterrorism and the conflict in Syria, and more sanctions against Russia could imperil that effort.
Trump’s persistent overtures to Russia drove lawmakers to include a section that mandates a congressional review if Trump attempted to suspend or terminate the sanctions on Moscow. The White House had objected to the review requirement, arguing it would infringe on the president’s executive authority and tie his hands as he explores avenues of communication between the two former Cold War foes.’
‘Vast support for Russia sanctions quashes potential for veto’
Richard Lardner, Associated Press 7-25-17
As I wrote in the beginning of the year, the first six months in office make or break a president by setting the tempo for the remainder of his term. The President has not been effective in any area, and he has pulled a complete 180-degree shift in dealing with Russia. After they met in the G-20 summit, relations between the President and Vladimir Putin have steadily declined.

This post was published at shtfplan on July 31st, 2017.

The Next Escalation: Pentagon Offers To Arm Ukraine, McCain Delighted

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It's about time. @WSJ: "Pentagon Offers Plan to Arm #Ukraine" — John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) July 31, 2017

When we reported yesterday about Putin’s surprisingly harsh response to last week’s House legislation to launch new sanctions against Russia, which also binds Trump from unilaterally removing sanctions without getting Congressional approval, we concluded that “now we await the US re-retaliation in what is once again the same tit-for-tat escalation that marked the latter years of the Obama regime, as the US Military Industrial Complex breathes out a sigh of relief that for all the posturing by Trump, things between Russia and the US are back on autopilot.”
We didn’t have long to wait.
The WSJ reports that, in what appears to be the next gambit by the U. S. Military-Industrial Complex (or “deep state” for those so inclined) to force Trump to “prove” that he did not, in fact, collude or have any ties with Russia or Vladimir Putin, Pentagon and State Department officials have devised plans to hit Russia where it hurts the most, and supply Ukraine with antitank missiles and other weaponry, and are now seeking White House approval at a time when ties between Moscow and Washington are as bad as during any point under the Obama administration.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 31, 2017.

“It’s Time To Retaliate”: Putin Expels 755 U.S. Diplomats

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When Russia warned on Friday that it would retaliate proportionately after it announced it would seize two diplomatic compounds used by the US in Russia and added that it would reduce the number of US diplomatic service staff in the country to equal the number of Russian diplomats in the US by September 1, calculated by the local press at 455, it wasn’t joking.
Moments ago, speaking in an interview on the Rossiya 1 TV channel, Vladimir Putin said that 755 American diplomats will be expelled, or as he phrased it “will have to leave Russia as a result of Washington’s own policies”, a move which as we previewed on Friday will make the diplomatic missions of Russia and the United States of equal staffing.


This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 30, 2017.

Forget Bezos & Gates: The Real Richest Man in the World Is Worth More than Both – Combined

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When the dubious Richest Man in the World title earned shock with Amazon head and Washington Post boss, Jeff Bezos, ousting Microsoft billionaire, Bill Gates, by a hair’s breadth, it’s likely the voting delegate hadn’t considered the one person who could handily best their net worths – $90 billion and $89.8 billion, respectively – combined.
Considering the return of the Red Scare of late, that the man worth an estimated $200 billion might be deleted from the world’s wealthiest shortlist, perhaps makes sense – because he’s no other than the President of Russia and hauntingly keen investor, himself, Vladimir Putin.
Bezos’ stunning empire, including a $600 million deal between Amazon and the CIA in 2013 – notably, the same year the Amazon founder and CEO purchased the Washington Post – certainly impresses as a personal fortune, by just about any measure.

This post was published at The Daily Sheeple on July 28, 2017.

Russia To Stay In Syria For The Next 50 Years

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While the Trump administration appears set to withdraw US troops from Syria in the not too distant future, as hinted by the recent decision to reverse the Obama-era decision to stop arming “moderate rebels” fighting the Assad regime, Vladimir Putin has a slightly different strategic vision for the proxy war-torn nation.
On Wednesday, the Russian president signed a law ratifying a deal with the Syrian government allowing Russia to keep its air base in Syria for almost half a century, Reuters reported.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 27, 2017.

Who Is Michael Vickers? The CIA’s Afghan Jihad Architect Declares War On Trump

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Regime change advocates are in continued meltdown mode.
Last week’s announcement of Trump’s shutting down the CIA’s covert weapons and aid program to anti-government insurgents in Syria – a move now widely interpreted as marking the end of the years long US push for overthrowing Assad – has deep state hawks and their media allies throwing repeat public fits and tantrums in all the usual op-ed pages and cable news panels (though it appears the Pentagon is still ramping up its presence in Syria, ostensibly to fight ISIS). Even John McCain found time, a day after announcing his diagnosis with brain cancer, to compose a statement which said: ‘If these reports are true, the administration is playing right into the hands of Vladimir Putin.’
On Monday night Trump gave confirmation of the closure of the program while taking issue with The Washington Post’s reporting:
The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 26, 2017.