Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Putin, China, and World War III

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Tesseract (here)
Here is the devastating recording [part 1] of TPTB actively planning their false flag.

See a very different take on this report from Sibel Edmonds of Boiling Frogs Post that I just posted here.

[bearcow]

I'll say this again regarding Ukraine and Crimea, Putin is setting the agenda and has the west totally off balance. The West has severe sanctions ready to be inflicted on Russia's economy, but it seems they dont want to use them. Companies like Exxon have a big presence in Russia and it is likely they would be caught in the economic crossfire. It seems Putin is willing to derail his economy in order to achieve his territorial objectives. The west is not, so they are at a disadvantage.

[MalteseKnight]

Dear All

I know that this may be off topic but this might be useful to put the present Crimea situation into historical perspective. Below is a Battlefield series documentary covering the World War II Crimea campaign. The Battle field series is perceived as being high quality by the Chinese so much so that many episodes were dubbed into Chinese and rebroadcast on State television networks of the People's Republic of China.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=d_TjE_EYYE4

Am posting just in case someone could find this illuminating,

Maltese Knight

[Flash]

Posted by MalteseKnight (here)
Dear All

I know that this may be off topic but this might be useful to put the present Crimea situation into historical perspective. Below is a Battlefield series documentary covering the World War II Crimea campaign. The Battle field series is perceived as being high quality by the Chinese so much so that many episodes were dubbed into Chinese and rebroadcast on State television networks of the People's Republic of China.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=d_TjE_EYYE4

Am posting just in case someone could find this illuminating,

Maltese Knight

This is such a great video, no Wonder it was dubbed into Chinese and presented to the Chinese population. To better understand the moves Russia is actually doing.

THE FIRST 5 MINUTES EXPLAINS ALL THE REASONS FOR RUSSIAL TO TAKE OVER CRIMEA. Except that this times, instead of beign the Nazi that are counteracted, it is the Western world and the USA/Israel. Reasons all explained within the first 5 minutes.

You want to go to bed less dumb and understand international politics, listen to the first 5 minutes.

[Rocky_Shorz]

US sending 2 warships to Japan to counter NKorea...

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a two-pronged warning to Asia Pacific nations Sunday, announcing that the U.S. will send two additional ballistic missile destroyers to Japan to counter the North Korean threat, and saying China must better respect its neighbors.

In unusually forceful remarks about China, Hagel drew a direct line between Russia's takeover of Ukraine's Crimea region and the ongoing territorial disputes between China, Japan and others over remote islands in the East China Sea.

"I think we're seeing some clear evidence of a lack of respect and intimidation and coercion in Europe today with what the Russians have done with Ukraine," Hagel told reporters after a meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera. "We must be very careful and we must be very clear, all nations of the world, that in the 21st century this will not stand, you cannot go around the world and redefine boundaries and violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation whether it's in small islands in the Pacific or large nations in Europe." link

Amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps throw smoke bombs as they move to land on shore during a U.S.-South Korea joint landing operation drill in Pohang March 31, 2014. The drill is part of the two countries' annual military training called Foal Eagle, which began on February 24 and runs until April 18. North Korea declared a no-sail warning on Monday for areas off its west coast near a disputed border with South Korea and has notified the South that it will conduct firing drills, a South Korean government official said. The warning comes amid heightened tensions surrounding the North after the U.N. Security Council condemned Pyongyang for its mid-range missile launches last week, just as the leaders of South Korea, Japan and the United States met to discuss the North's arms programme. (REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)

[Hervé]

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea apply for Russian citizenship

4 April, 21:24

Photo: RIA Novosti

Most Ukrainian soldiers on service in Crimea voiced their wish to join the Russian Armed Forces and they were granted this opportunity, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday.


"As of today over 8,000 of these soldiers have submitted paperwork to get Russian passports. Around 3,000 of them have already been assigned duties. We now have to create conditions for their speedy adjustment to serving in the Russian army," Shoigu said at an off-schedule ministerial meeting.

The Russian defense minister also stated that the Ukrainian soldiers could easily leave Crimea to return to Ukraine.

The majority of Ukrainian soldiers willing to continue serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine have left Crimea leaving behind some 400 people responsible for combat equipment withdrawal, said Vitaliy Yarema, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister of the interim government in Kiev, as he spoke to the press on Friday.

He didn't give a specific deadline for the complete removal of troops and machinery out of Crimea.

"I cannot say for sure, as it depends on a number of factors such as the pace and transport availability and the functioning of the railroad as well. But as of today there is nothing to hinder the process," he added.

The autonomous republic of Crimea held a referendum on March 16 to decide on the status of the autonomy. The official result of the referendum was a 97 percent vote "in favor" of integrating the region into the Russian Federation with an overwhelming voter turnout of 83 percent.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin signed the federal law ratifying the agreement between the autonomous republic of Crimea and the Russian Federation to join Russia on March 21. Although widely denounced by the West, Russia welcomed the results of the referendum, proclaiming it fully legitimate in accordance with the international law.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_0...izenship-1252/

[Wind]

If people want to prevent a global war with their prayers, meditations and intents... I think that now would be really good time for that. I'm interested to know if we truly can give peace a chance in intense times like this?

Mars, the God of War happens in April as Mars is in Libra, and he goes retrograde on March the 1st and stays retrograde until May 17th, 2014. Mars is the planet of assertion, aggression, anger, sex, how you get your needs met, how you go after what you want, competition, sports, war and combat. When Mars goes retrograde, then his energies get repressed, and that's when people can explode. But when I say people, I don't think we should limit out selves to that mindset as astrology also impacts the Earth.

In mid April, the Uranus Pluto square becomes exact, and Jupiter also arrives in to make it an exact t-square. Mars comes in to make it an exact degree grand cross. All the planets will be at 13.5 degrees of cardinal signs.

Because of the degrees of each of these four planets and their energy being released at the same time, this is a rare event.

April 20th is the start of its most intense phase with the Moon in Capricorn, which triggers the whole thing, and then its on April the 22nd when Mars moves into its exact position and squares the already existing exact T-square.

This period of time in April is said to be the most volatile and intense period of time of the last few years.

Because of the planets involved, such events which can be expected are earth changes, extreme weather, war or some form of military conflict and even acts of terrorism. The planets involved here are all in cardinal signs and cardinal signs are action signs. For our personal lives, this time period is said to be about major change as well.

http://www.transients.info/2014/02/c...pril-2014.html

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i0-cZrpWOKQ

[AlaBil]

Posted by Flash (here)

Posted by MalteseKnight (here)
Dear All

I know that this may be off topic but this might be useful to put the present Crimea situation into historical perspective. Below is a Battlefield series documentary covering the World War II Crimea campaign. The Battle field series is perceived as being high quality by the Chinese so much so that many episodes were dubbed into Chinese and rebroadcast on State television networks of the People's Republic of China.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=d_TjE_EYYE4

Am posting just in case someone could find this illuminating,

Maltese Knight

This is such a great video, no Wonder it was dubbed into Chinese and presented to the Chinese population. To better understand the moves Russia is actually doing.

THE FIRST 5 MINUTES EXPLAINS ALL THE REASONS FOR RUSSIAL TO TAKE OVER CRIMEA. Except that this times, instead of beign the Nazi that are counteracted, it is the Western world and the USA/Israel. Reasons all explained within the first 5 minutes.

You want to go to bed less dumb and understand international politics, listen to the first 5 minutes.

Flash...

You are absolutely right about how the first 5 minutes of this video demonstrates the importance of Crimea. I'm listening to the remainder of the video now, but thanks a bunch for finding this and putting it up. G

Another great resource provided by this forum!

[Rocky_Shorz]

this is from April fools day, but no one is laughing...

What do former Vice President Dick Cheney, billionaire megadonor Sheldon Adelson, and Republican activists and funders talk about—and applaud—when they're behind closed doors at a Las Vegas hotel? Bombing Iran.

This past weekend, the Republican Jewish Coalition held its spring leadership meeting at Adelson's Venetian hotel, where several possible 2016 contenders, including ex-Gov. Jeb Bush and current Govs. Chris Christie, Scott Walker, and John Kasich, showed up to kiss the ring of the casino magnate, who's looking to bankroll a viable Republican presidential candidate. Though the heavy-on-Israel speeches of the White House wannabes were open to the press, the keynote address delivered by Cheney on Saturday night was off-limits to reporters and the public. But Mother Jones has obtained a recording of Cheney's talk, during which he once again derided President Barack Obama on foreign policy, blasted the isolationists within his own party, assailed critics of the National Security Agency, and seemingly endorsed the idea of an Israeli strike against Iran.

Advertise on MotherJones.com

Speaking about the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, Cheney dismissed Obama's negotiations with Tehran, and he recalled a dinner meeting he had in 2007 with Israeli General Amos Yadlin. Yadlin had flown in the Israeli Defense Force's mission in 1981 that destroyed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, and he was the country's military intelligence chief in 2007 when the Israel Defense Forces obliterated Syria's nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region. Recalling his conversation with Yadlin, Cheney said, "He looked across the table over dinner, and he said, 'Two down, one to go.' I knew exactly what he meant."

"One to go" was an obvious reference to bombing Iran's nuclear program. The crowd responded approvingly with laughter and applause. (Last October, Adelson publicly proposed that the US drop a nuclear bomb in the Iranian desert to show Tehran what will happen to Iran if it develops nuclear weapons.) Link to Audio...

story link

[Hervé]

Donetsk activists proclaim region's independence from Ukraine

Published time: April 07, 2014 10:07
Edited time: April 07, 2014 12:42

Pro-Russian activists guard a barricade set at the Ukrainian regional Security Service building on the eastern city of Donetsk on April 7, 2014.(AFP Photo / Alexander Khudoteply)

Download video (41.07 MB)


In the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, a group of activists have declared their region independent from Kiev. This comes after protesters stormed a local government building last night.

Mass demonstrations against the country's new leadership started peacefully on Sunday, but the situation quickly escalated.

Pro-Russian protesters in Donetsk have seized the local power building, including the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine and proclaimed the creation of a People’s Republic of Donetsk.

Ukraine’s police and security services have not interfered, although officials in Kiev are threatening punishment for the rioters.

Protesters have erected barricades around the Council building.


Pro-Russian activists guard a barricade set at the Ukrainian regional Security Service building on the eastern city of Donetsk on April 7, 2014.(AFP Photo / Alexander Khudoteply)

Today at 12:20 local time, a session of the people's Council of Donbass (Donetsk region) took place in the main hall of the Regional Council and unanimously voted on a declaration to form a new independent state: the People’s Republic of Donetsk.

The Council proclaimed itself the only legitimate body in the region until the regions in southeast Ukraine conduct a general referendum, set to take place no later than May 11.

“The Donetsk Republic is to be created within the administrative borders of the Donetsk region. This decision will come into effect after the referendum,” the statement said.

The Council in Donetsk issued an address to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking for deployment of a temporary peacekeeping force to the region.

“Without support it will be hard for us to stand against the junta in Kiev,” said the address.

“We are addressing Russian President Putin because we can only entrust our security to Russia,” the statement said.


Screenshot from ustream.tv user artem77

Rallies in support of the federalization of Ukraine continue in a number of cities in southeast Ukraine. Thousands of citizens have joined the protests, demanding the earliest possible federalization of the country.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior said that last night unknown persons stormed the Security Service of Ukraine building in the city of Lugansk and seized a weapons warehouse there. During the night’s clashes, nine people were reportedly injured.


Pro-Russian activistshold a rally in front of Ukraine's regional security service of Ukraine in Lugansk on April 6, 2014.(AFP Photo / Igor Golovniov )

In the city of Kharkov protesters erected barricades around the buildings of the city and the regional administrations and the regional headquarters of Security Service of Ukraine.

There were brief clashes between supporters of the federalization of Ukraine and pro-EU demonstrators in downtown Kharkov. Protesters on both sides used fire crackers and stun grenades.

A demonstration against political repression in Ukraine has also being held in the southern regional center of Odessa.


Pro-Russian activists near the Kharkov city administration.(RIA Novosti / Chekachkov Igor)

The chiefs of security agencies of Ukraine are reportedly heading to the cities engulfed in protests.

The interim secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Andrey Parubiy, together with acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Valentin Nalivaichenko, are set to visit Lugansk. Interim Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema will visit Donetsk and acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has reportedly already arrived in Kharkov.

The coup-appointed acting president, Aleksandr Turchinov, has threatened that counter-terrorist measures could be taken against those who take up arms against the Kiev authorities, RIA news agency reported. On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament will tighten laws regarding separatism and could possibly ban certain parties and organizations , Turchinov warned.

“What happened yesterday is the second stage of the special operation of the Russian Federation against Ukraine,” announced Turchinov in an address televised on Monday, sharing that an “anti-crisis command was set up last night” to deal with the crisis, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

Ukraine’s interim Foreign Minister Andrey Deschitsa announced on Monday that if the situation in the eastern regions escalates, the coup-appointed government in Kiev will take “much harsher” measures than those on the reunion of the Crimea with Russia. Deschitsa gave an assurance that members of the government are already working with local authorities.

[Rocky_Shorz]

President Putin has written to 18 European countries, warning that Ukraine’s debt crisis has reached a “critical” level and could threaten transit to Europe. He also called for urgent cooperation, blaming Russia’s partners for a lack of action.

Among the countries who’ll receive the letter are major consumers of Russian gas such as Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Moldova, Poland and Romania.

Given the accumulated $2.2 billion gas debt owed by Ukraine’s Naftogas, Russia’s Gazprom will be forced to ask Ukraine for advance payments, Putin said in his letter to European partners, referring to the 2009 gas contract signed between Moscow and Kiev.

“In other words, we’ll be supplying exactly the volume of gas that Ukraine pays for a month in advance,” as Itar -Tass quotes Putin's letter.

Putin added that introducing advance payments would be an extreme measure.

“We understand that this increases the risks of unsanctioned retrieval of gas flowing through the territory of Ukraine to European consumers. And it could also hinder accumulation of gas supplies in Ukraine necessary to provide for consumption during the autumn-winter period.”

Stable transit of Russian gas to Europe would require an additional 11.5 billion cubic meters of gas for Ukraine’s underground storages, which would cost $5 billion, Putin explained.
Aid from Moscow

Given all the discounts Russia has provided in the last four years, Moscow has subsidized Ukraine’s economy to the tune of $35.4 billion, coupled with a $3 billion loan tranche in December last year.

“I would underline – nobody except Russia has done this,” Putin wrote in the letter.

“And what about [our] European partners? Instead of real support for Ukraine – declarations about intentions. Promises without real action.”

The European Union has traditionally used Ukraine as a source of foodstuffs, metals, mineral resources and as an export market for its machinery, chemicals and other highly-processed goods. This creates a trade deficit of above $10 billion, which is almost two-thirds of Ukraine’s 2013 current account deficit, the letter explained.

“Russia should not and cannot any longer bear the brunt of supporting the Ukrainian economy alone, giving it gas discounts and forgiving debts. In fact, with these subsidies Russia pays for a deficit in trade between Ukraine and the EU member states.”

Immediate consultations with European countries receiving the letter are the only possible way to resolve Ukraine’s crisis, Putin said.

We need “to start coordinated action as soon as possible. And we urge our European partners to do this,” he wrote.
Russian gas in Europe

Russia’s biggest gas client is Germany which imports over 25 billion cubic meters of gas from Gazprom each year, about a third of its energy needs. Italy is another big importer, also relying heavily on Russian imports as deliveries from North Africa have proved unreliable.

Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic import 100 percent of their natural gas from Russia. http://rt.com/business/putin-ukraine-gas-europe-640/

[Flash]

Europe and US wants sanctions on Russia and here the interesting turn of events. Putin know 100% what he is doing. And by doing this, he also ensure that the public knows who has been supporting not only Ukraine, but the European countries not paying Ukraine on timely fashion.

Very interesting. As I am pretty sure Europeans and mostly US know exactly what they are doing too. this dance will be interesting to observe. But real dangerous too.

[turiya]

Tomorrow WWIII Will Escalate or Not! - Joaquin

Whether WWIII will escalate or not will be determined Tomorrow! The Kiev Junta yesterday issued a 48 hour ultimatum for pro-Russian breakaways in the east, particularly Donetsk, to disband. Rumors about Russian Build-up are false. These rumors of 250,000 russian forces were spread by Ukrainian Ministry of Defense head Tehnyuk. But these rumors had the effect of Scaring, not Emboldening the Ukrainian military. Tehnyuk was sacked by the Junta and replaced by Koval; Koval is a political choice and a less capable military man. Today's rumors are that 15,000 Russian soldiers are 'amassed' near the border. Yes, 15,000 are there, but they have always been there. It is Russia's border, after all.

Russia has the ability to annex all of Eastern Europe but will not do so. Russia will act entirely within the sphere of international law, as set by precedent. Ukraine has no real military capacity, and its airforce is barely operational at 80 craft, many are just helicopters. Ukraine has no ICBM's and no bombers.

USrael is sending in blackwater mercenaries, many of whom are Israeli special forces and US trained killers from Afghanistan and Iraq. This is further evidence that Kiev does not have full command of its own army. ''

Russia will use a combination of Special forces in worst case scenario

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6wuLitkrbRg

turiya

[Flash]

USrael, ah ah ah ah

Love the use of language.

[Hervé]

NATO's images of Russian troops allegedly deployed on Ukrainian borders were taken in August 2013 - Russian Military

© Photo: NATO

An official in the Russian military general staff said on Thursday that NATO satellite photographs purporting to show Russian forces concentrated near the Ukrainian border were taken in August 2013, state-run news agency RIA reported, citing a source in Russian military forces.

The report came hours after NATO unveiled photographs it said showed Russian deployments of some 40,000 troops, along with tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery and aircraft. It said the pictures were taken between March 22 and April 2.

"Satellite imagery of Russian troops allegedly amassed at present on the border with Ukraine dates back to August 2013, a high-ranking source in Russia," General Staff said Thursday.

NATO's Headquarters of Allied Command Operations released earlier on Thursday a series of satellite photos showing large contingents of tanks, artillery, attack helicopters and war planes purportedly being observed by the Alliance in specific locations along the Ukrainian border.

"In reality, the images released by NATO show units of Russia's Southern Military District taking part in various exercises last summer, including near the borders with Ukraine," the source said.

The Southern Military District hosted a number of military drills last summer, including parts of large-scale Combat Commonwealth-2013 air defense exercise, which involved units from a joint air defense system of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

NATO builds its naval presence in the Black Sea - Russian Defense Ministry
NATO is actively building its naval presence in the Black Sea in view of sharp aggravation of the Ukraine crisis, a Russian Defence Ministry source told the Russian news agency TASS on Thursday.

"Destroyer USS Donald Cook equipped with the Aegis combat missile defense system has just entered the Black Sea. According to our information, it is going to be joined by French reconnaissance ship Dupuy de Lome by April 11. French Navy’s destroyer Dupleix is expected to enter the Black Sea on April 14," the source went on to say.

"Considering the presence of the French Navy’s rescue vessel Alize in the south-eastern part of the Black Sea since late March, we can say that NATO is building a naval grouping in the Black Sea in the vicinity of the Russian border for the first time since 2008," the Russian Defence Ministry source said.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_0...Military-7155/

[Hervé]

Russia not to restore Ukraine’s economy single-handedly - Putin in letter to EU leaders. FULL TEXT

© Photo: RIA Novosti/Mikhail Klementyev

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed possible mechanisms to European leaders for urgent discussion of the situation with Ukraine's debt for Russian gas, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement. Putin's letter was sent on Thursday to the leaders of Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Macedonia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria, and Italy. Here is the full text of it:

Ukraine’s economy in the past several months has been plummeting. Its industrial and construction sectors have also been declining sharply. Its budget deficit is mounting. The condition of its currency system is becoming more and more deplorable. The negative trade balance is accompanied by the flight of capital from the country. Ukraine’s economy is steadfastly heading towards a default, a halt in production and skyrocketing unemployment.

Russia and the EU member states are Ukraine’s major trading partners. Proceeding from this, at the Russia-EU Summit at the end of January, we came to an agreement with our European partners to hold consultations on the subject of developing Ukraine’s economy, bearing in mind the interests of Ukraine and our countries while forming integration alliances with Ukraine’s participation. However, all attempts on Russia’s part to begin real consultations failed to produce any results.

Instead of consultations, we hear appeals to lower contractual prices on Russian natural gas – prices which are allegedly of a "political" nature. One gets the impression that the European partners want to unilaterally blame Russia for the consequences of Ukraine’s economic crisis.

Right from day one of Ukraine’s existence as an independent state, Russia has supported the stability of the Ukrainian economy by supplying it with natural gas at cut-rate prices. In January 2009, with the participation of the then-premier Yulia Tymoshenko, a purchase-and-sale contract on supplying natural gas for the period of 2009-2019 was signed. The contract regulated questions concerning the delivery of and payment for the product, and it also provided guarantees for its uninterrupted transit through the territory of Ukraine. What is more, Russia has been fulfilling the contract according to the letter and spirit of the document. Incidentally, Ukrainian Minister of Fuel and Energy at that time was Yuriy Prodan, who today holds a similar post in Kiev’s government.

The total volume of natural gas delivered to Ukraine, as stipulated in the contract during the period of 2009-2014 (first quarter), stands at 147.2 billion cubic meters. Here, I would like to emphasize that the price formula that had been set down in the contract had NOT been altered since that moment. And Ukraine, right up till August 2013, made regular payments for the natural gas in accordance with that formula.

However, the fact that after signing that contract, Russia granted Ukraine a whole string of unprecedented privileges and discounts on the price of natural gas, is quite another matter. This applies to the discount stemming from the 2010 Kharkiv Agreement, which was provided as advance payment for the future lease payments for the presence of the (Russian) Black Sea Fleet after 2017. This also refers to discounts on the prices for natural gas purchased by Ukraine’s chemical companies. This also concerns the discount granted in December 2013 for the duration of three months due to the critical state of Ukraine’s economy. Beginning with 2009,the total sum of these discounts stands at 17 billion US dollars. To this, we should add another 18.4 billion US dollars incurred by the Ukrainian side as a minimal take-or-pay fine.

In this manner, during the past four years, Russia has been subsidizing Ukraine’s economy by offering slashed natural gas prices worth 35.4 billion US dollars. In addition, in December 2013, Russia granted Ukraine a loan of 3 billion US dollars. These very significant sums were directed towards maintaining the stability and creditability of the Ukrainian economy and preservation of jobs. No other country provided such support except Russia.

What about the European partners? Instead of offering Ukraine real support, there is talk about a declaration of intent. There are only promises that are not backed by any real actions. The European Union is using Ukraine’s economy as a source of raw foodstuffs, metal and mineral resources, and at the same time, as a market for selling its highly-processed ready-made commodities (machine engineering and chemicals), thereby creating a deficit in Ukraine’s trade balance amounting to more than 10 billion US dollars. This comes to almost two-thirds of Ukraine’s overall deficit for 2013.

To a large extent, the crisis in Ukraine’s economy has been precipitated by the unbalanced trade with the EU member states, and this, in turn has had a sharply negative impact on Ukraine’s fulfillment of its contractual obligations to pay for deliveries of natural gas supplied by Russia. Gazprom neither has intentions except for those stipulated in the 2009 contract nor plans to set any additional conditions. This also concerns the contractual price for natural gas, which is calculated in strict accordance with the agreed formula. However, Russia cannot and should not unilaterally bear the burden of supporting Ukraine’s economy by way of providing discounts and forgiving debts, and in fact, using these subsidies to cover Ukraine’s deficit in its trade with the EU member states.

The debt of NAK Naftogaz Ukraine for delivered gas has been growing monthly this year. In November-December 2013 this debt stood at 1.451,5 billion US dollars; in February 2014 it increased by a further 260.3 million and in March by another 526.1 million US dollars. Here I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in March there was still a discount price applied, i.e., 268.5 US dollars per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. And even at that price, Ukraine did not pay a single dollar.

In such conditions, in accordance with Articles 5.15, 5.8 and 5.3 of the contract, Gazprom is compelled to switch over to advance payment for gas delivery, and in the event of further violation of the conditions of payment, will completely or partially cease gas deliveries. In other words, only the volume of natural gas will be delivered to Ukraine as was paid for one month in advance of delivery.

Undoubtedly, this is an extreme measure. We fully realize that this increases the risk of siphoning off natural gas passing through Ukraine’s territory and heading to European consumers. We also realize that this may make it difficult for Ukraine to accumulate sufficient gas reserves for use in the autumn and winter period. In order to guarantee uninterrupted transit, it will be necessary, in the nearest future, to supply 11.5 billion cubic meters of gas that will be pumped into Ukraine’s underground storage facilities, and this will require a payment of about 5 billion US dollars.

However, the fact that our European partners have unilaterally withdrawn from the concerted efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, and even from holding consultations with the Russian side, leaves Russia no alternative.

There can be only one way out of the situation that has developed. We believe it is vital to hold, without delay, consultations at the level of ministers of economics, finances and energy in order to work out concerted actions to stabilize Ukraine’s economy and to ensure delivery and transit of Russian natural gas in accordance with the terms and conditions set down in the contract. We must lose no time in beginning to coordinate concrete steps. It is towards this end that we appeal to our European partners.

It goes without saying that Russia is prepared to participate in the effort to stabilize and restore Ukraine’s economy. However, not in a unilateral way, but on equal conditions with our European partners. It is also essential to take into account the actual investments, contributions and expenditures that Russia has shouldered by itself alone for such a long time in supporting Ukraine. As we see it, only such an approach would be fair and balanced, and only such an approach can lead to success.

Deficit of trade balance with EU keeps Ukraine from fulfilling its obligations under gas contracts with Russia - Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the European Union has created a deficit of Ukraine's trade balance, which is negatively impacting the fulfillment by Ukraine of its obligations under the gas supply contracts with Russia. Putin's letter was sent to the leaders of Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Macedonia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria, and Italy.

"To a large extent, the crisis in Ukraine's economy has been precipitated by the unbalanced trade with the EU member states, and this, in turn has had a sharply negative impact on Ukraine's fulfillment of its contractual obligations to pay for deliveries of natural gas supplied by Russia," Putin said in his letter to the leaders of the European countries receiving Russian gas through Ukraine.

Putin said that, instead of providing real support to Ukraine, European partners "talk about a declaration of intent," which is "only promises that are not backed up by any real actions."

"The European Union is using Ukraine's economy as a source of raw foodstuffs, metal and mineral resources, and at the same time, as a market for selling its highly-processed ready-made commodities (machine engineering and chemicals), thereby creating a deficit in Ukraine's trade balance amounting to more than 10 billion US dollars. This comes to almost two-thirds of Ukraine's overall deficit for 2013," the letter says.

Russia is ready to participate in restoring Ukraine's economy but only on parity conditions with EU partners - Putin

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_0...ULL-TEXT-0349/

[Hervé]

Mega oil field discovered in southern Russia

Published time: April 16, 2014 16:05


A new oil field with roughly 300 million tons of oil and 90 billion cubic meters of gas has been discovered in the Astrakhan region of Russia.

“The field’s reserves are unprecedented, this discovery confirms the high potential of the Astrakhan region in terms of these major discoveries,” Sergey Donskoy, Russia’s Natural Resources Minister said on Wednesday.

The field, called “Velikoe” (The Great) was discovered by the AFB Oil and Gas Company, which will likely seek out larger partners to develop it.

Two likely candidates are Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned and largest producer, and Lukoil, the country’s second biggest producer.

"According to experts, given the lack of large land deposits, project participation will likely come from all major industry players. The most probable partners are Rosneft and Lukoil, which already have projects in neighboring regions,” Uralsib Capital analyst Aleksey Kokin told mail.ru.

Kokin estimates the deposits could be worth nearly $1 billion.

Rosneft has projects in the neighboring Vanqor oil field, which has a capacity of 140 million tons.

The last major land hydrocarbon deposit discovery was the Vanqor field in 1988, which has over 500 million tons of oil in estimated reserves.

Another Astrakhan region field is Lukoil’s Filanovsky field, which has more than 150 million tons of recoverable oil in the Caspian Sea.

In 2012, the company opened the neighboring Tambov field, also located in the Astrakhan oil field, which is the world’s fifth largest.

[Rocky_Shorz]

now for some good news,

Report: Oman FM says Gulf rift has ended

The recent crisis between Qatar and its neighboring Gulf states has ended and is now “part of the past,” Oman’s Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf bin Alawi was quoted as saying by a pan-Arab newspaper.

Pan-Arab al-Hayat quoted Oman’s Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi as saying the crisis was resolved internally between the Gulf states “without allowing for anyone to intervene.”

“What happened between brothers has ended,” Alawi reportedly told the paper. He said the relationship now between the Gulf neighbors is “all clear.”

The paper said Alawi’s statement was part of a long interview it will publish in the next two days.

Both Oman and Kuwait have reportedly worked to mend the rift between Qatar and its neighbors Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

In an unprecedented split between Gulf Arab allies, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar, saying Doha had not implemented an agreement among Gulf Arab states to avoid interfering in each other’s affairs.

The nations also asked Qatar, a backer of the Muslim Brotherhood movement banned in most Gulf states, “not to support any party aiming to threaten security and stability of any GCC member.”

A security agreement signed last year by the GCC focused on cooperation in the exchange of information and tracking down of criminals and those who violate the law... link

[Rocky_Shorz]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Naf1lKPvUbo

[Hervé]

The thing which everybody seems to be missing
Friday, April 18, 2014

Okay, I decided to squeeze in one more post before taking time off for Holy Paskha, this is well worth it.

Some of you have asked about China's role in all this, in what the real interests of the USA are, how the EU is positioning itself and what Russia does or does not want. And, somehow, bogged down by the minutiae of the unfolding events I managed to never mention something which Putin, Lavrov and many other top Russian politicians have repeatedly said:

What is happening today before our eyes is the end of one international system and the birth of a qualitatively different one.

Interestingly, Putin has declared that for him the point of no return was reached when the USA and its allies at the UNSC and NATO clearly and grossly twisted the intention of the UNSC on Libya and "upgraded" what should have been a "no fly" zone to a free-fire zone to attack and bomb Libya [of course, it was pretty darn clear to Putin that the "all necessary means to protect civilians" of the resolution was an open ended invitation for the AngloZionists to "interpret" it in any way they wanted; now his say that Russia was "lied to" in order to not blame Medvedev for walking into a 10 foot wide hole. But that is irrelevant here]. Putin says that from then on he had acquired the conviction that the West could not be negotiated with and had to be simply stopped. Then Syria happened: for the first time since the end of WWII the USA had decided to do something and was stopped by an outside power in the most humiliating way possible.

The Russian stance on Syria was an overt challenge to US world hegemony. It was clearly understood as such in Washington and now, following the crisis in the Ukraine, the Russians have openly admitted this.

So this is the real stake of the civil war in the Ukraine: for the USA it is to punish Russia for daring to challenge the world hegemon; for Russia it is to unseat this hegemon and replace it by a multi-polar international system in which sovereign countries act within the bounds of international law. You could say that even though most of the Security Council is vehemently opposed to that, Russia is trying to show to the world that the USA does not own the UN and that it only represents 1/5th of the P5 and 1/15th of the UNSC.

The West has slouched into a position of total submission to the USA and its domination tools over Europe: the EU and NATO. The central Europeans have even volunteered to become a US protectorate, a territory to house US missile systems and secret CIA prisons.

With the exception of Iran and Syria, the Arab and Muslim world has sold out, some to the USA, others to Saudi Arabia, most to both at the same time. Latin America tries hard, but is still heavily dependent on the USA while Africa just wants to survive the best it can. As for Asia, some parts are as sold out as Europe (Japan, Korea), others are trying to keep a low profile, while China is clearly quietly standing behind Russia but in an externally undeniable way even though China stands to benefit more than any other country on the planet from a change in the international order.

The Russians would have much preferred to wait, to buy time, but the US determination to punish it for daring to oppose it on Syria literally forced them to fold and surrender or openly accept the US challenge and stand firm.

I will repeat that again and again - Putin had no other choice.

And now that this is all in the open, you can be absolutely sure that Russia is not playing to return to the status quo ante. With an amazing candidness both Putin and Lavrov have openly spelled out their goal on Russian TV (Lavrov on the show "Sunday Evening with Vladimir Soloviev" and Putin during his 4 hours long Q&A yesterday).

So this is the Russian end-goal: to unseat the USA from its role as a world hegemon. And that goal implies a much longer, bigger and more sustained effort than just force the freaks in Kiev to the negotiating table. Among other things, this goal implies that Russia must:

1) Force the Europeans to fully realize the outrageous price they are paying for being the obedient and silent vassals of the USA and slowly drive a wedge between the USA and Europe.

2) Force the USA to admit that it does not have the military might to punish or, even less so, "regime change" anybody they don't like.

3) Encourage China and other Asian powers to openly stand with Russia in demanding that international law be adhered to by the West.

4) Gradually replace the dollar with other currencies in international trade and thereby slow down the financing of the US debts by the rest of the planet.

5) Create the conditions for Latin America and Africa to be able to make choices about its future and replace the current monopoly enjoyed by the West in setting the terms of North-South relations.

6) Present another civilizational model which openly reject the current Western paradigm of a society run by small and arrogant minorities.

7) Challenge the current liberal and capitalist economic order embodied in the Washington Consensus and replace it by a model of social and international solidarity (call it "21 century socialism" if you want).

All of the above can be summed up in one word: re-sovereignization.

Since he got elected, Putin mentioned many times the need for a re-sovereignization of Russia. The Ukrainian crisis has forced him to reveal the real end goal of his agenda: to re-sovereignize the entire planet.

This is a tall order and it will take many years, possibly decades, to achieve this goal, though my personal feeling is that the total incompetence and infinite arrogance of the 1%ers plutocrats which rules over the western world will continue to accelerate that process.

The big question now is this: can the AngloZionist Empire follow the example of the Soviet Empire and collapse without triggering a massive bloodbath on its way down?

There will be violence, for sure, as has been with the former Soviet Union. But if we can avoid a global conflagration or even a large scale massive war then that would have to be considered as success because it is when they collapse that empires become the most dangerous and unpredictable.

I hope that the above answers many of the questions which have been posted here.

Many thanks and kind regards,

The Saker

PS: I just got this amazing video of a woman stopping an APC in Kramatorsk with her bare hands. I guess she could be seen as a symbol of what Russia wants to do with the AngloZionist Empire:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=uRCZLiOjQFk