Russia today

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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Thu Dec 28, 2017 8:39 pm

WELL THIS AND REBUILDING IN THE DOOR STUDIES
Igor Strelkov announced a complete refusal to cooperate with Boldyrev and Grudinin
-
In fact, there is nothing to comment on: not one of my claims to his actions, nor to the words of Grudinin - Boldyrev did not answer "from the word in general."
https://vk.com/igoristrelkov?w=wall347260249_229865


HERE YOU AND THE RESERVATION IN THE DOOR STARTS The

discord in the emerging coalition of red and white patriots is now becoming completely ruinous.

I am writing these lines not as a party functionary, but as a private person. As an observer.
Yes, the loss of Igor Strelkov Pavel Grudinin can not be called luck. Especially at a time when the second perestroika has clearly knocked at the door of the Russian Federation. It does not matter that V. Putin looks like Brezhnev, who did not die in November 1982, but survived until 1985. The fact of a fracture of the trend is evident. Even the very fact of the nomination of Pavel Grudinin is a sign of a new restructuring. The fifth term of Putin will be marked by crushing-tectonic shifts.

***

A common voter, stunned by the drumbeat of propaganda, still does not notice what we, kogi-cognitarians see.
The first sign: a hasty exit from Syria under the pretext of a "great victory", shouting for victory over the "blacks" and preserving the territorial integrity of Syria. Although the war continues, there is no territorial integrity and in the meantime, the banned EU, IGIL has become like a ball of mercury, in which they hit a hammer. The ball crashed into the darkness of small droplets of spools, which again gather. Now - and in Afghanistan with the prospect of entering Turkestan, and in Russia itself.
It can be seen that all this propagandist nonsense with the "struggle at distant approaches" was dispelled without a trace. And there arises the prospect of multi-trillion-dollar costs for restoring infrastructure in Syria, which for the choking economy of the Russian Federation is like a bar for the infarction.
Analogies with the departure from Afghanistan - there is nowhere more transparent.
The second sign: the military budget for 2018 is decreasing. So far, without specific figures, Putin himself stated about it. That is, it is already recognized that the hybrid economy of the Russian Federation (the marasmus of monetarist-neo-liberals pole of false-imperial mega-costs) has undermined and now it is necessary, like under Gorby, to cut defense appropriations.
The third sign: it is already clear that in 2018 Putin will have to say goodbye to the image of the "good king" and take steps that are extremely painful for the masses. On increasing taxes, shifting these from enterprises to citizens, to raising the retirement age and so on.
The fourth sign: just as the Soviet ruling elite was tired of confrontation with the West by 1985, today's Russian Federation is just as tired and irritated with the confrontation with the United States and the EU. Unlike in 1985, he still faced the prospect of confiscating his wealth in the West. This factor in the Soviet party-state elite simply did not exist: it did not have foreign kubishkas with assets.
Symptom five: the society is tired of the current quasi-imperial policy, it does not think about Syria or about Ukraine, but about its empty pockets. On the impossibility of a normal life in the country. By 1985, the Soviet man in the street also heard with nauseous feelings about "international duty", the need to conduct an arms race with NATO, that the USSR was helping Angola (Vietnam, Cuba, Ethiopia, etc.) so much. The Commoner was simply tired of standing in lines literally for everything. He wanted to live humanely. By 1985, in the USSR (and I was a witness to that), voices were sounding louder than ever that it was enough to help half the world and fight in Afghanistan in an incomprehensible war, that it would be better to build roads, provide meat, sausage and cheese in shops, Yes, wages would be raised. Yes, housing would be provided.
The same thing, in the opinion of Maxim Kalashnikov, has come and now. The very appearance (with the blessing of the presidential administration!) Of a candidate like Pavel Grudinin, speaks about it.
What is Grudinin talking about? About the fact that you need to abandon the ruinous "imperial ambitions" (by which he understands the current Kremlin splash of resources into dubious foreign countries) and focus on the development of the RF itself. On solving her internal problems. On the rise of the well-being of citizens, the fight against poverty and poverty, on the rise of production and construction of roads, in the fight against corruption and the creation of a genuine fair, independent court. In part, he is echoed by such a proven puppet of power as Zhirinovsky. He also states that Russia's foreign policy does not lead to the prosperity of the country, but to its ruin. Grudinin started talking about the "thin world" with Ukraine, read - the world at any cost.
And in Grudinin - a surge in popularity. Yes, a very vivid indicator that Russia is on the verge of perestroika-2. That within the Fifth term there will be a transfer of power to the successor. The Kremlin simply has no way out of the impasse.

***

Please note: despite the vigorous "nicht capituliren" of semi-official propaganda, as the "wealth" of the Rasei "elite" in the West approaches (and the prospects for their confiscation are approaching), the Kremlin is frantically backing away. Then he agrees to humiliation at the Winter Olympics in South Korea, then in response to deliveries of American military weapons, Kiev Peskov declares that Moscow will not supply arms to the People's Republic of China and the People's Republic of China.

The closer the moment of truth, the more there will be similar evidence that the top of the Russian Federation - like Gorby in 1986 - is ready to agree amicably. The unchanging factor: the maniacal desire of Putin's team to keep the system and pro-Western liberal monetarists at the helm of the economy and the Central Bank. Which, incidentally, and provided Putin with economic defeat in the Cold War-2. Do you know what the present moment still looks like in 1985? The fact that the economy of the country and its transformation are headed by people who are openly impregnated with "Westernism" and the desire to end the cold war at the cost of overdrawing to the West.
That in 1985, that in 2017 ... Dejavu full!


***

In such conditions - convinced! - You can not tolerate the disruption of the coalition of red patriots and Russian great-power nationalists. After all, the Russian Federation will very quickly roll to the second 1991.
To lose the great-power nationalists in the person of Igor Strelkov is archiplopo. What made them mad? The oath of allegiance is impossible in principle to the Minsk Agreements. And underlining that Grudinin is a candidate exclusively from the Communist Party, and not from a coalition of patriotic forces, who rejected disputes over the past in the name of saving the country and for the sake of the Future.
They (like Maxim Kalashnikov) believe that the development of the Russian productive economy, the struggle against backwardness, the purification of the Russian Federation from the power of looters, and the reunification of the Russian lands should be a priority nowadays. What for them are not only the Crimea, but the rest of Novorossia. But in Syria, we really have nothing to do.
The fact that APG puts Syria and Novorossia on the same board, from my personal point of view, is a huge mistake. It is necessary not to hesitate and immediately establish ties with the imperial nationalists, great-powers, for whom Strelkov is an undisputed leader and an unquestioned authority.
Otherwise, it is not only a foolish split in the patriotic coalition, but also an increasing "sticking together" of APG with white tape. With pro-Western liberals
I would not like to....

https://m-kalashnikov.livejournal.com/3 ... ium=social

google translator

Here again we see what appears fair prognostication tainted by anti-communism. Bygones cannot be bygones and I'm not getting warm fuzzies about Grudinin. Looks like CPUSA ain't the only party that needs a sound purging.
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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Tue Jan 02, 2018 4:50 pm

JAN
2
United Communist Party supports trade unionist Natalia Lisitsyna campaign for Russian president

On December 19, 2017, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the United Communist Party of Russia (OKP) adopted a resolution "On participation in the election campaign in December 2017 - March 2018."

Pursuant to the resolution of the 4th Plenum of the Central Committee of the OKP "On the Political Activity of Communists of the OKP during the Election Campaign and in the Election for President of the Russian Federation," and having considered the appeal of the political party ROT FRONT [Russian United Labor Front], the Presidium of the Central Committee of the OKP decides:

1. To work jointly with the ROT FRONT party to create a common platform of action of the communist forces of Russia in the forthcoming elections and beyond.

2. To recommend that regional branches of the OKP take part in the collection of signatures in support of the nomination of the ROT FRONT party candidate for President of the Russian Federation, Natalia Sergeevna Lisitsyna, machinist and crane operator at the Kirov metallurgy plant (St. Petersburg).

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Natalia Lisitsyna, ROT FRONT candidate for Russian president.

Vladimir Lakeev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the OKP, commented on the adopted decision:

“We understand perfectly well that the issue of tactics in the presidential election campaign will be refined, as this campaign takes place in several stages, each of which requires clarification of approach. But the strategy for our party remains unchanged. It was worked out in October at the plenum of the Central Committee of our Party, where we agreed that the party does not consider it possible to support not only Putin and the liberals, but also candidates from the parliamentary parties that have become props of the party in power. In this electoral campaign, the communist forces should use the elections as a form of political struggle and develop a common platform for necessary changes and to conduct agitation for socialism on the basis of this platform.

“After the October plenum of the Central Committee, our proposals for the creation of such a platform were sent to all the communist and left-wing groups operating in the country, including the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF). However, we received an answer from only one political party -- the ROT FRONT party. The answer was positive. ROT FRONT is ready to work on such a platform in conjunction with the OKP. The ROT-FRONT party appealed to the OKP with a proposal to support their nominated candidate for the presidency -- Natalia Sergeevna Lisitsyna -- machinist and crane operator at the Kirov plant, and a well-known trade union leader.

“Lisitsyna's candidacy seems to us very attractive for agitation among workers’ groups. Proceeding from this, the Presidium of the Central Committee has decided to collect signatures in support of Lisitsyna and to create a platform of action for left forces with ROT FRONT. This decision expresses the position of a number of major regional organizations of the OKP. Now everything depends on ourselves, on how brightly, skillfully, and energetically we will agitate for the interests of the working people, supporting Lisitsyna's candidacy.”

Translator's note: The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation on December 26 rejected Natalia Lisitsyna's candidacy, claiming minor "irregularities." The following day, an Extraordinary Congress of the ROT FRONT party was held to re-nominate Lisitsyna, and her candidacy was again submitted to the CEC. So far a response has not been received. The struggle continues!

Source

Translated by Greg Butterfield

https://redstaroverdonbass.blogspot.com ... trade.html

Can't tell yer commies without a scorecard.....well, this one looks better than Grudinin
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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Sat Jan 13, 2018 5:14 pm

ARTICLE OF THE GS OF THE CC OF THE KKE IN THE RUSSIAN NEWSPAPER “SOVETSKAYA ROSSIYA”
Dimitris Koutsoumpas: We draw conclusions, we become stronger

It is with particular joy that I address via the pages of the historical newspaper "Sovetskaya Rossiya" the workers of Russia, of the country where the "ice broke", as Lenin said, where "the way has been shown" as regards the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the construction of the new socialist-communist society. Image

The consequences of the counterrevolution and the overthrow of socialism did not cloud the eyes, mind and judgment of the communists of Greece, the KKE. Indeed on the 28th of December 1991, a few hours after the red flag was taken down from the Kremlin, Rizospastis, the journalistic organ of the CC of the KKE, wrote on its historic front page: "Comrades, hold the flag high! Hope is to be found in the struggles of the peoples"!

In 2017, the 100th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, was marked by the multifaceted activity of our party. Our party is one of the fruits of the revolutionary flame of October.

In our country hundreds of significant political and cultural activities in honour of the Socialist Revolution were carried out.

At the same time, we sought through our political and ideological activity, as well as our activity inside the trade unions and other mass popular organizations, defending the just cause of the working class, the other poor strata against the anti-people political line, to highlight the need for workers' power, which is the only real alternative to capitalist barbarity.

The communists of Greece fought to organize the struggle of the working class against the bourgeois government of the "new" social-democracy SYRiZA, which governs for the last 3 years with the support if a rightwing party, ANEL and with the backing of the EU, NATO, USA.

In difficult conditions of high unemployment caused by the capitalist crisis, the intensification of employer intimidation in the workplaces, government-state repression and undermining of the right to strike, the communists strived as best they could to organize major workers' struggles, demonstrations, nationwide strikes.

This struggle, beyond the various gains achieved by the workers in some sectors, such as in construction, in shipbuilding and repair and elsewhere, further strengthened the positions of the communists, of the class-oriented forces as a whole that struggle in the ranks of the All-workers' Militant Front (PAME).The class-oriented forces won over new forces. Today it is the second force in the trade union movement and the best organized.


In addition, the communists also actively mobilize amongst the poor farmers, who in 2017 had blocked the country's highways at 100 points for 40 days, struggling against the political line of the government and EU, which is driving them to ruin.

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The same is true as regards the struggles of the petty bourgeois urban strata, the self-employed, and also the struggles of the women and youth with a working class-popular background.

It is no accident that KNE over the last 4 years has won the second position nationally in the elections for the student unions, with over 20%.

The communists, either in the Greek Parliament (the KKE has 15 MPs), or in the European Parliament (where we have 2 MEPs), or in the ranks of the thousands of people who have demonstrated many times for the workers'-people's rights, as well as outside the NATO bases and command centres, with a consistent stance against imperialist wars, against Greece's participation in them, against the transformation of our country into a launching pad for the promotion of the plans of the USA, NATO, EU in the Middle East, in Africa, in Ukraine, in the Black Sea and elsewhere. They took a position in favour of the country's disengagement from the imperialist unions of NATO and the EU, from all imperialist alliances, something that can only be guaranteed by workers' governance in Greece. Just as only workers' power can put an end to the anti-worker anti-people measures, socializing the means of production, with scientific planning of the economy and workers' control.

The 20th Congress of our party, which was held at the end of March 2017, engaged with question of how our party will become more effective in its activity. We set the bar even higher at this Congress. We set as an immediate task the strengthening of the KKE so that our party becomes more capable as a party of social revolution to realize its historical vanguard role. A party capable of leading the struggle of the working class and the entire people for the regroupment of the labour and trade union movement, the promotion of the Social Alliance in an anti-capitalist anti-monopoly direction, against imperialist wars, for workers' power.

Because we know very well that the October Revolution was not an "accident of history" or a "disastrous coup" of the Bolsheviks, as the bourgeois say and write, as every kind of renegade, opportunist and adventurist says and writes.

The October Revolution was a climactic world-historic event which signaled the beginning of an era in which the working class became the protagonist in the developments and pushed the wheel of history forwards, taking power and organizing new socialist communist relations of production, reshaping society as a whole.

This assessment is also valid today when we see capitalism in its imperialist stage dominant globally, as whatever socialist relations survive in some countries are remnants of the first attempt to construct socialism that began in 1917 and continued in various countries throughout the 20th century.

However, socialism continues to be as timely and necessary as ever in the history of humanity. And this, like the socialist character of the revolution in our era, does not depend on the contingent correlation of forces, but it emerges from the impasses of capitalism, the fact that the material preconditions for the passage to a new society have matured.

Today the inter-imperialist antagonisms have sharpened even further. The major contradictions over the division of the markets, the control of the natural resources, the transport routes for energy and commodities, geopolitical control. New alliances and blocs of forces are being created, increasing the danger of military conflicts.

In the framework of these conflicts, the international communist movement, each communist party must form its own line of battle. A line for the overthrow of the imperialist barbarity that brings economic crises, poverty, unemployment and wars or "peace" with a gun to the people's head. And this must be done by studying historical experience, rejecting mistaken analyses of previous decades that led revolutionary forces in society to passivity, ineffectiveness and confusion.

As the experience of October and the entire course of the revolutionary labour movement internationally demonstrated, there is no room for any cooperation-alliance with the bourgeois class as a whole or any of its sections in the name of defending bourgeois democracy, of "humanizing capitalism", of some intermediate stage to socialism or with the argument of avoiding some "extreme pro-war forces".

The bourgeoisie and the bourgeois power undermine and suppress workers' and people's rights, achievements. In their "peaceful conditions" they prepare wars. Τhe consolidation of the anti-capitalist-antimonopoly struggle, of the struggle for socialism requires the alliance of the working class with the poor farmers and the self-employed craftsmen.

The line of social democracy since the beginning of the previous century until today has completely failed, it has caused great damage, it led to the defeat of the revolutionary communist movement, it assimilated working masses in the capitalist exploitative system; it led militant, progressive forces in favour of social development to be disarmed. This, like the irreplaceable role of the CP emerges from our theory, which is Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism.

Socialist construction as the first immature phase of the communist society highlighted the scientific laws that the revolutionary vanguard must be aware of and not violate so as to eradicate consciously and methodically the seeds of counterrevolution. More specifically, the theory and practical implementation of "market socialism" is disastrous for socialist construction, something that happened gradually in the USSR via the opportunist sliding over a period of time beginning in 1956 and violently manifesting itself in 1991, with the complete dissolution of the USSR and CPSU.

Historical experience has demonstrated that the problems that arose in the course of socialist construction were mistakenly interpreted as inherent weaknesses of central planning. The solution was sought in the expansion of market, which was a step backwards, instead of taking a step forward expanding and strengthening the socialist-communist relations of production.

Today, drawing the correct conclusions from our history, we become stronger. We are better ideologically and politically equipped for the class battles that we are waging and we will wage in the future. Our weapon is proletarian internationalism, our joint struggle, our class and comradely solidarity which is necessary against national isolationism and imperialist cosmopolitanism.

The KKE, which in 2018 will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its foundation, will follow the CPRF in hosting the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties . We will seek with the 20th International Meeting that will be held in Athens, as well as with other forms, to contribute so that the international communist movement, which today is divided and faces major difficulties, to take steps towards its revolutionary regroupment, because this is its only positive prospect.

We wish the readers of "Sovetskaya Rossiya" health and strength for the new struggles of 2018. Our future is not capitalism, but the new world of socialist revolutions, of socialist-communist construction.

Best wishes to all!



Published 28/12/2017

http://sovross.ru/articles/ 1644/37274

https://inter.kke.gr/en/articles/Dimitr ... -stronger/
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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:04 pm

Maltese Knights

The message that Russian businessmen are almost buying massively Maltese citizenship has slightly stirred up the informational swamp of Russia, from which only the foul-smelling bubbles of searching for the next enemy are mixed up with the same smell of reports about our unprecedented successes. In fact, we are talking about a not very significant episode: 500 people received last year the citizenship of Malta, whose legislation allows you to make a small gesheft on a European passport.

Immediately arose a version about the unpatriotic nature of all these 500 characters. As they could, the main motive of condemning utterances. The others sighed enviously.

The problem is that today's Russia and patriotism are very peculiar concepts. You can be a patriot of Russia, which should be in place today - this is without a doubt. But being a patriot of the current Putin Mafia State can be either bandits or completely headless. And this contradiction, of course, creates a rather serious dissonance. Putin did not in vain demand that patriotism be considered the most important spiritual bond - he is directly interested in legitimizing (that is, generally conscious approval) the existing criminal regime of power and government. You can falsify any results, you can manage with repression - but best if you manage to get to accept what is and how it is.

We always fall into the same trap. The state is an instrument of imposing the will of the ruling class (or class, which for present-day Russia, in connection with its wildness, becomes more and more urgent). Patriotism is the unconditional acceptance of the present state of the country and the state and the protection of them at any cost. It is impossible to defend an abstract Russia, it is always extremely concrete. Real Russia is a country of slaves and a country of gentlemen, a country of bandits and those they rob. There are other Russia - virtual. In dreams. You can be their patriot. But you can not be a patriot of something abstract and vague.

You can protect either what is already there, or what should be in place of the present. In the event that you are not ready for either, you become a conformist - an opportunist. It's not bad and not good, it's just such a strategy of behavior. Everyone adapts as he can. For the most part, this adaptation is expressed in emigration - internal or external. Emigrating inside himself, a person tries to disconnect from an external nightmare, leaving the whole family, work, some activities. Either emigrating for real - that is, escaping from the surrounding unbearable reality. In Ukraine, for example, of the 50 million Soviet population there are now about 30. Maybe a little more. Part of it became extinct, but much of it just ran. Where lucky to run. To Europe, Russia, yes anyway, just to get away. Emigration from Russia is also growing, and its pace is impressive: if in 11 year 37 thousand people left the country, then in 16 - almost 600 thousand. Over the years of Putin's last term, more than 2 million people fled the country. Voting for Putin's stability is predominantly kicking.

This is problem. It is already called the "fifth wave" of emigration, its pace and scale are quite comparable with previous waves and are also caused by the catastrophic situation in the country. This, in fact, is one of the markers of an impending social catastrophe. There are a lot of them, these markers, they are known, but they try not to notice, but in a state whose head is always cowardly jumping into bushes in any unclear situation, this is just the style of solving any problem - do not notice it at all.

Against this background, 500 "Maltese fugitives" - a small episode. He is trying to give a negative connotation simply because not everyone can buy a European passport for several hundred thousand euros. But the real reason for what is happening is completely different: in a mafia state, only gangsters, criminals and their hired personnel live comfortably. This is their state, it protects their interests, therefore they are its patriots. All is fair. In any other state, the current rulers of life will occupy the only proper place for them - in the criminal underground or in prison. But in Putin they are the state power and the business close to it. Who does not agree with this - he disconnects from what is happening or runs away from him. That, in fact, and the whole answer.

https://el-murid.livejournal.com/

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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Tue Jan 16, 2018 2:14 pm

Russia Insider goes wide open fascist

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This is poisonous shit that makes mockery of the Red Scare reboot oozing out of Washington.
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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Tue Jan 23, 2018 3:44 pm

In Yekaterinburg, the sign of Kolchak was removed
colonelcassad
January 23, 18:16

Image

In Yekaterinburg, Kolchak was

removed. A sign to White Admiral Alexander Kolchak was dismantled in Yekaterinburg. It was located on the house on the street. February revolution 9, where the cafe-museum "Demidov" is located.
Earlier Sverdlovsk activists, after a scandal with the installation of the Kolchak board in St. Petersburg, asked the prosecutor's office and in the Urals to check the legality of installing the tablet to a person officially recognized as a war criminal. To this, the supervisory department stated that the board is not a memorial and has not been registered anywhere.
November 4 last year, the unknown struck a plate with a heavy object, from which it split and fell, later its fragments were re-established.
However, at present the memorial sign has again disappeared from the wall of the house along the street. February revolution 9, the correspondent Nakanune.RU.
The reasons for this are still unknown, it was not possible to get an operative comment in "Demidov".

https://www.nakanune.ru/news/2018/01/23/22495835/ - zinc

It is worth recalling that in Irkutsk litigation continues around the monument to Kolchak, where along with a non-rehabilitated war criminal who was serving the British Empire immortalized the criminal authority Andreev https://colonelcassad.livejourn

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/3948760.html

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The Putinists/Yeltsinists are striving mightily to re-write history but people ain't gonna let them. Long live the restoration of the Soviet Union!
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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Tue Feb 20, 2018 3:04 pm

Russia has the right to defend itself from the U.S.

Flipping the script: Russia, the elections and workers in the U.S.
By Greg Butterfield

Russia has the right to defend itself from the U.S.

Let me repeat that: RUSSIA HAS THE RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF FROM THE U.S.

The left needs to break from arguing the merits of the bourgeois-liberal witch-hunt against supposed Russian "election meddling" and clearly assert a different point of view to workers and oppressed peoples in the U.S.

Since 1999, the U.S.-dominated NATO military alliance has expanded four times, adding 13 countries, plus several "candidates" for membership, right up to Russia's border. These expansions, in direct violation of agreements made with Russia at the time of the USSR's breakup, have happened under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

The U.S. has been carrying out a proxy war in Ukraine for the last four years on Russia's doorstep. The U.S. has been carrying out first a proxy war, and now direct intervention, against Russia's Middle Eastern ally Syria for seven years. These interventions began under the Democratic Obama administration while Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were Secretaries of State. They continue and expand under the Republican/alt-Right Trump administration.

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Russia has every right and duty to its own sovereignty and its allies to exploit every contradiction of U.S. imperialism to defend itself. If in fact Russia tried to "influence" the 2016 presidential elections by exposing inconvenient facts about Hillary Clinton and her team, they had every right to do so and actually did a service to the people of the U.S.

We should never fail to point out the history of U.S. political, economic, and military intervention in the elections of dozens of sovereign nations of the last 125+ years, including Russia, where the U.S. openly bragged about winning the 1996 presidential election for its stooge Boris Yeltsin.

We should point out that Hillary Clinton did not lose the election to Donald Trump because of Russian "meddling." Hillary Clinton WON the popular vote. The only reason Trump is president is because of the Electoral College system, which was originally set up to protect slavery, and has since been defended by both Republicans and Democrats to protect the capitalist system against any possibility of a meaningful electoral revolt.

The last time the Democrats had a chance to dismantle the Electoral College was in the presidential election of 2000. I remember it very well. That time, Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote against Republican George W. Bush. Bush won the Electoral College vote, quite possibly because of terroristic attacks on Black and senior voters by fascist elements and Cuban contras in Florida. There was mass anger and the election results were thrown into question. This would have been a perfect opportunity to do away with the anti-democratic Electoral College system.

Instead, the Democrats rolled over for eight years of Bush. There was also a smear campaign (albeit of a much lesser sort) against third party candidates for "losing" the Electoral College vote for Gore. The candidates blamed were Ralph Nader of the Green Party and Monica Moorehead of Workers World Party. I recall celebrity radical Michael Moore writing a paean to lesser-evilism at the time entitled "Blame Monica."

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It's all one oligarchy and you aren't part of it.

If in fact posts by "Russian trolls" in any way helped to strengthen the resolve of young people and others to resist the pressure to support imperialist war criminal Clinton in favor of Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, or more radical alternatives, we should thank them. Of course, these social-media posts wouldn't have had a bit of impact if there wasn't already a major shift in political consciousness underway.

No matter what happens with Mueller's "investigation," Trump isn't going anywhere. Wall Street and the Pentagon (both of whom want nothing more than to undermine Russia's sovereignty) are very happy with him. He's giving them everything they want.

So what is the witch-hunt really about?

Today, the size of left movements in the U.S. is growing exponentially because of the shift in consciousness. That's one of the real reasons for the anti-Russia witch-hunt. It is an ideological war on the people, especially the radical youth, to try to scare them back into the camp of the Democratic Party. I don't believe this tactic will be successful.

The other reason is to prepare the people of the U.S. for new wars through the demonization of Russia. In 1992, the New York Times published excerpts from a leaked Pentagon strategy document for the "post-Cold War" world that outlined U.S. plans to prevent the rise of any possible rivals to its domination of the globe. Central to this plan is breaking up Russia and China into manageable pieces.

Although the two major parties of the U.S. ruling class and their various factions have competing interests, and often argue over which part of the world to target first, they have stayed remarkably loyal to this vision for the past quarter-century, surrounding both Russia and China with hundreds of military bases and working to pick off their allies and surrounding countries to tighten the noose.

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The first responsibility of revolutionary workers and youth in the belly of the beast is to fight U.S. intervention everywhere. Since the First World War, the watchword of our movement has been: The defeat of one's one imperialist country is the lesser evil.

The best way to help defeat U.S. imperialism is to build the struggle of people's power right here at home to defeat Trump and the system he represent. That means translating these facts and principles into popular language to help workers and youth cut through the morass of lies. That means building a mass struggle against racism and war independent of the Democrats and their election boondoggle. That means defending the right of Russia, the DPRK, Syria, Iran and other countries to defend themselves against U.S. imperialism.

February 20, 2018

https://redstaroverdonbass.blogspot.com ... -from.html
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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:11 pm

Communist Party candidate withdraws from debates as TV discussion descends into chaos

https://www.rt.com/politics/420123-comm ... idate-out/

Communist Party candidate withdraws from debates as TV discussion descends into chaos

Published time: 1 Mar, 2018 09:33

Communist Party candidate withdraws from debates as TV discussion descends into chaos

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Pavel Grudinin, Russian presidential candidate from the Communist Party, gives a speech at the Klever plant of Rostselmash Company, during his working trip to Rostov-on-Don © Sergey Pivovarov / Sputnik

Pavel Grudinin has accused the election authorities of deliberately turning televised debates into “cheap shows,” and said he would no longer take part after other contenders exchanged insults and even threw water at each other.
TrendsKsenia Sobchak, Pavel Grudinin, Russian presidential election 2018, Vladimir Zhirinovsky

“What is going on here is not debates, it is more like a bazaar with all the shouting without waiting for turns. Debates are arguments between opponents and here we see questions and answers – this is called an interview,” Grudinin said after announcing that he was refusing to participate in further debates. “It is impossible to explain why we all spend an hour here standing up, when each of us has just six minutes to make statements.”

The candidate went on to accuse the Central Elections Commission and federal television management of having a deliberate plan to damage the public attitude to the presidential election. “The Central Elections Commission and central TV channels do not want us to debate one-on-one, they turned these debates into a so-called show, and now they do only one thing – they spoil the public attitude to the presidential polls,” he stated.

“I am not going to participate in this anymore, because you are doing everything to prevent the people from coming to the elections. Because all this is more like buffoonery,” Grudinin said before leaving.

In further comments posted on his Instagram account, he addressed incumbent President Vladimir Putin with a proposal to hold “real” debates followed by “real” elections.

Grudinin’s reaction came soon after two presidential candidates – Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party and Ksenia Sobchak, who is running as a “none-of-the-above” candidate – started to bicker during the debates and then resorted to verbal assaults. At one point, Sobchak poured a glass of water over Zhirinovsky, prompting the show host to intervene.

Earlier, business-oriented Russian newspaper Vedomosti quoted the head of Sobchak’s election HQ, Timur Valeyev, as saying that Grudinin, Sobchak and Zhirinovsky had allegedly agreed not to follow the rules imposed on them by organizers of the debates and to start bilateral arguments.

The Russian presidential elections are scheduled for March 18 with eight people running for the post. The latest opinion polls indicate that President Vladimir Putin is likely to win in the first round.

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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:24 pm

The Skripal case and Western demonization of Russia

The foreign policy of the Russian Federation also failed in Britain
By Anatoly Baranov

British Prime Minister Teresa May said that within two days she is waiting for explanations from Russia on the case of poisoning the former Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) officer Sergei Skripal. According to her, "either Russia is directly responsible for the poisoning, or it allowed the nerve gas to fall into the hands of third parties." This was announced by the British Prime Minister during a meeting of the National Security Committee, devoted to the investigation of the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, reports Gazeta.ru.

According to the Prime Minister, Russia's involvement in the poisoning of former GRU officer Sergei Skripal is "very likely."

During the meeting, May named the substance that poisoned Skripal. According to her, we are talking about the nerve gas from the family "Novice", developed in the USSR.

The British Prime Minister also said that in connection with the incident in Salisbury, the country's Foreign Ministry called the Russian ambassador, and announced the deterioration of relations between the two countries.

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Anatoly Baranov Photo: OKP

Of course, this is not a failure, but a catastrophe in the field of foreign policy. For 18 years we were zombified by the imaginary successes of Putin in the foreign policy field -- inside the country everything was not always good and not very much was done, but on the outside ... As it turned out, foreign policy is even worse than the internal one.

The question is not whether the GRU poisoned Skripal or not, but that it has become possible to make any accusation against Russia without even thinking about its authenticity or even reasonableness.

You know, in Turkey, a NATO country, in front of the public, the Russian ambassador was murdered. And nothing. Maxim died, and ... that was it.

In Britain, no one knows who poisoned the former spy with a substance that resembles a poison developed in the USSR -- and the prime minister of the British government announces the deterioration of relations with Russia.

There are many questions -- this traitor spent six years in a Russian prison, where he could have been eliminated without any fuss. Now he, quietly transferred to Britain in exchange for a failed Russian agent, is someone of interest to Moscow? Well, who would have exchanged him, if he was of interest.

The annoyance of Britain is understandable -- it turns out they could not ensure the safety of this person, whose fate they assumed responsibility for.

But who allowed them to take out their irritation on Russia?

I answer -- Putin allowed it. Putin and his "successful" foreign policy.

After all, no one even asks, what's the matter? Suppose the Soviet poison could be in the hands of any post-Soviet special services, interested in worsening relations between Russia and Britain?

Well, the "secret agent" goes to Salisbury shopping, eats in restaurants -- even a schoolboy could poison him.

Maybe there was a reason to poison him right now and the GRU is a secret organization, its cuisine is by definition unpopular. But then bring charges, give evidence ...

This is the failure of Russia's foreign policy -- that Russia can now be blamed with or without cause. And then when everyone gets used to it, and when you strike at a convenient moment, nobody is surprised -- well, this is Russia ... So it was with Iraq, so it was with Libya, so it happens with Syria. In Saudi Arabia people’s hands and heads are chopped off, yet the intolerable regime for some reason is in Damascus.

Next in line is Moscow. And we know who’s at fault. It’s all his fault now, he's "our everything.”

P.S. The poisoning of 28 people by thallium at an aircraft factory in Taganrog is not an occasion to call the Ukrainian ambassador. And in vain …

Baranov is the editor of Forum.msk and a member of the Central Committee of the United Communist Party of Russia.

Source

Translated by Greg Butterfield

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Re: Russia today

Post by blindpig » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:43 pm

The Government's 'Novochok' Drama Was Written By Whom?
The Skripal incident is now, by chance or by design, part of a much larger campaign about 'western' dominance over 'the east'. Russia, which ended the unilateral moment of U.S. nuclear primacy, is currently the main target. The situation is extremely dangerous as any further escalation, in the Middle East, the Ukraine ore elsewhere, might lead to a war between nuclear armed powers.

The government decreed 'truth' about the Skripal case has many discrepancies. The connection of the case to Russia is much weaker than the propaganda claims. But doubt and dissent about it are not allowed to prevail.

The political response to the incident around the British-Russian double-agent Sergej Skripal and his daughter started slowly. On Sunday, the 4th of March, Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a public bench in Salisbury, England. The local police and emergency services took care of them.

Only on March 8 did the case start to make larger waves. The BBC reported:

Addressing the House of Commons, the home secretary [Rudd] said the attack was "attempted murder in the most cruel and public way".
...
She refused to speculate on whether the Russian state might have been involved in the attack, saying the police investigation should be based on "facts, not rumour".
Besides Skripal and his daughter one police officer was affected:

A police officer, who was in intensive care, is now "stable and conscious", Wiltshire's chief constable said.
It is unclear where the officer is thought to have contacted the alleged poison. Some reports said it was at Skripal's house, others say that it was at the bench where the Skripal's collapsed.

But a doctor and others who administered first aid were not affected at all:

Meanwhile, a doctor who was one of the first people at the scene has described how she found Ms Skripal slumped unconscious on a bench, vomiting and fitting. She had also lost control of her bodily functions.
The woman, who asked not to be named, told the BBC she moved Ms Skripal into the recovery position and opened her airway, as others tended to her father.

She said she treated her for almost 30 minutes, saying there was no sign of any chemical agent on Ms Skripal's face or body.

The doctor said she had been worried she would be affected by the nerve agent, but added that she "feels fine".

This seems to exclude a highly toxic poison or a substance that is taken up through the skin. But how then was the police officer affected?

The Skripal's are said to be still alive. No details about the alleged poison were published and no medical bulletin about their current state.

After a slow start the British government is now making an immense show out of the case by involving the army and by sending out lots of people in obviously unnecessary high protection gear.

Image

It also planted lots of rumors. On March 9 it was said that the poison likely came from inside Mr. Skripal's house. Three days ago claims were made that it was smeared on the door handle of Skripal's car, today it is supposed to have come out of the suitcase of Skripal's daughter. All these claims are based on leaks from anonymous official sources. It is likely that none of them is true.

Today, twelve days after the incident, it is still unknown what chemical substance the alleged poison exactly is and where and how it was administered.

Former British ambassador Craig Murray reports that the British chemical weapon laboratory at Porton Down, just 8 miles from where the incident happened, is unsure about what substance (if any) was actually involved:

I have now received confirmation from a well placed FCO source that Porton Down scientists are not able to identify the nerve gas as being of Russian manufacture, and have been resentful of the pressure being placed on them to do so. Porton Down would only sign up to the formulation “of a type developed by Russia” after a rather difficult meeting where this was agreed as a compromise formulation.
Blaming Russia for the use of a poison "of a type developed by Russia" (i.e. the Soviet Union) is like blaming Germany for all current Heroin addicts because the Deutsche Reich company Bayer developed the mass-production of Heroin as a sedative for coughs.

In her "45 minutes" speech on March 12 Theresa May used this wording:

It is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. It is part of a group of nerve agents known as Novichok.
"Of a type developed by Russia” is now the standard formulation that the British government and its allies are using. This is supposed to refer to a zoo of chemical substances, the Novichoks, that back in the 1980s a Soviet laboratory in today's Uzbekistan may have researched as potential chemical weapons. There are serious doubts, including from a leading Porton Down scientist, that these Novichoks actually exist.

So where is the 'Novichok' talk coming from? Well, someone in the British government propaganda staff watched the current seasons of the British-American spy drama Strike Back. Nina Byzantina points to the summaries of recent episodes:

Episode 50 ran in the U.K on November 21 2017 and in the U.S. on February 23 2018:

Meanwhile, General Lázsló shuts down Section 20, forcing Donovan to work in secret. She discovers that Zaryn is in fact Karim Markov, a Russian scientist who allegedly killed his colleagues with Novichok, a nerve agent they invented.
Episodes 51 ran in the U.K on November 28 2017 and in the U.S. on March 2 2018:

Section 20 track Berisovich's meth lab in Turov where Markov is making more Novichok and destroy it, though Berisovich escapes with Markov.
Episodes 52 ran in the U.K on January 31 2018 and in the U.S. on March 9 2018:

Section 20 track down Maya, a local Muslim woman Lowry radicalised, to a local airport. When she attempts to release the Novichok, Reynolds shoots her. The Novichok is fake however, as Berisovich does not want an attack committed in his country. ... By the time Section 20 arrives, Berisovich had already called in the FSB to extract Markov and confiscate the Novichok. Yuri resurfaces to kill McAllister and Wyatt. However they turn the tables and strangle him to death. They then manage to engage the FSB and contain the gas. But in the process Reynolds is exposed. Markov works on an antidote but is killed by the Russians before he can complete. McAllister improvises and saves Reynolds, before Novin blows up the lab. Lowry uses the remainder of the gas to kill Berisovich for trying to betray her.

Isn't it astonishing how 'life' follows the course of last week's TV drama? Or did the TV drama follow a larger pre-written script? (Remember the X-Files pilot episode (vid) in March 2011 which 'predicted' 9/11?) Who really gave the British government the idea to blame Russia and Novichoks for the incident that involved the Skripals? Were it the experts at Porton Down, some spy drama on current TV or a propaganda agency?

The Soviet chemist Vil Mirzanyanov, who now lives in the U.S., is the only person who claims that Novichocks were real chemical weapons. Neither Porton Down nor the OPCW have accepted that claim. In 2007 Mirzanyanov wrote a still available book about his work at the Soviet laboratory in Uzbekistan and published the chemical formulas of some alleged Novichok substances. But, as Mirzanyanov concedes, such Novichok substances, if these were involved at all, are by no means an exclusively Russian issue. Vil Mirzanyanov's much publicized book made sure of that. As today's Wall Street Journal explains:

That publicity led its chemical structure to be leaked, making it readily available for reproduction elsewhere, said Ralf Trapp, a France-based consultant on the control of chemical and biological weapons.
“The chemical formula has been publicized and we know from publications from then-Czechoslovakia that they had worked on similar agents for defense in the 1980s,” he said. “I’m sure other countries with developed programs would have as well.”
...
“The understanding at the time was that even though Russia was working on it and developing it, they didn’t actually stockpile Novichok agents or precursors,” said Mr. Trapp.

The formulas are known and several other countries have worked on similar stuff. Anyone with a decent laboratory and some expert knowledge can make such poisons. This explains why the experts in Porton Down would not blame Russia and why the British government, eager to blame Russia, can only talk about "a type developed by Russia”.

The WSJ piece also explains why it will be difficult to find out from where, when and how the alleged poisons came to Salisbury:

The components used to make Novichok are readily available, but their short lifespan and the risks involved in using it demand professional expertise, scientific and arms experts said.
...
Finding a trail of Novichok would be more difficult because it is carried in two parts that are combined to create a viscous liquid only shortly before use, said Mr. Trapp.
Mr. Trapp is a serious expert on the issue. He says that the Novichok agents are binary agents made from readily available substances and have a short live span. These characteristics will make it practically impossible to find a real culprit.

Russia, which the British government and now also its allies blame without presenting evidence, had no reason to attack the Skripal's. Mr. Skripal, the British double agent, was released from a Russian jail in a 2010 spy-swap. He has lived openly in Britain for eight years. If this was an act of Russian revenge why wait so long? Killing him would also endanger those Russian spies who came back to Russia in exchange for Skripal's freedom. It would impede any future exchange. There is no plausible reason for Russia to do such, especially not in current atmosphere.

There must be other reasons why Skripal was attacked, if he was, with some more recent motive than the one attributed to Russia.

Elijah Magnier, with decades of experience as war correspondent, tries to fit the incident into the larger picture of the U.S.-Russian proxy war in the Middle East:

The US and the International community tried to stop the battles of al-Ghouta to no avail. This prompted Washington to exercise its favourite hobby of imposing sanctions on Russia, without succeeding in stopping the Syrian army (fighting without its allies – except Russia) from recovering its control over Ghouta. The answer came immediately from Moscow by bombing Daraa and hitting al-Qaeda’s area of influence in an indication as to where the future theatre of military operations is expected to be.
Again, events are moving very fast: the US response came quickly through its UK ally when Britain took advantage of the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergey Skripal in London to accuse Moscow of being behind his assassination. The message here is clear: all means are legitimate for the control of the Middle East, specifically Syria.

I am not sure that this claim fits the timeline. The British already hinted at Russian culpability on March 8. Reuters reported the March 12 Deraa bombing at 1:16 PM. The British prime minister May raised her accusations against Russia only a few hours later. To prepare and negotiate her statement with Porton Down likely took longer than that.

The Skripal incident has its origin in something different, likely in his supposed involvement in the dirty Steele dossier which targeted Donald Trump. (More interesting background to the Skripal-Steele connection can be found at UKColumn.) May's statement was not prompted by the Syrian-Russian bombing in Deraa governorate but is a part of the general anti-Russian campaign.

Magnier is right though to point out that a further escalation is quite possible:

The Syrian war is far from being a normal one. It is THE war between two superpowers and their allies, where US and Russian soldiers are directly involved on the ground in a war of domination and power. The lack of victory in the US eyes is worse than losing a battle. Even more, the victory of Russia and its allies on Syrian soil in any battle is therefore a direct blow to the heart of Washington and its allies.
...
The superpowers are on the verge of the abyss, so the danger of falling into a war of cosmic proposition is no longer confined to the imagination or merely a sensational part of unrealistic calculations.
The immense media scare and publicity of the Skripal drama is likely centrally directed. Someone is pressing NATO countries as well as thoughtful politicians to get on the side of the aggressive anti-Russian campaign. The French government spokesperson first rejected the accusations Theresa May made against Russia. It demanded proof:

“We don’t do fantasy politics. Once the elements are proven, then the time will come for decisions to be made,” Griveaux told a news conference shortly after May said she was expelling Russian diplomats and suspending bilateral talks.
A day later and without further evidence coming to light France folded and joined others in accusing Russia because someone allegedly used a poison "of a type developed by Russia".

The British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn warned of taking steps against Russia without first presenting evidence. He was immediately assaulted in a vicious propaganda campaign.

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Even the hat of British opposition leader Corbyn was photoshopped by BBC Newsnight to make him look "Russian".
(If RT would do similar it would immediately lose its UK license.) - bigger
Corbyn too folded and now even makes claims that May has never made:

Theresa May was right on Monday to identify two possibilities for the source of the attack in Salisbury, given that the nerve agent used has been identified as of original Russian manufacture.
Theresa May's careful wording "of a type developed by Russia” does not imply a specific agent nor Russian manufacturing. Corbyn fell into the trap.

What we are seeing here with the Skripal incident and the "Novichok" claims is a gigantic propaganda campaign comparable to the 2001 Anthrax scare in the U.S. and the whole "weapons of mass destruction" campaign that heralded the U.S./UK war on Iraq.

Provoking Russia further will not end well. Rattlesnakes are shy, but at some point they have no other way out than to bite.

If we want to prevent a unpredictable clash between nuclear armed powers, which could kill millions within just a few moments, we must all publicly voice our doubts and expose the false accusations made against Russia and other countries.

---
Previous Moon of Alabama pieces on the Skripal case:

March 8 - Poisioned British-Russian Double-Agent Has Links To Clinton Campaign
March 12 - Theresa May's "45 Minutes" Moment
March 14 - Are 'Novichok' Poisons Real? - May's Claims Fall Apart
Posted by b on March 16, 2018 at 12:26 PM | Permalink

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/03/go ... ished.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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