The State of Affairs in Russia

[alfred russel]

Between Russia's own internal political paranoia, and frankly, our skepticism at first in the 90's keeping them at arms length...I think the last 20-ish years since the fall of the USSR has been a lot of wasted opportunities and potential on both sides.

Nah...I realize this is a chicken and egg argument, but I think the present state of affairs vindicates the skeptics of the early 90s. It seems unlikely that the reason Russia isn't politically like Germany or France today is because 25 years ago we didn't embrace them with open arms.

Through the same line of reasoning I find it odd that it is taken for granted that we were wrong to support the shah (our thoughts then being that he was better than whatever would replace him). 

[The Minsky Moment]

So I never drove to Kaliningrad and have never seen their shitty city.

Too bad you Kant go there.

[Malthus]

So I never drove to Kaliningrad and have never seen their shitty city.

Too bad you Kant go there.

It was categorically imperative that he get his visa first.

[The Minsky Moment]

So I never drove to Kaliningrad and have never seen their shitty city.

Too bad you Kant go there.

It was categorically imperative that he get his visa first.

And yet there were practical reasons he could not, according to his critique.

[grumbler]

So I never drove to Kaliningrad and have never seen their shitty city.

Too bad you Kant go there.

It was categorically imperative that he get his visa first.

And yet there were practical reasons he could not, according to his critique.

If N was the number of visits needed to get the visa andreduce the weight of his wallet, he had to ask himself "What is N?  Lightenment?"

[Syt]

RT is now available in German. http://www.rtdeutsch.com/

Also, Russia increased the 2015 budget for RT by over 40% to over 1/4 Billion Euro.

Their top headlines:

"The isolated Putin" - ARD and ZDF [German public TV stations] caught manipulating the media (again)
1984 in Ukrainian: Kiev plans Propaganda Ministry  [illustrated with INGSOC logo]
New development plan for Eastern Ukraine: Soup instead of salary

International:
Budget dispute 2015: is the EU paralyzing itself?
Clashes in front of the US embassy in Athens
US Air Force is planning surveillance flights over Russia
Kiev closes all school and hospitals in Eastern Ukraine

Germany
Ex-Spy talking about MH-17 and Merkel's and Gauck's Stasi connections
Blatant election fraud by CDU - learning from SED means learning to win? [play on old GDR slogan - replace SED with Soviet Union]
Who stops this man? [about president Gauck and his supposedly excessive comments about foreign policy outside his range of competencies]
Out of control: US drone crashes in Germany

Economy
28 to 6 -  EU split over new sanctions against Russia
Economic development: BRICS top, EU flop
Coal running out in Ukraine
Siemens losing billions in Russia

Society
Ruble is falling on hard times - how does the population react
London: Lego now also for (poor) adults
Donetsk, as seen by a US American
Cyber attack on Iranian nuclear facilities

[Grey Fox]

1/4 billion? so 250 millions, it's ok to say that.

[celedhring]

250 million? That's really not much for an international TV channel, actually. The BBC world service is almost twice that, and it piggybacks on BBC's already enormous existing structure.

[Syt]

http://rt.com/politics/208551-russia-governors-military-training/

DM Shoigu asks Putin to launch obligatory military training for all Russian governors

The Russian defense minister is suggesting that all Russian governors undergo regular military training in basic logistics management and mobilization in case a major war breaks out.

"We would like all elected and appointed governors, mayors and other heads of regions in the Russian Federation to undergo obligatory two-week training in the General Staff Academy specializing in mobilization readiness and managing their regions in times of mobilization," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Sergey Soigu as saying at a recent Russian defense industry conference.

"The same applies to federal bodies of executive power," the minister said, adding that the initiative must be enforced by a presidential decree or legislative amendments to existing federal laws.

The suggestion comes in the wake of the Vostok-2014 military exercises that took place in September in 13 eastern regions. After these, Shoigu said many officials and in particular Sakhalin Governor Aleksandr Khorshavin weren't ready for times of war and couldn't summon reserve forces in time. Popular business daily Kommersant quoted an unnamed source in the General Staff.

"Regional authorities often fail to understand the importance of military exercises and prefer to drag their feet in executing orders because they simply don't know what they should do and how to do it," the source added.

The head of the Lower House Committee for Defense, MP Vladimir Komoyedov (Communist Party), has said that the defense minister's initiative was wise and absolutely right.

"Russia is different from Switzerland or France. It's a huge country, which has special mobilization tasks for whole territories. Heads of regions, many of whom are young people, must know how to use their resources," the MP said.

Several governors told Kommersant that they were ready to fulfill Shoigu's plan as soon as the order from the president arrives.

In mid-Summer, Defense Minister Shoigu organized and personally supervised reserve officer training for about 400 people occupying high political posts or working as technical staff in the top federal bodies of power. 286 State Duma MPs and staff members, 72 senators and upper house staff, 23 people from the Audit Chamber and nine representatives of the Central Elections Commission took part in the event.

The drills comprised firearms training and the operation of various vehicles, including modern tanks and APCs.

[Jacob]

Yesterday the BBC reported the Russian finance minister as saying low oil prices and Western sanctions are costing Russian $140 Billion a year ($100B from oil; $40B from sanctions). He suggested that this might be bad for the world economy.

[Valmy]

Society
Cyber attack on Iranian nuclear facilities

Wait that is in the society pages?

[Syt]

http://rt.com/politics/208691-naryshkin-nato-oust-states/

NATO should oust US to secure stability in Europe – Duma chief

State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin suggested that NATO members should expel the United States from the bloc, asserting such a move should return the security situation in Europe to normal levels.

"I have one fantastical proposal – I would suggest that European partners oust the USA from NATO," Naryshkin said on Tuesday, as he spoke at an international conference dedicated to looking at possible ways of overcoming the current crisis in Europe.

"I am sure that after this step, the level of stability and security in Europe would quite soon return to its proper state," the Russian politician added, as quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

The NATO charter allows any member-state to leave the alliance with a year's notice, but so far the bloc has only been enlarging and encompassing former Eastern European nations. The United States provides about 72 percent of the 28-member alliance's budget and over 1.4 million servicemen in a 3.3 million-strong NATO force.

In late October, Naryshkin told a Russian newspaper he believed the United States wanted to end mutual dialogue between Russia and Europe. He also noted that this would not happen, as Russia would keep looking for every opportunity to mend ties with its neighbors.

"Let us not play by their rules, not do what they are pressing for. If we help them in this it would be a big present to the 'hawks.' On the contrary, we will seek for every opportunity to hold a dialogue so that everyone can hear our position," the Duma speaker said.

In September, Naryshkin told fellow lawmakers, in a parliamentary speech, that recent steps taken by the US and its allies were "cynical and irresponsible" and could cause a new Cold War.

Top FPÖ politicians are attending this conference in question. Following the disclosure that the French Front National had received a multi-million dollar loan from a Russian bank they came under fire by all other parties who pointed out that FPÖ had a very cuddly attitude to Russia, wondering if they also had their palms greased. FPÖ head Strache obviously denied any such claims and said they're the only party supporting Austrian neutrality, asking the other parties if they maybe got financing from NATO/USA.

[Valmy]

There is instability and a lack of security in Europe?  I mean for people not bordering Russia.

[Syt]

There is instability and a lack of security in Europe?  I mean for people not bordering Russia.

Their foreign ministry also says there's a serious threat of the Ukrainian neo-nazi terror movement spilling to the rest of Europe and beyond.

They should know, they're bankrolling a bunch of those parties.

[Syt]

And again, Russia only wants peace and prosperity from Lisbon to Vladivostok:

http://rt.com/politics/208239-naryshkin-eurasian-economoc-union/

Duma chief praises Eurasian bloc as unique tool of global cooperation

The Eurasian Economic Union is a major new geopolitical organization contributing to the further integration of Western Europe and the dynamic economies of the Asia-Pacific region, according to a top Russian parliamentarian.

"Those who due to misunderstanding or inherent foolishness see the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as a threat only confirm the fact that a new serious player has appeared in the world that would probably build the missing bridges," State Duma Chairman Sergey Naryshkin said in a speech at an international conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The Russian politician called for the international community to stop seeing the EAEU as some fictional threat but instead see it as a unique chance for the peoples of Europe and Asia and the World as a whole.

He said that it was wrong to see European and Eurasian development as two opposing forces. "In historical perspectives one of them is a part of the other as Europe is a part of the Eurasian continent. From the very beginning our nations seek to harmonize the integration processes in the EU and the EAEU, and in future create a single European space without divisions from Lisbon to Vladivostok, as foreseen by French President Charles De Gaulle," Naryshkin said.

The State Duma chief added that Eurasian integration was among the most positive aspects of modern global politics. In the face of the growing instability in international relations, and expansion of chaos zones, humanity must concentrate on building a new secure, stable and polycentric world order, where the centers of forces would be cooperating rather than opposing each other, he said.

But before this happens, Western nations continue to wage an aggressive anti-Russian policy in the form of sanctions, Naryshkin stated. He called the current sanctions policy a tool of political and economic pressure and blackmail adding that such steps were contradicting the WTO rules as well as international law in general. "I would like to add that the nations who claim that they have established the rule of law simply have no right to such behavior, it is uncivilized." 

At the same conference the State Duma chief said five countries had already chosen to join the Eurasian Economic Union and 40 more had decided to enter a free trade zone with the bloc. He also criticized countries like Ukraine in which the government had decided to associate with the European Union.

"Such geopolitical choice is a sovereign right of any state, of course. But when politicians make decisions they must base them on positions of all population strata and all regions of their countries. They must consider all ethnic and cultural particularities as well as the interests of neighboring nations," Naryshkin told the conference members.

The Eurasian Economic Union is an economic and political bloc formed in 2014 and uniting Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. The treaty to form it will go into full effect on January 1, 2015. The overall population of the union is about 171 million people and its gross domestic product is expected to reach $3 trillion next year.

Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia - yep, that's a club everybody is rushing to join!