Russia 2

Quote:

The chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has suggested amending Article 15 of the Russian Constitution to remove from it the supremacy of international law over national legislation. He voiced the proposal in an interview to the government-published Rossiiskaya Gazeta, published on the daily’s website.

There is no such debate in the USA and never will be. The hegemon is the only "indispensable country" (Barak Obama) and, therefore, domestic law supersedes international law and always shall. 

Russia's chief investigator stands for canceling supremacy of international law

What's also remarkable for its temerity is that the USA is the country that "advised" Russia to have this clause in the first place. The USA, so concerned that other countries obey international law. bwa ha ha ha.

Russian dissidents seek asylum in Kyiv:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/anna-yalovkina/russian-dissident...

Carter: Return of the Crimea to Russia Was Inevitable

http://fortruss.blogspot.ca/2015/05/carter-return-of-crimea-to-russia-wa...

"...Carter also says he is pleased with Russia's commitment to implement the Minsk agreement. He added that the Elders were also pleased with Russia's allegiance to the Minsk agreement.

'There's not any doubt in our minds that the Russians genuinely want to see all the aspects of that concluded. I think that the only ball game in town, as far as resolving the problems with Ukraine, is to get the Minsk agreement implemented..."

UNSC Resolution 2201 (2015) 'Minsk Agreements'

http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/{65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9}/s_res_2202.pdf

"Calls on all parties to fully implement the 'Package of Measures' including a comprehensive ceasefire as provided for therein;.."

The troop deployments of USA, Canada and UK are arguably breaches of the Package of Measures, article 10, in which Ukraine has agreed to the 'withdrawal of all foreign armed formations, military equipment, as well as mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine.."

These deployments of 'foreign armed formations, military equipment', and relative silence about the Minsk breaches they constitute, occur because the intention is to refurbish Ukraine's military for a renewed attempt to defeat 'rebel' forces and retake lost territories.

Doug Woodard wrote:

Russian soldiers quit over Ukraine:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/10/us-ukraine-crisis-soldiers-spec...

 

"Reuters could not independently verify Krivenko's account."

Nemtsov Report Counts Hundredds of Russian Dead in Ukraine:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/boris-nemtsovs-report-counts-...

The response to the so-called Nemtsov Report is very instructive. Social media posts, unsourced quotes (from themselves, literally!), subjective opinions, re-gurgitated falsehoods, like the US government "leaking" info that they then quoted from the NYT to justify their disgusting war crimes in Iraq, on and on it goes. The Empire has no end of lies.

And then the RT host remarks, "Don't believe us? check it out for yourself".

In the Now - rips them a new one.

The Western MSM is absolutely getting thrashed. Horse-whipped. Beaten to a pulp. And it's damn entertaining to watch, never mind that RT and independent media provide such a useful public service.

War of Words: West Jumps on Twitter to Hype Up Nemtsov Report

http://sptnkne.ws/knV

"As Western journalists are quickly running out of ideas on how to finally prove 'the presence of Russian troops' in Ukraine, they've started to flood social media with anti-Russian rhetoric, accusing Russian President Valdimir Putin of sending troops to eastern Ukraine.

Nemtsov couldn't finish the document, titled 'Putin.War.' but a group comprised of anti-Putin opposition journalists, economists and political figures published his work posthumously.

The Atlantic Council, a US-based think tank in the field of international relations, will feature the report for the first time in English, under the title 'Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin's War in Ukraine', on May 28 in Washington DC. The Atlantic Council has close ties with the US State Department.

The current board of directors is filled with former high-ranking US officials including Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Robert Gates, Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice..."

And promoting America's new Ukrainian Nazi puppet-state is one of their longstanding pet projects. No surprise to find among these compradors CANADA's Lenna Koszarny, Advisory Chair of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, as well as her longtime business partner, Natalie Jaresko, now Ukraine's Minister of Finance.

'Atlantic Council and Ukrainian World Congress Partner to Advance a European, Democratic and United Ukraine'

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/news/press-releases/atlantic-council-and-...

What a fraud. Evidence? Yeah, I've got some photos of Nessie, the Lock Ness Monster, the real "submarine" in the Baltic that the Swedish regime "mistook" for a Russian submarine, etc., etc.

Let's be honest. If the jackboot US Empire, or it's Candian lapdog Harper fundamentalist regime, or the cabal of Nazi and fascist and other political zombies had any REAL evidence, then the US regime would be all over it with State Department briefings, UN press conferences, tub-thumping McCarthyite speeches from Drone President Obama, and Secretary of State Kerry smearing axle grease on his fingers and calling it "Russian tank juice" in dour tones in front of incredulous Security Council Members.

Instead, social media and all the other crock of shite. Pathetic. They probably killed Nemtsov just to get sympathy, just like they shot down that civilian airliner with 300 passenger aboard, etc..

It's a pity these Nazis don't wind up like their hero did, in a Berlin bunker ...

I see Kerry had his meeting with Lavrov and Putin. The Yanqui regime has, quietly, prepared to move on. They lost their attempt to turn Ukraine into a beachhead for an attack on Russia. The best they can do is a failed state.

An Empire in decline. I wish it would just crash and burn already. The world is tired of this shit.

John Kerry's public warning to the Chocolate-stan President Poroshenko to think twice before using force in the Dobass is the Master telling the lapdog to pay attention.

The little Nazi experiment is over. Maybe they should go back to finding a Hitlerite clone living somewhere in Argentina. My apologies to Argentinians and lovers of the tango.

Buh-bye! to the UKrNazi regime. The Empire has other fish to fry.

Those babblers who really believe all this steaming pile of animal droppings about "Russian invasion", "Russian batallions", etc., really ought to give their heads a shake. If the Empire was as convinced as some babblers were, then the enormous State Department delegation , along with Sec of State Kerry, would never have even gone to Sochi.

It's over.  The Empire has said as much.

The rest is just barking dogs. The caravan moves on and the new Silk Road between Russian and China is on. ooh rah.

Game Theory: Russia has all the cards in Ukraine.

A Mercouris wrote:

Leonid Bershidsky elegantly summarises a paper that applies game theory to the Ukrainian conflict.

Briefly, the paper says that Russia can destabilise Ukraine indefinitely, creating a “frozen conflict” there, and that the West cannot prevent it from doing so. 

The West can in theory respond by: (1) military escalation; (2) sanctions; and (3) returning to business as usual with Russia.

The authors of the paper, and Bershidsky himself, appear to think the most likely outcome in the short term is (2) (sanctions), but with a measure of (3) (returning to business as usual), and with (3) prevailing over the long term.  Option (1) (military escalation) is not ultimately viable.

Lt. Commander Worf: Minsk, Minsk, and more Minsk.

Quote:

Kerry’s joint press conference with Sergey Lavrov was more notable for what he didn’t say than what he did mention. The Secretary of State spoke about the Middle East and the Minsk agreement. He didn’t refer to Crimea, nor did he bluster about “Russian troops” in Donbas. Indeed, Kerry made it clear that the only solution to Ukraine crisis is Minsk, Minsk and more Minsk. Moreover, he mentioned the Belarusian capital so frequently that an uninformed viewer might have assumed he was in Sochi to participate in a tongue-twister contest. “Max thinks that Minsk is close to Pinsk. That’s Pinsk near Minsk says mixed-up Max,” was the entry I doodled for the putative showdown.

Minsk is close to Pinsk. A box of Minsk. A box of mixed Minsk. And a biscuit Minsk. or Pinsk. Whatever.

It's quite remarkable cognitive dissonance for the US Empire, and those babblers who "happen to" completely agree with that Empire, that US, Canadian and NATO troops, weapons and "advisors" in Ukraine are not things EVEN WORTH COMMENTING UPON [meaning, presumably, that what the Empire does is beyond reproach and simply unquestioned] , nor the fact that the "Ukrainian National Guard" is simply these rightist fascist-drenched militias that are benefitting from the training, nor the brutal ethnic cleansing in Donbass in that regard, nor the slaughter in Odessa, Mariupol, nor the million displaced persons fleeing to Russia (the alleged aggressor), [u]but the unsubstantiated claims of a "Russian invasion", "Russian troops", etc. are treated as factual and, of course, utterly abhorrent. What the Empire does is unquestionably just, right, and probably garners the blessings of God, while the spurious and cognitively impaired Russophobic ravings clearly show the work of the Devil whose name, today, is Putin. [/u]

Now we see that the Empire is, gradually, giving up the pretense. There will be face-saving gestures, the "strong policy" of the Empire, and its various vassals like Canada, will be credited with "getting the Russians to agree to Minsk-2" and on and on with the farce.

[quote=ikosmos]

: US Foreign Policy is, to put it generously, a lot of checks and balances.

ndpp

 More cheques less balances now. Stakes couldn't be higher. Major transitions ahead ready or not - even here. So below as above.

Russian Soldiers Captured in Ukraine Say They 'Were Lost' in Kiev-Released Video (and vid)

http://rt.com/news/182812-russian-soldiers-detained-border/

"...Sources in Russia's Defense Ministry earlier told Interfax News Agency that the soldiers had been on a routine patrol, which accidentally strayed into foreign territory. The Defense Ministry source emphasized that by not showing any resistance, the paratroopers had acted in accordance with the law.

The source also referred to numerous cases of incursions into Russian territory by Ukrainian soldiers at times in small detachments, and other times in big groups, 500 in total..."

Kiev's Capture of 2 Russian Ex-Military a 'Show', Torture Must Stop - Moscow

http://rt.com/news/259817-kiev-detention-torture-russia/

"Ukraine's detention of two 'Russian troops' is nothing but a show, Russia's Defense Ministry said, adding that neither was serving in the Russian Armed Forces at the time of their arrest. It called on Kiev to stop the alleged torture of the men.

Kiev must put an end to its tactic of torturing detainees in order to force confessions, the ministry said. It also passed on a request made by the Veterans Association of Special Forces, urging Kiev 'to stop SBU's abuse of the wounded to get favorable testimony.'

Hundreds of Ukrainian troops have been detained in Russia during the course of the Ukrainian civil war, noted Igor Konashenkov of the Russian Defense Ministry, stressing that all were treated according to international norms, received medical help, and were allowed to return home to their families..."

Yes, another Western souffle is collapsing. A great bargain is perhaps being struck, hence the absolute dome of silence over all of the negotiations. Nobody can afford the great sucking swamp, Ukraine, where the rats in the Rada and the oligarchial regime have already begun to bite each other and scurry about in panic looking for a place to hide.  Unfortunately I predict the Canadian stupidos will be among the last to get it and the last to leave. What a mess. And once again, Canada did some 'heavy lifting' to help make it so. Few protested.

Why the US is Finally Talking To Russia  -  by Pepe Escobar

http://sptnkne.ws/mGs

"...Thus, beyond all the talking, the next step to watch is whether the Obama administration will really refrain from weaponizing Kiev. Ukraine for all practical purposes is now a massively indebted failed state turned into an IMF colony. The EU does not want it - although NATO does.

For Moscow, the -ghastly-show will only be over when Ukraine with or without the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk is neutral and not part of a NATO strategic threat..."

HIV in Russia:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32792830

Russian Embassy Attack: Terrorism or Act of War?  -  by Christopher Black

http://journal-neo.org/2015/05/21/russian-embassy-attack-terrorism-or-ac...

"This attack was not just the work of rogue 'extremists'. Like the NATO attack on the Chinese embassy in its aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999, it is an act of war and is meant as a message to Russia to give up its support of Syria or suffer worse.

The death of Novorussia; why the Kremlin abandoned its Ukrainian separatist project:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/death-of-novorussia-why-kreml...

US Scholar Scolds Obama For Letting Neocons Run Wild..

http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/american-scholar-scolds-obama-lett...

"...The latter stages of the enterprise called for the defamation of Vladimir Putin, which went into high gear with the 2014 Sochi Olympics and has not yet abated. We have witnessed 18 months of relentless, unwarranted Russia-bashing in the corporate media."

Here in Canada, Russia-bashing is not at all the exclusive province of neocons, but is enthusiastically pursued also by liberals and self-styled 'progressives' and their party of choice the NDP. Canadian academia is similarly collaborationist, being highly subservient to power.

Russian official severeely beaten after reporting electoral fraud:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-official-severely-bea...

Obama Accuses Russia of Adopting 'Aggressive' Posture on Ukraine

https://youtu.be/i7ogbhCRIvg

"Barack Obama accuses Russia of adopting an 'increasingly aggressive' stance on Ukraine, during a meeting with NATO's chief in the White House. RTs Gayane Chichakyan has the details."