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Russia preps for WWIII against US...or maybe not...Hegelian Dialectic?

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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
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September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
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Author Topic: Russia preps for WWIII against US...or maybe not...Hegelian Dialectic?  (Read 42516 times)
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« Reply #270 on: April 25, 2014, 03:04:05 pm »

Putin Warns of Consequences as Ukraine Steps Up Offensive

anti-separatist offensive after government troops killed five rebels and prompted Russia’s military to begin new drills on the two nations’ border.

“If it’s true that the current regime in Kiev sent the army against citizens inside its country, then it is a very serious crime against its own nation,” Putin said today in St. Petersburg. “It will have consequences for the people who make such decisions, including relations between our countries. We’ll see how the situation develops and we’ll make conclusions based on the reality on the ground.”

Ukrainian Interior Ministry and army troops destroyed three road blocks as they fought pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region city of Slovyansk, the ministry said today on its website. Russia’s latest drills are a response to events in eastern Ukraine and involve warplanes near the border, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, according to Interfax.

An agreement to disarm rebels signed last week in Geneva by Ukraine, Russia, the European Union and the U.S. is on the brink of collapse. President Barack Obama said today the U.S. and its allies have additional sanctions against Russia ready to go because Putin’s government has yet to abide by the accord.

Russia’s Micex Index (INDEXCF) fell for a fourth day, losing 2.2 percent and taking its decline since Putin’s intervention in Crimea started March 1 to 10 percent.
IMF Loan

After rallying on the prospect of an International Monetary Fund loan, Ukrainian bonds fell. The Washington-based lender’s staff endorsed a $17 billion bailout that may get board approval April 30, according to government officials. The yield on the government’s dollar-denominated note due April 2023 rose 0.03 percentage point to a month-high 10.09 percent.

“Ukraine is at risk of a foreign invasion, or a civil war, or both at the same time,” Czech President Milos Zeman said today at a meeting of east European leaders in Prague. “The older among us experienced something similar about 20 years ago in Yugoslavia.”

After an operation to rein in the separatists resumed this week, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said security forces cleared the mayor’s office in Mariupol, less than 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Russian border. There were no casualties, he said on his Facebook page.

Ukrainian troops also repelled an attack by about 70 gunmen on a military base in Artemivsk, north of Donetsk, during the night, Avakov said. One soldier was wounded.
‘Successful’ Operation

Acting Ukrainian president Oleksandr Turchynov called the operation to counter the separatists “successful” and said it would continue. In a live television address, he urged Russia to pull back its forces from his nation’s border.

“Russia has switched from public threats to concentrating its forces on our eastern border,” Turchynov said. “There’s an increasing number of troops, who’ve been threatening our country for some time.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Danylo Lubkivsky said in Washington that while a Russian invasion is possible, Ukraine is prepared. The ministry later said Russia should explain its latest military drills in the next 48 hours.

An attack on a Russian citizen is an attack against Russia and “if we’re attacked, we’d certainly respond,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday in an interview with state-run broadcaster RT. Speaking in Moscow today, he called on Ukraine to pull back its army, stop “illegal actions” and disarm the nationalist Pravyi Sektor group.
‘Serious Question’

The offensive in the east is “criminal” and raises a “very serious question” about planned May 25 presidential elections called to help end the nation’s political crisis, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in St. Petersburg.

Turning up the economic heat on Ukraine, Russia’s state-run OAO Gazprom presented the nation with an additional $11.4 billion bill for gas it promised to buy last year.

The U.S. has been preparing for the prospect of further sanctions against Russia, Obama said today.

Russia has yet to act in the spirit or the letter of the Geneva agreement, and if there’s no progress in the coming days, “we will follow through,” he told a news conference in Tokyo. All that’s required is some “technical work” and coordination with allies, he said.

The U.S. joined the EU in imposing sanctions after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine last month. “Already you’ve seen a whole lot of money and investors leave Russia,” Obama said.
‘Legitimate Actions’

French President Francois Hollande told reporters in Paris that unless the Geneva deal was implemented fully, “we would by necessity have to apply the sanctions as planned by Europe.”

The EU didn’t criticize the Slovyansk operation. While calling on “all parties” to live up to the Geneva pledges, EU spokesman Michael Mann told reporters in Brussels that the Kiev government has the “right to take legitimate actions to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Ukraine’s SBU State Security Service pledged yesterday to use “all means” to restore order in the east. As many as 1,300 separatists were involved in holding government buildings in the Donetsk region, according to the SBU.

The government in Kiev accuses Putin of instigating turmoil to possibly lay the groundwork for an invasion. The separatists who took over buildings in eastern Ukrainian cities say they’re not subject to the Geneva accord.
Troop Approval

Putin has parliamentary approval to deploy troops in Ukraine to protect Russian speakers and those of Russian heritage. He has about 40,000 troops massed on the border with Ukraine, according to NATO.

The Russian exercises announced today are “exactly opposite of what we have been calling on the Russian’s to do, which is to de-escalate the situation, so we again call on them to act responsibly,” Army Colonel Steve Warren, a U.S Defense Department spokesman, told reporters at the Pentagon.

“We have seen some movement associated with” Russia’s announcement “but it’s too early to tell what it is.” he said.

Obama stressed that there won’t be a “military solution” to the confrontation and held out the chance diplomacy will work. “There’s always the possibility that Russia tomorrow or the next day takes a different course,” he said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-24/obama-says-u-s-ready-to-move-on-russia-sanctions.html
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« Reply #271 on: April 25, 2014, 03:04:58 pm »

STEP 1 in prelude to WAR

Russian jets cross into Ukraine airspace

U.S. officials said Friday that Russian fighter jets flew into Ukrainian airspace a handful of times over the last 24 hours, in what one called a continued provocation of the heightened tensions in the region.

The officials said it's not clear what the intent was, but the aircraft could have been testing Ukrainian radar or making a show of force. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the issue.

The flights come as Russia increases military exercises along the Ukraine border, including moving a broad array of fixed wing and rotary aircraft, infantry and armored troops. The exercises inflame worries about a potential Russian military incursion into Ukraine.

The West has threatened additional sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean region in March and the ongoing escalation of military operations along the border.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, yesterday, but officials were not able to provide details of the conversation.

Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. officials have let Russian defense ministry officials know that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel would like to speak to his counterpart, Russia Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. There has been no response yet, Warren said.

This is the second set of military exercises conducted by the Russians along the border region. The latest exercises were quickly denounced by Hagel, who called them "dangerously destabilizing" and "very provocative." If such activities escalate, they will make it more difficult to find a diplomatic solution to the situation in Ukraine, Hagel said, speaking in Mexico City.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_UKRAINE_AIRSPACE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-25-14-46-51
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« Reply #272 on: April 25, 2014, 03:05:51 pm »

STEP 2 in prelude to WAR

Exclusive: Putin Halts All Talks With White House

As new U.S. sanctions against Russia loom, the Kremlin has shut down—at least for now—intensive high level communications between top U.S. and Russian officials.

Since the invasion of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin and President Barack Obama have had regular phone calls in an often half-hearted attempt to deescalate the ongoing crisis inside Ukraine. But as the U.S. and EU prepare to unveil new sanctions against Russia, Putin has decided the interactions should stop. The Kremlin has ended high-level contact with the Obama administration, according to diplomatic officials and sources close to the Russian leadership. The move signals an end to the diplomacy, for now.

“Putin will not talk to Obama under pressure,” said Igor Yurgens, Chairman of the Institute for Contemporary Development, a prominent Moscow think tank, and a close associate of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. “It does not mean forever.”

Obama and Putin last spoke over the phone on April 14, a call that the White House said was initiated at Moscow’s request. Obama urged Putin in the call to end Kremlin support for armed, pro-Russian activists creating unrest in eastern Ukraine. Obama also warned that the U.S. would impose more “costs” on Russia if Putin continued his current course. According to the Kremlin’s readout of the call, Putin denied Russian interference in eastern Ukraine and said “that such speculations are based on inaccurate information.”

Obama and Putin have spoken to each other about Ukraine regularly over the past weeks, including calls on March 28, March 16, and March 6. But that these calls are now on hold for the indefinite future, due to their lack of progress and frustration on both sides.

On Friday, Kerry warned that new round of American financial assaults on Russia were on the way. “We are putting in more sanctions, they will probably come Monday at the latest,” said in a private meeting in Washington, according to an attendee. Russian businesses and individuals close to Putin would be on the sanctions list, he added.

Diplomatic sources close to the process confirmed that Putin is not interested in speaking with Obama again in the current environment. The two leaders might talk again in the future but neither side is reaching out for direct interaction, as they had been doing since the Ukraine crisis began. The failure of the agreement struck last week in Geneva between the contact group of the U.S., EU, Russia, and Ukraine has made further direct Washington-Moscow interactions moot.

    “‘We are putting in more sanctions, they will probably come Monday at the latest,’ Kerry said. Russian businesses and individuals close to Putin would be on the sanctions list, he added.”

Other top U.S. officials are also now out of direct contact with their Russian interlocutors. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is also getting the cold shoulder from his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoygu. Pentagon officials have reached out to Russia on Mr. Hagel’s behalf within the past 24 hours but have not gotten any response, according to Pentagon Spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren.

That leaves the channel between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as the only semi-functioning high-level diplomatic channel between Washington and Moscow. But even that often-frosty relationship has further chilled as the two sides hurled insults and accusations this week.

After speaking over the phone Monday and then again Tuesday about the now defunct Geneva agreement on Ukraine, Kerry and Lavrov are now conducting diplomacy through the press—and leveling harsh and undiplomatic charges against one another.

Kerry appeared at the State Department press room Thursday afternoon to declare publicly that Russia was not keeping its word.

“For seven days, Russia has refused to take a single concrete step in the right direction,” Kerry scolded. “Not a single Russian official, not one, has publicly gone on television in Ukraine and called on the separatists to support the Geneva agreement, to support the stand-down, to give up their weapons, and get out of the Ukrainian buildings. They have not called on them to engage in that activity. “

Kerry also lashed out at Russia Today, the Kremlin-sponsored television network, which Kerry said spends all its time “to propagandize and to distort what is happening or not happening in Ukraine.”

“Instead, in plain sight, Russia continues to fund, coordinate, and fuel a heavily armed separatist movement in Donetsk,” Kerry accused.

Lavrov publicly responded, “The U.S. is trying to pervert everything that is going on in Ukraine.”

On Friday, Kerry summed up his recent interactions with his Russian counterpart”  “I’ve had 6 conversations with Lavrov in the last few weeks. The last one was Kafka-esque. It was bizarre.”

U.S. and Western European officials, echoing Kerry, told The Daily Beast that new sanctions against Russia could come as early as Monday, following an EU meeting to endorse a list of 15 Russian individuals that will be targeted for new sanctions. The U.S. could also unveil new individuals for targeted sanctions on Monday, but while the U.S. list overlaps the EU list, the two lists are not identical.

The decision to move ahead with new sanctions, thereby pronouncing the death of the Geneva agreement and the current diplomatic process with Russia, was agreed on a Thursday night video conference call between President Obama (from Tokyo), Prime Minister Cameron, Chancellor Merkel, President Hollande and Prime Minister Renzi, several officials said.

“While they continued to hold open the door to a diplomatic resolution of this crisis, based on the Geneva agreement, the five leaders agreed that in the light of Russia’s refusal to support the process, an extension of the current targeted sanctions would need to be implemented, in conjunction with other G7 leaders and with European partners,” a spokesperson for Cameron’s office said.

Those targeted sanctions will still fall short of what many in Washington, including leading Democrats, are calling on the Obama administration to do. During a stop in Kiev Thursday, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin said that the U.S. “should make more robust use of the powers established in Executive Order 13661, which authorizes sanctions against the Russian financial, energy, metals, mining, engineering, and defense sectors… and we should use this authority to sanction Russian banks… and to take on Russia’s manipulation of energy prices and supplies, which it uses to coerce not only Ukraine, but also many of its neighbors.”

Obama said Thursday there is a limit to the harm he wishes to see imposed on Putin. Asked during his stop in South Korea if he would save Putin from drowning, Obama said. “I absolutely would save Mr. Putin if he were drowning.  I’d like to think that if anybody is out there drowning I’m going to save them.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/25/exclusive-putin-halts-all-talks-with-white-house.html
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« Reply #273 on: April 25, 2014, 03:06:51 pm »

FINAL STEP in prelude to WAR

With Ukraine in turmoil, Hagel can’t get Russian counterpart to take his calls

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has been unable to get Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on the phone amid escalating tension near the country’s shared border with Ukraine.

Mr. Shoigu announced Thursday that Russia planned to engage in a new series of military exercises near the Ukraine border. The military move, he said, is in response to ongoing NATO training exercises in Poland and the death of at least two pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine.

Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Friday that Mr. Hagel has been trying to communicate with Russian officials but has yet to hear back from Mr. Shoigu or anyone else. Pentagon officials have reached out to Russia on Mr. Hagel’s behalf within the past 24 hours, according to Col. Warren.

“We have made it clear to the Russians that Secretary Hagel is available for a phone call at any time,” he said. “We have reached out to them and made it very to them that he is willing to speak to his counterpart there at any time.”

Mr. Hagel intends to call on the Russians to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and express to them that the new round of military exercises along the Ukrainian border are unhelpful, Col. Warren said. The Russians, he said, “need to withdraw their troops from the Ukranian border and place them back into their garrisons.”

Russia has “a broad array of forces aligned along the Ukranian border, according to Col. Warren. The Pentagon, he said, is tracking troop movements throughout the region and is “seeing all flavors of the Russian-combined armed force.”

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/25/chuck-hagel-cant-get-russian-defense-counterpart-p/#ixzz2zvkzkgCh


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« Reply #274 on: April 25, 2014, 05:50:31 pm »

We are living in very interesting times now...
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« Reply #275 on: April 25, 2014, 09:17:04 pm »

We are living in very interesting times now...

I concur.

Truly interesting times...
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« Reply #276 on: April 26, 2014, 06:29:20 am »

G-7: New sanctions on Russia could come next week

DONETSK, Ukraine (April 26, 2014) — The United States and other nations in the Group of Seven say they could move as early as Monday to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine.

The announcement followed President Barack Obama's telephone conversations with French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian Premier Matteo Renzi.

In a joint statement released Friday night by the White House, the leaders said they would act to intensify "targeted sanctions" which would include but not be limited "to the economic, trade and financial areas."

The statement said the G-7 will continue to prepare broader sanctions on key Russian economic sectors if Moscow takes more aggressive action.

The White House said U.S. sanctions could be announced as early as Monday.

- See more at: http://www.onenewsnow.com/ap/world/g-7-new-sanctions-on-russia-could-come-next-week#.U1uYd1ehFyI

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« Reply #277 on: April 26, 2014, 11:59:09 am »

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27155885
25 April 2014 Last updated at 05:57 ET

Russia fears Crimea water shortage as supply drops

Russian officials say a water shortage in Crimea is threatening to become acute as Ukraine has reduced the supply via a key canal.

Ukraine does not recognise the new authorities in Crimea who are backed by Moscow. Russia made the peninsula part of its territory last month.

Crimea's harvest of grapes, rice, maize and soya will be ruined if it does not get more water soon, officials say.

Russia says the Crimea-Ukraine border is now officially a state border.

The Russian government plans to establish permanent checkpoints there, as well as new rules for entering or leaving Crimea, Ria Novosti news agency reports.

The North Crimea Canal delivers water to Crimea from the River Dnieper, in Ukraine's southern Kherson region. The canal accounts for 80% of Crimea's water.

The current water shortage is threatening 120,000 hectares (296,000 acres) of Crimea's crops, which rely on irrigation, Russian Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fedorov said.

A ruined harvest across that area would mean losses of up to 5bn roubles (£83m; $140m), he told the Gazeta.ru news website.

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« Reply #278 on: April 26, 2014, 08:21:10 pm »

We are on the advent of WWIII, Nato doesn't have the power to stop Russia. As soon as Russia invades the Ukraine and quite frankly i don't see a reason as to why they haven't yet, Amerika will get all upset, and North Korea will move against the South, China will strike out against a couple of their enemies in the Pacific, South America will literally collapse into chaos, and the middle east will ally with Russia and strike out against Israel and the Lord will reveal himself for ONE last chance before the rapture. We are this close, one breath away. Please tell someone.   

G7 agrees to Russian sanctions over Ukraine

The Group of Seven rich countries have agreed to start slapping fresh sanctions on Moscow as early as Monday over the worsening Ukraine crisis amid Western fears of an imminent Russian invasion.

Why is Amerika one of the G-7? We have no money...  Huh

International negotiators rushed to eastern Ukraine on Saturday to seek the release of European military monitors who were captured on Friday and promptly branded "spies" by the pro-Russia militia that seized them.

The detention of the monitors instantly raised the stakes in an already fraught drama pitting the Ukrainian government against motley bands of separatists who have overtaken city halls across the country's eastern half.

Although the standoff in Ukraine has for months been a proxy fight between Russia and the West, the imprisonment in a makeshift separatist jail of military officers from NATO countries threatens to draw the West more directly into the conflict.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is monitoring events in Ukraine and trying to broker local peace deals, said it would keep its monitors out of Slovyansk until further notice, and that it was carefully watching conditions in other cities.

"It's a very fluid security situation in a lot of these areas," said Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for the OSCE monitoring mission. "We're definitely taking more precautions."

International tensions were also stoked in the ex-Soviet republic, where sporadic fighting between pro-Kremlin rebels and Ukrainian security forces flared this week.

Russian warplanes violated Ukraine's airspace several times on Thursday and Friday, the Pentagon said.

Russia has also begun new drills on the border, where it has tens of thousands of troops massed.

A Western diplomat warned: "We no longer exclude a Russian military intervention in Ukraine in the coming days."

The diplomatic source noted that Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, had been recalled to Moscow for urgent consultations.

Russia said Saturday that it would do all it could to win the release of the detained men, who include a total of eight military monitors from Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark and Sweden as well as five Ukrainian military escorts. But as of Saturday night, leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in the city of Slovyansk remained adamant that they had no intention of freeing the officers, accusing them of espionage. Ukrainian officials said they feared that the men would be used as human shields.

The standoff raised fresh questions about the ability of any government - whether Ukrainian or Russian - to control events in a region where security is perilous, and where shadowy militias hold growing sway.

A barricade around the building where the OSCE team was being held had been greatly fortified with sandbags and a machine-gun.

Washington and Europe called for the immediate release of the OSCE team, which includes members from Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to intervene to have the team freed, officials in Berlin said.

Russia responded it would do everything in its power to win their release.

Kiev has accused Moscow - which it sees as controlling the rebels - of seeking to trigger a "third world war" and urged Russian troops to withdraw from the border.

Russia in turn has warned it has a "right" to invade to protect Ukraine's Russian-speaking population concentrated in the east and southeast, sparking the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War.

The G7 nations said in a joint statement they would "move swiftly to impose additional sanctions on Russia".

"These sanctions will be coordinated and complementary, but not necessarily identical. US sanctions could come as early as Monday," a senior US administration official said.

The Group of Seven consists of the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. European Union foreign ministers are also to meet soon to discuss the issue.

The US and the EU have already targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle with visa and asset freezes and imposed sanctions on a key Russian bank.

A senior White House official said the next round of sanctions could target "individuals with influence on the Russian economy, such as energy and banking".

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/g7-agrees-to-russian-sanctions-over-ukraine-20140427-zr05b.html#ixzz302o0xqab
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« Reply #279 on: April 27, 2014, 06:03:32 am »

We are on the advent of WWIII, Nato doesn't have the power to stop Russia. As soon as Russia invades the Ukraine and quite frankly i don't see a reason as to why they haven't yet, America will get all upset, and North Korea will move against the South, China will strike out against a couple of their enemies in the Pacific, South America will literally collapse into chaos, and the middle east will ally with Russia and strike out against Israel and the Lord will reveal Himself for ONE last chance before the rapture. We are this close, one breath away. Please tell someone.   


i think Putin knows he is risking a war and is carefully preparing before it happens, i dont know if NATO will protect Ukraine or not, NATO does not need to protect Ukraine why should they if they cant win against Russia there? How come the US can invade other countries yet Russia cannot? i pray that there be no war in the Ukraine i think prayers can stop all this but whatever God allows will happen.
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« Reply #280 on: April 27, 2014, 09:14:48 am »

Pretty much - whenever the (global)economy starts to go south, that's when these minions start wars. Not just WW1 and 2, but the Iraq war is another example.

I don't know what will come out of this, but nonetheless the global economy is taking a nosedive now.
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« Reply #281 on: April 27, 2014, 03:12:54 pm »

Looks like the Jesuits are behind this too...

Separatists seize control of TV HQ in east Ukraine city



DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists on Sunday seized control of the offices of regional state television in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk and said they would take it off air and broadcast a Kremlin-backed Russian channel instead.

A Reuters reporter said four separatists in masks, with truncheons and shields, were standing at the entrance to the building controlling access, while more separatists in camouflage fatigues could be seen inside.

About 15 police officers were standing a short distance away but were not trying to resist the separatists. One police lieutenant, who was sitting in a police vehicle nearby, said it would have been pointless to intervene.

It was the first time the station had been seized by the separatists, though previously a transmission tower in the Donetsk region had briefly been seized and technicians forced to broadcast Russian stations' output.

Pro-Russian separatists, some of them armed, have seized about a dozen official buildings in eastern Ukraine. They say they are rising up against a Ukrainian government they say is illegitimate, but Kiev says they are proxies of the Russian government bent on destabilizing Ukraine.

About an hour after the station in Donetsk was overrun, it was still broadcasting its scheduled programs, a children's show called "Circle of the Sun".

CHANGING CHANNELS

But the station's director, Oleg Dzholos, who came outside to speak to reporters, said the people who seized the building had ordered him to change the programming.

"They used force to push back the gates," he said. "There were no threats. There were not many of my people. What can a few people do? The leaders of this movement just gave me an ultimatum that one of the Russian channels has to be broadcast."

Dzholos said three of his staff were still inside the building, and that the separatists had not ejected him from his office.

Separatists who swear allegiance to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic already control the regional governor's office and the city hall in Donetsk, the regional capital.

A man in a white shirt who came out of the building and said he was a representative of the Donetsk People's Republic said that from now on the station would be broadcasting Rossiya 24, a Russian state-owned news channel.

Earlier, a crowd of around 400 people surrounded the building and shouted "Russia!" and "Referendum!," a reference to a vote the separatists want to hold on seceding from Ukraine. The protesters later drifted away, but the separatist guards on the doors remained.

One of the masked men at the entrance, asked why the building had been seized, said: "They show lies, they try to influence the people and they broadcast misinformation."

The police officer sitting in his vehicle nearby, who gave his name as Vitaly, said his superiors had ordered him to protect the building after they received information that a crowd was heading to the television station.

"I don't see any point in using force," he said. "It would not have worked if we had tried to stop anybody, there were a lot of people here."

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Nigel Stephenson)
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« Reply #282 on: April 27, 2014, 03:14:11 pm »

Sorry about the image being too large above - the guy on the far right is wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.
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« Reply #283 on: April 28, 2014, 08:44:50 am »

http://rt.com/business/155100-ukraine-gas-debt-eu/
4/26/14
Ukraine's failure to pay gas debt may cut gas supply to Europe - Russia’s energy minister

Ukraine’s growing gas debt may lead to the failure of the country’s transit obligations and the reduction of gas supplies to south-eastern Europe, said the Russian Energy Ministry.

Officials from Russia, including Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, and officials from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Moldova held talks in Moscow on Saturday.

 The meeting, also attended by officials from the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and the Finance Ministry, was held in the form of consultations on the security of gas transit through Ukraine.

 All sides expressed deep concern about Ukraine’s growing debt, Novak told journalists.

“Currently Ukraine’s debt is US$2.238 billion, this [figure] does not include gas deliveries made in April,” Novak noted. “The debt will rise 1.3 billion for the April deliveries.”

Ukraine’s debt may lead to a situation where not enough gas will be pumped into Ukrainian underground storage facilities, which may create the risk of non-performance by Ukraine of its transit obligations and of undersupply of gas to Southeastern Europe, the ministry said.

 In turn the parties discussed the importance of gas transportation projects designed to reduce transit risks for European consumers, primarily the South Stream project.

“Today, only the South Stream project can give Europe real additional guarantees of energy security," said Miller on Friday.

 Russia also discussed with the participants the efforts to organize negotiations with the European Commission and Ukraine on how to deal with Kiev's failure to pay for gas.

 Novak said that the talks on the IMF stabilization loan will soon be held. The use of a portion of the IMF loan to repay the debt for previous gas supplies will be discussed there he added.

Russia said it hopes the EU “will take measures towards the speediest disbursement of financial aid to Ukraine by European financial institutions, which will be used, among other things, for ensuring Naftogaz of Ukraine's timely payments for natural gas supplies from Gazprom", the ministry said.

 The ministry believes this will help to prevent unauthorized siphoning of gas from transit in Ukraine and strengthen Europe's energy security.

Gazprom’s $45 billion South Stream project is due to partially open in 2015 and reach full capacity in 2018. It will deliver 64 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe, running through EU countries Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, and soon to be EU member Serbia. The line connects Russia to Europe via the Black Sea and will supply Europe with 15 percent of its gas needs.


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« Reply #284 on: April 28, 2014, 12:54:04 pm »

Here we go again - the MSM is going overboard with this "fallout" from the NBA's LA Clippers owner to further distract from what's going on in the Ukraine/Russia.

First they did it with this "missing" Malaysian flight. Then when they ran out of tricks with this, and were forced to report on Ukraine/Russia, they came up with another trick out of their bag with THIS.

1Thes 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

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« Reply #285 on: April 28, 2014, 03:48:13 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/sanctions-further-crimp-finances-russian-182600084.html;_ylt=AwrSyCTFvF5TkT0ACxrQtDMD
Sanctions Further Crimp Finances of Russian Elites
4/28/14

Another round of sanctions against Russia announced Monday morning make it clear that the Obama administration’s game plan remains the same: to make life uncomfortable for the oligarchs in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle while limiting the damage to the overall Russian economy.

The new round of sanctions targets seven individual members of the Russian government and 17 businesses, including three banks, all of which were added to the list of “specially designated nationals” maintained by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. U.S. individuals and U.S.-based companies are not allowed to do business with individuals and entities on that list.

An earlier round of sanctions had effectively shut down the international business of St. Petersburg-based Bank Rossiya, which provided financial services to the Russian political elite and businesses in the country’s essential energy sector. The sanctions announced Thursday appear to be in the same vein.

Among the individuals targeted are Vyacheslav Volodin, Putin’s chief of staff; Sergei Cemezov, the director general of the state-owned technology export firm Rosnet; Igor Sechin, the chairman and president of state-owned petroleum company Rosneft; and Evgeniy Murov, the director of Russia’s Federal Protective Service and a general in the army.

Among the businesses are several banks, construction and transportation firms, and companies connected to Russia’s oil and gas production industries.

U.S. officials say the sanctions were imposed because Russia has not taken steps to enforce an agreement reached in Geneva earlier this month that sought to deescalate the crisis in Ukraine. After Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula earlier this year, pro-Russian militants have taken over buildings – and in some cases, whole towns – in the eastern part of Ukraine, and are calling for Russia to annex that Area as well.

The Geneva agreement had obligated Russia to not provide support to the separatists and to take steps to persuade them to stand down.

Calling Russia’s acts in Ukraine thus far “illegal and illegitimate,” Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Monday announced the new round of sanctions. “Since Russia has refused to follow through on its Geneva commitments, today the United States is following through on its statements – we are imposing additional costs against Russia, including sanctions on individuals in the Russian leadership’s inner circle and 17 entities closely linked to previously sanctioned members of the inner circle.”

Lew went on to claim that the sanctions imposed so far have contributed to a downturn in the Russian economy. “Russian economic growth forecasts have dropped sharply, capital flight has accelerated and higher borrowing costs reflect declining confidence in the market outlook,” he said. “Our goal continues to be for Russia to deescalate the situation so that additional sanctions are not needed. However, we are resolved to continue to work with our international partners and take the steps required, including action against individuals and entities in specific sectors, if Russia continues to press forward.”

While the sanctions in place now have certainly had some effect on Russia’s economy, it is not clear that they deserve most of the credit. The private sector has been pulling money out of Russia on concerns about stability and the prospect of a military confrontation with Ukraine that could spread to other parts of Europe.  Investors have been unwilling to buy Russian bonds except at extremely high risk premiums, which has forced the country’s Finance Ministry to withdraw proposed bond sales.

While the Obama administration has avoided the kind of sanctions that would be outright crippling to Russia, that does not mean those imposed Monday will have no impact. Tagging people and companies with the “specially designated national” label makes it illegal for U.S. companies, including U.S. banks, to do business with them, and that can have an impact that extends far beyond the United States.

For example, a large percentage of international wire transfers are routed through banks based in the U.S. It is now illegal for U.S. banks to process transactions connected to any of the people or companies on that list, so they will not just be policing just their own accounts, but will also require the non-U.S. banks that use their networks to attest that they do not do business with Specially Designated Nationals either.

The practical effect of this is that, for many, if not all of the people and entities on the list, doing business and traveling internationally will become very difficult, if not impossible. Firms that value their connection to the U.S. economy will no longer want to take the risk that providing them services, for fear of U.S. businesses concerned about federal penalties cutting them off.
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« Reply #286 on: April 28, 2014, 06:36:28 pm »

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_04_29/US-NATO-increasing-military-presence-near-Russias-borders-with-unprecedented-force-Defence-Minister-5288/
4/29/14
US, NATO increasing military presence near Russia's borders with unprecedented force - Defence Minister

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, in his recent phone talk with his US counterpart Chuck Hagel, said that the US and NATO are increasing its military presence near Russia’s borders in Eastern Europe with unprecedented force, RIA Novosti reports.

The press service of Russia’s Defense Ministry also reports that Mr. Shoygu noted that these steps of the West are accompanied with statements of NATO’s Secretary General that Russia should be “restrained”. Besides, quite a few Western media sources have unveiled a real anti-Russian hysteria, Mr. Shoygu added.

The Russian Defense Minister tried to draw the attention of his American counterpart to these facts and noted that spreading anti-Russian sentiments can hardly lead to easing of tension in the world.

Russia's Defense Minister denies reports about Russian agents destabilizing situation in Ukraine

In his recent phone talk with US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu categorically denied that Russia has sent its agents to Ukraine for certain “subversive actions”.

After Mr. Hagel expressed concern that Russia is dislocating more military forces near Ukraine’s border and that Russia’s plans to hold military maneuvers near this border are allegedly aimed at destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, Mr. Shoygu called on him not to listen to this groundless rhetoric and try to prevent the spreading of such rumors.

Rumors that certain groups of Russian agents in Ukraine’s southeastern regions are trying to destabilize the situation there are also groundless, Sergey Shoygu says.

Earlier, several media sources reported that the US Defense Secretary was trying to communicate with his Russian counterpart to discuss the situation in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry, in its turn, said that it was ready to discuss the situation in Ukraine with the Pentagon, but has not yet received any official notification from it.

Besides, earlier, Defense Minister Shoygu has announced that Russia was starting military maneuvers near Ukraine’s border as a reaction on the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine. In response, Defense Secretary Hagel expressed his concern in connection with these Russia’s plans.

Russia's Defense Minister confirms readiness for dialogue over Ukraine

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu has had a phone talk with his American counterpart Chuck Hagel, RIA Novosti reports quoting the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry.

During this talk, Mr. Shoygu confirmed Russia’s readiness for a constructive dialogue with any country or organization that is interested in peace in Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Minister says that Russia stands for looking for a compromise decision of the Ukrainian issue, but this compromise should be based on the decisions reached in Geneva on April 17.
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« Reply #287 on: April 28, 2014, 07:33:09 pm »

Eastern Ukraine slips further into chaos as violence flares and mayor shot
Pro-Russian militants attack Donetsk rally and seize buildings as mayor of Kharkiv suffers assassination attempt in broad daylight


it is a civil war instigated by the West

 The mayor of Ukraine's second largest city was fighting for his life on Monday after an assassination attempt in broad daylight and an eruption of street violence in Donetsk dragged the east of the country further into chaos.

Gennady Kernes, who has been mayor of the eastern city of Kharkiv since 2010, was out jogging when he was shot in the back at about midday local time.

The attempted murder came as pro-Russian militia seized police buildings in yet another town in the Donetsk region, consolidating their hold on a strategic highway around the town of Slavyansk.

Later in the evening pro-Russian protesters armed with bats attacked a pro-Ukrainian march in Donetsk, leaving at least five people hospitalised with head wounds.

 Trouble started at 6.30pm local time (4.30pm UK) as over 1000 pro-Ukrainians gathered for a march in the centre of the industrial city in the early evening.

Police largely stood by as a mob of several hundred pro-Russian activists, some armed with metal bars and baseball bats, ambushed the march from behind shortly after it began, attacking both marchers and bystanding journalists.

After the clash, in which protesters from both sides were injured, the pro-Ukrainian marchers apparently fled, leaving a large pro-Russian crowd prowling the streets and forcing some riot police to lay their shields on the ground.

The violence capped another day of rising tensions that saw Mr Kernes hospitalised after a bullet punctured one lung and his liver, leaving him in a critical condition.

"He is currently on the operating table in a hospital emergency room. Doctors are fighting for his life," his office said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

Mr Kernes suffered a serious abdominal injury from a single shot, but was operated on successfully, it was later reported.

Mr Kernes is a member of former president Viktor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions, and was a vocal opponent of the pro-European protest movement that brought down Mr Yanukovych in February. He has since vacillated between support for the pro-Russian movement and backing the new government in Kiev.

Mikhail Dobkin, the Party of the Regions' presidential candidate and a former governor of Kharkiv region and close ally of Mr Kernes, said on Monday that he believed the gunman had been aiming to kill.

"I can say this shot was aimed to kill, to the heart," he told Interfax Ukraine. "And I can say it was only due to a happy coincidence that he was not killed." Oleksandr Turchynov, the interim president, ordered an investigation into the attempted killing.

 Kharkiv is a major industrial and university city just 20 miles from the Russian border, and has been seen as a potential flashpoint in the on-going struggle for control of eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and the interim government in Kiev.

But while the city has seen pro-Russian disturbances in recent weeks, separatist activists have failed to establish a foothold there similar to those in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Pro-Russian demonstrators briefly occupied the regional administration building in the city centre earlier this month, but were swiftly evicted by police.

The attack on Mr Kernes came as rebels based in Slavyansk, 100 miles to the south, seized control of yet another town on the highway to the regional capital of Donetsk.

About 20 heavily armed gunmen took over the police station and town hall in Konstantinovka on Monday morning before unarmed volunteers began to build barricades around the occupied buildings, in an attack which closely followed the pattern of earlier occupations in neighbouring towns.

The pro-Russian rebels who seized the state buildings said they met with no resistance from local law enforcement officials. "We took it without a single shot being fired, we have the popular support," said Hans, a balaclava-clad gunman who also claimed the police had defected to "join with the people".

A reported firefight at the government-held airfield near Kramatorsk also ended without any deaths.

Eyewitnesses said soldiers returned fire when the base came under attack from its Western side at about 8 AM this morning.

Ukrainian troops were on high alert at the strategically important site on Monday afternoon, with snipers moving through the trees outside the perimeter threatening to shoot anyone who attempted to approach.

But there seemed to be little enthusiasm amongst the troops for engaging in combat. "We shot back because we were commanded to do so," said Roman, a 27-year-old soldier from Kiev stationed inside the base, "but we don't want to fire on our own people, we just want to go home."

Tensions in the area around Slavyansk are high since Mr Tuychynov re-launched an "anti-terrorist" operation to dislodge rebels late last week.

But Ukrainian forces have made no further move towards the city since skirmishes on Friday left up to five people dead.

The Ukraine Security Service said on Monday that pro-Russian separatists were now holding more than 40 hostages, most of them jailed in Slavyansk.

The prisoners include journalists, Ukrainian security officers, and seven European military officers and a translator who were part of an OSCE observer mission when they were detained as they tried to enter Slavyansk on Friday.

Rebel leaders have said they will seek a prisoner exchange for the release of the observers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10794340/Eastern-Ukraine-slips-further-into-chaos-as-violence-flares-and-mayor-shot.html
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« Reply #288 on: April 28, 2014, 07:34:57 pm »

Britain, France deploy fighter jets for NATO Baltic patrols

Britain and France deployed eight fighter jets on Monday to reinforce NATO air patrols over the Baltics as tensions rise with Russia over Ukraine, officials said.

Four British Typhoon jets arrived in Lithuania to start their mission while four French Rafale jets touched down in Malbork, northeast Poland, their defence ministries said.

British defence minister Philip Hammond said the move would "provide reassurance to our NATO allies in eastern Europe and the Baltic states."

"In the wake of recent events in Ukraine, it is right that NATO takes steps to reaffirm very publicly its commitment to the collective security of its members," Hammond said.

Around 70 French military personnel have been deployed to Malbork in support of the new planes, French military spokesman Colonel Gilles Jaron said.

Britain and France have each also deployed AWACS early-warning aircraft to patrol Polish and Romanian airspace in recent weeks.

The Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, joined NATO in 2004 but lack sufficient aircraft to police their own skies, so larger NATO members take turns patrolling their airspace.

NATO announced in April that it would step up its defences in eastern Europe due to the growing crisis in Ukraine and Russia's absorption of Crimea.

It has increased fighter jet patrols and also deployed ships in the Baltic Sea and eastern Mediterranean.

The United States announced last week it was deploying 600 airborne troops for exercises in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in a show of solidarity with NATO members bordering Russia.

http://news.yahoo.com/britain-france-deploy-fighter-jets-nato-baltic-patrols-145204747.html;_ylt=AtarQm9mrbaqKDh07lpZBuPQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBsZGRwY2R1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMzBHNlYwNzcg--
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« Reply #289 on: April 28, 2014, 10:55:00 pm »

Flipped channels again briefly to the MSM tonight - both MSNBC and FOX were primarly focused on this whole LA Clippers owner "fallout" nonsense(bringing race into the debate), while CNN primarly focused on the tornado destruction in the south.

Don't get me wrong - the tornado news deserves a lot of coverage, but nonetheless keep in mind that the Illuminati minions control the weather(and news reports in days prior PREDICTED this). And ultimately, they already had all of this 24/7 news coverage in the bag.

So pretty much no Ukraine/Russia news on the MSM today.
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« Reply #290 on: April 29, 2014, 04:02:26 am »

Ukraine crisis: Mayor of second city Gennady Kernes fights for life after murder attempt is blamed on Kremlin

The day began with the police station and administration building  Konstantinovska being  overrun; next the airport at Kramatorsk was attacked with rocket propelled grenades and then the mayor of Kharkiv was shot in the back. It ended in a vicious ambush on a demonstration in Donetsk. While America and the European Union impose new sanctions on Russia, violence and turmoil continues unabated in  eastern Ukraine.

The attempted murder of Gennady Kernes, the mayor of the country’s second-largest city, raised fears that prominent public figures were being targeted for assassination. Last night he was “fighting for his life”, said his spokesman, after emergency surgery, with blame for the shooting leveled at both the Kremlin and extreme right wing groups.

Mr Kernes, a colourful character who regularly posted photographs of himself on social media taking part in sporting activities, was gunned down while he was out cycling, jogging, or swimming according to differing accounts of what took place. Valeriy Boyko, the director of Surgery institute in Kiev, where he was being treated, said the mayor “had suffered a very serious wound with a number of organs damaged”.

The 64-year-old billionaire businessman had been a fervent supporter of Victor Yanukovych, the overthrown president, and a fierce critic of  Kiev’s Maidan, banning similar protests in Kharkiv under an emergency order which had been put in place to “avoid the spread of infectious diseases”.

Since then, however, he had sought to distance himself from Mr Yanukovych’s coterie and spoken out for a united Ukraine and those who want to take the region under Moscow’s rule. Zurab Alasania, the director general of the state-run National Television Company, charged: “The Russian Federation is identifying and liquidating key centres of resistance”. However, Sergey Borodkin, a separatist leader in Donbass who had been working with sympathisers in Kharkiv, dismissed the claim: “He was close to Yanukovych, he was against the Maidan, the fascists there hated him. We know that members of Right Sector [an ultra nationalist group] visited Kharkiv three weeks ago to plan attacks.”

Pro-Russian officials said Mr Kernes had made a public statement that he was being subjected to “political persecution”, adding that Arsen Avakov, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, could be linked to threats against Mr Kernes and the attack on him.

There is no evidence that Mr Avakov has any link to Monday’s shooting. The two men have, however, clashed in the past with Mr Avakov accusing Mr Kernes, to whom he lost the mayoral race in 2010, of organising gangs to attack Maidan protestors in Kiev.

Pro-Russian officials said Mr Kernes had made a public statement that he was being subjected to “political persecution”, adding that Arsen Avakov, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, could be linked to threats against Mr Kernes and the attack on him.

There is no evidence that Mr Avakov has any link to Monday’s shooting. The two men have, however, clashed in the past with Mr Avakov accusing Mr Kernes, to whom he lost the mayoral race in 2010, of organising gangs to attack Maidan protestors in Kiev.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-crisis-mayor-of-second-city-gennady-kernes-fights-for-his-life-after-assassination-attempt-blamed-on-kremlin-9299210.html
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« Reply #291 on: April 30, 2014, 07:11:15 am »

Ukraine 'on full combat alert' against possible Russia invasion
Pro-Russian separatists seize control of state buildings in the town of Horlivka, tightening their grip on swathes of Ukraine's east almost unopposed by police


 Ukraine's military is "on full combat alert" against a possible invasion by Russian troops massed on the border, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said in a ministerial meeting in Kiev on Wednesday.

"Our armed forces are on full combat alert," he said. "The threat of Russia starting a war against mainland Ukraine is real."

Pro-Russian gunmen have seized more administrative buildings in eastern Ukraine, further raising tensions in Ukraine's Russian-leaning regions shaken by separatist unrest.

Insurgents wielding automatic weapons took control and hoisted a separatist flag on top of the city council building on Wednesday morning in the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region which borders Russia. They also took control of a police station in the city, adding to another police building which they had controlled for several weeks.

A small group of men were seen standing guard outside the building and checking the documents of those entering. One of the men said that foreign reporters will not be allowed in and threatened to arrest those do not obey orders. Similar guards were also seen outside the police station in the city.

 The insurgents now control buildings in about a dozen cities in eastern Ukraine, including Lugansk, demanding broader regional rights as well as greater ties or outright annexation by Russia. The militiamen are holding some activists and journalists hostage, including a group of observers from a European security organisation.

Eastern Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population, was the heartland of support for Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted president who fled to Russia in February. The government that replaced him in Kiev has resisted the insurgents' demands, fearing they could lead to a breakup of the country or mean that more regions could join Russia, as Crimea did.

Kiev and Western governments accuse Moscow of orchestrating the protests in eastern Ukraine. The United States and the European Union rolled out a fresh set of economic sanctions against Russia this week, but Moscow has remained unbowed, denying its role in the unrest and saying the actions were Kiev's fault.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10797862/Ukraine-on-full-combat-alert-against-possible-Russia-invasion.html
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« Reply #292 on: April 30, 2014, 07:40:26 am »

Restive eastern Ukraine slips from Kiev government's grasp

Masked gunmen in military fatigues seized government offices in another Ukrainian town on Wednesday, in a further sign that pro-Western authorities in Kiev are losing control of the country's eastern industrial heartland bordering Russia.

The gunmen, who turned up at dawn, took control of the offices in Horlivka, a town of almost 300,000 people, said a Reuters photographer. They refused to be photographed.

The heavily armed men wore the same military uniforms without insignia as other unidentified "green men" who have joined pro-Russian protesters with clubs and chains in seizing control of towns across Ukraine's Donbass coal and steel belt.

Attempts to contain the insurgency by the government in Kiev have proved largely unsuccessful, with security forces repeatedly outmaneuvered by the separatists.

The West and the new Ukrainian government accuse Russia of being behind the unrest, a charge Moscow denies.

Daniel Baer, the U.S. ambassador to the OSCE, a European security watchdog, told reporters in Vienna: "I think it's very clear that what is happening would not be happening without Russian involvement."

A police official in Donetsk, the provincial capital where separatists have declared a "People's Republic of Donetsk", said separatists were also in control of the Horlivka police station, having seized the regional police headquarters earlier in April.

Wednesday's takeover followed the fall of government buildings on Tuesday further east in Luhansk, capital of Ukraine's easternmost province, driving home just how far control over the densely populated region has slipped from the central government in Kiev.

"They've taken them. The government administration and police," the police official said of Horlivka.

SECESSION REFERENDUM

The town sits just north of Donetsk, where mainly Russian-speaking separatists have called a referendum on secession for May 11.

Many hope to follow Crimea's break from Ukraine in March and subsequent annexation by Russia, following the overthrow of Ukraine's then Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich in late February in a tug-of-war between the West and Russia over the strategic direction of the former Soviet republic.

The Donbass region is home to giant steel smelters and heavy plants that produce about a third of Ukraine's industrial output.

An armed uprising began there in early April, with Kiev almost powerless to respond for fear of provoking an invasion by tens of thousands of Russian troops massed on the border.

Oleksander Turchynov, Ukraine's acting president until an election on May 25, reiterated on Wednesday that police were incapable of reasserting control in the region.

"Our main task is to prevent the terrorist threat from spreading to other regions of Ukraine," he told a meeting of regional governors in Kiev.

"The Russian leadership is doing everything to prevent the election. But the election will take place on May 25," he said.

There were further signs on Monday that Russia is paying an economic price for its involvement in Ukraine, from which it annexed the Crimea region after Ukraine's pro-Moscow president was ousted in February by protesters demanding closer links with Europe.

The International Monetary Fund said international sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine were hurting the Russian economy.

The IMF cut its 2014 growth forecast for Russia to 0.2 percent from 1.3 percent and forecast capital outflows of $100 billion this year.

The IMF mission chief to Russia, Antonio Spilimbergo, also told reporters that Russia was "experiencing recession" and that a resolution of the Ukraine crisis would significantly reduce Russia's own economic uncertainties.

"If you understand by recession two quarters of negative economic growth then Russia is experiencing recession now," Spilimbergo said.

Ukraine is also suffering from the turmoil, with economic output falling 1.1 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2014, according to government figures released on Wednesday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/30/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA3T0G720140430
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« Reply #293 on: April 30, 2014, 07:53:07 am »

US astronauts should use trampolines to get into space, Russian official says

A Russian official angered over new sanctions that the United States imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis is suggesting that American astronauts get to the International Space Station by using trampolines instead of rockets.

"The United States introduced sanctions against our space industry... We warned them, we will reply to statements with statements, to actions with actions," Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who heads Russia's defense industry, said on Twitter, according to Reuters.

American astronauts depend on Russian rockets to get to the ISS, but after the U.S. imposed sanctions – which deny export licenses for high-tech items that could aid Russia’s military -- Rogozin offered up a different idea.

"I propose that the United States delivers its astronauts to the ISS with the help of a trampoline," he said.

But analysts told Reuters that Russia is unlikely to suspend its shuttle service to the ISS, as NASA provides essential financing for the effort, paying more than $60 million per person to get them into space.

Still, Russia is expected to be hit hard by the sanctions, and five upcoming commercial satellite launches -- contracted by foreign clients at a Russian space center -- could be at risk.

Earlier this month, NASA was also banned from contacting the Russian government.

"This is a very sensitive issue since our defense industry was completely unprepared for such developments," Sergei Oznobishchev, the director at the Institute for Strategic Assessments think tank in Moscow, told Reuters. "Both sides will suffer but Russia will lose out more in terms of technology transfer."

Analysts say Russia lags behind in production of high-tech electronic equipment, such as microchips for satellites, and is reliant on imports from Western nations.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/04/30/us-astronauts-should-use-trampolines-to-get-into-space-russian-official-says/
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« Reply #294 on: April 30, 2014, 11:22:05 am »

Kiev: Forces "helpless" to restore order in east

Ukraine's police and security forces are "helpless" to quell the unrest in two eastern regions bordering Russia and in some cases are cooperating with the pro-Russia gunmen who have seized scores of buildings and taken people hostage, Ukraine's leader said Wednesday.

Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said his government's goal now was to prevent the agitation from spreading to other territories in the sprawling nation of 46 million people.

His interim government in Kiev and Western governments have accused Moscow of orchestrating the turmoil in eastern Ukraine, which borders Russia. The United States and the European Union rolled out new economic sanctions against Russia this week but Moscow has remained unbowed, denying its role in the unrest.

Turchynov spoke hours after pro-Russia gunmen seized more administrative buildings in eastern Ukraine.

(AP) A pro-Russian gunman in camouflage uniform stands guard next to Orthodox icons...
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Kiev city authorities, meanwhile, announced unexpected middle-of-the night security drills running from Wednesday night into Thursday morning by the state guard service. That could alarm the eastern insurgents who favor more independence or even separatism, but also could be aimed at reassuring Ukrainians unsettled by Turchynov's admission of impotence in the east.

At a meeting in Kiev, Turchynov laid out the central security challenge facing Ukraine, instructing regional governors to try to prevent the threat in the east from overtaking central and southern regions.

"I will be frank: Today, security forces are unable to quickly take the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions under control," Turchynov said. "The security bodies ... are unable to carry out their duties of protecting citizens. They are helpless in those matters. Moreover, some of those units are either helping or cooperating with terrorist organizations."

He said "mercenaries and special units" were attacking eastern Ukraine.

"That is why I am stressing our task is to stop the spread of the terrorist threat, first of all in the Kharkiv and Odessa regions," Turchynov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

(AP) A pro-Russian gunman guards inside an administration building they seized Tuesday,...
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The mayor of Kharkiv, who had been credited with keeping Ukraine's second-largest city calm, was shot in the back earlier this week.

Turchynov said the threat of a Russian invasion was real and urged the creation of regional self-defense units throughout the country, according to the Interfax news agency. Russia has placed tens of thousands of troops near the border with Ukraine and has annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

Yulia Torhovets, a spokeswoman for the Kiev city government, would not provide any details about the drills, saying only that the city made the announcement to keep residents informed.

"We didn't want people to get scared when they see combat equipment," Torhovets told The Associated Press. "We didn't want anyone to panic."

Some Ukrainians were appalled by the loss of control over the country's eastern regions and accused the central government of reacting too slowly.

(AP) A pro-Russian gunman in camouflage uniform stands guard Wednesday, April 30, 2014,...
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"In a normal society, when Oleksandr Turchynov admits the fact that the authorities do not control the situation in the east of the country, that's grounds for resignation. And not just from him, but all the security forces," Valeriy Kalnysh, the former editor of the now-defunct Kommersant Ukraine daily, wrote on Facebook. "But can we afford this now? .... And is it the right move in the conditions of an undeclared war with Russia?"

Former prime minister and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko urged Ukrainians to join a resistance force that she was creating that would act in coordination with the army.

"Ukraine is under attack. Russia has begun an undeclared war against our country in the east," Tymoshenko said in a statement Wednesday. "I call upon all patriots who have ever participated in military operations to join us immediately.

Ukraine is holding a presidential election on May 25, and Tymoshenko is among several top candidates.

In eastern Ukraine, insurgents wielding automatic weapons took control and hoisted an insurgent flag on top of the city council building Wednesday morning in the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region. They also took control of a police station in the city, adding to another police building they have controlled for several weeks.

An Associated Press reporter saw armed men guarding the city council building in Horlivka and checking the documents of those entering. One man said foreign reporters would not be allowed in and threatened to arrest those who didn't obey. Similar guards were also seen outside the city's police station.

The insurgents who now control buildings in about a dozen cities in eastern Ukraine are demanding broader regional rights as well as greater ties or outright annexation by Russia. The militiamen are holding some activists and journalists hostage, including seven observers from a European security organization.

In Luhansk, one of the largest cities in eastern Ukraine, gunmen in camouflage uniforms maintained control of several government offices they seized Tuesday. In Donetsk, insurgents added the local tax agency office to the list of buildings they have seized.

Dzhavad Iskanderov, a spokesman for the insurgents, told the AP the tax building was seized to prevent nationalists and other pro-Kiev forces from seizing the weapons inside.

Eastern Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population, was the heartland of support for Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted president who fled to Russia in February. The government that replaced him in Kiev has resisted the insurgents' demands, fearing they could lead to a breakup of the country or more regions being annexed by Russia.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20140430/ukraine-6e8474008e.html
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« Reply #295 on: April 30, 2014, 02:28:25 pm »

China to conduct naval drills with Russia in East China Sea

China said on Wednesday it would conduct joint naval drills with Russia in the East China Sea off Shanghai in late May, in what it called a bid to deepen military cooperation.

China's defense ministry did not give an exact location in the East China Sea, where Beijing is locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with Japan over the ownership of a group of uninhabited islets.

"These drills are regular exercises held by China and Russia's navies, and the purpose is to deepen practical cooperation between the two militaries, to raise the ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats," the ministry said on its website.

It provided no other details.

China alarmed Japan, South Korea and the United States last year when it announced an air defense identification zone for the East China Sea, covering the islands.

The Beijing government, which is swiftly ramping up military spending, has regularly dispatched patrols to the East China Sea since it established the defense zone.

China was angered last week after U.S. President Barack Obama assured ally Japan that Washington was committed to its defense, including the disputed isles.

Earlier this month, Tokyo announced it would break ground on a new radar base in the area, on a tropical Japanese island close to Taiwan.

The radar station on Yonaguni Island, just 150 km (93 miles) from the disputed islands in the East China Sea, marks Japan's first military expansion at the western end of its island chain in more than 40 years.

China and Russia have close diplomatic, security and economic ties, and regularly carry out military exercises together.

http://news.yahoo.com/china-conduct-naval-drills-russia-east-china-sea-182415119.html;_ylt=AwrBJR5_QGFTlk8AUU7QtDMD
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« Reply #296 on: April 30, 2014, 05:52:00 pm »

The NBA suspended that LA Clippers owner for life(I'm sure most of you know this story, so I won't elaborate into it) - pt being that this story is finally put to rest? Yes? NO - the MSM is STILL over-saturating this story(with not a thing, yet again, over Ukraine/Russia).

Good thing there's the internet to get news!
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« Reply #297 on: May 01, 2014, 05:07:58 am »

Large pro-Russian demonstration through Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on May Day - @itvnews

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« Reply #298 on: May 01, 2014, 09:23:25 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/putin-wants-troops-ukraines-east-170958110.html
5/1/14
Ukraine renews military draft as unrest intensifies

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Ukraine should withdraw its military from the eastern and southern regions of the country, a statement that could bolster anti-government insurgents who are seizing buildings.

Hours later, Ukraine's acting president ordered that the military draft be renewed, citing "threats of encroachment on the nation's territorial integrity" and interference by Russia in its internal affairs.

Moscow has consistently denounced Ukrainian security forces' largely ineffectual operation against the eastern insurgents and warned they should not commit violence against civilians.

In a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin said the removal of military units was the "main thing," but it was unclear if that could be construed as an outright demand.

Oleksandr Turchynov's conscription order marked a turnaround for the country, which last year announced plans to end military conscription in favor of an all-volunteer force. His order did not specify where conscript-bolstered forces could be deployed. The renewal of military conscription affects only men 18 to 25 years old.

Earlier in the week, the acting president said police and security forces had been effectively "helpless" against insurgents in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the heart of the unrest, and that efforts should be focused on preventing the instability from spreading to other parts of the country.

In the regional capital city of Donetsk, anti-government demonstrators took over the regional prosecutor's office Thursday. Several dozen riot police standing guard at the office fired stun grenades and tear gas when some at the front of the crowd of several hundred people attempted to force their way into the building.

As the confrontation escalated, some in the crowd threw rocks and managed to wrest away shields from police. An Associated Press reporter saw a handful of officers being dragged away and beaten by members of the crowd.

Hundreds of onlookers accompanying the protesters shouted slogans and hurled abuse.

A car outside the building blared out patriotic World War II music. Inside, a passenger waved a flag bearing a doctored image of Soviet leader Josef Stalin in a black vest and holding a machine gun superimposed with the words: "Death to Fascism."

Upon occupying the building, protesters discarded the Ukrainian flag and replaced it with that of the Donetsk People's Republic — a movement that seeks either greater autonomy from the central government, or independence and possible annexation by Russia.

Donetsk is the heartland of support for Russia-friendly former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in February after months of protests in the capital. Opponents of the government that succeeded him have seized buildings in about a dozen cities and towns in eastern Ukraine.

Local news website Novosti Donbassa reported that earlier in the day around 30 armed men arrived in six cars in the town of Amvrosiivka, which lies close to the Russian border, and took over the city council and forced the mayor to resign.

On Wednesday, insurgents took control of the customs-service building in Donetsk and city hall in Alchevsk, an industrial center of about 110,000 people, adding to the scores of buildings taken by the separatists over the past month in the east, where a dozen cities are now in the hands of the separatists.

There has also been a spate of reported kidnappings of pro-government politicians. The Svodoba nationalist party said a local party branch leader in Kostiantynivka, 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Donetsk, initially managed to fight off attackers at his home but was taken away as he was phoning for help.

Turchynov has twice proclaimed "anti-terrorist" operations to regain control of the east, but to little effect.

Unlike many recent seizures of the government offices, the assault on the prosecutor's office appeared to have been spearheaded by people armed with little more than sticks. However, at least one young man was seen with a handgun tucked into his trousers, and at least one firebomb was thrown at the building.

The armed element of the insurgency is focused on Slovyansk, a city 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Donetsk in which seven European observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe remain held by pro-Russia gunmen.

Merkel on Thursday again called Putin and asked for his assistance in freeing the group, Merkel spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said.

Russia denies allegations from Kiev and the West that it is influencing or fomenting strife in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin confirmed the conversation and said Putin stressed "the main thing was for Ukraine to withdraw its troops from southeastern Ukraine, stop the violence and quickly start a broad national dialogue on constitutional reform."

In Washington, the second-ranking official of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said the alliance now feels compelled to start treating Moscow as an adversary.

"In central Europe, clearly we have two different visions of what European security should be like," Alexander Vershbow, the deputy secretary-general of NATO, said in a question-and-answer session with reporters.

He said Russia's annexation of Crimea and its apparent efforts to manipulate turmoil in eastern Ukraine have fundamentally changed the NATO-Russia relationship.
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« Reply #299 on: May 03, 2014, 04:33:11 am »

Ukraine interior minister says troops conducted dawn operation near rebel-held Eastern town of Kramatorsk - @Reuters

Flowers being laid outside Odessa's burnt out trade union building this morning

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman: Kiev authorities are not only irresponsible but direct participants in Odessa "crime

42 killed in yesterday's violence in Odessa, south Ukraine; 125 injured in fires and clashes, police say - @NBCNews

Insurgent leader in eastern Ukraine says detained OSCE military observers have been released
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