Saturday, August 23, 2014

Ukraine: The Graveyard of Super Empires


If Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires, Ukraine is the graveyard of Super Empires.  The Super Empire consisting of U.S., Britain, the E.U. and NATO will die in Ukraine.  The European Union is a major failure as is the European Central Bank and the Euro.  The E.U. has been wracked with infighting, threats of defection and bitterly harsh austerity for the citizens of the participating countries.   An article in Russia Times entitled:  Nobel Prize winners: Eurozone recovery is 'dismal failure', lays out the failures.  


Excerpt:

“Stunningly destructive” and “dismal failure” is how Nobel laureates describe growth in the European Union after destructive austerity policies and the euro crisis.

Economists are casting doubt on the effectiveness of monetary policy in the 18-member Eurozone, which is yet to fully shake off recession and produce sustained growth.

Data from earlier this month shows that economies have broken down, and growth has come to a standstill. The three largest economies- Germany, France, and Italy- all failed to grow.


Yes, the harsh austerity measures they want to impose on Ukraine have proven to be abject failures worldwide, but Germany, France and Italy are all willing do double down on their own death.  I wonder why?



Nobel laureate and Princeton University economist Christopher Sims warns that the euro countries hit worst by the crisis may be looking for an exit from the failed currency experiment.

“If I were advising Greece, Portugal, and Spain, I would tell them to prepare contingency plans to leave the euro,” the 2011 Nobel Prize winner said.


Economist and Professor at Columbia University Joseph Stiglitz called the Eurozone’s efforts to recover from the debt crisis a “dismal failure” in an interview with Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of a conference in Lindau, Germany  “Now we see the enormous price that Europe is paying,” Stiglitz said, adding, “hopefully the reality of this failed policy will strike...”



Inflation has dropped dangerously low to 0.4 percent sparking fears about deflation, or falling prices. The European Central Bank’s goal is to have 2 percent inflation. Unemployment in the Eurozone is down slightly, but at 11.5 percent still near the record 12 percent figure from last year.

MIT Economics Professor Peter Diamond, who won the Nobel Prize in 2010 – warns that work may be more and more difficult to come by.

“It is a terrible outcome, and it is surprising how little uproar there has been over policies that are so stunningly destructive,” Diamond said.


The stagnation is attributed to the failed recovery from the Eurozone crisis, and is also in part affected by the local Ukraine-Russia crisis.

Sanctions and trade wars between Russia and the EU could cut 2 percent off Eurozone GDP in the next two years, according to Gabriel Sterne at Oxford Economics.




So, have the three largest economies- Germany, France and Italy begun to face the financial price of being a Super Empire?  Are these kingpins of the European Union going to change from job killing austerity and make radical changes to increase GDP?  From Bloomberg:


Excerpt:

Counting Drugs and Prostitution in GDP Makes a Mockery of Budget Rules

By Peter Coy  May 23, 2014


The Italians have a word for it: sprezzatura, or studied nonchalance. The news that Italy plans to include prostitution and illegal drugs in gross domestic product sounds like a joke. But it’s not just an Italian initiative. New European Union rules require member states to include in GDP the value of all income-producing activities, including prostitution, the production and consumption of illegal drugs, and black market sales of cigarettes and alcohol.


The beauty? By counting prostitution and drugs in output, Italy will raise its GDP and thereby lower the ratio of debt to GDP, which will make it easier to comply with European Union rules on indebtedness. The same will go for other countries. That’ssprezzatura.



Governments of European Union members are not supposed to let their annual deficits exceed 3 percent of GDP or accumulated debt exceed 60 percent of GDP.


Well, with all that lemonade they’re making from the lemons, they should open a global lemonade stand.  The sanctions against Russia pushed by the lunatic cabal in control of U.S. foreign and domestic policy will kill Germany’s economy and really puts Merkel in a tough spot.




As early as March 2014 German exporters have been sounding the alarm for Germany.  According to Testosterone Pit:

Excerpt:

The “mal-calculation…”

It wasn’t as bombastic as US Secretary of State John Kerry’s blast to lawmakers that the Ukrainian debacle could “get ugly fast,” and “in multiple directions,” but it had the heft of the German export industry.


Anton Börner, president of the German Association of Exporters (BGA), which represents 120,000 companies, the lifeblood of the economy, warned at a press conference in Berlin that further escalation of the crisis in the Ukraine could hit exporters very hard. He said that the BGA expected exports to rise 3% to €1.13 trillion and imports 2% to €914 billion for a trade surplus of €215.6 billion – the highest in history. But “if the crisis in the Crimea escalates further,” these wondrous forecasts of endlessly growing exports and surpluses “could turn very quickly into a mal-calculation.”


The sanction spiral


Further intensification of “the most serious political crisis in Europe since the end of the war in former Yugoslavia” would degrade bilateral economic relations between the EU and Russia. He warned not to underestimate the drag of secondary and tertiary effects on the world economy. “Russia itself, Europe, Germany, and the whole world have a lot to lose,” he said. “But if there’s a sanction-spiral, Germany has the most to lose.”


About 6,200 German companies were trading with Russia or had invested there. The bilateral trade volume was over €76 billion last year. And German companies have invested €20 billion in Russia. The “sanctions-spiral” that is currently gaining momentum could have “unforeseen consequences,” especially for Russia, he said. They’d be “painful for the German economy, but life-threatening for the Russian economy.”


So did the E.U. listen to warnings that Russian sanctions threatened to bring down E.U. economies?  Nope, they doubled down and imposed further sanctions on Russia to which Russia responded by imposing bans on the import of perishable goods, that are vital to E.U. economies.


Excerpt:

Who is hit hardest by Russia's trade ban?
Published time: August 08, 2014 15:20
Edited time: August 09, 2014 16:34


Germany and Poland will lose the most trade with Russia, and neighboring Finland and Baltic States Lithuania and Latvia will lose a bigger proportion of their GDP. Norway will see fish sales to Russia disappear, and US damages would be very limited.


Do you really think the Kerry/Biden/Nuland cabal gives a rip if the entire E.U. economy collapses because of sanctions against Russia?  Don’t forget, one of the architects of the overthrow of the government of Ukraine, Victoria Nuland said “fuck the E.U.” and that is the official Obama Administration policy on E.U.

China will start selling fruit and vegetables directly to Russia

Russia has banned imports of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and dairy products from the 28 countries of the EU, the US, Canada, Norway, and Australia for one year.


EU trade is heavily dependent on Russian food imports. Last year Russia bought $16 billion worth of food from the bloc, or about 10 percent of total exports, according to Eurostat.


In terms of losses, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands- the top three EU food suppliers to Russia in 2013 - will be hit hardest. Food for Russia makes up around 3.3 percent of total German exports.


French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said his government is already working together with Germany and Poland to reach a coordinated policy on the new Russian sanction regime.


Last year, Ireland exported €4.5 million worth of cheese to Russia, and not being able to do so this year is a big worry, Simon Coveney, the country’s agriculture minister, said.


Farmers across Europe could face big losses if they aren’t able to find alternative markets for their goods, especially fruit and vegetables.


Some are already demanding their governments provide compensation for lost revenue.


“If there isn’t a sufficient market, prices will go down, and we don’t know if we can cover the costs of production, because it is so expensive,” Jose Emilio Bofi, an orange farmer in Spain, told RT.


Hey you farmers across Europe, do you really think governments of the E.U. care?  They are all for austerity, and insuring farmers against financial destruction due to government imposed sanctions aren’t likely to happen.  However, bank profits lost due to sanctions more than likely will be reimbursed by the crooked governments of the E.U.  The best bet for any of the E.U. country is “get out.”


The largest opposition party in Greece is urging its government drop sanctions against Russia, even if the move isn’t supported by other EU states.

In 2013, Denmark supplied Russia with $628 million worth of products which are now banned.

European Agriculture commissioners will set up a task force to address Russia’s sanctions, on Monday...

Yes, the E.U. is, in Victoria Nuland’s words “fucked”.


America not bothered


For the US the effect will be very limited, as agricultural exports to Russia are about one tenth of one percent of total US gross domestic product of about $144 billion, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Hmmm, the U.S. is not be bothered?  Yes, just wait until American businesses start getting hurt. Wait, what’s this from CBS News?  


Excerpt:


Branson, business leaders seek Ukraine solution
By Alanna Petroff  @AlannaPetroff August 20, 2014: 8:24 AM ET


Billionaire Richard Branson and 15 major business leaders from around the world want an end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.


As concerned business leaders from Russia, Ukraine and the West, we encourage our governments to compromise and find a peaceful solution to the current conflict," they said in the letter. "We would like to offer whatever support we can to help resolve this violent conflict."


Besides Branson, others signing the letter include Indian businessman Ratan Tata, Nobel Laureate Muhammed Yunus, former eBay president Jeff Skoll and 10 high-ranking Russian and Ukrainian businesspeople.


The signers say they hope to avoid a new Cold War scenario and encouraged all business leaders around the world to start dialogues to end the conflict. "Conversations, not armed conflict, are critical at this juncture," it said.


Will the EU, US and Britain drop their plans for a neocon, Zionist caliphate in Eurasia?  These tone deaf idiots in the Obama Administration are so ignorant.  They have no support in the world for their bloody, unending wars and even if they were able to kill every insurgent in Ukraine, they would never win over the hearts and minds of a captive people. From The Guardian,





Excerpt:

Steven Seagal plays at concert for pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine


Actor, musician and Vladimir Putin's friend performs with band at pro-'Donetsk People's Republic' show in Sevastopol, Crimea.


Hollywood actor and musician Steven Seagal played a weekend concert in the Crimean peninsula, appearing on a stage adorned with the flag of pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine.



Seagal and his blues band played on Saturday at a bikers' show held in the city of Sevastopol, home to Russia's Black Sea fleet. The star has come under fire for supporting Russia's March annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine, a view that saw him bounced from the lineup at an Estonian blues festival this summer.


At the corner of the stage hung the black, blue and red flag of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" (DNR), declared independent by pro-Russia rebels fighting to break away from Ukraine. Fans waved Russian and DNR flags as Seagal performed.

The US and EU have imposed sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea and for allegedly providing weapons and support to the rebels in eastern Ukraine.


Seagal said he had travelled to Crimea because music unites people, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported. In a March interview with a Russian newspaper, Seagal was quoted as saying that President Vladimir Putin's desire to protect Russians in Crimea was completely reasonable.


Crimea's largely Russian-speaking residents voted in March to become part of Russia in a hastily organised referendum held as Russian troops patrolled the Black Sea peninsula they had occupied only weeks before.



Yes, if the EU is “fucked” because of the lunatic cabal that has control of the United States Government, the US is “royally fucked.”  From Forbes: 



Excerpt:

Obama's Russia Sanctions: Corporate America Has Much More To Lose Than Washington Realizes

Almost everyone in the American establishment seems to support President Obama’s new round of sanctions against Russia. Almost everyone, that is, except U.S. exporters…

Largely overlooked by the American press, Japanese officials could hardly be less sympathetic to the Obama administration’s Russia policy.

Already IBM IBM -0.43% and Hewlett-Packard HPQ -0.43% have been identified as big losers from Obama’s sanctions. Thanks to America’s cultural commitment to the rule of law, such corporations will have little choice but to toe Obama’s line. The question is whether Japanese regulators will expect a similarly conscientious level of compliance from corporations like Hitachi , Toshiba, and NEC. The betting is that far from honoring U.S. sanctions, these latter corporations will have a field day taking their American rivals’ place.

The crisis also poses serious problems for U.S.-based oil majors. Exxon’s chief executive, Rex W. Tillerson, has so far been one of the few U.S. chief executives publicly to object to further sanctions. He has plenty to worry about.  If Exxon is required to back away from its efforts to penetrate the Russian oil industry, there are plenty of other oil companies — based outside the United States — that will be happy to take its place.  These notably include Statoil of Norway and Total of France.

My, my, my what a tangled web we weave. This lunatic fringe in America that came to power December 12, 2000 is drowning and now it’s just a matter of who will go down with them.    


 If Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires, Ukraine is the graveyard of Super Empires, good riddance.

By Patricia Baeten



Monday, August 18, 2014

Is it Maidan, Ukraine or is it Ferguson, Missouri?



In watching what is happening in Ukraine and in Missouri, I am reminded of the old Memorex commercials, “is it live or is it Memorex”.  Watching TV today I say, “Is it Maidan, Ukraine or is it Ferguson, MO?


What is happening in Missouri and Ukraine have more in common than not, both are victims of Rand Corporation master plans.   In Maidan, Ukraine peaceful anti-government demonstrations became deadly when the protestors were infiltrated with paid thugs.  The upheaval caused by the agitators gave cover for the U.S. State Department and the European Union to oust Ukraine’s government and replace it with billionaire bankers.   From Christian Science Monitor:

Maidan Square


Ukraine:


               Excerpt:
MOSCOW — At least two people are dead, and hundreds injured, after Ukraine's long-running peaceful anti-government street demonstrations erupted in unprecedented violence this week, and the protest movement appeared to split irrevocably between moderates and revolution-bent radicals…
The vast majority of protesters remain in the city's central square, known as Independence Square or the Maidan, peacefully occupying the space as they have for two months. But authorities now say they are in violation of a new law banning all public protests, passed by parliament last week, which came into effect today…
Most of the violence has unfolded a few hundred yards away, where a few hundred ultra-nationalist protesters who call themselves the "Right Sector" have battled openly with police, using iron bars, stones, and Molotov cocktails.
Kiev, Ukraine


So, the protests in Maidan Square were peaceful and legal for two months until the puppet government was installed made protesting illegal in Ukraine.  Once it was illegal to protest, the violent, paid protesters came in to provide the excuse for Marshall Law.  So what happened in Ferguson?  From Misguided Children.com:  


Ferguson



Ferguson

Missouri







Excerpt:

After the Governor sent in the Missouri State Police to help with riot control, things seemed to be calming down. The MSP were not wearing riot gear, and their commander even “walked through the crowds in his ordinary clothing” and spoke with protesters. Then Friday hit, and the whole situation blew up…

One line from a Fox news report on the protests and ensuing violence in Ferguson, Missouri speaks volumes:


“On Saturday, some residents said it appeared the violent acts were being committed by people who came from other suburbs or states.


‘Who would burn down their own backyard?’ asked Rebecca McCloud, a local who works with the Sunshine Baptist Church in St. Louis. ‘These people aren’t from here. They came to burn down our city and leave.’”

Missouri



Rand Corporation has provided Ukraine’s puppet government with a grand strategy for Ukraine that includes murder, displacement and internment camps for the citizens of Ukraine who refuse to accept the corrupt government installed in Ukraine.  From Voice of Russia:  



Ukraine



Ukraine


Excerpt:


American document contains a detailed plan on how to free the cities. Firstly, armored vehicles enter the cities, while armed men open fire on militias. At the same time, all male population is evacuated to the filtration camps. Those who resist should be shot immediately. The document also emphasizes that it is necessary to protect the filtration camps by putting most ideologically stable units in charge. People who have any signs of participation in hostilities (it may be bruises, bullet or shrapnel wounds, traces of gunpowder, etc.) should be prosecuted for separatism and terrorism.


In America, Rand Corporation’s urban development plan along with Rand’s police force plan for the U.S. that Rand devised in 2007 has come to fruition in Ferguson, Mo.  For instance according to Rand’s publication A Stability Police Force for the United States Justification and Optionsfor Creating U.S. Capabilities”



               Ferguson:

               Excerpt:

Establishing security is the sine qua non of stability operations, since it is a prerequisite for reconstruction and development. Security requires a mix of military and police forces to deal with a range of threats from insurgents to criminal organizations.



Hmmm, in 2007 the inevitable collapse of the banks of the world was about to occur.  Funny that Rand Corporation said a mix of military and police forces are needed in the U.S. to protect politicians from their constituents? Weird how closely what is happening in Ferguson resembles the Rand plan for Ukraine.  From Rand’s plan for Ukraine:


Ukraine:

               Excerpt:

The document includes three steps that military operation in eastern Ukraine has to go through. During the first phase martial law is introduced. Unstable regions should be blocked for entry and exit and the delivery of any goods. In addition to that, all TV broadcasting, Internet access, mobile and land phone lines should be disabled. A curfew should be introduced from 8pm to 6am.


Ukraine


It is emphasized that the work of the foreign media in the area of ​​military operations should be excluded, and massive propaganda campaign should be carried out, praising the "heroism" of participants in the operation.


So Rand’s plan for Ukraine includes a curfew and complete control over the media.  From Gawker:  

            Ferguson:

Ferguson MO


Excerpt:

Police in Ferguson were caught on camera Sunday night threatening to mace one reporter and shoot another. At least two other journalists also claim they were arrested while following police orders.


Shortly after 10 pm Sunday night, police began launching tear gas at protesters and demanded that reporters turn their cameras off.


In a confrontation caught on the KARG Arugus Radio livestream, a cop noticed Mustafa Hussein filming with his camera lights on—which police claim makes it hard for them to see—and confronted him, allegedly pointing a gun at him.


"Get down, get the fuck out of here and get that light off, or you're getting shot with this," the officer yells at Hussein.


Another journalist was reportedly shot with a beanbag.


Also threatened by police Sunday night was MSNBC's Chris Hayes, who was filming when police told him, "Media do not pass us, you're getting maced next time you pass us."


 So what else is included in Rand’s 2007 vision of the police force in American communities?

 
Coming to a town near you



This research examines the creation of a high-end police force, which the authors call a Stability Police Force (SPF). The study considers what size force is necessary, how responsive it needs to be, where in the government it might be located, what capabilities it should have, how it could be staffed, and its cost.


So Rand says the U.S. needs a high-end police force, like the one we are seeing in Ferguson?


This monograph also considers several options for locating this force within the U.S. government, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) in the Department of State, and the U.S. Army's Military Police…


The authors conclude that an SPF containing 6,000 people — created in the U.S. Marshals Service and staffed by a “hybrid option,” in which SPF members are federal police officers seconded to federal, state, and local police agencies when not deployed — would be the most effective of the options considered. The SPF would be able to deploy in 30 days. The cost for this option would be $637.3 million annually, in FY 2007 dollars.




Jeebuz, in the U.S. “hybrid option” cops that are embedded into federal, state and local police agencies?  How nuts is that?  Did America ever vote for that?  I have seen good cops and I have seen bad cops and to have Rand Corporation call for “hybrid option” cops seem really nutty.  It’s more than nutty it’s scary and while we can’t take care of our veterans, we can give Rand $637.3 million annually.


So where did this idea of militarized police come from?  What was the genus of this antithesis of Posse Comitatus?  From Chicago Reader.com:  


Excerpt:

That's the ticket

Operation Urban Blight 

How city planners helped keep their military counterparts in business.

For a brief moment in the early 1960s the world stood dangerously close to the brink of peace. But as President Kennedy negotiated limits on nuclear weapons testing in the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, contractors like the Rand Corporation started to get nervous. Military planning was their bread and butter, and the cold war thaw was bad for business. Eyes on the bottom line, they decided to find new customers for their services just as city planners, having botched urban renewal, were looking for help.

Well, war over, no problem Rand will just militarize our cities.


"The partnership seemed made in heaven," writes Northwestern University historian and sociologist Jennifer Light, "a more scientifically sound approach to planning and management for cities and more contracts for the defense and aerospace community." Instead it turned out to be a marriage of convenience in which the cities got screwed.

The union of military strategists and urban planners didn't do much to improve urban life, but it didn't make it worse either, except perhaps by diverting tax revenues from better uses. It did, however, accomplish three things. As Light documents, it kept Rand and its fellow consultancies in business. It made wheel-spinning city planners appear to be making progress. And it perpetuated the notion that the technology of war could help build better cities. 


Yes, Rand just took lemons and made lemonade.  Millions diverted from cities to Rand that did nothing more for cities than line the pockets of Rand’s shareholders.

 
Urban Renewal in Saint John involved the expropriation of property and forced eviction of tenants on an unprededented scale.




 The expressways that sliced through "urban blight" in the 50s are still standing and the aftershocks of their effect on impoverished neighborhoods are still being felt. But the urban-military collaboration whose history Light resurrects has left few monuments. That's her point: not that it created disasters but that it created expensive nothing.



Yes, that is the point that Light makes, after working at Rand she realized that America paid Rand boatloads of money for nothing.  An urban renewal plan that did nothing to improve the lives of Americans, but enriched military contractors.  Light wraps up her article as such:



We now have a new set of permanent enemies. A richly funded military establishment is taking them on, and hippie chic is back. The historical stage is set for a second act with its own peculiar set of plot twists. "It's eerie," she told the audience at a talk she gave last fall. "Defense firms have set up homeland security units and are going after city governments." The second act may be a farce, but it's still not a joke.


Basically all the Rand Corporation’s Urban Planning did was resegregate cities, especially schools. FromAlt Daily.com



Excerpt:

These often-trumpeted and well-advertised accolades, of course, belie a much more complicated and ambiguous story in the port city. The rising tide of civic self-confidence did not raise all ships, and the uneven nature of this renaissance was especially evident with reference to public education. Despite the undoubted success of some of Norfolk’s schools, thousands of its students have yet to experience the gains made by the district as a whole. Most of these children attend neighborhood elementary and middle schools that suffer from de facto segregation…


In 2001, the school board, with the protective covering offered by John Simpson--the district’s second African American superintendent--finally ended crosstown busing for the middle schools…


By 2004-5, four of the nine middle schools in the city were over 80 percent African American. Similarly, nine of Norfolk’s 34 elementary schools were over 90 percent African American…


In these resegregated, nearly all-black schools, students encountered the highest concentrations of poverty, the most frequent staff turnover, and recurrent lows on standardized tests. In fact, while beloved by the city’s establishment, Superintendent Stephen Jones recently resigned under more than a little fire for failing to grapple with the effects of such racial and class segregation: grade inflation, social promotion, low test scores, and faculty cynicism. And, in late 2011, his white successor, Superintendent Richard Bentley, was fired for the same reasons after a mere 16 months on the job.


So Rand’s plans for America have been a very costly mistake, while Rand’s plans for Ukraine including using weapons banned by the civilized world on the people of Ukraine has been an abject failure.

White :Phosphorus Bombing in Ukraine


Ukraine:

Excerpt:



Burned by White Phosphorus

The second phase involves "clearing" of the regions…. The document also emphasizes that there is no need to exclude the use of prohibited weapons in order to reduce the loss of personnel. Ukrainian troops are suspected of using banned incendiary bombs with white phosphorus.


Ukraine


American document contains a detailed plan on how to free the cities. Firstly, armored vehicles enter the cities, while armed men open fire on militias. At the same time, all male population is evacuated to the filtration camps. Those who resist should be shot immediately


It is emphasized that the work of the foreign media in the area of ​​military operations should be excluded, and massive propaganda campaign should be carried out, praising the "heroism" of participants in the operation. It is noted that if the military operation will be completed by September 1, 2014, martial law should stay in act until January 1, 2015.


Well, hold on to your hats, by September 1 Ukraine is going to become a Rand paradise… for billionaires.  Meanwhile, what’s happening in Ferguson?  From the Kansas City Star:





Gov. Jay Nixon on Monday took the long-overdue action to order Missouri National Guard troops to Ferguson. They will try to help end the unrest and violence that followed peaceful protests in recent days over the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.


The action “to help restore peace and order and to protect the citizens of Ferguson” followed Nixon’s declaration Saturday of a state of emergency in the St. Louis suburb and imposition of a late-night curfew enforced by the Missouri Highway Patrol. Violence Sunday night started three hours before the midnight curfew.


No curfew was to be in place Monday night, but authorities were expected to shut down some streets as the National Guard moves in.

  
Nixon was right to say Monday that people from outside Ferguson and the state were putting the community at risk. Having National Guard, police and the Highway Patrol in the city should help restore calm.


So, is it live or is it Memorex?  Is it Ukraine or is it Missouri?




Guess


By Patricia Baeten