The Saker’s Latest Dispatches on the Russia & Ukraine fronts

Confusion about AngloZionist sanctions against Russia

Leningrad under siege: The degree of hardship endured in those 900 days is unimaginable by Westerners.

[dropcap]There seems to be[/dropcap] a lot of confusion about the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia and I think that this is a good time to clarify a few things about my take on them.

First, the original sanctions were a total joke. However, the latest sanctions (including the denial of credit) are definitely hurting Russia.

Second, next to the official sanctions, there are unofficial ones, such as the carefully orchestrated drop in the prices of oil which itself triggers a fall in the value of the Ruble against the Dollar and the Euro.

Third, there is also a great deal of speculation against the Ruble which itself does also contribute to the problem.

Fourth and last, but not least, the three factors above contribute to a nervousness and lack of trust into the Russian currency and economy which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

However, the thing which those who stick to a simplistic assessment of the sanctions are missing are the following:

1) Whom are these sanctions hurting more, Russia or the West?
2) What is the Russian staying power to put up with these sanctions?
3) Will time make these sanctions harder or easier for Russia to put up with?

I would argue that these sanctions are much more damaging to the the US European colonies (known as the “EU”) than for Russia. I would argue that the Russian people have a formidable resistance to hardship and that western societies are, in comparison, soft, hedonistic, lazy, spoiled and generally weak. Russians have a staying power which is simply unimaginable for a west European person (the horrible siege of Leningrad lasted 900 days!!!). Lastly, I believe that time will allow Russia to take adaptive measures to basically render these sanctions irrelevant.

Furthermore, the Russian staying power under AngloZionist sanctions needs to be compared with the staying power of the Ukrainian Nazi junta to keep control of the situation. It is one thing to put up with hardship and quite another to sit on a sinking ship.

Still, all of the above is predicated on the notion that Russia under Putin will finally address some of her most debilitating internal structural problems. Should that not happen, Russia will end up in the situation of an immune-suppressed person who is a serious risk even from a comparatively weak and normally benign virus or bacteria.

In conclusion, and just for your information, there are some interesting ideas floating around about what Russia might be doing. Check out this one for example: http://futurefastforward.com/images/stories/financial/GrandmasterPutinG%C3%87%C3%96sGoldenTrap.pdf.

I hope that this clarifies that.

Cheers,

The Saker

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ell, we all knew that the last floor of the SBU (the Ukrainian terror police) building in Kiev was fully occupied by US CIA agents and that no Ukrainians have access to it. But this is even better. Apparently, the US decided to fly its flag on the building’s main entrance, just next to the Ukrainian one. See for yourself:

There is also a video showing the same scene: http://youtu.be/UffhTyUcUwc

The SBU, by the way, is an amazing organization. In its entire 23 year long history it never caught a single foreign spy (except fake Russian ones, of course). The Russians even made a hilarious video about a SBU “capture” of a FSB agent:

(The video is in Ukrainian so please make sure to press the ‘cc’ button for English subtitles)

But, seriously now. Not a single American, or German or Brit. Not *one*. In comparison, just in one year (2011) the Russian FSB officially caught 41 foreign spies and 158 Russian citizens who spied for foreign intelligence agencies. Assuming that 2011 was a ‘normal’ year, that would be roughly the equivalent of catching 943 foreign spies and 3643 Russian traitors for a 23 year long period. The SBU caught *zero*. This is why I call it “terror police” and not “security agency”.

But they did kill *a lot* of people, including politicians, journalists and activists. They are also pros in various torture techniques.

And now the US flag flies over that building.

The entire US intelligence community can be very proud of this.

The Saker

CrossTalk: Ukraine Wedged in the Middle
Post-coup regime in Kiev purges parties not supporting turn to EU

9-10.12.2014 Ukrainian crisis news

THEIR LIES.
THEIR CONSTANT PROPAGANDA.
OUR TRUTH.
HUGE ISSUES ARE BEING DECIDED: Nuclear war, whether we’ll live in democracy or tyranny, dignity or destitution, planetary salvation or doom…It’s a battle of communications we can’t afford to lose.

So, do something.

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The Coming War between America and China – the new documentary project from John Pilger

'Journey' is an overworked word these days, but I can think of none other to describe the making of a documentary film. Ten years ago, a film of mine could be made in six months, even less. The main work was the research, the journalism.Whenever I felt confident I had the basis of a 'story', I would go to the ITV Network in the UK and seek a broadcast commission. If that was forthcoming, ITV would fund the production. The difference now is that I, the film-maker, must raise most of the production money. Also, my documentaries have changed considerably in recent years. They are now made for the cinema as well as TV, and for the internet.I've made three films this way, The War on Democracy (2007), The War You Don't See (2010) and Utopia (2013). Utopia took more than two years to make.In raising the money for these films, I've been fortunate to find sympathetic philanthropists and foundations, and persuade them to contribute without attaching any editorial strings. But these benefactors are rare, and tracking them down is probably the hardest part of film-making now and, frankly, not the kind of work I ever saw myself doing - I've always preferred simply to do the job I knew - journalism.I've lately embarked on another film journey - this will be my 60th documentary. ITV has commissioned the film, and provided seed money. The working title is The Coming War Between America and China, and the film will tell the largely unreported story of a new US strategic policy known as 'the pivot to Asia'. In a nutshell, what this means is that the US is preparing for a new provocative cold war that has every chance of becoming a hot war. Washington has begun to move its main missile and naval forces into the Asia-Pacific in order to surround and 'confront' China, whose extraordinary economic rise in recent years is regarded in Washington as a threat to American dominance. For obvious reasons, I won't lay out here the 'where, what and why'. Suffice to say the film will be shot in some surprising places where I'll meet and interview extraordinary people. Above all, it will be revealing: that is assured.Having read this far, you're sure to guess that this message is heading towards another modern cliché - an 'ask'. My colleagues at Dartmouth Films and I need to raise at least £60,000 or $100,000 in order to start making the film. This money won't meet unforeseen costs or pay for distribution and promotion, but it will allow for the promised philanthropy, on which the bulk of the film's funding depends, to come on stream and for filming to begin.And that's where you come in.This is known as 'crowd funding' and, as you can guess, it's my first day in this strange new world. If you can give £5 - that's about $10 - no more - I'll be grateful. For your part, you'll have made a vital contribution to a film whose disclosure and warning are, I believe, urgently needed. I'm hopeful you'll be proud of the result. Thank you.You can contribute here

Primetime torture: exploring how Hollywood tackles this “delicate” subject

Marines administering the “water cure” to a filipino rebel in 1901. US imperial atrocities are old. The practice had been introduced by the Spaniards and other older imperialists.

Uploaded on Aug 29, 2007

http://www.primetimetorture.org
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org

THEIR LIES.
THEIR CONSTANT PROPAGANDA.
OUR TRUTH.
HUGE ISSUES ARE BEING DECIDED: Nuclear war, whether we’ll live in democracy or tyranny, dignity or destitution, planetary salvation or doom…It’s a battle of communications we can’t afford to lose.

So, do something.

If you took the time to read this article, and found it worth SHARING, then why not sign up with our special bulletin to be included in our future distributions? And please tell others about The Greanville Post. Share our posts. If you don’t, how can we ever neutralize the power of the corporate media?

YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS (SIGNUPS TO THE GREANVILLE POST BULLETIN) ARE COMPLETELY FREE, ALWAYS. AND WE DO NOT SELL OR RENT OUR EMAIL ADDRESS DATABASES—EVER. That’s a guarantee.

David Remes: Why the Senate Torture Report Doesn’t Matter + Redacted: What does the CIA #torturereport leave out?

As posted on December 9, 2014 by dandelion salad, a sister site.
Thank you, Lorri, for this great compilation.

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

Why the Senate Torture Report Doesn’t Matter | Interview with David Remes

breakingtheset on Dec 9, 2014

Abby Martin speaks with human rights lawyer, David Remes, about the contents of the newly released Senate torture report summary and how it will impact the future of the “war on terror”. SEE VIDEO BELOW

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CIA Torture Report Incomplete as Key Documents Remain Withheld

TheRealNews on Dec 9, 2014

Investigative journalist Marcy Wheeler says the Obama is using the CIA to protect itself and Bush-era officials from being legally implicated in torture

Transcript

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Redacted: What does the CIA torture report leave out?

RT America on Dec 9, 2014

The US Senate on Tuesday released a report detailing the CIA’s use of torture following the September 11th terrorist attacks, but many still want more information to be released. Focusing only on the spy agency’s “black sites,” the report fails to provide data on sites of alleged and confirmed abuse, including the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, the infamous Abu Ghraib prison and a host of other sites. The Government Accountability Project’s Jesselyn Radack discusses with RT’s Ben Swann.

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‘CIA torture report first step, accountability is next, any official could be involved’

RT on Dec 9, 2014

Ahead of the release of CIA torture report, the US has beefed up security at its government and military facilities around the world – fearing a violent backlash. Ann Wright, retired US army colonel says such measures are not by chance.

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Feinstein: CIA torture techniques far more brutal than approved (FULL SPEECH)

RT on Dec 9, 2014

Senator Dianne Feinstein called the practices detailed in the declassified report on the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation program a “stain on our values and on our history.”

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Senate Torture Report Shows Need for Accountability

ACLU
Dec. 9, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON – The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today released the executive summary and findings of its landmark report on the CIA’s rendition, secret detention, and torture program.

The full report was adopted in December 2012 by a bipartisan majority of the committee after nearly five years of investigation. Today’s release comes after long negotiations between the committee and the White House over redactions requested by the CIA.

Responding to the report, the American Civil Liberties Union released a detailed plan for full accountability, and ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero had this reaction:

This is a shocking report, and it is impossible to read it without feeling immense outrage that our government engaged in these terrible crimes. This report definitively drags into the light the horrific details of illegal torture, details that both the Bush and Obama administrations have worked hard to sweep under the rug. The government officials who authorized illegal activity need to be held accountable. The administration’s current position – doing absolutely nothing – is tantamount to issuing tacit pardons. Tacit pardons are worse than formal ones because they undermine the rule of law. The CIA’s wrongful acts violated basic human rights, served as a huge recruiting tool for our enemies, and alienated allies world-wide. Our response to the damning evidence in this report will define us as a nation.

This should be the beginning of a process, not the end. The report should shock President Obama and Congress into action, to make sure that torture and cruelty are never used again. The Department of Justice needs to appoint a special prosecutor to hold the architects and perpetrators of the torture program accountable for its design, implementation, and cover-ups. Congress must assert its constitutional role in the system of checks and balances, and oversee the CIA, which in this report sounds more like a rogue paramilitary group than the intelligence gathering agency that it’s supposed to be. The president needs to use the moral authority of his office to formally recognize both the torture program’s victims and those in government who resisted this shameful and illegal policy.

Over the course of a decade, ACLU FOIA litigation has resulted in the release of the 100,000 pages of documents relating to the torture policies, which are available in a searchable database.

The ACLU’s full recommendations are at:
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/us-torture-program-blueprint-accountability

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Take Action!

Accountability for torture today is critical for stopping it tomorrow

ACLU

For over a decade, the American people have demanded to know about post-9/11 torture conducted in our names. Now we finally have some answers. The Senate just released its summary report detailing widespread and illegal CIA torture during the Bush years.

Over a hundred people were abused and tortured by the CIA and its contractors, often in secret prisons, set up in countries such as Poland, Romania and Thailand.

We have long known that the Bush administration’s torture program was authorized at the highest levels, including the White House, the Department of Justice, the CIA, and the Department of Defense. We now also know that the CIA misled the public, Congress, and other oversight agencies about the scope and extent of its torture and the significance of the information obtained through torture.

In our system, no one should be above the law or beyond its reach, no matter how senior the official. Although some lower-level military personnel were prosecuted for their roles in the torture program, none of the officials who authorized the use of torture or oversaw its implementation have ever been charged with a crime.

We can’t undo the damage that was done, but we can declare today that it won’t stand unexamined. Ask Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor.

via https://www.aclu.org/secure/cia-torture?ms=web_141209_nationalsecurity_ciatorture_BOR

The CIA report —some inconvenient questions.

George Tenet briefing G.W. Bush and his cabinet accomplices. Don’t believe for moment he did not know what was going on, as the media keep suggesting. He knew and he okayed it. Cheney and his ilk still openly defend it. The claim is always the “protection of American lives.” But it is their immoral policies of international theft, political meddling in other peoples’ countries, and “wars of choice,” that make enemies for Americans around the world, and force American soldiers to die executing criminal enterprises bathed in chauvinist propaganda.

[dropcap]If it is agreed[/dropcap] we are talking about torture, plain and simple, why is it that CBS and the rest of the American media keep referring to it as “enhanced interrogation”, its officialese denomination? As well, how come no one asks the obvious question: Why are these people attacking us? What have we done to stir up their unremitting anger? Surely people –no matter how fanatical— don’t get up one day and decide to take on—at the risk of their lives— the most heavily armed and ruthless superpower in history for the sheer fun of it. Yet this miserably elementary question remains an orphan in the US journalistic world, or is answered with chauvinistic nonsense, like, “They envy our democracy.”

Editors say:
Uploaded on May 3, 2007

http://www.primetimetorture.org . However he clearly and implicitly admits it.

ProjectFlashlight612 (original comment on YouTube)

5 hours ago (edited)

COMMENT:
The pathetic rottenness of US institutions is demonstrated by George Tenet’s current positions
AND HE’S FAR FROM UNIQUE.

George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) was the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, and he is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University.

COMMENT: Since Georgetown—founded in 1789, is the oldest Jesuit and Catholic university in the United States, what does the Pope have to say about such egregious violations of common justice?—Eds.)

Allen Welsh Dulles—as well as one of the few DCIs to serve under two U.S. presidents of opposing political parties. He played a key role in overseeing the intelligence behind the Iraq War.

In February 2008, he became a managing director at investment bank Allen & Company.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

So, do something.

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