I think the better view is that Putin is going to let a nuke rip in Ukraine. He dislikes losing as much as Trump.
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I think the better view is that Putin is going to let a nuke rip in Ukraine. He dislikes losing as much as Trump.
Vladimir Putin's Hands Are Turning 'Black' Following Reports The Russian Leader Is Suffering From Parkinson's Disease & Cancer
Vladimir Putin’s hands are reportedly turning black as a result of the intravenous injections he is receiving to treat his myriad of alleged different health conditions, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a sudden development to come just days after the 70-year-old ailing Russian leader was photographed with what appeared to be intravenous track marks along his hand, new footage shows Putin’s hands turning a dark and sickly-looking color.
According to Lord Richard Dannatt, a former British army chief who first claimed Putin had IV track marks on his hands, the Russian strongman is reportedly receiving injections in his hands because other parts of his body cannot take such treatments.
“Keen observers now are noticing that his hands are looking pretty black on top, which is a sign of injections going in when other parts of the body can’t take injections,” the former British army chief revealed.
“It’s interesting to note that, and just to watch whether he is as fit and well as he would like to portray,” he added. “It’s an interesting area to keep an eye on.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Putin was first seen with what appeared to be IV track marks on his hand during a visit to a boot camp in the Ryazan region of Russia in late-October.
Then, earlier this week, a series of leaked spy emails from an alleged Kremlin insider seemingly confirmed Putin is suffering from both Parkinson’s disease and pancreatic cancer. The leaked emails also suggested Putin receives regular heavy doses of steroids and other treatments, most likely via injections into his hands.
“I can confirm he has been diagnosed with early-stage Parkinson's disease, but it's already progressing,” the alleged Kremlin insider spilled. “This fact will be denied in every possible way and hidden.”
“Putin is regularly stuffed with all kinds of heavy steroids and innovative painkilling injections to stop the spread of pancreatic cancer he was recently diagnosed with,” the Russian intelligence source continued. “It not only causes a lot of pain; Putin has a state of puffiness of the face and other side effects – including memory lapses.”
“In his close circle, there are rumors that in addition to pancreatic cancer, which is gradually spreading, Putin also has prostate cancer,” another leaked email added.
Putin’s allegedly deteriorating health has been a subject of concern ever since the Russian despot invaded Ukraine in February. Since then, rumors and reports came to light suggesting the 70-year-old leader was suffering from everything from Parkinson’s disease to blood, pancreatic, thyroid and colon cancer to even dementia.
Other Kremlin insiders have claimed Putin “has no more than two to three years to stay alive” due to a “severe form of rapidly progressing cancer,” further corroborating the claims made by both Lord Richard Dannatt and the recently leaked spy emails.
Vladimir Putin's Hands Are Turning 'Black' Following Reports The Russian Leader Is Suffering From Parkinson's Disease & Cancer
^ Oh, this again. :smileylaughing: I've also noticed more 'atrocity' type porn recently. Wanna know what that really means? The war isn't going as well for US/Ukr as they would like you to think. Sorry.
Let us pray for his early and painful demise.
Yes, the victorious Russian forces are entering Kiev as we speak and have annexed the whole country. Civilians are welcoming Russian soldiers with flowers.Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
No, they're not. The murderous apes are getting their heads kicked in and this whole affair has simply increased the world's loathing of the animals.
Prayers . . . if only they workedQuote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
China’s Xi warns Putin not to use nuclear arms in Ukraine
TAIPEI — Chinese leader Xi Jinping made his most direct criticism yet of Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine on Friday, warning the Russian president not to resort to nuclear weapons and calling on visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to push for peace talks.
Xi’s warning comes just over a month after Putin threatened Ukraine with a nuclear attack, a sign of how far Ukrainian forces had rocked the Kremlin with their advances against invaders in the East.
The international community, said Xi, should “jointly oppose the use of, or threats to use, nuclear weapons,” according to a statement carried by Xinhua, China’s state news agency. The world should also “advocate that nuclear weapons cannot be used, a nuclear war cannot be waged, in order to prevent a nuclear crisis” in Europe or Asia, Xi added.
The Chinese leader, who just weeks ago secured a norm-breaking third term in office, asked Germany and Europe to “play an important part in calling for peace and facilitating negotiations.”
Xi also called for “improving the humanitarian situation” in the crisis areas especially during the winter.
Still, the Chinese leader, who before the war referred to Putin as his best friend, notably stopped short of asking Russia to withdraw, a key demand for Ukraine and its Western backers. He also made no mention of Putin’s refusal to honor the U.N. agreement on facilitating Ukrainian grain exports, with his premier instead advocating the export of Chinese grain to help ease the food crisis.
MORE China’s Xi warns Putin not to use nuclear arms in Ukraine – POLITICO
Nicely done . . . might as well make money out of it, how very . . . archetypal . . .Quote:
Originally Posted by misskit
..... The presented war has been at variance with the waged war more or less since the Russian intervention began on Feb. 24. This is why Western correspondents, in any case apparently short on guts and integrity, are pleased enough to conform to the Kyiv regime’s ban on coverage from the front lines. By and large, these correspondents report the presented war.
But the gap between the presented war and the waged war now appears to be widening more dramatically.
On one hand, the Ukrainians’ celebrated counteroffensives, launched in August, appear to be exhausted with no significant gains achieved. You also have Russia’s call-up of as many as 300,000 reservists and the appointment of Sergei Surovkin, a no-nonsense general who led Russia’s campaign against the Islamic State in Syria, as the overall commander of the Ukraine operation.
On the other hand you have … you have the midterm elections. Since the summer, as the Democrats’ prospects on Nov. 8 grow ever dimmer, those prosecuting the presented war have grown ever more incautious in their departures from the waged war.
I could be wrong, but this latest phase in the presented war began on Oct. 12, the midterms a month away, when The New York Times quoted Lloyd Austin saying Ukraine’s offensives will continue well into the winter and that Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure have fortified the West’s unified resolve to continue supporting the Kyiv regime.
“I expect that Ukraine will continue to do everything it can throughout the winter to regain its territory and to be effective on the battlefield,” the U.S. defense secretary said after a meeting of NATO officials in Brussels, “and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that they have what’s required to be effective.”
Austin’s comments seem to me to mark an important point of departure from reality. Neither of the above-quoted assertions is true according to all available evidence. Ukraine’s counteroffensives, after its forces pushed through an open door in the northeast, have nothing to show for themselves and are in for a debilitating winter. The West’s resolve, no secret to anyone — even the Times — looks increasingly wobbly.
But here’s the thing about the presented war: What is said in its cause does not have to be factual or in any way true; it simply has to be said over and over again.
PATRICK LAWRENCE: War as Presentation
Luckily everyone outside of Russia can see the bullshit for what it is . . . well, with a few exceptions.Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
Including Patrick Lawrence?Quote:
everyone outside of Russia can see the bullshit for what it is
Patrick Lawrence – Biography.
What if he, and a select few, are seeing the bullshit, and you (et al) are not? Time will tell. :chitown:
Is this really meant for the Putin thread?
That article that you posted is bullshit and yes, unfortunately I saw it. So I guess that means I am seeing the bullshit. More fantasist propaganda from your side.Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
If you are correct, your Ukrainian and foreign mercenaries will win this war via purely military means (paid for by ourselves of course) and eject Russia from what you call Ukraine. But what will be left of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian people? The population has dropped to around 28mm, from 40mm previously, the economy and infrastructure is decimated- and becoming more so. Some prize.
If you are incorrect- as I suspect- what then? This war is not going as well as you numpties are being spoon fed. The Kherson 'offensive' is a disaster. :chitown:
It's called defending your country . . . something chicken-shits wouldn't know anything aboutQuote:
Originally Posted by sabang
So why are the Russians retreating then? Another "goodwill gesture" for sycophants like you to grasp on to?Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
He is full of shit. Most likely about to flounce again as the Ukrainians take back more territory.Quote:
Originally Posted by pickel
:rofl:
Russian Enemies of Kremlin Meet to Plot Violent ‘Elimination’ of Putin
Anti-Russia activists and former Russian lawmakers opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin have been gathering in Poland in recent days to discuss what removing Putin from power would look like nearly nine months into his war in Ukraine.
Some of the scenarios the anti-Russia group discussed include Russians staging a civil war, taking up arms, and killing Putin, according to Euractiv.
A guerrilla fight may be the only way to take down Putin, said opposition activist Viacheslav Maltsev. “The main goal is to physically eliminate Putin,” Maltsev said.
“The fight against terrorists requires terrorists’ methods,” one politician present said, according to Gazeta Wyborcza.
Ilya Ponomarev, a former member of the State Duma and the only Russian lawmaker to vote against annexing Crimea in 2014, arranged the gathering, and has said he is organizing an underground resistance movement in recent months. Some have expressed doubts about whether he actually leads a coalition of rebels, while others have questioned if he has become too radical and violent, as The Daily Beast reported. Allies of opposition leader Alexey Navalny did not participate in the gathering, according to Euractiv.
Regardless of Ponomarev’s claims and tactics, though, the gathering in Poland this weekend is just the latest signal that those opposed to Putin are growing more vocal by the day.
The chatter of a Putin ouster comes as he struggles to make gains in his war in Ukraine, with dissent for his war growing in Russia. Ukrainian forces have been gaining momentum since they began mounting counteroffensives against Russian forces in the south and northeast of Ukraine, forcing Russians to retreat. And in a push to replace those lost on the battlefield, Putin announced a “partial mobilization” for eligible Russian men—but instead of responding with support, hundreds of thousands of Russians responded with a massive exodus from the nation to flee conscription.
Russian officials in St. Petersburg and Moscow have also called for Putin’s ouster in recent months. Elite circles in Russia are also starting to rally behind the idea that Putin needs to leave power, according to a close former aide of Putin’s, his speechwriter, Abbas Gallyamov.
Although various groups interested in Putin losing power have different ideas about how to go about ensuring his downfall, according to former senior members of the U.S. intelligence community, Putin’s ouster very well may be violent and come all of a sudden.
“Nobody’s gonna ask, ‘Hey Vladimir, would you like to leave?’ No. It’s a fucking hammer to the head and he’s dead. Or it’s time to go to the sanatorium,” Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA Moscow chief of station, told The Daily Beast. “They schwack him for it. That’s what they’ll do.”
Even Putin’s closest allies have been criticizing him in recent days in what could be a signal that Putin’s hold on power—and his future as a leader—is disintegrating.
Yevgeniy Prigozhin, or “Putin’s chef,” known for his election interference targeting U.S. elections, and for leading the mercenary Wagner Group, has begun pushing a narrative that he is the one man who can win the war in Ukraine. Just last month, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, another Putin crony, announced on social media he was “very unhappy” with the way the war was progressing, calling Russia’s performance “weak.”
Prigozhin has begun narrating his own thoughts on leadership and how to win the war.
“To become stronger, to win, you need to treat the opponent with respect,” Prigozhin said early this month, according to Reuters. “Don’t underestimate him. Always look for flaws in yourself, and see what’s good and important that can be learned from the experience of the enemy.”
Some of Russia’s closest partners on the world stage, including China and India, have also sought to distance themselves from Russia in recent weeks. Chinese President Xi Jinping called on other countries to "reject the threat of nuclear weapons and advocate against a nuclear war to prevent a crisis on the Eurasian continent,” just as Russia has begun hinting that it may resort to nuclear weapons.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who spoke with Xi last week, said they agreed that Russia would cross a line if it used nuclear weapons.
India’s defense minister, Rajnath Singh, noted last week that “the nuclear option should not be resorted to” when Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, confronted him with his suspicion that Ukraine might use a dirty bomb and try to frame Russia as the culprit behind it.
The Biden administration and western leaders have denounced Russia’s alleged concerns about Ukraine using a dirty bomb and suggested that Putin himself might be planning to use a dirty bomb or try to frame Ukraine.
Resistance is building in Belarus, a close ally of Russia, as well. Belarus’ opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, recently proposed an alliance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to better push against Russia’s goals in the war and in Europe, as The Daily Beast reported.
Russian Enemies of Kremlin Meet to Plot Violent ‘Elimination’ of Putin
Silver linings and all thatQuote:
Originally Posted by misskit
Vlad will be jealous that Sean Penn gave his gong to Vlody
Hollywood actor Sean Penn gives his Oscar to Zelensky - BBC News
Onya Seanos
I see at 0.57 that Vlody has a nice collection going
Attachment 94811
He has the Su-27 in the identical paint scheme and scale to my one, although I presume his has Oookraeena decals
He also has the Mriya on the left which I would love to have
I don't see the Bushmaster I posted to him on the display but he maybe keeps that one beside his bed
Yes, must be . . . :smile:Quote:
Originally Posted by Looper
If that's what it takes to get some publicity, why not?Quote:
Originally Posted by Looper
Seems like the coward is starting to show his spots.
Quote:
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia next week, an Indonesian government official said Thursday, avoiding a possible confrontation with the United States and its allies over his war in Ukraine.
Russian MFA Sergey Lavrov and other participants in the ASEAN Summit Gala Dinner
Attachment 94930
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnH9TWgOI2k
Well doesn't Puffy's sock puppet look like Mr. Happy. You would think he would be ecstatic about all the Duty Free he can pick up.
Putin is simply a filthy animal and he has been exposed as a bully . . . a losing bullyQuote:
Originally Posted by harrybarracuda
Where do you find these propaganda pieces? He refers to the "Regime" in Kiev instead of legitimate govt which tells you what side he is on. Then his poor assumption of the mid terms. "The Ukrainian forces have nothing since they pushed through an "open door" in the north East?" Err... Kherzon for starters and the russians now basically pushed over the river. You really are the Russell coight of all things military. I fervently hope you are much more intelligent in real life than your posts on Russia and China suggest. I find it hard to fathom how someone can be so consistently wrong so often. Even a broken watch is right twice a day.Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
It is utterly laughable. He has been making a fool of himself on these topics for ages now. Absolutely clueless and almost always wrong. That article is a laughing stalk today, as every part of it is total horseshit. He is currently avoiding the Ukraine threads in an attempt to avoid humiliation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh Cow
:rofl:
Really want to see you Putler but it takes so long my Putler… HallelujahQuote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
Maybe This is the End from the Doors would be better? :rofl:
^^^ Inexplicably hughie, my answer got transmogrified to another thread. But Patrick Lawrence is a veteran foreign correspondent, an American with residences in both Connecticut and NYC. Hardly a Russian propagandist. I bet you wish he had his money. Bluddy commie.
:chitown:
You made him post some more rubbish propaganda. He is a bonehead.Quote:
Originally Posted by bsnub
Say what?Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
As Moses was counselled, keep taking the tabletsQuote:
Originally Posted by sabang
Made me look mate.Quote:
Originally Posted by sabang
trans·mog·ri·fy
/tranzˈmäɡrəˌfī,tran(t)sˈmäɡrəˌfī/
verb HUMOROUS
past tense: transmogrified; past participle: transmogrified
transform in a surprising or magical manner.
"the cucumbers that were ultimately transmogrified into pickles"
Some coffee time reading. Enjoy.Quote:
Russia’s Road to Economic Ruin
The Long-Term Costs of the Ukraine War Will Be Staggering
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the Russian economy seemed destined for a nosedive. International sanctions threatened to strangle the economy, leading to a plunge in the value of the ruble and Russian financial markets. Everyday Russians appeared poised for privation.
More than eight months into the war, this scenario has not come to pass. Indeed, some data suggest that the opposite is true, and the Russian economy is doing fine. The ruble has strengthened against the dollar, and although Russian GDP has shrunk, the contraction may well be limited to less than three percent in 2022.
Look behind the moderate GDP contraction and inflation figures, however, and it becomes evident that the damage is in fact severe: the Russian economy is destined for a long period of stagnation. The state was already interfering in the private sector before the war. That tendency has become only more pronounced, and it threatens to further stifle innovation and market efficiency. The only way to preserve the viability of the Russian economy is either through major reforms—which are not in the offing—or an institutional disruption similar to the one that occurred with the fall of the Soviet Union.
The misapprehension of what sanctions against Russia would accomplish can be explained in part by unrealistic expectations of what economic measures can do. Simply put, they are not the equivalent of a missile strike. Yes, in the long run, sanctions can weaken the economy and lower GDP. But in the short run, the most one can reasonably hope for is a massive fall in Russia’s imports. It is only natural that the ruble strengthens rather than weakens as the demand for dollars and euros drops. And as the money that would have been spent on imports is redirected towards domestic production, GDP should in fact rise rather than fall. The effect of sanctions on consumption and quality of life take longer to work their way through the economy.
At the beginning of the war, in February and early March, Russians rushed to buy dollars and euros to protect themselves against a potential plunge in the ruble. Over the next eight months, with Russian losses in Ukraine mounting, they bought even more. Normally, this would have caused a significant devaluation of the ruble because when people buy foreign currency, the ruble plunges. Because of sanctions, however, companies that imported goods before the war stopped purchasing currency to finance these imports. As a result, imports fell by 40 percent in the spring. One consequence was that the ruble strengthened against the dollar. In short, it was not that sanctions did not work. On the contrary, their short-term effect on imports was unexpectedly strong. Such a fall in imports was not expected. If Russia’s central bank had anticipated such a massive fall, it would not have had introduced severe restrictions on dollar deposits in March to prevent a collapse in the value of the ruble.
Economic sanctions did, of course, have other immediate effects. Curbing Russia’s access to microelectronics, chips, and semiconductors made production of cars and aircraft almost impossible. From March to August, Russian car manufacturing fell by an astonishing 90 percent, and the drop in aircraft production was similar. The same holds true for the production of weapons, which is understandably a top priority for the government. Expectations that new trade routes through China, Turkey, and other countries that are not part of the sanctions regime would compensate for the loss of Western imports have been proved wrong. The abnormally strong ruble is a signal that back-door import channels are not working. If imports were flowing into Russia through hidden channels, importers would have been buying dollars, sending the ruble down. Without these critical imports, the long-term health of Russia’s high-tech industry is dire.
Even more consequential than Western technology sanctions is the fact that Russia is unmistakably entering a period in which political cronies are solidifying their hold over the private sector. This has been a long time in the making. After the 2008 global financial crisis hit Russia harder than any other G20 country, Russian President Vladimir Putin essentially nationalized large enterprises. In some cases, he placed them under direct government control; in other cases, he placed them under the purview of state banks. To stay in the government’s good graces, these companies have been expected to maintain a surplus of workers on their payrolls. Even enterprises that remained private have in essence been prohibited from firing employees. This did provide the Russian people with economic security—at least for the time being—and that stability is a critical part of Putin’s compact with his constituents. But an economy in which enterprises cannot modernize, restructure, and fire employees to boost profits will stagnate. Not surprisingly, Russia’s GDP growth from 2009 to 2021 averaged 0.8 percent per year, lower than the period in the 1970s and 1980s that preceded the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Even before the war, Russian businesses faced regulations that deprived them of investment. Advanced industries such as energy, transportation, and communication—that is, those that would have benefited the most from foreign technology and foreign investment—faced the greatest restrictions. To survive, companies operating in this space were forced to maintain close ties with government officials and bureaucrats. In exchange, these government protectors ensured that these businesses faced no competition. They outlawed foreign investment, passed laws that put onerous burdens on foreigners doing business in Russia, and opened investigations against companies operating without government protection. The result was that government officials, military generals, and high-ranking bureaucrats—many of them Putin’s friends—became multimillionaires. The living standards of ordinary Russians, in contrast, have not improved in the past decade.
Since the beginning of the war, the government has tightened its grip over the private sector even further. Starting in March, the Kremlin rolled out laws and regulations that give the government the right to shut down businesses, dictate production decisions, and set prices for manufactured goods. The mass mobilization of military recruits that started in September is providing Putin with another cudgel to wield over Russian businesses because to preserve their workforces, company leaders will need to bargain with government officials to ensure that their employees are exempt from conscription.
To be sure, the Russian economy has long operated under a government stranglehold. But Putin’s most recent moves are taking this control to a new level. As the economists Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny have argued, the one thing worse than corruption is decentralized corruption. It’s bad enough when a corrupt central government demands bribes; it is even worse when several different government offices are competing for handouts. Indeed, the high growth rates of Putin’s first decade in office were in part due to how he centralized power in the Kremlin, snuffing out competing predators such as oligarchs operating outside of the government’s fold. The emphasis on creating private armies and regional volunteer battalions for his war against Ukraine, however, is creating new power centers. That means that decentralized corruption will almost certainly resurface in Russia.
That could create a dynamic reminiscent of the 1990s, when Russian business owners relied on private security, mafia ties, and corrupt officials to maintain control of newly privatized enterprises. Criminal gangs employing veterans of the Russian war in Afghanistan offered “protection” to the highest bidder or simply plundered profitable businesses. The mercenary groups that Putin created to fight in Ukraine will play the same role in the future.
Russia could still eke out a victory in Ukraine. It’s unclear what winning would look like; perhaps permanent occupation of a few ruined Ukrainian cities would be packaged as a triumph. Alternatively, Russia could lose the war, an outcome that would make it more likely that Putin would lose power. A new reformist government could take over and withdraw troops, consider reparations, and negotiate a lifting of trade sanctions.
No matter the outcome, however, Russia will emerge from the war with its government exercising authority over the private sector to an extent that is unprecedented anywhere in the world aside from Cuba and North Korea. The Russian government will be omnipresent yet simultaneously not strong enough to protect businesses from mafia groups consisting of demobilized soldiers armed with weapons they acquired during the war. Particularly at first, they will target the most profitable enterprises, both at the national and local level.
For the Russian economy to grow, it will need not only major institutional reforms but also the kind of clean slate that Russia was left with in 1991. The collapse of the Soviet state made institutions of that era irrelevant. A long and painful process of building new institutions, increasing state capacity, and reducing corruption followed—until Putin came to power and eventually dismantled market institutions and built his own system of patronage. The lesson is grim: even if Putin loses power and a successor ushers in significant reforms, it will take at least a decade for Russia to return to the levels of private-sector production and quality of life the country experienced just a year ago. Such are the consequences of a disastrous, misguided war.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russian-federation/russias-road-economic-ruin
A kleptocracy . . . definitely worth admiring for some
November 14, 2022 by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR
Russia strategises with Iran for the long haul in Ukraine
"Ignoring the hype in the US media about White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Kissingerian diplomacy over Ukraine, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, former KGB counterintelligence officer and longstanding associate of President Putin, travelled to Tehran last Wednesday in the equivalent of a knockout punch in geopolitics.
Patrushev called on President Ebrahim Raisi and held detailed discussions with Admiral Ali Shamkhani, the representative of the Supreme leader and secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. The visit marks a defining moment in the Russia-China partnership and plants a signpost on the trajectory of the war in Ukraine.
The Iranian state media quoted Raisi as saying, “The development of the extent and expansion of the scale of war [in Ukraine] causes concern for all countries.” That said, Raisi also remarked that Tehran and Moscow are upgrading relations to a “strategic” level, which is “the most decisive response to the policy of sanctions and destabilisation by the United States and its allies.”
The US State Department reacted swiftly on the very next day with spokesman Ned Price warning that “This is a deepening alliance that the entire world should view as a profound threat… this is a relationship that would have implications, could have implications beyond any single country.” Price said Washington will work with allies to counter Russian-Iranian military ties.
Patrushev’s talks in Tehran touched on highly sensitive issues that prompted President Vladimir Putin to follow up with Raisi on Saturday. The Kremlin readout said the two leaders “discussed a number of current issues on the bilateral agenda with an emphasis on the continued building up of interaction in politics, trade and the economy, including transport and logistics. They agreed to step up contacts between respective Russian and Iranian agencies.”
In this connection, Patrushev’s exceptionally strong support for Iran over the current disturbances in that country must be understood properly. Patrushev stated: “We note the key role of Western secret services in organising mass riots in Iran and the subsequent spread of disinformation about the situation in the country via Persian-language Western media existing under their control. We see this as overt interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.”
Russian security agencies share information with Iranian counterparts on hostile activities of western intelligence agencies. Notably, Patrushev sidestepped Iran’s suspicions regarding involvement of Saudi Arabia. Separately, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also publicly offered to mediate between Tehran and Riyadh.
All this is driving Washington insane. On the one hand, it is not getting anywhere, including at President Biden’s level, to raise the spectre of Iran threat and rally the Arab regimes of the Persian Gulf all over again.
Most recently, Washington resorted to theatrics following up an unsubstantiated report by Wall Street Journal about an imminent Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia in the coming days. The US forces in the West Asian region increased their alert level and Washington vowed to be ready for any eventuality. But, curiously, Riyadh was unmoved and showed no interest in the US offer of protection to ward off threat from Iran.
Clearly, Saudi-Iranian normalisation process, which has been front-loaded with sensitive exchanges on their mutual security concerns, has gained traction neither side gets provoked into knee-jerk reaction.
This paradigm shift works to Russia’s advantage. Alongside its highly strategic oil alliance with Saudi Arabia, Russia is now deepening its strategic partnership with Iran.
The panic in spokesman Price’s remarks suggests that Washington has inferred that the cooperation between the security and defence agencies of Russia and Iran is set to intensify.
What alarms Washington most is that Tehran is adopting a joint strategy with Moscow to go on the offensive and defeat the weaponisation of sanctions by the collective West. Despite decades of sanctions, Iran has built up a world class defence industry on its own steam that will put countries like India or Israel to shame.
Shamkhani underscored the creation of “joint and synergistic institutions to deal with sanctions and the activation of the capacity of international institutions against sanctions and sanctioning countries.” Patrushev concurred by recalling the earlier agreements between the national security agencies of the two countries to chart out the roadmap for strategic cooperation, especially in regard of countering western economic and technological sanctions.
Shamkhani added that Tehran regards the expansion of bilateral and regional cooperation with Russia in the economic field as one of its strategic priorities in the conditions of US sanctions, which both countries are facing. Patrushev responded, “The most important goal of mine and my delegation in traveling to Tehran is to exchange opinions to speed up the implementation of joint projects along with providing dynamic mechanisms to start new activities in the economic, commercial, energy and technology fields.”
Patrushev noted, “Creating synergy in transit capacities, especially the rapid completion of the North-South corridor, is an effective step to improve the quality of bilateral and international economic and commercial cooperation.”
Patrushev and Shamkhani discussed a joint plan by Russia and Iran “to establish a friendship group of defenders of the United Nations Charter” comprising countries that bear the brunt of illegal western sanctions.
With regard to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Shamkhani said the two countries should “intelligently use the exchangeable capacities” of the member countries. He said the danger of terrorism and extremism continues to threaten the security of the region and stressed the need to increase regional and international cooperation.
Patrushev’s visit to Tehran was scheduled in the run-up to the conference on Afghanistan being hosted by Moscow on November 16. Iran and Russia have common concerns over Afghanistan. They are concerned over the western attempts to (re)fuel the civil war in Afghanistan.
In a recent op-Ed in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov alleged that Britain is financing a so-called “Afghan resistance” against the Taliban (which is reportedly operating out of Panjshir.) Kabulov wrote that the US is baiting two Central Asian states by offering them helicopters and aircraft in lieu of cooperation in covert activities against the Taliban.
Kabulov made a sensational disclosure that the US is blackmailing the Taliban leaders by threatening them with a drone attack unless they broke off contacts with Russia and China. He said, specifically, that the US and Britain are demanding that Kabul should refrain from restricting the activities of Afghanistan-based Uyghur terrorists.
Interestingly, Moscow is exploring the creation of a compact group of five regional states who are stakeholders in Afghanistan’s stabilisation and could work together. Kabulov mentioned Iran, Pakistan, India and China as Russia’s partners.
Iran is a “force multiplier” for Russia in a way no other country — except China, perhaps — can be in the present difficult conditions of sanctions. Patrushev’s visit to Tehran at the present juncture, on the day after the midterms in the US, can only mean that the Kremlin has seen through the Biden administration’s dissimulation of peacemaking in Ukraine to actually derail the momentum of the Russian mobilisation and creation of new defence lines in the Kherson-Zaporozhya-Donbass direction.
Indeed, it is no secret that the Americans are literally scratching the bottom of the barrel to deliver weapons to Ukraine as their inventory is drying up and several months or a few years are needed to replenish depleted stocks. (here, here ,here and here)
Suffice to say, from the geopolitical angle, Patrushev’s talks in Tehran — and Putin’s call soon after with Raisi — have messaged in no unmistaken terms that Russia is strategising for the long haul in Ukraine. "
https://www.indianpunchline.com/russ...ul-in-ukraine/
13 Nov, 2022 11:22 HomeBusiness News
Russia seeks SWIFT reconnection for grain exports
The deputy finance minister suggests removing obstacles to agricultural trade, amid global food shortages
"Russia wants its main agricultural lender Rosselkhozbank to be reconnected to the SWIFT financial network, in order to free up grain and fertilizer exports, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said on Saturday.
“This is not the first time we are discussing this because, from my perspective, reconnecting Rosselkhozbank, which provides the majority of agricultural transactions, is a key issue… We have discussed this issue and received assurances again from the UN representatives that they also consider this issue to be vital,” Vershinin told reporters.
His comments follow a meeting with senior UN officials on Friday, addressing the deal guaranteeing safe passage to Ukraine’s grain exports via the Black Sea. Under the pact, brokered in July by the UN and Türkiye, Russia sought a sanctions reprieve for its own agricultural trade, but has since voiced discontent with UN efforts to lift Western restrictions affecting the sector.
While the sanctions do not directly target Russia’s agriculture, they affect payments, insurance and shipping. Many Russian banks were disconnected from the SWIFT financial messaging system earlier this year, making it difficult to carry out direct settlements for exports.
According to Vershinin, one way to ease the problem would be to open correspondent accounts in foreign banks, such as Citibank and JPMorgan, to facilitate payments for Russian exports.
“This option, if anything, can only be temporary, because the real solution is a full reconnection to the SWIFT financial messaging system of Rosselkhozbank,” he stressed, adding that the issue needs to be resolved before the grain deal expires on November 19.
Vershinin noted that Moscow has not yet agreed to extend its participation in the deal. Previously, a number of top Russian top officials warned that the country could choose to exit the agreement, if the UN does not fulfil its pledges regarding Russian exports."
Russia seeks SWIFT reconnection for grain exports — RT Business News
Who gives a flying fuck about Iran?Quote:
Originally Posted by OhOh
It's a toilet run by a bunch of lunatics who murder women for not covering their hair.
What sort of an arsehole would give any credibility to a shithole like .....
Ah, I'll just stop there.