FAUST Gounod | Alagna-Mula-Gay--Altinoglu | Bastille 2011 https://t.co/8hN3QgMyZJ via @YouTube— Mike Nova (@mikenov) May 8, 2017
MOSCOW — A takeout sushi place offered a Victory Day roll, covered in black and orange roe. Superstores stocked balloons, coffee mugs, T-shirts and flip flops, all decorated in orange and black.
Orange and black - once the colors of the Soviet World War II service medal, now the hues of Russian patriotism - adorned the lapels of TV talk-show hosts, the home pages of news sites and billboards urging people to join Tuesday's celebration of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
The Soviet Union lost more than 20 million people in World War II and bore the brunt of the fighting in Europe between 1941 and 1944. Pretty much everyone in Russia has an ancestor who fought or died as a result of the war. And some Russians are turned off by the way the holiday is taking on aspects of a great, orange-and-black celebration.
"This was always a holiday with tears in your eyes, but now the tears are gone, and what's left is naked fun, although there's no reason to have fun with this," journalist and historian Nikolai Svanidze said in a recent interview with the independent TV Rain news site.
But getting people to rally around the orange and black is something that comes straight from the top. The Soviet victory in World War II - called the Great Patriotic War here - is central to Russian President Vladimir Putin's effort to portray his regime as the logical outcome of the country's history.
In the Kremlin's view, saving the world from fascism was not just the Soviet Union's greatest achievement. It also provided the basis for post-Cold War Russia's return as a great world power, as reestablished by Putin, a point underscored by the nuclear missiles that will rumble across Red Square on Tuesday morning and by tanks and other military hardware in parades across Russia.
"War is one of the things that legitimize the Putin regime: It names itself the inheritor of the victory that is sacred for all Russians, and therefore, the government is above all criticism," said Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior associate at Carnegie Moscow Center. "If you criticize the government, you are criticizing Russia."
What some in the outside world may describe as Russian adventurism in Syria, occupation in Crimea and interference in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin and its news outlets portray as Russia's continuing effort to protect the world from the forces of chaos and fascism. In this view, criticism of Russia today is tantamount to criticizing the Soviet Union for saving the world from evil.
"Over recent years, history has become a target for the large-scale information campaign unleashed against our country and aiming to contain it and weaken its authority on the international stage," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said at a recent Kremlin meeting.
Soviet leaders also used Victory Day to justify communist rule. They had to leave out some of the ugly parts of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's history, such as the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact that aided Adolf Hitler at the outset of the war, or the Soviets' brutal subjugation of Eastern Europe after the Nazi surrender.
As the communist grip on power began slipping in the late 1980s, those omissions were exposed as Red whitewashing. Under Putin, mentioning Stalin's errors or excesses amounts to "attempts to paint with the same brush Nazi Germany, the aggressor country, and the Soviet Union, whose people bore the brunt of the war and who freed Europe from the fascist plague," as Karasin put it.
The result has been a recent spate of state-subsidized movies that emphasize the heroism of Soviet soldiers and play loose with the facts. But who needs facts? "The facts themselves don't mean too much," wrote Russia's culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky. "If you love your motherland, your people, history, what you will be writing will always be positive."
Being seen as the architect of military victory works wonders for popularity ratings. Putin's hasn't dropped below 80 percent since he annexed Crimea in March 2014. A poll in March 2016 suggested that 71 percent of Russians believe that "whichever mistakes and vices can be attributed to Stalin, the most important thing is that under his leadership, the nation emerged the victor in the Great Patriotic War."
That attitude might have informed the design of a children's version of the World War II-era uniform worn by Stalin's notorious NKVD secret police, which was on sale until a few days ago, when an uproar on the Russian Internet apparently drove it off the market.
Another sign of the patriotic commercialization of Victory Day is the company that, for no more than $20 a pop, can turn a picture of your parent or grandparent or great-grandparent whose life was touched by World War II into a tasteful poster, decorated in orange and black.
These are for the march of the "Immortal Regiment," something that started as a grass-roots effort to remember veterans and those who died in the war. Citizens carried pictures of their loved ones and shared their stories, without the patriotic hoopla.
But the event has been appropriated by Putin's government, and big organized marches are as much a part of the official celebration as tanks and nuclear missiles, along with the fireworks that will light up the skies over Moscow on Tuesday.
Boris Vishnevsky, a member of the St. Petersburg city legislature, recently lamented about how personal symbols of commemoration have been turned into symbols "of state patriotism, not so much of the memory of the war, but of loyalty to the state and the current political course."
| Just Security: The Early Edition: May 8, 2017 | ||
Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Heres todays news. TRUMP-RUSSIA INVESTIGATION Former acting attorney general Sally Yates will testify before a Senate subcommittee today about her discussions with the White House in January regarding former national security adviser Michael Flynn in which she warned officials that statements made by Vice President Pence and others about Flynns interactions with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. were inaccurate and that this could expose Flynn to potential manipulation by the Russians, Devlin Barrett and Sari Horwitz report at the Washington Post. Former director of national intelligence James Clapper will also testify today in the first public testimony by Democratic Obama administration officials in the Senate Judiciary committees investigation into potential Russian interference in the presidential election. Patricia Zengerle reports at Reuters. The Congressional investigations into Trump-Russia ties could continue into next years midterm election season if their sluggish start is anything to go by, write Martin Matishak and Austin Wright at POLITICO. AFGHANISTAN The Islamic States leader in Afghanistan Sheikh Abdul Hasib was killed by U.S. forces in a joint raid with Afghan soldiers in the country’s eastern Nangarhar province, Jessica Donati reports at the Wall Street Journal. Afghan forces are entering numerous villages in eastern Afghanistan for the first time in many months, capitalizing on the death of Hasib in an operation on Apr. 26 during which two U.S. Army Rangers were killed as a result of small arms fire, Pam Constable and Sharif Walid report at the Washington Post. Thousands of civilians were reportedly forced to flee when the Taliban captured a district in northern Afghanistan over the weekend, Ehsan Popalzai and Jay Croft report at CNN. Pakistan said it killed 50 Afghan border troops in clashes Friday, while Afghan officials said the death toll resulting from the fighting in southern Kandahar province was actually two, as what Pamela Constable at the Washington Post calls the hair-trigger state of relations between the neighbors persists despite recent diplomatic efforts by Pakistan. A joint geological survey of the villages along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has been started by Pakistan and Afghanistan following the deadly clashes last week, the AP reports. The U.S. is re-escalating in Afghanistan, but will Surge 2.0 be consequential, relevant and sustainable? Or will it be another futile chapter in an unwinnable war? Douglas Wissing explains why the war in Afghanistan cannot be won at POLITICO MAGAZINE. SYRIA The U.S. will carefully examine the proposed de-escalation zones in Syria, but the devils in the details and there is still a lot that needs to be worked out, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said today, Phil Stewart reporting at Reuters. The Syrian government will keep to the terms of Russias de-escalation zones plan as long as the rebels do, too, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said today, Reuters reporting. The KOREAN PENINSULA A plan to boost spending on the U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region by $8 billion over the next five years was endorsed by the Pentagon which views the plan as another way to show the U.S. commitment in the region in the face of an increasingly fragile situation on the Korean Peninsula, writes Gordon Lubold at the Wall Street Journal. A fourth American was detained by North Korean officials for committing hostile acts, North Korean media reported yesterday, Jonathan Cheng reporting at the Wall Street Journal. How does North Korea pay for its nuclear tests? The spree of attempted and actual online bank heists tracing back to Pyongyang accompanying the recent escalation of missile tests may indicate that cyber crooks are funding Kim Jong-uns nukes, writes Kevin Poulsen at The Daily Beast. ISRAEL and PALESTINE President Trump came under increased pressure from the Israeli government to stand by pledges he made during his election campaign including moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem yesterday, days before he embarks on his trip to the Middle East, Jay Solomon writes at the Wall Street Journal. Hamas declared Ismail Haniyeh as its new leader Saturday days after former leader Khaled Meshaal released a revised set of principles that softened the groups stance on Israel, Rory Jones and Abu Bakr Bashir report at the Wall Street Journal. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FOREIGN POLICY The Trump administration has yet to affirm a planned arms-sales package to Taiwan, leaving lawmakers, officials and experts worrying that the president is about to break from almost four decades of commitment toward helping Taiwan provide for its own self-defense against China in another unreciprocated concession to Beijing, writes Josh Rogin at the Washington Post. Dont look to the United States for hope. When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told State Department employees that predicating U.S. foreign policy too heavily on values creates obstacles to the advancement of Americas national interests he sent a message to oppressed people everywhere, Sen. John McCain writes at the New York Times, recalling his time as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. IRAN Iran will hit military bases inside Pakistan if the government fails to confront Sunni militants who carry out cross-border attacks, the head of the Iranian armed forces warned today, Reuters reporting. Irans defense minister would advise against the stupidity of Saudi Arabia attacking or invading Iran as was suggested by Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an interview last week, he said today, warning that doing so would leave nothing in Saudi Arabia except Mecca and Medina, the two holy cities. Nasser Karimi reports at the AP. IRAQ Two Iraqi soldiers were killed when Islamic State militants attacked a base near the northern city of Kirkuk yesterday before U.S.-led forces launched airstrikes to repel the assault, the AP reports. GUANTANAMO BAY The Supreme Court was asked to intervene in the military trial of the man accused of orchestrating the USS Cole bombing using accounts of his torture extracted from declassified documents and an interrogators memoirs, Carol Rosenberg reports at the Miami Herald. President Trump might release detainees currently held at Guantánamo Bay despite legislation that prevents transfer of prisoners, report Carol Rosenberg and Franco Ordonez at the Miami Herald. The MUSLIM BAN Trumps revised travel ban will be tested in a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., today, Carrie Johnson anticipating the arguments at NPR. OTHER DEVELOPMENTS Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov will both attend this weeks meeting of the Arctic Council in Alaska, imbuing the usually unremarkable event with extra significance at a time of increased geopolitical tensions, writes Simon Nixon at the Wall Street Journal. U.S. and Philippine troops began smaller-scale annual joint exercises today, changes to the usual exercises directed by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte who has been taking an antagonistic stance toward the U.S. while increasing security ties with China and Russia, the AP reports. Eighty-two of the almost 300 Chibok schoolgirls taken by Boko Haram in Nigeria three years ago were freed in exchange for as many as six detained militants yesterday, Dionne Searcey reports at the New York Times. The U.N. envoy to Yemen is on a new regional tour to press for the revival of Yemens peace talks, stalled since late last year, Al Arabiya reports. The Colombian government-FARC peace deal seems to have legalized the rebels “thuggery,” and neither the U.N. nor the Santos government seems worried about their failure to turn in their arms, Mary Anastasia OGrady writes at the Wall Street Journal. Read on Just Security » | ||
| Russia News Review: Russia: Hearing May Shed Light on What White House Knew About Flynn | ||
Sally Q. Yates, the former acting attorney general, will give her account of an early crisis in President Trumps White House.  Russia | ||
| Russia, Putin and Putinism: Hearing May Shed Light on What White House Knew About Flynn | ||
Sally Q. Yates, the former acting attorney general, will give her account of an early crisis in President Trumps White House. | ||
| Russia and US Presidential Elections of 2016 - Google News: Macron hackers linked to Russian-affiliated group behind US attack - The Guardian | ||
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| Putin - Google News: Putin Holds Out Olive Branch to France's Macron - U.S. News & World Report | ||
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| Russia - Google News: Hill investigations on Russia run into hurdles - CNN | ||
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| Facebook Aims to Tackle Fake News Ahead of U.K. Election | ||
A stand at F8, Facebooks developer conference, in San Jose, Calif., last month. The company recently said it would hire 3,000 more moderators to scan for inappropriate or offensive content, especially in the live videos it is encouraging people to broadcast.  | ||
| Stars and Stripes: Putin uses the Soviet defeat of Hitler to show why Russia needs him today | ||
A takeout sushi place offered a Victory Day roll, covered in black and orange roe. Superstores stocked balloons, coffee mugs, T-shirts and flip flops, all decorated in orange and black.       |
A flag reading "Our President Putin" is seen in an office in Nashville, Tenn.
KYLE DEAN REINFORD/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Stars and Stripes: Putin uses the Soviet defeat of Hitler to show why Russia needs him today
С Лазарем Лазаревичем Матвеевым, бывшим представителем КГБ СССР в ГДР, под руководством которого во второй половине 1980-х годов Владимир Путин работал в Дрездене.
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С Лазарем Лазаревичем Матвеевым, бывшим представителем КГБ СССР в ГДР, под руководством которого во второй половине 1980-х годов Владимир Путин работал в Дрездене.
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| World News Review: Macron Wins French Presidency | ||
Emmanuel Macron was elected president of France in a victory for a political newcomer who campaigned on promises to reform Frances heavily regulated economy and fight a tide of nationalism sweeping the European Union.  | ||
| World News Review: Macron's 'New Deal' for Europe Faces Old German Doubts | ||
Emmanuel Macrons big idea for Europe is to deepen the euro currency union. But to get what he wants he will first have to convince a skeptical Germany.  | ||
| Russia and Ukraine News Review: Macron hackers linked to Russian-affiliated group behind US attack | ||
Reports suggest hackers targeting French president-elects campaign had ties with group linked to Russian military intelligence French election 2017: latest news and reaction The hackers behind a massive and coordinated attack on the campaign of Frances president-elect, Emmanuel Macron, have been linked by a number of cybersecurity research firms to the same Russian-affiliated group blamed for attacking the Democratic party shortly before the US election. New Yorks Flashpoint Intelligence and Tokyo-based Trend Micro have shared intelligence that suggests the activities of the group, known variously as Advanced Persistent Threat 28, Fancy Bear and Pawn Storm, were the latest in a series of attacks aimed at influencing the outcome of elections. The group had ties with the GRU, the Russian military intelligence directorate. Continue reading... | ||
| Merkel's conservatives aim for state-level tie-up with FDP, Greens | ||
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives hope to form a coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens in Schleswig-Holstein after a decisive election victory in the north German state on Sunday.     | ||
| Markets and Business News Review: : Emmanuel Macron: 5 things to know about Frances new president | ||
Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has handily beaten rival Marine Le Pen in the race to become Frances next president.      | ||
| Markets and Business News Review: Will Puerto Rico's Bankruptcy Filing Destroy Your Retirement? | ||
Well, it finally happened. After a decade-long recession and years of plummeting bond prices culminating in notable defaults, Puerto Rico has finally been allowed to file for its own version of bankruptcy. And that move is going to impact U.S. investors and retirees alike. On Wednesday, May 3, Puerto Rico initiated the single largest bankruptcy filing the municipal bond market has ever seen. Though it's presently unclear just how much of the island's more than $70 billion of debt will be covered by the filing, so far it includes the $18 billion owed by Puerto Rico's central government -- namely, general obligation bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the island's constitution.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
Continue reading | ||
| Russia | The Guardian: Macron hackers linked to Russian-affiliated group behind US attack | ||
Cybersecurity firms think group with ties to Russian intelligence was behind leak of emails and other documents belonging to French election winners campaign team French election 2017: latest news and reaction The hackers behind a massive and coordinated attack on the campaign of Frances president-elect, Emmanuel Macron, have been linked by a number of cybersecurity research firms to the same Russian-affiliated group blamed for attacking the Democratic party shortly before the US election. Tens of thousands of internal emails and other documents were released online overnight on Friday as the midnight deadline to halt campaigning in the French election passed. Continue reading... | ||
| News: Syria rebels evacuated from Damascus as government comes closer to recapturing whole of capital | ||
| Nothing to see here, Philippines tells U.N. Human Rights Council | ||
GENEVA (Reuters) - There has been no new wave of killings prompted by the Philippines' war on drugs, and reports to the contrary are "alternative facts", an ally of President Rodrigo Duterte told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday.    | ||
| Reuters: World News: Nothing to see here, Philippines tells U.N. Human Rights Council | ||
GENEVA (Reuters) - There has been no new wave of killings prompted by the Philippines' war on drugs, and reports to the contrary are "alternative facts", an ally of President Rodrigo Duterte told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday. | ||
| World: German factory orders rise for second straight month | ||
German factory orders rose 1 percent in March after a solid 3.5 percent increase in February, in a sign of strength from Europes largest economy. | ||
| Markets and Business News Review: Why wealthy Chinese are lining up to pay $500k for U.S. visas | ||
The Kushner family wants a piece of the huge tide of money that's been flowing out of China.  | ||
| The National Interest: Forget About Russia's S-300 or S-400 (The S-500 Is Coming) | ||
Sebastien Roblin Security, Europe  And America should be worried.Moscow has long been preoccupied with the threat posed by NATO airpower, and has fielded a variety of potent long-range surface-to-air missile systems over the years to counter it, including at the high end the S-300 (SA-10 and SA-12) and S-400 (SA-21). But the primary role of its latest design, the Almaz-Antey S-500 Triumfator, isnt taking potshots at frontline fighter planes. Rather, the S-500 marks a new Russian effort to develop its own defense shield against cruise and ballistic missile attack.Moscow has claimed the S-500 will enter service in 2016 or 2017 and has offered an impressive-seeming list of its capabilities. Appropriately nicknamed PrometeyPrometheusthe S-500 supposedly will have a maximum vertical altitude of 185 to two hundred kilometers, permitting it to swat down incoming Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and low-orbit satellites in space. The Triumfator would also have a maximum range of six hundred kilometers, even further than the four-hundred-kilometer range of the S-400. Russian Air Force Commander Colonel General Viktor Bondarev claimed the S-500 would be able to engage up to ten missiles at the same time, with a reaction speed of three to four secondscompared to six missiles and nine-second reaction times for the S-400. Like the United States Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), another long-range antiballistic missile weapon, the S-500s upcoming 776N-N and 776N-N1 interceptor missiles are supposed to use hit-to-kill technologythat is, the missile destroys its target through physical impact, rather than relying on a fragmentation warhead. The 776Ns would travel at hypersonic speeds of five to seven kilometers per second, enabling them to intercept opposing hypersonic cruise missiles. Its very impressive-soundingbut Russian defense officials have been cagey about revealing the systems actual performance specifications. While it is claimed testing has begun, the results of those tests remain unknown. Considering the American experience developing the THAAD system, which suffered numerous failures over more than a decade of testing, theres good reason to believe designing an effective ABM system might take a little iteration. Read full article | ||
| Putin personal dictatorship - Google News: Top 5 bad hombres loved by Trump - Salon | ||
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| U.S. reviews Syria safe zones but warns 'devil's in the details' | ||
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday the United States would closely examine proposed de-escalation zones aimed at easing Syria's civil war but warned "the devil's in the details" and that much needed to be worked out.    | ||
| Арктика: источник конфликта или территория сотрудничества? | ||
Во времена повышенной геополитической напряженности встреча Арктического совета, которая пройдет в Фэрбенксе, штат Аляска, с участием госсекретаря США Рекса Тиллерсона и Сергея Лаврова, может иметь масштабные стратегические последствия. | ||
| Макрон избран президентом: по мнению Москвы, "это победа Меркель" | ||
С победой кандидата движения "Вперед!" у Кремля улетучились последние надежды увидеть в качестве французского президента представителя евроскептицизма, совместимого с его видением многополярного мира и желанием ослабить Евросоюз. | ||
| Через пять лет после расправы антикремлевские протесты возобновляются | ||
Субботний протест не представляет серьезной угрозы Путину, у которого высокий уровень поддержки, однако недовольство сигнализирует о возможной угрозе, ведь Кремль готовится до президентских выборов удержать страну в состоянии политической дремоты. | ||
| Trump's revised travel ban faces legal challenges in courtrooms on both coasts - Washington Post | ||
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| Leader of ISIS Branch in Afghanistan Killed in Special Forces Raid - New York Times | ||
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| Afghanistan IS head killed in raid - US and Afghan officials - BBC News | ||
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What's written on the most powerful whiteboard in America? Jake Tapper take a look on this week's State of the Cartoonion
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| Putin and Putinism - News Review: French election a victory for hope, defeat for Trumpism, Putinism - New York Daily News | ||
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| путинизм - Google News: Георгиевская ленточка свастика путинизма, Игорь Эйдман - Экономические известия | ||
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It was the biggest laugh line of the night, but it wasn’t a joke. “We are the only global superpower with the means and the moral compass capable of shaping the world for good,” says U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a line originally delivered at his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing.
As delivered by actor Peter Davison in London’s Vaudeville Theatre on April 24, the line got a big laugh drenched in irony from the primarily British audience. Tillerson is one of the “characters” in a play, All the President’s Men? devised by director Nicolas Kent, based on verbatim testimony from this year’s Trump administration confirmation hearings by the U.S. Senate. Kent, former artistic director at the Tricycle Theatre in London, pioneered this type of documentary theatre — focusing on such issues as detention in Guantanamo Bay, and Britain’s involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The director thinks it’s unlikely the line about American exceptionalism will be greeted the same way in New York City, when the play receives a one-night reading at the Town Hall theater on Broadway on May 11, in a collaboration between London’s National Theatre and the Public Theater in New York. “For an English audience, that [line] comes across as rather curious,” Kent says. “[In America], I think that is generally how people think.”
The play is centered round the senate hearing of four of Trump’s nominees— Tillerson, who is now Secretary of State, Tom Price, who is now Health Secretary, Scott Pruitt, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and current Attorney General Jeff Sessions— and their cross-examination by a committee of senators from both parties. Ellen Burstyn will play Elizabeth Warren in the May 11 reading, Ron Rifkin as Bernie Sanders, Aasif Mandvi as Pruitt and Senator Todd Young, and New Yorker editor David Remnick as Al Franken.
The choice of four male, white candidates, as opposed to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos or Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, was deliberate. “I think they were most representative of the most important areas of policy that the Trump administration would affect people worldwide,” he says. They also were the most precise reflection of the lawmakers asking the questions. “The thing I found most interesting about this was how male, white and old the Senate was,” he says. “What comes across is the complicity between the questioners and the questioned.”
To create the play, Kent had to whittle down around 22 hours of testimony into less than three hours. At points, the London production was slow-moving, as Senate hearings of this kind tend to be, but Kent says the Public Theater’s iteration will be shorter by around 15 minutes. The President himself is something of an elephant in the room; Kent projected selected tweets by the Commander-in-Chief between scenes in London, but suggests he might leave Trump offstage completely in New York.
Instead, center stage in All the President’s Men? is the rigid partisan divide, the evasive answers of the then-nominees, and the alarming conflicts of interests: be it Exxon Mobil’s alleged objections to Russian sanctions under Tillerson’s charge, Sessions’ voting record, Pruitt’s doubts about carbon dioxide affecting climate change and Price’s healthcare stock portfolio. But then again, haven’t these things been dissected to death by the media? Isn’t this old news?
Kent disagrees. This kind of theater acts as a “living newspaper,” he says, in that it has the power to hold people’s fickle attentions and give them a fresh perspective. “As you read a newspaper article, you may stick with it for 10 minutes or quarter of an hour..[verbatim plays] demands some form of participation and it’s effective,” he tells TIME on the phone. “You’re actually sitting down, looking at something, thinking about it in depth, getting a rounded view about it, and you’re seeing it with a number of people who in a way focus your impression of it.”
Unlike a British newspaper at least, Kent strives for impartiality in his verbatim theater. In All The President’s Men? he says he attempted to be as fair to both Republicans and the Democrats as he can be, never cutting to a different answer following a question and working through the testimonies chronologically. But he admits his choices of subject matter reflect his political thinking. “I don’t do Srebenica because I am in favor of genocide. I don’t do Guantanamo because I am in favor of imprisonments indefinitely without trial. So obviously by taking this process, I am saying to some extent this is giving me cause for concern on world affairs,” he says.
This year’s Senate hearings already had a big audience — they were streamed live on various news sites, and many of the exchanges in All the President’s Men? will be familiar to politics fans. One scene where Bernie Sanders grills Price over healthcare has garnered half a million views on YouTube.
Seeing it on stage brought the issues into sharper focus for this U.K.-based audience member. But Kent says he’s hoping for a more electric response across the Atlantic. “This play is for Americans,” he says. “I think they will be shocked.”
Read the whole story
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Iran has warned Pakistan that Tehran would hit militant bases inside the neighboring country if Islamabad does not confront Sunni insurgents who carry out cross-border attacks.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Emmanuel Macron — who is centrist, pro-free trade, and pro-globalization — will be the next president of France. The White House will announce 10 of President Trump’s nominees for the federal courts today. And Emma Watson won the first ever gender-neutral acting award at the MTV Movie Awards for her role in Beauty and the Beast.
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- News Reviews and Opinions: 4/23/2017 - The statistical effects of the October 28 Letter - by Michael Novakhov | Questions to the FBI: "Many good questions could and should al-zo be asked when Mr. Comey testifies in the closed session of the House Intellig
- News Reviews and Opinions: Accidents - 4.14.17: Bodies of 4 men, apparent homicide victims, discovered in Central Islip | abc7ny.com
- News Reviews and Opinions: The Trumputkins, the Trumpumpkins, and "The Tillerson Ultimatum" - by Michael Novakhov | Airmail Special Report on Tillerson's visit to Moscow on 4.11.17 - by Ella Fitzgerald | M.N.: If there is a smoke, there must be a fire... Fire the old crooked firesetter pretending to be a firefighter, B. Assad, and bring in the real, good, honest firefighters to contain the fire and finally to put it out. | Trump warns China on North Korea: Help solve the problem or 'we will' | In Moscow, Tillerson seeks to move Russia away from Syrian alliance: “We want to relieve the suffering of the Syrian people,” he said... | Is Russia Testing Trump? - NYT
- News Reviews and Opinions: “I think what we should do is ask Russia, how could it be, if you have advisers at that airfield, that you didn’t know that the Syrian air force was preparing and executing a mass murder attack with chemical weapons?” McMa
- RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД: "But the real issue surrounding Trump and Russia has nothing to do with collusion between Trump and Russia. Rather, it has to do with the problems Trump will create for Russia and its interests." - Russia'
- News Reviews and Opinions: Rex Tillerson's Complaint: "Lavrov won't dance!" Putin Rex consoles: " Don't you worry, Rexik, baby. Lavrov, go dance, stupid! And whisper something sweet into his dead ears about the sanctions and Crimea!" - Rex Tillerson wins
- News Reviews and Opinions: Lavrov's Response: "My mama done tol' me... A man's a two-face... the big eye..." | ‘Punch Him In The Eye’: Furious Russians Await Tillerson’s Visit Sunday April 9th, 2017 at 6:58 PM - or so Ella sings: Ella Fitzgerald - Blue Skies (High Quality - Remastered)
- News Reviews and Opinions: Vovchick "The Tarantula", why were you so "loud"?!
- Mike Nova: Howl!
- News Reviews and Opinions: The King Trump - by Michael Novakhov
- The U.S. and Global Security Review: Surkov-Pizdobol and The "Pizz-Da!-a-Gate" Theory: The Russian Lessons: Ne Pizdi! PizzDagate theory and false news: Сурков, хорош пиздеть, пиздобол! Твои ослиные уши торчат из этих "Pizz-Da!-gates" на целый километр! ("Иа! Иа!"). И чему только тебя в школе учили, харь! Взрослый мужик, а всё в свои куклы играется, размазал свою пиццу по всей роже и рад, моцарелла как сопли из глаз течёт!
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News Reviews and Opinions: News Reviews and Opinions: 4:33 PM 5/7/2017 - Recent Posts: WATCH: Comey admi...by noreply@blogger.com (Mike Nova)
News Reviews and Opinions: 4:33 PM 5/7/2017 - Recent Posts: WATCH: Comey admi...: WATCH: Comey admits FBI investigating leaks to Giuliani and Trump team Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday,...
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News Reviews and Opinions: News Reviews and Opinions: 4:33 PM 5/7/2017 - Recent Posts: WATCH: Comey admi...by noreply@blogger.com (Mike Nova)
News Reviews and Opinions: 4:33 PM 5/7/2017 - Recent Posts: WATCH: Comey admi...: WATCH: Comey admits FBI investigating leaks to Giuliani and Trump team Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday,...
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News Reviews and Opinions: News Reviews and Opinions: 3:07 PM 5/7/2017 - » In Pictures: French Voters Se...by noreply@blogger.com (Mike Nova)
News Reviews and Opinions: 3:07 PM 5/7/2017 - » In Pictures: French Voters Se...: Top Stories - Google News | Recent Posts | VIDEO NEWS | Classical Music | Links Mike Nova's Shared NewsLinks Revi...
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News Reviews and Opinions: News Reviews and Opinions: 2:46 PM 5/7/2017 - Reporters Barred from China Eve...by noreply@blogger.com (Mike Nova)
News Reviews and Opinions: 2:46 PM 5/7/2017 - Reporters Barred from China Eve...: Reporters Barred from China Event Seeking Investment in Kushner Project by webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters) Sunday May 7 th , 2017 a...
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RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД: 1:55 PM 5/7/2017 - Russia News Review: СМИ: Алексе...: СМИ: Алексей Навальный вылетел в Барселону - Коммерсантъ | В разных странах прошли акции «Бессмертный полк» | News Reviews and Opinions...
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News Reviews and Opinions: "Бессмертный полк" и Российская пропаганда: У Пути...: "Бессмертный полк" прошел в 20 американских городах - YouTube Sunday May 7 th , 2017 at 11:10 AM 1 Share ...
RUSSIA and THE WEST - РОССИЯ и ЗАПАД
News and Opinions - Новости и Мнения: A blog about Russia and her relations with The West
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What's written on the most powerful whiteboard in America? Jake Tapper take a look on this week's State of the Cartoonion
Политические новости, 07:36:30
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Свастика тоже была безобидным графическим символом, пока ее не взяли на вооружение нацисты. А теперь она запрещена во многих странах, в том числе и в Германии.
Так называемая «георгиевская ленточка» — свастика путинизма. К ВОВ она никакого отношения не имеет. Эта ленточка была лишь очередным изобретением путинских пиарщиков, осваивающих казенные бюджеты, информирует еizvestia.com.
А теперь она стала символом агрессии против Украины, аннексии Крыма, интервенции в Сирии, милитаристской пропаганды, разжигающей агрессивную ненависть, жлобское самодовольство и хамскую наглость.
Свастика тоже была безобидным графическим символом, пока ее не взяли на вооружение нацисты. А теперь она запрещена во многих странах, в том числе и в Германии. Возможно, в постпутинской России колорадскую ленточку тоже запретят. В любом случае она станет постыдным напоминанием о временах шовинистического безумия.
Россияне будут стесняться этого символа, как немцы — свастики. Нацепить на свой парадный костюм колорадскую ленточку станет так же неприлично, как налепить на него шлепок коровьего навоза.
В данный момент Вы читаете новость "Георгиевская ленточка — свастика путинизма, — Игорь Эйдман". Вас также, возможно, заинтересуют другие последние новости Украины и мира на <a href="http://eizvestia.com" rel="nofollow">eizvestia.com</a>
Voice of America: US, Philippines Engage in Joint Military Exercises by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The U.S. and the Philippines Monday began a downsized version of their annual joint military exercises, as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has stated he is looking to strengthen ties with China and Russia. This year's maneuvers in the Philippines will focus on disaster response and battling counter-terrorism. Territorial defense operations will be excluded this year. China has claimed almost all of the South China Sea territory, even though several other nations, including the Philippines, have also staked claims to the region. Duterte has taken a softer stance than his predecessor on the territorial disputes with China. Far fewer soldiers on both sides are participating in the joint exercises compared to last year when about 11,500 soldiers took part in the joint venture. Authorities say about 5,400 solders are participating this year.
Voice of America
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Художник Артем Лоскутов отвечает за лозунги на первомайской монстрации в Новосибирске. Фильм Андрея Киселева и Елены Хоревой.
Ссылка на источник - https://www.svoboda.org/a/28471501.html
Ссылка на источник - https://www.svoboda.org/a/28471501.html
France elects a pro-EU, political novice as its new president. Israeli leader's reaction to a Hamas policy paper. Working out the US healthcare bill. Musical festival season is underway.
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International Edition - Voice of America
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NPR News: 05-08-2017 5AM ET
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Hourly News Summary
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OTTAWA -- Canada's spy agency surmised that Soviet agents stole a key volume of William Lyon Mackenzie King's fabled diary -- a theory dissected in a new book about the intrigue surrounding Canada's longest-serving prime minister.
The missing diary volume covered much of the final two months of 1945, a period that included King's visit to Washington to confer with his U.S. and British counterparts about atomic secrets.
Historian Christopher Dummitt sifted through archival records to shed fresh light on the mystery in his newly published book "Unbuttoned: A History of Mackenzie King's Secret Life."
Dummitt, an associate history professor at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., traces the evolution of the official narrative of King's public persona and how the man widely came to be seen as "Weird Willie" due to dalliances with the occult.
King's will seemed to indicate he wanted his candid diaries -- which spanned more than half a century -- destroyed following his death.
After much consideration, his literary executors turned over the detailed volumes to the national archives, and serial release to the public began in 1975. Canadians learned of the seemingly straitlaced leader's fascination with the spirit world and seances with the ghosts of figures ranging from artist Leonardo da Vinci to a number of his dead dogs.
But a series of binders containing King's notes on his seances were later burned by the executors -- a nod to King's wishes for privacy.
In 1969, federal security agents learned of the missing diary volume and decided the matter must be investigated, but little came of it.
A 1984 newspaper story rekindled interest, and a declassified Canadian Security Intelligence Service memo early the following year canvassed several possibilities as to the wayward volume's fate.
Among them: theft of the diary by the Russian intelligence services or their agents to learn what King, Clement Attlee of Britain and Harry Truman, then U.S. president, discussed concerning the atomic bomb and, quite possibly, the unfolding American security efforts to identify Communists within government.
However, if it were the Russians, CSIS reasoned, then why not also take the previous volume dating from the time of Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko's defection in Ottawa?
CSIS thought someone else -- such as a cook, butler or chauffeur -- might have stolen the diary with a mind to sell the contents to the media.
Another possibility was that King, who died in 1950, had destroyed the volume himself given that the Washington discussions involved "the most sensitive of issues at that time, espionage and the atomic bomb," the spy service memo says.
Further muddying the matter were conflicting accounts about whether the volume remained at King's Laurier House residence in Ottawa as late as 1955.
If a Soviet spy made off with the volume, this might be why it has "never surfaced," the CSIS memo notes.
Ultimately, Dummitt suggests a more likely scenario -- possible theft of the volume by archives employee Jean-Louis Daviault, who had been entrusted with photographing the diary.
King's literary executors were alerted in 1955 to the fact Daviault had tried to peddle portions of the diary to a newspaper. He was confronted, but pleaded ignorance and continued working at the archives for many months.
As it happens, Dummitt notes, the very next volume in line to be photographed was the now-lost 1945 one. What if Daviault, now deceased, had squirrelled it away for future schemes?
"It just seems to be quite a coincidence that that's the one missing just at that moment," Dummitt said in an interview.
"Of course, this can only be speculation, guided by a few bits of evidence," he writes in "Unbuttoned."
But Dummitt considers it as well substantiated as any of the Canadian security agency's theories about the diary.
"Until this missing volume of the diary is found (if it ever will be), Mackenzie King still has a few more secrets to reveal."
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Nicole Meyer, sister of senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner, is leading a marketing campaign targeting major Chinese cities for wealthy individuals to invest a combined $150 million in a New Jersey development for the chance to secure U.S. immigration rights.
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A former member of the Russian parliament is gunned down in broad daylight in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. A longtime Russian ambassador to the United Nations drops dead at work. A Russian-backed commander in the breakaway Ukrainian province of Donetsk is blown up in an elevator. A Russian media executive is found dead in his Washington, D.C., hotel room.
What do they have in common? They are among 38 prominent Russians who are victims of unsolved murders or suspicious deaths since the beginning of 2014, according to a list compiled by USA TODAY and British journalist Sarah Hurst, who has done research in Russia.
The list contains 10 high-profile critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, seven diplomats, six associates of Kremlin power brokers who had a falling out — often over corruption — and 13 military or political leaders involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, including commanders of Russian-backed separatist forces. Two are possibly connected to a dossier alleging connections between President Trump's campaign staff and Kremlin officials that was produced by a former British spy and shared with the FBI.
Twelve were shot, stabbed or beaten to death. Six were blown up. Ten died allegedly of natural causes. One died of mysterious head injuries, one reportedly slipped and hit his head in a public bath, one was hanged in his jail cell, and one died after drinking coffee. The cause of six deaths was reported as unknown.
(Photo: USAToday)
Putin has long dealt with opponents harshly. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in March that Putin “has murdered his political opponents and rules like an authoritarian dictator.”
Yet the list of fatalities — 36 men and two women — suggests that Putin’s alleged attacks on his critics and whistle-blowers are more extensive and lethal than previously known. It also raises new concerns about contacts Putin and his lieutenants had with Trump’s campaign staff.
Trump praised Putin in March 2016 as a "strong leader," and in 2015 said “I’d get along great with” the Russian leader. On Feb 6, Trump defended Putin when Bill O’Reilly, then of Fox News, called Putin a killer. "There are a lot of killers," Trump replied. "Do you think our country is so innocent?"
The FBI and Congress are currently investigating contacts between Kremlin officials and Trump's campaign advisers, as part of its investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Leahy made his comment about Putin at a congressional hearing that featured Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian political activist with personal experience of his government's efforts to silence outspoken critics.
"We’ve seen political opposition leaders and activists, whistle-blowers, anti-corruption campaigners and independent journalists lose their lives in one way or another," Kara-Murza told USA TODAY. "Sometimes these are suspicious suicides and plane crashes, really rare and horrible diseases. In many others they are straight murders."
Kara-Murza worked with former deputy prime minister and Putin opponent Boris Nemtsov before Nemtsov was gunned down in Moscow in 2015. Kara-Murza worked until recently with Russian anti-corruption lawyer and political candidate Alexei Navalny, who suffered eye injury Thursday after being attacked with a chemical following his release from jail for leading unsanctioned protests against the Putin government across Russia this spring.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny poses says unknown attackers doused him with green antiseptic April 27 outside a conference in Moscow. Navalny made a documentary about government corruption. (Photo: Evgeny Feldman, AP)
“Sometimes there are near-misses," Kara-Murza testified in March before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.
Kara-Murza said he was the victim of attempted poisonings twice: in May 2015 and this past February.
"Twice in the past two years I have experienced symptoms consistent with poisoning, both times in Moscow," he said in an interview. "Both times, symptoms came on suddenly and out of nowhere. Both times spending weeks in a coma on life support machines. Both times, doctors set my chance of survival at 5%, so I’m very fortunate to be here today. "
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., noted at the hearing the dangers of winding up on the wrong side of politics in Russia. “In our system, if we make a bad decision, we might lose an election and have to work as a paid analyst on TV," he told Kara-Murza. "In your case, people die.”
Rubio and other senators had called on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to meet with members of Russia’s political opposition during his April visit to Moscow, but Tillerson did not have time for a meeting, deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.
Most of the older diplomats on the list were probably victims of poor health, said Boris Zilberman, a Russia analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
“Knowing how diplomats live, going from one cocktail party to the next and not to the gym in between, it finally catches up to you,” Zilberman said.
That could apply to Vitaly Churkin, 64, the Russian ambassador to the U.N., who died on Feb. 20 in New York of an apparent heart attack. Others, like Petr Polshikov, 56, a chief adviser to the Latin America department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, found dead with a gunshot wound in his Moscow home on Dec. 20, require further investigation, Zilberman said.
“There’s almost a fever on the Russia story,” Zilberman said. “Some of it is substantial. It’s almost like there’s something nefarious behind every piece of news. Sometimes there is. ... They tend to clean up their messes this way.”
Many of the recent deaths raise suspicions because a string of Putin critics have died in obvious murders years earlier. They include:
• Nemtsov, who was shot to death while walking after dinner with his girlfriend in a security zone near the Kremlin. Two Chechen suspects, one a former bodyguard to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, are on trial, but the investigation did not reveal whether anyone ordered the hit.
• Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer who died in prison while investigating the alleged theft of $230 million by Russian government officials. No one was ever charged.
• Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian spy who defected, became a British citizen and was murdered in London in 2006 with radioactive polonium-210 while helping European authorities in a corruption investigation. The "state-sponsored murder" was an effort by the Russian government to send a chilling message to its critics, Peter Clarke, Scotland Yard's former deputy commissioner who led the investigation, told the British Daily Mail on April 17. Two Russian suspects were identified by British authorities, but Russia refused to extradite them, and no one was charged.
• Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist who exposed Russian atrocities during the war in the restive Russian republic of Chechnya. She was gunned down in her Moscow apartment stairway in 2006. Former police officer Dmitry Pavliutchenkov was convicted of ordering surveillance of the journalist but denied killing her. He was sentenced in 2012 to 11 years in prison. Five alleged accomplices were later convicted, including two who were sentenced to life in prison. Pavliutchenkov's promise to identify who ordered the hit never resulted in further charges.
Russian police officers stand next to trace of the body of Boris Nemtsov, a former Russian deputy prime minister and opposition leader, at Red Square with the Kremlin Wall in the background in Moscow on Feb. 28, 2015. (Photo: Pavel Golovkin, AP)
Two of the recent victims, Oleg Erovinkin and Alex Oronov, have been described by Russian analysts as possibly connected to a dossier written by a former British spy about Trump and his campaign staff’s alleged collusion with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
Erovinkin, 61, a general in the Russian spy agency and a close associate of a Putin confidant, was found dead in the back of his car on Dec. 26 in Moscow. The cause of death is unknown.
Oronov, 69, a Ukrainian-born businessman in New York, died under unknown circumstances around March 2, according to Andriy Artemenko, a member of Ukraine's parliament. Oronov had arranged a meeting between Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen; Trump business associate Felix Sater, and Artemenko in January about a peace plan for Ukraine that would benefit Russia. Artemenko alleged that Oronov died because of the peace-plan plot.
The list of recent deaths does not include Matthew Puncher, 46, a British polonium expert in the Litvinenko inquiry, reported to have stabbed himself to death in his home in Oxfordshire after returning from a trip to Russia last May.
Luke Harding chronicled a succession of suspected political murders in his 2016 book, A Very Expensive Poison; the Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and Putin's War with the West. Former KGB officers and defectors described Soviet-era research into poisons used to kill enemies that continued in post-Soviet Russia, Harding wrote. Some substances are so rare and leave so little trace that death can be easily mistaken for a heart attack.
Journalist Hurst, who helped compile the list of deaths, said the recent uptick appears to be a sign of the growing political pressure on Putin and his cronies. “Putin is at the top of a criminal organization (and) there are all these people who have dirt on him,” she said. “It’s not surprising he’s willing to bump people off."
Kara-Murza, who is still recovering from the alleged poisoning, said he has "absolutely no doubt this was an attempt to kill me because of my political activities in the Russian opposition for the last several years, and more specifically because of my active involvement in the campaign in support of the Magnitsky Act," which calls for U.S. sanctions on Russian officials involved in human rights abuses and corruption.
He plans to push for similar laws in other Western countries, and to return to Russia to continue his activism when he is physically stronger.
Since many of the suspicious deaths are related to government corruption or those who exposed it, Kara-Murza urged Congress to block Russians who stole their nation’s wealth from investing in the United States.
"This is not only about money," he said in his Senate testimony. “Much more importantly it is about the message that the U.S. sends to Russia.”
© 2017 WHAS-TV
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WASHINGTON —
A U.S. Senate panel is taking a new look Monday into the extent of Russian meddling in last year's presidential election, even as President Donald Trump continues to dismiss Moscow's interference.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is hearing testimony from Sally Yates, who was briefly acting attorney general, the country's top law enforcement official, in the early days of the Trump administration before the new president fired her.
She had been a key Justice Department official under former president Barack Obama and is expected to answer questions about warnings she gave the incoming administration about discussions that Michael Flynn, the retired Army general Trump had named as his national security adviser, was having with Russia's ambassador to Washington.
Flynn served only 24 days in the key White House post before Trump fired him after U.S. intercepts of Flynn’s conversations with Sergey Kislyak showed that Flynn had lied to Vice President Mike Pence and others about his contacts with the Russian diplomat. Yates feared that as a result of his denial of the contacts, Flynn might be vulnerable to blackmail.
FILE - Then deputy attorney general Sally Yates testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 24, 2015. Yates is among former U.S. officials to testify Monday.
In addition, James Clapper, Obama's director of national intelligence, is expected to testify. He was instrumental in the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia sought to boost Trump's chances of winning by hacking into the computer of the campaign chief for his opponent, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
WikiLeaks’ role
The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks subsequently released thousands of emails in the weeks before the election that showed embarrassing behind-the-scenes Democratic operations aimed at helping Clinton win her party's presidential nomination.
Clinton last week partly blamed her upset loss to Trump on the daily release of the emails just before the November election.
FILE - Then director of national intelligence James Clapper is seen at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill, Feb. 9, 2016, in Washington. Clapper is also expected to testify Monday.
Trump, not wanting to give credence to any election happenstance that might undermine the legitimacy of his victory, continues to downplay the congressional investigations of Russian meddling and a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the country's top law enforcement agency, into whether Trump campaign aides colluded with Russian interests to help him win.
He again last week rejected the official view that Russia hacked into the computer of Clinton campaign chief John Podesta, saying that it "could have been China, could have been a lot of different groups."
In a Twitter comment, Trump said, "The phony Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election."
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