Role of Russia

[angelburst29]

Thanks for the help Niall, on quoting text and reference links. I'm from the "old school" and learning fancy computer stuff takes time and making some mistakes before I "get-it!" Thanks for your patience.

 

[s-kur]

Design a new uniform of Russian Post:

As expected, there are already some that compare the uniforms to the Nazi or Gestapo ones. By the way, they were mouse-grey, not black or dark blue. They were wearing black uniforms only until 1935. Russians do this common mistake because of the Seventeen Moments of Spring iconic mini-series, where actors were wearing black uniforms for more pronounced effect. Btw, highly recommend the mini-series.

Moreower, the presented "new form" was painted from blue to dark via Photoshop or something else.

[...]According to the representative of "Russian Post", this variety of the form was entered in 2011 and only for an administrative board of the company as option of smart regimentals.
In 2011 it was entered for the CEO, his deputies and principals of managements. Then it was abolished. Left it only at the CEO and his deputy on filial development"

So, it seems like joke or foolish propaganda

 

[Jeremy F Kreuz]

Mikhail Epstein in ‘An overview of Russian Philosophy' - http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/rus_thought_overview.html gives a overview of the 12 major philosophical accomplishments of Russian thinkers - IMO it gives a good additional explanation of how Russia under Putin is behaving and trying to change things for the better.

The Significance and Impact of Russian Thought: 12 theses.

1. In the modern epoch, Russia was the first non-Western nation to challenge Eurocentric historical models and cultural canons, such as rationalism, legalism, individualism, and offer an alternative model of civilization (the dispute between Slavophiles and Westernizers). Contemporary multiculturalism goes back to the Russian intellectual search for non-European national identity.

2. The Russian synthesis of philosophy and religion, the phenomenon of "religious philosophy," is unique in the history of thought. Revelation and rationalization, faith and reason were approached as complementary aspects of "integral knowledge." The concept of integrity, or totality, is the seminal Russian contribution to the theory of knowledge. This principle also extends to the ontological dimension, as the axiomatic unity of knowledge and being.

3. Russian philosophy is unique in its devotion to the goals of practical transformation of life and society. Intelligentsia is a characteristically Russian phenomenon: in European philosophy, this term refers to a speculative and contemplative capacity of mind, while in Russia it became the name of a powerful social stratum whose specific task was the implementation of general ideas in reality. Intelligentsia attempts to live and act in accordance with philosophical ideas and impose them on society as a whole.

4. Russian philosophy produced large-scale projects of comprehensive transformation of the world, including such ideas, proclaimed by Solovyov and Fedorov, as "Godmanhood," "total-unity," eschatological transfiguration and the end of history, the restoration of Christian unity, the victory over blind forces of nature, infinite cosmic expansion and the resurrection of dead. Russian philosophy introduced new universal dimensions and criteria into world thought, though the immediate outcome of these projects could have no practical value and even entailed a danger of totalitarianism.

5. Russian philosophy elaborated, with attention to the smallest details, the utopian project of Marxist thought, systematized it as "dialectical and historical materialism," and convincingly demonstrated both the advantages and perils of its practical applications. What remained a speculative, if influential, theory in the Western social sciences, was tested in the practice of Russian communism and proved its unfitness for the improvement of human society: such is the crucial negative lesson of Soviet Marxism.

6. In the USSR, philosophy for the first time in human history became the guiding principle of all economical, political, and cultural activities. The philosophy of dialectical and historical materialism played the role that in traditional societies belongs to mythology and religion. The Soviet ideocratic State was a unique experience in conceptualizing and philosophizing the entirety of reality, as a laboratory for the testing of general concepts. The cherished union of State and philosophy that since Plato's "The Republic" inspired major Western thinkers, including Thomas More and Hegel, was implemented` in Russia - and proved to be the most tyrannical force in history.

7. During the Soviet epoch, philosophy was the most dangerous occupation in Russia, and the overwhelming majority of first-rate thinkers, such as Berdyaev, Shestov, Florensky, Bakhtin, Losev, were persecuted, exterminated, or silenced (exile, death sentence, labor camp, ban on publications, etc.). This persecution testified, as never before in history, to the vitality and validity of philosophical thought for the cause of spiritual liberation. The readiness of a thinker to sacrifice his life and freedom for the sake of his convictions gave a deeper meaning to the very profession of the philosopher.

8. Since Russian thought suffered most severely from totalitarian temptations, it also elaborated philosophical strategy of resistance to totalitarianism. Such trends and schools, as existentialism, dialogism, culturology, Christian liberalism and ecumenism, structuralism, and conceptualism, arose in opposition to Soviet totalitarianism and demonstrated the variety of intellectual methods challenging State ideocracy. Such concepts as "self-constructing personality," "ethics of creativity" (Berdyaev), "dialogue," "carnival," "polyphony" (Bakhtin), "semiosphere," "typology of cultures"(Lotman) "national image of the world"(Gachev) "national repentance and self-limitation" (Solzhenitsyn), provide a wide range of strategies for anti-totalitarian and anti-utopian thinking.

9. In the beginning of the 20th century, Russian thought, inspired by Dostoevsky, was the first to embrace existentialism as a coherent set of new philosophical ideas. Russian philosophy laid a foundation for the criticism of rationalism, objectification, and "essentialism" - the metaphysics of general laws which was indifferent to individuality. Rozanov, Berdyaev and Shestov anticipated major changes in European thought; they expressed existentialist views twenty or thirty years before existentialism became a leading movement in Western philosophy.

10. Russian culturology and structuralism are important contributions to the philosophy of culture and sign systems. In Russia, these schools emphasize the integrity and interrelatedness of all cultural activities and languages and the necessity of dialogue among various cultures. As distinct from American multi-culturalism which stresses plurality and self-identity of cultures, Russian thought is more inclined to a trans-cultural approach: each culture can achieve its identity only in the eyes of another culture.

11. Russian conceptualism is an innovative contribution to post-modernist and post-structuralist thought. By demonstrating the relativity and self-referentiality of all sign-systems, conceptualism criticizes the basic notion of 'reality" as projected by ideological schemes. Conceptualism marks the breakthrough of Russian thought into the post-ideological and post-utopian dimension, the demystification of all authoritative and objectivistic discourses, including those of Marxism and structuralism.

12. Philosophical thought of the post-Stalin epoch, including such movements as structuralism, personalism, culturology, and religious philosophy, has anticipated and stimulated to a large degree the current Russian transition from totalitarianism to democracy. Demystification of ideology, the freedom of personality, the plurality of cultural languages and the interaction of different cultures and religions - these are some of philosophical premises of the contemporary democratic transition.

 

[Jeremy F Kreuz]

beautiful homage to Russia by Andre Vltchek - To be Russian

www.greanvillepost.com/2015/05/10/v-day-russias-perpetual-fight-against-fascism/

To be Russian… By now, ‘Russian’ is not only a nationality; it is a verb. It means: to stand against oppression, against Western imperialism, to be building bridges between the countries that are resisting Western imperialist terror.

A Personal Homage by Andre Vltchek

70 years since the great Victory! 70 years since Soviet people saved the world by smashing Nazism.
Russian servicemen march in formation before a rehearsal for the Victory parade on Moscow's Red Square May 4, 2015. Russia will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two on May 9. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin - RTX1BIMB

Russian servicemen march in formation before a rehearsal for the Victory parade on Moscow’s Red Square May 4, 2015. Russia celebrated the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two on May 9. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin – RTX1BIMB
It is really easy to trick the Russian people. It takes very little to gain their trust; sometimes only a kind smile, a handful of loving words, a few sincerely sounding pledges and promises. Russians can be easily ‘bought’ with kindness. They are very trusting, vulnerable people.
…
When approached with tenderness and sympathy, they soon open their hearts, they share their last piece of bread with the hungry, offer their shirts to those who are cold.Come to a Russian with a pledge of eternal love, devotion even friendship, and chances are that all doors will be opened to you, and defenses let down.

Maybe he or she would one day utter: “Please, never, never betray me.” But no guarantees would be asked for, no written agreements produced, no contracts signed.

Because of this trust and openness, millions, tens of millions of Russians died!

Russians gave everything to the world; they fought for humanity. They opened their hearts and their doors. They fed those who were in dire need, often starving.

At the end they were betrayed, again and again…. And again!

In a spineless world based on individualism, profits, and servility, it is easy, all too easy to betray someone who is kind, someone who gives. Tyrants are rarely betrayed, because loyalty towards them is based on fear, self-preservation, or mercantile self-interest. In the corrupt, cowardly world constructed by the West and by its religions, loyalty is upheld only through terror. (Or self-interest.)

Despite horrible betrayals and the savagery directed at the Russian people throughout history, they never really “learned the lesson”, never perfected Western-style cynicism, and never mastered the art of sacrificing others for their self-interest.

All accords with Russia were broken, whenever it suited invaders. The Scandinavians wiped out countless Russian lives, and so did the Germans, French, Poles, Brits, North Americans and Czechs, to name just a few. Russians never really ‘punished’ anybody, in the Protestant, Anglo-Saxon way. Punishment is mainly puritan, Protestant rubbish; the Russian way of thinking is too quixotic for that.

The West lied to Lenin, to Stalin, to Khrushchev and finally to Gorbachev. The West has been lying to Putin and about Putin.

Betrayed, Russia would go through unimaginable agony, through fire and devastation, through despair. It would bury millions of its sons and daughters. Perhaps no other nation on earth has gone through a terror of such magnitude.

“In a spineless world based on individualism, profits, and servility, it is easy, all too easy to betray someone who is kind, someone who gives…”

Then, suddenly, it would rise from its knees, slowly and frighteningly, showing all its might, its size, determination and strength. Injured and betrayed, but proud and enormously beautiful in its sacred rage, it would lift up its heavy sword, straighten its back, dry its tears, and walk directly towards the enemy.

Russia always fights open battles, fights them honestly. Oceans of blood are spilled, mostly those of the Russian people.

Unlike the West, Russia does not use carpet-bombing, drones or nuclear weapons to kill millions of civilians, in order to secure Victory. It is always men against men. It is tens of thousands of tanks as during the Kursk Battle, or millions of soldiers at Stalingrad.

Nobody could or can defeat Russia, because its wrath, as its love, is great and pure. Russia never really lost. Its injured heart was full of love and poetry even as its mailed fists were smashing the despots, usurpers and mass murderers. It is also because almost all wars that Russia ever fought were just wars – wars for the survival of its people, but also for the survival of all humanity.

It’s now 70 years since the great Victory! Seventy years since the Soviet people saved the world by smashing Nazism. Seventy years since they, almost immediately, joined yet another fight, against Western imperialism and colonialism.

Twenty or perhaps 27 million Soviet people, (1) mainly Russians, lost their lives defending our planet against Hitler’s hordes. Then hundreds of millions of others dedicated their lives to building a much better, and egalitarian world.

Without the Soviet Union, without the Russian people, there would be no freedom, no independence for many Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries. There would be no revolutions possible in Latin America.

This is why the West hated the Soviet Union, and that is why it hates the Russian people. It lost its colonies, it lost its propaganda war, and it lost its monopoly on defining everything under the sun.

Only bigots could repeat the most toxic of Western propaganda lies of comparing Nazi Germany with the Stalinist Soviet Union. But I will write much more on the topic in the near future. Nazism can be only compared to European and North American imperialism, to colonialism. They are both made from the same stuff, and the Soviet Union smashed, defeated, both. [Even though formally capitalist] Russia is now holding the old Soviet banner.

The Western chauvinists and xenophobes are now fighting for control over the planet, even for their own survival. Unless they divide Russia, China and Latin America, they are finished. They know it! Unless they smear all that is pure and optimistic about the nations resisting their monstrous regime, their days are numbered.
Soviet flag over the Reichstag. Iconic image comparable to the Marines raising the flag in Iwo Jima.

Soviet flag over the Reichstag. An iconic image comparable to the Marines raising the flag in Iwo Jima.

On May 9 1945, the entire world changed. Humanity began moving forward, again. Slowly, unevenly, often making terrible blunders, and detours, but forward nevertheless! Colonial shackles began breaking. People on all continents were dreaming again, about true freedom, equality and the brotherhood of men. That beautiful red flag flying from the roof of the Reichstag in Berlin made these dreams possible.

The Soviet people proved that human dignity and freedom are worth any sacrifice. The Victory Ode was written with their blood, in the most generous way, so it could inspire and shape generations to come!

But the greed and nihilism of the West refused to die. Its obsession with controlling and plundering the world reached an unimaginable peak. All the forces of the Empire were mobilized. Light and hope were confronted by darkness and cynicism. Beautiful and pure dreams were antagonized by corruption. In an orgy of dirty tricks and deceptions, the Soviet Union was destroyed.

In one single historical moment, the oppressed of the world lost their most powerful champion.

What followed was complete horror. The Empire began destabilizing one country after another: in Africa, Asia, in the Middle East and even in the former Eastern block. Millions of people died, exposed, unprotected, totally abandoned.

Boris-yeltsin

The Fascist hordes thought that this time they had won. In Moscow, Yeltsin, an alcoholic and lackey of the West, began shooting his own people on the street, and bombing his own Parliament. That was the “democracy” the newspapers in Paris, London and New York wrote about and celebrated almost immediately. This was what the West dreamed about: a weak, destabilized Russia, on its knees, at the mercy of the Empire.

I travelled to Moscow and Siberia. I saw Russian scientists in Novosibirsk selling their libraries in the bitter cold, at metro stations. I saw old war veterans begging, selling their medals. I saw Russian workers starving, their salaries unpaid for months.

Then something happened. Russia refused to stay on its knees. It rapidly detected the lies coming from abroad; it recognized the trap. The Russian people understood that what horrible invasions never achieved, the deceptions and dirty games of the fascist Empire managed to attain in just a few short, dreadful years.

Russia had to rise or die, as always in her history. It rose. Indignant and determined! And as always in the past, when it stood up confronting the evil, it was doing it for its own people, but also for all humanity!

Russia regrouped, during the last decade, under the Russian flag. It is not perfect and not as ‘socialist’ as many of us would like it to be, but there is a great Soviet inertia in Russia’s foreign policy, as there is a great pride and determination to improve the world, to protect the weak.

Seventy years since the Great Victory! This year, Russia is not only celebrating a great anniversary. It is rejoicing over its rebirth.

I am Russian. I was born in Russia, and my mother is half Russian and half Chinese. But even my Chinese part comes from Kazakhstan, from a former Soviet republic. My grandfather, Hussein, was a top ‘commissar’, equivalent to a cabinet minister, an ethnic Chinese, a linguist, a man who died many decades before I was born.

I grew up in Czechoslovakia. My father, a scientist, comes from Europe. Since an early age I lived in New York, but then I hit the road, and never stopped until now. I am an internationalist. But deep inside, I am Russian.

I don’t know whether I qualify to be a Russian. As a kid, I used to have a Soviet passport. My happiest moments in life were when I was a child and my mother took me, every summer, to Prague airport, where I was taken to a plane departing for Leningrad. My grandmother was waiting at the other end.
Andres-grand-parents2

The author’s grandparents.

My grandmother, Elena, was not just some ordinary babushka. She was a fighter, a woman who struggled against the Nazis, who defended her beloved city, her Leningrad.

She dug trenches, confronted German tanks, and was decorated twice. Yet she was the kindest woman I ever met in my life. She taught me how to love poetry and literature.

She told me hundreds of stories, some beautiful, some frightening. Thanks to her, I became a writer, a Russian writer, although I write my fiction exclusively in English and most of my latest films were made in Spanish.

Almost my entire Russian family died there, in Leningrad, during the Siege, decades before I was born.

Every year, during two summer months, my grandmother spoilt me silly. Or I thought she did. Now I understand that for her, it was like a cultural combat, an attempt to inject into me all that was great about Russia.

She saved for ten months, and then when I came to visit her, she took me to the opera houses and the theatres, to the museums and the parks surrounding Leningrad. She cooked delicious food for me. She also took me, at least once a year, to Piskarevskoe Cemetery, where the enormous statue of the Motherland spreads her arms in grief. “Nobody is forgotten and nothing is forgotten”, the golden letters are carved into the granite. 1.5 million died during the Siege of Leningrad, and many are buried there, in countless rows of mass graves.

I grew up. I became a writer and a filmmaker; I circled the globe. But wherever I went, these simple words followed me, were engraved onto my psyche. My grandmother was always with me, too, and so were the city, the sacrifice, and the Victory!

I don’t know whether it objectively makes me a Russian. But I feel and act as one.

To be Russian… By now, ‘Russian’ is not only a nationality; it is a verb. It means: to stand against oppression, against Western imperialism, to be building bridges between the countries that are resisting Western imperialist terror.

And there are many “new Russians” now. Not those from Yeltsin era, not the capitalist buffoon characters! No, the “New Russians” I am talking about are both patriots and internationalists. And some of them have often not a single drop of Russian blood. But they are proudly defending the world, and they are joining forces with Russia, China and Latin America in their determined struggle for a better planet.

I know several great new Russians. Some are my comrades, like renowned Canadian international lawyer, poet, novelist and thinker, Christopher Black. Like Peter Koenig, Swiss economist, who left the World Bank in total disgust, then turned around and openly attacked the establishment. Or like my ‘compa’, Patrice Greanville, a New Yorker/ Chilean/ Argentinean chief editor of the legendary “The Greanville Post”.

These people are working relentlessly, smashing the lies that the Empire is spreading throughout the world: lies about Russia, lies about the Soviet Union, about the Second World War, and about Western imperialism.

For centuries, Russia was stabbed and deceived by outsiders. It was fooled, tricked, ravished.

Many countries that Russia liberated betrayed her in the most vulgar manner. Czechs and Poles desecrated monuments to its soldiers – to those boys who sacrificed their lives for Prague and Warsaw at the end of the Second World War. Eastern Europe opened its doors to NATO and the European Union. Out of pragmatic selfishness, people abandoned beautiful ideals, including Internationalism, and instead joined the oppressors of mankind – the Empire.

The more these countries prostitute themselves, the more bellicosely they are willing to shout Western propaganda slogans, directly insulting and provoking first the Soviet Union, and lately Russia. The pitiful and avaricious lackeys and collaborators with Western imperialism have been, continuously and desperately, searching for at least some moral justification for their betrayal. They have twisted history and invented facts. They unleashed aggression against those who have been defending the usurped and plundered parts of the world.



Nulands-poisoned-cookies-640x359
Neocon Nuland‘s siren’s call: wherever she goes, sordid ugliness follows.



Recently, the West triggered the conflict in Ukraine, where it cynically helped to overthrow the legitimate government in Kiev. (Yes, it was corrupt, but corruption has never alarmed the Washington elites and their associates as they thrive in that kind of brew.) Then, immediately, it began fueling hysterical anti-Russian sentiments. But the more obvious the situation became, the louder were the voices of the anti-Russian pact, in both Western and Eastern Europe.

Ukraine, Syria, and Libya – all these conflicts prove that no logic applies anymore. The West wants to destroy the countries that stand in its way to total global control, and it will try to reach its goals, by any and all means. The propaganda apparatus is always ready to justify any terrorist act committed by North America and Europe. No international legal mechanisms are available to protect the victims.

Only great force can prevent the tragedy. Russia is that force. China is another. That is why the Empire is terrified by the rise of those two great nations.

Yes, this time, after all those centuries of pain and suffering, Russia is not alone. It is standing tall, and it can finally count on its friends. Some of the greatest minds on earth are joining forces with it. Forget about Eastern Europe! The mightiest country on our planet – China – repeats again and again: “China and Russia are each other’s most important strategic partners”. It is clear that they will not allow this plan to go down in flames!

vltchek-Putin-and-Xi-cooperation-640x509

The entirety of the emerging revolutionary Latin America is with Russia and so are dozens of other independent and proud nations worldwide.

In the Middle East and Africa, in South America and many parts of Asia, Russia is increasingly seen as an enormous moral force. Russia is synonymous with hope. Not for those in North America and Europe, but for those who were, for centuries, suffering under their boot.

Whenever I speak publicly, in Eritrea or South Africa, India, China, even Timor-Leste, people want to hear about Russia. What will Russia do next to prevent attacks against Syria or Iran, against Venezuela?

I always say: “Russia is alive and well! And so are its friends, from China to Venezuela and Cuba!”

I never lose hope. I repeat: I sincerely believe that soon we will defeat colonialism and fascism, and build one beautiful society on this scarred but wonderful planet. And it will be created on the ideals we are now commemorating and celebrating.

“The 70th Anniversary of the great Victory! Thank you for saving the world! Congratulations, Russia!”

And then I roll up my sleeves and work, day and night – for Leningrad, for what my grandmother stood for, and for Russia and for humanity—the only nationality that embraces us all.

 

[angelburst29]

The Millennium Report has come out with an article, in a question and answer format, between the author (Alexander CHUIKOV)
and Leonid Petrovich Reshetnikov, Director, Russian Institute of Strategic Studies. An Institute formed by President Vlad Putin.

Reshetnikov gives some interesting insights into foreign policy, how they affect Russia and the efforts taken to defuse the potential for War.

Russian Foreign Intelligence chief: Russia is a target because it’s a cradle of a new world paradigm
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2015/06/russian-foreign-intelligence-chief-russia-is-a-target-because-its-a-cradle-of-a-new-world-paradigm/

Civilization Russia

On the Northern outskirts of Moscow under the watchful guard of soldiers of internal troops stands the former secret Institute of Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). Now the front canopy is adorned with gold letters – Russian Institute of Strategic Studies. But the peaceful name does not fool those in the know – more than two hundred employees here comprise the analytical shield of the Motherland.

You had a serious “cover” – SVR. Why was it suddenly declassified?

– We were really a secret Institute of Foreign Intelligence, specializing in the analysis of available information on the far and near abroad. That is the information that is needed not only by intelligence, but also the structures that shape the foreign policy of the country. Oddly enough, but the administration of the President of Russia did not have such serious analytical centers. Although there were plenty “institutions” that have only a director, a secretary and the wife of the director as an analyst. Presidential Administration lacked serious experts, and intelligence had to share them.

Today our founder is the President of Russia, and all the government research orders are signed by the head of Presidential Administration, Sergey Ivanov.

– In the U.S. the analytical center “Stratfor” and strategic research center RAND Corporation are engaged in similar activity. Who is “cooler”?

– When after moving to the Presidential Administration in April 2009 we created a new statute of the Institute, others were wishing us to follow their example. I then thought, “If you will fund us as much, as the “Stratfor” or the RAND Corporation are funded, then we will give all these foreign research companies a run for their money”. Indeed, Russian analysts are the strongest in the world. Especially the regional specialists, who have fresh open-minded perspectives. I can say this confidently, given my 33 years experience in analytical work, first in the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, and then in the Foreign Intelligence Service.

If tomorrow is war

– In your opinion, how will the events develop in Novorossia in the spring and summer? Will there be a new military campaign?

– Alas, the probability is very high. A year ago the idea of federalization of Ukraine was still alive. But now Kiev only wants war. Only a unitary state. For several reasons. Mainly because ideologically anti-Russian people are at the helm of the country, who are not just subordinate to Washington, but are literally funded by those forces, which hide behind the US government.

– And what does this proverbial “world government” want?

– Easier to say what they don’t need: don’t need a federated Ukraine, it would be a poorly controlled territory. It would be impossible to open military bases, install new air defense systems. And such plans exist. From Lugansk or Kharkov the tactical cruise missiles reach beyond the Urals, where our main forces of nuclear deterrence are located. And with 100% probability they could strike silo-based and mobile-based ballistic missiles on the take-off trajectory. This area is now unreachable to them neither from Poland, nor from Turkey, nor from South-East Asia. This is the main goal. Therefore the USA will fight for Donbass to the last Ukrainian.

– So this is not about the shale gas deposits, which were found on this territory?

– The main strategic task – unitary Ukraine under their complete control for a fight against Russia. And shale gas or arable land – it’s just a nice bonus. A side benefit. Plus a serious blow to our defense from the disruption of the ties between the defense industries of Ukraine and Russia. This is already done.

– What will we see in Ukraine this year?

– A process of decay or even total collapse. Many are just simply hiding in the face of real Nazism. But people who understand that Ukraine and Russia are connected at the base, have not yet said their word. Neither in Odessa, nor in Kharkov, nor in Zaporozhye, nor in Chernigov. This silence is not forever. And the cover of the pot will inevitably blow.

– And how will the relations between Novorossia and the rest of Ukraine develop?

– There is an unlikely scenario of Transnistria. But I don’t believe in it – the territory of the DPR and LPR is significantly larger, millions of people have already got sucked into this war. For now Russia can still persuade the leaders of the militia to a temporary respite and ceasefire. But only “temporary”. We can forget about Novorossia becoming a part of Ukraine. The people of the South-East don’t want to be Ukrainians.

The front without the front line

– In the information flow associated with Ukraine, we forget about the explosive growth of religious extremism in Central Asia…

– This is an extremely dangerous trend for our country. There is a very difficult situation in Tajikistan. The situation is unstable in Kyrgyzstan. But the direction of the first blow could be Turkmenistan, and “AN” wrote about it before. We kind of forget about it a bit, due to the fact that Ashgabat keeps to itself. But this “homestead” may collapse first. Do they have enough forces to defend themselves? Or will we have to intervene in a country, which keeps a fairly remote distance from us. So this section is tough. And not only in connection with the penetration into the region of militants from “Islamic State”. According to recent data, the U.S. and NATO are not going to leave Afghanistan, and will retain their bases there. From a military perspective, five or ten thousand soldiers who remain, can be deployed into a group 50-100 thousand-strong in a month.

This is a part of the overall plan of the encirlclement and pressure on Russia, undertaken by the USA in order to overthrow President Vladimir Putin and split the country. An ordinary layman may certainly not believe that, but people who posses large amounts of information, are well aware of it.

– What are the contours of the split?

– Initially they want to chip at the weakest points. Doesn’t matter what breaks away first: Kaliningrad, the North Caucasus or the Far East. This will be the detonator of the process which may escalate. This idea is not propaganda, it’s real. Such pressure from the West (Ukraine) and South (Central Asia) will only increase. They are trying to seep through the Western gates, but also testing the strength of the Southern,.

– What is our most strategically dangerous section?

– The South is very dangerous. But there are still buffer states – the former Central Asian Soviet republics. While in the West the war is already on the border. Practically on our territory.

The battle is now not between Ukrainians and Russians, but a war of world systems. Some believe that they are “Tse Evropa” (“Are Europe” – Ukr.) and others – Russia. Because our country is not just a territory, it is a separate huge civilization that brought its own world paradigm to the entire world. First of all, of course, the Russian Empire as a model of the Eastern Orthodox civilization. The Bolsheviks destroyed it, but produced a new civilizational idea. Now we are at the gates of the third. And we will see it in 5-6 years.

– So a joint Russian-American fight against terrorism, in particular, with ISIS – is just a fiction?

– Of course. America creates terrorists, feeds them, trains them, and then gives the command to the whole gang: “Go”. They may shoot one “rabid dog” from this pack, but the rest will be incited even harder.

– Leonid Petrovich, you think that the U.S. and American presidents are just tools. Who, then, creates the policies?

– There is a community of some virtually unknown to the society people who not only install American presidents, but determine the rules of the “Big game” for everyone. These are, in particular, transnational financial corporations. But not only them.

A reformatting of the world financial and economic system is taking place. There is an obvious attempt to rethink the entire structure of capitalism, without abandoning it. Foreign policy changes dramatically. The US suddenly dumped Israel – their main ally in the Middle East for the sake of improving relations with Iran. Why is Tehran now more needed and more important than Tel Aviv? Because it is in the zone of the encirclement of Russia. These shadow forces set the task of elilmination of our country as a serious player on the world stage. After all, Russia carries a civilizational alternative to the entire united West.

Moreover, the world is experiencing an explosive growth of anti-American sentiment. Hungary, where the conservative right-wing forces are in power, and the leftists in Greece – diametrically opposite forces – practically came together and revolted against the dictate of the United States on the Old continent. The revolt is boiling in Italy, Austria, France and so on. If Russia can hold on, then processes will surface in Europe, which are detrimental to the forces, aspiring for world domination. And they know it.

– Some European leaders are already crying that the US literally forced them to institute sanctions. Can Europe escape from the “friendly” American embrace?

– Never. America holds it tight on several chains: the Fed’s printing press, a threat of color revolutions and a physical elimination of unwanted politicians.

– Are you exaggerating about the physical elimination?

– Not at all. The US Central Intelligence Agency – is not even an intelligence service in terms of the level of its tasks. The KGB or SVR – are classic intelligence agencies: collecting information and reporting to the leadership of the country. At the CIA these traditional intelligence activities are at the end of the task list. The main ones – are elimination, including physical, of political figures and the organization of coups. And they do it in real time.

After the sinking of the “Kursk” submarine the CIA Director George Tenet paid us a visit from Romania. I was tasked with meeting him at the airport. Tenet did not come out of the plane for a long time, but the ramp was open, and I was able to peak inside of his “Hercules”. It was a flying command post, computer operation center, fully packed with equipment and communication systems, which can track and model the situation around the world. Accompanying delegation – twenty people. We have been flying on regular flights in groups of 2-5 people. As they say, feel the difference.

– Speaking of intelligence. There are talks about the idea of a restoration of the unified Russian intelligence service by combining SVR and FSB. Your thoughts?

– Very negative. If we combine the two intelligence agencies – foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, then from two sources of information for the senior management of the country we will create one. Then that person who sits on this “stream of information” becomes a monopolist. And can manipulate it to achieve some task. Such manipulations of information were visible even to captain Reshetnikov at the KGB. For the President, Tsar or Prime Minister – whatever you call the top official – it is advantageous to have several independent intelligence sources. Otherwise he becomes a hostage of a particular head of agency or the agency itself. This is very dangerous. The authors of this idea think that the merger will make us stronger, but we would create a threat to ourselves.

 

[Yozilla]

Supposedly interestin' stuff happens at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2015. It seems that many representatives (top ones?) from major US companies are there... Some news said that Gazprom and German E.ON, Anglo-Dutch Shell and Austrian OMV have reached an agreement, memorandum - according to official announcement by Sergey KUprianov from Gazprom, to build a North Sream ii under Baltic sea to Germany...

Y

 

[Yozilla]

Some odd speculations were posted on Sputnik about Israel and Russia:

The United States has been Israel's key ally for decades but the time has come for a Middle Eastern realignment, with Russia acting as of Israel's global defender, Peter Weber argues.

...

Such a framework is not a novel idea. According to the senior editor at The Week, Russia and Israel are already warming up to each other and the reasons for the nascent friendship are abundant. Consider Israel's large Russian-speaking population, for example.

From: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150706/1024281416.html#ixzz3fUoVjM9H

 

[Ennio]

The most recent MindMatters show is definitely worth a watch if this subject interests you:

MindMatters: Interview with Gary Lachman: The Return of Holy Russia

The American clairvoyant Edgar Cayce once said, "Through Russia, comes the hope of the world." He spoke those words in the era of Stalin, and it would be another 60 years or so before the end of Communism. But starting in the tumultuous 90s, the great country straddling East and West not only has made a comeback on the world stage - it is seeing a spiritual revival of sorts. Forgotten thinkers are being resurrected in the minds of Russians, new movements are cropping up, and old ones reinvigorated.

While most Westerners may be familiar with Russia's turbulent period of totalitarianism, and the works of a few of its literary giants, there are whole areas of the nation's philosophical, scientific and spiritual inquiry that are largely unknown to many observers. Until now.

This week on MindMatters we are joined by Gary Lachman, author of the new book The Return of Holy Russia: Apocalyptic History, Mystical Awakening, and the Struggle for the Soul of the World - and delve into some of the history, movements and individuals that helped shape the religious, social and cultural DNA of its people. It may come as some surprise to know that many developments in science, as well as religious questions, were being seriously addressed and worked out in Russia shortly before the scourge of revolution squelched, and in may cases destroyed, the lives of the people who dared go where few had gone previously.

Join us as we see how this resurgence of Russian thought isn't an anomaly, but is, perhaps, a kind of synthesis, and integration of its hard-won lessons learned, and part of a long tradition we can all learn from.

 

[Altair]

The most recent MindMatters show is definitely worth a watch if this subject interests you:

MindMatters: Interview with Gary Lachman: The Return of Holy Russia

I finished the book recently and it's pretty spot-on. For a complementary view, I would recommend reading Creating Russophobia: From the Great Religious Schism to Anti-Putin Hysteria by Guy Mettan.

 

[herondancer]

I finished the book recently and it's pretty spot-on. For a complementary view, I would recommend reading Creating Russophobia: From the Great Religious Schism to Anti-Putin Hysteria by Guy Mettan.

Thanks for the recommend. I'll be reading them both. Really enjoyed the interview with Gary, and hope MM has him on again to discuss other books he's written.