Government air raids near Syrian capital kill more than 80by BASSEM MROUE Sunday August 16th, 2015 at 6:35 PM
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BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian airstrikes on a Damascus suburb killed more than 80 people on Sunday in one of the deadliest such raids of the four-year civil war, as fighting escalated in and around President Bashar Assad's seat of power at a time when his overstretched forces have been losing ...
Episode 81: With an estate plan, more of your assets will go to your loved ones rather than the government.
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Turkey and United States said on Sunday that Washington would withdraw its Patriot missile batteries from the country in October after bolstering Ankara's air defences against threats from Syria's civil war.
The rising scandal surrounding Hillary Clinton regarding her apparent misuse of unclassified email during her tenure as Secretary of State gets worse for the Presidential hopeful with each passing day. During the week now ending, I’ve explained in writing and in radio and TV appearances how Americans ought to look at this touchy matter.
Few Americans have ever dealt with Top Secret materials and understandably they are left perplexed by this complicated and mysterious subject. This is not helped by the fact that Clinton backers seek to blow off this scandal as “no big deal.” Obfuscation does not change the fact that the placing of highly classified information on an unclassified and unencrypted network is a very serious matter indeed, not to mention very likely a criminal act to boot.
To aid understanding of how security classification works in the real world of the Intelligence Community, I’m giving you a sample intelligence assessment which I will walk you through to illustrate how this plays out every day in Washington, DC.
Everything I’m presenting you is fake — Zendia for decades was used by the National Security Agency as its preferred made-up country in training exercises — but corresponds exactly to how the IC actually writes “finished” intelligence assessments based on multiple information sources, then classifies them.
Such assessments are authored every day by multiple American intelligence agencies and offices, then shared with senior leadership. The Secretary of State is always a top consumer of such intelligence. Moreover, the State Department has its own in-house intelligence analysis shop, termed the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) to meet their department’s need for additional classified assessments and reporting.
What follows is a short intelligence assessment of the kind U.S. Government officials read every single day, made up by me but adhering to the style and substance of what I used to do at work when I was an IC analyst.
TOPSECRET//SI//TK//NOFORN
(S) Economic, Political Problems for Zendia Ahead
(TS//SI) The Zendian Ambassador to Dirtbagistan believes it is increasingly likely that his country will fail to make its next International Monetary Fund (IMF) payment, scheduled for mid-September. This IMF payment of 475 billion Zendian wangos ($8.4 billion) is beyond his government’s ability to pay, Ambassador Abu Travolta explained to a senior member of his country’s Ministry of Finance (believed to be Deputy Finance Minister Abu Nugent) on 12 August. The ambassador further opined that, in the event of this likely default, the government of Prime Minister Barack Dukakis would not last long, politically. For this reason the Zendian government is going to great lengths to prevent word of the impending IMF default from reaching the media, according to Ambassador Travolta.
(TS//SI//TK) This information was supported by Zendian Deputy Foreign Minister Abu Bon Jovi, who last week informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) that budget constraints, which he expected to get significantly worse in mid-September, meant that MFA payrolls may not be met upon “something big” happening then. This is believed to be a reference to a possible default on Zendia’s IMF loan.
(S//NF) According to U.S. Government information obtained from multiple agencies, Ambassador Travolta is a well-connected member of the ruling party and is close to Prime Minister Dukakis. He has a track record of accurate predictions about forthcoming events in his country.
(FOUO) According to media reports, Ambassador Travolta has been experiencing health problems (NFI) which may indicate his willingness to be unusually frank with fellow members of the Zendian ruling party.
(U) This situation will be updated as soon as additional information becomes available.
TOPSECRET//SI//TK//NOFORN
Off the bat, you’ll notice the report’s overall classification, TOPSECRET//SI//TK//NOFORN, in big and bold letters at the top and bottom, which reflects the highest classification levels of anything incorporated in the assessment. Only people cleared to that level — here a very high one — can read this report.
Like any report, this has a title slug reflecting what it’s about. It’s classified S for SECRET: notice that each paragraph has its classification stated in parentheses at the beginning. This is called “portion marking” by the IC.
The first paragraph is classified TOPSECRET, the highest “official” classification in the U.S. Government, while the addition of SI, meaning Special Intelligence, indicates this is very sensitive stuff. SI is a security caveat that falls under the rubric of Sensitive Compartmented Information or SCI. Not everybody cleared for TOPSECRET also has access to SCI, that’s a separate matter and all SCI materials require special handling to protect them from compromise.
Here, SI indicates that the paragraph is based on information from signals intelligence or SIGINT from NSA — in this case an intercepted phone call between two senior Zendian officials. Although the report never states that this is SIGINT, the kind of information provided plus the SI caveat indicate this is based on NSA reporting, as anybody experienced with intelligence would immediately recognize.
The following paragraph is also based on NSA SIGINT, albeit from a different, even more sensitive source: the TK in its classification stands for TALENT KEYHOLE and indicates that information is derived from foreign communications intercepted by an intelligence satellite. This, again, is a conversation between top Zendian officials, so it’s valuable “horse’s mouth” information. Here two senior bureaucrats seem to corroborate each other, which is an important revelation.
The third paragraph has a lower classification, SECRET, is not based on SIGINT, and has the NOFORN caveat, meaning it cannot be shared with non-Americans (a good deal of NSA SIGINT, even at the TS/SI level, is shared with close foreign partners such as the Anglosphere Five Eyes countries). This paragraph is based on local classified assessments — probably from the US Embassy to Zendia as well as the CIA Station there — that are sent back as regular reports to Washington, DC about the political lay of the land in that country.
The last substantive paragraph isn’t classified at all but has the For Official Use Only marking, meaning it cannot be released to the public without official approval. It’s based on media reports, which represent an important source of information for the IC and the State Department. CIA’s Open Source Center is the IC’s hub for translating foreign media in many languages and, pound for pound, represents the best value in the Intelligence Community, in my opinion. Here, unclassified media (termed Open Source Intelligence or OSINT) by some, is used to round out the assessment, and how the analyst has reached a tentative conclusion based on that media is considered to be FOUO. NFI means No Further Information.
The last line is entirely unclassified, as indicated by the U at the beginning, and states simply that more information will be forthcoming on this issue as the analyst gets it.
That last line is the only part of the assessment that is wholly unclassified and, in theory, could be released to the public without a cumbersome approval process: of course, taken alone it says nothing of interest, which perhaps is the point.
The larger point, however, is that, save that last line, absolutely none of the information in this assessment could be released to the public, or placed on any unclassified information system, by anybody, not even a cabinet secretary, without specific approval from outside agencies. The SIGINT, in particular, is highly sensitive and could only be placed in unclassified channels with an explicit NSA (and probably Director of National Intelligence) go-ahead, which is rare.
Even “talking around” such information, especially in written fashion, is unwise and usually represents a serious security breach, not to mention it may be illegal. For example, this is how a top official who read that Zendian intelligence assessment might proceed:
1. “We’re hearing Zendia will probably default on its IMF loan.” (Marginally acceptable because there’s no attribution, no sources and methods are mentioned, though even so it’s really at least FOUO if it’s a cabinet secretary putting it in an unclassified email.)
2. “We’re getting intel that Zendia will probably default on its IMF loan.” (Unacceptable, a security violation, but not classified higher than SECRET due to lack of source attribution.)
3. “NSA says Zendia will default on its IMF loan in September.” (Absolutely unacceptable in any unclassified format, a compromise of TS//SI sources and methods….call the FBI.)
What exactly happened in the case of Hillary Clinton’s classified emails we don’t know yet, but the FBI is now on the case, and I’m sure the Bureau will eventually find out. What happens after that? It’s too soon to tell ….
Filed under: Counterintelligence, Espionage, USG
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August 16, 2015, 10:32 PM (IDT)
Kuwait authorities issued a gag order Sunday on a police raid that arrested three Kuwaiti terrorist suspects and uncovered a large cache of arms, ammunitions and explosives hidden underground at a farm. Local media disclosed that this was a cell of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hizballah. The cache contained 24 hand grenades, 65 guns, 56 RPGs and 144 kgs of bomb-making material. DEBKAfile: A week earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif came for a visit to assure the Kuwaiti government that Tehran was giving up its terrorist subversion against Gulf regimes.
August 16, 2015, 10:41 PM (IDT)
Three explosives-packed military vehicles driven by ISIS suicide bombers attacked Iraqi troops Sunday outside the town of Falluja west of Baghdad.. DEBKAfile: The Iraqi troops had held back from laying the ISIS-held town to siege or attempting to retake it.
 New York Times |
Obama Administration Warns Beijing About Agents Operating in US
New York Times WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has delivered a warning to Beijing about the presence of Chinese government agents operating secretly in the United States to pressure prominent expatriates — some wanted in China on charges of corruption ... and more » |
Старкова задержали на Донбассе / Скриншот из видео
На видеозаписи Старков в который раз утверждает, что он - действующий офицер, прослужил 19 лет.
"19 лет я прослужил в российской армии, а меня теперь не признают, говорят, что такого не было", - отметил офицер РФ.
Читайте такжеЗадержанный российский майор признался, что военным РФ на Донбассе выплачивают тройной оклад
При этом он подчеркнул, что если отправлять на такие операции, нужно специальных людей отправлять.
"Я не террорист, я не шел сюда кого-то убивать, поэтому при задержании я не стал оказывать сопротивление. Украина нам войну не объявляла, мы тоже. Поэтому прошу все же признать, что я на самом деле военный и помочь отсюда в Россию перевестись", - обратился возмущенный военнослужащий РФ к Путину.
Как сообщал УНИАН со ссылкой на Государственную пограничную службу Украины, около 22.00 25 июля сотрудники Госпогранслужбы на контрольном посту "Березовое" (Донецкая область) задержали "КамАЗ" с боеприпасами. В транспортном средстве, которое заехало с оккупированной территории, были два человека в военной форме.
После задержания грузовика пограничники предварительно выяснили, что один из мужчин -кадровый военнослужащий вооруженных сил РФ в звании "майор", а другой входит в состав незаконных вооруженных формирований.
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Isis militants are reported to have beheaded 12 people and crucified their bodies during the fight for the Libyan city of Sirte.
Celebrity Jury Duty: Trump joining long list of well-known New Yorkers reporting for service
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 ABC News |
Trump outlines immigration specifics
CNN (CNN) Republican frontrunner Donald Trump announced Sunday in a policy paper his plans to reform the U.S. immigration system and secure the southern border, providing his most detailed account yet of how he will handle a key policy issue. Trump, who ... Donald Trump Unveils His Immigration Plan, Calls for End to Birthright ...ABC News Donald Trump Releases Immigration Plan, Including Ending Birthright CitizenshipDaily Caller Donald Trump's immigration plan is out — and here's what's in itMarketWatch The Federalist -Washington Post -Dispatch Times all 36 news articles » |
US, Germany to Pull Patriot Missiles From Turkeyby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The United States is withdrawing its Patriot missile system deployed near Turkey's border with Syria when its mandate expires in October. A joint Turkish and U.S. announcement said Sunday that the air-defense units could be returned to Turkey within a week if the need arises. It said U.S. navy ships would be present in the Mediterranean to support Turkey's defense. The U.S., Germany and the Netherlands all deployed Patriots in early 2013 after Turkey asked its fellow NATO...
Sicilian City to Bury Latest Migrants Who Died at Seaby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
The dozens of migrants who died in the crowded hold of a smuggling boat will be buried in a local cemetery, officials in Catania, Sicily, said Sunday. Deputy Mayor Marco Consoli said the bodies of 49 migrants are expected to arrive Monday in Catania, an Italian port. On Sunday, a Norwegian vessel participating in a European rescue-and-patrol mission in the Mediterranean was bringing the bodies and more than 300 survivors from the boat toward Sicily. The migrants were rescued Saturday...
Sirte Violence Triggers Libya Request for Anti-IS Helpby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The Arab League is set to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday at the request of Libya's internationally recognized government, which is under attack by Islamic State militants. The Tobruk-based government asked for help from regional allies late Saturday, including airstrikes. The request follows dozens of deaths last week in the coastal city of Sirte, where a group that included local residents attacked Islamic State fighters. The militants took over the city in June and have...
Rape case sheds light on elite prep school's alleged sexual tradition: 'Senior Salute'
The businessman leading the Republican presidential field continues to insist Mexico is purposefully sending its criminals to the U.S.
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A spokeswoman for a U.S. Army parachute team says one of two parachutists injured during the Chicago Air & Water Show remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Reuters |
US military cancels hearing for September 11 suspects
Reuters 11, 2001 attacks, a military spokesman said on Sunday, in another setback for the government in its efforts to try the five men being held at Guantanamo. A defense department spokesman said the hearing, originally scheduled for Aug. 24 to Sept. 4, was ... and more » |
 УНИАН |
Задержанный на Украине Владимир Старков просит Владимир Путина признать его военным РФ
Коммерсантъ В интернете появилась видеозапись, на которой россиянин Владимир Старков, задержанный на Украине по подозрению в терроризме, обращается к президенту России Владимиру Путину с просьбой признать его действующим военным вооруженных сил РФ. «Я не боевой офицер, ... Задержанный на Украине Владимир Старков просит президента Путина признать в нем майора российской армииРадиостанция ЭХО МОСКВЫ "Бумажный" офицер обращается к ПутинуРадио Свобода «Российский майор» описал процедуру отправки военных в ДонбассРБК Росбалт.RU -СЕГОДНЯ -УНИАН Все похожие статьи: 191 » |
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На открытии мечети Эрдогана атаковала птица
Вести.Ru Президент Турции Реджеп Эрдоган был атакован птицей. ЧП произошло на открытии мечети, передает канал "Россия 24". Планировалось, что на торжественной церемонии турецкий лидер выпустит на волю голубей и куропаток. Однако птицы отказались покидать клетку, поэтому ... Турецкого президента на открытии мечети атаковала куропаткаМосковский комсомолец На президента Турции Эрдогана напала куропаткаКомсомольская Правда в Украине Бесстрашная птица захватила голову президента ТурцииТелеканал РЕН ТВ Говорит Москва -Новости туризма Турции -Сайт города Горловка Все похожие статьи: 41 » |
 Комсомольская правда |
Главарь ИГИЛ держит американского волонтера в сексуальном рабстве
Комсомольская правда Семья американской заложницы Кайлы Джин Мюллер получила подтверждение от ФБР о том, что их дочь жива. Ранее сообщалось, о том что пленная американка погибла в результате нападения иорданской авиации на окраине сирийского города Ракки. Это сообщение "Исламское ... СМИ: Главарь «Исламского государства» изнасиловал американскую заложницуBFM.Ru СМИ: лидер ИГ изнасиловал американскую заложницуГазета.Ru Лидер «ИГ» держал американку в качестве секс-рабыни Век - ежедневная газета NEWSru.com-РЫБИНСКonLine Все похожие статьи: 66 » |
Putin Will Launch New Attacks as Ukrainian Independence Day Approaches, Portnikov Warnsby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 15 – Nine days from now Ukrainians will mark their Independence Day, and during that period, Vladimir Putin is certain to be especially aggressive in their country given the Kremlin leader’s desire to punish Ukrainians for an action that constituted the effective death of the Russian imperial project, according to Vitaly Portnikov.
Putin “will do everything possible” to spoil the holiday, and “of course, [his] bandits very much want that as many Ukrainians as possible won’t live to see it, in particular those who are defending Ukraine. This is the classic logic of criminals: we simply are its witnesses” (rus.newsru.ua/columnists/14Aug2015/record.html).
For the Russian leader, “Ukraine’s independence day is a special holiday.” It killed off any chance for “the re-incarnation” of the Russian empire in any form “feudal, Bolshevik, or Putinist.” Indeed, Portnikov argues, “the independence of Ukraine is a guarantee” that sooner or later Moscow will have to give up its imperial projects.
Other Ukrainians are warning of more Russian attacks in the run-up to their country’s independence day. Pavel Zhebrivsky, the chairman of the Donetsk oblast military-civil administration, says that “Ukraine must be prepared for an attack of the militants on August 24 (nr2.ru/video/ZHebrivskiy-Den-nezavisimosti-Ukraine-sakralnyy-dlya-Putina-VIDEO-103908.html).
“For [Putin], an independent Ukraine is something anomalous,” and consequently, he is especially exercised as its independence day approaches. Last year, Zhebrivsky recalls, Putin ordered the attacks at Ilovaysk, “and in this year” already there has been “an increase in shelling” attacks.
A confirmation of this is provided by Ukrainian officials who report that yesterday the pro-Moscow militants in the Donbas established “a new record” in terms of the number of shells fired against Ukrainian positions. See nr2.ru/hots/Vojna_na_Donbasse/Boeviki-ustanovili-novyy-rekord-po-kolichestvu-obstrelov-sil-ATO-103904.html.
Putin clearly wants to undermine the spirit of Ukraine by inflicting defeats, staging provocations, or doing things like parading Ukrainian prisoners in Russian-controlled areas of the Donbas on August 24 as has just been announced (nr2.ru/News/Ukraine_and_Europe/Kreml-dal-zadanie-boevikam-provesti-24-avgusta-parad-plennyh-v-Donecke-103903.html).
Zhebrivsky expressed his conviction that Putin would not succeed: “today,” he said, “the Ukrainian army is already not what it was a year ago.” But “we must be prepared” for a new round of attacks in the coming days, adding “if you want peace, you must prepare for war.”
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Soviets Only Censored Reality; Putin Creates an Alternative One, Ikhlov Says by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 15 – Many people assume that Vladimir Putin is simply restoring the Soviet propaganda system, but that is not the case, Yevgeny Ikhlov argues. Instead, and in contrast to the Soviets, the current Kremlin leader is not simply censoring reality but using the media to create an alternative reality, one in which appearances are more important than reality.
The imposition of the idea that Russia is engaged in “a virtual war with the West” has become possible, the Moscow commentator says, because of “the growing might of state propaganda,” on the one hand, and the attachment of Russians to television, on the other (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=55CEC2E60C9E0).
That reflected a Kremlin decision that “at the foundation of the information policy of the state must be the transmission not of events distorted by the censor (as was the case in Soviet totalitarianism) but rather the dissemination of artificial ‘events’ which the population unconsciously wants.”
In a sense, Ikhlov continues, this reflected a development of the ideas of the French sociologist Jean Baudrillard who argued that the 1991 Gulf War “did not happen” because its battles were “the first in history which did not touch the existential experiences” of people but rather were “an advertisement of the miracles of American technology.”
The Putin regime decided to turn this on its head just as Marx had done with Hegel “by transforming ‘a television war’ into the center of the existential experiences” of the Russian population. That kind of war unified the Russian people and distracted it from its “’temporary’ problems.”
Russians are being taught through television that “the Virtual World War declared by the West” has “’a Donbas front.’” And when the level of conflict ebbs for a time, the managers of Russian television provide alternative fodder about this “’war’” such as the killing of a goose or the destruction of food.
But “the main thing,” Ikhlov says, “is to periodically exacerbate the situation in the Donbas in order that [Russians can be shown] a newly destroyed house in Gorlovka to accompany each fall of the ruble” and thus both deflect public anger about that by explaining it in terms of this virtual war.
The situation in the USSR was “simpler,” he continues. “The Cold War had many real fronts, and Soviet people attentively listened to political information” disseminated by television about the movements on these fronts. But the Soviet system was finally destroyed as a result: “At its end, television showed only the overthrow of Lenin monuments in the capitals of ‘fraternal socialist countries.’”
“In Putin’s Russia on the other hand, reporting from the ruins of Donetsk can be shown forever.” But as in the past, Moscow can hide its most bestial crimes, the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner now like the killings at Katyn and say that efforts to discuss them are “hostile provocations.”
And all that has a lesson for both Russians and the West: “It is possible to understand the existing reality only by beginning” with an appreciation of the idea of “a Virtual War with the West” that Putin has succeeded in imposing on Russia.
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Loyalty of Russian Bureaucracy to Moscow Wearing Thinby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 15 – The reaction of officials in Tyumen’s far north highlights just how much Moscow must pay to buy the loyalty of the bureaucracy and how rapidly that loyalty can dissipate if the center attacks not phantom “enemies” but strikes at the privileges of that stratum, according to “Novaya gazeta” journalist Georgy Borodyansky.
In the current issue of that Moscow paper, he reports on a survey conducted by the URA.ru news agency concerning the reaction of officials to the plans of the central government to reduce their pensions, an action that not only causes them to be less patriotic but even to consider “’a social revolt’” (novayagazeta.ru/politics/69546.html).
“The servants of the people in Tyumen’s northern regions are not ready to share even in part the fate of the population they serve, Borodyansky says. Officials there do not like the “anti-crisis” proposal of the labor ministry to increase the pension age of government employees to 65.
They are angry for two reasons. On the one hand, it would deprive them of the benefits they have enjoyed and feel entitled to by moving to that harsh land. And on the other, because many went there for relatively short times to boost their pensions, plans to increase the requirement to get additional payments from 15 to 20 years would reduce their pay in the future.
The Moscow measure does not make any exceptions for what officials in the far north consider their exceptional situation. As a result, the bureaucrats are angry and beginning to express their anger first among themselves and anonymously and then more openly. Now, they are going public to journalists and politicians.”
Elena Zlenko, the deputy speaker of the legislative assembly of the Yamalo-Nenets district, says that “such initiatives undermine the foundations of the government system. These bonuses were a serious stimulus for bureaucrats who today are the foundation of the state.” Ignoring that is going to have consequences.
Her words show what few want to acknowledge, Borodyansky says. Bureaucrats and not the people are the foundation of the Russian state, and “the loyalty of those bureaucrats costs a lot.” This is hardly “the very best time to shake the power vertical because the country is experiencing a crisis,” Zlenko says.
Moreover, she adds, “the adoption of this law [without modificaitons] will lead to a growth in corruption because it will become much more difficult to keep state employees from engaging in it.” After all, they would want to make up what would amount to at least a 55 percent cut in their former pay.
Another regional politician, Mikhail Serdyuk, a Duma deputy who is running for governor of the Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous District, says that officials as a whole consider this draft law “extremely unjust” and that his fraction “does not support it. And a third, Vyacheslav Tetekin, who represents the KPRF in the local parliament agrees.
Among the population, he says, there is no love lost on the bureaucrats. But everyone can see, Tetekin suggests, that this move against the bureaucrats will open the way to moves against the benefits of others as well. That kind of thinking will lead to new alliances that won’t be designed to support what Moscow wants to do.
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Russian Women Increasingly Marrying Chinese Men, Hong Kong Paper Says by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 15 – Vladimir Putin’s “turn to Asia” is taking on an unexpected and for some in his country an unwelcome aspect: Ever more Russian women are marrying Chinese men, the result of the very different gender imbalances in the two countries, according to a Hong Kong newspaper.
Because of the super-high mortality rates among Russian men, there are more Russian women in the prime marriage age cohort than Russian men; and because of Beijing’s one child policy, there are more Chinese men than Chinese women in the same age range. Thus, one might predict that the two would come together.
But for ethnic and even racial reasons, this is a trend that few Russian sources want to discuss and even fewer Russians want to acknowledge, given what it may mean for the future of the much smaller Russian ethnos and for Russian control of territories east of the Urals Mountains.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Chinese sites report on this subject far more than do Russian ones. One, in January 2015, gave no overall figures but said Chinese-Russian intermarriage is “much greater than anyone could have supposed” (russian.china.org.cn/exclusive/txt/2015-01/05/content_34476900.htm).
That report added that “according to data for 2004 through 2012, the number of Chinese men who married Russian women is almost twice as large as the number of Chinese women who chose to marry Russian men.” (See “Three Troubling but Illuminating Statistics from Eurasia” atwindowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2015/01/three-troubling-but-illuminating.html.)
The new report on this subject this week comes from Hong Kong’s “Wenhuebao” paper (info.wenweipo.com/index.php?action-viewnews-itemid-74155; translated into Russia atinosmi.ru/fareast/20150812/229591489.html. It has since been picked up by various Russian outlets such as centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1439415060).
Entitled “Where can Chinese Men Find a Wife? Russian Beauties are a Good Choice,” the article says that Chinese men have “every chance” to find a wife in Russia because “there are few men in that country” and more than half of the women work. Consequently, many would like to marry and have children.
“In the [Russian] Far East, the number of Russian-Chinese marriages is much greater than you can imagine,” the paper tells its reader. “Many [Russian] girls from this region think that only in China will it be possible for them to find happiness.” Thus, it says, “it is obvious that Russian girls very much need Chinese men.”
Not long ago, the Hong Kong paper continues, mainland Chinese media interviewed Sasha Fey, a girl from Russia who while a student at Moscow State did an internship on Hainan Island. In the course of that, the paper says, she “fell in love not only with the traditional culture of the country but also with a Chinese boy!”
She got to know him because she wanted to improve her Chinese, but she fell in love with him when this “Chinese knight” came to her aid during a typhoon. His behavior and that of the other Chinese men she met convinced her, she told the Chinese newspaper, that Chinese men are very “sympathetic.”
According to Sasha, “Russian-Chinese marriages are enjoying ever greater popularity.” Most of them are between Chinese men and Russian women, she says, largely because Chinese men are more polite and romantic and because they are less chauvinist about other peoples than are Russian men.
Perhaps more immediately important is the fact that “Chinese rarely drink hard alcohol, and this for us Russian girls,” Sasha continued, “is very important because so many families in Russia have been destroyed as a result of this.”
The Hong Kong paper surveyed possibilities of Chinese men in a variety of other countries and places around the world. With regard to Ukraine, it said there were so many beautiful women that Chinese men would have difficulty choosing; and with regard to Africa, it urged Chinese men not to delay seeking a partner for life.
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· · ·
 Business Insider |
Russia and China want to radically change how the internet is used
Business Insider Russia and China will maintain a unified front to challenge the West's conception of the Internet. Efforts to fundamentally alter Internet governance are likely to fail, but Moscow and Beijing will be able to extend government control on their ... and more » |
В АРМИ-2015, которые проходили с 1 по 15 августа на 11 полигонах, Западного, Южного и Центрального военных округов, приняли участие 57 команд от 17 государств Европы, Азии, Африки и Латинской Америки.
 Полит.ру |
ФБР проверяет российских хакеров на причастность к взлому email Хиллари Клинтон
BFM.Ru Сотрудники Федерального бюро расследований США пытаются выяснить, не удалось ли хакерам из России или Китая получить доступ к электронному почтовому ящику экс-госсекретаря США Хиллари Клинтон, сообщает ТАСС. Читайте также: Глава Госдепа США считает, что его почту ... ФБР расследует возможный взлом российскими и китайскими хакерами почты КлинтонLenta.ru СМИ: ФБР проверяет, имели ли хакеры из РФ доступ к переписке КлинтонРИА Новости ФБР проверит причастность российских хакеров к кибератакам на почту Хиллари КлинтонКоммерсантъ Полит.ру -Газета.Ru -Независимая газета Все похожие статьи: 30 » |
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Original Gravestone of Kennedy Assassin Returns to Texasby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
After a long legal fight, the gravestone of U.S. presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is finally back in its home state of Texas after being stolen, hidden and forgotten, then winding up in a small museum in Illinois. Oswald, who gunned down President John F. Kennedy in 1963, is buried in a Fort Worth, Texas, cemetery under a simple replacement headstone. Teenagers stole the original, more elaborate marker as a prank in 1967. Police found it and turned it over to Oswald's mother, who stashed it away in her house to prevent another theft. The father of Dallas nightclub owner David Card bought the house and everything in it when Marguerite Oswald died in 1981. Other Card relatives got possession of the stone, and it wound up on display in the Historic Auto Attractions museum, located in a small town northwest of Chicago. David Card sued to get the stone returned. Details of the settlement were not disclosed. Card said he might hand it over to the Kennedy assassination museum, which is in the same building where Oswald hid when he fired at the Kennedy motorcade as it drove through downtown Dallas. Oswald himself was slain two days later in Dallas police headquarters by Jack Ruby, who like Card was a Dallas nightclub owner.
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Military authorities in Ukraine believe the number of Russian troops within and close to its borders has risen to more than 50,000, raising fears of a substantial escalation in the conflict raging in Ukraine's eastern regions.
Novinite.com |
Russia Says It Destroyed Nearly 600 T of Imported Food in 10 Days
Novinite.com A decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 6 coincided with the anniversary of Moscow's decision to ban food imports from a host of countries, including EU member states and the US, along with others supporting the sanctions imposed ... Russia adds countries to food import ban over sanctionsBBC News Russia adds four new countries to food import ban listReuters Russia hits EU allies with symbolic food banEUobserver Deutsche Welle -Newsweek all 212 news articles » |
Putin Represents Only a Single Russian Tradition, One Too Dangerous to Allow to Continue, Eidman Saysby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 16 – Many in both Russia and the West have convinced themselves that Vladimir Putin is the only kind of ruler Russia can have given its traditions, but that conviction is wrong, Igor Eidman argues; and making that assumption distracts attention from the fact that allowing his regime to continue to exist is too dangerous for Russia and the world.
In an essay for “Neue Zuricher Zeitung,” which he has now offered in Russian translation, the Moscow commentator argues that those concerned about the future must explore and revive other Russian traditions which include profoundly democratic and European elements
(nzz.ch/meinung/kommentare/russland-ohne-putin-ld.1350 and kasparov.ru/material.php?id=55CF59B0E35AE)
Both Russophiles and Russophobes in Europe have managed to convince themselves that “there is no alternative to Putin and his regime,” Eidman writes. To be sure, “the Putin regime is a natural extension of Russian history but of only one of its strategic lines.” There is another one that Putin represents not a continuation but a rejection.
That is the democratic tradition which over the last several centuries has coexisted with the imperial-authoritarian tradition which Putin represents, he continues. That democratic tradition has been carried forward by the liberal intelligentsia and “the spontaneously anarchic attitudes of the bottom of the social pyramid.”
Because it relies on the power of the state, the imperial-authoritarian tradition always appears to be fated to win; but in fact, it has often failed when its leaders have suffered defeats in foreign wars. That has led to brief periods in which the democratic tradition has become dominant, but unfortunately, these have not lasted very long, Eidman says.
“At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia avoided fascism by going into another ‘communist’ form of totalitarianism.” Indeed, the Bolsheviks were initially opposed by the White Movement, some of whose leaders were “in essence proto-fascists.” And thus it is no surprise that Putin’s “favorite thinker” is one of them – Ivan Ilin.
As a result of that attachment, the Moscow commentator says, “fascism returned to Russia in the 21st century; and “the imperial project was reborn under Putin precisely in its fascist variant.”
Putin’s regime “has many of the features characteristic of fascist regimes in Europe in the middle of the 20th century: authoritarianism, an aggressive annexationist foreign policy, total government propaganda, the rule of state monopoly capital in the economy, of force structures in administration, chauvinism and clericalism in ideology.”
According to Eidman, “the Putin regime is just as aggressive and pregnant with war as Hitlerite Germany of Italy under Mussolini.” Indeed, “Putin and his comrades in arms already in their youth in Chekist and party structures were seriously infected with great power attitudes and xenophobic myths.”
“After 1991, they were forced to hide this and assist the coming to power of the democrats they hated.” Then, in the first years of this century, they took control of the government; and now, “they have come to believe that they are sufficient strong in order to return to the ideas which they picked up in their chekist youth.”
Putin and his people “decided that they were in a position to take revenge for the defeat in the Cold War and restore Russia to super power status controlling its ‘immemorial’ living space, that is, the territory of the former Russian empire. They conceived this as their historic mission.
“Happily for the world,” Eidman says, they are not as strong as they seem. Poll numbers are meaningless: Russians tell pollsters what they think the latter want to hear, and “Russians now fear the FSB no less than they did the KGB in the times of the USSR.”
Moreover, many Russians are upset with the policies of the government. “Anti-Moscow attitudes, regional ‘patriotism,’ and hatred to the Moscow federal bureaucracy” are all widespread. And many people support exactly the kind of reformist and left-wing policies that Putin and company have been gutting.
At the same time, “alongside the growth of dissatisfaction of the population has taken place the consolidation of a liberal counter-elite.” That led to the massive demonstrations of 2011, and those in turn prompted the regime to do what its predecessors have done, seek to regain support by engaging in “a short victorious war.”
But “the Putin regime has an Achilles’ heel: the contradiction between its aggressive, revanchist foreign policy and its economy which is integrated in the world market and dependent on it.” Hitler build a mobilized economy before he started his military campaigns; Putin has not. And as a result, he is limited in what he can do and doomed to failure.
When his expansionist efforts fail and they will, Eidman says, that will lead to “the loss of popularity for his regime and will be fatal for him. The wave of hurrah patriotism” he has sparked will likely rebound against him and his oligarchs whom the population will view “as traitors.” That will lead Putin “to new adventures” and ultimate collapse.
Putin’s defeat will lead to the victory of the democratic tradition, “but such a victory will be firm only if the liberal elite is able to formulate a program capable of gaining for it the support of the majority of the population.” That means that the liberal elite must take into closest consideration the aspirations of the population and not just those of its own members.
Eidman suggests that this might happen in the following way: with his support slipping, Putin calls an early presidential election. He doesn’t win it in the first round but there is clear evidence of the manipulation of the results. That leads to a color revolution in Russia and Putin is ousted.
The liberals win the ensuing Duma elections and immediately reform the constitution to make Russia a parliamentary republic so as to “exclude the coming to power of a new president-dictator. The regions receive significantly greater independence from the center in all spheres,” and the new regime engages in lustration, a turn to the West and support for universal values.
Such a prospect may be difficult for many to accept, but it too reflects a Russian tradition, Eidman argues. “All the conditions for the formation of a civilized European society exist in Russia. What is needed to achieve that are democratic changes. The preservation of the current regime is too dangerous for the entire world.”
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· · · · ·
 The Guardian |
Rebel-held Ukraine overhauls education system as it aligns itself with Russia
The Guardian Alongside the superficial changes, more fundamental shifts are under way as rebel leaders seek to eliminate European influences and align their region with Russia. Moscow's gravitational pull is particularly evident in the education system, where ... Ukraine fears 'big war' as Russia sends in more troopsThe Independent all 21 news articles » |
Putin's Russia is ‘Deeply Ill Country Which Can’t Realize Its Imperial Ambitions,’ Zubov Saysby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 16 – Russia under Vladimir Putin is “a deeply ill country which does not have the chance to realize its imperial ambitions,” according to Andrey Zubov. But because Putin is trying to do just that, he is at risk of losing everything: his own popularity, control over Ukraine, and the Russian military-industrial complex which is deeply dependent on Ukraine.
In a wide-ranging interview with Artem Dekhtyarenko of Kyiv’s Apostrophe portal, the Russina historian says that the fundamental weakness of Russia is what sets Putin’s country today apart from Nazi Germany 75 years ago (apostrophe.com.ua/article/politics/2015-08-16/peregovoryi-ob-uhode-rossii-s-donbassa-uje-idut-istorik-iz-rf/2091).
“In order to defeat Germany,” Zubov says, “the strongest powers of the world needed five years, but the situation with regard to Russia today is entirely different. Putin calculated that everyone would close their eyes to the annexation [of Crimea] and possibly on some further actions regarding Ukraine.”
Moreover, he assumed that half of Ukraine would support him given the way in which the eastern portions of that country had voted since the 1990s. “But nothing came of this. All [Putin’s] calculations turned out to be incorrect.” Indeed, Putin and his team have made “a whole series of very crude mistakes.”
After an initial burst of euphoria, Crimea has turned out to be a burden rather than a victory; Ukrainians in the east have not supported Putin’s aggression, and “besides, the West is acting in a very monolithic and consolidated way by introducing serious sanctions which are constantly being intensified. At the same time, no one supports Russia,” not even its “closest and most dependent” neighbors.
“There is a Russian proverb,” Zubov says. “’From love to hatred is a single step.’ When an impulsive, spontaneous affection arises with people then typically after it, if this love disappoints comes a similarly irrational hatred. I fear that we are at the beginning of this second stage” in Russia.
Crimea cannot be reclaimed by military means, he continues, adding that Western pressure will help. But at the same time, Zubov says, Ukrainians need to ask themselves whether they want it back or whether they might be better off not getting it back given the attitudes of people there. The only way to move forward, he suggests, is with a new referendum.
Eastern Ukraine resembles Transdniestria but not really Abkhazia or South Osetia, Zubov suggests. Both places are ones in which “the soviet mentality dominates.” For Ukraine’s future, “it is very important that this mentality be overcome,” and that will require tact and care in dealing with the population of the east once Russian forces leave.
Once Moscow pulls its forces out, Zubov argues, pro-Moscow groups “will not hold out two weeks. They understand that perfectly well, and therefore as soon as Russia leaves the Donbas, they will go with it, surrender or flee. The so-called LNR and DNR will cease their existence very quickly.”
And Russia will leave because it does not want to suffer further sanctions and become a large North Korea. According to Zubov, “unofficial talks are going on about this now.” Their task is simple: how can Russia leave without losing face. “But apparently, it won’t be able to do so without losing face.” Thus, Ukraine will have to show great tact in dealing with the situation.
Putin wasn’t prepared for all this because he had not prepared for war. Indeed, Zubov says, “no one seriously thought about war even in Soviet times, and when Khrushchev attempted to do something in Cuba in 1962, he was immediately removed. Everyone understands that nuclear war is impossible. Therefore Russia only uses this as a threat.”
Zubov says that in his view, Putin launched his aggression in Ukraine for three reasons: to boost his popularity, to keep Ukraine from leaving the Russian sphere of influence, and to ensure that Russia’s military-industrial complex would not suffer given the importance of Ukrainian plants for its operation.
But because he miscalculated, the Kremlin leader “has lost everything.”
Read the whole story
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Hundreds of people along with firefighters, police officer and veterans lined streets near Columbus to honor members of a unit that lost 11 Marines in a roadside bomb blast in Iraq a decade ago.
Close to 150 Marines from the Lima company came for the reunion ...
The United States is withdrawing its Patriot missile system deployed near Turkey's border with Syria when its mandate expires in October.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is outlining a foreign policy in which the United States would put ground troops in the fight against Islamic State militants and demand money from Middle East countries supported by the U.S.
 Reuters |
US, Germany to pull Patriot missiles from Turkey
Reuters BERLIN/ISTANBUL The United States and Germany said they will pull Patriot missile batteries from southern Turkey after a reassessment of the threats stemming from the conflict in neighboring Syria. The U.S. Patriots, in Turkey as part of a broader NATO ... US to withdraw Patriot missile system deployed near Turkey's border with SyriaFox News Germany to pull Patriot missiles from Turkey by early next year | ReutersFirstpost US, Germany to withdraw Patriot missiles from TurkeyToday's Zaman all 129 news articles » |
Syrian government air strikes on market place kill at least 82 people by Associated Press in Beirut
Attack on rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus also injures more than 200 in one of the deadliest single incidents since war began five years ago
Syrian government warplanes attacked a busy market in a rebel-held suburb of the capital, Damascus, killing at least 82 people and wounding more than 200 in one of the deadliest single incidents involving air strikes since the conflict began nearly five years ago, activists have said.
Syrian government air raids on rebel-held areas throughout the country have killed thousands over the past few years.
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Hamid Gul, who led Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency as it funneled U.S. and Saudi cash and weapons to Afghan jihadis fighting against the Soviets and who later publicly supported Islamic militants, died Aug. 15 at the resort of Murree near the capital, Islamabad. He was 78.Read full article >>
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The president of Ecuador declared a state of emergency Saturday in response to volcano activity 30 miles away from the country’s capital.
A few hundred people were evacuated from two residential areas as the volcano began to spew ash. In a statement on his website, President Rafael Correa said officials will continue to monitor the situation and urged the public to remain calm.
The Cotopaxi volcano has been under active watch since June when increased activity was detected by the Ecuadorian Geophysics Institute. The institute says that the volcano’s frequency and style of eruptions make it one of the world’s most dangerous.
The volcano’s last major eruptive period occurred in the late 19th century, according to theGeophysics Institute. That incident led to intense economic losses in the region.
Spokeswoman: Parachutist remains in critical condition after Chicago air show collision
Fireworks Show at Pearl Harbor Caps WWII Eventby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
The mayors of Honolulu and Nagoaka, Japan – two cities linked by World War Two – joined hundreds of people Saturday night to mark the 70th anniversary of the conflict's end by watching a spectacular 20-minute fireworks show. Part of Pearl Harbor, which is still an active naval base, opened to the public on Saturday for a display of Nagaoka's fireworks. Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell and Nagoaka Mayor Tamio Mori honored the war's victims and celebrated 70 years of peace and...
Government Airstrikes on Syrian Market Kill More Than 80by BEN HUBBARD and MAHER SAMAAN
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