Spies, sleepers and hitmen: how the Soviet Union’s KGB never went away | Putin: Russia Wants Relationship with US Based on 'Res[H!]pect' (SH... SH... SH...) | Russians Beginning To Laugh At Putin | Russian spy threat to troops' phones and computers | Russia may pivot to the east but it cannot escape its European destiny - Financial Times
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Putin: Russia Wants Relationship with US Based on 'Respect'
President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia was ready for cooperation with the United States, provided it was based on respect for each others' interests and non-interference in internal affairs.
Staunton, November 18 – A leader, someone has said, can tolerate almost any attack, but he needs to worry if people begin to laugh at him. Russians have a long history of telling anecdotes about their leaders – jokes allow for deniability – and this humor has not always cost those in charge their positions even if it has invariably undermined their reputations.
Now, it appears, Russians are beginning to laugh not with but at Putin and his policies, often in ways that recall their response to Brezhnev. That can hardly be something the Kremlin leader welcomes. Russian human rights activist Elena Vasilyeva has posted some of these jokes on her Facebook page.
Among them are the following:
- A man comes into a drug store and says he isn’t feeling well. The druggist asks if he has a prescription. The man replies, “Isn’t a Russian passport enough?”
- One Russian says he has watched “Planet of the Apes. The Revolution.” Another replies that he has listened to Putin’s latest speech.
- A Russian is asked to name the Russian product which enjoys the greatest demand in the population. His response: Putin’s lies. “Why not vodka?” he is asked. To which the first responds: “Because the number of consumers of vodka is much smaller.”
- Putin says that the Russian army will be supplied with the most advanced offensive and defensive arms. A Russian replies that this means he is again going to use women and children “behind the backs of whom will be concealed polite ‘little green men.’”
- Putin decides that he will in no case fall behind the leaders of Western countries. When they introduce sanctions against Russia, Putin does the same, not only imposing sanctions but also imposing them against Russia.
- Asked whether he plans to put up the iron curtain again, Putin replies that no, he will only use barbed wire this time around.
- Putin acknowledges that the ruble of Russians has fallen but points out that Russians have risen from their knees.
- The Russian Federal Service for Narcotics Control comes out against the legalization of drugs in Russia. Their reason? “Putin and Moscow television are more than sufficient.”
- Given the number of airline accidents with which Russia is involved, it appears that Putin served not in the KGB but in the Anti-Aircraft Forces.
- Two prisoners are talking. One asks “For what were you convicted?” The other says he created a comic strip showing that President Putin is an idiot. Under what paragraph of the law were you sentenced, the first asks, hooliganism or extremism? The second replies: no, not either of these, rather for revealing a state secret.
- After Moscow occupies Crimea, Yanukovich asks Putin whether he can go to Foros and be the lawful president there. Putin replies: “No, you are only a lawful president in Rostov.”
- When Putin is flying away from Brisbane, his press secretary finds him in tears. Peskov says he shouldn’t be upset by what the G-20 leaders said. To which Putin replies, “But I cannot forget that koala and how he embraced me!”
In thinking about these and other new Russian jokes, many of which of course are recycled from Soviet times, one should remember the Polish observation about such humor: When times are bad, Poles say, people tell political jokes. When they get worse, people stop.
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 Yahoo News |
Russia blasts Ukraine for payment freeze
Yahoo News MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign policy chief on Wednesday claimed that Ukraine's decision to freeze budget payments to the eastern rebel-held territories could be a precursor to a military onslaught. Ukrainian officials announced earlier this month ... |
Revealed - The Palaces Of Ukraine's Energy Oligarchsby Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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A short drive from Kyiv stand the twin palaces of two Yanukovych-era executives at Ukraine's state energy company Naftohaz. Police have been investigating allegations of fraud at the company...
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 Вести.Ru |
Лавров рассказал о провокации НАТО
Вести.Ru Построить общий европейский дом безопасности и не углублять разделительные линии призвала НАТО Москва. Об этом заявил сегодня глава МИД РФ Сергей Лавров. "Россия давно выступала и выступает с инициативой заключения юридически обязывающего договора, который ... Москва считает безрассудным дальнейшее расширение НАТОУкраинское национальное информагентство Лавров обвинил Украину в отказе от внеблокового статусаПолит.ру Лавров: Киевские националисты хотят искоренить все русское в истории УкраиныМосковский комсомолец Подробности -Версии.сом Все похожие статьи: 55 » |
Большая наука и судебный произвол by Радио Свобода
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Дело ученого-физика Сергея Калякина обсуждают писатель Вера Васильева, журналист Сергей Добрынин, правоза...
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 RT |
'Anti-offshore' law to bring billions back to Russian economy
RT Russia's upper house of parliament has approved an “anti-offshore” law requiring individual and corporate taxpayers to report foreign profits. The Russian government aims to prevent capital outflow via “offshores,” estimated at $200 billion in 2014 ... |
Investigators have launched a criminal case against the suspected murderer of a 27-year-old Chechen woman who appears to have fallen victim to an "honor killing."
Who is Islamic State? by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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 CNN (blog) |
Should West be worried by Russia naval moves?
CNN (blog) Editor's note: James Kraska is professor in the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, U.S. Naval War College. The views expressed are his own. Just as Russian ground forces have moved into Ukraine, in recent weeks Russian air and naval ... Opinion: How to respond to assertive RussiaKESQ all 9 news articles » |
The Russian president says little to John Tefft but declares the country ‘ready for practical cooperation with our American partners’
The new US ambassador to Moscow presented his credentials to Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, less than a day after the Russian president declared the US “wants to subjugate us” but would never succeed.
Ambassador John Tefft met Putin in a slightly awkward ceremony during which new international envoys showed the president their credentials. Perhaps reflecting the frosty state of affairs between Washington and Moscow, the men said little to each other as they shook hands in a huge gilded hall at the Kremlin. Putin did however offer a typically stern proposal of rapprochement.
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Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko is challenged to a duel by rebel leader to solve the conflict once and for all
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British troops on exercise in Poland have been warned to leave personal electronic devices such as phones and tablets at home
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В День ракетных войск и артиллерии гражданские активисты вышли к зданиюроссийского Генштаба с одиночными...
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Hollywood loves a Mafia initiation. Like nothing else it captures the mob’s perverse mix of mystery, honour and brutality. Think of New Jersey crime boss Tony Soprano inducting, or “making”, nephew Christopher into the family business by prompting the pledge: “May I burn in hell if I betray my friends.”
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has called on Iranians inside and outside the country to offer names for the Iranian drone that Tehran claims it successfully tested earlier this month, and which Tehran says it manufactured based on a U.S. drone captured in 2011.
Ukraine Rebels Dismiss Minsk Peace Deal as They Push for Territory by webdesk@voanews.com (Jamie Dettmer)
The rumble of tank shelling and mortar exchanges comes in waves, startling flocks of crows. For hours there can be silence here in the center of Donetsk, only for the quiet to be shattered as clashes between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces resume, mainly around the city’s wrecked airport and in the fiercely contested village of Pesky. But the bangs and thumps can come from virtually anywhere around Donetsk, and they all testify to the collapse of a cease-fire agreement reached two months ago between the warring sides fighting in eastern Ukraine. The truce agreed in the Belarusian capital of Minsk has been breached nearly 3,000 times since its was inked on September 5, according to the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors the accord’s observance. Cease-fire all but dead Ukraine’s representative to the OSCE, Ihor Prokopchuk, said the cease-fire is all but dead. Others argue it started dying the moment it was signed. Kyiv blames the separatists for the breaches, insisting its soldiers only respond to attacks launched by their foes. Moscow, which has been accused by the OSCE of moving convoys of heavy armor into the disputed east, said Kyiv is the offending party. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Wednesday reported that Russian columns continue to cross into Ukraine. And in its daily update on troop movements, the council claimed: “Russia has redeployed warplanes normally based in Perm to the airport at Millerovo in the Rostov region.” The council also claimed Russia had transferred radar systems near the border with Ukraine able to monitor the airspace over the country’s Luhansk province, one of the two disputed oblasts of the Donbas region. Many rebel commanders and fighters make no pretense of their disdain for a cease-fire they say they never agreed to in the first place. In an interview with the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the commander of the feared Prizrak (Ghost) battalion in Luhansk, Alexey Mozgovoy, said he “never took the Minsk agreement seriously.” Alan, an Ossetian fighter, who fought alongside the Russian military in the 2008 war with Georgia, told VOA, “There never was a cease-fire.” He smiles and then adds: “Ukraine broke the truce by not being serious about prisoner exchanges. They sent us back crooks and drunks who were never separatist fighters." He insists he is a “volunteer” and wasn’t sent to eastern Ukraine by the Kremlin. But he sports an automatic weapon that was never in use by the Ukraine military - most arms used by separatist fighters were looted from Ukrainian weapons stores. Disputes persist on violations of the Minsk deal Ukrainian Security Service officials dismiss the claim that they didn’t observe the Minsk agreement provision governing prisoner swaps. An official, Vasyl Vovk, said exchanges did take place, but there are still 333 Ukrainian servicemen, 41 members of volunteer battalions and two journalists being held by the separatists. He acknowledged about 1,000 Ukrainian servicemen have been freed by the rebels. Reports of violations of the Minsk agreement continue daily across the Donbas. The OSCE monitoring team reported Wednesday that in the last 24 hours in the town of Debaltseve, some 54 kilometers northeast of Donetsk, Ukrainian officers claimed separatists had violated the cease-fire 82 times. Russian military officers, part of the monitoring mechanism, counter-claimed that Ukrainian military were responsible for 74 violations within the same time period in the town. The vacillating claims amuse Alan, the Ossetian fighter. He said the conflict will not be over until both oblasts in the Donbas are part of what he called "New Russia" and have joined the Russian Federation. And he lays claim to more of Ukraine than just the Donbas. Enlarging territory This enlarging territorial claim is echoed among separatist fighters and their leaders. In his interview with Novaya Gazeta, Ghost battalion commander Mozgovoy said the separatists won’t stop with Donetsk and Luhansk, but once they have finally secured them, they will push further and grab all eight provinces of southeast Ukraine, including Mariupol, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia. He said the port city of Odessa should be part of “New Russia.” Told that there is little evidence that people in Mariupol or Odessa want to leave Ukraine, Mozgovoy dismisses the claim, saying people shouldn’t be afraid of war. “I know the situation,” he said. “Some homes will be destroyed, so what?” Ukraine officials said the rebels are impossible to negotiate with and said this is partly why the country’s prime minister, Arseny Yatseniuk, Wednesday rejected a call by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for Kyiv to negotiate directly with the separatists. At a government meeting in Kyiv, Yatseniuk said that direct negotiations would legitimize the insurgents, who he insists are Moscow proxies, according to Reuters. “If you (Russia) want peace - fulfill the Minsk agreement,” he said. Alan said he will never observe the Minsk agreement and neither will his fighters. “This is Russian land, Russia’s ancestral home and NATO and the Americans won’t push us out.”
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Russia's Demand of NATO Unlikely to Defuse Ukraine Conflictby By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Tuesday voiced what Russia wants from the West over Ukraine: guarantees that the former Soviet republic will not join NATO.
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With diplomatic tensions and mysterious military activity ratcheting up, Putin’s Russia and the west are increasingly flexing their muscles. Are we on the brink of a new confrontation or did the era of danger and paranoia never really go away?
Tanks and troops invading a satellite state, tit-for-tat spy expulsions, high-risk military games of chicken involving nuclear bombers and interceptor jets, gas supply cut-offs, and angry diplomatic exchanges – if it sounds familiar, then it should. Newspaper headlines from Moscow to Washington and Sydney to Kiev all agree: the cold war is back.
Well, maybe. Escalating tensions between President Vladimir Putin’s Russia and western countries led by the US are certainly reminiscent of the bad old days in some significant respects. The cold war, a truly global stand-off of immense ideological, military and political import, began, roughly, in the late 1940s and continued until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, an event later deplored by Putin as the biggest tragedy of the 20th century.
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Vladimir Putin’s background as a Soviet spy means there can be little surprise at the blatant resurgence of an aggressive surveillance state in modern Russia
• Read Simon Tisdall on the new cold war
• Read Simon Tisdall on the new cold war
Vladimir Putin was never an especially distinguished spy. In the 1980s, the KGB dispatched him not to a glamorous western capital but to provincial East Germany. It was here, in Dresden, that he sat out the collapse of the Soviet Union, an event that filled him with horror and rage.
For a brief moment in the 90s, the KGB – now re-branded as the FSB, the Federal Security Service – was on the back foot. Since becoming president in 2000, however, Putin has transformed Russia into a giant spy state. He has brought back many of the cold war espionage techniques he first learned as a young recruit in Leningrad’s KGB spy school. Not that they ever quite went away.
Continue reading... The Guardian |
Putin gives envoy cool welcome after declaring US 'wants to subjugate' Russia
The Guardian Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, US ambassador to Russia John Tefft and Russia'spresident Vladimir Putin at a ceremony of presenting credentials by foreign ambassadors, at the St. Alexander Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace on 19 November 2014 ... Russia Wants a '100% Guarantee' That Ukraine Won't Join NATOTIME Ukraine crisis: Russia demands guarantees from NatoBBC News Russia blasts Ukraine for payment freezeYahoo News RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty -New York Times -RT all 2,724 news articles » |
A look at the best news photos from around the world.
Putin: Russia Wants Relationship with US Based on 'Respect'by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that his country wanted a relationship with the United States based on "respect," a day after accusing the U.S. of seeking to "subdue" Russia. Speaking at a Kremlin ceremony during which a group of new ambassadors to Russia presented their credentials, Putin said Russia was ready for "practical cooperation" with the United States based on respect for each other's interests, equal rights and noninterference in internal affairs. He said the two countries have "special responsibility" for upholding international security and stability and countering global challenges and threats. The new U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Tefft, was among diplomats who presented credentials to the Russian leader. On Tuesday, Putin told a meeting of supporters in Moscow that the United States was trying to bring Russia under its control and solve its problems "at our expense." Over the weekend, Putin heard Western leaders, including President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, criticize Russia's actions in Ukraine at the G-20 summit in Brisbane, Australia.
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 Reuters |
Russia's relations with Hungary warm as ties with West chill
Reuters MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin hailed Hungary as one of Russia's most important partners on Wednesday, giving his seal of approval to a budding relationship with a Soviet-era ally that is worrying some of its European Union allies. While ... Russia's Lackluster Economy Means Putin Simply Can't Afford a New Cold WarTIME British Embassy In Ukraine Trolls Putin With Guide For Spotting Russian TanksHuffington Post Russian appeal for Kiev-rebel talks rebuffedAljazeera.com The Guardian- RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty-BBC News all 2,868 Fox News all 3,032 news articles » |
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Russia may pivot to the east but it cannot escape its European destiny
Financial Times Seen in historical perspective, Russia's latest turn to the east is not new. “From the shores of the Pacific and the heights of the Himalayas, Russia will dominate not only the affairs of Asia but those of Europe as well.” The Russian statesman who ... |
RFE/RL in the Media # Christian Today cites RFE/RL report on Christian families in Raqqa # Silk Road cites RFE/RL report on political prisoner Roza Tuletaeva # Global Research mentions RFE/RL in the report on The Balkans and The Islamic State # On Sunday, November 16, German TV, ARD featured "Nastoyashchee Vremya" (Current Time), RFE/RL's signature TV show its weeklyEuropamagazin program (in German). The part about "Current Time" starts from 20th...
When it comes to falling oil prices, good news at the pump could be very bad news when it comes to geopolitics. Many oil exporting nations could be facing fiscal and political calamity if prices were to drop and remain at levels lower than $100 per barrel. A panel of topic and regional experts discussed the situation during a recent Wilson Center event. That’s the focus of this edition of REWIND.
 DELFI.lv |
Генсек НАТО: альянс заинтересован в конструктивных отношениях с Россией
ИТАР-ТАСС ТАЛЛИН, 19 ноября. /Корр. ТАСС Владимир Иванов/. Североатлантический альянс заинтересован в строительстве конструктивных отношений с Россией. © Архив AP Photo/Virginia Mayo. Путин: расширение НАТО изменило геополитическое пространство. Об этом в среду накануне ... Генсек НАТО прокомментировал ситуацию с «Мистралями»Взгляд В НАТО заявили, что готовы к конструктивным отношениям с РоссиейКомсомольская Правда в Украине В НАТО заявили о заинтересованности в конструктивных отношениях с РоссиейРИА euronews -NEWSru.ua Все похожие статьи: 62 » |
Crucial Vote On Russia's Ekho Moskvy's Future Canceledby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy says its state-controlled owner has canceled a vote of the broadcaster's board that threatened to remove the station's editor in chief and alter its news coverage.
Turkey, US Struggle to Merge Interests in IS Fightby webdesk@voanews.com (Dorian Jones)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Wednesday that Turkey will not open its bases to the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group until his demands are met. His statement casts further doubt on previously-agreed-upon cooperation in the fight against the militants and comes as John Allen, U.S. presidential envoy for the anti-IS coalition, is visiting Ankara. Erdogan, addressing reporters Wednesday before leaving for Algeria, ruled out the use of key air bases by anti-Islamic State forces unless Turkey's requirements are met in the war against the militants. "The international community has not yet taken the steps we have recommended," he said, adding "There are only some signals and possibilities. Turkey’s position will continue as it is unless our recommendations are put in place." Anakar's demands Erdogan also warned that an agreement to train Syrians to fight against the Islamic State still has not been finalized. Ankara also asserts that the war against the jihadi group must be broadened to target the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. Additionally, Ankara is calling for the creation of safe haven areas in Syria, protected by no-fly zones. So far, Washington has refused such demands, arguing the priority must be defeating the militants. Diplomatic columnist Semih Idiz of the Taraf newspaper and Al Monitor website said both domestic and regional considerations make it very difficult for the Turkish president to back down. "President Erdogan has engaged so deeply against Assad that he cannot appear for the sake of his domestic audience to be stepping back and putting Assad on the backburner and prioritizing ISIS -- especially in view of what is happening in Aleppo at the moment, where Assad may actually gain the upper hand soon," said Idiz. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusolgu warned this week that Syrian government troops were on the verge of taking complete control of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, from anti-Assad forces, and that could lead to 2 - 3 million refugees crossing into Turkey. Turkish authorities say they already are hosting more than 1.5 million Syrians. Sinan Ulgen, visiting scholar of the Brussels-based Carnegie Institute in Europe, said Ankara believes it has diplomatic momentum behind its demands. "President Erdogan was in France in talks with his French counterpart Hollande, where Hollande said publicly that France would support these demands. However important the support of Paris may be, fundamentally, it's not decisive. It will really depend whether Washington, the U.S. administration, will decide to go ahead with this," said Ulgen. Pressing cooperation Retired U.S. General Allen, coordinator of the anti-Islamic State coalition, is in the capital city for talks. For weeks there have been intense diplomatic efforts led by Washington to secure Ankara’s full support in the battle against the militant group. Analysts say while differences remain, there have been reported improvements in intelligence-sharing, and Ankara has taken steps to secure its border against jihadis trying to enter Syria. Diplomatic columnist Idiz says such is the geographic importance of NATO member Turkey all sides will work hard to find ways to cooperate. "I don't think either side is prepared to burn any bridges at a moment like this, when regardless of what kind of imagery there may be on the surface, they are cooperating underneath to the extent that they can and in terms of their own priorities," said Idiz. The diplomatic pressure on Ankara will continue with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden due to visit Istanbul at the end of the week. Analysts say balancing the differing priorities of the regional countries battling the Islamic State remains a key to success, but finding that balance remains difficult to achieve and maintain.
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The U.S. Central Command said in a November 19 statement that warplanes launched fresh attacks on positions of the Islamic State (IS) militant group and also the al-Qaeda affiliated Khorasan group in Syria
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