Retired General Wesley Clark warned at an exclusive briefing with the Atlantic Council that a renewed Russian offensive in Ukraine was "imminent" and would "most probably" take place between Orthodox Easter on April 12 and Russia's celebrations of VE Day on May 8
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
 Business Insider |
Former NATO commander: A new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine is ...
Business Insider Retired General Wesley Clark warned at an exclusive briefing with the Atlantic Council that a renewed Russian offensive in Ukraine was "imminent" and would "most probably" take place between Orthodox Easter on April 12 and Russia's celebrations of VE ... EU to Host Russia, Ukraine Gas Talks April 14Wall Street Journal War with Russia Now Much Likelier: Ukraine's Leading Nazi Dimitri Yarosh Gets ...Center for Research on Globalization Russia Says Ukraine Must Seek Direct Debt-Restructure TalksBloomberg Yahoo Finance UK-Kyiv Post all 600 news articles » |
The Secret Life Of Mullah Omar Revealedby noreply@rferl.org (Frud Bezhan)
In a surprise move, the Taliban has published a richly detailed biography of its reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, even describing his personal and family life.
«Политбюро» Путина by Голос Америки
 |
Влияет ли политическая элита на российского президента Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/media/video/putin-politburo/2710006.html.
|
From: Голос Америки
Views:
38
ratings  |
| Time: 02:23 | More in News & Politics |
Пономарева лишили неприкосновенности by Голос Америки
 |
Российская Дума лишила неприкосновенности единственного депутата, проголосовавшего против аннексии Крым...
|
From: Голос Америки
Views: 1
0 ratings
|
| Time: 02:25 | More in News & Politics |
Томас Грэм: «перезагрузки» не будет by Голос Америки
 |
Интервью бывшего советника президента Джорджа Буша-младшего Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/media/video/graham-us-russia/...
|
From: Голос Америки
Views: 27
4 ratings
|
| Time: 03:12 | More in News & Politics |
Pilots of Smolensk plane crash that killed Polish president pressured to land in thick fog by Andrew MacDowall in Belgrade
Leaked cockpit transcript from 2010 disaster that killed 96 reveals crew were made to attempt landing, undermining theory of Russian sabotage
A 2010 plane crash that killed 96 people, including Poland’s president, came after senior officials urged the crew to land in thick fog, while some drank beer on board, according to a leaked transcript of cockpit recordings.
The transcript, released by Polish radio station RMF FM on Tuesday, undermines theories widely circulating in Poland that the crash was caused by Russian sabotage, but it has been disputed by the Polish authorities.
Continue reading...
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 2
A court in Islamabad has ruled that criminal charges should be brought against a former CIA station chief and a CIA lawyer over a U.S. drone program targeting suspected militants in Pakistan.
Washington, DC Hit by Widespread Power Outageby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
An explosion at a power plant outside Washington Tuesday afternoon was reportedly believed to have caused widespread outages across the city and cut electricity to several federal agencies, including the U.S. State Department and White House. The blackout began around 12:45 p.m. local time and spread to dozens of sites around the city, including Voice of America. The utility service Pepco, which provides electricity to the Washington area, is reporting ongoing outages. U.S. Capitol Police told VOA that power had been restored to the Capitol building. While some downtown offices stayed open on generator power, museums and businesses were forced to close during a peak time for tourism in the city. The Metropolitan Police Department, which oversees local law enforcement, is investigating. There are reports the outage hit part or all of the U.S. State Department, White House, Justice Department, Capitol complex, and the University of Maryland.
Fears Loom of Young Israeli Arabs Lured to Jihadby webdesk@voanews.com (Scott Bobb)
Abu Ahmed Musallam and his family still grieve for his son, Mohammed, killed last month in Syria. Mohammed was shown in Internet videos being executed by Islamic State militants, known locally as Daesh. A separate video showed him confessing to working for the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad. The Musallams live in a mixed Jewish-Muslim neighborhood in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem. Abu Ahmed Musallam, a driver for the local bus company, said he vividly remembers the moment he was shown the video, released online March 10. "I started hitting myself. I started weeping. I started screaming," he recalled, sobbing and waving his hands. "They came and put water on me. I almost fainted." Pointing to photographs on the wall of a clean-cut, clean-shaven young man, Abu Ahmed said his son was an ambitious 19-year-old who did well in school. The second of four sons, Mohammed had volunteered for the local fire department and hoped to make a career in computer sciences. He had a good heart, his father recalls. He was upset over the conflict last summer between Israel and Hamas-led militants in Gaza in which more than 2,200 were killed. Mohammed visited a local hospital and gave all of his pocket money to wounded children there. And he came home and asked family members for additional cash to donate. Gaza conflict changed attitude The war changed him, said his father. He began viewing jihadist websites and posted comments on them, according to a younger brother. In October, he disappeared after telling his parents he was making a two-day trip to central Israel for a training program. He was lured, Musallam said, by false promises from the Islamic State recruiters. "Mohammed was not a political person,” Musallam said. “Basically, he was seduced into going to ISIS by promises of women, cars and money. He thought it would take him 20 years in Israel to get what he would make in one year with Daesh." About 30 Israeli Arabs have gone to Syria to fight for Islamist groups. Four who returned are in Israeli prisons. Several Palestinians from Gaza have also been killed after joining the jihadists. The elder Musallam has denied his son was a spy, saying the young man otherwise would not have traveled to Syria on an Israeli passport. Son allegedly was ready to return He said a few months ago, Mohammed called to say he was disillusioned with the jihadists and wanted to come home. He sent his son money through a middleman in Egypt. About a month later, he received a call from a friend of Mohammed's who said his son had been imprisoned by the militants in Syria. Musallam believes Mohammed knew too much and when he tried to leave, the militants forced him to make a false confession. Musallam thinks others suffer a similar fate, he said. "I expect that not just Mohammed but anyone who goes to Daesh and gets trained there and gets to know their system will be killed like him," he said. Failed by society? Young people are drawn to the jihadists because of their own societies’ failures, says the director of East Jerusalem’s Passia research organization, Mahdi Abdul-Hadi. "There's a crisis of identity among the youth, and there's a crisis of a system which can't provide this youth with the facilities of work and accommodation" and opportunity, Abdul-Hadi said. "This you can find everywhere. Palestinians and Arabs are not an exception." Mohammed’s father says the whole world needs to work to save families from grief like his. He called for a worldwide campaign against people who use religion and false promises to lure young people into banditry and murder. He said he and his three remaining sons are ready to join that fight.
Read the whole story
· · ·
15 State Police Killed in Ambush in Western Mexicoby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Fifteen state police officers were killed in an ambush by suspected gang members in western Mexico, authorities said on Tuesday, the second major attack on security forces in less than a month in one of the country's most important states. The attorney general's office of Jalisco state said 15 police officers died and five were wounded in the ambush on Monday afternoon at Soyatan in themunicipality of San Sebastian del Oeste, near the popular beach resort of Puerto Vallarta. The attack was one of the deadliest against security forces since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012, pledging to restore order after years of gang violence. Jalisco has increasingly become a flashpoint in Mexico, where more than 100,000 people have been killed in clashes between drug gangs and security forces since 2007. A Jalisco official said suspected gang membersmay have died in the incident too but could not give details. Jalisco is home to Mexico's second biggest city, Guadalajara, and has been plagued by the Jalisco New Generation (JNG), a violent drug cartel that crime experts now regard as one of the main threats to security in the country. The police officers killed in the ambush were on their way from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara, said Alejandro Solorio Arechiga, Jalisco's commissioner for public security. Last month, five members of Mexico's new militarized federal police force were killed in a bloody ambush carried out by suspected gang members southeast of Guadalajara. Three suspected gangsters and two other people also died in the gunfight, which Mexican media blamed on the JNG.
Five years after the United States and Russia signed the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, the spirit in which it was signed is dead.
Russia May Consider Removing Greece, Hungary, Cyprus From Food-Ban List by webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
The Russian government could consider removing Greece, Hungary and Cyprus from its ban on most Western food imports, Russian Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Russia's ban, which should run until early August, was imposed in retaliation to Western sanctions on Russia over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. “The list of countries has been determined by the order of the Russian president and in this context we, the government, may have proposals in light of ... relations with certain countries, (and) may have proposals on removing some countries from this list,” TASS news agency quoted Fyodorov as saying. He added that the government had considered initiatives related to food imports from “Greece, Hungary [and] Cyprus.” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday. However, any agreement on removing Greece from the list of banned countries is unlikely to be reached during this visit, Fyodorov said. Russia banned about $9 billion worth of imports of fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish and dairy from the European Union and some other countries in early August of 2014. Fyodorov said a tax on Russian wheat exports, currently set until June 30, would not be removed ahead of schedule. The final decision on its possible extension beyond July 1 is expected in May or June when the prospects for this year's grain crop become clearer, he was quoted as saying. The Agriculture Ministry's forecast for a grain crop of up to 100 million tons this year is unchanged, Fyodorov said, adding that between 10 percent and 12 percent of winter grains were lost during winter.
Read the whole story
· ·
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 3
Xi: China, Vietnam Must Cooperate on Sea Disputeby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Chinese President Xi Jinping told the visiting head of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party on Tuesday that the two countries must manage their dispute over the South China Sea well to maintain peace and stability, state media reported. Communist parties rule both countries and trade has swelled to $50 billion annually, but Vietnam has long been suspicious of its giant neighbor, especially over Beijing's increasingly assertive claims to almost the entire South China Sea. Anti-Chinese violence flared in Vietnam last year after a $1 billion deep-water rig owned by China's state-run China National Offshore Oil Corp. parked 240 kilometers, or 150 miles, off the Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea. Since then, however, China has sought to make amends with Vietnam, including sending senior officials to Hanoi. Meeting in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Xi told Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party, that cooperation was good for the two countries, the China News Service reported. "[We] must strictly abide by the important consensus the leaders of both parties have reached, jointly properly manage and control maritime disputes, maintain the broader picture of relations and peace and stability in the South China Sea," the report quoted Xi as saying. Vietnam reportedly prizes friendship Trong told Xi that Vietnam put great store on having friendly relations with China, which was Hanoi's long-term strategic policy, the report added. The official Xinhua news agency, in a commentary ahead of the visit, said the two countries had "managed to ride out a considerably disturbing episode" in their dispute over the South China Sea. Potential trouble spots But it warned of problems ahead. "Some outsiders, for selfish reasons, are exploiting every possible excuse to sow discord between them, while a few in Vietnam's political circle have been deluded by external Pied Pipers and become accomplices," the news agency added, without elaborating. Vietnam has strengthened its military relationship with its old enemy, the United States, since the South China Sea dispute has heated up following Xi's assumption of power in 2013. Vietnam also has sought common ground with the Philippines on facing China over the spat. China claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, displaying its reach on official maps with a so-called nine-dash line that stretches deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to parts of the potentially energy-rich waters that are crossed by key global shipping lanes.
Read the whole story
· ·
IMF Official Sees 'Leeway' in Judging Ukraine's Debt Progressby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
The International Monetary Fund will assess the progress of Ukraine's talks with creditors, but does not have to make any decisions in June, when its next review of the country's $17.5-billion bailout is due, the Fund's No. 2 official said on Tuesday. Ukraine's officials have set themselves a June deadline to complete debt restructuring needed to plug a $15-billion funding gap in the IMF program. Many analysts are skeptical that deadline can be met. “We have a fair amount of leeway in how we judge the progress at that point,” David Lipton, the IMF's first deputy managing director, said at an event at the Washington-based Peterson Institute. “It would be best if Ukraine and its creditors could reach agreement by that point,” he said. “But if we can't make [a decision] in June, we will figure out how to go forward.” As part of its IMF bailout, Ukraine must comply with a slew of conditions to get its economy in better shape, including strengthening public finances, repairing bank balance sheets and shaking up its energy sector. It must do so amid continued uncertainty over its territorial integrity. The government in Kiev struck a ceasefire with pro-Russia separatist rebels eastern Ukraine two months ago, but fighting has continued almost daily. The IMF itself has admitted that efforts to restore Ukraine's financial stability face “exceptionally high” risks, including from creditors balking at the terms of the debt restructuring. Russia holds a $3 billion Eurobond of Ukrainian debt coming due in December, and has said it would not be part of the private sector restructuring. And Kiev may have difficulties persuading all bondholders to agree to write off some debt and accept reduced interest rates or a longer repayment period. “Those discussions are ... going to be complex,” Lipton said, referring to the debt talks. “This will take time.”
Read the whole story
· ·
 CNN |
Russian nuclear sub on fire, state news agency reports
CNN "The rubber insulation between the submarine's light and pressure hull is on fire," Tass reported.Russia's RIA Novosti news agency says insulation caught on fire as welding work was being done on the submarine. Tass reported that the fire began on a ... Nuclear submarine catches fire at Russian shipyardRT Russian nuclear submarine catches fire in shipyardReuters UK Fire put out on Russian nuclear submarine in shipyardReuters Russian nuclear submarine catches fire at shipyardTelegraph.co.uk Yahoo News-euronews all 263 news articles » |
Russia is preparing to offer Greece a cut-price gas deal as part of a package that European Union officials fear is aimed at undermining the sanctions regime against Moscow.
While the Russian federal government's reliance on the Orthodox Church is a tool aimed at consolidating society, in using it the authorities risk giving the clergy too much power.
© AP Photo/ Manuel Balce Ceneta
МОСКВА, 7 апр — РИА Новости. Причиной падения напряжения, из-за которого отключилось электроснабжение в столице США Вашингтоне, стала проблема на линии электропередачи, говорится в сообщении энергокомпании Pepco в Twitter.
Ранее СМИ сообщили, что в результате аварии оказались обесточены Белый дом, Капитолий и Госдепартамент, электричество также было отключено в здании Министерства юстиции США.
"Незадолго до 13.00 по местному времени (20.00 мск) наблюдалось падение напряжения в Вашингтоне. Это было вызвано проблемой на линии электропередачи", — говорится в сообщении компании.
В настоящий момент специалисты компании ведут работу по восстановлению оборудования, расположенного в округе Чарльз (штат Мэриленд). Агентство Рейтер со ссылкой на компанию приводит аналогичную информацию.
Ранее агентство Ассошиэйтед Пресс со ссылкой на местные власти сообщило, что причиной отключений электричества, которые произошли во вторник в столице США Вашингтоне, стал взрыв на электростанции.
Согласно данным агентства Рейтер, которое ссылается на представителей американских властей, предварительная проверка показала, что отключения электроснабжения не являются следствием террористического акта.
Ранее представитель Белого дома Джош Эрнест сообщил, что обесточивание Белого дома не повлияло на работу президента США Барака Обамы, в настоящее время подача электроэнергии восстановлена.
Read the whole story
· ·
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 4
 РИА Новости |
Энергокомпания: причиной падения напряжения в США была проблема на ЛЭП
РИА Новости Ранее представитель Белого дома Джош Эрнест сообщил, что обесточивание Белого дома не повлияло на работу президента США Барака Обамы, в настоящее время подача электроэнергии восстановлена. Здание Конгресса США в Вашингтоне. Архивное фото. © AP Photo/ Manuel ... Электроснабжение Белого дома в Вашингтоне восстановленоКоммерсантъ Подача электроэнергии в Белый дом восстановленаВзгляд Все похожие статьи: 34 » |
Russian state television shows footage of smoke rising from a shipyard in Arkhangelsk after reports a nuclear submarine had caught fire. Russian news agencies have quoted a spokesperson at the shipyard as saying there were no weapons on board the 154-metre-long (500ft) submarine. There has been no reports of casualties so far Continue reading...
Russia's state-owned gas giant Gazprom saw its profits drop some 70 percent in the first two months of this year
 MarketWatch |
Opinion: Sanctions, drop in oil price best things that ever happened to Russia
MarketWatch In reality, sanctions and a fall in the oil price might have been the best thing to have happened to Russia since the invention of double-glazing. Why? Because the problem for a country rich in resources and well-educated, creative people has been an ... Russia imports fall by more than a third in first quarterU.S. News & World Report all 57 news articles » |
Staunton, April 7 — Vladimir Putin stopped using the preposition “v” or “in” Ukraine in 2004, reverting to the older form “na” or “on,” in official government documents, an indication that the Kremlin leader did not view Ukraine as a country but rather as a Russian borderland, according to Andrey Illarionov.
From the time he became president in 2000 through March 2004, Putin used the preposition “v” exclusively in official documents he signed, but beginning on April 5, 2004, he shifted to “na” and since Putin returned for his third term, such documents have used “na” exclusively.
In his own speeches, commentaries and responses to questions, Illarionov points out, Putin has gone from using “v” in 87.5 percent of the cases in 2002 to 70 percent in 2007 to 15.4 percent in 2012 to 8.2 percent last year, thus ever more often replacing it with the “na” and thus showing his lack of respect for Ukraine’s status as a state.
Since April 5, 2004, 99.4 percent of the official documents Putin has signed which refer to Ukraine have used “v” rather than “na.” Most of these 11 exceptions reflect either statements about the past or about the work of specific Russian officials of various kinds in Ukraine, he says.
“The last time the grammatical form ‘v Ukraine’ was used in official documents of the Kremlin was about five years ago on July 1, 2010,” concerning the presentation of an award to the head of ITAR-TASS in Ukraine. And that order was signed by then-President Dmitry Medvedev.
Since that time, “v” has not been used in the official documents of the Russian president and his administration even once. “In 2011-2015, 100 percent of the cases have used the form “na Ukraine,” Illarionov reports.
This allows one to conclude, the Russian analyst says, that the decision to shift from “v” to “na” was taken “in the period between March 1 and April 5, 2004” – quite possibly immediately after Putin’s winning a second term as president and thus an indication of his intentions toward Kyiv at that time.
Certainly by April 16, 2004, Putin had made a decision to shift gears with regard to Ukraine. On that date, Illarionov recalls, Putin told the Ukrainian President Viktor Medvedchuk, “You know our position.” Working with Ukraine is “the top priority and the most important for us.”
“But however that was, the beginning of linguistic aggression by denying the statehood of Ukraine by the Russian authorities begins in March-April 2004,” Illarionov says. That was before the beginning of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in that year and long before July 2013 when Putin began his hybrid war against Ukraine.
“In other words,” Illarionov concludes, “the decision about the denial of the statehood of Ukraine was not provoked by any real actions of Ukrainians, be they from the Ukrainian authorities or Ukrainian society. This decision was taken by Putin personally, independent of the situation in Ukraine and as a result of his own ideas and in correspondence with his own plans.”
Read the whole story
· ·
Staunton, April 7 — Many members of the Russian intelligentsia do not support Vladimir Putin and his repression at home and aggression abroad, but a significant and surprising number of them do, the result of a complex combination of their experiences over the last generation and Putin’s actions as well, according to Kseniya Kirillova.
In Novy region-2 today, the commentator says that her contacts in Russia suggest that “the overwhelming majority” of those usually classed as members of the intelligentsia “if they do not support Putin” cannot be classed as his opponents and are unlikely to lead resistance to him.
But because such people are normally the ones Russians and others expect to be agents of chance, Kirillova suggests, it is important to understand as precisely as possible “the nuances” of their position, even if these shadings are more anecdotal than based on the kind of survey research that could be checked by replication.
The support Putin has among the intelligentsia is hardly “unqualified,” the commentator writes. The majority “try not to evaluate” his actions lest they have to take a position, and “many honestly acknowledge that they do not know whether he is acting correctly” even if they are “convinced that there is no other figure capable of running Russian in present circumstances.”
The cause of that, she suggests, lies with their “inadequate understanding of the situation.” Most members of the intelligentsia just like most other Russians “believe that Russia is ‘encircled by enemies,’ which will instantly destroy it in the case of the slightest weakening of the central authorities.”
On the basis of this false assumption, they believe that “Putin may be mistaken but they do not see another leader suitable for work ‘under conditions of war.’” That he and Russia were the initiators of this war is something they simply do not want to consider.
Like other Russians, the commentator continues, members of the intelligentsia share “the standard list of Russian fears: revolution, destruction, and disintegration of the country,” and the standard believe that however bad things may be, anything and anyone else “’will be even worse.’”
“Even among educated people,” Kirillova continues, most back “‘the restoration by Russia of its influence’ on the territory of the former USSR” because “many sincerely suppose” that Russia needs a buffer zone around it and because “the majority who in the past belonged to the ‘perestroika’ liberal intelligentsia dream about the restoration of the Soviet Union.”
“In part,” Kirillova says, “this also is explicable: the current authorities despite all their totalitarianism and aggressive attempts to regulate all spheres of life … are not offering society a model of a desirable future. As a result,” she suggests, Russians in many cases are looking to “an idealized past.”
Many Russians “really believe” that a USSR could be restored but “do not have specific ideas on how to achieve that in reality,” Kirillova says. Many in the intelligentsia too fall victim to that. And “many in this milieu and not without basis are afraid of repression” and when they hear about bad things, are inclined to say “’Thank God, this doesn’t affect me.’”
Moreover, like other Russians, members of the Russian intelligentsia want to hope for something; but because many of the latter have concluded that liberalism has lived out its day and that “a ‘firm hand’ is better than liberal softness,” they are prepared to back moves to restore what the regime insists is Russia’s rightful place in the world.
“The single positive distinction of educated Russians from all the rest is a lower level of aggression towards others,” Kirillova says. “The intelligentsia has no desire to ‘beat the Yukes’ or anyone else. They are also more tolerant to differences of opinion within their own milieu than are other strata,” even if they accept the Kremlin’s line on the Donbas.
The picture, she says, is not encouraging. “That force which could become the basic protest group of contemporary Russian for many reasons is incapable of fulfilling this function. [Thus,] Russian society at present is still extremely far from awakening.”
Read the whole story
· · ·
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 5
Czech PM: President Zeman Overreacted to Comments by US Envoy by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The prime minister of the Czech Republic and other top officials criticized the country’s president for a rare diplomatic row with the U.S. ambassador to Prague. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said Monday he wished President Milos Zeman was more professional in diplomatic affairs. Sobotka made it explicitly clear that it was crucial for the security of his country to remain in lockstep with NATO and the EU. “I think that the reaction of President Zeman was not adequate,” Sobotka said. "I would naturally welcome it if the attitude of Mr. President to foreign policy in general was a bit more professional,” the Czech news agency (CTK) quoted him as saying. “We should be able to communicate with our friends and allies…,” Sobotka said, adding that Zeman reacted disproportionately to the U.S. ambassador’s comments. Parliament's lower house speaker said he thought President Zeman was overreacting, while the deputy speaker of the Czech parliament's upper house said Zeman demonstrated a “lack of tact and diplomatic thinking.” A presidential spokesman also told local media that Schapiro could still attend social events at Prague Castle, the official residence of the Czech president. Czech civil society members did not appreciate President Zeman’s statement. It was not received favorably either by Western foreign media commentators. President Zeman said in an interview with online publication Parlamentni Listy on Sunday that the door of Prague Castle was closed to the U.S. ambassador, Andrew Schapiro, following the envoy's comments perceived as critical of the Czech leader's decision to attend a World War Two commemoration in Moscow on May 9. "I can't imagine the Czech ambassador in Washington would give advice to the American president where to travel," said Zeman. "I won't let any ambassador have a say about my foreign travels. Ambassador Schapiro has the door to the castle closed." European Union leaders are boycotting the ceremony in May over Russia's role in the Ukraine conflict, though Zeman - who frequently has departed from the EU line - has said he would attend. Ambassador Schapiro told Czech television last week it would be "awkward" should Zeman attend the ceremony as the only statesman from an EU country. "I understand the desire to honor all who sacrificed in World War Two,” Schapiro said, “but I think it would be unfortunate for President Zeman to be there as perhaps the only EU head of state, watching a military parade, at a time when Russian troops are destabilizing a neighbor in violation of international law." Ambassador Shapiro has said that he regretted that President Zeman felt offended, adding that he would have expected that his “candor” were well received. “I value a good working relationship with everyone, and I want [President Zeman] to know that my door will be open to him,” Shapiro said. “I also want the Czech people to know that the United States government, and the people of America, value our relationship as partners and allies more than ever.” Most western leaders have decided to Russian President Vladimir Putin the cold shoulder on May 9, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to visit Moscow on May 10. Besides Zeman, those known to be planning to travel to Moscow include Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and North Korea's Kim Jong-Un, as well as the leaders of India, South Africa, Mongolia, Cuba and Vietnam. Zeman, a former prime minister, frequently has departed from the common EU line on Ukraine and criticized sanctions against Moscow. The government, which is responsible for foreign policy, however, has held the EU line fully. The Czech presidency is largely a ceremonial role, but Zeman - who was the first president directly elected when he took office in 2013 - is outspoken on his views on both domestic and foreign policy. Some material for this report came from AP, AFP and Reuters.
Read the whole story
· · ·
Will US Congress Help, Hurt Iran Nuclear Deal?by webdesk@voanews.com (Michael Bowman)
A growing number of U.S. lawmakers of both political parties say Congress should have an up-or-down vote if a final accord is reached on Iran’s nuclear program. VOA Senate correspondent Michael Bowman reports, even as the Obama administration braces for months of intensive international negotiations with Iran, it is also fighting to ensure that congressional actions do not torpedo the diplomatic effort.
Страна помнит Немцова by Радио Свобода
 |
О том самом главном, что оставил в наследство россиянам Борис Немцов, в день его памяти говорят единомышлен...
|
From: Радио Свобода
Views: 0
0 ratings
|
| Time: 54:06 | More in News & Politics |
Activist: Russian Probe of Nemtsov Flawedby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday at the exact spot on Moscow's Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge where opposition politician Boris Nemtsov assassinated 40 days ago. The timing of the commemoration of Nemtsov, who also held the post of first deputy prime minister, is in keeping with Russian Orthodox tradition. So far, five men from Russia's restive North Caucasus have been arrested. All have denied involvement in Nemtsov's assassination. Prime suspect Zaur Dadayev, has recanted an earlier confession, saying he did so only to secure the release of another suspect. Among those who attended Tuesday's memorial was Nemtsov's close colleague Ilya Yashin, a member of RPR-Parnas, the opposition party Nemtsov co-led. VOA's Russian service spoke with Yashin and asked him about the state of the probe. Ilya Yashin: "The investigation, in my opinion, has hit a dead end. Despite the initial success of the investigation and the detention [of suspects], it appears that the investigation is clearly unable to establish the real perpetrators of the crime, to disentangle the chain of suspects. For this, there is neither the political will nor the resources. And they were even unable to detain and interrogate an associate of Dadayev's, named Ruslan Geremeyev. "Suspicions regarding [Geremeyev] are more than obvious: he took a flight with Dadayev [from Chechnya to Moscow] shortly before the murder of Nemtsov; they lived in the same [Moscow] apartment, they served together - and it is simply necessary to, at minimum, carry out investigative actions in relation to him. But the investigation cannot do that, because Ramzan Kadyrov is protecting him. And Kadyrov, in turn, is being protected by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. And it is obvious to me that as long as Putin is in the Kremlin, it cannot be expected that the real organizers of Nemtsov’s murder will be arrested." VOA: But are there any prerequisites at least to ensure that those people who have already been arrested will be punished? IY: Yes, those people who are detained will, to all appearances, incur the main punishment, despite the fact that they were nothing more than the perpetrators [not those who ordered the killing]. They will most likely ultimately be made the fall guys, but the key problem is that if those who ordered the murder remain at large while Putin is still in power, then the practice of political assassinations will continue. Because the people who ordered Nemtsov’s murder will be convinced that anything goes, and of their own impunity." VOA: After the death of Boris Nemtsov, opposition figures who had fought or disagreed began to meet and negotiate. Has anything come of out of these talks? IY: "Indeed, in the last few weeks there have been very intensive consultations between opposition politicians of the democratic wing. And in many ways, these negotiations, consultations, were made possible because, against the backdrop of the tragedy that occurred here on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge, we all realized the insignificance of the contradictions between us, the insignificance of the fight of ambitions that took place during these years. "Nemtsov often joked that the competition between the opposition leaders is a competition for places in prisons, for seats on the paddy wagons. As shown, it was a competition for who gets shot first. And if the opposition is not consolidated; if the opposition is unable, finally, to work together; then, in the end, all of us will be killed, imprisoned, or, at best, expelled from the country. Therefore, the consolidation of the opposition is a necessary condition for pulling the country out of the swamp into which it, unfortunately, is sinking deeper and deeper."
Read the whole story
· · ·
Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of London? by D. D. GUTTENPLAN
True, there’s much he could do here — starting with the trans fats in fish and chips.
How The U.S. Thinks Russia Hacked The White House
Huffington Post Russian hackers behind the damaging cyber intrusion of the State Department in recent months used that perch to penetrate sensitive parts of the White House computer system, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation. Read the whole story ... and more » |
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 6
 Business Insider |
REPORT: Russia hacked the White House
Business Insider Russian-hired hackers breached an unclassified White House system and pilfered information about President Obama's daily schedule and communications, CNN reports. The hackers gained "access to sensitive information such as real-time non-public ... How the US thinks Russians hacked the White HouseCNN Russian hackers breached White House: ReportCNBC all 35 news articles » |
MOSCOW — Russian lawmakers took a major step on Tuesday toward ousting Ilya V. Ponomarev, the only member of Parliament who opposed the annexation of Crimea last year and one of the few elected officials who have repeatedly dared to challenge President Vladimir V. Putin publicly.
In a move of seemingly naked political retribution, the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of Parliament, voted overwhelmingly to strip Mr. Ponomarev of the immunity from prosecution granted to lawmakers by the Russian Constitution.
That now allows prosecutors to bring a criminal case against him as an accomplice in an embezzlement case that is expected to result in his conviction and his expulsion from the Duma.
Mr. Ponomarev, who was first elected to the Duma in 2007 from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and re-elected in 2011, became a leader of political protests that shook Moscow before Mr. Putin’s return to the presidency in 2012, and he has been one of the Kremlin’s most resolute critics. At the same time, he has insisted that his hope is to change Russia from within.
By far his boldest move has been to cast the sole vote against the annexation of Crimea at a time when even many critics of Mr. Putin were afraid to speak out, given broad public support for Russia’s retaking of the peninsula. The tally was 445 to 1, and Mr. Ponomarev said he wanted the world to know that the annexation did not have unanimous support.
The looming criminal case stems from the alleged embezzlement of about $750,000 from a government-financed research institute called Skolkovo, in which a vice president of the institute, Aleksey Beltyukov, is accused of paying Mr. Ponomarev, a former technology entrepreneur, for lectures that were never delivered.
Mr. Ponomarev, who has been living outside Russia — mostly in the United States — since last summer, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and he did so again on Tuesday in a telephone interview.
Reached as he was driving to Boston from Princeton, Mr. Ponomarev said his friend and fellow opposition lawmaker Dmitry G. Gudkov was not permitted to speak before Tuesday’s vote. “The whole procedure in the Duma was orchestrated,” Mr. Ponomarev said.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, said his faction was voting to strip Mr. Ponomarev’s immunity and hoped to eject him from the Duma. “He is a man who caused negative feelings from the beginning,” Mr. Zhirinovsky said in a speech. “He came to work in shabby bluejeans and a sweater. He acted with a good deal of contempt.”
Mr. Ponomarev is not the first critic of Mr. Putin to face ouster from Parliament. In 2012, Mr. Gudkov’s father, Gennadi V. Gudkov, was expelled from the Duma, also after being accused of financial crimes.
The younger Mr. Gudkov, posting on Facebook, listed the questions that he had hoped to ask in Parliament to show that there was no basis to the criminal case against Mr. Ponomarev. He pointed out that the dispute over the Skolkovo money had been the subject of a previous civil court case and that it had already been adjudicated and decided mostly in Mr. Ponomarev’s favor.
In Tuesday’s vote of 438 to 1 to strip immunity, Mr. Gudkov was the sole “no.” He said he had also voted on Mr. Ponomarev’s behalf, which is permitted under the Duma’s rules.
“I pushed the abstain button using Ilya Ponomarev’s card,” Mr. Gudkov wrote. “I don’t think he would mind.”
Read the whole story
· ·
Lawmakers Take Step to Remove Putin Criticby DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Russian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to strip Ilya V. Ponomarev, the only member of Parliament who opposed the annexation of Crimea last year, of the immunity from prosecution granted by the Russian Constitution.
Read the whole story
· ·
Президент США Барак Обама распорядился ввести финансовые санкции против хакеров, причастных к взлому систем безопасности Белого дома. Об этом сообщает CNN.
«Это распоряжение разрешает секретарю казначейства США, в сотрудничестве с генеральным прокурором и государственным секретарем США, наложить санкции на физических или юридических лиц, которые участвуют в злонамеренных кибератаках, которые создают серьезную угрозу для национальной безопасности, внешней политики, экономики и финансовой стабильности Соединенных Штатов», — говорится в сообщении Белого дома.
Ранее сообщалось, что российские хакеры проникли в компьютерную сеть Белого дома через Госдеп.
Как отмечается, хакеры получили доступ к конфиденциальной информации, в частности, о непубличных деталях графика американского президента. Такая информация высоко ценится иностранными спецслужбами, отмечают американские чиновники.
ФБР и другие американские спецслужбы занимаются расследованием взлома. Представители спецслужб назвали его одной из самых изощренных атак, когда-либо происходивших против правительственных систем США.
 НТВ.ru |
Обама введет санкции против хакеров, взломавших Белый дом
Газета.Ru Президент США Барак Обама распорядился ввести финансовые санкции против хакеров, причастных к взлому систем безопасности Белого дома. Об этом сообщает CNN. «Это распоряжение разрешает секретарю казначейства США, в сотрудничестве с генеральным прокурором и ... Российские хакеры взломали компьютерную сеть Белого домаИнтерфакс Российские хакеры проникли в компьютерную сеть Белого дома через Госдеп.Радиостанция ЭХО МОСКВЫ Хакеры взломали сети Белого дома и госдепартамента СШАМосковский комсомолец NEWSru.com -НТВ.ru -Взгляд Все похожие статьи: 24 » |
Industries | Tue Apr 7, 2015 5:51pm EDT
(Adds White House statement, Rhodes quote)
WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - Russian hackers penetrated sensitive parts of the White House computer system after intruding at the U.S. State Department in recent months, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing U.S. officials briefed on the matter.
The White House said the report did not refer to a new incident but was "speculating" about the source of cyber activities that were disclosed last year.
Spokesman Mark Stroh said in a statement that the White House would not comment on CNN's attribution of the cyber attack to Russian hackers.
White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said in an appearance on CNN on Tuesday that the White House in 2014 disclosed cyber intrusions that did not affect classified information.
"We have an unclassified system and then we have a classified system, a top secret system," Rhodes said. "We do not believe that our classified systems were compromised."
CNN said the hackers gained access to unclassified but potentially sensitive information such as non-public details of the president's schedule. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson, Jeff Mason and Julia Edwards; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Read the whole story
· ·
Next Page of Stories
Loading...
Page 7
Russian hackers accessed White House email
Computerworld - 5 minutes ago
Hackers working for the Russian government were able to access President Obama's email system inside the White House, CNN reported Tuesday, indicating that an earlier breach may have been more serious than previously thought. The State Department ...
White House says secure systems not hacked
Zee News - 40 minutes ago
Washington: US officials insisted Tuesday that a cyber attack last year did not compromise White House classified systems, but refused to confirm reports Russia was behind the breach. "There was an event last year, we have classified systems that are secure ...
How the US thinks Russians hacked the White House
CNN - 43 minutes ago
Washington (CNN) Russian hackers behind the damaging cyber intrusion of the State Department in recent months used that perch to penetrate sensitive parts of the White House computer system, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation.
hackers targeted White House
Stuff.co.nz - 53 minutes ago
The White House claims no classified information was taken during a cyberattack on the seat of American power. Russian hackers were behind an intrusion in recent months into a non-classified White House computer network, CNN has reported.
Russian hackers spied on Obama in White House
The Times (subscription) - 53 minutes ago
Hackers working for the Russian government are understood to have broken into White House computers and obtained sensitive information, including real-time glimpses into President Obama's daily schedule. The revelation follows a declaration by the ...
CNN: Russia Hacked White House Computer System Last Year
Slate Magazine (blog) - 55 minutes ago
CNN is reporting Russian hackers accessed the White House computer system in a hack that exposed sensitive, though not classified, documents, according to officials. The hack appeared to build on an intrusion in the State Department's computer system ...
Russian hackers accessed Obama's private schedule
Chicago Sun-Times - 58 minutes ago
President Barack Obama walks towards the Cabinet Room outside of the White House before traveling to participate in a roundtable discussion at Howard University on the impacts of climate change on public health on Tuesday. | Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty ...
CNN: Russian hackers reached sensitive White House systems
Haaretz - 1 hour ago
... Russian hackers reached sensitive White House systems. 'We do not believe that our classified systems were compromised,' deputy national security adviser says in response. By Emily Stephenson, Jeff Mason and Julia Edwards Apr. 8, 2015 | 2:07 AM ...
White House denies CNN report that Russian hackers penetrated sensitive ...
ABC Online - 1 hour ago
US officials have insisted a cyber attack late last year did not compromise White House classified systems, but refused to confirm reports Russia was behind the breach. "There was an event last year," said deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes.
White House says classified systems not hacked
Channel News Asia - 1 hour ago
US officials insisted on Tuesday that a cyber attack last year did not compromise White House classified systems, but refused to confirm reports Russia was behind the breach. PHOTOS. Snow starts to fall as a woman walks past the White House in ...
Russian hackers "penetrated White House"
Telegraph.co.uk - 1 hour ago
Russian hackers gained access to highly sensitive information including President Barack Obama's confidential schedule, it has been claimed. CNN said the extent of the breach had been deliberately underplayed by the White House when details were first ...
Russian hackers reached sensitive White House systems: CNN
Times of India - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON: Russian hackers penetrated sensitive parts of the White House computer system after intruding at the U.S. State Department in recent months, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing U.S. officials briefed on the matter. The White House said the ...
Russia might have hacked the White House
Engadget - 1 hour ago
Russia's military overtures haven't been limited to its recent arctic war games. Cyber operatives reportedly working for Russia have already compromised an unsecured State Department computer system. Now US officials have admitted that the White ...
CNN: Russians hacked White House computers
USA TODAY - 1 hour ago
Russian hackers penetrated the White House's computer system and gained access to information including private details of President Obama's schedule, according to a report by CNN Tuesday. Citing investigators not identified by name, the news network ...
Obama aide: White House classified computer system secure
<a href="http://seattlepi.com" rel="nofollow">seattlepi.com</a> - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top aide to President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the White House's classified computer systems are secure while acknowledging vulnerabilities in its unclassified system. Obama adviser Ben Rhodes made the remarks in ...
Report: Russia behind 2014 attack on White House computer system
Fox News - 1 hour ago
Russian hackers last year were able to breach a White House computer system after a successful cyber-attack on the State Department, a news report said Tuesday. The report by CNN says the hackers were able to get sensitive information, including ...
Russian Hackers Have Been in White House System for Months, Officials Say
ABC News - 1 hour ago
Russian hackers penetrated the White House non-public, non-classified computer system for several months last year, forcing the White House to shut down the system for several days, U.S. officials said. The hacked system is not used for classified ...
Report: Russians hacked White House computers
<a href="http://MiamiHerald.com" rel="nofollow">MiamiHerald.com</a> - 1 hour ago
Russians are responsible for infiltrating the State Department and White House computer systems in recent months, CNN reported Tuesday. The report says the hackers had access to non-classified, sensitive information, such as the president's schedule, ...
Russian hackers accessed White House computer system: report
New York Daily News - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — Russian hackers penetrated parts of the White House's computer system last year, accessing information including private details of President Obama's schedule, according to a report Tuesday. Citing unnamed investigators looking into the ...
Russian Hackers Accessed Sensitive Parts of White House Computer Network ...
<a href="http://TheBlaze.com" rel="nofollow">TheBlaze.com</a> - 1 hour ago
Russian hackers were able to access sensitive parts of the White House computer system, including President Barack Obama's real-time schedule with details not available to the public, CNN reported Tuesday, citing sources. U.S. officials briefed on the ...
White House: hacking event not new, no comment on who responsible
Reuters - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday a CNN report that Russian hackers penetrated sensitive parts of the White House computer system referred to an incident it disclosed last year, and it declined to comment on who was responsible ...
Russian Hackers Targeted White House Data, CNN Reports
Bloomberg - 1 hour ago
Russian hackers may be behind an intrusion in recent months into a non-classified White House computer network, CNN reported. Deputy White House National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said on CNN that no classified information had been compromised ...
Russian hackers accessed President Obama's schedule in White House cyber ...
<a href="http://cleveland.com" rel="nofollow">cleveland.com</a> - 2 hours ago
President Barack Obama reads as he walks back to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Russian-hired hackers apparently breached an unclassified White House system and had access to information about President ...
Russian cyberhack not confirmed by White House
Washington Times - 2 hours ago
White House officials Tuesday would not confirm a CNN report saying Russian hackers were behind a high-profile cyberattack on the State Department and the White House. The CNN report, citing U.S. officials briefed on an ongoing investigation into last ...
UPDATE 1-Russian hackers reached sensitive White House systems -CNN
Reuters - 2 hours ago
(Adds White House statement, Rhodes quote). WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - Russian hackers penetrated sensitive parts of the White House computer system after intruding at the U.S. State Department in recent months, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing ...
Russian government hacked into the White House computers, report says
The Independent - 2 hours ago
The Russian government allegedly has hacked into the White House computer systems, gaining access to sensitive information about President Barack Obama, according to CNN. US government officials believe the hackers are the same ones that breached ...
Russian hackers breached White House: Report
CNBC - 2 hours ago
President Barack Obama speaks at the Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., Feb. 13, 2015. Computer hackers affiliated with Russia breached sensitive parts of the White House digital system, CNN ...
White House computers hacked by Russians
New York Post - 2 hours ago
Russian hackers penetrated the White House computer system and were able to get their hands on sensitive information — including details of President Obama's schedule, a new report said Tuesday. The hackers were believed to be the same ones who ...
Report: Russians Hacked White House
Newsweek - 3 hours ago
A White House statement Tuesday says Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani wants flexibility on the timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from his country. John Pryke/Reuters. Filed Under: U.S., CNN, White House, Russia, Hacking. The Russian government ...
Russia's Invasion of White House Computers: The Story Still Has Not Been Told
Power Line (blog) - 5 minutes ago
CNN has made news with this headline: “How the U.S. thinks Russians hacked the White House.” Russian hackers behind the damaging cyber intrusion of the State Department in recent months used that perch to penetrate sensitive parts of the White House ...
|
Read the whole story
· · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
 Business Insider |
How the US thinks Russians hacked the White House
CNN Washington (CNN) Russian hackers behind the damaging cyber intrusion of the State Department in recent months used that perch to penetrate sensitive parts of the White House computer system, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation. REPORT: Russia hacked the White HouseBusiness Insider Report: Russia behind 2014 attack on White House computer systemFox News Russia might have hacked the White HouseEngadget USA TODAY -CNBC all 73 news articles » |
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Comments
Post a Comment