Crisis in Ukraine

[LazyLion]

RUSSIA PROBES JOURNALIST OVER CRIMEA JOKE

Russian prosecutors on Thursday were investigating a journalist who jokingly appealed to Vladimir Putin to send troops to his region of Vologda to protect its population from corrupt officials.

In a witty appeal posted on Facebook this month, Roman Romanenko, chief editor of a local newspaper, added the Kremlin would not face any international sanctions if it improved the lives of Russians in the region around the city of Vologda, located some 500 kilometres to the northeast of Moscow.

A spokeswoman for the Vologda prosecutors, Oxana Vinogradova, told AFP that investigators were conducting a probe into the journalist's appeal "in accordance with the requirements of the current legislation".

The probe has been launched following a request of Vologda region governor Oleg Kuvshinnikov, she added.

Romanenko posted the bitterly-ironic joke on Facebook after Putin sent troops to Ukraine's Russian-speaking peninsula of Crimea, noting Moscow needed to protect compatriots following a popular uprising in Kiev.

Speaking to AFP, Romanenko said he had been questioned by investigators on Monday, noting that the entire conversation was awkward.

"It's like trying to explain a joke to a man without a sense of humour," he said.

His humorous but sarcastic letter written on behalf of "the residents of the Vologda region" went viral on the Russian Internet and was also published on the website of top opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

"Everyone here is a Russian speaker and our rights are severely violated," the letter said.

"Our sick cannot get the medicine and treatment they need, the level of our education is decreasing every year, children's clubs and interest groups are closing, (and) agriculture has virtually been destroyed.

"We are suffering a lot."

"But the occupiers who have seized power with the help of dishonest elections, are not doing anything for the conquered people."

"We would be very grateful to you and can guarantee that there won't be any guerilla war against liberators," he said.

The letter also asked whether it would be possible to spend the money earmarked for improving the lives of people in Crimea on medicine and education in the Vologda region.

The probe comes amid an ongoing crackdown on independent online media, the last bastion of free speech in Russia.

In a historic address marking Russia's taking of Crimea, Putin this week warned of a "fifth column," referring to his critics.


Source : Sapa-AFP /um
Date : 20 Mar 2014 15:41

 

[Nanfeishen]

And the penny drops...

Throw in the EAU:

Eurasian Economic Union is a proposed economic union of post-Soviet states. On 18 November 2011, the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement, setting a target of establishing the Eurasian Union by 2015.
several candidates in Kyrgyzstan's 2011 presidential election have endorsed the concept.
In November 2011 Tajikistan's government said they were considering membership.[3]
Ukraine submitted an application to participate in the Eurasian Union as an observer in August 2013
Georgia’s Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said in September 2013 he was studying the possibility of acceding the Union, although he later clarified that Georgia's main strategy was still to integrate into the European Union.Russia's Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev included Georgia as a prospective member in statements made in August 2013.

In September 2013, Armenia announced its decision to join the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia. President Serj Sargsyan of Armenia announced the decision after talks with his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. President Vladimir Putin supported the decision and pledged to "fully work for this to happen".Russia is Armenia's largest trading partner, and bilateral trade grew 22% to $1.2 billion (€910 million) last year.
Russia is also the biggest foreign investor in the small Eurasian economy, with a total of $3 billion (€2.27 billion) investments last year in a country whose GDP amounted to $9.9 billion (€7.5 billion) in 2012, according to the World Bank.

Putin's plan is for the Eurasian Customs Union to grow into a "powerful, supra-national union" of sovereign states like the European Union, uniting economies, legal systems, customs services and military capabilities to form a bridge between Europe and Asia and rival the EU, the US, China and India by 2015

And a very informative snippit

The United States has expressed its opposition to the Eurasian Union, claiming it is "an attempt" to re-establish a USSR-type union among the former Soviet republics. In December 2012, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed "It’s not going to be called that [USSR]. It’s going to be called customs union, it will be called the Eurasian Union and all of that, but let’s make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Union

The E.U. and the U.S. by interfering in the Ukraine are guilty of creating a situation that clearly threatens the formation and collaboration between the prospective EAU countries.
As in the case with Georgia which is considering it while it is part of the EU.

What if the EAU became more succesful than the EU, and more EU countries opted to leave and join the EAU ?

That obviously couldnt be allowed to happen and voila , enter the Ukraine , the cake with cherry offered up on a platter.

The perfect remedy to prevent , hinder, slow down or stop the formation of the EAU.

 

[LazyLion]

RUSSIA ANNOUNCES TRAVEL BANS AGAINST US OFFICIALS

Russia said Thursday it was introducing its own sanctions against US officials, minutes after US President Barack Obama announced new sanctions against Russian officials over the Crimea crisis.

"There should be no doubt: each hostile attack will be met in an adequate manner," the Russian foreign ministry said, adding that nine Obama aides and senators would not be able to enter Russia.

Moscow's blacklist includes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker John Boehner and Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as senators John McCain, Mary Landrieu and Daniel Coats.

Also on the list are Obama aides Caroline Atkinson, Daniel Pfeiffer and Benjamin Rhodes.

The foreign ministry said the travel bans had been introduced in response to a US move Monday to slap financial sanctions on seven top Russian government officials and lawmakers.

"We have repeatedly warned that the use of sanctioning instruments is a two-way street and will hit the United States as a boomerang," the ministry said.

Moscow said Washington did not want to acknowledge that residents of the Russian-speaking peninsula of Crimea had overwhelmingly voted to split from Ukraine and join Russia and that the move was in line with international law.

"One may not like that decision but we are talking about a reality which needs to be taken into account," the foreign ministry said.

Obama meanwhile announced fresh sanctions on more Russian officials and threatened to target the broader Russian economy if Moscow escalates its actions against Ukraine.

There was no immediate reaction to the new US measures and Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was not immediately available for comment.


Source : Sapa-AFP /um
Date : 20 Mar 2014 18:23

 

[LazyLion]

RUSSIAN LAWMAKERS SEAL ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA

The Russian parliament's lower house has endorsed the country's annexation of Crimea.

The Kremlin-controlled State Duma voted Thursday to allow Crimea to join Russia following a quick discussion in which members assailed the Ukrainian authorities.

The merger needs to be rubber-stamped by the upper house and signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, formalities expected to be completed by the end of the week.

The endorsement follows Crimea's referendum last weekend where there was overwhelming support for breaking off from Ukraine and joining Russia.

The vote, held just two weeks after the Black Sea peninsula was overtaken by Russian forces, has been rejected as unlawful by Ukraine and Western powers. The United States and the European Union have responded by slapping some limited sanctions on Russia.


Source : Sapa-AP /um
Date : 20 Mar 2014 16:05

 

[LazyLion]

PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA TO HOLD OFF ON MORE SANCTIONS AGAINST US

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Moscow would for now hold off on more reciprocal sanctions against the United States, after Washington introduced punitive measures against his close allies over the Ukraine crisis.

"You know, both in the first case -- the American sanctions -- and in the second case -- the introduction of a visa regime with Ukraine -- I think we should for now hold off on reciprocal steps," Putin told a meeting of his Security Council in comments released by the Kremlin.


Source : Sapa-AFP /gq
Date : 21 Mar 2014 11:20

 

[LazyLion]

RUSSIAN UPPER HOUSE APPROVES ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA

The upper house of the Russian parliament has approved Moscow's annexation of Crimea.

The Federation Council voted unanimously to incorporate Crimea after Sunday's hastily called Crimean referendum, in which residents of the Black Sea peninsula overwhelmingly backed breaking off from Ukraine and joining Russia. Ukraine and the West have rejected the vote, held two weeks after Russian troops had taken over Crimea.

The move, already approved by the lower house, is set to be completed later Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin's signature.

The U.S. and the European Union have responded by slapping sanctions on Russia. U.S. President Barack Obama ordered a second round of sanctions Thursday targeting members of Putin's inner circle and a major bank supporting them.

International agencies downgraded Russia's outlook, and Russian stock plummeted Friday.


Source : Sapa-AP /gq
Date : 21 Mar 2014 11:17

 

[LazyLion]

EU, UKRAINE SIGN POLITICAL PROVISIONS OF HISTORIC ACCORD

Ukraine interim prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk put his country firmly in the Western camp Friday, signing the political provisions of a landmark association accord with EU leaders in defiance of Russia.

"Signing political part EU-Ukraine Association Agreement symbolises importance of relations (and) will to take it further," EU president Hermann Van Rompuy said in a tweeted message.


Source : Sapa-AFP /gq
Date : 21 Mar 2014 11:16

 

[Jola]

IMO the best way of punishing Russia for its illegal invasion and annexation of a neighbouring country would be a boycott of the FIFA World Cup in Russia in 2018.

#BoycottRussia2018

I'm sure that SA could fill the gap, we have unused white elephants all over the country

 

[LazyLion]

UKRAINE SLAMS RUSSIA 'CONFISCATION' OF CHOCOLATE FACTORIES

The Kiev government condemned Russia on Thursday for "confiscating" chocolate factories run by the Ukrainian confectionary giant Roshen and owned by a billionaire who could run for the presidency.

The foreign affairs and economy ministries said Russian riot police on Wednesday seized the factories in the Lipetsk region, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) from Moscow.

"The Russian authorities carried out the de-facto confiscation of Roshen's production capabilities in Russia," the ministries said, urging Moscow to "immediately cease" action blocking the firm's operations.

A Roshen spokesman told Russia's official news agency ITAR-TASS that the company's production in Russia was halted on Wednesday after a raid ordered by prosecutors.

The company, whose sweets are very popular across the former Soviet Union, is controlled by Petro Poroshenko, who helped finance protests that ousted pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych last month.

A former economy minister, Poroshenko is among the favourites in opinion polls ahead of a May 25 presidential election, although he has yet to confirm his candidacy.

Russia banned imports of Roshen chocolates in July, saying they failed to meet its sanitary standards, a move Kiev said was politically motivated by its European ambitions.

The company was able to continue production at its Russian factories.

In February, however, it was forced to shut down a factory in southern Ukraine as a result of the Russian ban on imports.


Source : Sapa-AFP /um
Date : 20 Mar 2014 22:01

 

[LazyLion]

UKRAINE SIGNS DEAL TO ALIGN ITSELF WITH EUROPE

Ukraine's prime minister has pulled his nation closer into Europe's orbit by signing a political association agreement with the EU at a summit of the bloc's leaders.

Friday's agreement between Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the EU leaders was part of the pact that former President Viktor Yanukovych backed out of last November in favor of a $15 billion bailout from Russia. That decision sparked the protests that ultimately led to his downfall and flight last month, setting off one of Europe's worst political crises since the Cold War.

Russian forces took control of Crimea two weeks ago in the wake of Yanukovych's ouster and President Vladimir Putin this week annexed the strategically important Black Sea peninsula.


Source : Sapa-AP /gq
Date : 21 Mar 2014 11:32

 

[LazyLion]

RUSSIAN STOCKS TUMBLE, BANKS SUFFER AMID SANCTIONS

Russian stocks tumbled Friday as another credit rating agency put the country on notice of a possible downgrade and Visa and MasterCard stopped serving two Russian banks, a day after the U.S. ordered economic sanctions against two dozen people from President Vladimir Putin's entourage.

Fears over Russia's economic outlook have ratcheted up this week after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the treaty to annex Crimea following Sunday's hastily called referendum which overwhelmingly supported that move. The West considers the vote illegitimate.

President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered economic sanctions against nearly two dozen members of Putin's inner circle and a major Russian bank that provides them support. Putin's chief of staff and four influential businessmen who are believed to be Putin's lifelong friends were among the 20 individuals sanctioned

The MICEX benchmark was down nearly 3 percent two hours into Friday trading with the companies co-owned by the Russians sanctioned by the White House leading the decline. The Russian stock market has lost than more 10 percent this month.

As Russian stocks were taking a pounding, two Russian banks including Bank Rossiya, the Russian lender which was put on the Treasury's sanctions list, said Visa and MasterCard stopped providing services to them. U.S. officials described Russia's 15th largest bank with $12 billion in assets as a "personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation."

And clients of another Russian lender, SMP, woke up Friday to discover that they cannot use their cards. In a statement, it said Visa and MasterCard stopped providing their services to them "without prior notification." SMP's co-owners, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg - billionaire brothers and childhood friends of Putin - were hit by the U.S. sanctions on Thursday.

The bank, which is in Russia's top 40 with $5 billion in assets, said it had no assets in the United States and described Visa and MasterCard's actions as "illegitimate" because the bank, unlike its owners, was not covered by the sanctions.

Though customers in the two banks won't be able to use cards backed by Visa and MasterCard to buy products in shops or online or even withdraw cash from ATMs, the clients can get cash directly from the banks.

Russia's central bank sought to assure that the blacklisting of Rossiya and its transactions by U.S. authorities "does not have a serious bearing on the lender's financial stability." However, it added that the government could "take necessary steps to support the lender and the interests of its depositors and creditors."

Amid the signs that the sanctions are beginning to impact on day-to-day life in Russia, ratings agency Fitch followed Standard & Poor's in warning Russia that it may have its credit rating downgraded. In a statement, Fitch said it has revised down its outlook for Russia's debt to reflect the potential impact of sanctions on Russia's economy, a day after S&P warned of a potential downgrade too.

Fitch operates a 23-notch rating system and Russia's BBB rating ranks ninth on that scale, two above what is considered to be junk status. Lower ratings are important because it can make a country's borrowing costs more expensive.

"Since U.S. and EU banks and investors may well be reluctant to lend to Russia under the current circumstances, the economy may slow further and the private sector may require official support," Fitch said.


Source : Sapa-AP /gq
Date : 21 Mar 2014 11:34

 

[LazyLion]

PUTIN HAS 'LOST UKRAINE FOR GOOD' SAYS TYMOSHENKO

Russian president Vladimir Putin has "lost Ukraine for good" with his move to annex Crimea, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Friday in her first live television appearance since returning to the country.

Tymoshenko, who spent three years in jail on what she said were politically motivated charges before being freed last month, appealed to fellow Ukrainians to be ready to fight in the event of a Russian invasion.

"Putin has lost Ukraine forever after declaring war on us," said the leader of the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution as she appeared on a live talk show in her trademark blonde plaits.

"Putin is Ukraine's enemy number one who seized our land with weapons.

"We must be ready for Putin to cross the red line," she added, saying around 100,000 Russian troops were massed on the Ukrainian border.

Kiev has expressed fears Moscow may venture into eastern Ukraine, home to a large Russian-speaking population, after seizing the Crimean peninsula.

But Tymoshenko insisted any such attempt would not succeed, saying Putin was "not the first dictator to behave in a fascist manner" and risked going the same way as other "deposed dictators".

The forceful 53-year-old was jailed after losing to Viktor Yanukovych by a razor-thin margin in a 2010 presidential poll.

Tymoshenko walked free on February 23 having served three years of a seven-year sentence for abuse of power, a charge she has always denied.

She left Kiev shortly afterwards for Germany, where she remained until this week, receiving treatment for severe back pain that forced her to use a wheelchair.

A telegenic but steely figure, she is closely associated with the corrupt and tumultuous years that followed the collapse of Soviet rule in the 1990s, dogged by suspicions of personal enrichment and opportunism.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kn
Date : 22 Mar 2014 01:15

 

[LazyLion]

UKRAINE HOSTS KEY WESTERN ALLIES AFTER LOSS OF CRIMEA
by Dmitry Zaks

Ukraine hosts two vital allies on Saturday amid Western efforts to cement Kiev's leaning away from Moscow in a Cold War-style struggle for the ex-Soviet nation that has already seen Russia take Crimea.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be the first leader from the G7 group of top industrialised powers to meet interim president Oleksandr Turchynov in Kiev since last month's fall of a pro-Kremlin regime that had ultimately rejected closer ties to the West.

Turchynov starts off by hosting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier -- his economic power playing a decisive role in formulating Europe's response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's increasingly belligerent stance.

The show of diplomatic solidarity may play an important psychological role in Kiev as it faces new rounds of pressure by Russia that include open threats to throw Ukraine's wheezing economy into convulsion by raising its gas rates and demanding colossal payments for disputed debts it could ill afford.

The biggest such signal from Europe came on Friday with the signing in Brussels of the very agreement on closer EU-Ukraine relations whose rejection by the Moscow-backed regime sparked three months of deadly protests that led to its February 22 fall.

The pact puts Ukraine on a firmer footing toward EU membership which the protesters -- tired of corruption and Russian domination -- sought and which Putin feared because of the doom it spelt for his dream of recreating a Kremlin-run empire of a post-Soviet state.

The political deal should be followed months later by an economic agreement permanently lifting trade barriers and requiring Ukraine to undertake structural changes that could kickstart two decades of stuttering growth.

But Ukraine is unlikely to hear its calls for US and EU military support answered despite the hourly advances Russian troops and pro-Kremlin militia are making on the rebel Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

Russian forces on Friday marked Putin putting his name on a treaty sealing the Kremlin's absorption of the mostly Russian-speaking region by storming and seizing Ukraine's only submarine in the region.

"Don't worry mum, I'm picking up my things and then I'm coming home," one Ukrainian soldier in a camouflage uniform was heard saying on the phone as Russian troops raised their flag at the main entrance to the large Perevalne military base.

Both the Unites State and Europe have thus far limited their retaliation against Putin to targeted travel and financial sanctions that concern officials but clear of impacting the Russian economy.

Washington's steps have been more meaningful because they target what US officials call a Putin "crony bank" as well as oligarchs who are believed to be close to the Russian strongman and -- in one case -- actually be running a joint business with him.

Moscow appears to have been taken aback by the force of US President Barack Obama's message -- as well as the threat to one day hit Russian industries -- because its only response to date has been the publication of a list of nine US officials and lawmakers who will be barred from entering Russia.

Putin on Friday made light of the US decision to effectively cut the bank suspected of being close to him from the Western financial system and suggested in televised comments that "we should for now hold off on reciprocal steps."

He notably made no mention of the Europeans -- their punitive steps so far mostly limited to the largely symbolic suspension of free travel talks and a summit Putin had been due to host in June.

Leading EU nations such as a Britain and Germany -- their financial and energy sectors intertwined with Russia's -- have particularly questioned why they should be the ones to suffer most in case of an all-out trade war.

Kiev scored one small success on Friday when Moscow removed its objections and allowed monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to be deployed in the heavily Russified southeastern swathes of Ukraine.

The interim leaders in Kiev fear the huge forces that Russia has amassed along their country's eastern frontier.

Putin has vowed to use any means necessary to "protect" his compatriots against what he describes as violent ultranationalist elements now running wild in Ukraine.

But Moscow agreed to let an initial force of 100 OSCE monitors watch out for any possible troop movements or other forms of Russian incitement after the rights and security body of 57 nations agreed to stay out of Crimea -- an area that it was already barred from entering this month.

Russia's OSCE ambassador Andrei Kelin said in Vienna after the decision the fact that the mission will not be deployed in Crimea was in line with "geopolitical realities".


Source : Sapa-AFP /gq
Date : 22 Mar 2014 10:52

 

[LazyLion]

RUSSIA BACKS OSCE MONITORS IN UKRAINE, EXCLUDING CRIMEA

Russia on Saturday expressed hopes for the success of the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, while stressing the observers were excluded from Crimea after its takeover by Moscow.

"The Russian side hopes that objective and unbiased work by international observers will help overcome the crisis inside Ukraine," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

But it said the "mission's mandate reflects the new political and legal realities and does not extend to Crimea and Sevastopol, which have become part of Russia."

Russia called for the OSCE monitors to help end the "rampant nationalist banditry" and "ultra-radical trends" in Ukraine.

Russia had earlier this week three times blocked the sending of a full OSCE observer mission to Ukraine. It dropped its objections after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged President Vladimir Putin to back their deployment.

More than 50 military observers from the Vienna-based OSCE attempted to enter Crimea two weeks ago but were repeatedly barred entry at border checkpoints.


Source : Sapa-AFP /gq
Date : 22 Mar 2014 10:51

 

[LazyLion]

FUNERAL HELD FOR CRIMEA STAND-OFF'S FIRST CASUALTIES

Crimea held a joint funeral on Saturday for a Ukrainian soldier and a pro-Moscow militiaman killed this week -- the first casualties since Russian forces seized the Black Sea peninsula.

"These are Crimean heroes," the Moscow-ruled region's prime minister Sergei Aksyonov said at the funeral, where Orthodox priests prayed over the open coffins laid side by side.

There were many soldiers carrying red carnations among the mourners at the Officer's Club in the regional capital Simferopol, as well as Cossack troops and even some Russian bikers who came to pay their respects.

Mikhail Sheremet, the leader of the pro-Moscow militia in Crimea, said the two men -- Ukrainian junior officer Sergei Kokurin and pro-Moscow militiaman Ruslan Kazakov -- were victims of "a provocation".

A crowd of friends and family members, including Kokurin's pregnant widow, walked behind the coffins to the sounds of the Ukrainian navy's brass band before loading them onto minivans to head for the cemetery.

"We cannot say anything, because there is an investigation," a naval officer who carried Kokurin's portrait in the procession said.

Crimean prosecutors have said they believe the shots that killed both men during a confrontation at a Simferopol military installation on Tuesday came from the same place, and that the gunfire was aimed against both the Ukrainian military and Russian forces.

Authorities in Crimea have blamed the attack on a "sniper" from western Ukraine, but a city-wide manhunt has yielded no results yet.

Ukrainian media has claimed that Kokurin was killed by automatic fire from a Kalashnikov.


Source : Sapa-AFP /nsm
Date : 22 Mar 2014 12:04

 

[Nanfeishen]

Ukrainian media has claimed that Kokurin was killed by automatic fire from a Kalashnikov.

Oh my word, proof positive it was the Russians :erm:

 

[snoopdoggydog]

9 Huge Government Conspiracies That Actually Happened

We all know the conspiracy theories — the government's plan for 9/11, the second gunman who shot JFK, the evolution of the elite from a race of blood-drinking, shape-shifting lizards. But the people who spread these ideas usually can't prove them.
As the years pass, however, secrets surface. Government documents become declassified. We now have evidence of certain elaborate government schemes right here in the U.S. of A.

1. Prohibition Research Committee
The Prohibition Research Committee, pictured above, traveled the country trying to find one "drunk" reformed by the legislation.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury poisoned alcohol during Prohibition — and people died.
The 18th Amendment, which took effect in January 1920, banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol — but not consumption. Despite the government's efforts, alcoholism actually skyrocketed during the era.
To keep up with America's thirst, bootleggers not only created their own alcohol but also stole industrial versions, rendered undrinkable by the inclusion of certain chemicals (namely methyl alcohol). Liquor syndicates then employed chemists to "re-nature" the alcohol once again, making it safe for consumption, according to Deborah Blum, author of "The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York."
By mid-1927, however, the U.S. government added much deadlier chemicals — kerosene, chloroform, and acetone among those most well known — which made alcohol more difficult to render consumable again. Adding 10% more methyl alcohol caused the worst efforts.
Although New York City's chief medical examiner, Charles Norris, tried to publicize the dangers, in 1926, poisonous alcohol killed 400 in the city. The next year, 700 died.

2. Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
The U.S. Public Health Service lied about treating black men with syphilis for more than 40 years.
In 1932, the Public Health Service collaborated with the Tuskegee Institute to record the history of syphilis in the black male community, hoping to justify a treatment program.
Called the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, the study initially included 600 black men — 399 with the disease and 201 without. While the men were told they would receive treatment, however, the researchers never provided adequate treatment for the disease. Even when penicillin became the preferred and available treatment for syphilis, researchers kept their subjects in the dark.
Although originally planned to last only six months, the experiment continued for 40 years. Finally, in 1972, an Associated Press article prompted public outrage and a subsequent investigation. A government advisory panel deemed the study "ethically irresponsible" and research ended almost immediately.
As a result, the government settled a class-action lawsuit out of court in 1974 for $10 million and lifetime health benefits for all participants, the last of whom died in 2004.

3. Jonas Salk Polio Vaccine
More than 100 million Americans received a polio vaccine contaminated with a potentially cancer-causing virus.
From 1954 to 1961, simian virus 40 (SV40) somehow showed up in polio vaccines, according to the American Journal of Cancer. Researchers estimate 98 million people in the U.S. and even more worldwide received contaminated inoculations.
Jonas Salk, known creator of the inactivated polio vaccine, used cells from rhesus monkeys infected with SV40, according to president of the National Vaccine Information Center Barbara Fisher, who testified before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness in the U.S. House of Representatives on this matter in 2003, after researching the situation for 10 years.
The federal government changed oral vaccine stipulations in 1961 — which didn't include Salk's inactivated polio vaccine — specifically citing SV40. But medical professionals continued to administer tainted vaccines until 1963, according to Michael E. Horwin writing for the Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology in 2003. And even after 1961, the American Journal of Cancer found contaminated oral vaccines.
Although researchers know SV40 causes cancer in animals, opinions vary on a direct link between the virus and cancer in humans. Independent studies, however, have identified SV40 in brain and lung tumors of children and adults.
The Centers for Disease Control did post a fact sheet acknowledging the presence of SV40 in polio vaccines but has since removed it, according to Medical Daily.

4. Gulf of Tonkin
Parts of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which led to U.S. intervention in Vietnam, never happened.
After evading a torpedo attack, the USS Maddox reportedly engaged three North Vietnamese boats in the Gulf of Tonkin on both Aug. 2 and 4, 1964, according to the Pentagon Papers. Although without U.S. casualties, the events prompted Congress to pass a resolution allowing President Lyndon John to intervene in the Southeast.
Talk of Tonkin's status as a "false flag" for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War has permeated public discourse almost since the time of the attacks, especially after the government admitted that the second incident may have involved false radar images.
But after resisting comment for decades, the National Security Agency finally declassified documents in 2005, admitting the incident on Aug. 4 never happened at all.
Those involved didn't necessarily intend to cover-up the incident to propagate a war. But the evidence does suggest "an active effort to make SIGINT fit the claim of what happened during the evening of 4 August in the Gulf of Tonkin,"according to NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok.

http://www.businessinsider.com/true-government-conspiracies-2013-12

 

[snoopdoggydog]

9 Huge Government Conspiracies That Actually Happened

5. Fidel Castro
Military leaders reportedly planned terrorist attacks in the U.S. to drum up support for a war against Cuba.
In 1962, the joint chiefs-of-staff approved Operation Northwoods, a covert plan to create support for a war in Cuba that would oust communist leader Fidel Castro.
Declassified government documents show considerations included: host funerals for "mock-victims," "start rumors (many)," and "blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba." They even suggested somehow pinning John Glenn's potential death, should his rocket explode, on communists in Cuba.
The advisors presented the plan to President Kennedy's Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, according to investigative journalist James Bamford's book, "Body of Secrets." We don't know whether McNamara immediately refused, but a few days later, Kennedy told Army Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer, the plan's poo-bah, that the U.S. would never use overt force to take Cuba.
A few months later, Lemnitzer lost his position.
"There really was a worry at the time about the military going off crazy and they did, but they never succeeded, but it wasn't for lack of trying," Bamford told ABC News.

6. Ken Kesey One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The government tested the effects of LSD on unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens.
Under the code name "MKUltra," the U.S. government ran a human-research operation within the CIA's Scientific Research Division. Researchers tested the effects of hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, torture, and most memorably, LSD, on U.S. and Canadian citizens. Most had no idea.
To conduct these experiments, the CIA paid prisons, hospitals, and other institutions to keep quiet. The department even enticed heroin addicts to participate by offering them heroin, according to documents from a joint hearing to subcommittees of Congress, where President Kennedy spoke.
That day, he regaled Congress with "chilling testimony." Over 30 universities became involved in various studies. Notably, many lacked oversight by medical or scientific professionals. At least one participant, Frank Olsen, died, reportedly from suicide after unknowingly ingesting LSD.
In January 1973, then CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all documents pertaining to MKUltra. When Congress looked into the matter, no one, not even Helms, could "remember" details. Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, more documents were located, but the full timeline remains incomplete.
The events inspired investigative journalist Jon Ronson's best-selling book, "The Men Who Stare At Goats," now a movie of the same title starring George Clooney.

7. Glomar Explorer Project Azorian
In 1974, the CIA secretly resurfaced a sunken Soviet submarine with three nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.
The CIA's secret "Project Azorian" aimed to raise a sunken Soviet submarine from the floor of the Pacific Ocean to retrieve three nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, each carrying a one megaton nuclear warhead.
With President Nixon's approval, CIA director Richard Helms placed all the plans in a secret file called "Jennifer," thus keeping the information from everyone but a select number of government officials.
After a FOIA, the NSA finally published an article from the CIA's in-house journal, Studies in Intelligence, revealing that the department succeeded in resurfacing portions of the sub, named K-129.
The CIA redacted text in these documents that prevent determining the operation's exact level of success, but the crew of the Glomar Explorer, the recovery ship, did haul contents to Hawaii for unloading.

8. Reagan Iran Contra Scandal
The U.S. government sold weapons to Iran, violating an embargo, and used the money to support Nicaraguan militants.
In 1985, senior officials in the Reagan administration facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, then under embargo. The government, with the National Security Council's Oliver North acting as a key player, later used the profits to fund the Contras, anti-communist rebels, in Nicaragua.
The whole situation began with seven American hostages taken by a hostile group in Lebanon with ties to Iran. Through an elaborate exchange involving Israel, the U.S. planned to sell weapons to Iran in exchange for the hostages' freedom. The situation quickly derailed, although the Lebanese did release all but two hostages.
After a leak from an Iranian, the situation finally came to light in 1986. After repeatedly denying any involvement, the Reagan administration underwent 41 days of congressional hearings, according to Brown University's research project on the scandal. They subpoenaed government documents as early as 1981 and forced declassification of others.
Reagan's involvement in and even knowledge of the situation remains unclear. The hearings never labeled the sale of weapons to Iran a criminal offense, but some officials faced charges for supporting the Contras. The administration, however, refused to declassify certain documents, forcing Congress to drop them.

9. A public relations firm organized congressional testimony that propelled U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf War
In 1990, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl identified only as "Nayirah" testified before Congress that she witnessed Iraqi soldiers pulling infants from their incubators at a hospital and tossing them to the ground to die.
A later investigation revealed that PR giant Hill & Knowlton arranged her testimony for a client, Kuwaiti-sponsored Citizens for a Free Kuwait, and furthermore that Nayirah was the daughter of Kuwait's Ambassador to the U.S., according to The New York Times.
Tom Lantos, a representative from California who co-founded the committee that heard Nayirah, coordinated the whole thing. Perhaps not coincidentally, his committee rented space in the PR firm's headquarters at a reduced rate. Citizens for a Free Kuwait would go on to donate money to foundations with ties to said committee sometime after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
At first, Amnesty International affirmed the girl's testimony. But after reinvestigation, the group and other human rights organizations switched positions. They didn't necessarily question the accuracy, just her withheld bias.
Nayirah's testimony helped build support for the Persian Gulf War, though Congress would have likely pursued involvement without her words.

http://www.businessinsider.com/true-government-conspiracies-2013-12

 

[snoopdoggydog]

Pretend to be part of the 1% & people will adore, agree with you & do what you want

 

[snoopdoggydog]

Russia's UN envoy Churkin replies to CNN anchor Amanpour

Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin has issued a response to Christiane Amanpour after the CNN anchor lashed out at the diplomat over his inability to appear on her show and brought his daughter into the equation.

In her Thursday show, Amanpour said: "And one more note: we continue to reach out to the Russian government for their comment, including officials such as UN Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin. We haven't had much luck, but perhaps people like Churkin feel they don't really have to leave their comfort zone."

“Churkin’s own daughter is the US-based reporter for ‘Russia Today’ in New York. She's shown here, quizzing US State Department spokesman, Jen Psaki, over this whole Ukraine crisis. And in the past, she's even reported on her own father.”


Dear Ms. Amanpour,

I am taken aback by the personal attacks you resorted to in your show on March 20. I have known you for many years (including through a number of on-the-air interviews) and used to respect you professionally. So it was somewhat startling that my inability to give another interview provoked such an outburst.

As to my unwillingness, as you put it, to leave my "comfort zone” – you are absolutely right. After 8 meetings of the Security Council on the situation in Ukraine and Crimea (six of them in front of TV cameras) I feel very comfortable that the truth is beginning to come across.

If, though, you imply that I don’t want to answer tough questions, then you are mature enough to know that I spoke to the “full house” at the Washington National Cathedral in October, 1983, two weeks after the South Korean airliner was downed, and then testified at the US Congress in May of 1986 after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, not to mention hundreds of other media and “live” appearances. So I can explain to anyone what “leaving a comfort zone” means.

But I wouldn’t be writing to you if you did not also choose to personally attack my daughter – your younger colleague – a Russian TV journalist. I am very proud of her – not only is she a good journalist, but she strictly keeps her professional distance from me.

Incidentally, I recall you married the State Department Spokesman. How was your professional credibility in the course of your courtship?

Don’t bother to answer. I don’t really want to know.

Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin

http://rt.com/usa/churkin-response-amanpour-cnn-465/