As usual, blood thirty mass murdering communists celebrated by the same left that hyperventilates over nationalism: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/arts/design/art-for-east-germanys-secret-police-is-for-sale-at-art-basel-miami-beach.html

Nolan Peterson
38 mins ·

I’m in Mariinka, Ukraine. Right now, as I type these words (we have cell signal), I am watching tracers cut across the night sky. There is the constant flash and wall shaking boom of artillery, the rattle of machine gun and small arms fire. The Ukrainian soldiers say it’s a normal night. I can definitively say what it is not–a cease-fire.

Another Ukrainian soldier laid to rest. RIP

Stephen Bannon as senior counselor

Here he is speaking in 2014 about Russia’s aggression toward the Ukraine––Bannon felt that President Obama wasn’t doing enough to counter the rival power:

The Russians are very serious about this. They’re not going to let Ukraine fall into the sphere of the United States and the European Union without a fight. And we’re going to see in a couple weeks what they’re prepared to do about it and what we’re prepared to do. And I think it’s very scary, whether you’re a liberal Democrat or a right-win Republican, the president has not comported himself with the gravitas you need when you’re up against really tough hombres like Vladamir Putin and his guys. I think it’s going to get a lot more serious before it gets better.

What he said over the last couple days is really quite infantile… It’s very ironic this happens in the same weak Obama’s Secretary of Defense is going to cut the army to less than World War II levels… They’re out to cut America’s core strength. And part of that core strength is our military apparatus. And they’re doing everything possible to make the military weaker. We’re going to start to see the payoff for that in places like Ukraine when the Soviets can have force projection and we’re sitting there basically hapless: we don’t have the political will; we don’t have the leadership; and we don’t have the military force projection to really do anything, we have to stand by helplessly.

This seems to be an earnest expression of alarm at an American president who, in Bannon’s eyes, possesses neither the knowledge nor the inclination to aggressively counter Russia. Bannon felt an assertion of American strength was geopolitically important.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/the-radical-anti-conservatism-of-stephen-bannon/496796/

Battle of Grozny (1999–2000). When Russia leveled the city of Grozny in the war for Chechen secession (>ahem<), Washington criticized the complete disregard for civilian life. The Kremlin responded by threatening nuclear war. Russia expecting you to do everything when they say "nuclear war", is similar in some ways to how SJWs expect you to do everything when they say "racist". Both are the cries of petulant children who refuse to reform.

A #Holodomor survivor at #Holodomor Commemoration Service at St.Patrick Cathedral in New York pic.twitter.com/2JhzQ5udU3

— Sergiy Kyslytsya (@SergiyKyslytsya) November 13, 2016

1 Russia also confused re Trump’s for policy
2 slightly more isolationist
3 Problem is Rus aspirations

Russia Isn’t Actually That Happy About Trump’s Victory

By RUSLAN PUKHOV

In fact, the idea peddled by American news media that Mr. Putin supports Mr. Trump is far removed from reality. Proponents of this idea have blithely ignored the assessments in mainstream Russian news media and by Russian analysts, which have never been particularly enthusiastic about Mr. Trump.

There is a lot of concern in Russia about what will happen to American foreign policy once Mr. Trump is inaugurated.

The main problem with Mr. Trump is that no one — including the president-elect himself — seems to know what he will do as president, especially in the area of foreign policy. His statements on foreign relations so far have been confusing and, at times, contradictory…

Unlike much of the American and international news media, Russian analysts and commentators have never underestimated Mr. Trump. Even though he was sometimes compared to Vladimir Zhironovsky, a flamboyant and outspoken Russian populist, Mr. Trump was more often viewed as a strong and charismatic right-of-center leader. Some Russian commentators even reckon he may more resemble Ronald Reagan — a successful president pursuing a tough unilateral line on foreign and domestic policy…

This is why there is no reason to expect — either now, or in the foreseeable future — that America and Russia will strike some grand deal to divide the world into spheres of influence. Even more modest compromises seem unlikely. The Trump administration will have no incentive to make overtures to Moscow, such as taking a softer stance on Ukraine or easing the sanctions on Russia. Besides, for Mr. Trump any softening toward Russia would face opposition from within the Republican Party and in the American foreign policy and defense communities…

The basic problems in Russian-American relations stem from Moscow’s fundamental aspiration to return to the global arena as a great power, and even to contemplate integration into the American-led, pro-Western world order only on the condition of being recognized as a great power that dominates most of its former Soviet neighbors. These Russian aspirations will remain unacceptable to any American administration for years, if not decades, to come.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/opinion/russia-isnt-actually-that-happy-about-trumps-victory.html

Ukraine supporters among U.S. Secretary of State candidates

Three candidates have emerged as the potential U.S. Secretary of State under President-elect Donald Trump, reported on Nov. 10 the politico.com news site.

John Bolton, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. between 2005 and 2006, has been among the most outspoken critics of Russian President Putin, his military aggression in Ukraine and his sponsorship of terrorism in Ukraine. He has also been an outspoken critic of the Russian foreign policy of U.S. President Barack Obama, accusing him of acting in confusion in regards to Ukraine.

Bob Corker, the current head of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is an outspoken critic of Russian President Putin and his military aggression and sponsorship of terrorism in Ukraine. Corker has accused U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry of “wishy-washiness” (confusion) in emboldening Putin in his actions in Ukraine.

Newt Gingrich, who served as the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives between 1995 and 1999, visited Ukraine in September as part of the Yalta European Strategy summit. During this visit, he gave an interview to the eurointegration.com.ua news site in which he stressed the need for the U.S. to enable Ukraine to defend itself militarily against Russia and the willingness of a Trump administration to sell arms to the Ukrainian government on loan.

“I don’t think that the Ukraine is given the proper respect from other parts of Europe. And this is the respect that the Ukraine absolutely deserves, and they’ve proven this over the years, over many years. It’s a respect that they absolutely deserve. So whether it’s Germany or other of the countries, I don’t think you’re getting the support that you need. The United States has been supportive, but more verbally than anything else. Our president is not strong. And he is not doing what he should be doing for the Ukraine. So far we have all lip service [talk] . . . and nothing else. Part of the problem that Ukraine has with the United States is that Putin does not respect our president whatsoever. . . . It is a big problem. And it is a problem that’s taking place all over the world.” ~ Donald J Trump

Trump: Putin would have never invaded #Ukraine if I was president.

If you’ve only been watching MSM, you get Pravda style spin on everything Trump says.

#Russia will have to refactor its propaganda now that they’ve branded themselves as a friend of #Trump. Russia survives via siege mentality.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!

Despite MSM hype about Kremlin-Trump intrigue,I suspect Kremlin terrified by this 2nd example of popular uprising v ruling elite.

Even face of the moment seems to be puzzled with "What am I doing here in #moscow ?" pic.twitter.com/4d5UfOY8vS

— Kateryna_Kruk (@Kateryna_Kruk) November 5, 2016

if Hillary Clinton were running against anybody but Donald Trump, with his overt Russophilia, she would look dangerously caught up in Russian influence and money.

http://observer.com/2016/11/media-bites-on-trumps-kremlin-ties-but-clintons-are-long-standing-and-deep/

Smart Analysis from a friend of mine:

—“This is a weird line to take in an article, and I’ve seen it in Guardian and RT (‘journalism’) as well. (1) I don’t know any Ukrainians who are surprised that the Oligarchs or their political allies are rich. Literally nobody (2) in the one and a half years I’ve been talking with people here, everyone mentions how people drive Land Rovers in Kyiv while the soldiers fight, this is not news, nor is it any different from any country of which I’m aware including the US, and (3) what’s actually surprising, almost unprecedented, and very good news deserving applause, is that oligarchs and politicians believe that Ukraine’s interests (establishing political ties to Europe) are more important than how the public perceives individuals. Anyway–well done, Ukrainian politicians and lawmakers, huge step forward in the struggle for meaningful transparency. Fellow journalists: you’re doing it wrong”—

Ukrainians shocked as politicians declare vast wealth

An anti-corruption reform requiring senior Ukrainian officials to declare their wealth online has exposed a vast difference between the fortunes of politicians and those they represent.

Some declared millions of dollars in cash. Others said they owned fleets of luxury cars, expensive Swiss watches, diamond jewelry and large tracts of land – revelations that could further hit public confidence in the authorities in Ukraine, where the average salary is just over $200 per month.

Officials had until Sunday to upload details of their assets and income in 2015 to a publicly searchable database, part of an International Monetary Fund-backed drive to boost transparency and modernize Ukraine’s recession-hit economy.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who last week likened the declarations process to jumping out of an airplane, revealed that he and his wife had a total of $1.2 million and 460,000 euros in cash and a collection of luxury watches.

The database also shows that Groysman, a former businessman and provincial mayor, is not alone in preferring to keep much of his money out of Ukraine’s banking system.

Reuters calculations based on the declarations show that the 24 members of the Ukrainian cabinet together have nearly $7 million, just in cash.

The declarations of two brothers in President Petro Poroshenko’s faction, Bohdan and Yaroslav Dubnevych, show holdings of over $26 million, also in cash only.

“When the Economy Ministry says that in some areas around 60 percent of the economy is in the shadows, then this is accounted for by the volume of cash registered by civil servants, officials and lawmakers,” said Taras Kachka, deputy executive director at George Soros’s International Renaissance Foundation.

“This is a reflection on the state of our society.”

Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, who declared $1 million in a bank account and a further $500,000 in cash, said officials’ decision to hold cash pointed to a mistrust in the banks that many Ukrainians could relate to.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-corruption-idUSKBN12V1EN

For much of the summer, the F.B.I. pursued a widening investigation into a Russian role in the American presidential campaign. Agents scrutinized advisers close to Donald J. Trump, looked for financial connections with Russian financial figures, searched for those involved in hacking the computers of Democrats, and even chased a lead — which they ultimately came to doubt — about a possible secret channel of email communication from the Trump Organization to a Russian bank.

Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. And even the hacking into Democratic emails, F.B.I. and intelligence officials now believe, was aimed at disrupting the presidential election rather than electing Mr. Trump.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-election-donald-trump.html

Norway has been warned by a senior Russian politician that it could now be a nuclear target after it allowed for the deployment of 330 US Marines.

Frants Klintsevich, a deputy chairman of Russia’s defence and security committee, said the deployment of US Marines at Værnes was part of a US build-up and made Norway fair game in the event of a nuclear confrontation.

Mr Klintsevich told Russia’s TV2 channel the Kremlin viewed the 330 Marines in Norway as a direct military threat.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3890392/Russia-threatens-NUKE-Norway-response-allowing-Marines-deploy-country.html

Emblem of #russia military intelligence is a bat.
New emblem of #Ukraine military intelligence is an owl.
Owls hunt bats. pic.twitter.com/tGTHFC053L

— Kateryna_Kruk (@Kateryna_Kruk) October 30, 2016

The new logo of the Intelligence Service of Ukraine caused a commotion in Russian high officials. The Head of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Konstantin Kosachev said that the emblem with an owl piercing a sword on the territory of Russia “concentrates the essence of all the Ukrainian policy towards Russia”.

“The Military Doctrine of Ukraine stipulates that the Moscow regime is the main enemy of the Ukrainian state. The emblem of Ukrainian military intelligence, which it represents, very angered Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. A night owl, as you know, eating bats (a symbol of the Russian Intelligence), and the inscription on the Ukrainian emblem – “The wise will rule over the stars” – dominates the motto of Russians “only the stars above us”, reads the report.

http://112.international/politics/kremlin-bristles-because-of-new-ukraines-intelligence-emblem-10538.html