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Friday, March 7, 2014

Ukraine signs $10 billion shale gas deal with Chevron

Posted on March 7, 2014 by willyloman

from Reuters
Ukraine signed a $10 billion shale gas production-sharing agreement with U.S. Chevron (CVX.N) on Tuesday, another step in a drive for more energy independence from Russia.
The deal to develop its western Olesska field followed a similar shale gas agreement with Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) in January and boosts Ukraine’s leadership at a time of fraught relations with Moscow over gas supplies.
“The agreements with Shell and Chevron … will enable us to have full sufficiency in gas by 2020 and, under an optimistic scenario, even enable us to export energy,” President Viktor Yanukovich told investors shortly before the signing.
[read the rest, here]

The Ukrainian Pendulum. Two Invasions and a Putsch. American Special Forces in Ukraine under Cover

By Israel Shamir

Global Research, March 07, 2014

Region: Russia and FSU

Theme: US NATO War Agenda

1. Two Invasions

The stakes are high in the Ukraine: after the coup, as Crimea and Donbas asserted their right to self determination, American and Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory, both under cover.

The American soldiers are “military advisors”, ostensibly members of Blackwater private army (renamed Academi); a few hundred of them patrol Kiev while others try to suppress the revolt in Donetsk. Officially, they were invited by the new West-installed regime. They are the spearhead of the US invasion attempting to prop up the regime and break down all resistance. They have already bloodied their hands in Donetsk.

Besides, the Pentagon has doubled the number of US fighter jets on a NATO air patrol mission in the Baltics; the US air carrier entered the Black Sea, some US Marines reportedly landed in Lvov “as a part of pre-planned manoeuvres”.

The Russian soldiers ostensibly belong to the Russian Fleet, legally stationed in Crimea. They were in Crimea before the coup, in accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian treaty (like the US 5^th fleet in Kuwait), but their presence was probably beefed up. Additional Russian troops were invited in by deposed but legitimately elected President Yanukovych (compare this with the US landing on Haiti in support of the deposed President Aristide ). They help the local pro-Russian militia maintain order, and no one gets killed in the process. In addition, Russia brought its troops on alert and returned a few warships to the Black Sea.

It is only the Russian presence which is described as an “invasion” by the Western media, while the American one is hardly mentioned. ”We have a moral duty to stick our nose in your business in your backyard a world away from our homeland. It’s for your own good”, wrote an ironic American blogger.

Moscow woke up to trouble in Ukraine after its preoccupation, nay obsession, with the Winter Olympic games had somewhat abated, — when people began to say that “Putin won the games and lost the Ukraine”. Indeed, while Putin watched sports in Sochi, the Brown Revolution succeeded in Ukraine. A great European country the size of France, the biggest republic of the former USSR (save Russia), was taken over by a coalition of Ukrainian ultra-nationalists and (mainly Jewish) oligarchs. The legitimate president was forced to flee for his very life. Members of Parliament were manhandled, and in some cases their children were taken hostage to ensure their vote, as their houses were visited by gunmen. The putsch was completed. The West recognised the new government; Russia refused to recognise it, but continued to deal with it on a day -to-day basis. However the real story is now developing in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, a story of resistance to the pro-Western takeover.

2. The Putsch

The economic situation of Ukraine is dreadful. They are where Russia was in the 1990s, before Putin – in Ukraine the Nineties never ended. For years the country was ripped off by the oligarchs who siphoned off profits to Western banks, bringing it to the very edge of the abyss. To avoid default and collapse, the Ukraine was to receive a Russian loan of 15 billion euros without preconditions, but then came the coup. Now the junta’s prime minister will be happy to receive a mere one billion dollars from the US via IMF. (Europeans have promised more, but in a few years’ time…) He already accepted the conditions of the IMF, which will mean austerity, unemployment and debt bondage. Probably this was the raison d’être for the coup. IMF and US loans are a major source of profit for the financial community, and they are used to enslave debtor countries, as Perkins explained at length.

The oligarchs who financed the Maidan operation divided the spoils: the most generous supporter, multi-billionaire Igor “Benya” Kolomoysky, received the great Russian-speaking city of Dnepropetrovsk in fief. He was not required to give up his Israeli passport. His brethren oligarchs took other Russian-speaking industrial cities, including Kharkov and Donetsk, the Ukrainian Chicago or Liverpool. Kolomoysky is not just an ‘oligarch of Jewish origin’: he is an active member of the Jewish community, a supporter of Israel and a donor of many synagogues, one of them the biggest in Europe. He had no problem supporting the neo-Nazis, even those whose entry to the US had been banned because of their declared antisemitism. That is why the appeals to Jewish consciousness against the Brown putsch demonstrably failed.

Now came the nationalists’ crusade against Russian-speakers (ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians – the distinction is moot), chiefly industrial workers of East and South of the country. The Kiev regime banned the Communist Party and the Regions’ Party (the biggest party of the country, mainly supported by the Russian-speaking workers). The regime’s first decree banned the Russian language from schools, radio and TV, and forbade all official use of Russian. The Minister of Culture called Russian-speakers “imbeciles” and proposed to jail them for using the banned tongue in public places. Another decree threatened every holder of dual Russian/Ukrainian nationality with a ten-years jail sentence, unless he gives up the Russian one right away.

Not empty words, these threats: The storm-troopers of the Right Sector, the leading fighting force of the New Order, went around the country terrorising officials, taking over government buildings, beating up citizens, destroying Lenin’s statues, smashing memorials of the Second World War and otherwise enforcing their rule A video showed a Right Sector fighter mistreating the city attorney while police looked other way. They began to hunt down riot policemen who supported the ex-president, and they burned down a synagogue or two. They tortured a governor, and lynched some technicians they found in the former ruling party’s headquarters. They started to take over the Orthodox churches of the Russian rite, intending to transfer them to their own Greek-Catholic Church.

The instructions of US State Dept.’s Victoria Nuland were followed through: the Ukraine had had the government she prescribed in the famous telephone conversation with the US Ambassador. Amazingly, while she notoriously gave “fuck” to the EU, she did not give a fuck about the Russian view of Ukraine’s immediate future.

Russia was not involved in Ukrainian developments: Putin did not want to be accused of meddling in Ukrainian internal affairs, even when the US and EU envoys assisted and directed the rebels. The people of Russia would applaud him if he were to send his tanks to Kiev to regain the whole of Ukraine, as they consider it an integral part of Russia. But Putin is not a Russian nationalist, not a man of Imperial designs. Though he would like the Ukraine to be friendly to Russia, annexing it, in whole or in part, has never been his ambition. It would be too expensive even for wealthy Russia: the average income in the Ukraine is just half of the Russian one, and tits infrastructure is in a shambles. (Compare to the very costly West German takeover of the GDR.) It would not be easy, either, for every Ukrainian government in the past twenty years has drenched the people with anti-Russian sentiment. But involvement was forced upon Putin:

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians voted with their feet and fled to Russia, asking for asylum. Two hundred thousand refugees checked in during the weekend. The only free piece of land in the whole republic was the city of Sevastopol, the object of a French and British siege in 1852 and of a German siege in 1941, and the home base of the Russian Black Sea fleet. This heroic city did not surrender to the Kiev emissaries, though even here some local deputies were ready to submit. And at that last moment, the people began their resistance. The awful success of the putsch was the beginning of its undoing. The pendulum of Ukraine, forever swinging between East and West, began its return movement.

3. The Rising

The people of Crimea rose, dismissed their compromise-seeking officials and elected a new leader, Mr Sergey Aksyonov. The new leadership assumed power, took over Crimea and asked for Russian troops to save them from the impending attack by the Kiev storm troopers. It does not seem to have been necessary at this stage: there were plenty of Crimeans ready to defend their land from the Brown invaders, there were Cossack volunteers and there is the Russian Navy stationed in Crimea by treaty. Its Marines would probably be able to help the Crimeans in case of trouble. The Crimeans, with some Russian help, manned the road blocks on the narrow isthmus that connects Crimea to the mainland.

The parliament of Crimea voted to join Russia, but this vote should be confirmed by a poll on March 16 to determine Crimea’s future — whether it will revert to Russia or remain an autonomous republic within the Ukraine. From my conversation with locals, it seems that they would prefer to join the Russian Federation they left on Khrushchev’s orders only a half century ago. Given the Russian-language issue and the consanguinity, this makes sense: Ukraine is broke, Russia is solvent and ready to assume its protection. Ukraine can’t pay salaries and pensions, Russia had promised to do so. Kiev was taking away the lion’s share of income generated in Crimea by Russian tourists; now the profits will remain in the peninsula and presumably help repair the rundown infrastructure. Real estate would likely rise drastically in price, optimistic natives surmise, and this view is shared by Russian businessmen. They already say that Crimea will beat out Sochi in a few years’ time, as drab old stuff will be replaced by Russian Imperial chic.

Perhaps Putin would prefer the Crimea gain independence, like Kosovo, or even remain under a token Ukrainian sovereignty, as Taiwan is still nominally part of China. It could become a showcase pro-Russian Ukraine to allow other Ukrainians to see what they’re missing, as West Berlin was for the East Germans during the Cold War. Regaining Crimea would be nice, but not at the price of having a consolidated and hostile Ukraine for a neighbour. Still Putin will probably have no choice but to accept the people’s decision.

There was an attempt to play the Crimean Tatars against the Russians; apparently it failed. Though the majlis, their self-appointed organisation, supports Kiev, the elders spoke up for neutrality. There are persistent rumours that the colourful Chechen leader Mr Kadyrov, a staunch supporter of Mr Putin, had sent his squads to the Tatars to strong-arm them into dropping their objections to Crimea’s switch to Russia. At the beginning, the Tatars supported Kiev, and even tried to prevent the pro-Russian takeover. But these wise people are born survivors, they know when to adjust their attitudes, and there is no doubt they will manage just fine.

Russian Nazis, as anti-Putin as Ukrainian Nazis, are divided: some support a “Russian Crimea” whilst others prefer pro-European Kiev. They are bad as enemies, but even worse as friends: the supportive Nazis try to wedge between Russians and Ukrainians and Tatars, and they hate to see that Kadyrov’s Chechnya actually helps Russian plans, for they are anti-Chechen and try to convince people that Russia is better off without Chechens, a warlike Muslim tribe.

As Crimea defied orders from Kiev, it became a beacon for other regions of the Ukraine. Donbas, the coal and steel region, raised Russian banners and declared its desire for self-determination, “like Crimea”. They do want to join a Russian-led Customs Union; it is not clear whether they would prefer independence, autonomy or something else, but they, too, scheduled a poll – for March 30. There were big demonstrations against the Kiev regime in Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov and other Russian-speaking cities. Practically everywhere, the deputies seek accommodation with Kiev and look for a way to make some profit, but the people do not agree. They are furious and do not accept the junta.

The Kiev regime does not accept their quest for freedom. A popularly-elected Mayor of Donetsk was kidnapped by the Ukrainian security forces and taken to Kiev. There are now violent demonstrations in the city.

The Ukrainian navy in the Black Sea switched its allegiance from Kiev to Crimea, and they were followed by some units of the air force with dozens of fighter jets and ground troops. Troops loyal to Kiev were blocked off by the Crimeans, but there was no violence in this peaceful transfer of power.

The junta appointed an oligarch to rule Donbas, Mr Sergey Taruta, but he had difficulty assuming power as the local people did not want him, and with good reason: Taruta had bought the major Polish port of Gdansk and brought it to bankruptcy. It seems he is better at siphoning capital away than in running serious business. Ominously, Mr Taruta brought with him some unidentified, heavily armed security personnel, reportedly guns-for-hire from Blackwater (a.k.a. Academi) fresh from Iraq and Afghanistan. He will need a lot more of them if he wants to take Donbas by force.

In Kharkov, the biggest Eastern city, erstwhile capital of Soviet Ukraine, local people ejected the raiding force of the Right Sector from government offices, but police joined with the oligarchs. While the fake revolution took place in Kiev under the tutelage of US and EC envoys, the real revolution is taking place now, and its future is far from certain.

The Ukraine hasn’t got much of an army, as the oligarchs stole everything ever assigned to the military. The Kiev regime does not rely on its army anyway. Their attempt to draft able-bodied men failed immediately as hardly anybody answered the call. They still intend to squash the revolution. Another three hundred Blackwater mercenaries landed Wednesday in Kiev airport. The Kiev regime applied for NATO help and expressed its readiness to allow US missiles to be stationed in the Ukraine. Missiles in the Ukraine (as now stationed in Poland, also too close for Russian comfort) would probably cross Russia’s red line, just as Russian missiles in Cuba crossed America’s red line in 1962. Retired Israeli intelligence chief Yaakov Kedmi, an expert on Russia, said that in his view the Russians just can’t allow that, at any price, even if this means all-out war.

Putin asked the upper house of the Russian parliament for permission to deploy Russian troops if needed, and the parliament unanimously approved his request. They will probably be deployed in order to defend the workers in case of attack by a Right Sector beefed up by Blackwater mercenaries. Humanitarian catastrophe, large-scale disturbances, the flow of refugees or the arrival of NATO troops could also force Putin’s hand, even against his will.

4. The President in exile

President Yanukovych will be historically viewed as a weak, tragic figure, and he deserves a better pen with a more leisured pace than mine. He tried his best to avoid casualties, though he faced a full-scale revolt led by very violent Brown storm-troopers. And still he was blamed for killing some eighty people, protesters and policemen.

Some of the victims were killed by the Right Sector as they stormed the ruling party offices. The politicians left the building well in advance, but the secretarial staff remained behind — many women, janitors and suchlike. An engineer named Vladimir Zakharov went to the besieging rebels and asked them to let the women out. They killed him on the spot with their bats. Another man was burned alive.

But the majority of casualties were victims of sniper fire, also blamed on Yanukovych. The Kiev regime even asked the Hague tribunal to indict the President as they had President Milosevic. But now, a telephone conversation between EC representative Catherine Ashton and Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet reveals that the EC emissaries were aware that dozens of victims of sniper fire at the Maidan were killed by Maidan rebel supporters, and not by police or by President Yanukovych, as they claimed. Urmas Paet acknowledged the veracity of this conversation at a press conference, and called for an independent enquiry. It turned out that the rebel snipers shot and killed policemen and Maidan protesters alike, in order to shed blood and blame it on the President.

This appears to be a staple feature of the US-arranged revolutions. Snipers killing both protesters and police were reported in Moscow’s 1991 and 1993 revolutions, as well as in many other cases. Some sources claim that famed Israeli snipers were employed on such occasions, which is plausible in view of Mr Kolomoysky’s Israeli connection. A personal friend of Mr Kolomoysky, prominent member of the then-opposition, Parliamentarian and present head of administration Sergey Pashinsky was stopped by police as he removed a sniper’s rifle with a silencer from the scene of murder. This discovery was briefly reported in the New York Times, but later removed. This revelation eliminates (or at least seriously undermines) the case against the President. Probably it will be disappear down the memory hole and be totally forgotten, as were the Seymour Hersh revelations about Syria’s sarin attack.

Another revelation was made by President Putin at his press-conference of March 4, 2014. He said that he convinced (read: forced) President Yanukovych to sign his agreement of February 21, 2014 with the opposition, as Western ministers had demanded. By this agreement, or actually capitulation act, the Ukrainian President agreed to all the demands of the Brown rebels, including speedy elections for the Parliament and President. However, the agreement did not help: the rebels tried to kill Yanukovych that same night as he travelled to Kharkov.

Putin expressed amazement that they were not satisfied with the agreement and proceeded with the coup anyway. The reason was provided by Right Sector goons: they said that their gunmen will be stationed by every election booth and that they would count the vote. Naturally, the agreement did not allow for that, and the junta had every reason to doubt their ability to win honest elections.

It appears Yanukovych hoped to establish a new power base in Kharkov, where a large assembly of deputies from East and South of Ukraine was called in advance. The assembly, says Mr Kolomoysky, was asked to assume powers and support the President, but the deputies refused. That is why President Yanukovych, with great difficulty, escaped to Russia. His landing in Rostov made quite an impression on people as his plane was accompanied by fighter jets.

Yanukovych tried to contact President Putin, but the Russian president did not want to leave the impression that he wants to force Yanukovych on the people of Ukraine, and refused to meet or to speak with him directly. Perhaps Putin had no time to waste on such a weak figure, but he publicly recognised him anyway as the legitimate President of the Ukraine. This made sense, as President Yanukovych requested Russian troops to bring peace to his country. He still may make a comeback – as the president of a Free Ukraine, if such should ever be formed in some part of the country, – or as the protagonist of an opera.

[English language editing by Ken Freeland]

Israel Shamir can be reached at adam@israelshamir.net

Israel Shamir can be reached on adam@israelshamir.net

Looting of Ukraine has begun

Ukraine Crisis

Fri Mar 7, 2014 5:18PM GMT

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Related Interviews:

According to a report in Kommersant-Ukraine, the finance ministry of Washington’s stooges in Kiev who are pretending to be a government has prepared an economic austerity plan that will cut Ukrainian pensions from $160 to $80 so that Western bankers who lent money to Ukraine can be repaid at the expense of Ukraine’s poor.

Before anything approaching stability and legitimacy has been obtained for the puppet government put in power by the Washington orchestrated coup against the legitimate, elected Ukraine government, the Western looters are already at work. Naive protesters who believed the propaganda that EU membership offered a better life are due to lose half of their pension by April. But this is only the beginning.

The corrupt Western media describes loans as “aid.” However, the 11 billion euros that the EU is offering Kiev is not aid. It is a loan. Moreover, it comes with many strings, including Kiev’s acceptance of an IMF austerity plan.

Remember now, gullible Ukrainians participated in the protests that were used to overthrow their elected government, because they believed the lies told to them by Washington-financed NGOs that once they joined the EU they would have streets paved with gold. Instead they are getting cuts in their pensions and an IMF austerity plan.
The austerity plan will cut social services, funds for education, layoff government workers, devalue the currency, thus raising the prices of imports which include Russian gas, thus electricity, and open Ukrainian assets to takeover by Western corporations.
Ukraine’s agriculture lands will pass into the hands of American agribusiness.
One part of the Washington/EU plan for Ukraine, or that part of Ukraine that doesn’t defect to Russia, has succeeded. What remains of the country will be thoroughly looted by the West.
The other part hasn’t worked as well. Washington’s Ukrainian stooges lost control of the protests to organized and armed ultra-nationalists. These groups, whose roots go back to those who fought for Hitler during World War 2, engaged in words and deeds that sent southern and eastern Ukraine clamoring to be returned to Russia where they resided prior to the 1950s when the Soviet communist party stuck them into Ukraine.
At this time of writing it looks like Crimea has seceded from Ukraine. Washington and its NATO puppets can do nothing but bluster and threaten sanctions. The White House Fool has demonstrated the impotence of the “US sole superpower” by issuing sanctions against unknown persons, whoever they are, responsible for returning Crimea to Russia, where it existed for about 200 years before, according to Solzhenitsyn, a drunk Khrushchev of Ukrainian ethnicity moved southern and eastern Russian provinces into Ukraine. Having observed the events in western Ukraine, those Russian provinces want to go back home where they belong, just as South Ossetia wanted nothing to do with Georgia.

Washington’s stooges in Kiev can do nothing about Crimea except bluster. Under the Russian-Ukraine agreement, Russia is permitted 25,000 troops in Crimea. The US/EU media’s deploring of a “Russian invasion of 16,000 troops” is either total ignorance or complicity in Washington’s lies. Obviously, the US/EU media is corrupt. Only a fool would rely on their reports. Any media that would believe anything Washington says after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney sent Secretary of State Colin Powell to the UN to peddle the regime’s lies about “Iraqi weapons of mass destruction,” which the weapons inspectors had told the White House did not exist, is clearly a collection of bought-and-paid for whores.

In the former Russian provinces of eastern Ukraine, Putin’s low-key approach to the strategic threat that Washington has brought to Russia has given Washington a chance to hold on to a major industrial complex that serves the Russian economy and military. The people themselves in eastern Ukraine are in the streets demanding separation from the unelected government that Washington’s coup has imposed in Kiev. Washington, realizing that its incompetence has lost Crimea, had its Kiev stooges appoint Ukrainian oligarchs, against whom the Maiden protests were partly directed, to governing positions in eastern Ukraine cities. These oligarchs have their own private militias in addition to the police and any Ukrainian military units that are still functioning. The leaders of the protesting Russians are being arrested and disappeared. Washington and its EU puppets, who proclaim their support for self-determination, are only for self-determination when it can be orchestrated in their favor. Therefore, Washington is busy at work suppressing self-determination in eastern Ukraine.

This is a dilemma for Putin. His low-key approach has allowed Washington to seize the initiative in eastern Ukraine. The oligarchs Taruta and Kolomoyskiy have been put in power in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk, and are carrying out arrests of Russians and committing unspeakable crimes, but you will never hear of it from the US presstitutes. Washington’s strategy is to arrest and deep-six the leaders of the secessionists so that there no authorities to request Putin’s intervention.

If Putin has drones, he has the option of taking out Taruta and Kolomoyskiy. If Putin lets Washington retain the Russian provinces of eastern Ukraine, he will have demonstrated a weakness that Washington will exploit. Washington will exploit the weakness to the point that Washington forces Putin to war.
The war will be nuclear.

Russia Warns: Sanctions Over Ukraine 'Will Hit US Like a Boomerang'

Friday, 07 Mar 2014 05:06 PM

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Russia said any U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine will boomerang back on the United States and that Crimea has the right to self-determination as armed men tried to seize another Ukrainian military base on the peninsula.
In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against "hasty and reckless steps" that could harm Russian-American relations, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
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"Sanctions...would inevitably hit the United States like a boomerang," it added.
It was the second tense, high-level exchange between the former Cold War foes in 24 hours over the pro-Russian takeover of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said after an hour-long call with U.S. President Barack Obama that their positions on the former Soviet republic were still far apart. Obama announced the first sanctions against Russia on Thursday.
Putin, who later opened the Paralympic Games in Sochi which have been boycotted by a string of Western dignitaries, said Ukraine's new, pro-Western authorities had acted illegitimately over the eastern, southeastern and Crimea regions.
"Russia cannot ignore calls for help and it acts accordingly, in full compliance with international law," he said.
Serhiy Astakhov, an aide to the Ukrainian border guards' commander, said 30,000 Russian soldiers were now in Crimea, compared to the 11,000 permanently based with the Russian Black Sea fleet in the port of Sevastopol before the crisis.
On Friday evening armed men drove a truck into a Ukrainian missile defence post in Sevastopol, according to a Reuters reporter at the scene. But no shots were fired and Crimea's pro-Russian premier said later the standoff was over.
Putin denies the forces with no national insignia that are surrounding Ukrainian troops in their bases are under Moscow's command, although their vehicles have Russian military plates. The West has ridiculed his assertion.
The most serious East-West confrontation since the end of the Cold War - resulting from the overthrow last month of President Viktor Yanukovich after protests in Kiev that led to violence - escalated on Thursday when Crimea's parliament, dominated by ethnic Russians, voted to join Russia.
The region's government set a referendum for March 16 - in just nine days' time.
JETS, DESTROYER
Turkey scrambled jets after a Russian surveillance plane flew along its Black Sea coast and a U.S. warship passed through Turkey's Bosphorus straits on its way to the Black Sea, although the U.S. military said it was a routine deployment.
European Union leaders and Obama said the referendum plan was illegitimate and would violate Ukraine's constitution.
The head of Russia's upper house of parliament said after meeting visiting Crimean lawmakers on Friday that Crimea had a right to self-determination, and ruled out any risk of war between "the two brotherly nations".
Obama ordered visa bans and asset freezes on Thursday against so far unidentified people deemed responsible for threatening Ukraine's sovereignty. Earlier in the week, a Kremlin aide said Moscow might refuse to pay off any loans to U.S. banks, the top four of which have around $24 billion in exposure to Russia.
Japan endorsed the Western position that the actions of Russia constitute "a threat to international peace and security", after Obama spoke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
China, often a Russian ally in blocking Western moves in the U.N. Security Council, was more cautious, saying economic sanctions were not the best way to solve the crisis and avoiding comment on the Crimean referendum.
The EU, Russia's biggest economic partner and energy customer, adopted a three-stage plan to try to force a negotiated solution but stopped short of immediate sanctions.
The Russian Foreign Ministry responded angrily on Friday, calling the EU decision to freeze talks on visa-free travel and on a broad new pact governing Russia-EU ties "extremely unconstructive". It pledged to retaliate.
"GUERRILLA WAR?"
Senior Ukrainian opposition politician Yulia Tymoshenko, freed from prison after Yanukovich's overthrow, met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Dublin and appealed for immediate EU sanctions against Russia, warning that Crimea might otherwise slide into a guerrilla war.
Brussels and Washington rushed to strengthen the new authorities in economically shattered Ukraine, announcing both political and financial assistance. The regional director of the International Monetary Fund said talks with Kiev on a loan agreement were going well and praised the new government's openness to economic reform and transparency.
The European Commission has said Ukraine could receive up to 11 billion euros ($15 billion) in the next couple of years provided it reaches agreement with the IMF, which requires painful economic reforms like ending gas subsidies.
Promises of billions of dollars in Western aid for the Kiev government, and the perception that Russian troops are not likely to go beyond Crimea into other parts of Ukraine, have helped reverse a rout in the local hryvnia currency.
In the past two days it has traded above 9.0 to the dollar for the first time since the Crimea crisis began last week. Local dealers said emergency currency restrictions imposed last week were also supporting the hryvnia.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said Ukraine had not paid its $440 million gas bill for February, bringing its arrears to $1.89 billion and hinted it could turn off the taps as it did in 2009, when a halt in Russian deliveries to Ukraine reduced supplies to Europe during a cold snap.
In Moscow, a huge crowd gathered near the Kremlin at a government-sanctioned rally and concert billed as being "in support of the Crimean people". Pop stars took to the stage and demonstrators held signs with slogans such as "Crimea is Russian land", and "We believe in Putin".
IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said no one in the civilised world would recognise the result of the "so-called referendum" in Crimea.
He repeated Kiev's willingness to negotiate with Russia if Moscow pulls its additional troops out of Crimea and said he had requested a telephone call with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
But Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov ridiculed calls for Russia to join an international "contact group" with Ukraine proposed by the West, saying they "make us smile".
Demonstrators encamped in Kiev's central Independence Square to defend the revolution that ousted Yanukovich said they did not believe Crimea would be allowed to secede.
Alexander Zaporozhets, 40, from central Ukraine's Kirovograd region, put his faith in international pressure.
"I don't think the Russians will be allowed to take Crimea from us: you can't behave like that to an independent state. We have the support of the whole world. But I think we are losing time. While the Russians are preparing, we are just talking."
Unarmed military observers from the pan-European Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe were blocked from entering Crimea for a second day in a row on Friday, the OSCE said on Twitter.
The United Nations said it had sent its assistant secretary-general for human rights, Ivan Simonovic, to Kiev to conduct a preliminary humans rights assessment.
Ukrainian television has been replaced with Russian state channels in Crimea and the streets largely belong to people who support Moscow's rule, some of whom have harassed journalists and occasional pro-Kiev protesters.
Part of the Crimea's 2 million population opposes Moscow's rule, including members of the region's ethnic Russian majority. The last time Crimeans were asked, in 1991, they voted narrowly for independence along with the rest of Ukraine.
"With all these soldiers here, it is like we are living in a zoo," Tatyana, 41, an ethnic Russian. "Everyone fully understands this is an occupation."
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Kerry urges Putin to stand down, shows support for Ukraine

By The Associated Press

March 4, 2014 - 10:25 pm

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - In a somber show of U.S. support for Ukraine's new leadership, Secretary of State John Kerry walked the streets Tuesday where more than 80 anti-government protesters were killed last month, and promised beseeching crowds that American aid is on the way.

Kerry met in Ukraine with the new government's acting president, prime minister, foreign minister and top parliamentary officials. Speaking to reporters afterward, Kerry urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stand down and said the U.S. is looking for ways to de-escalate the mounting tensions.

"It is clear that Russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further," Kerry said. "It is not appropriate to invade a country, and at the end of a barrel of a gun dictate what you are trying to achieve. That is not 21st-century, G-8, major nation behavior."
Kerry made a pointed distinction between the Ukrainian government and Putin's.
"The contrast really could not be clearer: determined Ukrainians demonstrating strength through unity, and the Russian government out of excuses, hiding its hand behind falsehoods, intimidation and provocations. In the hearts of Ukrainians and the eyes of the world, there is nothing strong about what Russia is doing."
He said the penalties against Russia are "not something we are seeking to do, it is something Russia is pushing us to do."
President Barack Obama, visiting a Washington, D.C., school to highlight his new budget, said his administration's push to punish Putin put the U.S. on "the side of history that, I think, more and more people around the world deeply believe in, the principle that a sovereign people, an independent people, are able to make their own decisions about their own lives. And, you know, Mr. Putin can throw a lot of words out there, but the facts on the ground indicate that right now he is not abiding by that principle."
Speaking at a fundraiser later Tuesday, Obama said it might be possible for the situation to "de-escalate in the next several days and weeks."
Obama also spoke for more than an hour Tuesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been in contact with Putin in recent days and whose country has deep economic ties with Russia.
The Obama administration announced a $1 billion energy subsidy package in Washington as Kerry was arriving in Kiev. The fast-moving developments came as the United States readied economic sanctions amid worries that Moscow was ready to stretch its military reach further into the mainland of the former Soviet republic.
Kerry headed straight to Institutska Street at the start of an hourslong visit intended to bolster the new government that took over just a week ago when Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych fled. Kerry placed a bouquet of red roses, and twice the Roman Catholic secretary of state made the sign of the cross at a shrine set up to memorialize protesters who were killed during mid-February riots.
"We're concerned very much. We hope for your help, we hope for your assistance," a woman shouted as Kerry walked down a misty street lined with tires, plywood, barbed wire and other remnants of the barricades that protesters had stood up to try to keep Yanukovych's forces from reaching nearby Maidan Square, the heart of the demonstrations.
Piles of flowers brought in honor of the dead provided splashes of color in an otherwise drab day that was still tinged with the smell of smoke.
"We will be helping," Kerry said. "We are helping. President Obama is planning more assistance."
The Ukraine government continued to grapple with a Russian military takeover of Crimea, a strategic, mostly pro-Russian region in the country's southeast, and Kerry's visit came as Putin said he wouldn't be deterred by economic sanctions imposed punitively by the West.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia told reporters that Ukraine was in a much stronger position today than it was even a week ago, having rallied the support of the U.S. and the West. He said it's unlikely Kiev will ever go to war to prevent Russia from annexing Crimea but said doing so wouldn't be necessary, describing the economic penalties and diplomatic isolation more painful to Russians than bullets would be.
U.S. officials traveling with Kerry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Obama administration is considering slapping Russia with economic sanctions as soon as this week. Members of Congress say they're preparing legislation that would impose sanctions as well.
Officials said the sanctions could be implemented in tiers, with an initial round of penalties targeted at individuals the U.S. says were involved in the ousted Ukrainian government's corrupt activities. Putin is almost certain to be excluded from those penalties, the officials said, adding that it is rare for the U.S. to directly target a head of state with them.
As Kerry arrived, the White House announced the package of energy aid, along with training for financial and election institutions and anti- corruption efforts. Additionally, the officials said, the U.S. has suspended what was described as a narrow set of discussions with Russia over a bilateral trade investment treaty. It is also going to provide technical advice to the Ukraine government about its trade rights with Russia. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be quoted by name before the official announcement was made.
Putin pulled his forces back from the Ukrainian border on Tuesday, yet said that Moscow reserves the right to use all means to protect Russians in the country but hopes it doesn't have to. Putin declared that Western actions were driving Ukraine into anarchy and warned that any sanctions the West might place on Russia for its actions there will backfire.
Speaking from his residence outside Moscow, Putin said he still considers Yanukovych to be Ukraine's leader and hopes Russia won't need to use force in predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
In Washington, the White House said the $1 billion loan guarantee was aimed at helping insulate Ukraine from reductions in energy subsidies. Russia provides a substantial portion of Ukraine's natural gas and U.S. officials said they are prepared to work with Kiev to reduce its dependence on those imports. The assistance is also meant to supplement a broader aid package from the International Monetary Fund.

Ukraine as it happened: Crimean referendum widens US-Russia split

07/03 10:34 CET

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The Russian Parliament could organize a vote on Crimea’s annexation five days after the referendum on the pro-Russian region. The proposal was approved today by the parliamentary Committee for Constitutional Legislation and should be discussed in the Duma, next Tuesday. A decision that risks to inflame further the tension with US and EU that approved yesterday a first set of sanctions against Moscow.
In the meantime, an International team of OSCE observers was blocked for the second time since yesterday from entering in Crimea by unidentified armed men.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned today that they intend to respond to EU “nonconstructive” sanctions, “Russia will not accept such language of sanctions and threats, but, in the event of their implementation in practice they will not be left without a response”, the Russian diplomacy said on a note published on the Foreign Ministry website.
Earlier, Russia has allegedly decided to break off diplomatic relations with Ukraine, according sources quoted by the Ukrainian news agency Unian. The agency reports that the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin announced the decision. “Moscow does not recognize the legitimacy of the current Ukrainian power, that is why we decided to break off diplomatic relations with Ukraine”, said Churkin.
Earlier, Russia’s upper house of the Parliament supported Crimea’s parliament right to hold a referendum on the region’s future status.
Foreign ministers from central Europe, the Baltics and Nordics condemned on Friday Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and a planned referendum planned by Crimea’s government, calling for the EU to send an observation mission to Kiev. The group of countries, many of them sharing land borders with Russia or the Ukraine and living with the memory of Soviet rule, have taken a tough line in the face of Moscow as the crisis has escalated. “Nordic and Baltic countries and the Visegrad countries’ foreign ministers condemned today … the attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and also condemned the illegal referendum on the joining of Crimea with Russia,” the ministers said in joint statement from the meeting.

The Russians Are Coming? Yea, But That's Not All

For the past few months I have been getting reports that I have to say are a bit disturbing.

In fact most people tend to blow this off and call in for the "Tin Foil Hat Brigade"

When so many are "poo-pooing" the information saying "surely this isn't true" then tossing it on the conspiracy pile, that is when I start to do some digging and see what is going on.

So what seems to be happening that no one wants to acknowledge?

It appears that Russian military forces are being staged for what appears to be a possible US Invasion or UN Police action.

Yea, it sounds pretty far fetched and I do not want to believe it myself.

But several things took place yesterday that kind of raised my red flag level from "blow it off" to "it is possible."

First I got the following from Steve Quail...

Spetsnaz Verification

russian_soldiers_are_the_best_in_the_world

All of us have heard over the years rumors of foreign troops in the USA. I've always been reluctant to mention on-air because I have no way of verifying the reports. I received a call today from a long-time trusted Christian friend whom I have known for many years. The couple is wealthy and well-connected to movers and shakers in the USA and Europe. Trust me, if they want to "name drop" it's not an exaggeration for them. I was was informed by the wife that they have a friend in DHS who promised to pass on anything significant that would be a sign for immediate preparation.

That agent called yesterday. He is hearing talk inside DHS that thousands of Sp....N...Z boys from that place connected to Alaska have been infiltrating from Canada into USA throughout this summer. He estimated the number so far exceeds 20,000 commandos. He advised my friends to take action immediately for food, water, ammo. I told her forget it! You need a plane ticket. The greatest shock to the American people will not be the invasion, but the merger of DHS with the invaders. Then they will understand the purpose of the 750 million rounds of hollow point ammo. Marxist Communist Valery Jarrett is the real power in DHS - not Napolitano. The nation has been compromised and sold out. Colonel Lunev told me in 1999 that the Sp...N...Z...boys will start arriving in large numbers months before the war.

Rick

Source - http://www.stevequayle.com/index.php?s=33&d=48

The "Rick" that sent this is Rick Wiles of TrueNews. I have been on Rick's show several times and consider him a kindred spirit.

This in and of itself, well hearing from someone who heard from someone who heard from a DHS official, yea can be hear say. And by itself, I would put that in that camp.

But when we start looking at a lot of what is going on around us, report after report, things like this get a little bit more credibility than if they were a stand alone report.

reddawn

The second thing that happened yesterday, I discovered a movie trailer.

About 10 days ago the trailer for the remake of one of my favorite movies of all time was released.

Red Dawn -

ABOUT - Red Dawn was released in 1984 where the United States is invaded by the Soviet Union along with its Cuban and Nicaraguan allies. The story follows a group of American high school students who resist the occupation with guerrilla warfare, calling themselves Wolverines, named after their high school mascot.

Many of you may remember this movie and the famous shout of defiance "WOLVERINES"!

This coming Thanksgiving the movie is going to be re-released.

You can watch the trailor here >> http://youtu.be/UoqlBHSePw0

So why is this such a big deal? I am one who believes that the powers that be like to "telegraph" of drop hints as to what they plan to take place or allow to take place. One can look at many major films out there and see correlations. Now is this exact science? No and in fact many would call it "tin foil hat" conspiracy stuff.

But when we start adding up reports, something in my gut does not feel right.

Just in the last few months the following has taken place.

1 - Russian Submarine in Gulf of Mexico Raises Concerns

The Russian Akula-class nuclear attack submarine ventured undetected in the Gulf of Mexico and was able to operate for weeks before being discovered only after it had left the area, raising concerns over gaps in U.S. patrols off American coasts, according to reports in The Washington Free Beacon

Source - http://global.christianpost.com/news/russian-submarine-in-gulf-of-mexico-raises-concerns-80126/

2 - Russia Moves Nuclear Missiles to Cuba

A report out of Pravda quotes President Vladimir Putin as saying that Russia has moved strategic nuclear missiles to Cuba in response to the United States’ continuing efforts to encircle Russia in Eastern Europe.

Source - http://www.prisonplanet.com/report-russia-moves-nuclear-missiles-to-cuba.html

3 - Russian Troops to ‘Seize’ CIA Facility in Elaborate War Game… on U.S. Soil

According to reports, the U.S. and Russian military will be engaging in an anti-terrorism exercise that will involve Russian paratroopers using U.S. weapons to “take and hold” the main facilities of the CIA and Denver International Airport in Colorado and the National Security Agency in Utah.

Source - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-russian-troops-to-seize-cia-facility-in-elaborate-war-game-on-u-s-soil/

4 - Russian Troops Coming to U.S. for Terror Drills, DoD Confirms

Russian "Airborne Assault Forces" will be arriving in Colorado this May for joint terror-war exercises with U.S. soldiers, according to U.S. officials and Russian military personnel cited in media reports. The Kremlin’s Defense Ministry and the U.S. Department of Defense both said it would be the first time in history that American and Russian airborne special operations troops would be training together on U.S. soil.

Source - http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/11002-russian-troops-coming-to-us-for-terror-drills-dod-confirms

5 - The Bear at the Door - Russian nuclear bombers test U.S. air defenses in arctic war games during chilly Obama-Putin summit

russian-nuclear_bomber

Russian strategic nuclear bombers threatened U.S. airspace near Alaska earlier this month and F-15 jets responded by intercepting the aircraft taking part in large-scale arctic war games, according to defense officials.

The Russian war games began the same day President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a frosty summit meeting in Mexico June 18.

Source - http://freebeacon.com/the-bear-at-the-door/

What really caught my attention in that report from Rick Wiles to Steve Quail was the following...

"The greatest shock to the American people will not be the invasion, but the merger of DHS with the invaders."

I don't know about you but when I read this there was a "thud" that took place in uh. That thud is what I feel when things ring true.

Something that I learned in reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was this, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

I believe that with the passage of the NDAA and it allowing the indefinite detainment of American citizens, under the laws of war has ended the debate over government intent in terms of domestic action.

When FBI Director Robert Mueller’s admitted that he “did not know” if assassination programs would be used against American citizens also heaped evidence on the matter. (6)

You and I already know that if you are a bible believing christian, believe in bible prophecy, own guns, believe in the constitution, served in the military, etc, etc, ect, DHS has labeled you as a potential treat and possible domestic terrorist. Local police departments no longer see the citizens as citizens, they have been trained to view us as enemy combatants. In fact I have questioned several police officers personally on this and they have not disagreed.

In yesterday's PZ Breaking News I also noted the FEMA Contract needing to feed 3,500,000 - 17,500,000 packaged meals and Social Security Administration To Purchase 174 Thousand Rounds Of Hollow Point Bullets.

If you missed that, you can read that report here >>> http://tinyurl.com/PZ-news-08-16-12

Something is Going Down - Gov is Gearing Up

policestate2

When a country is quietly preparing for war, the first signs are usually revealed by a purchasing of armaments. If stockpiling is taking place without a warranted threat present then one has to be concerned that the likelihood that aggression might be internal. Since George W Bush and his getting rid of posse comitatus (using the military on US Soil) we have seen an ever growing military presence / training taking place in our own cities.

The primary office that is pushing and funding much of this across the nation is DHS.

We have all heard that DHS placed an order for over 450 million rounds of hollow point .40 cal ammunition in April of this year. (1)

DHS also placed an order for over 7000 new semi-automatic combat rifles chambered in .223 (5.56 by 45mm NATO) immediately after (2)

Local police through programs like the 1033 Program which allows the Sect of Defense to distribute "surplus" to local police departments. Millions of dollars in free military equipment, including body armor, night vision equipment, APC's, aircraft, first aid supplies, weapons, surveillance equipment, Kevlar helmets, gas masks and filters, vehicles, etc are being supplied. (3)

All of this equipment, though issued to state agencies, is still heavily tracked and regulated by the federal government, making it clear that these “gifts” come with strings attached (4)

And finally, new FAA regulations will soon allow the dispersion of tens of thousands of predator drones with armament capability in the skies of the U.S. over the course of the next few years(5)

policestate3

Now, anyone with an IQ over a soap dish would ask "who" is the government arming itself and also the local police to fight against?

The goal of the powers that be have been for several generations to bring down this nation.

Why? because we are the last bastion of God fearing freedom this world has. Eliminate the US, and the communist luciferian powers that be can rule the world.

This all falls right in line with what I believe to be the judging of our nation that I have been writing about for the past 2-3 months.

God has been warning us and warning us. He has sent judgement after judgement. He has lifted His hedge of protection and we are standing at the threshold of being put in bondage.

Like ancient Israel when she turned her back against God, we have done the same thing. Israel and America are the only two nations in man's history to be dedicated to Him. We are not in covenant, but we have been dedicated to Him.

The only thing that will turn this nation around, bring us to our knees and finally return to God is the bloodshed of our own. If we do not repent because of that, we will surely see bondage.

The powers that be want us in bondage, they do not want us to return to God. They will do everything in their power to corrupt us, pollute our minds, tear apart our families, destroy our beliefs, degrade our God, grind us down till there is nothing left to grind.

policestate4

Every 100 years we see Chaos enter the world. Every generation I believe that the enemy has his man waiting in the eves. The last one I believe was Adolf Hitler. The world loved him. In fact he was Time Magazine's Man of the Year two times they loved him so much.

I believe that the enemies man for this generation is also waiting in the eves to be revealed.

What prevented Hitler was America standing for what is right.

Today we no longer no what is right anymore.

In Isaiah 5 we read...

Isaiah 5:20 (KJV) Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

We no longer know good. Today evil is good and good is evil.

We are standing at that crossroad once again. The powers that be want to see us fall.

Why?

Because if we do fall into bondage, they will usher in their ruler.

Who is that?

Please allow me to introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

And I laid traps for troubadours

Who get killed before they reached bombay

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah

But what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah

But what's confusing you

Is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal

And all the sinners saints

As heads is tails

Just call me lucifer

Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me

Have some courtesy

Have some sympathy, and some taste

Use all your well-learned politesse

Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah

Pleased to meet you

Hope you guessed my name, um yeah

Lyrics - Sympathy For The Devil - Rolling Stones

By Ray Gano

Malaysia Airlines hunts for missing plane carrying 239 i see god is here on this watch this plane come back up and you will hearstory s of they were saved by god

Malaysia Airlines hunts for missing plane carrying 239

Agence France-Presse

Posted at 03/08/2014 9:22 AM | Updated as of 03/08/2014 10:20 AM

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia Airlines said a flight carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing early Saturday, and the airline was notifying next of kin in a sign it expected the worst.
The airline said Flight MH370 disappeared Saturday at 2:40 am local time (1840 GMT Friday), about two hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It had been due to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 am local time (2230 GMT Friday).
It was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, from 13 different nationalities, and 12 crew members. China's Xinhua news agency said 160 of the passengers were Chinese.
"We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370 which departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41 am earlier this morning bound for Beijing," Malaysia Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement.
The statement said the carrier was working with authorities, who had activated a search and rescue operation in an effort to locate the aircraft.
"Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew," Ahmad Jauhari said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members."
The plane was a Boeing 777-200. The airline's Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route passes roughly over the Indochinese peninsula.
A report Xinhua news agency said contact was lost with the plane while it was over Vietnamese airspace.
Xinhua also quoted Chinese aviation authorities saying the plane did not enter China's air traffic control sphere.
A Malaysian Airlines spokeswoman said she could not immediately provide further details.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) planes have had few accidents.
One of its jets crashed in 1977 in southern Malaysia, killing all 93 passengers and seven crew.
A smaller Twin Otter aircraft, operated by its unit MASwings, crashed upon landing in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island last October, killing a co-pilot and a passenger.
© 1994-2014 Agence France-Presse

A Run On Ammunition Has Begun: “Russia Has Reportedly Halted All Exports To The US Of Russian Made Ammunition”

Mac Slavo March 6, 2014

In recent months ammunition has slowly begun appearing on store shelves at major retailers in the United States. But after nearly two years of shortages that had ammunition manufacturers running their factories 24 hours a day, 7 days a week because of consumer demand and massive government purchases, it appears that another supply pipeline may have been cut.
If you don’t already have it then prepare to go without or pay double the price or more in coming days and weeks:

In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy and fears of new control control legislation from the Obama administration, extreme shortages of ammunition have been sustained over the past 12-24 months, as panicked Americans have raided the shelves of Cabelas and gun-shows across the country buying literally every round they can get their hands on.
Combined with multi-billion round purchases from gov’t 3 letter acronyms such as the DHS and FBI, (including even the USPS and IRS), the shortages have continued even as manufacturers have responded by drastically increasing production.
Over the past 6-12 months, shortages of some calibers such as 7.62 used in the popular AK-47 semi-automatic weapon have been alleviated somewhat via massive imports of Russian production.
That is about to change.
The largest wholesale gun & ammo distributors in the US have informed us in private conversation today that a massive scramble is on for all 7.62 as Russia has reportedly halted all exports to the US of Russian made ammunition.
Our distributor source informed us that yesterday they had several hundred thousand rounds of Russian made 7.62 TulAmmo, and after receiving word early today on the halt of Russian exports to the US,they have been completely wiped out of every last round in the past 10 hours!
We have only several days supply of 7.62 on hand currently at SDBullion under normal market conditions, and expect it will disappear as quickly as 22 LR once word of the Russian export halt spreads.
While Obama and Kerry threaten Russia with economic sanctions over the Ukranian crisis, it appears that Putin has quietly taken the first step and launched economic sanctions of his own against the US.
We have a feeling that we are seeing only the beginning.
Via Silver Doctors

If this report is accurate, then the motivation may not necessarily be to cut off ammunition to U.S. gun owners. Perhaps Russia is just ensuring that they have plenty of ammo on hand in the event that a Russian invasion of the Ukraine is initiated by Vladimir Putin.
Whatever the case, this report highlights, yet again, how important it is to have necessary supplies on hand before a major crisis, announcement or political shift.
When the Fukushima radiation plumes began making their way towards the United States and the Department of Homeland Security announced that Americans should have Potassium Iodide on hand to help fight thyroid absorption Americans across the country panicked. The price of a single bottle of KI went from the manufacturer suggested retail price of around $20 to a whopping $200 per bottle on auction web sites.
After Sandy Hook, as the anti-gun faction of our government began moving to restrict the ownership of firearms and ammunition, prices skyrocketed 300% and shelves were emptied within days.
And, as we’ve seen during critical emergencies like Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, as well as the ice storms that hit the eastern half of the United States in the last few months, grocery stores were cleaned out within hours.
If you’re one second late, you’ll be out of luck.
Develop a comprehensive preparedness plan today and start stocking up.

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NSA Chief Pushes For Laws to Silence Journalists - Says Legislation Coming in Weeks

07.Mar.2014 S.C.G. Follow @SCGupdates

NSA chief Keith Alexander says journalists who air the U.S. government's dirty laundry "have no standing" and "should be stopped".

NSA chief Keith Alexander has a knack for blundering his way into the headlines. Perhaps that's why now he's pushing for new laws to stifle journalist who leak information about the government's underhanded dealings.

This Tuesday the he following statement:
"Journalists have no standing when it comes to national security issues, They don’t know how to weigh the fact of what they’re giving out and saying, is it in the nation’s interest to divulge this."
He then went on to say:
"I think we are going to make headway over the next few weeks on media leaks. I am an optimist. I think if we make the right steps on the media leaks legislation, then cyber legislation will be a lot easier,"

It stands to reason that Mr. Alexander's eagerness to get laws on the books to muzzle journalist is related to the latest round of leaks released by Snowden that revealed that the U.S. government has trained teams of internet trolls to disrupt conversations, divide political movements and discredit dissidents in the United States. Of course he is presenting this in terms of "national security" but keep in mind that this is the same NSA chief that was forced to admit that he had intentionally misled the public regarding terror plots in order to bolster public support for domestic surveillance.
Do you ever ask yourself why these same discredited lackeys keep getting put on the podium over and over? Don't they realize they're just digging themselves in deeper?

Last fall Mr. Alexander made the following comments in relation to the Snowden leaks:

"We ought to come up with a way of stopping it," he said last fall, referring to media coverage of the revelations of whistleblower Edward Snowden. "I don’t know how to do that. That's more of the courts and the policymakers but, from my perspective, it’s wrong to allow this to go on."

A question of the courts and the policy makers? That's strange, I thought it was a question of the constitution. Silly me.
Here's what it really comes down to: the NSA wants to be able to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, with no oversight and no accountability. They want to be able to listen to your private conversations, read your emails, monitor your social media activities, and spread lies about you to discredit your political opinions, but if you so much as dare expose what they are doing YOU are the criminal. Good luck selling that to the public Keith.

Sources

For Years, General Keith Alexander Has Beeb Building a Secret Army Capable of Launching Devastating Cyber-Attacks: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/06/general-keith-alexander-cyberwa...

...And it turns out the target was you - New Snowden Doc Reveals How NSA Uses The Internet To 'Manipulate, Deceive And Destroy Reputations': http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140224/17054826340/new-snowden-doc-re...

Of course they're not happy about getting exposed: NSA Chief Keith Alexander says that journalists have no standing and that media leaks should be stopped: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/04/nsa-chief-keith-alexander-d...

Keith Alexander admits to lying to the public about terror threats in order to bolster support for domestic surveillance: http://www.salon.com/2013/10/02/nsa_director_admits_to_misleading_public...