Russia threatens Ukraine after shell crosses border

a reply to: Vovin

Claiming that the USA has nothing to do with Ukraine is equally absurd, considering the mountain of evidence against such a notion.

I guarantee there is more evidence of Russia interfering in Ukraine than you will find of the US being involved.

originally posted by: paraphi
Like I said, the fact that the UN, EU or OSEC were not invited to monitor the sham plebiscite in Crimea is because they would have reported that it was a sham. Best invite some mates, call them "EU monitors" and make everyone think it was all above board and not what it was.

Regards

Actually the OSCE was officially requested to monitor things in Crimea from the group that seized the Crimean government by force. The OSCE stated they could not honor the request because the group requesting were not the legitimate government and had no authority to make the request. They also noted the referendum was illegal and violated Ukraine's Constitution.

Crimea referendum illegal, no OSCE monitoring - Swiss

Reuters) - Crimea's planned March 16 referendum on joining Russia is illegal in its current form and the OSCE will not send a mission to observe it, the Swiss head of Europe's security and democracy watchdog said on Monday.

An OSCE spokeswoman said earlier that Crimea could not invite referendum observers as the region was not a full-fledged state and therefore not a member of the 57-member organization.

a reply to: tsurfer2000h
I also came across this little gem -
Crimea sends official invitation to OSCE to monitor referendum - VoiceofRussia

The authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea will allocate up to 2 million US dollars on the March 16th referendum on whether to join Russia. This came in a statement to the ITAR-TASS correspondent by Crimea’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Rustam Temirgaliyev, earlier today.

“The referendum will cost between 1.5 million dollars and 2 million dollars, with the money to be used for printing ballot papers and technical support for the election”, Temirgaliyev said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Crimean Supreme Council, Vladimir Konstantinov, told reporters yesterday that Kiev’s decision to block Crimea’s treasury accounts would not hinder the holding of the referendum, since Crimea has its own funds, its own budget and taxes and, is getting funds from Russia. “So, we’ll have no problems”, he added.

Apparently Russia did buy the Crimean elections.

The article also talks about referendums, joining Russia, thoughts on Kiev. The numbers provided iin the article are pretty close to the outcome of the vote.

Russia pushed the OSCE to send observers. Part of me thinks it was done to try and bait the OSCE into sending OSCE monitors while spinning it by claiming the OSCE, by monitoring the elections, has lent legitimacy to what was occurring in Crimea.

Either or there are about 5 nations who recognized the referendum and occupation/annexation by Russia.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: Vovin

Completely agree. This is evidenced by the fact that the US got every last oil contract in Iraq, and we made absolutely sure China got none. Of course if China got more than we did that would sort of kill your theory, so good thing it did not happen.

The US did not get the oil contracts in Iraq - they went to China and other non American firms.

2009[edit]

On June 30 and December 11, 2009, the Iraqi ministry of oil awarded contracts to international oil companies for some of Iraq's many oil fields. The winning oil companies enter joint ventures with the Iraqi ministry of oil, and the terms of the awarded contracts include extraction of oil for a fixed gain of $1.40 per barrel for the oil companies with the remainder going to Iraq.[5][6] The fees will only be paid once a production threshold set by the Iraqi ministry of oil is reached.

Oil fields contracted include the "super-giant" Majnoon Field, Halfaya Field, West Qurna Field and Rumaila Field. The East Baghdad Field, situated in part under Sadr City, did not receive any bids and the Iraqi oil ministry is considering working the field itself. Oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani told Iraqi public television that the increasing oil production "would finance infrastructure projects across Iraq - schools, roads, airports, housing, hospitals". Iraq's oil deposits hold known reserves of 43 billion barrels of crude, as well as large quantities of natural gas.[6]

Wiki - Oil reserve in Iraq - source at bottom of page.


Oil firms awarded Iraq contracts

www.marketoracle.co.uk...

Germany Pivoting East, Exit US Dollar, Enter Gold Standard

The central force of Europe, the industrial juggernaut, the stable core, has begun to pivot East. The Germans have had enough, fed up with destructive US activities of all kinds. For the last few months, they have been laying out their indictment, their justification, their reasons to abandon the corrupt US-UK crowd. The bank wreckage, the market rigging, the endless wars, the sanctions which backfire, the sham monetary policy, the economic sabotage, the spying, the gold gimmicks, it has finally reached a critical level.

Mr Views: Germans have learned that US-UK style horrendous culture of fiscal indiscipline has thrown EU into bankruptcy. Germans do not want to carry the weight of the "welfare" nations in Europe. Most of this fiscal indiscipline is a result of massive defense spending by the US to carry on it's fascistic NWO policies which create mayhem in countries, civil wars, destruction of infrastructures etc. We might even see a new block of Germany-Russia-China to remove Anglosaxon bloc from dominating the world any further.

With more German participation in global politics, events like in Ukraine, Syria, Libya should cease to take place anymore.

July 15th, 2014 - Merkel Resists Cutting U.S. Ties Over Spying Affair

Pressed from all sides to punish the U.S. for spying, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is standing her ground.

After German authorities exposed two suspected American agents last week, Merkel condemned the activities and asked the U.S. to withdraw the Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Berlin. Her insistence that the affair doesn’t undermine the U.S.’s status as a key partner shows she won’t let it sunder relations with President Barack Obama, even at the risk of bucking public opinion and critics in her governing coalition.

Merkel also defended U.S.-German intelligence sharing, saying Germany needs it in the fight against terrorism. Alleged U.S. spying will have “no impact on the agreements between our intelligence services,” though the two allies need to focus attention on global crisis spots, not on each other, she said.

As spying revelations stoke mistrust of the U.S. in Germany, Merkel cites military cooperation from Afghanistan to Kosovo, the fight against Islamic extremists and commerce as U.S.-German bonds.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier are already talking about how to make up the lost trust.

“The German-American relationship is essential and indispensable and that goes for us both,” Steinmeier told reporters in Vienna on July 13 after talks with Kerry. “We’ll continue to work on our relationship on the basis of trust and mutual respect.”

Germany says Russia failing to meet Ukraine pledges, hints at sanctions

Germany has criticised Russia for failing to meet commitments to end the violence in eastern Ukraine, and said it might face further EU sanctions.

The warning follows talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Barack Obama and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko.

A spokesman for Mrs Merkel said all three were disappointed by Russia's failure to act.

a reply to: victor7

Most of this fiscal indiscipline is a result of massive defense spending by the US to carry on it's fascistic NWO policies which create mayhem in countries, civil wars, destruction of infrastructures etc. We might even see a new block of Germany-Russia-China to remove Anglosaxon bloc from dominating the world any further.

Well then this is interesting...

Even as the dispute boiled over last week, Merkel dismissed a suggestion that the country may scrap negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the European Union and the U.S.

“We have differing perceptions on the work of intelligence services, but other political areas like the free-trade agreement are absolutely in our interest,” Merkel said. “We work very close together with the Americans. I want that to CONTINUE.”

www.bloomberg.com...

And this was from July 14th two days before your source article.

So you may want to check that source.

originally posted by: Xcathdra
Germany says Russia failing to meet Ukraine pledges, hints at sanctions

Germany has criticised Russia for failing to meet commitments to end the violence in eastern Ukraine, and said it might face further EU sanctions.

The warning follows talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Barack Obama and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko.

A spokesman for Mrs Merkel said all three were disappointed by Russia's failure to act.

Dude, this Ukraine issue is minor at best. The major shift in policy from Berlin will change the course of geo-politics in the world. Because of US aggressive stance, Germans do not want to lose stable energy supplies and a big trade partner that employs good half million Germans.

Btw, Chinese high speed railway network is soon going to reduce shipment time from China to Europe, from 5 weeks to 2 weeks. This will result in automatic shift of Central and Northern Europe to east.
stratrisks.com...

Lastly, why should Berlin or Paris stand to get nuked or have to fight a war, just because US policy is so belligerent and hyper-spending mode.

BRICS bank just declared. All shows, world is fed up of the US policies of poking nose into others affairs.

a reply to: victor7

Lastly, why should Berlin or Paris stand to get nuked or have to fight a war, just because US policy is so belligerent and hyper-spending mode.

Since WWII when has either country had to fight a war?

And who would nuke them for no reason just because the US is spending money?

a reply to: tsurfer2000h

Whatever is happening in Ukraine can lead to a horrendous WWIII. Germans, French being local and near will be the first one's to face the Russian nukes.

Who is behind this NATO expansion and with desires to break Russia into pieces? Not Germans, French or even British !!

Poking noses into others affairs, overspending and then provoking a world war to create hyperinflation to wipe out $17 Trillion debt..................all the while common humans around the globe suffer !!!

Wretched psychology !!! and Germans are clever enough to not buy into it.

I would add, very importantly.............that US is not totally criminal after all.

It just needs 20% change in its policies: 10% in Foreign Policy and 10% in economic i.e. not overspend etc.

Beyond that, world admires and appreciates the US lifestyle, culture, innovations, and positive mindset. Majority of countries that have adopted basic and clean part of US culture and models have benefited immensely in the last 20 years.

Only thing is it seems US has been highjacked by some arrogant minded Bankers who create and destroy entities to make more money for their 'pretty evil' habits.

a reply to: victor7

Whatever is happening in Ukraine can lead to a horrendous WWIII. Germans, French being local and near will be the first one's to face the Russian nukes.

But that wouldn't happen because you said this earlier...

We might even see a new block of Germany-Russia-China to remove Anglosaxon bloc from dominating the world any further.

You don't nuke your allies.

Who is behind this NATO expansion and with desires to break Russia into pieces? Not Germans, French or even British !!

NATO isn't trying to break Russia into pieces, they are there to keep Russia from doing what it did to Ukraine towards other countries.

NATO isn't trying to break Russia into pieces, they are there to keep Russia from doing what it did to Ukraine towards other countries.

a reply to: tsurfer2000h

Hey Man! this is a big lesson in life, not only geo-politics but whole LIFE.

If you see a problem then go into the core of the reasons and solve them out to overcome that problem.

If you DO NOT go into the real reasons behind the problem, then you are in SELF DENIAL............and will repent once the problem has taken a more severe form.

Rest is a matter of own comprehension.

Russia faces EU funding cuts, more freezing of assets.

BRUSSELS, July 16 (UPI) --The European Union will increase sanctions and stop large-scale funding to Russia in response to support of Ukrainian separatists.
The EU's bank, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will suspend financing of Russian public-sector projects. It will cut Russia off from a loan of one billion euros ($1.35 billion) promised by the EIB and additional funding from the EBRD, which loaned Russia 1.8 billion euros ($2.43 billion) in 2013.


Read more: www.upi.com...

Click for remainder of article.

Looks like more sanctions are coming down the pipeline for Russia.

It also looks like this next round will not target individuals. Construction project funding is suspended and it looks like the possibility of sanctions being placed on defense and financial sectors of the Russian economy.

dragonrdr,

"....seems they are now desperately trying to create an incident that will justify
a continued invasion of Ukraine by Russia.."

What a sharp mind we have here. Got it all figured.

Was it not what you said 4 month ago?

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: Vovin

Completely agree. This is evidenced by the fact that the US got every last oil contract in Iraq, and we made absolutely sure China got none. Of course if China got more than we did that would sort of kill your theory, so good thing it did not happen.

Not at all. Controlling resources is more important than taking the resources. When the resources become more scarce it is strategically more important to be able to cut off those resources from a rival in your colony, especially after your rival has become dependent and invested a lot into the resources in your colony.

Case in point, Ukraine. USA wanted to cut off EU's reliance on Russian energy exports, so they engineered regime change in Kiev and emplaced regional oligarchs as top officials. If it wasn't for the separatists, transnational oil corporations would be fracking east Ukrainian gas reserves to supply the EU with energy. This would cut the EU's significant ties with Russia, and further enable the possibility of the EU signing the TPP with the USA and Canada (the two countries who engineered the events in Ukraine, for this ultimate purpose).

The problem is the the US State Department is the laughing stock of international affairs and everything they say is doublespeak, while in practice all they create is chaos.

Same thing happened with Georgia. USA kept pushing Saakashvili to stand up to Russia to disrupt Russian pipelines in the region. Russia knocked Georgia senseless.

It's quite clear that the anti-Russian Americans here have no concept of the term "neo-liberalism", which is unfortunate for them because that is the world order and understanding the term is the key to understanding geopolitics.

Neoliberals portray trade as international relations, the greater the relationship between countries depends on the degree of interlinked economies. Therefore, attempts by the USA and Canada to cut Russian trade off from the global west only to take over those trade relations with Europe themselves is clearly a hostile gesture. The best evidence is by far Canada's and the USA's insistence on sanctioning Russia overall because of some irrelevant, unproven and hypocritical assertions. The sanctions have nothing to do with Russia's ties to Ukraine, and everything to do with Russia's ties to Europe and North America.

It also looks like this next round will not target individuals. Construction project funding is suspended and it looks like the possibility of sanctions being placed on defense and financial sectors of the Russian economy.

Few years ago I heard that Russian had 60B British Pounds of deposits in the UK banking system. That is nearly $100B in USD. Putin should make few phone calls and have $5B yanked from London to replenish the financing frozen by EU.

The only sanctions that would bite Russia is if Germany refuses to buy the Russian gas. 50% of German heat comes from Gazprom. Countries like Hungary, Czech, Bulgaria etc. depend nearly 100% on Russian energy supplies.

As winter is approaching in 2-3 months, it will be tough for EU to use 'gas' as weapon. By October, if Kiev is not upto date on payments, then be ready major 'bitch mood' among the populations against the Junta................it was the Junta that started it all in the first place.

rbth.com...

Btw, Feb 21 news: Russia discovers 450 million tons of oil in Sakahlin. This translates to nearly $300B in oil revenues down the road. Wonder if this oil find was the reason behind Putin's bold move on Ukraine. Anyways, EU would need to put $300B of sanctions on Putin before he will get out the bed and order some strong tea.

My fault.............I forgot to add in the revenues from the gas find on the same site. $300B PLUS Gas Revenues !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One major question !!

Why is EU putting sanctions on Russia and why not on Saudi Arabia and Qatar and UAE. These three nations are also suspected of creating problems in Syria which has resulted in more than 200,000 killed and half million injured.

originally posted by: Vovin

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: Vovin

Completely agree. This is evidenced by the fact that the US got every last oil contract in Iraq, and we made absolutely sure China got none. Of course if China got more than we did that would sort of kill your theory, so good thing it did not happen.

Not at all. Controlling resources is more important than taking the resources.

And the US neither took nor has control of the resources. So I guess again your point is rendered meaningless.

a reply to: victor7

It looks like the US is pushing the sanctions due to the BRICS bank. It is not the best response as it just further isolates the US economically. At the moment the EU is just following orders, but may change their mind as the opportunity presents.