Geopolitical mosaic: John Kerry explained American exclusivity to the world, and the Ministry of Popular Happiness appeared in Venezuela
“I am treated well. They give you food." Cabinet Opposition. Friends are enemies. “The Real Threat will sail away. - Iran: the process of enriching uranium up to 20% is stopped. Iran has a chance. - The Gezi party appeared in Turkey. Libya is splitting. — Pakistan v. drones. - The Soviet Civil Code will cease to operate in Estonia. Will Estonia be led by Russians? - Georgia felt the stranglehold of the European Union. — Ukraine: approved by the European Parliament. “None of our business.” — Russian spies-candy-makers. - The Sevastopol naval base was created as part of the Ukrainian Navy. Onishchenko will help Medvedev. “In Moscow, Tatar women have six children, and Chechens and Ingush women have ten.” - Volgograd: night, mosque, bottle. All power to women! “Greenpeace” have been declared hooligans. — About the most humane court in the world. - Spies - here, spies - there ... - Surveillance of Russia. Frau Merkel calls Obama. - Golf courses. — Naval base incident. “Plastic submachine gun, plastic pistol. “The Sandy Hook School in Newtown is going to be demolished. - Sad interest. Bank of America is laying off thousands of employees. - The End of USA is scheduled for 2020. Kerry knows why the US is "exceptional." - Happy country.
“They treat me well. Give food. Syrian militants announced that they took hostage a Russian - engineer Sergey Gorbunov. He was abducted by the Kataib Muha-Jirin group, close to al-Qaeda and founded by the Chechen fighter, nicknamed Umar ash-Shishani. The gang consists almost entirely of foreign mercenaries, including from Russia, says Dmitry Melnikov ("Vesti").
A video appeared on the site of the Islamist group, in which a man says: “I, Sergey Nikolayevich Gorbunov, a citizen of Russia. I was detained at the airport. Muslims told me that you can exchange me through the Red Cross. They treat me well. Give food. The man sends demands to release Khaled Suleiman - the militant from Saudi Arabia, on the eve of the detainee by Syrian troops.
“But if they don’t exchange me in five days, then they will slaughter me. I appeal to the presidents of Syria, Russia, the Red Cross. I am very afraid. I haven't even created a family yet. I am afraid and want to return to Russia. Let them help me, ”says the man.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia checks information about the abducted compatriot. Official Damascus video has not yet commented.
Cabinet opposition. The US Secretary of State, promoting the idea of the Geneva-2 conference, has faced opposition in the form of his own advisers, reports the American magazine Foreign Policy. About this told the correspondent. RIA News" Alexey Bogdanovsky.
The journal states the following:
A senior journalist at the State Department asked the question: “The only person who wants the conference in Geneva to take place is the Secretary of State. Who will come to her? Will they represent anyone? If not, why risk it? ”
Kerry's opposition in the State Department, the correspondent notes, fears that the opposition will boycott the conference, and this will lead to a public fiasco of the United States.
Friends, they are enemies. A meeting of the Friends of Syria was held in London. They were going to prepare the basis for the holding of the “Geneva-2”, pass "Vesti".
The results of the negotiations were commented by the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich: “We have to state that the final document adopted at the end of this meeting attempts to revise the key elements of the agreed June 30 of the Geneva Communiqué. The London Document again sets the goal of a regime change in Damascus, and the National Coalition is defined as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. It is supposed to use all options for influencing violators of London decisions. This is a poorly hidden threat of using military force, which is absolutely unacceptable. Contrary to the provisions of the UN Security Council resolution number 2012, the baseless accusations of the Syrian authorities that they used the chemical weapon».
To this we must add that the group Friends of Syria plays the same outdated repertoire. There is no need to expect new melodies from them. Today, even Qatar and the United States are pretending to be peacemakers, and this foreign “Baba Yaga” stubbornly votes “against” ...
"The real threat" will come back home. Chief of Staff of the US Navy, Admiral Jonathan Grinert said that three ships will return to continental bases, which "pose a real threat to the Syrian authorities," the channel "RT".
The Nimitz aircraft carrier and the accompanying William Lawrence and Stokdale rocket destroyers in the Eastern Mediterranean will return to the US military bases, the statement of Admiral Interfax reports.
The carrier strike group will return to the shores of the United States within a few weeks. Three US Navy warships will remain off the coast of Syria: the missile cruiser Monterey, the destroyers Stoute and Ramage.
Iran: uranium enrichment process to 20% stopped. Iran has ceased production of 20-percent uranium, writes "Russian newspaper" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
A statement by a member of the parliamentary committee on national security, Hussein Nagavi Hosseini, was distributed by the IRNA agency. Hosseini noted: “Iran has a sufficient amount of fuel enriched to 20, which is necessary for the operation of a research medical reactor in Tehran.”
Tehran will enrich uranium to 5%, and the decision to resume enrichment above 5% will be made in the future.
“At present, this issue does not make sense at all, because the enrichment process itself has now been stopped,” said Hosseini.
Iran has a chance. The White House will host a meeting of the Senate Committee Assistants. Its leaders are trying to convince lawmakers to postpone a package of tough new sanctions against Iran, reports MIGnews.com.
The White House is seeking another delay in the sanctions bill. He had to go to the Senate Banking Committee vote last month, but after appeals from the administration, he was recalled. The White House believes that negotiations on the nuclear program are about to move from a dead center.
Republicans will probably resist further delay, but the decision is in the hands of Democratic Senator Tim Johnson, chairman of the committee, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, also a Democrat.
Congress wants to impose tougher sanctions on Iran, and the Obama administration wants to give a chance for talks on a nuclear program.
The party Gezi appeared in Turkey. A group of Turkish musicians, artists and intellectuals founded the party "Gezi", named after the Istanbul public garden, writes "Lenta.ru" with reference to "Hurriyet".
The political association was registered with the Ministry of Justice on October 1, but officially on its creation announced October 24. The party logo has become a tree, the trunk of which resembles a person with outstretched arms.
Gezi Leader - 37-year-old rock musician Resit Jem Koksal. Köksal described his goals as follows: “We all want to live in a democratic country. To defend our rights, we took to the streets and shed blood. Now it’s time to take part in the work of the parliament. ” If elected, Gezi deputies will defend the ideals of freedom, democracy, human rights, independence and justice.
The main task of parliamentarians from “Gezi” will be the work on the new constitution of the country. It should become more democratic existing.
The Gezi page on Facebook has collected over 25 thousands of likes for today.
Livia splits. In the self-proclaimed autonomy of Cyrenaica, the creation of its own government has been announced; "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
The Cabinet as part of the 24 ministers was represented in Ajdabiya, the old capital of the once independent state of Cyrenaica, Italian agency ANSA notes. The autonomous government will represent the interests of all cities and social groups inhabiting the territory of Cyrenaica, rich in natural resources. We are talking about four municipalities: Benghazi, Jebal Akhdar (Green Mountain), Tobruk and Ajdabiya.
As for the official authorities of Libya, they consider the autonomous status of Cyrenaica illegal.
Pakistan against drones. The US should stop using UAVs in Pakistan. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Navaz Sharif said this at a meeting with the head of the US administration Barack Obama in the White House, reports "RT".
“I stressed the need to put an end to such blows,” Nawaz Sharif told reporters at a joint press conference with Obama.
How does Kirill Belyaninov (Kommersant) from New York, at the White House, Sharif’s claims were rejected, but expressed their readiness to make serious concessions and renew the program of military aid to Pakistan in the amount of 1,6 billion dollars a year.
According to White House spokesman Jay Carney, the use of the UAV "complies with international law, and the findings of human rights defenders are based on incorrect information." "US counterterrorism operations have always been highly accurate, they are legal and effective," he said.
The White House on the eve of the meeting with the Pakistani Prime Minister said they hoped to get him to help organize negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The White House also wanted to secure a promise to step up the fight against terrorist groups. To this end, Washington made concessions, announcing that, by decision of the president, the program of military and financial assistance to Pakistan in the amount of 1,6 billion dollars a year was resumed.
In Estonia, the Soviet Civil Code will cease to operate. At yesterday’s meeting, the Estonian government repealed and amended more than 50 laws, including the Civil Code of the Estonian SSR which was invalidated. This was stated by Justice Minister Hanno Pevkur, reports "Lenta.ru" with reference to Interfax.
According to him, four paragraphs of the Civil Code of the Soviet times are valid in Estonia, concerning payments by the state for damage to the health of an employee.
“The Code was adopted at a time when there was no private property, and the state was the only employer. Now these provisions are outdated, the issues are regulated by new laws, ”the minister said.
The decision of the government must now approve the parliament of the republic. Pevkur called on the deputies "to do everything so that the code adopted in 1964 did not celebrate its fiftieth anniversary."
Estonia will lead the Russians? The chairman of the Estonian Social Democratic Party, Sven Mikser, called on citizens of the country to “get used to the idea” that in the future the government of the country could be headed by a Russian-speaking politician. About this tells Maxim Lisovsky ("Voice of Russia").
As a possible candidate for prime minister, Mikser named his deputy as party head Yevgeny Osinovsky. Miksera quotes rus.err.ru: "We have to get used to the idea that one day the government will head the Russian-speaking one, and for Estonia this would be a landmark event that would help break the perennial taboo."
In an interview with Postimees, Osinovsky said that so far he has no ambitions to become prime minister. But if the government of the country is headed by a person of non-Estonian origin, he noted, this “will show the readiness and maturity of our society”.
Georgia felt the dead hold of the European Union. Brussels made a demand, without the fulfillment of which further rapprochement between Georgia and the European Union is impossible, according to Artyom Kobzev ("Voice of Russia").
The recommendations of the European Union to the notice of the Georgian authorities brought the Foreign Ministers of Poland and Sweden - Radoslaw Sikorski and Karl Bildt. In negotiations with Ivanishvili, Sikorsky and Bildt made it clear that the association agreement between Georgia and the EU could be initialed at the November summit of the Eastern Partnership, but the Georgian authorities should stop pursuing opponents from the Saakashvili team.
Such blackmail is characteristic of the European Union, says Timofey Bordachev, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the HSE:
However, Bidzina Ivanishvili said that Sikorsky and Bildt are not very familiar with Georgian realities. The arrests of Saakashvili’s associates are not revenge, but the restoration of justice.
Experts believe that the fulfillment of the EU requirements could explode the situation in Georgia. The head of the Georgian "Eurasian Institute" Gulbaat Rtskhiladze says:
Ukraine: approved by the European Parliament. The European Parliament recommended that the EU Council sign an association agreement with Ukraine if Kiev meets the necessary conditions, says the resolution “On the European Neighborhood Policy: in the direction of strengthening partnership. The position of the European Parliament (EP) on the report of 2012 (European Commission) ”, which was voted on during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. Reports about it Interfax.
The resolution covers all aspects of the European Neighborhood Policy. At the same time, a separate part of the document is devoted to Ukraine.
"Not our business." Russia will not interfere in Ukraine’s signing of an association agreement with the EU. This statement was made by the President of the Russian Federation at the conclusion of the EurAsEC summit in Minsk, reports Interfax.
“We are not at all“ for ”and not“ against ”the signing by Ukraine of an association agreement with the EU, this is not our business,” the Russian leader said, answering journalists' questions.
Vladimir Putin also noted that after the conclusion of an agreement with the European Union, Kiev cannot count on joining the Customs Union. This is impossible: after all, within the framework of the association between the EU and Ukraine, a free trade zone will be created, and Ukraine will have to implement the EU trade rules on its territory. “Approximately from 10 of thousands of import customs tariffs 7666 tariffs, Ukraine will have to be reset from the moment this agreement enters into force, which should happen as early as February of next year,” Putin explained.
According to the Russian leader, “the disclosure of the Ukrainian market will be 98,5%”. “We believe that such a disclosure of the market is very dangerous and unacceptable for us at the present stage of development of our economy,” the Russian president stressed.
Russian spy-candy. The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Prysyazhnyuk is dissatisfied with the presence of Russian producers of sweets in the inspectorate of Rospotrebnadzor, who arrived at the Roshen factories, reports "RT" with reference to "REGNUM".
During the Fourth Ukrainian Grain Congress, the Ukrainian minister said: “I don’t understand why the representatives of the chocolate companies of Russia, our competitors, appeared in this group. Is this inspection or food espionage? ”
Inspections of Ukrainian factories by Russian experts are held from October 21, reminds «RT».
The Sevastopol naval base was created as part of the Ukrainian Navy. As the press center of command told reporters, the ceremony on the occasion of the formation of a new organizational structure took place on the territory of a military town in Streletskaya Bay, reports ITAR-TASS.
“With the formation of the Sevastopol naval base, an integral and modern system for providing bases for ships with the appropriate infrastructure of the Ukrainian Navy has been created,” Vice-Admiral Sergei Yeliseyev, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Navy, noted the WISO.
According to him, the formation of the base is the first step towards the creation of a mobile, highly professional Navy, capable of defending the national interests of Ukraine at sea.
Onishchenko will help Medvedev. Gennady Onishchenko no longer heads Rospotrebnadzor, but will continue to “follow” the department. He told about this in an interview with one of the Russian media; "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
The candidacy of the successor - Anna Popova - he chose himself. “It was my condition that a person whom I’m going to name will be appointed to this post,” he explained. - The man went through all the stages in “Rospotrebnadzor”. This is a guarantee against sudden movements. ”
Onishchenko will continue to work in the status of assistant prime minister. He considers this post controversial and compares himself with the “projectile carrier”: “But will they shoot them? The system decides, ”noted Onishchenko.
Previously, many of his decisions were ambiguously perceived by society. Onishchenko knows this: “Thanks to, maybe, to my peculiarities, everyone liked me to make such a bogey.”
The favorite target of Onishchenko’s critics, reminding Vesti, were American and Japanese cuisines. “Why is this fish affected by worm infestations?” He said.
I remember also the proposals of Onishchenko about the need to ban smoking movie heroes. The wolf from “Well, wait a minute!”, Which “runs around the screen and smokes,” the chief doctor called “a scoundrel.”
Maxim Lisovsky ("Voice of Russia") collected a selection of memorable quotes Gennady Onishchenko. We give some.
“In Moscow, Tatar women have six children, and Chechen and Ingush women have ten.” In the article “Is Russia Becoming Muslim?” (“Forbes”; translation source - "InoSMI") Marc Adomanis quotes Daniel Pipes, who published in the Washington Times material on the rapid transformation of Russia into a Muslim society. Here is a quote from Pipes:
Let's not dwell on the fact that Christianity is not ethnicity, Adomanis is ironic, but the Pipes figures seem to be unreliable.
Rosstat publishes fertility statistics by region, and as part of the 2010 census, it collected data on the national composition of the population by region. According to this data, Adomanis received a “quite clear idea of where ethnic Russians and other ethnic Slavs dominate.”
The author took the data for the regions, more than 90% of the population of which are Slavs. There live a little more 49 million people. After that, the journalist calculated the weighted average birth rate in these territories.
Bottom line: in 2011, in the most Slavic parts of the country, the birth rate was only about 3% lower than the average in Russia.
The weighted average total fertility rate for traditionally Muslim territories (seven different regions, in which about a million people live 13,8) was equal to 1,94.
As Adomanis notes, Pipes’s claims about six and ten children in a Chechen and Tatar woman are not confirmed: even in traditionally Muslim areas, the birth rate is lower than the level of substitution. The population of the Muslim regions of Russia, the observer concludes, will also decline - just slower than the population of the Russian regions.
Volgograd: night, mosque, bottle. In Volgograd, hooligans at night tried to set fire to a mosque, transmit "Vesti".
“An unknown person threw a bottle with an unknown substance into the window of the first floor of a mosque in Voroshilovsky district of Volgograd. As a result of the incident, the window did not break and there was no fire, ”the regional administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Interfax. On this fact is being checked.
This is the second such case in Volgograd in recent days. During the night of October 22, unknown persons threw petrol bombs into the dwelling house of the head of the Muslim organization "Mahalla 1350". As a result of the incident no one was hurt.
All power - women! Russia fell to two positions in the World Gender Gap Index (GGI) compared to last year, the report says, reports RIA News".
Iceland ranked first, followed by Finland and Norway. Russia in GGI takes the 61-place. In total, the list includes 136 countries.
In Russia, the indicator of the level of wages of women and men working in the same positions leaves much to be desired. The number of high government positions held by women remains a problem for Russia.
Well, let me add, replacing Comrade Onishchenko with Comrade Popova should improve the situation with the rating.
"Greenpeace" announced hooligans. The investigation re-qualified the actions of “Greenpeace” activists in the attack on the Prirazlomnaya platform on the article “Hooliganism”. This was announced by the representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Vladimir Markin, passed "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
“At the moment, it can be stated that the investigation carried out a large amount of work to establish an objective picture of the events that took place. And today, the preliminary investigation authorities have decided to retrain the crime for the h. 2 Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hooliganism), that is, a gross violation of public order, expressing obvious disrespect for society, committed with the use of objects used as weapons, organized by the group, associated with resistance to a representative of the authorities, ”said Markin.
He pointed out that a procedure has been launched to re-indict all the defendants. The representative of the UK added that the possibility of bringing a number of defendants and other charges is not excluded. We can talk about the article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (the use of violence against a representative of the authorities): after all, those arrested resisted the frontier guards.
If according to the “pirate” article, activists have shone until 10 years in prison, then according to the “hooligan” article, the maximum punishment in the form of 7 years is possible.
About the most humane court in the world. Russian citizen Natalya Leshchenko-Wilson, who is serving a life sentence for a double murder in the United States, can be released, her lawyer told Andrew Hiller in an interview ("Voice of Russia").
Natalia worked as a nanny in Washington. According to the indictment, 2 February 2010, she killed the first wife of her husband Lester Wilson - Bulgarian Slavka Naidenova - and her minor child. Lawyer Alexei Tarasov told the Voice of Russia that procedural problems arose at the very beginning of the investigation. Leshchenko-Wilson was taken into custody at two o'clock in the morning and subjected to an 22-hour interrogation.
The police, the lawyer said, resorted to “sophisticated tricks”. The police gave the suspect fabricated reports of medical examiners, which said that her hair was found clamped in the hand of the deceased.
However, it was later established that it was not her hair.
The accused was given advice: she would be sentenced to death, so she must repeat the “confession” in court. In this case, she faces "double life".
The lawyer described the upcoming judicial confrontation as follows: “This will be a battle that will last a year or a few years.”
Spies are here, spies are there ... Several US media have published reports about the illegal activities of the head of "Rossotrudnichestvo" in the United States, Yuri Zaitsev, transmit "Vesti". Citing FBI suspicions, publications accused Comrade Zaitsev of helping the Russian intelligence service to recruit American citizens.
Zaitsev himself rejected this information and expressed bewilderment: "It is very disappointing that in the Russian-American relations the echoes of the Cold War periodically resound," he told the ITAR-TASS correspondent.
FBI spokeswoman Amy Torison refused to confirm or deny reports of suspicion.
The Washington Post wrote that the FBI’s suspicions were built on the fact that Yuri Zaitsev was involved in organizing American trips to Russia. At the same time, a part of the costs was borne by Rossotrudnichestvo.
Spying on Russia. Edward Snowden has materials about intelligence activities against Russia, reports the Washington Post.
According to the publication, writes a correspondent. RIA News" Pyotr Martynychev, the US authorities are warning a number of foreign intelligence services, with whom they secretly cooperate, that some Snowden documents contain information about the collection of data by the special services about Russia, Iran and China.
Information may be made public on how one of the NATO countries collected valuable intelligence about Russia for the US Air Force and Navy. “If the Russians find out about this, it will not be difficult for them to take appropriate countermeasures,” a source in the administration told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States refused to comment on this information to the newspaper.
Frau Merkel calls Obama. About the wiretapping of Angela Merkel’s phone by Americans - in a new review of Western newspapers from "Foreign Press".
It is possible, writes "Der Spiegel", that Angela Merkel for a long time was under the hood of the American special services. Information from the media that Merkel’s mobile phone had been tapped “made the German Chancellor call Barack Obama” and make it clear that she considers this practice unacceptable.
“Between close friends and partners, such as the FRG and the USA for many decades, there should be no surveillance of the actions of the head of state,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the US National Security Council reported to Der Spiegel that "President Obama assured Angela Merkel that the United States will not listen and will not listen to the conversations of the German Chancellor." There was no clear answer to the question of whether Merkel’s phone had been tapped before.
Obama himself replied to Merkel that "America is not spying and will not spy on the German chancellor." At the same time, the US president tried not to use the verb in the past tense - in other words, did not rule out that espionage took place in the past, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica writes.
Moreover, the head of the American National Intelligence Agency James Klapper resorted to similar semantic tricks in the face of the revelations made public by Le Monde (it was a question of that 70 million phone calls were tracked by the NSA for only one month).
Clapper failed to refute the fact of espionage against the French embassies in Washington and the United Nations. And this weakens Obama's defensive line: that the NSA "saved human lives by preventing terrorist attacks, including those against the allies."
“No,” says the author of the article, “espionage against missions to the UN served to maneuver American diplomacy during the time of sanctions against Iran.”
Four months after the NSA scandal, the Obama administration cannot still resort to a strategy of silence and obstruction in the face of a massive violation of rights, writes “El Pais” in an editorial.
It is difficult to accept the idea that the fight against terrorism justifies the need to intercept millions of messages. When searching for terrorists, special services hacked into computers of diplomatic missions of France, presidents of Mexico and Brazil ...
So that's where, we add, bearded settled!
Golf courses. Every year, the United States spends about a trillion dollars on national security. US experts have commented on this issue. "Voice of Russia".
Republican Winslow Wehler, former chief analyst of the Senate Committee on Military Expenditures and author of the Pentagon Maze, said:
The expert said that the funds allocated by the Congress were spent “uncontrollably”. Congress allowed bureaucrats to spend state funds uncontrollably. Winslow Weeler cited the F-35 aircraft program as an example: the 2500 fighters would cost America about 400 billions of dollars. And to maintain such a plane for 50 years of its service will cost about a trillion dollars. And what is this plane? Bomber with very modest military-tactical characteristics, says the expert.
A retired military budget specialist, Mike Lofgren, explained the consequences of excessive military spending.
The US "absolutely does not need such a giant army," the expert noted. Armed forces, he believes, could be reduced from about 1,3 million to 800 thousand.
Incident on base of Naval Forces. The management of the US Navy confirms that two people were injured when an unknown person opened fire near the base last night, reports "RT".
According to local news agencies, the suspect is detained and behind bars. But the base is cordoned off.
Representatives of the US Navy said that the shooting began outside the base. According to Jason Miles, a reporter for the WMC-TV channel, “the incident occurred in an unguarded area” near the base.
The lives of the victims are out of danger.
Plastic machine, plastic gun. In the state of California in the city of Santa Rosa, sheriff's assistants killed an 13-year-old child: the police took his toy machine for real.
How to transmit "Vesti" With reference to ITAR-TASS, the guards of the order several times asked the child with the toy gun to stop, and then shot him. Handcuffed him already dead. In the pocket of the dead, the police found a gun. Plastic.
In Newtown, Sandy Hook School will be demolished. As the correspondent reports. ITAR-TASS Alexandra Bekrenyova, in Newtown (Connecticut), today will begin the demolition of the Sandy Hook Elementary School building, where 20-year-old Adam Lansa shot twenty children and six adults last December.
According to local authorities, employees of the construction company, which will deal with the demolition, have no right to disclose information on the progress of work. This is due to the reluctance of residents to attract excessive media attention.
Fences have been erected around the school to prevent the influx of curious.
On the vacant site decided to build a new school. About 50 million dollars, which Connecticut budget will allocate, will be required for its construction. The new school will open in September 2016. The students of Sandy Hook will go to one of the schools in the nearby town of Monroe.
Sad interest. The US government has published criminal statistics on the country. It turns out that the number of violent crimes increased last year by 15%, and the number of crimes against property increased by 12%. "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
New data made experts sound the alarm: there was a tendency towards a worsening criminality. But after all, for almost the past 20 years (from 1993 to 2011 years), the crime rate in the USA has decreased by 72%.
Bank of America fires thousands of employees. Bank of America intends to dismiss 3 thousands of employees who are involved in the issuance of mortgage loans during the fourth quarter. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal, reports corr. ITAR-TASS Ivan Sawers.
Last week, the media wrote that US regulators were seeking payment of at least 6 billion from the Bank of America in exchange for settling the claims of the US authorities regarding violations made by the bank when selling securities. According to US regulators, Bank of America is involved in mortgage fraud.
The End of USA is nominated for 2020 year. American scientist of Russian origin, specialist in mathematical modeling historical processes Pyotr Turchin believes that the United States continues to move towards the "peak of instability." The peak, according to the calculations of the mathematician, will be reached around 2020. The scientist confirmed this, answering the questions of the correspondent. ITAR-TASS Andrei Shitov.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Turchin replied to the question of whether his forecast of the expected peak of instability, put forward a few years ago, remains in force.
Turchin doubts that the US leadership will be able to oppose anything to the growth of negative processes: “It will be difficult to reverse the current dynamics. It will take some kind of national unity, which is not yet visible. "
Kerry knows why the US is "exceptional." US Secretary of State 24 October, said the special place of the United States in the world, reports corr. RIA News" Alexey Bogdanovsky.
“I have always said that America is exceptional not because we kick ourselves in the chest and say that we are exceptional <...>, but because we do exceptional things,” said Kerry, speaking at the Center for American Progress in Washington ...
The United States, according to John Kerry, should be “irreplaceable” in the world. He argued this indispensability by the success of American foreign policy - for example, in Afghanistan. Over the decade, child mortality has decreased by 60% over the decade and life expectancy has increased by 20 years - true, expected.
In Africa, progress has been made in the fight against HIV / AIDS, Kerry said.
"We help others without demanding anything in return, and this is exceptional," Secretary Kerry said.
To this we must add that Afghanistan, with the Americans, turned into a world-wide opium fiefdom. As for life expectancy, then Kerry surpassed Clapper and Obama, who were too shy to use the past tense in speeches. With the Secretary of State, the future is already past ...
Happy country. The president of Venezuela announced the creation of a vice ministry for the highest national happiness in the government of the country. Reports about it "Lenta.ru" with reference to the TV channel "Globovision".
The Office of Happiness will deal with the resolution of difficulties arising from the elderly, children, the disabled and homeless.
“They treat me well. Give food. Syrian militants announced that they took hostage a Russian - engineer Sergey Gorbunov. He was abducted by the Kataib Muha-Jirin group, close to al-Qaeda and founded by the Chechen fighter, nicknamed Umar ash-Shishani. The gang consists almost entirely of foreign mercenaries, including from Russia, says Dmitry Melnikov ("Vesti").
A video appeared on the site of the Islamist group, in which a man says: “I, Sergey Nikolayevich Gorbunov, a citizen of Russia. I was detained at the airport. Muslims told me that you can exchange me through the Red Cross. They treat me well. Give food. The man sends demands to release Khaled Suleiman - the militant from Saudi Arabia, on the eve of the detainee by Syrian troops.
“But if they don’t exchange me in five days, then they will slaughter me. I appeal to the presidents of Syria, Russia, the Red Cross. I am very afraid. I haven't even created a family yet. I am afraid and want to return to Russia. Let them help me, ”says the man.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia checks information about the abducted compatriot. Official Damascus video has not yet commented.
Cabinet opposition. The US Secretary of State, promoting the idea of the Geneva-2 conference, has faced opposition in the form of his own advisers, reports the American magazine Foreign Policy. About this told the correspondent. RIA News" Alexey Bogdanovsky.
The journal states the following:
“Kerry is committed to negotiating and has spent the last few days convincing key figures of the Syrian opposition to take part. But according to several high-ranking State Department officials, some of Kerry’s key advisers believe that the conference should be canceled, since the most important of the opposition leaders are unlikely to come. ”
A senior journalist at the State Department asked the question: “The only person who wants the conference in Geneva to take place is the Secretary of State. Who will come to her? Will they represent anyone? If not, why risk it? ”
Kerry's opposition in the State Department, the correspondent notes, fears that the opposition will boycott the conference, and this will lead to a public fiasco of the United States.
Friends, they are enemies. A meeting of the Friends of Syria was held in London. They were going to prepare the basis for the holding of the “Geneva-2”, pass "Vesti".
The results of the negotiations were commented by the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich: “We have to state that the final document adopted at the end of this meeting attempts to revise the key elements of the agreed June 30 of the Geneva Communiqué. The London Document again sets the goal of a regime change in Damascus, and the National Coalition is defined as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. It is supposed to use all options for influencing violators of London decisions. This is a poorly hidden threat of using military force, which is absolutely unacceptable. Contrary to the provisions of the UN Security Council resolution number 2012, the baseless accusations of the Syrian authorities that they used the chemical weapon».
To this we must add that the group Friends of Syria plays the same outdated repertoire. There is no need to expect new melodies from them. Today, even Qatar and the United States are pretending to be peacemakers, and this foreign “Baba Yaga” stubbornly votes “against” ...
"The real threat" will come back home. Chief of Staff of the US Navy, Admiral Jonathan Grinert said that three ships will return to continental bases, which "pose a real threat to the Syrian authorities," the channel "RT".
The Nimitz aircraft carrier and the accompanying William Lawrence and Stokdale rocket destroyers in the Eastern Mediterranean will return to the US military bases, the statement of Admiral Interfax reports.
The carrier strike group will return to the shores of the United States within a few weeks. Three US Navy warships will remain off the coast of Syria: the missile cruiser Monterey, the destroyers Stoute and Ramage.
Iran: uranium enrichment process to 20% stopped. Iran has ceased production of 20-percent uranium, writes "Russian newspaper" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
A statement by a member of the parliamentary committee on national security, Hussein Nagavi Hosseini, was distributed by the IRNA agency. Hosseini noted: “Iran has a sufficient amount of fuel enriched to 20, which is necessary for the operation of a research medical reactor in Tehran.”
Tehran will enrich uranium to 5%, and the decision to resume enrichment above 5% will be made in the future.
“At present, this issue does not make sense at all, because the enrichment process itself has now been stopped,” said Hosseini.
Iran has a chance. The White House will host a meeting of the Senate Committee Assistants. Its leaders are trying to convince lawmakers to postpone a package of tough new sanctions against Iran, reports MIGnews.com.
The White House is seeking another delay in the sanctions bill. He had to go to the Senate Banking Committee vote last month, but after appeals from the administration, he was recalled. The White House believes that negotiations on the nuclear program are about to move from a dead center.
Republicans will probably resist further delay, but the decision is in the hands of Democratic Senator Tim Johnson, chairman of the committee, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, also a Democrat.
Congress wants to impose tougher sanctions on Iran, and the Obama administration wants to give a chance for talks on a nuclear program.
The party Gezi appeared in Turkey. A group of Turkish musicians, artists and intellectuals founded the party "Gezi", named after the Istanbul public garden, writes "Lenta.ru" with reference to "Hurriyet".
The political association was registered with the Ministry of Justice on October 1, but officially on its creation announced October 24. The party logo has become a tree, the trunk of which resembles a person with outstretched arms.
Gezi Leader - 37-year-old rock musician Resit Jem Koksal. Köksal described his goals as follows: “We all want to live in a democratic country. To defend our rights, we took to the streets and shed blood. Now it’s time to take part in the work of the parliament. ” If elected, Gezi deputies will defend the ideals of freedom, democracy, human rights, independence and justice.
The main task of parliamentarians from “Gezi” will be the work on the new constitution of the country. It should become more democratic existing.
The Gezi page on Facebook has collected over 25 thousands of likes for today.
Livia splits. In the self-proclaimed autonomy of Cyrenaica, the creation of its own government has been announced; "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
The Cabinet as part of the 24 ministers was represented in Ajdabiya, the old capital of the once independent state of Cyrenaica, Italian agency ANSA notes. The autonomous government will represent the interests of all cities and social groups inhabiting the territory of Cyrenaica, rich in natural resources. We are talking about four municipalities: Benghazi, Jebal Akhdar (Green Mountain), Tobruk and Ajdabiya.
As for the official authorities of Libya, they consider the autonomous status of Cyrenaica illegal.
Pakistan against drones. The US should stop using UAVs in Pakistan. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Navaz Sharif said this at a meeting with the head of the US administration Barack Obama in the White House, reports "RT".
“I stressed the need to put an end to such blows,” Nawaz Sharif told reporters at a joint press conference with Obama.
How does Kirill Belyaninov (Kommersant) from New York, at the White House, Sharif’s claims were rejected, but expressed their readiness to make serious concessions and renew the program of military aid to Pakistan in the amount of 1,6 billion dollars a year.
According to White House spokesman Jay Carney, the use of the UAV "complies with international law, and the findings of human rights defenders are based on incorrect information." "US counterterrorism operations have always been highly accurate, they are legal and effective," he said.
The White House on the eve of the meeting with the Pakistani Prime Minister said they hoped to get him to help organize negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The White House also wanted to secure a promise to step up the fight against terrorist groups. To this end, Washington made concessions, announcing that, by decision of the president, the program of military and financial assistance to Pakistan in the amount of 1,6 billion dollars a year was resumed.
In Estonia, the Soviet Civil Code will cease to operate. At yesterday’s meeting, the Estonian government repealed and amended more than 50 laws, including the Civil Code of the Estonian SSR which was invalidated. This was stated by Justice Minister Hanno Pevkur, reports "Lenta.ru" with reference to Interfax.
According to him, four paragraphs of the Civil Code of the Soviet times are valid in Estonia, concerning payments by the state for damage to the health of an employee.
“The Code was adopted at a time when there was no private property, and the state was the only employer. Now these provisions are outdated, the issues are regulated by new laws, ”the minister said.
The decision of the government must now approve the parliament of the republic. Pevkur called on the deputies "to do everything so that the code adopted in 1964 did not celebrate its fiftieth anniversary."
Estonia will lead the Russians? The chairman of the Estonian Social Democratic Party, Sven Mikser, called on citizens of the country to “get used to the idea” that in the future the government of the country could be headed by a Russian-speaking politician. About this tells Maxim Lisovsky ("Voice of Russia").
As a possible candidate for prime minister, Mikser named his deputy as party head Yevgeny Osinovsky. Miksera quotes rus.err.ru: "We have to get used to the idea that one day the government will head the Russian-speaking one, and for Estonia this would be a landmark event that would help break the perennial taboo."
In an interview with Postimees, Osinovsky said that so far he has no ambitions to become prime minister. But if the government of the country is headed by a person of non-Estonian origin, he noted, this “will show the readiness and maturity of our society”.
Georgia felt the dead hold of the European Union. Brussels made a demand, without the fulfillment of which further rapprochement between Georgia and the European Union is impossible, according to Artyom Kobzev ("Voice of Russia").
The recommendations of the European Union to the notice of the Georgian authorities brought the Foreign Ministers of Poland and Sweden - Radoslaw Sikorski and Karl Bildt. In negotiations with Ivanishvili, Sikorsky and Bildt made it clear that the association agreement between Georgia and the EU could be initialed at the November summit of the Eastern Partnership, but the Georgian authorities should stop pursuing opponents from the Saakashvili team.
Such blackmail is characteristic of the European Union, says Timofey Bordachev, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the HSE:
“Such a twisting of hands is a traditional tactic of Brussels, which at first offers some allegedly favorable terms of cooperation to partners, and then, at the last moment, begins to put forward purely political and symbolic demands showing the complete subordination of the partner to the will of the European Union.”
However, Bidzina Ivanishvili said that Sikorsky and Bildt are not very familiar with Georgian realities. The arrests of Saakashvili’s associates are not revenge, but the restoration of justice.
Experts believe that the fulfillment of the EU requirements could explode the situation in Georgia. The head of the Georgian "Eurasian Institute" Gulbaat Rtskhiladze says:
“If the government goes for it, then it will be, if not political suicide, then just masochism, let's say so, since it will be extremely negatively perceived by the population. Any government that makes such a decision will lose popularity. This will affect the stability in the country, since the thirst for criminals to be punished is large enough in society. And I do not think that such pressure of the European Union is reasonable and will bring something good. ”
Ukraine: approved by the European Parliament. The European Parliament recommended that the EU Council sign an association agreement with Ukraine if Kiev meets the necessary conditions, says the resolution “On the European Neighborhood Policy: in the direction of strengthening partnership. The position of the European Parliament (EP) on the report of 2012 (European Commission) ”, which was voted on during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. Reports about it Interfax.
The resolution covers all aspects of the European Neighborhood Policy. At the same time, a separate part of the document is devoted to Ukraine.
"Not our business." Russia will not interfere in Ukraine’s signing of an association agreement with the EU. This statement was made by the President of the Russian Federation at the conclusion of the EurAsEC summit in Minsk, reports Interfax.
“We are not at all“ for ”and not“ against ”the signing by Ukraine of an association agreement with the EU, this is not our business,” the Russian leader said, answering journalists' questions.
Vladimir Putin also noted that after the conclusion of an agreement with the European Union, Kiev cannot count on joining the Customs Union. This is impossible: after all, within the framework of the association between the EU and Ukraine, a free trade zone will be created, and Ukraine will have to implement the EU trade rules on its territory. “Approximately from 10 of thousands of import customs tariffs 7666 tariffs, Ukraine will have to be reset from the moment this agreement enters into force, which should happen as early as February of next year,” Putin explained.
According to the Russian leader, “the disclosure of the Ukrainian market will be 98,5%”. “We believe that such a disclosure of the market is very dangerous and unacceptable for us at the present stage of development of our economy,” the Russian president stressed.
Russian spy-candy. The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Prysyazhnyuk is dissatisfied with the presence of Russian producers of sweets in the inspectorate of Rospotrebnadzor, who arrived at the Roshen factories, reports "RT" with reference to "REGNUM".
During the Fourth Ukrainian Grain Congress, the Ukrainian minister said: “I don’t understand why the representatives of the chocolate companies of Russia, our competitors, appeared in this group. Is this inspection or food espionage? ”
Inspections of Ukrainian factories by Russian experts are held from October 21, reminds «RT».
The Sevastopol naval base was created as part of the Ukrainian Navy. As the press center of command told reporters, the ceremony on the occasion of the formation of a new organizational structure took place on the territory of a military town in Streletskaya Bay, reports ITAR-TASS.
“With the formation of the Sevastopol naval base, an integral and modern system for providing bases for ships with the appropriate infrastructure of the Ukrainian Navy has been created,” Vice-Admiral Sergei Yeliseyev, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Navy, noted the WISO.
According to him, the formation of the base is the first step towards the creation of a mobile, highly professional Navy, capable of defending the national interests of Ukraine at sea.
Onishchenko will help Medvedev. Gennady Onishchenko no longer heads Rospotrebnadzor, but will continue to “follow” the department. He told about this in an interview with one of the Russian media; "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
The candidacy of the successor - Anna Popova - he chose himself. “It was my condition that a person whom I’m going to name will be appointed to this post,” he explained. - The man went through all the stages in “Rospotrebnadzor”. This is a guarantee against sudden movements. ”
Onishchenko will continue to work in the status of assistant prime minister. He considers this post controversial and compares himself with the “projectile carrier”: “But will they shoot them? The system decides, ”noted Onishchenko.
Previously, many of his decisions were ambiguously perceived by society. Onishchenko knows this: “Thanks to, maybe, to my peculiarities, everyone liked me to make such a bogey.”
The favorite target of Onishchenko’s critics, reminding Vesti, were American and Japanese cuisines. “Why is this fish affected by worm infestations?” He said.
I remember also the proposals of Onishchenko about the need to ban smoking movie heroes. The wolf from “Well, wait a minute!”, Which “runs around the screen and smokes,” the chief doctor called “a scoundrel.”
Maxim Lisovsky ("Voice of Russia") collected a selection of memorable quotes Gennady Onishchenko. We give some.
“You all know that 1 grams of nicotine is killing a horse. Our country is humane, and not horses are killed, but people. ”
“So, as a commodity, it (Moldovan wine) is no longer of any interest and, apparently, can only be used for other purposes. I don’t know whether to paint the fences or what else you can do with this solution alcohol-containing ”.
"Everything that is written as sanitary rules is nothing more than a professional interpretation of the Old Testament."
“So, as a commodity, it (Moldovan wine) is no longer of any interest and, apparently, can only be used for other purposes. I don’t know whether to paint the fences or what else you can do with this solution alcohol-containing ”.
"Everything that is written as sanitary rules is nothing more than a professional interpretation of the Old Testament."
“In Moscow, Tatar women have six children, and Chechen and Ingush women have ten.” In the article “Is Russia Becoming Muslim?” (“Forbes”; translation source - "InoSMI") Marc Adomanis quotes Daniel Pipes, who published in the Washington Times material on the rapid transformation of Russia into a Muslim society. Here is a quote from Pipes:
“Alcoholism is widespread among ethnic Russians. They are said to have a European birth rate and African mortality. Russian women have an average of 1,4 children, and the average life expectancy of Russian men is 60 years. In Moscow, ethnic Christians on average give birth to a 1,1 child.
On the contrary, Muslim women, on average, give birth to a child by 2,3. They have less abortions than Russians. In Moscow, Tatar women have six children each, while Chechen and Ingush women have ten children each. ”
On the contrary, Muslim women, on average, give birth to a child by 2,3. They have less abortions than Russians. In Moscow, Tatar women have six children each, while Chechen and Ingush women have ten children each. ”
Let's not dwell on the fact that Christianity is not ethnicity, Adomanis is ironic, but the Pipes figures seem to be unreliable.
Rosstat publishes fertility statistics by region, and as part of the 2010 census, it collected data on the national composition of the population by region. According to this data, Adomanis received a “quite clear idea of where ethnic Russians and other ethnic Slavs dominate.”
The author took the data for the regions, more than 90% of the population of which are Slavs. There live a little more 49 million people. After that, the journalist calculated the weighted average birth rate in these territories.
Bottom line: in 2011, in the most Slavic parts of the country, the birth rate was only about 3% lower than the average in Russia.
The weighted average total fertility rate for traditionally Muslim territories (seven different regions, in which about a million people live 13,8) was equal to 1,94.
As Adomanis notes, Pipes’s claims about six and ten children in a Chechen and Tatar woman are not confirmed: even in traditionally Muslim areas, the birth rate is lower than the level of substitution. The population of the Muslim regions of Russia, the observer concludes, will also decline - just slower than the population of the Russian regions.
Volgograd: night, mosque, bottle. In Volgograd, hooligans at night tried to set fire to a mosque, transmit "Vesti".
“An unknown person threw a bottle with an unknown substance into the window of the first floor of a mosque in Voroshilovsky district of Volgograd. As a result of the incident, the window did not break and there was no fire, ”the regional administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Interfax. On this fact is being checked.
This is the second such case in Volgograd in recent days. During the night of October 22, unknown persons threw petrol bombs into the dwelling house of the head of the Muslim organization "Mahalla 1350". As a result of the incident no one was hurt.
All power - women! Russia fell to two positions in the World Gender Gap Index (GGI) compared to last year, the report says, reports RIA News".
Iceland ranked first, followed by Finland and Norway. Russia in GGI takes the 61-place. In total, the list includes 136 countries.
In Russia, the indicator of the level of wages of women and men working in the same positions leaves much to be desired. The number of high government positions held by women remains a problem for Russia.
Well, let me add, replacing Comrade Onishchenko with Comrade Popova should improve the situation with the rating.
"Greenpeace" announced hooligans. The investigation re-qualified the actions of “Greenpeace” activists in the attack on the Prirazlomnaya platform on the article “Hooliganism”. This was announced by the representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Vladimir Markin, passed "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
“At the moment, it can be stated that the investigation carried out a large amount of work to establish an objective picture of the events that took place. And today, the preliminary investigation authorities have decided to retrain the crime for the h. 2 Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hooliganism), that is, a gross violation of public order, expressing obvious disrespect for society, committed with the use of objects used as weapons, organized by the group, associated with resistance to a representative of the authorities, ”said Markin.
He pointed out that a procedure has been launched to re-indict all the defendants. The representative of the UK added that the possibility of bringing a number of defendants and other charges is not excluded. We can talk about the article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (the use of violence against a representative of the authorities): after all, those arrested resisted the frontier guards.
If according to the “pirate” article, activists have shone until 10 years in prison, then according to the “hooligan” article, the maximum punishment in the form of 7 years is possible.
About the most humane court in the world. Russian citizen Natalya Leshchenko-Wilson, who is serving a life sentence for a double murder in the United States, can be released, her lawyer told Andrew Hiller in an interview ("Voice of Russia").
Natalia worked as a nanny in Washington. According to the indictment, 2 February 2010, she killed the first wife of her husband Lester Wilson - Bulgarian Slavka Naidenova - and her minor child. Lawyer Alexei Tarasov told the Voice of Russia that procedural problems arose at the very beginning of the investigation. Leshchenko-Wilson was taken into custody at two o'clock in the morning and subjected to an 22-hour interrogation.
“The confession was the result of an intense interrogation that lasted more than 22 hours. Defendant Leshchenko-Wilson was taken from her home at 2 in the morning, immediately after the murder. She was taken to the police department on a patrol car, she was immediately sent to the interrogation cell on the second floor of the police department and subjected to intensive interrogation as a suspect. So at the very beginning she was told that she was one of those who committed this terrible murder of the former wife and the child of her American husband. ”
The police, the lawyer said, resorted to “sophisticated tricks”. The police gave the suspect fabricated reports of medical examiners, which said that her hair was found clamped in the hand of the deceased.
However, it was later established that it was not her hair.
The accused was given advice: she would be sentenced to death, so she must repeat the “confession” in court. In this case, she faces "double life".
“I was aware of the events and all that happened in this case over the past few months before I connected. The deadlines were tight, I had to finish something before the case was sent to the court for further consideration, and we talked with Mrs. Wilson. It seems to me that I met her in prison a couple of months ago. At first she was very depressed due to the circumstances in which she found herself. She said that she was such a person who would not hurt a fly, and that there was nothing criminal in her life, be it in America or Russia. And it seemed to me that she did not belong to the category of people who could commit such a terrible crime.
I want to remind you that one of the victims, Slavka Naidenova, was stabbed 57 once, and her son Paul Wilson, an eight-year-old boy, was stabbed in the heart. A person who has not previously worked with a knife, did not slaughter animals and did not do the work of a butcher, will not be able to immediately determine exactly where the heart is. ”
I want to remind you that one of the victims, Slavka Naidenova, was stabbed 57 once, and her son Paul Wilson, an eight-year-old boy, was stabbed in the heart. A person who has not previously worked with a knife, did not slaughter animals and did not do the work of a butcher, will not be able to immediately determine exactly where the heart is. ”
The lawyer described the upcoming judicial confrontation as follows: “This will be a battle that will last a year or a few years.”
Spies are here, spies are there ... Several US media have published reports about the illegal activities of the head of "Rossotrudnichestvo" in the United States, Yuri Zaitsev, transmit "Vesti". Citing FBI suspicions, publications accused Comrade Zaitsev of helping the Russian intelligence service to recruit American citizens.
Zaitsev himself rejected this information and expressed bewilderment: "It is very disappointing that in the Russian-American relations the echoes of the Cold War periodically resound," he told the ITAR-TASS correspondent.
FBI spokeswoman Amy Torison refused to confirm or deny reports of suspicion.
The Washington Post wrote that the FBI’s suspicions were built on the fact that Yuri Zaitsev was involved in organizing American trips to Russia. At the same time, a part of the costs was borne by Rossotrudnichestvo.
Spying on Russia. Edward Snowden has materials about intelligence activities against Russia, reports the Washington Post.
According to the publication, writes a correspondent. RIA News" Pyotr Martynychev, the US authorities are warning a number of foreign intelligence services, with whom they secretly cooperate, that some Snowden documents contain information about the collection of data by the special services about Russia, Iran and China.
Information may be made public on how one of the NATO countries collected valuable intelligence about Russia for the US Air Force and Navy. “If the Russians find out about this, it will not be difficult for them to take appropriate countermeasures,” a source in the administration told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States refused to comment on this information to the newspaper.
Frau Merkel calls Obama. About the wiretapping of Angela Merkel’s phone by Americans - in a new review of Western newspapers from "Foreign Press".
It is possible, writes "Der Spiegel", that Angela Merkel for a long time was under the hood of the American special services. Information from the media that Merkel’s mobile phone had been tapped “made the German Chancellor call Barack Obama” and make it clear that she considers this practice unacceptable.
“Between close friends and partners, such as the FRG and the USA for many decades, there should be no surveillance of the actions of the head of state,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the US National Security Council reported to Der Spiegel that "President Obama assured Angela Merkel that the United States will not listen and will not listen to the conversations of the German Chancellor." There was no clear answer to the question of whether Merkel’s phone had been tapped before.
Obama himself replied to Merkel that "America is not spying and will not spy on the German chancellor." At the same time, the US president tried not to use the verb in the past tense - in other words, did not rule out that espionage took place in the past, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica writes.
Moreover, the head of the American National Intelligence Agency James Klapper resorted to similar semantic tricks in the face of the revelations made public by Le Monde (it was a question of that 70 million phone calls were tracked by the NSA for only one month).
Clapper failed to refute the fact of espionage against the French embassies in Washington and the United Nations. And this weakens Obama's defensive line: that the NSA "saved human lives by preventing terrorist attacks, including those against the allies."
“No,” says the author of the article, “espionage against missions to the UN served to maneuver American diplomacy during the time of sanctions against Iran.”
Four months after the NSA scandal, the Obama administration cannot still resort to a strategy of silence and obstruction in the face of a massive violation of rights, writes “El Pais” in an editorial.
It is difficult to accept the idea that the fight against terrorism justifies the need to intercept millions of messages. When searching for terrorists, special services hacked into computers of diplomatic missions of France, presidents of Mexico and Brazil ...
So that's where, we add, bearded settled!
Golf courses. Every year, the United States spends about a trillion dollars on national security. US experts have commented on this issue. "Voice of Russia".
Republican Winslow Wehler, former chief analyst of the Senate Committee on Military Expenditures and author of the Pentagon Maze, said:
“In fact, one trillion dollars is spent on the Pentagon, on the State Department, on the Department of Veterans Affairs and on the Department of State Security. All this is the cost of national security, and I agree that the amount is huge. Even if we take only the Pentagon, which spends about half of all this amount, the costs are almost the same as those of several countries combined. This disproportionate spending. For example, it makes me laugh when some of our generals, such as Odierno, complain about a lack of funds. It's funny, considering how much money they have! ”
The expert said that the funds allocated by the Congress were spent “uncontrollably”. Congress allowed bureaucrats to spend state funds uncontrollably. Winslow Weeler cited the F-35 aircraft program as an example: the 2500 fighters would cost America about 400 billions of dollars. And to maintain such a plane for 50 years of its service will cost about a trillion dollars. And what is this plane? Bomber with very modest military-tactical characteristics, says the expert.
A retired military budget specialist, Mike Lofgren, explained the consequences of excessive military spending.
The US "absolutely does not need such a giant army," the expert noted. Armed forces, he believes, could be reduced from about 1,3 million to 800 thousand.
“The American taxpayer spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on military needs. The generals are surrounded by a retinue of soldiers, which is provided by taxpayers. There are at least three golf courses in the air base in Andrews. I believe that if General Odierno is in need of funds for training, he should find these tools in some other place. ”
Incident on base of Naval Forces. The management of the US Navy confirms that two people were injured when an unknown person opened fire near the base last night, reports "RT".
According to local news agencies, the suspect is detained and behind bars. But the base is cordoned off.
Representatives of the US Navy said that the shooting began outside the base. According to Jason Miles, a reporter for the WMC-TV channel, “the incident occurred in an unguarded area” near the base.
The lives of the victims are out of danger.
Plastic machine, plastic gun. In the state of California in the city of Santa Rosa, sheriff's assistants killed an 13-year-old child: the police took his toy machine for real.
How to transmit "Vesti" With reference to ITAR-TASS, the guards of the order several times asked the child with the toy gun to stop, and then shot him. Handcuffed him already dead. In the pocket of the dead, the police found a gun. Plastic.
In Newtown, Sandy Hook School will be demolished. As the correspondent reports. ITAR-TASS Alexandra Bekrenyova, in Newtown (Connecticut), today will begin the demolition of the Sandy Hook Elementary School building, where 20-year-old Adam Lansa shot twenty children and six adults last December.
According to local authorities, employees of the construction company, which will deal with the demolition, have no right to disclose information on the progress of work. This is due to the reluctance of residents to attract excessive media attention.
Fences have been erected around the school to prevent the influx of curious.
On the vacant site decided to build a new school. About 50 million dollars, which Connecticut budget will allocate, will be required for its construction. The new school will open in September 2016. The students of Sandy Hook will go to one of the schools in the nearby town of Monroe.
Sad interest. The US government has published criminal statistics on the country. It turns out that the number of violent crimes increased last year by 15%, and the number of crimes against property increased by 12%. "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
New data made experts sound the alarm: there was a tendency towards a worsening criminality. But after all, for almost the past 20 years (from 1993 to 2011 years), the crime rate in the USA has decreased by 72%.
Bank of America fires thousands of employees. Bank of America intends to dismiss 3 thousands of employees who are involved in the issuance of mortgage loans during the fourth quarter. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal, reports corr. ITAR-TASS Ivan Sawers.
Last week, the media wrote that US regulators were seeking payment of at least 6 billion from the Bank of America in exchange for settling the claims of the US authorities regarding violations made by the bank when selling securities. According to US regulators, Bank of America is involved in mortgage fraud.
The End of USA is nominated for 2020 year. American scientist of Russian origin, specialist in mathematical modeling historical processes Pyotr Turchin believes that the United States continues to move towards the "peak of instability." The peak, according to the calculations of the mathematician, will be reached around 2020. The scientist confirmed this, answering the questions of the correspondent. ITAR-TASS Andrei Shitov.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Turchin replied to the question of whether his forecast of the expected peak of instability, put forward a few years ago, remains in force.
Turchin doubts that the US leadership will be able to oppose anything to the growth of negative processes: “It will be difficult to reverse the current dynamics. It will take some kind of national unity, which is not yet visible. "
Kerry knows why the US is "exceptional." US Secretary of State 24 October, said the special place of the United States in the world, reports corr. RIA News" Alexey Bogdanovsky.
“I have always said that America is exceptional not because we kick ourselves in the chest and say that we are exceptional <...>, but because we do exceptional things,” said Kerry, speaking at the Center for American Progress in Washington ...
The United States, according to John Kerry, should be “irreplaceable” in the world. He argued this indispensability by the success of American foreign policy - for example, in Afghanistan. Over the decade, child mortality has decreased by 60% over the decade and life expectancy has increased by 20 years - true, expected.
In Africa, progress has been made in the fight against HIV / AIDS, Kerry said.
"We help others without demanding anything in return, and this is exceptional," Secretary Kerry said.
To this we must add that Afghanistan, with the Americans, turned into a world-wide opium fiefdom. As for life expectancy, then Kerry surpassed Clapper and Obama, who were too shy to use the past tense in speeches. With the Secretary of State, the future is already past ...
Happy country. The president of Venezuela announced the creation of a vice ministry for the highest national happiness in the government of the country. Reports about it "Lenta.ru" with reference to the TV channel "Globovision".
The Office of Happiness will deal with the resolution of difficulties arising from the elderly, children, the disabled and homeless.
Observed and commented on Oleg Chuvakin
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