F. Michael Malouf on the portal "WND" told about the "creeping annexation" of Russia. Cutting off pieces from Georgia, the Kremlin set out to cut off the tap of Azerbaijan and return it to the fold of Russian politics.
Analysts from the G2 Bulletin, the author writes, call the “creeping annexation” of the Kremlin’s work on the demarcation of the “state border” (quotes of Maloof. - O. Ch.) In South Ossetia. The analyst is confident that Moscow has set out to divide Georgia (a US ally) along its main highway leading from West to East near Tbilisi. After cutting off an additional piece of territory, the Russians occupied two Georgian villages, Tsitelubani and Orchosani, the author writes. As a result, the 520-mile part of the Baku-Supsa pipeline came under their control (according to it, Azeri oil goes through Georgia to Turkey and then enters the market of Western states, the author writes).
What happens if Russia finally decides to "annex part of the East-West highway"? According to the journalist, the answer to this question is Vasily Rukhadze from the Washington Jamestown Foundation brain trust.
Located half a mile from the strategic East-West Georgian highway, Russian troops are able to seize the highway and block it in 15 minutes, he says.
The annexation of the “breakaway provinces” from Georgia, the author writes further, and then the joining of the Ukrainian Crimea, apparently, are aimed at getting the Kremlin access to the largest oil and gas pipelines that provide Europe with energy. That’s what Putin’s strategy is, the analyst believes. In addition, the annexed territory will give Moscow a long-awaited direct access to the territory of Armenia: after all, this country is considered to be Russia's key satellite in the South Caucasus region.
The aforementioned Rukhadze believes that Moscow uses such a direct land corridor leading from the Russian Federation to Armenia for the territorial isolation of Azerbaijan from the West. As a result, Baku will be forcibly returned to the “Russian orbit”.
About a different kind of territorial disorder told the world an American magazine "The National Interest". Publicist Zachary Keck tells Japan to “get ready”: Russians are coming.
Get ready, Japan! Photo borrowed from "The National Interest"
"China is not the only country that has begun building infrastructure in a disputed territory," says the author to the American and world community.
Where do these facts come from?
It turns out that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has recently confirmed that Russia will begin to build civil and military facilities in the Kuril Islands (which Japan claims to apply, helpfully reminds the author). Moreover, Medvedev said that the construction will be carried out under the general guidance of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Finally, Medvedev himself will also soon appear in the Kuriles. He promised to "see" how things are there.
In London, meanwhile, they learned something new about Putin himself. It turns out that the current owner of the Kremlin was brought to power not by Sobchak, not Chubais, not Berezovsky, nor anyone else who was in public view, but S. Pugachev.
Sergey Pugachev. Photo: France Press
In Katherine Balton's great article "The Financial Times" It tells about the disgraced Sergei Pugachev, a former tycoon, whose family was once very close to Putin's family.
Today, the former billionaire (he left Russia in the 2011 year) lives hard. Rumor has it that the Putin government wants to put him on trial in one Moscow criminal case. The Russian authorities accuse him of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from Mezhprombank, whose co-founder the magnate was.
Recently, Mr. Pugachev discovered “suspicious devices” on his car and applied to the UK anti-terrorism agency: he decided that he wanted to be blown up. Later it turned out that these devices attached to the car "British private detectives working for the Russian state."
Fearing for his safety, Mr. Pugachev fled to France, thereby violating a British court order prohibiting him from traveling outside the kingdom.
For a long time, Mr. Pugachev believed that the campaign against him was organized by Kremlin small bipods, whose interest was to dispose of his former business empire (shipbuilding, energy and construction). However, the pressure increased, and Pugachev came to the conclusion: the teams come "from above".
“How can Putin behave this way? - says 52-year-old Pugachev. - I did everything for him. I even made him president. ”
The newspaper further points out that in the 1990s, Mr. Pugachev helped Putin come to power. In an interview, the former tycoon told how he acted behind the scenes, helping to ensure the re-election of President Boris Yeltsin in 1996, and then prepare the way "for Putin to ascend to the top of Russian power." Pugachev himself always preferred to keep a low profile.
But now, when little has been preserved from his former state, and his freedom is in danger, he decided to tell his world history.
According to him, he was one of the most influential people in the Kremlin during the “momentous shift” in Russia at the end of the 1990s. Yes, he always kept in the shadows - this is a tactic that allowed him to conceal close relations with the people who ran the Kremlin. And some of these people later “cooled off” to him.
Competitors are skeptical of Mr. Pugachev’s claims. At the same time, the correspondent writes, through interviews and documents, photographs and other evidence, the Financial Times confirmed many aspects of Pugachev’s activities - from his rise to fall.
Pugachev rose under Gorbachev, at the end of the 1980-s, on the wave of cooperatives. He traded in St. Petersburg jeans, cars and brandy. In 1991, he moved to Moscow, where he co-founded the International Industrial Bank (Mezhprombank), which was one of the first banks in the Russian Federation to receive a license for operations in freely convertible currencies. He also received permission to open a financial company associated with a bank in San Francisco.
According to Pugachev, his close American ties played a decisive role in Yeltsin’s re-election in 1996 (the “hard communist opposition” opposed Yeltsin). Among others, the article refers to the name of top strategist George Gorton, whose team at the President Hotel in Moscow “worked with Yeltsin’s daughter Tatyana Dyachenko”. In Russia, their hands launched an American-style election campaign, glorifying Yeltsin’s “humanism” and emphasizing the “danger” of the return of communist power. According to Pugachev, there were "the last real elections in Russia."
The tycoon first met Putin in the 1990s when he worked in St. Petersburg. Closer, he met him when Putin moved to Moscow (in 1996 year).
In Moscow, in the course of the "legend" that the "king" of Putin created the oligarch Boris Berezovsky. However, not everyone believes this: after all, Berezovsky himself composed “myths” about himself.
Pugachev says it was he (Pugachev) who put forward the idea of making Putin a potential successor to the Yeltsin family. (“FT” undertakes to confirm Pugachev’s friendship with Ms. Dyachenko and Valentin Yumashev, husband of Mrs. Dyachenko.)
The disgraced tycoon said that he had a premonition of the coming “real coup”: the parliament was ready to impeach Yeltsin and use criminal charges against him and his family. Pugachev realized that "we are losing the country." Therefore, it was necessary to “try to preserve what we fought for.”
At that time, Pugachev "worked side by side with Putin" (head of the FSB). It was he who first proposed Putin's candidacy for the post of prime minister, and then went further - he advised Dyachenko and Yumashev to convince Yeltsin to resign. “I personally led Putin to power,” says Mr. Pugachev. “For nine long months I worked day and night to achieve this.”
According to Pugachev, in those days, he believed that Putin was suitable for Russian politics. “We needed someone who is ready to work 24 an hour a day in the name of the country's development,” says the disgraced businessman.
Now Pugachev admits that he was greatly mistaken in his assessment. And from this mistake he is "in horror." He thought that Putin could be controlled - after all, until the collapse of the USSR, he lived mostly in communal apartments. He was already forty when he started working in the city hall. At the beginning of Putin’s presidency, Mr. Pugachev brought a “former KGB agent” to his new residence in Novo-Ogaryovo and showed him the 50-meter pool there. “His eyes got so big and round,” says Pugachev. “I realized that he needed nothing more from life.” I thought this was the limit of his dreams. But it turned out to be completely different. His appetites have grown incredibly. ”
And Putin influenced. "The inner circle of former KGB officers from St. Petersburg" urged Putin: it is time for the state to regain control of the economy. So KGB agents "seized power." And Pugachev could no longer influence politics.
And yet he remained close to the president. But the power of the security forces grew, and the influence of Pugachev was melting before our eyes. It got to the point that Putin "held a grudge against the man who brought him to power." Pugachev began a major trouble with the business - up to criminal charges.
Pugachev also told the publication that Patriarch Alexy II (now deceased), with whom the tycoon was friends, warned him about the threat coming "from Mr. Putin and his security officers." The patriarch allegedly told him in the autumn of 2008 of the year that he himself could “not survive before that,” but he (Pugachev) might be “a witness to how the KGB would destroy the country.”
However, the main news in London is not the story of Pugachev and Putin’s career. One popular British Marxist has every chance to win elections in the kingdom and take the chair of the prime minister. Having occupied him, he will strangle the rich with taxes, nationalize the railways and energy companies. This writes Tim Ross, a political columnist "The Telegraph".
Fan of Marx from London. Photo: "The Telegraph"
Wishing to become British Prime Minister Jeremy Corbin publicly expressed his admiration for Karl Marx. In addition, he stated that he wanted to nationalize railways and energy companies. British voters must get a “real alternative” to a conservative “austerity”. Corbin vowed to tax the rich. The politician told about all this in the Andrew Marr's program on the BBC.
According to him, Comrade Marx was a philosopher who advocated the idea of international communism. Modern society could learn a lot from Marx. “Marx’s philosophy is absolutely exciting,” says Corbin, 66-year-old.
The politician intends to lead the opposition. The Corbin team is confident that in September he will be able to become the elected leader of the Labor Party.
In conclusion, the review - Satanic news.
In the United States established a statue of Satan. As transmits Reuters, shortly before midnight on Saturday, one satanic organization presented a bronze sculpture of Baphomet in Detroit. The height of the sculpture is 9 feet.
The organization is called "The Satanic Temple" ("Temple of Satan"). The monument was opened near the river in 23: 30 hours local time. Supporters greeted their deity with shouts of “Heil Satan!”
The statue of the winged Baphomet has a human body and the head of a goat. On both sides of the image of Satan are a boy and a girl "in the poses of adoration".