Posts
Comments
from Vladimir Suchan
On
August 14, Vladimir Putin talked about other things about the need
for a genuine reconciliation between "the whites and "the
reds." So what does this mean?
That's
a critical question at many levels. The Whites lost the people back
in 1917-1920 and for good reasons. Then the communists lost the
people in the 1980s and, in the process, they also lost themselves
and, like many of the Whites before them, they too lost and sold
their materialistic and atheist souls to the devil. As a result, many
communists have become social-democrats, liberals, or you name it or
just a nothing. While many early demonstrations against the Kiev
junta went under the old red flags, most of these people were not
communists per se, but people who contrasted the best of what the
Soviet period had to offer against the newly installed fascism and
capitalism that has been selling them out as slaves. In the face of
such communists' impotence (when people raised their own symbols,
while the "communists" themselves could not do more than to
badmouth Strelkov and his men), the heirs of the White became the
leaders and vanguard of the armed resistance to Nazism in Ukraine.
For
both the whites and the reds to reconcile against their common enemy,
as they ought to be, they need to learn from their past sins (against
the spirit of Russia and the times) and do what is right--instead of
what is wrong. Yes, this formula is simple, but it is also true and
right.
So
far the whites have been better learners. Most communists under
Brezhnev and Gorbachev (and Yeltsin came from the same breed) learned
only cowardice, greed, and how to steal and they forgot or ditched
the rest. One of the first steps for the communists to save
themselves from their own self-betrayal is to learn how to believe
again--how to have a faith and thus how to be faithful again. Most of
them, I am afraid, are past that possibility.
So
if there is to be a reconciliation, there also needs to be atonement.
And atonement requires service--service to the cause and to the
nation, the people. In this respect, the whites are several steps
ahead of the faded "reds." In Central and Eastern Europe,
te situation is very much similar.
German
stocks fall as Ukraine strikes Russian convoy
The
German stock exchange has fallen by more than 1pc mid-afternoon as
Ukraine forces claim to have destroyed part of an armed Russian
convoy that attempted to enter the country through a rebel held
sector of the border.
The
announcement shocked European stock markets sending them sharply
lower and reversing gains on the German DAX index.
German
global healthcare group Fresenius saw more than €350m wiped off its
€19bn stock market value, pharmaceutical group Merck dropped 2.2pc,
wiping almost €600m, off its €27bn value, industrial giant
Thyssen Krupp dropped 1.7pc and fertiliser group K+S AG fell by more
than 2pc in late afternoon trading.
Russians
see sanctions as took to weaken nation but feel no effect
Russians see sanctions as tool to weaken nation, but feel no effect
RT,
Almost
all Russian citizens claim that they feel no effect from the
sanctions against their country and most maintain that the campaign
seeks to weaken Russia and its position in global politics.
According
to the results of the latest poll released by the VTIOM agency on
Friday, 92 percent of Russians said that the Western sanctions had
not touched their interests in any way, 4 percent replied that they
had noticed an increase in retail prices and only 4 percent declined
to answer or reported actual problems, such as frozen bank accounts
or the loss of a job in a foreign-based company.
Further,
62 percent of respondents said the sanctions would not have any
effect on Russia. Fifteen percent said that after the start of the
sanctions campaign the life in the country had only become better and
the same number claimed life in Russia had deteriorated.
The
poll was conducted among about 1,600 people in 42 different Russian
regions on August 9 and 10.
The
research also shows that of all Russians who knew about the
sanctions, 45 percent could not say what the particular steps taken
by Western nations and their allies against Russia were. Nineteen
percent were aware of visa bans on certain Russian officials, 15
percent said they knew about restrictions in the banking sector and
10 percent knew about the sanctions in the export-import sphere.
Some
13 percent of polled Russians said they never heard anything about
any sanctions lists.
When
asked about nations that have recently imposed various restrictions
against Russia, its officials and companies, 67 percent named the
United States. Twenty-eight percent of Russians maintained that all
European nations were in a confrontation with their country and 23
percent named Germany in particular. Only about 10 percent knew about
sanctions imposed by Britain, Australia, France or Canada.
In
terms of the objectives of the sanctions, the largest proportion - 32
percent - hold that the goal of the current sanctions campaign is to
weaken Russia and diminish its influence in the world. The next
largest camp, 14 percent, answered that foreign countries were simply
following orders of US President Barack Obama, while 13
percent said that foreign leaders wanted to demonstrate their own
importance.
The
European Union, the United States and several of its allies have
imposed economic sanctions on senior Russian officials and some
larger companies over Russia’s alleged role in the current crisis
in the east and southeast of Ukraine. Last week Russia took some
reciprocal steps as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a ban on
imports of meat, fish, cheese, milk, vegetables and fruit from
Australia, Canada, the EU, the US and Norway.
Earlier
this week Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia
fears no sanctions and no attempts at exerting pressure on it will
have any effect.
Almost
all Russian citizens claim that they feel no effect from the
sanctions against their country and most maintain that the campaign
seeks to weaken Russia and its position in global politics.
According
to the results of the latest poll released by the VTIOM agency on
Friday, 92 percent of Russians said that the Western sanctions had
not touched their interests in any way, 4 percent replied that they
had noticed an increase in retail prices and only 4 percent declined
to answer or reported actual problems, such as frozen bank accounts
or the loss of a job in a foreign-based company.
Ukraine's
army battalion
destroyed — DNR militia
A DNR militiaman involved in the clash said the battalion was destroyed in Grad multiple missile launchers' attack near the border with Russia
destroyed — DNR militia
A DNR militiaman involved in the clash said the battalion was destroyed in Grad multiple missile launchers' attack near the border with Russia
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/745207
EPA/ ROMAN PILIPEY
DONETSK,
August 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Militia in Ukraine's self-proclaimed
Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) claimed a major victory on
Friday, saying they had destroyed the Goryn battalion recruited in
the Rivne region, western Ukraine.
DNR
fighters said the enemy had suffered heavy casualties in manpower and
equipment. Part of the Goryn servicemen were taken prisoner, they
said, adding that no precise figures were available at the moment.
A
DNR militiaman involved in the clash said the battalion was destroyed
in Grad multiple missile launchers' attack near the border with
Russia.
""In
the sales and marketing industry, there is a term known as ‘solution
selling’ whereby the salesperson either creates or exaggerates a
problem, then presents his or her product as the invaluable solution.
Indeed, this sort of sales strategy is precisely the approach
Washington has taken in the region, and specifically in Iraq."
Greek
farmers hit hard by Russian sanctions against EU produce
Truckloads of fruit left rotting after being turned away from border as
farmers demand special exemption from sanctions or compensation
Russia was absorbing
more than 60% of Greek peach exports and almost 90% of its strawberries.
Photograph: Boryana Katsarova/AFP/Getty Images
A
week after Russia
banned European Union food imports in a tit-for-tat move for
sanctions imposed over Ukraine, Greek farmers say the embargo has
already dealt a devastating blow to the country's agricultural
economy.
At
least 3.5m kg of peaches aloneare said to have rotted in fridge
trucks turned back from Russia,
and fruit producers have warned of calamity for a sector highly
dependent on the market.
"Russia
absorbs more than 60% of our peach exports and almost 90% of our
strawberries," said Christos Yannakakis, who presides
over Greece's
largest regional association of growers and cooperatives.
"It
is hugely important that the EU offers help otherwise our
agricultural economy will collapse," he told the Guardian ahead
of an emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the impact
of the ban across the 28-nation bloc.
Fruit
farmers described scenes of mayhem with hundreds of trucks carrying
consignments of fruit now lining the roads of Bulgaria, Romania,
Moldavia and Ukraine after being forced to return from the Russian
border.
An
estimated 15,000 families in the fruit-producing regions of northern
Greece survive on the industry, according to producers.
"There
are around 3.5m kilos of peaches currently rotting in trucks and at
the height of the summer another 3.5m kilos have yet to be
harvested," said Apostolos Keranis head of the federation of
Greek truckers. "We're talking about huge, huge damage."
In
Macedonia, farmers spoke of their despair of not knowing how to deal
with the rotting produce.
"We
are in a state of absolute desperation. We don't know what to do,"
said Konstantinos Tampakias at the Agricultural Association of
Naoussa, where orchards yield apples, cherries and kiwis also
destined for the Russian market.
Moscow
has vowed the retaliatory measure, which also applies to products
from the US, Australia and Canada, will last 12 months.
Roughly
10% of the EU's agricultural exports, worth around €11bn (£8.8bn)
go to Russia every year, European
commission figures show. Outside the EU, Russia is Greece's
biggest trading partner, with the value of total trade between the
two countries surpassing €5.7bn last year, according to the
Hellenic Statistical Authority.
Greek
producers speak of losses that will exceed €178m from fruits and
conserves over the course of the year.
With
farmers in countries from Finland to Italy also up in arms, the EU
commission on Monday set up a taskforce to assess the situation.
Officials have not ruled out financial compensation. The European
agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos pledged the sector would
"re-orient rapidly toward new markets and opportunities" to
overcome the crisis.
But
Greek farmers dismissed the claim saying efforts to penetrate western
markets had proved nearly impossible over the last decade. "We've
worked very hard to access the Russian market because it's so
impossible to penetrate markets elsewhere," added Yannakakis.
"In the EU we face immense competition from Italy and Spain. I
personally tried earlier this year to get our produce into the big
European chains and they weren't interested because it is not
packaged and washed in the way that they want for consumers. Russia
on the other hand likes the fruit as it is, straight off the tree."
The
embargo has put the fragile coalition of prime minister Antonis
Samaras on the defensive, with the government conducting
behind-the-scenes diplomatic talks in a bid to come to a compromise
with the Kremlin while appearing not to step out of line with its EU
allies.
Confronted
by growing demands for preferential treatment from producers, senior
officials have promised recompense, but readily acknowledge that
finding the funds will be hard when the debt-stricken country is only
just beginning to emerge from its worst crisis in modern times.
Greece has already been hit by a precipitous drop in foreign visitors
from Russia following the insurgency in Ukraine.
Wading
into the crisis, Greece's second
world war hero and veteran leftist Manolis Glezos penned an
emotional letter to the Russian president Vladimir Putin last week
appealing for Moscow to exempt Athens from the measure. "We
appeal to your humane feelings and the traditional friendship between
our peoples," wrote the 92-year-old MEP listing the occasions
when Greece had openly opposed its EU partners in international
affairs stretching from the US-led bombing of Serbia in the 90s to
the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "I plead that you not impose an
embargo on Greek products."
The
government spokesperson Sophia Voultepsi said Greece would not
sacrifice its foreign policy to the farmers. "You cannot base
your foreign policy on peaches," she said. "There is a big
difference between compensating farmers and changing your alliances."
But
summing up farmers' fears, Yannakakis said: "It's peaches today,
but later in the year it will be apples, cherries, kiwis and
strawberries, a catastrophe for us and our economy at such a
difficult time for Greece"
