Russian reponds to irregularities in Scottish vote

OK, this is Guardian presstitute, Luke Harding cutting a sarcastic tone over what are likely to be very real irregularities in the Scottish vote that will (apart from the alternative media) never come to light.

The message is "they can do that over there in Putin's Russia but it could never happen here in the democratic west - besides vote rigging is illegal, isn't it?"

Harding seeks to discredit the sources by using epithets like "Kremlin propaganda channel". Propaganda tends to imply lying, does it not?

I have yet to find anything in the much-maligned RT that could be called a lie - much more than I could say about Harding and his paper - especially when it comes to matters concerning Vladimir Putin, Russia and the civil war in Ukraine.

Russia cries foul over Scottish independence vote

Russian observers say referendum count took place in rooms that were too big and did not meet international standards

Luke Harding

the Guardian,

19 September, 2014

Russia has said the conduct of the Scottish referendum "did not meet international standards", with its observers complaining the count took place in rooms that were too big and that the procedure was badly flawed.

In an apparent attempt to mirror persistent western criticism of Russia's own elections, Igor Borisov – an accredited observer – said the poll failed to meet basic international norms.

Borisov and three other Russians arrived in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening, the state news agency Ria Novosti reported. The team from Moscow's Public Institute of Suffrage watched voting take place in the Scottish capital and the surrounding area. It also met with Scottish politicians, voters and representatives from non-governmental organisations, Ria said.

Borisov said he was unimpressed by what he saw. He said the room where he watched the count on Thursday night was a cavernous "aircraft hangar" next to an airfield. It was difficult to see what was going on, he said, adding: "The hangar is approximately 100m by 300m. There are tables, with voting papers stacked upon them, but the observers are stuck around the perimeter. Even if you want to, it's impossible to tell what's happening. It's also unclear where the boxes with ballot papers come from."

Borisov said the US state department, the UK and other western countries loudly hectored the Kremlin about Russia's supposed democratic deficiencies. But in this instance, he said, London and Edinburgh had not "fully met" the requirements of a proper referendum.

"Nobody was interested in who was bringing in the voting slips. There were no stamps or signatures as the bulletins were handed over," he said.

Supporters of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had been fervently hoping for a yes vote. Some Russian nationalists had even fixed yes badges to their Twitter profiles, with one –Konstantin Rykov – adding a "Mc" to the front of his Cyrillic surname. (The badge and "Mc" had disappeared by Friday morning). The Kremlin apparently saw Scottish independence as a way of justifying its own hasty annexation of Crimea in March, following a "referendum" conducted in just three weeks and condemned by the west, as armed Russian forces and irregulars swarmed over the Crimean peninsula. Moscow also felt that a yes vote would weaken the UK and bring to power a post-independence Scottish government more amenable to Moscow's wishes. Alex Salmond, Scotland's first minister, expressed qualified admiration for President Putin in an interview with GQ in March.

The Kremlin propaganda channel RT, meanwhile, speculated that the result might have been rigged and expressed surprise at the "North Korean" levels of turnout.

Afshin Rattansi, the presenter of RT's Going Underground show, said there were "international considerations", such as the UK's nuclear deterrent, which had affected the outcome. He said: "With the vote as close as this, with the mainstream media on one side, with a massive amount of people from Westminster running up to beg Scotland the other way, and certain recounts in certain bits of the poll, which way did the vote go, really?"

He added: "It is normally the sort of turnout you would expect in North Korea. Usually media here would go 'we don't believe it. How can it be nearly 90%?'"

On Friday the Donetsk People's Republic - the Ukrainian rebel enclave - said that it, too, believed the Scottish referendum had been falsified. Miroslav Rudenko, a member of the republic's self-declared supreme council, said he suspected the UK government was guilty of foul play. "I don't rule out that the British authorities have falsified the results of this referendum. The difference between those who voted in favour of independence and against it is not so great," he told the Russian news agency Interfax.

Rudenko said the west was guilty of "double-standards". It had allowed a referendum in Scotland but refused one for Donestk and Luhansk, the rebel enclaves where separatists backed by Kremlin firepower are fighting Ukrainian troops.

Here is the original source, via Ynadex Translate.

Observer: the referendum in Scotland is not consistent with global rules

Наблюдатель:референдум в Шотландии не соответствуетмировым правилам

"Where the boxes of ballots come from is unknown", - said the Chairman of the Board of the Russian public Institute of electoral law Igor Borisov.

RIA Novosti (Russian),

19 September, 2014

The vote in Scotland is carried out according to the rules, which are adjusted under British law and not conform to generally accepted international principles for the conduct of referenda, the head of the mission of observers from Russia, Chairman of the Board of the Russian public Institute of electoral law Igor Borisov said to RIA Novosti.

On Wednesday evening to work during the referendum on independence in Edinburgh came a group of accredited observers from Russia. In the group of four specialists, they observed the voting in Edinburgh and the surrounding area, met with representatives of public organizations, politicians and voters. At present, Russian observers have been working on counting.

"We are talking about the fact that this procedure (the referendum in Scotland, as amended) is not consistent with the principles for the conduct of referenda. In General position (on the referendum in Scotland, as amended) were adjusted under the rules under which elections are held in the UK. But these rules are very different from the generally accepted international principles," said Borisov.

He added that the requirements that are imposed by the Western countries to the Russian Federation in the election on the referendum in Scotland are not observed. "These rules hoarse the throat defend the representatives of various Western countries. It is clear that it is primarily the U.S. Department of state, its representatives and the United Kingdom. Today we say that those requirements that apply to us (to Russia), which we are taught and produced a whole pile of literature, these requirements are not fully met," said Borisov.

In response to a request to explain what the problems are for observers working on the referendum and what the discrepancy procedures with international principles, the head of mission has led as an example of the counting process, which currently takes place in a specially designed center near Edinburgh.

"Now we are present at the counting of votes. This place is a hangar for aircraft, located next to the airfield. It is hard to say what is the area, the hangar has a size of approximately 100 to 300 meters. Here are all the tables that receive the ballots, and observers standing on the perimeter. Even when you desire to notice what is going on behind these tables. Where there are boxes of ballots, is also unknown. Themselves mailboxes without any protection. Moreover, the official representatives of the authorities claim that they have decided that their country is not taken to replace ballots", - said the Agency interlocutor.

In Edinburgh to celebrate the end of the referendum, without waiting for the results

"But we see that there is no interest even to those who bring the ballots, do not put on any documents to visa and signature on the transfer papers. If there is the situation associated with fraud, it would be impossible to find an extreme, because one person believes the number of ballots transmits the second one counts the votes "for", the third makes a number of bad forms. That is, in this routine all goes from place to place and monitor the entire procedure is not possible. We have to believe the data that is read out counters. But to observe the actions of the Commission problematic due to the size of the premises," he added Borisov.

In Scotland, September 18, held a referendum in which the people of the region had decided whether to remain part of the United Kingdom or become an independent state. Public opinion polls until the last day did not give an accurate view about the outcome of the vote, showing each time a different distribution of votes - the fate of the region decide voices are not determined in advance voters.

If most people in Scotland will vote for independence, on March 24, 2016, the region would leave the Kingdom. The main driving force of the referendum act nationalists - they are trying to win the favor of the people of the region populist slogans and promises of an independent Scotland's prosperity due to hydrocarbon production and redirect all taxes to the local budget.

And here is some of the "Kremlin propaganda" coverage

Going Underground: Government failures, terrorist media, & Cameron misleading public

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Afshin Rattansi goes underground on why governments fail. Ed Straw, author of Stand and Deliver: A Design for Successful Government, says the failure is a problem with a system simply not designed for the modern world. 

Jamie Bartlett, author of The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld, explains why ISIS have been able to use social media to their advantage, and the threat Bitcoin poses to the established banking system. 

We introduce the National Cyber Security Programme, tasked with keeping us safe from online threats, but with 'variable' success. With further delays looking likely, we ask if the Chilcot inquiry will be finished before we go into ANOTHER war with Iraq. 

Whilst there are protests about BBC reporting of the Scottish independence referendum, we look at the HSBC and Pepsi director that Cameron now wants to oversee regulation there. And David Cameron is in trouble with the Press Complaints Commission over 'misrepresenting statistics' in a Telegraph article.