More pressure on Armenia to be less "Western"
http://www.armenialiberty.org/conten.../26602633.html

this ex ambassador apparently is ignorant of the Armenian Diaspora in Beirut and Paris and London

Putin seems determined to be aggressive and force a confrontation in an area which is not really his business, pity when Europe has been peaceful for so long.
Quote from today's papers ; "Putin demands EU-Ukraine pact rewrite.
Vladimir Putin has demanded a reopening of the EU's recently-ratified trade pact with Ukraine and has threatened “immediate and appropriate retaliatory measures” if Kiev moves to implement any parts of the deal, according to a letter the Russian president sent to the EU president."

Off topic - about kleptocracy in Russia - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/wo...s-friend-.html

Seems the British aircraft flew home after failing to find their targets

Mr Cameron possibly just wants peace in our time

Double strike from Bloomberg yesterday and today:

1. Putin Reserve Rubles Vanish in Crimea Grab
2. Putin Rules Out Capital Controls as Russian Outflows Grow


I am not sure if it is already the time, but in any case at some point Russians will have to face the reality of what they did.
I defended the right of Crimea to decide to join Russia, however my deepest hopes was that all this would create problems for Putin and his pals.
Even if the smart Russias have already fled or are fleeing the country, even if the ones to stay are the ones who can easily be manipulated and believe the promises for a new Great Russia, at some point if they can't find food to eat they may start thinking.

So your deepest hopes is that at some point the Russians have no food to eat and go hungry, and because of this they create problems for Putin? Nice

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...killed-ukraine

A Swiss Red Cross worker was killed by shelling in Ukraine yesterday.

He was a 38 year old ( which is middle aged according to the Guardian) from Neuchatel.

Another report from 'The Local'.

http://www.thelocal.ch/20141002/swis...led-in-ukraine

Yes and they also flee to Europe where we civilize them.
See recent laws against "homosexual propaganda", how the population supports banning a gay pride or other events, how they support the attacks on gay people.
See how many prominent retarded Russians (Isinbayeva, the idiot from that stupid duet group, etc) say thinks like "I want my son to be a man, not a fag" or like "we Russians are normal people, you know a boy with a girl".
They deserve to suffer under Putin while dreaming they are still a super power.

Innocent people don't deserve to suffer under anybody. How can you wish to inflict suffering on the whole nation?
And yes, they are a superpower and they know it

They deserve to suffer as long as they keep voting for him.
If he had not been democratically elected I would definitely feel sorry for the Russian people.

That's the irony at its best.

Superpower? Soviet Union was a superpower. Russia is not, these days they even have to buy their warships from the West. Their currency and economy is crashing down.

As was posted earlier, around 80% of global trade is done in US$, about 1.4% in Swiss francs and 0.4% in Rubles, even China manages around 1.4%.

From where you stand, it is a fair point of view. However, complaining about suffering is the last thing on Russian people's agenda. The national culture and identity is more important to them than anything else. There are exactly like the Americans in that sense, with the huge deference that suffering is second nature to Russians, whereas liberal self-empowerment is second nature to Americans.

What makes people leave Russia at the moment (and go to Latvia, Germany and a couple more popular places) is not their suffering but the lack of opportunity for a foreseeable career beyond short terms jobs when you don't have the right contacts. Young French people leave France for the same reason, btw, including me when I was 20. At least the Russians and Ukrainians I know in Germany all did. Perhaps a particular group and one can't generalize, I don't know...

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Es wird nichts ausgelassen, um mich hier herauszuekeln. Ein Lehrbuch. False accusations and attacks continue. There is no stopping righteous people when they are wrong.

While Russia of course is NOT a superpower at present, it is miles away from starving. Russia not only has its own agricultural production but countries like Switzerland, Turkey and India still sell stuff to Russia. Sure, many things have become more expensive. Interesting is to see that the Russian Aerospace Industry gets government support of billions of CHF now to upgrade Russian built civil airplanes, and there will be a production facility to produce Tupolev 204 under licence in Iran.


What is the value of sanctions of EU and USA ? Psychological mainly as they hit the upper nomenclatura


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Most of the foreign trade of Russia is done in US$ CHF GB£ EUR etc and NOT in Rubles


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btw., REAL Emmentaler cheese still is on the market in Russia, while the German FAKE "Emmentaler" is out of the market

Suffering might seem like the second nature to Russians but the thing is -- they don't like to suffer, just like any other being And they know exactly what is better for them. In the 90s the situation in Russia was very bad, but the drunk Boris Yeltsin was the sweetheart of the West. With Putin the life of the Russian people became much better -- this is why he is so popular. And what their alternatives to Putin would be, really? Try to follow others into EU -- what for, to get looted again like in the 90s and soon become another Greece? The corruption in EU is breathtaken (it costs the EU economy at least 120 bn euros annually), the governments are bankrupt. I don't think this is more attractive to Russians than more independent and rich country under Putin.

Dream on.

"Get looted again like in the 90's"? As I recall, the (Western-backed) IMF poured billions into Russia to keep it from collapsing. But instead of the money being distributed, it was pocked by a select few who bailed out for other countries. Russian "new-rich" were all over the place in the late 90's/early 2000's. How did the EU "loot" Russia exactly? I think Russians looted the IMF at the expense of their own country.

As for corruption, Russia and Ukraine both have it on an industrial scale, from the top to the bottom, not even close to any EU country. Even Greece at least tried to spend their bail out money to try to fix their problems, and didn't just grab the money and run like Russians did in the 90's.


In other news, Germany is sending 100 trucks of aid to East Ukraine, and possibly up to 200 soldiers to protect OSCE observers:
http://www.dw.de/germany-ponders-tro...ion/a-17973935

Corruption and mismanagement is widespread in Greece, BUT the Greeks are true nationalists and have the welfare of their nation very much at heart