The Latest from Batchelor and Cohen

For continuing to keep us informed on this topic. Now for a priority listen.

CHR.

... and a 'First"!

I'm still shocked that my country is dumb enough to do this.  I shouldn't be shocked, but I still am.  Awful.

In the last few days, the Ukrainian Army has gotten their arses kicked in the south part of Novorussia. NAF are closing in on Mariupol and control virtually the entire southern front. Things are going extremely poor for the Ukrainian forces right now.

MINSK, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Although all sides at the Minsk summit have agreed to a peace plan for Ukraine, the first meeting between Russian and Ukraine leaders did not produce a breakthrough in efforts to end the months-long unrest.

While describing the talks as "positive," Russian President Vladimir Putin said the details of truce terms are the internal matter for Kiev.

"Russia can't substantively discuss conditions of a ceasefire...That is not our business, it's up to Ukraine itself," Putin told reporters in Minsk, Belarus early on Wednesday.

"We can only contribute to creating a situation of trust for a possible, and in my view, extremely necessary, negotiation process," he added.

The peace plan, prepared in June by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, was presented at the summit of the Customs Union (CU), which groups Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.

Leaders of the three CU states and Ukraine as well as representatives from the European Union (EU) met here Tuesday to discuss the Ukraine crisis and economic cooperation.

The five-month-old conflict between government troops and pro-independence militia has killed more than 2,000 people in eastern and southeastern Ukraine, with hundreds of thousands of others displaced.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The disagreement between Russia and Ukraine over the settlement of the crisis lies in their competition of power in the region which has fundamental interests for both countries.

For Ukraine, the largely Russian-speaking region is where the country's economic foundation lies.

Rich in deposits of coal and iron ore, the eastern part of Ukraine holds almost the entire industry of Ukraine, making the cession of this region unacceptable for Kiev.

Kiev now urgently wants the rebels to hand back the territory they have captured in eastern Ukraine and demands a halt to what it says "arms shipments" from Russia to the fighters, a charge that the Kremlin denies.

Meanwhile Russia also wants to retain some sort of leverage over the region so Ukraine does not join NATO or the European Union.

Moscow has frequently called upon Ukraine to become a loose federation with greater regional autonomy, an idea that Kiev repeatedly rejected.

The issue as whether or not to federalize Ukraine has become the key disagreement between Kiev and Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. But such conflicts that involve fundamental interests of both countries could hardly get concessions from either side.

CONTINUED FIGHTING

Just hours before the Putin-Poroshenko meeting in Minsk, Ukraine said it had captured 10 "Russian soldiers" in the eastern Donetsk region

On Monday, the Ukrainian State Security Service claimed to have seized servicemen from Russia's regular army and published a video footage on its Facebook page, showing people dressed in military camouflage.

Moscow has not commented on the case, while Russia's RIA Novosti news agency cited a source in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that those captured servicemen were involved in patrolling the Russian-Ukrainian border area and "most likely crossed border by accident."

In addition, Ukrainian authorities said Russian helicopters attacked a border post in Lugansk region in eastern Ukraine on Monday, killing four border guards.

"Two combat helicopters Mi-24 of Russian Armed Forces fired unguided rockets against Ukrainian border guards. The attack left four border guards dead and three wounded," Andrei Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, told reporters.

After the attack, fierce fighting erupted on the Ukrainian-Russian border, Lysenko said, adding that government forces have managed to prevent "saboteurs" from crossing into Ukraine from Russia.

Ukraine has recently accused the separatists and Russia of trying to expand the conflict to a new front. Heavy artillery attacks have been reported in Novoazovsk, which previously saw little fighting.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-08/27/c_133590606.htm

It’s worth following the source too, and follow @gbazov on twitter

http://slavyangrad.org/2014/08/27/the-southern-front-catastrophe-august-27-2014/

Sergey Lavrov’s live Q&A with the kids at the Seliger-2014 camp was terrific.  I watched it live and I guess the whole thing will be put up on YouTube before long.

Clive Maund has a good explanation,  Will the US succeed in breaking Russia to maintain dollar hegemony?...

http://www.clivemaund.com/article.php?art_id=3278

"Still confused? Then read "90% Of Gazprom Clients Have "De-Dollarized", Will Transact In Euro & Renminbi" for just how Gazprom set the stage for the day it finally would push the button to skip the dollar entirely. Which it just did.

In conclusion we will merely say what we have said previously, and it touches on what will be the most remarkable aspect of Obama's legacy, because while the hypocrite "progressive" president who even his own people have accused of being a "brown-faced Clinton" after selling out to Wall Street and totally  wrecking US foreign policy abroad, is already the worst president in a century of US history according to public polls, the fitting epitaph will come when the president's policies put an end to dollar hegemony and end the reserve currency status of the dollar once and for all, thereby starting the rapid, and uncontrolled, collapse of the US empire. To wit:

In retrospect it will be very fitting that the crowning legacy of Obama's disastrous reign, both domestically and certainly internationally, will be to force the world's key ascendent superpowers (we certainly don't envision broke, insolvent Europe among them) to drop the Petrodollar and end the reserve status of the US currency."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-27/gazprom-begins-accepting-payment-oil-ruble-yuan

Very few Canadians and I would guess even fewer (percentage wise) Americans. Batchelor and Cohen are likely the best commentary on the planet and both are very likely on a list in the NSA for future attention.

I feel sorry for Americans who are following these events with understanding. Those same folks also know what is happening in their own country and how perverted it has become...

I was never fond of the phrase: "My country right or wrong". I wonder if the small group who know what is happening have ever said that, or would ever say it again?

But Canada is not far behind...I lump it all as the inevitable consequences of the collapse of the West.
FWIW,
G.

All Wars are bankers wars....

MOSCOW, August 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian oil company Gazprom Neft has agreed to export 80,000 tons of oil from Novoportovskoye field in the Arctic; it will accept payment in rubles, and will also deliver oil via the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO), accepting payment in Chinese yuan for the transfers, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported Wednesday.

The Russian government and several of the country’s largest exporters have widely discussed the possibility of accepting payments in rubles for oil exports.

Last week, Russia began to ship oil from the Novoportovskoye field to Europe by sea. Two oil tankers are expected to arrive in Europe in September. According to Kommersant, the payment for these shipments will be received in rubles.

Gazprom Neft will not only accept payments in rubles; subsequent transfers via the ESPO may be paid for in yuan, the newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, the change in currency was made because of the Western sanctions against Russia.

In March, in response to Crimea’s reunification with Russia, the United States and the European Union introduced a number of targeted sanctions against Russia.

As the Ukrainian crisis escalated, the United States introduced several new rounds of sanctions targeting Russia’s defense, energy and banking sectors, and persuaded its allies to blacklist several Russian citizens and companies.

As a protective measure, Russia decided to avoid making its payments in US dollars, which can be tracked and controlled by the United States government, Kommersant reported.

Gazprom Neft gained control over the Novoportovskoye field in 2012. The field’s recoverable reserves exceed 230 million tons of oil and 270 billion cubic meters of gas. It is located in the Arctic and is part of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.

http://en.ria.ru/business/20140827/192383783/Russias-Gazprom-Neft-to-Sell-Oil-For-Rubles-Yuan.html

The fulcrum of the balance of power in the world has been Germany.  Merkel is clearly siding with Putin in Ukraine and is denouncing the US as not being able to solve the world's problems anymore.  She went to Kiev and talkied to Poroshenko 1:1 and told him the war in Ukraine cannot be won.  That Steven Cohen said last night and had been reporting before this that  she was going to say that  to him. I think this is reliable information. \ The next move is Germany joining Russia's Asian Trade Zone along with the Ukraine doing it just as Jim Willie has been saying.  Its in the cards. Russia is openly selling oil and gas outside the dollar and the US cannot do anything about it.  They are too busy with the Arab situation.  That situation is also a revolt against the US openly calling for the death of Obama.  If I were to call it, I would say every effot made by the US to get control of the world and maintain dollar hegemony at this point is resulting in a push back by the world causing the dollar to lose more than gain.  The slide downhill is reaching escape velocity just as Jim Willie has been saying of late.

Russia accuses EU commissioner of 'treacherous sacrilege'

The Russian foreign ministry Tuesday accused interim EU justice commissioner Reicherts of "treacherous sacrilege that blurs the lines between good and evil" and of "playing on Russophobia" after she noted at a remembrance day last week that Hitler and Stalin started WWII by signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact to partition Poland.

http://euobserver.com/tickers/125365