Tag Archive: Vladimir Putin


G8 summit: Europe will ‘pay the price’ if it arms Syrian rebels, Assad warns

US set for tense talks with Russia over arming rebels
James Legge
Monday 17 June 2013

Europe will “pay the price” if it delivers arms to rebel forces in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with a German newspaper.

“If the Europeans deliver weapons, the backyard of Europe will become terrorist and Europe will pay the price for it,” he said in an advance extract of an interview due to be published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday.

He also warned that delivering arms would result in the direct export of “terrorism” to Europe. Assad was commenting for the first time since the United States announced on Thursday that they would be supplying military aid to rebels fighting for his overthrow, Assad said: “Terrorists will gain experience in combat and return with extremist ideologies.”

The threats from Assad come as Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama prepare for a frosty meeting later at the G8 summit, where disagreement over the Syrian civil war has stolen focus from the rest of the agenda.

The Russian president finds himself isolated over whether to aid the anti-Assad rebels, against whom the balance of the two-year conflict has recently turned. And at their first face-to-face meeting in a year, Obama will try to convince him to bring Assad to the negotiating table.

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Assad warns West against supporting ‘al Qaeda rebels’

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Wednesday that Western nations would pay a “heavy price” for supporting Islamist Syrian rebels linked to al Qaeda, warning that the terrorist group would strike at the heart of Europe and the US.

By Lucy FIELDER , FRANCE 24 correspondent reporting from Beirut (video)
News Wires (text)

President Bashar al-Assad accused the West on Wednesday of supporting al Qaeda militants in Syria’s civil war and warned they would turn against their backers and strike “in the heart of Europe and the United States”.

Assad also launched his strongest criticism yet of neighbouring Jordan for allowing thousands of fighters to cross the border to join a conflict he insisted his forces would win and save Syria from destruction.

“We have no choice but victory. If we don’t win, Syria will be finished and I don’t think this is a choice for any citizen in Syria,” the defiant president said in a television interview.

Assad’s forces have been fighting back across the country against rebels who have taken control of much of rural Syria and seized a provincial capital in March for the first time in two years of fighting.

The conflict started with mainly peaceful demonstrations but descended into a civil war in which the United Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed. Islamist militants have emerged as the most potent of the anti-Assad rebels.

Drawing parallels with Western support for anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s, some of whom later formed the al Qaeda organisation which attacked the United States in Sept. 2011, Assad said Washington and Europe would regret supporting rebels in Syria.

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Blood on your hands: Vladimir Putin’s attack on Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of G8 talks on Syria

Russian President says his country will continue to arm the ‘legitimate government’ in Syria as Cameron’s Coalition allies warn against involving Britain in the conflict

Sunday 16 June 2013

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, rounded on Britain on Sunday, accusing David Cameron of betraying humanitarian values by supporting Syrian rebels with “blood on their hands”.

In harsh and undiplomatic language, Mr Putin accused the UK and other Western powers of attempting to arm rebels who “kill their enemies and eat their organs”. He insisted that Russia would continue to arm what he said was the recognised “legitimate government” in Syria and called on other countries to respect the same rules.

Mr Putin’s comments, ahead of Monday’s G8 summit in Northern Ireland, suggest that earlier British hopes of a softening of Russia’s position on Syria were misplaced. After around an hour of bilateral talks with David Cameron in Downing Street, Mr Putin’s spokesman told The Independent that the two sides remained as far apart as ever.

“There are very serious disagreements in terms of who is guilty and who is to blame,” he said. Asked what the impact of the American decision to arm Syrian rebels would be on potential peace talks, he added: “It makes it harder.”

In a press conference after the talks, Mr Cameron admitted that “President Putin and I have our disagreements on some of the issues”, but insisted the G8 could bring “new momentum and leadership” to start negotiations in Syria.

“What I take from our conversation today is that we can overcome differences if we recognise that we share some fundamental aims: to end the conflict, to stop Syria breaking apart, to let the Syrian people choose who governs them and to take the fight to the extremists,” he said.

“If we leave Syria to be fought over between a murderous dictator and violent extremists we will all pay the price,” he added.

 

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Cameron warned not to even think about military intervention in Syria

Sun Jun 16, 2013 12:18AM GMT

A group of Conservative MPs and retired officers warned the prime minister that his plan to arm foreign-backed terror groups fighting the Syrian government would be the first step down a path that could lead to another British military invasion of the Middle East region.

This comes as the coalition government is sending redundancy notices to 5,300 Army personnel soon as part of its plan to reduce the number of soldiers from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2017.

The cuts are imposed at a time when David Cameron is contemplating to arm terrorists fighting the popular government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

“Here we are yet again with a government reducing our Armed Services and at the same time talking about military intervention of some sort in Syria”, said Richard Drax, the Conservative MP for South Dorset.

“In such an increasingly unstable world, events like Syria and Turkey can develop at any moment and yet here we are cutting our Armed Services to the size of a gendarmerie. Our Navy is now little more than something you put in the bath”, he said.

Earlier this month, 82 Tory MPs wrote to the Prime Minister to demand a parliamentary vote on any decision to equip Syria’s rebels.

Some Conservative MPs fear that any weapons given to the rebels could fall into the hands of some fighters who have links with al-Qaeda terrorist group.

Meanwhile, David Cameron has said that he will make every attempt to convince the Group of Eight (G8) authorities to support US plans to impose a no-fly zone over parts of Syria, when they gather for the G8 summit in Northern Ireland this week.

The push for action comes after US President Barack Obama said he would give “direct military aid” to terrorists in Syria.

Cameron was central to the development of a no-fly zone over Libya in 2011, which resulted in thousands of sorties and strikes against people on the ground.

MOL/HE

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Obama Holds Secret Press Meeting to Control Reports About NSA Leak

susanne_posel_news_ enhanced-buzz-12095-1370975431-8Susanne Posel
Occupy Corporatism
June 12, 2013

Referred to as a routine “background briefing session”; however the details of this meeting were to remain unspoken and reporters who attended the meeting was not forthcoming with details of what was discussed.

Reporters from many of the most influential MSM outlets were in attendance:

• New York Times
• Washington Post
• Huffington Post
• Time
• McClatchy
• Politico
• Tribune
• NPR
• Bloomberg
• USA Today
• AFP
• Yahoo

At an annual banquet of the Intelligence and national Security Alliance, James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, joked about recent comments he made regarding the NSA leak.

Clapper called it the “elephant in the room” regarding ““the unauthorized leaks as reprehensible and egregious.”

Clapper joked that: “Some of you expressed surprise that I showed up—so many emails to read!”

Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked that data surveillance “methods are in demand. But you can’t just listen to the phone call in Russia; you need a special order from court. This is how this should be done in civilized society while tackling terrorism with the use of any technical means. If it is in the framework of the law, then it’s ok. If not it is unacceptable.”

Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for Putin said that should his government receive a request from Edward Snowden, National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower, for asylum “we will consider it.”

Snowden remarked that it is his “predisposition is to seek asylum in a country with shared values.”

House Speaker John Boehner said that Snowden is a “traitor. “The disclosure of this information puts Americans at risk. It shows our adversaries what our capabilities are. And it’s a giant violation of the law.”

Boehner said that the NSA surveillance programs being used by the Obama administration are “important national security programs to help keep Americans safe, and give us tools to fight the terrorist threat that we face. The president also outlined that there are appropriate safeguards in place to make sure that there’s no snooping, if you will, on Americans here at home.”

Boehner claims that there is “heavy oversight of this program by the House Intelligence Committee on a bipartisan basis and the Senate Intelligence Committee. And that’s why I feel comfortable that we can operate this program and protect the privacy rights of our citizens.”

The MSM portrays the revelation that the NSA is monitoring Americans through digital communications as a divide between Republican and Democrat ideology.

House Representative Steny Hoyer stands with the Obama administration and the surveillance programs fronted by the NSA. In response to whistleblower Snowden, Hoyer said: “This certainly compromises the intelligence gathering abilities of the United States and to that extent is helpful to … those who would cause us harm.”

David Drummond, lawyer for Google, wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) that demanded the federal government publically disclose the number of National Security Letters sent to Google that request user data for surveillance purposes.

According to the letter: “Assertions in the press that our compliance with these requests gives the U.S. government unfettered access to our users’ data are simply untrue. However, government nondisclosure obligations regarding the number of FISA national security requests that Google receives, as well as the number of accounts covered by those requests, fuel that speculation.”

The letter continues: “We therefore ask you to help make it possible for Google to publish in our Transparency Report aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures—in terms of both the number we receive and their scope. Google’s numbers would clearly show that our compliance with these requests falls far short of the claims being made. Google has nothing to hide.”

Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have introduced a bill to force the Obama administration to declassify Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinions that legalize the monitoring of Americans.

MSM reports that this bill is dead before it is given a chance for review because elected officials will “just say no” to having such legislation on the books.

Putin on NSA leak: Govt surveillance shouldn’t break law (EXCLUSIVE)

RussiaToday RussiaToday·

Published on Jun 11, 2013

“If surveillance is in the framework of the law, then it’s ok. If not it is unacceptable. You can’t just listen to the phone call in Russia; you need a special order from court,” Putin said answering the question of RT’s Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan. Commenting on Obama’s statement that “You can’t have 100 per cent security and 100 per cent privacy,” Putin disagreed, saying it is possible if done within the law.

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Putin on NSA leak: Government surveillance shouldn’t break law

Published time: June 11, 2013 14:53
Edited time: June 12, 2013 04:46

Data surveillance is an acceptable measure if done within the law, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin told RT while visiting the channel in the capital.

Speaking to RT the Russian president stressed that Snowden revealed “nothing we didn’t know before”, adding that surveillance “is becoming a global phenomenon in the context of combatting international terrorism”, and that “such methods are generally practicable”.

But Putin pointed out that “the question is how well those security agencies are controlled by the public.”

“I can tell you that, at least in Russia, you cannot just go and tap into someone’s phone conversation without a warrant issued by court,” Putin said answering the question of RT’s Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.

“That’s more or less the way a civilized society should go about fighting terrorism with modern-day technology. As long as it is exercised within the boundaries of the law that regulates intelligence activities, it’s alright. But if it’s unlawful, then it’s bad.”

Commenting on Obama’s statement that “You can’t have 100 per cent security and 100 per cent privacy,” Putin disagreed, saying it is possible if done within the law.

Earlier on Tuesday, Putin’s press-secretary Dmitry Peskov told to a newspaper that Russia could consider the possibility of granting political asylum to 29-year-old Edward Snowden,  if such a request is made. The ex-CIA worker is behind one of the biggest leaks of our time as he disclosed the existence of PRISM, the National Security Agency’s (NSA) massive data-mining surveillance program, to The Guardian last week.

The whereabouts of whistleblower remain unknown after he checked out of a Hong Kong hotel on Monday after revealing his identity and making a public statement in a interview with The Guardian a day earlier.

‘Syria should have undertaken reform in due time’

Speaking about the conflict in Syria, the president said it was possible to avoid the civilian war by conducting reforms in due time.

“Syria as a country was rife for some kind of change. And the government of Syria should have felt that in due time and should have undertaken some reform,”
Putin said. “Had they done that, what we’re seeing in Syria today would have never happened.”

However, he added, one should take into account that the entire Middle East is currently finding itself in a state of uncertainty and conflict – and it’s wrong to try and interfere from outside.

“From the outside some people think that if you bring the entire region in compliance with someone’s specific idea of democracy, things will settle down, and everything will be all right in that region. But that’s not true. Considering that region’s background history, culture, religion – you cannot interfere with it from the outside.”

Putin pointed out that the West is supporting some certain organizations that are fighting Assad in Syria, and they are countering “those very same groups” in Mali.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, during his talk with Russia Today television channel's journalists and correspondents, June 11, 2013. (RT photo / Semyon Khorunzhy)Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, during his talk with Russia Today television channel’s journalists and correspondents, June 11, 2013. (RT photo / Semyon Khorunzhy)

“Where is the logic in that?” he said. “Our Western counterparts often tell us that the Al-Nusra is one of the key organizations in the Syrian military opposition. But it has been dubbed terrorist by the US Department of State, and it doesn’t even hide its links to Al-Qaeda. So will you let this organization join the future government of Syria? Our Western counterparts say no. Are you going to just make them go away once you have victory in Syria? They don’t know. It’s totally unclear.”

Putin reminded that the quality of life in Libya was one of the highest in the region before the regime change.

“What do you have there now? There is a war of everybody against everybody among various tribes, there is war for resources, and, I’m afraid, if we go the same way in Syria, there will be same havoc in Syria that we’re now witnessing in Libya,” he concluded. “Isn’t that enough from what we’re seeing in Pakistan and Afghanistan right now, where there’re terrorists that are not controlled by anyone, except for terrorists?”

Speaking about mass demonstrations, the president stressed that the government should control protesters, “put them in the legislative field,” if they “violate the law.”

“This is what happening both in the US and in Russia,” Putin said.

“Russia doesn’t try to influence Occupy activists, yet foreign agents try to do this in Russia,” he said, referring to the Occupy movement that initially started from protests in New York and then spread worldwide.

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RIA Novosti

Russia May Consider US Spy Leaker’s Asylum Request – Media

US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden pictured during an interview with the Guardian

04:15 11/06/2013

MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian authorities will consider political asylum for Edward Snowden, who risks prosecution in the United States for his recent blockbuster spy leaks, if he sends a proper request, business daily Kommersant said Tuesday, citing the Kremlin spokesman.

“If we receive such a request, we will consider it,” Kommersant quoted presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Snowden, a 29-year-old former employee of the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA), unmasked himself on Sunday as a source of recent disclosures about US government’s secret surveillance programs.

He said he was aware of possible prosecution but disclosed secret documents in response to America’s systematic surveillance of innocent citizens.

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Putin warns against foreign military intervention in Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin (file photo)

Russian President Vladimir Putin (file photo)
Tue Jun 4, 2013 12:47PM
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned against any attempt at foreign military intervention in Syria, stressing that the move would only make the situation worse.

Speaking at a joint news conference after a summit with European Union leaders in Yekaterinburg, Putin said on Tuesday that any future foreign military intervention in Syria is doomed to fail.

“We once again underscored that any attempts to influence the situation through force and direct military intervention are doomed to failure,” Putin said.

He also criticized the EU for not extending an arms embargo on militants fighting against the Syrian government.

The Russian president also defended his country’s decision to deliver advanced S-300 air defense missile systems to the Syrian government, saying it complies with the international law and will help to tilt the balance of power in the region.

“It’s perhaps the best such weapon in the world. It’s indeed a serious weapon. We don’t want to throw the region off balance,” Putin added.

He, however, said that Russia has not yet fulfilled the contract, which was signed a few years ago.

On May 28, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow will go ahead with the delivery of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, and that the arms will help deter foreign intervention in the Arab country.

He also stated that the air defense system was a “stabilizing factor” that could dissuade “some hotheads” from entering the unrest in Syria.

The US, Israel and several Western countries have been pressuring Russia not to go through with a promised delivery of S-300 missiles to the Syrian government.

The S-300 missile system, which has a range of up to 200 kilometers and the capability to track down and strike multiple targets simultaneously, could increase Syria’s air defense potential and at the same time limit the Israeli air force’s ability to hit targets inside Syria. Israel has threatened to attack the missiles if they are delivered.

HM/PR/SS

 

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NPR

The Fear That Drives Russia’s Support For Syria’s Assad

Neal Conan: Repeated American attempts to work with Russia on Syria have floundered on a fundamental difference. Vladimir Putin insists on a deal that includes Bashar al-Assad as part of Syria’s future. So the civil war grinds on and the situation of civilians there grows ever more dire. So why? Arms exports? Access to the port of Tartus? Standing up for old allies?

 

In a recent article in foreign affairs Fiona Hill argues that Putin looks at Syria and sees his old fears of Chechnya brought back to life. Fiona Hill was co-author of “Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin,” and joins us now on the phone from Florida near Miami. Good to have you with us today.

 

Fiona Hill: Hi. Thank you, Neal. Thanks for having me.

 

Conan: So how can Mr. Putin look at a civil war in Syria and she – a nightmare for him, the old rebellion in Chechnya?

 

Hill: Well, this is a prism that he’s brought to looking at most conflicts like the conflicts in Syria that threatened the sanctity of his state. Mr. Putin actually came in to the presidency if you can recall back in ’99, 2000 in Russia, just as the second war in Chechnya was starting off. And he saw that as his biggest challenge of keeping the Russian state together, so it didn’t fall down the same path as the Soviet Union into collapse. And Putin was really brutal in pursuing the war in Chechnya. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in that holocaust of conflict including many civilians.

 

The capital city of Grozny in Chechnya was reduced completely to rubble, and Putin felt that this was worthwhile because it kept the state together. And over the course of the conflict in Chechnya it morphed in the same way that we’ve actually seen in the war in Syria. It went from a conflict that was mostly focused on political secession from Chechnya, from the Russian Federation and over time, really took on more of an extremist element, more of Sunni extremist groups who moved in to exploit the conflict and also many people who came from outside including from Syria to fight in Chechnya.

 

And Putin is now pretty much concerned that we’re going to see a repetition, the collapse of the states in Syria, knock-on effect for conflicts at home for him as well as (unintelligible) across the hall in the Middle East. And yet again, another collapse of the state, that is something that he would like to see avoided at all costs.

 

Conan: Now Russia, a state with considerable resources was able to pacify, I think that’s probably the right word – Chechnya. It is a completely different situation in Syria.

 

Hill: Neal, I’m very sorry. I didn’t hear that. Could you repeat it, please?

 

Conan: I was saying that because of its enormous resources, Russia was able to pacify Chechnya, at least for the time being. Syria seems to be a very different situation.

 

Hill: That’s very much the case. Yes. Mr. Putin has a lot of things that he was able to draw upon that Mr. Assad has not. He was able to take out the Chechnyan position, both at home and also abroad. In 2004, the Russians assassinated one of the top leaders of the Chechnyan opposition, Mr. Yandarbiyev, who had been an acting president and he was in Doha in Qatar at the time and was killed in a car bomb explosion.

 

Also other members of the opposition were picked off in other cities including in Europe. And Mr. Putin brought the full weight of the Russian army against the Chechnyans. And also he was able to perceive the war for such a long time quite ruthlessly because the Chechnyan opposition, generally, because of the number of very high level terrorist attacks and this infiltration of extremists lost any kind of support among the population.

 

So it was a very different conflict. It was very much confined to one region of Russia although there were terrorist attacks and spillover across the whole of the Russian Federation. But it wasn’t at all like Syria where it’s a full-blown civil war. And Mr. Assad is actually, at this point, seemingly perhaps not outgunned but certainly outnumbered by the number of opposition that are arrayed against him.

 

Read Full Transcript  and  Listen To Interview  Here

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Russia’s Putin Says No Missiles Delivered to Syria

 

 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the European Union-Russian Federation (EU-Russia) Summit in Yekaterinburg, June 4, 2013.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the European Union-Russian Federation (EU-Russia) Summit in

Yekaterinburg, June 4, 2013.

 

 

VOA News

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow has not delivered advanced air-defense missiles to Syria, saying Russia does not want to upset the balance of forces in the Middle East.

Putin’s comments are in line with Russian media reports last week that Moscow had not yet given the S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Damascus and that the system could not be delivered this year.

The Russian comments contradict an interview given last week by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV in which he implied that Moscow had already delivered some of the missiles.

While Putin said the missile deal is not against international law, he added that Russia has not fulfilled the contract yet.

The United States and Israel have warned Russia against delivering the missiles, which would dramatically increase Syria’s air defense capability.

Deployment of the S-300 system would likely complicate further possible Israeli airstrikes in Syria.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Destruction in Homs  By  Bo yaser  Courtesy  of Wikimedia Commons

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Syria has the right to peace and to self-defense, despite western claims

There can be little doubt that the lifting of the arms embargo to the armed insurgents and terrorist groups operating in Syria is one of the most egregiously callous, self-serving, reckless and irresponsible moves made by the international community since the beginning of the internal conflict in the country.

The West’s complete and total lack of regard for the precious lives of innocent Syrian civilians, including all non-Muslims, non-Sunnis, Jews, Christians and ethnic minority groups is mind-boggling in its persistency, premeditation and complete and total lack of anything resembling humanity.

The West has once again truly shown the entire planet, that is anyone with their eyes half open, its monstrous and evil face when it comes to Syria. It is evident in everything the West has done in Syria. From the day the western “masters” decided that elected President Bashar al-Assad had to go because he was not a Western puppet, to the instigating and fueling of the internal conflict, to the bellicose rhetoric and endless sanctions, to the actual real and documented funding, arming and importing of every kind of terrorist, mercenary and killer under the sun, the West has shown time and time again that they will do absolutely anything to bring about their ends, while packaging it in marketable terms evoking righteousness and pride by calling it “iron resolve”, “taking the lead” and “ridding the world of evil”.

Even the world’s “poster boy of persecution” Israel, which has been allowed to do what it pleases, act with impunity in violating international laws and norms and has remained untouchable since the Holocaust, has shown that they too have forfeited their humanity for mere geo-political goals, by bombing Syria with reckless disregard and using the Nazi pretext of preventive attacks, disgracefully showing ignorance to the lesson that should have been learned from the Great Patriotic War, that all life is precious and no group has the right to eradicate another.

There is nothing noble in what the West is doing in Syria. There is nothing noble is war and death and destruction and those who promote it and use it and spread it have forfeited their right to be members of humanity.

Recently the new U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that it was too late for the U.S. to take an active role in seeking a peaceful settlement in Syria, he may be right after the years of rhetoric and the importing and funding of terrorists into the conflict, but I bear to differ, it is never too late to do the right thing, and the right thing here would be to completely ban all weapons deliveries to Syria, to sanction those who would use them, to force the warring factions to the negotiating table sanctioning those who refuse and to bring about an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

That would be the noble and human thing to do but will the West do that, perhaps Kerry would, but then again he is not the “decider” and the those who make the decisions in the West want war and are obtuse and ignorantly stubborn in their foolish and unyielding “resolve” to forcefully remove a leader who has stated time and time again that he will leave if he is voted out of office.

Who is suffering in the Western power play in Syria? The Syrian people, the civilians, the women and children and anyone who keeps the vicious cycle going must be restrained and removed from the conflict, even if that is the mighty dictator of the world, the United States of America and all of their surrogates.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently stated regarding the lifting of the arms embargo to the terrorist groups: “We have, of course, given our assessment to the decision adopted by the Foreign Ministers of the EU last week on the lifting of the embargo on arms supplies to the Syrian opposition. I will not hide the fact that it has disappointed us.”

The president very wisely noted: “Any attempt to influence the situation by force or direct military intervention is doomed to failure and will inevitably lead to grave humanitarian consequences.”

The main proponents to lifting the arms embargo within the EU were the UK and France, classically U.S. surrogates, while a number of other states rightfully opposed, knowing it would only aggravate the already difficult and violent situation in Syria.

President Putin also recently spoke about the supply of S-300 air defense systems to Syria; “The S-300, is really one of the best air defense systems in the world, if not the best. The best, I think. This, of course, a serious weapon. However we do not want to disturb the balance in the region. Russian arms supplies to Syria are solely and entirely within the framework of international law and transparent, internationally recognized contracts that do not violate any international regulations.”

The supply of S-300s to Syria has of course been met with bellicose and indignant rhetoric from the West and in particular from Israel with comments such as “this will upset the strategic balance between Israel and Syria” taking the forefront. This is of course true, Israel reserves to itself the right to bomb Syria with impunity whenever it so chooses, and the West of course does not want anything to interfere should it bring about the conditions for a military intervention. It is of course more convenient for the West when they can bomb and destroy a country and do so with no threat to themselves, as they did in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.

The U.N., perhaps the last voice of reason in the world and the last hope for peace recently released a report on the matter asking the nations of the world to “counter the escalation of the conflict” by not delivering weapons “given the clear risk that the arms will be used to commit serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law.”

The report says right at the beginning: “Anti-government armed groups have also besieged towns, especially in Aleppo governorate. They are committing war crimes on an increasing scale, including extra-judicial executions, torture, hostage-taking, and pillage. The violations and abuses committed by anti-Government armed groups did not reach the intensity and scale of those committed by Government forces and affiliated militias.”

The UN report also states: “The desperation of the parties to the conflict has resulted in new levels of cruelty and brutality, bolstered by an increase in the availability of weapons. Increased arm transfers hurt the prospect of a political settlement to the conflict, fuel the multiplication of armed actors at the national and regional levels and have devastating consequences for civilians.”

Peace can never be attained with the barrel of a gun and anyone who would tell you so is either delusional or has their own agenda, and those would supply terrorists with arms and promote the killing of civilians have forfeited their place among civilized nations.

 

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Why the West and the Sunni Monarchies Want the Fuel the War

Who Gains From Syrian Bloodbath?

by PATRICK COCKBURN

The best hope for an end to the killing in Syria is for the United States and Russia to push both sides in the conflict to agree a ceasefire in which each holds the territory it currently controls. In a civil war of such savagery, diplomacy with any ambition to determine who holds power in future will founder because both sides believe they can still win.

There appeared to be an opportunity for productive talks after it was announced on 7 May that the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had agreed to hold a peace conference on Syria in Geneva. The US, Russia and Iran could see themselves being sucked into an ever more violent conflict and one that is rapidly spreading. It is destabilising Syria’s neighbours in Jordan and Lebanon as Shia and Sunni support opposing sides. Even Turkey’s new-found prosperity is vulnerable as a result of its whole-hearted backing for Syria’s rebels.

However, the chance of any talks taking place in Geneva have dimmed in the past few days. The Syrian opposition has rejected the idea, though its intentions are very much determined by its paymasters in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Going by the evidence of their own leaders, the rebels, inside and outside Syria, are so divided and dysfunctional they may not be in the business of talking to anybody.

Even if the opposition were better organised, they might still not want to talk. One of its leaders said: “We have to make the removal of the regime fundamental to any political solution.” This may sound obvious, but an unstated part of opposition policy is that they can only win if the West and its allies among the Sunni states of the Middle East decide on massive military involvement to remove President Bashar al-Assad. They want a Libyan-type solution in which Assad would be overthrown, as was Muammar Gaddafi by Nato in 2011, with the rebels conducting a well-publicised mopping up.

 

Read Full Article Here

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West dishonest over Syria unrest, supporting terrorists: Chossudovsky

Wed May 29, 2013 8:19AM GMT
 
Interview with Michel Chossudovsky

If they (Western Leaders) were concerned and sincerely committed to the peace process, they would immediately cease supporting a terrorist organization which is linked to al-Qaeda and which is involved in atrocities and killings in Syria.”

Press TV has talked with Michel Chossudovsky, with the Center for Research on Globalization from Montreal, to get his opinions on the role of the Israeli regime in the ongoing foreign-backed unrest in Syria.

Below is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Mr. Chossudovsky, today we have Israel threatening Moscow possibly with force.

How does Israel play into this equation and how much physical involvement can we expect from Israel?

Chossudovsky: Well, first I should say that Israel is supporting the insurgency. In other words, it is supporting al-Qaeda in Syria.

This is not known to public opinion but through the Golan Heights, it is supporting terrorist units of al-Nusrah, which are fighting the Syrian government.

It has logistics, weapon supplies, Israeli vehicles going into the Syrian territory, it also has a hospital facility for the rebels located in the Golan Heights.

So, in effect, right from the outset Israel has been involved in supporting the various factions, the so-called Islamist factions, which are, as we know, mercenaries trained in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

So, in effect, we have to ask ourselves who are the main military actors in the Syrian war theater. The al-Nusrah rebels, which allegedly represent the opposition, are supported by the Western military alliance and Israel.

These are the foot soldiers of the Western military alliance and they are waging a war against the Syrian people.

Now when the European Union decides to lift the embargo, the arms embargo, what they really have in mind …, it is not to say that they have not been supplying the rebels with weapons, all the time they have; but what they have in mind is to channel military aid to this mercenary force, which is supported by foreign powers.

That is a very different proposition to the Russians or Iran for that matter, through bilateral agreements providing military assistance to a sovereign country and to a government and in effect what we are also dealing with is…, well it is illegal under the international law but it is also in violation of the US’ anti-terror legislation.

Press TV: Mr. Chossudovski, recently US senator John McCain went to Syria via Turkey. How do you interpret this visit?

Chossudovsky: Well, John McCain['s trip] is actually in blatant violation of the US’ guidelines on anti-terrorism.

There is an anti-terrorist list, there is a list of terrorist organizations, which is made up by the State Department and John Kerry is negotiating, interfacing, with representatives of that terrorist organization and the same thing is true for John McCain when he crosses into Syria or the same thing is true with the former ambassador to Syria Robert Steven Ford, who is also supporting these terrorists.

So we have to distinguish between military aid through official channels, from government to government, which is what the Russians are providing to Syria on the one hand and the type of assistance which Israel, Britain, France, the United States, are channeling to an illegal organization according to their own criteria.

So in other words they should be arrested on anti-terrorist charges because they are in violation of international law.

Press TV: Despite the fact that the European Union has lifted arms embargo on Syria, how optimistic are you that the Geneva II talks would bear fruit and resolve the Syrian crisis politically?

Chossudovsky: Well, I think that the Western leaders are, in effect, attempting to build peace and democracy by threatening war. Essentially that is what they are doing, heightening the threats, channeling weapons to the terrorists, incidentally those terrorist have been decimated by the Syrian Armed forced, so in effect the Western military alliance is in a dead end.

So, they are now considering all the options but essentially if they were concerned and sincerely committed to the peace process, they would immediately cease supporting a terrorist organization which is linked to al-Qaeda and which is involved in atrocities and killings in Syria.

MY/NN

 

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Russia to send nuclear subs to southern seas

June 02, 2013

Russia to send nuclear subs to southern seas

MOSCOW – Russia plans to resume nuclear submarine patrols in the southern seas after a hiatus of more than 20 years following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Saturday, in another example of efforts to revive Moscow’s military.
The plan to send Borei-class submarines, designed to carry 16 long-range nuclear missiles, to the southern hemisphere follows President Vladimir Putin’s decision in March to deploy a naval unit in the Mediterranean Sea on a permanent basis starting this year.
“The revival of nuclear submarine patrols will allow us to fulfil the tasks of strategic deterrence not only across the North Pole but also the South Pole,” state-run Itar-Tass cited an unnamed official in the military General Staff as saying. The official said the patrols would be phased in over several years. The Yuri Dolgoruky, the first of eight Borei-class submarines that Russia hopes to launch by 2020, entered service this year.
Putin has stressed the importance of a strong and agile military since returning to the presidency last May. In 13 years in power, he has often cited external threats when talking of the need for a reliable armed forces and Russian political unity.

 

Read Full Article Here

Published time: May 08, 2013 14:51

RT

President Vladimir Putin, center, chairs a Security Council meeting on May 8, 2013. (RIA Novosti / Alexei Druzhinin)

President Vladimir Putin, center, chairs a Security Council meeting on May 8, 2013. (RIA Novosti / Alexei Druzhinin)

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) does almost nothing to eradicate drug production in Afghanistan, and this drug-trafficking problem will likely worsen in the near future, Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated.

The NATO security mission – which will pull out of Afghanistan in 2014 – has failed to bring stability to the region, Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Security Council on Wednesday.

There are all grounds to believe that we may face an escalation of the situation in Afghanistan in the short term,” the president said.

The foreign military contingent, whose backbone is American forces, has not achieved a breakthrough in the fight against terrorist and radical groups as yet. On the contrary, their activity has been particularly increasing lately,” Putin explained.

There has also been “a drastic increase in drug production in the territory of Afghanistan and the creation of stable drug-trafficking routes to other countries, including – unfortunately – to Russia,” he said. Putin also noted that the ISAF does little to address the problem, while Russia’s proposals on the matter have so far been ignored.

International terrorist and radical groups in Afghanistan “do not conceal their plans to export instability and will try to carry sabotage over to the territories of neighboring states and Russia,” Putin said, adding that this would lead to an increase in drug-trafficking, crime, fundamentalism and uncontrolled flows of refugees.

In that connection, we must have a clear strategy of actions, which would take into consideration various scenarios for the development of the events,” he stressed.

Read Full Article Here

 

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How MI6, CIA spend tax money on propping up drug production

Annie Machon is a former intel­li­gence officer for the UK’s MI5, who resigned in 1996 to blow the whistle. She is now a writer, public speaker and a Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

Published time: May 07, 2013 10:48
Edited time: May 07, 2013 12:01

An Afghan farmer collects raw opium as he works in a poppy field in Khogyani District of Nangarhar province on April 29, 2013. (AFP Photo)

An Afghan farmer collects raw opium as he works in a poppy field in Khogyani District of Nangarhar province on April 29, 2013. (AFP Photo)

With both the CIA and MI6 secretly providing ‘ghost money’ bribes to the Afghan political establishment, it’s likely that Afghans will increasingly support a resurgent Taliban and the drug trade will be further propped up.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, has recently been criticized for taking ‘ghost money’ from the CIA and MI6. The sums are unknown – for the usual reasons of ‘national security’ – but are estimated to have been in the tens of millions of dollars. While this is nowhere near the eye-bleeding $12 billion shipped over to Iraq on pallets in the wake of the invasion a decade ago, it is still a significant amount.

And how has this money been spent?  Certainly not on social projects or rebuilding initiatives.  Rather, the reporting indicates, the money has been funneled to Karzai’s cronies as bribes in a corrupt attempt to buy influence in the country.

None of this surprises me. MI6 has a long and ignoble history of trying to buy influence in countries of interest.  In 1995/96 it funded a ‘ragtag group of Islamic extremists,’ headed up by a Libyan military intelligence officer, in an illegal attempt to try to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi.  The attack went wrong and innocent people were killed. When this scandal was exposed, it caused an outcry.

Yet a mere 15 years later, MI6 and the CIA were back in Libya, providing support to the same ‘rebels,’ who this time succeeded in capturing, torturing and killing Gaddafi, while plunging Libya into apparently endless internecine war. This time around there was little international outcry, as the world’s media portrayed this aggressive interference in a sovereign state as ‘humanitarian relief.’

And we also see the same in Syria now, as the CIA and MI6 are already providing training and communication support to the rebels – many of whom, particularly the Al Nusra faction in control of the oil-rich north-east of Syria are in fact allied with Al-Qaeda in Iraq.  So in some countries the UK and USA use drones to target and murder “militants” (plus villagers, wedding parties and other assorted innocents), while in others they back ideologically similar groups.

 

Read Full Article Here

Russia needs wake-up call on Syria and Iran

by Finian Cunningham

It seems that Russian leaders are befuddled by the conflict raging in Syria, sensing rightly on one hand that the Western powers and their Turk and Arab proxies are conducting a low-intensity war for regime change. Yet, strangely, on the other hand, Moscow appears apathetic or blasé about the West’s criminal geopolitical agenda.

The same applies to Iran, where Russia (and China) continues to engage in a bankrupt process of isolating the Islamic Republic through the P5+1 sham negotiations over sovereign nuclear rights.

First though on Syria, take this statement from Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov following the carnage of a massive car bomb last month that obliterated 53 lives, including women and children, near the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

On 22 February, Reuters reported Lavrov as being “disappointed” by American “double standards” in not condemning the massacre. Regarding Washington’s lack of condemnation, Russia’s most senior diplomat commented: “And we see in it a very dangerous tendency by our American colleagues to depart from the fundamental principle of unconditional condemnation of any terrorist act, a principle which secures the unity of the international community in the fight against terrorism.”

Hold on a minute. What’s this talk about “American colleagues” and “the unity of the international community in the fight against terrorism”? That atrocity in Damascus was indisputably the work of Western-backed terrorists who are funded, armed and directed by Western military intelligence to wipe out the government of President Bashar Al Assad.

This kind of indiscriminate mass murder has proven to be standard operating procedure for the Western proxy army in fulfilling long-held Western plans for regime change in Syria.

Despite cynical claims by Washington, London, Paris and Berlin of supplying “only non-lethal” military equipment to Syrian militants, Russia is well aware that these Western governments are arming this network of killers to the teeth and providing the logistics and intelligence to expedite the terror against civilians. Previously, Russia has itself highlighted and condemned the supply of American anti-aircraft missiles to the armed groups.

So let’s disabuse this notion of “colleagues fighting international terrorism”. The so-called “colleagues” are fomenting terrorism via well-worn Western channels Al Qaeda and other Saudi-backed extremist mercenaries.

Russia (and China) must be cognizant of the bigger picture by now. The post 9/11 “war on terror” charade has nothing to do with “an international fight against terrorism” and all to do with the American-led capitalist Western powers staking out new global spheres of influence. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Mali are all part of a continuum in Washington’s strategic vision of “full spectrum” dominance in resource-rich regions.

The expansion of NATO bases into former Soviet Union member states, the encroachment of missile systems on Russia’s borders, and the threatening military encirclement of China are also part this dynamic in which perceived geopolitical rivals must be thwarted, corralled and subjugated. The Western pseudo “wars against terrorism” or “responsibility to protect” that have spawned across Asia and Africa are as much about dominating those continents’ resources as usurping Russian and Chinese economic interests.

Syria provides the only foreign naval base to Russia, at Tartus, enabling access to the strategically vital Mediterranean Sea and the oil-rich Middle East. It is transparent that the Western powers want to oust Russia from this holding, by killing off the Assad government in Damascus and installing a pro-Western puppet regime.

Yet instead of condemning Washington and its allies for criminal aggression, Moscow seems to be indulging in some kind of illusion that the US and other NATO criminals are to be reasoned with. Last week, for example, Sergei Lavrov met new US secretary of state John Kerry in Berlin, while President Vladimir Putin entertained French counterpart Francois Hollande in Moscow for negotiations over Syria.

Read Full Article Here

 

……

 

Washington’s War on Syria

Friends of Syria

Make no mistake. Syria is Washington’s war. It was planned years ago. Regime change is policy. At issue is replacing Assad’s government with a pro-Western puppet one.

121204_barack_obama_ap_605

Washington tolerates no independent governments. It demands subservience to US policies.Outliers are targeted for removal. Options include war.
Mass slaughter and destruction don’t matter. Unchallenged dominance is policy. It’s longstanding, ruthless and lawless.

Western-recruited death squads ravage Syria. They’ve done so for two years. They’re imported from abroad. Rules of engagement include mass murder, torture, and other atrocities.

Pro-Assad loyalists are prime targets. Innocent civilians are massacred. Doing so is official US policy. Imperial wars are called liberating ones. Terrorism is what they do, not us.

Syria was peaceful before US proxies invaded. So was Libya in 2011. It was ravaged and destroyed. It remains unstable and violent. Libya 2.0 looms.

Syria may become NATO’s latest charnel house. It’s well along the way already. Countries are ravaged on the pretext of liberating them. Empires never say they’re sorry. Policy isn’t pretty. It’s violent and lawless.

It reflects state terrorism. It proliferates death and destruction. It prioritizes wealth, power, privilege and dominance. Direct and proxy wars are waged.

Cutthroat killers are used. They’re recruited abroad. They’re heavily armed, trained, funded and directed. They’re ordered to commit mass murder. Obama bears full responsibility. He’s a war criminal multiple times over.

On February 22, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) headlined “Fifty-Three Civilians Martyred, 235 Others Injured so far in Terrorist Bombing in al-Thawra Street in Damascus.”

Attacks struck central Damascus’ Mazraa neighborhood. Health Minister, Dr. Saad al-Nayef, said “terrorist bombing reflects the criminal nature of its perpetrators.”

Innocent men, women, children, the elderly and infirm were massacred. Syria continues to be ravaged and destabilized.

Al-Hayat Hospital and Abdullah Bin al-Zubir school were heavily damaged. So was Russia’s embassy. Itar Tass quoted a diplomat saying “The building has really been damaged. The windows are shattered.”

Other car bombs struck Damascus’ Barzeh neighborhood. A police station, telecommunications facility, and drug enforcement agency were targeted.

Mortar fire hit Syria’s Army General staff headquarters, Tishreen Sports City and residential buildings. Authorities said a car loaded with tons of explosives was stopped before it exploded.

Perhaps the terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra was involved. It’s become Washington’s lead belligerent. It vows to “liberate” Damascus. It claims responsibility for 17 or more February Damascus area terrorist attacks. They included at least seven bombings.

Syrian communities abroad, Russia, China, Iran and Hezbollah condemned Thursday’s bombings.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said:

“Once again, we call upon all countries and parties, which might influence the extremists and radicals, to pressure them and demand immediate stop of such terrorist acts and armed violence in order to create appropriate atmosphere to hold a Syrian dialogue that is based on Geneva statement issued last June, 2010.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon showed which side he supports. He’s an imperial tool. He shames the office he holds. He violates UN Charter provisions. He urged both sides to show restraint. He called for ending Syria’s crisis politically.

Syria’s Foreign and Expatriates Ministry addressed two identical letters to the Security Council president and Ban. They condemned Thursday’s bombings. They called them cowardly acts.

 

Read Full Article Here

By Michael, on February 12th, 2013
The Economic Collapse

Petrogold: Are Russia And China Hoarding Gold Because They Plan To Kill The Petrodollar?Will oil soon be traded in a currency that is thousands of years old?  What would a “gold for oil” system mean for the petrodollar and the U.S. economy?  Are Russia and China hoarding massive amounts of gold because they plan to kill the petrodollar?  Since the 1970s, the U.S. dollar has been the currency that the international community has used to trade oil around the globe.  This has created an overwhelming demand for U.S. dollars and U.S. debt.  But what happens when the rest of the globe starts rejecting the increasingly unstable U.S. dollar and figures out that gold can be used as a currency in international trade?  The truth is that it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure that out.  Demand for the U.S. dollar and U.S. debt would fall off the map and there would be a rush into gold unlike anything we have ever seen before.  So are Russia and China accumulating unprecedented amounts of gold right now because they eventually plan to cut the legs out from under the petrodollar and they want to gobble up huge stockpiles of gold before the cat is out of the bag?  Of course they will never admit this publicly, but there are rumblings out there that this is exactly what is happening.

Not that you can really blame any nation that wants to get into gold right now.  News outlets all over the globe are telling us that we are in the midst of a “currency war” as central banks all over the planet race to devalue their currencies.

So why would anyone want to be in paper in such an environment?

And of course the Federal Reserve is one of the biggest offenders.  The Fed has been printing money like it is going out of style, and nobody at the Fed or in the U.S. government really seems too concerned that all of this money printing could be endangering the petrodollar.

But the truth is that the Fed is endangering the petrodollar.  Just read some foreign news stories about the U.S. dollar.  They mock us for our reckless money printing.

In the end, our recklessness will make it very easy for the rest of the world to ditch the U.S. dollar.

At some point, it will happen.  In fact, there are persistent rumors that Russia and China actually intend to make it happen.

Many believe that this is the reason both nations have been hoarding so much gold recently.

Just check out how much gold Russia has been accumulating.  The following is from a recent Bloomberg article

When Vladimir Putin says the U.S. is endangering the global economy by abusing its dollar monopoly, he’s not just talking. He’s betting on it.

Not only has Putin made Russia the world’s largest oil producer, he’s also made it the biggest gold buyer. His central bank has added 570 metric tons of the metal in the past decade, a quarter more than runner-up China, according to IMF data compiled by Bloomberg. The added gold is also almost triple the weight of the Statue of Liberty.

“The more gold a country has, the more sovereignty it will have if there’s a cataclysm with the dollar, the euro, the pound or any other reserve currency,” Evgeny Fedorov, a lawmaker for Putin’s United Russia party in the lower house of parliament, said in a telephone interview in Moscow.

And Russia’s gold hoarding appears to have accelerated last year.  According to one recent report, Russia added 3.2 million ounces of gold to their reserves in 2012 alone.

But of even greater concern is China.  Nobody really knows how much gold China has, because they do not tell us, but all indications point to the fact that Chinese gold hoarding has gone into overdrive.  The following is from a Zero Hedge article from a few months ago…

Because while earlier today we were wondering (rhetorically, of course) what China is doing with all that excess trade surplus if it is not recycling it back into Treasurys, now we once again find out that instead of purchasing US paper, Beijing continues to buy non-US gold, in the form of 68 tons in imports from Hong Kong in the month of June. The year to date total (6 months)? 383 tons. In other words, in half a year China, whose official total tally is still a massively underrepresented 1054 tons, has imported more gold than the official gold reserves of Portugal, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and so on, and whose YTD imports alone make it the 14th largest holder of gold in the world. Realistically, by now China, which hasn’t provided an honest gold reserve holdings update to the IMF in years, most certainly has more gold than the IMF, and its 2814 tons, itself. Of course, the moment the PBOC does announce its official updated gold stash, a gold price in the mid-$1000 range will be a long gone memory.

As I wrote about the other day, nobody produces more gold than China does, and nobody imports more gold than China does.

Everyone agrees that China seems to have an insatiable appetite for gold, but nobody can agree on exactly how much gold they actually have.  One recent estimate put China’s gold reserves at more than 7,000 tons of gold, but it could even be much higher than that.  Nobody really knows.

So what are Russia and China up to?

Well, for a long time both nations have expressed displeasure with the fact that the U.S. dollar is the de facto currency of the world.  Leaders from both nations have suggested the possibility of adopting a new global reserve currency, but up to this point no real contenders have emerged to dethrone the U.S. dollar.

So for now, the U.S. dollar reigns supreme in international trade.  Sadly, even though most Americans greatly benefit from the petrodollar, most of them do not even know what it is.  For those that do not fully understand the petrodollar, the following is a good explanation of the petrodollar from a recent article by Christopher Doran

In a nutshell, any country that wants to purchase oil from an oil producing country has to do so in U.S. dollars. This is a long standing agreement within all oil exporting nations, aka OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The UK for example, cannot simply buy oil from Saudi Arabia by exchanging British pounds. Instead, the UK must exchange its pounds for U.S. dollars. The major exception at present is, of course, Iran.

This means that every country in the world that imports oil—which is the vast majority of the world’s nations—has to have immense quantities of dollars in reserve. These dollars of course are not hidden under the proverbial national mattress. They are invested. And because they are U.S. dollars, they are invested in U.S. Treasury bills and other interest bearing securities that can be easily converted to purchase dollar-priced commodities like oil. This is what has allowed the U.S. to run up trillions of dollars of debt: the rest of the world simply buys up that debt in the form of U.S. interest bearing securities.

Read Full Article Here

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