I told you so.

9 October 2019

Kristalina Georgieva issued a stern warning in her first address

Kristalina Georgieva, (click here) in her first major address as head of the International Monetary Fund, painted a downbeat picture of the world economy and said a more severe slowdown could require governments to coordinate fiscal-stimulus measures.

In a speech that sets the tone for next week's annual meeting of the IMF, Georgieva said the fund will cut its growth forecast for both 2019 and 2020 in its next World Economic Outlook due October 15. In July, the fund lowered its projection to 3.2 per cent this year and 3.5 per cent next year - its fourth downgrade since last October.

Global institutions, economists and investors are blaming the US-China tariff conflict as a prime factor for slowing global growth. The trade tensions have partly caused manufacturing to tumble and weakened investment, creating a "serious risk" of spillover to other areas of the economy like services and consumption, Georgieva said in prepared remarks in Washington on Tuesday. Global trade growth is close to a standstill, she added....

Here comes another acting.

Russia continues to be a menace.

11 July 2019

Location of the radiation.

Norway (click here) has found a radiation level 800,000 times higher than normal at the wreck of a Russian navy submarine.

The Komsomolets sank in the Norwegian Sea in 1989 after a fire on board killed 42 sailors.

A sample showed radioactive caesium leaking from a ventilation pipe, but researchers said it was "not alarming", as the Arctic water quickly diluted it.

The Soviet-era sub is also deep down, at 1,680m (5,512ft), and there are few fish in the area, they added.

For the first time a Norwegian remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) examined and filmed the Komsomolets on 7 July, revealing severe damage.

The submarine is also known as K-278 in Russia, and it sank carrying two nuclear torpedoes with plutonium warheads.

Its front section has six torpedo tubes, and the sub could also launch Granit cruise missiles....

Oh, is the fish free of contamination in the Pacific? Russia continues to have this horrible record in the use of nuclear capacity. The accidents happen over and over, but, they are expecting a nuclear powered cargo ship to bring fresh fish to St. Petersburg. Tell me this makes sense. Because I don't see it. Russia should go back to using wooden ships and oars.

September 10, 2019
By The Barents Observer

The world’s only remaining civilian nuclear-powered cargo ship, (click here) the Sevmorput, is sailing south into the Norwegian Sea en route to St. Petersburg with 204 refrigerated containers of frozen fish from the Pacific aimed for the market in European Russia.

The ship will arrive in St. Petersburg by the end of this week after sailing south along the coast of Norway through the Great Belt in Denmark and into the Baltic Sea.

"It’s crucial for Rosatomflot to expand the geography of our work," says Mustafa Kaskha, director of the Murmansk-based, state-owned fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers.

This is the first time that Russia has sailed commercial cargo with a nuclear-powered vessel via the Arctic to St. Petersburg....

October 8, 2019

By Michael Schwirtz

Alexander Mishkin, left, and Ruslan Boshirov, who travelled under false names to conduct what became a botched assassination plot in Britain

Last year, (click here) there was an attempt to assassinate a former Russian spy in Britain using a nerve agent.

Though the operations bore the fingerprints of Russia's intelligence services, authorities initially saw them as isolated, unconnected attacks.

Western security officials have now concluded that these operations, and potentially many others, are part of a coordinated and ongoing campaign to destabilise Europe, executed by an elite unit inside the Russian intelligence system skilled in subversion, sabotage and assassination.

The group, known as Unit 29155, has operated for at least a decade, yet Western officials only recently discovered it....

Joking!

October 9, 2019
By Zeke Miller

Washington: The White House declared on Tuesday (click here) it will not co-operate with what it termed an "illegitimate" impeachment probe by House Democrats, setting up a constitutional clash between President Donald Trump and Congress.

Trump attorneys sent a letter to House leaders bluntly stating their refusal to participate in the quickly moving impeachment investigation.

The letter threatens to cease co-operation with Capitol Hill on key oversight matters, accusing lawmakers of formulating their probe "in a manner that violates fundamental fairness and constitutionally mandated due process".

"Given that your inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, or even the most elementary due process protections, the Executive Branch cannot be expected to participate in it," White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote....

What cooperation? When was there ever cooperation? Like I said before, can acting cabinet secretaries sign Amendment 25?

Who actually loves this country's constitution?

October 8, 2019
By Jamelie Bouie

...A majority of Americans (click here) support the Democratic impeachment inquiry; a plurality wants him impeached already. His defense is anything but, as allies like Rudy Giuliani keep undermining his position with their own misconduct. His approval rating is on the wane, and he trails his Democratic opponents in key swing states like Wisconsin.

And yet most congressional Republicans refuse to break with the president. Despite his obvious wrongdoing and complete unfitness for the job, the vast majority of Republican office holders in Washington are “ride or die” supporters of Trump.

The most common explanation for this stalwart commitment is simply fear. “Across the country,” reports The Washington Post, “most G.O.P. lawmakers have responded to questions about Trump’s conduct with varying degrees of silence, shrugged shoulders or pained defenses. For now, their collective strategy is simply to survive and not make any sudden moves.”...

The King Makers.

The Republicans are coming.

The Republicans are coming.

One if by land.

Two if by sea.

October 8, 2019
By Katherine Faulders, Justin Fishel and Anne Flaherty

A White House official (click here) listening to President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s president described the call as “crazy” and “frightening” and was “visibly shaken,” according to notes taken by the intelligence official who filed a formal whistleblower complaint after speaking with the official, and others....

Can acting cabinet secretaries sign Amendment 25?

Syria is Trump's latest capitulation.

Why Syria?

October 8, 2019
By Joseph Hincks

President Donald Trump’s impromptu endorsement (click here) a Turkish incursion into northeast Syria has prompted accusations that Trump had betrayed America’s Kurdish allies in Syria. But his handing Turkey responsibility for thousands of ISIS prisoners has also rung alarm bells among former top officials in Ankara.

Shortly after Trump spoke on the phone with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday, the White House issued a statement saying Turkey would soon be moving ahead with its “long-planned operation in Northern Syria” and that U.S. forces would “no longer be in the immediate area.” The statement added that Turkey would now “be responsible for all ISIS fighters in the area captured over the past two years.”

Taking responsibility for ISIS will be a “nightmare” for Turkey, said Yaşar Yakış, who served as the country’s foreign minister under prime minister Abdullah Gul between 2002 and 2003. “There are already dormant ISIS cells in Turkey. They may wake up and wreak havoc in the country.” In 2015 and 2016, a series of terror attacks in Turkey claimed by ISIS killed at least 276 people.

There are about 11,000 ISIS detainees in over 30 detention facilities across northern Syria. A separate camp for internally displaced persons known as al-Hol, located in northeastern Syria, holds nearly 70,000 people, including thousands of ISIS family members, according to a recent Defense Department Inspector General’s report....

Turkey's entry to the issues with Syria should be no surprise.

March 13, 2019

The number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey (click here) this year will increase by around 10 to 15 percent, exceeding 6 million, according to Firuz B. Bağlıkaya, the president of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB).

“Turkey is a very suitable travel destination for Russians,” he told Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of an international industry fair in Moscow on March 13.

”Here, we offer travel agencies the opportunity to meet with business partners,” he said.

He noted that the Russian tour operators exceeded their potential in directing holidaymakers to Turkey last year.

“This played a role in the increase in the number of foreigners visiting Turkey. Since the sales of [holidays in] Turkey increased, this also helped balance the prices in our benefit.”

Last year, 5.9 million Russians visited Turkey....

Why Syria?

Why Venezuela?

Why Ukraine?

Hint: Proper name, begins with P and have five letters.

P - U - T - I - N

Putin: "If Hillary Clinton wins the presidential elections there will be nuclear war. If Trump wins there won't."

Interpretation: "If Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election she values USA national security over money. If Trump wins the presidential election he values money over USA national security."

Putin has oligarchs to dangle billions in front of capitalists with bad credit. But, alas. The Clinton's take it on the chin when the Clinton Organization falls on hard times. Putin has no leverage to put fear in the hearts of those occupying the Oval Office if it is a Clinton.

The question is not "Why Syria?" the question is "Why Trump?"