It is good to see Ukraine stepping deeper into Western trade. Nice.

It will bring a new energy to Ukraine and the debt will finally pass into history. 

15.05.17

Ukraine and Israel (click here) want to extend bilateral economic cooperation and are working on signing the Free Trade Area (FTA) Agreement by the end of this year, Ukrainian and Israeli prime ministers, Volodymyr Groysman and Benjamin Netanyahu, said.

"I am glad that the general trade in commodities has been growing over the past few months, we are working together to create a free trade area between the countries," the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine quoted Groysman as saying after a meeting with the Israeli prime minister.

Groysman said he hoped the relevant negotiations will finish by the end of 2017....

Andrii Artemenko is going to need a house next to Viktor (click here). They can be fast friends.

Russia's investment was suppose to pay off better than this. Like, when it Trump going to dismantle NATO and remove any alliance for the former Russian states? The Republicans are too scared to impeach Trump and the blatant rejection of Comey with the Russian Foreign Minister openly exchanging good will with Trump says it all. The USA is sold to Russia the highest bidder.

See this is the real picture. Hillary Clinton would never, ever, ever capitulate to Russia and Russia has stated if Clinton was elected their would be nuclear war. This is the game folks and it is on. 

Who trusts Russia raise your hands? 

Yep, me neither.

15.05.17
In a CNN interview, (click here) Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Artemenko said he discussed his left-field proposal for Ukraine in January with US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who offered to deliver the plan to the Trump administration.

Ukrainian lawmakers on Monday introduced a document proposing to deprive Andrii Artemenko, the lawmaker who proposed a plan to lift anti-Russia sanctions and normalize Moscow-Kiev ties, of his seat in the parliament.

Kiev (Sputnik) — Earlier this month, (click here) the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said that Artemenko had lost his citizenship as decreed by the country's President Petro Poroshenko. This took place took place due to Artemenko obtaining s Canadian passport, as Ukrainian laws prohibit dual citizenship....

You want a good laugh? 

Yes?

Russia blamed Ukraine White Supremists for the loss of control of Ukraine. Those that died in Ukraine at the Maidan were said to be White Supremists. Russia has been stating it's propaganda against Europe is that White Supremists rule in Europe and they must be destroyed. What sits in the White House? Who wins?

Putin has Trumps surrender. Trump goes belly up to the great prowess of Russia. The optics for Russia is perfect.

What do the Russian people say? "Russia is great again." I heard the Russian internet is closed to outside traffic.

The duality of Trump's insanity. He is sleeping with Putin and pretending to be prosecuting Assad.

May 15, 2017

By Colin Dwyer

The U.S. State Department (click here) laid out a new case against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime on Monday: Not only has the Syrian government committed mass atrocities at its military prison complex outside Damascus, but for years, it has also added to the structure in order to burn and secretly dispose of thousands of its victims' remains.

"Beginning in 2013, the Syrian regime modified a building within the Saydnaya complex to support what we believe is a crematorium," Stuart Jones, acting assistant secretary for Near East affairs, told reporters at a special media briefing, circulating satellite photographs that he says depict that crematorium.

"Although the regime's many atrocities are well-documented," Jones continued, "we believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison."...

May 15, 2017
By Andy Szal

ExxonMobil last week (click here) announced plans to add one of the world's top aromatics facilities to its chemical operations in Singapore later this year.

The Singapore affiliate of ExxonMobil Chemical Company reached an agreement to purchase the plant from Jurong Aromatics Corp. Terms were not disclosed, but reports placed the purchase price at about $1.7 billion.

The Jurong facility has an annual production capacity of 1.4 million metric tons, which ExxonMobil said makes it one of the largest aromatics plants in the world.

Singapore is home to ExxonMobil’s largest integrated refinery and petrochemical complex, and officials said that the deal would increase the company's annual aromatics production capacity in the country to more than 3.5 million metric tons — 1.8 million of which would be paraxylene.

The company said that the deal would bolster its offerings in key markets in Asia. Officials said that the Asia Pacific region — with its increasing wealth and burgeoning middle class — would account for an estimated 75 percent of the growth in global chemical product demand over the next decade....

Trump has become the communists best intelligence agent.

It doesn't cost China or Russia a dime. As a matter of fact, it comes with promises for a Trump play land in both countries.

Best I can tell Trump is a communist. He and his family think nothing of spreading some of the most best kept western secrets.

Trump is taking is cues from Cheney and Plame. If Dickie can do it and Halliburton is bailed out with an illegal war, so can I.

Look, Cheney's lackey took the fall and Rove kept revisiting his 'mistakes' in front of a grand jury. 

We all know Trump has no use for Europe and NATO. Turkey is playing footsie with Russia and Assad has been waiting for some of the best intelligence on Earth.

THIS IS WHAT REPUBLICANS DO. They have absolutely no diplomatic demeanor, rather drop bombs and laugh at those that are less powerful; as if the F-35 is actually something to write home about.

NOTHING was done about "W" when he went ballistic over Iraq and now nothing will be done about Trump. Why? Because the Republicans are afraid of him. So, this is the USA now. It is bought and sold and the wealthy get to make the world their playground on THEIR terms.

"Citizens' United" was the greatest decision of all time making the USA a former democracy and the Republicans think it is great. Now, the Republicans new best friend is Vladimir Putin, right Senator McCain?

The allies of the USA need to reassess their ability to defend themselves in spite of a Plutocratic regime in Washington, DC.

RUSSIA GOT WHAT IT PAID FOR.

May 15, 2017
By Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe

President Trump (click here) revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.

The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.

The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. After Trump’s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency....

I have never seen Jim Clapper so disillusioned in under any administration. Maybe 911 is over Jim. Osama bin Laden is dead. But, the institutions of the USA are dissolving. It is the crowing glory of the extreme right. But, the really laughable thing is Trump believes his bragging is solidly conducted behind very secure doors. Not national security, but, military security. Russia and China are moving on dismantling the USA's national security platform while dreams of Trumpland dance in the family's heads.

May 15, 2017
By Eli Watkins

Washington (CNN) - Former Director (click here) of National Intelligence James Clapper said Sunday that he thinks US institutions are under assault from President Donald Trump.

"I think in many ways our institutions are under assault both externally -- and that's the big news here is the Russian interference in our election system -- and I think as well our institutions are under assault internally," Clapper told anchor Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union."

Pressed if he meant US institutions were under assault internally from the President, Clapper responded, "Exactly."...

The death of a democracy in 17 short years. It would have been over sooner, but, President Obama the black president got in the way. McConnell did his best though. And now the death of the filibuster.

I don't want to hear how Republicans, including McConnell are nice guys, they aren't. They are blood thirsty hijackers of a once great democracy.

Why are cops and legislated prison sentences important? Because it is the extreme right and there is no social contract to improve the lives of the victims of capitalism run amok. The USA was groomed to be a police state under Bush because the terrorists were coming and we needed to hide from biological weapons with duct tape. Now, the idiots are back and their only way of measuring security for themselves is CONTR0L, NOT REFORM.

The United States of American has become the most disgustingly immoral country on Earth.

Governor Jerry Brown has had to expand the California Attorney General's office and put on more staff for the lawsuits the state is carrying because it is a state for the people.

The USA has lost it's moral compass and it can't even protect itself from idiots that wear their egos on their twitter accounts.

The monuments need to be pulverized and used as stone in driveways at a reduced rate of cost.

It is completely outrageous to think any city is selling these statues intact to the highest bidder. The stone they are carved with is the only quality aspect to any of them. So, grind them into pebbles and sell it for use in driveways. It will make a great driveway and an interesting color at that.

May 15, 2017

Richmond, Va. — The United States (click here) is beginning to realize that it suffers from deferred maintenance of its own history. Here in Virginia, the city of Charlottesville is preparing to remove and sell its statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee. New Orleans is already removing its Confederate statues and “monuments” honoring post-Civil War white supremacists.

Perhaps the most emblematic complex of structures honoring those who fought for the Confederacy is here in Richmond, its former capital. In the decades following “the night they drove old Dixie down” the city’s business and housing was rebuilt step by step.

The early 20th century saw a broad row of grand patrician homes going up on Monument Avenue. The avenue is punctuated by equestrian statues of Confederate heroes — Lee, Jeb Stuart, Stonewall Jackson — and a semicircular shrine with an outsize column glorifying the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, the seceding states and the deceptive doctrine of “sovereign states” deployed to defend slavery. They were erected 35 to 50 years after the war. Records show that they were meant to legitimize and dignify the white supremacist regime that had taken hold in Virginia....

They have no significance to USA history. They are emblematic of dehumanizing values, unspeakable wealth and anti-religious values. They are immoral and deserve no place in USA sovereignty. End of discussion.

Absolutely not! I must have been born yesterday.

If this was such a viable option in the "World of Greed" it would already be sought by the banks. This is nothing they want to have anything to do with, small businesses are not an interest and haven't been since 2008's global collapse. Mortgage backed securities are because it is REAL ESTATE, tangible, repossessible and small business is none of that or the smallest part of the business is a mortgage which already qualifies for Wall Street Greed.

After the banks were recovered in 2008, the small local lending banks continued to go bankrupt. It is those local banks that need focus and it is best done by the SBA (Small Business Administration) and not the conglomerate of wealth in the big banks.

If the New York Times wants to be revolutionary, it is time to look at the small businesses in the USA with a record low unemployment rate since President Obama was in office during his SECOND TERM. They need lending banks that are solvent and knows the local economy. Those type of banks would have at hand the ability to measure market share in a local economy and decide if there was enough room in that economy to support such an economic venture.

The US Small Business Administration (click here) has loans at the ready. They even have SPECIALIZED loans for Black Owned Business. Do the conglomerate wealth banks have that? No.

The only aspect of financing small businesses is to have local banks that know the terrain and the realistic estimate as to the viability of a small business venture. That type of specialty bank does not exist. It requires REAL management of a bank and REAL connections to local people. A banker that lives and works in the local economy that knows the pulse of potential for GROWTH.

The infrastructure set up for the Big Banks with big ideas of ruling every dollar on the face of Earth will never be able to customize a bank for a local economy and lend with enough confidence to people sincerely interested in providing more growth to a healthy local economy and/or revitalize the neighborhoods the obscenely conglomerate wealthy banks laid to waste in 2008!  

May 15, 2017
By Hal S. Scott

Somewhere in the United States right now, (click here) an entrepreneur is having trouble getting a small-business loan for expansion. The reason? The bank is committed to keeping a large portion of its money in government debt instead.

After the financial crisis, the government, in the form of the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, imposed liquidity requirements that force American banks with assets over $50 billion to hold huge amounts of government debt as liquid assets.

Those assets represent $4.3 trillion in government debt, or about one-quarter of all American banking assets. They include $1.75 trillion in bank deposits (called excess reserves) held at the Fed, $1.5 trillion in mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (called government-sponsored-enterprise debt) and $560 billion in United States Treasuries.

American banks are truly awash in government debt at five times pre-crisis levels. If President Trump wants to follow through on his promise to increase lending to small businesses, he should start by scaling back these requirements....