In Summary

Miscellaneous First-ever #UN summit on indigenous ppl held now @ NY - calls 4 more reporting / monitoring rights / http://goo.gl/zGrqHL ------------------------------------------ #Lithuania trawler Jūros Vilkas in the Barents Sea /arrest of crew & ship's redirection 2 Murmansk/ admin violations  -  Russia  -   http://goo.gl/4sMQz5 ------------------------------------------ Stefan Löfven working on budget / hoping Red-Green coalition 2 push thru http://goo.gl/eIHVKW  - crucial meeting FRI Parl speaker #Sweden ------------------------------------------ #Scotland - http://goo.gl/4Q11iG  - voting age / Mr Salmond's successor noms / changing the role of Scottish politicians at Westminster call for 16 and 17-year-olds to be given the vote at future elections. ------------------------------------------ #Spain $340mil sale of vacant landmark 25-story Edificio España - opens door to further Chinese investment - http://goo.gl/Kb85LZ  >>"Telefónica, the Spanish telecommunications giant, halved its stake in China Unicom in 2012 to cut its debt." NYT >> BBVA - Spanish lender - now earns more from banking ops in #Mexico than in its home market. [NYT] > BBVA Oct 2013 cut its stake in Citic Bank, part conglomerate controlled by China govt, 2 help meet intl capital requirements #Spain - Chinese citizens received 282 of 1,880 “golden visas” granted. Visas give residency to any foreigner buying ppty @ $205,500 / NYT ------------------------------------------ #France - PM Manuel Valls pledged @ Berlin to push economic reform package - http://goo.gl/RzW1Fq  / zero growth & record unemployment Germany's media has been highly critical of France, Germany's top partner in Europe / "Frankreich" / "Krankreich" / 'sick' {AFP} Frenchie Pilots' union rejects Air France offer to end strike >> Giving #Hollande a migraine, along with IMF & Bling Bling's come-back RT >> "75% of France's electricity comes from nuclear energy. In the future, it will be 50% nuclear, 50% renewable" [CFR] ------------------------------------------ COMMENT Various bits of information that ought to be self-explanatory. Economy in France and in Spain bad.  Guessing Spain is worse off.

Politics, History - Russia & Neighbours

RUSSIA Last minutes of False Dmitriy >> 1606 >> Shot dead, displayed, cremated & shot from a cannon towards #Poland. pic.twitter.com/ol3ASiGrBx >FALSE DMITRIY of canon to #Poland fame "... rumours that Dmitriy was an illegitimate son of the Polish king, Stefan Batory " Countess Elizabeth Báthory d.1614 > serial killer, 640 victims - held at Čachtice Castle (Slovakia), built 1200s pic.twitter.com/d8IE6DaXfM  >> Her mother, Elizabeth, cousin of Hungarian Stefan Báthory, King of Polish-Lithuanian_C/wealth & Duke of Transylvania. "Defence Mins of Poland, Lithuania & #Ukraine before signing agreement on creating the joint Brigade" >> Is so False Dmitriy 1600s is spooky COMMENT Seriously, some things never change!

LITHUANIA - LNG supply deal with Norway inked

Lithuania, Statoil sign LNG deal to end Gazprom monopoly MENAFN - AFP - 21/08/2014 (MENAFN - AFP) Lithuania signed a deal with Norway's Statoil on Thursday to supply natural gas to the country's new terminal starting 2015, as the Baltic state strives to cut its dependence on Russian energy. Under the five-year deal, Statoil will supply an annual 540 million cubic meters to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on Lithuania's Baltic Sea coast which is due to be completed by the end of the year. The value of the deal is estimated at 2.5 to three billion litas (700-900 million euros, 1.0-1.1 billion) according to Litgas, the state-owned company in charge of LNG imports. "It is a big and important step in strengthening Lithuanian energy security," Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius told reporters. "For the first time in Lithuanian history, we will have a permanent alternative natural gas import source." Russia's state-owned Gazprom is Lithuania's only natural gas supplier under a deal arranged in Soviet times, when Lithuania was part of the USSR. But Vilnius has been working to diversify its gas suppliers since breaking free from Moscow in 1990 and joining the European Union and NATO in 2004. In May, Gazprom agreed to a price cut of about 20 percent, after Lithuania filed an international lawsuit. The first LNG cargo delivery is expected in December, so that the terminal at the port of Klaipeda can start commercial operations in January 2015, Litgas said. http://www.menafn.com/1093921279/Lithuania-Statoil-sign-LNG-deal-to-end-Gazprom-monopoly

Surprised it's a Norwegian company.  Thought it would be the US doing the supply.

MH17 - RUSSIAN CEASE-FIRE PROPOSAL BLOCKED BY U.S., AUSTRALIA & TAG-ALONG LITHUANIA

West blocks Moscow’s UN plea to reinstate ceasefire at MH17 crash site Published time: August 08, 2014 11:07 The UN Security Council failed to adopt a resolution on reinstating the ceasefire at the site of the Malaysian Airlines plane crash in eastern Ukraine after Russia’s draft was blocked by Western states. “Unfortunately, some UNSC members have reacted in their usual way as they oppose any criticism of the Ukrainian leadership,” Churkin said, adding that Lithuania, the US, and Australia began proposing inappropriate amendments to the text. In July, The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an international investigation into the MH17 incident and demanded safe access to the site for investigators. In the wake of the decision, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced a unilateral ceasefire in a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) area around the site of the crash. However, shelling and fighting in the area has continued, hampering the experts' work several times in the past weeks. But on Thursday Kiev suspended the truce with self-defense forces at the crash site. "The ceasefire in the plane crash zone, announced by the President of Ukraine at the request of international experts, which has been thoroughly observed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, will not be in place at the beginning of the second phase of the investigation," the Ukrainian government said. The government claims that the international mission has been halted because of “terrorists’ provocations” who “posed threats to the lives” of the recovery mission members. The suspension of the ceasefire in the MH17 crash area is a direct violation of the UN resolution, Vitaly Churkin stressed: “The truce was approved by UN Security Council resolution 2166, thus it is a clear violation of the resolution and will have very serious consequences for international inspectors' abilities to conduct the investigation when they decide to return to the area.” Before the ceasefire was cancelled, the Netherlands, who lead the international probe, announced it was halting the mission to recover victims and debris of the July 17 MH17 crash because of fighting between Ukrainian forces and rebels in the area. The international investigating team arrived at the site days after the tragic incident, delayed for security reasons. Experts are expected to resume their efforts once the situation allows. Currently, at least three areas containing the Boeing-777’s debris remain unexamined by the international mission, according to the Ukrainian government. The majority of experts will leave Ukraine until a decision on resuming the operation is made, it said in a statement.  SOURCE - RT NEWS - HERE.

What's the bet that the US aligned mob think there's some advantage in not pursuing a ceasefire.

Love how Lithuania is brown-nosing the US.  Maybe Lithuania should worry about their human trafficking problem instead of worrying about the drafting of Russia's ceasefire proposal.  

As for Australia, when you're bound up in protection/defence agreements, you're owned.  And someone like Rupert Murdoch's boy, Tony Abbott, would just love the US boot-licking that's part and parcel of that.  I'm sure he'd even think he was rather 'special'.  LOL.

LITHUANIA - Who's Running Russia?

Vladimir Putin’s pyramid of rule: Who really governs Russia? Dr. Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Marius Laurinavičius, Vytautas Keršanskas Monday, August 4, 2014 In Lithuania and in the West, Putin's system of rule is still often described as a monolith pyramid. In the eyes of society, Putin manages to present himself as an irreplaceable leader-statesman (‘tsar’, according to the West), solely making key decisions. But such an understanding of ruling processes in Russia is one of the main mistakes which prevents from obtaining a deeper insight into the regime's origins and foundations. What is a ‘collective Putin’? “The Russian authorities do not comprise a strict vertical structure, ruled by one person. The vertical image is nothing more than a propaganda cliché. The Russian authorities are a conglomerate of clans and groups which compete with one another for resources and power. Putin's role in this system remains the same – that of an arbiter and moderator. And it is an influential one – he, at least during conflicts, has the final say. Since 2000, the style of making political decisions (its formation was influenced by various factors) has been shifting towards that of the USSR's Politburo (political bureau). The creation of national corporations in politics and economy had a huge influence on using this model. ... [Article Headings] Insights – not very fresh Viktor Cherkesov – the system’s example Actual and alleged opposites Main clans Medvedev – the pocket supervisor of Putin’s system Current system's roots Features of state capitalism Corruption is the basis of the regime Examples of elite control SOURCE http://en.delfi.lt/central-eastern-europe/vladimir-putins-pyramid-of-rule-who-really-governs-russia.d?id=65432116

Above is an article from a Lithuanian source.

Taking a stab, the article's most likely got an anti-Russian agenda.  

But I've only briefly eyed the article (and tend to make up my mind about stuff very quickly. LOL).

It appears the gist is that there's cliques behind the scenes, and that Putin's the middle-man.

Anyone that's interested in a read can link above.  I might have to run it off and read it at leisure.

The guys who wrote the article are:

Dr. Laurynas Kasčiūnas

A chubby, youngish looking academic/lecturer at Vilnius uni (ie capital of Lithuania), foreign policy guru ... yadda, yadda, yadda ...who is also speaker in the Lithuanian parliament.

Marius Laurinavičius

Mono-browed and greying, Lithuanian journalist and political commentator. 

Vytautas Keršanskas

A baby-faced pretty boy, who is an intern/assistant to an MP in Lithuania's unicameral (one house) parliament.

Baby-face is also a journalist and political commentator, among other achievements.

Lithuania

Lithuania is a member of:

• United Nations (1991)
• Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
• NATO and its companion North Atlantic Coordinating Council
• Council of Europe
• European Union
• World Trade Organization (2001)

So it would be fair to say that Lithuania is pretty much bound up with the US and with US allies, and that it is bound both militarily and commercially.

It also appears to have a grudge against being a member of the former soviet union.  LOL

Lithuania has this issue to contend with:

Human trafficking

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that about 1,000 citizens of Lithuania fall victim to trafficking annually. Most are women between the ages of 21 and 30 who are sold into prostitution. [wikipedia]

Reference document is - here.  It is a 2010 PDF document, judging by its address.

Here's a little on human trafficking in Lithuania:

Factors That Contribute to Human Trafficking Infrastructure 

There is a high level of unemployment and a lack of education among Lithuanian women and minors in prostitution and those who are trafficked in Lithuania. Poverty causes trafficking victims to look for any form of income and can leave them vulnerable to promises of high - paying jobs in Western Europe. Even those with jobs are paid very little, and women earn less than men. There is a strong organized criminal presence in Lithuania, as well as a deeply entrenched patriarchal culture that may facilitate the trafficking of women as commodities. [here]

Anyway, that's a bit of interesting background to the article.

Look forward to finding out who's running Russia - or who Lithuania thinks is running Russia.  LOL.

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Excuse any typos; I'm in a hurry.

Poland's CIA prison - Global program for detaining al Qaeda suspects?

European court rules against Poland over secret CIA jail Christian Lowe WARSAW — Reuters Published Thursday, Jul. 24 2014, 4:46 AM EDT Last updated Thursday, Jul. 24 2014, 4:51 AM EDT The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that the CIA ran a secret jail on Polish soil, a judgment that adds to pressure on the United States and its allies to reveal the truth about the global program for detaining al Qaeda suspects. ... The Strasbourg-based court ruled that Poland had violated Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights that cover torture, the right to liberty, and the right to an effective remedy for victims of crime....

... The court ruling did not cover the United States, which is outside its jurisdiction. Thursday’s decision puts the Polish government in an awkward position. It has a close security relationship with the United States and Polish officials have always denied the existence of any CIA jail on their territory. The ruling may also have implications for other European states alleged to have hosted CIA prisons: similar cases have been lodged with the court in Strasbourg against Romania and Lithuania. Source - The Global Mail - here.

OMG!

CIA prisons all over Europe?

Now that the US is all over Europe, shouldn't they be bound to join the EU so that they're no longer out of EU jurisdiction?  

LOL

US TROOPS - US provocation & strategic expansion into Europe

POLISH Defence Minister (Tomasz Siemoniak) 

Inspects first US troops to arrive in eastern Europe 

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'A message to Moscow': First of 600 U.S. soldiers arrive in eastern Europe prompting Kremlin to launch its own military drills near the border as death toll rises in Ukraine

Published: 03:35 AEST, 25 April 2014

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2612353/A-message-Moscow-First-600-U-S-soldiers-arrive-eastern-Europe-prompting-Kremlin-launch-military-drills-near-border-death-toll-rises-Ukraine.html

The first of 600 U.S. soldiers have arrived in eastern Europe as a Pentagon spokesman declared the mission was sending a 'message to Moscow'.

But the Nato drills prompted a backlash from Russia, which sent its troops on exercises along the Ukrainian border today and declared: 'We have to react somehow'.

The escalation of east-west tensions comes amid a slowly rising death toll in Ukraine, where the government renewed its crackdown today on pro-Russian militants leaving at least five shot dead.

Around 150 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived yesterday at an air force base in Swidwin, western Poland, as the U.S. stepped up its presence in eastern Europe.

Flying to the region from their previous posting in Italy, they were met by Polish troops in similar red berets and the nation's defence minister.

Within a few days there will be 450 more American Nato troops spread between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The Americans insisted the military exercises will not be a precursor to intervention in Ukraine...
...

But Russia has insisted the build-up may violate the Founding Act, a 1997 agreement between Moscow and Nato.

Today Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reacted by ordering new military exercises in Russia's south and west, along the Ukrainian border.

The latest exercises - which add to the tens of thousands of troops already massed on the border - will involve ground and air forces.

'We have to react to these developments somehow,' he said.

Mr Shoigu quoted unspecified sources claiming Kiev has deployed more than 11,000 troops and 160 tanks against just 2,000 pro-Russian insurgents.

Today Russian President Vladimir Putin added: 'If the Kiev government is using the army against its own people this is clearly a grave crime.'

The U.S. and Nato ...

... are 'temporarily' boosting their presence in eastern Europe in a drive to reassure allies ...

EXTRACTS ONLY:  FULL ARTICLE ABOVE LINK

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TOKYO ROSE:


Clearly 'temporary' is not the case.  

US-NATO now (July 2014) seek to amass more military in Europe.

Obama/US have granted a $1billion fighting fund contribution to NATO.

NATO's is hitting up members for $$ towards more NATO funds.  

So what happened to 'temporary'?  LOL 

Meanwhile:  Russia's done nothing aggressive or provocative. 

Daily Mail's headline's pretty damned provocative.  LOL.

This is very much about US strategic expansion into Europe.



[Excuse the formatting...driving me bananas...feeling my way around :) ]