Putin Mentions This Year's Olympics in His Annual New Years Speech

During his traditional New Year address to the nation Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed sincere gratitude to the Russian people for "cohesion and solidarity, the deepest sense of truth, dignity, responsibility for the country's destiny and for the continued readiness to defend the interests of the country".

MOSCOW, December 31 (Sputnik) — All Russian citizens should take the credit for the successful staging of the best Winter Olympics in history, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his New Year address.

"Only a few years ago, the Sochi Olympics was considered a dream. But not only did it come true, not only did we prepare for and host the best Winter Olympics in history, but came out the victors," Putin said in the address.

The Russian president added that, "All of our citizens, including our Olympic athletes and those who supported them deserve credit for this victory."

The Sochi games were the first Winter Olympics hosted by Russia. The only other Olympics were hosted in the summer of 1980 in Moscow, when it was hosted by the USSR and boycotted by several Western nations.

Russia won the most gold medals in the Sochi Olympics, as well as the most medals in total.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also said that Crimea's reunification with Russia in March will always be the most important milestone in country's history.

"Love for the Motherland is one of the most powerful, uplifting feelings. It manifested to the full extent in the brotherly support of Crimea and Sevastopol residents, when they firmly decided to return home. This event will always be the most important milestone in the country's history," Putin said.

Putin also expressed sincere gratitude to the Russian people for "cohesion and solidarity, the deepest sense of truth, dignity, responsibility for the country's destiny and for the continued readiness to defend the interests of the country."

Crimea seceded from Ukraine and rejoined Russia in March. The move was backed by an overwhelming 96 percent majority in a referendum on March 16.

 
Source: Sputnik News 31-12-2014

Europe Beware! – WWIII could destroy Europe for the third time in a Century

by Peter Koenig

Washington is hell-bent on a war with Russia. It is part of the PNAC (Plan for a New American Century) to take over the world. After Russia, China would follow. That’s the plan. China is being encircled as we speak. Never mind that Russia and China have recently concluded a pact, a close financial and military alliance – which to defeat will be next to impossible.

Unless – and here is the crux of the matter – unless Washington initiates an all-out nuclear war, destroying the planet, including itself – but foremost Europe.

Of NATO’s 28 member countries, 26 are in Europe, of which 12 in Eastern Europe, countries that used to be part of or ‘dependencies’ of the former Soviet Union. And this happened despite Washington’s promise at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, not to expand NATO eastward. A lie and sheer affront to Russia.

This provocation is exacerbated today by the US’s further arming the NATO bases of Poland and Latvia, and by NATO’s considering Ukraine’s urgent call – or rather, the call of the Washington installed Kiev Nazi thugs – for NATO protection and to become a NATO member as soon as possible.

Imagine, NATO at Moscow’s doorstep. Would the Kremlin just bow and accept it? – Hardly. With NATO bases in 26 European countries – Guess – who would be the logical center of the next war theatre?

Do the Obama stooges not realize this? – Do the vassals have no brains? Or would the coward leaders (sic) escape to Florida, while their people smolder to dust? – Wake up, Europe! Wake up! – People of Europe, take back your countries from the neoliberal puppets, from your spine and brainless coward leaders.

In fact, the West led by the naked emperor is currently waging war against Russia on several fronts: relentless anti-Russia, anti-Putin propaganda, by the Zionist-Anglo-Saxon controlled MSM; arming and equipping the Kiev war criminals that has led to at least 5,000 savagely killed Donbass inhabitants most of whom civilians, women and children, and more than a million homeless refugees into Russia; CIA inspired false flag operations, like the downing by Kiev’s air force of Malaysian Air MH17, killing 298 people; a salvo of countless economic sanctions which, albeit, hurt Europe more than Russia; and a currency war with an engineered fall of the ruble, combined with an ‘engineered’ drop of oil prices by conspiring with the Saudi clowns for overproduction, a stab not only at Russia, but also at the economies of others who refuse to bend to Washington’s dictum, like Iran and Venezuela.

Russia is taking all of it with calm. Vladimir Putin is a chess player par excellence, out-maneuvering the west at every move. In addition to Russia’s large foreign exchange reserves – estimated at close to half a trillion dollars equivalent – Ms. Elvira Nabiullina, President of Russia’s Central Bank, entered into a currency swap agreement with China, pitting their combined economies, constituting about 27% of the world’s GDP (2014 est. US$85 trillion) against the western economic aggressions.

A few days ago Russia’s Central Bank started buying back cheap, down-graded rubles with its excess foreign reserves. The Russian currency gained 10% alone on 17 December, last day of trading before the weekend. With the fall of the ruble, foreign shareholders of Russian corporations, especially in Europe and the US, were afraid of losing out under a ruble collapse. They shed their shares – which Russia quickly repatriated, thereby not only returning foreign holdings of Russian stock into Russian coffers, but also cashing in on the dividends of these stocks. According to some accounts (Spiegel Online), with this move alone Russia earned some 20 billion dollars.

It looks like the economic and propaganda war is being won by Russia. On the political western front things are crumbling too. Hungary’s government, a member of the EU and of NATO, has just declared an alliance with Russia against Washington. Turkey, once a contender to enter the EU, is disgusted with Europe and in instead aiming at membership in the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization). Turkey is a strategic key NATO member. Will others follow suit, as more and more are seeing the emperor’s nakedness and malignancy?

The veils are falling. Gradually. So-called allies of the empire are wary since long. Afraid of ‘sanctions’ or worse, of a possible take-over by the merciless killing machine, they have nodded and played along. But, as they see the implosion of the beast, they increasingly dare jumping ship.

Europe – be aware! The center of the next war might again be Europe. A dying beast knows no mercy. It rather destroys the universe and itself than leaving survivors behind. – Unless it’s poisonous and killing tentacles can be paralyzed – terminally, by economic isolation; by abandoning the dollar; by making this worthless currency irrelevant and obsolete. For good.

Europe – it’s not too late! Your economic future is in your autonomy; in an alliance of you, Europe, a coalition of sovereign nations, with the east – an alliance with the promising new Silk Road. Mr. Xi Jinping’s offer to Madame Merkel this past spring is still open. Neoliberal thinking is short-term thinking. Instant profit for instant debt.

Europe, take the lead. Break loose from the corrupt debt-ridden dollar casino scheme. A new ruble-yuan based monetary system is in the making. The basket may soon expand by other BRICS currencies – and, who knows, maybe the Euro? – Our children, grandchildren and their children deserve a future of peace and harmony and wellbeing.

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a former World Bank staff and worked extensively around the world in the fields of environment and water resources. He writes regularly for Global Research, ICH, RT, the Voice of Russia, now Ria Novosti, The Vineyard of The Saker Blog, and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe.

Source: The Vineyard of the Saker 30-12-2014

Moscow regrets Red Cross official describing aid convoys to Ukraine as invasion

The latest convoys carrying Russian humanitarian aid were inspected by Russian border guards, and the Foreign Ministry hopes the procedure will be continued

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed regret over the comments the chief of the Russian Red Cross Office, Igor Trunov, made regarding Russia’s humanitarian convoys to eastern Ukraine.

“It is for a third day running that Ukrainian media have been replicating comments by the head of the Moscow office of the Russian Red Cross, Igor Trunov, regarding Russian humanitarian assistance to Ukraine’s southeast,” the Foreign Ministry said. “Judging by these reports this humanitarian aid functionary has all of a sudden decided to describe the Emergencies Ministry convoys as ‘invasion’ and to interpret the humanitarian cargoes as “dual purpose products.”

“Such irresponsible statements cannot but cause regret,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “As is known, in making arrangements for this humanitarian operation Russia has permanently dispatched invitations to cooperate to the Ukrainian side and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The latest convoys carrying Russian humanitarian aid were inspected by Russian border guards. We hope that this procedure will be continued.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Trunov’s allegations about some intrusion by a Russian paramilitary structure in Ukraine points to the need for enhancing the general level of competence of the chief of the Russian Red Cross’s Moscow office in the sphere of international humanitarian assistance.

“The involvement of units whose mission is to respond to emergencies, of which the situation in the southeast of Ukraine is certainly one, is standard world practice,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Source: ITAR-TASS 29-12-2014

Russian Airborne Troops to be armed with more powerful long-range guns

In 2015, Russian Airborne Troops will conduct preparations to be armed with new long-range guns of two calibers - 120 and 152 mm.

First deliveries are scheduled for 2016, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta wrote. The new guns are developed by TSNIITOCHMASH. 

General Director of the Institute, Dmitry Semiozerov, said that the new guns would be more powerful in comparison to what the troops use today. A  small batch of new weapons will be delivered to the troops in 2016. 

Large-scale deliveries are scheduled for the period from 2017 to 2024, TASS reports. 

Source: Pravda in English 28-12-2014

Russia Needs Economic Shake Up. Current Crisis May Be a Godsend

If it proves a catalyst for reform. For a long time oil revenues kept the apparent need for a reshuffling down, but now there's work to be done

Chris Weafer (The Moscow Times)

In early December, President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual address to the Federal Assembly.

I believe anybody reading this column would have been able to shorten that speech to just one or two words; awful or really awful (I'm being polite).

It has certainly been the worst year for the ruble since 1998 and also the worst for investors and businesses over the past 15 years.

Not because of the scale of the stock market or economic collapse — the second half of 2008 was much worse for the former and 2009 worse for the latter — but because of the reasons for the collapse and the uncertainty over what happens next.

In 2009 the issue was a relatively straightforward economic problem. As we head into 2015 it is the geo-political overhang which causes the greater concern.

One of the reasons why 2014 has been such a bad year for the markets and the economy is because the foundations upon which the economy and asset valuations are supported were already in a weakened state well before the events of this year piled on the pressure.

I have written several times about the specific reasons for the decline in the economy through 2013, i.e. from 3.4 percent growth in 2012 to only 1.3 percent last year.

The summary point is that the country had lived too long on hydrocarbon export revenues, which totalled $3 trillion since 2000, without any serious effort to reform the economy and simply ran out of time.

To be exact, it ran out of growth drivers as the consumer retrenched and capital investment fell.

So 2014 was always going to be a difficult year and, in anticipation of that, this is why the stock market and ruble both fell in 2013.

They fell harder in January and February even though the oil price held close to $110 per barrel and ahead of the Crimea referendum.

Investor sentiment and business confidence is also a big factor in how an economy and markets behave.
In that respect, 2014 was probably the worst year ever for Russia, certainly if one counts the number of international magazine covers which variously demonized Putin or predicted the destruction of the economy and the imminent arrival of a color revolution.

By the time we got to the Crimea vote in mid-March the extraordinarily disproportionate coverage coming up to the start of the Winter Olympics had firmly set the tone. Moving on to headlines that claimed Russia was about to invade former Soviet states was effortless.

The financial sector sanctions which, in combination with the falling oil price, collapsed the ruble not just past a few proverbial lines in the sand but as a bulldozer through whole sand dunes. That also seemed almost inevitable in a year when nothing seemed to be in Russia's favor.

But actually that is not quite correct. There were a few bright spots and although the light at the end of the tunnel is no more than a flickering candle buffeted by a breeze, the light is still there. The ruble collapse has not been all bad.

True the weaker currency is a big part of the reason why inflation will likely hit 12 to 13 percent in the first half of next year and why interest rates will inevitably climb higher before, possibly, starting to roll back next summer.
But the ruble collapse has fully protected federal budget revenues this year and allowed for modest surplus while spending has risen by more than 10 percent.

The weak ruble, along with Russia's self-imposed ban on food imports in August and on some meats from earlier in the year, has also helped boost demand for domestic sourced goods. That of course is only a limited positive as Russia makes relatively few consumer products and even where it does, a big portion of the parts are imported.

The other positive from the ruble collapse is the way people have reacted — they hardly did. Such a major collapse in most other countries would have led to a run on the banks and social unrest.

I worked in Bangkok in 1997 when the Baht fell — or was pushed — off a cliff and some banks closed as people took to the streets. The relative strength of Russia's balance sheet and fiscal position would certainly be much worse today had the government had to use more of its savings to stave off social unrest and a bank sector crisis.

Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously remarked that the United States is a country "which can be relied on to do the right thing after it has exhausted all other possibilities." That comment is also applicable to Russia. Crisis can, and often is, a catalyst for change.

Unfortunately the last crisis, in 2008-09, did not last long enough to produce any meaningful changes or reforms. This one will certainly have that longevity and will provide the opportunity for a more serious effort to push reforms.
The evidence of actions taken, and not taken this year is encouraging that Putin is more focused on eventually getting back on an investment-led growth track than in expanding the confrontation beyond the serious stage already reached.

Through his clear statements and the actions of the government, Putin has made it clear that there is a very distinct line between political rhetoric and the wish, actually need, to remain open for all sources of business and investment.

If that were not the case, McDonald's on Pushkin Square would not have re-opened, Russian bank cards would not work abroad and the Hong Kong flight from Frankfurt would already be several hours longer.

There have also been more visible positives this year. Who knew that Russians understood irony? Recall the closing ceremony at the Sochi games which made fun of the failure to light all of the Olympic rings during the opening ceremony?

The games were also grudgingly accepted as being a success by those who predicted either a security or administrative nightmare.

The Sochi Grand Prix also raised many eyebrows — it seems few people realized there are palm trees in Russia.
The summer was also great, being warmer and seemingly longer than usual, albeit now a fast fading memory.

Every crisis is bad but not all crises leave a bad legacy. Sometimes a crisis is useful to shake things up. But that's for next fall … or next winter … or the one after that.
 
Source: Russia Insider 27-12-2014