Cyprus-Forum.com

[yialousa1971]

18:56 07/12/2012
Return of Black Sea Fleet ships to base postponed – General Staff


MOSCOW, December 7 (Itar-Tass) —— The return of Russian Black Sea Fleet ships from the Mediterranean cruise has been suspended until further instructions from the General Staff, a sources at the General Staff has told Itar-Tass.

“In view of the changed situation in the region the group has been ordered to stay in the Aegian Sea before the zone of straits until further instructions,” the source said.

“The decision to keep the Black Sea Fleet group near the straits is due to the unstable situation in the Mediterranean Sea. The Russian ships may get more instructions soon. For the time being they will stay in the Aegian Sea until further notice. It is not ruled out that they may return to the previous region of the active service mission,” the source said.

He recalled that the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship – the missile carrying cruiser The Moskva – was expected to pass through the Black Sea straits first to head for Sevastopol. The other combat and support ships of the group were to follow.

“However, on Thursday the cruiser was ordered to stay in the Aegean Sea. The same instructions were given to the other ships,” the source said.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/592647.html

[yialousa1971]

Russia warns Turkey over deployment of NATO missiles on Syria border

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the deployment of NATO Patriot missiles near the border with Syria only “exacerbates” the situation.


“Creating additional capabilities on the border does not defuse the situation but on the contrary exacerbates it,” Putin said in a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after talks in Istanbul on Monday.

“You know, as they say, if a gun is hung on the wall at the start of a play then at the end of the play it will definitely fire,” the Russian president stated.

“Why should we need extra shooting at the border? We are urging restraint.”

Putin arrived in Istanbul on Monday to hold talks with Erdogan over the issue of the turmoil in Syria. The president acknowledged that Moscow and Ankara could not reach an agreement on how to respond to the situation in the Arab country.


“Russia and Turkey for the moment cannot find a mutual approach on the methods of how to regulate the situation in Syria.”

On November 21, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the military alliance would consider “without delay” Turkey’s request for the installation of US-made Patriot missiles on its border with Syria.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Turkey on November 22 over stationing the missiles and said, “The militarization of the Syrian-Turkish border is of course a worrying sign.”

The Syrian government blames Turkey along with the Saudi regime, Qatar and a number of Western countries for fueling the months-long turmoil in the country.

MKA/HSN/MA

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/03 ... -patriots/

[GreekIslandGirl]

Turkey is a nasty piece of work!

[supporttheunderdog]

Turkey is a nasty piece of work!

Russia is sadly a little better....(which is why so many are leaving...)

[yialousa1971]

Turkey is a nasty piece of work!

Britain is sadly a little better....(which is why so many are leaving...)

corrected

[supporttheunderdog]

then why do so many flock to live there? like eg you?

[yialousa1971]

then why do so many flock to live there? like eg you?

My ancestors were here before yours Saxon (Germanic).

[yialousa1971]

Russian investigators produce evidence of foreign financing of riots
Published: 11 December, 2012, 14:44



Russian Police officers detain opposition supporters during a rally in Moscow on May 6, 2012. (AFP Photo / Mikhail Pochuev)



Russian investigators say they have evidence some Russian political activists received special training on seizing power using the so called “color revolution” blueprint, sponsored by Georgian politician Givi Targamadze.

Agents of the Investigative Committee have conducted three new searchers of suspects’ apartments and collected evidence they allege confirm the activities of the head of the Leftist Front movement Sergey Udaltsov and his aides were financed by Targamadze, said the official spokesman of Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin.

The representative of Russia’s top federal law enforcement body added that it was already established that in spring 2012 a group of Russian citizens from various regions of the country traveled to Lithuania to participate in a seminar on how to seize power using the examples of the so called color revolutions, Markin told the press. He also added that the participation of several Russian activists who were later arrested for participation in riots was proven by the documents.

The spokesman said that investigators sought to find more persons who could be involved in the criminal plot, but did not elaborate on whether this was successful.

According to Markin the searches yielded some electronic media containing books and instructions for the forceful overthrow of the regime “and other documents that are important for the criminal case”. The people whose apartments were searched were taken to the Investigative Committee for questioning, the official noted, adding that the legal status of those questioned remains as witnesses.



Left front opposition movement leader Sergei Udaltsov (Reuters / Maxim Shemetov)

In late October the Investigative Committee charged the head of the unregistered political movement Leftist Front, Sergey Udaltsov, with conspiracy to organize mass riots in Russia. The case against Udaltsov was started after one of the state-run TV channels aired a program that showed a hidden camera recording of Udaltsov negotiating plans and finances with Georgian politician Givi Targamadze and allegedly receiving instructions to act against Russia’s lawful authorities.

The activist denies all the charges and remains on bail but under a travel ban.

Udaltsov’s colleague Leonid Razvozzhayev was charged in the same case. The activist, who is also an official aide to a Russian MP, fled to Ukraine and reportedly wanted to seek political asylum, but was brought back to Russia by Russian special services and claimed that he was psychologically tortured for two days before being brought in front of the court that ordered his arrest.

A third suspect in the case Konstantin Lebedev was also placed in pre-trial custody. He attempted to challenge the decision saying he did not believe in the court’s fairness, but this appeal was turned down.
http://rt.com/politics/russian-evidence ... ncing-793/

[yialousa1971]

“They keep people in shackles and chains without trial or investigation, like in the Middle Ages” – Putin

Dec 17, 2012 22:34 Moscow Time

With the passing of the Magnitsky Act the US has once again taken it upon itself to interfere in the internal sovereign workings and affairs of the Russian Federation and expanding their sanctimonious role as the world’s policeman, judge, jury and executioner. No matter what the US claims, and no matter what they say or how they attempt to gloss over and present the matter, the Magnitsky Act is at best a case of meddling into the affairs of a sovereign nation and at worst a hypocritical affront, provocation, attempt at stealing assets and at the same time a belittling of Russia, the Russian judiciary, and the Russian people.

Despite claims by some US officials that the Magnitsky Act is about human rights and that it is not anti-Russian, in reality the opposite is true, the act will not only arbitrarily affect Russian citizens and their "human rights" it also attempts to unilaterally punish the Russian Federation and impose sanctions on Russia and Russian nationals on the supposed pretext of a human rights violation in a case that is still under investigation and for which people have already been punished.

The US is indignant of course with Russia saying no to USAID and requiring NGOs to be transparent, there is little else they can do to demonize Russia other than passing internal laws like the Magnitsky Act, just another attempt at manipulating yet another country to bend to the US will.

Russian experts, Russia experts, politicians, pundits, organizations, diplomats, foreign relations experts, government officials, judicial bodies and organizations, commentators, analysts and even the president of the country all say one thing, the Magnitsky Act is anti-Russia and anti-Russian, so to say otherwise would require monumental arrogance and ignorance.
The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin put it best when he stated that US domestic politics are involved, because that is all it is about, you and I know that, it is all about appeasing the backward thinking yet powerful Russo-phobic right-wing lunatic fringe back in America.

Last Thursday the president stated that the death of Mr. Magnitsky was a tragedy and that the investigation into the case is not even over, this is no matter to the US right-wing proponents of the Magnitsky Act, they need to jump on some demonizing band-wagon and Magnitsky’s sad and tragic death fits the bill. It is telling that they could not find anything more damning.

Now if we look at the other side of the equation, there are many more things that not only Russia but the international community could sanction the US for, some example as stated by the president: "So nobody dies in their prisons, right? Maybe there are more [deaths] in theirs than in ours.” Yes president Putin, at least 4,150 in 2010.

Vladimir Putin: “…they haven't shut Guantanamo for eight years now. They keep people in shackles and chains without trial or investigation, like in the Middle Ages.” Yes president Putin and possibly thousands have died or been killed in the whole terror and secret arrest program.
"These are people who open secret prisons and legalized torture to conduct investigations, and these people are now lecturing us about some of our failings?"

People who have also been guilty of state run executions, an out of control for-profit prison system, institutionalized police brutality, inhumane and ill-treatment of foreign nationals, torture, Guantanamo Bay prison, extraordinary rendition, human experimentation, aggressive war, extra-judicial executions and much much more.

Yes President Putin and dear reader these are the same people who can not find anything else wrong with Russia than the sad and tragic death of a poor lawyer in custody who died because medical attention did not arrive on time.

New York University Professor Steven Cohen has compared the adoption of the “Magnitsky Act” by US lawmakers with the aggressive behavior of a drunken street gang. The political analyst told the Voice of America in an interview that now the Congressmen are going to look for bad guys and punish them. He expects numerous lobbying groups to crop up around the “Magnitsky Act”, since oligarchs will clearly use such groups to square accounts, set up their rivals and take away the property that the rivals have in the United States.

Russia will repond: “Russian lawmakers are to take up an amended version of an all-parties bill to impose financial and travel restrictions on American officials who were involved in abusing the rights of Russian citizens.”

"The Russian parliament is preparing to denounce the adoption agreement with the US, Liberal MP Yelena Afanasyeva has said. Lower-house State Duma is currently working on an amendment, she said.”

“The Russian parliament responded to the US Magnitsky List by approving the ‘black list’ of American officials to be banned from entering Russia. Given that the Russian Magnitsky List has been endorsed by all parliamentary factions, the bill will undoubtedly be passed into law by January 1st . Under the Russian bill, all US officials involved in breaching the rights of Russian nationals will become personae non grata. President Putin said earlier this week that the Russian response to the Magnitsky Act would be ‘appropriate, not disproportionate.”

Earlier I had suggested a war on terror list, the US is lucky the Russian Government did not go that route. That list would have had thousands of names on it.

As for human rights other than US backed NGOs, in reality there are not many people in Russia looking for the US to solve any “human rights” problems in Russia and you can take that to the bank.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_12_17/They- ... ges-Putin/

[yialousa1971]

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A bill to ban Americans from adopting Russian children won preliminary parliamentary approval on Wednesday in a retaliatory gesture for a U.S. law punishing alleged Russian human rights violators.

Despite criticism of the measure by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, pro-Kremlin lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, and another that would bar Russian non-profit groups which receive funds from the United States.

Only four of 450 deputies in the lower house, the State Duma, opposed the proposals. The bill, expected to pass its final reading on Friday, still needs President Vladimir Putin's signature to become law.

The proposals were added to a bill which would bar entry to Americans who violate the rights of Russians abroad and freeze their assets, mirroring the so-called U.S. Magnitsky Act.

The tit-for-tat feud began when the U.S. Congress approved the trade bill that orders the United States to deny visas to Russian human rights violators. It was drawn up because of concern over the death in a Russian prison of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009. It

Putin backed the original Duma bill but had signaled he wants to limit the spat with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration. The Kremlin says Obama will visit Russia early next year.

KREMLIN WORRIES ABOUT IMPACT

The Kremlin, worried about long-term damage to relations with Washington, distanced itself from the adoption measure on Wednesday, raising doubts about whether Putin will sign off on it.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the lawmakers' initiative as "tough and emotional" and the Kremlin's position as more "restrained".

Nationalist politicians have long viewed foreign adoptions of Russian children as an embarrassment that implies Russia cannot care for its own, but critics of the bill say children should not fall victim to political maneuvering.

Police said they detained 30 protesters for holding an unauthorized demonstration outside the Duma.

Some two dozen protesters stood in the freezing cold heckling deputies as they entered the building. One activist held up before-and-after pictures of a Russian child looking bruised, then happy with his new American parents.

"It deprives children of the possibility to grow up in families of loving parents," protester Natalya Tsymbalova said shortly before she was detained.

"To deprive children of this possibility is mean."

FOREIGN ADOPTIONS

Russia is the third most popular country for U.S. foreign adoptions after China and Ethiopia, according to the U.S. State Department. Last year, 962 orphans were adopted by Americans.

It is a statistic bemoaned by Russian politicians. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russians should not be adopted abroad - although he did not say whether he supported the bill.

"Foreign adoptions is a sign of ... our indifference," Medvedev said in televised comments on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Lavrov said a complete ban on U.S. adoptions would be wrong and Education Minister Dmitry Livanov criticized the idea on his Twitter micro blog.

Any ban on U.S. adoptions would go back on new rules agreed in July.

NGOS FIGHT FOR LIFE

The Duma also passed a bill that bans foreign-sponsored political non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from working in Russia without registering as foreign agents and to ban people with double citizenships from leading those organizations.

NGOs, however, fight to continue their work in Russia.

"They may take away our registration, seize our office - don't know to whose advantage. But we can continue the work as an unregistered organization," Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), was quoted as saying by Interfax.


(This story has been corrected in paragraph 3 to say four, not 15, deputies opposed bill)

(Additional reporting by Nastassia Astrasheuskaya and Maria Tsvetkova, Whiting by Alissa de Carbonnel and Nastassia Astrasheuskaya; Editing by Michael Roddy)
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http://news.yahoo.com/ban-americans-ado ... lv=3?_sr=1