tagged w/ Putin
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Their inspiration for a style of resistance never before seen in Russia, was the riot grrrl punk movement, including groups like Kathleen Hanna’s Bikini Kill, and flash mobs. The young women of the collective, average age 25, have revealed only the smallest details about their lives. None will divulge their day jobs. They only use first-names. In the two weeks since their mid-January action, the all-female group has become a potent symbol of anger at the status quo in Russian society and their videos have gone viral all over the world. Like many young people in Russia, the members of the Pussy Riot collective are furious at Vladamir Putin’s plans to seek the presidency again and his return was the impetus behind the formation of the group (as well as their song “Putin Has Pissed Himself”). http://www.freeturbine.com/index.php/news/general-music-news/item/pussy-riot-revolt-in-russia-putin-s-got-scaredTheir inspiration for a style of resistance never before seen in Russia, was the riot... more
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worrg
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6 days ago
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A former UK government official has revealed to the BBC that Britain was caught spying on Russia when a fake rock discovered in Moscow was found to be hiding electronic equipment.
Russian authorities accused the UK of spying on their country in 2006 but the claims had never been acknowledged publicly by the UK before now.
The story was first featured on Russian TV but has resurfaced thanks to a BBC documentary featuring former chief of staff to Tony Blair, Jonathan Powell.
Commenting on the discovery, Powell said that it had been ‘embarrassing’ but that Russia ‘had us bang to rights.’
The full story of the fake rock is told in Putin, Russia and the West, showing Thursday 19th January at 9pm on BBC Two.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16614209A former UK government official has revealed to the BBC that Britain was caught spying... more
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Revelations about email transactions between the US State Department and the Russian election watchdog Golos prior to Russia's parliamentary elections threaten to bring the reset to a grinding halt.
Before a single vote was cast in the parliamentary elections, a string of incidents indicated that foreign governments were already exerting influence over the election process.
Golos, an independent watchdog that has been monitoring elections in Russia for 10 years, was fined 30,000 rubles ($1,000) last week by a Moscow court for publishing “election-related opinion polls and research” after a deadline for publishing such material had passed (it is illegal in Russia to publish such information five days or less before an election).
Duma officials who petitioned to start a probe with the prosecutor’s office argued that the NGO was funded by “foreign organizations” hoping to influence the results of the elections.
Watchdogs to guard the watchdogs?
The Russian news website Life News on Friday published emails it claims show correspondence between the US State Department and the Russian election watchdog Golos that detail payments for work done to discredit the results of Russia’s parliamentary vote.
Life News reported it has come into the possession of 60 megabytes of Golos' private online correspondence sent and received by Golos Executive Chief Lilya Shibanova and her deputy Grigory Melkonyants. Judging by the published documents, the Russian election watchdog, which claimed to be an independent entity, was actually funded by the US State Department to advance US foreign policy objectives.
One letter by Yulia Kostkina, a financial analyst for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to Golos Deputy Chief Grigory Melkonyants, reads like a shopping list of demands.
“The list of the lacking documents we are expecting from you: Policy and procedures of applying currency rates to Golos accountance and finance reporting; Procurement activities;
Procedures of property management considering the procedures, existing in USAID,” Kostkina writes.
Judging by the letters in question, there even seems to be a certain “price” Golos paid activists for any report on election violations.
Here is a letter by activist Andrey Suvorov to Melkonyants:
“Hello, I just wanted to discuss the conditions of our work once again.
Like we have defined it, it is piece-rated.
What will be the sum for one full appeal based on a violation report?
What will be the sum for the detected incorrect report about a violation?
Waiting for your answer.
If necessary, I will come up with my suggestions.
Best regards, Andrey.”
Shibanova explained the letters discussing ‘payments’ for violation reports by the fact that Suvorov is a lawyer who really was “piece-paid” for checking such messages.
She also told Life News, “this correspondence was attained illegally…and we will apply to the courts.”
Meanwhile, US officials have made no secret of their funding of Russian NGOs involved in the monitoring of elections.
Despite America’s financial problems, millions of dollars of taxpayer money have been allocated for the purpose of “improving” the Russian elections .
“We have, I know, spent more than $9 million to support free and transparent processes for Russia’s upcoming elections,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said. “Our interest is to support these NGOs that support the process, not necessarily to support… any given political party.”
Reset or Regret?
Even before Russian election monitors had released their official review of the parliamentary vote, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was already out of the gate, criticizing the election process as “unfair.”
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had harsh words for Clinton, saying she had “set the tone for some opposition activists, gave them a signal … and [they] started active work.”
Speaking at a meeting of the Popular Front Federal Coordinating Council this week, Putin said that “representatives of some foreign states” were paying politically-active NGOs in Russia to “influence the course of the election campaign in our country.”
“We need to safeguard ourselves from this interference in our internal affairs and defend our sovereignty,” the Prime Minister said. “It is necessary to think about improving the law and toughening responsibility for those who take orders from foreign states to influence internal political processes.”
Putin, stressing that Russia has nothing against the presence of foreign observers at elections, said Russia would draw the line at interference in its internal affairs from abroad.
"We favor foreign observers monitoring our political electoral processes. We favor this, we are not against this," he said. "However…when financing comes to some domestic organizations which are supposedly national, but which in fact work on foreign money and perform to the music of a foreign state during electoral processes, we need to safeguard ourselves from this interference in our internal affairs and defend our sovereignty.”
Meanwhile, Putin, who has announced plans to run in next year’s presidential elections, has pointed out that observers are not admitted to polling stations in the US.
"People are just kicked out of these polling stations, and that's it. They started admitting some (monitors) just recently. But usually it's like – get out of here. Everything is very tough there, really, and much less liberal," he said.
The war of words that has erupted between Moscow and Washington comes at a time of increasing tensions between the two nuclear powers.
Following the near-collapse in negotiations over US-NATO plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, Russia, which has been denied participation in the project and now views the system as a threat to its national security, is threatening to deploy ballistic missiles in Kaliningrad.
The question that observers are now asking is: is the recent fallout in bilateral relations a symptom of election-year rhetoric, or of much deeper problems between the two countries?
http://rt.com/politics/russia-us-elections-clinton-putin-2012-usaid-427/Revelations about email transactions between the US State Department and the Russian... more
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Russian protesters defying a ban on unapproved rallies have been facing off with supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow city centre.
Protesters chanted slogans against the ruling party as the Putin loyalists beat drums and chanted "Putin, Russia".
Riot police arrested a number of protesters, including veteran liberal politician Boris Nemtsov.
Monday saw Moscow's biggest protest in years against alleged election fraud at Sunday's parliamentary election.
Mr Putin has played down losses by his party, United Russia, which won but with just under 50% of the vote, a sharp drop in its support.
Correspondents say the result reflects Mr Putin's declining popularity ahead of his bid for the Russian presidency in March.
Observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) say the election was slanted in favour of Mr Putin's party, United Russia.
Navalny jailed
Live video from Moscow's Triumphal Square, on a major road artery close to the Kremlin, showed crowds of rival demonstrators shouting slogans on Tuesday evening.
Alexei Navalny on way to court, 6 December Alexei Navalny is one of Russia's most popular bloggers
The jerky footage, broadcast over the internet by the Russian citizen journalism outlet Ridus, also appeared to show police intervening.
Correspondents say Mr Nemtsov and other protesters were hauled off to waiting police vehicles.
On Monday, police made at least 300 arrests and two key figures in the protest were both jailed for 15 days on Tuesday.
Well-known anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny was convicted of obstructing the course of justice and Ilya Yashin, leader of the Solidarity party, was convicted of a similar offence.
The arrest of the two men was heavily tweeted by Russian bloggers, who circulated photos of Mr Navalny and others in custody.
"There is not a single doubt that my case is under the special control of the party of crooks and thieves," he told reporters in court ahead of being charged, referring to United Russia.
The Russian interior ministry has denied any extra security measures in Moscow, saying that police and troop movements in the city were a "rotation".
Its press service told Interfax news agency that 51,500 police including 2,000 interior troops had been on a state of alert since 1 December, as part of election preparations.
"Statements that extra forces are being drafted into Moscow do not correspond to reality," it said.Russian protesters defying a ban on unapproved rallies have been facing off with... more
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has staged another macho stunt, this time joining bikers at a festival.
Black-clad Mr Putin, 58, rode onto the quayside with a battleship as his backdrop and the blaring hard-rock anthem of the Night Wolves Motorcycle Club as his soundtrack
Night Wolves leader Alexander Zaldostanov, nicknamed "Surgeon", is one of Mr Putin's friends.
"Not only are you having fun while riding your bikes, but you are also combining it with great, much-needed patriotic deeds for our country and our people," Mr Putin told the crowd.
The event at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk was held aboard a Soviet-era warship to mark the city's liberation during World War II.
"It is this historical memory which is the great cement which makes the different peoples of Russia," he declared.
"People of different ethnicities, different religions, one indivisible Russian nation, creating and strengthening the united, indivisible and great Russia."
Mr Putin's United Russia Party is hoping to secure a two-thirds majority in December's vote for the Duma, the lower house of parliament.
Such a margin would give it the power to change the constitution.
Campaigning began in earnest after President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on Monday setting the date for the poll as December 4.
Mr Putin's testosterone-fuelled appearances have earned him the nickname "Alpha Dog" in US diplomatic cables.
In the past he has been pictured sparring with his judo coach, riding on a horse while stripped to the waist, flying a fighter jet and hunting Siberian tigers.Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has staged another macho stunt, this time... more
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Putin vs Obama (12 pics)
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neham
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6 months ago
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His speech concerning the possibility of Internet limitation was accompanied with a soviet political anecdote about the difference between Tseka (the Soviet Central Committee) and Cheka (the Extraordinary Commission). “Tseka clip-clops, Cheka snip-snaps. This is what I tell you, we are not going to snip-snap,” he joked.
http://publiciti.ru/en/news/4russia-s-pm-vladimir-putin-won-t-snip-snap-russian-internet21His speech concerning the possibility of Internet limitation was accompanied with a... more
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mcamca
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10 months ago
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Astrology charts for 2011 and the prophecies of Revelation on the rise of the Antichrist 666.Astrology charts for 2011 and the prophecies of Revelation on the rise of the... more
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Astrology charts for 2012. The rise to power of the the Antichrist Beast 666 in Russia as Vladimir Putin, now Russian Prime Minister, previously Russian President.Astrology charts for 2012. The rise to power of the the Antichrist Beast 666 in... more
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At 19:14 local time on Thursday in Paris, news site 20minutes.fr released a statement from Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, who is currently in Brussels attending a joint press conference with Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission.
Putin warned the West against interference in the popular revolts currently sweeping the Arab world, saying they favor the establishment of extremist regimes.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Putin warns the West to stay out of Arab world uprisings - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/putin-warns-the-west-to-stay-out-of-arab-world-uprisings#ixzz1EuMaFpkjAt 19:14 local time on Thursday in Paris, news site 20minutes.fr released a statement... more
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Naomi Campbell: You're in pretty good physical shape. How do you manage to keep yourself so fit?
Vladimir Putin: Probably the same way you do.
Actually, I don't work out as much as I should, but I do believe that it's a healthy mind as well as a healthy body that keeps me fit, sound and calm.
Exactly. You just answered your own question.
What's your fitness regime?
I go to the gym, I swim daily and from time to time I meet with friends and do extra-curricular stuff. I had a good work-out just the day before yesterday.
Continue reading: http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/comment/articles/2011-01/31/gq-comment-naomi-campbell-interview-vladimir-putin-fitness-tigers/fitness-regimeNaomi Campbell: You're in pretty good physical shape. How do you manage to keep... more
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mcamca
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mcamca
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Thursday, Russian Prime Minister and ex-KGB man Vladimir Putin held his televised Q & A session with the 'people'. He referred to traitors within intelligence services as 'swine', pointing to the most recent incident which delivered on June 10, 2010 Russian agents in the United States.
Putin declared that the Russian spies who were arrested in the United States this summer were betrayed by a fellow intelligence officer. He pointed to the fact that the 'traitors will croak themselves. Whatever equivalent of 30 pieces of silver they get, it will get stuck in their throats.'Thursday, Russian Prime Minister and ex-KGB man Vladimir Putin held his televised Q... more
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Vladimir Putin says that America is one to lecture others about "Democracy". In a report from RT news this report about the response from Putin over American criticism of his country. In another report, one leaked document has led to a firestorm as Moscow now demands an explanation for revelations that a planned covert action was planned by the US towards Russia.
Could it be that these documents are going to cut short America's Imperial Ambitions as the public in other countries begin to see that America is about corporate corruption and money and greed and projection of power, America will loose a major part of their credibility and ability to project that power...even though they have such massive military spending in comparison to the other state actors in the world. The pressure exerted by America seeking to remain the world's sole hegemonic power is that it forces all the allies to consider teaming up to form another alliance.
The whole secrecy of international policy or foreign policy in the US is what propels the corruption of corporate power and for a long time it has served as a way for the US to brand "America" like a product and sell the "idea" to the people of the world that it is the "shinning city on the hill that will bring justice to mankind....etc", but people weigh this in their minds against what they actually see what America does and now the revelations of corporate influence in the wars in Africa, its amazing that people can't see that Wikileaks serves a higher purpose, regardless of what you think about the media image of Julian Assange.
This information that gets released can serve as a great equalizer and ensure that no one country has the power to dominate the entire world, for such to allow such a power to exist threatens the entire human race. We know for a fact that most of these government "professional managers" are there to fill their own pockets and that corruption is at the highest levels and trickles down all the way to its underbelly. Most average people who get their information from Mainstream Media Outlets don't get the real story but the censored story that makes America always look like the hero of the story, regardless of the scandal that surrounds individuals that get caught doing the dirty work.
http://rt.com/politics/putin-cow-wikileaks/
The wiki revelations are taking over the job the fourth estate was always intended to do, uncover the corruption and blow the whistle. But once the fourth estate became all about profit, then the master it served changed, from the people to the stockholders.
I would be interested to hear about what you think about these ideas...Vladimir Putin says that America is one to lecture others about "Democracy".... more
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jubal
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The Russian prime minister is used to taking to the stage, but this time it was not for one of his speeches. Vladimir Putin made his audience sit up and take note, as he sang at a charity fundraiser.
The reception at an ice stadium in St. Petersburg was dedicated to fighting children’s cancer.
International celebrities including Kevin Costner, Gerard Depardieu, Mickey Rourke, Sharon Stone, Kurt Russell, Vincent Cassel, Monica Belucci, Ornella Muti, Goldie Hawn and many others attended the benefit concert.
Many of the stars are actively involved in charity work which draws needed attention to children’s oncological and ophthalmological diseases.
When the hostess approached Putin’s table and asked him to sing for the audience, his immediate reaction was “are you kidding me?”
But the hostess was determined to get the prime minister on the mic and reminded him about the songs he sang with the Russian sleeper agents extradited from the US last summer. Putin attempted to evade the proposal by saying that the singing she was referring to had come from the heart. However, after seeing the pictures of ill children shown to the audience on the big screen, he took to the stage.
“Like the majority of people I cannot – but do like to sing and to play – so you’ll have to rough it,” he warned as he sat at the piano and played the beginning of Blueberry Hill. The tune was immediately caught by Maceo Parker’s jazz band. The prime minister then took the mic and sang it in English himself.
Putin returned to the piano to sing in Russian “From What the Homeland Starts” – the song he sang with the exposed Russian agents.
The audience loved his performance and showed their appreciation with a standing ovation and applause. Many recorded the one man show on their mobile phones.
On December 1, Putin confessed to US chat show host Larry King that he does study some songs in English with his language tutor.
When the concert was over Putin took Sharon Stone by the arm and together with other guests they went on stage to sing a Russian song about cosmonauts, “Grass Near Home”.
Martyn Andrews, our entertainment expert and host of RT's cultural program "Moscow Out," thinks that Putin’s gesture at the charity event is great for his reputation, as he’s mostly stereotyped as cold and serious.
“It’s not the first time he sung like that," Andrews said. "The more he does things like this, the more people can connect with their leader.”The Russian prime minister is used to taking to the stage, but this time it was not... more
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Tiger Summit aims to save big cats
AP
FILE - In this March 23, 2000 file photo, an Indian tiger looks on from a camouflaged cover of strawgrass in Ranthambhore National Park near Rajasthan AP – FILE - In this March 23, 2000 file photo, an Indian tiger looks on from a camouflaged cover of strawgrass …
By IRINA TITOVA and JIM HEINTZ Irina Titova And Jim Heintz – Fri Nov 19, 12:37 pm ET
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Global wildlife experts and political leaders from 13 countries on Sunday open a meeting aimed at finalizing complex and costly plans to revive the world's tiger population, which has plummeted so sharply that it may be near the point of no return.
Although the fierce and wily tigers may be the epitome of power in their natural habitat, they have seemed nearly helpless against man. The World Wildlife Fund and other experts say only about 3,200 of the big cats remain in the wild, a severe plunge from an estimated 100,000 a century ago.
Their forest habitat is being eaten up by timber operations and construction, while poachers stalk the dwindling tiger populations, killing them for their skins and for body parts prized in Chinese traditional medicine. The wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC said in a report this month that more than 1,000 parts of tigers slain by poachers across Asia had been seized in the past decade.
"The Tiger Summit is our last best chance to ensure a future for these animals in the wild," Ginette Hemley, a WWF vice president, said in a statement Thursday.
The summit, which ends Wednesday, is hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has adroitly used encounters with tigers, polar bears and other wildlife to bolster his image, and was driven by the Global Tiger Initiative which was launched two years ago by World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
The summit intends to approve a wide-ranging program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population in the wild by 2022 and to produce a declaration of commitment signed by government leaders from al countries that still have tiger populations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia.
The summit also will be seeking donor commitments to buttress expenditures by each of the country's governments. A draft of the Global Tiger Recovery Program, expected to be approved at the meeting, estimates the countries will need $330 million in outside funding over the next five years to fulfill the plan. About 30 percent of that estimate would go toward programs to suppress the poaching both of tigers and of the animals they prey on.
For advocates, saving tigers has implications far beyond the emotional appeal of preserving an attractive and thrilling animal.
"Because tigers are apex predators at the top of the food chain in many Asian ecosystems, they are essential to the effective functioning of other parts of these ecosystems," the GTRP draft says. "Protecting tigers and their landscapes also protects a host of other endangered species and their habitats."
Over the past two decades, much has already been done to try to save tigers, but conservation groups say their numbers have continued to fall markedly, by about a third just since 1998.
In part, that decline is because conservation effors have been increasingly diverse and often aimed at improving habitats outside protected areas where tigers can breed, according to a study published in September in the Popular Library of Science Biology journal.
Putin has done much to draw attention to tigers' plight. During a visit to a wildlife preserve in 2008, he shot a female tiger with a tranquilizer gun and helped place a transmitter around her neck as part of a program to track the rare cats.
Later in the year, Putin was given a 2-month-old female Siberian tiger for his birthday. State television showed him at his home gently petting the cub, which was curled up in a wicker basket with a tiger-print cushion. The tiger now lives in a zoo in southern Russia.
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Heintz reported from Moscow.Tiger Summit aims to save big cats
AP
FILE - In this March 23, 2000 file... more
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