No, they didn't. Crimea voted to join them.
What do you do when your newspaper keeps lying to you?
"Ukrainian forces advancing on key separatist-held city; Western officials warn of Russian military buildup" by Yuras Karmanau | Associated Press August 07, 2014
DONETSK, Ukraine — The steadily advancing Ukrainian army is setting its sights on the largest rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine, while Western officials warned Wednesday that a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border could herald a major incursion to protect the separatists.
(Blog editor just shakes head at this played-out propaganda)
President Vladimir Putin has resisted mounting pressure from Russian nationalists to send the army back into the mutiny in eastern Ukraine. Even though the United States and NATO would be unlikely to respond militarily, the West would be certain to impose major sanctions that would put the shaky Russian economy on its knees — and could quickly erode Putin’s power.
That's bull. NATO is chomping at the bit hoping Russia will do anything so they can send in the troops!
Russia already is showing signs of economic dismay from sanctions imposed this year, but Putin on Wednesday showed Moscow aims to fight back, calling on government agencies to develop a list of agricultural imports from sanctions-imposing countries that could be banned for up to a year.
And they are in a lot better shape than the U.S.!
‘‘When you see the buildup of Russian troops and the sophistication of those troops, the training of those troops, the heavy military equipment that’s being put along that border, of course it’s a reality. It’s a threat, it’s a possibility — absolutely,’’ US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday.
Haven't heard from Hagel much lately, and wish I had not here.
US and NATO officials say there are now about 20,000 Russian troops massed just east of Ukraine.
Conducting war games exercises, that's what they are not telling you.
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Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland said he believed ‘‘the threat of a direct intervention [by Russia] is definitely greater than it was a few days ago, or two weeks ago.’’
Adding to the concern is Russia’s proposal in recent days for a humanitarian mission to eastern Ukraine. ‘‘We share the concern that Russia could use the pretext of a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission to send troops into eastern Ukraine,’’ NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in an e-mailed statement.
Like NATO and the U.S. do?
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Kiev on Thursday to meet President Petro Poroshenko and other officials.
Humanitarian concerns are rising as Ukrainian forces come closer to encircling the city of Donetsk and continue their fight against the pro-Russia rebels in the city of Luhansk.
Moscow has pushed for a cease-fire in the east, but the Ukrainian government has appeared bent on riding the momentum of a series of recent military advances to crush the rebels.
You see, it's okay when U.S. puppets reject cease fires, but if Hamas does it, harrumph, harrumph!
While an overt military move into Ukraine would be deeply risky for Russia, Putin also faces agitation from nationalists who want Russia to take more assertive action.
In the Kalininsky neighborhood only 3 miles east of Donetsk’s central square, rebels and civilians were milling around outside after a night of what many said they believed were Ukrainian airstrikes. There were eight craters at the scene that appeared to be the result of aerial bombing.
Of course, if it were Syria bombing.... outrage!
In another rebel stronghold, the city of Horlivka about 22 miles north of Donetsk, the city council said in Wednesday’s statement that 33 civilians have been killed and 129 wounded by shelling during the past few days. The claim could not be independently verified.
Just an afterthought to the war-promoting.
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"Putin calls for retaliatory steps against Western sanctions" by Michael Birnbaum and Carol Morello | Washington Post August 06, 2014
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered that retaliatory measures be taken in response to Western sanctions against his country, as a top deputy announced an oil deal with Iran that may weaken international efforts to halt the development of that nation’s nuclear program.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also called for an international humanitarian intervention in Ukraine’s battle-torn east, a measure that some Western officials have worried may be a precursor to a unilateral Russian effort there as officials say that Russian troops are again building up at the border.
WaPo war crap!!
The combined efforts came in response to newly harsh Western sanctions at the same time pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine are increasingly on the defensive.
Putin told regional leaders in a meeting that ‘‘the political tools of economic pressure are unacceptable and run counter to all norms and rules,’’ and he said he had issued orders to take steps to boost domestic manufacturers at the expense of non-Russian ones, although he offered no details.
Also on Tuesday, Energy Minister Alexander Novak signed an agreement with Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh of Iran to broaden the two countries’ economic cooperation over the next five years, focusing on energy and infrastructure.
US and European Union officials expanded their sanctions last week against Russian economic sectors, businesses, and individuals, targeting the energy, defense, and financial industries after they said that Russia had failed to calm the increasingly violent conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Blaming Russia for their mucking around in there while the sanctions aren't going to do a damn thing to Russia. First a China deal, and now Iran.
Pro-Russian rebels appeared Tuesday to be getting pushed back further into their stronghold of Donetsk, as Ukrainian forces advanced into the outskirts of the city in what appeared to be the beginning of a major push to oust the insurgents.
Gunfire and loud explosions, apparently from rocket fire, were exchanged inside Donetsk’s western edge, the city government reported on its website. Artillery landed on a house, killing an elderly woman, along with her dog, according to the Associated Press.
But it came from the Ukrainian military so it's okay.
The military has been encircling the city for several weeks now, and officials have stated that their goal is to ‘‘liberate’’ both Donetsk and Luhansk, the other main rebel stronghold. Residents have been sleeping in basements to protect themselves from the shelling. The military has announced humanitarian corridors and urged all Donetsk residents to evacuate. Most buses and trains are still operating.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it would seek an international ‘‘humanitarian mission’’ in the east, saying that the eastern regions of Ukraine were ‘‘on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.’’
The conflict has led to an increasing number of civilian deaths and a growing refugee crisis.
Well, I'm sure OBAMA will be along with the BOMBERS SOON since he won't tolerate a genocide on his watch!
Even as fighting in Donetsk was intensifying, the United Nations released figures that more than 285,000 people have already fled their homes in eastern Ukraine. It estimated 168,000 people have sought refuge in Russia, and more than 117,000 are displaced inside Ukraine. Western officials have said that Russia is providing the rebels with heavy weaponry, including tanks and antiaircraft missile systems, one of which, they say, was used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
Fading coverage served its purpose. Got Ukraine's army in there.
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Related: "The recovery effort undertaken by local authorities immediately after the crash was more thorough than initially thought."
Then I was LIED TO AGAIN by my $HIT MEDIA!!!!!
‘‘Do away with the charade.’’
Okay:
EU airline shares drop on Russian airspace report
"US airfares on the rise, outpacing inflation" by Scott Mayerowitz | Associated Press August 05, 2014
NEW YORK — The formula for rising fares seems simple, but it eluded the airlines for years: Match the supply of seats to passenger demand.
‘‘Airlines have reduced the number of seats while more people want to fly because of the economic recovery. All this leads to higher airfares,’’ says Chuck Thackston, managing director of data and analytics at Airlines Reporting Corp. ‘‘This trend in airfares is likely to continue for the near future, as the economy continues to grow.’’
What a criminal racket is the airline industry, huh?
These days, fares only capture part of the cost of flying. Many passengers pay extra to check their luggage, typically $50 round trip for the first bag and $70 for the second one. But bag fees haven’t changed much in the past few years. Now, the airlines are increasingly enticing passengers to pay for fast-track security lines, early boarding, additional legroom, and other extras that can add from $9 to $299 to the cost of a flight.
All of this corresponds with the growing wealth gap and division of America into two cla$$es.
So, for example, a $300 ticket can balloon to $450 on some airlines if you check two bags and pay $30 for a little more room to stretch your legs.
And travelers aren’t finding much relief after landing.
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Baggage fees and some others were introduced in 2008 to offset losses from rising fuel prices. However, this year airlines are actually paying less for fuel — $2.96 a gallon so far, 7.2 percent less than last year, when adjusted for inflation.
Then book those fees as PROFIT!
Passengers aren’t seeing any of those savings. One reason is that airlines no longer need to entice fliers with lower fares. There are simply fewer choices today.
A wave of consolidation that started in 2008 has left four US airlines — American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines — controlling more than 80 percent of the domestic air-travel market. Discount airlines such as Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines have grown at breakneck speed but still carry a tiny fraction of overall passengers.
That control of the market has enabled the bigger airlines to charge more for tickets and not worry about being undercut by the competition. In addition, the airlines are taking in about $3.3 billion a year in fees. The result: record profits.
Looks like a CRIMINALLY COLLUDING MONOPOLY, doesn't it?
In April, May, and June, the four largest US airlines earned a combined $2.9 billion. Airlines are earning so much money that they are starting to pay investors dividends — something unheard of in an industry that just a decade ago was struggling with a wave of bankruptcies.
And yet this economy is still in the toilet.
Airlines for America, the industry’s US trade and lobbying group, says passengers should blame the government, not the carriers, for higher fares. Last month, increased fees linked to the Transportation Security Administration took effect. Fliers will now pay a flat fee of $5.60 each way, up from $2.50 each way for nonstop flights and $5 for trips with connections.
You know what the answer is? Stay off US airlines and away from US airports. Go some other way to some other place. Don't come to AmeriKa.
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Related: US airlines running behind schedule so far in 2014
They are charging you more for $hittier service.
"As tensions over Ukraine rise, a newspaper cited unnamed sources this week as saying Russia is considering closing its airspace to European carriers flying to Asia. The report sent the stocks of some airlines sharply lower. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, would not comment on rumors of airspace being closed, but said ‘‘our Western partners should think about their companies and their citizens.’’ Russia banned the import of apples and some other fruits from Poland last week."
The Russians are going to make you take the long way around, and our governments don't give a shit.
Also see: Edward Snowden gets 3-year residence permit from Russia
Enjoy the Snowjob. Now we know why he got so much press after Wikileaks was discredited.
"Russia’s retaliatory sanctions to cover most food imports; US says move by Putin will harm his own people" by Vladimir Isachenkov | Associated Press August 08, 2014
Related: Russia Imposes Trade Embargo And Threatens Airspace Restrictions Against US And Her Allies
Tough for me to read this ma$$ media report after reading that.
MOSCOW — Russia retaliated Thursday for sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine by banning most food imports from the West, dealing a blow to Europe that also takes aim at hurting the United States, Canada, and Australia.
In choosing an economic move, President Vladimir Putin signaled he is not ready to send troops into Ukraine. He also showed he’s willing to inflict significant pain on his own people to make a point....
The same thing EUSraeli leaders are doing, and am I ever sick of this ax-grinding, agenda-pushing hatred coming from the f***ing Boston Globe!
The article even admits later that the sanctions will hurt the "West" more than Russia!
The United States and European Union have accused Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March, of supplying arms and expertise to a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine, and have slapped sanctions on Russian individuals and companies.
There it is again, and why should we believe anything before or after?
Tensions rose further last month when a Malaysian jetliner was shot down over rebel-held territory, killing 298. The West said Russia most likely provided the militants with the missiles....
And that means what? The “rebels and Russia were likely not at fault and that it appears Ukrainian government forces were to blame.”
The food ban, announced by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at a televised Cabinet meeting, covers all imports of meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, milk, and milk products from the United States and Canada, all 28 EU countries, Norway, and Australia. It will last one year.
‘‘Until the last moment, we hoped that our foreign colleagues would understand that sanctions lead to a deadlock and no one needs them,’’ Medvedev said. ‘‘But they didn’t, and the situation now requires us to take retaliatory measures.’’
Retaliation, however, could hurt Russia as much as the West....
They just admitted the sanctions hurt the West more than Russia, and yet the propaganda narrative I see every day is the exact opposite.
Washington dismissed Moscow’s ban as trivial for the United States but destructive to Russia’s own population.
‘‘What the Russians have done here is limit the Russian people’s access to food,’’ said David Cohen, the Treasury undersecretary in charge of economic sanctions. He said the United States is ready to impose more sanctions if Russia doesn’t deescalate the conflict in Ukraine.....
Do I need even type it? Cohen, huh?
The Russian government insisted it will move quickly to replace Western imports with food from Latin America, Turkey, and former Soviet republics, including Belarus, a major dairy producer. But market watchers predicted shortages and price increases that will further cloud Russia’s already grim economic outlook.
These all the market watchers that have been getting it wrong here?
‘‘Along with higher interest rates, higher food costs will mean that households have less money to spend and that will depress the economy,’’ said Chris Weafer, an analyst at Macro Advisory in Moscow.
Welcome to AmeriKa because those costs are skyrocketing right now. $58 dollars for a small bag of groceries the other day. Could hardly believe it.
The damage to consumers will be particularly great in big cities like Moscow, where imported food fills an estimated 60 to 70 percent of the market and affluent consumers are accustomed to shops stocked with a wide range of French cheeses and Parma ham.
I'm so glad to see the propaganda pre$$ of AmeriKa so worried about the average Russian and pointing out those ugly elite.
The measure led to sardonic comments on Russian online media and liberal blogs, bringing back memories of empty store shelves during Soviet times, but there was no immediate indication of consumers trying to stock up.
Related: Shopping at a Different Market Basket
They know about empty shelves.
‘‘And so what? Instead of Spanish fruit we’ll have, I don’t know, fruit from Israel. It doesn’t bother me,’’ said Irina Ivanova, at an upscale grocery store in Moscow.
Wow, that BDS movement must be making gains!
The Moscow Zoo was among those who need new suppliers. The animals eat 660 pounds of fruit and vegetables daily, which until now came from Poland and Hungary, zoo spokeswoman Anna Kachurovskaya told the Interfax news agency.
Worried about the animals, too.
Medvedev argued the ban would give Russian farmers, who have struggled to compete with Western products, a good opportunity to increase their market share. But experts said local producers will find it difficult to fill the gap left by the ban, as Russia’s agricultural sector suffers from inefficiency and a shortage of funds.
These sanctions aren't going to do a thing other than give the propaganda pre$$ cover for lies.
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Related: Tyson stock slip after Russia bans US food imports
Hurting Russia already.
"UKRAINE HOSPITAL HIT -- A medical worker inspected the damage after a dental clinic at Central Clinic Hospital No. 1 in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, was struck by artillery fire apparently from government forces Thursday. At least one person was reported killed. Russia retaliated Thursday for sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine by banning most food imports from the West, a move dismissed as trivial by the United States (Boston Globe August 8 2014)."
Apparently, that wasn't worth the effort to report on the website of the Boston Globe.
Related: Tyson stock slip after Russia bans US food imports
Hurting Russia already.
"UKRAINE HOSPITAL HIT -- A medical worker inspected the damage after a dental clinic at Central Clinic Hospital No. 1 in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, was struck by artillery fire apparently from government forces Thursday. At least one person was reported killed. Russia retaliated Thursday for sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine by banning most food imports from the West, a move dismissed as trivial by the United States (Boston Globe August 8 2014)."
Apparently, that wasn't worth the effort to report on the website of the Boston Globe.
Nothing about actual war or protests against the Kiev junta in my pos whoreporate war paper, either.
They also missed the target here, too:
"Russian crime ring amasses stolen Internet data" by Nicole Perlroth and David Gelles | New York Times August 06, 2014
A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known collection of stolen Internet credentials, including 1.2 billion username and password combinations and more than 500 million email addresses, security researchers say.
Russian crime ring means JEWISH MAFIA in my JEWISH WAR DAILY!
The records, discovered by Hold Security, a firm in Milwaukee, include confidential material gathered from 420,000 websites, including household names and small Internet sites. Hold Security has a history of uncovering significant hacks, including the theft last year of tens of millions of records from Adobe Systems.
Related: Homeless in Silicon Valley
They had help.
Hold Security would not name the victims, citing nondisclosure agreements and a reluctance to name companies whose sites remained vulnerable. At the request of The New York Times, a security expert not affiliated with Hold Security analyzed the database of stolen credentials and confirmed it was authentic. Another computer crime expert who had reviewed the data, but was not allowed to discuss it publicly, said some big companies were aware that their records were among the stolen information.
“Hackers did not just target U.S. companies, they targeted any website they could get, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to very small websites,” said Alex Holden, the founder and chief information security officer of Hold Security. “And most of these sites are still vulnerable.”
Websites inside Russia had been hacked, too, and Holden said he saw no connection between the hackers and the Russian government.
That I believe.
He said he planned to alert law enforcement after making the research public, though the Russian government has not historically pursued accused hackers.
So far, the criminals have not sold many of the records online. Instead, they appear to be using the stolen information to send spam on social networks like Twitter at the behest of other groups, collecting fees for their work.
???????????
The hackers look a lot like an INTELLIGENCE OPERATION, don't they?
But selling more of the records on the black market would be lucrative.
While a credit card can be easily canceled, personal credentials like an email address, Social Security number or password can be used for identity theft. Because people tend to use the same passwords for different sites, criminals test stolen credentials on websites where valuable information can be gleaned, like those of banks and brokerage firms.
Like other computer security consulting firms, Hold Security has contacts in the criminal hacking community and has been monitoring and even communicating with this particular group for some time.
The hacking ring is based in a small city in south central Russia, the region flanked by Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The group includes fewer than a dozen men in their 20s who know one another personally — not just virtually. Their computer servers are thought to be in Russia.
“There is a division of labor within the gang,” Holden said. “Some are writing the programming, some are stealing the data. It’s like you would imagine a small company; everyone is trying to make a living.”
They began as amateur spammers in 2011, buying stolen databases of personal information on the black market. But in April, the group accelerated its activity. Holden surmised they partnered with another entity, whom he has not identified, that may have shared hacking techniques and tools.
That is where my print copy ended, and does that other entity ever smell like Israel or the U.S. government.
Holden, who is paid to consult on the security of corporate websites, decided to make details of the attack public this week to coincide with discussions at an industry conference and to let the many small sites he will not be able to contact know that they should look into the problem.
I just heard a cash register ring.
There is worry among some in the security community that keeping personal information out of the hands of thieves is increasingly a losing battle. In December, 40 million credit card numbers and 70 million addresses, phone numbers and additional pieces of personal information were stolen from the retail giant Target by hackers in Eastern Europe.
And in October, federal prosecutors said an identity theft service in Vietnam managed to obtain as many as 200 million personal records, including Social Security numbers, credit card data and bank account information from Court Ventures, a company now owned by the data brokerage firm Experian.
But the discovery by Hold Security dwarfs those incidents, and the size of the latest discovery has prompted security experts to call for improved identity protection on the Web.
I'm sensing some $elf-$erving hacking there!
“Companies that rely on usernames and passwords have to develop a sense of urgency about changing this,” said Avivah Litan, a security analyst at the research firm Gartner. “Until they do, criminals will just keep stockpiling people’s credentials.”
This helps push that agenda, doesn't it?
Since then, the Russian hackers have been able to capture credentials on a mass scale using botnets — networks of zombie computers that have been infected with a computer virus — to do their bidding. Any time an infected user visits a website, criminals command the botnet to test that website to see if it is vulnerable to a well-known hacking technique known as a SQL injection, in which a hacker enters commands that cause a database to produce its contents. If the website proves vulnerable, criminals flag the site and return later to extract the full contents of the database.
“They audited the Internet,” Holden said. It was not clear, however, how computers were infected with the botnet in the first place.
Well, WHERE the HELL was the NSA all this time? After all, they are COLLECTING ALL THE COMPUTER TRAFFIC of the ENTIRE PLANET! WTF? All that money wasted?
By July, criminals were able to collect 4.5 billion records — each a username and password — though many overlapped. After sorting through the data, Hold Security found that 1.2 billion of those records were unique. Because people tend to use multiple emails, they filtered further and found that the criminals’ database included about 542 million unique email addresses.
“Most of these sites are still vulnerable,” said Holden, emphasizing that the hackers continue to exploit the vulnerability and collect data.
Holden said his team had begun alerting victimized companies to the breaches, but had been unable to reach every website. He said his firm was also trying to come up with an online tool that would allow individuals to securely test for their information in the database.
The disclosure comes as hackers and security companies gathered in Las Vegas for the annual Black Hat security conference this week. The event, which began as a small hacker convention in 1997, now attracts thousands of security vendors peddling the latest and greatest in security technologies. At the conference, security firms often release new research — to land new business, discuss with colleagues or simply for bragging rights.
Great timing for this report.
Related: Globe Has Got the Jack
The guy who hacked into ATM machines died an early death?
Yet for all the new security mousetraps, data security breaches have only gotten larger, more frequent and more costly.
And who benefits?
Could it be that the SECURITY FIRMS are the HACKERS?
The average total cost of a data breach increased 15 percent this year from last year, to $3.5 million per breach, from $3.1 million, according to a joint study last May, published by the Ponemon Institute, an independent research group, and IBM.
Last February, Holden also uncovered a database of 360 million records for sale, which were collected from multiple companies.
“The ability to attack is certainly outpacing the ability to defend,” said Lillian Ablon, a security researcher at the RAND Corp. “We’re constantly playing this cat and mouse game, but ultimately companies just patch and pray.”
I'm no longer amused, sorry.
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