RUSSIA AND COVID. Latest numbers: total cases 1046K; total deaths 18,263; tests per 1 million 270K. Russia has done 39.5 million tests (fourth after China, USA and India); among countries with populations over 10M it's done the most tests per million. Lancet paper on Russian vaccine. Photographs of the vaccine production line. Claims that Surfactant drugs are effective treatment. A machine capable of detecting numerous pathogens including COVID-19 unveiled.
CAR CRASH. The famous actor Efremov was given an 8-year sentence for causing fatal car crash.
TREASON. A military historian and reservist has been imprisoned on charges of high treason; no details given and the trial was in camera. There have been several recent trials. I wonder what's going on. Renewed attacks on Russia, or a decision to clean things up?
NAVALNIY. Notice Novichok doesn't need people in hazmat suits this time? Noticed the mysterious bottle? (Helmer and Cunningham have). Hard to keep the lies straight – another hole in Skripalmania.
CONTEMPT. Now they come right out and tell us they think we're stupider than pond scum: "a variant that the world did not know until this attack, but which is said to be more malicious and deadly than all known offshoots of the Novichok family… The fact that he is still alive… is only due to a chain of happy circumstances."
IN THE COUNTRY THAT MAKES NOTHING. "The President drove an Aurus limousine along a newly-built section of the Taurida motorway."
UBI. Medvedev, leader of the majority party, floats the idea of universal basic income. Something to watch.
VODKA. Continues its decline as Russia's booze of choice. Another change to the Russia of clichés.
AGRICULTURE. Short piece on how effectively Russia has used sanctions and counter sanctions to make its agricultural sector an important international player. It's been a stunning achievement in fact and unimaginable in the 1990s – I remember an agricultural guy then just shaking his head. I reiterate – Russia, far from being the feeble and failing entity described by Western propaganda, is the closest thing to an autarky on the planet today. Twenty years of peace and you won't recognise Russia.
THE HUMBLE SOYBEAN. China imports a lot from the USA. But, given the way things are going, it's probably reconsidering: Commerce Minister Zhong calls for a "soybean industry alliance" with Russia.
DOOM AVERTED. AGAIN. Russia's military, formerly "hamstrung" by lack of parts from Ukraine, has replaced the lack. COVID-19 didn't finish Russia and Putin off. Relying on Western coverage of Russia makes you more ignorant. Continuing to, failure after failure, makes you stupid.
RATINGS. New Levada poll puts Putin back in the high 60s.
ANOTHER ONE. The Admiral Nakhimov (remember seeing it in the distance in the 1990s) put in water after years of reconstruction. Prestigious-looking ships packed with weapons.
COOLEST PLANE EVER. Is back. Did you know it's actually younger than the American B-52?
PROBABLY NOT A COINCIDENCE. Film of biggest nuclear weapon ever declassified.
WESTERN VALUES™. Navalniy. Assange. MH17 trial. Meng. Sacoolas. Sterling examples all.
AMERICA-HYSTERICA I. "Vote because Russian lessons are expensive". But suppose Putin doesn't care whether you speak Russia as long as you obey? But see below – Farsi is probably a better choice.
AMERICA-HYSTERICA II. China Russia and Iran are "are seeking to disrupt our election". Has there ever been such a fearful superpower? I still bet that Tehran will make the choice because the other two will cancel each other out.
PROBLEMS WITH THE NARRATIVE. Remember when we said Russia was dangerously fast tracking its vaccine? Forget we said that.
EUROPEANS ARE REVOLTING. Pompeo says the European Allies "chose to side with the Ayatollahs". Time to sanction them all I guess.
BELARUS. The shape of the settlement is appearing: a referendum on constitutional changes; Lukashenka steps down; new election; solid alliance with Russia.
UKRAINE. A poll shows 49% distrust and 44% trust President Zelensky. Not so surprising: he hasn't delivered on anything. Not that anybody would let him. Ukraine continues its misery.
© Patrick Armstrong Analysis, Canada Russia Observer
This is a very informative summary with the ring of truth as always and is a corrective to the avalanche of propaganda which generally overwhelms the truth here. It is excellent that these are articles published by an easily accessible outlet which has an audience which it is useful to expose them to.
Patrick Armstrong
“Persian” please, and not “Farsi” or “Dari” (a recent Afghan fabrication); you would not be using “Italiano” when describing the mother tongue of Claudia Cardinale (Viva Italia!).
Pompeo’s hatred for Shia Muslims is quite evident when an honorific – “Sign of God” – is used by him as a swear word.
Russian, ancient Greek, and Sankrit are indeed the most difficult languages among the Indo-European ones. Specifically about Russian: it does not have a clear question around noun-construction for things; “How does it look?”, e.g. electric broom – “How does it work?, e.g. vacuum cleaner – “What does it do?”, e.g. dusk sucker – corresponding to the word for “vacuum cleaner” in French, English, and German.
Also, in learning Russian, the fog of confusion never lifts, one is forever lost in the morass of that language. Even the native speakers make mistakes all the time – just like native Arabic speakers.
THANKS for vital facts with inspiring wit, Patrick A.
Thanks.
When I read the phrase “disrupt our elections” I actually start to laugh. I get almost. as much enjoyment imagining the election kops scrambling after foreign squirrels with Biden votes in their mouths as I do from 3 fingers of Midleton Irish.
It is sadistic, I know, but it can also be enjoyable to muse, when one of Hilary’s rants on what cost her her destiny manages to get through the defenses, on whether she actually believes the rubbish she puts out in her pathetic attempts to write history as a loser, but really a winner.
Simplest refutation of Russian poisoning of Navalny: the poisoned him and then turned him over to Germany so that the forensic evidence could be found? Right!!! If the Russians did it, they certainly would NOT have delivered the evidence on a silver platter.
Just as Assad conveniently used CW just as the inspectors were about to arrive. Right!
The gullibility of the official media and its readers is simply mind boggling.
Great stuff again Patrick.
The Tu-95/142 must be among the noisiest aircraft ever as well as faster than a P-51 Mustang as well as a B-52 at some altitudes. A very underrated aircraft.
Pompeo: [The E3]…”all told me privately”….
You know, in a world of normal diplomacy that sound-bite should have made Pompeo the lamest of lame ducks in the corridors of power in Berlin, London and Paris.
I mean, what a boorish man.
These sitreps are great, look forward to them. The Bear Bomber is something else again. It seems the U.S. is stubbornly resistant to reality and taking appropriate measures when needed. Thanks
Escarlata
No.
I am teaching myself Spanish, I have determined that I could make more robust progress there.
Babak
Why not? It is an easy language.
I do not think Russian Easy at all.
Babak
you know I meant Spanish.
Russia Shining was not my impression after recently visiting several stops in Russia Far East. Russia Stagnation was my more casual observation, after multiple visits to Russia-Soviet Union starting in 1977. Except for one Russia Far East city that was floating on oil production. Russia Struggling, but Situationally Sparkling might be a kinder impression.
Yes, that is where I have put my effort.
How about that 19 year old anti-government troll openly kidnapped by Kadyrov and sodomized on camera? Seems like the Chechen government miscalculated the public reaction. Unlike the vodka equivalent this “sitting on a bottle” thing is,unfortunately, one aspect of Russian culture that seems to continue unabated. Using homosexuality to humiliate your opponents is perpetuated through the russian military. Perhaps similar to the perpetuated phenomenon in some segments of the Catholic church.
Watching Russian TV, I’ve noticed an uptick in the number of Lays potato chip commercials. While Russia already has Pepsi Co owned Frito-Lays snack producer production facilities, it seems that Pepsi Co is building another one. With the addition of the new snack production facility, will that mean that there will be more Frito-Lay commercials in Russia’s medias? Will Russian TV become a mirror of U.S. Tv with it’s 2 minutes of show and 8 minutes of ads for every 20 minutes of run time for an hour long show?
https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/69848/
Belarus’s president to visit Moscow on Monday Sept. 14th to confer with Putin.
https://tass.com/politics/1199779
Is Konstantin Yaroshenko’s health failing? Why is he being transferred from Federal lockup to a Private owned Prison?
https://tass.com/world/1200051
Who will be the winners and loosers in Russia’s upcoming elections, as voting set to begin tommorrow Saturday Sept. 13th in 83 regions of Russia?
https://tass.com/russia/1200045
Russia’s MOD is not too happy with the uptick in NATO flights near its borders.
https://tass.com/defense/1199811
Serge
That be a Muslim thing and not Rus.
US friend-in-good-standing, a certain Marshall Dostum in Afghanistan, had the same deed carried out by his henchmen a few years ago against one of his political opponents. You see, he himself could no longer get it up.
And then there have been first hand accounts from the field in Afghanistan by US soldiers of Afghan prepubescent boys being sodomized by US allies over night, just on the other side of the mud brick wall.
Babak
Old Afghan (Pushtun) saying – “a woman for children, a boy for love, a goat for a change …”
Col. Lang
A common feature of the Muslim culture continent, with its roots almost certainly going back to pre-Islamic times.
In Afghanistan, that practice is still visible. Persian literature contains many references to it. I think there is a very explicit few lines by Abu Nawas on that practice as well.
Dear PA,
Always enjoy these updates.
Interesting, if my Cyrillic transliteration is correct, the CNC machine in the 3rd photo for the new helicopter engines:
https://www.stalkerzone.org/russia-has-launched-a-giant-factory-to-replace-ukrainian-engines/
then this CNC is made in Russia. A quick search showed many CNC manufacturers in Russia!
3rd vaccine link is to an article on Huawei.
2Serge
>Seems like the Chechen government miscalculated the public reaction.
What “public reaction”? Nobody in Russia gives a shytte about what happens to sensetive liberasts.
>Using homosexuality to humiliate your opponents is perpetuated through the russian military
Surely, you can prove this fascinating claim, seemed to smear entire culture (not your own, I guess). Or you are just voicing some oldie Perestroika/YeltSIN era tropes?
2Deap
>Russia Stagnation was my more casual observation, after multiple visits to Russia-Soviet Union starting in 1977.
a) When was the last time you was in Russia?
b) What regions did you visit?
c) Do you think your (personal) experience really makes you qualified to pass such a categorical judgement?
Russia’s Elections.
Russia’s regional elections explained
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/09/11/russias-regional-elections-explained-a71414
Big country, big vote: Russians choose governors & local councils in THOUSANDS of elections held on single day
https://www.rt.com/russia/500554-russia-nationwide-regional-elections/
REFL, CNN, Time, and other’s ‘take’ on the Russian elections process are IMHO skewed to begin with.
Russia’s MOD is a bit concerned by the activity of ‘foreign powers’ along Russia’s Eastern Military District (Восточный военный округ). The Eastern Military District is one of 5 military districts of the Russian Armed Forces.
Russia’s Eastern Military District is composed of 12 federal subjects that include Amur Oblast, Buryatia, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Kamchatka Krai, Khabarovsk Krai, Magadan Oblast, Primorsky Krai, Sakha Republic, Sakhalin Oblast, Zabaykalsky Krai.
https://tass.com/defense/1201895
Also something not sitting well with Russia’s MOD is the increase of NATO presence in the Black Sea region. One item that appears to be really raising the hair on their back is the presence of the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt aircraft carrier and its 90 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
https://tass.com/defense/1202451
Another item of concern has to do with Russia’s Hyper-sonic Missile. Seems that the technology to make it was stolen from the U.S. under the Obama Administration.
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/09/19/2351636/trump-claims-russia-created-hypersonic-missile-after-receiving-info-about-it-from-us
https://tass.com/defense/1202649
Novaya Huta, Belarus — Members of the Breslov Hasidic movement trying to reach the central Ukraine city of Uman to celebrate Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year began leaving the neutral territory along the Belarus-Ukraine border two days ago over measures banning foreigners from entering the Ukraine to slow the spread of COVID.
Tens of thousands of the Breslov Hasidic movement come to Uman every year to mark the Jewish New Year by praying at the grave of the movement’s founder Reb Nachman who died there in 1810.
The gathering on the Belarus-Ukraine border begin around Sept. 14th. Uman is in the Cherasky region. Due to COVID, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry were restricting the limit of pilgrims to about 3,000 allowed to go to Uman this year.
The Hasidic pilgrims tried to enter the Ukraine from Poland, Hungary, and Romania.
Belarus and Ukraine traded barbs over who was to blame for holding up the pilgrims on their borders.
Related article:
https://www.rferl.org/a/hasidic-pilgrims-leave-belarus-ukraine-border-covid-19-restriction/30845671.html
J Hypersonic stolen. Wouldn’t bet on it.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/64058
Stephen Cohen Has Died. Remember His Urgent Warnings Against The New Cold War.
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/stephen-cohen-has-died-remember-his-urgent-warnings-against-the-new-cold-war-cf6d4c844dd
Patrick,
Agreed on the hypersonic stolen pablum.
On another note: This item has the Russian MOD really concerned, concerned enough where VESTI this weekend had a short segment on the B52 simulated strikes against targets inside Russia.
See:
Вести недели с Дмитрием Киселевым(HD) от 20.09.20
In particular see:
18:43 – Как Россия ловит натовские самолеты
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG8wXAE99uw&t=1123s
The Russian MOD are closely monitoring all NATO traffic out of the U.K., in particular the B52s, noting their routes, and any and all NATO CAP they may have.
Belarus President sworn in for his 6th term
https://youtu.be/7azw7ZbueH8