Russia’s Covid Game Of Elites

An indepth look at the recent coronavirus-related political and social developments in Russia by a regular SouthFront reader from Moscow.

Implementing President Putin’s directives, Russian federal authorities intensified their efforts to contain both the economic and social impact of the nation-wide coronavirus lockdown, and also some local authorities’ overzealous efforts. This move was impatiently awaited by the Russian society for a month.

It became clear in May that something went wrong in Russia. While in March one could still speak of insufficient medical statistics, of contradictory scientific findings, by now the SARS-COV-v2 situation has become clear.

Due to a variety of reasons, in March and April the world had to cope not so much with the spread of the virus, but rather a pandemic of fear and other processes which might collectively be called “coronacrisis”. One can thus identify three main challenges for humanity today:

The coronavirus epidemic as such;

The global socio-economic crisis;

The pandemic of fear and mass psychosis which complicated professional assessments of the first two problems and, therefore, the development of effective anti-crisis measures.

Separately, one should note that many political forces and financial circles have used the situation for profit. This includes deal-makers of all kinds, from petty speculators and local officials to global elites and corporations. No, they did not “create coronavirus”, at least there is no credible data to this effect, but they nevertheless used it to their advantage.

Russia was not bypassed by these processes. What is more, Russia experienced them to a greater extent than others. It turned out that Russian bureaucracy is unable to deal with new threats and challenges. It uncovered the clannish character of a sizable portion of Russian elites. It revealed problems with executive competence of many regional and federal officials. Especially when it comes to the economy, health care, and social security.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin apparently found himself in informational vacuum, which was particularly evident in the first half of April. It seems that the negative socio-economic developments were triggered by Vladimir Putin’s seemingly correct decision, made in late March, to give regions extraordinary powers. It meant decentralizing authority in order to give regional officials authority to act according to the situation in their region. That’s how many other countries have done, including Germany where the outcome was a positive one.

However, Russian bureaucracy and “liberal” clans that have fused with official institutions and which view themselves as a “new aristocracy” are not the same thing as German regional officials. The gap between Russian elite clans and the population is huge. This is the reason for the clumsy and in some cases even criminal, profit-motivated actions by elite clans after they were granted extraordinary powers.

Modern liberalism, sometimes referred to as “neo-liberalism”, is an ideology promoting serving global monopolies and market speculators. These “liberals” top priority is increasing personal consumption with minimal intellectual or physical effort, using the margin simplification of modern technologies in order to satisfy selfish desires under the guise of post-modern sophistry. Thus they consume public resources while giving nothing in return. Rather, they stand in the way of humanity’s progress.

President Putin and his closest administration members realized by mid-April that unless action is taken at federal level, the situation could quickly transform from critical to catastrophic. It was necessary to reassert control.

On April 23, President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to mitigate the socio-economic crisis being provoked by the COVID-19 outbreak.

“The coronavirus epidemic, challenging the whole world, threatens the lives and health of people first and foremost, but it also impacts the economy, and the condition of entire industries, which is no less dangerous,” Putin said. “Our common crucial task is to mitigate such adverse effects and reduce inevitable socioeconomic losses.”

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https://southfront.org/russias-covid-game-of-elites/

George Soros: We’re now in ‘revolutionary moment’ that allows us to achieve the ‘inconceivable’

In a new interview, the left-wing billionaire called the coronavirus pandemic ‘the crisis of my lifetime.’

Left-wing billionaire George Soros has indicated that the coronavirus pandemic paves the way for societal changes previously thought impossible, calling it “the crisis of my lifetime.” Soros had lived through the Second World War as a youth.

“Even before the pandemic hit, I realized that we were in a revolutionary moment where what would be impossible or even inconceivable in normal times had become not only possible, but probably absolutely necessary,” he said during an interview on May 11.

Soros also said that “Europe is facing several existential dangers.”

He was “particularly concerned about the survival of the EU because it is an incomplete union.” While, according to the Hungarian-born billionaire, the European Union was “in the process of being created,” that process “was never completed.”

Thus, Soros said the EU was “exceptionally vulnerable – more vulnerable than the US not just because it is an incomplete union but also because it is based on the rule of law.”

Soros also commented on a recent conflict between Germany and the EU. Germany’s highest court had ruled on May 5 that one of the EU’s Court of Justice decisions regarding policies of the European Central Bank (ECB) was not legally binding. In turn, the European Court of Justice asserted that it alone had jurisdiction over the ECB.

In the interview, Soros sided with the EU. “When Germany joined the EU, it committed itself to abide by European law,” he argued.

He voiced his fears that countries like Poland or Hungary might become more independent of the EU, if also “the German court can question the decisions of the European Court of Justice.”

Soros asked, “Can Hungary and Poland decide whether they follow European law or their own courts – whose legitimacy the EU has questioned? That question goes to the very heart of the EU, which is built on the rule of law.”

“Poland has immediately risen to the occasion and asserted the supremacy of its government-controlled courts over European law. In Hungary, Viktor Orbán has already used the COVID-19 emergency and a captured parliament to appoint himself dictator,” Soros claimed.

The last election took place in 2018, and the next one is scheduled for 2020.

Additionally, a new poll has shown that the majority of Hungarians (54 percent) seem to support the measures of the Orbán administration and would vote for him.

“The ruling poses a threat that could destroy the European Union as an institution based on the rule of law, precisely because it was delivered by the German constitutional court, which is the most highly respected institution in Germany,” Soros emphasized.

In the course of the interview, Soros again talked about his idea of having the EU issue perpetual bonds, which he called Consols. With the money created through Consols, he would finance the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as climate change.

“European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says that Europe needs about €1 trillion ($1.1 trillion) to fight this pandemic, and she should have added another €1 trillion for climate change,” according to Soros.

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/george-soros-were-now-in-revolutionary-moment-that-allows-us-to-achieve-the-inconceivable

‘The American friends’: New court files expose Sheldon Adelson’s security team in US spy operation against Julian Assange

An exclusive investigation by The Grayzone reveals new details on the critical role Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands played in an apparent CIA spying operation targeting Julian Assange, and exposes the Sands security staff who helped coordinate the malicious campaign.

“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole.”

–Mike Pompeo, College Station, TX, April 15, 2019

As the co-founder of a small security consulting firm called UC Global, David Morales spent years slogging through the minor leagues of the private mercenary world. A former Spanish special forces officer, Morales yearned to be the next Erik Prince, the Blackwater founder who leveraged his army-for-hire into high-level political connections across the globe. But by 2016, he had secured just one significant contract, to guard the children of Ecuador’s then-President Rafael Correa and his country’s embassy in the UK.

The London embassy contract proved especially valuable to Morales, however. Inside the diplomatic compound, his men guarded Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, a top target of the US government who had been living in the building since Correa granted him asylum in 2012. It was not long before Morales realized he had a big league opportunity on his hands.

In 2016, Morales rushed off alone to a security fair in Las Vegas, hoping to rustle up lucrative new gigs by touting his role as the guardian of Assange. Days later, he returned to his company’s headquarters in Jerez de Frontera, Spain with exciting news.

“From now on, we’re going to be playing in the first division,” Morales announced to his employees. When a co-owner of UC Global asked what Morales meant, he responded that he had turned to the “dark side” – an apparent reference to US intelligence services. “The Americans will find us contracts around the world,” Morales assured his business partner.

Morales had just signed on to guard Queen Miri, the $70 million yacht belonging to one of the most high profile casino tycoons in Vegas: ultra-Zionist billionaire and Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. Given that Adelson already had a substantial security team assigned to guard him and his family at all times, the contract between UC Global and Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands was clearly the cover for a devious espionage campaign apparently overseen by the CIA.

Unfortunately for Morales, the Spanish security consultant charged with leading the spying operation, what happened in Vegas did not stay there.

Following Assange’s imprisonment, several disgruntled former employees eventually approached Assange’s legal team to inform them about the misconduct and arguably illegal activity they participated in at UC Global. One former business partner said they came forward after realizing that “David Morales decided to sell all the information to the enemy, the US.” A criminal complaint was submitted in a Spanish court and a secret operation that resulted in the arrest of Morales was set into motion by the judge.

Morales was charged by a Spanish High Court in October 2019 with violating the privacy of Assange and abusing the publisher’s attorney-client privileges, as well as money laundering and bribery. The documents revealed in court, which were primarily backups from company computers, exposed the disturbing reality of his activities on “the dark side.”

Obtained by media outlets including The Grayzone, the UC Global files detail an elaborate and apparently illegal US surveillance operation in which the security firm spied on Assange, his legal team, his American friends, US journalists, and an American member of Congress who had been allegedly dispatched to the Ecuadorian embassy by President Donald Trump. Even the Ecuadorian diplomats whom UC Global was hired to protect were targeted by the spy ring.

The ongoing investigation detailed black operations ranging from snooping on the Wikileaks founder’s private conversations to fishing a diaper from an embassy trash can in order to determine if the feces inside it belonged to his son.

According to witness statements obtained by The Grayzone, weeks after Morales proposed breaking into the office of Assange’s lead counsel, the office was burglarized. The witnesses also detailed a proposal to kidnap or poison Assange. A police raid at the home of Morales netted two handguns with their serial numbers filed off, along with stacks of cash.

One source close to the investigation told The Grayzone that an Ecuadorian official was robbed at gunpoint while carrying private information pertaining to a plan to secure diplomatic immunity for Assange.

Use link 10 minute read:

https://thegrayzone.com/2020/05/14/american-sheldon-adelsons-us-spy-julian-assange/

This U.S. State Has Already Established Legal Means for Mandatory Vaccinations

While the U.S. government and global health “authorities” debate how quickly they can roll out Contact Tracing surveillance programs and fast track vaccines, Americans are left wondering and debating over whether the vaccinations programs for COVID-19 might end up being mandatory.

It is true that Donald Trump has acknowledged that, “We are looking for a full vaccine for everyone who wants to get it, not everyone wants to get it”; however, it’s still uncertain whether the Trump administration will side with civil liberties and informed consent when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine. What is certain, at this point, is that at least one state in the United States of America has already implemented measures which will allow for forced or mandatory vaccinations once a COVID-19 vaccine is developed.

The Last American Vagabond was recently sent the meme below which has been circulating the internet in recent days. The image claims that someone’s husband recently flew from Louisiana to Florida where he was handed a mandatory quarantine form to fill out. According to the post, the man was essentially forced to sign if he wanted to exit the plane. The image then shows a screenshot of a document which states that individuals who violate the quarantine will be subject to a $500 fine or a 60-day jail sentence. Furthermore, the meme states that, “the State Health Officer and Surgeon General can order any individual to be examined, tested, vaccinated, treated, isolated or quarantined for COVID-19″.

We decided to fact check this meme to see if there was truth to the claim and, unfortunately, the document is in fact a Florida state document. Here’s what we found:

The document is called, “COVID-19 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH MANDATORY SELF-ISOLATION AIRPORT TRAVEL,” and can be found on the official website of the Florida Airports Council. The form asks travelers to put their home address, a detailed description of the trip, and the names and birth dates to family members who traveled with the person filling out the form.

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2020/05/this-u-s-state-has-already-established-legal-means-for-mandatory-vaccinations.html

Pompeo Fires Deep State IG Steve Linick an Obama Holdover Who Worked with Democrats During Sham Impeachment

State Department Inspector General and Deep State hack Steve Linick was fired on Friday night.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo fired the anti-Trump Obama holdover.

Linick served as State Department IG since 2013

Linick played a role in the faux impeachment of President Trump over Ukraine.

Linick requested an urgent meeting with Congressional Democrat staffers. During the meeting Linick handed over documents related to the Trump administration and Ukraine.

The entire impeachment was a scam to divert attention away from the Biden Crime Family and Hunter Biden’s pay-for-play with Burisma Holdings.

Linick was an anti-Trump hack who should have been removed months ago.

CNBC reported:

His office had issued several reports critical of the department’s handling of personnel matters, including accusing some of President Donald Trump’s appointees of retaliating against career officials.

Linick will replaced by Stephen Akard, a former career foreign service officer who has close ties to Vice President Mike Pence, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Akard currently runs the department’s Office of Foreign Missions. He had been nominated to be the director general of the foreign service but withdrew after objections he wasn’t experienced enough.

Linick, a former assistant U.S. attorney in California and Virginia, had overseen inspector general reports that were highly critical of the department’s management policies during the Trump administration.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/pompeo-fires-deep-state-ig-steve-linick-obama-holdover-worked-democrats-sham-impeachment/