Russian Navy Captures and Destroys a Pirate Mothership (Video)

Fresh off the news of the Russian Navy (essentially) tossing some captured pirates into the sea, comes this video of them capturing and destroying a pirate mothership.

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As found on the Russian Navy Blog:

I make no claims to the authenticity of this video. I am not certain of the context. It is mostly is Russian (with much NSFW language), partly in English (with NSFW language) and shows several obviously wounded men.

The explosion at the end is nice though!

From the description at You Tube:

Yesterday on Tuesday (27 April) at 1812 Moscow time the large antisubmarine ship Admiral Panteleyev captured a pirate ship off of Somalia according to the Ministry of Defense.

The capture took place at 1812 Moscow time and took place about 15 miles from shore. Inspection of the vessel revealed seven Kalashnikovs, pistols, aluminum boarding ladders, navigation equipment, including satellite navigation, fuel cans and ammunition.

Twenty nine were detained.

Based on the number of pirates in this video, I don't think these were the pirates killed under the auspices of Russia's "catch and release" program. - Link - Russian Navy Blog

Direct link to the YouTube video.

It seems that the Russian Navy is finding it's groove off Somalia. It is interesting given that this is one activity where they do not need to show much restraint (other than avoiding turning merchant sailors into casualties) where there will not be much of an outcry, and any outcry is surely to be dwarfed by the gratitude of rescued sailors and the community at large.

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Dealing with Pirates - Russia Makes them Walk the Plank

One of the unresolved issues with dealing with the pirate problem off Somalia is what do you do with pirates that you capture?

Kenya has stood up and offered to try pirates in their courts. However, as a result their court system is now trying to deal with over 100 pirates captured at sea and deposited on their shores and now they are resisting the pressure to accept more of them.

A number of pirates have been simply released, either back ashore or back to their boats, after being disarmed of any weapons that they didn't already throw overboard themselves prior to capture.

The Russians have come up with a nastier version of this tactic, basically abandoning the pirates far at sea with only the most basic of supplies. Oddly enough, they did want to prosecute the pirates back in Russia, but abandoned that idea because the ship's crew of the attacked vessel, were not able to directly identify the pirates, given that they were holed up in a secure room, unable to negate the pirate claims that they too were victims of other pirates who got away.

Russia frees suspected pirates

RUSSIA has freed a group of suspected pirates captured when its navy stormed a hijacked tanker in the Indian Ocean.

One pirate was killed and 10 suspects seized when marines from the destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov recaptured the 106,474dwt Moscow University yesterday, a day after it was seized.

The detainees were expected to be tried in Russia. But after a day of contradictory public announcements and debate among prosecutors, military officers and the Kremlin, the navy was ordered to cast the suspected pirates adrift.

Their release took place after a source at the defence ministry announced: "Unfortunately … legal rules for the prosecution of pirates operating in Somalia did not exist, and thus they [the suspects] do not fall under the jurisdiction of any state and international law.”

Defence ministry spokesman Colonel Alexei Kuznetsov later said the release was required “due to the imperfection of the international legal framework”.

There were no witnesses to substantiate the identities and actions of the suspects because the tanker’s 23 Russian crew members had secured themselves in a safe-room.

And after they were captured, the suspects reportedly claimed that they were not pirates but rather hostages of the real attackers.

In June, the chief Russian prosecutor in charge of piracy, Alexander Zvyagintsev, told Fairplay that Russian law clearly allows for military action against pirates, but it was less clear what could be done if pirates were captured.

“The problem of what to do with the pirates who have been arrested remains undecided for the majority of countries,” he explained. “That adds to the confidence of the pirates that they can go on acting with impunity.” - Fairplay News

Not mentioned in the article is that apparently the Russians stripped the boat of any navigational equipment before setting them free with a tank of fuel. There are also apparently concerns in the media that the Russians simply did away with the pirates and provided this cover story, all because there were no press to witness the freeing of the pirates. Personally, I do not believe that the Russian Navy would do such a thing, given that what they had admitted to doing already gives the pirates a poor chance of survival. And I do not blame the Russians for not inviting the press to document this form of punishment. Actually, I would hope that they marked the sides of the vessel with 'DANGER - PIRATES' so as to warn passing ships of the risk of assisting them. One thing is for sure, pirates will not mess around with the Russians once word gets out about what happened to their fellow bandits.

Question is, is this a solution that other Navies can employ? The EU has been targeting motherships. The effect is similar for any pirates at sea dependent on those captured motherships for fuel and food. Going after supply lines is a classic military strategy. However, those at the end of a disrupted supply line at sea are as doomed as the pirates the Russians 'freed' at sea. The only difference is that the Russians caught them and then let them go.

UPDATE – 11 May:

Here is the latest news noting that the pirates did not appear to have gotten very far:

Freed Pirates May Have Drowned

Ten pirates released from a Russian warship 300 miles out to sea may have drowned, according to Russian officials and colleagues of the pirates, raising fears of retaliation against other vessels plying East African waters.

The pirates were captured last week after they hijacked the Moscow University, a Liberian-flagged, Russian-operated oil tanker sailing off the Somali coast. A Russian warship came to the ship’s rescue and apprehended the pirates. But after determining it would be too difficult to obtain a conviction, Russian officials said that they dropped plans to take the pirates to Moscow for trial.

Instead, like many other warships that have intercepted pirate skiffs, the Russian marines released the pirates — but not before removing weapons and navigation equipment from the boat several hundred miles from shore. Russian officials gave no explanation for removing the navigation equipment.

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson said radio signals from the boat disappeared about an hour after the release. “That could mean that they are dead,” the spokesperson said.

Fellow pirates in Somalia also said they lost contact with the boat after their separation from the Russian warship. “We will hold Russia responsible if any harm comes to them,” said a pirate commander, Abdi Dhagaweyne, in a telephone interview. “I’m not sure of their safety now because we have since lost contact.” – Wall Street Journal

Here is a photo of the capture:


(Source)
So it appears that all but one of the pirates survived the re-capture of the vessel.

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Russia's New Gulag - The Sochi Olympic Site

Back in September, I posted about how Russia is home to slave labor camps stocked with North Koreans.

Now comes news that many workers at the Sochi Olympic site are basically being turned into forced laborers as they have not been paid for their work in months:

Hundreds of workers at an Olimpstroi-funded construction site in Sochi have not been paid in months, with some complaining that they are going hungry after giving up their passports as collateral to get food at grocery stores.

The scandal is the latest to hit Russia’s $13 billion effort to ready the Black Sea resort for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Residents displaced by construction for the games have complained that they are not being adequately compensated, while environmental activists say the work is blighting the region.

About 180 people were not working Friday, exasperated by months without pay and desperate for food, said Sergei Dykhalov, who was hired by general contractor Moskonversprom as the site’s crane operator for 36,000 rubles ($1,200) a month.

He said he hadn’t his salary since December. - La Russophobe

I find this pretty shocking given that Russia is so eager to show off Russia to the world. Just what kind of Olympics site are they planning to build without spending any money and starving the workers expected to build it? Even discounting the suffering that they are putting the local residents through and the workers, just how do they plan to overcome the inevitable negative publicity this will eventually generate? The whole point of hosting the Olympics in Sochi was to show off Russia. Well, that will happen, but not as they plan it to. So that leaves making money for a select few. I wonder how successful Putin will be at fleecing the Games given that money has to be thrown at it first. Might he be planning to blackmail Russian and International companies operating in Russia to contribute? I wouldn't doubt it. But why would he bother to use the Olympics to generate more cash? He has easier ways to do it than trashing the Olympics and a city in the process.

This is yet one more example of why Russia should no longer be considered a world power. The main stumbling block of kicking the country to the curb is it's veto on the UN Security Council.

Previous:
Russia's New Gulag - Powered by North Koreans - Sept 2009

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It was not Western Banks that Enabled Hitler. It was the Soviet Union

Today's news has the latest attempt to shift blame on the West. This time by director Oliver Stone who seems to want to throw the blame of Hitler on us:

BANGKOK, Thailand — Adolf Hitler was a psychopath and a monster but rose to power thanks to big business leaders and other supporters who appreciated his vow to destroy communism and control workers, Hollywood filmmaker Oliver Stone said Monday.

Stone, who is working on a 10-part documentary on the 20th century titled "The Secret History of the United States," said the German dictator was "enabled by Western bankers" and managed to "seduce" Germany's military industrial complex. - The Canadian Press

If Oliver Stone wanted to make a real story about the history behind WWII, then he would toss aside this piece of crap* and concentrate on the story of how the Soviet Union enabled Hitler to attack the rest of Europe. Take the following issues that would be great in a movie, starting with Stalin's assistance in giving Hitler power:

----------Stalin's Intervention to ensure Hitler's Election in Germany:

During the critical 1932 German elections, he forbid the German Communists from collaborating with the Social Democrats. These parties together gained more votes than Hitler and could have prevented him from becoming Chancellor. - Wikipedia

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Alliance with Hitler / Nazi Germany

The Soviet Union had Hitler's back at the start of World War II by agreeing to split Europe amongst themselves drawing a line right through Poland. (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) It is common knowledge that Nazi Germany attacked Poland (on 1 September 1939) but not so common knowledge that the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the East. (On 17 September 1939)

----------Support of Nazi Germany

From the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August, 1939 through almost the end of the first half of 1941, Stalin and the USSR fed and equipped Hitler and Germany as Germany invaded Western Europe and then attacked Great Britain by air. - Wikipedia

----------Partially Responsible for World War II

According to the Historian Richard Pipes, the Communist states share some responsibility for World War II. Both Hitler and Mussolini used the Soviet Union as a model for their own totalitarian states and Hitler privately expressed that Stalin was a "genius". In turn, Stalin expressed desire for another great war that would leave his enemies weakened and allow Soviet expansion. He allowed the testing and production of German weapons that were forbidden by the Versailles Treaty to occur on Soviet territory. - Wikipedia

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Soviet Union escorted a Nazi raider disguised as neutral merchant ships to the Pacific so that they could avoid attack by the British:

Breakout into the Pacific - Under the command of Kapitän zur See (later Konteradmiral) Robert Eyssen, HSK7 (German auxiliary cruiser KOMET) departed for her first raiding voyage from Gotenhafen on 3 July 1940. With the consent of the then neutral Soviet Union and with assistance from Soviet Icebreaker Joseph Stalin, KOMET, disguised as the Soviet steamer Dezhnev, passed through the Arctic Ocean north of Russia and entered the Pacific Ocean. - Wiki

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Murmansk Shipyards converted a German ship into an Auxiliary Cruiser

The German motor vessel ILLER was converted into an auxiliary cruiser in the Murmansk shipyards - The Deadly Embrace

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Murmansk was used by the Nazis as a safe haven for their ships at the outbreak of WWII including the:

• German Liner BREMEN
• German Liner ST. LOUIS
• US cargo ship CITY OF FLINT which was taken by the German Battleship DEUTSCHLAND as a prize. The ship and German crew should have been interned by the Soviets but were not.
  

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Soviets provided a Navy base for Nazi Use:

The Soviets also provided Germany with a U-boat base at Basis Nord (Russia) for refueling, maintenance location and a takeoff point for raids and attacks on shipping. In addition, the Soviets provided Germany with access to the Northern Sea Route for both cargo ships and raiders (though only the raider Komet used the route before June of 1941), which forced Britain to protect sea lanes in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. - Wikipedia

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Circumvented Sanctions against Nazi Germany:

The Soviet Union also bought and shipped other materials to Germany, such as rubber from India. - Wikipedia

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Oddly enough, the Soviet Union's assistance to Nazi Germany provided Germany with the raw materials needed to attack the Soviet Union:

Despite fears causing the Soviet Union to enter deals with Germany in 1939, that Germany came so close to destroying the Soviet Union was due, in large part, to Soviet actions taken from 1939 to 1941. Without Soviet imports, German stocks would have run out in several key products by October of 1941, only three and a half months into the invasion. Germany would have already run through their stocks of rubber and grain before the first day of the invasion were it not for Soviet imports.

Without Soviet deliveries of these four major items ( Oil Products, Rubber, Manganese, Grain ), Germany could barely have attacked the Soviet Union, let alone come close to victory, even with more intense rationing. - Wikipedia

----------Stalin attempted to join Hitler's Axis Alliance between Germany and Italy and Japan:

In October and November 1940, German–Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power. The negotiations included a two day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop, followed by both countries trading written proposed agreements. Germany never responded to a November 25, 1940, Soviet proposal leaving the negotiations unresolved. Germany broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in June 1941 by invading the Soviet Union. - Wikipedia

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It was not Western Bankers that enabled Hitler. He did not need money to wage war. He needed raw materials and fuel. For this need, he found a willing trader in Stalin.

For the longest time, Russia has gotten away with white-washing over it's criminal behavior and assistance to Hitler's Germany during WWII is because the other countries of the world have declined to press them about it. The last thing anyone needs now is a movie that helps Russia in their ongoing efforts to shift blame from them.

One movie Oliver Stone could make would be a 'Secret History of the Soviet Union' giving viewers a full accounting of Soviet crimes.However, don't hold your breath for anything like that. Reason Magazine's Article 'Hollywood's Missing Movies - Why American films have ignored life under communism.' addressed this topic a couple years back:

Never heard of Total Eclipse? It hasn't been produced or even written. In all likelihood, such a film has never even been contemplated, at least in Hollywood. Indeed, in the decade since the Berlin Wall fell, or even the decade before that, no Hollywood film has addressed the actual history of communism, the agony of the millions whose lives were poisoned by it, and the century of international deceit that obscured communist reality. The simple but startling truth is that the major conflict of our time, democracy versus Marxist-Leninist totalitarianism--what The New York Times recently called "the holy war of the 20th century"--is almost entirely missing from American cinema. It is as though since 1945, Hollywood had produced little or nothing about the victory of the Allies and the crimes of National Socialism. This void is all the stranger since the major conflict of our time would seem to be a natural draw for Hollywood. - Reason Magazine

Maybe one day the truth will be told on the movie screen.
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Here is one image from the book 'RED primer for children and diplomats':

In 1939 a wonderful opportunity for world peace came from the most unexpected source. Although the Soviets opposed Fascist dictatorship and imperialism, they saw a means which could be used to further the ultimate triumph of the Communist brand of Socialism. A mutual non-aggression agreement was made with Hitler.

Hitler invaded Poland and the Soviets moved in to prevent the Nazis from taking over the whole country. The Soviets murdered some 11,000 Polish officers and intellectuals at Katyn Forest and peace and order were established in Poland, for a while. - Link

Here is a handy Desktop Wallpaper summarizing the 62 Million Deaths attributed to Soviet Rule:

You can find it here: The New American Myth


* - I am sure the movie will be entertaining, but it will fail as a history piece.

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Canada: Stalin = Hitler

On the heels of Europe declaring that Stalin was as big a murderous bastard as Hitler comes Canadian Liberals calling to take the same position:

Liberal MPs Pass Motion To Mark August 23rd As Black Ribbon Day

03.12.2009

OTTAWA - Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic, the Hon. Bob Rae, passed a unanimous Resolution in Parliament today to commemorate the victims of Europe's totalitarian regimes.

"Millions of Canadians of Eastern and Central European descent whose families have been directly affected by either Nazi or Communist crimes have made unique and significant, cultural, economic, social and other contributions to help build the Canada we know today," said Mr. Rae. "We must unequivocally condemn the crimes against humanity committed by totalitarian Nazi and Communist regimes and offer the victims of these crimes and their family members' sympathy, understanding and recognition for their suffering.

"Every victim of any totalitarian regime has the same human dignity and deserves justice, remembrance and recognition by the Parliament and the Government of Canada."

Twenty years after the fall of the totalitarian Communist regimes in Europe, knowledge among Canadians about these regimes, which terrorised their fellow citizens in Central and Eastern Europe for more than 40 years, is still alarmingly superficial and inadequate.

This annual day of remembrance is to be held on August 23rd to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between the Nazi and Soviet Communist regimes.

"Called Black Ribbon Day, the establishment of this Day of Remembrance on August 23rd will show Canadians and those around the world that Canada will not stand for crimes against humanity, and we will be counted among those who stand up for victims of systematic and ruthless abuse.

"Canadians must not allow these crimes to go misunderstood and unrecognized." - CommunistCrimes.org

Lets see if the Canadian Government makes this resolution official.

Where is the US on this matter? I have written before that Russia needs to go through what Nazi Germany went through at the end of WWII with an investigation to the crimes of Communism. (Click the 'Soviet Union' tag to find the relevant posts.) Since it has not happened we have to deal with Russia acting like a bully all across Europe as well as having to deal with ongoing admiration for the Soviet Union and even for Stalin himself. This is mad.

One way to get the ball rolling might be for an investigation into US actions or better put American inaction in fighting Soviet crimes going back to the 1930's. For starters, it would be nice to see an investigation into Why the US State Department did nothing to help Americans trapped in the Soviet Union get back to the US, knowing that those going into the Embassy were being picked up as they came out and set to the Gulag, many never to return. This went on for decades.

Take a look at the US State Department's Freedom of Information Act 'Reading Room' list of Topics. 'Communism' and 'Soviet Union' are not even listed. Doing a search for relevant documents does not bring up much interesting information either.

So, what are they hiding? My guess is lots.
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December 7th - Never Forget

Today is the 68th anniversary of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

While the attack was done by the Japanese, we in fact have three countries to 'thank' for World War II. Those of course being Japan, Germany and the Soviet Union. To this day, one of those countries has yet to atone for this crime against humanity. Unfortunately, it needs to be stated that the Soviet Union was a leading player in bringing about World War II, because Russia has never really been forced to face that inconvenient detail.

German and Soviet troops at the so-called "Border of Peace", or a demarcation line set up by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; picture taken during the Polish Defense War of 1939. Soviet BT tank visible in the foreground. - Wikipedia

So in order not to forget, we first need to properly remember and recognize the criminal acts of our supposed 'Allie' in that War.

Previous:

• Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack (And a Fitting example of the results of dialoging with your enemies who are not acting in Good Faith) - 2006
• Pearl Harbor, December 7 1941 - 2005
• Remembering the Manhattan Project and the end of WWII - August 2005

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Russia: 'No Copenhagen climate deal unless you pay us billions of Dollars'

While the Obama Presidency has been trying to take advantage of the slogan 'never let a good crisis go to waste', leave it to the Russians to show how to do it right.

Take the urgent call to act to prevent disaster from uncontrolled runaway global warming. The Russians are fully willing to 'do their part' to avert global calamity, as long as they profit in the process:

NEW YORK – A long simmering but infrequently discussed issue over carbon credits that Russia has amassed under its Kyoto Protocol obligations threatens to erupt at Copenhagen and possibly scuttle chances for a politically viable agreement to emerge from the talks, American and foeign analysts have said.

The Kremlin has recently begun to apply pressure that it be allowed to hold on to it Kyoto carbon credits in the run up to Copenhagen. But environmentalists insist that allowing this roll over would hobble any treaty by making it far cheaper to buy up surplus Russian credits than to actually undertake efforts in energy efficiency, renewable energy and technologies to abate global warming. - Charles Digges, 01/12-2009, Bellona Foundation

The Russians know a good scam when they see one. 'ClimateGate' is not the only global warming conspiracy out there. There are a couple of green conspiracies floating around and the reward of billions of dollars in carbon credits to Russia is one of them.

Russia's credits of course were due to the combination of the Soviet Union being both a very dirty polluter, setting the bar high for them and the resulting collapse of the Soviet Union which took down much of their dirty industry with them.

The whole point of giving 'carbon credits' based on how much pollution a country was responsible for was to permit each country a non-destructive path from their current industrial situation to one that was greener without causing complete havoc in the process. However, in the case of the Soviet Union, these dirty factories were closed anyway, leaving in their wake a massive pile of permits of pollute, which Russia has been selling to businesses around the world subverting other country's attempts to push industry to greener alternatives.

Simply put, the Kyoto Treaty enabled Russia to profit from the environmental damage the Soviet Union was responsible for. Now that Kyoto is ending, they want to ensure that they can continue to profit, even though Russia's CO2 output is growing like crazy. They have good reason to demand a continuation of the past agreement given how much it was worth to them:

In futures trading for contracts maturing next year in Europe, prices are about €15 per carbon credit, the Financial Times reported earlier this month. One carbon credit offsets one ton of carbon emissions.

At current prices, the total value for Russian carbon credits could be between €30 billion and €45 billion, ($40 billion to $60 billion) said the Financial Times. The downside is that, should Copenhagen talks to devise a replacement agreement for Kyoto, the carbon credits could become a poof of air. - Bellona

Ideally, if any similar process to Kyoto is put in place, then there needs to have a new benchmark to measure each country's emissions from. It makes no sense at all to continue using emission numbers from 1990 which were already inaccurate when Kyoto was signed in the late 1990's.

Even better would be to get rid of the 'cap and trade' system. It actually undoes green activity.

One reason for this is that in many cases when a company does something to make their output 'greener' they have to completely redo their operations which results in a much greater lowering of their greenhouse gas emissions than is required. (i.e., putting in a CO2 scrubber in a smokestack might reduce emissions by 60% but the company only had to reduce by 10%.) So the environment actually gained by the conversion. So it makes no sense to then take that gain and use it as permission for others not to make their companies greener.

Worse, in the case of the Russian Carbon credits, the reduced emissions came free. So every Russian carbon credit sold actually makes the planet a little less green because there is no Russian factory that otherwise would be spewing greenhouse gasses. It would be like me demanding carbon credits for a third child that I decide not to have. After all, it is not like I am going to have the third child if I am not compensated.

What other global warming madness is out there? (Besides the big question of whether the planet actually is warming or not and if so what is the cause for it!)

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Russia's New Gulag - Powered by North Koreans

Remember the Soviet Union's infamous prison system, the Gulag. Well, it appears to be making a comeback with the assistance of Communist North Korea.

At home, North Koreans live under total government control and the watchful eye of the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il.

But in the Amur region of Russia, almost 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the border, North Korea has created a home away from home at a series of remote logging camps in which nearly 1,500 workers are employed.

I travelled to one of the camps deep in the forest. A giant monument bearing the words "Our greatest leader Kim Il-sung lives with us forever" stood in the middle. - BBC

As if there are not enough unemployed Russians available to do work, for little money. They need to import North Koreans to work as slave labor.

Although reluctant to speak, one told me that he earned the equivalent of $200 per month. Another said that he earned $1 for each truck he loaded and that he could load up to nine per day, but he had not been paid since May. - BBC

As for vacation, forget it. I bet Stalin gave more his victims more time off that the North Koreans get now.

"The Koreans work year round with two days off per year," he told me. "All the other days are working days no matter what the weather conditions, they always work.

"The Koreans work for the government and their communist party, they've got production targets," he said. "If the quota is filled then everything is ok. If it is not fulfilled, well then they've got their Communist Party of North Korea, and everybody gets punished from the managers down to the worker who didn't fulfil the quota." - BBC

Despite the wonderful treatment, the report notes that thousands have escaped the camps and are living in hiding in Russia.

Go read the whole sad story and watch the video report. This is how Russia treats their friends. It should be a warning to us all.

N Koreans toiling in Russia's timber camps - BBC

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Is Russia Still Holding American Servicemen Captive?

Is Russia Still Holding American Servicemen Captive? This was one question that a joint US-Russia Team was set up to try and answer back in the 90's after the fall of the Soviet Union.

US-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs

In March 1992, the Presidents of the United States and Russian Federation joined together to establish the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs (USRJC). The work of the Commission focuses on three primary objectives:

• - To determine if any American POW/MIAs are being held against their will on the territory of the former Soviet Union and, if so, to secure their immediate release and repatriation;
• - To determine the fate of unaccounted-for members of the U.S. Armed Forces who were located on the territory of the former Soviet Union or about whom the Russian Government may have information; and
• - To clarify facts pertaining to Soviet personnel missing from their their war in Afghanistan, from Cold War-era loss incidents, and from World War II.

To this day the Russians have failed to respond to requests for clear information on American POWs taken by or transfer to the Soviet Union.

The work of the U.S. Side of the Commission to resolve the transfer issue continues. Hopefully, at some point, circumstances will change to allow for a thorough, bilateral inquiry into this elusive question. In the meanwhile, we proceed with our efforts to examine the data we have, pursue new leads, and make our findings known through reports such as this. In a sense, we are not unlike the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Russian citizens who have embarked on a similar quest to learn the facts about their own relatives who disappeared in the gulag. Ultimately, for them as for us, it is persistence which will shape the outcome of this often frustrating, occasionally promising, and always daunting enterprise.

President Obama was recently in Russia praising the Soviet Union. Perhaps his time might have been better spent bringing up unresolved issues such as this one. After all, in order to press the 'reset button' we either need to resolve issues like this one or just forget about them. Unfortunately, the President seems more eager to take the latter route, which will do nothing in terms of bringing out a better Russia as we move forward towards a modern peaceful future together.

I personally do not think that there are any living American POWs in the former Soviet Union, however Russia needs to come clean on the past and provide whatever information it has on Americans that were kidnapped (for lack of a better word) and whose lives ended in the Gulag. Russia is the sole holder of this information. If there was nothing to hide then why haven't they said so?

And just to keep in mind the potential size of the problem, take these two comments:

WWII:

Stalin learned what was happening and retaliated. He permanently "retained" the American and British soldiers whom he still held as bargaining chips. What did he do with them? He carted them to the Soviet Union where they lived the rest of their lives in the Russian gulags. How many American and British soldiers? Over 20,000 Americans and over 30,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers! In fact, as the authors of Soldiers of Misfortune point out: "Starting in 1945, the Soviet Union became the second-largest employer of American servicemen in the world." - fff.Org

Korea:

More than 8,100 American servicemen were never accounted for. Many of them presumably died in battle and their bodies were never recovered. For others, especially P.O.W.s that never came home, there has been speculation, based on documents later found in the Kremlin archives, that hundreds of U.S. servicemen were secretly held against their will. They were to be used as political pawns by the Chinese or Soviets or to be used for medical experiments, according to a report in Newsweek magazine. - SPTimes

As Americans we should demand and answer to this question.

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‘Rescued’ Cargo Ship ARCTIC SEA Hijacked by the Russian Navy?

First, the Russian Navy sends half a fleet thousands of miles to rescue the crew of the Maltese-Flag cargo ship ARCTIC SEA despite having no obvious reason to do so.

Next, the Russian Government has to deny accusations that the ship was carrying secret cargo on behalf of the Russian Government.

Then, the Russian Government has imprisoned not only the hijackers but also the crew which still have yet to call home to their families.

The crew members were not allowed to go home on Thursday: like the hijackers they were taken to the Lefortovo remand prison for questioning. In Arkhangelsk the families of the crew waited for their loved ones with their eyes glued to their televisions. However, there was no indication of when the men would get home. “I only know what was said on television. I hope that I can see my husband as soon as possible”, said mechanic Vladimir Kazhinin’s wife Olga to Helsingin Sanomat by telephone.

Vazir Fazylov, the father of seaman Dmitri Fazylov was surprised that his son was not even allowed to call home. “Nobody is saying anything. We’re just watching TV. This is stupid.” – Helsingin Sanomat

And now, the Russian Navy plans to tow the ship over 4,000 miles to Russia for ‘further investigation’. (Bypassing the ship’s flag-state of Malta.)

It’s almost like the Russians know that there is something on the ship worth hiding. Surely, they have already investigated the ship from top-to-bottom, and any part of the ship not accessible due to cargo onboard would be accessible in Algeria once the cargo was off-loaded. Algeria would be the place to inspect the ship given that the cargo is headed that way and it would be somewhat idiotic to offload all that timber just to re-load it, unless there is something secret hidden under it after all.

One more thing. Why are the Russians towing the ship all the way back to Russia? It would be much faster and safer to sail it under its own power. The Ship operator had stated last week that it was planning to send out a replacement crew to the ship. Maybe the Russians don’t want more prying eyes around?

It is almost as if the Russians have hijacked the ship themselves.

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Nazism/Stalinism Remembrance Day - 23 August

Earlier this year, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has come out and condemned both Nazism and Stalinism as being equally bad:

OSCE condemnes both Nazism and Stalinism

05.07.2009 - On Friday the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution that equates the Nazi regime with Soviet Stalinism. The resolution, titled “Reunification of divided Europe” and put forward by Lithuania and Slovenia, states that Europe has suffered from two totalitarian regimes: the Nazi and the Stalinist. Both brought about genocide and crimes against humanity. For a final and Europe-wide condemnation of totalitarianism, the OSCE resolution offered to set a Nazism/Stalinism remembrance day on August 23 . On 23. August 1939 Europe-dividing Molotov-Ribbentrop was signed by Germany and Soviet Union, dividing Europe between two dictators and paving way to the start of II World War. The resolution states so that both Stalin and Hitler were responsible for the start of this most devastating war. I can only agree to this point of view. - CommunistCrimes.Org

This resolution called for today, 23 August, the anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, to be a day of Remembrance of all the victims of Hitler and Stalin.

As you can imagine, the Russians were not amused, and responded in typical fashion by threatening Europe:

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian lawmakers threatened the OSCE with "harsh" consequences on Saturday after the European security body's parliamentary arm condemned both Stalinism and fascism for starting World War Two.

Russia's delegates stormed out of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's annual parliamentary meeting after members passed the resolution, drafted by a delegate from the host nation Lithuania, a former Soviet satellite.

"This is nothing but an attempt to re-write the history of World War Two," Konstantin Kosachyov, who heads the foreign relations committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, told Interfax news agency.

"The reaction of the parliament to this document will be immediate and it will be harsh." - CommunistCrimes.Org

The Russian's response back home to questions about Russia's actions during World War II has been to criminalize the discussion of how Russia enslaved Eastern Europe at the end of the war.

Along with the calls to remember the victims of the joining of Nazism and Stalinism on this August 23rd, this his whole issue is yet another reminder that Russia has yet to go through an accounting of the Crimes of the Soviet Union like Nazi Germany went through. It is good that Europe has made this step. However, until Russia makes an honest accounting of it's Soviet past, we will not see any change in Russia's current behavior.

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Here is one image from the book 'RED primer for children and diplomats':

In 1939 a wonderful opportunity for world peace came from the most unexpected source. Although the Soviets opposed Fascist dictatorship and imperialism, they saw a means which could be used to further the ultimate triumph of the Communist brand of Socialism. A mutual non-aggression agreement was made with Hitler.

Hitler invaded Poland and the Soviets moved in to prevent the Nazis from taking over the whole country. The Soviets murdered some 11,000 Polish officers and intellectuals at Katyn Forest and peace and order were established in Poland, for a while. - Link

The Soviet Union was busy killing people well before Stalin made a deal with Hitler and was killing long after World War II. Here is a handy Desktop Wallpaper summarizing the 62 Million Deaths attributed to Soviet Rule:

You can find it here: The New American Myth

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A Warning For Those Russian Subs Off The Coast

Recent news has it that Russian submarines are patrolling off the US East Coast. In response, I figured that I would post this video clip of what kind of reception that they might expect if they come here for the wrong reasons.

After all, we have seen how Russians behave when they end up in other countries. Take their most recent camping trip in Georgia as a good example of their poor behavior.

This scene is from the movie 'The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'

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Direct link
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Oddly enough, the policeman's warning to the Russian Sub Commander can easily be adjusted slightly to be used against the Democrats in Congress who are trying to wreck out health care system!

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Russia Seeks to Outlaw Inconvenient Truth About Their Criminal Past

One of the greatest feats of World War Two was how the Soviet Union managed to escape accountability for their actions in helping Hitler take half of Europe. (Not to mention the fact that at the end fo the War they did take half of Europe!)

One of the greatest feats during the breakup of the Soviet Union is how the Russian Government never had to face up to their country's complicity in Helping Hitler and managed to keep the truth from the Russian people.

Now, as information becomes more free and as Russia's neighbors push back with inconvenient facts, Russia is planning to outlaw questioning The Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis in WWII:

And in the lead-up to the country's annual Victory Day celebrations, the Kremlin has made a move that it touts as yet another display of Russia's patriotism and pride: the government has announced that it is considering passing a law to criminalize statements and acts that deny the Soviets won World War II, or claim it used poor tactics in battle or did not liberate Eastern Europe. - Time

and:

Valery Ryazansky, a United Russia Duma MP and a chief supporter of the bill, said on Thursday he hoped the law would appear before the Duma before June 22 — Russia's Day of Remembrance and Mourning. "Those who attempt to interpret the outcome of World War II, to turn everything upside down, to represent those who liberated countries from the Nazi invaders as subjugators" will be punished, he said.

Violators of the new addition to the criminal code would face a fine of up to around $9,200 or up to three years in prison. If the perpetrator is a government official and uses his status to break the law, the fine is increased to more than $15,300, a five-year term in prison and the deprivation of the right to occupy certain government positions, said Ryazansky. - Time

Yes, it might get pretty damn uncomfortable if the Russian Government would have to explain the following: (This is by no means a complete list of collusion between the Soviets and Nazis)

----------Stalin's Intervention to ensure Hitler's Election in Germany:

During the critical 1932 German elections, he forbid the German Communists from collaborating with the Social Democrats. These parties together gained more votes than Hitler and could have prevented him from becoming Chancellor. - Wikipedia

----------Removal of Jews from the Diplomatic Corps:

Stalin purged his diplomatic apparatus of Jews in preparation for signing his “non-aggression” pact with Hitler. - National Review

----------Alliance with Hitler / Nazi Germany

The Soviet Union had Hitler's back at the start of World War II by agreeing to split Europe amongst themselves drawing a line right through Poland. (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) It is common knowledge that Nazi Germany attacked Poland (on 1 September 1939) but not so common knowledge that the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the East. (On 17 September 1939)

----------Support of Nazi Germany

From the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August, 1939 through almost the end of the first half of 1941, Stalin and the USSR fed and equipped Hitler and Germany as Germany invaded Western Europe and then attacked Great Britain by air. - Wikipedia

----------Partially Responsible for World War II

According to the Historian Richard Pipes, the Communist states share some responsibility for World War II. Both Hitler and Mussolini used the Soviet Union as a model for their own totalitarian states and Hitler privately expressed that Stalin was a "genius". In turn, Stalin expressed desire for another great war that would leave his enemies weakened and allow Soviet expansion. He allowed the testing and production of German weapons that were forbidden by the Versailles Treaty to occur on Soviet territory. - Wikipedia

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Soviet-Finnish Winter War

The Soviet Union attacked Finland to take land that the Finns declined to cede to the Soviets voluntarily.

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Soviet Union escorted a Nazi raider disguised as neutral merchant ships to the Pacific so that they could avoid attack by the British:

Breakout into the Pacific - Under the command of Kapitän zur See (later Konteradmiral) Robert Eyssen, HSK7 (German auxiliary cruiser KOMET) departed for her first raiding voyage from Gotenhafen on 3 July 1940. With the consent of the then neutral Soviet Union and with assistance from Soviet Icebreaker Joseph Stalin, KOMET, disguised as the Soviet steamer Dezhnev, passed through the Arctic Ocean north of Russia and entered the Pacific Ocean. - Wiki

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Murmansk Shipyards converted a German ship into an Auxiliary Cruiser

The German motor vessel ILLER was converted into an auxiliary cruiser in the Murmansk shipyards - The Deadly Embrace

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Murmansk was used by the Nazis as a safe haven for their ships at the outbreak of WWII including the:

• German Liner BREMEN
• German Liner ST. LOUIS
• US cargo ship CITY OF FLINT which was taken by the German Battleship DEUTSCHLAND as a prize. The ship and German crew should have been interned by the Soviets but were not.
  

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Soviets provided a Navy base for Nazi Use:

The Soviets also provided Germany with a U-boat base at Basis Nord (Russia) for refueling, maintenance location and a takeoff point for raids and attacks on shipping. In addition, the Soviets provided Germany with access to the Northern Sea Route for both cargo ships and raiders (though only the raider Komet used the route before June of 1941), which forced Britain to protect sea lanes in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. - Wikipedia

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Circumvented Sanctions against Nazi Germany:

The Soviet Union also bought and shipped other materials to Germany, such as rubber from India. - Wikipedia

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Oddly enough, the Soviet Union's assistance to Nazi Germany provided Germany with the raw materials needed to attack the Soviet Union:

Despite fears causing the Soviet Union to enter deals with Germany in 1939, that Germany came so close to destroying the Soviet Union was due, in large part, to Soviet actions taken from 1939 to 1941. Without Soviet imports, German stocks would have run out in several key products by October of 1941, only three and a half months into the invasion. Germany would have already run through their stocks of rubber and grain before the first day of the invasion were it not for Soviet imports.

Without Soviet deliveries of these four major items ( Oil Products, Rubber, Manganese, Grain ), Germany could barely have attacked the Soviet Union, let alone come close to victory, even with more intense rationing. - Wikipedia

----------Stalin attempted to join Hitler's Axis Alliance between Germany and Italy and Japan:

In October and November 1940, German–Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power. The negotiations included a two day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop, followed by both countries trading written proposed agreements. Germany never responded to a November 25, 1940, Soviet proposal leaving the negotiations unresolved. Germany broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in June 1941 by invading the Soviet Union. - Wikipedia

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As for being allied against Hitler for the second-half of WWII, they were not exactly the best allie for the US either:

How Russians copied captured B-29

By 1946, Tupolev had produced the Tu-4, a fully working version of the B-29, plugging a gap in Stalin's arsenal. Mr Hardesty said: "The British and the Americans were flabbergasted when Stalin rolled this out at an air show in the West in 1947 and they hurried to find out how it had been produced."

MI6 and the American CIA obtained information about the three missing B-29s, but full details of how the Russians had copied the Superfortress were not known until Mr Hardesty published an article on the subject this week after being shown top secret Kremlin documents by Russian historians.

The dismantled B-29 and two others made emergency landings near Vladivostok after attacking Japanese targets in Manchuria exactly 12 months before another B-29, the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Unable or unwilling to fly back to their bases on the Chinese mainland, the crews chose to land in the Soviet Union, reasoning that Stalin was an ally.

"This was a bad choice, because they were imprisoned for up to 12 months near Tashkent." The pillaging of the B-29s had immense significance after the war when, with the help of atom spies such as Klaus Fuchs, the Russians stole enough British and American nuclear secrets to build their own atomic bomb.

"Having the Tu-4 meant he had some way of delivering it to America. Suddenly he had a strategic bombing force and was going to be able to stand up to America in the Cold War." - Telegraph, UK

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The only reason Russia is getting away with white-washing over it's criminal behavior during WWII is because the other countries of the world have declined to press them about it. And yet Bush is still one of the greatest monsters of all times, all the while Putin plays old Soviet games such as turning off the pipelines to Western europe and chipping away bits off Georgia.

It is not fair to simply declare this ancient history either. Look at the international incident Russia forced when Estonia decided to move a Soviet statue from the center of their capital. The Russians claimed that the Soviet Union 'liberated' Estonia from the Nazis. Yes, it is true that the Nazis had control of Estonia when the Red Army arrived. What the Russians refuse to say is that the Nazis took Estonia from the Soviets who had invaded first.

Modern Russia will not alter it's aggressive ways until there is a full accounting of Soviet crimes. ----------
Link:
"Falsifiers of History" Targeted by the Kremlin - Jamestown Foundation

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Obama - Chavez - Ahmadinejad (Photo)

I'm sure you have all seen this photo of President Obama making good with the socialist President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. They are probably smiling because they both want to see the US brought down. Note the brother-style handshake. I guess the press was too slow to catch the 'fist-bump'.

Venezuelan Presidency Press Office-issued photo shows US President Barack Obama (left) and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez shaking hands before the opening of the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on April 17. (AFP/HO/Prensa Miraflores) - Yahoo News

So how long is it before we see more photos of the world's worst criminal leaders hanging out with the President of the United States? How long will it be before we get a picture of President Obama hugging Iran's maniac President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Who knows, we might be seeing this at the next annual meeting of the United Nations:

Guess who else hugs Mahmoud? That's right, his socialist buddy Hugo Chavez.

And what kind of dictator would these guys be without having good relations with Putin's Russia.

We are going to have a huge mess to clean up after four years of an Obama Administration.

The jackasses in Congress (Both Democrat and Republican) aren't helping things either. Keep in mind, these are leaders who are actively working against the United States.

Update:
Look who else was fighting for facetime with Venezuela's socialist President.



Maybe she is hoping to get some pointers on 'winning' a Presidential election.

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