Natylie’s Place
August 15, 2019
By Natylie S. Baldwin

Explosion at Achinsk ammunition depot in Siberia; Reuters 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been a rough summer for the Russian heartland. First there were floods and wildfires that ravaged parts of Siberia. Now, over the past 10 days there have been two deadly explosions. The first was at an ammunition depot in Achinsk (also in Siberia), which resulted in one dead and 7 injured with thousands evacuated from the vicinity. The second was an explosion in the White Sea that has killed 7 and seriously injured at least 6 more.

That last incident off the northern coast of Russia involved the release of radiation that led to a spike in local levels in the immediate aftermath. Democracy Now! has reported 7 resultant deaths that it’s suspected that the explosion may have been a test of a nuclear powered cruise missile gone wrong. ZeroHedge provided the following details:

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Natylie’s Place
August 12, 2019
By Natylie S. Baldwin

The U.S. has often had a complicated relationship with Russia. During our civil war, Czar Alexander II sent naval support to the Union forces and enjoyed an amiable correspondence with Abraham Lincoln. As the 19th century transitioned into the 20th, various missionary style ideologues had been projecting a combination of their own hopes and fears onto imperial Russia. This was perhaps most reflected in the writings of the first George Kennan, an explorer and journalist who initially had sympathy for the vast and mysterious nation at the outer edges of Europe, but then turned hostile and actively championed a revolutionary overthrow of the czarist government.

Then we were allies in WWI but it didn’t take long for hostility to set back in as the Bolsheviks took the reins of power, pulled out of the war and seized certain assets, threatening western political and corporate interests. Along with the British, Washington militarily supported counter-revolutionary forces and a cold war of sorts soon emerged in which Washington refused to officially recognize the Soviet government until 1933.

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Dear CCI Readers,

There is much information outside of our mainstream media that is getting attention in other places. Generally, it doesn’t appear in our newspapers or TV channels.

I picked up the following from New Silk Strategies, a good external barometer, that we need to know about. It’s becoming clearer all the time that our strong-arm policies of the past are not going over well in nations with whom we’ve previously had total compliance.

The new Multipolar world is already here, and the Unipolar world is fading into the past. Our President and current Congress members, advisors and FBI/CIA services seems to be the last to understand this. Expect to see more evidence of this gargantuan shift between the two poles over the coming year.

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Dear CCI Friends,

As most of you know, I got involved in relations between America and the Soviet Union because of my fear that nuclear weapons could destroy my four children. That was 36 years ago. September 16th, 1983, we landed in the USSR to meet the “enemy.” I’ve remained involved creating programs to bind our two nations people and leaders together for the same reason. But it’s no longer working. Worse yet, our leaders, Presidency and Congress are picking a fight with Russia, the only country that could blow us off of the face the earth! What logic is this??? It’s not logic, it’s pure insanity!

The first goal of all Americans, the Presidency (regardless of who occupies the seat), members of Congress, all persons who have privilege and responsibility in our society is–– to halt the production of … and reduce the number of … NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

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Video: Putin flies to Siberia to see devastation of flooding, spends hours listening to peoples’ problems & then castigates local officials for their  sloppy response.

Trump offers U.S. assistance fighting Siberian fires; Russia’s Deputy FM: U.S. provoking other countries to eventually abandon the dollar.

Natylie’s Place
August 1, 2019 

This kind of reminds me of Putin in 2009 paying a last-minute visit to a factory in Pikalyovo after getting a note from a local trade union leader about a plant that had been closed down due to squabbling among the owners, leaving most of town’s residents out of work and with dysfunctional infrastructure. Putin showed up and reamed the owners of the factory, including Oleg Deripaska. Putin basically told the owners to get off their duffs and get the factory re-opened so the locals could go back to work, otherwise the factory would be taken out of their control. After a sheepish Deripaska had to be persuaded to sign an agreement promising he’d do what he was supposed to do, he started to walk off with Putin’s pen. Putin exclaimed: “And give me my pen back.” A video of the whole thing went viral on YouTube.

Putin recently flew out to the Irkutsk area of Siberia in the aftermath of terrible floods that destroyed many homes, leaving people stranded with complaints that local officials were making access to any assistance difficult and confusing. This video gives you a window into why Putin is still popular among many Russians. Contrast Putin’s taking the time to personally talk to dozens of local people who gathered to ask him for help (and having his aides take down everyone’s name and number for follow-up) with Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina or Obama’s handling of the Gulf oil spill or Trump’s handling of the hurricanes in Puerto Rico. I’m also thinking of a recent incident in which a poor homeless woman encounters New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio at a gym and tries to ask him about doing more to help the homeless. He refused to address her question and gave her the brush off.

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