Tag: Russia | Hamilton.jerry

April 18, 2014

Russia suffers third meteor strike in last 14 months

Today Another Meteor Hits Russia

One of the worst aspects of being the geographically largest nation on the planet: Meteors will most likely hit that nation. That’s what happened today, and not for the first time. http://www.reuters.com/video/2013/02/15/meteor-hits-central-russia-400-hurt?videoId=241140683

Hundreds of citizens suffered the consequences of the latest impact. Yet, the crash two months ago and the other crash a year before, suggest a pattern of sorts. http://www.space.com/24714-russian-meteor-blast-chelyabinsk-anniversary.html Even if everyone knew where the impact might occur, little can be done besides wholesale flight from that area. The power of a meteor impact leaves no options for any human defense against them.

HFS analysts wonder aloud whether the planet might witness impacts in more populated areas in Europe, Asia, and the USA. Has Russia suffered enough and is it probably time for the rest of the world now? What do you think?

April 8, 2014

Is US Posturing Again Over Ukraine Unrest?

Is Kerry Posturing Over Ukraine Unrest?

Today US Secretary of State John Kerry claimed that Russian secret agents and special forces have caused the unrest in several Ukraine areas. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/08/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA370RU20140408 Kerry provided no evidence in support of his claims.

In Luhansk, Ukraine, separatists took temporary control of a government building and raided its armory of rifles and ammunition. Western politicians allege that those separatists also took 60 hostages and secreted bombs throughout the building. Several separatists have denied those Western claims. No proof of the politicians’ claims has been provided any reporters. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-ukraine-crisis-20140408,0,4945134.story

Russian politicians have voiced concerns over Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement expressing fear over potential civil war. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2014/04/08/Russia-Civil-war-in-Ukraine-possible/4831396962909/

To HFS, the obvious issue concerns what Russia might do next. The US and other western politicians appear to be drumming up their domestic support for possible intervention, although to HFS that alternative should be the very last on any list of options. The Russian politicians appear to be waiting anxiously to see how the Russian speakers in Ukraine fare, fearing violence and civil war, but willing if necessary to consider additional action if necessary. None of it sounds good to HFS analysts. What do you think?

March 25, 2014

Alaska Petition To Secede and Join Russia Sounds Incredible

Alaska Up for Russian Repatriation?

Crimea moves daily towards its status as part of Russia, not Ukraine, despite European and US protests and punitive actions. Russia’s justification remains today: We must protect our Russian family wherever they may be.

So if Alaskans petition for repatriation back to Russia because a few thousand signatures appear on a White House website, will Russia be tempted to move against the US? http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2014/03/24/Alaska-petition-seeking-secession-back-to-Russia-gets-10000-signatures-in-three-days/4791395684800/

Sounds crazy, right? Despite Alaska’s very small Russian ethnic population, about 1 percent, over 17,000 signatures on http://WhiteHouse.gov have registered so far on a petition to give Alaska back to Russia. http://www.vocativ.com/culture/society/just-crimea-alaskans-want-join-russia/

When Czar Alexander II, desperate for funds in 1867, agreed to sell Alaska to the US for $7.2 M, no one then seemed to complain. Yet, today, whether because ethnic Russians in Alaska truly want repatriation to the largest country on the planet or because more mysterious forces have started pushing, something weird in Alaska has been uncovered as the ice thaws with the coming Spring. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska

Perhaps one source of the repatriation push arises from disillusioned Christians in Alaska, if Godlike Productions prophecies can be believed. http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message602788/pg1

Others accuse Palin or her sympathizers. http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2014/03/petition-to-have-alaska-secede-back-to.html

Analysts at HFS say that the originator of the petition for Alaska to secede from the US to join the Russian Federation, “unnamed Anchorage resident,” sparks many imaginations. The HFS favorite is rabid bots unleashed by megalomaniac Putin activists. However, from a rational standpoint, HFS suggests that reaching the required number of signatures, 100,000, by 20 April 2014 seems a long way away, and that date gives anti-secession activists time to find out who is really behind the big push.

What do you think?

March 17, 2014

Russia Wins Referendum In Crimea, Now What?

No Surprise: 95% of Voters in Crimea Vote to Join Russia

More than 95% of voters in yesterday’s referendum support Russia’s takeover of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, says chairman of the Sevastopol legislative assembly Yuri Doynikov. http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/mar/17/crimea-votes-to-leave-ukraine/

Voter turnout reached 80%. http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_03_17/Referendum-in-Crimea-official-result-to-be-announced-on-17-March-first-data-show-96-vote-for-Russia-7828/

Both the voting results and world reactions seemed fully predictable. Hague spokesmen called the referendum a mockery. http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2014/03/17/330130/crimea-result-makes-a-mockery-of-democracy-says-hague.html

Stock markets ended in the red last week before the referendum. http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/126581/stock-market-news-for-march-17-2014

Western governments now mull adding sanctions to those already to be approved later today. http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/14214-crimea-votes-to-join-russia-west-mulls-new-sanctions

HFS analysts forecast continued anxiety in the stock markets despite the referendum, as fallout from Crimean politics appears to have just begun.

What do you think?

March 14, 2014

Russia Regulates Internet to Silence Violence Advocates

Kremlin Pushes Critics Off Internet Stage for Advocating Violence

Internet blogs of several noted commentators were frozen by order of Russian prosecutors earlier today due to quotes from a house-arrested Ukrainian spokesman and calls for illegal violence. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/13/us-russia-internet-idUSBREA2C21L20140313

Commentators included former chess champion and now Internet-news-editor Garry Kasparov, owner of Ej.ru, which had quoted a far-right Ukrainian leader presently under house arrest and forbidden from making news statements. Other bloggers were shut down because they advocated violent action against Russian authorities, in violation of Russian laws enacted since President Vladimir Putin’s last election. http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-blocks-websites-critical-of-kremlin/25297188.html

Cries of Russian censorship and violation of free speech rights met the Russian Internet actions across European and Asian blogs. http://world.topnewstoday.org/world/article/10305863/

As HFS analysts have maintained in discussions about Internet freedom, the world wide web is free only so long as the governments where people live and communicate permit such freedom. In the larger view, the web exists at the pleasure of political powers.

What do you think?

March 10, 2014

Kerry 2nd Blunder Will Hurt Ukrainians

Kerry Blunder Will Cost Ukrainians

Saturday US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov the US would “close any available space for diplomacy” if Russia annexes Crimea. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/john-kerry-made-troubling-threat-151446123.html and

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/08/us-ukraine-crisis-usa-idUSBREA270OZ20140308

This is not the first diplomatic blunder for John Kerry. Recall when in September 2013 the US jeopardized Syria when Kerry spouted off about avoiding US force if Assad would surrender chemical weapons. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/09/10/syri-s10.html

Today, Russia continues its annexation process over Crimea after changing its laws to support annexation of places with Russian speaking people, despite international opposition. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/09/ukraine-crisis-idUSL6N0M606520140309

Analysts at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com view Secretary Kerry’s remarks as extremely unhelpful, since short of military confrontation, diplomacy offers the only means to unwind the Ukraine crisis. This ‘no more diplomacy’ posture poses the most likely scenario for war, yet obviously the US has no real capacity for acting alone, so HFS analysts wonder whether the UN or other US allies were consulted before the Kerry remarks.

What do you think?

March 7, 2014

Russia Not Necessarily Behind Turla Spyware Attack Against Europe and US

Russia Backed Spyware Attacks Europe and USA? Not Necessarily Russian

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/07/us-russia-cyberespionage-insight-idUSBREA260YI20140307

Unnamed security researchers and intelligence officers claim that Turla software has attacked European and US government computer systems to take control of them. http://article.wn.com/view/2014/03/07/Suspected_Russian_spyware_Turla_targets_Europe_US_1/

News of the spyware infection is now sweeping Europe. http://news168.co.uk/index/suspected-russian-spyware-turla-targets-europe-us And the US news agencies have started reporting the story, too. http://www.newshour24.com/business/1ze3akmm16/Suspected-Russian-Spyware-Turla-Targets-Europe-Us-Reuters.htm

Analysts at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com expect much more news to hit on Turla and similar spyware in the next few days, but the news for now says that hackers backed by the Russian government use a specific style of software design and execution precisely like that employed by the spyware called Turla. European and US government agencies have circulated internal IT memos for how to identify and quarantine the spyware, but because the spyware shuts down via remote commands when detected, some or perhaps many government agencies cannot detect it without thousands of hours of code scrubbing. Costs associated with this type of cyber attack mount quickly into millions of Euros.

The http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com (HFS) analysts further opine that because the style of software design and execution has been closely identified with known or suspected Russian free-lance software developers, the possibility exists that some forces unrelated to Russia might be funding the same free-lancers. If so, cyber intelligence claims tainting Russia could be politically motivated as Ukraine tensions mount at the UN. The HFS analysts caution that no one really knows at this time who has retained the free-lance software designers behind Turla because no one has taken credit for the attack.

March 3, 2014

2 or 3 Moves Ahead? Gates Advises Obama on Ukraine-Russia Action

Look 2 or 3 Moves Out, Gates Advises Obama on Ukraine-Russia Tensions

When the US Secretary of Defense, an acknowledged expert on Russian politics from a CIA perspective, advises US President Obama to look two or three moves out, as he just did today, one must wonder what the US is truly up to in the face of mounting tensions as Russian tanks and troops gather just east of Crimea. http://news.yahoo.com/obama-must-carefully-calibrate-russia-response-rhetoric-gates-014117221–sector.html

Of course the path looks treacherous, no matter which turns the US takes. A major reason for such danger arises from the fact that the US has no real business intervening in those tensions in the first place. The Ukraine-Russia tensions have a long history, older in some ways than the US as a nation, so no westerner, but especially the US, has either military power or moral credibility to act in the region. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/03/ukraine-crisis-putin-idUSL6N0LZ0QK20140303

At least Gates realizes that Russian Prime Minister Putin holds huge power on the Russian side of the border with Ukraine, partly because Russia maintains a large, mostly modern military force but also because a significant portion of the Ukraine population identifies with a Russian heritage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine and http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/03/ukraine-crisis-gas-idUSL6N0M00ZR20140303

If Obama needs to be told to look a few moves out, Obama seems to have lost any contest with Russia before it begins, say analysts at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com. What do you think? Does the US have any legitimate role in the Ukraine-Russia theater? What real interests does the US have there? Why would the US risk confrontation with Russia after seeking for the past five years to find some friendly balance between the two giants’ domains?

February 7, 2014

Nuland Phone Gaff Gets No Comment

US Diplomat Phone Remarks On YouTube Dis the EU

http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com

Victoria Nuland, a senior US diplomat, has nothing more to say about a leak, allegedly from Russian secret services, on her internal telephone conversation. Her expletive dismissal of the European Union piqued anger from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but to Nuland the YouTube post of her private diplomatic discussion demonstrated good spy tradecraft. (http://www.voanews.com/content/us-diplomat-no-comment-on-alleged-eu-statement/1846448.html) She took an opportunity in today’s press conference to note that the US does not train or supply Ukrainian protestors, contrary to President Putin’s advisors’ allegations. (http://www.usnews.com/news/newsgram/articles/2014/02/06/putin-adviser-threatens-russian-intervention-in-ukraine)

To me, Nuland’s flippant lack of awareness of how every telephone conversation, but especially those of US high ranking diplomats, has become fair game for all spy organizations, not to mention high tech vigilantes, since the Snowden disclosures about rampant US spying under the PRISM program orchestrated by the US National Security Agency across more than 100 other US spy agencies.

In other words, what goes around comes around. What do you think?