By NewsEditor
Physicist Thomas Fife claims while in Russia in 1992, he was told by former KGB agents that the U.S. will have a black, Soviet agent as President soon named Barack.
Tag Archives: KGB
UK: International relations a factor in spy case
The British government says international relations were a factor in its decision not to hold a public inquiry into the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Coroner Robert Owen had asked the government to hold a broad inquiry into the death of the KGB agent turned Kremlin critic, who died in London in 2006 after ingesting radioactive polonium-210.
Owen said an inquiry would be able to consider secret evidence to determine whether the Russian state was involved.
Last week Owen said the government had refused his request. In a letter published Friday, Home Secretary Theresa May spelled out her reasons, among them the cost.
She also said “it is true that international relations have been a factor in the government’s decision-making” — although not the deciding factor.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Belarus court says book of news photos 'extremist'
A court in Belarus has branded a book of news photographs “extremist,” agreeing with the state security agency that the book set out to humiliate the country.
The work consists of photos taken in 2010 that won prizes in the 2011 Belarus Press Photo competition, including images of people protesting against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and a police crackdown on them.
Some of the photos were made by photographers working for international news agencies, including The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP.
The security agency, which is still called the KGB, said the photos were selected to “humiliate national honor and dignity.”
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/4q44yPFSxt8/
Russia's Demographics Are Now Better Than The Baltics'
One thing you often hear from Russia watchers is that the country’s dreadful demographics are not only a result of seventy-odd years of economic lunacy under the socialist yoke, but of its autocratic political system’s distinct moral failure to “face up to” the many crimes that accompanied the effort to build communism. If only Russians would look at themselves in the mirror and come to truth with Stalin, the Gulag, and the KGB, we are told, they would be able to lead healthier, longer, and more productive lives. People also note that Russians would be much more comfortable having children if they had any faith in their country’s political institutions, instead of distrusting the corruption-riddled and ineffective ones that exist today. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Putin revives Soviet-era Hero of Labor award
President Vladimir Putin on Friday revived the Soviet-era Hero of Labor award, once again turning to the symbols of the Soviet Union to reach Russians who look back to those times with nostalgia.
Putin, a 60-year-old former KGB officer, also has turned to Soviet practices to address the problems of Russia today. In his decree, the president said he was establishing the title Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation “with the goals of raising the social significance and prestige of selfless and honest labor.”
The new Hero of Labor medal is now Russia‘s highest state award and as such is to be worn on the left side of the chest and above all other Russian and Soviet awards. The medal is to be made from gold with a weight of 15.25 grams (more than half an ounce).
The award should be given to Russian citizens who “make a significant contribution to the social and economic development of the country, including development of industrial and agricultural production, transport, construction, science, culture, education and health care, and also other spheres of activity,” the decree states.
The systemic corruption in Russia — from kickbacks paid to Kremlin-loyal businesses to bribes demanded by doctors and teachers — has undermined people’s faith in government and hindered economic growth. While the opposition pins the blame squarely on Putin, he has made a concerted effort in recent months to show that he is addressing the problem.
In announcing his intention to revive the Hero of Labor award, Putin said that it had “proved to be useful” in the past.
Earlier this month, Putin called for the revival of a Soviet-era physical evaluation program that required all schoolchildren to pass fitness tests. He lamented that children today are in much worse shape than a few decades ago and said the restoration of GTO, the Russian acronym for Ready for Labor and Defense, would teach them “to stand up for themselves, their family and, in the final run, the fatherland.”
On Friday, he called for children once again to wear uniforms to school as they did in Soviet times.
Shortly after he first became president in 2000, Putin brought back the Soviet anthem and reinstated the Soviet-era red banner and red star for the military. The return of the familiar symbols was part of Putin’s effort to revive Russia‘s image as …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Russian officials searching Human Rights Watch
Russian officials are searching the Moscow offices Human Rights Watch and the corruption watchdog Transparency International, intensifying the recent wave of pressure on non-governmental organizations.
Rachel Denber of Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that officials from the prosecutor general’s office and tax police were conducting an “unannounced audit” and demanding documents.
Transparency’s Russia chief Elena Panfilova said that her organization’s office was also being searched.
Russian officials have searched as many as 2,000 non-governmental groups in the past month, according to Pavel Chikov, a member of the presidential human rights council, whose human rights law group is also being searched.
The searches began after President Vladimir Putin gave a speech to the FSB, the KGB‘s successor agency, in February, urging them to focus on groups receiving foreign funding.
Post-mortem shows exiled Russian tycoon died from hanging
A post-mortem examination found that self-exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky died by hanging, and there was nothing pointing to a violent struggle, British police said.
Thames Valley Police said Monday that further tests, including toxicology examinations, will be carried out. The force did not specify whether the 67-year-old businessman hanged himself.
Once one of Russia‘s richest men and a Kremlin powerbroker, Berezovsky fled to Britain in 2001 and claimed political asylum after a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He became a vocal critic of the Kremlin.
Berezovsky had survived several assassination attempts in Britain and Russia, including a car bomb in 1994 that killed his driver.
Berezovsky’s body was found by an employee on the bathroom floor at his upscale England home on Saturday. The employee called an ambulance after he forced open the bathroom door, which was locked from the inside. Police said the employee was the only person in the house when Berezovsky’s body was discovered. They have said there was no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in the death.
A forensic examination of Berezovsky’s home will continue for several days, police said Monday.
A mathematician-turned-Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky built up his wealth during Russia‘s chaotic privatization of state assets in the 1990s following the breakup of the Soviet Union. In return for backing Russian President Boris Yeltsin, he gained political clout and opportunities to buy state assets like oil and gas at knockdown prices.
Berezovsky helped build Putin’s power base but fell out of favor when the new president moved to curb the ambitions of the oligarchs. The tycoon was charged in Russia with fraud and embezzlement.
Berezovsky later associated himself with ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, another Kremlin critic. Litvinenko died after ingesting polonium in his tea at a London hotel in 2006.
In recent years, Berezovsky’s fortunes declined with numerous expensive court cases.
Last year, Berezovsky lost a huge legal battle against former business partner and fellow Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, which left him with legal bills of at least $53.3 million.
Berezovsky had said that Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, cheated him out of his stakes in the oil group Sibneft, arguing that he blackmailed him into selling the stakes vastly beneath their true worth after he fell out of Putin’s favor.
But a judge threw out the case in August, ruling that Berezovsky was a dishonest and unreliable witness, and rejected Berezovsky’s claims that he was threatened by Putin and Alexander Voloshin, a Putin ally, to coerce him to sell his Sibneft stake.
In 2010 Berezovsky also took a hit with his divorce from Galina Besharova, paying a settlement estimated to be as high as 100 million pounds.
Glance: Other Russians whose deaths have rocked UK
Russia‘s transition from a Kremlin-controlled economy to a free market free-for-all in the 1990s brought on a wave of contract killings as criminals, entrepreneurs and corrupt officials tried to muscle each other out of lucrative businesses. The death of 67-year-old Boris Berezovsky — who died from hanging at his home, according to initial post mortem examinations — has raised questions about the safety of oligarchs as opposition figures back in Russia have been making the United Kingdom their home.
Here are some other U.K. incidents involving figures from — or involved with — the former Soviet Union:
ALEXANDER LITVINENKO
Litvinenko, a former KGB agent turned fierce critic of the Kremlin, died after ingesting polonium in his tea at a London hotel in 2006. His family blames the Russian state for orchestrating his death, and British authorities have named former KGB officer and Russian lawmaker Andrei Lugovoi as their chief suspect. The Kremlin — and Lugovoi — deny being behind the poisoning, which drew headlines worldwide. Perhaps mindful of Litvinenko’s experience, British police called in a hazardous materials team to examine Berezovsky’s home. They later declared the property clear of hazardous materials.
BADRI PATARKATSISHVILI
Patarkatsishvili, an associate and confidant of Berezovsky’s, died in his mansion in southern England in February 2008. Police initially said his death appeared suspicious but authorities later ruled the 52-year-old billionaire had succumbed to heart failure. Patarkatsishvili was active in Georgian politics, retained a small army of bodyguards, and often said he feared he would be targeted in an assassination attempt.
ALEXANDER PEREPILICHNYY
Perepilichnyy was found dead outside his plush home in southern England in November 2012. He had been in possession of documents which allegedly blew the lid off a massive Russian tax fraud involving dirty money being funneled into Swiss bank accounts. Post-mortem examinations have so far failed to determine how the 44-year-old died. In a recent report, the BBC said he had had a checkup and was given a clean bill of health only months before his death.
STEPHEN CURTIS
Described by author Mark Hollingsworth as “the lawyer who knew too much,” Curtis died when his helicopter crashed in poor weather on its way to his 19th-century retreat in southern England in March 2004. Investigators ruled …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Russian officials search Amnesty International
Officials are searching the Russian headquarters of human rights watchdog Amnesty International.
Amnesty’s Russia chief Sergei Nikitin told the AP by telephone that officials from the general prosecutor’s office and tax police conducted an unannounced audit of his offices Monday. Nikitin said the officials requested documents the government already has on file.
They were accompanied by journalists from the state-controlled NTV station, which has been used by the Kremlin for hatchet jobs against its political foes.
Russian officials have searched up to 2,000 NGOs in the past month, according to Pavel Chikov, a member of the presidential human rights council.
The searches began after President Vladimir Putin gave a speech to the FSB, the KGB‘s successor agency, in which he urged them to focus attention on groups receiving foreign funding.
UK police probe death of exiled Russian oligarch Berezovsky
British police said Saturday they have launched an investigation into the “unexplained death” of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who was found dead at his home in southeast England on Saturday.
“His death is currently being treated as unexplained and a full inquiry is under way. The area around the property has been cordoned off in order to allow the investigation to take place,” police said in a statement obtained by Reuters.
The statement did not directly identify the 67-year-old businessman, but Thames Valley police said they were investigating the death of a man of the same age at a property in Ascot, a town 25 miles west of London.
Boris Berezovsky, a self-exiled and outspoken oligarch, had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In recent years, the one-time Kremlin powerbroker-turned-thorn in Putin’s side fended off verbal and legal attacks in cases that often bore political undertones — and bit into his fortune.
Lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky told Russian state TV that his client — who had survived assassination attempts in the past — lately had been in “a horrible, terrible” emotional state.
“All he had was debts,” Dobrovinsky said. “He was practically destroyed. He was selling his paintings and other things.”
A mathematician-turned-Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky amassed his wealth during Russia‘s chaotic privatization of state assets in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In return for backing former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, he gained political clout and opportunities to buy state assets at knockdown prices, making a fortune in oil and automobiles.
He also played a key role in brokering the rise of Yeltsin’s successor, Vladimir Putin, in 2000. But Berezovsky later fell out of favor with Putin, and eventually sought political asylum in the U.K. in the early 2000s to evade fraud charges he contended were politically motivated.
Berezovsky was one of several so-called Russian “oligarchs” to butt heads with Putin.
After coming into power, the Russian president effectively made a pact: the oligarchs could keep their money if they didn’t challenge him politically. Those who refused often found themselves in dire circumstances. Some were imprisoned — like the former Yukos Oil chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky — while others, like Berezovsky, fled Russia.
The assets of these pariah businessmen, meanwhile, were acquired by state corporations or cooperative tycoons, often at bargain prices.
Over the years, Berezovsky accused Putin of leading Russia toward dictatorship and returning it to a Soviet-style system of state monopoly on the media.
In the U.K., Berezovsky allied himself with an array of other Kremlin critics. Among them was ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who fled Russia with Berezovsky’s help after accusing officials there of plotting to assassinate political opponents.
Litvinenko died on Nov. 26, 2006, after drinking tea laced with a lethal dose of the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210 in a London hotel. From his deathbed, Litvinenko accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his poisoning, and British police named former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi as the prime suspect.
Both Lugovoi and the Kremlin denied the accusations, with the former instead claiming that Berezovsky — whom Russia repeatedly …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Suspect in poisoning of Russian spy withdraws from British inquest into murder
The main suspect in the grisly poisoning of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London withdrew on Tuesday from the British inquest into the murder, saying that political pressure and state secrecy were preventing him from clearing his name.
Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence officer turned fierce Kremlin critic, died in 2006 after drinking tea poisoned with the radioactive isotope polonium-210 at a London hotel. His family says he was working for Britain’s intelligence services, and believes the Russian state was behind his death.
Britain has named Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB officer and Russian lawmaker, and businessman Dmitry Kovtun, who met Litvinenko hours before he fell ill, as the main suspects. Both deny their involvement and have refused to attend the inquest, though they have sent legal representatives. Russia has turned down British requests to extradite the two men.
In Britain, inquests are held to determine the facts whenever someone dies violently, unexpectedly or in disputed circumstances, though they do not apportion blame. But in Litvinenko’s case every detail of the inquiry is being scrutinized for clues to the alleged involvement of Russia‘s secret services.
Parts of the inquest have been held in secret after the British government cited security reasons, over the objections of Litvinenko’s family and media. Russia‘s top investigative agency has conducted its own investigation of the crime and said that Lugovoi, who claims he was also exposed to the polonium, was also a victim.
Lugovoi claimed the polonium trail in fact led from London to Moscow and scoffed at allegations in the British media that the Russian state ordered Litvinenko’s death.
“Litvinenko’s not Trotsky – he doesn’t have enough stature for secret services to run around the whole world after him with an icepick in their hand,” he added, referring to the prominent rival of Stalin assassinated in Mexico in 1941.
Brandishing what he said was a classified British police report into Litvinenko’s death, Lugovoi said that the accusations against him were “nonsense” and that Scotland Yard was ignoring alternative theories of the crime in order to smear the Kremlin.
Litvinenko’s alleged work for British intelligence, collaboration with Spanish authorities investigating the Russian mafia and private intelligence work was a “lifestyle that earned him all sorts of open and covert enemies,” Lugovoi said.
Logovoi alleged that the British inquest has been influenced by Boris Berezovsky, a flamboyant and outspoken Russian oligarch in London exile who had close ties to Litvinenko. Lugovoi says Berezovsky was involved in the poisoning, a charge that Berezosvky has denied.
There Once Was A Place Called America…
“There once was a place called America,” our children’s children will one day write, “a bright and shining city on a hill, divinely placed by God to serve as a beacon of hope to the entire world. A land filled with generous-hearted souls who showered the needy the world over with their abundant blessings.”
You see, America was founded by a handful of God-fearing patriots who didn’t always agree but believed certain things like life, liberty, and the personal pursuit of happiness were worth dying for. And to ensure their ideas would survive the ages, they crafted one of the most revered documents ever put to paper, the United States Constitution.
It wasn’t long before this exceptional nation became the envy of those who thirsted for freedom and the enemy of those who despised it. Some loathed America to the point of making threats while others declared war. But a certain few understood defeat was increasingly less likely and instead devised a plan to take down America from within, one small step at a time.
The leader of the former Soviet Union Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev promised his beloved Communism would bury the capitalistic West without declaring war. The plan was outlined in a fascinating book called “The Naked Communist,” written in 1958 by a man named Cleon Skousen who accurately warned Americans of troubles to come unless things changed.
Skousen laid out the dangers Americans faced, point by point, almost as a Communist roadmap to America’s demise: Progressives captured the Democratic Party (goal number 15); civil rights actions were taken in courts to “weaken basic American institutions” (16); the educational system was infiltrated (17); rioting like the Occupy movement was encouraged (19); the press was infiltrated (20); domination of the big screen and television waves (21); cultural standards of morality were broken down (25); homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity were presented as “normal” (26); churches were infiltrated by those promoting social justice (27); and prayer in schools was eliminated (28). Moreover, the Constitution and founding fathers were discredited (29 & 30) and American culture belittled by those promoting “cultural sensitivity training” seminars similar to one recently uncovered by a video showing employees pounding on tables while chanting anti-American rants led by a man representing the organization, Souder, Betances, and Associate, reaping more than $3.3 million taxpayer funds according to USASpending.gov.
Skousen may have been a prophet, seeing that most of his predictions came to pass. Too clever to be labeled Communists, they chose the name “Progressive” and in the name of change set out to dismantle the Constitution, piece by piece. Progress was slow but steady, that is until their savior, Barack Obama, arrived.
And no one was outraged because the Communist mission was complete. As former KGB agent Yuri Besmenov so eloquently described, without war or bloodshed, America and her people were demoralized, no longer having the reasoning ability to distinguish right from wrong, or to comprehend the immensity of the treasure they’d buried just outside the gates of Hell.
Putin: NGOs mustn't meddle in Russia's affairs
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned foreign-funded organizations against “meddling” in the country’s affairs.
Russia last year passed a law requiring all such non-governmental organizations to register as “foreign agents” — a derogatory term in the Russian language.
In his speech to the board of the intelligence agency FSB, successor to the KGB, Putin on Thursday defended the bill, saying that Moscow won’t tolerate “any meddling in our internal affairs, any forms of pressure on Russia.”
The Interfax news agency quoted FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov as saying that the United States has “raised geopolitical pressure” and still views Russia “as a major rival on the international stage.”
Critics say Putin, a former KGB colonel, has used the NGO law and other recent legislation to incite anti-Americanism.
Russian wardens throw party for Stalin's gulag
Millions of people died in Soviet dictator Josef Stalin‘s gulag, but the 75th anniversary of the founding of one of the notorious forced-labor camps was cause for a celebration in Russia.
Russian news portals reported Tuesday that local officials and prison wardens threw a party last week honoring the Usolsky camp in the Urals, with music and dancing and speeches by former camp guards.
The NKVD, the KGB predecessor which ran the gulag, “instilled traditions in the camp that still hold value today,” the Solikamsky regional department of Russia‘s prison service said in a statement. These traditions included allegiance to the motherland, mutual assistance and respect for war veterans, the statement said.
Hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers who had been captured by Nazi forces during World War II were sent to the gulag after the war.
“So hard were the times in which the Usolsky camp was founded, so heavy were the burdens it overcame!” Sergei Yerofeyev, deputy chairman of a committee for retired prison wardens, said in the statement. The camp was founded in 1938, a year when the NKVD executed hundreds of thousands of people for “political crimes” and sent millions more to the gulag.
“What bravery its directors displayed over that time, so that the institution could stand tall and successfully complete its production and social tasks,” Yerofeyev added.
Usolsky camp held from 10,000 to 30,000 prisoners at any given time, including those convicted of “counter-revolutionary activity” and other political crimes. More than 16 percent of prisoners there died of malnutrition and overwork, one of the highest rates in the gulag.
Many political prisoners were freed after Stalin died in 1953. The Usolsky camp transferred its remaining political prisoners in 1955 and was closed in 1960.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Video: Doctors Become Obama’s New Secret Police
By Kris Zane
“Never let a crisis go to waste,” Obama’s former Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel once quipped. And that is exactly what Obama has done with the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, flanking himself with children yesterday who had supposedly written letters begging him to “do something” about gun violence.
This “something” was revealed in Obama’s twenty-three “executive actions,” which amount to curtailing the Second Amendment by bypassing Congress and the Constitution.
But the most onerous part of Obama’s “executive actions” is the turning of doctors into de facto secret police that make the KGB and Gestapo look like Boy Scouts:
Executive Action #16
Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
Executive Action #2
Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
Let us think about this for a moment. Virtually everyone goes to a doctor. So questions about guns in the home primarily regarding access by those with mental health issues will be asked of literally every adult, every teenager, and every child in the nation.
It is not only those with “mental health issues.” Virtually every military veteran who has served in combat, whether he or she has been diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or not, could be deemed as having a mental health issue. What about post-partum depression of women who have recently given birth? This and PTSD could be easily—but falsely—“proved.” What about a child who tells the doctor that mom and dad have been arguing? Would this be considered a “mental health” issue?
And it is not only individuals who are living in the home. What about an uncle who suffers from depression who comes for Thanksgiving once a year? Or what about a neighbor you invite over for coffee once in a while? The neighbor says that she’s been depressed lately. Would this have to be revealed to your doctor?
So we see that Obama’s “executive actions” are nothing more than a ruse to create what all Marxists desire: a repressive, totalitarian state under constant surveillance.
And that requires a disarming of its citizens.
Hold on to your guns, America.