Russia, West on collision course over Syria

Google – AFP, 26 August 2013

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) and US Secretary of State

John Kerry in Washington, August 9, 2013 (AFP/File, Paul J. Richards)

MOSCOW — Russia's two-and-a-half year dispute with the West over the conflict in Syria hit a new peak Monday as Moscow warned against military action without UN approval and cast doubt over the regime's involvement in a claimed chemical weapons attack.

The alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack outside Damascus has driven a new wedge between Russia and the West, with Moscow and Western capitals offering vastly different interpretations of the incident.

Whereas Britain, France, Turkey and the United States have said the attack appears to have been perpetrated by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Russia believes it was a ploy by rebels with the aim of discrediting the Kremlin's traditional ally.

A telephone call Monday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister David Cameron underlined how far apart Moscow and the West were.

Putin said that "they did not have evidence of whether a chemical weapons attack had taken place or who was responsible," according to a Downing Street spokesman in London.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov 

gives a press conference on Syria in

 Moscow on August 26, 2013 (AFP,

Kirill Kudryavtsev)

Cameron insisted that there was "little doubt" Assad's regime had carried out a chemical attack, according to a readout of the conversation.

With clamour growing in Western states for military action against Assad, Russia warned such intervention would destabilise the entire Middle East and be based on false reasoning.

Any action such as air strikes would likely have no mandate from the UN Security Council, where Russia and its ally China would be almost certain to block resolutions approving force.

Britain -- as well as staunchly anti-Assad Turkey -- raised the prospect of a confrontation with Russia similar to that over the 2003 US-led Iraq invasion or the 1999 Kosovo NATO air campaign by launching military action without UN approval.

"If force is used without a UN resolution it will lead to very serious consequences in relations between Russia and the United States and its NATO partners," said Alexander Filonik, a Middle East expert at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

At a hastily called news conference Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any use of force against Syria without UN approval would be a "very grave violation of international law."

He said ideas floated in the West about knocking out the regime's military infrastructure and helping hand victory to rebels were not just an "illusion" but a "grave mistake that will not lead to any peace, but only mark a new, even bloodier stage of the war in Syria."

Taking military action against Assad would be a clear sign from the West that it does not want to take account of Moscow's opinion, Maria Lipman of the Carnegie Centre in Moscow told AFP.

"Moscow could not let that go by without a response," she said, adding that Russia could hit back by strengthening military cooperation with the Assad regime.

The surge in tensions coincided with the appearance Monday in the Izvestia newspaper -- one of the most slavishly pro-Kremlin media outlets in Russia -- of a lengthy interview with Assad.

Assad used the interview to thank Russia for its support, ridicule as "nonsense" the idea that his regime used chemical weapons and warn the United States of failure if it attacked Syria.

"London and Washington... just need a guilty verdict (on Assad). Any other verdict will be rejected," the head of the lower house of Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, Alexei Pushkov, wrote on Twitter.

Russian officials are now comparing the possible use of force against Syria to the US-led invasion of Iraq, which was vehemently opposed by Putin as based on flawed intelligence that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction.

The US administration's claims of weapons justifying the invasion at the time later proved false.

"There are many similarities in the tactics of the Western states in Iraq," Filonik told AFP. "History is repeating itself."

Russia has been chastened by its experience in the 2011 air campaign that ousted Libyan leader and longstanding Moscow ally Moamer Kadhafi, which Moscow allowed to go ahead by abstaining at the Security Council.

With Putin now back as president after a four-year stint as prime minister, Russian foreign policy has become newly assertive, notably avoiding further diplomatic irrelevance by abstaining at the United Nations.

Russia also has military and political interests in Syria dating back to the Soviet Union's alliance with Assad's father and predecessor Hafez al-Assad that it is not willing to surrender in a hurry.

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Archangel Michael on Putin -  May 14, 2013 (An Hour with an Angel)

SB: Okay. Thank you, Lord. I’m going to put the Vladimir Putin question ahead of the Boston bombing question. I think a lot of Russian readers and listeners are wondering if they can trust Vladimir Putin.

Now, you’ve said he was in containment and he’s coming out of containment. Can you direct yourself to Russian listeners, please, and tell them what they need to know about Vladimir Putin, please?

AAM: Well, I will say that he has been gradually coming out of containment, and reintegrated, shall we say, into society and into his role and decisions. So what I say to you is be vigilant and be the observer. Do not get caught in what appears to be the drama of this readjustment of power. So, allow the shifting of the core and the centers of power to be adjusted.

Russia has a very important role to play in the future years, as I have said before. So, stand back, my friends. Be the observer. I am not asking you to extend your wholehearted trust and empathy to this individual. What I am asking you to do is to extend trust to your own discernment, because it is not 100 per cent clean, but it is not dirty either.

Vladimir Putin may allow Assad to go if power vacuum in Syria is avoided

British hopeful that peace talks to end civil war can go ahead, but divided Syrian opposition remains a big stumbling block

The Guardian, Patrick Wintour, political editor, Tuesday 18 June 2013

Vladimir Putin with G8 leaders. The Russian leader has agreed to let President

 Assad of Syria go on certain conditions. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/

AFP/Getty Images

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is willing to see the removal of the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, but only if it leads to a balanced government and not a dangerous power vacuum of the kind that followed Saddam Hussein's removal in Iraq, British officials believe after two days of intensive talks at the G8 summit.

Putin blocked any reference in the subsequent communique to the removal of Assad, but British officials believe the talks have opened the way for a peace settlement if more can be done to organise the Syrian opposition forces politically and militarily.

Talks over the terms of the communique lasted until 3am. The Russians accepted the need for UN weapons inspectors to visit Syria to check on western claims that Assad has used chemical weapons.

But Putin flatly refused to have any reference in the communiqué to the nature of delegations that should be sent to the planned Geneva peace conference, insisting that this was a matter for both sides.

British officials insisted that in private Putin had declared no personal allegiance to Assad, but needed assurances that Syria would not turn into an ungoverned space on Russia's borders if he were removed. David Cameron in his press conference at the end of the summit made repeated calls for Assad's allies to realise that a strong army and security state would be preserved during a transition, words designed to reassure them that they would have a future after Assad.

British officials admitted that the Syrian opposition was still a work in progress. They had been unable to agree a negotiating mandate for a new peace conference.

The G8 communique made no reference to Assad, but called for peace talks to be resumed as soon as possible. Cameron said the main breakthrough was an agreement that a transitional government with executive powers was needed, together with a deal to call for an investigation into chemical weapons use. "We remain committed to achieving a political solution to the crisis based on a vision for a united, inclusive and democratic Syria," the final communique read. "We strongly endorse the decision to hold as soon as possible the Geneva conference on Syria."

Putin struck a defiant tone in public, telling the west that sending weapons to rebels could backfire one day, while he defended his own military contacts with the Syrian government.

"There are different types of supplies. We supply weapons based on legal contracts to a legal government … And if we sign these contracts [in the future], we will supply [more arms]."

In the final document, G8 leaders also called on the Syrian authorities and the opposition to commit to destroying all organisations affiliated with al-Qaida, a reflection of growing concern in the west that Islamist militants are playing a more dominant role in the rebel ranks.

Cameron, who chaired the summit, said separately after the talks that the west believed strongly that there was no place for Assad in a future Syria. "It is unthinkable that President Assad can play any part in the future of his country. He has blood on his hands. You can't imagine a Syria where this man continues to rule having done such awful things to his people."

He appealed to Assad's acolytes to abandon the president, insisting the need for the retention of a strong security force showed they would have a future role in Syria. He said the aim was "to learn the lessons of Iraq by ensuring the key institutions of the state are maintained through the transition and there is no vacuum. To those who have been loyal to Assad but who know he has to go and who want stability in their country, they should take note of this point".

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, speaking on the sidelines, said earlier that any debate about Assad's role in the resolution of the conflict was unthinkable, adding he would not tolerate an outcome that led to Assad's capitulation. "This would be not just unacceptable for the Russian side, but we are convinced that it would be utterly wrong, harmful and would completely upset the political balance," Ryabkov said.

In a further development, the French president, François Hollande, opened the door to Iran attending a Syria peace conference, but reiterated that there was no future for Assad.

Paris had previously ruled out Iran taking part in the proposed conference, saying Tehran had no desire for peace, but a new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, was elected on Friday.

"There will no future for Syria with Assad. The Russians are not yet ready to say or write it, but when we speak of transition ... it's difficult to see how he (Assad) could be responsible for it," Hollande said.British officials said they did not rule out Iran attending talks, but needed to know more about the new president and what he would do about the Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in Syria.

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Archangel Michael on Putin -  May 13, 2013 (An Hour with an Angel)

SB: Okay. Thank you, Lord. I’m going to put the Vladimir Putin question ahead of the Boston bombing question. I think a lot of Russian readers and listeners are wondering if they can trust Vladimir Putin.

Now, you’ve said he was in containment and he’s coming out of containment. Can you direct yourself to Russian listeners, please, and tell them what they need to know about Vladimir Putin, please?\

AAM: Well, I will say that he has been gradually coming out of containment, and reintegrated, shall we say, into society and into his role and decisions. So what I say to you is be vigilant and be the observer. Do not get caught in what appears to be the drama of this readjustment of power. So, allow the shifting of the core and the centers of power to be adjusted.

Russia has a very important role to play in the future years, as I have said before. So, stand back, my friends. Be the observer. I am not asking you to extend your wholehearted trust and empathy to this individual. What I am asking you to do is to extend trust to your own discernment, because it is not 100 per cent clean, but it is not dirty either.

Vladimir Putin and his wife announce their separation in TV interview

Russian president and Lyudmila Putin reveal that they are no longer living together by 'their common decision'

The Guardian, Luke Harding and Alexander Winning in Moscow, Thursday 6 June 2013

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Lyudmila Putin leave a poling
station in Moscow in March 2012. Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Vladimir Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, have announced their separation after 30 years of marriage, ending years of speculation about their relationship. She had rarely been seen in public in recent months, prompting media speculation about the president's marriage.

Confirmation came on Thursday evening when the Putins gave an interview to the state-run TV channel Russia 24 after attending a ballet at the State Kremlin Palace. Asked about a rumour that they no longer lived together, Putin, 60, said: "That is true."

Mrs Putin, 55, said it had been "our common decision. And our marriage is over due to the fact that we barely see each other".

Asked if they had divorced, she said it was a "civilised divorce". But Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, later clarified that the Putins aren't yet legally divorced and that he didn't know when the divorce proceedings would be finalized.

"Everything that's related to Putin's personal life is his business alone, he has never made it a subject for public discussion. That's his principle, and he has earned that right, so let's treat it with respect," Peskov said.

The couple, who have two daughters in their 20s, had last been seen in public together at Putin's inauguration to his third presidential term in May 2012.

"We really love our children, are very proud of them and see them regularly," Putin said. Rumours that he and his wife had separated have circulated for years, and amount to Moscow's worst kept secret. During one of their rare public appearances together back in 2010, they sat awkwardly on a sofa as a census-taker asked them questions.

Mrs Putin – or Mrs Putina in Russian – seemed dazed, and uncertain how to react in the presence of her husband. Her demeanour fuelled allegations that she had retired to an Orthodox convent or was leading a life separate from her husband.

During Putin's first presidential stint between 2000 and 2004, he took his wife on several foreign trips. But by his second term he was travelling solo. Meanwhile there was speculation that Putin had embarked on a series of dalliances with other, much younger women. In 2008 he publicly denied claims that he was about to divorce his wife and marry Alina Kabaeva, a 27-year-old rhythmical gymnast with "incredible flexibility". Evening Standard owner Alexander Lebedev shut down his tabloid Moscow newspaper after it broke the story.

During a visit to Italy and while standing alongside – fittingly – Silvio Berlusconi, Putin was asked about the story by a brave female reporter.

Putin replied: "There is not a word of truth in what you say." Then he added: "I have always treated badly those who poke their noses and their erotic fantasies into someone else's life."

Speculation about Putin's love life is paradoxically a product of the Kremlin's own ultra-secretive habits.

Since becoming president in 2000, Putin has starred in a non-stop action-man drama – skiing down volcanoes, stunning tigers and polar bears, and even flying with cranes, his exploits covered nightly by state-controlled TV.

But despite this exhaustive image management, Kremlin aides have said nothing about Putin's personal life. There are practically no photos of the Putins' two grown-up daughters.

For months at a time, Mrs Putin would vanish, as if kidnapped by aliens. Given this news blackout it was inevitable that half-truths, educated speculation and lurid nonsense would fill the vacuum.

Lyudmila's confirmation that she and her husband have split is the rarest thing in Moscow's twilight informational world: a genuine fact.

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Archangel Michael on Putin -  May 13, 2013 (An Hour with an Angel)

SB: Okay. Thank you, Lord. I’m going to put the Vladimir Putin question ahead of the Boston bombing question. I think a lot of Russian readers and listeners are wondering if they can trust Vladimir Putin.

Now, you’ve said he was in containment and he’s coming out of containment. Can you direct yourself to Russian listeners, please, and tell them what they need to know about Vladimir Putin, please?

AAM: Well, I will say that he has been gradually coming out of containment, and reintegrated, shall we say, into society and into his role and decisions. So what I say to you is be vigilant and be the observer. Do not get caught in what appears to be the drama of this readjustment of power. So, allow the shifting of the core and the centers of power to be adjusted.

Russia has a very important role to play in the future years, as I have said before. So, stand back, my friends. Be the observer. I am not asking you to extend your wholehearted trust and empathy to this individual. What I am asking you to do is to extend trust to your own discernment, because it is not 100 per cent clean, but it is not dirty either.

Rosbank CEO Faces Extortion Charges

The Moscow Times, 16 May 2013

A screen grab from an Interior Ministry video showing Rosbank chief executive
 Vladimir Golubkov at his desk Wednesday with the alleged bribe money.
(Interior Ministry)

Investigators said Thursday that they have opened a criminal case into Rosbank chief executive Vladimir Golubkov and bank senior vice president Tamara Polyanitsina on bribery charges.

Golubkov is suspected of having taken a bribe, while Polyanitsina has been named as an intermediary in the case.

"Golubkov, through his subordinate, demanded over $1 million from a commercial organization and received that amount in several installments from 2012 to 2013," said Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin.

Investigators believe that Golubkov demanded money from a businessman for reviewing the payment terms on his multimillion-dollar foreign currency loan with the bank.

Golubkov was detained at his office Wednesday in a dramatic raid filmed by the Interior Ministry and held overnight.

Golubkov, meanwhile, has denied wrongdoing, his lawyer Dmitry Kharitonov said Thursday.

He stressed that his client had been "illegally held in custody without being charged with a crime" from Wednesday afternoon until 6:15 a.m. Thursday.

Kharitonov said his client would have no comment to make about the case.

The Interior Ministry said Golubkov was detained while receiving 5 million rubles ($160,000) in cash as the last installment in a total payment of $1.5 million, which he allegedly demanded for his favors.

Rosbank, which is owned by France's Societe Generale, has not made any public comment about the investigation.

Golubkov has worked for the bank, Russia's ninth largest, since 1999 and was appointed CEO in September 2008.

If charged and convicted of extortion, he and the senior vice president face up to seven years in prison and stiff fines.

Related Article:

Archangel Michael on Putin -  May 13, 2013 (An Hour with an Angel)

SB: Okay. Thank you, Lord. I’m going to put the Vladimir Putin question ahead of the Boston bombing question. I think a lot of Russian readers and listeners are wondering if they can trust Vladimir Putin.

Now, you’ve said he was in containment and he’s coming out of containment. Can you direct yourself to Russian listeners, please, and tell them what they need to know about Vladimir Putin, please?

AAM: Well, I will say that he has been gradually coming out of containment, and reintegrated, shall we say, into society and into his role and decisions. So what I say to you is be vigilant and be the observer. Do not get caught in what appears to be the drama of this readjustment of power. So, allow the shifting of the core and the centers of power to be adjusted.

Russia has a very important role to play in the future years, as I have said before. So, stand back, my friends. Be the observer. I am not asking you to extend your wholehearted trust and empathy to this individual. What I am asking you to do is to extend trust to your own discernment, because it is not 100 per cent clean, but it is not dirty either.

Queen's absence from Commonwealth summit heralds new role for Charles

Prince of Wales will take place of 87-year-old monarch as Elizabeth misses leaders' meeting for first time since 1971

guardian.co.uk, Caroline Davies, Tuesday 7 May 2013

The Queen's absence will be interpreted as preparing the way for Prince Charles
to become the next head of the Commonwealth. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/PA

The Queen will not attend this year's Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Sri Lanka, Buckingham Palace has said, in a significant announcement auguring future changes to accommodate her age.

The Prince of Wales will represent the 87-year-old monarch, who has not missed the biennial conference since 1973.

It will be the first time the future king has stepped into this role. The move will be interpreted as preparing the way for him to become the next head of the Commonwealth, even though he has no automatic entitlement to the position.

There had been calls by campaigners for the Queen to avoid the November summit in Colombo because of Sri Lanka's human rights record.

The fact she has decided her eldest son should go in her place indicates this is not a political decision but a practical one.

Palace officials are reviewing the amount of long-haul travel undertaken by the monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh, who will be 92 next month.

A spokesman said: "It is nothing to do with the political situation in Sri Lanka. The key point here is that the Queen will be represented, although she not there in person, by the Prince of Wales".

The decision will not have been taken lightly. Apart from highlighting the Queen's age and arousing concern for her health, it will be seen as a symbolic moment in Charles's preparation for kingship and his assuming more of his mother's duties.

The Queen's regards her role as head of the 54-nation voluntary association – she is Queen of 16 Commonwealth realms and their 137 million people – as one of the most important of her reign, although she has no formal powers.

On opening the Commonwealth Institute building in west London in 1962, she said: "I suppose that between us, my husband and I have seen more of the Commonwealth than almost any people alive."

She has visited all but two Commonwealth countries: Cameroon, which joined in 1995, and Rwanda, which joined in 2009.

Prince Philip has described her as the "Commonwealth psychotherapist" and she has built up unique relations with its leaders throughout her reign. As a young queen she grew up alongside leaders such as Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda, Tanzania's Julius Nyerere and Indira Gandhi of India.

Her role means her relationship with the Commonwealth and its leaders is different to that of any British government. Many use Chogm as an opportunity to privately confide in her.

She was first present at the 1973 Chogm in Ottawa, and has been at every summit since. However, she did not attend the inaugural meeting in Singapore in 1971. The then prime minister, Edward Heath, effectively prevented her from going because of member states' attitudes to the question of Britain selling arms to South Africa. She is understood to have wanted to go, and regretted not going, but was bound by Heath's advice.

In 2007, unusually, both Charles and the Queen attended Chogm in Uganda. Though he did not attend the opening ceremony, which was attended by the Queen, Charles supported her on the visit and his presence kindled debate on whether he would assume the Commonwealth mantle.

It will be up to the countries' heads of government to decide what they want to do with the symbolic post in the future. Opposition has been voiced to Charles inheriting the role.

But, in the last few months, the Australian prime minister, Julia Gillard, seemed to support such a move. She said: "For Australia's part, I am sure the Queen's successor as monarch will one day serve as head of Commonwealth with the same distinction as Her Majesty has done".

The Commonwealth secretary general, Kamalesh Sharma, has also spoken of how Charles's support for the Commonwealth has deepened its links to the crown.

Campaign groups including Amnesty International are calling for the Chogm meeting not to take place in Colombo before an investigation is carried out into human rights abuses in the final six months of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war.

FILE - In this Monday, June 4, 2012 file photo Britain's Queen Elizabeth II
shakes  the hand of her son Prince Charles at the end of the Queen's Jubilee
Concert in front of Buckingham Palace, London. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, File)

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Ascension is Not Distant But Very Current and Underway – Mar 12, 2013 (Archangel Michael channeled by Linda Dillon)

“… SB: Well, that is very helpful. Could you, in the time that’s remaining, could you tell us a little bit about the continuing impact and success of containment? Perhaps as specific and detailed an account as you can give us?

AAM: You know when we place people in containment — and I use the word people because in this situation we are talking about very specific human beings, as you know. And I would not be averse to going down the list, if you wish. But I also wish to re-emphasize what we have said before, is that containment is something that is done very rarely and with great consideration. And the reason is it does not remove free will but it literally contains free will.

The beings that have been put in what you can think of, and we know that you are aware that there are various levels of containment, but think of the most epic, and they are basically in light boxes, and that light and love is penetrating them completely and fully, and they will not be released until they have been fully penetrated.

That is why that decision is not made casually. It is much more invasive than even you are imagining. So, it is something we do with great respect, yes, even for what you would think of as the darkest players. When we contain them, it is done with a great deal of respect.

Now, those who have been in key positions, leadership positions, are being kept in those containers of light not just until the darkness has fled or been cleansed, but the plan on our side is that they are being kept in that realm until they are extraordinary light beings. So, it is almost as if when they re-emerge you will barely recognize them.

Now, you say, “But, Lord, we are still witnessing some terrible atrocities on our planet.” And as the Prince of Peace and the Warrior of Peace, I am very aware of that. But I also suggest to you that some of those people that you see are almost like puppet shells, and the true person is in a light chamber.

Is it being successful? Yes. Now, there are some who have been released from their containment, and they have chosen to come forward to make… to fulfill their mission and purposes. And they were ready to do that. Yes, the Pope was a good example of that. Then there are… there are others, particularly within the financial world, who are returning to put things to rights.

Yes, Jamie Dimon is one of those beings.

SB: Is Queen Elizabeth in containment, Lord?

AAM: She is re-emerging.

Putin 'cancels trips due to injury'

Google – AFP, 1 November 2012 

Putin's spokesman denied the injury was caused by the

president's hang-glider flight (AFP/File, Alexey Druzhinin)

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has shelved trips at home and abroad due to an old injury which he aggravated during his controversial hang-glider flight with cranes, a report said Thursday.

The president is now undergoing treatment for the injury but the main recommendation of doctors is to refrain from flying which has a negative effect on the spine, the Vedomosti daily said, citing sources close to the Kremlin.

Vladimir Putin has been increasingly

 confined to his suburban residence of

 Novo-Ogaryevo (AFP, Sergei Karpukhin)

(Putin in Containment according

Archangel Michael)

It also quoted a manager at a top energy firm as confirming this was the reason why Putin cancelled a trip in October to Siberia to open the new Bovanenkovo gas field on the Yamal peninsula.

Instead, Putin opened the field on October 23 by pushing the button in Moscow in a live link-up with the far-flung region.

Vedomosti also noted that Putin had been travelling less and less recently and had been increasingly confined to his suburban residence of Novo-Ogaryevo outside Moscow.

A summit of leaders of ex-Soviet states in Turkmenistan has been postponed to December after Putin indicated that he would not be able to come in November.

Meanwhile, media reports have indicated that trips to Bulgaria, India and Turkey that were planned for November have been put back to December. Vedomosti did not give further details on the nature of the injury.

Putin's aides had confirmed he was suffering from a sports injury when he hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok in September when television pictures clearly showed him limping.

However Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday denied this had any influence on the work of the president, saying the reports were the result of the "stubbornness" of the media.

"We have repeatedly said that such ideas do not have any foundation," he told the Interfax news agency. "Any sportsman gets injured but this is not a reason for restricting activities."

Peskov denied the injury was caused by Putin's hang-glider flight with Siberian cranes to guide them on their winter migration path, a stunt that many commentators see as one of the biggest PR disasters of his rule.

Widely mocked by bloggers at the time, it emerged this month that the endangered birds had failed to migrate south and in the end had to be flown to a wildlife reserve as passengers on a plane.

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Archangel Michael on Putin -  May 13, 2013 (An Hour with an Angel)

SB: Okay. Thank you, Lord. I’m going to put the Vladimir Putin question ahead of the Boston bombing question. I think a lot of Russian readers and listeners are wondering if they can trust Vladimir Putin.

Now, you’ve said he was in containment and he’s coming out of containment. Can you direct yourself to Russian listeners, please, and tell them what they need to know about Vladimir Putin, please?

AAM: Well, I will say that he has been gradually coming out of containment, and reintegrated, shall we say, into society and into his role and decisions. So what I say to you is be vigilant and be the observer. Do not get caught in what appears to be the drama of this readjustment of power. So, allow the shifting of the core and the centers of power to be adjusted.

Russia has a very important role to play in the future years, as I have said before. So, stand back, my friends. Be the observer. I am not asking you to extend your wholehearted trust and empathy to this individual. What I am asking you to do is to extend trust to your own discernment, because it is not 100 per cent clean, but it is not dirty either.

Archangel Michael: This is the Unfoldment of the Promise of the Mother – Sep 3, 2012 (Archangel Michael channeled by Linda Dillon)

“….  SB: I certainly hadn’t thought of it that way before, Lord. So that is very helpful. I’ll try to develop that myself in some articles.

Can we look at the containment effort, please, particularly in international affairs? So, a while back you said, “Well, Vladimir Putin and Bashar al Assad are in containment.”

Could we know what the impact of the containment of the leaders is, and the impact on the financial system and also on Disclosure, please?

AAM: The impact on the international front is a greater desire and a greater creation of peace. And we don’t just mean that in the absence of armed uprising and the various forms of aggression that your governments are known to undertake. Now, we are not suggesting that some aggressions do not continue. They have, far more than we would even desire. But they are being contained. They are being limited.

What is happening — think of it in a very practical kind of way — is that the leadership that has been contained is having very much a change of heart. What has happened is they are growing extremely, extremely weary. Because to continue in a controlling, aggressive, dare I say hateful, manner is spiritually exhausting.

So think of it has fighting 24/7, in your terms, against the walls of light. After a while, after a very short while, you are so exhausted of that struggle — and this is something that we are addressing to the human collective as well — you are so exhausted of the struggle that you simply let go. And in that you begin what we would call the reconstruction.

So that is what is happening. You notice usually, when I introduce myself to you, my beloved friends, is that I call myself a warrior of peace, not an emissary, not an ambassador, not a mediator. I am a warrior of peace. As are you, my beloved friend. That is why your desire for truth is unquenchable.

So what is happening on the international front is you are beginning to see a decline in what you think of, or consider, or is, aggressive controlling action. That is also true in terms of your financial systems upon the planet. Only the… well, there is desire for control. But what is taking place, and how this containment — yes, of course it entails a change of heart — but the change of heart is also done politically, economically, in a community way.

It is also that many that are involved in financial systems are saying, “This is too hard to maintain.” We are trying to bolster a system that, in fact, does not support, or does not work. So already alternative methods of what we would call equity equalization are already being put in place.

Now, that does not discount or cancel what you think of as NESARA. In fact, in many ways the containment efforts, which from our perspective have been very successful —not completed, but underway — but these containment efforts are a precursor to NESARA because those who would have been the most vocal, the most adamant opponents of change, of simply allowing the system to re-balance itself, will be gone, will not have that voice, not because they have been removed — although some of them have been — but because the desire to be the opponent is no longer there.

So, this is how containment is working.

Now, you are still seeing what we would see as a friction in duality. And this is growing in many ways. Again, it is the water pushing against the dam so that it can break loose. It is gaining force, it is gaining momentum, it is gaining speed — within the human realm as well, because people are increasingly tired of what is presented as oppressive, what is presented as separation, whether it is psychology, politics, or finance.

So this is also what the humans, the collective, are also undertaking.

So can you see that growing separation between those who wish for a very different reality and Earth? Yes. But that is also creating the momentum and the pressure for the breakthrough. So do not see this as entirely negative. It is not.

There have been questions and comments about what realms we see in the international arena as oppressive, as dictatorial, and yes, democracies, and why there are sometimes realms — even though they are either republics or parliamentary systems — which we say are oppressive regimes because they seek to control the masses.

So there has been an illusion that if you have voting power that somehow it creates a freedom. Is it an element of freedom? Yes. It is something that needs to be expanded and will completely, completely, shift in the fifth reality. It will not look or feel the same. It will not have the same constructs.

But do not delude yourselves, my brothers and sisters, that simply because you believe that you live in a democracy that you are not being cajoled and confused and controlled. You are.

And  the purpose of containment is to remove those elements. So understand, that is also why we did not simply go to what you think of as dictatorships or very oppressive regimes. Containment has been very active all over your planet. And you will be seeing changes in leadership.

I speak to this because when we have originally spoken of containment we have talked of many leaders, whether it is in political or social or financial-economic realms remaining in place. But we need to say to you that for those who simply continue to try and resist, there will be new leadership. If they do not wish to cooperate, then there will simply be the emergence of new human beings, starseeds, Earth-keepers, who will take those positions and who will lead Nova Earth and help with the reconstruction process.

So that has been a slight shift. Some are more, hmm, determined and stubborn in their resistance. That is all right. That is their freedom and their soul desire. That is fine. But it is not that it will go on indefinitely. It cannot, and it will not. ….”

You are already in a state of liberation from the old systems - Oct 29, 2012 (Constant Companions channeled through Aisha North)

Opinion: Pussy Riot verdict an outrage

Deutsche Welle, 17 August 2012

Russia has used the trial against three young women to set a precedent - despite global outcry. The verdict is nothing short of a scandal that puts a strain on German-Russian relations, says Bernd Johann. 

Bernd Johann: Pussy Riot verdict
is nothing short of a scandal

Whoever thought the Russian state was able to demonstrate any form of lenience or clemency towards its opponents has been proven seriously wrong. The verdict against the three women of the punk band "Pussy Riot" is not just a harsh punishment that will affect the accused artists personally.

This trial has been used to set a precedent: Anyone in Russia who chooses to publicly speak out against the authoritarian Putin system, especially if it involves breaching the law, is going to feel the full force of the establishment.

There's no question about it. The public act of the punk activists at the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February was a scandal. Certainly it had the potential for hurting people's religious beliefs. And certainly - according to German legal standards, too - such action within a church could be prosecuted on the basis of going against the freedom of practicing religion. Within that, the freedom of expression and the freedom of religion each put limitations on the other.

Show trial in Moscow

But in a case like this, genuine rule of law commands the weighing of both rights against each other. This hasn't happened in Moscow. For the judge it was enough to simply state that "this wasn't art, but hooliganism stemming from religious hatred." The trial against the three women wasn't anything but a show trial. They were in pre-trial custody for almost half a year. Shortly after their public protest, they were ruthlessly separated from their families and little children.

All this despite the fact that the protest happened without any violence. No one was actually hurt. There was no doubt about what had happened, and the women didn't deny the charges. And that means it would have indeed been possible for the court to show lenience and mark what had happened off as bad taste nonsense of some young people.

Instead, the women were treated like dangerous criminals. They had to endure the trial handcuffed and locked up in a glass cage. The court gave little room for the defense to make its case. The accused, too, were barely able to tell their side of the story - and when they could, they focused on criticizing the Putin government as a repressive regime. There was no sign of religious hatred - it was clearly a political protest.

Politicians and members of the clergy as prosecutors

As things went, it turned out to be a bizarre trial - in the eyes of the world and those of the Russian public. Three young women in the role of David, who - in the end - couldn't do anything but lose against Goliath in the form of Putin's system. Kremlin supporting politicians and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church surpassed each other in demanding draconian punishments - as if they themselves were the prosecutors in this trial.

Even Putin himself voiced his opinion in this matter. Without any political reticence he expressed the expectations he had of the trial, and by doing so further encouraged doubts about the independence of the court.

Dark omen for Putin's new term

The verdict becomes a dark omen for Putin's third term in office - a technocrat of power, who only managed to reemerge as Russia's leader by tricking the constitution itself. His first 100 days in office have clearly showed that there will be no further political liberalization. During the past weeks, members of the opposition have been browbeaten - also by exploiting the legal system. The demonstration law has been drastically tightened, and NGOs have seen further curtailing of their work.

These developments, now including the verdict against the all-female punk band, are going to put a strain on German-Russian relations. Rarely has there been such a wave of protest against a trial in Russia - throughout all political ranks and all parts of society. In bilateral discussions, the German side increasingly asks the question whether a dialogue with Russia is at all possible when it comes to civil rights and society.

After the verdict against Pussy Riot, politicians in Berlin could find themselves forced to reevaluate the traditionally close and positive relations Germany has with Russia.

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