After his Olympic "peace project" is over, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is ready to send his "team" to Ukraine

"By living together under one roof in the Olympic village you send a powerful message from Sochi to the world, that of a society of peace, tolerance and respect. I appeal to everybody implicated in confrontation, oppression and violence to act on this Olympic message of dialogue and peace.

"Tonight we can say Russia delivered all that it promised. What took decades in other parts of the world was achieved here in Sochi in just seven years. All the people of Sochi and Russia deserve our deep gratitude."

Thomas Bach, IOC President


With his Olympic "peace project" delivered, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin moves on to his next project:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the upper house of parliament for approval to send Russian troops into Ukraine's Crimea region to normalize the political situation there, the Kremlin said Saturday.

Due to the "extraordinary situation in Ukraine," Putin said, there are threats to the lives of Russian citizens and Russian military personnel based in the southern Crimean region.

It comes on the same day that the new pro-Russian leader of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, asked Putin for help in maintaining peace in the Black Sea peninsula -- where Russia has a major naval base at Sevastopol.


Putin is not the least scared of what US president Obama says:

Krauthammer, a syndicated columnist and a Fox News contributor, said Russia will interpret Obama's remarks as complacency.
"He said, any violation of Ukrainian territory is destabilizing, and that's not in Russia's interest. He is instructing Putin on what's in Russia's interest?" Krauthammer said.  "I can assure you, Putin has calculated his calculated his own interests, and he's calculated that detaching Crimea from Ukraine and making it, essentially, a colony of Russia, is in Russia's interest - because he knows he has nothing to fear from the west, because it's not led by anybody. It used to be led by the United States."

 

Nigel Farage: Mass immigration has left Britain an "unrecognisable" country

The Swiss have voted for a sensible immigration policy. Will the same happen in the UK?:

Mass immigration has left Britain an "unrecognisable" country that many people would not want to leave to their children and grandchildren, Nigel Farage has said.

In one of his strongest attacks on immigration policy, he said the arrival of migrants has some British people feeling that parts of the country are now alien to them.

The UK Independence Party leader said parts of the country had been "taken over" by foreigners and told how he caught a recent commuter train from London to Kent and had to wait for several stops before he heard English being spoken.

Mr Farage's comments come after official figures published on Thursday showed a shock rise of more than 30 per cent or 58,000 over the past year in net migration to Britain to 212,000, mainly accounted by migrants from southern European countries.

In his keynote speech to Ukip's spring conference in Torquay on Friday, Mr Farage said: "It's ordinary folk, it's ordinary families that are paying the financial price. But what about the social price of this? --

"The fact that in scores of our cities and market towns, this country in a short space of time has frankly become unrecognisable.
"Whether it is the impact on local schools and hospitals, whether it is the fact in many parts of England you don't hear English spoken any more.
"This is not the kind of community we want to leave to our children and grandchildren." --

"What I am saying is we now have nearly 10 per cent of our schools in this country where English is not the primary language of the homes those children come from."
Mr Farage warned that immigration had done damage to "cohesion" in British society.
He said: "So the answer is, I don't feel very comfortable in that situation and I don't think the majority of British people do.
"It doesn't mean I'm against anybody of different backgrounds or different cultures - far from it. I want us to have a sensible, open-minded immigration policy.

Read the entire article here

Putin sends a nationalist bike gang to Crimea amid rumours of a Russian takeover

                                         Putin and his friend Aleksandr Zaldastonov at a bike
                                                 show in 2011. Putin was not capable of riding an ordinary
                                                 Harley Davidson, which is why he was riding a three wheeler ...

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has sent his friend Aleksandr Zaldostanov, the leader of Russia's nationalist biker gang " The Night Wolves" to Crimea amid rumors of a Russian takeover of this autonomous Ukrainian republic.

Zaldostanov, nicknamed "The Surgeon" for his skill with a knife in a fight, told Time magazine about his plans:

“We are here to defend our country, or at least the parts of it that remains ours. We will defend it from the fascists who have come to power. So let it be known to all of them. Wherever we are, wherever the Night Wolves are, that should be considered Russia.”
In his view, “Russia” would include a swathe of Ukraine reaching far beyond the Crimea. On Saturday morning, the Night Wolves are organizing a massive motorcycle column that will ride from the northeast of Ukraine all the way along its eastern edge, covering nearly all of the Russian-speaking regions of the country

Last April it was disclosed that the Finnish police hade placed Vladimir Putin on a list of wanted criminals in Finland for his ties with Zaldostanov and the "Night Wolves". Being placed on the list translates to automatic detention at the Finnish border as a criminal.

Finland's interior minister then extended Putin "sincere apologies for the incorrect registry". However, considering what "The Surgeon" is doing right now in Ukraine on behalf of Putin, it might be time to re-enter the former KGB agent on the list - and not only in Finland.

Obama's popularity dives

I do not find this surprising at all:

Amid continued pessimism about the economy and direction of the country, 59 percent of Americans say they are disappointed in Mr. Obama's presidency (including 37 percent who are very disappointed); 40 percent are satisfied. Much of this discontent comes from Republicans and independents, but a quarter of Democrats express at least some disappointment.
Disappointment with Barack Obama's presidency has grown since the summer of 2012, and much of that rise has been among independents. Forty percent of independents say they are very disappointed today, up from 27 percent in August 2012.

Roger Köppel on why Switzerland is a successful country

Roger Köppel, the editor-in-chief of the Swiss quality weekly Die Weltwoche has written an excellent editorial about why Switzerland is succesful - and the EU not. Here is an excerpt:

Switzerland is a succesful country, because it is independent. Many business leaders overlook that. Our independence is an economic success factor. It is the foundation of a free, business friendly state under the rule of law, in which the citizens and not the politicians are in charge. Switzerland is doing better because it is not in the EU. The EU is the opposite of Switzerland, because in the EU the citizens have no say.

You could not say it better!

A reminder: "Putin is a dictator"

What Masha Gessen wrote in the New York Times in 2012 is worth remembering:

Yes, I really mean to say that Putin is a dictator. The only reason this is still questioned after all that we have seen in Russia is that Western leaders and Western media refuse to call him one — while being perfectly content, for example, to brand Belorussia’s Alexandr G. Lukashenko this way. For this I see no good explanation.

Garri Kasparov about Putin's winter games and the new IOC President

Putin's Sochi games are over, but we should not forget what Garri Kasparov recently wrote about them and about the new IOC President:

New IOC President Thomas Bach’s strained protests about how foreign leaders protesting Sochi are “inserting politics into sport” ignore that fact that selling a huge platform for propaganda and corruption to a dictatorship is also “playing politics.” By Bach’s dubious rationale, the IOC would award the Games to North Korea as long as the venues were adequate and the fees were paid promptly. --

 .... Russians will be left with the environmental disaster, the corruption and the repression, the debts, and the same crooks and thugs who created them all. The future is not bright for Sochi, unless you believe that misery loves company. The 2018 World Cup will be held in Russia and reports are already circulating about how behind schedule the venues are. It will be Sochi times ten.