TREASON. Among the super weapons Putin described in March were hypersonic missiles and warheads. The story is that details (some? many?) have been leaked to the West by people working at research centres. The FSB is investigating and arrests have been made. Apparently the recipient of the information was a scientific institute in Belgium which which there was an agreement. I don’t suppose we’ll ever learn what actually happened nor be able to fully believe what we are told. There was an earlier case involving China.

RESERVES. Sputnik tells us that Russia’s reserves are worth about US$460 billion. It’s selling off US Treasuries (now US$15 billion down from US$92 in December) and buying gold (now 1944 tonnes). It’s clear that Russia Inc is getting out of US securities, probably for protection in case of more sanctions, and getting into gold. I would expect this to continue. Is China doing the same?

PENSION REFORM. Protests are occurring – significant ones organised by the KPRF last week. The plan is to raise the age qualification gradually over time. This is, in fact, quite reasonable and even necessary as life expectancies increase. My bet is that the government will announce a compromise (already planned and worked out), extend the time period and the issue will die away.

BROWDER MOVIE. A Russian documentary maker believed everything Browder said and started a film to justify him. As it progressed, he discovered anomalies and came to realise the story was false. See here. It is moving around the Net now and it’s worth looking for because Browder’s story is a primary founding myth of the Putin hysteria. The film is fatal to Browder’s story.

MILITARY. For twenty years the US military has been attacking people who can’t fight back (but who are, nonetheless, beating it. An intriguing paradox: my explanation here; a similar one here.) The Russian activity in Syria is a wakeup call. First there were complaints about Russian air defence bubble, now EW. I doubt the US military has much of either and we may be certain that the Russians aren’t using their best and latest. Without guaranteed communications and GPS, the US military cannot operate; in a war with Russia they would have neither. Here’s the effect of an anti-ship missile and there’s Poseidon. In short, and I hope it’s sinking in, the US has lost the future fighting war with Russia. Time to talk.

WHO BENEFITS FROM THE RUSSIA HYSTERIA? Not you or I, that’s for sure. A good summary and analysis here. “The Utility of the RussiaGate Conspiracy“.

SKRIPALMANIA. Latest information from my secret source.

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK. “After A Week Online, NATO’s Latest ‘Counter-Disinfo’ Facebook Game Is A Complete Flop“. Not complete: people at the NATO Centres of “Excellence” were paid.

NEW NWO I. Trump says he’s ready to talk to Iran, Washington is talking to the Taliban, covert program to arm Syrian jihadists rebels ended. Cutting the Gordian Knot. Why the Establishment hates him so.

NEW NWO II. Turkey attends BRICS. US sanctions Turkey. What next?

TRUMPUTIN DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. A collection of cartoons covering the meeting.

AMERICA-HYSTERICA. As I suspected, it was The Dossier. And I’ll bet there’s a Skripal connection.

WESTERN VALUES™. “Republic of Latvia, Apartheid State within the EU“. But they’re only Russians, so it doesn’t count.

RUSSIAN “INVASION OF UKRAINE”. Ivan Katchanovski has examined records of 1000 Donbass PWs: only 1.5% were Russian military and 4% Russian citizens. It’s a civil war, not a foreign invasion. “If Russia had invaded, you wouldn’t have to ask; if you have to ask, it hasn’t.“

UKRAINE. The longest-lasting legacy of the US-EU coup in Ukraine may be a nuclear disaster. And it’s not just the overstrain of the existing reactors added to corruption and incompetence, there’s also the fuel issue. The Ukrainian reactors are Soviet-era VVER reactors and they are designed to take Russian (ie Soviet) fuel cores. “Nuclear fuel assemblies are specifically designed for particular types of reactors and are made to exacting standards“ says the World Nuclear Association. A Russian supplier is, of course, doubleplusungood in today’s Ukraine. Well the first reactor has just been fuelled with Westinghouse cores. This was tried at Temelin in the Czech Republic and they had to go back to the Russian fuel. Read this and feel worse. (BTW, it took me some time to find references to Temelin’s fuel problems in Western sources. Buried it seems. Here’s TASS on the issue.)

© Patrick Armstrong Analysis, Canada Russia Observer