Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Thursday 21 August 2014

The European Union Times


Posted: 20 Aug 2014 10:45 AM PDT

The Russian cabinet has approved the bill introducing heavy fines for businessmen who violate the rules on obligatory marking of foodstuffs containing genetically-modified products.
The bill has been drafted by the state consumer rights agency Rospotrebnadzor and concerns all food and beverage products containing genetically-modified organisms or their parts, or which are made using such organisms. Entrepreneurs who fail to put markings on the products they sell or distort the information will be fined between 20,000 and 150,000 rubles (US$555 – $4150). Control bodies can also confiscate the improperly marked stock.
The current Russian law orders clearly visible indication on all goods that contain 0.9 percent of genetically-modified organisms by weight. There are no limitations on the turnover or production of GMO-containing foodstuffs.
Russian legislators and officials from the Agriculture Ministry have previously complained that the regulations concerning the turnover of GMO products lacked proper enforcement and suggested a temporary ban on all genetically-altered products in the country.
Other government agencies, including Rospotrebnadzor argued that since Russia joined the WTO in 2012, trade restrictions can be imposed only after the hazardous effects of the banned goods are scientifically proven. They also quoted the statistics reading that the share of GMO in Russian food industry had declined from 12 percent to just 0.01 percent over the past 10 years and currently there are just 57 registered food products containing GMO in the country.
Nevertheless, most of the Russian lawmakers are pushing for changing the existing law On Safety and Quality of Alimentary Products by introducing a norm set for the maximum allowed content of transgenic and genetically modified components. The motion’s initiators want to make this norm zero for all foodstuffs produced in Russia.
In February this year, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev held a government session dedicated to the problem in which he said that Russia will create its own research base for genetically-modified organisms that would provide the authorities with expert information and allow for further legislative movements and executive decisions.
Medvedev also warned against perceiving the GMO products as “absolute evil,” but noted that the government did not support their use in the food industry.
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Posted: 20 Aug 2014 10:32 AM PDT
Many top US officials hold Israeli citizenship.
Press TV has learned that a long list of senior US government officials and legislators hold dual US-Israeli citizenship, proving Tel Aviv’s powerful influence over Washington’s decision-making process.
Apart from the significant presence of Israeli citizens at sensitive non-elected federal positions such as head of Homeland Security, a large number of Israelis sit in the Senate and House of Representatives.
The Israeli lawmakers at the Congress have the power to propose and vote on crucial bills like waging wars on any country, forcing the US to veto any UN Security Council resolution unfavorable to Israel, and approving funds and lucrative government contracts in favor of Israel.
The prominent US-Israeli officials in the list include Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Head of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, Chairman of Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board Richard Perle, former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowits, Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman, Director of Policy Planning at the State Department Richard Haass, US Trade Representative (cabinet-level position) Robert Zoellick, Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board Eliot Cohen, former UN Ambassador John Bolton, White House Political Director Ken Melman, White House Speechwriter David Frum, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Samuel Bodman, and Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board Henry Kissinger.
Israel receives billions of dollars of American taxpayers’ money each year. Under an existing 10-year aid agreement between Washington and Tel Aviv signed in 2007, USD 30 billion of American money is flowing to Israel.
The US’ annual military aid to Israel has been elevated from USD 2.4 billion to USD 3.1 billion through 2017 under the existing agreement.
Meanwhile, US and Israeli officials have discussed a surge in US military aid to Israel in a new aid package that would extend through 2027.
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Posted: 20 Aug 2014 10:24 AM PDT

Washington dictates to its citizens, how to treat Russia. US officials want business and culture figures not to stand out from the political course of the United States. The State Department promised to control how American companies comply with anti-Russian sanctions. Representatives of the cinema industry were strongly recommended not to show their sympathies for Russia in public. Human rights activists were alarmed with such calls. The authorities spread dictatorship not only to other states, but also to citizens.
The State Department is particularly concerned about actor Steven Seagal, who regularly travels to Russia, and even visited the Crimea, where he supported Moscow’s policy on the reunification with the peninsula. Another Hollywood star, legendary actor Mickey Rourke, publicly wore a t-shirt with the image of the Russian president and openly declared his admiration of Putin as a politician.
After such revelations, Washington apparently decided that it was time to do with the ideological education of Hollywood stars. It transpired that the actors started receiving calls with a requirement not to publicly express their sympathy for Russia.
Reportedly, Mickey Rourke, or rather his agent, received such calls. After all, if need be, the actor is likely to be punished. This has already happened in the history of the United States.
“There were instances before, but it was in the period of McCarthyism – in late forties and early fifties, when the USA was looking for witches. Pete Seeger was jailed for his communist beliefs, although America is a free country, as Americans think. But the fact that America is going back to the period of not even the Cold War of Reagan times, but to the “witch hunt” of McCarthy’s era, is, of course, news for all,” Professor at the Higher School of Economics, Americanist Alexander Domrin said, vesti.ru reports.
The career of folk singer Pete Seeger was ruined, when he was accused of anti-Americanism. A large number of actors, writers, journalists, scientists, musicians were blacklisted. They were not allowed to publish their work, perform live, or act in films. Now all this may happen again.
Furthermore, the State Department promised to keep track on how American companies comply with anti-Russian sanctions. Marie Harf said that the US authorities generally trust business, but they would still keep an eye on potential troublemakers.
The announcement came after the media began to publish materials about the possible circumvention techniques of doing business in the oil and arms sectors. American companies do not want to lose money, but now is the time when the capitalist world is forced to give up income in the name of big politics.
“As soon as the American business and the businessmen, who had interests in Russia, feel that they are no longer able to make concessions, when the pressure on the American administration starts, then the question of sanctions will be raised.
Remember the Jackson-Vanik amendment – it was lifted only when business began putting pressure on the Congress, because the amendment was not profitable for American business,” Valery Garbuzov, deputy director of the Institute for the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences said.
American observers sound the alarm as the current events pose a direct threat to freedom and traditional American values​​. When Washington was dictating its policy to Europe, unleashing the sanctions war, organizing revolutions around the world and spreading pseudo-democracy, the Americans were willing to put up with anything. Now, however, politics directly interferes with the lives of American citizens. Suddenly, they began to realize that their country is not the country that they thought it to be.
“The First Amendment to the American Constitution, in my view, is the highest achievement of American civilization. This is freedom of speech and expression. If the State Department takes such actions and begins to dictate its will to actors, artists, writers and citizens on how to act in relation to Russia, then it means that America denounces and loses itself,” Alexander Domrin said.
In Russia, meanwhile, Human Rights Commissioner Ella Pamfilova opposed a parliamentary initiative to strip famous Russian singer and musician Andrei Makarevich of state awards for his performance in Ukraine for refugees from Donetsk and Lugansk, reports Interfax.
“I stand against the use of state mechanisms to deal with dissent,” said Pamfilova Monday.
State Duma deputy from United Russia, Yevgeny Fyodorov, said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper that Makarevich’s actions were anti-Russian. According to the MP, the legendary rock musician should be deprived of Russian state awards.
“I urge MP Fyodorov and some other deputies not to follow the example of militant Ukrainian politicians and politicians from some other countries, who, in an anti-Russian frenzy, put pressure on artists, journalists, scientists, businessmen for their pro-Russian stance. Time will put everything in its place,” said Pamfilova.
“Andrei Makarevich received his reward for past services. As for his current position, the Russian society can determine its attitude to his actions by itself,” she added.
Andrei Makarevich, the leader of one of Russia’s most famous rock bands, Time Machine, has been a critic of the political course of the Russian administration lately. He condemns Russia’s move to reunite with the Crimea and says that Russia is rolling down the hill.
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Posted: 20 Aug 2014 10:04 AM PDT

At least 34 civilians have been killed in clashes between the Ukrainian army troops and pro-Russia forces in the country’s restive eastern Donetsk Province over the past 24 hours, local officials say.
“Over the past day as a result of military hostilities, 34 residents of the region died and another 29 were wounded,” the Donetsk regional administration said in a statement on Wednesday.
The development comes as overnight fighting in the town of Ilovaysk in the east of Donetsk has left nine Ukrainian soldiers dead.
Kiev is zeroing in on pro-Moscow activists in their two important eastern bastions of Donetsk and Lugansk. This is while the humanitarian situation on the ground is worsening in the two regions as they have been suffering from the lack of water and power supplies for weeks now.
The UN says more than 2,000 people have been killed in the four-month conflict gripping the former Soviet state.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence the pro-Russians.
Violence intensified in May after the two flashpoint regions held local referendums, in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine.
Nine Ukrainian troops killed near volatile Donetsk

At least nine Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in overnight fighting in the town of Ilovaysk, located in the east of the volatile city of Donetsk, a top official says.
Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security Council, said on Wednesday that fresh clashes between the Ukrainian army troops and pro-Russia forces have left 9 soldiers dead and 22 others wounded.
The Kiev government troops have taken control of half of the town, located 18 kilometers (11 miles) east of Donetsk, and are currently facing fierce resistance from the pro-Russians, Lysenko added.
According to the latest reports, heavy fighting has also broken out in the volatile Ukrainian city of Lugansk. The government forces have regained parts of the city which is considered as one of the strongholds of the pro-Russia activists.
Tens of thousands of civilians, suffering from acute shortages of water and electricity, have fled the government’s military operations in the east.
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since the government in Kiev launched military operations in mid-April in a bid to crush the pro-Moscow protests.
The political unrest in eastern Ukraine has so far claimed the lives of more than 2,000 people, according to figures by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Nearly 300,000 people have been also forced to flee their homes due to fierce fighting in the east, the UN says.
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Posted: 20 Aug 2014 09:20 AM PDT

The Australian Senate has voted to scrap the controversial two-year old carbon emission tax, signaling a major victory for Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Reaching the national carbon reduction goals remains in question.
Carbon emission has been a long-running debate among politicians. The Liberals claim it penalizes business, while the Labor Party says it helps combat climate change.
In the 2013 elections Prime Minister Tony Abbott who heads the Liberal-Nationals coalition put forward repealing the carbon emission tax as a central aim of his government.
In exchange he promised to replace the tax with a government fund of AUS$2.55 billion through which industries will be paid to reduce emissions and use cleaner energy.
On Thursday the Australian Senate voted 39 to 32 to end the carbon emission tax. Introduced in July 2012, it charged 348 major polluters US $22.60 for every ton of greenhouse gases they produce.
Even though the Abbott coalition does not hold a majority in the Senate the repeal was achieved with the support of the Palmer United Party headed by Australian mining tycoon Clive Palmer.
Christine Milne, the leader of Greens, who together with Labor voted against, described the vote as an “appalling day for Australia.”
The repeal was fiercely opposed by the Labor and Greens Parties, who stated the vote, spoils the international reputation of Australia.
“This is an appalling day for Australia when a government, rather than lead in the face of what the world is facing up to … is determined to stick with the past,” Reuters quotes Christine Milne.
Among the developed countries Australia produces the largest volumes of greenhouse gas per capita. In 2000 the country promised to reduce carbon dioxide output by 5 percent by 2020.
After the tax was introduced a wave of protests swept across Australia as opponents complained of lost jobs and energy price rises.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 08:49