Matviyenko Sez Cuba and Russia Ties on the Upswing

THIS is what HH thinks of El Comandante… any questions? He’s certainly not buying the lying rightwing twaddle that Potapov and Paffhausesn are peddling…

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During her official visit to Cuba, Valentina Matviyenko, chairman of the RF Federation Council, met with Cuban President Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz and Juan Esteban Lazo Hernández, the President of the Cuban National Assembly of the People’s Power, and said that relations between Russia and Cuba are having a renaissance. Matviyenko praised the expansion of bilateral partnership, trade, economic, scientific, and humanitarian cooperation between the countries. She told reporters on the flight back to Moscow, “Our delegation came to Havana to upgrade and boost parliamentary cooperation between our two countries. We discussed a number of issues during a two-hour talk, including Fidel Castro’s health. The Comandante is feeling OK; he’s following a strict régime under tight medical supervision”.

Matviyenko also said that apart from being an important strategic partner, Cuba’s also a good and reliable friend, noting, “Our countries have special bonds of fraternity and mutual respect; Russia has very warm and sincere feelings for Cubans. We love our Cuban friends and are ready for cooperation. Havana and Moscow became close allies under Fidel Castro… 2013 marks 50 years since his first visit to the USSR… Moscow and some other Russian cities noted the event. Now, bilateral cooperation is on the rise, mainly focused on trade and economy. Although last year’s trade turnover accounted for only some 220 million dollars (6.93 billion Roubles. 172 million Euros. 145 million UK Pounds), there’s a great potential for expansion”.

The streets of Havana have many signs of long-lasting friendship, such as Soviet-made cars. Despite Cuba’s turn to foreign investors, the USA doesn’t want to lift its sanctions, so, Havana eyes working with Russia. Lazo, the president of the Cuban National Assembly of the People’s Power, spoke about the prospects of bilateral energy cooperation, thinking that Russia could help in constructing new units and supplying equipment for Cuban power plants built with Soviet aid. Havana also expects Moscow’s help in exploring oil in its Gulf of Mexico wells and further construction of refineries. Russian investment in Cuba’s oil sector is important; at present, only Zarubezhneft does so, but other Russian companies shall also join in. Cuba also eyes cooperation with Russia in nickel production, tourism, and agriculture as well as seeking help to refurbish and upgrade the Mariel and Santa Cruz del Norte power plants.

Russia and Cuba are long-term partners. For instance, Cubana de Aviación uses Russian Tupolev Tu-204 planes. Cuba has imported some worth 12 million USD (378 million Roubles. 9.4 million Euros. 7.9 million UK Pounds) worth of power plant equipment from Russia in the last three years and has recently resumed purchase of Russian tractors. Russian tourists are also contributing to Cuba’s economic revival… some 90,000 holidaymakers from Russia visited the Island of Freedom last year.

19 May 2013

Aleksei Lyakhov

Lada Korotun

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_05_19/Russia-Cuba-ties-are-seeing-renaissance-official/

 

Bangladesh Building Collapse Death Toll Rises

THIS was the ultimate cause of the building collapse… spit when you pass the next McMansion or the country club. The Apostle said that the love of money is the root of all evil, and he was right. That’s the basis of the American Republican Party… we shouldn’t ally Christ’s Church with such depravity, should we? Think on it…

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On Thursday, sources in the military and police told international news agencies that they believe that about 900 people died in the factory collapse in Bangladesh. Media reports said that military sources put the figure at 912, whilst police officials say that they recovered 892 bodies from the building. Previous reports put the number of dead at 803. The Rana Plaza building in Savar, an industrial suburb of Dhaka, collapsed on 24 April. Over 3,000 people are thought to have been working in the building at the time.

On Wednesday, the authorities in Bangladesh ordered 18 textile factories to close over health and safety concerns, and, earlier in the week, they set up a commission to check the 4,500 factories in the region. Preliminary information from the government inquiry indicates that vibrations from four powerful generators, installed in the building in breach of regulations, caused the tragedy. The building’s architect told the media that he designed it to house offices, not a garment factory. Investigators confirmed that the building’s intended purpose was “commercial use”. Local officials told the media that first-responders rescued over 2,400 of those working in the factory at the time of its collapse. Survivors told the media that they’d noticed worrying cracks in the building a day before the incident, but that management convinced them to return to work. The building owner is one of those arrested over the tragedy.

9 May 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/world/20130509/181047449/Bangladesh-Building-Collapse-Death-Toll-Rises.html

Editor’s Note:

The American Right defends “outsourcing”… well, this is its practical upshot. They want to move business to compliant Third World dictatorships to circumvent labour, safety, and environmental regulations in developed countries to maximise their profits. Their attitude is, “Who cares, they’re just sand niggers, anyway. They don’t deserve any better”. The money from such soulless and godless exploitation ends up in the hands of the American and European Affluent Effluent (and their Third World lickspittles such as the Capriles family in Venezuela).

Reflect on this… the people responsible for such malevolent shit tell us how moral they are and how immoral we are. I’d only say this… by their fruits ye shall know them. Remember WHO said that… ‘nuff said.

BMD

Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus Sez: “We Should Withdraw from the Union”

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Archbishop Chrysostomos Demetriou of Nova Justiniana and all Cyprus said that his country should withdraw from the EU, as the EU would cease to exist in the future, as its coming apart. Vladyki Chrysostomos said in an interview with Pervy Kanal (Первый канал: Channel One), “Currently, the economies of Spain, Portugal, and Italy are in danger. If the Italian economy goes down, just like our economy, the EU won’t withstand it. The people who rule the EU, particularly, those making decisions in the so-called troika, don’t understand many things; that’ll lead to the collapse of the EU. This is why I believe we [Cyprus] should withdraw from the union before the collapse takes place”.

On Monday, the finance ministers of the 17-nation Eurozone agreed to a 10-billion Euro (399 billion Roubles. 12.9 billion USD. 8.5 billion UK Pounds) deal for Cyprus to rescue the island nation and its oversized banking sector from financial collapse. The new deal forces the holders of accounts of over 100,000 Euros (3.99 million Roubles. 128,400 USD. 84,300 UK Pounds) to take losses that could amount to 30 to 40 percent of their deposits. The ministers expect the new deal to yield some 4.2 billion Euros (137.5 billion Roubles. 5.4 billion USD. 3.5 billion UK Pounds) to allow Cyprus, which is currently teetering on the brink of default, to obtain 10 billion Euros in financial aid from the troika of international lenders. The so-called troika of creditors are the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, and the ECB.

31 March 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/world/20130331/180359765/Archbishop-of-Cyprus-Says-His-Country-Should-Quit-EU.html

 

21 March 2013. RIA-Novosti Infographics. Rating of the Richest Oil Countries in Per Capita Terms

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The experts at RIA Rating conducted a study of world oil and gas reserves. For more information on which countries lead in energy reserves per capita, see the Infographic above. According to RIA Rating’s calculations, the champion in the ranking is Qatar, where the average oil and gas reserves are worth more than 6 million USD (186 million Roubles. 4.7 million Euros. 4 million UK Pounds) per capita. To make a comparison, this amount is approximately equal to the average Russian salary for 600 years. Such large quantities have provided Qatar a fantastic economic growth in recent years; now, it’s the richest in the world in terms of GDP per capita. Second in the global oil and gas riches sweepstakes is Kuwait. This small Middle Eastern country has more than 4 million USD (124 million Roubles. 3.1 million Euros. 2.7 million UK Pounds) worth of oil and gas reserves per capita. Russia, with the largest gas reserves in the world, and amongst the 10 countries with the largest oil reserves, was only 17 in the rankings, largely due to its relatively-large population. The combined worth of Russian commercial oil and gas reserves is thought to be about 23.5 trillion USD (728 trillion Roubles. 18.2 trillion Euros. 15.5 trillion UK Pounds). Thus, the average worth per capita of Russia’s reserves isn’t all that high… 165,000 USD (5.1 million Roubles. 128,000 Euros. 109,000 UK Pounds)… that’s only 1/35 the per capita of the worth of Qatar’s reserves, but it’s also about 35 times higher than the world average.

20 March 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/infographics/20130320/180136761/The-Worlds-Richest-Countries-by-Oil-and-Gas-Reserves.html

http://ria.ru/infografika/20130319/928007562.html