Ukraine's local elections strengthened pro-Russian factions and local oligarchs in its southern and eastern regions, offering Moscow an opportunity for greater influence in the post-revolution political order...

Ukrainian Local Elections Leave Room for Russian Influence         By Daniel Pitcairn, Hugo Spaulding, and Daniel Urchick Key Take-away: Ukraine's local elections strengthened pro-Russian factions and local oligarchs in its southern and eastern regions, offering Moscow an opportunity for greater influence in the post-revolution political order.  Local elections on October 25 exposed cracks in post-revolution Ukraine that Russia may exploit.  Candidates linked to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and prominent oligarchs that rival current President Petro Poroshenko earned more support than the president's faction in the south and east of the country, areas that are vulnerable to Russian political destabilization. Former Yanukovych allies with ties to the Dnipropetrovsk-based owner of Ukraine's largest bank Ihor Kolomoyskyi earned crucial victories in the Black Sea port city of Odesa and Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv. Mafia-linked Hennadiy Trukhanov was reelected in Odesa, marking a setback for Poroshenko, who has tried to overhaul the region historically plagued by organized crime with the help of provincial governor and reformist former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Former Yanukovych ally Hennadiy Kernes was reelected in the key northeastern city of Kharkiv after allying with a Kolomoyskyi-backed party that reportedly earned a majority of seats in the city council. Two mayoral candidates from the pro-Russian "Opposition Bloc" and one candidate backed by Donetsk-based former Yanukovych ally and Ukraine's richest man Rinat Akhmetov earned berths in runoff elections on November 15 in the provincial capitals of Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhia. The "Opposition Bloc" also earned victories inside government-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, including in the two previously separatist-controlled cities of Sloviansk and Lysychansk. Government authorities postponed elections in the key port city of Mariupol following allegations of ballot fraud favoring pro-Russian candidates backed by Akhmetov. These results highlight the challenges faced by Poroshenko's pro-Western government in asserting control outside the western and central regions of Ukraine, where it largely preserved its influence.  Ihor Kolomoyskyi's stronghold of Dnipropetrovsk has become the epicenter of competition between Poroshenko and his rivals since the October 25 elections. Poroshenko's government reportedly backed the "Opposition Bloc" candidate and former deputy prime minister under Viktor Yanukovych Oleksandr Vilkul over the Kolomoyskyi-backed candidate, who will contest a runoff election on November 15. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched a "large-scale special operation" to detain Hennadiy Korban, a close associate of Kolomoyskyi and the leader of the oligarch's UKROP (Ukrainian Association of Patriots) party, and his associates linked to organized crime in the southeastern city of Dnipropetrovsk on October 31. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Dnipropetrovsk to protest the arrest while a smaller protest was held in Kyiv against Poroshenko's Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was involved in organizing the arrest and is seen as an impediment to anti-corruption efforts. The timing of the arrest may indicate the intent of Poroshenko's government to influence the outcome of the run-off election.  Poroshenko's rivalry with Kolomoyskyi previously escalated in March 2015, when Kolomoyskyi was deposed as Dnipropetrovsk governor along with his deputy, Hennadiy Korban. Kolomoyskyi was widely credited with preventing a Russian-backed separatist movement from taking hold of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in March 2014. The efforts of Poroshenko's government to root out his rival from the key region could directly lead to the expansion of a Russian influence.  The success of candidates receptive to Russia in southern and eastern Ukraine highlights the risk Poroshenko faces as he moves forward with the decentralization measures required by the "Minsk II" ceasefire agreement. If implemented, decentralization would offer greater authority to local officials, including those who oppose Poroshenko's government in Kyiv and maintain ties with Moscow. Decentralization, in its proposed form, will grant broader fiscal powers to local governments rather than granting autonomy to Ukraine's provinces, distinguishing it from the more debilitating federalization Russia initially pursued. Nevertheless, strengthened local governments in opposition to Poroshenko may present obstacles to his national reform agenda, which aims to root out corruption and overhaul Ukraine's Russian and oligarch-controlled political economic order with the eventual objective of joining the European Union. The results of the October 25 elections reflect Russia's ability to strengthen its political leverage over Ukraine without the need to escalate military operations in the southeast. Russia achieved political gains even as pro-Russian separatist forces continued to withdraw military equipment from the front lines in the southeastern Donbas region and remained largely compliant with a renewed ceasefire on September 1, 2015.  Russia seeks to prevent Ukraine from becoming a fully-fledged member of the European Union by leveraging its military intervention in Donbas to undermine the post-revolution government in Kyiv. Moscow successfully applied military escalation in January and February 2015 to set the terms of the "Minsk II" ceasefire agreement, which locks Kyiv into making major political concessions, including decentralization and the provision of "special status" to separatist-held Donbas. The Kremlin now has the opportunity to cultivate ties with stronger pro-Russian factions and oligarchs in the south and east, preventing these historically pro-Russian regions from fully escaping its sphere of influence. Moscow may not be willing or able to reestablish a client government in Kyiv in the short-term but it will continue to exploit opportunities to prevent Ukraine from becoming a prosperous European nation unified against Russia. Read this update online

Glenn McCoy has been long recognized by his peers as a superior cartoonist. Besides his editorial cartoons, he also creates the daily comic strips The Duplex and The Flying McCoys.

 

 

Glenn McCoy has been long recognized by his peers as a superior cartoonist. 

Besides his editorial cartoons, he also creates the daily comic strips The Duplex and The Flying McCoys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed Ourselves.”

 

Abraham Lincoln

 

 

BILL GATES IS EITHER A USEFUL IDIOT OR HE IS IGNORANT OF THE POLITICAL SCIENCE BEHIND GLOBAL WARMING OBAMA PINS A TARGET ON SPECIAL FORCES?...

One Citizen Speaking...

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• BILL GATES IS EITHER A USEFUL IDIOT OR HE IS IGNORANT OF THE POLITICAL SCIENCE BEHIND GLOBAL WARMING
• OBAMA PINS A TARGET ON SPECIAL FORCES?
• CONGRATULATIONS NEW WINDOWS 10 USERS: MICROSOFT HAS ENROLLED YOUR COMPUTER INTO THEIR BOTNET

BILL GATES IS EITHER A USEFUL IDIOT OR HE IS IGNORANT OF THE POLITICAL SCIENCE BEHIND GLOBAL WARMING Posted: 02 Nov 2015 01:57 AM PST I am sad and disheartened that someone I hold in high esteem for his accomplishments in bringing computing to the masses is so out-of-touch that he overlooks the obvious … You would think for a smart man, Bill Gates, of all people, would realize that man’s influence on the climate is so miniscule that measuring man’s climate signal amid the natural variability of climate is next to impossible and that any such attempts are theoretical, and not scientific fact subject to falsification.  The very idea that man can mitigate the effects of the Sun’s energy output in all spectral bands, the Earth’s position relative to the Sun, the Earth’s precessional and rotational dynamics, the Earth’s vulcanology and plate tectonics, the Earth’s deep ocean currents, and the greatest greenhouse gas, water vapor, with public policies and taxation is ludicrous.   That is not to say that man cannot employ technology and engineering to clean up pollution, but to say that a public policy like cap-and-trade that provides indulgences to gross polluters and passes the costs onto the ratepayers (or the greater economy) or taxes carbon production makes a measurable difference is the global climate is nonsensical beyond belief. Global warming is a political phenomenon designed to capture economies and political power. The Earth has been hotter, colder, with more atmospheric carbon dioxide, and less atmospheric carbon dioxide – all before the industrial revolution and man’s so-called input to the carbon sequestration system. And, all without the catastrophic effects predicted by those who want to scare people into taking imprudent actions. The reason carbon dioxide is unjustly demonized is that carbon-based energy is the underlying linchpin of all industrialized and emerging economies. And he who controls the economy, controls the nation and its people. Global warming is nothing more than a hypothesis that is supported by junk science where correlation is confused with causation, where a consensus on popular science is mistaken for fact, or that so-called proof or evidence exists only within the silicon silliness of computerized models that use incomplete or inaccurate assumptions, parameter-driven programming that allows key factors to be fudged to produce the desired results, and where the input data has been so statistically manipulated as to introduce a warming bias divorced from reality. And, all of these models have been falsified because they do not comport with reality. In fact, the only warming for the past nineteen years exists in the manipulated terrestrial datasets and not it the more modern and accurate remote sensing (satellite) datasets. Something that NOAA disputes, but refuses to provide their raw data and computer programs to prove. Even if cheap clean and efficient power were abundant, it would still be demonized in other ways as it runs counter to those progressives who believe the Malthusian proposition that population control is a necessity for continued survival of the planet. Hence the promotion of veganism, abortion, birth control, and non-reproductive homosexuality. Gates does not seem to understand that while pollution control is a life-saving necessity, it has little or nothing to do with taming nature’s powerful forces. It is natural for the Earth to warm as we emerge from the little ice age into an interglacial period; and that a mildly warmer climate does have a beneficial effect on the fauna and flora of the Earth.   Read the Gates interview and decide for yourself … ‘We Need an Energy Miracle’ Bill Gates has committed his fortune to moving the world beyond fossil fuels and mitigating climate change. In his offices overlooking Lake Washington, just east of Seattle, Bill Gates grabbed a legal pad recently and began covering it in his left-handed scrawl. He scribbled arrows by each margin of the pad, both pointing inward. The arrow near the left margin, he said, represented how governments worldwide could stimulate ingenuity to combat climate change by dramatically increasing spending on research and development. “The push is the R&D,” he said, before indicating the arrow on the right. “The pull is the carbon tax.” Between the arrows he sketched boxes to represent areas, such as deployment of new technology, where, he argued, private investors should foot the bill. He has pledged to commit $2 billion himself. “Yes, the government will be somewhat inept,” he said brusquely, swatting aside one objection as a trivial statement of the obvious. “But the private sector is in general inept. How many companies do venture capitalists invest in that go poorly? By far most of them.”  Gates is on a solo global lobbying campaign to press his species to accomplish something on a scale it has never attempted before. He wants human beings to invent their way out of the coming collision with planetary climate change, accelerating a transition to new forms of energy that might normally take a century or more. To head off a rise in average global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels—the goal set by international agreement—Gates believes that by 2050, wealthy nations like China and the United States, the most prodigious belchers of greenhouse gases, must be adding no more carbon to the skies.  Those who study energy patterns say we are in a gradual transition from oil and coal to natural gas, a fuel that emits far less carbon but still contributes to global warming. Gates thinks that we can’t accept this outcome, and that our best chance to vault over natural gas to a globally applicable, carbon-free source of energy is to drive innovation “at an unnaturally high pace.” Read more at: An Interview with Bill Gates on the Future of Energy - The Atlantic Two degrees Celsius over a hundred or so years is not a major concern, nor is it life-threatening; unless you believe the progressives who spin catastrophic stories of events that are so improbable that they must be withdrawn as falsified and fanciful dreams. The real concern is when nature reverts to the mean and we start heading for another period of glaciation that will stress the Planet and its people.  If Bill Gates wants to become an honest broker for climate change, pollution control, and advanced energy technologies, more power to him .,.. Perhaps Bill Gates should eschew the misleading misdirection of the political class, and start making a difference in an area of personal expertise. Starting with the creation of a change-controlled repository of climate data that can serve all researchers. As it is, the terrestrial datasets may be hopelessly corrupted and the original data long since discarded as it was overwritten by newer data. Let Gates develop new instrumentation and site placement to generate accurate records that are automatically captured without human intervention and manipulation. You cannot legislate natural laws or the functioning of nature, but you can start to build-out a scientific infrastructure that will serve to bring honesty and credibility back to the science of global climate change. Bottom line … Again, I am saddened to see Bill Gates enveloped in an area far from his expertise. Perhaps he needs to visit the Heartland Institute and speak with some of the scientists who have a credible and differing viewpoint. Perhaps funding further honest research free from political bias.  This is the type of progressive wealth redistribution that benefits the wealthy like Gates, Buffett, Soros, and others while disadvantaging the poor and middle class. The progressive socialist democrats demonized nuclear energy because it was a threat to their beloved Soviet Union. Then they turned to environmentalism to continue funding the fight against capitalism and for communism. Now, it appears that they have gained enormous powers as a fifth column and seek to destroy America from within.  Bill Gates needs to decide whether or not he is going to be a patriot or a patsy. It’s his choice, his money, and his legacy. While I do not want to be disillusioned that Bill Gates is another George Soros, I am forced to follow his interviews, writings, and draw my own conclusions. And, right now they lean more toward patsy than patriot. Wake up Bill – you are being used as a useful idiot to destroy the very system that gave you the opportunity to become the world’s wealthiest individual.  -- steve

OBAMA PINS A TARGET ON SPECIAL FORCES? Posted: 01 Nov 2015 08:42 PM PST No wonder President Obama sees nothing wrong with what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did with her private email server and his opinion that it did not damage national the security. When it comes to operation security, President Obama is a clear and present danger to the health and welfare of American forces. He and his cadre of progressive socialist democrats cannot keep their collective mouths shut. Syria: Obama authorizes boots on ground to fight ISIS   Washington (CNN)The United States is set to deploy troops on the ground in Syria for the first time to advise and assist rebel forces combating ISIS, the White House said Friday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that the U.S. would be deploying "less than 50" Special Operations forces, who will be sent to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria. The American troops will help local Kurdish and Arab forces fighting ISIS with logistics and are planning to bolster their efforts. Earnest said that this key element of U.S. strategy in confronting ISIS hasn't changed with Friday's announcement. He was also careful to insist: "These forces do not have a combat mission." The first group of Special Operations forces headed into northern Syria will come from the United States and could be on the ground within the month, according to a senior defense official. Once the troops get there, they will be mainly based at an unofficial headquarters facility where representatives of Syrian Arabs, Kurds and other groups are located. The official would not disclose the location due to security concerns. The troops will remain there for anywhere from weeks to months at a time, the official said. The President has approved a current cap of less than 50 troops, with the first contingent expected to be about two dozen. But more could be sent, the official said. Read more at: Syria: Obama authorizes boots on ground to fight ISIS The actual mission is train and advise, but if necessary (wink-wink) lead the mission to ensure success. Or as President Obama is loath to say, engage in combat. It is becoming increasingly clear that America is going to support the Kurds, probably with a promise to recognize a free Kurdistan when it is formed. The Kurds are pro-American and our only standout in a complex five-way civil war along religious lines with dozens of factions, including self-serving kleptocratic warlords. Including Assad, backed by Hezbollah, Iran, and the Russian Air Force, fighting against the CIA-equipped Free Syrian Army, ISIS; and then the Kurds are fighting ISIS (not Assad). And, in some instances, it appears that the Americans are supporting Assad.   Bottom line … There was absolutely no need for the President of the United States or his lickspittles to reveal the fact that troops will be deployed, their strength, their approximate location, and their mission. Does this douchebag that fraudulently holds the title of Commander-in-Chief realize that the enemy gets a vote and they are most likely to have spies to track the troops upon their arrival. And, even worse, since the President has stated that these soldiers will not be involved in “combat,” it is likely that their rules of engagement favor the enemy and disadvantage our soldiers. Somewhat like the administration position that it is much better optics to have American deaths than civilian collateral damage that can be released to the world’s anti-America media. Who is to say that Obama is not informing his contacts in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense who is in bed with Iran and Russia – both mounting forces against American-backed anti-Assad soldiers? The Obamacons do not seem to have a grasp of history, military tactics, or even the will to win. And, did anyone notice Obama is shifting fighter jets to Turkey ( Southern flank of NATO against Russia) that will most likely remain as a permanent deployment after the current ISIS conflict is tamped down. Also shipping a brigade of armor to the Baltics, the Northern flank of Russia, where there are a number of ethnic Russians that can be claimed by Russia. We are so screwed. -- steve

CONGRATULATIONS NEW WINDOWS 10 USERS: MICROSOFT HAS ENROLLED YOUR COMPUTER INTO THEIR BOTNET Posted: 30 Oct 2015 02:37 AM PDT USEFUL DEFINITIONS A botnet (also known as a zombie army) is a number of Internet computers that, although their owners are unaware of it, have been set up to forward transmissions to other computers on the Internet.  Peer-to-Peer, denoting or relating to computer networks in which each computer can act as a server for the others, allowing shared access to files and peripherals without the need for a central server. We have long ranted about those unilateral user agreements that do little or nothing to legally protect users from harm caused by a vendor's software and which may convey extraordinary access to your computer system to improve your so-called "user experience." Mostly by examining your system's operating system and programs and returning this information to the vendor's mostly anonymous system. In other words, legal spying on your activities. As for a vendor's promise to anonymize your data to remove non-public personal information, they often include a GUID (Globally Unique IDentifier) that links your identity to your computer through the registration and licensing process. This GUID may also be embedded into all files and transmissions from your machine so that your work product may be tracked by law enforcement and linked to other data to produce a digital dossier of your activity. Compromised faster than the blink of an eye Microsoft does examine your Windows 10 system with its mandatory "telemetry" function ... Windows 10 makes diagnostic data collection compulsory Microsoft has expanded its diagnostic data collection with Windows 10, making mandatory what had been a voluntary telemetry program. Windows 10 includes a telemetry and diagnostics service that cannot be fully disabled. In earlier editions of the OS -- including Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 -- Microsoft's data gathering was optional. Users had to agree to join the "Customer Experience Improvement Program," or CEIP, for telemetry to be collected and sent to the Redmond, Wash. company from those operating systems. And if users changed their mind, they could stop it.  In Windows 10, the equivalent of CEIP is compulsory. Dubbed "Feedback & diagnostics," the feature in Windows 10 and Windows 10 Pro -- the two SKUs (stock-keeping units) bundled with new devices and used by all consumers and many businesses -- is not only on by default but cannot be completely deactivated without a dangerous trip into the Windows Registry. <Read More> Not that Microsoft is going to resolve any of my problems for me, just that they want to know about the issue and if non-Microsoft software might be involved. With a few exceptions for high-end commercial users, Microsoft now demands that your Windows 10 system be mandatorily upgraded automatically ... Windows 10 updates to be automatic and mandatory for Home users Windows Update can't be readily disabled in Windows 10 Home, and the license terms that all users must agree to allow Microsoft to install updates automatically. Updates. The software periodically checks for system and app updates, and downloads and installs them for you. You may obtain updates only from Microsoft or authorized sources, and Microsoft may need to update your system to provide you with those updates. By accepting this agreement, you agree to receive these types of automatic updates without any additional notice.  <Read More> Facing user unrest and potential class action lawsuits for consequential damages for bad updates, even though you have executed a hold harmless agreement clause in your user agreement, it appears that Microsoft has relented somewhat. Microsoft caves on Windows 10 mandatory updates, but adds spying apps to Windows 7/8 It's a week where Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh away. On the plus side, it has caved on the mandatory app updates for home users and will allow them to opt out. On the down side, it has back-rolled some of the privacy-intrusive parts of Windows 10 to its older operating systems. The mandatory updates were for both the OS and hardware drivers as well as Windows Store app updates. This only applied to home users, business users were exempt. It wasn't really an unheard-of move. Gamers live with that constantly, especially online gamers. You're getting the update whether you want it or not. <Read More> The Microsoft plan to create a botnet using your machine ... And just when you thought it couldn't get worse, Microsoft implements its own botnet -- turning your PC into a server to convey their software to an unknown third-party on the internet using your machine, your time, your money, and possibly placing you at some risk. Windows 10 shares your files with the internet... here's how to turn it off By default, a Windows 10 update will use your bandwidth to share files on your PC with other PCs. This walk-through shows how to disable that feature--or tone it down a bit. If you are one of the millions of users who have upgraded to Windows 10, you are likely to be very familiar with the Windows update process. Microsoft updates Windows 10 when it needs to be updated. It's part of Microsoft's master plan and is generally a good thing. To facilitate efficiency in the Windows 10 update process, Microsoft has created a system it calls, in typical cryptic fashion, Windows Update Delivery Optimization. To put it in simple terms, when Delivery Optimization is on, Windows 10 will send updates from your computer to other computers on your local network or on the internet. That's right, Windows Update Delivery Optimization is a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, which operates similarly to BitTorrent.  Windows Update Delivery Optimization has two settings: Setting 1 allows Windows 10 to share files with other computers on your local network only. Setting 2 allows Windows 10 to share files with other computers on your local network and with other computers on the internet. Setting 2 is the default for every edition of Windows 10 except Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education; those editions default to Setting 1. Windows Update Delivery Optimization is also active for any apps you purchase and download from the Microsoft Store. <Read more and learn how to modify these settings> Wonderful ...  But it could be worse. For those who watch Microsoft closely, there appears plans afoot to lock you into their infrastructure platform by eliminating all boxed software and perpetual licensing. Thus, you would purchase program access via SaaS (Software as a Service) and operate either in the "cloud" or with designated local storage. How you could avoid providing security keys to access cloud-based data is problematical since law enforcement is currently able to use administrative letters served on third-party vendors with "do not tell" provisions to spy on your activities. Oracle's Larry Ellison was one hundred percent accurate when he asked,"What the hell is the cloud?" It is the same old remote computing system where you use someone else's computer and pay for the usage. No magic there. Bottom line ... I can understand the danger that a unpatched system presents to the user and the internet community. And, that automatic updates and upgrades will be a boon to the totally clueless or the uncaring user; but, there is also two very disturbing issues few are discussing. One, what if someone with the "keys to the kingdom" -- full access to Microsoft's secrets and systems -- decides to go rogue and mount a crippling attack against its customer base or is compromised by a third-party, possibly a foreign agent, to execute a cyberthreat of almost unimaginable proportions? Two, what if a vendor's largest customer, the government, decides to coerce a vendor into inserting key-loggers or security key capture software into a particular machine or group of machines. It is well-known that many former government security and law enforcement people, still loyal to their previous employer, are now employed by most large vendors -- posing yet another threat of extra-judicial snooping.  (Wink-Wink) And if you think that high-level people with motive, means, and opportunity are immune from temptation ...  Here is a story about NSA (National Security Agency) people who spied on lovers.<Read More> Or the story of Obama's nominee, Erroll Southers, to head the Transportation Security Administration; whose nomination had to be withdrawn. "Southers said he was censured by the FBI because he had, 20 years ago, 'asked a co-worker's husband, who worked for the San Diego police department, to run a database check on my ex-wife's new boyfriend.'" <Read more And, as SONY can well attest, adding security or digital rights management software to a system can be compromised by third-parties to create havoc and loss in the user community. <Read More> The Linux open source software is beginning to look more and more attractive as Microsoft's operating system becomes more intrusive. We are so screwed as "open and transparent" becomes "closed and secretive." I suggest that you join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.og) where they are trying to adapt, modify, and create new protections for a digital age. -- steve