Total Free Fall: Ukraine Economy To Plunge 7% In 2014, No Growth In 2015 – 14 May 2014

​Ukraine’s economy, heading for darker depths than previously estimated, will contract seven percent this year and may not expand at all in 2015, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in a new report.

“Ukraine’s economy is going through a painful macroeconomic adjustment with high short-term costs for growth,” the report says.

The EBRD slashed Ukraine’s growth forecast by 8.5 percent, as their last report estimated a 1.5 percent expansion in 2014.

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Jon Rappoport – Alert: Imperial Psychiatric Empire Is Invading The Mind – 14 May 2014

A federal bill, HR 3717, is being refined in the hope of gaining big support from both sides of the political aisle.

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) is the key point man for the American Psychiatric Association.

This bill is playing off of Aurora, Sandy Hook, Boston, and other recent “mass events.”

The propaganda hook is: catch mental illness early, prevent tragedy.

Russian Defense Industry Should Obey ‘Made In Russia’ Principle – Putin – 14 May 2014

No branch in Russia’s defense industry should depend on foreign producers President Vladimir Putin said, saying everything the industry needs must be made at home.

“We must ensure that everything our defense industry needs is produced on our territory – for us not to be dependent on anyone, in any way concerning the supply of our army and navy with new weapons,” Putin said at a meeting at his Bocharov Ruchey residence in Sochi.

“I am sure this would benefit our industry,” he added.

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New Oil Era In US? Washington Mulls Lifting 41-Yr Export Ban – 14 May 2014

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The US government is considering doing away with a four-decade-old law that bans the sale and export of American oil abroad. The decision follows a slew of US-led strategic wars and sanctions in the Middle East that have raised oil prices and demand.

The policy shift comes on the heels of the crisis in Ukraine, as the US may be taking advantage of an opportunity to disrupt Russian oil exports to Europe. The US produces 10 percent of global crude oil supply, but exports precisely zero barrels because of a ban Congress set in reaction to the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo.

Washington is seriously considering changing federal laws to let oil flow abroad, according to US Energy Department Secretary Ernest Moniz.

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Lisa Gawlas – Connecting To The Energy Of Your Dreams/Desires! – 14 May 2014

There are so many thing I want to share, but sadly, I woke up late this morning and my schedule too full to even think about trying to write in-between appointments.  So, I am going to have to prioritize without leaving the important things out.

I realize, we, as a human species tend to generalize a lot of things, to the point of diluting the true meaning.  Words like “light worker,” (Being the Light is not the same as purposely using the light.) “Spiritual” (often used to mean religious, very different ball parks there.)  The list can go on, but the one that is really getting diluted these days is Being in the “Now.”  Being in the now is not just about being in your day, your life at the moment, it is truly seeing, recognizing what is available to you, the action points, and moving with all of that (whatever “that” may be.)  Until these last two days, I am not even sure I fully realized the gap, the huge difference between simply moving thru a day and Being in the NOW.

Syria’s Aleppo Faces Deadly Water Shortage After Rebels Block Supply – 14 May 2014

Islamist militants from Syria’s opposition have cut off the water supply to most parts of the city of Aleppo by targeting pumping stations. The city has now been plunged into abject misery, as the government and NGOs race to find alternative sources.

More than two million people have been affected by the resulting water shortage after two pumping stations were shut down. Water has stopped flowing not only into government-held areas, as intended, but into practically every corner of Syria’s largest city, which is presently divided in two spheres of control.

Fighters of the Al-Nusra Front and related groups were interested in keeping the water flowing to east Aleppo and prevent it from flowing into the western parts, AFP reports. But the plan backfired, and now tons of water have been squandered irretrievably in the Quqayq river.

Read the full story at: www.rt.com/  link to original article

Terminator Judgment Day? UN Mulls Preemptive ‘Killer Robot’ Ban – 14 May 2014

The first multinational discussions on the rising specter of ‘autonomous killer robots’ is being hosted by the United Nations to consider whether the global community should ban the new technology – before it’s too late.

Acting Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva Michael Møller said the time to take action against killer robots is now.

“All too often international law only responds to atrocities and suffering once it has happened,” he said. “You have the opportunity to take pre-emptive action and ensure that the ultimate decision to end life remains firmly under human control.”

Read the fulll story at: www.rt.com / link to original article

ActivistPost – Russia Is On The Verge Of Dealing A Massive Blow To The Petrodollar – 14 May 2014

By Michael Snyder

Is the petrodollar monopoly about to be shattered?  When U.S. politicians started slapping economic sanctions on Russia, they probably never even imagined that there might be serious consequences for the United States.  But now the Russian media is reporting that the Russian Ministry of Finance is getting ready to pull the trigger on a “de-dollarization” plan.  For decades, virtually all oil and natural gas around the world has been bought and sold for U.S. dollars.

Read the full story at: www.activistpost.com / link to original article

Unspoken Alliance Between US Govt & Fascists – 14 May 2014

Author: Caleb Maupin is a political analyst who lives in New York City, and is an activist with the International Action Center and Workers World Party. He was part of the Occupy Wall Street mo

The fact that US government is supporting the Right Sector and Svoboda in Ukraine as they praise Hitler and engage in a campaign of terrorism is shocking to many people in the United States.

It runs contrary to everything they have been told about the US and its history. The narrative commonly taught in US schools is one of the US being a ‘homeland of freedom and democracy’ that battles against ‘tyrants’ and ‘fascists’, not supports them.

In fact, the relationship between the US government and fascist groups has always been an unspoken, unstable, and unacknowledged friendship. The relationship does not just take place in far off countries like Ukraine, but within the domestic United States.

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US Child Tobacco Farms: 60hrs A Week In Heat, Nicotine Exposure – 14 May 2014

Photo from http://www.hrw.org

Children as young as seven toil away in sweltering heat, harvesting pesticide-laden tobacco and facing high-volume nicotine exposure in the US south to satisfy the demand of global cigarette manufacturers, a report by the Human Rights Watch reveals.

The 138-page report, ‘Tobacco’s Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in US Tobacco Farming’, gives a startling look of the often perilous conditions in which minors toil away in the United States’ tobacco heartland.

The report culls its information from interviews with more than 140 children working the fields in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia – where 90 percent of the country’s tobacco is grown.

Many of the child workers report frequently getting sick with vomiting, nausea, headaches and dizziness; all of which are symptoms of ‘Green tobacco sickness’ – acute nicotine poisoning. Working 50-60 hours a week, often without overtime pay and in intense heat, they are also exposed to pesticides known neurotoxins.

Read the full story at: www.rt.com / link to original article