W George Krasnow Ph.D Dear friends of the Russia & America Good Will Association (www.raga.org) and antiwar colleagues!
Let me congratulate Russian readers with the Russian Easter on April 19. Sorry that COVID-19 contingency prevented me from doing the same for the earlier Hanukkah and the Gregorian calendar Easter for the benefit of the majority of our readers!
From TOR Browser to OPERA
For some time I have heard the reports that RAGA became inaccessible for readers located in Russia and some other countries. No worry: TOR Browser is easy to install, and it is FREE https://www.torproject.org/download/ the same goes for OPERA VPN: https://www.opera.com/features/free-vpn
COVID facts, lessons, awareness of Life on Earth vulnerability
ON APRIL 16, 2020 BY PATRICK ARMSTRONG IN RF SITREP
COVID AND RUSSIA. Overall totals to today are 28K infected, 232 dead. This raises the question of why the death rate in Russia appears to be lower. One theory is that the widespread Soviet-era tuberculosis vaccinations (BCG vaccine) may have had an effect – just how or why is unclear, but there seems to be a statistical relationship. A test of its effectiveness is beginning in Australia. Over half the cases are in Moscow but every region except one reports cases: most of Sunday’s infections in Shanghai came from a flight from Russia the day before. A pass system was introduced in Moscow yesterday but not very successfully (and many standing in line waiting to be checked). The new hospital in Moscow Region is up and running. A vaccine prototype is undergoing human testing (including by the developer). The Victory Parade is postponed. Meanwhile Russian military specialists are working away in Italy...
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2020/04/16/russian-federation-sitrep-16-april-2020/
SITREP 2 APRIL 2020/ ON APRIL 2, 2020 BY PATRICK ARMSTRONGIN RF SITREP
COVID AND RUSSIA. As of today there are about 3600 cases and 30 deaths, most in Moscow City. Why so much lower than other places? Some reasons: Moscow ordered travel and flight closures earlier than Western countries; it does not appear to have run down its stockpiles of PPE (as the USA and, apparently, most Western countries did); the war-time/emergency preparedness of a country that knows the cost of not being prepared and the fact that anti-Russia sanctions have made the country very self-sufficient. (As even the NYT admits. A few weeks ago, though, in NYT-land, Russia’s economy was faltering. Hard to keep up with the Party Line it is.)……. NEW NWO. Post COVID, things are going to be a lot different. I offer Stephen Walt’s “The Death of American Competence” for your reflection. Pompeo’s boast only six weeks ago that “The West is winning” looks hollow. This 2019 rating of countries best prepared to deal with a pandemic hasn’t worn well (USA and UK first, Russia and China in the middle). 2020 – the year the West lost its mojo.
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2020/04/02/russian-federation-sitrep-2-april-2020/
U.S. Sanctions Must Stop/ Simone Weil Center, By Paul Grenier, April 1, 2020
Sharon Tennison, director of the Center for Citizen Initiatives, has called for an end to the U.S. policy of sanctions against dozens of nations during a deadly global pandemic. We urge everyone to read her appeal, sign on to it, and distribute it further. *
By Mikhail S. Gorbachev MARCH 16, 2020 If war is the consequence of a policy, then get rid of the policy.
It is only two months into 2020, and the world has already been on the brink of a clash between two great powers. These were real military actions—in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Then the participants seemed to rethink and stepped back from the brink…What is this? It’s the old policy of “balancing on the edge of war.” A dangerous, adventurist policy.
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/mikhail-gorbachev-coronavirus-nuclear/
Coronavirus: What could the West learn from Asia? By Helier Cheung BBC News
RAGA COMMENT: Yes, it’s need to be done
The outbreak hit many countries in Asia several weeks earlier - and some have been praised for containing the number of infections. For example, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan all kept case numbers relatively low - despite their proximity to mainland China.
What did they do differently - and are there any lessons for other countries?
Lesson one: Take it seriously - and act quickly
Health experts agree on the same measures for containing the outbreak - test widely, isolate those infected, and encourage social distancing. Such measures are being adopted to varying degrees in the West now - but a key difference is that many countries didn't act as quickly.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51970379
CORONA in INDIA. As RAGA has a global outreach, I am happy to post a report from our colleague in India.
Daily Pioneer, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 /The Corona apocalypse, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 | Sandhya Jain
……What makes India’s response unique is the Union Cabinet’s decision to reduce salary, allowances and pensions of all Members of Parliament (MPs) by a whopping 30 per cent for one year, with effect from April 1, 2020. The President, Vice President and Governors voluntarily took a similar pay cut as social responsibility. The MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) has been suspended for two years (2020-21 and 2021-22); all money saved will go to the Consolidated Fund of India. This scale of personal sacrifice is unmatched in the world so far; even children have been inspired to give their savings (for bicycle, birthday) to feed the needy...
Comparisons are undesirable at this apocalyptic moment in human history but given the uncalled for attacks on India from some responsible quarters, some points are in order. India saw its first case of Coronavirus in the last week of January, around the same time as Europe and the US. After initially claiming the disease would go away on its own, US President Donald Trump said on March 30 that administration estimates show that COVID-19 could kill 100,000 to 200,000 people in America and such a toll would indicate that his administration has “done a very good job.” Imagine an Indian leader saying such a death toll is acceptable and surviving. At the time of writing, the world had 1,853,327 cases and 114,250 deaths; India had 9,152 cases and 308 mortalities.
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2020/columnists/the-corona-apocalypse.html
RAGA comment: As you can see above, India’s top leadership set the standards for leaders everywhere by making personal income sacrifice before expecting the same of their plain citizens!
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The US National Emergency RAGA likes Patrick’s geopolitical philosophy
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/03/16/patrick-lawrence-the-us-national-emergency/
COVID-19 calls on us to consider our plundered commons and unite around four truths made conspicuous by the pandemic. Now that the Trump administration has declared the COVID–19 virus a national emergency, it is plain that this once-a-century catastrophe has some things to tell us about ourselves. A thousand New Age apostles call for unity in 1960s “get together” style. In the Hallmark card category, Marianne Williamson advised us on Twitter Saturday, “We can grow from this.”
We may or may not grow from this. This will depend on whether we identify the lessons the COVID–19 pandemic has for humanity — and then go on to learn from them such that we can effect change in the way we live and organize ourselves. Certain nations — agile, imaginative, confident — prove capable of change in the face of new circumstances. The U.S. is not one of these, to put the point politely. ..Neoliberalism in the extreme version we live with — another Reagan-era legacy — is the wrong technology for moments such as this one. It cannot respond to 21stcentury exigencies such as COVID–19. We know this now. It is prominent among the culprits behind this crisis. It has devastated our public space, not least our public health institutions.
This century demands sturdy supra-national institutions—truth No. 3. But they are nowhere in evidence now because we have so far failed to build them effectively. These, too, have to be properly democratized if they are to work as conduits for ground-up solutions to on-the-ground problems. The UN so often fails because so much of it is manipulated by the U.S. and its Atlantic allies.
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/03/16/patrick-lawrence-the-us-national-emergency/
The Fed, the Virus, and Inequality
A Global Dr. Frankenstein at Work/ By Nomi Prins
https://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176674/tomgram%3A_nomi_prins%2C_the_global_economy_catches_the_coronavirus
Dr. Frankenstein, the experiment (in neoliberal economics) became the monster. The byproduct of making lots of money available to a sliver of society was, of course, that it flowed to the top, only exacerbating the already significant inequality on this planet. That’s why there’s something the same and yet so different about today’s inequality… If recent years have taught us anything, it’s that the official responses to crises will ultimately help Wall Street and the markets, while leaving real people behind again. It’s a vicious cycle that will only stoke inequality further until, of course, whether thanks to the coronavirus or some unknown future development, it all comes tumbling down.
Vladislav Krasnov
April 6 at 6:09 PM ·
RAGA.org sends KUDOS to NOMI again for we too seek a more peaceful, fair and harmonious world for all/RAGA.org recommends to listen to a former Wall Street insider who is now with us, the outsiders Vladislav Krasnov
APRIL 6, 2020
Wall Street Wins, Again: Bailouts in the Time of Coronavirus/ By NOMI PRINS
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/06/wall-street-wins-again-bailouts-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/
To say that these are unprecedented times would be the understatement of the century.
David Horowitz of The Times of Israel summed up our common humility before the challenge of CORONA in these words: "the deeply dismaying truth that months into this pandemic, and weeks into radically curtailed life as we know it on much of planet Earth, the people to whom we look for guidance — the experts, and the political leaders who hopefully at least try to make: decisions on the basis of the experts’ wisdom — still cannot entirely pin down COVID-19.
As to myself, since January 3, 2020 I have been busy with this
Sighing at the Secrets of Jewish Genius
Rebuttal to Bret Stephens’s The New York Times Column
VLADISLAV KRASNOV • FEBRUARY 3, 2020
• 10,000 WORDS • 251 COMMENTS • 3 NEW • REPLY
https://www.unz.com/article/sighing-at-the-secrets-of-jewish-genius/?highlight=Krasnov
It is a huge, complicated and usually controversial topic on which I continued to work on by producing a version of the above article and its Russian rendition for the benefit of RAGA readers. (See attachments to this email)
Finally, I am happy to congratulate the Global Harmony Association, with which RAGA is now affiliated, on publication of a new collection “Gandhica: Intellectual Triumph of Varnas/Spherons Equality.”Approved by the GHA on April 7, 2020
Publication:
In English: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=938
In Russian: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=835
After the publication of the GHA eighth book “Global Peace Science” in 2016 (https://peacefromharmony.org/docs/global-peace-science-2016.pdf), we started preparing for a new book, which eventually got the name Gandhica. We found in philosophy, science and practice of non-violence of the greatest peacemaker in human history, Mahatma Gandhi, a new fundamental thinking/consciousness for a new, peacemaking era that eliminates inequality and war, ensures the humanity survival and the prosperity of all nations on the basis of Gandhian equal varnas/spherons, covering the entire population. Hundreds of the GHA members and its peacemaking friends participated in the creation of this book, of which 82 people from 25 countries became its co-authors, including the President of India, four Nobel Peace Laureates and many peace leaders.
Sincerely,
W George Krasnow (http://wiki-org.ru/wiki/Краснов,_Владислав_Георгиевич)
President, RAGA
www.raga.org
Facebook
Peace and Justice to the World.
миру мир и благоволение в сердцах
From RAGA site:
"We are an association of Americans who believe it is in the U.S. national interests to foster friendship with Russia on the basis of mutual Good Will and non-interference in each other's affairs. RAGA is a gathering of people who share common interests in Russia's history, culture, religion, economy, politics and the way of life. We feel that Russian people have made outstanding contributions to humankind and are capable of greater achievements. We envision Russia as a strong, independent, proud and free nation and as a partner in achieving peace in the world."
All statements in this report are an opinion of the author. Act at your own risk. Russia & America Goodwill Association (RAGA) is not responsible for the content of the article. Any views or opinions presented in this report are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RAGA. Any liability in respect to this communication remain with the author.
RAGA News
www.RAGA.org
Let me congratulate Russian readers with the Russian Easter on April 19. Sorry that COVID-19 contingency prevented me from doing the same for the earlier Hanukkah and the Gregorian calendar Easter for the benefit of the majority of our readers!
From TOR Browser to OPERA
For some time I have heard the reports that RAGA became inaccessible for readers located in Russia and some other countries. No worry: TOR Browser is easy to install, and it is FREE https://www.torproject.org/download/ the same goes for OPERA VPN: https://www.opera.com/features/free-vpn
COVID facts, lessons, awareness of Life on Earth vulnerability
ON APRIL 16, 2020 BY PATRICK ARMSTRONG IN RF SITREP
COVID AND RUSSIA. Overall totals to today are 28K infected, 232 dead. This raises the question of why the death rate in Russia appears to be lower. One theory is that the widespread Soviet-era tuberculosis vaccinations (BCG vaccine) may have had an effect – just how or why is unclear, but there seems to be a statistical relationship. A test of its effectiveness is beginning in Australia. Over half the cases are in Moscow but every region except one reports cases: most of Sunday’s infections in Shanghai came from a flight from Russia the day before. A pass system was introduced in Moscow yesterday but not very successfully (and many standing in line waiting to be checked). The new hospital in Moscow Region is up and running. A vaccine prototype is undergoing human testing (including by the developer). The Victory Parade is postponed. Meanwhile Russian military specialists are working away in Italy...
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2020/04/16/russian-federation-sitrep-16-april-2020/
SITREP 2 APRIL 2020/ ON APRIL 2, 2020 BY PATRICK ARMSTRONGIN RF SITREP
COVID AND RUSSIA. As of today there are about 3600 cases and 30 deaths, most in Moscow City. Why so much lower than other places? Some reasons: Moscow ordered travel and flight closures earlier than Western countries; it does not appear to have run down its stockpiles of PPE (as the USA and, apparently, most Western countries did); the war-time/emergency preparedness of a country that knows the cost of not being prepared and the fact that anti-Russia sanctions have made the country very self-sufficient. (As even the NYT admits. A few weeks ago, though, in NYT-land, Russia’s economy was faltering. Hard to keep up with the Party Line it is.)……. NEW NWO. Post COVID, things are going to be a lot different. I offer Stephen Walt’s “The Death of American Competence” for your reflection. Pompeo’s boast only six weeks ago that “The West is winning” looks hollow. This 2019 rating of countries best prepared to deal with a pandemic hasn’t worn well (USA and UK first, Russia and China in the middle). 2020 – the year the West lost its mojo.
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2020/04/02/russian-federation-sitrep-2-april-2020/
U.S. Sanctions Must Stop/ Simone Weil Center, By Paul Grenier, April 1, 2020
Sharon Tennison, director of the Center for Citizen Initiatives, has called for an end to the U.S. policy of sanctions against dozens of nations during a deadly global pandemic. We urge everyone to read her appeal, sign on to it, and distribute it further. *
By Mikhail S. Gorbachev MARCH 16, 2020 If war is the consequence of a policy, then get rid of the policy.
It is only two months into 2020, and the world has already been on the brink of a clash between two great powers. These were real military actions—in Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Then the participants seemed to rethink and stepped back from the brink…What is this? It’s the old policy of “balancing on the edge of war.” A dangerous, adventurist policy.
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/mikhail-gorbachev-coronavirus-nuclear/
Coronavirus: What could the West learn from Asia? By Helier Cheung BBC News
RAGA COMMENT: Yes, it’s need to be done
The outbreak hit many countries in Asia several weeks earlier - and some have been praised for containing the number of infections. For example, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan all kept case numbers relatively low - despite their proximity to mainland China.
What did they do differently - and are there any lessons for other countries?
Lesson one: Take it seriously - and act quickly
Health experts agree on the same measures for containing the outbreak - test widely, isolate those infected, and encourage social distancing. Such measures are being adopted to varying degrees in the West now - but a key difference is that many countries didn't act as quickly.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51970379
CORONA in INDIA. As RAGA has a global outreach, I am happy to post a report from our colleague in India.
Daily Pioneer, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 /The Corona apocalypse, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 | Sandhya Jain
……What makes India’s response unique is the Union Cabinet’s decision to reduce salary, allowances and pensions of all Members of Parliament (MPs) by a whopping 30 per cent for one year, with effect from April 1, 2020. The President, Vice President and Governors voluntarily took a similar pay cut as social responsibility. The MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) has been suspended for two years (2020-21 and 2021-22); all money saved will go to the Consolidated Fund of India. This scale of personal sacrifice is unmatched in the world so far; even children have been inspired to give their savings (for bicycle, birthday) to feed the needy...
Comparisons are undesirable at this apocalyptic moment in human history but given the uncalled for attacks on India from some responsible quarters, some points are in order. India saw its first case of Coronavirus in the last week of January, around the same time as Europe and the US. After initially claiming the disease would go away on its own, US President Donald Trump said on March 30 that administration estimates show that COVID-19 could kill 100,000 to 200,000 people in America and such a toll would indicate that his administration has “done a very good job.” Imagine an Indian leader saying such a death toll is acceptable and surviving. At the time of writing, the world had 1,853,327 cases and 114,250 deaths; India had 9,152 cases and 308 mortalities.
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2020/columnists/the-corona-apocalypse.html
RAGA comment: As you can see above, India’s top leadership set the standards for leaders everywhere by making personal income sacrifice before expecting the same of their plain citizens!
PATRICK LAWRENCE: The US National Emergency RAGA likes Patrick’s geopolitical philosophy
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/03/16/patrick-lawrence-the-us-national-emergency/
COVID-19 calls on us to consider our plundered commons and unite around four truths made conspicuous by the pandemic. Now that the Trump administration has declared the COVID–19 virus a national emergency, it is plain that this once-a-century catastrophe has some things to tell us about ourselves. A thousand New Age apostles call for unity in 1960s “get together” style. In the Hallmark card category, Marianne Williamson advised us on Twitter Saturday, “We can grow from this.”
We may or may not grow from this. This will depend on whether we identify the lessons the COVID–19 pandemic has for humanity — and then go on to learn from them such that we can effect change in the way we live and organize ourselves. Certain nations — agile, imaginative, confident — prove capable of change in the face of new circumstances. The U.S. is not one of these, to put the point politely. ..Neoliberalism in the extreme version we live with — another Reagan-era legacy — is the wrong technology for moments such as this one. It cannot respond to 21stcentury exigencies such as COVID–19. We know this now. It is prominent among the culprits behind this crisis. It has devastated our public space, not least our public health institutions.
This century demands sturdy supra-national institutions—truth No. 3. But they are nowhere in evidence now because we have so far failed to build them effectively. These, too, have to be properly democratized if they are to work as conduits for ground-up solutions to on-the-ground problems. The UN so often fails because so much of it is manipulated by the U.S. and its Atlantic allies.
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/03/16/patrick-lawrence-the-us-national-emergency/
The Fed, the Virus, and Inequality
A Global Dr. Frankenstein at Work/ By Nomi Prins
https://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176674/tomgram%3A_nomi_prins%2C_the_global_economy_catches_the_coronavirus
Dr. Frankenstein, the experiment (in neoliberal economics) became the monster. The byproduct of making lots of money available to a sliver of society was, of course, that it flowed to the top, only exacerbating the already significant inequality on this planet. That’s why there’s something the same and yet so different about today’s inequality… If recent years have taught us anything, it’s that the official responses to crises will ultimately help Wall Street and the markets, while leaving real people behind again. It’s a vicious cycle that will only stoke inequality further until, of course, whether thanks to the coronavirus or some unknown future development, it all comes tumbling down.
Vladislav Krasnov
April 6 at 6:09 PM ·
RAGA.org sends KUDOS to NOMI again for we too seek a more peaceful, fair and harmonious world for all/RAGA.org recommends to listen to a former Wall Street insider who is now with us, the outsiders Vladislav Krasnov
APRIL 6, 2020
Wall Street Wins, Again: Bailouts in the Time of Coronavirus/ By NOMI PRINS
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/06/wall-street-wins-again-bailouts-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/
To say that these are unprecedented times would be the understatement of the century.
David Horowitz of The Times of Israel summed up our common humility before the challenge of CORONA in these words: "the deeply dismaying truth that months into this pandemic, and weeks into radically curtailed life as we know it on much of planet Earth, the people to whom we look for guidance — the experts, and the political leaders who hopefully at least try to make: decisions on the basis of the experts’ wisdom — still cannot entirely pin down COVID-19.
As to myself, since January 3, 2020 I have been busy with this
Sighing at the Secrets of Jewish Genius
Rebuttal to Bret Stephens’s The New York Times Column
VLADISLAV KRASNOV • FEBRUARY 3, 2020
• 10,000 WORDS • 251 COMMENTS • 3 NEW • REPLY
https://www.unz.com/article/sighing-at-the-secrets-of-jewish-genius/?highlight=Krasnov
It is a huge, complicated and usually controversial topic on which I continued to work on by producing a version of the above article and its Russian rendition for the benefit of RAGA readers. (See attachments to this email)
Finally, I am happy to congratulate the Global Harmony Association, with which RAGA is now affiliated, on publication of a new collection “Gandhica: Intellectual Triumph of Varnas/Spherons Equality.”Approved by the GHA on April 7, 2020
Publication:
In English: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=938
In Russian: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=835
After the publication of the GHA eighth book “Global Peace Science” in 2016 (https://peacefromharmony.org/docs/global-peace-science-2016.pdf), we started preparing for a new book, which eventually got the name Gandhica. We found in philosophy, science and practice of non-violence of the greatest peacemaker in human history, Mahatma Gandhi, a new fundamental thinking/consciousness for a new, peacemaking era that eliminates inequality and war, ensures the humanity survival and the prosperity of all nations on the basis of Gandhian equal varnas/spherons, covering the entire population. Hundreds of the GHA members and its peacemaking friends participated in the creation of this book, of which 82 people from 25 countries became its co-authors, including the President of India, four Nobel Peace Laureates and many peace leaders.
Sincerely,
W George Krasnow (http://wiki-org.ru/wiki/Краснов,_Владислав_Георгиевич)
President, RAGA
www.raga.org
Peace and Justice to the World.
миру мир и благоволение в сердцах
From RAGA site:
"We are an association of Americans who believe it is in the U.S. national interests to foster friendship with Russia on the basis of mutual Good Will and non-interference in each other's affairs. RAGA is a gathering of people who share common interests in Russia's history, culture, religion, economy, politics and the way of life. We feel that Russian people have made outstanding contributions to humankind and are capable of greater achievements. We envision Russia as a strong, independent, proud and free nation and as a partner in achieving peace in the world."
All statements in this report are an opinion of the author. Act at your own risk. Russia & America Goodwill Association (RAGA) is not responsible for the content of the article. Any views or opinions presented in this report are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RAGA. Any liability in respect to this communication remain with the author.
RAGA News
www.RAGA.org
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