Russia: US shale decline can't count as 'output cut'
rt.com | 2020-04-09
Production declines across the US shale patch as companies reduce drilling and spending cannot be viewed as a voluntary US cut aimed at supporting oil prices, Vladimir Putin's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. | The comments suggest that Russia may insist on a collective cut from the United States when major oil producers sit down to discuss a global production reduction later this week. | "These are totally different types of cuts," Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday, as carried by Russian news agency RIA Novosti. | Also on rt.com…
rt.com/business/485353-us-shale-decline-russia/

'Mere insinuation offends me': Italy's PM Conte blasts suggestion of ulterior motive behind Russian coronavirus aid
rt.com | 2020-04-09
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has called any suggestion that Russia had an ulterior motive in sending coronavirus aid to Italy "an insult to the Italian government," warning that the pandemic poses an existential threat to the EU. | Amid stalled EU relief efforts, aid and personnel arrived in Italy from China, Cuba and Russia to help Italian medical authorities fight back against the coronavirus outbreak in the country, which ravaged its northern regions and forced a total lockdown of society. | When asked if the Russian coronavirus aid, in the form of both manpower and medical equipment, was a ploy by the Kre…
rt.com/news/485357-conte-offended-russian-aid-italy/

Russia's coronavirus tally surpasses 10,000 after record daily surge, 13 more deaths
rt.com | 2020-04-09
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has broken the 10,000 barrier in Russia, with 1,459 more people testing positive in the past 24 hours, the national disease response team revealed on Thursday morning. | Officials reported that 13 more patients have died, bringing the nationwide death toll from the disease to 76. The tally of reported Covid-19 cases now stands at 10,131. | Worryingly, the curve is sharply upward. 1,175 fresh infections were recorded the previous day and 954 on Tuesday. | Of the new cases, 1,056 are in Moscow and its surrounding region, where there have been ten more deaths. Russia's secon…
rt.com/russia/485360-russias-coronavirus-case-tally-record/

Catch me if you can! WATCH coronavirus suspect FLEE medics in Russia
rt.com | 2020-04-09
A suspected coronavirus patient sparked a frantic chase by medics

Explosion Rocks Business Centre Near Slovak Embassy in Moscow, Two Injured
sputniknews.com | 2020-04-09
Russian media initially reported that the blast reportedly occurred at a boiler room in a business centre in downtown Moscow, causing a fire that was promptly put down.
sputniknews.com/russia/202004091078894115-explosion-rocks-business-centre-in-downtown-moscow—reports/

Alleged Videos of Explosion Aftermath in Central Moscow Released Online
sputniknews.com | 2020-04-09
According to media reports, an explosion took place in a business centre near the embassy of Slovakia.
sputniknews.com/russia/202004091078894203-alleged-videos-of-explosion-aftermath-in-central-moscow-released-online/

Russia releases first cargo of wheat to Saudi Arabia: sources
yenisafak.com | 2020-04-09
The cargo is being sent by a trading house under a tender with optional origin it won a couple of months ago, sources said.Saudi Arabian state grain buyer SAGO did not reply to a Reuters request for immediate comment.Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, has long sought access to the Saudi market.Saudi Arabia last August moved to smooth a path for Russian wheat imports by relaxing import specifications.That was seen as a sign of strengthening ties with Moscow beyond cooperation on oil, weeks before Russia's President Vladimir Putin visited the country.The shipment comes at another crucial moment in relation…
yenisafak.com/en/world/russia-releases-first-cargo-of-wheat-to-saudi-arabia-sources-3516468

Saudi ready to cut up to 4 mln bpd from record April output
yenisafak.com | 2020-04-09
Saudi Arabia is ready to cut up to 4 million barrels per day (bpd) of its production but only from its record output levels of 12.3 million bpd achieved in April, a source briefed on the kingdom's oil policy said on Thursday.OPEC and other producers meet on Thursday to decide on cuts to cope with the falling demand due to the coronavirus crisis. Non-OPEC Russia has said it wants output to be cut from the January-March levels before Saudi production jumped.
yenisafak.com/en/economy/saudi-ready-to-cut-up-to-4-mln-bpd-from-record-april-output-3516457

Venezuela Receives Humanitarian Aid From UN, WHO, Russia
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-08
Venezuela received Wednesday about 90 tons of humanitarian aid from the United Nations, World Health Organization, PanAmerican Health Organization, and Russia. | RELATED: | Nearly 60 Groups Demand End to Sanctions During COVID-19 Crisis | "On behalf of President Nicolas Maduro, we thank the United Nations, the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Russian Federation led by Ambassador Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov, who has strengthened bilateral relations, for this hum…
telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Receives-Humanitarian-Aid-From-UN-WHO-Russia-20200408-0020.html

Covid-19 Is the Crisis Radical 'Traditionalists' Have Been Waiting For
Benjamin Teitelbaum | thenation.com | 2020-04-08
Covid-19 Is the Crisis Radical 'Traditionalists' Have Been Waiting For…
thenation.com/article/politics/covid-traditionalist-bannon-putin/

New COVID-19 project will use the power of smartphones to search for treatments
imperial.ac.uk | 2020-04-08
Imperial researchers will look for potential new treatments for COVID-19 using the computing power of people's smartphones.
imperial.ac.uk/news/196733/new-covid-19-project-will-power-smartphones

Putin Believes that the Situation in Russia with the Coronavirus Is "Complicated but Not Hopeless"
Archyde | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-08
Russian President Vladimir Putin tried yesterday to inspire his fellow citizens by ensuring that the situation with the spread of Covid-19 in the country "is complicated, but not hopeless." Putin held a new meeting by videoconference with members of the …
globalresearch.ca/putin-believes-situation-russia-coronavirus-complicated-not-hopeless/5709104

Putin Believes that the Situation in Russia with the Coronavirus Is "Complicated but Not Hopeless"
Archyde | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-08
Russian President Vladimir Putin tried yesterday to inspire his fellow citizens by ensuring that the situation with the spread of Covid-19 in the country "is complicated, but not hopeless." Putin held a new meeting by videoconference with members of the …
globalresearch.ca/putin-believes-situation-russia-coronavirus-complicated-not-hopeless/5709104

Iran Welcomes Putin's Idea for Green Corridor in Coronavirus Fight
Tasnim News | iranian.com | 2020-04-08
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif welcomed a proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin to create a green corridor for the global battle with the coronavirus pandemic. "In order to contain the situation of coronavirus, different countries have closed their geographical borders, but opened them to provide assistance," Zarif said in a tweet on Wednesday, …
iranian.com/2020/04/08/iran-welcomes-putins-idea-for-green-corridor-in-coronavirus-fight/

Imagining a Department of Actual Defense in a Time of Coronavirus
David Swanson | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-06
( DavidSwanson.org)

[Perspectives] Man up
Tom Shakespeare | thelancet.com | 2020-04-04
Masculinities: Liberation through Photography explores half a century of photographic representations of men–their bodies, their identities, and their social roles. Contemporary politics is full of powerful men–Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Vladimir Putin, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan–behaving in stereotypically dominant ways. You could be forgiven for thinking that the more things change, the more things remain the same. But #MeToo is here to say it can't go on like this, in the wake of the conviction of Harvey Weinstein.
thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30683-8/fulltext?rss=yes

Erdogan's Idlib Misadventure: Reality Checks and Hard Lessons for Turkey
Agha Hussain | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-03
Turkey has found itself as a historic diplomatic crossroads following its military blunder in Syria. Now, wounded and humiliated, it faces a choice between neighborly detente or escalating its NATO-backed aggression in Syria.
mintpressnews.com/erdogans-idlib-misadventure-reality-checks-hard-lessons-turkey/266275/

Rosneft Dodges US Sanctions by Transferring Venezuela Operations to Russian State Firm
Paul Dobson | venezuelanalysis.com | 2020-03-30
Moscow insists that its support for the Venezuelan government and role in its oil industry will remain unchanged.
venezuelanalysis.com/news/14829

The Truth About the United States' "Continuity of Government" Plans & The Coronavirus Perfect Storm
Whitney Webb | thelastamericanvagabond.com | 2020-03-23
Though often discussed in relation to nuclear war or a similarly chaotic scenario, "Continuity of Government" plans can be triggered even by popular, nonviolent opposition to an unpopular war abroad. It exists solely to keep the current system in place, regardless of the cost. WASHINGTON DC