2020-05-17: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media! (Copy the text of the postee below, then paste it on social media and the story images will also appear.)

Video: Syrian Army Suffers Casualties in Daraa. Militants Attack Russian-Turkish Patrol
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-17
The security situation has been escalating in southern Syria. Over the past 24 hours, at least 3 pro-government fighters and a civilian have been killed in attacks by gunmen in al-Musayfrah and Saida-al-Taebah. The attacks followed the March 14 and …
globalresearch.ca/video-syrian-army-suffers-casualties-daraa-militants-attack-russian-turkish-patrol/5713174

Russia's COVID Game of Elites
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-17
Implementing President Putin's directives, Russian federal authorities intensified their efforts to contain both the economic and social impact of the nation-wide coronavirus lockdown, and also some local authorities' overzealous efforts. This move was impatiently awaited by the Russian society for …
globalresearch.ca/russia-covid-game-elites/5713171

Russia's COVID Game of Elites
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-17
Implementing President Putin's directives, Russian federal authorities intensified their efforts to contain both the economic and social impact of the nation-wide coronavirus lockdown, and also some local authorities' overzealous efforts. This move was impatiently awaited by the Russian society for …
globalresearch.ca/russia-covid-game-elites/5713171

Video: Syrian Army Suffers Casualties in Daraa. Militants Attack Russian-Turkish Patrol
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-17
The security situation has been escalating in southern Syria. Over the past 24 hours, at least 3 pro-government fighters and a civilian have been killed in attacks by gunmen in al-Musayfrah and Saida-al-Taebah. The attacks followed the March 14 and …
globalresearch.ca/video-syrian-army-suffers-casualties-daraa-militants-attack-russian-turkish-patrol/5713174

Trump Regime Aims to Block Legal Cooperation Between Iran and Venezuela
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-17
The US is at war by hot or others means against all nations unwilling to subordinate their sovereign rights to its interests. | Russia and China top its regime change target list, Iran and Venezuela close behind. | The Islamic and Bolivarian …
globalresearch.ca/trump-regime-aims-block-legal-cooperation-between-iran-venezuela/5713152

Trump Regime Aims to Block Legal Cooperation Between Iran and Venezuela
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-17
The US is at war by hot or others means against all nations unwilling to subordinate their sovereign rights to its interests. | Russia and China top its regime change target list, Iran and Venezuela close behind. | The Islamic and Bolivarian …
globalresearch.ca/trump-regime-aims-block-legal-cooperation-between-iran-venezuela/5713152

Normalized Relations with Russia Can Improve Baltic Economies During Pandemic
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-17
In 2020, Lithuania's and Latvia's gross domestic product (GDP) will decrease by seven per cent, according to a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development report published only days ago. Estonia's GDP is projected to decline by six percent. A six …
globalresearch.ca/normalized-relations-russia-can-improve-baltic-economies-pandemic/5713165

Normalized Relations with Russia Can Improve Baltic Economies During Pandemic
Paul Antonopoulos | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-17
In 2020, Lithuania's and Latvia's gross domestic product (GDP) will decrease by seven per cent, according to a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development report published only days ago. Estonia's GDP is projected to decline by six percent. A six …
globalresearch.ca/normalized-relations-russia-can-improve-baltic-economies-pandemic/5713165

Bloomberg changes headline YET AGAIN amid backlash over article on why Covid-19 'didn't kill more Russians'
rt.com | 2020-05-17
Bloomberg has yet again had to correct the title of an article, after rolling out a report about why Covid-19 hasn't "killed more Russians." Moscow has argued that Western media distort Russia's fight against the disease. | US-based Bloomberg News had published the story, originally titled "Experts Want to Know Why Coronavirus Hasn't Killed More Russians," on Wednesday. The news piece was ostensibly about how Russia's relatively low death toll from Covid-19 "puzzles health experts," especially since the nation has the second-highest number of officially-recorded cases of the disease, trailing only behind the…
rt.com/news/488893-bloomberg-story-russia-covid19/

'Questioning EU's ability': Eurocrat accuses Russian media of spreading Covid-19 'CONSPIRACIES,' offers no examples
rt.com | 2020-05-17
An EU Commission spokesperson alleged, giving no details, that the Russian media and "Kremlin-friendly" sources push conspiracy theories about Covid-19. The news comes on the heels of anti-lockdown protests in Germany and the UK. | Not mincing his words, Peter Stano told German paper Bild am Sonntag: "Our observations show that various official and state-backed sources from Russia

America's Newest Wedge Issue and the Tale of the Bizarre 2020 Presidential Elections
Andrey Areshev | strategic-culture.org | 2020-05-17
The answer to 1776 is not 1984 and if anything needs to be protested it would be any efforts by the government to make elections "go digital". Ironically such a move would actually be the way that the Chinese and Russians could actually get the guy they want in the Oval Office.
strategic-culture.org/video/2020/05/17/americas-newest-wedge-issue-and-tale-bizarre-2020-elections/

Coronavirus brings diamond sales to an almost complete halt
rt.com | 2020-05-17
A leading global diamond producer, Russia's ALROSA, is reporting that its sales were down tenfold in one month alone, as the impact of Covid-19 ripples through the global economy and supply chains. | In April, ALROSA sold a total of just $15.6 million-worth of rough and polished diamonds. This is down from over $152 million a month earlier and from $400 million in sales in the beginning of the year. | "Restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus and a decline in demand for diamond jewelry have minimized the trade in rough and polished diamonds across the world," Evgeny Agureev, Deputy CEO of ALROSA, said in…
rt.com/business/488662-diamond-sales-halted-coronavirus/

Putin calls Russia a 'distinct civilization' that needs to be SAVED with homegrown high-tech
rt.com | 2020-05-17
President Vladimir Putin has compared his multi-ethnic and multi-faith nation to an entire civilization, saying that if Russia is to maintain its independent status, it has to develop its own cutting-edge technologies. | In an interview that aired on Sunday, Putin told the Rossiya-1 channel that Russia was "more than merely a country, but truly a distinct civilization." Being "a multi-ethnic country with many traditions, cultures and faiths," the nation has to maintain its status and power by nurturing modern tech, he said. | I…
rt.com/russia/488904-putin-russia-distinct-civilization/

US needs to read text of JCPOA more carefully: Ulyanov
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-05-17
TEHRAN, May 17 (MNA)

'EYE' in the sky: Russia's National Guard launches BLIMP to spot Covid-19 lockdown violators… to mixed reviews (VIDEO)
rt.com | 2020-05-17
Russia's National Guard has added a steampunk vibe to the coronavirus dystopia as it launched a blimp to monitor how the lockdown is being observed in Moscow Region. Not everyone was impressed, though. | Equipped with the OKO ("eye") surveillance system, the air balloon was deployed to hover several hundred meters above the ground, allowing servicemen to observe an area of around five square kilometers. | The blimp's prime task is to monitor the park and forest areas during the quarantine. Data gathered by the OKO system is transferred to patrols on the ground in real time, who are then dispatched to disperse…
rt.com/russia/488876-russia-blimp-coronavirus-lockdown/

'A bad joke': Trio held after police raid admit to photo-bombing Russian WWII honor-roll site with Nazi pics
rt.com | 2020-05-16
Three suspects have admitted to uploading photos of Third Reich leaders to a website honoring Soviet veterans of World War II. They admitted it was a lame joke

'A bad joke': Trio admits to photo-bombing Russian WWII site with Nazi pics after police raid
rt.com | 2020-05-16
Three suspects have admitted to uploading photos of Third Reich leaders to a website honoring Soviet veterans of World War II. They admitted it was a lame joke

Russian amb. talks of Iran, Russia bilateral relation, regional developments
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-05-16
TEHRAN, May 16 (MNA)

Russia's biggest automaker to jump-start production next week
rt.com | 2020-05-16
Major Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ has announced that after more than a two-week shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic it will resume production on May 18. | "Due to the virus situation, work will be organized according to a safe schedule to avoid crowds of people in transport and at checkpoints. The start of shifts on the assembly lines and office staff work schedules will be timed," the company said. Starting from June 29, AvtoVAZ will switch over to a four-day work week. | Production of cars at AvtoVAZ was suspended from April 29 due to the spread of coronavirus infection in Russia, which led to a drop…
rt.com/business/488789-avtovaz-car-production-restart/

'A bad joke': Trio admits to photo-bombing Russian WWII site with Nazi pics after police raid
rt.com | 2020-05-16
Three suspects have admitted to uploading photos of Third Reich leaders onto a website honoring Soviet veterans of World War II. They admitted it was a lame joke

Russian amb. rejects reports on Iran, Turkey, Russia agreement on removal of Assad
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-05-16
TEHRAN, May 16 (MNA)

'We surrender!' Roscosmos chief taunts Trump for bragging about 'super-duper' US missile
rt.com | 2020-05-16
The head of Russia's space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, fired off a tongue-in-cheek tweet in response to Donald Trump's brag about the uber-powerful missile that he alleges leaves Russian or Chinese analogues far behind. | While unveiling the flag of the Space Force in the Oval Office on Friday, US President Donald Trump made some headline-grabbing remarks. | "We have no choice. We have to do it, with the adversaries we have out there…I call it the super-duper missile, and I heard the other night [it's] 17 times faster than what they have right now," Trump bragged. | The US president didn't give away a single clu…
rt.com/news/488847-rogozin-trump-super-duper-missile/

Moscow hits lowest daily Covid-19 cases mark since early May, with 3,505 infections recorded
rt.com | 2020-05-16
The Russian capital, which accounts for a half of all Covid-19 cases and deaths in the country, has reported the lowest new daily infections number since early May. | Some 3,505 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in Moscow on Saturday. This has become the minimum daily rate in the city since the beginning of May, the capital's operational headquarters for monitoring the pandemic reported. | The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the capital has now reached 138,969. According to the officials, in the third decade of April, an average of 2,700 to 2,800 cases were recorded every day in Moscow. As the t…
rt.com/russia/488853-moscow-coronavirus-infected-sobyanin/

Nuclear deal opponents helpless, ignorant: Ulyanov
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-05-16
TEHRAN, May 16 (MNA)

POLAND would gladly host American nukes if Germany refuses, US envoy claims, fanning 'Cuban missile crisis 2.0'
rt.com | 2020-05-16
As the US ambassador to Germany

Intelsat, launcher of 1st commercial communications satellite, files for bankruptcy… it's a friend we didn't know we had
rt.com | 2020-05-16
Born in the Cold War, powered by rivalry and unhindered by free-market restrictions, Intelsat linked the planet with its satellites

"My Job Is to Make Syria a Quagmire for the Russians": CIA Doctrine Made Official Policy
Zero Hedge | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
Like with the disastrous Iraq quagmire years before the US war machine came to Syria under Obama, Washington's rationale and justification for occupying the Syrian Arab Republic has shifted and changed drastically multiple times over. | When ultimately what started …
globalresearch.ca/make-syria-quagmire-russians-cia-doctrine-made-official-policy/5712991

Give Peace a Chance: Saudi Arabia and the UAE Jostle for Position in War-Ravaged Countries for Contracts
Andrey Areshev | strategic-culture.org | 2020-05-15
Is the coronavirus, which has hit GCC countries quite hard, going to fuel proxy wars further with the economic objective of fortunes to be made, once the fighting stops? Or dig them in deeper? Don't overlook Russia in the scramble for reconstruction contracts. | The bigger they are, the harder they fall. This certainly applies to countries in the GCC which are attempting to pick themselves up again. It's a cruel irony, some might argue, that the UAE's diversification in its economy away from oil dependency, made it more vulnerable than Saudi Arabia's and so was hit harder by the virus. An economy dependent on tou…
strategic-culture.org/news/2020/05/15/give-peace-chance-saudi-arabia-and-uae-jostle-for-position-war-ravaged-countries-contracts/

A universal appeal for humanity to end militarism and stop war
Abdallah El Harif | peoplesdispatch.org | 2020-05-15
On March 15, 1950, the World Peace Council sent out the Stockholm Appeal, a short text that called for a ban on nuclear weapons and that would eventually be signed by almost 2 million people. The appeal was made up of three elegant sentences: | -We demand the outlawing of atomic weapons as instruments of intimidation and mass murder of peoples. We demand strict international control to enforce this measure. | -We believe that any government which first uses atomic weapons against any other country whatsoever will be committing a crime against humanity and should be dealt with as a war criminal. | -We call on a…
peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/15/a-universal-appeal-for-humanity-to-end-militarism-and-stop-war/

"Truth in America R.I.P.": In America there is only Official Truth, and It's a Lie
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-15
In "freedom and democracy" America there is only official truth, and it is a lie. A person or website that speaks real truth is shunted aside as a "conspiracy theorist," "Russian agent," "racist," "anti-semite," or other such name with the …
globalresearch.ca/truth-america-r-i-p/5712999

Declassified Mueller investigation transcripts confirm no evidence WikiLeaks colluded with Russia
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
The "Russian connection" was baldly asserted by the Democratic Party, US intelligence officials and the corporate media…
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/assa-m15.html

'We were totally helpless': Russian woman jailed for SLAPPING 'abusive' Californian husband, mother tells RT
rt.com | 2020-05-15
What looked like an intercontinental fairytale romance turned into a story of domestic violence, when a Russian woman was arrested for slapping the American husband her mother says abused her. | When she married a Californian man last year, 30-year-old Krasnodar native Alina Alipatova couldn't have imagined that the line between romance and fear could be crossed so fast. She met her future husband while holidaying in Miami and quickly fell in "big love" with him, the woman's mother, Elena Gertsog, told RT this week. | Once engaged, the happy couple spent two months at the Californian's house in San Luis Obispo…
rt.com/russia/488726-russian-woman-abused-us/

Nord Stream 2 to challenge German regulator's decision denying waiver of 'discriminatory' EU rules for gas pipeline from Russia
rt.com | 2020-05-15
The company building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has vowed to appeal Germany's refusal to remove the multibillion-dollar project from the restrictions laid out in the "discriminatory" EU Gas Directive. | The latest amendment to the EU rules was greenlighted in April last year, long after Nord Stream 2 construction began. The legislature made the rules governing the European gas market apply to all pipelines to and from third countries. The new rule means Russia's Gazprom, which designed the project, will be allowed to use not more than 50 percent of the pipeline capacity while allowing third parties to use…
rt.com/business/488738-germany-denies-waiver-nord-stream/

Russia ends federal COVID-19 shutdown measures as it surges to second place in infections worldwide
wsws.org | 2020-05-15
There are now more coronavirus infections in Russia than anywhere else in the world, with the exception of the United States and Spain.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/15/russ-m15.html

Western media concerned coronavirus 'hasn't killed more Russians'
rt.com | 2020-05-14
US and allied media outlets seem frustrated that the pandemic isn't killing more Russians, so they're claiming the death toll is higher, despite a lack of evidence

Western media concerned coronavirus 'hasn't killed more Russians'
rt.com | 2020-05-14
US and allied media outlets seem frustrated that the pandemic isn't killing more Russians, so they're claiming the death toll is higher, despite a lack of evidence

US muscle-flexing threatens to open Arctic front in new Cold War with Russia
Scott Ritter | thealtworld.com | 2020-05-14
The US Navy is on the cusp of conducting confrontational freedom of navigation operations in the Arctic that threaten Russian economic and national security interests. | The recent resumption by the US Navy of a Barents Sea Patrol represents muscle-flexing on the part of Washington and its NATO allies unseen since the end of the Cold War. | Three American destroyers and a British frigate, accompanied by a supply ship, ventured into the Arctic body of water last week. The…
thealtworld.com/scott_ritter/us-muscle-flexing-threatens-to-open-arctic-front-in-new-cold-war-with-russia

Truth in America R.I.P
Paul Craig Roberts | thealtworld.com | 2020-05-14
In "freedom and democracy" America there is only official truth, and it is a lie. A person or website that speaks real truth is shunted aside as a "conspiracy theorist," "Russian agent," "racist," "anti-semite," or other such name with the purpose of discrediting the message and the messenger. | For example, when I told the truth that Russiagate was a hoax, which it has proved to be, an anonymous website, possibly a CIA or NATO operation called "PropOrNot," included this website among its fake list of 200 "Russian agents/dupes." The Washington Post, a believed long-time CIA asset, hyped the PropOrNot revelation a…
thealtworld.com/paul_craig_roberts/truth-in-america-r-i-p

Pandemic Spending Will Force US Defense Budget Cuts–Some of Which Should Come From Nuclear Weapons Programs
Lawrence Korb | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-14
Even supporters of increased US defense budgets expect that, because the US government will likely spend trillions of dollars trying to rescue the economy from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, military spending in the United States is likely …
globalresearch.ca/pandemic-spending-force-us-defense-budget-cuts-nuclear-weapons-programs/5712918

Banking on the Nuclear Bomb Are Citi, Chase, BofA, Wells and Goldman Sachs
Matthew Russell Lee | globalresearch.ca | 2020-05-14
This article was originally published in 2018. | Among the top ten investors in nuclear weapons are banks which stand to benefit from the de-regulatory bill S.2155 in Washington, including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, State Street …
globalresearch.ca/banking-bomb-citi-chase-bofa-wells-goldman-sachs-icp-asks-why-un-global-compact/5712845

Flynn 'unmasking' documents show involvement of senior Obama administration officials, including Joe Biden
rt.com | 2020-05-13
A newly published list of US officials who were interested in National Security Agency (NSA) records on Trump adviser Michael Flynn includes President Barack Obama's chief of staff, as well as Vice President Joe Biden. | Biden is listed as requesting the unmasking on January 12, 2017, the same day the Washington Post published a story claiming that Flynn had misreported his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, based on leaked NSA information. | Flynn unmasking documents f… by
rt.com/usa/488579-flynn-unmasking-obama-administration/

Bombshell: Crowdstrike admits 'no evidence' Russia stole emails from DNC server
Aaron Maté | thegrayzone.com | 2020-05-11
Crowdstrike, the firm behind the Russian email hacking allegation at the core of Russiagate, makes a bombshell admission: "We did…
thegrayzone.com/2020/05/11/bombshell-crowdstrike-admits-no-evidence-russia-stole-emails-from-dnc-server/

Eyewitness: Russia's 70th V-Day
I.V. Sta | liberationnews.org | 2020-05-09
In addition to beautiful parades, fireworks and concerts, I was able to witness multitudes of people sharing with each other something wholly priceless: the gratitude of being alive thanks to those who fought fascism.
liberationnews.org/eyewitness-russias-70th-v-day-2/

How Russia Became the Next COVID-19 Hot Spot: Infection Rate Soars with 10,000 New Cases Each Day
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-05-07
We go to Moscow for an update on the pandemic in Russia, where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly, with at least 10,000 new cases a day and the second-highest infection rate in the world, and more than 100 medical workers have died fighting the virus, and many have reported lack of personal protective equipment. Meanwhile, three Russian healthcare workers mysteriously fell from hospital windows over the past two weeks. Two died, and the one who is hospitalized had posted a video online to note the lack of medical equipment and said he had to keep working despite testing positive. We speak with Joshua Yaffa, Mos…
www.democracynow.org/2020/5/7/russia_spike_in_coronavirus_cases_joshua