Thursday, September 1, 2016

How Russia Often Benefits When Julian Assange Reveals the West’s Secrets | Trying to Smoke Out the Players in the Hacking of the D.N.C. | Lawsuits Against Russia: Ukraine prepares lawsuits against Russia - foreign minister

Trying to Smoke Out the Players in the Hacking of the D.N.C.

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A tangle of questions about what might connect Guccifer, the Russians, WikiLeaks and the Democratic National Committee.

How Russia Often Benefits When Julian Assange Reveals the West’s Secrets

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American officials say Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks probably have no direct ties to Russian intelligence services. But the agendas of WikiLeaks and the Kremlin have often dovetailed.

Op-Ed Contributor: Why Is Turkey Accusing Me of Plotting a Coup? 

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Turkish anti-Americanism is out of control. President Obama must try to put a stop to it before it’s too late.

Министр обороны принял участие в рабочей поездке Президента России на Дальний Восток

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При посещении Владивостокского президентского кадетского училища Владимир Путин и Сергей Шойгу поздравили его воспитанников с наступающим Днём знаний и провели видеоконференцию с Нахимовским училищем в Санкт-Петербурге и филиалом в
Севастополе.



Pavlo Klimkin says able to prove Kremlin finances terrorism
Ukraine is preparing a series of lawsuits in relation to Russia's violating international conventions. That's according to Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine's foreign minister, who delivered a statement at the 12th meeting of heads of diplomatic mission in Kyiv on Monday.

В Архангельске состоялся военно-морской парад в память о первом союзном конвое «Дервиш»

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В нем участвовали МПК «Нарьян-мар» и «Онега», дизель-электрическая подводная лодка «Липецк», пограничный сторожевой корабль «Сыктывкар» и ледокол Росморпорта «Капитан Евдокимов».

Министр обороны России поздравил личный состав образовательных учреждений с началом нового учебного года

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Генерал армии Сергей Шойгу выразил уверенность, что существующая система военного образования позволяет готовить высококвалифицированных специалистов, способных решать самые сложные задачи по обеспечению безопасности страны.

Начальник российского Генштаба выступил перед слушателями ВАГШ

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Генерал армии Валерий Герасимов поздравил более 250 российских и иностранных военнослужащих с посвящением в слушатели Военной академии Генштаба.


25 Years of Independence: The August Putsch 

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August marked 25 years since the 1991 Soviet Putsch, three dramatic days that precipitated the end of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a new, independent Russia. Andrei Kozyrev, Russia’s foreign Minister from 1991-96, stood with Boris Yeltsin in Moscow’s White House as tanks encircled the building. James F. Collins, then U.S. Chargé d'affaires and later Ambassador to Russia from 1997-2001, watched from the U.S. embassy compound just a few hundred meters away, while briefing nervous officials in Washington.

From Tribe to Nation: Iraqi Kurdistan on the Cusp of Statehood

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The Middle East Program presents

From Tribe to Nation: Iraqi Kurdistan on the Cusp of Statehood

Author:
Amberin Zaman, Public Policy Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center; Columnist, Diken and Al-Monitor Pulse of the Middle East
Discussants:

Разведданные для президента США 

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From: golosamerikius
Duration: 03:25

Начиная с президента Дж. Кеннеди, главы Белого дома ежедневно получают доклад с последними данными американских спецслужб
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/presidents-daily-briefing/3488123.html
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"Единая Криминальная Россия"? 

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From: SvobodaRadio
Duration: 00:00

Доклад «Партия «Криминальная Россия» в прямом эфире обсуждают его автор сопредседатель Партии народной свободы (ПАРНАС) Илья Яшин и член Общественной палаты, профессор МГИМО (У), политолог Сергей Марков - доверенное лицо президента Путина на выборах 2012 г., бывший депутат Госдумы России - фракция "Единая Россия".
Ведет передачу Михаил Соколов

Kyrgyzstan Buries Moscow Fire Victims Amid Soul Searching

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Funerals have been held in Kyrgyzstan after 14 Kyrgyz women perished in a fire at a print works in Moscow. The tragedy has refocused attention on the plight of Kyrgyz migrant workers in Russia, where its estimated some 1,500 Kyrgyz have died in the last five years.

Why police killings require independent reviews - The Boston Globe

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The Boston Globe



Why police killings require independent reviews
The Boston Globe
This obviously close working relationship led the ACLU, CAIR-Massachusetts, and the Muslim Justice League to request an independent investigation by Attorney General Maura Healey. She declined, as did the ... The summary report, which I have read ...

This is Cyber "War" Today -- Information Operations

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The New York Times has a report today that is a comprehensive look at Russian disinformation campaigns.  It begins: 
With a vigorous national debate underway on whether Sweden should enter a military partnership with NATO, officials in Stockholm suddenly encountered an unsettling problem: a flood of distorted and outright false information on social media, confusing public perceptions of the issue.  The claims were alarming: If Sweden, a non-NATO member, signed the deal, the alliance would stockpile secret nuclear weapons on Swedish soil; NATO could attack Russia from Sweden without government approval; NATO soldiers, immune from prosecution, could rape Swedish women without fear of criminal charges. They were all false, but the disinformation had begun spilling into the traditional news media, and as the defense minister, Peter Hultqvist, traveled the country to promote the pact in speeches and town hall meetings, he was repeatedly grilled about the bogus stories.
While we continue to wait for the first true destructive cyber war, we should contemplate how cyber connectivity has allowed disinformation campaigns to operate on steroids.  The megaphone of social media, the seeming credibility of internet sourcing, and the difficulty of proving falsity all combine to make this sort of operation the norm of the future.

russia ukraine - Google Search

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Story image for russia ukraine from Vox

Russia is massing thousands of troops on Ukraine's border. Here's ...

Vox-1 hour ago
Russia is sending tens of thousands of troops to military installations near its border with Ukraine and holding snap military drills, sparking fears ...
The West can't let Putin decide Ukraine's future
Opinion-The Globe and Mail-5 hours ago

Promised Prosperity Never Arrived in...

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RussiaUkraine Target Each Other's Military Leaders

RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty - ‎Aug 24, 2016‎
Fighting in parts of the Donbas has surged in recent weeks, with Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists exchanging mortar, artillery, and gunfire. Tensions there spiked earlier this month after Moscow said it had detained a group of Ukrainian ...

Источник: ЕС сохранит без изменений санкции против граждан России - РИА Новости

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РИА Новости

Источник: ЕС сохранит без изменений санкции против граждан России
РИА Новости
БРЮССЕЛЬ, 1 сен – РИА Новости, Владимир Добровольский. Евросоюз планирует без обсуждения и изменений продлить индивидуальные санкции против граждан и юридических лиц России и Украины, истекающие 15 сентября и регулярно продлеваемые на полгода, сообщил РИА ...
Европейский дипломат: ЕС продлит санкции против РоссииВести.Ru
Источник: ЕС продлит санкции против России на полгодаВзгляд
ЕС на полгода продлит санкции против РоссииКоммерсантъ
ТАСС -Федеральное агентство новостей No.1 -ФБА «Экономика сегодня» -ТВ Центр - Официальный сайт телекомпании
Все похожие статьи: 17 »

Лавров объяснил, почему Запад не признает Крым частью России - Известия

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Лавров объяснил, почему Запад не признает Крым частью России
Известия 

Глава Министерства иностранных дел России Сергей Лавров в четверг, 1 сентября, встретился со студентами МГИМО МИД РФ. В своем обращении к учащимся глава ведомства рассказал об актуальных мировых проблемах, новом курсе российской внешней политики и сотрудничестве ...
Лавров усомнился в мирном характере биологических исследований СШАNEWSru.com
Лавров объяснил причину отказа Запада признать КрымГазета.Ru
Лавров раскрыл истинную причину непризнания Крыма российскимМосковский комсомолец
Дни.Ру-НТВ.ru-Утро.Ru
 -Росбалт.RU
Все похожие статьи: 265 »

Известия

Karimov’s Passing Sparks Three Kinds of Speculations, The Third of Which is the Most Interesting

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Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 31 – The sudden incapacitation or death of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov has sparked three kinds of speculation, one about who will succeed him, a second about what any transition will mean for Uzbekistan and Central Asia, and a third about what similar successions in other post-Soviet dictatorships will bring.

            The third kind of speculation, one not focused on the murky world of Tashkent politics, is likely to prove the most interesting and instructive, as evidenced by a commentary offered by Ilya Milshtein about what Russia and the world might expect when Vladimir Putin passes from the scene (graniru.org/opinion/milshtein/m.254172.html).

            “Russia without Putin is an unthinkable country, a house without a master, a city condemned,” the Moscow commentator says because in the minds of a majority of Russians, “without Putin there is no Russia;” and so it is “strange even to imagine” what the country once was and will be at some point again “without Putin”

            Karimov’s sudden demise, Milshtein suggests, has prompted many Russians to think the unthinkable and led some like blogger Mitya Aleshkovsky to suggest that contemplation of such a future is “terrifying” (twitter.com/aleshru/status/770350376151289857). Not surprisingly, this has highlighted the existence of two Russias, a minority that looks forward to that day and a majority that fears it, and forced each to consider the existence of the other.

            Indeed, Milshtein says, the discussion about a Russia without Putin has meant that “almost everyone immediately and forever has forgotten about the Uzbeks and Karimov,” often forgetting that what happens will depend not only on how Putin departs the scene but also on the nature of the population that will be left behind.

            Will Putin leave “in the Karimov way or like Stalin, according to Avtorkhanov, or as a result of a softer palace coup, or simply be pensioned off, freeing up the throne for some final successor and begin to act in the manner of Deng Xiaoping?”  These are very different scenarios and they will have very different outcomes.

            One reason Russians are focusing on the Karimov precedent is that they cannot imagine any other outcome. At some point, Putin will die; and only then will there be “a Russian Federation without VVP.”  But the existence of the other variants needs to be considered by those expressing either hopes or fears.

            How the elite left behind reacts will matter a lot, Milshtein says.  After Stalin, those left behind wanted to guarantee that they wouldn’t ever again have to live under a Stalin. After Brezhnev, the elites having aged alongside him simply waited to die – or in a few cases, they thought about the radical transformation of the country.

            “After Putin will remain a mixed group of elites who in an extremely conditional manner can be divided between the party of money and the party of blood,” although that schema “does not explain anything by itself” because no one knows at a time of universal lies and distrust who is a “secret” liberal and who is not.

            Only one thing seems clear: “all of them will want to live as they did under Vladimir Vladimirovich, but they are hardly likely going to be able to agree on how to do that.” The liberals don’t have the forces on their side and may attract siloviki by corrupt means, while the siloviki may use their own resources to win out.

            “This conflict threatens Russia with the kind of shocks that even Stolypin did not guess about,” the commentator says.

            And that means that the question of the foreign policy course of a post-Putin Russia remains completely beyond anyone’s ability now to predict.  It simply isn’t the case that the liberals will always be for peace and the siloviki for war. Some liberals will undoubtedly want a liberal empire, and some siloviki won’t want to risk destruction in a nuclear war.

             But it is not only the elites that matter in this case, Milshtein suggests, given that “after Putin the vaunted ‘Putin majority’ will remain.” And they may prove to be the basis for the kind of fascist state that Aleshkovsky says could happen. This majority created by Putin may end up determining Russia’s fate even more than he has.

            “In the final analysis,” the commentator continues, “a besieged fortress is not a metaphor but a condition of the soul, one that exists independently of what an individual thinks about the Kremlin, Crimea, Ukraine, Europe and America.”  And that provides the basis for thinking a post-Putin Russia may be truly horrific.

            But however that may be, a post-Putin Russia will eventually happen just as a post-Karimov Uzbekistan now appears to be beginning. It is useful to think about it, Milshtein says, as long as one is not distracted from the far more important if depressing tasks of thinking about “what to do today and tomorrow.”
Read the whole story

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Putin’s War Games on Ukrainian Border Aimed Above All at Western Leaders, Analysts Say

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Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 1 – In January 1991, after Soviet soldiers killed 14 Lithuanians in Vilnius, a remarkable political cartoon appeared: It showed a Soviet soldier pointing a gun at a Lithuanian who was proudly thrusting his chest forward and then, further away, Uncle Sam, the universally recognized symbol for the US, throwing up his hands in abject surrender.

            On the one hand, this cartoon reflected the anger many around the world felt about Washington’s failure to stand up to Mikhail Gorbachev because the West was about to begin its campaign against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But on the other, it underscored an important truth: the real target of Moscow’s actions may not be the most immediately apparent one.

            Three analysts are now making that point with regard to Putin’s military maneuvers near the Ukrainian border, arguing that the Kremlin leader’s real targets are Barack Obama and other Western leaders rather than Ukraine and that he hopes to achieve his goals by being threats alone but will use force if they don’t give way and put pressure on Kyiv to see things Moscow’s way.

            Indeed, each of the three suggests that Putin’s strategy is likely to be more effective if he can convince Western leaders that unless they force Kyiv to accept Russia’s conditions, Putin will use force and dramatically expand his war against Ukraine, something the West doesn’t want and that it is struggling to find a way to prevent, short of supporting Moscow.


            Putin is seeking to put pressure on Kyiv to accept his interpretation of the Minsk accords both directly and via the West by the kind of threatening behavior that the West has often responded to by seeking to find some common ground given that Putin appears quite prepared to escalate the situation if he does not get his way, Sungurovsky says.

            Putin’s goal in Ukraine since his Anschluss of Crimea remains unchanged: he wants to prevent Kyiv from “escaping the orbit of influence of Russia.”  He hasn’t achieved that, the Kyiv analyst says; but he hasn’t given up. Using the threat of force to frighten the West is just one more step in that direction.

            And the Kremlin leader thinks he has a chance to win out that way, to get the West to back down on sanctions against Russia and on its support for Ukraine.  So far, that hasn’t happened; and if it doesn’t happen soon, then, Sungurovsky concludes, Putin will go for broke and seize the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts “up to their administrative borders.”

            “The occasion for such actions, the Ukrainian analyst says, “could be provocations similar to those used in Crimea.  Putn has shown what he is capable of and the next provocation certainly will be more carefully prepared, more massive, and more threatening.”  That too will send a message to both Ukraine and its Western partners.

            Belkovsky shares this interpretation of what is now happening: “Putin is seeking to gain Obama’s attention and is creating phantom threats along the borders of Ukraine” to force the American president to meet with and make concessions to the Russian leadership with regard not just to Ukraine but around the world.

            Putin’s “tactics are clear: the more problems you create for your opposite number before negotiations, the greater the chances that he will agree because he will want to escape from these problems. Before the [G-20] summit, it is useful to create a foundation for pressure and to fright everyone with the notion that Russian forces are about to attack Ukraine.”

            According to Belkovsky, “Ukraine is for Putin ‘only an instrument to force the US into negotiations about the fate of the world’” and not just about lifting sanctions. So far he has not succeeded, but his latest military moves around Ukraine are an indication that he has not ceased trying and even that he thinks the timing is especially propitious.

            The reason Putin thinks that he has a particularly good chance to influence Obama now, the Russian commentator says, is that the American president “is extremely interested in the victory of Hillary Clinton.  If a war in Ukraine begins,” he argues, “this will have a negative impact on Clinton’s chances and the chances of Donald Trump for victory will grow.”

            Andrey Piontkovsky also agrees that what Putin is doing around Ukraine now is all about the G-20 meeting and Putin’s efforts to use the West against Ukraine and to force the West to make broader concessions.  The Kremlin leader’s message to Obama and the others is simple, Piontkovsky says.

            “’If you do not agree to our interpretation of the Minsk accords and do not force Ukraine to accept it,’” Putin is suggesting, “’then we will look for other means of solving the situation, including military ones.’”

            But Piontkovsky suggests, implying that the West should keep this in mind that “Moscow isn’t prepared” for a real war.  That would be “insane.”  But threats and bluffs of one often have worked on Western leaders and diplomats in the past, and so it is no surprise that Putin is using them again.

            He concludes that he believes it would be a very good thing for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to tell Putin that he has no hope of achieving his aims. Poroshenko’s rhetoric has become tougher in recent weeks, and Putin should hear directly from him that “Ukraine will never change its constitution or destroy its state” as the Kremlin leader wants because after all “Moscow doesn’t need the Donbass or Crimea but rather all Ukraine.”

            And a fourth observer, Dmitry Tymchuk, a Ukraine Popular Front deputy who coordinates the Information Resistance movement, says any quieting on the line of the front between Ukrainian forces and pro-Moscow militants may work to Russia’s advantage and do not preclude attacks in the future (gordonua.com/news/war/tymchuk-rezhim-tishiny-na-donbasse-eto-prelyudiya-k-dalneyshey-eskalacii-konflikta-148133.html).

            In his view, the Russians are “trying to show a certain contrast: now is a cessation of fighting but if need be, everything can be changed” and changed very quickly because there are a lot of Russian soldiers and Russian weapons in or near Ukraine and they haven’t been pulled back at all.

Read the whole story

· · · · ·

Moscow’s Disinformation Efforts Move Far beyond Mere Lying and Obfuscation 

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Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 1 – Most Western discussions about countering Russian disinformation have focused exclusively on unmasking the ever-growing number of lies and other formers of obfuscation Russian government propagandists and their surrogates are putting out and identifying the chief sources of such duplicity.

            But it is important to recognize and then think about how to counter not just these lies and the propensity of some journalists to report them in their confusion of “balance” with “objectivity” but also these other measures lest the Kremlin pick up new victories in this area even as it is losing elsewhere.

            The past week highlighted three of these Moscow measures that go beyond mere lying but that must be countered: plans by the Russian government to create “a human rights group” for the post-Soviet states, undermining or purging those in international organizations which challenge Moscow, and discussions about creating a Russian version of Wikipedia.

            Because each of these involves issues other than just lying to the world and to the Russian people, it is important to view all of them in the context of the Kremlin’s disinformation effort, its calculated tactic of sowing confusion and undermining the belief that there is such a thing as objective truth.

            The first of these projects is a “Eurasian Human Rights Group,” which its organizers say will be “styled” on groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, will seek accreditation from the United Nations and other international bodies, and will provide an “objective” picture of human rights in the post-Soviet states (izvestia.ru/news/629573 andthemoscowtimes.com/news/russia-to-found-human-rights-group-for-post-soviet-countries-55172).

            Given that Moscow doesn’t like and often disputes the findings of these other groups – see for example its handling of one this week on Chechnya (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/288551/)  -- it should be obvious that the Russian government will ensure that its agency reports what the Kremlin wants regardless of its accuracy.

            That may please some of the thuggish regimes in Russia’s neighborhood and thuggish rulers in various parts of the Russian Federation as well, but it constitutes a clear and present danger to other rights groups, who may find it even more difficult to work there and whose findings will now be subject to yet another kind of Russian-organized dissent.

            The second concerns Moscow’s efforts to purge from international organizations of anyone who contradicts what the Kremlin believes to be the case.  Helsinki’s “Hufyudstadsbladet” reported on Tuesday that Russian objections to Astrid Thors has prompted her not to seek another term as the OSCE’s High Commissioner for National Minorities.

            Although she had unanimous support when she was elected, Thors ran afoul of the Russians when she issued a statement in 2014 that she disputed Russian contentions that ethnic Russians had been victimized in Crimea earlier (yle.fi/uutiset/daily_russia_blocks_re-appointment_of_finn_as_osce_minorities_high_commissioner/9131135).

            Thors had been widely expected to run again and has the support of many delegations. Russia’s intervention in this case is clearly intended to send a signal to others that Moscow will use its diplomatic muscle wherever possible to insist on its version of reality, a form of disinformation that is harder but perhaps even more important to combat.

            And the third, as Igor Yakovenko points out in “Yezhednevny zhural,” involves Moscow’s “opening of a new front in the information war – one involving an encyclopedia”  that is intended to replace Wikipedia with a Russian-specific electronic collection of articles on a wide variety of subjects reflecting Moscow’s viewpoint (ej.ru/?a=note&id=30115).

            What makes this new effort especially worrisome, he suggests, is that the quality of those compiling it is far lower than was the case with the Bolshaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopedia,” an indication of how political it will be, and that the existence of such an online publication may become the occasion for the Russian government to block access to Wikipedia in Russia.

            The new online encyclopedia will have one advantage over the Bolshaya is that it will be far easier for those who responsible for it to cope with the rise of new “unpersons.” They won’t have to send out articles about the Bering Straits to replace those about Lavrenty Beria.  They’ll only have to paste electronic versions of new “correct” ones, deleting the “incorrect” as they do.

Read the whole story

· · ·

More US Adults Using Marijuana

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As attitudes about marijuana change in the United States, more adults are using the drug, according to a new study. Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, writing in The Lancet Psychiatry, say that as more states legalize recreational and medical use of marijuana, fewer adults feel there are dangers associated with its use. Using data from nearly 600,000 adults over the age of 18, the researchers found that from 2002 to 2014 marijuana use increased from 10.4 percent of adults in 2002 to 13.3 percent in 2014. Usage was defined as having consumed marijuana in the previous year. The study also found that adults reporting using marijuana for the first time in the previous year also rose from .7 percent in 2002 to 1.1 percent in 2014. Additionally, those reporting daily or near daily use jumped from 1.9 percent to 3.5 percent over the same time period. Extrapolating this data, researchers say, means that 823,000 adults reported first using marijuana in 2002 compared to 1.4 million in 2014. They estimate that during the same time period the overall number of marijuana users jumped from 21.9 million to 31.9 million. The number of daily or near daily users was 8.4 million in 2014, up 3.9 million from 2002. These increases, researchers say, are being driven by a decline in the number of people who perceive marijuana as dangerous. For example the percentage of people who felt that smoking marijuana once or twice a week was dangerous fell from 50.4 percent to 33.3 percent. "Although shifts in perceived risk have historically been important predictors of adolescent marijuana trends, no previous research has examined this relationship in adults,” said study author Dr Wilson M. Compton of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health. “State laws related to marijuana use in the U.S.A. have changed considerably over the past 20 years with medical marijuana now legalized in 25 states and the District of Columbia. Additionally, several jurisdictions have legalized non-medical marijuana use." Despite the rise in number of adults using marijuana, the researchers say did not see a corresponding rise in “marijuana use disorders” such as abuse or dependence, though they add more study is needed to confirm the trend. "Understanding patterns of marijuana use and dependence, and how these have changed over time is essential for policy makers who continue to consider whether and how to modify laws related to marijuana and for health-care practitioners who care for patients using marijuana,” said Compton. “Perceived risk of marijuana use is associated with high frequency of use suggesting the potential value for modifying risk perceptions of marijuana use in adults through effective education and prevention messages."

Read the whole story

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Ukraine Reports Massive Shelling Across Front Line With Marked Increase In Lugansk Violence 

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Ukraine Day 926: LIVE UPDATES BELOW.
Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.
    READ OUR SPECIAL REPORT:


August 31, 2016 

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Russia's military journalists have been sent to the war zone in Donbass. Is this a sign of impending escalation?

The Daily Vertical: The Party Of Crooks 

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The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday. Viewers can suggest topics via Twitter @PowerVertical or on the Power Vertical Facebook page.
A transcript of today’s Daily Vertical can be found here.

'Hot line' between Washington and Moscow to be opened - archive, 31 August 1963 

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31 August 1963: More wars have been caused by imperfect communication between the participants than by deliberate design
EditorialThe opening of the “hot line” between Washington and Moscow, which is due to take place this weekend, will be a small, but useful, measure of arms control. Cuba showed how important swift communication can be at a time of crisis. The existence of the “hot line” will not make similar crises less likely in future, but it will help to reduce the danger inherent in any direct clash between the Great Powers. More wars have been caused by imperfect communication between the participants than by deliberate design. The “hot line” will make it slightly easier than it used to be for the leaders on both sides to convey to their opposite numbers what their intentions are and precisely how far they are prepared to go.
Continue reading...

West must beware of interference by China and Russia – US envoy 

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Outgoing US ambassador to Australia John Berry says cyber attacks were a sign countries were ‘getting involved in our democracy while not sharing core value’
Democracies must protect themselves against interference by non-democracies such as Russia, North Korea, Iran and China “who don’t share our values”, the American ambassador to Australiahas counselled in his valedictory address.
Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, John Berry was careful to stress he was referring “not to China specifically”, but also mentioned Russia, North Korea, and Iran, “none of which are democracies, and yet somehow ... we’re finding increasingly they’re getting involved in our democracy while they do not share that core value”.
Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin gives Eton boys a private audience at the Kremlin 

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Pupils beat Theresa May and Boris Johnson to meeting with Russian president, who reportedly spent two hours with them
Ministers wait hours for an audience with Vladimir Putin, CEOs sit nervously for months hoping for a summons to see him, and even Donald Trump was stood up during a 2013 visit to Moscow and told Putin was too busy to see him.
There was no such problem for a group of 11 Eton schoolboys, however, who flew to Moscow and were met by the Russian president in the Kremlin last week, stopping to take a group photo inside the seat of Russian power with their best “massive banter” poses.
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If Russia is trying to hack America, it is not to help Donald Trump win | David Klion 

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Several prominent hacks have led some to accuse Russia of meddling in the US elections. If true, Putin’s objectives are likely part of a bigger play
Americans know that a functioning democracy relies on a basic trust in the validity of the process. Russia, a country that has thoroughly undermined trust in its own democratic process, now appears to have every incentive to do the same to ours.
US intelligence officials told NBC News this week that Russian-based hackers have stolen data on thousands of registered voters in Illinois and unsuccessfully attempted to do the same in Arizona. They have suggested that the hackers in question may be directly tied to the Russian government. 
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Why Russia is in no rush to revive business with Turkey - Russia Beyond the Headlines

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Why Russia is in no rush to revive business with Turkey
Russia Beyond the Headlines
Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency banned charter flights to Turkey in Nov. 2015. Charter flights will resume in September, 2016. Photo: The Kremlin Palace Hotel in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, Turkey. Source: Alexander Demianchuk / TASS.

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US Rejects Russia's Claim of Credit for ISIS Leader Abu Muhammad al-Adnani's Airstrike Death - ABC News

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US Rejects Russia's Claim of Credit for ISIS Leader Abu Muhammad al-Adnani's Airstrike Death
ABC News
Calling it a “joke,” U.S. defense officials today pushed back strongly against the RussianDefense Ministry's claim that a Russian airstrike, not an American one, killed a top ISIS leader in Syria. Russia's defense ministry said today in a statement ...

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In Putins Russia, The Neo-Stalinist Tipping Point - Daily Beast

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Daily Beast

In Putins Russia, The Neo-Stalinist Tipping Point
Daily Beast
Babchenko has been one of the sharpest, most irrepressible critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin's politics. In 2012, prosecutors opened a criminal investigation over one of his articles, but Babchenko was not one to be intimidated. He is a ...

Russia Claims Credit for Killing Senior ISIS Leader in Syria - New York Times

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New York Times

Russia Claims Credit for Killing Senior ISIS Leader in Syria
New York Times
MOSCOW — The Russian military said on Wednesday that its warplanes had carried out a strike in Syria that killed up to 40 Islamic State militants, including Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the group's senior strategist and spokesman who was heavily involved ...
US Rejects Russia's Claim of Credit for ISIS Leader Abu Muhammad al-Adnani's Airstrike DeathABC News
Russia Says It Killed Senior Islamic State OfficialWall Street Journal 

US, Russia fight over who killed ISIL leaderUSA TODAY
NBCNews.com
 -Washington Post-New York Daily News
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Putin's United Russia Drops In Polls Ahead of September Elections - Newsweek

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Newsweek

Putin's United Russia Drops In Polls Ahead of September Elections
Newsweek
Russia's ruling party is suffering a sharp decline in the polls, only weeks before national elections, despite founder President Vladimir Putin's high popularity. United Russia's support among voters is at its lowest point this year, according to an ...
ALBRIGHT: 'Vladimir Putin could not dream up a better presidential candidate than Donald Trump'Business Insider
Russia-Turkey Relations: Rapprochement on Russian TermsDefenseNews.com
Russia's Cyber Warfare Has Bigger Aims Than Electing Donald TrumpThe Federalist
Sputnik International -RT
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Russia is the most unequal major country in the world: Study - CNBC

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CNBC

Russia is the most unequal major country in the world: Study
CNBC
Sixty-two percent of Russia's wealth is held by U.S. dollar-millionaires and 26 percent of its wealth is held by billionaires, New World Wealth said in a report on Wednesday. Russia'seconomy is climbing out of recession and the International Monetary ...

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Middle Eastern countries see role for Russia - Global Times

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Sputnik International

Middle Eastern countries see role for Russia
Global Times
The situation in the Middle East has seen drastic changes recently that have puzzled observers. It surprised the international community that the unpromising Russia-Turkey relationship saw a sudden U-turn and is rapidly warming up. The joint missions ...
Russia–Iran-Turkey Axis: Common Interests and a Message to the WestSputnik International

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Russia Claims Credit for Killing Senior ISIS Leader

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The Pentagon quickly dismissed the claim, a challenge to an American report that one of its drone strikes had killed Abu Muhammad al-Adnani in Syria.

The Daily Vertical: The Party Of Crooks (Transcript)

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A 66-page report, titled Russia's Criminal Party, alleges that United Russia has essentially become a vehicle for the political legitimization of organized crime.

The Daily Vertical: The Party Of Crooks

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The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday.

Trying to Smoke Out the Players in the Hacking of the D.N.C.

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A tangle of questions about what might connect Guccifer, the Russians, WikiLeaks and the Democratic National Committee.

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How Russia Often Benefits When Julian Assange Reveals the West’s Secrets

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American officials say Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks probably have no direct ties to Russian intelligence services. But the agendas of WikiLeaks and the Kremlin have often dovetailed.

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