Winter is coming
- Thread starter nitro
- Start date
'...Under NATO nuclear weapons sharing, the United States has provided nuclear weapons for Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey to deploy and store.[79] This involves pilots and other staff of the "non-nuclear" NATO states practicing, handling, and delivering the U.S. nuclear bombs, and adapting non-U.S. warplanes to deliver U.S. nuclear bombs. However, since all U.S. nuclear weapons are protected with Permissive Action Links, the host states cannot arm the bombs without authorization codes from the U.S. Department of Defense.[80] Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga acknowledged the presence of U.S. nuclear weapons in Italy.[81] U.S. nuclear weapons were also deployed in Canada until 1984, and in Greece until 2001 for nuclear sharing purposes.[82]..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons
Robbed of Bigger Reserves by Capital Flight
"...“In the long term, Russia should have much more reserves, given the level of its trade surplus,” he said. “It’s important to realize that Russia is being stolen money from, by capital flight and by the fact that billionaires and millionaires outside Russia and sometimes inside Russia are able to benefit from natural resources of Russia much more than they should.”
Piketty, 44, who gave a lecture at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, may already be preaching to the converted. The government is looking to wring greater revenue from the energy industry with a tax increase, while the Bank of Russia has set a target of about $500 billion for reserves after burning through a fifth of its holdings to prop up the ruble last year.
Taxation, De-Offshorization
Vladimir Putin, in power for 16 years as premier or president, has backed efforts to repatriate as much as $1 trillion in capital held by companies and high-ranking officials abroad as part of what he’s called the “de-offshorization” of the economy. Putin, who introduced a 13 percent flat income tax rate in 2001, has also seen top ministers broach the subject of re-instituting a progressive tax system.
The current income levy is “relatively small” in a country with “a lot of inequality” and “far too little transparency,” Piketty said.
Inequality, Transparency
“Russia would be in a much better situation today if this reform for more transparency, progressive taxation would have been conducted before,” Piketty said. “It’s time, especially in the current crisis, to change course and to deal with inequality and transparency in a much more front-faced way.”
The debate is gaining urgency after the government allowed household finances to bear the brunt of the country’s first recession in six years, putting Russia on track for the biggest drop in consumption during Putin’s rule. This year, 21.7 million people, or about 15 percent of the population, are living beneath the subsistence level, according to the Federal Statistics Service. The crisis marks the “first significant” increase in Russia’s poverty since the crisis in 1998-1999, according to the World Bank.
...
Cui Bono?
“We don’t even know how many tax payers with high incomes are paying the tax year after a year,” Piketty said. More detailed data will show “who’s benefiting from growth in Russia as compared to the poor, as compared to the middle class.”..."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...a-robbed-of-bigger-reserves-by-capital-flight
"...“In the long term, Russia should have much more reserves, given the level of its trade surplus,” he said. “It’s important to realize that Russia is being stolen money from, by capital flight and by the fact that billionaires and millionaires outside Russia and sometimes inside Russia are able to benefit from natural resources of Russia much more than they should.”
Piketty, 44, who gave a lecture at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, may already be preaching to the converted. The government is looking to wring greater revenue from the energy industry with a tax increase, while the Bank of Russia has set a target of about $500 billion for reserves after burning through a fifth of its holdings to prop up the ruble last year.
Taxation, De-Offshorization
Vladimir Putin, in power for 16 years as premier or president, has backed efforts to repatriate as much as $1 trillion in capital held by companies and high-ranking officials abroad as part of what he’s called the “de-offshorization” of the economy. Putin, who introduced a 13 percent flat income tax rate in 2001, has also seen top ministers broach the subject of re-instituting a progressive tax system.
The current income levy is “relatively small” in a country with “a lot of inequality” and “far too little transparency,” Piketty said.
Inequality, Transparency
“Russia would be in a much better situation today if this reform for more transparency, progressive taxation would have been conducted before,” Piketty said. “It’s time, especially in the current crisis, to change course and to deal with inequality and transparency in a much more front-faced way.”
The debate is gaining urgency after the government allowed household finances to bear the brunt of the country’s first recession in six years, putting Russia on track for the biggest drop in consumption during Putin’s rule. This year, 21.7 million people, or about 15 percent of the population, are living beneath the subsistence level, according to the Federal Statistics Service. The crisis marks the “first significant” increase in Russia’s poverty since the crisis in 1998-1999, according to the World Bank.
...
Cui Bono?
“We don’t even know how many tax payers with high incomes are paying the tax year after a year,” Piketty said. More detailed data will show “who’s benefiting from growth in Russia as compared to the poor, as compared to the middle class.”..."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...a-robbed-of-bigger-reserves-by-capital-flight
North Korea leader orders military to be ready to use nuclear weapons at any time
"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and to turn its military posture to "pre-emptive attack" mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday.
The comments, carried by the North's official KCNA news agency, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday imposed harsh new sanctions against the isolated state for its nuclear program.
Kim made the comments as he supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range.
South Korea's defense ministry said on Thursday North Korea launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea up to 150 kilometers (90 miles) away, an apparent response to the U.N. sanctions.
Kim said North Korea should "bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity" and stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment," KCNA quoted him as saying..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-kim-idUSKCN0W52PP
"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and to turn its military posture to "pre-emptive attack" mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday.
The comments, carried by the North's official KCNA news agency, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday imposed harsh new sanctions against the isolated state for its nuclear program.
Kim made the comments as he supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range.
South Korea's defense ministry said on Thursday North Korea launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea up to 150 kilometers (90 miles) away, an apparent response to the U.N. sanctions.
Kim said North Korea should "bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity" and stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment," KCNA quoted him as saying..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-kim-idUSKCN0W52PP
This guy is officially Comical Ali. Comical Kim Jong Un. Lets start counting how many times he threatens to launch: 1
North Korea threatens nuclear strike on US, SKorea
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/07/north-korea-threatens-to-reduce-us-to-ashes.html
North Korea threatens nuclear strike on US, SKorea
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/07/north-korea-threatens-to-reduce-us-to-ashes.html
U.S. sends 3 B-2 bombers to Asia-Pacific
"(CNN)The U.S. Air Force has sent three of its B-2 stealth bombers on a deployment to Asia and Pacific, the service announced in a press release Wednesday.
The $1.15 billion bombers, which operate out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, "will integrate and conduct training with ally and partner air forces, and conduct a radio communications check with a U.S. air operations center," said a release from U.S. Strategic Command.
The deployment comes amid heightened tensions with North Korea, which tested two short-range missiles on Thursday and earlier this week claimed it has miniaturized nuclear warheads to fit on ballistic missiles. North Korea's actions come as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct annual military drills involving thousands of troops...."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/10/politics/b-2-bombers-sent-to-asia-pacific/index.html
"(CNN)The U.S. Air Force has sent three of its B-2 stealth bombers on a deployment to Asia and Pacific, the service announced in a press release Wednesday.
The $1.15 billion bombers, which operate out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, "will integrate and conduct training with ally and partner air forces, and conduct a radio communications check with a U.S. air operations center," said a release from U.S. Strategic Command.
The deployment comes amid heightened tensions with North Korea, which tested two short-range missiles on Thursday and earlier this week claimed it has miniaturized nuclear warheads to fit on ballistic missiles. North Korea's actions come as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct annual military drills involving thousands of troops...."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/10/politics/b-2-bombers-sent-to-asia-pacific/index.html
French navy spots Russian nuclear-armed submarine off coast - Obs magazine
"The French navy detected a Russian submarine carrying nuclear missiles in the Bay of Biscay in January, Obs magazine reported on Thursday, citing a senior French official.
According to Obs, the submarine, from the Murmansk base, did not enter France's territorial waters, but was seen off France's Atlantic coast.
A spokesman for the French navy neither confirmed or denied the information saying it was a general policy not to communicate on such matters.
"Russian naval activity has been on the rise for several months, if not years, and we are permanently attentive to it," the spokesman said.
Russia has flexed its military muscle over the past couple of years, amid heightened tensions between the West and Moscow over Ukraine, and the NATO military alliance has repeatedly reported more incursions by Russian fighters and long-range bombers into its airspace.
In Britain and Sweden patrol planes have searched their waters over the past two years after the sighting of a submarine's periscope and reports of foreign "underwater activity."
In mid-February French and British fighter jets intercepted two Russian Tu-160 bomber planes heading towards British airspace near the French coast. (Reporting by Marine Pennetier and John Irish; Editing by Alison Williams)..."
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...-off-coast-obs-magazine/ar-AAgCg27?li=BBnb7Kz
"The French navy detected a Russian submarine carrying nuclear missiles in the Bay of Biscay in January, Obs magazine reported on Thursday, citing a senior French official.
According to Obs, the submarine, from the Murmansk base, did not enter France's territorial waters, but was seen off France's Atlantic coast.
A spokesman for the French navy neither confirmed or denied the information saying it was a general policy not to communicate on such matters.
"Russian naval activity has been on the rise for several months, if not years, and we are permanently attentive to it," the spokesman said.
Russia has flexed its military muscle over the past couple of years, amid heightened tensions between the West and Moscow over Ukraine, and the NATO military alliance has repeatedly reported more incursions by Russian fighters and long-range bombers into its airspace.
In Britain and Sweden patrol planes have searched their waters over the past two years after the sighting of a submarine's periscope and reports of foreign "underwater activity."
In mid-February French and British fighter jets intercepted two Russian Tu-160 bomber planes heading towards British airspace near the French coast. (Reporting by Marine Pennetier and John Irish; Editing by Alison Williams)..."
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...-off-coast-obs-magazine/ar-AAgCg27?li=BBnb7Kz