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'Legal Nightmare' Feared in Russia Suit Against Bank of New York Mellon May Set RICO Precedent By JULIE SATOW, Staff Reporter of the Sun | June 30, 2008 http://www.nysun.com/business/legal-nightmare-feared-in-russia/80947/ The final stages of a $22.5 billion battle pitting the Bank of New York Mellon against the Russian Federation will begin today in a Russian court. Stephen Chernin/Getty A December 2006 picture of a Bank of New York branch just before the bank acquired Mellon Financial Corp. The decision in the money laundering suit, which may be handed down as early as this week, could set a precedent for the global...

The FBI’s reputation problems have accelerated with the arrest on corruption charges of Charles McGonigal, the former chief of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York field office, one of the most powerful spy-hunters in the country - who also happened to be connected to Hunter Biden. In twin indictments last month, McGonigal was charged with taking secret cash payments from a former Albanian intelligence officer, holding secret meetings with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, and attempting to remove top Kremlin oligarch Oleg Deripaska from a US sanctions list. The Albanians cited by prosecutors tie this scandal to Hunter Biden and...

I was going to post pics of celebrations and fireworks, but Twitter is already scrubbing them while I post this.

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree to withdraw all Ukrainian envoys from the statutory bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose political and economic confederation of nine post-Soviet nations heavily dominated by Russia. The decision was announced on Poroshenko’s Twitter page in tribute to Europe Day, celebrated in Ukraine on May 19. “For us, the CIS is completely and entirely gone to the past,” the message on the presidential page also reads. “Our future is in Europe only!” The CIS was formed by a group of former Soviet republics in the agonizing final days of...

Petr Poroshenko Putin has received a formal occasion to end the war. Ukraine must decide whether it is ready to die slowly from a tumor in the Donbas, or live with the threat of war Ukraine initiated cease-fire and invited Russia to agree on peace. Russia supported the initiative, but is trying to impose its own conditions of post-war settlement in Donbass. Vladimir Putin's immediate aim is to control Ukraine's foreign and domestic policy. The ultimate goal of the Elimination of Ukrainian statehood, by any means, regardless of the losses. What is Petro Poroshenko? Peace plan According to the agreed...

State Dept. Official to Attend OIC Meeting Today on Banning ‘Defamation of Islam’ UPDATE: OIC Scrubs Website, Screenshot Added, Cover-Up Begins byPatrick PooleBio November 18, 2012 - 11:18 pm UPDATE: Well, that didn’t last long. Earlier this morning before I posted this item the OIC press release noted that U.S. Consul General in Jeddah Anne Casper would be attending the OIC’s meeting: The Session will be attended by Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC Secretary General. It will be chaired by Ambassador Ahmad Taib , Director General of the Branch of the Saudi Foreign Ministry, Makkah Al-Mukarrammah region. It will...

For the last five years, satellite photos have shown continuing constructing of an underground bunker complex north of Damascus, Syria, This is believed to be the control center for the national air defense system. Progress has been slow because Syria is broke and unable to pay for the new missile systems that that the people in this underground complex would control. Earlier this year, Russia suspended its program to upgrade Syria's MiG-31 fighters. In 2007, Russia and Syria signed an agreement by which Russia would provide the country with seven MiG-31 aircraft, as well as equipment and services to upgrade...

Mr Putin said the US "has overstepped its borders" The Munich security conference was born in the 1960s - the height of the Cold War. Forty years on, there been talk of a new chill. Given the tone and content of Russian President Vladimir Putin's address to the gathered defence ministers, parliamentarians and pundits, it is not, perhaps, hard to see why. Warming quickly to his task after only the briefest of greetings, President Putin accused the US of establishing, or trying to establish, a "uni-polar" world. "What is a uni-polar world? No matter how we beautify this term,...

Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: "Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation." On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...

Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: "Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation." On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Pyongyang, February 12 (kcna) -- leader kim jong il, general secretary of the workers' party of korea and chairman of the national defence commission of the democratic people's republic of korea, received a congratulatory message and gifts from vladimir vladimirovich putin, president of the russian federation. a ceremony of conveying the message and gifts took place at the russian embassy here on Feb. 12. kim jong il was present there jo myong rok, director of the general political department of the korean people's army, kim yong chun, chief of the kpa general staff, kim il chol, minister of the people's...

One of the hot spots in the world today is the Korean Peninsula. A land still divided in the “spirit” of the Cold War where a communist nation in the north and a democratic nation in the south exist. The current question that exists today is whether or not the communist Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is willing to open up economically, to give up its nuclear arms, and to begin to engage the outside world. A series of moves by the north a few months ago were signs the North was willing to abandon is Soviet sluggish economy...