<blockquote>'Cyber attacks but also energy .. we paid for gas 40 percent more than Germany was paying .. Russia has always used energy projects as a tool of influence, as a tool of suppression, and as a tool of manipulation.'
- Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite (
Source, July 31, 2017)</blockquote>
'..The House and Senate struck a deal to make some changes to the bill at the urging of a host of US industries and European countries..'<blockquote>'The new sanctions bill hits Russia's energy and defense sectors, and also includes fresh sanctions against Iran and North Korea.
..
The House and Senate struck a deal to make some changes to the bill at the urging of a host of US industries and European countries, but Congress did not consider making the change that the White House wanted: removing the congressional review on Russia sanctions from the bill.'
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Trump signs bill approving new sanctions against Russia, August 3, 2017</blockquote>
'..the United States would continue to hold Russia accountable for its “bad acts,” including in Ukraine, saying the U.S. was “passionate” about maintaining or getting back Ukraine’s “integrity and territorial sovereignty.” '<blockquote>'However, Nauert cited a newly brokered cease-fire in Syria as evidence the countries were able to work together. “If you look at the ceasefire in southwest Syria, that has now taken hold and, for the most part, succeeded for nearly a month now.”
Nauert later said that the United States would continue to hold Russia accountable for its “bad acts,” including in Ukraine, saying the U.S. was “passionate” about maintaining or getting back Ukraine’s “integrity and territorial sovereignty.”
U.S. President Donald Trump signed sanctions against Russia into law on Wednesday, in reaction to its alleged hacking of institutions related to the U.S. presidential election and its involvement in Ukraine.'
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After Russia Sanctions, State Dept. Advises 'Settle Things Down', August 4, 2017</blockquote>
'..The communist system, however, sought to control not only behavior .. but also emotions, which were expected to conform to the party line.'<blockquote>'Like the pharaos who commissioned the Egyptian pyramids, Communist leaders, viewed people only as a resource, an expendable commodity. They did not concern themselves with their citizens’ quality of life.
Living conditions are much more pleasant in Russia today than they were in the Soviet era. But this isn’t an achievement of the state. It is a consequence of the fact that despite the vulnerable and conditional status of private property the Russian economy primarily functions as a market economy.
With its militaristic budget, which sacrifices the welfare, even the lives of its citizens in the name of ambition and ruling class interests, the regime clearly demonstrates that now as in Stalin’s time, the people are its last concern. Its top priorities are chimeras of grandeur, of absolute sovereignty, and of its own security.
..
..The communist system, however, sought to control not only behavior — in the broadest sense of the word, to include clothing style and hair length — but also emotions, which were expected to conform to the party line.
Today, the new, non-communist state dictates what its citizens should be proud of and what and how they should mourn. Russia has faced a barrage of repressive laws that mostly target emotions the authorities don’t approve of. Actual laws are reinforced with informal social control.
There are many subjects on which it is difficult and even psychologically dangerous to offer an opinion that differs from the “correct” one. An atmosphere of fear is creeping back in.'
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Is There a Rebirth of Stalinism in Russia? (Op-ed), July 31, 2017</blockquote>
Context<blockquote>
Cold War Archive: U.S. Diplomats In Moscow Have Endured Without Support Staff Before, July 31, 2017
Affective Introspection‘The dimension of feeling..’ - ‘The Myth of Efficiency’'..Peace doesn’t demand the absence of strength. It asks each side to see and understand the suffering of the other, whether that suffering is rooted in reality or misperception..'Vision of Humanity - Global Peace(Haptopraxeology) - Students of Civilization'..how socialism actually produces a superclass of elites and a form of socio-economic apartheid..''..When it comes to understanding the nature and destructive capacities of inflation, the “Austrians” put the “Keynesians” to shame.'(Haptopraxeology) - '..We have lost three centuries as a result of ignoring our scholars!'</blockquote>