ECONOMIC EXPANSION? RECOVERY? SHUT UP ALREADY AND STOP LYING ABOUT ANY RECOVERY.MUCH LESS ANY EXPANSION.

As I showed back in April in AMERICAN CORPORATE PROFITS STILL IN DECLINE AND STILL TOO HIGH. SEE THE TRUE PICTURE, corporate profits are falling. Never does the economy expand on falling true corporate profits.

As I wrote back in November 2014 in THE SECRETS OF AUTOMATED CLEARINGS, GDP AND THE ECONOMY. RECOVERY? WHEN?, 

Commercial banking is what gives rise to any advanced economy. In spite of popular misguided hatred for bankers, without commercial banking, you would be living at a bare subsistence. Nothing that you know would exist. 

Until True Commercial Clearings begin to rise, no one should expect the economy to be sound. Until True Government Clearings begin to rise steadily, no one should believe an expansion is under way.

There is no reality to any claims of the USA economy in expansion. It's not even in recovery. The economy has been contracting every year since peak True GDP of Q4 2007.

Commercial banking clearings activity fails to support any propaganda about the economy pushed either by those of the Obama Administration or by those of the Federal Reserve.

Back in Q2 2013, it looked as if for moment, at long last, a true recovery could have been underway. That didn't hold. The same kind of head fake happened in Q3 2014.



That government clearings is about GDP reveals welfare spending support. That government clearings is in decline reveals fewer true taxes collected on falling true GDP.



The Federal Reserve ought to be required by Congress to provide Americans this data on monthly rather than quarterly and long after the quarter expires.

As well, it would be great if the likes of Obama and Yellen weren't such cowardly immoral cretins. If only they could mature, get tough and begin telling truth to all, that would be great.

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OBAMA FAILS TO PAY TAXES ON ALMOST 69 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2014.

Today, the propaganda agency for President Obama announced that Obama and Joe Biden, who is the vice-president of the USA, released the summary their income taxes. Josh Earnest, the propaganda agent claims Obama paid  $93,362 in total tax.



However, since Obama gets paid by Congress, it's comical to claim he pays taxes to Congress. Obama's salary for FY 2014 was $450,000. In effect, Congress reduced Obama's salary to $356,638. However, because Congress pays Obama, Obama didn't actually pay any taxes. Foolishly, Obama paid $22,640 to the State of Illinois.

What propagandist Earnest fails to mention is that Congress paid Obama an additional $68,560,000, to blow as living expenses. No charade of phony taxes were levied by Congress for this sum.

Congress gave Obama $55,110,000 to blow on the White House, another $12,700,000 to blow on his "Executive Residence" and another $750,000 to pay for plumbers, painters and electricians under the guise of "White House Repair & Restoration."

Congress was less generous to Joey Biden, giving him only another $4,520,000 in fun cash to blow.

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STATE TAX RECEIPTS LAG TRUE GDP. IS THE RECOVERY ON OR NOT?

“...Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own...If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” ~ Barack H. Obama, II, 44th President of the United States of America

When politicians give speeches, never is it that they say something stupid because they are stupid themselves. Rather, politicians repeat what their speechwriters have written.

So are speechwriters stupid? Speechwriters write persuasion geared to appeal the majority. Speechwriters rely on the majority having easily bamboozled intellects and defective characters by appealing to their instincts of greed, envy and sloth.

It's not likely that Obama is daft about all things America and economics. It's that Obama expects most who listen to him to be daft. So, in truth, Obama's deceitful way reveals his true character.

All of those roads and bridges of the past were not built by ghosts. Men built them. But before taxes could be ripped from men to pay for those things, all of this had to happen in sequence:

production → surplus → sales > outlays = profit

For if there is no profit, in short order, any firm gets put to ruin. There is no way to pay for needed capital — products that yield goods in production of something else.

If firms can't break even first, there can be no taxes collected. Firms would go to ruin in short order if taxes could be levied below break even.

Without profit there can be no taxes. All taxes are an unearned share of profits. If no profits arise, there can be no taxes. Politicians are sharing the profits by the force of taxation  without having invested any cash or credit into the capital of anyone.

That means there can be no roads, bridges, government bureaucrats, government freebie welfare for layabouts, none of that without first there being surplus and profit. That is how reality works.

Obama ought to have said the truth. That today's businesswomen and men can sell more because of roads and bridges built and paid for by their ancestors with income ripped from their hands by politicians like Obama.

In THE USA ECONOMY ADVANCE LIKELY HAS BEGUN AT LONG LAST, I revealed the upwelling of private sector True GDP compared to public sector True GDP along with the general advance of True GDP. Yet, as you can see from the following graphs, taxes are lagging behind GDP.

States' legislators are having a hard time collecting taxes using their extant tax laws. Why is this so? Profits growth for firms and workers has yet to match the latest True GDP growth. Sales are advancing though.

However, unless those curves at least flatten and then swing up within the next few quarters,  it is hard to see how the two quarter positive turn in True GDP can sustain.

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OBAMA'S INCOME INEQUALITY SCARE STORY EXPOSED

Mark J. Perry, full professor of economics University of Michigan, Flint, shared a smart piece on Seeking Alpha (account needed) today on income inequality. I've written about income inquality before.

In short, the phrase income inquality makes for great political rhetoric precisely because almost all have an innate sense of 50-50 fairness. That said, income inequality is a bogus concept.

Anyway, Mark Perry shared this table which pulls back the curtain from all that hot air political rhetoric.



What jumps out is 63% of households in the poorest fifth of America do not work. Well, it should be clear that with work comes income.

As can be seen, Americans become (moving toward the highest fifth), richer when they work. The richest households are those where almost everyone in the household works.

As one moves toward richer households, one finds households consisting mostly of marrieds who are middle age with at least a bachelor's degree.

Of course, when guys like Obama take to the podium decrying income inequality, they fail to talk about the effects of rampant immigration upon working age population. Also, guys like Obama fail to talk about how much welfare those in the lowest fifth receive.

To see the effects of immigration on wages, read YET ANOTHER EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES JOBS REPORT DURING THE GREATEST DEPRESSION OF ALL-TIME and SOPHIE'S CHOICE OF CAPITAL OR LABOR. A FREE-MARKETS LIBERTARIAN BECOMES AN ANTI-CAPITALIST AND PERPETUATES AN ECONOMICS MYTH.

Also, Obama fails to mention that GDP has not grown during his presidency, but in fact has fallen almost every quarter save a couple way back in late 2009 and early 2010. To see this, read THE SECRETS OF AUTOMATED CLEARINGS, GDP AND THE ECONOMY. RECOVERY? WHEN?

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THE SECRETS OF AUTOMATED CLEARINGS, GDP AND THE ECONOMY. RECOVERY? WHEN?

Commercial banking. Commercial banking is what gives rise to any advanced economy. In spite of popular misguided hatred for bankers, without commercial banking, you would be living at a bare subsistence. Nothing that you know would exist — the Internet, smart phones, cars, pain killers, sports stadiums, TV.

A hidden aspect to the economy are the many transactions commercial bankers handle, which transfer checkable deposits between two parties — someone, a firm or government agency.

An automated clearing house (ACH) is a bank clearing house uses computers for inter-bank settlement of electronic credit and debit transfers of depository institutions. The Federal Reserve operates FedACH, the automated clearing house service of the regional reserve banks of the Federal Reserve.

Bank Clearing During World War 2

FedACH handles direct debiting of consumer bills such as mortgages, loans, utilities, insurance premiums, rents; one-time debit transfers of converted checks, debt cards over the Internet and telephone calls; direct credit transfers such as deposit of payroll, Social Security welfare, other government welfare, tax refunds; tax payments to federal, state, and municipal governments; payments made to vendors of federal, state, and municipal governments.

Until True Commercial Clearings begin to rise, no one should expect the economy to be sound. Until True Government Clearings begin to rise steadily, no one should believe an expansion is under way.

Here is what True GDP looks like compared to True FedACH clearings.

Here is what True GDP looks like compared to True FedACH government clearings.



And here is what True GDP looks like compared to True FedACH commercial clearings.




First, here is a general observation. During GDP growth, commercial clearings and government clearings grow. The government clearings growth rate far outstrip commercial clearings growth rate during true GDP growth as political coffers get fat from unearned shares of profits, otherwise known as taxes.

Now, let's look at the true clearings during true GDP growth years and decline years.

Beginning Q4 1988 off Reagan Low of Q3 1987 to Bush 1 Peak (Q3 1990), True GDP grew 5.9%, growing at a yearly rate of 2.91%. True Commercial Clearings grew 18.2% growing at a yearly rate of 8.7% and True Government Clearings grew 40.6% growing at a yearly rate of 18.6%.

From the Bush 1 Peak to Clinton Low (Q3 1990 to Q1 1994), True GDP shrank -14.8%, shrinking at a yearly rate of -4.2%. In spite of contraction, True Commercial Clearings grew 14.8% growing at a yearly rate of 3.7% and True Government Clearings grew 23.6% growing at a yearly rate of 5.8%.

So, how could the economy shrink while commercial clearings and government clearings grow? Technological advance could account for the former. Mandated new taxes in the face of Read My Lips could account for the latter.




From the Clinton Low to Clinton Peak (Q1 1994 to Q4 2000), True GDP grew 51.4%, growing at a yearly rate of 6.1%. True Commercial Clearings grew 81.8% growing at a yearly rate of 8.9% and True Government Clearings grew 191.9% growing at a yearly rate of 16.5%.

The Clinton Good Times, from the Clinton Low to Clinton Peak truly were good times for wage earning Americans. Back in EVERYBODY'S WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND, FOR LESS, I showed that during the Clinton Low to Clinton Peak,  Americans experienced True Private Wage Income growth for any stretch since the years between Johnson and Reagan.

In S&P 500 AND THE DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE HIT ALL-TIME LIES!, I showed how the True S&P 500 hit the all-time high back on August 28, 2000, when the S&P closed at $313.35 in True Dollars™. Between December 5, 1994, and the all-time high hit on August 28, 2000, the True S&P 500 grew 261.9% growing at a blistering rate of 25% a year. Likely surprising to many, over those 2,094 days, or 5 years, eight months and 24 days, cash and deposits fell -6%, falling at an annual rate of -1.1% and leaving cash and deposits $69.7 billion less than before the start of the run.

In, True State of the Union: Wage-Earners' Income and Taxes, I show during that 1994 and 2000 stretch, as a percent of GDP, true private wages rose. As well, true average income rose, employment incidence rose and hit an all-time peak, and true individual taxes as a percent of GDP rose, nearing the all-time high.

Contrast the Clinton Good Times with the Bush 2 Low to Bush 2 Peak between Q3 2003 to Q4 2007. During the Bush 2 Illusion Economy, fueled by the Greenspan-Bernanke Credit Bubble, the biggest inflation in world history, True GDP grew 17.9%, growing at a yearly rate of 3.5%, a bit more than half the rate of the Clinton Good Times. True Commercial Clearings barely grew 2.8% growing at a yearly snail's pace of 0.6% and True Government Clearings grew 42.1% growing at a yearly rate of 7.7%.

After the blow up of the Greenspan-Bernanke Inflation of the Bush 2 Illusion Economy, a two-part decline hit. From Bush 2 Peak to the Obama Greenshoots (Q4 2008 to Q3 2009), GDP fell -18% falling at a yearly rate of -9.5%. True Commercial Clearings fell -15.9% falling at a yearly rate of -8.3% and True Government Clearings grew -17.4%% falling at a yearly rate of -9.1%.

And then the full on Obama Disaster (Q4 2009 to Q1 2014) hit thanks to Obama and his Congresses. During the Obama Disaster, True GDP has shrunk -29.6%, shrinking at a yearly rate of -7.5%. True Commercial Clearings have shrunk -25.6%, shrinking at a yearly rate of -6.4% and True Government Clearings have shrunk -37.9%, shrinking at a yearly rate of -10.0%.

Overall, since the Bush 2 Illusion Economy Peak through the Obama years and Obama disaster, True GDP has shrunk -42.2%, shrinking at a yearly rate of -8.1%. True Commercial Clearings have shrunk -37.9%, shrinking at a yearly rate of -7.1% and in lockstep with True GDP, True Government Clearings have shrunk -4.2%, shrinking at a yearly rate of -8.1%.

Looking at the year over year from Q1 2014 and the last two years also from Q1 2014, which is the last quarter for published data, the picture is ugly still. Over the last two years, True GDP has fallen -12.4% falling at a rate of -6.4% a year. True Commercial Clearings have fallen -14.5% falling at a rate of -7.5% a year. True Government Clearings have fallen -7.0% falling at a rate of -3.6% a year, this being the one glimmer of hope.

The one year picture looks alike. True GDP has fallen -7.0%. True Commercial Clearings have fallen -7.5%. True Government Clearings have fallen -1.6%. Again, this adds to hope.

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OBAMA AND HIS CONGRESSES HAVE STEERED AMERICA INTO A 1975 FORD ERA ECONOMY

Back in March 2009, former commercial banker cheerleader-in-chief, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke sat before the cameras of the propaganda arm of the establishment, the CBS Television show 60 Minutes. Looking into the cameras, Bernanke said, "I think all of our efforts, so far, have produced results...And I think as those green shoots begin to appear in different markets and as some confidence begins to come back that will begin the positive dynamic that brings our economy back...I do. I do see green shoots."



Some mocked Bernanke, but green shoots came. Those green shoots sprouted for three-fourths of a year between Q3 2009 and Q1 2010 with the economy growing at a true rate of 1.4% yearly. Before that moment, between Q4 2007 and Q3 2009, the economy had shrunk -19.2%, shrinking at a rate of -10.1% annually.

Then, those green shoots were trampled under foot. Between Q1 2010 and Q2 2010, the economy shrank -1.1%, effectively wiping out all of that green shoot growth as it shrank at a rate of -2.1%. On the heels of the quick trampling, the economy bounced back momentarily between Q2 2010 and Q3 2010, growing a scant 1.0% and at the annual rate of 2.0%.

And then came another big drop in the economy. Between the three years of Q3 2010 and Q2 2013, the economy shrank a massive -25.4%, shrinking at the yearly rate of -9.3%.

The economy saw a short-lived, half-year 1.5% growth between Q2 2013 and Q3 2013, growing at a yearly of 3.0%. This is likely why Obama took to bragging about his interference in commercial matters.

Since Q3 2013 until now, Q3 2014, the economy has shrank -6.9%, shrinking at a yearly rate of -5.6%.

Bernanke was chairman of the Federal Reserve when both peak true bank credit and peak true GDP hit, inflation to which he and his predecessor, Alan Greenspan failed to see. And then the collapse came when that peak credit inflation led to panic and crisis.

Between Q4 2007 until now, the economy has shriveled by a whopping -42.5%, shriveling up at the yearly rate of -7.6%. This shrinking has brought Americans back to a President Ford era economy when True GDP came in at $1,369.95 trillion annualized at the end of Q3 1975 and $1,407.60  trillion annualized at the end of Q4 1975.

Yet, there is a glimmer of hope. Q2 2014 True GDP tallied to  $1,395.79 trillion annualized and Q3 2014 True GDP tallied to $1,396.56 trillion annualized.

Rather than the earlier stalled recoveries, this one might be legit. Seeing True GDP stabilize might be a sign of a flattening bottom. And while the economy could chug along for a long time at this level, always there is hope for growth from a base.

It seems so unlikely for the economy to shrink much more than it has. At this point, I'd settle for a Reagan-era peak True GDP of $1,740.06 trillion annualized hit back in Q4 1984. Besides, I liked the 80s.





Enjoy!


To live between a rock and a hard place
In between time 
Cruising in prime time
Soaking up the cathode rays

To live between the wars in our time
Living in real time
Holding the good time
Holding on to yesterdays

You know how that rabbit feels
Going under your speeding wheels
Bright images flashing by
Like windshields towards a fly
Frozen in the fatal climb
But the wheels of time 
Just pass you by
Wheels can take you around
Wheels can cut you down
We can go from boom to bust
From dreams to a bowl of dust
We can fall from rockets' red glare
Down to "Brother can you spare..."
Another war
Another wasteland
And another lost generation

It slips between your hands like water
This living in real time
A dizzying lifetime
Reeling by on celluloid

Struck between the eyes
By the big-time world
Walking uneasy streets
Hiding beneath the sheets
Got to try and fill the void


And here is your 1984 bonus.

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TOO MANY EBOLA COOKS IN THE KITCHEN. THE RECIPE FOR FAILURE IS ASSURED.

Back on October 17, Bureacrat-in-Chief Barry Obama established the job of Ebola Response Coordinator and appointed long-time taxpayer ward Ron Klain to the job.

A congressman from California, Ed Royce, a guy obviously unfamiliar with all of the agencies Congress has created and continues to fund said, "It is right that the President has sought to task a single individual to coordinate its response."

Over the years, successive U.S. Congresses have established far too many overlapping agencies to do the same thing as the Ebola Response Coordinator.

Between 1979 and 1980, Congress established the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) by separating the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, which Congress established in 1953. The DHHS contains the United States Public Health Service (PHS), which Congress established through the Public Health Service Act of 1944.

The Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) for the DHHS oversees the PHS the PHS oversees all agency divisions of the DHHS and the Commissioned Corps, which Congress established 1871 along with the Office of the Surgeon General.

Congress gave the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services statutory responsibility for to prevent the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases in the United States. To do so, Congress created the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine.



The U.S. Secretary of the DHHS can prevent the entry and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and between states through another Congress established agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and another Congress established agency, the Office of the Surgeon General.

Under 42 Code of Federal Regulations parts 70 and 71, the CDC has authorization to detain, medically examine, and release persons arriving into the United States and traveling between states who are suspected of carrying these communicable diseases. Whenever a pilot of a plane or captain of a ship, neither who are licensed medical doctors, alerts the CDC about about ill passengers or crew, enforcers of the CDC can detain passengers and crew as  necessary to investigate whether the cause of the illness on board is a communicable disease. Under mere suspicion, enforcers of the CDC can issue a federal isolation or quarantine order if a disease is suspected.

To be sure that Congress totally adds to the confusion that is the United States government, Congress has authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to meddle in such matters. The DHS has the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which can inspect animals and plants. As well, the DHS has the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which Congress has authorized to involve itself in any "catastrophic incident ... any natural disaster, act of terrorism, or other man-made disaster that results in extraordinary levels of casualties or damage or disruption severely affecting the population."

Because Congress can't organize its activities, Congress authorized the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Coast Guard officers to help enforce federal quarantine orders.

The DHS even has the Office of Health Affairs (OHA) headed by a Chief Medical Officer who leads 101 bureaucrats whose job is to prepare for, respond to, and recover from all hazards effecting health security of Americans.

The U.S. Congress created The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on July 1, 1946, for the express purpose to protect public health through developing and applying disease control and prevention of infectious diseases and food borne pathogens.

According to the Congress, "Congress finds that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an essential role in defending against and combatting public health threats domestically and abroad" including "bioterrorism and other public health emergencies." To do this, Congress has authorized the CDC to "establish a near real-time electronic nationwide public health situational awareness" network to detect and manage "potentially catastrophic infectious disease outbreaks, novel emerging threats, and other public health emergencies that originate domestically or abroad."

Congress has authorized the Surgeon General to make and enforce such regulations as in his judgment are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the States or possessions, or from one State or possession into any other State or possession. Congress has authorized the Surgeon General to destroy whatever he or she feels like, whether animals or things, if such are "found to be so infected or contaminated as to be sources of dangerous infection to human beings" as well as apprehend and detain individuals "for the purpose of preventing the introduction, transmission, or spread of such communicable diseases ... specified from time to time in Executive orders of the President upon the recommendation of the Secretary" of the DHHS.

So Congress added the president himself to the mix of meddling cooks with authority to handle communicable diseases.

As it is, the U.S. Congress claims authority from the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution to isolate and put in quarantine anyone, anytime, who could have any contagious disease.

Breaking a federal quarantine order is punishable by fines and imprisonment. Federal law allows the conditional release of persons from quarantine if they comply with medical monitoring and surveillance.

Title 42 of the U.S. Code reveals expression of the many muddled minds who inhabit Congress year after year.

Enjoy this kitschy, catchy tune by Colin Moulding, bassist of one-time hit maker XTC.

There's too many cooks in the kitchen
There's too many minds on the job
There's too many cooks in the kitchen

Everybody wants a piece of the action
Cooking the books and getting their fractions wrong

What we need is law and order
Everybody knows
Can't have chiefs without the injuns
Stepping on their toes

There's too many cooks in the kitchen
There's too many dabs in the pie
There's too many cooks in the kitchen

Everybody needs a place in the rat race
Playing games of power, it's only a cat chase

Too many too many too many etc.
Too many cooks in the kitchen

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YET ANOTHER EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES JOBS REPORT DURING THE GREATEST DEPRESSION OF ALL-TIME

Jared Bernstein, former Obama greenshooter Ph.D economist called it a "solid jobs report."

On November 1, 2007, near peak credit, Total Non-farm Payroll, which consists of about 80% of workers who contribute to GDP, tallied to 139,443,000 hired and working. The number of Americans hired and working plunged by almost 11 million to 128,692,000 by January 1, 2011. As of September 1, 2014, Total Nonfarm Payroll stood at 139,752,000




It has taken almost seven years, a whopping 80 months to gain a paltry 309,000 jobs.  

Total population has grown 12.89 million since January 2008. According to Wikipedia, 60% of Americans fall within the ages of 20 to 64. So, there are 7.73 million more working age Americans today than at peak credit and peak employment.

For every new job created for the economy, there are 24 new working-age Americans lacking jobs. Said another way, for every 25 new working-age Americans, only one gets lucky enough to land a job.

From the Obama Low to September 1, the jobs count has grown 8.59%, growing at a yearly rate of 2.22%. Yet, this rate is slower than the job loss rate from the Bush jobs peak of November 2007 to the Obama jobs low.

From the Bush jobs peak near the peak of the greatest credit bubble in world history to the Obama low of January 2011, jobs fell -7.71% falling at a rate of -2.44% a year.

Total job growth rings in at a bit more than two-tenths of one percent (0.22%) from November 1, 2007, to September 1, 2014. The yearly growth rate is a barely perceptible three-one hundredths of one percent (0.03%).

To give you more perspective, under the policies of Congress and Obama as well, rounded up, 3,862 jobs a month have been added since he Bush jobs peak of November 2007.

Who could claim this as a good jobs report but the dishonest or stupid?

Also, if you hear Obama or anyone else say there has been bla-bla months of uninterrupted job growth, either Obama or anyone else is lying. There have been seven months since the Obama jobs low, where Total Non-farm Payroll fell from the month before.

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WE INTERRUPT YOUR PROGRAMMING TO BRING YOU OUR LATEST WAR AGAINST ISLAMIC JIHADISTS, ISIS, OH AND SYRIA

This evening, Obama interrupted Americans to announce that Obama has agreed to involve the United States in a war against the unrecognized country of the Islamic State. As well, Obama has called for a war against the sovereign nation of Syria, a people who have done nothing against Americans.



Obama opened his speech with the Tricky Dick Nixon sounding, "My fellow Americans." Obama then went on to make the dubious claim that Americans are safer because of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If Americans are safer because of Iraq, then why is Obama calling for re-engagement in Iraq?

Foolishly, Obama said ISIS is not Islamic. Yet, the first I in ISIS stands for Islamic. ISIS is an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

ISIS is the epitome of what it means to be Muslim and Islamic. According to the writers of Wikipedia, an Islamic state is a state that has adopted Islam, specifically Sharia, as its foundations for political institutions, or laws, exclusively, and has implemented the Islamic ruling system khilafah and is therefore a theocracy.

Sharia is the official basis for state laws in the following countries: Afghanistan (29.82 million), Iran (76.42 million), Mauritania (3.796 million), Saudi Arabia (28.29 million), Somalia (10.2 million), Sudan (37.2 million), and Yemen (23.85 million). Islam is the official religion of Pakistan (179.2 million) and its Federal Shariat Court has the duty of striking down any law not complying with the Sharia Islamic law.

Right now, roughly 24% of Muslims worldwide live under theocracy. ISIS has invaded Syria (22.4 million) and Iraq (32.58 million) to yoke another 3% under theocratic Islamic Law.

It's quite likely at least another 25% to 30% would like to live under Sharia law right now. So at least half of the so-called Muslim world favor the action of ISIS. That is a whopping 810 million on this earth or more than 2.5 times as many Americans favor living under an Islamic state.

In his speech, Obama listed the atrocities of ISIS — threatening those who are not Sunni Muslims with genocide, execution of prisoners, killing of children, raping of women, forcing women into marriages. In short, Obama pointed out that ISIS are Muslims who are carrying out Islamic jihad, though Obama failed to name it for what it is — Islamic jihad.

Only last Wednesday, Reuters reported on the father and brothers of a pregnant Pakistani woman stoned to death by them in broad daylight outside the Lahore high court in a so-called honor killing merely because the woman refused to marry her cousin in a marriage arranged by her father.

According to TheReligionofPeace.com, 

the Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.  Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding.  Muslims who do not join the fight are called 'hypocrites' and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.

In Frontpage Mag, Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam, wrote:

The distinctions between ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas, the rest of the Muslim Brotherhood or your friendly CAIR rep next door involve how to get to that endgame of a theocracy. Everything else is just tactics and details.
You’re not going to talk the other side out of their theocracy. ISIS believes that it’s already so near to the endgame that expediency is unnecessary. That it cannot be stopped. Which also means that ISIS cannot be reasoned with in the usual conventional ways.

Obama said, "the greatest threats come from the Middle East and North Africa," which is about the only claim Obama has right.  Almost everywhere you look on the earth, where there is significant conflict, you will find Muslims involved (see the CFR's Global Conflict Tracker and Wikipedia's List of Ongoing Conflicts). Muslim proclaimed terrorist and insurgent groups stirring up trouble and murdering innocents the earth over dominate the country-by-country listing of warring hot spots according to WarsintheWorld.com.

By laying out his plan, Obama announced that he shall command the U.S. Air Force to fly air strikes inside the sovereign borders of Syria. As well, Obama said he has been using the U.S. military to assist what he calls the "Syrian opposition." As Syria is a sovereign country, assisting rebels in a war is akin to assisting terrorists. Now, Obama has called on Congress for more spending to advance the cause of terrorists against sovereign Syrian government.

Obama was quick to denounce the Syrian president, Assad, who, quite likely is an evil guy. But Kim Jong-un, the leader of communist North Korea is a bad guy too and yet Obama isn't calling on Congress for war powers to topple him.

Americans shouldn't be on the hook to have the economy further wrecked because foreign policy wonks believe it's in the interest of U.S. registered corporate entities to control the Middle East. And as despicable as ISIS is, ISIS is a problem for the Saudi Arabians, the Kuwaitis, the Syrians, the Iraqis, and everyone else who lives in the Middle East.

Obama also has gotten it right when he said, "we cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of Arab partners in securing their region." The Sunni Saudis and Kuwaitis and their hated Shia neighbors, the Iranians, have the most to lose if ISIS were to prevail.

Many act as apologists for the warring, world-domination questing cult Mohammad created because of their anti-Christian or anti-Jewry ideological worldview. Often, such apologists are atheists or agnostics or suffer from silly-minded Western New Ageism fawning over eastern religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

Mohammad's cult appeals to masses of ignorant men precisely because as cult members, they get to lord over their women, abusing their women with impunity, even though they continue to count little in the political establishment hierarchy.

When political leaders can't confiscate property through taxation because people have so little property (right of ownership) in so few possessions, politicians must resort to other means to appeal to would-be supporters. Under Mohammadism that appeal is made by conferring lording status to males over their households.

By their propaganda of "the religion of peace," Muslim leaders mean that all who remain will have peace when everyone believes as these leaders dictate precisely because everyone else who refused to join their cult will have been killed off. In their quest for Sharia rule, at least 800 million of the 1.62 billion Muslim world worship a devil of an idea, a Satan of a doctrine, an evil jinn that has no respect for individualism and self-sovereignty, no respect for free-will that many see given as a gift from an all-loving creator.

The right policy for the U.S. political establishment is to isolate Sharia-law Muslims from partaking in world markets and thus the world economy. It is time to block imports from all Sharia-law Muslim countries and prohibit exports to the same. It is time to isolate the violent Muslim world bent on control under the guise of jihad.

Instead, if the U.S. political establishment were to make peace with the Russians and then make the Russians Americans' biggest ally, Americans could isolate the whole Muslim Middle East, the source of worldwide craziness.

NPR has a transcript of Obama's speech.

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ILLEGAL SCHMEGAL. IT'S NO FUN BEING AN ILLEGAL ALIEN. OBAMA HAS BEEN WIMPY FOR OVER FIVE YEARS

Back on Oct 23, 2012, I wrote this for G+.

"I can promise that I will try to do it in the first year of my second term. The challenge we've got on immigration reform is very simple. I've got a majority of Democrats who are prepared to vote for it, and I've got no Republicans who are prepared to vote for it." ~ President Obama

Someone ought to tell the purported constitutional "scholar" that Obama can do something right now. According to Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, Obama has:

...Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

In short, Obama can pardon — grant official forgiveness for an acknowledged crime — and once he does, Obama waives all punishment for illegal aliens as lawbreakers. In turn, all illegals would need to do is to surrender to a government office and sign a confession for their crime of entering into the U.S.A. illegally. BAM! And then likely, illegals can get non-immigrant visas letting them stay in the USA for up to one year to get their acts together.

That Obama has not done so speaks to his craftiness of using illegal immigration as voting getting stance. Also, that Obama has not done so speaks to his cowardly ways as a purported leader.

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HAVE IT YOUR WAY. HOLD THE POLITICAL B.S. LETTUCE, OBAMA AND CONGRESS. BRAZILIAN-OWNED BURGER DECIDES TO RELO IT'S CORPORATE REGISTRY TO CANADA

Back on August 24, 2014, my best Canadian friend alerted me to the Burger King acquisition news of Tim Horton's as published by the Wall Street Journal. Though I scanned the story, I didn't think much of it.

Back in 1995, Tim Horton's had entered into a merger of sorts with Dave Thomas' Wendy's based in Ohio. Horton's largest shareholder, Ron Joyce, became the largest shareholder of the merged firms. By 2006, the controlling interest of the Wendy's shares spun out their Tim Horton shares in an IPO.




Burger King isn't an "American company." It's owned mostly by Brazilians, 3G Capital of Brazil, which acquired a majority stake in BK back in 2010.

It's true that Chairman Alexandre Behring works out of a New York City office, but it is laughable to call Burger King an American company, even if the BK HQ sits in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Brazillian-owned Burger King exports to the USA when they sell burgers at any of the restaurants situated in the USA. Their investments in exports to the USA provides jobs, buys USA-sourced products and more.

Why should you care if Brazilian-majority owned Burger King relos it's US HQ from Miami-Dade, Florida, to Oakville, Ontario? BK is the largest fast-food chain in both Mexico and Spain. Should the Mexicans or Spaniards cry that BK could become a Canadian domiciled firm?

Why should Brazilian-owned BK pay taxes to the U.S. Congress on income earned in Mexico and Spain, two countries where BK leads in fast food sales?

In an increasingly globalized world, one which the U.S. Political establishment established through Nixon going to China and expanded through the World Trade Organization, the U.S.-Canadian Free Trade Agreement, the expanded NAFTA, and numerous other FTAs, this is what happens.

The U.S. Congress needs to awaken to a globalized commercial reality. The craziness of taxing Americans who earn income in foreign lands while living there needs to flat out stop. It's time to stop taxing anyone who earns income in foreign lands while domiciled there.

And for those living in the good ol' USA, no one should be required to pay more than 10% of his or her income to all government levels combined — The U.S. Congress, a state legislature, a county, a municipality.

And since the USSC recognized corporations as persons, way back in 1885, no corp should be required to pay more than 10% of its income in taxes.

In the U.S.A., politicians make all the rules that define all the markets. Many would like to blame the CEOs of corporate entities that adjust to the realities of a globalized commercial world as greedy. Those who do, point fingers at the wrong people.

THE GREEDY ARE THE ONLY PROBLEM THE WHOLE EARTH OVER.

Bloomberg has it wrong. It's not the IRS that sets the tax policy, it's the greedy U.S. Congress. If Obama were any kind of a leader, he would call on Congress to change its tax policy and call for smaller government needing less tax collection.

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OBAMA JUMPS THE SHARK

Within the last few days, Obama had the audacity to boast this idiotic claim: "Let's look at the facts. Since I have come into office, there's almost no economic metric by which you couldn't say that the U.S. economy is better and that corporate bottom lines are better. None. In fact, our policies have produced a record stock market, record corporate profits, 52 months of consecutive job growth, 10 million new jobs, the deficit being cut by more than half, an energy sector that's booming, a clean-energy sector that's booming, a reduction of carbon pollution greater than the Europeans or any other country."

Obama seems to lack a suitable intellect to understand a rather easy concept. If you take one apple and cut it into 10 pieces, suddenly you don't have 10 apples. Before you is but one apple cut 10 ways.

With crazed quantitative easing, all Bernanke did was slice up the same apple. In nominal terms, there are more dollars, which is the same as more slices of the same apple. Since everything gets tallied in dollars, everything appears higher. However, nothing has risen.

In fact, the economy has contracted under Obama, significantly so. After removing the effects of more dollars and bank credits in circulation owing to Bernanke's crazed QE, True GDP has fallen every quarter of every year Obama has been office. You can see that reality in WHY ISN'T THE ECONOMY DRIVING ANYWHERE? THE CAPITAL ENGINE LACKS FUEL!

As well, the S&P 500 is far from its all-time high, which was hit way back in 2000. Stocks aren't even close to their 2007 peak. Stocks trade at 1996 levels. In S&P 500 AND THE DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE HIT ALL-TIME LIES! I have shown you this really. And for the same reason that nominal stock prices don't reflect reality, neither do corporate profits.

How is employment rate of prime age workers, 25-54 working out for Americans? In ALMOST 17 MILLION AMERICANS STILL NOT WORKING FOR A LIVING!, I show you the employment rate stands near 1993 levels. There are two full New York Cities not working today.

In EVERYBODY'S WORKING FOR THE WEEKEND, FOR LESS, I show true wages have fallen for years, especially under shark-jumping Obama.

If the economy is better as Obama idiotically claims, then why are there more than 46 million Americans collected food stamps (SNAP), a likely record? In TRUE STATE OF THE UNION: NIXON TO OBAMA. THE BIG PICTURE, I show you how the Undertow of Political Dependency, which reveals the sum of income of those getting paid by politicians whether by government employment or by welfare, hit an all-time high under Obama.

Back in June, in IT'S A RECESSION IN A DEPRESSION! RECESSION COMES TO AMERICANS LIVING DURING THE GREATEST DEPRESSION EVER, I showed you that in True Prices, commodity ETFs were way down. When key material commodities are low, that means production is way off.

In May, in EXISTING HOME SALES PROPAGANDA SPREADS AT A BIZARRO THEATER OUTLET NEAR YOU, I showed you the horrible state of residential realty and in June, in THE FANTASY PERFORMANCE OF BETTER CARS AND TRUCKS SALES HYPED THIS WEEK ON YOUR LOCAL BIZARRO THEATER STAGE, I showed you the sorry state of car sales.

By every economic metric the economy has not come close to recovery. Oh and Obama agreed with Congress to blow another $6.666 trillion during his painful five plus years. In U.S. CONGRESS HAS CROSSED THE RUBICON, DEBT 100% OF GDP, FOR REAL. Obama is the most fiscally irresponsible president presiding over the more fiscally irresponsible Congress perhaps ever.

If Obama believes what he says, then truly Obama wants to make himself appear to the world as an idiot. If Obama knowingly lies merely to help candidates of his political party in their upcoming November election, then Obama is pure evil.

Either way, Obama has jumped the shark.

Be sure to check out the Bizarro Theater series: True State of the Union. You should find it fascinating and shocking! Now enjoy Fonzie jumping the shark.

And everyone knows what a colossal train wreck Obamacare has been. Bizarro Theater has more than enough on Obamacare.

Oh and that carbon reduction has come from fracking and the switch to natural gas merely because nat gas is cheaper than goal to burn to generate electricity. It has nothing to do with Obama.

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OBAMA GIVES THE OK FOR MORE TERRORISM AGAINST RUSSIANS

President Urkel Obama has OK'd another round of sanction against Russians. This time Obama has approved of attacks against those Russians who earn their living through the firms Rosneft and Novatek.

Rosneft is the largest oil producer in Russia. Novatek is a  natural gas producer, primarily.

Let no one in America lose the significance of Obama's action undertaken from advice of his brain trust.

When someone or a group attacks individuals in effort to get those suffering from attacks to pressure their politicians for changes to political policy, all English speakers have a word for such attacks. All English speakers call those attacks by the word TERRORISM. Such is the picture-perfect definition of terrorism. Terrorism means living by striking terror into individuals to get them to pressure their politicians for change in political policy.

One would think in light of 9/11, no politician in the United States of America would be so stupid as to stoop as low as those who attacked and slaughtered 2,752 Americans through something as cowardly as terrorism.

Sanctions amount to terrorism. There is no getting around it. Harming individuals in hopes they turn on their own politicians is the exact purpose of every terrorist alive and of every terrorist who has ever lived.

Presidents ought to act and act decisively in the best interests for all Americans and not merely those profiting from oil or those profiting from banking through a unified Europe and so on.

Obama has the authority to send troops to Ukraine. Obama has the authority to order air strikes against so-called Russian-leaning "separatists" in Eastern Ukraine. So why does Obama act so cowardly, so gutless, so unmanly, so anything but presidential?

Why does Obama act like a terrorist? 

Why are untold and unwarranted taxes blown for military if presidents fail to use the weapons of war when negotiation fails?

Yet, what everyone should truly ask himself or herself is this:

Why should Americans care if five million or even 20 million Ukrainians become ex-Ukrainians and join up with the Russians? 

Americans are not affected by such a change at all. American politicians care because their financial bankers who have a vested interest in expanding the European Union or who have a vested interest in seeing Russians become weaker make them care.

What does anything about the Ukraine have to do with you? Nothing.

The more competition American firms face, the more efficient those firms must become and the lower the prices you shall see over time.

You should hope that many Russians rises to challenge American firms in commerce. You should hope that Germans do as well. You should hope that Indians do, that Brazilians do, that firms from people the earth over do.

The more firms competing for your wages, the more firms competing to hire you, the better your living shall become. The more firms that rise up and push aside government protected firms, such as the USA-based Fortune 500 firms, the better your living shall become.

Capitalism rocks. Crony politics sucks.

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THE MAD RUSSIAN SPEAKS. PUTIN SHARES THE RUSSIAN VIEW ON ACCEPTING UKRAINE SOVEREIGNTY.

Today, Bloomberg editors published another hyped piece about Ukraine. When speaking with reporters in Brussels, Obama said, “The G-7 nations are ready to impose additional costs on Russia. If Putin doesn’t take concrete steps to help end the rebellion in Ukraine. We will have a chance to see what Mr. Putin does over the next two, three, four weeks.”

Five years into the job and Obama still comes across as a rattled school teacher. Obama fails to cast an image of strength. Instead, Obama comes across as shaky and insecure.

Only two days ago, Putin said this to Radio Europe 1 interviewer Jean-Pierre Elkabbach and TF1 TV interviewer Gilles Bouleau on June 3 in Sochi.



Here are the key points Putin said:

• I’ve already told you and will say it again: we will respect the choice of the Ukrainian people and we will cooperate with Ukrainian authorities.
• Yes, we recognise its (Ukraine’s) sovereignty. Moreover, we’d like Ukraine to act as a sovereign state. 
• Joining any military bloc or any other rigid integration alliance amounts to a partial loss of sovereignty. But if a country opts for this and wants to cede part of its sovereignty, it’s free to do so.

Here are highlights of what Putin said on Ukraine:

• After the anti-constitutional coup in Kiev last February, the first thing the new authorities tried to do was deprive the ethnic minorities of the right to use their native language. This caused great concern among the people living in eastern Ukraine.
• I hope we are not on the verge of any war. 
• Second, I insist that people – wherever they live – have their rights and they must be able to fight for them. 
• Instead of continuing the debates by legitimate and diplomatic means, our European friends and our friends from the United States supported the anti-constitutional armed coup. 
• We were against this course of events but after the anti-constitutional coup...
• Well, we must always talk about peace but we should understand the causes and nature of the crisis. The point is no one should be brought to power through an armed anti-constitutional coup, and this is especially true of the post-Soviet space where government institutions are not fully mature. 
• When it happened some people accepted this regime and were happy about it while other people, say, in eastern and southern Ukraine just won’t accept it. And it is vital to talk with those people who didn’t accept this change of power instead of sending tanks there, as you said yourself, instead of firing missiles at civilians from the air and bombing non-military targets.
• There are no armed forces, no Russian ‘instructors’ in southeastern Ukraine. And there never were any.
• The Ukrainian government must now sit down and talk with their own people instead of using weapons, tanks, planes and helicopters. They must start the negotiating process.
• I didn’t say that he (Poroshenko) shouldn’t yield to US influence. He is free to accept any influence he wants. Ukrainians voted for him, and he is free to develop a policy. If he chooses to accept anyone’s strong influence, let him.
• Regarding Ukraine and military blocs, this is what worries us, because if Ukraine joins, say, NATO, NATO’s infrastructure will move directly towards the Russian border, which cannot leave us indifferent.
• It’s a delusion that Russian troops annexed Crimea. Russian troops did nothing of the kind.
• Russian troops were in Crimea under the international treaty on the deployment of the Russian military base. It’s true that Russian troops helped Crimeans hold a referendum on their (a) independence and (b) desire to join the Russian Federation. No one can prevent these people from exercising a right that is stipulated in Article 1 of the UN Charter, the right of nations to self-determination. 
• In accordance with the expression of the will of people who live there, Crimea is part of the Russian Federation and its constituent entity.
• We conducted an exclusively diplomatic and peaceful dialogue – I want to stress this – with our partners in Europe and the United States.
• In response to our attempts to hold such a dialogue and to negotiate an acceptable solution, they supported the anti-constitutional state coup in Ukraine, and following that we could not be sure that Ukraine would not become part of the North Atlantic military bloc. 
• There is a punitive operation launched by Kiev’s government against the country’s own citizens. 
• I think Mr Poroshenko, who has no blood on his hands so far, has a unique chance to halt this punitive operation now and start a dialogue with people in southeastern Ukraine.

Here is what Putin said on Russia:

• Well, a policy of expansionism and conquest has no future in the modern world.
• We will not promote Russian nationalism, and we do not intend to revive the Russian Empire. 
• We want to develop our country within our own borders, of course. But – and this is very important – like other countries in other parts of the world, we want to use modern policies to improve our competitive advantage, including economic integration. 
• Russia’s policy is based solely on its national interests. Of course, we take the opinions of our partners into account but we are guided by the interests of the Russian people.
• As for our [defence] budget, it has hardly grown in terms of percent of GDP, barely by one-tenth of a percent. But we want to rearm our army and navy based on modern, advanced technology, by reducing quantity and improving quality.
• The current regime is not connected to any particular person, including the incumbent President. We have common democratic state institutions, although they reflect Russia’s needs. 
• What are they? The overwhelming majority of Russian citizens tend to rely on their traditions, their history and, if I may say so, their traditional values. I see this as the foundation and a factor of stability in the Russian state, but none of this is associated with the President as an individual.
• We have many opposition parties, and we have recently liberalised the procedure for registering political parties. We have dozens of parties that participate in municipal and regional elections.
• Are there any restrictions in Russia? I don’t believe so. Some of our opponents say there are unacceptable restrictions. What kind of restrictions do we have? For example, we have banned the promotion of suicide, drugs and pedophilia. These are our restrictions. What’s wrong with that?
• That’s not true, we did not ban homosexuality. We banned the promotion of homosexuality among minors. You see, these are two different things.
• We banned only promoting homosexuality among minors. It is our right to protect our children and we will do it.
• I have great love and respect for Russian history and culture. But the world is changing and Russia is too. Russia is part of the modern world, not the world of the past but the modern world. And I believe it has an even greater future than some other countries that can’t take care of their young people, of the new generations, of their children, and believe that they can just let things slide.
• I believe that in terms of defence, Russia is without any doubt one of the leaders because we are a nuclear power and our nuclear weapons are perhaps the best in the world.
• As for the economy, we are aware that we still have a lot to do before we reach the top. Although lately, we have made major strides forward and are now the fifth largest economy in the world. It is a success but we can do more.

Here is what Putin said on the USA:

• As for my relations with Barack Obama, I have no reason whatsoever to believe he is not willing to talk to the President of Russia. But ultimately, it is his choice. 
• I’m always willing to talk to any of my partners, including President Obama.
• Of course, we can see attempts by the United States to pressure their allies by employing their obvious leadership in the Western community, in order to influence Russia’s policy.
• Speaking of US policy, it’s clear that the United States is pursuing the most aggressive and toughest policy to defend their own interests – at least, this is how the American leaders see it – and they do it persistently.
• There are basically no Russian troops abroad while US troops are everywhere. There are US military bases everywhere around the world and they are always involved in the fates of other countries even though they are thousands of kilometres away from US borders. 
• So it is ironic that our US partners accuse us of breaching some of these rules.
• I’d like to say, for reference’ sake, because only the analysts know this, that the defence budget of the United States, which we talked about only yesterday, is larger than the combined military budgets of every country in the world – every country – combined. So who’s pursuing an aggressive policy?

Here is what Putin said of himself:

• I have the trust of my voters. Over 63% of Russian citizens voted for me. 
• I believe I hold a national mandate to carry out domestic and foreign policy, and I will fulfil my obligations under this mandate.
• You know, I’m an adult and I know what power means in the modern world. In the modern world, power is mainly defined by such factors as the economy, defence and cultural influence.
• I would like to be remembered as a person who did his best for the happiness and prosperity of his country and his people.

Here is the full interview:


JPE / GB: Good afternoon Mr President. Good afternoon, President Putin. Thank you very much for agreeing to give this exclusive interview to Radio Europe 1 and the TF1 TV channel at your Sochi residence. On Thursday evening you will meet with President Francois Hollande in the Elysee Palace, and the next day you will attend the D-Day 70th Anniversary Commemoration. This will be your first trip to the beaches of Normandy, and you will be the first Russian President to attend the ceremony. What do you as a Russian citizen think about being invited to this exceptional ceremony?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: This will be an important event for Europe and the rest of the world. We will pay tribute to those who prevented Nazism from enslaving Europe, and I believe that Russia’s attendance is a momentous event. The thing is that Russia and the anti-Hitler coalition countries, including France, were allies in that struggle for freedom, and my country played a vital and maybe even the decisive role in defeating Nazism. But we’ll never forget the French Resistance fighters and the French soldiers who fought side by side with us on the Soviet-German front, which is also called the Eastern front. I believe that this should not only remind us about our history, but also help to promote our relations now and in the future.

JPE / GB: Of course, you and Russia will take your rightful place on the beaches of Normandy. You lived in the Soviet Union until you were 40, you saw its collapse, and now you are actively contributing to Russia’s revival. What would you like to see happen now? What are your goals? Is Russia’s strategy a path of dialogue or expansion and conquest?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Well, a policy of expansionism and conquest has no future in the modern world. We’re confident that Russia can and should be a partner with its traditional allies, in the broad sense, now and also in the future.

This is what we want, and this is what we will keep working towards. We see no other way to develop relations with our neighbours and all other countries.

JPE / GB: Do you want to defend the Russian nation or to become the symbol of Russian nationalism and the Russian Empire? We remember what you said about the Soviet Union’s dissolution. You said that it was the worst geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. You also said that those who do not regret the collapse of the Soviet Union have no heart, and those who want to restore it have no brains. You have brains. What do you propose: Russian nationalism, or the restoration of the Russian Empire to its previous borders?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We will not promote Russian nationalism, and we do not intend to revive the Russian Empire. What did I mean when I said that the Soviet Union’s collapse was one of the largest humanitarian – above all humanitarian – disasters of the 20th century? I meant that all the citizens of the Soviet Union lived in a union state irrespective of their ethnicity, and after its collapse 25 million Russians suddenly became foreign citizens. It was a huge humanitarian disaster. Not a political or ideological disaster, but a purely humanitarian upheaval. Families were divided; people lost their jobs and means of subsistence, and had no means to communicate with each other normally. This was the problem.

JPE / GB: And what about the future?

Do you want to restore the empire within the former borders or do you want to continue developing your country within your own borders?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We want to develop our country within our own borders, of course. But – and this is very important – like other countries in other parts of the world, we want to use modern policies to improve our competitive advantage, including economic integration. This is what we are doing in the post-Soviet space within the Customs Union and now also within the Eurasian Union.

JPE / GB: Mr Putin, we are now talking about why a neighbouring country, Ukraine, is being torn apart by war. There is no other word for it. Now pro-Russian forces want to breach Ukraine’s borders. Who can stop them and what is your policy?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I wouldn’t call them either pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian. They are people who have certain rights, political, humanitarian rights, and they must have a chance to exercise those rights.

For example, in Ukraine governors are still appointed by Kiev. After the anti-constitutional coup in Kiev last February, the first thing the new authorities tried to do was deprive the ethnic minorities of the right to use their native language. This caused great concern among the people living in eastern Ukraine.

JPE / GB: You did not let this happen but are you saying that we are on the verge of another Cold War?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I hope we are not on the verge of any war. Second, I insist that people – wherever they live – have their rights and they must be able to fight for them. That’s the point.

JPE / GB: Is there any risk of a war? Now, as we see tanks on their way from Kiev, many people in France are asking this question. Were you tempted to send troops to eastern Ukraine?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: This is an interview, which implies short questions and short answers. But if you have patience and give me a minute, I will tell you how we see it. Here’s our position. What actually happened there? There was a conflict and that conflict arose because the former Ukrainian president refused to sign an association agreement with the EU. Russia had a certain stance on this issue. We believed it was indeed unreasonable to sign that agreement because it would have a grave impact on the economy, including the Russian economy. We have 390 economic agreements with Ukraine and Ukraine is a member of the free trade zone within the CIS. And we wouldn’t be able to continue this economic relationship with Ukraine as a member of the free trade zone. We discussed this with our European partners. Instead of continuing the debates by legitimate and diplomatic means, our European friends and our friends from the United States supported the anti-constitutional armed coup. This is what happened. We did not cause this crisis to happen. We were against this course of events but after the anti-constitutional coup – let’s face it, after all…

JPE / GB: But now we see so much tension in politics. Yet despite this, you will be in Normandy speaking about peace while Barack Obama keeps urging Europe to arm itself.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Well, we must always talk about peace but we should understand the causes and nature of the crisis. The point is no one should be brought to power through an armed anti-constitutional coup, and this is especially true of the post-Soviet space where government institutions are not fully mature. When it happened some people accepted this regime and were happy about it while other people, say, in eastern and southern Ukraine just won’t accept it. And it is vital to talk with those people who didn’t accept this change of power instead of sending tanks there, as you said yourself, instead of firing missiles at civilians from the air and bombing non-military targets.

JPE / GB: But, Mr President, the United States and the White House claim they have evidence that Russia intervened in the conflict, sent its troops and supplied weapons. They claim they have proof. Do you believe that?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Proof? Why don’t they show it? The entire world remembers the US Secretary of State demonstrating the evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, waving around some test tube with washing powder in the UN Security Council. Eventually, the US troops invaded Iraq, Saddam Hussein was hanged and later it turned out there had never been any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. You know, it’s one thing to say things and another to actually have evidence. I will tell you again:  no Russian troops…

JPE / GB: Are you saying the US is lying?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: There are no armed forces, no Russian ‘instructors’ in southeastern Ukraine. And there never were any.

JPE / GB: So you do not want to annex Ukraine and you never tried to destabilise the situation there?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We never did that. The Ukrainian government must now sit down and talk with their own people instead of using weapons, tanks, planes and helicopters. They must start the negotiating process.

JPE / GB: The new Ukrainian president was elected on May 25 through a democratic vote. Do you recognise Mr Poroshenko as a legitimate president?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I’ve already told you and will say it again: we will respect the choice of the Ukrainian people and we will cooperate with Ukrainian authorities.

JPE / GB: In other words, if you meet him on 6 June on the beaches of Normandy, and if President Hollande helps to make this meeting possible, will you shake hands with him? Will you talk with him?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: You know, I don’t plan to evade anyone. President Hollande kindly invited me as the representative of Russia to attend this commemoration, even though the event it will commemorate was tragic. I was pleased to accept his invitation, and I’m grateful to the President for inviting me. There will be other guests, and I’m not going to avoid any of them. I will talk with all of them.

JPE / GB: But will you meet with Poroshenko? You said you would only work with him on the condition that he would not totally yield to US influence.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I didn’t say that he shouldn’t yield to US influence. He is free to accept any influence he wants. Ukrainians voted for him, and he is free to develop a policy. If he chooses to accept anyone’s strong influence, let him. But I wouldn’t…

JPE / GB: Do you recognise Ukraine’s sovereignty and its neutral stance with respect to relations between Russia and the West?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, we recognise its sovereignty. Moreover, we’d like Ukraine to act as a sovereign state. Joining any military bloc or any other rigid integration alliance amounts to a partial loss of sovereignty. But if a country opts for this and wants to cede part of its sovereignty, it’s free to do so. Regarding Ukraine and military blocs, this is what worries us, because if Ukraine joins, say, NATO, NATO’s infrastructure will move directly towards the Russian border, which cannot leave us indifferent.

JPE / GB: Mr President, Russian troops annexed Crimea recently. Will you ever give it back?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: It’s a delusion that Russian troops annexed Crimea. Russian troops did nothing of the kind. Frankly...

JPE / GB:  But Crimea has been included on the map of Russia, the kind of maps we used in school. It’s part of Russia now. What was it, annexation or reunification? Which word should we use?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: If you’ll let me finish, I think you’ll see what I mean.

Russian troops were in Crimea under the international treaty on the deployment of the Russian military base. It’s true that Russian troops helped Crimeans hold a referendum on their (a) independence and (b) desire to join the Russian Federation. No one can prevent these people from exercising a right that is stipulated in Article 1 of the UN Charter, the right of nations to self-determination. 

JPE / GB: In other words, you will not return Crimea [to Ukraine]? Crimea is Russia, is that it?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: In accordance with the expression of the will of people who live there, Crimea is part of the Russian Federation and its constituent entity.

I want everyone to understand this clearly. We conducted an exclusively diplomatic and peaceful dialogue – I want to stress this – with our partners in Europe and the United States. In response to our attempts to hold such a dialogue and to negotiate an acceptable solution, they supported the anti-constitutional state coup in Ukraine, and following that we could not be sure that Ukraine would not become part of the North Atlantic military bloc. In that situation, we could not allow a historical part of the Russian territory with a predominantly ethnic Russian population to be incorporated into an international military alliance, especially because Crimeans wanted to be part of Russia. I am sorry, but we couldn’t act differently.

JPE / GB: So, Francois Hollande has invited you to France, to Paris and Normandy. You know him very well. Can you move further forward, and can you describe your relations as confidential?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, I think so.

JPE / GB: Do you think so, or are you sure?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I’ve always thought so. I see no reasons to think otherwise. We have very good interstate relations, but we have much to do yet to promote our economic ties.

But our personal relations have always been trust-based, which helps in work as well. I hope it will stay this way.

JPE / GB: You are talking about trust-based relations – both in defence and the economy. You have paid over a billion euros for two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships, and Russian naval officials are to visit Saint-Nazaire in a few days. Have you given them special permission to go to France?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I believe we are living in a civilised world and we will all continue to fulfil our obligations and contractual commitments. I’ve heard a lot of talk about these ships going to Russia and some people believe that Russia shouldn’t get them. You know, here in Russia we had a lot of opposition to this contract. France is entitled to decide against selling the ships, but in that case we should get out money back. This would mean that out countries won’t have an opportunity to develop ties in the defence sector – but overall we are ready to expand our cooperation and even to place new orders, if our French partners are interested.    

JPE / GB: Despite external pressure, you have asked France to supply these assault ships – and if France does it you may place other orders as well, right?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We expect our French partners to fulfil their contractual obligations, and if everything goes as we agreed, we will not rule out the possibility of further orders – and not necessarily in naval shipbuilding; they may concern other sectors as well. Overall, our relations in this area are developing well, and we would like to continue strengthening them – in aviation, shipbuilding, and other sectors. We have successful cooperation experience in space exploration, at the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou.     

JPE / GB: Do you think France is a sovereign and independent state whose opinion is respected? What do you think of Germany? You speak with Angela Merkel in both Russian and German, while François Hollande doesn’t speak Russian and you don’t speak French. Do you have a common language of communication?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: The fact that I don’t speak French and Mr Hollande doesn’t speak Russian is not a barrier for us. It does not prevent us from speaking a common language, and we understand each other well even via an interpreter.

Speaking of the level of sovereignty, I will say it again – any country that becomes a member of a military alliance gives away some of its sovereignty to a supranational body. For Russia, this would be unacceptable. As for other countries, it has nothing to do with us. They have to decide such matters for themselves. In this regard, I think of the Gaullist tradition and General Charles de Gaulle, who protected France’s sovereignty. I think this deserves respect. And there’s another example: François Mitterrand, who spoke of European confederation, with Russia as its member. I think this opportunity still exists and we will have it in the future.

JPE / GB My next question concerns the United States. You will meet with Barack Obama in a few days, you will sit a few metres away from him. But he doesn’t seem to be willing to speak to you. What will this meeting be like and how will relations develop between the world’s richest country and its largest country? How can you avoid speaking to each other when there’s a real need for this since the war is not too far off?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Well, you’re exaggerating about the war being not far off. You seem to be feeling aggressive. Whatever gave you this idea, and why are you determined to frighten us all? As for... 

JPE / GB: Because Ukraine is near Russia.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: So what?

JPE / GB: And this is where the war is going on. When he mentioned the war, he said it is not far off.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: There is a punitive operation launched by Kiev’s government against the country’s own citizens. It is not a war between states, it is something entirely different. As for...

JPE / GB: Do you think it should be stopped immediately?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I think Mr Poroshenko, who has no blood on his hands so far, has a unique chance to halt this punitive operation now and start a dialogue with people in southeastern Ukraine.   

As for my relations with Barack Obama, I have no reason whatsoever to believe he is not willing to talk to the President of Russia. But ultimately, it is his choice. I am always ready for dialogue, and I think that dialogue is the best way to bridge any gaps. We have been in contact until now, we have talked on the telephone regularly.

JPE / GB: Russia and the United States are experiencing some problems. Are these problems between two powers or between two people, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Problems between countries always exist, especially between such big countries as Russia and the United States. There have always been some issues, but I don’t think we should go to extremes. At any rate, it wouldn’t be our choice. I’m always willing to talk to any of my partners, including President Obama.

JPE / GB: So you are willing to talk and you regret what is happening? But don’t you think the United States is trying to surround Russia, to make you weaker as a leader and perhaps isolate you from the world? You are being very diplomatic now but you know the facts.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Facts? You’ve said it yourself: Russia is the biggest country in the world. It would be very difficult to surround it, and the world is changing so fast that it would basically be impossible, even in theory.

Of course, we can see attempts by the United States to pressure their allies by employing their obvious leadership in the Western community, in order to influence Russia’s policy.

Russia’s policy is based solely on its national interests. Of course, we take the opinions of our partners into account but we are guided by the interests of the Russian people.

JPE / GB: Mr President, it is very convenient that you are meeting with Mr Obama on June 6. Perhaps, it would be worse if you were meeting with Hillary Clinton. Only a few days ago, she said that what Russia is doing in Eastern Europe resembles what Hitler was doing in the 1930s.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: It’s better not to argue with women. But Ms Clinton has never been too graceful in her statements. Still, we always met afterwards and had cordial conversations at various international events. I think even in this case we could reach an agreement. When people push boundaries too far, it’s not because they are strong but because they are weak. But maybe weakness is not the worst quality for a woman.

JPE / GB: Women must be respected, of course, and I’m sure you respect them. Do you think she went too far? There is a lot of mockery and cartoons in the media – including those showing you. What was your first reaction? Were you angry? Did you want to get back at her or laugh? We have never seen you laugh.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Someday I will indulge myself and we will laugh together at some good joke. But when I hear such extreme statements, to me it only means that they don’t have any valid arguments. Speaking of US policy, it’s clear that the United States is pursuing the most aggressive and toughest policy to defend their own interests – at least, this is how the American leaders see it – and they do it persistently.

There are basically no Russian troops abroad while US troops are everywhere. There are US military bases everywhere around the world and they are always involved in the fates of other countries even though they are thousands of kilometres away from US borders. So it is ironic that our US partners accuse us of breaching some of these rules.

JPE / GB: But you have taken some decisions regarding your defence budget. Are you as President taking any special decisions on security and defence now, because the general environment is more risky?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Regarding the defence budget. I’d like to say, for reference’ sake, because only the analysts know this, that the defence budget of the United States, which we talked about only yesterday, is larger than the combined military budgets of every country in the world – every country – combined. So who’s pursuing an aggressive policy?

As for our [defence] budget, it has hardly grown in terms of percent of GDP, barely by one-tenth of a percent. But we want to rearm our army and navy based on modern, advanced technology, by reducing quantity and improving quality. We have a relevant rearmament programme, and it was not adopted yesterday or in response to the Ukrainian crisis. It has been our policy, which we will continue to implement.

JPE / GB: Mr President, Syrian leader Bashar Assad has been re-elected president without much effort. Can you influence him? Can you ask him to order his army to stop its atrocities, to stop fighting their own people?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: All sides are guilty of atrocities there, but primarily the extremist organisations that are thriving in Syria. We are mostly worried about…

JPE / GB: Religious, Islamic [organisations]…

VLADIMIR PUTIN: …those organisations that are directly connected with Al Qaeda. There are many of them there, which no one tries to deny any longer. It’s a general fact. But we are mostly worried that the wrong action could turn Syria into another Afghanistan, a completely uncontrollable spawning ground for the terrorist threat, including for European countries. All the terrorists who are operating there now would eventually move to other countries, including in Europe.

JPE / GB: We don’t quite understand why you, Vladimir Putin, the man who wants to modernise Russia, support a person who is killing his own people, who is covered in their blood. How can this be?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I’ll explain very simply and clearly, and I hope that the majority of the French people who are watching and listening to this interview will understand me. We very much fear that Syria will fall apart like Sudan. We very much fear that Syria will follow in the footsteps of Iraq or Afghanistan. This is why we would like the legal authority to remain in power in Syria, so that Russia can cooperate with Syria and with ours partners in Europe and the United States to consider possible methods to change Syrian society, to modernise the regime and make it more viable and humane.

JPE / GB: I’d like to ask you about your country, Russia. How would you describe its current political regime? Some describe it as a democracy, while others argue that Russia is so huge that it needs an iron hand. How does Vladimir Putin define the Putin regime?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: The current regime is not connected to any particular person, including the incumbent President. We have common democratic state institutions, although they reflect Russia’s needs. What are they? The overwhelming majority of Russian citizens tend to rely on their traditions, their history and, if I may say so, their traditional values. I see this as the foundation and a factor of stability in the Russian state, but none of this is associated with the President as an individual. Moreover, it should be remembered that we only started introducing standard democratic institutions recently. They are still in the process of evolving.

JPE / GB: Can a person stand in opposition to the authorities in Russia without fear of losing his ties and reputation, without being punished?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We have many opposition parties, and we have recently liberalised the procedure for registering political parties. We have dozens of parties that participate in municipal and regional elections.

JPE / GB But is it possible to be a personal opponent of Vladimir Putin without exposing oneself to risks?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: If you listen to some of our radio stations and watch some TV shows, I assure you, you are unlikely to find anything similar to this kind of opposition in France.

JPE / GB: There have always been periods of strict order and authoritarian power in Russia. But in the age of the Internet, can a country develop by restricting freedoms?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: It is impossible and we are not restricting the Internet. We have certain… You know, whatever we do, someone tries to find something that goes against democratic principles, including the Internet. Are there any restrictions in Russia? I don’t believe so. Some of our opponents say there are unacceptable restrictions. What kind of restrictions do we have? For example, we have banned the promotion of suicide, drugs and pedophilia. These are our restrictions. What’s wrong with that?

JPE / GB: And homosexuality. It is not pedophilia, it’s a different story.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: That’s not true, we did not ban homosexuality. We banned the promotion of homosexuality among minors. You see, these are two different things. In the United States, since we talked about it, homosexuality is illegal in some states. We impose no criminal liability whatsoever. We banned only promoting homosexuality among minors. It is our right to protect our children and we will do it.

JPE / GB: We would like to talk about the end of your term in 2018. We would like to talk about labour camps. We find such things surprising in the West. For example, Pussy Riot were sentenced to a term in labour camps, and it wasn’t just an ordinary prison. Will you close those camps by the end of your term?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: These are not camps. These are places where the inmates’ freedom is limited but they can live a more or less normal life. These are not prisons where people are not allowed to work.

Prisons where people can’t even work is the worst punishment you can think of. And I don’t think we should put all convicts in such facilities where people are deprived of their freedom. I think it is much worse than what you are describing.

JPE / GB: Who convinced you that you are carrying out a special mission for Russia?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Why do you think that I believe I’m carrying out a special mission? I have the trust of my voters. Over 63% of Russian citizens voted for me. I believe I hold a national mandate to carry out domestic and foreign policy, and I will fulfil my obligations under this mandate.

JPE / GB: Do you have a role model in the Russian history? Are you guided by Soviet or Russian politics?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I have great love and respect for Russian history and culture. But the world is changing and Russia is too. Russia is part of the modern world, not the world of the past but the modern world. And I believe it has an even greater future than some other countries that can’t take care of their young people, of the new generations, of their children, and believe that they can just let things slide.

JPE / GB: And the last question, Mr President. In 2013, Forbes rated you as the most powerful person in the world. Were you flattered by this title?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: You know, I’m an adult and I know what power means in the modern world. In the modern world, power is mainly defined by such factors as the economy, defence and cultural influence. I believe that in terms of defence, Russia is without any doubt one of the leaders because we are a nuclear power and our nuclear weapons are perhaps the best in the world.

With regard to cultural influence, we are proud of the Russian culture – literature, the arts and so on.

As for the economy, we are aware that we still have a lot to do before we reach the top. Although lately, we have made major strides forward and are now the fifth largest economy in the world. It is a success but we can do more.

JPE / GB: We don’t know yet how Vladimir Putin’s era will go down in history. What would you like to be remembered for? And would you like to be seen as a democrat or an authoritarian leader?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I would like to be remembered as a person who did his best for the happiness and prosperity of his country and his people.

JPE / GB: Thank you very much. Have a good trip to France, Mr President. Good-bye.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Thank you.

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