Don’t Arm Ukraine

Статья об Украинской трагедии в Нью-Йорк Таймс.

The Ukraine crisis is almost a year old and Russia is winning. The separatists in eastern Ukraine are gaining ground and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, shows no signs of backing down in the face of Western economic sanctions.

Unsurprisingly, a growing chorus of voices in the United States is calling for arming Ukraine. A recent report from three leading American think tanks endorses sending Kiev advanced weaponry, and the White House’s nominee for secretary of defense, Ashton B. Carter, said last week to the Senate armed services committee, “I very much incline in that direction.”

They are wrong. Going down that road would be a huge mistake for the United States, NATO and Ukraine itself. Sending weapons to Ukraine will not rescue its army and will instead lead to an escalation in the fighting. Such a step is especially dangerous because Russia has thousands of nuclear weapons and is seeking to defend a vital strategic interest.

There is no question that Ukraine’s military is badly outgunned by the separatists, who have Russian troops and weapons on their side. Because the balance of power decisively favors Moscow, Washington would have to send large amounts of equipment for Ukraine’s army to have a fighting chance.

But the conflict will not end there. Russia would counter-escalate, taking away any temporary benefit Kiev might get from American arms. The authors of the think tank study concede this, noting that “even with enormous support from the West, the Ukrainian Army will not be able to defeat a determined attack by the Russian military.” In short, the United States cannot win an arms race with Russia over Ukraine and thereby ensure Russia’s defeat on the battlefield.

Proponents of arming Ukraine have a second line of argument. The key to success, they maintain, is not to defeat Russia militarily, but to raise the costs of fighting to the point where Mr. Putin will cave. The pain will supposedly compel Moscow to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and allow it to join the European Union and NATO and become an ally of the West.

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“Достали!…” — ©

Еще два дня назад Губернатор Китцхабер уверял орегонцев, что в отставку он уходить не собирается. Сегодня, несмотря на все это, Губернатор подал в отставку.

Слухи о его невесте его достали.

SALEM — Embattled Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber on Friday announced his resignation amid allegations his fiancée used her relationship with him to enrich herself.

Kitzhaber, who has served in political roles for nearly 40 years and was just re-elected to a historic fourth gubernatorial term in November, faced calls to resign by the leaders of his own party and appeared to have virtually no support in state government circles.

The governor’s resignation will take effect Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 10 a.m.

The decision capped a wild week in Oregon politics. Kitzhaber seemed poised to step down, then changed his mind, but ultimately bowed to calls from legislative leaders that he quit.

His resignation letter read, in part, “It is not in my nature to walk away from a job I have undertaken – it is to stand and fight for the cause. For that reason I apologize to all those people who gave of their faith, time, energy and resources to elect me to a fourth term last year and who have supported me over the past three decades. I promise you that I will continue to pursue our shared goals and our common cause in another venue.”

The governor, along with his fiancee Cylvia Hayes, have been ensnared in a public corruption scandal over allegations that Hayes used her influence as an energy-related consultant to win lucrative contracts and shape state policy.

State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum launched a criminal investigation into the duo’s activities.

Rosenblum released a statement following the resignation that read, in part, “The governor’s decision to resign will not affect our ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of his and Ms. Hayes’ conduct.”

Secretary of State Kate Brown, a Democrat, will assume the office. She will also be the nation’s first openly bisexual governor.

Kitzhaber has consistently maintained that he and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, worked hard to avoid conflicts between her public and private roles.

On Thursday, it was reported that the governor’s staff had tried to destroy thousands of personal emails after receiving a public records request for them. Also, Brown added to the unprecedented situation. She said that she had return early from a Washington D.C. conference at the governor’s request to discuss a possible transition, but then was told by Kitzhaber on Wednesday that he was not stepping down after all.

Kitzhaber handily won re-election in November to a fourth term after surviving the botched rollout of Cover Oregon, the state’s online health care exchange.

Отсюда.

А ведь прошло всего три месяца, с того момента, как Губернатор был переизбран.

Ну, и, “вишенка”, как сейчас любят выражаться в Сети. Орегон стал первым штатом, где Губернатором будет женщина-bisexual.

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То, чего я не понимаю…

У меня на это ушло почти десять лет.

А кто-то отказывается от того же самого..

The number of Americans choosing to give up their passports hit a record 3,415 last year, up 14% from 2013, and 15 times more than in 2008, when only 231 people renounced their citizenship.

Experts say the recent surge is coming from expats who no longer want to deal with complicated tax paperwork, a burden that has only gotten worse in recent years.
Unlike most countries, the U.S. taxes all citizens on income, no matter where it is earned or where they live. The mountain of paperwork can be so complicated that expats are often forced to fork over high fees to hire an accountant — some say they pay as much as $1,000.

One new law designed to catch tax cheats — the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act — requires individuals to report certain foreign assets, and for banks to disclose all foreign accounts held by Americans. That’s in addition to another provision that mandates Americans to disclose foreign bank holdings worth more than $10,000.
“More and more are considering renouncing,” said Vincenzo Villamena of Online Taxman, an accountant who specializes in expat taxes. “There are a lot of uncertainties about FATCA and [its] implementation; I don’t think we’ve seen the full effect that FATCA can have on people’s lives.”
As both expats and financial institutions rush to understand the new law, some banks have chosen to kick out their Americans clients rather than comply. If a bank mistakenly fails to report accounts held by Americans outside the U.S. — even checking and savings accounts — they can face steep penalties.

As new procedures are put in place, “the pace of U.S. citizenship relinquishments is likely to slow,” said Nigel Green, CEO of the deVere Group, a financial advisory firm. “People are becoming aware of the various compliant ways they can mitigate the negative effects of FATCA, without having to take the drastic and often emotional step of giving up their American citizenship.”
But it’s going to be a few years before renunciations start to taper off, Villamena said.

“You do have a lot of people queuing…there are people still waiting to get their second passport [before they] renounce,” he said. “Obviously, you can’t give up your [U.S.] passport unless you have another one.”
Of course, some Americans giving up their passports could very well be fat cat tax cheats, fleeing to known tax havens to preserve their wealth. But it’s illegal to renounce your U.S. status to escape paying taxes, and giving up your citizenship now doesn’t mean Uncle Sam won’t come after you later for back taxes.
“From an international perspective, the world is split into two halves — the people who are desperate to get U.S. citizenship, and the people who are desperate to give it up,” Chris McLemore, senior counsel at Butler Snow, told CNNMoney in December.

Отсюда.

Ссылку нашел у neznaika-nalune

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