Pilots of Su-25 were killed as aircraft hit the ground

Representatives of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation confirmed that the pilots of the training attack aircraft Su-25, which crashed in Southern Russia on September 3, were killed before they could eject.

Source: BAZA Telegram channel

"A commission of the Ministry of Defense operating at the crash site of the Su-25UB aircraft in the Stavropol region confirmed the death of the two pilots. The pilots did not have time to eject," officials said.

The pilots - Major Yuri Bortsov and Captain Artem Lychev - served in the 368th Air Assault Regiment. Their bodies were found on the crash site.

The training attack aircraft Su-25UB crashed on September 3. The aircraft exploded when it hit the ground. Originally, it was reported that the pilots could eject.

Sukhoi Su-25UB is a combat training version of the Su-25 "Grach" attack aircraft, designed to destroy small-sized mobile and stationary ground targets, as well as low-speed air targets.

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UK: Democracy finally wins... or does it?

UK: Democracy finally wins

Perhaps this is the beginning of the end for the UK's Blustery Buffoon, or the end of the beginning of the Brexit process. Whatever, finally, democracy wins in the UK. Next step? Revoke Article 50 or a Second Referendum.

The United Kingdom has just stepped back from the brink of a national catastrophe. A media blackout of the truth, the full consequences of any sort of Brexit in any way, shape or form, which would have left the population incensed, has left the British people as a rule disinterested, tired of Braxit and many wanting the government "to just get on with it". If they knew the full implications of that, and especially a No Deal scenario, they would be out in the streets.

Let us not belittle the Brexit dream

Let us not belittle the Brexit dream, let us take a look at it collectively. There was a time when Britannia ruled the waves and a quarter of the world was painted red on the map, as British bureaucrats implemented the British way of life overseas, massacring those who resisted, shooting "natives" in the whites of the eyes and civilizing them with the Bible and the Bullet. Then they complain about the EU.

For people nostalgic of this monstrosity, which left 97% of Indians illiterate after 300 years of "rule", there followed the Great British Victory in World War II, only they and their media seem to forget the massive aid from the United States and the huge sacrifice of the Soviet Union, which lost 26 million souls causing 95% of the Wehrmacht's casualties.

In times of crisis and without exception, Britain has always called on allies, sometimes the Gurkhas in battle but always European partners, Russia twice when the going got tough, and other nations at different times. Its alliance with Portugal since the Treaty of Windsor in 1386 is a prime example of Britain's partnership with Europe, which began with pleas to Rome to send legions to fight off attacks from the east and the west in the time of the Venerable Bede.

Brexit could never succeed

And this is the underlying reality that the Brexit Dream cannot surpass, for Brexit is a Quixotesque dream about one man going it alone fighing windmills and looking for unicorns in the bushes. It's about Britain sticking the middle finger up at its European friends and allies and searching for some great trading quest in far-flung former colonies. When asking an Australian opinion maker about the possibility of wonderful trade deals with Pommies, he replied: "Mate, we can see Indonesia from Darwin, that's where we are today".

The best trade deal the Brits could do would be a one-way pat-on-the-head "special relationship" deal with Trump, along with chlorinated chicken in a drop-your-pants and close-your-eyes, here-it-comes type of deal which would benefit the USA hugely. The UK would wake up the next morning after the Big Party with its pants round its ankles. "Cor, the Bourbon doesn't taste that bad but you can't sit down for two weeks after drinking it!"

Nobody in their right mind is going to queue up to do special deals with the UK which go against the interests of the EU because there is something called reciprocity and nobody does more business with the UK than with the EU. It's four hundred and fifty plus million sales against a paltry 66 million. Numbers speak volumes and in today's world this is exactly the reason why from Latin America to all regions of Africa to Central Asia to the Far East, all countries are locked together in large trading groups, with rules and fees like any club.

What goes against the grain fails

And this is why, going against the grain, Brexit is nothing more than some kind of pipe dream. What it hopes to achieve are pie-in-the-sky fantasies like a 17-year-old fawning over his music teacher, a Miss Flat, when he gets into bed then finding out the next morning that she is married. To another woman.

What the UK aims to do is leave the squash club, stop paying the fees, then pay to play squash, which is more expensive. When you are a member of a trading block, you pay administrative fees to open up the market to your trade, which you then conduct for free. There are rules of course but those who do not wish to follow the rules are criminals by definition, spivs, wide-boys, sharpers...

Leave the club, you keep your administrative fee,  a one-off, short-term gain. Then the fun and games begin. You then have to pay for access to sell each and every product you export and to buy each and every product you import. Those of us who have lived through several political and economic waves in different countries know very well what comes next. The markets take advantage of any half-reason to raise prices and when government ministers admit, as happened this week, that "some food prices will rise" ("will" not "might possibly") it means that all food prices will double, then triple in a second wave.

The inevitable effects of any kind of Brexit

Paying for what you enjoy today for free means that the profit margins will decrease, "will", not "might", meaning you export less, you pay more for imports, companies go bust because their margins are squeezed, this causes massive unemployment among the traders, among the factory workers, it causes misery among the families of the unemployed, a generation of people who feel disenfranchised, marginalised, confused and unwanted. This in turn means less income through taxation and more social benefits payments, and so worse public services and communities in crisis. This is the inevitable result of any sort of Brexit.

Now compute into this the mindset of Boris Johnson who promised in his inaugural speech to "BoJo" the country forward, or some such expression, meeting a wall of silence, even if this meant a no deal. It's like saying OK we might at the end of the day make a pact with the Devil but we'll try not to and hey let's waste a hundred million "quid" of taxpayers' money to get the country ready for it. In other words, we say we don't want it but it's coming.

Get ready for unemployment, hunger, delays in medicines and food, the pound collapsing and trillions haemorrhaging from The City?

The elitist clique of toffs have hijacked the Conservative Party

To cap it all, the Conservative Party has been hijacked by a right-wing, elitist faction, the right-wing third of the party which other sensible Conservative leaders have been trying to keep under control, and here lies the beginning of Brexit, as Cameron called the bluff of this group and their allies in the Brexit Party of Nigel Farage (ex-UKIP) with his badly-planned referendum. And lost.

And to cap it all, Boris Johnson has outraged the country, his party and the psyche of the British nation by trying to side-step Parliament and more incredibly, to purge his party of dissenting voices. Those who are afraid of an opinion are worthless.

So the Boris Johnson Side-Show, something akin to SideShow Bob of the Simpsons, has run its course. Like an Uncle who breaks wind at family Christmas get-togethers, it gets boring and what is worthless, runs out of steam.

Yesterday in voting against the Government, Parliament set the stage for taking No Deal off the table. Quite how a Government or a Prime Minister could postulate such an outcome, which all agree would be hugely damaging to the United Kingdom, seeing it break up and divide in civil unrest, huge hikes in food prices, lack of supplies, unemployment and no hope for the future as the trading chickens do not come home to roost, is staggering and is a clear indication of the irresponsibility of this bumbling, blustery buffoon posturing as Prime Minister and his sickening gang of disrespectful toffs who seem to think they are worth squat.

Now to go just one step further. For Parliament to understand finally that 70+ per cent of people in the UK want no Brexit at all. They now understand the implications, the Referendum was illegal, floored and does not represent where the people are today.

Inside the EU, the UK can fight to make changes, altering conditions which are unpopular, continuing to trade for free with its main trading partners, and to strike its deals around the world, which it can do within the EU. So what are they talking about?

Watch this space, do not trust Bojo and the Toffs

Conclusion: Let us see how this plays out. In a civilized country, the desire of the representatives would be respected. But let us remember that Johnson and his toffs are from a social echelon in the UK which is different from anywhere else. They are charicatures of the Bullingdon Club type of person, born with a silver spoon stuck up thier ass, no respect for anyone, classifying anyone non-white as a "darkie", doing what the hell they want because "Daddy will foot the bill". So do not expect them to respect anyone or anything but themselves and their pockets, of course. After all, ask yourself who benefits from Brexit. Not the people, for sure.

Photo: By James Gillray - Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-6861 (color film copy transparency), uncompressed archival TIFF version (50 MB), color level (pick white and black points), cropped, and converted to JPEG (quality level 88) with the GIMP 2.4.5., Public Domain, https://ift.tt/2LtzZH2

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Twitter: @TimothyBHinchey

timothy.hinchey@gmail.com

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey works in the area of teaching, consultancy, coaching, translation, revision of texts, copy-writing and journalism. Director and Chief Editor of the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru since 2002, and now Co-Editor of the English version, he contributes regularly to several other publications in Portuguese and English. He has worked in the printed and online media, in daily, weekly, monthly and yearly magazines and newspapers. A firm believer in multilateralism as a political approach and multiculturalism as a means to bring people and peoples together, he is Official Media Partner of UN Women, fighting for gender equality and Media Partner with Humane Society International, promoting animal rights. His hobbies include sports, in which he takes a keen interest, traveling, networking to protect the rights of LGBTQI communities and victims of gender violence, and cataloging disappearing languages, cultures and traditions around the world. A keen cook, he enjoys trying out different cuisines and regards cooking and sharing as a means to understand cultures and bring people together.

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Sukhoi Su-25 crashes during training flight in Russia

A two-seated Su-25UB attack aircraft crashed in Russia's North Caucasus. Two pilots of the crashed aircraft ejected. A rescue helicopter was sent to search for the pilots.

According to most recent reports, the pilots of the crashed attack aircraft have been found. Nothing has been reported yet about their condition.

The press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the Su-25UB crashed in a deserted area during a training flight; there was no destruction on the ground. The plane was performing the  flight without any weapons on board.

Su-25UB is a combat training version of the Su-25 "Grach" attack aircraft designed to destroy small-sized mobile and stationary ground targets, as well as low-speed air targets.

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Two passenger aircraft collide at Moscow airport

Two planes collided on the runway at the Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport. The accident occurred during the movement of a Royal Flight airliner as an aircraft tug was towing it at low speed. When passing by an Aeroflot aircraft, which was readying for takeoff to fly to Beijing, the two aircraft touched wings.

Planes collide in Moscow

The Royal Flight plane was empty, and passengers flying the Aeroflot flight to Beijing were immediately evacuated. All those on board the plane were brought back to the airport building. The passengers will board another flight. No one was hurt during the accident.

The two aircraft touched wings tangentially; airport technicians have already examined them.

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Another US Great Recession Coming?

Another US Great Recession Coming?

Hindsight is the best foresight, so clarity will arrive as events unfold.

For the vast majority of ordinary Americans, the 2008-09 great recession never ended.

Real unemployment is around 21%, based on how numbers were calculated in the 1980s.

The so-called U-3 headlined unemployment number omits individuals without jobs who want them, including many longterm unemployed ones not looking after months of failure to find work.

Millions of unemployed Americans are considered nonpersons, their status omitted from headlined monthly Labor Department figures.

These are real people struggling to get by. Most working Americans hold low-wage, poor-or-no benefit temporary or part-time service jobs.

Already living in poverty or bordering it, they're one or a few missed paychecks away from possible homelessness, hunger and despair - the world's richest nation uncaring about their dire straights.

Its policymakers serve privileged interests exclusively at the expense of the rights and welfare of most others - what the scourge of neoliberal harshness is all about.

Current US economic growth is weak, likely heading south, not improving.

Economist John Williams re-engineers official data to how it was accurately calculated decades earlier.

On August 29, he reported the following:

Q II 2019 GDP was revised lower to 2.04%. "Manufacturing and oil and gas production are in decline."

"Real new orders are in their worst contraction since the (2008-09) great recession."

Construction spending fell to its lowest level since that period, the same true for freight activity.

"Heavy downside revisions to retail trade employment suggest" officials numbers were overstated.

Williams believes further Fed interest rate cuts are cutting, money printing madness quantitative easing (QE) likely to follow. Will monetary policy and tax cuts strengthen economic conditions? 

Corporations used their windfall  for executive pay increases and bonuses, stock buybacks raising valuations, mergers and acquisitions to reduce competition, dividends to shareholders, and stashing trillions of dollars in offshore tax havens. 

Easy money encourages speculation, what drove equity valuations to record-high levels.

Economic growth depends on productive investments, creating jobs, absent in the US, its industrial base and other high-paying jobs offshored to low-wage countries.

Tax cuts for the rich widened the wealth gap to extremes not seen since the roaring 20s and earlier age of the robber barons.

It did little or nothing to benefit ordinary Americans, the nation in decline, thirdworldized for most of its people, things worsening, not improving.

Another great recession will hit them harder - while the nation's privileged class never had things better, able to ride out economic storms when arrive.

Economist David Rosenberg believes recession is coming, things close to it now, saying:

Corporate earnings are "rolling over." Weakening economic data suggest "a significant growth turndown right now in the US economy," adding:

"(E)arnings estimates are coming down and the stock market is just rocking and rolling."

Trump's trade war with China made things worse. On September 1, new 15% tariffs took effect on $112 billion worth of Chinese imports - including consumer products, making them more costly to buyers.

On December 15, US tariffs are coming on all remaining Chinese goods. According to JP Morgan Chase, tariffs imposed on September 1 will cost the average US household an extra $1,000 annually.

Numerous US companies and industry groups voiced strong opposition to Trump's tariffs war. He slammed them, saying they're "badly run and weak," using tariffs as an excuse for bad management.

Likely making enemies in corporate boardrooms by his arrogance, he maintains the myth that China is paying for US tariffs. They're hitting US business and consumers.

Forbes magazine said most economists predict that "the next recession could be deeper and more severe than the previous one in light of the fact that business and household debts are at higher levels than they were prior to the Great Recession of 2007-09, a global trade war is ramping up, and there's been a significant increase in the federal debt."

Economist David Stockman believes Fed interest rate cuts and QE will be "no match" for the coming recession.

The yield curve is an important indicator of future economic activity. When the spread between US 3-month Treasury notes and 10-year bonds inverts for at least three consecutive months, recession follows every time - according to the historical record.

Last week, the Economic Collapse blog said the following:

"We now have had three months of a 3-mo/10-yr yield curve inversion. The track record this has had in predicting recessions: 100%."

It's likely coming, hindsight will tell when - maybe later this year or some time in 2020, its strength and duration to be known after the fact.

Escalating trade war with China showing no signs of easing, increases the chance for economic downturn, maybe something stiff and protracted.

In late August, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the 2018-19 period ending in March produced 501,000 fewer nonfarm jobs than initially reported - a 20% downward revision from 2.496 million to 1.995 million.

It's the largest downward revision since the 2008/09 great recession's waning stages.

Payroll growth was downwardly revised from 1.69% to 1.35%, the weakest figure since the great recession, John Williams reported.

The data is further proof that tax cuts don't stimulate jobs creation, a myth maintained by Trump and others around him.

Economist Jack Rasmus explained another myth. Adjusted for inflation and other factors, wage gains have been minimal, stagnant or falling for US workers, "not rising 3.1%," adding:

"A survey by the finance site Bankrate.com found that 'more than 60% of Americans said they didn't get a pay raise or get a better-paying job in the last 12 months.' "

Re-engineered US inflation to how it was calculated in the 1980s (by Williams) shows it exceeds 5.5%, not the phony sub-2% official number.

Rasmus asked "if 60% (of US workers) didn't get any wage increase at all, how could wages be rising 3.1% or even 1.5%?"

If real US inflation exceeds 5.5%, average wages for working Americans declined, a further drag on the economy, compounded by record high consumer debt exceeding $13 trillion.

McKinsey Global Institute data show US "median wages have not risen at all since 2007," Rasmus reported.

Adjusted for real inflation, they've fallen, exacerbating the widening US wealth gap, have and have not economic reality in the country.

Whenever it arrives, economic recession will hit ordinary Americans hardest. 

If stiff and protracted, current hard times will be much harder for most households.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Dust_storm_approaching_Stratford,_Texas_1935.jpg

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