Odds ‘n Sods:

This interview with Russian hardliner Federov (a Deputy of the State Duma) is most revealing on several levels, especially vis-a-vis the dollar-tied Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Clearly, the great game continues:

The Purge is coming. Evgeny Fedorov

Federov covers a lot of ground in this interview, perhaps tipping his hand more than he intended. A transcript can be found online.

Parenthetically, if Federov’s prediction is correct, then look for an announcement of the nationalization (or perhaps a “dissolution” or “reorganization”) of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the issue of a gold-baked ruble as the catalyzing events. – JWR

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On September 25th at 7pm central, Glenn Meder is hosting a free online education class exclusively for the SurvivalBlog audience titled, “Understand How To Treat Dangerously Contaminated Water in an Emergency!” You can register for the event at http://survivalstill.com/webreg_9252014. Glenn Meder is quite knowledgeable about emergency water treatment and regularly writes articles for water treatment trade magazines. In this class, Glenn will show you the science behind treating dangerously contaminated water and will give you specific tips on what you should and should not do. Glenn will also show you how to turn ocean water into clean drinking water.

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I heard that all the ebooks on firearms published by HLEbooks.com are now also available under the Android format, so they are now usable on a wide range of portable devices, including iPhones, tablets, and more. These detailed ebooks were compiled by Gerard Henrotin of Belgium and are mainly about 20th century European handguns. A listing of his Android ebooks is available here.

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I often have consulting clients ask me about undeveloped retreat property that is affordable. One of the new listings at our SurvivalRealty.com spinoff site caught my eye: Hogum Creek Retreat Land – Lincoln, Montana. It is priced at just $49,000 and is being offered by agent Erik Schweitzer. – JWR

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Isaac Asimov has long been one of my favorite authors. As a child I literally wore out my paperback copies on his “I Robot” series. It was with keen interest that I viewed this link sent in by SurvivalBlog reader D.S.: Robot with “morals” makes surprisingly deadly decisions. In effect, the programming iterated Asimov’s first rule of robotics: “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” While the rule seems simple on the surface, and the robot had no problem implementing it when confronted with scenarios in which it could successfully complete its mission, it really choked when presented with scenarios in which it could not successfully complete the mission 100%. When presented with two “humans” to save but only having enough time to save one, it often choked, became indecisive, and saved neither– similar to a real human with no training. However, a human can be trained to make an ethical decision in such a situation. A robot could not.