Tag "Russia"
by Aleksei Kettunen GAZPROM–EU: 6–0 Yesterday on Wednesday the EU negotiated with Gazprom in Moscow. The EU negotiators had three aims: Pressure Russia into extending the special winter pricing on gas supplies to Ukrainian due to end in March, Force Russia to further unilateral concessions by forcing all European energy purchases to happen through a new “European Energy Union”, Pressure Russia to resurrect the canceled South Stream gas pipeline
by Mark Hackard Geopolitical analysis, the art of explaining power relationships through the prism of impersonal geography, can be a helpful tool for observers of the Great Game – but it also has its limitations. A case in point is the renewed US-Russia confrontation. Think tanks and policy insiders easily sell the narrative that from the dark days of the Cold War to our own time, Russia and the United
Warning: the following is not an analysis, it is a “cri du coeur” ! Looking at the photo of the three stooges oh so proud of having “prevailed” over that evil Russia I have very mixed feelings. On one that, I have a sense of immense disgust. No, not for the the Eurobureaucrats or for Poroshenko – they are true to character. No, my disgust is directed at that sorry
I was just watching Alain Soral’s latest video when I heard him offer a very interesting explanation for why the AngloZionist Empire hates Putin so much. The article Soral quotes is entitled “The End of the New World Order” and it has been written by Christopher R. Hill, “former US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, was US Ambassador to Iraq, South Korea, Macedonia, and Poland, a US special
The news agency Regnum has announced that Russia will give Syria 240 million Euros to help it pay for its social programs. 46 millions will be donated and the rest of the sum loaned. This agreement was negotiated by Dmitri Rogozin during his recent trip to Syria. The agreement will not require any additional spending for the Russian budget as both side have agreed to a “debt in exchange for
We all know that the western corporate media lies, that western politicians lie, that a big segment of the population in the West has been zombified into terminal stupidity. But there is another West which is very rarely mentioned, whose voice is systematically ignored, which is categorically opposed to what is being done in its name by the ruling plutocracy and which refuses to shut up and obey. All of
ITAR-TASS reports: President Vladimir Putin’s letter to leaders of European countries. Full text Ukraine’s economy in the past several months has been plummeting. Its industrial and construction sectors have also been declining sharply. Its budget deficit is mounting. The condition of its currency system is becoming more and more deplorable. The negative trade balance is accompanied by the flight of capital from the country. Ukraine’s economy is steadfastly heading towards a
I think that it is time for me to directly address the issue of today’s Europe role in world affairs. In this blog I have often voiced very harsh criticisms of both “old Europe” and “new Europe” – to use Rumsfeld’s classification – but I have never addressed this issue head-on, and this is what I propose to do now.Let me begin by a little disclaimer and say that while
Dear friends,Several of you have asked my opinion about the article by U.S. Prepares to Gas Russia Into Submission by Glenn Ford. I don’t have the time for a detailed reply, but I will say this: the entire notion of US shale fracking sent to Europe to undermine Russia is a canard. Not only does the entire infrastructure for this project need to be built – at huge costs –
Amazing events this morning in Moscow: Putin has made what is arguably the most important and best speech of his career in front of the Russian Federal Assembly in which he made the case for a re-integration of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol into Russia as subjects of the Russian Federation. For the first time ever, his speech was met withs long standing ovations and shouts of “Russia! Russia!”
The past few days have seen an amazing acceleration of developments which has created a totally new situation. In simple and plain language the following three momentous events have happened:1) In Kiev an armed insurrection overthrew the elected President and replaced him with a new revolutionary regime.2) Crimea completely broke-off from the rest of the Ukraine.3) An counter-revolutionary insurrection has begun in the eastern Ukraine.The situation in the eastern Ukraine
RT reports that Russian Senators are going to ask President Vladimir Putin to consider recalling Moscow’s Ambassador to the USA following President Barack Obama’s “aggressive” comments on the situation in Ukraine, the chamber speaker said.
The recent double bombing in Volgograd (ex-Stalingrad) represent a definitive escalation in the low-level but constant war which has opposed Wahabi insurgents to not only the Kremlin, but also to all the traditional Muslim authorities in Russia. Before looking into what these latest attacks could mean for Russia in general and for the upcoming Sochi Olympic games, it would be helpful here to go over some basic fact.Chechnia:First, it would
I just wanted to update everybody on a few interesting aspects on the current crisis in the Ukraine.The opposition: Vladimir Klichko, Arsenii Iatseniuk, Oleg Tsiagnibok Yulia Timoshenko The opposition is currently headed by four people: Vladimir Klichko, Arsenii Iatseniuk, Oleg Tsiagnibok and, of course, Yulia Timoshenko (in jail, of all things, for signing a gas deal with Putin). There are a number of smaller parties also participating on the
written specially for the Asia Times Following the ratification by all parties of the recent Joint Plan of Action between Iran and the P5+1 countries, it is worth looking again at the official narrative explaining this “sudden breakthrough”. It goes something like that:“Iran was ruled by President Ahmadinejad, a notorious anti-Semite and Holocaust denier, who did everything in his power to deny the international community the monitoring rights it demanded
The latest decision by the Yanukovich government to delay any decision about the possible signing of an association agreement with the European Union has been greeted by a mix of shock and outrage by the Western corporate press. Unanimously, it was decreed that this apparent reversal by Yanukovich himself was the result of Russian blackmail, ruthless power politics and even not-so-veiled threats. Finally, the media presented this latest development as
In Europe the Russia-bashing campaigns come and go with the regularity reminiscent of times. Let’s try to recall some of them (in not particular order): Berezovsky as a “persecuted” businessman, Politkovskaya “murdered by KGB goons”, Khodorkovsky jailed for his love of liberty, the “Pussy Riot” “prisoners of conscience”, Litvinenko “murdered by Putin”, the homo-lobby’s call to boycott Russian vodka, the homo-lobby’s call to boycott the Sotchi Olympics, Magnitsky and the
Russian and Iranian sources are reporting that Iranian President Rohani will meet his Russian and Chinese counterparts during the upcoming meeting of the SCO which will take place in Kyrgyzstan at the end of the week. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the situation in Syria.
I just watched the short press conference given today in Washington DC by U.S. Secretary of State Kerry, Secretary of Defense Hagel, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Russian Defense Minister Shoigu and I wondered what could come of that meeting. The good news is that all of these men are experienced and smart politicians (compared to Hillary Kerry is simply a genius). Furthermore, I doubt that these four would have
The Abhazian Network News Agency ANNA (http://anna-news.info/ and http://www.youtube.com/user/newsanna) and its editor in chief, Marat Musin (http://maramus.livejournal.com/) have recorded some truly fantastic coverage from the frontlines of the war in Syria. Alas, the video commentary is always in Russian, hence I do not show these videos here, but their latest video shows a good example of the new tactics adopted by the Syrian army. Take a look at this photo:
