Tag "Russia"
Following President Medvedev’s speech yesterday, I decided to scan the western corporate media for reactions. I was curious, what would the pundits make of what I personally consider a total failure of Obama’s foreign policy? Would at least the European press express outrage over the fact that the always imbecile US foreign policy has now turned several European countries into targets? I mean, really, let’s consider the following basic and,
Citizens of Russia, I address you today in connection with the situation concerning the NATO countries’ missile defence system in Europe. Russia’s relations with the USA and NATO in the missile defence area have a long and complicated history. I remember that when US President Barack Obama revised his predecessor’s plans to build a missile defence system in Europe in September 2009, we welcomed this as a positive step. This
Medvedev and Putin have recently announced that they would trade places: Putin will run for President and Medvedev will be his Prime Minister. This was not exactly a stunning surprise, though some speculated that Medvedev and Putin were in reality more competitors than friends. In fact, their warm smiles and mutual backslapping proves nothing. For all we know, they could be the biggest friends on the planet or they could
Great news: China and Russia veto UN resolution condemning Syria. God knows I am no more a fan of Assad than I am of Gaddafi, but there is no doubt in my mind that the worst possible solution would be a repetition of what happened in Libya, but this time in Syria. Furthermore, China and Russia are also sending a message to the US and its European “pack of poodles”
The Shanghai Daily reports: Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Seyyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi said Iran has filed a lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice over Moscow’s refusal to ship S-300 air defense systems to Tehran, the local satellite Press TV reported on Thursday. “Legally, we believe the shipment of S-300 system is not subject to the UN Security Council resolution so we filed our lawsuit, hoping the International
by Eric Walberg: Russia has always looked on at events in the Middle East from afar, shut out of the action, and remains an onlooker today, absorbed by its own problems. Eric Walberg looks at the implications for Russia of the revolutions and no-so-revolutions sweeping the Middle East Russian politics is in turmoil as a result of the uprisings in the Arab world, in particular the Egyptian revolution. Those fed
by Israel Shamir for Israelshamir.net The Arab Rebellion has polarized Russia: some dream that the Spirit of Tahrir will visit Moscow, even as others hope for a NATO crusade to spread Western values all the way to the Volga; yet a third lot prays fervently that nothing will change, now or ever. The recent Russian abstention in the UN Security Council has split the elites and made the growing rift
On March 10th I wrote the following on this blog: Russian TV has shown a statement of Foreign Minister Lavrov who declared that Russia opposes any type of military intervention in the Libyan conflict. The Eltsin years are over and I don’t think that Russia will back down from this. So no UNSC resolution authorizing any US/NATO military intervention will be passed. Sadly, it turns out that I was wrong,
by Rick Rozoff for Stop NATO Last week Kamitsuki Toyohisa, the Japanese Foreign Ministry counselor for European Affairs, said that the relationship between his country and Russia is “at its worst point in decades.” In fact the dramatic ratcheting up of rhetoric – and corresponding actions – on both sides over the Kuril Islands are more evocative of the situation preceding the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and the two nations’
Russian President Medvedev has just made an unannounced visit to the National Anti-Terrorist Committee meeting in the North Ossetian city of Vladikavkaz. He made a number of interesting, if very debatable comments. a) President Medvedev began by saying that what is now taking place in the Arab world is a “scenario which was first attempted in Russia but which was defeated”. b) He described the situation in the Arab world
President Medvedev has just fired the Deputy Commander of the Federal Security Service. Furthermore, a new law “On Police” has just been passed. Finally, President Medvedev has just held a conference with commanders of all the security services where he made a very strong speech about the need to bring order, discipline and ethics for all the security services. He threatened all the commanders with being immediately fired if they
“Emir Dokku Abu Usman” According to the BBC, the self-styled “Emir of the Caucasus Emirate” and former “President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria” Doku Umarov (aka “Emir Dokku Abu Usman”) has declared in reference to the bombing of the Domodedovo airport in Moscow that “”This special operation was carried out on my orders and, God willing, special operations like it will continue to be carried out“. Fair enough –
The Russian magazine “Life News” has obtained the name of the 20 year old suicide bomber who detonated himself inside Moscow’s Domodedovo airport. He is Magomed (Mohamed) Evloev, a resident of Ali-Iurt in Ingushetia. The Russian FSB has so far neither denied nor confirmed this information. But if this information is correct, one can only wonder what Vladimir Putin meant when he said this explosion was not linked to the
Russian Prime Minister Putin has just declared on the NTV television news channel that “according to the preliminary results of the investigation the terrorist act is not linked to the Chechen Republic” (Нынешний террористический акт не имеет отношения, по предварительным данным следствия, к Чеченской республике). According to Russian sources, the terrorist was, quote, “of a Mediterranean type which would include Arabs”, unquote. More details soon, hopefully.
Dear friends, I am totally sick with the flu and I don’t feel like writing much, but I hear so much nonsense about the blast in Moscow that I want to share some really quick thoughts with you: 1) Don’t rush to blame the Chechens for what happened. Yes, it most definitely *could* be them, but there are *many* other possible explanations including, but not limited to, the following: a)
Original article here Google translation of original article here First commentary here Discussion on slashdot here Now, this is very good news indeed! As far as I know, Russia is the last of the BRICS countries to take that decision (yes, I did put an ‘s’ at BRICS since South Africa has now joined this group). As far as I know, the first BRICS country to move to GNU/Linux was
RosBusinessConsulting reports: Russia fully supports India’s intention to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). According to the statement signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India’s accession to the organization will significantly strengthen the SCO’s political role and provide a new standard of operation for it. “Russia has agreed to take steps along with other SCO members to expedite the process of India’s induction to
By M K Bhadrakumar for the Asia Times Many people wouldn’t know that former United States president Ronald Reagan’s signature phrase “trust, but verify” is actually the translation of a Russian proverb – doveryai, no proveryai. Two decades into the post-Cold War era, Moscow wants to reclaim the self-contradictory phrase from the American repertoire and apply it to Russia’s “reset” of ties with the United States. The shellacking that US
by Rick Rozoff for STOPNATO This past weekend the world witnessed an event that until recently would have seemed inconceivable: A Russian head of state attended a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. President Dmitry Medvedev participated in the NATO-Russia Council meeting during the second day of the summit in Lisbon, Portugal on November 20 with the heads of state of NATO’s 28 member states. The national leaders signed
