Medvedev’s presence in Lisbon was more a show of Russia’s importance than of subservience to the Euro-Atlantic alliance, says Eric Walberg The results of the NATO summit were as predictable as a Soviet Communist Party congress, with the word “peace” replaced by “war”. NATO’s embrace of the US agenda of missile defence, nuclear arms, and its new role as global policeman surprised no one. No word about the United Nations
Remember how the Russian newspaper Kommersant leaked name, rank and position of the traitor who betrayed the Russian “illegals” to the FBI? Well, they mostly got it right, except they had the wrong name, and no photos. These details have now also been leaked to the Russian media and quite a few things are now known about him, all of them horribly embarrassing for the SVR. First, not only was
by Rick Rozoff for Stop NATO In a six-day span the U.S. State Department has bluntly affirmed unequivocal backing for Japanese territorial claims against both Russia and China, even invoking a defense treaty provision that could lead to direct military intervention and war with the world’s most populous nation. Beginning a 13-day, seven-nation tour of the Asia-Pacific region on October 27 in Hawaii, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Joint
According to the religious news website Portal Credo several officials of the Department of the Moscow Patriarchate dealing with the Armed Forces have demanded the dismissal of Defense Minister Serdiukov. An official of the Synodal Department for Relations with Armed Forces of the Moscow Patriarchate Archpriest Alexander Ilyashenko is convinced that the Paratroopers are entitled to demand the resignation of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, after he insulted the Hero of
A major and truly unprecedented crisis is taking place in Russia. It opposes the Union (of the personnel) of the Airborne Forces to the Russian Defense Minister Anatolyi Serdiukov. Today, a 3 star General read an appeal of the Airborne Forces Union to the Nation, the President, The Federal Assembly and to the Patriarch of Russia. Here is the video of this appeal: This is a machine translation of this
By F. William Engdahl for the Real News Network The dramatic confrontation between the politically powerful Mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is far more than a Russian corruption scandal. It is the latest move in a global chess game of power between the faction increasingly lined up behind former President Vladimir Putin and current president Medvedev. At stake is whether Russia becomes an integrated part
The new Ottomans and the new Byzantines are poised for an intercept as the US stumbles in the current Great Game, reports Eric WalbergThe neocon plan to transform the Middle East and Central Asia into a pliant client of the US empire and its only-democracy-in-the-Middle-East is now facing a very different playing field. Not only are the wars against the Palestinians, Afghans and Iraqis floundering, but they have set in
by General Leonid Ivashov for Voltairenet Russian army chief of staff Gen. N. Makarov broke the news on September 22 that Russia will not sell the S-300 air defense systems to Iran. Regardless of official explanations, it does not take an expert to realize that as a purely defensive system designed to shield a country from aircraft and cruise missile attacks the S-300 complexes cannot pose a threat to any
The Palestinian Information Center reports: Israel says it strongly condemns Moscow’s decision to finish a deal that would supply P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria, considering the step a disruption of (military) balance in the region. Israeli political officials say Moscow has gone too far, noting that the deal would not improve ties between the two sides. Supplying Syria with advanced weapons at this time in particular is not a
Civil Georgia reports: Tbilisi: Georgia hosts “special camps” where militants are trained and then sent to join insurgents in North Caucasus, a senior Russian Interior Ministry official in charge of North Caucasus region has alleged. “Georgia has become visibly active recently,” Nikolai Simakov, deputy head of Interior Ministry’s unit in North Caucasus federal district, said in an interview with Russian newspaper, Vremya Novostei, when asked about foreign aid to militants
By Pepe Escobar for the Asia Times Hollywood executives and Washington policymakers are suckers for Russophobia. Considering the appalling level of political discourse in both these capitals of mass entertainment, certainly one cannot expect their “opinion leaders” to have read Professor Paul Kennedy’s recent expose of European history packaged as a crash course to Americans about the inevitable downsizing of the US in the emerging, multipolar new world order. Hollywood
by Thierry Meyssan for Voltairenet Caught up in a smoldering feud between its President and Prime Minister, Russia is not making the most of the historic opportunity to deploy in the Middle East. Russian elites were unable to draw up a strategy for that region when they had the chance and, now, they are no longer capable of it. In Thierry Meyssan’s view, Moscow is paralyzed, having failed both to
by Dmitry Sedov for the Strategic Culture Foundation There is little doubt that the US will hit Iran after pulling its troops out of Iraq. Military spending in the US has gained too much momentum to leave any hope that the current dynamics will change in the foreseeable future. The US military-industrial complex and its Pentagon partners have long been preparing the war-against-Iran project, readily resorting to the most unsavory
Russia’s accommodation of the US and NATO continues apace, with new support of the Afghan war and even missile defence, notes Eric Walberg The Atlantists are on the ascendant these days in Moscow. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s hamburger lunch with United States President Barack Obama during his visit to Silicon Valley last month apparently left a pleasant taste in his mouth. Now relations with NATO are on the mend, as
By Eric Walberg The Russian leader has re-enacted the famous American goodwill tour of his predecessor a half century ago, but faces the same Cold War scheming. Will his attempts to befriend Europe have more success, wonders Eric Walberg The past two years have witnessed a much more pliable Russia, retreating from the fiery rhetoric of Putin concerning NATO, the war in Afghanistan and America ’s targetting of Iran. Russian
Press TV reports: Some 82 percent of respondents to a Russian radio poll have said they deem Moscow’s approval of fresh UN Security Council sanctions against Iran a “mistake.” The poll, conducted during a live Radio Moscow interview with Rajab Safarov, director of the Center for Contemporary Iranian Studies, comes one week after the Security Council voted to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, tightening financial and military
RIA Novosti reports: Russia is ready to participate in a tender to offer Turkey S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems, the state-controlled arms exporter said on Wednesday. “The Turkish military has a great need for S-300 and S-400 long-range missile defense systems,” Rosoboronexport CEO Anatoly Isaikin said. “Russia has expressed its readiness to participate in a tender for the delivery of such systems.” He said leading SAM manufacturers from Western
by Pyotr Iskenderov for the Strategic Culture Foundation The recent UN Security Council resolution slapping new sanctions on Iran is likely to become the worst defeat suffered by the Russian diplomacy over the past years. Its negative impact may be persistent and more serious than that of the proclamation of Kosovo’s independence to which Russia continues objecting. What we are witnessing seems to be an unexpected recurrence of the syndrome
As Russia returns to its logical, regional, strategic roots, the US under Obama is slowly waking up after its neocon nightmare, argues Eric Walberg The irony in current relations between Russia and America is that the US has been far more ideological, perversely so, in the past two decades than Soviet foreign policy ever was. Russia is now expanding its economic and political relations with its former comrades both in
(Thanks to C. for pointing these out to me – VS) Ukraine will receive a discount of $100 per 1,000 cu m at the natural gas price of $330 and a 30% discount on other prices, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday. Medvedev’s announcement came after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych in Kharkov in eastern Ukraine. “Discounts for Ukraine will come into effect from April this
