Free Republic

Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp's mass wedding. "They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must not happen to Russia". Obediently, couples move to a special section of dormitory tents arranged in a heart-shape and called the Love Oasis, where they can start procreating for the motherland. With its relentlessly upbeat tone, bizarre ideas and tight control, it sounds like a weird indoctrination session for a phoney religious cult. But this organisation - known as "Nashi", meaning "Ours" - is youth movement run by Vladimir Putin's Kremlin that has become a...

Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General, welcomed the release of Russian officers in Georgia and called on all sides to come together and engage constructively to address existing problems. Meanwhile his latest report on the Caucasus country speaks of new tensions in the long-running dispute between Georgian authorities and Abkhaz separatists stemming from an operation by Georgian Special Forces, and he warns that only dialogue can resolve differences. "The Secretary-General is pleased that Georgia and the Russian Federation have been able to resolve the issue of the recent arrest of Russian officers in Georgia in a peaceful and constructive manner,"...

SEOUL — Contrary to the reaction from Washington and Tokyo, experts in Seoul and Moscow believe that North Korea’s launch of Scud, Rodong and Taepodong-2 missiles was a major success both technically and politically. Meanwhile, Russia has revealed its eagerness to sell information and technology to North Korea for use in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. Alexei Grigoriev, deputy director of Russia’s Federal Information Technologies Agency, told the Russian news agency Itar-Tass that Moscow was interested in “establishing contacts with the Korean side and discussing future cooperation." Grigoriev cited as an example the sale of sophisticated gear to store and transport...

Some see it as a NATO counterweight. Others call it a Club for Dictators or at least neardictators. Some consider it an antiAmerican stalking horse for Chinese and or Russian hegemony, with the potential to become "OPEC with nukes." Whatever: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) a so-called "anti-terrorism, anti-separatism, anti-extremism" grouping, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which holds its fifth annual meeting this week - definitely reeks of trouble for Uncle Sam. Start with this: The "anti-terrorism" SCO has given observer status to Iran, the world's top state sponsor of terrorism including an annual convention of just...

Venezuela has become an important customer of Russian weapons, a senior government official said when announcing a record sale of armament in 2005, AP reported. Mikhail Dmitriyev, the head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, advised that Russia could sell MiG strike aircraft to Venezuela. Queried about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez' remarks on the possibility of buying MiG's, Dmitriyev answered that no concrete deal has been made. However, "if Venezuela desires to procure MiG's, we are ready to cooperate," he noted. According to the official, Russia is also determined to open a maintenance site for any weapons...

U.S. Senator John McCain has strongly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for what he characterized as the undermining of democracy in Russia and abroad. McCain made his comments in a speech at an international security conference in the German city of Munich. The U.S. senator, a presidential candidate in 2000, said Russia appears to be pursuing autocracy both at home and abroad. He also said he seriously questioned whether the member states of the G-8 group of industrialized nations should attend a G-8 summit scheduled to be hosted by Russia in St. Petersburg later this year. McCain also criticized Moscow...

MOSCOW, Feb. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Russia said in a statement on Monday that it firmly opposes "Taiwan independence" in any form and adheres to the one-China policy. "Lately, Taiwanese authorities have made several statements that became a matter of serious concern to Russia. In particular, we were bewildered by the ideas put forth by Chen Shui-bian on January 29, which run counter to his earlier promises and commitments," Itar-Tass reported, citing a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry. "His (Chen Shui-bian's) intention to liquidate the National Reunification Council and give up the program of national reunification indicates that the...

Date: Feb 5, 2006 3:08 PM From: Kenneth T. Tellis kenttellis@gmail.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: The time for Russia to act in defense of its own interests As long as the Russian nation sits back and accepts the world situation as a fait accompli Russia is doomed to medocrity ... but Russia can and must put its own interests before all. Perhaps the Russian families who lost their sons, fathers and youth in Afghanistan, might do well to remember who created that situation for them. It was the US that spent millions of dollars in a proxy war, fought by US-armed,...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he is considering buying enough rifles to arm one million people ready to repel a possible US invasion. Chavez also threatened to close down his government's US-based refineries if Washington decided to cut diplomatic ties. During a speech warning his supporters that Washington was considering an invasion of Venezuela, Chavez said that 100,000 Russian-built Kalashnikov assault rifles would not be enough to defend the country. "We still need a higher number of rifles. The 100,000 Russian rifles are not enough, Venezuela needs to have one million well-equipped and well-armed men and women," he said. "I've...

enezuelan President Hugo Chavez has told a huge rally of supporters that he wants to buy more weapons to defend his country from invasion. Speaking in the capital Caracas, Mr Chavez said 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles already on order from Russia were not enough. Venezuela needed a million well-armed men and women, he said. Mr Chavez also likened US President George W Bush to the German Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. Diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the US have been strained, but they worsened earlier this week when both countries expelled one another's diplomats after Caracas accused the US embassy of...

The world has noticed Russia's use of energy as a political weapon to pressure neighboring Western-oriented states. Now it appears that Russia does not intend to confine itself to energy to tame "intractable" neighbors but contemplates a far more conventional and well-tried weapon -- the use of military force. The new Russian national security doctrine outlined by Russia's defense minister, Sergei Ivanov, on your editorial page -- "Russia Must Be Strong," Jan. 11 -- clearly states that Russia's top national security concern is the "internal situation" in some members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Mr. Ivanov justified military force...

President Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have built up a close relationship, especially in the period since Chavez visited Moscow for the third time in November 2004. Each sees the other as an ally against American "unipolarity," and there are good reasons for friends and antagonists of both countries to follow events closely as this alliance develops -- or falls apart.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today held a wide-ranging press conference at the Kremlin before more than 1,000 reporters. He fielded questions on Central Asia, Chechnya, Belarus, Ukraine and a number of international issues, including Iran's nuclear dispute with the West and Hamas's recent victory in the Palestinian legislative elections. Prague, 31 January 2006 -- Originally scheduled to end after 90 minutes, Putin's annual press conference lasted more than three hours. The Russian president touched upon a wide range of issues, including such controversial ones as his support the Uzbek government after last year's military crackdown in the eastern city of...

Yevgeny Ikhlov does not look like a man who is easily frightened. As a long-time peace and human rights activist, he has frequently clashed in the courtroom with Russia's secret services, military and public prosecutors. The FSB security service - the successor to the feared Soviet-era KGB - once tried to imprison him on trumped-up charges of taking funding from terrorist organisations after he attempted to broker a peace deal in Chechnya. But now he is scared, and like other human rights activists in Russia, is bracing himself for a Kremlin crackdown unprecedented since Soviet times. It follows the exposure...

Moscow: Russia's fifth-generation fighter plane will be ready in 2007, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force Vladimir Mikhailov said Tuesday. "Work to build the fifth-generation plane is going according to schedule," he said. Mikhailov said, however, that the project had encountered some financial problems after civilian aircraft were produced using the money allocated in the budget for the fighter planes. "Clearly, the development of aviation technology will depend on specific military and economic conditions, determining the progress of reform in the Russian armed forces and the country's aircraft construction industry. However, Russia will continue to be a leading aircraft-building power,"...

COUNTDOWN TO ENERGY WAR by Jim Willie CB January 13, 2006 The conflict with Iran over their advancing nuclear program has moved gradually toward severe escalation. Iran’s insistence to develop uranium enrichment facilities creates a supply fork. One tine extends legitimately to their electrical generating plants powered by enriched uranium. Another tine extends to a nuclear weapon arsenal, potentially. Russia has assured the West of its primary role to handle spent fuel, the key ingredient for weapon grade material. If the conflict ignites, expect a sudden $10 jump in the crude oil price, maybe even a $30 jump. Iran commands...

Moscow, Jan. 14 (AP): Russia's Defence Minister on Friday defended his country's military contacts with China, insisting that the cooperation would not upset the security balance in the Far East despite Japanese concerns about Beijing's moves to boost its defence capability. Defence contacts between China and Russia "have developed, are developing and will develop, I can assure you of that," Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, said after a meeting with his Japanese counterpart. Since the 1991 Soviet collapse, Moscow and Beijing have developed what they call a strategic partnership, pledging commitment to a "multipolar world" - a term that highlights their...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's appointment last year was supposed to be good news for Russia: A longtime student of the former superpower, Miss Rice had publicly declared her love for the country and its culture, and even spoke its language. Most importantly, Moscow had applauded Miss Rice's view -- expressed during the 2000 presidential campaign -- that the United States should "get out" of Russian domestic affairs. But far from enjoying warmer relations, a year later officials from both countries are openly voicing their frustrations with one another. One official described Moscow's recent behavior as "inexplicable. Or just mad."

The motivation is clear: Putin is afraid of a repetition of Ukraine's orange revolution just over a year ago, which brought Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Western presidential candidate, to power instead of a rival preferred by the Kremlin.

Main dividends from the bankruptcy of the West’s Central Asian policy are being shared by the Russians and the Chinese. Contrary to other parties of "anti-Western front", Beijing and Moscow were tenaciously striving to push the Americans out of the region. For this purpose they, among other means, used their influence over Tashkent and Bishkek, in the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Both Russia and China to the same extent benefited from the change of external powers in the region in 2005. However, in a long-term prospective, Beijing has a real chance of monopolizing economic and political influence in Central...