Free Republic

Russia's Gambit By Vasko Kohlmayer FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, November 17, 2008 On November 5th – less than 24 hours after the victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential race – Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that his country would install short-range semiballistic missiles in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad. The deployment is part of Russia’s bid to halt the construction of the Ballistic Missile Defense Shield in Europe, a project virulently opposed by the Kremlin. Medvedev’s statement is a clear indication that after months of threats and intimidation, the Russian leadership has finally settled on a definitive course of...

‘Antimissile shield in Poland provokes Russia’ Italian PM says Created: 13.11.2008 10:35 Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stated yesterday that the deployment of the US antimissile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic is a “provocation” against Russia. “Let’s speak frankly: we believe that there have been some provocations against the Russian federation such as the project to deploy missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic,” Berlusconi said. Italy’s PM reminded that the Russian president Dmitrij Medvedev’s response to that plan was to announce the deployment of missiles in – as Berlusconi put it – “the Russian enclave in the...

Warsaw and Prague dismiss Sarkozy's missile shield plea POLAND AND the Czech Republic have dismissed an appeal by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to freeze talks on their plans to host a controversial US missile defence shield, which Russia fiercely opposes, writes Daniel McLaughlin Moscow has threatened to station missiles in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad - wedged between EU and Nato members Poland and Lithuania - if the US plan goes ahead, and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev appeared to have persuaded Mr Sarkozy of the delicacy of the issue at Friday's EU-Russia meeting in Nice. "As president of the European...

ussia expects its trade with Latin American countries to reach $15bn by the end of 2008, the Foreign Ministry's information and press department said, quoting head of the ministry Sergei Lavrov today. He noted that the figure was rising rapidly, growing 25 to 30 percent per year

The Russian Army, long known for the overwhelming depth of its human resources, is now seeking out arms technology that reduces the need for putting soldiers in harm’s way. As Ha’aretz, the Israeli daily, reported yesterday, the Russia is looking to buy unmanned aerial vehicles, or U.A.V.’s, from Israel. Apparently, the Russian military liked what it saw during the conflict in Georgia (of course, at the time, any flattery was plainly destructive): The Russian initiative comes as part of the lessons learned from last summer’s war with Georgia in South Ossetia and from Russian officials’ positive impressions of the Hermes...

Usually we see Muslims trying to stifle our freedom of speech. It happened in Michigan and the United Nations. But this time it was not even Muslims, it was Russian prosecutors. I wonder if these prosecutors find the Koran insulting to non-Muslims? That is if they even bothered to read one.

ANKARA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Russia's Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Tuesday he was concerned by what he called Georgia's efforts to boost its military potential, adding this could have bigger consequences than August's conflict.

19/11/2008 17:25 MOSCOW, November 19 (RIA Novosti) - Around 80-100% of the Russian Armed Forces will be equipped with modern weapons and military hardware by 2018-2020, the Russian General Staff chief said on Wednesday. "In the next 3-5 years we plan to equip 30% of the Armed Forces with advanced weapons and military hardware and to raise this figure to 80-100% by 2018-2020," Gen. of the Army Nikolai Makarov said. He also said the command staff of Russia's Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Armed Forces was also overstaffed and inefficient and failing to carry out its tasks...

Moscow, Nov 20 - Russia has granted NATO-member Germany permission to ship weapons and equipment for its force in Afghanistan overland through Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

ECHOES OF the Cold War have returned to Nato headquarters in Brussels after an Estonian general was unmasked as a “sleeper� spy who passed top secret alliance information to Moscow. Herman Simm (61), a retired official in Estonia’s defence ministry, has been arrested along with his wife on suspicion that they were recruited by KGB officers before the collapse of the Soviet Union. After Estonia’s independence in 1991, state prosecutors believe Mr Simm made contact with the KGB’s successor foreign intelligence agency, the SVR. The former police chief was the perfectly placed mole: between 1995 and 2006 he helped set...

Moscow (CNSNews.com) – Ahead of an expected meeting between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and President Bush in Peru this weekend, Russian officials and military commanders continue to make public comments about deploying missiles in Europe in response to U.S. missile defense plans. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Tuesday that the U.S. plans for missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic leave Russia with no option but to take steps to neutralize the emerging threat near its western borders. The day after the U.S. presidential election, Medvedev in a state of the nation address announced plans to deploy Iskander...

Alliances among America’s enemies have been accelerating at an unprecedented rate. As reported by FrontPage throughout this year, Russia, Cuba and Venezuela have recently signed numerous economic and military agreements. Now, at the end of this month, the three nations are gathering once again for a series of historic meetings.

While this economic storm blows our ship of state around, we may be taking on a little water, but our enemies look like they may be headed to the bottom. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys. The price of gas at the pump has been cut in half since the summer. On Independence Day, we were paying more than $4.00 per gallon. Today, it is $1.99. That dramatic drop in less than 5 months has nearly destroyed the economies of Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, all of whom rely on petrol-dollars to survive. More . . .

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russian lawmakers gave final approval Friday to a bill extending presidential terms, after a speech on the economy by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin revived speculation over his political ambitions. The bill, which sailed through the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, would extend presidential terms from four to six years and would be the first change to Russia's post-Soviet constitution adopted in 1993. The reform was proposed little more than two weeks ago by President Dmitry Medvedev, who said it would strengthen political stability, and has since been rushed through parliament amid a spiralling economic crisis....

MOSCOW, November 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister rejected on Wednesday media allegations that President Dmitry Medvedev's upcoming November tour of Latin American countries is aimed against the United States. Medvedev will take part in the November 22-23 APEC summit in Lima, and is expected to pay official visits to Brazil, as well as Venezuela and Cuba, whose leaderships strongly oppose U.S. influence in the region.

If President-elect Barack Obama and his top advisers learn nothing else from Russia's invasion and occupation of South Ossetia this summer it should be that Moscow aspires to be an energy superpower. Russia already is the world's second-largest producer of oil, pumping nearly 10 million barrels a day, and is the largest supplier of natural gas. Like all energy-exporting countries, Russia benefited enormously from the run-up in prices over the last decade. Every $1 increase in the price of a barrel of oil transferred about $1 billion into Russia's state budget. As a result, Russian foreign exchange reserves grew from...

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev`s statement on the Stalin-era famine provoked disappointment in Ukraine, the country`s ambassador to Russia said on Tuesday, RIA Novosti reported. In a letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko released by the Kremlin on Friday, the Russian president accused Kyiv of using the Stalin-era famine, known as the Holodomor, to drive a wedge between Ukraine and Russia, and urged efforts to forge a common position on the tragedy. In the letter, Medvedev said Ukraine`s attempts to declare the Holodomor an act of genocide by the Soviet authorities meant he could not attend commemoration events in Kyiv. "Of...

Polish President Lech Kaczynski arrived to Georgia to celebrate 5th anniversary of Georgia's Rose Revolution. When Polish president car was approaching Russian check point nearby brorder with Osetia presidential convoy got shot up. Shooting was directed from the side of Russian check point - presidential minister Michal Kaminski said. President Kaczynski wanted to visit refuge camp of Georgians who were forced to leave Osetia occupied by Russian Army. After the incident convoy was forced to return to Tbilisi.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday he believed US president-elect Barack Obama could change Washington's position over a hotly contested plan for a US missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. Asked if he saw a chance of a shift on the issue under Obama, Medvedev told reporters: "I think there are chances, because if the position of the current administration on this question looks extremely inflexible, the position of the president-elect looks more careful." Striking a positive note about relations with the next US administration, Medvedev referred to the Obama team's refusal so far to establish its position on...

Venezuela and Vietnam signed 15 industrial, energy and cooperation accords during the first visit ever by a Vietnamese president to Caracas. The pacts were signed at Miraflores Palace in the presence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Vietnam's Nguyen Minh Triet. The most important was the memorandum between Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation creating a mixed company that will exploit the reserves of the Junin 2 Block of Venezuela's Orinoco Belt with a production potential of 200,000 barrels of crude per day. Another pact created a mixed company called the Fabrica Vietnam-Venezuela de Camiones Ligeros...

Medvedev and Putin seem to be longing for the good old days of proxy wars and nuclear brinksmanship in the Western Hemisphere. Mr Medvedev harked back to the Cold War to explain Moscow's efforts to revive its influence in Latin America. Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Peru, he said: “With many of those states in the Soviet period we had rather powerful, serious relations. The time has now come to restore those relations.” Mr Medvedev is due to arrive in Venezuela from Brazil and will travel on to Cuba, scene of the 1962 nuclear missile crisis. Vladimir...

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts. Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily IZVESTIA published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only...

"By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse." ... "It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving." ... "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia." ... "Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. ... whole cities will be left without work...

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela – Russian warships arrived off Venezuela's coast Tuesday in a show of strength aimed at the United States as Moscow seeks to expand its influence in Latin America. The deployment is the first of its kind in the Caribbean since the Cold War and was timed to coincide with President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Caracas — the first ever by a Russian president.

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AFP) – Venezuela welcomed Russian warships on Tuesday at a northern port near Caracas for a week of joint maneuvers with its navy, an activity not seen in the region since the Cold War. The ships, including the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great and destroyer Admiral Chabankenko, arrived at La Guaira to coincide with a two-day visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Venezuela, the strongest US critic in the region. The exercises, dubbed VenRus 2008, would take first take place in dock and then at sea on December 1, vice admiral Luis Morales Marquez, a Venezuelan...

According to the AIVD, the Dutch secret service, the terrorist threat from radical Islamic quarters is increasing, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world. In its annual report for 2007 the AIVD also confirms what other intelligence sources have said previously: al-Qaeda is gaining influence after being effectively out of action for years. Each year the secret service presents a central theme in its annual report. This year it's international cooperation and the exchange of information between intelligence services. The AIVD explains that such cooperation might be necessary but it isn't without its complications. The identities of intelligence...

ZHUHAI, China — Russia's aerospace companies were out in force as the world's aircraft makers gathered Monday for China's biggest air show, looking to the booming Chinese market to drive sales as their industry's growth slows elsewhere. Boeing Co., Airbus Industrie and other companies from 18 countries were displaying aircraft, engines and other equipment at the five-day exhibition, which starts Tuesday in this southern Chinese boomtown near Hong Kong. Russian companies were displaying warplanes and civilian aircraft, as well as missiles and military electronics, reflecting China's status as Moscow's leading arms export market and Russian ambitions to expand in commercial...

World briefing Irresistible rise of the dictators' club Simon Tisdall Tuesday June 6, 2006 Guardian Tony Blair's promotion of shared global values and inclusive institutions in his Georgetown speech last month took little account of the rise and rise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Few may yet have heard of it. But out of the east comes a radically different paradigm for 21st-century international organisation, short on idealism and long on hard-headed self-interest. The "universal" principles of "liberty, democracy and justice" lauded by Mr Blair are hardly its driving force. Founded by China, the five-year-old SCO groups together like-minded authoritarian...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised the growing international stature of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- but it may also soon become more controversial, as its members consider whether to welcome Iran into the fold.

Former CIA undercover agent: KGB and GRU former intelligence operators assist Hezbollah to penetrate the US Hezbollah - the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist organization - has more American blood on its hands than any Islamic terrorist ring with the sole exception of al-Qaeda, The American Spectator writes. Last week FBI Director Robert Muller announced that though the FBI and Customs had caught others, Hezbollah had succeeded in smuggling some operatives across the Mexican border into the US, he said. "This was an occasion in which Hezbollah operatives were assisting others with some association with Hezbollah in coming to the United States....

CARACAS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country is ready to buy Russian-built fighter jets, as the United States refuses to supply spare parts for its F-16 jets. At a military ceremony on Monday, Chavez expressed his appreciation for Russia's help, saying Venezuela will buy fighter jets from Russia and "keep them here to protect this land." He also thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for approving the sale of 33 military helicopters and 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles to Venezuela. Chavez also blamed Washington for forbidding Brazilian manufacturers from selling training aircraft to his country on...

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...

RUSSIA and China have bowed to pressure from the US and Europe to send Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program. After months of resistance, the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers abandoned their softly-softly approach towards Tehran's nuclear ambitions at a late-night private dinner in London at the home of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. They signed a joint statement yesterday asking the International Atomic Energy Agency to formally refer all issues related to Iran's nuclear capacity and compliance to the Security Council, where sanctions and other penalties could be imposed. Bush administration officials...

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday boasted that Russia has missiles capable of penetrating any missile defense system, the ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies reported. "Russia last year tested missile systems that no one in the world has and won't have for a long time," the news agencies quoted him as telling a news conference. "These missile systems don't represent a response to a missile defense system, but they are immune to that. They are hypersonic and capable of changing their flight path." Putin said he had shown the working principles of the missile systems to French President...

Putin Touts Russia's Missile CapabilitiesPutin Boasts That Russia's Missiles Can Penetrate Any Missile Defense System, News Agencies Report By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer The Associated Press MOSCOW Jan 31, 2006 — President Vladimir Putin boasted Tuesday that Russia has missiles capable of penetrating any missile defense system, Russian news reports said. "Russia … has tested missile systems that no one in the world has," the ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies quoted him as saying at a news conference. "These missile systems don't represent a response to a missile defense system, but they are immune to that. They...

Deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe (PACE) gathered for a meeting today in an attempt to organize another Nuremberg trial over communism. The draft resolution to internationally condemn "the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes" will become one of the key points of discussion during the PACE session which opened on January 23rd. It goes without saying that the resolution touches upon Russia directly because Russia was destined to inherit the biggest communist regime in history. The author of the project, Swedish deputy Joran Lindblad, does not see any fundamental differences between the communist regime in the USSR and the...

The unpredictable flight trajectory of the Russian missile makes it immune to destruction The successful test launch of the Topol-M missile has proved that the up-to-date Russian warhead is capable of subduing the USA's air defense, Russian military specialists say. Russian strategic troops performed the test launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile RS-12M Topol on November 1. The chairman of the press service of the troops, Colonel Alexander Vovk, stated after the test launch that the missile successfully hit the conditional target on the Balkhash range ground in Kazakhstan. It is worthy of note that yesterday's launch of the Topol-M...

U.S. and European security experts have become increasingly alarmed by the actions of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko -- in particular, his growing diplomatic, economic and military ties to global antagonists China, Iran and Russia. With the support of this new "axis of evil," Mr. Lukashenko -- Europe's last remaining dictator -- has initiated a Cold War campaign against the West and the United States Over the past year, Mr. Lukashenko has made a determined effort to strengthen his contacts with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an avowed anti-Semite and self-proclaimed enemy of the West. Since 1993, Iran has been a key...

Venezuela is planning a "buying spree" for military equipment that goes beyond the country's legitimate needs, the State Department said Friday. In recent days, the United States has sought to block proposed sales of military planes and other equipment to Venezuela by Spain and Brazil. The transactions are part of what "we would consider an outsized military buildup in Venezuela," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Today, in Severodvinsk there will be a ceremony of delivery to China’s Naval Forces a submarine of project 636. Before the end of this year, China will receive another submarine and destroyer of project 956EM. The naval contracts for China amounted to almost half of Russian arms export this year. Russian state mediator Rosoboronexport signed with the Chinese Defense Ministry the $2 billion contract for eight submarines of project 636 armed with missile complex Club-S on May 3, 2002. The contracts for building five subs were given to “Admiralty Shipyards,” to Sevmashpredpriyatie (two), and to Krasnoye Sormovo (one). The main...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) accused the United States on Friday of pursuing a dictatorial foreign policy and said mounting violence could derail progress toward bringing peace and democracy to Iraq. Putin also criticized the West for setting double-standards on terrorism, pursuing Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan and Iraq while giving refuge to "terrorists" demanding Chechnya's independence from Russia. The Kremlin leader's tough remarks came on a visit to former Cold War ally India, where he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a joint call for greater cooperation in stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq....