Russia and Nato launch rival war games - Telegraph.co.uk
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Russia and Nato launch rival war games
Telegraph.co.uk Russian exercises in its Western and Central military districts have been denounced as “sabre rattling” in the West, which accuses Russia of effectively invading Ukraine by stealth. Moscow, in turn, has hit out at a series of Nato land, air, and sea ... Russia begins massive air force exerciseBBC News Russia begins huge surprise air force drill on same day as Nato start Arctic ...The Independent Russia and Western nations staging rival air combat exercisesLos Angeles Times U.S. News & World Report -The Seattle Times -Reuters all 100 news articles » |
Repression in Russia Intensifying Outside of Moscowby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, May 26 – As it has done so often, the Russian government is increasing repression outside the capital and thus outside the field of view of Western journalists and diplomats at a rapid pace, something it may be able to do even more effectively if Moscow media outlets follow the advice of some not to cover the plight of the victims of such actions.
The past few days have produced two reports about this pattern: one about the increasing repression in Karelia in recent months (echo.msk.ru/blog/boris_vis/1554528-echo/) and the second about a new round of repression against Circassians in the North Caucasus (caucasreview.com/2015/05/v-rf-nachalis-repressii-protiv-cherkesskih-aktivstov/).
With regard to Karelia, Boris Vishnevsky, a Yabloko deputy in St. Petersburg’s legislative assembly, says that the authorities in that republic have launched criminal cases, searches and arrests in the wake of the success opposition groups have had in winning elections and calling attention to illegal actions by the head of the republic.
Five Yabloko leaders in Karelia have had criminal charges brought against them, even though there is no evidence supporting these cases. What there is, Vishnevsky says, is a political movement in the republic which seeks the ouster of the republic head. It has been holding meetings to make that demand – the most recent took place on May 20 – and has collected more than 7,000 signatures on a petition to that effect.
What adds a certain piquancy to the situation, Vishnevsky continues, is that Governor Khudilaynen appears to have been guilty while occupying an earlier job of exactly the things he is charging his opponents. He denies all wrongdoing, of course, but he gets angry whenever anyone raises the issue.
“It is difficult to say what will happen next in Karelia,” he says. “A great deal depends on how much coverage these events get.” Unfortunately, he says, because these cases do not involve high profile opposition figures and are taking place “beyond the borders of the two capitals, the situation has attracted little attention from the federal media with rare exceptions.”
A similar problem exists in the North Caucasus. There, officials have detained a Circassian activist whose only crime was that he wanted to meet other Circassians and mark the 151stanniversary of the genocide of the Circassians by tsarist forces on May 21and searched the house of those he hoped to meet with (caucasreview.com/2015/05/v-rf-nachalis-repressii-protiv-cherkesskih-aktivstov/).
That kind of illegal and heavy-handed authoritarianism when directed at relatively low-ranking people outside of Moscow rarely gets much attention, and it will get less if Russian and western journalists follow the advice of those like Valery Tishkov, the outgoing director of the Moscow Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology.
In response to a question from Nazaccent.ru about the Circassian situation, Academician Tishkov “advised the media not to inflate the theme of the Circassian genocide but to treat other more immediate issues” (nazaccent.ru/content/16095-valerij-tishkov-sovetuyu-smi-ne-razduvat.html).
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Two high-ranking Russian officials have called for women to work shorter days than men on Fridays to allow them more time to put their domestic affairs in order.
China’s Massive State-Owned-Enterprises to Grow Even Biggerby webdesk@voanews.com (Saibal Dasgupta)
China recently launched a plan to take 112 of its massive, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and merge them into 40 even bigger companies that they hope can be more competitive internationally. Are Chinese companies getting too big? But critics worry the plans for companies with assets that total about $6 trillion will just end up creating huge monopolies that do not perform any better than the current businesses. China’s state-owned enterprises have long held a commanding position in the country’s still tightly controlled economy, dominating telecommunications, banking, oil and other key strategic sectors. The companies have an advantage over private enterprises because of easy access to credit and links to government agencies, but their rate of return on investment has been poor, at about 2.5 percent. That’s even less than returns on bank deposits. “One reason why the government wants to merge the SOEs is to make them more capable for international competition,” said Xu Dingbo, associate dean at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). “There is also the problem of excess capacity and extremely low returns on investments in the SOE business, which the government wants to tackle through mergers.” Creating monsters The government has not released many details about the merger plans, but it remains unlikely that authorities will completely privatize state-owned enterprises. Media reports have suggested that the firms could be consolidated by sector, and have their links with state regulating agencies removed. Their ownership could be transferred to asset-investment firms, helping them run as more purely commercial enterprises. But they will likely continue to have links to state control, through measures like allowing the government to continue to retain the right to appoint top managers. What seems certain is that the mergers will make the businesses dominant players in their respective industry segments. Rail monster The ongoing merger between China’s two railway track and equipment makers for example, is likely to create a new entity capable of challenging foreign players like Siemens and Bombardier. According to estimates, the market capitalization of the two railway companies, or value of their shares on the stock market, following the merger will be significantly higher than that of German giant Siemens. “The merger plan may be useful. But it may be creating greater monsters in some sections of industry,” Xu said. “I worry about a monopolistic trend. Monopolistic tendencies will become stronger after the mergers. I hope foreign companies will strike harder to reduce the monopolistic tendencies. China is a big market and they cannot walk away from it,” he said. Mixed signals Although the plans have been talked about for months now, and a general picture is becoming clearer, there are signs the merger plan is undergoing some changes, and the government has been reluctant to release its full details. One possible reason for this is the deep vested interests and influence that China’s state-owned enterprises have, with some arguably more powerful than government ministries. Industry sources said two shipbuilding giants, China Shipbuilding, CSSC Holdings Ltd and Guangzhou Shipyard International Co Ltd., are next in line for mergers. But there has been no official confirmation. An earlier report about the planned merger between oil giants China Petroleum & Chemical and PetroChina has been denied by official agencies. Economists say the release of such stories, and their subsequent denials, are meant to test the market’s response, and help officials time their merger moves. That is also giving investors an opportunity to make incredible returns on the stock market and the government a chance to mop up funds as the shares of listed state-owned enterprises rise sharply. Shares of China South Railway and China North Railway shot up dramatically prior to the merger, with CSR rising 510 percent between December 31, 2014 and April 20. China North rose by 483 percent during that same period. Foreign company fears The merger plans come at a time when foreign companies operating in China are already feeling vulnerable, following a string of crackdowns by authorities on unfair pricing and intellectual property licensing. Foreign companies have complained of being unfairly targeted, but authorities say they have also targeted Chinese firms. “Foreign companies have reasons to be worried because mergers can make Chinese companies stronger in international competition. But if the government is not able to manage the merger properly, it will result in weaker competition from them,” Xu said. Some analysts say the merger program is unlikely to affect the government’s control over major industries and do little to make progress on market liberalization. “Major central SOEs tend to be in sectors that the Communist Party regards as "lifelines" for the economy and national security, such as energy. So I suspect that the basic ownership structure of these companies is not really going to change,” said Andrew Batson, China Research Director of consulting firm, Gavekal Dragonomics.
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 Quartz |
The founder of Russia's biggest social network lost his $2-billion company to ...
Quartz VKontakte is the biggest social network is Russia and parts of the former Soviet Union, but has little or no presence in the West. (It is perhaps most famous in the US for where the convicted Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, kept his online ... |
What Poland’s new president has in mind from Germany and the EU to defence and the economy
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Putin’s Party Suffers Big Loss in Small Kaliningrad Cityby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, May 26 – Vladimir Putin’s party of power, United Russia, failed to win a single seat in elections to the 15-member city council of Baltiysk in Kaliningrad, an indication of just how soft support for his party and possibly for him is -- and of what steps Russian opposition groups may be able to take to win elections where they occur elsewhere.
The Baltiysk surprise is dominating much of the Moscow media today, given that United Russia did not win a single mandate. Instead, 12 independent candidates appear to have won through as well as one each from Just Russia, the Patriots of Russia and the Communists of Russia.
In a commentary in “Novyye izvestiya,” Yekaterina Dyatlovskaya says that experts with whom she has spoken explain United Russia’s failure as the result of high levels of participation, scandals in the registration of candidates, and conflicts among the city and regional elites (newizv.ru/politics/2015-05-26/220086-bez-edinogo-mandata.html).
Almost half of the registered voters – 47.77 percent – took part, a level of participation that Just Russia’s Pavel Fedorov said was unheard of in recent elections there and that overwhelmed the ability of the party of power to win on the basis of administrative measures alone. At the same time, he said, he was surprised that that party did not win at least one seat.
Another explanation for the outcome, he suggested, was the scandal which broke out when officials refused to register 78 out of 139 candidates. That action was so gross, he implied, that many local residents and businesses took the occasion of the election to register their anger at official high-handedness.
A third explanation for the outcome was provided by Rostislav Turovsky of the Center for Political Technologies. He pointed out that there are serious differences within United Russia itself and that the regional boss may be entirely happy that the city boss suffered this embarrassing loss.
According to Grigory Melkonyants, of the Golos vote monitoring organization, all sides in the election used “doubtful technologies,” but this had the effect of cancelling each of them out. The voting itself was relatively good. He said that now the Russian opposition must “study the experience of Baltiysk in order to learn how to defeat [the powers’] administrative resource.”
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 Газета Труд |
Пенсионер пытался покончить с собой на борту самолета Москва — Петербург
ИА REGNUM Москва, 26 Мая 2015, 14:34 — REGNUM На борту воздушного судна, следовавшего рейсом Москва — Санкт-Петербург, пожилой пассажир пытался покончить жизнь самоубийством. Как рассказали в пресс-службе управления на транспорте МВД по Северо-Западному федеральному ... Мужчина вскрыл себе вены на борту самолета Москва–ПетербургРБК Пожилой мужчина пытался покончить с собой на борту самолетаВести.Ru Пассажир попытался покончить с собой на борту летевшего в Петербург самолетаLenta.ru Фонтанка.Ру Все похожие статьи: 99 » |
Moldovan President: We Prefer European Union Orbit to Russia
ABC News Moldova's president says the country's 4 million citizens would prefer to join the European Union rather than stay in the Russian orbit. President Nicolae Timofti told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Moldovans are reaping economic benefits from ... and more » |
Moldovan president: We prefer European Union orbit to Russia
U.S. News & World Report TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Moldova's 4 million citizens would prefer to join the European Union rather than stay in the Russian orbit, its president said Tuesday. President Nicolae Timofti told The Associated Press that Moldovans are reaping economic ... and more » |
Officials say four pro-Russian rebels, a Ukrainian soldier, and one civilian were killed in clashes that broke out over the past 24 hours in violation of a February truce deal.
In August, media in the Balkans reported with some relief that Lavdrim Muhaxheri, a notorious Islamic State (IS) militant had been killed in an air strike in Syria.
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UK and Russia to resume Syria talks by Frances Perraudin
David Cameron and Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Monday and agreed to restart talks to seek solution to civil war
David Cameron and Vladimir Putin have agreed to resume talks to find a solution to the civil war in Syria.
The prime minister and the Russian president spoke on the phone for half an hour on Monday afternoon, with Putin congratulating Cameron on his election win.
Continue reading...Malaysian Trafficking Camp Shows Signs of Being Prisonby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
It's a one-hour trek through thick jungle from the nearest road to the ramshackle camp along Malaysia's northern border, but for all its remoteness this was a perfect setting for human traffickers to ply their grisly trade. Prisoners could be kept alive with water from a stream running through the gully where the now-abandoned camp was nestled and, thanks to a good mobile phone signal from Thailand, they could communicate with accomplices across a trafficking supply chain that begins in Bangladesh and Myanmar. There was a faint smell of decomposition on the edges of the camp, where Tuesday a Malaysian police forensics team began to dig out bodies of trafficking victims who were buried before their captors fled. Mass graves It was painstaking work for the police, who poked gingerly at the damp earth with hoes. The first body exhumed from one of the 37 graves discovered here was shrouded in a cloth. Nearby, what appeared to be a human lower jaw lay in the undergrowth. Altogether the authorities have found nearly 140 shallow graves at 28 camps strung along the border, some of which they believe were abandoned in haste after Thailand launched a crackdown on people smuggling earlier this month. The dense forests of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia have been a major staging post for smugglers bringing people to Southeast Asia by boat from Myanmar, most of them Rohingya Muslims who say they are fleeing persecution, and Bangladesh. In recent years it has been common for them to be held in remote camps like this until a ransom is paid for their freedom. Journalists were taken by police to the camp on Tuesday, following a steep uphill path littered with clothes and food wrappers that suggested it was a well-trodden route. As reporters watched the officers dig in sombre silence, evidence abounded that this had been a place of abuse and fear. Several broken-down bamboo structures raised on stilts appeared to be makeshift prisons, with wire mesh walls and coils of barbed wire. There was a low cage, too small to stand up in, that police believe was used to punish migrants. Amid the tangle of bamboo and tarpaulin was a large water tank. Police photographs of other camps in the area showed an abandoned generator, makeshift kitchens that could cook for hundreds of people, and evidence that crops were being grown – all signs that the camps had been there some time. This site, just a few hundred metres from the border with Thailand, could have held up to 400 people, one officer said. A Muslim call to prayers could be heard from the camp, indicating it was not too far from a village, where the guards may have bought food to keep their prisoners alive. Thailand areas The discoveries in Malaysia followed the uncovering of similar graves on the Thai side of the border in early May. That led to a crackdown on the camps by Thailand, after which traffickers abandoned thousands of migrants in overloaded boats that were already en route in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. The mood was tense at the site in Malaysia on Tuesday, where watchful police cradled M16 assault rifles. "You are in a border security area," said Royal Malaysia Police spokeswoman ACP Datin Asmawati. "There are still trafficking activities on the other side."
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Huge Air Force Drill Under Way in Russiaby webdesk@voanews.com (RFE/RL)
Russia's Defense Ministry says it has kicked off air force exercises in the Ural mountains and western Siberia involving 12,000 soldiers and 250 aircraft. The manoeuvres, which began on May 25 and are to last until May 28, are meant to help the military prepare for a larger drill in September, called Tsentr-2015. After Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014, Russia has held numerous large-scale military drills checking combat readiness. In a statement on its website, the ministry described the drill as a "massive surprise inspection," to check combat readiness and develop a command system in field conditions. The statement added that the drills in the Central Military District have been reinforced by units from the Western and Southern military districts as well as long-range aircraft. A ministry spokesperson said that, during the exercise, "Long-range aviation aircraft will carry out cruise missile strikes against a mock enemy's ground targets at the Pemboi test and training area (in the Komi Republic)." Asked about Russia's assertiveness in a television interview, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin joked that "tanks don't need visas." Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP
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Netanyahu Proposes to Resume Peace Talks with Settlement Focus by webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed resuming peace negotiations with the Palestinians but with the initial focus on identifying those Jewish settlements that Israel would keep and be allowed to expand, an Israeli official said on Tuesday. Peace talks collapsed in April 2014 over Israeli settlement-building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Palestinians seek for a state, and after Abbas angered Israel by reaching a unity deal with the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza. Asked about Netanyahu's position, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said settlement activity had to stop altogether before peace talks resume and that all core issues of the conflict with Israel needed to be addressed simultaneously. In a meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Netanyahu told Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, that some of the land Israel captured in a 1967 war would remain in its hands while other parts would be left under Palestinian control, the Israeli official said. "Therefore negotiations should be resumed in order to define those areas in which we can build," the official said, quoting Netanyahu. The remarks were first reported in the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz. With the inauguration two weeks ago of his new right-wing government following March elections, Netanyahu faces U.S. and EU calls to re-engage with the Palestinians and also the threat of stronger pressure to curb construction in settlements, which most countries regard as illegal. Western diplomats have said Netanyahu, who raised international concern by saying on the eve of the election that no Palestinian state would be established on his watch, will now be closely scrutinised over his settlement policy. An understanding on settlements in peace talks would enable Israel to keep construction going without raising the wrath of its Western allies. It could also appease hardliners in Netanyahu's government who want to see more construction. One Western diplomat familiar with what occurred at the meeting with Mogherini said Netanyahu's proposal showed some change in his position, but not enough to restart peace talks. "Up until now, Netanyahu has refused to put any maps on the table, so in that respect it was quite substantial. He was talking about borders in one way or another, even if it was based around the acceptance of existing settlement blocs," the official said. Another Western diplomat described Netanyahu's proposal as creating "the illusion of progress". "Netanyahu was trying to show that he is committed to peace and ready for negotiations, but he knows the Palestinians would never agree to begin on this basis," the diplomat said.
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A Pakistani military official says two raids by security forces in the port city of Karachi have killed seven militants.
President Vladimir Putin said on May 26 that Russia should not deprive itself of foreign investment and technologies.
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"В Швеции все опасаются русских" by SvobodaRadio
Готланд – сонный шведский островок в Балтийском море, но его стратегическая ценность огромна. Военные специалисты говорят, что если в Прибалтике возникнет конфликт, контроль над Готландом будет означать контроль над всем регионом. Наблюдая за Россией, Швеция впервые за последние 10 лет развертывает на острове постоянную военную группировку.
Ссылка на источник - http://www.svoboda.org/media/video/27037420.html
Russia's Brain Drain: Why Economists Are Leaving
Forbes Tickets for Russia's modern-day “philosophers' ship” – a collective name for the exodus of educated Russians following the Bolshevik revolution – have been in demand ever since, as it continues to make its rounds of certain Western countries, regularly ... |
Islamic State Claims Credit for Tunis Barracks Shootingby webdesk@voanews.com (Jamie Dettmer)
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a shooting rampage by a Tunisian soldier that left seven of his comrades dead and 10 others wounded Monday at a Tunis army barracks. The shooting spree, by a sergeant named by officials as Mehdi Jaami, at a flag-raising ceremony at the Bouchoucha barracks came just two months after jihadists launched a terror attack on a landmark Tunis museum that left 22 dead. According to eyewitness accounts, Jaami stabbed a fellow solider and grabbed his weapon, turning the gun on fellow soldiers before being shot dead himself. A colonel was among those killed. This latest incident has Tunisians nervous and fearful of the impact it may have on already flagging tourism. Following the shooting, Tunisian officials were quick to insist the bloody rampage had no links with terrorism, saying that 36-year-old Jaami had been suffering from a mental illness. He had family and psychological issues and had been, “banned from carrying weapons,” said defense ministry spokesman Belhassen Oueslati. He had been moved to a “non-sensitive unit” weeks before the assault. “He had been high strung for weeks and had become undisciplined," said the spokesman, who described the incident as an "isolated act, not a terrorist act.” IS affiliate claims responsibility International media outlets have questioned the defense ministry claims while local newspapers have been readier to accept the official line. Doubts about defense officials’ explanation will be fueled by a statement posted Tuesday on a jihadist website in which North African extremists affiliated with the so-called Islamic State claim responsibility for the shooting. In the statement Jaami is praised as a “lone lion.” The details of the attack posted on Afriqiyah Media matched those provided by Tunisian authorities. In several recent terrorist attacks carried out by so-called “lone wolves” in France, America and Saudi Arabia, the Islamic State has claimed credit. Sometimes the links have been thin with the attackers swearing allegiance to the Islamic State just before carrying out an attack, allowing the extremist group to later brag of its involvement, despite the fact it hadn’t been involved in selecting the target or planning the attack, and was merely an inspiration from afar for the assailant. The jihadist claim Tuesday offered no evidence of Jaami’s connections with the Islamic State or affiliated groups. Even so, the shooting at the Bouchoucha barracks a short distance from where the March attack on the Bardo museum occurred is adding to mounting worries about jihadist violence. Since the Bardo museum assault, ordinary police officers have been allowed to patrol armed. Surge in extremism Tunisia has witnessed a surge in Islamic extremism with the assassination of two leading politicians in the past two years. The jihadist assassin of Tunisian secular party leader Mohamed Brahmi, who was shot dead in Tunis in 2013, said recently that Brahmi's murder and that of secular politician Chokri Belaid a few weeks earlier were designed to create chaos in the North African country. Abu Muqatil at-Tunusi’s remarks in a propaganda interview in an issue of the Islamic State's English-language magazine Dabiq cast light on the chaos strategy behind the murderous assault at the Bardo museum, which spurred thousands of people onto the streets of Tunis to protest extremist violence in the country. A terrorist group affiliated with the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the March Bardo attack. A five-minute audio message posted on YouTube in the name of Jund al-Khilafah, or Soldiers of the Caliphate, threatened Tunisian politicians, including the country’s president and prime minister. Last December, the Tunisian jihadist Jund al-Khilafah announced its allegiance to ISIL. That pledge coincided with another video posted online by three Tunisian volunteers warning the country would not be secure “as long as Tunisia is not governed by Islam.” One of the fighters in the video was Boubakr Hakim, who is wanted in connection with the 2013 assassination of leftwing Tunisian politician Chokri Belaid. Tourism The threats and violence have had a big impact on tourism, a key economic sector for this North African country of 11 million. The large resort hotels complain of only 40 to 45 percent occupancy. The disorder and chaos in neighboring Libya adds to Tunisian worries. Officials fear violence there could spread. There is already evidence of two of the Bardo museum gunmen trained with jihadists in eastern Libya. Monday’s incident triggered a high security alert across the Bardo district and adjacent neighborhoods with the country’s elite Counterterrorism Brigade deployed and sniffer dogs used to check parked vehicles for car bombs. Mohsen Marzouk, political aide to President Beji Caid Essebsi, told reporters the shooting would likely “lead to a review of many aspects of security in Tunisian barracks.” Away from the capital, the army has been intensifying operations against jihadists in the remote Mount Chaambi area, where 70 members of the security forces have been killed in the past four years. One of the biggest worries for Tunisian authorities is what impact jihadist fighters returning from Syria will have on the country. Despite its apparent success in making the transition to a moderate democracy, Tunisia has contributed more jihadist fighters per capita to the conflict in Syria than anywhere else, with authorities estimating that at least 3,000 Tunisians have joined either the Islamic State or al Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. Five hundred are believed to have returned to Tunisia in recent months.
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Russia's rights ombudsman has criticized a law approved by President Vladimir Putin that allows the authorities to ban international NGOs deemed "undesirable."
Austrian Police Arrest 3 for Smuggling People into USby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Austrian police have detained three suspects for allegedly smuggling people onto flights bound for the United States or Britain. State Prosecutor Friedrich Koehl said Tuesday there had been at least 11 cases of smuggling between last fall and February. The suspects worked for a private security company hired by Austrian Airlines and controlled passports and tickets at departure gates. Those being smuggled were taken into the departure area through restricted doors and gates, Koehl said. They were then given tickets and boarding passes that had been bought by acquaintances of the suspects. Koehl said investigations began after an illegal traveler was returned to Austria from the U.S., and a person who had been asked by the smugglers to cooperate in the scheme by buying a ticket went to the police. The suspects were not identified in keeping with Austrian confidentiality laws.
 Российская Газета |
Главы спецслужб стран СНГ обсудили способы противодействия "ИГ"
Российская Газета В Душанбе 26 мая прошла встреча руководства спецслужб стран СНГ. На ней обсуждались возможности противодействия терроризму и опасность, исходящая от "Исламского государства", которое укрепляет свои позиции в Афганистане. читайте также. Фото: REUTERS/Stringer МИД РФ ... Главы спецслужб стран СНГ обсудили пути повышения эффективности взаимодействия в противодействии терроризму и экстремизмуБелаПАН Спецслужбы стран СНГ наметили план борьбы с потенциальными угрозами, исходящие от «Исламского государства»CA-News: центральноазиатская Руководители спецслужб СНГ обсудят в Таджикистане угрозы со стороны ИГРИА Новости РИА "VistaNews" (пресс-релиз) Все похожие статьи: 41 » |
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Putin: Russia Should not Cut Itself off From Foreign Investmentby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday the country should not cut itself of from foreign investment and technologies. "We should not, on any account, cut ourselves off" from the kind of foreign investment and technology that can drive economic growth, Putin told a conference of business people. After annexing Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014, Russia was hit with Western sanctions that limited its access to foreign capital and technologies, especially for the banking, energy and defense sectors. Russia imposed retaliatory sanctions.
In a video released Tuesday from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, Iraqi forces and U.S.-led coalition troops survey a cache of weapons supplied to help Iraq liberate Mosul from Islamic State group. According to a statement provided with the video, the ministry and the U.S.-led coaltion troops have started ''supplying the 16th army division with medium and light weapons in preparation to liberate Mosul and nearby areas from Da'esh (Arabic acronym for Islamic State group).''
 NEWSru.com |
ВПК: вертолет Ка-52К используют, даже если РФ не получит "Мистрали"
РИА Новости Вертолет был сделан специально под "Мистраль", но фактически получилась машина, которая может базироваться на корабельной группе и выполнять огневую поддержку высадки морских десантов, сказал Бочкарев. Второй вертолетоносец типа Мистраль спущен на воду во Франции. Россия окончательно отказалась от «Мистралей»РБК Россия отказалась от поставки французских вертолетоносцев типа MistralКоммерсантъ Россия окончательно отказалась от «Мистралей»НТВ.ru Взгляд Все похожие статьи: 136 » |
Georgia has been celebrating Independence Day. In Tbilisi, there was a carnival atmosphere mixing a variety of sporting events for children with attractions such as music, dancing, and street art. The events mark the anniversary of the day in 1918 when Georgia declared its short-lived independence from Moscow, after the Russian Revolution. Georgia re-established its statehood after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Staunton, May 23 – Rostislav Ishchenko, a commentator for Russia Today who gained notoriety for arguing that Moscow should “preventively occupy” the Baltic countries, says that Russia today “is in a state of war with the United States and that each of its citizens is on the front lines regardless of whether he is fighting with arms in his or her hands.”
In a speech to a May 17 conference on “The Ukrainian Crisis and Global Politics” organized by the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISI) and in an interview given to Prague’s Parlimentni Listyportal yesterday, Ishchenko presents these and other notions which because of his closeness to the Kremlin deserve attention.
(For his speech to the RISI meeting in St. Petersburg, see here as discussed here by Kseniya Kirillova. For his interview, see here and in Russian here.)
In his speech in St. Petersburg, Ishchenko, who is also president of the Moscow Center for Systems Analysis and Forecasting, said that it was already long past time to speak about the existence of a state of war, about why it had come about, and about how Russia must prosecute it in order to ensure its national survival.
According to Ishchenko, “the war was inevitable” because the US needed to expand its markets and could do so only by turning Ukraine against Russia. Only Russia could resist the US, he says, because of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal, one “approximately equivalent” to that of the US, even though Russia’s economy is much smaller.
Indeed, he continued, “The GDP and other economic indicators do not play as important a role” as many imagine. “The barbarians destroyed the Roman Empire even though their GDPs were microscopic” in comparison with Rome’s. That must be kept in mind, he said, now when “a war for survival, for determining who will live in the brave new world,” is taking place.
In this situation, he argued, it is important to understand that “we are on the frontlines. We have a common enemy and we have a common victory. Each of us is fighting for his or her future. It is not important what weapons we are employing, guns, computers, or pieces of paper. We are fighting for our lives” and for “the survival of our people and of ourselves.”
“Unfortunately,” Ishchenko said, “the enemy is a very serious one. This is the largest economy in the world. One cannot defeat it today or tomorrow however much we would like. Yes, we will take losses, in the Donbass and in other places, not just in Ukraine.” Instead, Russia is facing as its zone of operations “all of Eastern Europe.”
In his Prague interview, Ishchenko provides context for these extremely militaristic and aggressive views. He argues that Putin’s “greatest service” to Russia has been that he has restored the country’s power step by step rather than by radical measures, so gradually that only now can Russians “see the gigantic extend of the work he has carried out.”
The war in Ukraine is a result of a general overreaching by the United States, a trend that reflects the “dizzy with success” feelings many American officials had after the collapse of the USSR and their sense that the US could do anything. Now, thanks to Putin’s rebuilding of Russia, they are learning that they have underrated the power of those arrayed against them.
“Putin has acted correctly,” Ishchenko says. “Now his time has come and he can calmly offer the US any compromise. Washington has gone too far. Compromise for it is defeat and loss of face.” Because that is the case, the US will increase tensions in what will prove a failed effort to reverse the situation.
As far as Ukraine is concerned, Ishchenko argues that “the civil war [there] will not only continue” in the Donbass “but spread throughout all of Ukraine.” And he adds that those parts of Ukraine, like those parts of other former Soviet states, will ultimately rejoin Russia in one form or another.
“There won’t be such small states around Russia,” he suggests. “Most likely they will become part of Russia [because] that is what the people populating these regions are seeking. If there won’t be such a possibility, then they will form under a Russian protectorate a confederal or federal union (or even two or three of these).”
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Ingushetian Finance Minister Ruslan Tsechoyev is suspected of abusing his official position by using funds allocated from the federal budget for a purpose other than that for which the money was earmarked.
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