2010-06-11
Pyotr ISKENDEROV
Iran and the Balkans: Russia Risks Making the Same Mistakes
“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… Will the US and the EU return the favor — for example, in the form of concessions in Kosovo, Caucasus, or energy politics? Based on the Balkan experience, it is clear that they will not…”

2010-06-11
Andrei KONUROV
Weak Europe
“The world is facing a second wave of the global economic meltdown, with Europe being in the front line of it… A default threat is almost imminent in Spain and Portugal, and Italy and Belgium are also approaching serious financial problems. Macroeconomic settings defined by the Maastricht Treaty appear to have less in common with the current model of the European social and economic development…”

2010-06-06
Alexander VORONTSOV
Oleg REVENKO
The Conundrum of the South Korean Corvette (II)
“The report on the sinking of S. Korea’s Cheonan corvette claiming that the tragedy had been caused by a torpedo fired by a N. Korean submarine caused further escalation on the Korean Peninsula… At this point the question arises naturally what force could have been behind the Cheonan incident and in whose interests it was inflated to become a global problem… Whoever is actually responsible for the Cheonan tragedy, the very developments warrant the hypothesis that they are a result of careful a priori planning…”

2010-06-06
Sergei BREZKUN (KREMLEV)
Letters On the New START Treaty (I)
“Making any steps in the nuclear arms sphere, Russia should be aware that its future and sovereignty depend entirely on the preservation of its second strike capability in a conflict with any aggressor or groups of aggressors… In case the New Start is ratified, the corresponding federal law should state what extent of development and what architecture of the US missile defense warrants Russia’s withdrawal from the Treaty…”

2010-06-07
Alexander BARENTSEV
Death Masked as Narcotics
“On June 9-10, Moscow will host the “Drug Production in Afghanistan: A Challenge for the International Community” international forum. Every year, the opium exported from Afghanistan kills up to 100,000 people worldwide, more than died in the Hiroshima atomic bombing. Russia as the country through which the main drug trafficking routes run is affected to the greatest degree – its annual death toll attributable to heroin from Afghanistan is estimated at 30,000…”

2010-06-08
Vladimir SOTNIKOV
Russia to Build Nuclear Power Plant in Turkey
“Russian Prime Minister V. Putin will visit Istanbul on June 8. Last May Russian President D. Medvedev signed a landmark agreement in Ankara by which Russia would within the coming 7 years construct Turkey’s first nuclear power plant… On the whole, the Russian nuclear energy sector must be credited with major success for winning the contract to construct the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, especially in the light of the fact that Turkey is a NATO country with special ties with the US…”

2010-06-08
Pyotr ISKENDEROV
The Balkan Mountain Has Brought Forth Burmese a Mouse
“The widely advertised EU – Balkan summit in Sarajevo turned out a complete farce… Even the previous – and also quite ridiculous – Brdo summit, which Serbia chose to ignore and the EU top brass eventfully did not bother to attend, deserved greater attention. Even in Brdo the European decision-makers did not avoid facing problems to the same extent as they did in Sarajevo…”

2010-06-10
Viktor KOVALEV
Nuclear Factor in International Relations and the “Iranian Problem”
“The “Iranian problem” puts serious obstacles in the way of adopting an internationally coordinated horizontal non-proliferation program. Iran, a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signatory, is confronted with a kind of “guilt presumption”: it is forced to prove its innocence on various counts. Washington invokes the Iranian nuclear program to justify its support for Israel, and Israel cites Ahmadinejad’s militant rhetoric to exact the support from the US, indicating that it can attack Iran’s nuclear installations unilaterally…”

2010-06-09
Rafe MAIR (Canada)
All is well if you can see Russia from here!
“Sarah Palin, erstwhile Governor of Alaska, once mayor of the village of Wasilla, who didn’t know that Korea was divided and who claimed international experience because Russia is visible from Alaska, came uncomfortably close to being a heart beat from the White House. As I will argue, she might even get closer to that in 2012…”

2010-06-10
David KERANS (USA)
Obama 2010: Where do you go from a dead end?
“As California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger once deftly responded when facing a barrage of criticism over a particular policy, “When both the Left and the Right are angry at you, you know you’re doing something right.” A casual observer might expect President Obama to borrow Schwarzenegger’s formulation very soon, given the disaffection now surrounding him from all sides. Alas, Obama’s executive record is by now so compromised by concessions to special interests that he cannot play Schwarzenegger’s card with a straight face…”