6 October 2012 — Strategic Culture Foundation
Global Drug Mafia and the Banks. An Introduction to the Subject
06.10.2012 | 00:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
The truth to be kept in mind is that as of today the merger between the financial sector grands and the drug mafia in its classic forms – the cartels and syndicates – is an accomplished fact. No border exists any longer between global-scale banks and drug cartels and, consequently, between laundered and legally clean money – a lot of the funds believed to belong to the latter category actually fall within the former. The present alliance between banks and drug cartels is best described as the drug-banking mafia or the drug-banking business…The socioeconomic model currently materializing in the majority of the world’s countries can be interpreted as a hitherto unstudied brand of capitalism, namely, the drug-banking capitalism…
Syria and Turkey at the Brink Again
05.10.2012 | 14:04 | Andrei AKULOV
On Wednesday Turkey fired on Syrian government targets in response to the shelling of the border town of Akcakale from Syrian territory when five civilians were killed. The shooting lasted the other day…The present deterioration of the Syria–Turkey relationship distracts Syrian forces from Aleppo battle making them face new possible threat from Turkey in case it takes retaliatory action…Still the main practical result of the border shooting is the decision taken by Turkish parliament to “legalize” a military intervention into Syria. Now the events take a turn for the worse – the way for the repetition of Libyan-style scenario and triumph of NATO interventionism is open…
Jordan on the boil; who’s next?
05.10.2012 | 00:00 | Melkulangara BHADRAKUMAR
The Brotherhood in Jordan gave notice to King Abdullah II that he had time till October to accede to their demand to transform the Hashemite Kingdom into a constitutional monarchy. That deadline has passed…Both Israel and Saudi Arabia are “stakeholders”, so to speak, in the outcome of the confrontation building up in Jordan. From the Israeli viewpoint, a Brotherhood victory in Amman completes an Islamist arc stretching from Libya and Egypt to Lebanon and potentially Syria…As for Saudi Arabia, the stakes are even higher. All sorts of Manichean fears will be racing through the Saudi mind this week. If the Brothers on the march in Jordan succeed in overthrowing the regime, it could well be Saudi Arabia’s turn next.
Mitt Romney: Reset or Refreeze?
05.10.2012 | 00:00 | Dmitry MININ
Relations with Russia may be peripheral to the main plot of the US electoral campaign, but in Moscow – as elsewhere in the world – watchers diligently collect the foreign-policy remarks scattered across the candidates’ statements in the hope to get a glimpse of the international agenda to be adopted by Washington…Speaking of Russia in March, 2012, when the race to the White House was in the initial phase, Mitt Romney famously declared: “This is without question our number one geopolitical foe… They fight every cause for the world’s worst actors”.
The Defining Moment
04.10.2012 | 00:00 | Rafe MAIR
…For every president since FDR, the Middle East has been a headache of migraine proportions with Israel being the one constant factor. For the US to support Israel is very expensive and serves, at the very best of times as a major source of anger in the Muslim world. If the US were to cease funding and supporting Israel God only knows what would happen in the Middle East there and what profound impact it would have on voters, not just the Jewish Lobby. With Benjamin Netanyahu apparently slavering at the thought of attacking Iran. both candidates are having difficulty with the Middle East as a campaign issue…
Arab Spring in UN
03.10.2012 | 00:00 | Alexander MEZYAEV
Last week a massive and coordinated attack against Syria took place simultaneously in three major UN agencies – the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly and the Security Council… The Arab League Secretary General and the representatives of the West used the United Nations Security Council as a platform to condemn Russia for resorting to its veto right… Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, said that in view of UN Security Council’s failure to adopt the resolutions the Arab states should interfere themselves into Syria and they had everything necessary to do so… On September 28 The United Nations Human Rights Council viewed the new report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria… Russia voted against…
Romney’s Foreign-Policy Advisors a War-Minded Crew
03.10.2012 | 00:00 | Igor IGNATCHENKO
…It is objective reality that unexpected and deplorable developments – hostilities erupting here and there or smashing terrorist attacks – benefit Romney. This was the case, for example, with the obscurely sourced Innocence of Islam – coincidentally, neocon quarterback W. Kristol called in a paper published last May in The Washington Post for a war against politicized Islam, in which the front was supposed to stretch from Pakistan to Tunisia. Kristol, in particular, let out a stream of invective against Egypt and Turkey, asserting that Islamist regimes should be removed. A crusade against Islam must be brewing…
The Innocence of Muslims, Imperial Politics, and the «Clash of Civilizations»
02.10.2012 | 00:00 | Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
Around the United States there are now public notices on buses, in subways, and billboards saying the following: «IN ANY WAR BETWEEN THE CIVILIZED MAN AND THE SAVAGE, SUPPORT THE CIVILIZED MAN. SUPPORT ISRAEL. DEFEAT JIHAD». This slogan is a re-enactment of the discourse of the colonial era… What all these things encompass is a behind the scenes battle amongst members of the US establishment about the direction of US foreign policy. The Israeli political establishment is part of this internal US battle… As the US declines, the important question is will the US go out silently or with violence and war linked to a «clash of civilizations». If US elites opt for the latter option, the decline of the United States can be compared to a sinking ship in the ocean that will pull whatever is in the waters near it down too…
Rumors of FED Closure Sound Like Apocalypse to Media
02.10.2012 | 00:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
Over the past months, a grim sense of foreboding has surfaced increasingly often in the media. Currently, the Apocalypse seems to be scheduled for 21.12.2012, the supposed expiration date for the franchise of the dollar-printing presses to the US Federal Reserve… I find it hard to overlook the fact that the Fed long deserves to be disbanded as punishment for gross violations of the US laws… End the Fed – in the interests of the US and the whole world…
Iranian and North Korean Nuclear Programs in the Spotlight
01.10.2012 | 09:28 | Alexander VORONTSOV
In many regards, the September, 2012 Nonproliferation Conference which convened in Moscow proved to be a remarkable event. Importantly, it combined plenary sessions and talks by invited speakers with six sections on the nuclear themes centered around North Korea and Iran. The conference is a unique forum drawing staunch opponents – representatives of both Koreas, of Israel and Iran – into intense dialog…
Civil Society Intervention as a Geopolitical Instrument
01.10.2012 | 00:00 | Hannes HOFBAUER
In July 2012 the Russian Duma passed a law which obliges civil society organisations to financing transparency. This includes the declaration and control of foreign money… Russia is not the first country to hinder civil society interventions from outside. So Venezuela closed down the NED-bureau in Caracas in December 2010. And Egypt checked the bureaus of five foreign foundations and brought more than 40 responsible employees (Americans, Germans, Serbians and Egyptians) to the court. They are accused of «illegal activities with illegal money transfers»… With the new Russian law controlling foreign money flow into civil society organisations, the Western «N»GOs are forced to react. USAID is the first to close down its office end of September 2012…
Meetings in Islamabad: Interplay Between Text and Context
30.09.2012 | 00:00 | Andrei VOLODIN
Russian President V.Putin plans to visit Islamabad in the not too distant future. The talks promise a rich agenda which includes the inking of 12 agreements on the bilateral cooperation between Russia and Pakistan in a variety of spheres… The time has come when Russia simply has to mirror the US activity in South Asia. The steps to be taken are to up the level of relations with India to the Soviet-era mark and, at the same time, to fully reconnect with Pakistan. Both Delhi and Islamabad would likely favor Moscow‘s parallel return…
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The New Dark Age 