1 June 2013 — Strategic Culture Foundation
Pentagon Increases Authority Over Use of Force in CONUS
01.06.2013 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
Worried about the legality of the armed drone program and some covert missions in places not covered by the text of the 2001 measure, US Senators are mulling over the prospects for either a new resolution or an update to the existing one. On May 13 the US Senate debated an expansion of the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) so the U.S. can essentially engage any area in the world in the war on terror, including the territory of US itself. Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Sheehan told Congress that the AUMF authorized the US military to operate on a worldwide battlefield from Boston to Pakistan…
Whither Afghan Pak Relations? (I)
01.06.2013 | 00:00 | Najmuddin A. SHAIKH
From all the media reporting of developments in Afghanistan and the statements made by President Karzai and his aides it is evident that in Kabul’s perception or perhaps more accurately President Karzai’s perception Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan have reached a new low…
The Chemical WMD Story is Being Used to Cover the Rebel Retreat in Syria
31.05.2013 | 10:12 | Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
The chemical weapons fiasco is being used to justify further US aid to the insurgents instead of the direct war that the likes of the Syrian National Coalition, the Arab petro-sheikhdoms, the neo-cons, and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy have been promoting as cheerleaders. The insurgent defeat has put a new set of plans into motion against Syria and its allies. Even while Secretary of State John Kerry talks to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to organize a second peace conference on Syria in Geneva, the US has declared that it is preparing to arm the insurgents with weapons…
The Geopolitics of Gas and the Syrian Crisis
31.05.2013 | 00:00 | Dmitry MININ
What has one of the most democratic countries of the Middle East, Syria, done to tick off some of its neighbors in the West, the fierce fighters for democracy? The irrationality and unscrupulousness of the approaches Western countries have taken to the Syrian crisis, when the same people who in Europe are considered terrorists are declared «freedom fighters» when it comes to Syria, becomes clearer in light of the economic dimension of the Syrian tragedy… It is not difficult to notice that the rebellion in Syria began to grow two years ago, almost at the same time as the signing of a memorandum in Bushehr on June 25, 2011 regarding the construction of a new Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline…
Temelín: Strategic Growth Project for Russian-Czech Relations
30.05.2013 | 00:00 | Igor ALEXEEV
Czech Prime Minister Petr Ne?as arrived in Russia on a four-day working visit late May, 2013. Trade and energy policy are among the topical issues for Prague and Moscow – 6% increase in turnover is good news for both parties. Infrastructure investment projects like Temelín nuclear power plant could be the cornerstone of successful bilateral cooperation. Temelín NPP means not only thousands new jobs, but also affordable energy for the Czech industry. It can truly be a safety net in times of European economic meltdown.
US Fast Forwards Plans on Syria
30.05.2013 | 00:00 | Melkulangara BHADRAKUMAR
The American lawmakers are a law-abiding lot and they do not travel abroad without valid visa… Therefore, eyebrows will be raised that on Monday the 77-year old senator from Arizona John McCain crossed the Turkey-Syria border on a clandestine trip accompanied by “General” Salem Idris, the leader of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army. McCain reportedly stayed inside Syria for several hours before returning to Turkey. Didn’t the Turks know about McCain’s clandestine trip? One hundred percent, they knew…
The Syrian Crisis in Light of the Decline of Europe
29.05.2013 | 00:00 | Dmitry MININ
What does the legalization of single-sex «marriages» in France, which even such desperate acts as Dominique Venner’s suicide in the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris have been unable to stop, have in common with the civil war in Syria? The common factor is that in both cases we can see signs of the self-destruction complex which is devouring Europe. The «Decline of Europe», predicted over 100 years ago by Oswald Spengler, has reached the depths of denying not only its own cultural and historical roots, but the reproduction of life itself…
EU’s Provocative Decision and Russia’s Stance
29.05.2013 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed on May 27 that from now on every EU member country has the right to make its own decision on arms exports to Syria… The move could alter the course of Syria’s tragedy. The European Union appears to be stepping up efforts to get itself entangled in the civil war… Actually the EU decision is encouraging intervention and undermining the prospects for the much expected peace conference…
After Boston, or Experimental Volleys of Geopolitical Shrapnel (II)
28.05.2013 | 00:00 | Irina LEBEDEVA
I was in Boston on September 11, 2001 as well as on April 15 this year when explosive devices went off at the marathon. As I was there to see the things with my own eyes, I can say for sure that my first impressions were right – by no means the Americans were fast enough to draw any lessons from the 9/11 tragedy. You should know the place you live in. On the one hand, Boston is famous for its unique academic environment and it is populated by educated, nice people, who firmly believe in democratic traditions of their country, have respect for law enforcement agencies and expect them to provide protection. On the other hand, the city is a laboratory for working on the most ominous programs designed to exercise control over the population of the planet…
EU Changes Energy Policy
28.05.2013 | 00:00 | Natalia MEDEN
The European Union summit which took place on May 22 is a landmark event and an important step further after the adoption of the 2009 Third Energy Package… The traditionally anti-Russian energy policy of the European Union gets a new content. Nothing proves that the European Union wants to lower the dependence on energy imports as such. For instance, at the very same time the possibility of gas imports from Ukraine in distant future is part of the agenda. What lies at the bottom of the European Union’s stance is finding the ways to become independent from Russia…
Giants Face off atop the «Roof of the World»
27.05.2013 | 00:00 | Wayne MADSEN
…U.S. Special Forces, along with those of Britain, Israel, and France, are increasingly seen at the Indian Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School in Vairengte in Mizoram in eastern India. The CIA is reportedly recruiting agents from among thousands of ethnic Nepali Hindu Lhotshampa refugees originally forced from southern Bhutan to refugee camps in Nepal and subsequently resettled in the United States. These refugee agents are able to integrate themselves into the ethnic stew of the Himalayas and report intelligence to the large CIA station at the U.S. embassy in Kathmandu. And young American men with military-style haircuts have been seen with their American families on the streets of Gangtok, the Sikkimese capital, which is a short drive from the heavily-garrisoned Nathu-La pass…
Karzai Brings a Riddle to Delhi
27.05.2013 | 00:00 | Melkulangara BHADRAKUMAR
…Delhi watches with deep concern the floundering peace track and the centrality that Pakistan has managed to secure in the Obama administration’s Afghan strategy. The Indian security analysts apprehend a Taliban «surge» on the Afghan chessboard taking advantage of the security vacuum resulting from the withdrawal of the NATO troops…
After Boston, or Experimental Volleys of Geopolitical Shrapnel (I)
26.05.2013 | 00:00 | Irina LEBEDEVA
Hardly anybody in their right mind could have imagined that the tragic events at the Boston Marathon would be used so clumsily by American politicians to put pressure on Russia. Nevertheless, it is an obvious fact and the hearings in the US congress in April and May are evidence of this. The subject of the first of these hearings, which the US Congress Committee on International Affairs announced was linked to the bombings in Boston, sounded extremely provocative: «Islamic terrorism in Chechnya: the threat to America’s national security»…
World War Z: The Zionist Campaign in the Western Hemisphere
26.05.2013 | 00:00 | Wayne MADSEN
The U.S. State Department and its Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Beach Jacobson has as her primary mission the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his replacement with the «Holocaust grandchild» Henrique Capriles Radonski and the prevention of Zelaya de Castro from being elected President of Honduras… Chavez always maintained that Venezuela’s opposition was financed by Israel. In fact, the American Jewish Committee, based in New York, and its hemispheric sub-set, the Latin American Jewish Committee, have provided much of the propaganda ammunition over the years targeting Chavez and Maduro…
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The New Dark Age 