2 November 2013 — — Strategic Culture Foundation
Who is the USA in Debt to? (II)
02.11.2013 | 00:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
…Switzerland, Belgium, Great Britain, Luxembourg and Ireland each have a bundle of securities amounting to more than USD 100 billion, and each of them has external debt that far exceeds their GDP… It is one of the main indicators of Europe’s dependence on the United States. And more than that, a number of European countries are not just tributaries of America, they are still acting as tax collectors for the US in other countries. Tiny Luxembourg, for example, purchased US Treasury securities totalling almost USD 150 billion, with a GDP of less than USD 47 billion. Luxembourg is a typical tax collector. It borrows money from other countries on a colossal scale, while Luxembourg’s external debt exceeds its GDP by 46 times!..
Who is the USA in Debt to? (I)
01.11.2013 | 00:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
It is not just the types of debt that arise and accrue in the American economy, but also a core group of well-known debtors. This includes the federal government, state and local governments, the financial and non-financial sectors of the economy, and the household sector. And this raises an interesting question: who is this core group of debtors in debt to?.. Despite the fact that US economic and financial statistics are believed to be some of the most complete and most detailed, they conceal a number of secrets concerning American debt holders…
A New Flare-Up of the War in Congo
01.11.2013 | 00:00 | Alexander MEZYAEV
The beginning of autumn was marked by a new flare-up of military operations in the central part of Africa. In early September troops from the rebel group M23 attacked the encampment of the UN mission to DR Congo in Kibati. The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) sent a letter to the UN Security Council to request immediate intervention. The government of DR Congo demanded that the UN Security Council force Rwanda to finally withdraw its troops from the eastern part of the DRC and ask the International Criminal Court to declare the actions of M23 crimes against humanity… The war in the DRC has been raging for several decades, and the question arises: who is encouraging it?..
House of Saud May Throw Oily Spanner into US-Iran Talks Gambit
31.10.2013 | 00:00 | Finian CUNNINGHAM
The Saudi spat with its historic Washington ally has several ways of playing out. Jilted over American «double standards» in the Middle East (how ironic is that?), senior members of the House of Saud, including intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, have hinted that the oil-rich kingdom may shop elsewhere for its billion-dollar weapons toys that it traditionally sources from Washington. Given the parlous state of the US industrial economy, such a loss of exports in a key revenue sector, would be a nasty blow…
Who Will Benefit from the Disintegration of Pakistan?
31.10.2013 | 00:00 | Nikolai MALISHEVSKI
On the eve of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the goals of U.S. politicians with regard to Pakistan are as follows: 1) the fragmentation of Pakistan with a view to weakening the strategic position of China in Southern Asia; 2) full control of the territory of the “narcotaliban”, where about half of the world’s hard drugs are produced; 3) neutralization of Pakistan’s nuclear program, which is being implemented with the assistance of Chinese specialists (or on the contrary, if this is not successful, the removal of the psychological barrier to using atomic weapons)…
Saudi Arabia’s UN Sulk Aims at Obama (II)
30.10.2013 | 00:00 | Melkulangara BHADRAKUMAR
The list of issues on which Saudi Arabia and the United States do not see eye to eye in the politics of the new Middle East is steadily lengthening – Iran, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Iraq. Some issues like Iran or Syria are becoming major discords while on others the two countries are at odds with each other, for example, the turmoil in Bahrain or Egypt’s democratization. The Saudis feel cut adrift on the high seas and they see gathering storms on the horizon…
Russia, China Join Efforts to Prevent Arms Race in Space
30.10.2013 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
Speaking at the United Nations on October 17, 2013 Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Department for Security Affairs and Disarmament at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed the audience that Russia and China decided to submit a draft resolution on transparency and trust in space activities to be reviewed by the United Nations… Many elements of the US missile defense system currently being developed or planned possess dual-use characteristics and could become space weapons. Missile defense allows countries to develop offensive technologies under the pretense of defense. For example, Kinetic Energy Interceptors deployed in California and Alaska are launched into space to smash incoming missiles which presupposes the capability to destroy satellites as well…
Revelations of Edward Snowden – Geopolitics and Lessons to Draw (II)
29.10.2013 | 00:00 | Dmitry MININ
Third lesson. Being a US ally is not a guarantee of a country’s information sovereignty being respected. The cyberspace control is not an end in itself. The real objective is carrying out the traditional strategic mission of gaining geopolitical dominance over large spaces. It would be naïve to expect that the US cyber interference overseas could be suspended as a result of some concessions or friendly persuasions. The evidence adduced by Snowden proves that the United States closely monitors the European Union’s central structures as well as the communications of its closest allies among the EU member-states that stay beyond the Anglosphere. Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Turkey are all under tight surveillance being non-European friends of the U.S…
The Inevitability of the U.S. – Saudi Rift
29.10.2013 | 00:00 | Wayne MADSEN
A number of seasoned observers of Middle Eastern affairs agree that U.S.-Saudi relations are at their lowest ebb since U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established America’s «special relationship» with the Saudi monarchy on February 14, 1945, just a few months before FDR’s death…
Revelations of Edward Snowden – Geopolitics and Lessons to Draw (I)
28.10.2013 | 00:00 | Dmitry MININ
As a rule the discussions related to what has been revealed by Edward Snowden about US global electronic surveillance boil down to violations of human rights and illegal interference into the private lives of millions in different parts of the world. If it were all about it, then the White House would not set so many store by the case and raise the issue of Snowden’s extradition to the top level of interstate discussions and even go as far as to cancel summits. Barack Obama was scared enough to cancel his appearance at international forums, like it was in the case of the recent APEC summit, for instance. The reason for the Washington’s concern is different: Snowden has revealed the extent of control exercised over countries and peoples, something that changes the very perception of the contemporary world and spurs the efforts of the humanity being «under test» to seek the ways to counter such nefarious activities…
Central Lithuania – Everlasting Bone of Contention
28.10.2013 | 00:00 | Vladislav GULEVICH
In October 1920 (93 years ago) a second Polish state appeared in Eastern Europe. Some lands belonging to contemporary Lithuania and Belarus were seized to found Central (Middle) Lithuania (Litwa ?rodkowa). The entity existed since October 1920 till March 1922. Poles accounted for 70% of population with Lithuanians making up the second largest ethnic group. Warsaw staged this reckless scheme and was intent to make Central Lithuania part of Poland once and for all…
Turkey Strives toward Regional Leadership (I)
27.10.2013 | 00:00 | Pyotr ISKENDEROV
…The current state of relations between the EU and Turkey, characterized by permanent «freezes», makes it possible to predict the further and ever more active penetration of Ankara into the «soft underbelly» of Europe: the Balkans… The geography of Turkish investments in the Balkans coincides revealingly with strategic communications corridors which pass through regions with a predominantly Muslim population, including, in particular, the Rodopi region of Bulgaria, southern Serbia, the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania…
The Flight from America: The Process Gains Momentum
27.10.2013 | 00:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
As The Wall Street Journal reported in August of this year, Americans are more and more often renouncing their U.S. citizenship or «green cards». In 2011 there were 1781 such people. And in the first half of 2013 alone, 1809 people abandoned their U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status. America is gradually losing the image of the Promised Land. Commenting on the «flight» from U.S. citizenship, experts predict that the exodus from the U.S. will accelerate in 2014, when the law on taxation of foreign accounts comes into full force…
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