16 November 2013 — Strategic Culture Foundation
Russian Ministers Pay Landmark Visit to Egypt
16.11.2013 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Cairo on November 13 for a two-day visit to hold separate talks, as well as meeting in the format of ‘2 plus 2» with acting president of Egypt Adli Mansour, Egypt’s interim Defense Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Egypt’s interim Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy and other officials… It is expected President Putin will pay a visit to Egypt, perhaps as early as in late November… During the Nasser’s rule the Russia-Egypt relationship saw its best days. The «2+2» visit gives ground to believe those days may come back for the benefit of both countries…
Poland: Victim of Swagger Mindset That Results in Mob Attacks
16.11.2013 | 00:00 | Nikolai MALISHEVSKI
On November 11 participants in a so-called nationalist «Independence March» set alight a guard station at the Russian embassy and staged a pogrom at the gates. 19 people suffered as a result. Polish officials flatly refuse any connection with the mob and strongly condemn the marchers’ actions. Looks like there is no one to blame but ordinary perpetrators. But it’s not so in reality. The information to incite Anti-Russian sentiments is regularly spread around the country. For thirty years the post-communist Poland has been trying to reap the benefits by mastering the role of victim that suffered. It has been addressing two audiences – the Russian East and German West…
US Announces «Significant Changes» for Military Policy (II)
15.11.2013 | 11:58 | Andrei AKULOV
In April 2013 the US Navy announced that it was deploying a laser weapon prototype in the Persian Gulf… On October 29 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet tested the Guided Bomb Unit-12 (GBU-12) Paveway II bomb launching it from its internal weapons bay while flying at around 25,000 feet… Lockheed is developing three models of the new radar-evading warplane for the U.S. military and eight countries that helped fund its development: Britain, Canada, Turkey, Italy, Norway, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands. Israel and Japan. Military action against Syria may have been put on hold, at least for now. But US military commanders often see conflicts as opportunities to use recently developed technology…
On Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Centennial of the Federal Reserve
15.11.2013 | 00:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
…The U.S. has become a hostage of its own involvement in Middle Eastern affairs; in trying to pull one foot out of the swamp (reestablishing relations with Iran), it has found that the other foot has gotten bogged down (relations with Saudi Arabia have become more complicated). And it is unknown whether the Americans will be able to achieve the main goal for the sake of which they started the rapprochement with Iran, that is, whether Tehran will go back to using the American dollar for its international transactions instead of the yuan and the rupee. That is unlikely. Tehran will temporize, but wild horses couldn’t drag them back into the dollar system. The once-solid Middle Eastern foundation of the petrodollar standard is turning into a quaking bog before our very eyes…
US Announces «Significant Changes» for Military Policy (I)
15.11.2013 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
On November 5 in the keynote address before the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Global Security Forum US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Pentagon needs to make significant changes «across every aspect» of the defense enterprise. He identified six focus areas that will guide a major Department of Defense (DoD) reform effort…
Famine-Stricken Niger Feeds French Development and Wealth
14.11.2013 | 12:00 | Finian CUNNINGHAM
…Some 80 per cent of France’s national energy supply is derived from nuclear power generated at 59 plants operated by state-owned Electricite de France. About one-third of France’s total annual supply of uranium ore for its power stations is sourced from Niger. The French uranium-mining company, Areva, has mines across Niger, guarded by French Special Forces… As one million people now face starvation in Niger – the poorest country on the planet that otherwise should be one of the richest – oblivious French politicians, reclining in Elysée Palace, will no doubt be toasting their glasses of fine wine over fine food, and arrogantly chortling: «Vive La France!»
The Iran Question – What Next?
14.11.2013 | 00:00 | Melkulangara BHADRAKUMAR
…The first thing, of course, is to comprehend what really happened in Geneva to dash the high hopes that were aroused. Different interpretations are available, but most accounts agree that France was at its epicenter. The French motives in apparently throwing the wrench at the wheel need to be understood. The French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius publically implied that Israel’s concerns were not adequately reflected in the interim agreement that the US, EU and the Iranian diplomats worked out. But beyond that, an impression has also gained ground that France was actually bidding to please Saudi Arabia and the other petrodollar-rich Gulf Arab regimes while ingratiating itself with Israel…
The French Barrier to Nuclear Talks with Iran
14.11.2013 | 00:00 | Nikolai BOBKIN
At the Geneva talks between six world powers and Iran, mediators managed to narrow the circle of differences and highlight the issues to be resolved during the next round of talks on 20 November. Both sides are hoping to find a way out of the negotiation deadlock that has existed for the last ten years, but differences in the positions of Western allies have unexpectedly become an obstacle to compromise. France has not given its support to the other members of the six nations, announcing that Iran’s proposals do not rule out their development of nuclear weapons… Saudi Arabia is also calling on the six world powers not to believe Iran’s promises, blackmailing negotiators with threats to buy nuclear weapons in Pakistan…
Financial Vultures Start to Circle Over Ukraine
13.11.2013 | 00:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
There is more and more evidence that Ukraine could declare default soon… The Financial Times reported on November 10 that Franklin Templeton Investments, one of the US largest investment funds, acquired the bonds of Ukrainian government worth $ 5billion, accounting for 20 percent of the Ukrainian foreign debt… Franklin Templeton possesses all the makings of a financial vulture. The acquisition of 20% of the debt proves Ukraine is at the threshold of plunging into default. The financial vultures have bulldog grip. They will not let Ukraine, their new victim, go. The recent decision handed down by New York court in favor of financial vultures and to the detriment of Argentina has inspired them in their endeavor to achieve more victories. Another and the most famous case as yet may be the victory to be held over Ukraine…
Demonstrative Bloodshed in Store for Venezuela
13.11.2013 | 00:00 | Nil NIKANDROV
There is no doubt that a conspiracy against the Bolivarian regime is gradually and deliberately being implemented. Events in Venezuela are very reminiscent of the scenario of the weakening, compromising and subsequent overthrow of the government of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973. Constant deficits of essential food commodities, interruptions of electrical power and water supplies, the growth of street crime, corruption scandals, and uncontrollable inflation all affect the mindset of Venezuelans…
In the Shadow of American Geopolitics, or Once Again on Greater Israel (II)
12.11.2013 | 00:00 | Olga CHETVERIKOVA
The world is moving towards a global war for resources, and this primarily concerns the Persian Gulf. Assessing the situation in the Arab-Muslim world in relation to this, Oded Yinon writes: «…The Moslem Arab World is built like a temporary house of cards put together by foreigners (France and Britain in the Nineteen Twenties), without the wishes and desires of the inhabitants having been taken into account. It was arbitrarily divided into 19 states, all made of combinations of minorities and ethnic groups which are hostile to one another, so that every Arab Moslem state nowadays faces ethnic social destruction from within, and in some a civil war is already raging»…
Africa: The Forgotten Target of NSA Surveillance
12.11.2013 | 00:00 | Wayne MADSEN
For the Western media, Africa is always a mere footnote, a continent that is generally forgotten in matters of espionage and electronic surveillance. However, as leaders in Europe, Latin America, and Asia bemoan the surveillance activities of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), Africa has also been a victim of overarching communications surveillance by the United States…
In the Shadow of American Geopolitics, or Once Again on Greater Israel (I)
11.11.2013 | 00:00 | Olga CHETVERIKOVA
Thirty years ago, American strategists introduced the idea of «The Greater Middle East», denoting the space from Maghreb to Bangladesh, and declared this vast territory to be a zone of US priority interests. In 2006, the programme of American domination in this region was renewed and defined more concretely: the then US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice introduced the term «The New Middle East», highlighting a plan to redraw the borders in the Middle East from Libya to Syria, Iraq, Iran and even Afghanistan. It was all referred to as a strategy of «constructive chaos»…
The U.S. Risks Losing the Persian Gulf
11.11.2013 | 00:00 | Nikolai BOBKIN
…It is becoming increasingly obvious to the White House that from the standpoint of American strategy in the Arab East, the alliance with Saudi Arabia is not only no longer advantageous, but could bring the danger of losing U.S. domination in the region… Behind the Saudis’ statements about fulfilling their historic mission to spread «true Islam» it is easy to read the desire of Arabian sheikhs to become the masters of the Arab world on the sole basis that they are the main financial sponsors of the bloody revolt raised by the terrorists in Syria. Money is coming to the forefront in Riyadh’s relations with Washington. Not long ago the Saudis tried to buy U.S. assent to military operations against Syria; now, having received a refusal, the kingdom is threatening to withdraw its investment dollars from America…
NATO, Russia – BMD in Europe Remains to be Bone of Contention (II)
10.11.2013 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
…Russian officials have announced the plans to place short range Iskander missiles on the EU border in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad in case NATO goes through with the third phase of European missile defense. The possibility of pre-emptive strike on the European missile system, if the US refuses a dialogue, was voiced in 2012. .. On October 28 Russian President Vladimir Putin nullified the 2011 order that created an interagency working group that focused on fostering missile defense collaboration with NATO… The S-300 units that Russia will provide to Belarus are to be fielded not far from the country’s border with NATO member states – Lithuania and Poland…
Terrorism from U.S. Territory
10.11.2013 | 00:00 | Nikolai MALISHEVSKI
…The U.S. government is prepared to fight international terrorism and the drug mafia anywhere in the world but at home, where people who have confessed to carrying out terrorist attacks against Cuba are living openly in Florida. The Island of Freedom continues to suffer from terrorism from U.S. territory…
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