8 February 2014 — Strategic Culture Foundation
American Democracy and Barbarian Slavs
08.02.2014 | 11:31 | Dmitriy SEDOV
Whatever you may say, Slavs are barbarians! The civilized world gets evidence of the fact over and over again. That is exactly what US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said in 2012 complaining about the journalists’ behavior, «It looks like I am in a barbarian country»… O.K., forget about Russians. The civilized America is spying on the whole world, but does it in a worthy manner – not a word is made public. Everything is up to par, no need for any explanations. The Ukrainian security service has done it in quite a different way. They managed to bug the phone call and listen to the conversation between Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland and US Ambassador to Kiev Geoffrey R. Pyatt, and then the phone call was posted on YouTube. Is it the way things are done in civilized countries?..
West and Ukraine: Looking at Possible Scenarios
08.02.2014 | 00:00 | Irina LEBEDEVA
The Ukraine 2020 report was published in 2010 by the Center for Global Affairs. The paper presents possible options for Ukraine’s political development. Professor Michael Oppenheimer, Center for Global Affairs, New York University, was the founder of the project. The events in Ukraine appear to unfold at present according to the «three scenarios» described in the paper… Almost all known experts on Ukraine from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Poland and other states took part in the project… but there was no representation on the part of Russia. It’ll be no surprise if one day the files found in the Ukraine’s Batkivshchyna Party office during a search will happen to be excerpts from this American what-to-do instruction book. A few years ago the authors of the paper managed to foresee the Svoboda Party leading the «people’s protests», the resignation of Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov and Arseniy Yatsenyuk coming to the fore…
The Destruction of Chemical Weapons in Syria: The Different Approaches of Russia and the US
08.02.2014 | 00:00 | Nikolai BOBKIN
…It is impossible not to notice the White House’s painful attitude towards the leading role being played by Russia in Syria’s chemical disarmament. According to a number of congressmen, Obama’s administration is too dependent on Moscow on this issue… Moscow is strictly observing the allocation of responsibilities approved by the international community: it is the Syrian government’s responsibility to transport the chemical weapons to Latakia; while Russia and China, whose ships have already exported dangerous materials south of the Apennine Peninsula and are ready for the next voyage, are to ensure the safety of the operation in Syrian territorial waters…
Sochi Games: Politics, Not Sport, Tops Western Media Agenda
07.02.2014 | 10:11 | Finian CUNNINGHAM
Can Afghan Army do it alone with US and NATO Forces Gone?
07.02.2014 | 00:00 | Nikolai BOBKIN
…The Afghan security forces lack clear understanding what they are defending and who they are fighting against… As a whole the United States and NATO pinned their hopes on finding solutions to a number of questions before the troops pull out. Mainly the solutions are still to be found. Soon we’ll see if Afghanistan is able to maintain stability in the country on its own – the Taliban has promised to undermine the plans to hold a presidential election in April 2014…
Banks and Bandits
07.02.2014 | 00:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
…Leading Western banks create a wide transnational network with their branches, daughter and granddaughter subsidiaries in Central and Southern America, Western Africa, Southeast Asia and Russia. It would be fair to assume that these transnational giants are expanding in order to conquer new credit and money markets, but at the same time, a motive like laundering dirty money is almost never mentioned with regard to their activities. However, this is why countries on the periphery of global capitalism are unable to establish effective financial and banking control, since such control directly contradicts the interests of major banks and the drug mafia…
US Assistant Secretary Nuland Visits Ukraine – Some Thoughts to Share (II)
06.02.2014 | 00:00 | Andrei AKULOV
…So the democratically elected government of Ukraine somehow lacks legitimacy and the US sends «folks» to rectify the situation. State Department’s Victoria Nuland, the leader of «folks», is at the head of the process. She is openly supporting the opposition. She has visited the protesters’ headquarters and held rousing speeches in front of the excited crowds. The Assistant Secretary openly admitted that the US spent billions of dollars on ‘democratizing’ Ukraine. There is also a reason to believe that if worst comes to worst and the situation would make the US and Russia join efforts like they do in Syria, Mrs. Assistant Secretary will be a wrong person in the wrong position and at the wrong time. Because then there will be a need for constructive approach instead of brazen behavior unworthy of someone who is a career diplomat. Otherwise what [are] career diplomats are for?
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Joachim Gauck Calls for Expanded Military Engagement Abroad
06.02.2014 | 00:00 | Natalia MEDEN
…The President of Germany thinks the reference to history is a pretext which allows Germans feel comfortable behind the back of heroic allies. He believes it’s nothing else but moral turpitude at the time when the United States has hard time defending peace alone. Gauck believes that Germany and its allies should take on more responsibility. Experts know well where the contemporary idea of Germany’s responsibility has come from. In September 2013 the government-friendly German Institute for International and Security Affairs of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) and the German Marshall Fund of the United States published the report called New Power, New Responsibility, elements of a German Foreign and Security Policy for a Changing World. The main conclusion the paper leads to is that Germany’s clout in Europe should be growing along with its responsibility before the United States…
US Assistant Secretary Nuland Visits Ukraine – Some Thoughts to Share (I)
05.02.2014 | 15:57 | Andrei AKULOV
The United States increases its pressure on Ukraine while preparing sanctions against it. It sends a high-level Foggy Bottom official to visit the country only a month after her previous visit. US Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland is going to Kiev on Thursday, February 6… Victoria Nuland is a dry behind the ears career diplomat with experience of holding senior positions in the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. She also has served as a foreign policy adviser to former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney and then as US ambassador to NATO. Mrs. Nuland is married to well-known conservative foreign policy pundit Robert Kagan who pushed for the Iraq war. He has always spoken unfavorably about Russia and wants the administration to get tough on Ukraine. Some people call him a neocon…
What Links the Threat of a U.S. Default with the Destabilization of Ukraine?
05.02.2014 | 00:00 | Nikolai MALISHEVSKI
At the Munich Security Conference the Ukrainian opposition and the U.S. essentially agreed on a plan to force Viktor Yanukovich to capitulate. Arseniy Yatsenyuk told of this plan of action, which was worked out with the direct participation of Western representatives, after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU officials. While the «Euromaidan» is shoring up its tents, showing that it is there for the long haul, the State Department has appointed a time by which the regime change operation in Ukraine is to be finished: March 24. That is how the message which appeared on the official site of the U.S. State Department on January 24 could be interpreted…
Will the U.S. Find Its Way Out of the Dead End in Afghanistan?
04.02.2014 | 11:44 | Nikolai BOBKIN
…The tasks of ensuring security in the Northern Caucasus and in Russia’s allies in Central Asia have made it a priority for Moscow to work toward counteracting the threats of extremism and international terrorism. Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the U.S. and NATO on Afghanistan remains perhaps the only area in relations between Moscow and the West where there have been no significant disagreements. This does not mean, however, that the West can continue to try the Kremlin’s patience with its inability to find a way out of the military and political dead end which has resulted from the ineffective actions of the Western coalition for keeping peace in Afghanistan…
Erdogan Goes to Tehran: Business First, Politics Second
04.02.2014 | 00:00 | Igor PANKRATENKO
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan got a warm reception during his two-day long visit to Iran. Friendly attitude was emphasized at the summit – it all goes to show that Ankara and Tehran decided to forget the serious political differences for the time being so that the parties could concentrate on economic issues… Setting up Iran-Turkey Supreme Political Cooperation Council is an important step which would be impossible to take without aligning positions on regional conflicts, especially regarding the situation in Syria. According to Erdogan, the members of Council should work as members of one cabinet. At that, it’s too early to make far-reaching conclusions about the emergence of Ankara-Tehran alliance…
China Key to Africa’s Optimism… and Renewed Western Militarism
03.02.2014 | 09:30 | Finian CUNNINGHAM
…In the past three years, China is estimated to have allocated a total of $100 billion for investment in almost every African country. The invested activities include oil and gas industries, civic infrastructure of universities, hospitals and transport systems, as well as a wide range of mining operations… It is no coincidence that Western capitals are trying covertly to gain a renewed military presence in Africa. On this score, the French seem to be taking a lead with four major military interventions in the past four years in Cote D’Ivoire, Libya, Mali and currently the Central African Republic…
Munich: Imposing Their Own Will on Eastern Europe
03.02.2014 | 00:00 | Natalia MEDEN
…Once more an attempt to take control of Eastern Europe is undertaken in Munich. It does not look like Europeans are interested in another Drang nach Osten as much as their American partners are. Not all are happy about the fact that everything in the Western world, unlike in the pre-war Munich, is decided by one center of power instead of finding an agreement between different groups of interests. It’s well known what the 1938 Munich adventure resulted in, but history cannot be repeated, that’s what the Munich event confirmed. Some politicians start to routinely talk about interference into other states affairs, including the use of force, and it makes one wonder. This kind of attitude is becoming unacceptable…
U.S. Turning into Latin America’s Backyard
02.02.2014 | 11:22 | Nil NIKANDROV
The second summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) January 28-29 aroused great interest, first and foremost because this organization of Western Hemisphere countries does not include the U.S. or Canada… The second CELAC summit was able to achieve consolidation of the positions of member countries on many issues. The strategic goal is the integration of Latin American states. CELAC has appeared on the international arena as the only «authorized representative» of Latin American and Caribbean countries. The United States will have to gradually get over its complex of superiority in the Western Hemisphere; otherwise the Latin Americans will someday turn the territory north of the Rio Grande into their «backyard»…
Is Israel Getting Ready to Rethink its Strategy in Syria?
02.02.2014 | 00:00 | Dmitry MININ
On 24 January, a senior officer in the Israeli military intelligence held a special briefing, at which it was reported that there is «the possibility» of Israel rethinking its strategy in the Syrian conflict. The reason? The sharp rise in the number of militants in Syria linked to al-Qaeda who are uncompromising when it comes to Israel. Just two years ago they numbered 2,000, but today this number has increased to 30,000. They have travelled to Syria from countries in the Middle East, Europe, America…
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