4 April 2015 — Strategic Culture Foundation
Yemeni Crisis: Broader Geographical Implications
04.04.2015 | 12:27 | Boris DOLGOV
The intervention of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia in March 2015 escalated the drawn-out internal conflict in Yemen. It may threaten stability far beyond the borders of Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula. Ansar Allah («Supporters of God»), a Zaidi Shia group, known more popularly as the Houthis, started an offensive in February capturing Sana, the capital of Yemen… The crisis in Yemen can be considered as the continuation of Arab Spring… The Houthis group takes its name from Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, who launched an insurgency in 2004 in the north-western province of Saada… They say that the group has to defend its religion (Zaidism – a branch of Shia Islam) from Sunni Muslims supported by the country’s rulers who act in the interests of Saudi Arabia and the United States…
Talks on Iran Nuclear Program Result in Framework Agreement
04.04.2015 | 00:00 | Nikolai BOBKIN
…The concept of US exceptionalism has become obsolete. The negotiation process in Lausanne showed that the US has no resources to maintain the world supremacy. America should learn to treat others as equal. Until now the US Iran policy boiled down to only one thing – the change of regime. It’s not clear what is in store for the deal reached in Lausanne. There may be surprises ahead. The main thing is not to let the victory euphoria carry the Iranians away and make them forget about caution. Iran is accustomed to live under sanctions. Will it resist the temptation to become an American friend? It would be a dubious undertaking. US senators have warned Tehran that the decisions of current President cannot be taken for granted.
Muhammadu Buhari – Nigeria’s New President
04.04.2015 | 00:00 | Alexander MEZYAEV
On April 1, the election commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – a country with vast mineral wealth and a population of 185 million – announced that a new president had been elected, a professional soldier named General Muhammadu Buhari… Buhari’s foreign policy is notable for its proposal to «establish a special relationship» with the BRICS countries, particularly with Russia. The new president also plans to complete the creation of a free-trade zone – the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – and to introduce a common currency in those nations…
Can Evil Be Defeated?
03.04.2015 | 11:48 | Paul Craig ROBERTS
American civil liberty was seriously eroded prior to 9/11 and the rise of the police/warfare state… We live in an electronic concentration camp. We are addicted to images on screens that disinform and propagandize us to accept and even welcome the police state activities… If citizens simply stop cooperating by listening to the lies on TV, by purchasing the devices used to control them, by amusing themselves in front of propaganda screens, by learning again how to think, how to be human, how to be moral, the American police state can be defeated. It worked in the past, and possibly it can work again. If not, Washington will remain the home of Sauron, a threat to every American citizen and to the entire world.
70-th Anniversary of Victory. Fundamental Treatise on the History of Russia’s 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War Came Out in Russia
03.04.2015 | 00:00 | Yuriy RUBTSOV
In not so distant 2008 Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Ministry of Defence to prepare for publication the twelve volumes of the treatise titled The 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War. The mission is accomplished – the 12th volume has come out recently… The new edition offers hundreds of the documents that have been found during the recent twenty years in the archive of President of Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), the Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence and other national and foreign archives… The statistics adduced in the treatise show that the Great Patriotic War was the main event of the Second World War. The Soviet Union bore the brunt of effort to rout the Nazi Germany and its European allies…
Sergei Lavrov in Latin America
02.04.2015 | 20:33 | Nil NIKANDROV
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has once again visited the Western Hemisphere. An intense programme of official visits, talks and consultations in Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua and Guatemala, and a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Central American Integration System (SICA), and all in just three days… Three to four years ago, Washington generally tried to hold back its emotions regarding Russia’s growing presence in Latin America and the Caribbean… But all of a sudden there are cracks. Congress, the White House, the Pentagon and the CIA have become anxious, publicly declaring that Russia is intentionally restoring its influence in Latin America using cold war tactics…
Where Else Will German Soldier Be Sent to?
02.04.2015 | 09:46 | Natalia MEDEN
Former Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière used to complain about German pacifism. His successor Ursula von der Leyen knew what to do. Since last year she started to tell Germans about Bundeswehr being poorly equipped. Now she is sure that Germans started to realize that there is no such thing as free lunch and security is something to be paid for. She likes to cite Henry Kissinger who once said that Germany could not shake off the burden of responsibility. How does Germany demonstrate that it is responsible and independent? Allowing new US tanks come to Bavaria?..
Raw Awakening: Prospects for Ukraine’s EU Integration Slipping Away to Vanish beyond the Horizon
02.04.2015 | 00:00 | Dmitry MININ
The Maidan revolution involved grassroots into the process of power change. The integration with the European Union was promulgated as one of the main goals. The association agreement was a step on the way. It was signed on March 21, 2014. A year has passed, but there are no tangible results. The prospects for integration have become even murkier than they were back then…
Yemen or Iran: Which One is in US Sights?
01.04.2015 | 07:57 | Nikolai BOBKIN
…Saying yes to the operation against the Shia movement Ansar Allah (Houthis) Americans risk facing «unexpected consequences» one more time. No doubt the Houthi movement is the only force in Yemen able to counter the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State (IS). The Yemen’s overthrown President Hadi was blamed for his close ties with Sunni radicals connected to AQAP and IS. As soon as the Houthis came to power, the AQAP militants gave an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State and started to fight the Houthis. Once again Obama aims at wrong terrorists…
U.S. Asian, European «Allies» Pivot away from Washington
01.04.2015 | 00:00 | Wayne MADSEN
President Barack Obama’s much-heralded «Pivot to Asia» lies in tatters as European and Asian «allies» of the United States march away from the heavily U.S.-influenced Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as the American-led World Bank, to join China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)… The world is recognizing that the era of «Pax Americana» is now over. Taking its place is a new «Pax Sinica» bolstered by support from the BRICS alliance and China’s new partners in the AIIB and New Development Bank.
Central Banks as the Bankrupts of Last Resort
01.04.2015 | 00:00 | Valentin KATASONOV
…The ownership capital of the US Federal Reserve in relation to the value on the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet is just 1.3 per cent. And this symbolic capital is not represented by gold or anything else of actual value, but by electronic records. It is clichéd financial black magic. From the point of view of the capital adequacy ratios developed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) for ordinary (commercial) banks (Basel II, Basel III), the US Federal Reserve System is completely bankrupt…
70th Anniversary of Gdansk Liberation
31.03.2015 | 09:37 | Yuriy RUBTSOV
…The post-war history of Gdansk, liberated on March 30, shows that some people have a really poor memory. Gdansk, or the free city of Danzig, had never been part of Polish state till the Versailles Treaty of 1919 that gave Poland access to the Baltic Sea. Germans had accounted for the larger part of population… The USSR did much more than just liberate Polish cities. Thanks to the position of the Soviet Union taken at the Potsdam conference the Poland’s territory was increased by at least a third in comparison with what it had been before the war. Danzig was incorporated into Poland. That’s what Poles appear to forget nowadays. They feel no gratitude towards Russia. And they seem not to remember how cruelly they treated the Germans residing in Danzig…
Yemen Echoes of 1930s Aggression and Descent into Barbarism
31.03.2015 | 09:34 | Finian CUNNINGHAM
…As delegates gathered in Egypt’s resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh for the Arab League last weekend, nearly half of its member states were at the same time openly engaged in an aerial blitz on one of the League’s weakest countries – Yemen. Far from issuing any misgiving, or appeal for restraint, the League fully endorsed the onslaught on Yemen and even went on to call for a new «unified military force» to repeat the action in other countries where a «security risk» is deemed. This is a cart blanche for further foreign military interventions bypassing the United Nations Security Council…
The Geopolitics behind the War in Yemen (II)
31.03.2015 | 00:00 | Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
…The instability in Yemen is being caused not by Iran or the Houthis, but by US and Saudi interference in Yemen — from Saudi Arabia’s 2009 invasion to US drone attacks — and the decades of support that Saudi Arabia has provided for authoritarian and unpopular rule in Yemen…
Liberation of Europe: Siege of Budapest
30.03.2015 | 00:00 | Nikolai MALISHEVSKI
The Battle of Budapest (October 29, 1944 till February 13, 1945) was a great battle of WWII. The victory paved the way for liberation of Hungary, destruction of the Hitler’s coalition in Europe and blockade of German forces in the Balkans… The Soviet 2d and 3d Ukrainian Fronts were confronted by German Army Group South, part of Group Center and the army of Hungary, the last ally of Nazis in Europe… The Hungarian capital was encircled. Hitler ordered Obergruppenfuehrer-SS Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch to fight to the last. The storm started on December 26, 1944 to continue for the next two months. For comparison, Berlin was captured in two weeks…
The Geopolitics behind the War in Yemen (I)
30.03.2015 | 00:00 | Mahdi Darius NAZEMROAYA
…The truth has been turned on its head about the war in Yemen. The war and ousting of President Abd-Rabbuh Man?our Al-Hadi in Yemen are not the results of «Houthi coup» in Yemen. It is the opposite. Al-Hadi was ousted, because with Saudi and US support he tried to backtrack on the power sharing agreements he had made and return Yemen to authoritarian rule. The ousting of President Al-Hadi by the Houthis and their political allies was an unexpected reaction to the takeover Al-Hadi was planning with Washington and the House of Saudi…
Ankara – Riyadh: A Geopolitical Fault Line (II)
29.03.2015 | 00:00 | Pyotr ISKENDEROV
…Ankara is keeping a close eye on every step Saudi Arabia takes. Özcan Tikit, a columnist for the Turkish newspaper Habertürk, notes that «the Saudi leaders’ demands have raised concerns for Obama»… There is reason to believe that in the future the Turkish aspect of its foreign policy will be more meaningful for Washington than the Saudi element. Zbigniew Brzezinski was partial to that view in the late 1990s, noting that Ankara «stabilizes the Black Sea region, controls access from it to the Mediterranean Sea, balances Russia in the Caucasus, still offers an antidote to Muslim fundamentalism, and serves as the southern anchor for NATO»…
Latin America, China and USA
29.03.2015 | 00:00 | Nil NIKANDROV
…China has been cooperating with Latin America in the field of space research for many years. Chinese state-owned company China Great Wall Industry Corporation and the Venezuelan government have signed an agreement to build and deliver into orbit Venezuela’s third satellite. It’ll be used for intelligence gathering… China plans to build an antenna for deep space observation in Argentina’s southern Patagonia region in Neuquen province. It also takes part in the Latin American effort to boost its defense capability. Chinese experts help Venezuela to produce drones for monitoring the Amazonian region…
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