17 February 2019 — New Eastern Outlook
Half a century from now historians and social scientists will wrestle with the defining questions at the dawn of the 21st-century. And unless I miss my guess, lucid researchers, philosophers, and professors will discuss what exactly it was that Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened. This should also be the most imperative question for today.
14 February 2019 — The Saker
[This is an important document. It sets out the Russian government’s view on the state of the nation and its future and I think anyone who is interested in having a future on this planet, needs to read it. See also, Moon of Alabama’s take on Surkov’s essay. WB]
Foreword by Dmitry Orlov: We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this translation of a very important article that describes the nature of modern Russian governance. It is written by one of Vladimir Putin’s close advisors who is a political expert of considerable stature. It has been widely (though rather toothlessly) reviled in Western press (as well wannabe-Western Russian liberal press) but without quoting the source, which I have only yesterday translated into English. The author definitely hit a nerve by demolishing the Western democratic system of “checks and scoundrels” with its illusion of choice and its ever-vigilant deep state.
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http://www.ng.ru/ideas/2019-02-11/5_7503_surkov.html
“It only seems that we have a choice.” These words are amazing in their depth of meaning and audacity. They were uttered a decade and a half ago, and today they have been forgotten and are not quoted. But according to the laws of psychology that which is forgotten affects us much more than what we remember. And these words, taken far outside the context in which they were first uttered, have as a result become the first axiom of the new Russian statehood upon which have been built all theories and practices of contemporary politics.
13 February 2019 — Moon of Alabama
For more than two years U.S. politicians, the media and some bloggers hyped a conspiracy theory. They claimed that Russia had somehow colluded with the Trump campaign to get him elected.
8 February 2019 — The Indian Punchline – Oriental Review
The US president’s annual State of the Union address traditionally focuses on domestic issues but it also throws some light on the foreign policy priorities. President Trump’s speech on Tuesday adhered to the pattern and if anything, the portions on foreign policy received scant attention, restricted to his “agenda to protect America’s National Security.” Trump’s re-election bid for a second term in 2020 provided the backdrop.
7 February 2019 — Oriental Review
After the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia was becoming a less popular area of studying and dealing with in comparison before the end of the Cold War. In the West, it was believed that after 1991 Russia was simply “finished” as Moscow was not anymore the capital of a Great Power state which had an important influence in global politics and international relations. In other words, the Western policymakers thought that after 1991 Russia would remain irrelevant as both economic and political power in global politics and, therefore, for instance, many university’s studies programs on Russia in the USA and West Europe were either canceled or downsized under the explanation that studying Russia was no longer important.
6 February 2019 — Strategic Culture Foundation
The Trump administration announced on February 1 that the country was suspending its participation in the Intearmediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF treaty) for 180 days pending a final withdrawal. Vladimir Putin, in a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu, announced on Saturday that the Russian Federation is also suspending its participation in the treaty in a mirror response to Washington’s unilateral decision.
4 February 2019 — Consortium News
Special to Consortium News
4 February 2019 — WSWS
In a desperate attempt to cover its tracks, the propaganda network linked to Britain’s security services, the Integrity Initiative (II), has wiped its website and locked its Twitter account “pending an investigation into the theft of data.”
25 January 2019 — Strategic Culture Foundation
With the end of the unipolar moment, which saw Washington dominate international relations, the richest and most powerful Eurasian countries are beginning to organize themselves into alliance structures and agreements that aim to facilitate trade, development and cooperation.
21 January, 2018 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
Russia is said to be an imperialist world power, one in conflict with the imperialist superpower that is the United States. Russia has been characterized in this manner both during the period of the Soviet Union and after the Soviet Union collapsed and separate states were formed. Russia is said to be imperialist both when it was a socialist state and now as a capitalist state.
19 January 2019 — Caitlin Johnson
Following what the Washington Post has described as “the highest-profile misstep yet for a news organization during a period of heightened and intense scrutiny of the press,” mass media representatives are now flailing desperately for an argument as to why people should continue to place their trust in mainstream news outlets.
19 January 2019 — Dissident Voice
From a technical point of view, he (Stanley Kubrick) anticipated many things. … Since that time, little has changed, honestly. The only difference is that modern weapons systems have become more sophisticated, more complex. But this idea of a retaliatory strike and the inability to manage these systems, yes, all of these things are relevant today. It (controlling the systems) will become even more difficult and more dangerous. (Emphasis, jw)
Vladimir Putin commenting on the film, Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, in an interview with Oliver Stone, May 11, 2016. Putin had not seen the movie and did not know of it before Stone showed it to him.
