This first piece is sure to get the blood boiling in certain circles:
"Russia plans Cuba, Vietnam bases; Naval plan could strain US ties" by Anatoly Temkin and Henry Meyer | Washington Post, July 28, 2012
MOSCOW — Russia is in talks to set up naval bases in former Cold War allies Cuba and Vietnam as President Vladimir Putin undertakes the country’s biggest military overhaul since the Soviet era.
‘‘We are working on establishing navy bases outside Russia,’’ Vice-Admiral Viktor Chirkov told the state-run RIA Novosti news service. ‘‘We aim to set up resupply bases in Cuba, the Seychelles, and Vietnam.’’
Russian plans for overseas military expansion threaten to further strain relations with the United States at a time when the former superpower rivals are at odds about US missile- shield plans and fighting in Syria. Putin’s government plans to spend $712 billion this decade on defense.
US spends about that in one year.
Btw, how many bases and how many countries does the AmeriKan Empi.... oh, never mind. It's a Sunday, I have a lot I want to get to, and I really don't have time anymore for this agenda-serving s***-slop spin called news.
‘‘There’s a lot of tension between Washington and Moscow right now, as Syria is creating a lot of bad feeling between them,’’ said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent policy analyst.
Which is so very perplexing because it means Israel has some sort of hold over AmeriKan foreign policy through AIPAC
Be it Iran or Russia our "friendship" with Israel is COUNTER to the INTERESTS of the AMERICAN NATION! The fact is WE WOULD HAVE NO BEEF with IRAN or SYRIA right now were it not for Israel.
I know, I know, hostage crisis. Only problem is you have to remember that was a 25-year reaction to the AmeriKan coup known as Operation Ajax that deposed the democratic Mosaddegh (??). It's because he nationalized the oil companies and got BP kicked out.
And who could ever forget the AmeriKan act of terrorism?
Russia risks losing its only military base outside the former Soviet Union, a naval depot in a Syrian port, as President Bashar Assad fights for survival in a 17-month uprising.
Russia doesn't risk losing it; the EUSraeli Empire is going to seize it.
The AGENDA-PUSHING CASE for WAR is becoming MUCH CLEARER, isn't it?
US Air Force General Norton Schwartz in 2008 warned Russia not to cross a ‘‘red line’’ by placing bombers in Cuba, where the deployment of Soviet missiles brought Moscow and Washington close to nuclear conflict in 1962.
Does this nation ever need another JFK.
Schwartz commented when the newspaper Izvestia said Russia planned to build a refueling base for strategic aircraft in the communist island state in response to US plans to deploy elements of a missile defense system in Europe. The Russian Defense Ministry later denied the report.
Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang said his country would allow Russia to put a servicing facility in Can Ramh Bay, a former Soviet naval base.
In Moscow, Sang held talks with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday and was to see Putin on Friday. Cuban leader Raul Castro held talks with Putin this month.
Russia does not have the naval resources at the moment for a permanent presence outside its territorial waters, with only about 30 major warships divided among five fleets, so the possibility of opening resupply bases does not mean an expansion of Russian maritime power, Felgenhauer said.
In other words we could, what, beat 'em in a war? They not really a threat?
--more--"
SUNDAY GLOBE UPDATE:
"The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would not cooperate with a European Union effort to block such shipments by searching ships suspected of carrying weapons to Syria. A ministry spokesman said Russia considered the plan to inspect ships a violation of other countries’ sovereignty....
That's what the E.U. does.
--more--"
This next item roils me:
"Russia attacks target Muslim clerics" Associated Press, July 20, 2012
MOSCOW — A top Muslim cleric in Russia’s Tatarstan province was shot dead Thursday and another was wounded by a car bomb, attacks that the province’s leader and local religious authorities said were probably related to the leader’s criticism of radical Islamists.
That doesn't bother me because when I read radical Islamists in my war-promoting Zionist prism I recognize it for what it is: western intelligence operations.
I'll bet that comment roils some.
Valiulla Yakupov, the deputy to the Muslim province’s chief mufti, was gunned down Thursday as he left his house in Tatarstan’s regional capital of Kazan, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. Minutes later, chief mufti Ildus Faizov was wounded after an explosive device ripped through his car in Kazan, it said.
Aaaaah, the hallmarks of a western intelligence operation.
Both clerics were known as critics of radical Islamist groups that advocate a strict and puritan version of Islam known as Salafism. Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Russian media his agency was looking into the clerics’ stances as a possible reason for the attacks. By Thursday evening, investigators said they were viewing the attacks as terrorism.
The rise of Salafism in this oil-rich Volga River province has been fueled by the influx of Muslim clerics from Chechnya and other predominantly Muslim provinces of Russia’s Caucasus region, where Islamic insurgency has been raging for years.
Last year, Doku Umarov, leader of embattled Chechen separatists, issued a religious decree calling on radical Islamists to move to the densely-populated Volga River region that includes Tatarstan.
Related: Russian Through the Boston Globe
I'm hurrying as fast as I can.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Thursday did not comment on who might be behind the attacks, but said they are ‘‘a reminder that the situation in our country is far from ideal.’’
He doesn't need to. Any aware observer knows exactly who is behind them. Just another way of destabilizing Russia
--more--"
Also see: Anti-Putin feminist punks on trial in Moscow
Russia launches crew to space station
Astronaut trio docks with space station
And I know I'll roil some people when I add these articles because in my mind they are still in the Russian sphere:
"Ukraine opposition sets out to impeach president" Associated Press, July 17, 2012
KIEV — President Viktor Yanukovych is under fire from the West over the politically tainted jailing of Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister and the country’s top opposition leader, whom he beat in Ukraine’s 2010 presidential election....
He should consider it a badge of honor.
While Ukrainian courts, which usually toe the government line, were unlikely to rule against Yanukovych, analysts said the project could help mobilize support for the opposition ahead of the crucial vote....
Translation: another rigged election coming your way.
Btw, we Americans have the same kind of courts.
Democracy has suffered a major setback in Ukraine since Yanukovych came to power in 2010.
Meaning our guy, 'er, lady didn't win last time.
--more--"
Hey, look, at least I don't call them the Soviet Union.
"The Albanian Parliament approved electoral changes on Thursday after pressure from the European Union and opposition allegations that past votes have been rigged."
I've reached the point where I'm surprised when there is a fair election.
Btw, the next time I see one I'll be sure let you know.
