Places closer to Russia's capital, than Palin's home
*added September 23, 2008
http://current.com/items/89329684_places_closer_to_russia_s_capital_than_palin_s_home
Sarah Palin thinks Russia is so close to her home, it gives her foreign policy experience. And Tina Fey said on SNL imitating Palin "I can see Russia from my house!" This is a funny map which puts it into perspective. Check out the great map!
Michael Collins: Not One Dime for Georgia
The president of the Republic of Georgia eats his tie on national television. BBC
$1.1 Billion Giveaway for the Republic of Georgia Announced:
"The United States Supports The Recovery, Stability,
And Continued Growth Of Georgia's Economy"
The White House, Sept. 3, 2008
(Wash. DC) We're not talking about the great state of Georgia, which deserves everything it has coming to it and more. We're talking about the Republic of Georgia, a nation of 4.5 million people wedged between Russia and Turkey.
On Wednesday, September 3, the White House announced a comprehensive aid package valued at $1.1 billion dollars to help the Republic of Georgia recover from the whipping it took after it attacked Russian peace keeping forces in South Ossetia, a breakaway province of Georgia near the Russian border. That region experienced a major war in 1991 and varying tensions since.
Russian personnel were in Georgia as part of a multi-national peace keeping regime created by the United Nations and endorsed by the European Union in 2006.
Read More »Or a differnt perspective courtesy of www.eurasianet.org
The Kremlin received a rude diplomatic surprise on August 28, when some of its closest allies offered only a tepid endorsement for Russia’s incursion into Georgia, while reaffirming the principle of the territorial integrity of states. Moscow now finds itself more diplomatically isolated than ever over its continuing military presence in Georgia and its recognition of the independence of the separatist entities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russian leaders headed into the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Dushanbe – a group comprising China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – expecting to receive unqualified support for its recent actions in Georgia. Instead, they were on the receiving end of a stinging rebuke over Moscow’s hasty recognition of Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence.
"The participants [of the SCO summit] underscore the need for respect of the historical and cultural traditions of each country and each people, for efforts aimed at the preservation, under international law, of the unity of a state and its territorial integrity," the alliance’s statement said.
Using convoluted language, the SCO member states appeared to sanction Russia’s incursion into Georgia, but seemingly admonished the Kremlin for taking things too far. SCO members "support the active role of Russia in assisting peace and cooperation in the region," the statement said, going on to stress an ongoing need for "peaceful dialogue
DUSHANBE (AFP) — China and four Central Asian nations signed a statement Thursday supporting Russia's role in the Caucasus but also expressing "deep concern" over the Georgia conflict and calling for a negotiated settlement.
In a joint statement, the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan said they "support the active role of Russia in assisting peace and cooperation in the region."
The six in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) also "express their deep concern over the recent tensions surrounding the South Ossetia question and call for the sides to peacefully resolve existing problems through dialogue."
Echoing language used in the West over the conflict, a portion of the statement also said the summit members supported the principle of "territorial integrity" of states.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the statement showed a "united position" on the Georgia conflict, and Kremlin officials indicated they were happy with its phrasing
Excerpt courtesy of afp.google.com
Some comments to "Ethnic Cleansing in Iraq" yesterday said things such as 'read up before you post!'
I was a national security consultant to the Department of Defense at a time when that meant I took my martinis "shaken not stirred." Under contract to the DoD, I co-authored a conflict prediction study forty years ago that set forth today's MidEast situation with perfect accuracy. Yesterday's commenters implied I don't understand the MidEast. In fact, I predicted it 40 years in advance, perfectly! Which made me the only Presidential candidate who actually has foreign affairs competence. My writings here are not from readings, but from hands on experience.
I met the Shah, and spent time with the CIA controllers who lived in the palace "furnishing advice" on his every act. The Shah was our puppet, owned lock, stock and barrel. British MI-6 created the Shah by kidnapping him when they killed his father for collaborating with Hitler, and MI-6 agents raised and educated the Shah. Our CIA took him over in the 1960s. Yes, he used torture. Duh! Iran is in Central Asia!
Everyone between Poland and China uses torture as casually as Columbia University undergrads deprive their opponents of the right to free speech and freedom of assembly.
Jimmy Carter ordered our CIA out of Iran and cut off all support and supplies. The Shah had the most modern Air Force in the world, all state of the art American technology because Iran was the armored firewall protecting Arabia and oil from takeover by the USSR, with whom they shared a long, and viciously battle torn border.
When Carter cut off replacement parts and withdrew the thousands of American contractors who maintained the advanced technology air force, armoured brigades, and communications systems, Iran's military was rendered immobile within weeks.
When Carter withdrew the hordes of American intelligence gatherers, the Shah lost much of his knowledge of the Russian sabateurs infiltrating Iran and who were organizing, supplying, paying salaries to, and training the so-called "popular uprising."
Every day there was military action of both Soviet organized phony internal "rebels" as well direct small scale invasions by USSR secret police groups operating in every poluation center inside Iran. As soon as Carter crippled Iran's military, death loomed large.
The Ayatollah Khomeni lived in exile in Paris financed by the USSR. Just as we had CIA sitting alongside the Shah every day, Soviet Russia had agents walking beside Khomeni all day long, every day. Iran was the biggest prize of the Cold War. Remeber, this was immediately after the Soviet/China alliance whupped us in Vietnam.
As soon as the Russian terror squads verified that Carter really had, with monumental stupidity, removed all support from the Iranian government so that the Soviet guerrillas could operate inside Iran with impunity, Soviet agents took control of the Tehran aerodrome, and chartered, using Russian bank accounts for payment, an Air France plance to fly Khomeni back into Iran while a US Air Force plane flew the Shah to safety.
Ever since then Russia and Iran have functioned as a single weapon against American interests.
Iran controls the "democratically elected" government of Iraq. Iraq's President and his top officers have large personal offices in Tehran! They shuttle back and forth getting their instructions from the Ayatollahs.
This is no different from the way the Chinese Communist Secret Service had a so called "Arkansas restauranteur" with an office and satellite dish accross the street from the White House. That "restauranteur" was never vetted for White House access by the Secret Service but had a special, one of a kind pass, that let him run in and out of the White House and barge in unannounced on Bill Clinton's meetings. He was Clinton's best friend and confident. When the "restauranteur" was supoened by Congress, he boarded a plane to Hong Kong and nobody including our CIA has been able to find him.
Intelligence agencies have enormous influence behind the scenes of all governments. How do you think French President Sarkozy got together with the Russian President on 90 minutes notice and negotiated a Treaty that let the Russinas do anything they want in Georiga and still be in compliance with the Treaty?
And Sarkozy loves Nobama.
WHY THE SUNNIS FEEL BETRAYED
We promised them a role in the Iraqi government if they fought on our side against Al Quada. Now the Iraqi government is not embracing them, but exterminating them. And the Iraqi government has its real offices in Tehran. The President of Iraq commutes to his Tehran office for instructions from his masters before making any decisions.
The Iranians hate the Sunnis as much as Pakistan hates India. Fallujah was the site of a massacre of Shiites by Sunnis many centuries ago. For Shiia, the annual pilgrimage to Fallujah ranks almost equal with the pigrimage to Mecca, for Shiia to reiiterate their hatred of Sunnis and reinforce their desire for vengeance. US public television regularly broadcasts coverage of this annual Shiia convention to pledge vengeance against the Sunnis. Nobama's withdrawal makes it possible.
Indeed, today's news reports that Shiite Extremist Muqtada al-Sadr is rousing his militia to protest our withdrawal as too slow.
We are following the Nobama timetable to leave Iraq, so the Iranian Shiites can exterminate their enemies for ten centuries, the Sunnis.
Gen. Petraeus success came from convincing the Sunnis to fight alongside us to expel Al Quaeda. We promised them a role in the government in exchange for fighting on our side. Now that we and the Sunnis have succeeded, the Iranian backed Shiite government has put a bounty on the heads of the Sunnis fighters and have sent the Shiite Iraqi Army (that we equipped and trained) out to arrest and disarm our Sunni allies. The Sunnis now view us as having betrayed them. Iran and their ally Russia correctly view us as fools for letting this disaster occur. The next world war will be Russia and Iran taking all the MidEast oil while China sits laughing in the background as the rest of the world destroys itself and us. And Nobama and McSleep are too stupid to notice this happening, let alone how to do anything about it. Iran benefitted tremendously from Jimmy Carter. Before Jimmy Carter Iran was our strongest ally. Carter turned it over to the Shiite extremists, who thanked him by seizing our Embassy and humiliating America. Now Nobama and McSleep are letting the Shiite Extremists take over Iraq, and from there, the entire MidEAst. May God help us, because both our Democratic party and the Republicans are never going to help us.
Well it seems that Poland is in the middle of the controversy again by agreeing to sign into the US's Missile defense program that Russia is opposed to. One has to wonder if this is the action that is going to push the recently aggressive Russia over the top again. It is a scary time because it seems to me that Russia is similar to a dog backed into a corner and ready to bite at the US for continuing to push on it. First there was Georgia and now this? I think we are on the verge of some very serious military conflicts which is not at all what this country or the world needs. I am a little freaked out by this because I can see it happening, I mean this isn't the first time that Poland has been in the center of a war starting...
Clearly recent events in South Ossetia are the stake in the heart of this theory which is based on a fundamentally flawed view of the how capitalism operates in the world. Way back in the 1990's, the argument was naively purported, that the free markets being introduced in Russia (and more gradually in China) would lead to prosperity, peace, and liberty for those nations. Evidence to the contrary however, might suggest that theory be scrapped. Russia's economy is a disaster area, aside from the enormous treasure of oil. In China, corporatism has fit far too neatly into the communist political system, and has empowered the state repressive apparatus rather than the citizenry. Worse yet, despite the liberalization of their economic systems, these states have come to view the United States as foe. Moreover, the United States and its Western European allies have not in any sense disarmed themselves against Russia and China. Read More »
"From Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, U.S. presidents have sought to avoid shooting wars with Russia, even when the Bear was at its most beastly."
Of course they did. As I have written before, there is more money to be made in stalemate than in victory.
But as I recall President Kennedy stood up to them in Berlin AND in Cuba.
Buchanan also wrote:
"The American people should be eternally grateful to Old Europe for having spiked the Bush-McCain plan to bring Georgia into NATO."
If Georgia had been admitted to NATO they might not have been silly enough to have done some of the things that they have done.
Another quote:
"And can we not understand how a Russian patriot like Vladimir Putin would be incensed by this U.S. encirclement after Russia shed its empire and sought our friendship?"
Patriot??????? Nationalist maybe. Patriot - I don't think so. He fed the Russian people to the economic dogs. That's not a patriot in my book.
But then, I don't see anything patriotic in
The (Un)Patriot(ic) Act either.
Then he finally wrote something I can agree with:
"Joe Biden ought to be conducting public hearings on who caused this U.S. humiliation."
Yes - and the guilty should be publically humiliated, then placed on trial for related criminal actions by them.
Very interesting article coming up from the opinion of a reader who is concerning about the situation in the Caucus. It seems to me finally the American opinion is taking conscientious about GEOPOLITICS and comprehends what the old fashion of politics of the 20th century is gone!
And for the sake and PEACE in this small rock called PLANET a new alignment of POWER will be welcomed soon rather than later.
Article published today in USA TODAY page 12A. on August 19, 2008
Superpowers flex muscle, but at what cost?
Earl Beal - Terre Haute, Ind.
In the power politics of international relations, superpower behavior is governed by the concept of geopolitical spheres of influence. When a superpower nation meddles in the internal affairs of another and attempts to exert undue political or economic influence in its perceived sphere, that's when trouble starts.
The trouble started when President Bush pressured Poland and the Czech Republic to establish a missile-defense system in their territories. This policy was then, and continues to be, seen by some as a direct threat to Russia, not to mention Bush's push for democratic reforms in former Soviet Republics still considered vital to Russia's national security interests.
Also, if Russia placed ballistic missiles in Cuba and/or Venezuela, this would constitute a direct threat to the U.S. Washington's hue and cry over such a move would be surpassed only by Bush's hypocrisy when he and his Pentagon took the "dramatic," "brutal" and "disproportionate" measure of invading a sovereign Iraq in 2003. As a result, what do we have?
The hemorrhaging of our national treasure in terms of lives lost.
Thousands of courageous people wounded.
A cost of more than $10 billion a month to finance this fiasco.
5 million Iraqi refugees scattered and without homes.
Percy H Florez
One avenue lies east of the Caspian Sea and would require the Russian military to conduct an approach march of approximately 700 miles before finally reaching northeastern Iran. These forces would then be approximately 200 east of Tehran, 500 miles north of the Persian Gulf, and 500 miles northeast of Iraq.
During this approach march the Russian forces would have to pass through the territory of at least two other nations - Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
On February 1 of this year Reuters reported that, "On a visit to Kazakhstan, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence Mitchell Shivers signed a new five-year cooperation plan with Kazakhstan envisaging fresh U.S. assistance in matters ranging from military reform and equipment to education....in remarks sent to Reuters by the U.S. embassy," Shivers said, "As a member of NATO, the U.S. is committed to helping Kazakhstan in improving its inter-operability with equipment and training to U.S. and NATO standards."
The CIA World Fact Book states, "Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals."
On August 1, 2007 the internet newspaper GAZETA.KZ
reported that, "Turkmenistan co-operates with the NATO also through the "Partnership for Peace" programme and on the bilateral basis usual for the Central Asian states. Moreover, it is interesting to note that Turkmenistan was the first ever Central Asian state that joined the programme in May 1994. The training and retraining of military specialists and supplies of equipment are carried out per the programme."
The second avenue west of the Caspian Sea would require an approach march of approximately 120 miles through the country of Azerbaijan. The military force would then be approximately 300 miles northwest of Tehran, 200 miles northeast of Iraq, and 600 miles north of the Persian Gulf.
These forces would, therefore, be on the northern flank of any military forces entering Iran from Iraq and positioned to cut them off from their supply bases in Iraq.
Alternatively, the Russian force could enter northern Iraq and threaten Baghdad which is approximately 250 miles from that area.
In conjunction with an advance west of the Caspian Sea the Russian military would also probably cover the flank of their forces by entering at least some portions of Georgia and Armenia.
In the event of military intervention in Iran it is far more likely that Russian Federation military forces will advance into Iran by routes west of the Caspian Sea rather than by routes east of the Caspian.
It is possable that the Russians are laying the foundation for such an advance with their current operations in Georgia.
Apparently the Russian General Staff doesn't think so because the Interfax News Agency reports that Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn the Deputy Chief of the General Staff said Friday, ".... that Poland's agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons...."
This threat came after, "Poland and the United States on Thursday signed a deal for Poland to accept a missile interceptor base as part of a system the United States says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations. Moscow, however, feels it is aimed at Russia's missile force."
Nogovitsyn, "...added, in clear reference to the agreement, that Russia's military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons "against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them."
In response to this threat Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has told Polish TV that the U.S.-Polish deal, "....includes a "mutual commitment" between the two nations to come to each other's
assistance....That clause appeared to be a direct reference to Russia."
Therefore, U.S. foreign policy frequently appears misguided and even irrational to us because we insist upon viewing it through the distorted lense of nationalistism.
Putin has flexed his muscles in Georgia and will - for the moment at least - refrain from any military action which might provoke a serious response from the U.S. and Europe.
We will happily deliver mass quantities of "humanitarian supplies" from stocks which will then have to be replenished and this replenishment will then fuel U.S. economic interests for an acceptable period of time.
We will then rebuild the Georgian armed forces which have obviously proven to be inadequate and this will further fuel U.S. economic interests.
Russian nationalism and imperialism will eventually have to be confronted but from an economic point of view that time is better delayed - at least until after the military forces of all of the new NATO members have been rebuilt - further fueling economic interests.
Viewed from this perspective the obvious question is - what does the average U.S. citizen get from all of this economic activity??????
More on that later.
Robert
Coalition For Economic Equality
At that time Thomas Gomart, director of Russian Affairs at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in Paris said, "We have enough trouble in the world without adding tensions with Russia,"
Such thinking totally ignores Russian history. The Soviet Union was not imperialistic just because it was communist.
The Soviet Union was imperialistic because at its core it was Russian and Russia has been imperialistic for at least 400 years.
Like Germany in 1918 the collapse of the Soviet Union was due to internal forces and like that Germany their armies have not been defeated on the battlefield.
Russian imperialism was rolled back from eastern Europe by the collapse of the Soviet Union. It will have to be kept from reasserting that domination by a ring of alliances which must include all the states formerly subject to Russian imperialism.
To omit even one of these states is to invite the resubjugation of all of the others. If NATO will not defend Georgia can it be expected to defend Poland or the Baltic States???
To ignore Russian agression in Georgia is to accept the risk of Russian miscalculation elsewhere and a much more destructive conflict.
Speak softly and carry a big stickwhile we are mired in Iraq.
We can not, stay in Iraq, and be capable of having any credibility as being able to stand up against the national crisises which have, and will pop up.
McCain can rase as much of a ruckus as he wants, but as long as he and his friends at BushCo want to keep us mired in Iraq, McCain's protestations are as impotent as a certain Republican pitchman for a pharmaceutical corporation.
No matter what, we can't credibly threaten to being yet another war, while we have already strained our troops to the breaking point, in the two wars which we are already embroiled in.
Especially when the newest international threat is the Russian invasion on Georgia.
With our capable troops over-extended on two fronts, our national guard troops being over-deployed, there is no way that we can even think of begining another war, let lone one with Russia.
There goes our big stick...
Here are two quotes from the article:
"By acting disproportionately with a full scale attack on Georgia, and seeking the ouster of Georgia's democratically-elected President Mikheil Saakashvili, Moscow is jeopardising its standing in Europe and the broader international community -- and risking very real practical and political consequences."
"..in the past two months I sponsored two legislative measures intended to nudge Russia toward a closer, more constructive relationship with the United States, including action to allow for increased collaboration with Russia on nuclear energy production. Russia has also lobbied to repeal an old trade provision -- the Jackson-Vanik Amendment -- which currently blocks the country's integration into the World Trade Organization. The fighting in Georgia has erased the possibility of advancing those and other legislative efforts to promote US-Russian partnership in the current Congress. It may derail them permanently if Russia does not reverse course."
And here is the Web link to the full article:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/707f4ebe-686b-11dd-a4e5-0000779fd18c.html
Senator Biden is running for re-election to the Senate; to make a contribution to his campaign please visit his Web site at www.JoeBiden.com.
While the American media is bluffing about the “Invasion of Georgia” the Bush administration just receive a lap in his face as a consequence of his erroneous and horrendous mishandling of the situation in the Middle East; special remarks on his attitudes an action in the illegal war in Iraq.
Percy H Florez
Read More »