Russia: Other Points of View

WHEN NO MEANS YES: HOW MOSCOW LEARNED TO LOVE NATO EXPANSION AND ITS BORDERS

By Gordon M. Hahn

Ever since the idea of expanding NATO without Russia was first broached in the early 1990s, many policymakers and analysts have argued that Russia does not view NATO expansion as a threat but rather uses it as a pretext to interfere in the domestic politics or attempt to restore its lost empire. This is a false and dangerous myth that is intended to remove the share of responsibility the West bears for the growing conflict with Russia. This myth risks yet more conflict to the detriment of the West, Russia, and its neighbors.

Those who purvey the myth that Moscow really is not opposed to, or concerned about a NATO expansion that excludes Russia do so in the face of the facts. Indeed, every late Soviet and post-Soviet Russian president and foreign minister has rejected NATO expansion precisely because it is detrimental to Russian national security. Russia’s military doctrine puts at the top of the list of “external military dangers…the growing violent potential of NATO and the delegation to it of global functions which are facilitative of violations of international law and the nearing of the military infrastructure of the member-countries of NATO to the borders of the Russian Federation, in particular by way of the bloc’s further expansion.” Trial balloons and direct proposals floated by every post-Soviet Russian president about Russia joining NATO were received coldly or completely ignored. Putin publicly supported the possibility during his first months in office and received no response.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP

by Patrick Armstrong

New NWO. The Chinese foreign minister made it plain: “We believe that Russia has opportunities and knowledge to overcome the current problems in the economy. The Chinese-Russian relations of strategic partnership are at a high level, we are always supporting and helping our friend. If the Russian side needs it, we shall offer all possible support we may have”. Why is China doing this? Self-interest: if Washington can bring Russia down, China knows it’s next on the list. Meanwhile, China is moving into Latin America. Washington and Brussels have united two powers that can crash their economies at will (at, admittedly, large – but not fatal – cost to themselves.) 

Truth leaks out. Despite the best efforts of Western governments and their tame media, bits of truth are slowly – but not quickly enough – leaking out. The head of Stratfor described it as “the most blatant coup in history”. As to neo-nazis (long pooh-poohed as a Putin fantasy – here, here and here for example), even the Washington Post admits “But now several of these units, especially those linked to oligarchs or the far right, are revealing a dark side.” Smaller publications can report more reality (Christianity Today or Salon) while the larger, like the NYT, still adhere to the Party Line. Here is a careful piece about neo-nazis and here a compendium on the subject. Read these and decide for yourself if this is a trivial phenomenon. Ignore the election result argument, these people prefer to create fear and compulsion: here, here, here, here. (What would the NYT or Economist say if there were a campaign for “real” Russian names, torchlight parades shouting “Glory to Russia” or guards at Christmas crèches to protect them from Obama?) Even the tame Western “human rights” organisations are starting to notice who’s shelling civilians. “Merkel should emphasize the need for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry to issue clear and specific orders... not to use certain explosive weapons in areas populated by civilians.” The notion that the defenders are destroying their own families’ housing is a little preposterous, isn’t it? Especially when Poroshenko thinks it desirable their children hide in basements. Everybody has a phone camera and a Web link now; hard to control the story.

Military etc. An amendment to Russia’s military doctrine states NATO expansion and its buildup on Russia’s borders is a threat: not really new, just that Moscow has stopped hinting. Meanwhile, as if to remind Washington – again – that Russia is not Libya or Afghanistan, a third SLBN was handed over to the Navy: these three boats carry 16 Bulava missiles each, each with 6 independently targetable warheads. 288 warheads in new, modern, tested systems. Then a land-based ICBM was successfully tested. We are informed that there are now 295,000 professional soldiers in the Armed Forces with the plan to add another 55,000 in 2015. Meanwhile, the heavy Angara A-5 rocket successfully launched a dummy payload. Russia kept its world-wide lead in space launches with 38. 

Day late and a dollar short. “Because we think it is important that Russia... and NATO are able to work together on important issues, like for instance, fighting terror.” Brilliant idea 15 years ago, good idea 10 years ago, OK idea 5 years ago, today, too late: you can’t call Russia an aggressor and ask for cooperation in one and the same statement.

Chechnya. Take ten minutes to watch this. A lot of things are happening you’re not told about.

Eurasian Economic Union. First suggested ten years ago by Nazarbayev, it took effect on 1 January. Comprising Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia (joined the next day) it is a free trade zone. We will see how effective it proves to be, born as it is in difficult times. Russia cheekily suggest the EU join: “You really think it is wise to put so much political energy into a free trade agreement with the United States when one has a much more natural trade partner next door right in the neighborhood? At least we don’t treat our chickens with chlorine”. 

Ukrainian nuclear power station. Something is happening at the Zaporizhia nuclear power station. There have been some shutdowns – more than one, it seems. Rebel sources say radiation levels have spiked. There may be a connection with nuclear fuel from Westinghouse; dangerous says Moscow. This could be quite serious and there is no reason to believe anything Kiev says about it.

The US Needs To Recognize Russia’s Monroe Doctrine

REPRINTS

By Ted Galen Carpenter

Cato Institute

U.S. leaders once understood and accepted that strong powers would insist on a security zone and broad sphere of influence in their immediate geographic region. Indeed, as just a middling power, the United States boldly asserted such a policy with the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. The key passage warned conservative European monarchies: “We should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety.”

Yet, U.S. policymakers now denounce as illegitimate similar bids to establish even modest security zones by other major powers. That point is especially evident in Washington’s conduct toward Russia. 

The United States and its NATO allies officially repudiate even the concept of spheres of influence, contending that it has no place in the modern international system. Condoleezza Rice, President George W. Bush’s secretary of state, made that point explicitly in response to Moscow’s 2008 military intervention in Georgia. She scorned the notion of Russian primacy along the perimeter of the Russian Federation as the manifestation of “some archaic sphere of influence.” Secretary of State John Kerry expresses similar views. In November 2013, he even declared that “the era of the Monroe Doctrine is over.” Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the Kremlin’s unsubtle support for secessionist forces in eastern Ukraine, Kerry asserted that “you don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion” by invading a neighbor.

RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP

by Patrick Armstrong

RUSSIA ISOLATED? Not at APEC – here’s the thousand word photo. And not at G20 either – BRICS had a happy meeting. The West and its tame media is seriously deluding itself with this Russia is isolated stuff. 

NEW NWO. Russia bought 55 tonnes of gold in the last quarter. What’s that mean? here’s a theory. (Ukraine’s gold, on the other hand, is almost all gone.) Meanwhile, an arms sale to China. Sberbank offers Yuans. Another huge gas deal. Increasing military cooperation. India-China. New financial instruments. Petrodollar. Russia-Pakistan. It marches. Who thought Ukraine would be so important?

NUKES. Russia has them; they work: Bulava, Topol and Sineva. Meanwhile, in the USA not so much.

NONSENSE. It's never easy to pick the most idiotic anti-Russian rant but here’s the latest: “Putin’s Russia is one of the most loathsomely misogynistic countries in the world”. Fact: Russia has more women in senior management than any one else. But, it’s Russia, what do facts have to do with it?

Gorbachev's Full Speech in Germany Nov 8, 2014

Gorbachev's full speech during the celebrations of the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Each paragraph to the end is loaded with honesty and policy experience.  Sharon

The Huffington Post

November 8, 2014

My Appeal to Our Leaders and to All of Us: Let Us Think, Propose and Act Together

By Mikhail Gorbachev

Former President of Soviet Union, Nobel Laureate

The following speech was delivered on November 8, 2014 at the New Policy Forum symposium in Berlin. 

I am pleased to welcome all the participants and to see among them both the veterans of our Forum and some new faces. I expect all of them to make a contribution to serious and constructive dialogue which is so necessary now.

Our conference is being held simultaneously with the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall that divided Germany and Europe. I would like first of all to congratulate the Germans, and all of us, on the anniversary of this truly historic event. 

Historic shifts that seem unexpected to contemporaries may later appear inevitable, preordained. But let us recall the time when it was all happening and how tumultuous and urgent the process of change was. Its outcome -- the peaceful unification of Germany -- was possible only because it had been prepared by great changes in international politics and in the minds of people. 

History: Berlin Wall to Ukraine and Crimea

Friends, 

This interview with former CIA analyst, Ray McGovern, gives an accurate assessment of the years, the people, the conditions which I remember from being in the USSR, RUSSIA and Washington at the time. I didn't know how to interpret the events of which I was suspect, but later it slowly became exceedingly clear.  Much has been ignored and buried by US mainstream media.  It's clear as a bell, as archives demonstrate, that a sliver of Washington policy wonks (Wolfowitz, Cheney, Perle and others) were deeply embedded in the bowels of policy projection and the military industrial complex (MIC). They fully intended to use that period to create an America that could and would prevent any other nation from ever becoming a regional power, for fear it would next compete with America as the world's hegemon. Russia, although flat on its belly and unable to even feed itself in 1992, was suspicioned to be a future regional power and had to be contained. What has transpired, including the latest in Ukraine today, is simply the time line in action.  Read to fill in the blanks.    Sharon

Lavrov Speaks Truth to Power at the United Nations

Friends, the ever-patient, slow to respond negatively, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's seasoned diplomat and Foreign Minister, spoke out at the United Nations a few days ago in a way he never has done before.  Most likely deeply worried about "what's next"––perhaps a second wave of West Ukrainian devastation of Southeastern Ukraine is in store, he is speaking out in advance.  At the end, he calls on Washington to sign on to the agreement Washington required of the USSR in 1933 -- to avoid Washington from supporting and barreling into a confrontation in Ukraine that could bring about WWIII. 

We in America are so occupied with our own local problems that we are paying no attention to the calamitous possibilities on our international horizon today. What's needed is for millions of American citizens to rise up out of the heartland and telephone or email (Google - how can I get my congress members'  teles/emails?)  our Congress members in mass that we don't approve of any more proxy wars, no more destabilizing of other elected governments, no more demonizing of other leaders and countries, and to stop using US military might to intervene all across the globe.  All of the countries we invaded in the past dozen years are worse off now than before we put boots and weapons on their soils. 

THE ATLANTIC "COMES OUT"

Friends,

At last our serious American publications and authors are "coming out of the closet."  The situation in Washington policy has come to such a dangerous place that those who kept their silence are refusing to do so any longer. I don't agree with all that is in this September 22 article, but in the main, as far as the history and consequences go, do agree wholeheartedly.  Surely as others come forward, it will force a change in current Russia policy.

Sharon

 

The Atlantic

September 22, 2014

The Seething Anger of Putin's Russia

By Jeffrey Tayler 

MOSCOW-The standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine is a relatively recent development, but it is sickeningly familiar to anyone who grew up in the Cold War decades. It is, most of all, uniquely ominous: When nuclear-armed America and Russia quarrel, peace and life as we know it are threatened the world over. The risks of errors, miscalculations, unintended escalation, and culture-based misunderstandings loom large-especially when mutual trust has been shattered and little remains of a working relationship between Washington and Moscow.   

Such risks are especially high right now. NATO and NATO-allied forces are conducting military exercises in western Ukraine, while Russian-backed separatists and Russian troops remain entrenched in that country's east. Last Wednesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned that "the situation in Ukraine has escalated sharply and the presence of foreign military has increased in the immediate vicinity of our borders," while announcing the deployment of the first of six stealth submarines to its Black Sea fleet. This came just days after Russia's successful submarine-based test launch of a Bulava ICBM-a long-range nuclear missile designed to hit targets in the United States. Russia's $700-billion defense buildup, scheduled to be completed in 2020, continues unabated.  

U.S./NATO and Russia/China On A Direct Collision Course

Dear Friends, 

Although we don't read articles like this one in US mainstream media, they are increasingly showing up in media from the UK, Europe, Canada, India, and in the American blog world where former US diplomats, investigative journalists and US academics post their concerns. We need to heed their warnings.

Sharon 

Copied from NationofChange, an American 501C3 news service that has tended to be pro-Ukraine in the past and has been slow to print articles such as this one (written by Michael Payne for OpEdNews.com). 

U.S./NATO and Russia/China On A Direct Collision Course

We watch as the great powers of the world, the U.S. and NATO on the one hand and Russia and China on the other head for a massive confrontation in Eastern Europe, with Ukraine at the epicenter. This volatile situation has been brought on because the two sides in this struggle for power espouse political ideologies and objectives that are diametrically opposed and seemingly cannot co-exist.

We might say that Ukraine is the eye of this “gathering storm” or, more accurately, it’s the point at which a small spark could ignite a military firestorm. If NATO continues to aggressively attempt to recruit Ukraine into its organization then that could easily happen. And if anyone thinks Putin will back down and yield to the power of U.S./NATO then they better think again because he will not.

CANADIAN DIPLOMAT SPEAKS OUT

REPRINTS

NATO at the heart of a new Cold War, says former Ambassador

By James Bissett

Defence Watch Guest Writer

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was meant to be a purely defensive organization. When the Brussels Treaty of 1948 established the European Defence Alliance of five European countries, it was Canada’s Minister of Foreign affairs, Louis St. Laurent, who proposed the alliance be expanded to include the United States and Canada.

One year later, in April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was born. The primary purpose of the new organization was to defend member states from any attack from the Soviet Union and to act in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

NATO was born in the aftermath of the Second World War. Its founders were painfully aware that having reached the mid-point of the 20^th century there had already been two world wars and the dropping of the atom bomb on civilian cities. They were determined that war and violence should not become the norm in resolving disputes and it was in this spirit that Article I of the treaty was conceived.