Back to the Bad Old Days!
August 18, 2007
“Now there you go again!”
Us ing
President Ronald Regan’s famous statement to President Jimmy Carter in their television debate, it now certainly can be used to apply to the reemergence of Russia as an international trouble maker.
The two articles which follow give an overview of Russia resurgence in world affairs. The only good thing about it is its timing indicates Armageddon is not in the far distant future. The players in the tribulation period, and its final battle of Armageddon, are quacking like ducks lined up in a row.
Begin DEBKAfile Article 1
Putin orders resumption of regular Russian long-range strategic bomber flights after 15 years
August 17, 2007, 6:11 PM (GMT+02:00)
The Russian president made this announcement, evoking shades of the Cold War, Friday, Aug. 17, in the presence of China’s Hu Jintao at the end of the first joint Russian-Chinese war games exercise taking place on Russian soil. DEBKAfile reports that a Russian military train transported Chinese units to the maneuvers from their common border in Mongolia.
Speaking near the Ural Mountain city of Chelyabinsk, Putin said a halt in the long-range bombers’ flights after the Soviet collapse had affected Russia’s security. The war games coincided with Russian air force maneuvers involving strategic bombers which flew over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans.
Excerpt from Associated Press Release in Jerusalem Post titled “Russia: BBC Broadcasts taken off Air”
Critics say President Vladimir Putin’s government has stifled media freedoms and quashed political opposition as part of a broader effort to increase Kremlin control over Russian political life.
As the country heads into a parliamentary election in December and presidential elections in March, observers say government influence over news media appears to be at its strongest since the Soviet era ended.
Several foreign language broadcasters have seen their programming curtailed or pulled off
the air in Russia in recent years.
Russian authorities last year dramatically curtailed the number of stations broadcasting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America news programs. German broadcaster Deutsche Welle has also had problems with its German and Russian-language medium-wave radio programs in the past.
Alexander Varkentin, deputy head of the Russian service of Deutsche Welle, told AP that the only problems the German broadcaster has had in Russia of late were financial – small radio stations requesting money for programs.
Bolshoye Radio’s decision also comes as relations between London and Moscow have plummeted to their lowest level in years.
British prosecutors have demanded that Russia hand over a businessman they have accused in the death of Alexander Litivinenko, the former KGB agent and British citizen who died of radioactive poisoning in London last year.
Russia has refused, saying it is constitutionally barred from extraditing
Russian citizens, and has waged a highly public relations campaign accusing Britain of trying to recruit spies in Russia.
“We support the role of the BBC World Service, it is a source of independent news, often in parts of the world where such independence is far from the norm,” a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity. “It is important that the BBC World Service is able to continue to broadcast in Russia.”
Begin Guardian Article 2
Russia seeks its place in the sun
Simon Tisdall
Friday August 17, 2007
The Guardian
The declaration earlier this month by Admiral Vladimir Masorin, commander of the Russian navy, that Moscow intends to re-establish a permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean is under close scrutiny from Washington to Tel Aviv. While more an aspiration than established fact, the move carries myriad, challenging implications, ranging from the US Sixth Fleet’s regional monopoly on naval power to the security of trans-Caucasian and North African energy supply routes.
Yet it is the prospect of Russia reactivating its cold war naval bases in Syria’s Tartus and Latakia ports which could have the most dramatic impact. By raising Syria’s stock in the region, analysts say such a move could further complicate western attempts to achieve settlements in Lebanon and Palestine. Defensive missile and surveillance systems around any Russian installations might also shift the military balance to Israel’s disadvantage.
A brief by Stratfor.com, a private US intelligence firm, said: “A Russian naval presence off the Syrian coast could allow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime to better inoculate itself against a potential attack by the US or Israel … The Russians would be offering an attractive insurance policy.”
The Russian Black Sea fleet’s 720th Logistics Support Point at Tartus has been in disuse since 1991, when the Soviet Union imploded. Yet it remains the only Russian military base outside the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States territory. Last year Russia reportedly dredged Tartus and began building a new dock at Latakia.
Kommersant newspaper said the plans were far from implementation. But as the Kiev Post noted, the Black Sea fleet’s lease on its Sevastopol base is hostage to Ukraine’s volatile relations with Moscow – and will in any case expire in 2017, necessitating a renegotiation or a move.
Wary of Israel’s possible reaction (and Russian domination), Syria denies any intention to host a new military presence. But in the double-dealing world of Middle East politics, such statements by a regime with long-standing political and commercial links to Russia are not taken at face value.
Syria could threaten a Russian go-ahead if its recent, limited cooperation with the US over Iraq fails to win concessions on Lebanon or guarantees that Washington will not pursue regime change.
President Vladimir Putin, involved in a bare-chested global game of military and diplomatic one-upmanship with the US, may also be using the Syrian bases as pawns. They could equally be used to increase Russian leverage over the US-led peace process or to control Syria’s future behaviour, depending on where Moscow’s perceived interests lie.
Dmitri Trenin, of the Carnegie Endowment, says Moscow’s pragmatic – and by implication, unprincipled – foreign policymakers are “looking for opportunities wherever they may be”. That meant building influence in the Middle East in particular.
For this reason, said Pavel Baev, of Eurasia Daily Monitor, Mr Putin was hedging his bets while he waited to see how the twin crises with Iraq and Iran play out. One example: now that panicky Arab states are pursuing nuclear programmes to match Iran’s, Russia wants its share of the resulting business in the Gulf. Yet at the same time, Moscow is helping Iran complete its Bushehr nuclear facility. Mr Baev said Russia was manoeuvring to profit from an irresistible window of opportunity: the power shift that would follow a US defeat in Iraq.
“In the envisaged no-holds-barred power play, Russia would not have any allies but could enjoy perfect freedom of manoeuvre and exploit the advantage of not being afraid of any oil crisis.
“Declaring its adherence to pragmatism, Moscow is increasingly adopting anti-Americanism as its guiding political idea,” he said. Toying with military bases in Syria was just part of a bigger, bolder bid to challenge US regional and global leadership.
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