Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘Russia’ Category

Russian military “considering stationing bombers on Cuba”

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 22nd, 2008

The Russian is considering deploying long- range bombers to Cuba to counter the perceived threat of the US missile defence shield planned to be based in the Czech Republic and Poland, according to Russian media reports Monday.

‘At the moment, there are just thoughts - but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something concrete behind it…’

Europe faces Russian nuclear missile threat

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 13th, 2008

History repeats itself:

Russia is thinking of aiming nuclear weapons at western Europe for the first time since the end of the cold war, according to defence sources in Moscow.

Russian Tu-160 bombers continue patrols over the Arctic

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 11th, 2008

Pentagon sees Russia strengthening nuclear arsenal

Posted by Charlie Kilo on June 10th, 2008

Welcome to Cold War II:

Russia appears focused on strengthening its nuclear capabilities rather than building up its regular armed forces, which makes maintaining the U.S. nuclear arsenal increasingly important, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday.

The Pentagon chief, speaking to Air Force officers in Virginia, said America’s need for nuclear weapons to deter potential enemies from striking would grow in the future.

While that is partly due to the risk that nuclear weapons will end up in the hands of anti-American groups or states, such as Iran, it is also related to Russia’s plans to build its nuclear capabilities, Gates said.

“It seems clear that the Russians are focused as they look to the future more on strengthening their nuclear capabilities,” he told reporters after his visit to Langley.

“So to the extent that they rely more and more on their nuclear capabilities as opposed to what historically has been a huge Russian conventional military capability, it seems to me that it underscores the importance of our sustaining a valid nuclear deterrent, a modern nuclear deterrent.”

China and Russia sitting in a tree… (you know the rest)

Posted by patriot on May 23rd, 2008

Well, the two countries certainly have become cozier…

China and Russia sharply condemned U.S. missile defense plans Friday, taking a harder common line that reinforces an already strong strategic partnership during Dmitry Medvedev’s first foreign trip as Russian president.

Pushing forward their robust energy cooperation, Russia also signed a $1 billion deal to build a uranium enrichment facility in China and supply low-enriched uranium for use in China’s nuclear power industry over the next decade.

Rivals throughout much of the Cold War, Moscow and Beijing have forged close political and military ties since the Soviet collapse, seeking to counter the perceived U.S. global domination. They have spoken against the U.S. missile defense plans in the past, but Friday’s declaration by Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao sounded tougher than before.

Russia and Georgia on the brink of armed conflict over Abkhazia

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 12th, 2008

I never thought I’d be reporting news from the “World Socialist Web Site” but here it goes:

Tensions between Russia and Georgia have intensified to the brink of open armed conflict.

Both sides accuse each other of escalating tensions and armed preparations, threatening to plunge the region into a new round of bloody conflicts. Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, conflicts in the Caucasus have taken the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Nuclear missiles parade across Red Square

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 9th, 2008

Puppet boy toes the party line as Putin looks on approvingly in a new show of Russian force:

Nuclear missiles and tanks paraded Friday across Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era but new President Dmitry Medvedev warned other nations against “irresponsible ambitions” that he said could start wars. Marching bands and 8,000 troops goose-stepped across the square, followed by a huge display of heavy weapons including Topol-M ballistic missiles and T-90 tanks, and a fly-by of warplanes.

Reviewing his first parade as commander in chief, Medvedev warned against “irresponsible ambitions” that he said could spark war across entire continents.

In an apparent attack on US foreign policy and Western backing for Kosovo’s independence, Medvedev also criticised “intentions to intrude in the affairs of other states and especially redraw borders.”

Alongside the new president was his mentor and now prime minister, Vladimir Putin, standing under bright sunshine in a tribune in front of Lenin’s Mausoleum

Vladimir Putin pledges to transform economy of Russia into a world leader

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 9th, 2008

Putin is still large and in charge:

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s new Prime Minister, has promised to transform his country into a leading economic power and he predicted that its economy would be larger than that of the UK by the end of this year.

In a fervent speech to the Russian Parliament, Mr Putin, who handed over the country’s presidency the previous day to Dmitry Medvedev, said that he would cut oil taxes to stimulate growth and predicted that Russia would overtake Britain to become the sixth-largest economy this year.

Russia and US to team up?

Posted by patriot on April 1st, 2008

Reuters writes up this story quoting a “source”, counting yet another way in which the Bush administration is going around signing “documents of understanding” between countries, leaving Congress out of the loop (it would seem):

The leaders of Russia and the United States will sign a document outlining the framework for strategic relations between their two countries at a meeting this weekend, a Kremlin source told Reuters on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will hand over to his successor on May 7, and U.S. President George W. Bush, who is nearing the end of his term, are to meet on Sunday at Putin’s Black Sea residence.

“Experts are working on a joint document, which will become a road map of our cooperation during a transitional period and for the medium-term,” the Kremlin source said. He gave no further details.

Putin, having solved all of Russia’s other problems, proposes tunnel to U.S. via Alaska

Posted by Charlie Kilo on March 31st, 2008

Maybe Putin could use some of his own billions for the construction then charge EUROs for admittance:

VLADIMIR PUTIN, the Russian president, is to raise plans for a tunnel to link his country with America when he meets his US counterpart, George W Bush, next Sunday.

The 64-mile tunnel would run under the Bering Strait between Chukotka, in the Russian far east, and Alaska; the cost is estimated at £33 billion.

Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea football club and governor of Chukotka, has invested £80m in the world’s largest drill but has denied that it is linked with the development.

Proposals for such a tunnel were approved by Tsar Nicholas II in the early 20th century but were abandoned during the Soviet era. If finally built, the tunnel would allow rail connections between London and New York.

A Kremlin spokesman confirmed last week that Putin seeks to build “a real bridge” between Russia and America when he meets Bush at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Officials in Washington and Moscow view the talks as an opportunity to ease expected tensions about this week’s Nato summit in Romania. Clashes are expected over America’s planned missile defence system in eastern Europe and whether to allow Ukraine and Georgia into Nato.

Russia said last month that it would have to aim its own missiles at Ukraine if it joined Nato and hosted military facilities.

While Russia cannot block Nato membership, allies know that boosting links with the two former Soviet states would strain ties with Moscow – ties that are already damaged over the independence of Kosovo and the US missile shield.

Although Nato’s 26 members agree in principle that the future of Ukraine and Georgia lies within the alliance, some are wary of angering Russia, which provides a quarter of Europe’s natural gas.

Or perhaps it could be just another convenient invasion route?

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