Gog and Magog in the news

[Shammu]

Mottaki urges UNSC to end Zionist regime's aggressions
United Nations, New York, June 30, IRNA

Iran-Israel-Mottaki
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Thursday called on the UN Security Council to take necessary and prompt steps to put an end to the Zionist regime's aggressions.

"As the ongoing aggression threatens the international peace and security, we request that the Security Council carry out its responsibility in accordance with the letter and spirit of the UN Charter and take necessary and prompt steps with a view to putting an end to the aggression. In my view, your personal intervention should , as always, help prevent the situation from slipping out of control," said Mottaki in a letter to the UN Chief Kofi Annan on Thursday.

Mottaki recalled the UN's important role in that connection and said the UN should act with a view to preventing the Zionist regime from continuing to flout the will of the international community, incorporated in numerous UN resolutions.

The full text of the letter is as follows:

"In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
"July 29 ,2006
"Excellency,
"I wish to draw your kind attention to the most recent military campaign by the Zionist regime against the innocent Palestinian people which goes on in flagrant defiance of the most basic principles of international law and the fundamental provisions of the United Nations Charter.

"As media reports indicate, the ongoing incursion into northern Gaza targets civilians and purely civilian infrastructures, destructing among other things the three bridges and disabling the only power plant, thus depriving the civilians from basic necessities.

Moreover, the intruding forces are battering northern Gaza towns with artillery and firing missiles into residential areas indiscriminately.

"The illegal detention of dozens of Palestinian cabinet ministers and members of the Palestinian Parliament by the intruding forces are clear signs indicating that the occupying regime is intent on rendering the democratically-elected Palestinian Government inoperative.

"Violating Syria's airspace and threatening to hit targets inside that country is as much perturbing. The crisis, if unchecked, may tip towards escalation, engulfing the whole region.

"With the Palestinian economy already broken down under an embargo since January and the Palestinians remaining under siege even after the occupiers withdrawing from Gaza, the new aggression threatens to inflict further enormous suffering on the civilians and exacerbate the situation within the Palestinian territory and in the region.

"While strongly condemning this latest Zionist criminal act, we consider the aggression that targets the civilian infrastructures as collective punishment and war crimes and crimes against humanity in defiance of international humanitarian law.

"We believe that it is imperative for the international community to get more effectively involved and prevent the Zionists from carrying out their terrorist designs against the Palestinians. The impunity with which they have so far been allowed to carry out their crimes has undoubtedly emboldened them to continue on the same path.

"The UN has an important role to play in this regard and should act with a view to preventing the Zionist regime from continuing to flout the will of the international community, incorporated in numerous UN resolutions. As the ongoing aggression threatens the international peace and security, we request that the Security Council carry out its responsibility in accordance with the letter and spirit of the UN Charter and take necessary and prompt steps with a view to putting an end to the aggression. In my view, your personal intervention should, as always, help prevent the situation from slipping out of control.

"Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

"Manouchehr Mottaki
"Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran "H. E. Mr. Kofi Annan Secretary-General,
"United Nations, New York."

Mottaki urges UNSC to end Zionist regime's aggressions

You notice that he doesn't say anything about his own countrys agression.............

[Shammu]

G8 Leaders Want Punishment for Killers of Russian Hostages in Iraq

Created: 29.06.2006 18:40 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:41 MSK, 14 hours 57 minutes ago

MosNews

G8 foreign ministers are unanimous that the terrorists who killed Russian diplomats in Iraq must be found and brought to justice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters after talks with his G8 counterparts in Moscow on Tuesday.

“We are all unanimous in that the culprits must be found and punished,” he was quoted by Interfax as saying.

The Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed that the four Russians who were kidnapped in early June had been killed. They were embassy third secretary Fyodor Zaitsev and staffers Rinat Agliulin, Anatoly Smirnov and Oleg Fedoseyev.

The kidnappers had demanded that the Kremlin pull its troops out of Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia where separatists have been fighting for independence.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered special services to hunt down and “destroy” the killers of four Russian hostages. The slayings shocked Russia and prompted an angry outcry against the U.S.-led coalition.

G8 Leaders Want Punishment for Killers of Russian Hostages in Iraq

YUP, yup, looks like the  KGB of old.

[Shammu]

And here we go, I've been waiting for this to happen...................
=================================================

Iran calls for UN Council action on Israel

Friday, June 30, 2006
 
Archived Picture - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called for intervention from the UN Security Council following Israel's military incursion into the Gaza Strip and its arrest of top Palestinian ministers, AFP reported.

LONDON, June 30 (IranMania) - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called for intervention from the UN Security Council following Israel's military incursion into the Gaza Strip and its arrest of top Palestinian ministers, AFP reported.

Mottaki said at the United Nations that Israel's actions should be viewed as "government-sponsored terrorism."

"This barbaric invasion is against all international laws and human principles," Mottaki told reporters.

Mottaki said he had written to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asking him to convene an emergency Security Council session that would agree a response to Israel's actions, which he called "a threat against international peace."

"Shouldn't the UN Security (Council) deal with this matter seriously," Mottaki demanded. "The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns this act."

Mottaki was at the United Nations to attend a UN forum focused on preventing the illicit trade of small arms.

Iran calls for UN Council action on Israel

[Shammu]

 MPs warn of threat from Iran
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 30 June 2006

The confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programme could lead to terrorist attacks in Britain, MPs on the Commons' Intelligence and Security Committee say.

The committee's annual report, published yesterday, said: "There is a possibility of an increased threat to UK interests from Iranian state-sponsored terrorism should the diplomatic situation deteriorate."

The report said Britain continued to face a "serious and sustained threat" from terrorism, most significantly from al-Qa'ida.

It also criticised the Government's decision to merge the posts of security and intelligence coordinator and chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.

The confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programme could lead to terrorist attacks in Britain, MPs on the Commons' Intelligence and Security Committee say.

The committee's annual report, published yesterday, said: "There is a possibility of an increased threat to UK interests from Iranian state-sponsored terrorism should the diplomatic situation deteriorate."

The report said Britain continued to face a "serious and sustained threat" from terrorism, most significantly from al-Qa'ida.

It also criticised the Government's decision to merge the posts of security and intelligence coordinator and chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.

MPs warn of threat from Iran

[Shammu]

 Cleric condemns Zionists' atrocities in Gaza
Tehran, June 30, IRNA

Iran-Friday Prayers
Substitute Friday prayers leader of Tehran Hojjatoleslam Ahmad Khatami on Friday questioned double-standards on terrorism, while denouncing Zionist regime's aggression on Gaza.

"Isn't it an instance of terrorism when a usurper government in extreme impudency turns Gaza into an inferno, makes a hell of bombs and bombardment, arrests a group of the representatives of the public and candidly acknowledges to assassination of the Palestinian leaders?" questioned Khatami in his second Friday prayers sermons at Tehran University campus.

Khatami said Zionists' aggressions on Gaza are signs of their savagery and genocide, indicating they are criminals in nature.

He noted that Europe is an accomplice in the crimes for suspending their assistance, even medicine aid, to Palestinians.

"All these are signs that the liberal-democracy slogan of Europe and the US is a big lie," he made it clear.

He said the US and Europe use such slogans for their own interests.

Khatami also criticized Muslim states for their silence against Israeli atrocities.

Elsewhere in his sermon, Hojatoleslam Khatami refuted the US claims that there was a global consensus against Iran.

"They claim there is a global consensus against Iran, while more than 100 NAM states are supporting Iran in the nuclear case and Muslim foreign ministers too have been supporting Iran. The US is impudently saying the big lie that there is global consensus against Iran," he added.

The cleric then compared the higher popularity rate of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the US President George W. Bush, saying whenever the Iranian president goes to a country, all try to have a precedence in shaking hands with him but there are huge demonstrations against the US President whenever he visits a country.

Cleric condemns Zionists' atrocities in Gaza

[Shammu]

 Ahmadinejad says UNSC composition dates back to 60 years ago
Banjul, Gambia, July 1, IRNA

Iran-AU-President
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that composition of the UN Security Council dates back to 60 years ago and the body has failed to accurately perform its responsibility.

"The hegemonic and bullying nature of certain powers created problem for humanity," President Ahmadinejad said in his address to African Union (AU) summit.

"Certain powers which reserve the right for themselves to use force to support their illegitimate rights and resort to political pressure, propaganda campaign to cause crisis and split among nations, which has unfortunately become a habit since World War II, do not have commitment to any principles of the human community."
He said that creating crisis to exert pressure on governments and people and threat and extortion are the other methods used by bullying powers, a clear example of which is forcing the European Jews to move to Palestinian territory in the guise of supporting the bereaved Jewish families who lost their members in the War.

"The Palestinian territory has nothing to do with the European Jews.

"Unfortunately, in the past 60 years, the Palestinians have been subject to the worst kind of human rights violation by Israel." He said that the Islamic Republic of Iran supports Palestinians and has denounced the fact that certain states are using the leverage of human rights to denounce countries which objected to their practices.

President Ahmadinejad said that the United Nations proved inefficient in the past 60 years after World War II.

"Structure of the United Nations reflects the power blocs among big powers dating back to 60 years ago. It has failed to accurately deal with crises after World War II, because of unfair composition and decision making process of the UN Security Council," President Ahmadinejad said.

President Ahmadinejad said that nations of the world are living under threat of big powers which possess Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) adding that the big powers sound boastful of their military might to exert pressure on other nations and violate their rights.

He deplored that other countries are being occupied in the name of democracy and several hundred thousand people are being killed by the so-called advocates of human rights--the occupiers.

Ahmadinejad says UNSC composition dates back to 60 years ago

[Shammu]

 The UN's moment of truth: Kofi Annan
Tehran, July 1, IRNA

UN-Annan-Reforms
The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan made public the need of reforms in the UN, United Nations Information Center said in a press release on Saturday.

"A minor storm broke out recently when my deputy, Mark Malloch Brown, made a speech suggesting that the United States should engage more fully and wholeheartedly with other members of the United Nations to bring about reform. That is absolutely right, but he and I believe the same message needs to be heard in many other countries besides the US," said Kofi Annan.

The UN now faces a moment of truth. Last December, member states adopted a budget for the current "biennium" (2006-2007), but gave us in the Secretariat authority to spend only enough to carry us through the first six months. The main contributors to the budget, led by the US, insisted that this spending cap should be lifted only when there is significant progress on UN reform.

"We are now perilously near the deadline, and it is far from clear that enough reform to satisfy them has been achieved. Neither side has found a way of engaging with the other to agree on further reforms," he said.

Sir Brian Urquhart, the UN's elder statesman, once said that there is never really a financial crisis at the UN, only political crises.

Brian is right. The US is trying to use the power of the purse to force through badly needed management reforms, and these tactics have provoked a reaction among developing countries.

Most of these are well aware of the need to reform - not least because it is in those countries that the UN provides many vital services - from peacekeeping and peace-building through emergency relief to strengthening human rights, helping organize elections, and fighting infectious disease. That means they are the ones who have most to gain from a UN that is well-managed and really gives value for money. Their quarrel is much less with the detail of proposed reforms than with what they see as the overwhelming influence of a few rich countries, in an organization supposedly "based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its members".

That was what I meant in London last January, when I referred to the "feeling of frustration and exclusion that prompts many states to exercise the only power they do have: the power to block other reforms, such as better management -- since some see even this as an attempt by the big boys to grab yet more power for themselves".

In the long run this means that, as Prime Minister Tony Blair recognized in a speech in Washington two weeks ago, the whole UN structure has to be reformed, including the Security Council. And so even these current reforms are only a small down-payment on what must follow. Public policy is simply getting more global. From terrorism to poverty, drugs and crime, disease to trade, no states can settle matters alone.

"But even while we wait for the political vision to catch up with the scale of today's challenges, we have vital work to do right now - programs which have been mandated by member states and which provide essential services to people in acute danger or need," he said.

"However important the debate on reform, we must not let that work be stalled. It's in the interest of all member states to keep the UN running , and to adapt it to the specific work that they are asking it to do," he underlined.

And that means that both sides in the current argument need to turn down their rhetoric and engage with each other in serious negotiations, to work out a sensible compromise now as a basis for more fundamental change later.

It is not just the composition of the Security Council that is stuck in the mid 20th century. Both the management and the attitudes of many governments to the Organization are caught in the same time warp. Neither has fully adjusted to the new reality of a UN which no longer simply holds conferences and writes reports, but is managing complex, multi-billion dollar operations to help keep peace and combat poverty and humanitarian disasters. As a result, "We do not have the institutions that we need to confront this century's global challenges."
"It is vital that we escape from this bind. The blueprint for reform that I put forward last year was very clear about this. It reminded us all that the UN is founded on three legs - development, collective security and human rights. Each of the three strengthens the other two, but is also dependent on them. And like any good chair they need a fourth: major management reform."
The UN has to help its members advance on all three fronts at once. That is why it needs not only a Security Council but also an effective Human Rights Council, and why the Economic and Social Council must be transformed into a true development chamber that allows development and finance ministers to pursue progress and track results in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, the world's effort to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

Some reforms have been achieved. Both the new Human Rights Council and the new Peacebuilding Commission will meet for the first time next week. All member states have accepted their responsibility to protect people threatened by genocide and other comparable crimes.

"We have in place a much improved emergency relief fund, a democracy fund, an ethics office, and a much tougher system for protecting whistleblowers. Now we need better accountability and oversight arrangements, a stronger procurement system, more financial flexibility, and better rules for recruiting and managing our staff," he said.

"Set against the scale of the tasks we have to undertake, these re not such ambitious demands. Surely governments can agree on how to make these reforms happen without bringing the whole organization to a halt. It is time for those who really care about reform to come together and form a new coalition - one that bridges the artificial, destructive divide between North and South, and brings together all those who are willing to work together because they share the vision of a UN that really works, for the benefit of all the world's peoples," said the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The UN's moment of truth: Kofi Annan

[Shammu]

 Iran criticizes US for violating Palestinians' rights
New York, July 1, IRNA

Iran-US-Palestine
Deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi here Saturday strongly criticized the US and deplored that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, US fails to comply with its commitment and constantly violates Palestinian rights by misusing its right of veto.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister made the remark at the UNSC urgent meeting on the latest crime committed by the Zionist regime in Gaza Strip, which was held in response to a call by Iran and a number of Arab states.

He said that the Zionists escaping punishment for their acts undoubtedly accounts for the continued trend of such crimes.

Araqchi appreciated the UNSC meeting held to discuss such a critical issue threatening global security and peace and said that the international community once more witnessed another military attack launched by the Zionists against the innocent people of Palestine, in complete violation of the basic principles of international rules.

He referred to the major cases of recent crimes of the Zionist regime in their attack on Gaza Strip, during which they hit civilian infrastructures, including bridges as well as its only power plant, and dismissed the Zionists pretext as baseless, given the disastrous condition in the occupied territories.

"No excuse can justify the acts of the Zionist forces, which blatantly violate basic international laws," he said.

Then he pointed to the fate of thousands of Palestinians, including women and children and asked, "How long have they been in Zionists prisons?"
Elsewhere in his speech, he regretted the failure of the occupying forces and their supporters to learn a lesson from their historical blunders, adding that now after 50 years, they still hope to make the Palestinians yield to them by suppressing them.

"This is while only promotion of justice can put an end to the sufferings in the region and establish peace once more," he added.

Araqchi expressed concern over the possible extension of crisis to the whole region, given the violation of Syria's air space and said, "We strongly condemn the Zionists recent criminal act and consider it as a mass punishment and violation of international rights.

"We believe that the international community should mediate effectively and prevent such terrorist actions against the Palestinian people."
The deputy minister stressed the significance of UNSC role in ending the Zionist regime's disregard for the will of the
international community.

He urged that they should be underlined properly in resolutions of the UN, Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Turning to the threats facing the international peace and security on account of such violations against Palestinians, he stressed the great responsibility of the UNSC in this respect within the framework of the UN Charter.

The foreign ministry official hoped that all members of the UN Security Council will fulfill their tasks and tackle the situation properly, given the latest violation of the occupied territories.

Iran criticizes US for violating Palestinians' rights

[Shammu]

Russia Puts $10 Million Bounty on Heads of Killers of Iraqi Embassy Staff

Created: 30.06.2006 16:41 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:41 MSK

MosNews

Russia offered a $10 million reward Friday for information on the killers of five Russian Embassy staff workers in Iraq, according to a report, The Associated Press reported.

The offer came two days after President Vladimir Putin ordered special services to hunt down and “destroy” those responsible for the deaths. The slayings shocked Russia and prompted an angry outcry against the U.S.-led coalition.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that four Russians seized in early June had been killed. A videotape purported to show the deaths of some. A fifth staffer was slain during the abduction.

The kidnappers had demanded the Kremlin pull its troops out of Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia where separatists have been fighting for independence.

“For information which will lead to the result being achieved, the National Anti-terrorist Committee of the Russian Federation will pay a reward of $10 million,” the head of the Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency.

Russia Puts $10 Million Bounty on Heads of Killers of Iraqi Embassy Staff

[HisDaughter]

Understanding the New Russian Threat

http://www.israelenews.com/view.asp?ID=2361


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rise of the newly aggressive Russia carrying out international assassinations, threatening its neighbors, distributing weapons to America's enemies, confronting US forces and seemingly bent on resurrecting all its old bad habits baffles many who thought that the Cold War had ended with the fall of Communism.

Many Americans have been taught to associate Russian warmongering with Communism. Understanding the real history of the USSR, Russian Communism and particularly the KGB which is running the show these days, is crucial to understanding the new Russian threat.

(For the purpose of simplicity, the various incarnations of the KGB, including the historic NKVD and the modern FSB will all be referred to as the KGB)

In what is called the July 20 plot of 1944, a number of high ranking German officers sought to assassinate Hitler and take control of Germany to avert disaster. (Of passing interest is the presence of the head and former deputy head of German military intelligence among their number. ) We know about this plot primarily because it failed.

In March 1953 a similar plot took place in the Soviet Union to kill Stalin and take control of the USSR. The plot involved much more high ranking figures than its German equivalent, including the man in control of the Soviet secret police, Beria and first secretary of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev. We don't know about this plot, primarily because it succeeded.

What drove them to act was Stalin's own plan to unleash the USSR's largest purge and mass murder that would exceed Hitler while at the same time destroying the entire political and military leadership of the USSR in one stroke, consolidating complete and perfect control over much of the world.

The conspirators who killed Stalin in 1953 knew about the plan and instead they poisoned Stalin at his own home, likely with rat poison, and watched him die slowly and in great agony. The man who had brought them together and who boasted of personally killing Stalin was Beria, a brilliant and evil figure who headed the Soviet secret police. Beria had his own plan as well for a KGB coup that would put him in power afterward.

Beria's attempted KGB coup was aborted with the use of the Russian military. Beria was executed and Khrushchev took power while slowly liberalizing Russia. However, Khrushchev himself was overthrown in 1964 with the help of the KGB and in 1971 the actual head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov took power. While Andropov attempted to reform the Soviet Union, the system had decayed too far to make that possible. Andropov was shot in the kidney, however, by the wife of a former Soviet Interior Minister whom he had helped put away. The bullet did not kill him, but it did severely damage his health leading to his eventual death by renal failure.

A third KGB led coup brought down Gorbachev and wittingly or unwittingly ended the Soviet Union. In its place came a chaotic free market system and the renaming of the KGB into the FSB. Much of the KGB disintegrated and turned into the new Russian mob that spread across Russia and around the world.

This was however a very different KGB than the old Cheka or the NKVD that had once terrorized the Soviet Union and the world. Where the Cheka had been fiercely Communist and ideological, it had for the most part been purged by Stalin. Successive purges of the KGB based on political loyalty turned it into an organization based on patronage. The KGB typically recruited family members, with fathers and sons, husbands and wives, serving together in the KGB (as in the case of Putin and his own father).

Along the way the new KGB had lost any real attachment to Communist ideology. It had become a family business and it structure was virtually identical to that of organized crime. It saw Communism as an obstacle to its members' main occupation, business. The KGB's Russian members were Russian nationalists who favored a strong authoritarian government along with a limited amount of capitalism under an oligarchic system in which they were the new oligarchy.

Putin, who took power in the 4th KGB coup, was perfectly representative of this New Guard of the KGB. The son of a KGB family, Putin was Michael Corleone, with an academic and business background, who knew that Russia and the KGB had to change with the times, but whose idea of reform was very different from the West.

The fourth KGB coup was a bloodless consensual coup as Yeltsin having been humiliated and defeated by Bill Clinton over Yugoslavia agreed to step down in deference to the creation of a new strong and authoritarian Russia, non-Communist, but strongly nationalist and expansionist. And that is the Russia we face today.

Under Putin the KGB has taken control of Russia's major industries and used them to generate great personal and national profits while spreading influence abroad. Bribery and protection money form a major section of Russia's economy and political assassinations are commonplace. The old Yeltsin era businessmen have either been purged or sworn allegiance to Putin. Every aspect of Russia from the press to religion has been centralized and independence is discouraged, punished and suppressed.

The new Russia is a totalitarian state ruled by the new guard of the KGB as robber barons. They have spread their influence across the West, from Putin cronies like Alisher Usmanov who is one of the richest men in England to Lukoil which controls much of the gas stations across America's Northeast to the Russian emigre media which is now nearly wholly controlled from Moscow.

Across the third world, Russia is busy providing weapons, building ports and bases and creating an anti-Western alliance based around its own oil and gas resources, that unites oil producing Latin American nations with leftist governments such as Venezuela with Arab OPEC nations to form a common front against America and Europe.

On its own borders Russia is doing its best to push back NATO expansion while preparing for its own great project to reclaim the lost territories of the USSR, not in the name of Communism, but in the name of greed, power and Russian nationalism. The old rivalries with England and the US have been resumed and the KGB is active everywhere that Russian trade goes.

The KGB's New Guard have learned from Communism's failures and they don't intend to repeat the same mistakes. They respect the achievements of the USSR but their goal is to build a great Russian Empire ruled by themselves. They are the crime syndicate which now rules Russia and is expanding across the world. Fueled by the energy boom, they have a great deal of wealth and while the system they run is corrupt and incompetent, it is not nearly as corrupt or incompetent as the old Communist system was.

The West defeated the USSR through trade. The New Russia intends to defeat the West through trade and it is doing it. But not only through trade. The profits of trade are going to fuel a new Russian war machine and where Russian trade goes, the KGB goes as well, buying influence and public officials, from the former German Chancellor who now openly works for Russian oil interests to a newly minted member of the New York State Assembly with a background in the Russian security services.

The Cold War is back but it is no longer about Communism, if it ever really was except briefly into the 20's. It's about power. It's about wealth. And it's about national greatness. The long held Russian belief in their own destiny to rule the world has come to the surface again and the bear is once again set to rampage across the world.

[HisDaughter]

Moscow Looks To Expand Military Presence In Central Asia

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/06/88e73fef-cf19-43d6-be3f-7e54200dae4e.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Earlier this month, Russian media quoted Russian Air Force commander Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin as saying Moscow will deploy more personnel and equipment -- including more aircraft -- to its air base in Kant, outside the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

And last week, the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, ratified an agreement with Tajikistan on the mutual use of military forces. The document was first signed in November 2006 and has already been approved by the Tajik parliament.

Military and political experts both in Russia and Central Asia say the timing of Russia's ratification of the bilateral agreement with Tajikistan and its plans to reinforce the Kant air base are not coincidental, and show Moscow's seriousness about fortifying its influence in Central Asia.

Vladimir Mukhin, a Moscow-based journalist and expert on military affairs, says that while Central Asia is an important region in terms of energy resources and geopolitics, Russia "has apparently come to the conclusion that military cooperation is the first and the most important step in regaining influence in the region."

Mukhin adds that "Military and military-technical cooperation is -- should be -- of foremost importance in former Soviet countries. The security and sovereignty of these countries depend on the level of their military integration and military-technical cooperation because all armaments in the CIS are Russian-made weaponry [leftover from the Soviet era]. And Russia still produces and exports these armaments."

With some 7,000 troops from Russia's 201st Motorized Rifle Division, the military base in Tajikistan is the largest Russian deployment outside its borders.

The air base in Kant hosts some 400 personnel and is reportedly equipped with Russian Su-25, Su-27, An-24, and Il-76 aircraft as well as Mi-8 helicopters. The base was established in 2003. Sources at the base have denied reports that additional reinforcements will be sent there by Russia.

But Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha, a Russian, has reportedly confirmed the imminent reinforcement at Kant, even suggesting that the additional troops and equipment will increase the significance of Russia's military presence in Central Asia.

Russia The 'Most Realistic Partner'

Some Central Asian governments are welcoming the increased Russian military presence in their region. According to the Russian presidential office, the "further expansion of military-technical cooperation" was high on the agenda earlier this month when President Dmitry Medvedev met with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, in St. Petersburg.

Ismoil Rahmatov, an expert on political affairs at the Strategic Studies think tank in Dushanbe, says that "after a few years of courtship with other world players -- the U.S., Europe, and China -- Central Asian countries have realized that Russia is their most realistic partner."

Rahmatov notes that while China shares a border of more than 570 kilometers with Tajikistan and the United States is "the most powerful country in the world and it provides significant assistance" to Tajikistan, "all their aid can't come close to the assistance the Tajik people get from Russia -- [that is], the money Tajik migrants make in Russia. Russia is the only country that has always been-- and will be -- by Tajikistan's side."

According to the Tajik expert, there were times -- especially after the terrorist attacks against the United States in 2001 -- that Central Asian countries were willing to expand their cooperation with the West and to decrease their dependency on Russia.

However, such cooperation did not meet all of their expectations, and two main reasons are suggested for their general disappointment in cooperating with the West.

First, most of the Western aid was conditioned on an improvement of human rights and the implementation of democratic changes in Central Asia, something the mainly authoritarian governments of Central Asia were not looking to make anytime soon.

The second reason is the great geographical distance between the West and Central Asia. Millions of families in Central Asia depend heavily on their seasonal jobs at construction sites, markets, and factories in Russia for their livelihood. Their physical connections to Europe, China, and the United States pale in comparison.

Wider Regional Cooperation To Come?

Some observers say Russia and Central Asian countries are entering a new phase in their relationships -- both in the framework of bilateral cooperation with Moscow and in the framework of regional treaties, such as the CSTO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec).

Uzbek President Islam Karimov recently suggested that the CSTO and the Eurasec should merge to create a "powerful union capable of becoming a counterbalance to NATO and the EU."

That's because none of the numerous regional organizations set up in the region after the collapse of the Soviet Union have united the "newly independent states," with most such organizations -- particularly the CSTO and the Eurasec -- having been dismissed as ineffective talk shops.

And while Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev's idea to form a Central Asian union has received some acceptance, it is opposed by Uzbekistan and faces far too many hurdles to become a reality any time in the near future.

So, with multiple but unsatisfying regional organizations to turn to, Central Asian countries seem to be welcoming Russia back with open arms -- though they haven't yet closed their doors to greater ties with the West.

Not far from the Russian air base in Kant, Kyrgyzstan hosts a U.S. military base at its Manas International Airport that has some 1,000 personnel. The base reportedly contributes $50 million to the Kyrgyz economy every year and is one of the greatest sources of foreign currency for the impoverished country.

There are also some 200 French troops stationed in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, and the country gets significant financial aid from the United States and the EU, including funds for constructing a bridge linking Tajikistan with Afghanistan and funds to train its border guards.

And Uzbekistan, which closed a U.S. military base on its territory in 2005, recently allowed its reuse by NATO forces involved in Afghanistan and is reconsidering its "current state of affairs" with the United States.

Even Turkmenistan, which was a reclusive country with few ties to the West, has greatly opened itself up and has even been cooperating with NATO in recent months under President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.

All prime reasons why Moscow undoubtedly believes it has no time to lose in expanding its ties -- including militarily -- with all the Central Asian countries.

[Shammu]

Russia flexes muscles in Caucasus as U.S. urges calm

Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:40pm EDT

By Guy Faulconbridge and Margarita Antidze

MOSCOW/TBLISI (Reuters) - Georgia recalled its ambassador from Moscow on Thursday after Russia said it had sent its fighter jets into its neighbor's airspace to prevent Georgian troops attacking a separatist region.

Russia acknowledged the fighter sorties a few hours after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a visit to the Georgian capital, urged Moscow to help ease tensions in the strategic region instead of adding to them.

Georgia's pro-Western government is locked in a confrontation with Russia over two Georgian regions -- South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- which have rejected Tbilisi's rule and are receiving support from Moscow.

"We will take some aggressive diplomatic steps in order to respond adequately to Russia's actions. One such step is that from today, we are recalling our ambassador in Russia for consultations," Georgian Foreign Minister Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili told a news briefing.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili later told Reuters in Ukraine: "Obviously we cannot fight with Russia. I mean we have to use all international diplomatic and political tools."

He said the overflights showed Russia's disdain for international law and added: "Not only does Russia keeps surprising, but sometimes the inability of some parts of the international community to adequately react (is surprising)."

Rice, speaking in Tbilisi after meeting Saakashvili, said Russia "needs to be a part of resolving the problem and solving the problem and not contributing to it".

Rice backed Georgia's bid to join NATO, but also urged all sides to halt a surge of violence in the breakaway regions this month in which at least six people have been killed.

Russia has accused Georgia of orchestrating the violence, a charge Tbilisi denies.

"The violence needs to stop, and whoever is perpetrating it, and I have mentioned this to the president, there should not be violence," Rice told a news conference.

COOLING HOT HEADS

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the air force was compelled to act after it received reports Georgian forces were preparing to launch a military operation on South Ossetia.

"In order to clarify the situation, aircraft of the Russian air force carried out a brief flight over the territory of South Ossetia," it added.

"As subsequent events showed, this step allowed (us) to cool hot heads in Tbilisi and prevent events developing along military lines, the likelihood of which was more than real."

It was Russia's first admission for at least a decade that its air force has flown over Georgian territory without permission. Georgia has said in the past that Russia trespassed in its airspace but Moscow has always denied it.

Russia's Rossiya television channel quoted a military commander as saying Russia could deploy troops to the breakaway regions to reinforce peacekeepers it already has there.

"Russia's troops in the North Caucasus region could be sent ... in the event of an escalation of the situation," the station quoted Colonel-General Sergei Makarov, commander of the North Caucasus military district, as saying.

Moscow is competing with the United States and European Union for influence over Georgia. The country hosts the only pipelines pumping gas and oil from the Caspian Sea to world markets without going through Russia.

Early this year Russia established semi-official ties with the separatist administrations in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and beefed up the peacekeeping forces it has had in Abkhazia since the end of a war in the 1990s.

Georgia accused Russia of trying to annexe its territory and Tbilisi's Western allies said Russia was stoking tensions. Russia said it acted to defend the breakaway regions from Georgian aggression.

Russia flexes muscles in Caucasus as U.S. urges calm

[Shammu]

Russia threatens military response to US missile defence deal
July 9, 2008

David Charter, Europe Correspondent

Russia threatened to retaliate by military means after a deal with the Czech Republic brought the US missile defence system in Europe a step closer.

The threat followed quickly on from the announcement that Condoleezza Rice signed a formal agreement with the Czech Republic to host the radar for the controversial project.

Moscow argues that the missile shield would severely undermine the balance of European security and regards the proposed missile shield based in two former Communist countries as a hostile move.

“We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry did not detail what its response might entail.

Dr Rice, the US Secretary of State, hailed the agreement as a step forward for international security.

After 14 months of negotiations, the US is struggling to clinch agreement with its other proposed partner - Poland - where it hopes to locate the interceptor missiles designed to shoot down any incoming rockets.

Washington insists that the system will not be targeted at Russia, but will act as a safeguard for Europe against regimes such as Iran. The plan was endorsed by Nato in April.

"This missile defence agreement is significant as a building block not just for the security of the United States and the Czech Republic, but also for the security of Nato and the security of the international community as a whole," Dr Rice said. "Ballistic missile proliferation is not an imaginary threat."

A change of government in Poland last November saw the country introduce a range of demands including US investment in its air defences in return for siting the missiles.

Poland's tough negotiating position has even led to a threat from the Pentagon to find an alternative site in the Baltic state of Lithuania.

"There are remaining issues, but the United States has made a very generous offer [to the Poles]," said Dr Rice.

A year ago at the G8 in Germany, President Vladimir Putin of Russia surprised the US by suggesting that the radar could be hosted in Azerbaijan so that the technology could be shared.

The signing ceremony seemed to bury that idea. Addressing Russian anxiety about the anti-missile system in what used to be its backyard, Ms Rice added: "We want the system to be transparent to the Russians."

Mirek Topolanek, the Czech Prime Minister, said that the deal was an example of "our joint desire to protect the free world" and said his country could not afford to miss out as it had done after the Second World War, when it fell under Soviet influence.

"We were in the past in a similar situation and then we failed. We did not accept the Marshall Plan...we should not allow a second error of this kind," he said.

In Prague, where polls consistently show a majority of Czechs opposed to hosting the US radar, protestors from Greenpeace unrolled a large banner proclaiming "Do not make a target of us."

After Prague, Dr Rice will visit Bulgaria and Georgia where she will stress US support for Tblisi's application for Nato membership, another annoyance for Russia.

She will also appeal for calm between Moscow and Tblisi over the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"We have said both Georgia and Russia need to avoid provocative behaviour but frankly some of the things the Russians did over the last couple of months added to tension in the region," Dr Rice said.

"Georgia is an independent state. It has to be treated like one. I want to make very clear that the US commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity is strong."

The radar agreement still has to pass through the Czech parliament where the government only has a slim majority.

Russia threatens military response to US missile defence deal

[Shammu]

Russia eyes new nuclear missiles aimed at Europe
July 14, 2008

MOSCOW (UPI) -- Russia is making contingency plans for new nuclear missiles aimed at Europe as a response to United States missile shield moves, sources said Sunday.

The Sunday Times of London, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources, says Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his parliamentary supporters have scouted locations in western Russia, such as Kaliningrad and Belarus, which could host ballistic missiles for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

They would be deployed as an answer to United States efforts to put missile defense shield installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, the sources told the newspaper. United States officials say the missile defense efforts are aimed at “rogue states” such as Iran and North Korea, but Russia doubts this and sees them as provocative.

“How would Washington feel if we placed interceptor missiles on Cuba or Venezuela?” a Russian source said.

“These missiles would be pointed at Europe. It would be a perfectly legitimate step,” he added. “If America wants to expand its military capabilities in Europe, then we have the right to act accordingly.”-

Russia eyes new nuclear missiles aimed at Europe

[Shammu]

Russia and Kazakhstan to hold joint war games in 2009-2011
July 15, 2008

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) -- Russia and Kazakhstan will hold joint military exercises in 2009-2011, the two countries' defense ministers announced in Moscow on Monday.

Anatoly Serdyukov and Danial Akhmetov ordered their respective offices to draft the details of the joint drills, including the timeframe, locations and forces to be involved. The military exercises will be held on the territories of both states.

The two ministers said that joint tactical drills to be held this autumn as part of Center-2008 staff exercises in the Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals, ""will contribute to the further development of a united outlook and approach to the planning of joint actions to maintain the national security of the two countries.""

Serdyukov and Akhmetov, who is currently on a two-day trip to Moscow, also praised the military skills displayed by around 2,000 Russian and Kazakh paratroopers who took part in a joint counterinsurgency tactical exercise last Friday.

A Kazakh Defense Ministry spokesman said earlier that the 2008 Kazakh-Russian military cooperation program included a series of joint operational and combat training activities.

Russia, which is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), has been strengthening military ties with its allies amid growing tensions over NATO expansion and U.S. missile shield plans for Central Europe. An agreement was recently signed by Washington and Prague on deploying a U.S. radar in the Czech Republic, a move that did little to assuage Russian concerns for its national security.

The CSTO is a post-Soviet security alliance, which also comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

About 4,000 troops from Armenia, Russia, and Tajikistan will take part in the four-stage Rubezh-2008 military exercises in Armenia and Russia this summer.

Russia and Kazakhstan to hold joint war games in 2009-2011