Gog and Magog in the news

[HisDaughter]

"Dangerous gulf" opens between Russia and West

Prophecy News Watch

The West's pillorying of Moscow over last month's invasion of Georgia has kindled a fierce Russian resentment that poses dangers for security in Europe and in trouble spots beyond.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lectured Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a United Nations gathering in New York, telling him Russia was now isolated. Lavrov countered that his appointment book for the meeting had never been fuller.

Behind the studiedly gentle riposte lay a sense, echoed on the streets in Russia, that the West was not granting resurgent Russia the respect it feels it merits. Animosities ascribed in earlier times to ideological schism between communism and capitalism are proving hardier than many might have expected.

Russia's sense of grievance over the Georgian war stems from Western governments' unwillingness to acknowledge publicly what many say privately -- that Tbilisi started the conflict.

Adding insult to injury for the Russians is strong Western support for Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili -- loathed by Moscow -- and Western media coverage which has overwhelmingly favored Georgia during the conflict.

"Never in the past quarter century have Russia and the West differed so much over the interpretation of the same event," wrote political commentator Georgy Bovt in an opinion piece entitled "Divorce with the West" on the gazeta.ru news site.

"Never before has the behavior of Russia been presented in Western media in such a diametrically opposite way to the way that behavior is perceived in Russian public opinion."

Further stoking resentment is a string of recent Western moves seen as hostile by Moscow.

In Russian eyes, the West snubbed it by recognizing the independence of Kosovo, ignored its objections to a U.S. anti-missile system in eastern Europe, didn't listen to its criticism of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and broke a promise made to Moscow in the 1990s not to expand NATO to its borders.

Now Russia's patience has snapped.

RUSSIA LOST

Top diplomats stationed in Moscow privately despair over how, as one put it, "we have lost Russia completely over Georgia." Even normally pro-Western intellectuals and their own Russian embassy employees had turned against them.

"There's no one in this society who sees things our way," one senior Western diplomat commented.

"Russians are reacting to 18 years of condescension and being ignored by the West. They have had enough."

President Dmitry Medvedev summarized the changed public mood in his remarks at a meeting with Western analysts on September 12.

"I think for a vast majority of our citizens the events in the Caucasus means the loss of the remaining illusions of the period when Russia emerged as an independent state," he said referring to Russia's 1990s honeymoon with the West.

Russia's loss of trust in the West over Georgia could have serious consequences for peace in Europe, with neighboring Ukraine looming as the next potential battleground between a fearful and mistrustful West and an angry, emboldened Russia.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Jack Matlock criticized moves to draw Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, a policy that he said could split Ukraine. As long as the West followed this course, true strategic co-operation with Moscow was impossible.

"We are in a deep crisis," a second senior Moscow diplomat said. "We have embarked on a confrontation course which it is very difficult to pull back from."

The West seeks Russian co-operation in a host of security problems from Iran's nuclear program to Islamist militancy from the Caucasus to Afghanistan.

In an echo of Cold War posturing, Moscow has dispatched a flotilla of warships to America's backyard for joint maneuvers proposed by Venezuela's anti-American President Hugo Chavez. On a weightier issue, Moscow signaled it would not back any move for major powers to discuss Iran's nuclear program at the U.N.

Opinion polls show overwhelming popular support for President Dmitry Medvedev's decision to send troops into Georgia and a dramatic hardening of attitudes toward the West.

KREMLIN MEDIA CONTROL

A regular survey by the independent Levada Centre published this week showed Russians' views of relations with the United States plummeting by 40 points between July and September to their most negative level since polling began in 1997. There was a 29-point drop in support for relations with Europe.

"It's quite difficult to be pro-Western in the current situation," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a Moscow-based foreign policy journal.

"The consensus is there in Russia that the West cannot be trusted."

At the same time, some Western media, drawing on Cold War stereotypes, have painted a picture of an aggressive and dangerous Russian bear on the prowl.

"I understand the value of investing in this place but my biggest problem is that back home, a lot of people watching CNN think this place is one notch above North Korea," said one frustrated U.S. fund manager visiting Moscow last week.

Andrew Somers, president of the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce, said a number of large U.S. corporations already active in Russia were putting big future investment projects on hold, partly because of the hostile media coverage.

"The image of Russia is very bad and some of the press coverage is way out of context," he said.

President Vladimir Putin, renown for his acid comments about the West, took a swipe at Western media coverage of the Georgian war at a meeting with the Western analysts on September 11.

"I was surprised by the power of the Western propaganda machine," he said. "I congratulate all who were involved in it. This was a wonderful job. But the result was bad and will always be bad because this was a dishonest and immoral work."

To be fair, the public mood over the war in Russia is not totally spontaneous. Russia's Kremlin-controlled television channels have worked hard to keep popular wrath high.

Images of destroyed houses and dead civilians in South Ossetia dominated television screens. Newsmakers denounced "Georgian Nazism" and condemned the West which backed Tbilisi.

One unintended result of the media war: Western criticism of Russia's generally Kremlin-friendly media will now fall on deaf ears. Many feel the Western press is as biased as their own.

"Discussion about freedom of the press is over here," the second diplomat said.

"Our Russian colleagues tell us how they have seen how Western television channels manipulate and distort the truth over Georgia so they need no lessons from us on press freedom."

[HisDaughter]

Russia Preparing For Confrontation with US & Nato?


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Russia announced an overhaul of its strategic nuclear forces and army yesterday, in the clearest sign yet that Moscow may be preparing for a possible full-scale military confrontation with the US and Nato.

Speaking after Russia carried out its biggest military exercises since the cold war, Dmitry Medvedev, the president, said Russia would build a space defence system and a fleet of nuclear submarines by 2020.

This summer's brief war with Georgia, which led to a further rift between Moscow and the west, showed the need for Russia to have a strong military in a state of "permanent readiness", Medvedev said.

His defence initiative is the biggest in Russia for at least a decade. It comes amid bitter opposition from Moscow to Washington's plan to site a missile defence system in central Europe - a project the Kremlin says upsets Europe's strategic balance. The move is also a riposte to US-backed plans for Georgia and Ukraine to join Nato.

Moscow opposes Nato's further expansion, arguing that it challenges its regional "privileged interests". Moscow also accuses the US of encouraging, and even participating in, Georgia's attack on the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia.

"Just recently we had to rebuff aggression unleashed by the Georgian regime. As we discovered, a local smouldering conflict - even occasionally a frozen one - can flare up into a genuine war," Medvedev said, addressing Russian troops.

He said Russia needed a "guaranteed nuclear deterrent system" in place by 2020. The armed forces had to be prepared for "various political and military scenarios," he warned.

He promised large-scale construction of warships, including nuclear submarines armed with cruise missiles, and also announced plans for a system of air and space defence. The president promised to improve living conditions for Russian soldiers, as well as better military education and training.

He was speaking after watching an military exercise in the southern Urals. Yesterday one leading analyst said the exercise - which involved 40,000 troops, 7,300 pieces of heavy equipment and nuclear-capable missiles - was designed to simulate a war with the US.

"This is very significant. Right now the present Russian leadership believes that a war with Nato is very much possible," Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based defence analyst, told the Guardian. "This is the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union that the Russian military is actually preparing for an all-out nuclear war with America."

He added: "I believe we [the Russians] are sending the west a serious message. The message is treat us with respect, and if you don't go into our backyard we won't go into yours. Russia wants to divide the world into spheres of influence. If not, we will prepare for nuclear war."

Felgenhauer said Russia's military was old but still effective. "Our military is backward in its development. But we still have a sizeable nuclear potential. It can kill a hell of a lot of people," he said.

Russia's conflict with Georgia worsened tensions with the US that had been building since Vladimir Putin, a former KGB spy and Medvedev's predecessor, came to power in 2000 and began reasserting Russia's status as a world power.

Russia's military endured years of under-funding following the collapse of the Soviet Union, with its warships and aircraft sitting idle for long periods. Analysts say the nuclear deterrent did not suffer the same neglect.

The Kremlin, now sitting on a large cash pile after several years of high oil and gas prices, has already injected large sums into reviving the military.

Putin, now prime minister, announced earlier this month that nearly $95bn (£51.5bn) would be allocated to defence and security in 2009. That is a 27% increase on the previous year.

[HisDaughter]

Russian nuclear stealth bomber was able to fly within 90 seconds of the British coast without being picked up by radar

Prophecy New Watch --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Russian nuclear stealth bomber was able to fly within 90 seconds of the British coast without being picked up by radar, it was revealed today.

The supersonic ‘Blackjack’ jet flew completely undetected to within just 20 miles from Hull in one of the worst breaches of British security since the end of the Cold War.

RAF radar eventually picked up the plane, but the only two pairs of fighter jets used for air alerts were on other duties.

The embarrassing breach late last year has called into question Britain's defence capabilities after four jet squadrons were cut from the RAF’s budget four years ago.

One senior RAF pilot told The Sun: ‘The Russians made us look helpless. It was a disaster - it basically gave the Russians the green light to fly wherever they want.’

The supersonic jet had taken off from Engel's Air Base near Saratov on Russia's Volga delta.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed the incursion took place but said it had a ‘multi-layered’ approach to deterring enemy aircraft.

[HisDaughter]

Russian nuclear missile cruiser to dock at Syrian port on Yom Kippur eve

Prophecy News Watch ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Russian Navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo disclosed Wednesday, Oct. 1, that a four-ship squadron led by the Peter the Great nuclear missile cruiser will call in at the Libyan port of Tripoli and “other Middle East ports” before heading out to the Caribbean for joint maneuvers with Venezuela.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that one of those ports is Tartus, Syria, where preparations are afoot to receive the visiting Russian flotilla.

Peter the Great , one of the most advanced naval vessels afloat, may in fact anchor at the new facility the Russians are building at Syria’s second major port, Latakia, for its first visit to Syria; the rest of the squadron, the Admiral Chabanenko submarine, a reconnaissance vessel and a fourth ship, will dock at Tartus.

Peter the Great is designed to sink large surface vessels such as aircraft carriers. The ship’s Granit (Nato designated SS-N-19 Shipwreck) anti-ship cruise missiles (20 missile launchers) can destroy vessels up to 500 km distant in ripple-fire mode.

An S-300F defense missile complex is installed on Peter the Great , with 12 launchers and 96 vertical launch air defense missiles.

The Navy spokesman in Moscow said the Russian warships will perform maneuvers in the Mediterranean, without adding details. They will pass through the Strait of Gibraltar Sunday, Oct. 5, visit Tripoli next and on Oct, 8 or 9, put in at a Syrian port.

Coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the Egyptian-Syrian Yom Kippur attack on Israel, the Russian warships’ arrival in Syria has serious connotations:

1. It means that prime minister Ehud Olmert will be wasting his time if he intends using his talks in Moscow next week with president Dmitry Medvedev and prime minister Vladimir Putin to ask them to drop their plan for a permanent base at a Syrian port. That plan is clearly going full steam ahead.

2. The Yom Kippur War of 1973 is recorded in Russian and Arab military annals as the high point of Russian-Arab military and intelligence cooperation. The Soviet Union as it was then was responsible for the great deception which disguised Arab war preparations behind a screen of misdirection and gulled Israeli intelligence into complacence.

Moscow is signaling Jerusalem on this sensitive date that it has decided to revert to its old military ties with Damascus on the same scale as its historic 20th century partnership.

3. The precedence the Russian navy is awarding to visiting Middle East ports before Venezuela attests to the importance Moscow attaches to its new Damascus-Tehran-Caracas alignment opposite the US-Israel alliance.

[HisDaughter]

Russia using food exports to expand influence 

Prophecy News Watch
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The largest wheat harvest in 15 years is expected to yield 51 million tons, of which a record-breaking 15 million are earmarked for export. Only the US and Canada are expected to export more.

The boom comes as the Kremlin’s influence in the Middle East grows, with trade volumes at record levels and increasing collaboration in the energy sector.

Russia’s grain trade may prove as controversial as its involvement in energy markets, because it was announced in July that the industry, now mainly in the hands of private traders, would soon be amalgamated into one trading company under Kremlin control.

Iraq has bought 200,000 tons of Russian hard milling wheat at $300 a ton. It is the second large sale of Russian wheat since July.

“In the last few years there has been an increase in Russian wheat exports not just in absolute terms, but also in terms of global market share,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, a grain analyst at the Food and Agriculture Organisation at the United Nations. “This year Russia will export perhaps twice as much wheat as Argentina, one of the top five traditional wheat exporters.”

In the 19th century Russia and Ukraine were the bread basket of Europe, but production dropped under Josef Stalin’s forced collectivisation policy and by the end of the Cold War the Soviet bloc had become a net wheat importer.

Now thanks to rising world food prices and a new law allowing foreigners to own land, Russia is once again exporting. With the proximity of Black Sea ports to wheat-deficient Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Russian wheat has a competitive edge.

Experts believe that Russia has huge potential for growth – millions of acres of farmland lie fallow and vast expanses of fertile land have never been farmed at all.

“Russia is replacing the EU as a supplier in North Africa and also in parts of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa,” said Mr Abbassian. “This was not expected in such a short space of time.”

[Shammu]

Russian influence in mid-eastl issues very important to Israel
10.07.08
Roni Sofer

MOSCOW - During a meeting with outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Kremlin on Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accepted an invitation to visit Jerusalem and said his country would "continue to play an important role in the (Middle East)."

Olmert responded that "Russia is a world power and, as such, its influence in regional issues is very important – also to Israel.

The two leaders were also expected to discuss the Iranian nuclear program and the transfer of Russian arms to Syria, Iran and terror groups such as Hizbullah. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also participated in the meeting.

Medvedev told Olmert that the relations between the two countries were "very important," adding that he hopes to develop joint humanitarian projects in the future.

After years of contacts, Olmert's cabinet agreed Sunday to hand over the small tract known as Sergei's Courtyard to Russian control. Medvedev thanked the Israeli PM for the gesture.

Olmert said the handover was a "small, symbolic matter that underscores Russia's bond to the Land of Israel."

Russian influence in mid-eastl issues very important to Israel

[Shammu]

"Russia is a world power and, as such, its influence in regional issues is very important – also to Israel."

Well, Medvedev is right. Prophecy foretells a major role for Russia in the Mideast.

But the role that Medvedev, Putin, and other Russian leaders are planning for Russia in the Middle East is not the one the Lord will allow them to accomplish.

[Shammu]

Moscow calls for anti-US alliance
Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
October 10, 2008

THE President of Russia has called on Europe's leaders to create a new world order that would minimise the role of the United States.

Confident that a row with Europe prompted by Russia's invasion of Georgia in August was over, Dmitry Medvedev arrived in the French spa town of Evian on Wednesday determined to woo his fellow leaders into creating an anti-US front.

Gone was the kind of wartime rhetoric that saw Mr Medvedev lash out at the West and describe his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, as a "lunatic". Instead Mr Medvedev spoke of a Russia that was "absolutely not interested in confrontation", and outlined plans for a new security pact to ban the use of force in Europe.

Yet there was little doubt that Mr Medvedev was playing the divide-and-rule tactics of Vladimir Putin, his predecessor and now Prime Minister, by seeking to pit the US against its European allies.

In a speech delivered to European leaders at a conference hosted by the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, to discuss the international financial crisis, Mr Medvedev sought to show that the US was at the root of all the world's problems. He blamed Washington's "economic egotism" for the world's financial woes and then accused the Bush Administration of taking Europe to the brink of a new cold war by pursuing a deliberately divisive foreign policy.

He also maintained that the US was once again trying to return to a policy of containing Russia.

"After toppling the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the United States started a series of unilateral actions," Mr Medvedev said.

"As a result, a trend appeared in international relations towards creating dividing lines. This was in fact the revival of a policy popular in the past and known as containment."

While he called for a cooling of the noxious rhetoric that had blighted East-West relations over the past two years, Mr Medvedev clearly laid the blame for the deterioration on the US, which he said was again viewing Russia through the prism of the Cold War. "Sovietology, like paranoia, is a very dangerous disease, and it is a pity that part of the US Administration still suffers from it," he said.

In order to end the "unipolar" model in which the world depended on the US, he proposed creating new financial systems to challenge the dominance of the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation, both of which had fallen under Washington's spell.

Attacking the enlargement of NATO, which he said had advanced provocatively towards Russia, he proposed a new European security treaty.

The new European pact would include "a clear affirmation of the inadmissibility of the use of force - or the threat of force - in international relations" and would be built on the principle of the territorial integrity of independent nations.

While Russia has insisted it was not intending to supplant NATO, Mr Medvedev made it clear that the US-dominated alliance was partly responsible for the war in the Caucasus by its failure to rein in Georgian "aggression".

The Russian President won praise from Mr Sarkozy after he announced that all Russian troops had been withdrawn from buffer zones around Georgia's rebel enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia before today's deadline.

Describing his guest as a man who had "kept his word", Mr Sarkozy immediately declared that talks on an EU-Russia partnership deal, suspended as punishment for Russia's military operation in Georgia, could resume.

Moscow calls for anti-US alliance

[Shammu]

Russian scientist 'helped Iran with nuclear weapons programme'
A Russian scientist may have helped Iran to design advanced detonators whose only possible use would be in a nuclear weapon, according to United Nations inspectors.

David Blair
6:53PM BST 10 Oct 2008

The Russian's alleged role was disclosed in a document, obtained by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which describes complex and highly sensitive experiments supposedly conducted inside Iran.

In total, the IAEA possesses 18 official documents which cast doubt on Iran's explanation that its nuclear programme is a peaceful endeavour intended only to generate electricity.

This evidence - which Tehran claims has been faked - suggests that Iran has studied the crucial stages for building a nuclear weapon. Some documents focus on how to install a warhead in the Shahab-3 missile, while others describe facilities for testing a nuclear device.

The latest document covers the problem of detonating a nuclear device. Its suggestion that a Russian scientist was involved is the first evidence that foreign experts had a direct hand in Iran's nuclear programme.

But the IAEA believes this individual was not working on behalf of the Russian authorities and was present in Iran on a freelance basis. After the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, some Russian nuclear experts are known to have left to work for other governments.

This evidence was presented to diplomats by Olli Heinonen, the IAEA's chief inspector, during a closed door meeting in February. When Iran's representative denied that this showed the existence of a nuclear weapons programme, Mr Heinonen said the experiments were "not consistent with any application other than the development of a nuclear weapon", according to the "New York Times".

He added that the detonators described in the document were "key components of nuclear weapons".

The IAEA has repeatedly asked Iran to explain these studies in order to assure the world of the allegedly peaceful nature of its nuclear programme.

British officials believe the UN inspectors have correctly "zeroed in" on the central issue.

They consider the documents outlining these studies to be the strongest evidence that Iran has sought a nuclear weapon.

Iran's representatives had hoped to persuade the IAEA to confirm the peaceful aims of their nuclear programme. But the inspectors' focus on Iran's alleged studies of how to build a weapon appears to have dashed this plan.

Tehran's continued enrichment of uranium, in breach of five UN Resolutions, has attracted most attention. But this is classic dual use technology.

Uranium enriched to low levels of purity could be used in nuclear power stations. So an enrichment programme alone does not amount to proof of an effort to build a nuclear weapon. British officials believe that the documents allegedly showing that Iran studied the problems involved in making a bomb do provide this proof.

Russian scientist 'helped Iran with nuclear weapons programme'

[Shammu]

Russia test-fires ballistic missile to mid-Pacific
Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:38am EDT

MURMANSK, Russia (Reuters) - Russia for the first time test-launched a strategic missile to the equatorial part of the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, a navy spokesman said.

The spokesman said a Sineva missile had been launched from the nuclear-powered submarine Tula in the Arctic Barents Sea in the course of military exercises observed by President Dmitry Medvedev.

"For the first time in the history of the Russian navy, the target of the missile was in an equatorial part of the Pacific Ocean rather than the Kura testing ground on the Kamchatka Peninsula," he said.

Russia test-fires ballistic missile to mid-Pacific

[Shammu]

Russia Fails to Meet All of EU-Negotiated Ceasefire Obligations

Friday , October 10, 2008

TKVIAVI, Georgia  —
Russia has only partially met its obligations under an EU-negotiated cease-fire, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner declared Friday as he toured damaged villages and spoke to Georgians displaced by the war.

He confirmed that Russia had met the Friday deadline to withdraw hundreds of troops from strips of land in Georgia outside the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But Kouchner suggested Moscow has not met all its obligations under the cease-fire, which also stipulated that Russia must withdraw to positions held before the five-day war broke out Aug. 7.

"The withdrawal is complete on the first part of the agreement. Of course, the agreement is not complete at all, and it is not a perfect agreement," Kouchner said at a refugee camp in the central city of Gori, which was heavily bombed in war.

Kouchner said further talks were needed to resolve disputes over the two separatist regions, which are still under Russian control.

But Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking on a visit to Kyrgyzstan, insisted Friday that Russia had fully met its pledges under the plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"We have fulfilled all the obligations," he said.

Besides touring ravaged villages near South Ossetia, Kouchner also visited a headquarters for EU monitors who are patrolling territory surrounding South Ossetia now that the Russians had withdrawn.

Georgian refugees are returning to their homes, but many houses have been destroyed by arson and vandalism that locals blame mostly on Ossetians.

"I'm glad that he's come here so that he can see what happened with his own eyes. That way no one can erase it," said Jimal Tibilashvili, 53, who fled with his wife during the war.

He returned Friday to his village of Tkviavi to find his home destroyed — and he plans to go back to Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, because he fears unexploded ordnance. A neighbor was injured by what appeared to be a cluster bomb.

Kouchner stopped at a damaged police station — its windows shattered and debris strewn across the floor. Its commander said Russians forces and their local allies were both responsible for the wreckage.

Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations after the war and plans to keep 3,800 troops in each region — a much bigger presence than before the war.

Russia has also made clear it has no plans to pull troops out of portions of the breakaway regions that had been under Georgian control before the war, including Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge, a broad swath of South Ossetia, and the town of Akhalgori.

"Akhalgori is South Ossetian territory," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told The Associated Press in Kyrgyzstan.

Kouchner said the issue of Akhalgori and the Kodori Gorge should be discussed at international talks being held Oct. 15 in Geneva on security in Georgia.

The United States, EU and NATO have sharply criticized Russia for recognizing the breakaway regions as independent nations, insisting that Georgia's borders should remain intact.

German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said Friday that NATO could resume regular talks with Russia that were suspended after its invasion of Georgia. But the United States and other allies said it's premature to rush into reconvening the NATO-Russia Council.

"We are not at that stage yet," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters.

The war erupted when Georgia launched an attack to regain control over South Ossetia, which broke from Georgian control in the early 1990s. Russian forces swiftly repelled the attack and drove deep into Georgia.

The war followed years of increasing tension between Russia and Georgia, whose pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili has cultivated close ties with Washington and pushed for NATO membership. Georgia straddles a key westward route for Caspian Sea oil and gas.

Russia Fails to Meet All of EU-Negotiated Ceasefire Obligations

[HisDaughter]

Russia moves into the Mediterranean with Syrian presence

During balmy evenings in the sleepy Syrian port of Tartous locals promenade along the seafront or suck on hookahs discussing the two great pillars of their society: business and family.

Politics, such as it is in the tightly controlled one-party state, rarely gets a mention, and certainly not in public. But few could fail to wonder about the foreign sailors dockside and the grey warship dominating a harbor that was once a trading hub of the Phoenician empire and is now the centre of a new projection of power, this time by Syria's old ally Russia.

Tartous is being dredged and renovated to provide a permanent facility for the Russian navy, giving Moscow a key military foothold in the Mediterranean at a time when Russia's invasion of Georgia has led to fears of a new cold war.

The bolstering of military ties between Russia and Syria has also worried Israel, whose prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was in Moscow yesterday seeking to persuade the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, to stop Russian arms sales to Syria and Iran. Mr Olmert later said he had received assurances that Russia would not allow Israel's security to be threatened, but offered no indication he won any concrete promises on Russian arms sales.

Igor Belyaev, Russia's charge d'affaires in Damascus, recently told reporters that his country would increase its presence in the Mediterranean and that "Russian vessels will be visiting Syria and other friendly ports more frequently".

That announcement followed a meeting between Medvedev and the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, at the Black sea port of Sochi in the immediate aftermath of Russia's victory over Georgian forces and its recognition of the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - actions Assad supported.

Now, with Ukraine threatening to expel Russia's Black sea fleet from its base in Sebastopol, the only route for the Russian navy into the Mediterranean, military cooperation between Moscow and Damascus appears to have taken on a new zeal.

"Israel and the US supported Georgia against Russia, and Syria thus saw a chance to capitalize on Russian anger by advancing its long-standing relations with Moscow," said Taha Abdel Wahed, a Syrian expert on Russian affairs. "Syria has a very important geographical position for the Russians. Relations between Damascus and Moscow may not yet be strategic, but they are advancing rapidly."

Tartous was once a re-supplying point for the Soviet navy at a time when Moscow sold Syria billions of dollars worth of arms. "Tartous is of great geopolitical significance considering that it is the only such Russian facility abroad," a former Russian navy deputy commander, Igor Kasatonov, said, following a meeting on September 12 in Moscow between the naval leaders from Russia and Syria.

Syrian-Russian relations cooled after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But they have taken on a new dynamic since Assad succeeded his father in 2000. After a state visit to Russia in 2005, he persuaded Moscow to wipe three-quarters off a £7.6bn debt Syria owed, mainly from arms sales.

Since then the two countries have been in talks about upgrading Syria's missile defenses with Russia's advanced Strelets system, provoking condemnation from Israel, whose fighter jets in September 2007 flew unchallenged into north-east Syria to bomb a suspected nuclear site.

Last month Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said Moscow would consider selling Damascus new weapons that "have a defensive character and that do not in any way interfere with the strategic balance in the region". Though no defense pact has been signed between the two, as it has between Syria and Iran, observers suggest the very presence of Russian warships in Tartous would bolster Damascus's military standing in the region.

"Israel would think twice about attacking Syria again with Russian ships stationed in Tartous," said Abdel Wahed, an analyst.

A senior Israeli colonel has also accused Russia of passing intelligence about Israel to Syria and indirectly to Hizbullah.

Describing electronic eavesdropping stations on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights believed to be operated by Russian technicians, Ram Dor, information security chief for the armed forces, told an Israeli newspaper: "My assessment is that their facilities cover most of the state of Israel's territory. The Syrians share the intelligence that they gather with Hizbullah, and the other way around."

During the 2006 July war Hizbullah fighters used advanced Russian tank-buster missiles to cripple at least 40 of Israel's Merkava tanks, a key tipping point in a war that Israel later admitted it lost.

[Shammu]

Russia not yet ready to lend to Iceland
Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:57pm EDT

By Patrick Lannin and Toni Vorobyova

REYKJAVIK/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is not yet convinced it should make a loan to Iceland to help dig it out of a financial crisis, a Russian source said on Friday.

But as the island ran down more of its meager foreign reserves, Iceland said it hoped its biggest bank, Kaupthing, would next week be able to re-open its Luxembourg branch to pay back Belgian and Luxembourg depositors.

Two weeks after a banking collapse destroyed the value of its economy and currency, Iceland has still to decide whether to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help.

Prime Minister Geir Haarde said a decision was still expected within a week. In the meantime, talks with Russia this week on a loan have not yet led to a deal.

"At the current moment, we do not yet have enough reasons to give them credit," a senior Russian government source told Reuters. "We did not refuse. We are continuing the talks."

The island of 300,000 people is the most serious state victim of the global credit crunch. But banking problems in Ukraine and Hungary have also sent those countries scrambling to the IMF and European Central Bank amid fears they might be next.

Billions of dollars in foreign savings are locked up inside Iceland's banks, attracted by some of the highest interest rates in Europe. One such group is people from Belgium and Luxembourg.

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme met Haarde, to discuss these depositors and Haarde said Iceland hoped the receiver running Kaupthing could re-open the Luxembourg branch.

"If that is the case then it looks like the problems with respect to the depositors will be solved within a relatively short period of time," Haarde told a news conference.

Leterme said he hoped a solution could be found by next Tuesday to bring the bank back into operations.

Leterme said no loan to Iceland had been discussed.

OFFERING BARS, VOLCANOES, AIRBASE?

But with banking debts several times its gross domestic product, Iceland needs money badly.

Analysts have also wondered what price Russia -- suffering its own economic problems and increasingly at odds with the West in the aftermath of the Georgia war -- might exact.

Iceland has repeatedly said it will not offer Russia use of a former U.S. airbase but one analyst said Russia might be keener on a deal if Iceland was successful in being elected to a temporary post on the U.N. Security Council.

But Iceland lost out to Turkey and Austria for the two European seats on offer on Friday, apparently in part because of its financial crisis, gaining only 87 votes from the 192 member assembly.

Facing a brutally hard landing from years of prosperity, Iceland this week slashed interest rates and raised controls to stimulate the economy and prevent capital flight.

The central bank has also been selling foreign currency to local banks -- whose domestic assets have been nationalized -- at almost half the rate at which the crown has been trading internationally. Firms are only allowed foreign exchange for essential purchases such as food and fuel.

"Effectively, you have a dual exchange rate which isn't that unusual in this sort of case," said one analyst, asking not to be named to avoid damaging commercial relationships.

"What the government is doing is giving away foreign exchange locally at much cheaper than the market rate."

Meanwhile Iceland hopes its currency collapse will attract more tourists drawn by its nightlife, spas and volcanoes. For now bars and restaurants along Reykjavik's main street are doing a roaring trade -- perhaps in part because of the crisis.

"Actually, when people get depressed they drink more," said bar manager Friesteinn Gislasson. "The crisis has not hit us so much so far."

Russia not yet ready to lend to Iceland

[Shammu]

Russia-backed rebels accuse Georgia over shooting

1 day ago

MOSCOW (AFP) — Russia-backed separatists in South Ossetia on Saturday accused Georgian forces of firing on their soldiers in the first such reported incident since a brief war in the region in August.

A spokesman for Georgia's interior ministry confirmed shooting in the area near the Georgian village of Nikozi but said it was coming from drunken Russian soldiers at a border post and that they were firing into the air.

The spokesman also said that a Russian spy plane had been spotted flying briefly into Georgian airspace near the same village on Saturday in what was "obviously" a violation of an EU-brokered ceasefire agreement.

"The Georgian side has fired on security force posts of the Republic of South Ossetia," the separatist government said on its official website, quoting the de facto interior minister of the province, Mikhail Mindzayev.

No casualties were reported from the shooting, the statement said.

"South Ossetian security force posts near the Georgian village of Nikozi came under fire from machine guns and other firearms this morning. It happened as South Ossetian positions in the border zones were being set up," he said.

Georgia's interior ministry gave a very different account of the incident.

"Drunk Russian soldiers were firing into the air" at a security post near Nikozi, which is located on the Georgian side along the de facto border with South Ossetia, said Shota Utiashvili, a spokesman for the ministry.

Utiashvili also said: "A Russian drone flew over Nikozi this morning and then returned to Tskhinvali," the capital of South Ossetia. He said the spy plane was in Georgian airspace for up to 20 minutes.

This is the first time South Ossetian authorities have reported shooting from Georgian positions since a conflict in August between Russian forces and South Ossetian militias on one side and Georgian forces on the other.

Georgia has reported several shootings from the South Ossetian side.

Following the conflict with Georgia, Russia recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia, as independent states in a move that was roundly condemned by Western powers and Georgia.

Tensions remain high despite a ceasefire in place in the region as Georgian authorities have said Russia must pull all its forces out of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in order to comply with the ceasefire agreement.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from the rest of Georgia with Russian backing in the early 1990s in conflict that killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands of Georgians to flee their homes.

Russia-backed rebels accuse Georgia over shooting

[Shammu]

Russia Proposes Setting Up Council of Religions As UN Consultative Body

Friday, October 17, 2008 11:56 PM
(Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English)trackingASTANA. Oct 17 (Interfax)

Russia has come up with an initiative to establish a council of religions as a consultative body under UN auspices that will provide support for the Alliance of Civilizations international project, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told an international conference of foreign ministers from several countries in Astana on Friday.

"It is important that politicians and diplomats should contribute to the creation of a favorable environment for the further development of inter-confessional dialogue, which helps find areas of common interest, especially in issues related to the settlement of conflicts that have a religious component," Lavrov said during the "One Common World: Progress Through Diversity conference."

"Russia welcomes all early developments that have taken place in this area," he said.

"In our opinion, the creation of a consultative council of religions as part of the UN's general efforts aimed at supporting the Alliance of Civilizations will be timely," the foreign minister said.

"This idea is sometimes treated with suspicion. But this approach is wrong. It is not intended to replace mechanisms functioning in the inter-civilization field. It does not infringe on anyone's prerogatives, and it is not aimed at creating a dominating position in inter-religious dialogue for anybody," he said.

"We hope that this objective coincidence of common interests will make it possible to form a permanent platform for religious figures' dialogue," Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister said he is convinced that the main result of the conference in Astana will be steps to maintain the determination to improve tolerance in international affairs and to respect each other's culture and religion.

Russia Proposes Setting Up Council of Religions As UN Consultative Body