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CAUCASUS EMIRATE: Fierce fighting reported between Russian forces and mujahideen in Kabarda-Balkaria-Karachai

February 23, 2011 Comments off

The following article is reprinted with permission from Kavkaz Center, Caucasus Emirate (mujahideen) news agency. (Map added by Inteltrends)
 

Fierce fighting goes on in United Province of KBK’s Elbrus district. Invaders using aviation.
©  Kavkaz Center
February 23, 2011  12:02 Emirate Time

Fiighting is taking place for almost a day between the Russian invaders from the occupation gang of “Special Forces” and a mobile unit of the Mujahideen in the Elbrus district of the United Province of Kabarda-Balkaria-Karachai (KBK).

Information about what is happening is contradictory. Occupation sources refer to the fact that there is no stable communication in the battle zone due to weather conditions.

Meanwhile, according to invaders’ [Russian] reports the fighting is fierce. This indicates that the invaders are using aircraft, which strikes at places of possible positions of the Mujahideen.

It is reported that the invaders are also using heavy mortars and artillery. Large force of invaders and their puppets are sent to the battle area. There is no clear information on the number of Mujahideen.

Previously, the invaders stated that the Mujahideen unit consistied of 7 men. Then it was suggested that several groups of Mujahideen are involving in the fighting.

There are also contradictory reports about the losses of the sides. Invaders initially reported that “a squad of Mujahideen was discovered in the Elbrus district”. In the ensuing clashes five Mujahideen were allegedly killed.

Later it was claimed that 3 Mujahideen were killed, only 3 gang members of “special forces” were allegedly injured from the invaders’ side.

It is to be mentioned thereupon that even some Russian media outlets note that claims of the occupation command about the Mujahideen casualties have not been confirmed and that there is no accurate data on whether there are casualties among the Mujahideen at all.

After some time the invaders said that a fight between a mobile squad of Mujahideen and a detachment of the invaders from the gang of special forces consisted of the so-called contractors-mercenaries took place near the village Bylym, Elbrus region, at about 3:00 pm on Tuesday.

Initially it was reported that it was Mujahideen who attacked a checkpoint and a police station. A few hours later the invaders changed the original version and said that “militant were discovered”.

Occupation command said that an invader was killed and 6 others wounded as a result of fighting.

Meanwhile, ITAR-TASS news agency referring to the occupation command reported that no accurate data available on losses among the Mujahideen. “If there were dead bodies, they have taken them with them”, the agency was told by a representative of the occupation command.

At the same time, RIA Novosti news agency was reported by a spokesman for the occupation gang “NAC (National Anti-terrorist Committee)” that 3 Mujahideen were allegedly killed and their bodies were taken for identification procedures. However, no facts to support this statement had been given.

In turn, Interfax news agency referring to the gang MIA reported that “a group of militants numbering up to 7 people attacked a police station of the Russian Interior Ministry troops in the Elbrus region”. This report indicated that the Mujahideen attacked a checkpoint of Interior Troops of the Russian Federation, 10 km south-east of the village of Bylym.

It is worth to be mentioned that the claims of a “success” in fightings against the Mujahideen appeared at the background of a secret visit to the Caucasus by the Kremlin’s idiotic dwarf leader Medvedev, who announced that behind the latest developments in the region ostensibly hide undefined “foreign forces”.

The information about operations against the Mujahideen was reported in standard Russian propaganda style, with reference to alleged Russian “tourists” who had been presumably shot dead by the same Mujahideen who were now “being tracked down in the mountains”.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

[End.]

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Categories: Caucasus, Caucasus Emirate, RUS

Is Russia ripe for a Twitter revolution?

February 17, 2011 Comments off

The following commentary is reprinted with permission from RIA Novosti, Moscow.
 

Is Russia ripe for a Twitter revolution?
©  RIA Novosti
By Natasha Doff
February 17, 2011

At 16.32 on January 24 a suicide bomber blew himself up at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. The news was first broken on Twitter at 16.44 after which international news sites picked up on the story. Almost two hours later, Russia’s state-run TV channels announced the attack.

“Television is dead,” was the response of many in Russia’s growing army of bloggers. Others mocked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a self-proclaimed Twitter-addict, for allegedly learning about the blasts on the micro-blogging site.

With his near-constant chatter about Russia’s innovative future, Medvedev is slowly waking up to the fact that many Russians now appear to be shunning state TV channels and embracing the free realms of the Internet. But the lightning effects of the so-called Twitter revolutions across the Arab world may be giving him cause for concern.

And so it should. The Internet has become one of the few outlets for political dissent in Russia and a recent blogger trend of uncovering the country’s rampant corruption is gaining steam.

By far the ringleader of the trend is Alexei Navalny, a lawyer and blogger who in November accused former executives at Russia’s state-owned pipeline company, Transneft, of embezzling around $4 billion of public funds during the construction of the East Siberian Pacific Ocean pipeline.

In December, the activist announced that he was collecting donations to fund a Wikileaks-style website, Rospil.info, to document corruption. He aimed to collect around $100,000 in a year. Within three hours the fund had amassed $5,230.

“Blogs like Navalny’s are the future of Russian politics,” said Dimitry Gudkov, chairman of the opposition youth organization Young Socialists of Russia, at An Internet forum in Moscow last week. “Today 18-20 million people are following blogs like Nevalny’s, tomorrow this figure could be more like 40-50 million.”

But an increase in Internet dissent does not necessarily mean an Egypt-style revolution is on the horizon. Writer and researcher Evgeny Morozov believes the Internet has just as much potential to breed complacency as it does to incite change.

“Young Russians spend countless hours online downloading videos and having a very nice digital entertainment lifestyle, which does not necessarily turn them into the next Che Guevara,” Morozov told the U.S.-based Mother Jones magazine.

So far in Russia, the Internet has played a bigger role in quashing protests than spurring them on. During nationalist riots in December, the security services tracked blogs and social networking sites to trace people spreading nationalist sentiment and police quickly quashed planned uprisings announced on the web.

Navalny’s movement has also fallen into difficulties. In late January, Rospil fell victim to a cyber attack and was shut down for several days, and a court case accusing Navalny of causing more than 1 million rubles ($32,000) worth of damage to a state-owned timber company was reopened last week.

Russia’s political opposition, which holds regular small-scale protests in Moscow, is fragmented both on- and off-line and a handful of local activist groups scattered across the country are far from united.

The ruling United Russia party has also cottoned on to the growing power of the blogosphere and has allocated a budget to fund Internet campaigns and research.

“For many opposition movements, the Internet, while providing the opportunity to distribute information more quickly and cheaply, may have actually made their struggle more difficult in the long run,” Morozov says.

But so-called Twitter revolutions are not born on the web, they just use it to take flight. Numerous parallels have been drawn between Russia and Egypt since the uprising began. Corruption, a massive wealth disparity, rising inflation, to name just a few. Some say it is only a matter of time before the ticking time bomb explodes.

[End.]
__________

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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Categories: EGY, RUS, WORLD

Will Russia’s MiG abandon the Indian race?

February 15, 2011 Comments off

The following analysis is reprinted with permission from RIA Novosti, Moscow.
 

Will Russia’s MiG abandon the Indian race?
©  RIA Novosti
By Ilya Kramnik
February 15, 2011

The Indian tender for 126 MMRCAs (medium multi-role combat aircraft) to replace its ageing MiG-21s was announced long ago, but only now is the real intrigue unfolding. Competition between two main rivals – the United States’ F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Russia’s MiG-35 has been stiff.

The intrigue heightened after Russia announced its MiG-35 would not be on display at an air show in Bangalore. Many experts took the absence of a “real live” MiG as a sign that Russia was pulling out of the race.

Leading entries compared

The Russian and U.S. fighters each have their own strengths. The Super Hornet’s design maturity is indeed impressive. It has been in serial production for over 10 years and carries an active phased-array radar (APAR), which is also in serial production. The United States is also in a position to start manufacturing the aircraft for an Indian order at short notice.

The MiG-35′s advantages include India’s experience of MiG-29s and the fact that maintenance infrastructure for them is in place across the country, as well as Russia’s readiness to share production technology with India.

The MiG-35′s main shortcoming is its APAR: it is still in development and this is set to continue for a year or two. Also, despite its MiG-29 origins, the MiG-35 still needs refining before it can go into serial production.

Fundamentally, the only thing the MiG-35 shares with the previous MiG-29 family is its appearance. Its equipment and facilities have undergone a radical overhaul. The aircraft is now capable of using the very latest air-to-surface munitions, making it a multi-role fighter, unlike the MiG-29, which is considered an air-supremacy fighter.

The cockpit, in line with the current fashion, is equipped with multi-functional liquid-crystal display screens, while the HOTAS (hands on throttle-and-stick) system allows the pilot to manage all the weapons systems without taking their hands off the aircraft and engine controls.

Vectored-thrust engines make the plane much more maneuverable, increasing its chances of winning in close combat and avoiding long-range missile fire.

The fact that a two-seat version – the MiG-35D – is available, with the same kind of avionics as the single-seater, means that groups consisting of one- and two-seater aircraft can be formed, which are capable of carrying out highly complicated missions. In such formations the two-seaters become command planes, coordinating the moves of a flight or squadron.

Boeing meanwhile …

Unlike Russia, which decided not to put its MiG-35 on display in Bangalore, the United States has stepped up its activity and unveiled the latest version of the F/A-18, or the Silent Hornet, upscaled with stealth technology.

These warplanes are kitted out with conformal fuel tanks, enhanced performance engines, spherical missile laser warning (SM/LW), enclosed weapons pads and next generation cockpits complete with internal infrared search and tracking systems.

The aircraft on display at the show is the first to be developed as part of the International Super Hornet Roadmap program, which Boeing announced at the Farnborough air show last year. The fighter is being touted as a new generation in the Super Hornet family, which will feature improved combat survivability, situational awareness and performance for customers.

Boeing’s vice president Vivek Lall said that if India signs a contract with Boeing under the MMRCA tender it will be able to obtain this technology. “We are creating a platform which will be combat worthy for the next 30 or 40 years,” he said.

This announcement is unprecedented for an American company – until now only the United States’ closest allies have been granted full access to this kind of technology. All the others had to make do with what they were sold.

Tender results are expected to be announced this summer. They are particularly important for the MiG: should the MiG-35 fail to get an export order, Sukhoi aircraft will be left in a position of unassailable dominance on Russia’s combat aviation market.

Despite the unquestioned potential of Sukhoi platforms and their proven quality, such a monopoly is unlikely to be helpful.

[End.]
__________

Ilya Kramnik is RIA Novosti’s military commentator. The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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Categories: IND, RUS, USA

CAUCASUS EMIRATE: Fierce fighting in Nogai Steppe province reported: Russian soldiers killed, chopper downed

February 15, 2011 Comments off

The following article is reprinted with permission from Kavkaz Center, Caucasus Emirate (mujahideen) news agency.
 

Fierce fighting in CE Nogai Steppe province reported:  enemy soldiers killed, chopper downed in CE Nogai Steppe province reported:  enemy soldiers killed, chopper downed
©  Kavkaz Center
February 15, 2011  13:41 Emirate Time

A fierce fighting between a group of the Mujahideen and Russian invaders took place in the CE internal border area between the Combined Province of Kabarda-Balkaria-Karachai and Nogai Steppe Province in woodland near the settlement Belomechetinskaya, Russian occupation sources report.

The battle took place on Tuesday morning. The invaders initially claimed that 5 Mujahideen were martyred and that only one member of a Russian terrorist police gang had been killed and 3 others wounded.

Later, they stated that at least 3 police invaders had been eliminated and 3 others injured during the battle. As for the Mujahideen, the occupiers said they only assumed that 5 Mujahideen who were engaged in the battle had been killed.

It is to be mentioned in this context that there is no accurate data about what actually happened in the border area between the two provinces. There is also no exact data about losses on the both sides, as the occupiers regularly conceal their fatalities.

It is also reported that a Russian “Night Hunter” MI-28 helicopter crashed on the site of the battle. The invaders claim that the helicopter went down due to some technical reasons. According to other sources, the helicopter presumably made a hard landing in the area of Budennovsk.

Occupation sources also said that additional Russian terrorist forces were sent in the combat area who are now searching for the Mujahideen group.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

[End.]

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Categories: Caucasus, Caucasus Emirate, RUS

Ingush opposition leader Magomed Khazbiyev poisoned

February 13, 2011 Comments off

The following article is reprinted with permission from Kavkaz Center, Caucasus Emirate (mujahideen) news agency.
 

Ingush opposition leader Magomed Khazbiyev poisoned
©  Kavkaz Center
February 13, 2011  12:19 Emirate time

Ingush opposition leader Magomed Khazbiyev has been urgently hospitalized. He believes he had been poisoned.

Khazbiyev felt sick the night before. During the night his condition was stable, but during the day he began to lose consciousness. An ambulance took him to a Moscow clinic.

Doctors are trying to establish the diagnosis. Magomed himself believed he was poisoned in a Moscow cafe, where he held a meeting.

“Two strange men were sitting near our table and watching us. As soon as our meeting ended, they also stood up and left the cafe. I tried to finish my dish, but I couldn’t,” Magomed Khazbiyev told Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

It is to be recalled Magomed Khazbiyev is a Member of the Expert Council under the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, and an editor of Ingushetiya.ru website.

The former owners of the site, Magomed Yevloyev and Maksharip Aushev, were killed in 2008 and 2009. These murders have not yet investigated.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

[End.]

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Categories: Caucasus, Caucasus Emirate, RUS

Russia to boost Kuril defense to ward off war

February 11, 2011 Comments off

The following analysis is reprinted with permission from RIA Novosti, Moscow.
 

Russia to boost Kuril defense to ward off war
©  RIA Novosti
By Ilya Kramnik
February 11, 2011

Russia’s unresolved conflict with Japan over the Kuril Islands, which has been simmering since WWII, may reach a boiling point now that Russian authorities are set to go ahead with their plan to build up the disputed territory’s defense potential.

The plan, unveiled by President Dmitry Medvedev and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as part of a comprehensive development program for Russia’s Pacific Coast, envisages, among other things, the deployment of modern armaments to defend the country’s eastern borders against a hypothetical military attack.

Historical parallels

The Kuril dispute is, in a sense, similar to the one Britain had with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. This latter conflict ended in a brief war, preceded by years of diplomacy and numerous attempts to implement joint economic projects. Argentina’s government had used the Falkland issue all along as a tool for shifting public attention away from domestic problems and onto a struggle against an external enemy.

It would be wrong to draw any direct parallels between today’s Japan and the Argentina of the 1950-1980s. But in the rapidly changing world, the South Kuril Islands, referred to by the Japanese as the Northern Territories, may well be chosen one day as a soft target by Russia’s eastern neighbor, seeking to vent out aggression.

The archipelago’s attractiveness as a politicking tool will become more apparent to Tokyo if Moscow continues to drag its feet on the upgrading and expansion of the Russian Pacific Coast’s economic and military infrastructure. The defense capabilities of that area could be enhanced by sending in new warships and aircraft, building airfields and launching grounds, and, most importantly, by deploying competent personnel who could remain on the ground on a permanent basis rather than working under seasonal, back-to-back schemes.

Analyzing the developments that led to the Falkland war, one can say in retrospect that the Argentine government’s decision to launch a military operation was prompted by a dramatic weakening of Britain’s armed forces, notably the Royal Navy, in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. The British had by then written off most of their ageing big-sized warships without replacing them with new vessels, and this weakened the country’s aircraft carrier fleet. As a result, the Navy found itself without modern aircraft carriers, and had to make do with ships designed to carry aircraft with vertical takeoff only.

Russia’s defense arsenal in the Far East

Similarly, Russia’s defense arsenal is not at its strongest these days. In conventional armaments, Japan now enjoys numerical supremacy over the Russian Far Eastern forces, and it also boasts a higher percentage of modern hardware in the navy, the air force, and the army.

In the Kuril Islands, homeland defense relies on a single machine gun artillery division (incidentally, this is the only division remaining in the country’s ground forces, with all the others already reconfigured into brigades). But this unit can hardly provide efficient defense on its own, without any support from AF, ABM, and Navy forces.

Clearly, the deployment of additional service personnel in the Kuril Islands will not make the Russian Pacific Coast better protected against a potential military attack. It is a qualitative change that needs to be brought about.

It is vitally important to improve the archipelago’s infrastructure, which would enable the Air Force and the Navy to act more effectively in the Pacific area.

Russia’s ageing Pacific Fleet, where most of the ships currently in service will have to be scrapped in the next 15 years, needs urgent refitting. The fleet has already been pledged two French-made Mistral ships, but that is not enough. It also needs new corvettes and frigates to perform tasks ranging from escorting bigger vessels to combating submarines and providing support for paratroopers.

Another key priority is to enhance the Air Force presence off Russia’s Pacific Coast and to restore the permanent deployment of a combat jet fleet on the Sakhalin Island. This will make Russia better equipped for a prompt response.

The construction of a forward-based airfield in the Kuril Islands would let us have a squadron of jet fighters on standby. But there is no point in creating a permanent air base here, since such a base will be too vulnerable to potential enemy attacks.

The deployment of multifunctional and combat helicopters is one more possibility to consider.

Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war)

All these plans to reinforce the Kuril Islands’ defense potential should be translated into reality so as to discourage the most radical of Japanese politicians from contemplating regaining the possession of the South Kuril Islands through the use of military force.

Luckily for Russia, there is no imminent threat. At the moment, Japan seems to be more concerned about the intra-Korean conflict, which puts its national security in jeopardy, as well as by the growing military might of its old arch rival, China.

A dramatic buildup of Russia’s defense capabilities in the Kuril Islands could make Japanese politicians put this long-running territorial dispute on the backburner and concentrate on more urgent challenges to its homeland security.

It should be kept in mind that no military arsenal, however strong, can provide adequate national defense unless there is a political will. Yet, even relatively modest armed forces can make a difference if political and military leaders are really determined to uphold the interests and the dignity of their country.

In 1982, the U.K. managed to recover the Falkland Islands from Argentine occupation. That British campaign proved a success thanks primarily to the tough line maintained by Margaret Thatcher and her government.

The Russian authorities are facing a different challenge today, one that is simpler and trickier at the same time. They need to demonstrate – without resorting to military force – their determination to uphold Russia’s interests and its territorial integrity. And doing so in such a way that no ill-wisher would want to put that resolve to test.

[End.]
__________

Ilya Kramnik is RIA Novosti’s military commentator. The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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Categories: ARG, JAP, RUS, UK

RUSSIAN MEDIA: USA’s 2011 National Military Strategy: We’ve got the power!

February 10, 2011 Comments off

The following commentary is reprinted with permission from Pravda, Moscow.
 

USA’s 2011 National Military Strategy:  We’ve got the power!
©  Pravda.ru
By Sergei Balmasov
February 10, 2011

The USA has unveiled the 2011 National Military Strategy for the first time in seven years. The strategy, as usual, serves for the preservation of the U.S. predominance in the world. The appearance of the document is based on recent major changes on the planet. The authors of the strategy pointed out a number of challenges for the United States in particular and for the Western civilization in general.

U.S. strategists claimed that the shortage of resources in the world may trigger territorial disputes, which poses a direct threat to American interests. They are also concerned about the fact that the national debt of the United States “poses a significant national security risk.”

All of that is aggravated with a whole list of unsolved problems, which have become even more serious during the recent years. First and foremost, “the world’s preeminent power” has not been able to defeat terrorism and extremism. The war in Afghanistan continues, and the fire of Afghan unrest is spreading into neighboring Pakistan. The strategists of the U.S. national security wrote that terrorists had nested on the Arabian Peninsula, in the countries of north-western Africa and in Somalia.

Nevertheless, the authors of the document said: “We will be prepared to find, capture, or kill violent extremists wherever they reside when they threaten interests and citizens of America and our allies.” Therefore, it is not ruled out that the world will soon witness the USA launching another military adventure in the above-mentioned territories.

Secondly, the USA is concerned about the rising powers, India and China, as well as other regional powerful countries. The Americans are especially worried about China and its defense preparations in the Taiwan Strait.

In this connection, the Pentagon is not going to reduce its attention to South Asia and the Far East. However, the USA does not exclude increasing its military presence in potentially dangerous directions. “With partner nation support, we will preserve forward presence and access to the commons, bases, ports, and airfields commensurate with safeguarding our economic and security interests worldwide,” the strategy runs. Here, it goes about such old allies as Japan and South Korea.

Thirdly, the nuclear proliferation issue remains unsolved as well. North Korea has proved the possession of nuclear weapons to the whole world. Iran is just about to do the same. “The prospect of multiple nuclear armed regimes in the Middle East with nascent security and command and control mechanisms amplifies the threat of conflict, and significantly increases the probability of miscalculation or the loss of control of a nuclear weapon to non-state actors,” the document says.

To solve the problem, Washington intends to support regional allies, like Iraq, to develop the missile defense system, which Russia vehemently objects to, and to take defense measures against those violating the nuclear non-proliferation regime. The USA must be prepared to eliminate sources of weapons of mass destruction, the document runs.

Fourthly, by 2025, Washington predicts serious destabilization in a number of developing states because of the ongoing demographic explosion. The population of those countries will grow by 1.2 billion people, which will lead to serious food and water problems. “Conversely, in Europe and parts of Asia, populations are projected to decline and age with long term impacts to the global share of their economic output. Population growth and urbanization in the Middle East, Africa, and South Central Asia will contribute to increased water scarcity and may present governance challenges,” the report says.

In other words, the American supremacy is facing many challenges on different continents. One shall pay attention to the following telling phrase: “In this multi-nodal world, the military’s contribution to American leadership must be about more than power – it must be about our approach to exercising power.”

Thus, the U.S. National Military Strategy must be flexible to take account of all serious changes in the world. That is why the USA must be prepared to dealing with modern-day challenges without allies’ help.

“Let us not forget, the Nation remains at war abroad to defend against and defeat threats to our homeland. Our foremost priority is the security of the American people, our territory, and our way of life.” “We will pursue deliberate acquisition process improvements and selective force modernization with the cost effective introduction of new equipment and technology,” the report says.

U.S. strategists point out the necessity to maintain high prestige of the U.S. Armed Forces. According to the document, the state must continue to pay increased attention to improving the well-being of its defenders. “Just as our Service members commit to the Nation when they volunteer to serve, we incur an equally binding pledge to return them to society as better citizens. We must safeguard Service members’ pay and benefits, provide family support, and care for our wounded warriors,” the report runs.

Needless to say that the Americans could not leave Russia out of their attention. On the one hand, the document declares the intention to develop military partnership, continue the reduction of arms and build security in Central Asia in cooperation with Russia. As for the Asian security, the Americans, most likely, are planning to get Russia involved in the Afghan war.

The new strategy also mentions more important things about Russia. For instance, the USA is going to continue its cooperation with Canada regarding the issues of regional security, such as the development of the Arctic region. It is an open secret that Russia claims its right on the Arctic shelf, which infuriates Canada in the first place.

Here is another, rather expressive statement: “NATO members act as a stabilizing force on its perimeter, which ranges from the Middle East and the Levant, Northern Africa, the Balkans, and the Caucasus.” One shall assume that the Americans will continue to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs.

The authors of the new National Military Strategy are certain that the USA will preserve its economic and defense power in the foreseeable future. The USA still places its stake on brutal military force, which, as the authors of the report say, will contribute to America’s security and prosperity in the 21st century.

[End.]

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Categories: AFG, CAN, CHN, DPRK, IND, IRN, IRQ, JAP, NATO, PAK, RUS, S.KOR, SOM, TAI, USA, WORLD

CAUCASUS EMIRATE MEDIA: “Stratfor made a pretty ignorant statement on Moscow airport bombing”

February 9, 2011 Comments off

The following article is reprinted with permission from Kavkaz Center (KC), Caucasus Emirate (mujahideen) news agency. Originally published under the title listed below, the title was later changed to “KGB active measures: Stratfor made a statement on Moscow airport bombing”.
 

Stratfor made a pretty ignorant statement on Moscow airport bombing
©  Kavkaz Center
February 9, 2011

The U.S. analytic site STRATFOR published a strange and rather ignorant statement of its analyst Ben West, given as an opinion of editorial by using the word “we”, which Russian propaganda dubbed as “a statement of CIA veterans”.

The news agency RIA-Novosti, which since the Soviet Union was and is a structural division of the KGB/FSB, was the first reported about the “statement of CIA veterans”.

The KGB agents cited several passages from the statement. The full text of it is not present anywhere in Russian propaganda.

A statement on the website Stratfor says:

“At STRATFOR we’re pretty skeptical of this video. We’re not convinced that it necessarily proves that Dokku Umarov did order the Jan. 24 attack even though he claims it.

First of all, Dokku Umarov isn’t really known ([to whom is he not known?] – KC) to work with militants from Ingushetia, he himself has more frequently in the past worked with militants from Chechnya and Dagestan.

He doesn’t necessarily have as close of links to Ingushetia. So the fact the prime suspect in the Jan. 24 bombing is Ingushetian leads us to become skeptical of the connections between Dokku Umarov and the bomber.

Additionally Umarov has made false claims before. Back in 2009 he claimed responsibility for an explosion at a dam in Russia (Stratfor is quite a topic, if they are so “smart” that they did not know it was not about the dam, which no one blew up, but the HPP’s engine room, then after these words of “CIA veterans” on their “state of affairs” could not be read at all. In addition, Dokku Umarov had never done on any statement [about] this topic as Russian lying. There was a written statement by Martyr Brigades Riyad-us-Saliheen – KC).

However we later learned (from the Russian propaganda – KC) that the explosion was due to mechanical failure (what a folly: no explosives in the metal, – KC) and not a terrorist activity. So Umarov does have a reputation (in the disinformation department of KGB – KC) for making false claims so we have to be pretty skeptical of this claim.

STRATFOR’s current assessment of the militant threat for the Northern Caucasus and Russia is that they’ve (i.e., the Mujahideen – KC) split and that individually each district poses a threat, but without Dokku Umarov as its head they don’t have the ability to coordinate these resources and pose a significant threat to Moscow.

But the revelation of this latest video means that STRATFOR is going to have to take a closer look at Umarov and the role he plays in the militant structure in the Northern Caucasus”, concluded the Startfor analyst.

It is to be mentioned in this context that the propagandist agent of the FSB in Finland, Backman, has recently reported to co-worker media in Russia, and [they] printed it, that Dokku Umarov is living in the U.S., so the “Stratfor specialists” may look for him in their country and interview.

And here is how the Russian propaganda concealing his text from readers presents a statement by Ben West:

- CIA veterans doubt that the attack in Domodedovo organized by Dorku Umarov, Gazeta.Ru
- CIA veterans do not believe the statements of Dokku Umarov about the terrorist attack in Domodedovo, GZT.RU
- CIA veterans: Domodedovo was not blown up by Dokku Umarov, Russian News Service
- CIA experts doubt that the terrorist attack in Domodedovo was organized by Umarov, Firstnews
- CIA analysts do not believe that Umarov was involved in the terrorist attack in Domodedovo, TCH.ua
- CIA analysts: Dokku Umarov did not blow up Domodedovo, 178 soobsheniy
- Site STRATFOR, uniting CIA analysts veterans, expressed “dissenting opinion” about the statement of the leader …

- CIA analysts do not believe in Dokku Umarov’s involvement in the terrorist attack in Domodedovo, NEWSru Israel
- CIA doubts that Umarov was behind the Domodedovo attack, Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper
- Militants groups in the North Caucasus are fragmented and do not have a single center…, Echo of Moscow radio

Kavkaz Center has long noted the remarkable transformation of KGB propaganda and related structures in the West supporting the KGB.

A very interesting phenomenon goes. More recently, even a sound of a child’s firecracker was declared “terrorist attack of Chechen (Caucasus) militants”, and now even, if Dokku Umarov himself set fire to the wick of a bomb and recorded it on video, Russian and Western “analysts” unanimously will deny what they see with their own eyes.

By the way, on the eve the Russian Service of Radio Liberty doubted the fact of the very existence of the individual Dokku Umarov. According to one analyst at Radio Liberty, at the last video it is allegedly “not clear whether this is Dokku Umarov, or his double”. In general, Hollywood has a rest, when there are cell phones with cameras in the Caucasus Mountains.

Everything is topsy-turvy in the minds of the Russian political gang elite.

Even a few years ago, after every explosion a “Chechen trace” was immediately tapped in pipelined manner, which led directly to al-Qaeda, but now, after the declaration of a complete victory in Chechnya and the final rising of Russia from the knees, the “Chechen trace” has been put under a categorical ban.

Since Russia and Putin claim to win, “Chechen terrorists” should not exist in nature. And if they are still remaining, then only “in the holes from which they have to be scraped off”.

Naturally, by definition it is impossible to organize the bombing of the Nevsky Express train or subway station “Lubyanka” from the mountain holes under the nose of the FSB. Hence, there is a violent rejection of any hint that the “Chechen terrorists” are capable [of shedding] “Russian blood” in the heartland of “Mother Russia”.

A “Caucasian trace” is also highly undesirable, since it is not leading to al-Qaeda but to a clearer understanding of the fact that “the Chechen war” has long turned into the Caucasus jihad.

And a Jihad in the Caucasus for Russia and its backers in the West is very, very unpleasant thing.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

[End.]

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Categories: Caucasus Emirate, CIA, RUS, USA

STANISLAV MISHIN: How the Muslim Brotherhood Saved the U.S. Dollar

January 30, 2011 Comments off

The following column is reprinted with permission from Stanislav Mishin, a regular contributor to Russian newspaper Pravda.
 

How the Muslim Brotherhood Saved the U.S. Dollar
©  Stanislav Mishin
Source:  Mat Rodina
January 30, 2011

There are two truths that the Anglo Elites know all too well: democracy in the West means a ruling oligarchy with good PR, democracy in the Middle East means Islamic Jihadists and Fundamentalists. This has been a fact for many years and is not, in any way a shock or disconnect for any of the American elites now backing “democracy” revolutions.

1.  Iranian revolution, 1978-1979: Mass protests by a wide coalition against the King. Result? Mullahs take over.

2.  Egypt has free parliamentary elections. Results? The Muslim Brotherhood becomes the second most powerful party in the country, before being quickly banned.

3.  Americans allow free elections in Iraq. Results? Islamist parties become the main power blocks in power.

4.  Palestinians have free elections: Voters protest against corrupt regime. Result? Hamas is now running the Gaza Strip.

5.  Beirut Spring: Christians, Sunni Muslims, and Druze unite against Syrian control. Moderate government gains power. Result? Hezbollah is now the main political force in Lebanon.

6.  Algeria holds free elections: Voters back moderate Islamist group. Result? Military coup; Islamists turn (or reveal their true thinking) radical; tens of thousands of people killed.

Quite simply, the majority of the population has an insane infatuation with extremist Islam, be it Shiite or Sunni. Again, none of this is a surprise to the owners of the Anglo sphere. So why are they so actively backing revolutions and over throws throughout the Middle East?

Already a revolution has swept out the sectarian dictator of Tunisia, with Islamists quickly moving in. Exiled leader of Tunisian Islamist party returning to role in ‘new era of democracy’.

Protests, demonstrations and revolutions have now spread to Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Albania, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Egypt is by far, the worst hit, with the government teetering, mass looting and violence becoming the norm and the Muslim Brotherhood riding high.

All of this, of course is nothing new, it is a rehash of past and present events. So, my astute readers are now asking, again, why are the Anglo Elites servicing these revolutions and how will this save the U.S. dollar, or at least stave off its death for a few more years?

To answer that one must understand that to be a vassal, er, an ally of the Anglos is worse than to be an enemy. At least an enemy knows where he stands, while an ally will be used and when his or her utilization has reached its max, will be betrayed, back stabbed and sold out as best suits the Anglos, be it an Irishman or a Half Arab who sits in the Oval Office.

So now the time has come for a new round of betrayals, to prop up the USD at the expense of allies. You see, dear reader, the U.S. dollar is the exchange currency for Oil and Gas and the higher the price, the more the USD is demanded. The more that is demanded, to buy the more expensive oil and gas, the more debt currency the U.S. private Federal Reserve gets to print up and drop off on the world, allowing for accumulation of real resources, worth real value, as well as continuing pointless Marxist programs and the off-shoring of American hyper inflation to the rest of humanity.

This is nothing new. The U.S. ‘colour revolutions’ were used in the Central Asian states, to create havoc in areas adjacent to oil. The first was in Uzbekistan, where the socialist dictator and U.S. ally, Karimov, has been designated for removal by a U.S.-sponsored Islamic revolution. Unfortunately for the Americans, Karimov had no problem massacring the American paid for revolutionaries. He followed this by ousting the U.S. base on his lands and running to Moscow for protection.

The U.S. dollar did not get its intended boost in the Central Asian territories, at that time, however, the Americans did not give up. Even if a revolution fails in the directly affected area, one can be staged in an adjacent area which will lead to further instability in the intended area, thus driving up the price of oil and gas. To that end, the Americans created and backed the civil war in Tajikistan, where Uzbeki fanatics, in the south of the country now have defacto rule and will export their jihad to their own mother country, thus ensuring high levels of instability for decades to come.

To that same end, the Americans are backing the revolutions on the periphery of the main oil fields of the Middle East, in full knowledge that this will spill further and further into the oil producing regions. That is the plan, after all.

Tunisia, itself, a small time oil producer, accounts for 40,000 barrels/day.

Algeria and Yemen have also faced mass protests, funded and organized by Western NGOs, even as the owners of those NGOs pretend to be sympathetic to the rulers of the countries in question. However, as in Uzbekistan, these rulers have and will continue to respond with massive force, making sure that their U.S.-sponsored, home grown Islamics do not get very far. In Yemen, early Sunday, the government arrested Tawakul Karman, a prominent journalist and member of the Islamist party Isiah. He had organized protests through text messages and emails. All of the Western press are playing their roll, screaming to the high heavens about this Islamic fundamentalist’s follow on release and her love of freedom, even though Fundamentalist Islam believes in Sharia and has no freedom, other than the right to murder unbelievers.

Jordan, one of the most stable regional powers, has also been rocked by protests, as more than 5,000 people took to the streets, demanding the King give up his power, to “the people”.

Egypt has not been so lucky. Its government has proven, so far, to be weak, with many in the military openly siding with the Islamic Brotherhood and its Western NGO backers. Looting in the streets is rampant, as is direct confrontation with those special police forces, and special forces, still loyal to the dictatorship. The end is only a matter of time.

Egypt itself is responsible for the production of 680,000 barrels of oil per day. While this is about 1-2% of the world total output, Egypt further plays a massive role, with the Suez Canal and the alternate Surned pipeline, of passing an additional 1 million barrels of crude bound for the European and American markets. It is bad enough with the Somali pirates pushing up the price of oil, or why do you think that a trigger-happy America willing to invade just about anyone it can, including once upon a time Somalia, suddenly is too timid to deal with a bunch of rag tag pirates?

Other protests have erupted in Morocco, Libya, Lebanon and even Albania. All around the edges of the major oil players.

More worrisome than disruptions to Egypt’s oil production is the prospect that the unrest spreads to other hard-line states in the region, such as Libya and Algeria, both members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Other countries in the region, including Tunisia and Yemen, have been wracked by anti-government protests in recent weeks, though neither is a major oil producer.

“If this thing spreads across the North African continent, gets into Libya, Algeria, then you’ve got trouble,” said Stephen Schork, editor of the Schork Report energy newsletter.

Finally, this whole process is now spilling into Saudi Arabia and soon possibly into the whole of the Gulf princedoms. The oil shocks will be profound and will be quick.

Already, with just the Egyptian upheavals, and as expected, just on the Thursday and Friday violence, oil went up over 4%, some $3.70 per barrel. Another similar rise can be expected this week, if not higher. When, not if, Mubarak’s government falls, oil should be expected to hit close to the $100 mark. With Nigeria also sinking into civil war, oil may well peak over $100/barrel by the end of February.

The American media and their other Western underlings and affiliates, are doing their part in colouring these as peoples’ fights for freedom and human rights. Of course they know full well what this will lead to: Islamic fundamentalism, which is the only result that this has ever led to. Then when this happens, when the correct end result is in place, those very same self-serving hypocrites, will throw up their hands and declare that they are shocked that those stupid, dirty Arabs could not make any go of “freedom” even after all the help they were given.

The Americans have been preparing for this for years. Many foolishly blame this on Obama, he is a part of this, but his is only the final chapter in the preparation for one of the last ditch efforts to stave off Judgment Day of the U.S. dollar and its debt built and house of cards economy.

“What happened in Georgia with the Rose Revolution and Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2003-2004 was part of a long-term strategy orchestrated by the Pentagon, the State Department and various U.S.-financed NGOs like Freedom House and National Endowment for Democracy to create pro-NATO regime change in those former Soviet Union areas and to literally encircle Russia,” author and researcher William Engdahl told RT.

“What is going on in the Middle East with the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia that we saw a few days ago, and now in Egypt with Mubarak in his 80s, and obviously a regime that is not exactly the most stable one, we have a food crisis taking place as a backdrop and the IMF coming and telling these countries to eliminate their state food subsidies so you have, of course, the explosive background for popular unrest. Within that you have these NGOs, like Freedom House, training activists and trade unions and various other organizations to demand democracy, demand human rights and so forth,” he added.

This earlier report by RT ["TV Novosti"] sums the process up even better:

Dr. William Robinson is one of the foremost experts on Washington’s democracy promotion initiatives, he wrote the book ‘Promoting Polyarhcy.’

“In Latin America, in Eastern Europe with the Velvet Revolutions, in Africa, in the Middle East, really all over the world, the U.S. set up these different mechanisms now for penetrating these civil societies in the political systems of countries that are going to be intervened and to assure the outcome is going to be pleasing to Washington’s foreign policy objectives,” said Robinson.

Lawrence Wilkerson, the former Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, “We do this through surrogates and non-governmental organization and through people who are less suspecting of the evil that may lurk behind their actions than perhaps they were before. Have we learned some lessons in that regard? You bet! Do we do it better? You bet! Is it still just as heinous as it has always been? You bet!”

The Americans call this process Creative Destruction, that is the new catch phrase for world revolutions, no different than that which was exported from our own country while it was ruled by Anglo financed Marxists. While the PR may be promising and alluring, the results will be misery and death for those in ground zero: with tourism and industry fleeing fundamentalist regimes, resulting in yet more starvation and poverty, and a massive enrichment for the top 1% of the Anglo elite who could not give a bigger damn, no matter what their fully owned media mouth pieces may be saying.

The massive increases in the price of oil, as well as the increased demand for weapons by those states who border these areas, will line the pockets of thousands of executives and politicians in America, and to a smaller level, of England, for decades to come. If a war or three are spawned from this, even better.

Furthermore, with refugees and terrorism flooding Europe, which is finally starting to react violently to the virus that is attacking the body social at large, and the confiscation of European industry in Northern Africa, the Euro will be on the front lines of these new Islamic plagues, like never before. It will take another beating, with the dollar remaining a “safe” investment. Just another big plus, not to mention the new missions for NATO and that military-industrial complex, this will generate.

As for the American serfs, the little people? Well, the $6-10/gallon ($1.50-$2.25/liter) gasoline will crush them. Sure, the socialist welfare programs that their government will finance by selling yet more dollars, will help some, but it is a mild treatment for a terminal disease. Their falling wages, in the face of mass and growing unemployment as well as soaring inflation, will drag the last of the middle class into poverty and slavery. However, unlike the Arabs or the French or most other people of the world, they will do what their British cousins have been doing for the past 30 years, put up a stiff upper lip and accept this as their reality. And yes, as before, for the world at large, their owners in NYC, DC and London, could not really give a bigger damn.

A passive people, believing in their own illusionary freedoms and high on their own self importance, make for the best slaves and no where are there more such slaves than in the USA.

The rest of us will also have to live with an ever more violent world, courtesy of the biggest sponsor of Islamic insanity the world has ever had the sorry state of knowing.

[End.]

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Categories: ALB, ALG, EGY, EUR, IRN, IRQ, JOR, LEB, LIB, MOR, NATO, PAL, RUS, SAU, SOM, Stanislav Mishin, SYR, TAJ, TUN, USA, UZB, WORLD, YEM

Russia to offer fifth-generation prototype fighter to Brazil?

January 28, 2011 Comments off

The following article is reprinted with permission from RIA Novosti.

Russia to offer fifth-generation prototype fighter to Brazil?
©  RIA Novosti
By Ilya Kramnik
January 28, 2011

The global arms trade runs to billions of dollars, but few such deals attract as much media attention as Brazil’s recent tender, for the purchase of 36 combat aircraft which includes an agreement on production of another 84 planes under license.

Media interest in the tender grew after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was inaugurated on January 1, 2011, annulled the results of the previous tender.

A modest beginning

The core of the Brazilian Air Force consists of obsolete U.S. F-5 fighters made in the 1960s and 1970s (50 to 60 aircraft) and 12 French Mirage-2000 planes made in the 1980s. It also has in excess of 50 Brazilian-Italian AMX assault aircraft and approximately 100 Super Tucano light attack, counter insurgency and pilot training planes all designed and manufactured in Brazil.

Brazil’s 12 to 15 Mirage III fighters are rarely used because they are both worn out and obsolete.

The Brazilian Air Force has a combat capacity way below the country’s economic potential, especially considering how hard it is working to enhance its global political role.

The first tender, known as the F-X, was announced in 1999, when Brazil planned to replace its obsolete Mirage III fighters with one or two squadrons of modern aircraft. It was ready and willing to spend up to $700 million to purchase between 12 and 24 fighter planes.

Almost all the world’s main aircraft producers took part in the tender, offering modified versions of their most popular multirole fighter aircraft: Lockheed Martin’s F-16, the Mirage-200BR made expressly with Brazil in mind, Sweden’s latest fighter plane the JAS-39 Gripen, and Russia’s MiG-29SMT Fulcrum.

Russia’s other largest combat aircraft producer, Sukhoi, has also taken an interest in the Brazilian market and planned to offer it a Su-35 fighter, an early model of the Su-27 Flanker-E/F.

However, French producers were expected to win that tender.

A growing appetite

But due to economic problems the tender never materialized. Brazil made an interim decision to buy 12 used older-model Mirage-2000 fighters, allowing it to put off the whole issue of replacement until 2007.

By that time, Brazil’s appetite had grown. It no longer only wanted to replace the obsolete Mirage III, but also the F-5 and AMX planes, and it had also increased its acquisition target from between 12 and 24 to 120 aircraft. Of that number, 36 were to be purchased outright and the rest manufactured under license in Brazil.

Since the contract price increased to $6-$10 billion, all the various bidders hurried to offer Brazil newer planes. The United States, ready to supply F-16s, also offered the latest model of its main combat aircraft, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. France, which no longer produces the Mirage-2000, rolled out Rafale. A consortium of three European companies put their Eurofighter Typhoon on the table, while Sweden’s SAAB once again offered its JAS-39.

Russia, meanwhile, unveiled its latest design, the Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E (formerly the Su-27M).

The tender was expected to be won by whichever participant was willing to offer Brazil technology, that is, the option of producing more planes, itself, under license, with a view to upgrading its aircraft-building industry.

European producers led the race, while the U.S. bid was hamstrung by their insufficient willingness to share their expertise and technical know-how.

The reason Russia dropped out of the race was more complicated: Brazil was expecting it to supply Su-35BM fighters in exchange for the licensed production of Embraer civilian aircraft in Russia. However, this would have had a negative impact on Sukhoi’s own plane project, the Sukhoi Superjet 100, and was therefore blocked.

Fifth-generation prototype

The second tender collapsed due to the European fighters’ exorbitant prices. As a result, Brazil’s new government made two decisions: first, it would hold yet another tender and second, among other options, its Air Force should consider buying Russia’s Su-35BM fighter.

Analysts say that the possibility of Brazil buying a Sukhoi plane could push the European companies to be more flexible over their prices and even prompt the Americans to consider a technology transfer. However, the Su-35BM may yet win the tender, especially because, since 2007, its prestige has been boosted by its successful performance in trials and mass production for the Russian Air Force.

On top of that, Sukhoi’s reputation across Latin America grew on the back of Venezuela’s Su-30MK2 purchase.

The final argument in Russia’s favor is the T-50, otherwise known as the PAK FA, a fifth-generation fighter-jet Sukhoi is currently developing.

Rumors that Russia and Brazil might join forces on a fifth-generation fighter plane first appeared last spring, and have not been refuted. Since Russia and India are allegedly ready to create a joint venture to manufacture the T-50 planes, Russian-Brazilian cooperation in this field is now a very real possibility, especially considering the two countries’ friendly relations.

The supply of the Su-35BM planes, including fifth-generation equipment and materials, could be the first step toward delivering the T-50. If Russia makes this offer, it is almost guaranteed to win the tender.

The T-50′s main rival, the U.S. F-22, is not currently being exported and there are no other similar planes on the market, with the exception of China’s J-20, and experts remain divided over its advantages.

[End.]
__________

Ilya Kramnik is RIA Novosti’s military commentator. The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

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Categories: BRAZIL, RUS, USA
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