From The Associated Press:
MOSCOW (Sept. 22) -- A Russian navy squadron set off for Venezuela Monday, an official said, in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War.
The Kremlin recently has moved to intensify contacts with Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin American nations amid increasingly strained relations with Washington after last month's war between Russia and Georgia. During the Cold War, Latin America became an ideological battleground between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser accompanied by three other ships sailed from the Northern Fleet's base of Severomorsk on Monday. The ships will cover about 15,000 nautical miles to conduct joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy, he told The Associated Press.
The deployment follows a weeklong visit to Venezuela by a pair of Russian strategic bombers and comes as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — an unbridled critic of U.S. foreign policy who has close ties with Moscow — plans to visit Moscow this week. It will be Chavez's second trip to Russia in about two months.
The intensifying contacts with Venezuela appear to be a response to the U.S. dispatch of warships to deliver aid to Georgia which angered the Kremlin.
Chavez said in an interview with Russian television broadcast Sunday that Latin America needs a strong friendship with Russia to help reduce U.S. influence and keep peace in the region. In separate comments on his Sunday TV and radio program, he joked that he will be making his international tour to Russia and other countries this week aboard the "super-bombers that Medvedev loaned me," a reference to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "Gentlemen of the CIA, to be clear, I'm joking," Chavez said with a laugh.
Chavez has repeatedly warned that the U.S. Navy poses a threat to Venezuela.
Russia has signed weapons contracts worth more than $4 billion with Venezuela since 2005 to supply fighter jets, helicopters, and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. Chavez's government is in talks to buy Russian submarines, air defense systems and armored vehicles and more Sukhoi fighter jets.
Russian and Venezuelan leaders also have talked about boosting cooperation in the energy sphere to create what Chavez has called "a new strategic energy alliance."
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who visited Venezuela last week, announced that five of Russia's biggest oil companies are looking to form a consortium to increase Latin American operations and to build a $6.5 billion refinery to process Venezuela's tar-like heavy crude. Such an investment could help Venezuela, the world's ninth-biggest oil producer, wean itself from the U.S. refineries on which it depends to process much of its crude.
Sechin warned the United States that it should not view Latin America as its own backyard. "It would be wrong to talk about one nation having exclusive rights to this zone," he said in an interview broadcast Sunday.
Showing posts with label russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label russia. Show all posts
Monday, September 22, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
OLD
The title, artwork and full tracklisting of Russian OLD WAINDS' fourth album are finally disclosed. Germinated in the lifeless land of one season, the eight chilly odes of "Death Nord Kult" consume all within range, harbingers of the deathly coldness that will ultimately embrace and cloak us all.
Tracklisting is as follows:
1 - Storm Whip
2 - Once Moonlight...
3 - Cruel Black Dead
4 - Bloodstained
5 - Cold Twilight Of The Worlds
6 - Born In the Freezing Dark
7 - Death Nord Kult
8 - Cold Northern Order
The first 1000 copies will come in digipack format with a bonus video.
A track has been uploaded and can be heard here.
To be released on September 29th under the banner of Debemur Morti Productions.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
BETTER THAN CHARGING THE ENEMY ON HORSEBACK!
US, Poland Sign Missile Defense Deal
From The Associated Press
WARSAW, Poland (Aug. 20) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.
WARSAW, Poland (Aug. 20) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.
Rice dismissed blustery comments from Russian leaders who say Warsaw's hosting of 10 U.S. interceptor missiles just 115 miles from Russia's westernmost frontier opens the country up to attack.
Janek Skarzynski, AFP / Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski shake hands Wednesday in Warsaw after signing a deal to deploy part of a U.S. missile shield in Poland.
Such comments "border on the bizarre frankly," Rice said, speaking to reporters traveling with her in Warsaw.
"When you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988," Rice said. "It's 2008 and the United States has a ... firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise to throw these threats around."
The deal has strained relations between Moscow and the West, ties already troubled by Russia's invasion of its former Soviet neighbor, U.S. ally Georgia, earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters traveling with her, Rice said, "the Russians are losing their credibility."
Rice and Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski signed the deal Wednesday morning.
"It is an agreement which will help us to respond to the threats of the 21st century," she said afterward.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the agreement came after tough but friendly negotiations.
"We have achieved our main goals, which means that our country and the United States will be more secure," he said.
After Warsaw and Washington announced the agreement on the deal last week, top Russian Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn warned that Poland is risking attack, and possibly a nuclear one, by deploying the American missile defense system, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
Poles have been shaken by the threats, but NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop dismissed them Tuesday as "pathetic rhetoric."
"It is unhelpful and it leads nowhere," he told reporters at a NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
Many Poles consider the agreement a form of protection at a time when Russia's invasion of Georgia has generated alarm throughout Eastern Europe. Poland is a member of the European Union and NATO, and the deal is expected to deepen its military partnership with Washington.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski also expressed "great satisfaction" at the outcome of the long months of negotiations.
Poland and the United States spent a year and a half negotiating, and talks recently had snagged on Poland's demands that the U.S. bolster Polish security with Patriot missiles in exchange for hosting the missile defense base.
Washington agreed to do so last week, as Poland invoked the Georgia conflict to strengthen its case.
The Patriots are meant to protect Poland from short-range missiles from neighbors — such as Russia.
The U.S. already has reached an agreement with the government in Prague to place the second component of the missile defense shield — a radar tracking system — in the Czech Republic, Poland's southwestern neighbor and another formerly communist country.
Approval is still needed the Czech and Polish parliaments.
No date has been set for the Polish parliament to consider the agreement, but it should face no difficulties in Warsaw, where it enjoys the support of the largest opposition party as well as the government.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
RUSSIA'S SIDE OF THE STORY
From www.rbth.rg.ru
WHY RUSSIA'S RESPONSE TO GEORGIA WAS RIGHT
Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister for The Financial Times
Let me be absolutely clear. This is not a conflict of Russia's making; this is not a conflict of Russia's choosing. There are no winners from this conflict. Hours before the Georgian invasion, Russia had been working to secure a United Nations Security Council statement calling for a renunciation of force by both Georgia and South Ossetians. The statement that could have averted bloodshed was blocked by western countries.
Last Friday, after the world's leaders had arrived at the Beijing Olympics, Georgian troops launched an all-out assault on the region of South Ossetia, which has enjoyed de facto independence for more than 16 years. The majority of the region's population are Russian citizens. Under the terms of the 1992 agreement to which Georgia is a party, they are afforded protection by a small number of Russian peacekeeping soldiers. The ground and air attack resulted in the killing of peacekeepers and the death of an estimated 1,600 civilians, creating a humanitarian disaster and leading to an exodus of 30,000 refugees. The Georgian regime refused to allow a humanitarian corridor to be established and bombarded a humanitarian convoy. There is also clear evidence of atrocities having been committed – so serious and systematic that they constitute acts of genocide.
There can be little surprise, therefore, that Russia responded to this unprovoked assault on its citizens by launching a military incursion into South Ossetia. No country in the world would idly stand by as its citizens are killed and driven from their homes. Russia repeatedly warned Tbilisi that it would protect its citizens by force if necessary, and its actions are entirely consistent with international law, including article 51 of the UN charter on the right of self-defence.
Russia has been entirely proportionate in its military response to Georgia's attack on Russian citizens and peacekeepers. Russia's tactical objective has been to force Georgian troops out of the region, which is off limits to them under international agreements. Despite Georgia's assertion that it had imposed a unilateral ceasefire, Russian peacekeepers and supporting troops remained under continued attack – a fact confirmed by observers and journalists in the region. Russia had no choice but to target the military infrastructure outside the region being used to sustain the Georgian offensive. Russia's response has been targeted, proportionate and legitimate.
Russia has been accused of using the conflict to try to topple the government and impose control over the country. This is palpable nonsense. Having established the safety of the region, the president has declared an end to military operations. Russia has no intention of annexing or occupying any part of Georgia and has again affirmed its respect for its sovereignty. Over the next few days, on the condition that Georgia refrains from military activity and keeps its forces out of the region, Russia will continue to take the diplomatic steps required to consolidate this temporary cessation of hostilities.
Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's president, has stated that "unless we stop Russia, unless the whole world stops it, Russian tanks will go to any European capital tomorrow", adding on a separate occasion that "it's not about Georgia any more. It's about America". It is clear that Georgia wants this dispute to become something more than a short if bloody conflict in the region. For decision-makers in the Nato countries of the west, it would be worth considering whether in future you want the men and women of your armed services to be answerable to Mr Saakashvili's declarations of war in the Caucasus.
Russia is a member of the Security Council, of the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations and partner with the west on issues as varied as the Middle East, Iran and North Korea. In keeping with its responsibilities as a world power and the guarantor of stability in the Caucasus, Russia will work to ensure a peaceful and lasting resolution to the situation in the region.
WHY CAN'T THIS HAPPEN IN AMERICA???
From www.mnweekly.ru
Siberian Emo Fans Protest Planned Ban
MOSCOW (AFP) - Dozens of black-clad emo music fans protested Saturday in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk against plans by Russian lawmakers to ban their dark style from the country's schools, REN TV television reported.
The protesters, many of them with piercings, streaks of dyed hair and studs, held up placards reading: "Kill the State in Yourself," and "Why Do We Have To Think The Same?"
"How can you stop people from expressing themselves, from dressing how they like, from living a way of life that doesn't harm anyone?" one woman with a long fringe and metal crosses round her neck said in the broadcast report.
Russian lawmakers last month gave broad approval to a broad "concept for the spiritual and moral education of children," including plans for curfews, bans on "emo and goth" fashions in schools and censorship of text messages.
The proposals are to be examined as draft laws over the next year.
Emo music, characterised by high emotional content and alternation between quiet and loud sounds, started in the United States in the 1980s as part of the punk movement and has gained mainstream popularity in recent years.
The music as well as the associated fashion - tight jeans, long fringes and make-up for men - has become popular across Russia, where there are also regular media reports that the movement encourages suicide.
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