Russia cruiser to test weapons in crowded Black Sea

Russia’s flagship cruiser has re-entered the Black Sea for weapons tests hours after the Russian military complained about the presence of US and other Nato naval ships near the Georgian coast.

The ‘Moskva’ had led a battle group of Russian naval vessels stationed off the coastline of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia during Russia’s recent conflict with Georgia and sank smaller Georgian craft.

The assistant to the Russian Navy’s commander-in-chief told Russian news agencies the cruiser had put to sea again two days after returning to its base at the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol.

“‘Moskva’ has today departed toward the Black Sea Fleet’s naval training range to check its radio-controlled weapons and onboard communications systems,” Captain Igor Dygalo was quoted as saying by Interfax.

The Russian navy’s press office was unable to confirm his comments when contacted by Reuters.

The presence of so many ships from Nato countries earlier drew the ire of a Russian military spokesman during a daily media briefing on the conflict.

“The fact that there are nine Western warships in the Black Sea cannot but be a cause for concern. They include two US warships, one each from Spain and Poland, and four from Turkey,” Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of the Russian military’s General Staff said.

On Sunday, the US guided missile destroyer USS McFaul arrived with aid including camp beds, bedding, tents and mobile kitchen units, the US Defence Department spokesman Bryan. Whitman said.

Separately, the US Coast Guard cutter Dallas has been dispatched with aid, while a third vessel, the Navy command ship USS Mount Whitney, is being loaded in Italy with humanitarian supplies for Georgia, he said.

The Nato ships in the Black Sea are carrying more than 100 ‘Tomahawk’ cruise missiles, with more than 50 onboard the USS McFaul alone that could hit ground targets, reported RIA news agency, quoting unnamed sources in Russian military intelligence.

Link

Russia’s Topol ICBM hits target with new warhead in test launch

A Russian Topol strategic missile test-launched on Thursday from the Plesetsk space center has successfully hit a designated target on the Kamchatka peninsula, a Strategic Missile Forces spokesman said.

A joint team from SMF and Space Forces fired an RS-12M (SS-25 Sickle) ICBM at 14.36 Moscow time (10.36 GMT) from the Plesetsk space center in a launch that tested not only the performance characteristics of the missile but also the capabilities of a new warhead to penetrate strong missile defenses.

“An experimental warhead hit a target at a testing range on the Kamchatka peninsula with high precision, demonstrating its capability to deliver pinpoint strikes on well-defended targets,” Col. Alexander Vovk said.

The missile, whose service life was extended to 21 years last year, covered a distance of about 6,000 kilometers (over 3,700 miles) before it hit the target.

“The performance data gathered during the test launch will be used to increase the effectiveness of future Russian mobile ballistic missile units,” Vovk said, adding that the Topol ICBM remains the core of the Russian mobile strategic missile forces.

Russia has been enhancing the performance characteristics of its ballistic missiles in response to U.S. plans to place a missile-defense shield in central Europe near Russian borders.

Vovk said that judging from experience the most economical and quickly achievable countermeasures against the deployment of missile-defense systems are the so-called asymmetrical measures.

“These measures include enhanced “stealth” capability, a variability of flight trajectory and the use of warheads capable of penetrating any missile shield,” he said.

The RS-12M Topol has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles) and can carry a single

550-kiloton nuclear warhead.

The missile was last tested on December 8, 2007.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080828/116349686.html

November 13 2008

Kremlin rejects US missile defense

Wed Nov 12, 4:45 pm ETMOSCOW – The Kremlin has rejected a second set of U.S. proposals offered to assuage increasingly strident Russian criticism of plans for an American missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, news agencies reported Wednesday.

The Bush administration says the system would protect Europe against potential future attacks by Iranian long-range missiles. Moscow has angrily dismissed those assertions, saying the system could eliminate Russia’s nuclear deterrent or spy on its military installations.

In a major speech just hours after Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential vote, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged to base short-range Iskander missiles in the Baltic Sea region of Kaliningrad on the border with Poland if the U.S. goes forward with its plans.

The Bush administration later sent Moscow a new set of proposals, including suggestions about allowing Russian observers at the planned U.S. sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, according to John Rood, the U.S. acting undersecretary of state for arms control.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said over the weekend the latest U.S. proposals were insufficient. On Wednesday, an unidentified Kremlin official told Russian news agencies that Moscow was prepared to work with Washington on questions of European security but accused the Bush administration of trying to limit the incoming Obama administration’s choices on the issue.

The Kremlin did not comment on the report, but Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell did.

“I hope this unnamed Kremlin official does not express his government’s true wishes because we still very much wish to partner with Russia to combat the growing ballistic missile threat emanating from Iran,” he said, noting that Tehran conducted another missile test Wednesday.

“They are clearly determined to develop a weapon capable of reaching Europe, and for that matter Russia, so it continues to be in our mutual interest to work together on this issue,” Morrell said.

Iran’s defense minister announced the country has successfully test-fired a new, more accurate generation of its longest-range surface-to-surface missile. Iranian television showed the missile being fired Wednesday from a launching pad in the desert.

Meanwhile, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said Wednesday that Russia has not said what part of the new U.S. proposals it objects to.

“We have laid out very common sense approaches here,” Lt. Gen. Henry Obering III said in Washington. “I think it is time that we ask the Russians to justify why they are taking a stance that internationally is so unreasonable.”

Obama’s plans remain unclear regarding the missile defense system, but an Obama aide has said the incoming U.S. president did not commit to the missile defense plans during a recent conversation with Poland’s president.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said the U.S. envoy William Burns met with Lavrov and Kremlin aide Sergei Prikhodko on Wednesday to discuss missile defense talks taking place next month. No further details were released.

An American official said separately the U.S. and Russia will begin talks Thursday in Geneva on finding a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires at the end of next year. The 1991 START treaty significantly cut U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals.

The official spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to be quoted by name.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081112/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_us_missile_defense

Russia suspends Iskander missile exports to equip military

13 november 2008

Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Wednesday it was not planning to export Iskander tactical missile systems until Russia’s Armed Forces have been fully supplied with them.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier this month the country would deploy Iskander-M systems (SS-26 Stone) with a range of 500 km (311 miles) in the Kaliningrad exclave, sandwiched between NATO members Lithuania and Poland, to “neutralize if necessary” a proposed U.S missile defense system in Central Europe.
“There will be a break in Iskander supplies abroad until we have supplied the Russian Armed Forces with them,” Nikolai Dimidyuk, a senior Rosoboronexport official, said, adding the companies producing the systems are not facing financial problems despite the ongoing credit crisis.

However, Dimidyuk said neighboring Belarus would be supplied with the Iskander-E system, which is a shorter-range export version of the Iskander-M. The decision was announced in 2007 and was prompted by the proposed missile shield elements in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Medvedev’s move sparked a wave of criticism in Europe, while some experts in Russia have expressed doubts over the reliability of Moscow’s response to Washington’s missile shield plans.

The relatively new Iskander missiles have only been subject to test firing. Although the tests were reported to have been successful, some experts believe it will be impossible to set up the five proposed Iskander brigades in Kaliningrad over the next 4-5 years due to a lack of production facilities and a workforce shortage.

Kommersant daily earlier reported the army has been hit by delays in Iskander deliveries since 2005. A training battalion in southern Russia’s testing ground Kapustin Yar is the only unit armed with four Iskander systems so far. The planned brigades in Kaliningrad require 60 systems as well as other equipment.

Dimidyuk earlier said a number of countries, including Syria, the UAE, Malaysia and India, had shown an interest in the missile system.

Earlier Russia was reported to be interested in exporting the Iskander-E to Algeria, Kuwait, Singapore, Vietnam, and South Korea.

The Iskander-E is a tactical surface-to-surface missile complex designed to deliver high-precision strikes at a variety of ground targets at a range of up to 280 km (170 miles). It carries a single warhead with a payload of 400 kg to comply with the limits laid down by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081112/118268114.html

West’s Readiness to Admit Georgia Launched S.Ossetia War is Step to Reconciliation with Russia

Readiness of the West to admit that the August conflict in South Ossetia was started by the Georgian troops, will assist in establishment of relations with Russia, whilst will not change opinion of the Western community on Russia’s disproportionate answer to actions of Georgia.

“The problem is whether Russia proportionally or disproportionately responded toward Georgia’s launching military actions,” Leon Aron, an American political scientist, said.

Two British senior officials of the OSCE will publicize convincing evidence to the international community that Georgia commenced conflict in South Ossetia in August, the influential British Sunday Times newspaper reported. These evidences can change the EU’s position in the issue of the Russian-Georgian conflict and enable to improve the EU’s relations with Russia, the author of the article believes.

In early night of 8 August, large-scale military actions began in the unrecognized republic South Ossetia. The Georgian troops entered in Tskhinvali. Later Russian troops seized Tskhinvali and pushed the Georgian armed forces back to the territory of Georgia. On 26 August Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as established diplomatic relations with them on 9 September.

Two months after the August developments in Tskhinvali, some influential western newspapers, such as BBC, The New York Times and The Sunday Times, published materials on results of journalist investigations , which testify that the Georgian missiles and artillery shot down civil regions of South Ossetia by the beginning of the Russian bombing.

The Western officials immediately reacted after these articles. “The United Kingdom took off its objection against resumption of negotiations between the EU and Russia on trade and economic relations, although Moscow did not withdraw its troops from the Georgian territory,” Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on 11 November.

The newspaper cites speech of David Milliband, the British Foreign Minister: “Isolation of Russia is unprofitable for us. Systematic and impartial dialogue will be more preferable for us.”

According to observers, outbreak of such kind of publication looks like the West’s proposal to restore peace with Russia.

The EU and US will still be cautious in their assessments though reports such as the Sunday Times article and article in the New York Times on the same subject, will probably give Russia a certain limited amount of political leverage,” Ksenia Skvortsova, an expert from Control Risks (London), told TrendNews via e-mail.

The EU and Russia relations, according to Skvortsova, will be on the mend anyway because they have to continue a pragmatic relationship in economic and trade spheres.

Establishment of the international intelligence commission and objective investigation of the developments were initiated by Georgia, an independent Georgian expert Paata Zakareshvili said. Europe’s support to investigate the reasons of the conflict, according to the expert, does not mean that Europe has changed its orientation and became either pro-Georgian or pro-Russian.

“Europe tries to find reality, but West’s will to set normal relations with Moscow stresses that Russia is unpredictable country and its isolation cause more danger,” Zakareishvili told Trend News.

However, despite of outside changed attitude of the West to the developments in Tskhinvali, experts consider that this will not influence the opinion of inhabitants.

The West will unlikely change the entrenched perception of the conflict, Skvortsova said.

The recent published announcements by West worsen Georgia’s image, considers Russian independent expert Leonid Radzikhovskiy, but do not perfect Russia’s, as well. “There are few people who believe in that Russia was the first to attack on Georgia. Russia is spoken to used a lot of military forces or Russia did not have right to recognize the independence the territories of Georgia one-sidedly. The fact that Georgia is bad as for the West establishment does not make Russia as a good country,” Radzikhovskiy, the chairman of the Supervision Council of Political and economic Communications Agency, said to Trend News via a telephone from Moscow.

“The U.S. major allies voiced concern on whether Russia proportionally or disproportionately responded toward Georgia’s launching military actions, rather than on who launched the war first,” Aron, the director of the Russian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, said to Trend News.

The results of the investigation, according to experts, may lead to change of the political situation in Georgia.

This will be advantageous, for example for Burjanadze, Radzikhovskiy said. “As Georgia depends on the U.S. completely, Saakashvili will be replaced by Burjanadze,” Radzikhovskiy added.

Skvortsova considers that generally, the biggest effects of the OSCE report will be felt domestically in Georgia than abroad, at least for now because they will give the opposition some more material with which to potentially undermine Saakashvili’s position.

“Georgia must turn into an infantile country with responsibility to prevent any danger,” Zakareishvili said.

O.Ostapenko (Baku), N.Kirtskhalia (Georgia) and R.Agayev (Moscow) contributed in the article.

http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1343341&lang=EN

Russia Threatens to Pull Out of Arms Treaty Over NATO Expansion 

 November 14, 2008

A senior Russian military diplomat is quoted as saying that if NATO grants Membership Action Plans to Georgia and Ukraine, the Russian government will ultimately pull out of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty.

The CFE is a treaty first put in place in the waning days of the Soviet Union, and sets limits on how much conventional military equipment in allowed in Europe. Russia suspended the deal in summer of last year over a planned US missile base in Poland. The threat to pull completely out of the deal is not merely sour grapes on Russia’s part, it would seem: with more and more of Eastern Europe falling under NATO’s sway, the terms of the deal curb Russia’s internal deployment of military equipment west of the Ural mountains while leaving new NATO members (with long borders with Russia) free to dramatically enlarge their military forces.

Ukraine’s failed coalition government has sought to bring the nation into NATO, with an eye on expelling Russian forces from a naval base in Sevastopol and replacing them with a NATO presence. The move would likely have severe economic consequences to Ukraine, however, as its long and virtually open border with Russia has led to very close economic ties, ties the Russian government has suggested wouldn’t survive NATO membership.

Georgia, still reeling from a brief August war with Russia, has also sought NATO membership, which would compel most of the western world to declare war on Russia in the event another conflict broke out. But questions about the Georgian government’s anti-opposition crackdowns as well as emerging reports about Georgia’s disregard for the safety of civilians during the war have stalled the Caucasus nation’s prospects for membership.

http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/14/russia-threatens-to-pull-out-of-arms-treaty-over-nato-expansion/

Defense Ministry says Russian units to get Iskander on time 

 18/ 11/ 2008

MOSCOW, November 18 (RIA Novosti) – Iskander tactical short-range missile systems will be delivered to the Russian military on time, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Sergei Bogatinov, commander of the Missile Forces and Artillery, said there would be no problem meeting delivery schedules, dismissing recent reports that supplies could be disrupted by the ongoing credit crunch.

Kommersant daily, in particular, said the military has been hit by delays in Iskander deliveries since 2005. A training battalion in southern Russia’s testing ground Kapustin Yar is the only unit armed with four Iskander systems so far. The planned brigades in Kaliningrad require 60 systems as well as other equipment.

Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said last Wednesday that despite interest from a number of countries, including Syria, the UAE, Malaysia and India, it was not planning to export Iskander systems until Russia’s Armed Forces had been fully supplied with them.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier this month the country would deploy Iskander-M systems (SS-26 Stone) with a range of 500 km (311 miles) in the Kaliningrad exclave, sandwiched between NATO members Lithuania and Poland, to “neutralize if necessary” a proposed U.S. missile defense system in Central Europe.

Medvedev’s move sparked a wave of criticism in Europe, while some military analysts in Russia expressed doubts over the reliability of Moscow’s response to Washington’s missile shield plans.

The relatively new Iskander missiles have only been subject to test firing. Although the tests were reported to have been successful, some experts believe it will be impossible to set up the five proposed Iskander brigades in Kaliningrad over the next 4-5 years due to a lack of production facilities and a workforce shortage.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081118/118386284.html

US PLANS TO MUSCLE IN ON RUSSIA’S TURF

By: Peter Chamberlin

The recent US/Israeli attempt to foment war with Russia in South Ossetia, and the upcoming “testing” of Obama are acts of desperation by a fading global empire. The American era is over. All that remains is the dispensation of America’s remaining nuclear resources in such a way as to reap the greatest advantage for America’s corporate owners in the great repositioning that is now taking place.
The loud sucking sound you hear is the great vacuum of corporate ownership passing over our heads, as it gathers our last remaining resources to its soulless center. The inhuman parasite class feeds off of the rest of the world and the world does nothing to rid itself of this disease.
The human suffering generated by the wholesale raping of the earth and its abundant resources is irrelevant, as long as profits continue to flow. Acts of desperation taken to remedy the suffering caused by this world-rape, such as the financial bail-out and the resource wars in the Middle East, are emergency measures intended to maintain the constant flow of profit, nothing more. What the world needs is a prolonged period of no profits for the ruling class, with all available assets going instead to the most desperate of the remaining 98% of humanity.
The dictatorship has no intention of allowing this to happen, passing peaceably into a new humane era. For proof of the true intentions of the masters of the universe, just look at what has been done to Iraq to accommodate the seizure of its oil assets. The same savage looting operation has been planned for every key nation in the global energy network. Beginning with the seizure of Iran and Pakistan, nations along proposed pipeline corridors will be taken-over or destroyed, in order to harvest the Caucasus gas and Middle Eastern oil reserves.
The planned Nabucco pipeline is meant to be an instrument of economic warfare to wield against Iran, Russia and China. Investment in this endeavor by the European Union and others represents a substantial investment to prevent eastern powers from developing the shortest, most economical route through Iran.

The near-monopoly on natural gas maintained by the Russians must be broken. Virtually all of the gas lines to Europe in the map below pass through Russian, or Russia-friendly, territory.

“Russia holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves, and the eighth largest oil reserves. Russia is also the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, the second largest oil exporter and the third largest energy consumer. According to IMF and World Bank estimates, the oil and gas sector generated more than 60 percent of Russia’s export revenues (64% in 2007)”

The surest way to undermine Russian attempts to counter US moves into the Caucasus is to deprive it of a chunk of this income. This will also undermine Russia’s capability to dictate to Europe in the winter and its attempt to challenge American hegemony over Europe.

See: Russia vs. the Ukraine: Gazprom always wins
“The Ukraine’s threat to join NATO and train U.S. missiles on Russian borders is an empty one that will only end up shooting the Ukrainians in the foot (or maybe the head, depending on how high those missiles are pointing). Gazprom has all the power in the situation, and the government-owned corporation knows it.” — Stephanie Grimmett
There is some speculation in the Western media that the “great testing” of Obama will come with a Russian military move to consolidate its position in Ukraine and the other breakaway countries, in order to create a path for its own new transmission line to Europe. The South Stream pipeline will run under the Black Sea to the European Union.

If Russia is allowed to maintain this domination of European gas it will be in a position to challenge US domination, something the neocon West has promised never to countenance. The two former superpowers are headed for a collision over this issue of central Asian pipelines, as they maneuver themselves into an advantageous position for a title fight over future energy sources. Even if one side manages to come out on top after a potential conflict, it would not be able to supply the first cubic meter of gas or oil for at least three years. We are going into a fight based on sheer speculation. The anticipation of future profits is fueling war fever right now.

If the United States had not spent the past eight years antagonizing the rest of the world with our wars of conquest and bullying domination we might be in a better position today to help other nations develop the next generation of energy suppliers (like Kazakistan, Azerbaijan, even Cuba). This next step in energy production and transmission cannot be developed without major investments by Western governments and oil companies. These new resources could be developed at half their potential costs if major wars were not required to create them.

Brazil Energy Ministry: Existing Oil Contracts to Be UpheldBrazil’s Mines and Energy minister estimated the deep-water reserves to be between 50 billion to 150 billion barrels.

The oil wars of Bush and Cheney will not end even if they submit to the coming transition of power, just as the robbing of America will not be diminished by nationalizing the savings and retirement accounts of ordinary Americans. The looting and pillaging of Americans can only accelerate, just as the wars being fought to enrich the same evil men who are behind both the military and economic crises can only intensify and spread under the cloak of “change” that is “Obamaism” personified. The only “changes” in foreign policy that the Democrats are laying-out before us will not be ones that bring hope.

In the next 3-4 months we shall bear stark witness to the proof that there is only one party in the United States, the party of war and limitless greed.

peter.chamberlin@yahoo.com

« The Bush Administration’s Invisible Finger Extrajudicial Assassinations As Official Israeli Policy »

Link

Russian strategic bombers patrol Arctic Ocean

MOSCOW, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) — Two Russian strategic bombers are conducting an aerial patrol over the Arctic Ocean, Interfax news agency reported Friday.

The Tu-95MS bombers took off from the Engels base in southern Russia’s Saratov region, said Air Force spokesman Vladimir Drik.

“Various elements of flight training are being drilled during the flight,” Drik was quoted by Interfax as saying.

The most experienced pilots are involved in patrol missions over neutral waters of the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Black Sea, he added.

Russia resumed strategic bomber patrols over remote areas last year, 15 years after the long-range maneuvers were suspended with the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

Russian strategic bombers have regularly flown over the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, the Black Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/21/content_10392867.htm

‘Russia prepared for US space attack’

The Kremlin and the White House have been at odds over a number of issues, including Washington’s plans to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic.

Moscow views the missile shield as a threat against its sovereignty, while Washington claims the shield is a precautionary measure against what it calls ‘rogue states’.

Early on Monday, ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying the country was to test its trademark Bulava missiles before the end of the year.

Nikolai Solovtsov, the commander of Russia’s missile forces.
Moscow claims its missile forces can respond to possible US attacks within minutes. “We are also prepared for the worst case scenario in a nuclear conflict,” added Solostov quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Russia has moved towards increasing its missile potentials alarmed at what it perceives to be uncalled-for undertakings by the US in its neighborhood.

The concerns have prompted Russia to plan 13 ballistic missile test-launches for the next year, among them is the cutting-edge RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles fitted with warheads capable of hitting various targets simultaneously.

Solostov assured that any surprise US assault was certain to meet with a Russian retaliation refuting the idea of ‘uncontested first strike’ on the Russian soil.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=77137§ionid=351020602

Russia building missiles to counter US space defences: military

Solovtsov called the project a countermeasure to what he described as US plans to deploy weapons in space, according to Interfax.

“Judging by an analysis of US work in new weapons development and creation, they truly see space as a potential sphere for armed conflict and in connection with this are not withdrawing from plans to place weapons in space,” he said.

He also said Russia was “perfecting the structure and makeup” of its missile forces in response to a planned US land-based missile shield, a controversial project that has provoked furious reactions from Moscow.

Solvtsov said the steps would include deployment of RS-24 intercontinental missiles, designed to overcome systems such as the US missile shield.

In recent months Moscow has sharply criticised Washington’s plans to put an anti-missile radar facility in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland, despite US assurances that the system is not directed against Russia.

Russia has also reacted warily to US moves that it has seen as contributing to the militarisation of outer space under the hawkish administration of President George W. Bush.

In February, when the US military was planning to shoot down a rogue US spy satellite, Russia’s defence ministry said the plans looked like a veiled weapons test and an “attempt to move the arms race into space.”

That month Russia and China proposed a new treaty banning the use of weapons in space, but the idea was rejected by the White House.

Link

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UPDATE 7

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Russian Patriarch Poisoned!!

Russian Patriarch Alexy II

the Pope of the Russian Orthodox Church

died suddenly of poisoning on November 5, 2008.

Since the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, the Moscow Patriarchy has been looked upon by the Greek church as their new religious headquarters.

Patriarch Alexy II (1929 – 2008).
Patriarch Alexy II was the Pope of the Greek church, and his position was equivalent to that of the Pope of the Latin church.

Before his sudden demise, he was vigorous and strong, and about to lead a new Renaissance for the Russian people.

This resurgence of the Orthodox church was a NIGHTMARE for the Vatican.

Alexy II was Patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia since 1990.

Patriarch Alexy II was the first Patriarch of the post Soviet period. During his 18-year reign, the church was transformed from an organization that was once persecuted and later tightly controlled by Soviet authorities to a growing and resurgent church, embraced by two thirds of the people, as well as much of the country’s political elite.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Patriarch Alexy II.
Patriarch Alexy II was a true Russian patriot as he worked to strengthen and restore Mother Russia after her disastrous defeat in the Cold War.

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Alexy II.

The Latin Papacy has been a bitter rival of the Greek and Russian churches for almost 1000 years.

Here is a report from a Latin reporter about the death of Patriarch Alexy II:

“Alexy’s death Friday at age 79 deprives the Russian Orthodox Church of its dominant figure, whose stern, bearded mien gave him an almost medieval aura of inflexible righteousness. He often complained that Roman Catholics were poaching adherents among a people who traditionally would have been Orthodox if atheistic Soviet rule had not impeded them.”
Without Alexy at the helm, the church’s initiatives on that question may go dormant for several months. The church’s Holy Synod is to choose a placeholder leader on Saturday, but election of a new patriarch is likely to take six months. Metropolitan Kirill, the church’s foreign relations chief who has had extensive contact with the Vatican, appears to be one of the top candidates.
The Moscow Patriarchate said Alexy died at his residence outside Moscow, but did not give a cause of death. Alexy had long suffered from a heart ailment, although on Thursday he had appeared comparatively well while conducting services.”

Rejoicing at the Vatican over the downfall of a rival!!

Obviously Te Deum’s are being sung and there is great rejoicing at the Vatican over the downfall of the leader of their millenarian enemy—the Russian Orthodox church.

Black Pope general Adolfo Nicolás.
Both the Black Pope and White Pope were ALARMED by the resurgence of the Russian Orthodox church.

Obviously there is not enough room in the world for 3 Popes!!

White Pope Benedict XVI.

The Vatican is determined by every means to prevent this Russian Renaissance. That means the employment of the spiritual and secular sword….In concrete terms that means the military might of the Pentagon and their lapdogs in NATO.

Russia hater Zbigniew Brzezinski.
President-elect Obama’s mentor and guru is Polish born Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Brzezinski was the éminence grise behind the Papacy of Pope John Paul II and is an extreme Russophobe and hater of all things Russian.

President-elect Frank Marshall Davis Obama.

An Obama Presidency will mean only one thing: WAR WITH RUSSIA!!

http://www.reformation.org/russian-patriarch-poisoned.html

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UPDATE 8

Russia to West: Keep out of our backyard

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the EU is Moscow’s strategic partner but warns Brussels against meddling in its backyard.

“The EU is Russia’s closest neighbor and partner both in politics and economy,” Lavrov said at a meeting with foreign businessmen on Wednesday.

He said bilateral relations between Brussels and Moscow “are acquiring a new quality, and we have every reason to describe them today as strategic partnership.”

Lavrov expressed satisfaction at the level of the Russia-EU relations, recalling the dispute over the country’s military measure against Georgia as further evidence which showed once again that “Russia and EU need each other.”

“There are many important problems, which just cannot be settled without our participation. At the same time, we regard our strategic partnership with EU not as a result, but as a basis for a further development of cooperation,” he said.

The Russian minister, however, urged the United States and other Western countries to avoid ‘behind-the-scenes meddling’ in Moscow’s backyard.

He said Moscow understands that the US and European Union have interests in the region, but the West must not protect those interests at the expense of Russia.

Lavrov reiterated Russia’s opposition to US missile defense plans but expressed hope for constructive relations with the incoming US administration.

The US and Russia are at odds over a number of issues including Washington’s plans to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic, which Moscow deems as a threat to its sovereignty.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=78104&sectionid=351020602 

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China, Russia vow to step up military ties

Chinese President Hu Jintao has called for stronger military ties with Russia in talks with visiting Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, state media reported.

“As the strategic partnership between China and Russia develops, the relationship between the two militaries has also continued to become more consolidated and stronger,” Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying.

With next year’s 60th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations approaching and economic relations between them at historic highs, the two nations should also advance ties in other areas, Hu said.

“I hope … to advance the China-Russian strategic partnership and the relationship between the two militaries from a new historical starting point to better and faster development toward the future,” he was quoted as saying.

Following talks between Serdyukov and Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie, the two sides announced joint anti-terrorism military exercises for next year, the third joint exercises to be held between the armies of the two nations, Xinhua said.

The neighbours have also held joint anti-terrorism exercises with other Central Asian nations.

China’s ambitious military modernisation programme over the last two decades has been largely achieved through the purchase of advance Russian equipment, including fighter jets, transport planes, warships and submarines.

Last month at the Zhuhai Air Show in southern China, Chinese officials were asking detailed questions about Russia’s most modern fighter jet the Sukhoi-35, which made its maiden flight this year.

“They showed a very keen interest in all aspects of the plane, but no agreement to buy the planes was made,” Aleksey Poveshchenko, adviser to Sukhoi’s director general, told AFP.

“We are still in negotiations and maybe we will see something in the coming months.”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gyAVEViI-254UnR0F9T4R48Jav8g

Russia claims US plans new bases for Central Asia

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, 

 Russia’s top military officer warned that Moscow felt threatened by U.S. policy in ex-Soviet Central Asia and claimed that Washington was attempting to establish new military bases there, news agencies reported Tuesday.

Gen. Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the Russian military’s general staff, said Washington planned to establish a foothold in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Interfax and ITAR-Tass reported. U.S. officials denied there were plans.

Makarov also said U.S. support for bids by Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO made Russia feel threatened. He cast doubt that relations between the countries would improve under Barack Obama.

“According to our information, it (the U.S.) is planning to establish military bases in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,”

Makarov was quoted as saying. He did not elaborate.
“That’s news to me. I don’t think that’s true,” U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday.

The Kremlin welcomed initial U.S. deployments in Central Asia to support the war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, but later grew impatient about the U.S. military presence in the strategic, energy-rich region as ties soured.

The U.S. set up bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan is now the sole U.S. outpost in the volatile region, though U.S. forces are believed to have some access to an Uzbek base through a NATO arrangement.

Molly Stephenson, spokeswoman at the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan, said the U.S. had no plans to set up a permanent base. “Opening a base in Uzbekistan is not on the U.S. agenda,” she told AP. “No such request has been made.”

The U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, Richard Hoagland, said last month there were no talks with Astana to move military material or personnel through Kazakhstan.

The tens of billions, Russia put in U.S. securities, turned out to be a rotten investment. Oil prices fell by nearly 60 percent, bringing down the market value of Russia’s energy giants. Russian industry’s infrastructure is heavily depended on foreign investments. These started to leave the country right about July 2008 when Georgia attacked Russian peacekeepers in Ossetia, investment withdrawals intensified during Ukrainian blockade of Russian gas to Europe. Foreign investments in Russia nearly disappeared as of today. ………………….. once you are dependent on western investments they can jerk you around like a yoyo. We Swiss know that very well.

FYI
I know for a fact that …Dollar … Euro and Yen are being printed in huge quantities simultaneously… as I type…. The west wants to destroy huge reserves of:…. $…Euro … und Yen …..held by China Russia India and others…The printing ratio is; 1.00/0.80/90.00…. $/Euro/Yen.

Bulov