Pro-Nazi House of Windsor Joins Putin-Bashing

Britain’s heir to the throne Prince Charles this week added his voice to Western propaganda effort demonizing Russian President Vladimir Putin. That’s a royal use of historical distortion considering the past pro-Nazi sympathies of Britain’s House of Windsor and the personal friendship between Hitler and former King Edward VIII – Charles’ granduncle... This crass distortion of history by Western officials, political leaders and media is not only devoid of facts and historical understanding. It is much more sinister than that. Demonizing Putin over the Ukraine crisis is out-and-out propaganda to mislead the Western public, by concealing the real cause and perpetrators of the turmoil in Russia’s strategically important neighbouring country. This inflammatory deception is recklessly setting the stage for an all-out war...  Finian CUNNINGHAM | 23.05.2014

CICA Summit – New Security Concept to Match Global Trend

The fourth CICA summit took place on May 21-22, 2014 in Shanghai with China assuming the chairmanship for 2014-16. The Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is an inter-governmental forum created for promoting peace, security and stability in Asia... BRICS, the CSTO, the SCO, the Latin America’s Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) created in 2011 to keep outside the US and Canada – all of them are the examples of international organizations emerging in the world which exclude the US and its close allies to avoid the influence they find negative. The CICA summit is an element of the global trend taking tangible shape. Strategic-Culture.org Andrei AKULOV | 23.05.2014

Russia-China Shanghai Summit: Undeniable Success

Alexander SALITZKI | 24.05.2014 | 00:00

The visit of President Putin to China is over. No doubt is has become an event of historic importance. The Russian and Chinese leaders should know each other better – they have a long way to go strengthening bilateral cooperation. The level of mutual understanding is unprecedented. The prospects for Eurasia are breathtaking being boosted by comprehensive cooperation between Russia and China…  The progress reached in developing the bilateral relationship is part of extremely complicated international process which envisions the transition from West-oriented to polycentric world. 20 years have passed after the Soviet Union collapse. Now Russia is to turn a new page in its history. Everyone capable of making sound judgment realizes that the above mentioned transition is a must. The Russia-China relationship is another step to make the West see the reality and return to the policy of constructive dialogue.  One of the goals pursued by Russian foreign policy is to facilitate the creation of international pattern with Russia, the United States and China relationship based on mutual obligations, including arms control and crisis management in cooperation with other states. For instance, the appearance of «big three» alliance comprising Russia, the US and China would serve the purpose. The «America-Russia-China friendship triangle» founded to benefit the whole world was a coveted dream of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Russia pursues a balanced foreign policy that presupposes normal relations with the United States, the European Union and Japan. India, South Korea and ASEAN are also in focus. The special relationship with China facilitates the implementation of this concept. This course by and large matches the policy of Beijing.  The emergence of failed states emphasizes the importance of comprehensive international cooperation to overcome the negative aspects of globalization. The deep crisis of Ukraine’s statehood is probably one of the most threatening international challenges. It’s important for Russia and China to align positions on the issue.  The visit resulted in the long-awaited breakthrough in bilateral energy cooperation. Gasprom lends a helping hand to the Chinese dragon suffering from coal smog. China is to start a large-scale effort to make its air clean. It is planned to drastically change the situation in 20 years. Alexey Miller, the head of Gasprom, said it’s just a beginning, «Great impetus will be given to entire economic sectors, namely metallurgy, pipe and machine building. Today we started the first page of a big book, a fascinating story of the Russian-Chinese cooperation in the gas industry, and many more essential chapters are yet to be written in it». Filling the page means creating around 12 thousand new working places in the Russian territory east of the Urals, 55 billion dollars of investments into developing new fields of gas extraction and new contracts for Russian metallurgy, engineering and pipe builders.  Pepe Escobar coined the term Pipelineistan in his breathtaking report devoted to the embattled energy corridor (a key pipeline) that runs from the Caspian Sea to Europe through Georgia and Turkey - and the Great Game of business, diplomacy, and proxy war between Russia and the U.S. that hasgone with it. Nowadays the Eurasian Pipelineistan firmly knits together the Shanghai Cooperation Organization members and the process of further integration is in full swing.  The flows of Chinese investments into Russian economy are intensified. The Tula car maker will get over half a billion dollars to be invested by Chancheng. The largest in history energy package envisages investments into the economic infrastructure of the eastern part of Russia. Russian car makers will greatly benefit from the cooperation with China. Russian petrochemical company SIBUR signed the agreement on the second large-scale cooperation project to establish a joint venture to manufacture nitrile and isoprene rubber in the Shanghai area of China. The joint venture will use the patents and technologies of SIBUR.  There are no doubts the Russia - China cooperation has great future. At that Russia has to protect itself from trade expansion of Asian producers. Friendship presupposes exchange of critical remarks and making grievances known. The Russian industry is too weak in some respects and needs to be protected.  One more acute problem should be noted here as it unfavorably affects the relationship. The Chinese agencies face difficulty in finding counterparts in Russia. For instance, the China’s National Development and Reform Commission cannot find an interlocutor. There are other state bodies dealing in science and industry unable to make precise who to establish contacts with. The China People’s Bank has a Russian counterpart which is formally an independent entity, though it’s hard to say what this independence means and who exactly it is independent from. The list can go on. Russia needs changes to seize the opportunities offered by fast-growing cooperation with its number one partner.  Planning, the ability to make assessments and forecasts - that’s what the contemporary world needs and lacks and that’s where Russia still has a long way to go. The China’s expertise in this field makes it a leader and an alternative to the chaos raging in other countries. Since a long time ago China abandoned the policy of making difference between government and private property or administratively planned and market-oriented economies. It’s all long gone and forgotten. A strong state, planning and developed market economy can well co-exist, but it’s expedient to facilitate the progress of large national corporations while overseeing their activities to make them serve the interests of national economy.  The world is rapidly striding deep into the XXI century. The pattern built on the basis of «center-periphery» is breaking apart leaving wide cracks that may negatively affect the West. It will boost the role of national states and their inter-relationship making the humanity more responsible. It may be expedient to look back at what it was like during the twenty years after WWII. Those were the days of high economic growth, aid to the states with weak economies and competition between social projects of different kinds. With all the deficiencies it was a balanced pattern for joint progress. http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2014/05/24/russia-china-shanghai-summit-undeniable-success.html

Donetsk, Lugansk People's Republics unite in Novorossiya

News | 24.05.2014 | 20:23

The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have merged in one state. The Donetsk People’s Republic’s twitter reports that the two republics have signed their merger in one state, Novorossiya. On the part of the Donetsk Republic, the document was signed by Prime Minister Alexander Borodai and on the part of the Lugansk Republic, by head of the republic Aleksey Karyakin, the microblog reports. People’s governor of Donetsk region Pavel Gubarev wrote on his page in Facebook that the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as independent states, do not recognize the president and parliament of the Ukraine. Gubarev said that Novorossiya will recognize the elected Ukrainian president only if independence of the Donetsk republic is recognized. The second condition is immediate withdrawal of troops from the territories of the people’s republics and immediate ceasefire, Pavel Gubarev said. voiceofrussia.com

Russia’s Rise to Global Power Paul Craig ROBERTS* | 22.05.2014 | 00:00 Western propaganda about events in Ukraine has two main purposes. One is to cover up, or to distract from, Washington’s role in overthrowing the elected democratic government of Ukraine. The other is to demonize Russia. The truth is known, but truth is not a part of the Western TV and print media. The intercepted telephone call between US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt reveals the two coup plotters discussing which of Washington’s stooges will be installed as Washington’s person in the new puppet government. The intercepted telephone call between Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and EU foreign policy official Catherine Ashton revealed suspicions, later confirmed by independent reports, that the sniper fire that killed people on both sides of the Kiev protests came from the Washington-backed side of the conflict. To summarize, when Washington orchestrated in 2004 the «Orange Revolution» and the revolution failed to deliver Ukraine into Western hands, Washington, according to Victoria Nuland, poured $5 billion into Ukraine over the next ten years. The money went to politicians, whom Washington groomed, and to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that operate as educational, pro-democracy, and human rights groups, but in fact are Washington’s fifth columns.  When President Yanukovych, after considering the costs and benefits, rejected the invitation for Ukraine to join the European Union, Washington sent its well-funded NGOs into action. Protests broke out in Kiev demanding that Yanukovych change his decision and join the EU. These protests were peaceful, but soon ultra-nationalists and neo-nazis appeared and introduced violence into the protests. The protest demands changed from «join the EU» to «overthrow Yanukovych and his government». Political chaos ensued. Washington installed a puppet government, which Washington represented as a democratic force against corruption. However, the ultra-nationalists and neo-nazis, such as the Right Sector, began intimidating members of Washington’s stooge government. Perhaps in response, Washington’s stooges began issuing threats against the Russian speaking population in Ukraine.  Areas of southern and eastern Ukraine are former Russian territories added to Ukraine by Soviet leaders. Lenin added Russian areas to Ukraine in early years of the Soviet Union, and Khrushchev added Crimea in 1954. The people in these Russian areas, alarmed by the destruction of Soviet war memorials commemorating the Red Army’s liberation of Ukraine from Hitler, by the banning of Russian as an official language, and by physical assaults on Russian-speaking people in Ukraine broke out in protests. Crimea voted its independence and requested reunification with Russia, and so have the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Washington, its EU puppets, and the Western media have denied that the votes in Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk are sincere and spontaneous. Instead, Washington alleges that the protests leading to the votes and the votes themselves were orchestrated by the Russian government with the use of bribes, threats, and coercion. Crimea was said to be a case of Russian invasion and annexation.  These are blatant lies, and the foreign observers of the elections know it, but they have no voice in the Western media, which is a Ministry of Propaganda for Washington. Even the once proud BBC lies for Washington. Washington has succeeded in controlling the explanation of the «Ukrainian crisis». The unified peoples in Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk have been branded «terrorists». In contrast, the Ukrainian neo-nazis have been elevated to membership in the «democratic coalition». Even more amazing, the neo-nazis are being described in the Western media as «liberators» of the protest regions from «terrorists». Most likely, the Russophobic neo-nazi militias are becoming Washington’s stooge government’s army, because so many units of the Ukrainian military have been unwilling to fire on peaceful protestors.  The question before us is how will Russia’s leader, President Putin, play this game. His hesitancy or reluctance to accept Donetsk and Luhansk again as part of Russia is used by the Western media to make him look weak and intimidated. Within Russia this will be used against Putin by Washington-funded NGOs and by Russian nationalists.  Putin understands this, but Putin also understands that Washington wants him to confirm their demonized portrait of him. If Putin accepts requests from Donetsk and Luhansk to return to Russia, Washington will repeat its allegation that Russia invaded and annexed. Most likely, Putin is not weak and intimidated, but for good reasons Putin does not want to give Washington more propaganda to employ in Europe.  Washington’s press for sanctions against Russia has an obstacle in Germany. The German Chancellor, Merkel, is Washington’s vassal, but Germany’s foreign Minister, Frank Walter Steinmeier and German industry are no friends of sanctions. In addition to Germany’s dependence on natural gas from Russia, thousands of German companies are doing business in Russia, and the employment of several hundred thousands of Germans is dependent on economic relations with Russia. Former German Chancellors, Helmut Schmidt and Gerhard Schroeder, have slammed Merkel for her subservience to Washington. Merkel’s position is weak, because she has stupidly put herself in the position of sacrificing the interests of Germany to Washington’s interests.  Putin, who has demonstrated that he is not the typical dumb Western politician, sees in the conflict between Washington’s pressure on Germany and Germany’s real interests a chance to break up NATO and the EU. If Germany decides, as Yanukovych did, that Germany’s interests lie in its economic relations with Russia, not in being a puppet state of Washington, can Washington overthrow the government of Germany and install a more reliable puppet? Perhaps Germany has had enough of Washington. Still occupied by Washington’s troops 69 years after the end of World War II, Germany has had its educational practices, its history, its foreign policy, and its membership in the EU and euro mechanism coerced by Washington. If Germans have any national pride, and as a very recently unified peoples, they might still have some national pride, these impositions by Washington are too much to accept.  The last thing Germany wants is a confrontation, economic or military, with Russia. Germany’s vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, said that Merkel «was certainly not smart to create the impression in Ukraine that it had to decide between Russia and the EU». If the Russian government decides that Washington’s control of Ukraine, or whatever part remains after secession, is an unacceptable strategic threat to Russia, the Russian military will seize Ukraine, historically part of Russia. If Russia occupies Ukraine, there is nothing Washington can do but resort to nuclear war. NATO countries, with their own existence at stake, will not agree to this option.  Putin can take the Ukraine back whenever he wants and turn his back on the West, a declining corrupt entity mired in depression and looting by the capitalist class. The 21st century belongs to the East, to China and India. The enormous expanse of Russia sits above both of these most populous of all countries. Russia can rise to power with the East. *Paul Craig ROBERTS The Honorable Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury for Economic Policy in the Reagan Administration. As a presidential appointee to a secret committee, he played a role in the Reagan / Gorbachev negotiation of the end of the Cold War. In 1961 Roberts was a member of the US/USSR student exchange program.  In 1989 and 1990, Roberts addressed the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow on the subject of liberty. His book, Alienation and the Soviet Economy (1971 and 1990) is widely accepted as the explanation of the ideological origin and failure of the Soviet economy. Roberts was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal and columnist for Business Week and Scripps Howard News Service.   He has had many university appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University where his colleagues were Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and James R. Schlesinger.

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