U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi King Salman in the Red Sea city of Jiddah on Thursday ahead of wider talks focusing on the conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Libya with other Gulf Arab officials.
Channel NewsAsia |
Turkey: Kurdish rebels attack soldiers guarding party leader
Washington Post ANKARA, Turkey — Kurdish rebels opened fire Thursday at security forces protecting a convoy of vehicles carrying Turkey's main opposition party leader in the northeast, wounding three soldiers, Turkey's interior minister said. Kemal Kilicdaroglu ... Three troops wounded in attack on Turkey opposition chief convoyYahoo News Kurdish militants behind attack on Turkish opposition: ministerReuters Turkish opposition leader escapes assassination attemptAljazeera.com Anadolu Agency -Financial Times -Hurriyet Daily News -AzerNews all 25 news articles » |
The Latest on Colombia’s peace deal (all times local):
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Wall Street Journal |
China Moves to Ease Foreign Concerns on Cybersecurity Controls
Wall Street Journal China is taking a more inclusive tack in imposing cybersecurity standards on foreign technology companies, allowing them to join a key government committee in an effort to ease foreign concerns over planned domestically-set controls. The committee ... and more » |
РБК |
СМИ узнали об увольнении генпрокурора Украины после ультиматума Байдена
РБК Петр Порошенко уволил генпрокурора Украины после ультиматума вице-президента США Джо Байдена, узнал The Atlantic. Чиновник пригрозил оставить Киев без займа от Вашингтона в размере $1 млрд. Президент Украины Петр Порошенко уволил генпрокурора Украины, после того ... Украина отметила День независимости военным парадомНТВ.ru Захарова: Байден звонит на Украину, как себе домой, и дает указанияИзвестия The Atlantic: Байден требовал у Порошенко уволить генпрокурора Украины, угрожая прекратить финансированиеNEWSru.com Ведомости-Украина.ру -Российский Диалог- Ura.ru Все похожие статьи: 223 » |
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ЛІГА.net |
Порошенко поблагодарил воинов АТО за сохранение Независимости
ЛІГА.net Президент Украины Петр Порошенко уже после парада, посвященного Дню Независимости, отдельно поздравил колонну добровольцев, которые первыми приняли удар России на востоке. Общаясь с бойцами, президент отметил, что Вооруженные Силы Украины всегда будут его ... и другие » |
РИА Новости |
DCNS, допустившая утечку данных, строит для Австралии другую субмарину
РИА Новости МОСКВА, 24 авг — РИА Новости. Премьер-министр Австралии Малькольм Тернбулл заявил, что французская кораблестроительная компания DCNS, допустившая утечку документации по подводным лодкам Scorpene, строит для Канберры другую модель субмарин. Хакер за ... Чем грозит утечка данных о французской подлодке?inoСМИ.Ru Индия и Франция будут расследовать утечку документов о подлодкахИнтерфакс Производитель «Мистралей»: нам объявили войнуЭксперт Online Взгляд -Росбалт.RU -Lenta.ru -NEWSru.com Все похожие статьи: 92 » |
РБК |
Путин объявил внезапную проверку боеготовности вооруженных сил
РБК Внезапная проверка боеготовности вооруженных сил России объявлена с 25 по 31 августа, заявил в четверг глава Минобороны России Сергей Шойгу на совещании с руководящим составом, передает «РИА Новости». Проверка проводится в соответствии с решением Верховного ... Две группы Генштаба проконтролируют внезапную проверку Вооруженных силРИА Новости Внезапная проверка объявлена в трех военных округах, Северном флоте, ВКС и ВДВТАСС Путин объявил внезапную проверку боеготовности ВС РоссииРосбалт.RU Lenta.ru -Вести.Ru -Ura.ru -Газета.Ru Все похожие статьи: 139 » |
КП в Украине |
Американская незалежность: Через 25 лет после провозглашения независимости главным партнером Украины стали США
Нефть России «Нефть России», 25.08.16, Москва, 12:48 Украина отметила вчера 25-летие независимости, кульминацией которого стал военный парад в Киеве. В речи по случаю праздника президент Петр Порошенко назвал главными итогами избавление от "мифического братства" и ... Парубий призвал Раду законодательно зафиксировать «советскую оккупацию» УкраиныВзгляд Украинский спикер призвал к признанию «советской оккупации»Газета.Ru С 1920 по 1991 Украина была "оккупирована": Парубий требует от Рады признать государственность УНРРоссийский Диалог ТАСС -РЫБИНСКonLine -Сводка Украинских и Мировых Новостей -VzglyadPenza Все похожие статьи: 78 » |
Business Insider |
Turkey may allow Russia to share Incirlik Air Base with US and NATO forces
Business Insider Iran cut Russia's engagement at Hamedan short after they demonstrated a "kind of show-off and ungentlemanly attitude" in publicizing the event, according to Iran's defense minister, after Moscow released televised video of bombs dropping from Tu-22s ... and more » |
Christian Science Monitor |
How the DNC hack is boosting anti-US sentiment in Russia
Christian Science Monitor And the recent Democratic National Committee email leaks that many experts and US officials have blamed on the Kremlin appear to be further hardening anti-Western attitudes and benefitingRussian President Vladimir Putin's standing at home ahead of his ... Inside Putin's court: New book sheds light on modern Russian politicsRussia Beyond the Headlines all 7 news articles » |
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Deutsche Welle |
In Estonia, Merkel and Roivas talk Russia and internet
Deutsche Welle Although Estonia joined NATO in 2004, it wasn't until Russia's most recent aggression that the decision to commit multinational troops to the Baltic states was made. At this summer's summit in Warsaw, NATO approved the deployment of battalions to ... and more » |
PRI |
Ukraine marks 25 years of independence and hopes Russia pays attention
PRI Whitmore was in Ukraine and Russia in the summer and fall of 1993. At that time, he explains, both countries were facing an almost identical political crisis: There was a nominally reformist president and both were facing a parliament that was anti ... Protesting in Putin's RussiaBBC News Russia is teetering on the brink of 'all out war' with UkraineThe Independent Putin's grip on Russia so tight he's willing to let exiled adversary coach candidates in parliamentary electionNational Post Christian Science Monitor- Washington Post-NBCNews.com all 406 news articles » |
BBC News |
Protesting in Putin's Russia
BBC News As Russia gears up for parliamentary elections, how is it dealing with dissent? Plenty has changed since Russia last held elections to parliament. The oil price has plummeted and the economy has shrunk, Crimea has been annexed from Ukraine and Vladimir ... Ukraine marks 25 years of independence and hopes Russia pays attentionPRI Russia is teetering on the brink of 'all out war' with UkraineThe Independent Putin's grip on Russia so tight he's willing to let exiled adversary coach candidates in parliamentary electionNational Post Christian Science Monitor -UPI.com -Washington Post all 419 news articles » |
Daily Mail |
Photographs reveal illegal mining and selling of woolly mammoth tusks in Russia
Daily Mail Russian poachers are reaching back in time to cash in on the world's insatiable demand for rare ivory, digging through millenia-old ice to collect the tusks of mammoths. Photographer Amos Chapple spent three weeks documenting the harsh, vodka-soaked ... and more » |
RPT-Trump adviser's Russia credentials come under scrutiny
Reuters Carter Page, who worked in Russia at U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch, paints an impressive picture of his three-year stint from 2004, saying on his company's website that he advised on "key" transactions involving some of the country's biggest ... and more » |
Sputnik International |
US Pursues Syria Cooperation With Russia Amid New Volatility
ABC News The Obama administration is launching a fresh bid to enlist Russia as a partner in Syria despite more than a month of dashed hopes as the situation on the ground becomes more volatile and uncertain with the introduction of Turkish ground forces. Turkish Operation in Jarablus Was 'Coordinated With US, Russia'Sputnik International 'Blatant violation of sovereignty': Damascus condemns Turkish operation in JarablusRT All Syria parties must commit to Aleppo aid truce, not just Russia: UNReuters Wall Street Journal all 1,757 news articles » |
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U.S. News & World Report |
US pursues Syria cooperation with Russia amid new volatility
U.S. News & World Report WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is launching a fresh bid to enlist Russia as a partner in Syria despite more than a month of dashed hopes as the situation on the ground becomes more volatile and uncertain with the introduction of Turkish ... Could Russia-Turkey relations deteriorate again over Syria?Russia Beyond the Headlines Turkish Operation in Jarablus Was 'Coordinated With US, Russia'Sputnik International 'Blatant violation of sovereignty': Damascus condemns Turkish operation in JarablusRT Reuters-Wall Street Journal all 1,718 news articles » |
Wall Street Journal |
Russia to Conduct Military Drills Amid Ukraine Tensions
Wall Street Journal MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered snap military drills Thursday to test the combat-readiness of troops on the country's western flank. The exercises, announced by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, come amid heightened tensions with ... Russia Calls Snap Military DrillsABC News Russia launches large-scale military drills, puts troops on full combat modeTimes of India Protesting in Putin's RussiaBBC News RT-thenews.pl- Sputnik International all 25 news articles » |
Putin has Degraded Russian Political Discourse to Level of ‘Pathological Ravings,’ Piontkovky Saysby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 25 – One of the most dangerous things Vladimir Putin has done is to degrade the level of political discourse across the board in Moscow to the level of “pathological ravings,” a development that some in the West appear not to understand and thus continue to be affected in the ways the Kremlin wants, according to Andrey Piontkovsky.
In an essay with the far from accidental title “The Banality of Evil,” the Russian commentator points out that many ideas Russian officials and experts are presenting as “banal” and “mainstream” would have been viewed not only in Moscow but in the West only a few years ago as absurd and ridiculous (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=57BDA2B9CC2C0).
And that “linguistic” development -- especially when Western leaders fail to recognize it -- both opens the way to serious misunderstanding on key issues and also to ever more crude language in Moscow and the danger that Moscow will act on the basis of this language and continue to move in ever more dangerous directions.
Piontkovsky draws these conclusions on the basis of a close reading of recent statements both in Washington and in the Russian expert press by Ruslan Pukhov, a member of the Social Council of the Russian Defense Ministry and thus “a significant figure in the Kremlin’s military-propaganda apparatus.”
Moscow has lost two wars in the last two years: one in Ukraine where ethnic Russians “in the overwhelming majority remained true to the Ukrainian state and its European choice” and a “hybrid” one in the Baltic region where NATO responded to Putin’s “Hitlerite question: ‘Are you ready to die for Narva?’” with another “’Are you, Mr. Putin, ready to die for Narva?’”
After such foreign policy defeats, the Russian analyst points out, “dictatorial regimes usually lose power,” and that is clearly what many in and around the Kremlin are afraid of. Consequently, within that circle, there have been discussions about the need for peaceful coexistence of “a new grand bargain with the West.”
People like Pukhov are clearly the foot soldiers in this effort, Piontkovsky says, and that is what makes the defense analyst’s July speech in Washington on “Russia’s Military Response to the NATO Warsaw Summit” and his article on foreign affairs in “Vedomosti” so instructive albeit disturbing because of what it says about the level of discourse in Moscow.
In his speech, Pukhov made two points, the first that Russia was “ignoring all the NATO hysteria around the Baltics” and the second that Russia was building up its forces around Ukraine so as to give the Kremlin “a range of force oppositions to react to the Ukrainian situation.”
“The shock therapy of the second,” Piontkovsky says, “was designed to elicit by contrast trust in his audience. Yes, we are Scythians, Asians with slanty and greedy eyes. We are preparing to tear to pieces a state of the people closest ethnically and historically to us.” Pukhov implicitly asked and answered his question “what then is the casus belli? Very simple: we must react to the Ukrainian situation.”
“In reality,” the Russian commentator writes, “the flight of Ukraine from the chains of the post-Soviet bosses would represent a mortal threat for the kleptocracy ruling in Russia: the success of Ukraine would be an infectious example for Russian society.”
In short, then, Pukhov was outlining a new “’grand bargain:’ You will close your eyes to our reprisal against Ukraine, and we will spare you the existential choice in a clash in the Balitc with a nuclear power with an inadequate leader. Thus, we will recognize it as belong to your sphere of influence, and Ukraine thus belongs to ours.”
Undoubtedly Pukhov and Putin were inspired by Barack Obama’s remark that “the Russians want to rape Ukraine more than we Americans want to defend it, and we have to take that into consideration.” But despite that “weakness, lack of will and unprincipled position,” there are two reasons to think that Pukhov’s words were absurdly over the top.
On the one hand, NATO doesn’t require any guarantees from Russia about Baltic security. And on the other, even if the West were to betray Ukraine, “it would never betray itself: the Ukrainian people will fight with the heirs of the Horde.” So it is clear, Piontkovsky says, “Pukhov came to Washington as a swindler selling air castles.”
What is important about all this, Piontkovsky continues, is not even the stupidity that is reflected in Pukhov’s words but the fact that what he is saying is what much of the Russian “’establishment’” is saying as well, the result of “an irreversible transformation” that it has undergone in the last two or three years.
And even more is that Pukhov doesn’t appear to many in the West as just how “demonic” this all is, the Russian analyst says, apparently because they have forgotten that similar arguments were made by those who ultimately began World War II and were hanged at Nuremberg.
In case anyone thinks what Pukhov said is an anomaly, Piontkovsky shows that he and other Russian commentators have made exactly the same kind of crude arguments about Syria – and suggested that many in the West have again failed to recognize just how crude and how dangerous such words are.
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Ukrainian Independence Shows Bankruptcy of All Three Russian Imperial Projects, Ikhlov Saysby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 25 – There “cannot be a more bitter date for contemporary Russia than August 24, 1991,” Yevgeny Ikhlov says, when Ukraine proclaimed its independence and thus showed the bankruptcy of all three Muscovite imperial projects – the Orthodox Third Rome, a European Russian Empire, and “’the new historical community of the Soviet people.’”
In a commentary on the Kasparov.ru portal, the Russian analyst says that this becomes clear if one imagines for a minute that Ukraine had not declared its independence but instead had somehow agreed to remain in a Soviet Union “with legitimate President Gorbachev” (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=57BE8D9574D4B).
Had that been the case, he points out, the renewed USSR would have had only “two union sovereign republics, the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR,” and the two would, according to the April 23, 1991, decision of the USSR Supreme Soviet made their respective autonomies “sovereign.”
Under these conditions, “the Ukrainian SSR would have lost Crimea, but the RSFSR would have lost the North Caucasus, half of the Volga-Urals region, and also the Khanty-Mansiisk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Districts and Yakutia-Sakha.” Yeltsin’s Muscovy would have been left “without oil, gas or diamonds.”
“It would be a good thing,” Ikhlov suggests, to ask those who are nostalgic for an empire of the Russians whether they would want to live in union with Ukraine under the power of Gorbachev (or his successors from the Central Committee) but with new borders for their own union republic along the Terek and Volga.”
The answers would be self-evident were such people thinking, but they remain prisoners of the kind of passions that led the Israelites to protest against Moses who led them out of Egypt because while in the desert, they remembered that in Egypt and even in Egypt’s jails, they were given food.
Given that, Ikhlov continues, the departure of Ukraine is an even greater tragedy for these Russians, Ikhlov says, because it highlights the bankruptcies of the three major Russian imperial projects of the last millennium.
The first of these, which one can call the Third Rome received “an enormous gift: its vassal became the Hetmanshchina, a significant portion of the former Russian Lithuania along with Kyiv. That had the effect of convincing Russians that they had a single Orthodox civilization that was “an alternative” to the West.
“Ukrainian independence in 1991 is a recognition of the historical bankruptcy” of this notion, Ikhlov says.
The second Russian imperial project was that of Russia as “a joint project of Russians and Ukrainians for the establishment of a European empire as hegemon over the Baltics,” one that resembled in some ways the British Empire as “a joint project of the Anglo-Saxons and the Scots.”
“Ukrainian independence in 1991 is a recognition of the historical bankruptcy of the project of the European Russian Empire,” he argues.
And the third Russian imperial project, that of the USSR with its russification and depriving of the Ukrainians of their own identity and with its insistence that Ukrainians be prepared to always be “’the younger brother’” also continues to animate many Russians, Ikhlov suggests.
But “Ukrainian independence in 1991 is a recognition of the historical bankruptcy of the project of ‘the new historical community of the Soviet people.’”
It is thus no wonder that Russians find it so hard to accept the idea of Ukrainian independence and at the same time why Ukrainian independence is so important to the possibility, however small, that the Muscovite state and its Russians can overcome their imperial dreams.
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FSB Presses for Expanding Restricted Border Zone in Murmansk Despite Regional Objectionsby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 25 – Taking advantage of the earlier Syrian refugee crisis that led to a flow of refugees from Syria to Scandinavia via Russia, the FSB is now pressing to expand the size of the zone near Russia’s border with Finland in which no one can enter without special approval, despite the objections of regional officials.
If the FSB gets its way – and that is probable – the situation in Murmansk oblast will return to what it was in Soviet times or the early post-Soviet years when officials required visitors to places along the Soviet border to get special permission, something that was often denied (thebarentsobserver.com/borders/2016/08/russia-vows-extension-border-zone).
The FSB plan came to light when a regional blogger posted on line a July 13 response to an FSB proposal to expand the size of the restricted border region (bloger51.com/2016/08/61802), an event that promoted Murmansk Governor Marina Kovtun to declare in the press that she is opposed to such an action (severpost.ru/read/44507/).
“For many years,” the governor said, “we have been developing cross-border cooperation.” Expanding the special border zone and restricting visitors to it is “not what we have been working for” since the 2012 introduction of visa-free arrangements for local residents on both sides of the border.
Moscow apparently supported her efforts, but now in the wake of last year’s refugee crisis, things may have changed, Atle Staalesen and Thomas Nilsen of the The Barents Observer portal say. A year ago, “some 5500 migrants” crossed the border into Norway, but that flow stopped on November 30. Then 1,000 crossed into Finland before that too stopped February 29.
Since that date, the two journalists say, “not one single asylum seeker has crossed the borders from Russia’s Kola Peninsula to either Norway or Finland.”
Russia’s border zone regime has evolved since the end of Soviet times. In the 1990s and the 200s, the authorities divided the border zone in Murmansk into two parts, “the actual border zone” and “the so-called near-border zone.” Those who sought to enter the near-border zone had to show their passports. Non-Russians without a Norwegian passport risked being turned back.
“Until 2010, FSB could deny foreigners to enter the near-border zone, including to the towns of Nikel and Zapolyarny,” Staalesen and Nilsen say. “Traffic in transit from the border to Murmansk along the main road was allowed ony three days in the week for foreign registered vehicles … Norwegians even needed special permission from FSB border guards to make stops.”
Then from 2012 to late fall 2015, they say, “the Titovka checkpoint allowed most people through and there were few restrictions on movements for foreigners. Norwegians could freely travel in Pechenga, except in the closed military areas. In the border zone, outside the barbed wire fence … people are only allowed on the road if their papers allow them to enter Norway.”
Russian security officials aren’t talking for public attribution, but Arild Moe of the Fridthof Nansen Institute in Oslo says that what is taking place reflects the FSB’s desire to restore earlier border restrictions and its belief that European concerns about refugee flows via the north make this a good time to move in that direction.
Given Europeans don’t want more immigrants come from the Middle East via any route, including a Russian one, it seems unlikely they will object. But if the FSB gets away with this, it will likely use it as a precedent to expand border zone restrictions elsewhere along the Russian Federation border and return things to where they were in the late Soviet period.
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Report: Syrian Government, IS Carried Out Chemical Attacksby webdesk@voanews.com (Wayne Lee)
A confidential report has concluded the Syrian government and Islamic State militants deployed chemical weapons in the war-torn nation in 2014 and 2015, an apparent violation of a United Nations resolution prohibiting the use of chemical attacks. A year long joint investigation by the United Nations and the global chemical weapons watchdog group, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, found Syrian troops carried out two toxic gas attacks and IS militants used mustard gas in one attack. The 15-member Security Council is scheduled to discuss the report on August 30, setting the stage for a possible showdown between the five veto-wielding members of China, Russia, the United States, Britain and France. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power denounced the use of chemical weapons, describing them as "a barbaric tool, repugnant to the conscience of mankind." Power called for the U.N. Security Council to take "strong and swift action" against the Syrian government and IS. Under an agreement negotiated by the United States and Russia in 2013, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons. At that time the Security Council supported a resolution that would impose sanctions on any person or entity involved in chemical weapons attacks under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. In the past, Russia, a Syrian ally, and China have protected Syria from the Security Council by blocking several resolutions. The report will be made public after the August 30 meeting of the Security Council.
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Trump Introduces Brexit Leader at Campaign Rallyby webdesk@voanews.com (Ken Schwartz)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump brought out a special guest at a rally Wednesday night in Jackson, Mississippi -- former British Independence Party chief Nigel Farage. Farage was a leader of the so-called Brexit campaign, in which British voters chose to pull the country out of the European Union in a June referendum. Trump was a strong supporter of Brexit, calling it Britain's independence day. As he trotted Farage onto the stage in Jackson, Trump said it is time for the U.S. to declare its independence from what he said is corporate control of the government, special interests and a rigged system. Trump's campaign has said he plans to modify his immigration proposals in which he had promised to bar Muslims from coming to the U.S., while deporting millions of others who entered the country illegally. He told Fox News he will "soften" his immigration proposals by working with illegals without granting them amnesty. But there was no sign of any softening Wednesday night. He accused Hillary Clinton of supporting policies to help illegal immigrants while ignoring U.S. citizens and embracing globalism. Earlier Wednesday in Tampa, Florida, Trump said he would impose tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S. to "level the field on trade." China has to understand "we're not playing games anymore," he said. Also Wednesday, Hillary Clinton's campaign proposed a Public Health Rapid Response Fund, which would give the president authority to release millions of dollars to immediately tackle a health emergency without having to wait for Congress to approve the money. Democrats have complained that Republicans went on summer recess without authorizing the millions of dollars the White House wants to fight a Zika outbreak. Zika has turned up in Florida and federal health experts warn that the hot and sticky Gulf states, where mosquitoes thrive, could be the next ground zero for an outbreak.
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U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told the government in Ankara that the United States strongly condemns last month's failed military coup in Turkey. Biden is visiting the longtime U.S. ally to strengthen relations that began to wobble amid disagreements on Turkish Kurds and Syria, but plummeted after Washington rejected an immediate extradition of a Turkish cleric living in the United States, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the coup. Zlatica Hoke reports.
Kerry Talks Syria With Saudi Prince Ahead of Meeting with Russian Counterpart by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah Thursday morning to discuss, among other things, U.S. military operations in Syria. Kerry also met with diplomats from Bahrain and the Gulf Cooperation Council to update them on previous meetings with Russia regarding military action in Syria. Kerry wants to shore up support among other Gulf nations for the Syria plan ahead of scheduled meetings with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland. During the meeting with Lavrov, the two sides will try to come to an agreement over military cooperation and information sharing in a bid to defeat Islamic State militants in Syria. Kerry’s visit to Saudi Arabia comes a day after Turkey launched an offensive attack into Syria to force IS fighters out of the town of Jarablus, which the jihadists have controlled since 2014 and which sits just across Turkey’s southern border. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State fighters put up "very little resistance" before fleeing to neighboring villages in the face of the Turkish onslaught. Kerry spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in an early phone call Thursday as at least 10 more Turkish tanks crossed the border into Syria to join up with the troops involved in the initial attacks. Sources with knowledge of the call said the two pledged to continue the fight against IS together. Kerry told Cavusoglu that Syrian Kurdish forces, who had also been battling the IS militants in Syria, had started to withdraw to the eastern side of the Euphrates River. Turkey demanded that the Kurds pull out of the border area after it sent troops in to clear out the IS stronghold. Russia's foreign ministry expressed deep concern about the operation, especially Turkey's targeting of Kurdish militia fighters. It said that Turkey, by targeting both Islamic State militants and Syrian Kurds, could further inflame the Syrian civil war, leading to "flare-ups of inter-ethnic tensions between Kurds and Arabs."
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Submarine Data Leak Could be Setback for Indian Navyby webdesk@voanews.com (Anjana Pasricha)
A massive leak of secret data relating to the combat capabilities of submarines being built for the Indian navy by a French shipbuilder could delay their induction as India investigates the huge security breach. More than 22,000 pages of information relating to Scorpene submarines were made public by The Australian newspaper. India is not the only one affected by the confidentiality breach. The Scorpene, made by French firm, DCNS, is currently being used by Malaysia and Chile, and Brazil is also due to deploy the sub in 2018. Defense Minister, Manohar Parrikar, said the leak did not originate from India and suggested that it could be the result of a hack. The leaks have led to fears that the documents could be an intelligence gold mine for India’s rivals, China and Pakistan. But Parrikar told the Indian media that “We have to first gauge the quantum of the leak and find out links to India.” New Delhi signed the $3.5 billion deal for the submarines in 2005. The first of the six submarines, which are being built at a dockyard in Mumbai, was scheduled to go into service by the end of the year, giving a much-needed boost to India’s depleted underwater capability. But Abhijit Singh, head of maritime policy initiative at New Delhi’s Observer Research Foundation, points out that this could be pushed back as the navy will have to very carefully assess the leaked information to see how big a security concern it poses. He said that a lot of information that has been revealed is sensitive. “For instance, the information on stealth, the frequencies, the noise that the propeller makes, depths to which the submarines can operate and all of that, which is really crucial data, which should not have been revealed.” he said. However he and other naval analysts believe that while the leaks are damaging, it did not mean the huge defense project would have to be shelved. Uday Bhaskar, a defense analyst and director of the Society for Policy Studies in New Delhi, said the jury is still out on how critical is the data that has been revealed. “It appears that the documents pertain to earlier generation of the Scorpene,” said Bhaskar. Indian officials also downplayed concerns about the leak, saying several specifications had been altered since then. The Australian newspaper described them as an “Edward Snowden-sized leak," referring to the classified papers the former government contractor disclosed from the U.S. National Security Agency. The six submarines are crucial for the Indian navy. “The Indian navy is in a very dire need of replenishment as far as its submarine fleet is concerned. The numbers are shrinking and the Indian navy has not been able to induct a fresh submarine for almost 15 years,” Bhaskar said. A spokeswoman for the French firm DCNS described the leak as "a serious matter" and said French authorities would formally investigate. The company is also building advanced submarines for Australia, but details of those were not part of the leak.
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Bill Clinton Defends Embattled Family Foundationby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
Former president Bill Clinton says he's proud of people who have donated to the Clinton Foundation and the work the organization has done, as he waded into a dispute that Republicans are hoping will damage his wife's presidential campaign. “We're trying to do good things,” Bill Clinton said Wednesday. “If there's something wrong with creating jobs and saving lives, I don't know what it is. The people who gave the money knew exactly what they were doing. I have nothing to say about it except that I'm really proud. I'm proud of what they've done.” He also defended Hillary Clinton's contact with donors to the foundation while serving as secretary of state, saying foundation donors like Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus have no trouble reaching officials around the world. An Associated Press report Tuesday found more than half of the non-government officials who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money to the Clinton Foundation. The report was based on a review of State Department calendars released so far to AP. The meetings between Clinton, now the Democratic presidential nominee, and foundation donors don't appear to violate legal agreements both Clintons signed before she joined the State Department in 2009. State Department officials have said they are unaware of any agency actions influenced by the foundation. Yet the frequency of the overlaps shows the mixing of access and donations. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has criticized the links between the foundation and the State Department, accusing the Clintons of establishing “a business to profit from public office.” On Wednesday evening, Hillary Clinton said the AP had only “looked at a small portion of my time” as secretary of state and had drawn the conclusion that her meetings with Nobel laureates - such as Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel - were connected to the foundation rather than their work as global leaders. “That is absurd,” she told CNN. She described the story as “all smoke, no fire.” Bill Clinton said changes at the foundation are needed if Hillary Clinton becomes president that weren't necessary when she led the State Department. The foundation won't accept foreign donations, and he will stop personally raising money for the foundation, he said. “We'll have to do more than when she was secretary of state, because if you make a mistake, there's always appeal to the White House if you're secretary of state,” Clinton said. “If you're president, you can't.” A statement Clinton issued on Monday said those changes will go into effect if Hillary Clinton is elected. Bill Clinton said Wednesday that the foundation has begun looking for partners to take over some of its work in preparation for that outcome. That type of transition “takes a reasonable amount of time,” he said. “You have to do it in a way that no one loses their job, no one loses their income and no one loses their life,” he said. “That's all I'm concerned about. We'll do it as fast as we can.”
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The Morning Vertical, August 24, 2016 by Brian Whitmore
ON MY MIND
The anniversaries have been coming fast and furious in recent weeks. There’s been the failed Soviet coup on August 19-21, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 20, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, and Ukrainian independence (featured in today’s Daily Vertical) today.
And a pretty important one is coming tomorrow, although it probably won’t garner the attention of the others. On August 25, 2008, weeks after it invaded Georgia, Russia crossed an ominous line when it recognized breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. Only a handful of countries (Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Nauru) followed Moscow’s lead, and the two separatist territories remain largely isolated. But formally recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia was nevertheless a clear escalation of Russia’s bullying of its neighbors.
It was a prelude to the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and its intervention in the Donbas. It was a signal that Vladimir Putin’s regime planned to treat the sovereignty of its neighbors as conditional.
IN THE NEWS
U.S. officials say reporters at The New York Times and other U.S. news organizations have been targeted by hackers suspected of working on behalf of Russian intelligence.
The Kremlin has announced that the leaders of Russia, Germany, and France will meet on the sidelines of an upcoming G20 summit to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has charged that U.S. reluctance to do more to combat Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate remains an obstacle to reaching agreement to cooperate in Syria.
Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who is behind bars in Russia, has called on Ukrainians not to fight for his release “at any price, as it would not bring the victory nearer.”
During a televised debate, Vyacheslav Maltsev, a State Duma candidate from the opposition PARNAS party, called for Vladimir Putin’s impeachment.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against Ukraine’s defense minister.
Two Russian weightlifters who won bronze medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics have failed doping retests.
WHAT I’M READING
Troops On The Border
On his blog Russian Military Analysis, Michael Kofman examines the goals of Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s borders.
“Russian staff likely fears a ‘Croatia scenario’ whereby Ukraine cordons off the separatist republics and then builds up an army large enough to wipe them out in a few years,” Kofman writes.
“With three divisions, plus several brigades, organized under two combined arms armies (CAA) headquartered nearby, they figure it will deter future Ukrainian leaders from such adventurism. It also places Ukraine in a geographic vice, running from Yelnya to Crimea.”
Putin’s Lost Decade
Writing in Slon.ru, economist and political analyst Vladislav Inozemtsev evaluates what he calls “Russia’s lost decade.”
“The first 10 years of the Putin regime were modern Russia’s lost decade,” Inozemtsev writes.
“The country entered them after ending the crisis and industrial downturn of the 1990s. There was very cheap labor and raw materials, which could have led to a ‘new industrialization’ similar to that of the Asian tigers. But those 10 years were spent consolidating a Soviet-style economy.”
Revisiting A War Scare
Thomas Frear of the European Leadership Network has a piece looking at the 1983 war scare that followed NATO’s Able Archer exercises.
“In November 1983, the Soviet Union began to increase the combat readiness of its forces in Eastern Europe, including the air force forward-deployed in East Germany, in preparation to meet an expected preemptive strike by the United States and its allies,” Frear writes.
“The cause of this anxiety was the 1983 Able Archer NATO military exercise, an unusually large affair that focused on concentrating major formations of allied units in Western Europe in order to fight a combined arms operation, inclusive of tactical nuclear weapons, against the Warsaw Pact. The series of events leading up to and including this exercise highlight multiple, highly serious intelligence failures by both sides.”
David Hoffman’s piece in The Washington Post on the same topic last year is also worth a read — or a reread.
Livable Moscow
Maria Antonova in Foreign Policy on how Moscow is becoming more livableas it becomes less democratic.
Winning At Doping
In an article in Vox, Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Czech Institute of International Relations in Prague, argues that Putin has turned Russia’s doping scandal into a win-win.
Hacker Fail
Well, you knew this was going to happen sooner or later. As Elias Groll writes in Foreign Policy, Kremlin-backed hackers falsified documentsstolen from George Soros to smear Aleksei Navalny — and got caught out.
Stress Test
In The American Interest, former U.S. State Department official Kirk Bennett looks at the state of the Russian economy and asks: “Is Putin’s Russia Headed For A Systemic Collapse?”
The Best Medicine
Oliver Bullough has an interesting piece in The Guardian on how Ukraine isreforming its medicine procurement system with the help of some U.K. firms
The Russia Card
In a piece for Meduza, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaulexplains how Russia became a theme in the U.S. presidential election.
The Glazyev Tapes
Andreas Umland comments on the recently released recordings of telephone conversations allegedly depicting Kremlin aide Sergei Glazyev helping orchestrate the annexation of Crimea and unrest in the Donbas.
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Syrian rebels reclaim key border town from Islamic Stateby Kareem Shaheen in Beirut
Militia backed by Turkish ground forces and US fighter jets take Jarablus, on border with Turkey
Syrian rebels backed by Turkish ground forces and US fighter jets and drones have reclaimed the town of Jarablus, Islamic State’s last major conquest on Turkey’s 500-mile southern border with Syria.
The victory came just hours after Ankara announced the launch of a major military campaign in Syria, the “Euphrates Shield”, and sent its tanks across the border in an operation with a dual aim – to eliminate the Isis presence along its border and to check the ambitions of US-backed Kurdish paramilitaries seeking an autonomous zone in northern Syria that Turkey sees as a threat to its national security.
Continue reading...Ukraine marks 25 years of independence a riven nation despite the flags by Shaun Walker in Slavyansk
As the role of Ukrainians in the Soviet Union’s demise is celebrated, tensions still simmer in the east of country after two years of war
Ukraine has marked 25 years of independence with a huge military parade through Kiev, and although two years of war with Russia-backed rebels in the east has united much of the country, the eastern territories remain divided.
Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, addressed the nation after a parade on Wednesday involving thousands of soldiers, columns of armoured vehicles and missile systems made its way through the capital.
While many in towns like Slavyansk are relieved the war is over, there are still wounds from the conflict
Continue reading...
Claims of politically motivated scaremongering after a summer pockmarked by violence
Searchers in Walbrzych, Poland, sought a buried train full of gold, jewels and weapons, only to find a natural soil formation. But tourism in the town surged.
The government says a new fence, about 660 feet long and 11 feet high, is needed to tighten security where 5,500 migrants entered Norway last year.
Search for Missing in Italy Quake Intensifies as Death Toll Risesby GAIA PIANIGIANI and DAN BILEFSKY
With hundreds of people unaccounted for, the number of dead is expected to rise after Wednesday’s powerful temblor.
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Соединения и воинские части Южного, Западного и Центрального военных округов, Северного флота, главного командования ВКС и командования ВДВ подняты по тревоге и выполняют мероприятия по приведению в полную боевую готовность.
Замглавы военного ведомства особо подчеркнул, что мероприятия в её рамках осуществляются при строгом соблюдении всех требований Венского документа 2011 года о мерах укрепления доверия и безопасности.
Штабы объединений и соединений Южного военного округа переведены на боевой режим работы, корабельные силы Черноморского флота и Каспийской флотилии – в готовности к выполнению задач по предназначению.
Russia’s search for greater international influence and respect continued its downward spiral this summer. Its Olympic experience was spoiled by charges of doping. Accusations of hacking dragged it into the U.S. presidential campaign, and military tensions over Ukraine and Syria showed no sign of abetting.
Few longtime insiders have left their coveted positions during Putin’s first 15 years in power. If anything, they were climbing the Kremlin ranks and Forbes rich-man tables. Now they’re leaving in droves. The received wisdom that President Vladimir Putin does not part with old friends is now demolished.
Амеба, пожирающая мозг by golosamerikius
Купальщиков всегда подстерегают опасности. И, вероятно, одна из самых страшных угроз – амёбный менингоэнцефалит. В США возбудителя этой страшной болезни называют «пожирающий мозг амебой».
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Лидеры российской оппозиции настроены решительно и намерены бороться за власть в стране
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/russian-opposition-election/3479046.html
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/russian-opposition-election/3479046.html
Прогулка по русскому Сан-Франциско by golosamerikius
Волны русской эмиграции принесли на эти берега не только обломки разбитых судеб, но и прилив созидательной энергии
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/russian-san-francisco/3479065.html
Originally published at - http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/russian-san-francisco/3479065.html
CNN |
Italy earthquake rescuers in desperate search for survivors as toll hits 241
CNN Are you in Italy? Are you affected by the earthquake? If it's safe for you to do so, WhatsApp us on +44 7435 939 154 to share your photos, experiences and video. Please tag #CNNiReport in your message. Saletta, Italy (CNN) A strong aftershock jolted ... At least 241 dead in Italy quake as crews frantically search for survivorsFox News Italy earthquake: Death toll passes 240 as rescue efforts continueBBC News Desperate search for survivors in Italy as death toll rises to 247Washington Post New York Times -USA TODAY -NPR -Wall Street Journal all 1 news articles » |
Brazil’s Senate began the last phase of the impeachment process against suspended President Dilma Rousseff, with the final vote scheduled for next week widely expected to result in her ouster.
The number of immigrants in the U.K. remained near record highs in the year ending in March, official statistics showed, underscoring the scale of the challenge facing the new U.K. prime minister as she seeks to fulfill a pledge to curb immigration.
A new wave of Turkish tanks rolled into northern Syria on Thursday as the military extended its fight to drive Islamic State away from the border and push back advances by American-backed Kurdish forces.
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Iraqi forces have retaken the key town of Qayara, near a major air base south of Mosul, from the Islamic State group, according to a statement from the Iraqi prime minister’s office.
A former manager of a home for asylum-seekers in Germany has been charged with raping a Syrian woman.
Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi has received a no-confidence vote from parliament over corruption allegations.
Turkey threatens further intervention in northern Syria unless Kurdish-led forces withdraw east of the River Euphrates within a week.
The US leads calls for "strong and swift action" after a UN investigation concludes that the Syrian government used chlorine gas against its own people
Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Thursday he expects President Obama to close the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay before leaving office in January.
"That is my hope and expectation," Mr. Biden said during a news conference in Sweden.
Mr. Obama has vowed to close the military prison in ...
