The Bush administration has tried everything to drive a wedge between Iran and Russia – to no avail. The Obama administration now has to deal with some pretty established facts on the ground. In the first part of this report, Pepe Escobar analyzes the implications of the complex relationship between close allies Iran and...
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Continuing the pattern by top Canadian federal officials over the past year of issuing blunt and bravado statements aimed at Russia over the Arctic, on August 1 Defence Minister Peter MacKay was paraphrased as “warn Russia that Canuck fighter jets will scramble to meet any unauthorized aircraft” as a mainstream Canadian news agency less...
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Increasingly a deep divide within the world of globalization is emerging which will have the most profound significance for the future of G7 nations’ economic and political stability. The divide is between those nations which are still embedded within the dollar system, including countries in the Eurozone, versus those emerging economies—especially the BRIC—Brazil, Russia,...
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The US dollar is not Russia’s basic reserve currency anymore. The euro-based share of reserve assets of Russia’s Central Bank increased to the level of 47.5 percent as of January 1, 2009 and exceeded the investments in dollar assets, which made up 41.5 percent, The Vedomosti newspaper wrote. The dollar has thus lost the...
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Interview with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin In an interview with the Japanese media, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin commented on NATO’s war games in Georgia, situation in troubled Afghanistan, North Korean nuclear ambitions and other international thorny issues. Interview of Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, with the Japanese information agency Kiodo Cusin, TV...
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Taming the Speculators: What Should Countries Do With Their Central Bank Reserves? Last week Izvestiya published an interview with former Premier Yevgeny Primakov, now president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (Johnson’s Russia List published a translation on May 8). The discussion centered on a universal problem – what China and other Asian...
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A true addict does not know that it is addicted. It does not know when to seek help. It cannot tell when its actions move from the sublime to the ridiculous. It cannot tell it is time to wean itself off a lethal product before it self-destructs. Russia threatening war in the Arctic over...
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William Engdahl: The geo-politics of provocations between Russia and Ukraine Russia cut off the natural gas it sends to Europe through Ukraine on Wednesday when a payment dispute escalated. Russia claims Ukraine siphoned off gas for its own use. Ukraine denies this. Russia stopped all natural gas supplies to Ukraine on 1 January, but...
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These last few days, the Persian Gulf became a sideshow. Exit evil Iran and a phantom al-Qaeda; enter the remixed Evil Empire—Russia, a real-life superpower complete with nuclear weapons. The US establishment for years gloated about the end of the Cold War and treated Russia like Wiemar Germany. In February 1990, Bush Sr. and...
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US attempts to get Georgia into NATO, coupled with its desire to erect an anti-missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech republic would give it first strike capability towards Russia. Moscow sees this as a national security threat against the sovereignty of Russia. Political economist F William Engdahl believes this is the geopolitical...
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