Mar 31
Mar 20
Update:
- Russia And Syria Deny Russian Ships, Special Forces In Syria (DayPress, Mar 20, 2012):
SYRIA- An official Syrian military source denied Monday from Damascus the reports that had been circulated by some media agencies about the arrival of Russian warships carrying military staffs to combat terrorism into the Syrian shores.
The source described those reports as categorically baseless and untrue.
“Those news come in the framework of the lie campaigns against Syria by some opposition sides and the countries that support them in order to cover the calls for the foreign intervention in the Syrian affairs,” the source told SANA in a statement.
In Moscow and on Monday too, the Russian Defense Ministry denied those reports too. Russian news agencies have quoted a source at the Ministry’s Media Department saying that “Russia was astonished at the reports circulated by some media about the presence of Russian warships near the Syrian coasts.” according to SANA report on Monday.
The Russian Defense Ministry source added that there are not any warships for the Russian navy near Syrian coast.
- Russian Anti-Terror Troops Arrive in Syria (ABC News, Mar 19, 2012):
A Russian military unit has arrived in Syria, according to Russian news reports, a development that a United Nations Security Council source told ABC News was “a bomb” certain to have serious repercussions.
Russia, one of President Bashar al-Assad’s strongest allies despite international condemnation of the government’s violent crackdown on the country’s uprising, has repeatedly blocked the United Nations Security Council’s attempts to halt the violence, accusing the U.S. and its allies of trying to start another war.
Now the Russian Black Sea fleet’s Iman tanker has arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea with an anti-terror squad from the Russian Marines aboard according to the Interfax news agency. The Assad government has insisted it is fighting a terrorist insurgency. The Russian news reports did not elaborate on the Russian troops’ mission in Syria or if they are expected to leave the port.
Tags: Global News, Government, Politics, Russia, Syria, Terrorism, Terrorists, U.N., U.S., Vladimir Putin
Mar 15
See also:
- US ‘tells Russia to warn Iran of last chance’ (Telegraph, Mar 14, 2012):
US-led military strikes against Iran are inevitable this year if Tehran does not give ground at multilateral talks next month over its nuclear programme, according to diplomatic sources in Moscow.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has asked Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to warn Iran the negotiations represent a “last chance” to avoid military action, the Kommersant newspaper reported.
“Hillary Clinton asked her Russian colleague to pass that thought on to the Iranian authorities, with whom Washington does not maintain its own relations,” a high-ranking foreign ministry source told the paper.
The source said there was a high likelihood of an attack “before the end of the year”, adding: “The Israelis are, in essence, blackmailing [US president Barack] Obama. They are putting him in a difficult position: either he supports war or he himself will lose support.”
Tags: Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Global News, Government, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Israel, Military, Obama administration, Politics, Russia, Sergei Lavrov, U.S.
Mar 09
Mar 05
- Putin declared president-elect (RT, Mar 5, 2012):
Vladimir Putin secured some 63.7 per cent of vote in Russia’s presidential election. The head of Central Election Commission declared him the next president of the country.
The commission has counted more than 99 per cent of the ballots. “As you can see, the election finished in one round,” Vladimir Churov said, as he announced Putin’s landslide victory.
Gennady Zyuganov scored 17.2 percent of the votes. In third place was political newcomer Mikhail Prokhorov, who won 7.9 percent. Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Sergey Mironov won 6.2 and 3.9 per cent of the vote respectively.
Tags: Global News, Government, Politics, Russia, Vladimir Putin
Mar 01
- China Dumps $100+ Billion In USTs In December Per Revised TIC Data; UK Is Now Russia’s Shadow Buyer (ZeroHedge, Feb. 29, 2012):
Every year in February, the Treasury department releases its adjustment to foreign purchases of Treasury bond holdings as of the previous June (with revised and overriding estimates for all the intervening months in the interim, as well as previous monthly forecasts). It did that earlier today. And while many may have been expecting the revision to show that contrary to Zero Hedge claims China has in fact been building up its Treasury stake (following the now traditional transfer of UK purchases to China), the reality is that not only has China indeed been dumping US exposure (first reported by us previously when we observed the plunge in holdings in the Fed’s custodial account), selling over $100 billion in Treasurys in December alone (bringing its total to $1152 billion, and down 12% from its June total of $1307 billion) but that probably far more curiously, the UK is no longer a shadow buyer of Chinese bond accumulation and instead has become a secret accumulator of Russian holdings.
First, here is a link to the revised TIC data as of this afternoon. That lack of Chinese trade surplus is really starting to bite not only China, but also the US, which as we noted last time, will be forced to rely ever more on domestically funded purchases of USTs: read Primary Dealers and the Fed, as the rest of the world developing world, also known as US Treasury buyers, clams down and exports far less to a recessionary Europe and contracting America. As the chart below shows, Chinese holdings are sliding, no matter how one cuts the data.
So compared to the pre-revision Chinese holdings number, which was $1101 billion, China is still accumulating bonds, right? Well, not really, because on one hand a decline is a decline even relative to a different benchmark. But more importanly, most had assumed that the UK’s pre-revision number of $414.8 billion in Treasury holdings would be allocated almost entirely to China. As it turns out it wasn’t.
Tags: Bonds, China, Debt, Economy, Fed, Federal Reserve, Global News, Government, Politics, Russia, U.K.
Feb 28
FYI.
- Russia ‘thwarts plot’ to assassinate Putin (AFP, Feb. 27, 2012):
MOSCOW — Russia said on Monday its secret services had thwarted a plot hatched in a Ukrainian port city by suspected militants from Chechnya to assassinate Vladimir Putin after next weekend’s presidential vote.
State television showed the two men confessing to conspiring to kill the Russian strongman in a bombing attack that was revealed to the public less than a week before Putin’s likely victory in Sunday’s election.
The plot was confirmed by Putin’s spokesman as well as the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and its Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) counterpart, who worked jointly to break up the conspiracy.
The purported confessions showed the two men saying they acted on the orders of Chechen Islamist militant Doku Umarov — the warlord who has claimed Moscow’s deadliest airport and metro bombings in the past two years.
- Russia foils ‘Chechen plot’ to assassinate Vladimir Putin (Telegraph, Feb. 27, 2012):
State television in Russia said that special forces had seized two conspirators in Odessa, southern Ukraine, after an explosion in an apartment in January.
The Chechen alleged ringleader, Adam Osmayev, 31, has reportedly confessed to planning the assassination on the orders of Doku Umarov, the emir of the Islamist insurgency against Moscow’s rule in the North Caucasus region.
Tags: Global News, Government, Politics, Russia, Vladimir Putin
Feb 28
- Putin warns West over Syria, Iran (Guardian, Feb. 27, 2012):
MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin has accused the United States and its Western allies of supporting the Arab Spring revolts in its own interests and strongly warned against a military intervention in Syria.
Putin said in an article published Monday in the Moscow News daily that the Western push for sanctions against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government was “cynical.” He insisted that both the government and opposition forces should pull out of cities to end bloodshed.
Putin defended a Russia-China veto of a U.N. resolution condemning Assad’s crackdown on protests, saying that Moscow wouldn’t allow the replay of what happened in Libya, where a NATO air campaign helped Libyans end Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.
He also warned strongly against any attack on Iran, saying its consequences would be “catastrophic.”
- Putin: ‘The West wants regime change in Iran’ (RT, Feb. 25, 2012):
Vladimir Putin believes the US is using the issue of Iran’s nuclear program as a pretext for regime change. Meanwhile, its AMD plans for Europe is an attempt to have a monopoly on security.
“Under the guise of trying to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction they [the US] are attempting something else entirely and setting different goals – regime change,” news agencies quote Putin as saying.
Tags: Barack Obama, Global News, Government, Iran, Libya, Military, Muammar Gaddafi, NATO, Obama administration, Politics, Russia, U.S., Vladimir Putin
Feb 27
See also:
- As Pentagon Sends Reinforcements To Straits Of Hormuz, Iraq Redux Looms
- FOX News: ‘US Has Moral Authority To Annihilate Iran Because They’re Evil’ (Video)
- Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: 44 US Military Bases Surrounding Iran: Will Iran Be Attacked?
- Russia: Israeli attack on Iran would be catastrophe (Jerusalem Post, , Feb. 22, 2012):
Russia warned Israel not to attack Iran over its nuclear program, saying on Wednesday that military action would have catastrophic consequences.
“Of course any possible military scenario against Iran will be catastrophic for the region and for the whole system of international relations,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.
“Therefore I hope Israel understands all these consequences … and they should also consider the consequences of such action for themselves,” Gatilov said at a news conference.
- Iran warns Israel not to attack its nuclear facilities (Guardian, Feb. 25, 2012):
Iranian general says attack would lead to collapse of Israel amid rising international tension over uranium enrichment
Iran has warned Israel against mounting an attack on its nuclear facilities amid rising international tension over its uranium enrichment programme.
Tags: Global News, Government, Iran, Israel, Military, Politics, Russia
Feb 24
- The U.N. Threat to Internet Freedom (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 21, 2012):
Top-down, international regulation is antithetical to the Net, which has flourished under its current governance model.
On Feb. 27, a diplomatic process will begin in Geneva that could result in a new treaty giving the United Nations unprecedented powers over the Internet. Dozens of countries, including Russia and China, are pushing hard to reach this goal by year’s end. As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last June, his goal and that of his allies is to establish “international control over the Internet” through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a treaty-based organization under U.N. auspices.
Tags: China, Government, Internet, New World Order, Politics, Russia, Society, Vladimir Putin
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