A Fly on the Wall at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (1948- ), Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

On Saturday, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary General of NATO, said that strengthening Russia’s ties with the West is vital and the NATO-Russia Council can play an important role. Speaking at the 45^th Munich Conference on Security Policy, Mr de Hoop Scheffer identified two partnerships that need fundamentally strengthening, the second being the one between Europe and the United States.

He said that the NATO-Russia Council had great potential, but, warned there was a long way to go, expressing doubts about President Dmitri Medvedev’s proposals for a new European security structure in the wake of Russia’s recognition of and cooperation with the separatist republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. “I cannot see how we can have such a serious discussion of such a new architecture, in which President Medvedev himself says territorial integrity is a primary element, when Russia is building bases inside Georgia, a country that doesn’t want those bases. That cannot be ignored and it cannot be the foundation of a new European security architecture”, he said.

On Europe’s relations with the United States, the NATO head said coming together must be a “two-way street” and singled out Afghanistan as a potential litmus test. “I’m frankly concerned when I hear the United States is planning a major commitment for Afghanistan, but, other allies are already ruling out doing more. That is not good for the political balance. The Obama administration has already done a lot of what Europeans have asked for, including announcing the closure of Guantánamo and a serious focus on climate change. When the United States asks for a serious partner, it does not just want advice, it wants and deserves someone to share the heavy lifting”.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy (1955- )

French President Nicholas Sarkozy told the conference that Russia is not the main military threat for NATO and the EU. “Russia today does not constitute a military threat to the European Union and NATO. I don’t think that the highest threat facing NATO and the European Union is military aggression from Russia”. He said that Russia is not a threat to Europe because of many internal challenges and demographic problems it currently has to deal with. Relations between the EU, NATO and Russia remain strained following a brief armed conflict with Georgia in August last year and Russia’s subsequent recognition of the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Relations were further marred by a Ukrainian-Russian gas row in January. M Sarkozy, who was heavily involved in the diplomatic resolution to the conflict over South Ossetia, stressed the necessity of confidence-building measures between Russia and the EU.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (1954- )

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Russia must be included in European security structures. Frau Merkel said it was in the general interest to involve Russia in Europe’s future security structures, adding that attention should be paid to the initiative of President Dmitri Medvedev on discussing a new security set-up for the continent. Relations with Russia play a key role in European security as Russia is a part of Europe, Frau Merkel said. She added that the new NATO security approach should be all-encompassing.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (1957- )

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Poland will follow through with the deployment of US missile shield elements on its territory. Mr Tusk said the missile defence system was a preventative measure and would play an important role in Europe’s security. “We are willing to participate in difficult projects because we believe this will underscore our ability to defend ourselves, but also the preventative capabilities of the transatlantic community”, he told the conference. The Polish prime minister also expressed support for countries who wished to join NATO. Russia’s relations with the military alliance have been strained by its eastward expansion, and Moscow vehemently opposes membership for Ukraine and Georgia.

Before leaving Warsaw for the conference, Mr Tusk said the ultimate decision on the missile shield lay with the United States. Russia objects to the system as a threat to its national security, but, top officials in Moscow have repeatedly expressed hopes that the new US administration will reconsider the plans. “We are a very honest partner of the United States, and if we agree something with the Americans we always keep our word”, he said at a news briefing on Friday. “We are ready to participate in this project, but the decision, of course, is with the American side”. Washington agreed with Warsaw and Prague on plans to deploy 10 interceptor missile silos in Poland and a radar site in the Czech Republic by 2013. The United States says the defences are needed to deter possible strikes from “rogue states” such as Iran. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the conference on Friday that the shield is aimed at Russia’s nuclear deterrent.

US Vice President Joseph Biden (1942- ). According to Mark Halperin, he has shown “a persistent tendency to say silly, offensive, and off-putting things”. Indeed… well-said.

US Vice President Joseph Biden said that the United States will continue to work on a planned missile defence system in Central Europe, but, it will consult Russia. “We will continue to develop missile defences to counter a growing Iranian capability, provided the technology is proven to work and cost-effective”, Mr Biden said, adding, “We will do so in consultation with our NATO allies and Russia”. Russia has consistently opposed the missile shield as a threat to its national security and officials have repeatedly expressed the hope that President Barack Obama would not follow through with his predecessor’s missile defence plans.

On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the conference that the shield is aimed at Russia’s nuclear deterrent, but, he added that Moscow would not follow through with its threat to deploy Iskander missile systems in Kaliningrad oblast if the United States gave up its missile shield plans. Mr Biden’s message to Russia was mixed, suggesting more effort at engagement, but, giving little sign of movement on the core issues, such as the missile shield and NATO expansion. “It is time to press the reset button and to revisit the many areas where we can and should work together”, he said, identifying Afghanistan as an area for greater cooperation between NATO and Russia. Vice President Biden said the United States was willing to receive “ideas and consultations” from foreign partners during the conference about how to stabilise the situation in Afghanistan.

Mr Biden was unequivocal on the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two separatist republics recognised by Russia following a five-day war with Georgia sparked by Tbilisi’s invasion of South Ossetia. “The United States will not recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. We will not recognise a sphere of influence. It will remain our view that sovereign states have the right to make their own decisions and choose their own alliances”. Under President George Bush, Washington was a staunch supporter of Georgia and the Ukraine in their bids to join NATO, which was vehemently opposed by Moscow.

7 February 2009

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090207/120029819.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090207/120030389.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090207/120030716.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090207/120031777.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20090207/120033226.html

Editor’s Note:

Instead of five little pieces, as they were all interconnected, I conflated the articles into one easy-to-access report. This does deserve a second read, if I may say so. Look at what Merkel and Sarkozy are saying and what Biden and Tusk are saying. To put it simply, M Sarkozy and Frau Merkel have spat on the Looney-Tunes assertions of the US neocons and are willing to have Russia as an integral part of Europe. Were this to happen, there would be no need of an American presence in Europe, and it could be the very reason that these two leaders are advocating such. Do not forget that Frau Merkel grew up in the DDR, not the BRD, and she speaks fluent Russian…

De Hoop Scheffer slavishly toed the American line, but, he was unsupported by the French and German leaders. “Russia is building bases inside Georgia, a country that doesn’t want those bases”, he said. As the Rt Honourable Bugs Bunny would say, “What a maroon!” Abkhazia and South Ossetia were never part of the post-Soviet Georgian state, despite many violent attempts on the part of the Georgians to seize the areas. Without French and German support, de Hoop Scheffer was left hanging in the wind. Were Germany and France to leave NATO (not a far-fetched possibility)… hmm…

Tusk said nothing that wasn’t expected, although some of his words lead one to suspect that he fears that the US could renege on the missile shield deal. “We are a very honest partner of the United States, and if we agree something with the Americans we always keep our word”. Hmm… looks like there are doubts in Warsaw.

As for Joe Biden, he was his doltish and loudmouthed self. Do not forget that one of his formative influences was a Croatian RC priest who defended the murder of 600,000 Orthodox Serbs by the Ustashi bandits in World War II. His Russophobia is well-known, indeed, one wonders why Mrs Clinton was not here… “The United States will not recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. We will not recognise a sphere of influence. It will remain our view that sovereign states have the right to make their own decisions and choose their own alliances”. Is that so, Joe? Cock-a-doodle-doo! That is what that is worth, Mr Biden!

Guess what, Joe? You said, “Sovereign states have the right to make their own decisions and choose their own alliances”. That means that South Ossetia and Abkhazia have the right to decide on their freedom from the Georgians and ally themselves with the Russians. You are hoist on your own petard! POW! I would advise Mr Obama not to send this loudmouthed and ignorant cretin anywhere as a representative of the USA. He failed the test here, sir, and he shan’t get any better, things being what they are.

Besides, Mr Obama should mark well another loose-cannon statement of Biden the Brain, “We will not recognise a sphere of influence”. Izzat so? Go back to rear of the class and put on the dunce’s hat, Biden! The Monroe Doctrine has been an integral part of US foreign policy since the 19^th century. That is a “sphere of influence” if there ever was one. We would have hoped that you had paid attention in class instead of throwing spitballs, sir…

BMD

Obama Administration Seen Re-Engaging Russia

The Times of London learned this week that President Obama will convene the most ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia for a generation, aiming to slash each country’s stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 percent. Apart from the Times’ dispatch from Washington this week, few details were immediately available. According to the Times’ report, the radical treaty “would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each”. Key to the initiative is a review of the Bush Administration’s plan for a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, a project fiercely opposed by Moscow right from the start.

No final decision on the missile defence shield has been taken by the Obama administration so far. Yet, merely delaying the placement of US missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic, which, if deployed, would cost the US 4 billion dollars (144.892 billion roubles. 3.092 billion euros. 2.703 billion UK pounds) annually, removes what has been a major impediment to Russian cooperation on arms reduction. Any agreement would also put pressure on Britain, which has 160 nuclear warheads, and other nuclear powers, like France, to reduce their stockpiles as well.

Mr Obama pledged to put nuclear weapons reduction at the heart of his presidency and his first move, according to the Times, will be to reopen talks with Moscow to replace the 1991 US-Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires in December this year. Under that pact, the two countries have cut their respective stockpiles from roughly 10,000 to 5,000 warheads. “We are going to re-engage Russia in a more traditional, legally binding, arms reduction process”, an administration official said. “We are prepared to engage in a broader dialogue with the Russians over issues of concern to them. Nobody would be surprised if the number reduced to the 1,000 mark for the post-START treaty”.

In his Inaugural Speech last month, President Obama gave an inkling of his intentions as to further arms reductions. Meanwhile, Russia moved swiftly this week to extend a hand to President Obama over American plans for big cuts in nuclear weapons. Sergei Ivanov, the Deputy Prime Minister, said that Russia was ready to sign a new strategic missile treaty with the United States.

5 February 2009

Yuri Reshetnikov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=40016&cid=87&p=05.02.2009

Editor’s Note:

There have been no negotiations on strategic arms since 1991 due to the arrogance of the neocons. If anyone disagreed with an American position, they were bombed into submission. However… Russia could not be bombed, for it had the capability to strike back at the homeland of the USA. Ergo, there has been much bad-dogging of Russia by the US government and that has been backed by a running-dog-lackey media machine.

America must cease its attempt to bully the world. Not only is it immoral and indecent beyond all words, it is hellishly expensive, making it one of the major factors in the American economic meltdown. America has been led by a cabal unrepresentative of the American people since 1993. Let the madness cease, let it cease quickly, not only for the good of America and Russia, but, for all the peoples of the world as well.

Let there be a real peace. As for the neocons… sentence them to teach in small liberal-arts colleges in the Northeast with nasty academic politics… that’ll learn ‘em good, I say!

BMD

US Military Suicides Spiked In January

American troops in Afghanistan. These men are stretched to the limits and war-weary. They deserve better. BRING THEM HOME FROM THIS POINTLESS WAR.

_______________________________

Reportedly, the US Army’s investigating a stunning number of military suicides in January, a count that could exceed all combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan last month. According to figures obtained by the Associated Press, there were 24 suspected suicides in January, compared to only four in January 2008, six in January 2007, and 10 in January 2006. Annual suicide rates have been rising steadily since 2004 largely believed to be due to increasing stress on the force from long and repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US Army has rarely, if ever, released a month-by-month update on suicides, but, officials said this week that they wanted to re-emphasise “the urgency and seriousness necessary for preventive action at all levels” of the force. In announcing the 2008 figures last week, the US Army said it would hold special training later this month to help troops recognise suicidal behaviours and to intervene if they see such behaviour in a comrade-in-arms. After that, the US Army also plans a suicide prevention program for all soldiers from the top of the chain of command down. However, Army Secretary Pete Geren appeared to be stumped by the spiralling number of suicide cases in the US Army. Clearly, the relentless rise in suicides has frustrated the service, coming despite numerous attempts to stem the tide through additional suicide prevention training, the hiring of more psychiatrists and other mental health staff, and other programmes both at home and at the battlefront for troops and their families. Whilst the active-duty military force is expanding, the rate of suicides is growing even faster amongst all four services, a phenomenon that’s alarmed defence officials as stress on service members builds with the US deployment in Iraq nearing the six-year mark. Army Brigadier General Loree Sutton told NBC News that active-duty service members were under tremendous strain. “They’ve lost buddies. They’ve been exposed to the most corrosive environment known to warfare, physically, psychologically, spiritually, and morally”, General Sutton said. Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the New York Times ruefully, “In January, we lost more soldiers to suicide than to Al Qaeda. If we lost this many soldiers to an enemy weapon, the entire country would know about it and we would demand defensive measures”. However, the problem of dealing with men and women in uniform that are obviously overextended and overstressed has yet to be addressed.

6 February 2009

Yuri Reshetnikov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=40087&cid=87&p=06.02.2009

******

Below is the AP article referenced by Reshetnikov. Read it and weep. This is due to the evil of the neocons, who were allowed to run amuck in the Clinton and Bush II administrations. There’s a special cold place in Hell for such people, I’m sure.

******

Army Suicides at Record High, Passing Civilian Rate

Stressed by war and long overseas tours, US soldiers killed themselves last year at the highest rate on record, the toll rising for a fourth straight year and even surpassing the suicide rate among comparable civilians. Army leaders said they were doing everything they could think of to curb the deaths and appealed for more mental health professionals to join and help out. At least 128 soldiers committed suicide in 2008, the Army said Thursday. The final count is likely to be even higher because 15 more suspicious deaths are still being investigated. “Why do the numbers keep going up? We can’t tell you”, said Army Secretary Pete Geren. “We can tell you that across the Army we’re committed to doing everything we can to address the problem”. It’s all about pressure and the military approach, said Kim Ruocco, 45, whose Marine husband was an officer and Cobra helicopter pilot who hanged himself in a California hotel room in 2005. That was one month before he was to return to Iraq a second time. She said her husband, John, had completed 75 missions in Iraq and was struggling with anxiety and depression, but felt he’d be letting others down if he sought help and couldn’t return. “He could be any Marine because he was highly decorated, stable, the guy everyone went to for help”, Ruocco said in a telephone interview. “But, the thing is… the culture of the military is to be strong no matter what and not show any weakness”. Ruocco, of Newbury MA, was recently hired to be suicide support coordinator for the non-profit Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. She said she feels that the military has finally started to reach out to suicide survivors and seek solutions. “Things move slowly, but I think they’re really trying”, Ruocco said.

At the Pentagon on Thursday, Colonel Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatric consultant to the Army surgeon general, made a plea for more professionals to sign on to work for the military. “We’re hiring and we need your help”, she said. Military leaders promised fresh prevention efforts will start next week. The new suicide figure compares with 115 in 2007 and 102 in 2006, and is the highest since current record-keeping began in 1980. Officials expect the deaths to amount to a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers, which is higher than the civilian rate, when adjusted to reflect the Army’s younger and male-heavy demographics, for the first time in the same period of record-keeping. Officials have said that troops are under unprecedented stress because of repeated and long tours of duty due to the simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yearly increases in suicides have been recorded since 2004, when there were 64, only about half the number now. Officials said they found that the most common factors were soldiers suffering problems with their personal relationships, legal or financial issues, and problems on the job.

However, the magnitude of what the troops are facing in combat shouldn’t be forgotten, said Representative Joe Sestak (D-PA), a former Navy vice admiral, who noted he spoke with a mother this week whose son was preparing for his fifth combat tour. “This is a tough battle that the individuals are in over there”, Sestak said. “It’s unremitting every day”. Said Dr Paul Ragan, an associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University and a former Navy psychiatrist, “Occasional or sporadic visits by military mental health workers are like a Band-Aid for a gushing wound”. The statistics released Thursday cover soldiers who killed themselves while they were on active duty, including National Guard and Reserve troops who’d been activated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the suicide rate for US society overall was about 11 per 100,000 in 2004, the latest year for which the agency has figures. However, the Army says the civilian rate is more like 19.5 per 100,000 when adjusted. An earlier report showed the Marine Corps recorded 41 possible or confirmed suicides in 2008, about 19 per 100,000 troops. The military’s numbers don’t include deaths after people have left the services. The Department of Veterans Affairs tracks those numbers and says there were 144 suicides among the nearly 500,000 service members who left the military from 2002-2005 after fighting in at least one of the two ongoing wars.

29 January 2009

Pauline Jelinek

Kimberly Hefling

Associated Press

As Quoted in Yahoo News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090130/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_suicides

Editor’s Note:

This is what the neocons have done to America. Shame on them! Don’t forget the cost of their Orwellian doubletalk and ambitions. Let no more “common Joes” die for their perverse pride and hubris.

______________________________

This is grim. This is evil. This is beyond all words. That’s to say, the neocons are absolutely immoral and malevolent. They deserve to be placed up against the nearest wall and shot dead without mercy or remorse. However, a word or two on this noisome tribe is in order. Firstly, they aren’t conservatives, not in the least. They’re called such by a sector of the American left that calls all who oppose them “conservatives”, whether they are such or not. No, this squalid lot of butchers has its roots in Wilsonian Interventionist Idealism, the farthest thing from conservatism that can be imagined. Woodrow Wilson was the most evil man of the New Dark Ages of the 20th Century. Why? He was the Pandora that opened the box that set free the demons of that benighted century. If Wilson hadn’t intervened in the Great War, for no American interest was at stake, the rise of the Reds and the Nazis may have been averted, the massacre of the Jews may have never occurred, and Europe might still be the home of three great continental empires.

Secondly, the neocons are, in effect, arguing for an American imperium throughout the world, with the USA having a veto over all global affairs. Our American soldiers are mere pawns in their eyes. Like all Neoliberals, they don’t care to count the human cost of their pipedream nostrums. “It’s only light casualties”. Yes… “light casualties”… that means that some family somewhere is burying a son, daughter, husband, wife, father, and/or mother. To be blunt, the military actions of the US since 1991 didn’t justify the sacrifice of one life, either American or foreign. True, there are terrorists, but since they aren’t embodied in a state structure, they’re virtually immune to the usual run of military action. Rooting out terrorists requires long and patient effort in concert with overseas partners to effectively stamp out the menace. Simply placing an American puppet in place as a client and calling the resulting situation “democracy” (see Karzai’s comic-opera régime in Afghanistan, its writ does not even run to the near-suburbs of Kabul) shall not turn the trick. That is, Americans must return to an earlier and saner time, when the USA wasn’t intent on “exporting” its ideology. The system of government found in the US can only function under specific conditions, conditions that are mostly lacking elsewhere. If others choose other paths, that’s their prerogative. In any case, aren’t the neocons and their political enablers always mewling about “freedom”? Indeed, freedom means that a country can reject American nostrums… hmm…

BMD

International Experts Praise Moscow’s Actions to Minimise the Financial Crisis

International experts praised the actions of the Russian government to minimise the aftermath of the global financial and economic crisis. This statement came in an International Monetary Fund research note that was prepared for a meeting of experts of the world’s 20 leading nations. Generally, the note offers the very same estimates and forecasts that the IMF made public late last month. This year, Russia’s GDP is expected to shrink by 0.7 percent, whilst next year should see 1.3 percent in growth, which will be the best economic performance amongst the G-8 countries. Inflation in Russia, according to the IMF, which makes use of its own methods, should slow down from 12.6 percent this year to 10.9 percent next year. This is in line with the overall world tendency, although Russia boasts the best indices amongst the top 20 economies.

True, Russia, just as other world nations were, was badly hit by the current crisis, above all, because of the collapse of the oil market and plummeting prices for other raw materials. Also, the influx of foreign capital into the Russian economy dropped drastically. But, in a situation like this, it was perfectly correct of Moscow, according to the IMF experts, to make use of accumulated resources to set things right. The experts also thought highly of the well thought-out policy of the Russian government supporting internal consumer demand and easing the financial burden on the economy.

“But, of course, it took the government some time to realise the need for this kind of policy”, said Andrei Sharonov, the former Deputy Economics Minister, in an interview with Voice of Russia. “At the beginning of the crisis, the government failed to grasp the actual proportions of the emergency or its own options in fighting it. At that time, it was thought that our accumulated international liquidity in gold and currency reserves and the budget surplus would provide a basis for settling every single problem. But, as the crisis grew deeper, the government grew aware that the financial leverage at their disposal might prove insufficient to cope with the situation. So, the Cabinet changed its policy, resorting to more reasonable and better-thought-out moves; most importantly, these are planned over a longer period of time”.

On Thursday, as a result, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was able to tell a session of the Government Presidium that Russia managed to avoid the worst shocks of the crisis. Businessmen and ordinary people alike will receive an opportunity to gradually adapt to the situation. Besides, every effort was made to prevent a landslide devaluation of the national currency, the rouble, support the branches of the production sector worst-hit by the crisis, and extend help to the affected regions.

6 February 2009

Vyacheslav Solovyov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=101035&cid=20&p=06.02.2009

Editor’s Note:

Note well that the present economic crisis has its origins in the lunatic neoliberal economic policies of the USA and the West. In short, America is a boastful nation brought low by its belief in its own lies. By this, I mean the government, the chattering classes, and the so-called élite. The ordinary people of America did not benefit from the Clinton/Bush charade; indeed, they were raped worse than anyone abroad as their jobs were “downsized”, “outsourced”, or picked clean of benefits and reasonable compensation by rapacious businessmen backed by feckless politicians.

These fat cats are EVIL, no doubt on that score. They bring cheap goods into this country produced in nasty Third World sweatshops and close down plants employing honest American workers. That is, profit is God, and if one must sacrifice the livelihoods of simple families to it, why, so be it, can’t they get jobs in the “service sector”, anyway?

Russia is wiser as it produces more of what it needs domestically and it does not need to import strategic materials. After all, Russia has a trade surplus, and the USA has a trade deficit. Hmm… It does make one wonder, doesn’t it?

For those of us in Orthodoxy, the present crisis highlights some traits of Anglo-Saxon Americans that must be watched for with care in many of the recent converts. Two things are worrisome, “positive mental attitude” and “moving on”. The first leads to boasting, lying, and a covering of the facts. The latter leads to a juvenile demand that the guilty escape scot-free, not only letting the culpable evade the consequences of their actions, it ensures that no lessons are learned from any problem (indeed, it impedes the resolution of the situation in the first place, nicht wahr?). These attitudes fanned the economic crisis and have created a crisis in the Church (but, no one is allowed to say so), so, they must be attended to. To put it simply, don’t buy a pig in a poke, and don’t listen to therapeutese spouted by ex-Episcopalians…

BMD