Wednesday, March 05, 2014
Saakashvili: Putin 'Wants to Be Feared'
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
Außenpolitisch ist Barack Obama eine Niete
Was dem regelmäßigen Besucher des "großen Welttheaters", wie Churchill einst die politische Szene von Washington nannte, besonders auffällt in dieser letzten Phase der Obama-Präsidentschaft, ist vor allem in der Ukraine-Krise die Verwirrung und sogar Verzweiflung über die undurchsichtige Außenpolitik des Präsidenten.
Bei aller Anerkennung seiner Rhetorik und seiner Willenskraft in der Innenpolitik wird Obama die Begabung, sich außenpolitisch positiv zu profilieren und durchzusetzen, gemeinhin abgesprochen. In fast allen meinen Gesprächen mit jüngst zurückgetretenen, aber auch weiterhin aktiven hohen Staatsbeamten war eine Enttäuschung über Obamas Außenpolitik zu spüren. Wahrnehmbar ist seine Rückzugspolitik aus den großen Krisenherden der Welt in einem Augenblick, in dem der Einsatz der noch immer führenden Weltmacht USA dringlichst benötigt wird.
Obamas übereilter Rückzug aus Afghanistan, Verteidigungsminister Hagels Entschluss, die Armee auf ihr Vorweltkriegsniveau zu reduzieren, der "Ruck" der Wehr- und Außenpolitik in Richtung Ostasien, aber vor allem die Nicht-Intervention in Syrien haben alte Alliierte vor den Kopf gestoßen und drohen Änderungen auf dem diplomatischen Schachbrett zu Ungunsten der westlichen Alliierten mit sich zu bringen. » | Von Lord Weidenfeld | Dienstag, 04. März 2014
Purchasing Power? The Russia Sanction Ripple Effect
View from Moscow: Ukraine Blame: US Criticism of Moscow At Odds with White House Policies
British Officials Oppose Sanctions Because Russia's Elite Are London's Cash Cows
It is the primary residence of Andrey Yakunin. His father, Russian Railways chief executive Vladimir Yakunin, is a former KGB agent and longtime pal of President Vladimir Putin. He was also a lead organizer of the Sochi Olympics and heads National Glory of Russia, an organization that aims to protect Russians from Western culture. (In a barely-readable book called Problems of Contemporary World Futurology, he predicted the collapse of the West in 10-20 years). His wife, Natalya, is in the same trade. She heads Sanctity of Motherhood, which propagates the “many-child family” through traditional Russian values and Orthodox Christianity. Their son Andrey is a fund manager, a graduate of the London Business School, and a specialist in “mid-market business hotels,” particularly ones that adjoin Russian train stations. His son Igor, in turn, attends a posh English private school.
The Yakunin family is Putin’s Kremlin in microcosm, a hypocritical spookocracy that rejects everything about the West except its money, houses, and consumer goods. It also encapsulates the Kremlin’s weakness. If Putin’s Ukraine adventure causes Europe to freeze assets and inconvenience the Kremlin elite, then Putin will find himself losing support fast—from the constituency he needs the most.
Putin may project a macho image by getting his guns out at any opportunity, but his actual power is based on elite support, and the elite supports him because he has made it rich beyond the dreams of avarice. For example, Vladimir Yakunin and Putin were neighbors in St. Petersburg. Putin made Yakunin head of Russian Railways, and now, Yakunin owns a palace outside Moscow, where the bathhouse alone has a reported floor area of 15,000 square feet. Read on and comment » | Oliver Bullough | Tuesday, March 04, 2014
Should White House Impose Sanctions on Russia?
Inside Story: Russian Defence or Dominance?
Russia Today Host Who Criticised Kremlin Sent to Crimea
A TV presenter working for a Kremlin-funded channel who spoke out against Russia's military invasion in Ukraine live on air has been sent by the broadcaster to Crimea to "better her knowledge" of the situation.
In an off-message tirade, Abby Martin, a Washington-based American news anchor for Russia Today, shocked mostly pro-Russian viewers by announcing she "cannot stress enough" how strongly she felt about presence of its troops in Crimea, saying "Russia was wrong".
The host addressed the camera in unscripted remarks at the end of the station's Breaking the Set segment, saying: "Just because I work here, for RT, doesn't mean I don't have editorial independence and I can't stress enough how strongly I am against any military intervention in sovereign nations' affairs.
"I will not sit here and apologise or defend military aggression," she went on.
The English-language Russia Today is widely perceived as the voice of the Kremlin, with Reporters Without Borders describing it as a "step of the state to control information." » | Josie Ensor | Tuesday, March 04, 2014
Obama: Russia's Actions Are Not a Sign of Strength
Team Obama Wins Fight to Have Christian Home-school Family Deported
They wanted to live in a country where they could raise their children in accordance with their Christian beliefs.
The Romeikes were initially given asylum, but the Obama administration objected – claiming that German laws that outlaw homeschooling do not constitute persecution.
“The goal in Germany is for an open, pluralistic society,” the Justice Department wrote in a legal brief last year. “Teaching tolerance to children of all backgrounds helps to develop the ability to interact as a fully functioning citizen in Germany.”
On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear the Romeike’s appeal – paving the way for the Christian family of eight to be deported. » | Tod Starnes | Todd’s American Dispatch | Monday, March 03, 2014
Tory Councillor Who Shared Burka Joke on Facebook Expelled from Party
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| Tory councillor Chris Joannides has been expelled from his party after comparing Muslim children wearing burkas to bin[-]bags on Facebook |
A Tory councillor has been expelled from his party after comparing Muslim children wearing burkas to bin[-]bags on Facebook.
Chris Joannides, a councillor for Enfield, in north London, also upset colleagues by complaining that his job as a local councillor was interfering with his social life.
Conservative Central Office has now dropped him as a candidate for the local elections in May and expelled him from the party for 12 months.
The decision comes after Mr Joannides posted a photograph showing a woman and child dressed in the traditional Muslim clothing standing next to two bin[-]bags.
A caption read: "I saw her standing there and I told her she had three beautiful children. She didn't have to get all ****** off and threaten me. It was an honest mistake!" » | Hayley Dixon | Tuesday, March 04, 2014
Did Sarah Palin Predict the Ukraine Crisis Back in 2008?
Judge Jeanine: Obama's Policies Reducing US to Paper Tiger
Sen. Inhofe Concerned with 'Weakened Condition' of US Abroad
Monday, March 03, 2014
Krim-Konflikt: Europas Ohnmacht gegenüber Russland
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| Wladimir Putin und Premierminister Dmitri Medwediew |
Wie soll der Westen auf den Aufmarsch der russischen Armee auf der Krim und auf die unverhohlene militärische Drohung des Kreml gegen die Ukraine reagieren? In den europäischen Hauptstädten und in Washington herrscht Rat- und Hilflosigkeit. US-Präsident Barak Obama warnt Wladimir Putin zwar davor, sich zu isolieren. Und die Europäer mahnen beide Seiten, den Konflikt nicht weiter anzuheizen. Doch Obamas Drohung wird Putin kaum beeindrucken und auch Europa kann oder will nicht mit Konsequenzen drohen.
Denn militärisch werden sich weder die USA noch die Europäer in der Ukraine engagieren. Die neue Führung in Kiew und die ukrainische Armee haben dem russischen Riesen ebenfalls kaum etwas entgegenzusetzen. So kann Russland ungestört Truppen auf die Krim verlegen. Faktisch hat es die ukrainische Halbinsel, die jahrhundertelang zum russischen Reich gehörte, annektiert und dort auch politisch über eine Marionetten-Regierung in der Provinzhauptstadt die Macht übernommen.
Noch weiß niemand, ob sich das russische Expansionsstreben auf die Krim mit ihrer russischsprachigen Bevölkerungsmehrheit beschränkt, oder ob Putin versuchen wird, auch die Ostukraine mit ihrer Schwerindustrie und ihren engen Beziehungen zu Russland unter Kontrolle zu bringen. Auch in diesem Fall könnte er sich auf Hilferufe der russischsprachigen Bevölkerung berufen. Das Land würde damit zweigeteilt – ein Alptraum für die meisten Menschen in der Ukraine, aber auch für den Westen. » | Ein Kommentar von Ludwig Greven | Sonntag, 02. März 2014
Crisis in the Ukraine: What Is Putin's Endgame?
Ukraine: What Should US Do Now?
As Moscow tightens its grip on the Crimean Peninsula, Washington is facing up to a harsh reality: In Ukraine, there’s a vast imbalance in power and national interests between the United States and a resurgent imperial Russia.
After the cold war, the influence of the West expanded quickly up to Russia’s borders. Moscow had to accept a unified Germany, as well as NATO memberships for nations that used to be the USSR’s buffer zone, from Poland to Latvia. Now Vladimir Putin has seized on an opportunity to push back: He’s poured thousands of troops into Crimea in an apparent attempt to destabilize a new Western-oriented Ukrainian government.
America’s problem is that it is no longer 1997. Russia is not preoccupied with internal political and economic turmoil. And in past decades, the West expanded its influence beyond the area it is prepared to use force to defend. Mr. Putin understands this – and so do President Obama and his Republican critics.
Thus there’s little saber rattling in Washington. GOP lawmakers are talking about responses that differ only modestly from the Obama administration’s: draw up economic sanctions, put planning for the upcoming G8 summit in Sochi, Russia, on hold, and so forth.
“There [are] not a lot of options on the table,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R) of Michigan, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Instead, Republicans are using the crisis as an opportunity to talk more broadly about what they say is Mr. Obama’s overall foreign policy weakness. Their question essentially is less “what next?” than “who lost Sevastopol?” » | Peter Grier, Staff Writer | Washington | Monday, March 03, 2014
Pope Francis Drops F-bomb
Pope Francis inadvertently demonstrated his own fallibility during an address in St Peter’s Square when he mistakenly said the Italian word for “f**k”.
In the 12 months since he was elected, the Argentinean Pope, who worked with the poor in the slums of Buenos Aires being before [sic] made pontiff, has shown a healthy sense of humour and an unerring ability to connect with ordinary people.
But he accidentally went a little too far in using the language of the street after mispronouncing the word “caso”, which means example, as “cazzo” – Italian for f--- or, in other contexts, cock.
“If each of us were to accumulate wealth not only for ourselves but to put at the service of others, in this f--- [pause], in this case God’s providence would manifest itself in this gesture of solidarity,” he told a large crowd, delivering his ‘Angelus’ address from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square.
The 77-year-old Jesuit Pope corrected himself almost immediately after making the gaffe during the audience at the Vatican on Sunday, but it was posted by Italians on YouTube and other social media and has since spread round the world. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Monday, March 03, 2014
New Cold War? Obama, Putin Are Split
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: There are many differences in style and substance between President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the Ukraine crisis has brought into sharp relief the most important one: The American leader believes the world has moved beyond the Cold War, and his Russian counterpart seems more comfortable moving back into it.
In fact, this difference probably is true of the countries the two men lead, not just of the leaders themselves. Americans tend to see the Cold War in the rearview mirror as a wildly expensive period of ideological struggle that was settled decisively in favor of the rightful victor, democratic capitalism. Russians tend to view it as a period in which Moscow played its rightful role as a superpower with a large and clearly defined sphere of influence and an important voice on every world issue.
The differences help explain the depth of the disconnect between the U.S. and Russia as they circle each other warily over the future of Ukraine. By the American reckoning, a new set of standards ought to apply to 21st century international behavior, and the grounds for excusing one superpower's behavior because it believes it is involved in an existential struggle against the other have largely disappeared. By the other reckoning, the Russian one, big nation-states still have the clear right to protect their regional influence and interests. » | Gerald F. Seib | Monday, March 03, 2014
Did Obama's Foreign Policy Stumbles Lead to Ukraine Crisis?
Republicans Call for an About Face on US Policy on Russia
Ukraine Crisis: Russia Gives Ukraine 3am Deadline to Get Out of Crimea or ‘Face Storm’
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| A Russian army vehicle outside a Ukrainian border guard post |
Russia has told Ukrainian forces to surrender its control of the strategic Crimean region by 3am on Tuesday or face military assault, amid the worst diplomatic crisis since the Cold War.
The forces in the region are also demanding that the crew of two Ukrainian warships in Sevastopol harbour surrender within the hour, or face being stormed and seized by Russian forces.
Relations between East and West continued to plummet as the Russian Government continued to ignore calls from Western leaders to leave the Ukrainian area.
This morning, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, justified the military incursion claiming it was necessary in order to protect his country's citizens living there. "This is a question of defending our citizens and compatriots, ensuring human rights, especially the right to life," he said. » | Kashmira Gander | Monday, March 03, 2014
Inside Story: Ukraine: Warnings of War
Kerry Tells Russia 'One Doesn't Invade A Country On A Phony Pretext'
Russian Markets Hit as Putin Tightens Grip on Crimea
The Moscow stock market fell by 10 percent and the central bank spent $10 billion of its reserves to prop up the rouble as investors took fright at escalating tensions with the West over the former Soviet republic.
Ukraine said Russia was building up armoured vehicles on its side of a narrow stretch of water closest to Crimea after Putin declared at the weekend he had the right to invade his neighbor to protect Russian interests and citizens.
On the ground in Perevalnoye, half way between the Crimean capital of Simferopol and the Black Sea, hundreds of Russian troops in trucks and armoured vehicles - without national insignia on their uniforms - surrounded two military compounds, confining Ukrainian soldiers as virtual prisoners.
Ukraine called up reservists on Sunday and the United States threatened to isolate Russia economically after Putin's action provoked what Britain's foreign minister called "the biggest crisis in Europe in the twenty-first century". » | Lidia Kelly and Alissa de Carbonnel | Moscow/Perevalnoye, Ukrain | Monday, March 03, 2014
Sunday, March 02, 2014
Radical Islam: The Children Taught At Home about Murder and Bombings
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| Michael Adebowala and Michael Adebolajo as they were found guilty of the murder of Fuselier Lee Rigby |
It must have been dreadful for the family of Drummer Lee Rigby to listen to the ravings of his killers as they were finally hauled away to the cells and, one hopes, to a lifetime of incarceration. If those relatives have one consolation, it is that they were just about the last words those men will ever pronounce in public; the last time we will have to hear them pervert the religion of Islam – and the most important question now is how we prevent other young men, and women, from succumbing to that awful virus: the contagion of radical Islamic extremism.
Every day in London and other big cities, there are thousands of counter-terrorism officers doing a fantastic job of keeping us safe. They have to work out who are the most vulnerable young people, who are the most susceptible – and they have to stop the infection of radicalisation before it is too late. That will sometimes mean taking a view about what is happening to them in their homes and families – and I worry that their work is being hampered by what I am obliged to call political correctness. » | Boris Johnson | Sunday, March 02, 2014
The Andrew Marr Show
Former PVV-er Returns with Anti-Gay, Pro-Islam Party
In an interview with Algemeen Dagblad last week, he said that since quitting the anti-Islam party, he has now actually converted to the religion and started his own Islamic Party for Unity, with which he is contending for three seats during the municipal elections on March 19.
His party is against the anti-Muslim atmosphere in The Hague and also against the pro-homosexuality tendencies. “They promote homosexuality. You don’t have to go out and promote how fantastic that lifestyle is,” he said about how much focus there is in the manifestos of GroenLinks, D66 and PvdA for equality for gays. Personally he would rather see an end to the municipal support for promotional campaigns and gay-events like Pink Saturday.
When AD asked him if what he thinks about two gays walking hand in hand in the city, he didn’t have an answer ready. “Let’s just say that people should be reserved about the affection they show each other in public. Don’t provoke with it. Keep your private life private,” he said. He explained that he does not discriminate gays. “We are against discrimination of gays as people. But we reject homosexual actions,” he said, adding that this comes from the Islamic ideologies his party is founded on. » | Marvin Hokstam | Sunday, March 02, 2014
Inside a Nigerian Private Jet
More than 100 private planes are said to operating in there - many of them owned by the country's growing number of rich businessmen and women.
Tomi Oladipo reports from Lagos airport. (+ BBC video) » | Sunday, March 02, 2014
Ukraine Mobilizes for War as Crimea Taken Over by Russia
Far-right 'Christian Patrols' in UK Spark Stand-off with Muslims Using Leaflets & Beer
Kerry Threatens Sanctions If Russia Doesn't Withdraw from Ukraine
The decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to send troops to Crimea, a region of Ukraine, “is really a stunning willful choice by president Putin to invade another country,” said Kerry, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” one of several Sunday morning public affairs shows on which he appeared.
Kerry and Republican members of Congress made clear the U.S. was not considering a military move to counter Putin’s action. On ABC’s “This Week” program Kerry said that “the hope of the U.S. and everybody in the world is not to see this escalate into a military confrontation.”
“Nobody wants this to spiral in a bad or a worse direction,” he said.
“The invasion of Crimea has already happened,” Kerry said. “And we believe that President Putin should make the decision to roll it back.” » | Joseph Tanfani | Sunday, March 02, 2014
Krauthammer on Voters' Remorse on Obama
CNN Pulls Plug on Piers Morgan's Prime-Time Talk Show
President Obama and Vladimir Putin Speak
Saturday, March 01, 2014
Rouhani Says Iran Will Not Acquire Nuclear Weapons 'On Principle'
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| President Hassan Rouhani has told Iran's generals to avoid provocative military manoeuvres. |
Iran’s president said on Saturday the Islamic Republic has decided not to develop nuclear weapons out of principle, not only because it is prevented from doing so by treaties.
President Hassan Rouhani also urged Iran’s military leaders to let diplomacy prevail in dealing with potential foreign threats, in a clear reference to efforts to end the nuclear dispute and decades of hostile relations with the west.
“It is very important to formulate one’s sentences and speeches in a way that is not construed as threat, intention to strike a blow,” Rouhani said in a meeting with Iran’s top military echelon.
“We must be very careful in our calculations. Launching missiles and staging military exercises to scare off the other side is not good deterrence, although a necessity in its proper place,” the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. “A misfire could burst into flames and wreak havoc to everything.” » | Agencies in Tehran | Saturday, March 01, 2014
Ukraine: Prime Minister of Ukraine Says Russian Military Intervention Would Lead to War
Krise auf der Krim: Merkel stärkt Ukraine den Rücken
Is Obama the Rodney Dangerfield of World Leaders?
Krauthammer on Ukraine: 'Everybody Is Shocked by the Weakness of Obama's Statement'
Russia Approves Use of Military in Ukraine
The motion follows President Barack Obama's warning Friday "there will be costs" if Russia intervenes militarily, sharply raising the stakes in the conflict over Ukraine's future and evoking memories of Cold War brinkmanship.
"I'm submitting a request for using the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine pending the normalization of the socio-political situation in that country," Putin said in his request sent to parliament.
Russia's upper house also recommended that Moscow recalls its ambassador from Washington over Obama's comments.
Ukraine had already accused Russia on Friday of a "military invasion and occupation" in the strategic peninsula of Crimea where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk called on Moscow "to recall their forces, and to return them to their stations," according to the Interfax news agency. "Russian partners, stop provoking civil and military resistance in Ukraine." (+ video) » | David McHugh and Vladimir Isachenkov | Associated Press | Kiev | Saturday, March 01, 2014
Russia Wresting Control of Crimea from Ukraine
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| Pro-Russian protesters with Russian flags take part in a rally in central Donetsk March 1, 2014. |
Putin asked the upper house of parliament to approve sending armed forces to the Ukrainian territory, which has a majority ethnic Russian population. But Crimea had already begun to slip from Kiev's control with closure of the main airport and deployment of pro-Russian guards at key buildings.
Putin's statement, and remarks from a pro-Russian leader installed in Crimea this week, effectively confirmed what most people in the region had assumed: that military units who had seized control in the past two days were indeed Moscow's.
Ukraine accused Russia of sending thousands of extra troops to Crimea, largely hostile to the Kiev government which emerged from the overthrow of president Viktor Yanukovich last weekend. It placed its military in the area on high alert.
After Yanukovich's overthrow, Crimea quickly became the focus of a crisis bearing perils for the entire region.
Ukraine teeters on the brink of economic disaster, mired in debt. Any further spread of separatist sentiment to industrial, Russian-speaking eastern territories could raise the risk of disintegration with serious implications for surrounding states including Russia, Poland and Belarus.
Putin turned to parliament after a day of events viewed with deep concern in Europe and the United States. British foreign minister William Hague said he had spoken to Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and called for a 'de-escalation' of tensions. U.S. President Barack Obama said any Russian intervention in Ukraine would carry costs for Moscow. » | Pavel Polityuk and Alissa De Carbonnel | Kiev/Balaclava, Ukraine | Saturday, March 01, 2014
Poutine veut envoyer des troupes en Ukraine
Le Conseil de la Fédération russe a commencé à débattre samedi en session extraordinaire du recours à l'armée russe en Ukraine, à la suite d'une demande en ce sens du président Vladimir Poutine. Le président russe Vladimir Poutine a demandé samedi au Conseil de la Fédération (chambre haute du Parlement) d'approuver "le recours à l'armée russe en Ukraine" jusqu'à la normalisation de la situation.
"En raison de la situation extraordinaire en Ukraine et de la menace pesant sur la vie des citoyens russes, de nos compatriotes, des forces armées russes déployées en Ukraine", Vladimir Poutine a demandé au Conseil de la Fédération d'autoriser "le recours aux forces armées russes sur le territoire de l'Ukraine, jusqu'à la normalisation de la situation politique dans ce pays", selon un communiqué du service de presse du Kremlin. » | Source AFP | samedi 01 mars 2014
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