Pushing re-set button won’t be easy for Obama, Russia

The Hill ^ | July 3, 2009 | Kiera McCaffrey

[jazusamo]

The Obama administration wants to push the re-set button on its relationship with Russia, but that may be tough given significant disagreements over policy.

Festering disputes over missile defense and Russia’s war last year with Georgia won’t be resolved at the Monday’s summit between President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, foreign policy experts have said over the past few days.

They predict a meeting whether the two sides will smile at one another while trying to push serious disputes to the side for the time being.

Andrew Kuchins, a director of the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies, said low expectations should be the rule for the summit partly because Medvedev isn’t Russia’s real leader.

While Kuchins lauded the idea of forging better relations between the countries, he said Medvedev lacks the authority to effect change.

“We should have no illusions about who is the decision maker in Moscow, and that is Vladimir Putin,” he said. “Everything that Mr. Medvedev agrees to is approved by his mentor-master, Vladimir Putin.”

Fostering better relations with Putin, the Russian prime minister and former president, could prove difficult for Obama, who is scheduled to meet with Putin during the trip.

Renewal of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and Iranian nuclear armament concerns are key issues on the table, but disagreements over the United States' missile defense plans in Europe and a deeply entrenched hostility between the two countries could loom over the proceedings.

Russian leaders have fiercely condemned the plan, fostered under the Bush administration, to build American missile defense sites in Europe. Yet Obama has given no outward indication that he will curtail or heavily overhaul the plan.

Obama’s administration is reviewing missile defense policy. Missile defense installments in Europe are necessary, American proponents say, to counter threats from Iran and North Korea.

On Georgia, Samuel Charap, a fellow at the Center for American Progress, predicts the two sides will “agree to disagree” while calling for restraint.

A successor to the START treaty, set to expire in December, is a less contentious issue. Reducing both nations' arsenal of strategic weapons is expected to be a prime focus of the meeting.

Andrew Grotto, national security analyst for the liberal Center for American Progress, spoke positively about the prospect of the countries reaching an agreement on a new treaty.

“Arms control is the one area in the bilateral relationship where the two countries not only have enduring common interests but literally decades of experience with each other,” he said this week during a conference call with reporters.

But any new agreement could be a long time coming.

The amount of work involved in arms negotiations is far greater than anything that could be initiated at the summit, said James Carafano, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

“The sensible diplomatic thing would be to just shake hands and say, 'Oh, we’re making tremendous progress,’” he said.

Efforts to address environmental concerns and reach agreements for U.S. military cargo to move through Russian territory are also planned.

[jazusamo]

I believe Zer0 already pushed Putin's reset button yesterday.

Barack Obama: Vladimir Putin is 'living in the past'

[jazusamo]

Please bump the Freepathon and donate if you haven’t done so!

[Cicero]

Obama could care less about Georgia.

[stop_fascism]

You mean “Hug a thug” doesn’t apply to Putin?

[Bushwacker777]

Pray for Putin to make Obama look like an idiot when he visits Russia.

[Bushwacker777]

Putin is a Christian, of course it doesn’t apply.

[jazusamo]

“Hug a thug” Good one. :)

It’s not good thing but it doesn’t look like anything much will get done when Zer0 insults him right before going there.

[ETL]

Obama has already promised to scrap missile defense, begin “total nuclear disarmament”, and abandon Iraq so that Russia ally Iran can eventually seize control of it.

[kromike]

whaaaaaaaaaaaat? I thought the World would love us again and be moved by the mere empty eloquence of The Thuggish One. /sarc.

[meyer]

Pushing re-set button won’t be easy for Obama, Russia

The reset button that needs to be pushed is not within the reach of Obama.

[ETL]

Putin is a Christian, of course it doesn’t apply.

Putin is a f-n kgb/fsb thug.

[headstamp 2]

We need to push the reset button on this Obama Administration nightmare we are currently experiencing.

[bareford101]

He sure did!!! the whole obamanation family is going... so much for taxpayer’s money..... he’s a fool

[ETL]

http://article.wn.com/view/2009/06/16/Iran_president_visits_Russia_despite_protests/
______________________________________________________

From CBS-News, July 29, 2006:

Chavez Vows To 'Stand By Iran'
After Oil Talks In Tehran, Venezuelan Leader Called 'Brother' By Ahmedinejad

"Chavez pledged that his country would 'stay by Iran at any time and under any condition,' state television reported. Ahmadinejad said he saw in Chavez a kindred spirit." "'We do not have any limitation in cooperation,' Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. 'Iran and Venezuela are next to each other and supporters of each other. Chavez is a source of a progressive and revolutionary current in South America and his stance in restricting imperialism is tangible.'":
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/29/world/main1847331.shtml
______________________________________________________

From National Public Radio (NPR):
August 29, 2006
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been visiting countries such as China, Iran and Russia as part of an effort to build a 'strategic alliance' of interests not beholden to the United States. He considers the United States his arch enemy.":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5729764
______________________________________________________

Venezuela Set to Develop Nuclear Power With Russia
September 29, 2008
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy — a move likely to raise U.S. concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,429441,00.html
______________________________________________________

Venezuela's Chavez welcomes Russian warships
Nov 25, 2008
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela – Russian warships arrived off Venezuela's coast Tuesday in a show of strength aimed at the United States as Moscow seeks to expand its influence in Latin America. The deployment is the first of its kind in the Caribbean since the Cold War and was timed to coincide with President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Caracas — the first ever by a Russian president.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%22Venezuela%27s+Chavez+welcomes+Russian+warships%22&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz2

More Yahoo search results for Russia and Venezuela connections:
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geu_X30pZJCJEAfCtXNyoA?p=Russia+Venezuela+bombers+tanks+arms&y=Search&fr=404_news
______________________________________________________

From the Russian News and Information Agency:
July 27, 2006
"'I am determined to expand relations with Russia,' Chavez, known as an outspoken critic of what he calls the United States' unilateralism, told the Russian leader, adding that his determination stemmed from their shared vision of the global order.":
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060727/51913498.html
______________________________________________________

President Obama and Venezuela dictator Hugo
Chavez at the 2009 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad

Obama, Chavez shake hands at Americas Summit:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97KK2T00&show_article=1
______________________________________________________

Russia's Medvedev hails "comrade" Obama

Associated Foreign Press (AFP) ^ | April 2, 2009 | Anna Smolchenko

"Russia's Dmitry Medvedev hailed Barack Obama as "my new comrade" Thursday after their first face-to-face talks"

http://www.france24.com/en/20090402-russias-medvedev-hails-comrade-obama

April 1, 2009:
"Obama, Medvedev pledge new era of relations":
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090401/wl_afp/usrussiadiplomacynuclear_20090401152002

[ETL]

Symposium: To Kill a Russian Journalist
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | November 17, 2006

The murder of internationally renowned Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in early October 2006 was yet another troubling sign of Russia’s retreat into its totalitarian past. Today Frontpage Symposium has gathered a distinguished panel of experts to discuss why Anna Politkovskaya was killed and what the tragic loss of her life symbolizes about the direction in which Vladimir Putin’s Russia is heading.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=BDBFAEF5-5295-400F-807B-83D20FFA285C
_______________________________________________________

'PUTIN'S RUSSIA' by Anna Politkovskaya:
http://www.annapolitkovskaya.com/
_______________________________________________________

Col. Alexander Litvinenko
4 Dec 1962 - 23 Nov 2006

"You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed. You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilised value."

Obituary: Alexander Litvinenko
Times of London, 25 November 2006

On April 23, 2002, Alexander Litvinenko, a former officer of the Russian secret service, arrived at Heathrow, supposedly on a stopover before flying on to the Caribbean. Claiming that he was being persecuted by the Russian authorities, he sought political asylum.

Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was born in 1962 in Voronezh, south of Moscow. After high school and extended service in the Soviet Army (in which his grandfather was an officer), he graduated from the Interior Forces Military Academy, joining the KGB in 1988.

While his early career was in espionage, by 1991 he had made a name for himself in the organised crime and anti-terror divisions. He also worked in the central apparatus, leading co-operation between the KGB, by then renamed the FSB, and the Moscow organised crime police squad. In 1997 he joined one of the FSB’s most secret departments, specialising in the pursuit of criminal organisations, and became its deputy head.

This exemplary career came to an abrupt end on November 18, 1998, when, in a press conference, he accused his FSB superiors of extortion, corruption and illegal assassinations. The accusations were detailed and seemed credible. He was suspended and in March 1999 arrested and held in isolation in the infamous KGB Lefortovo prison.

He was tried and acquitted in November 1999, but immediately rearrested. In 2000 charges were dropped after he promised to stay in Moscow. He and his family lived under intense surveillance and when they heard that further charges were being prepared, they fled. They flew to Turkey and from there to London.

Tried in absentia and sentenced to nine years in prison, Litvinenko found work in Britain as a postman, while his wife taught ballroom dancing. He continued his campaign against his former employers in interviews and books, and contributed anti-Russian material to a Chechen website. At the time of his death he was investigating the murder of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

He is survived by his wife Marina and his two children.

Alexander Litvinenko, former officer of the Russian secret service, was born on December 4, 1962. He died on November 23, 2006, aged 43

http://www.cicentre.com/Documents/litvinenko.html
_______________________________________________________

Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian security agent fighting for his life in a UK hospital after allegedly being poisoned, has been a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin since before he became president in 2000.

Mr Litvinenko is thought to have been close to journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another opponent of the Kremlin who was shot dead last month, and said recently he was investigating her murder. It was after being handed documents apparently relating to the case that he was taken ill more than two weeks ago.

But he is perhaps best known for a book in which he alleges that agents co-ordinated the 1999 apartment block bombings in Russia that killed more than 300 people. He now appears to have fallen victim to the kind of plots which he wrote about.

Arrest

Mr Litvinenko, 43, first became a security agent under the Soviet-era KGB, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in its later incarnations.

He is reported to have fallen out with Vladimir Putin, then head of the security service, in the late 1990s, after failing in attempts to crack down on corruption within the organisation. In 1998, he first came to prominence by exposing an alleged plot to assassinate the then powerful tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who himself now lives in self-imposed exile in the UK. He was subsequently arrested on charges of abusing his office and spent nine months in a remand centre before being acquitted.

In 1999 he wrote Blowing up Russia: Terror from Within, in which he accused the current Russian security service, the FSB, of carrying out several apartment house bombings in 1999 that killed more than 300 people. The attacks, which Moscow blamed on Chechen rebels, helped swing public opinion behind Russia's second war in the breakaway republic.

Petrol bombs

Complaining of persecution, in 2000 Mr Litvinenko fled to the UK where he sought, and was granted, asylum. But after settling in an unnamed London suburb, the former spy continued to behave as if on the run, constantly changing his contact details. The Times newspaper reported that over the summer someone tried to push a pram loaded with petrol bombs at his front door. Appearing alongside high-profile opponents of President Putin, he has continued to make allegations about his former bosses. Perhaps most notably, he alleged that al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri was trained by the FSB in Dagestan in the years before 9/11.

http://www.cicentre.com/Documents/litvinenko.html

[flash2368]

“Pray for Putin to make Obama look like an idiot when he visits Russia.”

Odumba already made himself look like an idiot with his statement about Putin. I talked with my business partner in Moscow earlier today. I think Ostupido will receive a rather cold reception in Moscow (Mosckva is how the Russians say it...I don’t know where we came up with Moscow.. must have been some brilliant Russophile in the State Department)

[ETL]

List of journalists killed in Russia...

1992

* Sergey Bogdanovsky, correspondent of TV “Ostankino”, killed in Moscow[12]
______________________________

1993

* Rory Peck, ARD Germany operator, killed in Moscow on 3 October

* Ivan Scopan, TF-1 France operator, killed in Moscow on 3 October

* Igor Belozerov, 4th Channel Ostankino, killed in Moscow on 3 October

* Sergey Krasilnikov, editor of TV “Ostankino”, killed in Moscow on 3 October

* Vladimir Drobyshev, “People and nature” journal, killed in Moscow on 3 October

* Alexander Sidelnikov, freelance journalist from Saint Petersburg, killed in Moscow on 4 October

* Alexander Smirnov, Yoshkar-Ola based Youth Courier newspaper, killed in Moscow on 4 October

* Elena Tkacheva, proof-reader for Kuban Courier newspaper, killed in Krasnodar on 29 November as a result of a bomb exploding in the newspapers building

* Marina Iskanderova, journalist of a local TV station, murdered in her apartment in Nadym in December

* Dmitry Krikoryants, correspondent for Express Chronicle journal, murdered in his own apartment in Chechnya on 14 or 15 April.[13]
______________________________

1995

* Vladislav Listyev, head of the ORT TV Channel, killed in Moscow on March 1;
______________________________

2000

* Vladimir Yatsina, February 20, 2000. A correspondent for ITAR-TASS, he was kidnapped and later killed by a group of Wahhabis in Chechnya [14]

* Aleksandr Yefremov, May 12, 2000, Chechnya. A photojournalist of the western Siberian newspaper Nashe Vremya was killed in Chechnya when rebels blew up a military jeep in which he was riding. On previous assignments, Yefremov had won acclaim for his news photographs from the war-torn region.[citation needed]

* Igor Domnikov, from Novaya Gazeta, July 16, 2000, Moscow. Unknown assassin hit him repeatedly on the head with a hammer in the entryway of his apartment building in Moscow. The killer was never found. It is believed that the assailant mistook Domnikov for a Novaya Gazeta reporter Oleg Sultanov who received threats from the FSB for his reporting on corruption in the Russian oil industry.[6]

* Sergey Novikov, Radio Vesna, July 26, 2000, Smolensk. He was shot and killed in the stairwell of his apartment building. He often criticized the government of Smolensk Region.[citation needed]

* Iskandar Khatloni, Radio Free Europe, September 21, 2000, Moscow. He was killed at night with axe in his Moscow apartment by an unknown assailant. The motive of the murder is unknown, but Khatloni work on stories about the human-rights abuses in Chechnya.[15]

* Sergey Ivanov, Lada-TV, October 3, 2000, Togliatti. He was shot five times in the head and chest in front of his apartment building. He was director of Lada-TV, the largest independent television company in Togliatti, which was an important player on the local political scene.[16]

* Adam Tepsurgayev, Reuters, November 21, 2000, Chechnya. A Chechen cameraman, he was shot at a neighbor’s house in the village of Alkhan-Kala. He produced most of Reuters’ footage from Chechnya in 2000, including shots of Chechen rebel Shamil Basayev having his foot amputated.[citation needed]
______________________________

2001

* Eduard Markevich, 29, editor and publisher of local newspaper Novy Reft in Sverdlovsk Region, was found dead (shot in the back) on September 18. He often criticized local officials and had received threatening telephone phone calls prior to the murder. [17]
______________________________

2002

* Natalia Skryl, the Nashe Vremya newspaper, Taganrog town;

* Konstantin Pogodin, the Novoye Delo newspaper, Nizhni Novgorod city;

* Valeri Batuev, Moscow News newspaper, Moscow;

* Sergei Kalinovski, the Moskovskiy Komsomolets, Smolensk;

* Vitali Sakhn-Val’da, photojournalist, Kursk town;

* Leonid Shevchenko, the Pervoye Chteniye newspaper, Volgograd;

* Valeri Ivanov, the chief editor for the Tol’yattinskoye Obozrenie newspaper, the Samara region;

* Sergei Zhabin,the press service of the governor of the Moscow region;

* Nikolai Vasiliev, Cheboksary city, Chuvashia;

* Leonid Kuznetsov, the Mescherskaya Nov’ newspaper, the Ryazan region;

* Paavo Voutilainen, a former main editor of the Kareliya magazine, Kareliya;

* Roddy Scott, the Frontline-TV TV Company, from Great Britain.

* Alexandr Plotnikov, the Gostiny Dvor newspaper, Tyumen city;

* Oleg Sedinko, the founder of the Novaya Volna TV and Radio Company, Vladivostok city;

* Nikolai Razmolodin, the general director of the Europroject TV and Radio Company, Ulyanovsk town;

* Igor Salikov, the chief of the Department of information safety of the Moskovskiy Komsomolets newspaper in Penza;

* Leonid Plotnikov, the publishing house “Periodicals of the Mari-El”, Yoshkar-Ola.[18]
______________________________

2003

* Aleksei Sidorov, Tolyatinskoye Obozreniye, October 9, 2003, Togliatti. He was the second editor-in-chief of local newspaper, “Tolyatinskoye Obozreniye” to be shot to death. His predecessor, Valery Ivanov, was shot in April 2002. The newspaper was known for reporting on organized crime and corruption in the industrial city of Togliatti.[citation needed]

* Yuri Shchekochikhin, Novaya Gazeta, July 3, 2003, Moscow. Deputy editor of the Novaya Gazeta, he died just a few days before his scheduled trip to USA to discuss the results of his journalist investigation with FBI officials. He investigated “Three Whales Corruption Scandal” that involved high-ranking FSB officials. Shchekochikhin died from an “acute allergic reaction”. There are many speculations about cause of his death.

* Dmitry Shvets, TV-21 Northwestern Broadcasting, April 18, 2003, Murmansk. He was deputy director of the independent television station TV-21 Northwestern Broadcasting. He was shot dead outside his station offices. Shvets’ colleagues said their station had received multiple threats for its reporting on influential local politicians.[citation needed]
______________________________

2004

* Yefim Sukhanov, ATK-Media, Archangelsk;

* Farit Urazbayev, cameraman, Vladivostok TV/Radio Company, city of Vladivostok;

* Adlan Khassanov, Reuters reporter, killed in Grozny;

* Shangysh Mondush, correspondent for newspaper Khemchiktin Syldyzy, Tuva Republic;

* Paul Klebnikov, editor of Russian version of Forbes magazine, Moscow;

* Payl Peloyan, editor of Armyansky Pereulok magazine, Moscow;

* Zoya Ivanova, BGTRK broadcaster, Republic of Buryatia;

* Vladimir Pritchin, editor-in-chief of North Baikal TV/Radio Company, Republic of Buryatia;

* Ian Travinsky, Saint Petersburg, killed in Irkutsk;[19]
______________________________

2005

* Pavel Makeyev, reporter for TNT-Pulse Company, Rostov-on-Don;

* Magomedzaghid Varisov, Makhachkala;

* Alexander Pitersky, Baltika Radio reporter, Saint Petersburg;

* Vladimir Pashutin, newspaper Smolensky Literator, Smolensk;

* Tamirlan Kazikhanov, press service head, Anti-Terrorist Center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs’s Main Department for the Southern Federal District, Nalchik;

* Kira Lezhneva, reporter, newspaper “Kamensky Worker”, Sverdlovsk Region.[20]
______________________________

2006

* Vadim Kuznetsov, editor-in-chief of journal “World and home. Saint Petersburg”, killed in Saint Petersburg

* Vaghif Kochetkov, newspaper Trud (Labor), killed in Tula

* Ilya Zimin, worked for NTV Russia television channel, killed in Moscow by an acquaintance

* Vyacheslav Akatov, special reporter, “Business Moscow” TV show, killed in Moscow Region

* Anton Kretenchuk, cameraman, 38th TV Channel, killed in Rostov-on-Don

* Yevgeny Gerasimenko, newspaper “Saratovsky Rasklad”, Saratov

* Vlad Kidanov, freelance journalist, Cheboksary

* Alexander Petrov, editor-in-chief, “Right for Choice” magazine, killed near Omsk - in Altai Republic

* Vyacheslav Plotnikov, reporter, 41st TV Channel, Voronezh

* Anna Politkovskaya, observer, newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Moscow, shot in her apartment building’s elevator;[21][22][23][24]

* Anatoly Voronin, business chief of ITAR-TASS; Moscow, stabbed to death in his home
______________________________

2007

* Konstantin Brovko, journalist of TV company “Gubernia”, killed in Khabarovsk

* Ivan Safronov, Military columninst of newspaper “Kommersant”. Died in Moscow on March 2 - cause of death disputed.[25][26]
______________________________

2008

* Ilyas Shurpayev, Dagestani journalist responsible for news coverage of Northern Caucasus on Channel One, was strangled with a belt by the robbers in Moscow.[27][28]

* Gaji Abashilov, chief of Dagestan outlet of VGTRK, shot in his car.

* Magomed Yevloyev, owner of Ingushetiya.ru, shot while in custody of Ingush police officers.[29][30][31].

* Abdulla Alishayev, Dagestani journalist fatally wounded by unknown assailants.[32]
______________________________

2009

* Anastasia Baburova (Novaya Gazeta)[33]. She was with human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, who reportedly was the target of the assasin.[34]

* Yevgeny Lukinov, a Channel One reporter died in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia on 30 May, 2009. “The journalist died on Saturday morning in a private house in Tskhinvali,” Channel One said. According to a spokeswoman the death was an accident.[35]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia

[ETL]

Yushchenko: Russia blocking poisoning probe
By Bonnie Malkin and agencies, September 12, 2007

Mr Yushchenko before and after the poisoning

"Mr Yushchenko, a pro-European politician who wanted to bring his country out of Russia's shadow, fell seriously ill on September 6, 2004 as he was competing in presidential elections against a pro-Moscow candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, now prime minister.

After months of tests in an Austrian clinic, it was determined that he had ingested a massive amount of the poison dioxin.

Although he survived, his face was left bloated and pockmarked, and he has had to undergo regular treatment to rid his body of the toxin.

In an interview with Le Figaro he said he believed the dioxin used to disfigure him was made in a Russian lab.

Mr Yushchenko did not directly accuse the Russian government of being behind his poisoning, but he did say he had 'practically put all the pieces together' and the attempt against him 'was not a private action'. ..."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1562838/Yushchenko-Russia-blocking-poisoning-probe.html
_____________________________________________________

"Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko (born February 23, 1954) is the third and current President of Ukraine". He took office on January 23, 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yushchenko
_______________________________________________________

(Ukraine) Hunt starts for Yushchenko's poisoner:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/1478922/Hunt-starts-for-Yushchenko%27s-poisoner.html
_______________________________________________________

Putin's Poison?
by Peter Brookes, November 27, 2006
The death of former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, last week from radioactive Polonium-210 poisoning is the latest in a series of politically motivated attacks on the outspoken opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed112706a.cfm

[ETL]

Russia and China have been holding joint war games every other year since 2005. The next one is scheduled for this summer...

[2009] Russia, China plan new joint military exercises

By MARTIN SIEFF, UPI Senior News Analyst
Published: March 26, 2009

WASHINGTON, March 26 (UPI) -- The continuing tensions over Russia's refusal to sell its state-of-the-art land warfare advanced weapons systems to China hasn't interrupted the rhythm of major joint military exercises between the two major land powers on the Eurasian landmass. The latest in the regular, biennial series of exercises between the two nations has been confirmed for this summer.

The next in the now well-established series of exercises called Peace Mission 2009 will be carried out in northeastern China, the Russian Defense Ministry announced March 18, according to a report carried by the RIA Novosti news agency.

The first bilateral Peace Mission maneuvers -- described at the time as counter-terrorism exercises -- were held in Russia and the eastern Chinese province of Shandong in August 2005. As we reported at that time, they were a lot bigger than mere counter-terrorism exercises. Warships, squadrons of combat aircraft and more than 10,000 troops were involved carrying out landings against hypothetically hostile shores. The maneuvers also involved large-scale paratroops drops. The scale and nature of those exercises suggested a trial run for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan with Russian support. ..."

http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/03/26/Russia_China_plan_new_joint_military_exercises/UPI-25021238094858/
_____________________________________________________________

Russia, China flex muscles in joint war games
August 17, 2007

CHEBARKUL, Russia (Reuters) - Russia and China staged their biggest joint exercises on Friday but denied this show of military prowess could lead to the formation of a counterweight to NATO.

"Today's exercises are another step towards strengthening the relations between our countries, a step towards strengthening international peace and security, and first and foremost, the security of our peoples," Putin said.

Fighter jets swooped overhead, commandos jumped from helicopters on to rooftops and the boom of artillery shells shook the firing range in Russia's Ural mountains as two of the largest armies in the world were put through their paces.

The exercises take place against a backdrop of mounting rivalry between the West, and Russia and China for influence over Central Asia, a strategic region that has huge oil, gas and mineral resources.

Russia's growing assertiveness is also causing jitters in the West. Putin announced at the firing range that Russia was resuming Soviet-era sorties by its strategic bomber aircraft near NATO airspace.
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29030120070817?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
_____________________________________________________________

War Games: Russia, China Grow Alliance
September 23, 2005

In foreign policy it’s critical to “know thine enemy.” So American policymakers should be aware that Russia and China are inching closer to identifying a common enemy — the United States.

The two would-be superpowers held unprecedented joint military exercises Aug. 18-25. Soothingly named “Peace Mission 2005,” the drills took place on the Shandong peninsula on the Yellow Sea, and included nearly 10,000 troops. Russian long-range bombers, the army, navy, air force, marine, airborne and logistics units from both countries were also involved.

Moscow and Beijing claim the maneuvers were aimed at combating terrorism, extremism and separatism (the last a veiled reference to Taiwan), but it’s clear they were an attempt to counter-balance American military might.

Joint war games are a logical outcome of the Sino-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty signed in 2001, and reflect the shared worldview and growing economic ties between the two Eastern Hemisphere giants."
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed092605a.cfm
_____________________________________________________________

From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html
_____________________________________________________________

From National Public Radio (NPR):
August 29, 2006
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been visiting countries such as China, Iran and Russia as part of an effort to build a 'strategic alliance' of interests not beholden to the United States. He considers the United States his arch enemy.":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5729764

[flash2368]

Just curious.. have you been to Russia? Do you really know anything about Putin?

He is no angel, but sure would be nice if our current thug President had just a few of his qualities. Enough intelligence to pee without getting himself wet would be good for starters... Wouldn’t hurt to throw in a little patriotism with it. Putin obviously cares a hell of a lot more about Russia than the dumbbell WE have in the oval office cares about America!

[ETL]

Here's something for all the Putin admirers we suddenly have here on FR. You can enlarge it and hang it over your bed.

[jazusamo]

You can enlarge it and hang it over your bed.

If that's meant for me you can roll it up and shove it where the sun don't shine, I'm no Putin admirer.

[ETL]

Sorry, I meant to change the TO Field to “all”, as in, “to whom it may apply”. I wasn’t accusing you of being a Putin admirer. But we have an awful lot of them showing up on FR lately. Very weird.

[jazusamo]

Sorry accepted and glad it was an oversight. At times I have a short fuse, I need to work on that. :-)

[ETL]

I know the feeling all too well, especially in this “war climate” we are in today. And it really is war.

[Melchior]

Curious that Obama would use the 4th of July weekend to visit Russia. I wonder, what was he doing on July 4, 2008?

[ETL]

From Accuracy In Media | AIM.ORG

Obama’s Red Mentor Praised Red Army
AIM Report | By Cliff Kincaid | April 30, 2008

Frank Marshall Davis

Barack Obama’s childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA (CPUSA), wrote a poem dedicated to the Soviet Red Army. “Smash on, victory-eating Red Army,” he declared. He also wrote poems attacking traditional Christianity and the work of Christian missionaries.

The “Red Army” poem goes beyond hoping for the communists to beat the Nazis in World War II and hails the Soviet revolution. It says:

Show the marveling multitudes
Americans, British, all your allied brothers
How strong you are
How great you are
How your young tree of new unity
Planted twenty-five years ago
Bears today the golden fruit of victory!

http://www.aim.org/aim-report/obamas-red-mentor-praised-red-army/
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Barack Obama, from Dreams from My Father, Three Rivers Press, New York, Revised Edition, 2004, ISBN 1-4000-8277-3, p. 76-7:
"But by the time I met Frank [Frank Marshall Davis] he must have been pushing eighty, with a big, dewlapped face and an ill-kempt gray Afro that made him look like an old, shaggy-maned lion. He would read us his poetry whenever we stopped by his house, sharing whiskey with Gramps out of an emptied jelly jar."