http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/russianthreat/ en-us Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:16:07 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2167480/posts The world enters 2009 with Russia in play in a way it hasn't seen in decades. The relevant comparison isn't 1998, when the Russians engaged in default and devaluation but remained within the bounds of their existing political and economic system (as Lenin said, two steps forward, one step back). The history to consider is 1989--as key aspects of the Russian system could change for the worse. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin certainly isn't a risk taker. The carefully managed "transition" to President Dmitry Medvedev and the extension of presidential terms to six years underscore that Putin prefers to leave... Real Clear Politics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2167480/posts#comment Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:16:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165301/posts LONDON - Russian billionaire and former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev is trying to buy London's Evening Standard newspaper, British media outlets reported Thursday. > He also is part owner of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, one of the few media outlets critical of the Russian government. Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2165301/posts#comment Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:50:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159857/posts If Russia was supposed to shut off the natural gas supply to Ukraine in a pricing dispute that is a repeat of what happened three-years ago, why is it that gas was also turned off in Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Austria, the Czech Republic and Greece? It does not really matter that gas will start flowing again soon. Europe’s dependence on a country that is willing and -- especially, is able -- to push it into freezing cold and darkness, is the crux of the issue. Russia relishes that role. And, the ongoing gas dispute with Ukraine and last summer’s invasion... energytribune.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159857/posts#comment Tue, 6 Jan 2009 22:11:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159792/posts Russian gas flow to Austria plunges 90 percent Tue Jan 6, 2009 9:14am GMT FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Russian gas flows to Austria dropped 90 percent on Tuesday amid a dispute between Moscow and Ukraine, oil and gas group OMV said, but added it was using its natural gas reserves to cover the shortfall. Russia cut off supplies to Ukraine on January 1 over debts, pledging supplies to western Europe would be safeguarded, but some southern and eastern European countries have seen flows fall or stop. OMV said it had been informed by its Russian partners that gas supplies would fall... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159792/posts#comment Tue, 6 Jan 2009 20:29:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159794/posts Hungary says Russian gas supplies via Ukraine stopped Tue Jan 6, 2009 10:06pm IST BUDAPEST, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Russian gas shipments via Ukraine to Hungary halted on Tuesday and the Hungarian government said it would ask some power plants to switch to alternative fuel by 1000 GMT on Wednesday. "I would like to inform you that gas shipments from Ukraine continuously declined today and at 1430 GMT they completely stopped," Transport and Energy Minister Csaba Molnar told a news conference. The government would consider freeing up strategic gas reserves and make a decision on Wednesday morning if necessary, he... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159794/posts#comment Tue, 6 Jan 2009 20:30:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159666/posts Europe has been plunged into an energy crisis after Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's state-run gas company to cut supplies by 20 per cent... As temperatures dropped below zero across much of Europe, the Russian prime minister instructed the head of Gazprom: "Cut it - starting today." The cut was ordered to punish neighbouring Ukraine, which Russia accuses of topping up its own gas supply by siphoning off energy meant for European consumers and sent through its pipelines. without paying Russia. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2159666/posts#comment Tue, 6 Jan 2009 17:11:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2158562/posts MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's military leaders approved a plan by the navy on Sunday to station warships permanently in friendly ports across the globe. Underfunded since the 1991 break up of the Soviet Union , the Russian navy has been reasserting itself over the last year by chasing Somali pirates around the coast of east Africa and steaming across the Atlantic to visit allies in South America. "The General Staff has given its position on this issue and it fully supports the position of the (Navy's) main committee," deputy chief of staff Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn told RIA Novosti news agency.... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2158562/posts#comment Sun, 4 Jan 2009 18:27:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2157767/posts Greece's armed forces national defence general staff (GEEThA) on Friday announced that the Russian aircraft carrier "Adm. Kuznetsov", currently sailing in the southeastern Mediterranean, has requested use of areas within the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) in order to conduct aeronautical exercises. Greece's Civil Aviation Authority (YPA) approved the request, with the Russian air/sea exercises scheduled to take place southeast of the major Dodecanese island of Rhodes on Jan. 3, 4, 8 and 10, and south of the large island of Crete on Jan. 11, a GEEThA announcement stated. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2157767/posts#comment Fri, 2 Jan 2009 20:18:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2153930/posts MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's president said Wednesday he hopes his country will be able to develop better ties with the United states under Barack Obama's administration. President Dmitry Medvedev said the two countries have tried to improve ties... Chicago Tribune (AP) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2153930/posts#comment Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:22:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2153071/posts The Russian military will commission 70 strategic nuclear missiles over the next three years, a senior government official said Monday, according to Russian news agencies. The statement by Vladislav Putilin, a deputy head of the Cabinet's military-industrial commission in charge of weapons industries, indicates the government's intention to significantly increase the tempo of rearming Russia's Strategic Missile Forces. Putilin, who spoke after a government session chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that discussed the weapons purchases, said the Cabinet has decided to spend about 4 trillion rubles, or $141 billion, on new weapons over the next three years, Interfax and... Jerusalem Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2153071/posts#comment Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:12:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148143/posts TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia said on Saturday hundreds of Russian soldiers had moved into a disputed Georgian village near breakaway South Ossetia and had pushed out Georgian police, fuelling fears of confrontation. A regional police official and an interior ministry spokesman said between 500 and 600 Russian soldiers were in the village of Perevi, close to the de facto border with the region. Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148143/posts#comment Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:07:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148049/posts MOSCOW, December 12 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and China are launching a new stage of military cooperation, with an emphasis on high technologies, director of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Mikhail Dmitriyev said, in comments on the 13th session of the Russian-Chinese intergovernmental commission for military cooperation, which took place in Beijing on Thursday. The parties agreed to begin joint development of new high-tech military products, according to Dmitriyev. ITAR http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148049/posts#comment Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:28:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140386/posts KIEV, Ukraine — With the Ukrainian government reeling from a financial crisis and internal power struggles, the country’s pro-Russian opposition has been leveling potentially damaging accusations of improper arms sales to Georgia during that country’s brief war with Russia. And Russia’s leaders, furious with Ukraine’s president over his pro-Western leanings and vocal support of Georgia, have personally weighed in, making accusations of their own. It may not matter that the opposition has provided no conclusive evidence of the claims, despite weeks of pronouncements that the evidence — once released — will be explosive. The claims alone, which have made headlines,... ny times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140386/posts#comment Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:36:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140362/posts MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts. Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily Izvestia published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This... RIA Novosti http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140362/posts#comment Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:24:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139780/posts HAVANA (Reuters) – Russia welcomes a decision by the U.S. government to back away from granting fast-track NATO membership to ex-Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine at the alliance's summit later this month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday. "I am satisfied common sense prevailed," he told reporters during a visit to Havana. "Whatever the reasons, European pressure or whatever else, the main thing is that they (Washington) no longer push ahead with their previous ferociousness and senselessness." reuteurs http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139780/posts#comment Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:51:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139750/posts HAVANA (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met former Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Friday as Moscow rebuilt ties with an old Cold War ally during a trip to strengthen its political and economic clout in Latin America. The meeting came at the end of Medvedev's tour of the region, which has been seen as an attempt by Russia to taunt Washington in its traditional backyard as well as boost Moscow's trade with the region. "This has been a great visit, a magnificent visit, and now he is going to see Fidel," Cuban President and Fidel's brother, Raul Castro, told... Reuters on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139750/posts#comment Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:30:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139726/posts Shadow World:  Resurgent Russia, The Global New Left, and Radical Islam By Robert Chandler Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2008 622 pp., $29.95 The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 is viewed by the West as the end of the Cold War and the death knell for Communism. In reality, Communists continued to push for the same ultimate goal -- creating a socialist world order -- but their violent Marxist-Leninist revolutionary tactics were supplanted by an insidious cultural Marxism. Today, that push has evolved into a Moscow-led,  global strategic quadrangle consisting of Russia, China, Iran and a collection of Latin... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139726/posts#comment Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:29:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139609/posts WASHINGTON – Senior military leaders took the exceptional step of briefing President Bush this week on a severe and widespread electronic attack on U.S. Defense Department computers that might have originated in Russia, posing unusual concern among commanders and potential implications for national security. LA times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139609/posts#comment Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:01:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139614/posts PORT OF LA GUAIRA, November 27 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia will continue military cooperation with Venezuela in order to preserve stability in the Caribbean, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday. “We are grateful for the friendly attitude to the Russian Fleet and the Russian Armed Forces,” Medvedev told Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez during a visit to the Russian naval ship The Admiral Chabanenko. “The Russian-Venezuelan naval exercise is a measure that enhances stability in the region and the world over.” itar http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139614/posts#comment Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:05:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139513/posts The Russians have started the push that might come to shove and the heat has been turned up on Barack Obama. Because of the sagging price of oil, the Russians have to do something or watch their country slip into anarchy. They need a crisis to move oil prices back up and Cuba is a very handy place to ferment one. They are probing Obama for weakness with President Dmitry Medvedev’s just concluded four country visit to South America. He stopped in Peru and Brazil but his real targets were Venezuela and Guantanamo Cuba. In oil rich Venezuela Medvedev talked... The Collins Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139513/posts#comment Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:27:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139196/posts Russia to help Venezuela develop nuclear energy By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer Christopher Toothaker, Associated Press Writer 1 min ago LA GUAIRA, Venezuela – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to help start a nuclear energy program in Venezuela and said Moscow is willing to participate in a socialist trade bloc in Latin America led by President Hugo Chavez. Medvedev used his visit to Venezuela — the first by a Russian president — to extend Moscow's reach into Latin America and deepen trade and military ties. Chavez denied trying to provoke the United States, but he welcomed Russia's growing presence... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139196/posts#comment Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:56:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137136/posts LIMA -- Chinese President Hu Jintao said Sunday that China and Russia should strengthen strategic coordination at a time when the global political and economic structures are undergoing the most profound changes since the end of the Cold War. Hu made the remarks at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the 16th Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima, Peru. China and Russia should make concerted efforts to overcome the impact of the ongoing global financial crisis, maintain the sound momentum of their economic growth, and push ahead with... ChinaDaily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137136/posts#comment Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:51:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137881/posts Keep missile shield out of Poland, Czech Republic, Obama warned By Moscow correspondent Scott Bevan Posted 9 hours 26 minutes ago Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned the President-elect Barack Obama that Moscow will respond if he pushes on with plans for a missile defence system in Europe. Speaking at a human rights law conference in St Petersburg, Mr Putin has said the US plan for the missile defence shield is aimed at Russia's strategic potential. Russia can only give the project an adequate response, the Prime Minister added. Mr Putin has urged Mr Obama to drop the plan... ABC News (Australia) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137881/posts#comment Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:50:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139438/posts HAVANA — Russia's president visited old Cold War ally Cuba on Thursday after meeting with his nation's new friends in Latin America in a tour aimed at reviving relationships that have frayed since the Soviet Union's collapse. Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Havana from Venezuela, where he met with socialist President Hugo Chavez and agreed to help the oil-rich South American country start a nuclear energy program. Russian officials deny that Medvedev's trip to Latin America — traditionally considered in the U.S. sphere of influence — is meant to provoke the United States, but the voyage included meetings with Washington's staunchest... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139438/posts#comment Fri, 28 Nov 2008 05:36:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2138954/posts MOSCOW: Russia on Wednesday successfully test-fired for the third time its new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile, designed to counter air defence systems like the controversial US missile shield. The missile was fired from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in north Russia and hit targets on the Kamchatka Peninsula that juts into the Pacific Ocean 6,000 kilometres to the east, Russian news agencies reported. "The targets that were set were reached. The tasks were fully carried out," the commander of Russia's strategic missile forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, was quoted as saying by Interfax. "The deployment of the RS-24 missiles, which have a detachable warhead,... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2138954/posts#comment Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:18:59 GMT