Smarting and isolated due to international sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, Germany's biggest newspaper today published details of the Kremlin plot in which Putin seeks to hold sway over a continent currently aligned against him.
German intelligence sources claim the country's only mildly-eurosceptic party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), is being wooed by Russian agents as part of the campaign "to construct a network of right-wing populism in western Europe."
According to BILD, Moscow's Centre for Strategic Communications has drafted the blueprint for the covert operation under the title: "Putin: the new leader of international conservatism".
BILD, which is known in Germany for its credible sources within the intelligence community, said: "In Europe Putin dreams - and he has said this publicly - of having a sphere of influence across the continent all the way down to Portugal."It said that at the end of May this year Putin met secretly in Vienna with leaders of right-wing parties, including those from Bulgaria, Austria and France. He is cultivating Germany now because of an AfD vote in March this year against western sanctions.
Russian politician and Putin friend Vladimir Jakunin has been tasked to coordinate the political and diplomatic wooing offensive with the right-wing parties and appeared at the weekend in Berlin as the main speaker at a conference aimed at cementing ties with "friends of Russia."
He has been described as "Putin's most important western networker" in the past and one of the Kremlin's most effective propagandists.
If the United States and Russia fought a nuclear war, who would win? You might be surprised by the answer. Under the Obama administration, the rapidly aging U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal has been shrinking. Meanwhile, the Russians have been developing an entirely new generation of bombers, submarines and missiles that have the capability of delivering an absolutely crippling first strike. At this point, most Americans consider a full-scale nuclear war to be inconceivable. But in Russia attitudes are completely different. To the Russians, the United States is enemy number one these days and the Russians are feverishly preparing for a potential military showdown. Of course the Russians don’t actually want to have to resort to nuclear war. Such an event would be an unspeakable horror for the entire globe. But if one does happen, the Russians want to make sure that they are the ones that come out on top.
German intelligence sources claim the country's only mildly-eurosceptic party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), is being wooed by Russian agents as part of the campaign "to construct a network of right-wing populism in western Europe."
According to BILD, Moscow's Centre for Strategic Communications has drafted the blueprint for the covert operation under the title: "Putin: the new leader of international conservatism".
It is unclear whether the UK, currently home to thousands of Russian exiles, features in his grand plan
Part of the Kremlin strategy includes acquiring gold dealerships through front companies to support parties friendly to it.
It has also been suggested Russian banks and financial institutions run by the country's secret services could provide cheap loans to the parties it wants to control; recently a loan of nine milliion euros was made through the First Czech Russian Bank of Moscow to the National Front in France.Part of the Kremlin strategy includes acquiring gold dealerships through front companies to support parties friendly to it.
BILD, which is known in Germany for its credible sources within the intelligence community, said: "In Europe Putin dreams - and he has said this publicly - of having a sphere of influence across the continent all the way down to Portugal."It said that at the end of May this year Putin met secretly in Vienna with leaders of right-wing parties, including those from Bulgaria, Austria and France. He is cultivating Germany now because of an AfD vote in March this year against western sanctions.
Russian politician and Putin friend Vladimir Jakunin has been tasked to coordinate the political and diplomatic wooing offensive with the right-wing parties and appeared at the weekend in Berlin as the main speaker at a conference aimed at cementing ties with "friends of Russia."
He has been described as "Putin's most important western networker" in the past and one of the Kremlin's most effective propagandists.
A lot of Americans are still operating under the faulty assumption that the doctrine of “mutually assured destruction” still applies. The thinking was that both sides had so many nuclear missiles that a launch by one side would guarantee the destruction of both parties.
But since that time, so much has changed.
For one, the U.S. nuclear arsenal is far, far smaller than it was back then. Back in 1967, the U.S. military possessed more than 31,000 strategic nuclear warheads. Now, we only have 1,642 deployed, and that number is scheduled to be further reduced to about 1,500.
Sadly, reducing the size of our nuclear arsenal by close to 95 percent is not enough for anti-nuke crusader Barack Obama. He has spoken of unilaterally reducing the size of our strategic nuclear arsenal down to just 300 warheads.
During this same time period, the Russians have been developing some very impressive stealth delivery systems which have the capability of hitting targets inside the United States within just minutes of an order being issued. This is particularly true of their submarine-launched missiles. The newest Russian subs have the ability to approach our coastlines without us even knowing that they are there. If the Russians came to the conclusion that war with the United States was unavoidable, an overwhelming first strike using submarine-based missiles could potentially take out nearly our entire arsenal before we even knew what hit us. And if the Russians have an anti-ballistic missile system that can intercept the limited number of rockets that we can launch in return, they may be able to escape relatively unscathed.
In order for “mutually assured destruction” to work, we have to see the Russian missiles coming and have enough time to order a launch of our own. Thank to emerging technologies, the balance of power has fundamentally shifted. The old way of thinking simply does not apply anymore and the Russians understand this.
The following are 10 signs that Russia is preparing to fight (and win) a nuclear war with the United States…
#1 Russia is spending an enormous amount of money to develop the PAK DA Strategic Bomber. Not a lot is known about this stealth bomber at this time. The following summary of what we do know comes from an Australian news source…
#2 Russian nuclear bombers have been regularly buzzing areas in northern Europe and along the coast of Alaska. The Russians appear to be brazenly testing NATO defenses. Here is just one recent example…
#3 Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says that Russian nuclear bombers will now conduct regular patrols “in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific, as well as the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico“.
#4 Russia is constructing an anti-ballistic missile system which will supposedly be superior to anything that the U.S. currently has…
#5 Russia recently successfully test launched a new submarine-based intercontinental ballistic missile…
#6 Russia already possesses super silent nuclear attack submarines that arevirtually undetectable when submerged. In a previous article, I discussed how the U.S. Navy refers to these virtually undetectable subs as “black holes“…
#7 Russian media outlets are reporting that 60 percent of all Russian nuclear missiles will have radar-evading capability by 2016…
#8 For the first time ever, Russia has more strategic nuclear warheadsdeployed than the United States does…
#9 Russia has a massive advantage over the United States and NATO when it comes to tactical nuclear weapons…
#10 Russian President Vladimir Putin has initiated a huge “weapons modernization program” that is projected to cost the equivalent of 540 billion dollars…
Meanwhile, the Chinese have been investing heavily in this kind of technology as well.
In fact, just the other day the Chinese successfully tested a new submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile…
Most Americans do not believe that any of this is a concern whatsoever.
Most Americans just assume that a full-scale nuclear war is virtually impossible.
But the truth is that a successful first strike against the United States is more possible today than it ever has been before.
Hopefully the American people will wake up to this reality before it is too late.
Russia tightened its control Monday over Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia with a new treaty envisaging closer military and economic ties with the lush sliver of land along the Black Sea.
The move drew outrage and cries of "annexation" in Georgia and sent a chill through those in Abkhazia who fear that wealthy Russians will snap up their precious coastline. It also raised further suspicions in the West about Russian President Vladimir Putin's territorial aspirations after his annexation of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March.
Under the treaty signed by Putin and Abkhazia's leader in the nearby Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russian and Abkhazian forces in the territory will turn into a joint force led by a Russian commander.
Putin said Moscow will also double its subsidies to Abkhazia to about 9.3 billion rubles (over $200 million) next year.
"I'm sure that cooperation, unity and strategic partnership between Russia and Abkhazia will continue to strengthen," he said.
"Ties with Russia offer us full security guarantees and broad opportunities for socio-economic development," Abkhazian President Raul Khadzhimba said.
Russian troops have been deployed in Abkhazia for more than two decades since the region of 240,000 people broke away from Georgia in a separatist war in the early 1990s. Still, Monday's agreement reflected a clear attempt by Moscow to further expand its presence and came only after a change of leadership in the territory.
Coming amid a chill in Russia-West ties over the Ukrainian crisis, the deal raised concern about Moscow's plans. The Black Sea region has always been important for Putin, who justified the annexation of Crimea by saying it would guarantee that NATO warships would never be welcome on the peninsula, the home base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
"This so-called treaty does not contribute to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the situation in Georgia," Jens Stoltenberg said. "On the contrary, it violates Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and blatantly contradicts the principles of international law, OSCE principles and Russia's international commitments."
The U.S. also said it wouldn't recognize Russia's move and expressed continued support for Georgia's sovereignty.
"The United States will not recognize the legitimacy of any so-called 'treaty' between Georgia's Abkhazia region and the Russian Federation," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
Abkhazia's former leader, Alexander Ankvab, was forced to step down earlier this year under pressure from protesters who reportedly were encouraged by the Kremlin. Khadzhimba, a former Soviet KGB officer, was elected president in an early vote in August that Georgia rejected as illegal.
'BRICS System' - Healthy Alternative To 'Defunct Dollar' System
The BRICS Bank marks a major step to de-dollarization, and a new monetary system. It should replace the Western-dominated “predatory casino scheme” that has contributed to world wars and “economic terrorism,” says former World Bank economist Peter Koenig.
“A ‘BRICS system’ would offer a healthy alternative to the highly indebted and defunct dollar system, where money is printed at will,” Koenig said in an interview with Asam Ismi of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
A 'BRICS system' should be based on a new currency, which Koenig called 'Bricso.'
“…it is high time that the currency of worldwide theft, abuse and exploitation – the US dollar – financial instrument for endless wars and economic terrorism, be replaced with a currency of peaceful endeavors that respects national sovereignty – a currency that works for the people, not for the elite few,” said Koenig adding that currently six US banks control more than 60 percent of all banking assets.
A new monetary system should replace the existing FED-BIS (Bank for International Settlement)-Wall Street “dollar denominated predatory casino scheme that has in the last 100 years alone largely contributed to – and benefitted from – two world wars, impoverished our planet, socially and environmentally,” Koenig said “This system is at the verge of a larger abyss than the depression of the 1930s."
BRICS, which is actively leading a massive effort of de-dollarization, can become a viable alternative to the Western economic system, Koenig believes.
Moreover, he thinks BRICS is already in process of replacing it. Increasing cooperation between Russia and China is a clear example – the two countries started to carry out ruble-yuan swaps in June 2014 in order to free themselves from the traditional trading currency, the US dollar.
Ten years ago, the world’s reserves consisted to about 90 percent of dollar denominated securities. Today that figure has shrunk to 60 percent, the economist said.
Koenig believes Washington is afraid of losing the dollar’s monopoly on the global stage, and is trying to destabilize the situation in the BRICS countries. For example, by slandering the government of Dilma Rousseff in Brazil for corruption and high debt, or depreciating the Russian ruble by fraud and currency manipulations.
“Today, though steadily declining, most trading is still denominated in dollars and has to transit through a US bank and the BIS clearing system,” he said. “Under the FED-BIS-WS banking system currencies and gold are subject to exchange rate and interest manipulations”.
The potential of BRICS is promising indeed, as the members account for almost 30 percent of world GDP and about 45 percent of the global population.
China appears to be building a military base on the newly expanded Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands in an attempt to tip the balance of territorial disputes in the South China Sea in Beijing's favor, reports Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao.
Over the past year, Beijing has been particularly aggressive in conducting reclamation activities on Chinese-controlled reefs and islets in the Spratlys, parts of which are which are also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.
Following the most recent period of construction, China is said to have essentially "created" five new islands from existing reefs, including Fiery Cross Reef, which has reportedly become the largest island in the Spratlys.
Some analysts have noted that further reclamation could potentially expand Fiery Cross to as large as 30 square km in size, which would rival that of America's naval base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
The US has called on China to freeze its "provocative" reclamation activities in the South China Sea, with a Pentagon spokesperson calling on Beijing to "engage in diplomatic initiatives to encourage all sides to restrain themselves in these sorts of activities."
Ni believes the reclamation activities in the Spratlys could offer China a strong counterpoint to America's "return to Asia" policy and will also be beneficial to Chinese civilians who can count on a safe passage through the South China Sea for trade purposes. He also notes, however, that tensions will likely increase and the odds of conflict in the region will also increase as a result.
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