The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

There are people, even Armenians, who continue ranting about Iranian clerics making outlandish statements. When was the last time these people took a close look at what's being said and done right under their noses?

The crazy times we are living in...

Armenian

AIPAC Speaker Hopes US Gets Nuked After Israel Provokes War With Russia

Nice Bedfellows You've Got There!

Coming this Sunday to an AIPAC Policy Conference near you: SUNDAY NIGHT PLENARY - The U.S. and Israel: Tradition and Transcendence. Two eloquent voices from diverse backgrounds explore the history of U.S. involvement in the Middle East and how Americans from all faiths can find common cause in supporting Israel: Pastor John Hagee Author and Scholar Michael Oren Special Guest Eitan Wertheimer, Chairman of the Board of ISCAR

Who's John Hagee? Sarah Posner can tell you all about it. I'll just note this:

In Hagee's telling, Israel has no choice but to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, with or without America's help. The strike will provoke Russia -- which wants Persian Gulf oil -- to lead an army of Arab nations against Israel. Then God will wipe out all but one-sixth of the Russian-led army, as the world watches "with shock and awe," he says, lending either a divine quality to the Bush administration phrase or a Bush-like quality to God's wrath.

But Hagee doesn't stop there. He adds that Ezekiel predicts fire "'upon those who live in security in the coastlands.'" From this sentence he concludes that there will be judgment upon all who stood by while the Russian-led force invaded Israel, and issues a stark warning to the United States to intervene: "Could it be that America, who refuses to defend Israel from the Russian invasion, will experience nuclear warfare on our east and west coasts?" He says yes, citing Genesis 12:3, in which God said to Israel: "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you."

To fill the power vacuum left by God's decimation of the Russian army, the Antichrist -- identified by Hagee as the head of the European Union -- will rule "a one-world government, a one-world currency and a one-world religion" for three and a half years. (He adds that "one need only be a casual observer of current events to see that all three of these things are coming into reality.") The "demonic world leader" will then be confronted by a false prophet, identified by Hagee as China, at Armageddon, the Mount of Megiddo in Israel. As they prepare for the final battle, Jesus will return on a white horse and cast both villains -- and presumably any nonbelievers -- into a "lake of fire burning with brimstone," thus marking the beginning of his millennial reign.

So you see, John Hagee, who wants to see Israel adopt a hawkish foreign policy that he believes will result in its destruction at the hands of a Russo-Arab alliance is a friend of the xxxs. By contrast, everyone who thinks a little pressure to make peace could wind up helping Israel in the long run is an anti-semite.

Source: http://rense.com/general75/nukedd.htm

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia spins global energy spider's web



The vast bulk of the world's oil, gas and strategic minerals resources either is coming under or is already under the control of authoritarian, or less-than-democratic, or leftist, or otherwise radical regimes either with a decidedly anti-Western political stance and ideology or pointedly decreased sensitivities to strategic US interests. It is difficult to name more than a handful of resource-rich states that are liberal democracies and that are still significantly aligned with the West. Only Canada and Mexico come immediately to mind, and even Canada is increasingly embracing China and the East in the sphere of strategic energy deals and agreements. Even those resource-rich regimes that are considered to be the most moderate of the globe's producing states are far less closely aligned geopolitically with the US than they were previously.

Saudi Arabia, for example, continues its "Look East" policy of diversifying its markets away from the US. It has concluded a range of important deals in the energy sector with China and India and is steadily moving into closer geopolitical alignment with the rising East. A number of other key Middle Eastern regimes are following suit. By and large Latin America is doing the same, as are Africa and Central Asia. Almost none of the world's oil and gas producers wants to be inordinately dependent on the US market any longer. Additionally, the steady rise of the powerful economies of Asia beckons oil and gas producers toward such lucrative markets that are politically cost-free, meaning they do not attach political demands and seek to interfere in the domestic affairs of the producing regimes, as does the US.

In virtually all cases, the interests of the West and of its multinational oil companies and big Western financial institutions are being minimized and/or pushed out as the global trend of nationalization, by one means or another, of the oil-and-gas sector picks up speed. That is occurring in Russia, which has now surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world's largest exporter of oil, in Central Asia, the Middle East and in Latin America. Within virtually all such regimes the lines of separation between the top levels of political leadership and the directorship of key corporations and industries are not only blurred but are being obliterated. The multinational oil companies of the West are being marginalized as a direct result.

That is the case in Russia, where in many key areas of industry corporate directors are intimately tied to President Vladimir Putin, having formed a close association with him long before he became president, and many even hold key positions as upper-level Kremlin officials, or as government ministers. Not merely coincidentally, the key corporations the directors of which are so closely allied with Putin are often resources-based and are also those that are state-controlled businesses, with the Russian state holding controlling (51% or more) interests. To varying yet alarming degrees, the resource-rich regimes around the globe are copying the Russian model. Resources-based corporate states with a profound political affinity for one another and a simultaneous collective disdain and even a hatred for US-led unipolar dominance are proliferating around the globe.

Resource-rich Russia's mounting global leverage with the world's other producing states and with the powerhouse economies of the East, and its profound political affinity with such producers and key consumer states, far outweighs the influence of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). How so? Russia is crossing the membership boundaries of OPEC to court its most powerful members and to conclude with them joint-venture agreements of huge consequence and importance for the future of global oil and gas exploration and production. The West is rapidly being pushed out of such ventures, or is being forced to take radical reductions in the size of its stakes, and is being left out entirely in many new ventures.

Instead, the world's producing regimes are increasingly entering key joint ventures between themselves and in very close cooperation with the powerhouse economies of the rising East, such as China. We are witnessing not merely the formation of some new oil-and-gas cartel with Russia at its center, but rather the formation of something that includes both producers and the key consumer states of the East in an ever more cohesive de facto confederation. This is dedicated to the achievement of strategic energy security for those within its clearly defined circle. In the process, OPEC itself, as an entity, is being undermined and marginalized. Simultaneously, the West is being forcibly cast from the proverbial frying pan into the fire as something far more powerful, compelling and all-encompassing than OPEC is coalescing.

The ominous rise around the globe of the resources-based corporate state is accelerating. The implications for the West are enormous, yet such implications are only beginning to be understood. As noted above, such states are concluding rapidly increased numbers of strategic agreements among themselves for the joint exploration and production of oil and gas, and with the rapidly rising powerhouse economies of the East, such as China and India, for the private long-term supply of oil and gas. The creation of such private pools of oil and gas for the consumption only by specific economic powers in the East and select economies of the West is also a new development that carries with it profound implications for the West.

In essence, the circle defining international energy security is now being drawn. Inside the circle are those producer and consumer states whose political and geopolitical affinity for each other is the result of no mere chance occurrence and whose energy-security interests are being strategically served and addressed on both sides of the producer/consumer equation. Some of the economies of the West, such as Germany, are being included within the developing circle. Outside the circle are those economies of the West that are to be left out of the growing international energy-security arrangements currently being constructed, as alluded to above. Interestingly, and as a profound new development, it isn't the United States that defines the path and scope of the circle. Instead, it is Russia and its strategic partners who are defining it.

Because Russia's leaders adroitly positioned the Russian Federation to capitalize massively on global energy developments, it is the state that inherited the unique ability to shape global developments as they unfold. Russia is shaping important developments among the world's key producing and consuming powers. They are being shaped contrary to the strategic interests of the United States, as noted above. The US is also shaping developments, foolishly handing Russia and the East ever more global leverage. By incessant strategic blunders, the US has isolated itself internationally and fanned the fires of global anti-Americanism, which increasingly engulf the very regions where its own resources-based strategic interests lie.

An entire array of fundamental global developments as respect strategic resources is quite literally changing the landscape of the traditional global energy order. With regard to energy and energy security, a new global order is emerging. The US-backed liberal, open global oil market order is beset by an accelerating proliferation of private, state-to-state long-term agreements and contracts concluded within the circle Russia and its partners are defining. This is creating increasing numbers of private pools of oil and gas dedicated only to serving the energy-security interests of the circle of private participants. Along the way, Russia's export monopoly of the oil and gas that still flows outside the circle to the West continues to grow, further ensuring its mounting global leverage.

Rather than being merely unrelated and random events, global developments in the energy and geopolitical spheres over the past seven years form a distinct pattern that bespeaks the execution of a developing strategy of a Russian reacquisition of global power, but in concert with its strategic partners, at the incalculable expense of the West in general and of the US in particular. Contrary to the assumptions of conventional wisdom, the US hasn't any longer the global leverage to shape unfolding developments in its favor. Russia is rapidly acquiring such leverage, and it is expertly plying that leverage against US vulnerabilities in the energy sphere.

Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_.../HH25Dj01.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

I have always said that the brutal war in Chechnya was a covert military operation waged against the Russian Federation by the United States (NATO) with direct support from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The war in question was intended to undermine Russian power within the Caspian Sea region thereby giving interested parties free access to the region's vast oil/gas reserves and strategically important transit routs. Their bold plan succeeded somewhat while Yeltsin the drunk was in power. Needless to say, since Putin took control of the government the Caspian Sea region has been thoroughly pacified and its much coveted oil/gas reserves and its strategically vital transit routs have been more-or-less monopolized by Moscow.

Armenian

The War in Chechnya



With regard to Chechnya, the main rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Al Khattab were trained and indoctrinated in CIA sponsored camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to Yossef Bodansky, director of the U.S. Congress's Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, the war in Chechnya had been planned during a secret summit of HizbAllah International held in 1996 in Mogadishu, Somalia. 21 The summit, was attended by Osama bin Laden and high-ranking Iranian and Pakistani intelligence officers. In this regard, the involvement of Pakistan's ISI in Chechnya "goes far beyond supplying the Chechens with weapons and expertise: the ISI and its radical Islamic proxies are actually calling the shots in this war". Russia's main pipeline route transits through Chechnya and Dagestan. Despite Washington's perfunctory condemnation of Islamic terrorism, the indirect beneficiaries of the Chechen war are the Anglo-American oil conglomerates which are vying for control over oil resources and pipeline corridors out of the Caspian Sea basin. The two main Chechen rebel armies (respectively led by Commander Shamil Basayev and Emir Khattab) estimated at 35,000 strong were supported by Pakistan's ISI, which also played a key role in organizing and training the Chechen rebel army:

[In 1994] the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence arranged for Basayev and his trusted lieutenants to undergo intensive Islamic indoctrination and training in guerrilla warfare in the Khost province of Afghanistan at Amir Muawia camp, set up in the early 1980s by the CIA and ISI and run by famous Afghani warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In July 1994, upon graduating from Amir Muawia, Basayev was transferred to Markaz-i-Dawar camp in Pakistan to undergo training in advanced guerrilla tactics. In Pakistan, Basayev met the highest ranking Pakistani military and intelligence officers: Minister of Defense General Aftab Shahban Mirani, Minister of Interior General Naserullah Babar, and the head of the ISI branch in charge of supporting Islamic causes, General Javed Ashraf, (all now retired). High-level connections soon proved very useful to Basayev.



Following his training and indoctrination stint, Basayev was assigned to lead the assault against Russian federal troops in the first Chechen war in 1995. His organization had also developed extensive links to criminal syndicates in Moscow as well as ties to Albanian organized crime and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). In 1997-98, according to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) "Chechen warlords started buying up real estate in Kosovo... through several real estate firms registered as a cover in Yugoslavia. Basayev's organisation has also been involved in a number of rackets including narcotics, illegal tapping and sabotage of Russia's oil pipelines, kidnapping, prostitution, trade in counterfeit dollars and the smuggling of nuclear materials (See Mafia linked to Albania's collapsed pyramids, 25 Alongside the extensive laundering of drug money, the proceeds of various illicit activities have been funneled towards the recruitment of mercenaries and the purchase of weapons.



During his training in Afghanistan, Shamil Basayev linked up with Saudi born veteran Mujahideen Commander "Al Khattab" who had fought as a volunteer in Afghanistan. Barely a few months after Basayev's return to Grozny, Khattab was invited (early 1995) to set up an army base in Chechnya for the training of Mujahideen fighters. According to the BBC, Khattab's posting to Chechnya had been "arranged through the Saudi-Arabian based [International] Islamic Relief Organisation, a militant religious organisation, funded by mosques and rich individuals which channeled funds into Chechnya". Concluding Remarks Since the Cold War era, Washington has consciously supported Osama bin Laden, while at same time placing him on the FBI's "most wanted list" as the World's foremost terrorist. While the Mujahideen are busy fighting America's war in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, the FBI --operating as a US based Police Force- is waging a domestic war against terrorism, operating in some respects independently of the CIA which has --since the Soviet-Afghan war-- supported international terrorism through its covert operations.



In a cruel irony, while the Islamic jihad --featured by the Bush Adminstration as "a threat to America"-- is blamed for the terrorist assaults on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, these same Islamic organisations constitute a key instrument of US military-intelligence operations in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union. In the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the truth must prevail to prevent the Bush Adminstration together with its NATO partners from embarking upon a military adventure which threatens the future of humanity.

Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html

British And American Covert Operations In Chechnya

"The Clinton administration followed up by providing strong support to the KLA, even though it was known that the KLA supported the Muslim mujahadeen. Despite that knowledge, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had the KLA removed from the State Department list of terrorists. This action paved the way for the United States to provide the KLA with needed logistical support. At the same time, the KLA also received support from Iran and Usama bin Laden, along with 'Islamic holy warriors' who were jihad veterans from Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan. Swiss journalist Richard Labeviere, in his book, 'Dollars for Terror,' said that the international Islamic networks linked to bin Laden received help from U.S. intelligence community. Indeed, Chechen sources claim that U.S. intelligence also aided them in their opposition to Russia. Given that U.S. policy in the post-Cold War period has not only been anti-Russian but anti-Iranian, the United States worked closely with Pakistan's predominantly Sunni Inter-Services Intelligence organization. Through ISI, the United States recruited Sunni mujahadeen by staging them in Chechnya to fight in Bosnia and later in Kosovo."

Michael Maloof, Post 9/11 Pentagon Counterterrorism Adviser
Iran subversion in Balkans G2 Bulletin, 25 September 2006

"As the intelligence newsletter Stratfor -- which Time magazine ranked as the nation's top intelligence site in 2003, and which Barron's described as 'a private quasi-CIA' -- pointed out a few months ago, with Ukraine now firmly in the West's orbit, America, with NATO and the EU, has managed to succeed exactly where Hitler and Napoleon failed: it has dismantled the Russian empire, leaving the rump state exposed, weakened and essentially at the West's mercy.... In the wake of the Beslan massacre in September, 2004, in which hundreds of children were killed during a Chechen separatist seizure of a school in southern Russia, President Putin went on television and blamed certain foreign powers for supporting the terrorists with the aim of defanging Russia for good, breaking it apart, and seizing its valuable resources. He did not name the United States, but it was clear whom he meant. .....Stratfor, whose politics could be described as something between patriotic-American and realpolitik, agreed. According to its Kremlin sources, Putin specifically named the U.S. and Great Britain during private meetings. And as Stratfor noted in its April report, there is plenty of evidence to support the Kremlin's claim. In the first place, while Muslim separatist militants from other conflict zones are shunned and even violently pursued by the U.S., the Chechen separatist representatives are routinely given haven and official voice in both the U.K. and America. ... As Stratfor notes, the British connection to the Chechen separatists goes farther back. 'During the first Chechen war -- from 1994 to 1996 -- retired U.K. special forces officers trained British Muslim recruits in British territory to fight in Chechnya,' Stratfor claims, echoing reports out of Russia. 'Some militants who attended that training and were later captured told the Russian government.' After Chechnya gained de facto independence, a scandal apparently erupted in Russia-U.K. relations when de-mining instructors from a private security firm, which included American ex-military personnel, were caught 'training Chechen militants how to launch mine and bombing attacks against Russian troops,' according to Stratfor.."

Dividing Russia, AlterNet, 29 June 2005

"Why would a group of leading American neo-conservatives, dedicated to fighting Islamic terror, have climbed into bed with Chechen rebels linked to al-Qaeda? The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC), which includes Pentagon supremo Richard Perle, says the conflict between Russia and Chechnya is about Chechen nationalism, not terrorism. The ACPC savaged Russia for the atrocities its forces have committed in the Caucuses, said President Vladimir Putin was 'ridiculous', claimed Russia was more 'morally' to blame for the bloodshed than Chechen separatists and played down links between al-Qaeda and the 'Chechen resistance'. The ACPC's support for the Chechen cause seems bizarre, as many of its members are among the most outspoken US policymakers who have made it clear that Islamist terror must be wiped out. But the organisation has tried to broker peace talks between Russia and Chechen separatists. The ACPC includes many leaders of the neo-conservative think-tank, Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which advocates American domination of the world.... ACPC executive director Glen Howard said the continuation of the 'brutalising tactics' of Russian forces would only lead to 'the resistance employing more brutal tactics' like the assault on School Number One in Beslan...... The nurturing of Chechen fighters against Russia recalls America's support for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan - an act that went on to spawn al-Qaeda and the Taliban.... Howard said hardliners like Richard Perle were backing Chechnya as they 'understood what it feels like to be under the Russian yolk'. Some critics believe the support for the Chechens may be a cold war hangover or part of a policy to keep Russia weak through bloodletting in the Caucuses.... According to Howard, due to the vast energy resources in the Caucuses, the West, which is heavily dependent on foreign energy, has strategic interests in the area to which it cannot afford to turn a blind eye."

US neo-cons: Kremlin is 'morally' to blame for the school massacre
Sunday Herald - 12 September 2004

Source: http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpWESSEX...ne-Caspian.htm

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

"Peace Mission 2007" to tackle terror threats



MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Nikita Petrov) - The Russian Armed Forces have been rather active this summer. So far this year large-scale troop exercises have been held in the Leningrad and North Caucasus Military Districts, as well as in the Russian Far East and in the Northern Fleet. Strategic bombers flew simulated long-range combat missions; 2,500 Russian paratroopers performed group jumps alongside their German counterparts; and another exercise involving elements of the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet and the U.S. Navy spanned the North Atlantic.

Yet in all these operations, there has been one prominent absence: Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov did not attend any of these exercises, including those intended to assess the performance of the generals commanding the new eastern and western strategic sectors. This is because Serdyukov is busy preparing for the centerpiece of this summer's military exercises. "Peace Mission 2007" will involve all six Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries (Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), 4000 troops, nearly 100 aircraft, and an unspecified number of logistical support units.

This follows a previous joint exercise, "Peace Mission 2005", which saw large-scale amphibious landings on China's Yellow Sea coast. That exercise caused some controversy, and was seen by some as preparation for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. In contrast, Russian commanders have described "Peace Mission 2007" as an anti-terrorist exercise, and have emphasized that it is not aimed at any third country. As such, says Colonel General Vladimir Moltenskoy, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, it will not involve any heavy military equipment. Instead border guards, elements of the Russian Interior Ministry's Security Force and special police units will take part. Mechanized-infantry combat vehicles and armored personnel carriers, rather than tanks, will also take part in the exercise.

The dual location exercise, planned for August 9-17, will be held in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Area, and at the range of the Russian Army's 34th Motorized Rifle Division near Chebarkul town, about 50 miles (80 km) west of Chelyabinsk, in Russia's Volga-Urals Military District. While the bulk of the troops will be Russian and Chinese, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan will contribute one airborne company each. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will send an airborne platoon and staff officers, respectively. The exercise will also involve 2,000 Russian and 1,700 Chinese soldiers, plus an unspecified number of Russian logistics-support units. The Russian Air Force will contribute six Ilyushin Il-76 Candid transport planes, nine Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot ground-attack jets, 14 Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunships and 18 Mi-8 Hip helicopters. China will provide six Il-76 aircraft, eight JH-7-A fighter-bombers, 16 JG-9-W and 16 Mi-17 Hip helicopters. Moreover, each side will contribute 18 122-mm and 100-mm artillery systems.

The initial phase will be conducted in Urumqi and will involve the heads of SOC general staffs. Under the exercise scenario, they will receive information about a terrorist attack on a small town in the Urals 2,000 km away. The participants will then brief their respective national leaders on the situation, compile plans to contain the conflict and prepare for a military operation against terrorist units. The generals will face the considerable logistical challenge of deploying 1700 Chinese troops and their equipment, by rail and air, from Xinjiang to central Russia. It took SOC military experts six rounds of talks to coordinate all aspects of the upcoming war games. Nonetheless, not all problems have been ironed out. Kazakhstan, though a member of the SCO and a participant in the exercise, has failed to pass legislation allowing foreign troops to cross its territory. The most direct route from Xinjiang to Chelyabinsk in central Russia would be through Kazakhstan.

Russian troops have been training near Chebarkul since early June; and the first Chinese trains are scheduled to arrive on July 27. On August 16, the leaders of the SOC countries - Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Uzbek President Islam Karimov - will meet in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. The next day, they will watch the final phase of "Peace Mission 2007." The leaders of the four SCO observer countries, i.e. Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia, will not be invited to the exercise. However, they will be represented by their respective military attaches accredited in Moscow. 400 accredited foreign journalists will represent the wider international community.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070724/69580465.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russian expert: Military settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict is an affair that will result in collapse of Azerbaijan



National consensus has been reached in Nagorno Karabakh regarding the fact that “the republic must be an independent state,” so victory of one or another candidate at the presidential election will not radically change on the general situation, head of the Caucasus department at the Institute for CIS Studies Mikhail Alexandrov said.

“The matter concerns nuances. For instance, Bako Saakyan is quite moderate and is orientated towards connection with Armenia and talks with Azerbaijan. Masis Mailyan is tougher, he opposes returning of seven occupied areas to Azerbaijan and speaks for a more autonomous from Yerevan negotiation stance,” Alexandrov said adding that in any case, the key direction in Stepanakert will be dialog. At the same time, he noted that Ilham Aliev’s hopes for returning Karabakh through dialog are naïve.

“A military settlement is an affair that will result in collapse of Azerbaijan as a state. It is unreal for Baku to win over Armenia and the NKR, no matter how strongly they increase their military spending,” the expert believes. The matter concerns not only money, but efficiency of the Army. “Besides, Armenia is connected with Russia by military agreements; the most up-to-date military equipment is supplied there at lower prices. Some types of weapons are impossible for Azerbaijan to acquire in foreign markets; nobody will sell them to it. So, it will be ungrounded to hope for superiority and a Blitzkrieg,”

the analyst stressed adding that “this form of being looped” can result in Azerbaijan losing the seven areas of the Nagorno Karabakh security belt. Now, he believes, there is still an opportunity to implement the formula “peace for territories”: Azerbaijan recognizes Nagorno Karabakh independence and the latter returns the territories. “However, now, the time is not serving Baku. The Kosovo precedent that, most probably, will end with a one-sided recognition of the territory’s independence by the West will only encourage Karabakh in its intentions. ‘The Fifth Column’ and a coup in Stepanakert are ruled out, because there is no single Azerbaijani there,” Mikhail Alexandrov is quoted as saying by PanARMENIAN.Net.

Source: http://www.regnum.ru/english/860576.html

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Putin rebukes Britain:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6914522.stm

Its interesting I read this article which says:
"They should get their heads examined rather than tell us to change our constitution," he said.

Out of curiosity I went to prava.ru to see what it was he actually said in Russian.

http://www.pravda.ru/news/politics/24-07-2007/232848-putin-0

In response to "Russia should change her constitution", his comment was "They need to change their brains".

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Chechnya campaign images:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1021945769391031679&q=Lube&total=1260&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1021945769391031679&q=Lube&total=1260&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Putin rebukes Britain:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6914522.stm

This rhetoric is worth a closer look. I just love the blunt talk that is being thrown around in Moscow lately. The reaction from London, as expected, is quite lame. There is not much anyone anywhere can do about the actions of the Russian Federation. That is the reason why their response, whether it's official London or Washington DC, have been lame - actually their response have been quite silly.

And do you know why Moscow today can say and do whatever it wants?

It's because the Russian Federation is not enslaved by the WTO or the IMF. It's because Mocow has veto power in the UN. It's because Moscow has alliances with China and Iran. It's because Moscow can cause serious problems in South America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia - nor is Moscow frightened of anyone's armed forces.

More I'm reading about what certain groups did to Russia during the 90s more of a 'Russophile' I'm becoming. Just read about what that multi-billionaire criminal called Boris Berezovsky, a honorary citizen in London today, did to the Russian Federation in the years following the Soviet collapse. It simply boggles the mind when you realize just how much the Russian Federation was weakened and looted for so many years. Its amazing how they pulled together so fast after so much chaos. Actually, Russia's current rise reminds me of the fast emergence of the Third Reich from the ashes of the Weimar Republic.

Thus, no one should be surprised to see Russians, even average Russians, acting harshly towards anyone whom they perceive to have less-than good intentions towards them. They have endured too much, comparable to what we Armenians have endured. From Bolshevism to Fascism to today's Neoconservatism/Globalism, Russians have been victims. Having said that, I would also like to say that the wellbeing of the Russian Federation, as well as that of Iran, is within Armenia's vital strategic interests.

Armenian

Putin rebukes 'colonial' Britain



Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed a UK request for Andrei Lugovoi's extradition as the remnant of a "colonial mindset".

"They have long forgotten that it is a long time since Britain was a colonial power," he told Russian TV. The UK expelled four diplomats after Russia refused to extradite Mr Lugovoi, who denies killing ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London. The Foreign Office said it was still trying get Moscow to extradite him.

Mr Putin was being filmed meeting pro-Kremlin youth groups at the presidential residence at Zavidovo when he was asked about the diplomatic row. He said 30 people sought by Russian law enforcement agencies "for serious and very serious crimes" were taking refuge in London and Britain did not "bat an eyelid and did not even think about extraditing them".

"They (Britain) had the same problem, though to a lesser extent, with the USA, strange as it may sound, and with France and other countries," he said.

"They do not extradite to any country people who are hiding on their territory, including people who are suspected of and charged with terrorist activities."

He added that to other countries, Britain made "exaggerated claims", including "insulting advice" to "change our constitution".

"They should get their heads examined rather than tell us to change our constitution," he said.

'Respect partners'

Mr Putin said Britain's behaviour was "clearly a remnant of a colonial mindset".

"They don't have any colonies. And Russia, thank God, has never been a colony of Great Britain," he said. The Russian president added: "It shows they still have in their heads the ideas of the last century or the century before that.

"They should treat their partners with respect. And if they do, we will treat them with respect."

KEY EVENTS IN CASE
1 November 2006: Alexander Litvinenko meets Andrei Lugovoi and another Russian at a London hotel
23 November 2006: Litvinenko dies in a London hospital
24 November 2006: A Litvinenko statement accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of involvement in his death. Experts say Litvinenko was poisoned
6 December 2006: UK police say they are treating the death as murder
22 May 2007: Lugovoi should be charged with Litvinenko's murder, British prosecutors say
28 May 2007: UK makes formal request for Lugovoi's extradition from Russia

Under the European Convention on Extradition 1957, Russia has the right to refuse the extradition of a citizen, and its constitution expressly forbids it. A Foreign Office spokesman said that the government was still seeking to persuade Moscow to hand over Mr Lugovoi.

"We continue to look for a willingness from the Russian authorities to work constructively with us to bring this crime, committed in the UK, to justice in a UK court," he said. Gordon Brown renewed his demand for the extradition of Mr Lugovoi on Monday and described the situation as "intolerable".

Last week, four Russian embassy staff were expelled from the UK after the British extradition request was refused. That prompted Moscow to retaliate by asking four British embassy staff to leave within 10 days. Mr Litvinenko, who had taken UK citizenship, died of exposure to radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006. Traces of the radioactive isotope were found in several places visited by Mr Lugovoi, who denies any involvement in Mr Litvinenko's death.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...ws/6914522.stm

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

I just noticed I posted the same thing above and none of the images I tried to post.

Anyway here they are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIjV4VS5ZNw&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gjo5dvZQgc&mode=related&search=

[skhara]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

By the way:

I came across this and found it to be an interesting read.
The author is clearly in line with Washington DCs interest, and much of his statements are very much in line with the Balkan war propaganda, and the turk version of the Artsakh "attrocities". Nonetheless, there are some nuggets in that reading.

In all, he does a fairly frank job of outlining rival axes and agrees with us on that, he is just in the enemy camp.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Broadcast_Media/History_Geography_BN.html