Current Events and Links

See also:
War of Gog and Magog
The New Cold War

Russia Assails NATO Over Expansion Plan, Support for U.S. Missile Defense

Apr. 4, 2008 - Sergei Ryabkov, chief of the Russian Foreign Ministry's department for European cooperation said that Russia is unhappy about NATO's promise to eventually bring Ukraine and Georgia into the NATO alliance. He also commented on NATO's approval of the U.S. sponsored European Missile Shield.

"We have new concerns about plans to integrate U.S. missile defense plans with NATO system," he said, signaling that Russia may abandon cooperation with NATO on a short-range missile defense in Europe.

Source: Fox

Russian bombers 'buzzed' US aircraft carrier

Feb. 12, 2008 - One Russian Tupolev 95 bomber buzzed the USS Nimitz twice on Saturday. It flew over the carrier at an altitude of just 600m. A second bomber circled nearby.

Four F/A-18 fighter planes were sent to intercept them when they breached an 800km perimeter. Two stayed with the Tupolev circling at altitude about 80km from the Nimitz while two followed the other bomber as it approached the carrier.

Source: Herald Sun - Australia

Russia Warns of New Arms Race in Outer Space - Voice of America

U.S. military weighing if Russia in Cold War pose - Reuters

Russia threatens nuclear attack on Ukraine - Telegraph UK

Gorbachev, Rebuking Putin, Criticizes Russian Elections

Jan. 30, 2008 - Former Soviet Union Leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, criticized Russia's electoral system in the light of President Vladimir Putin's control over presidential candidates.

“Something is wrong with our elections, and our electoral system needs a major adjustment,” the former Soviet leader said.

Putin has preserved power for himself and the Kremlin's inner circle by hand-picking a successor, Dmitri A. Medvedev. Medvedev, in turn, has pledged to give Putin the post of Prime Minister.

The opposition candidate, former Prime Minister Mikhail M. Kasyanov, was denied a place on the ballot on Sunday by the Central Election Commission

The commission claimed that 13 percent of the signatures submitted with his registration were invalid.

Source: N.Y. Times

Russian President Vladimir Putin Named Time's 'Person of the Year'

Dec. 19, 2007 - Time Magazine chose Russian President Vladimir Putin its 2007 "Person of the Year." According to Richard Stengel, Time's managing editor, the choice was made because Putin was able to lead Russia from chaos to stability.

On the other hand, Putin has moved Russia away from the democratic reforms of the 1990s by tightening control of the media, courts and parliament.

"He's the new czar of Russia and he's dangerous in the sense that he doesn't care about civil liberties, he doesn't care about free speech," Stengel said.

Since the Russian constitution limits presidents to two consecutive terms, Putin has hand-picked Dmitry Medvedev as his choice for the next president, and has said he would accept Medvedev's offer to become Prime Minister if Medvedev is elected.

Source: Fox

A Tsar Is Born - Time

Monitors denounce Russia election

Dec. 3, 2007 - A joint observer team representing the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe, sounded the alarm that Russia's latest election was "not fair." President Vladimir Putin's party supposedly received 64.1% of the votes.

The statement said the polls "took place in an atmosphere which seriously limited political competition" and that "there was not a level political playing field".

Source: BBC

U.K. police probe ex-KGB spy's poisoning death

Nov. 25, 2006 - Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy died in London because of poisoning with a radioactive substance.

In a statement written before he died, Litvinenko called Russian President Vladimir Putin “barbaric and ruthless” and blamed him personally for the poisoning.

In 1998, Litvinenko publicly publicly revealed that he had been told to kill tycoon Boris Berezovsky. He was jailed for nine months but was later acquitted. In 2000 he sought asylum in Britain. Recently he had been investigating the October slaying of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another of Putin’s critic.

Source: MSNBC

Safire Warns of Putin's 'Creeping Coup'

Feb. 11, 2004 - William Saphire reports that Arizona Senator John McCain took a bold stand in a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanov, stating that Russian President Putin and his regime are conducting a "creeping coup" against freedom within his own country and is trying to regain control over countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.

Source:Newsmax

Russia Said Preparing Nuclear Maneuvers

Jan. 31, 2004 - Russia has scheduled a massive military exercise in mid-February, designed to simulate an all-out nuclear war. It will be the greatest display of their military power in two decades, and is reminiscent of the Cold War era. It will use intercontinental ballistic missiles, bombers, replacement satellites and other means of demonstrating their military might. Analysists believe it will be timed to bolster President Putin's reelection campaign. After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, relationships between the U.S. and Russia were improved.

But the U.S.-Russian honeymoon has soured lately over Moscow's criticism of the war in Iraq , U.S. concerns about authoritarian trends in the Kremlin's domestic policy, and Russia's perceived attempts to assert its authority over ex-Soviet neighbors.

Source:Associated Press (Story no longer online.)

The Russian Reversion

Dec. 11, 2003 - Award-winning columnist William Saphire analyzes the political situation in Russia, and draws a startling conclusion:

This week's corrupted Russian election put in place the siloviki — the hot political word means "power" — and paved the way for Putin's takeover next spring as president-for-life. Russia's short-lived experiment with democracy is all but dead.

Earlier steps toward away from democracy have also been obvious reversions from democracy. Recently Putin has taken over the mass media, and has seized the political opposition's source of funds. He has basically brought back one-party rule to Russia.

Source:New York Times

Expert: Russia Knew in Advance, Encouraged Citizens to Cash Out Dollars

Sept. 1, 2001 - There are reports that, during the summer, Russian media and officials encouraged citizens to cash out of U.S. dollars before some kind of "financial attack" against the U.S. It is also significant that Russia has close ties with most of the nations known for terrorism. These nations include Iran, Iraq, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.

Source:Prophezine from NewsMax (Story no longer online.)

Collapse of USSR

Aug. 21, 2001 - Informative section on the collapse of the Soviet Union, on the 10th anniversary of the event.

Source: BBC

Russia and China sign friendship pact

July 16, 2001 - Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russian President Vladimir Putkin have signed a friendship treaty - the first between their countries in over 50 years. It is intended to replace a 1949 Communist-era pact. They also signed a separate declaration stressing their commitment to the 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. The evident purpose of this declaration is to stress their opposition to the new U.S. missile defence plans.

Russia and China have found common ground in their opposition to Washington's "Son of Star Wars" anti-missile programme, which had its latest test at the weekend.

The two countries say they are not planning a military or political bloc and that their treaty is not meant to threaten anyone.

Source: BBC

Russia, China Working on Cyber Warfare -US Official

June 21, 2001 - Russia and China appear to be developing computer-based tools with the potential to do long-lasting harm to the U.S. economy. See the article in our Cyberwar section.

Bush faces growing Russian challenge

June 15, 2001 - President Bush plans to meet Russia's President Putin tomorrow. In preparation for this meeting, President Putin has been busy building new alliances with China and unifying former Soviet Union Nations.

Bush will meet Putin in Ljubliana, Slovenia, tomorrow as Putin comes to the conference table with strategic accords with China, further progress on a revolutionary transit system across Russia and success in rebuilding the framework of a new Soviet Union.

The Russian president's efforts have been aimed at creating a democratic 'multi-polar world,' (as opposed to the uni-polar domination of the United States). The meeting from which Putin is returning is the summit of the "Shanghai Five," consisting of Russia, China and the Central Asian former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kirgizia and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan may also become a part of this alliance.

At the same time, legislators have been trying to establish unity between Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, and several smaller former Soviet Union countries have also expressed interest in alliance. They include Kirgizia and Moldova.

Source: WorldNetDaily - By Toby Westerman

Russia Markets Missile Shield System To Mideast

June 14, 2001 - Egypt and Iran have both expressed interest in Russia's S-300V missile shield system which they claim can protect military facilities and troops against ballistic missiles better than the U.S. Patriot batteries.

Source: Middle East Newsline

Ukrainian Entrepreneur Seeks to Launch "Christianity" Magazine in the Former Soviet Union

June 12, 2001 - Alex Yefetov, a successful high-tech magazine editor and publisher in Kiev, Ukraine, became a Christian in 1997, and now plans to launch a balanced Christian life magazine for his country and other nearby nations. He has already registered the name "Christianity" for the publication, and hopes to begin with the first issue of about 10,000 copies in the Fall of this year.

Source: Worthy News

Russia's Chabad fights 'Messianic Jews'

May 25, 2001 - Mainstream Jews in Russia and surrounding countries oppose the message and growing influence of Messianic Jews, which have grown greatly during the past 10 years. Jews for Jesus are especially active.

Source: Jerusalem Post (Story no longer online)

Global space race heats up

May 23, 2001 - See the summary in our "Wars and Rumors of Wars" section.

An independent military space force is planned to begin June 1 in Russia to combine all Russian military space programs and commercial space ventures.

Source: WorldNetDaily- From Stratfor Global Intelligence Update

Memo: Bush, Schroeder to Halt Aid

May 21, 2001 -

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and U.S. President George W. Bush agreed to withhold financial aid from Russia as long as vast sums continue to flow out of the country, two German magazines reported Saturday.

Source: Moscow Times

EU Asks Russia to Ax Dollar for Euro

May 16, 2001 -

Source: Moscow Times

Russia eyes the European family

May 18, 2001 - Russian president Vladimir Putin wants to position his country as part of the European family. In Moscow, many citizens feel the same, although there is also a strong anti-Western sentiment.

In the villages, however, many people have no concept of Europe, and are, in fact, influenced more by Asian history and culture.

Other problems make it difficult for Russia to become European:

Russia's legal system is still a long way from being EU compatible.

The same could be said of its democracy: There are widespread concerns in the West about the state of freedom of the press, human rights and the war in Chechnya.

Source: BBC

Back to Bad Old Days

Apr. 26, 2001 - By Konstantin Preobrazhensky

The writer, a retired KGB lieutenant colonel, laments the loss of the one television outlet in Russia that was not controlled by the state.

The death of NTV has transformed Russia into a qualitatively different state. The Western world simply cannot continue treating this new Russia as if it were the same country that it was just a few weeks ago. It only makes sense now to relate to Russia with the same suspicion and caution with which the West treated the Soviet Union.

He is also concerned that the average citizen does not dare to stand up against the situation. He concludes they say they don't have enough information to form an opinion, and at this rate, they never will.

Source: Russia Today - from The Moscow Times (Story no longer online.)