“We ain’t made a half-decent album in like 30 years, maaaan”
August 29, 2008
Putin & Churkin on Abkhazia & South Ossetia 2008-08-29
Putin: Russia won’t be isolated
Churkin: What ‘aid’ does the US supply to Georgia?
Pat Buchanan: Georgia started this fight — Russia finished it
Речь Чуркина на Совбезе ООН, ч. 1
Речь Чуркина на Совбезе ООН, ч. 2
Речь Чуркина на Совбезе ООН, ч. 3
Речь Чуркина на Совбезе ООН, ч. 4
August 29, 2008
Russia’s Military Capability
Russia: Understanding the Russian Military
Stratfor.com | August 28, 2008
Summary
The Russian military is often dismissed offhand based on perceptions with outdated roots in the mid-1990s and the turn of the century. In truth, the Russian military has seen very significant improvements since that time, and the Kremlin’s net military capability exceeds the Western perception of it.
Analysis
Western analysts have already begun to pick apart the Russian invasion of Georgia, citing details that they argue denigrate the performance of the Kremlin’s military. But something very different is going on. Where they see failures based on modern Western standards of military performance, we see the effective exercise of military force. When the moment came, the Russian military achieved the Kremlin’s objectives without suffering unreasonable losses. Though widely touted as a failure, this is the essence of any successful military operation. They are never pretty. But by the above measure, the Georgian operation was a success — tactically, operationally and strategically — for Russia.
During the Cold War, the Soviets were masters of misinformation. They conceive of it as an inherent component of defense. They confuse basic distinctions through nomenclature and are happy to be underestimated — or at times in the past, overestimated — rather than properly evaluated. This dates back to at least World War II, where the Russians believe inaccurate German estimations of force strength in the Far East (then rushed to the Western Front) helped save them in the end.
This perception is something the Russians manage carefully and consciously as part of their overall defense strategy. There is no doubt that by any measure, the Russian military was in shambles by the mid-1990s. It was an underfunded, bloated and rusting shadow of its former self. But current Western characterizations of the Russian military make it seem as though nothing has changed.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The Russian military still has very real challenges, from widely fielding modern equipment to reducing the size and increasing the professionalization of its ranks. But these challenges are often mistaken for signs that nothing has changed, and Moscow feeds that misconception by allowing outside observers to find evidence for their existing conviction and what they want to believe.
Former Russian President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is an intelligence officer, and the cultivation of false perceptions is an inherent part of the skills he learned and the trade he plied as a professional. Furthermore, he has long understood the value of technology-focused espionage. In the course of his ongoing tenure at the helm in the Kremlin, this has been an area of focus.
This, combined with sustained spending on military research and development — one of the foremost areas in which Moscow has worked to sustain funding, even in its darkest hours in the mid-1990s — adds up to significant progress in expanding and modifying late-Soviet technology for the 21st century. The S-400 strategic air defense system is a prime example, though its true capabilities remain unclear.
Moscow is still struggling with its defense industry. It will probably never return to Soviet production rates, and ongoing clan conflicts continue to stymie real progress in a number of areas. Russia continues to rely on the legacy of Soviet-era technology and might not be capable of the same generational leaps that the West aspires to. The Russians’ ability to adapt to the latest military developments, like modern anti-armor technology, could also be limited.
Meanwhile, the years 2010-2012 will bring the true test for Russia’s efforts in ramping up its defense production capacity for its own military (rather than selling more expensive and less efficient early production variants abroad). During that time, multiple hulls of a ship class are slated to begin hitting the water in closer succession. Production of important hardware like the Su-34 “Fullback” fighter-bomber should begin to hit serial rates and see delivery to the Russian air force at a meaningful pace.
But the bottom line is that improvements and reforms in the Russian military under Putin have been immense. A U.S. serviceman rightfully scoffs at the rust on a Russian tank, and that is a testament to American military ethos. But that is the beginning, not the end, of the assessment of military capability. What the Georgia invasion demonstrated clearly is that rusty tanks still move, in both forward and reverse, and their main guns still function. Yes, there is attrition from maintenance issues — but such attrition has always been a part of Russian planning and calculations.
Ultimately, Russia’s net military capability exceeds the perception, and that is no accident. The perception is carefully cultivated by Russia and compounded by a tendency in the West to judge Moscow by Western military standards. The Soviet approach was never completely symmetrical to European and American efforts. Their approach to U.S. supercarriers was large volleys of mass-producible supersonic anti-ship missiles, and their approach to stealth was bigger radars. But select military units have begun to be upgraded beyond where they were in the mid-1980s, and remaining units have begun to regain a mid-1980s capability. To hold the Kremlin to Western standards only further clouds the perception of Russia’s true capability.
August 29, 2008
Sealanders Struggle for Freedom
THE PRINCIPALITY OF SEALAND
e mare libertas
From the Sea, Freedom
The Constitution of Sealand
- Every person has the right to justice and liberty.
- Every person has the right to exercise their own beliefs provided that such beliefs do not infringe upon the beliefs and wellbeing of others.
- The freedom of the individual can be restricted only by due process of law.
- The legal system is based on the British Common Law and the British Law of Contract with certain exceptions.
- All individuals are equal before the law and no one may suffer prejudice for any reason.
- Any Ordinance passed in Sealand by the Senate properly constituted will exclude and take precedence over such Laws.
- The National language of the Principality of Sealand is English. All official documents must be in that language.
- All companies registered in Sealand are subject to the same laws.
From The Principality’s Official Chronicles
During World War II, the United Kingdom decided to establish a number of military bases, the purpose of which was to defend England against German air raids. These sea forts housed enough troops to man and maintain artillery designed to shoot down German aircraft and missiles. They were situated along the east coast of England on the edge of the English territorial waters.
One of these bases, consisting of concrete and steel construction, was the famous royal fort Roughs Tower situated slightly north of the estuary region of the Thames River. In contrast to the original plan to locate the tower within the sovereign territory of England, this fortress was situated at a distance of approximately 7 nautical miles from the coast, which is more than double the then applicable 3 mile range of territorial waters; to put it briefly, this island was situated in the international waters of the North Sea.
After WWII ended, the troops were withdrawn from all bases by the British Admiralty. None of them was ever used by the United Kingdom again, leaving the forts deserted and abandoned. Except for the aforementioned fortress, the bases were subsequently pulled down. This resulted in the portentous uniqueness of the fortress. Fort Roughs Tower, situated at the high seas, had been deserted and abandoned, res derelicta and terra nullius. From a legal point of view, it therefore constituted extra-national territory.
The Birth of Sealand
This paved the way for occupation. On 2 September 1967, former English major Paddy Roy Bates formally occupied the island and settled there with his family. After intensive discussions with skillful English lawyers, Roy Bates proclaimed the island his own state. Claiming jus gentium, he bestowed upon himself the title of Prince and the title of Princess to his wife and subsequently made the state the Principality of Sealand. Roy Bates, henceforth Roy of Sealand, exerted state authority on the island and thus was an absolute sovereign. The royal family and other persons that have declared loyalty to Sealand have occupied Sealand ever since.
Initial Challenge to Sealand’s Sovereignty
By late 1968, the British navy had become aware of the new situation off the coast of England. They were interested in terminating the state of affairs brought about by an error committed by the most senior military authorities without causing too much uproar.
Units of the navy entered the territorial waters claimed by Roy of Sealand. As he was aware of his sovereignty, Roy of Sealand threatened the navy by undertaking defensive activity. Shots were fired from Sealand in warning.
Since Roy of Sealand was still an English citizen, he was thus accused of extensive crimes in Britain and was summoned to an English court. The result of this lawsuit in Chelmsford, Essex was a spectacular success for Sealand’s claim to sovereignty. In its judgment of 25 November 1968, the court declared that it was not competent in Roy of Sealand’s case as it could not exert any jurisdiction outside of British national territory. This is the first de facto recognition of the Principality of Sealand. English law had ruled that Sealand was not part of the United Kingdom, nor did any other nation claim it, hence Prince Roy’s declaration of a new Sovereign State was de facto upheld.
Building a New Nation
Seven years later on 25 September 1975, Roy of Sealand proclaimed the Constitution of the Principality. Over time, other national treasures were developed, such as the flag of the Principality of Sealand, its national anthem, stamps, as well as gold and silver coins launched as Sealand Dollars. Finally, passports of the Principality of Sealand were issued to those who had helped Sealand in some way, though they were never for sale.
Sealand Fights Off Invaders (and Wins a War)
In August of 1978, a number of Dutch men came to Sealand in the employ of a German businessman. They were there to discuss business dealings with Sealand. While Roy was away in Britain, these men kidnapped Prince Roy’s son Michael, and took Sealand by force. Soon after, Roy recaptured the island with a group of his own men and held the attackers as prisoners of war.
During the time that he held the prisoners, the Governments of the Netherlands and Germany petitioned for their release. First they asked England to intervene in the matter, but the British government cited their earlier court decision as evidence that they made no claim to the territory of Sealand. Then, in an act of de facto recognition of Sealand’s sovereignty, Germany sent a diplomat directly to Sealand to negotiate for the release of their citizen.
Roy first released the Dutch citizens, as the war was over, and the Geneva Convention requires the release of all prisoners. The German was held longer, as he had accepted a Sealand Passport, and therefore was guilty of treason. Prince Roy, who was grateful that the incident had not resulted in a loss of life, and did not want to bloody the reputation of Sealand, eventually released him as well.
Extension of Territorial Waters
On 1 October, 1987, Britain extended its territorial waters from 3 to 12 nautical miles. The previous day, Prince Roy declared the extension of Sealand’s territorial waters to be a like 12 nautical miles, so that right of way from the open sea to Sealand would not be blocked by British claimed waters. No treaty has been signed between Britain and Sealand to divide up the overlapping areas, but a general policy of dividing the area between the two countries down the middle can be assumed. International law does not allow the claim of new land during the extension of sea rights, so Sealand’s sovereignty was safely “grandfathered” in. Britain has no more right to Sealand’s territory than Sealand has to the territory of the British coastline that falls within its claimed 12 nautical mile arc.
Some nations might have tried to use this as an excuse to try to claim all of the territory of the weaker and not well recognized nation regardless of international law, however, this has not been the case. Britain has made no attempt to take Sealand, and the British government still treats it as an independent State. Prince Roy continues to pay no British National Insurance during the time he resides on Sealand subsequent to a ruling by the British Department of Health and Social Security’s solicitor’s branch. Also, there was another fire arms incident in 1990 when a ship strayed too near Sealand and warning shots were again fired. The ship’s crew made complaints to British authorities and a newspaper article ran detailing the incident. Yet despite Britain’s severe prohibition of firearms, British authorities have never pursued the matter. This is a clear indication that Britain’s Home Office still considers Sealand to be outside their zone of control.
- Genuine Sealand Passport
Fake Sealand Passports
In 1997, forged Sealand passports started tuning up around the world. Some of these were used to open bank accounts under false names in various countries. Since few people have ever seen a legitimate Sealand passport (less than 300 exist today) it was difficult for these to be easily detected as forgeries. The source of these forgeries was traced back to the same German man who was involved in the earlier attempt to take Sealand by force. Dubbing himself Minister of Finance, he had created a fake Sealand Business Foundation and boasts that he has sold over 150 000 fake Sealand Passports to all comers. Thus there are now unfortunately 500 times more forged Sealand Passports in circulation than real ones. Many of the forged passports were apparently sold to people leaving Hong Kong at the time of Chinese reoccupation for USD 1 000 each.
Current Views of the Principality of Sealand
The current government of the Principality of Sealand considers itself to be sovereign, and to have been recognized de facto as such on the basis of the aforementioned statements by multiple world governments. It states the following:
“The Principality of Sealand recognizes jus gentium and has undertaken to regulate any activity with a view to compliance with jus gentium and international law or to have it regulated.”
The existence of the Principality as an independent State and the de facto recognition of its sovereignty has been demonstrated time and time again over the last three decades by European and other States and in particular by its nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom. Britain has stated clearly and has demonstrated on a number of occasions either that it has no jurisdiction within Principality territorial limits or that it has no interest in events that have taken place within the Principality.
Moreover, a number of independent legal experts have weighed carefully all arguments for and against Sealand sovereignty and unanimously have agreed that jus gentium applies as a basic principle underpinning the independence of the Principality. This position is further supported by de facto events which demonstrate that reality. On many occasions, other States have either left Sealand alone to deal internationally with matters critical to its National interest, or have recognised Sealand as the legal and administrative authority over all activities within its territorial limits.
Even today, the United Kingdom government recognises, inter alia, residency or work in Sealand as an overseas activity.
The Internet Comes to Sealand
Whilst Sealand has been the pride and joy of Prince Roy and his family for well over 30 years, his recent poor health has caused him fundamentally to review the arrangements which have been in place for decades and to look to the future of his Principality. Consequently, his son Prince Michael was appointed Prince Regent as Sovereign pro tempore by Royal Decree in 1999.
Since that time, the Royal Family has struck a deal with HavenCo Limited, and that company now leases exclusively its offices and operations centres in Sealand, where it offers, and is able to offer, unparalleled security and independence to users who wish to take advantage of its Internet colocation services.
The presence of an active and rapidly growing high-tech internet industry in Sealand has changed the character of the Principality; once more, Sealand rings with the sound of voices, boasts regular support ferry services, and is host to a growing and dynamic population.
Because of the high security required to support HavenCo’s operations, access to Sealand remains highly restricted and no public visits are allowed. Further information or specific queries may be addressed to the Bureau of Internal Affairs (burint@sealandgov.org) at SEALAND 1001, Sealand Post Bag, IP11 9SZ, UK.
SEALAND CURRENCY
After declaring sovereignty in 1967, Prince Roy soon began issuing Sealand stamps, passports and coins. Sealand’s official currency, the Sealand Dollar has a fixed exchange rate of US $ 1.
Sealand has struck coins periodically since 1972, when the first issued coin depicted Princess Joan of Sealand and a classic sailing vessel in .925 fine Silver. Another silver issue, also featuring the beautiful Princess Joan was released in 1975, this time with Sealand’s Coat of Arms on the reverse.
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Sealand’s sovereignty, 1977 was a banner year for the coins of the Principality, when Sealand issued 5 different types of .925 silver coins featuring Princess Joan and Prince Roy, and one .900 fine gold coin featuring HRH Prince Roy of Sealand.
In 1994 the Principality of Sealand issued the first coins in the “Endangered Sealife” Series. These first coins in the series, and so far the only ones issued, feature a bold depiction of an Orcinus Orca killer whale breaching the water, with the Sealand Coat of Arms on the obverse this. This highly collectable series consists of .999 pure silver Dollar and Half Dollar coins, a Quarter Dollar struck in one half ounce .999 fine silver, a “Commemorative 2½ Dollar” struck in .999 fine silver limited to 1000 copies, and three 1.00 Dollar, 2.50 Dollar and 5.00 Dollar coins struck in .999 pure gold. This series of stunningly beautiful coins calls attention to the plight of the residents of the seas and oceans. By acquiring the stylish Orca coins, coin collectors helped the Center for Whale Research in their efforts to assist these wonderful animals of the sea and a contribution was made to the “Save Willy Fund” to save the life of the Orca that starred in the hit movie “Free Willy”.
The first marriage certificate issued in Sealand, 1979
Sealand’s first stamps, featuring famous maritime explorers
August 29, 2008
South Ossetians celebrate
Photos by Sergei Karpukhin
Между жизнью граждан и колбасой Россия выбирает первое – Путин
МОСКВА, 29 авг – РИА Новости. России предлагают выбрать между жизнью граждан и колбасой, она выбирает жизнь, заявил премьер-министр РФ Владимир Путин, комментируя угрозы Запада осанкциях в отношении Москвы из-за признания ею Южной Осетии и Абхазии.
Россия признала независимость Южной Осетии и Абхазии 26 августа. Жители этих республик обратились с просьбой о признании независимости после событий 8-12 августа, когда Грузия провела военную операцию в Южной Осетии. Тогда грузинские войска практически полностью разрушили столицу республики город Цхинвали и многие населенные пункты, убив, по данным югоосетинских властей, более полутора тысяч мирных жителей.
“У нас 80 человек убили там (в Южной Осетии) сразу, две тысячи мирных граждан там убито. И мы что, не можем защитить жизни своих граждан там? А если мы защищаем свои жизни, то у нас отберут колбасу? У нас выбор какой: между колбасой и жизнью. Мы выбираем жизнь”, – сказал премьер в интервью немецкой телекомпании ARD.
Путин вновь подчеркнул, что у России имелись все правовые основания для военной операции в Южной Осетии.
“Конечно, мы действовали в рамках международного права. Нападение на наши миротворческие посты, убийство наших миротворцев и наших граждан, безусловно, мы восприняла как нападение на Россию”, – сказал премьер.
“В первые часы боевых действий своими ударами грузинские вооруженные силы убили у нас сразу несколько десятков миротворцев, окружили наш Южный городок – там были Южный и Северный городок миротворцев – окружили танками и начали расстреливать его прямой наводкой. Когда наши солдаты-миротворцы попытались вывести технику из гаражей, был нанесен удар системами “Град”. Десять человек, которые зашли в ангар, погибли на месте, сгорели заживо. Затем авиация Грузии нанесла удары по различным точкам Южной Осетии не в Цхинвали, а в центре самой Южной Осетии. Мы вынуждены были начать подавление пунктов управления огнем, которые находились за зоной боевых действий и за зоной безопасности. Но это были такие точки, откуда управлялись вооруженные силы и откуда по российским войскам и миротворцам наносились удары”, – рассказал Путин.
Georgian enclave hails tight embrace from Moscow
International Herald Tribune, August 26, 2008
TSKHINVALI, Georgia [?]: The last time South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia the last three times, actually hardly anyone noticed. Even Russia, its great friend to the north, declined to take up the cause.
South Ossetia is a piece of mountainous land with a population of around 70,000. The capital, Tskhinvali, is a mess of crumbling apartment blocks, their facades pocked with bullet holes. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has had no economy to speak of, except for apple orchards and illegal trade in drugs, armaments and counterfeit hundred-dollar bills.
But a lot has changed in the last two weeks.
First Georgia, then Russia, sent troops into South Ossetia, making the tiny territory the center of a cold war-style struggle between Russia and the West. On Monday, Tskhinvali residents listened over a loudspeaker in the city’s main square to a live broadcast from Moscow, where the Russian Parliament voted unanimously to support independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia, a second breakaway region, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast.
The news spread quickly, and people leaned out car windows with Russian and South Ossetian flags, spraying pedestrians with Champagne.
“Finally, finally, Russia has acknowledged that we exist, and that we have suffered,” said Vova Bakayev, 41, an Ossetian soldier stationed outside Tskhinvali’s makeshift International Press Center.
Official recognition will require the signature of the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev. Even then, its relevance would be largely symbolic. Most Western countries have pledged to support Georgia’s territorial integrity, and Georgian officials say a unilateral recognition by Russia would be meaningless.
But that hardly dampened spirits in Tskhinvali. The capital was shelled by Georgian forces on Aug. 7, sending many of its people to cower in basements. But Russia quickly stormed in, chasing out Georgian troops and pushing well into Georgia proper. It has mostly pulled back but has maintained a strong troop presence in South Ossetia.
Citizens here said the military action and parliamentary vote amounted to a lasting pledge of protection by Russia and its allies.
“I think after Russia, we will be recognized by, for example, Belgrade, for example, China, and maybe Syria, and also Belarus,” said Alexei Sanokoyev, 23, an analyst for the South Ossetian government’s foreign policy department, which has covered its broken windows with clear plastic sheeting.
“And Cuba, of course,” he added.
As Georgia grappled with two separatist regions, Abkhazia was always the bigger prize: it occupies a strategic position on the Black Sea coast, and was a beloved seaside resort in Soviet days. South Ossetia could not even boast of a gravel and concrete industry, as Abkhazia could. Many longtime observers expected hostilities to flare up in Abkhazia, whose separatist leaders have adamantly demanded independence.
In South Ossetia, by contrast, most people want to become part of Russia. The South Ossetians are part of a larger ethnic group that settled on both sides of the Caucasus. They dream of reuniting with the North Ossetians to restore Alania, an ancient kingdom they believe was home to their ancestors, the Scythians.
The South Ossetian separatists set their clocks to Moscow time, an hour earlier than Tbilisi, and have used rubles as their currency. In 2004, they appealed directly to the Russian Duma to appropriate the territory. And on the street on Monday, the rush of gratitude toward Russia was shot through with fury at the West and the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili.
“Everything Saakashvili does is organized by your country, and every child here knows this,” said Murad Dzhioyev, South Ossetia’s minister for foreign affairs told an American reporter. “Western taxpayers should think where their taxes go. We are killed by Western weapons.”
The dissolution of the Soviet Union left this place a cauldron of ethnic tension.
In 1990, Georgia’s president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, abolished autonomous regions, stripping South Ossetia of the self-determination it enjoyed in Soviet days. A war broke out, in which about 1,000 people were killed, and the once-friendly relations between Georgians and South Ossetians turned poisonous.
That war left Tskhinvali battered and depopulated. Even at full strength, South Ossetia’s total population could not have filled China’s National Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics took place. Now, many have fled to Moscow or Rostov-on-Don to escape the fighting. Working-age men who remain can be seen stalking the capital’s streets in packs, heavily armed. The city’s one functioning outdoor market offered little but cheap Russian trinkets.
One industry that continued to thrive was the smuggling through the Roki Tunnel, which cuts through the huge ridge of the Caucasus. Consumer goods poured south from Russia, avoiding Georgian duties, and crime rings transported drugs north from Central Asia and Afghanistan. At the vast market in Eregvi, a visitor could find plentiful tax-free consumer goods, bricks of black tar heroin and AK-47s.
Dzhioyev denied there was smuggling in the area, calling it “Saakashvili’s invention.”
In 2004, when President Saakashvili shut the market down and established fortified border posts, it strangled what was left of the South Ossetian economy.
Meanwhile, the Georgian government financed building projects in Georgian-occupied villages gleaming cinemas, banks and electronics stores that the Ossetians could glimpse from their own impoverished strongholds. In the summer, the city of Tskhinvali often runs short of drinking water because Georgian farming communities have diverted water from pipelines north of the city, according to a report by the International Crisis Group.
For many in Tskhinvali, Russian support for independence meant, as Zaur Kudukov, a resident, put it, “freedom from Georgia.”
“They humiliated us, they laughed at us,” he said. “They said, ‘You’re Ossetian, you’re mediocre people,’ ” Kudukov, 72, said that he had quit drinking 18 years ago but that he would celebrate Monday night.
“I will pour a glass to say, long live our freedom,” he said.
It is not clear what an independent South Ossetia would look like. Shota Utiashvili, an officials with Georgia’s Interior Ministry, estimates that Russia financed 95 percent of the separatists’ budget in 2007.
“They have no economy whatsoever, and they never had any economy,” he said. “There is no way it can be a viable entity.”
Inal Pliev, a spokesman for the South Ossetian government, said there were some working factories that should allow South Ossetians to produce goods for export. He listed a few slowly, as if counting them on his fingers. Lincoln Mitchell, an assistant professor of international politics at Columbia University, said South Ossetia could not function without Russian support.
“It’s a poor, rural place,” Mitchell said. “If it were independent, it would be a poor, rural place. It’s very hard to talk about Ossetian independence from Russia with a straight face.”
He said South Ossetia served a useful purpose for Russia, by destabilizing the Georgian economy and Saakashvili’s government.
“I don’t think anybody really cares a lot about the South Ossetian people,” he said. “This conflict was never about South Ossetia.”
But it would have been hard to persuade the residents of Tskhinvali of that this week, when the South Ossetian president, Eduard Kokoity, a former Soviet wrestling champion, triumphantly returned to a celebration in the city’s central square after a visit to Moscow, where he had pressed Russia to take his territory into the Russian fold.
The square telegraphs the city’s ordeal: the head has been neatly shot off a statue of Vasily Abayev, an ethnographer and local hero; a streetlight hangs cockeyed; a grand theater, gutted by fire, stands open to the sky; curtains wound around a tree branch on Stalin Street.
When Kokoity strode into the square, elderly men and women plucked at his sleeves, weeping, and whispered their gratitude in his ear. Women thrust babies at him to be kissed. He shouted out at the crowd, and they roared in answer.
“We will be a free people!” he said.
August 29, 2008
Legalism, Reality and Morality in the Balkans and Caucasus
One aspect of the Serbia-Kosovo-Bosnia-Srpska-NATO-US-South Ossetia-Abkhazia-Georgia-Russia situation that I think has not been properly dealt with is the Western obsession with Legalism and the appearance of propriety.
The West’s Albanian, Croat, Georgian, and Bosnian Muslim “allies” (i.e. the tails that are wagging the dogs) seize land and power wherever and whenever they can. Shoot first, ask questions later. Kill enemy tribes and seize territory first, invent justifications later.
Their US-NATO-EU protectors, however, cannot stand the thought that they might be viewed as aggressors. So they go through the motions of negotiating and debating everything, before finally, and with a great show of deep regret, crushing anyone who stands in their way.
There is no rationality behind the US-NATO positions in the Balkans and Caucasus. “Yugoslavia is too big and unwieldy, and frustrates the nationalist aspirations of its peoples.” “Bosnian Serb selfishness is destroying the wonderful multikulti greenhouse of Bosnia.” “Kosovo Albanians are being oppressed in Serbia, and should be free.” “Balkan Albanians must not be allowed to unite in one state.” etc. And now more illogic in the Caucasus.
The only sense I can make of it is: Serbia/Serbs & Russia/Russians must be weakened.
They say that Russia and Serbia are totalitarian or tyrannical or authoritarian or undemocratic or Communist.
And yet the PRC is treated with great respect. [Note the absurdity of calls to boycott the Sochi Olympics even as the Beijing Olympics were still being celebrated!] And Blair and Sarkozy kowtow to Khaddafi. And Kharzai is supposed to embody liberal values. And the Saudis have no problem importing their slaves to their Western penthouses and estates. Compared to many of the West’s “allies”, Serbs and Russians are icons of peace and freedom.
And of course Obama, Pelosi, Blair, Brown, Merkel, Clinton, and many others are more Communistic than Putin is, or than Milošević ever was.
I believe the anti-Serb anti-Russian bias is ultimately because Orthodox Christians don’t fit into the New World Order mold. Of course most Westerners are now so subconsciously anti-Christian that they wouldn’t even recognize this anti-Orthodox motive. They just take it for granted that Protestantism, mild Roman Catholicism, Secularism, non-religious Muslims, atheist Jews, etc. are all normal, and everyone else has to be converted to Western amorphousness.
Anyway, the Western obsession with legal cover explains the need for “Kosovo” to be “recognized” as widely as possible.
Russians, on the other hand, seem to have had their fill of Legalism in the Soviet era. (By “Legalism” I don’t mean The Law, in the Judeo-Christian sense of Truth and morality. I mean a drive to achieve legalistic cover for one’s actions, regardless of their morality. E.g.: “I was just following orders.”) Russia’s concerns on its borders are Security, Stability, and Control.
Therefore, re Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia was content to have them be merely de facto independent for 16 years. NATO expansionism and Georgian militancy forced Russia to firmly de-link Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia. Now that that de-linking is a fact, Russians couldn’t really care less whether anyone else recognizes Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In fact, Russia would prefer not to have to “recognize” them (because Russia wants to avoid a precedent for regions like Chechnya), but now it feels that that’s what is necessary to send the message that these areas are under Russian protection.
August 29, 2008
Kosovo Update
Blue = States that recognize Kosovo & Metohija as Serbian
Red = States that recognize the NATO protectorate as “independent”
2008-08-17
[Click on image to magnify]
August 29, 2008
September 3rd will mark 1707th anniversary of world’s first Christian state
La Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino
Saint Marinus left the island of Rab in Croatia with his friend, Leo, and went to the city of Rimini as a mason. After the Diocletianic Persecution following his Christian sermons, he escaped to the nearby Monte Titano, where he built a small church. The official date of the foundation of the Most Serene Republic is 3 September 301.
August 29, 2008
The New Warsaw Pact
You have to admire the way that the Poles, Georgians, Ukrainians, Latvians, Hungarians, Romanians, etc. — a bunch of gangsters, thugs (like the non-Russians: Trotsky, Brezhnev, Andropov, Dzerzhinsky, Stalin, Beria, Krushchov, etc), “ex” Communists, and “ex” fascists — have managed to con Canada, the US and Western Europe into a future war with the Russians that they themselves, out of their cowardice and corruption, never dared to fight.
[Okay, with the exception of the many of them who fought for Hitler — Let's give credit where credit is due. And let's not forget all the Albanians, Bosnians and Croats who also fought for the Nazi phase of the New World Order.]
One of the most magnificent con jobs in all of history.
+ + +
BTW, Russians are not Iraqis, Afghans, Saudi terrorists hiding in caves, or Granadans.
Russians have Spetsnaz, SU-34s, Chorny Oriols, T-90s, the Admiral Kuznetsov, ICBMs.
A special place is reserved in Hell for anyone scheming to cause a war with Russia on Russian territory, especially when the only beneficiaries (besides arms manufacturers) would be Jihadis and Communist China.
