Kavkazcenter.com

U.S. ambassador in Ukraine: America will not allow Russians to capture Crimea like South Ossetia

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 14:40:02 GMT

Friends of Ukraine in Europe would do everything possible to ensure that the South Ossetian scenario would not repeated in Crimea, the US ambassador in Ukraine John Tefft said in an interview with a Crimean paper. "I saw this tragedy with my own eyes. I hope that nothing like that would happen here, and the Ukrainian leadership as well as the friends of Ukraine in Europe would do everything possible to prevent such a development", he said. "Barack Obama said: the strategic partnership between the US and Ukraine is based on common values. These include the expansion of democracy and prosperity, protection of security and territorial integrity, strengthening of the rules of law, development and promotion of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, support of reforms in economic and energy sectors of Ukraine. THe US hope to work with the newly elected president Yanukovich, and we will continue to strengthen our cooperation with the Ukrainian government and parliamentary leaders. This is the official policy of the United States and at the same time my direct instructions of how to work", said the American ambassador. Tefft reiterated that the US have not abandoned plans for a presence in Crimea. "This issue is being considered. Indeed, such intention is reflected in the charter of strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States, but still many questions on this path must be solved, including the issue of funding. A final decision is still pending. I would like to note that the opening of such representation in the Crimea - and not the only mission, is now under consideration. Now a possibility of opening a number of such offices around the world is being discussed, but the question of funding is always difficult to solve", said the ambassador. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

Finnish newspaper published a scenario of war against Russia

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:04:16 GMT

The Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat published a scenario of war between Russia and Finland. The action plan was prepared for publication by military experts, who provided details of military operations. "A Russian cruise missile flies along the coast of the Gulf of Finland at a low altitude, below the range of Finnish radar. Near Porvoo the computer-guided system turns the accelerator rocket on. The missile rises to an altitude of about 200 metres, takes its course, and finally hits the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) compound in Pasila, in Helsinki", thus the begins Russian attack on peaceful Finland. Television and radio broadcasts were cut off in Finland and a chaos begins. Authorities were trying to bring the situation under control. "By decree of the President, martial law was proclaimed. The state restricts the freedom of assembly and movement, as well as political and economic activities. Seizures private property and censorship become possible", newspaper writes. Russian jet fighters rush to Helsinki region at a supersonic speed and suffer their first losses in dogfights with Finnish Hornets. The Defense Forces moved the country's leaders to safety and called reservists. "On the Karelian Isthmus, Russia's motorized army charges ahead with a force in the tens of thousands, with artillery and air support. The aim is to reach the Finnish capital in two days. However, the forward movement of the forces stops east of the Kymi River, when the Russians confront the Finnish readiness brigades concentrated in the area", the Finish paper writes. No fixed front lines were formed, and Pasi armored personnel carriers move fighters from one place to another. Russia brings hundreds of tanks from the Urals. Their weaponry can include infamous depleted uranium armor-piercing shells, the paper said. "Military hospitals are overcrowded. Highways are filled refugees heading for summer cottages and Sweden", the Finish paper says. Russians aggressors drop paratroopers at key locations in Helsinki region. Their aim is to disrupt the supply of electricity, water, and food. "The war is ultimately decided in the air. The other side is hugely overpowering. Russia's air force has more than 1,200 jet fighters, and over 700 fighter-bombers, while Finland has just over 100 fighters - 62 Hornets and 49 Hawks", the paper writes. Russia does not get the quick victory that it had hoped for as Finland gets plenty of diplomatic support from around the world. It is to be mentioned that is not for the first time when Russia attacks peaceful freedom-loving Finland. On November 30, 1939, 3 months after the start of the Second World War, Russian invaders attacked neutral Finland. The war of the Russian aggressor against the Finnish people continued until March 13, 1940, when the government was forced to sign a Peace Treaty in Moscow and give Russia Finnish lands, which Russia is still holding shamelessly by force. Russia robbed Finland of 11% of its territory, it were the best lands, and 30% of economic assets. The Russian aggressor hastened to make a peace with Finland in fear of Anglo-French expeditionary forces which were to be sent to northern Scandinavia to help the country. The Russian initial goal was to seize the whole Finland and to make Finns Russian slaves. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

The Queen contemplates the situation in the North Caucasus

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:22:01 GMT

The UK Foreign Office released a report into the human rights situation in the world in 2009, in which Russia is listed under "Countries of Concern". The report was presented by David Miliband (Foreign Secretary) and Baroness Kinnock (Minister of State) to members of non-government and human rights organizations. "We are clear that the human rights situation in Russia is serious�, - the report says. The authors believe that in certain locations the situation has deteriorated radically. The Foreign Office is particularly concerned about the human rights situation in North Caucasus, about the implementation of the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, about the safety of journalists and the ethnic minority situation in Abkhazia and North Ossetia. The report mentions numerous meetings on human rights issues between UK diplomats and Russian officials. The diplomats are shocked by the sharp increase in murders of human rights activists in 2009. �We want to see better support for human rights defenders; an end to the apparent impunity for those who attack them; and for all human rights violations against human rights defenders to be investigated fully, promptly and impartially. Those involved should be brought to justice in trials which meet international standards", - the report says. The report recalls the murder of Stanislav Merkelov (a lawyer) and Anastasia Baburova (a journalist working for Novaya Gazeta) on 19 Jan 2009 and the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Natalia Estemirova, a Chechen human rights activist. It also mentions the murder of Zarema Sadullayeva, the head of "Save the Generation" - a Chechen youth support NGO, who had a collaboration with the UK Embassy. The journalist job has become more dangerous, the report says - Novaya Gazeta alone has lost four staff members, one of them in 2009. It is also noted that repressive measures taken by the Russian authorities made journalists accustomed to self-censure. The situation in Caucasus Emirate remains tense - even though the so-called "counter-terrorist operation" is officially over, it is being sporadically re-introduced in specific regions. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture regularly notes the crimes committed by Kadyrov's henchmen in Chechnya. The situation in neighboring Ingushetia and Dagestan has also deteriorated markedly. Kidnappings, torture and lynch mob killings are reported on a regular basis. "Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs by Command of Her Majesty" - thus reads the title page. �� Kavkaz Center

Anti-Islamic provocations do not cease in the Western press

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:39:22 GMT

Three Swedish newspapers published a so-called "cartoon" of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), declaring that this blasphemous act was carried out as a sign of "solidarity with the author of cartoons Lars Vilks", after an alleged plot to murder him was uncovered in Ireland. (Interestingly, the author lives in Sweden). Blasphemous anti-Islamic campaign was carried out by Swedish newspapers Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, and Sydsvenska Dagbladet. "A threat against Lars Vilks is a threat against all Swedes", the Dagens Nyheter claims. According to the organizers of anti-Islamic provocations, "these threats are against one of the fundamental rights - the freedom of expression, and they should be regarded as a call to open and free society". The Swedish papers didn't explain if this "free society" should have at least some elementary limits to protect morality and holiness that distinguish man from beast, and at least some restrictions against insulting the Prophets of God, religious feelings of billions of people and human dignity. It is also not clear whether an unresistable desire to insult, humiliate, vulgarize the principles of religious sanctity are indispensable preconditions for the existence of such a "free society". And if such a society is truly free if it is obliged to demonstrate its freedom with vile and ungodly behavior. Aslanbek Khasiyev Department of Letters, Kavkaz Center

U.N. criticize Moscow for Sochi Olympics

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:52:04 GMT

The United Nations has criticized Russia for ignoring the ecological impact of construction projects for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. A United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report has criticized the Russian government and the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee for failing to monitor the effects of several construction projects for the 2014 Winter Olympics on the region's wildlife. The UNEP report, Sochi 2014 Report of the UNEP 2nd Expert Mission, says impact assessments "did not take into account the cumulative ... effects of the various projects on the ecosystems of the Sochi region and its population". The report follows a three-day trip to the Black Sea resort of Sochi in January by the UNEP that involved visiting various sites considered environmentally sensitive along the construction path of a combined road/rail link connecting Adler on the coast with the Alpine facilities in Krasnaya Polyana. Other sites visited included the Biathlon venue and Olympic Village in the mountain cluster, the Gasprom complex, and Rosa Khuta. Construction of the 2014 Winter Olympics' venues and facilities started from scratch. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace Russia, say many of the ecosystems along the transport corridor and around the venue "clusters" have already suffered irreversible damage, with bird and bear habitats in particular having been destroyed. The World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace Russia say the chief environmental threat is to the Mzymta River, which the road/rail corridor will follow. Thousands of beech trees have been felled to clear a path for the link. The government says it has taken the activists' concerns on board and accuses them of trying to sabotage the games as a public relations stunt. UNEP's report also said the Sochi 2014 organisers were procrastinating on political decisions that would mitigate and compensate for the unwanted environmental fallout of the games. "The mission observed that decisions taken at the political level ... are taking too long," the report said. It cited such projects as the enlargement of Sochi National Park, better protection of the Mzymta valley, and the creation of new protected areas along the Black Sea coast that would host migratory birds. The so-called "Olympic winter games in Sochi-2014" is a project which has been actively lobbied by Putin. In Guatemala, he personally presented an "application" in English in 2007 for the Russian-occupied Emirate's city of Sochi, and addressed in French to support for his application. According to AP Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined immediate comment, saying he hadn't seen the UNEP report. The WWF and Greenpeace recently suspended their co-operation as consultants for Olympstroi, the state-run constructor, in protest that their concerns were being ignored. It is to be mentioned that that the mere attempt to hold the "Olympic games" in Sochi that Putin and his clique want to organize is regarded by many analysts and experts as a dangerous venture. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

Russian mafia started with KGB/FSB and is patronized by Putin's people

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:47:26 GMT

According to Spanish press, the power of Russian mafia, which was recently the target of a major crime-busting operation in Europe, stems from the support by the Russian government, businesses and politicians. This is the reason why Spain, which is particularly active in its fight with the criminals from the former USSR, is encountering major difficulties when it approaches Russian government for support. During a police operation (codenamed Java) this Monday, 69 ex-USSR nationals were detained. 24 were arrested in Spain alone (in Barcelona, Valencia and Guadalajara). Similar operations took place in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Among those detained are nationals of Russia, Georgia and Armenia. According to El Pais, the modern "Russian mafia" has emerged from the KGB and the Communist Party. To become a criminal boss, it is apparently sufficient to have good connections within the soviet-time ruling elite. The newspaper describes the scheme involving a Russian Mafioso, who may be a senior executive in a private oil or metallurgical company, transferring his illegal profits to US, German, Dutch and Swiss investment companies, who later invest the money in dozens of countries, including Spain. El Pais reports that instead of providing help, Russian authorities make attempts to find out what exactly the Spanish police knows about the criminals they had detained. There have been several assassination attempts against Spanish investigators involved in the operations against Russian mafia. Spanish investigators have concluded that the person behind the Russian criminal cartel is so influential in Russia, that the arrests are followed immediately by official condescension requests. Many such requests turn out to be associated with either the Russian parliament or with Putin's election campaign. The Spanish press is also surprised by the apparently infinite money supply enjoyed by the Russian mafia - those arrested are hiring the most influential Spanish lawyers and pay astronomical bail deposits. Bribery and blackmail also likely happen. The matters are complicated by the ongoing economic crisis - the Russians always have the money that they are eager to invest. According to the Svoboda ("Freedom") radio station, those detained are suspected of extortion, illegal arms trade, narcotics trade and money laundering. It was established that Barcelona, where the 38-year old Kahaber Shushanashvili (assumed to be the leader) lived, was the financial centre where money flowed from illegal activities in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland and other countries. Shushanashvili is suspected to have been in charge of all criminal activity of Georgian expatriates across the whole of Europe. Juan Ramon Iglesias, a representative of the Spanish police, told Svoboda that the investigators have been watching those detained for over a year. The Spanish press quotes the phone intercepts from the investigation materials and reports that they had boasted of having "captured the whole of Europe". All of those arrested will be interrogated this week by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, an investigator at the Audiencia Nacional (National Court) of Spain, who supervises the Java operation. 12 arrests were made in Austria. A search has uncovered previously stolen valuables - computers, laptops, jewels and designer clothes. Those arrested in other countries are accused of drug smuggling, money laundering, extortion, bribery and illegal weapons possession. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

Russian gang formation of Black Sea Fleet holds maneuvers in Crimea to invade the Georgian coast

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:13:07 GMT

The Russian gang formation of the Black Sea Fleet marines holds maneuvers in Crimea on a firing ground near the mountain Opuk, the Russian paper Flag of Motherland writes. About 100 military vehicles, including BMP-2s and BTR-80s, were places in Sevastopol on large landing ships "Caesar Kunnikov" and "Nicholas Phylchenkov" to take part in the maneuvers. Russian soldiers carried out a 100-kilometer march on the firing ground and worked out standards for loading and unloading in a military way. The main objective of the maneuvers was to work out the landing and the capture of the coast of the "enemy", which is Georgia for Russia now. For the next six weeks, tactical live-fire exercises and battalion tactical exercises are scheduled. Attention is to be drawn to the fact that Russian military exercises are taking place against the background of a program on the Georgian TV station Imedi, which included a report about an alleged invasion of Georgia by Russian troops and the murder of the Georgian president Saakashvili. Moscow regards the report as provocative. Saakashvili's opponents in Georgia tried to make the scandal bigger. They are helped by Russian secret services. In Internet, they posted on a false wiretapping of a conversation�between the Imedi's chief director Giorgi Arveladze and head of Information and Political Department of the Imedi, Eka Temalashvili, who allegedly said that the report about the invasion of Georgia by Russian troops had been ordered by Saakashvili. Meanwhile, according to many analysts, the Imedi's report and a subsequent reaction of the population gave the Georgian authorities a very useful experience which will certainly be used in preparations for a real Russian invasion of Georgia, which, as the maneuvers in Crimea show, is not to be excluded. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

A victim of violence of Russian-Soviet soldiery in Germany releases a book under her name

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:16:14 GMT

Gabriele Kopp was repeatedly raped by Russian soldiers in 1945, when she was just 15. Now, at the age of 80, she has become the first German woman to write a book under her own name about the sexual violence she experienced during World War II. Der Spiegel magazine published a story about the book itself and its author. By the time a person turns 80, her life has consisted of 29,200 days. Nevertheless, for Gabriele Kopp, what happened in the space of only 14 days was enough to cast a dark shadow over the rest of her life, the remainder of those 29,200 days. The things she experienced during a 14-day period while she was fleeing from her homeland were so traumatic that she still has trouble sleeping today. There are times when she cannot eat. During those 14 days, Kopp was raped, again and again. She was 15 years old, and she knew nothing about sex. Kopp has now written a book about those 14 days and about the rapes, titled "Warum war ich bloss ein Madchen?" ("Why Did I Have to Be a Girl?"). The book is an unprecedented document, because it is the first work of its kind. There is "A Woman in Berlin," the famous confessions of a woman who was raped in World War II, which was first published in the 1950s and republished in 2003. But the woman was unwilling to disclose her identity, and it wasn't until after her death that it was revealed that the anonymous author was a journalist. To this day, there are doubts as to whether she truly wrote the book alone or whether there was a co-author who helped her to distance herself from the horrific events and, with distance, to achieve a voice -- a surprisingly free, confident and even flippant voice. Kopp lacks this voice. She describes the first few days of her escape with precision, sequence by sequence, almost cinematically, but it is clear that she is not a practiced author. Nevertheless, her account is so gripping precisely because it was not polished for the sake of putting beautiful language on paper. Her story exerts a pull on the reader that stems from the authenticity of her words and experiences. And when the author herself is unable to comprehend what she experienced, even her voice reaches its limits. Kopp couldn't find the words to describe the rapes themselves. She writes of a "place of horror" and a "door to hell," and she describes the rapists as brutes and scoundrels. When asked why she was unable to describe exactly what happened to her, in all its horror, she shrugs her shoulders and says: "I can't even say the word" - rape ... I was hardly more than a child". Writing her account under her own name hasn't made it easier, she adds, "but I had no choice; who else would do it?" Indeed, women have rarely reported voluntarily on their encounters with violence during and after the war. Experts describe this experience as a double trauma: the act of violence itself, and having to keep it hidden. Philipp Kuwert, a trauma expert and head of the department of psychiatry and psychotherapy at the University Hospital of Greifswald in northeastern Germany, began a research project last year on the repercussions of sexual violence in World War II. He interviewed 27 women affected by such violence. He already has the results of his study but hasn't published anything yet. "It is one of the first and probably the last study of this nature, because 95 percent of the women who were affected are no longer alive." Der Spiegel notes that no one knows exactly how many women became victims of sexual violence during the war. A figure of 2 million has been mentioned in various studies, but is considered unreliable because of the lack of concrete evidence. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that it was a crime committed against large numbers of women. The average age of the women in Kuwert's study at the time of their rapes was 16.7, and each of the women was raped an average of 12 times. About half of the women continue to suffer from post-traumatic symptoms, including nightmares, suicidal thoughts and what is known as avoidance behavior, with 81 percent stating that the experiences had a massive impact on their sexuality. When soldiers commit rape during war, it is not just "to humiliate a particular individual," says historian Birgit Beck-Heppner. It also represents a "signal to the enemy population that its political leadership and its own army can no longer guarantee its safety." This is why these rapes are often committed in public. Der Spiegel describes some details of what Gabriele Kopp had to endure. On the evening of Jan. 25, 1945, Kopp was packing her things, preparing to flee. Her mother told her to hurry, because the Russians were approaching the town, and she said that she would join her later. On Jan. 26, 1945, Kopp and her older sister left the house. She would later learn that Soviet soldiers liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp the following day, Jan. 27. The ordeal that was about to begin for Gabriele Kopp had its roots in the crimes committed by her fellow Germans. In this massive attack against women a betrayal of the other victims themselves in relation to each was suddenly dramatically apparent. In any case, betrayal of other women was fully experience by Gabriele herself. All began with the mother, when she said goodbye to their daughters. This was a day before their departure. Kopp wanted to talk to her mother on that evening, but she was silent and barely spoke with her daughter, not even to warn her about the many things that could happen while she was fleeing. "In a sense, she allowed me to run headlong onto a knife," Kopp writes today, as an old woman. This was a betrayal for Kopp. Then, after the mother's betrayal, Kopp experienced a series of others - women's. She with her sister boarded a freight train, which, unfortunately, was heading to an area already occupied by Soviet troops. After a short time, she heard the sound of artillery fire, and the train came to a stop. The locomotive had apparently been hit. She was an athletic girl and managed to pull herself up to the window. Her sister remained behind in the train. She would never see her again. She fell into the snow, lying flat on the ground at first to protect herself from the gunfire. Other refugees had also managed to escape from the train, and they began running toward a farm and then a nearby village. Kopp followed them. A baker let her into his bakery. In the village, Soviet soldiers carrying large flashlights searched for girls in the dim light. One of them grabbed Kopp. The next day, she was chased to another house, where she was raped by a soldier, and then by another soldier soon afterwards. The next morning, she was pushed into a barn and raped by two men. That afternoon, she hid under a table in a room filled with refugees. When the soldiers came to the building, asking for girls, the older women called out: "Where's little Gabi?" and pulled her out from underneath the table. "I feel hatred rising up inside of me," she writes. She was dragged off to a ransacked house. "I have no tears," she writes. The next morning, it was the women, once again, who "pushed" her into the arms of a "greedy officer." "I despise these women," she writes. When Kopp finally found her mother in Hamburg, after being a refugee for 15 months, she wanted to show her the letter. But the mother, who had not expected to see her daughter again, greeted her coldly, holding out her cheek to be kissed. The mother also told her to keep quiet about everything she had experienced while fleeing, although she could write it down if she wished. Kopp followed her mother's advice. She was 16 when she wrote the notes that she quotes in her book today. RUSSIAN DISEASE In a conversation with the correspondent of Der Spiegel Gabriele Koepp remembers that her menstrual cycle was interrupted for seven years. As the magazine notes, it was a widespread phenomenon in those days, quite common symptom in women, and some gynecologists called the "Russians' disease." Asked has she had any other experiences of love and sexuality? No, she says, nothing at all. "For me, it was just violence." More recently, Gabriele Koepp began to paint. Some of them are hung in her house. One of the paintings depicts the stations of her life. There are crosses and skulls at the center of the image. A date is written across the top: Jan. 26, 1945. Other paintings show hearts and strong colors. Der Spiegel notes they are the kinds of pictures that girls paint -- 15-year-old girls. Department of Cooperation and the Media, Kavkaz Center

Newsweek: Moscow will never be an ally of Washington

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:17:44 GMT

Today the main Russian diplomatic tactics is to impede the United States, and the reason for that is that Moscow's power is weakening, the Newsweek writes. "To remain important, Russia has to be seen as an obstacle", an article in Newsweek says. "That is why, Moscow has allied itself with pariah regimes like Venezuela, Syria, and even Iran". Simultaneously, Russia vetoes every US security initiative in Europe. The idea to be deploy ABM in the Black Sea territorial waters of Romania and Bulgaria - "was suggested by the Kremlin itself a year ago during talks with Hillary Clinton", the Newsweek notes. However, the deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov said that the current plan is just as bad than the previous plan to deploy an anti-missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic or even worse. In fact, there's nothing Washington could propose that Moscow would agree to, "it's because opposition is an all-purpose diplomatic lever to bargain for what Russia needs", the magazine writes. Keeping NATO's influence out of Russia's front yard is probably the most important Kremlin objective. But staying at the table of top nations is important to Moscow's pride too. "That is why every time one of Russia's former satellite states finds reason to look West (by electing a reformist, for example), the Kremlin retaliates", edition indicates giving referring to gas wars in Ukraine and real wars in Georgia. "More subtly, Russia has been working to scupper a peace deal between Moldova and the breakaway province of Transdniestria, largely because it suits Russia to keep troops on the border and thereby reduce the chances of Moldova growing closer to its EU member neighbor, Romania", the Newsweek adds. The author sees also Moscow internal politics interests in this approach. An imaginary threat helps Putin to create an impression that he resists Yankees. "Obstruction is one of the few things left in Kremlin's diplomatic arsenal. That's why Moscow will never be the US ally Obama wants it to be", the magazine concludes. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

''It is not a question whether China will attack Russia but is when it is going to happen'', the Russians say

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:05:29 GMT

Alexander Khramchikhin, a Deputy Director of the Moscow-based Institute for Political and Military Analysis, says: if there will ever be a large-scale military aggression in the "classical" form against Russia, with 95% probability (if not 99.99%) the aggressor would be China. "The tremendous overpopulation of China together with its rapid economic growth creates a complexity of issues for this country. China is objectively a non-viable in its current borders. China must be a lot more if it does not want to be much less. It can not survive without expansion abroad to capture the resources and territories, this is a reality. No need to explain that the main direction of China's expansion will be the South-Eastern Asia. I has a small territory and insignificant resources, with a lot of local people. The opposite direction with a lot of territory, huge resources and few people are Kazakhstan and the Asian part of Russia. And it is there where China's expansion will go. Moreover, the Trans-Ural area of Russia is considered to be Chinese in China. Certainly, China prefers a peaceful form of expansion (economical and demographical). But the military is not excluded completely. Significantly, the Chinese army has been conducting in recent years exercises that simply could not be interpreted otherwise than as a preparation for an aggression against Russia, and the scale of these exercises (the territorial extent and the number of troops involved) is constantly growing, Khramchikhin alleges. In this case, Moscow is apparently still not aware that Russia has long lost not only quantitative but also qualitative superiority over China in military technology. In Soviet times, Moscow had both. China has very long existed with what that it had been given by the Soviet Union in 1950's - early 1960's. However, after a warming of relations with the West, it gained access to some samples of American and European technology, and in late 1980's it began to acquire the latest technology in the USSR and then Russia, and thus "jumped" over generations on many areas. In addition, China always had exceptional ability to steal technology_ the Russians say. In the 1980 Chinese intelligence even managed to get the latest US designs of W-88 ballistic missiles Trident-2 for submarines. Normal technologies China is stealing in large quantities. For example, although there is no information that Russia sells PRC multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), "Smerch (Tornado)", or a license for their manufacture. Nevertheless, the First China's Army has MLRS A-100, very similar to the "Tornado", and then PHL-03 - its an exact copy. Self-propelled artillery installations 88 (PLZ-05) are very similar to our "Mstu" that we again did not sell to China, the Russian says. Russia has never sold China a license for the production of anti-aircraft missile system S-300, which does not prevent the Chinese to copy it under the name HQ-9. However, the Chinese stole for example, an anti-aircraft missile complex "Krotal", anti-ship missile "Exocet", naval artillery installation M68 etc., the Russian alleges. By introduction of foreign technology and adding something of their own, the Chinese military-industrial complex is beginning to create samples of the antiaircraft rocket-gun complex Toure 95 (PGZ-04), self-propelled PLL-05 and PTL-02, BMP ZBD-05 and others. In general, as already mentioned, Russia is backward virtually on all direction of conventional weapons. A qualitative superiority of Russia remains in the past. In some areas, China has even bypassed Russia - for example, in the UAVs and small arms. Some experts believe that China is in technological dependence on Russia as its main supplier of arms (hence, "they cannot attack us"), but it is a blank myth, the Russian expert says. In Russia, China is acquiring in only such weapon that are intended for operations against Taiwan and the US (when Beijing seriously planned operation to seize the island). Obviously, a sea war between PRC and Russia is practically impossible, it is not needed for both parties. The war will be on the ground. In this connection, it should be noted that the PRC did not purchase any equipment in Russia for its ground forces that could be used in war against Russia. Even in the field of the Air Forces, China got rid of dependence from Russia. It bought a limited number of Su-27 - in total 76, of which 40 are Su-27UB. It is obvious that Russia's Su-27 were purchased only for training flight crews. Then, as you know, China has refused to license production of Su-27 from Russian parts, built only 105 aircraft from the planned 200, the Russian says. Simultaneously, China copied this fighter and began its production license free under the name J-11B with its own engines, weapons and avionics. It may be noted that the recent military-technical cooperation between China and Russia is disappearing. This can partly be explained by the rapidly degraded Russian military-industrial complex is no longer able to offer China those weapons and equipment it needs. Another explanation is that Beijing is seriously considering in foreseeable future the possibility of conducting combat operations against Russian armed forces. Since the J-11B in its tactical and technical characteristics is approximately equal to the Su-27 created on the basis of the Israeli "Lavi", but using Russian and their own technology, and the J-10 is comparable with MiG-29, Russia does not have any qualitative superiority in the air. A quantitative superiority is obviously in favor of China, especially due to an almost complete collapse of Russian air defense system (primarily just in the Far East). China has more than 120 Su-30, and we have only 4, the Russian says. The main drawback of the Chinese aviation is the lack of normal ground attack aircrafts and attack helicopters, but it would not be a big trouble for them, since the situation in Russia is even worse. Best Chinese tanks - Type 96 and Type 99 (also known as Type 98G) - are not worse than the best Russian tanks - T-72B, T-80U, T-90. Actually, they are all "close relatives", and therefore their performance characteristics are very similar. Thus Russian defense ministry has already announced its de facto elimination of Russian armored troops. There should remain 2000 tanks to all of Russia. China now already has modern tanks approximately as much. There are far more numerous (at least 6000) the old tanks (from the Type 59 to Type 80), created on the basis of T-54. They are quite effective against infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, and they are needed to create a "mass effect". It is likely that the Chinese command would use these vehicles for the first attack. They will still cause some Russian losses, and most important, they would attract Russian antitank weapons, after that, the Russian exhausted and weakened defense would be attacked by using modern technology, the Russian expert fears. By the way, similar "mass effect" in the air can be created by older fighters types J-7 and J-8. The armed forces of Russia and the Chinese army have approximately the same equality (qualitative and quantitative) of modern arms, which becomes a military advantage of the Chinese army . Thus the last one has a huge "overhang" from old, but is still "good" samples, which is perfect as a "consumable" material for wearing down the defense of Russian troops. Because of China "lack of brides", the loss of several hundreds of thousands of young males for the Chinese leadership is not a problem, but a blessing. And certainly the use several thousand units of out-of-date armored vehicles in a battle is also not a problem Already, two of seven military districts of the Chinese army - Beijing and Shenyang, near the border with Russia - are stronger than the whole Russian armed forces (from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka). The forces on both sides are just not comparable on the potential theater of military operations (Transbaikalia and Far East). China surpasses Russia not dozen-fold. Thus redeployment of troops from the west in the event of a real war would be practically impossible, since the Chinese saboteurs would cut the Trans-Siberian Railway once in many places along its entire length, and Russia does other communications to the east, (you can transport people, but not heavy equipment though the air). At the same time for military training, particularly in units and formations, equipped with the most modern equipment, army of China has long bypassed Russia. Thus, in the 38-th army of Beijing Military Area artillery is fully automated, it is still inferior to the accuracy of the US, but has already surpassed Russia. Rate of onset of 38-th army reaches 1000 km per week (150 miles per day). Accordingly, Russia has no chance in conventional war. Nuclear weapons also do not guarantee rescue, and, since China has them too. Yes, Russia still has superiority in strategic nuclear forces, but they are rapidly declining. At the same time Russia does not has intermediate range ballistic missiles, while China has them that almost eliminates its backlog of intercontinental ballistic missiles (which are also declining). The parity of the tactical nuclear weapons is unknown, but one should understand that Russia will have to use them on its own territory. As to an exchange of blows of strategic nuclear forces, Chinese potential is more than enough to destroy the main cities in the European Russia, which they don't need (there are many people and few resources there). There is a strong suspicion that, knowing this, the Kremlin would not dare to use nuclear weapons. Therefore, nuclear deterrence against China is the same myth, as its technological dependence on us. So, learn Chinese", the Russian expert advises to his countrymen. Alexander Khramchikhin Department of Cooperation and Media, Kavkaz Center

Dozens held in European crackdown on Russian mafia

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:07:45 GMT

At least 69 people have been arrested in a crackdown on the Russian mafia in several European countries, Spanish police said on Monday. They said 24 people were detained in Spain in the operation, which was "ongoing". At least 45 others were arrested in "different European countries". In Spain, the operation was led by a special police unit aimed at fighting drug trafficking and organised crime. Spanish national radio said most of those held were Russians and were arrested for laundering the proceeds of drug-trafficking and corruption. Source: Agencies Kavkaz Center

'Fallen' KGB defector was linked to Canadian intelligence

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:52:55 GMT

On photo: A police guard outside the flat of the "fallen" defector. Daily Mail published some facts about a mysterious "falling" from 15 floor of a KGB defector with his wife and stepson. The real name of the defector is Serguei Kriajev (a French transcription corresponding to Sergei Kryazhev in English). According to the newspaper, he served in the Russian army from 1994 to 1996, which explains his "military look". In summer 2002, he and his wife Tatiana, who, according to the newspaper, at 57 is 14 years his senior, fled to Canada, accompanied by Stepan, Tatiana's son by a previous relationship, and her daughter, Karina. Documents obtained by the newspaper show that defector's name is Sergeui Kriajev, and his stepdaughter used the Russian feminine version, Kriajeva. Oddly, though, his wife and stepson are listed as Serykh. Claiming that he had been an agent in the FSB (the Russian internal security service, which succeeded the KGB) Serguei Kriajev requested political asylum in Canada, saying, according to the newspaper, his collaboration with Canadian intelligence had been uncovered, and he faced execution in Russia. In September, 2002, an Ottawa court rejected their asylum claim and they were ordered to return to Russia. They then enlisted an immigration lawyer, and according to immigration sources they were granted protected personal status - meaning they could remain in Canada - in October, 2005. They lived in the leafy Toronto suburbs and ran a profitable herbal medicine business. Serguei applied for Canadian citizenship but he was refused. Karina who is now aged 34 returned to Moscow, where she runs a rat-breeding business, (see photo). According to the newspaper, paper's reporter met with her in Moscow. Now the British press, as if under one and the same order, is trying to make from a "fallen out" FSB officer a madman who committed a suicide. Obviously, it's easier for the police that way. But sometimes in their articles, British journalists hint that they do not believe the story that Kriajev was a "madman". A Guardian's journalist writes, for example, that these three Russians were physically unable to throw a massive wardrobe out from the balcony in order to break an anti-suicide net that had been installed around the first floor and then to fall out themselves. A help from a 3 side was needed for it. Why the stepson of Kriajev went into death, for example, the British newspapers did not report. They simply say that Kriajev supposedly "infected with madness" his family. However, as is known, madness is not an infectious disease. What Kriajev really told the British police about his escape from Canada is actually unknown. The newspapers say that he allegedly fled from Canada, because the prime minister Harper was plotting to kill the Queen of England, but looks like a deliberate disinformation and does not explain the reasons for fleeing from Canada of the defector and his family. He was not the Queen of England after all. The British newspapers now recognize at least he fled from Russia and didn't come to Canada as a typical tourist. The information that the 3 "fallen out" Russians were tied with a rope is now defuted. Newspapers explain that publication with the fact that that "there has been such an impression before because the bodies laid on the ground close to each other". However, , one can clearly see that the bodies lie rather far away from each other on the published photos, made from a high floor of the building The British MP Barry Gardiner, who remembers Kriajev says: 'He used to say he was being hounded and he would present photographs of vans, which he had taken from the window of his flat". Speaking in Moscow, Serykh's stepdaughter, Karina, said: 'If the British want to send me their ashes, that's fine, but I won't be going to the funeral.' Probably, she won't be allowed to leave for Britain or she is simply afraid to be a next victim who fell out from some window in Moscow. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

SCANDAL. British PM Gordon Brown accused of being a pedophile

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:06:19 GMT

According to the testimony of a British journalist, Mike James, who now lives in Germany, the present British prime minister, Gordon Brown, is an arrant old pedophile. The journalist says that, as a pedophile, Brown is known to the police for a long time, but the previous prime minister, Tony Blair, ordered to cover up the scandal due to the British aggression against Iraq on the basis of false information about Saddam possessing weapons of mass destruction. According to the testimony of the British journalist, Brown is member of a ring of senior British pedophiles, consisting of general prosecutor Goldsmitdt, a former chieftain of the NATO lord Robertson and lord Mandelson. All of them are major members of masonic lodges. The British journalist said that a group of senior pedophiles organized a massacre of children in Dunblane Primary School in Scotland on 13 (!) March 1996, killing 16 small children and a teacher. The children were killed because they knew too much about the crimes committed by British pedophile politicians . The murder was committed by a freemason, Thomas Hamilton. But the gun with explosive bullets, as the investigation established, had been given to him by lord Cullen (Cullen on the photo with Hamilton), a member of the Labor "Scottish mafia", which includes Gordon Brown, lord Robertson, Tony Blair and John Reid. Lord Mandelson is constantly accused in Europe in the kidnapping young girls and boys for European Union's elite pedophile commissioners in Brussels. The British journalist writes: "I can now bring to a close all speculation as to the name of Tony Blair's most "highly placed and senior politician" (the British papers wrote about this in connection with the pedophile scandal in Scotland - KC) who fell not only under the scrutiny of Scotland Yard for crimes against children, but was also identified by the FBI as an active member of the pedophile ring run by Thomas Hamilton. That name was first revealed to me by Norman Lamont at a private party in Clapham in 1986, during which time I worked as a scriptwriter for the British television media. Lamont later became Chancellor of the Exchequer under John Major's Conservative administration. Following investigations in 2003 on both my and Bob Kearley's part, that name cropped up time and time again, and I passed the details to Internet journalist Paul Joseph Watson. Gordon Brown, the current British prime minister, is a practicing pedophile whose activities are known not only to the British, American and Israeli intelligence services, but also by Rupert Murdoch (the press baron of England - KC) and his senior editor at the Sunday Times", the British journalist says. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

Chief Catholic exorcist says devil is in the Vatican

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:50:49 GMT

Devil is in the Vatican says chief Catholic exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth, The Times reports. The consequences of satanic infiltration are power struggles at the Vatican as well as cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the demon and members of satanic sects. Exorcist said: "When one speaks of 'the smoke of Satan' [a phrase coined by Pope Paul VI in 1972] in the holy rooms, it is all true - including these latest stories of violence and pedophilia". He claimed that another example of satanic behavior was the Vatican "cover-up" over the deaths in 1998 of Alois Estermann, the then commander of the Swiss Guard, his wife and Corporal Cedric Tornay, a Swiss Guard, who were all found shot dead. "They covered up everything immediately," he said. "Here one sees the rot". A remarkably swift Vatican investigation concluded that Corporal Tornay had shot the commander and his wife and then turned his gun on himself after being passed over for a medal. However Tornay's relatives have challenged this. There have been unconfirmed reports of a homosexual background to the tragedy and the involvement of a fourth person who was never identified. Father Amorth told La Repubblica that the devil was "pure spirit, invisible. But he manifests himself with blasphemies and afflictions in the person he possesses. He can remain hidden, or speak in different languages, transform himself or appear to be agreeable. At times he makes fun of me." He said it sometimes took six or seven of his assistants to to hold down a possessed person. Those possessed often yelled and screamed and spat out nails or pieces of glass, which he kept in a bag. "Anything can come out of their mouths - finger-length pieces of iron, but also rose petals." Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession Father Amorth has just published Memoirs of an Exorcist. He was among Vatican officials who warned that J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels made a "false distinction between black and white magic". Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

NATO chief: Russia's military doctrine outdated

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:11:17 GMT

NATO said on Saturday a new Russian military doctrine identifying NATO expansion as a threat did not reflect the real world. Russia was angered by NATO expansion to include former Warsaw Pact states after the collapse of the Soviet Union and was particularly incensed by the alliance's promise of eventual membership to Georgia and Ukraine, former Soviet republics Moscow still considers part of its sphere of influence. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved the new military doctrine on Friday. "I have to say that this new doctrine does not reflect the real world," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich. "It does not reflect realities and it is in clear contradiction with all our endeavors to improve the relationship between NATO and Russia." "We must develop an effective missile defence," he told an international conference in the Polish capital. "In the coming years we will probably face many more countries and possibly even some non-state actors armed with long-range missiles and nuclear capabilities," he said. Rasmussen also insisted later during a press conference that "a nuclear capability will remain an essential part of a credible deterrence in the future." "I share the great vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. "But as long as we do have nuclear weapons on earth and as long as we know there are countries and non-state actors that aspire to acquire such nuclear capacities, I think we should have a nuclear capacity as part of our deterrent policy." Rasmussen told the conference that a system for protection against missiles should be part of NATO's policy of deterring threats. "Deterrence works against rational actors but not all actors that we will have to deal with in the future will be rational. "That's why deterrence and defence need to go together and why we have the obligation to look into the missile defence options," he said. Anti-missile defence systems already in place within the NATO alliance fall under a US shield that has missile interceptors in the United States, Greenland and Britain. Plans for it to be extended into eastern Europe have raised serious concern in Russia. Turning to Russia, Rasmussen said Moscow's policy towards Georgia are fuelling "profound concerns" in NATO countries. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in August 2008 over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, which Russia occupied. Rasmussen also said "Russia sent a wrong kind of signal by conducting military exercises that rehearse the invasion of a smaller NATO member," referring to Russian and Belarus war games in September on Poland's border. In February, the Kremlin published a strategy paper listing first among "chief outside military threats" the fact that NATO is attempting to "globalize its functions in contravention of international law." Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center