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| Posted: 20 Mar 2014 06:17 PM PDT Its worrisome. The deteriorating US-Russia relation is expected to take its toll worldwide if it goes on unresolved; that the reignited Cold War could spark a fresh international conflict. The Obama administration on Thursday sanctioned several top Russian politicians and key business oligarchs with ties to Vladimir Putin, raising the stakes in a blossoming international crisis and opening the door for targeting Russia's vital energy sector. Three days after targeting 11 of Putin's ideological allies in response to his plans to annex the Crimean peninsula, the White House responded with a new executive order that delegated to the Treasury Department the ability to blacklist individuals and companies in Russia's financial services, energy, metals and mining, engineering and defense sectors. Putin responded Thursday with tit-for-tat sanctions of his own, banning travel to Russia for nine congressional leaders and critics, including three senior advisers to Obama.  The vote by Crimea to leave Ukraine has led to a chorus of condemnation and economic sanctions against Russia by the United States and all the NATO governments of Europe. The same countries that dropped 23,000 bombs and missiles on Yugoslavia in 1999 demanding that Kosovo be separated from Serbia and Yugoslavia–and also invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and bombed Libya in 2011 — are crying about Russia's flagrant "violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty by virtue of encouraging and supporting the Crimean referendum. The same militarists who criminally invaded and bombed sovereign Iraq or cheered while Iraq was divided and left bleeding from the assault, are now crying very big crocodile tears about respect for sovereignty in Ukraine. Working class and progressive people should treat their feigned loyalty to the cause of national sovereignty with complete contempt. Provocateur neocon militarists like John McCain and his feckless counterpart who holds the position of Secretary of State have overplayed their hand by facilitating and congratulating a fascist-led anti-Russian coup d'etat against the corrupt but elected government of Ukraine, writes Brian Becker of Global Research. They thought they were on the road of absorbing the second largest former Soviet Republic into NATO — lock, stock and barrel. They did not anticipate that the Crimea would hold a popular referendum and declare its independence.  The arrogance of imperial power drove the events. Five months ago Putin was prepared to engage in a peaceful economic competition to soften the hard edges of the U.S./EU campaign to absorb Ukraine into a western sphere of influence. Both sides knew, Putin assumed, that Ukraine is divided geographically and ethnically in a way that would make it impossible for the country to be entirely absorbed by western imperialism. The ousted President Yanukovych favored integration into the EU but he promised Russia that Ukraine would never join the NATO military alliance against Russia. Yanukovych was a corrupt figure. Close to Ukraine's oligarchs, he was perfectly willing in the past to do business with the fascist and semi-fascist forces who eventually toppled his government on Feb. 21. John McCain and the war-mongers in Congress want to pretend that Russia is Iraq or North Korea or Syria and that economic sanctions will do the trick and greatly weaken and destabilize Russia as if Russia doesn't have counter measures available with which to hit back. Now that Putin was forced to act and did so by the exercise of a popular referendum that displayed beyond any doubt the genuine yearning of the majority in Crimea to affiliate with Russia, he has demonstrated an ability to push back against the schemes of U.S. imperialism. Even so Putin's actions are measured and clearly designed to find a new path for possible negotiations over the fate of Ukraine and Russia's acknowledged interests in the country and the region. Russia's move has changed the equation and provided a conundrum for the United States and the EU. Russia and the EU countries have many shared economic interests and trade. A sudden collapse in relations will create widespread economic suffering on both sides. This was not anticipated by the main figures in the west. John McCain and the war-mongers in Congress want to pretend that Russia is Iraq or North Korea or Syria and that economic sanctions will do the trick and greatly weaken and destabilize Russia as if Russia doesn't have counter measures available with which to hit back. Russia today is far weaker in relationship to the United States and the other NATO powers than was the Soviet Union. Russia's military is one fifth the size of the Soviet Armed Forces, Air Force and Navy. More importantly than the size of its military, Russia's main European allies in the Soviet era have now been absorbed into the US./NATO sphere of influence. So too have many former non-Russian republics of the USSR. The USSR was a union of 15 republics. The largest was Russia. Ukraine was the second largest powerhouse of the USSR. It had both heavy industry and a vast agricultural sector and was called the breadbasket of the Soviet Union. But Russia is too big to be a puppet. Its military is too large, its land mass and resources too vast, and its level of development too high for Russia to be a doormat for western imperialism. So even though the Soviet Union is no more, there remains a continuing struggle between the club of imperialist countries, led since 1945 by the United States, and Russia. The ideological struggle against communism is no longer a feature of the new rivalry. But the inherently expansionist nature of modern day imperialism puts it on a continual collision course with Russia, China or any national entity or mass movement that serves as a brake or an obstacle to its desire for unfettered domination over the planets' land and resources. The tit-for-tat must see a solution. To Putin, Russia did the right thing, based on the Crimea referendum; and the US on the other hand should look back at the devastation it brought to Iraq. Has they forgotten Nicaragua?  |
| 'A member of the ruling party?' Posted: 20 Mar 2014 06:20 AM PDT |
| Putrajaya helps Anwar enters Japan Posted: 20 Mar 2014 02:33 AM PDT Anwar Ibrahim couldn't take it when the Dewan Rakyat was told that it was the government that helped him entered Japan on February 26 after being barred by Tokyo on January 19. He was 'humiliated' by such an assistance, thinking the Japanese government allowed him 'after realising it was wrong to bar him from entering the country', and 'there were still hidden hands in Putrajaya that played him up'. He can't take the fact that Putrajaya helped facilitated his entry. He instead chose to trade words with a deputy minister. Contrary to claims of "hidden hands", the Foreign Ministry said it had helped Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim re-enter Japan on Feb 26, after him being barred entry on Jan 19, the Dewan Rakyat heard today. Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainudin said if claims of "hidden hands" having blocked Anwar's initial visit to Japan was true, then the PKR de facto chief would not have been allowed entry into Japan the following month. "The hidden hands never existed. If it was true, we would have done it [blocked Anwar] again on Feb 26. But it was clear that not only did the government not interfere, but we helped Anwar. "And our help made it possible for the Opposition Leader to enter Japan. So next time, if you want to enter Japan, write a letter like you (Anwar) did on Feb 26," said Hamzah during the question session in Parliament this morning. Hamzah was responding to a question from Shamsul Iskandar (PKR-Bukit Katil) on the ministry's role in preventing an individual or political figure from entering a foreign country. The deputy foreign minister explained that when the ministry learnt of Anwar wanting to re-enter Japan on Feb 26, his staff took extra measures to ensure his entry was possible, this included calling the Japanese embassy every day. "When (Anwar) received another invitation (from Japan), we called them (Japanese embassy) every day because the Opposition Leader is a magnificent person. We want him to go to Japan, give good speeches, and protect the country's image. "This is why we helped him and called the embassy to ask whether they had received the letter. They said they had, so we asked them to ensure it was approved as soon as possible. The embassy then advised us that they had forwarded the letter to the Japanese immigration. "Ultimately, (Anwar) was able to go again. That was the help the government had given him through the foreign ministry." He explained that Anwar had been deported on Jan 19 due to the latter's previous criminal conviction, not because the government had leaked a secret report to Japan. Hamzah stressed that as an "ordinary citizen", Anwar was no longer protected by the diplomatic immunity he once held as the deputy prime minister, Anwar should have sought the foreign ministry's assistance to obtain a special visa, added the deputy minister. "Ordinary citizens, including the Opposition Leader, next time when you want to go to that country, inform the foreign ministry, we will help. Instead, you (Anwar) were barred, did not inform us, came back to Malaysia, held a press conference and accused the foreign ministry of all sorts of things," sniped Hamzah. "How could we have helped you then, when you had already returned to Malaysia?" he demanded. Anwar, upon hearing Hamzah's response, thanked the ministry for its cooperation in helping him to visit and enter Japan. But he was quick to rebut that he had not received any "special approval" to re-enter Japan a second time, nor had he made a written application to the foreign ministry. "You are misleading the House, I did not fill any form, I just informed Japan that I wanted to visit again, and they approved it unconditionally. I was welcomed and the Japanese foreign minister apologised to me. "If our foreign ministry says it extended its cooperation, I thank you. But don't try to mislead everyone by saying a special request was made. That is a lie. There was no special approval from Japan's foreign ministry," said Anwar.  |
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