Three headlines

IRRUSSIANALITY

Three headlines have caught my eyes this week, all of them deserving a short commentary:

1. Russia claims the North Pole.  The Russian government has just submitted a revised claim to parts of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole, in accordance with the process laid out by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). You can read the executive summary of the claim here. To my surprise, so far the media here in Canada have been remarkably fair in their coverage of the issue. The Ottawa Citizen, for instance, cited Arctic affairs expert Professor Michael Byers saying that, ‘Russia showed surprising restraint in its new Arctic claim compared with Denmark’s provocative bid last year, and diplomats should be relieved that Russia has chosen to follow to international rules in its submission and not create tension in the area.’ Indeed, in putting forward its…

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Washington’s Fifth Columns Inside Russia and China

OffGuardian

by Paul Craig Roberts

It took two decades for Russia and China to understand that “pro-democracy” and “human rights” organizations operating within their countries were subversive organizations funded by the US Department of State and a collection of private American foundations organized by Washington. The real purpose of these non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is to advance Washington’s hegemony by destabilizing the two countries capable of resisting US hegemony.

Washington’s Fifth Columns pulled off “color revolutions” in former Russian provinces, such as Georgia, the birthplace of Joseph Stalin and Ukraine, a Russian province for centuries.

When Putin was last elected, Washington was able to use its Fifth Columns to pour thousands of protesters into the streets of Russia claiming that Putin had “stolen the election.” This American propaganda had no effect on Russia, where the citizen back their president by 89%. The other 11% consists almost entirely of Russians who believe Putin…

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America’s Ukraine Policy and Maidan Ukraine’s War Crimes

Russian & Eurasian Politics

by Gordon M. Hahn

As in almost any war, especially civil war, there have been terrible war crimes committed by both sides in the Ukrainian civil war (usually called ‘Putin’s war’). Now Americans might hear from the U.S. mainstream media about the atrocities committed on one side in the conflict – those of the pro-Russian Donbass resistance fighters. All but a handful will ever hear of the democratic Maidan regime’s war crimes. The average American might accidentally stumble on a European or Russian mainstream media source and accidentally push Google translation to English, but not likely. To the point: Although there is little evidence that regular Ukrainian army forces have committed a large number of such crimes, there is a mountain of evidence that National Guard battalions and Kiev’s more independent neofascist-infused volunteer battalions have.

Recently, one Western newspaper, the German newspaper Der Speigel, actually bothered itself with exposing…

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The illusion of choice

IRRUSSIANALITY

The Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, has dissolved parliament, and the country will now enjoy almost 80 days of political campaigning until a general election is held on 19 October. The focus will undoubtedly be on domestic politics, but as this blog is devoted primarily to Russia-West relations here is a look at the major contenders’ policies towards the Russian Federation.

The Conservative Party of Canada

The position of the ruling Conservative Party, and its leader Stephen Harper, needs the least explaining, as it is well documented. The Conservatives are unrelentingly hostile. Harper seems to view the world in black and white terms – there is good (the West) and there is evil (ISIS, Iran, and Vladimir Putin). This view predates the current war in Ukraine: Harper made his dislike of Putin clear well before then. Since the Ukrainian crisis began, Canada has imposed more sanctions on Russia than…

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