RT: What impact could this case have on Russia-U.S. relations, which looked pretty good after John Kerry’s visit to Moscow last week?Brian Becker: Or they appeared to be pretty good. This reminds one of the old expression that ‘diplomacy is nothing more than a form of perjury’. You have John Kerry meeting with the Russian foreign minister [Sergei Lavrov] talking about an international conference on Syria. We’ve had many proclamations from the Obama administration recently that there would be greater coordination with Russian security [services] about terrorism. But the fact is, the United States government is carrying out espionage and spying in Russia. All countries do it to each other, but in the case of the United States effort towards Russia, it’s got a larger political motive. Not simply to steal industrial secrets or learn industrial secrets, but to promote a weakening of the Russian government because in fact the US government identifies the Putin government – the Russian government – and its position on international issues as still an obstacle to US foreign policy designs. We see that right now in the Middle East for instance.RT: He was caught with quite low-tech gear – a map, a compass and a couple of wigs – doesn’t this look a little unprofessional?BB: Well, we don’t really know all of the details, we’ll probably learn more – or maybe not – in the coming days. I think the fact that the Russian government has publicized this, made something of it, means the Russian government is calling attention to the fact that the US is doing something of a full court press on Russia; a shadow war so to speak. Using the NGOs and the penetration of Russian society by US soft power through the NGOs at one level, [they are] trying to carry out many, many intelligence operations to get Russians to defect. I think also, if you watch the US media: very favorable coverage of the Russian opposition. Any protest that takes place in Russia, even if it’s small, gets enormous front page coverage. While here, protest movements in the United States get almost no coverage. You see a general scenario being played out of hostility to the Russian government even if there are diplomatic overtures at another level.RT: You have said that spying is going on, so presumably there are Russian spies operating in America.BB: Well of course. This is part of modern statecraft; we know that. We know that in the modern world, industrial and military secrets are something that are gained by spying operations by all countries in fact. The point that I’m trying to make is that there is something unusual about how the Obama administration – and before that you had the Bush administration – is approaching the Russian government. Even though the cold war is technically over, they are still identifying the Russian government as an opponent, as a competitor, because they perceive the Russian government to have interests that block the United States or obstruct the United States; interests in geo-strategically important parts of the world like the Middle East.RT: What do you think of the way the Russian authorities have reacted to this? They simply released him back to the embassy but now they say that he’s got to be deported. Instead of an overreaction the response to the incident has been calm.BB: I think so. I mean they’re publicizing it, [but] it’s a very measured reaction. He could be arrested, he could be held, he could then be exchanged later for those who had been arrested on the American side. Instead he’s being quickly released. I think that the Russian government’s handling of the situation is to make a point, that they recognize and they want the world to recognize Obama sends Kerry to Moscow for talks about Syria while Obama says there is cooperation on the anti-terrorism front, but in fact, the United States is conducting something of a shadow war against Russia.RT: And that’s embarrassing for the US now to be exposed if this is indeed proven to be genuine.BB: Yes, of course they’ll try to put a narrative: ‘this is just the Cold War being played out over and over and over again.’ The Russian government is not trying to overdo the incident but they are trying to prove a point. We’ll see how it plays out in the US media in the coming days.RT: There have been plenty of spy stories like this in recent years – do you think we can expect these practices to continue?BB: Indeed. But I think it’s more than just a spy story. I think the US government is trying to fundamentally weaken the Russian government. They would like to have a Russian government that’s more pliable, that’s more of an accommodationist government. I think right now the Putin government and its foreign policy in particular is a concern for the United States so they’re using espionage and intelligence gathering and other methods to create and foment opposition inside of Russia to Putin, including the penetration of important parts of Russia society by US spies. So I think it’s got a serious political motive behind it. … Read More
Japanese PM visits Russia to build ‘personal confidence-based relations’
Abe will visit Moscow at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin on a trip that will last until May 30. “I would like to build a trusted personal relationship with President Putin,” Abe told reporters at a media briefing at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.”The talks will mainly focus on prospects for further promotion of Russian-Japanese trade, economic, investment and energy cooperation,” the PM’s press service said.A considerable number of governmental agreements and business documents relating trade, investment and economic cooperation, inter-regional contacts, agreements in medicine, culture and sports will be signed, Kremlin’s press service said.Putin and Abe have held a number of personal meetings in the past, meeting several times during Abe’s previous premiership in 2006 and 2007, on the sidelines of the APEC summits in Hanoi and Sydney and the G8 summit in Hailigendamm.The last time the two communicated directly was in a telephone conversation last year. The foreign ministers of Russia and Japan met four times in 2012.Abe’s ‘economic diplomacy’Abe expressed hopes that his visit to Moscow will mark “the first stage of economic diplomacy” that would make economic cooperation the centerpiece of bilateral relations.Relations between the two countries remains tense due to a territorial dispute between Russia and Japan over Kuril Islands. However, Russian and Japanese businesses still cooperate closely on a growing number of issues.Abe is accompanied by the biggest-ever business delegation in the history of relations between the two countries: Over 120 Japanese executives hoping to expand cooperation with Russia in energy, medicine, and urban development and infrastructure in the Far East, where some Japanese companies are opening assembly installations.The trade turnover between Russia and Japan in 2012 reached $32 billion, a 5.3-percent increase over 2011. In January and February of 2013, Russia-Japan trade turnover totaled $4.3 billion, a 6 percent increase over the same period in 2012.Russia is Japan’s 15th-biggest foreign trade partner, while Japan is Russia’s eighth-biggest, Tass reported. Mineral resources account for over 80 percent of Russian exports to Japan. Japanese imports from Russia mainly consists of machinery, chemicals, equipment and transport. Overall Japanese investments into Russia have reached $11 billion.Japan imports oil and gas from Russia’s Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects, and is boosting energy cooperation in the production liquefied gas, building petrochemical enterprises and improving gas and transport infrastructure.Currently, 270 Japanese companies operate in Russian markets.Kuril Islands stumbling pointA decades-long dispute over the ownership of South Kuril Islands has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from signing a formal peace treaty for 67 years recognizing the cessation of hostilities following the end of World War II.Tokyo has demanded that Moscow recognize Japan as the rightful owners of the South Kurils – the Kunashir, Shikotan, Iturup and Habomai Rocks. Moscow maintains that the USSR’s annexation of these islands from Japan following World War II are non-negotiable.”Russia believes that despite the complexity of the problem the dialogue should be aimed at finding the mutually acceptable solution and be held in a calm and respectful atmosphere,” the Kremlin said ahead of the visit. … Read More
North Korea: US urges China to rein in Pyongyang
The US says it is urging China to use all its leverage to help rein in North Korea’s “destabilising” actions. … Read More
PlusD is Wikileaks’ searchable archive of U.S. classified documents
Wikileaks has unveiled a newly searchable archive dubbed the “Public LIbrary of U.S. Diplomacy” or otherwise known as PlusD. The whistle-blowing organization hopes its efforts to sort, tag and analyze an enormous collection of more than two million U.S. documents will help onlookers more easily find what they're looking for. … … Read More
WikiLeaks launches searchable U.S. historical archive
WikiLeaks on Monday launched a searchable archive containing 1.7 million US State Department documents from 1973-76 that had been officially declassified but were not easily accessible to the public. The “Public Library of US Diplomacy” brings together the archived memos —…
North Korea: Beyond the cold war theatrics, is there really a nuclear threat to US?
Instead of taking the high road of international diplomacy, Obama’s war hawks chose a more neoconservative approach by baiting the North with a nuclear-capable B-2 Stealth flyover of the country by the US, by F22 aerial exercises and a US Navy Destroyer parked off the South Korean peninsula this week. … Read More
‘US pushing world towards destruction’
http://www.youtube.com/v/dvr5nj-RItU?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Original article: ‘US pushing world towards destruction’
