2007/05/31
Ex-KGB spy: UK tried to recruit me
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Andrei Lugovoi -- the man British authorities accuse of poisoning a former Russian spy in London last year -- told reporters Thursday he wasn't behind the ex-KGB agent's murder, but speculated the British government may have been.
"I don't know who killed him," Lugovoi, a former security service agent turned businessman, said at a Moscow press conference, according to a translation from Russia Today television.
He did, however, speculate on who was behind the poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died in November, several weeks after being exposed to toxic levels of polonium-210.
"It is difficult to abandon the idea that Litvinenko had become an agent of the British special services who got out of hand and was then eliminated -- if not by the special services themselves, then under their control or their connivance," he said.
As part of a "grim political story" the British special services recruited political refugee and Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, who lives in London, to kill Litvinenko, Lugovoi said, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
"You don't have to be a lawyer to understand that there must be a motive behind such a crime," he said. "Alexander was not my enemy."
Lugovoi said Berezovsky's motive was Litvinenko's possession of "great material" that could expose the underhanded way Berezovsky acquired political refugee status in Britain.
Detailing the scheme, Lugovoi explained "those wishing to get political asylum should publish in Russia certain articles of a political content, an anti-Russian content, criticizing the course of the Russian government."
In addition, Lugovoi also claimed he was approached by the British special forces and asked to gain compromising information on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Attempts were made to openly recruit me as a British intelligence service agent," Lugovoi said. "The Britons in fact suggested that I collect any information that could compromise President Putin and members of his family."
"I don't know who killed him," Lugovoi, a former security service agent turned businessman, said at a Moscow press conference, according to a translation from Russia Today television.
He did, however, speculate on who was behind the poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, who died in November, several weeks after being exposed to toxic levels of polonium-210.
"It is difficult to abandon the idea that Litvinenko had become an agent of the British special services who got out of hand and was then eliminated -- if not by the special services themselves, then under their control or their connivance," he said.
As part of a "grim political story" the British special services recruited political refugee and Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, who lives in London, to kill Litvinenko, Lugovoi said, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
"You don't have to be a lawyer to understand that there must be a motive behind such a crime," he said. "Alexander was not my enemy."
Lugovoi said Berezovsky's motive was Litvinenko's possession of "great material" that could expose the underhanded way Berezovsky acquired political refugee status in Britain.
Detailing the scheme, Lugovoi explained "those wishing to get political asylum should publish in Russia certain articles of a political content, an anti-Russian content, criticizing the course of the Russian government."
In addition, Lugovoi also claimed he was approached by the British special forces and asked to gain compromising information on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Attempts were made to openly recruit me as a British intelligence service agent," Lugovoi said. "The Britons in fact suggested that I collect any information that could compromise President Putin and members of his family."
Putin says test missile is signal to U.S.
MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Russia's test firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile this week was in response to U.S. steps that have sparked an arms race and undermined world security, Russian President Vladimir Putin says.
"Our American partners have left the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty. We have warned them then that we will come out with a response to maintain the strategic balance in the world," Putin told a news conference Thursday.
"We conducted a test of a new strategic ballistic missile with multiple warheads, and of a new cruise missile, and will continue to improve our resources."
"We are not the initiators of this new round of the arms race," said Putin. "(Our partners) are stuffing eastern Europe with new weapons. A new base in Bulgaria, another in Romania, a site in Poland, radar in the Czech Republic . . . what are we supposed to do? We cannot just observe all this."
Russia test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday featuring multiple warheads that senior officials said could pierce any missile defense system, including the planned U.S. shield in Europe.
Russia says the U.S. missile defence shield is a threat to its security and will change the strategic balance in Europe, but Washington dismisses such fears, saying the shield is intended to counter "rogue states."
"Our American partners have left the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty. We have warned them then that we will come out with a response to maintain the strategic balance in the world," Putin told a news conference Thursday.
"We conducted a test of a new strategic ballistic missile with multiple warheads, and of a new cruise missile, and will continue to improve our resources."
"We are not the initiators of this new round of the arms race," said Putin. "(Our partners) are stuffing eastern Europe with new weapons. A new base in Bulgaria, another in Romania, a site in Poland, radar in the Czech Republic . . . what are we supposed to do? We cannot just observe all this."
Russia test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday featuring multiple warheads that senior officials said could pierce any missile defense system, including the planned U.S. shield in Europe.
Russia says the U.S. missile defence shield is a threat to its security and will change the strategic balance in Europe, but Washington dismisses such fears, saying the shield is intended to counter "rogue states."
Blasfémias
Bomb Iran: "Podhorez writes in conclusion. "As an American and as a Jew, I pray with all my heart that he will."
Podhoretz believes that "the plain and brutal truth is that if Iran is to be prevented from developing a nuclear arsenal, there is no alternative to the actual use of military force--any more than there was an alternative to force if Hitler was to be stopped in 1938." Podhoretz has a book set for release on September 11 entitled World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism.
Como se o Paquistão, que se abandonar o seu "fascismo" adoptando a democracia, corre o risco de entregar todo o seu arsenal actual (comparando com o hipotético ainda muito a prazo iraniano) a islamistas, não fosse o risco maior.
E assim temos "Muniche" até à eternidade. Hitler foi derrotado em pouco mais de 3 anos mas Estaline conquista metade da Europa Cristã e do mundo. E consideram isso um exemplo para a eternidade.
Mas quanto a tal bombardeamento (a actividade preferida dos especialistas em relações internacionais) desencadear caminhos gravosos que não os do idealismo moralista e militarista cego destes tipos (como Woodrow Wilson), nada.
Just wisfull thinking.
Podhoretz believes that "the plain and brutal truth is that if Iran is to be prevented from developing a nuclear arsenal, there is no alternative to the actual use of military force--any more than there was an alternative to force if Hitler was to be stopped in 1938." Podhoretz has a book set for release on September 11 entitled World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism.
Como se o Paquistão, que se abandonar o seu "fascismo" adoptando a democracia, corre o risco de entregar todo o seu arsenal actual (comparando com o hipotético ainda muito a prazo iraniano) a islamistas, não fosse o risco maior.
E assim temos "Muniche" até à eternidade. Hitler foi derrotado em pouco mais de 3 anos mas Estaline conquista metade da Europa Cristã e do mundo. E consideram isso um exemplo para a eternidade.
Mas quanto a tal bombardeamento (a actividade preferida dos especialistas em relações internacionais) desencadear caminhos gravosos que não os do idealismo moralista e militarista cego destes tipos (como Woodrow Wilson), nada.
Just wisfull thinking.
2007/05/23
Vietnam?
SFGate: "(05-22) 04:00 PDT Washington -- The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.
The little-noticed second surge, designed to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there.
The actions could boost the number of combat soldiers from 52,500 in early January to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year if the Pentagon overlaps arriving and departing combat brigades.
Separately, when additional support troops are included in this second troop increase, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 -- a record-high number -- by the end of the year. "
The little-noticed second surge, designed to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there.
The actions could boost the number of combat soldiers from 52,500 in early January to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year if the Pentagon overlaps arriving and departing combat brigades.
Separately, when additional support troops are included in this second troop increase, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 -- a record-high number -- by the end of the year. "
2007/05/04
The path of self-destruction
"(...) We say the missile defense system is directed at Iran. Russians see it as of a piece with the move eastward of NATO and targeted at them. Can we blame them for so thinking, when we responded to their pullout of troops from Central and Eastern Europe by bringing Central and Eastern Europe into a U.S.-led alliance?
If the Russia-baiters in this capital have their way, Ukraine and Georgia will also be brought into NATO. That would commit us to go to war with Russia over control of the Crimean peninsula and the Russian-speaking Donbass of eastern Ukraine, and over the birthplace of Stalin and who should control South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"Moscow would not dare intervene in the Baltic republics!" comes the retort. Perhaps not. But the Russians are now fiercely nationalistic and anti-American. And it is always a mistake for a great power to cede to a minor power the ability to draw it into a great war. Just as it is always a mistake to hand out war guarantees one cannot honor.
In March 1939, Britain gave a war guarantee to Polish colonels who had not requested it, a guarantee Britain had no way of fulfilling. The war that followed cost Britain her empire and Poland 50 years of freedom.
In August 1914, King Albert of Belgium informed King George V that the Kaiser's troops had crossed his border. He invoked a treaty assuring Belgian neutrality that the British had signed -- in 1839!
So, Britain declared war, and 700,000 Brits perished in the Great War that hurled the West onto its present path of self-destruction.
And the march of folly continues on. " Dying for...Estonia? by Patrick J. Buchanan
If the Russia-baiters in this capital have their way, Ukraine and Georgia will also be brought into NATO. That would commit us to go to war with Russia over control of the Crimean peninsula and the Russian-speaking Donbass of eastern Ukraine, and over the birthplace of Stalin and who should control South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"Moscow would not dare intervene in the Baltic republics!" comes the retort. Perhaps not. But the Russians are now fiercely nationalistic and anti-American. And it is always a mistake for a great power to cede to a minor power the ability to draw it into a great war. Just as it is always a mistake to hand out war guarantees one cannot honor.
In March 1939, Britain gave a war guarantee to Polish colonels who had not requested it, a guarantee Britain had no way of fulfilling. The war that followed cost Britain her empire and Poland 50 years of freedom.
In August 1914, King Albert of Belgium informed King George V that the Kaiser's troops had crossed his border. He invoked a treaty assuring Belgian neutrality that the British had signed -- in 1839!
So, Britain declared war, and 700,000 Brits perished in the Great War that hurled the West onto its present path of self-destruction.
And the march of folly continues on. " Dying for...Estonia? by Patrick J. Buchanan
