China completes power transmission project with Russia

China completes power transmission project with Russia

State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the country's largest power supplier, said Sunday it has put to trial operation a cross-border electricity transmission project in northeastern Heilongjiang province to supply Chinese with Russia's electric power exports.The electric power SGCC purchased from Russia began reaching Chinese customers late Saturday night after the completion of the direct-current back-to-back networking substation, or called "the trans-Amur project" by Russians, SGCC said in a statement on its website.

The trial operation will last 168 hours, SGCC said in the statement.With a transmission capacity of 750 mega-watts, the electricity transmission project is China's biggest cross-border power line, according to SGCC."The implementation of the project will gain experience for the expansion of Sino-Russian energy cooperation and help promote the economic development for both countries," SGCC said.The project is also part of the Sino-Russian energy and trade cooperation.

Russian Deputy Energy Minister Andrei Shishkin said in June 2011 that the transmission project would increase Russia's power supply to five or six billion kilowatt hours of electricity to China and Russia intended to increase its electricity supply to China in the coming years.Russian companies plan export 60 billion kwh of electricity to China by 2020. Power plants will be built along its border with China to reduce power transmission losses and reduce transportation costs.

Also on Sunday, an oil pipeline linking Russia's far east and northeast China witnessed its one year anniversary of operation, as operators announced an accumulated 15 million tonnes of oil had been transported into China in 2011.

κάτι τρέχει .....

O ιερός πόλεμος της Ρωσίας κατά της ελληνικής πολιτικής ελίτ

http://www.defencenet.gr/defence/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30711&Itemid=139

"Την ώρα που ο εκπρόσωπος του υπουργείου Εξωτερικών Γ.Δελαβέκουρας, δήλωνε προς την Ρωσία με αφορμή την διαμαρτυρία της στην υπόθεση του ηγούμενου Εφραίμ ότι «Η Ελλάδα είναι κράτος δικαίου με μακρά δημοκρατική παράδοση και σεβασμό των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων, όπου υπάρχει απόλυτος σεβασμός στην ανεξαρτησία της Δικαιοσύνης και σαφής διάκριση των εξουσιών. Για τα ανωτέρω θέματα η Ελλάδα δεν δέχεται υποδείξεις» κατά μία περίεργη ιστορική συγκυρία δύο ανώτατοι εισαγγελικοί λειτουργοί, επιφορτισμένοι με την δίωξη του οικονομικού εγκλήματος παραιτούντο, καταγγέλλοντας παρεμβάσεις της πολιτικής ηγεσίας στο έργο τους!

Δηλαδή η πραγματικότητα ισοπέδωνε τον βερμπαλισμό του ΥΠΕΞ .

9th of May - Victory Day. The end of WWII

Η σημαία στο Βερολίνο, το τέλος του πολέμου

Russian envoy demands NATO's reaction to WikiLeaks revelations

Rogozin said he expects NATO "to publicly give up military plans against Russia"

Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, demanded on Wednesday that NATO confirm or deny WikiLeaks reports showing that the alliance treats Russia as an aggressor.The latest batch of U.S. embassy cables released by Wikileaks shows NATO drew up plans in January to defend the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania against any possible attack by Russia.A NATO spokesman said Tuesday that NATO and Russia are not enemies but that the alliance is always ready to defend its members, including the Baltic states.Rogozin said he expects NATO "to publicly give up military plans against Russia."

Russia and China have lifted restrictions on trade in the rubles and the yuan

Russia and China have lifted restrictions on trade in the rubles and the yuan in a bid to boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation, following the results of a meeting between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on Tuesday. "This is a serious step forward towards creating better trade conditions and this is the result of the strengthening of our economies," Putin said. The restrictions were lifted after Russia and China signed a protocol on amendments on Tuesday to the existing Russian-Chinese trade and economic cooperation agreement dated March 5, 1992. The document was signed by Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Savatyugin and Chinese Deputy Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng. "Until now, under our previous agreements, we made mutual settlements exclusively in foreign currency, first of all, in U.S. dollars, and now, as the first step, trade in Russian rubles has started on the forex exchange in China and at the beginning of December trade in the yuan will begin in Moscow," Putin said. In 2002, Russia and China started an experiment in their border areas, which allowed Russian and Chinese banks to open ruble and yuan accounts . A year later, the Bank of Russia and the People's Bank of China signed an agreement on trade in national currencies.

According to Viktor Melnikov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Central Bank, Russian-Chinese trade from 2003 to 2010 in the border areas jumped more than 900 percent, while absolute volumes are not as high as some technical problems, for example VAT refund, impede bilateral trade. In 2009, bilateral trade in the Russian national currency amounted to 15.5 billion rubles while trade in the Chinese currency totaled 53 million yuan or $7.79 million. Over the same period, overall Russian-Chinese trade turnover amounted to $38.8 billion. Putin said trade turnover between Russia and China in 2010 would probably reach the pre-crisis level and added the January-September turnover had already grown by 56 percent to $42 billion.

ST PETERSBURG, November 23 (RIA Novosti)

Obama thanks Saakashvili for Afghan efforts and..supports Georgia's "integrity" ! ..

Obama thanks Saakashvili for Afghan efforts and.. supports Georgia's integrity ..

U.S. President Barack Obama has thanked his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili for his country's participation in NATO-led international peace efforts in Afghanistan and reaffirmed the United States' support of Georgia's territorial integrity, the White House said. Obama met with Saakashvili on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Lisbon on Friday to discuss the strengthening of bilateral relations, a White House statement said. "The two leaders discussed the Georgian government's efforts to implement political, economic, and defense reforms and our shared interest in securing democracy, stability, and prosperity in Georgia," the statement said. Georgia has deployed about 1,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, mainly in the volatile southern Helmand Province. Georgia is a staunch ally of the United States and aspires to join NATO. The United States has repeatedly called for the restoration of Georgia's territorial integrity following the August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia. As a result of the five-day war, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia.
also in Greek ..>> http://garizo.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_06.html

(Γεωπολιτική ανάλυση της οικονομικής κρίσης και του πολέμου στη Γεωργία)
Υπήρξαν δύο μεγάλα γεγονότα το τελευταίο διάστημα τα οποία θα καθορίσουν το τέλος του μετασοβιετικού κόσμου και φυσικά μας εισάγουν σε μια μεταβατική περίοδο γεμάτη αβεβαιότητες. Πριν καλά καλά σταθεροποιηθεί η κατάσταση μετά το τέλος της σοβιετικής εποχής, τα δύο αυτά γεγονότα που σηματοδοτούν το τέλος της μετασοβιετικής εικοσαετίας επαναπροσδιορίζουν το γεωπολιτικό παιχνίδι και τις παγκόσμιες ισορροπίες. Το ένα απο αυτά τα δύο μεγάλα γεγονότα είναι φυσικά η μεγάλη οικονομική κρίση που ξεκίνησε απο τις ΗΠΑ και απειλεί με ύφεση την ανθρωπότητα, ύφεση που θα έχει καταλυτικές επιπτώσεις ακόμη και στη συμπεριφορά των κρατών, και το άλλο οι εξελίξεις στη Γεωργία και την Οσετία..........>>> http://garizo.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_06.html
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Back to Afghanistan ??

Back to Afghanistan ??
(copy from: prime13 - http://13571113.blogspot.com/2010/11/back-to-afghanistan-ex-20.html )

NATO chief asks for Russian help in Afghanistan

Two decades after the Soviet Union’s  retreat from Afghanistan, NATO is working to get Russia back into the country to help fight drug trafficking and rebuild Afghan security forces. The deal, championed by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen as part of a “new start in the relationship between NATO and Russia,” would see Moscow providing helicopters to Afghan and NATO forces, training Afghan national-security forces and pilots, and helping on the ground with counternarcotics programs and border security. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is due to attend a NATO summit in Lisbon next month and sign the cooperation deal —and, in the process, repair relations damaged by years of NATO expansion and Georgia's 2008 war with Osetia. 

That new start comes at a hefty price, though. In return for cooperation in Afghanistan, Moscow is asking for substantial concessions from NATO. A draft agreement on NATO-Russian cooperation penned by the Kremlin and released last December includes proposed restrictions on NATO deployment of any force bigger than a 3,000-strong brigade in the combined territory of all former Soviet bloc members. Russia is also demanding that NATO not attempt to station more than 24 aircraft in Eastern Europe for more than 42 days a year. Most controversially, Russia also has demanded veto power on any Western military deployments of large additional forces anywhere in Central Europe, the Balkans, or the Baltics. To top off the wish list, the Kremlin wants limits lifted on Russian troops in the breakaway enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

FSB accuses Georgia of links with Al Qaeda militants

FSB accuses Georgia of links with Al Qaeda militants

The head of the Russian Federal Security Service claims Georgian special services are helping Al Qaeda members to wage terrorism in Russia’s southern regions.  Speaking with the media on Tuesday, Aleksandr Bortnikov, referred to a surge in militant attacks in Russia’s southern republics according to Interfax.“Bandits have returned to ‘suicide terrorist’ tactics. The number of armed attacks on law enforcement officers and public servants has increased.” Since June, nineteen terror acts have been prevented in the region, with 178 militants eliminated or arrested, including an Al Qaeda member who coordinated attacks. The head of the FSB went on to accuse Georgian special services of aiding the militants in Russia. “Recorded audio reports discovered at militant bases point to the fact that they and Al Qaeda representatives have established contacts with Georgia’s special services, and they aided in training and transporting terrorists into the Chechen Republic’s territory,” and adding,

Bulava test oct 2010

Russia and WTO

Russia’s Focus on Generating Internal Economic Growth and Reviving Its Troubled Auto Industry Means that Moscow Is Less Eager to Join the WTO for the Time Being

Negotiators for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) finally returned to the table yesterday after talks were thrown into confusion over a year ago, when Moscow said it would join as part of a Customs Union. Nonetheless, substantial developments in Russia’s tired 17-year-old WTO bid look unlikely, say analysts, and not only because of sticking points such as veto-wielding Georgia’s objection to the bid. Russia’s own interest has also now waned, since the economic crisis made membership less attractive. Moscow would rather focus on strengthening domestic economic recovery than pursuing further integration with the international economy.

Russia’s first WTO accession talks in over a year yesterday brought a string of obstacles to light, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned against optimism about rapid accession. "We want to join the WTO and are doing everything we can to achieve this. But, in all honesty, I do not believe it will happen by January 1 of next year. So far it doesn’t look like that. But we of course will do everything we can," RIA Novosti quoted Putin as saying. Russia’s troubled WTO bid now trundles into its 17th year of talks, and the negotiating committee is sizing up a new hurdle to accession – how Russia can join the global trade club as a three-country Customs Union, a process for which there is no WTO charter. In June last year Moscow threw accession talks into confusion when it announced its desire to accede jointly with Kazakhstan and Belarus.

How not to lose the peace in South Ossetia

How not to lose the peace in South Ossetia

18:17 05/08/2010

© AFP/ Str

On August 8, 2010 it will be two years since Georgia tried to solve the South Ossetian issue by force. Now, looking at those events through the prism of time, we can conclude that Russia stopped the aggression, prevented a genocide of the Ossetian people and strengthened Russia's geostrategic positions in the Caucasus. In other words, it has won the war. But will it be able to win the peace?

When the hostilities ended, Russia made efforts to help war-ravaged South Ossetia, allocating considerable funds for these purposes. The Russian leadership made a series of steps to stabilize the social and economic situation in the region and, as a result, to strengthen the young state. But the current state of affairs raises doubts whether the allocated funds are being spent effectively. Concerned about such a turn of events, the Kremlin is beginning to clamp stiff controls over the reconstruction process, encountering both concealed and open resistance.

Union of Soviet Capitalist Republics - USCR ...

Victory day parade - Red square Moscow - 9-5-2010

Almost all ex Soviet republics participate in this years parade ( not excluding NATO & POLAND !!  also..)

Russia prepares spectacular Red Square parade

Russia is preparing for the biggest Red Square military parade in modern history in a Soviet-style celebration marking the 65th anniversary of the USSR defeating Nazi Germany.

 

By Andrew Osborn in Moscow
Published: 8:18PM BST 28 Apr 2010

Russian heavy weapons drive along Tverskaya street in Moscow Photo: EPA

The grandiose Moscow event on May 9 will be replicated on a smaller scale in 71 cities across Russia who will hold their own military parades making it a nationwide event involving around 100,000 troops.

In Moscow, foreign soldiers, including a detachment of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and the Central Band of the Royal Air Force, will join their Russian counterparts on Moscow's most famous square for the first time.

Military commanders, who held a rehearsal on Tuesday, have said that the Moscow parade will involve 10,000 troops, 160 military vehicles and 127 aircraft making it the biggest such parade since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.Foreign dignitaries and heads of state will also be present.

Strategic nuclear bombers, MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets, and an array of military helicopters and gunships are expected to fly over Red Square on the day, while on the ground, T-90 battle tanks, intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, and numerous air defence and artillery pieces will trundle across the cobbles.

Ukraine Fleet Deal Expands Russia's Regional Reach

10:1322/04/2010

Ukraine agreed Wednesday to extend the lease of Russia's Black Sea Fleet base in return for sharply lower natural-gas prices, a long-term trade-off that reasserts much of Moscow's influence over its former Soviet neighbor after years of tension.The deal was the latest sign of Russia's determination to use its vast energy resources to restore dominance lost when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. It will allow Russia to keep a strategic military presence beyond its borders until 2043, a quarter-century beyond the end of its current lease for the naval base on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

Deaths in North Caucasus blasts

Deaths in North Caucasus blasts

Nine people have been killed in two explosions in Russia's North Caucasus, police have said. The bomb blasts on Wednesday morning happened in the centre of the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan region. Eighteen people were reportedly injured, and a local police spokesman said most of the victims were believed to be policemen. Vyacheslav Gasanov, a local interior ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press that traffic police pulled over a suspicious-looking car, and the driver then detonated explosives. As police and locals gathered at the scene there was a second blast, he said. The blasts come just two days after suicide bomb attacks in Moscow's underground system killed 39 people and injured scores. Russian officials have blamed Muslim separatist fighters from the North Caucasus for those attacks. Umarov, who claimed responsibility, also  claimed responsibility for the bombing of a passenger train travelling between Moscow and St Petersburg in November, warned that "the war is coming to their cities". --------------------------------------------------- Umarov was in Moscow (or in Tyumen Oblast[3]) when the first Russian-Chechen war broke out in December 1994, he returned to Chechnya to fulfill what he said was his patriotic duty to fight. Umarov initially served under the command of Ruslan Gelayev. In 1996, due to disagreements with Gelayev, he left the unit and joined the command of Akhmed Zakayev, who had also left Gelayev's ranks, now heading the special forces unit Borz ("Wolf"). In the course of the war, in which his unit was expanded from a battalion to regiment, Umarov was promoted to the rank of brigadier generaland won two prestigious awards for valor: for his bravery he was decorated with Ichkeria's two highest medals: Hero of the Nation (Kyoman Turpal) and Honour of the Nation (Kioman Syi). Akhmed Zakayev was born in 1956 in the settlement of Kirovskiy (now in Almaty Province) in Kazakhstan, where his family was deported by Stalin's regime along with the rest of the Chechens in 1944. He graduated from acting and choreographyschools in Voronezh and Moscow and worked as an actor at a theatre in the Chechen capital Grozny, specializing in a Shakespearean roles. Since 1991, he was the chairman of the Chechen Union of the Theatrical Actors. In 1994, Zakayev became a Minister of Culture in the Chechen separatist government of Dzhokhar Dudayev.  Zakayev became Chechen Deputy Prime Minister (in charge of education and culture) and a special envoy of elected President of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov for relations with Moscow, taking part in the delegation that signed the official Chechen-Russian peace treaty at the Kremlin in 1997.[8] During the interwar period, he opposed the rise of radical Islam in Chechnya and co-authored a book entitled Wahhabism - the Kremlin's remedy against national liberation movements, alleging an association between Islamist extremism and Soviet global "pro-terrorist" policy and support for dictatorships in the Muslim world. During the early phases of the Second Chechen War in 1999-2000, Zakayev commanded Maskhadov's presidential guard; he was also involved in negotiations with Russian representatives before and during the resumed hostilities. In 2000, having been wounded in a car accident during the new siege of Grozny, he left Chechnya for treatment. After this he stayed abroad and became President Maskhadov's most prominent representative inWestern Europe, while Ilyas Akhmadov was the Chechen emissary to the United States. Since January 2002, Zakayev and his immediate family are residing permanently in the United Kingdom.  After receiving the political asylum in Britain in 2003, Zakayev lives in London and he visited several countries (includingFrance, Germany and Poland) without being arrested μερικές αλήθειες καλό είναι  να λέγονται ...

Students from Haiti to receive Russian state funding

26/01/2010 |

Students from Haiti to receive Russian state funding

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during his talk with students of Chuvashia State University on Monday said that all current Haitian students in Russia will receive state funding from the federal budget for their tuition fees. He mentioned that according to his sources, there are 75 students from Haiti in Russian universities at the moment, some of whom are already receiving free tuition. Earlier reports said that some Haitian students of RUDN (People's Friendship University of Russia) in Moscow received money for their tuition fees from their parents, but could not get in touch with them after the earthquake. According to RIA Novosti, there are 51 students from Haiti studying at RUDN. At least three of them lost their parents in the earthquake. The students previously applied to the University with requests to receive aid with their tuition fees. There are students from Haiti in the universities of Moscow, Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, Ryazan, Cheboksary and Novosibirsk.

Cold spell in Russian-Iranian relations

(Vladimir Yevseyev for RIA Novosti) - On January 19 of this year Iran's government prohibited a Russian plane carrying a Su-27SKM fighter (a modernized export version of the basic model) from flying over its territory to Bahrain, which was hosting the Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS-2010). Although permission was granted by the end of the day, this indicates a cooling, rather than merely an annoying misunderstanding, in Russian-Iranian steadily developing relations.The first signs of deterioration appeared in the middle of last June when blatant electoral fraud sparked widespread unrest in the Islamic Republic. Several days later Yekaterinburg played host to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, at which Iran has observer status. At the summit Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put Russia in an awkward position by forcing it to recognize his victory in the elections. This in turn drew fierce criticism of Moscow from the Iranian opposition. However, Russia supported Ahmadinejad with a view to developing a relationship of trust, particularly in such sensitive areas as the arms trade and the nuclear power industry.

Another event indicating that a chill was in the air took place in late September when President Dmitry Medvedev learned, from his American counterpart, about the secret construction of a new uranium-enrichment plant near Qom, a Shiite holy city in Iran. Russia started to doubt the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. For a long time Russia had not only saved Iran from tough Security Council sanctions but also continued cooperating with Iran in the nuclear power industry, despite strong Western pressure. As a consequence, Medvedev had to agree to the potential imposition of sanctions on Iran.An opportunity to improve bilateral relations appeared at the first seven-party talks (the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany and Iran) that took place in Geneva on October 1, 2009. Tehran agreed to the inspection of the facility under construction in Qom and that took place in late October.

Furthermore, a package of proposals on enriching Iran's low enriched uranium (LEU) abroad was drafted by representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran, France, Russia and the United States in Vienna on October 21.This package satisfies Iran's national interests because the relevant Security Council resolutions prevent Iran from buying nuclear fuel abroad. In addition, in October Moscow hoped to step up its military technical cooperation with Iran, in particular, to supply it with five battalions of S-300 PMU1 medium- and long-range air defense missiles. A contract to this effect was signed several years ago but politics impeded its implementation.When Tehran agreed to export considerable amounts of stockpiled nuclear materials, the mood throughout the international community lightened. This proved essential for Russia. However, Iran started undermining the deal with a view to keeping LEU on its territory. After enriching the LEU Iran could produce more than 60 kg of weapons-grade uranium (25 kg are enough for one nuclear bomb).

Moreover, Tehran expressed its obvious mistrust of Moscow by agreeing that its LEU under IAEA control should go to Turkey rather than Russia. It started adding new terms to the deal, making its implementation increasingly difficult.These tensions in Russian-Iranian relations were further exacerbated in December when Ahmadinejad instructed his administration to assess the damage done to his country in the 1940s by the members of the anti-Nazi coalition: the Soviet Union, the United States and Britain. No doubt, this was done with a view to making financial claims to these three countries.The future for bilateral relations does not look bright. Before long, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano is likely to publish a tougher report on Iran. Tehran continues to support such radical Islamic groups as Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and rarely plays a positive role in resolving Iraqi, Afghan, Lebanese and Yemeni problems. The absence of strong economic contacts and the Iranian opposition's negative attitude to Moscow make the prospect of better relations even more unlikely.Vladimir Yevseyev is a research fellow with the International Security Center at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of World Economy and International Relations

Russia set to build up its naval facilities in Syria

Russia set to build up its naval facilities in Syria

The Russian Navy will expand and modernize its Soviet-era naval maintenance site near Tartus in Syria to support anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast, a high-ranking navy source said on Monday.About 50 naval personnel and three berthing floats are currently deployed at the Tartus site, which can accommodate up to a dozen warships."Two tug boats from the Black Sea Fleet will deliver a new berthing float to Tartus," the source said."Following modernization, the Russian naval maintenance site in Tartus will become fully-operational," he added.The Navy maintenance site near Tartus is the only Russian foothold in the Mediterranean. Russian navy commanders have long been calling for the expansion and modernization of the Tartus base."The base in Tartus will provide all necessary support for the Russian warships which will be engaged in protecting commercial shipping around the Horn of Africa," the official said.According to the Russian Navy, the naval base in Syria significantly boosts Russia's operational capability in the region because the warships based there are capable of reaching the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar in a matter of days.Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said in January that the General Staff had backed the Navy command's proposal to develop naval infrastructure outside Russia.Russia has reportedly been involved in talks to establish naval facilities in Yemen, Syria and Libya, among other countries in the Mediterranean.

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Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr arrives in Syria Posted : Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:23:44 GMT Author : DPA Damascus - Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr arrived in Damascus on Monday, a source in the Sadrist movement's office in the Syrian capital told the German Press Agency dpa. The cleric, who has a broad following among poor Iraqi Shiite Muslims, was expected to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday afternoon, the source said, requesting anonymity. In his talks with senior Syrian officials, al-Sadr would discuss Syrian-Iraqi relations and "the situation in Iraq after the withdrawal of US soldiers from Iraqi cities" at the end of June, the Sadrist spokesman said. During his last visit to Damascus, in February 2006, al-Sadr urged Sunni and Shiite Muslims to set aside their differences to counter "the Western offensive against Islam and the Middle East." "The occupation is what is causing instability in Iraq," he said in remarks widely carried by the press at the time. "The exit of the occupier will be a victory for Iraq, and not, as it is said, a victory for the terrorists."

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/278207,iraqi-cleric-moqtada-al-sadr-arrives-in-syria.html

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Russian Envoy Meets With Hamas in Syria Reported: 11:39 AM - Jul/19/09 (IsraelNN.com) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Mideast envoy Alexander Sultanov held talks with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Syria on Saturday night, the official Syrian Arab New Agency (SANA) reported. The two discussed the developments in the Middle East, Palestinian Authority (PA)-Israeli peace negotiations, and reconciliation of PA factions at the meeting which took place in the Russian embassy. In a statement issued after talks, a Hamas spokesman called the talks "positive.” http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/168148

Russia and China sign 100-billion-dollar deal

Russia and China sign 100-billion-dollar deal of the century. Pravda.ru-June 18, 2009. A new deal between Russia and China in the sum of about $100 billion became the largest deal that has ever been signed between the two countries, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said as a result of the meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. The two presidents signed a large package of documents, including those in the oil and gas industry, in Moscow. “It became possible owing to the use of the mechanism that we invented with the leader of the People’s Republic of China a year ago,” Medvedev said. Dmitry Medvedev and Hu Jintao conducted negotiations about the shipments of Russia’s natural gas to China. The presidents signed the Memorandum About Mutual Understanding on the Cooperation in the Field of Natural Gas.” It is an open secret that China suffers from the shortage of natural gas. The talks between the two countries about the deliveries of Russian gas to China last for several years already. Moscow was not satisfied with the conditions, which Beijing proposed for cooperation: the prices in question are a lot lower than those, which Russia has with its gas contracts in Europe. If China is willing to purchase large quantities of Russian gas, it will be necessary to build a new gas pipeline. A senior official of Russia’s gas monopolist, Gazprom, said that it did not go about the deliveries of natural gas to China in 2011. The two countries still negotiate the prices. Russia currently runs the Eastern Gas Program in the Far East and in Siberia. The program was developed with an intention to supply oil and gas to the Asian-Pacific region, including China , RIA Novosti news agency reports.

Russia and China are working on a possibility to use rubles and yuans in their mutual settlements !!!, Vice Prime Minister of the Russian government, Igor Sechin said.

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also..>>

China makes a choice in Iran (By Francesco Sisci) BEIJING - A movie recently released in China, The Empire of Silver by Guo Taiming, describes the cunningness, betrayals, fights, tribulations and passions accompanying Chinese traders' earnings and fortunes along the Silk Road. Their monumental mansions, still standing in modern Shanxi around the city of Pingyao, are a testament to the wealth they managed to accumulate. Pingyao itself, now a nearly god-forsaken town a few kilometers away from the sands of the desert, is being celebrated in China as the former capital of Chinese finance. It is the place where the hallmarks of contemporary monetary flow, such as checks and banknotes, were first invented and used. The history of Pingyao proves how China felt and still feels about the stability of the Silk Road. Now most of China's trade moves from the coast and not, as it did until about 150 years ago, across the continental route stretching through Central Asia and Iran. These lands were not just distant pieces in a game of geopolitical dominos or uncertain suppliers of fuel and raw materials. They were part of the bloodline that China could not control militarily - unlike the modern American sea lanes - but that were crucial for a good part of the Chinese economy. Thus, Chinese diplomacy and silver helped to stabilize the areas, no matter what. The flow of goods was ultimately what was important for Pingyao, not the particular political settlement in, say, Iran. That history resonates in the Chinese thinking about political upheavals in Iran in today. Immediately after the results of the recent Iranian elections were announced, Chinese experts smelled foul play. In a modern country, with electronic devices and spotless organization, it could take days to have the final results. In Iran, with a largely primitive organization and little or no electronic network, the top leaders announced the victory of incumbent president Mahmud Ahmadinejad just two hours after the polls closed. Moreover, random investigations and inquiries suggested that Ahmadinejad was actually third in the polls, after Mir Hussein Mousavi, a native of the East Azarbaijan province, and even after the other reform candidate, Mehdi Karroubi. According to the official results, Mousavi was beaten even in his home villages, among strongly clannish Azars, and some areas had 140% voter turnout. These are the reasons why at the beginning of last week, Chinese papers heaped criticism and derision on Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his political patron and Iran's top leader, for their alleged victory with an astounding 71% of the total vote. The papers got a free hand on that because even China's top decision-makers thought Ahmadinejad had gone too far. Yet, within a few days, it was also clear that the official results would not be turned down. Khamenei ordered a recount of some of the vote, which confirmed the original numbers. Pro-Mousavi demonstrators could take to the streets and could also hope to storm Tehran, home of about one-sixth of Iran's population, but they could not hope to topple Ahmadinejad without a violent confrontation. The president controls the army and, most importantly, the vast network of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, which has vested interests in preserving Iran's status quo. And after all, now as in the times of The Empire of Silver, the status quo is also Beijing's political mantra. China is extremely concerned about the political stability along its borders because it is the one thing that could undermine the domestic stability necessary to carry on its reform and modernization program. Chaos in Iran then looks particularly dangerous. Iraq is in chaos; Afghanistan needs more soldiers, ie, more military activities; the Taliban are wresting political power in Pakistan; and the Kashmir region, between Pakistan and India, is still a powder keg. If Iran spirals into a new revolution or a civil war, neighboring Pakistan could soon follow, and in either case, political calm could be restored only at the price of violent crackdowns, condoned in Pakistan (where the government is pro-Western) and opposed in Iran (with anti-Western leaders). India would be hardly spared its share of troubles, with its large and restive Muslim minority. Its financial center in Mumbai, next to Pakistan and with large Muslim shantytowns, could again be attacked by terrorists. China would be in a state of alarm. Its Muslim region of Xinjiang, with an uneasy, pro-independence Uighur minority (a Turkic-speaking people), could be inspired to spark anew their protests. In any event, the whole region could soon be in flames. Oil prices could then spike again, as chaos in Iran threatens the security of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula. The Iraqi war could soon pale in comparison to the nightmare starting in Iran. Furthermore, inspired by Iran, North Korea could also try its hand at stirring chaos, perhaps winning new and dangerous benefits from the six-party talks, with governments too worried about Iran to have time to be fussy about concessions to Pyongyang. Against this background, China, in a June 18 editorial in the official English-language China Daily, wished for peace to soon be restored in Tehran and encouraged the US to not be tempted to push a new "color" revolution in Iran. China has a further political calculus. If Ahmadinejad, already domestically weak, were to emerge from elections that everybody knows he lost and to come to the fore to speak about Iran's nuclear program, he may be very vulnerable and thus willing to accommodate foreign requests. Conversely, if someone else, perhaps Mousavi, surfaces out of the ongoing demonstrations, he will have strong popular support and thus might be unwilling to make concessions on something considered a matter of national security and pride: Iran's nuclear program. Beijing makes political calculations on the basis of an ongoing, growing political and economic relationship, providing leverage with the incumbent president. In America, cut off from Iran for 30 years, there is no political relationship to speak of, and thus there is no leverage, either. It is easy for China to think of doing business with the existing man, Ahmadinejad, and for America, trusting no one, it is easy to bet on Mousavi, the new man - he could hardly be worse than the present one for Washington. Furthermore, the United States may think that as long as protests go on in Tehran, the Israeli pressure for a troublesome air strike against Iranian nuclear facilities can be put off. Strategically, the world, already in the middle of a grave economic crisis, can hardly spare the time and energy to cope with the expansion of the present geopolitical crisis, which already stretches from Iraq to Pakistan. This is in favor of China's interest for the status quo. Tactically, however, China's hopes for a quick, peaceful solution could be dashed. Despite all calculations, historical processes and protests have a way of developing independent of cold political scheming. Certainly, when the popular mood is hot, as in Iran now, it is easier to fan the flames of discontent than to try dousing them. This could bring trouble to China, but few others would be spared.

Francesco Sisci, Asia Editor of La Stampa