Obama bans construction of GLONASS stations in US ... !

30 December 2013, 10:49  

Obama bans construction of GLONASS stations in US without Pentagon’s approval

Photo: RIA Novosti

US President Barack Obama has signed a bill hindering the construction of GLONASS stations on the US territory. The document rules that the matter requires the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence to report the case to Congress first.

Under the Republican-proposed bill, the Pentagon and CIA chiefs are to provide assurances that GLONASS stations will not be used for spying against the US or for improving the efficiency of Russian weapons, the New York Times says.

The signing was preceded by protracted debates between various US agencies and departments. The bill reflects their authors’ suspicions towards and distrust of Russia’s GLONASS global satellite navigation system.

One of the authors of the bill acknowledged in an interview that the aim was to make the construction of GLONASS stations in the US almost or totally impossible and also to prevent the Department of State from having a say on the issue.

The GLONASS bill was subsequently included into the Pentagon’s draft next year budget.

In an apparent attempt to play down the consequences of the move, the White House has announced that talks with the Russian side will continue.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has declined to comment on the issue. A spokesperson for the Department of State said that the matter would be handled in line with the existing legislation.

In 2012, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency announced plans to build eight monitoring stations on US soil to improve the accuracy of GLONASS. Russia has 19 ground-based GLONASS stations on its own territory.

In November, the Pentagon and the CIA, fearing that the move might enhance the capability of the Russian space system, urged the State Department to turn down Roscosmos’ request.

Chinese Aviation Industry Milestones In 2013 Review

Chinese Aviation Industry Milestones In 2013 Review

In the year 2013 many of China's new military aviation projects appeared, so it was very exciting for all the followers of the PLAAF . Although there weren't as many news coming out this year about J-20 and J-31 stealth fighters, many other projects really came out and took center stage.

Y-20 - Although we started see pictures of Y-20 performing low speed taxiing late last year, it did not make it's maiden flight until late January of this year. The second Y-20 prototype made its maiden flight very recently. It looks like this program is progressing well so far. PLAAF is desperate for something like Y-20 to not only do the role of strategic transport but also as the platform for next generation AWACS (and other C4ISR roles), large aerial tanker and airborne laser platform. It has been forced to purchase a number of refurbished IL-76s from Russia in the past couple of years as a stop gap until Y-20 comes into service in 3 to 5 years. I think there is a chance that they will also purchase some new built IL-476 since the production rate for Y-20 is likely to be low in the beginning. In my opinion, this is the most important aviation project for PLA.

New Thor SAM Enters Air Defense System

New Thor SAM Enters Air Defense System

Posted on December 24, 2013 by defencerussia

Short-range SAMs are the latest air defense system frontier in any state. Today’s defenses and resistance to external aggression are estimated by the presence of modern air defense system, and primarily by the presence of short-range air defense system.

Therefore, today the most popular and the most promising direction in the development of air defense is to create a new air defense system with high combat capabilities. “Demand in this arms market segment is growing rapidly as competition among suppliers”, said the spokesman for the Land Forces Major Kirill Kiselyov.

One of the most effective short-range air defense missile systems today is the “Thor” family, specially designed for high-precision weapons defeat during air attack of tactical aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles in complex interference and meteorological conditions, day and night.

The latest development of JSC “Concern PVO “Almaz -Antey” and JSC “IEMZ “Kupol” is “Tor – M2KM” with combat and technical facilities in a modular design. It has high reliability and efficiency in the fight against actively maneuvering air targets, controlled and gliding aerial bombs, radar countermeasures, controlled and cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, aircraft and helicopters. The complex is equipped with modern computer facilities and modern radar to detect and handle up to 48 targets, simultaneously track up to 10 of the most dangerous targets and provide simultaneous destruction of these four goals.

“Tor- M2KM” is a modular unit that provides placement of autonomous combat module (ABM) and hardware on any truck chassis, trailers, other platforms of the correct capacity, and stationary version.

Trans-Asian Corridor of Development: Russia’s super canal to unite Eurasia

Trans-Asian Corridor of Development: Russia’s super canal to unite Eurasia

The decision to create a Eurasian Union on the basis of the Customs Union launched byBelarus, Kazakhstan and Russia on January 1, 2010, might be one day regarded as one of the major geopolitical events of the XXI Century. The three former Soviet republics account together for almost one tenth of the world’s proven oil reserves, one fifth of the global wheat exports and one third of the world’s proven gas reserves, while the expected adhesions of Armenia,Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will turn the existing union into a truly Eurasian trade bloc. 

Nevertheless, from a purely economic point of view, neither the Customs Union nor the planned Eurasian Union represent a real challenge for the United States and the other major economies. Together, Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus produce just 4% of the global GDP, a figure that would only slightly change even in case of an eventual Ukrainian adhesion to the Union, currently discussed in Kiev. As a result, the process started by Minsk, Astana and Moscow may lead to the creation of a new pole able to successfully compete in the global economy only if post-Soviet integration will be in the framework of a greater Eurasian integration.

One of the means through which the Eurasian Union, to be established by 2015 by the members of the Customs Union, may achieve greater geo-economic significance is the creation of a network of infrastructures between Central Eurasia and the Southern periphery of the continent, that is between what geopolitics knows as Heartland and Rimland respectively. In this regards, the most geopolitically important achievement would undoubtedly be the construction of the Trans-Asian Corridor of Development, a Russian project for a super canal connecting the Kara Sea and the Persian Gulf that was presented in Tashkent during an international conference on innovative ideas in November 2008.

THE TRANS-ASIAN CORRIDOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Putin: Moscow to Strengthen its Position in South Caucasus

Putin: Moscow to Strengthen its Position in South Caucasus

Russia intends to strengthen its position in the South Caucasus, President Vladimir Putin said at the Russian-Armenian Interregional Forum. He said the position would strengthen "relying on the best inheritance from our ancestors and the good relations with all countries of the region, including Armenia.""As to the South Caucasus, Russia has never planned to leave it. On the contrary, we are going to strengthen our position in the South Caucasus," Putin said. He said the position would strengthen "relying on the best inheritance from our ancestors and the good relations with all countries of the region, including Armenia."

Putin proposes to bolster cooperation between Russian, Armenian regions

President Putin's visit bolsters Armenia politically, economically and militarily

President Putin's visit bolsters Armenia politically, economically and militarily 

The  leader of the Russian Federation, a man that was just voted by none-other-than Forbes Magazine as the most powerful man in the world arrives in Armenia; he joins his Armenian counterpart to review the arsenal of impressive weaponry stationed at the recently modernized 102nd base in Gyumri; he pays his respects to the victims of the tragic earthquake of 1988; he pays tribute at the memorial to the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide; he attends a major Russian-Armenian economic forum; he announces that Russia will be providing Armenia natural gas and modern weaponry at domestic prices; he signs a whole range of far-reaching agreements with the Armenian government.... yet every single one of the Western world's news organizations, as well as most English language foreign media (including Armenian ones) simply chose to report on the "mass protests" carried out by several hundred psychologically challenged individuals? 

I'll get to the freak show in question a little later in this commentary.

How could it be that there is not a single positive Western news report about the state visit? How could it be that not a single Western news outlet ignored the protest by a small group of worthless idiots? Something's not right here. Could this be part of their global information war against President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation? Could it be that news media executives in the Western world (primarily a small bunch of Brits, Americans and Jews with top level government connections) are conspiring against President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation? 

Washington's information war against Putin

Once more: The greatest leader of our times arrives in Armenia to bolster the embattled nation's regional status; he signs a number of far-reaching agreements with Armenian officials; and he pays his respects to the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide, yet all we hear and read about is the street protest by several hundred Western-led sheeple?

Here is the most prominent example of the type of reporting I'm talking about: It comes to us by the way of a "reputable" instrument of the Anglo-American-Zionist global order -

Putin faces protests as he woos Armenia: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-faces-protests-woos-armenia  While reading this Reuters article, I accidentally stumbled across the following comment by someone calling him or herself "Latte Liberal" in the comments section of the webpage - "Great reporting Reuters! I'm an American living in Yerevan. I can look out my window and tell you there was more the 500 people protesting. Police were gassing, beating and arresting protesters all day."  I can look out my window? Gassing?! Police beating protesters all day? This, folks, is not a person reporting from Yerevan. This is one of Washington's paid cyber-warriors. In case you did not know, Washington employs large numbers of cyber activists that are tasked with disseminating Western propaganda and engage in information warfare throughout social media. Although their most recent major targets have been Syria and Iran, their most persistent target has been the Russian Federation and President Putin.

SOROS NGO in action >>> foto

Anytime President Putin goes anywhere or does anything, they are out in force trying to cast a dark shadow over him. They work in collusion with the Western world's news media outlets. Therefore, it was quite expected that Washington's psychological warfare goons with computers would be out in force on December 2, 2013 as well.

For those interested, the following is some more insight on Washington's cyber war against the world - US Launches Cyber Spy Operation Against The World (April, 2011):

http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/2011/04/us-launches-cyber-spy-operation-april.html

The Western world's anti-Putin, anti-Russia campaign was commenced in earnest during the summer of 2008 when Moscow unexpectedly retaliated against Georgia's Western/Israeli/Turkish backed military aggression in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and liberated the disputed territories by military force. Since then, not a single day passes without any one of the major Western news organizations and their subsidiaries around the world putting out a news article or a report that viciously attacks President Putin and paints Russia is very stark colors. >>

Merry Christmas. and keep safe..

Why is China entering a nuclear security pact with Ukraine?

Yu Ligong 2013-12-15

Ukraine's president, Viktor Yanukovich, and China's president, Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Dec. 5. (Photo/CNS)

Xinhua News Agency on Dec. 10 reported that China and Ukraine on Dec. 5 signed a cooperative agreement which included this article: China, according to the UN Security Council Resolution 984 and the Chinese government statement on providing security guarantees to Ukraine on Dec. 4, 1994, promises unconditionally not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear Ukraine, and to provide security guarantees to Ukraine if Ukraine is attacked by nuclear weapons or threatened by such aggression.

Clearly, this is a guarantee for strategic alliance and an unusual nuclear protection umbrella. Ukraine is far from China and in no way affects the latter's national security. What ,then, is the need for such an agreement?

First, we need to examine UN Security Council Resolution 984, which promotes nuclear non-proliferation and encourages denuclearization. To achieve its goals, the agreement not only requests the Security Council to regulate countries who may carry out nuclear attacks or threaten to do so, but also promises to offer emergency assistance to their targets. Emergency assistance may refer to non-military aid, but a security guarantee definitely means military support.

Second, the Chinese government's announcement on Dec. 4, 1994 about offering security guarantees to Ukraine didn't mention nuclear attacks or the threat thereof, but this time its guarantees focus on nuclear weapons. Therefore, the two are quite different.

Then, under the agreement, against the threat of which party will China offer security guarantees to Ukraine? As we know, bordering Ukraine is Russia, a nuclear power and Belarus, which had 81 nuclear missiles stationed in its territory at the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, though these were all transferred to Russia by 1996. Ukraine inherited 5,000 nuclear weapons when it gained independence and may still have some nuclear weapons undestroyed. Under such circumstances, the NATO would not dare to attack Ukraine. It is likewise inconceivable that Russia would start a military conflict with Ukraine, because the Kiev region was once the cradle of the common culture of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine as early as in the ninth century.

On the surface, Ukraine does have some pro-US forces demanding to move closer to the European Union as soon as possible. In fact, some of the western Ukraine's youth groups trained and aided by some western NGOs have yet to reach the status of possibly destroying their cultural connection and race recognition. Therefore, chances for their collaboration with foreign forces to result in the case of military tension are also very slim.

Then, what's Beijing's real intention? I believe its main purpose is to amend its consistent position of "no first use of nuclear weapons." This is probably the reason why countries in the East China Sea and South China Sea have dared to provoke China in recent years over territorial claims. Since Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang took office, they have repeatedly taken new measures that are in contrast to Beijing's previous low-profile move to conceal its capability — that's probably because it's a reaction provoked by other neighboring countries or an inevitable result after it has significantly raised its compound power.

(Yu Ligong is an associate professor at Shih Hsin University in Taipei.)