Russia Boosts Arctic Military Presence, Builds Ten Airfields

¹⁴ “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? ¹⁵ You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. ¹⁶ You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.

Ezekiel 28: 14 – 16

 

© Sputnik/ Mark Agnor

 

Russia is building and reconstructing 10 military airfields in the Arctic, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense.

By making this move, the country aims to ensure its military security in the region. Russia’s Federal Agency for Special Construction (Spetsstroy) is currently developing infrastructure facilities on military bases and garrisons in the Far North, Far East and Siberia for 20,000 service members, their families and civilians working for the Ministry of Defense.

The Ministry’s representative told reporters that more than 100,000 metric tons of physical resources will be transported to remote military reservations in 2016. They will be used for over 150 items, including lighthouses, islands and military bases.

Russia to Complete Construction of the Arctic, Kuril Military Bases in 2016

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Defense Ministry plans on completing the construction of its military facilities on the islands of the Arctic as well as the creation of the infrastructure on the Kuril Islands in the Far East by the end of 2016, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday.

Russian alignment with Asia to be fixed foreign policy: Duowei

Russia is abandoning its strategy of aligning itself with the West in favor of becoming a part of the East, according to a commentary from Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet.

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This push towards Asia and the abandoning of the “Western path” has been spurred by Russia’s nationalist scholars such as political scientist Alexander Dugin, believed to be an important influence on President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy. Dugin, who founded and heads Russia’s Eurasia Movement, has long envisioned a strategic bloc that would join the former Soviet Union to Middle Eastern countries, including Iran.

US enhances nuclear strike capability at Guam: Sankei Shimbun

The United States is enhancing its nuclear strike capability at Guam for a potential confrontation against China in the Far East, the Tokyo-based Sankei Shimbun reported on July 30.

Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces Start Snap Combat Drills

MOSCOW, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – Over 2,500 servicemen and 350 weapons systems are involved in snap combat readiness drills for Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN), a Defense Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

The drills, involving the headquarters and two missile divisions of the Orenburg Missile Army in Russia’s Urals region, began Monday and are set to run through Saturday, Col. Igor Yegorov said.

Russia breaks into top 5 world economies, displacing Germany

Russia has overtaken Germany as the fifth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, according to the latest World Bank ranking that measures 214 economies based on their 2012 GDP performance.

Russia’s oil and export driven economy is ranked fifth amongst the top ten economies in the world with $3.4 trillion in GDP. In 2011, Germany surpassed Russia in GDP with $3.227 trillion compared to Russia’s $3.203 trillion. In 2005, Russia was in eighth place.

Rank	Country	Purchasing Power Parity
1	United States	$15.6 trillion
2	China	$12.4 trillion
3	India	$4.8 trillion
4	Japan	$4.5 trillion
5	Russia	$3.4 trillion
6	Germany	$3.3 trillion
7	Brazil	$2.4 trillion
8	France	$2.4 trillion
9	United Kingdom	$2.3 trillion
10	Mexico	$2.0 trillion

The report was published last week in an annual ranking of GDP. The World Bank also updated their ranking of countries in terms of gross national product (GNP) per capita, grouping Russia in the ‘high income’ nation block, with individual yearly income of $12,616 or more.

China plots strategic coup in the Pacific

Despite commentary that China and the United States are moving closer together, the opposite is the case. In fact, China is mounting a direct, if subtle, challenge to the international order the United States created in the Far East after World War II. Most are aware that China is attempting to leverage growing military strength into a larger, dominating position by laying claims to islands in the East and South China Seas. Few realize that China is attempting to overturn the legal underpinnings of the US position in the western Pacific.

Like the Chinese proverb “to point at the mulberry tree to curse the locust tree”, Beijing’s challenge to Japan’s sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands is in fact a bid to abolish the entire structure of Far Eastern international relations established by the San Francisco Treaty of September 1951. (The Chinese refer to the Senkakus as Dyiaoyutai, literally a “fishing platform”, but in recent months Beijing has taken to calling Dyiaoyutai the Dyiaoyu Islands to add legal heft to the dispute.)

Russian military stages biggest war games since Soviet times

160,000 servicemen, 1000 tanks, 130 planes and 70 ships are taking part in Russia’s biggest military drill since Soviet times. The war games will continue in the country’s Far East until July 20.

Putin Builds Space-Weapon Deterrent as Russia Target Mars, Moon

While the Obama administration has done everything it can to limit NASA’s capabilities, enemies continue their advancements that give them increased leverage over the United States. The USA is outright handing it to them, including hitching rides into space. Regardless of what the spokesman said, defensive capabilities in space is in fact also the weaponization of space. In political, as well as military speak, offense (preemptive strike) is also the best defense.

Russia’s building a system to neutralize space weapons as it prepares to send a man to Mars and build a permanent moon base, President Vladimir Putin and members of his government said.

Russia will have the technical means by 2030 to counteract threats from space by other countries, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said at a government meeting near the country’s new cosmodrome in the Far East today. Until then, Russia will continue to expand its orbital capabilities to monitor potential threats and prevent rocket attacks, Rogozin said.

Russia Eyes New Far Eastern Gas Export Hub, Reassesses Central Asia

The Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom outlined ambitious and costly plans to develop new production and exports hubs in the country’s Far East. Meanwhile, the gas giant has also apparently begun reassessing its ties with Central Asia.

On October 29, President Vladimir Putin told Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller to focus on the Far Eastern gas program, adopted back in 2007. Putin said that the development of the massive Kovykta deposit in Irkutsk region and the Chayandinskoye gas field in Yakutia, with total reserves estimated at 3 trillion–3.5 trillion cubic meters, should aim to meet the domestic demand and also help to increase exports to the Asia-Pacific (The Russian presidential press-service, October 29).