Russian Defiance Could Lead To A Multipolar World

Russia’s recent defiance of the United States and NATO has convinced some analysts that we now live in a multipolar world. Sunil Dasgupta, however, isn’t so sure. For such a world to exist, India and China must side with Russia in its confrontation with the West. That’s something they remain reluctant to do, at least openly.

One of the lasting questions in post-Cold War international relations has been the enduring preponderance of the United States as the sole remaining superpower. The Realist School of thought, which was predicated in significant measure on the idea of the balance of power, failed to explain why other nations did not rise or come together to balance the United States. To explain the discrepancy, die-hard realists such as Robert Pape of the University of Chicago proposed the idea of a transitional period of ‘soft’ or ‘hidden’ balancing by countries such as Russia, China, and even Europe before a period of hard balancing returned.

Gorbachev issues new warning of nuclear war over Ukraine

 

In an interview with the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, 83-year-old former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said the crisis in Ukraine could lead to large-scale war in Europe or even a nuclear war. “We won’t survive if someone loses their nerves in the current tension.”

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate decried the “loss of trust” between Russia and the West as “catastrophic,” and said ties must be “defrosted.”

Gorbachev accused the West and NATO of destroying the structure of European security by expanding its alliance. “No head of the Kremlin can ignore such a thing,” he said, adding that the US was unfortunately starting to establish a “mega empire.”

The man seen as a key player in the reunification of former East and West Germany in 1990 also accused Germany of interfering in Ukraine’s crisis, saying, “The new Germany wants its hands in every pie. There seems to be a lot of people who want to be involved in a new division of Europe.

“Germany has already tried to expand its influence of power towards the East – in World War II. Does it really need another lesson?”

G20: Russia say warships heading towards Brisbane are taking part in routine exercise

A fleet of Russian warships continued to steam south closer to the G20 host city of Brisbane on Thursday as experts stressed the show of force was aimed at the world as a whole, not just Australia.

Reports indicate that Australia is sending two additional warships to its surveillance mission, with supply ship the HMAS Sirius joining the HMAS Parramatta and HMAS Stuart, and the HMAS Sydney preparing to also potentially join them.

Defence sources said the four ships, which include the Pacific flagship missile cruiser Varyag, were on a course that would put them in international waters off Brisbane by the time the international gathering gets under way on the weekend.

BRICS Summit in Fortaleza Set New Geopolitical Order: National Committee on BRICS Studies

MOSCOW, October 29 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in Fortaleza held in 2014 has become an important benchmark defining a new geopolitics, where Russia confronted the West and was supported by its partners in the BRICS, Georgy Toloraya, the Executive Director of the National Committee on BRICS Studies in Russia said Wednesday.

“The BRICS summit in Fortaleza has become a surprising turning point,” Toloraya said at a video conference held at Rossiya Segodnya’s press center.

Russia-China Gas Pact Stirs Dream of Bridge Across Amur

Russia’s $400 billion deal to pipe natural gas across the border to China has rekindled Wu’s hope that the two nations will finally build a bridge across the frontier to bring a steady stream of customers to her door.

…

“They’ve been talking about a bridge for so many years,” said Wu, a 40-year-old mother of two who’s worked along the frontier for more than 20 years. “If the border trade is developed properly, we can prosper.”

“Nuclear Weapons Are Cold War Relics.”

What most people blindingly don’t know is that countries like China are willing to take a hit. They are prepared to take a nuclear hit because they are prepared and sheltered by thousands of miles of underground tunnel networks, which also likely store their nuclear arsenals. America is not. The CCP/PLA doesn’t put much value on human life whereas America does and has less of a stomach for war — which is being strongly proven with overwhelming opposition at this moment as a forced war against the citizen’s will with Syria approaches.

Another website, through historical context has put it quite simply:

Dr. Li, in his Private Life of Chairman Mao, wrote that a few years later, Mao recalled his meeting with Nehru. Hethen realized  the meaning of Mao’s words about the atomic bomb:

… it was so hard to accept, how willing Mao was to sacrifice his own citizens in order to achieve his goals. I had known as early as October 1954, from a meeting with India’s prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, that Mao considered the atom bomb a “paper tiger” and that he was willing that China lose millions of people in order to emerge victorious against so-called imperialists. “the atom bomb is nothing to be afraid of,” Mao told Nehru.
China has many people. They cannot be bombed out of existence. If someone else can drop an atomic bomb, I can too. The death of ten or twenty million people is nothing to be afraid of.
Nehru had some strong reservations. First of all, for him, “even without war, India would have attained freedom.” He thought that in fact India would have been freed earlier without the war.

Dr. Li added: “In 1957, in a speech in Moscow, Mao said he was willing to lose 300 millions people – half of China population. Even if China lost half its population, Mao said, the country would suffer no great loss. We could produce more people.”Nehru’s second point was that though the US had won the war, they were still unhappy. He could therefore not accept Mao’s argument; he had told him that though a war was bad and therefore should be avoided, still if it comes, one should welcomed it.

China to this day, still pushes forward the agenda of Mao Zedong.

A previous entry covering this can be found here: Mao’s ‘Nuclear Mass Extinction Speech’ Aired on Chinese TV

“Nuclear Weapons Are Cold War Relics.”

Not so. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the era of nuclear competition seemed to be at an end, and the United States and Russia began to get rid of many weapons they had used to threaten each other for more than 40 years. In 1967, the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal peaked at 31,255 warheads, but by 2010, under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) signed with Russia, the United States had promised to deploy no more than 1,550.

In June of this year, U.S. President Barack Obama announced his intention to go even lower, to around 1,000 warheads — a move that would leave the United States with fewer nuclear weapons than at any time since 1953. What’s more, influential figures around the world, including erstwhile American hawks, have increasingly supported steps toward total disarmament. In his major 2009 address in Prague, Obama committed “to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”

Germany rejects Israeli pressure over subs sale to Egypt

This shouldn’t necessarily be a shocker given that Germany has historically been militarily aligned with the Arab bloc. However, this gives a good indication of how the region is dramatically changing with Israel’s neighbors that once used to be peaceful enemies. Over 30 years of stability in Egypt has been overturned and this is the new creation.

German arms sales to foreign countries have to be approved by a federal security commission, whose discussions and decisions are not disclosed.

The Internet site of the weekly Der Spiegel on Tuesday revealed that the commission was due to discuss the proposed sale again even though it gave the green light in November 2011.

The agreement for Germany to supply Egypt with the two conventional diesel-electric submarines manufactured by ThyssenKrupp was first revealed by the commander in chief of the Egyptian Navy Osama al-Gindi two weeks ago in an Egyptian newspaper.

A few days later the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot quoted government sources as saying there had been “a marked deterioration in relations between Israel and Germany” over the deal.

Full article: Germany rejects Israeli pressure over subs sale to Egypt (Defence Talk)