Russia and more

U.S. Puts Russia On Notice, Strategic Forecast:

U.S. President George W. Bush, fresh from meetings with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Wednesday, announced American support for Georgia’s NATO bid. Specifically, Bush announced that he would lobby the NATO allies to grant Georgia a Membership Action Plan (MAP), the first step toward joining the alliance. Bush’s statement contained sufficient equivocation that MAP is hardly a foregone conclusion and formal membership is anything but imminent, but Russia has nonetheless been put on notice. NATO is preparing to march east yet again.

For the past month the West and Russia have been at a crossroads. After 10 years of heavy investment of political capital by the Kremlin into supporting its Balkan ally, Serbia, the West ran roughshod over Russian concerns by recognizing the independence of Kosovo, a renegade Serbian province. That decision blew a hole through the image of Russian power. In the midst of an internal transition of power and reeling from the Kosovo defeat, Moscow needs a means of striking back at the West to demonstrate its potency. To flex its muscles, Russia can encourage separatism in U.S. allies, complicate the United States’ Middle East policy with selective weapons sales and technology transfers, and manipulate European energy supplies. [snip]

The West has the advantage of political, economic and military superiority, along with the flexibility to dabble anywhere along the Russian periphery, and with a little elbow grease and luck, even within the Russian Federation itself. Remember, it is Russia — not the United States — that is riddled with potential secessionist regions. And it is the United States — not Russia — that sits safely on the other side of an ocean from its potential competitors. (continue reading)

The Start of Cold War II?

Legislators in the Georgian breakaway republic of Abkhazia signed a statement on Thursday accusing Georgia of aggression and warning of the possibility of war in the Caucasus. In Moscow, the Russian parliament urged the government to send additional peacekeepers to both Abkhazia and Georgia’s other breakaway republic, South Ossetia.

Also:

Russia is calling for a Middle Eastern peace conference as a follow-up to the last international conference hosted by the United States at Annapolis. By holding this conference, Moscow is definitely escalating its involvement in Middle Eastern affairs — and increasing tension with the United States. The question is whether or not the Kremlin can sustain engagement in the Middle East. (more)

Also see Russia according to Vladimir Putin, at American Interests:

"Russia demands more respect from and equality with Washington and a free hand in world politics. In key respects, Moscow’s new foreign policy grows out of the logic of its ever more autocratic and neo-imperial political structure.” (continue reading)

News you might have missed this Easter weekend:

Obama, Ali Abunimah and Electronic Intifada from the Jawa Report:

Via LGF, we find an article by Ali Abunimah, founder of the Palestinian propaganda site 'Electronic Intifada' entitled "How Barack Obama Learned to Love Israel" on how Obama is not hard up enough for the Palestinian quest to eradicate Israel because he's just grabbing whatever backsides he has to grab and saying what he has to say to get elected (aka being dishonest, saying one thing and doing another, lying, etc.). Read it all, because the EI founder lets it all out, about Obama and his beliefs.

US Navy SEAL Mike Monsoor to get the Medal of Honor, BlackFive

How to Pay for the Dem Convention: Survivor, the Nomination, American Thinker

HILLARY'S CAMPAIGN....Matt Yglesias says he knows why Hillary Clinton refuses to concede the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama even though she's way behind in the delegate count: (The Washington Monthly)

Muslims Against Sharia call on Senator McCain to cut all ties with his bigoted supporter Rod Parsley.

Muslims Against Sharia call on Senator Obama to cut all ties with his racist supporters Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan.

Obama's Money Talks, Rhetoric Walks - Financing Jeremiah Wright, Atlas Shrugs

What Muslims Think - New book examines what the more than 1 billion Muslims think about gender, race and terrorism (hat tip Michael)

Congressional leader calls for international condemnation of China, The Independent

Support 6 Heroes at Walter Reed, The Thunder Run

France has a new nuclear sub, Peace and Freedom II

Tragedy in the Tibetan Territory, The Spitting Vessel

80,000 Well-Armed, Angry Sunnis, Hullabaloo

Sony Alpha A900 Shown Off at Photo Imaging Expo, Shipping Details Revealed, Gigmodo

Comments

[Debbie]

Muslims Against Sharia: Thanks for that. I try to put up articles from all viewpoints so folks can pick and choose. Much appreciated.

[Muslims Against Sharia]

Debbie,

"What Muslims Think" is co-written by John Esposito, one of the foremost apologists for militant Islam. We haven't (and won't) read it, but it is safe to assume that it is a piece of trash whitewashing radical Islam.

[Stormwarning]

Russia is not much of an enigma anymore (actually hasn't been for a while, even fro Stratfor):

Cold War - Perception versus Reality (UPDATED)
http://tinyurl.com/2zyrgf
I started writing this post a few days ago before “my day job” created its own furor. One man’s perception is another’s reality. It is thus difficult for me to accept a blanket statement by President Bush that “the cold war is over” considering the continuing rhetoric spewed by Vladimir Putin. Saying that “we don’t believe in a zero sum world,” President Bush was on his way to the G8 meeting where he would have a meeting with Vladimir (because George calls him Vladimir.

Cold War? What Cold War?
http://tinyurl.com/yrxz6r
Just what is happening in Russia these days, and why is it that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, clearly a very intelligent and qualified person, can actually state “I have a difficult time explaining that speech. It doesn’t accord with either the world as we see it nor with the character of our interactions with the Russians.” Something just doesn’t make sense, and I believe that it goes beyond the subtlety of Anne Applebaum’s article in the Washington Post, Our Strange Devotion to the Kremlin.

The Second Coming - Cold War II
http://tinyurl.com/2yw543
Not unnoticed in some circles was the bombast of Vladimir Putin’s speech last week denouncing the U.S. as “overstepping its boundaries” worldwide. The question being posed, dear readers, is whether this White House understands the implications of Putin’s outspokenness…

[Uncle Joe]

France isn't trying to warm up with the U.S. again for no reason, you know. :-)

I wonder how much of the strong U.S. support for Georgia in NATO and Kosovo is in retaliation for Russia's support for Iran's nuclear ambitions?

[Paul Champagne]

There is a nationalistic segement of the Russian people who yearn to return to the days when they were relevant as a country.

I feel that these people should be thrown a bone from time to time and made to feel important. My reasoning behind this is that, when pushed, all nations will unite in nationalistic pride ... and have no doubt about it ... the Russians have a lot of national pride. Weren't they the ones that stopped both Napoleon and Hitler?