"2009-05-06 06:49:52 U.T."

The visible face of the Sun is without blemish:
http://web.ct.astro.it/sun/solef.jpg

Please visit:
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The right panel shows the visible face of the Sun as it looked on a good day
during the late Modern Warm Period. Sunspots are the apparent size of
craters on the moon. The left panel shows a Sun as it appears today.

Please write to Al Gore so that Al knows that the Sun is not living up to
his religious expectations. Al Gore is a divinity school dropout. George
Carlin had a better grasp of the true nature of God's creation, than does Al
Gore.

Please visit:
http://www.co-intelligence.org/newsl...es/sun-etc.jpg
which shows the relative sizes of the Sun and planets. Compared to the Sun,
Jupiter is the size of a pea, earth is the size of a grain of sand.

Recommencement of Russo-American cold war
Tuesday May 05, 2009 (1531 PST)



After fragmenting Soviet Union and converting it into Russian Federation in
1991, USA emerged as the sole super power and assumed the responsibility of
sole policeman of the world. It then went about re-integrating Europe and
reconstructing East Europe and began to expand its military arm eastwards
through NATO. The NATO was turned into a Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) to
reach any troubled spot in the world. This was done to justify its existence
since it had lost its raison d’etre after the demise of Warsaw Pact. Instead
of letting the remnant of erstwhile USSR getting further fragmented into
nothingness, USA opted to prevent it from sinking by extending financial
assistance. It kept Russia engaged through G-8, EU, NATO and Council of
Europe and was reintegrated in global economy. The financial assistance was
rendered throughout the nineties when Russian economy under Yeltsin was in
dire straits. The chief reason behind American benevolence was not out of
humane considerations but because of the fear of Russian Nuclear Command
Authority getting compromised and nuclear material falling in wrong hands.

Russia having lost its great empire is now dreaming of creating a Slavic
Union composed of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Buoyed by its vast oil
wealth, Vladimir Putin is eager to build a new Russian Empire than resurrect
Soviet Union. Russia controls 60% of former Soviet territory and 25 million
Russians live in other republics of former USSR. After its break up, it
inherited 90% of oil, 80% of natural gas, 62% of electricity, 70% of gold
and 80% of industries. It is the world’s second largest oil producer. Its
military and nuclear power is intact and is still a world power seeking a
major role in global affairs. Russia fulfils 25% of European energy needs
indigenously as well as transporting Central Asian gas. Russia produces
about 10 million barrels of oil per day while its local consumption is 2.5
million. It has oil reserves of 74.6 billion barrels while natural gas
reserves are 45.6 trillion cubic meters, largest in the world. Europe is
critically dependent upon Russia’s energy and the EU is Russia’s largest
trading partner. US blunders in Afghanistan and Iraq and phenomenal rise in
oil and gas prices and oil boom which bolstered Russian flagging economic
health and China emerging as an economic giant have contributed towards
Russia’s reassertion at the world stage.

Once Russia began to reassert its position under the leadership of Putin and
used the energy card to blackmail Europeans, USA countered it by expanding
NATO’s reach eastward to be able to keep its chief rival under check. USA
wanted to reduce dependence of Europe on Russian gas and is making efforts
to develop alternative means of energy by investing in carbon and coal and
in nuclear power. It began to make inroads in Baltic States, Ukraine,
Georgia and Central Asian States. The first breakthrough was achieved on
March 29, 2004, when Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia,
Bulgaria, and Romania were admitted as members of NATO. The Rose Revolution
in Georgia in 2003 helped USA to gain influence over it. USA then made
inroads into Ukraine through the Orange Revolution in 2004. Having won over
Georgia and Ukraine, attempts are being made to bring these two former
Soviet Republics within the folds of NATO as well. The duo is equally keen
to join EU and NATO. Georgia has been receiving military assistance from USA
to strengthen its forces. In April 2008, Albania, Croatia, Georgia and
Ukraine put in their bids for admission into NATO. While membership to
Albania and Croatia was ceded to, request of other two states was pended on
account of doubts raised by Germany and France that it would earn enmity of
Russia. Moreover, majority of Ukrainians are opposed to NATO membership.

The US covert moves to strengthen its control in the Caucasus by supporting
anti-Russia states caused deep consternation to Moscow. Caucasus which is
hemmed between Black Sea and Caspian Sea and is rich in oil and gas deposits
is of special appeal to Russia. South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two
provinces of Georgia, are part of Caucasus and situated close to Black Sea.
The population of these two states are non-Georgian. Loss of Georgia and
Ukraine would not only render the energy transit routes to the west from
Caspian Sea vulnerable, but also bring western forces perilously close to
Russian industrial hinterland. Apart from challenging the Russian Black Sea
Fleet at Sevastopol, it would enable western navies to dominate Crimea and
Baltic Sea. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is already not prepared to
renew the lease of the Russian Fleet beyond 2017. Ukraine at the behest of
USA has been pressing Russia to withdraw its Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol
in Crimea. Ukraine’s growing ties with NATO and USA and its desire to become
part of NATO is a matter of worry for Russia.

In Crimea, Russians are in overwhelming majority (58%). Crimea had been
gifted to Ukraine in 1954 by Khrushchev, when Ukraine was part of Soviet
Union. Ukraine depends heavily on Russia for gas and other energy resources.
Russia aims at controlling Ukraine’s pipelines by transferring them to a
joint venture, as it has done in Belarus. It would thus be able to control
both supply and distribution of gas to Ukraine. In Belarus, authoritarian
President Alexander Lukashenko, an open admirer of Russia has been ruling
the roost since 1994. Russia has been giving Belarus preferential energy
deals to help keep its economy afloat. Belarus has strengthened its air
defence capabilities significantly and is closely cooperating with Russia..

In continuation to its eastward expansionist drive to keep Russia
intimidated, Bush floated the idea of Missile Defence Shield (MDS) for the
protection of USA and Europe against rogue states. Poland however was
reluctant to become part of the missile shield because of Russia’s concerns.
The missile shields have also been planned for Japan and Israel and India
may also be included to counter perceived missile threat from North Korea,
Iran and Pakistan respectively. Moscow opposed the MDS in Central Europe
which envisage interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar transmitter in
Czech Republic. Despite Washington’s assurances that it was not intended
against Russia but meant for protection against rogue states like Iran and
North Korea, Moscow was not convinced. USA floated the idea of placing
Russian observers at Poland and Czech Republic but was rejected by Moscow.
The latter countered it by vainly trying to convince Washington to build a
joint shield with Russia.

Already irked by the US MDS plan and US plans to further expand the radius
of action of NATO forces, Russian Gen Nikolai Solovtsov, head of strategic
missile forces, said if Washington went ahead with its plan to build
installations in Central Europe the Kremlin would target the planned missile
sites in Poland and the Czech Republic with ballistic missiles to ensure
effectiveness and safety of Russia’s vast arsenal. Moscow says the defence
shield is part of an effort to encircle Russia and undermine its nuclear
deterrence. Washington on the other hand insists that the shield has been
endorsed by all 26 NATO members to fend off potential missile attacks by
rogue states. Russia had planned to carry out four strategic missile tests
by the end of 2008 which included a test of the new RS-24, capable of
carrying a clutch of independently target-able warheads. Earlier in August
2008, it had test-fired an ICBM designed to avoid detection by missile
defence system. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that in case
America went ahead in implementing its MDS plan, Russia would deploy
Iskander missile systems to its western outpost of Kaliningrad, which
borders the EU, Poland and Lithuania. He made an offer of a Soviet radar
station in Azerbaijan as an alternative to US MDS.

Moscow has revitalised its influence in Central Asia by developing strategic
ties with Uzbekistan and inking energy deals with Turkmenistan which ranks
among the five largest natural gas deposit holders in the world. SCO
provides a platform to counter American ingress into Central Asia. It
succeeded in convincing Uzbekistan to dismantle the US military bases in
2005 that were established in 2001 and push out the American troops.
Kyrgyzstan too has been persuaded in February 2009 to close US Manas airbase
in Bishkek after promising over $2 billion loan to it. This base has been
providing critical supplies to US-Nato troops in Afghanistan since October
2001. Medvedev is making efforts to secure a lasting settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a means of
strengthening leverage over Yerevan and Baku.

Russia encouraged and supported separatist movements in Abkhazia and South
Ossetia. The latter had broken away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s and
enjoys Moscow support. Russia sent Russian peacekeepers and granted Russian
citizenship to the people of the two states. Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili’s close links with Europe and America and his efforts to become
part of NATO infuriated Russia; it initiated steps to bring him down but
failed to do so. In order to kill all birds with one stone, USA instigated
Georgian President to annex the two rebellious provinces of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia so that a new oil pipeline could be laid. He obliged and South
Ossetia was invaded by Georgian troops in 2008 in phase one; Abkhazia was to
be annexed in phase two. It provided a good excuse to Russia to settle
scores with Saakashvili. Presence of Russians and its peacekeepers in the
invaded province became a justification to invade Georgia on the grounds
that it was obligated to protect its citizens. Months of tensions erupted
into full-scale hostilities between Georgia and Russia over the Moscow
backed rebel region of South Ossetia.

Feeling alarmed that the re-absorption of South Ossetia into Georgia might
jeopardise Russia’s stranglehold over the west’s energy supplies, Russian
tanks rolled into Georgia on 8 August 2008 to launch a massive retaliatory
attack and push back Georgian forces. One-third of Georgia came under
Russian troop’s occupation and its military base as well as command
structure and communication lines were destroyed. Major portion of Georgian
Naval fleet too was pulverised in the sea battle. While Moscow said it was
protecting Russian citizens, Georgia accused Moscow of naked aggression and
ethnic cleansing. Moscow said that it would never allow any country to
interfere in the region, adding that the Georgians started killing the
Russians and 34,000 Russians migrated from Georgia to Russia. It said that
Russia could not have kept its eyes close on Georgian invasion and massacre
of Russians and that its troops had entered Georgia to defend their people.
On the eve of the conflict there were 143 uniformed UN personnel in
Abkhazia.

The five-day war plunged US-Russia relations to their lowest ebb since the
end of Cold War. Washington accused Russia of seeking to redraw the map by
brutally violating another country’s territorial integrity. Russia in turn
accused Washington of orchestrating the conflict by arming Georgian
President Saakashvili and threatening the strategic balance in the region by
deploying US warships in Black Sea. Russia halted its offensive after five
days and agreed to ceasefire on 12 August. It had to bow to the
international pressure, particularly from the US that had threatened Russia
with dire consequences in case it did not stop operation. It could not
ignore the statement made by the UN Secretary General who pronounced Russia
as the violator of UN conventions and to be proceeded against.

Moscow recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two Georgian rebel regions
as independent after the war. So far, Nicaragua is the only country that has
recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. In defence of
its invasion, the Russian envoy stated that if the Americans could invade
Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq for its global interests, Russians too had
the right to protect their regional interests. It was argued that why should
redrawing of map of Caucasus by Russia to protect its homeland anger USA
when USA was forcefully redrawing Middle East and South Asia maps to serve
its strategic interests.

Two weeks after the start of the war, the then US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice air dashed to Paris and held talks with President Nicolas
Sarkozy who chairs the EU and then flew to Poland to sign a deal on the
citing of a battery of 10 interceptor missiles there. She also visited
Georgia and expressed US serious reservations on the conflict asserting that
Russia might face world’s isolation in case it continued with its policy of
aggression towards neighbouring countries. This was seen as a rebuff to
Moscow’s incursion into Georgia. Soon after, the Czech government approved
an agreement on deploying US forces at a powerful radar base planned as part
of MDS. In first week of September, US Vice President Dick Cheney visited
Azerbaijan, Georgia’s oil producing neighbour which has close ties with USA.
Azerbaijan pumps up to one million barrels of crude oil daily to world
markets. He also visited Georgia and Ukraine and reiterated US support for
NATO membership. USA sanctioned $1 billion aid to help rebuild Georgia. His
visit intended to give a message that the US had not walked away from the
region.

President Medvedev signed agreements on 17 September formalising military
and economic ties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The agreements
facilitated Russia to open military bases containing 3800 troops in each of
the two provinces and to ensure their defence. It intends connecting energy,
transport and telecommunication networks. Russia has since recognised the
two provinces as independent states, and has plans to open its embassies and
has yet to withdraw its troops from Georgian soil. It propelled Georgian
President to magnify the Russian threat to Europe. However there is a
divided response from old and new Europe, the former led by Germany desiring
continuation of bilateral ties between Russia and NATO and opposition to
membership of Georgia and Ukraine. Moscow argues that the world community
should grant independent status to South Ossetia and Abkhazia the same way
as it had done in respect of Kosovo. The latter had become independent on
account of American and European support and in spite of serious
reservations raised by Russia.

A six-point peace plan was brokered by French President Sarkozy on behalf of
EU. The plan signed by presidents of Russia and Georgia envisaged withdrawal
of Russian troops from buffer zones around the rebel regions to the
pre-conflict positions by October 10 but made no mention to Georgia’s
territorial integrity. This loophole allowed Russia to retain its military
presence in the two rebel regions. It was agreed to deploy 200 EU observers
to monitor complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgian territory
outside the rebel regions. The observers were given the mandate to enter
into Abkhazia and South Ossetia but this was not agreed to by Russia. The
latter said that it will deploy 3800 troops in each of the regions and
establish military bases there. The EU launched a 200 people strong
monitoring mission in Georgia on 01 October to reduce tensions and to
oversee Russian troop pull back and to ensure compliance of EU brokered
peace plan.

Encouraged by the statement of UN Secretary General, Georgia moved an
application in the highest court of UN to provide protection to the people
of the regions Russia had militarily occupied. It also said that Russia had
deployed additional 2000 troops in South Ossetia. Russia denied claims made
by Georgia that it exercised effective control over the Georgian rebel
regions. Notwithstanding Georgia’s significance, Russia attaches greater
importance to Ukraine because of its economic wealth and technological
advancements. In spite of American influence in Ukraine since 2004, Russia
continues to retain strong sway in Ukraine, especially Crimea where majority
of population is Russians. Irrespective of the fact that its military
intervention in Georgia has failed to reverse the political clout US enjoys
in Georgia, Russia has made up its mind not to lose Georgia and is taking
concrete measures to prevent loss of Ukraine to American influence.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine got strained when Russia’s Gazprom
accused Ukraine of stealing gas. Russian state controlled Gazprom cut off
gas deliveries to Ukraine on January 1, 2009 vowing not to renew supplies
till such time it agreed to the terms of new contract. This was seen as yet
another way to keep Ukraine under the sway of Russia. Matters got settled on
Moscow’s terms.

In order to counter NATO’s eastward push aimed at establishing hegemony over
energy transit routes to the west from Caspian Sea, Kremlin undertook some
moves to dissuade Europe from supporting the expansionist plan. These
included curtailment of gas supplies to Europe and withdrawal from 1990
Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). Instead of using
military as a means to deter or coerce its enemies and to influence friends,
Russia is artfully employing energy as a weapon to serve its ends. Russia
plans to build a naval base this year in Black Sea separatist region of
Abkhazia. Russian vessels will be stationed at the Abkhaz Port of
Ochamchire. In addition, rapid reaction force called Collective Security
Treaty Organisation (STCO) has been formed by Moscow which will have forces
from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It is aimed
at restricting NATO’s influence in South Caucasus and Central Asia.
Moreover, Russia and its allies are currently building regional air defences
to cover East Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. These proactive
actions are seen as steps towards reassertion of Moscow’s authority over its
lost domain and recommencement of cold war between Russia and USA.

Russia has upgraded its political, military, and economic ties with
Venezuela. Besides providing tanks and jets, a nuclear cooperation agreement
was also signed last November when Medvedev visited Venezuela. Russia will
provide nuclear reactors and may help in converting it into weapon graded
program. Last winter a joint naval exercise with Venezuelan navy was carried
out in Caribbean Sea in which a Fleet of Russian warships led by nuclear
powered missile-powered cruiser took part. Moscow has also developed close
ties with other Latin American states and in alliance with China plans to
forge a strong anti-American bloc. It has close ties with Iran and is
playing a major role in developing its nuclear and missile capability. Most
advanced version of S-300 air defence systems have been delivered to Iran
which enable Tehran to repel any Israeli or American air strikes on its
nuclear sites. It has not forgiven and forgotten the role of USA in its
dismemberment, which Vladimir Putin described as the ‘greatest geopolitical
catastrophe of the 20th century’. It is playing a covert role to keep the US
troops bogged down in the quagmires of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The conflict in Georgia had made NATO-Russia relations frosty. Germany and
France however played a positive role to bring about a rapprochement and
eventually succeeded in renewing a political dialogue. Irrespective of
friendly overtures by France and Germany, Russia doesn’t trust them and
apprehends that they will side with USA in the long run. Moscow would though
keep accentuating differences within Europe as well as reservations of old
Europe against America. In the wake of change of leadership in Washington
and Obama’s friendly overtures towards Moscow, Russia has reciprocated by
halting plans to deploy missiles near Polish border. Since the US troops
have got bogged down in Afghanistan and the Taliban are gaining an upper
edge, Obama is trying hard to remove Moscow’s fears and has hinted that the
MDS program may be put on the back burner. Moscow is being wooed to take it
on board for the success of US new Af-Pak policy.

Obama had a fruitful meeting with Medvedev in London on 01 April. Obama
agreed that Iran had a right to a civilian nuclear program but urged upon
his counterpart to ensure that it didn’t get weaponised. Both leaders agreed
to cut strategic nuclear weapons rather than freeing the world of this self
imposed curse. Moscow would happily lend support to Washington in its
renewed drive to defeat Al-Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan
since it is a golden opportunity to even up the score and let the US
military strength bleed to death. It may egg on Obama to step into Pakistan
to not only take revenge from its tormentor that had contributed towards its
downfall but also seal the fate of US as the sole super power. It is now an
open secret that Moscow had furnished names of contacts as well as the road
map it had prepared for Balochistan in 1980s to CIA and RAW in January 2002
based on which the two agencies made inroads in that region and made the
peaceful province restive and injected germs of separatism.

In retrospective if one examines the role of former Soviet Union and USA
during the five-decade Cold War, the former stands out better than the
latter since it was not an imperialist power gobbling friends and foes and
promoting gluttonous capitalism. It was ruthless with its enemies but
honoured its commitments made with the allies. It did not mistrust its
allies, or propagated against them, or played a double game or resorted to
coercion and black mail through inhuman sanctions or ditched them as in the
case of USA. In fact, it went out of the way to help its allies and the
economic assistance it provided was on soft terms and without conditions.
Unlike USA, it did not employ nuclear weapons against any country or took
along whole lot of Warsaw Pact armies to invade a small country, but relied
solely on the Red Army. China would prove to be better of the two in the
role of a super power because of its just and affable policies based on
peace and tranquillity. Oppressive uni-polarism pursued by USA that has made
the world turbulent and unsafe has begun to gasp and may not last beyond
2015. Bi-polarism or tri-polarism would be a healthy and stable arrangement
for world peace and security.