Mês: outubro 2016

Turkey

Por | 28 out, 2016 | , , |

NATO butts in on Turkey-Russia rapprochement M. K. Bhadrakumar Oct. 26, 2016   The Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg in his ‘doorstep statement’ today on the 2-day meeting of the alliance’s defence ministers in Brussels said, inter alia, that an agenda item concerns “making progress on plans” for more NATO presence in the Black Sea region. He cited Russia’s belligerence as the rationale for such move. Interestingly, there was much emphasis on the Russian operations in Syria in Stoltenberg’s media briefing. (Transcript) Prima facie, Syria is not ‘NATO territory’, but a linkage is being established between NATO posturing toward Russia and the latter’s military presence in Syria. This can only happen at the behest of the United States, because Stoltenberg wouldn’t even sneeze sans green signal from Washington. Of course, generally speaking, boosting the ‘enemy’ image of Russia is useful and necessary for Washington to keep the alliance going, since the member countries are otherwise loathe to increase their defence budgets to 2% of GDP. The US also calibrates the NATO posturing toward Russia to curb any proximity developing between individual European countries and Moscow at the bilateral level as well as to ensure that the sanctions against Russia will remain in place. However, the plan to discuss Black Sea deployment as well as Stoltenberg’s emphasis on Aleppo also appears to serve another US...

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BRICS

Por | 27 out, 2016 | , , |

BRICS “needs to find focus again” Wang Mingjie Oct. 14, 2016   Some BRICS countries need to find their purpose again, given that some of the economies are weak. So says Jim O’Neill, who in 2001 coined the acronym BRIC, grouping Brazil, Russia, India and China as potential growth powerhouses. South Africa was added nine years later to make it BRICS. “They need to find their collective purpose and really maintain the collective vision,” the former UK Treasury minister and life peer told China Daily in an exclusive interview to mark the 15th anniversary of the publication of his paper coining the name. “Brazil, Russia and South Africa are now in recession, with many questioning their BRICS status. Even though they have got problems, they are still key parts of the global economy,” O’Neill says. “They need to be involved in global governance, so the importance of the BRICS is not diminished by the fact that they are in recession.” The former Goldman Sachs chief economist says: “In the 15-year context, people also need to remember in the first decade since I created the acronym, all the BRICS countries grew much more than I said. So even though Brazil and Russia particularly have been disappointing, the collective size is pretty similar to what I said it would be. Very importantly, so far this decade China is growing by more than I assumed.”...

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BRICS

Por | 27 out, 2016 | , , |

BRICS’ future with India, without India   M. K. Bhadrakumar Oct. 23, 2016   While navigating my way through dozens of commentaries in the past week on the BRICS summit in Goa, one thing that struck me is that western commentators are almost in unison in running down this group of emerging powers – with the exception of Jim O’Neill, of course, who insists that things are on course just as he had predicted 15 years ago when he coined the acronym, although there is much unfinished business remaining on the platter. (China Daily) One main argument is that the 3 out of five BRICS economies have slowed down in the past year and that signifies diminishing clout of the grouping. A second argument is that the BRICS countries have unresolved political issues or discords separating them – India and China, in particular. But the curious part is that no western commentator dares to question the raison d’etre of BRICS as an idea, which stands for a more equitable world order. The issue agitating the western mind appears to be that Russia, India and China have drawn together to form a grouping to mould the new world order, which makes BRICS a formidable adversary. In fact, a curious piece by Wall Street Journal (by no means a sincere friend of BRICS) all but affirms that BRICS-type groupings may proliferate. It foresees...

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BRICS

Por | 26 out, 2016 | , |

How the BRICS Can Help End War in Syria and Establish a New, Just World Order   The eighth BRICS Summit in Goa, India is winding down. On the eve of the summit, President Putin gave an interview to Sputnik and India’s IANS news agency, outlining the BRICS’ role in resolving the Syrian crisis. Experts say the Russian leader will do everything he can to use the organization to accelerate the creation of a multipolar world order.   Sputnik 16/10/2016 Putin arrived in Goa on Saturday, starting his program of meetings with the leaders of India, China, Brazil and South Africa off with talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Sunday, BRICS leaders officially adopted the Goa Declaration. Crucially, this included a provision on the need to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions calling for peace in Syria and the continuation of the fight against terrorism, including against Daesh and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (aka Nusra Front). Commenting on the significance of the summit, Svobodnaya Pressa columnist Sergei Aksenov noted that Moscow has invested a great deal of political capital in the event. “In the context of global tensions, the decisions taken by the BRICS countries may seriously affect the international situation,” the journalist wrote. President Putin confirmed as much in an interview for Sputnik and India’s IANS news agency on the eve of the summit. Emphasizing that the BRICS group of countries “is one of the key elements of the emerging multipolar world,” Putin pointed out that “our countries reject the policy of coercive pressure and infringement upon the...

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Propaganda

Por | 26 out, 2016 | , |

Vladimir Putin   Southfront 25/10/2016 Recently The Economist, The Spectator, The New Statesman and and The New Yorker have published their latest editions. You can find the results below. Is this another exampe of Putin’s winning propaganda? And now let’s evaluate chances to see The Economist frontpage like this   See the...

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