Russian state television has launched an all-out assault on the new U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul—undeservedly so, although not unexpected. Russia’s Channel One, run by All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), aired a hostile report this week aimed at the ambassador as he begins his tenure in Moscow. The report attacked McFaul personally and […]
Iranian Ambassador to South Korea Ahmad Masoumifar on Wednesday said there is a high demand for Iran’s crude oil supplies and Tehran has no problem maintaining exports. Masoumifar also shrugged off Iran’s shrinking pools of customers, saying “we (Iran) are producing about 80 million barrels [of oil] and there is demand for about 90 million.” […]
To assume that Iran will not close the Strait of Hormuz is to assume that primitive religious fanatics will perform cost-benefit analyses the way they are done at Wharton. They won’t, especially if the oil that is their life’s blood is threatened. If Iran does close the strait, we will fight an air and naval […]
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Mikhail Prokhorov, a super-rich tycoon challenging Vladimir Putin for Russia’s presidency in March, said his country faced the danger of violent revolution if it did not break conservative resistance and move quickly to democracy. Prokhorov, a billionaire bachelor long seen more as playboy than politician, told The Freeland File on reuters.com Russians […]
Russia has given Iran its bear hug and warns Israel and the West that an attack on Tehran would be considered an attack on Moscow. The threat heightens the prospect of World War III in the event of a military strike on Iran. “Iran is our neighbor,” Russia’s outgoing ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, told […]
Just a few weeks ago, Vladimir Putin’s advisers were debating campaign and election strategy. There was no unanimity amongst them. Some thought that it would be best for their candidate to win on the first ballot by receiving an absolute majority of votes cast on the first ballot. Others advised holding off to the second […]
The new US defense review combines politics, economics and ideology. The decision to make cuts in the US military forces will obviously appeal to President Obama’s base. Obama has announced that the US is ending a decade of war and is effectively going to concentrate on rebuilding the United States domestically. The administration has renounced […]
President Obama signaled Congress this week that he is prepared to share U.S. missile defense secrets with Russia. In the president’s signing statement issued Saturday in passing into law the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, Mr. Obama said restrictions aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on U.S. Standard Missile-3 velocity burnout parameters might impinge on his constitutional foreign […]
President Shimon Peres says the Quartet’s plan and deadline that expire this month is doomed and that the Palestinian Authority and Israel will return to direct talks. The Quartet told the PA and Israel three months ago to put forth suggestions for two issues: boundaries for a new Palestinian Authority country and security for Israel, a request […]
The Sentinel drone that was downed or malfunctioned over Iran has become a topic of political controversy. Former U.S. Vice President and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney attacked President Obama for failing to protect American technology that could be learned from the drone downed in Iran. In an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, Mr. Cheney said the drone should never have been allowed […]
