The documents paint a grim picture of the quintessential mafia state being run out of the Kremlin’s bowels and the hopeless politics it engenders.
WikiLeaks X: Russia — From Tyranny to Kleptocracy
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Russia
U.S. Wins the Merchant of Death Sweepstakes
What effect will Bout’s extradition to the United States by Thailand have on recent efforts by both Washington and Moscow to “reset” US-Russian relations”?
START: Arms Affirmation Treaty
The New START treaty should at best be called an “arms affirmation treaty,” confirming that expensive weapons systems, which include the nation’s nuclear arsenal, remain a national priority. Like the earlier Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, New START insulates nuclear weapons spending, as well as large budgets for other weapons systems.
Whose Siberia?
The New York Times headline read, “Russia’s Chinese Worry,” and the story discussed the conflict on the Russian-Chinese border in eastern Siberia. Russia, it explained, is having trouble both maintaining political control over its northeast Asian provinces, and limiting the influence of its much more populous southern neighbor. “The excess of the Chinese population, if allowed to get out,” it said, “would in a comparatively short time overrun all of Asia.” As for Siberia, “The Russian authorities are completely outwitted by this invasion which has been going on for the past fifty years, and which has now given China a firm foothold all along their southern border.”
Viktor Bout, Much Bruited About by Far Left (and Right), Just a Fall Guy?
“Conspiracy theorists” marvel at the sight of Viktor Bout on the front page of the New York Times.
START Now
After 65 years, is there anything new to say about nuclear weapons? Their immense and almost incomprehensible destructive power is well known. Their tenacious endurance as the weapon, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, is an unavoidable fact as nine nations currently stockpile these world menacers. Their super-power allure to emerging states remains untarnished despite international treaties discouraging proliferation.
Whose Nukes Are You Calling Loose?
The Russian nuclear weapon program has become synonymous with the term “loose nukes.” Might that apply to the United State as well?
Iran, Brazil, Turkey and the Ghost of Lord Palmerston
The U.S. State Department’s claim that the “international community” is behind the U.S. is increasingly sounding like whistling past the graveyard.
Russian Threats, American Missiles, and Bulgaria’s Choice
President Barack Obama decided to cancel the plans for missile defense based in the Czech Republic and Poland this past October. Washington has since worked on an alternative that Obama calls a “stronger, smarter and swifter defense” that “best responds to the threats we face.” The new system is built around sea-and-land-based SM-3 missile interceptors.
Blood and Oil in Central Asia
In the past month, two seemingly unrelated events have turned Central Asia into a potential flashpoint: an aggressively expanding North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and a nascent strategic alliance between Russia and China.