1) Please Put a Weakling in the White House Department.
General Yury Baluyevsky [photo at right], who heads the Russian General Staff, said after meeting with Czech First Deputy Defense Minister Martin Bartak in Moscow on August 21 that the Czech Republic will be making a "big mistake" if it hosts a radar site that it part of a projected U.S. missile-defense system...Baluyevsky added that "a decision will be made by the Czech side only after the evaluation of all conditions, technical and otherwise. My Russian colleagues and I simply ask that that process continue through to October-November of 2008.... I do not exclude that a new administration in the United States will reevaluate the current administration's decisions on missile defense." He added that U.S. and Russian officials will discuss missile defense in Moscow in September. In response, Bartak said that the Czech authorities are still considering the U.S. proposal and that their decision will be submitted to the parliament for approval at an unspecified time in 2008. He added that "we understand perfectly the importance of talks with Russia and are not refusing to discuss the matter with other partners.... We will hold debates and follow very carefully and closely the talks between Russia and the United States." Bartak stressed that missile defense should not affect other aspects of Prague-Moscow relations. The Russian Defense Ministry said later in a statement that Baluyevsky "expressed regret over the Czech government's decision and said that Russia views it as a step aimed at undermining today's system of security on the European continent and the world as a whole," Interfax reported. The statement added that "this negative factor will remain an irritant in Russian-Czech relations for many years to come, and Russia has already started to take various measures to prevent any damage to its security."
2) Sabre-Rattling Isn't Everyone's Glass of Vodka. The Gazprom-owned daily "Izvestia" wrote on August 22 that Russia's recent decisions to resume strategic bomber flights and strengthen the security dimension of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan [SCO]) were not taken lightly. The paper argued that those moves are in response to the U.S. missile-defense program and NATO expansion. On August 20, the Russian weekly magazine "The New Times" commented that Moscow's attempt to form a military bloc with China through the SCO is detrimental to Russia's long-term interests. The magazine added that the recent SCO Peace Mission 2007 maneuvers, which took place primarily in the Ural Mountains, gave the Chinese military an excellent opportunity to study Russia's terrain and infrastructure. The weekly argued that continued Russian arms sales to China will help enable Beijing to "consolidate its dominance from the Pacific Ocean to the Urals."
These headlines are competing for space with ever-new aggressions by Putin such as this one: Britain's "The Guardian" wrote on August 22 that "in a sign of heightened tension between Russia and NATO, it emerged last night that two RAF Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft [one is shown at upper left] were scrambled for the first time to intercept a long-range Russian [propeller-driven Tupolev Tu-95] "Bear" reconnaissance aircraft over the North Atlantic". The alleged incident took place on August 17. The daily added that the "first indications that Russia was flexing its muscles in this way came in May, when...Bears...flew towards British airspace during an exercise off Scotland, to spy on Royal Navy warships. Two Tornado F-3 air-defense aircraft were scrambled to see the bombers off." The paper noted that "on three occasions [in July], as the row over Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, suspected of murdering exiled dissident [Aleksandr] Litvinenko, caused tit-for-tat expulsions, Tornados were scrambled to warn off...Bears." President Vladimir Putin said on August 17 during military exercises in the Ural Mountains that Russian strategic bombers resumed regular long-range flights after a hiatus of about 15 years. "The Guardian" reported on August 22 that "British intelligence officials are concerned that...Putin's ambitions are more serious than the mere rhetoric they initially hoped [it would be]."
