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LAST UPDATE | 3 Jan 2020
DONALD TRUMP HAS declared that a “reign of terror is over” as he marked the death of an Iranian general killed in a US strike and as the Pentagon scrambled to reinforce the US military presence in the Middle East in preparation for reprisals.
General Qassem Soleimani “made the death of innocent people his sick passion”, Trump said from his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, adding “a lot of lives would have been saved” if he had been hunted down years ago.
Trump said the Iranian general was plotting “imminent and sinister attacks” and added: “We caught him in the act and terminated him.”
The US president said: “We took action last night to stop a war.
“We did not take action to start a war.”
Trump said the US was not seeking regime change in Iran, but claimed the world was a safer place without “monsters” such as Gen Soleimani.
He said: “If Americans anywhere are threatened we have all of those targets fully identified and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary, and that particularly refers to Iran.”
Earlier today, it emerged that the US is sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Middle East as reinforcements.
The officials said the troops are from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
They are in addition to about 700 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne who deployed to Kuwait earlier this week after the storming of the US Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters.
The dispatching of extra troops reflects concern about potential Iranian retaliatory action for the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force.
But it also runs counter to Trump’s repeated push to extract the United States from Middle Eastern conflicts.
Prior to this week’s troop deployments, the administration had sent 14,000 additional troops to the region since May, when it first publicly claimed Iran was planning attacks on US interests.
The reinforcements took shape as Trump gave his first comments on the strike, declaring that he ordered the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani because he had killed and wounded many Americans over the years and was plotting to kill many more.
“He should have been taken out many years ago,” he added.
The strike marked a major escalation in the conflict between Washington and Iran, as Iran vowed “harsh retaliation” for the killing of the senior military leader.
The two nations have faced repeated crises since Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions.
The United States urged its citizens to leave Iraq “immediately” as fears mounted that the strike and any retaliation by Iran could ignite a conflict that engulfs the region.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo defended the strike as “wholly lawful”, saying that Soleimani posed an “imminent” threat against the US and its interests in the region.
“There was an imminent attack,” Pompeo told Fox News.
“The orchestrator, the primary motivator for the attack, was Qassem Soleimani.”
The White House did not inform politicians before the strike.
It was expected to give classified briefings to members of Congress and staff in the afternoon.
US defence secretary Mark Esper notified House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the strike shortly before the Pentagon confirmed it publicly.
Pompeo called world leaders today to explain and defend Trump’s decision to order the air strike that has sparked fears of an explosion of anti-American protests as well as more violence in the already unstable Middle East.
The State Department said Pompeo had spoken with top officials in Afghanistan, Britain, China, France, Germany and Pakistan.
In his calls with the British and German foreign ministers as well as China’s state councillor, Pompeo stressed that Trump acted to counter an imminent threat to US lives in the region but also that the US is committed to “de-escalation” of tensions, according to the department’s summaries of the conversations.
De-escalation was not mentioned in the department’s summary of his call with the French foreign minister, nor in his calls with Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani or the Pakistani military chief of staff.
In those calls Pompeo “underscored the Iranian regime’s destabilising actions through the region and the Trump Administration’s resolve in protecting American interests, personnel, facilities and partners,” the department said.
Trump opted not to play a round of golf today, and he was not expected to be seen publicly until he travels to Miami for an afternoon event for his reelection campaign.
The embassy in Baghdad, which was attacked by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters earlier this week, is closed and all consular services have been suspended.
Around 5,200 American troops are already based in Iraq, where they mainly train Iraqi forces and help to combat Islamic State militants.
‘Heinous crime’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the US, calling Gen Soleimani the “international face of resistance”.
He declared three days of public mourning and appointed Major General Esmail Ghaani, Gen Soleimani’s deputy, to replace him as head of the Quds Force.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the killing a “heinous crime” and vowed his country would “take revenge”.
Thousands of worshippers in the Iranian capital Tehran took to the streets after prayers to condemn the killing, chanting “Death to deceitful America”.
The targeted strike, and any retaliation by Iran, could ignite a conflict that engulfs the region, endangering US troops in Iraq, Syria and beyond.
Over the last two decades, Gen Soleimani had assembled a network of heavily armed allies stretching all the way to southern Lebanon, on Israel’s doorstep.
However, the attack may act as a deterrent for Iran and its allies to delay or restrain any potential response. Oil prices surged on news of the air strike while markets were mixed.
The killing promised to strain relations with Iraq’s government, which is allied with both Washington and Tehran and has been deeply worried about becoming a battleground in their rivalry.
The US Defence Department said it killed 62-year-old Gen Soleimani because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region”.
It also accused him of approving the violent protests at the US Embassy in Baghdad.
The strike, on an access road near Baghdad’s airport, was carried by a US drone, according to an American official.
Gen Soleimani had just disembarked from a plane arriving from either Syria or Lebanon, a senior Iraqi security official said.
The blast tore his body to pieces along with that of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces.
Iran’s state TV said 10 people were killed, including five Revolutionary Guard members and Gen Soleimani’s son-in-law, whom he did not identify.
The tensions are rooted in Trump’s decision in May 2018 to withdraw the US from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, struck under his predecessor Barack Obama.
Since then, Tehran has shot down a US military surveillance drone and seized oil tankers.
The US also blames Iran for other attacks targeting tankers and a September assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry that temporarily halved its production.
Supporters of the airstrike said it restored US deterrence power against Iran, and Trump allies were quick to praise the action.
“To the Iranian government: if you want more, you will get more,” South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham tweeted.
“Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran,” Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton wrote in a tweet.
Others, including Democratic White House hopefuls, criticised Trump’s order.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said the president had “tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox”, saying it could leave the US “on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East”.
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We will see how well Putin does once the Russian currency is worth less than toilet paper. Sanctions work!
He’s right about sanctions being one of the main causes of the current instability, but he fails to admit that it was his own decisions that gave rise to the sanctions. It was Vlad himself who decided to hang a ‘new iron curtain’, but the west certainly handed him the curtain hooks.
The sanctions are indeed one of the main causes. The other causes are recession/anemic growth in oil consuming countries and the decision by OPEC to maintain production levels in the face of a tanking oil price. The ruble is actually backed by the US dollar, with the central bank being obliged to buy more dollars to increase supply. This legacy from the 90s is hardly in the Russian interest (or indeed any countries), especially given the gradual move away from US dollar trade internationally. With the Russian government enjoying unprecedented popular support it wouldn’t be surprising to see a nationalisation of the “independent” RCB once the ruble has truly hit the floor (no knowing where that level is but at current descent rate it can’t be more than days away) and breaking of the ruble dollar link. Possibly the ruble could be backed by something else besides the dollar, maybe even precious metals, who knows.
Hang on a minute,
We had EU politicians at demonstrations in Keiv prior to Crimea annexation. Can you imagine Russian politicians at anti government marches in Europe?? This separatist issue was resolvable. There was an agreement in place and the EU decided to back far right nationalist fringes in Kiev and break the agreement. Twice!
So now what? Currency war with Russia. As if the EU economy is made of bricks. Gimme a break. As someone said below…be careful what you wish for.
“The ruble is actually backed by the US dollar, with the central bank being obliged to buy more dollars to increase supply.”
No, no it isn’t.
Russia has enough dollar reserves for a few months imports and that’s it. They also struggle to liquidate them as they are invested in long term projects which would be difficult to sell. Rostneft already needs a state bailout as they can’t borrow new dollars for their maturing loans.
So once you take out the 140 billion needed to refinance the major Russian corporate it looks like a lot less reserves.
Russia is in trouble. The RBC has sensibly not wasted all it’s reserves trying to prop up the ruble but the issue is that in 2 trillion a day FX market 400 billion isn’t enough. The Ruble is likely below fair value but the market knows that the RBC can’t do anything about it.
What really surprises me, is that all the anti Russian comments here are made by brainwashed ordinary Joes, brainwashed by global Anglo-Saxons coalition lead by Uncle Sam.
None of you want to admit that you are scared, that Russia was coming up from its knees after USSR have crumbled, pretty much all western media pumping up anti-Russian propaganda at highest level possible.
What happens know, is deliberate, planned action to remove Russia from global scene, you people think that u live in democratic society, the democracy here is a curtain, an illusion that is used by super rich and muppet – governments to increase the wealth of those few percents of the world.
Oil prices are historically low, but your electricity bills are not…
What you dont understand is that despite the economic downturn Russia still has the resources and gold reserve that will help them to overcome current crisis and Russians do believe that all what is happening with rouble is a deliberate attack by West. I dont think Putin will going anywhere any time soon, so take a breath all you Russian haters. Putin has enamours support by Russian people and Russia will overcome these difficult times.
I m not supporting Putin, I disagree with tons of things that is happening in Russia but I remain fair and I know that god forbid if Putin will be removed, you can’t imagine what sort of real unpredictable monster can appear instead of him.
Also despite
Pavel Shipilov. Agreed.
Russia is of no interest to anyone. It’s economy is smaller than Italy and totally reliant on digging things out of the ground. The only other export of note is weapons as thankfully spending 20% of your budget on a military industrial complex meant the Soviet union left Russia some useful weapons to sell. But they are falling behind there too.
Russia is a small power with a declining population and shrinking economy and the same life expectancy as Bangladesh. It’s not we want Russia to do badly, it’s just we don’t care about Russia like we don’t care about Indonesia.
Russia is not an important country no matter how badly it pretends.
Pavel, a few short weeks ago when some commenters were predicting that the Russian economy was about to walk off a cliff, yourself and John Deegan were saying that sanctions couldn’t hurt the Russian economy, that Moscow was holding all the cards and that Europe couldn’t survive without Russian oil and gas.
Why should anyone believe you now?
I have never said that sanctions that were implemented against Russia could not hurt Russian economy, I strongly suggest to your unhappy siamese face to check your facts before going online. You are making Uncle Sam proud! Sanctions are a stick with both ends, you probably did not hear, that major German public, political and business figures have wrote a letter to Madam Merkel asking to stop confrontation with Russkies BECAUSE German economy is SUFFERING, dont mind Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Austrian, Italian economies that are having serious losses. Why dont you take butt plugs out of your ears and be FAIR, although taking in account your Anglo-Sax origin its hard to imagine.
Pavel, John Deegan definitely said that. My recollection is that you did too, but if not I apologise. Sorry to disappoint you but I have no particular loyalty to Uncle Sam either – I just call each issue as I see it, and in the case of Ukraine I think Putin is the main aggressor. I don’t think you’ll find too many of my posts where I’ve been cheerleading for Uncle Sam – US foreign policy in general leaves a lot to be desired to put it mildly.
Of course sanctions have a negative effect on both trading partners – where have I ever claimed otherwise?? The whole point of sanctions though is that the negative effect is imbalanced – it has a greater impact on one partner than on the other, and in this case clearly the Russian economy is feeling the effect more than the west’s combined economies. You may not like to admit it but the figures tell their own story – its hard to see it any other way. Perhaps you should take that butt plug and shove it in your mouth…
At least John will get a lot more bang for his buck when he moves to Putin’s paradise!
Paval I just come in here to read your insults directed at fellow posters. Comedy gold!!!
Vlad the impaler …… Sticking himself on a spit to be rotated a t the great fire of the west
Ruble is not backed by the dollar
So it’s ok for them to shoot down planes after invading other countries then?
Energy prices are now down over 50% since the summer….
Yet my electricity and gas bills have gone up???
You can always change providers & save money.
It’s just a guess but perhaps you use the heating more in winter than in summer?
What the world doesn’t need right now is a broken humiliated Russia. I hope that the west doesn’t overplay their hand.
Very true – we saw what happened when Germany were broken and humiliated in the 1920′s
In fairness, there’s a difference between being humiliated because your economy tanked and being humiliated because you lost one of the greatest wars in history. This won’t be the first time in the last 30 years where Russia was left broke.
They were humiliated prior to WW2 and their economy was destroyed by sanctions. That had a large part to play in WW2
The beginning of the end for Putin and his criminal regime. He is responsible for this mess the Russian people find themselves in.
While I normally with you, Mick, unfortunately I think you are being too hopeful.
Creating a siege situation might very well backfire.
Colin. Putin acted to quickly over Ukraine. He thought that the West would react the same way they did over Georgia.
The Russian military is nowhere near strong enough to make a serious challenge to the West. Had he waited another 8 – 10 years he would have had time to modernise his military to a point that it could become a serious threat.
At first the Russian people will blame the West for their predicament but as time goes on and things get tougher they will turn on Putin. And the more they turn on him the more repressive he will get and the spiral will begin.
People will talk about Russias nuclear capability. But even in North Korea as crazy as that regime is, they are not stupid enough to try using them.
If Putin falls, the people next in line are not really an improvement. As far as I’m aware, his nearest opponents in terms of support are in favour of a full on return to communism, though I could be misinformed.
Yeah mick agreed but where does the end of the line end. He might struggle on as the kims have done in Korea. Even if he goes there are not many reformers willing to take on the mafia controlled parliament.
Will end badly with coup or him stepping down eventually but unfortunately it will be the Russian people who suffer. I do feel bad for them. State propaganda false news mind control. Do they even know what’s coming.
Lets see what happens though when the rat is backed into the corner
Doesn’t bear thinking about…
Russia is a weak pathetic country that just happens to have a massive land area and oil reserves. They always seem to be uneasy and incapable unless they have a strongman in charge.
Russia has huge untapped reserves of mineral wealth. It’s a friend they need right now, not a kick in the nuts.
Chris. Putin gave two fingers to the friends they had. He chose try and rebuild Imperial/Soviet Russia rather than becoming more integrated into the international community. Now its a case of reap what they have sown.
Pathetic and weak! I hope we never have to put that to the test! The golden child of democracy doesn’t have a great track record of being able to finish what it starts, think Vietnam,Korea, Cuba, Grenada and all recent campaigns in the since Gulf 1. When the body bags start rolling off the planes the will to finish the job tapers off, Europe can’t even get a consensus on aid relief never mind a war of aggression. The soviet Bear has always been able to look past the attrition to the endgame, if Mother Russia rolls the tanks the only credible response from the west would be the unthinkable, don’t underestimate Russia or how easily the world can slip from peace to war!
Philip. The Russian military machine looks impressive on paper but in reality most of its equipment is decades behind the West. It still relies on a largely concript army. Its navy is a rusting heap. In a confrontation with NATO it would quickly lose the air superiority battle and that would leave it’s ground forces extremely vunerable. Added to that the majority of its armour is out dated by it’s NATO opposites. Putin knows this as does his Generals.
Mick your comment is 100% correct but we can plainly see what a badly equipped but motivated army can do in the middle east, how many people in the buffer zone countries will suffer the consequences of an ill advised reactionary strike against economic aggression before the pissing contest plays out, there can be no real winners from pushing this agenda too far. If the Dollar price was manipulated in the same way the game would be very interesting to watch!
Philip, just so you’re aware the combined military forces of the European members of NATO alone are already larger in terms of manpower and materiel than that of the Russians. That’s before you look at the US which has the largest military in the world in terms of budget and equipment. Russia doesn’t have half of Europe to rely on for cannon fodder and territorial buffers anymore.
What part of a corrupt conscripted army says “motivated”?
Being told that the western world is trying to bankrupt your country and destroy your quality of life and your children’s future on state media could galvanise a certain resolve, its worked before!
Philip. It works in the short term. But over the long run people start getting pissed off that their government are doing nothing to resolve it. You can only blame ” Them over there” for so long.
careful what you wish for , schadenfreude aside , Russia to too close to Europe to hope bad things happen to it. Apart from the old expression that when trucks don’t cross borders tanks do , An imploding Russia means contagion in Eastern Europe , losses for banks and companies in the west and lenders might remember that actually need to worry about getting their money back
What Putin and others seem to miss is he can be voted out of office. People tend to vote over hardship and any Russians I know blame him.
Well he outright stole the last parliamentary & presidential elections, decided to increase the length of presidential term by 50% & has removed term limits.
Voters schmoters
@Karl – didn’t he extend his term by decree, effectively turning himself into President 4 life?
What we are seeing is a deliberate effort at enforcing government change in Russia by the West, primarily the US. The idea that oil has suddenly plunged without some pre planning is absurd.
Hopefully the West does not succeed.
We have seen what the moral West dies. It tortures people and backs neo nazis (Ukraine).
Regime change?
Vladi cares not for elections.
Putin is president for life should he chose.
The Putinistas are just butt-hurt hurt that the shirtless one proved to be mortal after all.
Horgay. Putin could still rescue his economy. If he withdraws ALL his troops from Ukraine including Crimea. Cease ALL aid to the terrorists in Ukraine. Admit responsibility for the downing of MH17 and pay reparations to the people of Ukraine for the damage his Army and His policies have done.
And he might make an effort to diversify his economy so it’s not totally reliant on oil and gas. Unlikely though, when was the last time anything innovative came out of Russia?
You let a KGB man run your country, you deserve what you get.
Horgay its OPEC, not the US, who have decided to maintain production to keep oil prices low. This is because they see the US shale oil industry as a serious potential competitor and wish to keep oil prices below the point at which US shale oil becomes viable. Current low oil prices are destroying the US shale oil industry and thereby preventing the US from becoming self-sufficient in oil.
If you ask the average person in the US whether the decimation of their shale oil industry (and all the money and jobs that go with it) is a fair price to pay to stand behind a country that I’d imagine most of them had never even heard of 12 months ago, I think you’d probably get a very short answer.
Nice theory though.
What reasoning have you based that analysis on Mick?The sanctions imposed at the minute(because of issues you’ve posted)are having a contributory effect but the main influence is the dropping oil prices. During the last oil drop and financial crisis 08 going into 09 Russia burned through a huge amount of foreign reserves and spent around $200bn trying to stabilise which is over three times more than this time.
The ruble should have been decreasing in value over the last while because of the strength of the US economy compared to Russian anyways but it was staying consistent due to oil prices which are so important to the Russian market. Now that there prices are dropping it is taking away this safety net which is why you are seeing such a dramatic drop lately.
With OPEC keeping production consistent the market wont stabilise until mid way through next year so then you’ll see the ruble starting to pick up again but will take longer to get anywhere near levels earlier this year.
Until then the Russians have a long winter road ahead of them but your assertion that if Putin did all those things it would go back all rosy straight away is a daft and simplified way of looking at the situation.
Sanctions are always counter productive in the long term and solidify support internelly especially in a Russian scenario because of the national psyche. Even Medevev is coming out with statements strongly in support of the current stance as he has to or else face a loss of support.
Damhan. Because of sanctions Russian banks cannot borrow from the international market. Western firms have pulled billions out of the Russian economy. Leaving Russia even more vunerable to the oil drop. Had Putin behaved like a civilised leader and minded his own business regarding internal Ukrainian politics Russia would still be a part of the international community and not the international Pariah it is today.
It depends how you would define the term ‘pariah’ . Russia has signed multi billion deals with China and India in a range of sectors and is doing so with other countries too. A recent UN vote which was claimed by the US to show how isolated Russia is was voted against or abstained by 50+ countries.
I think its time for western orientated and aligned nations to realise the ‘international community’ doesn’t just consist of themselves only and other countries concerns and interests have to be listened and steps forward agreed on to prevent any flare ups like is seen recently.
Damhan. The Chinese economy has begun to slow down. The Sino-Russian pipeline wont come on line for another 20 years. Russian military equipment to too far behind western equipment for the Chinese to have any real interest. They are more interested copying what the West has.
The Russian economy is minuscule in world terms and many of the “Non Aligned” countries have no interest in a trade war with the Western economies but would rather work with them. So you and the rest of those that are wishing for some great saviour to out do the Western economies can huff and puff but it will be to no avail.
Mick, the Russians don’t want to borrow from the international market, that’s why they set up an investment bank with China. Russia has no debt , and gold to back its economy, America has more than $3 Trillion debt to back its economy ?
Russia has oil to spare, America has dropped its allies in the Mid East in a croc of sh…, soon they will lose the means of financing their terrorism there, Russia will not cave in, in the end it is America and the Saudis that loose, the arabs cant give away their oil forever, and remember that gold reserve and no debt that Russia has… Join the dots Mick.
Gerard. Incase you haven’t noticed the Russian economy is tanking. The Ruble has the value of toilet paper. The Chinese are not stupid. They can see the way the wind is blowing. And they are biding their time. And when Russia is desperate enough China is going to buy Russia very very cheaply.
So you can wave the flag for Russia all you want. Just remember it is sinking just like the Titanic.
Just using you as a sounding board because you wave the flag of America so profusely, maybe you can be objective for a moment ? I’m not waving any flag, I just want to know what you think will happen after next week when Obama signs in new sanctions, Russia will respond and it will hurt the western economies, I’m just being pragmatic when I say Russia needs no excuse to hit hard , it has been hit hard by sanctions.
Maybe I’m asking the wrong person, there is a big difference between waving a flag and having an understanding of economics.
Gerard, the Russian economy is tiny on the scale of world importance, and one result of Putin’s extended holiday in Crimea is that Europe will take (and already has taken) steps to become less reliant on Russian gas. At the moment its hard to see what steps Russia could take to damage the European economies without causing a greater level of damage to the Russian economy (which is teetering on the edge at this point in time).
So when you say Russia will “hit Europe hard” do you mean economically or militarily?
Avina, not quite correct, Russia is part of a large trading bloc, thus the attempts to isolate it, this bloc is where the growth is. The American economy is more than $3 Trillion in debt, according to your logic that means the whole western world is sunk and we should do all we can to sink America because of its actions in the M.E., as you suggest we do to Russia over Crimea.
Russia has been a major importer of European goods, any decision to change this by Russia will lead to a depleted and stagnant Europe. The economic scale of Russia is huge on Europe and the west in general, combined with the rest of their economic bloc they outgun the west.
I was happy to see today that the EU is also pushing new sanctions against Russia, you have already forgotten what happened to EU agriculture because of sanctions, I believe you will now have a chance to see how “tiny” Russia is in world importance.
France has already lost huge weapons contracts in India and Brazil due to its support of sanctions. You really should learn a world view Avina, your parochial thinking has no place in the real world.
I’d agree that China is where its at, but when you talk about trading blocks you may not have been paying attention but China are above all pragmatists – after all their country was built on centuries of shrewd trading arrangements with the rest of the world.
When it comes to trade they have no particular loyalty to any country or ideology – they will always do what’s best for China, regardless of who they are dealing with. As another commenter said, if the Russian economy conrinues to tank you can be sure China will soon be along to start buying everything up at firesale prices – don’t hold your breath if you expect them to be offering handouts to Russia.
China has loyalty’s that America wishes it could break, China is a member of the same economic bloc as Russia, Americas pivot to Asia is a direct threat to China, in short there is no way America can drive a wedge between China and Russia.
Russian stocks are up 17% today, so someone is buying, I suppose it beats junk bonds from the Fed, Russia has a future and no foreign debt. By western reckoning Russia is the eight largest economy in the world, it takes a tiny mind to believe that is tiny, by real world reckoning, with massive reserves and no foreign debt (America $3 Trillion >) it is in fact amongst the first four, unless you have a tiny mind, that is.
Other news today… US sanctions 2 Swiss and 1 Dutch oil Co’s for trading with Syrian Gov. US thinking of opening Embassy in Cuba. Old news US sanctions on Japan causes Japan to enter WW2, Russia now selling Iranian oil despite US sanctions.
We are not looking at the end of Russia, we are seeing the end of the petro $, it only remains to be seen whether America goes down gracefully or with a world wide crash. Other news .. NATO flights on Russia’s borders has grown by 100% this last year … NATO admits to huge troop build up on Russia’s borders. I think America will bring as many as it can down with it, they can all sing anti Russian songs as the ship goes down, then the world will return to a peace that America has denied it for years.
Your perception that China has some sort of special loyalty to Russia is flawed. If it suits China to trade with Russia they will do it. Equally if it suits China to trade with the US, Europe, or anyone else in preference to Russia, they will do it too. Above all the Chinese are pragmatists when it comes to trade, and will do whatever suits China best.
“If” Wishful thinking Avina, the stage is set, military action against Russia or Iran is next to impossible, because China has said it is war against China. The sacred cow Israel, is about to be sacrificed by Obama, who would have guessed that 2 years ago. Weather or not you or the state department want to recognise it, China and Russia do have a “special relationship” which is stronger than that between America and Britain, the loyalty between Russia and China is mutual, something that has never existed between America and its allies.
Accept the changes that are taking place or be left behind, it is now officially announced that America is ending sanctions against Cuba and is opening an embassy there. Accept the change, there is no point in keeping up the propaganda front anymore.
Sure what do we care about sanctions on Russia.if I was the west I would leave them alone.they never did us any harm.
Tell that to the people of Ukraine
tell it to the families of the people on the plane they shot down.
What about the people who all died on the Dutch airliner?
And Georgia.
What people fail to realise is that the USSR, under Stalin, was preparing to invade Western Europe before the Germans got the drop on them. They were also preparing to continue the push to the Atlantic after the end of the Second World War but stopped due to the demonstration of nuclear weaponry by the US.
Russia has a long, deep history of aggression and expansionism
Jason don’t forget all the awful things Ivan the terrible did. He was Russian too.
Jason, you are making a fool of yourself, Russia was in no state to invade anyone at that time, the winter war with Finland is all the proof needed.
@gerard, google ‘ribbentrop molotov pact’
@face avast, there is no mention of Germany in this discussion because they didn’t invade anyone in February, Russians did.
A pact is a pact, not an invasion. I have already mentioned the winter war in Finland The pact is just another indication that Russia was not in a fit state to go to war, otherwise they would not have made a pact with Hitler.
Could be cheaper oil and gas for consumers
Well that does seem like something worth risking the end of the world for.
Hardly risking the end of the world. Russia can recover from an economic crash just like any other country can. It wouldn’t be able to recover from a nuclear war as the retaliation strikes would be swift and brutal (remember, both the US and Russia are still pointing nukes at each other in case one fires on the other in a surprise attack).
I don’t think Putin or Obama are insane enough to pull the trigger over something as ridiculous as a port in the Black Sea or an economic crash.
Was amazed at the poverty there on a visit in May. The bottom rung of society here a huge chunk of the population will suffer, it’s back to the Romanov days with a vast wealth gap.
None that we hear of thanks to the complete state control over the media. Be thankful we live in a country where posting such information for the public to see won’t get you locked up, beaten or exiled.
Sterling next, then the Euro.
Really? What do you know?
The 90s.
Any investments made by Russians gets sold, tech stocks probably.
London takes a hit where people have been using sterling as a hedge and this eventually hits the Euro as the U.S. seem to be better prepared.
Problem for us is that Russians have seen this before, for them it’s only an opportunity to redistribute wealth, and for Putin to consolidate power. For us it’s an unsustainable shock.
Paul. Any Russian that has Western investments is not going to sell them unless they are completely insane. Patriotism doesn’t buy them the lifestyle they have grown accustomed to. Anyone that has enough money invested to make a difference is not even living in Russia anymore nor have any plans of returning any time soon.
As you sow, so shall you reap.
Putin is a good tactician, but the world’s worst strategist.
Gotta feel sorry for the Russian people even if some of them did vote for him.
That’s right Robin, now all we have to do is wait for western economies to collapse, they have never sown anything good.
Hope you’ve a long, long book to read while you’re waiting!
The 13th tribe have finally accepted that genetically their people came from Ukraine. They play their monetary games and set countries against each other for their benefit. They brain wash you to hate a country and leadership you know very little about.
I knew Galway was behind this!
The expansion of NATO eastwards is unnecessary and threatening to the Russians . The west should be mediating not siding
The last countries adjoining Russia to join NATO joins over ten years ago. In 2010, NATO and Russia signed a co-operation agreement which declared a “new stage of cooperation towards a true strategic partnership”:
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_68871.htm
The “NATO expansion” argument is complete nonsense.
You might be confusing perception and reality , talk to any Russian
you already confused your perception by talking (ONLY) to them
So Cormac, why would the Russians sign an agreement to co-operate with NATO if they fear NATO expansion? Why were NATO troops in Russia helping them to re-train their military forces up to modern standards and why were NATO and Russian forces conducting joint exercises together?
When Russia thought NATO was a threat, they had nothing but open hostility towards the organisation for nearly 60 years. As Robin said, the argument of NATO expansion is a non-runner.
All will be revealed over the next few weeks, within days Obama will impose new sanctions, then it will be Russia’s turn to hurt the west. Britain and Norway have suffered too because of the low oil prices, so has Americas allies that have dropped their prices as a favour. Russian counter sanctions will probably be very severe, they can flood the market with oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela, this may be a long game that the Saudis and America regret starting, Russia has been very tolerant of these people till now, they must react now, weather they want to or not.
NATO’s air patrols have increased to over 3,000 in 2014, NATO’s tin pot dictatorships in the Baltic are vying for the honour of starting WW3, we only have to wait for one of them to stage another MH 17, like Ukraine did for them.
Russia has been very tolerant..
That’s a good one :)
There is a lot more to this than meets the eye, have a read of counterpunch.org, the oil coup.
For the sake of the Russian people I really hope oil prices rise back up. The Russian economy was not in the best shape beforehand. Hopefully a diplomatic solution can be reached that lifts sanctions I mean a strong Russia means there will be will be a strong Europe as the Russian economy economy is import driven
We survived just fine in Western Europe without the influences of a “strong” Russia for centuries. Russia has never been a strong economy in terms of GDP (although very strong when it comes to the output of weapons).
James R. Norman (2008)
Oil Card: Global Economic Warfare in the 21st Century
A book that perfectly describes how the manipulation of oil prices has been part of U.S foreign policy for decades. A brilliant read.
Only, in this case, it isn’t the US who’s pulling the strings. OPEC are dumping cheap oil into the market to prevent the US from becoming oil-independent through shale oil. If the US was doing this to get at Russia it’s a serious case of cutting off your leg to spite your foot.
Putin is a thug presiding over a kleptocracy, the day of reckoning is here. They are finished
have your say