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Russian Diamond Field, Secret Until Now, Said to Contain ‘Trillions of Carats’
A new diamond field said to contain “trillions of carats” is hitting the news wires.
Christian Science Monitor reports that the deposit lies beneath an asteroid crater in Siberia known as Popigai Astroblem. The crater, 62 miles in diameter, was actually discovered by Russian scientists in the 1970s, but the information was classified until today.
According to the story in CSM and now being reported in several international news providers and mining publications, the Soviets decided to keep the discovery a secret because “the USSR’s huge diamond operations at Mirny, in Yakutia, were already producing immense profits in what was then a tightly controlled world market,” and the country had also invested heavily in synthetic diamonds.
Russian official news agency ITAR-Tass reports the diamonds at Popigai are “twice as hard” as Read more…
Russia to Create “Son of Satan” Missile
Last week, General Sergei Karakayev, Commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, announced plans for a new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to go into production as soon as 2018. He emphasized that the new missile would be capable of penetrating the NATO missile shield Russia dislikes so much. The new delivery system will carry a five-ton payload into orbit, almost as much as its predecessor, the infamous R-36m/SS-18 ICBM known by its NATO designation, “Satan.” Like “Satan,” “the Son of Satan” will use highly poisonous liquid propellant.
This escalation comes after President Obama once again hailed his Russia policy. The Russian announcement delivers a blow to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which limited U.S. and Russian warheads. An Obama Administration “reset” policy, New START traded real concessions to Moscow for promises of imaginary cooperation in arms control, in a Read more…
Why is Putin stockpiling gold?
Russia is bulking up its gold reserve
By Brett Arends
I can’t imagine it means anything cheerful that Vladimir Putin, the Russian czar, is stockpiling gold as fast as he can get his hands on it.
According to the World Gold Council, Russia has more than doubled its gold reserves in the past five years. Putin has taken advantage of the financial crisis to build the world’s fifth-biggest gold pile in a handful of years, and is buying about half a billion dollars’ worth every month.
It emerged last month that financial gurus George Soros and John Paulson had also increased their bullion exposure, but it’s Putin that’s really caught my eye.
No one else in the world plays global power politics as ruthlessly as Russia’s chilling strongman, the man who effectively stole a Super Bowl ring from Bob Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, when they met in Russia some years ago.
Putin’s moves may matter to your finances, because there are two ways to look at gold.
On the one hand, it’s an investment that by most modern standards seems to make no sense. It generates no cash flow and serves no practical purpose. Warren Buffett has pointed out that we Read more…
DoD Confirms Russian Troops To Train On U.S. Soil
The Department of Defense has confirmed foreign media reports that Russian troops are set to target terrorists on Americans soil as part of an unprecedented joint drill with the United States which will take place in Colorado next month.
As we reported yesterday, Airborne troops from Russia are set to take part in drills focused around targeting terrorists at Fort Carson between May 24 and May 31. The soldiers will also be mingling with the local community, attending a baseball game in Colorado Springs during their stay.
Although it marks the first time Russian troops will train on U.S. soil, soldiers from a plethora of different nations have been involved in similar drills for well over a decade.
“The Russian soldiers are here as invited guests of the U.S. government; this is part of a formal bilateral exchange program between the U.S. and Russia that seeks to develop transparency and promote defense reform,” Cmdr. Wendy L. Snyder, U.S. Defense Press Officer for policy, told The New American in an e-mail. “This is the first time that American and Russian special operations troops have Read more…
Russia and China are intensifying cooperation in the military sphere
Russian-Chinese war games “Naval Interaction-2012” in the Yellow sea has entered its active phase on April 24. 25 warships, 13 aircrafts, 9 helicopters and 2 units of the special forces of the two countries participate in them. Taking into account the number of participating forces and the scenario, these manoeuvres are apparently the most large-scale in the modern history of bilateral relations.
According to “Interfax”, the Russian party is represented in the war games by large antisubmarine ships “Admiral Tributz”, “Marshal Shaposhnikov” and “Admiral Vinogradov”, as well as logistics ships. The detachment is headed by the
flagship of the Fleet – Guards’ guided-missile cruiser “Varyag”.
China is represented by 18 military ships, including the flagship missile destroyer “Harbin”, and 5 missile frigates, including “Chzhoushan” and “Suyzhow”, which were performing combat tasks on distant borders escorting ships in the Gulf of Aden.
The scenario includes joint crossing of a “dangerous” area, firing various weapons at sea and air targets, and rescue operations at sea. The ships will be covered from the air by deck helicopters Ka-27; and a sea infantry sub-unit of the Pacific Navy is placed under the detachment’s command in order to conduct special operations.
According to the RF Ministry of Defence message, the goal of the manoeuvres is strengthening and development of the Russian-Chinese relations and Read more…
Russia, China seek info on US drone held by Iran
FILE – This file photo released on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, claims to show US RQ-170 Sentinel drone which Tehran says its forces downed earlier this week, as the chief of the aerospace division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, right, listens to an unidentified colonel, in an undisclosed location, Iran. Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency said Thursday, April 18, 2012 that Russia and China have asked Tehran to provide them with information on a U.S. drone captured by the Islamic Republic in December. (AP Photo/Sepahnews, File) EDS NOTE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. ANONYMOUS — AP
Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency says Russia and China have asked Tehran to provide them with information on a U.S. drone captured by the Islamic Republic in December.
The Thursday report quotes Ahmad Karimpour, an adviser to Iran’s defense minister, as saying Tehran has received requests for many countries for information on the RQ-170 Sentinel, but Moscow and Beijing have been most aggressive in their pursuit of details on the drone. He did not elaborate.
Iran said in December that it had downed the unmanned stealth aircraft in eastern Iran.
U.S. officials have acknowledged losing the drone. They have said Iran will find it hard to exploit any data and technology aboard it because of measures taken to limit the intelligence value of drones operating over hostile territory.
Huge Sino-Russian joint military exercise at sea to participate in the troops in the million or more
April 22 to 29
2012, Russia will be held in China’s Yellow Sea waters, code-named “Sea collaboration – 2012″ joint naval exercises. Suha Ivanov, deputy commander of the Russian Navy has stressed that the exercise will be the Navy of Russia and China in recent years, the largest joint military exercises at sea. 15, the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet held a grand expedition ceremony.
more than 20 warships participating
formation with wear Strait
According to the news of the Russian Defense Ministry said: “The leader of the Russian Navy the participating warships participating in the Pacific Fleet’s flagship ‘Varyag’ large anti-submarine of the Pacific Fleet’s’ Tribhuvan Cihai Admiral number ‘three large anti-submarine, and four Ka-27 shipborne helicopters. “In addition to’ Telibuci Navy Admiral ‘is from the Gulf of Aden attended the anti-piracy exercises direct catch to the exercise site, all the participating warships and vessels of the Pacific Fleet starting from 斯特列洛克 Gulf, arrived in China port on the morning of April 22, 22, the Russian navy ships will participate in Read more…
Russian Planes Spotted over Japanese Destroyer
Il-38 plane
Two Russian anti-submarine aircraft have flown over a Japanese destroyer preparing to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it passes over Japan’s territory, a Japanese TV channel reported on Wednesday, citing the country’s Defense Ministry.
According to the ministry, the Il-38 planes were seen on Tuesday off the south-west coast of the largest Japanese island of Honshu, where the destroyer is currently based. The ministry said that Japanese fighters accompanied the IL-38s during their flight.
The NHK TV channel suggested that the Russian planes had been collecting information on the multi-purpose combat system Aegis which is installed on the destroyer. Russian patrol aircrafts have been spotted performing reconnaissance missions, without Read more…
New START talks involving tactical nukes unlikely
Backpack nukes pose a special problem in terms of accountability. SADM or Special Atomic Demolition Munitions are portable, easily smuggled and can be detonated by one or two individuals. Suitcase nukes are also tactical nuclear weapons.
While some progress has been made in the area of reducing the number of “long range nuclear warheads” (those loaded on the tips of intercontinental ballistic missile) the nukes loaded on the underbelly of fighter jets or loaded in artillery shells, so called short range “tactical” nuclear weapons remain unchecked.
These “tactical” nuclear weapons are in some cases 50 times as powerful as those used by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan during World War 2.
NEITHER SIDE WILLING TO BE HONEST WITH EACH OTHER
In fact the United States and Russia refuse to Read more…
Russia’s Anti-BMD Alliance?
Andrew Riedy
Russia is seeking to form an ad-hoc “coalition of the willing” to delegitimize U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) plans and paint the United States as a major threat to global stability. As part of this strategy, Moscow is preparing an all-out information campaign that it’s expected to unveil at a conference in Moscow on May 3 to 4 to highlight what it sees as the real reason for NATO and U.S. plans to deploy ballistic missile defenses to Europe and expand cooperation with countries like India and Japan, namely tipping the strategic balance in favor of Western Powers.
Russia is hoping to form a consolidated political group to stand with it in opposing U.S. and NATO BMD deployments, and any such coalition is likely to include China. But there are dangers to bringing Beijing on board that Moscow has either not accounted for, or is at least willing to accept.
As Manpreet Sethi suggested this week, BMD has long been an irritant in the U.S.-Russian relationship. The issue was regulated until 2002 by the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, but since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the treaty, the BMD question has been a major Read more…
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