Geopolitical thread

[Tuvaluan]

RSoami, just curious/gyan sake, which of the points made in the article sounds relevant/useful to you? thanks.

[ramana]

In WWI, Russia was the one supporting Serbia against Austria.

In present case its US, that is supporting both China (Russia analog) and Pakistan (Serbia analog)..

So like all analogies at a superficial level it looks good but doenst hold water.

[Philip]

Joe Biden accused of an attempted coup in Venezuela (while Biden Jr.squats" in Ukraine)!

http://rt.com/news/228495-maduro-venezuela-us-coup/
Maduro accuses Joe Biden of ‘bloody coup’ in Venezuela
Published time: February 02, 2015

The US is behind the attempted coup in Venezuela – that is the accusation President Nicolas Maduro has leveled amid widespread protests back home. And it’s none other than Vice-president Joe Biden who’s behind the entire operation, Maduro alleges.

This is the first time a direct accusation of this gravity was made in front of thousands of cheering spectators and the world at large, despite an earlier Friday statement, when Maduro struck out at several US federal agencies for allegedly plotting against Venezuela.

"The northern imperial power has entered a dangerous phase of desperation, going to talk to the continent's governments to announce the overthrow of my government. And I accuse Vice-president Joe Biden of this," the head of state said, addressing the people at the 198th anniversary of the birth of a Venezuelan hero general Zamora in Cua, Miranda state.

He also questioned US President Barack Obama publically, whether he was “aware of these plans to promote violence and a coup in Venezuela” and “appealed to his consciousness.”

“There are US diplomats in Venezuela contracting military officials to betray their country, looking to influence socialist political leaders, public opinion leaders and entrepreneurs to provoke a coup,” the head of state went on.

READ MORE: Venezuela accuses Kerry of murder and inciting violence

The President addressed the nation on Sunday in order to strengthen its resolve in times of what he called “a bloody coup”, as demonstrators flooded the streets demanding his resignation amid an economic crisis that is hitting the food sector first, just as the voices of thousands of others could be heard cheering him on, as they smiled and waved flags.

But according to Maduro, this is no ordinary crisis. “I appeal to the people and the patriots among the officials who are on high alert, as a bloody coup is underway in Venezuela.”

“The people must be prepared to rescue their democracy, the Constitution and their revolution” at times like these, the head of state warned.

Only a few days prior to the occasion, the leader had appealed to his fellow countrymen to burn their US visas to send a message to the “imperialist Yankees”, but the accusations of a coup had before only dealt with members of the political opposition at home and their being influenced by other unfriendlies in the region.

READ MORE: The US is behind the current drop in oil prices – Bolivia’s president

The New York Times pointed out on January 2 that an unnamed official had said Maduro was interested in improving his relationship with Biden, and the Venezuelan leader said after the meet that he “told Vice-president Biden, and have said it 1,000 times in public and in private, we want respectful relations, nothing more.”

But as the price of oil – which accounts for 95 percent of its export earnings – begins to plunge, so do Maduro’s public ratings, which are now at little more than 20 percent, according to local media.

READ MORE: Venezuela plunges into recession with record inflation

With the situation changing, Maduro said that it’s difficult to imagine, despite earlier promises, how to maintain diplomatic relations with the US, in light of its constant attempts to subvert the Venezuelan leadership and sink the country into a crisis.

“They [the opposition] say that the revolution is over, that the people no longer support it. They say they will overthrow the people and the revolutionary government that I chair. But I say to the conspirators – stay out of Venezuela, let us live in peace.”

READ MORE: Venezuela adds new currency market to save ailing economy

Washington and Caracas have been at odds regularly after iconic former leader Hugo Chavez had come to power in 2000. The US had already been accused of trying to undermine the Venezuelan government in 2002, when a coup saw Chavez ousted from office for 47 hours, before order was restored.

[Philip]

http://rt.com/news/228395-greece-eu-russia-sanctions/

EU must stop 'feverish' anti-Russian steps, think long-term relations – Greek FM
Published time: February 01, 2015

The EU should consider long-term relations with Moscow, instead of making feverish anti-Russian moves, new Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said, adding that his country does not want to give up its historic ties with Moscow.

“Greece is interested in stabilization and peace in Ukraine, as well as avoiding a split in the relations between the EU and Russia,” Kotzias told Athens News Agency, explaining Greece’s stance at the emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

He said he urged the European Union to “finally consider what it wants to do with Russia on a long-term basisThe debate in the Belgian capital was a tough one, the minister stressed, as it was crucial for Athens “to avoid confusion in relations in the non-economic sphere with the Europeans and not to disturb Europe’s and Greece’s relations with Russia.”

“Those of our partners, who don’t want a serious breakup with Russia, looked at us with great sympathy, and some even hid behind our backs during the negotiations. The others, who strongly oppose dialogue and relations with Russia, treated us critically and distanced themselves from us. It was a difficult negotiation,” he said.

The fact that there will be no new sanctions against Moscow and that the existing restrictive measures will be prolonged only until September – not until the end of 2015 – is “a significant success of Greek diplomacy,” said Kotzias, who is also a professor of political theory at Piraeus University.

“Greece shouldn’t take sides and give up on its historic relations with Russia,” he added.

Athens stands for a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis – which has already taken over 5,000 lives – the FM said, reminding of a large Greek community in Ukraine.

He said he has warned the EU that its actions against Russia are “destabilizing” the region.

During the Brussels talks, the Greek delegation also made it clear to the EU that the country shouldn’t be treated as a “pariah state” because of its debts.

“My colleagues understood that they can’t behave towards Greece as if it were a pariah state because it owes money," he stressed.

READ MORE: ‘5yrs of humiliation, suffering over’: Anti-austerity party to form govt in Greece

Greece's new government was formed after the leftist Syriza party won the January 25 legislative election, claiming 149 seats in the 300 seat parliament.

The party, led by Alexis Tsipras, rose to popularity after it promised to renegotiate Greek debt and put an end to austerity in the country.

[svinayak]

In WWI, Russia was the one supporting Serbia against Austria.

In present case its US, that is supporting both China (Russia analog) and Pakistan (Serbia analog)..

So like all analogies at a superficial level it looks good but doenst hold water.

That article is extremely important to understand the thinking process and gives clues on the future architecture of the asian security and also the global order.

Look for language such as sectarian violence for jihad attacks. They know the deep plans of the TSP/ISI to create Indian Taliban and also use Indian nationals for attacks on India.
Just like Anatol Levein in his article FP wrote before the Godhra violence this article is a information to the west to give them what is going to happen to India and the region

COnnect this article with the other article on splitting TSP (sindh) and Bihar India map.

THey are connected. There is large Radical muslim group connecting TSP, India and BD which is underground and will rise up to foil India and Indian nation state. THis is the single most threat to India in the next 3 years and all the younger gen need to told about this.

[svinayak]

Austria’s “Pakistan” in the 20th century was Serbia, a small state in the Balkans trying to lure the South Slavic subjects of the empire to revolt through subversive means (as with Pakistan there was a clandestine connection between government circles and radical elements in the Serbian intelligence community). Most importantly, Austria’s stance vis-à-vis Serbia was emboldened by its dual alliance with the German Empire, which in 1914 , after the assassination, gave Austria a diplomatic carte blanche, to deal once and for all with the “Serbian problem”.

Uncle has played a big role in fostering TSP to this level and will have to pay a price for this

TSP is a toll in the hands of Uncle and CHina and THey will use it against India

AFter 911 they had the NATO troops in the AF Pak only to create a false stability for 10-15 years so that they can fix western economy. After that they will plan to leave it for unstability and watch it bring down the entire region. That is the essence of this article

[RSoami]

RSoami, just curious/gyan sake, which of the points made in the article sounds relevant/useful to you? thanks.

That india has an inward looking foreign policy.
It keeps seeking support from other powers. Two that I remember

[Tuvaluan]

That india has an inward looking foreign policy.
It keeps seeking support from other powers. Two that I remember

That was definitely the case with Nehruvian policy establishment (since Nehru himself asked support from other powers while at the same time refusing to improve indian capabilities) that has been in control until now -- the actions of the recent dispensation shows a move away from that kind of behavior, with a more realpolitik "swing"-based policy making between powers...not an easy thing to do.

[A_Gupta]

While China has the advantage of being a single political entity, with the ability to act swiftly, the potential opposition to it is also quite formidable. In exchange rate dollar terms, the 2013 figures are: China's GDP is $9.4 trillion. On the other side, India $1.8 trillion, ASEAN $2.4 trillion, S.Korea $1.3 trillion, Japan $4.9 trillion, Australia $1.5 trillion, Taiwan $0.5 trillion.

IMO, this region offers the most promise in terms of trade, technology, defense ties, education, etc., for India. Cooperation and confining issues to friendly rivalries should be the goal here.

On the west of India it appears UAE + Saudi Arabia + Kuwait + Iran combined would make up India's largest trading partner. Al Bakistan is the kabab-mein-haddi to the west. Still, qualitatively, what these countries to the west have to offer India is different from the east. I don't think India has any effective muscle in the west, even while it is growing muscle in the east.

Lastly, India somehow has to carry along Bangladesh in its look east, act east and somehow keep it from becoming a Pakistan-like trouble spot.

EU could be more important to India, but getting entangled in EU vs Russia is not a good idea. Not sure exactly why, but it appears Belgium is one of the most important trading partners for India in Europe.

[RamaY]

It may not be prudent to tie another millstone around india's neck in its "act east" initiative. Do not make Bangladesh into east-Pakistan with this "we have to" carry them.

Nearly half a century was wasted on similar "we have to" take Pakistan with us thought leadership.

India should limit its carrying package to Indians alone.

If India can do business with west without Pakistan, then it can do business with East without Bangladesh.

[rsingh]

http://rt.com/news/228395-greece-eu-russia-sanctions/

EU must stop 'feverish' anti-Russian steps, think long-term relations – Greek FM
Published time: February 01, 2015

The EU should consider long-term relations with Moscow, instead of making feverish anti-Russian moves, new Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said, adding that his country does not want to give up its historic ties with Moscow.

“Greece is interested in stabilization and peace in Ukraine, as well as avoiding a split in the relations between the EU and Russia,” Kotzias told Athens News Agency, explaining Greece’s stance at the emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

He said he urged the European Union to “finally consider what it wants to do with Russia on a long-term basisThe debate in the Belgian capital was a tough one, the minister stressed, as it was crucial for Athens “to avoid confusion in relations in the non-economic sphere with the Europeans and not to disturb Europe’s and Greece’s relations with Russia.”

“Those of our partners, who don’t want a serious breakup with Russia, looked at us with great sympathy, and some even hid behind our backs during the negotiations. The others, who strongly oppose dialogue and relations with Russia, treated us critically and distanced themselves from us. It was a difficult negotiation,” he said.

The fact that there will be no new sanctions against Moscow and that the existing restrictive measures will be prolonged only until September – not until the end of 2015 – is “a significant success of Greek diplomacy,” said Kotzias, who is also a professor of political theory at Piraeus University.

“Greece shouldn’t take sides and give up on its historic relations with Russia,” he added.

Athens stands for a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis – which has already taken over 5,000 lives – the FM said, reminding of a large Greek community in Ukraine.

He said he has warned the EU that its actions against Russia are “destabilizing” the region.

During the Brussels talks, the Greek delegation also made it clear to the EU that the country shouldn’t be treated as a “pariah state” because of its debts.

“My colleagues understood that they can’t behave towards Greece as if it were a pariah state because it owes money," he stressed.

READ MORE: ‘5yrs of humiliation, suffering over’: Anti-austerity party to form govt in Greece

Greece's new government was formed after the leftist Syriza party won the January 25 legislative election, claiming 149 seats in the 300 seat parliament.

The party, led by Alexis Tsipras, rose to popularity after it promised to renegotiate Greek debt and put an end to austerity in the country.

No wonder they got tight slap from ECB.

[chanakyaa]

These days no one even bothers to check with the UN (not that it would change anything). Send advisers, trainers, priests to any country you disagree with.

Niger: France Sends Trainers

[Philip]

Too many tds,so posting this news from Oz here. Oz's equivalent of Jokeriwalla, aka "Hawalawallah"!
Abbot exercised his ignorance spectactularly by awarding Prince Philip "knighthood",thus downgrading the Duke of Edinburgh and making himself and the land of Oz the world's laughing stock.Making the Duke a knight would've also downgraded the Queen to being a mere "Lady Elizabeth"!

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne ... rty-revolt

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott may be deposed after party revolt
Liberal MP who wants change in leadership says knighthood for Prince Philip was ‘final proof’ of prime minister’s disconnection with the people.

Bridie Jabour in Sydney
Friday 6 February 2015 05.54 GMT

The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, could be removed from office as early as next week after facing a revolt from within his own party.

A backbench MP from Abbott’s governing Liberal party announced on Friday that he would be moving a motion to have the leadership declared open.

The move followed a series of mis-steps and political blunders by the prime minster, including the recent awarding of a knighthood to Prince Philip on Australia Day.

Speculation had been growing all week over a possible challenge to Abbott but it was not until Friday afternoon that one of his own party publicly declared that a change in leadership was necessary.
Live/ Tony Abbott vows to fight Liberal leadership spill motion – live

Prime minister addresses issue after WA Liberal MP Luke Simpkins moves to bring a leadership vote against the PM. Follow updates live ...

Luke Simpkins, a Liberal MP from Western Australia, emailed colleagues to announce he would move a motion in the party room calling for a “spill” that would throw open the leadership. It is expected to be seconded by another West Australian MP, Don Randall. The party’s MPs will meet in Canberra early next week as parliament resumes after the summer recess.

Simpkins said the knighthood for Prince Philip was “the final proof of [Abbott’s] disconnection with the people”.

“I think we must bring this to a head and test the support of the leadership in the party room,” he wrote.

Less than two hours later Abbott called a press conference at which he declared he would oppose the motion.

“We are not the Labor party,” Abbott said – referring to the tumult of the previous government, when Julia Gillard forced out the Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd, only to have him seize back power in the third of a series of party-room showdowns.

The motion will have to pass with majority support before the Liberal leadership is declared open. Malcolm Turnbull, the communications minister and the man Abbott replaced as party leader in 2009, is seen as the most likely person to defeat the prime minister.

Analysis/ Tony Abbott sleeps with one eye open, like Australian leaders before him

Australia’s ruling Liberal party is in turmoil as Canberra faces the prospect of yet another prime minister being toppled by his own side

The foreign minister and deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, has also been widely touted as a contender.

But Abbott, speaking at the brief press conference, said Bishop had agreed to support him in trying to stop the leadership vote taking place.

“They [the backbench MPs] are perfectly entitled to call for this but the next point to make is that they are asking the party room to vote out the people the electorate voted in, in September 2013,” he said.

“We are not going to repeat the chaos and instability of the Labor years. I have spoken to the deputy leader Julie Bishop and we will stand together in urging the party room to defeat this particular motion.”

Turnbull, like Abbott a former Rhodes scholar, refused to say whether he would put his hand up for the leadership before the motion was announced, but emphasised that Abbott had not been undermined by any of his frontbenchers.

Abbott has faced growing unrest in his party over the past six months, sparked by a budget in May that was widely criticised as unfair. The government has struggled to pass key parts of it through parliament.

Abbott tried to “reset” the government’s fortunes at the beginning of 2015 but his leadership came under intense pressure after he decided to knight Prince Philip under the Order of Australia – a long-defunct honour he had controversially reintroduced the previous year.

The knighthood decision reinforced perceptions in the party that his judgment was poor. On 31 January an earth-shattering defeat for the Abbott government’s conservative bedfellows the Liberal National party in the Queensland state election unleashed a torrent of discontent with Abbott’s leadership among federal backbench MPs.

Turnbull, an Oxford law graduate, defended the former MI5 agent Peter Wright against the British government’s unsuccessful attempt to suppress the publication of his book Spycatcher.

[Philip]

Kissinger's warning about the West's "fatal mistake",over the UKR.
http://rt.com/news/203795-kissinger-warns-cold-war/

Kissinger warns of West’s ‘fatal mistake’ that may lead to new Cold War
Published time: November 10, 2014 16:49

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has given a chilling assessment of a new geopolitical situation taking shape amid the Ukrainian crisis, warning of a possible new Cold War and calling the West’s approach to the crisis a “fatal mistake.”

The 91-year-old diplomat characterized the tense relations as exhibiting the danger of “another Cold War.”

“This danger does exist and we can't ignore it,” Kissinger said. He warned that ignoring this danger any further may result in a “tragedy,” he told Germany’s Der Spiegel.

READ MORE: Europe may become irrelevant due to short-sighted policies – Gorbachev

If the West wants to be “honest,” it should recognize, that it made a “mistake,” he said of the course of action the US and the EU adopted in the Ukrainian conflict. Europe and the US did not understand the “significance of events” that started with the Ukraine-EU economic negotiations that initially brought about the demonstrations in Kiev last year. Those tensions should have served as a starting point to include Russia in the discussion, he believes.

“At the same time, I do not want to say that the Russian response was proportionate,” the Cold War veteran added, saying that Ukraine has always had a “special significance” for Russia and failure to understand that “was a fatal mistake.”

Calling the sanctions against Moscow “counterproductive,” the diplomat said that they set a dangerous precedent. Such actions, he believes, may result in other big states trying to take “protective measures” and strictly regulate their own markets in future.

When introducing some sanctions or publishing lists of people whose accounts were frozen one should wonder “what will happen next?” the former Secretary of State said rhetorically, because when something begins you cannot lose sight of where it is going to end.

Kissinger also said he would expect more action from Berlin on matter. As the most “important” country in Europe it should be more “proactive” rather than reactive, he said.

[Philip]

How Britain,"an island no one listens to.." ,said a Russian diplomat,got the whole UKR crisis wrong.its once renowned foreign office and highly rated diplomacy appears to be in ragged shape from this report,from the House of Lords/EU committee.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... 63128.html

Mary Dejevsky
Sunday 22 February 2015
Ukraine crisis: 'Catastrophic misreading' of Russia is the result of a Foreign Office denuded of regional experts
A report of 2012 questioned departmental restructuring in the 1990s that had favoured managerial skills over geographical and linguistic knowledge

A “catastrophic misreading” of the Kremlin’s mood helped precipitate the Ukraine crisis and the dangerous East-West stand-off we see today. This was the central conclusion of a report on EU relations with Russia “before and beyond the crisis in Ukraine”, compiled by the House of Lords European Union Committee. Specifically, the committee found that British and EU diplomacy had failed to appreciate – in time, or even at all – what a dim view Moscow would take of the 2013 free trade agreement being finalised between Brussels and Kiev.

The report, published ahead of Monday’s anniversary of what in eastern Ukraine and Russia is deplored as the overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected president, and in most points West is lauded as a glorious popular revolution against a corrupt regime, finds many culprits. They include the UK’s lack of diplomatic engagement. There is also something they fail to mention.

This is the sharp divide that existed in the EU between those (mostly “new” Europeans) who saw the agreement with Ukraine as a prelude to eventual EU accession, and the rest, who saw it rather as a consolation prize for remaining outside. The extent to which the first group was able to make the running was not really understood until thousands of protesters were on the streets of Kiev, waving EU flags and demanding a European future. It is not just Russia that was “catastrophically misread”, but Ukraine, too.

One effort to explain such misunderstanding forms a recurrent theme of the report: the loss of specialist regional expertise, both in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and in foreign ministries across Europe. Lord Tugendhat, who chairs the EU Committee, elaborated, saying that it was “the lack of robust analytical capacity” that had “effectively led to the misreading of the mood in the run-up to the crisis”.

The same point was spelt out with characteristic verve by Rory Stewart MP, a former diplomat who knows a thing or two about the value of in-depth local knowledge, having walked across much of Afghanistan and central Asia. Not for the first time, he laid into the quality of Foreign Office expertise. “People have not been encouraged to devote their intellect and experience to asking hard questions about strategy,” he said. “We have not learned the lessons of our recent failures. Foreign Office reforms in 2000 reduced the emphasis on historical, linguistic and cultural expertise, and instead rewarded generic ‘management skills’.”

He could have gone back further. A Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report of 2012 questioned departmental restructuring in the 1990s that had favoured managerial skills over geographical and linguistic knowledge. A consequence was – according to senior diplomats – that managerialism, rather than diplomacy or expertise, was increasingly how departmental and institutional success was judged.

At this point, of course, there will be a clamour about “cuts”. And it is true that the Foreign Office has suffered more than almost any other government department financially, losing 30 per cent of its budget in the past five years alone. But the loss of specialist expertise is not primarily a result of cuts, and predates them by quite some years. It reflected conscious decisions about where money should be spent.. It was also about the nature of research and the way it should be done.

READ MORE: Passenger planes at risk from Russian bombers
Fears grow that vital port of Mariupol is Moscow's next target
'One miscalculation, and Britain faces an existential threat to our whole being...'

There was a rationale for such changes: management (and accounting) had probably been neglected in the Foreign Office, and the collapse of the Soviet Union was seized on as an opportunity to scale back not just the defence and intelligence effort, but the highly developed scrutiny of what in the FCO was now called the Former Soviet Union.

Reducing the emphasis on Russia and the former Soviet states, however, was not the only, or even the greatest, change affecting the research effort in the Foreign Office. From the late 1990s, the whole structure of research was altered, away from area expertise and languages towards functional research themes – such as climate change or terrorism.

It was now clear that linguistic and area skills took a poor second place to the subjects of the moment. Many of the research staff consequently sought new berths, where their specialist knowledge would be appreciated. They are now to be found scattered across NGOs, charities, think-tanks and business consultancies.

There are times, it appears, when the Foreign Office now has to buy in skills from such organisations. But the research approach taken by charitable and business groups will necessarily differ from the one that Foreign Office research staff might take – more short-term, perhaps, and more narrowly focused. There may be more deciphering of graphs and spreadsheets than trying to gauge what makes one little slice of “abroad” tick.

Such knowledge is not about forecasting the future, despite what a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office tried defensively to suggest. Responding to the Lords report, she insisted that no one could have predicted the scale of the “unjustifiable and illegal” Russian intervention” (in Ukraine). Tellingly, a similar defence was offered when MPs criticised the depletion of Foreign Office research three years ago: even when it was at full strength, former diplomats said, the research department had failed to foresee such cataclysms as either the Iranian revolution or the collapse of communism.

But research is not expected to be about prediction per se. It is rather about understanding the factors that contribute to behaviour and decisions. And that entails listening to what the other side is saying, about itself, in its own language. That the UK seems to find this so difficult – particularly, but not only, with Russia – is not, of course, down to inadequate Foreign Office research alone. It reflects a national attitude that finds foreign languages “too difficult” and treats area of expertise as a luxury. The price of such insularity should now be clear. With more understanding of Russia, we might not now be commemorating a year since the bloodshed in Kiev or watching the death toll pass 5,000 in eastern Ukraine

[ramana]

Philip, Try to read "Ideological basis of British Empire". Do you have my email address? Check old PMs.

[abhischekcc]

There is a link to a book of the same name: The Ideological Basis of The British Empire by David Armitage.

Is it the same book : http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/ca ... 087438.pdf

[ramana]

That's the one.

[Philip]

Tx,will do.Will ck e-mail id.

The assassination of a prominent Russian Op leader,Putin critic on the eve of an Op march/protest,has sparked controversial debate.Was it a hit by pro-Putin fringe elements or was it another "Litvinenko hit",where a former low-level Russian defector was murdered using polonium ,poisoning him in a London café. Putin was immediately hounded by the West for the hit,but critics say that he was too insignificant for such a drastic action by Putin,and had more to do with the activities Russian oligarchs in exile in London and western intel agencies. Given Putin's defiance of the West over the UKR crisis in particular,a conspiracy to falsely implicate him and damage his standing in Russia,where he has over 80% support from the Russian people appears more likely. It would be an act of stupidity for Putin at this time to bump off an opposition leader who actually posed little threat to him politically,being at one time a part of the disgraced regime of Boris Yeltsin. The Russian people are overwhelmingly in favour of the state's handling of the UKR crisis and the annexation of the Crimea.The truth will out some day.

One theory doing the rounds is that at the March 1st rally,another "provocative" Kiev style Maidan-like incident leading to civilian deaths is on the cards and this hit is meant to inflame the protesters.It is now known (German intel) that unknown snipers fired on both police and civilians in Kiev,which was blamed upon the Yanukovych regime,which sparked off the neo-Nazi junta from seizing power.

Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov shot dead in Moscow
Former deputy PM and critic of Vladimir Putin who was due to lead major rally on Sunday was killed near the Kremlin
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/f ... ow-reports

Prominent Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has been shot dead in Moscow. Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and a sharp critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was reportedly shot four times in the back by a killer in a passing car.

The killing took place in the very centre of Moscow late on Friday evening on a bridge near St Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin, two days before Nemtsov was due to lead a major opposition rally in Moscow.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the president would take the investigation into Nemtsov’s death under “personal control”, and that he believed the killing to be a provocation.

“Putin noted that this cruel killing has all the signs of a hit, and is a pure provocation,” said Peskov. He said Putin offered condolences to Nemtsov’s family.

Nemtsov, 55, was deputy prime minister during the 1990s in the government of Boris Yeltsin. He had written a number of reports in recent years linking Putin and his inner circle to corruption, and was one of the most well-known politicians among Russia’s small and beleaguered opposition.

Footage from the scene showed police experts examining the corpse of a man, dressed in jeans and lying on the tarmac, with the domes of St Basil’s in the background. Fellow opposition politicians confirmed the news, while a police spokeswoman said a manhunt was under way for the killer.

“He was shot four times in the back, as a result of which he died,” Elena Alekseyeva told Russian television. She added that the killer escaped in a light-coloured car. Other official sources told Russian media that Nemtsov had been walking with a female companion, who was unharmed, at the time of the killing. The woman was reportedly a Ukrainian national and was taken for questioning by police. A representative of Russia’s investigative committee at the scene of the murder said investigators were considering “all possible versions”.

The body of Boris Nemtsov, covered with plastic, with St Basil’s Cathedral in the background. Photograph: Dmitry Sereryakov/AFP/Getty Images

Just hours before his death, Nemtsov had appeared on Ekho Moskvy radio calling on Muscovites to attend an opposition march planned for Sunday. The march against Putin’s government and the war in Ukraine was due to take place in a suburb of Moscow. One of the other organisers of the march, Alexei Navalny, was jailed on 19 February for 15 days. Nemtsov himself had been detained briefly a number of times in recent years for taking part in political rallies, and was seen as one of the old guard of the Russian opposition.

“Today before the programme he asked me if I wasn’t scared to have him on air,” Alexei Venediktov, the editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, wrote on Twitter. “It wasn’t me who needed to be scared.”

“We will answer Nemtsov’s murder with everyone coming out to the rally on 1 March, it’s the best thing we can do for now,” wrote Gennady Gudkov, another opposition politician, on Twitter.

Analysis/ Russia robbed of a brave, authentic and distinctive voice
The rise and sad demise of Boris Nemtsov, a former Yeltsin loyalist who became a remorseless critic of Putin

Britain has said it will follow closely investigations into the killing. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We are shocked and saddened by news … We deplore this criminal act. Those responsible must be brought to justice. We will continue to follow the situation closely.”

Barack Obama called on Russia’s government to perform a “prompt, impartial and transparent” investigation to bring Nemtsov’s killers to justice. Obama said Nemtsov was a “tireless advocate” for Russia and the rights of its citizens and praised him for fighting corruption. The pair met in Moscow in 2009, Obama said, when the Russian was willing to “share his candid views with me’’. He said the Russian people had “lost one of the most dedicated and eloquent defenders of their rights’’.

The immediate reaction in Moscow was one of shock and amazement. While there has been a noticeable crackdown on opposition since Putin returned to the Kremlin in 2012, and especially since the conflict in Ukraine, no major political figure has been killed in Russia for a decade. Many previous contract killings, such as that of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, were never solved.

Mikhail Kasyanov, a former Russian prime minister now also in opposition, said: “In the 21st century, a leader of the opposition is being demonstratively shot just outside the walls of the Kremlin.
“The country is rolling into the abyss.”

Russian pro-democracy activist and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov said on his Facebook page: “Devastated to hear of the cold-blooded murder of my long-time opposition colleague Boris Nemtsov in central Moscow, quite close to the Kremlin.

“Shot four times, once for each child he leaves behind. A man of Boris’s quality no longer fit Putin’s Russia.

“He always believed Russia could change from the inside and without violence; after 2012 I disagreed with this. When we argued, Boris would tell me I was too hasty and that in Russia you had to live a long time to see change. Now he’ll never see it. Rest In Peace.”

Michael McFaul, US ambassador to Russia from 2012-2014 and now a Stanford University professor, called the shooting “one of the most shocking things that I can remember happening in Russia for a long, long time”.

Earlier this month, Nemtsov gave an interview in which he said he was scared that Putin would try to have him killed. A self-assured and colourful character, Nemtsov enjoyed the media spotlight and never minced his words. He came to prominence as a reform-minded governor in the Nizhny Novgorod region during the 1990s, before he was named deputy prime minister under Yeltsin.

He had criticised Putin and his regime both for corruption and for the recent war in Ukraine, which he said was manufactured by Putin. He was featured in a number of lists of traitors and members of a supposed “fifth column” inside Russia published by pro-Kremlin and nationalist figures.

Putin himself has spoken of a “fifth column” in the country and, in recent weeks, politicians and nationalists launched an “anti-Maidan” movement in Russia and said they would not allow opposition politicians to create a Ukrainian-style uprising in Moscow, suggesting that the opposition was working at the behest of foreign enemies of Russia.

[Philip]

"Greece" on the skids.Pun intended.

Greece eyes last central bank funds to avert IMF default
Syriza is not interested in emergency EMU funding if it means kowtowing to Troika demands

Pensioners try to brake through the police barrier to reach the entrance to the Greek governments' headquarters

Greek pensioners try to break through a police barrier during protests in 2010. It is far from clear whether the government can legitimately tap pension funds without breaching other fiduciary obligations Photo: EPA
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
02 Mar 2015

Greece is preparing to tap its final pension reserves at the country’s central bank if needed to avert a devastating default to the International Monetary Fund and keep the government going over the next two weeks.

The Greeks must pay the IMF €1.5bn in a series of deadlines this month, starting with €300m as soon as Friday. No developed country has ever defaulted to the IMF in the history of the Bretton Woods financial system. Such a move would shatter confidence and reduce Greece to a financial pariah in motley company with Zimbabwe.

George Stathakis, the economy minister, said the government still has hidden reserves to keep operations going for a few more weeks, brushing aside warnings that the state could run out of cash within 10 days. “These stories are exaggerated. We have various buffers, including €3bn or €4bn at the Bank of Greece," he told The Telegraph.

It is understood that the central bank deposits are mostly part of Greece’s social security and pension system. Analysts say it is far from clear whether the government can legitimately tap this money without breaching other fiduciary obligations. “We think the funds are already down to €1.8bn. If they draw on this, how are they going to meet their pension bills next month?” said one banker.

A senior Greek official opened the door last week to a possible “delay” in repayments to the IMF, perhaps for a month or two, setting off alarm bells among investors and bank depositors. It was taken as an admission that the country is now desperate as capital flight runs at €800m a day.

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Yanis Varoufakis, the finance minister, sought to silence such talk over the weekend, telling Associated Press that a default to the IMF was out of the question, even if a halt in payments to the EU institutions remains a serious threat. “We are not going to be the first country not to meet our obligations to the IMF. We shall squeeze blood out of stone if we need to do this on our own, and we shall do it," he said.

The IMF deadlines are not rock hard. The Fund usually allows some grace period. There is a procedure for arrears if a country genuinely wishes to pay. "The clock starts ticking. It is another matter if they start saying they won't pay for six months," said one expert.

Syriza officials are aware that the IMF will be their last safeguard if Greece is ultimately blown out of the euro, although it is far from clear what would happen in such circumstances. Greece has already exhausted its IMF borrowing quota in earlier EU-IMF Troika bailouts, and patience is wearing thin among the Asian and Latin American representatives on the IMF board.

Greece has reached its €15bn limit for issuance of short-term T-bills imposed by the European Central Bank. The ECB could in theory raise the ceiling on Wednesday but the mood in the governing council is unlikely to be friendly after the latest remarks by Mr Varoufakis.

He warned that the debts owed to the European Central Bank are in a “different league” from IMF loans, and continued to insist that Greece will demand relief from EMU creditors. Payments of €6.7bn to the ECB are due in July and August. “We will fight it. If we had the money we would pay. They know we don't have it," he told Skai television.

Syriza has long argued that this debt is illegitimate, alleging that the ECB bought Greek bonds in 2010 in order to save the European banking system and prevent contagion at a time when the eurozone did not have a financial firewall, not to help Greece.

Mr Varoufakis said the result was to head off a Greek default to private creditors that would have led to a large haircut for foreign banks if events had been allowed to run their normal course, reducing Greece’s debt burden to manageable levels. Instead, the EU authorities took a series of steps to avert this cathartic moment, ultimately foisting €245bn of loan packages onto the Greek taxpayer and pushing public debt to 182pc of GDP.

Relations between Greece’s Syriza government and the rest of the eurozone remain extremely tense despite a fragile ceasefire agreed in Brussels to buy time and prevent a forced ejection of Greece from the euro, a development ruled as unthinkable by the leaders of Germany and France, and the European Commission.

Greek leader Alexis Tsipras lashed out at Spain and Portugal over the weekend, calling them “Axis powers” that are trying to suffocate Greece’s Left-wing revolution. The conservative leaders of the two countries appeared stunned by the vehemence of the attack, seeking to defuse the crisis by expressing warm support for the Greek people.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Eurogroup’s chief, said Greece could secure some new funding as early as this month if it delivers promptly on reforms imposed by the now defunct Troika, but the comments were dismissed in Athens as a mere repetition of demands by creditor powers that have yet to face up to the anti-austerity revolt sweeping southern Europe. Syriza has already said it will cancel privatisation of the Port of Piraeus and the major utilities, and “drastically review” the sale of Greek airports.

Mr Varoufakis said Greece did not want any further money if it meant having to buckle to Troika terms. “We won’t take the next tranche if the price is having to continue with the 'Memorandum'. That is not what the people voted for,” he said. It is a thinly-veiled warning that Greece will default on €300bn of combined liabilities to EMU entities and states if pushed too hard, regardless of what this implies for monetary union.

Whatever piece of paper they signed in Brussels 10 days ago, the two sides are still talking past each other.

[Philip]

With India also considering joining the EurAsian eco bloc,Zbig's words could be prophetic indeed.AS happened with the EU,it was the European Common Market which evolved into the EU and Brussels parliament. If Russia,China and India are part of the EurAsian eco bloc,with BRICS allied to it,other smaller nations will flock to this new eco bloc,"closer to home" and the US's eco clout will be substantially reduced.

http://rt.com/op-edge/236741-west-east- ... operation/

Berlin and Paris look East: How close are we to a Common Economic Space?

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya is a sociologist, award-winning author and geopolitical analyst.
March 02, 2015 10:18

Top officials from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Belarus take part in a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union in Astana. (Reuters/Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin)

The Eurasian Economic Union is a reality that may end up costing the US its “perch” in Eurasia’s western periphery as a Common Economic Space is formed.

Former US national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski averred the following in 1997: “But if the middle space rebuffs the West, becomes an assertive single entity, and either gains control over the South or forms an alliance with the major Eastern actor, then America’s primacy in Eurasia shrinks dramatically. The same would be the case if the two major Eastern players were somehow to unite.”

This was a clear warning to the elites in the Washington Beltway and Wall Street. Camouflaged behind thinly veiled liberal and academic jargon, what Dr. Brzezinski was saying is that if the Russian Federation and the post-Soviet space manage to repulse or push back Western domination—meaning some combination of US and European Union tutelage —and manage to reorganize themselves within some type of confederacy or supranational bloc, either gaining influence in the Middle East and Central Asia or forms an alliance with China that Washington’s influence in Eurasia would be finished.

Everything that Brzezinski warned Washington to prevent is in motion. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)—simply called the Eurasian Union—has been formed by Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. Kyrgyzstan will be acceding into the Eurasian Union as an EEU member, and Tajikistan is considering joining it too. The Kremlin and the EEU are actively looking for new partners too. Countries outside the post-Soviet space, such as Syria, are even interested in joining the EEU and the Russian-led bloc has already signed an important trade agreement with the Arab juggernaut Egypt. In Southeast Asia, negotiations with Hanoi have also been completed and Vietnam is scheduled next to sign an agreement with the EEU sometime in 2015.

Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski (Reuters/Jim Young)

The “Middle Space” is clearly resurgent. Turkey is looking towards a Eurasian alternative. The Turk Stream natural gas pipeline deal between Ankara and Moscow has put Washington and the European Commission on alert. Following the energy and trade agreements with Turkey, Russia renewed its military ties with Iran and has subsequently offered Tehran the Antey-2500—Tehran alongside Moscow was a key player that prevented an open Pentagon war from being launched on Syria in 2013. Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and his Iranian counterpart, Brigadier-General Dehghan, publicly signed agreements in Iran to renew Russo-Iranian military cooperation on January 20, 2015. From Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria to Yemen and Iraq, Russian influence is growing in the Middle East (i.e. “the South”).

In Latin America, from Argentina and Brazil to Nicaragua and Venezuela, Russian also influence is rising. The Latin American regional tour last year by Russian President Vladimir Putin and one this year by Shoigu have both included military cooperation talks and led to speculation about the erection of a network of Russian signals, naval and air bases in the area. Moreover, the increase in Russian influence and Washington’s declining weight inside Latin America have both been factors for Washington’s rapprochement with the Cubans. Moscow’s influence was present even on the eve of a historic visit to Cuba by a delegation from the US Congress when the Russian naval ship Viktor Leonov, an intelligence and signals vessel, docked in Havana on January 20, 2015.

Both the “Middle Space” and the “Middle Kingdom” (Zhongguo/China) joined forces long ago. This happened before the formation of the EEU or the EuroMaidan coup in Ukraine. Moscow and part of the post-Soviet space began building an alliance with China (i.e. “the major Eastern actor”) at the bilateral or multilateral levels in the late-1990s. This has begun blossoming. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which was formed out of the Shanghai Five in 2001, is proof of this. The mega Sino-Russian natural gas deal is merely the fruits of this alliance and the coming together of the “Middle Space” and the “Middle Kingdom.”

Preventing Eurasian integration: Attempts to cordon the “Middle Space”

Without Russia, Europe is incomplete by any means or calculation. The Russia Federation is in both demographic and territorial terms the largest European country. There is no question about it either that Moscow is a major political, socioeconomic and cultural force in European affairs that cannot be overlooked from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans and the Black Sea.

Economically, Russia is an important export and import market for the EU and its members. This is why the EU is suffering from the US-engineered economic sanctions that have been imposed against Russia as a form of economic warfare. It is in the context of Russia’s economic importance to the economies of the EU that US Vice-President Joseph Biden candidly even admitted during a lecture at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University that Washington had to pressure the EU into accepting the anti-Russian sanctions regime on October 2, 2014.

Brzezinski’s warning has another angle to it too, which involves Washington’s EU and NATO partners. “Finally, any ejection of America by its Western partners from its perch on the western periphery would automatically spell the end of America’s participation in the game on the Eurasian chessboard, even though that would probably also mean the eventual subordination of the western extremity to a revived player occupying the middle space,” he warns. What the former US official means is that if the US-aligned major European powers (i.e. France and Germany, or the EU collectively) reject Washington’s influence (maybe even withdraw from NATO), the US would lose its western perch in Eurasia. Brzezinski warns that an assertive Russia—probably alongside its Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) allies—would instead replace US influence.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (2nd R) presents his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro with a book dedicated to late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a meeting in Brasilia July 16, 2014.

The reason that unity in the post-Soviet space and any political and economic convergences between the EU and the “Middle Space” are a threat to Washington can be analyzed by using the standpoint and lexicon of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Under 32 Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square’s framework, Eurasia is partitioned into three zones or regions: the Euro-Atlantic (western periphery), Euro-Asia (central area), and the Asia-Pacific (eastern periphery).Hence, the explanation for the term “Middle Space” used by Brzezinski to describe the post-Soviet space.

In organic terms, it is the central Euro-Asia region that can unite and integrate both the western and eastern Eurasian peripheries. Russia and the EEU want to ultimately establish a free trade zone encompassing the entire EU and EEU — a “Common Economic Space.” In the words of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the EEU “is designed to serve as an effective link between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.”

It is Russia and the EEUacting as a bridge between the twoEurasian peripheries that threatens Washington’s plans to integrate the Euro-Atlantic and Asia-Pacific zones with itself.

The Common Economic space vs. the TTIP and the TPP

The US wants to be the center of gravity in Eurasia. It fears that the EU could eventually gravitate towards the “Middle Space” and integrate with Russia and the EEU.

The tensions that Washington is deliberately stoking in Europe are an attempt to estrange the EU from Moscow as a means of allowing the continuation of US empire-building in Eurasia — this is Washington’s version of a modern “Great Game.” Even Brzezinski’s warning about the resurgence of the “Middle Space” (i.e., Russia and the post-Soviet space) is about the area unifying to become “an assertive single entity” and not even an “aggressive” entity that is a military threat to world peace.

Washington wants the western periphery (Euro-Atlantic) and eastern periphery (Asia-Pacific) to integrate with it through the Trans-Atlantic and Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The EEU and any thoughts of a Common Economic Space are a threat to the consolidation and merger of these regions with the US. This is why the US cannot tolerate an independent and assertive “Middle Space” or, for that matter, an independent and assertive “Middle Kingdom.” This is why both Russia and China are being demonized and targeted: Moscow is being target via the instability the US has helped author in Ukraine (as well as through a new wave of Russophobia) whereas Beijing is being targeted through Washington’s so-called military “Pivot to Asia.” This has taken place while the US has destabilized the Middle East (i.e. the South).

While Brussels had its own reasons for accelerating TTIP negotiations with Washington, US fears of Eurasian integration hastened the sense of urgency Washington felt in concluding TTIP negotiations to solidify its influence over the EU. The sanctions (economic warfare) against the Russian economy, the drop in energy prices prompted by the flooding of oil markets, and the drop in the value of the Russian ruble are part of this Rubik’s Cube too.

The Common Economic Space is an aspiration for a Eurasian-wide trade zone. As an ambition Moscow and its EEU partners see the Common Economic Space as a framework to gradually incorporate other Eurasian regions together. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Nebenzya confirmed all this to the Tass news agency in an interview published on December 31, 2014. Nebenzya told Tass that Moscow views the long-term goal of EU-EEU cooperation “as the basis of a common economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific” in Eurasia.

Not only would any trade agreement between the EU and the EEU be the basis for the Common Economic Space, it would be the embryo for a broader Eurasian-wide trade zone that has the potential to include the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). A compartmentalized supranational bloc could emerge.

From a Russian perspective, instead of prioritizing the TTIP with the US, it makes more sense for the EU to look at creating the framework for cooperation with the EEU. This sentiment has been reflected by Moscow’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, who told the EU Observer in an interview published on January 2 that Moscow wanted to start contacts between the EU and EEU as soon as possible and that the EU sanctions on Russia should not prevent dialogue and contact between the two blocs. “We might think of a free trade zone encompassing all of the interested parties in Eurasia,” Ambassador Chizhov explained as he described the “Russia-led bloc as a better partner for the EU than the US” during the interview. As Chizhov rhetorically asks, the question that the EU needs to think over is thus: “Do you believe it is wise to spend so much political energy on a free trade zone with the USA while you have more natural partners at your side, closer to home?”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses during the 51st Munich Security Conference at the 'Bayerischer Hof' hotel in Munich February 7, 2015. (Reuters/Michael Dalder)

Is the EU waking up?

Ambassador Chizov’s question has not fallen on deaf ears. The same questions are being asked in various EU capitals. The leaders of EU powers are realizing that the US is instigating a conflict with the Russians that Washington wants them to fight and waste resources on that would weaken the EU and Moscow to Washington’s benefit. Smaller EU powers have been vocal about this while the larger ones have been slower in realizing it.

Greece refused to fall in line when the EU released a statement blaming Russia for the eruption of the fighting in the East Ukrainian city of Mariupol on January 24, 2015. Athens refused to blame Moscow and complained that the EU acted undemocratically by not even following its own procedures by asking for the consent of all members before releasing a statement on behalf of the collective. Instead of confrontation with Russia, the Greek government wants closer ties with Moscow.

President Putin’s February 2015 visit to Budapest ruffled feathers in the EU and US. Hungary has been vocal in itsopposition to the EU sanctions against Russia. This has outraged some in the Washington Beltway and European Commission. A diplomatic row even started between Budapest and Washington when US Senator John McCain called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a “neo-fascist dictator” because Hungary refused to cut ties with Russia in 2014.

While there has been speculation that Hungary is being used as the “good cop” to bargain with Moscow, the US has even gone as far as banning members of the Hungarian government from entering US territory on October 20, 2014. Although the EU would react collectively if any country slapped diplomatic sanctions on one of its members, Brussels effectively did not respond to Washington.

Cypriot Present Nicos Anastasiades has joined the revolt against Brussels and Washington by visiting Moscow on February 25, 2015. Nicosia and Moscow even signed an agreement allowing the Russian Navy to use Cypriot ports.

Germany and France—once mocked as “old Europe” by Pentagon honcho Donald Rumsfeld— are having second thoughts too. Franco-German differences with the US emerged at the Munich Security Conference at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel when German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed members of the US and British delegations about a military solution for Ukraine. In this context, Paris and Berlin rehashed the Kremlin’s original peace proposal for East Ukraine and began diplomatic talks in Moscow.

Merkel casually also mentioned she supported a Common Economic Space too: a sign of things to come?

[Neshant]

[A_Gupta]

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-i ... ank-2015-3

U.S. resistance to a Chinese-led Asian regional bank has left it isolated among its Asian and European allies and given some heft to China's frequent complaints that Washington wants to contain its rise as a world power.

South Korea, one of America's closest friends in Asia, announced Thursday it will join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or AIIB, which is intended to help finance construction of roads and other infrastructure.

....

But since Britain broke with Washington two weeks ago and announced it was signing up for the AIIB, the floodgates have opened. France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland quickly followed. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott heavily hinted Australia would also join.

While Japan, which has tense relations with China, is still holding out, the Obama administration appears increasingly at odds with sentiment in the very region where it has striven to forge closer ties for the past five years. India and all 10 members of Southeast Asia's regional bloc are among the more than 30 governments that have so far sought to join the bank before a March 31 deadline.

...
Australia's Mandarin-speaking former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, said Tuesday the emergence of AIIB was part of China's geopolitical reaction to "the door being slammed in its face" over increasing the voting quotas of developing countries at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, currently skewed in favor of the U.S.

Congress has refused to support the proposed quota changes at the IMF — and congressional approval of U.S. membership of an international lender led by strategic rival China would also be a hard sell.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-i ... z3VaHL1HQg

[ramana]

CCTV had an hour long discussion on AIIB.

[member_28638]

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-i ... ank-2015-3

U.S. resistance to a Chinese-led Asian regional bank has left it isolated among its Asian and European allies and given some heft to China's frequent complaints that Washington wants to contain its rise as a world power.

South Korea, one of America's closest friends in Asia, announced Thursday it will join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or AIIB, which is intended to help finance construction of roads and other infrastructure.

....

But since Britain broke with Washington two weeks ago and announced it was signing up for the AIIB, the floodgates have opened. France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland quickly followed. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott heavily hinted Australia would also join.

While Japan, which has tense relations with China, is still holding out, the Obama administration appears increasingly at odds with sentiment in the very region where it has striven to forge closer ties for the past five years. India and all 10 members of Southeast Asia's regional bloc are among the more than 30 governments that have so far sought to join the bank before a March 31 deadline.

...
Australia's Mandarin-speaking former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, said Tuesday the emergence of AIIB was part of China's geopolitical reaction to "the door being slammed in its face" over increasing the voting quotas of developing countries at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, currently skewed in favor of the U.S.

Congress has refused to support the proposed quota changes at the IMF — and congressional approval of U.S. membership of an international lender led by strategic rival China would also be a hard sell.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-i ... z3VaHL1HQg

More Anglo Crocodile Tears

Washington has expressed concern the new Asian bank will allow looser lending standards for the environment, labor rights and financial transparency, undercutting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
- Britain applies to join Chinese-led Asian bank

Because as we all know the Great Satan only has your best interest at heart, that is, when it's not threatening to bomb you "back to the Stone Age" or imposing sanctions on you then saying it's "worth it" to genocide half a million kids under the age of 5 through slow starvation or having a good old fashioned illegal invasion of your country.

"We hope and expect that the United Kingdom will use its voice to push for the adoption of high standards," Psaki told reporters in Washington on Friday.

Perhaps the poodle state can be used as bailiffs to impose those "high standards". Defaulters can be "roasted alive" as they did to the Mau Mau.

-- by gork (http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/thread-1385202-17-1.html)

Given that the AIIB will only provide competition for the loan sharking institutions set up by the Great Satan, the IMF and World Bank, perhaps those "high standards" refer to the rate of interest which is typically about 50%.

[A_Gupta]

http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20150 ... 70021.html

India is projected to have two major partners which will form the key continental gateways for its Cotton Route:

Iran:

Russia and India have been discussing a North-South Corridor which would link their two economies via Iran. In this framework, goods would be shipped from India's Mumbai to Iran's Bandar Abbas, after which they will travel north over the Caspian and reach Russia's Astrakhan port (or perhaps overland through the Caucasus via Azerbaijan), where they could then travel even further afield to Europe. Not only that, but Iran could also be used to bypass Pakistan and connect India to the Central Asian and Afghan markets. Taken even further and if the political situation allows, Iran might even become the middleman in managing Indian-Turkish trade. Thus, Tehran is clearly the key to New Delhi's Eurasian economic future.

South Africa:

Fellow BRICS member South Africa is another forecasted fulcrum for the success of India's Cotton Route, in that its road and rail infrastructure connects to most of the southern reaches of the resource-rich continent and could be a crucial facilitator of intercontinental trade. The Indian diaspora community that remains in the country (a legacy of British colonialism) will likely play a key role in bringing about this vision, and if taken to its completion, then Indian goods might penetrate into Africa in exchange for a share of the continent's natural riches. Indian engagement in the southern cone of Africa could turn out to be beneficial for region's population, too, since South African transit links could help bring African consumer and industrial goods to the megalithic Indian marketplace.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20150 ... z3Vmx7rIMm

[Arjun]

^Very interesting...though one wonders on the precise significance of reviving ancient trade routes in an era of modern transportation. I presume this is primarily about marketing the India trade brand.

Here's more on the recent Bhubaneshwar Conference: Create a Civilisational Wave via Oceanic Convergence

A mega civilisational convergence of the Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) countries—represented not only by their official bodies but leading thinkers, academics and scholars—took place last weekend at Bhubaneswar.

The conference was also a celebration and recognition of the seafaring prowess of civilisational Odisha and the Indian coast’s contribution towards initiating a civilisational outreach. It was thus fitting that Bhubaneswar was selected as the venue.

The Kolkata-based Institute of Social and Cultural Studies and New Delhi-based Research and Information System for Developing Countries came together with support from a host of other organisations and ministries such as external affairs, petroleum & natural gas, commerce and culture, and conceived of this civilisational dialogue on the IOR to essentially “re-examine and re-lay the concept of ‘family likeness’ in the backdrop of current geo-political developments and alignments”.

The release of a commemorative postal stamp on the “Indian Ocean and Rajendra Chola I” and the fact that this conference was held in Bubhaneswar was a profoundly symbolic recognition and re-discovery of not only the maritime and civilisational achievements of one of the greatest Hindu monarch but also the realisation of the shaping role that Odisha and India’s coastal societies and people have played in reaching out India’s worldview, her trades and riches to lands around the Indian Ocean, and in weaving these into a deeper civilisational network.

An impressive array of speakers, over 75 in number, from across the IOR region presented a rich variety of perspectives ranging from re-articulating the civilisational and cultural linkages, to trade, geo-political issues, energy security, resource management, cooperation on medicinal plants, infrastructure, security—as a participant aptly summed it, the spiritual, political and security dimensions were all discussed. Articulations of terms such as “cotton route” and the masterly display of an exhibition on India’s seafaring legacy introduced a freshness of perspective and left open the possibilities of future re-imagining of past linkages and present strategies.

In fact, referring to the “cotton route”, the Declaration of the IOR Conference—henceforth to be known and recollected as the Bhubaneswar Declaration 2015—emphasised the need to further explore and disseminate its dimensions. “The idea of cotton route was discussed at length. The understanding and interpretation should be shared across different member states for possible convergence (on a) way forward. Cotton reaches out cutting across social and economic hierarchy from finesse to the coarse variety”, the declaration also recognised India’s pre-eminent role in clothing the world in the past. The idea of the cotton route introduces a new dimension in the entire strategic discourse centred on the IOR.

The occasion offered itself as a great opportunity to realise the imperative of working towards a synergy that would transform the IOR into one of the leading zones of a new civilisational initiative. As the Bhubaneswar Declaration succinctly stated, blending past achievements with present challenges, “Historically, the Indian Ocean found pre-eminence in world politics. The resurgence of the IOR was notable given its economic dynamism, huge markets and rich natural resources, most significantly, energy. The growing geostrategic and geo-economic salience of IOR makes it only more than palpable that there should be greater regional collaboration between the stakeholders to jointly address and contest non-traditional security threats such as maritime terrorism and piracy, trans-national crime, environment and natural disasters.”

The formidable gathering of minds only reinforced PM Modi’s vision of evolving a comprehensive cooperative strategy in the IOR, with India resuming her ancient role as a civilisational facilitator.

[VinodTK]

Nigerian president is Indian defence college alumnus

buja (Nigeria) : Nigeria’s newly elected president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari who defeated incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 election, is an alumnus of the Indian Defence Services Staff College in Wellington from where he graduated in 1973.

Maj. Gen. Buhari became the president-elect after President Jonathan conceded defeat in the election and put in a call to congratulate his opponent, the presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC).

This is the first time a Nigerian sitting president has conceded defeat in an election. Maj. Gen. Buhari, a former military head of state, polled 15,424,921 votes against President Jonathan’s 12,853,162, according to official results declared on Wednesday by the Independent National Electoral Commission. He also obtained the 25 percent threshold in 24 out of the country’s 36 states to win in the first round of the election. Thousands spilled onto the streets of northern Nigeria’s biggest city, Kano, in celebration, shouting campaign slogan “Sai Buhari” (“Only Buhari”) as he took an unassailable lead with one state to declare.

Many brandished brooms, Buhari’s party symbol, with which they have pledged to sweep away years of government waste and corruption. In another northern city of Kaduna — the scene of rioting after the 2011 presidential election — supporters of his All Progressives Congress (APC) chanted: “Change! Change!”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Buhari won 15,424,921 votes, or 53.95 percent, of the 28,587,564 total valid ballots cast. Rival Jonathan, 57, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won 12,853,162 votes (44.96 percent) in the election held Saturday and Sunday. INEC chairman Attahiru Jega said: “Muhammadu Buhari, of the APC, having satisfied the requirement for the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”

The election was hit by glitches in new voter technology and claims of irregularities, after being delayed by six weeks due to concerns of attacks by Boko Haram insurgents. But with dissatisfaction rife over Nigeria’s security, corruption and the economy faltering as oil revenues dived, voters turned out in force sensing an unprecedented opportunity for change.

“This is the first democratic change ever in Nigeria,” Anas Galadima told AFP, as thousands thronged the APC headquarters in the capital Abuja, dancing and banging drums.

[Philip]

3 cheers for DSSC and Nigerian people!

Now,another democratic revolution in the making which will spell doom and gloom for the EU. It also underscores the rapidly shifting sands and rush to Russia and China for both mil and eco support by smaller nations across the globe. Pl read the quote from India's IMF member.

From the right-wing "Torygraph" UK.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comm ... China.html

Greek defiance mounts as Alexis Tsipras turns to Russia and China

Alexis Tspiras is playing an escalating game of brinkmanship, trying to force Europe to give ground or risk a chain-reaction that could cripple the EU
Head of the leftist Syriza party Alexis Tsipras waves to his supporters during a party election rally in central Athens on January 22, 2015

Alexis Tsipras has told his inner circle that if pushed to the wall by the EMU creditor powers, he would tell them 'to do their worst' Photo: AFP
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
01 Apr 2015

Two months of EU bluster and reproof have failed to cow Greece. It is becoming clear that Europe’s creditor powers have misjudged the nature of the Greek crisis and can no longer avoid facing the Morton’s Fork in front of them.

Any deal that goes far enough to assuage Greece’s justly-aggrieved people must automatically blow apart the austerity settlement already fraying in the rest of southern Europe. The necessary concessions would embolden populist defiance in Spain, Portugal and Italy, and bring German euroscepticism to the boil.
Emotional consent for monetary union is ebbing dangerously in Bavaria and most of eastern Germany, even if formulaic surveys do not fully catch the strength of the undercurrents.

What would happen if Greece left the euro? In 60 seconds

This week's resignation of Bavarian MP Peter Gauweiler over Greece’s bail-out extension can, of course, be over-played. He has long been a foe of EMU. But his protest is unquestionably a warning shot for Angela Merkel's political family.
Mr Gauweiler was made vice-chairman of Bavaria's Social Christians (CSU) in 2013 for the express purpose of shoring up the party's eurosceptic wing and heading off threats from the anti-euro Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD).

Yet if the EMU powers persist mechanically with their stale demands - even reverting to terms that the previous pro-EMU government in Athens rejected in December - they risk setting off a political chain-reaction that can only eviscerate the EU Project as a motivating ideology in Europe.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission’s chief, understands the risk perfectly, warning anybody who will listen that Grexit would lead to an “irreparable loss of global prestige for the whole EU” and crystallize Europe’s final fall from grace.

When Warren Buffett suggests that Europe might emerge stronger after a salutary purge of its weak link in Greece, he confirms his own rule that you should never dabble in matters beyond your ken.

Alexis Tsipras leads the first radical-Leftist government elected in Europe since the Second World War. His Syriza movement is, in a sense, totemic for the European Left, even if sympathisers despair over its chaotic twists and turns. As such, it is a litmus test of whether progressives can pursue anything resembling an autonomous economic policy within EMU.

There are faint echoes of what happened to the elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala, a litmus test for the Latin American Left in its day. His experiment in land reform was famously snuffed out by a CIA coup in 1954, with lasting consequences. It was the moment of epiphany for Che Guevara (below), then working as a volunteer doctor in the country.

A generation of students from Cuba to Argentina drew the conclusion that the US would never let the democratic Left hold power, and therefore that power must be seized by revolutionary force.

We live in gentler times today, yet any decision to eject Greece and its Syriza rebels from the euro by cutting off liquidity to the Greek banking system would amount to the same thing, since the EU authorities do not have a credible justification or a treaty basis for acting in such a way. Rebuking Syriza for lack of “reform” sticks in the craw, given the way the EU-IMF Troika winked at privatisation deals that violated the EU’s own competition rules, and chiefly enriched a politically-connected elite.

Forced Grexit would entrench a pervasive suspicion that EU bodies are ultimately agents of creditor enforcement. It would expose the Project’s post-war creed of solidarity as so much humbug.

Willem Buiter, Citigroup’s chief economist, warns that Greece faces an “economic show of horrors” if it returns to the drachma, but it will not be a pleasant affair for Europe either. “Monetary union is meant to be unbreakable and irrevocable. If it is broken, and if it is revoked, the question will arise over which country is next,” he said.

“People have tried to make Greece into a uniquely eccentric member of the eurozone, accusing them of not doing this or not doing that, but a number of countries share the same weaknesses. You think the Greek economy is far too closed? Welcome to Portugal. You think there is little social capital in Greece, and no trust between the government and citizens? Welcome to southern Europe,” he said.

Greece could not plausibly remain in Nato if ejected from EMU in acrimonious circumstances. It would drift into the Russian orbit, where Hungary’s Viktor Orban already lies. The southeastern flank of Europe’s security system would fall apart.

Rightly or wrongly, Mr Tsipras calculates that the EU powers cannot allow any of this to happen, and therefore that their bluff can be called. “We are seeking an honest compromise, but don't expect an unconditional agreement from us," he told the Greek parliament this week.

If it were not for the fact that a sovereign default on €330bn of debts – bail-out loans and Target2 liabilities within the ECB system – would hurt taxpayers in fellow Club Med states that are also in distress, most Syriza deputies would almost relish the chance to detonate this neutron bomb.

Mr Tsipras is now playing the Russian card with an icy ruthlessness, more or less threatening to veto fresh EU measures against the Kremlin as the old set expires. “We disagree with sanctions. The new European security architecture must include Russia,” he told the TASS news agency.

He offered to turn Greece into a strategic bridge, linking the two Orthodox nations. “Russian-Greek relations have very deep roots in history,” he said, hitting all the right notes before his trip to Moscow next week.

The Kremlin has its own troubles as Russian companies struggle to meet redemptions on $630bn of dollar debt, forcing them to seek help from state’s reserve funds. Russia’s foreign reserves are still $360bn – down from $498bn a year ago – but the disposable sum is far less given a raft of implicit commitments. Even so, President Vladimir Putin must be sorely tempted to take a strategic punt on Greece, given the prize at hand.

Panagiotis Lafazanis, Greece’s energy minister and head of Syriza’s Left Platform, was in Moscow this week meeting Gazprom officials. He voiced a “keen interest” in the Kremlin’s new pipeline plan though Turkey, known as "Turkish Stream".

Operating in parallel, Greece’s deputy premier, Yannis Drakasakis, vowed to throw open the Port of Piraeus to China’s shipping group Cosco, giving it priority in a joint-venture with the Greek state’s remaining 67pc stake in the ports. On cue, China has bought €100m of Greek T-bills, helping to plug a funding shortfall as the ECB orders Greek banks to step back.

One might righteously protest at what amounts to open blackmail by Mr Tsipras, deeming such conduct to be a primary violation of EU club rules. Yet this is to ignore what has been done to Greece over the past four years, and why the Greek people are so angry.

Leaked IMF minutes from 2010 confirm what Syriza has always argued: the country was already bankrupt and needed debt relief rather than new loans. This was overruled in order to save the euro and to save Europe’s banking system at a time when EMU had no defences against contagion.
Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and finance minister Yanis Varoufakis

Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis rightly calls it “a cynical transfer of private losses from the banks’ books onto the shoulders of Greece’s most vulnerable citizens”. A small fraction of the €240bn of loans remained in the Greek economy. Some 90pc was rotated back to banks and financial creditors. The damage was compounded by austerity overkill. The economy contracted so violently that the debt-ratio rocketed instead of coming down, defeating the purpose.

India’s member on the IMF board warned that such policies could not work without offsetting monetary stimulus. "Even if, arguably, the programme is successfully implemented, it could trigger a deflationary spiral of falling prices, falling employment and falling fiscal revenues that could eventually undermine the programme itself.” He was right in every detail.

Marc Chandler, from Brown Brothers Harriman, says the liabilities incurred – pushing Greece’s debt to 180pc of GDP - almost fit the definition of “odious debt” under international law. “The Greek people have not been bailed out. The economy has contracted by a quarter. With deflation, nominal growth has collapsed and continues to contract,” he said.

The Greeks know this. They have been living it for five years, victims of the worst slump endured by any industrial state in 80 years, and worse than European states in the Great Depression. The EMU creditors have yet to acknowledge in any way that Greece was sacrificed to save monetary union in the white heat of the crisis, and therefore that it merits a special duty of care. Once you start to see events through Greek eyes – rather than through the eyes of the north European media and the Brussels press corps - the drama takes on a different character.

It is this clash of two entirely different and conflicting narratives that makes the crisis so intractable. Mr Tsipras told his own inner circle privately before his election in January that if pushed to the wall by the EMU creditor powers, he would tell them “to do their worst”, bringing the whole temple crashing down on their heads. Everything he has done since suggests that he may just mean it.

[A_Gupta]

http://www.siliconindia.com/news/genera ... cid-1.html

NEW DELHI: Expressing concerns over two mega free trade agreements TPP and TTIP, the government today said the Indian industry needs to gear up to meet challenges that would emerge from these pacts.


While India is participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, it is not part of Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said that these pacts would add a completely new dimension to the global trading system.

"The mega agreements are bound to challenge India's industry in many ways, for instance, by eroding existing preferences for Indian products in established traditional markets such as the U.S. and EU and establishing a more stringent and demanding framework of rules.

"Indian industry needs to gear up to meet these challenges for which the government will have to create an enabling environment," Kher said.

"The focus of India's future trade relationship with its traditional markets in the developed world would be on exporting products with a higher value addition, supplying high quality inputs for the manufacturing sector in these markets and optimising applied customs duties on inputs for India's manufacturing sector," he added.

The TPP is a proposed trade agreement under negotiation among 12 countries -- Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam. TTIP is between the European Union and the US.

The 16-member RCEP comprises 10 Asean members and its six FTA partners namely India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

[A_Gupta]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ind ... 784507.cms

NEW DELHI: Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which India joined in 1997, has proved to be a barrier for the domestic electronic manufacturing sector's growth and also led to "domination of few companies" in the market.

The agreement has also resulted in trade imbalances and Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY) has also flagged the rising security implications of IT goods being imported in the country under the ITA, a senior government official said.

ITA is a plurilateral trade agreement, which deals with IT products (electronics). About 75 WTO (World Trade organisation) countries are signatories to it including the US, China, Japan, and all the 27 European Union nations.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... aign=cppst

[rsingh]

Nigerian president is Indian defence college alumnus

buja (Nigeria) : Nigeria’s newly elected president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari who defeated incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 election, is an alumnus of the Indian Defence Services Staff College in Wellington from where he graduated in 1973.

Maj. Gen. Buhari became the president-elect after President Jonathan conceded defeat in the election and put in a call to congratulate his opponent, the presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC).

This is the first time a Nigerian sitting president has conceded defeat in an election. Maj. Gen. Buhari, a former military head of state, polled 15,424,921 votes against President Jonathan’s 12,853,162, according to official results declared on Wednesday by the Independent National Electoral Commission. He also obtained the 25 percent threshold in 24 out of the country’s 36 states to win in the first round of the election. Thousands spilled onto the streets of northern Nigeria’s biggest city, Kano, in celebration, shouting campaign slogan “Sai Buhari” (“Only Buhari”) as he took an unassailable lead with one state to declare.

Many brandished brooms, Buhari’s party symbol, with which they have pledged to sweep away years of government waste and corruption. In another northern city of Kaduna — the scene of rioting after the 2011 presidential election — supporters of his All Progressives Congress (APC) chanted: “Change! Change!”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Buhari won 15,424,921 votes, or 53.95 percent, of the 28,587,564 total valid ballots cast. Rival Jonathan, 57, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won 12,853,162 votes (44.96 percent) in the election held Saturday and Sunday. INEC chairman Attahiru Jega said: “Muhammadu Buhari, of the APC, having satisfied the requirement for the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”

The election was hit by glitches in new voter technology and claims of irregularities, after being delayed by six weeks due to concerns of attacks by Boko Haram insurgents. But with dissatisfaction rife over Nigeria’s security, corruption and the economy faltering as oil revenues dived, voters turned out in force sensing an unprecedented opportunity for change.

“This is the first democratic change ever in Nigeria,” Anas Galadima told AFP, as thousands thronged the APC headquarters in the capital Abuja, dancing and banging drums.

This good Gen of your's was involved in coup in eighties........so not so great democrate.

[ramana]

Hope Buhari takes on Boko Haram and gives Nigeria some peace.

rsingh, the praise is for Nigeria which sees the first democratic transition.

This is the first time a Nigerian sitting president has conceded defeat in an election.

Yes he led the 80s coup.
Now its 30 years later!!!

Did you note his party symbol is jaahdu/broom like AAP!!!!

Wonder if Somnath Bharti will get his comeuppance for ill treating Nigerians in Delhi!

[rsingh]

^^
His name is BUHARI= Jhaduu in Haryanvi

[RamaY]

^^
His name is BUHARI= Jhaduu in Haryanvi

Nothing to

His party's battle call in this election is "Sai Buhari" meaning "Only Buhari". It would be unfair to extrapolate it to our "Sai Baba" (Only Baba)!

[A_Gupta]

The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/world ... -bank.html
Stampede to Join China’s Development Bank Stuns Even Its Founder

BEIJING — The sudden rush to join China’s new Asian development bank by this week’s deadline, including last-minute applications by countries hardly considered Beijing’s best friends, astonished even the Chinese.

Few in Beijing had believed that Taiwan, still considered a breakaway territory by China, would want in. Same for Norway, whose relations with the Chinese have been chilly since its decision five years ago to award the Nobel Peace Prize to a dissident Chinese writer.

But after the deadline, China announced that it had attracted 46 founding members for its new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Among the surprises: While China had expected mainly to be joined by its neighbors, the final tally of countries clamoring to participate included 14 advanced economies of the Group of 20, many of them — like Brazil, France, Germany and Russia — from outside Asia.

The last-minute surge to join the bank is considered a major victory for China in a rare public showdown with the United States, which opposed the bank, as the two powers try to outmaneuver each other for influence in Asia. It was also a recognition of economic reality; China has deep pockets and the institutions backed by the United States have not met the growing demands for roads, railroads and pipelines in Asia.

That the United States’ allies in Europe and Asia flouted Washington’s appeals not to join the bank, also known as A.I.I.B., has brought a sense of triumph to Chinese officials and scholars who say that China has now demonstrated it can construct a broad-based institution without the United States in the lead.

Washington basically dug its own hole by failing to allow a bigger voice for China in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, said David Daokui Li, a former adviser to the People’s Bank of China who has a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard.

Britain has made it clear that its chief objective is to ensure that London, and not Frankfurt, would become a center for overseas business transacted in Chinese currency. Germany is interested, among other things, in lucrative contracts for its big construction firms.

Scandinavian countries joined at the last minute because they have generous assistance budgets for poor countries and see the bank as a new platform to distribute quality aid.

[Philip]

Greece ultimatum to Germany ..."return our billions"!

Greece wants Germany to repay €279bn it was forced to loan the Nazi authorities during WWII
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 59738.html

The amount is more than a third of Germany's GDP and bigger than Greece's entire economy
Jon Stone
Tuesday 07 April 2015

The Greek government has demanded that Germany pays it back €279bn (£205bn) in loans Greece was forced to give the Nazi authorities who occupied the country during World War Two.

Greece has long demanded reparations from Germany but in a statement on Monday Greece’s deputy finance minister Dmitris Mardas put an exact figure on the amount the country says it is owed for the first time.

Mr Mardas was speaking at a committee set up by the country’s left-wing Syriza government to calculate how much money Germany owed Greece. He said the committee had obtained "stunning evidence" to support the reparations claim.

“The government will work in order to honour fully its obligations. But, at the same time, it will work so that all of the unfulfilled obligations to Greece and the Greek people are met,” Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras said last month at a parliamentary debate on the creation of the committee.

Nazi soldiers raise their flag above the Acropolis in Athens during WWII Nazi soldiers raise their flag above the Acropolis in Athens during WWII In December 1942 Greece was forced by Nazi authorities to loan German 476m Richsmarks to cover the cost of the German occupation, which it says it has never been paid back.

€279bn is 125 per cent of Greece’s €223bn GDP; the money is around a tenth of Germany’s GDP.

The modern-day euro figure is the Greek government’s own calculation of what the loan would be worth today.

It is highly unlikely that Germany with accede to the demand, but the move by Greece’s government is domestically popular and will help it re-frame the debate about Greece’s debts.

The renewed demand for reparations comes after last year’s election of an anti-austerity Greek government led in bulk by the left-wing Syriza party (Coalition of the Radical Left).

The new government has pledged to take a harder line against Greece’s creditors, who it says have treated it unfairly.

The Axis WWII occupation of Greece had a devastating effect on the south European country's economy and led to hundreds of thousands of Greeks starving to death.

Greek resistance groups launched guerrilla attacks against occupying soldiers who requisitioned natural resources and other industrial and agricultural produce for the German war effort.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... ssets.html
Exit the (German) Eagle and Enter the (Russian) Bear?!

By Tom Parfitt and Mehreen Khan
07 Apr 2015
Russia could offer debt-ridden Greece controversial loans and discounts on supplies of natural gas in exchange for the country's "assets", according to reports in Moscow.

Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s prime minister, is due to arrive in the city on Tuesday and will meet Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, on Wednesday.

Athens overtures to Moscow have raised fears the Leftist government is pivoting east in search of alternatives sources of finance as it bids to avoid bankruptcy. Ahead of his visit, Mr Tsipras condemned economic sanctions on Moscow as “a road to nowhere”.

Greece's dalliance with the Kremlin has also attracted criticism for potentially undermining the EU's united front against Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.

The Syriza leader’s flirtation with Moscow is likely to harden sympathetic European voices to Greek pleas of relief

Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, said on Saturday that it would be "unacceptable” if Mr Tsipras “jeopardised Europe's common policy on Russia” in return for Kremlin aid.

But Kommersant newspaper quoted an anonymous Russian government source on Tuesday saying that lines of credit were on the table.

“We’re ready to consider the question of providing Greece discounts on gas: the price for it is tied to the cost of oil which has significantly fallen in recent months,” the source said.

“We are also ready to discuss the possibility of granting Greece new loans. But here we, in turn, are interested in reciprocal moves – in particular, in Russia receiving particular assets in Greece.”

The source did not identify the assets concerned, but Russian media said the Greek gas company DEPA could be among them. Stakes in train operator TrainOSE and sea ports in Athens and Thessaloniki are also potential targets.

Moscow is Greece's largest trading partner on account of its huge reliance on Russian natural gas.

Athens' energy minister has invited Russian companies to explore natural gas and oil reserves off the country's eastern coast. In return, Greece has indicated it is willing to support the Kremlin’s new pipeline plan though Turkey, known as "Turkish Stream".

What would happen if Greece left the euro? In 60 seconds

EU officials fear any Russian rescue loans or other sweeteners could persuade Athens to veto sanctions on the Kremlin over Ukraine, where Russia has supported separatists fighting Ukrainian government forces.

Besides credit and gas discounts, the Kremlin could offer Greece a partial lifting of its EU food import ban in exchange for Athens pushing a pro-Russia line.

Greece has been hit particularly hard by a fruit export ban in place since August. But the European Commission hinted at their opposition to any Greco-Russian food deal, saying all European countries should be treated equally.

Mr Tsipras's arrival in Moscow comes as his cash-starved government has threatened to default on a €450m bailout repayment to the International Monetary Fund on Thursday.

But the possibility of Greece being in receipt of Russian largesse has receded as Moscow suffers precipitous declines in its foreign exchange reserves and faces its worst recession since 1999.

Athens owes €330bn to its international creditors, and has seen progress on its bail-out extension stall after weeks of acrimonious talks with Brussels.

The impasse means the probability of Greece defaulting on its creditors has risen to more than 50pc, according to analysts at UBS.

"We think a default is usually never wished for by any involved party, but may be considered the lesser of two evils by the institutions," said the Swiss bank.

Russia ready to offer Greeks cash in return for assets
Kremlin could provide cash-strapped Greeks a credit line and discounted energy supplies as Alexis Tsipras meets with Putin

[Neshant]

One of the many reasons all loans should have collateral of some kind as backing rather than just "credit rating" which is worthless.

[Singha]

greek could offer leases on a good port or two to the RuN

like Piraeus

[panduranghari]

Not sure exactly why, but it appears Belgium is one of the most important trading partners for India in Europe.

Could it be because EU headquarters is based in Belgium and all the trade accounting is directed through these offices?