On Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev forced Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to resign. Medvedev’s harsh treatment of Kudrin was a response to the statement Kudrin made over the weekend. Following the announcement of Vladimir Putin running for president in the upcoming presidential elections and Medvedev’s future job as the prime minister, Kudrin said, “I do not see myself in the new government. I think that those differences of opinion that I have [with Medvedev] will not allow me to join the government.” Rumor has it, however, that there was more …
During his State of the Union Speech President Obama underscored his goal of “getting to zero” nuclear weapons by citing Ronald Reagan’s aspirations for a world without nuclear weapons: I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of these weapons, and seeks a world without them. With all due respect, this statement was misleading and disingenuous. Ronald Reagan’s long-term vision of a world without nuclear weapons presupposed a robust missile defense—the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)—that would render offensive nuclear …
“As I write, Russia is waging war on my country,” Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili begins his Wall Street Journal op-ed. He continues: On Friday, hundreds of Russian tanks crossed into Georgian territory, and Russian air force jets bombed Georgian airports, bases, ports and public markets. Many are dead, many more wounded. This invasion, which echoes Afghanistan in 1979 and the Prague Spring of 1968, threatens to undermine the stability of the international security system. … No country of the former Soviet Union has made more progress toward consolidating democracy, eradicating …
Venezuela’s leftist leader Hugo Chavez isn’t set to arrive until tomorrow to meet with Russian Prime Minister Vladimr Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, but two Russian media outlets are already claiming that Chavez will buy $1 billion to $2 billion worth of subs, helicopters and airplanes while in Moscow. Since 2003, Chavez has bought more than $4.4 billion in arms from Russia. Last year Russia announced plans to build two Kalashinkov assault rifle factories in Venezuela. Unfortunately, arms sales are just a small part of the Russian-Venezuelan axis that is …
