Russia, China Square Up To West Over War On Libya




By Darryl Mason

Despite apparently being almost out of money, the United States, France and the UK have all found the necessary cash to launch a new war on Libya, under the guise of enforcing a UN-mandated No Fly Zone. For the United States alone, the cost of military action against Libya is estimated at more than $100 million per day.

The official American government/media narrative is that Libyan rebels are a rag-tag bunch of freedom fighters trying to take down one of the world's most evil & sadistic tyrants. Well, Gaddafi is now, again, anyway, an evil tyrant, after being feted and praised for planning to open up his country to more western oil deals and development in the past few years by a conga-line of world includes including Bush, Obama, Blair & Sarkozy.



But Libya is not Egypt, or Bahrain, or Tunisia. Libya is an energy, water & resources rich nation with tens of billions in trade, energy and development deals with Russia and China.

Russia's Putin could not speak anymore plainly about what he believes is the real motivation behind the War On Libya :



Russia is, in fact, warning that the attacks on Libya could lead to a wider, world war :

“Any bombing of Libyan territory could provoke a large-scale conflict between the so-called West and the so-called Arab world,” a Russian Parliament leader said commenting on French and British plans to carry out aerial attacks in Libya.

“Any foreign military intervention will give Libya legal grounds to defend itself. We should do our best to avoid this highly dangerous scenario,” said Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned ground operations by foreign forces will lead them deeper into protracted war :

“You and I understand what ground operations mean: they probably mean the beginning of war, and not civil war but war involving international forces.”

Now China is getting involved :

China's most important political newspaper ratcheted up the country's criticism of Western airstrikes against Libya on Monday, comparing them to the U.S.-led invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Communist Party's flagship newspaper, The People's Daily, said in a commentary that the United States and its allies are violating international rules and that in places like Iraq "the unspeakable suffering of its people are a mirror and a warning."

"The military attacks on Libya are, following on from the Afghan and Iraq wars, the third time that some countries have launched armed action against sovereign countries," it said.

"No matter what pretext the military actions were under, they should not be at the cost of people's lives and properties. This is not only the moral standard, but also the appeal from the world's people," it continued.

"People have good reason to express misgivings about the consequences that this military action may precipitate," it said.

China is getting very, very involved :



Why is China getting involved?

China's deep involvement with the North African dictatorship has also exposed a vulnerability in the world's second-largest economy.

In Libya, the world's 12th-largest oil exporter, China has emerged as a major investor and financial partner of strongman Moammar Kadafi. China is now the third-largest buyer of Libyan crude behind Italy and France. European and American oil firms have worked in Libya for years, but their governments have long sought to punish Kadafi for terrorist ties. Meanwhile, China has stuck to a hands-off policy it has dubbed "non-interventionism."

Before the Libyan conflict erupted, about 75 Chinese firms reportedly were laboring on an estimated $18 billion worth of contracts there, including construction of rail lines, irrigation systems, and Internet and cellphone networks.

But China's primary interest is energy. State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. has partnered with Libya's national oil company to build hundreds of miles of pipeline and explore for oil and gas offshore.

The world's No. 2 petroleum user, China imports more than half of the 8.3 million barrels it consumes daily. It buys from nations including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela, which also supply the United States, the world's top oil consumer. Libyan oil accounts for only about 3% of China's imports, but it won't be easy to replace.

Paul McGeough :

Even if Gaddafi is eliminated from the equation - figuratively or literally - a daunting number of what-ifs will remain. What if the internal conflict in Libya is less a democracy uprising that unites the nation and more a tribal civil war? What if the Western intervention gives a leg-up to one side, the rebels, who in time could be no better and no worse that the Gaddafi loyalists - sans Gaddafi?

There is no evidence to support Gaddafi's claims that al-Qaeda and teen drug addicts have fomented the uprising. But there is historical evidence of tribal enmity in Libya that could support the colonel's claim that the revolt is a tribal war of those from the east against those in the west.

What if the country fell back to its pre-Gaddafi iteration of tribal distrust and infighting - and what if one side, in what could become a prolonged conflict, has been armed by the West? We could hardly be surprised if in such a stalemate , the underdog was drawn to or co-opted by al-Qaeda or its ilk.

The War On Libya has only just begun, is barely a few days old in fact, but already the 'coalition of support' is said to be crumbling,

AntiWar's Justin Raimondo :

Barely 24 hours after the first Allied air strikes, President Obama’s high-flying Libyan adventure is losing altitude. The smoke hadn’t cleared from the first air strikes when the head of the Arab League complained that “what happened differs from the no-fly zone objectives. What we want is civilians’ protection, not shelling more civilians.” Russia and China, who abstained at the Security Council, are already getting restless.

There’s trouble on the horizon.

Google's Revolution Machine

A February 22 story that didn't get much attention in the media :

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's deputy blamed Google Inc in an interview published on Tuesday for stirring up trouble in the revolution that ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

"Look what they have done in Egypt, those highly-placed managers of Google, what manipulations of the energy of the people took place there," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told the Wall Street Journal.

Such strong comment from one of Putin's most trusted deputies is a clear signal of growing concern among Russian hardliners about the role of the Internet in the unrest which has swept across the Arab world.

Sechin gave no further details on his concerns. Google executive, Wael Ghonim, became an unlikely hero of the uprising in Egypt which led to Mubarak's deposition.

Russia has so far resisted placing restrictions on the Internet, but analysts say there are a group of hardliners close to Putin who would like to impose controls similar to China's.

NeoCon Predicts US War With Russia, China

When you're pimping for the world's largest war industry, you've got to learn to look beyond Iraq and Afghanistan. You've got to see the bigger picture, a clash of nations that has the potential to be more devastating than even World War II.

Robert Kagan, one of the most insidious NeoCon propagandists for the War On Iraq is flogging his new book, laying out a new NeoCon agenda for their golden child, John McCain, and the UK Observer has a review :

The potential challenge posed by the emergence of China as a great power, the rise of India, the hardening of Iranian anti-Westernism and the rise of Islamicist fundamentalism tend to be seen in Britain as discrete and disconnected dramas. How they might relate to the European Union or Latin America, say, is almost never asked. The overriding British default position in foreign policy - that any proposal for co-operation or collaborative action that comes from the EU is necessarily bad and anti-British - only makes discussion even more cramped.

Americans think differently. Rather as Britain did when it had an empire, the global scale of American commitments and interests forces American thinking on a grander, more joined-up scale. And Kagan, arch neoconservative, adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain and influence on Barack Obama, certainly thinks grandly. He sees the 21st century as a battleground between liberal democracies and authoritarian states seeking to avenge injustices and reassert their nationalism. The West has no option but to join battle.

Thus his call to create a league of democracies that would promote 'political liberalisation, support human rights, including the empowerment of women, and use its influence to support a free press and repeated elections that will, if nothing else, continually shift power from the few to the many'. We should never forget that the liberties and international order we enjoy today had to be won by struggle. So it will be again. In a global era, democracy is stronger the more widely it is entrenched and, in any case, our interests, whether combating climate change or fighting Islamicist terror, require more democracy and accountability, not less. Nation states that host terror cells or those that pollute the planet need to know that they risk legitimate intervention from others.

It is controversial stuff. The objections are obvious. The United Nations would be devalued and, whatever its weaknesses, it is surely better to have the great powers as members of one global organisation than dividing into two opposing camps. One, centred on the Shanghai Co-operation Council, would be the authoritarian states of China, Russia and others; the second, under US leadership, would be the European and American democracies, Australasia, Japan and India. Instead of struggling for unachievable UN resolutions blocked by the authoritarians, the democracies would be free to go head to head in ideological and political competition.

The book's description of the strong nationalist forces emerging in China, Russia and Iran, with their visceral desire to avenge injustices together with their governing classes' stranglehold on power, is sobering. And those who would defend today's UN at all costs need to be able to show how Japan, Germany, India and Brazil - all great democracies - are ever going to become members of the security council in the face of the implacable opposition of authoritarian China and Russia.

There is a battle going on. Authoritarianism is on the rise and it is dangerous. Putting some well-judged edge behind the democracies' defence of their principles and the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not a stupid proposal. Kagan would have made his argument even stronger had he shown how democracy contributes to economic and social strength and thus been more sceptical about the sustainability of Chinese and Russian economic growth without it. But that would have implied that the European approach is more right than American thirst for pitched battles, and there is still something of the neocon night about Kagan's thinking.

'Fate Of World Peace, Order Lies In Future Of China-Russia Ties'

This will probably prove to be one of the most important news stories of the decade, but most of the world's media barely noticed.

From the Daily Times :

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised on Saturday recent close ties between Moscow and Beijing as a key to global stability and said the two countries wanted to strengthen their strategic partnership.

In remarks that sounded like a veiled reference to the United States, Medvedev rejected what he said was opposition to Russian-Chinese cooperation. “Some don’t like such strategic cooperation between our countries, but we understand that this cooperation serves the interests of our people, and we will strengthen it, regardless of whether others like it or not,” he said, speaking at a university a day after he and Chinese President Hu Jintao criticized US missile defense plans.

“Russian-Chinese relations are one of the most important factors of maintaining stability in modern conditions,” he said. The former Cold War rivals have forged close political, military and commercial ties since the Soviet collapse, trying to counter what they see as US global dominance. On Friday, Medvedev and Hu said they wanted to see the peaceful use of space and rejected the deployment of weapons there, a reference to US plans for an orbiting missile-defence system.

In Saturday’s appearance at elite Tsinghua University, Hu’s alma mater, Medvedev never mentioned the United States by name and said the Russian-Chinese alliance “is not directed against any other nation. “It is aimed at maintaining a global balance,” he said. Medvedev said Russia and China support international law and a “decisive role” for the United Nations. Moscow has accused Washington and other Western governments of abusing international law in Iraq and Kosovo.

Russia also strengthened its role as a supplier to China’s booming nuclear power industry Friday, signing a US$1 billion deal to build a fuel enrichment facility and supply uranium. The joint Russian-Chinese criticism of US missile defence plans appeared to raise the stakes for Washington, which has been trying to persuade Beijing and especially Moscow not to see them as a threat. The diplomatic cooperation masks Russian unease at China’s growing power, and differences over military and energy sales. The White House said Friday it was disappointed that Medvedev had not changed the opposition expressed by his predecessor, Vladimir Putin. “We’re going to work with them to work through these concerns, and we think we can resolve any concerns that anyone has about this and the true nature of the programme,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

After a slow warming in the 1990s, Beijing and Moscow have in recent years joined together in opposing Kovoso’s independence and on Iran’s nuclear crisis. The two have held joint military manoeuvres on each other’s turf and created a regional security grouping, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to keep the West out of energy-rich Central Asia.

Russia Sees NATO Closing In From All Sides

From RIA Novosti :

Russia is concerned over NATO's expansion, which is aimed at building up its military potential around Russian borders rather than strengthening European security, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Russia has been unnerved by NATO's eastward expansion and recent U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"We are certain that the geographical expansion of NATO cannot be justified by security concerns," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.

"But it is clear that NATO is building up its military potential around our borders and its new members continue to increase their defense budgets," he said.

Lavrov said NATO's "open-door" policy has been inherited from the Cold War and can only antagonize relations with Russia.

"This policy cannot resolve any security problems," the minister said.

NATO has signaled its backing for the recent bids by Russia's former Soviet allies, Georgia and Ukraine, to join the alliance, a move that has infuriated Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the country would have to take "appropriate measures" if Ukraine were to join NATO.

An additional problem overshadowing cooperation between Russia and NATO is the bloc's refusal to ratify an updated version of the Soviet-era Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), aimed at regulating the deployment of non-nuclear weapons on the continent.

Russia imposed in December last year a unilateral moratorium on the arms reductions treaty, which the West regards as a cornerstone of Euro-Atlantic security, and said it would resume its participation in the treaty only after NATO countries ratify the document.

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Bush Raises Threat Of "World War 3" Over Iran Gaining "Knowledge" To Make Nuclear Weapons

Caspian Sea States Issue Statement Opposing Iran Strikes By US, Israel

From The Last Days Of President Bush blog :

President Bush casually discussed the possibility of World War III breaking out over Iran's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions today, with a few chuckles thrown in to 'lighten' the mood at the press conference.

His warning that Iran had to be stopped from gaining "the knowledge" of how to building nuclear weapons was directed primarily towards Russia and China, both of whom have opposed further sanctions on Iran, and resisted even talk of military action.

President Bush now finds himself squaring off with only Israel as a fully committed anti-Iran alliance member against the full might of an unofficial alliance comprised of Iran, Russia and China, who now have dozens of other countries, including Pakistan, India and Afghanistan on side under umbrella trade and economic alliances. Putin recently warned the states bordering the Caspian Sea not to allow the United States to launch air strikes on Iran from their territory. Putin reportedly faced little resistance from the 'stans.

Both Russia and China have hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade interests and energy deals with Iran at the moment, and both had have warned the United States and Israel not to go to War On Iran.

Remarkably, President Bush has now backed almost completely away from NeoCon-pumped propaganda claiming Iran already has nuclear weapons, or is only a year or two away from developing them.

President Bush clearly said his interest was to stop Iran from gaining "the knowledge" to build nuclear weapons, not that they had them already, or were close to getting them.

"I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon. And I know it's in the world's interest to prevent them from doing so.

"I told (world leaders) that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon. And I take this very -- I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously."

World opposition to the United States and/or Israel striking Iran is now overwhelming. Yesterday, an alliance of Caspian Sea states issued a statement voicing their opposition to the growing tide of threats from the US, Israel and France toward Iran :

Russia, Iran and other Caspian Sea states have issued a declaration warning other nations against using their territories for launching military action against any one of them.

The statement came at the end of a summit of leaders of the five nations, and is believed to refer to a possible US strike on Iran launched from Azerbaijan.

Putin has said that no Caspian Sea state should let its soil be used to attack a fellow coastal country.

"The parties underline that under no circumstances would they allow other nations to use their territory for waging aggression or other military action against any of the parties," the declaration said.

Putin had said earlier: "We should not even think of making use of force in this region."

Although the mostly manufacture 'Iran Crisis' is helping to distract Americans from the unfolding tragedy of the War On Iraq, in the rest of the world the growing alliance between Iran, China and Russia, and a host of other nations, united in their opposition to NeoCon-led demands for air strikes on Iran, is making the United States look weak and decidedly like a rogue nation.

More rogue, at least, than Iran for the time being.

Putin Warns US Not To Go To War On Iran

Russia's Strategic Bombers To Patrol The World's Skies For Rest Of October

Putin : Iran Is Not Afraid Of US, Israel "Believe Me"



Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has received a warm welcome during his visit to Iran, and he again warned the United States not to attack Iran. To back up his warning, and to make clear that airstrikes on Iran will draw his promised "consequences", Putin has placed his arsenal of strategic, long-range bombers on airborne stand-by for the rest of the month.

Link :

At a summit of the five nations that border the inland Caspian Sea, Putin said none of the nations' territory should be used by any outside countries for use of military force against any nation in the region. It was a clear reference to long-standing rumors that the U.S. was planning to use Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, as a staging ground for any possible military action against Iran.

"We are saying that no Caspian nation should offer its territory to third powers for use of force or military aggression against any Caspian state," Putin said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also underlined the need to keep outsiders away from the Caspian.

The warning from Putin to the US grabbed most of the headlines around the world, but the significance of his warning to the Caspian states Russia and Iran are now economically, and strategically, allied with, is probably the bigger story. Putin is telling the oil and gas rich Caspian sea states that they don't need, and should not pursue, military alliances with the United States. This is obviously a remarkably important development :

"The Caspian Sea is an inland sea and it only belongs to the Caspian states, therefore only they are entitled to have their ships and military forces here," he said.

Putin, whose trip to Tehran is the first by a Kremlin leader since World War II, warned that energy pipeline projects crossing the Caspian could only be implemented if all five nations that border the Caspian support them.

Putin did not name any specific country, but his statement underlined Moscow's strong opposition to U.S.-backed efforts to build pipelines to deliver hydrocarbons to the West bypassing Russia.

"Projects that may inflict serious environmental damage to the region cannot be implemented without prior discussion by all five Caspian nations," he said.

Other nations bordering the Caspian Sea and in attendance at the summit are: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

Putin has warned the U.S. and other nations against trying to coerce Iran into reining in its nuclear program and insists peaceful dialogue is the only way to deal with Tehran's defiance of a U.N. Security Council demand that it suspend uranium enrichment.

"Threatening someone, in this case the Iranian leadership and Iranian people, will lead nowhere," Putin said Monday during his trip to Germany. "They are not afraid, believe me."

The Russian president underlined his disagreements with Washington last week, saying he saw no "objective data" to prove Western claims that Iran is trying to construct nuclear weapons.

Putin emphasized Monday that he would negotiate in Tehran on behalf of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members _ United States, Russia, China, Britain and France _ and Germany, a group that has led efforts to resolve the stalemate with Tehran.

From RIA :

Russian strategic bombers will conduct October 16-30 a series of long-range training flights, with simulated bomber raids and missile launches, an Air Force spokesman said on Monday.

"Russian strategic bombers Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22M3, and Il-78 aerial tankers will conduct flights over the Arctic region, the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, and the Black Sea, with simulated bombing raids and firing of cruise missiles at testing grounds in northern and southern Russia," Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky said.

Colonel General Alexander Zelin, the commander of the Russian Air Force, will supervise the exercises.

Moscow announced in mid-August that regular patrol flights by strategic bombers had been resumed, and would continue on a permanent basis, with patrol areas including commercial shipping and economic production zones.

The U.S. administration expressed concern about the resumption of patrol flights by Russian strategic bombers.

"I think the rapid growth in Russian military spending definitely bears watching," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview with ABC News on October 14.

"And frankly, some of the efforts - for instance, Bear flights in areas that we haven't seen for a while - are really not helpful to security."

Russia, however, obviously believes they are helpful to security. The security of Iran.

Putin : Iran Poses No Nuclear Threat, No Proof They Seek Or Possess Nuclear Weapons

Russia's Vladimir Putin has destroyed any last hope that BushCo. and the NeoCons had for a further hammering of Iran through the United Nations Security Council.

Although the position taken by Putin in the below story is being presented as something new, or recent, it has in fact been Putin's position for at least two years :

President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday there is no proof Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons, but emphasized that Tehran must be encouraged to make its nuclear program fully transparent.

"We are sharing our partners' concern about making all Iranian programs transparent," Putin said at a news conference after talks with visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"We agreed yesterday, and the president confirmed it, that Iran is making certain steps toward the international community to achieve that."

Putin is to make his first visit to Iran early next week for a summit of Caspian Sea nations.

Russia has opposed the U.S.-push for tougher sanctions against Iran and called for more checks and inspections of Iranian facilities by International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

"We have worked cooperatively with our partners at the United Nations Security Council, and we intend to continue such cooperative work in the future," Putin said. But he said that with no "objective data" showing Iran is developing nuclear weapons, "we proceed from an assumption that Iran has no such plans."

Israel, the United States and the UK will now rush to say that the Russian position and view is also their own.

The NeoCons, meanwhile, will seethe with fury that their hopes of Iran being bombed sometime in the next year are dying by the day. NeoCon propaganda will continue, and will probably grow more desperate, but the United States and Israel, even with the backing of France, faces formidable opponents in Russia and China, both of whom have made clear that attacks on Iran will not be tolerated.


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China, Russia Oppose Military Action On Iran

The Neocons want War On Iran. They want to destabilise Iran, sow chaos amongst its people, control its oil and reduce Iran to the shattered state status now suffered by the people of Iraq.

BushCo. say they want peace with Iran, but refuse to rule out military action. But both the US and Israel have laid out their chief reason why they will attack Iran : they cannot allow Iran to get nuclear weapons.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran isn't pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran says it isn't pursuing nuclear weapons. But the Neocon think tanks and media allies continually state that Iran wants nuclear weapons and it is so close to developing them that the world cannot wait.

But what you don't hear so much in the Western media is the reaction from China and Russia. Both China and Russia are now key financial, business and energy allies with Iran. And both China and Russia have clearly stated over the past two years, repeatedly that Iran does not pose a threat and that they will not tolerate attacks on Iran from either Israel or the United States.

From Reuters :

China is opposed to threatening Iran with war over its nuclear program and stands for a diplomatic solution, a government spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China have backed two rounds of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment and other sensitive work that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

"We believe the best option is to peacefully resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic negotiations, which is in the common interests of the international community," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular briefing.

"We do not approve of easily resorting to threatening use of force in international affairs," Jiang said when asked to comment on remarks by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner raising the prospect of war with Iran.

Kouchner said on Sunday that Paris must prepare for the possibility of war with Tehran, although it was not an immediate danger.

Washington is leading a drive in the Security Council for a third sanctions resolution to punish Iran for enrichment, and White House spokesman Dana Perino said the United States was looking for a diplomatic solution.

China is one of five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council.

From the UK Guardian :

Russia today joined the chorus of concern at the possibility of war in Iran while conflicts continued in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At a news briefing in Moscow, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said: "We are worried by reports that there is serious consideration being given to military action in Iran. That is a threat to a region where there are already grave problems in Iraq and Afghanistan."

His comments, after a meeting with his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, followed a stark warning yesterday from the UN's chief nuclear weapons inspector aimed at the US.

"I would not talk about any use of force," Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters at the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna. "There are rules on how to use force, and I would hope that everybody would have gotten the lesson after the Iraq situation, where 700,000 innocent civilians have lost their lives on the suspicion that a country has nuclear weapons."

Fears of a military conflict with Iran rose a notch after comments on Sunday night by Mr Kouchner, who said: "We have to prepare for the worst ... the worst is war."

In addition, reports from Washington indicate that administration hawks led by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, are winning the argument for tough action against Tehran.

The US has accused Iran of supplying Shia extremists in Iraq with explosive devices that are taking a deadly toll on American troops.

France, under its new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has adopted a much tougher line on Iran, saying that a nuclear-armed Iran poses a dangerous threat to the west.

Mr Sarkozy last month called the Iranian stand-off "the greatest crisis" of current times, saying the world faced "a catastrophic alternative: an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran".

Mr Kouchner told reporters in Moscow that the world should not shy away from sanctions to put pressure on Iran.

"The worst thing to happen would be a war, and in order to avoid it we need to continue talks and be firm enough regarding sanctions," he said. "We have to work on precise sanctions that would demonstrate the world community's serious approach to this problem."

But Russia is trying to cool down the situation. In an interview published in the Russian magazine Vremya Novostei, the deputy foreign minister, Alexander Losyukov, said any military intervention in Iran would be a "political error" with catastrophic results.

"We are convinced that there is no military solution to the Iranian problem ... besides, it is quite clear that there is no military solution to the Iraqi problem either," he said.

Russia, China, Iran 'Warn' US To Stay Out Of Central Asia

Russia And China Hold War Games

Russia Returns To "Permanent" Long Range Strategic Bomber Flights Across Pacific And Arctic


The economic, strategic and military alliance between China, Iran and Russia continues to firm, as war games in the mountains of Southern Ural involving thousands of Russian and Chinese soldiers, and military units from all member states of theSCO, draw to a close.

Barely reported in Western media was that the Iranian president was a guest of the Chinese and Russian presidents during the week of war games and meetings, and India and Pakistan both sent teams of observers.

Russia has now declared that Iran is not a threat to any nation, and China is buffeting approaches from the United States to join them in a renewed push for tighter economic sanctions against Iran.

At a meeting last week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) before the war games began, the leaders of Russia, China and Iran issued a joint statement, clearing intending to warn the United States to stay out of Central Asia :

The leaders of Russia, China and Iran have warned the outside world to leave Central Asia alone to look after its own stability and security...

"Stability and security in Central Asia are best ensured primarily through efforts taken by the nations of the region on the basis of the existing regional associations," the leaders said at the end of the (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an observer at the summit, criticized U.S. missile defense plans as a threat to the entire region. "These intentions go beyond just one country. They are of concern for much of the continent, Asia andSCO members," he said.

(China's President) Hu also said signaled that security for Central Asia was best left to the nations themselves.

"The SCO nations have a clear understanding of the threats faced by the region and thus must ensure their security themselves," he said.

Putin didn't mention the United States in his speech at the summit, but he said that "any attempts to solve global and regional problems unilaterally are hopeless." He also called for "strengthening a multi-polar international system that would ensure equal security and opportunities for all countries" — comments echoing Russia's frequent complaints that the United States dominates world affairs.

The SCO was created 11 years ago to address religious extremism and border security issues in Central Asia. In recent years, with Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia signing on as observers, the group has increasingly grown into a bloc aimed at defying U.S. interests in the region, which has huge hydrocarbon reserves.

In 2005, the SCO called for a timetable to be set for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from two member countries, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Uzbekistan evicted U.S. forces later that year, but Kyrgyzstan still hosts a U.S. base, which supports operations in nearby Afghanistan.

Russia also maintains a military base in Kyrgyzstan.

Moscow and Beijing have developed what they dubbed a "strategic partnership" after the Soviet collapse, cemented by their perceptions that the United States dominates global affairs.

The SCO, whose members are some of the world's biggest energy producers and consumers, also discussed ways to enhance energy cooperation. The U.S. has supported plans for new pipelines that would carry the region's oil and gas to the West and bypass Russia, while Moscow has pushed strongly to control the export flows.

China also has shown a growing appetite for energy to power its booming economy.

A further sign of the group's intention to influence energy markets was the participation in the Bishkek summit of Turkmen President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, whose country is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the former Soviet Union after Russia. Turkmenistan is not a SCO member; the president was attending as a guest

More on the Chinese-Russian war games :

Fighter jets streaked through the air as Russian and Chinese forces held their first joint maneuvers on Russian land Friday in a demonstration of their growing military ties and a shared desire to counter U.S. global clout.

The war games in the southern Ural Mountains involved some 6,000 troops from Russia and China along with a handful of soldiers from four ex-Soviet Central Asian nations that are part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional group dominated by Moscow and Beijing.

The drills coincided with a massive Russian air force exercise in which dozens of Russian strategic bombers ranged far over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.

President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Hu Jintao and other leaders of the SCO nations attended the exercise, which followed their summit Thursday in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

Friday's military exercise involved dozens of aircraft and hundreds of armored vehicles which countered a mock attack by terrorists and insurgents striving to take control of energy resources.

The United States, Russia and China are locked in an increasingly tense rivalry for control over Central Asia's vast hydrocarbon riches.

Moscow objects vehemently to Washington's plans to deploy missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic, saying the system would threaten Russia security. The United States says the missile defenses are necessary to avert the threat of possible missile attacks by Iran.

Virtually all the member states of the SCO, and observer nations, like Pakistan and India, have aired public, or diplomatic level, objections to the United States' plans for a missile defence shield.

For what it's worth, Russia is still denying that the SCO is a military bloc. They're fighting terror, says Putin :

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed as irrelevant allegations that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a military bloc, and highlighted its increasing role in economic cooperation.

Putin said after the exercises: "The SCO today is an organization tackling political and economic issues, and the economic aspect is increasingly coming to the foreground." Comparisons with NATO are entirely untrue, he said.

Although the "Shanghai Six" was originally set up to deal with border disputes that emerged following the breakup of the Soviet Union between the newly-independent states and China, these problems have since been resolved, he said.

The Russian president said that cooperation between member states' militaries is more anti-terrorist than military in nature. Moscow is still faced with the threat of terrorism, and will continue counter-terrorism efforts both at home and abroad, in conjunction with its partners, he added.

To ram the message home that Russia, and the SCO alliance, will not tolerate the United States trying to expand its role as 'global policemen', in effect trying to dominate world events, Russia has renewed "permanent" strategic bomber patrols across the Pacific and Arctic :

We have decided to renew flights of Russian strategic aviation on a permanent basis," Mr Putin said after he and Chinese PresidentHu Jintao attended large-scale joint military exercises near this town in the Urals region.

The flights would resume from Saturday, Mr Putin said.

The announcement came days after Moscow said its strategic bombers had begun exercises over the North Pole, and just a week after Russian planes flew within a few hundred kilometres of a US military base on the island of Guam.

"Russia unilaterally stopped flights of its strategic aviation in distant areas of military action. Unfortunately, not everyone followed our example," he said, in an apparent reference to the United States.

Russia has some 80 long range strategic bombers, many left over from the era of Soviet military build-up, all are said to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons.


The United States is pretending to not be concerned about Russian bomber flights over the Pacific and Arctic :

The United States on Friday shrugged off Russia's decision to resume long-range strategic bomber flights, merely saying it was an "interesting" move.

"If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again that's their decision," State Department spokesman SeanMcCormack said.

He was commenting after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Russia would immediately resume long-range strategic bomber flights on a "permanent" basis, ending its 15-year suspension of such missions.

"That is a decision for them to take; it's interesting," McCormack added.

The announcement came days after Moscow said its strategic bombers had begun exercises over the North Pole, and just a week after Russian planes flew within a few hundred kilometers (miles) of a US military base on the island of Guam.

A top US commander said Tuesday that the long-range Russian bombers were flying more often and closer to US territory.

General Gene Renuart, Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command, the agencies charged with protecting US and Canadian airspace, said US forces would continue to monitor the activity.

In the five-day exercises over the North pole that began Tuesday, the nuclear-capable bombers practised firing cruise missiles, navigation in the polar region and aerial refueling maneuvers, the Russian air force said in a statement.

More on the welcome the Iranian president received at the SCO summit last week, and the growing expansion of the alliance, which may soon include Afghanistan :

Russia and China today host Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a summit of a Central Asian security club designed to counter U.S. influence in the region.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization invited Iran to become an observer in 2005, sparking concern in the U.S., and Ahmadinejad called for closer ties to the group when he attended last year's summit in Shanghai. Kyrgyzstan is hosting the one-day annual meeting in its capital, Bishkek.

Chinese and Russian officials say the SCO, set up in 2001 with the stated goal of strengthening regional cooperation and combating terrorism, is focused on maintaining stability in the region. Its six members include the four Central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose country is battling a resurgent Taliban, is a guest at the summit. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui said Aug. 11 the group wants to cooperate with Afghanistan in fighting drug smuggling and terrorism.

In another unwelcome development for the Americans, Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov also accepted an invitation to attend the summit. His long-ruling predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, who died last year, had kept the energy-rich country isolated and resisted Russian influence.

Russia in May secured a deal to build a new pipeline to import more gas from Turkmenistan, bolstering its dominant hold on supplies to Europe and heading off a competing U.S.-backed plan that would bypass Russian territory.

Finally, a report on the massive re-arming programs that Russia has launched, as Putin seeks to give Russia a formidable international military presence :

Russian defense spending rose by 22 percent and 27 percent in the past two years, respectively, and could be up as much as 30 percent this year. In February, Sergei Ivanov, then defense secretary and now one of the front-runners to replace Mr. Putin next year, announced an almost $200 billion program of expenditures.

According to Jane's Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, the Russian shopping list includes two new submarine-launched nuclear ballistic missiles, the Bulava and the Sineva — both with a 5,000-mile range and capable of carrying 10 nuclear warheads — and a new anti-aircraft missile, the S-400, which the Russian Defense Ministry claims is effective against incoming missiles. Production of the new SS-27 Topol-M missile, the land-based equivalent of the Bulava, has also begun.

Russia also plans to spend heavily on the new TU-160 strategic bomber, which can launch cruise missiles, the SU-34 "Fullback" fighter-bomber, capable of all-weather attacks on heavily defended targets, and a new fifth-generation fighter, the Sukhoi T-50, which is expected to come into service in 2008 as Russia's main lightweight front-line fighter.

The expanded Russian fleet will include six new nuclear-powered aircraft carriers — a dramatic increase from only one such carrier — and eight ballistic-missile submarines.

The formation and solidifying of 'The Other NATO' would appear to be progressing at an upwards pace comparable to the downwards pace of the Coalition of the Willing's progress in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Between NATO and the CoW, taking in the US, Australia and the UK, primarily, and the growing power and influence of the SCO alliance lies Iran.

China and Russia, along with many other member and observer states of the SCO, regard the protection of Iran as being in their "national interest". NeoCons and US hawks continually push for BushCo. to strike Iran now, and not wait until it begins a nuclear armed nation, if that is Iran's intention. China and Russia state that it is not Iran's intention, and would regard any aggression towards Iran by BushCo. or Israel, as being an act of aggression towards the SCO alliance.

Interesting, dangerous times indeed.


SCO Summit : Putin Says "Security Co-Operation" Is Top Goal

Russia Resumes 'Cold War Era' Long Range Bomber Flights

The Facts On Russia's Long Range Strategic Bombers

It's The West Starting This New Cold War

Russia Says Iran Poses No Threat - Quietly Warns US To Back Off Tighter Sanctions Regime Against Iran

Russia And China Hold War Games - Rattling The West

China, Russia Welcome Iranian President As 'Important Guest' At SCO Summit

Russia : The North Pole Is Ours

The "Battle For Arctic Oil" Has Begun



Graphic From BBC

UPDATE : Russian military and government officials are "annoyed" at the reactions from the United States, Canada and much of the Western media to their claiming a significant part of the North Pole. The reaction from the West, and the reaction to that reaction from the Russians were both to be expected. But the coverage in the Russian media is particularly :

Russian newspapers on Friday lauded the expedition, calling it a first step in what daily Vremya Novostei referred to as "the battle for Arctic oil."

Government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta went further, saying the division of the Arctic "is the start of a new redistribution of the world."

In the Western media, the Russian flag-planting on the Arctic sea floor was widely dismissed as a "joke" and a "stunt". Not so in the Russian media.

The Russian media is well ahead of the Western media in preparing its people for the looming confrontations of Arctic energy reserves. Russia moved first, and fast. But Canada and the United States, in particular, will not let them stake their claim so easily.


As we've discussed here numerous times before, the Arctic is likely to be the setting for the true world war between the superpowers, as they battle to secure the vast energy and mineral reserves still trapped beneath the ice.

Global warming is now rapidly melting that ice, and the legendary NorthWest passage for shortened shipping routes across the top of the world is likely to be opened, during the summer months, withing years.

Yesterday, Russia garnered major headlines for a "stunt" where they fixed a metal pole, in place of a flag, to the seabed off the Siberian cost. Russia claims there are billions of barrels of oil, and possibly trillions of square feet of natural gas under the sea floor off Siberia, and they have caused an international crisis by claiming they own it all.

The Bush administration has been next to silent on their own claims to the Arctic, via Alaska, but the Navy has been making loud noises about expanding their polar fleet and buying more ice-breakers.

Canada, however, has been actively building up its populace to not only believe they have the right to claim a good part of the Arctic and all its riches for themselves, but that it is territory they must defend, through billions of dollars of new defence spending for Arctic ships and even military deployments.

America wants control of Middle East oil because its own strategic reserves are being rapidly depleted, and it feels the fight to control Venezuelan oil may not be worth the fight.

Russia has cut deals worth tens of billions of dollars with Iran for its oil and gas, so it feels it has time enough up its sleeve to secure its future energy reserves by tackling the Arctic.

China, now aligned with Russia and Iran, knows the Arctic will be important in two decades time, and is reportedly building submarines and a polar Navy in anticipation.

There has been much mocking in the Western media, particularly in the US mainstream media aligned with BushCo and the Neocons, about Russia's "claim" on almost half the North Pole, but the flag-planting on the sea floor is being viewed as an incredibly historic event by Russian media, and has been widely celebrated.

The US writes off the "claim" as being something of a joke. But Russia is deadly serious. The US, and Canada, are likely to see just how deadly serious Russia is when they try to challenge the new Russian sovereignty of the richest untapped energy deposits left in the world today.

We'll have more on this, and a look back on the past two years of the developing 'Arctic Wars' over the weekend.


The Coming War In The Arctic

Russia Insists On Working With The US And EU On Future Missile Defence Plans

New Putin-Approved Russian Textbooks Depict US As Hellbent On Creating A Global Empire

Russia Embraces Abbas, Then Invites Hamas For Talks

Russian Arctic Exercise Will Fly Bombers Over North Pole, Simulate Bombing Raids, Missile Launches

American Missiles Smash Through Treaty With Russia

The World News In Brief

Turkey : The impending conflict between Turkish military and PKK (Kurdish) militants in Northern Iraq has been boiling away for months. News report today state that Turkey has begun bombarding Northern Iraq, launching attacks with warplanes on PKK held positions in the mountains of Northern Iraq, and blasting more than 250 shells into the region. A new front in Iraq War, this time pitting 'terrorists' against the military of Turkey, appears ready to break open. The Iraqi government, and the United States, would be expected to force Turkish forces back over the border if they tried to root out the PKK militants they believe are responsible for terror attacks inside Turkey. The United States has been forced to repeatedly deny that it is funding and arming Kurdish militants in the north, who dream of a breakaway nation, taking in chunks of Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Another report claims the Kurdish militant leader wants more power in political circles, rather than greater independence.


Mexico : So who is claiming responsibility for the bomb attacks that have crippled key gas pipeline in Central Mexico? No group most people have heard of. The attacks are being written off as a bit of a mystery. But energy industry experts are warning that American and Mexican officials should take the threat posed by one revolutionary group in particular very seriously. Mexico exports more than 1.4 million barrels of oil across the border into the United States every day, making its America's second largest oil supplier. Mexico has been described as "a dangerously soft target since it has more than 17,000 miles of oil pipelines and 8,235 miles of natural gas pipelines to protect."


Pakistan : As chaos reigns across Pakistan's north west border regions, with anti-Musharraf militants launching new attacks and ambushes on soldiers, the most recent killing more than 16 troops, the United States has threatened to intervene militarily. It's just an unofficial threat at this stage. A rally supporting an opposition alternative leader to Musharraf has been hit by bombings, killing at least twelve people. Another report says the attack on Pakistani soldiers happened in Northern Waziristan, close to the border with Afghanistan, and the ambush involved bombings and militants raking the military vehicles with gunfire, leaving 17 soldiers dead.


The Philippines : Trouble brewing. The Philippines is said to moving closer and closer to all out war between Islamist forces, Abu Sayyaf, and the government marines, dozens of whom have been killed in recent weeks in a series of spectacular, and shocking, attacks. 10 Filipino marines were beheaded by Islamists during an ambush last week in the south of the country. The Philippines government is believed to be preparing to launch an all-out military offensive against Aby Sayyaf and its supporters. More than 100,000 people have been killed during years of clashes between Muslims and Christians, with tit-for-tat revenge and retribution killings continuing a cycle of violence that rarely hits the headlines, or is mentioned by the coalition of the willing leaders when they discuss the 'War on Terror'.


Sri Lanka : Battles continue to rage between government forces and Tamil Tigers in the country's north. Government forces are trying to take back more guerrilla-controlled territory, forcing separatist Tamils into more isolated and less resourced country. Four government special forces soldiers were killed in the most recent fighting, along with one Tamil Tiger guerrilla. The most recent clashes assassinations of government officials in the north east.
The Tamils recently lost key territory in the east and have vowed to take it back from government forces. Government forces regard the seizure of previously Tamil-held territory as a great victory, worth celebrating. But the threats of Tamils to take revenge on the army and return to guerrilla warfare in the east has caused great concern in the capital Colombo, as people believe it will see a return of the car bombs and suicide attacks that made the Tamil Tigers infamous as more prolific suicide bombers than even Al Qaeda, or elements of the Iraqi resistance. More than 5000 people have been killed in the past 19 months of fighting in the north and east.


Russia : The UK Independent has a good story on The Plot To Kill Boris Berezovsky. Russia has now booted out four British diplomats in retaliation over the UK's expelling of four Russian diplomats from London in response to Russia's refusal to cooperate in the British investigation into the murder of a former KGB, and possible double, agent by radioactive poisoning. In other news, Russia has rejected the final version of the Kosovo resolution. The resolution now faces a veto. Russia doesn't want Kosovo to be independent, and become a bastion of Islamic extremism. So does the UK and the US want that reality?


We'll have a round-up of recent Iraq-related news in the coming days.

United States Rejects Russia's Offer To Join European 'Integrated Missile Shield'

Russia has offered to build a "global integrated missile shield" that would cover all of Europe.

This is Russia's alternative to the US National Missile Defence 'shield' that will see the US deploying missiles close to Russia's borders, in Eastern Europe, primarily the Czech Republic and Poland. Russia sees the US plans for an Eastern European-based missile shield as a threat.
During talks between presidents Bush and Putin in the US two weeks ago, Russia offered to bring the United States in on the development of the integrated European shield, and to share key technologies.

However, the United States quickly rejected Russia's offer and is pushing ahead with its original plans.

Naturally, this decision has not gone over well in Russia, or China, or Iran, or in some nations of the European Union. Refusing to even enter into a period of talks with Russia over a jointly-run and controlled global missile shield sees the United States as being unreasonable, and betrays its true intentions for its own missile shield.

Russia is expected to soon announce its own plans for a global missile shield, in conjunction with Shanghai Co-Operation Organisation (SCO) nations, including China, Iran and Pakistan. The US missile shield plan will see its missile pointed squarely at Russia, though Bush Co. continues to maintain such missile deployments should not be seen by Russia as a threat. Of course not.


Putin Set To Sign Anti-Extremism Legislation

Russia Declares Its Independence In Space

Putin : Britain Is "A Haven For Terrorists And Criminals"

Russia Proposes Its Own Global Missile Shield For Asia By 2020 : Likely To Include China, Iran, Pakistan, Other SCO Countries

Russia's Claim On Arctic Oil-Rich Region Set To Challenge The Balance Of World Power

The Coming War In The Arctic

Russia Announces Plan To Annexes Huge New, Oil & Gas Rich Territory


Graphic From BBC

Note : As some commenters pointed out, there is little actual land under the ice of the North Pole to be fought over. The below article probably doesn't make the point clear enough that potential conflicts will be over the divvying up of energy and mineral spoils from the ocean and the currently ice-covered coastal regions. The potential for future conflict not only includes the temptation for the more powerful nations to lay claim to territory that is rich in oil and gas, be it on land or in the ocean, but the US, Russia, Canada and Greenland do not have well defined borders in the Arctic, and the control of two potential new ice-free sea lanes for shipping will also be challenged.

**************************

When we first started writing about 'The Coming Arctic Wars' on this site more than 15 months ago, we thought the reality of such a situation as reported below actually developing to be not much more than a rank outsider in the sprawl of possible conflicts that could break out between nations out as the 'War on Terror' spreads, and increases its momentum and capacity to destabilise.

But Russia has decided that the United States is weak enough, now it has most of military and equipment bogged down in the Middle East, to not put up much of a fight over who owns what in the the Arctic Circle, so it has decided to announce a plan to annex an astounding 460,000 square miles of international territory. That's equal to the land mass of Italy, Germany and France, combined.

Sure, it's covered by ice and snow right now. But if global warming increases, and some of the more mind-boggling predictions of rapid climate change turn true, and the Arctic loses most of its summer ice, there are hundreds of millions of hectares of land up there that may be ready for development and exploitation in less than 20 years.

Even the most conservative estimates of untapped oil and mineral wealth in the currently frozen Arctic are in the range of many trillions of dollars. Unofficial estimates, the kind that oil and mining companies don't make public, because they are usually guesstimates, think there could be tens of trillions of dollars worth of oil, gas, coal and various minerals up there.

In the scope of world headlines, the news of what Russia is going to do will impact little. Right now. But decades from now, the day that Russia decided to announce it intendeds to annex international territory in the Arctic will probably be marked as the day the Arctic Wars really began.

And have no doubt that the countries bordering the Arctic will fight over the land that is losing its shield of ice and snow, and the North and NorthWest trade routes that are opening up now the sea ice is diminishing. They will fight over it all.

Not all the fights will end up with exchanges of missiles and gun boats blocking new shipping routes, but in a world where resources are running low, and vast tracts of land are depleted turning to desert, an ice-free Arctic will be the most coveted prize in the history of modern humankind.

Unpolluted, unexploited, unclaimed, undeveloped, unpopulated.

The Arctic will be a prize worth fighting and dying for. At least for the troops that the US, Canada and Russia send in to seize and hold territory some time after 2010.

From the UK Guardian :

It is already the world's biggest country, spanning 11 time zones and stretching from Europe to the far east. But yesterday Russia signalled its intention to get even bigger by announcing an audacious plan to annex a vast 460,000 square mile chunk of the frozen and ice-encrusted Arctic.

According to Russian scientists, there is new evidence backing Russia's claim that its northern Arctic region is directly linked to the North Pole via an underwater shelf.

Under international law, no country owns the North Pole. Instead, the five surrounding Arctic states, Russia, the US, Canada, Norway and Denmark (via Greenland), are limited to a 200-mile economic zone around their coasts.

On Monday, however, a group of Russian geologists returned from a six-week voyage on a nuclear icebreaker. They had travelled to the Lomonosov ridge, an underwater shelf in Russia's remote and inhospitable eastern Arctic Ocean.

According to Russia's media, the geologists returned with the "sensational news" that the Lomonosov ridge was linked to Russian Federation territory, boosting Russia's claim over the oil-and-gas rich triangle. The territory contained 10bn tonnes of gas and oil deposits, the scientists said.

Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper celebrated the discovery by printing a large map of the North Pole. It showed the new "addition" to Russia - the size of France, Germany and Italy combined - under a white, blue and red Russian flag.

Mr Priamikov said the area was one of breathtaking natural beauty. It was much drier, colder and quieter than the western Arctic, he added. "I've been there many times. It's an oasis for marine life," he said. Asked whether it would be feasible to drill for oil, he said: "Yes".

The shelf was 200 metres deep and oil and gas would be easy to extract, especially with ice melting because of global warming, he said.

Russia has the world's largest gas reserves. It is the second largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia. The Kremlin is keen to secure Russia's long-term hegemony over global energy markets, and to find new sources of fuel.

Well, not only has Russia now found "new sources of fuel", it's annexed the territory in which they lie. And Russia is likely to claim more, as the ice melts, and the 'Arctic Gold Rush' begins in the next decade.

Before the United States starts fighting with Russia over who can claim how much Arctic territory for themselves, they have to sort out their own borders with Canada and get out of Iraq.

Russia isn't waiting for Canada, Greenland and the United States to work out what they want. Russia knows what it wants, and it's taking it now, before the real fighting begins.

Canada, however, has not been slack when it comes to marking out future territory for energy exploitation and new trading and shipping routes.

From The Fourth World War blog, March, 2006 :

Russia, the US and even Greenland are enthusiastically eyeing off the opening up of new shipping lanes that will cut months off the journeys of major freight travels. As the ice retreats, not only do new shipping lanes become passable, but new areas exploitable for mining, oil extraction and even coastal residential development all become reality.

Canada controls some of the most valuable coastline in the new ice-free Arctic of the coming decades, but even they are already aware they will have to defend it.

The idea that war could break out in the Arctic between countries like Canada, Russia, Greenland and the US seem almost incomprehensible, but Canada at least is taking this future issue very seriously indeed.

April, 2006 : Canada Deploys Military On 'Epic' Arctic Recon

'Arctic Wars' Heat Up As Canada Makes Move On Rapidly Melting Territory

January, 2006 : Canada Steps Up Arctic Patrols, Plans Military Deployments, Clashes with US over NorthWest Passage

Russia Lays Claim To North Pole And All Its Oil, Gas And Diamonds

Russia Begins Mass Production Of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

Canadian Sub Will 'Fly Flag' As It Takes Part In Arctic Military Exercises

Russia Sends Nuclear Powered Ship To Arctic For "Tests"

Now US Intel Claims China Is Arming Terrorists In Iraq And Afghanistan, Via Iran

China, Russia Cop The Demonisation Treatment In American Mainstream Media

Monstrous Defence Budgets Always Require Monstrous Enemies

The fact that this story appears in "the Bush family's favourite newspaper", the Washington Times, doesn't make the claims that are raised factually true, or untrue. In reality, it's probably a bit of both.

But it does mean someone in the Pentagon, or the White House, wanted the so-called 'intelligence' on China arming terrorists who are trying to kill Americans to get out into the mainstream media, and to smack heavily onto the news desks of right-wing talkback radio and Fox News.

This is the latest chapter in the growing demonisation of China and her military plans fashioned for an American audience.

At the same time, Russia is also getting the demonisation treatment in the mainstream American media.

As the Bush administration loses further ground in Iraq, and it becomes all but impossible to claim that the troop "surge" is working, or needs more time to work, the media voices blaming Iran, Russia and China for America's problems in Iraq and Afghanistan will only get louder.

Such leaked 'intelligence' serves to not only fill news time and column inches that would otherwise be devoted to the horror of Iraq, or the ceaseless bad news about the Bush administration, but it creates a need in the minds of Americans that they must continue to spend stunning amounts of money on defence - an estimated $530 billion in the next twelve months alone.

That China, as one of the top five weapons and arms manufacturers in the world, is selling military product that eventually winds up in the hands of terrorists and insurgents is barely an issue at all.

The other key arms makers - Russia, France, the UK, Germany, Israel and the US - also sell their weapons of war in open markets across the planet that constantly infiltrated by middle men who see no problem selling weapons on to genocidal thugs in Africa, jihadist tribes in Afghanistan, or IED-planting insurgents in Iraq, and face little international restrictions when it comes to doing so.

The international sales and export of bombs, missiles and bullets and the means to deliver them into humans is the biggest legal industry in the world, worth more than a trillion dollars a year.

When it comes to filling the world with appallingly vicious weapons of war, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, who also happen to be the five biggest manufacturers of the weapons of war, are all as guilty as each other.

From the Washington Times :

New intelligence reveals China is covertly supplying large quantities of small arms and weapons to insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban militia in Afghanistan, through Iran.

U.S. government appeals to China to check some of the arms shipments in advance were met with stonewalling by Beijing, which insisted it knew nothing about the shipments and asked for additional intelligence on the transfers. The ploy has been used in the past by China to hide its arms-proliferation activities from the United States, according to U.S. officials with access to the intelligence reports.

Some arms were sent by aircraft directly from Chinese factories to Afghanistan and included large-caliber sniper rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and components for roadside bombs, as well as other small arms.

The Washington Times reported June 5 that Chinese-made HN-5 anti-aircraft missiles were being used by the Taliban.

According to the officials, the Iranians, in buying the arms, asked Chinese state-run suppliers to expedite the transfers and to remove serial numbers to prevent tracing their origin. China, for its part, offered to transport the weapons in order to prevent the weapons from being interdicted.

But here's the disclaimer, the double-cover :

The Bush administration has been trying to hide or downplay the intelligence reports to protect its pro-business policies toward China, and to continue to claim that China is helping the United States in the war on terrorism. U.S. officials have openly criticized Iran for the arms transfers but so far there has been no mention that China is a main supplier.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that the flow of Iranian arms to Afghanistan is "fairly substantial" and that it is likely taking place with the help of the Iranian government.

Defense officials are upset that Chinese weapons are being used to kill Americans. "Americans are being killed by Chinese-supplied weapons, with the full knowledge and understanding of Beijing where these weapons are going," one official said.

The arms shipments show that the idea that China is helping the United States in the war on terrorism is "utter nonsense," the official said.

Behind the demonisation of China over allegedly supplying weapons to terrorists are a ream of vastly under-reported financial and business-related stories.

The US wants China to devalue its currency, and to help wind back attempts by Iran and Russia to cease pricing its oil and energy in Euros, or other non-US currencies.

Bush himself said that China, and other Asian nations, must encourage its citizens to stop saving so much of their money, and start spending it, preferably on American goods and services, or even better, on American stocks and bonds.

But of course, those stories are nowhere near as exciting, or instantly infuriating, as hearing that China is supplying weapons that terrorists use to kill American soldiers.

War may break out one day between China and the US, probably over the independence of Taiwan, as many have long predicted.

But the trade war between China and the United States is already well underway. As readers of the history of World War I well know, the trade war always begins a few years before the military war fires up.

US Prepared For "Worst" With China As Military Tensions Increase

China, US To Hold 4th Strategic Dialogue In Washingon

China Objects To US Playing Up "China Threat", Warns US Not To Interfere On Taiwan

China Wants To End US Naval Dominance Of The Pacific

China Rejects US Pressure On Currency

Chinese Yuan Hits Highs As Currency Showdown With US Looms

Five Permanent Members Of UN Security Council To Spend More Than $1 Trillion On Weapons