In this issue:

Russian Monthly Features LaRouche as Major Presidential Candidate

Russia Calls for Urgent Action in Middle East

U.S. Will Meet Moscow Accord Levels for Nuclear Arsenal

Russia: 'Connecting Link' Between Europe and Asia

Russian Entrepreneurs Hold Conference on Asia-Pacific

Moscow and Beijing Will Intensify Cooperation

From Volume 3, Issue Number 13 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Mar. 30, 2004
Russia and the CIS News Digest

Russian Monthly Features LaRouche as Major Presidential Candidate

The March issue of the Russian monthly Valyutny Spekulyant (Currency Dealer) carried a three-page feature on the U.S. Presidential campaign, which compared the economic platforms of the Democratic Party candidates. Issued mid-month, the magazine went to press just before Super Tuesday. It highlighted as the three major candidates, John Kerry, John Edwards, and Lyndon LaRouche. About LaRouche, Valyutny Spekulyant wrote, "The press says practically nothing about the program of another person seeking the Democratic nomination, Lyndon LaRouche. Yet he has the most consistent plan for developing the U.S. economy." It goes on to cite LaRouche's "Super-TVA" perspective, and to quote him on the need to roll back 35 years of bad decisions since the move to a floating-exchange-rate system and global "free trade."

Following the (then) three major candidates is one column on the "tailists"—those "who have no chance to win, but are continuing to campaign"—Kucinich and Sharpton. The last page notes some policy points on economics (or their lack) among drop-outs Dean, Lieberman, and Clark, then concludes by observing how unfortunate it would be, if U.S. voters chose their candidate on the basis of appearance, rather than policy content.

The article quotes material from EIR's "Where They Stand" series on the Democratic candidates. In the same issue of Valyutny Spekulyant is the translation of an EIR article by Paul Gallagher on the crash of the dollar, accompanied by a box excerpting LaRouche's 2000 article "Trade Without Currency: On the Question of a Basket of Commodities," as the central concept needed for a New Bretton Woods, and referring readers to the full text on the EIR Russian-language web pages.

Russia Calls for Urgent Action in Middle East

Russia has spoken in favor of the UN Security Council uniform action to deal with the recent escalation of tensions in the Middle East, following the assassination by Israel of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov told Itar-TASS March 26. Commenting on the U.S. veto of the UNSC resolution condemning the assassination of Yassin, Fedotov said, "We regret the failure to reach consensus at the UN Security Council in connection with the dangerous outbreak of violence in the Middle East.... We think this resolution has a sufficiently balanced character and appeal for it to reflect the positions of all Security Council members."

The Russian State Duma passed a statement on the assassination, declaring that "the operation to eliminate [Yassin] carried out by Israel will obviously trigger new bloodshed in the region and endanger the entire process to peacefully settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." The statement went on to say that "the lawful striving of Israel to defend its citizens cannot be the reason for physical reprisals and the use of missiles in densely populated areas." The statement passed by a vote of 317 to 5.

Noting that the draft resolution had "underlined that the sides should fulfill their commitments under the Road Map plan and cooperate with the four international mediators for the Middle East settlement in order to continue the peace process," Fedotov went on to call for "urgent measures ... to prevent a new outbreak of violence and terror, and the Four [Russia, the United States, the UN and the European Union] are required to play an important part here."

U.S. Will Meet Moscow Accord Levels for Nuclear Arsenal

In testimony given March 25, U.S. Under Secretary of Energy Linton Brooks told the Senate Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, that United States is not going to cut its nuclear arsenal to the level of the Moscow Accord, because of the uncertain future and unknown level of risk. The accord, which was signed in May 2002 with great fanfare, called for both the USA and Russia to reduce their strategic nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by the year 2012. "In particular, sufficient warheads will be retained to augment the operationally deployed force in the event that world events would require a more robust deterrent posture, Brooks stated."

The announcement was made at a time when the Bush Administration is pushing for mini-nukes and is parading utopian experts that praise the use of nuclear weapons to destroy chemical and biological weapons.

Russia: 'Connecting Link' Between Europe and Asia

The Russian Ambassador to Thailand, Yevgeni Ostrovenko presented a speech on Russian Foreign Policy in 2000-2004: perspectives and outcomes for Asia, at Chulalongkorn University's Centre for European Studies on March 9, Bangkok's The Nation reported March 24. "Russia plays a vital role as the connecting link between East and West," Ostrovenko said, "determined by the unique geopolitical position of our country at the junction of the East and West, of Europe and Asia, to both of which Russia belongs, and of the Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist worlds. Former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov once said: 'We presume that without a strong policy in the East, there can be no effective policy in the West.' Such understanding has become, in the last four years, the cornerstone for a substantial intensification of Russia's Asia policy. This dynamic continent is becoming a powerful centre of financial and economic activities."

After reviewing Russia's increasing role with several Asian associations, he pointed to the exchange of visits by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Thaksin, saying: "Russo-Thai relations have reached the level of a strategic partnership."

Russian Entrepreneurs Hold Conference on Asia-Pacific

Russia's role between East and West was also the subject of a Moscow conference held March 23 by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE) and the Russian Academy of Business and Entrepreneurship, titled, "Russia and the Asia-Pacific Region: New Horizons of Cooperation." There RUIE Vice President Victor Domrovsky noted that 47% of Russia's trade is with Asia. Rosbalt.ru reports that the conference undertook to analyze the impact of developing transportation and energy infrastructure in the region. Another speaker was Natalya Narochnitskaya, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Foreign Policy (from the Rodina bloc), who said that Russia represents an indispensable element for relations between Eastern and Western civilizations. Narochnitskaya added that "the positioning of Russia as a Eurasian power does not signify a refusal to cooperate with Europe and America."

Moscow and Beijing Will Intensify Cooperation

More collaboration between Russia and China in the international arena was subject of a March 19 phone call between Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Li Zhaoxing, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. They discussed "topical bilateral and international issues within the context of upcoming high-level contacts," the announcement said. The previous day, Lavrov met in Moscow with an envoy of the Chinese government, First Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.

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