Russia and the CIS News Digest
Medvedev Provides Explanation of Protectionism
Nov. 24 (EIRNS)At a press conference in Lima, Peru, after the meeting of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), Russian President Dmitri Medvedev made the following statement (as posted today on the Kremlin website) in response to the question, "Will Russia follow the APEC recommendations about halting protectionist policies for at least a year?":
"That is a delicate question. I still have in my pocket a sheet of paper, which I brought from Washington. There are four points listed on it. The last one is 'rejection of protectionism.' Why do I mention that? Because where rejection of protectionism ends and the defense of one's own producers begins, is a question of taste and measure, of that is adequate in one situation or another, because all countries today agree that we should give up crude protectionism, which would damage the world economy and the world financial system. At the same time, not a single country, not a single head of state, will ever be so bold as to state that they will never act to defend their own producers, their own real sector.
"Therefore, measures taken to defend one's own producers and production, industry, the real sector, need to be sensible and adequate. But what those measures are, is a decision for each nation to make in its own way. Therefore, I don't think we have to see some kind of contradiction here. I think this just has to be determined, depending on the specific situation in the market of one country or another. For our part, we have assumed the obligation not to indulge in protectionism such as I just mentioned. But, of course, we shall do what we need to do, in order to protect our real sector, and help it, by providing supplementary credits, and some other measures which may be justified."
LaRouche Is on the Minds of Russians Debating the Financial Crisis
Nov. 26 (EIRNS)When radical Mont Pelerin Society follower Andrei Illarionov, formerly an economics advisor to the President of Russia, gave a written online interview to readers of the business daily Kommersant over several days last week, one of the first questions put to him was, "Do you think the world financial crisis is becoming an economic one, how effective are the measures taken by governments so far, and what do you think of Lyndon LaRouche's proposals for getting out of this crisis?" Claiming not to be familiar with LaRouche's policies, the Cato Institute-affiliated Illarionov replied that governments should leave people alone and do nothing.
In another widely circulated article, nationalist commentator Maxim Kalashnikov wrote this week that the least auspicious sign about the economics team named by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, is that "it includes no representatives of Lyndon LaRouche's school of Physical Economy." Kalashnikov has noted that "LaRouche was right," in several of his recent writings in the weekly Zavtra and elsewhere.
LaRouche's current articles and speeches on the British Empire, the American "credit system" model vs. British monetarism, and related policy contingencies, are the subject of intensethough not always well-informeddebate in numerous Russian online forums and blogs.
Russia Appears To Welcome Rice's Message
Nov. 29 (EIRNS)In reply to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's statement Nov. 26 that there was no need for any discussion of extending NATO membership to Georgia and Ukraine at this time, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Russia is fully prepared to move forward with the Russia-NATO Council dialogue, as soon as NATO wishes, according to RIA Novosti.
Mayor of North Ossetian Capital Assassinated
Nov. 26 (EIRNS)At the top of the news in Russia today is the assassination of Vitali Karayev, mayor of Vladikavkaz, who was mortally wounded by a sniper's single bullet as he left his house this morning, and died in the hospital a few minutes later. Vladikavkaz is the capital of North Ossetia, the Russian North Caucasus autonomous republic bordering South Ossetia, the former district of Georgia whose independence Russia recognized after the Georgia-initiated war there last Summer.
On Oct. 22, the deputy mayor of Vladikavkaz was injured in a car bombing, and earlier this month, 11 people died when a suicide bomber attacked a bus in the city. President Dmitri Medvedev, currently on a state visit in Brazil, ordered a high-level investigation, which was immediately launched under the prosecutor general's Office agencies for the Southern Federal District.
There were no obvious motives for killing Karayev, who was known as being efficient and non-corrupt. A shaken Taymuraz Mamsurov, president of North Ossetia, said on television that he sees the murder as "a challenge by forces who want to destabilize the situation in North Ossetia," going no further than to allude to "criminal elements."
On Nov. 25, Lyubov Drozdova, chief judge in the Samara Region (on the Volga), was attacked with automatic weapons fire as she entered her car. She is fighting for her life, with bullet wounds to the abdomen. The Prosecutor General's Office is investigating that assassination attempt, as well.
Soros's Saakashvili Finds His Usefulness Is Running Out
Nov. 28 (EIRNS)Georgian President Mikhail Saaskashvili, a puppet of British asset George Soros, ordered the armed invasion of South Ossetia on the night of Aug. 7, in an attempted bluff against Russia which was launched under the direction of Soros's superiors in the British Foreign Office of Lord Mark Malloch-Brown. The Russian leadership called Britain's bluff, and won that round. Now the knives are out for Saakashvili.
On the fifth anniversary of the Soros-financed Rose Revolution which brought Saakashvili to power, former Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze, a leader in the original Rose Revolution, celebrated that anniversary by announcing on Nov. 23 the formation of a new opposition party, the Democratic Movement-United Georgia.
On Nov. 25, another former key figure in the Rose Revolution, who served as Saakashvili's Ambassador to Russia until September 2008, Erosi Kitsmarishvili, testified before Georgian parliamentary hearings on the South Ossetia war, that Saakashvili and his inner clique were responsible for starting the war, and had planned their invasion months before, in the mistaken conviction that they had a green light from the United States to do so. His testimony was televised, and Saakashvili today had to appear before the hearings to answer questions about Kitsmarishvili's charges.
Stories are being put out that Saaksashvili and Co. are sending money out of the country and preparing to flee, and Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitri Rogozin, told Vesti television that Saakashvili is well aware that his days as President are numbered, saying that Washington has prepared another leader for Georgia.
"Musical chairs," Lyndon LaRouche commented on the story.
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