NATO: NATO expansion no threat to Russia!

Just as its name NATO reflects no reality so does its rhetorical response to Russian claims. Of course NATO expansion is a threat to Russia. The whole idea is to surround Russia and contain its influence. The strategy is fraught with the danger of renewing Cold War conflict and in the case of Georgia this is exactly what it has done. The West has promoted and subsidised different color revolutions in Georgia and the Ukraine. The Orange revolution in Ukraine has gone rotten and the former leader and president of the Ukraine polled a miserable six percent and his fiery rival looks to have been defeated by a pro-Russian candidate for president.


Russian doctrine does not reflect real world: NATO
By David Brunnstrom David Brunnstrom
MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – NATO said on Saturday a new Russian military doctrine identifying NATO expansion as a threat did not reflect the real world and undermined efforts to improve ties between the Western military alliance and Moscow.

Russia was angered by NATO expansion to include former Warsaw Pact states after the collapse of the Soviet Union and was particularly incensed by the alliance's promise of eventual membership to Georgia and Ukraine, former Soviet republics Moscow still considers part of its sphere of influence.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved the new military doctrine on Friday.

"I have to say that this new doctrine does not reflect the real world ... NATO is not an enemy of Russia," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich.

"It does not reflect realities and it is in clear contradiction with all our endeavors to improve the relationship between NATO and Russia."

The doctrine identifies one of the "main external threats of war" as NATO's expansion east to Russia's borders, and sees U.S. plans to create an anti-missile shield in Europe as a concern for national security.

Rasmussen said NATO was keen to develop a strategic partnership with Russia and to expand cooperation in Afghanistan, where the two sides share security concerns.

He said he would stress these issues in a meeting in Munich with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"I have urged Russia to step up their engagement in Afghanistan. I have presented proposals to the Russians when I visited Moscow in December as to how they could further their engagement," Rasmussen said.

"I think Russia and we share the same interests in success in Afghanistan."

LIMITS TO COOPERATION

Russia has agreed to allow land transit of non-lethal NATO supplies to Afghanistan and pledged to do all it can to help the alliance's troubled Afghan effort, short of sending troops.

However on his December visit to Moscow, Rasmussen failed to get immediate firm pledges of additional assistance for Afghanistan, including expanded transit options, helicopters and more support for training Afghan security forces.

During that trip Rasmussen rebuffed the Kremlin's call for new defense arrangements in Europe, saying he saw no need for a new security treaty proposed by Russia.

Medvedev published a draft post-Cold War security pact on November 29, saying it could replace NATO and other institutions and restrict the ability of any country to use force unilaterally.

NATO countries have reacted skeptically, seeing the Russian plan as an attempt to divide the alliance and saying that the existing Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is the right place to discuss security issues.

Rasmussen inherited an extremely strained relationship with Russia when he took over at NATO from Jaap de Hoop Scheffer last year and has made improving ties with Moscow a priority, stressing shared global security worries.

NATO froze ties with Moscow over Russia's 2008 intervention in Georgia and has only gradually resumed formal contacts.

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Child Porno and Ukraine politics

Part of this may be politically motivated but there also seems hard evidence of wrongdoing by some. Sex scandals in politics seem to be becoming globalised as with everything else! This is from kyivpost.


Parliamentarians, others implicated in escalating child sex abuse scandal15 October, 21:33 Staff reports, Kyiv Post



Some of the alleged child abuse tookplace at Artek, a popular Soviet-eracamp in Crimea.
Suspects from Tymoshenko camp say charges are untrue.
(Kyiv Post Staff) - Three parliament deputies are implicated in an escalating child sex-abuse scandal, while the father of two children allegedly victimized has been arrested as the main suspect in the case. At least two of the lawmakers have publicly denied the accusations.
Dmytro Polyukhovych, a journalist from ICTV television channel and a contributor to the respected Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper, was detained two months ago and remains in custody on court orders, according to prosecutors. He is the key suspect in the criminal case, which commenced in May.
Three parliamentarians from the Bloc of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are also named as accomplices, as well as officials from Artek, a popular children’s camp on the Crimean peninsula, and a priest.
“This is inexpressible horror. The children pointed to everyone who is publicly mentioned. They told us the details and are ready to identify [them], even by their sexual organs,” said Tetyana Montian, the lawyer handling the case on behalf of the children and their mother since April.
The mother of two children told authorities that the minors had accused their adopted father, Polyukhovych, of raping them many times, starting three years ago in Artek. They said their adoptive father had accomplices and that the assaults were videotaped.
Police this week confirmed some details of the case, and said they had restored 32,000 pornographic images and video clips on Polyukhovych’s home computer after his detention. Police also found that he sold some of this information to porn websites and received payment to an Internet-based account. He also allegedly ran a website offering sexual services with children.
Victoria Belova, spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, confirmed these and other details in the case. She said that the evidence against the main suspect is so strong that “he won’t be able to wiggle out of this one.”
The gruesome details were spelled out in an Oct. 7 letter by parliamentarian Hryhoriy Omelchenko to President Victor Yushchenko. The letter was leaked to the press. Omelchenko confirmed the documents’ authenticity to the Kyiv Post.
“The children were systematically raped in the last three years. There are assessments by psychologists, who checked the truthfulness of the children’s and their mother’s statements with the help of a lie detector test. There wasn’t a single answer where experts could say they’re not telling the truth,” Omelchenko said.
According to his letter, the children also named parliament deputy Victor Ukolov, and a priest, as those adults who “took part in rape and group orgies.” Also named were officials from the Artek camp.
On Oct. 15, Ukolov denied involvement in his personal blog on the Ukrainska Pravda news portal, and insisted described efforts to incriminate him as part of a politically-motivated attack. But he also said he has already fled Kyiv. “I have left Kyiv. I am staying in a faraway village, trying to understand where my mistake was,” he wrote.
According to the blog, Ukolov knew Polyukhovych and admitted to helping him in May by providing $2,000 to hire a lawyer. But later, when he learned more about the alleged incident, Ukolov said he halted all assistance. He said he now “wishes a fair trial and punishment” for Polyukhovych.
“I don’t see what I could have done differently,” Ukolov wrote. “Possibly, I could have called [the mother of children]. As far as the rest is concerned, my conscience is clear.”
Montian said the children described how other children, poorly dressed, were singled out in the camp as victims. She said the kids could have been orphans from boarding schools.
She also said two other Tymoshenko camp lawmakers were singled out by name. “These surnames were named to me by the children,” she told the Kyiv Post. One of them said he was going to sue the children’s mother for spreading untruthful information about him.
“Yesterday I laughed at this whole situation because it’s too absurd to be taken seriously,” Serhiy Teriokhin, one of the lawmakers accused, told Ukrainski Novyny news agency on Oct. 15. The lawmakers implicated insist that the case is fabricated and politically motivated. Ukolov, who until recently was in charge of advertising for the prime minister’s presidential campaign, said he was quitting politics to avoid more smear campaigns.
“Just think about it – we’re electing a president of the state, but instead of discussing development programs and candidates’ achievements in the past we’re having to chew the fictitious shit thrown at us by the Party of the Regions,” Ukolov wrote in his blog, referring to the initial Oct. 12 accusations made against him and colleagues by Vadim Kolesnichenko, member of the Regions party led by presidential candidate Victor Yanukovych.
“This is a well prepared and planned provocation against our political force. It was planned by the president’s office and by the Regions party,” said Andriy Kozhemyakin, a Tymoshenko lawmaker.
But Omelchenko was a Tymoshenko bloc deputy until Oct. 14. He quit because of the scandal. He said he has also been warned to make sure the mother and children are protected, otherwise “something can be done to influence their minds or eyesight so they cannot identify the rapists,” he said.
There are also fears that the deputies’ names were leaked to the press to allow them to escape justice. “Ukolov? They say he’s already in hiding,” Montian said. “His brother is not picking up the phone. I think we are unlikely to see him, just like [Victor] Lozinsky,” a former Tymoshenko bloc lawmaker in hiding after being accused earlier this year of murder in Kirovohrad Oblast.

Ukraine: Is Parliament dissolved or not dissolved?

Doesn't the Ukraine have a Supreme Court? They could refer the matter to the Supreme Court and by the time it decided the government's term would have expired anyway!


Ukraine PM defies presidential decree to dissolve parliament - 1
15:28 | 03/ 04/ 2007



(adds details throughout)

KIEV, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's government and parliament will continue their regular work despite the current political crisis, the prime minister said Tuesday.

President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree Monday disbanding the parliament and calling for new legislative elections, promising they will be held in line with the Constitution and scheduling them for May 27.

"We have to wait until the decision of the Constitutional Court on the legitimacy of the presidential decree has been made," Viktor Yanukovych said at an extraordinary meeting of parliament. "Meanwhile, the Supreme Rada and the government will continue their regular work."

Yanukovych said Tuesday the Ukrainian leader's dismissal of parliament was an attempt to seize power in the country.

"We can only conclude that the presidential decree on the dissolution of parliament is aimed at usurping power, because it disbands a legitimately elected parliament," Yanukovych said during an extraordinary meeting of the Supreme Rada.

Ukraine's latest political crisis was triggered by the defection of 11 opposition members of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine and the Tymoshenko Bloc to the majority coalition March 23.

The Ukrainian president said Tuesday he will sign a decree canceling the government's latest resolutions supporting parliament in its standoff with the head of state.

"Today I will sign a decree on the cancellation of the government resolutions adopted yesterday in accordance with these Supreme Rada resolutions," Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko has accused the majority coalition, led by Yanukovych, of trying to expand its power base through unconstitutional means, notably by welcoming defecting lawmakers. By law, only entire factions can join the ruling coalition.

Despite the presidential decree, the Supreme Rada decided not to cancel its meeting and adopted a number of resolutions Monday night.

In its address to the nation, it said the president had no justification to dissolve the body.

During an emergency government meeting last night, Yanukovych said Yushchenko should cancel the order and sit down at the negotiating table.

On Monday, Yushchenko held consultations with the Rada speaker and faction leaders, following which he broadcast his dissolution order in a televised address to the Ukrainian nation.

The latest reports said that coalition supporters are converging on the Supreme Rada building in Kiev, where they intend to protect parliamentarians from "orange" forces, Ukraine's Channel 5 reported Tuesday.

Yushchenko met Tuesday with the leadership of security agencies, and said military force should be ruled out in the current conflict.

"I address you as leaders commanding tens of thousands of armed personnel. The conflict we have is political, and politicians should resolve conflicts by political means," he said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday Russia calls on Ukrainian political forces to compromise and hopes the situation in the country will remain within the legal framework.

"Russia is following developments in Ukraine with attention and concern. We hope it will not go beyond the country's legal framework," the ministry said.

Rada Speaker Oleksandr Moroz said Tuesday Yuschenko will meet with Yanukovych at 11:00 a.m. GMT to discuss the political crisis following the president's decree on parliament's dissolution.

The leader of the faction of the Party of Regions, Raisa Bogatyryova, said Tuesday parliament's coalition has filed a representation with the Constitutional Court on whether the presidential decree to dismiss parliament was legal.

She said the court will work 24 hours a day and its ruling is expected in five days' time.

Asked whether the coalition will implement any ruling of the court, Bogatyryova said: "I can't comment on a nonexistent court ruling. Depending on what it is, we will make our decision."

The European Commission has called on Ukraine to settle the political situation by peaceful means.