It is not just President Biden who wants to trust the Taliban, so do the Russians. And Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has an inexhaustible appetite for negotiation, even if the outlook is about as bleak as it could be. Having demonstrated to the world that their word is not quite their bond, the Taliban, so … Continue reading Russia Tries Appeasing the Taliban

A sensational revelation appears today in the Russian government press. In the run-up to the surprise attack on the twin towers in New York at 9.00am on 11 September 2001 by various terrorists, including Saudis, deployed by Al-Qaeda, the Russian FSB - running the anti-terrorist units, Alfa and Vimpel set up under Yuri Andropov in … Continue reading Russia Attacked Al-Qaeda on 9/11

On the chessboard of the Near East and Central Asia the impact of the American pull-out from Afghanistan has confounded the Great Game played since the 1970s. All of a sudden those who thought they were in a strong and strengthening position have to reassess where they stand. Russia has most to lose with its … Continue reading Russia And Turkey Collaborate Closely On Afghanistan

It is extremely unusual for any country to see and hear the head of its foreign intelligence service interviewed for almost one hour twenty minutes on evening television. Russia has definitely scored a first here that his foreign counterparts are unlikely to imitate. Sergei Naryshkin, who trained and graduated from KGB school under the code … Continue reading Russian Foreign Intelligence Interview

Having undercut the bases established by the Trump administration to create and sustain US autarchy in the field of energy, the Biden administration then found to its surprise that oil prices are way out of control globally and naively turned to OPEC for its assistance in cutting those prices to help out the United States. … Continue reading Russia Notes American Weakness in Oil

One might innocently have supposed that the Russians would have welcomed any defeat or humiliation of the United States in whatever part of the globe one looked, however the coverage in Moscow is extraordinarily understanding and, indeed, dismayed at recent events. Even the hardline Vzglyad ru is not crowing too much at the American disaster, … Continue reading Russia Shocked At US Pull-Out From Kabul

Konstantin Remchukov, the chief editor of Nezavisimaya gazeta, the more moderate voice of government who deplored the crushing of the country's fledgling democracy with the imprisonment of the leader of the opposition, is, as an economist, someone one would expect to offer a cautious judgement on recent events. The editorial that appears today does just … Continue reading Afghanistan and the Geopolitical Consequences

The fall of Kabul to the scourge of the Taliban is not only a catastrophic humiliation for the United States that almost perfectly mirrors the great skedaddle from the rooftops of the US embassy in Saigon half a century ago; not only an abysmal reflection of a failed American policy to make a silk purse … Continue reading Biden’s Blunder and Russian Worries

US forces abandoned their main base in Afghanistan overnight without even telling their allies that they would be gone by morning so that they could at least secure the premises. Perhaps they were just too embarrassed to say goodbye. They did not even leave a key with the neighbours. Nothing significant the Democrats do ever … Continue reading Afghanistan Is Russia’s Problem Now

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