The New Great Game

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by whiteraven

 

Very good work. You must have dug deep in some old archive.
Thanks for all the hard work it is appreciated.

[edit on 9-6-2009 by SLAYER69]

Well no this is just a brief intro.

It gets way more twisted.

And in the end you have no idea who is the good guy or the bad guy.

Does not matter at that point...according to Kipling.

US Envoy Says Public Opinion Swings Against Taliban in Pakistan

The Obama administration's special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, says there is a backlash of Pakistani public opinion against the Taliban because of its attempted seizure of the Swat Valley and acts of terrorism. But Holbrooke says the needs of Pakistanis displaced in recent fighting must be urgently addressed.

Holbrooke, who visited Pakistan last week for a first-hand look at fighting-related humanitarian needs, says he observed a dramatic change in public opinion there because of what he called the "outrages" of the Taliban and their supporters.

www.timesonline.co.uk...


Don’t discount Israel pre-emptive strike, Hillary Clinton warns Iran

Mrs Clinton, interviewed on the ABC programme This Week a year after she conceded to Mr Obama in the Democratic primary race, said that it was US policy that a nuclear attack by Iran on Israel would be seen as an attack on the US.

They are already prepared for nuclear strike on Iran.

Here's another same-same tune:

www.presstv.ir...

Seattle warned of 'imminent' nuke attack

A US congressman has raised doubts over the country's capability to intercept long-range trans-Pacific strategic missiles once fired from 'rogue regimes'.

They gonna fly...

The Game rolls on

Gates Says U.S. Could Repel North Korean Missile

June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the emerging U.S. missile-defense system is capable of repelling an attack from North Korea should the reclusive regime ever threaten American territory.

Gates toured an 800-acre missile-defense complex at Fort Greely, Alaska, today and climbed down into a silo to inspect one of the 16 interceptor rockets now positioned at the base. The Pentagon chief stopped in Alaska on the way back from an Asia security conference in Singapore and a visit to the Philippines

reply to post by SLAYER69


Hi there, its been a while but as i had mentioned in my previous post the information is like trickling water from a broken tap. I am sure you beginning to see what i had mentioned is slowly taking form.

China donates cash to Colombia for clearing anti-personnel mines

BOGOTA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- China has donated 2 million yuan (about 300,000 U.S. dollars) to Colombia for clearing anti-personnel mines in the country, which killed hundreds of people in 2008,

Chinese Ambassador to Colombia Li Changhua said.

During a meeting with Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos, Li said the donation, which was delivered on Tuesday night, was to support the implementation of the presidential program of Integral Action Against Anti-personnel Mines in Colombia.

The Colombian government said in a statement on Wednesday that China stressed its support for Colombia to eliminate the threats of anti-personnel mines, forbidden by international conventions, and to promote social and economic development in mined areas.

"The Chinese government aims to contribute to the social and economic development in the regions affected by mines in Colombia, and shows its solidarity with all victims of this device," Li said.

Santos said the donation reflected the good relations between China and Colombia, and the solidarity between the two peoples.

news.xinhuanet.com...

There is a similar but more aggressive move as this post is being written in another south american country, but it just has not hit the news yet.

reply to post by tristar


Egypt's Mubarak says Obama has new approach to Islam

CAIRO (Reuters) - Barack Obama has presented a fresh understanding of Islam not shown by predecessors, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in his first interview since the U.S. president addressed the Muslim world from Cairo.

Obama called for a "new beginning" in ties between the United States and Muslims, many of whom felt targeted by the "war against terror" launched by former President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and his wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Yup it's starting to heat up again.


New attack rocks Pakistani city

At least one person has been killed and several injured in a suicide attack on Pakistani security forces in the troubled city of Peshawar, police say.

Officers said an attacker threw a grenade at a police checkpoint and the suicide bomber blew himself up.

reply to post by tristar

There is a similar but more aggressive move as this post is being written in another south american country, but it just has not hit the news yet.

Do you mean Chinese move, or the clashes between Incas (the so called natives) and the police and government troops in Peru?

Russians Outfox U.S. in Latest Great Game

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- One at a time the government's top critics seemed to go to jail, or simply disappear.

Syrgak Abdyldayev, a local journalist, began to investigate whether the attacks had anything to do with a team of Russian-speaking specialists who arrived last year to advise the Kyrgyz government. He published several scathing articles accusing the government of shunting aside its opponents and turning to Moscow for financial support, including one in February that likened Russian aid to "oxygen for a sinking submarine."

Then Mr. Abdyldayev became a victim. Three men attacked him with metal pipes as he left his newspaper one evening in March, broke both his arms, his ribs and a leg, and stabbed him 26 times in the buttocks.

Times are changing in Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous Central Asian republic that not long ago was a hoped-for springboard for Western-style democracy in the former Soviet Union.

The president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, has steered Kyrgyzstan sharply back into the orbit of Moscow. In January, Mr. Bakiyev jolted Washington by announcing he was evicting the U.S. from an air base that has been crucial to the supply of troops fighting in Afghanistan. And political freedom here, as in Russia, is in decline. The Kyrgyz and Russian governments deny any link to the attacks on Kyrgyz critics.

In the West, hopes were high that the global financial crisis would rein in Vladimir Putin's assertive foreign policy. But here, as in other parts of the former Soviet Union, hard times have had the opposite effect: The Russians are coming back.

Russia has been hit by the crisis, but remains far richer than its former satellites, and it has used its largess to regain clout near its borders, in what President Dmitry Medvedev calls the "zone of privileged interests."

"Basically Russia sees the crisis as an opportunity to increase its influence in the post-Soviet space," said Nikolai Zlobin, analyst for the Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C., who meets regularly with Russian officials. "They think this is the right time to act."

Moscow has already delivered more than $300 million of a $2.1 billion aid package to Kyrgyzstan it promised Mr. Bakiyev when he announced he was evicting U.S. troops from the base. That has helped the Kyrgyz government pay wages and pensions as Mr. Bakiyev competes in hastily called presidential elections in July.

Moscow lately considered extending a $5 billion loan to the cash-starved government in Ukraine, and has held talks on credits for Belarus and Armenia.

This week Mr. Putin stunned Western officials by announcing that Russia would pull its long-standing application to join the World Trade Organization, and instead form a trade block with neighboring Kazakstan and Belarus. Western officials say the move appears to be a pressure tactic by the Kremlin, which has been frustrated by the lengthy WTO application process.

Moscow's assertiveness poses a challenge to President Barack Obama as he vows to "reset" relations with Russia in the run-up to his first presidential visit to Moscow in July. Both the U.S. and Russia are praising a new level of cooperation on arms control and other issues. But they remain at odds over how much influence the other should exert in Russia's traditional backyard.

Con't at : Wall Street Journal

It seems Russia is slowly working its way south again.

A few weeks ago I saw the beginning of the unraveling as US influence wanes.

I posted that new partnerships were being formed and low and behold the truth is slowly leaking out.

If true this shows decline in US influence overseas.

This in turn creates a viscous cycle of less perceived influence, decoupling of old partnerships under US influence toward coupling of new partnerships without US influence.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The US dollar is not Russia’s basic reserve currency anymore. The euro-based share of reserve assets of Russia’s Central Bank increased to the level of 47.5 percent as of January 1, 2009 and exceeded the investments in dollar assets, which made up 41.5 percent, The Vedomosti newspaper wrote.






BREAKING NEWS

USA plans to encircle Russia with missiles and radars




Sunken Soviet submarine found at Baltic Sea
More...


The dollar has thus lost the status of the basic reserve currency for the Russian Central Bank, the annual report, which the bank provided to the State Duma, said.

english.pravda.ru...


As the US dollar weakens we will begin to see some bolder moves.

I hope people remember that President Obama and President Bush both sought the upper hand in this game in the best interests of the West.
[ornot]


[edit on 12-6-2009 by whiteraven]

Kazakhstan halts WTO talks to join together with Russia, Belarus

ASTANA, June 12 (RIA Novosti) - Kazakhstan has frozen WTO accession talks to pursue joint membership of the global trade body together with Russia and Belarus as part of their customs union, the Kazakh president said on Friday.

en.rian.ru...

Ahmadinejad to attend Shanghai group summit in Russia
MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will participate in this weekend's summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Russian deputy foreign minister said on Thursday.
en.rian.ru...

I don't remember when in history Russia was not in crisis. Russia is another name for crisis. Crisis is Russia's way of life. It feels best when in crisis...

So anyone who thinks that by creating a crisis with Russia involved, is going to win against Russia, is in deep delusion.

After Soviet Union fell apart, America was victorious. Lo now! Who is in crisis? The winner. America is trying to adapt to crisis, but it cannot. The West created a very big system which is losing its foothold. It is too expensive to maintain. It falls apart from inside. Patching it will not help. Enlargement of a system is not linear, it is geometrical. It quadruples and it needs quadrupled resources. Where from? One step ahead means four times larger volume.

The West is trying to force China into being a consumer par exellance, it is their only hope to maintain the existing competitive economic system. What if the Chinese are smarter than that? Who will have enough wealth and mass to consume products of the Western system? Not West. West only has debt to spend now.

There are alternative sources of energy. If Russia, China, India, Japan, decide to pull them out of drawers, oil will lose its importance. It could happen in a day and all premises of the Great Game will be changed.

That would be disastrous for the balance. Is West prepared to enter the state of levitation?

The cause of war could be just that. To prevent change of paradigm. I think this is more realistic than reserves of oil. West can also switch to new sources of energy, but it may lose the monopoly on energy.

The Great Game is in question now. Is it time to finish it, and start another Great Game? Geographical importance may lessen in this age of globalization.

Israel, if it feels like losing its position with Americans, may start a war to force America into a crisis of its own. That is also an option.

Who is really behind Israel? In any case, those guys in control are opportunists, which means Israel may easily switch sides if necessary and look for new patrons. The fact is, West is shrinking. East is growing.

And Israel is the epitome of "shrinkiness". It cannot shrink any more. It can easily change direction because of its small mass. Israel is the most dangerous point in the structure of Western system. Jews, in history, were the mobile factor. They still are.

The whole idea of building up forces in Afghanistan by Americans is a big mistake. Afghanistan is the Pit. It always was. Europe is barely present there and is very reluctant about the whole idea. Sending more forces to Afghanistan is a sign of weakness.

The whole circus that happened in Georgia tells me just one thing. Shakashwili did a great favor to Russia. He must be working for Putin. It is all a show. It all helped to define who is who in that region. NATO is not welcome there. It cannot establish roots in this region. NATO belongs to Atlantic region.

In 1941 Japan was literally lured to attack America. The same is happening now, only it is America that has been lured to stretch beyond its abilities.

The French are out of Iran. China has replaced it. It is in the interest of Russia to confront China and America in mid Asia. Russia will sit and watch. It has a secured position there.


American relation to China is ambivalent. Mass media talk about North Korea's nuclear weapons, but the real nuclear power and threat is China. Let's not be fooled with this.

That thought occured to me too about Japan . It isn't the North Koreans they are really worried about at all . It's China . Any Japanese moves towards going nuclear on the threat of an NK bomb that cannot reach them is just a pretext . If anything , the NK bomb tests suit Japan the most of any nation in that region . It is the ostensible raison d'etre for increased vigilence and general belligerence aimed at a pseudo threat and concealing it's intentions towards the real 'enemy' it is aimed at . It might allow Japan to feasibly start to request that US withdraw it's troops after 60 years , should Japan no longer seek to remain under the US's nuclear umbrella , if it is to pursue it's own nuclear deterrant . At least the NK event allows Japan to start to pursue these options if they chose too.

They know how the US is beholding towards China , and they saw how the US helped ( or didn't) out it's ally Georgia . They may think they need their own deterrant , and this opportunity gives them the window to do that .

[edit on 12-6-2009 by Drexl]

Reply to Danger Death

The whole circus that happened in Georgia tells me just one thing. Shakashwili did a great favor to Russia. He must be working for Putin. It is all a show. It all helped to define who is who in that region. NATO is not welcome there. It cannot establish roots in this region. NATO belongs to Atlantic region.

lol

I remember the tv news shot of him chewing his tie. lol

Good post.

The leverage behind the changing of partnerships lies in what?

They understand that if they shuffle the deck it will probably lead to WW Three...or worse.

Unless Obama is able to convince everybody to stand down and take it in the butt.

A lot of our manufactures are geared up for this present system....if a new system is developing that takes into question the Great Game itself what type of system is it.

I do not see any one system winning out although I find it very interesting on how you have observed the once very slow and now alarmingly fast transition of power from West to East.

I think if you look at the two most recent wars in the East.....Korea and Nam...the first it was a stalemate....the second was a loss.

So from that standpoint you can measure the resolve and focus of the nation, which is what war comes down too in the end. This resolve is one reason war never ends...another topic. (Do you think Japan really feel that they lost WW Two?...ever ask one?)



The resolve of the East is, was, and is now well known. Ask any vet who fought the Japanese, the North Koreans or the Viet Cong.


Korea showed the stalemate in power....resulting in the DMZ and a "no fire" policy unless you look at the Tree War then the whole thing becomes mute..lol

Nam shows the shift in power from the West (US) toward the East with victory which was declared in Paris (former superpower and Nam was once Frances playground) and we then saw the Nixon crew all crumble, some went to jail (not Kissinger), Ford comes in to stabilize a nation that just lost a war and a President, everyone settles down for a while, licks their wounds and now we are seeing the next phase in the East West balance...the dominance of the East.

Putin is now the King in Russia...again... and Obama is the King on the other side. Who runs China..or is that a ancient Chinese Secret? India is a tiger. Pakistan is a viper.

The great game is still on.



[edit on 12-6-2009 by whiteraven]

The Great Game is in question now. Is it time to finish it, and start another Great Game? Geographical importance may lessen in this age of globalization.

Sounds like Rummy' Neocon talk.

Geographical importance is now more important as we see natural resources become very limited.

The United States of America cannot sustain their way of life with the natural resources on their land. They need to control the resources from around the world...hence Granddaddy Bush saying "the American way of life is not on the bargaining table.." or something like that back in the 1990's around Gulf One.

Russia has even taken up the ancient British practice of flag planting by planting a flag up in the Artic, under the ice at the bottom of what they consider to be the very last bit of the Russian land....which is North and then a little South from me...lol

I do see your point concerning globalization...in the way that we can communicate instantly.

The thing that scares me about instant communication is back in the day before a message was sent...so to speak...you have the idea or archtype of these old Churchill type guys getting together and coming up with some message for the Russians, it is well thought out, argued, measured, weighed and then measured again.

Now we have President Obama with a Blackberry.

We gotta hope he has a teleprompter handy if he is ever text messageing Putin. lol

By the way George Bush is going to jump from a plane today...he is 85 years old today.

Of course the first time he did that he was shot down by the Japanese.

reply to post by whiteraven

So from that standpoint you can measure the resolve and focus of the nation, which is what war comes down too in the end. This resolve is one reason war never ends...another topic. (Do you think Japan really feel that they lost WW Two?...ever ask one?)

What I know. from history of course, is that countries with oppressive systems (Germany, Japan, Vietnam) were more easily enduring calamities of war as long as they had resources to fight it. Oppressive system forces people into the machinery of war. But this might be a stereotype, because most states are very oppressive. It is all about how easily they force people into obedience. And the nature of the war, of course, is important. It easier to fight a "just" war.

The war between Iraq and Iran depended on weaponry, which were provided to Iraq in sufficient quantity to prevent Iran to succeed by mass murdering its youth. That was the dirtiest war in the last half century. It helped Iranian revolution to establish roots. Huge brainwashing is taking place in many of the countries involved in this Great Game.

But the real cause of Iraq war against Iran was the political borders established by the British, which gave Iraq insufficient coastline. Kuwait is an Iraqi tribe, nevertheless it was made independent. Iraq tried at first to gain some coast from Iran, and then from Kuwait. Now they have nothing at all. They're occupied. So the decolonization after WW II has been effectively revised in this place. And who knows what will come out from the present situation in Pakistan.

This kind of change (more efficient dictatorial system) may be happening in America. America now has professional army which is of high quality but few in numbers. Any serious resistance to them would be very costly to America. Cannon fodder is much cheaper than sophisticated weaponry. Asia is all about numbers, for now. So, some predict revival of military draft in America, and conditions for that are pretty ripe. Economic crisis is favorable for this kind of policy.

I've heard that Japanese very much understand that they've lost the war. Perhaps it's also a relief to most of them.

reply to post by whiteraven

I think if you look at the two most recent wars in the East.....Korea and Nam...the first it was a stalemate....the second was a loss.

If you remember, in North Korea it was a stalemate because millions of Chinese fought on their side.

reply to post by whiteraven

Now we have President Obama with a Blackberry.

Yep. This is what I mean - the new paradigm is a new technological revolution which is quietly happening. American way of life, I'm afraid it has already changed.

New technologies tend to be practically invisible. Those are nano-technologies. How it will go with replacing old technologies with the new ones I don't know exactly. But cybernetics on the molecular level applied to people does mean a huge shift in appreciation of natural resources. Oil may lose its importance in the favor of other materials. Except, that "carbon" technology will also be important, but how much in quantity, since it's about Carbon Nano Tubes, which are of microscopic dimensions. "Carbon tax", to me, also smells of this rather than about ecology.

The PTB are extremely secretive about new technologies, I'm sure everyone will agree with this. We were flooded with electronic revolution, but right now I think it is used as a cover up for some more significant shift in technology. But it is not mentioned.

If they push this agenda of chipping people, then the doors are open for genetic manipulation too. Chemical manipulation is now all present. Food has been altered and fully controlled. Not just production, but also its effect on people. Viruses - who knows? They may easily make combination of nano technology and viruses. They are already making cyborgs from insects. I think this is going to be a real science fiction world before we realize the full impact of it. This is what scares me a lot more than some possible nuclear fallout. How does one live in a world like this? Maybe it is better to be scorched than be manipulated in such undetectable, sophisticated ways that are now at the disposal of those irresponsible people?

reply to post by DangerDeath


Yes of course...

MacArthur had driven the Koreans back and was bombing the Chinese runways...Truman fired him.

In the beginning the Soviet's had the North and the US had the South. The pinninsula was divided up by Dean Rusk on a National Geographic map.

The north Koreans got to keep some Japanese prisoners of war (poor guys) and the South got to keep some. (poor guys again)

Anyhow the 6-25 war as it is called in the South was sort of a civil war until the US stepped in.

Then of course China stepped in to free North korea against the Americans.

It devolved into a WW 1 kind of war with nobody winning.


Your viewpoint on Iraq and Iran war was very illuminating to me. star.





[edit on 12-6-2009 by whiteraven]

reply to post by DangerDeath

Yep. This is what I mean - the new paradigm is a new technological revolution which is quietly happening. American way of life, I'm afraid it has already changed.

I agree.

The whole robotic insect thing is sort of cool unless you have a horde of ants armed with some wierd biotoxin sneeking into your house at night.

Gives pest control a whole new meaning. lol

I think MIT is really intensely looking at the robot insect thing.

My greatest fear is that we begin to loose control and fear sets in as we enter into this new age.

The last time the deck was shuffled was WW2.