The European Union Times |
- Brazil to pass anti-spy bill in victory for net neutrality
- Ukraine seeks to stage military drills with NATO
- DoD Military Training to ‘Scare People’ in Florida
- Albuquerque hit by protests after police executes Homeless Man for Camping
- American astronomer discovers Earth-like Red Dwarf planet
- Hunt begins to find black boxes for doomed Flight MH370
- Obama’s Worried Manhattan Will Get Nuked
- Kenyan parliament legalizes polygamy marriage
- China demands end to US spying activities after new Snowden leak
- Russia to change its economic partners after US-EU sanctions
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Posted: 26 Mar 2014 03:29 PM PDT
 Brazil has scored big for net neutrality after its lower house of Congress approved a groundbreaking post-Snowden bill that protects its users’ privacy rights, albeit with some sacrifices. The measure did not go as smoothly as could have. To ensure success, President Dilma Rousseff had to let it through at the cost of allowing companies such as Google and Facebook to store user information outside Brazil’s servers. However, other provisions, which ensured that internet providers gave equal privileges to all web traffic, were left in place. This went ahead despite contrary pleas by big local phone carriers who wanted to continue charging users higher prices for separate content, such as video streaming or Skype-like services. In return for allowing Google and Facebook the freedom not to be bound by Brazilian servers, where local user information was concerned, the bill gets to strengthen legal oversight and punishment for companies not respecting local laws when storing Brazilian user data internationally. If any transgressions are detected, or data is not made available to law enforcement on request, a company would have to pay a fine equal to 10 percent of its annual earnings from the year before. Proponents of the Marco Civil bill, which has been dubbed the country’s Internet Constitution, say that it protects Brazilians’ internet freedoms, while setting limits on how their metadata is gathered by multinational internet companies. And Brazilians are avid Google users – over 92 percent of them use the service monthly, according to Bloomberg. The bill must now go to the upper chamber, and then requires President Dilma Rousseff’s signature to become law. If it passes, Brazil will join Chile, the Netherlands and Slovenia among the countries that have pushed through net neutrality laws, Reagan McDonald, European policy manager at Access, told Bloomberg. It will also make Brazil the leader among large countries that fought for the principle. The root of the law dates back to the aftermath of the Edward Snowden revelations detailing the NSA’s worldwide program of mining user data from international servers belonging to search giants and other companies. Rousseff has been very vocal in her opposition to US surveillance practices after it emerged towards the end of last year that the NSA had infiltrated state-run oil giant Petrobras. The US spy agency even managed to hack into Rousseff’s own e-mail account, according to classified cables obtained by American journalist Glen Greenwald and published by Brazilian newspaper O Globo. EU leaders are also sympathetic towards Rousseff’s position. According to cables, it emerged that the NSA had also been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal telephone calls, and other EU institutions. Rousseff moved quickly in October to get the bill passed urgently and to require that multinational companies store information on Brazilian servers, but they complained it would drive up their costs and inhibit the free flow of information. Other opponents of the measure to store information locally included those who believe it would be more vulnerable to hacker attacks than if it were stored on data centers abroad. Rousseff then caved in and allowed for the information to be stored in data centers, while pushing for compliance with Brazilian privacy laws. There is one remaining problem to sort out, and that is how the law would be enforced where companies not based in Brazil are concerned. The legislation doesn’t have international jurisdiction and can only make Facebook or Google comply if they don’t remove information after a libel case; but court orders to comply simply on request are still not mentioned in the text of the bill. Source           |
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Posted: 26 Mar 2014 03:19 PM PDT
 Ukraine Su-25 flies below a passenger aircraft during military exercises near capital, Kiev.Turchynov said Ukraine is willing to conduct two sets of joint military drills with the US this summer, according to news reports on Wednesday. He added that Kiev also plans an additional exercise with NATO member, Poland, as well as a joint ground operation with Moldova and Romania. Turchynov’s request from parliament came after Russia’s military chief of staff General Valery Gerasimov announced that his forces are now in complete control of all military bases that Ukraine had in the Black Sea region of Crimea. Turchynov’s request, if approved, would bring US and European Union (EU) troops into close proximity with the Russian military in Crimea. Earlier last week, NATO member states and their partner nations, including Ukraine, began two weeks of military exercises at the Novo Selo training facility in eastern Bulgaria. US Army’s Europe spokesperson, Jesse Granger, said the drills were planned before the renewed tensions between Russia and the West, and that they aimed at increasing regional flexibility, preserving and enhancing NATO interoperability, and facilitating multinational training. Tensions between the Western powers and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which nearly 97 percent of Crimeans voted for union with Russia. Source      |
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Posted: 26 Mar 2014 02:44 PM PDT
 The Department of Defense is conducting military training in Broward County this week, with exercises involving low flying helicopters that will ‘scare the cr*p out of people’, according to one local reporter. After residents in downtown Fort Lauderdale began reporting low flying military helicopters last night at around 8pm, news reports emerged hours later containing details of a DoD training drill that would be taking place from March 24-27, suggesting that residents were only informed of the exercise after it had already begun. The training drill will take place in locations throughout the county and will be aided by law enforcement. “This training is not open to the public or media due to safety and security concerns,” states a press release on the Broward Sheriff’s Office website. “This type of training where military helicopters go around scaring the crap out of people has been conducted in different cities across the country and is designed to certify service members in urban environment operations for any future overseas deployments,” writes Chris Joseph of the Broward/Palm Beach New Times, adding, “Don’t panic. Those military aircraft and soldiers you see down the street are only a drill.” Infowars also received emails from concerned residents in the area who learned of low flying helicopters conducting maneuvers last night. “Friends are calling telling me there are military helicopters all over the skies around Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County, low-flying military helicopters, blacked out, in the dark, large groups, running maneuvers,” wrote one. Twitter users were also spooked by the military activity. The U.S. military routinely conducts urban warfare exercises domestically, sometimes with little or no warning whatsoever, drawing criticism that the drills are designed to acclimate Americans to a state of martial law. In 2012, Miami residents were shocked to be awoken by a military exercise in the middle of the night which involved helicopters, fighter jets, along with simulated gunfire and grenades. Source      |
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Posted: 26 Mar 2014 09:47 AM PDT
 A large number of demonstrators have poured into the streets of Albuquerque in the US state of New Mexico to protest the fatal shooting of a homeless man by the police. The demonstration was held on Tuesday evening. The protesters marched toward the Police Headquarters chanting “We want justice,” holding signs “APD is guilty,” and demanded justice for James Boyd, the Associated Press reported. The demonstrators said the police officers involved in the fatal shooting must be held accountable for the killing. They carried a symbolic coffin through the streets with 22 names of people killed by the Albuquerque police since 2010, according to KOAT.  James BoydThe police accused Boyd of setting up an “illegal camp” in an open space and fired six times at him. A helmet camera video showed the homeless gathering his belongings and turning away to leave the area just before the police shot him. Albuquerque Police Department is already the subject of a US Justice Department investigation for use of force and three dozen officer shootings, 22 of them fatal, since 2010. Videos of other police shootings have stirred protests before, but the latest video footage has brought harsh criticism from local and state officials and human rights groups. The protest rally has pushed the city’s police oversight panel to run a probe into the incident. “The problem is, yes, we need an independent investigation in this incident. But there have been over 20 other incidents,” said Alan Wagman, a member of Police Oversight Task Force and a criminal defense attorney. The Police Oversight Task Force was created by the Albuquerque City Council to help review the police oversight process. Source      |
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Posted: 26 Mar 2014 08:49 AM PDT
 A new, Earth-like, inhabitable planet has been discovered outside our solar system by American astronomer Thomas Barclay. The planet is almost the same size as Earth – just one-tenth bigger – and is orbiting a Red Dwarf star. The planet orbits around an M1 Red Dwarf, or small and relatively cool, star, where liquid (including water) can exist. Such planets are in the “Goldilocks” zone, scientists say – like Goldilocks’ porridge, they are not too hot and not too cold, and therefore could potentially support life. At least five other planets, apart from the freshly-discovered one, are orbiting the Red Dwarf. By contrast, the Earth’s sun is a G-dwarf, a much bigger star. The radius of the newly-discovered planet is just 1.1 times the size of our planet. Until now, the smallest Earth-like planet discovered, Kepler-62f, was 1.4 times the size of the Earth and 1,200 light years away. NASA’s Kepler mission was launched in 2009, with its aim being to look for Earth-like planets. Since then, the mission has found about 3,000 possible candidate planets. More information about the mission’s findings is due to be released later this year. Source      |
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Posted: 25 Mar 2014 03:55 PM PDT
 An Australian officer scanning the ocean from the ship’s bridge during the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean on March 23.After a 17-day wait for confirmation that the Boeing 777, one of the world’s most reliable planes, was lost with 239 people on board somewhere over the southern Indian Ocean, a United Nations search team is working round the clock to try and pinpoint the so-called black boxes. Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Tuesday that the search area had been narrowed down to an area about the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined. But Air Marshal Mark Binskin, Australia’s deputy defense chief, issued a sobering reminder of how challenging the search will be. “We’re not searching for a needle in a haystack – we’re still trying to define where the haystack is.” The search is made all the more urgent because the battery-powered ping the black boxes emit, a kind of homing signal to help locate them, is only sent out for around 30 days after a crash – before the batteries run out. This leaves another 15 days or so to find them. But so far the growing international team scouring the southern Indian Ocean has not found any wreckage or debris that can definitely be linked to the plane. Although British satellite company Inmarsat has said for sure that Flight MH370 went down in a southern corridor of the Indian Ocean and several countries have reported finding floating debris, the exact position of where the plane crashed into the sea is still a mystery. Eight satellite pings were sent by the aircraft between 1.11 am and 8.11 am – over eight hours after it officially lost contact with air traffic controllers. The new method “gives the approximate direction of travel, plus or minus about 100 miles, to a track line,” Chris McLaughlin, senior vice-president for external affairs at Inmarsat, told Sky News. “Unfortunately this is a 1990s satellite over the Indian Ocean that is not GPS-equipped.” With a lack of definite information experts in weather patterns and ocean currents will try and direct those scouring the waves to pinpoint where the plane went down. “We’ve got to get lucky. It is a race to get to the area in time to catch the black box pinger while it’s still working,” John Goglia, a former member of the US National Transportation Safety Board, told AP. Plan A: Pinger locators from US The US Navy’s Pacific Fleet is part of the international flotilla amassing over 2,300 kilometers west of Perth, Australia, and one of the Navy’s towed pinger locators is en route to the search area, AP reports. This crucial bit of kit is a 30-inch long cylindrical microphone, which is towed slowly underwater in a grid pattern behind a ship. It can pick up a ping from a black box – which is actually a red cylinder – from about a mile away. The microphone is attached to about 20,000 feet of cable and is guided deep underwater by a yellow triangular carrier with a wing span of 3 feet and a shark’s fin on top that looks akin to a stingray. Human operators and computers on board the ship listen for any signals that may locate the ping. As well as the towed ping locator, the Australian Navy is sending the ship Ocean Shield to the area, which is equipped with acoustic detention equipment. Plan B: Sonars to scour seabed If no strong signals are detected from the black boxes before their batteries run out then the search teams must move to system known as side-scan sonar. These devises are like sonar used to detect submarines; they send a sound to the sea’s depths and analyze the echo from the seabed to map the ocean floor. They are looking for any abnormalities or unusual shapes on the ocean floor. The devises can be fitted on unmanned mini-submarines that can dive to the depths of the ocean for up to 20 hours at a time. Once evidence of debris from the aircraft is found on the seabed, an underwater submersible with a high resolution camera is sent down to visually inspect the area and then using remote control cutting devices and robots pulls the black box out of the wreckage. Finally, secret intelligence from nuclear submarines may be used, if that can be done without revealing their sophisticated instruments or the location of these clandestine vessels. Clues in history Over the past decade there have been crashes similar to the disappearance of light MH370, which may help search teams this time around. The most obvious is Air France Flight 447, which went down in the middle of the Atlantic, in 2009. It took $40 million, four lengthy search expeditions and a two-year wait before the black boxes were found. The ensuing data showed that the plane went down mid-cruise largely due to a number of poor decisions by the pilots. A second example was a Helios jet 737, which lost pressurization and oxygen over Greece in 2005, suffocating the pilot and co-pilot. The plane then flew on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed, but unlike the Malaysian Boeing, it crashed over land and not in one of the deepest and most inaccessible parts of the ocean. Source      |
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Posted: 25 Mar 2014 03:31 PM PDT
 The first nuclear bomb explosion at the Trinity site in New Mexico, July 16, 1945. The United States is the only country to have used a nuclear weapon, resulting in the death of around 200,000 people, mostly civilians.The president made the remark after a reporter asked him if former challenger Mitt Romney was correct in his assertion that Russia is once again the primary foe of the United States following Crimeans voting to rejoin Russia. “Russia’s actions are a problem. They don’t pose the No. 1 national security threat to the United States. I continue to be much more concerned when it comes to our security with the prospect of a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan,” Obama said. Obama did not elaborate on the threat. North Korea has threatened to nuke the United States on several occasions. Last April, the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded with “moderate confidence” North Korea has a nuclear weapon small enough to be loaded on a ballistic missile. However, according to the DIA, the reliability of the missile would be low. The previous December South Korea, for obvious reasons, said North Korea had developed the technology capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the West Coast of the United States. Experts, however, said at the time the hereditary communist state is years away from miniaturizing a nuclear weapon and mounting it on a ballistic missile. California is approximately 3,000 miles from Manhattan. In order to nuke New York, the North Koreans would require a missile capable of traveling around 9,000 miles. The next suspect on the Axis of Evil list the government has claimed for over a decade wants to do us harm is Iran. It currently does not have a nuclear bomb and, in fact, has not enriched uranium to the level required for a bomb, and also does not possess a missile capable of striking the United States. In January, Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Iran has pledged to stop stockpiling uranium. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the government and various commentators told us on numerous occasions al-Qaeda has planted nukes around the United States and will “kill millions, destroy the economy and fundamentally alter the course of history.” In 2010, Obama said al-Qaeda is trying to get nukes and would have “no compunction in using them.” He added if “there was ever a detonation in New York City, or London, or Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically and from a security perspective would be devastating.” U.S. intelligence officials, however, say the al-Qaeda nuclear threat is, at best, a remote possibility. “At this point, they don’t appear to have made much progress, but we continue to review every bit of information that comes in to determine whether they’ve advanced their efforts in any way whatsoever,” an anonymous intelligence official told CNN in 2010. “Developing a nuclear device involves a highly sophisticated technical process, and al-Qaeda doesn’t seem to have mastered it based on what we know now.” Obama apparently does not consider Russia a threat, although it currently has around 45,000 nuclear weapons and a sophisticated ballistic missile system. Russia, according to Obama, is a “regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors, not out of strength, but out of weakness.” Obama made the remark while speaking with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte after a nuclear security summit in The Hague. Russia attended the summit and endorsed the meeting’s final statement on enhancing nuclear security. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmitry Rogozin threatened to use nuclear weapons if Moscow was attacked. He made the remark following discussions about missile defense systems installed in Eastern Europe by the United States. “One can experiment as long as one wishes by deploying non-nuclear warheads on strategic missile carriers,” Rogozin said. “But one should keep in mind that if there is an attack against us, we will certainly resort to using nuclear weapons in certain situations to defend our territory and state interests.” Source      |
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Posted: 25 Mar 2014 03:22 PM PDT
 Kenya’s parliament has passed a bill allowing men to marry as many women as they want, prompting a furious backlash from female politicians. The bill, which amended existing marriage legislation, was passed late on Thursday to formalise customary law about marrying more than one person. The proposed bill had initially given a wife the right to veto the husband’s choice, but male members of parliament overcame party divisions to push through a text that dropped this clause, the AFP news agency reported. “When you marry an African woman, she must know the second one is on the way, and a third wife… this is Africa,” MP Junet Mohammed told the house, according to Nairobi’s Capital FM. As in many parts of Africa, polygamy is common among traditional communities in Kenya, as well as among the country’s Muslim community, which accounts for up to a fifth of the population. “Any time a man comes home with a woman, that would be assumed to be a second or third wife,” said Samuel Chepkong’a, chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, the Daily Nation newspaper reported. “Under customary law, women or wives you have married do not need to be told when you’re coming home with a second or third wife. Any lady you bring home is your wife,” he added. Women storm out Female MPs stormed out of the late-night session in fury after a heated debate. “We know that men are afraid of women’s tongues more than anything else,” Soipan Tuya told fellow MPs, according to Capital FM. “But at the end of the day, if you are the man of the house, and you choose to bring on another party – and they may be two or three – I think it behoves you to be man enough to agree that your wife and family should know,” she added. A clause in which a partner who had promised marriage but then backed out of the wedding could face financial damages was also dropped, as male MPs argued it could have been used to extort cash. They also argued that marriage should be based on love, and not have a financial cost placed upon it. Women are not allowed to marry more than one man in Kenya. The bill must now pass before the president to be signed before becoming law. Source      |
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Posted: 25 Mar 2014 03:14 PM PDT
 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said on Monday that Beijing is gravely concerned about the claims and demands that any such spying be stopped. “China has already lodged many complaints with the United States about reports of its espionage activities,” the Chinese official added. The spying revelations were reported by the German weekly Der Spiegel and the US daily New York Times, which said the NSA began targeting Chinese telecoms giant, Huawei, in early 2009. According to the reports, the NSA had hacked into the email servers of Huawei and targeted several government institutions. Der Spiegel also said that the NSA targeted Chinese officials, including former President Hu Jintao during his reign, as well as ministries and financial institutions. The reports cited secret US intelligence documents leaked by American whistleblower Edward Snowden. Snowden, who is currently staying in Russia after Moscow granted him political asylum, caused a major headache for the US administration when he revealed US spying programs around the world last year. The Snowden leaks have sparked global outrage. The documents detailed vast intelligence collection by the NSA on dozens of world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. US President Barack Obama said in December 2013 that Snowden’s leaks did unnecessary damage to America’s spying operations. “The way in which these disclosures happened has been damaging to the United States and damaging to our intelligence capabilities,” Obama added. Snowden’s revelations have caused uproar in the US regarding privacy rights. They have also angered many US allies whose leaders were targeted by the NSA. Source      |
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Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:59 PM PDT
 Western sanctions might push Russia to deepen cooperation with BRICS states, in particular, to strengthen its ties with China, which will possibly turn out to be a big catastrophe for the US and the EU some time later. On March 18, the spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, claimed in a BBC interview that Russia would switch to new partners in case of economic sanctions being imposed by the European Union and the United States. He highlighted that the modern world isn’t unipolar and Russia has strong ties with other states as well, though Russia wants to remain in good relations with its Western partners, especially with the EU due to the volume of deals and joint projects. Those “new partners” are not really new since Russia has been closely interconnected with them for almost 13 years. This is all about the so-called BRICS organization, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. BRICS represents 42 percent of the world’s population and about a quarter of the world’s economy, which means that this bloc of states is an important global actor. The BRICS countries are like-minded in regard to supporting the principles of international law, the central role of the UN Security Council and the principles of the non-use of force in international relations; this is why they are so actively performing in the sphere of settling regional conflicts. However, the cooperation between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa goes beyond political aspects and is also demonstrated by dynamic trade and multiple projects in different areas. Today, in total, there are more than 20 formats of cooperation within the BRICS which are intensively developing. For example, in February the member-states came to an agreement about 11 prospective directions of scientific and technical cooperation, from aeronautics to bio- and nanotechnology. In order to modernize the global economic system, at the center of which stand the US and the EU, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have created the BRICS Stock Alliance and are creating their own development bank to finance large infrastructure projects. On the whole, despite fierce criticism of BRICS as an organization with no future, it is developing and increasing cooperation with its members and, in fact, BRICS is showing pretty good results. With suspension of Russian participation in G8 and possible strengthening of economic sanctions, the experts expect some particular industries to be targeted, including limits on imported products. While the West seeks to hit Russia hard, it is important to notice that Russia is ready to switch to other markets, for instance BRICS, and increase trade volumes with countries from this bloc. Indeed, Russia buys significant amount of products from NATO states, for example, 50 percent of fruits and berries come from Spain, Holland and Poland. Nevertheless, Russia is intensifying its economic ties with the developing world. In 2012 Russia was buying 41 percent of its beef from Brazil, though this index has recently decreased to 20 percent, and Russia is likely to increase its import in case of need. In February 2013, Russia and Brazil reached an agreement on the long-standing problem of pork exports to Russia, as well as agreeing on a list of sanitary and quality requirements for the annual import of millions of metric tons of Russian wheat. This is a shining example of the substitute partnerships that have yielded positive results, although some problems with sanitary norms had to be resolved. In other words, it’s beyond the power of the EU and US to make Russian people suffer from products scarcity since they are not the country’s only trade partners. The biggest brick in BRICS It’s hard to ignore the fact that the role of the biggest and strongest member of BRICS is China’s, and obviously Russia will seek to improve its relations with Beijing even more than before. During the last year, relations between Russia and China have been enhancing and actively developing in various spheres. In particular, in 2013 the states signed 21 trade agreements, including a new 100 million ton oil supply deal with China’s Sinopec. In October 2013, the Xinhua news agency also reported that the two governments signed an agreement to jointly build an oil refinery in Tianjin, east of Beijing. Moreover, China promised to pump $20 billion of investment into domestic projects in Russia, focusing on transport infrastructure, highways, ports, and airports, and it hoped to increase investment in Russia four-fold by 2020. In 2013, the trade volume between the states reached $89 billion, with bilateral economic relations showing positive signs, meaning that further cooperation will increase. Indeed, leaders of the states called for annual bilateral trade between the two countries to be boosted to $100 billion by 2015. Besides, the two countries are considering further partnerships in the energy sector, particularly in the gas industry. Currently, Russian gas is not supplied to China, though in 2013 Russia’s biggest independent natural gas producer, Novatek, signed preliminary memorandums with CNPC to sell at least 3 million tons of LNG per year between Yamal LNG and PetroChina International. Another Russian company, Rosneft, which is 75 percent state-owned, is vastly expanding its LNG projects to diversify its portfolio, and is focusing heavily on eastern markets, like Japan and China. In terms of confrontation between the West and Russia, the gas contracts between China and Russia could really gain momentum. At the same time it’s possible that Moscow would sign contracts on the sale of the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter to China before President Putin embarks on a visit to Beijing in May. In 2014, Russia and China have a full agenda for bilateral cooperation, which includes not only trade but also such spheres as energy, aircraft building, mechanical engineering, military and science cooperation, tourism, etc. At the same time, cultural ties between the two nations are also strengthening, with 2014-2015 being named years of youth exchange. The leaders of Russia and China also decided to prepare jointly celebration events for the 70th anniversary of the victory over German fascism and Japanese militarism in 2015. Another important aspect of cooperation between Russia, China and India touches upon Afghanistan. The trilateral involvement of those nations into the Afghan issue has been actively developing since 2013 and could become a major factor for the Afghan leadership following the US withdrawal. It is important to note that the Afghanistan issue is vital to the regional security of Russia, China and India. Once again, the recent Olympic Games emphasized the specific character of relations between China and Russia. The Chinese president, unlike European leaders, was present at the Opening Ceremony, which is especially demonstrative given that it was the time of the Spring Festival in China, when the Chinese prefer not to leave their homes except for visiting relatives and close friends. Thus, China may become the biggest beneficiary of the sanctions against Russia since it means further rapprochement between Russia and China. One should remember that China has always been mainly interested in doing business and for sure it would be silly for Beijing to lose such a great opportunity to strengthen its ties with Russia. If I were someone responsible for decisions in Brussels or Washington, I would revise my opinion on implementation of sanctions against Russia. I wouldn’t call it a possible revival of the “Sino-Soviet axe” which existed during the Cold War and was an ideological counter-balance for the West, although this time the West itself is pushing one of its main rivals closer to another, creating a massive power that would surpass both the US and the EU by a long chalk. So the question is whether the West really wants this to happen? And what will it do when the Chinese dragon and Russian bear form an alliance? Brazil is not only about meat As was already mentioned, another BRICS-member Brazil is one of the Russian suppliers of meat, and trade in this industry is likely to rise if the West resorts to economic sanctions. However, meat import isn’t the only thing that binds these states. Over the last few years, Russia has also imported Brazilian coffee, sugar, juices and alcohol and exported mainly fertilizers. Moscow and Brasilia made a commitment to develop comprehensive cooperation in various areas, although for the moment particular attention is being paid to the military sphere. For instance, in December 2012 the states signed a treaty on supplies of Russian helicopters to Brazil. The total trade volume between Russia and Brazil in 2013 made up $5.7 billion, however the two states seek to increase it up to $10 billion in the near future. The trade index in January 2014 reached $438.9 million, which was $25 million higher in comparison with January 2013. The distinctive feature of the cooperation between the two countries is the complimentary character of their economies, which makes ties between Brazil and Russia even stronger. In fact, there is a great potential for Russian-Brazilian cooperation and results of these ties could also be disappointing for the West. I is for India In his speech at a joint session of parliament on March 18, Russian President Putin thanked both India and China for their stance on the Ukrainian crisis. But why is India supporting Russia? Maybe the Indian government equates some similarities with Crimea in the history of Sikkim’s referendum and further merger with India when it became the 22nd Indian state in 1975 with Russian support. Maybe India is just seeking to develop closer ties and mutually beneficial partnerships with Russia. Anyway, let’s look at some facts and figures. In 2012, bilateral trade volume reached $11,000 million which is rather modest in comparison with China or Brazil. Moreover, in 2013 this index slightly decreased. However, 2014 promises the renewal of bilateral contracts between India and Russia. For example, Defexpo India 2014 has reaffirmed the special relationship that exists between the defense industries of Russia and India, with a pavilion that houses exhibits of Russian companies being visited by top members of the Indian establishment. In general, the defense interactions between Russia and India are quite diversified, with almost every defense contract providing the creation of joint ventures or licensed production. In 2013, India’s import of Russian weapons reached $4.78 billion. Another industry which attracts India is computer-guided weapons, produced by the Russian Morinformsystem-Agat Concern. In February the two states also confirmed their plans to boost cooperation in nuclear energy, with the former backing the construction of more units at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) and other parts of the country. Besides, India and Russia are set to sign an agreement aimed at productive cooperation in many spheres: space and military cooperation, trade, construction of a pipeline from Russia to India, and plans to set up a Joint Study Group to look into the scope of the CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement) with member-countries of the Customs Union (the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Belarus). It is certain that after this issue is addressed, trade volumes between Russia and India, as well as between the Customs Union and India will increase significantly. Costs for the West It’s not really rational for the US and the EU to antagonize and try to isolate Russia. And there are several reasons for this. First of all, Russia is the largest oil and gas producer in the world and it simply means that imposing economic sanctions on Russia would shake up the global energy market and, therefore, the entire global economy. Not to mention the EU’s dependency on Russian gas. Are the global economies ready to witness a new crisis, given that they are still recovering from the latest financial crisis? It’s doubtful. Second, Russia is investing massively in the US financial market, especially in Treasury bonds, and consequently, if Russia decides to withdraw its investments in response to Western sanctions, it would hit the US economy and cause a real financial crisis. So, crisis again. Finally, during the last few years the Russian market has become one of the world’s largest markets for EU goods, products and services, while the EU is actively investing in Russia. In case of further worsening of relations between Russia and the West, the EU will have a serious headache, searching for new markets and suffering lasting damage because of suspended joint contracts. So is it really worth pushing for such a gloomy future, or is it better to recognize the will of the Crimeans and give the whole of Ukraine a chance for a better life? Source     |
