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The press has taken a dramatic turn on coverage of Russian and U.S. relations. It seems as though the media has gone from finger-pointing to covering U.S.-Russian relations in a more positive light. The focus now lies on how these two countries will rebuild their diplomatic relationship.

According to the Wall Street Journal, President Medvedev is considering holding sanctions against Iran because of Iran’s recent nuclear developments. This signifies an openness to side with the U.S. and the Western world.

Most importantly the president is also seeking to transform Russia’s economy which is often criticized in the American press. According to the WSJ article he recently criticized the system created by Putin.

Medvedev’s official statements can be read here.

This proposal called for modernism, and fighting corruption; an economic overhaul. A dramatically different stance from one that Putin has always had.

On another note:

According to the Kremlin, President Obama’s Nobel Prize win “will encourage further U.S.-Russian cooperation” (AP). Medvedev congratulated Obama on the prize today.

Something to think about:
Will mainstream media coverage of U.S.-Russian relations remain positive if Putin wins re-election in 2012?

Welcome to onMason. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

According to VOA, “Russia and Venezuela have begun a series of joint naval operations in the southern Caribbean Sea aimed at evaluating their nations’ skills in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.”

Both countries say the exercises will include will include “navigation, rescue and other operations.”

Since September, Russia has increased military strength in the caribbean.

The U.S. claims it is not a challenge to U.S. influence in the region.

Although Russia denies it, their presence in the caribbean many claim that the result of the U.S. support for Georgia in the Georgian War during the summer of 2008.

Latin America expert Wayne S. Smith told CNN: “Two can play at this game. If you think you can send ships into the Black Sea without response, you are mistaken.”

Russia seems to be skimming along a dangerous cliff, a behavior that the U.S. might overeact to. The U.S. media plays a powerful role in reporting on this tension. Should their patriotic bias play a role in prevention or will it just fuel unnecessary and deadly conflict?

“I’m so glad to see you.” said President Putin when he met Chavez to talk about economic affairs and military-technical ties back in the summer of 2007. From then on, meetings with Putin became a habit. Chavez has even called Putin “brother.”

In Septemeber of 2008, Moscow had announced a $1 billion loan to Venezuela to buy arms. (aljezeera.net) This has obviously caused global political tension.

But one thing that the American media fails to point out is that the main reason Chavez is getting arms deals from Russia is because Venezuela’s former arms ally– the United States–refused to help Chavez get replaced parts or further weapons deals.

Chavez:

“We are a peaceful state. We have a pacifist outlook. But the United States threatens us both from inside the country and from outside the country. Now the Unites States has plans for intrusion into Venezuela. What’s at the core of this issue?

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. That’s the basis of the issue. We have to defend ourselves, it’s our responsibility, our duty.” (Russia Today)

No my friends, we are not talking about GM or Mercedes, we are talking about Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. Two are facing a whole new turn in politics: amendments to extend presidential terms.

Nov 21, 2008:
Russian parliament approves extension of presidential term.(CNN.com)

Nov 25, 2008:
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez says: “It’s the people’s right [to vote on the issue],” he said, almost a year after losing a vote on extending his powers.(ABC online).

Chavez has been seeking a constitutional amendment that would allow him to be re-elected to an unlimited number of times. He has been in power for over two terms–almost ten years. His current term lasts until 2013. (Aljezeera.net)

It seems like Putin and Chavez are plotting totalitarian regimes while evenly coating it with poisonous, mouth-watering, democratic-flavored frosting. Elections and government decision-making in these countries are laughable: consider Russia’s famous Parliament fist fights, propaganda via media, and let’s not forget the most popular one–bribes!

The citizens of these countries who blindly approve of their oh-so-popular leaders need to understand that someone who threatens with oil and nuclear warheads is not a person who is protective, but someone who will essentially destroy his own people. These resources will not survive forever. Nuclear peace is not an option if these leaders extend their stay.

“A top Russian general is quoted as saying the military will upgrade its missiles in response to U.S. plans to deploy weapons in space.” (AP)

It will be interesting to see how the White House will address this build-up (AFP):

Moscow bashed U.S. plans to put up an anti-missile radar facility in the Czech Republic.

There was also previous disagreements about the U.S. keeping interceptor missles in Poland despite U.S. assurances that the system is not directed against Russia.

Russia and China proposed a treaty banning the use of weapons in space but the idea was rejected by the White House.

-(AFP)

Solovtsov alleged Monday that the U.S. is considering the scenario of a first nuclear strike that would destroy most Russian missiles.

Solovtsov admits that Russia will retaliate with a strike “under any course of developments.”

-(foxnews.com)

Nevertheless, Medvedev recently had proposed dropping Russian military build-up in Europe if the U.S. does so as well.

Tell me one thing: why should the U.S. invest in a space race when we have other economic issues to worry about?

Nov. 23rd,

Mr. Kaczynski and his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, came under fire near Georgia’s border with South Ossetia.(VOA)

Shots came about 30 meters from the car according to Kaczynski

He also mentioned that there was Russian being shouted as the shots rang out.

No one was hurt.

Russians denied shots being fired.

“This is a real provocation,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists on Monday. (CNN.com)

(Deep sigh of irony.)

Is Saakashvili (or should we call him Napoleon?) still seeking any possible way to topple Russia? Or is he just a victim of a big bully?

According to Reuters today, Georgia’s former ambassador to Russia, Erosi Kitsmarishvili, said:

Tbilisi had been the aggressor having mistakenly convinced itself it had the blessing of the United States.

Saakashvilli dismissed this as “utter nonsense.”

VIDEO: from the previously mentioned Reuters article:
Kitsamarishvili: “It should be Georgian people who decide…”

During a press conference after G-20 leaders gathered to discuss the economic crisis, Russian President Medvedev said he was really happy with the results. He also mentioned that Russia will not make a move until America will make the first step. (Channel 1 Russia evening news Nov. 16)

Medvedev also said that he is aware that Russia and the United States have a duty to maintain peacekeeping relations between themseleves in order to maintain global safety.

This is seen as quite a change since last January when Russia’s military chief of staff said that Moscow may use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes in case of a major threat. (USA Today)

This stirred quite hostile feelings between Russia and the United States, emphasizing Russia’s isolation and threat to the U.S.

In the past Putin has argued that Russia has a right to build nuclear arms because other countries do so. Iran, for example, is building up their nuclear weapons which Obama has criticized.

Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani replied to what he thinks of Obama’s platform: (CNN.com)

Obama must know that the change that he talks about is not simply a superficial changing of colors or tactics. What is expected is a change in strategy, not the repetition of objections to Iran’s nuclear program, which will be taking a step in the wrong direction.

Reuters reported today that Washington officials say that by placing a NATO-backed missle shield in Europe, the U.S. and its allies will be protected from states like Iran and North Korea. Russia considers this a “direct threat” to its territory.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that “it would do nothing to bring security and complicate things.”

The article also featured a completely different view:

The main reason for the present ill-defined, even ghostly relationship between Europe and Russia is the lack of unity among the Europeans themselves,

said Jacques AndrDeani, a French diplomat and former ambassador to the United States.

Still, Medvedev made it very clear in the G-20 press conference that he is looking forward to overcoming obstacles he had with the Bush administration when Obama will take over as president, in order to move forward and fix the global economic and nuclear dilemmas.

Video: Russian President Wants to Cooperate with Obama (Posted Nov. 6, 2008)

Medvedev is trying to kill the sensational mainstream media idea that we are heading for a nuclear war.

Also,

Obama critisized Iran’s nuclear build up, but will he open up to Russia and stabilize relations?

With Georgian War in the past,

I decided to look at coverage of the U.S. Election from the Russian perspective, as well as opinions from Russians.

Two points to make:
1. McCain’s famous “KGB” referenc to Vladimir Putin during the election debates gave him a minor setback.
2. Putin and Medvedev also prefer could prefer someone with more democratic ideas as well as someone young.

CNN interviewed passerby on the streets of Moscow to see what the verdict was on Obama vs. McCain.

Embedded video from CNN Video

“McCain wants to create a League of Democracies. It sounds like a marvel comic.”
A video on McCain’s thoughts on Russia–analyzed:

POINT IS:
It’s interesting to see how the most recent and influential enemies of our state have been ignored in the debates, such as infamous terrorists.
But I guess the demonizing of Russia just makes a hot selling point.

Thinking back on another election topic…
When Putin was first running for office in Russia, a “celebrity epidemic” had occured throughout the country; Putin became a trend. T-shirts, pop songs, and comedy sketches boosted Putin’s popularity, particularly and most obviously, among the younger generation.

The same seems to be taking place with Obama in the United States.
The media has featured a spotlight on how young voters may influence the election this year, more than before, and how many celebrities who endores Obama may just sway this group of young voters towards the Democratic direction.

It’s interesting how this marketing trend can be so political.

Let’s start with Russia’s side of the argument: MoscowTimes.com, an opinon piece:

“U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a bizarre speech last week in which she warned that Russia’s policies are pushing the country into international isolation. She got it exactly backward. This is precisely the Russian government’s plan. I am talking about the country’s financial markets.”

It went on to claim the U.S. is seeping into “an economic black hole” and how
“the U.S. government has resorted to socialist policies by nationalizing banks and the country’s largest insurance company.”

The Russian government is calling “long-term private investment from Russians” a “breakthrough,” which will make “capital gains tax-free” and “modernize the country’s pension system”.

The main reason why Russia seeks economic isolation, however is this: “With speculative foreign money making up almost 70 percent of the Russian stock market, the value of its stocks plunged by almost 40 percent in one week

“Growth will be more sustainable” says Medvedev.–POINT taken.

For some reason CNN struck me by surprise.

According to the article, it mentions how Medvedev is responding to Condoleeza Rice’s claims that “Russia and its policies have put it on a path to isolation and irrelevance.”

He answered back saying the United States “are, in fact, pushing us onto the development track that is based NOT on normal and civilized cooperation with other countries, but on autonomous development behind thick walls and an ‘iron curtain,”

“This is not our track, and it makes no sense to return to the past.”

and ended with: “We aren’t trying to teach anyone, we want our views to be heard.”

———————————————————

If Russia is truly staying isolated for economic reasons, why did they decide to make this dramatic military move by increasing contact with Venezuela?

If Medvedev is trying to come off as modern-minded president, why is he joining Hugo Chavez, the man

– with his own “criminal paradise” L.A. Times
– who is an “admirer of Fidel Castro’s Cuba” BBC News
– a man who is passionate about THE PAST.

Yet spectators around the world will wonder:

Will Russia’s newly isolated economy fix its economic situation?

Will it follow communistic ideals?

Will Venezuela and Russia become a serious military threat to the United States?

While the media builds this hype… average working Americans will wonder: What’s going to happen with gas prices?

Interesting sidenote: “Venezuela provides 11 percent of USA’s oil consumption. ” Pravda.ru

Now we Americans think, should the U.S. nationalize the oil industry?

One humerous blog poll answer was: “No. That would be communism.”

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