Vladimir Doesn't Waste Any Time

Mr. Putin appears to be on a roll.  Parasite? Ouch.
"Russia and China have vowed to make progress on a long-delayed deal on gas sales, as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sought to boost ties with Beijing while likening the U.S. to a parasite."
Source: Time.com

That Didn't Take Long

It seemed like yesterday that I made a Putin post?!?!  He doesn't waste any time.
"One week after announcing that he will return to the presidency next year Vladimir Putin has laid out a grand vision to bring Russia's former Soviet neighbours back into the fold.  Putin proposes the formation of a 'Eurasian union', a bloc that could boost Russia's influence on the global stage. The proposal – from the man who once dubbed the Soviet Union's collapse 'the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century' – raises the spectre of the Russian prime minister's imperial designs."
Source: The Guardian

Remember, when mass social mood is focused on "fear and anger", the herd moves closer together.  Picture that herd of sheep when the wolf appears atop the hillside.

He's Baaaaaaack

"Ruh-roh"  Scooby Doo

"Vladimir V. Putin, who for more than a decade has labored to consolidate authority in Russia under his control, will run for president next year, replacing his protégé, Dmitri A. Medvedev, and possibly extending his rule until 2024.  Analysts have long speculated that Mr. Medvedev would act as a placeholder for Mr. Putin, who can now legally return to the presidency for a third term after spending four years as prime minister."

Source: NY Times

It's not like he ever left, did he?

"Sleep securely, our new leadership is in place. I hope that Putin doesn't get a hold of him!"
Random Roving, January 7, 2011

Gold Supply

" I think in order to properly characterize what’s happening in the industry, it's important to start from a big-picture perspective, which is that by and large the masses in this country are not involved in precious metals. In my experience, the move we've seen in gold over the last decade has primarily been from international investment – sovereign wealth funds in the Orient, petrodollars in the Middle East, India buying from the IMF, Russia and Japan accumulating, etc. If you factor in that very, very few people in this country have even held a gold coin – let alone own any gold, or understand the reasons to own it, or will even accept the arguments for owning it – I think the primary distinguishing characteristic of this market will be that people won’t be able to get product when they want it. The rising price in and of itself will not be the main hurdle. For the most part, people will overcome price, because they’ll want to own it. The real issue will be getting product in a timely fashion, and that will become difficult for the average American. People are afraid. They’re afraid of what's happening geopolitically, economically, fiscally, and want to hold on to their gold. As they should, because this is exactly the kind of circumstance gold is for. So I would argue that as gold and silver creep higher, there will be more and more buying and less and less selling. And less selling means less product for buyers. People are afraid. They’re afraid of what's happening geopolitically, economically, fiscally, and want to hold on to their gold. As they should, because this is exactly the kind of circumstance gold is for. So I would argue that as gold and silver creep higher, there will be more and more buying and less and less selling. And less selling means less product for buyers. Junk silver bags are becoming much harder to get. And I think the higher gold goes, the faster silver will disappear.Acquire as many gold and silver ounces as you can. In the end it’s not about price paid, it's about number of ounces. View the supply issue as critically as you would the price, because I believe that more than anything else, the lack of available supply will mark this industry."
Andy Schectman - Miles Franklin (Interview with Casey Research)

The New Great Game

"The 'great game' of the 19th and early 20th centuries involved Britain's attempt to keep other great powers from establishing a foothold in Central Asia that could threaten Britain's interest in India. The new 'great game' involves players such as Iran, Turkey, Russia, and the United States vying for influence over the Caspian region and its oil supplies. For the United States and European countries, Caspian oil presents an opportunity to tap a source of oil outside the often turbulent Middle East. The three main oil producing Caspian countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan) are landlocked and rely on neighboring countries for access to western markets through pipelines. This adds another aspect to the competition for economic and political dominance of the area. The actors are not only concerned with oil and gas production but also with the pipelines that deliver those resources to market."
Ghassan Abdallah

Remember the map:
http://randomroving.blogspot.com/2010/04/important-map.html

An Important Map

This will be an important map to understand in the future:

The detailed explanation:

http://financialsense.com/editorials/engdahl/2010/0322.html

The Truth About Afghanistan

From F. William Engdahl:
"The second reason the US military remains in Afghanistan long after the world has forgotten even who the mysterious Osama bin Laden and his alleged Al Qaeda terrorist organization is or even if they exist, is as a pretext to build a permanent US military strike force with a series of permanent US airbases across Afghanistan. The aim of those bases is not to eradicate any Al Qaeda cells that may have survived in the caves of Tora Bora, or to eradicate a mythical “Taliban” which at this point according to eyewitness reports is made up overwhelmingly of local ordinary Afghanis fighting to rid their land once more of occupier armies as they did in the 11980’s against the Russians. The aim of the US bases in Afghanistan is to target and be able to strike at the two nations which today represent the only combined threat in the world today to an American global imperium, to America’s Full Spectrum Dominance as the Pentagon terms it."

"Afghanistan has historically been the heartland for the British-Russia Great Game, the struggle for control of Central Asia during the 19th and early 20th Centuries. British strategy then was to prevent Russia at all costs from controlling Afghanistan and thereby threatening Britain’s imperial crown jewel, India."

"Afghanistan is similarly regarded by Pentagon planners as highly strategic. It is a platform from which US military power could directly threaten Russia and China, as well as Iran and other oil-rich Middle East lands. Little has changed geopolitically over more than a century of wars."

The entire article:
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/engdahl/2009/1021.html

Russia's Alignment With Mass Social Mood

A recent article elaborating on Russia's recent announcement regarding their military goals:

"Russian President Dmitri Medvedev this week announced a large-scale military rearmament program, which he says will require considerable resources despite difficulties associated with the current global economic crisis. There are political and economic realities that could be driving as well as hindering Mr. Medvedev's proposal.

Tanks and missiles paraded across Red Square last May for the first time since the Soviet collapse in 1991. But Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov recently said 90 percent of Russia's military technology is outdated. This includes most of the hardware on parade."

On March 17, President Dmitri Medvedev unveiled an ambitious rearmament plan to modernize Russia's military. Mr. Medvedev says Russia's primary task is the enhancement of troop combat readiness; not the usual enhancement, but rather qualitative enhancement - above all through the strategic nuclear forces.

The Kremlin leader says Russian security is threatened by NATO expansion, local crises, and international terrorism. He adds the conflict against Georgia last August revealed flaws in Russia's conventional forces as well. Independent Russian military analyst Viktor Litovkin says Russia lacks combat support systems rather than firing units, and notes that such systems consist of drones, precision weapons, reconnaissance, navigation, communication, and guidance systems, etc. He adds that Russia in this field is far behind what he calls the modern civilized world.

President Medvedev says Russia will devote considerable resources to develop and purchase new weapons, despite a tight national budget affected by the declining price of Russian oil exports.

The entire article:
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-20-voa22.cfm