TASS & Israel National News & Sputnik News & Business Insider – 2016-10-02 20:55:09
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US Blocks Russia’s Draft Resolution on Non-deployment of Arms in Space — Diplomat
TASS
MOSCOW (September 23, 2016) — The United States is, in fact, the sole state that blocks progress on the issue of not being the first to deploy weapons in space, the deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s non-proliferation and weapons control department, Vladimir Yermakov, told a news conference on Friday.
As the diplomat recalled, in 2014 Russia presented to the UN General Assembly for consideration a draft resolution on not being the first to deploy weapons in space.
“It contains a simple proposal: a call for a dialog on this issue and further progress towards legally binding agreements,” Yermakov said. “The draft was adopted by an overwhelming majority vote. In 2015 there appeared 40 co-authors of that resolution.”
“This year we will push ahead with promoting our draft resolution on not being the first to deploy weapons in space in the first committee of the UN General Assembly session,” Yermakov said. “But here the question arises who blocks this progress.”
“It is our US partners who do that,” he said. “For the time being the United States is the sole country that upsets movement in this direction.” Yermakov said that four countries — the United States, Israel, Georgia and Ukraine — voted against that resolution.
“The US forced its NATO partners and other allies to abstain when the resolution was put to the vote,” he recalled, adding that Russia would be defending its stance.
According to Yermakov, Moscow firmly opposes the deployment of any weapons in space, moreover any arms race.
“Russia’s foreign policy has a top priority to ensure security in space,” Yermakov said. “As space pioneers, we have undertaken special additional commitments on security of space activities,” he noted. “Since the Soviet times, we have stood up for international agreements so as to close down any possibility of placement of any weapons in space, moreover to begin an arms race there,” he said.
Post-Soviet Security Bloc Approves Draft
Statement against Militarization of Outer Space
A draft statement in support of the multilateral initiative against the first deployment of weapons in outer space was approved by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states at a working meeting on the sidelines of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
The customary meeting of the foreign ministers of the CSTO member states was held in New York on Thursday. The participants discussed the priority issues on the agenda at the 71st session of the UN General Assembly and exchanged views on the directions of the development of cooperation between the CSTO and the UN, including peacekeeping activities.
“The allied states agreed on their joint actions at the UN level in the sphere of security, the war on terror, combating the glorification of Nazism and neo-Nazism, countering attempts to rewrite the outcome of the World War II, and so forth,” a source in the Russian foreign ministry noted.
CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha informed the meeting’s participants about preparations for the next session of the CSTO Council of Collective Security, scheduled to be held on October 14 in Armenia’s capital of Yerevan.
“The meeting marks an important step in efforts to bolster foreign policy coordination between the CSTO member states,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
US Missile Defense Shield Goes Live in Europe
US activates first missile defense shield in Romania; Russia is livid.
Chana Roberts / Israel National News
September 22, 2016) — On Thursday, the United States activated its missile defense system in Romania. The $800 million dollar system is the first of its kind in Europe, and aims to defend the US and Europe from, “rogue states,” namely, Iran.
Russia, however, insists that the US aim is to neutralize Moscow’s nuclear arsenal long enough for the US to strike Russia.
According to Putin, “This is not a defense system. This is part of US nuclear strategic potential brought onto a periphery. In this case, Eastern Europe is such periphery.” He also said that the missile shield was, “yet another step to rock international security and start a new arms race.”
Apparently, the Kemlin has viewed this project all along as a threat to its own national security, and says that steps are being taken to ensure Russia’s safety, no matter what. Though Russia refuses to be drawn into another arms race, it is rearming and rebuilding its army and navy in a way that will, “uphold the current strategic balance of forces.”
The new missile shield system is capable of shooting down rockets meant to reach major European cities. This missile shiled is meant to stretch from Greenland to the Azores. It is expected to be ready by the end of 2018.
Similar to Israel’s Iron Dome, Romania’s new missile shield relies on radars to detect the launch of a ballistic missile into space. Sensors then measure the rocket’s trajectory and fire an interceptor missile, destroying the offending missile while it is in space, and before it re-enters the earth’s atmosphere. The interceptor missiles can be fired from the ground or from ships.
Chairman of the State Duma’s defense committee, Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, claimed that the missile defense site is a threat to Russia.
“They are moving to the firing line. This is not just 100; it’s 200, 300, 1,000% aimed against us,” Komoyedov said.
It is not clear what Russia’s response will be. It is speculated that Russia will place missiles capable of carrying missiles in Kaliningrad.
The United States and NATO insist that this shield is not meant for use against Russia, but against countries in the Middle East.
Moscow Slams Washington Over
Development of ‘Prompt Global Strike’ System
Sputnik News
MOSCOW (Sputnik) (June 2, 2016) — The US Prompt Global Strike system allows Washington to carry out high-precision non-nuclear attacks using hypersonic weapons from US territory at targets throughout the world within about an hour after launch.
“The second circumstance that deprives us of the possibility of holding talks over further reductions is linked to Washington’s ongoing destabilizing actions in areas such as the creation of a global missile defense system, the continued development of the means to carry out disarming strikes without using nuclear warheads while having the same range as strategic missiles. I mean the Prompt Global Strike program,” Ryabkov said.
US proposals on further Russia’s nuclear arms reduction lack logic as Washington is trying to undermine Russian defense capability through sanctions policy, he said.
According to Ryabkov, such talks are impossible, firstly, because Russia has already reduced its nuclear arsenal to the levels of the late 1950s — early 1960s, and, secondly, the United States continue its destabilizing actions by developing a global missile defense system and its program of global non-nuclear strike to disarm nuclear forces.
“The third issue worth talking about in the context of ‘reminders’ from Washington, is the complete absence of political logic and common sense in proposals ‘to disarm’ in conditions when the current US administration has been making concerted effort to undermine the defense and the military-industrial potential of Russia through its sanctions policy for a long time,” Ryabkov told RIA Noosti.
The deputy foreign minister added that the return to nuclear disarmament negotiations would only be possible if Russia’s concerns and priorities were taken into account. Moscow rules out the possibility of holding talks with Washington on further nuclear arms reduction, the Russian deputy foreign minister said.
On Friday, the United States urged Russia to discuss further reductions in nuclear arsenals under the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) agreement between the two countries, which entered in force in 2011.
“The stance of the Russian side about the prospects for the continuation of the START negotiations and generally of nuclear weapons reduction remains unchanged. We reached the line where bilateral Russian-US negotiations in this area are not possible for several reasons,” Ryabkov told RIA Novosti.
All nuclear-weapon states should be a part of the denuclearization talks, Ryabkov said.
“The Russian side comes from the necessity to include all states with nuclear weapons capability in a dialogue on the [nuclear disarmament] issue.” Moscow is concerned over the possibility of the global arms race in outer space, he said.
“We are very concerned about the prospect of moving an arms race to the space field and insist on the need for a legally binding document, which would prohibit the deployment of shock weapons systems in the outer space.”
Related:
Russia Warns Against Arms Race in Space
Putin Once Casually Said over Dinner that
He Could Destroy America in a Half-hour or Less
Amanda Macias / Business Insider
(September 13, 2016) — In December 2011, Vladimir Putin, then Russia’s prime minister, was positioned to reclaim his role as Russia’s president in the March 2012 elections.
Fittingly, he hosted a lavish banquet at New Century, Moscow’s richest equestrian club, for members of the Valdai Club and distinguished academics and journalists from around the world.
“The fare was extravagant: smoked trout, duck liver, venison soup, rhubarb sorbet, veal cheeks, and pear soup with caramel,” according to Douglas Schoen and Melik Kaylan, authors of “The Russia-China Axis.”
Putin addressed topics ranging from the “Russian government’s loss of public trust to his own indispensable leadership.” He later directed his focus on the US and addressed the Americans in attendance.
“You ask me whether we are going to change,” he said. “The ball is in your court. Will you change?” He expressed his disapproval of US plans to build a missile-defense system that he believed would pose a deliberate threat to Russia’s national security.
Putin then added that the only reason the US had any interest in relations with Moscow was that Russia was the only country that could “destroy America in half an hour or less.” . . .
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