Add together the cities of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lugansk and you don’t reach the economic output of Dundee. World domination it isn’t. Unfortunately both in the Kremlin and on Capitol Hill they, and their satraps, think it is. Neither side cares at all about the millions of ordinary people in the zone of potential conflict.
The spiral of death in Ukraine is very worrying. Following the tragic deaths in Odessa, the ball is very much in Putin’s court. His bluff has very much been called. We will now learn whether he was stoking clashes in Eastern Ukraine and massing forces on his border in order to give a pretext for invasion – which pretext he now has – or in order to destabilize and intimidate Kiev into moving away from relationships with the EU.
This has been a discussion of the deaf even more within intellectual circles in the West than between Washington and the Kremlin, where at least the Machiavellians understand full well what they are doing. But their followers either, on the one hand, deny that there are any far right elements on the Ukrainian side or any CIA assistance, or alternatively deny that there are many millions of ordinary Ukrainians who genuinely want to be at peace in their own country and move towards the EU. They either claim that all the separatists are Russian agents and deny the genuine minority population which yearns for the Soviet Union or Russia, or they deny the existence of Russian agents and special forces in Ukraine, and that most of the Russian nationalists are every bit as right wing and appalling as the equivalent tendency on the Ukrainian side.
First, some history. The Ukrainian people really do exist. They have been a subjugated people for centuries, most lastingly by the great Polish-Lithuanian Empire and then by the Russian Empire. That does not mean they did not exist. Consider this: until 1990 there had not been an independent Polish state for over two hundred years, except for a fleeting twenty years between the two world wars. Yet nobody doubts the Poles are a real nation. I shan’t start on Scotland again …
None of modern Ukraine was Russian until the 18th century, when the expansion of the Russian empire and decline of the Polish took in these new colonies. As Putin famously remarked, it was called New Russia. Yes, Vladimir, note it was New. That is because it was a colony. Just like New York. Because it was called New Russia gives you no more right to it than the Channel Islands have to New Jersey. Ukraine had been Russian seven hundred years before its 18th century reconquest, but that population had migrated to Muscovy.
The expansion of the Russian Empire was exactly contemporary with the expansion of the British and American Empires, and other bit players like the French. Like most of the American, most of the Russian Empire was a contiguous land mass. The difference between the Russian and British Empires, on the one hand, and the American Empire on the other, was that the Russians and British did not commit genocide of the existing populations. The difference between the Russian and the British Empires is that the British gave almost all of theirs back in the post-colonial period (a process that needs to be urgently completed). Russia gave back much of her Empire at the fall of the Soviet Union, but still retained a very great deal more than the British. It is to me inarguable that, in a historical perspective, Putin is attempting to recover as much of the Russian Empire as possible, including but by no means solely by the annexation of Crimea and his actions in Ukraine.
Crimea, incidentally, had maintained its own independent existence as the last remnant of the Mongol Horde right up until the 19th century. Despite the Russian colonisation of Crimea in the 19th century, it still had a majority Tatar population until the 1940’s, when Stalin tried his hand at genocide on them. The Tatars were branded Nazis. Opponents of the Russian Empire are always “Nazis” or “Jihadists”. The deportation of the Tatars from Crimea was only twenty years before the British did the same genocide to a smaller people in Diego Garcia. I call for the restitution of both. Those who call for the restitution of one and not the other are appalling hypocrites.
Equally hypocritical are those who call for a referendum on Russian union for East Ukraine, but not for referenda on independence for Dagestan and Chechnya. It is an irony insufficiently noted, that in Russia to call or campaign for the separation of any part of the state is a crime punishable by up to 22 years’ imprisonment. There are over 7,000 people from the Caucasus imprisoned under that law.
There is absolutely no movement among the large minority Russians of the Baltic States to rejoin Mother Russia, because living conditions in the EU are just so much better. As I have blogged before, it is undeniably true that living conditions for ordinary people in Poland have vastly improved as a result of EU membership, and are much better than in Ukraine – or Russia.
GDP per capita figures for Russia look quite good, but do not give a true reflection of living standards because of astonishing levels of inequality of wealth. This is very bad in the West, and getting much worse rather rapidly, but is nowhere near as bad as in Russia which is the most viciously capitalist state in the world, made worse by its commodity dependency. The Russian economy is completely non-diversified, manufacturing and services are miniscule and it is overwhelmingly a raw commodity exporter in energy, metals, grain etc. That leads to extreme concentration of profit and a lack of employment opportunity. Combine that with mafia state corruption and you have the oligarchs’ paradise. Russia is a gangster state. On top of which, if I were a Russian who campaigned against the Russian government in the same way that I do against my own, I would be dead.
The desire of ordinary Ukrainians to join the EU one day, and move closer to it now, is understandable and indeed commendable. It was also the desire of Yanukovich. Those who claim Western pressure on Yanukovich forget – or choose to ignore – that Yanukovich’s government had actually, quite independently and voluntarily, negotiated the EU co-operation agreement and were on the point of signing it, when Yanukovich was summoned to Moscow by Putin and informed that if they signed the agreement, the energy supplies to Ukraine would immediately be cut off in mid-winter and debt called in.
That is a fact. It was not illegal for Putin to do that; it was perhaps even legitimate for those who believe in a Machiavellian approach to great power politics. Yanukovich temporized, between a rock and a hard place. Ukraine seemed to be at a key moment of balance, hung between the EU and Russia. The capital being in West Ukraine and overwhelmingly ethnic Ukrainian, pro-EU crowds started to build up. Then things started to get wildly out of control.
Were western governments encouraging pro-western groups in Ukraine? Yes, that’s their job. Did this include covert support? Yes. Were the Russians doing precisely the same thing with their supporters? Yes, that’s their job too. Did the Americans spend 5 billion dollars on covert support? Of course not.
Victoria Nuland claimed in a speech America had put 5 billion dollars into Ukraine. I used to write those kind of speeches for British ministers. First you take every bit of money given by USAID to anything over a very long period, remembering to add an estimate for money given to international projects including Ukraine. Don’t forget to add huge staff costs and overheads, then something vast for your share of money lent by the IMF and EBRD, then round it up well. I can write you a speech claiming that Britain has given five billion dollars to pretty well anywhere you claim to name.
The problem is that both the left and right have again, equal but opposite motives for believing Nuland’s bombast about the extent of America’s influence on events. I have been in this game. You can’t start a revolution in another country. You can affect it at the margins.
A military coup you certainly can start. One thing we don’t really know nearly enough about is what happened at the end, when Yankovich had to flee. The Maidan protestors would never have caused a government to fall which retained full control of its army. The army can fail the rulers in two ways. First is a revolutionary movement among normal soldiers – the French revolution model. Second is where the troops remain disciplined but follow their officers in a military coup. The latter is of course a CIA speciality. More evidence is needed, but if this is the second model, it is unusual for it not to result in military control of government. Egypt is the obvious current example of a CIA backed coup.
After Yanukovich we had entered the world domination game. Putin seemed to have lost. The annexation of Crimea was a smart move by Putin in that game, because there probably is a genuine small majority of the population there who would like to join Russia. I have no doubt whatsoever that Putin himself does not believe the 93% for a moment. As I said, the Machiavellian players of world domination are realistic; it is their purblind followers on either side who buy their propaganda.
The Kiev government and the West should have conceded Crimea before Putin moved his troops into it. The sensible thing for the new Kiev government to have done would have been to offer a referendum in Crimea itself, under its own auspices. That would have got the most hardline pro-Russian voters out of the country for good. But by that time, everyone had gone into Macho mode, which is where we still are.
None of the remaining provinces would opt to join Russia given the choice. There is no shortage of existing and historic opinion poll evidence on that. Crimea was the only province with an ethnic Russian majority. The Eastern provinces have Russian speaking majorities, but most are ethnic Ukrainian. I base ethnicity here purely on self-identification in census (and, as I have repeatedly explained, absolutely everybody in the former Soviet Union knows precisely what is asked in the questions of Gradzvanstvo and Narodnosch). Just as some Welsh people speak English, some Ukrainians speak Russian but do not consider themselves Russian. Putin’s frequent references to the Russian-speaking peoples coming back to Russia are as sinister as if we started talking of re-uniting all the English speaking people in the world.
As almost always with colonies, the minority ethnic Russian populations in the East of Ukraine are more concentrated in urban areas. Hence it has been possible in regional capitals to mobilise gangs of disaffected and unemployed Russian young men (in view of Ukraine’s basket case economy there are plenty), and with a slight stiffening of Russian forces take control of town centres. There is a significant minority, and possibly a majority in town centres, willing to support. It is, I think, extremely important to understand that the thugs on both sides are very unpleasant. I have the particular experience of relations with a lot of Uzbeks, and the incidence of racial attacks by Russian nationalist thugs within Russia itself is absolutely horrifying and almost completely unreported. The swastika is a popular symbol among young macho men throughout all of former Eastern Europe including Russia. I absolutely guarantee you that an equally significant proportion of the pro-Russians who have been attacking anyone who tries to show support for Ukraine within Eastern Ukrainian cities, are no more and no less right wing, racist and vicious than the appalling Pravy Sektor thugs included on the other side. We have plenty within the EU – there is a serious problem, for example, with the official encouragement given to commemorations of pro-Nazi forces within the Baltic states which often have a distinctly neo-Nazi tinge.
Putin’s campaign of controlling the urban centres appears to have gone wrong in Odessa, which is simply too large for the numbers of available young men armed with baseball bats to take control. The pro-Russians were badly beaten in precisely the same street fighting they had been winning elsewhere. The culmination of this was the terrible fire and deaths. My expectation is there will not be many women, children or old people among the dead, but also there will not be many non-Ukrainian nationals. I expect these will prove to have been local Russian young men.
Putin now has a real problem. His own rhetoric has indicated that he will sweep in and defend these Russians, but there is one thing anyone with half a brain should have worked out by now. The ruling 1%, the ultra-wealthy, in both Russia and the West are so interconnected with each other that they are playing the game of world domination while trying at the same time to make sure nobody super-rich really loses his money. Hence the strange obviously bogus sanctions regimes. Real stock market disruption and confiscation of corrupt assets would be difficult to avoid if the tanks start rolling in earnest. We may be saved from utter disaster by the sheer scale of global corruption, which is a strange conclusion.
I would like to think the awful deaths of the last few days would lead both sides to step back from the brink. The time has come for a peacekeeping force. Negotiations should be held urgently to make the Kiev interim government more inclusive of opposition elements from the East – and they must oust the far right at the same time. The UN Security Council should then send in UN peacekeepers, which must include both Russian and western forces in close integration, to keep the peace while genuine elections are held. I can see no other way forward which does not risk disaster.
No, you can set out your argument at absolutely any length you like. And then you can put a link to that non-entity. But you can’t just paste screeds of someone else’s prose here.
Peacewisher,
Actually, quite regularly over the last ten years I have been pointing out the dangers of fascism in Eastern Europe – Mary at least will recall the argument with Charles Crawford who was denying my concerns about it in Poland. What it isn’t is an excuse for Putin – who is a dictator himself with a well developed personality cult – to invade.
That is unfathomable as a directive Craig. It sounds arbitrary subject to your current pique.
I sincerely hope you are right, Craig. But the signs are certainly not favourable. These good Ukrainians can’t afford to just ignore them, and expect them to go away. Especially as billionaires appear to be funding their violent ways…
” But just post links to somewhere else, or just copy and paste what someone else said somewhere, and it will get deleted”
“Empire” my thoughts…no link or paste.
“Imperious Rex” Also mine.
Updates?
Incidentally, BBC coverage now seems to be a bit more even-handed, and Fergal Keane – in MM terms at least – is fairly independent. I still think the Ukrainian government are of questionable legitimacy, and an administration in such a precarious position should certainly not send the military, led by right sector, to “restore order” against fellow citizens.
Please remember that you are an even-handed broker. Isn’t that the crux of your reputation? If ever it were found that you, covertly, maintained a character which would not augment your bona fides as Excellent Whistleblower, what would happen on your speaking engagement bookings? It may be a Win/Win based on the demographics who are most appreciate in a fiscal way.
having heard Yats on BBC today going on about kiev’s counte-terrorist ops in the East., it’s nice to see Guardian & Daily Mail presenting the pro-russian protesters as “terrorists” too. in the case of The Guardian, it’s not even Yats, but the writer who is framing them thus:
Guardian: Kiev hits back at pro-Russia rebels as Ukraine moves towards civil
war
Harriet Salem in Slavyansk
Less than 24 hours after the counter-terrorism assault against the rebels
began, Ponomaryov announced the release of seven Organisation for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) officials and their civilian translator,
who were taken by bus to Donetsk…
The Kiev counter-terrorism operation is the first real attempt to dislodge
the rebels from their stronghold…
Behind her, a homemade banner taped to a statue of Lenin outside the rebel
headquarters in the city’s administration building summed up local sentiment
about the anti-terrorism operation…
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/03/ukraine-civil-war-kiev-russia-slavyansk
LinkedIn: Harriet Salem
Photographer, field researcher & writer at Kiev Collective
Recently she has worked with; Foreign Policy Magazine, Financial Times,
Business New Europe, The Guardian, SETimes, Kyiv Post, New Eastern Europe
and The Sun. Harriet has previously lived and worked in; Manchester, London,
Amsterdam and Kiev. She also works in association with international
independent media resource, Kiev Collective, as a journalist and researcher
http://rs.linkedin.com/pub/harriet-salem/44/638/92a
Daily Mail: Putin wants to ‘wipe Ukraine off the map’, says Kiev: Country’s
interim prime minister blames Moscow’s secret service for fire that killed
dozens
‘What happened in Odessa was part of a plan by the Russian Federation to
destroy Ukraine and its statehood,’ Mr Yatsenyuk alleged. ‘Russia sent
people here to create chaos,’ he added.
He went on to beg Ukrainians to bury their differences ‘so as not to give
the terrorists backed by Moscow the opportunity to divide our people’…
Engulfed by violence which is rapidly plunging Ukraine into full-scale civil
war, the bespectacled Yatsenyuk begged his people to unite and to bury their
differences ‘so as not to give the terrorists backed by Moscow the
opportunity to divide our people’…
But he was also critical of his police, firing all commanders on Odessa for
failing to protect people and failing to counter ‘terrorist forces’…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2620258/Putin-wants-wipe-Ukraine-map-says-Kiev-Countrys-interim-prime-minister-blames-Moscows-secret-service-fire-killed-dozens.html
from Fars in Iran – anonymous propaganda? possibly/probably, but time will tell:
4 May – FarsNews – S. Arabia Relocating Takfiri Fighters from Syria to Ukraine
“A large number of terrorist Takfiri fighters in Syria, who bear Saudi and Chechnian nationalities and receive financial and military backup from the Saudi intelligence agency, have been transferred to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on several planes to help the Ukrainian army in its fight against the pro-Russian population,” an Arab security official told FNA on Sunday on the condition of anonymity due to the secrecy of the issue.
“The forces have been immediately dispatched to Kramatosk city in Eastern Ukraine, and are now fighting beside the Ukrainian army forces against the pro-Russians under the name of militias who support the government,” the source added.
The source explained that Saudi Arabia seeks to take revenge from Russia and pro-Russian people in Ukraine due to Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the war on rebel groups…
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930214000824
btw why not say Russia is responsible for the war on Syria & even the war on Libya.
true or not, no matter how many air strikes by Israel on Syria or anywhere else for that matter – there is no possibility of a UN Security Council meeting being held, is there? nice to have US politicians/officials & MSM NOTING/SPECULATING on the alleged strike:
4 May – Gulf Times – Israeli officials confirm Syria strike
Israeli officials have confirmed that the Tel Aviv regime has conducted an airstrike on Syria, following speculations by US officials that the Israeli regime had carried out the aerial assault….
The officials speaking on condition of anonymity said on Saturday that the Israeli fighter jets targeted a shipment of “game-changing” weapons in Syria on Friday. ..
There have been no immediate confirming comments from Syrian officials.
Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari said that he is “not aware of any attack right now.”
Earlier Saturday, two US officials said that the Israel “most likely” conducted an airstrike on Syria “in the Thursday-Friday time frame,” claiming, however, that the regime’s fighter jets “did not enter Syrian airspace.”
CBS News cited US sources as saying the Israeli warplanes targeted “a warehouse.” ….
The CNN news channel also reported that the Pentagon had collected information showing Israeli warplanes overflying Lebanon during the time frame of the strike.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also has confirmed that Israeli warplanes bombed Syria.
http://www.gulftimes.com/news/2013/05/israeli-officials-confirm-syria-strike#.U2ZNeCjwH01
btw funny how US MSM is full of Benghazi Attack accusations & counter-accusations yet NO-ONE, on the left or on the right, is in the slightest concerned that underlying the attacks was the transfer of arms to AQ-affiliated rebels in Syria & elsewhere in north africa. the subject is never even mentioned.
Macciavelli. What a prat. Despite living 800 years after the revelation of the Holy Qur’an, he did not know that kaida shaytana dha’eefa/ the plan of the devil is weak.
Lies are disturbing to the soul if you are unaware of the truth, but once the cat has got out of the bag lying simply makes the liar look incredibly stupid.
Mark Golding has hit the button by concluding that this phoney war in Ukraine is a political distraction from the war in Syria, where USUKIS want to hit the genocide button, but have been prevented by Putin.
Look at the western banks, look at the western psychologists, look at the western generals. They are frozen into their lies and are now a laughing stock. Do they really think they can keep spinning the same old economic, social and political garbage and anyone is still listening?
The only cure for recession is to reflate the price of houses so that their assets can rise? The only cure for harmed souls is to burn out the bits of the brain that have been damaged by lies? The only way to win a war is, if you can’t beat them, join them.
Craig berates the gullible general public and praises the Macciavellians for their honesty. No. The media are not the public. The public do not believe anything the stupid, neanderthal politicians or media groupies or advisors or think-tanks tell them.
Embarrassing? Let’s have a fig leaf contest? Shall we have a referendum or an election? What about both at the same time? What about leaving the fig leafs off and just insulting the public full on?
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/05/world-domination/comment-page-2/#comment-456156
An innteresting evasive reply from Habbabkuk about the location of his time zone. I was not asking about UCT.
I was asking about a time zone which is one hour ahead of BST.
Time in UK now 7.50am
Time in France now 8.50am
Time in Germany now 8.50am
etc etc
I maintain that he is not posting from the UK.
Time now in UCT – 6.50am
RIP Elena Baltacha
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/27280549
Born in Kiev 1983. Brave and spirited girl.
“An innteresting evasive reply from Habbabkuk about the location of his time zone. I was not asking about UCT.
I was asking about a time zone which is one hour ahead of BST.”
___________________
Do you not know that UTC is (for all practical purposes) = GMT ?
And that BST is UCT/GMT + 1 ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Which makes me recall a wonderful story I once read about a UK politican whom you’ll surely remember – one Edward du Cann.
He was apparently extremely smarmy, slippery and evasive – to the extent, the story goes, that when a fellow MP once asked him for the time, du Cann answered :
“what time would you like it to be?”.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So if you ask me where I’m posting from, perhaps I should reply in like fashion…:)
******************
La vita è bella, tempus fugit!
Since it is not a crime to live in a different time zone (or even a different era for some) perhaps Habba should tell Lady Dorking to mind her own business.
“Oligarchs get imprisoned in Russia,”
Only if they disagree with Putin – otherwise they are thriving. In 2000 there were zero Russians on Forbes billionaire list – Moscow alone had 78 in 2012.
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eiif45edhh/1-moscow/
When will Mr Goss realise that things have changed somewhat since his beloved Soviet Union – you need to wind your watch on 30 years.
More evasion from Habbabkuk, now supported by his sidekick RD. UTC is thrown into the mix as a decoy.
My original post.
‘Habbabkuk seems to be in a time zone that is different to the UK’s?? He says he posted a comment to Technicolour at 13.25hrs on the apartheid thread. It actually went up at 12.25hrs BST.’
It is obvious that he posts from a foreign country but purports to be UK resident.
Mary
I think you and the Mods should be aware that some deranged nut is attempting to impersonate you (cf post at 09h26 above).
A nice day to the real Mary!
Keep on with your silly evasion. Even a fool should know that our avatars do not change if the IP address/email address remains the same.
I think this article is rather one sided Craig and as someone has pointed out, you do seem to have your Cold War, Establishment hat on when it comes to this issue. I’m not expecting you to refrain from criticising Putin’s Imperialism here, but you’re underplaying the US/NATO influence enormously. For example, the $5 billion dollar figure is probably not an overestimate, but and underestimate when you take into account all the covert, off the books money that has been spent recently – and for many years beforehand – to prepare the way for an IMF/US friendly government. The US has been at this for 100 years and has become very practiced at it – take for example 1953 and the overthrow of Mossadeq in Iran, the consequences of which are still affecting global politics today.
As for Russia being a “Gangster State” – well this is true, but how could you mention this without making the same description of the United States? It may hide behind a more “respectable” image, but this is merely a veneer to hide a fake and the Wall Street crooks who pass through the revolving door into Government/Pentagon/CIA appointments and back again are no less gangsters than their Russian Oligarch counterparts with whom, as you say, they are doing plenty of business.
I see no evidence that Putin is attempting to restore the Soviet Empire to any degree – but that this is defensive against long term NATO encroachment on Russian borders. I’m not talking about the morality of the Grand Chessboard here, but the practicality. In terms of Imperialism, Putin has been much more restrained and cautious than his “Shock and Awe” counterparts in the West.
On the subject of activism and protesting government, if you think similar things don’t happen in the US then you should take a look at what happened to journalist Michael Hastings whose extremely suspicious death in a car “accident” was wrapped up quickly and his body cremated against the wishes of his family.
Finally, you keep banging on about how much better it is in the EU than in Russian Federation states. I’m not sure the Greeks would agree with that. The only reason the EU has a better standard of living is because of the illusion and fraud of international financialization and the “Imperial Wealth Pump” which feeds most of the world’s resources to the Western Powers. As you can see though, this arrangement is falling down around our ears as the Italians and Spanish are discovering and as the rest of us will find out in due course. So pray tell, what good to either the Ukrainians or the EU, will adding yet another IMF debt slave to this equation be?
Lady Dorking
I wonder if it has crossed your febrile imagination that Habba might have his computer time settings such that they might not update for BST.
Now lets get back to commenters on Medialens who use the same terminology as yourself e.g. BiBiC?
Pat @4.24am
I continue to be gob-smacked by the fact that an American General who attempted to rescue an American Ambassador in Benghazi was sacked ON THE SPOT, even tho said Ambassador met his demise under horrific circumstances.
Seems to me that Americans in general are PARALYZED by the atrocities perpetrated by their own ‘elected representatives’, who KNOW exactly what they are doing, and ‘disappearing’ any one who sees and says it AS IT IS.
Many are those of us who would rather die than perpetuate the on-going lies and slaughter generated by the powers that be.
This is an ages-old conundrum-like-2050 years-give or take a few?
Mary
I think I might adjust the computer time settings to give Tel Aviv time.
I’ll let you know if I do so because I want to make you happy.Or perhaps not.
RD brings up the rear again in this evasion. Laughable double act.
OrwellianUK
“Finally, you keep banging on about how much better it is in the EU than in Russian Federation states. I’m not sure the Greeks would agree with that.”
____________________
Which might explain why Greeks looking for work abroad tend to end up going to the UK, Germany, France ..rather than to the Russian Federation?
_____________
More generally, do you (or any of the other SFRs ) happen to have any figures for emigration from the EU to Russia and vice versa? By category figures (eg students, workers, pensioners, etc) if possible.
***********
SFR – Shill for Russia
BREAKING NEWS: JOURNALIST DISCOVERED IN NYT
Those Russians are so sneaky. Not even the NYT can find where they’ve hidden their army in Ukraine…
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/world/europe/behind-the-masks-in-ukraine-many-faces-of-rebellion.html?hpw&rref=world&_r=1
Copied from Medialens (where I am not a contributor as RD keeps suggesting)
Lockheed Martin: Ukraine Crisis will Boost Sales
Posted by zemblan on May 5, 2014, 8:59 am
I wonder when this piece of news will make its way to the BBC’s website…What a racket!
‘Lockheed Martin is on the lookout for acquisition deals and expects the crisis in Ukraine to boost sales of its missile defense system MEADS, the company’s chief executive told German weekly paper Welt am Sonntag.
“We see strong demand for defense systems in the world. Here in Europe it is for missile defense systems. Many of our NATO partners are also looking at our F-35 fighter jet programme,” Marilyn Hewson, company CEO, was quoted as saying.
Across the world there are around 20 new clients for its Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) Hewson told the paper.
MEADS is a mobile system designed to defeat tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft.
Lockheed continues to be on the lookout for potential acquisitions, Hewson told the paper.’
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101640055
+++++
Sick or what? Just think. Lockheed Martin ran our census last time and have all our details.
Craig 4 May, 2014 – 11:09 am
“On the end of the British Empire, I have a different view to the dogmatic Marxists among you as to the extent this was entirely due to local resistance, or to which ideological change in the UK itself post 1945 hastened it. That is however irrelevant.”
Straw man! I have never said the end of empire was entirely due to local resistance. I mentioned numerous causes.
However, you keep repeating your nonsense that the end of empire was gifted by the British establishment. A ludicrous claim! Anyway, with this latest comment, you are now backtracking, so progress!
Dogmatic Marxists? LOL. Reds in the beds! You guess at my politics to claim the middle ground for yourself like a good old establishment boy: I am reasonable and the rigid extremism is over there! Watch out everyone, we are now surrounded by one nutter and an extremist! I am the voice of reason!
Acrually I think whoever it was who invented the term ‘BiBiC’ was rather clever. Instead of Z(Zionist)BC, there is a passing reference to Bibi Netanyahu included.
Ha. Indeed, Sofia It really tickles me the way some folk go on about “Russian influence”. Do they mean Russian influence among ethnic Russians in a country that used to be part of Russia?
Well I’ll go to the foot of our stairs! Whoever would have believed it!
ITN last night: “The deaths of 40 people on Friday as a result of clashes between both sides.”
Er…not quite. They were burned to death by Nazis. Bit of a difference there.
Mike
You are so right. It used to be part of Russia. Russian influence is every bit as legitimate as British influence among the Northern Irish, or the Falkland Islanders. We should have given more support to Carson and Ulster will fight, yes? (Sarcasm alert)
Look at yourself. You are a complete bloody hypocrite. You are in fact an imperialist, it is just your loyalty is to the Russian empire.