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RUSSIA ORGANIZES DEFENSE
by Victor Yadukha
WPS Agency
What the Papers Say (Russia)
September 8, 2008 Monday
Russia
STATE COUNCIL DISCUSSED CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR IN THE CAUCASUS:
RUSSIA IS TO REVISE ITS FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICIES; Russia intends
to revise its foreign political strategy and concentrate on national
security.
President Dmitry Medvedev and Russian governors discussed consequences
of the war in the Caucasus in Moscow, last Saturday. Russia will revise
its foreign political strategy and strengthen national security in
the military, industrial, and food spheres. All of that is expected
to result in re-orientation of the military-industrial complex to the
needs of the Russian Armed Forces, stiffening of state control over
economic assets, increase of state investments in agriculture and
infrastructure, and emphasis on the Eurasian vector of the foreign
policy.
Speakers at the State Council meeting stated that the United States
continued to arm the Georgian regime (using relief aid as a cover)
and that NATO retained a naval group in the Black Sea. Since all of
that could renew the war in the Caucasus, Russia ought to concentrate
on its security. A source close to one of Russian governors told RBK
Daily that the State Council resolved to finally have the national
military-industrial complex concentrating on the needs of the Russian
Army and Navy. "The State Council was enraged that Georgian tanks
and aircraft could operate round the clock and ours couldn't... that
the Georgians were using GPS while our vaunted GLONASS remained
inoperable," the source said.
"Emphasis was made on military, food, and industrial security," Moscow
Region Governor Boris Gromov said. (Agriculture Minister Aleksei
Gordeyev announced that 102 billion rubles would be channelled into
beef and dairy production additionally.)
Russia's foreign policy is to be revised as well. "We should draw
conclusions that will affect our foreign political strategy," Medvedev
said. "Political pressure is being applied to us. We are used to
it, actually, and there is nothing they could do. August 8 changed
the world, and we have the support of the millions of people," the
president declared. As a matter of fact, Russia changed its foreign
political concept only recently. Promoting a multi-polar world order,
the previous concept was actually centered around Europe. A genuinely
multi-polar world is to be in the focus of the new foreign political
concept.
Experts offer different opinions on the State Council meeting and
its decisions. Liberal analysts warn about negative consequences
of isolation for Russian economy and society. Dmitry Yevstafiev
of PIR-Center in the meantime suggests erection of a monument to
Mikhail Saakashvili and George W. Bush for forcing on Russia a swift
adaptation to the new reality. "The stock market would have crashed
even without the war," Yevstafiev said. "As soon as the United States
showed the first indications of stabilization, the capitals that had
abandoned it for Russia chose to go back. Same with food: everyone
invests in basic sectors nowadays." Yevstafiev called the behavior of
the Turkish president quite symptomatic (he came to Moscow with the
idea of a trade alliance in the Black Sea region during the war, and
he is trying to make peace with Armenia nowadays - RBK Daily). "The
era of protectionism and trade alliances would have begun anyway. The
war merely became a catalyst," the expert said.
by Victor Yadukha
WPS Agency
What the Papers Say (Russia)
September 8, 2008 Monday
Russia
STATE COUNCIL DISCUSSED CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR IN THE CAUCASUS:
RUSSIA IS TO REVISE ITS FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICIES; Russia intends
to revise its foreign political strategy and concentrate on national
security.
President Dmitry Medvedev and Russian governors discussed consequences
of the war in the Caucasus in Moscow, last Saturday. Russia will revise
its foreign political strategy and strengthen national security in
the military, industrial, and food spheres. All of that is expected
to result in re-orientation of the military-industrial complex to the
needs of the Russian Armed Forces, stiffening of state control over
economic assets, increase of state investments in agriculture and
infrastructure, and emphasis on the Eurasian vector of the foreign
policy.
Speakers at the State Council meeting stated that the United States
continued to arm the Georgian regime (using relief aid as a cover)
and that NATO retained a naval group in the Black Sea. Since all of
that could renew the war in the Caucasus, Russia ought to concentrate
on its security. A source close to one of Russian governors told RBK
Daily that the State Council resolved to finally have the national
military-industrial complex concentrating on the needs of the Russian
Army and Navy. "The State Council was enraged that Georgian tanks
and aircraft could operate round the clock and ours couldn't... that
the Georgians were using GPS while our vaunted GLONASS remained
inoperable," the source said.
"Emphasis was made on military, food, and industrial security," Moscow
Region Governor Boris Gromov said. (Agriculture Minister Aleksei
Gordeyev announced that 102 billion rubles would be channelled into
beef and dairy production additionally.)
Russia's foreign policy is to be revised as well. "We should draw
conclusions that will affect our foreign political strategy," Medvedev
said. "Political pressure is being applied to us. We are used to
it, actually, and there is nothing they could do. August 8 changed
the world, and we have the support of the millions of people," the
president declared. As a matter of fact, Russia changed its foreign
political concept only recently. Promoting a multi-polar world order,
the previous concept was actually centered around Europe. A genuinely
multi-polar world is to be in the focus of the new foreign political
concept.
Experts offer different opinions on the State Council meeting and
its decisions. Liberal analysts warn about negative consequences
of isolation for Russian economy and society. Dmitry Yevstafiev
of PIR-Center in the meantime suggests erection of a monument to
Mikhail Saakashvili and George W. Bush for forcing on Russia a swift
adaptation to the new reality. "The stock market would have crashed
even without the war," Yevstafiev said. "As soon as the United States
showed the first indications of stabilization, the capitals that had
abandoned it for Russia chose to go back. Same with food: everyone
invests in basic sectors nowadays." Yevstafiev called the behavior of
the Turkish president quite symptomatic (he came to Moscow with the
idea of a trade alliance in the Black Sea region during the war, and
he is trying to make peace with Armenia nowadays - RBK Daily). "The
era of protectionism and trade alliances would have begun anyway. The
war merely became a catalyst," the expert said.