Did you know that Igor Sechin allegedly worked with the famous arms dealer Viktor Bout back in Mozambique in the 1980s?  Neither did I, but you probably already know we have been watching all these orders coming for more Russian tanks from Venezuela's Hugo Chavez while at the same time more and more FARC links to Caracas are surfacing.  It's just so strange to think that the key individual who somehow allegedly ties together Russian weapons to the Venezuelans and then onward to FARC is in a Thai jail, where, apparently, the authorities are under the impression that FARC is not even a terrorist organization but rather a political party.  According to this editorial in the Washington Post, the ...

Robert Amsterdam has a new blog post up over on Huffington Post about Obama's approach to Iran and Venezuela.  Here is a short excerpt:

There are two reasons why both the authoritarians of Persia and the Orinoco Belt represent a common foreign policy challenge to the United States. Firstly, they both lean upon a brand of populism that is heavily dependent upon an outdated conception of anti-Americanism. They have woven a narrative, backed only by selective scraps of facts combined with myths, that the United States is a hostile, hateful, and aggressive power which is responsible for nearly every social problem of their country. Oh yes, and they also want to invade us, so we had better arm ourselves to the teeth.

This narrative makes for efficient

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Israel may very well attack Iran’s nuclear facilities if the hardliner Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is re-elected tomorrow. Israel thinks that if elected, Ahmadinejad will continue to develop nuclear weapons.  And, Israel can’t afford to wait for international efforts to bring Iran’s enrichment to an end.

Detailed military plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure have long been on the table in Tel Aviv.

Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported that Dennis Blair, the newly-appointed head of US intelligence, said Tel Aviv will eventually declare war on Tehran as a last-ditch effort to curb Iran’s enrichment capabilities.

And, former Israeli UN ambassador Dan Gillerman revealed that Tel Aviv is preparing a military offensive against the country.

War could be avoided if the Persian people elect the moderate political leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in tomorrow’s election.

Moderate ex-premier Mir Hossein Mousavi has emerged as Ahmadinejad’s main rival.  Mousavi believes Iran’s policy regarding its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.  

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TODAY: Russia condemns North Korea 'Hiroshima' size bomb test; Lavrov says election result in Lebanon must be respected; Medvedev believes influence in CIS states should be extended; streamlining the military provokes discontentA spokesman for President Medvedev has said that 'North Korea's underground nuclear test in the region adjacent to the territory of the Russian Federation ... causes deep regret and the most serious concern'.  The detonation was, according to Russian experts, of a bomb roughly the same size as that dropped on Nagasaki or Hiroshima.  Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that the international community must recognize the results of Lebanon's upcoming general election, regardless of who wins.  This comment comes hot on the heels of those by US Vice President ...

TODAY: Anti-corruption initiatives fail to 'dizzy' so far; Sochi faces IOC inspection amid reports of ecological violations; governor's official earnings declarations raise eyebrows; Lavrov finds US approach to arms issue 'constructive'; same sex marriage deniedPresident Medvedev seems to have no illusions about the efficacy of his anti-corruption measures: 'there is actually no success so far'.  Is this a reflection of Medvedev's 'glasnost-lite' as a Guardian commentator would have it?  Or it a further indictment of the President's lack of power, the subject of an op-ed piece in the Moscow Times?  Authorities are reportedly refusing to look into the harassment faced by an United Civil Front party leader who has been bombarded with death threats.  Kaliningrad Governor Georgy Boos has revealed the ...

From the Wall Street Journal: There is of course a long line of goons happy to take military, energy or economic handouts from the Kremlin, though the dramatic drop in oil prices and Russian stocks will limit its ability to buy people off. Mr. Lukashenko could well be holding out his support for cheaper natural gas. But Russia's erratic and aggressive behavior in the Caucasus has apparently given even him pause about its possible intentions against Belarus. In addition to Mr. Ortega, Russia did manage recognition by Hamas, Hezbollah and the Moldovan regions of Gaugazia and Trans-Dniester. But that is little solace for a Kremlin whose bigger goal in the war was to declare a Monroe-ski Doctrine for its "near abroad" and lead a new anti-American block. Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of Russia in Global Affairs, summed up the strategy: "Our long effort to become part of the West is over. ...