The Russians have made it absolutely clear over the course of the day that they disagree with the Trump administration’s increasingly confrontational policy towards Iran.
In a succession of what were clearly coordinated statements top Russian officials have made it clear that they will not sacrifice their relations with Iran in return for better relations with the US.
Though the White House has not yet published on its website a readout of US President Trump’s telephone conversation on Saturday with Ukrainian President Poroshenko, it is clear that it did not contain the strong support for Ukraine Poroshenko must have been looking for.
The conversation took place against the backdrop of intense fighting between the Ukrainian military and the eastern Ukrainian militia around the town of Avdeevka in eastern Ukraine.
The past couple of days have seen a flurry of statements and actions from the Belarussian side indicating that President Lukashenko is on the brink of pivoting his country away from Russia.
If Petro Poroshenko ever thought that destroying the freedom and independence of the Donabss republics would be easy, he ought to consider how Donbass and neighbouring areas have historically risen in independence, defying the same forces which seek to subdue them today.
Historically the core of the Donbass region, the city known contemporarily as Donetsk, was founded in 1869. The city represented the heart of modern Russian industry. If St. Petersburg was founded as Russia’s cultural showcase to the world, Donetsk was founded as the industrial equivalent.
In a lengthy discussion for The Duran I recently wrote that the concerns some have expressed about the ‘draft constitution’ the Russians presented to the Syrian parties at the peace talks in Astana, though well-intentioned, are misplaced.
Over the last few hours the media has been full of reports concerning an apparent slight easing of sanctions by the US Treasury Department on Russia’s counter-intelligence agency, the FSB.
Since shortly after the Syrian peace talks began in the Kazakh capital Astana rumours have circulated that Russia proposed at the conference a ‘draft constitution’ for Syria.
Rumours about the contents of this ‘draft constitution’ have spread widely, with concern widely expressed that Russia might be seeking to impose its ideas on the Syrian people in quasi-colonial fashion, and that Russia is overreaching itself.
Using the Article-Paragraph system whereby 1-3 refers to Article 1, Paragraph 3, for example, the Russian-written “draft constitution” proposes:
* 4-2 giving the Kurds equal use of their language alongside Arabic within their “cultural autonomy”;
* 4-3 suggesting that it can be used in schools, though not stipulating whether or not this is limited to the “cultural autonomy” zone or nationwide;
I write this with a heavy heart, but I know I speak for millions in Russia and around the world. Russia has let Donbass down.
The civilians of Donbass are being slaughtered like sitting ducks by an amoral fascist regime. Yes, Russia has continually sent medicine, food and clean water to Donbass, but this is no longer enough, not that it ever really was.
There is no point in waiting for the fascist regime to bankrupt itself and fall, if the waiting process is costing lives in Donbass. The latest acts of aggression on Kiev have proved this to be the case.
The Russians have finally provided the first definite official information about the arrests of FSB officers and hackers which have been taking place in Moscow since December.
