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It is now becoming apparent who are emerging as winners and losers from the war between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.Let’s talk about the winners first. Washington is one of the big winners. That’s why some people, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and yours truly, were saying that the United States must have been responsible for igniting the fire. According to Putin, American role in this crisis was highlighted by the presence [...]

Martin McCauley writes: Have you heard about the BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China? They meet occasionally to discuss the future world arrangement where they will be calling the shots. The BRIC countries, so that you know, account for almost half the world’s population and supposedly have the most dynamic economies. They are not natural allies: Brazil and India are friendly with the United States while Russia and China are keeping the yanks at a distance. Behind the scenes [...]

(By Martin McCauley) Washington is reeling. First, the Syrian President visits Moscow to conclude an alliance which could see Russian re-emerging as a military power in the Middle East for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Then, North Korea announces that it has stopped disabling its nuclear facilities (the Yongbyon reactor and the demolition of its cooling tower), accusing the US of reneging on a six party disarmament deal.On the face of it Pyongyang [...]

Martin McCauley writes: Back in 1959 the American political scientist, Seymour Martin Lipset, published a seminal article on democracy and economic development. He was fascinated by American society which he regarded as exceptional. How else was one to explain America’s economic and political dominance of the world at that time? Lipset coined the aphorism: ‘The more prosperous a nation is, the greater the chances it will sustain a democracy.’ In other words, if a nation wishes to become rich the [...]

The Kremlin has demonstrated its determination to continue scoring political points on the domestic front by raising the stakes in its stand-off with the West over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Because make no mistake – this whole conflict with Georgia is played out by the Russian leadership primarily for domestic consumption, in an attempt to distract attention from the rapidly deteriorating economic situation in the country and the gross mismanagement of public finances and assets. In [...]

(By a leading political analyst.) The visit of President Bashar al-Assad to Moscow is a startling consequence of the Russian military victory in Georgia. He stated on his arrival: ‘We are ready to co-operate with Russia in any project that can strengthen its security’. He added that Russia needs to think of a response to the fact that it is being encircled by hostile nations. He made clear that he would be discussing the stationing of Russian missiles on his [...]

The United States have their fingerprints all over the conflict in Georgia. And you know how I know about it? Because already the US seem to have benefitted most from it. Yes they did, there is no question about it. Not to mention that they have been extremely well prepared for the supposedly ‘unexpected’ crisis in Georgia in terms of PR. Very well prepared indeed. Rolled out their PR guns in a matter of hours and even managed to pronounce [...]

Alexander Nekrassov writes: It is time to dispel some of the myths that surround the conflict between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. There have been too many comments made by people who, obviously, are not that well informed about the situation that exists in both Russia and Georgia and who have been trying to cover up their ignorance by making sensational statements and predictions that have nothing to do with reality. Let’s first deal with [...]

There is one striking revelation that came out during the war between Georgia and Russia: and that is that Georgia is not the economic success story that its government and the West are trying to portray. Quite the opposite, actually. Have you noticed the shabbiness of the Georgian towns and cities and villages that have been shown in news reports? I’m not talking here about the devastated buildings that had been damaged or destroyed during fighting. I’m talking about the [...]

We, at stirringtroubleinternationally.com, are monitoring the health of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushenko (this is the correct spelling of his name), with a mixture of concern and great optimism. Concern, because Mr Yushenko has had a brush with death several years ago and should be taking things easy. Optimism, because we see that the Ukrainian leader shows no signs of slowing down and carries out his duties with vigour that can shame any fit and healthy person. Take last week, [...]