Comment to Russia - NATO summit. Audio

Russian and NATO officials have discussed steps against terrorism and piracy an the Russia-NATO summit in November last year. 

It was the first open talk of two sides for the last 10 years. The main goal was to finish the so called "cold war" between the Alliance and Russia. 

However, even after this big and loud conversation the final decision about main points like missile defence have not been found yet. 

This week Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said  that Russia wants an unambiguous answer from NATO over Moscow's role in a European missile defence shield.

He stated that Russia will deploy nuclear weapons if no agreement is reached.

Does that mean that relationship between two sides is still very strained?

Here is the comment about this meeting and NATO and RUSSIA relationship of political scientist Natalia Leschenko from the Institute for State Ideologies in London. 

 

FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia

Today Russia is a winner. At the first time ever Russia has won the right to host FIFA World Cup in 2018.

So, what is to say? Congratulations! What is this filling? Proud! This is Proud for my native country,  Joy for all nation,  willing to hug every Russian in London and to share this national happiness. 

We have been waiting for it so long and preparing so hard. I think, this day has been the most nervous day not only for Russia but also for our rivals. Among our competitors were the strongest football states - Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and the native land of football - England.

It is seemed that the whoul world has been watching the announcement ceremony in Zurich. When FIFA president  said "Russia" I just could not sit quiet. I was jumping along with Russian the first vice-premier Shuvalov and the sport minister Minister Mutko. Even our the world jump champion Elena Isinbayeva this time was jumping not for the record but for joy!

Who is Sasha?

If you have 9 free minutes it is strongly recommended to watch Russian bid promo. It is really amazing! The idea of the clip is that the boy Sasha travels in his dreams to cities in Russia. His end point is the final match of the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. There is a match between Russia and Italy. Sasha scores the winning goal in that game. 

As the Russian press says, the boy Sasha is an exciting young footballer.  Moreover, there are two different and , at the same, similar boys in the video. They are twins. Both keen on sport. 

The idea of this promo belongs to the American movie producer Rupert Wainwright . He works in Hollywood. It is reported that the two-minute video presentation American producer had been shooting during four weeks.

What is in the bid? 

According to the bid, 13 cities and 16 new stadiums will take World Cup in 2018. The most pleasant for me is that one of these cities is my native city of Rostov-on-Don.

The new stadium will be built in Rostov-on-Don. The place was chosen on the left bank of the river  Don. It will be a stadium for 40 000 seats!  According to the project there will not be not the fourth stand on the stadium. There will be the view of  the Don embankment instead. 

Congratulations, Russia! And Welcome to Russia 2018!

 

Frozen Britain

Snow has already in London. If yesterday all TV channels and radio stations broadcasted terrible snow-covered pictures from the North of the country today there has been no any necessity to switch on the media. 

You wake up in the morning, look through the window and just cannot recognize the country in what you are. What is it? Russia? Siberia? Or the North Pole?

Even for the person who is used to living in the strong winter conditions, as I am, it is really unusual to see snowfall on the British islands at the end of November.  The question is appeared immediately: “Sorry, there is your praised Gulf Stream?”

However, we should not blame the weather. Because this is the most favourite work of the authorities. There is no any difference in that issue in every country. Winter always comes unexpectedly for them. 

What’s happened with Britain? 

Although, the UK has been suffering from early snowfall for the last three years it has become the real collapse for the country every time. 

People are got stuck in the trains for 24 hours because of rimed conductors. Airports are closed because of snow-covered landing strips. Thousands of schools are closed because of the broken heating systems.  

Atypical cold and snow covered almost the entire country, the press writes. Stock of sand and salt sprinkled on the roads has remained only for a couple of weeks. There is also the lack of special equipment for the road cleaning. 

There is something for the top news and front pages. 

Despite of all troubles such weather is the exciting theme for the media. Snowfalls and frost are the main topics of the all national news. Every hour we can follow the changing of surviving conditions of the most suffered place in the UK.

 In such circumstances drivers call to refuse travel as possible. On some roads, where traffic jams have formed, desperate drivers are simply throwing their cars and continue their trip on foot.

It is sounds like The End of the World, isn’t it? 

However, the reasonable question is followed. If snowfalls are more frequent in recent years why people meet winter as a complete surprise?

Russia and NATO have written a new chapter in world history

NATO and Russia will develop a European missile defense system and assess security threats. These are the main results of the summit in Lisbon.

In Lisbon, the partnership between NATO and Russia was founded. Big words, but they all backed up by specific intentions.

Of course, there was a thesis about the common threats - it is terrorism, drug trafficking, piracy, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

To agree on missile defense

The main discussion at the summit was on missile defense. Russia agreed to participate in creating a European missile defense system, but participate on an equal basis. If this does not happen, then there is a real danger of a new arms race, Medvedev said.

According to his words, Russia is interested in predictable defense strategy. So, construction relations with NATO as the largest military-political bloc will be depended from this fact.

The Afghan issue

 The situation in Afghanistan is too unstable and too big terrorist threat emanating from there, agreed the members of the summit. So it is doubted that the international forces can be withdrawn from the country in the near future.

 At the same time, Medvedev said, Russia is ready to extend assistance to the international forces to ensure security in Afghanistan.

Russia and NATO

Russian and NATO officials are going to discuss steps against terrorism and piracy, and Afghanistan ahead of the Russia-NATO summit today.  The main goal is to finish the so called "cold war" between the Alliance and Russia. 

This further political meeting has already been called historical. It’s the first time they have come together to discuss these issues. Both sides are expecting a lot from it.

While two years ago summit talks about placing NATO forces near Russian borders leaded to strain their relations. One of the main topics of this meeting is progress on European security. 

The Russian president Dmitriy Medvedev stated that this is the right moment for real change. As Vesti.ru quoted his words: “We are discussing a lot of different questions including a new collective missile defence system for Europe"

The main unsolved problem

NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it is time the Alliance and Russia stopped tracking each other through their gunsights and become close partners (Vesti.ru).

Despite the expected agreement on possible missile-defence cooperation, Russia had continuing concerns that the system could be directed against it. 

Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitriy Ragozin said the alliance should put restrictions on the missile-defence system's "geography, quality and quantity" (Vesti.ru).