Cold War Heating Up?

It's well know that Russia has enormous economic interests in Iraq. This, coupled with the United States' refusal to guarantee these interests in a post-war Iraq drove the Russians -- generally very close allies of the United States -- to oppose the U.S. war, and even threaten to veto a resolution granting war.

Since war's inception, Moscow has continued to criticise the United States' extralegality, while Russia and China are "retooling strategies to attenuate U.S. dominance". At the same time, the U.S. has called out the Russians for providing arms to Baghdad; Saddam, in expressing his gratitude for their help in devising the Iraqi military strategy, has awarded decorations to two former Soviet army generals; the Russians are "furious" that a diplomatic convoy en route to Syria from Baghdad twice came under fire; and the English translations of Russian intelligence analyses -- based on intercepted "coalition" communications -- of the military situation in Iraq (which, if authentic and accurate, paint a strikingly unflattering portrait of the "coalition" campaign thus far) have become a genuine Internet phenomenon.

Rubbing salt in the European wounds, Congress has stipulated that none of the $80 Billion approved for the rebuilding of Iraq shall be disbursed to companies based in France, Russia, Sryia, or Germany; and it's being reported that Russia and France would be among those taking "some of the biggest hits" from an Iraqi debt write-off.

Although Putin believes that Russian-American relations will survive this period of turmoil, Russia and India are set to begin "joint naval games" in the Indian Ocean -- which the Russians are portraying as harmless, but which are to include Russian nuclear Submarines, and, according to the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya, "The Russian Defense Ministry expects that the situation in the Middle East will change dramatically by late April, which might require interference from Russia."

Needless to say, if cooler heads don't prevail sooner than later, the shit could be hitting the fan sooner than later. Bringing us, at last, to this blog's pet recommendation: if the Western World's "leaders" are so hell-bent on selling Iraqi oil to the world's consumers that they're willing to risk nuclear warfare, ever another reason to not consume any oil -- Iraqi or otherwise. That is to say: do not purchase gasoline.

Posted by Eddie Tews at April 5, 2003 07:53 PM