Global News Post: Russia

Friends of Syria Group ‘Encourages Extremists’ - Moscow

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></span></st1:city><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (RIA Novosti) -
A resolution adopted by the Friends of Syria Group in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rome</st1:city></st1:place> on Thursday encourages extremists there to
seize power by force, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich
said on Friday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">US, EU and Arab
officials who met in Rome on Thursday pledged more assistance to the Syrian
opposition fighting against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, recognizing the
National Coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“There is a
general understanding within the international community that there is no
military solution to the Syrian crisis,” Lukashevich said in a statement posted
on the ministry’s website.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Meanwhile,
judging by incoming reports, the decisions made in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rome</st1:city></st1:place>, as well as the statements that were
made there, both in letter and in spirit encourage extremists to seize power by
force, regardless of the inevitable suffering of ordinary Syrians.” He did not
elaborate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rome</st1:city></st1:place> statement praised the
opposition National Coalition for its reform efforts, urged Assad's regime to
end “indiscriminate bombardments against populated areas,” and deplored “the
unabated arms supply to the regime by third countries.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place>
pledged $60 million in “non-lethal” assistance for the Syrian political
opposition.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Secretary of
State John Kerry said on Thursday the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> would send the Syrian opposition
an additional $60 million in non-lethal aid, but still refuses to supply the
weapons and sophisticated military supplies the rebels have said they need.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday <st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city>’s
position on <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>
stems from its concern for the Syrian people, and not the fate of President
Bashar al-Assad.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region> has called for Assad to step down,
but <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>
says it is concerned that the Syrian president’s forced departure would make
the conflict worse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Russian Deputy
Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said last Tuesday foreign military supplies to
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
armed opposition have been growing. He reiterated <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>’s
official position that <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:city>
will not carry out fresh arms deliveries to the Syrian government, but is only
supplying arms and military equipment under contracts signed before the civil
war, which has claimed some 70,000 lives according to the latest UN estimates.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Last Monday,
Lavrov denied <st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city> had tried to smuggle arms
components into <st1:country-region w:st="on">Syria</st1:country-region> via <st1:country-region w:st="on">Finland</st1:country-region>, and said there are no Russian troops in
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>
apart from several dozen technical staff at the Tartus naval support facility. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>’s state-run arms dealer Rosoboronexport
said on Wednesday it is supplying air-defense missile systems and maintenance
and servicing equipment to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
but not combat aircraft. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>

Friends of Syria Group ‘Encourages Extremists’ - Moscow

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - A resolution adopted by the Friends of Syria Group in Rome on Thursday encourages extremists there to seize po...

Russia Invites Syrian Opposition for Talks

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (NNN-QNA) -- <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region> has sent an invitation for talks to the
head of the opposition Syrian National <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Coalition</st1:city>,
 <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s Deputy
Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Friday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"<st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>
is ready to hold talks over the 21-month-old Syrian conflict with National
Coalition head Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib either in <st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city>
or any foreign location like <st1:city w:st="on">Geneva</st1:city> or <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>," Bogdanov
said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The invitation has been passed on.
Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib has received it," Bogdanov said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The UN-Arab League envoy for <st1:country-region w:st="on">Syria</st1:country-region>, Lakhdar Brahimi, is scheduled to arrive
in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:city> on
Saturday to discuss the Syrian crisis with top Russian officials. -- NNN-QNA<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

Russia Invites Syrian Opposition for Talks

MOSCOW (NNN-QNA) -- Russia has sent an invitation for talks to the head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition , Russia ’s Depu...

Putin Signs US Adoption Ban

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (RIA Novosti) - President
Vladimir Putin signed into law on Friday a controversial bill that imposes a
ban on adoption of Russian children by Americans and other retaliatory measures
targeting the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Despite protests from liberal-minded
bloggers and civic groups, as well as some top officials in the Russian
government, the ban on American adoptions will come into force on January 1,
2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The ban is part of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s tit-for-tat response to
the US Magnitsky Act, which was signed into law by US President Barack Obama
earlier this month. The act introduces sanctions against Russian officials
suspected of human rights abuses and is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a
whistleblowing lawyer who died in a Moscow pre-trial detention center in 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The adoption ban is the most debated aspect
of the proposed legislation, which also sets a visa ban on alleged <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> abusers of Russian citizens’ rights and
freezes any assets they may have in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>;
bans political non-governmental organizations that receive US funding and bars
US citizens from working for politically active NGOs in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>. The legislation would also
bar Russian organizations from facilitating adoptions by US citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA
Novosti that the list of banned officials has been drafted already, but won’t
be published.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“I have not seen any reason why I should not
sign it, although I have to consider the final version and think everything
over,” Putin said Thursday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Critics of the bill have insisted that the
measure is politically motivated and would strand tens of thousands of
children, especially those with disabilities, in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s dilapidated orphanage
system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Since 1999, families in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
have adopted more than 45,000 Russian children, including 962 last year,
according to the US State Department.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Russian officials blame US adoptive parents
for the deaths of at least 19 of these children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The law will come into force on January 1,
2013, halting the adoption of 46 Russian children by US families whose cases
are currently being processed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>

Putin Signs US Adoption Ban

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin signed into law on Friday a controversial bill that imposes a ban on adoption of Russi...

No Criminal Charges over Anti-Putin Activist ‘Torture’

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 16.5pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></st1:city></st1:place><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (Marc Bennetts, RIA Novosti) – Russian
investigators refused on Thursday to open a criminal investigation into
allegations by a leftist political activist that he was tortured into
confessing to a plot to overthrow President Vladimir Putin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Leonid Razvozzhayev, a member of the Left Front political
movement, made international headlines in mid-October when he said he had been
abducted by "masked men" after applying for political asylum in the
Ukrainian capital of <st1:city w:st="on">Kiev</st1:city> and spirited away to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:city> by his kidnappers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Razvozzhayev also told human rights workers who visited him in
a <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:city>
pre-trial detention center that his abductors had threatened to kill him and
his children if he did not sign a detailed confession.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“A number of witnesses were questioned and their testimony
indicated the unreliability of Razvozzhayev’s claims about his abduction and
torture,” said Vladimir Markin, spokesperson for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s Investigation Committee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The charges against Razvozzhayev, an aide to opposition
lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov, stem from grainy footage aired by the pro-Kremlin
television channel NTV in early October.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The channel said the footage also showed Left Front leader
Sergei Udaltsov, one of the leaders of the anti-Putin street movement,
Razvozzhayev, and another activist from the socialist group, Konstantin
Lebedev, discussing the plot with an influential Georgian politician.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">All three men have been charged and deny the accusations. Lebedev
has been in custody since early last month, while Udaltsov has been ordered not
to leave <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The Investigation Committee investigated itself, so it’s
hardly surprising that they declined to bring charges,” Ponomaryov, a
co-founder of the Left Front, told RIA Novosti.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Investigators also said Razvozzhayev refused to take a lie
detector test over his claims that he was forced to sign the confession, which
he has since retracted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The development comes a day after investigators brought
additional charges of armed robbery against the 39-year-old left-wing activist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Razvozzhayev was charged on Wednesday with robbing a
businessman of 500 fur hats and video cameras in the East Siberian city of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Angarsk</st1:city></st1:place> in 1997. He faces
up to 12 years behind bars if found guilty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Investigators said Razvozzhayev and his alleged accomplices in
the robbery brandished a hunting rifle and two handguns. He said the charges
had been brought after the victim’s wife complained that the crime had still
not been solved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“This is simply another attempt to blacken his name and the
name of the Left Front,” Ponomaryov, the opposition lawmaker, said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny is also facing ten years
behind bars after being charged this summer with large-scale embezzlement.
Navalny has called the charges “absurd.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Putin has denied a clampdown is underway against opposition to
his rule, saying “everyone must comply with Russian law.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

No Criminal Charges over Anti-Putin Activist ‘Torture’

MOSCOW (Marc Bennetts, RIA Novosti) – Russian investigators refused on Thursday to open a criminal investigation into allegations by...

Russia Warns Against NATO Missiles on Syrian Border

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></st1:city><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (RIA Novosti) - <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>'s
Foreign Ministry cautioned Thursday against <st1:country-region w:st="on">Turkey</st1:country-region>'s
intention to deploy NATO Patriot missiles on its border with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The militarization of the Turkish-Syrian border would be
an alarming signal," said ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.
"It would do nothing to foster stability in the region."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"Our advice to our Turkish colleagues is to use their
influence on the Syrian opposition to draw them closer to dialogue, instead of
flexing their muscles and taking the situation down a dangerous path," he
added.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday
that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Turkey</st1:country-region></st1:place>'s
request to deploy the missiles would be considered soon. <st1:city w:st="on">Ankara</st1:city>
says the missile system is necessary to protect its border with conflict-torn <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Syria</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">US Patriot surface-to-air missiles were last deployed to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Turkey</st1:country-region></st1:place>
in 1991 and 2003, during the two Gulf Wars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Turkey</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> has opened fire several times in recent
weeks across its border with <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Syria</st1:country-region></st1:place>
in retaliation for Syrian shelling, which killed five Turkish civilians in
October. It has also provided shelter to refugees fleeing the violence in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Syria</st1:country-region></st1:place>
and has been one of President Bashar al-Assad’s harshest critics during the
almost 17-month revolt against his rule.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Tensions between <st1:country-region w:st="on">Turkey</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Syria</st1:country-region> flared dangerously
this summer after <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Damascus</st1:city></st1:place>
shot down a Turkish fighter that had violated its airspace. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Turkey</st1:country-region> threatened retaliation if there was any
repeat of the incident, although it admitted the plane had mistakenly strayed
slightly into <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Syria</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Lukashevich also denied Russian media reports that Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov was planning to meet on November 26 with the Syrian
opposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Syrian conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives
since the start of an uprising against Assad in March 2011, according to
various Syrian opposition groups. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Russia</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> - along with <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>
- has drawn heavy Western criticism for its refusal to sanction UN sanctions
against Assad's regime, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city></st1:place>
sole remaining ally in the Arab world. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city></st1:place>
said the proposed UN resolutions betrayed a pro-rebel bias and would do nothing
to bring peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Putin vowed earlier this year not to allow a repeat of the “<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Libya</st1:country-region></st1:place>
scenario,” which saw the ouster and murder of long-time Libyan dictator Muammar
Gaddafi after a NATO military campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city></st1:place>
has denied it is supporting Assad in the conflict and says it will respect the
will of the "Syrian people."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

Russia Warns Against NATO Missiles on Syrian Border

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - Russia 's Foreign Ministry cautioned Thursday against Turkey 's intention to deploy NATO Patriot miss...

Google, YouTube to Get Russian Site Blacklist Updates

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (RIA Novosti) – Google and YouTube will
receive updates regarding information banned within <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>, the country's
communications oversight agency said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
agency’s press release confirmed that Google Inc and YouTube LLC had formally
agreed “to receive information from the register regarding content banned in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The
register detailing ‘blacklisted’ sites and content that is banned in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
was launched by the agency on Thursday. The zapret-info.gov.ru site will
consider complaints lodged by members of the public, who can submit screenshots
and URLs of the offending sites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Cooperation
between the agency and international companies had already been sketched out
before the law came into force. “The company’s email address is included in the
mail-out regarding links added to the register,” the press release said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In
the first 24 hours of its existence, the site logged over 5,000 complaints
regarding offensive content, 96 percent of which were rejected after
consideration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Of
the initial complaints, 10 sites were kept on the list as they contained child
pornography, 40 complaints were passed to the drugs control authorities, and 23
to the consumer affairs watchdog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>

Google, YouTube to Get Russian Site Blacklist Updates

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) – Google and YouTube will receive updates regarding information banned within Russia , the country's communicat...

U.S. Praises Putin’s Participation in Crane Saving Project

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">WASHINGTON (RIA Novosti) --- The U.S. State Department has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s participation in a project to save white cranes, which are on the verge of extinction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The Russian Government and President Putin himself are very committed to wildlife conservation. I don’t know if all of you know this, but Siberian cranes are a critically endangered species,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Thursday. “And so President Putin has personal involvement in the issue.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">On his way to the APEC summit in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, Putin stopped by in the city of Salekhard. From there, he flew on board a helicopter to the Kushevat ornithological station/sanctuary, where he took part on Wednesday in a project to save a rare bird species, flying in an ultralight with a flock of migrating Siberian white cranes who took him for their leader.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ventrell also told journalists: “We, as the United States, remain dedicated to conservation, to ending illicit traffic in endangered species, and we look forward to continued cooperation with Russia to conserve a number of endangered species, including tigers, leopards, and polar bears.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">He added that Putin’s “personal involvement focuses much needed international attention on the plight of these iconic migratory birds.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Flight of Hope project that Putin took part in aims to save the Red List crane species, which is under the threat of extinction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Putin steered a specially outfitted motorized hang glider, flying with the birds to show them the way to warmer places. He made three flights: one test flight to get hands-on experience with the machine and two more together with the cranes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Under the project, young cranes are shown the way to fly from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District via West Siberia and Kazakhstan to southern Uzbekistan, where "alternative" wintering grounds - the world’s first - are being created.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

U.S. Praises Putin’s Participation in Crane Saving Project

WASHINGTON (RIA Novosti) --- The U.S. State Department has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s participation in a project to save wh...

American Car Makers Bet Billions on Russia’s Car Boom

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">By James Brooke<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="429" scrolling="no" src="http://www.voanews.com/flashembed.aspx?t=vid&id=1502033&w=640&h=429&skin=embeded" width="640"></iframe><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">MOSCOW (VOA News) — Russian-made cars used to conjure up images of boxy, broken down Ladas. Now car sales are jumping and foreign car makers are investing billions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">This week, Moscow’s International Motor Show is supplying plenty of glitz. But behind the hoopla, the real excitement is that Russia is on its way to become one of the world’s top five car markets.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">With sales jumping in Russia, and slumping in Europe this year, Russia is projected to displace Germany in 2014 as Europe’s largest car market. That would make Russia the world’s fourth largest car market - after China, the United States and Japan, according to the research group Euromonitor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Russia finally joined the World Trade Organization last month. Now car companies are racing to boost production before import tariffs start dropping.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Each of the American big three automakers - Ford, GM and Chrysler - plans to invest $1 billion in car factories in Russia.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">“We were the first ones in here 10 years ago, and we’ve built over 500,000 vehicles here,” says Ted Cannis, president of the Ford Sollers joint venture in Russia. “This is a key, core place in Russia. And we see a huge potential for Ford.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">A few stands away, James Bovenzi, GM’s president for Russia, says GM’s plan is to double its Russia production over the next five years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">“GM values the Russian market,” Bovenzi says. “We see it as one of the big growing markets in the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">To generate buzz in Russia, GM invited Henry Kissinger to their plant expansion ceremony last June in St. Petersburg.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">With car sales up 14 percent in Russia so far this year, dealers are struggling to meet demand.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">At a brand new Chrysler dealership on Moscow’s beltway, John Stech, Chrysler Russia CEO, talks about the demand.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">“We've brought completely refreshed vehicles, all new vehicles, onto the Russian market,” he said, while visiting the dealership for the first time. “And they really resonate with the Russian customers. For a while we couldn't get enough. Now we have a better supply, and we see this really in the activity in our dealers."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">And there is room for growth. There is about one car for every four Russians - about half the average for Western Europe and the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Chris Weafer, strategist for Troika Dialog, says Russian consumers have money in their pockets.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">"It is one of the fastest growing consumer markets in the world,” he says. “And that’s coming on the back of very strong disposable income growth - about $8,000 this year, rising to a projected $12,000 in about 4 or 5 years time. So people have more money to spend on consumer goods."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Bernard Sucher, a long-term American investor and sometime Russia critic, comes from Detroit, home of the Big Three American manufacturers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The Motor City native is impressed by what is happening in Russia.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">“They`ve done a pretty good job in encouraging global producers and suppliers of addressing Russian markets in terms favorable for foreign players, but at the same time promising that Russia will retain substantial manufacturing capacities itself,” Sucher says. “It`s a good story. It’s a win-win story. And we would like to see more of that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Now, with all the new cars hitting the streets, Russia’s challenge is to build parking - and roads.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>

American Car Makers Bet Billions on Russia’s Car Boom

By James Brooke MOSCOW (VOA News) — Russian-made cars used to conjure up images of boxy, broken down Ladas. Now car sales are jumping and ...

Putin: Moscow Won't Change Position on Syria

Putin: Moscow Won't Change Position on Syria

MOSCOW (VOA News) ---Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled that Moscow is not ready to shift its stance on supporting Syria, and su...

Putin Ready to Work with Next U.S. President

Putin Ready to Work with Next U.S. President

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti)---Russia is ready to work with the next U.S. president regardless of who wins in the November elections, so long as th...

Moscow Court Acquits Opposition Activist Kasparov

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti)--- A Moscow court acquitted Russian chess grandmaster and opposition activist Garry Kasparov accused of violating peaceful gathering by shouting out slogans last week during the trial over Pussy Riot punk band.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kasparov claimed police arrested him for no reason as he was giving an interview, twisting his arms and kicking him in the crotch on the way to the police van, according to Rusnovosti.ru.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The judge said that policemen gave contradictory evidence during the trial and she was more inclined to believe photo- and video-evidence as well as witnesses’ testimonies given by journalists and other people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The judge’s verdict was met with applause at the court house and Kasparov later thanked all those, who supported him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Police also said earlier that Kasparov bit on the finger one of several officers dragging him away from a Moscow court where three Pussy Riot members were convicted on August 17 over an anti-Kremlin “punk prayer” at an Orthodox Christian cathedral.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Russian Investigative Committee, Russia’s analogue of the FBI, is currently checking into the matter of an attack on a policeman by Kasparov. The accusation can land him in jail for five years on charges of attacking a police officer on duty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kasparov also denied biting anyone during his detention and said the officer in question, Denis Ratnikov, could have run afoul of a police dog.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">More than 50 people were held on August 17 by the Khamovnichesky district court, where Pussy Riot members were given jail terms of two years for hooliganism and inciting religious hatred.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div></div>

Moscow Court Acquits Opposition Activist Kasparov

MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti)--- A Moscow court acquitted Russian chess grandmaster and opposition activist Garry Kasparov accused of violating pe...

Russia Submits Bout Extradition Documents to U.S.

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) ---Russia has handed to the United States documents required by the country to consider the extradition of convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, the Russian Justice Ministry said on Thursday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Earlier, Bout’s wife Alla addressed a message to the ministry asking for her husband to be transferred to Russia to serve his sentence at home. The ministry is Russia’s central body authorized to file extradition requests in the framework of the 1983 Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“In this connection, a request has been sent through the Russian Foreign Ministry’s diplomatic channels to the U.S. Department of Justice to provide documents stipulated by the convention’s Article 6,” the Justice Ministry said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A former Soviet military officer, Bout was found guilty of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, including military officers and employees, conspiring to use anti-aircraft missiles and selling millions of dollars’ worth of weapons to the Colombian rebel group FARC.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The businessman, who denies the charges against him, was sentenced to 25 years in April. Bout is serving his prison term in the United States Penitentiary, Marion (USP Marion) in Illinois.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Russian ministry said there has been no response from the U.S. Department of Justice yet. It said that once the appropriate documents are provided, they will be submitted to a Russian court, which will make a ruling on administering the sentence in Russia.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Russian Justice Ministry said a copy of such a ruling will “be handed to the U.S. Department of Justice as a guarantee that the sentence will be administered in Russia.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Attorney General Eric Holder has said the United States may consider Bout’s extradition to Russia if it receives a request from the Russian authorities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Article 6 of the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons stipulates that the sentencing state (in this case, the U.S.) provide to the administering state (Russia) a certified copy of the judgment and the law on which it is based. The sentencing state should also provide a statement indicating how much of the sentence has already been served, including information on any pre-trial detention and other relevant information.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Russia Submits Bout Extradition Documents to U.S.

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) ---Russia has handed to the United States documents required by the country to consider the extradition of convicted...

Russia Joins World Trade Club as 156th Member

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">MOSCOW (RIA Novosti)--- Russia officially joined the World Trade Organization on Wednesday as the protocol on its accession to the Marrakesh Agreement, the foundation document for the world trade club, entered into force.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The document, which was signed in Geneva on December 16, 2011 after 18 years of negotiations, makes Russia the global trade body’s 156th member.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law that authorizes the protocol on July 21.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Economic Development Ministry said WTO membership will lower prices for both imported and domestically-produced goods. The World Bank calculates Russia's membership will boost GDP by 3.3 percent annually for the first three years, with that figure likely to increase later.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Critics have claimed Russia’s WTO accession is detrimental to the country’s national sovereignty and security and could ruin entire sectors of the domestic economy such as agriculture and the motor industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">London business circles welcomed Russia’s accession to the world trade club and said the move would help create an International Financial Center in Moscow and liberalize Russia’s trade with other countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“TheCityUK greatly welcomes Russian accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO),” TheCityUK, an independent membership body of the UK financial services industry, said in a statement.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“As part of its accession, Russia has initiated a number of measures designed to open up its economy, including tariff reductions on a range of industrial goods and measures to liberalise the Russian services sector, including phased liberalization of the Russian financial and professional services sectors.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">WTO rules will not apply to Russia’s trade relations with the United States however, until the Jackson-Vanik amendment is repealed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The amendment, named after Congressmen Henry M. Jackson and Charles Vanik, was introduced in 1974 to restrict trade with the Soviet Union and other non-market economies until they allowed free emigration.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The restrictions imposed by Jackson-Vanik are often waived, but remain in place and are a thorn in the side of Russia-U.S. trade relations.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Russia Joins World Trade Club as 156th Member

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti)--- Russia officially joined the World Trade Organization on Wednesday as the protocol on its accession to the Marrakes...

Prosecution Seeks 3 Yrs for Pussy Riot Members

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) --- Prosecution asked on Tuesday for three years in jail for three Pussy Riot members over a punk prayer in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral calling for then-Prime Minister Putin to quit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The three young women - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samusevich, all aged between 20 and 30 - have been charged with hooliganism under a statute carrying a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The prosecutor said the defendants’ actions fell under the definition of “hooliganism,” i.e., a gross disturbance of public order by a group of persons acting in collusion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He rejected Pussy Riot’s assertion that it was a “political act” as according to eyewitness reports, the defendants made no reference to any politicians during their punk prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The prosecutor said, however, that they mentioned the Russian president’s name in their song only to claim that it was a political act.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The act was “sinful in the eyes of society,” he continued, adding that the Christ the Savior Cathedral is “a symbol of faith for citizens.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two of the “victims,” whose names were not disclosed, asked through their lawyer that the Pussy Riot members be given suspended sentences, since two of them had small children.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Pussy Riot’s defense counsel Nikolai Polozov said that any verdict besides not guilty would be unlawful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another defense lawyer, Violetta Volkova, said she will complain to the European Court of Human Rights over the violation of the defendants’ rights during the trial.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Court hearings have lasted for more than 10 hours a day, she said, as a result of which the defendants were deprived of normal sleep, were not provided with hot meals or any meals at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They were also denied an opportunity to meet with their lawyers in private. The court rejected all complaints and barred witnesses for the defense, members of the public and the media from testifying.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Volkova said all of that amounted to “torture and inhumane treatment.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Pussy Riot members told the court they were not guilty and hoped they would be released.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tolokonnikova said that evidence against the group was falsified while “victims” had come under pressure from the investigation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Alyokhina said the investigator threatened her with two to four years in jail unless she “cooperated.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The court adjourned until Wednesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Testifying in Moscow’s Khamovniki Court on Monday, Samutsevich said the punk band was formed to draw public attention to criticism of the ruling authorities in Russia and all three of them had no intention of offending Orthodox believers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The three Pussy Riot members were detained after five masked women performed a song in Moscow’s landmark Christ the Savior Cathedral in late February, speaking out against what they said was church support for Vladimir Putin’s presidential election campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The song, entitled “Holy S**t,” featured the lyrics “Virgin Mary, drive Putin out!” and was performed at a time of unprecedented protests against the 12-year-long rule of the former KGB officer. The suspects admit being part of the Pussy Riot group and partaking in the performance, but say their motives were purely political. Putin called the protest “unpleasant.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The trial of Pussy Riot members has raised international concern with many famous western rockers voicing support for the girls and asking for their release. In the most recent appeal, former Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, dedicated his whole performance to Pussy Riot during the festival of punk bands, Rebellious, in Britain’s Blackpool.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amnesty International has recognized the three group members held in custody as prisoners of conscience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The three women have been in jail since their arrests a few weeks after the performance took place on February 21.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Prosecution Seeks 3 Yrs for Pussy Riot Members

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) --- Prosecution asked on Tuesday for three years in jail for three Pussy Riot members over a punk prayer in Moscow’s ...

Russian-Indian INDRA Military Drills to Begin on Sunday

Russian-Indian INDRA Military Drills to Begin on Sunday

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) --- Russia and India will begin joint INDRA-2012 anti-terrorism military exercises in the Siberian republic of Buryat...

Putin Backs Russia’s Support of NATO Afghan Operation

Putin Backs Russia’s Support of NATO Afghan Operation

ULYANOVSK (RIA Novosti) --- Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed on Wednesday that Russia would continue its support of the NATO m...

Putin Signs Defamation Bill into Law

Putin Signs Defamation Bill into Law

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) ---Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a defamation bill into law, the Kremlin press service said on Monday. ...

Global Warming: In Geoengineering We May Trust

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By <a href="http://www.groundreport.com/Stephen"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">David Stephen</span></a>  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.groundreport.com/Media_and_Tech/Global-warming-In-geoengineering-we-may-trust_1/2947148"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">GroundReport</span>-</a>-- At least, there is reason to believe in a short-term source for respite, geoengineering, if a feared level of climate change is about. Geoengineering is now likely for large scale-deployment more than ever, as weather anomalies globally have become a serious cause for concern and news of rising levels of carbon emissions continue to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Geoengineering is the scientific answer to the tepidity of world leaders, towards a global agreement to mitigate global warming-causing greenhouse emissions. Geoengineering (or climate engineering) is a general name for certain technologies aimed at reducing solar radiation available to the earth, or at removing carbon dioxide (a major greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Geoengineering technologies range from simple to complex, with a technology as ‘simple’ as afforestation, and another as complex as putting giant reflectors in space to return inbound solar radiation. Geoengineering technologies have their controversies, as their effects can be tied to international conflicts; or threats to biodiversity & urbanization; or further weather catastrophe, and unknowns.  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Geoengineering is also expensive and will have to be sustained for a number of years after initial deployment. All these worries are there, but are placed a little less than the good it will do as an alternative. Geoengineering had a big week, with two major announcements. The bigger one, a carbon dioxide removal test, reported findings from a research on iron fertilization, conducted in 2004, that showed the ability of phytoplankton to sequester carbon at sea depths.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The other announcement, a solar management one, is an intention to test the effects of injecting sulphate particles to about 24km above sea level, to know their effects on ozone chemistry. These steps-forward in geoengineering, point to form. Geoengineering is gradually taking shape, and as time goes, most of the several questions asked in the 2009 UK’s Royal Society Report on geoengineering, will find a home.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Geoengineering research is advocated, and the plea is for more public funds to come in. The US government via the National Science Foundation is involved, and the British government recently supported a proposed research on geoengineering. Geoengineering research in Canada, Europe and Australia is getting some support from the government, and the subject in these places is rising.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Several other governments who can support too are probably waiting on their scientists and local researchers to work. Russia had a test some time ago, and China may be looking at a right time to do something. Field tests will hew new observations and are superior to lab tests in this respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Season and geography is known to differentiate climate at locations, and tests or finding somewhere may require expansion somewhere else or may allege ‘effects here’. This may lead to new interests in research that may not be guided by the carefulness with previous ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Geoengineering tests will eventually go around, since pat locations to deploy it would (or maybe) be needed in future. But how is this to be regulated and centered on the objective? A US scientist gave a hint this week, he said, it must be publicly funded and must be approved by government agencies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This, a possibility in the States, may not be the same elsewhere, which possibly may spark new controversies. Regulating geoengineering research, even though scientists have asked about what may be classed as geoengineering or not, is necessary. Outlining the ways a research should go, making it public and inviting colleagues to join the discussion is an ethics part that should be attended to, quickly.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This conversation will also be boosted if ‘pioneering’ tests follows the ‘guideline’. Scientists have the might to shape geoengineering, to avoid it becoming another small ball of global disagreement, even at this research stage. It may also be necessary for scientists leading geoengineering research, to clear the air about myths that may limit government funds available for their work.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the developing world, especially Africa, usually bashed by climate change, it is possible for activists to presume that big economies are sponsoring geoengineering instead of mitigating emissions. Supporters of this and, haters of geoengineering in these big economies may further loud it and cause a furor that may limit or intermit geoengineering funding by the government.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Addressing this ‘myth’ may still not prevent this, but will be the case to be evoked while defending the move. A point that may be used in defense is “We are researching geoengineering as a possible alternative, as the world may need to cap rise in the average temperature of the earth; because of its controversies, government funding is preferred for outdoor experiments against individual or corporate funding. And government ‘token’ on this does not affect their mitigation commitment, which is the main solution, not geoengineering”.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Geoengineers have some work to do, to give the subject shape, aside increased studies and reports. Those that don’t even believe in anthropogenic global warming may support geoengineering, but not substantially,  in an unshaped state. Many who already know about geoengineering are coming to trust its temporal ability, and many more around the world likely will, if bad weather events suddenly line. We can be afraid of rise in the average temperature of the earth, and resulting effects, but geoengineering may get us to trust it, for reprieve, if scientists decide to give it shape.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This work is licensed under a </span><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span></div></div>

Global Warming: In Geoengineering We May Trust

By David Stephen GroundReport - -- At least, there is reason to believe in a short-term source for respite, geoengineering, if a feare...