Mainstream Weekly

Draft Code of Behaviour in Outer Space: Why it Needs to be Thwarted

Benjamin Todd — 2015-08-31T18:05:17Z

The US is seeking to persuade the Government of India to support its initiative to pass the West's draft Code of Behaviour in Outer Space. This document militates against India's national interests.
If this document, proposed by the Americans and European Union, is passed in the UN General Assembly, it will completely ruin the idea of a comprehensive binding agreement in this important sphere and replace it with a Code. The draft includes references to the American and Europeen defence and (…)

- 2015

Washington-Tehran Negotiations: Edging Out America's Business Rivals from Iran

Benjamin Todd — 2014-05-23T19:09:53Z

With a view to reducing the tension around Tehran's nuclear programme, the US has lately engaged itself in negotiations with Iran. There has been some progress in these negotiations no doubt, but the West has not yet given indication of any substantial dilution of the sanctions on Iran. What comes out from the attitude of the US and its European allies is that they have unilaterally imposed the sanctions regime not with the primary purpose of limiting Iran's access to nuclear technologies (…)

- 2014

Russian Proposal enjoys Global Support to the Chagrin of Warmongers

Benjamin Todd — 2013-10-14T21:10:02Z

Syria Russia's proposal to bring Syrian chemical weapons under control has been supported by the international community and several countries precisely because it has been regarded as a viable alternative to the US' military project. The implementation of this proposal would help avoid the spread of the conflict in West Asia—a scenario too horrendous to even imagine for most of the states which wholeheartedly oppose such an outcome so as to prevent it from becoming a reality. Russia's (…)

- 2013

American-style Integration in the Asia-Pacific

Benjamin Todd — 2013-04-22T12:14:32Z

According to international economic experts, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is one of the core issues of Washington's “Returning to Asia” strategy. However, unlike a number of other economic integration institutions of the Asia-Pacific region, negotiations between the US and prospective BJP member-countries are being conducted in the most vague and secretive manner, without reference to all the “hidden rocks” of the proposed treaty.
Particularly noteworthy in this context is the letter US (…)

- 2013

Syrian Crisis: Way Out of the Blind Alley

Benjamin Todd — 2013-03-10T19:47:40Z

Western diplomatic circles are becoming increasingly pessimistic about what they term as the “Syrian revolution”. They are now contemplating changes in their policy of handling the Syrian crisis. Syria has turned out to be a headache for the US and its European allies of late with the project ‘Topple Bashir al-Assad' having failed to succeed despite all efforts to ensure its success. The Syrian opposition (that is, those who are desperately seeking to destabilise the Syrian Government) has (…)

- 2013

High Risks of Investing in Unstable Georgia

Benjamin Todd — 2012-10-02T18:54:11Z

Georgia today is a picture of political and economic instability. The risks of investing in the country's economy are thus extremely high.
Foreign analysts in particular have noted that the perspective of stable development of the Georgian economy in the forseable future is bleak. That is because the country is completely depen-dent on continuous foreign inflows. Hence Georgia has a vast external debt and most of this debt has to be repaid by 2013. It is most unlikely that Tbilisi would (…)

- 2012

Asia - Pacific: Russia's Evolving Strategy

Benjamin Todd — 2011-11-08T07:36:10Z

Striking a course distinctly different from its pro-West orientation as well as US and Europe-centric approach during Boris Yeltsin's steward-ship of the country, Russia today is paying considerable attention to participation in the Asia-Pacific multilateral fora, for example, the East Asian Summit (EAS), Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Shangri-La Dialogue and ASEAN + Russia. International experts view this trend as (…)

- 2011

Kyrgyzstane: Renewed US Pressures

Benjamin Todd — 2011-02-21T08:35:02Z

Due to the favourable geographic location and vast natural resources, Central Asia's importance in US calculations has been growing with every passing year. Washington is fully conscious of the fact that increasing tensions among those states which are in mutual competition over Central Asian oil and gas as well as the local crossroads on old routes between Hindustan, Europe, Russia, the Middle East and the Middle Kingdom are turning the region into one of major international powder-kegs. (…)

- 2011

Bribing Iraqi Officials, US-Style

Benjamin Todd — 2010-05-21T09:04:54Z

Executives at the US security firm, Blackwater, approved secret payments of about one million dollars to Iraqi officials to “silence their criticism” after company guards killed 17 civilians in Baghdad in 2007, according to the New York Times.
Citing interviews with four unnamed former Blackwater executives, the newspaper disclosed that the company's President at the time, Gary Jackson, approved the bribes.
Money was sent from neighbouring Jordan to their top company manager (…)

- 2010

Washington's Motive in Central Asia and its Track Record

Benjamin Todd — 2010-04-19T18:18:19Z

The strategic importance of Central Asia, a region rich in oil, gas and other resources while being located in between Russia, China and the Indian subcontinent, is growing with every passing day. And the US is doggedly persisting with its efforts to reinforce its influence in that part of the globe. Washington is eager to control the local energy wealth there and regulate the so-called ‘manageable chaos' in the area so as to exert pressure on its main rivals—Moscow and Beijing—as well as (…)

- 2010