Mentre le prime pagine dei media italiani sono occupate da giorni dalle vicende di Alitalia (compagnia avviata velocemente al fallimento secondo le regole del libero mercato, ammesso che quello italiano sia davvero libero) sono altre le notizie che preoccupano la gente negli Stati Uniti. A cominciare dal disastro economico-finanziario innescato da mancate regole e controlli su una insana politica di concessione mutui anche a chi non prestava garanzie, all'incancrenirsi di uno scontro diplomatico tra America e Russia con il contorno della pesante turbolenza che caratterizza alcuni paesi dell'America Latina. Una dissennata politica alla John Wayne ('Mezzogiorno di fuoco') messa in atto dalla amministrazione Bush ha portato ad un irrigidimento inarrestabile nelle relazioni con la Russia che, non dimentichiamolo, e' guidata da uno che si e' formato alla scuola di Breznev ed ha diretto per anni il KGB. Questa situazione rende felici, oltre ai dirigenti delle industrie degli armamenti, quei milioni di americani che riescono a pensare solo in termini di 'pistola facile' e che voteranno per John McCain.
La notizia che segue dovrebbe essere presa in attenta considerazione dai massimi dirigenti della Farnesina, ammesso che non siano distratti dai loro viaggi di piacere alle Maldive in dolce compagnia.
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From Times Online
September 18, 2008
Russia ratchets up US tensions with arms sales to Iran and Venezuela
Tony Halpin in Moscow
- Russia snubbed its nose at the United States today by announcing plans to sell military equipment to both Iran and Venezuela.
The head of the state arms exporter said that Russia was negotiating to sell new anti-aircraft systems to Iran despite American objections.
"Contacts between our countries are continuing and we do not see any reason to suspend them," Anatoly Isaikin, general director of Rosoboronexport, told Ria-Novosti at an arms fair in South Africa.
Reports have circulated for some time that Russia is preparing to sell its S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Iran, offering greater protection against a possible US or Israeli attack on the Islamic republic's nuclear facilities. The missiles have a range of more than 150 kilometres and can intercept jets approaching at low altitudes.
Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, said that it was logical to conclude a lucrative contract with Iran "in the current situation, when the US and the West in general are stubbornly gearing toward a confrontation with Russia".
Russia has already delivered 29 Tor-M1 missile systems under a $700 million deal with Iran in 2005.
Sergei Chemezov, the head of state-owned Russian Technologies also disclosed that Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez wanted to buy anti-aircraft systems, armoured personnel carriers, and new SU-35 fighter jets when they come into production in 2010.
US plans to site an anti-missile shield in eastern Europe to deter surprise attacks from Iran have outraged Russia, which believes the system in Poland and the Czech Republic is aimed at weakening its defences.
Strains between Nato and Russia after the war in Georgia have also contributed to a sharp deterioration in relations.
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, one of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's closest allies, has visited Venezuela and Cuba this week. Kommersant said that Russia was forming "alliance relations" with the two anti-American regimes as a response to US involvement in former Soviet republics.
Mr Sechin said that "military-technological cooperation" between Russia and Venezuela was increasing, adding that the two sides were also in talks on oil and shipbuilding projects.
President Chavez is expected to visit Moscow next week. Two Russian long-range strategic nuclear bombers landed in the Venezuelan capital Caracas last week, the first time they had visited the Latin American state.
The TU-160 Blackjack supersonic bombers took off last night for the return journey to Russia after completing their patrol mission along the South American coast, air force spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Vladimir Drik said.
Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, voiced concern at Russian bomber flights close to American shores last month and warned Moscow that it was playing a "dangerous game".
Mr Sechin travelled to Nicaragua yesterday as part of Russia's efforts to revive its influence on America's doorstep in Latin America. Nicaragua was the only state to join Russia in recognising the independence of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and President Daniel Ortega is also due to visit Moscow soon.
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