Diplomatic row, Moscow’s lost

It seems that Moscow has been taken buy surprise by the London’s resolute action.  It seems that Kremlin does not know how to act and what to do.  It does not mean that Moscow will not retaliate but at the moment it does not know how.  How can you tell?  By watching the new on the state controlled TV channels.

At least the Ostankino Channel did not present the news as number one, not even number two.  Hence, there is not action plan for the internal audience.

Nevertheless, Kremlin’s channel Russia Today has spent first 17 minutes on the news.  So, the internal audience is not ready and the external audience should know all the truth…  Something is not right here.  Its like in Soviet times, to much truth might damage your brain…

BBC and Litvinienko’s case

After explosion of four Russian diplomats from the UK the commentators were guessing extent of the retaliatory measures of the Kremlin.  Some suggested that the Kremlin will retaliate at the British interests in Russia such us the British Council or even the BBC.  BBC has a license to broadcast its services in some Russian cities on FM frequencies.Eventually the response from the Kremlin came and it seems that Russians are still keeping their ‘powder dry’.  This is rather more confusing and somehow annoying because Kremlin is leaving place for its maneuvering for the future.

I wonder what is the mood in the Bush House in London?  I would not be surprised if the heads of the BBC are in the process of thinking to scale down criticism of the Kremlin’s position and not only on Litvinienko case.  I don’t think BBC would be happy to be excelled from Russia. Hence, Moscow in theory holding the BBC on the dog lead, meanwhile Kremlin is keeping its powder dry. I would not doubt objectivity of the BBC, but I will keep this in mind when getting info on Russia from the BBC, at least until the Kremlin will fire its shots.  

Lituanica crashed 74 years ago, today

Lituanica was an American research aircraft that crossed the Atlantic in 1933, and crashed exactly 74 years ago, under mysterious circumstances close to its destination, Kaunas, Lithuania.

Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas were Lithuanian pilots emigrant to United States, who made a significant flight in the history of world aviation. On July 15, 1933, they flew across the Atlantic Ocean, covering a distance of 3,984 miles (6,411 kilometers) without landing, in 37 hours and 11 minutes.In terms of comparison, as far as the distance of non-stop flights was concerned, their result ranked second only to that of Russell Boardman and John Polando, and it ranked fourth in terms of duration of flight at the time. Although Darius and Girėnas did not have navigational equipment, and flew under unfavorable weather conditions, the flight made by the airmen at that time was one of the most precise in aviation history. It equaled, and in some aspects surpassed, Charles Lindbergh‘s classic flight. Lithuanica also carried the first Transtlantic air mail consignment in history.

After taking off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York on July 15, 1933, 6:24 AM EDT, Darius and Girėnas in their Lituanica successfully crossed the Atlantic, only to perish on July 17, 0:36 AM (Berlin Time) by the village of Kuhdamm, near Soldin, Germany (now Pszczelnik, Myslibórz area, Poland). The planned route was: New York – Newfoundland – Atlantic Ocean – Ireland – London – Amsterdam – Swinemünde – Königsberg – Kaunas (a total of 7,186 km). Due to weather conditions over Ireland, they changed course to the north and reached Germany via Scotland and the North Sea.

In 37 hours and 11 minutes, until the moment of the crash, they had flown 6411 km (over 7000 km in actual flight path), only 650 km short of their goal — Kaunas. On July 19, the German plane “Derluft”, carried the bodies of the pilots back to Lithuania. The people of Kaunas met the heroes, but in great sorrow.  The funeral was a very solemn occasion and was the cause of official national mourning.  Those heroes were inspirational figures to the generations of the Lithuanians, including the author of this blog.  

Read more on Wikipedia

Kremlin’s influence in the world returned to its former glory, thanks to the West

Today’s Lithuania’s national daily Lietuvos Rytas published a rather interesting editorial regarding Russia’s withdraw from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE).

The paper admits that the Kremlin’s former influence in the world is not returning but has returned already.  This is all thanks to the Western powers who allowed this to happen.  The withdrawal from the CFE has been planned already a month ago but Putin decided to wait for some events to take place, such as the ‘family get together’ with the Bushes and decision of the Olympic committee on Sochi. 

At the moment Putin is sending the signal to the West, ‘I do what ever I am pleased to do and just look, you can do nothing about it.’  Unfortunately the West is playing such a game.

However the truth is that Russia is still a poor and week despite of its petrol dollars.  Its military is still week and grossly under funded.  Putin plays a clever game of ‘divide and rule’ and is winning this.  Euroatlantic cooperation is getting weaker meantime the Russians are ‘coming to Europe’.  Europe is not ready to defend itself.

I would like to add that the Baltic States were warning the West about the growth of aggressive Russian assertiveness.  We were called paranoiacs and Russophobes, and some naïve western leaders are still calling Mr. Putin ‘the true democrat’.  And well, it is more to come.  The escalation with the UK is the wake up call, today the Polish President and the USA President almost agreed on the missile deployment in Poland.  The ‘Hot Peace’ is kicking off.  Do you believe us now that Russians are coming?