Is this a spy swap, or is Russia propping up Obama with a deal?

A Cold War-style spy swap for the alleged Russian agents is being hammered out.

All ten Russians held by the U.S. - including 'femme fatale' Anna Chapman - will reportedly be exchanged for ten prisoners being held in Russian jails who have spied for the West.

The swap could begin as early as today, with Britain playing a pivotal role.

It is reportedly being hurried through to minimise the diplomatic fall-out between Washington and Moscow - and it means the U.S. will avoid sensitive intelligence techniques being made public in court.

The Kremlin will also be keen to sidestep the embarrassment of Chapman and others giving testimony on their espionage.

Its willingness to negotiate suggests that grave damage could have been done to the reputation of the Russian spy service if a trial had gone ahead.

The deal was revealed by a lawyer for nuclear researcher Igor Sutyagin, jailed in 2005 for 15 years for spying for a British company the Russians claimed was a front for the CIA.

He was moved yesterday from a high-security prison in Arctic Russia to Moscow pending an expected release today to Britain.

Another believed to be on the swap list is Sergey Skripal, an FSB intelligence service colonel sent to prison for 13 years after being convicted of passing secrets to Britain

In further signs of movement, a bail hearing in Virginia for three alleged spies was cancelled and two other alleged spies waived their right to a local hearing in Boston and were being sent to New York.

If the Greek rescue effort follows the 1998 Russian model, Europeans will pay for bailout and investors will recoup

As the financial markets try to absorb news of a rescue package for Greece and other teetering euro-zone economies, some bankers and economists see parallels to Russia’s default in 1998, Andrew E. Kramer reports in The New York Times.

A decade ago Russia was walking in the same shoes as Greece is today, striving to restore confidence in government bonds by seeking a huge loan from the International Monetary Fund and other lenders. Then, as now, the debt crisis was roiling global financial markets. And hopes were pinned on a bailout — one that in Russia’s case did not work.

“Greece creates a remarkable sense of déjà vu,” Roland Nash, the head of research for Renaissance Capital investment bank in Moscow, wrote in a recent note to investors. The 1998 bailout designed for Russia, in the form of a rescue package offered by the International Monetary Fund, had the effect of forestalling but not preventing Russia’s defaulting on its foreign debt.

During the month between the announced rescue and that default, Russian and Western banks frantically cashed out of short-term debt as it matured, changed the rubles into dollars and spirited the money out of Russia.

The bailout propped up the exchange rate through this process, enriching those bondholders who got out early and leaving the embittered Russian public holding the debt and having to pay back creditors, including the I.M.F. By Aug. 17, 1998, when the government announced a de facto default on Russia’s foreign debt and said it would allow the ruble to float more freely against the dollar, the World Bank and monetary fund had disbursed about $5.1 billion of the bailout money.

Some analysts say that if a similar pattern takes hold in the euro-zone rescue, it could be European taxpayers paying for the bailout while investors in Greek debt are largely made whole.

What if a foreign bloc decides debt-ridden United States is ready for Soviet-style dissolution?

Early in his presidency, Ronald Reagan and his confidantes assessed the Soviet Union, and came to a bold conclusion: their nemesis was ripe for the taking.

So the Reagan administration began a long and costly upgrade of America's weaponry. The Soviets, predictably, followed suit. The White House could afford the outlays. The Kremlin could not. By the time Reagan left office, early in 1989, the Soviet Union was teetering. Within the next few years, the empire collapsed, leaving Russia isolated and largely reliant on its own resources.

Now, history may be repeating itself. But it is the United States that may become a target for destruction. In his determined effort to destroy markets and aggregate power in Washington, President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress have run up levels of debt that would be dangerous even in a peaceful world, where natural disasters, disease and unpredictable events could overmatch the nation's ability to remain solvent.

Because of Social Security obligations and Medicare, a further runup in U.S. indebtedness already is inevitable.

The question is: Is there a hostile leader, or bloc, elsewhere in the world who will try to capitalize on America's financial weakness by forcing us to make huge new outlays that could jeopardize our future? China has no obligation to buy our bonds. It will continue to buy bonds only as long as that is beneficial to the Chinese economy.

If the Chinese stop buying U.S. bonds, who will step into the breach to finance America's transition from a market-based system designed to empower individuals and families to a statist system that arrogates power to a corrupt, self-serving liberal establishment rooted in Washington, the colleges and universities and foundations?

Some Americans already are taking drastic action out of frustration with difficulties in the homeland. The New York Timess reported Monday that growing numbers of overseas Americans are taking the weighty step of renouncing their citizenship.

“'What we have seen is a substantial change in mentality among the overseas community in the past two years,' said Jackie Bugnion, director of American Citizens Abroad, an advocacy group based in Geneva. 'Before, no one would dare mention to other Americans that they were even thinking of renouncing their U.S. nationality. Now, it is an openly discussed issue.'

The Federal Register, the government publication that records such decisions, shows that 502 expatriates gave up their U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status in the last quarter of 2009. That is a tiny portion of the 5.2 million Americans estimated by the State Department to be living abroad.

Still, 502 was the largest quarterly figure in years, more than twice the total for all of 2008, and it looms larger, given how agonizing the decision can be. There were 235 renunciations in 2008 and 743 last year. Waiting periods to meet with consular officers to formalize renunciations have grown."

Radical environmentalism holds sway in White House while Russia drills for oil in Gulf of Mexico

The Obama administration is poised to ban offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf until 2012 or beyond. Meanwhile, Russia is making a bold strategic leap to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. While the United States attempts to shift gears to alternative fuels to battle the purported evils of carbon emissions, Russia will erect oil derricks off the Cuban coast.

Offshore oil production makes economic sense. It creates jobs and helps fulfill America's vast energy needs. It contributes to the gross domestic product and does not increase the trade deficit. Higher oil supply helps keep a lid on rising prices, and greater American production gives the United States more influence over the global market.

Drilling is also wildly popular with the public. A Pew Research Center poll from February showed 63 percent support for offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. Americans understand the fundamental points: The oil is there, and we need it. If we don't drill it out, we have to buy it from other countries. Last year, the U.S. government even helped Brazil underwrite offshore drilling in the Tupi oil field near Rio de Janeiro. The current price of oil makes drilling economically feasible, so why not let the private sector go ahead and get our oil?

The Obama administration, however, views energy policy through green eyeshades. Every aspect of its approach to energy is subordinated to radical environmental concerns. This unprecedented lack of balance is placing offshore oil resources off-limits. The O Force would prefer the country shift its energy production to alternative sources, such as nuclear, solar and wind power. In theory, there's nothing wrong with that, in the long run, assuming technology can catch up to demand. But we have not yet reached the green utopia, we won't get there anytime soon, and America needs more oil now.

How social engineering by government made U.S. vulnerable to Russian scheming

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Russia urged China to dump its Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds in 2008 in a bid to force a bailout of the largest U.S. mortgage-finance companies, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said.

Paulson learned of the “disruptive scheme” while attending the Beijing Summer Olympics, according to his new memoir, “On The Brink.”

The Russians made a “top-level approach” to the Chinese “that together they might sell big chunks of their GSE holdings to force the U.S. to use its emergency authorities to prop up these companies,” Paulson said, referring to the acronym for government sponsored entities. The Chinese declined, he said.

Strange light over Norway was Russian missile

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia admitted on Thursday another failed test of its much-touted Bulava intercontinental missile, after unusual lights were spotted in Norway across the border from the launch site.

The submarine-based Bulava (Mace) missile has been billed as Russia's newest technological breakthrough to support its nuclear deterrent, but the repeated test failures are an embarrassment for the Kremlin.

The missile failed in its 13th test on Wednesday morning, Russia's leading economic dailies Vedomosti and Kommersant reported on Thursday, quoting sources in the military-industrial complex.

Hours later, the Defense Ministry admitted the failure, saying the launch had been made by the Dmitry Donskoi nuclear submarine from a submerged position in the White Sea.

"It has been established ... that the missile's first two stages worked as normal, but there was a technical malfunction at the next, third, stage of the trajectory," a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Russia and India to collaborate on stealth, supersonic cruise missile system

From Sweetness & Light, via Russia’s Izvestia and Pravda:

Russia and India will start the development of a new supersonic missile nearly invincible to interception. No army in the world has anything similar to it. The sum of the investment has not been defined yet, but it can be expected to reach billions of dollars.

The missile is to become a successor of the supersonic missile BrahMos (known as Yahont in the Russian army) that is now installed on ships, land missile complexes and may soon be installed on Su-30 MKI fighter jets and submarines. This possibility was discussed on Tuesday at the meeting of an intergovernmental committee on military and technical collaboration that took place in Moscow and was chaired by Russian and Indian Defense Ministers, Anatoly Serdyukov and Arackaparambil Kurien Antony…

It is unique since it’s the only cruise missile in the world that can be launched both as a single unit and a group. Its highly intelligent operational system allows the missile to reach the speed of Mach 3.0, which is three times faster than the speed of the subsonic American Tomahawk cruise-missile). BrahMos can engage any sea target, and a group of these missiles can destroy an entire ship formation.

As free enterprise breaks through another barrier, power mad politicians grasp for more control

We are witnesses to a stunning reenactment of an old drama: The stars, free men and women pursuing success while at the same time doing good, are about to break through another barrier by creating artificial life.

From England's Daily Mail:

"Scientists are only months away from creating artificial life, it was claimed yesterday.

Dr Craig Venter – one of the world’s most famous and controversial biologists – said his U.S. researchers have overcome one of the last big hurdles to making a synthetic organism.

The first artificial lifeform is likely to be a simple man-made bacterium that proves that the technology can work.

But it will be followed by more complex bacteria that turn coal into cleaner natural gas, or algae that can soak up carbon dioxide and convert it into fuels."

Meanwhile, grasping, power-mad American politicians are exaggerating the shortcomings of our health care system while deploying disgraceful tactics and strategies in pursuit of government health care, seemingly blind to the failings of such systems in Canada, Great Britain and Russia.

For the left, capturing health care is not a new objective. After all, Vladimir Lenin famously said, "Medicine is the keystone of the socialist arch."

That may have been good politics. After all, Lenin did become a central figure in the establishment of communism in Russia.

But the ultimate result for health care is not impressive. Even though communism's grasp has loosened, Russia remains the sick man of both Europe and Asia. It has contagions of tuberculosis, alcoholism and heart disease, along with unusually high rates of homicide, suicide and fatal auto accidents.

The average age at death for Russian men is 59 and falling.

The New York Times reported another dimension of the problem in this story:

When Karen Papiyants lost his leg in a road accident last year, his medical nightmare was only beginning.

Although like any Russian he was entitled to free treatment, he says the doctors strongly suggested he pay $4,500 into their St. Petersburg hospital's bank account, or be deprived proper care - and perhaps not even survive.

Faced with that choice, relatives of the 37-year-old truck driver scrambled to scrape together the money. But Papiyants said that did not stop the nursing staff from leaving him unattended for most of the night and giving him painkillers only after he screamed in agony.

"It's nothing but blackmail and extortion on the part of doctors," Papiyants said.

In theory Russians are supposed to receive free basic medical care. But patients and experts say doctors, nurses and surgeons routinely demand payments - even bribes - from those they treat. And critics say the practice persists despite Russia's booming economy and its decision to spend billions to improve the health care system.

Medical care in Russia is among the worst in the industrialized world. A 2000 World Health Organization report ranked Russia's health system 130th out of 191 countries, on a par with such nations as Peru and Honduras.

Victims of disease and socialized medicine in Canada and the UK have an alternative and are using it, making medical tourism a growing industry.

Michelle goes to Russia: don't call it a homecoming

In light of past assertions that Michelle Obama is a Marxist, especially those published on this site, TheRightFieldLine, in this post, offers some helpful suggestions on what she should not say while in Russia.

"I feel so at home here."

"The architecture is so leveling. By the time we leave the White House, I hope America will look like this."

"I think the czar's idea of Potemkin villages was brilliant. We're going to arrange for villages just like that on strips that have been boarded up because of the recession. In fact, we're going to have a Potemkin Village stimulus bill soon."

"When we flew into Washington for the inauguration it reminded me of Vladimir Lenin arriving on a train at the Finland Station in 1917."

"I'm fascinated by the way Russia treated dissidents. Free room and board. No pesky visitors. Frequent confessions. Is there any chance you'd share some of the insights you gained from that process?"

"Mr. Putin, it's as if we're opposites. Everybody likes us, but nobody is afraid of us. Nobody likes you, but everybody is afraid of you. How can we make people at least a little bit afraid of us?"

"Num chucks? No, we can't carry num chucks. They're illegal in lots of places in the United States. Of course, we could try to get those laws repealed, or struck down by the Supreme Court."

There is one thing Michelle Obama should say in Russia: "Mr. Putin, the average life expectancy in Russia is 59. The only people who die at 59 In the United States are those who vote the wrong way in Chicago."

Putin, entertainer of the year

Vladimir Putin seems to be auditioning for Entertainer of the Year.
There he is, bare-chested, showing his prowess in the martial arts.
Not long ago, he sent Russian forces into Georgia on the pretext that Georgia was claiming a region that actually was part of Georgia.
Since then he's made mischief in the arctic, where he's laying claim to oil rights.
He's cozying up to Cuba and is sending Russian bombers to Venezuela. A few days ago, Russia fired an intercontinental missile halfway across the Pacific.
Here's a theory. If he keeps focusing attention to himself, his nukes and his adventurous spirit, maybe we won't notice that his country is dying.
Russia is beset by epidemics of aids, tuberculosis, vascular disease and alcoholism. The population is shrinking.
The average age at death in Russia is 59. In the West, we're just hitting our stride at 59. In Russia they're dying or already dead.
Now, oil prices have fallen sharply and Russia is even less capable than before of dealing with its simultaneous catastrophes.
To me, it's regrettable. I spent my college years reading Dostoyevsky. I guess Russia really is as tragic as Dostoyevsky perceived it to be.