Et tu Poland? Putin Excluded from Holocaust Commemorations

New Eastern Outlook
January 20, 2015
Ulson Gunnar

Glancing at the headlines one might believe Russian President Vladimir Putin had inappropriately decided not to attend Holocaust commemorations in Poland.

In one breathtaking display of misinformation, Reuters would report in its article Putin will not attend Holocaust commemorations in Poland that, "Sources told Reuters on Monday that Putin was unlikely to join world leaders gathering at the site of the Auschwitz death camp because distrust caused by the conflict in Ukraine has cast a pall on arrangements."

In reality, The Russian leader was never invited by Poland, the nation hosting the commemorations.

The geopolitical thrust and accompanying misinformation is designed to reinforce the perception that Russia is now a hegemonic threat, on par with Nazi Germany during World War II. Reality could not contradict this contrived narrative more.

On June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa was launched. Three massive German armies moved at lightning speed into the Soviet Union as part of a long anticipated Nazi attempt to conquer Russia. The invasion would quickly overwhelm unprepared Russian forces bringing German armies up to the gates of several major Russian cities, Moscow included.

Economic War, BRICS, and the Power of Self-Sufficiency

New Eastern Outlook
January 20, 2015
Ulson Gunner

The toughest, most resilient people as both individuals and as societies all generally have one thing in common - self-sufficiency. This by no means suggests isolationism, but rather the ability to survive, even thrive through one's own work using resources at their own disposal. 

As a principle, self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and individualism defined young nations like the United States, catapulting it upon the world stage as a global leader after spending time racked in debt and in England's shadow. By establishing its own industry, its own institutions (including those of a financial nature) and its own military might, the United States transcended the tangled webs of interdependency locking Europe's ever-shifting, fragile alliances together. 



The evolution of human civilization along the lines of socioeconomics and technology has changed the roles, effectiveness and relevancy of those industries and institutions that had once made America great and in turn, those nations that had attempted to emulate such features have now all found themselves within the same boat - the boat of globalization.

Globalization is the hitherto pinnacle of interdependency, crippling any nation that falls foul of those sitting at the center of this entangled geopolitical order. There are many examples of nations that haven fallen foul including Cuba, Iraq, Iran and more recently Russia. In each case, respective economies depended heavily upon imports or exports or both. The response in defense against crippling economic warfare is self-sufficiency. 

What You Should Know About Azerbaijan

New Eastern Outlook
Ulson Gunnar
June 16, 2014

Azerbaijan and its population of nine and a half million, sits along the western coast of the Caspian Sea, bordering Russia to its north, Iran to its south, and Georgia, Armenia, and Turkey to its west. Its geostrategic position alone makes it an attractive target of political destabilization, regime change, and client state status for aspiring global empires, however its position in terms of energy production and transportation make such aspirations irresistible.

With the stated US-EU agenda of encircling and eventually integrating the Russian Federation into their "Europe Whole and Free," leaders from Washington to Brussels have taken turns describing their goal of reducing dependency on Russian energy, and "diversifying" Europe's energy markets. Already the US-EU has attempted to stall the creation of a Ukraine-circumventing Russian pipeline, the South Stream Pipeline, running through Bulgaria and Serbia to supply Europe with Russian natural gas. The next step is to replace Russian natural gas all together by commandeering the governments of entire nations and aligning their geopolitical posture to European and American designs.