Pepe Escobar — Pentagon Obsession: China, China, China

Another backgrounder, but more about the US and Russia than China.

Strategic Culture Foundation
Pentagon Obsession: China, China, China

Pepe Escobar

Andranik Migranyan — Putin Is Not Bluffing about Confronting the West

The Russian POV.

The National Interest
Putin Is Not Bluffing about Confronting the West
Andranik Migranyan is a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, an academic institution run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia

Dave Majumdar — Why is Russia Building Nuclear Powered Cruise Missiles? The Answer: “Capacity”

I would estimate that there is a certain amount of truth to this, but the author is looking at Russia through American eyes and seeing Russia replicate the US defense industry and military Keynesianism as integral to the US economy. At the same time, as the author points out, militaries and defense industries in all countries are looking to enhance their interests, which are served by larger appropriations.

On the other hand, as the author also admits, the Russian military is need of modernization. What he doesn't mention is that NATO ha been moving toward Russia since the Clinton Administration and is now encroaching on Russia's red lines. And, as Putin mentioned in his recent address, G. W. Bush's unilateral abrogation of the missile treaty was a signal. Moreover, everything changed when Clinton bombed Russian ally Serbia at the time of Kosovo.

The reality is that the US, NATO, Russia, and China are in a new arms race, and on the periphery of it are Iran, India, and others. Weaponry is being taken to a new level by all parties and there are no international accords related to this yet. Space and cyberspace are being weaponized, for example, and drones and robots are proliferating. 

This is new and largely unexplored territory. Of course, industry is salivating over the prospects of vastly increased spending on R&D and innovation, as well as building out.

The positive externality is military-initiated R&D and innovation will spin off into non-military development, too. For example, China is developing supercomputers and quantum computers that have been announced as being intentionally designed for dual-use.

The National Interest
Why is Russia Building Nuclear Powered Cruise Missiles? The Answer: “Capacity”

Dave Majumdar | defense editor for The National Interest

See also

American effort said to lag Russia, China

All this is top secret, so no one really knows, or will know unless the stuff get used. Let's hope that never happens.

“If you look at some of our peer competitors, China being one, the number of facilities that they’ve built to do hypersonics… surpasses the number we have in this country. It’s quickly surpassing it by 2 or 3 times. It is very clear that China has made this one of their national priorities. We need to do the same,” Walker told a press briefing.

This is emerging as a serious problem for the US owing to the sheer size of China. The US is a big country by world standards but it is still dwarfed by China and India.

Asia Times
US developing its own ‘invincible’ hypersonic weapons

RT Putin on new US nuclear stance: If attacked, Russia will use nukes

So there you have it. The cards are on the table.

“We are greatly concerned by some parts of the new nuclear posture, which reduces the benchmark for the use of nuclear weapons. Whatever soothing words one may try to use behind closed doors, we can read what was written. And it says that these weapons can be used in response to a conventional attack or even a cyber-threat,” [Putin] said.

“Our nuclear doctrine says Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons only in response to a nuclear attack or an attack with other weapons of mass destruction against her or her allies, or a conventional attack against us that threatens the very existence of the state.”

“It is my duty to state this: Any use of nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies, be it small-scale, medium-scale or any other scale, will be treated as a nuclear attack on our country. The response will be instant and with all the relevant consequences,” Putin warned.

RT
Putin on new US nuclear stance: If attacked, Russia will use nukes

See also

Earlier today, NBC News released a preview clip of the full interview which will be available this weekend. Watch:

21st Century Wire
Putin to Megyn Kelly: ‘US Started New Arms Race When They Pulled Out of Missile Treaty’

Mutually Assured Destruction: Russian missiles will be launched automatically - Kadyrov

Is the Doomsday Machine turned on again?

Fort Russ
Mutually Assured Destruction: Russian missiles will be launched automatically - Ramzan Kadyrov

Vesti - translated by Inessa Sinchougova

Related

NPR (September 26, 2009)
Dr. Strangelove's 'Doomsday Machine': It's Real
All Things Considered - transcript

Paul Robinson — Threat perceptions

Nations plan militarily and allocate military spending based on threat perceptions.

The US Defense Intelligence Agency has issued a report entitled Russia. Military Power: Building a Military to Support Great Power Aspirations, which you can read here. This has the following to say about Russia’s strategic objectives:

Moscow seeks to promote a multi-polar world predicated on the principles of respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in other states’ internal affairs, the primacy of the United Nations, and a careful balance of power preventing one state or group of states from dominating the international order.... 

Next the report analyzes ‘Russia’s threat perceptions’, and notes that Russia’s actions “belie a deeply entrenched sense of insecurity regarding a United States that Moscow believes is intent on undermining Russia at home and abroad.” ...
This report will no doubt raise alarms in Washington about how Russia is modernizing its armed forces. What the report has to say about why Russia is doing so will probably be ignored.

I don't think that it will be ignored. Rather, it will be perceived as a challenge to US global hegemony, the maintaining of which is a policy objective and strategic priority.

Irrussianality
Threat perceptions
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

RIA Novosti — Putin signs new Russian foreign policy doctrine condemning NATO aggression

The conceptual document notes that the main trend at the contemporary stage of global development is the struggle for dominance in the world.

Fort Russ
Putin signs new Russian foreign policy doctrine condemning NATO aggression
RIA Novosti - translated by J. Arnoldski

Sputnik — Nuclear Poker: Why the US Can't Trick Russia Into Changing Its Nuclear Doctrine

Interesting look at US and Russian military policy.

Accordingly, Alexandrov suggested that US lawmakers' proposal is based on the understanding that a nuclear war is unwinnable, and to try to trick Russia into abandoning its established doctrine.

"In essence, the US is repeating the technique of Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union, which unilaterally renounced the first use of nuclear weapons. This was done because at the time, the USSR had a significant superiority in conventional forces over NATO. As a result, the use of nuclear weapons was judged to be disadvantageous, since all of Western Europe could be captured without their use. In that situation, it's worth noting, NATO banked on the use of tactical nuclear weapons, which became a deterrent against possible Soviet attack."

Today, Alexandrov noted, the situation has been flipped on its head. Russia can no longer resist the combined might of NATO in a long war using only conventional weaponry. 

"Therefore, since the 1990s, our doctrine provides for the possibility of using nuclear weapons first in case of a serious threat to Russia's national security." "Thus, the Democrats' initiative is aimed at achieving strategic superiority over Russia, and possibly China," the analyst suggested. "Of course, Moscow should not give in to this kind of demagogy. Russia must continue to retain the right to use tactical nuclear weapons first," he emphasized.

Ultimately, Alexandrov noted, Russia has already taken the necessary measures to move to a new generation of nuclear weaponry, from the Iskander tactical missile complex and the Kh-101 strategic cruise missile, which has a range of 5,000 km, to new ballistic missiles capable of overcoming US missile defenses. "All of this has forced the US to maneuver in this way, and to try to outplay Russia in the nuclear field," the analyst concluded.

Sputnik International
Nuclear Poker: Why the US Can't Trick Russia Into Changing Its Nuclear Doctrine

The Saker — Assessing the Russian military as an instrument of power

Fairly detailed out on Russian military policy and military capabilities. "No, the Russians are not coming." Russia's military is defensive in nature, including MAD as a deterrent.

The Unz Review
Assessing the Russian military as an instrument of power
The Saker
Crossposted at The Vineyard of the Saker

U.S. troops on Russia’s borders while Russia vows ‘totally asymmetrical’ response to major US troop build-up in Europe

Official Washington’s hype about “Russian aggression” has cloaked a U.S. military buildup on Russia’s borders, possibly increasing risks of escalation and even world war, explains ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar.

Consortium News
U.S. Troops on Russia’s Borders
 Paul R. Pillar

“We are not passive observers, we consistently take all the military measures we consider necessary in order to counterbalance this reinforced presence that is not justified by anything,” Moscow’s permanent representative at the alliance, Aleksandr Grushko, said in an interview with TV channel Russia-24 on Wednesday. “Certainly, we’ll respond totally asymmetrically.”

Grushko did not elaborate on his statement, but said Russia’s actions would correspond to its “understanding of the extent of the military threat, would not be extremely expensive, but also highly effective.”

RT
Russia vows ‘totally asymmetrical’ response to major US troop build-up in Europe
The US-led NATO build up in Western Europe is intended to provoke a new arms race to Russia's economic disadvantage and to the economic advantage of the US military-industrial complex.

Russia's answer to the US challenge is that it can counter the US on the cheap. I also expect it involves forcing the US to spend much more on the military by arming potential US adversaries around the world. China is receiving advanced missile technology (S-400), for example.

Russia's arms industry is going gangbusters and orders are increasing both owing to the advantage of a low ruble over a high dollar and also the impressive display in Syria that took the world by surprise.  So the new arms race is benefitting Russia, too.

Unfortunately, Europe is a pawn in this game, being used as a buffer zone by the US. This is not lost on many Europeans, who are getting increasingly rattled by it.

South Front — Putin explains Russian forces’ objectives in Syria

Russian military forces in Syria are destroying militants who have openly declared Russia to be their enemy and who do not conceal their plans to expand their activities onto territory of CIS countries, said Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. This statement was posted on February 20 on Kremlin’s web site.

“Our armed forces ought to be in constant readiness to quickly and appropriately react to potential threats, counter any provocation and aggression,” Putin said during his speech marking the Fatherland Defender’s Day celebrations at the Kremlin.

Pretty much echoes G. W. Bush's, “We’re taking the fight to the terrorists abroad, so we don’t have to face them here at home.” The difference is that the threat is a lot more immediate to Russia than the US owing to geography and demographics.

South Front
Putin explains Russian forces’ objectives in Syria

Original published by lenta.ru; translation by J.Hawk

The Saker — The new Russian Naval Doctrine – one very important sentence

“A defining factor in (our) relations with NATO remains that for Russia the following is unacceptable: the alliance’s plan to move its infrastructure to the borders of Russia and the attempts to give the alliance a global role“.

Saker analyzes what it means.

The Vineyard of the Saker
The new Russian Naval Doctrine – one very important sentence
The Saker

bmpd — Russian Army forms 9 CBR Regiments

J.Hawk's Comment: There are lots of stories which go viral that probably shouldn't. "Sound and fury signifying nothing." Then there are stories like this one which are of genuine import. Standing up new military formations is not done on a whim or as part of a fad, given the expenditure of resources such initiatives entail. Talk is cheap; military restructuring and expansion is not.The fact that we are seeing more than doubling of Russia's CBR forces in a very short time indicates that the military and national leadership is anticipating a distinct possibility its armed forces might find themselves, at some point in foreseeable future, operating in a WMD-contaminated environment. That's the only possible explanation of a move on such a scale. Of course, the big question is whether Russian forces are expected to operate under conditions of radiological contamination caused by their own or NATO tactical nukes, but that's a question we can't really answer without finding out what kinds of wargames the Russian General Staff is playing these days.

This is not the first such report in recent weeks. Earlier ones included the formation of the 1st Guards Tank Army and the establishment of Assault Sapper units, both of which point toward a certain offensive-mindedness of the Russian Ground Forces. As does the above news report.

Fort Russ
Russian Army forms 9 CBR Regiments
bmpd
Original: Russian Army forms 9 CBR Regiments
Translated from Russian by J.Hawk

See also Donbass and the Second Punic War

Kristina Rus — American military expert to Ukraine: "Novorossia is lost"

The takeaway? HRC as president would be John McCain. Who lost Novorossia? HRC. This is her Kosovo.

What the report doesn't say is that HRC's people fomented this whole disaster. As far as I am concerned, this is the end of the Democratic Party unless it changes drastically. 

The good news is that if this a correct reading of the Obama Administration and its NSA there will be no wider war with Russia.

Fort Russ

American military expert to Ukraine: "Novorossia is lost"
Kristina Rus

Also 

Foreign Policy (reposted at Russia Insider)
Push for Ukraine Arms Comes from Obama Officials Who Want to Work for President Clinton
David Francis

Forget geopolitics and high strategy. US policy is all about the narrow, personal goals of Washington insiders

Strategic Culture Foundation — Russia’s new military doctrine lists NATO, US as major foreign threats

Russia has adopted an updated version of its military doctrine, which reflects the emergence of new threats against its national security. NATO military buildup and American Prompt Global Strike concept are listed among them. 

The new doctrine was approved on Friday by President Vladimir Putin. Its core remains unchanged from the previous version. The Russian military remains a defensive tool which the country pledges to use only as a last resort. 

Also unchanged are the principles of the use of nuclear weapons which Russia adheres to. Their primary goal is to deter potential enemies from attacking Russia, but it would use them to protect itself from a military attack – either nuclear or conventional – threatening its existence.…

"Partners" no more?

Strategic Culture Foundation
Russia’s new military doctrine lists NATO, US as major foreign threats

Also

Common Dreams
Amid Heightened Tensions With the West, Russia Declares NATO is Top Military Threat

Nadia Prupis

The doctrine, which Putin signed as Russia's economic power and international relations continue to deteriorate, maintains many of the provisions put into place in its previous edition, signed in 2010. Among those is the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons in retaliation to other nations targeting Russia or its allies with weapons of mass destruction—though the doctrine concedes that those scenarios are unlikely. 

A new provision, however, adds that Russia could use precision weapons "as part of strategic deterrent measures," without elaborating on how and when those weapons would be used.…

Ahead of the doctrine's release, the Russian government said NATO was turning Ukraine into a "frontline of confrontation." The Defense Ministry also posted a Tweet on Wednesday warning that Ukraine's "accession to alliance will bring Russia-NATO relations to complete collapse."

****

Bloomberg
Russia Hardens Military Doctrine Amid NATO Standoff Over Ukraine
Henry Meyer

Russia hardened its military doctrine, identifying new threats after tensions with its Cold War foe NATO increased over the conflict in Ukraine.
The revised document posted today on the Kremlin website names attempts to overthrow neighboring governments as a major threat, as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s buildup close to the country’s borders. The previous draft was published in 2010. 

Russia also cited as threats information campaigns aimed at corrupting the Russian population, sabotage by foreign intelligence, the deployment of missile-defense components and high-precision conventional weapons, and the use of information technology for military purposes.…

“Russia is the target of an unprecedented information-propaganda campaign,” Popov said. “It’s being cast as an enemy and its political course is seen as a new threat for NATO.”

Saker — Listening to Lavrov giving up on the West

Yesterday, I watched with interest a talkshow called "The Right to Know" which featured an hour long interview with [Russian Foreign Minister] Sergei Lavrov (those who understand Russian can watch it here). It was an interesting exchange between Lavrov and five Russian reporters. It was not important enough to warrant translating it all into English, but I want to share with you something which I had noticed in the past but which was powerfully expressed during this conversation.…

The Vineyard of the Saker
Listening to Lavrov giving up on the West

Vineyard Saker