Hi All,
One of the principle architects of Gorbachev's Perestroika policy, Alexander Yakovlev, has died at the age of 81. Perestroika was a great development in World Politics. The Soviet leaders (Gorbachev, Yakovlev and others) had a choice of how to respond to the rapid economic decline their state dominated economy had imposed on their people. Many at the time expected the Soviets to be increasingly bellicose (Tom Clancy even wrote a book about a desperate USSR lashing out at NATO in its death throws). Others (like Henry Kissinger and Condy Rice) thought the USSR would continue on more or less as it always had. But Gorbachev and Yakovlev had other plans and we are all the beneficiaries!
Back to today. Recently, Norwegian fishery inspectors boarded a Russian ship that was fishing in waters near the Norwegian Spitzbergen Islands and ordered it to head to a Norwegian port for a full inspection. On its way to Norway the Russian ship suddenly changed course, kidnapping the two Norwegian officials who were trapped aboard and headed for Russian waters hundreds of miles away. Norwegian coast guard ships gave chase and have attempted to snag the Russian ship's screws to stop it. Russian officials say they are cooperating. But not only are Russian not cooperating, they are sending their own naval units to intercept the Norwegian ships and prevent them from enforcing Norwegian law. Our Scandinavian visitors will probably be reminded of Soviet naval incursions into Swedish home waters, or Communist bloc naval vessels terrorizing Danish fishing ships operating in international waters in the Baltic. One is tempted to wonder what the Russian word for "pirate" is.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Two Russian Items
Posted by Raised By Republicans at 4:12 PM
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4 comments:
It's the same as in english, just pronounced Piirat. The arctic is currently being divvied up so the ship being in Norwegian waters is questionable. Anyway this seems like a misunderstanding and the two countries are sorting it out through diplomatic channels.
// posted by Andrei Yakovlev
Spitsbergen is a very curious zone. The Russians have, by treaty dating back to around WWI, the right to occupy portions of the islands and maintain a workforce there. They do so on the Eastern side.
// posted by LTG
I just read a wonderful book called the Fall and Decline of the Soviet Union and it does in fact praise Yakolev.
Is this Hunt for Red October II, Operation Lutefish??
// posted by Siddharthawolf
Yeah, I guess there are some conflicting territorial claims. However, from what I hear from my Norwegian friends, the Russians on Spitzbergen are totally dependent on handouts from the Norwegians to survive the winters having been largely abandoned by the Russian government.
But regardless of the outcome of any international disputes, Russian fishing ships routinely over fish the waters. Spanish ships do the same I hear. Regardless of who has the "right" to fish where, over fishing is bad for everyone.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
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