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20 Oct, 2007 07:42

The Media Mirror – review of the weekend’s Russian press

A passing fellow-traveller or a natural ally? – Russian analysts give their view on Iran. Missile defence through the eyes of the Man of Iron and former Polish president, Lech Wa??sa. These are some of the topics that Russian weeklies cover.

The Entente of Eurasia – dubs MOSKOVSKIE NOVOSTI the emerging alliance of the five Caspian states. The weekly says the Caspian summit in Tehran failed to sort out the claims of the five nations to the riches of the Caspian Sea. Instead the five decided to sacrifice their competition for their unity against the penetration of “outside parties” with intentions of war. It means first and foremost the U.S., says the article.

This new Caspian unity means Russia takes the responsibility to protect other members of the five against attacks and outsider’s military presence. The paper says the Russian initiative has probably lost the U.S. its Air Force base in Azerbaijan. The paper also adds, after President Putin’s visit, it may become necessary for the world community to change its attitude to Iran.

PROFILE magazine features an article by political analyst Aleksandr Dugin. The leader of the Eurasia youth movement speaks of “the American Myth of Iran”. The Iranian threat is a myth, the author says. Since the times of the great Achaemenid Empire – which collapsed long before Christ – Iran hasn’t attacked any other nation even once. Mr Dugin says if the U.S. takes its self-delusion to the extreme and starts a war, it will rapidly become a total war of Moslems, Christians and all others against American domination. Russia will have to be part of that says the expert because if it doesn’t, it will be the next target anyway.

OGONYOK weekly publishes Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s interview given to Mikhail Gusman for the Russian TV program “The Formula of Power”. The Iranian President says for him power means an opportunity to serve his people. In the Iranian culture he says, power is an obligation. It’s a contract between the rulers and the people. Power is sweet, if one is fair. But if not, power becomes bitter as poison.    

Another power story is featured in MOSKOVSKIE NOVOSTI. In an interview to the paper, Lech Wałęsa, the patriarch of Polish democracy and former president, is back in politics. He says that today in the arsenals of the great nuclear powers, the number of warheads is quite enough to destroy the planet ten times over. “The quarrel now is about the eleventh time. I see no sense in this. Those here who do, simply think that the missile defence means more jobs for the Poles, all paid with American money”, believes the Polish politician.

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