Russian Says Western Support for Arab Revolts Could Cause a «Big War»

Russia’s foreign minister warned Wednesday that outside encouragement of antigovernment uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa could lead to «a very big war that will cause suffering not only to countries in the region, but also to states far beyond its boundaries».

Mr. Lavrov said Russia would use its position on the United Nations Security Council to veto any United Nations authorization of military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The United Nations has repeatedly called for Syria end a crackdown on opposition demonstrators, which Arab League monitors say resulted in hundreds of deaths over the past month.

«If someone conceives the idea of using force at any cost – and I’ve already heard calls for sending some Arab troops to Syria – we are unlikely to be able to prevent this», Mr. Lavrov said. «But this should be done on their own initiative and should remain on their conscience. They won’t get any authorization from the Security Council».

Mr. Lavrov said foreign governments were arming «militants and extremists» in Syria, and he gave a bristling response to the American ambassador to the United Nations, who on Tuesday expressed concern about possible Russian arms shipments to Syria.

«We don’t find it necessary to explain or justify anything», Mr. Lavrov said. «We are only trading goods with Syria that are not prohibited by international law».

Russia’s foreign minister offered a similarly grave message about the possibility of a military strike against Iran, which he said would be a «catastrophe». He said sanctions now being proposed against Tehran were «intended to have a smothering effect on the Iranian economy and the Iranian population, probably in the hopes of provoking discontent».

Relations between Moscow and Washington have worsened over the past year, as the cordial tone of the «reset» between President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev has been replaced by a drumbeat of criticism. Mr. Lavrov said that Russia and the United States were not adversaries, and that «the cold war ended a long time ago». By contrast, however, he was glowing about Russia’s cooperation with China, which he said was «the highest in the history of our bilateral relationship».

18/01/ 2012, the International Herald Tribune

IV. Translate the following articles using active vocabulary us missile defense a threat to the security of neutral states

The planned American missile defense shield is «a copper basin» that will cover NATO states and pose a threat to neutral European countries, believes Russian Vice Premier Dmitry Rogozin.

«The Americans call the deployment of the missile defense system in Europe 'an umbrella'. It's not an umbrella, it's a copper basin that will cover both NATO member countries and neutral states», Rogozin said in an interview with Echo Moskvy radio station. The Russian idiom «to get covered by a copper basin» is similar to the English expression, «to go out of the window». In this context, what is going out of the window is national security.

Rogozin, Moscow’s outgoing NATO envoy, also underlined that a defense shield should be limited to the territory which the initiator of this shield is responsible for.

«But if it crawls into someone else’s territory, it’s no longer a defense, but an offense», noted the Russian deputy PM who is in charge of the country’s defense complex. «What kind of defense system is it that spreads to the territory of states that do not want to be controlled by anyone and don’t want the range of any missiles to lie within their soil»? Rogozin asked.

The planned deployment of the American-NATO defense system in Europe has long been a stumbling block in relations between Moscow and Washington. The Russian side is worried that the system, located close to Russia’s borders, may pose a threat to its national security as long as the US fails to provide any legally binding guarantees to the contrary.

«The very presence of such missile defense system’s parameters that are capable of shooting down exactly strategic missiles, and the very placement of these (military) bases, fleet and anti-missile weapons systems in northern seas point at one thing: a clear and practically uncontrollable anti-Russian nature of the missile defense», he said.

После многосторонней встречи, проведенной на уровне Министров иностранных дел стран-членов НАТО, в альянсе отмечают, что двухсторонние переговоры об общей ПРО с Россией зашли в тупик.

Стороны по-разному оценивают анонсирование Соединенными Штатами размещения в Европе системы обороны против баллистических ракет. Россия подозревает, что система будет направлена не против Ирана, а против нее - и требует от НАТО гарантий, что новая ПРО не ограничит стратегические возможности российского ядерного потенциала. Москва хочет совместно контролировать противоракетную систему в Европе.

Генсек НАТО Андерс Фог Расмуссен выразил удовлетворение тем, что российский президент Дмитрий Медведев «держит двери открытыми» для устранения препятствий и сглаживания противоречий, но отметил обеспокоенность альянса контрмерами, которыми угрожает Москва.

Генеральный секретарь НАТО: «НАТО все еще склоняется к конструктивному диалогу, но мы отмечаем, что Россия готовится ответить на наши планы размещением ракет на соседних с альянсом территориях. Такой ответ – это пережиток прошедшей эпохи. И он свидетельствует о глубоком непонимании уровня противоракетной обороны и ее цели».

20/01/2012, the RIA Novosti