new U.S.-Russian treaty to reduce long-range nuclear weapons

PRAGUE has agreed to host the signing of a new U.S.-Russian treaty to reduce long-range nuclear weapons, the Czech Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.The announcement is the clearest sign yet that Washington and Moscow are close to completing the deal on an accord to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, which expired in December.

Ministry spokesman Filip Kanda said that Prague agreed to host the signing of the accord by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when the negotiators reach a deal. He said negotiations have not been completed yet.

“As an ally, we have consulted with the U.S. side on an option for us to complete the signing when a deal is done,” Kanda said. “We’ve agreed,” he said.It was not clear if the plan for the signing ceremony had also been discussed with the Russian government.

The negotiations are still under way in Geneva. The treaty is likely to limit the number of deployed strategic warheads by the United States and Russia. Any agreement would need to be ratified by the legislatures of both countries and would still leave each with a large number of nuclear weapons, both deployed and stockpiled.

Both U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said following talks in Moscow last week that a deal was near – but not done.

The expired START treaty, signed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush, required each country to cut its nuclear warheads by at least one-fourth, to about 6,000, and to implement procedures for verifying that each side was sticking to the agreement.

The two sides pledged to continue to respect the expired treaty’s limits on nuclear arms and allow inspectors to continue verifying that both sides were living up to the deal.

Obama and Medvedev agreed at a Moscow summit in July to cut the number of nuclear warheads each possesses to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years as part of a broad new treaty.

For Obama, signing the treaty in Prague would be a symbolic return to the city where he outlined his nuclear agenda in April and declared his commitment to “a world without nuclear weapons” in a sweeping speech before a crowd of many thousands.(AP)

1.500 anti-government protest as part of a series of demonstrations began done by the opposition in the city of Vladivostok

Vladivostok  Russian citizens approximately 1.500 anti-government protest as part of a series of demonstrations began done by the opposition in the city of Vladivostok. The plan will be protests across the whole of Russia today. The critics of this government declared a national protest against the Russian government failed to overcome the worst economic crisis experienced for a decade. Meanwhile, it also triggered a protest election results that show the area of government support decline.

In action, the protest leader read out the demands addressed to the government. Among those demands is to ask Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resign from office. They also demanded direct election of governors, which is removed by the government in 2004. Similarly Reuters reported on Saturday (20/3/2010).

Some of the demands in these protests can not be separated from the citizens that the government wants President Dimitry Medvedev is more serious in its economic policy. Demands that include lowering the cost of public services, increasing pensions and cut taxes for the import of used cars that became the main industry in Vladivostok.

“People’s lives more difficult and they blame the government’s performance,” said one protest leader Alexander Krinitsky. “They (the people) there is no other option to voice their desires through protest,” continued Krinitsky.

Opposition parties continue to protest mushroomed in recent months, following the economic crisis experienced by Russia. Russia’s economic crisis was caused Russia’s economic growth rate continued to soar stalled over the last 10 years. In addition the unemployment rate continues to increase to nine percent.

While the protest that followed before approximately 1.500 people, the organizer of this action criticized the security effort to thwart protests. They accused the authorities have been preaching to the media if the protest this time is prohibited and confiscated leaflets call for this protest followed.

Police had not seen too much action this time guarding. Only a few members of the police watched the demonstrators that the action did not lead to the anarchists. (faj) – approximately 1.500 Russian citizens anti-government protest as part of a series of demonstrations began done by the opposition. The plan will be protests across the whole of Russia today.

The critics of this government declared a national protest against the Russian government failed to overcome the worst economic crisis experienced for a decade. Meanwhile, it also triggered a protest election results that show the area of government support decline.

In action, the protest leader read out the demands addressed to the government. Among those demands is to ask Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resign from office. In addition they also asked for direct gubernatorial elections, which removed by the government in 2004. Similarly Reuters reported on Saturday (20/3/2010).

Some of the demands in these protests can not be separated from the citizens that the government wants President Dimitry Medvedev is more serious in its economic policy. Demands that include lowering the cost of public services, increasing pensions and cut taxes for the import of used cars that became the main industry in Vladivostok.

“People’s lives more difficult and they blame the government’s performance,” said one protest leader Alexander Krinitsky. “They (the people) there is no other option to voice their desires through protest,” continued Krinitsky.

Opposition parties continue to protest mushroomed in recent months, following the economic crisis experienced by Russia. Russia’s economic crisis was caused Russia’s economic growth rate continued to soar stalled over the last 10 years. In addition the unemployment rate continues to increase to nine percent.

While the protest that followed before approximately 1.500 people, the organizer of this action criticized the security effort to thwart protests. They accused the authorities have been preaching to the media if the protest this time is prohibited and confiscated leaflets call for this protest followed.

Police had not seen too much action this time guarding. Only a few members of the police watched the demonstrators that the action did not lead to the anarchists.