UFO Info Week-End

The outcome of tomorrow’s election is unlikely to affect these trends significantly

The outcome of tomorrow’s election is unlikely to affect these trends significantly.Zyuganov profile, page 17. Russia has also been concentrating on the development of small, rapid- reaction forces to preserve its ability for global intervention at a fraction of the former cost. But Professor John Erickson of the University of Edinburgh, warned “Russia is not broke. It is an illusion that they are very poor – a fiction, which they are very keen to encourage. In spite of all the hype about privatisation, they have taken great care to protect core military industries.”Prof Erickson cited renewed Russian naval activity as evidence that strategic priorities were directed in two ways: to the sea, and to central Asia.

Such an attitude would be consistent with what one commentator last week called “a more bloody-minded approach”.Irina Issakova, an analyst at the London-based international Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), believes the Russians “can’t afford to cut themselves off from the world community”, and that whatever internal measures may be taken in the event of a Communist victory, they are not of great concern to the West.The image of Russia being broke, and therefore compliant, is widespread. Russia may now argue that if Poland and other East European countries become part of Nato, their troops should count as part of the alliance, thus placing Nato in violation of the treaty. The CIS recently produced its first joint statement on the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty. According to Surikov, Western attempts to foster confrontation between Russia and Ukraine must be resisted, and Russia must aim to establish a new alliance with Ukraine.The CFE treaty, recently revised to enable Russia to put more forces on its flanks, provides Moscow with another means of countering Nato expansion. But threats, not supported by actions, only discredit the state.” He cites Russia’s ineffective opposition to the bombing of the Bosnian Serbs in September last year as an example.To counter Nato expansion, a “reintegration” of former Soviet states, within the CIS, is proposed, which has already begun with the conclusion of a new alliance between Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

It cited interference in the transfer of Russian expertise to Iran and India as an example.While Nato’s eastward expansion is seen as a threat, Surikov admits “there is no real possibility of hindering this by force. Many believe Russia cannot afford to alienate the West, and rely on that as a guarantee of security: some disagree. Boris Yeltsin has already begun the process of “reintegration” of former Soviet states into a new military alliance, and whether he or Zyuganov wins, such efforts will undoubtedly continue.But even if Russia’s deep-seated policies do not change, a switch from Mr Yeltsin, whom Western countries know and support, to a new leader will undoubtedly affect the climate in which the Russian military – still the second most powerful in the world – deals with the West.Anton Surikov, a civilian defence adviser to both Yeltsin and Zyuganov, said in a recent paper that the greatest danger from the US and her allies was posed by “interference in the internal affairs of Russia with the aim of diverting them into directions favourable to the West”. But a victory for the communist leader, Gennady Zyuganov, would probably cool the cosy climate of co-operation which has evolved over the past five or so years and resulted in exercises such as this.If Zyuganov wins, next year there may be no Russian destroyer, while the participation of the Poles and Baltic states alongside Nato may be seen not as an expression of international solidarity, but as a threat.Most Western analysts agree the new President will inherit an economic crisis, heavy dependence on investment from abroad, and a massive law and order problem, and that military expenditure is not a high priority.

Just 200 miles to the east, Russia’s 100 million electors were preparing to go to the polls on Sunday.Western strategists do not believe the result will have any fundamental effect on Russian security policy. Soon I lowered another, secure in the knowledge that even if further swarms broke out to torment us, they could not do so before the morning.. VIEW FROM THE WEST

Yesterday, 44 ships under the command of a US Admiral aboard the cruiser USS Hue City, among them the Russian destroyer Nastoychivy, were practising the manoeuvres they would use in multi-national peace-keeping and humanitarian aid operations.
The exercise is taking place under the Partnership for Peace initiative, designed to bind Nato and eastern European countries together and pave the way for some to join Nato. But by then it was so dark that, even with my face only three or four inches above the marching troops, I could not make her out.At 10pm I at last returned to my beer – and never has the second half of a pint gone down better.

(There is always a chance that the bees will take against the structure and push off somewhere else.)One shake of the skep, and out they tumbled in a tawny flood that spread right across the four-foot board. After only a moment’s hesitation, the leading scouts began scurrying in through the entrance, and by some form of communication indetectible to a human they drew the whole swarm after them.Somewhere among them was the queen, and I knew that she was being escorted by her closest retainers, which would be all round her – ahead, behind, above and below – in a solid phalanx, keeping her warm and bearing her bodily forward. I sped to the workshop, found a piece of blockboard two feet square, and quickly carpentered up a rim of half-inch beading round three sides of it, so that the brood-chamber could sit on the rim, leaving the fourth side open as the bees’ entrance.With a serviceable hive in being, I laid a sheet of plywood at an angle, so that it sloped up to the doorway, and at last there came the critical moment of dumping the swarm at its new front door. Hastily improvising, I assembled these in a corner of the orchard – only to realise that I had no base-board, an essential component.By then it was 9.50, and almost dark The swarm was still fizzing in the back of the car. A swarm had found it and taken up residence during that afternoon. There on the flight-board was a heap of old wax chippings – proof that the new arrivals were busy spring-cleaning.Now what? Back home, a rapid rout-about in the garden shed yielded up the rudiments of another hive: brood-chamber, or bottom unit, some combs, a crown-board, a galvanised lid. Then at last I was able to close the skep and drive off.Three minutes later, with dusk falling, I pulled up outside John’s house and scrambled up a steep bank to make sure his empty hive was serviceable Curses! It was empty no more.