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The Russian parliament's upper house ratified agreements on Wednesday concluded last year with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, under which Moscow will set up military bases in the breakaway republics. The treaties allow Russia to operate military bases Abkhazia and South Ossetia for an initial term of 49 years, with possible extensions for an additional 15 years

Georgia's Foreign Ministry described the move as an unlawful and irresponsible legitimization of the Russian military presence in the separatist regions

Israeli research and development of weapons systems is often co-financed by the US. Joint military projects have been set up, such as the development of the Arrow Missile System, which has been operational since 2000.

In August 2007, a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid was signed between Israel and the US. This MOU guarantees Israel $30 billion in military aid via FMF over the next decade.

Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia can place military bases on each other’s territories,” Lavrov said.

the Russian military contingent will consist of 3800 people in each republic.

Now, a list of 39 countries that recognize the republic is posted on the president’s website. Neither Nicaragua nor Russia is on the list. They are the only countries to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Moreover, over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Also, street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability.

Problem More than 14 million Americans buy illicit drugs and use them at least once per month, spending by most conservative estimates over $60 billion annually in a diverse and fragmented criminal market. Such drugs are to varying degrees injurious to the health, judgment, productivity and general well-being of their users. Total economic costs to U. S. society associated with drug abuse are estimated by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to be $160 billion. The addictive nature of many of these drugs, their high price, and their illegality play a role in more than half the street crime in the United States. The U. S. illicit drug market generates enormous profits that enable the growth of diversified international criminal organizations, and extend their reach into local neighborhoods, legitimate business, and even national governments. Such profits provide drug trafficking organizations with the resources to effectively evade and compete with law enforcement agencies, to penetrate legitimate economic structures, and, in some instances, to challenge the authority of national governments.

Despite the military's obvious ability to support drug law enforcement organizations, questions remain as to the overall effectiveness of a major military role in narcotics interdiction. Proponents of substantially increasing the military's role in supporting civilian law enforcement narcotics interdiction activity argue that narcotics trafficking poses a national security threat to the United States; that only the military is equipped and has the resources to counter powerful trafficking organizations; and that counter drug support provides the military with beneficial, realistic training.

He explored the strategic reasoning behind the aid, asserting that it parallels the "needs of American arms exporters" and the role "Israel could play in advancing U.S. strategic interests in the region."

Approximately a third of the entire U.S. foreign aid budget goes to Israel, "even though Israel comprises just...one-thousandth of the world's total population, and already has one of the world's higher per capita incomes."

Kurz: The United States and Israel—at Israel's initiative—have already developed a plan to gradually eliminate U.S. economic aid to Israel. There is an understanding that Israel's economy is doing better, its debt repayments (the justification for economic aid in the first place) are going down. If Israel had had its debt forgiven, as Egypt did, after the Gulf war, it wouldn't need economic aid at all. But that couldn't happen because of technical budgetary reasons; so instead of forgiving the debt, the United States is essentially giving Israel the money it needs to pay back its American loans. That will end in seven years. On the military side, it's anybody's guess. If the conflict ends tomorrow, if there is a real peace treaty with Syria, if Iran becomes a moderate force in the region, if Iraq no longer is a threat to Israel, if Israel is finally accepted as a permanent, legitimate state in the Middle East, then Israel will not need to spend huge sums of money for her defense and will no longer need U.S. help in doing so.

We give aid to Israel to maintain its security in a very tough region and a very important part of the world in order to advance critical U.S. interests. If that aid were reduced to a point that Israel couldn't buy the equipment it needs to defend itself and maintain the peace, that would be dangerous to us.

I do, but just as Israel's economy is doing much better, the military threats against her are much greater. Look at what's happening in the region: the nuclear threat, the missile threat, where they are coming from, the distances involved from rogue regimes like Iran and Iraq.

On July 14, 2009, the Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, made a surprise visit to breakaway South Ossetia, inspecting a new Russian military base there and promising citizens that Russia would rebuild neighborhoods destroyed during the brief war between Russia and Georgia

This rocket created a new reality in which nearly one million Israeli residents [about 15 percent of the entire population] were at risk.

The IDF has noted that militants commonly hide a Qassam in a commercial truck, drive to a clearing near the Gaza border and launch the rocket. One Hamas website states that this takes only 15 minutes.

maximum range of those rockets is up to 40 km.

The economy would have collapsed in 1973 due to the balance of payments problem following the Yom Kippur War. Today it is still important to shoulder the economy from external shocks such as the Persian Gulf War and the massive flow of Russian immigrants to Israel in the past few years. If the aid were reduced or eliminated, a sharp reduction in government spending would be required. Sussman adds: "The $1.5 billion in emergency aid allocated to Israel in the mid-1980s was responsible for helping to stabilize the Israeli economy and stifle hyperinflation."6

In fact, American defense and aerospace firms reap substantial benefits from U.S. aid to Israel, for it guarantees them a $1.35 billion captive market each year. Out of $1.8 billion in grants, then, Israel receives about $450 million in cash that can be converted into Israeli currency and used either to purchase Israeli-made military products or develop weapons (such as the Arrow anti-missile system). Steven L. Spiegel, a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, points out that Israel performs invaluable services by testing and developing weapon systems for the United States, improving American-made equipment, and providing crucial intelligence information.11 Moreover, Spiegel argues that Israel's use of American-made arms not only saves the United States money but earns it more: For example, after Israel's much advertised successes with U.S. weaponry in the 1969-70 War of Attrition and the 1982 war in Lebanon, U.S. arms sales worldwide in 1972-82 nearly tripled, from about $6.8 to $19.6 billion in constant 1982 dollars.12 And while of course it does not wish for wars to occur, the United States gains valuable information by seeing its arms perform against those of Israel's enemies, lessons that "cannot be purchased, developed, or simulated."13

nd the Israeli government. Currently, in Washington, D.C., President Bush is promising aid to the Palestinians, ai

aid that they desperately need, in order for them to be able to establish good, peacekeeping forces that can rein in terrorists and serve as a police force in the region that Israel is trying to move out of.

Israel needs America’s help now more than ever.

The former province of Georgia will be absorbed into Russia, declared Trazan Kokoity, deputy speaker of South Ossetia's parliament in Tskhivali, only three days after Russia recognized the Georgian breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to be independent states,

Eduard Kokoity, South Ossetia's leader, said during talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that it would become part of Russia within "several years,"

The current situation in South Ossetia and Abkhazia bears no resemblance or moral equivalence to Kosovo's declaration of independence in February 2008.

The near-universal support for Kosovar independence stands in sharp contrast to the unilateralism exercised by Moscow over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Kosovo's independence was gained through the U.N. process with prior consultation and widespread unity.

When the majority of the European Union and the United States recognized Kosovo's independence, they acknowledged that such independence was the result of tough, tragic, violent, and unique circumstances.

the recognition is to provide security for its own citizens in the region, and the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia

As the Georgian military launched an attack against South Ossetia, the U.S. threw its full support behind Georgia and accused Russia of a disproportionate response.