THE CENTRE CANNOT HOLD

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080311/101113008.html

I ran across this unusual article a couple of days ago.

It comes from RIA Novosti news services. The RIA Novosti is a very slick, well financed Russian news agency that disseminates the "party line".

These are some of the facts which precede this story.

1. US troops in Afghanistan are at the end of a very long supply line. The US uses the shortest highway, generally referred to as the Indus Highway, which runs 777 miles from the coastal town of Karachi to Peshawar, near the Kyber Pass. It runs at least half it's distance through the heart of "the pakistani-taliban" country in the Northwest Territories and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. 70% of US/NATO supplies come in by truck including the fuel needed to run the NATO troops - 500,000 gallons per day - up this highway. This supply line is under increasing attack

2. Pakistan becomes more unstable by the day. The US has begun cross border attacks into Pakistan against "the pakistani-taliban" strongholds in the Tribal Areas. These attacks are widely condemned by the Pakistan military. As a result, the "pakistani-taliban" has launched a war against the Pakistan military and Pakistan in general. How long before this supply gets shut down?

3. The US has been looking for an alternative northern supply line since at least last December, with no success.

4. At one time, the US had a large base in southern Uzbekistan but lost it because it complained about a notorious government massacre in Andijon, UZ in 2005.

5. The Germans have the use of a base in Termez, Uz. In the last few days, Uzbekistan had agreed to allow limited numbers of U.S. staff to use the facility at Termez as long as they fly on German planes. After 3 or 4 months of effort this is all we have and it is far from a supply line.

When I first saw the article, I tried to confirm it with Reuters or APF, but finding no other articles in the western press, I dismissed it.

Later, I found reference to it on a Serbian website Pthat is uncontrollably angry over Kosovo. They were gloating over NATO's Afghanistan predicament.

That website referenced this guy, who writes for a Canadian Military Magazine.
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http://www.espritdecorps.ca/Ontarget%20080312.htm

Am I correct with these conclusions?

1. First, the US news black out gets deeper and deeper and and more glaringly obvious.

2. The NATO situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating and some factions are looking for Russia to bail them out.

3. It is Russia who ultimately determines who uses the Central Asian airspace and the price they are demanding is a NATO-CSTO treaty.

4. This comes just before the big NATO conference where the US is pushing hard for NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia with Russia pushing back extremely hard against such a proposition.