Not terribly surprised at this, given how things have been going. Isn't Putin due to stand down as President next year somepoint?
Yep, was actually surprised we heard about it before the press did! We're normally the last to know...
Cold War military activities and Cold War politics
I still think this is more of a PR activity by the Kremlin, what with elections coming up and all, to try and show the Russian people that are still to be regarded as a superpower internationally; you know, basically show them that they still have the balls to the West...
Nevertheless...
steve threlfall (18-08-2007)
It is a bit worrying really, and just another enemy we dont need.
Confrontation and aggression, it never goes out of style. Hopefully no other countries will feel forced to respond since we don't need cold war 2.0
Its all just sabre rattling for the russian people
Bazzlad (20-08-2007),chuckskull (19-08-2007),No.72 (18-08-2007),steve threlfall (18-08-2007)
Of course they have no reason to feel at all threatened by the 'let's blow trillions of dollar\pounds\euros' Missile Defence scheme?
To be honest im very happy Russia is doing this. It takes countrys like Russia and China to show America that they arent the only big dog in the world. Otherwise america would be calling us all terrorists now and occupying us all.
Why shouldnt they patrol their skies and show their military might?
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Edited your comment in bold for clarity. The Russians even offered the use of a radar base although I suspect that this was a bluff to undermine the project. Personally I think this shield is not strictly needed, it is more a polictical tool to fix Eastern European countries firmly within NATO and garner wider American influence in central Asia. Playing in what Russia still considers it's backyard? Sure. A direct threat to Russia? No (the shear number of Russian missiles and decoys would overcome the system).
The actions of Putin and the Russian government over the last few months is nothing more than bigging themselves up. Awash with petro/gas roubles the Russian government can now afford to start pulling these stunts. It's purely for domestic consumption bearing in mind the 2008 elections are coming up and forms the pompous part of the Russian psyche. I see it more as a small child seeking attention whilst the rest of the class moves on to bigger and better things. You can't beat Russians for pride.
All (repressive) governments need a boogerman. Blame everything on the boogerman and be seen to be standing up to him whilst quietly whittling away the freedoms the population has. It's only the degree of whittling away that changes. And yes it's happened in the UK under New Labour.
eg. USA has Al-Qeada, UK has domestic muslim fundamentalists, Iran has USA, Zimbabwe (Mugabe) has the UK, Venezuela (Chavez) has USA, Russia has "the west".
The more repressive the country the bigger the boogerman is made out to be so the public focus is on the boogerman rather than the corrupt, inept, asshats that rule the country.
Russia has nothing to fear from the west (read NATO) but unfortunately the Russians are a paranoid people and love a strong man such as Putin. German and French imperialism coupled with 80 years of communism has seen to that! Relations are obviously far better than during the cold war and you will be surprised at how much the two co-operate. Russia requires western investment and expertise whilst western Europe needs Russian gas. Putin is an authoritarian at heart, however, he does recognise that taking Russia back to a communist authoritarian state would lead to disaster. I only hope that the blind Russian public will be able to see that further reform is necessary and vote for a more moderate candidate in 2008, but if my cash was riding on the outcome I'd bet the other way. Russia has some serious domestic social problems non more so than the rampant alchoholism that is causing a rapid decrease in the population. It will have to put it's own house in order before it's considered a (conventional) militatry threat by the west.
"Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be." Frank Zappa. ----------- "The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." Huang Po.----------- "A drowsy line of wasted time bathes my open mind", - Ride.
America is still the world's only superpower. Russia and China cannot project that kind of force around the globe. I'll see your two long range bomber patrols and raise you 11 Nimitz class aircraft carriers (with another under construction and another on order).
There is no logic in this statement and it's simply anti-American ranting. You might care to look at the history of the cold war to appreciate the American input. America did not save us from having to speak German they saved us from having to speak Russian. Critisize America by all means, I did in the recent IRG/terrorist thread, but realise that your freedom to critisize is in part due to American military might.
I have no problem with a soveriegn country patrolling their own skies. If they want to get a hard on by displaying their military might then fine, again I have no problem. But if they wish to fly their military aircraft towards another soveriegn country's airspace then they can expect the appropriate welcome.
"Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be." Frank Zappa. ----------- "The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." Huang Po.----------- "A drowsy line of wasted time bathes my open mind", - Ride.
Yes, this is bad. Bad Putin, Bad etc.
But I'm not especially worried. I am a bit worried of course, because peak oil will screw us all soon, and Russia has loads of gas and plenty of oil. But we'll deal with that when it becomes a major problem- say two years from now.
So, in the meantime, I'm just going to say:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu-160
Utterly awesome plane.
I have no problem with a country defending itself, but surely Russia has a million and one better things it could do with the money spent poking and prodding NATO? Especially since neither side has any desire nor anything to gain from war. A huge amount of Russians live in poverty and surrounded by crime.
Then again, America isn't exactly the Garden of Eden.
Looks awfully similar to this. Did they pull another konkordski?
"Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be." Frank Zappa. ----------- "The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." Huang Po.----------- "A drowsy line of wasted time bathes my open mind", - Ride.
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