Posted on 05/10/2006 10:51:32 AM PDT by lizol
Russia needs to be strong against 'fortress' US: Putin
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia faces a growing arms race against a "fortress" United States which cares more about its own interests than democracy or human rights, President Vladimir Putin said in his annual state of the nation speech.
In a wide-ranging, nationally televised address to both houses of parliament on Wednesday, Putin spent most time on domestic issues, particularly the rapid decline of the country's population, which the Russian leader said is losing 700,000 people a year.
But his most biting comments targeted the United States, which has become increasingly critical of Russia's human rights records, with Vice President Dick Cheney claiming last week that "opponents of democracy" were seeking to roll back post-Soviet gains.
Putin warned that it was "premature to speak of the end of the arms race. It is in reality rising to a new technological level."
He said that Russia was forced to react when the United States was spending 25 times more on defence.
"In the defence sphere, this is called 'their house is their fortress.' Well done! But it means that we must build our house strongly, reliably, because we see what's going on in the world."
Putin -- who in July hosts US President George W. Bush and other leaders of the Group of Eight at a Saint Petersburg summit -- swiped at US complaints that his seven-year rule has undercut Russian democracy.
"Where does the whole pathos about the need to struggle for democracy and human rights disappear to, when the talk is about ensuring one's own interests?" he demanded. "Then it seems everything is possible. There are no limits at all."
He then borrowed a Russian saying to illustrate the United States' alleged double standards. "As the saying goes, comrade wolf knows who to eat and he eats without listening to others."
Putin also laid out a vision of a Russia switching from an ageing and uncompetitive Soviet-era infrastructure to an economy centred on high-tech areas such as nanotechnology, nuclear power and the space industry.
"In conditions of fierce international competition, the country's economic development must be based, essentially, on its scientific and technological advantages," he said.
"Unfortunately, one has to face that the majority of the technical equipment used in the national economy is not years behind the top level, but decades."
Just as important, he said, was ridding the country of "one of the most serious obstacles on the road to our development: corruption."
Putin said that modernisation of Russia's huge but inefficient armed forces was vital to global stability.
"Key responsibility for standing up against threats, for guaranteeing global stability, will lie with the world's leading powers possessing nuclear weapons and powerful military-political influence," he said.
The mostly conscript army must fill two-thirds of its ranks with professionals by 2008, he said.
But, according to Putin, Russia continues to face gigantic problems in the wake of the Soviet collapse in 1991, chief among them the steadily worsening demographic situation.
"The most serious problem in modern Russia is demography," Putin said, stating that the population of just under 143 million people was falling by an average of about 700,000 a year.
He outlined a raft of measures such as increased social benefits for mothers and incentives to have more children.
Seeking to reassure Western markets over Russia's reliability as an energy supplier, Putin said "we must do everything not only for our domestic development, but also to fully meet our obligations before our traditional partners."
But he was adamant over Russia's rights to look after its own interests, saying that Russia would join the World Trade Organisation only on its own terms.
"Russia's membership in the WTO should not be a subject of bargaining," he said, claiming that discussions over Russia's entry were being linked to "issues that have nothing to do with the economy."
"We see negotiations on entering the World Trade Organization only on terms that support Russia's economic interests."
"It is obvious that the economy of the Russian Federation is today more open than the economies of many members of this organization."
Ping
Ole' Putin's heart ain't so great after all.
We need to build walls to keep people out of the United States. Russia needs to build walls to keep them in. 'Nuff said.
Yeah, have some more Vodka, Vlad. You loser.
"He said that Russia was forced to react when the United States was spending 25 times more on defence."
Sums up how we won the Cold War in the first place. Suck it up Putin!
Russia does not equal the US and never will. Message to Russia:STFU.
Paranoid as ever what a joke.
Call it a fantasy. Ruusia will be overrun by Chinese in another generation. Drunk, infertile, corrupt, incompetent is no way to go through life, son.
Population declines when young couples perceive a dark future, hardships, lack of jobs and lack of good housing. if Russia can change and provide the above, love will answer the population issue.
The USA population is only growing due to immigration, mostly illegals. Our peoples whose ancestors came many decades before are barely replacing their numbers.
That's rich.
>>Russia faces a growing arms race against a "fortress" United States which cares more about its own interests than democracy or human rights...<<
Ha! He stole that line from Cheney. Except Cheney was right.
Cold War: Part Duex
Sounds like that internally Russia is in heap big trouble. This always seems to be the case when a country's leader plays the "Remember Stalingrad!" card.
You know, get the people worked up over, and focused on, some large, vague external "enemy", every bump in the night, every stranger on a bicycle. All so their minds won't be on how bad things are in the homeland.
Russia was the first country to legalize abortion, so now we see that abortion carries with it it's own punishments. America is in the same boat though, that's the real reason why 20 million illegal aliens are here; they're taking the jobs that the 50 million aborted Americans can't take.
You have that right. Russia = much land and shrinking population, China = rising population and shrinking resources (land). Putin is living in fantasyland if he doesn’t realize that that Chinese on his door step are much more of a problem than the United States across thousands of miles of water are.
Comrade Putin shows that he is the real enemy. Russia is the real power behind the axis of evil.
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