Posted on 05/10/2006 1:10:53 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
President Vladimir Putin took a swipe at the hungry "wolf" of America today in a strident state-of-the-nation address in which he said that post-Soviet Russia should build up its economic and military might.
In his seventh annual address as president, Mr Putin also promised to tackle Russia's falling birthrate, saying that falling population levels were Russia's "most pressing problem".
But the main thrust of his speech was on the need to bolster security. Mr Putin said that Russia needed a strong military not only to guard against potential attackers but also to resist foreign political pressure.
His comments betray increased anger over what Kremlin leaders see as Western attempts to influence the affairs of Russia and its relationships with its former neighbours Soviet neighbours, such as Ukraine or Belarus.
"We must always be ready to counter any attempts to pressure Russia in order to strengthen others’ positions at our expense," Mr Putin said. "The stronger our military is, the less temptation there will be to exert such pressure on us."
Mr Putin pointed out that Russia’s military budget is 25 times less than that of the United States. "Their house is their fortress - good for them," he said. "But that means that we also must make our house strong and reliable."
Then, in a clear criticism of US foreign policy, he quipped: "As the saying goes, Comrade Wolf knows whom to eat, it eats without listening and it’s clearly not going to listen to anyone."
"Where is all this pathos about protecting human rights and democracy when it comes to the need to pursue their own interests?" Mr Putin added, in what appeared to be a veiled response to accusations by Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, that the Kremlin's commitment to democracy was weakening.
Mr Putin said that his Government would work to strengthen the nation’s nuclear deterrent as well as conventional military forces without repeating the mistakes of the Cold War when a costly arms race against the US hampered Russia's economic development.
"Our response must be based on intellectual advantage, it must be asymmetrical and less costly while increasing reliability and efficiency of our nuclear triad," Mr Putin said, adding that the nation will strengthen all its components - long-range aviation, land-based strategic missile forces and nuclear submarines.
As part of that boost, Russia would soon commission two nuclear submarines equipped with the new Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles - the nation’s first since the Soviet era - while the land-based strategic missile forces will get their first unit of mobile Topol-M missiles.
Mr Putin said that the new missiles and warheads which can change their route to a target that an enemy would be unable to calculate will allow Russia to preserve a strategic balance without damaging the nation’s economic development goals.
In a wide-ranging speech lasting just over an hour, Mr Putin also focused on Russia's massive demographic problems.
While mortality has increased in post-Soviet Russia, the birthrate has fallen precipitously so that one family in two has no children and the average per woman has only 1.34 - far below the rate needed to keep the population stable.
Mr Putin said that the Russian population was now declining by 700,000 per year. "We have raised this question many times but in fact have done little. We need to reduce mortality, have an effective migration policy and increase the birth rate," he said.
As part of the solution, Mr Putin proposed more than doubling child benefits.
"We must stimulate today the birth of at least a second child," he said. "What stops a women deciding to have a second child? Bad living conditions, limited income ... sometimes, God help us, the thought of whether they would be able to feed the child."
On accession to the 149-member World Trade Organisation, which would open up global markets for Russian goods and commodities, Mr Putin said that WTO member states should not use the negotiations to make unrelated demands.
Russia has so far signed bilateral agreements with the European Union, China and Japan, among others, but has yet to reach the deals it needs with the United States, Colombia and Australia if it is to join the global trade body.
In March, Mr Putin expressed frustration at the pace of negotiations, accusing the U.S. of coming up with ungrounded demands that were hindering talks. The following month,a group of visiting US senators said that Russia's record on democracy and its stance in the current Iranian nuclear crisis would influence the US Congress when it considers Russian membership of the WTO.
Mr Putin also pledged to push up economic growth - currently running at around 7 per cent a year - as part of a wider plan to double Russia's gross domestic product within a decade. That growth, he said, would come not just from continued state investment of energy revenues but from real economic liberalisation.
Putin had better back down on Iran. Doesn't he know not to get between a dog and his lunch?
Note to Vlad: Make Love Not war....
You are reading way too much into these comments - It is simply men being men...ego's and all.
VP Cheney made some blunt comments regarding Russia a few days back....and now Mr. Putin just needs to do a little chest pumping for all his locker room guys back home -
Nothing more, nothing less.
"WOLVERI-I-I-I-INES!!"
Communism... With a makeover!
WOLVERINES!!!
Stating the Obvious PING
For the record I've become disappointed in the last two years with Putin. I was hoping that after Beslan he would move closer to the U.S. in the war on terror. It hasn't happened.
My analysis of Putin is that he is one of the Russians who doesn't like the U.S. and blames us for the breakup of the Soviet Union"
Well he should GET OVER IT. The best thing that happened to Russia and Russians in the last 100 years was the fall of Communism and the breakup of the USSR. Really. It freed Russians more than any other people. The only losers are the KGB-types and wannabe empire-builders. Ukraine and baltic states no more belongs to Russia than say Ireland to Britain or Algeria to France... and US didnt make it happen, people power did.
"
The good news is that he won't be president forever - his term is up in early 2008. Hopefully his successor won't have the same chip on his shoulder."
Yes, one hopes. In other ways, Putin has been a good leader, just too much of his KGB past kicks in now and then.
Putin, for all his problems that come with being exKGB--crushing media outlets and businessmen that challenge his authority/power, is a far better friend to America than Yeltsin was.
His support of Iran is not ideological, its geopolitical. He sees America as having too much weight in the ME, with Iraq and Afghanistan both under our occupation and with pro-American governments--not to mention our friendship and alliance with Israel . The USSR came to be a strategic partner of Khomeni in the 80s because we were out of the picture there when the Shah was booted--and Putin sees any ally of the Soviet Union as being still in Russia's geopolitical interest to align itself with... If it were to his advantage, he'd drop Ahmednedijad like 3rd period french. If anything, Putin is restraining the mad mullahs, and we should thank GOD that they have his ear for if anything, he's holding them back, and he just is timid about letting another nation loose on them. If Israel was an iminent threat to Iran, blustering the same way Iran is now we would be opposing Russian threats against the jewish state--same with Russia and Iran. Nations that are strategic geopolitical partners don't like stabbing one another in the back, but they will restrain one another to keep the wolf away from their door, so to speak.
If anything, Russia has nothing to worry about us directly, and neither us of them. In the next ten to twenty years, their biggest concern is not us, its China..
With a growing population and shrinking resources, the new Greater Far East Co-Prosperity sphere is the Middle Kingdom, and Russia will be its female dog if they're not careful.
Despite anti-western, neo-communist rheteroic, Putin is following the old "drive to the south," mantra of the Tsars, similar to the "Drang Nach Osten" (drive to the east) which was behind much of Hitler's geopolitical aims for Germany.
(i hit post before i realized I wasn't finished)
As for Beslan and the war on terror, he and his predecessor have been fighting the war on terror since the early 90s, when the Chechen rebels started their savagery.
He doesn't have to send Spetsnaz to Iraq to fight insurgents there, or to Tora Bora to chase down AQ. He has terrorists to chase down and exterminate in his own country.
If I were Putin, I would evac the army out of the area, fire a few SS15s with MIRV capability into and around Grozny, and later send in the army to eliminate whatever is left--exterminate Chechnya, muslim problem in Russia solved...
If Putin wants to build up his birthrate I know of 12 million new comrades we could send him.
I don't think the Ruskies will ever fully grasp Capitalism or freedom like we know it...
You haven't looked into the Russian economy lately have you? Business is booming over there.
Ruskies are also overly and uneedlessly arrogant, and it surely shows in you're post! Gotta Complex?
oh and you're post is laughable!
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