Posted on 09/01/2006 9:43:05 PM PDT by M. Espinola
Russia on Friday cast new doubt on the prospects for the Bush administration’s efforts to punish Iran for refusing to suspend its nuclear program, even as European leaders expressed wariness at moving quickly to impose sanctions.
In Moscow, officials expressed regret that an Aug. 31 deadline had passed without an agreement by Iran to halt its efforts to enrich uranium that could be used for building nuclear weapons, as American and European officials believe Iran intends to do.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The US and Israel should make the issue of "sanctions against Iran" moot.
The only thing I would favour is an Iranian oil blockade preventing all supertankers loaded with either Iranian crude oil or natural gas from exiting the Persian Gulf, thereby preventing the mullahs from funding their version of global Shi'ite jihad through energy related mega-profits.
The Cold War never really ended. Russia is still our enemy, as is China.
The last fifteen years have been a mere respite while the enemy reconstitutes and becomes stronger in a different way.
Putin is ex-KGB. Russia is corrupt. Russia spun off the Islamic-stan provinces and the faltering Eastern European client states that were draining them, but retains influence over many of them. We paid for the dismantling of their chemical weapons, nuclear weapon waste clean=ups and for their crappy MIR space station and their part of the international space station.
They paid us back by developing a new ICBM missile,sloppy oversight of nuclear warheads in their arsenal,selling weapons to Iraq and Iran, and by countering us against the Arab world.
Russia is invigorating old alliances in the Middle East, where they wish to be a major player.
We can jawbone with them and the EU as much as the Dems want, but the rest of the world will do nothing to stop Iran, figuring we will do the dirty work, and if we get bloodied doing it, like in Iraq, the USA will become weaker and weaker. A no-lose proposition for Russia and the EU.
Sixty years of American taxpayer funds and the American soldier providing peace and security for the world, and no one wants to help, save about five other countries.
Russia is not our friend. China is not our friend. The EU is not our friend. Mexico is not our friend. Canada is out to lunch.More and more of South America is unfriendly to us.
We have Britain, Australia, Italy, Poland, Israel and not much else that we can count on. Even South Korea, the recipient of 56 years of our largesse and protection, wants to play kissy face with North Korea, a terrorist regime.
We can no longer be concerned about gaining the love of the rest of the world. America's protection comes first.
And the organized crime syndicate which is the Russian government surprises everyone exactly how?
Yes, I love it how the Dimms always want to "jawbone" but can't seem to "jawbone" Their own senators into:
Voting for Kyoto,
Voting for Hillary care
Voting for Iraqi withdrawal deadline.
Nice "Jawboning". Very effective.
To get back on topic:
Whats to prevent Iran getting a nuke to the Chechin rebels?
Russia is not our friend. They are playing hard ball games in the ME. They are making a fortune exporting exotic missile technology and arms to Iran, Pakistan, Egypt and Syria. Putin is 'ex-KGB' but as anyone in the spy game knows there are no 'ex-KGB' types. Now they are wealthy oligarchs, wealthy import-export tycoons or Russkie Mafyia.
The KGB is worse now than ever before. They are making billions over here in the U.S. They smuggle gasoline across the country and make a fortune by avoiding state and federal taxes. They do it right out in the open. Nobody even cares.
Those are accurate comments as far as I am concerned.
What worries me even more, is the trend of U.S. thinking, examples of which can be found on this very forum.
International agreements that see our strategic secrets spread to the four winds, or our sovereignty parcelled off are deemed wise. Allowing our nation to be over-run by foreign nationals, changing this nation forever, is honkey dorey. We allow the Department of Education to expend every effort to corrupt our children, then vote in people again and again who see nothing wrong with this. We talk of taking it to the terrorists, then allow tens of thousands of folks from terrorist states to travel here on student visas.
We see what is taking place in Europe and shudder, not realizing that we are only five to ten years behind it in the devolution of human civilization.
Even some of the Supreme Court members site European precedents to buttress their rulings these days.
I agree that the cold war is still on. I have no problem with that concept, and many people don't. What they don't as easily recognize is that today that war is not an external problem any longer. The main front is inside our nation, and folks are sleepwalking into a buz saw.
*BUMP* ! . . . Kudos to you as well, sir.
And to you...
Thank you.
Putin's anti-American & anti-Israeli arms list:
Iran,
Syria,
Venezuela,
Each one a proud member of the extended Axis of Evil.
Winston Churchill once described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."
Putin Gives Aluminum Takeover Green Light
cold war? Russia's Flexed Muscles
(Russian Press) U.S. Senator Lumps Russia In with Iran and Venezuela
I sometimes wonder what this administration expected Russia to do. In a vacuum, Russia would always seek out relations with other nations. Why didn't we court the guy and keep him close? I realize Putin is problematic, but ignoring the guy was a huge mistake IMO.
Here is is meeting with Chavez, China's leadership and other undesirables. Wouldn't it have been better if we had kept the guy busy? We could have developed mutual projects and kept him misdirected.
I realize this sounds simplistic, but it seems like we could have done far better than we have. Why no summits?
Western leaders seem to have forgotten Putin spent 17 years as a in the Soviet KGB's foreign intelligence wing, rising the rank of lieutenant colonel, plus he requested to be stationed in the most repressive state in the Eastern Bloc, communist East Germany. During the last half of the 1980s one of Lt Col Putin's duties was recruiting people to spy on the West (US/UK).
In 1996 after Putin first served on the Kremlin staff, he became the director of the Federal Security Service, the domestic successor to the KGB, in 1998, and later added duties as head of the Kremlin Security Council.
Russia under Putin remains controlled by Putin's hand picked KGB cronies.
Putin once said he could not read a book by a Soviet defector because "I don't read books by people who have betrayed the Motherland."
Putin's KGB authoritarian cohorts have seized control over Russia's state-owned energy companies (directly or indirectly) and they are currently expanding their empire by taking control of other industries.
Senator McCain has stated the following concerning Putin Russia: "There has been a steady retrogression and a sort of an effort to restore the old Soviet Empire,"
Look at the current global situation. Putin arming Syria & Iran, to battle whom? Israel? Yes and also US. Comrade Putin knows damn well, regardless of the UN's foot-dragging relating to Tehran nuclear weapons race, we will be taking very decisive action against the jihad terrorist exporting Iranian tyrants.
The question is, what shall be Moscow's reaction when her despicable allies in the Axis of Evil quickly collapse, especially OPEC's Iran & Assad's Syria. The corrupt Putin régime has been greatly benefiting from selling advanced weaponry to such well healed OPEC nations as Iran and Venezuela. Putin picked sides.
The final question remains how far is Putin & his Kremlin cronies willing to go to protect their Axis of Evil cash cows?
Putin is a typical KGB type "If the snow is falling, they will calmly tell you, the sun is shining."
I agree, the Chi-coms and Russia are not our friends and if we continue to play nice with them we will be buried.
You would think that, all things being equal, Iran would be a threat to Russia as well. However, there is much more to be gained by Iran by having Russia as an ally at this time.
Witness the interference over sanctions that Russia is running for Iran against the US right now.
The Iranian mullahs will tolerate the Russian infidels--for now. They are useful.
Thank you. I am interested in learning more about the gasoline deals by the Russians that you mention. I was not aware of that. Can you tell us more?
Your conclusion is well stated. The enemy is internal, rather then the easily identifiable and quantifiable enemy we faced in the Cold War. The enemy is within, and one of our major political parties is part and parcel to it.
Walking into a buzz saw is an apt metaphor.
Your pictures of Putin clearly show a man with dead eyes--a man without a soul. A man never to be trusted.
Perhaps the President was just trying to be friendly, but I never saw what he did when he looked into Putin's eyes.
Excellent background and description of Mr. Putin. The die was cast long ago, and is not going to be broken.
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