Russia Anxious About Military Action Against Iran Near Its Border

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070403/63027715.html ^

[Dr. Frank fan]

But from the Russian POV, the U.S. has been very active, militarily speaking, in the region since 2001. A conflict real close to their southern border, understandably, makes them nervous

It makes them nervous, but I'm not sure how "understandable" that is.

Russia is long enamored of conspiracy-theory beliefs involving the U.S. trying to "encircle" them and destroy their Russianness and suchlike, and those beliefs are rooted in paranoia. So, well, okay, I suppose the beliefs are indeed "understandable". I understand full well that Russia is arrogant, feels an imperialistic sense of entitlement towards her neighbors, and is paranoid regarding US intent. That's why the prospect of military action in Iran - a different country which has nothing to do with Russia - makes them "nervous". Yes, I do understand.

[Chena]

"Any military action near our border is totally unacceptable," Andrei Denisov said. "We are strongly against it and we are doing our best to prevent it from happening."

If that's their "best", then they need to try harder. They have coddled and supported Iran, and have therefore helped to create the monster that now needs to be dealt with. If they don't want military action near their border, then they'd better get with the program.

[jhpigott]

now that’s a good question

drive oil prices up

make us look bad

over-extend our military

[monkeywrench]

"You just think we have problems now . . ."

Our problems are the left keeping the gloves on our military. If things went so far south in the wot, with russia/iran/syria/china keeping on running interference, I would hope for a President that would let our guys cut loose. We can't be beat. As my (soldier) nephew said, "we could literally take on the world".

[jhpigott]

I just try to think of it like this (and I know this is not a perfect analogy):

What if Russia or China had a beef with either Mexico or Canada and military intervention was a real possibility (if not probable), how would the U.S. feel

[SMM48]

"Any military action near our border is totally unacceptable," Andrei Denisov said.

Calm down, calm down, Andrei. There's a new sheriff in town.

[jhpigott]

I wouldn’t be so arrogant to say “we can’t be beat”

Or military (hands down) is magnitudes more lethal than those countries you listed. But under the right circumstances our noses could be bloodied conventially. We are the best, but we are not unbeatable.

And remember, Russia holds the ultimate trump card (granted, we’ve got it too) - nukes, a lot of them, and the means to deliver them

[Dr. Frank fan]

What if Russia or China had a beef with either Mexico or Canada and military intervention was a real possibility (if not probable), how would the U.S. feel

A fair analogy. I'm not sure how "the U.S." would feel - perhaps indeed they (meaning, the U.S. government) would behave similar to how Russia is. I can't say.

How I would feel, though, would presumably depend on which party I believed to be in the right. If Mexico had a regime akin to Iran's, with nuclear ambitions, and a history of proxy warfare (and I - like Russia re:Iran! - had had troubles with precisely the type of terror group that they had supported), for crying out loud I would welcome the intervention of any reasonably-sane state!

Russia, of course, cares not for who is in the right, but for which outcome threatens their power (or imagined/aspired power) in the region. That's my point.

[jhpigott]

“Russia, of course, cares not for who is in the right, but for which outcome threatens their power (or imagined/aspired power) in the region. That’s my point.”

I concur 100%. Unfortunately, they see any military intervention by the U.S. in Iran as a threat to said “power” and are a little skiddish about the prospect. Let’s just hope if the bombs do start dropping, the Russian fly-boys stay grounded and they don’t mobilize any army groups. Understandably ;) I would expect them to raise their alert status, but hopefully send a clear signal to us that they are going to only watch from a distance

[Tailgunner Joe]

Right, Russia thinks the South Caucasus and Central Asia is still their Soviet empire. Putin is stuck in the cold war and is too stupid to know that his side lost and the whole world rejoices about this fact. In fact Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan both sided with the USA against Saddam unlike Russia, and they are part of the Coalition of the Willing.