Posted on 01/19/2008 4:24:22 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Russia Issues Pre-Emptive Nuclear Threat
By Sky News SkyNews - 27 minutes ago
Russia's military chief of staff says Moscow would use nuclear weapons in pre-emptive strike if it felt threatened.
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General Yuri Baluyevsky said there were no plans "to attack anyone" but reasserted Russia's right to defend itself.
"To defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Gen Baluyevsky said.
The remarks do not represent a change in policy for Moscow.
But they do come at a time of heightened tension between Russia and the West.
Russia is embroiled in persistent disputes over US plans for missile defence facilities in former Soviet satellite states that have joined Nato.
A row has also broken out between the UK and Russia after the director of the British Council in St Petersburg was briefly arrested.
Britain closed the council's offices after accusing the Russians of harassment.
THE CORRECT ANALYSIS OF RUSSIA
Communism is just another name for state capitalism. The perogatives of exploiting opportunities, realizing profit, etc. is taken out of the hands of individuals and accorded solely to the state.
In that regard, the Soviet Union was a failed enterprise. The “collapse” of the iron curtain was simply an opportunity to shed money losing assets (Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, etc.). Following that, with the benefit of a new “revolution”, Russia went through it’s own restructuring. Now, thanks to increased oil prices, we have the leaner meaner Russia, Inc. trying to be everyone’s pain in the ass.
Consider how it would’ve appeared if Bush had been wary of him from the beginning. Maybe Bush had his own personal misgivings, but it would never have stood for the American President to show them from the get-go.
That is *exactly* for China’s consumption. The west certainly doesnt have territorial ambitions towards the Russines. The ChiComs, however, could reasonably say they need ‘Lebensraum’.
It’s been a mistake from the beginning to expand NATO into the former Soviet bloc countries. Do we really nee another region that benfits from our military protection so we have to spend money on their defense and they don’t? It’s a needless provocation to do this with few benefits for the US other being able to say we are the great protectors of the world. Avoiding nation building and not being the police force of the world is why I voted for Bush but once again we were lied to.
You’re kidding, right ? The 1.6B Chinese just south of Siberia which is, by the way, mostly empty and also happens to contain an absolute treasure chest in terms of natural resources ?
Only thing that *is* stopping the Chinese from invading is the fact that there wouldn’t be all that many Chinese left afterwards to move to Siberia.
Tho, of course, what would one do 3 weeks later, is quite an interesting question.
Yep....Putin is like a Chavez with a brain.
Putin hasn't help cure that tendency in the Russians.
Makes one pine for a good 'ol drunk like Yeltsin.
Hey, no problemo man. We're gonna send Barrak to negotiate with Putin. He'll straighten Putin right up!
Russia better worry more about the Hordes at Moscows front gate, baring the Dragon Symbol.
The old saying ‘a wounded bear is a dangerous animal’ might apply in this case, except for the bear in question has a negative birth rate, their military is underpaid, over-inebriated, and the whole damn country would be perfectly happy to return to the days of Uncle Joe. They hang Stalin’s picture in their homes the same way that many Americans hang pictures of Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, and John F. Kennedy in their homes.
Shrines to a perceived ideal that never existed and never will.
The Russian people got a taste of democracy, yet slowly but surely they are trading what limited freedoms they have for security and a strong man to lead them.
“Russia’s military chief of staff says Moscow would use nuclear weapons in pre-emptive strike if it felt threatened. “
OK — so then they won’t object if Israel or the US has to bomb Iran as a pre-emptive action.
Very little has changed.
And within its gate, bearing the crescent moon symbol.
bookmark
Substitue "the US" for "Russia" and it's the same as our current position.
Yes and that too.
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