“I declare that the likelihood of a military threat is great as never before now,” Sivkov told Interfax on Saturday.”
This is meant for internal consumption. Putin has become increasingly aggressive and he needs to rally the masses to the threat the Motherland is facing. He is building a threat (real or imaginary) to justify the types of measures he plans on taking. He has to convince the masses it is us against the West and that Russia’s very existence hangs in the balance.
Agreed with you bereanway, but given that Russians have tasted our Capitalism, and have had access to the media of the west that would tell them there isn’t aggressive western rhetoric against them, how inclined are the Russian people to believe him? Thats not rhetorical, I really wonder. Maybe we will be lucky enough to avoid that new arms race because the Russians figure him out.