Posted on 02/09/2007 10:51:50 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said Russia now faces even greater military threats than during the Cold War and that the nation needs a new military doctrine to respond to these challenges, according to a speech posted on the Defense Ministry's Web site Friday.
"Russia's cooperation with the West on the basis of forming common or close strategic interests hasn't helped its military security," Baluyevsky said in the speech...
Baluyevsky referred to what he called "the U.S. military leadership's course aimed at maintaining its global leadership and expanding its economic, political and military presence in Russia's traditional zones of influence" as a top threat for Russia's national security.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reacted angrily to U.S. plans to deploy missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, saying Moscow doesn't trust U.S. claims they were aimed to counter missile threats from Iran and will take relevant countermeasures. Both countries are former Soviet satellites that became NATO members. ...
Amid growing distrust of U.S. intentions, Russia's lawmakers and commentators reacted nervously to comments by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates naming Russia as a potential threat.
"We don't know what's going to develop in places like Russia and China, in North Korea, in Iran and elsewhere," Gates told a House of Representatives committee meeting earlier this week, according to a Pentagon transcript.
The daily newspaper Gazeta on Friday said that Gates' statement could "go down to history books as a starting point for a new twist of the Cold War."
Viktor Ozerov, the head of the defense committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, said Gates' comments signaled "U.S. attempts to draw our nation into a new arms race," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. "We will have to find an asymmetrical response."
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
...or maybe not. You forgot that part. :-)
Ah, the Russian bear, nothing has changed - feels almost too good to be true.
Hey Putin, if you and your good buddies in Tehran and Damascus want to question our resolve, I think you should watch this video clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDecLiA_Qbw
Where's cAP'N Obvious?
Or maybe he dusts off the uniform and rents a grinder and a monkey. /sarc
The United States has total power and Russia has nothing to worry about. What is it with these Russians? Must be a cultural paranoia.
They can't afford a toilet to c**p in.
How are they going to do anything but bluster?
Guess this means we made Russia's list as well. :)
Reciprocity...
Not sure what it means, except the fighting is becoming more open now.
"True. Some of the policies were rather shortsighted. I do not believe for a minute that the Russians or the Chinese will make good allies or come to the Western view of the world (in the East, they calculate - and the Chinese are more patient than the Russians, and therefore, more dangerous). The thing to remember is that they will only pursue their own interests. The argument for ignoring them is that sooner or later, those interests will be opposite to ours and any sort of alliance that may be in place will disintegrate. On the other hand, the same tactics may result in obstructionist politics from that corner of the world, and that would not be a welcome development."
Good points.
"and build a new generation of ICBMs, fully implement our missile defense systems, produce another thousand F-22s, field another 100 or so mechanized divisions, and get back up to a thousand-ship Navy with a preponderance on attack boats, amphibious assault support, and heavy sealift capability.
That, and patience."
National defense is always a necessity so goes without saying. By being patient, I am referring to our foreign policy of funding democracies that begin encroaching on Russia and China's national borders. In the past, this was par for the course and both sides did this aggressively. My point is that we no longer have to fund such efforts, the Internet is doing that job for us.
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