Posted on 02/20/2002 10:03:33 AM PST by knak
Tehran - The Russian Duma plans to issue a resolution in support of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. The Russian news agency Interfax reported that Russian Duma MPs believe that the U.S. can not settle its problems with Iran, Iraq and North Korea through slogans.
The draft of the resolution entitled "World Security Threats and International Actions Against Terrorism" condemns baseless accusations against other countries that obstruct the development of international cooperation.
According to another report, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov said in Moscow on Tuesday that most countries, including U.S. allies, have not welcomed the recent U.S. actions.
In a meeting with the Iranian Ambassador to Moscow, Gholamreza Shafei, he said that since U.S. President George W. Bush has been criticized by some of his colleagues for his threatening statements against certain countries, Washington is trying to change its policies toward the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Referring to the negative remarks of some U.S. officials, Mamedov said that such hyperbole is characteristic of U.S. officials with regard to international issues.
On Russia's opposition to the theory of a "unipolar world", he reiterated that Moscow follows an independent foreign policy and will not tolerate being pressured by any country.
On the expansion of Tehran-Moscow relations, particularly in recent years, the Russian official said that since the two countries' bilateral cooperation is based on international norms and regulations, Moscow's friendly cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue despite the pressures exerted by some foreign countries.
Russia may have the ability to annihilate us but they are not stupid enough or crazy enough to try else they would have done it sometime in the past 50 years. Saddam Hussein is crazy enough
You assume too much about the Russian leaders. We were in a Cold War, our military huge and our resolve against them firm. Today we are not in a Cold War, we have no civil defense to speak of (where's your community bomb shelter? Do you even have a home unit?), our armed forces are stretched about as thin as they can possibly be stretched (Mr. Clinton is the person to talk to about that one, btw), hell, we have NATO AWACS patrolling our skies because ours are being used elsewhere.
Further, there is little to no unity in the United States any longer, other than the jingoistic flag waving that came after 9/11. Even now, the old bickering is returning (not that I mind that, btw). There are growing home grown resistance forces to the FedGov that have not been present since the Civil War or the Revolutionary War. Our economy is slumping, and even in a slow recovery could be easily shaken down to a depression with one or two more well place "terrorist" actions.
Add to that the fact we still haven't deported Jesse Jackson... :)
But seriously, if one were a strategist for a military power capable of surviving a war with the U.S., now is not a bad time to consider taking out the U.S.
Not that they are going to, but I think you don't consider the Russians in the light of their historical unpredictableness.
Not impossible, just very impracticle.
Lumberjack, you've got to get out of the woods once in awhile. The Duma is not the government; it is their parliament and it is dominated by communists. Putin is the govenment. He is a religious man, not a communist. He is also smart. Putin is not going to jeopardize his relationship with the USA by doing anything (other than noise) about our probable preemptive strikes against Iraq.
As you said, we can count on Russia to act in her best interest. Please explain how, in any concievable scenario it might possibly be in Russias best interest to attack the United States? You think we are weak militarily? Russia is a basket case compared to us.They would profit quite well from a divided United States I would think, as would the Chinese. Without the big boy on the block, there's nobody to check their actions against other nations. Yes, I think we are weak militarily as things stand as of this writing. If you think that the Russians are as bad off as you indicate, I fear you've been misled. We'll see when the time comes I suppose.
Oh BTW, acting in ones best interest is normal, we do it, the Russians do it, every country does it to the extent that they have leadership whos best interest coincides with that of the citizenry.
I believe that I should rephrase my assertion. They pursue what they consider their national interest without regard to consequences, and always have. They almost completely and utterly lost WWII because of this narcissistic policy. They almost lost to Japan for goodness sake at the turn of the last century because of their lack of understanding that a world exists outside their own little plans. That's what I meant, sorry for the confusion. On rereading my statement, I can see where it didn't communicate what I meant for it to communicate.
Lumberjack, you've got to get out of the woods once in awhile. The Duma is not the government; it is their parliament and it is dominated by communists. Putin is the govenment. He is a religious man, not a communist. He is also smart. Putin is not going to jeopardize his relationship with the USA by doing anything (other than noise) about our probable preemptive strikes against Iraq.
Last I checked, Putin is ex-KGB and is quite sympathetic to the communists in his government.
Putin's relationship with the U.S. is only to get us to disarm at a faster rate than they are. There is no two ways about this, and when he feels that he can cut out of the relationship, he will without a second thought. He is not the nice guy most people assume he is. Ask any Russian.
So is mine, unf. What you said is correct; but it is also the question of distance from the sensor. I suspect that 1-2in Lead container would be sufficient to prevent detection from any distance more than a mile (probably much less). This is already good enough for a Hiroshima-type nuke.
Why do you think so? During the Cold War something like this happening would have been interpreted as a hostile act by Russia immediately; this is why Russians did not do it. Now you have to choose between Russia (least likely), China, Pakistan, or Russian mafia/AlQueda/unknows (if they actually may have any). Add Iran or Iraq, and you simply will never know who did this, if such an attack happens. Which makes it much more probable.
PS Who do you think is the prime mover behind the Russian Mafiya?
Russia will NOT bomb the US if we decide to invade Iraq, but they will want to make absolutely sure that they are protected financially. That's a reasonable stance. As to Iran, I seriously doubt that Russia will take Iran's side in this since Iran is financing the very terrorists who are causing so much death and destruction in Chechnya.
The main idea behind all of this is to get everyone to stop selling arms to those who will use them against the civilized world.
BTW, Iraq could have a missile that would reach the USA tomorrow if someone would sell it to them. Remember that.
Unpaid troops, record desertions, ships and submarines without crews or maintainence rusting in harbors, satellite control stations burning down, and no money to replace them. Weapons, even atomic bombs being sold on the black market.
The only reason Russia supports Iran and Iraq in the first place is because they buy millons of dollars worth of munitions from Russia every year. If the US wants Russia on our side all we would have to do is tell the Russian arms manufacturers we will buy a Billon dollars a year from you if you quit selling to the Iraqis and Iranians.
I agree with you that we should not trust Russia, but you see Russia as a threat still... I don't. I don't think I can convince you, we will just have to agree to disagree.
There is really no such thing as Russian Mafiya.
There are many groupings with various agendas (besides making money in illegal or semi-legal ways). Some are controlled by former Soviet-time criminals. Some are control by ex-KGB or ex-police. Some are controlled by minorities (Chechen mafiya). There are likely some agreements on dividing the areas of operations, but no centralized command. Sometimes they fight each other (much less now), sometimes they cooperate.
So it is in a way like the traditional mafia families; except it is much, much bigger in all ways: they do control a big chunk of the economy (most of non-Mafiya companies pay protection money), they serve different political and economic interests (Berezovsky/Chechens), and they are active in many countries (FARC connections).
But nobody is behind it; just the general deterioration of the society together with a still weak government created opportunities.
Actually its pretty important when your GNP is smaller than the Netherlands.
Except that Russia wants a bit more payoff than those $7bil. Possibly a guaranteed share for LUKOIL in post-Saddam Iraq plus non-interferance in Chechnya. But this is an issue of negotiating the price, not of nuclear threats.
But Russia remains the only formidable STRATEGIC threat on the map.
There is way more than meets the eye at play here. I don't have the time to chisel away at 50 years of disinformation and bad strategic policy. I promise a thread on that subject, when job and family permit.
Wallace212
Count The Cost
Hmm, I thought it was China.
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