Free Republic

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union embarked on the most massive military buildups in history. Part of President Reagan's strategy for winning was to entice the Soviets into a competition it could never even hope to win. A communist economy by its very nature is ill-equipped to compete with a free-market, capitalist system whether it's foreign trade or weapons technology. And so, slowly the Soviet economy became a basket case due to the communists desire to exceed America in an enormously expensive arms race. After the Cold War, with the Soviet threat gone and with...

Even if one rejects Golitsyn's overall thesis -- viz., that Gorbachev's changes comprised a long-term strategic deception -- one must still acknowledge that Golitsyn was the only analyst whose crystal ball was functioning during the key period of the late 20th century. When the Soviet Empire collapsed in 1989, the CIA was chastised for failing to foresee the change. "For a generation, the Central Intelligence Agency told successive presidents everything they needed to know about the Soviet Union," said Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "except that it was about to fall apart." Sovietologists both inside and outside CIA were indeed baffled,...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that Russia had helped his country break a U.S.-imposed "blockade" by agreeing to sell Caracas fighter planes and helicopters worth billions of dollars. Neither Chavez nor Russian leader Vladimir Putin gave details about any new deals signed Thursday, but Russia's defense minister said last week that Moscow had agreed to sell the oil-rich South American nation about 30 Su-30 fighter jets and some 30 military helicopters. Putin said Thursday that Moscow and Caracas would prove "reliable partners" and - in comments clearly aimed at Washington - said their cooperation should not be viewed as...

15 Years After Being Deposed From Power, Former Leader Discusses Russia, U.S. Mikhail Gorbachev is generally regarded as the man who broke down the "iron curtain" that separated the communist world from the West and thawed the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Now, 15 years after a coup removed him from power and the Soviet Union dissolved, he has some stern words for the United States, whose relationship with Russia has soured lately. "We have made some mistakes," he said, referring to recent attacks on Russia's democracy. "So what? Please don't put even more obstacles...

Russia is holding talks with Venezuela to license the manufacture of Kalashnikov rifles there, Russia's state arms exporter has confirmed. On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Russia planned to build two munitions plants in the country. Moscow has already signed a deal to supply Venezuela with 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. The move is likely to worry the US, which regards Mr Chavez as a destabilising influence in the region. In May, the US State Department banned arms sales to Venezuela because of concern over its contacts with Iran and Cuba and what it called Venezuela's lack of support for...

The decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to refer Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council has thrown into sharp focus relations between Iran and Russia. Moscow may soon have to choose whether to back Iran or align itself with the US and the European Union (EU) in reining in Iran's nuclear intentions. Russia appears ready to co-operate with both the USA and Iran in order to boost its trade relations with the two countries. Although Russia is also a leading oil exporter and therefore unlikely to be intimidated by Iranian threats to reduce oil sales, the...

In June 2001, a fresh-faced George W. Bush, newly minted President of the United States, met his counterpart, Russian President Vladimir Putin, looked deep into his eyes, and later declared, "I was able to get a sense of his soul." The American liked what he saw. Co-operation between Russia and the West had floundered during the nine years that the erratic Boris Yeltsin governed the country. But Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, was someone with whom, strangely, the Bush administration could do business. Russian-American ties only got closer following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Putin pledged Russia's...

Vladimir Putin has pledged to build up Russia's military to rival "fortress" America, and insisted the Cold War arms race is far from over. In an unexpectedly belligerent state of the nation address on Russian TV, the Russian president accused the US of putting its own interests before its democratic ideals, and compared the country to a voracious wolf. "We are aware what is going on in the world," he said. "Comrade wolf knows whom to eat, he eats without listening, and he's clearly not going to listen to anyone." He added: "It is premature to speak of the end...

BEHIND the high walls of the Kremlin this weekend the stage was being set for what is likely to be the edgiest summit of the Group of Eight nations in years. As the summit “sherpas”, the top officials who lay the groundwork for these gatherings, flew into Moscow, tensions between the Russian hosts and the remaining G8 members, the Group of Seven big Western economies, were running high. The unease among the G7 powers over their decision to hand President Putin of Russia the honour of presiding over the impending summit in St Petersburg in July surfaced in dramatic fashion...

MOSCOW - Islamic bandits. Sandstorms. A Red Army officer fighting venal bureaucrats to bring Communism to the wilds of Central Asia, liberate Muslim women from their veils, and spread the light of Soviet power. It's "White Sun of the Desert," and just about every Russian has seen this 1960s film. Even now when it comes on TV, people drop everything to watch it. This feel-good homegrown Russian flick is a nostalgic return to a time when Russian society radiated a collective purpose and national determination, one that has been beaten down since the collapse of the Soviet Union some 15...