Free Republic

MOSCOW - "It is possible to damage Iran's military and industrial potential, but it is impossible to win," Russian news agencies quoted General Yuri Baluyevsky, head of the Russian general staff, as saying. "The United States has a contingent in the region capable of launching a strike on Iranian territory. "However, such possible strikes would be a huge political mistake. Shockwaves from this attack could be felt around the world...

Putin's nuclear show blows up in his face By Julius Strauss in Moscow (Filed: 18/02/2004) Russia's biggest military exercise since the collapse of communism flopped yesterday, ruining an attempt to project Vladimir Putin as a global leader and reaffirm the country's status as a nuclear superpower. With Mr Putin and a host of military officials watching from the nuclear submarine Arkhangelsk, two intercontinental ballistic missiles went wrong during a firing from a submarine believed to be the Novomoskovsk. They were aimed at Kamchatka on the Pacific coast. A malfunctioning satellite was blamed. Putin promised that Russia will again be a...