Thread: Russia: Showing Off or Deeply Dangerous?

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Russia’s decision to resume Cold War-style strategic bomber patrols confirms it has revived the political will and economic means to challenge US global dominance and NATO expansion with more than just rhetoric, military analysts say.But while the move, announced by President Vladimir Putin on Friday, will play well with domestic audiences and may also win the odd plaudit on the international stage, it is fraught with real security risks and ultimately subverts Russia’s own long-term national interests, they say...
Putin did not explicitly state that the bombers would be armed with nuclear weapons, but experts said his deliberate syntax would be recognised by strategic policy planners as code signifying that this would be the case...

So Russia could be flying around with nuclear weapons in an act of defiance. Nice. Hopefully the Russians realize this is just going to irritate the hell out of everyone, not just the US.

Originally Posted by Burning Giraffe

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So Russia could be flying around with nuclear weapons in an act of defiance. Nice. Hopefully the Russians realize this is just going to irritate the hell out of everyone, not just the US.

Agreed. It it reminiscent of the aggression for which the United States is criticized, and for which many nations harbor negative feelings.

The russians want to be a world power again, but so what?, we're years ahead of them. Let them play their little games.

All through history the Russians have been the US' favorite enemy. To some extent I think it's in their make-up to compete with the US because for many epochs they were the only worthy adversaries against the US.

Besides it's usually when people or entities are competing with one another that their full potential comes out. So just think of this as a step towards country building

jimmy jong ill, putin, bush, iran, etc . . . . .they are all acting like angry mislead little children, flexing their new found tiny muscles from some inward phallic insecurity.

Originally Posted by Kanabi

All through history the Russians have been the US' favorite enemy. To some extent I think it's in their make-up to compete with the US because for many epochs they were the only worthy adversaries against the US.

Besides it's usually when people or entities are competing with one another that their full potential comes out. So just think of this as a step towards country building

lol, I feel the same way. But I think Russia has been boxed in by Europe and the US and this is their response. "You want to isolate us? Fine!" they might whine privately. In the end, Russia needs friends. Who they become friends with matters a great deal to me and I would rather they be friends with the US and Europe, than with China and Iran. We have the option of pushing them in one direction or the other.

Originally Posted by Burning Giraffe

lol, I feel the same way. But I think Russia has been boxed in by Europe and the US and this is their response. "You want to isolate us? Fine!" they might whine privately. In the end, Russia needs friends. Who they become friends with matters a great deal to me and I would rather they be friends with the US and Europe, than with China and Iran. We have the option of pushing them in one direction or the other.

You have a point there. All governments need allies to support them publicly. I'd prefer it being the US or EU too, because for some reason China is showing far to much interest in Africa, and IMO If Russia was to side with China things could get very messy.

At the moment China is trying to re-establish their authority over Africa by supplying Mugabe with all kinds of equipment, not to mention that South Africa was one of the only countries they were willing to negotiate a decent textile deal with. In many ways it was most likely just a ploy to force our gullible SA leaders to side more openly with China.

What scares me though is Africa's growing relationship with China. Especially South Africa and Zimbabwe. We've been receiving a lot of military and intelligence equipment from them. Not to mention that in the past year the leaders of China, Russia and Japan made quite a few visits to Johannesburg and Harare, and not once was there a reason given to the people as to what they were doing there.

It's like they sneak in and sneak out all in the same night. So who knows what they might already be planning

Russia is one of those countries that we study as a democracy when the reality is quite different. I don't know what to expect.

Russia is moving back towards autocracy. Putin has been making journalists and dissidents disapear. I feel sorry for the Russian people, hell, they gotta deal with Chechen terrorists at their backdoor as if they don't have enough problems with massive inflation, organised crime, and corruption.

We have had some Russian refugges already, I fear that more of them will be comming...