Showing posts with label cold war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cold war. Show all posts
Friday, May 18, 2007
A U.S. plan to build a missile defense shield in eastern Europe is part of a scheme to encircle Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week they had failed to bridge their long-standing differences over U.S. plans to put 10 missile interceptors in Poland and radar in the Czech Republic as part of a system to shield Europe from missile attack.
"These Czech and Polish locations perfectly fit into the overall global design of the American missile defense which is surrounding the perimeters of the Russian borders," Lavrov told the BBC World television channel, speaking in English.
To be honest, if I were Russian, it would look that way to me. We are planning on setting up the system in Poland and the Czech Republic to the west of Russia, and the other components will be based in California and crucially in Alaska, just to the east of Siberia.
I am no fan of Putin's Russia. But, their security concerns are legitimate. Every "defensive" weapon can be used offensively. People attacked in the middle ages wearing shields you know. The concept is the same. Paranoid or not, the Russians believe the missile defense is an attempt to do a first strike against them, while repelling Russian counter attack missiles nullifying the mutually assured destruction doctrine.
The thing doesn't apparently work yet after all the billions we spent. But if we did get it to work, it just wouldn't work to "defend" the US, but also be used to attack our adversaries without them being able to inflict reciprocal damage.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Rice told reporters on her flight to Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin that Washington's relationship with Russia did not look anything like the one that existed with the Soviet Union.
"I know people talk about, throw around terms like new Cold War. As somebody who came out of that period as a specialist in it I think the parallels ... frankly, they have no basis whatsoever," she added.
Rice said she would try to ease Moscow's concerns about U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Europe and about a plan to grant effective independence to the Serbian province of Kosovo, which has been under U.N. administration for nearly eight years.
Condi Rice appealing to her expertise and authority has me worried. I expect Putin to start up a new missile program any day now.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Today's word is the Cold War. Apparently, there were a bunch of imcompetents on all sides who didn't know how to end the booger until a hero came along to end it alone by himself.
The Cold War was a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. There was no direct fighting between the superpowers, but only an nuclear arms race. They each built many nuclear bombs and used them to terrify the other side. The United States had non-communitst allies and the Soviet Union had communist allies. These allies fought each other diectly. The United States would supply its allies and the Soviet Union would supply theirs. President Ronald Reagan finally ended the Cold War in 1989 because he caused the Soviet Union to fall.
Now some would say that the cold war policies that were instituted by a bi-partisan group of Presidents including Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan, as well as a hawkish anti communist democratic congress played a big part. In addition, some would say that the inherent corruption, ineffeciencies of the Soviet State, in addition to their over reach financially in supporting eastern block states, waging a war in Afghanistan, and propping up the Cuban economy played it's part as well. Others might mention the influence of Pope John Paul II and his compatriot Lech Walensa of the Solidarity movement.
You would be a commie wiccan if you believed that crap. Reagan personally ended it all by himself. When he asked Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, all of a sudden a light bulb went over the head of the collective world, where bygones could be bygones, just through the force of Reagan's super powers. We should name an airport after him.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
In light of Russia's cooling relations with the United States and NATO, the Russian military leadership has begun to cultivate stronger defense ties with Asia. The head of Russia's General Staff, General Yury Baluyevsky will visit China from March 3 to 5, in preparation for a visit by the new defense minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, a month later. Both will discuss issues of military and political cooperation, including plans for a large-scale training exercise, Global Mission 2007, to be held in Chelyabinsk Region in June. Both President Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, will attend the exercise.
So plutocratic Russia and China are back together naturally. It's ironic. Even during the cold war, there were tensions between the two communist giants. Now the wall has fallen, yet the fear of George Bush has done something that a pithy quote from Karl Marx never could; make them best friends.
Let's review shall we. Osama is still free. The anthrax mailer is still free. The axis of evil thing seems like a big mistake. Europe doesn't trust us. Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega are running things in Latin America. Now Russia and China are doing joint military excercises in Russia! Good thing the grown-ups are in charge. Condi, what do you suggest we do now? You know the Russians. Any thoughts?
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Czech Republic said on Tuesday it would not be intimidated by Russia over plans to site parts of a U.S. missile defense system on its territory and said attempts at "blackmail" by Moscow would backfire.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said threats by Russian officials over the plans, which would involve placing a radar system on Czech land and a missile battery in Poland, would only make Czechs more determined to defend themselves.
Russia's strategic forces commander, General Nikolai Solovtsov, said on Monday that Russia would be capable of firing missiles at the Czech Republic and Poland if the ex-communist states agreed to host the U.S. defense system.
Oh, what to say. This missile defense system is a hare brained wet dream of the idiots left from the Reagan Administration, that doesn't even work properly unless the tests are rigged.
So, not only do we have a stupid program that is not close to working, but we are provoking the Russians by placing parts in former East Block countries. One of the many reasons for Soviet expansion into these states was a blowback from fears of another power like Germany marching east to Russia, and they kind of wanted a buffer zone, in addition to local hegemony, and the typical lust for power.
How in the hell are the Russians to respond to this? It is extremely provocative on our (Crazy McBush's) part, and Russia will feel forced to respond by doing something aggressive to prove that they aren't wallflowers.
It is shocking that Bush's long deep glance into Vladimir's soul didn't help him understand that acting like a cowboy jackass might actually offend the Russian government into doing something other than taking bribes from the mob and killing journalists who notice Putin had a bad hair day.
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