Putin: NATO flexing muscles at border

[Mike Baker]

And on another note: Russia successfully tests new ICBM

The RS-24 missile was launched from the Plesetsk launch facility in northern Russia and its test warheads successfully hit designated targets on the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula some 4,340 miles east, Strategic Missile Forces spokesman Alexander Vovk told The Associated Press.

Vovk said that the missile carried multiple test warheads, but refused to say how many. The Interfax news agency said the RS-24 is capable of carrying at least three warheads.

 

[NL_engineer]

Russia has threatened to target two proposed American bases in Europe with its nuclear missiles if the Pentagon pressed ahead with its plans for a missile defence shield.

In an escalation of the Cold War-style threats favoured by President Vladimir Putin, the general in charge of Russia's ballistic arsenal said that he could target the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic that will host the missile-interceptor shield if America insists on building them.

And what does that lead to....  : the Cold war all over again.

lets threaten a Texan with weapons  : that is always a smart choice  :; especially when this one wants to invade Iran and North Korea

just my 2 cents

 

[Mike Baker]

Heh, I like this one:

the general in charge of Russia's ballistic arsenal said that he could target the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic that will host the missile-interceptor shield if America insists on building them.

So what he is saying is that if the Americans build this missile shield, they'll destroy it with their own nuclear missiles.

 

[geo]

All the russians have to do is cut off the Polish & Czeck oil deliveries and they'll take apart the missile shield on their own.

 

[Mike Baker]

All the russians have to do is cut off the Polish & Czeck oil deliveries and they'll take apart the missile shield on their own.

Never thought about it that way, Geo. But then again, the U.S. would probably find a way to get them fuel, and if not, bye bye missile defence in Europe, or at least in Poland and the Czech Republic.

 

[geo]

Realpolitik.

The US can weigh in all they want.  As a net importer of oil the US is in no position to provide supplies to a country blocaded on their insistance.  If Russia wants to be a party pooper, the US will be hard pressed to respond in a timely manner.... IMHO

 

[midget-boyd91]

Well, Mr.Putin says we're now in a "New Arms Race"
Picked up at bbc.co.uk news
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7234817.stm

Putin vows 'arms race' response
Russia's President Vladimir
Putin says the world is engaged
in a new arms race and Nato is
failing to accommodate Russia's
concerns.

In a state council address, Mr Putin condemned Nato's expansion and the US plan to include Poland and the Czech Republic in a missile defence shield.

"It is already clear that a new phase in the arms race is unfolding in the world," Mr Putin said.

He said other countries were spending far more than Russia on new weapons.

But Russia would always respond to the challenges of a new arms race by developing more hi-tech weaponry, he said.

Military muscle

Referring to Nato's activities in Central and Eastern Europe, Mr Putin said "there are many discussions on these, but... we have still not seen any real steps towards finding a compromise".

"In effect, we are forced to retaliate, to take corresponding decisions. Russia has, and always will have, responses to these new challenges," he said.

In December, Russia said it was planning naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

It has also resumed long-range patrols by its bomber aircraft.

The practice was suspended after the collapse of the Soviet Union and was revived last August, as part of a more assertive foreign policy pursued by President Putin.

Higher oil prices have enabled Russia to reinvest in its armed forces, but its military capabilities remain far below what they were during the Soviet era, correspondents say.

Midget

 

[geo]

Gotta remember, it's an election year in Russia as well

Rattling sabres in Russia is good for those comrades who still dream of days gone by when mention of the Soviet hordes was enough to make the world's capitalists quake in their boots & $h!t in their pants....

 

[midget-boyd91]

Thinking out loud...
What bothers me is what will happen if/when the Russian military is revitalized. The comrades you metioned who dream of the glory days could very likely demend that they use their newly rediscovered powers. I doubt very much they are stupid enough to try starting things with NATO... but Georgia isn't on their buddy list. Or what about Chechnya? Would the new strength of the Russian military be used to finally gain control of Chechnya? Like I said, that's mostly me thinking aloud.

Midget

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

I think that the Russians already reasserted themselves in Chechnya back in 1999/2000. We shall see the fate of the former Soviet republics that have existed as an inverse function of Moscow's power. 

 

[geo]

Putin and his comrades have seen what flexing their economic power can provide....
For the most part, they don't need the military to face off against the West - all they need to do is turn off the taps & western europe will freeze in the dark

 

[NL_engineer]

Putin and his comrades have seen what flexing their economic power can provide....
For the most part, they don't need the military to face off against the West - all they need to do is turn off the taps & western europe will freeze in the dark

Think of what that could lead to.  Western Europe starts shopping in the Middle East, or that big three letter W word.