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Resurgent Russia
By John
MOSCOW -- Russia's defense minister yesterday laid out an ambitious plan for building new intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines and possibly aircraft carriers, and set the goal of exceeding the Soviet army in combat readiness...........
Russia's defense budget, which stood at $8.1 billion in 2001, nearly quadrupled to $31 billion this year, Mr. Ivanov said. While this year's military spending is Russia's largest since the Soviet collapse, it is still about 20 times less than the U.S. defense budget. Mr. Ivanov said the military now has enough money to intensify combat training. "Combat readiness of the army and the navy is currently the highest in the post-Soviet history," he said, adding the task now is to "exceed Soviet-era levels." Mr. Ivanov said the military now has about 1.13 million servicemen, compared with 1.34 million in 2001.
As always, it's all about oil. Russia's got it, and that means they've got the money to start buying the toys they want. And their defense tech sector still remains strong, particularly in the field of surface-to-air missiles and combat aircraft.
The lines on the ICBM force is pure politics. While Russia's post-Soviet strategic capabilities have been questionable, it is still widely believed that they are capable enough to launch a devastating nuclear strike on the US mainland. Upgrading their ballistic missile force is more of a political message to the world, and Russian citizens, that our missile defense shield doesn't have much of a chance of knocking down their birds. Which is fine, since that was never the missile defense shield's purpose anyway.....
On another note, I had a thought as I was reading through the Times column. Would the reemergence of a bipolar world be such a bad thing? It's nice to be on top and all, but sheesh....all this sole superpower with a myriad of smaller actors squabbling at us and each other crap is getting old. Bring back mutually assured destruction and proxy wars!
ps - yes, I was being facetious. I think.....
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Dude - you crack me up!!! :)
So, how many vote to bring "The Red Menace" back?
"Manhattan Project"
Imagine a time when it all began
In the dying days of a war
A weapon that would settle the score
Whoever found it first
Would be sure to do their worst
They always had before...
Imagine a man where it all began
A scientist pacing the floor
In each nation, always eager to explore
To build the best big stick
To turn the winning trick
But this was something more...
[Chorus:]
The big bang took and shook the world
Shut down the Rising Sun
The end was begun and it hit everyone
When the chain reaction was done
The big shots try to hold it back
Fools try to wish it away
The hopeful depend on a world without end
Whatever the hopeless may say
Imagine a place where it all began
Gathered from across the land
To work in the secrecy of the desert sand
All of the brightest boys
To play with the biggest toys
More than they bargained for...
[Chorus]
Imagine a man when it all began
The pilot of 'Enola Gay'
Flying out of the shockwave on that August day
All the powers that be
And the course of history
Would be changed forevermore...
- Neil Peart - Lyricist, Author, Percussionist
(From the RUSH album "Power Windows")
heh, I long for simpler times Fix...that's all :)
Thanks for pointing out the article. We should defiantly watch Putin as he consolidates power in the executive and attempts to rebuild the military might that the Soviet Union once had. The Russian people overall tend to prefer stability over freedom, something I think Americans have a hard time understanding, and that is how Putin has been allowed to do what he's done. The interesting thing about Russia is they do not have the manpower to back up their nuclear capabilities the way China might. They have an AIDS crisis, environmental problems that would make a Sierra Clubber slit their wrists, and rampant alcoholism in men that keeps life expectancy in the low fifties. That means limited able-bodied men and does not bode well for a Russian army that cannot pay or even feed their soldiers. The issue will be if Russia is threated, they will be more likely to use their nuclear capability than those countries that have a more viable conventional option.
Thanks for pointing out the article. We should defiantly watch Putin as he consolidates power in the executive and attempts to rebuild the military might that the Soviet Union once had. The Russian people overall tend to prefer stability over freedom, something I think Americans have a hard time understanding, and that is how Putin has been allowed to do what he's done. The interesting thing about Russia is they do not have the manpower to back up their nuclear capabilities the way China might. They have an AIDS crisis, environmental problems that would make a Sierra Clubber slit their wrists, and rampant alcoholism in men that keeps life expectancy in the low fifties. That means limited able-bodied men and does not bode well for a Russian army that cannot pay or even feed their soldiers. The issue will be if Russia is threated, they will be more likely to use their nuclear capability than those countries that have a more viable conventional option.
And I posted twice.... Its the blond in me, sorry.
The Great Game. Read Kipling's, "Truce of the Bear."
It has always amazed me how everyone (submariners excluded) considered the Soviet Union (oops! I meant Russia) our friend after the Cold War ended and peace broke out in the early 90s. They are not to be trusted with anything, especially nuclear submarines and SLBMs. Look how many reactor accidents they had. There will be more.
I am glad we only have 52 SSNs left and are building at a rate which will put us at around 40 by 2020. That should be enough to fight China and the Russkies...
ZERO TOLERANCE... We need to run America like a business, we are all business owners!!!
Run it like it's your paycheck...
"trust" trust you, anyone with my check, yeah right....
pull the trigger and move on...
WINNERS PARTNER WITH WINNERS!!!
Thats actually not over the destin coastline at all. That's the north shore sexy lingeriewholesale lingerie of choctawhatchee bay. You can tell by the sparsely populated coastline and the fact that they didnt land on top of an Escalade or H3
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I miss the bi-polar world. But the USSR couldn't compete against us in the 1980s. Doe Russian really think it can compete against us after 20 years of economic decline and falling life expectancies? Rising oil prices can only buy so many Potemkin villages. Russia has become as ridiculous as its faithful ally France.