Below is from today's AP article. Putin is right.
"It wasn't us who initiated a new round of arms race," Putin said when asked about Russia's missile tests this week at a news conference in Moscow.
He assailed the United States and other NATO members for failing to ratify an amended version of the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits the deployment of heavy non-nuclear weapons around the continent.
"We have signed and ratified the CFE and are fully implementing it. We have pulled out all our heavy weapons from the European part of Russia to (locations) behind the Ural Mountains and cut our military by 300,000 men," Putin said.
"And what about our partners? They are filling eastern Europe with new weapons. A new base in Bulgaria, another one in Romania, a (missile defense) site in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic," he said. "What we are supposed to do? We can't just sit back and look at that."
He reaffirmed his warning that Russia would opt out of the CFE treaty altogether if NATO nations fail to ratify its amended version.
"Either you ratify the treaty and start observing it, or we will opt out of it," Putin said.
In remarks directed at Washington, Putin blasted those "who want to dictate their will to all others regardless of international norms and law."
"It's dangerous and harmful," he added. "Norms of the international law were replaced with political expediency. We view it as diktat and imperialism."
Originally posted by infomastExciting! This may just make the Olympics fun to watch again.
Below is from today's AP article. Putin is right.
"It wasn't us who initiated a new round of arms race," Putin said when asked about Russia's missile tests this week at a news conference in Moscow.
He assailed the United States and other NATO members for failing to ratify an amended version of the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limit ...[text shortened]... replaced with political expediency. We view it as diktat and imperialism."
Originally posted by infomastGood luck with your arms race Vlad! Hope you go broke this time too! Don't forget that this time around you have to worry about those pesky Chinese too! You're surrounded! Keep a close eye on them. They know you have what was once theirs and they want it back. Its part of there desire to reclaim land lost during imperialistuc wars.
Below is from today's AP article. Putin is right.
"It wasn't us who initiated a new round of arms race," Putin said when asked about Russia's missile tests this week at a news conference in Moscow.
He assailed the United States and other NATO members for failing to ratify an amended version of the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limit ...[text shortened]... replaced with political expediency. We view it as diktat and imperialism."
Plus, if we stopped building new weapons systems today, it would take you 10-20 years to catch up.
My advice, don't worry so much about nuclear missiles that nobody can use. Start with trying to build a proper carrier. I bet you could field something compareable to a last generation (Nimitz class) carrier sometime in the next 20-30 years if you really, really try.
Also, keep in mind that the current replacement cost on one of those is about 35 billion. That's a lot of rubles Ivan. You might want to think about how you're going to pay for that if energy prices come back down sometime in the next decade.
Originally posted by MerkI think it's the Yanks who have to watch out if the Chinese and Russians align.
Good luck with your arms race Vlad! Hope you go broke this time too! Don't forget that this time around you have to worry about those pesky Chinese too! You're surrounded! Keep a close eye on them. They know you have what was once theirs and they want it back. Its part of there desire to reclaim land lost during imperialistuc wars.
Plus, if we stopped build ...[text shortened]... w you're going to pay for that if energy prices come back down sometime in the next decade.
Originally posted by EsotericYawn. Neither country has a world class Navy for example. That's something that will take several decades. Without a Navy, they can't get anywhere that isn't their own continent.
You make it sound like i want it to happen. I'm sure we can all agree none of us want that to happen because not even the US could do anything about it.
Besides all that, part of historic Chinese territory is now Russian. These two countries are not exactly natural allies.
Originally posted by MerkYou know, I think you are right, they really are being pretty reasonable. They aren't over-reacting, in fact they are being about as diplomatic as possible.
Of course it is, in a way. But what leads you to believe that the U.S. is overreacting?
It really is Russia that is overreacting by taking this as a threat towards them.
Amazing what a day will do to the way you think.
