Putin says Russia will not tolerate NATO military build up

bhkad · 11-22-07, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Putin says Russia will not tolerate NATO military build up

RIA Novosti

20/11/2007 17:48

MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia would not ignore NATO's military build up near its borders and would provide an adequate response to any "muscle-flexing."

"In violation of previous agreements, NATO members' military resources are being built up next to our borders," Putin said at a Defense Ministry meeting with senior military staff. "Certainly, we cannot allow ourselves to remain indifferent to this obvious muscle-flexing."

He said Russia had been forced to impose a moratorium on the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty as the majority of other signatories had failed to ratify an adapted version of the cold war-era agreement.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...anovosti03.htm

I feel about this story the same way I felt about the Pakistan story when I posted it in September.

This has the signs of possibly becoming something serious.

tlmorg02 · 11-27-07, 11:29 AM

This issue is definitely going to escalate into something more serious. The ballistic missle defense system is of little consequence as it has yet to be proven to even work. The underlying issue is an attmept on the part of Russia and China, in particular, to balance the power of the United States. All of the posturing on Putins part, not to mention the power display of China shooting down a satellite sometime ago, are all in effort to create a new world balance, where the U.S. will no longer be the hegemon and have the option to act unilaterally, at least in Northeast Asia.

Iriemon · 11-27-07, 12:13 PM

But who cares WTF the rest of the world thinks?

tlmorg02 · 11-27-07, 01:01 PM

The U.S. must care what the rest of the world thinks. Our global image is half of our power. If the U.S. loses its stature as the leader of the free world, and is seen to promote the same values as any other tyranny (i.e. torture) then the country is diminished in every respect. One cannot call for the end of corruption in other countries when we have corruption at home.

Iriemon · 11-27-07, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlmorg02

The U.S. must care what the rest of the world thinks. Our global image is half of our power. If the U.S. loses its stature as the leader of the free world, and is seen to promote the same values as any other tyranny (i.e. torture) then the country is diminished in every respect. One cannot call for the end of corruption in other countries when we have corruption at home.

For the record my post was sarcastic, a take off of a TOT thread. Probably a little too subtle.

I agree with your point. And also if you start throwing your weight around, is it any surprise that other nations starting thinking they maybe can't trust us and need to develop their own offsetting deterrents?

tlmorg02 · 11-27-07, 03:42 PM

Indeed you are correct. The Shanghai Corporation Organization was established in order to bring Asian countries together with Russia in order to develop an alliance. Rather than develop some sort of useful dialogue with Russia, Bush seems more interested in alienating the country by pushing this wasteful ballistic missile defense system that is totally unproven.