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Unusual Russian Flights Have NATO worried

I don't think there's much question that Russia is looking for a path to resurgence, and have been for some time. We could go the conspiracy route and wonder whether certain deep-cover factions in Russian politics didn't either engineer, actively help, or at least go along with the collapse of the Soviet Union in order to gain economic strength and wealth through western reforms, and simultaneously a new distrust of western culture among the Russian populace. I wouldn't necessarily put it past Putin to have been thinking this way for many years. He's capable of playing a very deep game--much deeper than any American politicians can manage.

I don't recall where I read it, but about a year before the collapse, some low level American and Russian diplomats were meeting and after a few too many Vodkas, the Russian supposedly spun a tale about how the Soviet Union was going to collapse, but that this was planned to basically unbalance everything and weaken the resolve and ability of the U.S., which would decommission its military and enter a long period of self-congratulatory, albeit premature, celebration. Meanwhile, the Russian people would suffer, and perceive their suffering to come at the hands of the West. The Russian petroleum industry would step things up, and pretty soon, Russia would be back with a lean fighting figure against a fattened and unaware opponent(i.e. us). And isn't this what's basically happened?

But whether this is believable and correct or not, I think the way things are going it may as well be. We can't pull our heads out of our asses long enough to start acting like a real country again lately, and there are now several strong Asian states (principally China and Russia) who can challenge the supremacy of the U.S. in international affairs.
 
I don't think there's much question that Russia is looking for a path to resurgence, and have been for some time. We could go the conspiracy route and wonder whether certain deep-cover factions in Russian politics didn't either engineer, actively help, or at least go along with the collapse of the Soviet Union in order to gain economic strength and wealth through western reforms, and simultaneously a new distrust of western culture among the Russian populace. I wouldn't necessarily put it past Putin to have been thinking this way for many years. He's capable of playing a very deep game--much deeper than any American politicians can manage.

I don't recall where I read it, but about a year before the collapse, some low level American and Russian diplomats were meeting and after a few too many Vodkas, the Russian supposedly spun a tale about how the Soviet Union was going to collapse, but that this was planned to basically unbalance everything and weaken the resolve and ability of the U.S., which would decommission its military and enter a long period of self-congratulatory, albeit premature, celebration. Meanwhile, the Russian people would suffer, and perceive their suffering to come at the hands of the West. The Russian petroleum industry would step things up, and pretty soon, Russia would be back with a lean fighting figure against a fattened and unaware opponent(i.e. us). And isn't this what's basically happened?

But whether this is believable and correct or not, I think the way things are going it may as well be. We can't pull our heads out of our asses long enough to start acting like a real country again lately, and there are now several strong Asian states (principally China and Russia) who can challenge the supremacy of the U.S. in international affairs.

What you said reminds me of this scene:



I would not doubt the Russian's capability to engineer something like you suggested.
 
but that this was planned to basically unbalance everything and weaken the resolve and ability of the U.S., which would decommission its military and enter a long period of self-congratulatory, albeit premature, celebration. Meanwhile, the Russian people would suffer, and perceive their suffering to come at the hands of the West. The Russian petroleum industry would step things up, and pretty soon, Russia would be back with a lean fighting figure against a fattened and unaware opponent(i.e. us). And isn't this what's basically happened?

But whether this is believable and correct or not, I think the way things are going it may as well be. We can't pull our heads out of our asses long enough to start acting like a real country again lately, and there are now several strong Asian states (principally China and Russia) who can challenge the supremacy of the U.S. in international affairs.

What the left started out doing in 1993, Obama has accomplished in less than six years.

The question is, will Putin give Obama another year to complete the job ?

Remember when America was numero uno, a super power ? I was only six years ago.
 
'Unusual' Russian flights concern NATO - CNN.com

I'm thinking Putin is thumbing his nose at the west. Not sure what it will gain him though.

Thoughts?

Maybe another tragic passenger airliner crash. In at least one of the 29 incidents over 2 days, Russian bombers turned off their identification transponders making it impossible for European air controllers to redirect civilian aircraft.
 
I don't think there's much question that Russia is looking for a path to resurgence, and have been for some time. We could go the conspiracy route and wonder whether certain deep-cover factions in Russian politics didn't either engineer, actively help, or at least go along with the collapse of the Soviet Union in order to gain economic strength and wealth through western reforms, and simultaneously a new distrust of western culture among the Russian populace. I wouldn't necessarily put it past Putin to have been thinking this way for many years. He's capable of playing a very deep game--much deeper than any American politicians can manage.

I don't recall where I read it, but about a year before the collapse, some low level American and Russian diplomats were meeting and after a few too many Vodkas, the Russian supposedly spun a tale about how the Soviet Union was going to collapse, but that this was planned to basically unbalance everything and weaken the resolve and ability of the U.S., which would decommission its military and enter a long period of self-congratulatory, albeit premature, celebration. Meanwhile, the Russian people would suffer, and perceive their suffering to come at the hands of the West. The Russian petroleum industry would step things up, and pretty soon, Russia would be back with a lean fighting figure against a fattened and unaware opponent(i.e. us). And isn't this what's basically happened?

But whether this is believable and correct or not, I think the way things are going it may as well be. We can't pull our heads out of our asses long enough to start acting like a real country again lately, and there are now several strong Asian states (principally China and Russia) who can challenge the supremacy of the U.S. in international affairs.

It's a plausible theory except for one minor detail.

The underlined.

Russia is a broken, chaotic and in many aspects consumed society.

Yes... Russian revenues from resources has grown.

Yes the Russian military has been able to grow to a certain extent... but in every other aspect Russian society is in deep crisis.

Drug and alcohol abuse is out of control and their birth rate has utterly collapsed.

Russia is on course to be one of the hardest and most financially liable nations for an aging population just after Japan and China and the worst part is in that department they have no scientific developments on the go to combat that crisis.

People think the Detroit is bad... Detroit is just but once example of how bad the former USSR is... hundreds of former industrial cities lay waste with drugs and prostitution rampant under the guise of a resurgent Russian economy which really only benefits the rich and wealthy in major population centers like Moscow and St Petersburg.

For anyone who thinks that Russia is a resurgent power, balance their recent resource success vs their societal brokenness and one will find an interesting conclusion.
 
IMO, never, ever believe anything major news networks say about military matters - especially American news sources - unless you get a second, unbiased source.

Major western (especially American) news sources have proved time and again how utterly inept they are about military affairs.

I am not saying the Russians are not doing as this report suggests, but I am not believing it until I know exactly what the flight paths of these planes are and in exactly what strength.
 
What the left started out doing in 1993, Obama has accomplished in less than six years.

The question is, will Putin give Obama another year to complete the job ?

Dude we don't need nothin' from Putin. Jeeze you make it sound like we're a third world country begging for mercy.
 
I don't think there's much question that Russia is looking for a path to resurgence, and have been for some time. We could go the conspiracy route and wonder whether certain deep-cover factions in Russian politics didn't either engineer, actively help, or at least go along with the collapse of the Soviet Union in order to gain economic strength and wealth through western reforms, and simultaneously a new distrust of western culture among the Russian populace. I wouldn't necessarily put it past Putin to have been thinking this way for many years. He's capable of playing a very deep game--much deeper than any American politicians can manage.

I don't recall where I read it, but about a year before the collapse, some low level American and Russian diplomats were meeting and after a few too many Vodkas, the Russian supposedly spun a tale about how the Soviet Union was going to collapse, but that this was planned to basically unbalance everything and weaken the resolve and ability of the U.S., which would decommission its military and enter a long period of self-congratulatory, albeit premature, celebration. Meanwhile, the Russian people would suffer, and perceive their suffering to come at the hands of the West. The Russian petroleum industry would step things up, and pretty soon, Russia would be back with a lean fighting figure against a fattened and unaware opponent(i.e. us). And isn't this what's basically happened?

But whether this is believable and correct or not, I think the way things are going it may as well be. We can't pull our heads out of our asses long enough to start acting like a real country again lately, and there are now several strong Asian states (principally China and Russia) who can challenge the supremacy of the U.S. in international affairs.

A great theory especially since Russia has some of the best chess players in the world, but I think the fall of the S.U. was just a matter of overextenting itself and it finally caught up with them economically. If the U.S. is not careful we coukd end up in the same boat.
 
Simpleχity;1063925327 said:
Maybe another tragic passenger airliner crash. In at least one of the 29 incidents over 2 days, Russian bombers turned off their identification transponders making it impossible for European air controllers to redirect civilian aircraft.

Nothing to gain though as far as I can see.
 
EnigmaO01 said:
A great theory especially since Russia has some of the best chess players in the world, but I think the fall of the S.U. was just a matter of overextenting itself and it finally caught up with them economically. If the U.S. is not careful we coukd end up in the same boat.

Oh, to be clear, I'm not sure whether I believe such a theory. I just look at world events over the last 25 years or so and wonder about it, though...
 
'Unusual' Russian flights concern NATO - CNN.com

I'm thinking Putin is thumbing his nose at the west. Not sure what it will gain him though.

Thoughts?

GeoPolitics and economic warfare and the Russians are demonstrating that they are not a paper cowboy, but can be a sizeable Military/Nuclear threat. They have just launched one submarien launched Bulava missile with multiple, individually directable warheads, and will launch a second one next month. These are weapons against which the USA missile defense system is useless because the warheads are steerable and defeat the Patriot system. If you read all I have linked you will understand that it it the USA that is provoking the Russians with Economic Warfare. I don't remember voting for that, do you?

"Russia's continued support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, along with plans to recognize a controversial election by the rebels next month are likely to keep the sanctions by the EU and the United States in place against Russia for the time being." From the CNN article.

The US/EU have no intention of lifting the sanctions and the Russians know that. It has nothing to do with Ukraine. The CIA is manipulating economic policies to the benefit of Western Energy and Banking Plutocrats/Oligarchs/Billionaires. The CIA works for USA CORPORATIONS overseas and that translates to covert and not so covert schemes as is ongoing in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, OPEC, etc. Read the link carefully. Think about the distribution network (pipelines) for Big Energy Corporations OIL and Gas. Draw your own conclusions. Truth is where you find it.

 The Kerry-Abdullah Secret Deal And An Oil-Gas Pipeline War On Iran, Syria And Russia

"What has happened is that the long-time US ally inside OPEC, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has been flooding the market with deep discounted oil, triggering a price war within OPEC, with Iran following suit and panic selling short in oil futures markets. The Saudis are targeting sales to Asia for the discounts and in particular, its major Asian customer, China where it is reportedly offering its crude for a mere $50 to $60 a barrel rather than the earlier price of around $100. [1] That Saudi financial discounting operation in turn is by all appearance being coordinated with a US Treasury financial warfare operation, via its Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence(my bold DaveFagan), in cooperation with a handful of inside players on Wall Street who control oil derivatives trading. The result is a market panic that is gaining momentum daily. China is quite happy to buy the cheap oil, but her close allies, Russia and Iran, are being hit severely."
 
NATO is not worried about those flights, they are loving every minute of it. It gives them something to do and justifies their existence.

CNN believes whatever NATO tells it, no questions asked.

NATO is worried about Russian flights like the DEA is worried about people in the drug business.
 
Jetboogieman said:
It's a plausible theory except for one minor detail.

The underlined.

Russia is a broken, chaotic and in many aspects consumed society.

Yes... Russian revenues from resources has grown.

Yes the Russian military has been able to grow to a certain extent... but in every other aspect Russian society is in deep crisis.

Drug and alcohol abuse is out of control and their birth rate has utterly collapsed.

Russia is on course to be one of the hardest and most financially liable nations for an aging population just after Japan and China and the worst part is in that department they have no scientific developments on the go to combat that crisis.

People think the Detroit is bad... Detroit is just but once example of how bad the former USSR is... hundreds of former industrial cities lay waste with drugs and prostitution rampant under the guise of a resurgent Russian economy which really only benefits the rich and wealthy in major population centers like Moscow and St Petersburg.

For anyone who thinks that Russia is a resurgent power, balance their recent resource success vs their societal brokenness and one will find an interesting conclusion.

As I said in reply to Enigma: I'm not sure whether I believe the story or not. But one helpful factor for stirring up martial sentiment in a populace is suffering. Your description could, with little modification, describe Germany and Japan in the early 30's, a number of modern middle-eastern states, Korea in the late 1940's, and we could go back farther in history and find many more such examples. Does Russia have a lot of young men with nothing much to do but rape, rob, and do drugs, and who have never known prosperity? You bet. To such a group, war often looks like a good idea...
 
A great theory especially since Russia has some of the best chess players in the world, but I think the fall of the S.U. was just a matter of overextenting itself and it finally caught up with them economically. If the U.S. is not careful we coukd end up in the same boat.

The flights are likely a reaction to this policy being activated against Fussia.

 The Kerry-Abdullah Secret Deal And An Oil-Gas Pipeline War On Iran, Syria And Russia
"The US-Saudi oil price manipulation is aimed at destabilizing several strong opponents of US globalist policies. Targets include Iran and Syria, both allies of Russia in opposing a US sole Superpower. The principal target, however, is Putin’s Russia, the single greatest threat today to that Superpower hegemony. The strategy is similar to what the US did with Saudi Arabia in 1986 when they flooded the world with Saudi oil, collapsing the price to below $10 a barrel and destroying the economy of then-Soviet ally, Saddam Hussein in Iraq and, ultimately, of the Soviet economy, paving the way for the fall of the Soviet Union. Today, the hope is that a collapse of Russian oil revenues, combined with select pin-prick sanctions designed by the US Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence will dramatically weaken Putin’s enormous domestic support and create conditions for his ultimate overthrow. It is doomed to fail for many reasons, not the least, because Putin’s Russia has taken major strategic steps together with China and other nations to lessen its dependence on the West. In fact the oil weapon is accelerating recent Russian moves to focus its economic power on national interests and lessen dependence on the Dollar system. If the dollar ceases being the currency of world trade, especially oil trade, the US Treasury faces financial catastrophe. For this reason, I call the Kerry-Abdullah oil war a very stupid tactic."
 
CNN believes whatever NATO tells it, no questions asked.
The Russian fighter/bomber flurry was reported by seven different nations, and three of them are non-NATO nations.
 
A great theory especially since Russia has some of the best chess players in the world, but I think the fall of the S.U. was just a matter of overextenting itself and it finally caught up with them economically. If the U.S. is not careful we coukd end up in the same boat.



They have some Great grand masters.

But the typical Russian Chess player can be beaten easily if you just play them past the 9th or 10th move.

They just memorize openings and DON'T learn the game.
 
I heard a very smart man say the other day that his theory was that Russia is trying to create a new normal that will eventually enable a Failed Article 5 Invocation. Scary stuff.

Speaking of scary stuff, I would say that shooting down a civilian airliner and falsely blaming it on Russia is also scary stuff...
 
Speaking of scary stuff, I would say that shooting down a civilian airliner and falsely blaming it on Russia is also scary stuff...

As I recall it was blamed on Russian-backed separatists.
 
As I recall it was blamed on Russian-backed separatists.

Quite right, it was blamed on them.

Trouble is that what facts and evidence exist do not support that story.

Rather like the Gulf Of Tonkin incident or the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor or the Reichstag Fire, the story is likely false, meant to inflame passions and deceive a gullible public.
 
Quite right, it was blamed on them.

Trouble is that what facts and evidence exist do not support that story.

Rather like the Gulf Of Tonkin incident or the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor or the Reichstag Fire, the story is likely false, meant to inflame passions and deceive a gullible public.
Nothing in the body of circumstantial evidence rules out the rebels shooting down MH17 with a BUK missile as suspected. Occam's Razor and the economy of parsimony also favor a rebel mistake.
 
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