08-26-2008, 06:27 PM
Well, I don't know about you folks here at the LL, but all this up-at-arms bravado going on between the US and Russia has got me a little on edge. Perhaps it is all unfriendly banter to keep each-other in check, but in the back of my mind I can't help thinking, what if all this "hard-talk" takes a turn for the worst?
Russian President Says He's Not Afraid of Cold War
Russia Threatens Military Response if U.S., Poland Follow Through With Missile Defense Deal
I was not old enough to appreciate the first Cold War, but I've been told that this is Russia's way of negotiating, by talking big. It seems the US will install that missile defense shield in Poland no matter what. I don't know about you, but if Korea started building a missile shield in, say, Mexico, I'd be pretty pissed off also. I don't think Russia's response is to the situation is too dramatic; as a matter of fact, it's just what I'd expect the US to do if the coin had been flipped. Yet still, the missile defensive shield will go up in Poland. And then what?
How about Georga? I'm a little worried with the USS McFaul and other Russia war ships circling each other in the Black Sea. That can't possibly make for good relations:
Will it all blow over with time, or escalate into something that causes a new dynamic, for better or worse, between the relationship that the US and Russia share? My vote is the Georgia incident will eventually blow over given enough time after the US finds another way to get their oil, but the Poland missile curtain, well that could go either way IMO. Thoughts?
Russian President Says He's Not Afraid of Cold War
Russia Threatens Military Response if U.S., Poland Follow Through With Missile Defense Deal
I was not old enough to appreciate the first Cold War, but I've been told that this is Russia's way of negotiating, by talking big. It seems the US will install that missile defense shield in Poland no matter what. I don't know about you, but if Korea started building a missile shield in, say, Mexico, I'd be pretty pissed off also. I don't think Russia's response is to the situation is too dramatic; as a matter of fact, it's just what I'd expect the US to do if the coin had been flipped. Yet still, the missile defensive shield will go up in Poland. And then what?
How about Georga? I'm a little worried with the USS McFaul and other Russia war ships circling each other in the Black Sea. That can't possibly make for good relations:
Quote:While Western nations have called the Russian military presence in Poti a clear violation of an EU-brokered cease-fire, a top Russian general countered Tuesday that using warships to deliver aid was "devilish."
"The heightened activity of NATO ships in the Black Sea perplexes us," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said in Moscow. The United States says its ships are carrying humanitarian aid but suspicion persists in Russia that they are delivering military materiel clandestinely.
Will it all blow over with time, or escalate into something that causes a new dynamic, for better or worse, between the relationship that the US and Russia share? My vote is the Georgia incident will eventually blow over given enough time after the US finds another way to get their oil, but the Poland missile curtain, well that could go either way IMO. Thoughts?
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin