Putin threatens to target Europe

[dave_rhino]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070602.wputin01/BNStory/International/home

Yay...

 

[AFA]

Not good

 

[dave_rhino]

Best part:

"Of course, I am a pure and absolute democrat," he said. "The tragedy is that I am alone. I am the only such pure democrat. There are no such other democrats in the world. Let us see what is happening in North America: Just horrible torture. The homeless. Guantanamo. Detentions without normal court proceedings."

"After the death of Mahatma Gandhi," he added, with a smile, "I have nobody to talk to."

 

[dick van cock]

I'll keep it short:

Russia suffers from a traditional inferiority complex. With China and India entering big on the world stage, their status as a super power is threatened.

A bit of saber rattling against the biggest fish in the pond (the US) might help restore self-confidence a bit.

Rhetoric, hollow words. Nothing more!

 

[AFA]

Of course he has absolutly nothing in common with Ghandi, so that makes him look nutty.

 

[dave_rhino]

I agree with Van Cock, he's just trying to make himself look more important.

He'll get more laughs than anything, which will just piss him off even more.

 

[georges]

He is a dictator, he is certainly behind the killing of the russian journalist, he is killing tchechens and is certainly selling weapons to Iran. The world was more stable when U.S.S.R was there. Gorbatchev and Eltsin ruined everything in Russia. Even after the fall of the wall, there are still significant discrepancies between the East and the West. In the U.S.S.R era, there were no corruption and the safety was better in Russia. Now, you have a maniac who is the grandson of one of Stalin's cook. Anyone who thinks that Gorbatchev and Eltsin were great leaders is failing sense of realism. Putin also makes torture to tchechens yet none speaks about it. Talk about democraty in Russia where even Putin's opponents are jailed. :wtf:

 

[dick van cock]

He is a dictator:

No doubt about that. But no matter what policies he pursues domestically, his foreign interests are not too different from the West's: Keeping China at bay, keeping Islamists down.

In the sister thread it has already been discussed that this aggressive talk will subside by and by.

And remember: Putin will not be re-elected in 2008. He may set his own rules, but he plays fairly and sticks to them.

 

[alexios]

No doubt about that. But no matter what policies he pursues domestically, his foreign interests are not too different from the West's: Keeping China at bay, keeping Islamists down.

In the sister thread it has already been discussed that this aggressive talk will subside by and by.

And remember: Putin will not be re-elected in 2008. He may set his own rules, but he plays fairly and sticks to them.

True, for some international issues, there are similar interests, but on others, these interests are diametrical opposites. For instance, there is the case of Iran, the CIS, as well as any sovereign action in Eastern Europe. It's not the aggressive talk, which indeed will subside, that worries people, it's the actions that are taking place. Finally, it is true that Putin will not be re-elected in 2008; however, regardless of who holds the office of president, you still have the problem that the majority party is United Russia and the main "opposition" party is Fair Russia, both of which support Putin's agenda.

 

[McRocket]

So what should the West do about these threats?

Ignore them or do something else?

 

[McRocket]

He is a dictator, he is certainly behind the killing of the russian journalist, he is killing tchechens and is certainly selling weapons to Iran. The world was more stable when U.S.S.R was there. Gorbatchev and Eltsin ruined everything in Russia. Even after the fall of the wall, there are still significant discrepancies between the East and the West. In the U.S.S.R era, there were no corruption and the safety was better in Russia. Now, you have a maniac who is the grandson of one of Stalin's cook. Anyone who thinks that Gorbatchev and Eltsin were great leaders is failing sense of realism. Putin also makes torture to tchechens yet none speaks about it. Talk about democraty in Russia where even Putin's opponents are jailed. :wtf:

I disagree that there was no corruption in the U.S.S.R.. And I think Gorbechev (sp?)
was just trying to save the dieing communist state.

But I pretty much agree with everything else you typed. I do think the world was probably more stable when the U.S.S.R. existedMore likely to blow itself up. But otherwise, more stable.
Putin is dangerous and appears to be power hungry in the worst general sense of the word. The way he has treated the Chechins is borderline genocide to me. It isn't, but it's not miles off either - IMO.

Whether it was better or not is beyond me.

 

[D-rock]

He may set his own rules, but he plays fairly and sticks to them.

That is pretty easy to do when you write your own rules. Nobody would break the law if they determined what the law is in the first place. Is he a lawful person or just a law within himself? At least that is when he's not accepting the demands of the mobsters and the rich businessmen to get something in return.

 

[tartanterrier]

I disagree that there was no corruption in the U.S.S.R.. And I think Gorbechev (sp?)
was just trying to save the dieing communist state.

But I pretty much agree with everything else you typed. I do think the world was probably more stable when the U.S.S.R. existedMore likely to blow itself up. But otherwise, more stable.
Putin is dangerous and appears to be power hungry in the worst general sense of the word. The way he has treated the Chechins is borderline genocide to me. It isn't, but it's not miles off either - IMO.

Whether it was better or not is beyond me.

Bring back the commies :nanner:

 

[AFA]

I honestly don't think the problem is all Putin. Bush's reputation is like minus -10 right now, and I think a lot of the educated world doesn't trust him at all. Look at the Guantanamo stories posted, another issue that won't go away for him. I knew in year 2000 this guy was a disaster. I'm still waiting for him to talk in one complete sentence.

 

[negator]

i was just in the neighborhood, launching a denial-of-service attack on a local hegemon when lo and behold, i clicked on a thingy and up popped this tidbit:

" Russia intends to re-emerge as a full-fledged superpower", according to Proffessor Steven Rosefielde of Southwest Missouri State University He also thinks that "Contrary to conventional wisdom, this goal would appear to be easily within the Kremlin's grasp, but the cost to the Russian people and global security would be immense."[60] R. G. Williams of the Naval Postgraduate School contends that, "present Western policy pursuits will lead to a regenerated authoritarian Russian superpower that will be a threat to the security of Ukraine and Europe."[61] However Vladimir Putin has described "superpower" as a Cold War term that no longer applies.[62]

from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_as_an_emerging_superpower#China

it actually makes a kind of sense. i don't know much about "the man on the street" in russia, but i know as an american, if we'd lost the cold war, i'd be hankering to get back on top of the pecking order.