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2006-12-26 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

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Posted by .com 2006-12-26 03:32|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 In 2005, Putin actually personally awarded a medal of honor to the North Korean dictator who is starving his own people and threatening the world with nuclear war.

He had to give Kim something nicer than just a toaster for opening that big account.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-12-26 04:20|| 2006-12-26 04:20|| Front Page Top

#2 Cold War is not over! We didn't finish the job and we've just been hoping things were as they seemed.

Posted by Jesing Ebbease3087 2006-12-26 07:03|| 2006-12-26 07:03|| Front Page Top

#3 Have the rooskies joined (rejoined?) the Axis of Evil or are they just in "We'll sell our grandmothers for hard cash" mode? Maybe we can bribe them to be nice. Buy lots of sardines or sumthin'. Or a bunch of T-34s for the Ethiopians.

Posted by SteveS 2006-12-26 10:16|| 2006-12-26 10:16|| Front Page Top

#4 "Have the rooskies joined (rejoined?) the Axis of Evil or are they just in "We'll sell our grandmothers for hard cash" mode?"

False dilemma fallacy

Posted by E. Brown 2006-12-26 11:04|| 2006-12-26 11:04|| Front Page Top

#5 From Putin's point of view, making Russia the world's #1 power is his main goal. To do this he has to increase Russia's power and decrease the US's, and maybe China's. Or at least increase the realpolitik by enabling the military rise of other powers.

Think of it as "anti-globalization".

Putin hopes that by arming Nork, he will weaken the US in the Pacific, and by arming Iran, he will weaken the US in the ME. He has the full support of Chirac in doing this, as he wants the same thing; except on behalf of France.

Importantly, he thinks the US is trying to do this to Russia, too!

Despite Russian protests, the US was all over Central Asia after the Soviet Union broke up. From the Russian point of view, this was the US expanding its power at Russia's expense. And this is why Russia is so pissy about the Ukraine and Georgia--they think we plotted the overthrow of their governments to make them more pro-western.

Actually, we may have been involved more than a little bit in that.

So the bottom line might well be that the world powers are still playing the game that was well played in the 19th Century, before and after.

Posted by Anonymoose 2006-12-26 11:54|| 2006-12-26 11:54|| Front Page Top

#6 The only difference is that, as always, Russia treats this situation as a zero-sum equation while we don't necessarily do so.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-12-26 12:37|| 2006-12-26 12:37|| Front Page Top

#7 Shouldn't the title be The Empire Strikes Back?

Posted by gromgoru 2006-12-26 17:40|| 2006-12-26 17:40|| Front Page Top

#8 Didn't PUTIN read NEWSMAX Xmas weekend > the "Father of [revolutionary] Russian Socialism" is more akin to FASCISM = NAZI GERMANY than Stalinist, Leninist, or Troskyite Communism. As before, CLINTONISM > NEW COMMUNISM, at least until America is defeated + suborned under OWG, or de facto destroyed. *FREEREPUBLIC/OTHER > PAKISTAN's "FRONTIER POST" NEWS > WHICH [Muslim/Islamist]NATION [Nations?]WILL SUPPLANT AMERICA article. Move along boyz, obviously no war for survival = war to the death of the USA-West here.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2006-12-26 22:18|| 2006-12-26 22:18|| Front Page Top

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