[BartSimpson]

djakeydd djakeydd:

Sorry, I am not pro-Russian. I am trying to point out that Russia is a powerful, visceral country and they are not to be screwed with in their back yard

That's the rub right there: it isn't Russia's backyard anymore. None of it.

It's Germany (united), Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Belarus...okay, well Belarus is still Russia's backyard but the rest of those are sovereign nations who don't much like the idea of the Russians coming back to stay again.

And the Russians are free to mess around in Cuba and Venezuela for much the same reasons.

If they want another Cold War it would be good of the US economy - I'll play.

[djakeydd]

Gorbachev's take - not that he would know anything, we should listen to fox news for an accurate representation of events

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/opini ... ref=slogin

[EyeBrock]

Bart, it appears that anybody under 35 has no idea how bloody nasty the Russians were and still are.
I always thought 'peristroika' ( forgive the spelling) was too good to be true.

Putin is the same age as me and thee, we are all Cold War warriors who have done a few other things.
But Putin is 'business as usual' from the bad old soviet days.

While I have never ran from a fight, re-arming to combat the bloody Russians is a big waste of good money.

We could use those resources to to a lot of good shit, but because this knobhead wants to annex all his bordering countries, we are gonna have to expand our military to meet the threat.

Silly stuff really. I'd rather be taking landscape pictures with my DSLR than getting ready to fight the old foe again.

But that aside, I will answer the call.

Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori. The old lie mate.

[djakeydd]

Russia has as much right to exist as a sovereign state as any, probably far more historically speaking than we in North Am. Anyways, Gorbies take on this is rather surprising in that he is not lamenting the latest actions by Russia as does say Brezinski, but then again, brezinski is a hasbeen.

[EyeBrock]

Yea, but russia also believes it can re-invade any nearby country that it's inavaded within the past 300 years.
The Brits should consider taking northern France again as they were ancestoral lands.

Sorry djakeydd, you just continue to excuse very bad russian behaviour.

[ShepherdsDog]

Part of the reason the Russians get so antsy is if you review those past 300-400 years and note how many countries invaded Russia. Hell, even the Poles and Lithuanians invaded and took large swathes of Russia and the Ukraine. The British, the French, Austro-Hungarians, the Romanians, the Germans and the Japanese, to name a few, they all had their fun with bear baiting.

Prior to the Western invasions, Rus principalities(Kiev, Vladimir-Suzdal,Rostov, Uglich, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Kashin, Ksnyatin, Gorodets, Galich, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Yuriev-Polsky, Dmitrov, Volokolamsk, Tver, and Torzhok were all sacked) dealt with generations of subjugation at the hands of the Mongols, that has left an indelible mark on the Russian psyche to this day. it was also during this period that the first Western invaders began their sojourns into Russia, the Teutonic Knights.

So, with a history like theirs, you have to concede they have a right to be paranoid about being encircled or having strong independent neighbours...very rarely have these neighbours been neighbourly with the Russians.

[ShepherdsDog]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Yea, but russia also believes it can re-invade any nearby country that it's inavaded within the past 300 years.
The Brits should consider taking northern France again as they were ancestoral lands.

Sorry djakeydd, you just continue to excuse very bad russian behaviour.

Not really ancestral, just lands that Willy the Bastard's forefathers had conquered from the French. That claim died out with the Angevin's really. It is interesting that Brittany was founded by the Britons fleeing the Saxon invasion of Britain, and that while it is a dying language Breton (a Brythonic language related to Welsh...not the Goideldic Gaelic of the Scots and Irish) is still spoken there.

[djakeydd]

Well anyway, sounds like ole dubya is fixin to fill some more diapers

http://rense.com/general83/dc.htm