Saturday, August 16, 2008

Russkis: Crazy? or Just Typical?

Nah, not Georgia.

Poland.

Yesterday, in what may or may not have been a coincidence of timing, the U.S and Poland announced that after 18 months of negotiations, they have reached on an agreement whereby the U.S. will furnish Patriot missiles to Poland and will locate a missile interceptor base in that country.

The Russki response?

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia warns Poland that it may become a priority target for Russia in the event the USA deploys elements of its missile defense system on the territory of this East European nation. To put it in a nutshell, Russia may strike a nuclear blow on Poland, which is possible after the recent change of the Russian Federation defense doctrine.

Hmmmmm. Offhand I smell intimidation; the statement is obviously meant for consumption by Poles-in-the-street, not Western defense folks, who are well-aware of Russki 'doctrine' and tactics.

No question The Bear is unhappy with the direction of its former slave states, and unhappy with the West's "NATO for all!!" stance. The Bear is interested in maintaining a zone of influence, as is the US (think Mexico and Canada.)

But ham-handed threats of nuking ex-slaves is simply stupid.

HT: PowerLine

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recommend this article on the Russian aggression. It argues the Russians believe NATO is effectively broken and they want to manipulate the EU fragment. R10

http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/geo/pastanalysis/2008/0815.html

Last month Russia’s ambassadors were called back to Moscow. On July 15 President Dmitry Medvedev spoke to them at the Foreign Ministry. … Medvedev reminded his colleagues that they had “survived the Cold War.” And now Russia is prepared to establish “a new equilibrium.”

Anonymous said...

Complete link:

http://www.financialsense.com/
stormwatch/geo/pastanalysis/2008/0815.html

Dad29 said...

Nothing that I disagree with there.

You'll note that here and elsewhere I said that Europe should grow a backbone.

The Russkis think that the USA is about to tank as a world influence following a financial crisis. Well, maybe--there's a long "if-tree" in that statement.

Maybe it's because the USA is over-stretched? Over-committed? And over-self-indulgent?