For Mother RUSSIA :rock: :rock: :rock: :rock:

And no "NOT" Aussie beer, Kiwi beer. Aussie beer is watered down.


:-j :yep:

I'm also of the opinion that Russia's acting in its own best interest as blocking this UN resolution is a win-win situation for them. Recall it was the US who decided the UN was irrelevant, not Russia, so what do they gain from allowing this resolution to pass?

After it fails either Tehran will continue its Uranium enrichment efforts or it won't. Either way there is no threat to Russia because the US will never permit Iran to possess a nuclear weapon. By blocking the resolution they're acting as expected and, as was proven by the US when Russia blocked a second resolution against Iraq, the US will do as it will anyway and there will be no more negative fallout in Russia's direction than there was over Iraq.

Russia in blocking this appeals to anti-American sentiment at home and abroad and gains good will from Iran in the process with no risk of retribution from anyone or of Iran ever possessing a nuclear weapon. Win-win policy made possible in part by the US decision to go it alone in Iraq and undermine the UN.

Not your grandfather's UN. :nope:

All russia wants is what it can get from both sides, they offerd the UN another way and excuse to allow iran nuclear material for domestic use's.

At times i think the western worls has thier head's so far up each others own arse's they fail to see the bigger picture.

As a nutrel here i can see that russia wants confruntation from niether side so its resorting to appeasment for the time being.

Russia doesnt want a war with iran, because of the chechen rebles (who are part of al quieda), secondly russia doesnt want any heated problems with the west.

So if anyone has the real problem here its not america or iran but russia itself.

:yep:

This was not about Russia's self interest, which anti-western mood and interest is plain obvious.

This was sharing our (is there such thing as 'our' I wonder in this place ?) western valueing of that attitude and policy.

The way things are going the gap between Russia and the West will remain. If that's what they want, that they'll have. I can only hope for UN-issues in their interest which we can block....

And so the endless silly game continues.

Yup, Putin has his way of annoying the Western nations. First, he started building down the democracy in Russia. Later, he acknowledged Hamas as the new Palestine authority before anyone else. Then he supported Iran's nuclear program. Then that fixed election in Belorussia. Additionally there was those Norwegian Coast Guards that were kidnapped by a Russian trawler in the Barents SEa.

I don't know, perhaps he wants to show that Russia is still a major power.

Reason why he stepped down on democracy is genuinly because when the fall came they went direct democracy and it didnt work putin is using stepping stones rather than taking a big leap he saw what it done and it seriously screwd russia up.

Russia is in a catch 22 phrase but just because he does annoy SOME western countries it doesn mean he is anti western.

The men on the trawler we put in prision for what they done.

Russia doesnt support Iran other wise they wouldnt have refused to sell them 3 more kilos hence why iran built thier own.

Don't be naive! :roll:

Gotta admit, Putin is exactly what Russia needs, they need a strong leader who's not going to tow the line of the western world...and they got him :yep:

What western line is that? Freedom and democracy? :-? What are you referring to? :hmm:

Touche, but you can't instantenously introduce Democracy to a country used to only communist ways. After all, the sudden introduction of Democracy to Iraq is going so well, is it not?

Dunno about that. Constitution written and adopted in 3 years? It took the US, what, 11 years after the Revolutionary war to come up with a Constitution?

I fully agree with you on this point. I do think that Russia needs a strong leader. I do think that Russia needs a special mix for reform, regulation and liberties.

But Putin frightens me. I get the feeling that he's not going one step back to eventually go 2 steps forward. I feel he's going to take a few more reverses and in the process make things worse for Russia, not better. To me he's Mr. Command and Control.

I quite agree with you AL, when I said Putin was good for Russia, I didn't say that he was good for all of us. But then again, what is good for Russia has not always been the same as what is good for the rest of Western Europe. While I'm no Sovieophile (is that even a word?) I have no wish to see a return to the days of detente.

Its a rather worthless piece of paper when there's no capability to enforce it.

In the last years of communist rule in Russia under Gorbachev he saw that a new age was dawning and took steps to open up the Soviet Union. This was the correct thing to do but they were those who wanted to run head long strait in to democracy the result a power struggle and in the end Yeltsin won that power struggle. And look what happen one gigantic mess he created, to busy drinking and doing a spot of dancing in front of the cameras. Result the Soviet Union fragmented and then broke up, the only thing Yeltsin got right was that surprise announcement of his resignation, leaving the government in the hands of the little-known Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Who is repairing the damage step by step it may be slow but it’s the right way to do it.

At the time there was little or no federal capability to enforce the US constitution either, the Continental Army having been disbanded...

The US 11 years after its revolutionary war doesn't compare well to present day Iraq which is on the brink of civil war. This is where enforcement capability matters.

I disagree.