As long as they are in international air space . . . it's all good . . . but all actions are done for a reason. Training, flexing of muscle, testing for reflex timing, etc.

As for the talk about the fallout shelters . . . wouldn't it make more sence to build shelters due to the non-rational actors who care not of their own survival? At least rational actors are balanced out, theoretically, due to the MAD theory . . . non-rational actors don't care, because they aren't states, and don't care if they live or die . . . just that their mision is carried out.

But I would love to see our (US/NATO/EU/MNNA) AEW assets modernized, as well as our air defense networks . . . and maybe one day a working ABM system, followed by a reduction of land-based nuclear weapons.

What was the statement . . . "trust, but verify".

About Putin....anyone else thinks the same as my dad, tht he was an old KGB officer? He thinks that Putin looks like one. Something with the eyes....:hmm: (J/K)

anyway, he'll be gone after 2008 so unless he manage to make some major actions before that OR starts a revolution to stay in power, we won't have much trouble with him for a very long time.

You already write him off, it seems, and that is a bad mistake.

Too many people have much to loose if he does not stay president, so he is under pressure. And even if he is not in office - that does not mean he has not arranged to maintain his influence.

Good chess players don't think about their next move only - they think about the rest of the match.

Putin served in the KGB all his career till it ended in 1991 he then headed the FSB then became premier of russia, this man gained his title in a not well known issue in east germany in 1989 when the russian embassy was surrounded by mobs of people, he was the only one brave enough to face the crowd and did so and the result was everything went back to normal.

That one man took on thousands of people so what if he plans to take on the world, just because the soviet union failed doesnt mean russia is does it?

Russia may not have the economy of the USA but it has one thing that the USA needs and that is support from its people the two votes that secured putins power in two elections years apart were land slides no premier of russia had ever scored such a high vote in an election.

Alot of russians consider him the "new father of russia" or a Tsar infact he is often called the new tsar of russia.

if it wasnt for brezhnevs 2 turn rule i could see putin in the seat for the next 10 years. (bear in mind he has sat in office since 1999)

this sending the bears to the coasts is not new when he first came to power in 1999 he orderd 2 submarines to depart from base one was to head to the pacific and lurk outside pearl harbour and make herself known she did that (submarine name omsk) the second submarine was to head into the mediteranean she did so and with that she caused such a mess the americans would not let any naval vessel near her they sent atleast 6 submarines after her in the 3 weeks that followed.

In the end the submarine (Kursk) was spotted not in the mediteranean but off the coast of canada by a canadian P3C heading home she had darted out of the med and right accross the atlantic un noticed by the americans and then gone along the entire east coast without being detected.

This is nothing new i could garentee some where there is a russian sub out there near the coast of america.

Some say that the Military Strategies of the Cold War have never ended within Russia, and to a smaller extent, the west. As with all good militaries, they watch their neighbors, and potential threat nations. Whether they do that from the space above, or near their land or sea borders . . . that's their job. Part of it is just rational action, another part of it is to show the other actor that you are able to hit back, if hit.
That is why the UK is looking to renew their SSBN fleet, this is why US planners are looking (long-term) to post-Ohios . . . this is why nations continue to arm themselves, and attempt to modernize.
The ultimate hope is that all this arming is never used . . . but that doesn't mean that you let the sword become dull and rusty.
However, as for the US, we have allowed our detection systems and assets age and go without being replaced. Our ASW capabilities aren't near where they use to be . . . our borders are porous . . . and so on and so forth. We need to reviven our industrial base for the possibility of future stand up. Instead we're letting our industrial capabilites move overseas, and letting the ones that remain wither on the vine.
Lets look at the new National Security Cutter for a perfect example.

Would be a first in history, wouldn't it. But as they say - nothing ever is impossible.

The camp with a difference,
never mind the weather.
When you come to Vladi's,
the holiday's forever!

Search around the web for more details of what's preached in these getaways that the mass media drops from their reports.

News update
 

More back to the good old days courtesy of President Putin: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6950986.stm

In the air, and on the airwaves:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6951710.stm

Any government financed media is propaganda
:rotfl:
Have they listened to the BBC

If so they were really critical of the previous administration . . . so much for government propaganda.