Vladimir Putin's Nuclear threat to the west
 

Vladimir Putin has delivered perhaps his most menacing tirade against the West yet, repeating threats to train nuclear missiles on Europe and warning of unspecified retaliation if Kosovo declared independence.

Addressing his last press conference as Russian president, Mr Putin mounted a defiant display that demonstrated more emphatically than ever the widening gulf between Moscow and its former Cold War rivals.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../wputin115.xml


... :hmm::hmm:

Didn't I say that this was happening a while back? The widening gulf between the US and Russia?

-S

yep... still not sure wether its a good thing or a bad thing.. personally i would like to see Russia topple the EU... :yep:

No need, it'll topple itself before long.

Russian missiles trained on the West is nothing new, in fact, I really doubt they've been untrained since they were built.

Good point! I doubt the EU will fall - its exactly what elitists have been clammoring for, for decades. Russia however probably has the same settings on its missiles since 1980.

-S

Ah the torygraph and Putin, objective journalism at its best.

Wow....

Find my me as long as he targets the EU Parliament and blows it to hell. :D

I thought you would be annoyed STEED, he'd be beating you to it. Stealing your thunder so to speak!

Not really just saves me the job in doing it. :rotfl:

I will just sit back in my deckchair and watch the EU Parliament go boom. :cool:

They say they have "plans" ready if Kosovo declares independence? Is he suggesting the use of force to prevent it? What would NATO's reaction be? It would be after all, an attack by the Russian armed forces against a European country! Looks like the ****s about to hit the fan!

Russia using force against a European country, and directly in NATO's sphere would not be in Russia's interests. They know it, and we do as well.

Honestly, I don't think Russia gives a s*** about Kosovo.

No, it's certainly going to protest, but eh - it didn't do anything when Serbia was getting bombed, and it won't do anything now. Why would it? It's stupid and is a lose-lose situation for Russia.

I think that the Kosovo and Ukraine threats by themselves would be harmless. However, the fact that they came so close together with actual warnings from Moscow regarding "we know what to do" and increased military exercises worries me a great deal.

Anyone who can say that this isn't something to raise eyebrows needs to look back at quite a few other "close calls".:know:

Agreed. I think it would be prudent to take Putin at his word. And let him know that what he proposes may not be in Russia's interests. I've been thinking lately that our navy ships shooting down that satellite may be a small response to Russian threats. Showing Russia that we can now shoot things down from space (like missiles) from mobile sea-based platforms may be a message in itself. I don't know, I'm just speculating. May not have anything to do with that at all. But Putin should take notice of that anyway. And his threats seem less than hollow. We are pointing alot of missiles and warheads in his direction as well.

I thought that too:)

thankfully, there are still enough missiles and bombs in the world that MAD is the order of the day, and nobody wants that.

They'll kick up a stink and maybe even write a meanly worded letter to someone and that will be that

I think that's pretty good speculation Sea Demon. The US shooting down a satalite is almost certainly meant to send a message. But they better hit it :hmm:.

Yes. They better. The fact that they announced it, I hope that's a sign of confidence.

I agree.

As far as America shooting down a satelite is concerned, the gas inside is a smokescreen imo.

I saw the news article where they said it had never been done before... never been done by the U.S.A maybe, China did this succesfully some months ago.

China and Russia are currently pushing for a treaty banning the use of weapons to destroy satelites and things in orbit. Much like the rush to conduct nuclear tests before the test ban treaty, this is merely an attempt by the U.S.A to redress a technilogical imbalance before any treaty discussions.

As far as Putin and Russia are concerned, Russia spends no more on arms than say, the U.K or France or Japan. The U.S.A spends possibly more than the rest of the planet combined. With that in mind, everything is just posturing. Russia has a massive nuclear detterent, making them unlikely to ever be invaded, aside from maybe a suicidal enemy. The missile shield could possibly negate this last defence for the Russian state, thus the new rush by Russia to upgrade their technical conventional forces. The commitment to numbers will be small, but the russian state has a long history (at least since WWII) of having things on the drawing board in the eventuality they may need to produce something at a moments notice.

The new sub under construction in Russia, with a crush depth of 450m is a prime example. This is far greater than the 250m boasted by new model American subs.

There is no threat from Russia, there is merely a response to current trends.

Incorrect. Both the Russians and the USA have conducted successful ASAT tests in the 1980's. Way before China. Actually, this would be a much greater technological capability demonstrated by the USA due to the fact that it is being conducted from a deployed tactical sea-based mobile platform. The USA already did what China did a couple of decades ago. More than once even.

While I can't speak for actual depths, I don't see Russia's new subs outdiving their American counterparts. The days of the Titanium hulled subs are over for Russia. While I'll never know the actual depth, 250m sounds a little shallow for an American nuke.