Is Moscow still hoping for a nuclear showdown or what ?
 

I tried to have an open positive approach towards Russia but fact is: they annoy the hell out of me too frequently. Like Iran, Russia is hard to like for a western guy such as myself.

Why are the Russian government cretins still siding with Iran ? Yet handling Chechznia tyhe way they do ? It doesnt make sense. It's utterly disgusting.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/me...eut/index.html

Russia doesn't want war in Iran. What else is new? What, you think they'll be getting something good out of it?

I quite fail to see what Russian interest it would be accomplishing. Nor do I see any reason for Russia to act with any degree of commitment outside of its own interests - considering the West refuses to so much as think outside its own interests, forget acting...

As far as the utterly... bad thread title - :roll:

There's one country in the world that's been moving to bombing an increasing amount of countries and trying to approve use of tactical nuclear weapons, and it sure ain't Russia.

But don't worry. Putin isn't going to lift a finger - why would he? The west is perfectly capable of screwing things up on their own - much to his country's advantage. Fortunately, he's got things screwed up in Russia enough to not have this advantage seriously reflected on Russia's capability as a threat.

Otherwise, I'm glad to see Russia has at least kept its mistrust towards the west. It's justified. You may not like it, but again - there's no reason for anyone to act outside their own interests. It's realpolitik.

Well said. :yep:

I had expected this from the 2 of you; anti-western and pro-opposing parties as you both are :shifty:

Just two blokes living in unappropriate places. I feel sorry for you :roll:

My little prediction:

Islamic and Pan-Arab cooperation will be to Putin and Russia as was the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact to Stalin and the USSR.

On a smaller scale - maybe.

I agree with you Avon Lady. I also wonder if Russia has it coming from the Chinese. They're sure giving them the keys to the kingdom in regards to military technology. :down:

@AL Probably or at least possibly.

But Iran is a whore (edit: may not make too much sense, but I always wanted to say this :lol: ), selling to anyone who wants to buy their stuff.

If Islam is so important to them, why suck up to Moscow and not support the Chechzian rebels for autonomy against Moscow ?

Huh...say again ? They are supporting those islamic rebels ?

The ME/former SU territory is getting even more screwed up all the time...

So far behind the West. So confused. Such wannabees. So pityful.

:down: :down: :down:

I don't think that's predictable at this stage.

China's main interest at this time is getting Taiwan under its grip.

I think it would take a Chinese equivalent of NK's Lil' Kim coming into power for China to be interested in taking on Russia militarily.

Russia and China don't bother each other too much. Each might be watching their sixes from the other but they're both busy with other places and issues.

And there's always the possibility that China may one day in the near future might mature enough to become fully democratic through their own internal transformation, if the people can get hold of the higher positions in China's political and military systems.

Russia are our friends not our enemy. :yep:

How frequently do ships deliver newspapers to you guys down under ? :-j

Ships?

Don't they rely on bottles? :hmm:

Yea, that's more likely :yep: Aussie beer bottles

( ;) @ Kiwi)

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

You crack me up. Since when have I been anti-western? And I'm meant to be pro-opposing parties? What do you mean by this? More information please if you will. I cannot recall CCIP exhibiting the types of behaviour that you describe here either. Anyway help me out please here. :-?

From time to time Moscow has to do a bit of prodding the west or poking the east and visa versa.

Russia hoping for a nuclear showdown? Only if it's feeling suicidal...but that is not to say that its still fronting a lot of military power, and with most of Europe in the Middle East...well, if there ever was a ripe time to reclaim some of the old Warsaw pact countries, now would be it.
Still, I think most of Russias power these days lies in its gas and oil supplies, who needs to send in tanks when cutting the gas supply in the middle of winter could be just as damaging.
The Bear isn't dead....just sleeping :up:

march 30th, 2014...

there's not much left now... the food is gone, it's dark, cold, and the power from my batteries are almost exhausted... i'm writing these last few lines in the hope that humankind has survived, and that there will be someone left alive to read it...

the wars in the middle east seemed like a good place to start this, for they signaled the beginning of the end... the west against the islamic forces of terror... it soon played like a modern day crusades, and was the trigger to the civil revolts in the Americas and in Europe...

then the unexpected detonation of a nuclear device in southern Pakistan, well, regardless of whether or not it was a missile launched by India, or a terrorist action, it only took another 20 hours before the retaliation started, and the Indian capitol had been hit by a low yield device...

all the calls for diplomacy and to excercise the same sort of restraint that held back the cold war of the 50s fell on deaf ears... as i remember, a total of 3 more nuclear detonations tooks place in that region...

this may or may not have been the trigger for the pre emptive strike by the Israelies on the nuclear facilities in Iran... which only fed fuel to the already embroiled region...

surprisingly enough, the super powers refused to intervene, exception of lodging formal protests in the UN... the US forces had been decimated by their protracted involvement in the region in the early part of the century, and their over reliance on technology was proving to be a weak link in their armour... the Chinese also kept quiet, but it soon became evident that they had substantial forces massed on both borders, and their navy had deployed to all parts of the Pacific rim region...

the nations of the fragmented Soviet Republic were continuing their realignment as the new Russian block of nations, and were issuing warnings to all nations about respecting the sovereignty of their borders...

in short, it seemed as if the worst was over... until the military takeover of Taiwan started...

i can't remember if it was over a naval dispute, or an aircraft being shot down, but the Chinese responded by sinking tthree Japanese Self Defense force ships, and bombing one of their naval installations...

American protest were immediate, but there was no military response on the part of the US... that's all i can remember... the radio and television went after the first blast, and i was unconscious for a few days after that...

i awoke in a make shift hospital... the smell of death all around, my head bandaged... it appears as if i was hit by flying debris or something...

somebody told me that a full scale war had broken out... New York, Washington, San Diego, Norfolk, and some are in the mid west, i think Colorado, or North Dakota... i can't remember... all these had been hit...

and they said it was worse in the middle east... and that that Tokyo was also pretty much gone... they said that i shouldn't worry though, our submarine and air forces had launched retaliatory nuclear strikes on the suspected aggressors... and that everything would be alright... that everything was under control...

i had no way to confirm these reports... there ws no more internet... besides, the electricity was intermittant at best... god i hoped that they were all wrong... that was 3 weeks ago... the cases of radiation sickness are getting worse... more and more of em all over... i know the symptoms, i've read about it extensively... i fear that the worse has happened... they weren't wrong...

... and the worse is yet to come.

last night the sky to the northwest was lit up by a brilliant flash, and a loud rumbling sound followed about 30 seconds later...

ok... the lights are going out, battery must be dead... it's dark now, even though it's only 1 in the afternoon, i can't see any more to write anything... this is it... may whatever god exists up there have mercy on our souls... forgive us our stupidity...

how did it ever come to this...


--Mike

Mike...what have I told you about using that time machine of yours....

:cool: heeheeheeeheee...

--Mike

Hey Mike, can I have your watch? :rotfl:

Mike whats this weekend’s lottery numbers by any chance? Pretty handy, having a time machine. :)