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This is an auto-bot-translation of a german editorial from die Zeit. It points at the same direction of what I said: that...
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Originally Posted by Skybird
The Russians can afford to modernize their armed forces, maybe even to slightly increase them, and they can afford to produce more ICBMs than a US missile shield could protect against, and by that "flood" any such defense system. But they cannot afford to enter a new arms race and produce military goods at the frequency and quantitity they did during the USSR era. Thus, there eventually will be a cheap nuclear arms race, but no conventional one - just a constant modenrizing of Russian forces. ...
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(...or the attempt to do so).
However, the article points at corruption and the immense internal resistance of the Russian generals against Putin'S reforms and raise in defense budget, that has prevented them from acchieveing what could have been acchieved if the money would have been spend for better use.
Russia's military spendings fell from 42.5 billion dollars in 1992 to 13.6 billion in 1997, and since then were raised by Putin to 35.4 billion on 2007 (source: Die Zeit, German original text)
This is an assessement of the dangers and risks in Moldawia, Transnistria and the Crimean.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...575238,00.html
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Originally Posted by Der Spiegel
In a guest article for the newspaper Nezavisimaya gazeta, Arbatov writes: "A certain group of people in Russia, in the political parties, mass media, government agencies and business community, has come to the conclusion that Ukraine and Georgia will undoubtedly join NATO. They may certainly join, but only after being reduced somewhat in size: Ukraine without the Crimea and the Donetsk Basin, and Georgia without Abkhazia and South Ossetia." According to Arbatov, the adherents to this line of thinking are already preparing for the virtual secession of the disputed territories.
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Yesterday it was reported that Russia prepares to establish permanent military bases both in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Abkhazia first announced that it will stay separate from Russia, one day later announced their wish to join Russia. Since it is hard to imagine how both regions will be able to survive as independent nations, a joining with russia sounds reasonable. Why not when after the last Georgian has left, the population - since a very very long time - more or less unisono tends to line up with Russia anyway. This sympathy is living since decades, if not centuries, and is not originated by the passport distribution by russia.