NEWS: Russia Develops New Nukes

i'm not wrong. so there.

putin is puffing his chest out to china, but to the US as well. the us military is spread way too thin right now (as you should now) and so putin can act tougher policy-wise. have you seen how he is reducing the amount of democracy over there right now too? bottom line, putin is ex-kgb and i don't trust him. he needs a good judo chop to the neck.

NMD is a huge waste of money, i had to write a bunch of policy briefs on the subject in college and i'll just say i'm not alone in that opinion.

i know some NMD-based technology will prove valuable in non-military application down the road, but there are better ways to advance our technology than overspending on a non-practical missle system.

a NMD system will eat away at MADD too and that is not a good thing. we should focus on reducing WMDs worldwide, not focus on ways to make our WMDs more effective and other nations' less effective.

note: the military-industrial complex loves fear almost as much as it loves the money it makes promoting it.




ps. boo!

[Edited on Nov 19, 2004 by luckyride]

Well hyou are right its not the best system.

I have studied putin for over 5 years now. I have a teacher who spends more time in Russia then teaching I think. I also am Russaphile. There is more to this game then face value ex-kgb issues. Putin must show power, for tons of reasons. Unlike the US the states of Russia are very weakly placed together. This positioning stabalizes the not only relations with china it helps the country.

Putin may look bad but he seriously isnt.

Id love to see a reduction of WMD's but I just dont see it as a viable option anytime soon. Everyone wants them, everyone wants to get them, and everyone wants more then everyone else.

The problem with MADD is that the people who are joining the community arent all stable. Hell look how close we came to war during the cold war. Not haveing some kind of defense may make for a dangerous situation later. BUT thats all debatable.

by the way the military industrial complex loves fear as much as every other political group likes fear, from terror to screaming about the president being a nazi. I think fear is healthy... terror is not.

Thanks for the other side of the story. Thanks for being civil I'll try to do the same.

ohh your still wrong with Putin

"Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'" - Yoda





ps. time will tell with putin.

[Edited on Nov 19, 2004 by luckyride]

Very true (on putin)

The reason russia is developing new nukes is to maintain the Mutually assured destruction principle that meant the chances of America ever attacking russia were very small, especially not as a first strike. With a working missile defence shield russia (and everywhere else) would be much much more at risk of a first strike. Even if the missile shield didn't work very well, if the president believed that it works then he's more likely to use nuclear weapons. Russia have to show or even just posture, that the american missile defence system does not change the MAD principle.

However the american administration are never going to allow any balance in international power, they are not going to be satisfied by anything other than supremacy and that is going to cause another arms race with potentially devastating consequences

Well, Russia can announce that, if they wish. Being able to actually carry out production is another matter altogether.

Russia's military is hanging by a thread (in more ways than one), and Putin knows it.

Mikoyan-Gurevich and Sukhoi have seen their latest aircraft programmes either cancelled or directed to other nations because Russia can't afford to build new jets for their Air Force. They can't afford a regular flying schedule, for that matter. Many of the best Russian pilots are routinely hired out to firms that offer "Be a Fighter Pilot for a Week" deals to tourists for 4-5 grand. Not too long ago, there was a fiasco about nuclear submarine skippers not getting paid. Today, the Russian army has an AWOL/desertion attrition rate that's an embarassment. Putin's talking about going to an all-volunteer force, but can't even pay all his (much lower wage) conscripts, let alone full-time professionals.

Develop advanced nukes? Sure, in theory. But the idea that Putin's Russia can actually build said advanced nukes? Yeah, ok. He doesn't have enough resources to keep the homegrown mafia from sending off women into sex slavery around the world, let alone to build advanced tactical nuclear weapons in quantities great enough to break through even a second-rate missile shield.

How about this theory? Putin is attempting to keep Russia more relevant than it is in today's arena by sounding tough. He knows, just as well as anyone with a basic understanding of military matters does, that Russia's global projection is basically nil at this point. So he rattles the nuclear sabre, even though the idea of America nuking Russia sounds, at this point, more ludicrous than ever before.

Life was so much better during the cold war, bring it on!

Russia's finacial issues have been getting better as of late, dont jump to any conclusions on can or cant yet. We may be amazed.