Anyone else notice - starting to feel a lot like the Cold War with Russia

[leftyladyfrommo]

I keep watching Putin and I have to say that this is starting to feel really familiar to me. I lived all thru the Cold War with Russia.

So now we have Russia sending arms to Iran and Syria? We have Russia standing side by side with China and North Korea (well maybe not N. Korea).

We have Russian spies getting poisoned by counter spies. Remember Spy vs. Spy?

I hope Putin doesn't stand behind a podium and pound his shoe on it. That memory is kind of ingrained in the back of my mind.

The only thing I don't see is a huge Russian arms build up which was made the last Cold War so scary.

People don't remember how scary that whole thing was. I was just a little kid standing up in the back seat of the car and made the statement that Xmas Eve would be a good time for the Russians to attack because everyone was busy with Christmas. I was just a little kid and was that aware of the Cold War and the Russian threat.

[SutaUvaca]

1. Oh yes, it does feel familiar.

The poisoned spy story was one thing, then in yesterday's news was Putin saying Russia would deliver weapons (anti missile missiles, I think) to Iran, in spite of objection by the U.S.

I remember when hiding under a desk at school during a cold war air raid drill thinking two things:
How well does a desk protect you from an A-bomb, and
Couldn't Russia just attack us at noon on Friday, and everyone except kids in air raid drills would be ignoring them.

[Annces]

2. Except now our leaders, Bush1 and Bush2 are very friendly with Putin

and want to be more like them, as well as like China.

[havocmom]

3. Now that the US has bled out resources and personnel in Iraq

and Afghanistan, the Big Bear knows we are too busy and too weak. Putin and Company know a little bit about how wars in that area can wear down even a mighty giant.

Same play, different players. Putin is Mob just like bush is. All part of the Corporatist plan.

[MadHound]

4. You're not going to see a massive buildup of Russian arms

Putin and other Russian leaders learned their lesson from the collapse of the Soviet Union. If they again try to outspend America in an arms race, they will crash their economy. It has yet to truly recover from the collapse of the USSR, if it goes down again, well the results would be ten times worse. Putin and his cohorts aren't going to make that mistake.

And yes, Russia is giving aid to Iran, Syria and China. There are two reasons for this. The first is economic and petroleum driven, Russia is trying to play the Great Game in the ME, stake out claims to petroleum reserves. Also Russia is allying with others to provide something of an economic and military counterweight to the US.

I seriously doubt that Russia will ever get into another ideological/military standoff with the US such as we saw in the Cold War. First of all, both sides agree over the ideology of cold blooded crony capitalism that increases the wealth and power of the few while giving out misery to the many. No, the main disagreements will come out of conflicts over territory, markets, etc. And this will never become a "hot war", there's no reason for it progress that far. All the Sino-Russian axis has to do is start selling dollars, and we're in a world of hurt.

[nealmhughes]

5. I think Russia is too busy trying to be a "real" country again...they really were starting

to lose their old fervor after Kruschev, you know. They now have the gas and oil monies, and we must recall that Siberia is still basicly wide open for exploitation.

I view Russia as being a lot like the US was a hundred years ago: lots of potential, equally headstrong in their desire to be a major world power, etc., corrupt megacapitalism run amok, civil service full of graft. Gee, substitute Boss Tweed for Vlad, and what's the diff?

We need to treat Russia as a twin brother, not a step-cousin who is suffered attendance at the holiday table with the rest of the "real family." It's good for the Russian's egos and business beyond arms sales.

[Kahuna]

6. I've been thinking for a while that Vlad would do whatever he could

to undermine the US. But I also think that China has thrown in with him. Especially when it comes to dealing with Iran and N. Korea. I believe that China and Russia are building a super power alliance to check the super power of the US. I believe that our intelligence agencies, politicians and M$M are aware of this and this is just another instance of them trying to keep us in the dark. Afterall, they wouldn't want to have to admit that the boy king is responsible for the renewing the cold war. And that this time, we have no chance of winning it.

[NEDem]

7. Not surprising, given the behavior of the US lately

I think our leaders have brought this on themselves. It really makes sense from their point, the US has been out of control for a few years and I think the rest of the world is just a little nervous of our leaders right now. Can't say that I blame them.

[doc03]

8. Don't worry * looked into his eyes. nt

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. I tried looking into his eyes - but I didn't see much - just eyes.

I absolutely couldn't believe it when Bush said that.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Did you forget the USA helped bin Laden and the Afghan Mujahideen...

...terrorize the Soviet Union into leaving Afghanistan defeated and demoralized in the 1980's?

I bet Putin didn't forget.

Don

[leftyladyfrommo]

11. I sure don't get the feeling Putin is fond of us.

I think he thinks Bush is just a fool. Which he is.

I don't think Russia is down for the count. They were powerful once and I don't think they have forgotten. Putin will do whatever it takes to make his country powerful again.