Now, THIS could be a problem...

Post by **Teaos** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:46 pm

I remember reading something about that a few years back but nothing recently so I'd be inclined to say no...

Deepcrush · Post by **Deepcrush** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:11 pm

Tsukiyumi wrote:I still think a revitalized, pissed off Russia is bad for everyone, regardless of your location.

Very true.

Post by **Teaos** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:13 pm

And I personally feel safer knowing there is someone with the power and bulls to stand up to america.

Post by **Mikey** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:30 pm

You're correct to be scared of us, Teaos. Next sheep shortage we have, we'll be coming for you!

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:58 pm

It's nice living in a country with absolutely nothing of value, sometimes.

Quick! Hide the Guiness!

Deepcrush · Post by **Deepcrush** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 3:10 pm

Russia isn't standing up to the US as that would lead to war. Putin is being smart and just pulling away from US policy where he can look as though he is acting tough. Where in truth he is moving in a manner that he knows the US can do nothing about.

Post by **Mikey** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:32 pm

Hmmm... Does Garry Kasparov have a shot at the presidency? Yes, THAT Garry kasparov, and he IS running.

Deepcrush · Post by **Deepcrush** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:36 pm

You should ask at the same time - does he have a target painted on his ass!

Post by **Mikey** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:37 pm

Nah, he's not running in Ukraine.

Enkidu · Post by **Enkidu** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:31 pm

Funny, I was talking with my brother yesterday about Garry Kasparov.....
Was wondering if Putin and his cronies where confident enough to make him go the way of many Putin critics, who seem to die quite a lot, or whether he is too high profile. He certainly got his head kicked in by the security forces on occasion.
Teaos, a fascist (if not there yet they are getting very close) Russia throwing its weight around with their neighbours (many of whom they believe are their natural tributaries) is not a counter balance to America, it is a threat to Eastern European and central Asian stability.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:59 pm

Threatening eastern Europe and central Asia is pretty mild compared to the apparent US desire to wreck the entire middle-east, or the Cold War MAD scenario. Putin's Russia certainly can't be described as democratic, but neither is it fascist - it's more of an authoritarian mix of communist and tsarist ideologies.

Post by **Mikey** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:03 pm

I think (and hope) that Kasparov is too well-known in the West to be "disappeared" like other Putin opponents.

I also hope that this recent saber-rattling is part of Putin's attempts to keep his own puppets in power, by instilling an anachronistic sense of old "Soviet" national pride.

And Seafort - while I am wholeheartedly against the current form of the US involvement in the Middle East, don't be one of the people who mindlessly uses the US as a whipping post; remember that it was the UK which shaped the nature of the region.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:12 pm

Exactly - while the UK's involvement in Iraq was hardly all sweetness and light, we at least left the place in a condition resembling a working nation-state. The current US administration, on the other hand, has left it in a state more closely resembling anarchy at best and all-out civil war at worst. Their involvement in the region isn't the problem - their incompentence in doing so is.

Post by **Mikey** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:34 pm

Agreed. I've already stated my position on the current shape of US involvement. However, I was referring to the form of the region in general resulting from (among other things) the post-WWII British gerrymandering of the area, esp. the "southwestern" middle east.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:39 pm

What was that? I was referring to the British control of the area post-WW1. Post WW2, while I know a bit about the withdrawal from Aden and the installation of the Shah, isn't a period I know much about.