Putin Empire Begins To Growl

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There is a most alarming article posted over at the Drudge Report. Basicly it's a synopsis of Putin's various military and political moves over the past few weeks. It really shows what direction this man is headed in. The cold war is alive and well. If anyone could hotlink, I would appreciate.

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), February 10, 2000

Answers

link

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 10, 2000.

I think this man is the most dangerous man in the world. Forget about Bin Laden and the rest of the terrorist bunch. Forget about China, forget about N. Korea. This man controls the firepower to make the US toast in less than a half day.

I am a born and bred American, but both my parents are WWII immigrants from what is now Belarus (formerly western USSR). We've discussed Russia and Putin in length, and their warnings were firm. In a nutshell, people are brutal in that area of the world and will go to any length to achieve power. The war in Chechnya and surrounding areas (including Bosnia) shows the brutality of their mindset. We sip coffee and discuss our differences, they slit your throat.

Now, I'm not an expert on history, but there is another famous leader of the 20th century whose rise parallels what is going on in Russia right now (hint: initials are A.H.) A country who once had power is now starving and yearns for the "glory days." A leader who rises from the dust to promise the public a return to those days...

Watch this man closely. The Russians are brilliant people. They could be the ones hacking our internet sites...

-- I AM (Trying@2B.Reasonable), February 10, 2000.


Calm Russia's Fears?

-- Kyle (midtnbuddy@juno.com), February 10, 2000.

Oh forgot, LMAO!

-- Kyle (midtnjobuddy@aol.com), February 10, 2000.

I am old enough to remember the Cold War days. The CUban missile crisis [and those stupid `hallway with a textbook over your head` drills for protection from a NUCLEAR bomb attack! (thanks, that will help) The fliers given to us at school to give our parents so they could make a `fallout shelter` in your basement! And the countless public service announcements telling us if we see a bright `flash` to just `Stop/Drop/and Cover`! (another way of saying: Bend-over and Kiss Your A-- Goddbye!) TPTB can claim to the masses all they want that the Cold War is over, but those of us that lived it-grew up with it know better! [if it`s not `cold` it`s because it`s `heating` up!] You are so right about this Putin. He comes out of the blue, rising faster than a Topel-M, and there seems to be no stoppng his rise to the top of the Russian nuclear stockpile! I have felt from the beginning that the NATO `action` in Kosovo would go down in hisory books as the first battle of WWIII. God help us, i hope i am wrong! This is a most dangerous time. As `we the people` are deciding on our next Leader, we better know that they will be able to step into the BEARS den and bring `we the people` out of it without a scratch!

-- mutter (murmur@ya.com), February 10, 2000.


...seems like as good a place as any to link to some background_information_on_Vladimir_Putin (from stratfor.com).

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), February 10, 2000.

Did you really expect anything else? Did you think that we have all things in common with the Russians?

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 10, 2000.

This is especially troubling as russia has recently made military treaties with china and north korea. the russians are also sending warships to iraqi ports( does this has something to do with that oil ship that was detained?).china,russia and n korea are all moblizing the armies. although this clash could ignite WW 3 it is not the only nuclear crisis posible on the near horizon. pakastan and india in kashmir is heating up with nuclear rederick. china and taiwan has been heating up and will intensefy fast as the upcoming tiawanese presidental elections on mar 20. isreal and lebenon are very close to all out war. peace process stalled with both the syrians and the palastinians. both isreal and syria said before if the couldnt come to a agreement it would probaly mean war. isreal is to believed to be a strong nuclear power even though it has never tested a nuclear weapon. there are also warnings of terrorism.i would say this crisis is nearing the leval of the cuban missle crisis, not in the crisis itself but in the common mistrust.i look for the to be a confration with the US vrs Russia (maybe China too) over Iraq and/or Kosovo, before the end of summer (possibly as early as spring).

-- uh-oh (ho@s#it.com), February 10, 2000.

Also seem like a good place to link to a WorldNetDaily commentator named J. R. Nyquist who's stuff you all may find interesting and on-topic. And maybe hair-raising.

"WND Nyquist Archives"

For example, regarding last September's bombings in Moscow: "Justification For Chechnia" Now, if that last got your attention, think over these two articles: "Deception""30 Events To Watch For".

To be clear, I am not suggesting that the Russ threats are the only ones acing us, near term. Far from it. However, those threats are not insignificant.

-- Redeye in Ohio (cannot@work.com), February 10, 2000.


Whoa. That old Doomer gut clutch.
Gonna put that text on this thread so the archives will have a record.
Yep it shore do shore up the ole confidence peace 'o mind a tad to have preps done. Just cuz this world ain't utopia yet.

[ Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only ]

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/02/10/timfgnrus02003.ht ml?1124027

Putin's empire begins to growl

FROM the northern Pacific coast to the Caucasus and beyond, Moscow's new leadership has embarked on an aggressive foreign policy, which has set it firmly on a collision course with Western interests.

In a series of actions over the past few days, the new Government of Vladimir Putin, Russia's acting President, has moved to bolster its military, befriend repressive regimes and put the West on notice that it will be a rival rather than a partner. Despite receiving a cautious welcome in the West, where Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State, praised Mr Putin this week for his open-mindedness, his actions have sent a very different signal.

Mr Putin, a former KGB agent who is expected to win next month's presidential elections virtually unopposed, seems in the space of only a month in power to have embarked on a much more aggressive path than his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin.

Igor Ivanov, his Foreign Minister, visited North Korea yesterday and signed a friendship pact with the regime of Kim Jong Il, a pariah in the international community.

Today he will follow up that move by visiting Japan, where Russia has indicated that it will not honour a commitment by Mr Yeltsin to resolve the dispute over the Kurile Islands, territory seized by Stalin at the end of the Second World War.

Russia is further making its presence felt in the region with the delivery, expected this month, of a guided-missile destroyer to China, the latest addition of sophisticated Russian hardware to Beijing's growing naval arsenal.

The sudden activity in the Far East has been matched by other initiatives closer to Moscow. The Kremlin has just assigned the sole right to extract and exploit Chechnya's oil and gas reserves to Rosneft, Russia's last state-owned oil giant.

Last week the presidential Security Council passed a new Russian military doctrine, which relaxes the rules of engagement of Moscow's nuclear forces. From next month, when the doctrine comes into effect, the Russian head of state will be allowed to use atomic weapons in conflicts that do not necessarily threaten Russia's territory.

The change in policy is regarded as an important shift when coupled with other moves on the military front. Yesterday Russia successfully test fired a Topol-M ballistic missile, its new-generation inter-continental weapon, which was launched from the Plesetsk site in northern Russia and hit the Kamchatka peninsula more than 5,000 miles away in the Pacific. Mr Putin also promised recently to double military expenditure after his campaign in Chechnya.

The build-up comes as relations with Nato remain largely frozen. A forthcoming visit by Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the Nato Secretary-General, to Moscow has been postponed. No date is likely to be set until after the Russian presidential elections on March 26. The other cause for concern in the West last week was the seizure in the Gulf by the US Navy of the Russian tanker Volgoneft-147, which was found to be smuggling Iraqi oil, thus helping Saddam Hussein to break UN sanctions.

Despite the concern caused by Russia's recent actions, Western policymakers said that it was still too early to tell if Mr Putin would emerge as a friendly or hostile leader during his rule, which is likely to run for at least the next five years.

"Part of the problem is that we know so little about him," one senior American official said. "What we do know is that he will be much more difficult to influence than Yeltsin; our leverage is much weaker." Britain is hoping that a visit to Moscow this month by Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, will help to establish where Mr Putin is heading.
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-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), February 10, 2000.



A thank you to Possible Impact for the link. I know in recent weeks we have probably read about all of these incidents. But when taken as a whole a definate pattern is emerging. Often by the time one is perceived as being dangerous, they are halfway towards their goals. He is the kind that shakes one hand, while feeling around for the soft spot to drive the knife in with the other. This is one time in my life I'd like to be wrong...

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), February 10, 2000.

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