Cold War Now "Officially" Over...
CNN Story
It will be interesting to see what this will mean for Russia and global politics. Maybe a "Cold War II" is in the works?
Quote:
(CNN) -- Seven eastern European countries are being welcomed into the NATO military alliance in a ceremony seen as marking the formal end of the Cold War....
...
The 55-year-old alliance was originally set up by the West to counter the Soviet Union's military might during the Cold War.
CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley said the accession of the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania effectively draws a line under that period of history.
But NATO's eastward expansion has raised concerns in Russia. All three nations were Soviet republics and hosted Red Army troops barely 15 years ago.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in a magazine interview last week that Moscow might revise its defense policy unless the alliance revises its military doctrine.
(CNN) -- Seven eastern European countries are being welcomed into the NATO military alliance in a ceremony seen as marking the formal end of the Cold War....
...
The 55-year-old alliance was originally set up by the West to counter the Soviet Union's military might during the Cold War.
CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley said the accession of the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania effectively draws a line under that period of history.
But NATO's eastward expansion has raised concerns in Russia. All three nations were Soviet republics and hosted Red Army troops barely 15 years ago.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in a magazine interview last week that Moscow might revise its defense policy unless the alliance revises its military doctrine.
It will be interesting to see what this will mean for Russia and global politics. Maybe a "Cold War II" is in the works?
Comments
Originally posted by Jubelum
CNN Story
It will be interesting to see what this will mean for Russia and global politics. Maybe a "Cold War II" is in the works?
Between who else? Russia is weak.
Originally posted by agent302
Between who else? Russia is weak.
Maybe in a standing, equipped army... but we are beyond that for the most part in the year 2004. (China not withstanding)
Russia has natural resources and more importantly, nukular weapons. It may not be a Cold War like we know... but there are still enough people living under the ChiComs and newly-free USSR states that are bound to be suspicious of NATO expansion.
Between who else? Russia is weak.
haha sorry but no they are far from it actually.
Lets see the worlds largest standing army combined with one of the worlds largest stock piles of nukes combined with an alliance to china. I am sorry but nato and the world as we know it does not stand a chance against Russia. The nuclear war alone, if it came down to it, would kill ever living thing on the planet. If nuclear war never happened Russia would still beat America hands down
The current shape of the russian army is a disaster : some officers are not even paid, like colonels. Some nuclear boat, like aircraft carriers, have so bad maintenance than a tchernobyl like disaster may happen.
For Russia the ennemie is not occident but the muslim world. Read a map, and you will easily understand why.
Others believe the true end of the cold war came in 98. http://www.beeline.ru/vc/nyse/report/1998/cmcm_eng.asp
In either event, the cold war has been over for some time. Russia is a NATO observer meaning Russian dignitaries attend NATO meetings and have been doing so since 2002.
Lets see the worlds largest standing army
The Chinese have the world's largest army.
Originally posted by Fran441
The Chinese have the world's largest army.
Luckily they still use row boats.
Originally posted by Fran441
The Chinese have the world's largest army.
Yeah I meant to say one of the worlds largest.
Originally posted by SilentEchoes
haha sorry but no they are far from it actually.
Lets see the worlds largest standing army combined with one of the worlds largest stock piles of nukes combined with an alliance to china. I am sorry but nato and the world as we know it does not stand a chance against Russia. The nuclear war alone, if it came down to it, would kill ever living thing on the planet. If nuclear war never happened Russia would still beat America hands down
Have you ever looked at the military plans that were developed during the Cold War to stop a Russian advance over Europe? The USSR developed a doctrine called "Echelon" in which they would throw vast numbers of troops at the problem in wave after wave of advancing troops. The US and NATO developed their response called AirLand (yes that's really what it was called) to counter the Russian echelons.
Not only could we have won a conventional (non-nuclear) war with the USSR in the 1970's, but their armed forces have not undergone the technological transformation that our forces have in the last decade. We would wipe the floor with them in a war today, assuming 2/3 of our standing army was not tied up in Iraq.
So I doubt they could afford a confrontation.
War just isn't profitable for anyone now days.
Originally posted by Scott
Do we even need NATO any more?
Depends on whether or not the charter is revised to reflect more modern threats to the security of member nations.
HOM: it's doubtful there would be a nuclear war, it would be conventional. But your point stands that if Russia and China allied themselves, it would be a bloody undertaking to defeat them.
Originally posted by Moogs
Depends on whether or not the charter is revised to reflect more modern threats to the security of member nations.
HOM: it's doubtful there would be a nuclear war, it would be conventional. But your point stands that if Russia and China allied themselves, it would be a bloody undertaking to defeat them.
Yes that would be a real ugly situation. Just the type that was always feared during the cold war.
Back then Russia and China never seemed to get along for very long. If you've ever watched the original Star Trek think Klingons and Romulans.
However circumstances are different nowadays and that could mean the possiblity of an alliance in the future.
Originally posted by Moogs
HOM: it's doubtful there would be a nuclear war, it would be conventional. But your point stands that if Russia and China allied themselves, it would be a bloody undertaking to defeat them.
I thought I was talking about a conventional war.
It is also unlikely that Russia and China then or now would align themselves. Nixon and Kissenger was absolutely brilliant when they played Russia against China. IMHO if a conventional war had broken out in Europe (where it would have happened) it would have been a very costly war in both terms of lives and money.
Believe you me, we had and still have dozens of plans to counter every symmetrical threat posed to the US. Box cutters, that's another story.
-- President Bush said Thursday the United States has notified Russia that it intends to pull out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, starting a six-month timetable for withdrawal and opening the way for the creation of an anti-missile defense system.
something Putin referred to as a "mistake".
Somehow, the same Russians who "can't cover their payroll", have enough money to do this:
Russia has successfully tested a hypersonic anti-Star Wars weapon capable of penetrating any prospective missile shield, a senior general said Thursday.
The prototype weapon proved it could maneuver so quickly as to make "any missile defense useless," Col.-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, told a news conference.
US: our missile defense system is not being designed with Russia in mind.
Russia: our new missiles are not designed with the US's missile defense in mind.
RIGHT.
Originally posted by Gilsch
Not so fast. http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/12/13/rec.bush.abm/something Putin referred to as a "mistake".
Somehow, the same Russians who "can't cover their payroll", have enough money to do this:
US: our missile defense system is not being designed with Russia in mind.
Russia: our new missiles are not designed with the US's missile defense in mind.
RIGHT.
I am not as concerned as much with NATO-Russia/China nukular holocaust as I am the pathetic record-keeping regarding soviet nukes. Overall, I think we ignore Russia at our own peril. They may no longer have the wealth or great military, but they can still make cuddly with the ChiComs... who are copying our technology...