Putin warns arms race not over yet

The Washington Times ^ | May 11, 2006 | Michael Mainville

[neverdem]

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that the U.S.-Russian arms race is not over and called for a strengthening of his nation's nuclear and conventional forces so Moscow can better resist foreign pressure.

    The remarks, in his seventh state of the nation address since taking power in 2000, follow increasingly sharp criticism of Russia's democratic and foreign policy directions from the United States, including a harsh rebuke by Vice President Dick Cheney last week in Lithuania.

    "It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race," said Mr. Putin, who pointed out in the nationally televised address that U.S. defense spending is 25 times higher than Russia's and said his country needs to catch up.

    "Their house is their fortress? Well done," he said. "But it means that we must build our house strongly, reliably, because we see what is going on in the world.

    "We must always be ready to counter any attempts to pressure Russia in order to strengthen positions at our expense," he continued. "The stronger our military is, the less temptation there will be to exert such pressure on us."

    Mr. Putin said Russia's military would work to strengthen both its nuclear deterrent and its conventional forces but without repeating "the mistakes of the Soviet Union and of the Cold War" by draining the country's resources.

    Many analysts attribute the collapse of communism in Russia to the Kremlin's inability to keep up with U.S. arms spending during the Reagan administration, particularly its space-based anti-missile initiative known familiarly as "Star Wars."

    Skyrocketing world energy prices have provided oil-rich Russia with windfall surpluses that could be used to fund at least a modest defense buildup. Russian revenues totaled $41.8 billion compared with expenditures of $25.5 billion in the...

[neverdem]

IMHO, this bellowing is basically Russki paranoia. An increase in Russian military power also will give the Chicoms second thoughts about confronting their erstwhile ally in Siberia.

Chinese reoccupying Russia(and mutual hatred)

[Elpasser]

The smaller the dog, the shriller the bark.

[Thunder90]

I HIGHLY doubt that the recent arms buildup is directed at Russia' allies to the southeast (China). Rather, it is directed at the United States.

[Thunder90]

Ping!!!

[coconutt2000]

Makes you wonder if Putin is making a run for President For Life.

Standard Operating Procedure for dictators is to point at American aggression, power, wealth, and other policies as a reason for a strong, central government in a time of crisis.

(Of course... the crisis is usually locally manufactured.)

[L98Fiero]

"Putin warns arms race not over yet"

That's because we are still waiting for Russia to drag her tired butt accross the finish line in dead last place.

[sgtbono2002]

They've gotten a few bucks ahead now. What with selling arms and nuclear advice to Iran, they figure they can blow some on sustaining the old Russian ego.

[marron]

An unequal comparison to the US may be a little humiliating, which may give some impetus to rebuild. But the real threat is from China, and from his own muslim separatists.

These two threats are real, and he has to prepare for them or else.

[oxcart]

Wow, news like this is sending my Vanguard precious metals fund through the roof.

[GSlob]

Don't forget the waste and corruption coefficient. Out of the resources allocated, part will disappear without a trace, another part will be stolen, and still the third part will be wasted ["The Gaul is divided in three parts..."]. He'd do much better by allocating the bulk of resources to such basics as military housing - for then within a couple of years he could sort it out, and that alone would do a lot towards retaining personnel.

[kinoxi]

why do i get a visual of the cowardly lion in the wizard of saying "put em up, put em up..."

[kinoxi]

should be an oz in there

[Thunder90]

Armies based on Communist strategy don't care about how their soldiers are treated. This can be seen in Russia, China, and Cuba.

[EricT.]

How's he gonna pay for it?

[EricT.]

Try reading ALL of the article dummkopf!

[rfreedom4u]

I'll bet if we cut off aid to Russia their arms program will suffer a setback.

[Thunder90]

We give over 5 billion dollars to Russia on an annual basis.

[kinoxi]

how about we cut off all foreign aid for say, six months, and send the US taxpayers that supply it a nice 'thank you' check. yeah, i know, pipe dream

[MaineVoter2002]

Well he's wrong. The US stopped long ago

[Conservative Firster]

Russia launches production of new military helicopter

MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti) - First-stage flight testing of next-generation attack helicopters for the Russian Air Force has been completed and the choppers will soon be in service, an official said Thursday.

Head of the Air Force press service Alexander Drobyshevsky said that the Mi-28N Night Hunter had completed its first test flights, and the Rostov Helicopter Plant (Rosvertol) will launch full-scale production in the immediate future.

The company will initially produce 20 Mi-28Ns under a three-year contract with the Air Force, the official said.

According to Drobyshevsky, a serial model of the Mi-28N Night Hunter conducted its first flight in late December and has made 140 flights since then.

The helicopter is primarily designed to locate and destroy enemy armored vehicles, personnel, small surface ships, low-speed air targets and fortifications and to lay mine fields day or night in adverse weather conditions.

High reliability and powerful weaponry make the chopper competitive on global aircraft markets, the Rosvertol press service said. Military experts said helicopter's effectiveness was four to five times higher than of any existing helicopters of its type.

[RHINO369]

They can't even govern their own nation. They are losing a civil war, and I just read a week ago their last spy satellite stopped working. I just hope there thermo nukes work so when China invades Russia in the next 20 years, they'll destroy each other instead of working together to destroy us.

[strategofr]

"I HIGHLY doubt that the recent arms buildup is directed at Russia' allies to the southeast (China). Rather, it is directed at the United States."

Agreed. Of course, Putin's tactics have completely changed since the Cold War. He will not start to create massive tank armies to try to frighten Europe.

However, in some ways the Russians have gotten more clever. They have insulated themselves better from the cause of terrorism---which in the 20th century they were the obvious cause of for anybody with eyes to see. Now, they have positioned themselves as a country who is "against" terrorism, but happens to oppose every constructive initiative that could be carried out---while providing Iran---the primary sponsors of terrorism in the world--- with nuclear reactors and ICBM's.

Meanwhile, they are selling weapons to about a third of the countries in the world, and building diplomatic credibility everywhere.

It is, in fact, a pretty good strategy.

[Thunder90]

Also, the Chinese in Sibera are there with the concent of the Russian government. Russia keeps a very tight control on immigration, and the Chinese keep a lid on their northern border. basically, to leave China for Russia, a worker needs the approval of the Chinese and Russian governments.

Therefore, there is much more border control in Russia than there is here in America.

[Thunder90]

Now why does Russia need this???

[spanalot]

"Military experts said helicopter's effectiveness was four to five times higher than of any existing helicopters of its type. "

Not this crap again - reminds me of Duranty's Pulitzer articles that bragged about nonexistent 4' diameter cabbages being grown in the "worker's paradise".

[Thunder90]

A Stinger missle or other sutible MANPAD would bring that chopper down.

[Conservative Firster]

MI-28N Video

6.16MB file slow download

Right click save as Video

[Tailgunner Joe]

[edpc]

Bush was right.....Putin does have a soul. He just failed to see it was black.

[359Henrie]

Game,set, match dude.

[nickcarraway]

Putin is probably saying this so that we will pay them not to do this.

[do the dhue]

How well have we done at 'dovei no provei' (I am sure that I butchered the spelling). Reagan used to say that to Gorbachev every time they got together. For those who don't know, remember, or were not around, it means 'trust but verified'.

[neverdem]

We give over 5 billion dollars to Russia on an annual basis.

The wise expenditure of over 5 billion dollars has paid dividends in spades. The Cooperative Threat Reduction score sheet shows over 6000 weapons have been decommissioned, over 1000 missiles, submarines and bombers have been destroyed and enough uranium for 7000 nuclear weapons diluted and sold as peaceful power reactor fuel.

What else are we giving them foreign aid for?

[kinoxi]

i wish i could believe it was (is) being done for positive purposes. the money that they would have used to contain has gone to r&d. at the loss of their containment budget of course

[Stonewall Jackson]

Well, those guys to the southeast, just across the Amur River, have over 7,000 tanks, 6,000 armored personnel carriers, and 22,000 artillery pieces.

Now it is just a guess, but I'd say Putin is more frightened of Beijing than he is of Washington.

[donmeaker]

The russkies are committing demographic suicide. In a generation, there will be no more Russia, but rather, Russhistan. The only people breeding in Russia are Muslims.

Putin is doing what he can to slow the take over until after his time. That includes some qualitative improvements in weapons, as well as sucking up to Islamic nations, so long as they do not target him.

[Wiz]

‚Ò‚ñ‚‡

[Wiz]

ping

[Pelayo]

Standard Operating Procedure for dictators is to point at American aggression, power, wealth, and other policies as a reason for a strong, central government in a time of crisis.

Don't take it personally though, the tactic is to point to a dragon. Any dragon, but the more potentially dangerous the better. The US, because of its relative power, does makes for a great dragon.

[coconutt2000]

Dragon... bear, wolf, Bush, America, Jews... The pattern is the same.

It is important to always point out that the difference that validates the consolidation of power is if the threat is real, and if the government is willing to give up the power it gains during a crisis. In the case of tin pot third world dictators, their accusations directed at any dragon are dishonest grabs at power. Nothing more, nothing less.

George Washington was a big fan of Cincinnatus, the twice appointed dictator of Rome who gave it up in order to return to his farm... twice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnatus
http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/historia/people/cincinnatus01.htm

[Brian Allen]

<< The smaller the dog, the shriller the bark. >>

Thank you.

For a refreshing word from the wise!

The Peking-eze do a bit of similarly-hesperophobic barking, too.

[strategofr]

"Also, the Chinese in Sibera are there with the concent of the Russian government. Russia keeps a very tight control on immigration, and the Chinese keep a lid on their northern border. basically, to leave China for Russia, a worker needs the approval of the Chinese and Russian governments."

So this must be what everybody is referring to when they talk about the Chinese displacing the Russians in Siberia. Thanks for the explanation.

"Therefore, there is much more border control in Russia than there is here in America."

That figures.

[Pelayo]

George Washington was a big fan of Cincinnatus, the twice appointed dictator of Rome who gave it up in order to return to his farm... twice.

Cincinnatus was also anti-democratic, and anti-demophile. Caesar, ironically, wasn't.

[coconutt2000]

Cincinnatus was also anti-democratic, and anti-demophile. Caesar, ironically, wasn't.

And George Washington owned slaves. What's your point?

The fact is that Cincinnatus turned down absolute power when the job he'd been "elected" to do was finished. Regardless of his lack of "progressive" and "modern" ideals, Cincinnatus' example is important, and the role his legend played in our early Republic is incalculable.

[Centurion2000]

Now why does Russia need this???

Why do we need the AH-64 Apache or the AH-66 Commanche ? Kind of a strange question to ask don't you think?

[Thunder90]

Russia is not really doing much that would require such hardware...

[anonymoussierra]

Check mate.

[Romanov]

Doveraj, no proveraj (Trust, but Verify) - unfortunately under the Klinton Regime, the On-Site Inspection Agency (now the Defense Threat Reduction Agency) was forced to change this motto (Trust but Verify) to (Trust AND Verify) because Klintoon thought the Reagan phrase "offended" the Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians.

[Centurion2000]

Russia is not really doing much that would require such hardware...

Well, I'm gonbna play devil's advocate here for a moment. Nations seem to make certain that their 2nd Amendment rights are perfectly exercised. How exactly would you react if someone said "America doesn't need those nukes, they don't need all those tanks, they don't need all those helicopters either." It's their country, if they want to build attack helicopters, why not? This particular model was out in the 80's BTW.

Also they do have issues with Chechnya and a bunch of secessionist movements inside russia. They may not be doing much now, but that's why we have a military, for the future wars.

[Romanov]

"I HIGHLY doubt that the recent arms buildup is directed at Russia' allies to the southeast (China). Rather, it is directed at the United States."

Such continued statements show the "hobbyist" nature of your military "analysis" - perhaps you'd like to back up these statements and claims by providing an analysis of the Russian armed forces and how their tactics and weaponry are solely aimed at countering US forces. Hmmmm... Perhaps an impossible task?

Or would you just prefer to continue to express your FEAR about a country that isn't much of a threat because its forces are in tatters? Have you ever realized that "advanced technology" is only as good as the people who can operate it? Have you ever realized that the conscript Army that Russia has is barely capable of safely conducting "in-garrison" operations, let alone carrying out the type of military activities that would be necessary to counter the US, or its allies?

Do you realize that the fear-mongering you engage in is just another way of projecting your own lack of faith in America and the men and women serving in its Armed Forces? Perhaps if you had actually served with these men and women you'd know first hand that a finer military has never been created and maintained in the history of mankind.

But, let's just continue to disparage them by crying the "sky is falling" anytime Putin sneezes. Nothing they or the Chicoms do can EVER defeat us - think about why. Do you have an answer? If you have faith in America the answer is clear.

Are you aware of the fallacy in worshiping at the alter of Golytsin? I've noticed that a lot of your posts seem based upon the works of Golytsin and the dupes he uses to proliferate his false prophecies. What is incredible is the fact that the Golytsin-ites (let's call them "Phoney Patriots") believe the following (not an all inclusive list):

1.) The collapse of the Soviet Union is a ruse: This means Ronald Reagan and the rest of the great men and women who carried out his plans to finish with the Soviet Union once and for all were just dupes and didn't really accomplish what they set out for.

2.) The communist bloc is just playing dead waiting to strike: Once again, a laughable charge. And when levied by people who include Ukrainians and Poles on their ping lists is even funnier. If you believe in Golytsin surely you would realize that the "Poles and Ukrainians" are all in on the Soviet plot..... (ridiculous, isn't it?)

3.) Golytsin is an honest broker serving the free world: Golytsin tells us that the KGB cannot be trusted. Wait a sec, that's a good statement, but WHO is Golytsin? A KGB agent. That's right. He's a KGB agent. But, wait, you say he defected so that means he's an honest broker - ok, but Golytsin tells you NOT to believe KGB defecters (except for him of course) because they are fake defecters and sent "to sully his reputation".. But, to believe that you'd have to, once again, believe Golytsin over loyal American officials who have determined otherwise. So, what you've actually done is place your faith in a "former" KGB agent over your fellow Americans.

And, btw, that means you believe a "former" KGB whose sole purpose in life seems to be making $$$ off of sullying the legacy of Ronald Reagan.

But you can't really blame him - people who are willing to betray the country of their birth would sell their own mothers out in order to make $$$$. Can you imagine if Aldrich Ames had defected and then, after his usefulness to the KGB had run out, he made a living in Russia writing books about how the US's sole purpose in life was to enslave the Slavic world? You'd think that ANY Russian who believed such a man who betrayed his own country was an idiot - wouldn't you? Now think about Golytsin....