Posted on 04/03/2007 9:07:58 AM PDT by jhpigott
Russia anxious about military action against Iran near its border
18:25 | 03/ 04/ 2007 http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070403/63027715.html
MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is concerned about a possible attack on Iran and insists that military action near its border is totally unacceptable, the first deputy foreign minister said Tuesday.
Russia, which is separated from Iran in the south by three tiny South Caucasus nations and shares a sea border with the Islamic Republic, has been actively promoting a diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue.
"Any military action near our border is totally unacceptable," Andrei Denisov said. "We are strongly against it and we are doing our best to prevent it from happening."
Media reports in late March said Washington was preparing to strike at Iran in early April but Denisov denied the information.
"Our partners say movement of military structures in the Persian Gulf is part of a planned rotation," the diplomat said.
Yury Baluyevsky, the head of the Russian General Staff, warned Washington earlier Tuesday that it should think twice before launching a military campaign against Tehran as it would have global implications.
"Our strategic partners have already got bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.
The U.S. Administration sees Iran as a "rogue state" and is determined to stop the Islamic Republic, diplomatically or otherwise, from obtaining nuclear weapons. Washington now plans to deploy a missile defense shield in Central Europe allegedly to protect itself from potential missile strikes from Iran or North Korea.
The UN Security Council passed a new resolution on Iran March 24 toughening economic sanctions against the country suspected of a covert nuclear program. Russia, which is building a $1-billion nuclear power plant in Iran, has resisted any strict sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
It makes them nervous, but I'm not sure how "understandable" that is.
Russia is long enamored of conspiracy-theory beliefs involving the U.S. trying to "encircle" them and destroy their Russianness and suchlike, and those beliefs are rooted in paranoia. So, well, okay, I suppose the beliefs are indeed "understandable". I understand full well that Russia is arrogant, feels an imperialistic sense of entitlement towards her neighbors, and is paranoid regarding US intent. That's why the prospect of military action in Iran - a different country which has nothing to do with Russia - makes them "nervous". Yes, I do understand.
If that's their "best", then they need to try harder. They have coddled and supported Iran, and have therefore helped to create the monster that now needs to be dealt with. If they don't want military action near their border, then they'd better get with the program.
now that’s a good question
drive oil prices up
make us look bad
over-extend our military
Our problems are the left keeping the gloves on our military. If things went so far south in the wot, with russia/iran/syria/china keeping on running interference, I would hope for a President that would let our guys cut loose. We can't be beat. As my (soldier) nephew said, "we could literally take on the world".
I just try to think of it like this (and I know this is not a perfect analogy):
What if Russia or China had a beef with either Mexico or Canada and military intervention was a real possibility (if not probable), how would the U.S. feel
Calm down, calm down, Andrei. There's a new sheriff in town.
I wouldn’t be so arrogant to say “we can’t be beat”
Or military (hands down) is magnitudes more lethal than those countries you listed. But under the right circumstances our noses could be bloodied conventially. We are the best, but we are not unbeatable.
And remember, Russia holds the ultimate trump card (granted, we’ve got it too) - nukes, a lot of them, and the means to deliver them
A fair analogy. I'm not sure how "the U.S." would feel - perhaps indeed they (meaning, the U.S. government) would behave similar to how Russia is. I can't say.
How I would feel, though, would presumably depend on which party I believed to be in the right. If Mexico had a regime akin to Iran's, with nuclear ambitions, and a history of proxy warfare (and I - like Russia re:Iran! - had had troubles with precisely the type of terror group that they had supported), for crying out loud I would welcome the intervention of any reasonably-sane state!
Russia, of course, cares not for who is in the right, but for which outcome threatens their power (or imagined/aspired power) in the region. That's my point.
“Russia, of course, cares not for who is in the right, but for which outcome threatens their power (or imagined/aspired power) in the region. That’s my point.”
I concur 100%. Unfortunately, they see any military intervention by the U.S. in Iran as a threat to said “power” and are a little skiddish about the prospect. Let’s just hope if the bombs do start dropping, the Russian fly-boys stay grounded and they don’t mobilize any army groups. Understandably ;) I would expect them to raise their alert status, but hopefully send a clear signal to us that they are going to only watch from a distance
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