Bush Warns Putin Over 'World War Three'

George W Bush, the US president, today warned that world leaders risk helping bring about "World War Three" unless they do more to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons.

David Blair: No warmth or trust behind the handshake Leader: Vladimir Putin in Teheran In remarks timed to coincide with Russian president Vladimir Putin's visit to Teheran, Mr Bush said the Islamic republic must remain isolated until it drops its nuclear ambitions.

New best friends: Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after their meeting in Teheran

"We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," Mr Bush told a White House press conference.

"So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War Three, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

Mr Bush's pointed statement follows the warm words exchanged by Mr Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, at an historic summit in Teheran this week.

After their meeting Mr Putin repeated Moscow's line that there is no evidence to suggest Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb, and pledged to continue helping the country develop its civil nuclear technology.

As the first Kremlin leader to visit Iran since Josef Stalin in 1943, he also secured the vital backing of Azerbaijan in a five-nation pact by the Caspian states to prevent the US from using the region as a staging ground for military action against Iran.

Mr Bush added today that he had no doubts that Russia appreciated the dangers of a nuclear Iran.

But he said that he wished to speak to Mr Putin about his meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme Iranian leader, during which he is said to have suggested a new proposal to end the nuclear stand-off.

"I'm looking forward to getting President Putin's read-out from the meeting," Mr Bush said.

"The thing I'm interested in is whether or not he continues to harbor the same concerns that I do.

"I will continue to work with Russia as well as other nations to keep a focused effort on sending Iran a message that you will remain isolated if you continue your nuclear weapons ambitions."

Although Russia lent its reluctant backing to two United Nations resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran, it has been stridently opposed to escalating the penalties after Teheran refused to stop its uranium enrichment programme.

Among Western diplomats, opinion is divided as to whether Russia — which has little to gain from a nuclear Iran — will eventually acquiesce.

Emboldened by its vast energy resources and desperate to reclaim its status as a global power, Russia could also stand to gain by seeing the United States dragged into a new, controversial and potentially debilitating Middle East conflict.

Those turbo-prop Bears are nearly as fast as our B-52s. Amazing actually. Plus superior range. That is what really forced the Navy to develop the F-14 in the first place, so as to defend the Fleet from Bear-launched stand-off weapons. The F-14 was the only interceptor that could race out to not just effectively prevent encroachment into the threat zone in time, but do so in an extremely intimidating manner. Then loiter along with the Bears in prop-wash (read machine-gun) range....escorting them away. Loitering as long as needed, since they had the endurance to do so thanks to the huge fuel reserve and swing-wings giving them significant efficiencies at that speed.

The F-14 now is unfortunately retired without a comparable replacement. The F-18 SuperTiger...just isn't close.

Meanwhile the Russian Bear is apparently becoming a threat again...as their regime proves its enmity. Anyways, the Soviets also had the Backfire and the Blackjack (An B-1 knock-off, obviously from espionage-gleaned schematics). These are serious threats that require a serious interceptor. The F-22, if the Navalized version was developed and produced, could be such a serious interceptor. The F-35, which is all that the Administration feels is enough...isn't. And won't be around for 6 or 7 years. The Russian threat is apparently getting more serious in conjunction with their Alliance with Red China. And they still have their First Strike Weapons, the SS-18, and their new Topol-M. We have retired...and dismantled unilaterally our best, and latest counterforce weapon, the MX missile.

There’s nothing there. Ronaldus Reagan proved that in 1989. Less there now then then.

Actually, he knew just the opposite. It was Jimmy Carter who said that we had an "Inordinate Fear of Communism" and was attempting to permanently ensconce Soviet military superiority by treaty mandates with horrifically unbalanced treaty terms. His agents Paul Warnke and Cyrus Vance never saw a Russian advantage or threat they couldn't minimize for the U.S. public-consumption.

What Reagan proved was that apart from their military threat, the Russian Bear was not a true superpower. That it was a totalitarian monster that bestrode its people...and was an evil empire. That its communist ideology was wicked and bankrupt, and that it existed merely for the sake of the power of its corrupt party bosses.

With these truths transmitted to its people...and the sure knowledge that we were no longer going to enable the regime and were not going to be intimidated or coerced anymore by their military...it collapsed. Their people knew enough was enough...and with Reagan always putting his hand out in friendship...they had no reason to fear us.

[quote]"You have lost control of your senses. Are you living somewhere in the EU?"[/quote] How do you figure,

dig a little deeper and think about it

look at all the damage 9-11 caused and it was all done with boxcutters, and how costly the war in Iraq is to our troops and our finances.The Al Qaeda main strategy is to blow up a car bomb to kill civilians once a week and get it on TV,

it works pretty good, the democrats are ready to surrender

the enemy is staging their war very cheap and with very little equipment.

then look at Israel and all the trouble caused by a few nuts with suicide bombs. I hope that doesnt start happening here in the USA at Christmastime, we would be damaged slightly.

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