strategic nuclear forces...should be ready to deliver a quick and adequate reply to “any” aggressor. ................. There is a message there and I don’t believe it only applies to NATO. If I were Puttin I wouldn’t be too concerned with NATO. His problem will be in the east and the south, not the west. He knows darn well NATO’s intentions are not aggressive.
Really think so? NATO was aggressive in Bosnia and Kosovo. Siding with the Islamist there and in Chechnya was the height of stupidity. Why shouldn't they be more than irritated.
It is usually a mistake to think that someone thinks the same way you do. Poland and Checz(sp?) are part of NATO, now which requires the other NATO countries to defend them if they are attacked. Russia has not shown any aggressive tendencies to eastern Europe lately, so, extending bases closer to Russia, is an aggressive move on NATO’s part.
Russians are great chess players and, in chess, a threat is almost as good as an attack.
The only real threat Russia faces from the east and the south is China. There is no Islamic country that could attack in a military manner.
Russia has not been attacked from the east or the south in the last two centuries, but it has been attacked from the west— France, Napoleon, and Germany, Hitler.
Just because we think our intentions are pure, doesn’t mean Russia thinks our intentions are pure.
I believe the Serbs would beg to differ on that argument.