How serious is the situation between the US and Russia?

Question

"Vladimir Putin boasted of developing new nuclear weapons to strengthen Russia’s military power today and warned the United States not to ignore Moscow's objections to a planned missile defence shield in Europe.

President Putin pledged to counter the shield unless the US and Europe took account of Russia's concerns. He also called on the US to set a date for withdrawal of troops from Iraq, adding that the 2003 invasion had been an attempt to secure control of its oil reserves. "

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2687252.ece

This sounds pretty serious to me.

If you remember the Soviet Union and the Cold War you would understand this better I think. The US took it as a very serious threat. But maybe it's not cool to think that way anymore.

Answer 1

Amazing how people underestimate Putin - remember the guy's exKGB, has developed an increadible following at home and is a nationalist.

He's staking a claim to whats left of the old Soviet power and is quite capable of rebuilding the Russian forces - he's got resources, people and the will. He's making room for Russia to recove the prestige and power that Gorbachev & Yeltsin lost - and he's doing a pretty good job of it.

Putting him down is not a good idea, he's got plenty of fight in him and the Russian people would back him to the hilt. Don't believe your own propaganda about "weak" Russia - or you might just wake the bear.

Answer 2

Putin is the sovereign of a virtually bankrupt nation which lacks the power or glory of the former Soviet Union. He is posturing to appease his hard-line supporters, but Russia is well past the days of being a serious threat to the United States.

Edit: Be careful about making judgments of others without knowledge of their histories. I not only lived through the Cold War, but I also served in the US Navy during that time. I was a sonar tech and we spent our time chasing those missile boomers which constituted the largest part of the threat during that time period. So I think I understand the threat the Soviets posed pretty well, but today's Russia is not the Soviet Union of yesterday. They do not have the funds to compete in an arms build-up and their people have become more westernized and will not willingly fall back into the old state controlled regime. What you fail to account for is just how impoverished Russian citizens were so that their government could enhance their nuclear asernal.

Answer 3

Let them build more bombs, escalate arsenals and have another cold war. The citizens of Russia are already poor and starving, but their more informed than the previous generation.
When they realize that their government is wasting money on weapons on an already bankrupt budget, there will be another revolution. If the Russian people aren't able to over throw their government, then it at least bog down their military who will be busy trying to keep the citizens under control. They'll be even weaker than before.

Answer 4

Putin shouldn't ignore our nuclear arsenal, either. We have enough nukes to turn Russia into a bomb crater big enough to be seen from the moon.

Answer 5

Putin? Seriously? I fart in his general direction! I wouldn't put it past him to try putting pressure on us, but he can't really back it up. Try looking up the soviet navy...half their ships and subs aare rusting and abandoned in port. I can't imagine the rest of their military being in much better shape.

Answer 6

I think we should be more worried about China and US. China is the next super power and I don't know how "cold" their war will be.

Answer 7

Russia always backs down lol remember the cold war all that talk and then the US was like "bing it!" they ran home lol

Answer 8

I concur - if you own a patch of ground - you'd be advised to start building a nuclear shelter now!!!

Answer 9

Glow in the dark serious

Answer 10

with the management that is in place in russia? it is going to escalate.