Russia Announces Major Military Expansion

I've been expecting this announcement for some time. George Dubya backed Russia into a corner and gave Russia no other choice than to build up its military to maintain its sphere of influence with its neighbors.

Russia has always throughout its long history maintained a circle of "buffer states" between itself and the rest of the world - especially Western Europe. The US undermined this when George Dubya encouraged the independence of Georgia and the Ukraine, negotiated the placement of US ICBMs in Poland and negotiated the placement of guidance systems for those ICBMs in the Czech Republic. Would the US react any differently if Russia placed ICBMs in Cuba or Venezuela or Mexico?

None of Russia's "Buffer States" in its long history have been friendly toward Russia. They were bullied into submission, conquered or outright occupied going back to the time of Catherine the Great. That's a history not too dissimilar to that of the "Monroe Doctrine" of the US which told Europe to keep their hands off of the developing countries of Central and South America because they were in the sphere of influence of the US. The US has a history of even taking unilateral military and/or covert actions when a Central or South American government got out of line. US history books generally don't cover that part of US history. The War with Mexico which was instigated by President Polk because the new and independent government of Mexico would not sell its northwestern territories to the US. So the US took them by force. Covering just that one part of US history is lucky to get even a small paragraph in a US history book, but Mexico and the rest of Central America sure have never forgotten it. The same goes for the US's manipulations to have the independent country of Panama created so they could have a government there that would permit the US to build the Panama Canal. There are also the well documented interventions into the internal affairs of Chile, Cuba and Venezuela which get very scant coverage in US history books. Thorough information on those subjects can only be found in the dusty archives of academic research which are not open to the general public and many other documents from that period of our history which are still classified so that only persons with proper security clearances can see them and then only with a proven "Need to Know".

From my perspective and understanding of history, the US and Russia have equal amounts of blood on their hands and generally for the same reasons - homeland security and imperialism.


Fred

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27.09.2008 | 14:00 UTC
Russia announces major military expansion

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has announced a comprehensive modernization of Russia's armed forces and its nuclear arsenal. The plans call for a complete overhaul of the country's nuclear deterrant, including a new generation of nuclear submarines and cruise missiles, as well as spy satellites and an improved missile defense system. The upgrade would be completed by 2020. Earlier this month, Moscow said it was boosting its defense budget by 25 percent to 96 billion dollars.

Reaction to Obama/McCain Debate

I feel that the Great Debate between Obama and McCain
came out to a draw. Obama did worse than I expected
and McCain did better than I expected. On most issues
there's not too much difference between them except
for their positions on the War in Iraq. (I personally
feel that Obama is oh so right on when he wants us to
get out of that mess that is sucking $10 Billion a
month out of our economy.)

Between the two Obama is clearly the more intelligent
and more flexible in his thinking and negotiating
skills. McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, frightens
the shit out of me. She is another George Dubya, far
right wing, Christian fundamentalist and McCain
doesn't look like he will be able to survive the first
four years of his Presidency. On the other hand Obama
is a prime target for one of the racist nut jobs that
we have floating in the crowds here in the US and I
would feel much more comfortable with his running mate
taking over if he is assassinated than if it was Sarah
Palin taking over the helm from McCain.

In voting my own self interests in terms of my
investments, my way of living, my continued
comfortable retirement, the future health of the US
economy and my comfort level between the two possible
Vice Presidents - Obama is the only choice for me at
this time.

Fred

The Journey Begins

Sixty-nine year old native of San Diego, California, born in Mercy Hospital on July 1, 1939. Educated in the United States (California, Maryland and Virginia) and Europe (Frankfurt am Main Germany, Berlin Germany, Cambridge England and Rome Italy). Multi-lingual (fluent in English, German and Spanish) (conversant in Italian, Catalan, Greek, Latin, Urdu and Great Russian).

Work experience: Interpreter, Covert Intelligence Collections, Computer Programmer and System Designer, Community Organizer, Community Activist, Management Consultant and Organizational Designer.