Just randomly stumbled upon this article from 2005 -
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1909/
it’s interesting as just last week the Shanghai Co-operation Organization met for some war games and talk of eliminating US influence in Central Asia… awesomely enough Iran has observer status and Ahmadinejad gave a speech.
some pictures from the joint Chinese-Russian exercises last week
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6951370.stm
I love this pic it’s so WWII (I wish it was in black and white)
Also in July withdrew from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty … Basically in response to our withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty in 2001 and plans to put a missile defense system in former Soviet Eastern European nations.. To be fair Russia offered the US alternative sites to build the missile defense system (not in Eastern Europe) but the US declined (I think mostly due to the feeling that the US should reward Poland and the Czech Republic for their post-soviet warm relations with America)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6898897.stm
“The CFE treaty of 1990 was one of the most significant arms control agreements of the Cold War years.
It set strict limits on the number of offensive weapons – tanks, aircraft, artillery and so on – that the members of the Warsaw Pact and Nato could deploy in a broadly-defined Europe, stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals. “
“In a sense Mr Putin is just demonstrating that what the Americans can do in the name of their vital interests, so Russia can also threaten in the name of its national interest. President Putin’s move will be taken as yet another sign of a more assertive foreign policy – a policy buoyed up by Moscow’s rising income from oil and natural gas. But analysts wonder if this is really a sign of strength.”
and of course if you haven’t heard Russia has restarted its Cold War -long range aerial flights-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6950986.stm
“So what is going on? Well it is not quite a Cold War mark II. But it is part of a new, more muscular Russian foreign policy; a result of a growing perception in Moscow that Russia’s interests have been ignored for too long……………Above all else the resumption of long-range bomber patrols must be seen as largely diplomatic symbolism; part of a new Russian military strategy of heightened visibility.
You could add in Russia’s recent planting of an underwater flag in the Arctic. But it is not just show of course. Real issues are involved and the message is simple: Russia wants it to be known that it is back as a player on the international stage.”
Someone from our administration said, “If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that’s their decision.”.
An interesting article on Putin’s popularity and the Russian political system.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6245132.stm
The BBC’s Key Facts for Russia (date from the fall of the Soviet Union to the present)
ECONOMY= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/457000/457038/html/default.stm
“In 2006, Gross Domestic Product grew by about 6.7%, but overall, Russia’s economy is still much smaller than other G8 industrialised nations.”
another article on Russia’s Economic Growth
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6265068.stm
ENERGY= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/457000/457038/html/nn2page1.stm
“Russia has the largest known natural gas reserves in the world and is the world’s second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia. Oil and gas accounted for about 60% of Russia’s exports in 2005. “
POPULATION= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/457000/457038/html/nn3page1.stm
“Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, birth rates and male life expectancy have suffered sharp declines.
Russia’s population is expected to decrease further over the next decade as a result of deaths caused by poor health.”
MILITARY= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/457000/457038/html/nn4page1.stm
“Russia’s military has recovered some of its old prestige at home. But new prosperity has had a modest impact on defence.”
This article (below) looks retrospectively at the Cold War and quotes several people as saying that there will be no Cold War
“Both sides know there will be no new Cold War because money binds them so closely, Eduard Radzinsky believes.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6902345.stm
Margot Light also believes there cannot be another Cold War.
“You only have to look at how the supply of oil and gas has divided Europe to understand that there isn’t that same kind of solidarity on the Western side while Russia has no real allies,” she says. “Nor is there any ideological divide. There is probably more belief in socialism in the West now than there is in Russia.”
I don’t know if I agree..I think in many ways the Cold War was only on Hiatus, now it’s a more civilized economic/oil endeavor.. Russia and China still have their proxies’ as does the US. Both countries still seek to be thorns in each other’s sides..
Here’s one of the BBC’s Have Your Say – sections where they asked “Should We Be Afraid of Russia”
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=7112&&&edition=1&ttl=20070820172603
The most Recommended Comment from Have Your Say: (which naturally turned into a debate over American Imperialism)
Nanci Hogan, Luton, United Kingdom
Recommended by 93 people”
With all the Anti-Americanism in the world, I think in a way it is dumb for Russia to be evoking Cold War memories. It reminds the Europeans that the US is the lesser of the two evils (especially when the Chinese are tied to the Russians) and could potentially give NATO a “reason for being”. I for one, certainly welcome Russia driving the EU further into the United States’ camp. Especially since it’s interesting to note that although China and Russia are appearing to grow closer…we still have a much closer economic relationship
“…such ties should not be over-stated, says our correspondent. Last year Sino-Russian trade was just one-tenth of China’s trade with the US.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4828244.stm
Also I’m glad that the US has worked to improve it’s relationship with India, they have the potential to a major political and economic ally especially as a counterbalance to the Chinese.
A look at Chinese/Indian relations as emerging economic and political giants. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6947567.stm
This is obviously a BBC heavy series of links – but I’m too lazy today to find other sources-
