Russia's President Vladimir Putin says the world is engaged in a new arms race and Nato is failing to accommodate Russia's concerns.
In a nationally-televised speech, he condemned Nato's expansion and the US plan to include Poland and the Czech Republic in a missile defence shield.
"It is already clear that a new phase in the arms race is unfolding in the world," Mr Putin said.
"It is not our fault, because we did not start it," he said.
Mr Putin was speaking less than a month before Russians elect his successor.
In his speech, to the State Council - Russia's top politicians, officials and generals - he said other countries were spending far more than Russia on new weapons.
But Russia would always respond to the challenges of a new arms race by developing more hi-tech weaponry, he said.
Military muscle
Referring to Nato's activities in Central and Eastern Europe, Mr Putin said "there are many discussions on these, but... we have still not seen any real steps towards finding a compromise".
"In effect, we are forced to retaliate, to take corresponding decisions. Russia has, and always will have, responses to these new challenges," he said.
In December, Russia said it was planning naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
It has also resumed long-range patrols by its bomber aircraft.
The practice was suspended after the collapse of the Soviet Union and was revived last August, as part of a more assertive foreign policy pursued by President Putin.
Higher oil prices have enabled Russia to re-invest in its armed forces, but its military capabilities remain far below what they were during the Soviet era.
The BBC's World Affairs correspondent Nick Childs says Mr Putin's language will add to growing worries in the West about Russia's new assertiveness.
Our correspondent says there was a time when Moscow appeared weakened, short of money, preoccupied with domestic problems, and relatively passive in terms of foreign policy.
But he says it is clear that Mr Putin is sending a none-too-subtle message that Russia is back on the international stage.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7234817.stm
This builds on a discussion Beck and I had recently. Ah Realist politics. I expect soon it will be just like episode of the Simpons where the USSR re-emerges and soldiers and missiles come out from under parade floats of stuffed animals and toys. "Soviet Union? I thought You guys broke up."--US diplomat. "That is what we wanted you to think!"--Soviet diplomat.
2 comments:
Yeah, that is some pretty strong rhetoric. Ugh.
"... a new phase in the arms race..."
"...we are forced to retaliate..."
and my personal favorite, brought back from when you were 5 years old:
"It is not our fault, because we did not start it."
Ugh.
As the Monarch once said after taking a poop at Dr. Venture's yard sale: "It was all sound and fury, signifying nothing!"
Putin is a cold warrior who has CCCP tattooed across his taint, and fondly reminisces over the national unity that evolves from the perception of a common threat. He also resents America's near monolithic power and influence after the implosion of the U.S.S.R., and the arrogance with which we exercise it on the international stage.
But despite being a bit of a soulless thug, I think privately Putin and his advisors know that the missile shield is not an actual threat to Russia...at least militarily. Hell, he knows our nuclear missiles aren't a threat to Russia either, because we live in a day and age where our conventional weapons so completely dominate the battlefield, we couldn't really fathom an excuse to actually use them.
But regardless, the harsh rhetoric and the exaggeration of the balance of threat serves the purpose of rallying of his people behind a popular cause (rebuilding Russia's self esteem and re-establishing its rightful place on the world stage), and solidifying his own power base and popularity within the country.
I don't think we'll ever see a time where we're staring at each other across a nuclear brink again... We've been there before, and we know it isn't in anyone's interest for the threat to be real. But regardless, we should be taking steps to diffuse the situation, and make Russia an ally on the world stage, not a competitor.
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