Putin and the European Arms Forces Treaty (Iraq, Israel, suspect)

[ontheroad]

There was a quick in and out blurb about this issue this morning and then it vanished from the local US news. In searching the web, I found the International Herald covered the story that Putin is considering not signing the arms treaty.

See here:

Putin signs law suspending Russia's participation in Europe armed forces treaty - International Herald Tribune

Is it just me or is this another sign of the hawk on the loose on the international scene?

[mrrumples]

If it was us, and Mexico had joined the Warsaw Pact and Russia had bases in Canada and all over the world, it would be wise for us to up the ante and not sign any treaties. Unfortunately for us, Putin is very smart and will be in power for a long time. And it is only the beginning. Russia announced just this year that it will build six carriers, export patriot style missle defense systems (Triumf S400), resume flights along the US coastline, deliver to Syria anti-aircraft missles and on and on.

[baystater]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

There was a quick in and out blurb about this issue this morning and then it vanished from the local US news. In searching the web, I found the International Herald covered the story that Putin is considering not signing the arms treaty.

See here:

Putin signs law suspending Russia's participation in Europe armed forces treaty - International Herald Tribune

Is it just me or is this another sign of the hawk on the loose on the international scene?

Hawk? Sure he a Hawk and I like it!

Look I know this looks worrisome that Russia looks like it taking the first steps toward major rearmament. And could possibly create a really conflict with us over the missile shield.
But I believe I see a rosier picture for the U.S. if Russia actually junk this treaty. Actually I want Russia to rearm and in a major way. So you say why the hell do you want that? Well to be honest I'm far more worried about China growing and modernizing it's military with our money from all the junk we buy from them. With Russia rearming and being able to move it troops anywhere, this will more than likely cause China to take a bit of focus off the U.S. Remember China and Russia have had some small skirmishes up to 1969. and this was when they were both communist and the U.S fear that everywhere was going to turn Red.
CNN Cold War - Spotlight: Chinese-Soviet border clashes (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/15/spotlight/ - broken link)

And to be honest after Iraq war we are going to need some downtime to heal,to pay down our debt, and fix what I feel is a broken system of government.

So Go Putin Go! Actually it will be very interesting you could have the whole area of Asia as a flash point for conflict since Russia, china, India, and Pakistan are all in the same general region. Wow what a mess that could be.

Originally Posted by mrrumples

If it was us, and Mexico had joined the Warsaw Pact and Russia had bases in Canada and all over the world, it would be wise for us to up the ante and not sign any treaties. Unfortunately for us, Putin is very smart and will be in power for a long time. And it is only the beginning. Russia announced just this year that it will build six carriers, export patriot style missle defense systems (Triumf S400), resume flights along the US coastline, deliver to Syria anti-aircraft missles and on and on.

With the Flights from Russia. I'm not that concerned about Russia renewed flights near Alaska. We had them before and nothing happen. So I not sweating it. But I am a little nervous about Russia selling missile to Syria. The explosives in those rocket could be used for terrorist attacks against Israel, the U.S. and against our troops in Iraq.

[UB50]

I agree that Putin is very smart. I wish we had smarter people in power in this country. Unfortunately, the smartest one in this administration was Karl Rove and he only cared about getting people elected.

[ontheroad]

Here's some updates at Putin; actually a better than usual update (AP) by way of yahoo:

Putin's future uncertain after election - Yahoo! News (broken link)

Several conjectures ring true: no gulags; while others by their very mention are suspect: who will rule; how will the country be governed.

Worth reading.