An utterly ridiculous use of money. Pointless.
a fan wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 5:08 pmAn utterly ridiculous use of money. Pointless.
Our government was a bickering trainwreck before Putin's meddling. And will continue to be so when and if he stops.
All this is doing is wasting money that could be used to actually grow Russian GDP and influence.
This is caveman level foreign policy.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/inte ... iam-burns/
Putin’s goal, like lots of people in the Russian political elite, is to restore Russia as a major power, rebuild it after a period of historic weakness in the ’90s, there are at least two different ways of doing that. One is to modernize your economy to build a strong state that relies not just on hydrocarbons but on the human capital in Russia, open up to the rest of the world. He’s chosen not to do that because that, in his judgment, would come at the expense of what matters most to him, which is political control. You open up the economy, you apply rule of law to the way in which your economy functions; ultimately that's going to affect your political system. It also means you'd have to fight corruption in a serious way, and corruption is what he uses to lubricate his political system.
The second alternative in an international order led by the United States is to chip away at the U.S. position in that order. Make common cause where you can, whether it’s with China or Iran in the Middle East or other places, other states that may not have an identical view of the world as Putin does, but where you can make common cause at chipping away at the American role.
That's the path essentially that he’s chosen. It’s convenient also because it enables him to point to external threats to Russia, real or imagined, and to demonstrate that he’s the Russian leader who can stand up effectively to those. He’s demonstrated that even if you're, objectively speaking, a declining power, you can be quite disruptive, and you can sow chaos. I'm convinced that's exactly what he intended to do in the U.S. elections in 2016 and has succeeded so far beyond his wildest imagination in sowing chaos, in some respects in making president Trump an instrument of that chaos.
I think his calculation, given his dim view of Hillary Clinton, was probably that she was going to win the election, but he wanted to hobble her if he could, so that she’d come into office, which he probably expected, but in a weaker position and distracted by continuing domestic debates and partisan debates.
I don't think Putin has had any great illusions about doing a grand bargain with the Trump administration. He tends to take a fairly cynical view of how you deal with the United States. But from his point of view, being able to sow chaos, being able to distract the United States, being able to, in his eyes, expose the hypocrisy of the American political system to the rest of the world is obviously a net plus that opens up a lot of room for maneuver in Russia and the world.
It is not a long-term prescription for sustaining Russia as a great power, as a major power, in part because he’s not invested in his economy in a way that's going to fuel that over time. But in the short term, it’s opened up a lot of possibilities for him.
Putin said it wasn't Russia!Typical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 9:19 am https://amp.scmp.com/news/world/united- ... n-warships
The Russkies must have thought Obamer was still in office and figured they could punk the USA.
Stop shaming this country. It’s obvious you hate it.old salt wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 5:04 pm The burden to avoid a collision is on the overtaking ship. The US cruiser was reportedly recovering it's helo. The Russians say we cut in front of their destroyer.
Dubious Russian claim. The video shows the Russian ship overtaking. The USN ship has to maintain a course where the winds across the deck are within the recovery envelope. Once the recovery course is set, the ship does not alter course until the helo is secure on deck.
It appears the Russian ship was trailing & seized the opportunity when the USN ship would have limited maneuverability to generate a close approach. Look at the wakes of the ships in the image :
https://news.usni.org/2019/06/07/navy-r ... e-maneuver
This comes after the SU-35/P-8A close call near Syria. This came when our cruiser was doing a freedom of navigation transit in the contested South China Sea, while Xi is hosting Putin.
Meanwhile, NATO has massive D-Day celebration, without Putin in attendance & no mention of Russia's contribution in the Great War.
Putin & Russia want to be accorded superpower status & are attempting to demonstrate militarily, that they still are.
We're on converging collision courses which will not end well unless we both alter course.
Unforced error.Typical Lax Dad wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 6:15 pmStop shaming this country. It’s obvious you hate it.old salt wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 5:04 pm The burden to avoid a collision is on the overtaking ship. The US cruiser was reportedly recovering it's helo. The Russians say we cut in front of their destroyer.
Dubious Russian claim. The video shows the Russian ship overtaking. The USN ship has to maintain a course where the winds across the deck are within the recovery envelope. Once the recovery course is set, the ship does not alter course until the helo is secure on deck.
It appears the Russian ship was trailing & seized the opportunity when the USN ship would have limited maneuverability to generate a close approach. Look at the wakes of the ships in the image :
https://news.usni.org/2019/06/07/navy-r ... e-maneuver
This comes after the SU-35/P-8A close call near Syria. This came when our cruiser was doing a freedom of navigation transit in the contested South China Sea, while Xi is hosting Putin.
Meanwhile, NATO has massive D-Day celebration, without Putin in attendance & no mention of Russia's contribution in the Great War.
Putin & Russia want to be accorded superpower status & are attempting to demonstrate militarily, that they still are.
We're on converging collision courses which will not end well unless we both alter course.
Russia lost the most lives during WW2. So why wasn't Putin invited to D-Day event?
Putin has attended in the past. In 2014, he attended the 70th anniversary of the 1944 Allied landings.
Putin also used the question to draw attention to a longstanding Russian grievance: The perception that the Soviet population's massive sacrifices in World War II have been somehow overlooked in the West.
"As for the opening of the Second Front, I draw your attention to the fact that this is the Second Front," Putin said, referring to the Normandy landings. "The first was with us. If you count the number of divisions, the strength of the Wehrmacht [the German army] who fought against Soviet troops on the Eastern Front, and the number of troops and equipment that fought on the Western Front from 1944 on, then everything will be clear."
The war on the Eastern Front, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War, took a horrific toll, costing the Soviet Union more than 25 million military and civilian lives -- more than any other country lost during the war. The war against Nazi Germany, in the Russian view, ended decisively with the fall of Berlin to the Red Army in 1945.
It's a touchy subject for Russia. Veneration of the Soviet war dead has been elevated to something approaching a secular religion in Russia, particularly after the collapse of the USSR and the demise of Communism as a guiding ideology.
But the past isn't past for Russia. The long shadow of World War II still hangs over Russia's foreign policy.
The difference -- those are criminal gangs in Russia, being pursued by the Russian govt.a fan wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 11:27 am Old Salt.....on Russia and counterfeit booze....
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/176 ... i5VUc2MFiw
"The most popular brands that are counterfeited here are the likes of Johnnie Walker, Chivas, White Horse.
"Lots of them are made in China and Egypt. Some of them don't copy exactly, and are quite funny fakes. I have a few Johnnie Walker Red Table, Black Whaler, Chefas Rijals.
"It is a coloured neutral spirit usually, not grain-based.
"Today fortunately you can't buy these frauds in regular stores now in Russia. The Egais system, a unified system of alcohol sales, is monitoring every step in alcohol sales from producer to retailer. There are no illegal spirits in stores any more."
old salt wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:33 pmThe difference -- those are criminal gangs in Russia, being pursued by the Russian govt.a fan wrote: ↑Mon Jun 10, 2019 11:27 am Old Salt.....on Russia and counterfeit booze....
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/176 ... i5VUc2MFiw
Sure it is. Putin would never get his cut for such activities. He's just an honest ex KGB officer, looking to make his way in the world..... 
. Definitely an act of war.