The Cold War revisited??

Complete posturing I feel... I could not believe that Putin was choosing to take this stance.. but I guess that it makes sense.. he feels that he needs to assert his dominance on the world stage given that the USA is now a hyper-power and the UK well they are whatever they are!

I guess that he is feeling somewhat overlooked. The focus has been on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and more recently we have the British demanding the extradition of Andrei Lugovoy which Putin regarded as an attack upon the Russia's self-determination....

All I can say is that the last thing the world community needs is another agitator..

Putin is responding just as presidents have throughout history, Russian and US alike....

It is all based on M.A.D. (Mutual Assured Destruction), and the idea behind this is in order to secure peace, we must be prepared for war. The US created a bomb, then the russians did the same...to be delivered by aircraft, which Russia and the US were about the same on. US finds a way to place a warhead on a long range missle, russia does the same to match. A way is found to deliver nukes from a submurine, the other side struggled to match once again. The list goes on and on, both sides feel as though neither side will strike if the enemy can produce the same results in return, total destruction.

This is why the Cuban crisis was such a big deal, the Russians were strategically placing nukes in cuba, it being so close to the USA, would have reduced America's response time to strike back down to nothing, Russia would have destroyed all America'a silos before they even got off the ground. Kennedy said this was unacceptable, and blocked the nuclear weapons from making it to Cuba...we shook up the whole world as we thought WWIII was going to happen...luckily Russia backed down that time.

The cold war never really ended, it just calmed down a bit....and it took place in other nations as well. India and Pakistan are long time enemies, when one side developed nuclear weapons, the United States allowed it, BUT also 'gave' the other side the same technology. This way, in theory, neither side would launch against the other because it would mean thier own destruction as well...like I said, Mutual Assured Destruction.

Speaking of current times, when the last Cold War 'ended', everything between Russia and America was pretty much balanced. No matter which side launched first, the other was certain to be destroyed via counter-strike...which eliminated the fear of nuclear war. However, If a defense net was placed around Europe, this would disrupt the balance and open up the possibility that Russia's counter measures to a strike would fail....which means the west would sustain less hits and probably survive the counterstrike for the most part. Even if Russia hit first, the net would in theory, prevent many of thier missles from touching down, buying the West time to strike back in full force. So basically, Russia is responding in the same way the US did when they tried to place missles in Cuba.

If the US successfully places a defense net in Europe, then its certain the russians will either create thier own, or threatend to strike the net. Either way....a new cold war begins....

It's not really surprising to see Putin react this way. The Cold War only finished 18 odd years ago, and by all accounts he is a nationalist.

This has under tones of the Cuban Missile Crisis. One of the sparks that triggered that event was the USAs attempt to have missile silos in Turkey.

If Russia did a similar act today, say put missiles on Cuba or in South America, surely Bush's response would be in a similar vein?

Not really what else is he supposed to do? The U.S. have the largest arsenal of nukes on the planet but want to defend the skies through star wars 2 because the first didnt quite work out...

Nobody ever wants to find out if stars wars 2 can provide the security scientists involved have claimed...the consequences are disastrous...

But if they do go ahead it basically gives the U.S. the possibility to inflict war (a nuclear war) on Russia beleiving they cannot be threatened therefore undermining the deterrent effect of nuclear weapons....

To respond to this Putin can only turn his weapond to Europe which is a defiant posture bought about by fear and insecurity in turn....

Putin is right, the USA attacked Iraq to defend Israel and the WDS is being set up for the same reason, this time to defend Israel against Iran, and we all pay the price

the U. S. have been at odds with Russia simply by fact the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. the two superpowers in common terms positioned their ameliorations aside throughout WWII with the intention to combat a worry-loose enemy. The previous tensions by no potential went away; they have been in simple terms positioned to the facet.

No. Bush just wants to restart the Cold War which ended in the early 90s.

he has his reasons,

he may think he's right

& as i'm not impressed with this son-of-star-wars,

does he have a point?

putin like most of us, thought the powerful West ( the US ) was way, way passed this dominance of the world.

Putin is very desperate and is now showing his true nature. Not a good thing.

Check this out about Putin and his "government"

http://www.tv-links.co.uk/show.do/1/2053

Click on russian godfathers