The Rise of the Second Soviet Empire

[wallyboy78]

i believe russia and china plan to go war with usa and our friends.people say that cold war is over.i believe cold war is still going on.

[Phil Fiord]

Wallyboy78! Good to see you post! Welcome to the non lurking world.

Another way I would put your statement is the Cold War never ended, it just evolved.

[Ryan Ruck]

Welcome Wally!

And I agree, the Cold War is still on. Unfortunately, most people refuse to acknowledge it is and that it is heating up.

[Ryan Ruck]

Putin Prepares The Russian Empire To Strike Back

The reincarnation of the current PM as president poses a challenge to western powers for which they seem ill-prepared

December 1, 2011

As prime minister for the past four years, Vladimir Putin never really went away. But his looming reincarnation as the all-powerful, executive president of Russia – the country's "paramount leader" in Chinese parlance – poses a stark challenge for which the US, Britain and other beleaguered western powers seem ill-prepared. As president, potentially until 2024, Putin has one overriding objective: the creation of a third, post-tsarist, post-Soviet Russian empire.

Putin famously described the collapse of the Soviet Union, the "evil empire" of Ronald Reagan's imagining, as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century". His aim, once this weekend's heavily managed parliamentary elections and next March's presidential coronation are out the way, is to put this disaster to rights. Reinstalled as president, and with his political potboy, Dmitry Medvedev, pushed aside, Putin will again exercise unchallengeable control over Russia's external affairs.

Never much interested in domestic policy, Putin's only political trick is a hyper-nationalism that pits a proudly embattled Russia against a hostile, US-led, world conspiracy. But the trick works. Despite mounting criticism during the Duma campaign, both supporters and opponents acknowledge his perceived achievement in restoring Russia's standing in the world following Boris Yeltsin's chaotic 1990s decade.

Accepting the presidential nomination of his United Russia party last month in an otherwise tedious speech, Putin said: "When I hear people shout out 'Russia', I think the entire audience should do that." The response, according to witnesses, was a deafening chant of 'Ro-see-ya! Ro-see-ya!" while Putin pounded his fist on the podium.

Elements of Putin's strategy to make Russia great again are slowly coming into focus. Much of the plan is defined by Russia's opposition to the US, the traditional foe. Thus the Kremlin announced last week that it would renounce the strategic arms reduction treaty (known as New Start) agreed with Washington two years ago if the US did not abandon its European missile defence plans.

This announcement, coupled with the unveiling of a new Russian missile base in Kaliningrad on Nato's doorstep, has striking implications. New Start was the centrepiece of Barack Obama's 2009 "reset" of bilateral relations. The reset is viewed by the White House as a major foreign achievement (and 2012 re-election asset) for a president who has but few to his name.

Missile defence ostensibly aimed at deterring Iran is seen as another success. With the US preoccupied by wars in the Middle East and South Asia and fixated by the Arab spring, a quiet Russian "front" has been deemed essential by Washington. Putin appears set to change all that.

On his eastern flank, meanwhile, Putin is busy reviving the idea of a remodelled union embracing the former Soviet republics of central Asia, an arrangement that prospectively boosts Russian political and military influence. "Russia will begin this new iteration of a Russian empire by creating a union with former Soviet states based on Moscow's current associations, such as the customs union and the collective security treaty organisation. This will allow the 'EuU' [a Eurasia union] to strategically encompass both the economic and security spheres … Putin is creating a union in which Moscow would influence foreign policy and security but would not be responsible for most of the inner workings of each country," said Lauren Goodrich in a Stratfor paper.

Putin's third empire project also includes, crucially, a tightening of Moscow's politicised grip on Europe's strategic energy supplies.

Following last month's Gazprom deal with Belarus, industry analysts suggest up to 50% of Europe's natural gas could be controlled by Russia by 2030. This is hugely significant: Putin's new Russian empire can only be financed by continuing, high-priced energy export revenues. In effect, Europe could be paying for its own future domination.

The empire-fights-back scenario has numerous other aspects. Recent remarks by Medvedev about the lack of wisdom, in the context of the 2008 Georgia conflict, of unchecked Nato enlargement vividly illustrated Russia's visceral opposition to any interference in what used to be called its "near abroad" – and Putin's desire to roll back the western encroachments of the past 20 years. Russia's determination to defend wider spheres of traditional influence in the non-aligned and developing world can be seen in its obdurate refusal to penalise Syria, in the face of almost universal outrage over the crackdown there; and in its de facto defence of Iran's nuclear programme. Putin, meanwhile, continues to prioritise Russian military modernisation.

Western countries inclined to take issue with this external empire-building, or with Russia's lamentable internal democracy and human rights deficit, have been told to save their breath. "All our foreign partners need to understand this: Russia is a democratic country, it's a reliable and predictable partner with which they can and must reach agreement, but on which they cannot impose anything from the outside," Putin told the United Russia convention. Attempts to influence the election process or the reform agenda were "a wasted effort, like throwing money to the winds".

As Putin – former secret policeman, physical fitness fanatic and hyper-nationalist – prepares to resume Russia's presidency, his third empire ambitions become ever clearer. March's election will be no contest. Only when it is over will the real fight begin.

[Ryan Ruck]

Putin Clings to Victory as Russia’s Voter Turnout Exceeds 146%

December 4, 2011



Perhaps that ad for Vladimir Putin's United Russia that turned a voting booth into a capsule sex hotel worked a little too well, as a record-setting 146% of the Russian electorate turned out for Sunday's parliamentary elections. (The figures pictured above are actually those of Rostovskaya Oblast, a region about 440 miles south of Moscow.)

But not everyone thinks the math adds up:

A YouTube user in east Moscow illustrated how the pens at booths in school #1114 were filled with invisible ink. In the Siberian city of Novokuznetsk, a user showed how ballot boxes had arrived at a polling site one-third filled with votes.

A Moscow user filmed an election official at polling station #2501 filling out ballots as he sat at his desk. Several users filmed buses, nicknamed "carousels", which appeared to be carrying the same people to various stations so they could vote over and over again.

"Today we have witnessed the dirtiest, foulest elections of the last 20 years," one opposition leader, said Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy premier. "We can't even call them elections – it's the theft of votes from the Russian people."

Despite certain, um, voter precautions taken by the ruling party, the victory was far from the landslide that Prime Minister Putin expected. The three minority parties (the Communist Party, the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and social-democratic party Just Russia) all made huge gains, splintering United Russia's two-thirds supermajority and requiring a "more complex configuration" in parliament, as President Dmitri Medvedev put it.

Even Chechnya proved a disappointment: Where in past elections the region — which has lost tens of thousands of citizens fighting against Putin's troops — voted 100% in favor of United Russia, this time the prime minister's party took a comparatively paltry 99.51%. This despite a sworn pledge from Chechnya's war criminal President (and Hilary Swank BFF) Ramzan Kadyrov that Putin would receive "more than 100%" of the votes! Poor Putin's mojo must really be slipping.

Always the sportsman, however, the prime minister said that "the will of the Russian people has rung out loud and clear across Russia," and that he would not sleep until "each and every voter who challenged my unyielding supremacy has their kneecaps shattered by my own, viselike fists." He then crushed a frying pan to illustrate. [NYT, The Guardian, Screeengrab via avmalgin.livejournal.com]

[vector7]

Medvedev on US: ‘If they continue to push us around, we’ll push back’

Published: 17 December, 2011, 19:29
Edited: 17 December, 2011, 23:22


President Dmitry Medvedev has spoken out after a telephone conversation with his US counterpart, saying Obama’s comments on Russia’s recent parliamentary elections were “unacceptable”.

Speaking to a number of United Russia MPs, Dmitry Medvedev stated that, correctly delivered, thoughts and comments on a country’s electoral process are acceptable – and welcome. But when they are reminiscent of Cold War-era statements, it is outrageous. “That is not a reset [in relations], and I’ve had to remind my colleague of that”, said the president.

Domestic criticism is of course welcome and constitutionally-justified, Medvedev told MPs. “The streets are not the US State Department. The streets reflect the mood of our people.” The Russian leader was referring to a recent comment made by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who called these past elections “neither free nor fair.”

Medvedev summed up his statement by saying that he will not stand for intimidation. Russia will continue to pursue its interest within the international arena. “If they want to push us around, we’ll push back. But if they hear our concerns, then we can work together.”

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia: Back to the Future

December 28, 2011

Last weekend’s massive protest in Moscow’s Prospekt Sakharova will result in a new Soviet-style Russia not an Arab Spring-like revolution. The West had better beware because the Russian bear is coming out of hibernation.

Twenty years ago this month the Soviet Union crumbled and from those ashes rose a promising Russian democratic republic. But Soviet-era corruption reared its ugly head in Russia’s December 4th parliamentary elections. That corruption sparked numerous protests, calls for new elections and earned Russia’s prime minister an accusatory message from a U.S. senator.

Senator John McCain​ (R-AZ) tweeted Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin a satirical message. “Dear Vlad,” tweeted McCain, “the #Arabspring is coming to a neighborhood near you.”1 That tweet linked a news article about allegations of fraud in Russia’s parliamentary elections.

Predictably Putin dismissed McCain’s ribbing as dunce naivety. Yes, Russia’s elections were likely corrupt, but they were also a gauge of the country’s mood for change which Putin intends to leverage to earn another term as president.

Putin’s political party, United Russia​, lost State Duma seats in the elections in spite of widespread corruption but nationalist parties which also support Putin for president gained those same seats. On balance the election confirms Putin’s political support for a back-to-the- future Russia propelled by growing nationalism.

Putin intends to ride the nationalist sentiment to rebuild Russia where his former Soviet masters failed 20 years ago. Putin memorably described the Soviet Union’s demise as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century. Then two weeks ago Putin, in full campaign mode, expressed a similar sentiment on Russian television. The Soviet Union “should have started timely economic reforms and changes,” Putin said, instead the regime collapsed.

Putin, a former KGB – Soviet-era secret police - lieutenant colonel, sees himself as Russia’s savior, the man destined to bring about “reforms” and “changes.” But first he must win back the presidency this March, a virtual certainty. Then Putin intends to restore Russia’s grandeur using Soviet-style politics, building a new Warsaw Pact-like geopolitical alliance, growing the military, and implementing a popular anti-West foreign policy.

Putin’s politics are right out of a Soviet-era playbook. In September Putin and outgoing President Dmitriy Medvedev confirmed their intent at the United Russia congress to extend the Putin dynasty, which started in 1999, ran through two terms as president and recently four years as prime minister.

Medvedev told the congress that Putin will stand for the presidency in 2012 and he [Medvedev] is to replace him as prime minister. The party rubber stamped the Putin nomination and the prime minister accepted the unanimous endorsement “with gratitude.” Putin said between chants of “Putin, Putin” that he would build “a strong and happy Russia,” translated financial benefits for his supporters.

Putin’s critics saw in that congress visions of the Soviet era. Liberal-democratic party leader Vladimir Zhirinovskiy​ compared the United Russia’s “Putin, Putin” congress to ones held by the Soviet Communist Party​. “The same milkmaids, officers, and steel workers" with "hired hands shouting all the slogans," Zhirinovskiy said, according to RIA Novosti.

Putin played to Soviet-era nostalgia when he called for building a Eurasian Union. On October 4, Putin published an article in Izvetiia announcing his Eurasia Union initiative that will have an economic focus similar to the euro zone, though led by Russia politically and bears a suspicious resemblance to that of the former Soviet Union.

The objective is not to rebuild a unified state dependent financially on Moscow, but create a supranational political and economic structure that gives Moscow strategic oversight of countries on its periphery. Russia already has a customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan has indicated it intends to join. That union integrates their economies and reduces restrictions on movement of goods across their borders.

A Russian-led Eurasia Union will attract former Warsaw Pact countries especially now that Europe is collapsing. It also suggests a reorientation of Russian foreign policy strategy under soon-to-be-president Putin that de-emphasizes Europe and puts Moscow in the catbird seat.

Keep in mind even though the proposed Eurasia Union starts as a political and economic association it could become a defense alliance. The former Warsaw Pact was the military compliment to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the regional economic organization for the former communist states of Eastern Europe.

Putin is modernizing Russia’s military already armed with the world’s largest atomic weapons arsenal. Last month Putin declared, according to Interfax, the Russian armed forces will be brought up “to a new level in the next five to 10 years” so that both the army and the military-industrial complex “are capable of guaranteeing Russia stable peace without undermining the national economy.”

Moscow is aggressively rebuilding its atomic strike capability, doctrinally the nation’s primary means of defense. For example, just last week Russia’s Northern Fleet successfully carried out the salvo launch of two Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles from the Yuriy Dolgorukiy​, a submersed nuclear submarine in the White Sea. Such strategic modernization of its nuclear forces does not contravene the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the U.S., but it is leaving the U.S. in the dust because America stopped atomic weapon modernization projects.

Moscow is also aggressively building conventional expeditionary platforms. It is constructing over 100 naval ships, over 1,000 helicopters and 600 military aircraft including the fifth generation Sukhoi PAK-FA fighter.4 Meanwhile, Russian ships and aircraft are returning to distant seas and air space to challenge the U.S.

Putin promises an anti-U.S. foreign policy. He told the United Russia congress he “will continue to pursue an active foreign policy” while “straightforwardly and honestly” defending Russia’s interests. He cautioned that dialogue with Russia is "possible only on an equal footing" and that "nothing can be imposed on Russia from outside."

These comments are aimed at the U.S., which Putin considers Russia’s primary adversary. His concern is with NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe and America’s European-based ballistic missile defense (BMD), which he claims threatens Russia’s sovereignty.

Putin is especially weary of America’s BMD which he says is intended to neutralize Russia’s nuclear deterrent and is a pretext to station American forces in Eastern Europe. Washington argues the BMD is to counter the emerging Iranian missile threat.

But President Medvedev and by assoication Putin threaten that if the U.S. continues to refuse cooperation with Russia regarding the BMD, Moscow will deploy its Iskander mobile ballistic missiles and early warning system on its border with Poland and Lithuania. He will target the American BMD and fit the Iskanders with advanced maneuverable re-entry vehicles and penetration aids.

On other fronts Moscow is re-engaging the Middle East, such as building a military port in Syria to re-establish a Mediterranean presence. It is playing an active and unhelpful role in the ongoing nuclear crisis with Iran, leveraging its control of the Northern Distribution Network into Afghanistan, contesting arctic region claims, and moving back into areas that haven’t seen Russians for two decades.

The election protests express genuine discontent with Russian corruption. But the real story is the Putin dynasty is strong and soon will shed any pretense of reform. It will tap into the growing Russian nationalism to rebuild Moscow’s stature Soviet-style with a back-to-the-future agenda which means the Russian bear is back with a vengence.

[vector7]

Russian Army Must ‘Instill Fear in Enemies’ – Rogozin


Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin
© RIA Novosti. Alexey Kudenko

00:59 09/02/2012
NOVOSIBIRSK, February 9 (RIA Novosti)

Tags: weaponry production, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia

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The Russian defense industry must produce only those types of weaponry that would allow the Armed Forces to operate effectively in the conditions of modern warfare, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said.

“The production of weaponry must reflect the fact that modern wars will be brief and unpredictable in nature, they will not rage on for years,” Rogozin said on Wednesday at a meeting with defense industry officials.

“We need a very compact, mobile, armed to the teeth army and fleet that instill fear in our enemies, and strategic nuclear forces that would ensure our [national] security,” he said.

Rogozin insisted that Russia must abandon the model of arms procurement used during the Soviet era because at that time the production of weaponry got out of control and ate up enormous resources.

“The Defense Ministry used to order a wide range of military equipment without even knowing what it was for,” he said. “Today, it’s all scrap metal – we cannot use or sell it.”

Rogozin, who oversees the Russian defense industry, is facing a formidable task of streamlining the development and production of weaponry in the country.

He proposed on Wednesday to create a strong link between the designers of weaponry, manufacturers and the military to ensure the effectiveness of a new arms procurement model.

[American Patriot]

LOL

Go for it.

[vector7]

Companion Post:

• Barack Obama weighs major (80%) cuts to US deployed nuclear arsenal

Russia Wants to Build New Missiles to Hit the U.S.

by Taylor Dinerman
February 15, 2012 at 4:30 am

The US has the nerve to have missile defenses that actually defend it?

Get this: The General commanding Russia Strategic Rocket Forces, Lieutenant General Sergei Karakayev, said in December that the new Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) are needed -- because the existing ones are vulnerable to US missile defenses.

This is apparently the result of all that nice goodwill generated by the Obama administration's "reset" of relations with Vladimir Putin's Russia and the ratification of the New Start Arms Control Treaty. It should come as no surprise: nuclear weapons, along with oil and gas exports, are just about the only thing that still qualifies Russia as a "Great Power."

If Russia's leaders still resent their loss of superpower status and feel they have a strategic need to challenge the US wherever possible, then spending the money to build a new type of nuclear missile aimed at the US makes sense.

On December 23, the Russian navy completed the test firing of their "Bulava" submarine-launched ballistic missile; and the Russian Navy's high command says that it is ready to be entered into service. This missile has an 8000 kilometer range and can carry 8 to 10 nuclear warheads. Though similar to the older land-based "Topol" ICBM, the Bulava went through a long and painful development process and experienced a relatively large number of test failures -- indicating that Russia's once formidable ability to build and deploy powerful missiles such as SLBMs, ICBMs and technologically similar space launch vehicles is nowhere near as well financed as it was during the Soviet era.

In December 2010, Russia's top-of-the-line space launch vehicle, the Proton, failed to put a number of Glonass navigation satellites into orbit. In February 2011, a Rokot launch vehicle, put together from recycled ICBMs, failed. In August 2010, both a Proton and a Soyuz, carrying a Progress cargo capsule to the International Space Station failed; and last month, the launch of another Soyuz rocket , carrying a military communications satellite, ended in disaster.

While not directly related to the space launch vehicle involved, the failure of Russia's Phobos/Grunt Mars probe which crashed back to Earth on January 15, 2012, indicates that Moscow's space industry, which is embedded in their military industrial complex, has serious problems.

This string of failures seems to reveal that the December 16, 2011, announcement by General Karakayev of the Strategic Missile Forces that Russia will build a new heavy ICBM , to replace the older SS-18 missiles aimed at the US, was probably motivated by the need to demonstrate that Russia's missile-building abilities have not been affected by these accidents. Moscow's nuclear missile forces are just about the only major military asset that Russia has left.

Even more significant is that, according to a story published by Russia press agency RIA Novosti, is the admission by General Karakayev that "Russia's solid propellent ICBMs may be unable to penetrate missile defenses." There can only be one missile defense system that the General was talking about ,and that is the Ground Based Missile Defense (GMD) system, based in Alaska and California that provides at least a minimal protection to the US homeland.

Ever since Ronald Reagan gave his famous "Star Wars" speech in March1983, which lead to the rebirth of American missile defense efforts, opponents of the idea that it is not only possible but desirable to build defensive systems that can shoot down incoming nuclear missiles and their warheads have claimed that the technology cannot be developed. Yet now, a senior Russian officer has publicly admitted that America has built a system that can shoot down the solid propellent missiles that Reagan and his team thought were the most dangerous ones in the Soviet inventory. This is a major development: it proves that Ronald Reagan was right not to overestimate Soviet technological capacities.

Of course, as the US GMD system has fewer than 30 operational interceptors, the ability of Russia's missile force with its hundreds of ICBMs and SLBMs to overwhelm the US defense system is obvious. However, if the US were to chose to build a much larger number of interceptors, and to build up a "multilayered" national missile defense system, as has been promised by Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Russia would no longer have an unquestioned ability to hit a wide array of US targets with nuclear warheads. The reliability of Russia's missile strike force would be compromised.

If this is the motivation for Russia's announced decision to build a new type of nuclear missile, then Russia's commitment to "reset" its relationship with the US is based on a wildly false premise. After all, if the US does not threaten Russia's territorial integrity, why should Russia worry about America's ability to defend itself ? Or do Russia's leaders still believe that a balance of terror, based on the old doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), is necessary?

[vector7]

Russia to test over 70 new missile systems in 2012

About 70 new rocket and missile systems will be tested at Russia’s Kapustin Yar test range in 2012, an increase of 150 percent from last year, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Friday.

The systems are part of more than 160 ongoing projects, said Col. Vadim Koval, without providing any details.

Last year, more than 500 missile test launches were made at the Kapustin Yar rocket launch and development site, he added.

Almost all the missile and rocket related branches and services of the Russian Armed Forces, including the Strategic Missile Forces, the Air Defense Forces, and the Missile Forces and Artillery conduct their tests at Kapustin Yar, located in the Astrakhan region, between the cities of Volgograd and Astrakhan.

[vector7]

Russia retains right to play nuclear card’ – Gen-Staff Chief

Published: 15 February, 2012, 16:18



Mobile launcher 'Yars' missile system. (RIA Novosti / Sergey Pyatakov)
TAGS: Military, NATO, Nuclear, Russia

The Russian Armed Forces are ready to retaliate to any threat to national security, and will not rule out using nuclear weapons, General Nikolay Makarov, head of the Russian General Staff, said on Wednesday.

*"If there is a threat to the integrity of the Russian Federation, we are entitled to use nuclear weapons,” Makarov said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Stressing that Russia’s nuclear deterrent remains the primary prerequisite for strategic stability, Makarov says the Russian Armed Forces will not cut corners.

"As regards our nuclear forces, we invest the allocated funding up to the last kopek,” Russia’s top military commander said. “We are working very seriously to upgrade our nuclear potential.”

Makarov then provided a glimpse at Russia’s shopping list for state-of-the-art military hardware.

In particular, the country’s Defense Ministry is purchasing new-generation underwater nuclear missile carriers, planning to renew and upgrade its strategic bombers, and introducing new missile systems, including Yars, for Russian Strategic Missile Troops, he said.

Makarov went on to recall that even during its darkest economic moments, Russia always provided the necessary funds for maintaining and developing its strategic nuclear forces.

"We have sufficient funds to implement the state armament program for the period until 2020,” he said. “The problem is that the national defense sector is sometimes unable to meet our demand.”

Makarov also noted that efforts are being made to develop general purpose forces. Nuclear weapons, he admitted, cannot take the place of a well-trained army.

"Unfortunately, we are facing threats from a number of unstable states, where not nuclear weapons but well-trained, strong and mobile armed forces may be required to resolve any conflict situation," the General noted.

He also mentioned that battling NATO as a whole would not be an aim Russia would pursue.

"[Russia] is not going to fight against the entire NATO," he said. "We do not have such goals and objectives.”

[vector7]

Russia will target US missile defense sites if no deal - Medvedev

Published: 23 November, 2011, 16:21
Iskander missile (RIA Novosti / Aleksey Danichev)


Responding to Washington’s failure to bring Russia on board the European missile defense system, President Dmitry Medvedev announces sweeping plans to address what Moscow is calling a threat to national security.

Medvedev said he will deploy strike systems in the west and south of the country and deploy Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region in order to counter the risk posed by the European missile defense system.

“By my order the Defense Ministry will run in a warning system radar station in Kaliningrad without delay,” the Russian President said, commenting from his resident of Gorki on the outskirts of Moscow
Russia may also refuse to undertake additional steps toward disarmament in the event that its national security remains at risk.

“In the event of unfavorable developments (in regards to European missile defense), Russia reserves the right to halt further steps in the disarmament sphere and, respectively, weapons control,” Medvedev said.

“Besides, given the inseparable interconnection between the strategic offensive and defensive weapons, grounds may appear for our country’s withdrawal from the START treaty.”

New START, which limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, was signed on April 8, 2010 in Prague and went into force on February 5, 2011.

Meanwhile, Medvedev stressed that Russia remains open to dialogue with the US and NATO regarding missile defense issues, but the cooperation must have clear legal parameters.

"We are not closing the door to further dialogue on missile defense with the US and the North Atlantic alliance, nor to practical cooperation in this area. We are ready for further dialogue," the Russian leader stressed. "The path towards such work depends upon the creation of a clear legal basis for our cooperation that will reflect our legitimate interests."

There is still time to come to mutual understanding, the Russian leader said.
Medvedev reiterated his belief that the formation of a “joint and sectored missile defense system,” which he proposed at the Russia-NATO Council summit in Lisbon, would open up the prospects for a “real strategic partnership between Russia and NATO.”

"Europe doesn't need new demarcation lines,” Medvedev said. “It needs a single perimeter of security with equal legal participation from the Russian side."

Medvedev said that US and NATO reluctance to cooperate is unfortunate because “even now such an approach is opening unique opportunities for Russia and NATO's advancement towards a truly strategic partnership."

President Medvedev also mentioned that in 2009 when US President Barack Obama decided to “scrap” the missile defense plans laid out by his predecessor, George W. Bush, Russia’s reaction was quite positive.He said the apparent change allowed the two states to sign the New START treaty.

Later, however, the United States started to implement the so-called stage-by-stage missile defense plan, while denying Russia’s participation in the project. Naturally, this concerns Russia, Medvedev said.

*Read the full text of President Dmitry Medvedev's address on missile defense.

[American Patriot]

I was notified about a briefing today, but can't attend, that is at a classified level. I wish I could go because they are talking about this very thing

[vector7]

Russia Would Use Nukes to Stave Off Threats - General Staff

Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov
© RIA Novosti. Vladimir Vyatkin


16:12 15/02/2012
MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti)

Tags: Yars, Tu-95, Tu-160, Nikolai Makarov, Russia, Moscow

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Multimedia

• Missiles that can penetrate any defense - Yars systems on alert
• Russia develops unique Yars ballistic missile
• Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bomber

Russia would use nuclear weapons in response to any imminent threat to its national security, Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov said on Wednesday.

“We are certainly not planning to fight against the whole of NATO,” Makarov said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio, “but if there is a threat to the integrity of the Russian Federation, we have the right to use nuclear weapons, and we will.”

The general said Russia’s nuclear deterrent is the cornerstone of strategic stability and serious efforts are being taken by the Russian government to modernize the country’s nuclear triad.

The Russian Defense ministry is planning to acquire at least 10 Borey class strategic nuclear submarines, thoroughly modernize its fleet of Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers, and equip its Strategic Missile Forces with formidable Yars mobile ballistic missile systems.

Makarov also stressed the importance of maintaining highly-efficient, mobile conventional forces.

“Unfortunately, we are facing threats from a number of unstable states, where no nuclear weapons but well-trained, strong and mobile Armed Forces are required to resolve any conflict situation," Makarov said.


© Сollage by RIA Novosti
Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bomber

The Russian government has allocated 22 trillion rubles ($730 billion) on the state arms procurement program until 2020.

[vector7]

Putin plans asymmetric radar reply

MOSCOW
Russian Prime Minister and likely next president Vladimir Putin says Russia will counter NATO’s missile shield project with an asymmetrical and effective response by spending $770 billion over the next decade


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin walks after inspecting a new Russian fighter jet in this file photo. Putin says Russia will purchase more than 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles (inset.) AP photo


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vowed yesterday that Russia would strengthen its military might and offer an “asymmetrical and effective” response to the deployment of a NATO missile shield.

Russia must implement strong countermeasures to respond to NATO’s planned deployment of a missile shield in Europe, Putin wrote in an article on national security in the state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, ahead of his bid for a third Kremlin term in the March 4 presidential polls.

“The time demands decisive steps to strengthen a single system of air and space defense of our country. We are being pushed towards these actions by the policy of the United States and NATO on the question of deploying a missile shield,” Putin wrote.

He said Russia should not try to create a “costly” rival shield but its strategic nuclear forces and air and space defense forces should aim to “overcome any system of missile defense.” “In this question there cannot be too much patriotism,” Agence France-Presse quoted Putin as saying.

Leaders of the NATO alliance gave their backing in 2010 for the Europe-wide ballistic missile shield – which officials say is aimed at thwarting missile threats from the Middle East, particularly Iran. Turkey hosts a radar system in the eastern province of Malatya as part of the NATO anti-missile project.

Putin has dismissed the U.S. claim the prospective shield was intended to counter the Iranian missile threat, saying its real goal was to erode Russia’s nuclear deterrent.

“Russia’s military and technical response to a global American missile shield and its segment in Europe will be effective and asymmetrical,” he said. “And it will fully correspond to the United States’ steps on the missile shield.”

Key instrument of modern warfare
While a nuclear conflict looks unlikely, scientific progress leads to the emergence of new weapons that could change the character of war, Putin said, the Associated Press reported. He specifically referred to precision long-range non-nuclear weapons, saying they emerge as a key instrument of modern warfare.

“We must not tempt anyone with our weakness,” Putin said. “Therefore we will never in any circumstances give away our potential of strategic deterrence and will strengthen it,” he said in his sixth campaign article laying out his political beliefs.

Putin said the government plans spending about $770 billion on modernizing its armed forces and defense industry over the next decade by purchasing more than 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles, more than 600 combat aircraft, dozens of submarines and other navy vessels and thousands of armored vehicles.

“Within the next decade, the armed forces will receive more than 400 modern ground- and sea-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, eight ballistic missile submarines, about 20 general purpose attack submarines, over 50 surface ships and some 100 military-purpose spacecraft,” Putin said, Russian Ria Novosti news agency reported.

He said the number will also include “over 600 modern aircraft, including fifth-generation fighters, more than a thousand helicopters, 28 regimental sets of S-400 [SA-21 Growler] surface-to-air missile systems, 38 division sets of Vityaz air defense systems, 10 brigade sets of Iskander-M (SS-26 Stone) tactical missile systems, more than 2,300 modern tanks, some 2,000 self-propelled artillery systems and guns, as well as more than 17,000 military vehicles.”

[samizdat]

scientific progress leads to the emergence of new weapons that could change the character of war, Putin said, the Associated Press reported. He specifically referred to precision long-range non-nuclear weapons, saying they emerge as a key instrument of modern warfare.

uh oh... he said the no no nano word. psalm 37

[Ryan Ruck]

Putin Pledges 400 ICBMs for Russia in Ten Years

February 20, 2012

Russia’s armed forces will receive over 400 modern intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), more than 100 military spacecraft and over 2,300 new tanks within the next ten years, Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin said.

Earlier media voiced fears that by 2020, Russia’ ICBM arsenal could reduce by more than half as over 400 missiles would go beyond their maximum service life without timely replacement.

“Within the next decade, the armed forces will receive more than 400 modern ground- and sea-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, eight ballistic missile submarines, about 20 general purpose attack submarines, over 50 surface ships and some 100 military-purpose spacecraft,” Putin wrote in a new article for the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily.

He said the number will also include “over 600 modern aircraft, including fifth-generation fighters, more than a thousand helicopters, 28 regimental sets of S-400 [SA-21 Growler] surface-to-air missile systems, 38 division sets of Vityaz air defense systems, 10 brigade sets of Iskander-M (SS-26 Stone) tactical missile systems, more than 2,300 modern tanks, some 2,000 self-propelled artillery systems and guns, as well as more than 17,000 military vehicles.”

Putin said the ground, sea and air components of Russia’s nuclear triad are stable and sufficient at the moment.

Chief of the Russian General Staff, Army Gen. Nikolai Makarov said on February 15 that Russia would use nuclear weapons in response to any imminent threat to its national security.

The general said Russia’s nuclear deterrent is the cornerstone of strategic stability and serious efforts are being made by the Russian government to modernize the country’s nuclear triad.

The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to acquire at least 10 Borey class strategic nuclear submarines, thoroughly upgrade its fleet of Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95 Bear strategic bombers, and equip its Strategic Missile Forces with formidable Yars mobile ballistic missile systems.

Putin also wrote that he believes substantial investment in Russia’s defense sector, in particular, the armaments program, will be positive for the country’s economy.

This is Putin’s sixth article outlining the points of his election program in Russian media. The previous articles focused on general and economic issues, ethnic problems, democratic development and social policy.

Putin served two terms as Russia’s president between 2000 and 2008, but the Constitution barred him from standing for a third consecutive term. He became prime minister after his handpicked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, was elected president.

Russia will hold presidential elections on March 4. Putin, from the governing United Russia party, is the frontrunner in this year's election campaign. His closest rival is Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the Communist Party. Other contenders are Liberal Democrat leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov and independent billionaire candidate Mikhail Prokhorov.

[vector7]

Putin praises Cold War moles for stealing U.S. nuclear secrets

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By Steve Gutterman
MOSCOW | Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:04pm EST

(Reuters) - Vladimir Putin praised Cold War-era scientists on Thursday for stealing U.S. nuclear secrets so that United States would not be the world's sole atomic power, in comments reflecting his vision of Russia as a counterweight to U.S. power.

Spies with suitcases full of data helped the Soviet Union build its atomic bomb, he told military commanders.

"You know, when the States already had nuclear weapons and the Soviet Union was only building them, we got a significant amount of information through Soviet foreign intelligence channels," Putin said, according to state-run Itar-Tass.

"The were carrying the information away not on microfilm but literally in suitcases. Suitcases!"

Putin's remarks referred to the dawn of the Cold War more than half a century ago, but they echoed a message he has made loud and clear more recently: that the United States needs to be restrained, and Russia is the country to do it.

It has been known for decades that there were spies among the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, the U.S. atomic bomb design operation. Putin suggested those who helped Moscow build its bomb acted out of concern for humanity.

"It was the cream the scientific world that was gathered in America, and I personally have gotten the impression that they consciously gave us information on the atom bomb," Putin was quoted as saying.

"They did this consciously because the atom bomb had been used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and scientists from mankind's intellectual elite at the time understood what unilateral possession of such a weapon might lead to."

A need for Russia to act as a counterweight to U.S. power has been a continuous theme of Putin's time in office since he - himself a former Soviet spy - became president in 2000. He stepped down in 2008 to become prime minister but is poised to reclaim the presidency in an election on March 4.

Last year he criticized the United States for helping Libyan rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi. Lately he has suggested Washington has similar designs on Syria, where Russia has vetoed U.N. action. Earlier this month Putin said the world faced a growing "cult of violence".

[vector7]

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Report: Russia to form National Guard to answer new challenges

Published: 02 April, 2012, 12:55

RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich

TAGS: Military, Russia, Politics, Law, Police



A Russian newspaper reports that the country’s authorities are pondering the creation of a new power agency, the national guard, to fight external and internal threats.

In the article, Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily claims that a source in the Defense Ministry told the authors of these plans, but provided little detail.

It seems there will be National Guard units comprised of Interior Ministry troops (with conscripted soldiers led by police officers – these will be used to guard penal colonies, as well as for crowd control and similar tasks), of servicemen of the Military Forces (including paratroopers, air force, navy and military police), and Emergencies Ministry personnel (fire fighters and rescue workers, all of them contracted professionals).

The newspaper did not explain how these very different units would operate together, and did not elaborate why the force would be known as a national guard – the story did not say anything about its reservist nature.

What the article does say, is that the new force could be headed by the commander of Russia’s Interior Ministry troops, Army General Nikolay Rogozhkin. The authors of the article say earlier media reports that Rogozhkin refused an offer to become Chief of General Staff, confirm this theory.

The article then lists the possible reasons for the creation of the new guard, opening with the fresh experience from the Arab Spring revolutions, which showed that any nation needs a large number of special forces capable of defending the constitutional order against armed opposition.

The second task is to defend the authorities from mass unrest, which is usually done by police and Interior Ministry troops. According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, however, these bodies can only partly fulfill the task.

The third possible reason behind the move, the authors suggest, is the fact that Russia’s almost completed military reform has not given the country the expected boost in defense potential, so the defense budget could be recalculated with a greater focus on internal threats.

The newspaper’s source gave the planned strength of the National Guard as about 350-400 thousand, with 80 percent of all servicemen contract soldiers.