Russia: Iran no missile threat

[C-Force]

Hey Andy,
























































Boo!

[C-Force]

Russia's trying to be a super power again, call the Ghostbusters.

[ANDY-J1]

Originally posted by C-Force
"That's the reason for Putin's current belligerent posturing"? LOL. That was the stupidest thing you've ever said.

I'm not going to waste my time listing all of the US's belligerence toward a docile Russian Federation for the first 15 years.

People like you have been saying the same thing for 5 years, bla bla bla, Russia wants to be a superpower, bla bla. Yet it wasn't until February 10, 2007 at the Munich security conference that Putin, after 7 years in power, made his first belligerent speech toward the US.

Get over yourself.

You haven't really grasped the nub of my argument- I haven't expressed a subjective opinion just an objective appraisal of Russia's current status in the world. There are 3 superpowers - the EU, US and China. Russia doesn't measure up to any of them in the influence it exerts on the world stage. Russia is in the process of becoming a third rate power and instead of being belligerent they should seek to build bridges with the EU not try and threaten them by aiming their obsolete nuclear missiles at western Europe.

[C-Force]

Originally Posted by ANDY-J1

Originally posted by C-Force
"That's the reason for Putin's current belligerent posturing"? LOL. That was the stupidest thing you've ever said.

I'm not going to waste my time listing all of the US's belligerence toward a docile Russian Federation for the first 15 years.

People like you have been saying the same thing for 5 years, bla bla bla, Russia wants to be a superpower, bla bla. Yet it wasn't until February 10, 2007 at the Munich security conference that Putin, after 7 years in power, made his first belligerent speech toward the US.

Get over yourself.

You haven't really grasped the nub of my argument- I haven't expressed a subjective opinion just an objective appraisal of Russia's current status in the world. There are 3 superpowers - the EU, US and China. Russia doesn't measure up to any of them in the influence it exerts on the world stage. Russia is in the process of becoming a third rate power and instead of being belligerent they should seek to build bridges with the EU not try and threaten them by aiming their obsolete nuclear missiles at western Europe.

You said that Russia is pretending to be a superpower, but Russia is just being Russia. Russia is and always will be, by its inherent nature, a power. Whether that power is friendly towards the west or not is another issue. But the time for bridge building is over, your arguement is anachronistic. Every attempt Russia made was met by American jingoism. The Bill-Boris love affair is over, a close relationship with the US will bring them nothing and they know it. Your Blair should be able to attest to that. EU-Russian relations could be better, unfortunately the EU is closely tied with the US through NATO.

There are 3 superpowers now? Where was I when that happened?

If the EU actually completes the Gallileo program, maybe then they'll really look like a superpower. Too bad they need Russian rockets to do it.

[ANDY-J1]

I stand corrected. After the American's self immolation in Iraq and the hundreds of billions of Dollars that have been sucked out of their economy they don't really qualify as a superpower anymore so I should have said two super powers. The bottom line is the EU has a GDP that is greater than that of the US or China and which makes Russia look like a third world state. It comes down to economics and the bottom line is the EU is the wealthiest power bloc on the planet so it's them that will be calling the shots in the future- if the Russians don't like it tough sh!t. Their views can rightly be ignored as irrelevant. Personally I favour a more confrontational and aggressive approach with the US also.

[C-Force]

If the European Union were a state in the USA it would belong to the poorest group ofstates. France, Italy, Great Britain and Germany have lower GDP per capita than all but four of the states in the United States. In fact, GDP per capita is lower in the vast majority of the EU-countries (EU 15) than in most of the individual American states. This puts Europeans at a level of prosperity on par with states such as Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia. Only the miniscule country of Luxembourg has higher per capita GDP than the average state in the USA. The results of the new study represent a grave critique of European economic policy.

Stark differences become apparent when comparing official economic statistics. Europe lags behind the USA when comparing GDP per capita and GDP growth rates. The current economic debate among EU leaders lacks an understanding of the gravity of the situation in many European countries. Structural reforms of the European economy as well as far reaching welfare reforms are well overdue. The Lisbon process lacks true impetus, nor is it sufficient to improve the economic prospects of the EU.

EU versus USA is written by Dr Fredrik Bergström, President of the Swedish Research Institute of Trade, and Mr Robert Gidehag, until recently Chief Economist of the same institute and now President of the Swedish Taxpayer's Association.

EU vs. USA

[ANDY-J1]

The report was compiled in 2004. Since then there have been massive changes in Europe and the US. Europe has not squandered several hundred billion Dollars in Iraq during that period- no economy can have that amount of money sucked out of it without being fundamentally weakened. American debt is increasing at an unsustainable rate. In 2006 two years after the report was compiled-

"for the first time in American history, the American consumer held more debt than income. Debt per household grew 8 percent, putting total consumer debt at $2.17 trillion."

"Despite attempts by the Bush administration to downplay the importance of America’s compiled debt, evidence shows that America and Americans are on a dangerous path toward economic implosion."

The Badger Herald - American debt threatens security

Europe is developing- the US is deteriorating rapidly and given that I don't regard it as a protestant liberal democracy anymore the sooner it implodes the better. America has betrayed its cultural heritage and they deserve to pay the price for it.