Quote:Putin warns Washington over missile shield
By Christian Lowe
Thu Oct 18,

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin warned the United States on Thursday that Russia could take retaliatory measures if Washington failed to take heed of its concerns over a missile defense shield in Europe.

"I can assure you that such steps are being prepared and we will take them. Where we should station what, that is for specialists of the Russian military's general staff," Putin said in response to a question about how to respond to the shield.
The United States plans to place interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as part of a shield Washington says is needed to counter possible attacks from "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea.

Russia says the shield is a threat to its security and could spark an arms race, concerns U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates sought to ease in Moscow talks last week. Putin welcomed their efforts.

"The latest contacts with our American colleagues show that they have indeed given some thought to the proposals we made and they are looking for a solution to the problems and for ways to ease our concerns," Putin said.

Putin's comments appeared to echo a warning made in July by First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov that Russia could deploy new missiles, including in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, in response to the missile shield.

His warning on missile defense was in response to a question from a voter in Kaliningrad, Russia's westernmost outpost, at a three-hour annual question-and-answer session.

The Kremlin leader also said Russia was working on new types of nuclear weapons as part of a "grandiose" plan to boost the country's defenses.

Military experts have speculated that Russia could eventually deploy its new Iskander-M tactical missiles to counter the U.S. missile shield.

POLAND'S RESPONSE

Russian generals say the shield would allow the United States to scan Russia's territory as far as the Urals, and would give the Pentagon the capability to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles soon after launch.

Putin has offered the United States joint use of a Russia-leased radar station in Azerbaijan as an alternative to the missile shield in Europe.

Kaliningrad is surrounded by new NATO members Poland and Lithuania. The city of Kaliningrad -- the former Prussian city of Koenigsberg which was seized by Russia as a World War Two trophy -- is closer to Warsaw than Moscow.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said on Thursday in Warsaw that hosting the shield could help protect his country, citing a possible threat from Russia.

Poland, which votes in a parliamentary election on Sunday, has previously said the shield was not linked to Russia.

"This will boost our security ..... We have to remember that we are in a state of permanent threat. The Russians have not accepted the changes since 1989 and it is obvious that they consider us as within their sphere of influence," he said at a news conference."

Kaczynski was referring to the fall of communism in 1989, which ended Soviet domination over Poland.

(Additional reporting by Natalia Reiter and Conor Sweeney)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071018/ts_nm/...russia_putin_dc

Quote:The Russian people are being oriented to a new enemy. They are being told to fear and hate the Americans. According to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the Russian Desk of British intelligence has warned that Putin may be preparing a new Cold War against America. But this is old news. Those who have been paying attention need no secret intelligence to see what is coming – what has already arrived. The whole period of perestroika and the collapse of communism and the “democracy” of Boris Yeltsin was nothing more than a preparatory interval. And now the preparations are nearing their completion. Russia has begun using its economic weapon – energy. The Europeans pretend that they are independent of Russia, but in reality the game is up. All that is required, in the long run, is the right propaganda. And Putin has discovered this propaganda. By mischaracterizing America’s military plans, Russia plays the injured innocent. By likening Bush to Hitler, and America to the Third Reich, Putin seizes the moral high ground – rallying the international Left to Russia, impressing the dictators of the Third World with his anti-American credentials. At the same time, he sends a warning message to Europe. The world is against America, and you’d better join us.
......

Here is the fateful method of launching a nuclear war without fear of retaliation. Note the precondition: false flag terrorism (i.e., gray terror). Note the psychological preparations: Russian nuclear facilities aren’t terribly secure (i.e., Gen. Lebed’s claim, years ago, that Russian warheads were “missing”). Note America’s credulity: (1) Russia is no longer our enemy; (2) Islam is the main threat to America’s survival; (3) the alliance between Russia and China is not aimed at America; (4) America is the lone superpower.

http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/g.../2007/0511.html


RUSSIA'S UNDENIABLE WAR PREPARATIONS
by J. R. Nyquist

Since 1998 I have publicly warned of Russia’s war preparations. The idea of preparing for nuclear war is absurd for most Americans, because the idea of nuclear war makes no sense in a consumer society. However that may be, Russia’s war preparations were as undeniable then as they are today. And Russia is not a consumer society. In the late 1990s Russia was refurbishing huge nuclear war bunkers and building underground cities. The only purpose such bunkers and cities could serve is in relation to a future nuclear war. For a country that was supposedly broke to be spending its precious resources on something so expensive, so far out of the way of “normal” expectations, seemed inexplicable. “Oh well,” people would shrug. “The Russians are used to doing this sort of thing. It gives them psychological comfort. Let them do what they want. It needn’t trouble us.” The public missed the fact, however, that Russia was continuing to violate arms control agreements. It was not admitting to all the nuclear warheads it possessed, and was not reliably disposing of them. It was developing new, deadly, biological and chemical weapons.

Why in the midst of peace, a few short years after the end of the Cold War, were the Russians adhering to this insane path? Were they anticipating a future war?

The answer must be yes. And the answer continues to be yes. In the 1990s Russia forged an alliance with China that involved a growing series of joint military exercises. Why would the Russians do this? Why would they seek to develop a joint military capability that would link Russian missile power with Chinese manpower? For over a decade the Russians have been providing the Chinese with technology and weapons. This is not merely a commercial transaction, as some would insist. These transactions are carefully considered strategic steps. Since the mid-1990s, Russia and China have initiated joint-armaments programs that further solidified their military partnership. It is obsolete thinking to suppose Russia and China are enemies. It must be understood, as a practical matter, that Russia and China are underdog powers locked in a struggle for primacy with the United States. The only sensible strategy, if Russia and China expect to emerge on top, is to unite against the Americans. And that is what the two countries have been doing for the past decade.

http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/g.../2007/0824.html