Russia is no longer able to conduct a cold wqar againsdt America, but they do like to play spoilers. Russia, and to some extent China are in some ways nothing but over-sized versions of France.

As to Russia’s demographic, health and other problems that Robert posted about: : I’m preparing a post that treats this context.

Communism has always been a catch-phrase for the anti-democratic centralization of power: it is Fascism dressed as Collective Welfare. And your comments conclude that it is alive and well in Russia.

Towards the end of the Cold War, we weren’t only being harangued by domestic socialists. Our current critics in the halls of power of old Europe and Russia are the same ones who organized in Bonn, Paris and Moscow to oppose Reagan’s Pershing II missiles in the early eighties.

Blogs like the Eurabiantimes, Frontpagemag and Europundit have all touched on this: German Foreign Minister, Joshka Fischer’s pro-Soviet activism at that time is too late forgotten. And, Alain Jospin, Chirac’s prior Communist PM, enacted that country’s command economy: the 35-hour work week. He capitulated to the trucking unions when they blocked the Chunnel, and he promoted France’s anti-American agendas in the WTO, UN Human Rights Commission, UN Climate Change Conference, UN Iraqi Sanctions Committee, etc.

Neither politician has ever hidden his ideological animosity toward our liberal captalist system. There should be no wonder why they “hate us.”

Steve

Needless to say why Putin is supplying Nuclear technology to the mullahs, whilst they are instigating the chechen insugency is beyond me. Or has he made a deal?

Europe would have to join Bush in confronting Putin, for it to have any effect. Since Europe lacks the balls, it won’t happen.

I suspect that the CIA is in the process of building a better network of human intelligence within the Russian government than it has had in a long time. (certainly under Madame Albright the Russians had free access to everything in the State Department) There may be little to gain at this time in publicly revealing the genuine antagonism that exists between the two countries regarding Iran and other proxies.

Perhaps you are interested in this article

Just as innuendo gets trampled by facts, proxy-warfare fails when the proxies are directly confronted. Removing Saddam has illuminated the proxies and their patrons.

I’m beginning to believe that Horowitz’ “Unholy Alliance,” an operational alliance between radical islam and global leftists, was the final, logical, strategic deboubt of Russia’s Primakov communists. They weren’t going to let America’s apparent victory over them stand for long.

I think we declared victory in the Cold War too soon. Tired of the expensive conflict, harangued by socialist sympathizers at home, tempted to wear the mantel of “Victor,” and too ready to spend the illusory “peace dividend,” our nation claimed the victory prematurely.

There’s still a lot of sweeping up left to do.
-Steve
(Today, Fox news is reporting that Russian nuclear materials are “unaccounted for.”)