Post Comments To This Article:  The New Russian Threat

Breaking News :  Russia Attacks Georgia  In response to Georgia attacking breakaway South Ossetia.  Russia has attacked Georgia after years of agitation and Western influence.  Complete update of happenings throughout the conflict.

Update 8/14/2008:  In light of recent events in Georgia, Poland today signed an agreement with the United States that will place part of the American Missile Defense Shield defense system in the former Eastern Block country. 

The Bush administration has long pushed to base missile interceptors in Poland despite rejection and threats from Russia.. The interceptor rockets would be linked to an air-defense radar system in the Czech Republic, whose officials agreed in April to take part in the system.  Both countries are former Soviet Block nations but now are members of the U.S.-led NATO alliance. The United States' plans to base the anti-missile system in Eastern Europe have raised alarms in Russia.  Moscow has mounted serious opposition to the missile shield plan, although the United States has insisted it is designed to counter threats from the Middle East and is not an aggressive move against Russia.  The United States has also agreed to help Poland modernize its military, which it requested as a condition of its support for housing the missile defense system.  If there is a clear winner in the Russian Georgian War, it is Poland and the United States.  Poland had to feel after the invasion of Georgia by Russia that they needed to take part in the missile shield for self protection.  Poland has asked the U.S. to modernize and bolster it's military in defense of future Russian aggression toward it's neighbors.  In the end, Russia's aggressive nature has led to yet another slap in the face by the West.  Their 1980's style of governing should have known that their actions in Georgia would ignite her neighbors to resort to turning to the West and this has what finally made the Defensive Ballistic Missile Shield with Poland happen.  As an American, I just want to say thank you Russia.  I am already feeling safer from your missiles and any other of your dark age foes in the Middle East.

Many in the world believed that the cold war had ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall.  It was as if the darkness of the iron curtain was raised and the free world was able to lift the veil for it's first uncensored view.   Then, as further evidence of the end of the Cold War era, in the winter of 1991 the once mighty world super power took it's final bow as the cold war had officially came to a close with the collapse and break up of the Soviet Union. This left Russia alone as state after state declared their independence and began self rule.

In the years that followed Russia struggled with her identity and began to recognize more and more that ever since the Berlin Wall was destroyed in 1989 she had lost and was humiliated by this defeat delivered by the West.  Democracy was introduced and it was at times painful to watch and hear about.  Organized crime blossomed to the point of international crime organizations. This led to tighter controls and today the average Russian believes that democracy is not for them, at least not an American form of democracy.  They go as far as to say that Mikhail Gorbachev sold Russia to America and the West.  They made attempts at reforms to democratize the once communist super power but the nation slipped further and further into chaos during the Boris Yeltsin era.  It was not until Vladimir Putin took office in 2000 that Russia began to rebuild itself since the collapse in 1991.  It was a dark nine years that now in 2008 is full of bright light.  Under Putin's reforms, though not popular with the West, the old Kremlin is back in control.  Putin has said that Russia is a democracy.  It may not resemble the same form of democracy that is in the United States but he believes that it is still a democracy.  It really does not matter what the West thinks any more to Russian leaders.  Under Putin Russia has climbed back to becoming a world super power. Putin has enjoyed very high approval ratings amongst the Russian public.  The economy has bounced back under his guidance.  Life is better now under Putins blend of communist era control and democratic international capitalism.  Russia's abundance of natural resources has created new found wealth and has been better utilized during the Putin Era than at any other point in the history of the country..  Russia is extremely active in profiting from technology exchange and arms deals with many countries throughout the world.  Their relationship with China has blossomed and the two have created a block of power in the UN security council to offset that of the Western world powers.  So, what I am saying is that the Cold War is well on it's way to a monumental come back.  The Russians, for their part, love the fact that Mr. Putin is making Russia an international player again. They also like his authoritarian style. In Russia, business is booming, the government is flush with oil revenue and the economy is growing at 8 percent a year. Mr. Putin is domestically more popular than any recent Russian leader

The typical Russian is a very proud and patriotic person.  They have disdain for the West for a long history of what they feel was impoverishment forced upon them during the Cold War.  The Communist government blamed America and the West for the struggles that they experienced.  As for the younger generation that barely remember the Cold War in Russia through new waves of  Kremlin propaganda now believe that an attack from America or other Western countries are real and is only a matter of time.  Putin throughout his reign in Russia had slowly abandoned reforms and began to implement tighter centralized control over the country. Crime lessened and the economy bounced back.  Today Russians give all the credit to Putin.  They adore the man that had brought Russia back into the world's prominent countries.  In the early years he was a humble servant to the people of Russia. As time passed and behind closed doors he and others in the Kremlin began to orchestrate a return to more government control and Cold War tactics.

What is the U.S. Missile Shield?

The U.S. Missile Shield that has become so controversial seeks to prevent a missile from landing on US or European allies soil by launching another missile to intercept and destroy it while it is still in the air.  Numerous interceptor missiles will be placed at stations throughout Europe.  Radar installations will also be strategically placed to pick up any incoming  nuclear or other ballistic missiles that will be targeted with coordination from the interceptor missile stations.  It is not Reagan's "Star Wars" but it is the first step.  The original Star Wars proposal sought to intercept nuclear missiles with space-based lasers. The National Missile Defense proposal advanced by the Clinton government was similar but far more limited and focused on ground-based missile interceptors such as the interceptor missiles proposed by the Bush Administration

The US missile defense system is intended to destroy incoming ballistic missiles potentially coming from North Korea and Iran.

This involves using radars in Alaska and California in the US and at Fylingdales in the UK. Another radar is planned for Greenland. Anti-missile missiles, or interceptors, are being based in Alaska (40 of them) and California (four).  There would also be 130 interceptors based on ships. The interceptors work by physically hitting the ballistic missile in mid-flight. There would also be missiles to try to destroy incoming rockets in the final stages. However, the US plans to install 10 more interceptors in silos in Poland, and build a radar station in the Czech Republic.  It hopes that construction of the Czech facility - using a radar currently located at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands - could begin next year, with the first interceptors in place in Poland by 2011 and the system fully operational by 2012.

Moscow suggested that the US could use a Russian-rented radar site in Azerbaijan, which shares a border with Iran.  Former President Putin also offered use of a radar site in southern Russia and proposed working with the US and other European countries on a joint defense system. But the US showed little interest in either idea.
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Is Terrorisplanet.com Wrong About A Return To The Cold War Era?

It is hard to dispute that the relationship Russia has with the West and in particular  the United States is not one of agitation.  It has been growing steadily since Putin took office.  As Russia rebounded more and more from their psychological defeat in the Cold War so to has their distrust of America. "The Kremlin wants Russia to be seen as a powerful state, after all those humiliations we survived," says Sergei Markov, spokesman for the Russian Public Chamber, the government watchdog that monitors legislation.

In the Past 8 years America has fought in two separate wars and has lambasted Russia's pullback from implementing democratic reforms.  Russia has countered with aligning itself with every potential threat to America throughout the world.  As mentioned earlier Russia has joined posture with China in being the opposition to U.S. policies in the UN including the war in Iraq and the potential war with Iran.  Russia has made quick allies of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and screamed foul over the Kosovo independence crisis on behalf of Sebia.  It just seems that Russia has had enough of laying down to the West and is rebelling in the light of recent American struggles around the World.  Russia sees America in turmoil ranging from energy dependence to the state of the economy.  They also hear the squabbling and dissent from the ridiculous two party system that is failing America after being taken over by the Neo-Con Conservative Republicans and the Ultra liberal Democrats. There is no voices of reasons in this generation of American leadership that can bridge the gap to moderation and controlled spending and return to times when America was the envy of the world. The war on terrorism that was essential in light of the 911 attacks has spiraled into a division of America on the path it has taken.  America looks weak in many ways and Russia looks to be rebounding quickly.  It was the Soviet-Afghan War that crippled the former Soviet Union and they were aware that it was U.S. and allies that funded the Afghan Mujahideen.  I am still curious if Russia is returning the favor in the current conflicts we are involved including Iraq and Afghanistan.  It would be the ultimate Cold War payback.  If American leaders do not wake up and realize that the West is entering a new chapter of an old book there will be many colder days ahead. It is essential that America and the West stall or divert another Cold War Arms Race in a world that is becoming more and more threatening.  Russia needs to realize that partnership with the United States and the West benefits Russia while the United States needs to realize that it still possible to diffuse Russia's Cold War stances by accepting Russia's choice of government over it's people.  Democracy does not grow immediately into an American or Western Europe form. It is unlikely that either side will budge.

March 2003  Russia delivered a statement of protest to the U.S. Embassy, accusing Washington of tactics associated with the Cold War after a U.S. spy plane flew near Russia's border with neighboring Georgia.
Two Russian fighters were scrambled to track the U-2 spy plane as it flew 12 to 19 miles from the Russian border Saturday, the Defense Ministry said, according to Russian news agencies.

2003 -2004 American-backed "colour" revolutions toppled pro-Russian regimes in Georgia and the Ukraine. Suddenly, the enemy was at the gate, installing pro-Western governments in Russia's old Soviet Union. "It was a profound shock," says Stanislav Belkovsky, a Kremlin-connected analyst and head of the Moscow-based Institute of National Strategy. This infuriated Putin. Since this crisis that Putin has been less agreeable with the West.  He let the world now that Russia was not going to be humiliated any longer by the West but began to step up Cold War tactics.  He began to oppose the United States and the Western countries at every opportunity. Then Putin began to rebuild Russia's aresenal.

January 2006  Russia took Europe to the brink of a winter energy crisis when it halted gas deliveries to Ukraine, the main conduit for exports to the West. With a quarter of its gas supplied by Russia, Europe is faced serious disruption and price rises for as long as the dispute rumbled on.  Moscow turned off the tap after Ukraine refused to sign a new contract with the Russian state monopoly Gazprom quadrupling prices. Critics of the Kremlin say the rise was punishment for the Orange Revolution in 2004 which brought in a westward-leaning government that promised to remove Ukraine from the Kremlin's sphere of influence.

October 2006  Republic of Georgia, Once part of the Soviet Union and now a U.S. ally and wishes to become part of  NATO, has been the victim of Russia's new Cold War policy.  Russia’s decision to sever transportation links — including flights, trains and ferries between the countries —  left Georgians and their businesses scrambling to cope with the disappearance of their country’s biggest and closest market. Millions of dollars in Georgian goods languished at customs terminals.  In Russia, Georgians faced investigations that have already closed several businesses, including a second Georgian-owned casino.  The sanctions followed several punitive trade barriers, including a Russian ban on wine and mineral water, the major Georgian exports to Russia.

2007 Between 2007 and 2015 Russia will spend £100 billion on 1,000 new aircraft and helicopters, 4,000 new tanks and armored vehicles and a new submarine fleet. Russia signed a £1.5 billion arms deal with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and sold a £500 million missile defense systems to the Iranians, a nuclear reactor to Burma and missiles to Syria.

March 2007 Russia accused the United States on Wednesday of using Cold War methods to persuade Europe to host an anti-missile shield that Moscow says is a threat to its national security.  Washington plans to install warning radars and missile batteries in Poland and the Czech Republic as part of a scheme it is designing to counter future long-range rocket attacks by hostile states such as Iran or North Korea.  Moscow has strongly attacked the plan, saying Iran does not have long-range missiles and charging that the shield threatens Russia's security. It has pledged to develop counter-measures.

March 2007  President Vladimir Putin stated that the missile shield exemplifies a unilateralist approach by the United States to global security, a policy he says has made the world a more dangerous place. Russia has been extremely bothered by the activities of the United States since the start of the war on terror and the Iraq war.  Meddling again in Eastern Europe by the United States has intensified and at this point even raised the bar of agitation that Putin and the Kremlin is feeling.

May 2007 A case of Russian bullying is little Estonia, which has been on the receiving end of major intimidation. The alleged cause was the removal on April 27 of an unprepossessing bronze statue of a giant Soviet bronze soldier, located in central Talinn. It was yet one of those provocative imperial monuments that Russians liked to leave all over their former empire, and the decision to move it to a military cemetery seems an eminently reasonable one.  At the same time, Russia shut down the rail traffic between Estonia and Russia, supposedly for repairs on the lines. And a series of cyber attacks were launched against Internet servers in Estonia from Russia.

May 18, 2006  German Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to effectively confront Russia with its behavior.) Clearly, we have entered a period of Russian aspiration to dominate its former sphere of influence in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as a period of competition for international energy resources, of which Russia possesses a great many.

June 2007  Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to American plans for a European-based missile-defense system by testing a new intercontinental missile, publicly blasted a U.S.-backed initiative to give independence to the Serbian province of Kosovo and frustrated American diplomatic initiatives on several fronts.  Putin, alluding to U.S. "imperialism," said Thursday that the missile test was a response to the Bush administration's plans to put a missile-defense radar and 10 interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic.
"We are not the initiators of this new round of the arms race," Putin told a Kremlin news conference.
"Our partners are stuffing eastern Europe with new weapons," he said. "What are we supposed to do? We cannot just observe all this."

June 2007  Russian President Vladimir Putin is making an astonishing bid to grab a vast chunk of the Arctic - so he can tap its vast potential oil, gas and mineral wealth.  His scientists claim an underwater ridge near the North Pole is really part of Russia's continental shelf.  The dramatic move provoked an international outcry. The U.S. and Canada expressed shock and environment campaigners said it would be a disaster.  Observers say the move is typical of Putin's muscle-flexing as he tries to increase Russian power.  Under current international law, the countries ringing the Arctic - -Russia, Canada, the U.S., Norway, and Denmark (which owns Greenland) - are limited to a 200-mile economic zone around their coasts.

July 2007  A diplomatic row between England and the Russia had broken out, sparked by Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB body guard whom Britain accuses of the murder of the dissident former agent and British citizen Alexander Litvinenko in a London sushi bar last November. In retaliation,  Prime Minister Brown of Great Britain had ordered the expulsion of four Russian diplomats.  Russia's direct response, an expulsion of four of Britain's diplomats from Moscow, plus an announcement it would no longer co-operate with the West in its war on terror and would withdraw from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty.

July 2007  Radar operators at RAF Fylingdales, the early warning station 20 miles away on Lockton High Moor, had just identified two unknown aircraft speeding towards British airspace as Russian TupolevTu 95 "Bear" long-range bombers. Attempted incursions by the Russians were common during the days of the Soviet Union, but have been rare since

August 2007 Russia is flexing it’s muscles by restarting cold war patrols. President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is resuming it’s Soviet-era tactic of sending it’s bomber aircraft on long-range flights.  Mr Putin said this move, which hasn’t been used in 15 years, was due to security threats posed by other military powers. 14 bombers took off from Russian airfields. At week before Russian bombers flew within a few hundred miles of the US pacific island of Guam. Strategic bombers had also began flying exercises over the North Pole.

November 2007 On a holiday created to unite his country, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a veiled warning that foreigners were seeking to split up the vast country and plunder its resource wealth.  Some people are constantly insisting on the necessity to divide up our country and are trying to spread this theory," Putin told military cadets during a speech in Moscow on Sunday, Russian news agencies reported.
"There are those who would like to build a uni-polar world, who would themselves like to rule all of humanity," Putin said, a phrase he has used over the past seven years of his administration to mean the United States.

December 2007  Russia has threatened to target two proposed American bases in Europe with its nuclear missiles if the Pentagon pressed ahead with its plans for a missile defense shield.

January 2008 Britain told Russia that its actions against the British Council were a “stain” on its reputation which was risking its standing in the world.  The council formally suspended operations in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg because of the campaign of intimidation against its staff, including the detention of Stephen Kinnock, son of the former Labour leader Lord Kinnock of Bedwellty. Lord Kinnock, who is chairman of the British Council, looked on from a Commons gallery as David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, described Russia’s behavior as reprehensible.  He told how the Russian security services had summoned 20 local members of the council staff and asked them about a range of matters, including the health of family pets.

Jan. 2008  Russia has resumedlong-range bomber patrols (halted with the fall of the Soviet Union),sometimes coming within inches of NATO airspace. She has pulled out ofseveral treaties with the West limiting the size of Russian militaryforces on Europe's eastern flank. Incensed at the U.S. plan of usingnew NATO member nations in Eastern Europe as a staging area for missiledefense systems (said to be a necessary defense against Iran), Russiahas developed and successfully test fired new missiles—both land- andsea-launched. Russia claims they are sophisticated enough to trump anyU.S. missile shield.

February 2008  Russia has not ruled out using force to resolve the dispute over Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia if NATO forces breach the terms of their UN mandate, Moscow’s ambassador to NATO warned on Friday.   “If the EU works out a single position or if NATO steps beyond its mandate in Kosovo, these organizations will be in conflict with the UN, and then I think we will also begin operating under the assumption that in order to be respected, one needs to use force,” Dmitry Rogozin said, in comments carried by Russia’s Interfax news agency.

February 2008  Russia’s military chief of staff General Yuri Baluyevsky threatened the use of nuclear weapons in case of a major threat. He said that, although they have no plans of attacking anyone, they nevertheless “consider it necessary for everyone around the world community to clearly understand, that to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including, preventively, the use of nuclear weapons.”

July 008  A statement from the foreign ministry in Moscow said Russia would be "forced to react not with diplomatic methods but with military-technical methods" if the proposed interceptor missiles are installed near Russia's borders. That statement was in response to a deal inked between America and the Czechs to begin installing tracking radar and eventually interceptor missiles southwest of Prague.

July 2008  Russia's military is ready to "neutralize" any threat to its nuclear deterrent from US missile defense sites in Europe, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said Monday, according to Interfax news agency.
"If we see the development of systems that could reduce our deterrent potential, our military will have to take steps to neutralize the threat," Kislyak was quoted as saying at a briefing in Moscow.
He did not specify the steps that would be taken, saying "this will be decided by military specialists."
"We would prefer not to have to do this," he added

April 2008  Russia will take military and other steps along its borders if ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia join NATO, Russian news agencies quoted the armed forces' chief of staff as saying. "Russia will take steps aimed at ensuring its interests along its borders," the agencies quoted General Yuri Baluyevsky as saying. "These will not only be military steps, but also steps of a different nature," he said, without giving details.

July 2008  July 21 -- Russian bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons could be deployed to Cuba in response to U.S. plans to install a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, a Russian newspaper reported Monday, citing an unnamed senior Russian air force official.  "While they are deploying the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, our strategic bombers will already be landing in Cuba," Izvestia quoted the source as saying.  Russian strategic bombers, long mothballed, resumed worldwide patrols last year under orders from then-President Vladimir Putin. The flights have continued under his successor, Dmitry Medvedev.

If this is not  a new cold war then what would you call it?