Putin and the New ‘Arms Race’
Vladimir Putin isn't taking the expansion of NATO and a planned missile shield lightly The Russian president told his people: "It is already clear that a new phase in the arms race is unfolding in the world It is not our fault, because we did not start it" Flush with oil money, Russia is planning to beef up and flaunt its military capabilities in response.
Vladimir Putin isn’t taking the expansion of NATO and a planned missile shield lightly. The Russian president told his people: “It is already clear that a new phase in the arms race is unfolding in the world. … It is not our fault, because we did not start it.” Flush with oil money, Russia is planning to beef up and flaunt its military capabilities in response.
AS CHAOS UNFOLDS, FIND SOLID GROUND…BBC:
In his speech, to the State Council – Russia’s top politicians, officials and generals – he said other countries were spending far more than Russia on new weapons.
But Russia would always respond to the challenges of a new arms race by developing more hi-tech weaponry, he said.
Referring to Nato’s activities in Central and Eastern Europe, Mr Putin said “there are many discussions on these, but… we have still not seen any real steps towards finding a compromise”.
“In effect, we are forced to retaliate, to take corresponding decisions. Russia has, and always will have, responses to these new challenges,” he said.
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The most recent manifestation of the urge to engage in an “arms race” will no doubt create more insecurity in an already unstable world.
A deep-seated denial about the colonial ideology undergirding gun rights in the U.S. has hampered the left's approach to arms control.
Since at least 2001, the Saudis and Israelis have successfully reframed American policy in the Greater Middle East, and the results have been disastrous.
The president's arms sales are meant to promote pork-barrel politics, while pumping up the profits of U.S. weapons manufacturers. As for human rights or human lives, who cares?
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