In Moscow, there has been no official comment about Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit to Georgia. Russia has so far ignored or dismissed warnings from the West of economic and diplomatic consequences for its attack on Georgia. Russian officials appear to be enjoying defying the West.
they seem to relish being marginalized as well. they better cross their fingers that they maintain good relations with China, because the western world really sees them as pariahs. should I suppose it’s just coincidence that Russia’s population is imploding faster than any other country in the world, more abortions performed there than anywhere else (save maybe China)?
actually they relish marginalizing themselves is more appropriate.
As we all should know if we are students of history, Russia has historically been distrustful of outsiders: First the Mongols, then the Tatars, then the Germanic tribes, the French under Napoleon, and then the Nazis. Their lands have been fought over from time immemorial.
They regard their actions as defensive in nature, and their former “republics” as buffer states between them and the outside Western world. They intend to use their control of the natural gas pipelines as an economic weapon against western Europe, and it remains to be seen what action those countries will take in response, should that occur.
Let’s hope that Russia doesn’t try to sneak in nuclear weapons into Cuba like they once tried to do. They found out that we had a stiffer spine than they thought. Another big question that may be unanswerable is this: what is the status of Russia’s nuclear weapons? Have they be updated or replaced or just left alone and allowed to decay and go to pot? Just wondering!!