I should think so.
Or…sleeper cells willing to kill enemies of the regime poised around the UK and Europe…
Except those cells aren’t poised to hit the UK and Europe, they don’t care about the UK and Europe.
In order for there to be a cold war, there would have to be an intention on the part of Russia to harm the United States and Europe in ways just short of open war. No such thing exists in Russia today, and likely will not.
To anyone who doesn’t think assassinating people is potential grounds for declaring war: tell me, do you think any country is going to sit around while another nation dispatches assassins at whim? If you do nothing, you’re pretty much meekly accepting that you have no right to defend yourself or your people.
Anyway, I’m not sure that any President ever had any influence on internal Russian politics. Sometimes we affected them from without, but only in a very blunt force fashion. I don’t blame Bush or Clinton or Bush or Reagan for it; the Russian Bear has been wildly unstable because it simply has no large political class or social class who really believes in democracy. The nation hasn’t been stable in over a century, and toward the end of the Cold War it was becoming particular wobbly even leaving the U. S. aside. Too many fiefdoms, too many secrets. And it’s the same today.
But there does exist such an intention on the part of the U.S. See the article linked in post #20.
Uh-huh. No there isn’t.
Trust writers for The Nation to sympathize with the poor misunderstood Soviet Union as she bravely withstood American Imperialism. And trust writers for The Nation to reflexively take the side of any country, no matter how odious, against American Imperialism.
Admitting former Soviet client states into NATO and the European Union isn’t prosecuting a new cold war against the Russians. Those countries weren’t strongarmed into NATO against their will by an imperialist America.
So just insert about twenty rolleyes smilies for my reaction to that article.
Lemur866 Well my reference to the Cold War was kind of Tongue in Cheek. However, I think that the idea of tanks on the border is kind of anachronistic. Tanks are SOOOO 20th Century. Tanks are on their way out. I think elite espionage is the way of the future for warfare. I wouldn’t be surprised if Assassins were the way that Putin prosecutes his foreign policy from now on. That seems to be his Modus Operandi, when he’s not just outright nationalizing companies.
What’s happening now is a negotiation between Britain and Russia, over who gives what and who takes what. It was smart of Russia to put a non-extradition clause in their Constitution. Britain is trying to play the game that they largely setup on the world stage. The western diplomacy game that has eroded the sovereignty of any nation willing to play.
Expelling Diplomats isn’t a minor thing. Sure it’s largely ceremonial, but it’s high up in the political ceremony food chain in terms of sabre rattling. It’s a conflict that affects the sovereignty of both nations no matter how it plays out.
The possibility of it escalating to a nuclear standoff is very low.
Posted in wrong thread. Sorry.