# Russia insecure yet again. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 22, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-insecure-yet-again/464636 "2008-09-22T04:13:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-insecure-yet-again/464636/21 "2008-09-23T09:27:21Z")
> [@UnwrittenNocturne](#): > > Shhh. Stop that. You’ll wreck their game. > > Eisenhower must be rolling in his grave thinking about how his warnings went unheeded. The military, contractors and a lot of politicians get a lot of mileage out of getting people to believe that someone (anyone) wants to invade the U.S. > > Whenever anyone talks about reducing the military they get hammered with this attack nonsense. And some people, for some reason, seem to believe it. > > Here’s a hint. Just because some nations (actually since WWII mostly the U.S.) engage in vicious invasions it doesn’t mean everyone wants to. Also worth noting that the invading nations almost always picks a much smaller target. Like, say, an island in the Caribbean. Nobody has had a crack at (for example) Australia or Ireland. Excellent post. Among the best in this thread. Very commendable. Please stay. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-insecure-yet-again/464636/22 "2008-09-23T13:18:07Z")
> [@UnwrittenNocturne](#): > > Nobody has had a crack at (for example) Australia or Ireland. Hmmmmm . . . ---
**Author:** ![Camus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@Camus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-insecure-yet-again/464636/23 "2008-09-23T13:21:24Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > It used to be that the world was divided into spheres of influence and the big powers avoided messing in other powers’ sphere of influence. That is one reason Cuba was such a serious question: it was in America’s sphere of influence. > > (snip) > > Now America has decided to upset the apple cart and start encircling Russia and surrounding it with radars, missiles etc. Not surprisingly Russia is upset and making noises. > > Would America allow China and/or Russia to start installing similar things in Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean? No way! Is the U.S. making unilateral decisions about which countries join NATO and which ones don’t? Is the U.S. alone deciding which countries it installs missile defense equipment? If other countries join NATO or host missile defense sites, it’s because they’ve agreed to it. They’re getting something in return, to be sure, but unlike how the USSR dictated to neighboring satellite states what they would or would not do, the U.S. is not dictating to our allies what organizations they will join or whether or not they will allow missile defense or any kind of U.S. base on their territory. As to whether the U.S. would allow Russia to start installing equipment or bases in the Mexico, Canada, or the Caribbean - up until recently, the USSR, then Russia, had bases (including radar sites) in Cuba. Russia decided to close their Cuban base and while they might re-open it, the U.S. likely won’t throw a diplomatic hissy fit the way Russia has done over the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. Canada is a member of NATO and has no reason to host any Russian base. Mexico flirted with Communism and Cuba during the Cold War, but it hasn’t been threatened by the U.S. the same way that Georgia, Ukraine, and the Baltic states have been recently threatened by Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-insecure-yet-again/464636/24 "2008-09-23T13:50:15Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > It used to be that the world was divided into spheres of influence and the big powers avoided messing in other powers’ sphere of influence. That is one reason Cuba was such a serious question: it was in America’s sphere of influence. It was? That didn’t stop the Soviet Union from “messing” there, did it? They propped up its Communist government with billions of dollars in aid over several decades, and would have deployed missiles there if allowed to do so. > [@Sailor](#): > > Now America has decided to upset the apple cart and start encircling Russia and surrounding it with radars, missiles etc. Not surprisingly Russia is upset and making noises. Nobody is “surrounding Russia with missiles”, except perhaps North Korea. There have been no new missile deployments anywhere near Russia since the end of the Cold War. There is an anti-missile _defense_ deployment under way in eastern Europe, which Russia was invited to join and refused. ---
**Author:** ![Henrichek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5daacb/32.png) [@Henrichek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henrichek)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-insecure-yet-again/464636/25 "2008-09-23T15:23:40Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Nobody is “surrounding Russia with missiles”, except perhaps North Korea. There have been no new missile deployments anywhere near Russia since the end of the Cold War. There is an anti-missile _defense_ deployment under way in eastern Europe, which Russia was invited to join and refused. Even though it is for defensive purposes, it is threatening Russia’s nuclear deterrent, which is quite a big deal. The US still has a hundreds of nuclear weapons deployed in Europe, although that is nothing new. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-insecure-yet-again/464636/26 "2008-09-23T23:42:08Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > It was? That didn’t stop the Soviet Union from “messing” there, did it? They propped up its Communist government with billions of dollars in aid over several decades, and would have deployed missiles there if allowed to do so. Well, that pretty much illustrates my point doesn’t it? America did not _allow_ Cuba to have missiles and has been throwing a tantrum which is going on for 50 years now. Why is America allowed to have tantrums and not Russia? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-insecure-yet-again/464636.md?page=1)