PoliticalCitizen

It is a dangerous way of thinking... Saakashvili thought he has better weapons and his army has a better training when he planned to take the 2 regions by "blitzkrieg" - and see what happened... The "Supremacy Complex" can lead to nothing good... What is undeniable is that US has far more allies (NATO) and far more money than any other country.

Here's a video (in Russian) that claims T90 is same or better than an Abrams M1 in all regards except the sattellite uplink: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/592986/m1_abrams_vs_t90/ This is WITHOUT the use of depleted uranium in the body armor (T90 uses "active" defence") or shells (T90's shells use wolfram). This video shows a Leopard 2 (excellent machine) vs. a T90: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE0WSEcny0A But to answer your question (rhetoric), I'd like to watch them square off on TV

It's hard to prove this point without an actual battle... I hope they never go head-to-head as in NATO vs. Russia - but it could happen "by proxy"...

From CNN (highlight is mine): http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/0...ions/index.html "Meanwhile, a human rights group said Georgia had admitted dropping cluster bombs in its military offensive to assert control over South Ossetia, The Associated Press reported. Human Rights Watch said it had received an official letter from Georgia's Defense Ministry that acknowledged use of the M85 cluster munition near the Roki tunnel that connects South Ossetia with Russia." Also - no sanctions for Russia (yet, anyway).

Just found an article with Chechnya's president Ramzan Kadyrov's reply to McCain's speculation about "Independent Chechnya": http://www.vz.ru/politics/2008/8/27/201193.html It is in Russian, so here's some of his words (my translation): "In Chechnya, if Mr. McCain doesn't know, a referendum was conducted during which people have voted for a Constitution declaring Chechnya a part of Russia. We made our choice and don't try to impose new wars, conflicts, shocks on Chechnya". "Why didn't America remember about Chechnya when they took East Timor from Indonezia, when they broke into pieces Yugoslavia and then Serbia?" "I want to remind you again that we are ready to assist with all forces the realization of measures that the government of the country (Russia) is undertaking to realize stability in Caucasus." Earlier he said that his army of 10,000 men is trained, ready and willing to go to Georgia and asked Russian government to allow them to meet the Georgian forces returning from Iraq. "We can use the arms and equipment NATO gave them", he said.

It could have been if not for the mujahedeen sponsored by US... Osama, anyone?

I fully agree with you here. But that doesn't mean I like it. Give it a few decades and the immigrant MAJORITY of the big cities will make itself heard

There always are victims, both in the fight for "Socialism" and "Democracy". I'm sure slave owners from the South of US were unhappy about the slaves being freed... maybe even less happy now that most of the youth enjoys "black" style of music, clothing, speech etc.

Russia has quite a bit of SUCCESSFUL experience with Muslim countires - look at all the ...STANs (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.) that were part of Soviet Union. The only time force had to be applied was Chechnya, and even there it wouldn't have happened if USSR's work in Afghanistan wouldn't have been undermined and the Chechen rebels wouldn't have been armed by US. USA, on the other hand, has failed and will fail simply because of the fact that "Democracy" doesn't work with Islam...

I understand the dream of American supremacy was true for a couple of decades but all good things come to an end. Just because NATO weapons are more expensive doesn't mean they're always better. US has been the brute for 20 years, and behaves like they're still the only power and can dictate anything to anybody. Now comes the rude awakening... US is trying to intimidate the world. Either you're with US, or against US - that's why NATO keeps growing. But times are changing, and we should soon see more countries opposing the "Democratization" and "Freedomization" by force...

There's a curious blog on the American Foreign Policy Counsil's website: Another Nail In NATO’s Coffin http://www.afpc.org/blog/?p=32

Don't forget the golden oldies - Tsar Bomba: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfoQsZa8F1c And the new conventional hit - Father Of All Bombs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhAydMLv6AA

Benito was a little kid compared to Stalin (who was referred to as "Father of Nations" and "Leader of World's Proletariat"). Russia sucks less than any post-USSR republic (with the exception of the Baltic states). About smiles - it's actually pretty scary... nobody smiles...

At the moment, BC, it appears they have Propaganda Amplifiers and Reason Suppressors installed. CBC's coverage was THE worst I read...

Now watch how the immigration makes the "pale eyed wolf men" more brown with squinted eyes Here in Toronto whites already are a visible minority...

Very good summary, Myata. It looks like you've actually taken time to study the subject, unlike many other users posting in this thread.

Dude... You you're smart but poor you're one of the Revolutionary leaders... If you're smart and rich you're the one who hires Revolutionaries in the neighboring country to mess it up to your advantage... It is always good to be smart... even for a peasant boy. Insulting somebody is usually not smart...

Wow... Very impressive... Fit to Siberian landscapes... Poor car! Was it Japanese?

Nah... Revolution is good: kill off some cream of the crap, let some crap from the bottom make it to the top - it is basically a homogenizing process that insures that there's no old decay in any layer. Good for the gene pool too - the Russian tsar family was plagued by deseases caused by royal inbreeding.

Angus, you sound like a military hardware guy (which I am not). I'm sure there's tons of stuff Russia came up with that you may not have heard about. If you're interested and have some free time - browse the folloing websites: http://www.warfare.ru http://club.guns.ru Both are in English. You may find them quite entertaining. As I said before - military R&D was never left without funding in USSR and Russa, even during Eltsin's debauch.

Great point It actually has a worthy successor now - the AN-94 Abakan. Most remarcable thing about this rifle is that the second shot is fired before the recoil happens and lands virtually in the exact same spot. There's also a lot less recoil overall, and the precision is about 2x of the AKM. The Abakan is in use exclusively by elite and special Russian forces at the moment, but should find its way into the regular army eventually. Check out detailed description here: http://club.guns.ru/eng/abakan.html You can see the AEK 971 (another great semi-automatic rifle, almost no recoil at all - only prototypes exist) and AN-94 Abakan in action:

New development - Putin's interview with German ARD: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idU...0080830?sp=true "We know there were a lot of U.S. advisers (in Georgia) ... but instructors, teachers and personnel for military weapons should be on firing ranges and in the teaching centers -- but where were they? They were in the zone of military operations. "And that pushes one to the conclusion that the leadership of the United States knew about the action that was being prepared and moreover probably took part in it," Putin said. "If the leadership of the United States had sanctioned that, then I have the suspicion that it was done specially to organise a small, victorious war," he said. "And if it didn't work, then to create from Russia the appearance of an enemy and on that ground unite the electorate around one presidential candidate, of course the ruling party." Putin did not name Republican candidate John McCain. "In a significant way the crisis was provoked, including by our American friends in the course of the election struggle. "This was the use of administrative resources in a deplorable way to provide advantage to one of the candidates, in the current case from the ruling party," said Putin, who stepped down as president in May after eight years in office. The West is considering what steps to take against Russia, which has great leverage over the European Union as the supplier of much of its oil and gas. Putin warned European states they should stop taking orders from the White House. "If European states want to serve the foreign policy interests of the USA, then, in my opinion, they will gain nothing from this," he said. "A country -- in the current case Russia -- which can stand up for the honor and dignity of its citizens, defend their lives ... will not be isolated, despite the bloc-like thinking of our partners in Europe or in the United States." "The world doesn't end with Europe or the United States." This is not ALL he said, but much more than CNN gave you. Among other things he said that he believes European countries servicing US foreign interests are losing their international reputation and gaining nothing.

Back to the topic (for those who care). Here's what Putin said about the history of the Caucasus region in the CNN interview but what didn't make it into western press (my translation): "I want to remind you that all of these countries joined the Russian Empire by free will, each at their own time. The first was Ossetia in 1745-1747. Back then South and North Ossetia were one state. In 1801, if memory serves me right, Georgia decided to become part of Russia, being under pressure from Ottoman Empire. Only after 12 years, in 1812 Abkhazia joined Russian Empire. Before that it was an independent state. In the middle of XIX'th century there was a decision to give South Ossetia to Tifliss region (gubernia). This way, within the same country it wasn't considered very important. But I can assure you that the next years have shown that Ossetians did not like it at all. De-facto they were given by the Tsarist power under the jurisdiction of Georgia. When after the first World War the Russian Empire became undone, Georgia proclaimed creation of its own state, but Ossetia chose to remain within Russia, and this was immediately after the eveniments of 1917. In 1918 because of the above Georgia conducted a military punitive action there (in Ossetia), very harsh, and in 1921 repeated it. When the Soviet Union was formed, by a Stalin's decree these territories (Ossetia and Abkhazia) were permanently assigned to Georgia. Stalin, as we all know, was Georgian by nationality. So all those who are insisting that these territories should belong to Georgia - stalinists - they are defending a decision of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin."

True, true...

I think US banned the use of solid-fuel torpedoes back in the 60's...