Putin on Russian aggression: Russia has increased military spending to $50 billion for 2015.

[Karmadillo]

Interesting comments from Putin's recent press conference.

http://russia-insider.com/en/2014/12/19/2048

JOHN SIMPSON, BBC: Western countries almost universally now believe that there’s a new Cold War and that you, frankly, have decided to create that...So can I say to you, can I ask you now, would you care to take this opportunity to say to people from the West that you have no desire to carry on with the new Cold War, and that you will do whatever you can to sort out the problems in Ukraine? Thank you!

VLADIMIR PUTIN:

<edit>

So, in fact, we only have two bases outside Russia, and both are in areas where terrorist activity is high. One is in Kyrgyzstan, and was deployed there upon request of the Kyrgyz authorities, President Akayev, after it was raided by Afghan militants. The other is in Tajikistan, which also borders on Afghanistan. I would guess you are interested in peace and stability there too. Our presence is justified and clearly understandable.

Now, US bases are scattered around the globe – and you’re telling me Russia is behaving aggressively? Do you have any common sense at all? What are US armed forces doing in Europe, also with tactical nuclear weapons? What are they doing there?

Listen, Russia has increased its military spending for 2015, if I am not mistaken, it is around 50 billion in dollar equivalent. The Pentagon’s budget is ten times that amount, $575 billion, I think, recently approved by the Congress. And you’re telling me we are pursuing an aggressive policy? Is there any common sense in this?

Are we moving our forces to the borders of the United States or other countries? Who is moving NATO bases and other military infrastructure towards us? We aren’t. Is anyone listening to us? Is anyone engaging in some dialogue with us about it? No. No dialogue at all. All we hear is “that’s none of your business. Every country has the right to choose its way to ensure its own security.” All right, but we have the right to do so too. Why can’t we?

Finally, the ABM system – something I mentioned in my Address to the Federal Assembly. Who was it that withdrew unilaterally from the ABM Treaty, one of the cornerstones of the global security system? Was it Russia? No, it wasn’t. The United States did this, unilaterally. They are creating threats for us, they are deploying their strategic missile defence components not just in Alaska, but in Europe as well – in Romania and Poland, very close to us. And you’re telling me we are pursuing an aggressive policy?

more...

[NuclearDem]

1. *yawn*

Same tired old nonsense.

[Karmadillo]

13. What part of the excerpt is nonsense? Thanks.

[NuclearDem]

14. We can start with this:

Are we moving our forces to the borders of the United States or other countries? Who is moving NATO bases and other military infrastructure towards us? We aren’t.

Russia has absolutely no one to blame for the expansion of NATO into the FSU and Warsaw Pact but themselves. Their illegal occupations of the Baltics and their brutal crackdowns, repression, and attempted destruction of national identities throughout Eastern Europe drove their former victims to seek protection. And now that they've invaded one of their neighbors yet again and are starting to bully the Baltics, they're demonstrating once again why these countries want NATO protection so badly.

[Karmadillo]

15. Neocon talking points hardly demonstrate Putin's statements are nonsense.

One can attempt to justify the expansion of NATO on the basis of the actions of the USSR, but it seems fair to me to note Russia, since the end of the Cold War, has not engaged in the activities to which you refer. Given the neocon embrace of war and regime change, Putin's concerns about NATO steadily advancing towards Russian borders seem fairly legitimate and he would be negligent, at best, were he to pretend NATO was simply moving closer and closer to soothe Eastern European fears resulting from memories of the past. I'm guessing we would not react very favorably if Russia set up military bases with nuclear weapons in Central America or American Indian reservations based on our past "brutal crackdowns, repression, and attempted destruction of national identities." We would likely roll our eyes and threaten nuclear retaliation if the Russians were to dismiss our protestations as nonsense. One doesn't have to agree with Putin's concerns about NATO, despite their reasonableness, but nothing you've posted demonstrates what he's saying is nonsense.

P.S. And to balance your nonsense about the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

https://consortiumnews.com/2014/12/18/the-crazy-us-group-think-on-russia/

[NuclearDem]

16. Fine, I'll give that NATO gaining ground toward Russia does benefit Western imperialists

But again, Russia sowed those seeds themselves.

but it seems fair to me to note Russia, since the end of the Cold War, has not engaged in the activities to which you refer.

Irrelevant. Eastern Europe has centuries of history dealing with both Tsarist and Soviet Russia's brutal treatment, which is exactly why so many FSU and Warsaw Pact members placed NATO membership high on their own agendas.

I'm guessing we would not react very favorably if Russia set up military bases with nuclear weapons in Central America

You're assuming I have a problem with Central American countries choosing who they want to align themselves with and choose their own destiny. I don't. The Monroe Doctrine is one of the worst ideas in American history.

or American Indian reservations

Where is NATO setting up military bases in autonomous regions inside Russia?

but nothing you've posted demonstrates what he's saying is nonsense.

It's nonsense because he knows damn well those countries fled to NATO to protect themselves from him. His insinuation that Russia is all of a sudden the victim is complete nonsense and laugh worthy.

And to balance your nonsense about the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

Russian forces left their military bases in Crimea and entered and occupied another country's territory without its permission. That's an invasion. Justify it all you like, that's simply what it is.

It would be the same if Germany elected a pro-Russian government and US forces occupied twenty square miles around Rammstein.

[Karmadillo]

18. I'm not assuming you support our past actions

in Central America or towards Native Americans (why draw a line between nation states and autonomous regions when it comes to justifying military bases based on past bad behavior?), but I do think they make a good analogy. The US would not accept those bases as deserved payback for our past actions. They would see it as aggression and a threat towards us. Putin's remarks seem no different and, therefore, are not nonsense. The neocons, based on their history, are not pushing towards the borders of Russia out of a spirit of altruism towards Eastern Europe.

And the German analogy doesn't seem like such a good one, although if Putin engineered a pro-Russian coup in Germany and began attacking Americans and others aligned with the West with the viciousness exhibited by the current Ukraine government, I'm guessing we wouldn't refer to our response as an invasion or as aggression.

https://consortiumnews.com/2014/12/18/the-crazy-us-group-think-on-russia/\

<edit>

But the reality has been that Putin has tried to keep his distance from the ethnic Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, even urging them to postpone a referendum that revealed strong support for the region’s secession from Ukraine. But he has faced a hard choice because the Kiev regime launched an “anti-terrorist operation” against the eastern region, an offensive that took on the look of ethnic cleansing.

The Ukrainian government’s strategy was to pound eastern cities and towns with artillery fire and then dispatch neo-Nazi and other extremist “volunteer battalions” to do the dirty work of street-to-street fighting. Amnesty International and other human rights groups took note of the brutality inflicted by these anti-Russian extremists. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Seeing No Neo-Nazi Militias in Ukraine.”]

Faced with thousands of ethnic Russians being killed and hundreds of thousands fleeing into Russia, Putin had little political choice but to provide help to the embattled people of Donetsk and Luhansk. But Official Washington’s narrative holds that all the trouble in Ukraine is simply the result of Putin’s “aggression” and that everything would be just peachy if Putin let the Kiev regime and its neo-Nazi affiliates do whatever they wanted to the ethnic Russians.

more...

[SidDithers]

20. Robert Parry. LOL...

another water-carrier for Putin.

Sid

[sabbat hunter]

2. they increased their spending to 50 billion?

that isn't even 10% of what we spend each year on the military/homeland security.

*yawn*

[NuclearDem]

5. *yawn* Have been a vocal critic of runaway military spending in the US.

Still a load from that fascist blowhard.

[newfie11]

10. Exactly

[Lurks Often]

17. We also pay our military and the people making the equipment it far better then the Russians do

Russia actually spent a bit more of their GDP on defense related spending then the U.S. did in 2013 and over the past 4 years of the data at the link Russia spent 3.95% of their GDP on defense related spending while the U.S. spent 4.33% of the GDP on defense related spending.

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?order=wbapi_data_value_2013+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=desc

And yes, there are places where cuts could be made, but both parties in Congress won't allow it.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

3. Thanks for posting!

[davidpdx]

4. Que the idiots posting the map of the alleged NATO bases

[Fumesucker]

6. This map?

[NuclearDem]

7. Pahahahahaha

Oh God, there's a fun memory.

[davidpdx]

8. That's a good one

You really had me thinking you were going to post it.

[Karmadillo]

12. This map?

[davidpdx]

19. Yep

[hifiguy]

9. The MIC spends $50 billion per year

On toilet paper, brass polish and tires. This is an issue why?

[pampango]

11. Typical neocon: "Russia's defense spending to grow despite economic problems"

State expenditures for the defense sector will not change regardless of the economic conditions in Russia, the military industrial commission board’s deputy head Oleg Bochkarev told TASS.

The state defense order market becomes more and more popular. It is guaranteed and confirmed with funds. Besides, the president has made it clear that defense expenditures would not change regardless of economic conditions, he said.

The volume of state defense orders for 2017 will grow more than 40% as compared to 2014, and in 2015 it will be 20% more, Bochkarev said.

It has been growing continuously. It was 30% more in 2014 as compared to the previous year, Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov said.

http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/768022

Neocons of every nationality love a strong military backed by ever-increasing defense budgets. Reagan and the Bushes certainly are examples of this. They do not care so much about the health of the economy and the middle class who have to support this RW affection for the military.

Are we moving our forces to the borders of the United States or other countries?

Leaving aside the evidence of Russian forces inside Ukraine, no one disputes the large scale Russian military exercises on the Ukrainian border.

Who was it that withdrew unilaterally from the ABM Treaty, one of the cornerstones of the global security system? Was it Russia? No, it wasn’t. The United States did this, unilaterally.

Bush did unilaterally withdraw from the ABM Treaty. He was quite the American exceptionalist when it came to negotiating and abiding by international agreements - the ABM treaty and Kyoto being just 2 examples. Unfortunately, Bush was a great proponent of 'cowboy diplomacy'. The US does whatever it wants, wherever it wants, for any reason it wants. The idea of resolving global problems by negotiating with other countries was foreign to him.

[William769]

21. Russia is on the verge of collapse.

He is going to end up having to use his military to control his own people from rioting. That's whats going to happen in Russia.