While King George was Concernin' Hisself with Iran . . .

Putin was concernin' hisself on NATO. Specifically on the ABM interceptors being placed in the former Warsaw Pact. Who would have thunk that Putin, King W's good bud, would have a problem with them their missiles? After all  Putin ain't no JFK, and Poland and the Czech Republic ain't no Cuber. So now Putin is threatening said countries with invasion? That is un-'Merican. And why are my danged sphincter muscles tightening.

More Below . . .

I guess that when the Neocons were invalidating the ABM treaty, because they said that the treaty was with the Soviet Union--which no longer exists, that they should have known that the Russians would use the same logic to invalidate all of the other treaties that the Soviets had signed. Oops. Major fuckup!

Now Putin is ready to start Cold War II--only this time it won't be so fun for us all in 'Merica. This time the Russians are not mired in a Middle Eastern war they have no chance of winning--we are. This time the Russian government is not (as) crippled by corruption and incompetence in the military-industrial economic sphere--we are. While we have to fight wars to secure diminishing national resources, the Russians have plenty of their own. We have also done a bang-up job of diverting the Islamic-fundamentalist extremist's hate-on away from the Russians.

At some point in the future, historians will look back on this era and wonder what the fuck the Bush administration was doing concerning itself with Iraq, when the power that was the greatest mortal danger to our way of life, Russia, was left to throw its weight around unchecked. Saddam had the idea that a nuclear weapon might be nice to have someday. Putin has nuclear weapons. Putin has ICBMs, SLBMs and bombers capable of paving the entirety of the US and Western Europe with bubbling radioactive glass. Way to drop the ball, morons.

•  It was nice for a while . . .

  It was nice for a while to lose my Cold War era nightmares of seeing a bright H-Bomb flash wherever I was. In class, I could almost feel the heat of the blast coming through the windows of my school. When I was driving, I would look for places to drive my car when the bombs hit. I remember when (some of the non-white-supremacist) survivalist books didn't seem completely stupid. God Damn George W Bush to hell for bringing back the Cold War. God damn him and Putin.

  by exsimo2 on Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 05:45:46 PM PDT

  •  I Used to Be a Nuke 'Fire Control' Technician

    You won't ever see a flash from an H-Bomb.

    You brain would be incinerated faster than your nerves could transmit signals to it.

    I think it was our old 'enemy' Nakita Kruschev who said that in a nuclear war the living would envy the dead.

    The reason that assholes like Bush fear a country like Iran getting nukes is that they can no longer be blasted to crap with impunity.

    Lefty!!!

    by LeftyLimblog on Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 06:06:16 PM PDT

    •  The image, not the facts.

      I realize that my conception of a nuclear holocaust was somewhat unrealistic technically--it was more of a metaphor. The Cold War for me was was like perpetually living in a sniper's sights. I could sometimes bring myself to forget the little red laser dot over my heart, but not always. I think it is fucking grim that we will have more generations living with the continuous fear that our 'betters' will decide, at some random moment, that it is a good time for our race to die.

      I whole-heartedly agree with your take on Iran nuke situation. It is probably no fun for the administration to have to play nice with the North Koreans. They don't ever want to be in the same situation with Iran.

      by exsimo2 on Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 06:27:34 PM PDT

      •  If You Both Have Nukes

        Neither of you can use them. AND, you are limited in what you can do in proxy war situations as well.

        Israel can destroy the middle east with their nukes, but if they are incinerated as well, it is a disasterous 'victory'.

        I take comfort in the fact that in any confrontation where both sides had nukes, even the most jingoistic leaders figure out quickly that there is no way to 'win'.

        You are so very right in your evocative view of nuclear weapons. After I had gotten out of the navy, I remember hearing a siren wailing as I was driving my family in our car in a suburb of Washington, DC. I actually decided to not pull over and take cover because I wanted us all to die quick and clean.

        Lefty!!!

        by LeftyLimblog on Tue Feb 20, 2007 at 11:05:26 AM PDT

•  You give the moronic sock puppet in the...

  ...White House far too much credit for making a mess that was created by far smarter men blinded by power and greed. On the up side, those motherfuckers will die with the rest of us...

  by Bobjack23 on Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 06:00:46 PM PDT

•  It's ok, go back to sleep

  Bush has looked Putin in the eyes and saw a deeply religious man.

  In chess, it's called fool's mate.

  by captainlaser on Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 06:02:49 PM PDT

  •  Putin looked into Bush's eyes. . .

    Putin looked into Bush's eyes and saw a grade-a mark.

    by exsimo2 on Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 06:16:30 PM PDT

•  from the Asia Times

  Russia straddles Sunni-Shi'ite divide

  Russia is succeeding in the Middle East where the US has failed, winning friends and influencing governments through open, measured diplomacy that exposes Washington double-speak and seeks to unite rather than divide. This is the region where tensions in Russia-US relations are sharpest, and Moscow, without having to confront Washington directly, has ample scope to operate in the power vacuum left by the loss of US influence...
  Of all regions, it is in the Middle East that the tensions that have been accruing in Russia-US relations over recent years have begun outstripping other turfs - the Black Sea, the Caspian, the Caucasus, Central Asia.

  The Middle East is also a region where it is to Russia's advantage tactically to differentiate its policies from those of the West. Russia-US discord in the Middle East has picked up the thread from where the two powers left off some two decades ago. But Russia is returning to the region with a visage that bears hardly any resemblance to the Soviet era. Russia today is vastly leaner, more agile, resourceful and imaginative than previously. It has evidently done a lot of homework as to where things went wrong in the Soviet era.

  Putin's visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan in the past week harnesses a one-year period of extraordinary success in Russia's Middle East policy.

  by bigchin on Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 06:08:04 PM PDT