The Russians of course.
Russian warships have arrived for joint exercises with Venezuela's navy, the first deployment of its kind in the Caribbean since the Cold War.
It shouldn't be a surprise after all America did recently agree to put a missle defense system in Poland (for protection from the Iranians they claim). With all the excitment of the new incoming administration, the plunging economy and the mess in the Middle East, we never hear much about what's going on with Russia, and I think it's a little disturbing that none of our major media outlets have covered this story. Thank God for BBC.
I have been known to overreact to things, but this story is kicking my paronia into high gear. Especially when I read something like this:
The Russian president's aim is to show Washington that if the US does things in Europe near Russia's borders which Moscow does not like, then Russia can pursue its own policies in a region long seen by Washington as its backyard, our correspondent says.
They are obviously not happy with the United States continued attempts to weaken their standing in the region. Whether its building missle defense systems or trying expand NATO by granting Ukraine and Georgia membership they feel as if they are constantly being baited by the United States and they don't like it. And if Russia is not happy they will react accordingly. As Stephen F. Cohen put it in a brilliant article in The Nation,
Despite its diminished status following the Soviet breakup in 1991, Russia alone possesses weapons that can destroy the United States, a military-industrial complex nearly America's equal in exporting arms, vast quantities of questionably secured nuclear materials sought by terrorists and the planet's largest oil and natural gas reserves
Now understandably Russia will not be at the top of President Obama's to-do list on January 20th. He has also proved to be a very cool and very careful when responding to issues. However there are times when he gave into pressure:
When the McCain camp criticized Mr. Obama’s response as too measured, Mr. Obama hardened his position. His next statement accused Russia of encroaching on Georgia’s sovereignty. The next day, he said that Russia bore responsibility for the escalation.
By the time of the presidential debates in the fall, Mr. Obama had moved even closer to Mr. McCain on Russia and Georgia, voicing support for Georgia’s entry into NATO, a line in the sand that Russia had dared the West to cross.
I just hope that his Russian rhetoric during the campaign and during the debates with McCain was just politics. I hope that he will not allow people, especially people on the right, influence him in such a way again. I hope all the establishment democrats that he has chosen to be a part of his team will prove me wrong by doing the right thing when it comes to Russia.
Now I am not a foreign policy expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I know that America is not liked by many countries, and if they start building alliances like Russia and Venezuela are then that spells trouble for us. Am I alone in this assesment? Am I overestimating Russia? Please help me out before I am thrown in the padded room. Again. (Kidding)
Links to articles:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
http://www.nytimes.com/...
http://www.thenation.com/...