ForumGarden

Scrat;778535 wrote: Mark Ames is a journalist in Moscow he is a writer for The Exile daily and his specials can be seen on Russia Today.

This is a small documentary about the evil Russians. It really exposes a lot of things about the hypocrisy of the western powers and there is not any doubt in my mind just what is going on. The west wants conflict with Russia.




The west and US are no longer as synonymous as they used to be. There is increasing distance between the US and EU over issues like Russia. If americans don't get somebody sensible in the whitehouse the split will get wider.(IMO) It's a bit hard to take the thread of invasion from the middle east seriously. Both the french and british have their own nuclear weapons so we really wouldn't be hanging around hoping america gets involved.

Realistically if Russia went back in to estern europe we could do little to stop them short of all out nuclear war. As time goes on it is less and less likely that they will.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe ... 102275.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/fe ... ssia.putin

For the US to justify the size of their military they have to keep fear of an an external threat alive. It's something americans have to sort out themselves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-i ... al_complex

The term is used often in the case of the United States currently, which has by far the largest arms industry in the world. It is difficult to estimate the degree of dependence of the U.S. economy on its military and defense spending, but it is clearly enormous, and legislators fiercely resist defense cuts that affect their districts. In Washington State, an economist estimated in 2002 that in Western Washington 166,000 jobs, or about 15% of the workforce, depended directly or indirectly on military installations alone, not counting defense industries. In Washington State overall in FY2001, about $7.06 billion arrived in U.S. Department of Defense payroll, pensions, and procurement contracts—and Washington State was only seventh among the fifty states in this regard. Overall, U.S. spending on defense acquisitions and research is equal to 1.2% of the GDP.




Has the US become a militarist nation would be an interesting thread. Be interesting to see what americans think about the issue. It's one I would keepout of I think.

Many in europe see the siting of missiles in the ukraine as being designed to deliberately provoke russia. The idea that they are to protect europe from iranian missiles tends to be met with incredulity. Russia will increasingly be europes main energy supplier that causes more concern than military fears. That we are now dependant on russia is thatchers fault. which is ironic considering her attitude to russia.

Scrat;780617 wrote: Whether or not the missile shield goes up or not doesn't really matter now, what matters is the not to far future. It's pretty likely to me that it will go up whether the people of europe want it or not. Don't forget, democracy is meant to stand up to the tyranny of the majority is it not?

IE the people who want the ABM system (the minority) will get it regardless of what the people (the majority) say. That's the hoodwink GMC, either way the interests of power and money win. Toss into the mix the ease of "re-education" using the mass media just about any european can be made to believe that the scratching of the tree branch on his bedroom window at night is actually a Russian soldiers bayonet.

I really think we are in a coldwar as we speak, we just are not hyping it, look at British and Russian relations now. Americas senate is having kittens over 4 Russian bombers doing flybys on the USS Nimitz in international waters.


Wouldn't be so sure about that. Most of the European countries have some form of Proportional representation. (although I'm not sure about the new eastern european countries ) It's harder for a party with a minority of votes but majority of seats to get their own way. That's the problem in the UK where for the last three decades we have have governments in power that don't reflect the make up of the electorate. But in Scotland for the first time in decades PR is making quite a difference.

You also assume Europeans are stupid enough to believe everything the media tell them. You saw what happened in france when the french voted no to the new EU constitution. In spain they dumped a government that ignored sentiment and got involved in Iraq. Nowadays there is access to more information than there has ever been. We are used to a culture of constant criticism of government.

The level of paranoia is nowhere near as great as it seems to be in the US where there still seems to be an instinct to trust he government. If they try to place missiles look forward to mass protests throughout europe.

I gather the democratic primaries seem to be using some form of proportional representation. Although the minutiae of american politics don't interest me that much, is it the case that is making the current democratic process more of a contest with votes actually counting for something?