Vlad the Confounder is planning on staying around for another six-year term. Oh I suppose he could lose the upcoming election but there's slightly more chance of our sun turning into a red giant, incinerating all life on Earth.
Putin took the opportunity to tell the world, a.k.a. NATO, about his new toys. One is a new missile that can propel a nuclear warhead to speeds of Mach 20, much too fast for our missile defences to intercept. Okay, got it. Plus he mentioned a long range nuclear-powered, nuclear armed, robotic torpedo that can be launched hundreds, possibly thousands of miles out to sea and make its own way into an enemy harbour, say New York for example, before detonating or New York and a whole bunch of ports along America's eastern and western seaboard simultaneously. You won't be getting bargain flatscreen TVs from Korea when that happens.
"I want to tell all those who have fueled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country's development ... you have failed to contain Russia," he said.
He accused the West of "ignoring us. Nobody listened to us. Well listen to us now."
BTW, it looks like these new weapons systems are legit. The US Navy confirmed the robot torpedo months ago and the Russian and Chinese lead in hypersonic technology is commonly accepted. You see that's how they mess with you. Neither is interested in matching America's mad military budgets but they don't have to either. They simply focus on gaining technological superiority in a few disruptive, strategic areas that leave America vulnerable, even defenceless.
America spends like a madman to buy and deploy loads of everything from a fleet carrier group in every ocean and sea to literally square miles of parked tanks, far more than the army wants. The Pentagon bleeds America's wealth across the globe which is great for the ship yards and weapon producers but diverts badly needed cash from other, more beneficial uses. And they persist in doing this for a military that has shown that All the King's Horses and All the King's Men simply cannot deliver a meaningful victory - anywhere.
Update:
The reaction to Putin's bellicose comments has been quick, fulsome and utterly predictable. The Pentagon is gnashing its olive drab teeth, complaining that if only they had just a few more billion they might not be so far behind China and Russia on some of these technologies. And various American experts are heaping scorn on the Russian announcement claiming, somewhat accurately, that these weapons aren't new (we've known about them for at least a year) and they might not even work as well as Putin claims.
America spends like a madman to buy and deploy loads of everything from a fleet carrier group in every ocean and sea to literally square miles of parked tanks, far more than the army wants. The Pentagon bleeds America's wealth across the globe which is great for the ship yards and weapon producers but diverts badly needed cash from other, more beneficial uses. And they persist in doing this for a military that has shown that All the King's Horses and All the King's Men simply cannot deliver a meaningful victory - anywhere.
Update:
The reaction to Putin's bellicose comments has been quick, fulsome and utterly predictable. The Pentagon is gnashing its olive drab teeth, complaining that if only they had just a few more billion they might not be so far behind China and Russia on some of these technologies. And various American experts are heaping scorn on the Russian announcement claiming, somewhat accurately, that these weapons aren't new (we've known about them for at least a year) and they might not even work as well as Putin claims.
WHen the USA surrounded Russia with anti missile missiles Vlad was left with no other option than to beat the system.
ReplyDeleteThe west consistently underestimates Russian weapons capability.
Perhaps this is much to do with the propaganda we see and hear on such weapons as littoral ships F22's and F35's.
I have to wonder if the USA economy would collapse should they reduce
defence spending to "sane" limits!
TB
ReplyDeleteYou should get a copy of Andrew Bacevich's 'The New American Militarism' Trailblazer. He explores, in great detail, how what once began as the 'military-industrial complex' of Eisenhower's day has metastasized into today's vastly larger and more powerful military-industrial-neoconservative-Christian fundamentalist- commercial warfighting complex.