When the Russians attack Pakistan, and Pakistan responds with nukes against the Ruskies and (oops, India)....a sizeable nuke conflict could occur.

With India severely damaged, where will be now outsource to?

Not if the Russians nuke them first. The Russians are utterly capable of that as well. This just popped up in the news, indicating the Paks may be getting the message:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5948859/

Yip, but do you think Kim kicking the oxygen habit would be the end? there's too many high ups livin high on the hog, greed is more powerful than anything.

Way back when on this forum there was a lengthy thread on why don't we buy Russian oil and tell the middle east to piss off, Longston and I did some deep research on the subject and aside from linkages Russian crude is much harder to refine than the light and sweet middle east stuff.

But even with those problem surely we have the technology today to something to lower the cost of transporting Russian crude. It would certainly be a winning situation for the world Russia wouldn't have to sell arms for cash and we could cooperate on food drops to the middle east, because they'll need it.

Take note!

Another very rare occasion on which Kirk and I agree!

:)

Mike

KV- I agree with you on how this war ought to be fought. It's not "sensitive" baby, it's gloves off and the victor is the one with the strongest will.

I basically agree with Kirt and the other posters on this issue. We have not been hard enough in our termination of terrorists in this global war. We really need to get tough and not worry about UN or world opinion when so much is at stake. For God sakes though, don't vote in Kerry, he would screw up the entire works: he cares too much about world opinion.

Peace is achieved through superior firepower, not negotiation.

I remember a story from a while back when some mean and nasty international kidnappers were out and about. They snagged a US citizen, made and received demands, and thought "this is easy." They then tried it with some Soviet citizens. In response to their demands they received the leaders brothers balls in a bag. That story ended very shortly after that.

You all are thinking of the russian gov. way to highly here. they are a bunch of oppressive thugs. seems like you all are pretty well informed but must be ignoring what the ruskies have been doing in chechnya and other places down there for years/centuries. I am a bit dissapointed.. :( :o

there isn't much to level in chechnya anymore so i don't know what the heck they are gonna do. I guarantee you though, that they will not attack pakistan. that's foolish and they aren't that...

I just hope, as a few of you have said, that maybe the islamic world will cahnge because of that school terror. we can only hope...

I'll tell you what is a well known fact here in Houston. The Russians have been just as xenophobic about us as we are of them, and they mistrust us greatly when it comes to the oil business. Our business contacts with them, especially in the area of exploration, are really quite limited. On top of that, their main oil company, Yuko, is a basket case. So among the oil pros, the consensus is we really don't know what's really there. The hard to refine stuff is in the Transcaucus/Caspian region in Southern Russia, and area that has been producing for 100 years, but its not the only oil they have.

The least explored area is Siberia, and it has the same paleo-geological characteristics as Alaska. We've already developed all the technology for drilling and producing in climates like that. On top of that, if major fields were discovered there, we've also got a pipeline system already in place to pump it right into North America, which means eliminating the need for tankers, another cost, security and environmental benefit. Easy to conclude from that that American investment dollars would be there in abundance - it would be like the Spindletop or North Slope on steriods.

Ah, but this is where we disagree. Firepower is useless against stateless terrorists. You need intelligence networks and an occasional bullet in the back of the head. Sorry, but I think the Democrats are better at managing a war like that. Strong intelligence interlinks between nations are the only thing that will stop this guy. Back to my Dad's example, the real enemy is the guy who can get into this country, who can figure out how to buy 5 autoloader twelve gauges and a hacksaw, and figure out how to get him and his bag into a school gynasium. Firepower does nothing to protect us from that. 20 men on that mission, (and you have to admit the simplicity of that is frightening and is not very far from what happened in Russia) require financial support, support within the US and a foreign command and control structure. Do the math, 20 guys, kill 200 kids apiece, you got one hell of a blow.


What other weapon do we have besides clandestine operations, bribes, torture, betrayal and assasination? It's warfare like that that we should be spending 200 billion dollars on. The sad thing about that is that we have done little to team up with the two best intelligence sources on the planet for those types of operations - the French and the Russians, who by the way have been closely allied since the time of Napolean. I just think the Democrats are better at forging the kinds of international relationships that support that type of warfare. There have been many complaints from the old-line conservatives, who seem to hate the neo-cons as much as I do, that Powell and the State Department should be managing this war, not the Pentagon, because Powell sees the war in this light - not in the light the stupid American Century neo-con idiots do. Large scale military machines fighting large scale wars are obsolete.

From what I have read on the Korea thing, are biggest problem is we don't know the political situation inside the country. The Russians do. They also have got to be the world's biggest experts at destablizing third world governments - I'm sure they can pull a couple of old Cold Warriors out of retirement from the South American Directorate to manage Kim and the gang.

You and I way, way in the minority on this one. Let the Russians do tehir thing but lets not entangle ourselves in their missions or methods.

B

When it comes to protecting my kids, I don't care if the Russians barbecue the Chechnyans on a spit, just for something to feed the bears.

As far as Pakistan goes, put yourself in the shoes of a country where some people who are headquartered in Pakistan have arrived and killed your kids - shot some of them in the back as they ran away. Myself, I think 911 has been a one shot deal for the rest of the planet - another hit like that and either the nukes are going to be used by this country or people in this country are going to riot if they are not used. I doubt if the Russians are as charitable, if the stories told of them are true.

......hmmmmm

I see Michael Moore planning his next project in Moscow. :rolleyes:

:D :D :D