Cold war 2: The sequel

[Dave+Kay]

So i'm not sure how many of you read/watch the news, and this has a habbit of not getting mentioned that much these days, but it would seem we are heading for a second cold war. Mr Putin (the president of Russia) keeps lashing out at pretty much anyone and everyone, and NATO keep codemning pretty much everything he does. So, your thoughts?

No offence to any Russians that might be here, but i think Putin needs to back down. It's not the 60's anymore, the USSR collapsed years ago, but he seems not to have got that memo. He's desperately trying to keep controll over the former USSR countries, and he's failing miserably. He's getting pissed off and he's starting to throw his toys out of his pram. I'm hoping his threats are empty, but i can forsee Russia just shutting herself off from the world. Again. Also, NATO are being stupid about it, because all they ever do is say 'No, don't do that.' And just slap him on the wrists. He won't stop because every time he does something they just ask him nicely not to do it, then do nothing more.

Here's an article for your viewing pleasure about his latest threats.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6717719.stm

And another about Putin trying to extend the time he is elected for. Yes, this could be completely innocent, but it's reminicent of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, SO maybe it's nothing, or maybe Russia is heading to another dictatorship, who knows. Now, unfortunately this article is in Estonian, butit basicly says that currently the electoral system is set up like America's (Election every 4 years and you can only be elected twice), but Putin wants to change it to be 7 years, and he wants to change the ammount of times you can be elected. Maybe it's nothing, but it seems a little too convinient to me.

http://www.postimees.ee/040607/esileht/valisuudised/264460.php#Scene_1

Obviously my view is extremely bias, because Estonia is basicly my home, and Putin has regullay attacked Estonia and there's a lot of tension between the two, and Putin keeps putting regulations and sanctions on Estonia, so it'd be nice to hear what other people think. So, Opinions? If anyone actually cares to think about it.

[Luke]

Yep I heard about this. Relations between Russia and the UK seem to be particularly bad ever since the assasination of Alexandr Litvenienko (sorry if that's incorrect spelling). I just hope cold war part 2 doesn't turn into world war 3. Putin is a very unpredictable charecter and although I don't agree with the fact that NATO keep telling him what and what not to do, he isn't exactly a model leader.

[Dave+Kay]

The only problem with NATO is, they can't really do anything. Mainly because a lot of our gas and energy comes from the east, and it comes through pipelines in Russia, and they have the ability to turn it off. What i guess i'd rather is that NATO just leave him to get on with it and ignore him, because telling him off just encourages him, and if we do anything more he'll just fall back on shutting the energy off. It's difficult to know what to do. I want NATO to do something, but they clearly can't so I want them to do nothing, but then it'll just get worse. And to me, with the Litvinienko case, the fact that Russia won't extrodite him (EDIT: by him, i mean the guy we've accused of doing it) just screams government involvement to me, particually as they are now trying to blame us for it. Call me paranoid, but as far as i'm concerned there is no way in hell the KGB disbanded when the USSR did. I think it's been reformed.

[Luke]

The only problem with NATO is, they can't really do anything. Mainly because a lot of our gas and energy comes from the east, and it comes through pipelines in Russia, and they have the ability to turn it off. What i guess i'd rather is that NATO just leave him to get on with it and ignore him, because telling him off just encourages him, and if we do anything more he'll just fall back on shutting the energy off. It's difficult to know what to do. I want NATO to do something, but they clearly can't so I want them to do nothing, but then it'll just get worse. And to me, with the Litvinienko case, the fact that Russia won't extrodite him just screams government involvement to me. Call me paranoid, but as far as i'm concerned there is no way in hell the KGB disbanded when the USSR did. I think it's been reformed.

You've got a good point about the gas and energy there. But to be honest, we should be finding new energy sources anyway.

And to be honest, with the amount of corruption going on in Russia, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the KGB still exists. It's kinda like the KKK and the Italian Mafia, they're pretty much gone in the view of the public eye but that doesn't mean to say they don't exist through underground means.

[Dave+Kay]

You've got a good point about the gas and energy there. But to be honest, we should be finding new energy sources anyway.

And to be honest, with the amount of corruption going on in Russia, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the KGB still exists. It's kinda like the KKK and the Italian Mafia, they're pretty much gone in the view of the public eye but that doesn't mean to say they don't exist through underground means.

Exactly. And even if the KGB doesn't exist as a government organisation, i bet it does as a group outside the government, and i sure as hell bet someone in the government has their hand in the KGB somewhere. We really need to stop relying on them for energy, because if something does kick off, europe will lose out big time.

[Muri]

Well, my thoughts towards Putin's relations with Estonia would be a bit obvious. He has made a lot of false statements about Estonia and the russian government in whole has demanded ridiculous things, such as for our government to step back.
But that's that. In my eyes Putin right now is nothing but threats. He's also threatened Finland and Poland recently. He really desires control over ex-USSR countries and gets pretty pissed off if those countries decide for themselves and just ignore Russia. I have to agree with NATO doing nothing right now though, because I'm pretty sure Putin will be even more stubborn if he gets told off. As for his statement about the russian elections, it seriously seems like something suspicious is going on there.
It's no secret that there's a lot of corruption in Russia right now, and it's showing out more and more. I hope all will turn out ok though..

[Linja]

I could say a bunch about these things, but I'll refrain from doing so, because I don't know all the details, even though I do live in the country in question - Russia.

[Dave+Kay]

I could say a bunch about these things, but I'll refrain from doing so, because I don't know all the details, even though I do live in the country in question - Russia.

It'd be really interesting to hear what you think actually, since you do live in Russia, it'd be interesting to hear what you think of it all. Since yeah, obviously we all have a very bias opinion of it all, so it'd be nice to hear another side.

[Colonel Sanders]

wow. just stop. this is the human race? wow