NATO, Russia Exchange Barbs Reminiscent of Cold War Days
Source: Associated Press
RIGA, Latvia Mar 5, 2015, 4:01 PM ET
NATO and Russia exchanged heated language reminiscent of Cold War days on Thursday with accusations of sinister geopolitical plotting and human rights abuses flying across an increasingly deep divide.
NATO's top U.S. civilian official, Alexander Vershbow, said Thursday that "an angry, revisionist Russia" was stopping at little to re-establish its clout in Europe, including redrawing "borders by force to achieve its goals."
Vershbow, the alliance's deputy secretary-general, told a conference in Latvia that President Vladimir Putin's "aim seems to be to turn Ukraine into a failed state and to suppress and discredit alternative voices in Russia, so as to prevent a Russian 'Maidan,'" referring to the Ukraine uprising which ousted Moscow-ally Viktor Yanukovych as president last year.
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In Moscow, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov blasted the West for trying to enforce its will on others and cast Russia as an enemy. He condemned NATO's decision to create command and control centers in the Baltic states and three other eastern allies, and to upgrade a headquarters unit in Poland calling those moves a clear signal that the alliance views Russia much as it once did the Soviet Union.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/nato-russia-exchange-barbs-reminiscent-cold-war-days-29410372
RKP5637
(67,030 posts)elias49
(4,259 posts)empire building.
RKP5637
(67,030 posts)ColesCountyDem
(6,943 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)K&R
~Jack London
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)with their land
newthinking
(3,982 posts)working. Isn't it a good time to encourage everyone to calm down. Especially if they want to work back to a federalized, but united Ukraine?
There is only one reason that Kiev does not want a setup like we have in the US with States: They are in a cunundrum.
Federalization means 2 things:
1. Kiev is not so firmly in control and they won't be able to intimidate the population
2. Once things simmer down and the East votes, the Kiev regime will get voted OUT. They people in power were always extreme and a minority. They could never win elections honestly.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)uhnope
(6,419 posts)such nonsense
Response to inanna (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)Joe Johns
(91 posts)Since we've been in the Second Cold War for several years now!
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)It's the same old, same old, whether it's President Putin, Premier Kruschev, or Tsar Nicholas.
Russia derives its national sense of self-esteem from being able to invade and dominate and rule over surrounding smaller countries. And it chafes their ass to no small degree that countries like Estonia can thumb their nose at Moscow instead of bowing and scraping.