tankie

Hmmm what implications will this news bring , will obamas dream of a free nuke world ever be achieved ??


Reuters Guy Faulconbridge



Russia will work on a new generation of atomic weapons to strengthen its nuclear deterrent, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, just hours after Moscow test-fired one of its most feared missiles.


Medvedev said that Russia and the United States were close to a landmark deal on cutting arsenals of Cold War nuclear weapons, but that Moscow would still push ahead with the development of new strategic offensive weapons.

"Of course, we will develop new systems, including delivery systems, that is, missiles," Medvedev told the directors of Russia's three main state-controlled television channels.

Medvedev said Washington and Moscow had agreed most of the remaining issues for a deal to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), which led to the biggest reduction in nuclear weapons in history.

"Despite the fact that we will prepare and sign this treaty, we will nevertheless develop our strategic offensive forces because without this there is no way to defend our country," Medvedev said, several hours after the armed forces test-fired a nuclear capable missile.

The new missiles would be developed in full accordance with arms agreements made with the United States, he said.

The Kremlin chief said U.S. President Barack Obama's idea for a nuclear-free world was "beautiful and right" but cautioned that it would take time.

"SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP"

The Kremlin chief said he had a "special relationship" with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who many Russians believe is still the country's paramount leader, though he struck a wistful tone when asked about his role, lamenting a lack of freedom.

"It is a simple question -- of course freedom and free time," said Medvedev, who in May will mark the mid-term of his presidency after nearly two years of speculation that Putin may one day return as president.

"The life of the first person, of the top leaders, is an array of limits and the saddest thing is that you only feel them at the moment when you start this work," he said.

The interview, lasting 1 hour 21 minutes, contrasted sharply with Putin's confident 4-hour televised question-and-answer session with the Russian people on Dec 3, when he ruled out leaving politics and hinted he could run in 2012 presidential elections.

Putin presided over Russia's longest economic boom in a generation while president, although Russia was hammered by the economic crisis half a year after he left office in May 2008.

Medvedev said the crisis had shown the vulnerability of Russia's economy, which he said had contracted by at least 8.7 percent in 2009, the worst performance in 14 years.

"The exit from the crisis will be fairly slow," Medvedev said, adding that growth could total 2.5 to 5.0 percent in 2010.

"We still have an economic system which is based on the energy market," he said. "Without modernisation, our economy has no future even though it relies on huge natural riches.

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TANKIE A born again atheist

www.realmerseysidertra.net

Doomarias

I don't see the world ever being nuke free.

US_MiltCom

I hope it never is

pChan

Nuke Free? How would we repel an alien invasion?

prash

yes i think you are right us_miltcom,nukes have prevented more wars then they have started.

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well i cant just sign here.

US_MiltCom

We don't need nukes for that, we need supergavins

Officer of Engineers

Not through a lack of trying.

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Chimo

Dreadnought

London, England (CNN) -- Rare photos of Russian strategic bomber jets purportedly intercepted in British airspace show Moscow's war machine is becoming increasingly bold, analysts said Thursday as Russia denied any territorial violations.

Britain's Ministry of Defence released images it said were taken earlier this month of two Russian Tu-160 bombers -- known as Blackjacks by NATO forces -- as they entered UK airspace near the Outer Hebrides islands off Scotland's northwest coast.

It said the March 10 incident, which resulted in crystal clear images of the planes against clear blue skies and a dramatic sunset, was one of many intercepts carried out by British Royal Air Force crews in just over 12 months.

"This is not an unusual incident, and many people may be surprised to know that our crews have successfully scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft on more than 20 occasions since the start of 2009," Wing Cdr. Mark Gorringe, of the RAF's 111 Squadron, said in a statement.

The RAF said two of its Tornado fighter jets from its base at Leuchars, on Scotland's east coast, were dispatched to tail the Russian Blackjacks as they approached the western Isle of Lewis.

"The Tornados shadowed the Russians as they flew south, then the Blackjacks turned north, just short of the Northern Ireland coast, and eventually left UK airspace," the statement said.

"After four hours, the Tornado crews stood down and returned to Leuchars."

Several of the images show the name Vasily Reshetnikov in Russian lettering near the cockpit of one plane. Reshetnikov was a celebrated Soviet pilot who fought on the Eastern Front in World War II.

Russian military authorities on Thursday confirmed their aircraft had been in the area, but denied any violation of British airspace.

"Our planes fly in strict accordance with the international rules government the use of airspace over neutral waters without violating the borders of foreign countries," Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Vladimir Drik told CNN.

"The routine flights by the Tu-160 missile carriers took place in accordance with those conditions on March 10. They did not violate British airspace, and objective control materials confirm that."

Experts say regardless of the exact flight paths, the increased sorties by Russian aircrafts in international airspace show Moscow is flexing its muscles as it re-emerges as a global military player.

"Russia is now an oil exporting state so they've got more money to spend on their armed forces after the 1990s when they were bankrupt," defense analyst Tim Ripley told CNN.

Ripley said the increase in air activity began shortly before Russia's brief 2008 territorial skirmish with Georgia, but while it was a clear show of strength, it did not represent sinister intent.

While ties between Russia and the UK have been strained in recent years, Ripley said talks with Washington that look set to result in a new arms control deal were a clearer indication of Moscow's global military outlook.

CNN's Maxim Tkachenko in Moscow, Russia, contributed to this report

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Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

omon

they just made a wrong turn and got lost, hangover is a very unconvinient thing. lol

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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin

Inst

Have nuclear weapons really deterred general war in the 20th century? Although there was no direct warfare between the two main powers, there were many small proxy wars involving bloody insurgencies, and second-tier nations still felt free to slug each other, see the Sino-Indian War, Iran-Iraq war, and violent movements in Africa.

bigross86

That's exactly the point. By having all these proxy wars, they never got around to having a real war between the USA and the USSR, something that would have ended in the whole world turning into a glowing green sphere.

The advantage to superpower sponsored proxy wars is you get to test out new military hardware, release some of your aggressions, and in some of the cases, they actually had some strategic purpose as well, like the 1973 Yom Kippur War in Israel. The USA backed Israel because they needed a western presence in the Middle East, or the whole thing would have turned Soviet. At the same time, if the Soviets controlled the Middle East they would have gotten their hands on a lot of oil, and didn't mind killing off the Israelis to get that oil.

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We've got bigger fish to fry. We've only got 20 minutes left to work in three costume changes, a foreign language, and a weird wig.

Inst

My hypothesis is that you're shifting the costs of warfare from the superpowers and their core satellites to states on the periphery. Instead of having tanks roll through Western Europe you have tanks rolling through Afghan mudhuts. From the point of realpolitik, the costs of war have decreased, but from the human point of war the costs of war stay the same. It's just gone from war being a tragedy of the entire world to war being a tragedy of the poor.

bigross86

Once again, you also need to focus on the main theme, nuclear weapons. The nuke club is very limited, and by having wars in countries that don't have nukes, you have no fear of a war escalating too much.

Sure, people die in both wars, and war still sucks, but this way you get to keep war a localized thing instead of it becoming global.

To put it in perspective, on a smaller scale: A bullet might have your name written on it, but a grenade is addressed "To Whom It May Concern"