| Mise said: I'm cutting off the quote pillar, because it's really annoying to edit it. I'm aware of the American tendency to show some of their bleaker moments in a better light, and it's really common for winners of a war to rewrite/reinterpret history (The treaty of Versailles is a good example of this). My point wasn't really to lambast the Russians for being in denial about their own past - Rewriting history is almost always a bad thing, regardless of who is doing it - be it the Russians, Americans, Nazis, the Welsh, or anyone else. I'm also aware of Russia's sudden urge to boost their military spending, and the debate about joining Nato. It also happens quite often here in Finland, where the majority of the population is also opposed to joining it - nevertheless, the current Central-Right wing government is determined to eventually push Finland into joining up. And the Russian politicians always get their panties in a twist whenever the subject of Nato is even brought up in Finland. But even if Putin's Russia suddenly developed expansionist tendencies, they can't really act upon them. As much as Europe needs Russian gas and oil, Russia is equally dependent of the Europe's money. Thus, they can't really screw around too much without risking their trade relations with the EU. |
And many more will eventually folow ...
Also , how much is a nation able to live without energy ? Im certain that we will never end up in a Russia vs. the world or Russia vs. the USA situation ever in the history of humanity ( or at least hope so ) but a violent expansion could allways become a reality ..... but Im going to far now :)
In another take , should we really be surprised why Russian politicians get anxious when another state joins the Nato . Their only alliance is formed with 9 other small ex-soviet countryes ( CIS ? Though nee to check the actual name and number :P ) , while the NATO has over 2 dozen of member states , and with pretty big ones like France , Germany etc. Withe the NATOS expansion Russia is loosing from its power and of course they dont like it ;)
Edit : checked the CIS facts :)
Vote the Mayor for Mayor!
