kiril wrote:
> Hairy Dope wrote:
>> A correspondent says that Russia's Vlad Putin may have a legitimate
>> gripe about further NATO expansion.
>>
>> ---------------------------------
>> "The Threat Mr. Putin Sees"
>> Letter to the Editor
>> Monday, May 12, 2008; A18
>>
>>
>>
>> I didn't find Robert Kagan persuasive when he said that what Vladimir
>> Putin, now Russian's prime minister, has to fear from NATO expansion
>> into Ukraine and Georgia is only democracy, not a military threat
>> ["Ideology's Rude Return," op-ed, May 2]. Mr. Kagan echoed President
>> Bush on the subject in writing, "NATO is less provocative and
>> threatening toward Moscow today than it was in [Mikhail] Gorbachev's
>> time."
>>
>> Both columnist and president are wrong. Mr. Putin sees the world
>> around his immediate frontiers in a strategic sense of military
>> options. NATO forces are in his face from Murmansk to the Baltic
>> states, Romania and Turkey. Kyrgyzstan, while not in NATO, is
>> certainly an American client with its large U.S. military airfield and
>> staging area at Manas, near the capital. Armenia, Azerbaijan,
>> Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have pledged to the U.S. various forms of
>> direct military cooperation.
>>
>> Think about Mr. Putin's reduced military options in backing up Russian
>> policy if Ukraine and Georgia join NATO. Mr. Putin could not be
>> clearer on this point: Russia will not tolerate further NATO expansion
>> eastward. He has stated that to any media outlet that will listen. He
>> has shown his seriousness on this point with stepped-up Cold War-style
>> flights by his Tu-95 Bear bombers over our ****ps at sea and near
>> Alaska and Great Britain.
>>
>> We risk a major confrontation by disregarding Mr. Putin's "red line"
>> on this subject.
>>
>> JACK BROADBENT
>> Grasonville, Maryland
>>
>>
http://www.wa****ngtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/11/AR2008051101734.html
>>
>
> As usual there is no information about the fact that only 30% of
> Ukrainians want to join NATO.
>
No information. Oh how true! There is none.
>
> Also, the status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia needs to be clarified
>
> unless NATO wants to start a war in the name of Soviet Georgia's
> Stalin-created borders.
>
>
> Funny how NATO can proclaim democracy and ignore the clear majority
> of Ukrainians' wishes.
>
Well, Putin, Merkle, and the French influenced that decision.
>
> NATO's behaviour establishes that it is a threat.
> Not just to Russia but to the Middle East as well.
>
>
More, more! Fascinating! Do Tell us more!
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