I don’t want to see another Cold War.

Me neither. That’s why Putin’s overt actions in the last couple of years worry me, much less the possible covert actions he has taken.

I strongly believe that Russia is naturally aligned with Europe and America.

I agree (If the world leaders were mostly rational, it would be a sure bet), but Putin seems to be moving away from any western alliances as rapidly as possible (short of just telling the west to take a flying leap).

This allegiance would be absolutely vital in the new world order where a very strong China and possibly India will emerge to challenge the old European hegemony.

I hate heating those three words put in that sequence, although I think you mean it in a generic sense rather than the ‘one world government’ sense. If so, then I agree that Russia would be wise to be very friendly with America (and vice-versa) before China decides to expand its empire in a vigorous way.

(Until recently, I thought that the basic premise of Clancy’s “The Bear & the Dragon” was a very real possibility.)

That’s why I’m so concerned with the things Putin has said and done on the world stage in the last couple of years. He MAY be doing wonderful things domestically in Russia, but not being a citizen of that nation, I am more concerned with his apparent anti-American moves.

I think that the Putin that he (she?) admires so much is an incredibly dangerous and evil man who is marching Russia away from any friendship with America as rapidly as he can.

Could it be that Putin is merely looking after the interests of Russia, which is his job? He would be a traitor if he, in his position, defected and pleased other countries.

NATO has been creeping ever closer to Russia — they’re on the border now. If the Cold War was over, why this aggressive NATO expansion?

I don’t want to see another Cold War. I strongly believe that Russia is naturally aligned with Europe and America. This allegiance would be absolutely vital in the new world order where a very strong China and possibly India will emerge to challenge the old European hegemony.

Hate to disagree with a learned person like MoonbatMedia, but I think that the Putin that he (she?) admires so much is an incredibly dangerous and evil man who is marching Russia away from any friendship with America as rapidly as he can.

Thank you for the compliment. Well, if we all agreed on everything it would be quite boring, wouldn’t it? :)

A few years ago I had GREAT hopes that that Russia and the US would become great friends and powerful allies. The possibility was there.

Now however, I have very little hope that Russia will ever be anything but an enemy.

Hate to disagree with a learned person like MoonbatMedia, but I think that the Putin that he (she?) admires so much is an incredibly dangerous and evil man who is marching Russia away from any friendship with America as rapidly as he can.

This is one of the times I would be very happy to be very wrong.

Dear Mr Putin. We don’t like you. But we want your gas. You must let us buy as much as we want at a price set by ourselves. You must also sell gas to any other countries named by ourselves as and when we see fit, at a price we set. Otherwise we will print lots more nasty articles about you, and do all sorts of other nasty things.

And this about sums it up:

History suggests that Russia can be a powerful ally or an equally powerful enemy. Better to encourage the former not the latter.

The funny thing is that the British (and American) MSM can cry and whine as much as they want and throw as many unproven allegations about Putin as they want, but it wouldn’t hurt Russia one bit. Europe is predicted to rely on Russia for 70% of its energy by 2025.

I find it very interesting and hope you keep posting about it.

~V5

I’m one of the ones that have said that getting usable amounts of polonium is almost impossible for even the average assasin….

And I stick by it. The link supplied above is to such a miniscule amount as to be laughable: 0.1 micro curie worth. according to their own site, it would require 15,000 of their samples to reach a dangerous level of toxcicity at a cost of ONE MILLION DOLLARS. And they don’t even stock it, it is made to order for eachorder at Oak Ridge and then shipped .

Another commercial source sells something that contain more polonium… and you would need more than thousand of their product plus the knowledge and skill to extract it before it would be a useful assasination tool.

Ya reckon someone ‘official’ might notice if someone placed an order for the required thousands of them???…. Even if they spread the orders out over a year?

Even in Russia where things are a little looser, someone ‘official’ would notice that sort of thing.

As I saidcbefore: This death is the equivalent of stoning someone to death with fist sized diamonds. This was a loud, definite message sent to the ‘cognoscenti’, (and in my tinfoil lined room, I believe by Putin himself).

Another Russian critic of Putin’s has fallen suddenly, mysteriously and seriously ill:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061129/wl_nm/russia_gaidar_illness_dc

Maybe coincidence, could be natural causes, but to close your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears and go la-la-la-la-la and say absolutely that there isn’t a potentially world shaking sinister plot going on involving Russia’s leadership smacks of the same type of ignorant thinking of five years and three months ago believing that Islamic terrorists wouldn’t and couldn’t cause serious harm in the continental United States.

If I’m PROVEN wrong on this subject, go ahead and serve up the crow; I’ll eat it…. But I doubt I’ll need to.

When alloyed with beryllium, Po-210 emits an alpha particle which causes the beryllium to emit a neutron. This alloy is used as a neutron trigger in nuclear weapons.

A little behind on this one, but here’s the scoop. Officials found traces of radiation on two British Airways jets, and the airline appealed Wednesday to tens of thousands of passengers who flew to Moscow or other cities to come……

I’m kinda blonde.

Putin, Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, al-Sadr, Chavez. They’re all on the offensive. We’re everywhere on the defensive. And don’t count on Bush or “the international community” to do anyting about it.

How did it get scattered over several airplanes?

That’s the part of question for me. Until it was used on Litvenko one would assume that it was properly contained. After Litvenko ingested it he would contaminate several people and places sending the trail away from the real assassin — unless they used a dupe. If the Russians did this, they were sloppy, not their style.

I notice that the Litvinenko posts are topping out at about ten comments. Should I just stop posting on this topic? No interested at all?

Does this dress make me look fat?

One might chalk it up to typical human incompetence, except that the poison in question seems peculiarly exotic, and perhaps a little too convenient in its traceability. Maybe there’s something somebody can tell me about polonium that explains why it would be a weapon of choice in this sort of situation (certainly I’m no expert). But in the meantime, and regardless of my mixed-at-best opinion of Putin, I can’t help but suspect this may be some sort of frame job.

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/29/169254

Knutsi writes
“InformationWeek is reporting that Polonium 210, the radioactive material used to poison former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko is not as hard to get your hands on as some have previously stated. American family business United Nuclear is actually selling the stuff, and other equally exotic materials, on their company website.