Russian missile launch fails...

[Speelgoedmannetje]

KennyR wrote:

Whabang wrote:
In other words: We have a new cold war building up?

Nah, Russia is a spent force. It's economy is ruined, organised crime holds all the wealth, Chechnya is sucking its resources dry, and its people are fed up of queuing up all day for a potato just so the government can afford to keep the Tenth Guards Shock Army equipped with tanks. You won't see another cold war from there this century.

But civil war? :nervous: remember what happened in 1917? Danger ESPECIALLY lurks when people have no food.

[redrumloa]

KennyR wrote:
Nah, Russia is a spent force. It's economy is ruined, organised crime holds all the wealth, Chechnya is sucking its resources dry, and its people are fed up of queuing up all day for a potato just so the government can afford to keep the Tenth Guards Shock Army equipped with tanks. You won't see another cold war from there this century.

Actually I'd say that's all the ingredients for something worse than a cold war, but luckily I really don't think Putin is the man to do it. If a more hardliner gets elected, then there will be major problems.

[KennyR]

Speelgoedmannete wrote:
But civil war? remember what happened in 1917? Danger ESPECIALLY lurks when people have no food.

The Russians may be poor, but food is cheap. They're not going hungry. Most people are poor, the economy is depressed, and vodka, HIV and heroin are sending people to early graves. Russia needs a cleanup, a New Deal, and a new direction. A new cold war only does one of these things.

And luckily the communist and nationalist parties have nobody with the charisma or leadership of Lenin or Hitler.

[Tigger]

KennyR wrote:

The Russians may be poor, but food is cheap. They're not going hungry. Most people are poor, the economy is depressed, and vodka, HIV and heroin are sending people to early graves. Russia needs a cleanup, a New Deal, and a new direction. A new cold war only does one of these things.

Vodka has sent russians to an early grave for a long time, life expectancy in Russia is actually up, its just still very very low, because they are huge drinkers.   On my cruise in Russia, I pretty much saw every crew member drink more then the average frat boy does on a weekend binge basically every night, and this was summer "White Nights" time of the year not winter when they apparently take their drinking seriously.   Life expectancy in Russia they told us was 55 for a man.   Also the main reason for their economic issues is they did not give up their retirement benefits when they changed from their communist system, so they still put people on the dole at 50 or 55 depending on their job, but have to tax high to keep the growing retired group in food and services.
     -Tig

[Speelgoedmannetje]

KennyR wrote:
And luckily the communist and nationalist parties have nobody with the charisma or leadership of Lenin or Hitler.

hm, maybe I should fill that void.

[Glaucus]

On my cruise in Russia

Just out of curiousity, how long ago was this? Btw, most people go to the Bahamas on a cruise, you went to Russia?!?  ;-)

  - Mike

[T_Bone]

redrumloa wrote:
Time to finish digging that bomb shelter in the back yard, the reds are coming... again...

 :lol:

My house was built with one, we have it filled with old clothes and crap.

[Tigger]

Glaucus wrote:

On my cruise in Russia

Just out of curiousity, how long ago was this? Btw, most people go to the Bahamas on a cruise, you went to Russia?!?  ;-)

June 2001, A week in St Peterburg, 10 days cruising from there to Moscow with lots of stops on the way then 5 days in Moscow   My parents live in Florida, I lived on the beach for years, Russia is more interesting then another return trip to the Bahamas.
    -Tig

         

[redrumloa]

T_Bone wrote:
 :lol:

My house was built with one, we have it filled with old clothes and crap.

As a teen in the 80's, the threat seemed real. I had a friend who's father literally had a stockpile of guns and a garage full of military grade freeze dried food. His father was no nut either, and this was not off in the backwoods somewhere(though Cuba is only ~90 miles off the FL coast). "The reds are coming", how many times did you here that? I'd bet most people our age and older still have a deep distrust of Russian people when it really comes down to it.

[blobrana]

@redrumloa
Er, except here in europe where , `strangely`, the american allies were distrusted...
Something to do with `war theatre europe`...i believe...

But, like some-people say, these things are best forgotten about.

[Glaucus]

June 2001, A week in St Peterburg, 10 days cruising from there to Moscow with lots of stops on the way then 5 days in Moscow My parents live in Florida, I lived on the beach for years, Russia is more interesting then another return trip to the Bahamas.

Cool. I've always wanted to go to Russia. It just seems like an interesting place - even though I'm not a big fan of Vodka unless it's mixed in girlie drinks.  :-D  And I forgot you lived in Florida (or close to it). Gotta remember, it's still well below freezing here and it's still snowing, and if I were to go on a trip it would be somewhere with a nice hot beach!  :-)

  - Mike

[T_Bone]

redrumloa wrote:
As a teen in the 80's, the threat seemed real.

The threat *was* real! The nuclear buildup was astronomical, and the "military tension" in the air was really thick and felt by everyone. It permeated everything, even entertainment, as can be seen in cold war era movies like "spies like us", "wargames", "real genius", "red dawn", "Amerika", "The morning after", etc.

Everyone was literally waiting for WWIII. I'm dissapointed that this isn't documented very well in any documentaries I've seen, but in casual conversation, everyone in this country was talking about it. No documentary has recorded this very well.

 I had a friend who's father literally had a stockpile of guns and a garage full of military grade freeze dried food. His father was no nut either, and this was not off in the backwoods somewhere(though Cuba is only ~90 miles off the FL coast). "The reds are coming", how many times did you here that? I'd bet most people our age and older still have a deep distrust of Russian people when it really comes down to it.

I didn't really "distrust" the Russians, I sort of had a certain respect for them, somewhat analgous to the way you shake hands before starting a boxing match... I don't know, hard to explain I guess. I distrusted them in the same way you distrust an opponent in chess... you know he's trying to win and you're in his way... :-)

I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but I'm kind of nostalgic about the cold war, I sort of felt safer about world stability with two superpowers posed in stasis. It felt like "order" as opposed to the feeling the world has now, it feels like anarchy now that the world isn't divided into "us" and "them. "

These ramblings have been brought to you by sleep deprivation.