Russia says it wants to help US in Afghanistan

[Socio]

Russia says it wants to help US in Afghanistan

MOSCOW (AP) ? President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that Russia and its ex-Soviet allies want to help the United States stabilize Afghanistan, saying Moscow wanted "full-fledged" cooperation with Washington.

He spoke a day after the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan announced it would evict the U.S. from an air base key to the Afghan war. Kyrgyzstan made the move after getting a promise for $2 billion in loans from Russia ? which resents the American presence in a region Moscow regards as part of its traditional sphere of influence.

The possibility of the base closure poses a serious challenge to the new U.S. administration and President Barack Obama's plan to send up to 30,000 more American forces into Afghanistan this year.

"Russia and other (alliance members) are ready for full-fledged comprehensive cooperation with the United States and other coalition members in fighting terrorism in the region.

Granted they are buying their way into Afghan mix by paying off Kyrgyzstan to evict the US, however I say let them in all the way.

The Afghan's won't like it but it will help US/Russia relations, it will cut the cost the US is paying for the war there and most importantly it will apply a crap load of pressure on Pakistan to cooperate with the destruction of the terrorist structure there.

 

[CLite]

uhm..... Russia? in Afghanistan? lol. If you thought resistance was big against the U.S., just see if afghan's still remember the occupation and rape of their country by Russia. No way in hell will the Afghan government let Russian forces in there.

 

[AFMatt]

Hmmm.. Interesting power play going on here. We use Kyrgyzstan as a MAJOR hub to move troops and supplies into and out of Afghanistan. Russia offers them $2B in aid, and the Kyrg Prez comes out and says they want us to leave. The lease agreement we have with them says they must give 180 days notice, and their draft bill is making it's ways through their government right now. If this goes through and actually closes, it is going to set us back big time. Especially with the upcoming increase in troops.

Then, a day later, Dmitry Medvedev comes out and announces Russia and it's ex-soviet allies (including Kyrgyzstan) are ready for full-fleged and comprehensive cooperation with NATO forces in Afghanistan? What the????

Now I know Russia has always hated the fact that Kyrgyzstan let us use it's land, but this developing issue has WTF written all over it. Should be an interesting next few days/weeks.

Bloomberg Article, im sure more will be out by now

 

[Kadarin]

Hehe, yeah, that would go over well in Afghanistan...

 

[K1052]

Putin is playing chess trying to motivate Obama to abandon the ABM treaty with Poland and hold back further NATO membership by holding this supply line hostage.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

 

[K1052]

I'd be tempted to charter some supertankers, start dumping the SPR onto the European markets at cutthroat prices for a few months, and use some of proceeds to pay off Kyrgyzstan to keep the base.

 

[ZzZGuy]

Perhaps the "ex-soviet" allies supported by Russia outside of Afghanistan?

Russia themselves active in Afghanistan seems like a very bad idea to me seeing what happened last time they where in the country.

 

[Socio]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

This is something they would not have tried on Bush?s watch but I believe they and many others do not fear Obama. If Obama shows weakness here I expect a lot of other such moves will transpire Russia and others in the coming months/years.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

well, whatever it is, i am sure it will be in a nice tone and cordial 😕

we have a worn down military w/ the 2 wars for the last 7yrs or so and now a pres that many want to see if he has the goods to do anything about it. wonder when china will try something w/ taiwan or n korea?

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

This is something they would not have tried on Bush?s watch but I believe they and many others do not fear Obama. If Obama shows weakness here I expect a lot of other such moves will transpire Russia and others in the coming months/years.

Following your logic, Osama bin Laden wouldn't have dared launch 9/11 on Clinton's watch, but he did not fear Bush. Your logic is lacking.

And by the way, I don't think the contest for 'most feared' is a good one. Nations should expect appropriate responses, but not excessive ones.

Under Bush we gave too many too much reason to fear things they shouldn't have to.

 

[RichardE]

To be honest, Putin pushed Bush's buttons more during his presidency. I really wonder at the real motivator behind this move. It can't be to regain the lost Soviet Empire, Russia doesn't really need the US's permission to do that, and it has already shown the US will stand by idly as it increases its sphere of influence. The only other thing I ca think of is Putin is actually worried about internal strife caused by the economy, and having a mutual enemy (Islam radicals) would help to deflect some of the internal issues for a bit and perhaps put off any challenge to his power. (Maybe refocus on Chechnya and other Muslim hotspots on the borders.).

Doesn't seem like Obama really has anything to lose from accepting. If anything Arabs are more afraid of the Russians than the Americans (none of that pesky moral code of the founding fathers shit to worry about) and this could help them decide that maybe an American way of live is better than a Russian imposed way of life.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

This is something they would not have tried on Bush?s watch but I believe they and many others do not fear Obama. If Obama shows weakness here I expect a lot of other such moves will transpire Russia and others in the coming months/years.

Have to disagree with you there. Russia screwed with Bush quite a bit, particularly in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. Russia also played the enabler, somewhat, to Iran in regard to the enrichment issue, primarily to piss off Bush.

This is just a continuation of that political chess game.

 

[CLite]

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

This is something they would not have tried on Bush?s watch but I believe they and many others do not fear Obama. If Obama shows weakness here I expect a lot of other such moves will transpire Russia and others in the coming months/years.

ARE YOU RETARDED?????????????

North Korea, and Iran both continued to flaunt their nuclear progress AFTER the invasion of Iraq.

Russia has been making power plays, and invaded a fvcking COUNTRY when Bush was in office.

Holy cow dude, get a grip on reality you are dumb as a brick. Work on your short term memory so you can remember what happened during the course of the last couple years.

You are comparing the purchase of a military base to the invasion of a U.S. ally? jesus...... please stop posting.


*edit* lest we forget Russia fearing Bush so much that they sent a decent sized navy to Venezuela to practice war games with Chavez. Yeap you got that shit nailed on the head bro..... they certaintly fearrrreeedddd us.... LOL

 

[TallBill]

Maybe they could do better then last time. If I had a dollar for every wrecked out russian tank that I saw when I was there..

Tanks

 

[5to1baby1in5]

Originally posted by: TallBill
Maybe they could do better then last time. If I had a dollar for every wrecked out russian tank that I saw when I was there..

Tanks

Those hills look like a fun place to ride dirt bikes...

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

This is something they would not have tried on Bush?s watch but I believe they and many others do not fear Obama. If Obama shows weakness here I expect a lot of other such moves will transpire Russia and others in the coming months/years.

Following your logic, Osama bin Laden wouldn't have dared launch 9/11 on Clinton's watch, but he did not fear Bush. Your logic is lacking.

Actually, it's not. He simply didn't think we'd do anything about it. That we didn't after he tried bombing the trade centers in the 90's is all the proof he needed. He simply miscalculated.

 

[CLite]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

This is something they would not have tried on Bush?s watch but I believe they and many others do not fear Obama. If Obama shows weakness here I expect a lot of other such moves will transpire Russia and others in the coming months/years.

Following your logic, Osama bin Laden wouldn't have dared launch 9/11 on Clinton's watch, but he did not fear Bush. Your logic is lacking.

Actually, it's not. He simply didn't think we'd do anything about it. That we didn't after he tried bombing the trade centers in the 90's is all the proof he needed. He simply miscalculated.

Actually, it is *lacking*. Please tell me how russia was scared of Bush, or NK, or Iran.

1) Iran/NK continued to pursue nuclear weapons
2) Russia invades a U.S. ally (we do nothing), they do fleet tactics wiht Venezuela ( we do nothing).

Either you are dumb, or you a partisan hack if you truly believe those three countries were scared of bush and are suddenly going to do worse things. What is Russia going to invade two countries now? will NK and Iran start launching nuclear bombs they had been building with Bush in office.

I don't know why I even bother with logic, people who post these opinions (omg everyone was scarrreed of Bush!!!!) clearly make no use of intelligent thought.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Kadarin
Hehe, yeah, that would go over well in Afghanistan...

yeah, this is a ridiculous notion.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: CLite

Originally posted by: soccerballtux

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

This is something they would not have tried on Bush?s watch but I believe they and many others do not fear Obama. If Obama shows weakness here I expect a lot of other such moves will transpire Russia and others in the coming months/years.

Following your logic, Osama bin Laden wouldn't have dared launch 9/11 on Clinton's watch, but he did not fear Bush. Your logic is lacking.

Actually, it's not. He simply didn't think we'd do anything about it. That we didn't after he tried bombing the trade centers in the 90's is all the proof he needed. He simply miscalculated.

Actually, it is *lacking*. Please tell me how russia was scared of Bush, or NK, or Iran.

1) Iran/NK continued to pursue nuclear weapons
2) Russia invades a U.S. ally (we do nothing), they do fleet tactics wiht Venezuela ( we do nothing).

Either you are dumb, or you a partisan hack if you truly believe those three countries were scared of bush and are suddenly going to do worse things. What is Russia going to invade two countries now? will NK and Iran start launching nuclear bombs they had been building with Bush in office.

I don't know why I even bother with logic, people who post these opinions (omg everyone was scarrreed of Bush!!!!) clearly make no use of intelligent thought.

Yes, they respected Bush as a Military Commander. We parked ships in Georgia when it was under Russian occupation. Now that takes some balls. That could have ended mankind with one simple miscommunication.

The "War games" with Hugo were in retaliation to this. Not that it means anything.

 

[CLite]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31

Originally posted by: CLite

Originally posted by: soccerballtux

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

This is something they would not have tried on Bush?s watch but I believe they and many others do not fear Obama. If Obama shows weakness here I expect a lot of other such moves will transpire Russia and others in the coming months/years.

Following your logic, Osama bin Laden wouldn't have dared launch 9/11 on Clinton's watch, but he did not fear Bush. Your logic is lacking.

Actually, it's not. He simply didn't think we'd do anything about it. That we didn't after he tried bombing the trade centers in the 90's is all the proof he needed. He simply miscalculated.

Actually, it is *lacking*. Please tell me how russia was scared of Bush, or NK, or Iran.

1) Iran/NK continued to pursue nuclear weapons
2) Russia invades a U.S. ally (we do nothing), they do fleet tactics wiht Venezuela ( we do nothing).

Either you are dumb, or you a partisan hack if you truly believe those three countries were scared of bush and are suddenly going to do worse things. What is Russia going to invade two countries now? will NK and Iran start launching nuclear bombs they had been building with Bush in office.

I don't know why I even bother with logic, people who post these opinions (omg everyone was scarrreed of Bush!!!!) clearly make no use of intelligent thought.

Yes, they respected Bush as a Military Commander. We parked ships in Georgia when it was under Russian occupation. Now that takes some balls. That could have ended mankind with one simple miscommunication.

The "War games" with Hugo were in retaliation to this. Not that it means anything.

Socio's implication is that they don't respect Obama, his justification is this buying out of an ally. My point is that if that is a justification then they sure as fuck didn't respect bush when they invaded an ally.

My overall point is that Russia doesn't respect anyone, and Putin is an asshole/creep. But implying that Bush was some mega-respected commander and trying to insinuate that Obama is not respected is a joke. If someone truly supports that position then it is clear as day how low their IQ is.

 

[Modelworks]

Russia could be a big help .
They already know all the specs and details on the enemies weaponry and who bought what !

 

[filetitan]

The way I see it is, Russia will be a big help. They will get the job done one way or the another. They would of done it before if it wasn't for the US support.

 

[gevorg]

Originally posted by: CLite

Originally posted by: Socio

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Saw this this morning. The first thing I thought is that the Russians are testing Obama. I'm looking forward to Obama's response.

This is something they would not have tried on Bush?s watch but I believe they and many others do not fear Obama. If Obama shows weakness here I expect a lot of other such moves will transpire Russia and others in the coming months/years.

ARE YOU RETARDED?????????????

North Korea, and Iran both continued to flaunt their nuclear progress AFTER the invasion of Iraq.

Russia has been making power plays, and invaded a fvcking COUNTRY when Bush was in office.

Holy cow dude, get a grip on reality you are dumb as a brick. Work on your short term memory so you can remember what happened during the course of the last couple years.

You are comparing the purchase of a military base to the invasion of a U.S. ally? jesus...... please stop posting.


*edit* lest we forget Russia fearing Bush so much that they sent a decent sized navy to Venezuela to practice war games with Chavez. Yeap you got that shit nailed on the head bro..... they certaintly fearrrreeedddd us.... LOL

LOL, cool off dude, did your veins pop up?

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: K1052
Putin is playing chess trying to motivate Obama to abandon the ABM treaty with Poland and hold back further NATO membership by holding this supply line hostage.

Pretty clever move actually...

I still don't see why we need we need a ballistic shield in poland, expecting an ICBM from 20 years ago?


On the more relevant issue, it's would be interesting to watching try again. Because, ya know, afghanistan was working out well for them the last time around...