MODERN RUSSIA HISTORY TODAY - CLASS 4 - GORBACHEV TO PUTIN

Professor - Joe Boisvert 2012/ 2013Putin

Authoritarian Regime

Tamped down by the authoritarian regime of Vladimir V. Putin. In March 2012, Mr. Putin reclaimed the presidency for the third time, but his return to office has not been welcomed by all Russians and he has faced an increasingly assertive opposition movement.

Putin’s Russia

Putin’s Russia Partial Return to Cold War Tactics

Modern Russian City

Putin War Dead

Politics Dominated by Mr. Putin For more than a decade, Russian politics

have been dominated by Mr. Putin, who was named acting prime minister in 1999 by the former president, Boris N. Yeltsin, and then elected president in 2000. Arising from obscurity, Mr. Putin, a former K.G.B. officer, proceeded to consolidate control over almost every aspect of society and business and marginalize what opposition still existed

Who is the Real Putin

The Threat from Russia

The collapse and reconstitution of the Soviet Union did not lead to its disarmament.

Russia still possesses a powerful nuclear arsenal-thousands of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), sea-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and sea-launched cruise missiles (SLCMs), armed and targeted at the United States.

Moreover, Russia continues to modernize and expand this arsenal despite its economic problems and perceived military weakness.

In recent years, reports have indicated that security at Russia's nuclear/missile facilities is breaking down, thus elevating the chances that a warhead or missile will fall into the hands of terrorists or rogue military elements..

Finally, Russia is among the world's most rampant proliferators of missile technology. For these reasons, Russia's nuclear and ballistic missile arsenal remains the single greatest strategic threat to the United States.

In addition to the threat of a conventional Russian nuclear attack, the United States is also threatened by negligent security at Russia's nuclear/missile facilities, as well as rampant proliferation of ballistic missile technology and expertise to rogue nations and terrorist-sponsoring states.

The security of the Russian nuclear arsenal constitutes a serious threat to the United States. Should a missile or warhead get into the hands of rogue elements of the Russian military, a launch is possible. Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara has warned as recently as April 2004 that a nuclear attack from Russia is a very real scenario today, whether by accident or intention.

Breakdown of Russian Arsenal and Proliferation

Nuclear Attack from Russia is a Possibility

Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara has warned as recently as April 2004 that a nuclear attack from Russia is a very real scenario today, whether by accident or intention.

Russia Still Dangerous

Even a benign Russia that miscalculates can destroy America in less than half an hour.

Moreover, there remains the possibility that a loose Russian WMD might fall into the hands of Islamist terrorists,

Some possible dangerous places are those operating in Chechnya and the former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

In May 2004, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), stated his concern that these terrorist organizations could gain possession of loose Russian nuclear weapons, as well as other WMDs.

Russia and US War of Words

Russia and the United States are clashing over a series of difficult issues: the American deployment of a missile defense system that Mr. Putin considers a threat

Pending legislation in Congress that blocks visas and freezes assets of Russian officials linked to human rights abuses

Statements from the State Department about the protests that greeted Mr. Putin’s inauguration that left the Russian leader fuming.But the biggest irritant of all right now is Syria, a longtime ally of Russia

Putin blasts "imperialism," says Russian missile test was response to U.S. moves

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin said today that tests of new Russian missiles were a response to the planned deployment of U.S. missile defense installations and other forces in Europe, suggesting Washington has triggered a new arms race.

In a clear reference to the United States, he harshly criticized "imperialism" in global affairs and warned that Russia will strengthen its military potential to maintain a global strategic balance.

Bush flies into missile storm with Putin

President George Bush yesterday flew to Europe where he will confront Vladimir Putin over US plans to base a new missile defense system in former Russian satellite countries.

The White House described as unhelpful a warning by Mr. Putin that if the US goes ahead with its plan, Russia will retaliate by training its missiles on European targets

Putin Accuses US of Being Like Nazi Germany

in recent weeks Mr. Putin has likened the Bush administration to the Nazis and accused the US of trying to take over the world.

The Russians will also be incensed by Mr. Bush's visit to Prague yesterday and to Poland on Friday, with the missile defense plans the key issue under discussion.

Moscow threatened to target its missiles at Europe

U.S. President George W. Bush (left) and Putin at the G8 summit in June (AFP)

This was the year Vladimir Putin implicitly compared the United States to the Third Reich. It was the year Moscow threatened to target its missiles at Europe and was accused of carrying out a cyber-attack on a NATO member. It was the year Russia pulled out of a key arms-control treaty and resumed strategic-bomber patrols

Bush and Putin G8 Putin vs. George W. Bush

Putin Voices Pessimism on Missile DefenseJune 21, 2012 :: The Moscow Times :: NewsPresident Vladimir Putin said he does not believe that the United States and Russia will manage to resolve their disagreements regarding the U.S. missile defense shield in Europe no matter who the U.S. leader is.

Speaking Tuesday at a news conference at the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, Putin said he saw no sign that the U.S. was ready to change its approach to the system, which Russia believes could threaten its nuclear deterrent. 

"I think the problem of the missile defense shield will not be solved regardless of whether Obama is re-elected or not," Putin said, Interfax reported. 

The renewed tensions come as the United States is heavily dependent on Russian cooperation for its military operations in Afghanistan.

With Pakistan cutting off supply lines to Afghanistan, the so-called northern distribution network through Russia is the primary reinforcement route for America’s war on the Taliban.

Russia is America’s biggest strategic threat. 

 Anna (born in 1958), the Russian journalist, writer and human rights activist, took place on Saturday, 7 October 2006. She was well known for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin ]She authored several books about the Chechen wars, as well as Putin's Russia, and received numerous prestigious international awards for her work. Her murder, which occurred on Vladimir Putin's birthday, was widely perceived as a contract killing sparking a strong international reaction.

The assassination of Anna Politkovskaya

Anna Politkovskaya murder case

•A week after the assassination, Alexander Litvinenko accused Putin of sanctioning the murder. •Two weeks after this statement, Litvinenko was poisoned by the radioactive polonium. Two days before his death on November 24, 2006, he wrote a statement, in case he "does not make it". He said:"Name the bastard. Anna Politkovskaya did not do

it, so I will, for both of us. You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl

of protest from around the world will reverberate,

Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people".

Other journalists in the country, she says, fared much worse. Several journalists were murdered, including Anna Politkovskaya, who was writing about Chechnya."She had run afoul of ... the Putin government and was murdered six years ago on Putin's birthday," Gessen says. "There are conflicting theories as to who murdered her. It certainly didn't have to be on Putin's orders. But what I argue is that Putin has created a system in which people who run afoul of the government know that they are living with a constant threat to their lives. At this point we are living in a situation where physical attacks on critics of the government and even murders are expected."

Russia Beautiful but Dangerous

Russia: Cold War Lite

BP OFFERS TO INCREASE ITS STAKE IN ROSNEFT

By ANDREW E. KRAMER MOSCOW - BP has offered to

acquire a bigger stake in the Russian state oil company Rosneft if it can sell its interests in a private joint venture here, the president of Rosneft said on Friday. Such a move would make BP the largest single outside investor in Rosneft.

September 22, 2012, Saturday

The End Class 4