Welcome to Gaia! :: Russia Invades Georgia

All in all Russia might getting themselves more trouble than its worth- look @ list of tatarstans, chechenyas, etc. waiting to secede... And now they are pushing Ukraine into NATO and Poland into closer ties with the USA, and both of them into military buildup. Georgia was selected because it WASNT in NATO YET, and had small army.

No I did not. I'm curious, why? I would assume the Russians have done more harm to the both of them than what they may have done to each other.

Typical situation in tribal mountain arenas with mixed-in enclaves - look 2 nagorny karabakh next door smile with switching alliances ,or free for all. Also wars breed mercs who will work for anybody with cash, and Russians have biggest paycheck courtesy of $140 oil. Real question is dozens of trouble spots waiting to secede from Russia. As Russia was created on the conquest of neighbors, it is pretty vulnerable to wave of secessions. And worst thing waiting to happen is the Siberia being taken by chinese immigrants someday.

Katyusha, you are quite mistaken. Millions of Chinese are living and working in Siberia. One day China can send tanks "to protect them".
http://www.gateway2russia.com/st/art_144395.php

Quote:
23 September 2003 21:14
A Chinese `Invasion`

Russia's latest census has produced a bombshell result: over the past decade, the Chinese have emerged as the fastest growing ethnic minority in Russia. While official data of the October 2002 census will be published only next month, preliminary figures leaked to the press show that Russia's Chinese population has grown from just over 5,000 in the late 1980s to 3.26 million today.

This makes the Chinese the fourth biggest ethnic group in this country after Russians (104.1 million), Tatars (7.2 million) and Ukrainians (5.1 million) - all indigenous inhabitants of Russia. More than three-fourths of Chinese immigrants have settled down in Siberia and the Far East. The census results lend chilling reality to Russia's age-old nightmare of a Chinese takeover of the Asian part of Russia. Eighteen million Russians scattered across the India-size expanse of the Far East and Siberia face 250 million Chinese cramped across a common border in China's northern provinces.

Can you say "Yellow menace?"

Erm what? Incase you have been living under a rock, which it apears you have, the Soviet Union no longer exists and with good reason. For one its economic model was doomed to fail as with the socialist model in general.

For another reason it was held together by sheer force by the time it collapsed, hence why it fell apart when it could no longer maintain its military might. Empires held together like that should fail and they generally do eventually.

The Soviet Union was indeed an 'evil empire" that ranks right up there with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in terms of its brutality and tyranny.
Probebly the only good thing I can think of that came out of the Soviet Union was the Ak-47 and the USSR's Space Program's contributation to the global space effort.

If russia is to rise again, I'd like it to be one of democracy and freedom, not autocratic and totalitarian like it was. Unfortunatly it is becoming the ladder more and more as time passes.

I might add that fall of the Soviet Union wasn't worst catastrophe of the XX century as says Mr.Putin, it was best thing since the fall of the 3rd Reich.

Entrepeneurs? Really? Most businesses there are extorted. How many times has Putin taken over wealthy companies that have trie dealing with the west?
There is nothing that happends in Russia that Putin doesn't know or have something to say about.
If your business gets too big or starts making record profits then chances are it will be "bought" by the government.