This ex-Russian agent incident in London causes Western block to expel lots of Russian diplomats. Total 17 countries expelled Russian diplomats so far. And today CNN said Putin is traveling to China later this year now that both Russian and Chinese presidents consolidated power at their home countries. Russia-China-Iran block versus USA-Europe-India-Japan-South Korea block. Now that world trade is so dominant I don't think a new cold war is possible but things might change. What says @Br4d about this? @Dierking please chime in.
I think we've been in a Cold War situation that has gradually gotten worse since NATO expanded in the early 2000's to include more ex-Soviet Bloc countries. The moment when I think it became clear that we were back in a fully adversarial relationship was when the Russians went into Georgia in the summer of 2008 and forced a partition there. The last real chance to step back and reset the situation was early in Obama's first term and the Russians weren't really interested in the overtures that Obama put out there. Then the Arab Spring took the emphasis off of the US-Russian crisis and things spiraled away from there.
Chine is in process of paying for Oil in Yuan. Yep. Russia and China wants to play the game with their own rules. Meantime India is in some sort of friction with China and I wonder if India can be an important piece for West to balance out China in Asia.
It's been a cold war since Russia elected an ex KGB agent to run their country. India may be the most corrupt capitalist country in the world and they are always on the brink of war with their neighboring Arab states. They could be an ally but they are so volatile that they could get the US in a hasty war for resources that has two enemies, Islam and the pinkos.
Yes, Putin declared war a very long time ago, just not every leader has recognized it. The truth is Putin needs a big bad enemy in order to keep his power. Russia's GDP is less than that of the state of California, and about equal to Canada's. They are not doing well economically. The only people making money are Putin's buddies and the mafia. Putin blames this on the west and absolutely needs a cold war. Remember that dictators like Putin do not have a golden parachute. They either die as dictators or they are imprisoned. I assume that in order for the latter to happen all of the oligarchs and the Russian military has to overthrow Putin and freeze his assets. The odds are not good. Putin is both the world's richest and most powerful man. He can't just retire like American presidents do and go paint pictures or give speeches. That's why I always say these back and forth games of banning diplomats accomplishes nothing. If you don't target Putin's money source he won't care. Enough time will pass and the diplomats will return, and even if they don't who cares. For example Germany banned a bunch of Russian diplomats and the very next day signed an energy deal with them.
That's a pretty smart post, but when I was done with it I looked at your avatar and completely disregarded everything you said. You should get a serious avatar like me.
I dislike thugturd Putin as much as the next guy, but he still has Bob Kraft's Cheatie Bowl ring exhibited in the Kremlin, so balance the scales, folks, balance the scales. EDIT & P.S.: Every few years, it comes up how much Bob Kraft laments about his 'stolen' ring, and then he somewhat mildly walks it back that it wasn't actually 'stolen'. As if the Cheats never actually stole anything. Putin was just all thanks, asshole, put the ring it in his pocket, played dumb, and said it was a gift. Last time Kraft brought it up was after Trump was elected, and Kraft was wondering if Trump could get it back for him. Hey, Bob Kraft, here's a pearl of wisdom from my Grandma: for every dollar you steal, you lose two. Putin is awful, but it's the only time I ever fist-pumped Russia. Haha, I think Putin actually said we will fashion you a ring of "comparable value" to placate your unreasonable demands, something like that. Still sits in a glass case in the Kremlin. GO GLASS CASE!!!
The best part is Kraft was there to promote the Patriots in Russia. I could have told him for free that it was a stupid idea and would not work. The Russians don't care about the NFL or the Patriots. I don't believe Putin for a second though. The thug knew he was stealing the ring and also knew Kraft was powerless to do anything about it. Theft isn't anything foreign to Putin though I mean he has basically stolen over 40 billion dollars, so the NE ring is a drop in the bucket.
It ever stopped? The countries may have stopped threatening to nuke each other for a while, but spying and espionage have continued non-stop. The cyber war they've been waging for the last two decades is incredible what they've accomplished. China's been spying non-stop for decades. Hell, nothing from the military is original designs. Everything of theirs was stolen from other nations. https://news.usni.org/2015/10/27/chinas-military-built-with-cloned-weapons I mean, come on. They don't even try. But why waste billions in R&D when you can throw ten grand at a disgruntled employee and have him just steal the plans for you? And the Korean War never ended. So it's like a volcano that isn't actively erupting. It's only a matter of time.
Oh, yeah, I wasn't implying Putin didn't filch it. He totally filched it. At least Kraft knew for once how it feels to be cheated out of something. I don't remember the exact words that mealy-mouthed whiny Kraft said at the time of the 'incident', but something about his phraseology and tone reminded me of Brisbane from 'The Little Rascals', the episode where he insults the blacksmith and then tries to get expelled from school. "Learn that poem. Learn that poem. Learn it." I can't say for certain what made my kooky brain draw such a completely unrelated parallel, but it did. In fact, I was saying it in time to Kraft whining in the news segment. Bob Kraft: "Whine whine whine. Whine whine whine. Whine whine." Me: Learn that poem. Learn that poem. Learn it." Hahaha.
Add to the fact it ain't no accident that Edward Snowden (I don't care what anyone says) wound up entrenched in Russia. I mean, c'mon now, I wouldn't be surprised if Snowden hangs out in Putin's vacation home in the Caucasus Mountains during the Summer. He will be granted permanent asylum, Russia will never allow him to be extradited, and he will never step foot on American soil again. Bank it. If nobody thinks that Snowden doesn't have body armor protection from Putin and his goons, you're all nuts. I'm not saying that Snowden originally intended to leak things to the Russkies, but you damn well know he gave God knows what to them in exchange for temporary asylum. He has a job, has an apartment, and does Skype lectures direct to the U.S. I don't think Snowden is an 'admirable' person per se, but the scales, if it didn't involve Russia to such a great extent, would definitely tip in favor of hero vs. villain. The U.S. is getting cyber-punked up the butt 24/7. I wish Russia would make themselves useful and cyber-punk Mark Zuckerberg personally, and better yet, completely destroy Facebook. Oh, well.
And what he gave them is well served. Don't fool yourself about the police state a psycho capitalist country can become. Do a little research on Japan, who we gave the ultimate gift of capitalism to after we put them under the boot. They have taken the baton and sprinted with it. There is no form of government where greedy, power hungry men don't dominate the population. Happy Easter!
Haha, right. I'm surprised the NBA even allowed the Prokhorov sale to go through. Stern said they had a whole stack of reasons against the sale but allowed it in the end anyway. I remember listening to all the interviews of that fool on WFAN saying how the Nets will make the playoffs in X years and win the NBA title in Y years, etc. He thought he could come in and buy a title like it's soccer or something. He basically destroyed the Nets and helped the Celtics. They need to stop Russian money from coming into legitimate democracies though. Not just in the NBA but everywhere. That should be the cost of doing business with Putin. Since everyone legitimate has already fled Russia or is dead, it's only Putin and his goons with the money. Force them to keep their stolen riches in Rubles, they hate Rubles.
Zuckerberg is at it again. Soliciting records from his own hospital and asking for records from other hospitals 'that won't identify' people, lol. HIPAA is a joke (I lived it, did insurance and billing for 11 years - I could see EVERYTHING). Facebook, the world is retarded. Close your accounts. I would love to see this guy go down, but it won't happen because too big to fail, and people can't stop looking at themselves. He's going to get a slap on the wrist for 'Privacy Violations', but you have to be sick in the head to belong to this nonsense. He will never be prosecuted for anything, ever. Russia is far less of a threat on Facebook than Zuckerberg is.
HIPAA relies on people understanding what they should and should not look at and acting accordingly. I've worked 3 jobs now that had HIPAA requirements and in none of them was the patients information shielded by anything other than the understanding that it was a firing offense and potentially prosecution worthy to look at (hard to prove), disseminate (easier) or publish (slam-dunk) a patients information. This is the same problem that the NSA had with Snowden. Information regulation only goes so far when information is put into any system in which strict data controls are either not possible or routinely over-ridden,
^HIPAA, for real, it's a joke. All I had to do was hit a button. I'm pretty sure that I said it another thread, but it goes to a central data base and I could see your entire medical life. If I remembered my HIPAA compliant email and password, I could probably still do it.
