Re: Another russian Subs Sinks


MTRP wrote:
> You should better pray that Russian Army and Navy remains relaxed for a
> couple of years more. Unlike mad USA, post-cold-war Russia still can't
> decide if it has real enemies abroad ... that's why once mighty
> ex-soviet military-industrial complex has little support from *rich*
> Russian state. In principle Russian Bear has the most deadly &
> destructive weapons on earth ... it's just sleeping now ...
>

Russian Bear is sick and dangerous, primarily for the Russians

From
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/08/08/do0803.xml

....Capt Milashevsky and his crew nearly lost their lives this weekend.
And for what? For whom?

For President Vladimir Putin, their supreme commander? He remained the
invisible man throughout the crisis, just as he did during the Kursk
disaster in 2000. As befits a Petersburger by birth, he has always
taken a close interest in the navy, even dressing up in its uniforms
like a modern-day Peter the Great himself. A shame then that his
leadership is so lacking.

Perhaps then for Sergei Ivanov, the defence minister, a possible
successor to Putin and, like him, a former KGB spy but, unlike him, one
who perfected his English by staying with a family of British
communists in Acton in the 1970s. He is cut from the same cloth as his
master.

The crew did not risk their lives for the money they make, that can be
taken for granted. Their salaries are, no doubt, laughable. The boost
in the defence budget made possible by the boom in energy prices has
gone on new toys for the generals and admirals. The notion that Russia
is still a major world power independently of its nuclear arsenal and
oil wealth must be maintained. The lives of the soldiers, sailors and
airmen actually attempting to make that notion a reality matter little.

Maybe the crew did it for Russia, out of patriotism, love for the
motherland. Strange as it may seem, that may indeed explain why they
took such risks. But what does Russia give in return, not just to the
mini-sub's crew but to the rest of its citizens?

For all the impressive economic indicators of recent years, Russia has
failed to provide the Russian people with the security, justice,
standards of health care, freedom from corruption or just plain freedom
they deserve. And, saddest of all, many Russians seem to have
reconciled themselves to being thus short-changed by their rulers in
the Kremlin.

Russia, state and society, isn't working. And it's not just its
mini-submarines that are in urgent need of an overhaul.

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