Russians Stirring Things Up

I understand that the headlines tonight are littered with responses from the Democratic Party nominee following his speech (another topic all-together). I understand it’s importance and primacy in the coverage tonight. One thing that troubles me with the media , however,  was the little attention given to the coverage of Vladimir Putin’s accusations towards the United States.  Today Putin made the charge that the United States orchestrated the conflict in South Ossetia, and blames the US for training and arming the Georgians.  Putin claimed that this was done by the United States to strengthen a political candidate.   It looks rather more like Russia was trying to make a territorial grab towards her former Soviet empire.  Russia’s allies do not recognize the sovereignty of South Ossetia and acknowledge it has part of Georgia.

Over the recent past, Russia has stressing its relationships with the West and with the NATO powers.  Russia has accused NATO powers of building up naval forces in the Black Sea (these five warships were scheduled for exercises in this region long before the Aug. 8 conflict between Russia and Georgia).    Russia has made towards Poland for agreeing to the installment of NATO missile defense systems, and also today, there is a report that Russia has just tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile.  This missile, designed to deliver nuclear payloads, was tested in response to the US plans for a missile defense shield.  Russia is still a force, and we should not take these threats lightly.

Revival of the weblog

I realize that I haven’t written a blog in quite some time. Now that the summer is over, and the new school year is kicking off, I will get back to more fantastic topics on which to write.   Wish me luck this week as I start teaching three new classes!