Sentynel wrote:He's trying to bring the damn USSR back if anything. Yeltsin had the right ideas but screwed up the execution; Putin built on Yeltsin's mistakes deliberately. And now he has power he's not going to let go of it if he can possibly help it. My suspicion is that we will see another Cold War in our lifetimes. The conflict in Georgia will blow over one way or the other, probably with a complete Russian victory, but the changes in Russia will continue.

Perhaps.

But Putin, a communist? True, he joined the Communist Party back in The Day, but that was when it was a normal thing. Actually, I thought he seemed ashamed (like other Russians) of the Soviet Union when he was president. He did a pretty good job of making it a "distant memory" for the Russian people. And, with America's help, Russia was able to drag itself from Screwed-Over Economy, to the more preferable Bad Economy.

Elections in Russia are still a joke, and always will be, though.

(while we're on the subject of Vlady: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddg7reIOjL0)

("...like a Boris Yeltsin fart.)

The Russian communist leaders were never true communists anyway, just authoritarian dictators.

Quite. As Animal Farm says, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." Communism's a nice way to stop the plebs from causing trouble by convincing them they're all equal, while the leaders get rich, live well, and dictate at will. True communism is a pretty good idea, but it never works in practice. Now communism's over the leaders say "well that was a bad idea, screw that" and the plebs all think it was communism's fault, not the fault of the Glorious Leaders.

Communism is what inspired the leaders in the first place.

Edit: Georgia declares ceasefire. It was just a matter of time...

and Russian bombs.

But by the time they were leaders, Communist ideals were long gone. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Not that them calling a ceasefire has stopped the Russians, of course..

I can see a triangle forming here (South Ossetia <-- Georgia <-- Russia), and it looks like there's still fighting even when a ceasefire was announced.

I hate to admit this, but I think I just found a topic for my history essay.

Strange how the Russian is defending South Ossetia and calling themselves peacekeepers. :blink:

Pfft. People have been doing that for ages.

Anyway, yeah, the Motherland responded to Georgia's ceasefire suggestion by bombing the outskirts of it's capital...

Apollo wrote:Pfft. People have been doing that for ages.

Since Animal Farm? :P

Since cavemen times.

Ah. And further behind with dinos.

Thanks to the combined action of the EU, UN, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the US, Georgia and Russia have agreed on ceasefire terms. :D

Looks like it's windig down.

Hopefully Russia won't use the "swat the fly with a sledgehammer" philosophy to defend territory again.

Apollo wrote:Hopefully Russia won't use the "swat the fly with a sledgehammer" philosophy to defend territory again.

Russians consider the sledgehammer barely adequate at best.

Sentynel wrote:

Apollo wrote:Hopefully Russia won't use the "swat the fly with a sledgehammer" philosophy to defend territory again.

Russians consider the sledgehammer barely adequate at best.

Gotta move onto the JackHammer.

Some truce.

G: *pants* "Please..." *cough, gurgle* "no more... please... cease fire!"

R: "...Okey-Dokey"

UN: *phew*
EU: *phew*

R: "JK LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!11!!11!!1!!!!" *sends more tanks*

Where's the US? And Bush? :P

Pfft.
We don't care.
Least I don't.
Mostly.
Russia's policy and tactics regarding war have always been Sledgehammer-style.
Stalin once said, "Quantity has a quality all it own."
That's why nightmares of old cold war guys usually started with warm, with nukes, or cold: tanks upon tanks, decorated with tanks, sprinkled with Hi-24s pouring over the eastern boarder of europe.

Dansariki wrote:Hi-24s

That would be Mi-24s. =p The NATO reporting name is Hind.

Sorry.
Lots of sleep and no coke.
Coke-Cola, not crack :P

Dansariki wrote:Coke-Cola, not crack :P

ZOMG! Dansariki's doing drugs! :P

But that does explain his mood swings. :D