Medvedev sees brand new arms race in near future

Russian PM Vladimir Putin said at a 2009 international arms conference in Lisbon, Portugal, that Russia was in a position where it had to continue to develop nuclear weapons to counter United States missile defense systems and avoid WA from feeling it can do "whatever it would like," accounts Al Jazeera. That attitude seems to pervade, as President Dmitry Medvedev warned Tues during Russia’s state of the nation address that if Russia and NATO can’t reach an agreement regarding a missile defense system, a new arms race could possibly be the result. Medvedev is demanding that Russia stand equally alongside NATO within the intelligence and production associated with the missile shield, or Russia will assume NATO intends to turn the shield against Russia as a weapon. Article source – Russian President Medvedev threatens ! West with new arms race by Money Blog Newz.

Russia 'very grave' about new arms

Medvedev’s comments indicate that he does not take the thought of a brand new arms race lightly. He said it was a "very grave" scenario. It seemed like Medvedev still would like to work with NATO. A missile defense system and the sharing of intelligence would be part of that.

Al Jazeera explains that Russia and NATO can't agree which nations are nuclear treats. Of course the United States is really concerned about Iran and North Korea. Those nations are "relatively harmless within the near future," based on Russia though. The most significant concern Russia has over the missile defense system is that it could possibly be transformed into an offensive system that could literally rain down nuclear missiles and bombs. The AFP news organization spoke with Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer who said that President Medvedev would like to make sure the NATO-aligned missile defense shield will never hit Russia in a legally binding agreement.

The same as Batman and Robin

Al Jazeera's Moscow correspondent Neave Barker explained that even though Putin's speech in Lisbon last year seemed to lead very nicely into Medvedev's address, PM Vladimir Putin is apparently really in charge as discovered by Dmitry Medvedev's firm. United States documents released by WikiLeaks suggest that Putin is Batman and Medvedev is Robin leaving Medvedev not on top when starting a brand new arms race.

Articles cited

Al Jazeera English

english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/11/20101130124811926553.html

Coverage of Medvedev address by Russia Today

youtube.com/watch?v=9pduEpB8cgs