The Bears startin to growl......................

[pam]

Tue Aug 26, 2:53 PM ET



MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning his country may respond to a U.S. missile shield in Europe through military means.


Medvedev says that the deployment of an anti-missile system close to Russian borders "will of course create additional tensions."

"We will have to react somehow, to react, of course, in a military way," Medvedev was quoted as saying Tuesday by the RIA-Novosti news agency.

Russian officials have already warned of a military response to the U.S. plans, but the statement by the Russian leader was likely to further aggravate already tense relations with the West. The comments come after Medvedev recognized two Georgian regions as independent nations, prompting criticism from the U.S. and Europe.


Russia mulls poultry, pork import quota cuts By CATRINA STEWART, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago



MOSCOW - Russia could cut poultry and pork import quotas by hundreds of thousands of tons, the country's agriculture minister said Wednesday. The move could hit American producers hard and comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington over the war in ex-Soviet Georgia.


"It is time to change the quota regime and reduce imports, which have unfortunately built up in recent years," Alexei Gordeyev told reporters, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

He said domestic producers could make up the shortfall if imports were reduced.

Any substantial cuts would likely have a significant impact on U.S. poultry producers, for whom Russia is the biggest market. Russians sometimes refer to U.S. poultry imports as "Bush's legs," a reference to the frozen chicken shipped to Russia amid economic troubles following the 1991 Soviet collapse, when the current U.S. president's father was in office.

An analyst said Russia's timing was no coincidence.

"It has been on the agenda for some time," said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib bank in Moscow. "But the fact that it has been mentioned now is almost certainly linked with the rhetoric that we've had from Georgia, and from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. ... It has just been accelerated as a result of current events."

[Warph]

Good post!  And we should be very worried about Poland if the "Bear" decides to rattle its cage!

[Catwoman]

Actually...we need to be very worried about ourselves if this thing gets moving in the wrong direction.  I think Russia has accurately assessed the fact that we are stretched a bit thin militarily at the moment and is chosing this time to start doing some muscle-building the old fashioned way...flexing your muscles over someone else's land.  I have been worried for some time about the way that the world seems to be slowly degenerating into a constant state of war.  People have forgotten the horrors of the last two world wars and are taking way too much for granted.

[pam]

I agree.

[Jo McDonald]

Do you know who worries me?  CHINA    they had always wanted to be world power and they are definitely working towards it.

[pam]

  The government unlocked the back door and let THEM in already when we borrowed money from them Wanna talk about havin leverage against us.

[Catwoman]

Do you know who worries me?  CHINA    they had always wanted to be world power and they are definitely working towards it.

It was about two years ago that two political analysts were discussing the imbalance in the men vs. women ratio...and were predicting that China would start a war in order to give that vast amount of men, who don't have wives to keep them occupied, something to do in order to keep social order.  I remember thinking at the time that it seemed a completely reprehensible solution to a problem that is of their own creation.