Russia has criticised Washington's decision to send two US warships and the coast guard cutter to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia, where Russia sent troops and tanks this month.

"Normally battleships do not deliver aid and this is battleship diplomacy, this does not make the situation more stable," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow on Tuesday.

"I hope people who deliver humanitarian aid would be choosy about how they deliver it."

Russia has sent a group of its own warships to the capital of the Russian-backed rebel region of Abkhazia, less than 200 kilometres (125 miles) north along the Black Sea coast, Russian media reported.

A larger vessel, the destroyer the USS McFaul, had arrived in Batumi on Sunday, prompting Moscow to charge that the West was using humanitarian aid as a "cover" for a buildup of forces in Black Sea.

There was no information about the whereabouts of the USS McFaul, which was not to be seen around Batumi port.

According to the US military, the Dallas was carrying hygiene items like toothbrushes(bombs) and soap (bombs), food(bombs), milk (bombs) and juices(bombs) to help the tens of thousands of people the United Nations estimates have been left displaced by the conflict.

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.

President Bush has devoted considerable time and effort to forging a bond with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. They met last year in Kennebunkport, Maine. (Pool Photo By Matthew Cavanaugh Via Bloomberg News)

He glimpsed inside Vladimir Putin's soul and found something to his liking.

Many Russia experts say Bush did not understand the true intentions and character of the Russian leader. "He misjudged Putin," said Stanford University professor Michael A. McFaul, who has been advising Sen. Barack Obama's campaign on Russia policy. From an early date, McFaul said, Putin has had a "very obvious grand strategy for rolling back democracy," but "when new evidence came in to suggest that his initial assessment of Putin was wrong, [Bush] tended to dismiss it."

Leslie H. Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Bush is more naive about personal relations with other leaders than past U.S. presidents, alluding to his meeting with Putin in 2001, after which Bush famously said he looked the Russian leader in the eye and got a "sense of his soul."

"The others were far more realistic," Gelb said. "This Bush thinks when he calls Putin, they are soul mates, and when he expresses a desire for Putin to do something, he will do it. [Putin] had other reasons for going into Georgia than the personal relations with the president of the United States."

Can someone explain to me what is so wrong with a missle defense sheild? It is a defensive system, not an offensive system, so what is the problem? Russia truly needs to get a grip and back off.

let's see if I can explain it to you-
Russia doesn't have one,which leaves them vulnerable to a first strike without an ability to retaliate effectively.It diminishes their ability to affect events within their sphere.

OK so it is out of jealousy that Russia is acting the way they are. OK I fully understand now. As a famous frog once said "It's not easy being green." Oh well.......

don't be so simplistic-its a direct threat to their security.Would the U.S. stand for it?

I know I am being simplistic, BUT there are better options than threatening a military strike to get rid of something like this, and as far as a direct threat are we planning to attack Russia? (knowing this administration it is possible) Is there some plan in the works to First strike Russia? I am sure you have heard of the Acronym M.A.D. or Mutually Assured Destruction? It would be suicide for the U.S. or any other nation to attack Russia with a Nuclear Strike. No matter what kind of sheild we have up, we would be destroyed along with whom ever we decided to attack. As far as the U.S. standing for something like this, no I don't think we would, but no matter what, there are better ways to go about trying to get this defense sheild placed somewhere else.

Can someone explain to me what is so wrong with a missle defense sheild? It is a defensive system, not an offensive system, so what is the problem? Russia truly needs to get a grip and back off.

IF you hadn't noticed it was kind of a rhetorical question. I understand the concerns of Russia, but I also understand that Russia is not the freind that they claim to be.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Russia Threatens Military Response to US Missiles

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.

Most important, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless
we are strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by
the power of our example than by the example of our power.