Russia: A threat to the U.S.?

[Radical Terrorist]

If you think about it, every country has the potential to be a threat to the rest of the world. Look at germany. TWICE they were a superpower (albeit, a less than favourable one, but People are people, and they lost many innocent lives too) and twice they held out quite a while against a plethora of countries. All it takes is a determined leader that either incites fear into people (although usually rebels form from this) or a leader that rallies the people, gets them to put their faith into them, and he puts his faith into them. For all we know, the next war could be started by Madagascar.

[Pie]

the next war could be started by Madagascar.

By it's monkeys, Think about it, We'll all be eating bananas...considering the world is pretty much run by monkeys anyway.

[Radical Terrorist]

I think Monkeys have more common sense than most Politicians... Monkey attack, monkey lose, monkey leave. Politician attack, politician lose, politician attack again.

[Dascoo]

If you think about it, every country has the potential to be a threat to the rest of the world. Look at germany. TWICE they were a superpower (albeit, a less than favourable one, but People are people, and they lost many innocent lives too) and twice they held out quite a while against a plethora of countries. All it takes is a determined leader that either incites fear into people (although usually rebels form from this) or a leader that rallies the people, gets them to put their faith into them, and he puts his faith into them. For all we know, the next war could be started by Madagascar.

Okay first you need a large population, an highly developed industry, and yes determination. Germany wasn't some third world backwater country....

I'm not saying it's impossible for Madascar to actually do something. Just fucking unlikely.

[Radical Terrorist]

Iraq is considered Third world, but they have been mustering "Terrorists" from nowhere for years. And the fact that most of the neighbouring countries would give a lot to prod the US in the back with a dagger means that numbers aren't so far-fetched. Yes, Iraq has no industry but oil, which, if the "Terrorists" ever get their claws on it, is more than enough to finance an entire 10 year war. And drug money, look at the Heroin trade over in the ME.

[Dascoo]

Yeah and Iraq is a superpower AMIRITE

I thought that's what we were talking about.
 

[frogboy]

Iraq is considered Third world, but they have been mustering "Terrorists" from nowhere for years.

Iraq is hardly a large-scale war, and the terrorists come mainly from nearby countries like Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden himself is from a wealthy Saudi family, and through his funding and others, I'm sure they can easily afford black market weapons.

[The Geologist]

Wait..what?

yes you see the federal reserve has to loan out money to the govt and then it gets it back at interest ergo PROFIT from evil OIL WARS in iraq. nothin' more profitable than a war.

I'm not quite sure if you're serious or not, but that statement doesn't hold much value.  The principle is sound, but that could have chosen an easier target.  At least in my opinion the term "evil oil wars" is full of crap for numerous reasons.

The topic is about Russia being a threat to the US, not some statistics about coloured or white criminals.
And no, it's not only a threat to the States, but to the entire world too, mostly Eastern Europe.
As an eastern-european myself, I still see that the communist way of thinking is still present in my country.
I might be wrong, understanding the word "communism" not as it should be, but I am supposed to live in a democracy,
and I witness every day how, let's say older people (the ones who were taught/brainwashed the thinking of communism),
still think that my country is how it was 20 years ago, applying their beliefs about family/culture/school in everyday life.
I don't remember much, but I heard on the news that Russia has bought one of our atomic reactors in order to reconstruct it and get it back working.

Sorry I glanced over this earlier, but what you said made me want to respond. >_>

Can you blame everyone for applying those beliefs after considering the circumstances under which they may have been adopted?  Mind you, this is the opinion of an ignorant outsider, but I think it's up to the preceding generations to stick up for a better alternative when one becomes available.  But, what is better?  "Honestly" better is a tricky subject, especially when it becomes so pervasive in a society.

Also, which reactor?  On a side note, I'm heard some rather amusing geological ideas put forth from Russia..your mentioning the reactor got me thinking; is the science behind running such an operation the same everywhere?  It seems like it should be, but that isn't always the case..

[Radical Terrorist]

The US is already in a deep deep deep deep (I could go on...) debt from this war, there's no way they will EVER EVER EVER (again... I could go on...) Profit from it. I'm pretty sure the deficit is past a trillion dollars, no?

[Svirin Kerath]

Did you read any of our conversation on the preceding page? Crime is not "x% of z criminals are y, there fore y causes z types of crime." We spent many posts belaboring this fact. What you propose is in fact a fallacy of thought, called 'Post hoc ergo propter hoc.'

You can not boil it down to one factor. Which is what you did. Which was what I also did, to reveal how irrelevant it is.

Also, since none of your alleged figures are quoted from anywhere, would you please tell us where this wealth of information is coming from?

Are you telling me, that one can't say that muslims are violent just by looking at statistics? Are you claiming that those statistics are false? How much do you know about Islam and womens rights? They wear haze everywhere. In Finland no Finn wears it, unless she is a muslim. The motives for rapes have been quite much the same "She was provoking me by not wearing a haze and by wearing very exposing clothing". Should WE adapt their culture because of the fact that they just can't control themselves among us?

Oh, my sourfe for the values is this: http://www.om.fi/optula/uploads/nul786y.pdf It is in Finnish though.  But you should be able to understand some tables. The names of countries can't be that hard to regocnize.  It is "Crimes by Immigrants"-report from Finnish Ministry of Justice.

He's trying to tell you that those statistics may show an association between the 2 but that doesn't imply causation.

Seriousy, wtf? If there are Over 12 thousand people, and some OVER 35% of them are being suspected for a crime, mainly rapes or physical assaults, how the feck can someone say "That means nothing!". IT also means nothing that muslims have been in war all around the far-east/asia/africa for what, last few hundred years at least. Yeah, right, means nothing?
How hard is it to admit, that their RELIGION, in this case ISLAM, is being the PROBLEM, which makes them VIOLENT? Someone made a thread about it in a Finnish islamic discussion board. In less than 24 houes it got locked without any proper reply from muslims. Direct assaults and insults toward the original poster.

Just see what is it in France, England, Germany, Sweden... Ask them who make the most violent and brutal rapes and assaults over there. You will be impressed if you aren't believing what I have stated here. Seriously.

How come it is the muslims only, who commit mainly the violent crimes, with rates average over 35%, when others commit more robberies with rates around 15-20%? Coincidence?

Oh yeah? Well of murderers in the United States, over 75% were poisoned with a chemical called Bos taurus extract. Clearly the relationship is irrefutable and the substance should be banned!

And guys, seriously.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/18/world/europe/17cnd-russia.html?ex=1345089600&en=a10e0afb0c974593&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/05/wrussia105.xml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/05/wrussia105.xml

Combined with
http://www.forbes.com/2008/01/08/russia-economy-projections-oped-cx_vkv_0108russia.html

Not a threat? Not yet, maybe.

[Mitak]

Thank you for responding, Geologist, usually nobody sees what I write
Well you said the truth - we can't blame the old ones for being rased in such a severe atmosphere.
My father still tells me that running away from school may cause quite a trouble, and if you get caught, you get "escorted"
in a police car to the police station @_@ After that I don't know what comes, I've heard so many stories from that time...

And myself, as a human being of the new generation... I rebel and try to teach my little communists the way of freedom.
It's hard, but they are getting used to it, still my grandparents who live on the upper floor are tough ones, they won't
betray the old regime
My parents tell me all the time how communism was great - that you can eat like until you faint in a restaurant for only 1 lev
(which is nearly a dollar). Everything was cheap, but to compensate, there was a limited ammount of  products to chose from than there are nowadays. And instead of having "Food shops" and "Tool shops" we had something like a supermarket, but a very poor one.   
Guess why we had so fewer products to chose from: A restriction. NOTHING FROM THE WEST IS GOOD!!!
Including the US - films, books, even small things as toothpaste could never be seen around.
My parents were folded in these working groups where they give them some bag and let'em dig pottatoes all day long for about 2 weeks (unpaid work) or drive them to some rusty ol' mechanic facility to file pieces of metal or whatever the sick communist brain can invent. Also, every year there was this military brigade - about 10-14 days of hell, torturing kids from 13-18 of age.

Every time I try to say my day was hard, they say "You don't know nothing" and I realize what they mean, now that I've heard so many stories.

About the atomic reactor - it's... eh I can't translate it correctly but here we go. Atomic Electrocentral "Belene" should sound better...
And the russkies are buyng the unused equipment in order to rebuild another one - Electrocentral number 4 of Kalinin.
They also consider rebuilding the other reactors/centrals (I lost myself) in Belene which are 2.
I think the responsible company for that is "Gazprom" .

[tehsnipah]

wow these conversations are really complicated and have amazing info. i wish i was them >_<

[Radical Terrorist]

wow these conversations are really complicated and have amazing info. i wish i was them >_<

Read wikipedia. Lots.
Russias building a new nuclear reactor? I thought they might have learned the hard way after Chernobyl... They should look at Pebble Bed Reactors, which are supposedly the safest and cheapest form of nuclear energy. You can read it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor
It is being used in South Africa, but they're saying that it might be a new international standard and it might even be able to power all of Africa if they build enough (just what africa needs to get out of where they are) Holding one of the Fuel "Spheres" (cause thats what they are) Is perfectly safe, and it has all ofthe components of a Nuclear Reactor. But piling these balls until they reach Criticality means that you can just add another ball rather than replacing fuel rods. A dangerous and costly procedure. When it is spent, it is also easier to dispost of large amounts since they're about the size of a Baseball. It is also supposed to be self controlling, so not many staff will be required to operate it.

[Dascoo]

wow these conversations are really complicated and have amazing info. i wish i was them >_<

Read wikipedia. Lots.

Or he can just read books like I do.

Pffffft wikipedia, that's cheating.

[Svirin Kerath]

Problem with books- like the recent (in a book sense, it was released less than 10 years ago) "Russia's Air Power In Crisis," while chock full of pertinent, accurate information, can become outdated very quickly in comparison to internet articles.

[a-4-year-old]

Problem with books- like the recent (in a book sense, it was released less than 10 years ago) "Russia's Air Power In Crisis," while chock full of pertinent, accurate information, can become outdated very quickly in comparison to internet articles.

The problem with statistics is that they are always very inaccurate. Especially polls.

[Pie]

Problem with books- like the recent (in a book sense, it was released less than 10 years ago) "Russia's Air Power In Crisis," while chock full of pertinent, accurate information, can become outdated very quickly in comparison to internet articles.

The problem with statistics is that they are always very inaccurate. Especially polls.

Polls=Opinion based, People's opinions change.
Indecisive pricks...

[Radical Terrorist]

Problem with books- like the recent (in a book sense, it was released less than 10 years ago) "Russia's Air Power In Crisis," while chock full of pertinent, accurate information, can become outdated very quickly in comparison to internet articles.

The problem with statistics is that they are always very inaccurate. Especially polls.

Polls=Opinion based, People's opinions change.
Indecisive pricks...

Sounds Misanthropic. Not a bad way to go these days. Don't trust anyone, noone can fool you, right?
And yes people's opinions change. Look at harper. He changes his mind more than he changes his pants if it means he can try to stay popular.

[Svirin Kerath]

Problem with books- like the recent (in a book sense, it was released less than 10 years ago) "Russia's Air Power In Crisis," while chock full of pertinent, accurate information, can become outdated very quickly in comparison to internet articles.

The problem with statistics is that they are always very inaccurate. Especially polls.

Polls=Opinion based, People's opinions change.
Indecisive pricks...

Pretty much. As for stats, that depends greatly on the size of the study group. A study of 100 people is much more inaccurate than 1000, which is generally agreed to meet the requirements of a 'scientific' study.

And then there's the statistics where you basically divide all people known to be involved in a group (say, a population) by a number of people out of the whole population with something in common (say, being murdered). It's an analysis of numbers, so it can't really be "inaccurate" unless analysts forget to carry a 2 or something.

[swebonny]

China will grow larger!