Talk Elections

Russia's military leadership has for the first time acknowledged a nuclear threat from Iran and North Korea.

“The threat is always there, so we closely monitor the nuclear program developments of many countries," Army General Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the General Staff, told RT television.

"The analysis that we conducted together with the Americans confirms that, yes, there is a probability that the threat exists. And we agreed that it is necessary to create a missile defense system,” Makarov said.

The Russian Defense Ministry has previously held that there is no nuclear threat to Europe and Russia from Iran and North Korea, because they do not have the capacity to build nuclear weapons or deliver them.

“Many countries that claim not to possess nuclear weapons do in fact have them,” Makarov said.

“Certainly, if it gets into the hands of extremists, it represents a threat to international security,” Makarov said.

He added that in order to counter these threats, Russia is ready to work together with other countries.

“Let's solve this problem. Let us work together to get rid of the threats that may arise, not only for Europe but for Russia because we too are part of Europe,” the general said.

North Korea has conducted two underground nuclear weapon tests, in 2006 and 2009.

<snip>

There’s a surprise a minute in our 24/7 news cycle, and a story in The New American will certainly raise a few eyebrows.

Russian assault forces will head to Colorado in May to train with U.S. soldiers. The magazine said the training exercises had been publicized in a variety of Russian media for weeks. Ironically the Kremlin provided more transparency than the U.S. government—The New American said,  “[V]irtually all of the details about the exercise that emerged publicly early on came from Kremlin sources.” 

The exercises will include a raid on a fictional terrorist camp:

“’According to the exercise scenario, soldiers of the two countries will hold a tactical airborne operation, including reconnaissance of an imaginary terrorists' camp and a raid,’ Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Aleksandr Kucherenko was quoted as saying in official news reports, also noting that it was the first time such an exercise would be held. ‘The Russian Airborne Assault Force will contribute a special task group that will exercise with U.S. special service weapons.’”
The New American got confirmation from the U.S. Dept. of Defense:

“’The Russian soldiers are here as invited guests of the U.S. government; this is part of a formal bilateral exchange program between the U.S. and Russia that seeks to develop transparency and promote defense reform,’ Cmdr. Wendy L. Snyder, U.S. Defense Press Officer for policy, told The New American in an e-mail. ‘This is the first time that American and Russian special operations troops have participated in a bilateral exercise.’”

<snip>