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originally posted by: transola
a reply to: ExSmokerYes
Well considering the USA has spent more on the military over the past 10 years than the rest of the world combined, I think it is safe to say we aren't worried. I hope there is not a WW3, but if there was I wouldn't bet on Russia coming out on top.
For Russia, additional costs of NATO membership would stem from the following circumstances:
Due to NATO's consensus-based decision-making, Russia would have to accept the terms that the alliance's East European novices would throw in as prerequisites for Russia's admission.
Switching to NATO's standards would cause huge damage to Russia's own military-industrial complex.
Georgia and Japan would certainly take advantage of Russia considering that a NATO candidate must be free of unsettled territorial disputes with its neighbors.
Russia's own turn to NATO would render meaningless its endeavors to debar a number of post-Soviet republics – Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan – from the alliance.
The arguments in favor of the NATO membership for Russia which are cited by a part of the country's establishment are akin to the motivation of the character from Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk: deciding which way to go he simply opted for the best of the roads. Actually, the best road led head on to the enemy positions.
When Molotov returned to Moscow he tasked Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko to formulate proposals on the furtherance of the Soviet collective security campaign. On 10 March Gromyko presented Molotov a draft note for the Presidium proposing that the Soviet position on European collective security should be amended (a) to allow full US participation in the system and (b) the possibility of the USSR joining NATO.[1] Further drafts were presented to Molotov on 20 and 24 March.[2] These drafts were corrected in detail by Molotov. The major change made by Molotov was to delete Gromyko's statement that the USSR would join NATO on certain conditions and to substitute the formulation that the Soviet Union was prepared to discuss the matter with interested parties.
originally posted by: glend
a reply to: codythatkid
Its hard to say with confidence what is happening in the world but I tend agree with Russia's perspective that US is trying to start a major war in Europe to reward its own economic stability. Russia see's the funding of hostiles in Ukraine as a major threat against its borders so time is not on their side. So I wouldn't be surprised to see a sneak Russian (and possibly China) offensive directly against the US in the very near future.