As Pyros mentioned earlier, they have vast energy reserves at their disposal and the man-power available to lay waste to any country it chooses in a conventional sense. Plus they are increasing the nuclear arsenal as the US decreases theirs. Of course, the MSM are going to say that the recent visit of President Obama in Russia was a success and the relations are cooling. However, that is not the case and behind the scenes the Russians continue to leverage against the West and the United States. Lets call the recent visit a fact finding mission for the Russian leadership(Vladimir Putin) and a sizing- up of the Obama administration.
I think the Russian know that the President is a softy and an appeaser. You don't go into Russia as diplomat playing checkers but go with mindset for chess. Make no mistake about the Russians because they are still a formidable foe. A Slav is one that will fight anyone to the death when they are threatened. They have been a war-like people for as long as they have been an ethnic group. Since they established themselves they have been fighting their neighbors. We got to see just how savage they can be with the War in the Balkans from the 90's.
I'll add to discussion with a Catholic viewpoint on Russia and it could be in relation to the end times. It is the second secret of Fatima and this happened in 1918 when the Virgin Mary appeared to 3 Portuguese children.
The second secret is a statement that World War I would end and supposedly predicts the coming of World War II should God continue to be offended and if Russia does not convert. The second half requests that Russia be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart:
You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light*, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.[6]
This secret's controversy is second only to the supposed final secret of Fátima, as it seemingly predicts both the all-encompassing World War II, the radical, bloody, and extreme anti-religion ideology of the Soviet Union; the proxy wars and limited direct confrontations that would be initiated between the Western Democracies and the Soviet Bloc. Some critics have noted that the "Prophecy" was not disclosed until August 1941, after World War II had already begun.[7] Pope Pius XII subsequently consecrated Russia on July 7, 1952, not long before the death of Stalin and the subsequent destalinization campaigns of Khrushchev, and almost 40 years before the fall of Communism. [1]
en.wikipedia.org...
So just as Russia is a major player in world geo-political affairs, they are a major player in religious prophecy; and the chain of events leading to the end times.
[edit on 12-7-2009 by Jakes51]
