Russia to Open Airspace to U.S. for Afghan War

i tend to agree with whoever made the "go ahead...go hang yourselves comment. my gut feeling is that there's always an ulterior motive in russian gestures like this. always. russia has a loooooooong memory. but i do hope it's the start of a genuine alliance nonetheless. i can handle being proven wrong.

Nothing really surprising here. The biggest asset this gives to America is the comfort of cooperation with Russia. All it will do is save the US Air Force a couple of bucks on fuel. I don't see Russia doing anymore than that.
As well don't forget, Russia was arming and supplying money to the Northern Alliance when America had turned it's back on Afghanistan. Russia would have offered this air corridor years ago, if it hadn't been for the ineptness of Bush and his regime.

reply to post by rogue1

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Very observant.
One thing Russia did recently was negotiate with Uzbekistan and persuaded them to deny our air base there and now they do this?

Strange.

AHHH! Georgia!

I knew it. Man can we here at ATS call it!

YouTube Link

In my humble opinion this is not so good as it sounds. Well it may provide a way to the US to enter to Afghanistan, but what about the neighbors of Russia and all the tensions that have existed in the last years with them?

I'm specifically talking about the baltic area.
Estonia (have many bonds with it) has been an ally of the US since the collapse of the soviets, two years ago there were scary riots in Tallinn between the ethnic estonians and the russian minority, this actually caused an attack from the russian goverment to Estonia via - Internet Attack. Since Estonia is a very small country of only 1.400.000 inhabitants and considering the fact that 600.000 of them are ethnic russians, NATO was the only shield of Estonia to protect her sovereignty. There are also similar problems of other countries with Russia.

Of course I'm not talking that the NATO should have great power in Eurasia, nor that russians are mean (actually have many friends) ; It's just that the russian goverment can abuse easily of any of those small countries, causing something I dont want to imagine. Obama should think about US allies in Eurasia, before making an agreement with Russia that could bring bad consequences bigger than what he can "achieve" in Afghanistan.

Simply. Having an air base and a transport corridor are 2 very different things. American military (and not military too...) presence in former USSR that potentially can be used against Russia is NOT welcome. So they will try as hard as they can to drive USA out of ex-USSR.

Speaking about possible alliance... i dont see how this could happen right now, when Russia feels threatened from West (USA mainly), wants to restore its influence in ex-USSR (and that means USA will need to get out of there) and taking into account what happened after collapse of USSR. They have a looong memory, as some1 alrdy said.

[edit on 6-7-2009 by Knjaz]

They want America to suffer hardships in getting men and materials to Afghanistan , of course, it is natural. But they do not want the logistics to be beyond reason so that withdrawal from Afghanistan is contemplated. They want the US expending themselves in Afghanistan and in the supply along these protracted and arduous routes . If they can facilitate that with some benefit to themselves, then so much the better .

They know from their own mistakes in the 80's where the road lays ahead for American ambitions in that region, when they see NATO carry out those very same mistakes and a whole lot of others of their own design. As Zamir Kabulov says , "They listen, but they do not hear, their attitude is, 'The past is the past,' and that they know more than I do." Perhaps, too, he said, "they think what I have to say is just part of a philosophy of revenge," a diplomatic turning of the tables by a government in Moscow that is embittered by the Soviet failure here and eager for the United States to suffer a similar fate.

NATO is just as much a part of everything you have just said as America is. We are in just as deep, so I wouldn't go throwing the blame around here if I where you.

Russia and America? Slayer, you know my feelings on this and I just don't see it. Maybe it's Georgia, god knows after the 'Georgia incident' last year, I'm sure Russia are thinking how they want the Americans out of their backyard.

Also, maybe it's a 'You help us, we'll be out of your hair quicker?' But to me, I didn't think they would be the 'benefit of the doubt' type of people.

I personally think Russia want the US and NATO out of there ASAP and maybe this is the quicket way to do it? They'll be in for a rude awakening if they think they will just up and leave after this.

EMM

I wonder how the Afghanis will take to this news? It must be a nice cozy feeling for the Afghanis to note that their unanimously hated and despised foes will now be "assisting" the United States within their Nation. This most certainly sounds like a potentially disastrous deal breaker, and it could very easily unravel nearly every gain which we have made during OEF so far.

You need to correct your facts there. First of all, 9/11 is a not a lie, we were attacked on that day by AL-QAEDA, and the Taliban government of Afghanistan was harboring their leadership, so we are completely and unequivocally justified in OEF. You can debate OIF all that you want, but OEF is a proven war of completely legitimate origins and goals.

As for Osama Bin-Laden, we never created him nor supported him. We actually did not create anyone over there, as the Mujahideen already existed, and THEY are the ones whom we supported. Mujahideen are native Afghanis, NOT Arabs, which Osama Bin-Laden and his Al-Qaeda cohorts are.

On the topic of Europe, you must be joking. Have you forgotten of the London Bombings of 7/7, or the Madrid massacre of 3/11? What of the beheading of the Dutch filmmaker in the Netherlands in 2004? What about the kidnapping and murder of various European Nationalities the world over, such as Italians, French, Spanish, and so on? Even the Chinese, Koreans, and countless others are not immune from such acts of terror. If you think that you are immune, or somehow excluded from the "Infidel" grouping of freedom loving "Enemies of Islam", then you are utterly delusional.