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.

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.

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.

Originally posted by spy66

LoL if you pool out of NATO you will lose everything. NATO is what is giving you the ability to be at the other side of the lake dude. And the US is not the best of friend with China. So you need us more then you know.

Why blame us for not wanting to fight for your lies. Or for the problems you cause everywhere you Americans are, You created and supported Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda dont forget that. Don't blame us for the back fire.
Al Qaeda dont hate us Europeans they hate you Americans. There is not one terrorist bomb or terrorist killing that has happened in Norway once ever. Because we dont give other people or nations a reason to hate us.



[edit on 27.06.08 by spy66]

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.