fall of the union

With Ireland being the only one to vote in the Lisbon Referendum one has to wonder if giving more power to smaller numbers of people in centralizing the diverse 10,180,000 square kilometers that is Europe is really a smart idea.

Just 18 years ago the Soviet Union collapsed the former republics gaining their independence, the diversity of these countries and their people shows just how different they all really are:

Armenia



Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage.

After it split from the Soviet Union Armenia and Azerbaijan (see below), the war ended after a Russian-brokered cease-fire was put forward in 1994. The war was a success for the Armenians who managed to secure 14% of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory.

Azerbaijan



Azerbaijan is a nation with a majority Turkic and Shi‘ite Muslim population, is a secular and unitary republic. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world.

Belarus



It has been said that Belarus was the only dictatorship in Europe, governed by Lukashenko who is called by most people of Belarus as “Batka” - meaning father in English.

Estonia



Was one of the world's fastest growing economies for several years after becoming independent, very small population at only 1.4 million, it is said to be the most successful countries out of all of the former Soviet republics.

Georgia



Georgia is a representative democracy, organized as a secular, unitary semi-presidential republic, it had several skirmishes with the Ossetians which exasperated from Georgia forming a state called South Ossetia, a Georgian attack on there led to a devastating war in August of 2008.

Kazakhstan



Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world.

It is ethnically and culturally diverse, in part due to mass deportations of many ethnic groups to the country during Stalin's rule. Kazakhs are the largest group. Kazakhstan allows freedom of religion, and many different beliefs are represented in the country. Islam is the primary religion. The Kazakh language is the state language, while Russian is also officially used as an "equal" language (to Kazakh) in Kazakhstan's institutions

Kyrgyzstan



Kyrgyzstan is a land locked in Southeast Asia, it is made up mainly of Kyrgyz's, Uzbek's and Russians.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union state-owned enterprises have been privatized, it has come under influence from the west and has seen a considerable amount of terrorism.

Latvia



Latvia is a unitary parliamentary republic and is divided into 26 districts. It's population is made up mostly of Russians and Latvians.

Today it is one of the poorest countries in the European Union and its people are among the unhappiest in the world!

Lithuania



The majority of the country are Lithuanians with only a small concentrated amount of Polish, the predominant religion there is Roman Catholicism.

Moldova



A small and practically unknown country to most Europeans, is a parliamentary democracy and has a very large wine industry.

Russia



Russia is the largest country in the world and takes up an eighth of Earth's surface, and has a population of 142 million people, following the breakup of the Soviet Union Russia's economy went to hell in the early 1990's after taking all of the debts the Soviet Union owed, it fought in two wars against Chechnya and in the last few years is rising back towards super power status.

Tajikistan



Most people that live in Tajikistan belong to the Tajik ethnic group, who share culture and history with the Iranian peoples and speak Persian.

Following it's independence from the Soviet Union it had a devastating civil war from 1992 to 1997, afterwords newly-established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow. Trade in commodities such as cotton and aluminum wire has contributed greatly to this steady improvement.

Tajikistan is still however a very poor country!

Turkmenistan



Cotton production is big in Turkmenistan as was the President Turkmen-Bashi a dictator who controlled most aspects of his peoples lives up until 2007.

Ukraine



Ukraine is home to 46.2 million people, 77.8 percent of whom are ethnic Ukrainians, with sizable minorities of Russians, Belarusians and Romanians. The Ukrainian language is the only official language in Ukraine, while Russian is also widely spoken. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which has heavily influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature and music.

They have changed their political orientation recently from East to West, but nothing has really changed!

Uzbekistan



Uzbekistan is made up nearly entirely of Uzbek's and has an economy based on commodity items like cotton, gold, uranium, and natural gas.


It's an interesting comparison, I was going to do one on Europe but the truth is Europe is nearly just as vast (even though it's much smaller) as the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union were, and only time will tell how history will treat the European Union.

Georgia's Frogfoots

The Soviet made Sukhoi Su-25 is an impressive simple and cheap aircraft, it's closest American counterpart is the deadly A-10 Warthog.

The Su-25 however is much smaller and it's 30mm gun on it while impressive is nothing compared to the Avenger gun on the A-10, but still nonetheless will punch a hole in a tank like it was designed to do, it itself like the A-10 is a flying tank, it's cockpit is well armored being able to withstand direct barrages of hits from 20mm cannon fire!

Along with that it can carry a various amount of bombs and rockets, it really is an in your face kind of plane which is perfect for the soldiers it's supporting on the ground, paired with a pilot with a bit of skill the Su-25 is one deadly opponent to fight against.

Georgia for it's size in the Soviet Union produced a hefty amount of Su-25 Frogfoots, yet following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 they were left with virtually none, around 10 were left in the factory and were bought into service with the Georgian Air Force.



Ten years later in collaboration with Israel eight of these Su-25's were upgraded, avionics were upgraded around the original air frame along with a pinpoint weapon delivery system.
This variant of the Soviet beast is known as Su-25KM.

However in August of 2008 these weren't used against Russian tanks and APC's that entered Georgian territory after pushing them back from South Ossetia where they had attacked, it would have been perfect for the Su-25 to have been deployed, however before that they were used in Georgia's preemptive attack on South Ossetia performing bombing runs, Russia have claimed to have downed three Georgian Su-25's while admitting the Georgians had downed one of theirs, however the circumstances behind this are still unclear.

The development of the Su-25KM with Georgian and Israeli cooperation is an interesting scenario especially in regard with having NATO compatibility, this may be seen in the future with old Soviet aircraft left over behind in former Soviet satellite states that join NATO and may be modernized and used against Russia in the future, especially if somewhere like present days Georgia joined!

* Another throwaway article I guess!

the military encirclement of Russia.

= pro Western, American troop bases and new members of NATO.

= Iran and Russia.


A whole year has pasted since Georgian forces indiscriminately attacked Russian citizens in South Ossetia leading to a large rapid Russian response which saw men and tanks enter the field in a fairly conventional war, after a short enough exchange Russian forces pulled back after giving the Georgians a sound beating, however this was met by a lot of hypocrisy by the Americans at the time, and later saw an increase of US military presence in several ex USSR countries, many of which are joining NATO an organization that is spreading its influence into the Caucasus.

Imagine a scenario where Georgia (under the same leadership) as a NATO state did exactly what it did last August, that could have resulted in a much larger conflict that could have sparked World War III!

Now I know things aren't as bad as they were in the Cold War but that one spark could have ignited one hell of a fire!

The west shouldn't be spreading their influence militarily in that part of the world anyway!

Iran for example is completely surrounded by American forces on both sides of its border, if a war sparks between Iran and the US it will be very bloody, remember Iran is no broken backed country and a preemptive attack and invasion on a country Russia considers to be an ally would have major consequences, best case scenario would be they would simply close off ties with Europe and the United States and instead open up a better front with China.



Even though nuclear talks are underway Russia (rightfully so) would be more trigger happy on the nuclear button since former allies have joined NATO and its neighboring countries are allowing the United States military to set up bases there which shows a gesture of aggression on behalf of the Americans and Europeans.

Last years sneak attack on South Ossetia was directly perpetrated by Georgia, whether or not this attack was allowed or encouraged by the US I don't know but the present Georgian government did arise from a coup in 2004, something the Iranian government claimed to have been a victim of in this summers election protests.

The Russian reaction in that war did show that they are ready and their military is practical, over 4,000 modern T-72 and T-80 tanks in their inventory and several armored vehicles and an air force large enough to defend the sheer size and depth of it's air space.



Western presence in Eastern Europe is acceptable but acting as the aggressors and threatening to launch preemptive wars far from home is just plain wrong, the presence of Western military men and machines in the Caucasus right under Russia's nose is just unacceptable!

Happy Victory Day

Yesterday marked Victory Day in Russia which celebrated the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany on May the 9th 1945.

The very same day that the Europe Union celebrates its unity, isn't that a little coincident that Europe celebrates its victory the same time Europe was blown back the stone age by the British and the Soviets (Nazi occupied Europe that is).

President Medvedev took this opportunity (Russia showing off its military might that is) to hint at Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili not to go on any military adventures, probably hinting at the August War in South Ossetia when Georgian forces begun to slaughter Ossetians.

But the thing is while the west keeps saying its best friends with Russia the truth is that Europe and America still continue to treat Russia as a potential enemy, for instance placing someone pro US like Saakashvili is asking for trouble, and worse still having it join NATO, along with the recent joining of Ukraine.

Former satellite states of the Soviet Union joining NATO that continue to encircle Russia, why does NATO still even have to exist?

Plus Russia has a much better right to celebrate since on this day was when they came out victorious after their land was attacked, destroyed and over 20,000,000 of them murdered in cold blood, yet we still cannot assure this won't happen again!

The role of the media in the South Ossetia War

Remember the 8th of August this year when the news clearly stated that Russia was invading Georgia?
Like literally attacking the vulnerable sovereign state of Georgia for no reason, Russia obviously did this because they were bad and for those few days Iraq and Afghanistan weren't comparable and neither logic.

Apparently because of the Olympic games Georgia's brutal attack on South Ossetia went unreported in the main stream media, but when Russia launched its counter attack deep into Georgia, then it was reported about the attack on South Ossetia and that it was the Georgian president who had lied, but that Russia had taken the incident to invade Georgia like they had always wanted to since 1991.

But that's the problem, it's obviously clear that the Russians simply moved in, cleaned up the hostile areas (since Russia citizens in South Ossetia were under attack), bolstered their defences in South Ossetia and then pulled out of Georgia, yet it's called an international crisis for what Russia did in the counter attack, and suddenly South Ossetia is recognized as an independent state.

I mean serious c'mon!