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> were Russia really "almost too small to matter", it would have already been bombed by the US Russia isn't very important in terms of its economy. Its GDP is

> were Russia really "almost too small to matter", it would have already been bombed by the US Russia isn't very important in terms of its economy. Its GDP is ninth in the world[1], just behind Brazil and just ahead of Italy. Most of its GDP is from natural resources. If they didn't have oil and gas nobody would give a fuck about them. Except for the elephant in the room. NUCLEAR WEAPONS. They have a very formidable arsenal. IMO that's the biggest reason that Ukraine isn't already part of NATO and why the West doesn't already have combat troops in Ukraine. Well, at least if Bush were President. I think Obama's foreign policy is a little bit more nuanced than Bush's was. Vlad has recently [2] reminded us of his nuclear weapons. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nom... [2] http://news.yahoo.com/putin-says-russia-ready-respond-aggression-123956691.html http://news.yahoo.com/putin-says-russia-ready-respond-aggres...

TeMPOraL 12y ago
You are right, of course. The big part of why they matter is their nuclear arsenal and fossil fuels (which, what some people in my country happily forget, is what we use to warm ourselves in the winter; but I guess it's excusable, we have summer now after all, and who ever thinks six months ahead...). I'm not claiming that they're not doing evil things, just that they're not the only ones, and if one starts arguing for possibility of them being so evil as to sabotage a civilian space missions, one would do well to consider other actors to which exactly the same arguments could apply.