Russia back in Afghanistan

[Rusty Shackleford]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article857110.ece


Russian and U.S. special forces have carried out their first joint anti-narcotics operation in Afghanistan that marked the first time Russian security personnel set foot in that country in more than 20 years.
In a joint raid on four heroin laboratories near the border with Pakistan, Russian and U.S. forces seized $250-million worth of narcotics, Russia's anti-narcotics agency chief Viktor Ivanov told a press conference in Moscow on Friday. Damage inflicted on Afghan drug mafia amounted to $1 billion.
Russia provided intelligence information about the laboratories and 70 Russian officers helped prepare the operation. Mr. Ivanov said four Russian officers took part in the raid itself to smash the drug ring. He suggested that Moscow may send additional drug control officers to Afghanistan and train Afghan anti-narcotics personnel.
The operation marked Russia's return to Afghanistan for the first time since the Russian Army pulled out from the country in 1989 after a 10-year war. So far Moscow has consistently rejected sending its troops to Afghanistan, limiting assistance to supply of helicopters and provision of transport corridors.
“This is graphic evidence of an ongoing reset in Russian-American relations, and there is potential to do much more,” said the Russian drug control chief.



So, could it be that NATO forces are trying to unload their burden onto the Russians?

[Fulanito de Tal]

Something's up. That's all I get from this. Russia's number one enemy is the US.

Also, Russia's not stupid, so this would be interesting to follow.

[Amphictyonis]

Something's up. That's all I get from this. Russia's number one enemy is the US.

Also, Russia's not stupid, so this would be interesting to follow.

Does Russia have McDonald's fast food outlets everywhere (within it's borders)?

[Vampire Lobster]

Something's up. That's all I get from this. Russia's number one enemy is the US.

Also, Russia's not stupid, so this would be interesting to follow.

Russia's number one enemy is the US? You're approximately twenty years late there, bro. Russia might not be the best pal of America around, but political, radicalized Islam is at the moment pretty much the #1 threat to both of them. Americans are not the ones that could potentially break up the Federation apart if things went wrong, Islamist surgency in the Russian south border could actually cause this. It's where their true enemies lie at the moment, Americans are just fuckbuddies you perhaps like to jab at in public but the benefits you get from being on their good side are just too sweet to ignore. This is not 1982 and pretty much all the cool kids are now throwing high fives at each other and giving out nipple-twists to those who try to do stuff without their approval. As we speak, global capitalism is fading away the obsolete concept of countries being strictly divided to foes and allies.

[Os Cangaceiros]

all the cool kids are now throwing high fives at each other and giving out nipple-twists to those who try to do stuff without their approval.

You should seriously be a foreign policy analyst. :lol:

[~Spectre]

Good thing the U.S. helped liberate Afghanistan from the Russians, so that now the Russians can help us liberate Afghanistan from Afghans.

[Fulanito de Tal]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_%E2%80%93_United_States_relations#Russian-Venezuelan_military_cooperation


On November 25, 2008, a Russian naval fleet arrived in Venezuela, a country the United States considers to be part of its sphere of influence. Russian war ships- including "Peter the Great", which is equipped with missiles- arrived in the port of La Guaira to conduct joint naval exercises with the Venezuelan navy. The incident is seen by many as an echo of the Cuban Missile Crisis of the Cold War Era, and has heightened tensions between Russia and the United States. While Russia maintains that the exercises are nothing more than a method of strengthening ties with Venezuela, the United States believes that the placing of Russian war ships into the American sphere of influence is blatant provocation and a direct retaliation for both the American missile plan in Eastern Europe and interference with the Russia-Georgia situation of August 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_%E2%80%93_United_States_relations#Russian_i ntelligence_operations


According the 2007 reports referring to American counterintelligence sources, Russian espionage under Vladimir Putin had reached Cold War levels.


Lately, things between the two have been more relaxed, but I don't consider two years of not opposing each other to be buddies.

I'm saying that something strange is happening because they're working well together considering their recent past. That would have been hard to foresee. So, it will be interesting how this turns out in in the near future.

[The Vegan Marxist]

Good thing the U.S. helped liberate Afghanistan from the Russians, so that now the Russians can help us liberate Afghanistan from Afghans.

I hope that was a joke.

[Psy]

Russia's number one enemy is the US? You're approximately twenty years late there, bro. Russia might not be the best pal of America around, but political, radicalized Islam is at the moment pretty much the #1 threat to both of them. Americans are not the ones that could potentially break up the Federation apart if things went wrong, Islamist surgency in the Russian south border could actually cause this. It's where their true enemies lie at the moment, Americans are just fuckbuddies you perhaps like to jab at in public but the benefits you get from being on their good side are just too sweet to ignore. This is not 1982 and pretty much all the cool kids are now throwing high fives at each other and giving out nipple-twists to those who try to do stuff without their approval. As we speak, global capitalism is fading away the obsolete concept of countries being strictly divided to foes and allies.
The Russian military still considered NATO the greatest threat to Russian security, the Georgian incident has reinforced this in minds of Russian military leadership.

The Russian military does care about Islamic insurgents, they care about American imperialists are in Russia's backyard and how its messes with Russian imperialism.

[Vampire Lobster]

The Russian military still considered NATO the greatest threat to Russian security, the Georgian incident has reinforced this in minds of Russian military leadership.

The Russian military does care about Islamic insurgents, they care about American imperialists are in Russia's backyard and how its messes with Russian imperialism.

Surely, considering how close NATO is to Russia and what kind of firepower NATO wields they have to be considered a major threat, but my post was in response to the guy who said Russia is USA's number one enemy at the moment. Right now, any kind of USA-Russia conflict would seem very unlikely, the countries actually do cooperate a lot, have plenty of shared interests especially in Middle East and despite all the occasional bickering in public the countries are hardly hostile to each other anymore. Even though things get tense once in a while, I'd consider the term 'enemy' to be quite an exaggeration, even though in future NATO could potentially be a major pain in their ass and even end their imperialist ambitions for good if they wanted to.

That's not now, however, whereas Islamists are not only attacking against the Russian state abroad but within its borders. Not to mention the fact that Russians would probably love to get their hands deeper into Afghani drug business. So again, they would be be pretty stupid if they didn't cooperate with NATO there. Being buddies with Americans helps Russia right now and nobody is actually pretending the 'friendship' is somehow true and pure. Both probably would love to get rid of the other, but this arrangement just happens to work right now, under current circumstances. This doesn't, by any means, mean they aren't threats to each other.

[A Proletarian Manifesto]

Well seeing as how the Bush 6 made Russia and the CIA take the fall for the whole WMD deal in Iraq, I could see how they would be kinda pissed. We basically made Putin bend over and say it was his countries fault.

[Psy]

Surely, considering how close NATO is to Russia and what kind of firepower NATO wields they have to be considered a major threat, but my post was in response to the guy who said Russia is USA's number one enemy at the moment. Right now, any kind of USA-Russia conflict would seem very unlikely, the countries actually do cooperate a lot, have plenty of shared interests especially in Middle East and despite all the occasional bickering in public the countries are hardly hostile to each other anymore. Even though things get tense once in a while, I'd consider the term 'enemy' to be quite an exaggeration, even though in future NATO could potentially be a major pain in their ass and even end their imperialist ambitions for good if they wanted to.

The Georgian conflict has shown that Russian imperialism and US imperialism are still at odds at each other. But more importantly it showed the Russian military planners that NATO is afraid of them as NATO countries ran to Russia to negotiate deals causing NATO to not be able to do anything on the matter as its own members were making side deals with Russia over Georgia.

It also showed US imperialism is over stretched as Russian forces crossed over to Georgia that was protected by US soldiers and the US did nothing as it couldn't do anything it has no reserve forces it could call on to counter the Russian forces in Georgia.



That's not now, however, whereas Islamists are not only attacking against the Russian state abroad but within its borders. Not to mention the fact that Russians would probably love to get their hands deeper into Afghani drug business. So again, they would be be pretty stupid if they didn't cooperate with NATO there.

Being buddies with Americans helps Russia right now and nobody is actually pretending the 'friendship' is somehow true and pure. Both probably would love to get rid of the other, but this arrangement just happens to work right now, under current circumstances. This doesn't, by any means, mean they aren't threats to each other.
On the other hand letting NATO's forces get whittled away in Afghanistan does work to Russia's advantage from the eyes of the Russian military. Also I doubt the Russian military wants to go back to Afghanistan especially when NATO is doing worse then the USSR and when leaked documents point to the US military leadership thinking Afghanistan is hopeless.

Remember so far Russia has only offered logical and intelligence help no actual forces.

[~Spectre]

I hope that was a joke.

Yes it was a joke. Was it actually hard to tell?

[Fulanito de Tal]

This is all just really strange. :unsure:

[Rusty Shackleford]

Im guessing the way it is, first the SU was there to help the PDPA and the Afghan Revolution, but now, after the overthrow of the SU, Russian imperialism is developing and sees old ground with new eyes.

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

It could have something to do with the fact that Russia is being flooded by cheap heroin grown in Afghanistan, since the focus of joint operations seems to be on narcotics.

[The Vegan Marxist]

It could have something to do with the fact that Russia is being flooded by cheap heroin grown in Afghanistan, since the focus of joint operations seems to be on narcotics.

...among other advantageous reasons.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Actually, there is an AIDS epidemic in Siberia brought on by heavy heroin use starting in the mid to late 90s.

[Tifosi]

...among other advantageous reasons.

"In recent years Russia has not just become massively hooked on Afghan opiates, it has also become the world's absolute leader in the opiate trade and the number one heroin consumer," - Victor Ivanov, head of Russia's anti-narcotics service back in 2009

Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7935527.stm)

Also, here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8600847.stm) is another article from 2010, saying that up to 30,000 Russians will die this year due to Herion.