tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2171175265245997391.post2154725793227794008..comments2024-03-02T23:32:19.314+13:00Comments on Seemorerocks: China Joins Russian Alliance With Assad?seemorerockshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09638172074263860001noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2171175265245997391.post-12406784281265663212016-10-15T10:00:58.036+13:002016-10-15T10:00:58.036+13:00More notable than the intensity of the warnings ha...More notable than the intensity of the warnings has been how Russian government ministries have joined in the alarms in recent weeks. Since September, Russia has conducted a nationwide civil defense drill, purportedly involving 40 million people, preparing them for catastrophes -- among them nuclear fallout. Russia’s military announced who would run the country in the event of war and ran an exercise simulating that in the south. The governor of St. Petersburg clarified what bread rations people could expect should Russia come under attack (300 grams for 20 days). <br />Even more bluntly, Russia announced this week it was moving nuclear-capable ballistic missiles into its Northern European enclave, Kaliningrad, putting them within striking distance of Western capitals. <br />Such moves have further raised the temperature with the West, already exceptionally high since the U.S. publicly accused Moscow of trying to interfere in its presidential elections and efforts by the two countries to reach a cease-fire deal terrorists in Syria, collapsed amid mutual recrimination and the renewal of ferocious airstrikes by Russian jets on the besieged city of Aleppo. The last time Russian television appeared so belligerent and nuclear conflict was so hotly discussed on it, was in 2014 as the Ukraine crisis erupted; but this fresh crisis builds on that tension and multiplies it, given the accusations that Moscow is targeting the U.S. now directly, and with both countries embroiled in a proxy war in Syria. Austinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10533479232571514166noreply@blogger.com