>I wish you were correct but you're not. We don't have a bunch of secret agencies out of control as you put it and I don't know what you base that on. Yes, we have Guantanamo (Gitmo as you put it), which is a bad solution to a bad situation. And I don't see us running around wantonly killing and torturing folks.

When your agencies are running rendition program, kidnapping people arround the world, I call this 'waaay out of control'
You might not want to see it as kidnapping and torturing and call it instead 'security measures to protect US citizens'
but it does not make it any less bad. What is published is scarry enought and leads to this conclusion, now imaggine what is not
published ? You don't expect to watch CIA heads chating with Lary King on rendition program do you ?

'and ... After the break we will discuss CIA involvement in Latin America and Africa ...
Do we promote mobsters into power and keep them there ...and why... Stay with us!' {g}
... Thanks for watchin show..
Next week on Lary King Live we will talk about ...

I have few more good 'topics' for Lary King, but Is this line of TV shows ever going to happen ?
Think about it, before you talk about countries like Russia.

>
>The world may want a "peaceful social gathering" as you put it, but, unfortunately, some countries don't. There are countries that welcome the election of Obama because they think it weakens our resolve.
>
>Srdjan, it boils down to this: In 1991 when Russia needed us we immediately gave them $200 million in aid. We continued aid in subsequent years...but....in the past several years Russia has rolled back democratic reforms and has actively persecuted any opposition to Putin. They tried to assassinate the leader of the Ukraine. They poisoned and killed a foe in Britain. They launched a cyberattack on Estonia and, apparently, continuously attack our sensitive sites.
>
>If anything, Srdjan, we've shown restraint. You can believe all the "we have peace" BS you want but the truth is that Russia, and other nations, are overtly and covertly attacking us.
>
>You can go on and on about how "nice" Russia is and how nice the rest of the world is but the truth, the obvious and undeniable truth, is that these folks are jockeying for power and trying to knock us down.

That is way far fetched.

Russia have their own reality to deal with. Things are not perfect, but my impression is that they deal with their own situation
the best way they can. They had brawl with Brits over British Oil interests, but hey, what makes you think that Brits were innocent on the matter ? I saw 'Hard Talk' show with the guy who killed Litvinenko, but did not see 'Hard Talk' with chief or representative
of MI6. Perhaps that old saying 'What goes arround, comes arround' might apply here.

Conspiracies aside,
On overall Russia (Putin in particular) dealt very well with very dificult system transition, and you have to give him credit for that.
Just the fact that Soviet union did not end up like Balkans shows great maturity of Russian leadership. (and their NSA's)
They had many problems, but finally with Putin, Russia started getting her blood back. Yes they are on their way up. But why is this bothering you ? I believe Putin/Medvedev are leading Russia into becoming modern democracy.
I see more developed and civilised Russia as a good thing for world.
Just because they interveened in Georgia does not make them exactly nazy Germany from 1937.
It talks more about your own foreign policy who supported and possibly incited that ________ in Gergia to cause
Georgia own disaster.

I am not aware of no country atacking US . Did I miss some major event lately ?