Rumsfeld briefs Russians on troop redeployments

[Nambe]

WASHINGTON (AP)

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld briefed his Russian counterpart over the weekend on U.S. plans to shift its forces stationed around the globe, in some cases potentially bringing them closer to Russia's borders.

Rumsfeld and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov met over a two-day period in St. Petersburg on a variety of security issues, including U.S. plans to reorient its forces away from its Cold War alignment and toward one aimed at fighting Islamic terrorist groups. ..

.. While there is no chance American troops would be based on Russian soil, Rumsfeld said "they have an interest" in the matter, presumably because some of the countries the United States is negotiating with are former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact states.

"The Russians feel more and more that we are in their backyard. We feel like, well, we need to be there," said Eugene Rumer, an expert on the former Soviet Union at the National Defense University. ..

Georgia: Ivanov acknowledged concerns about the U.S. relationship with the government of Georgia. The American military has provided training for a Georgian counterterrorism force to fight Islamic extremists in the country, with which Russia has a growing border conflict. ..

Ride Don’t Drive * * It’s Global Cool

[Tight_rope]

1. I've been wondering where the hell is Rummy boy!

I see he's been up to no good.

I don't know about this troop moving crap...MAN...this is starting to get scarier and scarier...."ARMAGEDDON HERE WE COME"!

Two things to keep in mind!

1."The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them." -Albert Einstein...such a wise man

2."Man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life." - JFK....another great wise man.

[Massacure]

2. Another thing Einstein said:

I know not what World War III will be fought with, but World War IV will surely be fought with sticks and stones.

[Tight_rope]

3. "Sticks and Stones"...lol...thanks!

[Rose Siding]

4. No mention of State being involved

Is that unusual?

He doesn't sound as "robust" (haha) about the plan on the way home. Can it be that Rumsfeld of the velvet hammer was less than ahem...diplomatic?

[Kool Kitty]

5. "...Rumsfeld briefed his Russian counterpart..."

Unless they dug up Ivan the Terrible, I don't think that Rummy has a Russian counterpart.

[lovuian]

6. Now Bush is looking at Russia

get those troops closer and closer .....Russia is feeling the squeeze alright