More Than Half of Russians Want the Soviet Union Resurrected

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addresses a rally at the Manezhnaya Square just outside the Kremlin in Moscow. (DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Some 25 years after the Soviet Union’s collapse, the majority of Russians say they regret that it happened. An April 19 Interfax report discussed the statistics, which were derived from a Levada Center survey (Trumpet translation throughout):

More than half of Russians believe that the Soviet Union’s collapse could have been avoided (51 percent) and regret that it happened (56 percent) .… The majority of respondents (58 percent) said they would welcome the revival of the Soviet Union and the socialist system, while 44 percent said that currently it is unrealistic. At the same time, one in three (31 percent) said they would not want to rebuild the old Soviet socialist system.

Ukraine bans Soviet-era symbols

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday enacted laws banning Soviet symbols and communist-era propaganda, his office said, after the measures drew strong Russian criticism when they were approved by parliament last month.

The measures come as Ukraine’s pro-Western government seeks a complete break with its Soviet past and as its soldiers fight rebels in its east allegedly supported by Russia.

The laws “prohibit Soviet symbols, condemn the communist regime, open the Soviet special services archives” and officially recognise the role of a nationalist group that fought for Ukraine’s independence in the mid-20th century.

Admiral Warns that Risk of Nuclear Conflict Is Growing

Any nuclear conflict against the United States will be likely one-sided, as the Obama administration is making sure the only country in the world to reduce nuclear weapons according to his ‘Global Zero’ plan, is only the United States.

America has had all the warnings in the world but has willingly closed its eyes and covered its ears while developing the illusion that total disarmament would be a demonstration of moral strength, while failing to realize that its enemies don’t think like America.

 

Stratcom: Large-scale Russian strategic nuclear buildup has been underway for over a decade

Russia is engaged in a large-scale buildup of strategic nuclear forces that has been underway for a decade, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command (Stratcom) told Congress on Wednesday.

“Russia has maintained and continues to modernize their strategic deterrent capability,” Adm. Cecil Haney, the Stratcom commander told the House Armed Services Committee.

Inside the Ring: Russia to test new missile

Russia will test launch a controversial missile over the next several weeks that U.S. officials say is raising new concerns about Moscow’s growing strategic nuclear arsenal and Russia’s potential violations of arms treaties.

The RS-26 missile is expected to be deployed with multiple supersonic, maneuvering warheads designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses in Europe, U.S. officials told Inside the Ring.

…

“The Russians are advertising this as a system capable of defeating U.S. missile defenses in Europe,” the aide said. “At the same time, the State Department is accepting Russia’s claim that this is an ICBM and doesn’t violate INF. It can’t be both.”

Inside the Ring: Russia boosts Cuba ties

The Russian military recently dispatched a guided-missile warship to Cuba as part of what U.S. officials say are growing military, intelligence and economic ties between Moscow and Havana.

The missile cruiser is the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, according to state-run Russian news reports.

Russia flexes its military muscles in Siberia

Russia has started its biggest military exercises since the Soviet era, involving 160,000 troops and about 5,000 tanks across Siberia and the far eastern region in a massive show of strength.

Dozens of Russia’s Pacific Fleet ships and 130 combat aircraft also took part in the exercise, which continue throughout this week. President Vladimir Putin yesterday watched some of the drills on Sakhalin Island in the Pacific, where thousands of troops were ferried and airlifted from the mainland.