Tanks and nuclear missile launchers rumbled through Moscow's Red Square yesterday for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, as Russia put on a display of power for its annual Victory Day parade. President Dmitri Medvedev, its new commander-in-chief, issued a warning against efforts to change international borders, saying that "irresponsible ambitions" risked war across whole continents. In an apparent swipe at the West over support for an independent Kosovo, Mr Medvedev said that Russia objected to attempts to "interfere in other states' affairs, not to mention attempts to revise borders". With his mentor Vladimir Putin, the new Prime Minister, standing behind him, Mr Medvedev went on: "We cannot tolerate disrespect for international law - the law that has been hard won by the entire international community, without which no safe life and fair world order is possible." May 9 is a public holiday in Russia marking the anniversary of the 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany after a war that killed 26 million people in the Soviet Union. Mr Putin's parents survived the 900-day siege of Leningrad, but an elder brother did not.
Tanks and nuclear missile launchers rumbled through Moscow's Red Square yesterday for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, as Russia put on a display of power for its annual Victory Day parade.
President Dmitri Medvedev, its new commander-in-chief, issued a warning against efforts to change international borders, saying that "irresponsible ambitions" risked war across whole continents. In an apparent swipe at the West over support for an independent Kosovo, Mr Medvedev said that Russia objected to attempts to "interfere in other states' affairs, not to mention attempts to revise borders".
With his mentor Vladimir Putin, the new Prime Minister, standing behind him, Mr Medvedev went on: "We cannot tolerate disrespect for international law - the law that has been hard won by the entire international community, without which no safe life and fair world order is possible."
May 9 is a public holiday in Russia marking the anniversary of the 1945 defeat of Nazi Germany after a war that killed 26 million people in the Soviet Union. Mr Putin's parents survived the 900-day siege of Leningrad, but an elder brother did not.
Mr Medvedev went on: "We cannot tolerate disrespect for international law - the law that has been hard won by the entire international community, without which no safe life and fair world order is possible."
Now that's pretty rabid anti-Western rhetoric.
This WILL be seen as anti-Western, showing how twisted our policies have become.They can now be summed up by this: "we're the good guys" In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Western defence specialists pronounce themselves unimpressed by Russia's displays - described by one as "willy-waving". They snidely point out most hardware dates from the Brezhnev era; the conscript army is also mired in scandals over bullying of recruits. "If they wish to get out their old equipment and take it for a spin, they're more than welcome to do so," a Pentagon spokesman said this week when asked whether the Bush administration considered Russia a threat
