NUCLEAR WAR ON BABYLON NEWS ARTICLES

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America's starring role as superpower may close to bad reviews

Charley Reese, Orlando Sentinel

The Russians are talking to India and China about a new strategic alliance--the three of them to offset the United States. Got to admit that would be a formidable alliance--three nuclear powers with 2 billion of the world's 6 billion people and a huge chunk of its natural resources.
It may not be easy to put together, but at least it shows that the Russian leaders are thinking about more than the stock market, the anatomy of interns and the latest public-opinion polls.
One should always keep in mind that just because America's politicians may, at some point, be shallow-minded fools, it doesn't mean that the rest of the world's leaders are.
It's true that the Soviet Union and China had their problems, but there is no Soviet Union any more, and the new relationship between Russia and China appears to be friendly. Russia and India have long been on a friendly basis. But even if the State Department doesn't believe that old saying, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," it's true.
What Russia, India and China all have in common, besides nuclear weapons, is that they don't like the idea of American hegemony, especially the way the United States has been acting--bullying and bombing small countries, expanding military alliances, lecturing everyone on their internal affairs and going its own way.
As one Russian military intelligence official put it, "The U.S. has become unpredictable." And the future has become more so. I strongly suspect America's starring role as the world's only superpower will close soon to bad reviews.
While American politicians boasted about the alleged success of bombing Iraq, the Russian military intelligence noted that a half-billion dollars worth of missiles killed 67 soldiers, blew up some empty buildings and even wandered off into Iran. Apparently, under the Clinton administration, even the smart bombs have been dumbed down.
Alas, we are now a sort of Mr. Magoo of nations, blundering around in the world. Because of our size, that makes a lot of foreign nations mighty nervous.

Russia's Putin courts Europe

MOSCOW (AP) - With Russia's relationship with the U.S. souring, President Vladimir Putin is trying to edge closer to the European Union and use its growing international clout to offset Washington. Boris Yeltsin, Putin's predecessor, made much of his backslapping, first-name "Bill and Boris" relationship with President Clinton - which paid off in U.S.-supported loans and other aid. But ties with the U.S. have frayed in recent years over issues such as the U.S.-led bombing of Yugoslavia and U.S. allegations of Russian government corruption. Now Putin is likely to focus on strengthening ties with the EU and pay less attention to the U.S., analysts say.