What is the general consensus.

Never underestimate your enemy.

probably bigger now than ever before in history

Never with them, I believe they still are very much a threat.

Not as big of a threat as BHO.  FBHO.

At least my training in defeating Russian Armor and infantry tactics will come in handy....

If we go to war with them at least our enemy doesn't have women wearing black sheets over their heads so...they're not as much of a threat to my boner.

... vote Republican if you're really concerned

He would be the reason they are such a threat

Regional superpower + nukes = PITA.

Thousands of megatons of nuclear warheads aimed at our targets, a strong but unstable military, and a bear riding ex-KGB president-dictator running the circus?

Nukes are like lawyers.  Everybody has one but as soon as somebody uses one everything gets fucked up.  Lot of countries have the ability to end the earth.  Lets just hope nobody is that stupid.  

yes, never underestimate the NWO.  if Russia had let the US roll through Syria, the Ukraine would not have been initiated by NATO.

That situation bears considerable watching.

NIL

It seems (at least to me) that not a lot is being said about them,

I believe they are a real threat and Putan is not one to be underestimated.

FPNI.

Meh.  Wouldn't end the earth.  

Kill millions of people, sure.  Destroy a ton of infrastructure that would take a generation or more to rebuild, sure.

Only a fool believes that the Cold War has ended...

Threat to do what, exactly??

I'm putin the risk level at elevated.

Depends on the price of oil.

 If it stays under or at $80/bbl then Russia continues its economic decline due to Putin's top heavy kleptocracy. This makes him far more dangerous than if he had an economy that was doing OK.


 Someone has to get blamed and he's about run out of internal enemies. Nobody knows how rational or irrational he'll be if the ruble stays in freefall
for another year or 2.

I'd rather see them crash before they have a chance to build their military up any more than after.

Hard to argue with what you wrote.

+1

Exactly.  Yes, they have nukes.  But that would be mutually assured destruction.

Obama is a much greater threat because of the destabilizing internal policies such as the new immigration executive order.  

Russia has its own regional problems:  Islamic fundamentalists, China, Europe, etc.  They have their hands full.

I don't know enough about their relationships in the region, but I would be more worried about China.  A war between those two would be perfect.  Except for the fallout.

They seem to be trying to annoy the shit out of everyone again. Almost like a drama queen that's not getting the attention they think they deserve. It dosent apear like there heart is in it though, they aren't the evil empire Reagan dealt with anymore. Maybe like 82% as evil as they used to be.

Did you see what  handful of guys operating with a around a budget of about $250K did to this nation on 9/11?  Is Russia a threat? You bet they are my friend.

Scary shit out there and if the American people really appreciated that you'd see a lot more money spent on defense.

They are the largest threat to to our existence.

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have been under Russian control historically. Now that they are part of NATO, we are obligated to respond if they are invaded. Putin is smart enough to know that this would be unwinnable, but there is a good chance Obama would avoid war with Russia in this situation. I would too; they have a mountain of nukes. In this situation Putin would gain power while embarrassing the US, which might be worth the gamble to him. I hope it isn't.

Not much. The greatest threat from them is if they choose to ally with one of our true enemies in the future. I won't name them, but we all know who they are.

So much so that I am still practicing the duck and cover thing

More so then any time during the Cold War.

Let the ground get really frozen in Ukraine and a coat of snow on western Europe to remind them where the NG comes from to keep them warm from the global warming, and you'll see Russian tanks in the Deniefer Upland. Poland and Hungary will grab a portion to protect people in those adjacent regions that are dual passported.

Tensions are going to be high and Barry Soetoro will have happily spread the US .mil so thin that they'll be ineffective to respond.


FBHO

Soviet Union suffers worst wheat harvest in 55 years... Labor and food riots in Poland. ...

Their economy is in shambles.  They have a demographics problem which is going to hurt them.  

Basically they're not as big a threat to us as Central American "tourists" in my opinion.

From some of the intelligence analysis I've read they have almost zero capability to project any force to mainland US, let alone outside of Eastern Europe. That said they are with watching and how they ally and subterfuge can be dangerous.

I do believe that Russia and China are the two biggest wild cards in the world today.  They share a border of over 2,000 miles and have had serious border disputes.  China has not forgotten land being taken from them by Russia throughout the centuries.  The Chinese have a long memory and hold a grudge.







 

Angry, oppressed, desperate, mean, intelligent, alcoholics with a chip on their shoulder and nukes.

What could possibly go wrong?

Other than launch a bunch of ICBMs, what are they going to do, send a fleet across the Pacific? It's not like the Cold War where we're faced off in Germany and a conventional war is at least possible.

 

the Ukraine would not have been initiated by NATO.

Compared to the Obama administration and the long term damage his judicial appointments and  amnesty for illegals ? Zero threat. Russia is a great distraction, they are a threat to some of their neighbors

Our ass is hanging out ....

http://teapartyeconomist.com/2014/11/13/russian-plane-zaps-u-s-warships-missile-defense-system/#jH4zUSFtA2k3PmWO.99

On 10 April 2014, the USS Donald Cook entered the waters of the Black Sea and on 12 April a Russian Su-24 tactical bomber flew over the vessel triggering an incident that, according to several media reports, completely demoralized its crew, so much so that the Pentagon issued a protest.

The USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) is a 4th generation guided missile destroyer whose key weapons are Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, and capable of carrying nuclear explosives. This ship carries 56 Tomahawk missiles in standard mode, and 96 missiles in attack mode.

The US destroyer is equipped with the most recent Aegis Combat System. It is an integrated naval weapons systems which can link together the missile defense systems of all vessels embedded within the same network, so as to ensure the detection, tracking and destruction of hundreds of targets at the same time. In addition, the USS Donald Cook is equipped with 4 large radars, whose power is comparable to that of several stations. For protection, it carries more than fifty anti-aircraft missiles of various types.

Meanwhile, the Russian Su-24 that buzzed the USS Donald Cook carried neither bombs nor missiles but only a basket mounted under the fuselage, which, according to the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, contained a Russian electronic warfare device called Khibiny.

As the Russian jet approached the US vessel, the electronic device disabled all radars, control circuits, systems, information transmission, etc. on board the US destroyer. In other words, the all-powerful Aegis system, now hooked up — or about to be — with the defense systems installed on NATO’s most modern ships was shut down, as turning off the TV set with the remote control.

The Russian Su-24 then simulated a missile attack against the USS Donald Cook, which was left literally deaf and blind. As if carrying out a training exercise, the Russian aircraft — unarmed — repeated the same maneuver 12 times before flying away.

After that, the 4th generation destroyer immediately set sail towards a port in Romania.

Since that incident, which the Atlanticist media have carefully covered up despite the widespread reactions sparked among defense industry experts, no US ship has ever approached Russian territorial waters again.

According to some specialized media, 27 sailors from the USS Donald Cook requested to be relieved from active service.

Vladimir Balybine — director of the research center on electronic warfare and the evaluation of so-called “visibility reduction” techniques attached to the Russian Air Force Academy — made the following comment: “The more a radio-electronic system is complex, the easier it is to disable it through the use of electronic warfare.”

It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."

If they actually had a weapon like that, they'd be completely retarded to flaunt it like that.

I call bullshit.

it's all Cyber warfare now.

Pretty sure that story was initially "reported" by a pro-russian "news" site.  I remember it from a few months ago and Im pretty sure it got shot down worse than a Russian bomber attacking an Aegis system

 

Complete and utter bullshit.

That cuts both ways, even if the above story isn't propaganda. There's a few of their systems that are worthless if they ever tried to use them.

Putin is hiding under my bed. Im afraid to turn out the light.

So knock him out and grab the delectable chick he has with him and make sexy time. Yeah, it'll turn out she's a honeypot, but just think of the good times you'll have before you wake up with your throat slit.