American and British soldiers invited to march on Red Square

[Volk]

U.S., British Soldiers May March on Red Square, Kommersant Says - Bloomberg.com

U.S. and British soldiers may march on Red Square to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany 65 years ago, Kommersant reported, citing unidentified diplomats.

Russia has invited the U.S., Britain and France to participate in the annual May 9 parade before the Kremlin walls, the Moscow-based newspaper said. The four countries were allies in World War II.

France has already agreed to send 70 soldiers to the parade

Well, I'm interested. The May 9th parades have gotten better, with them recontinuing the show of different army, nuclear forces, and air force technology since 2008, which had stopped in '91, iirc. Allied troops will be a plus, and I'm sure irrational nationalists here will be discontented with it, the reasonable people, and all the Soviet veterans in the parade, will be pleased.

What do you think? Would any of you be unhappy about your participation?


Rocket-launching trucks, which were famously used by the USSR in WW2 (the ones in WW2 were called "Katyusha" (Katy). Many of the trucks to mount the weapon on were provided by lend-lease.



Soldiers saluting- if I know the uniforms correctly then these are the VDV, or paratroopers, who are regarded here as you regard your marines.


American and Soviet soldiers meeting somewhere around the end of WWII.

[ping]

Sounds like a good idea.

[GT7]

No, we shouldn't send our soldiers to our enemy's country unless it is to spy on them or attack them.

If we are friends again, they will help us build a nuclear shield that will stop our nuclear weapons as well as theirs or anyone else's.

[Volk]

No, we shouldn't send our soldiers to our enemy's country unless it is to spy on them or attack them.

If we are friends again, they will help us build a nuclear shield that will stop our nuclear weapons as well as theirs or anyone else's.

We're not really 'enemies' any more, I wouldn't say so, we have conflicting interests in some areas. Being 'friends' doesn't mean being perfectly in line with American foreign policy (that said, we're not friends, either).

But the point isn't about today's political situation, it's celebrating joint allied victory.

[ping]

No, we shouldn't send our soldiers to our enemy's country unless it is to spy on them or attack them.

If we are friends again, they will help us build a nuclear shield that will stop our nuclear weapons as well as theirs or anyone else's.

We're not really enemies anymore.

[Susanna]

We're not really enemies anymore.

We're not exactly friends, either - just cautious "acquaintances."

[Drummond]

Perhaps in some ways we're 'friends' and in other ways, enemies .. ??

Volk, why would Russia care about what countries in its former orbit wanted to join NATO (you'll recall we have debated this before !). This suggests considerable rivalry !

[Volk]

Perhaps in some ways we're 'friends' and in other ways, enemies .. ??

Volk, why would Russia care about what countries in its former orbit wanted to join NATO (you'll recall we have debated this before !). This suggests considerable rivalry !

Conflict over spheres of interest, and yes the West does have them and competes for them, just as all great powers do (which I'd say is right now mostly the US and allies vs. Russia vs. China)

Also, don't be thinking that the populace of these countries are all wanting to join NATO and the west. The Ukraine is having a presidential election right now, and the most pro-Russian candidate is leading 10% (they're going to have a 'run-off'.), whereas pro-Western Yushchenko who took power in the 'orange revolution' failed miserably as president, has a single digit approval rating and votes for him in this election are in the single digits. The parliament of Crimea, a Ukrainian region where the Russian black sea fleet is based on a lease, declared their peninsula a 'NATO-free territory' and their populace barricaded American marines in their barracks when they came for military exercises.


Anyway, what about the original question?

[Susanna]

"Spheres of interest" or "spheres of influence"?

[Volk]

"Spheres of interest" or "spheres of influence"?

Influence. Sorry.