BANG! POW! SPLAT! Putin visits GRU headquarters

Get your Cold War pants back on. This could get interesting. (And yes, the GRU is using the "Batman" logo in their emblem.)

From RFE/RL: "President Vladimir Putinvisited the new headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate(GRU) of the Armed Forces General Staff in Moscow on November 8, news.ru reported. The daily "Nezavisimaya gazeta" noted ironicallythe following day that the event was "shrouded in...secrecy...in thebest traditions of the intelligence department." Putin suggested to GRU staff that the United States poses a threat to Russia, sayingthat "the practice by a number of states of taking unilateralillegitimate action seriously undermines [international] stability."He added that "this also goes for their attempts to push their positions unceremoniously, fully ignoring the lawful interests ofother partners." Lest there be any doubts as to which country he hadin mind, he noted that "a number of states are striving to free their hands so they can deploy weapons in space, including the nuclearweapon." He told GRU department heads that "it is important to definecorrectly the development of the military-political situation, tofollow in detail trends of technological, economic competition." Forhis part, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov praised the new GRUheadquarters as using the most up-to-date equipment in a way that isunique in Russia." Thanks ERN

You know, for a moment there, I thought Putin was speaking about Russia's "attempts to push their positions unceremoniously, fully ignoring the lawful interests of other partners" on Georgia. My mistake. PBD