selling s-400s to saudi arabia is far more disturbing than selling them to iran.

i'm actually usually cautiously supportive of russian geo-political strategies, as they are designed to create balances of power that make conflict less likely. putin is purposefully trying to create a permanent stalemate, and that's a far better idea than the neo-con push for global hegemony. america used to do this, itself - the american term was 'mutually assured destruction'. peace is of course preferable, but in the absence of it due to the war economy, i would love to see america get back to this. as it is, the world should be thankful that vladimir putin exists to present a counter-balance to the war criminals in the pentagon. if it weren't for putin, america would be bombing in a dozen places on top of the dozen places it's already bombing.

this is taking the situation a step further, as the saudis are the most dangerous regime in the region and the one that the world should be ensuring can be toppled, if necessary. if america ever gets a sane government, one of the first things that is going to happen is an attempt to modernize the saudi state. i might even go so far as arguing that the democratization and secularization of saudi arabia is the single most important pre-requisite to a lasting peace in the region.

putin will take the money, but what this move is designed to do is give the saudis a little bit of independence from american military dominance - these systems can take down just about anything that doesn't use stealth technology, and while the american military has the technology to overwhelm them, it doesn't have the hardware on hand to do it. it's an effective deterrence. and, that's a problem.

there's an upside to it, which is that if the saudis can accept russian supremacy then they might stop funding isis. maybe putin's got his eyes on something longer term, and maybe he's balanced this out. but, i'm uncomfortable with this, and that's rare, coming from them.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/putin-opens-talks-saudi-king-kremlin-50297785

jagnmeet singh must cut his beard.