Buluva.

This is coolbert:

The Russians are having problems with their new submarine launched ballistic missile [SLBM]. The Bulava. This is the submarine launched version of the land-based mobile ICBM, the Topol.

This is the third failure for the Bulava?

"The Bulava, a submarine version of Moscow's Topol-M, was launched by a North Fleet submarine. This is the third time in a row that the Bulava missile has failed."

Oil revenue is a big plus for the Russian. Allows them to modernize their nuclear capability while maintaining the old.

"The boys at MITT [Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology] are avid fans of Bill Clinton. In 1997, MITT credited the Clinton administration with selling them several IBM and Silicon Graphics super-computers.

MITT officials openly bragged that the new Topol-M 550 kiloton H-bomb warhead was designed using the American super-computers."

[read the link about MITT. That is the sort of stuff that would have been, during the Soviet era, classified as TOP SECRET. The CIA would have had to employed secret agents to get the type of information as shown on that link!!!]

"Oil for Nukes"

"The second bit of good news for the Russian missile forces is the price of oil. Higher oil prices have allowed Moscow to spend more on keeping nuclear warheads in service. Russia was to retire a large number of multiple warhead missiles in order to save money, replacing them with the single warhead version of the Topol-M."

"However, higher oil prices and petroleum profits have allowed Moscow to improve its nuclear sword. Russian defense sources indicate that the next round of Topol-M purchases will include 3 warheads on each missile. The new budget allows Moscow to keep at least 2,000 warheads in service after 2012."

Russia will be a big player on the world's weaponry stage for some time to come. A lot will be for export. The Russian has very good design bureaus for weapons development. Creates some innovative stuff.

As a threat to the U.S. as it was during the Cold War. This I do not see!

coolbert.