Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog: Putin announces new first-strike nuclear missiles. Complains West isn’t listening to his threats.

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In menacing speech, Putin announces new first-strike nuclear missiles. Complains West isn’t listening to his threats. “Listen now,” he warns. “I’m not bluffing.” Here’s the latest. by joelcrosenberg (Nashville, Tennessee) --  Vladimir Putin is making headlines around the world today by announcing that Russia has developed new first-strike nuclear missiles and state-of-the-art, hypersonic underwater torpedoes that make NATO defenses "completely useless." In an angry, menacing State of the Union address, the Russian President complained no one has been listening to his threats and promises of nuclear superiority over the West.  "Listen now," he warned, adding: "I'm not bluffing." Tomorrow morning, I will deliver an address here at the National Religious Broadcasters convention on the grave and growing threat posed by Putin to the U.S., our allies, as well as to Christians throughout the Russian Federation. The speech comes as we prepare to release my new political thriller, The Kremlin Conspiracy, on March 6th.  Here are a few advance excerpts from my speech: The Kremlin speech precisely underscores yet again why I believe Russia under Vladimir Putin is far more dangerous than Radical Islam.  Putin is a nuclear-armed mafia boss. But he’s not Sonny Corleone. He’s Michael. He’s not a rash, impulsive gangster. He’s a cold-blooded, methodical, calculating killer, and he has seven thousand nuclear warheads and the ICBMs to deliver them. Most Americans – including most officials in Washington – are focused on the threats posed by North Korea, Iran, ISIS and al Qaeda. But as serious as those threats are, we need to understand afresh just how grave a threat Putin poses to the U.S. and our NATO and Middle Eastern allies. He has just threatened us with a new first-strike nuclear weapon that he claims cannot be intercepted. Any leader who does not take seriously countering the Putin threat does so at his peril.   EXCERPTS FROM CNN COVERAGE OF PRESIDENT PUTIN'S SPEECH: "NATO DEFENSES ARE COMPLETELY USELESS" Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted Thursday of new weaponry that will render NATO defenses "completely useless" -- and delivered a warning to the world about Russia's resurgent military might. In an annual address to the Russian parliament, the Kremlin leader said Russia had developed a new, nuclear-capable cruise missile with "unlimited" range that is capable of eluding air-defense systems. He also said Russia had developed an "invincible" missile that can deliver a warhead at hypersonic speed. "Russia still has the greatest nuclear potential in the world, but nobody listened to us," he said. "Listen now." "We are creating state-of-the-art systems for Russia's strategic weapons." Putin said Russia is creating a weapon capable of flying "like a meteorite" at several times the speed of sound. "It will be practically invulnerable. The speed will be hypersonic." "We've never had an intention of attacking anybody," EXCERPTS FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS: "YOU HAVE FAILED TO CONTAIN RUSSIA" "I want to tell all those who have fueled the arms race over the last 15 years, sought to win unilateral advantages over Russia, introduced unlawful sanctions aimed to contain our country's development: all what you wanted to impede with your policies have already happened," he said. "You have failed to contain Russia." The Russian leader said the high-speed underwater drone also has an "intercontinental" range and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that could target both aircraft carriers and coastal facilities. He said its "very big" operational depth and a speed that is at least 10 times higher than any other vessel would make it immune to enemy intercept. The Russian leader said that another new weapon called Avangard is an intercontinental hypersonic missile that would fly to targets at a speed 20 times the speed of sound and strike "like a meteorite, like a fireball." Putin said that the weapon is capable of performing sharp maneuvers on its way to targets, making it "absolutely invulnerable for any missile defense system." "We will interpret any use of nuclear weapons against Russia and its allies no matter how powerful they are, of low, medium or any other yield, as a nuclear attack," he said. "It will trigger an immediate answer with all the consequences stemming from it. No one should have any doubts about it." "We aren't threatening anyone, we aren't going to attack anyone, we aren't going to take anything from anyone," he said. "The growing Russian military power will guarantee global peace."  EXCERPTS FROM CNBC COVERAGE: "I AM NOT BLUFFING" "I'm not bluffing," he said, adding that Russia was ready to defend herself. "I hope all these things I have said will sober up any potential aggressor and any unfriendly steps taken towards Russia like deploying missile defense systems and expanding NATO towards our borders. Militarily, this is no longer effective and financially, this is no longer viable and eventually, this is just nonsensical for the people who do this." "Russia's growing military power is just a guarantee of peace on our planet," he insisted, and it would preserve the balance of powers in the world. "Those who have been creating new arms races over the last 15 years, imposing unlawful sanctions on Russia to hold our country back, I would like to say, 'All the things you were trying to hold back have already happened, you were unable to hold Russia back.'"