Military rot spreads to Russia's nuclear forces

Moscow's latest bid to flaunt its military might backfired
dramatically when three failed ballistic missile tests revealed that
even Russia's final line of defense -- a fearsome nuclear arsenal -- was
not immune from the rot eroding the post-Soviet military.

Russia this week staged its biggest war games in 20 years aimed
primarily at demonstrating that its powerful nuclear force could
penetrate a missile defense shield being built by the United States.

Their launch only a month before Vladimir Putin's expected re-election
on March 14 were also due help the president's tough guy image that has
played so well among voters traumatized by Russia's loss of
international prestige.

But little went according to plan in the Arctic waters this week.

Putin went out to sea in a nuclear submarine Tuesday to witness two
failed launches of missiles that could theoretically deliver a nuclear
strike on the United States. A third missile veered off course and
self-destructed the next day.

"Our fictitious enemy won" the war games, the popular Gazeta.ru Internet
site scoffed.

"The navy's defense shield of Russia blew up over the Barents Sea," the
centrist Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily agreed. "The naval exercises ended in
complete failure."

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