Monday 22 September 2008

Bell Ringing 600 Years Later

The guided missile cruiser Peter the Great, a Kirov-class warship, one of the largest of its kind, equipped with cruise missiles that can be armed with nuclear warheads, accompanied by the Admiral Chabanenko, an anti-submarine destroyer, and two support vessels, has left the northern port of Serveromosrk on Russia's Arctic coast to take part in exercises off Venezuela.

Although Russian navy chiefs insist that the exercises have no political overtones, it might be thought that the Kremlin is responding to Washington's encouragement of Georgia during last month's skirmishes in the Caucasus. Vladimir Putin had said that Moscow would respond after American naval vessels entered Georgian ports.

Pier Capponi summed it up in 1494:

voi suonate le vostre trombe?
e noi suoniamo le nostre campane.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"If you sound your trumpet we will ring our bells". Would that it would end there. Quite pacific really.

Cheers, David

hatfield girl said...

If a choice is to be forced upon me as to where I would feel lay my cultural roots, historic links and economic interest, David, then I will answer the ringing of the bells. But then Florence is very real both now and as a symbol of civilisation. The 20th century was a war-ridden disgrace for Europe. Russia offers trade and cultural links, and turns a reasonably amiable face towards us. I do not want that minority still bitterly fighting dead wars to turn off a relationship that should be nurtured to both our and Russia's advantage.