Friend or foe? The great Russian debate

The sending of Russian bombers to test-fire missiles in the Bay of Biscay yesterday comes as a debate rages in Russia about how the country should regain its national pride.

Argumenty I Fakty, the respected weekly newspaper read by 3m Russians, asked last week whether Russia should, in effect, become a 'second America' and attempt to return to its former Soviet greatness by arming itself as though it were still a superpower? If so, this would mean flexing military might at every available opportunity.

Or should Mother Russia accept that she cannot hope to equal or beat America and that perhaps social and commercial development ­ - not brute force - ­ are the solution?

In Argumenty I Fakty, Alexander Dugin (right), director of Russia's Centre of Geopolitics, argued that Russia must crush

her enemies and do whatever is necessary to become a military adversary to America. "Looking at our territory, resources and history, Russia is never going to become a quiet, 'vegetarian' country," he wrote. "Russia must become America's equal. The alternative is simple: either we become our own masters ­ or our fate will be in someone else's hands."

If the US can invade Iraq and get away with it, he added, Russia should not be afraid to protect her own interests ­ as in Georgia, for example. "In order for America not to beat Russia we will need to be as cruel and aggressive as the Americans." Russia, he believes, is not far off becoming a great European empire.

In reply, the liberal Nikolai Zlobin, US-based director of the Institute of World Peace, argued that Russia is making dangerous allies by siding with Iran, Syria and North Korea at the moment - and that the US and Europe should not be Russia's enemies but her business partners.

"There is nothing worse in politics than