Can the United States Stop a War With Russia?

New York Observer ^ | August 4, 2015 | Jack Hanick

[Navy Patriot]

America is heading for war with Russia. Some call the current situation “an increase of hostility” or “Cold War II.” There are two sides to this story. I believe that American journalists from all political persuasions are not offering critical analysis. Understanding the Russian side and taking their arguments seriously can help prevent serious consequences.

Americans believe that Russians are fed propaganda by the state-controlled media. If Russians only could hear the truth, the thinking goes, they would welcome the US position. This is not so. There are more than 300 TV stations available in Moscow. Only 6 are state-controlled. The truth is that Russians prefer hearing the news from the state rather than the Internet or other sources. This is different from almost any other country. It is not North Korea where the news is censored. Each night during the Crimea crisis, anyone could watch CNN or the BBC bash Russia.

[Navy Patriot]

An Interesting report on the TV media coverage in Russia that ya don't get from the lamestream media.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

The writer thinks that Putin is just a Russian nationalist. Bullshit. He was and always will be KGB and the idea of reestablishing the Soviet Empire, slowly, by the old nibbling tactic, is his approach.

He has invaded both Georgia and the Ukraine (and don’t tell me he hasn’t. I’ve seen the photos and messages of and from Soviet troops, as well as their weapons.)

He is probing Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where there are sizeable Russian transplants from the Soviet Union.

His agents kill dissidents overseas as well as right on the streets of Moscow.

Putin knows that he is “opposed” by a cowardly, Marxist-lite Pres. Obama and he is going to take every advantage of this weakness while he can.

It is the 1930’s all over again, if you stop and recognize the signs.

[ozzymandus]

This writer doesn’t seem to know that Putin is a dictator who wouldn’t give a damn about public opinion even if there were a free press in Russia, which there isn’t.

[Smokin' Joe]

You could replace Putin with Obama and Russia with America, and you'd be close to correct.

Stalin enjoyed such latitude when Adolf came to power, too.

[rawcatslyentist]

America is heading for war with Russia

Is? Is? isis? Hussein overthrew 2 sovereign nations to funnel WAR against Syria and Russia!

Isis is just alCIAduh re-branded! Another shadow govt operation that has been installing puppet regimes and leaders locally and worldwide for the past 5 decades at least.

[dila813]

says “new york observer”, but it is the “observer”

sounds like one of the sponsored story plants that has been reported.

[Navy Patriot]

The writer thinks that Putin is just a Russian nationalist. Bullshit. He was and always will be KGB and the idea of reestablishing the Soviet Empire, slowly, by the old nibbling tactic, is his approach.

What Putin may or may not be, is not the point.

The Russian people have a wide variety of media coverage to select from and only a small amount of it is state controlled.

They have selected media that is pro Russian, and formed their opinion of the West from those sources, and they overwhelmingly dismiss Western Media.

Russians view Obama and the US government as cowardly, lying degenerates attacking Russian culture and values. I would point out that many Americans (probably including you) would agree that the Obama DemoRat Regime are, in fact, cowardly, lying degenerates attacking American culture and values.

Be aware that Russians do not believe that there is much difference between the Obama Regime US government, and the American people in general, after all they elected Obama, ...twice.

This is the operative factor for understanding where Putin gets his power, and why he is not likely to lose it very quickly.

The same American MSM that has convinced Obama voters that Americans are Fascist, racist, bigoted, homosexual degenerates, also convinced the Russians, as well.

Russians don't see Putin as a problem, they see America as the problem, and the American left, by turning Western media into liberal Socialist degenerate propaganda, has assured that Russians will not be convinced otherwise.

[clearcarbon]

"Can the United States Stop a War With Russia?"

War's unlikely with a preemptive-surrender-barry at the helm.

[Navy Patriot]

This writer doesn’t seem to know that Putin is a dictator who wouldn’t give a damn about public opinion even if there were a free press in Russia, which there isn’t.

Yep, the writer built a non-government funded news channel with editorial views consistent with the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia, but he would no nothing about how Putin manages the Russian Federation, Putin's considerable public relations exploits, or the whopping amount of on air media available to Russians.

[Empire View]

Bringing Hitler into this impedes serious discussion of the issues involved.

[Chad_the_Impaler]

Don’t get me wrong: I love Russia. It’s the Russian people I can’t stand.

[nathanbedford]

I agree with your analysis of Obama but I would like to suggest that there is another aspect to his character which we ought to consider. This is a post I wrote in 2011:

We all understand that the danger of war with Russia increases because of Obama's pusillanimous foreign policy. It is not a new idea to understand that Obama invites aggression by his lack of clarity. But we must also understand that the danger of war is increased by Obama himself. We must not believe that Obama will always be passive because his nature is to acquiesce to every affront. Nothing could be further from the truth. Obama is a radical, a Marxist, therefore he does not measure threats according to the same standard that all other presidents have used.

Obama will react with whatever it takes to defend and prosper his ideology. He will not necessarily react to threats which threaten his nation.One need only review the wars conducted by communists to understand that they are not pacifists but extremely bloodthirsty in the pursuit of the advancement of their ideology. More than 100 million have died of their hands. It is a commonplace to believe that the left abhors war, they do not, they exploit the brutality of war when it advances or defends capitalism but they indulge in the murder of a whole generations, classes, or races to advance their ideology. This is the mental matrix of Barack Obama.

Added to this new matrix inside Obama's head according to which America's power is applied, we have the extraneous but very dangerous reality that Obama himself is a narcissist. He associates his own well-being with the advancement of his radical anti-American, Marxist, anti-colonialist, pro-Islamicist ideology. In other words, to Obama the advancement of global justice as he defines it is synonymous with the maintenance of his own image. A threat to his image will lead to a violent reaction. We have already seen the lawlessness of this administration, for example the lawlessness of the IRS, in the election cycle for 2012 when Obama's personal advancement was at stake.

Under these circumstances it is impossible for actors on the international stage to know what will generate a violent reaction from Obama. The danger is that they will simply calculate that they can safely push and push without fear of reprisal. That is not true. They dare not push against Obama personally or against his ideology.

The problem is that it is extremely difficult to understand exactly what it is that motivates Obama. Too often we hear establishment Republicans criticize Obama for lack of experience on the job. This is a disservice to the nation. Beginning with a feckless campaign of John McCain in which they muzzled Sarah Palin and continuing right on through with the campaign and Mitch McConnell, the Republicans have consciously passed up every opportunity to explain to the American people what sort of man, actually what sort of communist, Barack Obama actually is. In their defense one might say they were intimidated by his race, but that is hardly an excuse for politicians who seek our money, our support, our shoe leather, and our votes to act on our behalf but fail us at the ramparts.

So for a leader such as Vladimir Putin to proceed simplistically assuming that he knows his man is a very, very dangerous assumption and possibly a miscalculation which could lead to war.

[piasa]

ISIS was born of Zarqawi’s group and al Dhouri’s Iraqi intel followers... al Dhouri and his intel personnel had quite a cozy relationship with Russian intel in their time... which is why Primakov [see the KGB and Communist Party] spent so much time there.
Primakov was a supporter of Slobodan Milosovic as was Saddam Hussein.

[TwelveOfTwenty]

Some call the current situation “an increase of hostility” or “Cold War II.”

How about Hillary's reset button. She reset relations all right, back to the 70s.

[GBA]

Russians don't see Putin as a problem, they see America as the problem, and the American left, by turning Western media into liberal Socialist degenerate propaganda, has assured that Russians will not be convinced otherwise.

And in that, we all have a common enemy and perhaps more here will wake up to that truth. Adding to your post whatever is going on in Ukraine, as the writer says:

"Imagine if Canada suddenly aligned itself with Russia or China. The US would surely see that as a threat on its border and act decisively."

Not sure what we'd do now, but the old US would have taken that as a threat.

On the other hand, the old US would have taken the new US as a threat, too.

A house divided against itself...

[Mister Da]

What can Russia possibly gain by warring with the USA? Alaska?

Putin wants territory. Conquering the US, even one state, would be a costly long distance war likely to fail. Holding such territory would be harder. Even the cowardly Obama would be forced to vigorously defend our territory or risk immediate impeachment.

A much easier war for Putin, I believe, would be with Europe. The rewards are virtually the same & the land is contiguous to Russia. If the US is weak, then Europe is far weaker militarily. With Obama, there is no guarantee he would honor NATO commitments & join in another European war.

There is a third possible option for Putin if he really wants a war with the US: A war alliance with China. Putin would attack Europe, & China would attack Japan, SK, & Taiwan. That would force the US into a 2 front, long distance war. But unlike WWII, satellite & missile tech will make US troop & supplies convoys to Europe & Japan easy targets.

[lodi90]

This New York Observer rag has a history of publishing Putinist dung. Take it with a grain of salt because there is an agenda behind it.

[lodi90]

The Russian people have a wide variety of media coverage to select from and only a small amount of it is state controlled.

---

Nonsense. The entire Russian media is state controlled.

[ozzymandus]

This whole article is just Russian propaganda. This isn’t the New York Observer, it’s some Russian propaganda site. It even links to other propaganda articles.

[ozzymandus]

Quoting from a propaganda article just proves how naïve you are.