Posted on 07/25/2014 7:50:52 AM PDT by McGruff
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new use of Russian military force inside Ukraine harkens back to 1939 when Joseph Stalin led a Russian invasion of Poland, and Dempsey predicted Putin was far from finished.
Dempsey was speaking to the Aspen Security Forum and responding to the news that the U.S. government is accusing the Russian military of firing artillery from Russian territory into eastern Ukraine in support of separatists there. The latest development represents a dangerous escalation of the crisis on the part of Putin, and the Russia-Ukraine crisis is now a global problem, he said.
“It does change the situation. You’ve got a Russian government that has made a conscious decision to use its military force inside another sovereign nation to achieve its objectives. It’s the first time since 1939 or so that that’s been the case,” Dempsey said. “They clearly are on a path to assert themselves differently not just in Eastern Europe, but Europe in the main, and towards the United States.”
Since 2008, the Russian military has increased its capability, proficiency, and the level of its activities, indicating Putin’s worldwide ambitions, Dempsey said. The strategy is Putin’s alone, he added, and said much of Russia’s military were probably reluctant participants in Putin’s war.
“This is very clearly Putin, the man himself, with a vision for Europe as he sees it, what he considers to be an effort to redress grievances that we burdened upon Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union and also to appeal to ethnic Russian enclaves across Eastern Europe,” he said. “He’s very aggressive about it, he’s got a playbook he’s been successful with two or three times, and he will continue.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
I would have compared it to Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland.
Obama plays the part of Chamberlain, and there are plenty of Daladier’s to go around.
No. Why?
“You’ve got a Russian government that has made a conscious decision to use its military force inside another sovereign nation to achieve its objectives. It’s the first time since 1939 or so that that’s been the case,” Dempsey said.”
Perhaps Gen. Dempsey has forgotten about the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968. This was done under the guise of Warsaw Pact nations on practice maneuvers inside Czechoslovakia. All the Soviet tanks and artillery began leaving the county at the end of the maneuvers, then stopped on a dime, turned around and took over Prague. Czech president Dubcek’ was removed from office not long afterward.
What is the deal about Putin and nuclear annihilation that some posters fantasize about?
Where did the idea that Putin wants to die as Russia is erased in nuclear fire come from?
John Kerry, yeah I could see him saying these kind of things. But he's a Vietnam War hero you know. And McCain, he'd probably get an election over them.
Why would we be afraid to address this aggression by the enemy?
If the free world doesn’t start dealing with this little Stalin soon, this could eventually turn into a serious threat.
I would compare it more to Russia’s “Winter War” against Finland.
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