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Commander of US Army in Europe Sees Russia Mobilizing for War
Wall Street Journal ^ | February 09, 2015 | Sohrab Ahmari

Posted on 02/15/2015 6:22:35 PM PST by presidio9

click here to read article


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To: TADSLOS

21 posted on 02/15/2015 6:48:50 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: ansel12
Believe me, Romney did not think of that, his handlers did.

I thought of it as well, as I'm sure you did. The point wasn't that Romney said something profound.

22 posted on 02/15/2015 6:51:18 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: ansel12; KC_Lion; Darksheare; al baby
Europe doesn't have much will to stand up against Muslims or Russians. It sounds like the UK is thinking of dumping submarines for F-35's...

and Germany.... Germany has decided to buy these:

The Russians must be shaking in their jackboots. With laughter.

23 posted on 02/15/2015 6:51:56 PM PST by GeronL
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To: presidio9

Meanwhile, Obunghole is golfing and taking selfies.


24 posted on 02/15/2015 6:52:33 PM PST by beethovenfan (If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
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To: GeronL

Is that like a Prius hybrid tank?


25 posted on 02/15/2015 6:53:49 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves Month")
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

It’s called a Weasel, made by Wiesel... I wonder if it runs on Diesel??


26 posted on 02/15/2015 6:55:18 PM PST by GeronL
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To: ansel12
Russia is no match for NATO.

The bad news is that NATO would most likely disband over war with Russia. The good news is that the US and the UK would honor the commitment they made. FWIW, I believe France would as well.

27 posted on 02/15/2015 6:55:19 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: ansel12

“Russia is no match for NATO.”

Actually, they are. Without a major U.S. Army presence...NATO is weak. Without a future U.S. Army/military presence....NATO will become seriously outgunned by a resurgent “USSR.” Russia has been rebuilding their military for years, and making real progress.


28 posted on 02/15/2015 6:55:25 PM PST by Sola Veritas (Trying to speak truth - not always with the best grammar or spelling)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

There is a stretched ambulance version too. They added a road wheel to the back or something.


29 posted on 02/15/2015 6:56:16 PM PST by GeronL
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

I think it comes with a selfie-stick!


30 posted on 02/15/2015 6:57:37 PM PST by GeronL
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To: GeronL
Actually, due to its advanced fire control system many weapons analysts consider the German Leopard 2-A7 the top main battle tank in the world today -ahead of the Abrams.
31 posted on 02/15/2015 7:01:15 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: presidio9

It probably is, but that paint job has to go. Might as well paint it plaid.


32 posted on 02/15/2015 7:02:58 PM PST by GeronL
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To: ansel12; GeronL

Correct. Italy alone could put Putin’s Black Sea Fleet on the bottom, in fairly short order. Now, if Russia continues to build, and parts of NATO (like Italy) go to sleep, the situation is a bit more problematic.

This is part of why I suspect the West is using Ukraine as cannon fodder in a long drawn out conflict. That gives the West reason to maintain sanctions, and at the same time bleed Russia’s military and willpower. This also creates huge problems for Russia in terms of equipment, as Russia’s and Ukraine’s defense industries were still highly integrated, or entangled, if you like, until Putin made his move on Eastern Ukraine. Even if Putin eventually acquires those Ukrainian defense industries, they may be largely destroyed... This may be why he (Putin) compromised as much as he did in the latest cease fire agreement. A slow destruction of Ukraine doesn’t do him any favors.

Granted, that last is just my assessment...


33 posted on 02/15/2015 7:05:18 PM PST by Paul R.
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To: Sola Veritas

Actually they are not, and why remove the United States from NATO to try and make the point?

Russia’s rebuilding has helped them in a few elite units that suffice for things like invading Ukraine, but their main military is incredibly weak.

The Navy is weak, the air is weak, and the Army still depends mostly on poorly trained, poorly equipped, 1 year draftees, and the structure and equipment is not geared for attack on a massive scale and sustained attack with long supply lines.

Some think that the Army may actually be more like 250,000 men, this is not the massive 6.4 million pointed spear of the old 1980s Russian military, that was designed around 7 Airborne divisions, great numbers of Airmobile and bridge building units and the swift overrunning of Europe.

“According to the International Institute of Strategic Studies’ “Military Balance” publication — a widely-used and well-respected unclassified compendium of information about the world’s armed forces — in 1989, just before the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union deployed a total of 64 divisions in what was then known as its “Western Theater of Military Operations.” These are the Russian forces that would have been hurled at NATO in an attack on Western Europe. They would have been reinforced by another 700,000 troops from the USSR’s three frontline Warsaw Pact allies, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. In all, more than 100 divisions would have been available for a drive into West Germany and beyond. The six countries committed to defending NATO’s front lines — West Germany, the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands — meanwhile deployed only 21 or so divisions in Germany. While NATO divisions were generally somewhat larger than their Warsaw Pact counterparts and reinforcement would have been forthcoming from the United States, the disparity along the East-West frontier was nonetheless huge.

Consider the situation today. East Germany no longer exists, while Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and every one of Russia’s other erstwhile Warsaw Pact partners are now members of NATO. So are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which in 1989 were parts of the Soviet Union itself. In 1989, the Red Army had almost a half-million troops and 27 maneuver divisions (plus enormous quantities of artillery and other units) on the territory of its three main allies. Today, it has a total of seven divisions in its entire Western Military District, all of which are based on its own territory. Indeed, the entire Russian army today boasts about 25 divisions, fewer than it had forward deployed in its Eastern European allies during the waning days of the Cold War.

Today, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany alone field more divisions than Russia has in its Western Military District. These countries are backstopped by the rest of NATO, including, of course, the United States. And this raw count doesn’t take into account the general deterioration of Russian forces since 1991, a quarter-century that saw little equipment modernization. By the late 1980s, NATO already enjoyed a significant qualitative advantage over the Warsaw Pact, and that edge has only increased since then.”


34 posted on 02/15/2015 7:06:53 PM PST by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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To: Paul R.

The west is not using Ukraine, they are ignoring it. Ukraine’s military, like its economy, has been looted for many years under the Russian puppet governments


35 posted on 02/15/2015 7:07:38 PM PST by GeronL
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To: GeronL

I dunno, AT missile system plus mounted machine gun, highly mobile, small enough to be usable in the European forests, shoot&scoot capable, cheap, I can see raising a lot of hell against an attacking force with a bunch of those


36 posted on 02/15/2015 7:08:33 PM PST by AbnSarge
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To: Steely Tom

Ezekiel did several thousand years ago


37 posted on 02/15/2015 7:10:40 PM PST by Mom MD
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To: AbnSarge

Could be true but I doubt they would be used for front-line combat.


38 posted on 02/15/2015 7:12:08 PM PST by GeronL
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To: GeronL

Why mock that weapon for paratroopers and use in the proper environments?


39 posted on 02/15/2015 7:15:16 PM PST by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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To: presidio9

We make it through almost 50 years of cold war, win it, and in five short years Obama’s got it cocked-up worse than ever.


40 posted on 02/15/2015 7:16:32 PM PST by keat
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