Posted on 10/15/2016 8:53:53 AM PDT by Lorianne
an interview with the Bild newspaper on Oct. 8, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is known for his cautious rhetoric, described the present international situation in the following woeful terms: “unfortunately it is an illusion to believe this is the old Cold War. The new times are different; they are more dangerous. Previously, the world was divided, but Moscow and Washington knew each other’s red lines and respected them. In a world with many regional conflicts and dwindling influence of the great powers, the world becomes more unpredictable.”
For these reasons, said Steinmeier, “The USA and Russia must continue talking with each other.” He concluded his appeal with fairly balanced recommendations to resolve the humanitarian crisis in east Aleppo, urging both Russia and the other powers to apply their influence with their clients on the ground.
Sad to say, this call to reason fell on deaf ears. On the same day, a U.S. State Department spokesman explained to journalists Washington’s decision over the weekend to end the joint peace process with Moscow, saying that there was “nothing left to talk about with the Russians.”
Meanwhile, the Russian side took as the last straw this unilateral and trumpeted decision of the Americans to bury the deal signed on Sept. 9 between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that had taken 14 hours to negotiate and was seen as a triumph of cooperation versus confrontation.
De facto, from the Russian view, that deal was sabotaged on Sept. 17 by the Pentagon when U.S. and coalition aircraft bombed a Syrian government military outpost at Deir Ezzor killing more than 60 Syrian soldiers. And de facto, the Russians had suspended the implementation of the ceasefire on Sept. 23 when they renewed heavy bombing of east Aleppo in close collaboration with the Syrian air force and ground units. Now that the U.S. had formalized the end of cooperation over Syria, Russia set out its own full-blooded response which it called a “radical change in relations” between the two countries.
Several of the components of the Russian response of Oct. 3 and over the week to follow were noted in the U.S. and Western mainstream media. We heard about the decision to cancel the bilateral convention concluded with the U.S. in 2000 on reprocessing excess weapons-grade plutonium for electricity generation. This was widely considered to be of marginal importance, since the U.S. had been unable to implement its part of the bargain for lack of appropriate conversion installations and costs of upwards of $18 billion if it did what was necessary.
We heard about Russia holding civil defense exercises to provide for 40 million citizens, though no one could make much sense of it. We heard about the announcement of the Russian Ministry of Defense that it now has brought to Syria and made operational its most advanced air defense missile systems, the S300 and S400, but Pentagon spokesmen professed to be dumbfounded and asked rhetorically what was the purpose of the move.
Finally, we all heard this week that Russia has officially deployed its hypersonic, potentially nuclear-tipped, 500 kilometer-range Iskander ground-to-ground missiles in its Kaliningrad enclave on the Baltic Sea sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania. The Polish military officials immediately expressed dismay, feeling under threat and said they were putting all their defense facilities on alert. But Pentagon spokesmen said there was no reason to view this deployment as different from the last deployment in Kaliningrad two years ago, which was just a training exercise.
“This past week relations between the USA and Russia went through a sharp but expected turn. To bend over backwards further in the face of [American] lies has lost all sense and is simply harmful. By bending over backwards we mean looking for diplomatic compromises.
“We held endless expectations that the USA will finally separate the non-terrorists from the terrorists [in Syria]. We waited more than a year for this. But it is clear they did not want to. They are taking us and the whole world for fools. America is working on the side of Al Nusra [Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate], providing them with diplomatic cover; providing them with additional arms; helping them by their supposedly mistaken bombing of a Syrian army position.
...
For his part, Donald Trump came out marginally better on the issue of what to do about east Aleppo. He said that, as he understands, it’s lost already. That appraisal is much closer to reality.
The end result of the official silence in the U.S. about Russia’s message of defiance and about its military wherewithal in place in Syria to defend what it construes as its national interest is that as a nation the U.S. is flying blind.
SNIP
When you have a kenyan "Community Organizer" and J F'ing Kerry running the show, this is what you get.
But hey, there were free 0bamaphones and 0bamacare!
Obama’s legacy will be a failed healthcare plan, a worsened economy, worsened race relations, and now WW3.
Only Hillary could be worse.
And that - flying blind - is the best case scenario... this horror might be intentional.
Why is it that everyone on the planet - at least the ones who saw “Wargames” - understands that a nuclear war with Russia is UN-winnable, except the stupid @$$ liberals.
The brilliant turd in the White Hut, and the “smartest woman in the world” obviously never saw the movie.
Both of them have worried about a Trump with his “finger on the button”, as they play “Pac Man” with Putin.
Well, Putin, he don’t play dat!
A war, with thousands of Americans possibly killed, is not going to result in a Hillary presidency. It’s going to result in things like anarchy, friendly fire, and chaos.
The russkies are not the least bit afraid of Obama...he’s a laughing stock to them (and most of us). I’ve been wondering if Putin might attack us before a strong leader like Trump takes over, and he may just get his chance now.
Once again, islam starts another conflict.
Our foreign policy for the last eight years has been dominated by anti-Americans whose “foreign policy” has consisted of distancing friends and enabling enemies. And that policy is bearing the expected fruit.
I pray that Trump is elected, and that he works to undo the great damage that has been done.
I recently returned from six weeks in Asia. In South Korea, I saw photos of President Bush (43) who was trying to bring the two Koreas back together. In Mongolia, the national museum has a photo of Bush during a state visit. It seems significant that these countries display photos of Bush but not Obama in public places.
Our foreign policy for the last eight years has been dominated by anti-Americans whose “foreign policy” has consisted of distancing friends and enabling enemies. And that policy is bearing the expected fruit.
I pray that Trump is elected, and that he works to undo the great damage that has been done.
I recently returned from six weeks in Asia. In South Korea, I saw photos of President Bush (43) who was trying to bring the two Koreas back together. In Mongolia, the national museum has a photo of Bush during a state visit. It seems significant that these countries display photos of Bush but not Obama in public places.
It’s simple. Hillary and Obama think that the threat of war will propel her to the White House and keep them both out of the BIG house. This is treason.
The military knows all this crap and may very well say no.
America isn’t paying attention. I for one would rather talk about pu$$y. More fun.
What a danged mess. There is an easy solution, arm Israel maybe the Kurds to the teeth and stay out of it. Not our war and nothing can be done. Syria is a sovereign nation and we have zero right being there but that doesn’t seem to stop the dummies. Soetero/Ketchup boy and the clintoonista sure love their wars.
I agree. Treason.
See my other post on Clinton ties to Uranium One.
Perhaps, because Crooked Hillary is loosing? Or, too much info released from Wikileaks?
In 1958 author Pat Frank wrote “Alas Babylon” about a nuclear war between the U.S. & USSR which was triggered by an incident in Syria. Prophetic?
Came close to one in 1967 when the Soviets were trying to save Nasser’s Egyptian army from total rout by sending in MiGs with a U.S. carrier nearby.
Meanwhile, nothing makes sense in the news anymore. Watch Weird Al’s 1986 gem “Christmas at Ground Zero”. Might as well get a chuckle at the impending thermonuclear holocaust.
I see the Obama plain this way:
1) Blame the Trump surge on leaks provided by the Russians
2) Start a cyber war in response
3) Use this as an excuse to shut down the conservative sites the last two weeks before the election.
And it just might work - but once started, no one is in control of the consequences.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a Russian lawmaker known to be a staunch and close friend of Putin, said that Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington
He said Americans should vote for Donald Trump as president next month or risk being dragged into a nuclear war. If they vote for Hillary, there will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere.
That thought had crossed my mind. Rattle America's sabers to make it look like an "experienced, steady hand" is needed in these difficult times.
The problem with any war scenario I can foresee is that America is broke, and wars are very expensive. No one in their right mind would loan us the money to fight against Russia. I don't see it happening, but then again, knowledge of economics has never been Democrats' strong suit.
The US lost almost 100,000 KIA in WW-III. It was not cold.
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