Replies

(Just my opinions)

“I think we missed a great opportunity to work closely with the Russians last year when that school was taken over.” You say.

Well, we offered help when the Kursk sank. Fact is, they don’t trust us and there is national pride at play here too. Besides, this is a national internal issue where we could have provided little help. Given a group of determined terrorist who are willing to blow themselves up you are hard pressed to stop once their plan is rolling like at Beslan. Could we really have done anything different? Probably not.

“With Russian troops working on things in their territory, we could network together.” You say

As in WWII we are allies in that we are trying to slay the same pig here, Islamic radicals. However, as in WWII our end state and methods of operating are very different. Chechnya is a good example. They are not interested in a sovereign Chechnya. They will still be in Chechnya when we have long left Georgia. Why? While we are both fighting Islamists, there end state is to stop Chechnya from breaking away. Russia still thinks in terms of “Spheres of influence” and is by definition a hegemon.

“It's my perception that Russia sometimes sees us flitting around the globe and gets antzy.” You say

The Warsaw pact is gone. NATO is expanding in Eastern Europe. Lithuania, Rep. of Georgia and many other former parts of the USSR want nothing to do with Russia. Russia failed in Afghanistan, we are winning and it took us weeks to roll over that place. Our success in Iraq is UNPRECIDENTED. Our success in the Rep. of Georgia is a sore in the eye for the Russians when you look at neighboring Chechnya where the Russians are still having a hard time. US troops are all along the boarder of Russia and are in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Rep. of Georgia, and other places. They lost the Cold War. They are economically smaller and militarily weaker. What’s the point? They don’t trust us and they would like to see us fall off our horse. Russia thinks like an empire. But it can’t be one since it economically can’t afford it. We are number one, and that simple fact bothers most others, even our close allies, since everyone wants to be the number one. It’s kindergarten psychology that is at work here at a national level. Furthermore, there is some fear. They know what our capabilities are, and it scares them.

“I realize that there are still misgivings on both sides, but it should be our goal to alleviate them.” You say

Not necessarily. Not if it means that we have to derail our efforts in desired “end states” and “methods” of operating. Think of it this way, would Russia EVER have wanted us to go into Iraq? No. Why? They were profiting from the Oil For Food program and were doing oil business there. They were exporting like mad to Iraq and Saddam for them was not such a bad deal. It was the US that was paying for the Northern and Southern Watch. It was our troops stationed in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for 11 years, getting blown up in attacks, separated from families and it was the US tax payer flipping the bill for it all. It was US SF teams that died in Northern Iraq supporting the Kurds. It was primarily US ships enforcing the embargo imposed on Iraq. Could the US and Russia have ever seen eye to eye on Iraq? No. For them our invasion into Iraq is an expansion of our power. It’s a loss of major business for them. We were simply never going to agree on this issue. Our goals and methods of operating are different. Sometimes our interests collide and we simply can not always be a happy team that works together. Could we get away with leveling whole cities as was done with Groznyy or others in Chechnya? No. How we do things is a bit different. They impose a media blockade in Chechnya to this day. Could we do that in Iraq? No. When they were in Afghanistan they used gas and dropped explosive laden toys (Toe poppers- a cripple is no threat). Could we do that? No. Again, we are different, with different goals, ways of thinking, social structures, methods of operating etc and while we are slaughtering the same pig today, we are not friends and how well we work together is also limited somewhat by “how” we operate.

“I don't think we should have troops in those areas unless we were asked to sind a small task force to help train or learn with/from our Russian counterparts. “ You say

The Global War On Terror is in reality a global war against Islamist radicals. Bush can’t state it in those terms since this would reenergize those who say we are in a war against Muslims. Our center of gravity in the Cold War was in Europe and a few other places. Our center of gravity today is in North Africa, Middle East, the Caucasus and Pakistan. Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan- all deal or have dealt with terror. AQ, Hammas, Hezbollah and and and have there shop set up there. Even the bombers in London, Madrid came from there or were trained there. This is the new center of gravity. It is where we are fighting the GWOT, our new Cold War. Ignoring it, won’t make it go away. It would be like not going for a mammogram because you’re afraid they may find something. The problem will not go away through ignoring it like Clinton did (WTC 1993, Kohbar towers, USS Cole, US embassies…….) As with the Communist threat years ago, we have a real threat out there that must be dealt with. We need to be in those places.

Red6