Posted on 08/20/2008 8:25:40 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
What lies behind Moscow's willingness to crush Georgia with overwhelming force? Analysts have highlighted Russia's newfound economic confidence, its determination to undo its humiliation of the 1990s, and its grievances over Kosovo, U.S. missile-defense plans involving Poland and the Czech Republic, and the eastward expansion of NATO.
But there may be another major, overlooked element: Has a shift in the nuclear balance between the U.S. and Russia helped embolden the bear?
Under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which went into force in 1994, both the U.S. and the USSR made radical cuts in their strategic nuclear arsenals -- that is, in weapons of intercontinental range. The 2002 Moscow Treaty pushed the numbers down even further, until each side's strategic nuclear umbrella was pocket-size.
Yet matters are very different at the tactical, or short-range, level. Here, the U.S., acting unilaterally and with virtually no fanfare, sharply cut back its stockpile of nonstrategic nuclear warheads. As far back as 1991, the U.S. began to retire all of its nuclear warheads for short-range ballistic missiles, artillery and antisubmarine warfare. According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, not one of these weapons exists today. The same authoritative publication estimates that the number of tactical warheads in the U.S. arsenal has dwindled from thousands to approximately 500.
Russia has also reduced the size of its tactical nuclear arsenal, but starting from much higher levels and at a slower pace, leaving it with an estimated 5,000 such devices -- 10 times the number of tactical weapons held by the U.S. Such a disparity would be one thing if we were contending with a stable, postcommunist regime moving in the direction of democracy and integration with the West. That was the Russia we anticipated when we began our nuclear build-down.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
We need to elect Hussein so he can negotiate our surrender.
ping
The French would be proud.
Scary article
They see us a weak and wavering. The Russians are counting on the general public here in the US to scream “NO!” when it comes down to a real fight. They’ll use the ‘Rats and the MSM to tell Americans that it isn’t worth losing any US interests over Gdansk or Krakow.
if this is true, then we are literally the stupidest country ever to grace the earth with its presence. in other words, i doubt we are that outmatched.
I hope standing up for the lunitic who runs Georgia is all worth it. Future analysts may point to this time and wonder what the USA was thinking.
Barak Hussein Obama has vowed to scrap the unproven missile defense program, in order to use the saved money for social welfare.
If it is so unproven, Mr. Obama, Why has Russia threatened to attack Poland if they install it?
And if the disparity in actual nuclear weapons is a threat, what, besides wishful thinking and a grandiose offer to talk do you plan to do about that, Barry, Barak, Hussein, or whatever your real name is?
Tactical nukes...something to be used only after strategic nukes are on the table.
Until then, a non-issue.
And they’ll find a way to blame it Bush so that the Obamanation gets elected in November. Russia wants us to sit back, while they overrun Poland.
I hope that if/when Russia invades Poland that the EU and the US would come together to defend our ally....and I hope it’s a better performance than how we handled/are handling Georgia.
I hope standing up for the lunitic who runs Georgia is all worth it. Future analysts may point to this time and wonder what the USA was thinking.
He may be a lunatic, but he’s OUR lunatic.
Europe’s being a puss and showing that NATO wears dentures has emboldened the bear.
This isn't about Georgia. If you believe it is, you are remarkably dense.
Future analysts will say: Мы похоронили Западной appeasers
Problem is, it's not just Georgia.
It's the Ukraine, Poland, Crimea, etc.
Russia will keep going if she gets away with Georgia.
Georgia and South Ossetia are proxy stand-ins for us and Russia. Why were the bombs dropped saying “For Bush” and “For USA”?
We can absorb a Russian first strike, then wipe them out. Of course, it’s better if we hit Russia with our first strike.
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