Posted on 03/28/2014 1:12:55 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
President Barack Obama is getting anxious that Russian president Vladimir Putin is on the point of invading Ukraine.
“You've seen a range of troops massing along [the Russian/Ukraine] border under the guise of military exercises,” he told CBS News last night. “But these are not what Russia would normally be doing. And, you know, it may simply be an effort to intimidate Ukraine. Or it may be that they've got additional plans.”
So far, the West has deployed its economic and diplomatic might to punish and deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from those “additional plans” -- invading the rest of Ukraine.
Yet the West’s strongest option remains untouched: Military action.
While Russia rolled its forces into Crimea, the West clearly has kept its armies confined to barracks. So far the U.S. and its NATO allies have merely offered Ukraine limited military support and have flexed their military muscles in other ways.
Earlier this month, as the crisis in Ukraine escalated, the U.S. announced training exercises in Poland for F16 fighter planes and C130 transport planes. And generals in NATO headquarters in Brussels are planning for what could come next.
An estimated 30,000 Russian troops are currently positioned near Ukraine’s eastern border. Russia’s defense minister assured his American counterpart last week that the Russian Army will not move further into Ukraine. But Ukrainians – and many observers elsewhere – fear a Russian invasion is possible.
“The force that is at the Ukrainian border now to the east is very, very sizable and very, very ready,” said General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander.
A Russian push further into Ukraine could leave the U.S. and NATO in a tight spot...
A Ukraine-Russia fight would be a rout...
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
5.56mm
We can still do some damage with our ground forces. We have been fighting against irregulars the last few years. Our tanks may be older but still pack a punch. It’s just a matter of getting everything re-directed which would take forever.
I’m sure Putin and his boys are smart enough not to let us build up our forces anywhere close to him.
I'd love to hear that myself. Apparently the author thinks "military option" involves marching a nonexistent NATO force under a Russian land-based air umbrella, magically supplying it from somewhere, all to achieve an unstated objective with a never-ending deadline. What could possibly go wrong?
Is Max Strasser going to gear up and face thr Ruskies?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3130506/posts
Send in the Gay Brigades. They will cause a Pussy Riot and complete out PUTIN. I mean oust.
ACORN WILL STOP EM
Bammy doesn’t really care.
nothing is stopping you from enlisting - and sending your kids to enlist - if you think it’s important that we go to war over Ukraine.
>>nothing is stopping you from enlisting - and sending your kids to enlist - if you think it’s important that we go to war over Ukraine.
I didn’t say that. I said that America is a weak shell of what it once was and we can’t be the world police anymore. A lot of people wanted that for a variety of reasons and now they shouldn’t complain.
My feelings on the Ukraine thing is that Ukraine was part of Russia up until the last century. Most of the citizens are ethnic Russians. Let Russia have it. It’s not our business.
“But military strategists reject those options as profoundly unlikely.
No matter what Russia does in Ukraine – even in the case of a full-scale invasion – there is little chance NATO, or the U.S. acting independent of the alliance, will engage in a shooting war with Russian troops.”
A major engagement like this would give the Kenyan Usurper even more power. (Think Franklin Dictator Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson.)
Never let a good crisis go to waste....
now they shouldn’t complain.
Who’s complaining? Only people who want us to get involved militarily in a dispute that is of no consequence to us. I can criticize Obama for destroying freedom at home, but I won’t criticize him for being “weak” abroad - if “weakness” means he’s not being stupid by flexing military muscle against the Russians over Crimea. That’s not “weakness,” it’s common sense.
Bammy doesn’t really care.
Neither do I. Why do you care whether the Russians are in or out of Ukraine? What difference does it make to your life?
Who would be stupid enough to join a coalition with us as part of it, even to stop the Russians?
Why is it any of our business whether the Russians are in or out of the Ukraine? At least why would this be something to form a “coalition” over, and face them down with tanks and troops - even if we could? We’d have to borrow money from the Chinese to do it. Don’t we have a big enough defitic as it is, and enough problems at home, so we don’t need to invent “crises” abroad?
“A Ukraine-Russia fight would be a rout”
Which would then turn into a war of attrition which Putey cannot afford to fund. Plus he would get to see his gas pipeline blown up on a daily basis.
>>Who’s complaining? Only people who want us to get involved militarily in a dispute that is of no consequence to us. I can criticize Obama for destroying freedom at home, but I won’t criticize him for being “weak” abroad - if “weakness” means he’s not being stupid by flexing military muscle against the Russians over Crimea. That’s not “weakness,” it’s common sense.
A strong nation doesn’t have to start lobbing missiles at another country every time they disagree. That’s what insecure bullies do. A strong nation has a strong economy, moral people, is an exporter of food and other necessities, and is a role-model to the world—not a cop. Obama didn’t create all of our weaknesses. Its been an ongoing process for 30 years.
The leftist media is wringing their hands non-stop, whining, “what will we do about Putin?” Well, they wanted us weak—not just militarily but in every possible way imaginable. So now we lack the strength (and, I cannot stress this enough, there are more ways to be strong that militarily) to persuade Putin or anyone else to play nice.
The kind of thinking that “if we don’t want to fight them, we must submit” is the kind of moral weakness I’m talking about. A strong nation NEVER has to fight unless it chooses to expand.
Let Europe handle Russia this time. It’s their turn.
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I could not agree more. It sickens me.
This old Marine agrees. Certainly NOT under the present CIC.
It`s time for the Ukrainian boys and girls to step up to resolve this one . If they have the will to fight an all out balls to the wall war, with their own rules of engagement ...turn em loose. Anyone who would like to suit up and go assist them...have at it.
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