Posted on 04/18/2014 3:13:07 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday.
Siemoniak said the decision has been made on a political level and that military planners are working out details. There will also be intensified cooperation in air defense, special forces, cyberdefense and other areas. Poland will play a leading regional role, “under U.S. patronage,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Yes, there is little left in Europe but logistics, hospitals, and air bases. Which is probably as it should be.
My take: Yes and no. The more we could supply ourselves, the better--but it's also a global market. Sucking out US resources to inefficiently send them far away is a long term loser. Moreover, the price of oil is determined by global supply--being a marginal supplier isn't going to change that. So, I think we should develop lots of produceible resources, but not drain them in a hurry.
Absolutely - we could be selling oil to the Europeans, who are now under Putin’s thumb and dependent on him for oil.
it’s DUH - not to DUH-Bama, of course.
Also a reasonable position which I’d be glad to embrace. One of the downsides of not producing to reasonable capacity, we seem to agree that producing to fulfill our own needs is quite possible, is that the technology to assess our resources doesn’t develop. And eliminating our need for imports over a decade or two, would likely drive down prices significantly.
Actually, they’re dependent on Russia for gas. Oil, not so much. The Euros get most of that from the Middle East and the North Sea.
Give them weapons systems, training, night goggles. This is like a barroom brawl brewing from one guy jogging the other’s elbow and refusing to say ‘excuse me’. You have to find ways of deterring without escalating.
“You are forgetting about all those graves across Eastern Europe of people murdered by Russians. Is that is not a Russian provocation? “
Those were killed by the Soviets, not Russians. Russia of today are the defenders of Christianity and Traditional Values, didncha know?
Agree.
I notice that Uncle Joe’s gun hand is on the reach and the Little Corporal appears to be reaching for a hide-gun in his coat.
but not the very best since it will appear on Ebay as soon as its delivered.
And by lowering energy costs worldwide we could deny Russia the financial resources that provide its ability to restore Putin's Soviet/Russian empire. Not only would Russia lose a great deal of the financial resources derived from energy sales, but other nations wanting to remain free and independent of Russia would not be dependent on Russia for their energy. And those nations wanting to remain outside Putin's control would have more money to spend on their own defense since they'd be spending less on Russian energy.
The benefits to the USA and others are so great that it's obvious that Obama won't support the expansion of US energy production.
how many polacks does it take to screw an RC one into a coma? 4. those 4.
Something major that is worthy of the land that fathered Koskuisko and Pulaski, though, something which they wouldn’t dare put on Ebay, and for which they pay full price and thank the US profusely, like say a cutting edge fighter jet or twenty.
Nigel Farage is correct when he says all the EU does is work out international loans to put already struggling nations deeper in debt.
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Yep. http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about/offices-foundations/international-renaissance-foundation
It is of interest to me that the shrillest agitators for for getting us involved in the Ukrainian cause du jour were virtually stone silent about the recent events in Nevada.
Are they pulling attention away from domestic tyranny to foment transnational strife, or are they fomenting transnational strife to distract from domestic tyranny?
All I know is that the primary weapon in a cold war is money and we have disarmed ourselves.
I really have to wonder about the agenda or intelligence of anyone wishing to restart a cold war with us in about the same shape Russia was in at the end of the last one.
I really have to wonder about the agenda or intelligence of anyone wishing to restart a cold war with us in about the same shape Russia was in at the end of the last one.
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I could not agree more.
Well said. This is a dustup taking place well inside the confines of Europe. It should be Europe’s problem to resolve, not ours.
And that is exactly what is pissing off the Russians. When the Cold War ended and the Warsaw Pact folded, the Russians went home. Their fear was that US/NATO troops would "move up the road a bit" as you put it. In other words we didn't go home.
Time for Western Europe to put up or shut up and if they want to slug it out with Russia over the Ukraine, they don't need US troops to do that.
I don’t disagree (too much) with you on this. However, if they’re going to be there anyway, I’d just as soon they were in the cheaper location. I got to visit Poland a couple of times in my final European tour. The people were very friendly to me. They treated us well, a Polish chaplain friend took us to his old seminary in Wroclaw, I got to meet his family. They fed us dinner, took us in, treated us like family. His brother, now the mayor of his town, had been imprisoned for years during the communist regime because of his participation in Solidarity.
They WELCOMED us, BradyLS.
I would not want to threaten the independence of this new Poland, but we might disagree on troops in Poland. Nevertheless, if we’re going to have troops in Europe, I’d far rather they were in cheaper Poland than in more expensive German. (And I think a tour in Germany is its own kind of holiday; Germany is that neat of a place to be.)
tcrlaf;
If you were 1/10th as smart as you think you are, you would realize why we don’t want Europe taking a leading role in militaristic concerns.
It hasn’t had the aptitude to do much else than wind up starting world wars for going on a full century now. How many centuries would it take for you to get up to speed on that fact?
We had nearly 70 years of relative peace in the European theater. Any guesses why? Evidently not.
Like it or not, we have been the world’s police unit for the last 70 years. I think we did a relatively good job of it. Now you want to shake things up, and get it back to the 1917/1930s model. Ah, no thanks.
When we go in, we don’t take land and make it part of the United States. The European model isn’t the same.
You should be very happy the United States is in this position, instead of carping like a nine year old girl about it.
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