[Zhang Fei]

My concern is that some loose cannon on the Russian side shoots a couple of Americans and then what do you do - a response is a must but it makes escalation a certainty.

There is no such animal as an accidental war. All escalations are planned. War isn't like a street fight - it doesn't just happen. Supplies and military units have to be moved up, money has to be allocated and so on. The North Koreans hacked up a couple of GI's in the DMZ and nothing happened in response. They took the USS Pueblo and the response was bupkis. The Khmer Rouge took the USS Mayaguez and the US response was limited to attempting a rescue mission. The USS Panay was deliberately attacked and sunk by the Japanese in 1937. It wasn't until Pearl Harbor, 4 years later, that the US declared war on Japan.

[melsec]

Thanks for that reply - what do you think - is there anyway Obama would consider drawing a line that he will actually stand by or has he learnt his lesson on that?