Posted on 07/08/2016 6:38:49 PM PDT by Nachum
NATO took command of a U.S.-built missile shield in Europe on Friday after France won assurances that the multi-billion-dollar system would not be under Washington’s direct control.
The missile shield, billed as a defense against any strike by a “rogue state” against European cities, is one of the most sensitive aspects of U.S. military support for Europe. Russia says the system is in fact intended by Washington to blunt its nuclear arsenal, which the U.S. denies.
“Today we have decided to declare initial operational capability of the NATO ballistic missile defense system,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference.
“This means that the U.S. ships based in Spain, the radar in Turkey and the interceptor site in Romania are now able to work together under NATO command and control,” he said, adding that the umbrella was “entirely defensive” and “represents no threat to Russia’s strategic nuclear deterrent”.
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
The list, Ping
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Not ours. We just paid for it.
Not ours. We just paid for it.
===============================================
It was OK under barkie. Trump? No way...
Damn, I am so sick of entitled Euros whining about how we defend them.
Sweet Jesus.
I am no expert on the activities of NATO but as far as I can detect, NATO is an organization left over from the cold war in search of something to do, and it is not serving anyone’s interest other than its own at this juncture. It is truly acting as a troublemaking provocateur in the Euro theater as far as I can tell.
It is true that we recoil at Russia taking over the Crimea, Georgia, and its activities in the Ukraine.
However, from the Russian standpoint, the US is and has definitely been fomenting trouble in the Ukraine and since the Berlin Wall fell has been relentlessly working to absorb nation after nation in Europe into a Western sphere.
In that context and in that process, the boundaries of NATO have relentlessly advanced towards the borders of Russia. To the Russians, this sniffs of encroachment.
The latest development is the installation of nuclear cruise missiles very close to Russia. We should not be expecting Russia like this. We should not ignore Russias historical sensitivities in this regard.
And I am not an apologist for Putin, but the fact of the matter is that Crimea and Georgia and the Ukraine have long been Russian in their loyalties. Yes, the Ukraine, where millions were starved to death in the 30’s by Russia, more particularly by Stalin. We are doing the same thing liberals do, which is to assume that because we wish to “install” or “allow the people to select” democracy that we are somehow entitled to do whatever the hell we want in those areas.
The US media is of course exceptionally tacit when it comes to the kinds of tensions our/NATOs activities are generating over there. I find it completely unnecessary. If Russia is acting defensively or even aggressively, part of that is our relentless insistence that we have a right to meddle in their backyard. Or front yard, as the case may be. We are definitely provoking Russia with our military buildup in Eastern Europe. Hawks would say it is called for based upon Putin’s annexation of the Crimea and Ukraine. I can’t say unequivocally.
My belief is that Russia and the US could work together working to fight Islamism where there is a common interest, even if we do not exactly like what they are doing in areas they formerly controlled. Perhaps that is a utopian view.
I hated the way the left portrayed Bush et al with words like Chickenhawk, and neocon.
With that said, there is no doubt in my mind that there is such a group, cabal would also describe them.
They believe America is in a position where it can control the entire world. These two “formerly slanderous words” seem to fit precisely, along with the lefts mantra of “Endless war”. Now, I know that Obama is now a part of this war making machine, so it goes to the fact that the same PTB are in control.
This group is IMO clearly antagonizing Putin and Russia. The only things that can come out of that is bad, or worse.
The way our government is in 2016, if someone were to ask me which side is good, and which is bad, I lean towards Putin’ Russia. That would have been a long stretch in 2004, but I have moved that far nonetheless.
I would also like to remind some that WW 2 came about NOT because of death camps, but because of an ill thought out promise to Poland by an “ill equipped Britain” to do anything about the most powerful military in the world. Let’s not allow this to happen again.
Britain went into WW 2 having the moniker of “the sun never sets on England”, and ended with them being a poor step sister. The same thing will happen to the “most powerful military on Earth” again, if we don’t quit “writing checks, our ass cannot cash”.
Give it a year or so. Putin and Trump will work this out. I think they will respect each other.
I’d be concerned about US Generals too if their Benghazi response time is any indication. The missiles would have landed hours before anyone decided to do something ... if at all.
Ass-wipe Obama will be giving away US control of all of our armed forces next! He’s already decimated the top level of officers and replaced them with gays and lesbians.
He is following the Freedom from War state dept document plan. Publication 7277.
Who paid for this?
I don’t see a downside in protecting Western Civilization.
There is astronomical downside in expressing and conceiving of events in the context of bumper sticker slogans that ignore the hundreds of nuances. As presently constituted, “Western Civilization” is comprised of global socialists like Hillary Clinton and George Soros who wouldn’t mind starting wars resulting in the deaths of thousands if not millions if they believe they will come out richer and more powerful at the end.
While NATO is engaged in blustery exercises and diversion of resources against Russia who as I have said acts belligerently (from OUR viewpoint but not theirs) to reclaim territories it has long held and has centuries old demographic ties to; for the sake of an organization that IMO has no real purpose and is fighting the last war, NATO has zero focus on radical Islam which IS a worldwide threat every bit as virulent as the old USSR.
Russia has a very legitimate concern as to the buildup of nuclear cruise missiles inches from its border. It has even more concern that they are being turned over to NATO.
Put it this way: This administration has buggered each and every thing it has tried or done. Their foreign policy measures have been ill conceived, amateurish, incompetently executed, and typically run by Hillary Clinton types who could not give a crap about any result other than hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into their bank accounts. The US has meddled very actively in the Ukraine and turned it into a crisis. Same with Libya. So suddenly, this policy of poking Russia with a sharp stick because of how Russia is “misbehaving” in the Ukraine (in response to our attempts to destabilize the Ukraine so it will fully defect to the West) is good and wise policy?
Not buying it. We could and should be forming a tremendous alliance with Russia as we have very large common interests.
Ukraine has its own language and very good reasons to retain its own sovereignty. Once they get their act together, they will be as good as the Polish in allying with the West.
Where are these nuclear cruise missiles? I don’t remember anything placed near Russia. Does it even matter any more, now that ICBM-s are reliable?
Yes, it does matter. Because ICBMs are detectable in the launch phase, much farther away in distance and time.
The cruise missiles recently installed around Russia’s perimeter are termed “defensive”, but the Russians have reason to distrust that characterization and do not view themselves as being “offensive”, hence there should be little need for defensive measures in the form of these weapons; so this calls into question the West’s characterization of these items as “defensive”.
https://www.rt.com/news/342696-russia-us-missiles-romania/
Then some mostly non ethnic Soviets take over the country and starve a portion of the population to death - the worst offender was an ethnic non Russian Georgian named Stalin. The Soviets were the ones that displaced populations not the Russians.
Some minor points, Ukraine and Russian are basically the same languages - the differences Russian/Ukrainian is smaller than the difference between English spoken in Alabama compared to England. But nationalists want to pretend it is a separate language for political reasons.
Lastly, if any people deserve punishment it is the Muslim Tartars who made a living for centuries raiding Christian Slavs for slaves. They are the people most responsible for making the ethnic name of the Slav people mean "slave".
The current Ukraine is such a split up country between competing tribes and religions and so corrupt that it will be a horrible ally for the USA to have. Not worth the effort.
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