3500 troops on Russian border is nothing but show. What are they going to do when they are outnumbered 50+ to one? All of Russia’s military can be utilized, as it is their home turf. Plus, Russia is now and has long had entrenched border security, complete with an up and running, modern networked anti-air system.
Don’t forget, the Desert Storm Surge took 6 months to get going once ordered, and that was only 10,000 troops. We need way more than that if we want to start something, unless we want to invade France.
The troops in Poland can act to deter a quick border move, but they are not in any way an offensive force.
Desert Storm involved close to 500,000 US and allied troops not 10,000.
They can serve as a trip wire, just to get things going.
Too late, the Muslims already invaded and took France.
But I will say this, no one can deny that there is this steady and increasing drumbeat of anti-Russian rhetoric. Only, at this time the general public doesn't seem to be buying into the war propaganda. I seriously wonder what circumstances would be if today the public were more moved by the anti-Russian propaganda. This makes me wonder if either there was a slight miscalculation of propaganda impact, or if they are still holding out "hope" that the public will start to come along.
Your points about US troop numbers is certainly valid -- if invasion was the objective. I am unmoved by this. Historically, the US never strikes first. They wait - or provoke - an incident and then use that as a pretext to attack, think the Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbor as couple of examples. So, more likely, this may be a part of a series of a deliberate provocations to force Putin into miscalculating some response which would later be used as the pretext for war. This, IMO, is the more likely basis for what's been going on. With a major conflict you can get away with LOT of radical domestic policy switches.
American arms don’t have to prevail for Hussein to accomplish his purpose if what he intends is a shooting war with Russia. If he orders a futile attack on a Russian border force and our guys get wiped out he will, of course, claim that the Russians attacked the American unit and ostentatiously order a major “mobilization” That operation is long obsolete and but the word is firmly linked to inevitibility of conflict.
What if we fire the first show?
I would never trust a diseased twerp like Barry NOT to start a war on purpose. What does he know about warfare?