Great idea...what could go wrong?
Really? We can’t bag and tag a bunch of goat-humping cave dwellers, and we’re going to phuck with the Russkies in their backyard lake? Wow, just wow!
The Black Sea is not Russia’s personal lake.
It also belongs to Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey (a NATO member), Romania (also a NATO member), Bulgaria, and Moldova.
The US has two treaty allies on the Black Sea and therefore our ships have every right in the world to sail on that sea and if Ivan doesn’t like it then Ivan can suck rocks.
Seriously.
The Russians can’t project force or reinforce that body of water.
It would be easy pickens if Putin is stupid enough to do anything.
They only hold Crimea as long as we let them.
[Really? We can’t bag and tag a bunch of goat-humping cave dwellers*, and we’re going to phuck with the Russkies in their backyard lake? Wow, just wow!]
Re the Russians, they are simply outgunned by Uncle Sam. That is the meaning of the hundreds of Russian contract soldiers obliterated by the Marines in Syria. They might be able to sink an American ship, but only at the cost of serious losses on their end. Note that the Russians were involved in Vietnam and Korea wherein they served as North Vietnam’s and North Korea’s air force. So this wouldn’t be the first time that the Russians had shot at US forces.
* The specific issue of why guerrilla warfare doesn’t work against ruthless adversaries is addressed in this Quora response to a query:
https://www.quora.com/If-guerrilla-warfare-is-so-hard-to-beat-why-didnt-more-countries-militaries-revert-to-guerilla-tactics-when-they-were-on-the-verge-of-defeat/answer/Yifeng-Huang-8?
[Q: If guerrilla warfare is so hard to beat, why didn’t more countries’ militaries ‘’revert’’ to guerilla tactics when they were on the verge of defeat?]
[A: Guerilla warfare can be easily defeated if the attackers are resolute.
Genghis Khan, probably the greatest conquerer ever, never had a problem with guerilla warfare, even though the lands he conquered included Afghanistan. Why? Because his army simply slaughter all civilians, including their babies, who dare to fight against them.
In the Vietnam war, the Americans struggled against the Vietcongs. When China fought Vietnam, China simply romped through North Vietnam (north of Hanoi), transport removable factories/infrastructure back to China while destroying those that they cannot bring back. One crack Vietnamese division that was rushed back from Cambodia wisely decided to settle into prepared defensive positions near Hanoi instead of reinforcing the surrounded troops north of Hanoi. Why didn’t China has problem with Vietcong guerilla fighters?
When I first visited China in the 1990s, a retired veteran bitterly told me that his Major was killed by a ~6 year old Vietnamese kid holding a secret pistol when he was giving out food to the kid. Apparently, this is not an isolated incident. Very soon, they enacted Genghis Khan’s strategy. North Vietnamese villagers encountered were simply labeled as “civilian militia”, treated as combatants and showed no mercy. PLA never encounter anymore guerilla problems because there were no civilians left to provide the guerilla with information, shelter and food!
In the 1980s, there is no internet and no international reporter who has access to report on this. Chinese body counts, which included “civilian militia combatants”, concluded that enemy casualties were in excess of 10 times PLA losses.]
We most certainly have, and continue to “bag and tag a bunch of goat-humping cave dwellers”.
And Russia knows better than to F with us.
After they just sent a mysterious device into orbit. Good thinking, guys.
Hope you have a good supply of white flags......glad you weren’t in charge of any war efforts during the two big ones,