Posted on 02/08/2015 11:07:13 AM PST by tlozo
‘I believe the Russians are mobilizing right now for a war that they think is going to happen in five or six years... with somebody within the next five or six years.” So says Lt. Gen. Frederick “Ben” Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe... "American engagement is essential if the West is to deter a revanchist Russia that has set out to “redraw the boundaries of Europe,” Gen. Hodges says... Russian President Vladimir Putin “has done in Ukraine,” he says, “is a manifestation of a strategic view of the world... This level of assistance suggests Ukraine “is not a foray, not a demonstration. They are deploying capabilities way above and beyond anything that any militia or rebel organization could ever come up with.”
The fact that the political class in the West is still splitting hairs about the nature of the insurgency in Ukraine is testament to the success of the Kremlin’s strategy of waging war without admitting it... Gen. Hodges notes that the Russians already have an advantage in the information battleground: “They’re not burdened with the responsibility to tell the truth. So they just hammer away, and whenever somebody in the West puts out a blog or a tweet, there’s an immediate counterattack by these trolls.”... Gen. Hodges won’t comment on the U.S. strategic-force posture in Europe other than to say he is “confident in that process.” But he adds that the fact that the Russians rehearse nuclear-strike scenarios “shows that they’re not worried about conveying a stark message like that. You know, frankly, you hear this often from many people in the West, ‘Oh, we don’t want to provoke the Russians.’ I think concern about provoking the Russians is probably misplaced. You can’t provoke them. They’re already on a path to do what they want to do.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Not only is it a lie, it's morally repugnant. Hence "surrender monkey language," or maybe "useful idiot" language, or maybe "liberal language." Like how they blame the U.S. for Islamic violence.
I will put aside your personal attacks against me, because you are absolutely right about the above. That's why I noted in my post #28 that seeing another's point of view must be done properly.
As you noted, many folks use "point of view" arguments to reinforce their preconceived notions of retreat or disengagement.
But it is also an error to ignore the point of view of a potential (or actual) adversary. That is valuable information, if used wisely.
“Reagan wouldn’t be passively watching”
Reagan wouldn’t have instigated a violent, Nazi-backed coup on Russia’s doorstep, in retaliation for being made to look like an Idiot on the world stage, after he tried to become the Air Support for ISIS.
Yes, I must agree to that. Because at this point I'm not 100% sure of Putin's motives. If Putin really is acting defensively (not likely), and we guess wrong, a Sarajevo incident could follow.
As someone of Eastern European extraction, I am very sensitive to Russian aggression. I have heard the stories from my grandparents. Interestingly enough, they held more animosity towards the Russians than towards the Germans.
Anyway, old Eastern European joke: A Russian and a German are both advancing towards you. Who do you shoot first?
Answer: The Russian. Business before pleasure.
Reagan would be raining on your parade and preventing Russia from regrouping into a global threat again.
I appreciated my time with the German military and never wanted to turn my weapon on them.
Putin needs to be stopped, regardless of your personal quirk of obsessing over his desires and motives.
You are a serious Warmonger.
If their is a war, hopefully you and your son can reenlist.
What you are doing is pushing Russia and China together.
Don’t you think we have enough problems in the Middle East. How about we start helping Christians and other persecuted religious minorities instead?
They're both united by a hatred of the United States, fool. You can't push people "together" who teach in their school books that America is an evil empire that should be destroyed.
I can respect that! But my relatives from Eastern Europe would not have felt that way. Of course, what they could not see is that modern Germany is not the Germany of 1940.
I’m trying to prevent war, you seem determined to get us into WWIII.
Your path is to undo what we accomplished 25 years ago and to put the world under the threat of Russia again.
So, your saying Ronald Reagan would have kicked off a Pro-Nazi coup?
That’s just nuts.
My dad fought the Germans, and I was jumping out of their airplanes, and Russia has been our enemy for at least 85 years, and is today.
Reagan would be raining on your parade and preventing Russia from regrouping into a global threat again.
As you noted, many folks use "point of view" arguments to reinforce their preconceived notions of retreat or disengagement.
But it is also an error to ignore the point of view of a potential (or actual) adversary. That is valuable information, if used wisely.
Where is your evidence that Putin's point of view is not expressed by his actions? You posit no Putinesque perspective, while at the same time dismissing common sense and direct observation. You talk in generalities and implications to cast doubt upon that which you will not specifically object to. In other words, you're a fraud. Who are you to say people aren't seeing the world from Putin's point of view? What's wrong with seeing him as a murderous ex-KGB strongman with dreams of empire based on totalitarianism? How is that not his point of view?
Yet for all of your vaguery, you were very precise about calling my observations of your tactics "personal attacks" to try to invoke a TOS violation.
FYI, calling out a liberal shill is not a personal attack around here. If you've got a personal opinion as to Putin's frame of mind other than he's what he appears to be, say it. Otherwise, what you are actually doing is what I said you were doing - spreading FUD to protect evil.
You are the fool.
Russia is still a Nuclear Superpower and you are for policies that are threatening their vital interests.
That is the surest path to war.
Clue time child, appeasing Russia isn't going to stop what they've already begun:
‘I believe the Russians are mobilizing right now for a war that they think is going to happen in five or six years... with somebody within the next five or six years.” So says Lt. Gen. Frederick “Ben” Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe... “American engagement is essential if the West is to deter a revanchist Russia that has set out to “redraw the boundaries of Europe,” Gen. Hodges says... Russian President Vladimir Putin “has done in Ukraine,” he says, “is a manifestation of a strategic view of the world... This level of assistance suggests Ukraine “is not a foray, not a demonstration. They are deploying capabilities way above and beyond anything that any militia or rebel organization could ever come up with.”
The fact that the political class in the West is still splitting hairs about the nature of the insurgency in Ukraine is testament to the success of the Kremlin’s strategy of waging war without admitting it... Gen. Hodges notes that the Russians already have an advantage in the information battleground: “They’re not burdened with the responsibility to tell the truth. So they just hammer away, and whenever somebody in the West puts out a blog or a tweet, there’s an immediate counterattack by these trolls.”... Gen. Hodges won’t comment on the U.S. strategic-force posture in Europe other than to say he is “confident in that process.” But he adds that the fact that the Russians rehearse nuclear-strike scenarios “shows that they’re not worried about conveying a stark message like that. You know, frankly, you hear this often from many people in the West, ‘Oh, we don’t want to provoke the Russians.’ I think concern about provoking the Russians is probably misplaced. You can’t provoke them. They’re already on a path to do what they want to do.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3255414/posts
Ukraine won't be enslaved. Galicia and possibly Volhynia will join the EU, either as "Ukraine" or part of Poland, the Donets basin and the Black Sea coast will join Russia (voluntarily), and nobody can say where Kiev and it's hinterlands will wind up.
That's an interesting observation. The Germans have gone from being our mortal enemies to being our close allies. Yet the Russians have been nothing but adversaries (I will count the 1941-1945 period as a temporary truce).
There was no reasoning with the Soviets. But I wonder...after the fall of the Berlin Wall, could the West have done anything to turn the Russians away from an adversarial relationship with the West? Your thoughts?
(And I ask that with no preconceived notions.)
You mean that as they get chopped up by the Russian invasion, parts will survive?
“and nobody can say where Kiev and it’s hinterlands will wind up.”
The corrupt, mobster-controlled Nation of Banderastan.
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