Posted on 07/01/2015 3:07:23 PM PDT by Navy Patriot
It was in August 2014 that the real danger began, and that we heard the first warnings of war. That month, unmarked Russian troops covertly invaded eastern Ukraine, where the separatist conflict had grown out of its control. The Russian air force began harassing the neighboring Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which are members of NATO. The US pledged that it would uphold its commitment to defend those countries as if they were American soil, and later staged military exercises a few hundred yards from Russia's border.
Both sides came to believe that the other had more drastic intentions. Moscow is convinced the West is bent on isolating, subjugating, or outright destroying Russia. One in three Russians now believe the US may invade. Western nations worry, with reason, that Russia could use the threat of war, or provoke an actual conflict, to fracture NATO and its commitment to defend Eastern Europe. This would break the status quo order that has peacefully unified Europe under Western leadership, and kept out Russian influence, for 25 years.
Fearing the worst of one another, the US and Russia have pledged to go to war, if necessary, to defend their interests in the Eastern European borderlands. They have positioned military forces and conducted chest-thumping exercises, hoping to scare one another down. Putin, warning repeatedly that he would use nuclear weapons in a conflict, began forward-deploying nuclear-capable missiles and bombers.
Europe today looks disturbingly similar to the Europe of just over 100 years ago, on the eve of World War I...
(Excerpt) Read more at vox.com ...
If only Russia would go all in on repelling Islam globally, things would be fine.
Hell I wish we would go all in
It became possible for the most traditional of American reasons. Liberals in power.
I don’t think so. I think Putin will just wait until we’re up to our necks fighting ISIS, then he’ll attack these countries that used to belong to the USSR.
Astute analysis, .... which you completed quite a while ago.
I thought at this has been needed for a while the west Europe Russian needs to go a new crusade
Maybe before Hillary dragged out the 'reset' button.
If the Baltic States are relying on Obama to protect them, well.....Fugedaboudit.
Absolutely.
We can take Russian down in a matter of months....unleash our LNG exports to Europe and we will cripple Russia's economy in a matter of months.
I don’t think there has ever been a time in America that libs in what ever form of whatever era held power that the world didn’t go to hell.
If Obama had told Putin to remove his ass from the Crimea or the First Marine Division would do it for him, it would have been resolved immediately.
Russia is incapable of a sustained fight with ANYONE. they are a basket case on the edge of collapse, again. Oil is $56 a barrel, close to or below their cost of extraction for their dirty fuel.
They are also the only country in Europe that has a declining life expectancy coupled with a collapsed birth rate.
Christopher Stevens can speak to Obama and Clinton's loyalty, support and protection of their loyalists in time of need, ... oh, wait, ...
Honestly, with the abilities/tech/resource America keeps bottled up, there’s not a lot we couldn’t do. Quickly. But of course thats why libs keep them bottled up. So we can’t do anything.
Enviros. Unions. OSHA/EPA... all in place to retard America.
I am of the opinion that we (human race “we”) have tried to take the horror out of warfare. In the Roman times, if you went to war and lost, you lost everything. You were most likely killed and your wife and children were beaten, raped possibly maimed and sold off into slavery. Consequently, you went to war only when you had no other choice.
Now, there are all kinds of “little” wars. Civilized wars where one side gets hit hard and all of a sudden it’s opps, we didn’t mean that. Lets walk away friends. And a generation later it’s the same causes, the same conflicts, being fought by the same sides.
The devil dances to the tune of never ending war where the winners and losers are only temporary - wait a generation and we will get them for sure next time.
I would expect that Putin would take the opportunity to test some of his new weaponry, should that occur within walking distance of the Russian border.
No he wouldn’t like all bullies he is deep down a coward. Just like Obama.
We had an agreement with Ukraine to protect them against Russian Aggression for their agreeing to give up their nuclear weapons. Any attack on our Marine forces would have eliminated Russia as an entity and they know it.
The evil empire was defeated, the free world and Russia are no longer equal on the battlefield.
Russia can’t just invade it’s neighbors and expect Europe and NATO to surrender to it and let it keep conquering it’s way back to becoming a WWIII level threat, again.
Russia isn’t anywhere close to being equal to the United States and the other 27 NATO countries and our non-NATO supportive allies.
Those slave nations are now free nations, and part of our NATO defensive military alliance.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.