How to Roll Back Russia

Commentary ^ | 7 Oct 15 | Max Boot

[elhombrelibre]

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Every day seems to bring an escalation of the Russian military involvement in Syria. First it was airstrikes from more than 30 warplanes that Russia has positioned in Syria. Now it’s cruise missile strikes from warships in the Caspian Sea. Soon, if hints from Moscow are to be believed, Russian “volunteers” — a.k.a. “Little Green Men” — will be showing up in Syria to engage in ground combat alongside Iranian and Assad forces.

President Obama can pretend that this is no big deal and that Russia is getting sucked into a quagmire, but this is a serious geopolitical disaster and a major humiliation for the United States. Putin, in fact, seems to be going out of his way to target American-backed rebel groups and to send his aircraft to violate the airspace of Turkey, a NATO ally, as if to demonstrate how powerless mighty American has become and how once-weak Russia can again strut on the world stage.

[elhombrelibre]

Dude, you’re like a school girl worshiping a pop star when you post about Putin. It’s odd that you’d now want to say you’re not pro-Putin.

[MarMema]

I am against tyranny to include much of our current administration.

[Boogieman]

“This ain’t the same USSR boogie man so many are whining about.”

Oh sure, they’ve just got a KGB man running the show, an effectively one-party political system, governmental control over the press (and soon the internet) and they start armed insurrections in neighboring countries.

Totally different from the USSR!

[elhombrelibre]

Dude, you’re like a school girl worshiping a pop star when you post about Putin. It’s odd that you’d now want to say you’re not pro-Putin.

[elhombrelibre]

Dude, you’re like a school girl worshiping a pop star when you post about Putin. It’s odd that you’d now want to say you’re not pro-Putin.

[MarMema]

The russophobes and old cold war warriors here love to try to nail freepers as pro-Putin. We know Putin is a thug but we still like his bombing. And he is gonna get to Isis when he finishes protecting the coast. Try some patience...besides Putin has significant interests in Syria so it makes
sense for him to want to clean house. He keeps his fleet at a port in Syria for instance.

[MarMema]

Brzezinski? Does that ring a bell?

[DiogenesLamp]

You can believe there is good tyranny if you like.

There is bad tyranny, there is worse tyranny, and then there is the worst tyranny.

When idiot Jimmy Carter destabilized the Shah of Iran, and thereby triggered the revolution that brought the Ayatollah Khomeini into power, we went from "bad tyranny" to the "worst tyranny."

The religious nut jobs running Iran are the absolute worst possible people to be in charge of that nation if you are concerned about what is best for the United States.

The Shah's secret police killed 3,000 people over a thirty year period. The Ayatollah killed 10,000 in one year. Now Iran is making nuclear missiles with which the religious kook bags will kill millions.

By the same token, Assad is bad, but do you know what would be worse? More religious nutbags taking over Syria. At this point, I would rather just put up with Assad.

[ichabod1]

Do you really think we don’t know that? If there was any way in hell this bimbo could lead a counteroffensive against Russian domination, THAT is what we would be cheering on. But there is not. So all you are seeing is ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

[Mariner]

"Totally different from the USSR!"

You're right.

Russia is a Neofascist state with the preservation of Christianity as one of their foreign policy pillars.

We have far less opportunity for political confrontation with such a state then with the USSR which was sworn to our annihilation.

Not to say we don't have real and dangerous differences. But it's not as bad as it was.

[DiogenesLamp]

Make sure Israel gets the first 200 F-35's off the line.

Why would we want to do such a horrible thing to Israel? I thought they were our allies.

[Boogieman]

Mika or Zbigniew? Gonna have to be a little more specific if you want me to guess the point you are trying to make.

[Trumpinator]

Name me one pro Putin post of mine.

[nathanbedford]

What's wrong for those of us who do not work backwards on every issue to advance that which will promote Donald Trump is that there is a potential axis of evil developing running from Teheran through Baghdad to Damascus. This is a new caliphate armed with nuclear weapons, supported by Russia, possessed of an immense nuclear capacity, with Russian soldiers serving as tripwires to prevent American military moves, and supported by the Russian Navy shooting missiles from the Caspian Sea, cruising the Black Sea and now based in the Mediterranean, all soon to be supported by elements of the Chinese Navy cruising to join them.

This axis is in the process of inverting the balance of power in the region and will clearly have the capacity to upset the world's economy by upsetting the supply of oil. It will ignite and accelerate a nuclear arms race in the region which is the most dangerous region in the world. We have already received news reports of attempted smuggling of atomic elements.

This new coalition with its nuclear weapons, its capacity with missiles to deliver them, it's invulnerable position because of its relationship with Russia, it's potential to interdict the supply of oil, so changes the balance of power that it makes it possible that it might wreck NATO, it might peel off our European allies, it might cause Germany to align with Russia and China and that would be a calamity of the worst sort.

So the question for those of us who think beyond Donald Trump, is what is the national interest of the United States, is Isis worse than a nuclear armed and aggressive Iranian/Russian axis?

Before we rush to conclusions we ought to at least consider the implications on both sides of the Russian intervention.

[PGR88]

Another DC, think-tank paper soldier planning all the fine ways we can repeat all the stupid foreign policy mistakes of the past.

[Trumpinator]

As bad as the Mullahs are in Iran (and they are bad) they seem sane compared to the jihadis out of the Sunni Gulf be they ISIS or al-Qaeda or the Muslim Brotherhood.

[Boogieman]

“Russia is a Neofascist state with the preservation of Christianity as one of their foreign policy pillars.”

Neofascist? Fair enough. Not much different from the tyrannical communism of the USSR in practice though.

As for “preserving Christianity”, you have fallen for their propaganda. They simply have a state-run church that masquerades as “Christian” (just like the Nazis). It’s convenient for them to put on a pose as defenders of Christianity, but all of the commie bastards running that country are still atheists who hate Christianity. Don’t kid yourself.

“We have far less opportunity for political confrontation with such a state then with the USSR which was sworn to our annihilation.”

I would say this is true, but only because the Russians don’t have the ability to confront us toe to toe at the moment. So, they are practicing asymmetric warfare against us and our allies instead, and much more aggressively than the Chinese.

[Trumpinator]

Is Isis worse than a nuclear armed and aggressive Iranian/Russian axis? F*CK YEAH it is worse. How many of you who hold this opinion are like giving the death sentence to Syrian and Iraqi Christians over some imagines future scenario that has not materialized yet.

I don't think I have ever heard one sentence of concerning for the native Christians from the "let's arm the Free Syrian Army" types be it Obama or McCain or lackeys on this forum or other forums. What's up with that?

[MarMema]

I think we are just as guilty of playing proxy war in other countries as Russia.

[roamer_1]

[...] a Strutting Cock, and more than a few of everybody’s eggs will be broken!

I appreciate the use of 'eggs' in order to help determine the meaning of the term 'strutting cock', but alas! I am still left wondering as to which interpretation of the term best fits your sentiment.