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War Fever in the Air
Topic Started: Mar 30 2014, 10:21 PM (740 Views)
Caroline
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Car22W
Enigma
Mar 31 2014, 05:55 AM
Caroline
Mar 31 2014, 05:12 AM
Enigma
Mar 30 2014, 10:21 PM
War Fever in the Air

By Eric Margolis

March 29, 2014 "Information Clearing House - War fever is in the air. Fifty thousand Russian troops and armor are massed on Ukraine’s eastern border. Europe and Washington worry that the reborn Red Army may sweep west across Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltics – even into Poland.
The West is suffering from a bad case of Cold War chills.

Not only are the Western powers worried, they are discovering that they likely lack the means to stop possible Russian incursions into what was the former Soviet Empire.

They should not be at all surprised that Russia is again showing signs of life.

Frederick the Great, the renowned Prussian warrior-king, warned: “he who tried to defend everything, defends nothing.”

Every young officers should have Great Fredrick’s words tattooed on his right hand. Soon after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, a small number of strategists, this analyst included, warned NATO, “do not move east. It’s a bridge too far.”

Soviet chairman Mikhail Gorbachev had agreed to let rebellious East Germany escape Soviet control – but in exchange for NATO’s vow not to push east in previously Soviet dominated areas of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. The US and NATO agreed, then quickly broke their pledge.

NATO’s advance into Eastern Europe, the Baltic and the Caucasus – not to mention former Soviet Central Asia – that brought the US-led alliance right up to Russia’s borders. US anti- missile systems were scheduled to go into Poland, close to Russian territory. New US bases were set up in Bulgaria, Rumania and Central Asia.

Unsubtle US efforts to bring ex-Russian Ukraine and the vital Sevastopol naval base in Crimea under NATO control – no doubt to punish Russia for supporting Syria and Iran – proved the last straw for the Kremlin.

Talking tough is easy. Defending Eastern Europe from a possible Russian invasion will not be. The main problem is that while US/NATO guarantees have been advanced to Russia’s sensitive borders, their military capabilities have not. In short, commitment without capability.

Russia’s military could take over the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in an afternoon. Sizeable portions of their populations are ethnic Russians.

NATO is not deployed or equipped to go to war over Ukraine: its troops are far to the west, without supply systems or air cover. Besides, European powers, aside from the little Nazis in Denmark and Ukraine’s nationalists, want no part of war with Russia – that’s left to the war hawks safely at home in Washington.

The barrage of trade sanctions Washington is imposed on Russia is an act of pre-war. We should remember that US sanctions imposed on Japan in 1941 that led Tokyo to attack the Western powers.

During the Cold War, the US had some 400,000 troops in Europe, 800 warplanes and potent naval forces. Today, the US has only 43,000 troops left in Europe: two combat brigades and the rest air force and logistics personnel. The old days when the Soviet Union had 50,000 tanks pointed at Western Europe are long gone, but Russia’s modernized armed forces still pack punch.

Meanwhile, the US has scattered forces all over the globe in what Frederick the Great would call an effort to defend everything. Most notably, US troops have gone to Afghanistan, Iraq, then Kuwait, and many home. America’s strongest divisions are now guarding Kansas and Texas instead of German’s Fulda Gap and Hanover.

America’s military power has been dissipated in little colonial wars, just as Britain’s were in the 19th century. When British imperial troops had to face real German soldiers, they were slaughtered. Similarly, the US military, reconfigured after Vietnam to wage guerilla wars, is in no shape today to face the grandsons of the once mighty Red Army.

Cautious, patient Vlad Putin is not about to invade Poland. The real danger is what would happen if the ethnic Russian inhabitants of the Baltic states, Ukraine and Moldova rise up and demand reunification with Mother Russia?

Would Russia go to their aid? Would Europe and the US be ready to risk nuclear war for obscure places like Luhansk, Kharkov, Chisinau or Kaunus?

In Ukraine and Crimea we are now seeing the results of overly aggressive Western geopolitics. Russia was woefully underestimated. A crisis between nuclear-armed powers should never have been allowed to occur. It’s sheer madness. Like nuclear-armed children fighting over a toy.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38104.htm
Well explained.
The U.S. went to Afghanistan just to beat the Russians. The Rusians must be laughing now.
Not only did the U.S.. get bogged down in a non winnavble conflict, but it also established an anti American islamic movement.
It went to Iraq. Now after thousands of lost lives - both Iraqui and American, Iraq is a puppet state of Iran. How ironic.
Who makes decisions in the U.S. ?
Because they all backfire.
I don't know who makes the decisions, but he/she should be fired. I'm beginning to think you're secretly a political pundit, Caroline.
i have become politically aware in recent times.
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Enigma

kennyinbmore
Apr 2 2014, 10:26 AM
That's a far cry from WAR FEVER IN THE AIR
I understand your point, however there has been a good deal of tension in Ukraine and with the primaries from both sides. The kind of tensions that have a warlike nature. You have Russian troops in Crimea and an eventual absorption of it. Russian troops amassed on the eastern Ukraine border along with Russian troops rousting Ukraine troops in Crimea. All the while there has been warlike talk from the American/European side. Not to mention the sanctions regimen, which is an act of war in itself. If one has missed all this, he hasn't been paying attention.
Edited by Enigma, Apr 2 2014, 11:43 AM.
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kennyinbmore
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Enigma
Apr 2 2014, 11:40 AM
kennyinbmore
Apr 2 2014, 10:26 AM
That's a far cry from WAR FEVER IN THE AIR
I understand your point, however there has been a good deal of tension in Ukraine and with the primaries from both sides. The kind of tensions that have a warlike nature. You have Russian troops in Crimea and an eventual absorption of it. Russian troops amassed on the eastern Ukraine border along with Russian troops rousting Ukraine troops in Crimea. All the while there has been warlike talk from the American/European side. Not to mention the sanctions regimen, which is an act of war in itself. If one has missed all this, he hasn't been paying attention.
Crimeans voted to join Russia and I already posted that Russia has started to withdraw troops from Ukraine's border. You're looking for a battle where there is none. Obama did the right thing on the issue, the sanctions talk worked. Crimea has a mostly Russian population and Russia's naval fleet is stationed there. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. They have no such claims on the rest of Ukraine and that's why the troops are moving back. This all played out the way it should have.
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Enigma

kennyinbmore
Apr 2 2014, 12:09 PM
Enigma
Apr 2 2014, 11:40 AM
kennyinbmore
Apr 2 2014, 10:26 AM
That's a far cry from WAR FEVER IN THE AIR
I understand your point, however there has been a good deal of tension in Ukraine and with the primaries from both sides. The kind of tensions that have a warlike nature. You have Russian troops in Crimea and an eventual absorption of it. Russian troops amassed on the eastern Ukraine border along with Russian troops rousting Ukraine troops in Crimea. All the while there has been warlike talk from the American/European side. Not to mention the sanctions regimen, which is an act of war in itself. If one has missed all this, he hasn't been paying attention.
Crimeans voted to join Russia and I already posted that Russia has started to withdraw troops from Ukraine's border. You're looking for a battle where there is none. Obama did the right thing on the issue, the sanctions talk worked. Crimea has a mostly Russian population and Russia's naval fleet is stationed there. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. They have no such claims on the rest of Ukraine and that's why the troops are moving back. This all played out the way it should have.
I'm not looking for anything. I see where the author is coming from because I'm aware of the facts. The sanctions talk hasn't worked and it's still a work in progress. That's because once one goes down that road, there's no telling where it will end. It's left to be seen what happens with the Ukraine, it's an unsettled issue, which could be defined by any abrupt action. Putin's moving troops back because it's smart and strategic, nothing more. As stated, sanctions are an act of war, and a point not lost on Putin. This is far from over and the speech used by the author is par for this course.
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