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Posted on 12/30/2009 7:51:35 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
So, even assuming all the missile defense assets are in place, fired 1:1 and all intercept successfully, that's about 10% of their missiles. I'm not even sure the 700 counts their SSBN forces. (www.nrdc.org)
Putin has to face the very real possibility that in a real all-out attack, they would lose more ICBMs to quality control problems than to the US missile defenses.
Notice that he wants offensive weapons to ‘stop’ America. I would think defensive weapons would be even better if the goal was to ‘stop America doing whatever it wants’.
Now, if the goal is just to ‘stop America’, of course offensive weapons would do a better job.
Hmmm. Looks like the Russians never learn. The last time they tried to keep up with U.S. military spending a few years ago, they imploded their empire.
So, I say, let ‘em do it again! Go for it, Putin! Implode away! Pretty soon every county in Russia will be its own nation at the rate ya’ll have been going.
Time for 0 to go to Moscow, apologize for our impertinence, and grovel. We might find out whether he can touch his forehead to the ground when he bows.
Failing that, Putin's most intelligent course of action would be to just shut up and watch 0 continue to do his level best to destroy the US from within.
Putin is such an ass hat clown. Cutting off energy supplies to Europe and trashing the U.S. seems to be his favorite tricks these days.
Sadly, the guy can’t quite gasp the fact that the U.S. is targeting terrorist organizations that are potentially just as big a threat to his nation as they are to the United States.
He learned nothing from the theater bombings, the school takeover, the other acts of terrorism on his soil. No, Iran and terrorist groups are just victims of the U.S. being able to do anything it likes.
Who do the Russian people have more in common with, Islamic terrorists? The Chinese? Long term Putin should be trying to curry favor with Europe and the U.S. He shouldn’t cow tow to everything the U.S. wants to do, but he should realize that so goes the United States and Europe, so goes Russia.
Sooner or later Russia will have to face China. It would be nice if when that day comes, Russia has some allies besides terrorist organizations. Alas that seems to have escaped Mr. Two Trick Pony.
I actually think Putin is smarter than we give him credit for. Russia’s most dire threats have always come from the West, not the East or the South. Russia had within the last 1000 years dealt with 2 German and 1 Viking large scale invasions which nearly destroyed the entire country. From the east, there was a single major invasion from the Mongols, and minor regional wars with China. Russia didn’t have any major threats from the Middle East, the Ottoman Turks being only a regional power at their height.
You’ve made some good points. I still think Russia has more in common with the West than with China, Iran, or terrorist organizations.
The terrorist threat had exhibited itself on Russian soil. Putin needs to wake up.
If Iran gets nukes, it will be about ten seconds before terrorist groups are supplied with them. Is Russia willing to sacrifice one of it’s major cities before it wakes up?
China is right now occupying Eastern Russia by defacto means, it’s citizens hopping the border to settle there. Sooner or later, that land will become a contentious subject between the two nations. We have seen what China’s mindset is when it wants land.
Russia is not going to win that battle. It can’t use nukes. It hasn’t got the conventional forces to stave off Chinese absorption of the region.
Culturally, Russia has a natural bond with the West. If it played it’s cards right, it could be a Western nation in good standing. It’s there for the taking.
Instead Russia seems intent on destroying relationships that may be it’s only hope in years to come.
There used to be a saying out there, something to the effect of a good mind being wasted. Russia is like a potential good nation being sold out by pride and long term ignorance.
I appreciate your comments.
We live in a different age. The world is much smaller. Russia could be a great neighbor, if only it could see the positive reasons for it.
Maybe Putin has compromising photos of Zerobama with the feggola from the rear seat of the car. I’m just sayin’...
Same with race relations....
I wont mention islam and the black panthers
And I thank you fellow FreeRepublicers for never letting up on Obama’s actions. For giving your time and energy to see that radical marxism fails in America.
Dedication to freedom and liberty! Truth always comes out!
Putin knows weakness when he sees it.
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It is the Soviet mindset that is causing this. Only a total decommunization of Russia would have sufficed. This was not done after the collapse of the USSR (Although Yeltsin did try during his first few years)...
Thanks for the ping... I’m pretty much speechless at this point.
I agree.
It is also the reason that China will not attack Russia. Both the PRC and Russia fear that if they went to war with each other that NATO and ASEAN forces would capitalize and take over their territories (or at least destabilize their regimes and cause democracy to appear).
"During the 2008 campaign, much was made by the media of Governor Palin’s supposed lack of foreign policy experience, despite the fact that she had at least as much, if not more, than Obama. Governor Palin would never travel the globe apologizing for America. She would never appease Putin and throw staunch allies like Poland and the Czech Republic under the bus. She would not allow Russian territorial claims in the oil-rich Arctic to go unanswered, as Obama is doing."
"Read the rest of the Zigfeld piece here. It is difficult to argue with Zigfeld's logic. Obama has shown no ability or inclination to stand up to Putin (or anyone else) and this is not lost on the rest of the world. They are watching with eyes wide open. In the real world, a leader is judged not on his or her ability to use a teleprompter, but on actions. Obama is proving to have the backbone of Neville Chamberlain and is nothing more than a community organizer who, through some historical fluke, is in way over his head. This does not bode well for the daunting challenges America is facing and will continue to face. Indeed, such weak and naive leadership will only exacerbate the myriad problems that need to by addressed."
"We've seen what happens when America leads from a position of weakness before. See Jimmy Carter. Obama is determined, through some misplaced sense of guilt perhaps, to lead America down the path to mediocrity. We see it in his cap and tax plans, ObamaCare, foreign policy, and his entire agenda. Over the next few years, we will all be reminded of the utter futility of appeasement. By the time Obama stands for re-election, America will be ready to embrace the common sense policies as espoused by Governor Palin and Ronald Reagan before her. The 2010 midterms will be but a preview of what will happen in 2012."
From Kim Zigfeld - an absolute look into the effect of a weak President:
"Putin has no reason to believe Obama will ever take a stand on any issue. He has no reason to believe he has anything but a free hand to lay waste in former Soviet space while imposing a final crackdown on civil society within Russia itself (Putin is moving aggressively to cut his nation off from Internet access and will likely soon return to formal power as some type of “president for life”). And once Putin has consolidated his malignant regime in a neo-Soviet state, assuming oil prices remain high he will be able to fund a new cold war against the democracies of the West."
I wouldn’t discount that. My thought is that China is biding it’s time, and Russia can wait till later. The question is, when will Russia wale up and figure it out.
So far, the technology to build an anti-ballistic missile shield capable of countering all the missiles and decoys the U.S. could launch has been beyond the Russians’ grasp. That's what made Reagan's “Star Wars” such a powerful psychological tool against the Soviets.
The Russians might build enough missiles to overwhelm shields being installed in the West but it would be a Pyrrhic victory in a real nuclear exchange. And except for a few bright spots the Russian defense industry is still disintegrating.
Putin's best hopes of expanding his sphere of influence is through oil, gas, and the treason of the current White House .
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/intro.htm
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