Ralph Peters: "Putin Is Not Crazy Or Delusional..."

Real Clear Politics ^ | 3-6-14

[afraidfortherepublic]

LT. COL. RALPH PETERS: Putin establishes facts on the ground. Look, the vote in the Crimean parliament today, begging to be allowed to join Russia -- it's a done deal. The plebiscite coming up in less than two weeks is a done deal. Crimea now belongs to Russia. As I've said on FOX before, the only remaining question is how much more of Ukraine Putin will take and when he will take it.

But the weakness, the lack of unity between the EU and the United States -- the greed, the financial cowardice -- is absolutely stunning, and Putin isn't going to stop, and he's going to do worse.

This administration lives in a dream world that negotiations solve everything. This administration, look, they still indulge in this fantasy that you can talk Putin out of Crimea. It is absolutely insane. Putin is not crazy, he's not delusional; our president and this administration are delusional.

ALISYN CAMEROTA: But it sounds like, Ralph, what you're saying is that it would take a military build-up of the kind that you just explained in order to get his attention. That's not something the U.S. is prepared to do.

PETERS: Well, look at the START treaty. There's no cost. It doesn't have to increase our defense budget significantly or anything else. But Obama wants that as part of his legacy even though the U.S. gave up valuable dual-use systems. The Russians gave up junk. Stationing forces, offering to station forces in the Baltic and Poland doesn't have to be extremely costly, and the EU could pony up for that. It doesn't have to take a huge Reagan-era military build-up, although, by God, Reagan's build-up certainly worked against the Soviets and brought them to economic collapse. There are innovative solutions and answers, but you have...

[2nd Amendment]

I’m going to post my 1st antiamerican post in my life. I believe Russia has had a historical union with the Ukraine for over 500 years. The Crimean ports are the only warm water ports that Russia has. Putin cannot allow Ukraine to go completely independent and join the globalized EU. It would be like Florida trying to secede from the union. We are not the policeman of the world. Ukraine is in the Russian sphere of influence. Our major goal should be to rebuild the Weinberger Doctrine and absolutely prevent any Russian aggression outside their sphere of influence. Flame away. “stay away from a ground war against Russia.” Russia is not the same marxist collossus that we have all feared. Putin is trying to reestablish orthodox values and protect the historical Christian Church unlike the reprobates that are running our country now.

[trisham]

I’m going to post my 1st antiamerican post in my life.

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What is "anti-american" about your post?

[onyx]

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I bet that right now the Chinese government is slapping its forehead and saying, “Damn! We should have invaded Taiwan while this idiot is in charge of America! By the time that fool did anything we would have two armies of occupation there and it would be a done deal!”

And a moment later they would slap themselves again and say, “Damn! We could have invaded Japan, the Philippines, and even Hawaii, and that jackass would just sit there, wringing his hands.”

[bill1952]

I only wish that our president was as concerned for his own country's security as the Russian president is of his.

Were I Putin-or any other world leader-I would have taken particular notice of the secretary of state's and military chiefs stating to America and the world that the biggest threat to our national security is ... Climate change!?!

Seriously again, were I Putin, I would be advancing on every front possible and let the US battle the dreaded global warming.

[rjsimmon]

The Crimean ports are the only warm water ports that Russia has.

Absolutely! You have stated what so many others have missed in the entire situation.

[dfwgator]

They also have a base in Tartus, Syria...and obviously with the instability there, the importance of Crimea is magnified.

[Ghost of SVR4]

You don't think other countries are watching Putin operate and thinking "hmmmm..".
It will not surprise me in the slightest to wake up one morning to find China has moved on Taiwan or had a major skirmish with Japan overnight. Maybe a different region, maybe I wake up to find Israel is dropping heavy ordinance on Iran in retaliation for an attack overnight. Either way, many nations with ill intent are looking around and thinking they have about 24 months left to get some serious business on.

With that said, I think we are going to see our mid-term elections meddled with like never before. It behooves other nefarious countries to have democrats running things in the U.S., hence I think we will witness some seriously fraudulent behavior this go around with large sponsorship from foreign countries.

Just my $0.02

[afsnco]

Amen. Reality has a way of sneaking up on us. Paradigms are a biotch, especially when our formerly righteous nation descends so rapidly into depravity that it now hates everything righteous.

[GraceG]

Putin would literally HAVE to be crazy not to be taking full advantage of our current foreign policy weakness...

Putin is still a horrible thug, but he would have to be insane not to take advantage of any weakness that could be an advantage to him

[semantic]

"It was lunacy to think that Russia would ever allow a hostile alliance like NATO..."

Exactly, which is why no one in the West actually thinks that's the case - it's just posturing for MIV (medium information voters) consumption.

There's a few FR posters left who understand the larger, strategic dynamic, but a lot have left for greener pastures. (Compare read/comment stats @ ZH vs FR.)

The bottom line is this: in order for the US dollar to survive, debt must continually expand. Whether domestic (eg Obamacare) or foreign, the hunt for projects that fit the profile of expensive, credit driven events continues.

Crimea/Ukraine is actually a three-fer: (a) resource control (ie pipelines); (b) justification for military build-up (anywhere, not just Ukraine); and (c) emergency 'grants' & 'loans.

Actually, strike that, it's a four-fer: get the minds of MIVs off domestic treason by focusing on issues which we cannot control. Brilliant, really.

[Ivan Mazepa]

I believe Russia has had a historical union with the Ukraine for over 500 years.

350 years, but who's counting?

[Ivan Mazepa]

The nation of Ukraine is the aberration, an artificial modern construct ....

Total nonsense. Absence of nation-state doesn't refute nation's existence. Otherwise, Poles, Finns, Chechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Romanians, Lithuanians/Latvians/Estonians, Jews, etc. are not nations since they too didn't have their own country.

[rbg81]

This is how the real world works, and hard realities cannot be wished away by naive dreamers who believe that changes in the weather pose greater threats than clashing civilizations. I only wish that our president was as concerned for his own country’s security as the Russian president is of his.

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Great line. That being said, I am sympathetic to the Ukranians who want to determine their own destiny. But I don’t think its worth going to war over for many of the reasons you stated. Especially if said war could easily go nuclear.

[Grzegorz 246]

So... to make it clear, you are impressed by Putin/Russia, because they make Obama look like an idiot ?

[AlexW]

” you are impressed by Putin/Russia, because they make Obama look like an idiot ?”
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That is a bit of a distortion of what I said.
I can respect Putin as a strong man, far more then I could Obama, but it does not take anyone to make Obama look like an idiot. He does that quite well on his own.