Posted on 03/22/2014 6:26:51 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Foreign policy debates are usually a polite affair. Ideas may clash, but the exchange rarely gets personal. This was not the case on Friday (21 March) during the “Brussels Forum”, an annual gathering of European and American politicians and experts, including the Russian ambassadors to the EU and NATO. […]
… NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen cornered the Russian ambassador to NATO, asking why Russia is not respecting the international principle it subscribed to in 1999—that each country has a right to freely decide on its international alliances.
“This is true, but there is also the international law enshrining the principle of indivisibility of security. Nobody will improve their security at the expense of the security of others. NATO is free to take any decision. And Russia is free to take any decision to protect its legitimate security interest,” the Russian ambassador, Alexander Grushko, said.
“From the beginning, we said that if NATO will go on with enlargement, it will continue producing new dividing lines, moving dividing lines towards the Russian borders. We also said that in some cases, these dividing lines will cross inside countries. It’s up to you if you listen or not,” he added. …
(Excerpt) Read more at euobserver.com ...
And when we finally peel back the layers, we will see that Obama is not against Putin, he is aiding Putin.
All about “flexibility”.
1) Europe's stockpiles are low.
2) Europe can't plan a military operation at all.
Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach. What he meant was that logistics are the key to any large military endeavor. If you run out of bombs in 24 hrs, then you have no handle on logistics.
Night-night Civ...
Europeans? Welfare elitists who brought in tons of cheap Arab labor? Sorry, they were worth dying for decades ago... not anymore.
Except Serbia.
Except for invading Tibet.
Blow IMO those pipelines.
Might be good. Because after Europe freezes in winter/burns in supper for a couple years thanks to their green policies, they may abandon their love of unicorns. And the “EU” And the “UN”
Meanwhile Russia sells their gas to China and both grow stronger for it. So I don’t think you get the result you intended.
I find comfort in the knowledge of Gods word, the rapture of his church, his eternal love of his chosen people, the absolute and total defeat of their enemies and a new heaven and earth that is without sin and will exist under his grace without an ending.
Edit...burns in SUMMER...
Hard to burn supper with nothing to burn it with.
Mother Nature and natural law win every time. Especially when humans give up all moral absolutes and descend into two legged animals.
Europe got comfortable and snotty letting USA pay for their defense. I say it’s their problem.
The remark sounds like a joyfully rebellious snark remark of a teenager. But some teens are exceptional and should be taken seriously. Alexander The Great was only 16 when his father Philip, King of Macedonia, left his son in charge of the Macedonian Army while King Philip was away conquering Thrace, near the Balkans. When I was 16, I could barely ‘conquer’ my all homework before Suppertime.
One of the great mistakes the US made after WWII was to assume the responsibility and cost of defending Europe from the Soviet Union. The Europeans funded their welfare state with the defense savings and the US turned to deficit spending to support both social welfare and a global military force.
Today Europe cannot defend itself and the USA is economically and morally bankrupt. Our industrial infrastructure is gone. We now print money because we don’t produce enough goods people want to buy and we can no longer borrow enough to fund our spending. We may have nuclear powered super carriers but we cannot afford to keep them all at sea, much less send men into space.
The end game is likely near. Our nation is like a millionaire who goes to Vegas and loses his fortune gambling and whoring. We are now at home facing the fact the job is lost, the credit cards are maxed out, the home is being foreclosed, the neighbors are disgusted, and the rubber checks have now started to bounce. If Russia and China sent Obama a message today they would together annihilate us if we didn’t surrender, Obama would capitulate. It would not surprise me if Obama has secretly reduced our nuclear deterrent to nothing while Russia and China gave secretly been adding to their arsenals.
If we decided to fight Russia and China, how long would we last. The chips for our high tech weapons are made in China. Most consumer goods are made outside this country including over 90% of the clothing. In WWII we were self sufficient in energy, manufacturing and agriculture. Today we are not self sufficient in any of these three. All it will take is a few EMP weapons to shut down the electric grid and push us into the 18th century. A year later, after nearly 300 million people have starved to death or killed each other the Chicoms can send millions of their citizens to repopulate the land and the Russians can take anything they want in Europe.
We are preoccupied with gay marriage, income inequality, unrestricted abortions, and the Kardashians. Meanwhile Russia, China, and the Islamists are on the march.
China’s wealth is a bubble which is fueled by business with the West. It has no reason (now) to want such a war. If it collapses and becomes desperate that could be a different story.
Most of Russia’s rhetoric is aimed at the USA. George Washington said that “(i)f we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it”, don’t forget . . .
That’s one reason they’re partnering up with Russia.
Commerce isn’t a bad thing. China has cheap junk and Russia has cheap oil. But China has been deeply investing in the west too.
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.