Posted on 02/08/2015 11:07:13 AM PST by tlozo
‘I believe the Russians are mobilizing right now for a war that they think is going to happen in five or six years... with somebody within the next five or six years.” So says Lt. Gen. Frederick “Ben” Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe... "American engagement is essential if the West is to deter a revanchist Russia that has set out to “redraw the boundaries of Europe,” Gen. Hodges says... Russian President Vladimir Putin “has done in Ukraine,” he says, “is a manifestation of a strategic view of the world... This level of assistance suggests Ukraine “is not a foray, not a demonstration. They are deploying capabilities way above and beyond anything that any militia or rebel organization could ever come up with.”
The fact that the political class in the West is still splitting hairs about the nature of the insurgency in Ukraine is testament to the success of the Kremlin’s strategy of waging war without admitting it... Gen. Hodges notes that the Russians already have an advantage in the information battleground: “They’re not burdened with the responsibility to tell the truth. So they just hammer away, and whenever somebody in the West puts out a blog or a tweet, there’s an immediate counterattack by these trolls.”... Gen. Hodges won’t comment on the U.S. strategic-force posture in Europe other than to say he is “confident in that process.” But he adds that the fact that the Russians rehearse nuclear-strike scenarios “shows that they’re not worried about conveying a stark message like that. You know, frankly, you hear this often from many people in the West, ‘Oh, we don’t want to provoke the Russians.’ I think concern about provoking the Russians is probably misplaced. You can’t provoke them. They’re already on a path to do what they want to do.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I had hoped that Russia would join the West after we defeated them, but I was being naive, too American in my optimism, Russia, is Russia, and their evil just needs to be controlled and resisted.
As another posted described them.
“Many people think that what drove Soviet Imperialism was the communist ideology, it was not. Russians want to occupy other people. The end. Russian monarchs, communist first secretaries, whatever Putin system is, it doesn’t matter. They all got big dreams. In 19th century they were as far as Poland. In 20th, East Germany and everything south to Adriatic.
You know how there’s American Dream? Russian Dream is to have Russia from Kamchatka to Lisbon. It’s not to create success, wealth or improve quality of life, there’s just this pointless aggression to conquer somebody because they’re there. Very primitive, Darwinian, barbarian-like thinking is behind that.”
Please do not post to me anymore. I certainly will not post to you.
So lets start a war to prevent a war?
Crazy talk.
Draw the line at Poland or Kiev.
Eastern Ukraine where most of the population is Russian, NO.
Stop speaking fool when you don't even have a clue what you're talking about. Go look up how many people are "Russian" in East Ukraine. They're a minority everywhere, even in the area of Donetsk.
I think the idea of a general war over the Western border of the Soviet Union established at Yalta is ridiculous.
The inhabitants of Lemberg/Lwow/Lv’iv and its hinterlands are Europeans - specifically, subjects of the Old Empire. Other than geographically, they are a lot closer to Vienna than to Donetsk. That they hate the idea of being submerged in a Russian borderland is understandable, and they shouldn’t have to be. It is certain that Russia will gladly be rid of them in the upcoming general settlement.
The inhabitants of the Donets Basin are Russians. That they hate the idea of being submerged in an atheist and homosexualized European superstate is understandable, and they shouldn’t have to be. In the upcoming general settlement, they will return to Russia.
That leaves Kiev. Along the Dnieper, the picture is mixed.I don’t think the people there will make very good Europeans, but they may have enough antipathy to Russia to carry on as a rump state for a while.
The reason we don’t know what is going to happen here is that we don’t know what the Germans want, and we don’t know what they are willing to do to get it. When we find that out, everything else about this mess will fall into place.
I think you trying to pretend that anyone is talking about a non-existent “general war” is ridiculous as well.
Angela Merkel landed at Dulles, 5 minutes ago.
Please tell her not to accept any helicopter rides from Brian Williams.
There are comments right on this thread about the Russians driving to Lisbon.
The Yalta borders have become unstable. They will become more so. If these matters are not taken in hand, general war will be the result, at least if history is any guide.
How many Americans can discuss this image, and what it means:
Ukrainians don't want Americans fighting their war for them. Part of that is pride, part of it is the belief that freedom which is won is more valuable. Also, the situation at the front is not desperate enough. With that being said, there's a belief that after Ukraine gave up her nukes for "security assurances", America has a moral obligation to at least provide weapons to Ukraine.
Ukrainians are willing to fight, have been dying in droves fighting the Russians, but would appreciate any kind of help.
Russia is engaged in a war of conquest that you seem to be defending, but NATO is not talking about fighting them.
We are merely talking about trying to get Russia to stay in it’s borders and stop this seeking of war and conquest.
WWIII won't be a repeat of WWII. Expect it to go nuclear from the start and we will take hits. Our missile defense systems will knock down some of Russia's ICBMs but not all of them. Sure, we'll nuke Russia right back but history has shown they are capable of absorbing tremendous losses. Are we? We don't know. We've never been tested. We suffered less than a half million KIA in WWII. The USSR lost 26 million.
We came out on top because while Europe was left in smoldering ruins, our infrastructure was untouched. It won't be like that this time. What do you think a half dozen nuked cities will do to our economy? How many Nimitz-class carriers are we willing to see vaporized by nuclear-tipped Russian torpedoes? We only have 10 of them and they are enormous national investments that take years to build.
So?
So for some reason you think that Russia wants to end it all in nuclear war.
What exactly is going on the world today, that in 2015 makes Russia want to just launch WWIII and end it all?
Article v
That is what Reagan would do.
Nothing right now but several people seem to wish to see a petty regional conflict in east Ukraine escalate into a full-blown world war.
Listen to these fools though, and they'll have us dismantling NATO, cutting our defense funds, and "working with Russia" for mutual peace and security.
That does not argue for dong nothing. That argues for asymmetric approaches. What would Reagan do?
“Russian Dream is to have Russia from Kamchatka to Lisbon”
You and your ilk have been spouting this kind of hysteria for more than a year.
And yet, other than a “low-grade” (until the last two weeks) Civil War in Ukraine, nothing even close to what you are claiming has come to pass, or is even threatened.
Don’t you have even a little personal pride?
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