I am really alarmed about developments with Russia.

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by UtahDan

This is another catch 22, Europe can't afford to build their defenses. They have spent the last 50 years directing those revenues into social programs because they haven't needed a military. Do you remember how they rioted in the streets in France over (IIRC) legislation that would make it possible for employers to terminate their employees? Europe is so fat and lazy that I don't know for sure that even looking down the barrel of a Kalashnikov will motivate the populations to elect leaders willing to do away with all those government provided goodies.

We should give them a pullout date, say 2020. Should give 'em plenty of time to build up their defenses. If they choose not to do so, then they deserve whatever's coming to them.

[UtahDan]

I should update my comments re: our missile interceptors scheduled to be in Poland. Listening to a CNN piece yesterday, it appears that we would only be deploying ten systems in Poland with the idea that they would intercept missiles launched from Iran which would have to send them up through that area and over the North Pole to reach us.

While the Russians have expressed their skepticism about this being the real purpose, the State Department has countered that it is no secret that most of the missiles pointed at us would be launched from Siberia, submarines and other parts of Russia and few if any would be launched over Poland. More over, ten systems could scarcely put a dent in the hundreds of MIRVs that Russia has it its disposal. So when we take the position that this system really is intended for Iran and is not a strategic threat to Russia, I am now persuaded that the facts are on our side on this.

[ERCougar]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

I can't believe how little attention the crisis in Georgia is receiving here in the US. Russia is clearly ignoring international demands for withdrawal as they continue to capture more and more Georgian territory. Russia is also making strong statements with respect to Ukraine, suggesting that Ukraine may be next on the invasion list. Ukraine controls a portion of the Black Sea, and Russia doesn't appear to like that fact. What happens if Russia's navy asserts Russian control over those waters?

And then there is this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080815/...issile_defense

Russia is making threats about invading Poland. Wow. What in the world would our response have to be to something like that? It would be tough to imagine anything other than a military response. Clearly we can't go back to a policy of appeasement, and we can't allow Russia to simply expand back to its Cold War borders.

Is Russia testing the waters for something like a return to its Cold War status? Dangerous times.

Bigger fish to fry. Saddam was about to nuke us--we had to defend ourselves. Now we're establishing democracy in the Middle East.

Russia, Schmussia.