Since Obama is already well-along in his scheme to ideologically purge and fundamentally transform our nation's once-proud military, the only voices speaking out against America's dramatic military decline would be those no longer in office/active service... so he doesn't have to endure the kind of reality that Gen Patton presented to the (Democratic) US administration in 1945...
... wise, principled, visionary advice nobody wanted to hear at the time:
On May 7, 1945, just before the German capitulation, Patton had a conference in Austria with U.S. Secretary of War Robert Patterson.
Patton was gravely concerned over the Soviet failure to respect the demarcation lines separating the Soviet and American occupation zones. He was also alarmed by plans in Washington for the immediate partial demobilization of the U.S. Army.
Patton said to Patterson: "Let's keep our boots polished, bayonets sharpened, and present a picture of force and strength to the Red Army. This is the only language they understand and respect."
Patterson replied, "Oh, George, you have been so close to this thing so long, you have lost sight of the big picture.
"I understand the situation. Their (the Soviet) supply system is inadequate to maintain them in a serious action such as I could put to them.
They have chickens in the coop and cattle on the hoof -- that's their supply system. They could probably maintain themselves in the type of fighting I could give them for five days.
After that it would make no difference how many million men they have, and if you wanted Moscow I could give it to you. They lived on the land coming down. There is insufficient left for them to maintain themselves going back. Let's not give them time to build up their supplies.
If we do, then . . . we have had a victory over the Germans and disarmed them, but we have failed in the liberation of Europe; we have lost the war!"Stand-up guy and American war hero Patton paid for this moral and strategic clarity (which could have prevented the 40+ years occupation of eastern Europe) with his life (as so many in the way of the Obama regime's foolhardy agenda have).
Today we also live in a war-weary USA that has long been attempting to appease the Russians in the hope that they will like us, honor their agreements, and play fair.
Could we have possibly been more foolish?
The Russian nation defines itself as 'enemy of the USA', while a corrupt KGB veterans' club rules over a Saudi-Arabia-with-pine-trees that manufactures mostly cheap junk, has no moral, social, or financial model any other country would ever want to copy, and really offers the world nothing but oil, weapons, mafiosos, political meddling, and good-looking women (their race-based, Nazi-esque nationalism even manages to screw that up).
Clearly -like Iran, North Korea, or what have you- Putin's regime needs outside enemy USA as an excuse for tyranny at home and military expansion abroad. What other reason could the people there have for surrendering democracy and handing all the country's wealth over to a clique of connected pro-Putin hoodlums in suits?
This is the bunch we were supposed to 'reset' relations with by just being 'nice' and selling out our allies to the Russian bear?
Lunacy... sheer lunacy.
And don't be impressed by Kremlin showmanship- i.e. world's largest ($50B) Potemkin village (Sochi): the place is already a crumbling ghost town, leaving Putin to resort to Soviet-style diktats forcing state employees to vacation only at Russian resorts while 'strongly encouraging' private Russian firms to do the same. As with the USSR, nothing is left to the free market, any kind of moral framework, or the will of the people- it's still more important to blow mountains of money to put on a show of Russian 'greatness' for the West.
What to do now? Turbo-charging the current US oil boom -coupled with a slowing Chinese economy- could soon bring the oil price crashing down... that's what Reagan did to them in the 80s, when he not only encouraged US exploration but talked the Saudis into opening the taps up, thus bringing the oil price to $25/bbl, and slowing-to-a-trickle the only real source of hard currency the Soviets ever had.
Want a Ukraine-style people's revolution in Moscow? That ought to do it, as the country's feeble economy has already dipped into recession in the wake of the Crimea invasion.
We also might attempt to make good on that missile defense network Obama pulled from Poland and the Czech Republic in a costless victory for the Kremlin- he just forked it right over, receiving nothing in return but scheming grins. Romania and others have also expressed interest in basing missile defense radars and interceptors on their territory, in fact they are nearly begging for it.
And arm the Ukranians... but it looks like it's already far too late for that.
This crisis called for immediate action and strategic clarity- qualities almost
non-existent in today's indecisive, hamstrung-by-social-issues Pentagon.
This crisis called for immediate action and strategic clarity- qualities almost
non-existent in today's indecisive, hamstrung-by-social-issues Pentagon.
Hey Russia- on behalf of the sane folks of our country -the side you haven't heard from in a while- GO TO HELL: we don't respect you, we don't like you, we will never trust you... and in fact think you are largely hostile, thieving, drunken 3rd-world trash... especially the tacky rich ones.
You got a long way to go if you ever want to be a free and civilized country- alas, nothing starts 'til you get rid of Putin.
