Georgia, Poland, Russia, etc..

[[AK]Hylander]

What do some of you make of this whole Russia situation? I find it kind of scary and sad at the same time. Now, am I surprised the UN did nothing but declare tsk tsk? Of course not, it's why it's the United Abomination of Patsies. But I am surprised we didn't do more.

I'm not into 'talking heads' too much, and listening to talk radio like Sean Hannity generally gets on my nerves by injecting the same mantra repeatedly at every opportunity, but I've found I agree with Glenn Beck more often than not and enjoy reading his writings at CNN.

However, I was not surprised - happy to see - that Poland did an about face and the US stepped up to the plate with this agreement. We should do the same damn thing TODAY, in Georgia. Let's put US forces in Georgia with a missile defense system and see if Russia want's to play with the big dogs for real. I say lets sell Georgia a couple dozen F-22 Raptors and some m1a2 abrahams and say "Go Play".

I say that forgetting that our congress is controlled by pathetic liberal pussies who believe just hanging a white flag in Georgia would be the "diplomacy of peace".

I'm not sure we could win another cold war - I don't see another Ronald Reagan waiting in the wings.

[[AK]Squidly]

Georgia kind of set the wheels in motion themselves on this one.

The whole idea of "loyalist enclaves" kinda throws a monkey wrench into the deal.

[Slaughter]

Georgia crossed the line with whatever they did in South Ossetia first (it hasn't been covered much, and I've read little about it), but that doesn't outweigh the fact that Russia has far overstepped its bounds. They now control, last I heard, 2/3 of the country.

Neither side looks pretty in this, either. Yesterday Georgian troops were taking shots at journalists because they had been interviewing Russian troops.

The longer it goes on the more it looks like a oil grab by the Russians to me, and it was said that they were within 30 miles of Tbilisi (the capital).

I don't think we should get involved in a conflict with Russia, and it definetly seems that another Cold War is likely. Thankfully I think we could win another Cold War, Mitt Romney has already been dubbed the next Reagan and who knows in 20-30 years maybe he could verbally knock down some walls too.

[[AK]Beaker]

My neighbor is from Georgia. I see him on his cell phone outside with his hand in his head every day.

I am saddened by our response, I support the airlift. I don't want Russia to end up with the Black Sea port or the control of the oil pipeline which I think is their real interest. That and punishing Georgia for wanting to join the EU and NATO.

Georgia by the way has been a strong US supporter in Iraq and Afghanastan. I think our reasons to invade Iraq were weak and I am sure we could debate that another time but I appreciate allies that are willing to send people (over 2000 troops had to be withdrawn by Georgia).

In addition the whole first Gulf war was started because of an aggressor nation invading a weak one. It's unfortunate to see that the US now looks totally like a bully willing to pick on the weak nations but unwilling to confront a strong nation like Russia for essentially doing the same thing.

At the same time I don't know whether another nation is really worth sending troops to at this point. Every life is precious and it's too easy to send faceless people into a conflict, my test tends to be would I send my sister to die for this... I'm not sure of my answer on the Georgian conflict right now.


Hopefully with an increased presence in Poland will at least contain the agression.

[[AK]Camelwalk]

I am really scared with the current siuation there. This is a really aggrsive move by the russians. What to do but counter with misslie shields and build ups. Cant go in and stop them or WW3.............Our response has been the right one, bash Putin, media war and seem like we care (food airlifts)!

I think someone said this, WE CANT WIN ANOTHER COLD WAR. We have become soft and the country has no backbone or will to fight. PC and Libs are ruining this country to the point of no return!

[[AK]Squidly]

Different players require different strategies.

A player with nukes requires a different tactic altogether.

Which sort of speaks to why Iran wants nukes.

[Joric]

From my understanding, this entire conflict was started when Georgia invaded some place to free loyalists? Honestly they should have waited to be a part of NATO/UN and asked for help before doing something like that. They got what they deserved. Whether or not Russias actions are equivelent doesn't matter, all they needed was a reason as is the case with most politics.

Sending U.S. military wouldn't do much good either. And I seriously doubt it would start a ww3 conflict, the Russians wouldn't launch a nuke over a small province. The fact is congress is affraid of us losing. You'd think we're #1 in the world, and with air that might be true, but the m1's kinetic penetrator shells cannot pierce russian tank armor.

It's a tough situation to discern anything from especially when you know you're not getting even 50% of all available information on the subject. Heck before not long ago, I didn't even know there was a country named Georgia, I thought everyone said Russia invaded the U.S. state

[Padraic]

Thankfully I think we could win another Cold War, Mitt Romney has already been dubbed the next Reagan and who knows in 20-30 years maybe he could verbally knock down some walls too.

I hate to derail threads, but I had to comment on this-

Having lived in MA for the Romney administration, I can very confidently say he is not the next Reagan. The way that guy flip flopped on every position he held during his transition from running for governor to running for president makes me fear for the day that he might be in charge of a country.

[Slaughter]

I hate to derail threads, but I had to comment on this-

Having lived in MA for the Romney administration, I can very confidently say he is not the next Reagan. The way that guy flip flopped on every position he held during his transition from running for governor to running for president makes me fear for the day that he might be in charge of a country.

I was being facetious.

[[AK?]Azmodious]

Russia decides it want to take over these two very profitable areas. They begin setting up incentaves for russians to move there, and they start passing out pasports in that country to anyone who will sign a piece of paper.

Let a year or two pass, then suddenly russia "Discovers" hey! we have a lot of Russians here (Imagine that!) We should send russian "PeaseKeepers" to make sure our citicens are protected. Then for some strange coencidence Armed "Pro Russia" "Sepratists" start poping up all over the place in the verry places these Armed "peasekeepers" were sent. (Russia claims that these occurances are unrelated.. but call it whatever you want, that was an ethnic takeover attempt).

To make maters worse, Georga begins to deny Russa rights to pump oil through the pipelines in these areas.

Georga stated that the Attack on the rebels was severly provoked.

(Georga took the bait... and cought the hook)

Russia, plays a game of "push the envolope" with the UN. to achive 2 goals, Attempt to gain control of the pipeline
To fataly injure the economy of the most succsessful of all of its "Break off nations" sending a message to the rest as to "Whos the Boss on the Block"



Administration officials said this week that the United States and its allies were considering kicking Russia out of the Group of Eight, the group of the world's most important international economies -- as punishment for its actions in Georgia.

And rightfully so. IMHO Russia sould be forced to carry the bill for a full restructure of the Georga.

[[AK?]Azmodious]

I am really scared with the current siuation there. This is a really aggrsive move by the russians. What to do but counter with misslie shields and build ups. Cant go in and stop them or WW3.............Our response has been the right one, bash Putin, media war and seem like we care (food airlifts)!

I think someone said this, WE CANT WIN ANOTHER COLD WAR. We have become soft and the country has no backbone or will to fight. PC and Libs are ruining this country to the point of no return!

America has well proven its ability to make a quick decision on a tatical strike, and then to keep striking till it runs out of ammo. If anything I would say that America is getting the oposite image. We are very willing to step up to a conflict.

[[AK]Squidly]

This may well be a political move on the current administration to underline the lack of experience on the Democrat side. I mean Obama basically has a year and a half in the Senate. World conflict? Good luck with that.

And i wouldn't worry about the M1's ability to pierce Russian tank armor. In a conventional war, the Russians wouldn't stand a chance. Not tactically, nor technologically.

[[AK]Nuts]

A year and a half, but I read somewhere that less than 150 days actually working as a senator. BRILLIANT!

[[AK]Camelwalk]

To add fuel to fire, Moscow says it will nuke poland if shield goes up!


Moscow lashed out at Washington and Warsaw on Friday, saying the plan to site a US anti-missile defence shield in Poland would undermine the global balance of power and put Poland at risk of nuclear attack.

Washington and Warsaw reached a preliminary agreement on Thursday to build part of the missile defence shield in Poland, station US Patriot missiles there and bolster the two countries’ military co-operation.

The US claims the shield in Poland, as well as a radar tracking base to be located in the Czech Republic, is designed to defend against “rogue states” such as Iran.

The timing of this week’s agreement, as relations between Russia and the US deteriorated over the Georgia crisis, has strengthened Moscow’s conviction that the move is anti-Russian.

“The deployment of new anti-missile forces in Europe has the Russian federation as its aim,” said Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, at a press conference with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, on Friday.

Dmitri Rogozin, Russia’s Nato envoy, said the fact the agreement “was signed at a time of a very difficult crisis in relations between Russia and the US over the situation in Georgia shows that, of course, the missile defence system will be deployed not against Iran, but against the strategic potential of Russia.”

Anatoly Nogovitsin, the deputy head of the Russian armed forces, warned Poland that by hosting the shield it could become the target of a nuclear attack in war time. “The US is concerned with its own anti-missile defence, not Poland’s. But Poland, by deploying [the shield], will be exposed to attack.”