blackwidow wrote:Forget the Spin, Putin Is Holding a Losing Hand
About half way through the article...
There is a backstory that suggests an alternative narrative. Indeed, it would be interesting to know what President Obama and his staff are really thinking as they assail Vladimir Putin for his "barbaric" behavior. Are they really appalled by Putin's conduct, as the reporting suggests, or do they understand it to be a predictable -- and predicted -- response to America's continuing strategy to undermine Russian power in the region? And is Bob Corker similarly flummoxed by Putin's strategic superiority, or does he share the sense of satisfaction that Zbigniew Brzezinski must feel as Putin flails away in frustration, as America's decades-long campaign to contain and undermine the Russian state continues to play out?
It would be very interesting to find out what Obama and Co think about it. I imagine it was very humbling for a community organizer to find out how the real world works. The daily National Security briefings have had a very profound effect on every administration.
I grew up during the Cold War and have no issues with what transpired since the fall of Soviet Union to make sure we don't have that threat again. The former members of the Warsaw Pact were anxious to join the EU/NATO to make sure they didn't fall under Russian control again. Time to put your big girl panties on. In order to criticize what transpired, you need to name countries that didn't voluntarily join the EU/NATO and/or are being prevented from leaving.
As for Carter's approval of the covert aid to the mujahideen in 1979, it was a year after the communist PDPA seized power during the Saur Revolution and the Soviets already had thousands of "military advisers" in the country. It was simply a typical Cold War conflict.
If you really want to criticize the US regarding Afghanistan, the biggest mistake we made was deploying regular troops in it. We should have learned from the Soviet's experience as their puppet government didn't fall after they pulled their troops out - it fell when they stopped financing the government.
Forget the Spin, Putin Is Holding a Losing Hand
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-pau ... 83691.html
Whether Putin is holding a losing hand is far from certain. Ukraine was an economic mess before this started and unless the US and the West prop it up, it is going to play out as an economic siege with the Russians propping up eastern Ukraine until the rest of the country gives in. That is why Brzezinski is pushing Obama to get American support for Ukraine. Otherwise, as Friedman said, we should tell Ukraine to cut the best deal they can with Putin.
