NATO vs RUSSIA

THE COLD WAR WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OVER, AND FROM THE LOOKS OF THINGS, IT IS AND WE ARE NOW ENTERING A 'HOT ZONE' WHEN IT COMES TO DEALING WITH RUSSIA.

JUNE 24, 2015
"After decades of peace, that peaceful period after the Cold War is now over," Poland's defense minister and deputy premier Tomasz Siemoniak said recently. "Because there are more and more crises erupting around Europe, and we have to make sure that the public understands it."

On Wednesday, Siemoniak, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and counterparts from throughout NATO will open a two-day meeting in Brussels expected to continue reshaping an organization originally founded in 1949 to deter the Stalin-era Soviet Union from overrunning Western Europe with its tanks and troops.On Tuesday, Carter announced during a visit to Estonia that the U.S. will also spread about 250 tanks, armored vehicles and other military equipment across a half-dozen of NATO's easternmost members that feel most at risk from Russia.

"NATO is adapting to this new environment, to the new conditions on its periphery," Douglas Lute, U.S. ambassador to NATO, said.
To continue the adaptation, alliance defense ministers are expected to order a further increase in the strength and capabilities of the NATO Response Force, from 30,000 to as many as 40,000 troops, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said."

MAYBE IF THE U.S. STOPPED TELLING EVERYONE TO "FEEL AT RISK" NO ONE WOULD FEEL AT RISK?
THEN AGAIN, WHO ISN'T AFRAID OF BIG, BAD RUSSIA, RIGHT?
Ministers are expected to approve granting U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the alliance's supreme commander in Europe, "more authority to prepare our troops for deployment and get them ready to go once the political decision has been made," Stoltenberg said.

WELL, NATURALLY, SURE, THAT'S NICE. 

Lute said Breedlove will be given more latitude than at present to alert, assemble and mobilize the reaction force. The power to decide on its use will remain with representatives of the governments of NATO's member countries, but the current step-by-step political decision-making sequence used to approve military operations will be simplified and compressed.

[ATTABOY,BREEDLOVE!]
"So it's two parts: delegate some (powers) to Phil, and streamline those that remain at the political level," Lute said.

The latest changes at NATO follow broad policy decisions taken by U.S. President Barack Obama and other alliance leaders at the summit held in Wales last September, and come at about the midway point between that meeting and the next NATO summit scheduled for July 2016 in Warsaw, Poland.

"Things over the last several years have gone at a dizzying pace, you might say," U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said during a visit this month to Brussels. "There has been more change than I can remember ever in a single two-year period, at least in the 34 years that I have been an observer on the defense scene."

DIZZYING PACE?
THAT'S AN UNDERSTATEMENT, ISN'T IT?
MORE CHANGE THAN ANYONE CAN REMEMBER, DEBBIE!

WELL, I JUST MUST GO BACK TO MY SEVERAL BLOGS ABOUT HOW ANY NATION THAT HAS 'THREATENED' U.S. AND GLOBAL ECONOMY BY EVEN INSINUATING THEY MIGHT, JUST MIGHT, MOVE TO A GOLD-BASED CURRENCY OR AWAY FROM THE U.S. DOLLAR GETS THE AXE!
NATO IS JUST AN AXE-CARRIER.

FROM ALMOST THE MINUTE PUTIN HINTED THAT RUSSIA HAD THE GOLD TO BACK UP ITS CURRENCY, UNLIKE THE USA, IT'S BEEN SABER-RATTLING TIME FROM OUR GOVERNMENT.

AND WHEN RUSSIA SEEMED TO BE COZYING UP TO IRAN, WHAT DID OUR GUY IN THAT OVAL OFFICE DO?
I CALL IT BOOT-LICKING IRAN, DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU CALL IT.

TWO STRIKES AGAINST RUSSIA...GOLD AND IRAN'S 'COMFORTER'.

QUICK, WHIP NATO INTO A FRENZY...AGAIN!

IS RUSSIA A BULLY?
YOU BET!
SO IS AMERICA!
IS RUSSIA BACK TO "EMPIRE-BUILDING'?
MAYBE THEY TOOK A CUE FROM OUR GUYS?

IS RUSSIA MAKING ITS MILITARY PRESENCE KNOWN IN EUROPE?
THERE AGAIN, SO ARE WE.
AND IN ASIA, THE MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA, CENTRAL AMERICA....ON MARS, THE MOON AND WE'RE CLOSING IN ON PLUTO...ETC.
"TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!" 

UNLESS RUSSIA HAS SOME WELL-ARMED SUBMARINES PARKED OFF OUR COASTS OR NUKES HIDDEN NEATLY AWAY IN SOME NATION TO OUR SOUTH, WE'RE NOT AS THREATENED BY "NEARBY NUKES" WITH THE HAMMER AND SICKLE ON THEM AS RUSSIA IS WITH HOW MANY U.S.-BRANDED NUKES IN EUROPE?

I HAVEN'T LOOKED UNDER EVERY ROCK, BUT I JUST DON'T RECALL REPORTS OF RUSSIAN TROOPS IN EITHER MEXICO OR CANADA LATELY, AT LEAST NOT EVEN AS MANY AS WE INVITED HERE TO TRAIN WITH OUR OWN MILITARY.

NO MATTER WHERE RUSSIA LOOKS, THERE'S A FEW THOUSAND U.S. MILITARY AND WEAPONS AT THE READY.

PUTIN IS RENOWN FOR BEING JUST A WEE BIT PARANOID, BUT WHO WOULDN'T BE, GIVEN ALL OF THE ABOVE?

SO WHAT'S WITH NATO ESCALATING THE SABER-RATTLING AND PRACTICALLY STANDING ON RUSSIA'S BORDER DOING THE "FULL-MONTY" SCENE FROM BRAVEHEART?

OLD HABITS ARE HARD TO BREAK.
NATO HAS BEEN PINING AWAY TO KILL SOMETHING ELSE EVER SINCE IT CHEWED UP LIBYA AND SPIT OUT GADDAFI.
THOSE BOYS JUST DON'T GET ENOUGH BLOOD!
MAYBE THEY'RE ADRENALIN JUNKIES?

I'M SURE AMERICA'S MILITARY/INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IS DROOLING ALL OVER ITSELF AT THE MERE PROSPECT OF GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR, BUT, COME ON, MUST WE?
DO WE REALLY NEED TO?

HOW MANY READING HERE THINK RUSSIA IS THAT STUPID?
I DON'T.
PUTIN ALREADY BACKED AWAY FROM THE CRAZIES IN THE UKRAINE, SAW IT WAS NOT GOING TO BE A LUCRATIVE DEAL FOR RUSSIA, BACKED OFF.

BUT WHAT IF THE MAJORITY OF ANY OF RUSSIA'S OLD 'SATELLITE STATES' WANTS TO CUDDLE UP IN RUSSIA'S WELCOMING ARMS AGAIN?

WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR SERMON ON "THE MAJORITY RULES"?  

"Last September, the U.S. announced a plan to spend up to $1 billion on various actions to reassure European NATO members.
The funds are paying for increased U.S. troop rotations, more exercises, more prepositioning of military equipment and upgrading of infrastructure, including repainting the airfield and adding bulk fuel storage capacity at Amari Air Base in Estonia."

MAYBE WE SHOULD TRANSLATE "REASSURE" TO "PREP THEM TO FIRE ON OUR ORDERS"?

BUT WHY THE HELL CAN'T NATO NATIONS PAY FOR THEIR OWN CRAP?
AMERICA IS JUST ONE OF 28 MEMBERS OF NATO!
CAN'T 27 NATIONS, ANY SET OF THEM, ANY ONE, WHATEVER, AFFORD THEIR OWN FEAR?

IF THE 27 ARE TREMBLING IN THEIR BOOTS OVER RUSSIA, LET THEM PAY FOR THAT!
OR SIMPLY HIRE AMERICA AS A MERCENARY FORCE.

GETTING PAID TO FIGHT OTHER NATIONS' WARS WOULD SURE HELP OUR ROTTEN ECONOMY!

AS AN AMERICAN TAXPAYER, I AM FED UP WITH PAYING FOR DAMNED CIVIL WARS AND FEAR AND TREMBLING A BAZILLION MILES AWAY!

AND I AM SICK OF SEEING AMERICAN TROOPS DIE FOR NATIONS THAT DON'T HAVE THE GUTS TO FIGHT THEIR OWN WARS!

GROW A SET, NATO NATIONS!
AMERICA DOES NOT NEED A DOG IN THIS HUNT!
HELP YOURSELVES OR BE HANGED! 

DITTO FOR THE MIDDLE EAST!

NO, ONCE AGAIN, AMERICA STEPS IN, OR BUTTS IN, WHERE IT REALLY HAS NO BUSINESS. 
ONCE AGAIN AMERICANS JUST DON'T "GET IT" THAT WE HAVE, AS AN OLD ADAGE GOES, "NO MONKEYS IN THAT CIRCUS".
ONCE AGAIN, NO ONE SEEMS TO WANT TO COMPARE ALL THESE CIVIL WARS IN ALL THESE FOREIGN NATIONS TO OUR OWN REVOLUTIONARY OR CIVIL WAR.

I RECALL THAT AMERICANS SHOT TO KILL FOREIGN TROOPS THAT TRIED TO INTERFERE WITH OUR INTERNAL CONFLICTS, DIDN'T THEY? 
HAVEN'T WE DARED ALL NATIONS TO COME TRY TO FORCE US TO DO ANYTHING SINCE 1776? 

IF RUSSIA OR IRAN OR ANYBODY ELSE HAD RUN OVER HERE TO IMPOSE THEIR CHOICE OF GOVERNMENT ON US AMERICANS, WOULDN'T WE HAVE SIMPLY BLOWN THEIR HEADS OFF? 

AMERICA CHOSE A 'DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC' IDEOLOGY.
JUST AS OTHERS CHOOSE COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM, OR THE RULES OF ISLAM.

DOESN'T ANYONE HERE GIVE A DAMN ABOUT EVERYONE'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE?
AND, IF OR WHEN THEY CHOOSE THAT, WE SHOULD JUST RESPECT THAT CHOICE LIKE WE EXPECT EVERYONE TO RESPECT OURS, RIGHT?

IF ANY NATION ON EARTH HAS A MAJORITY WHO DON'T AGREE WITH THEIR PRESENT FORM OF GOVERNMENT, DOESN'T AMERICA REMEMBER THAT WHEN WE DECIDED THAT, WITH LESS THAN 2 MILLION WHITES INSIDE THESE BORDERS, AND HALF A MILLION BLACK SLAVES, WE'D GO UP AGAINST THE GREATEST POWER ON EARTH AT THAT TIME AND "DAMN THE TORPEDOES"?

SOME OF OUR SOLDIERS WERE AS YOUNG AS 10!

DO WE FORGET THAT 20% OF THE PEOPLE HERE WANTED TO STAY LOYAL TO BRITAIN AND DID SO...SO WE EITHER KILLED OR SUBDUED OR CHASED THEM OFF AS WELL!
SURE, SURE, WE SUCKED-UP TO FRANCE TO WIN THAT ONE, BUT BESIDES LOTS OF GUNPOWDER AND SOME FRENCH COIN, AMERICA WOULD HAVE POUNDED BRITAIN TO SMITHEREENS ANYWAY. 
ASK A MILITARY ANALYST!

IT WAS 80,000 U.S. MILITIA AND ROUGHLY 9,000 TO 12,000 FRENCH MILITARY AGAINST 56,000 BRITISH AND 30,000 HESSIANS.

AFTER IT WAS ALL OVER, AMERICA MADE DAMN CERTAIN ALL FOREIGN TROOPS WENT HOME..IN BOXES OR ALIVE.

LESS THAN 7% OF ALL AMERICANS FOUGHT IN THAT WAR.

CAN'T OTHER NATIONS DO THE SAME?
DON'T WE EXPECT THEM TO, AND IF NOT, WHY NOT?
ANYTHING WORTH HAVING IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR, RIGHT?

WHO DIED AND MADE AMERICA EVERYBODY'S KEEPER?

SO....THOSE NATIONS WHO WANT TO GO BACK AND BE A PART OF 'MOTHER RUSSIA' SHOULD DO SO, AND THOSE WHO DON'T SHOULD ARM THEMSELVES AND SLUG IT OUT WITH RUSSIA.

NEED SOME MONEY TO DO THAT, EXTRA GUNS, MORE TROOPS?
YOU'RE IN EUROPE...CALL ON YOUR NEIGHBORS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION! 

STOP CALLING ACROSS THE POND!
TRUST ME, YOU DO NOT WANT AMERICAN TROOPS THERE!
THEY NEVER LEAVE!

SAME GOES FOR ALL THE MIDDLE EAST, BUT EVEN MORE SO.
MOST OF THAT IS SUNNI AGAINST SHIA OR MUSLIM AGAINST NON-MUSLIM.
MAY THE 'BEST MAN' WIN!

WHAT SURPRISES ME IS THAT ALMOST NO ONE, APPARENTLY, SEES CHINA AS A THREAT IN EUROPE OR THE MIDDLE EAST, SO NO ONE IS SCREAMING "SAVE US FROM CHINA", AND THERE IS NO ONE ASKING ANYBODY TO SAVE THEM FROM.... AMERICA.

ISN'T THAT CRAZY?

IT'S JUST ABOUT ALL CRAZY OUT THERE, ISN'T IT PEOPLE OF EARTH?

IF NATO WANTS TO STAND-OFF AGAINST RUSSIA, LET NATO DO SO JUST ONCE WITHOUT THE USA.

THERE WOULD BE FAR LESS OF THIS CHEST-BEATING BRAVADO IF THE OTHER 27 NATIONS IN OLD NATO HAD TO GO IT WITHOUT THE U.S.

AND OUR GUYS KNOW THAT...
THAT'S WHY THEY GOAD.
THAT'S WHY THEY HAVE TO GET NATO INTO BERSERKER MODE EVERY BLOODY TIME.

THE DOGS OF WAR IN THE USA HAVE GOTTEN REALLY GOOD AT MANIPULATING JUST ABOUT EVERY NATION ON THE PLANET, HAVEN'T THEY?

SEE YOU UNDER THE MUSHROOM CLOUDS, FOLKS.