anybody monitoring russias movements?

[psalm 7]

You seem to forget friend that your ancestors all came from European countries and they build USA?
Also the 9000 Nazi's that were invited after WW2 and brought in elegally created all these weapons of Mass destruction that US is using all over the world now? And there has been NO Peace since and USA has started wars all over the world and has not even won 1 war ?

No I do not forget where my Ancestors come from Walesh , Irish ,German .
Yes the European Settelers and decendants thereof built this Country and were guided by GOD to build a Nation like has never exsisted before in World History .
You are right about several Nazi Scientist and Officers were brought to the U.S after the War , many went to Russia by force also . We made the most of them and Russia still remains in 2nd place .
As far as blameing the exsistance of the U.S.A for the misirable state of other Countries its like a prisoner blameing others because he's locked up for his own decisions and actions . When the people of these Nations that just cant seem to get it right quit living under dictators and give thier Countrys political system a overhaul , impower the people , let the free market work instead of letting some "leader" tell them what they should do . Then these Nations will prosper too .

Russia thought they could bluff their way into the Ukraine . They were stopped before they took more of Georgia and they will not anex Ukraine . The arms being sent from the U.S to Poland , Romania , Czech Republic , Estonia show our support but the People of these Countrys know if Russia leaves its borders and make a push through Europe then they fill have to put up the biggist part of the fight . No Country is threatening Russia other than China wanting part of the area where they border . Russia brought this on themselfs .

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Who’s Making the Cold War Hot? Check out All the NATO Exercises Near Russian Border Since 2014

Next time you hear about anything remotely close to the phrase “Russian aggression” or anything in our media that smacks of Russia being the country that is trying to resurrect the Cold War, please remember this infographic denoting all of the ongoing NATO exercises that have taken place near the Russian border just since last year.

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Dr. Pail Craig Roberts
on the European,US Russian Crisis

Paul Craig Roberts’ address to the Conference on the European/Russian Crisis, Delphi, Greece, June 20-21, 2015

The United States has pursued empire since early in its history, but it was the Soviet collapse in 1991 that enabled Washington to see the entire world as its oyster.

The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in the rise of the neoconservatives to power and influence in the US government. The neoconservatives have interpreted the Soviet collapse as History’s choice of “American democratic capitalism” as the New World Order.
Chosen by History as the exceptional and indispensable country, Washington claims the right and the responsibility to impose its hegemony on the world. Neoconservatives regard their agenda to be too important to be constrained by domestic and international law or by the interests of other countries. Indeed, as the Unipower, Washington is required by the neoconservative doctrine to prevent the rise of other countries that could constrain American power.

Paul Wolfowitz, a leading neoconservative, penned the Wolfowitz Doctrine shortly after the Soviet collapse. This doctrine is the basis of US foreign and military policy.
“Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.”

Notice that Washington’s “first objective” is not peace, not prosperity, not human rights, not democracy, not justice. Washington’s “first objective” is world hegemony. Only the very confident so blatantly reveal their agenda.

As a former member of the Cold War Committee on the Present Danger, I can explain what Wolfowitz’s words mean. The “threat posed formerly by the Soviet Union” was the ability of the Soviet Union to block unilateral US action in some parts of the world. The Soviet Union was a constraint on US unilateral action, not everywhere but in some places. Any constraint on Washington is regarded as a threat.

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Part 2
A “hostile power” is a country with an independent foreign policy, such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) have proclaimed. Iran, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba, and North Korea also proclaim an independent foreign policy
The Wolfowitz doctrine requires Washington to dispense with or overthrow governments that do not acquiesce to Washington’s will. It is the “first objective.”

The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in Boris Yeltsin becoming president of a dismembered Russia. Washington became accustomed to Yeltsin’s compliance and absorbed itself in its Middle Eastern wars, expecting Vladimir Putin to continue Russia’s vassalage.

However at the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy, Putin said: “I consider that the unipolar model is not only unacceptable but also impossible in today’s world.”

Putin went on to say:“We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law, and independent legal norms are, as a matter of fact, coming increasingly closer to one state’s legal system. One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way. This is visible in the economic, political, cultural and educational policies it imposes on other nations. Well, who likes this? Who is happy about this?
When Putin issued this fundamental challenge to US unipower, Washington was preoccupied with its lack of success with its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Mission was not accomplished.

By 2014 it had come to Washington’s attention that while Washington was blowing up weddings, funerals, village elders, and children’s soccer games in the Middle East, Russia had achieved independence from Washington’s control and presented itself as a formidable challenge to Washington’s uni-power. Putin blocked Obama’s planned invasion of Syria and bombing of Iran.The unmistakable rise of Russia refocused Washington from the Middle East to Russia’s vulnerabilities.

Ukraine, long a constituent part of Russia and subsequently the Soviet Union, was split off from Russia in the wake of the Soviet collapse by Washington’s maneuvering. In 2004 Washington had tried to capture Ukraine in the Orange Revolution, which failed to deliver Ukraine into Washington’s hands. Consequently, according to neocon Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, Washington spent $5 billion over the following decade developing Ukrainian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that could be called into the streets of Kiev and in developing Ukrainian political leaders willing to represent Washington’s interests
Washington launched its coup in February 2014 with orchestrated demonstrations that, with the addition of violence, resulted in the overthrow and flight of the elected democratic government of Victor Yanukovych. In other words, Washington destroyed democracy in a new country with a coup before democracy could take root.
Ukrainian democracy meant nothing to Washington. Washington was intent on seizing Ukraine in order to present Russia with a security problem and also to justify sanctions against “Russian aggression” in order to break up Russia’s growing economic and political relationships with Europe. Washington feared that these relationships could undermine Washington’s hold on Europe.
Sanctions are contrary to Europe’s interests. Nevertheless European governments accommodated Washington’s agenda. The reason was explained to me several decades ago by my Ph.D. dissertation committee chairman who became Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. I had the opportunity to ask him how Washington managed to have foreign governments act in Washington’s interest rather than in the interest of their own countries. He said, “money.” I said, “you mean foreign aide?” He said, “no, we give the politicians bags full of money. They belong to us. They answer to us.”

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Part 3
Recently, the German journalist Udo Ulfkotte wrote a book, Bought Journalists, in which he reported that every significant European journalist functions as a CIA asset.

This does not surprise me. The same is the situation in the US.As Europe is an appendage of Washington, a collection of vassal states, Europe enables Washington’s pursuit of hegemony even to the extent of being driven into conflict with Russia over a “crisis” that is entirely a propaganda creation of Washington’s.
The media disguises the reality. During the Clinton regime, six mega-media companies were permitted to acquire 90% of the US print, TV, radio, and entertainment media, a concentration that destroyed diversity and independence. Today the media throughout the Western world serves as a Propaganda Ministry for Washington. The Western media is Washington’s Ministry of Truth. Gerald Celente, the trends forecaster, calls the Western media “presstitutes,” a combination of press prostitutes.

In the US Putin and Russia are demonized around the clock. Every broadcast alerts us to “the Russian threat.” Even Putin’s facial expressions are psychologically analyzed. Putin is the New Hitler. Putin has ambitions to recreate the Soviet empire. Putin invaded Ukraine. Putin is going to invade the Baltic states and Poland. Putin is a threat on the level of ebola and the Islamist State. US Russian experts, such as Stephen Cohen, who state the facts are dismissed as “Putin apologists.” Any and every one who takes exception to the anti-Putin, anti-Russian propaganda is branded a “Putin apologist,” just as 9/11 skeptics are dismissed as “conspiracy theorists.” In the Western world, the few truth-tellers are demonized along with Putin and Russia
The world should take note that today, right now, Truth is the most unwelcome presence in the Western world. No one wants to hear it in Washington, London, Tokyo, or in any of the political capitals of Washington’s empire.

The majority of the American population has fallen for the anti-Russian propaganda, just as they fell for “Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction,” “Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his own people,” Iranian nukes,” the endless lies about Gaddafi, 9/11, shoe bombers, underwear bombers, shampoo and bottled water bombers. There is always a new lie to keep the fear factor working for Washington’s endless wars and police state measures that enrich the rich and impoverish the poor.The gullibility of the public has enabled Washington to establish the foundation for a new Cold War or for a preemptive nuclear strike on Russia. Some neoconservatives prefer the latter. They believe nuclear war can be won, and they ask, “What is the purpose of nuclear weapons if they cannot be used?”

China is the other rising power that the Wolfowitz Doctrine requires to be constrained. Washington’s “pivot to Asia” creates new naval and air bases to control China and perpetuate Washington’s hegemony in the South China Sea.
We come to the bottom line. Washington’s position is not negotiable. Washington has no interest in compromising with Russia or China. Washington has no interest in any facts. Washington’s deal is this: “You can be part of our world order as our vassals, but not otherwise.”European governments and, of course, the lapdog UK government, are complicit in this implicit declaration of war against Russia and China. If it comes to war, Europeans will pay the ultimate price for the treason of their leaders, such as Merkel, Cameron, and Hollande, as Europe will cease to exist.
War with Russia and China is beyond Washington’s capability. However, if the demonized “enemy” does not succumb to the pressure and accept Washington’s leadership, war can be inevitable. Washington has launched an attack. How does Washington back off? Don’t expect any American regime to say, “we made a mistake. Let’s work this out.” Every one of the announced candidates for the American presidency is committed to American hegemony and war.

Washington believes Russia can be isolated from the West and that this isolation will motivate those secularized and westernized elements in Russia, who desire to be part of the West, into more active opposition against Putin. The Saker calls these Russians “Atlanticist integrationists

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Part4
After two decades of Russia being infiltrated by Washington’s NGO Fifth Columns, the Russian government has finally taken action to regulate the hundreds of Western-financed NGOs inside Russia that comprise Washington’ subversion of the Russian government. However, Washington still hopes to use sanctions to cause enough disruption of economic life within Russia to be able to send protesters into the streets. Regime change, as in Ukraine, is one of Washington’s tools. In China the US organized the Hong Kong “student” riots, which Washington hopes will spread into China, and Washington supports the independence of the Muslim population in the Chinese province that borders Kazakhstan.

The problem with a government in the control of an ideology is that ideology and not reason drives the action of the government. As the majority of Western populations lack the interest to search for independent explanations, the populations impose no constraint on governments.To understand Washington, go online and read the neoconservative documents and position papers. You will see an agenda unconstrained by law, by morality, by compassion, by common sense. You will see an agenda of evil
Who is Obama’s Assistant Secretary of State for the Ukrainian part of the world? It is the neoconservative Victoria Nuland who organized the Ukrainian coup, who put in office the new puppet government, who is married to the even more extreme neoconservative, Robert Kagan.

Who is Obama’s National Security advisor? It is Susan Rice, a neoconservative.

Who is Obama’s Ambassador to the UN? It is Samantha Power, a neoconservative.

Now we turn to material interests. The neoconservative agenda of world hegemony serves the powerful military/security complex whose one trillion dollar annual budget depends on war, hot or cold.

The agenda of American hegemony serves the interests of Wall Street and the mega-banks. As Washington’s power and influence spreads, so does American financial imperialism. So does the reach of American oil companies and American agribusiness corporations such as Monsanto.

Washington’s hegemony means that US corporations get to loot the rest of the world
The danger of the neoconservative ideology is that it is in perfect harmony with powerful economic interests. In the US the left-wing has made itself impotent. It believes all the foundational government lies that have given America a police/warfare state incapable of producing alternative leadership. The American left, what little remains, for emotional reasons believes the government’s 9/11 story. The anti-religious left-wing believes the threat posed to free thought by a Christian Russia. The left-wing, convinced that Americans are racists, believes the government’s account of the assassinations of Martin Luther King.

The left-wing accepts the government’s transparent 9/11 fable, because it is emotionally important to the American left that oppressed peoples strike back. For the American left, it is emotionally satisfying that the Middle East, long oppressed and exploited by the French, British and Americans, struck back and humiliated the Unipower in the 9/11 attack.

This emotional need is so powerful for the left that it blinds the left-wing to the improbability of a few Saudi Arabians, who could not fly airplanes, outwitting not merely the FBI, CIA, and NSA, which spies on the entire world, but as well all 16 US intelligence agencies and the intelligence agencies of Washington’s NATO vassal states and Israel’s Mossad, which has infiltrated every terrorist organization, including those created by Washington itself.
Somehow these Saudis were able to also outwit NORAD, airport security, causing security to fail four times in one hour on the same day. They were able to prevent for the first time ever the US Air Force from intercepting the hijacked airliners. Air traffic control somehow lost the hijacked airliners on radar. Two airliners crashed, one into the Pennsylvania country side and one into the Pentagon without leaving any debris. The passport of the leader of the attack, Mohammed Atta was reported to be found as the only undamaged element in the debris of the World Trade Center towers. The story of the passport was so preposterous that it had to be changed.

This implausible account did not raise any eyebrows in the tame Western print and TV media.

The right-wing is obsessed with immigration of darker-skinned peoples, and 9/11 has become an argument against immigration. The left-wing awaits the oppressed to strike back against their oppressors. The 9/11 fable survives as it serves the interests of both left and right.
I can tell you for a fact that if American national security had so totally failed as it is represented to have failed by the official explanation of 9/11, the White House, the Congress, the media would have been screaming for an investigation. Heads would have rolled in agencies that permitted such massive failure of the national security state. The embarrassment of a Superpower being so easily attacked and humiliated by a handful of Arabs acting independently of any intelligence agency would have created an uproar demanding accountability.

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Part 5
Instead, the White House resisted any investigation for one year. Under pressure from the 9/11 families who lost family members in the World Trade Center Towers, the White House created a political commission consisting of politicians managed by the White House. The commission sat and listened to the government’s account and wrote it down. This is not an investigation.

In the United States the left-wing is focused on demonizing Ronald Reagan, who had nothing whatsoever to do with any of this. The left-wing hates Reagan because he had to use anti-communist rhetoric in order to keep his electoral basis while he strove to end the Cold War in the face of the powerful opposition of the military/security complex
Is the left-wing more effective in Europe? Not that I can see. Look at Greece for example. The Greek people are driven into the ground by the EU, the IMF, the German and Dutch banks and the New York hedge funds. Yet, when presented with candidates who promise to resist the looting of Greece, the Greek voters give the candidates a mere 36% of the vote, enough to form a government, but not enough to have any clout with creditors.

Having hamstrung their government with such low electoral support, the Greek people further impose impotence on their government by demanding to remain in the EU. If leaving the EU is not a realistic threat, the Greek government has no negotiating power.

Obviously, the Greek population is so throughly brainwashed about the necessity of being part of the EU that the population is willing to be economically dispossessed rather than to leave the EU. Thus Greeks have forfeited their sovereignty and independence. A country without its own money is not, and cannot be, an independent country
Once European intellectuals signed off on the EU, they committed nations to vassalage, both to the EU bureaucrats and to Washington. Consequently, European nations are not independent and cannot exercise an independent foreign policy.

Their impotence means that Washington can drive them to war. To fully understand the impotence of Europe look at France. The only leader in Europe worthy of the name is Marine Le Pen. Having said this, I am immediately denounced by the European left as a fascist, a racist, and so forth. This only shows the knee-jerk response of the European left.

It is not I who shares Le Pen’s views on immigration. It is the French people. Le Pen’s party won the recent EU elections. What Le Pen stands for is French independence from the EU. The majority of French see themselves as French and want to remain French with their own laws and customs. Only Le Pen among European politicians has stated the obvious: “The Americans are taking us to war!”

Despite the French desire for independence, the French will elect Le Pen’s party to the EU but will not give it the vote to be the government of France. The French deny themselves their independence, because they are heavily conditioned by brainwashing, much coming from the left, and are ashamed to be racists, fascists, and whatever epithets have been assigned to Le Pen’s political party, a party that stands for the independence of France.

The European left-wing, once a progressive force, even a revolutionary one, has become a reactionary force. It is the same in the US. I say this as one of CounterPunch’s popular contributors.

The inability even of intellectuals to recognize and accept reality means that restraints on neoconservatives are nowhere present except within Russia and China. The West is impotent to prevent Armageddon.It is up to Russia and China, and as Washington has framed the dilemma, Armageddon can only be prevented by Russia and China accepting vassal status.
I don’t believe this is going to happen. Why would any self-respecting people submit to the corrupt West?

The hope is that Washington will cause its European vassals to rebel by pushing them too hard into conflict with Russia. The hope that European countries will be forced into an independent foreign policy also seems to be the basis of the Russian government’s strategy.
Perhaps intellectuals can help to bring this hope to fruition. If European politicians were to break from Washington’s hegemony and instead represent European interests, Washington would be deprived of cover for its war crimes. Washington’s aggressions would be constrained by an independent European foreign policy. The breakdown of the neoconservative unipower model would be apparent even to Washington, and the world would become a safer and better place.
--------------------------------
COMMENTS
Can you imagine what our government would do if Russia started to set up military bases and do military exercises in Canada and Mexico near the border areas??? There would be hell on earth to pay!
When you mess with a bear, poke a bear, tease a bear, sooner or later it bites!
This lunacy must stop, as we are on the precipice of a mountain starting to jump off! On the bottom of the precipice IS WW3!!!!!

 

[Cavemanjoe]

The worst part is that if you were to ask 100 people where eastern europe is, maybe 5 could point to it on a map..... Even less would know if we were there or what we were doing there.
So why again did the dictator in chief get the Nobel Peace Prize for??? And why does he still have it in his possession?

 

[ANACONDA]

The text is interesting, legs, I can only say - DEATH RUSSIAN OCCUPIERS. There will be no peace in the world until there is Russia . Before leaving on patrol tomorrow. It is expected the fun otherwise not have attracted hunters used.

 

[Cavemanjoe]

From Yahoo News;

RUSSIAN SOLDERS IN UKRAINE

Ruslan Leviyev clicks through the evidence on the computer in his Moscow flat that he says helps prove Russian President Vladimir Putin is lying when he denies his troops are fighting in Ukraine.
Showing photographs of fresh military graves, posts from social media sites, interviews with the relatives of soldiers -- Leviyev is one of a tiny number of opposition activists collating data aimed at convincing Russians that their government is waging an undeclared war in Ukraine.
"Our work is important because the legacy of this war will damage the Russian people for a long time," Leviyev, a 28-year-old freelance video editor, told AFP.
"It will affect not just our generation but our children's generation and even grandchildren, so it is crucial to stop this war now as the longer it lasts the worse the impact will be."
To help him, however, Leviyev only has a team of five -- anonymous -- Internet sleuths he recruited via social media to scan the web daily for evidence to post on Twitter or in online reports.
Arrayed against them is the vast might of the Kremlin and the slavish Russian state media that sticks vociferously to the line that the Ukraine conflict is a civil war that has more to do with Western interference than Moscow's meddling.
"Our opponents -- those who say there are no troops -- have far more power and resources than us," the tattooed activist said.
For Leviyev, as for Kiev and many Western governments, the evidence of Russian involvement is overwhelming.
Last month Leviyev -- who funds his own investigations and has received threats for his work -- travelled to provincial towns in Russia to investigate the mysterious burials of three special forces troops that he says were killed in Ukraine
Beyond that, the modern armoury the rebels possess, sudden battlefield reverses suffered by Ukrainian forces and confessions from captured alleged Russian troops, all point to the Kremlin's guilt.
Putin has already admitted he lied about sending troops in to annex Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March 2014.
But Moscow point-blank dismisses any claims its troops are in east Ukraine and says that if thousands of Russian government soldiers were fighting there, it would be obvious.
- Public not convinced -
And -- despite the certainty felt by Leviyev and other opposition activists -- most Russians seem to be buying that line.
In a recent opinion poll from independent Levada centre only around 20 percent of people said they thought Russian soldiers were deployed in Ukraine.
Far more, some 72 percent, said they believed Russians were fighting there but accepted the government explanation that they had all joined the rebels as volunteers out of conviction or for money.
Experts say there is one overriding reason for this breakdown of public opinion.
"The propaganda is very effective and so total in its volume and the censorship eradicates any other sources of information," said Lev Gudkov from the Levada centre.
That means that even if more people believed Putin was not telling the truth about Ukraine, many would feel he was justified in protecting Russia's national interests.
"People accept Putin and the Kremlin's interpretation of events and even if they don't understand fully what is happening in Ukraine they support the Kremlin," Gudkov said.
- Putin decree -
As they are already fighting an almost unwinnable battle to be heard, life just got harder for the activists probing Russia's alleged involvement in Ukraine.
Last month Putin issued a decree classifying Russian military deaths in peacetime "special operations" as state secrets.
While the Kremlin denies this decree is connected to Ukraine, activists say the move, which could see anyone accused of divulging information on troop deaths face a long jail sentence, is designed to stop them.
Opposition activist Olga Shorina helped edit a report on Russian involvement in Ukraine based on research that her former boss Boris Nemtsov was carrying out at the time he was gunned down in Moscow.
The investigation -- "Putin. War." -- claimed that hundreds of Russian soldiers have been killed in the fighting. After a struggle to find a printer, it has been published and will be handed out in public by activists.
Now the new decree -- which is being challenged in court by Russian journalists and activists -- makes trying to uncover the truth more perilous.
"The authorities treat any alternative information as a threat to the regime, so they react harshly," Shorina told AFP.
"So far the decree hasn't been applied but it could be at any moment, so, yes, the situation has got more dangerous.

 

[Cavemanjoe]

CHEMICAL WEAPONS USED IN UKRAINE

Kiev's Junta Forces Terror Bomb Donbass
June 20th, 2015
by Stephen Lendman


Kiev war crimes include using banned chemical weapons, cluster bombs and white phosphorous in Donbass - including against civilian neighborhoods.

Reports indicate US experts are helping Ukraine produce chemical weapons for use against rebel forces. Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) intelligence learned they're being secretly developed for escalated dirty war.
On Tuesday, reported fuel-air (thermobaric) explosives targeted a Donetsk chemical plant - fired from junta held Kurahhovo village 30 kilometers away.

These weapons suck oxygen from open areas and human lungs. They generate intense, high-temperature explosions. They're much more destructive than conventional explosives of equal weight - especially when used against people in bunkers, shelters, caves and other enclosed places.

It's virtually impossible for civilians to shelter against their destructive effects. A Russian military scientist once called their capability comparable to low-yield radiological munitions.
Used in large numbers, they're enormously destructive - separate blast waves reinforcing each other increasing their overall power. They use fuel and explosive charges creating a massive blast wave. They were first used in Vietnam by US forces.
An earlier CIA study said their effect "within confined spaces is immense. Those near the ignition point are obliterated."

"Those at the fringe are likely to suffer many internal, and thus invisible injuries, including burst eardrums and crushed inner ear organs, severe concussions, rupture lungs and internal organs, and possibly blindness."

With air sucked from lungs, victims suffocate to death besides other injuries sustained. Make no mistake. These are terror weapons - yet not banned under international law.

Ukrainian forces targeted Donetsk's chemical plant storage facilities where mining explosives are held. They tried earlier using inaccurate Tochka-U missiles. They failed again this time. Crater evidence showed thermobaric weapons use.

Western media ignore these type incidents - including multiple daily attacks by junta forces on Donbass.

Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Defense Ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin said junta forces used artillery, mortars, grenade launchers and small arms in the last 24 hours alone. The pattern repeats daily - including willfully targeting civilian neighborhoods.

Russian upper house Federation Council International Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev blames US-dominated NATO for exploiting nonexistent "Russian aggression" in Ukraine.

He expressed concern about belligerent NATO actions - calling deploying heavy weapons close to Russia's borders "the height of irresponsibility to all peoples of Europe."

Is "another large-scale military conflict planned," he asked? "(W)hat is going on in Ukraine is a direct consequence of actions by the West, which upset the security and power balance in Europe by its (power grab in) Ukraine."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov said "(n)one of the Russia-NATO programs that used to (operate) are functioning at a working level." Nothing is being done to repair ruptured relations.

Moscow justifiably is concerned about US-dominated NATO's planned Eastern European buildup - creating more dangerous flashpoint conditions than already.

Russia intends responding appropriately to protect its security against hostile Western actions. Days earlier, a Foreign Ministry statement said:
"We will keep an eye on the United States’ and their allies’ steps towards building a global missile defence system and other factors impacting Russia’s security, such as the United States’ stockpiling non-nuclear strategic weapons within the Prompt Global Strike concept and its persistent unwillingness to undertake legally binding liabilities not to deploy weapons in outer space."

"…Russia reserves the right to take (all) necessary steps to protect its security and defend its national interests."

Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Washington of provocations "designed to aggravate bilateral relations."
Moscow wants mutual cooperation with all nations. At the same time, it'll defend itself responsibly against hostile US actions. Whether East/West confrontation can be avoided remains to be seen.

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]

 

[Cavemanjoe]

NON EXISTEND PUTIN WAR ON UKRAINE

America, rogue EU partners and their go-along scoundrel media propaganda machine can't stop beating a dead horse. Big Lies persist ad nauseam.

The whole world knows Russia didn't invade Ukraine. It's not waging war against any nation. It's not supplying Donbass freedom fighters with weapons or other military support.

It's the continent's leading proponent of peace and stability. It shames America's rage for endless wars of aggression against invented enemies.

Throughout months of conflict in Ukraine, Russia more than any other nation has gone all-out to resolve it diplomatically. No one more deserves Nobel Peace Prize recognition than Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov.

War criminals like Obama win most often. Peace champions are systematically shunned.

The Atlantic Council is a hawkish right-wing think tank. Its directors include a rogue's gallery of high-level US war criminals.

They support endless imperial wars of aggression. They believe war is peace. They back policies threatening humanity's survival.

They published two reports on Putin featuring a litany of Big Lies. They're based on irresponsible social media anti-Russian propaganda and other sources lacking credibility.
One allegedly is from opposition figure Boris Nemtzov - shot dead on February 27, published posthumously, titled "Putin. War."

The other is titled "Hiding in Plain Sight: Putin's War in Ukraine."

AC's pre-publication propaganda promotion begins with a Big Lie saying "Russia is at war with Ukraine." It blames Putin for US-orchestrated/Kiev aggression causing mass slaughter and destruction.

It ludicrously claims "evidence that the Kremlin is directing the war is overwhelming." No such evidence exists.

The Hiding in Plain Sight report ignores the US-orchestrated February 2014 coup elevating fascist putschists to power.

Nor did it say anything about its rogue regime systematically destroying Ukrainian democracy while waging naked aggression on its own people.

It irresponsibly blamed Russia for Kiev's crimes. It ludicrously claimed "little green men (in) unmarked Russian military uniforms…appeared in the guise of local separatists."
Western sanctions "have not deterred Russia from continuing to supply troops and weapons to eastern Ukraine." It provided no credible evidence supporting their phony claims. A litany of Big Lies substituted.

It supports Obama's anti-Russian agenda. It blames Moscow and Donbass freedom fighters for US/Kiev's crimes - including systematically breaching ceasefire terms straightaway after two 2014 agreements and the most recent February 2015 one.

It claims "overwhelming proof" of Russian involvement in Donbass but fails to reveal it. None exists.

The whole world knows Washington and Kiev putschists are responsible for war on Donbass and overall Ukrainian crisis conditions. Russia continues going all-out to resolve conflict diplomatically Claims otherwise are Big Lies.

Both Atlantic Council reports read like bad fiction. "Putin. War" allegedly is based on Boris Nemtsov's material - or perhaps someone using his name to proliferate anti-Russian propaganda.

It repeats the same old Big Lies and includes others. It makes bad fiction look respectable.

It absurdly claimed Putin needed war on Ukraine to boost his popularity. Polls show it exceeds 85%. No Western politician comes close to matching him.
He says what he means and means what he says, unlike Obama and other duplicitous politicians like him.

It claims government and media hard truths are "lies and propaganda." It created a fictional account of how Crimea returned to Russia. It wasn't annexed.

Crimeans overwhelmingly made their own choice democratically by internationally monitored national referendum judged open, free and fair.
It blamed Putin and Donbass freedom fighters for Obama's war dirty war without mercy - using Kiev's military as convenient proxies.

It blamed them for downing MH17 despite clear evidence indicating Kiev's responsibility.

It blustered "Putin must be stopped." It ignored fascist rule in Europe's heartland for the first time since WW II - illegitimate, ruthless, a Nazi-infested regime threatening to embroil Europe in conflict.

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]

 

[Cavemanjoe]

PUTINS STAIGHT TALK VS OBAMA LIES

by Stephen Lendman


Putin says what he means and means what he says. His style is forthright. He follows through on what he says.

Obama is polar opposite - an inveterate serial liar with no credibility whatever. He says one thing and does another.

On the occasion of Ramadan, he duplicitously extended "warmest greetings" to world Muslims he's been systematically mass slaughtering since day one in office with no letup.

If he really cared for their rights and welfare, he'd immediately order all US direct and proxy wars of aggression ended. He'd stop destabilizing Muslim countries and end persecuting Islamic people at home and abroad.

He'd end the charade about a so-called Iranian nuclear weapons program the whole world knows doesn't exist.

He'd cease all US financial, political and military support for Israel until it recognizes Palestinian statehood within June 1967 borders and ends its illegal occupation once and for all - both unconditionally.

He'd stop pursuing regime change in one independent country after another. He'd put Wall Street and other corporate crooks in prison where they belong - plus CIA torturers for their high crimes.

He'd end punishing austerity and go all-out to increase social benefits - including replacing corporate controlled Obamacare with universal healthcare for all Americans.
He'd dismantle America's police state apparatus and repressive laws. He'd support fair and equitable trade, not what benefits corporate predators at the expense of consumers.

He'd end Big Brother spying on everyone without just cause. He’d obey international, constitutional and US statute laws instead of breaching them consistently. He'd serve all Americans equitably - not just its rich and powerful.

Putin participated in a St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) plenary meeting panel discussion.

He answered questions forthrightly. He had much to say worth hearing. He justifiably blamed Washington for pursuing Cold War 2.0.

"Not military conflicts but global decisions like the US unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) lead to a Cold War," Putin explained.

"This more in fact pushes us to a new round of the arms race, because it changes the global security system."

Washington lied claiming ABM withdrawal was to counter threats from North Korea and Iran. None exist. Both countries want normal relations with America and other Western nations. Instead they're bashed for maintaining sovereign independent rights.

The Bush administration ended ABM to install so-called anti-missile systems intended for offense targeting Russia and China. Obama pursues the same belligerent policy.

"The problem is (America is it's) constantly trying to impose (its) standards and decisions on us with no regard to our interests," said Putin.

"In essence they say: 'we are better' as if the US knows better what is good for us. Well, let us decide for ourselves what our interests and needs are as dictated by our history and culture."

Putin accused Washington of irresponsibly meddling in Russia's internal affairs - the same way it operates globally, a nuclear-armed bully throwing its weight around.
"This is no dialogue," Putin explained. Instead "an (unacceptable) ultimatum. Don't speak the language of ultimatums with us," he stressed.

"Russia does not claim some sort of hegemony. It does not claim some kind of ephemeral superpower status. We want relations based on equality with all members of the international community."

Russia will go all-out to defend its interests, Putin explained. It's not about to roll over and obey US diktats - nor should it or any other nation.

After Soviet Russia's dissolution, Washington began aggressively expanding east using enlarged NATO as a dagger targeting its heartland.

"I’m completely convinced that after the so-called bipolar system ceased to exist, after the Soviet Union disappeared of the political map, several of our partners in the West, including the United States first and foremost, came under euphoria and instead of setting up good neighborly and partner relations, they began grabbing free geopolitical space as they saw it," said Putin.

Confrontation substituted for normalized relations. Nothing in prospect suggests change.

"We are not the root cause of…crisis…in Ukraine," Putin explained.

The West "shouldn't have supported the anti-state and anti-constitutional coup, the armed seizure of power that eventually ignited a tough confrontation and de facto a civil war in that country."

Multi-world polarity is the new way of things Putin stresses often. Instead of accepting it and building good relations, US-dominated NATO expanded east in violation of what it pledged not to do.

"Quite possibly, some of our partners might have gotten an illusion that a global center like the Soviet Union had existed in the postwar world order and now that it was gone, vacuum appeared and it was to be filled urgently," Putin said.

"I actually think that’s an erroneous approach to the solution of the problem.
Kiev must shift from "manipulations to practical work" - including constitutional reform, accepting Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics' special status, decentralization, a new law on municipal elections, amnesty as agreed on, and full implementation of Minsk ceasefire terms.

So far, nothing constructive was accomplished. Aggression on Donbass continues. No dialogue is in prospect to end it - or efforts to afford its residents their legitimate rights.

"If the current Ukrainian authorities think that it is Ukraine’s territory and there live the Ukrainians who enjoy the right to be provided with disability benefits or pensions and who have earned them working in accordance with the Ukrainian law, then the Ukrainian authorities cannot deny payments of these benefits as they just have no right to behave so! They are violating their own constitution," Putin explained.

Given lunatics running the asylum in Washington, the possibility of East/West confrontation is greater than perhaps any time during the Cold War.

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

 

[psalm 7]

Vlad Putin and Barak Obama one commie deserves the other .

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Its time the west is getting a lesson in humanitarien acts, so the sooner america gets distroyed and European countries loose some of its capital cities and kill of several billion people maybe then we can have some peace in the world !!!

 

[jontte]

bsflagmad-vlad for Nobel peace prize???? why not nominate Stalin and Hitler posthumous...both rabid dogs like mad-vlad...

 

[jontte]

and to show their "goodwill" they sent a fly-boy to our air-space today...can't those russkies read the compass??

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Comments on Putinn speach SPIEF 2015 Part 1

Great President Vladimir Putin is the greatest and strongest politician in the world that is the only hope for the free people and many nations for not being the American and Jewish minions!!! thanks to the President Vladimir Putin the Russia developing and the investors want doing business with Russia even when the Americans trying from all their efforts to isolate Russia the Russia getting stronger and richer each year while the U.S are getting poorer and weaker from year to year, soon the U.S dollar will case exist and the U.S will fall apart, the President Vladimir Putin is a noble man that in contest to the Americans that every problem resolving by sending their bloodthirsty troops prefer using the diplomacy and language of peace in order to resolving problems,and this is the difference between the U.S and the Russia, the Russia never attacking other countries for rob the oil as the U.S does, the Russia want doing business and many countries want to earning together witch Russia ,so it is natural many of American allies choose the Russian side and want build with Russia better future for everyone not with the Americans that creating new conflicts because they want just control everyone,everyone see that the Russia winning this economical war created by the U.S and their minions ,even Germany and many others want to sign new contracts on many things so the U.S anti-Russian policy has failed and it made me glad that the U.S is so angry at their partners that choose the Russian future from the U.S jealousy of Russia for developing.

Guys help me out here. I'd like think of myself as a stateless, free soul who doesn't need governments and rulers to dictate my thinking of global politics but, as an American, I've never understood the disconnect so many Americans have with Russia and more specifically Putin. I mean don't get me wrong, obviously our media over here is total propaganda attached with our global agenda and American exceptionalism, so I get why people think the way they do, but from my (in my opinion) unbiased perspective, it seems like Putin is a decent guy and Russians seem to love him yeah? Obviously there's all the **** happening in Crimea, but I cant find any media source that doesnt have some sort of agenda attached to it. Whats really going on between us? Whats the real agenda between Obama (and or his puppet masters) and Putin? Would love to hear the Russian take on this.

At first it was another great speech of the greatest leader President Vladimir Putin ,thensk to the President Vladimir Putin the Russia truly become stronger and richer,the world is safer when the President Vladimir Putin rule, Its really funny to seeing how the American pigs yelling and crying because their 'sanctions'' and their efforts on isolate Russia has failed!!! the Russia becoming stronger and richer, paradoxically thanks to these American aggression and sanctions the Russia starting builds its own economical power independent from the Americans and their puppets!!! thanks to these anti-Russian American efforts the Russia get new strong business partners and signs new contracts! the Russian economy developing and the U.S economy is going down it made me really happy, when the U.S Dollar will collapse there will be no such a thing as the United States so I can't wait to see how the U.S has falling!!! God Bless President Vladimir Putin!!! Glory to Russia!!! **** American pigs!!!

I respect Putin very much as an American. But lets get one thing clear. Don't blame the American people for whats going on , we no longer control our own country. Its been taken over the world banks the ("Federal Reserve") and people like Bilderberg and his followers. And we have a president that does not like what America is truly about ( he's a puppet). True Americans , True patriots want the current government gone but we can do nothing because they have replaced judges in the courts and patriotic military commanders who will not comply with their corrupt agendas . We WILL take our country back and we WILL return America to what our forefathers wanted. And with God willing send them all straight to hell

Russia - the place to be and the time is now to invest there. It can only get better, while USA will keep going backwards into the abyss of corruption.
"Equal rights" and "mutual respect" for the Russian people and the Russian Federation? From the Exceptional US of A (and roughly half of Western Europe)?

There's the problem: As Prof. Chomsky quite rightly sums up US Foreign Policy, "We own the world." And not only do we own it, we will lay to waste any other person, organization or nation-state that even thinks about asserting its independence from our plan of total global hegemony. Why do those Russians keep moving their Country closer to our military bases?

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Comments on Putin speach 2015 Part 2

Compare and contrast This with the platitudes, vague bromides and outright falsehoods coming from the mouths of US Presidents at similar events; in recent history, that includes All US Presidents, those currently sitting as well as any likely to assume that position in the near future. Pathetic.

Because of the Western sanctions and Russia’s blockade of many food imports from Europe, trade between Greece and Russia dropped 40 percent in 2014 and another 40 percent this year, officials said. Twenty percent fewer Russian tourists flew to Greece because of the collapse of the ruble against the euro.

Where have you met them ? Have you ever been the guest of a Russian family? Have you ever seen their every day life?
Well, you may live on with your inburnt prejudice. Has a Russian ever cheated you ? On the average the education of Russian people is much better than of a burger-eating American, because their system of education is simply better. You will be shocked about their intelligence and education, but I doubt you will ever realize.
I admit when they are on holiday somewhere it takes them to drink a lot to become as unpleasant as noisily gesticulating American tourists.
Russians are neither sneaky nor amoral, they are simply more pragmatic. Once you have made friends with them you'll have this friendship for a lifetime. They are more critical but less superficial than most people from the western world.

Dear Americans, Ukraine coup involving nationalists and fascists who fought against Russia in 1941-1945, and has lost 25 million people. The advantage of the United States is ready to support anyone (cannibals in Syria or the Nazis in Ukraine).
Us never give up Crimea fascists, the Crimea, for which the Russian people milliorny died 70 years ago, we will not allow to stand in the city of Sevastopol, and the US Navy missiles to threaten us because we remember the "battle of Sevastopol."
This is Russian land, do not wake the bear, remove its army, do not lead to sin !!!!!

As an American I have come to the horrifying realization that my country is not on the right side of humanity. Many in America refuse to see the facts that have been right in our faces for decades. However, many are waking up and that is hopeful. I listen to Vladmir Putin speak and pay attention to his moves and yet the media contradicts everything he says and does which if you know the facts it is often bizarre. It is shocking how many in my country refuse to listen and learn any facts about this Russian leaders ideas for not only Russia but for foreign relations - the world stage. I do not think he is perfect but he is an admirable leader and I believe the only hope for balance in the world politics. I could go on with the details but that is for people to research themselves which I dare many of you to do if you haven't. Pray for this man that he continue on this path and does not stray from what is right. I can see that he is a very important player in a scenario that could turn things around for humanity.

Dear President Putin,
In regards to your speech. 'Russia is open for the world'. May I please take that as a personal invitation!? My name is Gabrielle Sunheart. I've admired you for the past several years. Because I can see how you've uplifted your country ... Which I'm sure, has not been easy. Your opening to the Russian Olympics will never be outdone. And with your permission, I'd like to be your personal guest in Russia. And I'd like to film the most beautiful remote natural locations and share them with my growing audience! I currently have 7000 youtube subscribers. And I would like to share your country with my viewers. And if I could help shed light on tourism opportunities to be had in Russia ... and help open Americans' minds - I feel that the media in my country has put you in an unfair place. Not just Russia ... but other countries too. One of my missions in life is to help remove the fear-factor Americans have when traveling abroad. And if I could meet with you personally - it would be a dream come true. If given the choice between meeting you and my own president I would choose you. I have one more request. I want to bring my 16 year old daughter along as well. She is a big fan of Russian hip-hop

Muslim's hope for peace is only Russia every Islamic country must support this country. Otherwise there will be more destruction by US because US destroyed muslim countries. Not only destroyed they are going start from Zero!. I want to be Russia very powerful so US and European countries will not do whatever they want.

Long Live Russia!! Long Live Putin!! From the United Kingdom. I believe Russia and Russians are wonderful people. I am one for not believing the bologna propaganda that the United Kingdom Media keep broadcasting about Putin and Russia. I laugh so much because Putin Is a small man but has the balls to stand up to the terrorists within the US and the UK. My country Is nothing but a laughing joke to the world and I am one of them people who Is laughing! Keep up the good work Russia! Patience Is a virtue and Russia has done perfect on the world problems. Keep standing your ground Russia because you deserve to be respected as a good nation and good people. Russia pushes towards wanting peace and not war.. west and other countries continue to push for escalation of a war. Nato you try to surround the bear and go near It's borders then you should expect that bear to strike at some point. Stop bitching about Russia being aggressive towards you when you are building up around It's borders. Imagine If a country was to build up around the United States or United Kingdom borders.. we would be bitching like two monkeys In a cage fighting over 1 banana. People keep repeating the same thing that I believe.. Russia has improved and advanced from these silly pathetic sanctions from the world countries. Russians do not believe the media when It says people are against you because I know allot of people who stand with you. Protect Ukraine because It belongs to you. I am waiting for the day the United States sanctions Israel for It's Invasion on Palestine. But obviously this will never happen when the US Sells weapons to Israel that they use against the Palestinians. The US only attacks people who do not want to work with them or follow the terrorist agenda of the US Government. LONG LIVE RUSSIA

Better to be cautious rather than impulsive
like G.w.Bush (who was set up by R. Cheney) and who did stupid stuff like use the word "Crusade" and Islam in the same sentence and who went to an ACC where his controllers had erected a sign: "Mission Accomplished" * Not to mention wearing
a flight suit when he had been AWOL from
the last months of his Texas Air National Guard duty! (He was most likely in an
alcohol or cocaine rehab center -- Or on a
bender someplace in Mexico.)

If you mean American policing and American type of humanity I do not agree with you at all. The world needs jurisdiction everyone has to obey to. Unification under the star spangled banner will never work, the type of American hegemony will immediately be fought against by counterforces. Because American democracy and culture is too weak for the rest of the world. Hitler and Napoleon dreamt about ruling and policing the world as well. But it did not work. Maybe you are the last to have that dream.

Remember when all the countries started joining Euro and the European Union..?
We were promised wealth, freedom & strength through unity! ..
Has any of it happened yet?
NO!!!
EU Countries going bankrupt, every sovereign nation under the EU is being demolished, over-time, this'll only create a big blob of "once great" EU Nations, that'll include race & Culture mixing so that there'll be no pure British, German or French peoples.. This all, under the NWO dictatorship, below the foot of the Zionists.

If history is a good teacher, you just don't **** with Russia, otherwise Russia will **** with you

 

[jontte]

utterly B.S......russkie unification to rule the world??? molon labe I say....

you keep whining here that there is a US-Jewish-Zionist plot to rule the world under one government..and yet you are willing to succumb to rule by one mad dictator from russkie-land?? world rule by mad-vlad??? never....ever

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Like the comments Jontte?? I only show what people around the world are thinking?? and its better than Obama??

 

[psalm 7]

Obama is a lame duck president on his way out . Its the powers that put him in place thats the threat . Its not a U.S threat its a leftist socialist threat to the U.S and in likewise the rest of the World .

 

[jontte]

those whishing for russkie rule are utterly stupid and have never read their history books about the oppression they would get,mad-vlad is no better than stalin..just a megalomaniac dictator...

 

[jontte]

Its time the west is getting a lesson in humanitarien acts, so the sooner america gets distroyed and European countries loose some of its capital cities and kill of several billion people maybe then we can have some peace in the world !!!

russkie humanitarian acts mean death and forced labor camps....west stands for democracy!!

what I find strange is your wish for genocide,for someone supposedly with high education,it's very strange and very disturbing!
is that the mad-vlad way??? peace by exterminating billions??

 

[Cavemanjoe]

Yes we need to get rid of several billion people to get a better world going? That include formost the stupid political idiots that started all this crap, after that the doctors that use vaccines to kill children without giving them a chance to look for a better life, than the judges that are only interested in filling mostly commercial prisons, and lets not forget the bankers and financial cretins who are robbing us and create a permanent debt slavery society? There is NO Democracy in the world, its a F,,,king Joke and anyone who beliefs such a thing deserves also to be on that list!! Than anybody working for Monsanto and other chemical industries should be eliminated instantly !! The list gets longer and longer so lets get started, I'm willing to lead a group of exterminators who can clean up world wide but mostly in US whom Europe is following like a stupid slave and enforcing this corrupt system, get rid of the garbage ruling us !!
Than maybe you can start with a real democratic system ??

 

[ANACONDA]

The fact that Russian troops in Ukraine is not, of all the countries in the world states, only Russia. It should be a complete idiot not to understand that no rebels are not able to conduct positional war with a regular army, and tembolee conduct offensive operations.

 

[jontte]

read a very disturbing news article yesterday where they quite clearly outlined the threat from east,that russkies are in midst of planning some serious hybrid war against my country and they will use,well I call them 5th collum/traitors,disgrunteled people from here to stir up trouble so that we here would lean more towards east,russkies have trained how to best occupy the Aland islands and are planning once again to force us somehow to accept a treaty of mutual assistance and co-op,something similar they forced us to accept after WW2...and mad-vlad deffinately don't wan't us to join Nato..even ready to use force if we do that..so those 900 000 might be needed here....someone here spoke of genocide to the west,right now I would like to see russia torched to the ground,then we might have a better chance for peace here..putinistas;feel free to report this to your supperiors in St. Petersburg and Moscow

 

[ANACONDA]

We were lucky with the neighbor. It is bordered by Russia to live in the same house with the neighbor junkie who always rowdy running on an entrance with an ax and all catches.

 

[jontte]

uuuuuuh,russkies got pissed-off when they weren't alloed to send people on the EU-travel ban list to the OSCE meeting.....well,get out of Ukraine and you will be treated differently...

 

[Cavemanjoe]

US NOT READY FOR WAR WITH RUSSIA

Editor’s Note: If the U.S. is so unprepared, then why is it so adamant about provoking conflict and looking for excuses to get into a war? It seems the powers that be are stuck fighting for territory and influence at the expense of us all, as usual.

by Joshua Krause

At this point, it seems like a war between NATO and Russia is practically a foregone conclusion. There’s certainly a lot of bluster and threats going back and forth between both sides, and they’re both run by tyrannical, power-hungry regimes that want the world to themselves. Those kinds of governments always come to blows at some point.

However, the US government may want to consider holding its tongue for the foreseeable future. Unlike Russia, which has been building up its military prowess since the end of the Cold War, our military has spent the past 15 years bogged down in quagmires involving insurgencies. And by their nature, insurgencies have completely different tactics, equipment, organizational structures, and goals, that are often diametrically opposed to those of a nation-state.

That means our military has spent more than a decade training and equipping its personnel for fighting decentralized, low-budget enemies. One must wonder if they’re still prepared to go toe to toe with an effective conventional military. To answer that question, you only have to take a look at the state of our air power to see that our politicians are in way over their heads when it comes to fighting the Russians.

U.S. military power often is measured by the number of combat aircraft and ships in the inventory. While the United States has by far the largest air force and navy, that size advantage could eventually be negated by enemy air defenses and electronic warfare technologies that are now available in the open market.

The solution is not to buy more fighter jets, stealth bombers or aircraft carriers, but to arm existing Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps combat aircraft with high-tech bombs and missiles that can be dropped in large quantities from hundreds of miles away, suggest military analysts in a new study

The military for decades has invested in an arsenal of short-range “direct attack” weapons on the assumption that they will be able to get close to targets. It also has acquired a large inventory of highly sophisticated autonomous cruise missiles that can travel more than a thousand miles to a target. Today’s standoff weapons keep aircraft out of harm’s way but, at a million dollars apiece, are too expensive to be able to fire in large numbers in a protracted conflict.

There is clearly a gap between today’s short-range and long-range weapons that needs to be filled, says Mark Gunzinger, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “Our combat air forces are short-range and not capable of penetrating contested areas. If we use standoff munitions, those weapons are too large and expensive. The size restricts the number you can carry. We don’t have enough aircraft.”

In other words, our air power is only equipped to deal with third world countries like Iraq, as well as insurgents, both of which don’t have advanced air defenses. We have a massive supply of short-range missiles, but those are obviously useless if you can’t get close to enemy targets. That means that any war with Russia would leave us without air superiority.

And that’s a pretty serious problem, because air superiority is supposedly our greatest asset. It’s been that way since at least the Gulf War, where we demonstrated the frightening capabilities of our air power against the Iraqi’s and their antiquated, Soviet built war machines.

But Russia is a totally different beast. Since we probably won’t have any air superiority against their military, then any future conflict with Russia would force us into a protracted ground war with them. And as Hitler and Napoleon can attest, the Russians absolutely dominate when it comes to ground warfare. We could re-equip our military for a conventional war with Russia, but it may take many years, and many dollars that we don’t have. Perhaps the blowhards in Washington should think about that before they commit our blood and treasure to World War Three.