Helsinki--the Tipping Point?

[Dill]

(07-18-2018, 01:06 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Question: How many of our NATO allies sent troops to Afghanistan.
Answer: All of them.
Question: How many NATO allies were attacked during 9/11?
Answer: None. But they supported us because WE were attacked. They sent sons and daughters to die in a shit hole on the other side of the world.... because WE were attacked.
That is what is known as having an ally.
Question: How many troops did Russia and Putin send?
Answer: None. Instead, they chose to take advantage of us and invade Georgia, Crimea and the Eastern Ukraine and then peddle in our elections.
The question isn't "Do people (in the U.S.) really want to go to war with Russia?". The question is, "Why does the government of Russia want to go to war with us?".

Well said. I spent 5 1/2 months on a Czech/American base in Lowgar province.

I don't think the Russians really want to go to war with us; they just realize that we are weak now. We have an indecisive and manipulable leader. There is no direction and coordination of national security from the top down, as there has been in the past. They know they can take risks and push boundaries they could not before.

You like opera, right? Think of our national defense agencies like a symphony orchestra in a production of Tosca, with a conductor who knows nothing of music and cannot effectively conduct. The various sections--the woodwinds, strings, brass manned by excellent musicians--are trying their best to follow the music and do their jobs. The singers take their cues from one another as much as the conductor, having no real clue as to when they come in (he ignores some when he is angry, regardless of how it hurts the performance).

So the whole sounds atrocious, offbeat, uncoordinated as the conductor takes unnecessary bows during the symphony and ignores some sections while increasing the tempo in others. His supporters say all conductors make errors and the other choice, with years of conducting experience, would be much worse. People who call it as they see it are told they just hate the conductor.

That is how Russian intel sees our national defense/security agencies. Not to mention NK and China, and, of course, our allies. Trump supporters see a big campaign rally with bold talk from their leader.