We're all going to die

[funkychinaman]

I think it's a little odd that we're defending Ukraine a lot more vigorously than we did Georgia, whih was actually an ally of ours. But as Bond villain-y as Putin is, I believe he's driven by pragmatism rather than ideology, and cooler heads will prevail. If I'm wrong, may radioactive fire rain from the sky.

[MT2008]

No, we are not all going to die. This sort of thing is practically de rigeur for dictators who lead by personality cult and/or nationalist/anti-American sentiment. Most of you guys are probably too young to remember, but even our "friend" Boris Yeltsin once declared he was willing to start a world war over Kosovo, back when the U.S. was bombing Serb forces/paramilitaries there.

Originally Posted by funkychinaman

I think it's a little odd that we're defending Ukraine a lot more vigorously than we did Georgia, whih was actually an ally of ours. But as Bond villain-y as Putin is, I believe he's driven by pragmatism rather than ideology, and cooler heads will prevail. If I'm wrong, may radioactive fire rain from the sky.

Putin is pragmatic, but nationalism is a difficult beast to control once it's out of its cage.

I'm not worried about Putin using nukes in conflict, but I am worried about him taking bigger risks than expected in order to live up to the rep he's now built for himself, both domestically and in Russia's near-abroad. What the MH17 incident should teach us is that Putin has been stirring the pot without control of the stove temperature. I am sure he was pissed off at the separatists for what they did, but once it happened, he was forced to double down on his support for them in order to save face.

[SPEMack618]

MT, after the thermonuclear war, and my self promotion to General/CINCRESISTANCE, will you be my J-2?

I'm not worried about this going nuclear, mainly because, the Ukraine is on the wrong side of the Caucus for us to reasonably project force.

No more VII Corps, and 1st Armored is at Bliss, not poised to defend the Fulda Gap.

Funny thing, I vaguely remember watching the coverage of Kosovo, Pop was assigned to KFOR as the AFSOC liason, and some sort of confortation between NATO and Russian troops at the airport.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by SPEMack618

MT, after the thermonuclear war, and my self promotion to General/CINCRESISTANCE, will you be my J-2?

Sure, if you don't mind the fact that my first order of business will be to outsource collection and data storage to Booz Allen Hamilton...

Originally Posted by SPEMack618

Funny thing, I vaguely remember watching the coverage of Kosovo, Pop was assigned to KFOR as the AFSOC liason, and some sort of confortation between NATO and Russian troops at the airport.

Oh, yeah, you mean this?

[The Wierd It]

Originally Posted by MT2008

Oh, yeah, you mean this?

The following morning, Sunday 13th June, Clark arrived at Jackson's HQ at Skopje. It was pointed out to him that the Russians were isolated and could not be reinforced by air and that Russian support had been a vital part of getting a peace agreement. Antagonising them would only be counter-productive. Clark refused to accept this and continued to order the runway blocked, claiming to be supported by the UN Secretary General. Jackson refused to enforce Clark's orders, reportedly telling him "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you." When again directly ordered to block the runway Jackson suggested that British tanks and armoured cars would be more suitable, in the knowledge that this would almost certainly be vetoed by the British government. Clark agreed. Jackson was ready to resign rather than follow Clark's order. The British Ministry of Defence authorised British force commander Richard Dannatt to use 4 Armoured Brigade to isolate the airfield but not to block the runways. British officer Captain James Blount, who later found fame as a pop singer, was a troop commander of some of these vehicles. He has been quoted as saying he would rather have faced a court martial than use force against the Russians. Clark's orders were not carried out, and the United States instead put political pressure on neighbouring states not to allow Russia to use their airspace to ferry in the reinforcements. Russia was forced to call off the reinforcements after Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania refused requests by Russia to use their airspace.

So yeah. That's probably the closest we've gotten to instant sunshine.

[SPEMack618]

Originally Posted by MT2008

Sure, if you don't mind the fact that my first order of business will be to outsource collection and data storage to Booz Allen Hamilton...

That's fine. Just so long as we use the office in Atlanta, one of my Fraternity brothers/former battle buddy works there.

Wes Clark takes the cake as the worst of the post-Vietnam era four stars, in my opinion.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by SPEMack618

That's fine. Just so long as we use the office in Atlanta, one of my Fraternity brothers/former battle buddy works there.

Ah, I was just going to kick out all of the overpaid uniformed and GS civilian personnel and replace them with client-facing contractors working in the Pentagon (there are already tons of Booz folks there, anyway).

Originally Posted by SPEMack618

Wes Clark takes the cake as the worst of the post-Vietnam era four stars, in my opinion.

Not a Wes Clark fan myself. Haven't met him yet, but I know people who have and say he's insufferable. For fun, read this take on his narcissism by Tom Ricks.

[funkychinaman]

There was an unpolished honesty about his presidential run that was refreshing though. Time magazine did a feature about the various Democratic candidates, and one of them questions was "What's in your CD player right now," and I remember John Edwards said it was the best of Bruce Springsteen, which is a safe answer for a Democrat, while Wesley Clark said "Journey's Greatest Hits," which is a great album, one that I think most people secretly love, but carries no political message. He could've pandered and said Springsteen or hip-hop, or been pretentious and said classical, or looked out of touch and said Elvis or something, but I think Journey was a great and honest answer.

I had forgotten about Stars Earn Stripes. I was about to suggest Jeremy Boorda for worst post-Vietnam four star, but hosting a bad reality show pushes him over the top.