War!

[isobars]

[swchandler]

The current theater about the Ukraine, Russia and the western world is all over the map. The thirst for blood is deep and palpable. And we all thought that the Cold War nonsense was all over.

You know what doesn't get any play is what China thinks about the non-stop show. It's a time to be thoughtful and cautious in our actions, and not too hasty. What do we get out of all this? Where's our real strength over the long haul, and what's the best path ahead?

[mac]

Obama is cutting the military—so goes the right wing meme that Iso and Bard echo. Interested in facts? Total size of the military, as of March 31, 2010—2,270,000. Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/03/137536111/by-the-numbers-todays-military

Includes some pretty interesting graphs that show trend over time.

Total military budget: $718 billion in 2011, not including veterans benefits, another $127 billion—which are and sure to rise rapidly. That spending has roughly doubled since 9/11, and is about 20% of our budget—more than Medicare, which is second.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/07/everything-chuck-hagel-needs-to-know-about-the-defense-budget-in-charts/

The Russian military budget? $68 billion—less than 10% of the United States Budget. http://www.ibtimes.com/global-defense-budget-seen-climbing-2014-first-total-increase-2009-russia-surpasses-britain-saudi

But Russia does have a fairly large standing army—a little over 2 million, according to Wikipedia. Ukraine's army is clearly no match. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/world/europe/ukraine-finds-its-forces-are-ill-equipped-to-take-crimea-back-from-russia.html?_r=0

The lessons of Afghanistan (for both the Soviet Union and the United States) and Iraq seem to make clear--a superpower can easily get bogged down in a country where the population doesn't support them, the supply lines are long, the cost is high, and political support at home is weak. Is there a lesson here that the right wing is capable of understanding? We'll see.

[uwindsurf]

[keycocker]

Dam liberals with all them facts kinda rolling over us ain't they?
Anyone else care to explain to us how Obama made us so weak that Russia can easy beat us?
How bout that all them guys hanging around collecting welfare-in mansions?
Youwindsurf didn't mention that 80% of social welfare goes to poor children.
Corporate welfare goes for a new Lotus.

[nw30]

Putin needs it bad, it's the difference between Russia the country, or Russia the Empire, formally known as the USSR.
Location, location, location, it's their only southern, warm water seaport, he'll take it, he has to, so it will happen.

That alone to me isn't that bad, but it's what it signals to the rest of the world that has me bothered.
What kind of signal does it send to Syria, what kind of signal does it send to Iran, what kind of signal does it send to China and N.K.?
That's what bothers me, the U.S. is now on the bleachers watching the international game being played w/o the U.S. being a factor at all. So far from us it's nothing but paper tiger talk, no U.S. paraolymipcs in Sochi, no rep to the G8 summit in Russia, and sanctions, ooooo, that will show them.

Fine deal, I really don't think that I have to explain the future ramifications with the countries paying attention to what this can and will lead to. But if I do, you're not really paying attention to what's going on.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-general-obamas-threats-are-the-joke-of-the-year/#ixzz2v1bF22DF

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-warns-could-reduce-zero-economic-dependency-us-083926261.html;_ylt=AwrSyCVd_hVT7BUA4C3QtDMD

[uwindsurf]

How exactly do you want the US to be a "factor"? Should we rush in guns a blazin'?

[feuser]

[MalibuGuru]

[swchandler]

Come on Bard, as a minimum, you've got to get the phrase right. It's "all hat and no cattle".