Response to Destroy all Monsters

Quote -- "risk a war he knows he can't win"

I'm sure there won't be war, but I would not be so sure about the "can't win".

Russia is at the fuel spigot. We are not. NATO is busy losing hearts and minds in Afghanistan, the US military is down the tubes and probably soon embroiled in its third (Iran)/fourth (Pakistan) war, the US economy is tanking bigtime already. Let's not forget that Russia is directly adjacent to Georgia and does not need Diego Garcia to do bombing runs. And they like to flatten things.

And what the hell do we care about Georgia anyway? Remember that there was an understanding that NATO would not be extended eastwards if the wall came down? And now, NATO is angling for Georgia! The question of who actually is the megalomaniacal is very open indeed." --- END QUOTE

First off the US Military is a LONG way from down the tubes. While we are heavily committed elsewhere it is within our capabilities to shift assets far more quickly that most people realize.

As for Russia being at the fuel spigot, true, but what MOST people tend to forget is that the Alaskan oil reserve alone is almost as much oil as the entire Middle east possesses, when you add in the reserves under Texas, Oklahoma, etc we are capable of EASILY pumping enough to meet our needs and then some for well over a decade and the infrastucture is in place to start that kind of production fairly quickly (it takes about 3 months to bring an old well back online with limited production, 6 to be producing at capacity and there are THOUSANDS of old wells that were capped off in the 80's in Texas alone.) The fact of the matter is we dont NEED foreign oil at all, its just more convient, and in the long term more strategically sound to use someone elses reserve than to use our own.

As for Nato expanding, MOST of the countries that have been added or are under consideration came to NATO, NATO didnt seek them out. The reason they came to NATO is BECAUSE of Putin's and Russia's resurgence in expansionist attitude. These coutries WANT freedom from Russian domination. Should we tell them no? Gee thats a great way to reinforce Russia at a time when the return of cold war is a very real possibility, GREAT PLAN that.

In response to problems in the US economy, yes economically we aren't in the best of shape atm, NO ONE outside the member states of OPEC is really and that includes Russia and China. High oil prices have hurt everyone, devaluation of the US dollar or for that matter any other MAJOR currency affects global markets.

I stand by my statement, IF it came to a war, Putin COULDN'T win. Not JUST because of the US though we would likely play a key role, but also because many former soviet satellites would jump Russia in a heartbeat, both for their own security, and also in many cases for a bit of revenge. Putin would be giving them the excuse they need and the allies they would have to have all in one fell swoop and I seriously doubt he is stupid enough to not realize it.

As for someone else blaming the resurgence in cold war politics on Bush in part, I would remind them that Bush has been very much busy elsewhere. The vast majority of THIS can be laid directly on Mr Putins power hungry little lap TYVM.