Sunday, June 14, 2015

US to make heavy weapons available to Russia


Not directly, mind you, but in storage right next door and under the control of "safe and reliable" allies. They are to be stored in the Baltic and Eastern European countries in amounts sufficient to equip a brigade.
In a significant move to deter possible Russian aggression in Europe, the Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries, American and allied officials say.

The proposal, if approved, would represent the first time since the end of the Cold War that the United States has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO member nations in Eastern Europe that had once been part of the Soviet sphere of influence. Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine have caused alarm and prompted new military planning in NATO capitals.

It would be the most prominent of a series of moves the United States and NATO have taken to bolster forces in the region and send a clear message of resolve to allies and to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, that the United States would defend the alliance’s members closest to the Russian frontier.
Pooty-Poot is not stupid. If it ever comes down to it, he will have control of those weapons before NATO finishes breakfast. But unlike DAESH, Pooty does not need us to arm his troops.

Comments:
It's all about sacrificial goats, like the 5,000 or so troops we have in South Korea. Nobody expects that if the North Koreans invaded, those 5,000 soldiers would make a bit of difference. South Korea's army is not as large as North Korea's but is state of the art, armed with a clone of the M1A1 tank modified for South Korean conditions rather than retread 1950's Soviet tanks and with state of the art helicopters and fighter jets instead of obsolete 1960s Soviet designs. But the fact that North Korean shells were falling on American boys' heads would be sufficient justification to send in massive air strikes against North Korea, which North Korea's antiquated air defenses would have no way of stopping.

Similarly, Putin grabbing American gear and presumably killing Americans to do it would be a declaration of war, giving the war mongers carte' blanche to attack Russia with everything we have. Of course Russia isn't South Korea. They do have modern weaponry, even if most of what they have is obsolete Soviet-era gear. And there's been more than one nation that thought invading Russia was a great idea that ended up destroyed as a result (thinking of some short French dude and some short German dude in particular). But none of that registers with the kind of people who want the United States to be at war with Russia, because they're still True Believers in all that bullshit about American exceptionalism....

 
One small point Mr Tux. I don't believe Pooty would start a war to get the weapons. But if it came to war, Pooty's boy would be first to the warehouses. And I think half the vehicles would be driven to the Russian lines by our "faithful allies" who guarded them.
 

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