Ever since America booted Russia out of the northwest territory of America, Russia has had a chip on its shoulder… at least, as far as America is concerned. We go through cycles with Russia in which Russia loves America for a while, and then Russia hates America for a while. The cycle seems to continue ad infinitum.

The one thing Russian governments seem to respect is American strength. Every time America elects a weak President, Russia arches her back, raises her hackles, and begins to growl threateningly. And that is exactly what Russia’s Putin is doing right now.

For those of you not as old as I am, take my word for it when I say – we have seen it all before. Russia is a “paper tiger.”

The Russian people are insecure at best. They crave a strong central government. They have never really known what it is like to be free of an all-powerful government and they fear that left to their own devices — to be free, in other words, they will falter and fail. They don’t seem to grasp the idea that THAT risk is a part of freedom – the right to fail.

As a result, they are an easy lot to manipulate – and Mr. Putin is a past master at doing just that.

With Russian elections looming, Putin is warning that the Russian government needs more power. (Read Russian government as: “Putin.”)

Putin is planning a return to the Kremlin in the March elections and HE wants more power.

Recently Putin told the Duma: “We are still facing very many uncertainty factors and risks. And in case of a storm, a gale, a crisis, it is very important for the entire team to work in a cohesive manner, for the boat not to capsize.” (SOURCE)

Uh-huh.

Oh, Putin will get the powers he wants. Who is going to stop the ex-KGB official?

If reference to the opposition party in Russia, Putin has said they should go along with the party in power and “not rock the boat.” He said with Russia experiencing much the same kind of economic downturn as the rest of the world, the opposition party should support the party in power so the “boat” doesn’t capsize. Just this week he said: “in these circumstances, the ruling party always expects the opposition to behave in a calm manner and not to rock the boat. But these are vain hopes.” (SOURCE)

Putin went on to say: “The opposition exists to make sure that the ruling party, the ruling authorities could hold on to the levers of power more strongly and prove to society the correctness of the country’s development course.” (SOURCE)

Say WHAT?

Putin sounds like a Chicago gangster exclaiming: “Hey! Sit down and shut up! Me and my boys got this covered!” And believe me – Al Capone’s gang couldn’t hold a candle to Putin’s alma mater … the KGB.

Putin has gone to great pains to demonstrate the differences between himself and our less than esteemed President Barack Obama. He is playing on the average Russian’s paranoia concerning the “American threat.” Putin struts across the Russian stage, shirtless, (At every opportunity. What’s that about, anyway?) taking great pains to display his masculinity – as if there was some question about that. Apparently, there is – or was. On a trip to Italy last year Putin is quoted as having said: “Mr. Medvedev and I are people of a traditional orientation.” (Source) Ooooo – Kkkkk.

Then, too, there is Mr. Medvedev threatening to target American missile shield sites installed in Eastern Europe — or in adjacent waters. Oh, puh-lease! Those are d e f e n s i v emissiles emplacements. There are a couple of rogue nations in Russia’s backyard (North Korea and Iran). By this time next year, EITHER of them could lob a nuclear missile into Eastern Europe causing much death and destruction and touch off a worldwide nuclear conflagration.

The Russian government NEEDS America. Putin and Medvedev need a foil, off which to play, in order to increase their grasp on power over the Russian people. So, they threaten to fire on our defensive missile sites and, too, they dispatch Russian warships into Syrian waters as another threat to America — should America, or America-led NATO, decide to intervene in the slaughter in Syria.

Peter the Great had to drag Russia, kicking and screaming, into modernity. But, honestly, I don’t think “ole Pete” would be happy to learn how his Russia has chosen to allow it’s fear, it’s insecurity, and it’s paranoia, to, again, segregate itself from the civilized world and slip back into the familiarity of it’s much loved primal darkness.

Russia is a disappointment to the world.

J. D. Longstreet
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VOTE CONSERVATIVE IN NOVEMBER 2012
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Conservative? Then visit “INSIGHT on Freedom” at http://www.csadispatch.blogspot.com/ Find conservative comment on nearly everything at “INSIGHT on Freedom!”

Related articles

• Russia’s Putin accepts presidential nomination – Reuters (reuters.com)
• Putin warns West as he launches presidential bid (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

 

WesternFront America

Americans would do well to pray for the failure of the US Senate to ratify the “New START” Treaty with Russia. (The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) The security of the United States is at risk. In fact, the US should be building nukes at an increased pace and we should, most certainly, move forward, with all deliberate haste, to create and bring on line a viable Anti Ballistic Missile System as quickly as is humanly possible.

The New START may be good for Russia, but it is certainly NOT GOOD FOR AMERICA and it should be scrapped!

A few reasons the Senate should not ratify New START: It limits the development and deployment of America’s missile defense system. It also reduces America’s nuclear stockpile, does not allow America to modernize our existing nuclear assets, and some say there are no hard and fast rules within New START for verification.

New Start is a BAD treaty for America and we urge the US Senate to give it a “thumbs-down.”

What with North Korea kicking up its heels, these days, nuclear proliferation should be addressed, as well. Actively waiting in the wings are Syria and Iran. Soon they will step onto the stage as nuclear powers. Now that I think about it, nuclear proliferation should be addressed BEFORE there is any discussion of a treaty, of ANY kind, that will reduce our nuclear stockpile.

I maintain today, as I have for over a decade that China is our mortal enemy and we need to worry about China’s growing nuclear arsenal and the continued modernization of their nuclear delivery systems, as well as their on-going construction of underground bunkers, which are meant to insure a second-strike capability for China.

There are reports that China’s warhead numbers have even doubled in recent years. The US’s top brass say China may now be able to put multiple nukes on a single, newly developed, road-mobile missile.

Peter Brookes, A Heritage Foundation senior fellow and a former deputy assistant secretary of Defense writes the following:

“China’s 2nd Artillery (nuclear forces) is reportedly building 3,000-plus miles of tunnels in central China, known as “the Underground Great Wall” — likely providing Beijing with an enhanced, land-based, second-strike capability. Naturally, China’s ICBMs are thought to be targeted at us.

But Beijing is also diversifying its nuclear capabilities by broadening its force structure into the traditional triad — missiles based not just on land but also on bombers and subs.

China’s new class of strategic submarine may already carry its first sea-based ICBMs. And Beijing’s building another “boomer” sub class, too, significantly raising its nuclear-strike mobility and survivability — while lowering detectability.

It’s also adding advanced strategic bombers to the mix. Analysts believe China is developing long-range cruise missiles for these aircraft, which may have both conventional and nuclear warheads.” You may read Mr. Brookes’ entire article in the NY Post (HERE).

Mr. Brookes points out that China avoids arms control treaties.

The proponents of the New START treaty seem to think that other nations will follow America’s example if we disarm. That is a fallacy that could be fatal. In our opinion, that is infantile reasoning. It is a lesson I learned was wrong while I was yet in grade school. After being pounded upon (a couple of times) by the schoolyard bully, I learned to expect bad behavior from my fellow students, prepare for it, and be ready to put up a hell of a fight when the time came.

It is difficult for me to have a great deal of confidence in our leaders after they required several days to decide if a contrail streaking up the western coast of America was from a plane or a missile. Just as any experienced soldier can tell if the sound made by an artillery shell is “in-coming” or “out-going” the least we can expect is for our military leaders to know the difference between the contrails of a missile and/or an aircraft.

With all the terrorist groups and rogue states in Asia and the Middle East (with nuclear weapons or working 24/7 to create them) Russia’s nuke capability is less important than a viable missile defense system for America.

America is more in need of some adult leadership in the White House than any new arms control treaty with Russia — or any other country.

The New START Treaty deserves nothing less than a quick death in the US Senate.

J. D. Longstreet

 

WesternFront America

Those of us born in an earlier era recall the Cold War that lasted from shortly after the end of World War II until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. It was the era of Mutually Assured Destruction with massed nuclear missiles pointed at one another. It was an era when Americans were rightfully concerned about Soviet espionage inside the U.S. and Soviet expansionist ambitions throughout the world.

The expression is “You had to be there to understand it.” The Cold War turned hot when North Korea invaded the south and was fought to a stalemate that exists to this day. I was around when it turned hot again in Vietnam during the 1970s, serving as a fighter pilot against which Soviet-made weapons were aimed.

I have since concluded that the Vietnam War contributed greatly to the end of the Cold War. Just as the race for space began with the Soviet launch of Sputnik, escalating our fears that the Russians had got the jump on us technologically, the Vietnam War convinced the Russians that the vast technological leaps the U.S. had made in the waging of war—particularly an air war—were such that they would always be at a disadvantage.

Beginning in the 1970’s both the U.S. and the Russians took steps to put the nuclear genii back in the bottle. Following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 and a succession of aged leaders of the Communist Party, the best remembered of whom was Nikita Krushchev, the wheels began to come off the Soviet wagon. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, it was only a matter of time before the Soviet system failed entirely.

I had a glimpse of what was coming in the 1970s when, as an airline pilot, I gave a guided tour to a Russian Aeroflot captain and his crew of my brand new Boeing 747 while in Stockholm, Sweden. They were flabbergasted at the immense size of the commercial airliner and even more at the triple autopilots, the Inertial Navigation Systems, duel radar altimeters, color coded weather radar, and countless other operational elements. The Aeroflot captain knew instantly that U.S. technology and even the manufacture of such an aircraft had left Russia far behind.

That realization was slow in coming to the Russian leadership, if not to the Russian people. When I visited in 2004 at the invitation of the Russian Supreme Court in my capacity as a negotiations coach, Russia was every bit as grim a place as our popular and news media portrayed. People went about without smiling or looking you in the eye. Passing through customs was frightening and the car that came to pick us up came with an armed guard. My first book was, however, a bestseller in Russia and they were eager to learn how to apply its fundamentals.

One of those fundamentals is the necessity of having a vision and a purpose before you sit down to negotiate and “Start With No” advocates the readiness to say “no” if the deal is not mutually beneficial and one’s goals are not being met.

By 2008, however, the Russian mood had changed. Visiting Moscow was like being in New York City. Even the people in the streets were smiling. This time, during the Christmas season, I was there to conduct seminars at the invitation of Russian bankers and their view of America was one that was filled with admiration. Capitalism is being embraced in Russia despite the difficulties imposed by efforts to centralize government control and by the failure of its justice system to bring about the impartial rule of law.

The Russian newspapers carry criticisms of Vladimir Putin, the former President who took over from Boris Yeltzin in 2000 and is now the Federation’s Prime Minister and prime leader despite the role of Dmitry Medvedev as the elected President. The brutal regime of Stalin and his successors are widely acknowledged. The present problems private enterprise encounters are decried.

The American news channel, CNN, is widely watched where English is virtually a second language. The Russian bankers were impressed and enthusiastic about the Bush administration’s efforts to deal with the financial problems and believe that the Obama administration will continue vigorous efforts.

The Russian leadership is learning, albeit slowly, to work within the international framework of various institutions. I can say with complete confidence that Russia will not return to communism. Capitalism is the new Russian vision and purpose. America needs to do what it can to encourage and support it. The Cold War is over.

Jim Camp is an author of two books on negotiation and an internationally recognized negotiations coach providing counsel to nations, corporations, and individuals. He is the CEO of The Camp Negotiation Systems, www.startwithno.com.

 

WesternFront America