Putin puts troops in western Russia on alert in drill

[bison91]

For Freedom!

Prisoners also want freedom...give it to them

[Skroe]

So it is/was effective, they don't intend to be threatening. Tell me the difference (in this case) between trolling and being an annoyance?

No. It wasn't effective in the slightest. if it effective, the US would have fired warning shots or lodged a diplomatic protest or something. Instead, just like we do with your Tu-95s, we let you do your stunt and just watch you burn jet fuel.

And furthermore... what the hell are you talking about? "Trolling" is not a tactic of any sort between countries and militaries. Like what are you doing? Why are you trying to contort a behavior that sniveling brats on the internet do to be something a "proud" Russian military would do? That's embarrassing. Militaries do combat, shows of force... stuff of that nature. When the US military wants to send North Korea a subtle message, it stages war games with South Korea. North Korea whines, but gets the message. What message is "trolling" sending? That Russia is insecure? That Russia is 2 generations behind militarily? Is that where Russia is in 2014? Kruschev put warheads in Cuba in 1961. That got a reaction. And Putin sends a 50 year old unarmed attack aircraft? And that's supposed to send a message.

For fucks sake, have some dignity.

Basically what Kellhound and Trollskalden said. Also Russia sent out the SU-24 because it's what they have, not because it's their shittiness. It's antiquated nature is incidental. It's simply what Russia uses, because it's Armed Forces are not at all modern.

[TooMuch]

No. It wasn't effective in the slightest. if it effective, the US would have fired warning shots or lodged a diplomatic protest or something. Instead, just like we do with your Tu-95s, we let you do your stunt and just watch you burn jet fuel.

And furthermore... what the hell are you talking about? "Trolling" is not a tactic of any sort between countries and militaries. Like what are you doing? Why are you trying to contort a behavior that sniveling brats on the internet do to be something a "proud" Russian military would do? That's embarrassing. Militaries do combat, shows of force... stuff of that nature. When the US military wants to send North Korea a subtle message, it stages war games with South Korea. North Korea whines, but gets the message. What message is "trolling" sending? That Russia is insecure? That Russia is 2 generations behind militarily? Is that where Russia is in 2014? Kruschev put warheads in Cuba in 1961. That got a reaction. And Putin sends a 50 year old unarmed attack aircraft? And that's supposed to send a message.

For fucks sake, have some dignity.

Basically what Kellhound and Trollskalden said. Also Russia sent out the SU-24 because it's what they have, not because it's their shittiness. It's antiquated nature is incidental. It's simply what Russia uses, because it's Armed Forces are not at all modern.

My Tu-95? Where do you get the idea I am Russian? Proves even more that you just read what you want to read... I am opposed to power games if they are being done by any country. Also I am very much in favor of showing more sides than just the one-sided "Russia is bad, US is good". Check for example my post where i explained how dependent Russia is on the Ukraine... Too many people in this thread don't know shit and are very one-sided, but behave like they know everything. Guess they had some drunken talk in the pub or something?

[Haven]

The Ukrainian soldiers are helpless, they are clearly just kids. They clearly don't want to attack their fellow citizen, but the illegitimate government in Kiev continues to push them. Yatsenyuk even went as far as to request UN "peacekeepers" against his own citizen.

Yanukovich should've used these methods on Maidan. Well, he paid for being decent enough to not shoot his people. The new government will just shoot anyone who disagrees. Democracy!

[Puupi]

I'm beginning to think Djalil and TooMuch are siblings. Both live in the anonymityland, are anti-US, pro-Russian and argue just for the sake of argument.

[Stelio Kontos]

Well, considering the nigh-Godlike abilities of the American military as some posters here seem to think of it, I'm sure the US could go in militarily, clean up the Russian presence in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, make sure the Russians are never in a position to do so again, and head home with minimal casualties, right?

I mean, it's the giant and the gnat, David and Goliath, right?

So...why doesn't the US do it and just be done with the situation instead of sniveling internationally and writing angrily-worded letters?

[Shalcker]

No. It wasn't effective in the slightest. if it effective, the US would have fired warning shots or lodged a diplomatic protest or something. Instead, just like we do with your Tu-95s, we let you do your stunt and just watch you burn jet fuel.

Just like when US sent their planes to disputed Chinese air defense zone then?

[Skroe]

I have no bigger disdain for warmongers like you (see I can do it too), basically you proved my remark about a certain mindset. You have to admit that a military as the US has is basically just show, my dick is bigger than yours! A tool for an aggressive bully. If the US had NOT declared themselves to be the world police, the size of the army could be much, much less.
You make wrong assumptions about "utopian one-worlders", I am far from one. But a very small army can be as effective as a bloated big one. Currently in the US the cost doesn't justify the size of the military. "We will use the army for humanitarian reasons." As if that worked out so good the last few times it really was needed, even inside the US. And then you condemn companies like Lockheed for trying to get the most out of the contracts with the DoD? To me that is a kind of contradiction

I'm not a war monger. I don't want us to fight anyone. But at the same time, I'm a strong believer in the idea that the safest way to be secure in a law of jungle that is the international community is to be the strongest, smartest one in the room and amass as much power as possible at the expense of the competition. I make no apologizes about that. I fundamentally do not care what happens to Russia. If Putin turns it into North Korea and it's people spend the next twenty years getting reacquainted with the bread line, I do not care. If Putin turns it into some kind of Russian Orthodox Saudi Arabia, I do not care. If a black hole passed through the earth and sucked Russia into it, I would not care. So long as Russia's bad policies effect only Russians, I do not care.

The problem is, right now, it's effecting our friends, people who want to be friends with us, and our interests. And that I do care about, very, very much. Power is not to be shared on terms we do not set.

The US Military is not for show. It's for use. You may not understand that because in Russia, when Vladmir Putin rolls the latest in Russian hardware down Red Square what he is actually saying is "This is the Russian state. It is strong. I am the man who made the state strong, and thus Russia. I can protect you." By contrast, when was the last time the US Military put on a parade in the Russian, or hell, even the Bastille Day, style... where we roll a bunch of tanks, combat troops, some ICBMs, a brigade, and stuff like that, down Pennsylvania avenue in Washington DC or Fifth Avenue in New York, for some inane display of military might? When was the last time we've engaged in such an infantile display of state power? I don't think it's ever been done. I think the closest we get is "Welcome home" Parades of unarmed troops on foot that happen in small towns and big cities from time to time and flying the Blue Angels over the Superbowl or something. I imagine if the President of the United States asked for a flyover of 4 B-2s in formation during his inaugural parade, a bunch of Air Force generals would resign in protest and Congress would launch an investigation.

Americans don't do crap like that. We're cut from a different cloth. Hell if we really wanted to "wave our dicks around", as you basically put it, we'd build more, cheaper Nimitz Class carriers and float 20 of them around for some reason, rather than buy Ford Class carriers at a slower rate, at twice the cost, because they promise to be far more capable when actually used.

Our armed forces are very far from bloated by the way. If anything, they were too small for most of the Iraq / Afghan War, "right sized" for the last five or six years, and now a little too big and "Army/Marines" heavy when they need to be Navy/Air Force heavy for the problem of China. We cant afford them to be bloated because unlike a low cost one year conscript a contracted US service member is a rather expensive employee to have. Our massive military budget? Mostly personnel and maintenance costs.

As for being "World Police"... well... we did build the modern world order. And the fact is, we're the most secure superpower in history. We have no existential threats, dozens of military allies, most of them among the most militarily powerful and richest nations in the world. We have friendly neighbors to the north and south, and major advantages in technology and experience. That's the dirty little secret of US foreign policy since 1992. We became the "World Police" when having to be the vanguard against... I don't know... the likes of the USSR... passed into history. After all, it was the free world that won the Cold War.

[TooMuch]

I'm beginning to think Djalil and TooMuch are siblings. Both live in the anonymityland, are anti-US, pro-Russian and argue just for the sake of argument.

Show me any post where I show that am pro-Russian? Like said before, people like your are so one-side minded that discussing with you guys is just no use. Djalil and I both try to show that there are multiple sides to any issue, but alas...

[Skulkgra]

National Guard brigades do combat tours to Afghanistan and did them for Iraq. The weekend warrior thing went away over a decade ago.


Well, one reason would be many of these countries fought along side US troops in the NATO mission to Afghanistan (ISAF) and many of them contributed to Multinational Force - Iraq, even though it was not a NATO operation (rather, it was a Coalition / UN one).

So what, yeah, they contributed. But who were the bulk of NATO soldiers there(I mean Jugoslavia for instance)? Proud americans like yourself? Nah, there were baltic people.

What the hell? Are you engaging in some weird "anti-balticism" or something? I just had to make up a word right here to describe something so weird.


Because Russia invaded, subjugated and dominated them for decades. Estonia is an independent nation, and they had until a couple of years ago, some monuments to Vladmir Lenin lying around. A foreigner. A Russian. Like what the hell? And then Estonia gets electronically assaulted, by Russia, for having the gumption to throw down these monuments to a foreign leader whose successor conquered them?

They're entirely right to resent Russia. They are entirely in the right. Russia did that itself.

You seem to forget we have freed them from facists. And do you really claim that no country should have statues to prominent foreigners? Lol.

I'm calling bullshit on this and I think you made it up on the spot for some reason. I don't know why. It's not a fact... it doesn't have meaning... if it just exists in your head.

And I'm calling bulshit on what you wrote, I don't know why, but clearly you seem to be obsessed with idea of US superiority.

[TooMuch]

I'm not a war monger. I don't want us to fight anyone. But at the same time, I'm a strong believer in the idea that the safest way to be secure in a law of jungle that is the international community is to be the strongest, smartest one in the room and amass as much power as possible at the expense of the competition. I make no apologizes about that. I fundamentally do not care what happens to Russia. If Putin turns it into North Korea and it's people spend the next twenty years getting reacquainted with the bread line, I do not care. If Putin turns it into some kind of Russian Orthodox Saudi Arabia, I do not care. If a black hole passed through the earth and sucked Russia into it, I would not care. So long as Russia's bad policies effect only Russians, I do not care.

The problem is, right now, it's effecting our friends, people who want to be friends with us, and our interests. And that I do care about, very, very much. Power is not to be shared on terms we do not set.

So the US is the only country that can set terms?

The US Military is not for show. It's for use. You may not understand that because in Russia, when Vladmir Putin rolls the latest in Russian hardware down Red Square what he is actually saying is "This is the Russian state. It is strong. I am the man who made the state strong, and thus Russia. I can protect you." By contrast, when was the last time the US Military put on a parade in the Russian, or hell, even the Bastille Day, style... where we roll a bunch of tanks, combat troops, some ICBMs, a brigade, and stuff like that, down Pennsylvania avenue in Washington DC or Fifth Avenue in New York, for some inane display of military might? When was the last time we've engaged in such an infantile display of state power? I don't think it's ever been done. I think the closest we get is "Welcome home" Parades of unarmed troops on foot that happen in small towns and big cities from time to time and flying the Blue Angels over the Superbowl or something. I imagine if the President of the United States asked for a flyover of 4 B-2s in formation during his inaugural parade, a bunch of Air Force generals would resign in protest and Congress would launch an investigation.

Americans don't do crap like that. We're cut from a different cloth. Hell if we really wanted to "wave our dicks around", as you basically put it, we'd build more, cheaper Nimitz Class carriers and float 20 of them around for some reason, rather than buy Ford Class carriers at a slower rate, at twice the cost, because they promise to be far more capable when actually used.

It's not about the amount, but I guess I am talking to the wrong person. You seem only to understand the word "force" (as in power).

Our armed forces are very far from bloated by the way. If anything, they were too small for most of the Iraq / Afghan War, "right sized" for the last five or six years, and now a little too big and "Army/Marines" heavy when they need to be Navy/Air Force heavy for the problem of China. We cant afford them to be bloated because unlike a low cost one year conscript a contracted US service member is a rather expensive employee to have. Our massive military budget? Mostly personnel and maintenance costs.

As for being "World Police"... well... we did build the modern world order. And the fact is, we're the most secure superpower in history. We have no existential threats, dozens of military allies, most of them among the most militarily powerful and richest nations in the world. We have friendly neighbors to the north and south, and major advantages in technology and experience. That's the dirty little secret of US foreign policy since 1992. We became the "World Police" when having to be the vanguard against... I don't know... the likes of the USSR... passed into history. After all, it was the free world that won the Cold War.

The US did NOT build the modern world order. They CHANGED it to suite their needs. They did NOT need to become the "World Police", they happily took that role because of economic interests. Show me what the US has done or is doing in Africa, except in those regions where there is an economic advantage to gain. There are still wars raging, for example in Burundi...
Any "war" the US has been in the last 50 years or so were purely for economic reasons, mainly oil.

[obdigore]

You seem to forget we have freed them from facists. And do you really claim that no country should have statues to prominent foreigners? Lol.

Just wondering, you 'freed' the Balkans from fascists, and installed your own fascists, and think this is something to crow about instead of a mistake that those peoples are rightly angry at you for?

[Deleted]

I'm beginning to think Djalil and TooMuch are siblings. Both live in the anonymityland, are anti-US, pro-Russian and argue just for the sake of argument.

No thank you. I'm just pro-Europe.

[Skulkgra]

The US Military is not for show. It's for use. You may not understand that because in Russia, when Vladmir Putin rolls the latest in Russian hardware down Red Square what he is actually saying is "This is the Russian state. It is strong. I am the man who made the state strong, and thus Russia. I can protect you." By contrast, when was the last time the US Military put on a parade in the Russian, or hell, even the Bastille Day, style... where we roll a bunch of tanks, combat troops, some ICBMs, a brigade, and stuff like that, down Pennsylvania avenue in Washington DC or Fifth Avenue in New York, for some inane display of military might? When was the last time we've engaged in such an infantile display of state power? I don't think it's ever been done. I think the closest we get is "Welcome home" Parades of unarmed troops on foot that happen in small towns and big cities from time to time and flying the Blue Angels over the Superbowl or something. I imagine if the President of the United States asked for a flyover of 4 B-2s in formation during his inaugural parade, a bunch of Air Force generals would resign in protest and Congress would launch an investigation.

.

When did you win a war on nazism to be so proud of your military as to throw parade? And you misunderstand, it's not a parade to demonstrate military might, but a parade in honour of people who gave their lifes for our Motherland.

[Deleted]

Well, considering the nigh-Godlike abilities of the American military as some posters here seem to think of it, I'm sure the US could go in militarily, clean up the Russian presence in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, make sure the Russians are never in a position to do so again, and head home with minimal casualties, right?

I mean, it's the giant and the gnat, David and Goliath, right?

So...why doesn't the US do it and just be done with the situation instead of sniveling internationally and writing angrily-worded letters?

There's a risk of nuclear war if that happens, not to mention that the EU's economy is dependant on Russia. That's why there hasn't been any major economic sanctions either.

[OmniSkribe]

Excuse me? What the fuck were the snipers in Maidan then?

Inb4:CIA

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/05/wo...dio-recording/

Not to mention (for like 100th time) that trees and bodies of the dead were cutted/buried pretty fast by the new government, despite that Russia and EU demand actual investigation.

[Cybran]

The new government will just shoot anyone who disagrees.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A3710L20140408

But the overwhelming majority of some 18,800 service personnel who the Ukrainian defence ministry says stuck out the month-long siege of their bases in Crimea are now ignoring orders - unswayed by purse-strapped Kiev's lacklustre offer to uproot their families and move them to the mainland.

I am sure they want to, but their soldiers are smarter than that. This is why the junta in Kiev is asking for help from NATO and UN to fight their own citizen. This is why the head of the CIA was in Kiev last Sunday. One can only guess what kind of mess they are planing.

[Skulkgra]

Just wondering, you 'freed' the Balkans from fascists, and installed your own fascists, and think this is something to crow about instead of a mistake that those peoples are rightly angry at you for?

We were not fascists and "installed" none.
Plus not only did we free Balkans alone, but I'd say whole world from that scourge.

[Stelio Kontos]

When did you win a war on nazism to be so proud of your military as to throw parade? And you misunderstand, it's not a parade to demonstrate military might, but a parade in honour of people who gave their lifes for our Motherland.

For most Americans they believe they single handedly won the war while the British and Russians just sat around drinking or bumping into things due to their own incompetence. Don't you know? We'd all be speaking German now if not for America!

/rollseyes

[Deleted]

We were not fascists and "installed" none.

Stalin is most definitely among the biggest fascists in history.