Nobody regrets this advice:
“If you’re doing a dumb, dangerous thing for a bad reason, or aren’t really clear on the reason… stop it.”
Reasonable people can (and should) reasonably disagree. The proper foreign policy of America, a nation of 300+ million people, is certain to create an array of options and folks will flock to various points on a spectrum. Fine, I get it. It’s all a complex mosaic, blah blah blah.
That said, whatever interests seem to be converging right now on the “antagonize Russia” gambit… please stop. Whatever game you think you’re playing; it’s not worth it.
It’s unwise. Russia is the big leagues. No matter how much you’re cheesed off that the future president lacks a vagina, has bad hair, or doesn’t like Obamacare… it’s not worth going large. Tanks in Poland, twitchy carrier groups in the Baltic, hyped up jets doing whatever the hell they do wherever the hell Allepo is? It’s not funny. People can get hurt.
Let me repeat… I don’t care if Putin was caught on tape pissing directly onto the DNC podium while crushing fluffy kittens… it’s not worth it. If he “hacked” the e-mail of people who use “password” for their password, that’s extremely not worth it. Unlike universities and media, he’s not a squeak toy for anyone’s amusement. Whatever game you’re playing… he’s playing a different one.
I get it. I’m a child of the cold war so I grok the appeal of stomping commies and so forth… but that’s for Saturday morning cartoons and bad movies from a different era. In the real world, Russia is not to be fucked with. A little diplomatic friction? Fine. Poking the bear until it takes your friggin’ head off? Not good. Stop it.
In this matter, the last six month or so have been mildly alarming. There’s an almost frantic zeitgeist to piss off Russia as completely and deeply as possible and do so immediately lest Cheeto Jesus preside over… over what? An outbreak of peace? Isolationism? More trade? Less trade? Ugly land development? None of this is a big deal. President elect Hairball is not insane. Nor is Putin. Both want nothing to do with “drama” of this sort.
This is the greatest of all possible news, whatever faults are inherent in real life James Bond Villain Putin and the human word tornado of Captain Yuge; neither seems inclined to screw with the other. Breathe deep and be happy about that. We’re both nations of genuine bad asses and we shouldn’t be getting in barroom spats. Doubt me? Ask Napoleon about messing with Russia. Ask Japan about messing with America. We’re both big and slow and goofy but we can both land a punch like no other. Nothing that happened in 2016 merits antagonism. Don’t paint either side in a corner until “it” becomes “on”.
The point is that stampeding to mess with Iraq led to… lets just say “consequences”. But it was on a scale that the nation as a whole can readily handle. A sour grapes movement to give Russia a wedgie over perceived slights is an order of magnitude riskier.
When it comes to Russia it’s best to STFU and stay chill. If you’re thinking otherwise, stop it!
Where’s the like button on this deal? SO WELL SAID.
There’s an awesome “like” button. On the upper right side that says paypal. 🙂
No sweat though. I’m just glad to know I’m not the only one that thinks rushing to poke the bear is nutty.
More wisdom, never get involved in a land war in Asia:
Outstanding. Long overdue, as well, from many of us.
I would only note that President Putin believes in Russia as an independent sovereign nation, and thinks that Western culture is worth preserving.
President Trump also believes in the United States as an independent sovereign nation, and also thinks that Western culture is worth preserving.
Those who are poking the Russian bear do NOT believe in either Russia nor the United States as sovereign independent nations, and are doing their best to destroy Western culture. Instead, their vision of utopia is One World Government under the rule of a fine entity like the United Nations or the European Union. They are afraid that Trump and Putin may be willing to work together to drive the scourge of Islam from the face of the earth once and forever, and thereby make their utopia unobtainable. And they will do everything in their power to keep that from happening. Including starting a nuclear war. And please do note that it is not merely the Democrats doing this, but the Rove Republicans and other aspirants to Davos as well, all around the world.
Exactly! That’s why neither of them is likely to burn it all down to prove a point.
If anyone actually, y’know, READS the Koran and understands its message you will realise why Islam is totally, absolutely and fundamentally incompatible with Western civilisation – or any civilisation come to that.
Interestingly, the Koran states that Islam itself will be destroyed by a country that has an eagle as its symbol. Everyone assumes that this refers to the Great Satan America, but as Putin seems to want to restore Russian society to something approximating to that before the Revolution, then please note that the Romanov family emblem is a two headed eagle…
The camel jockeys and rag heads better watch out if either or both countries get pissed off with their antics.
My money is on Russia delivering the instant canned sunshine as they don’t have the bleeding heart liberals that America does.
Just my 2c worth.
Opinion poll on how history will remember the Muslim in Chief:
http://kqv.com/
“Favorably” is currently leading. You can “vote” up to eight times, but it doesn’t seem to stop counting there. That poll will only run through 10 January…
We’ve already had several opinion polls. Obama’s party lost them all.
They lost in terms of the Presidency, the House of Representatives, the Senate, State Governors, and State Legislatures. Some of this is a “pendulum” effect but it doesn’t have to be that way. Reagan was followed by a president from his own party and was viewed pretty favorably. Clinton was just like Obama in that he got “shellacked” in his first mid-term elections too. It was probably due to passing a gun control bill that the “deporables” (a word not yet coined) loathed and narrowly failing at what we now call Obamacare. The difference is Clinton read the writing on the wall, steered away from continued “adventurousness”, and finished fairly popular. The point is that Obama got the same signals Clinton did but felt his wishes were more important than the will of his citizens. He’s got a few more years of the media’s adoration followed by an eternity of being listed as worse than Carter; more like a reverse image Andrew Jackson.
Obama will be remembered as that miserable twit who set back race relations sixty years.
Pingback: Less than a Fortnight | nebraskaenergyobserver