It has become apparent that America would prefer Putin the boogeyman to Putin the leader of the Russian nation. It is convenient to sell yourself as a formidable guy who can stand up to those wascally wussians and …. what? What exactly? Kick them out of the Ukraine? Take away their only naval base in the Mediterranean? Force them to stop arresting opposition politicians and punk girl bands?
Do many Americans have the slightest idea of just how weak Russia is right now, militarily? How much of their relatively formidable navies and air force is gone?
The U.S. is not going to go to war with Russia over the Ukraine. And the U.S. is not going to do much about Putin assisting Assad in Syria because deep down in their tiny black hearts, America’s political elite know that Putin is in Syria because the U.S. just couldn’t figure out a single bloody thing to do about ISIL and Assad so somebody had to step in, especially since there many of the “independent” states around Russia have substantial Moslem populations.
The real boogeyman out there is China, which, in a few decades, will begin to surpass the U.S. in economic might if not military might. The U.S. does not have a good record of thinking ahead. It is thinking behind right now, to the “glory days” of the Cold War, and Republicans just get warm all over and pleasantly moist at the thought of reviving the grand old strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction.
[whohit]Putative Putin[/whohit]