....lybob

Reactions are not strategy - Russian moves in Ukraine were made in reaction to a western supported coup, Russia military action against Georgia made in reaction to Georgia's military action against South Ossetia, Russia reacts in Syria, The Europeans apply sanctions the Russians do massive deals with China and start moving pipelines east, The U.S. applies more financial sanctions Russia's announces they are creating their own SWIFT like system, are doing Bilateral currency swaps as much as possible and are going to broaden the currencies they will sell oil for and include gold in the mix, I'm also sure Russia will continue to do annoying things like sell Iran more Anti-aircraft defenses and agree to build more nuclear power plants, they can hurt us at the UN and they could hurt our efforts in Afghanistan but all that is not Strategy.

what is Putin's grand strategy

There are 2 schools of thought 1. Putin is delusional and has the personality of an attention seeking child 2. Putin is a proud nationalist and is rationally defending Russian interests Which way you think about Putin has a lot to due with how you think of Russia itself, is Russia a marginal power or a major power. If Russia is a marginal power then Putin is delusional to put himself in contention with the U.S. and the west. If Russia is a major power then Putin may be rational in his moves. The argument that Russia is a marginal power would start with a GDP one tenth the U.S and is now in decline., Russia has not diversified it's economy leaving it's economy extremely vulnerable, Russia conventional forces are completely over matched by the U.S. forces, Russia has a dwindling population, Russia has a host of internal problems, Russia has no worthwhile allies The argument that Russia is a great power starts with 1500 nukes and being the only country in the world that could bring the U.S as we know it to an end, Russia is a member of the Security Council and can stop U.S. actions having the legitimacy of international law behind them, Russia's size and location alone makes it a major power , Russia may be in decline but Western Europe and Japan are in worse decline and the U.S. has it's own problems, China may not be an ally but as America is antagonizing both of them they are very good partners for one another (Russia's nukes and natural resources combined with China's economic power and population is a very formidable pairing). My view is that Putin is rational and smart but is also a narcissist with an overdeveloped sense of Russia's and his own ability, I see him willing to engage in brinkmanship and rash decisions. Of course Putin isn't the only narcissist on the world stage, the United States government also seems to like brinkmanship and if Putin overrates Russia then we underrate Russia willingness to protect national interests and their capabilities to do so. In closing I don't think Putin has a grand strategy or is trying to reconstitute the Soviet Union or even build a Russian empire, I do think he's a proud nationalist who wants Russia treated like a great power with it's regional sphere of influence and interests respected - what's going on now is is a difference of opinion, the U.S. thinks Russia is a marginal power and !@#$ their interests, Putin thinks Russia is a major power and they are going to respond to any of those interests being violated, The U.S. is going to try to punish Russia into submission and Putin is going to try to mitigate that punishment and look for ways to throw some pain back - and for all the friction between the two countries remember Russia is vital for us supplying our 40,000 troops in Afghanistan, we also work cooperate on terrorism, and a number of other issues.

Hillary always has to prove she's the toughest person in the room - so she can follow in the footsteps of Marget Thatcher

Unless it was done purposely to trigger a Russian response so to get Europe back in line under US leadership- It's always hard to tell if these government deep thinkers are screw-ups or brilliant chess players thinking nine moves ahead. !@#$ you smartest guy in your mom's basement

It makes sense if you are not a bloviating horse's A$$ - Cominterm? lol, what's he using? United front lol - Putin has no strategy- what Putin has is a mind set which is Russia is still a great power and is going to be treated that way or we are going to !@#$ you back as much as possible- and again Putin has no strategy but he's pretty good a finding vulnerable points to jab with a stick.

The only strategy Putin is using is tit for tat

Theodore Roosevelt

Russia has a declining population and can't seem to make consumer products even though they have a very well educated population ( Iran has a stronger auto industry than Russia) but when you have thousands of nukes you can basically kick over the risk board anytime you feel you are losing too badly- China has economic problems now and will be facing some serious demographic challenges coming soon but I've been hearing about China's impending economic collapse for about 20 years now and it hasn't happened yet. I don't think any single country will be able to challenge us for a very long time but if China and Russia became dedicated military allies and economic partners and took strong actions in unison that would be a serious challenge, which is why I can't understand the Obama's administration seeming intention to antagonize China and Russia at the same time - Obama is a Brzezinski disciple and Brzezinski did have a theory that you could contain both Russia and China and eventually Russia and China would go to war over east Siberia with America being the big winner- personally I think Kissinger, Brzezinski and all the neocon global military strategists should be put somewhere far away where their theories won't get somewhere dangerous like a president's head.

300lbs first season, 285lbs second season 275 next couple of seasons then dropped to 265- when I saw him a couple times out he had huge legs, probably like a 32 inch waist V-ing out to really wide shoulders and long arms funny you saw him at tops because that's where I saw Smerlas and Hasslet ..... Smerlas was as wide as a house to me , Hasslet was the same height but no quite as big, they were both being jackasses knocking stuff off the shelves and pointing at each other yelling "he did it"

I responded to your post, you seem to imply that we should keep a global military presence for economic advantage is that what you are saying? I wanted to make sure.

I've been told Obama is not a corporate shill by the corporate shills on this board

Well at least Rubio didn't put mustard on a burger Fox news would have been all over him for that.

Oh, an observation. Who the !@#$ are you, man; Isaac Newton?

you don't understand Reddog - the new patriotism is for the average working class American to be willing to under go austerity to pay for a military to fight a Chinese economic threat that wouldn't exist if our corporate masters hadn't moved our jobs and technology over there.

Flutie looked good until they started designing defense to stop him - keep him in the pocket, don't pass rush hard just push the pocket and keep your hands up, did they bring the secondary up too because he had loss arm strength? that part I'm unsure of.

Hey we are on the same side along with Elisabeth Warren

you mean we not getting that from out competing everybody with our business smarts ?

better arm than Tuel that's it - upgrade position all the time even if you replace a guy who's not going to play with another guy who's not going to play who's 3% better.

who should pay for this expense

don't hold your breath we have been losing ground since the early 1970s

Basically EJ has to make one more completion per 30 attempts and people will be OK with him - if he makes 2 more completions per 30 attempts then the fans will love him- such is the fine line between being a winner or loser in the NFL. Watching EJ highlights, I think it's unfair to call him inaccurate he's just very slightly too inconsistent in his accuracy.

neoliberalism in song form

I thought you were all for Neoliberalism - do you know what it is? https://okieblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/milton-friedman-on-neoliberalism-it-never-occurred-to-me-that/

Neoliberalism has won why try to fight it, some day those Indians will bemoan how the Vietnamese are taking their jobs .