Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Europeans And Russians Are Talking About War

Jill Dougherty, Wilson Center: War Fever

Recently, I grabbed a taxi in Moscow. When the driver asked me where I was from, I told him the United States. “I went there once,” he said, “to Chicago. I really liked it.”

“But tell me something,” he added. “When are we going to war?”

The question, put so starkly, so honestly, shocked me. “Well, I hope never,” I replied. “No one wants war.”

At the office I ask a Russian employee about the mood in his working-class Moscow neighborhood. The old people are buying salt, matches and “gretchka,” (buckwheat) he tells me - the time-worn refuge for Russians stocking up on essentials in case of war.

In the past two months, I’ve traveled to the Baltic region, to Georgia, and to Russia. Talk of war is everywhere.

Read more ....

WNU editor: A reader a few days ago sent me this link and asked for my opinion .... Is Putin’s Purge Of Top Russian Commanders An Advance Warning Of Large-Scale Military Action In The Near Future? (SHTF Plan). I talked to one of my cousins last week in Moscow .... he also asked me the same question .... "are we going to war". A friend of mine who advises Canadian PM Trudeau on international affairs asked me that question on Monday .... and this morning .... one of my business partners wanted my take on why is there so much talk of war!!!!

I am either completely out of the loop .... or maybe my sources of information and intel are all wrong .... but I do not see a war and/or even a small skirmish happening between the West and Russia at anytime in the future. The U.S. is focused on the Presidential election, Europeans are focused on terrorism and the unending refugee/migration crisis, and the Russians are focused on Ukraine/Syria and the economy. And while there are differences between the West and Russia .... it is not enough to start a conflict over .... far from it.

But .... talk of war is clearly making the rounds in the West and in Russia .... and the politicians are not doing anything to quell this concern and/or to diffuse it.

12 comments:

TWN said...

It's a bit late in the year for a conventional attack on Russia, and NATO doesn't have the troops in place needed to advance into Russia, Unless we have some secret weapons that will make our people into Superman, or neutralize the Russian forces don't see it happening. Unless our So Called Leaders have totally lost whats left of their booze and drug addled minds.

jimbrown said...

More like rumours of war.

jimbrown said...

More like rumours of war.

Jay Farquharson said...

Since the end of the BushII/Putin bromance, in the West there has been a steady drumbeat of anti-Russian warlike propaganda.

"Russia Is 'Weaponizing' ... Everything

NATO Commander Breedlove agrees, naturally, with LunaticOutpost.com.

Russia is 'weaponizing' everything: robotic cockroaches, MS Word files, Jedi mind tricks, Soviet history and Syrian immigrants. Whatever one might think of.

NATO commander: Russia ‘weaponizing’ Syrian immigrants - World Tribune, March 2016
Russia accused of ‘weaponizing’ Syria refugees - CNBC, February 2016
Russian Hackers Used Weaponized Word Files to Infect Ukraine's Power Grid - Softpedia, Jan 2016
Russian Hackers May Have Weaponized The Grid, And It’s Got US Intel Spooked - Daily Caller, January 2016
Russian “Weaponized Default” Will Cause Financial Collapse Of Entire Western World - Satu Insan, January 2016
Russia's Population Is Being Weaponized - RealClearWorld, December 2015
From commodification to weaponization: the Russian language as ‘pride’ and ‘profit’ in Russia's transnational discourses - International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, December 2015
“Weaponizing” Federalism? Russia and the Debate on Federalism/Decentralization in Ukraine and Other Post-Soviet States” - Ukrainian-Canadian Congress, December 2015
Weaponized AK47 NAILGUN - Russian Life Hack (vid) - Youtube, November 2015
Weaponized Default: Russia's Ultimate Answer to Western Aggression? - Russia Insider, September 2015
Russia May Soon Have Weaponized Robotic Cockroaches - Modern Notion, September 2015
Russia Has Weaponized Its National Trauma - ReadRussia, September 2015
Putin Has Weaponized Soviet History - Newsweek, July 2015
WEAPONIZATION OF FINANCE: Russia is turning to the Chinese yuan - Business Insider, June 2015
How Vladimir Putin Weaponized Russia’s Media - Defense One , April 2015
Hearing: Confronting Russia’s Weaponization of Information - Foreign Affairs, April 2015
Weaponizing Weather: Russia And North Korea Might Be Able To Control The Weather, CIA Allegedly Fears - Inquisitr, Feb 2015
The Menace of Unreality: How the Kremlin Weaponizes Information, Culture and Money - The Interpreter, November 2014
Russia Is Weaponizing Jedi Mind Tricks - Vice News, April 2014
The Russians Have Weaponized Photoshop - Global Voices, March 2014
Whistleblower says Russians got antigravity weaponized spaceships - Lunatic Outpost, August 2012
Weaponizing the Russian language in Latvia again - Thoughts From Latvia, December 2011
WEAPONIZING NATIONALITY: AN ANALYSIS OF RUSSIA’S PASSPORT POLICY IN GEORGIA - International Law Journal, Summer 2010
More on Neo-Soviet Russia Weaponizing Psychiatry - Publius Pundit, August 2007"

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/03/russia-is-weaponizing-everything.html

The drums are heard on our side of the borders, and the echo's reverberate onto their side of the borders.

It should be of no surprise that the constant beating of the drums for a war with Russia have some people thinking a war is coming.

RRH said...

It's no secret that the economy on either side of the divide is doing all that well. A lot of people are struggling and government's are proving inept at really really with the issue; a good deal of which has to do with corruption. So, as in the past, there's nothing like thumping a tub to get people's minds off of the fact that the real enemy is much closer to home.

As for your advisor friend Editor,

A message from me: Stop supporting, or allowing support from Canada for, neo Nazis in Ukraine. Stop pandering to that element of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada. While you're at it, re-open the Syrian Embassy and kick those goddamned Saudis out. And never mind doing things just because that's what Washington does.

I'd say that's just a start.

the objective voice said...

The sad truth is that the average person in the West, at least in the US, doesn't really think about Russia. They aren't concerned about a war and don't really think Russia would be much of a match. Besides, the common thinking is a war can never occur because both are nuclear powers and would destroy each other, as well as the rest of the world if a war broke out. Russian government is in a bad spot with a failed economy, it isn't getting better, and the Russian people are suffering. Talk of war with the mighty West/US is a good way to distract the average Russian from the truth of wide spread corruption and a leadership that has no answers about how to fix it because if the over reliance on oil and gas sales.

Jay Farquharson said...

"These days, the charismatic director of the Army’s Capabilities Integration Center is knee-deep in a project called The Russia New Generation Warfare study, an analysis of how Russia is re-inventing land warfare in the mud of Eastern Ukraine. Speaking recently at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., McMaster said that the two-year-old conflict had revealed that the Russians have superior artillery firepower, better combat vehicles, and have learned sophisticated use of UAVs for tactical effect. Should U.S. forces find themselves in a land war with Russia, he said, they would be in for a rude, cold awakening."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-26/how-pentagon-preparing-tank-war-russia

"
IS the world going mad? Military posturing is quietly reaching new extremes in Europe, the Mediterranean and the South China Sea. And the provocative bluster has just reached new heights.

The source was anonymous. But the mouthpiece has a measure of credibility. High profile military analyst and former US Naval War College lecturer John Schindler tweeted last week: “Said a senior NATO (non-US) GOFO to me today: ‘We’ll probably be at war this summer. If we’re lucky it won’t be nuclear.’ Let that sink in.”

http://www.news.com.au/world/the-war-word-is-being-increasingly-heard-as-europe-russia-china-and-the-united-states-adopt-provocative-postures/news-story/16a82025425afd2dbca103f790bff5d6

http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/10/1-nato-public-opinion-wary-of-russia-leary-of-action-on-ukraine/

War News Updates Editor said...

RRH .... my Ottawa likes mu advice .... but I do not think it sinks in.

Jay .... I love the links that you provide .... I could not have done it better.

Anonymous said...

Wow, a land war in Russia! That would solve a lot of the world's problems and it has been so successful in the past. Great idea.

Actually, I do not think this is as big an issue for Europe and the United States as it is for Putin. Keeping the population spun up and controlled by the threat (real of not) of a distant enemy is an age old tactic. "No Roman dare sleep while Hannibal still lives." I think Putin is using it.

the objective voice said...

Again, we just don't care about Russia. Not even enough to fight them. But if you think the most powerful military on earth isn't capable or has planned for such a fight. Your kidding yourself. If you think the Russian military doesn't know it's out matched, your also kidding yourself. Russians are afraid of the US and NATO, but that's because of thier government propaganda focused to distract the population from their declining position in the world and crash g economy. They might have good equipment, doubtful that it exists in operation numbers to matter, but if you don't control the air, you can move and fixed potions are just targets waiting to be destroyed. Again it can't happen because of the nuclear issue and it's dumb to continue to debate it.

B.Poster said...

If war does happen, it will be the Americans not the Western Europeans who bear the brunt of a Russian reprisal. It also needs to be very clear that the US cannot realistically expect to win such a war. At least to do so would be the equivalent of the parting of the Red Sea.

The best that can be hoped for is to make the inevitable Russian victory pyric enough that Russia would not consider the attack in the first place. This coupled with policies much more accommodating to Russia, recognizing Russia's stronger position, and act accordingly may just be enough for us. At least it would help blunt the anti-American propaganda machine. Additionally look for ways to add value to Russia and its leadership.

RRH said...

It's not Zhirinovsky that gives me the chills.

It's the clapping....


http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/you-will-all-die-every-last-one-you-top-russian-politician-blasts-nato-membersbe-afraid