President Barack Obama answers questions at a news conference following the conclusion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders summit on Tuesday in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
US News and World Report: Obama Breaks from 2014 Assessment, Calls Russia ‘Major Military’
Has Putin’s war in Syria, focused now on Aleppo, changed how Obama views America’s former Cold War foe?
President Barack Obama levied harsh criticism against Russia’s recent aggressive action in Syria in support of the Bashar Assad regime on Tuesday. But while he continued with his rhetoric that Vladimir Putin is acting from a position of weakness, he departed from a previous appraisal he made of Russia’s place in the world.
“Russia is a major military,” Obama said in remarks at the conclusion of his California summit with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, referencing the deadly airstrikes that have recently hit hospitals and a school in northern Syria. “Obviously a bunch of rebels are not going to be able to compete with the hardware of the second-most powerful military in the world.”
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Update #1: ‘Russia a major military’: President Obama backtracks on Moscow’s defense capabilities -- RT
Update #2: Obama wakes up to see Russia as major military power -- Pravda
WNU Editor: Duh!!!!!
According to one website .... Russia ranked world’s 2nd military power after U.S. (RBTH)
5 comments:
No s*** Sherlock
Russia is very likely the dominant military power in the world. I've been patiently pointing this out since 1998. Recent events seem to be proving this assessment correct. It is my considered opinion that the US and other nations need to structure their foreign policies around the fact that Russia is the world's strongest military power and this will remain so for the foreseeable future and the gap at least between the US and Russia will only grow in the coming years with no realistic prospect of closing this gap.
Once reality is acknowledged, policies sound policies can be formulated. Right now we are being led by a combination of ideologues, incompetent boobs, and in many cases, out and out criminals who are not only this but ideologues and incompetent boobs as well. God help us all!!
I clicked on the RBTH link. It references global firepower's website. This analysis does not include nuclear weapons. Also, in my experience with it, it fails to account Russia cyber warfare edge, superior intelligence services, superior messaging capabilities, better trained, better led, and more motivated troops. Additionally it fails to account Russia's superiority in strategic and tactical thinking.
For America, if there is a silver lining here, the Soviet Union possessed lopsided advantages in pretty much all of these areas during Cold War I yet the United States managed to survive. Unfortunately during Cold War 2 Russia's advantages are more lopsided than what the Soviet Union had during Cold War I.
The best approach to fighting Russia and its allies would be DON'T!! If one MUST fight them, at least in the case of the US, the best that could be done is to make the inevitable Russian victory pyric enough that neither they nor their allies would consider the attack in the first place. This combined with policies toward Russia that are non confrontational along with trying to find ways to add value to them where and when possible should help to lessen tensions and might even result in reciprocity where they would help us in areas where we need it.
Policies based upon a realistic assessment of the situation can still lead to good outcomes. Polices based upon ideology, wishful thinking, or outright stupidity will likely lead no where productive.
I seriously doubt that Russia is number one military power in the world and believe we remain number one. But that said, it would be total madness for either one of these two nations to go to war with each other.
Fred,
The only way to "know" for certain would be for the countries to actually have a hot war. As for "total madness", for the United States I agree it would be as I don't think there is any way the United States can win such a conflict. As for Russia, there is a real possibility they could win. In which case, to embark upon such a quest for them would either be a case of "reckless stupidity" or "sensible abandon" depending upon the perspective.
There are a number of ways this can be analyzed and I pray we never find out for certain!!
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