A new Cold War?

[keefe]

The Army is now garrisoning Eastern Europe with heavy mechanized units.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/12/01/us-army-plans-to-send-abrams-tanks-and-bradleys-eastern-europe.html

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

The Army is now garrisoning Eastern Europe with heavy mechanized units.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/12/01/us-army-plans-to-send-abrams-tanks-and-bradleys-eastern-europe.html

My Polish in-laws are certainly happy. 

[keefe]

My Polish in-laws are certainly happy. 

No doubt. I'm not sure people are aware of the implications but stationing heavy mech and fixed wing assets anywhere is a huge statement. Advanced tech weapons require a lot of infrastructure beyond a FOB. The problem with emotional leaders like Putin is that they tend to respond differently than rational politicians.

[Coleman]

No doubt. I'm not sure people are aware of the implications but stationing heavy mech and fixed wing assets anywhere is a huge statement. Advanced tech weapons require a lot of infrastructure beyond a FOB. The problem with emotional leaders like Putin is that they tend to respond differently than rational politicians.

Putin knows this is a fight he can't win. The Russian economy is now headed for recession and the Ruble is crumbling. Say what you want about Obama but he has played this perfectly without ever firing a gun.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I saw yesterday's business reports about their economy headed for a major nose-dive in 2015 - 1/3 due to sanctions and 2/3 due the drop in oil prices that is predicted to carry over into next year.   The same report mentioned that Russia's food import ban from the West has grossly backfired as Europe & the USA is not being hurt in the least bit but Russia is seeing empty shelves.

Keefe, you'll like this one.  The link to the full article.

http://www.vox.com/2014/12/1/7313443/vladimir-putin-merkel
This quote about Putin's machismo from Angela Merkel is just devastating

"I understand why he has to do this — to prove he's a man," Merkel said. "He's afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this."



My wife likes to talk about her visit to St. Petersburg as a teenager before the wall fell.  She said the old city and the Hermitage was gorgeous, but was shocked to learn how empty store shelves were in Russia and how much better the goods were in Poland.  The train windows were covered with so much dirt that you could not see out of them.  She learned later that they purposely didn't clean them because the communists didn't want anyone to see how crappy everything really was outside.