[Gunnair]

bootlegga bootlegga:

saturn_656 saturn_656:

bootlegga bootlegga:

The days of massed heavy armour and million man army groups rolling across the plains of Europe/Asia are gone.

Yeah, in light of recent events we might want to hold off on publishing the obit for that.

No, I stand by it - even in light of recent events. America's military dominance (backed by NATO allies) prevents it simply because they have way more firepower than anyone else does at the moment.

Europe may be too scared/cowed to do anything and Americans are unwilling to see tens of thousands of soldiers coming home in caskets, but Western intervention - if it happens (a big if) - would probably be limited to air power.

There may come a day when million man armies march across the Europe/Asia again, but it likely won't be in the next decade. It will take the eclipse of American military dominance for it to rear its head again.

My guess is that sometime in the next 20 - 40 years the world will revert to a multi-polar world (like it has been for much of recent history)again, with Russia, Europe, China, India and the US staring each other down. At that point in time, it's very possible that those types of conflicts might be possible.

I think it'll be much swifter than that. We've seen an increase in tribalism (at a national scale) since the end of the Cold War.

[Thanos]

All the recent patterns go against it though. Conflicts between states are on the decline (Russia/Ukraine actually goes against the trend) and there's not really been a large increase in civil disruption except for a few notables like Libya or Syria. The mistake could be looking at it through the lens of WW2, and waiting for the same cascade/domino effect that happened back then to repeat itself today. Having a media machine with clowns like Wolf Blitzer leading the charge and not even concealing their hopes for a bloodbath to happen to increase their ratings doesn't help much either.

[andyt]

Thanos Thanos:

All the recent patterns go against it though. Conflicts between states are on the decline (Russia/Ukraine actually goes against the trend) and there's not really been a large increase in civil disruption except for a few notables like Libya or Syria. The mistake could be looking at it through the lens of WW2, and waiting for the same cascade/domino effect that happened back then to repeat itself today. Having a media machine with clowns like Wolf Blitzer leading the charge and not even concealing their hopes for a bloodbath to happen to increase their ratings doesn't help much either.

Good one.

Seems to me some of the bright minds in the West should have foreseen this scenario unfolding, what with egging on the protesters and trying to pull Ukraine into the western orbit. In a way this is like what George Bush Sr did with the Kurds in Iraq.

Europe doesn't have the money to prop up Ukraine, take another failing state into the EU bosom.

[BartSimpson]

Gunnair Gunnair:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Interesting, Stars and Stripes supports the move to a smaller Army;

http://www.stripes.com/smaller-army-fit ... s-1.270482

Are they nominally independent or a propaganda tool like Pravda used to be?

I bet they are a lot like The Maple Leaf

It's a propaganda tool and has been ever since its inception.

[Thanos]

Putting the former Soviet satellites into some kind on non-aligned block would have been the better path to follow. It worked for Finland for decades and they've managed to be a free state for a long time, despite being both a neighbour to Russia as well as an ally of the Third Reich in WW2. The NATO expansion right up to Russia's borders will turn out to be one of the worst strategic decisions of the past fifty years.

[BartSimpson]

Thanos Thanos:

Putting the former Soviet satellites into some kind on non-aligned block would have been the better path to follow. It worked for Finland for decades and they've managed to be a free state for a long time, despite being both a neighbour to Russia as well as an ally of the Third Reich in WW2. The NATO expansion right up to Russia's borders will turn out to be one of the worst strategic decisions of the past fifty years.

Finland was not an 'ally' of the Third Reich anymore than the USSR was an ally of Canada. Finland and Germany had a common foe and it served both of their interests to align against the common foe. It does not mean the Finns were Nazis, it just means the Nazis used them to maintain another front against the Soviets.

[Thanos]

Not interested in an overwrought debate over the use of "ally". The Finns were no more or less moral or immoral for coinciding their interests with those of the Third Reich than we were for formally coinciding ours with Stalin or Chiang Kai Shek. Not everything always has to become a brattish Americanized "we are always good and they are always evil" circle jerk.

[stratos]

$1:

Putting the former Soviet satellites into some kind on non-aligned block would have been the better path to follow.

When the old soviet block broke apart I trully thought it would end up something along those lines. Military ties to the west and economic ties to the east.

$1:

The NATO expansion right up to Russia's borders will turn out to be one of the worst strategic decisions of the past fifty years.

With the EU not wanting most of the Eastern Europe in their group you're bound to be correct.

[llama66]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Thanos Thanos:

Putting the former Soviet satellites into some kind on non-aligned block would have been the better path to follow. It worked for Finland for decades and they've managed to be a free state for a long time, despite being both a neighbour to Russia as well as an ally of the Third Reich in WW2. The NATO expansion right up to Russia's borders will turn out to be one of the worst strategic decisions of the past fifty years.

Finland was not an 'ally' of the Third Reich anymore than the USSR was an ally of Canada. Finland and Germany had a common foe and it served both of their interests to align against the common foe. It does not mean the Finns were Nazis, it just means the Nazis used them to maintain another front against the Soviets.

Side note: The Fins mopped the floor with the Russians. The Finish forces suffered 70,000 casualties and managed to inflict 320,000 casualties on the soviets.

A smaller military couldn't hurt the US.

[saturn_656]

Finland did an outstanding job of fighting the Russians... which makes all the indignities they had to endure after the Second World War all the more tragic.

[stratos]

$1:

Finland did an outstanding job of fighting the Russians... which makes all the indignities they had to endure after the Second World War all the more tragic.

They did one heck of a job during WWII and after all the crap of post WWII they have recovered and done wonderful in today’s economic clement and political maneuverings.