The Ukraine situation

The second Iraq war was unavoidable - the neocons have won the election in US and they were determined to test the theories they had developed over the past 30 years (elections have consequences and they absolutely had the right to make any policy they want). Which put Afganistan on the back burner.

You seem to forget Libya and before that Yugoslavia - those were wars where europe and US got involved and Russia had to stay away and cede its influence. Georgia was the opposite - Russia took action and so the west had to stay out. The same in Syria, except that in Syria the west had almost nothing to win and a lot to lose.

At the end of the day you've gotta pick your battles - picking the loose-loose ones makes you a fool.

That pre-supposes that the European countries would act in unison - which would be a historical first. Too many countries would have their own agendas to even consider acting in the best overall interest.

However, I agree that Russia does not have the military might that it once boasted. Let's not forget that the reason the USSR broke up was because of it's economic incompetence.

Posted in response to #49

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bill3152

A united Europe could have avoided the second Iraq war syria crisis and this in Crimea

---

How? The US unilaterally decided to go to war and fabricated the justification out of thin air.
And Syria and Crimea are civil wars between population groups that have been hating each other for a long time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bruno

How? The US unilaterally decided to go to war and fabricated the justification out of thin air..

---

That is simply not true, the Iraq war, was not a Unilateral move by the US, it was sponsored by many other Nations after the entire UN looked at the "Proof"

Multi-National Force

The "Proof" was also not just from the US...

yes but had the UN and the world seen the real proof do you think they would have made the decision they did? I think not.

Yes hindsight has always been 20/20 and armchair quarterbacks throw the best passes..

And all this talk of Iraq is the best reason that the US should stay out of Ukraine, people tend to forget the facts after 10 years, in fact give this a little more time and I am pretty sure the Russian invasion of Crimea will be "Bush's Fault" too :p

I guess i'm an average American. I don't know everything about world politics. I do remember a little about history. I remember one country trying to take over the world and that cost millions of lives. I hope that is not what is happening now. they say history repeats it's self. I hope not. but at the end of it all the only thing the average person can do is talk about it. and most people (not all) are only interested it what pertains to them. We can Vent for now.

Yes, the coalition of the willing aka 'you forgot Poland!'.

There is of course the 20/20 vision but there is also the rewriting of history by the Bush administration.

Fortunately politicians are rather good at reading the political climate. US is not in any shape to wage war against Russia or Syria or Iran. And this really is Bush's fault - he started two wars and no matter how big the 'mission accomplished' banner he lost them both. The only war US would enter at present is direct aggression against it or a close ally (NATO or Israel).

Regardless of your "political flavor," I can't see this thread surviving if blaming of US presidents is brought into it. I have seen discussions involving this go scorched earth in other forums.

Funny, I thought 9/11 started the wars, last I checked I would call that "Direct Aggression" but I could be wrong


"The Raw Story" really ?????

Wait let me go find some "Facts" from the Blaze or Alex Jones to refute that one :p