Ex NATO general: war with Russia highly likely [W:63]

[Infinite Chaos]

~ Shirreff predicts that Russia could seize territory in eastern Ukraine and open up a land corridor to Crimea.The Guardian reports that, at the book’s launch, he said Putin could invade the Baltic states and then threaten nuclear action if Nato said they would intervene.


In an interview with the BBC he said, given the current tension, an attack on the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, is “entirely plausible”.
He said that Russian President Vladimir has invaded Georgia, Crimea and Ukraine “and got away with it”. Link.

IF (and that's a big if) Putin was stupid enough to attack NATO Baltic states (and we have been sending aircraft and shipping up there to strengthen patrols) it would bring on a NATO response.
The former Deputy (Shirreff) probably has his counterpart in Russia predicting a NATO strike on a Russian satellite and a threat to use nukes if Russia dared respond and personally I think Shirreff's smoked something stronger than normal but a timely reminder of what the real long term threat to Europe remains. It isn't muslims, neither is it the EU.

Thoughts?

 

[BitterPill]

IF (and that's a big if) Putin was stupid enough to attack NATO Baltic states (and we have been sending aircraft and shipping up there to strengthen patrols) it would bring on a NATO response.
The former Deputy (Shirreff) probably has his counterpart in Russia predicting a NATO strike on a Russian satellite and a threat to use nukes if Russia dared respond and personally I think Shirreff's smoked something stronger than normal but a timely reminder of what the real long term threat to Europe remains. It isn't muslims, neither is it the EU.

Thoughts?

I'm glad the prognosticator is an ex-NATO general though I am mildly concerned he once was.

 

[RetiredUSN]

Ain't happening!

 

[OrphanSlug]

Oh good, because we needed more fear making the news. :roll:

 

[Thoreau72]

I cannot help but wonder how much Putin will take? He prefers peace, but we provoke military operations, wasting our money, he prefers peace.

 

[BitterPill]

I cannot help but wonder how much Putin will take? He prefers peace, but we provoke military operations, wasting our money, he prefers peace.

Then we have nothing to worry about.

 

[Thoreau72]

The we have nothing to worry about.

I would feel better if my government were actually SEEKING peace, defending these shores over here on the North American continent, if you know what I mean.

If the Russians were doing in Mexico what we are doing in Estonia or other countries, we would be bitching loudly.

 

[BitterPill]

I would feel better if my government were actually SEEKING peace, defending these shores over here on the North American continent, if you know what I mean.

If the Russians were doing in Mexico what we are doing in Estonia or other countries, we would be bitching loudly.

Isolation didn't do us much good in the past.

Also, what are we doing in Estonia that has you so worried?

 

[Infinite Chaos]

I'm glad the prognosticator is an ex-NATO general though I am mildly concerned he once was.

Like I said before - highly likely he has or had an equally crazy counterpart on the other side. Hopefully they are now ex commanders of defence forces..

 

[Thoreau72]

Isolation didn't do us much good in the past.

Also, what are we doing in Estonia that has you so worried?

That we are doing anything at all, that we are even there, I disapprove of as a tax payer. It is unnecessary, Ike was right.

 

[Citizen.Seven]

Sooo, if Russia makes an act of war, they'll be war? There's a shocker.

 

[Abbazorkzog]

This is bad for everyone.
Ironically, having a President (Trump) with a cordial and friendly relationship with Russia's Putin might be our best bet to prevent a world-ending nuclear exchange (between the two largest purveyors of nukes: the US and Russia)...

 

[Van Basten]

Who woke up Curtis LeMay from his eternal slumber?

This is bad for everyone.
Ironically, having a President (Trump) with a cordial and friendly relationship with Russia's Putin might be our best bet to prevent a world-ending nuclear exchange (between the two largest purveyors of nukes: the US and Russia)...

No, no!

*puts fingers in ears*

 

[BitterPill]

That we are doing anything at all, that we are even there, I disapprove of as a tax payer. It is unnecessary, Ike was right.

What are we doing in Estonia, and what did Ike say about it?

 

[RetiredUSN]

I would feel better if my government were actually SEEKING peace, defending these shores over here on the North American continent, if you know what I mean.

If the Russians were doing in Mexico what we are doing in Estonia or other countries, we would be bitching loudly.

LOL what?

 

[Citizen.Seven]

The real question is why is the US still in NATO? WW2 is over, the Cold War is over. Why get entangled in European regional politics?

 

[Van Basten]

What are we doing in Estonia, and what did Ike say about it?

I think he's hinting at the whole military industrial complex stuff.

Also, this:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." -- Ike

The real question is why is the US still in NATO? WW2 is over, the Cold War is over. Why get entangled in European regional politics?

We can't just ignore the world anymore, those days are over.

 

[Jredbaron96]

Yeah, no.

 

[legalimmigrant]

The US and USSR were once allies fighting the spread of fascism. Soon, the US and Russia will be allies again - this time fighting the spread of new fascism, Islam.

As in the past, Germany is one more time an existential threat to Eastern Europe. Instead of tanks and artillery, their female version of Hitler wants to send to other members of EU a truly vile gift from hell - Muslim invaders.

Of course, the question why she wants to give away all that treasure Muslims allegedly are, conveniently remains unanswered.

 

[Chagos]

On account of NATO having no decision making powers of its own when it comes to war, those founding it unfortunately never thought of putting a gob-stopper on its figures of military leadership.

The late Sec. General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was a prime example of somebody in urgent need of being made to STFU.

Repeatedly.

The way he was going a times, it seemed as though he was trying to talk conflict into becoming existent.

 

[Chagos]

[/snipped for cleansing]

This thread is not about your favorite doomsday fantasies (read its title).

 

[legalimmigrant]

This thread is not about your favorite doomsday fantasies (read its title).

Are you screwing with my head?

I read the title. The title is "war with Russia highly likely" - and THAT is not a doomsday fantasy?

Between that idiot general and me, I am a genius, as my prediction is that the US and Russia are natural allies. A war between these two would be the end of life as we know it.

And Russia DID NOT invade Ukraine or Crimea. Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia without one shot fired. Invasion my rear end.

 

[Beaudreaux]

I would feel better if my government were actually SEEKING peace, defending these shores over here on the North American continent, if you know what I mean.

If the Russians were doing in Mexico what we are doing in Estonia or other countries, we would be bitching loudly.

They are, in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, in Venezuela, and other Central and South American territories.

Russian planes to patrol in Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico - BBC News

NORAD Head: Russian Bombers Send a Message

Intent of Russian military aircraft near U.S. shores remains unclear - LA Times

Russian armed forces returning to Latin America - PravdaReport

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/201305-putins-quiet-play-for-latin-america

Russia (Putin, et al) are not seeking peace. They are expanding and seizing territories.

NATO is not. The US is not. The US is cooperating with its allies, not invading or creating and arming a civil war so that we can create a satellite state of the US, as Russia has done in Georgia, Crimea, and Ukraine.

The Baltics and the Balkans are on Putin's list as well. And yes, the general is correct. If Putin goes into the Baltics or the Balkans, NATO will respond militarily. And the possibility that Putin will use nukes in retaliation to NATO force is not a crazy exaggeration, because he's already threatened to do so over Ukraine - http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/31/putin-threatens-nuclear-war-over-ukraine.html - and over Syria against Turkey and Saudi Arabia (one a NATO member and the other a US ally) - http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/did-russia-just-threaten-turkey-nuclear-weapons/ri12936

Russia is the problem, not so called provocations from the US or NATO.

 

[Chagos]

Are you screwing with my head?

I read the title. The title is "war with Russia highly likely" - and THAT is not a doomsday fantasy?

Between that idiot general and me, I am a genius, as my prediction is that the US and Russia are natural allies. A war between these two would be the end of life as we know it.

And Russia DID NOT invade Ukraine or Crimea. Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia without one shot fired. Invasion my rear end.

Are you screwing with my head?

By the looks of it, that's the last thing I'd want to do.

 

[Jack Hays]

IF (and that's a big if) Putin was stupid enough to attack NATO Baltic states (and we have been sending aircraft and shipping up there to strengthen patrols) it would bring on a NATO response.
The former Deputy (Shirreff) probably has his counterpart in Russia predicting a NATO strike on a Russian satellite and a threat to use nukes if Russia dared respond and personally I think Shirreff's smoked something stronger than normal but a timely reminder of what the real long term threat to Europe remains. It isn't muslims, neither is it the EU.

Thoughts?

I'm only surprised that people are surprised by this news. I haven't seen tension rise this much since the mid-1980's when Brigadier Sir John Hackett created a sensation with his book August 1985: The Third World War.