With all the sound bites and the incredibly self-destructive campaign being carried out by Trump, all of the very serious controversy surrounding Hillary is being completely overshadowed and ignored by the news media and the voters. It is a sad state of affairs in our politics and one that is bound to lead to another disastrous four years, with U.S. credibility and prestige seriously continuing to erode on the world scene!
It seems that the news headlines are completely taken over by either another one of the continuous controversial statements made by Trump or by the results in the Rio Olympics. Bad weather also has taken center stage in some parts of the U.S. and occasional terrorist bombings sprinkle the news here and there. But there has been hardly a "peep" in the news about what is going on in Ukraine, possibly one of the more dangerous situations anywhere around the globe. Russia has taken on a much more aggressive posture in Ukraine, building up their forces and increasing their aggression not only in the eastern part but in areas bordering Crimea which they occupy!
The American public has been led to believe that NATO will take care of any problems in its bailiwick. After all, NATO membership has been increased by nine additional countries that were formerly in the Soviet Bloc. What most Americans don't seem to realize is that NATO is totally dependent on U.S. leadership. During the Cold War Era, when NATO was created, U.S. was very active and demonstrated strong leadership in support of NATO against possible Soviet attack. But today, we seem to have lost interest in maintaining that strong posture. Our military presence in Europe has been reduced drastically, although we did set up bases in some of the former Soviet Bloc countries. Of course, our military has been reduced dramatically in the last eight years to the point of reaching its lowest numbers since the end of World War Two! This, in spite of the two wars that we are engaged in the middle east.
For the last eight years, we have practiced a "passive-reactive" policy when it comes anything to do with foreign policy. We have maintained this policy all over the globe! It began with our threat to Syria not to cross the "thin red line," which was promptly crossed and we did nothing. This was followed by our inaction in Libya during the ousting of Qaddafi and our change of policy, withdrawing of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia watched and didn't miss anything, and true to their behavior in the past, whenever they spotted a weakness, they exploited that weakness. They gobbled up parts of Ukraine and Crimea knowing full well that with our "passive-reactive" approach to everything, we wouldn't do anything. Of course, if we don't do anything, then NATO will not budge!
The situation in Ukraine is critical, to say the least. The country is essentially at war with a much bigger and stronger neighborhood bully who is being unchecked by NATO! Quite frankly, the only members of NATO that I believe are willing to face Russia, with our help, are the former Soviet Bloc countries! They know Russia and have little love for their former oppressors! The larger European countries with bigger and stronger military, such as France and Germany, are too dependent on Russia's natural gas and oil to anger their supplier. Did you know that Germany was proposing a free trade agreement with Russia while Russia was in the process of annexing Crimea a few years back? Yup, sort of like the non-aggression treaty that Russia signed with Germany while Germany was gobbling up most of Europe back in the day! There's historical precedence in this behavior and it is highly unlikely that either Germany or France will come to Ukraine's rescue! We are the only hope, and we are not doing anything!
I am not suggesting that we go to war with Russia. But we should play better poker! Russia will back down if it thinks there is a threat of war with us. Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis? When push came to shove, they backed off. Putin is a bad guy, but he is not crazy, he doesn't want to go to war with us over something like a piece of real estate in Ukraine! But, since we are such bad poker players and such wimps, he keeps pushing. At this rate, who knows when he'll stop, perhaps not until he gets everything he wants. He certainly seems to be getting his way with our "passive-reactive" policy!
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