Russia threatens an act of war

By Rob Janicki
Washington Times
[...]  Russia’s top military officer warned Thursday that Moscow would strike NATO missile-defense sites in Eastern Europe before they are ready for action, if the U.S. pushes ahead with deployment.  [...]

Let's be perfectly clear on what Russia's top military officer said publicly.  Russia would preemptively engage in an act of war by attacking NATO missile defense sites in Eastern Europe before they are operational.  Another Pearl Harbor, but this time with a warning?

And this was said in the context of the current and ongoing negotiations between Russia and NATO members over their proposed missile defense system for the Eastern European members of NATO.

[...]  Gen. Makarov made the threat amid an apparent stalemate in talks between U.S. and Russian negotiators over the missile-defense system, part of President Obama’s policy to “reset” relations with Moscow. The threat also elicited shock and derision from Western missile-defense analysts.  [...]

Was this a planned ploy by the Russians to get NATO, and Obama in particular, to knuckle under to Russia's continuing pressure to cease all plans for a missile defense system?  Probably.

Negotiating with Russia to limit NATO missile defenses from potential attack from Iran?  Someone has to be kidding.  What the hell are we engaged in negotiating anything with Russia, let alone a missile defense system to protect Eastern European NATO members from Iranian blackmail or worse?  Is Russia acting as Iran's surrogate as Iran's  ally?  Probably, but Russia also has its own concerns with such a missile defense system.  

Russians have always had a national paranoia, which the communists used to mobilize and galvanize the people into believing other nations were out to destroy Russia.  This is a deep seated paranoia developed over several centuries and the Putin/Medvedev cabal is simply playing on this fear.

The truth of the matter is that we crushed the Soviet Union into economic submission thanks to Ronald Reagan and brought down their communist government.  But, thanks to Obama's weak leadership, Russia has seen an opening to regain some semblance of power and influence on the world stage and a return to an authoritarian system of government only paying lip service to any democratic reforms.  Obama's weakness will ultimately result in a return of authoritarian government in Russia and an end to budding freedom and liberty through emerging democratic institutions in Russia.  It's the Russian people who will suffer from Obama's incompetency, or worse, complicit behavior to return Russia to a hard edged socialist economic system of central planning, common to all socialist systems. 

This whole situation begs the question of who is crazier, the Russians for threatening acts of war with preemptive military strikes on NATO allies or Obama for being such a weak president, thus inviting such insane public pronouncements?

The Russians would never have said this to George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan, so why say it to Obama?  The Russians clearly see Obama as a weak leader who, when push comes to shove, chronically caves in and which Putin and his puppet, Medvedev, can manipulate to serve their purposes, which is the aggregation of more personal power for themselves.

[...]  Thursday ... Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov dismissed the missile-defense talks as fruitless. [...]

We can only be thankful that the members of NATO, other than the Obama administration, have had the good sense to stand up for their defense in the face of the feckless fawning of Obama over Putin and Medvedev.