In a high-profile interview today, President Obama downplayed the military risks of plans to deploy US ground troops to Eastern Europe, saying Russia wouldn’t dare confront the US militarily and knows the US troops are “significantly superior.”
The US, of course, spends roughly ten times what Russia does annually on its military, and much of Russia’s military arsenal remains leftovers from the Cold War.
At the same time, there is a very real risk that as the US pushes further and further eastward in Europe, they could precipitate a clash with the Russians at any rate. Any conventional US military advantage is likewise muted by both sides having enough nuclear weapons to exterminate the entire human race many times over.
President Obama’s fascination with repeatedly needling Russia on the issue is also of concern, as he has made multiple statements mocking Russia‘s comparative military weakness, and following them up with demands for Russia to return Crimea to the Ukrainian interim government.
Obama's a punk. There, that's my ration of free speech for today.
You calle dhim a punk. Don't you know that makes you a "racist" lizard?
a very dangerous punk
Obama is right about that. When it comes to 'projecting" force, there's never been a military more eager and willing to jump into every conflict wherever it may be, than the US military. I suppose this is what he means when he uses the term "superior". However, the colossal cost involved in projecting force is something only the USA is willing to waste money and resources on. Understandable why most nations avoid such adventures, Russia included. The Russians are smart. They have no need to place expensive carriers and battle groups in every region of the globe. Nope. They only need to be able to defend what is theirs. Huge advantage. Russia, Mr. Obama, is MORE than equipped to defend its own home and turf. It needs not compete in a contest of force projection with USA. I think Mr. Obama you are grossly mistaken to believe that Russian soldiers have anything to be worried about in a war with your "vastly superior soldiers". If you need some convincing, then bring it. Remember this, it is one thing to assault and attack defenceless peoples and nations such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, Bosnia, etc. It is altogether different when your enemy can not just punch back, but has the ability to castrate you, isn't it?
But the costs to America for its wars have been comparatively cheap. What if the USA faced Soviet-level losses from WW2. How eager would they be then?
I agree 100%.
Certainly the White House has someone on staff who has a history book????
The advantage in size and strength that Germany had over the Soviet Union during WWII was FAR greater than it is between the US and Russian military today – and look what happened to the Germans. There's more to warfare than having a "superior military." And contrary to myth, the Russian military has also been undergoing a rapid modernization, so that cold war era hardware is being phased out and/or modernized. Russian's air defense systems and their nuclear weapons are more advanced than anything in the US arsenals and their new Sukhoi fighters are more than a match for F-16's.
I agree with Stephen Cohen who stated on Democracy Now yesterday that the US president should not have been allowed to have made such a callously reckless statement.
Is it possible for the US prez to be this clueless????????????
On my bookshelf is a copy of The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy fifth edition it was the last edition because the Soviet collapsed within months of its publication. On page 136 is the description of the Ulyanovsk-class aircraft carrier, laid down in 1988, the first of what was to be the Soviets Union's fleet of American style nuclear powered global reach aircraft carriers. It was never completed not because the Russian are "smarter" than Americans but because the Russians are poorer.
Bluff and Bluster Obama KNOWS Russians Nukes explode similar to US ONES except they might do it over DC!
Poke the BEAR and the bear will do something very unexpected!
We are not a country that cannot defend its borders like Yemen we are talking about a country that can make a glowing slag heap of Dozens of US cities all in a matter of half an hour from now!
We said it long time ago: Obama is a manipulative politician, people needs to be carful with what he says and what he dose, his double standard is far beyond any president in American history. In one hand he is fooling the American people by saying that: " I am not a war president" but in the other he cooking up with far right Europeans and even fascism in Ukraine to have a government of their choice, he says that he is not going to invade Syria, but with economic, political and military help from Saudis, Turkey and UAE he is arming more of what is known to be nothing but terrorists from Saudi Arabia and their affiliated Al-Queada branches in Iraq and elsewhere.
These (Russians know Our Military is Far Superior) words are a invitation to Russian and rest of the world to challenge USG in Ukraine and Syria or anywhere that USG says they have their interests, in Africa and South America and in Asian pacific, he simply preparing for a world war using any garbage that they can find, like in Ukraine or for that matter Syria and Libya, is their Neo political tactics.
USG haven't gain anything from Syrian war nor they have gained anything in Ukraine, the only thing they have gained is their double standard being exposed more then yesterday.
Victoria Nulland were present at Geneva meeting about Ukraine today, so as the Neo fascism leader of Ukrainian government, so as Ashton and other European governing body, remember what Victoria said about Europe few weeks ago, she said: f….u….c…k Europe. This meeting proves the fact in USG and EU governing body double standard but compering to bowing and kissing the hands of Saudi king, this one is nothing.
These people are the far right politicians from the us Democratic Party, but that doesn't meant that they are a true democrats or their ideas are based on the people's democracy or the concept of a functioning democracy, they are only elected by the people where people been giving them the right to be fooled by them.
WTF Mr. "Peace Prize"? Are you really looking for a war with Russia? Sending Kerry out to lie about Jews being "registered" in eastern Ukraine, now this? The man's gone mad with power.
Sounds like what the Nazis said about the Russians.
That makes Obama equivalent to….you get the drift.
"We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down" – A. Hitler about the Russians, circa 1941
Napoleon also thought invading Russia would be a successful action too.
America's military is far superior? Maybe at delivering large quantities of fire power against an enemy that obliges them by standing out in the open. But superior in the sense of being able to win a war? How are we doing against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Mr. Obama?. War isn't just about fire power.
The tactic of parking US troops between opposing forces may have worked in Latin America many decades ago (e.g. Guatemala), but to think Russia "wouldn't dare" is delusional.
It's as if these people are too young to know what a hydrogen bomb is. To those of us who grew up on a steady diet of Circular Error Probable, throw weights, and radius of total destruction, this kind of talk is terrifying. The idea of military superiority means nothing when the other side has 10,000 nuclear weapons.
After taking on a whole series of countries that couldn't defend themselves, like Serbia, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, it's as if these people are blind to the difference between casually threatening an unarmed country and threatening one that is your equal where it really counts: in nuclear terms.
Madness.
This man is a fool, who is trying to make a grand exit to salvage his sordid presidency and establish some sort of legacy. Then when he's finally gone and replaced by another goon, he can make millions spewing nonsense on the lecture circuit.
OK Barry, I admit yours is bigger, and Putin has made no claims to the contrary. Now zip up your pants and stop this madness.
That’s the same thing Israel was saying about Hezbollah……”the race is not for the swift, but those who can endure.”
Well, ok. If that's what ya think, Mr. President, who am I to disagree? On Monday the AP tells me the army is exhausted, on Tuesday it's unbeatable. Flip a coin?
But wars are about logistics. I think the Russian lines of supply would be rather convenient, providing some staying power. Quantity has a quality all its own.
The USA can be 1000 times stronger (militarily), just like in The Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan wars, but the end result is the same – huge war casualties, large number of mentally unstable ex -soldiers, phenomenal financial losses, loss of moral standard, rapidly joining one of the most hated countries in the whole world.
Russia indeed dared to confront, battle and totally wipe out every Drang nach osten so far and an "empire" in decline like USA is not an exception. The mood in Russia is as always when confronted by threats of extinction by Hitler and Hitler-like figures at an all time high.
But then again if the Snakes of Amerikkka is so superior, why the threats?
This article convinces me that we have gone back in time to 1939, but the conventional view that Obama is standing up to a Hitleresque Putin is all wrong. Obama controls the most powerful military in the world and wants total world domination, so in reality he is the Hitleresque figure while Putin leads a down at heal country that had badly damaged itself in a previous war and is the Churchillian figure. Did Churchill kiss Berlin's derriere? NO! .
Yep, PNAC 'Full Spectrum Dominance' – well guess what, Mr. Bigschwantz, this is no little country you can 'pick and shake' like some infamous chicken hawk said.
Stop poking the bear, you a$$hole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wouldn't mind betting that the Russians get much better value for their money when it comes to military spending.
This pathetic man playing at being the president of the USA and is desecrating the once lofty office with his presence in it, would run like a scared rabbit when the first shot was fired. Bravado, outright lying, mass murdering and destroying the country, are his stock and trade. He is a vile and despicable man who is a poisonous parasite on the American people and on the world. Kaligula writ large.. Simply mad.
Oh yeah, the vaunted American military that is still unable to defeat a rag tag bunch of Taliban with kallishnikov's. Who were driven out of Iraq with their tails between their legs.
The USA no longer has the manufacturing base to sustain a conventional war. The USA no longer has the financial power to do so either and the USA simply does not have the manpower to sustain a conventional war with their antiquated military equipment. That is the scary part of it all because once they start losing to Russia and or to China, the war will go nuclear and that, will be the end of humanity.
It has taken a totally mad Kenyan to finally destroy America and possibly the world.
Obama should read history before opening his big mouth. Hitler made the same comment before
he invaded Russia in 1941. Sounds like he's been listening to those Nazi thugs in the Ukraine.
Obama should also remember that Iraqi insurgents were giving his so-called (superior) US
military all it could handle until someone in the USG came up with the (bright) idea to buy
off the insurgents with cash.
I once though George W. Bush was the worst individual to sit in the Oval Office. Obama has
made me reconsider that opinion.
Losers threaten.
This insane statement is primarily for home consumption. This ignoramus does not seem to understand that economies are the core issue. The economies of the EU are entwined with the economy of Russia and our economy is entwined with the EU at levels unknown in 1939. Saber rattling will not prevent the potential economic disaster which our current president is conjuring up. In fact it will only speed up the coming collapse. Once again he reminds me of Goethe's poem of the magician's apprentice who knew the magic words to start the broom getting water but did not know the magic words to stop the flooding. Unfortunately there seems to be no master today who knows how to stop this madness of Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and now Ukraine.
It has always been known that a time will always come when big military expenditures must be recovered by some military adventure. Is this the time?
It is a shame that we have this wonderful military and our politicians so poorly. For all accounts every major conflict from the 60s on has been a defeat or at a minimum a disaster for the tax payer point of view. We were unable to pay of the Vietnam war and we just stopped paying the bills after that. The problem is our politicians just do not have any idea how to use military power. Well I hope they know something about napoleon.
The problem with nuclear weapons is that they are great as a threat but can't really be used. Any country which makes the "first strike" will turn itself into an international pariah. In Russia's case, its nuclear arsenal is as antiquated and primitive as every other part of its military forces. It could deliver a crude blow, but no more. If Putin seriously contemplated using it, he would probably be overthrown before he could do so. Thus, Obama's strategy is prefectly correct: lure Putin into a conventional war and clobber him. The Baltic is the perfect spot for that. No matter how much land he grabs elsewhere, Putin can't leave the Baltic republics unconquered without appearing to capitulate and that will discredit him in the eyes of his elderly supporters. He has painted himself into a corner and the only choice he has left is which foot he's going to shoot himself in.
"Russia’s nuclear arsenal is antiquated and primitive." It is t rue, after the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia, largely because of lack of funds, stopped both new deployments as well as upgrades to its intercontinental nuclear force for a good number of years but starting in 2009 Russia became deploying the MIRV (multiple re-entry vehicles) RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile., with an estimated deployment of 70 silo and mobile based missiles. And in 2013 Russia commissioned three new Borei-class ballistic missile lunching submarines equipped with the newly developed and also MIRV capable RSM-56 Bulava missile.
"The problem with nuclear weapons is that they are great as a threat but can't really be used." True only a man-mad in Moscow or Washington D.C. would consider launching a nuclear strike on the others homeland. But given the way the United States fights wars Putin may have no other option but to use nuclear weapons. Consider this: because of America’s superior fighter-plane technology and fighter-pilot training no American combat soldier has been exposed to aerial bombing by the opposing force since the earliest part of the Korean War. The United States simply denies the use of the air-space about the battlefield to the other sides aircraft. And, once air-superiority is achieve add to this the practice first seen to such devastating effect in the first and second Iraq wars of decimating your opponent’s ground forces with bombers before deploying one’s own ground forces to the battle. No, I think the pressure on Putin in such a scenario would for a "limited" use of tactical nuclear weapons against the offending airfields, leaving the man-mad response decision to Obama.
" Putin can't leave the Baltic republics unconquered without appearing to capitulate "
You really do talk utter rubbish, you must live in a fantasy world of your own. Even Sarah Palin's drivel seems rational compared to your delusional ravings.
Lure him into a conventional war? We couldn't win a conventional war in Vietnam or Afganistan, how are we going to do that in Eastern Europe? Do you just make this stuff up?
Your contention that Russia's military is primitive and antiquated is incorrect. Russia is considered to be at least equal if not ahead of the United States in several key military technologies, including anti-aircraft missile systems (the S-400s). "in many key respects is more capable than the US Patriot series" These are the weapons that Israel was so desperate to deny to Iran, on the expectation that their possession will make an attack on Iran simply impossible. Air Power Australia remarks that only the F-22 is expected to be able to operate in the presence of these missiles. Everything else, including the F-35, is just a targeting opportunity.
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Grumble-Gargoyle.h…
A conventional war with the Russians in the Baltic would therefore be entirely reliant on less than 180 F-22s that if lost could not be replaced, and which besides are sometimes flying, sometimes not.
That military superiority Obama is so proud of may be found to be a more narrow margin than he imagines.
"In Russia's case, its nuclear arsenal is as antiquated and primitive as every other part of its military forces. It could deliver a crude blow, but no more." …A crude blow with multiple hydrogen bombs would be quite adequate to destroy the United States.
.."lure Putin into a conventional war and clobber him." … Perhaps you could tell us about your own vast military experience and how that gives you the insight to make such claims.
except when it comes to fighting insurgents.
HAHA! Uncle Sam can't even defeat the Iraqis or the Taliban.
No wonder China is spending more and more on their military capabilties, as that seems to be the US' primary diplomatic tactic, e.g., my military is stronger than yours, therefore do as we tell you, not as we do!
The American military thinks it is superior because it can throw firepower around indiscriminately. The Chinese have rightly noted that the US military will implode if it has to take massive casualties. What 60 years of bombing small countries that can't fight back very well has done is make the American military arrogant. The "hopelessly inferior" Chinese communists in 1950 gave the American army quite a shock. The Russians will be even worse for the FedGov mainline units. The Soviet military analyst, Viktor Suvorov, noted that the key to understanding the Red Army is to realize that it isn't the fact that it suffered 80% casualties in a given offensive; rather, it is to note that 80% casualties didn't stop it from prevailing in the end. Americans have no idea of how to fight a protracted conflict.
In the great German vs. Soviet engagement of World War II, the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Moscow, and the Battle of Kursk Soviet casualties alone exceeded the number of allied forces involved in D-Day operations. Minus the development of the A-bomb, without Russian sacrifices the United States and the United Kingdom would have been powerless to defeat Germany.
What a juvenile statement to make. Sounds like a high school bully jock talking about his biceps or something.
American air power would not be something to take on lightly. American ground pounders have more experience than any other fighting force in the world. The u.s has a supply system that has had 12 years to perfect itself. USA knows logistics. Putin knows this. Russia has two allies Syria and China. Good luck
Never underestimate a military that is fighting to save their country, The USA military hasn't been used to protect the USA in 70 years,
some men stopped comparing the size of their…ahh…you know…when they started wearing long pants.
In the final analysis, the size of a dog in a fight, is not nearly important as the fight in the dog. Pitt bulls are relatively small in size, but they can easily whip most dogs three times their size. The evident truth of the matter is that US forces haven't faced a military force with capabilities beyond that of glorified boy scouts since WW 2. How the US military would perform against a motivated enemy equipped with artillery, an air force and missiles is anyone's guess, but it's my guess they would likely not perform up to Obama's expectations.
Yes, americas army is superior in the evil moron department – especially at the top.
The German military in WW2 in terms of overall combat effectivness was vastly superior to anything the americans can field today, yet the Russians through incurring vast casualties managed to eventually wear the Germans away on the Eastern Front. The same fate awaits american forces today…
Where was the article claiming that President Obama said what he said about US military. This article sounds like a bit of trash reporting by Jason Ditz. Post your sources goofball?
From a Washinton Post article: "[In an interview with Major Garrett of CBS News, Obama said Russia must recognize that Ukraine, part of which it annexed last month, is a sovereign nation that should be able to chart its own course.
"They’re not interested in any kind of military confrontation with us, understanding that our conventional forces are significantly superior to the Russians. We don’t need a war," Obama said, according to a transcript of the interview.]"
If you look closely when Obama opens and closes his mouth you can see the movement of wires above his head. The camera never shows who sits on the perch operating the puppet controls.
A commenter, rob, asked for a source for Obama's quote. Here it is an excerpt from an article in the Washington Post: "[In an interview with Major Garrett of CBS News, Obama said Russia must recognize that Ukraine, part of which it annexed last month, is a sovereign nation that should be able to chart its own course.
"They’re not interested in any kind of military confrontation with us, understanding that our conventional forces are significantly superior to the Russians. We don’t need a war," Obama said, according to a transcript of the interview.]"