What happens with a weak president who likes commies....

[The Annoyed Man]

to many "trigger words"... HLS is watching

assassination attack domestic security drill exercise cops law enforcement authorities idsaster assistance disaster management national preparedness mitigation prevention response recovery dirty bomb domestic nuclear detection emergency management emergency response first responder homeland security mda national preparedness initiative militia shooting shots fired evacuation deaths hostage explosion police dmat organized crime gangs national security state of emergency

Living dangerously, are we? Oh, and you forgot insurrection, revolution, bullet box, evangelical, diesel, and fertilizer.

But, he added one, "idsaster""

That's DHS code for "Jumping Frog."

[Jasonw560]

This evangelical just put out fertilizer on his yard while watching his twins exercise while I prevented a domestic wasp attack (so I didn't need to act as a First Responder)at my compound.

[anygunanywhere]

So much for the cold war being over.

Anygunanywhere

[The Annoyed Man]

So much for the cold war being over.

Anygunanywhere

Exactly. It was almost over, for a while there.

[longhorn_92]

So much for the cold war being over.

Anygunanywhere

Exactly. It was almost over, for a while there.

It has never been over. The communists just opened their borders and changed tactics. They have infiltrated the democratic party and called themselves "progressives".

[Heartland Patriot]

So much for the cold war being over.

Anygunanywhere

Exactly. It was almost over, for a while there.

It has never been over. The communists just opened their borders and changed tactics. They have infiltrated the democratic party and called themselves "progressives".

They were working on that for a long, long time...go look up the wonderful Mr. Woodrow Wilson...the man churns my stomach.

[AlphaWhiskey]

The Russians wouldn't have done it with Clinton.

Well, true, they didn't try to set up permanent bases of operations in the Americas under Clinton. They didn't need to because Uncle Bill gladly invited them over for a beach party. See Operation Cooperative Osprey: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... osprey.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I was one of the "escorts" for the former enemies of our state and diligently trained them in humanitarian assistance, check points, convoy ops and some other things. No need to set up a base when they can just use ours!

[The Annoyed Man]

The Russians wouldn't have done it with Clinton.

Well, true, they didn't try to set up permanent bases of operations in the Americas under Clinton. They didn't need to because Uncle Bill gladly invited them over for a beach party. See Operation Cooperative Osprey: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... osprey.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I was one of the "escorts" for the former enemies of our state and diligently trained them in humanitarian assistance, check points, convoy ops and some other things. No need to set up a base when they can just use ours!

The countries listed on that page are:

The troops came from Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. There are three NATO nations, Canada, The Netherlands and the U.S.A., joining the exercise. Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic and Denmark participated as observers.

Further down the page, it says:

Partner nations participating were Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

Then below that, it says:

Approximately 150 military personnel from 19 nations participated in a multinational NATO Command Post Exercise COOPERATIVE OSPREY 2001

.....


Six NATO nations (Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States of America) participated together with thirteen partner nations (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Krghyz Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, and the Ukraine). Three Mediterranean Dialogue nations participated as military observers (Algeria, Jordan, and Mauritania).

Russia isn't listed anywhere as a participant. Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakstan, Romania, Ukraine, and Usbekistan are all nations that have spun off with the breakup of the USSR and all have nacent (some further along than others) democracy movements and are trying very hard to get out from under the hegemonistic sway of Russia. The Ukraine and Georgia in particular have paid very heavy prices for their independence, while the Russian GRU (used to be the KGB) has poisoned their politicians and corrupted their voting processes. In 2008, Russia ginned up phony reasons to invade Georgia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_Ossetia_war) and carve off a significant chunk of Georgian territory for itself.

My point is, these nations were nowhere near the same threat to the U.S. that Russia was/is, and I'm not convinced that fostering military cooperation with them wasn't the right thing to do. They were fighting communism. They were trying to break away from old Soviet influences. It seems to me like including them in Cooperative Osprey 2001 was probably a very good idea. Maybe if the cooperation had been greater, Russia wouldn't have carved off a piece of Georgian territory on the thinnest of excuses.

I would add that the invasion came near the end of George Bush's lame duck year as outgoing president, with a democrat polling highly as his replacement. Putin might well have gambled that Bush would not be able to respond, and an incoming democrat would be too big of a wussie to respond.