Redbrickbear said:FLBear5630 said:We have a war? We don't have a war now.Sam Lowry said:So you think we'd be better off now if we'd had a war in Czechoslovakia instead of the SALT treaty?FLBear5630 said:The US tried your tact and it failed... Fear of nuclear weapons, don't poke the Bear. They just want a buffer because of WW2. Same arguments. Diplomacy, sanctions, all the "gentlemanly maneuvers". Russia just took more, into Afghanistan. This is their pattern. It is Soviet Socialist doctrine and Putin is KGB to the core. Patton was right, they understand one thing...Sam Lowry said:No one ever thinks they're on the offensive.FLBear5630 said:Sam Lowry said:I'm glad you're familiar with some of the strategies that Reagan used against the Soviets. You're certainly not the only one. What you fail to understand is the reason behind his actions. He wanted to end the Cold War in order to end it, not to cripple Russia or establish a new unipolar order.whiterock said:LOL you mean the Reagan that armed the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan? Who armed the Contras? Who armed the NCR in Cambodia? Who granted Israel "major non-Nato ally" status? Who launched QRHELPFUL to support Solidarity right under the Soviet nose? Who bombed Qaddafi's tent in Libya? The same Ronaldus Magnus who issued the "Reagan Doctrine?" (see below.)Sam Lowry said:Adequate for what? It's not necessarily in our interest to provide adequate deterrence for every state that can't provide for itself. Reagan's top priority was to ensure our own deterrent capability. He accomplished that with flying colors, though at a cost that was ultimately fatal to his domestic agenda as well. It pains me to see the legacy of our last great president so thoroughly undone.whiterock said:Sam Lowry said:He believed in peace through strength. There are too many people who can only understand half the equation.whiterock said:....and against the advice of his advisors proceeded with SDI, walked out of a summit in Reykjavik, stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate and demanded "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"Sam Lowry said:He wouldn't have to. Reagan never would have put us in this situation to begin with. Read up on his dealings with Gorbachev and how he worked for peace despite the skepticism of his advisers.FLBear5630 said:Sam Lowry said:Reagan couldn't disagree more. Biden is undoing everything that he accomplished.FLBear5630 said:Harrison Bergeron said:
Just curious ... asking for a unicorn I know .. who can make the affirmative case that artificially funding Ukraine's economy serves what national interests of the U.S.?
Maybe I am a Reagan Cold War guy, but I agreed with Scott and Haley last night on Ukraine. Anything we do to weaken Putin is good for US.
Reagan would stand by and let Putin invade Ukraine? Grenada/Iran-Contra Ron would have said, we are out let Russia have Ukraine? After he worked to get Ukrainian independence. Yeah.
I served why Ronnie was President. You know how many times we (82nd Abn) got ready to deploy and sit at Pope Air Field so the satellites could get a good look? You think he was bluffing? I don't, the officers and AF personnel managing our aircraft didn't. Sitting in a stick on a tarmac for 8 hours is no fun. This happened that I can remember with Libya and Poland. Every EDRE was a satellite opportunity to show strength and he used it. Reagan also supplies Afghan Rebels and Solidarity in Poland. Reagan would not stand by and let Putin do this.
Reagan pushed the Soviets harder than any POTUS before him or since.
Exactly. We denied Ukraine the means to adequate deterrence. Look what happened.
Dude. I led THREE (still classified) Presidential Finding covert action programs during Reagan's terms. I know of at least a dozen more that colleagues and friends were involved in. One of my CT classmates, a FI officer with no military experience, rode a Huey to work every day.....pursuant to a Presidential Finding.
To put it mildly, Reagan ran a very muscular foreign policy and would have run a Ukraine program that would have put the one we have now to shame.
To put it bluntly, you are pulling straw men out of your arse and calling them candy.
The Reagan Doctrine:
"We must not break faith with those who are risking their liveson every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaraguato defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth."
--President Ronald Reagan
SOTU address, February 6, 1985
(note the words "...every continent...")
Geez, Sam. We are not on the offensive. This is not the first time Russia has done this. We know how it turns out if you don't fight back from the start. See Czech 1968. It was almost 30 years before they got their Nation back. My maternal Grandfather is from Prague, family there. All communication lost. Those connections died out and have not been re-connected since 1968. Russian takeovers are not pleasant, they break up families on purpose to weaken connections.
If Ukraine wants to fight, we should help. No troops, but I would support NATO membership. A reduced Nation, is still a free Nation. Better than under Putin boot.
Did the Russians invade Czechoslovakia because they were Russians, or because they were communists? Why didn't the US try to stop them?
By the way, you roll tanks over a sovereign border and attack to take land, that is pretty much the textbook definition of being on the "offensive"!
Yet....
Really? We are going to curtail support because some fear the US may get into a war? Might as well have no foreign policy.