Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
What about the U.S. imposing sanctions on Russia ?
Doesn't seem like a good idea being that they have nuclear missiles pointed at us.
They know that launching nukes would be suicide for them. As soon as we caught a whiff of a nuclear launch, our own missiles would be in the air. Their leadership may be corrupt and expansionist, but they are not stupid. They are not going to have their own country turned into a glass-bottom parking lot unless they are SERIOUSLY threatened.
Sanctions are really the only solution that makes sense, IMO. As much as it burns me to see a regime like Putin's running amock, I don't think we have any interests in the region that would justify the costs and risks of a(nother) shooting war.
Pretty much, its not like he is rolling into Poland.
Anyway the US populace doesn't have the stomach for a real war, you can't kick around the Russian military as easily as we did in the sandbox, the Russians actually have a real half way decent army, the kind the US Army hasn't fought since Korea.
Historically the Russian military is always viewed poorly but they do tend to perform well when pressed and allowed to do so. Lets not forget that the Russians were responsible for defeating the Wehrmacht in WW2, causing 8 out of every 11 causalities sustained during the war.
Western military circles are in love with this fantasy of fast mobile elite forces overcoming all obstacles and put the Germans up on a pedestal for it. But that very rarely translates to victory.