A test of wills

“There is a strong feeling that Russia is violating international law…” said this nation’s leader this date, (4 March 2014). We may suppose that Comrade Putin is quaking in his boots, following so severe an assessment of his tactics. We listened to Mr Kerry’s speech in the Ukraine today. He began well, with a forthright description of Russia’s transgressions, and then, true to form, wound down almost pleadingly, in an attempt to appeal to Mr Putin’s sense of humanity, as if such existed. This is no time to dispatch weaklings to plead our cause. Weakness encourages tyrants. The President has it in his power to send forth men with backbone to meet face to face with Mr Putin, men who will not quail in his presence, men such as Marine Corp General Joseph (Fighting Joe)  Dunford, Jr. or Army Lieutenant General John F. Mulholland, Jr.  current Deputy Commander of United States Special Operations Command. The President is being thrashed in what for the moment is a game of psychology. In such a game, sending forth battle scarred military leaders in uniform to meet with a street fighter like Putin sends a quiet message of the type Putin understands, and which either of these two Generals will passionately attest to: THE UNITED STATES MILITARY IS STILL THE MOST POWERFUL MILITARY FORCE ON EARTH.  Send out a man who will not flinch, a man who knows how to call and counter a bluff, because such a game of “psyche” is not a game for weaklings. For a game changer, call out the dogs, and dispatch the toughest of the bunch while the battle is yet a battle of wills. Follow this up by replacing nuclear missile sites in Europe, halt the asinine plans to downsize our military, get our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and begin scheduling war game exercises with countries living under Russian threat. Ah, but then, who am I, but an untutored and unlettered citizen of this great country? And yet, one may hope. We shall see.