The Bear awakens...

"They know they can kick sand in the face of our current President and be in no risk of any retaliation. With our next President, they don't know." 

I would love to be inside of Putin's head. I would like to know what he is up to. If what has happened as of late is just bluster and posturing, or is there "something else". It is that "something else" which is starting to worry me. As a old time "Cold Warrior", I had the Soviets on my radar screen most every day I was on active duty. Now it seems those days might be back.

I find the timing interesting. If is as if the Russians are boning up for our next President. They know they can kick sand in the face of our current President and be in no risk of any retaliation. With our next President, they don't know. 

Earlier in the week, my wife and I were at a national monument in South Dakota dedicated to the old Minuteman Silos from the Cold War. Inside the monument was a museum depicting elements from the Cold War. The "duck and cover" from the fifties and sixties. The insanity of both NATO and the Soviets having more nuclear throw weight to wipe out every man, woman and child dozens of times over. Thank God those days are over! Or are they?

By coincidence, this week the Soviets had a massive civil defense drill. How massive? About 40 million people took part in it. It was to protect the population against a "man made" disaster (I wonder what that is). Again, what is going on inside Putin's head?

What else happened this week? The peace talks have broken down with the Russians on Syria. That means the carnage will keep on. Some reports are predicting the Syrian town of Aleppo might end up being totally destroyed. Thousand more Syrians will die or be wounded. The refugee crisis will continue.

As a cherry on the cake (so to speak), the Russians also signed an agreement with Syria to keep forces there "indefinitely". Plus, it was reported today that the Russians might want to re-establish a base in Cuba. Anybody nervous about that one? A throwback from the 1960's maybe?

One final thought about the Cold War museum we visited this week. Even though the SALT and START talks reduced the number of warheads significantly, both the United States and Russia still have about 4,000 each. If  this new cold war ever became hot with nuclear weapons, it would be the end. There would be no survivors. The Earth would be reduced to a poisoned rock, floating in space for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.

Whoever is going to be the next President is going to have an enormous load on his or her plate. This emerging Russian threat is just the latest helping. I guess Mitt Romney was not so dumb after all. He nailed it in one the debates. Even though our current guy made fun of Mitt, Mitt was right. Russia is our greatest threat. Too bad we do not have President Romney running for re-election right now.