by Robert M. Traxler
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in one corner and the Warsaw Pact (DDSV) in the other, get ready to rumble. Not so fast, the Warsaw Pact has been disbanded and not replaced. The fight card would be NATO vs. the Russian Federation and its allies, assuming other nations would even stand with them.
The DDSV, or Warsaw Pact, was formed in 1955 and disbanded in 1991. It was a military and economic treaty between eight or nine socialist nations, depending on how you count Albania; the Albanians withdrew in 1962 because they felt the Russians were not following pure Marxism.
At its high water mark, the DDSV had a strength of 295 Divisions, 69,000 main battle tanks and vastly outnumbered NATO in every area except naval strength.
As always happens, the DDSV and the Union of Soviet Republics (USSR) failed as all Socialist states do over time. From 1922 to 1991 the Socialist Republics governed a large portion of the world; however as “glasnost” or openness was established in 1986, the DDSV and USSR began their downward spiral. For the first time, the people could see that the western democracies were not the horrible oppressive backward places they were told we were.
An interesting footnote in history was the broadcasting of American television in the Soviet satellite states. “Dallas,” a popular weekly series on CBS from 1978 to 1991, gave the Soviet bloc nations a look into American culture. They liked what they saw.
The Russian Federation is a shadow of its former self in military strength, just over three million (counting National Guard, Reserve and former military still young enough to serve), down from the twenty million at its height. Take away the Russians’ estimated 6,500 high-yield nuclear weapons (which, according to the popular American media and the global climate change folks are not as worrisome or as big a threat as plastic straws), soccer moms in SUVs, and non-organic American farmers. Really? We also see a nation in the Russian Federation that could be dealt with by the Europeans, with or without help from the United States.
I observe with interest the media and Democrats railing about the Russians and calling President Putin the devil incarnate. The progressives who were the ones advocating for better relations with the Russians during President Obama’s administration currently condemn President Trump for the same actions? Folks, you can’t make this stuff up.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with opening a dialog with the Russian Federation as Secretary of State Clinton tried to do in President Obama’s first term. Sacrilege, according to today’s media and their partners in the leftist party. Could it be they do not want President Trump to succeed where Mrs. Clinton and President Obama failed?
Now people will say the Russians tried to infulence our election; they did, and have for nearly a hundred years. We interfere with other nations’ elections all the time, to include the Russian Federation. The most open and obvious was the vote on Brexit, when President Obama spent days campaigning against the Brits leaving the European Union (EU), the largest movement toward world socialism since the USSR.
To the Brits’ credit, they told the EU to take a long walk on a short bridge, twice, even after President Obama predicted the Brits would see its economy destroyed if Brexit passed, and threatened American economic actions. The Brits do hate to be threatened.
President Trump’s efforts to have the NATO nations “pay their fair share” is to be commended, not condemned, but the media mob and liberals will never give him credit for anything. Pure hate works that way, as does mob/group think, no one in the media/ academic/socialist/progressive world would dare say a word commending our President, out of fear of being ostracized, verbally eviscerated or worse.
I see nothing wrong with getting along with the Russians. What ever happened to dialog being a good thing?
