Iran is as big as all of Europe. Can’t really see that as a viable option with our current force structure. How is the United States supposed to pull that off given the fact that there will be no international support for it-even from our “allies” in the Middle East. ( That term should always be used loosely when discussing Arab countries).

For some, it would seem, the default is that it never works and so you always gotta go ‘hard’. Which doesn’t always work either. Look at Westmoreland at MACV, employing a hard strategy based on Clauswitzian attrition. Didn’t buy what we wanted. Clinton(spit, oh, god, can’t believe I’m saying anything nice about Slick Hill Billy) gave them rights to send fish and shrimp to the US and got a lot more than the 50k who got hurt over in SE Asia did.

It’s about accepting that there can be more than one tool in the tool chest. Not everything is stupidity or capitulation vs. ‘Strength Through Superior Firepower’.

Do I agree with it? No. I’d rather see Russia opposed. I think that regimes that bad if not shoved all the way into the grave tend to rise and be just as bad again.

There’s no way of stopping Iran short of invading. Delay? Yes, but halting? There is no ef in way without an invasion force. So, the question becomes, you and what army is going to pull that off? That’s the reality. If you want the nucweap program halted you need to invade as soft power attempts like sanctions have failed over 20 years to stop them from proceeding down this line. So, best option available is to ‘put English of the ball’. Steer it best you can. MAD worked against the crazies in Moscow, and we thought them insane too way back when, and there’s a better than good chance it’ll work now—reason for SSBN in the forth coming budgets too. What forces them to mature is the realization that they now are viable to eat the same ordinance they want to threaten people with.

But, back to eating cheese and reading books, academician style. Got no use for Obama or this change of policy, but that doesn’t mean it’s bat$hi7 crazy or the actions of an idiotic/evil man out to sell people down the river. That’s all I’m saying. (SJS, I wasn’t trying to bust Skippy-sama in the chops, I was trying to be very respectful. As John the Armorer says, ‘Ry’s got boney elbows.’ Really, I was trying to disagree as nicely as I knew how, though it’s not as easy to do having been up since 0300 Eastern.)

It’s good to learn a bit of what’s going on, technologically, and to know that some part of DoD is still working on the various aspects of BMD. Being out of the game for many years now, folks like you here are about the only credible source left to someone like me. So, thanks again…

Philosophically, it seems to me that we’re dealing with an administration bent on concession and appeasement on the international playground. It also seems that, on domestic issues, I hear an Obama who is continually angry and resentful toward a large percentage of the population, and I can’t help but think that the anger and resentment are spread throughout his view of our place in the world; 5% of population using 25% of world’s resources, etc. He seems intent on growing, or allowing to be grown through other means (i.e. Russia), those ‘tiny’ nations mentioned previously; taking the U.S. down to the same level of broke here and abroad.

Some declare that Obama loves this country. Frankly, I don’t know what the hell he loves…or what he would love to see happen here in the U.S. IMO, what he’s doing doesn’t speak to the naivete or foolishness of Chamberlain, but, again, I don’t know what it speaks to. I just know that my gut gets queasy thinking about it, and a part of me wants to go survivalist and find a cave somewhere deep in the Cascades.