Tom Clancy's novels were fraught with incidents where the Soviets and the forces of the West were at each others' throats and locked in the deadly embrace that was to characterize the Cold War.
Early on, as a young officer in the USAF stationed at SAC Headquarters, Offutt AFB, Nebraska, I chewed some of this dirt
as Marines are wont to say. My responsibility (hence the name of this blog and my desperate REMF attempt at stolen valor) was to basically contribute to the software support effort in generation the SIOP -- the
Single Integrated Operational Plan -- or War Plan for short. while I cannot discuss my specific duties (mainly because memory dims), I and several others in my unit wrote and maintained the software that allowed flight simulation and strike route planning to be done. we gathered intel from various inputs throughout the USAF and other services (and even other countries), parameterized same, and generated the missions that SAC assets would be assigned in the event the klaxons sounded.
Now, if I had told you this some thirty years ago, I would have had to kill you. Now, with SAC a memory and the world situation as it is, I only need to give you a dirty look. But to preserve anonymity, here is a friend of mine doing this for me:
So, consider yourself chastened.
That said and to bring this aircraft back on course, Clancy also wrote in a couple of his books -- principally
Executive Orders -- how, once the Cold War ceased, there grew a grudging affection between former enemies. How elements of the Soviet Union and the United States would ally themselves clandestinely to stare down another mutual foe. (In E.O, of course is was an out-of-control Iranian Mullahs who has overthrown a Saddam-like character, wrested control of Iraq and formed the so-called Army of God all the while initiating a biological attack on the U. S. with Jack Ryan their nascent POTUS.)
In the main, the Russian President has vowed to assist Jack Ryan and the U. S. efforts with backdoor and clandestine undermining of Iran, causing the eventual downfall and destruction of this Mullah.
Coming to the point, it would seem that in some tangential way, life imitates art -- especially with these most observations by Putin on our recent election. (
The actual Reuters is linked here but I have chosen to excerpt it in its entirety for its significance.) Putin, it seems, likes to deal with strong, worthy adversaries rather than the fractious, inconsistent, Mooo-zlem ass-kissing cadre of boobs and fools that now man the Lawn Jockey POTUS or the knee-jerk soldiers of Hillary Clinton's cadre.
His reflections on Hillary and her crew and the Democrats is somewhat less than loving.
Enjoy. (Emphasis added.)
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Andrew Osborn | MOSCOW
Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, saying he had his finger on the pulse of U.S. society, and launched a scathing attack on the Democrats, saying they had forgotten the meaning of their own name and were sore losers.
Speaking at his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia's president said that only Russia had believed that Trump would become the next president of the United States, but that did not mean the Democrats had the right to blame him [Putin] for their defeat.
"The current administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party are trying to blame all their failures on external factors," Putin told reporters.
"(We are talking about) a party which has clearly forgotten the original meaning of its own name," Putin said, accusing the Democrats of "shamelessly" abusing their status as the ruling party to try to influence public opinion.
"Outstanding figures in American history from the ranks of the Democratic Party would likely be turning in their graves. Roosevelt certainly would be," he said.
The White House and U.S. intelligence officials have accused Russia of trying to interfere with the U.S. election by hacking Democratic Party accounts. Information from those hacks was leaked online, causing political problems for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Putin dismissed suggestions Moscow had helped Trump to victory in any way however.
"It's not like that," he said. "All of this (the accusations) speaks of the current administration's systemic problems."
"SORE LOSERS"
The question of who hacked the U.S. Democratic party was not important anyway, said Putin, but what the hacks revealed - that public opinion in the United States was being manipulated - was.
"They (the Democrats) are losing on all fronts and looking elsewhere for things to blame. In my view this, how shall I say it, degrades their own dignity. You have to know how to lose with dignity."
Putin, who spoke positively of Trump before his election win, said that Moscow had believed in his victory.
"Trump understood the mood of the people and kept going until the end, when nobody believed in him," Putin said, adding with a smile. "Except for you and me."
Putin addressed Trump's comments about the need to boost the U.S. nuclear arsenal, saying they were perfectly normal.
Trump's comments, made in a tweet on Thursday, alarmed non-proliferation experts who said that a boost to the U.S. arsenal could fuel global tensions.
But Putin said he was surprised by the fuss Trump's tweet had caused and how it had been linked to his own statements about Russia's plans to modernize its own nuclear arsenal.
Putin said on Thursday Russia's military was "stronger than any potential aggressor". He made clear on Friday he did not regard the United States as a potential aggressor.
"I was a bit surprised by the statements from some representatives of the current U.S. administration who for some reason started to prove that the U.S. military was the most powerful in the world," said Putin.
"Nobody is arguing with that."
(Additional reporting by Katya Golubkova, Vladimir Soldatkin, Denis Pinchuk, Peter Hobson, Maria Kiselyova and Andrey Ostroukh, Gleb Stolyarov, Oksana Kobzeva, Andrey Kuzmin, Anastasia Lyrchikova; Editing by)
Personally, I do not dislike Putin nor do I fear him. Do I think he is an evil leader and capable of doing wrong in the world?
No, not at present.
But I do know that he is the leader of his country and, as such, has the responsibility for the preservation of Russia and its people. Sometimes what he sees as preservation will get cross-wise with how we see he should be carrying out his role as Russia's leader. But I sure as shit would think it's better to have him on the same team that allying ourselves with the likes of virtually ANY ARAB COUNTRY in the Middle East.
..for what it's worth, I am sure Tom Clancy would have felt the same.
