Barry's "Putin" on a Show

The United States deployed a total of 600 troops to our Eastern European allies, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Each country will have 150 troops to countermand and offset the 20,000 Russian troops sitting on the Ukrainian border.
Please read the article from Tuesday's late edition of USA TODAY.

I wonder if Vlad is rethinking his Soviet reunification policy now.

Do Barry and his boys really think 600 pairs of "boots on the ground" in Eastern Europe will be sufficient to fight off, let's face it, the Red Army? After the Barbarossa debacle, the Soviet Union never again allowed any country to push its soldiers around.

Unofficial flag of the Soviet Red Army. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Understand that Vlad is an old world Soviet through and through. Even though he was born in 1952, his veins course Soviet blood. Yes, he is a Russian national, but his brain is Soviet-wired. His true loyalty is not to the Russian Federation, but rather to the USSR.

He was 40 when the Soviet Union fell apart. Before that, he was a Colonel in his beloved USSR and since that time, he has worked, initially behind the scenes when Boris Yeltsin was President, and since 2000 out front for the world to see.

You need to recognize that Vlad is a consummate chess player, while Barry is playing jacks, checkers or more likely “Got your Nose”. Vlad is a three or four-dimensional thinker while Barry is a one-dimensional whiz. You would think that Barry would have finally realized that Vlad is socking his clock, but because he thinks he is the "smartest man in the world", I am sure he keeps overriding his military and diplomatic advisors.

I admit that while I studied History and Political Science, I am not an expert of the Soviet or Russian mindset. But I have played chess and I do understand strategic placement of my pieces in order to at least have my opponent withdraw, even if I can't beat him outright. So does Vlad.

The placement of 600 in a "Baltic Defense" is not going to have the Eurasian Union (Russia's new model of domination) withdraw from Crimea and the Ukraine region. If Russia can reclaim Ukraine and at least force it into its sphere of influence, the "breadbasket of Europe" will resolve many agricultural issues for Putin. The Russians and others will be able to eat more affordably in the future.

Vlad controls oil and natural gas distribution to the European Union and with that he is able to pay some of Russia's bills. Unfortunately for him, he is finding it difficult to feed his people. This is part of what the Ukraine strategy is about. The rest of it is to embarrass the United States and its weakened stature due to Obama's ignorance and naïveté on the world stage.

In the end, if Vlad moves westward, 600 troops will not stop the Big Red Machine. At that point, NATO (translate USA) will be forced to mobilize its armed forces in Germany, Italy and other locations in Europe in order to defend a NATO-member country.

Kennedy had Berlin to temper his decisions in the Cold War. Will Obama have Warsaw? Or will he back down as he did in Syria, Libya and Crimea?

Putin is counting on it.