[TheRealThing]

We wouldn't be defending ourselves, but we'd be defending our interests which is good enough for me. I don't like how so many people have bitched about our war in Afghanistan, always talking about how we need to get out, yet those are many of the same people criticizing our government for not taking a tougher stance on Russia. It's either one way or another, we either fight for our interests and what's good in the world, or we only fight when our people are at risk. It can't be both.

I, for one, think we need to stand up to Putin with our military and punk him on the world stage. He talks a big game, but he doesn't have the power to actually go toe to toe with America, and never will.

Totally agree. Nobody likes war and nobody wants to see young men go off to war. But, that won't stop the thugs and the tyrants like Putin from plunging the world into war. I'll tell you something, when the people of the world (not Americans) see one of our warplanes or one of our warships, they get chills. The power and dread such visions inspire are not limited to the common folk either. The Putin's and the Kim Jong-un's know all too well the power these machines wield. Even one fighter bomber could flatten any world metropolitan area and, a carrier could flatten a whole country. No, it's the mom jean sporting guy carrying the stick, that has the weak knees.

But, to your point, the one's who do all the criticizing with regard to US military influence in the world are referred to as doves. Which is a nice name for cowards and bozos who can't understand that there is no negotiating with bad guys who operate, under the flawed logic of using force to get what they want. Supposedly there is no appetite from the US citizenry for any sort of military action in the Crimea. Well duh, the sort of national appetite they're talking about only comes about as the result of something like a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. There is seldom any national accord for the dirty work involved as the requirement of protecting our national interests.

We have a representative form of government. I hate this polling business we do all the time. Legislators defer to poll numbers instead of voting their consciences. Intelligence committees and federal legislators (the congress) are the ones charged with being aware of threats and taking actions to mitigate those threats. We must remain decisive and strong if we are to survive. Democrats who politicize absolutely everything from hurricanes to war, in order to gain an elective edge with Americans are doing much more damage than they know. And, are at least partly to blame for this recent 'fog of controversy' about what direction our foreign policy should tack. When Pelosi et-al, denied their role in Iraq, making it look like Republicans were warmongering idiots who gladly killed off thousands of soldiers with the flippancy of a beverage choice at McD's, they began to engage in a kind of nationalistic cannibalism. A house divided against itself cannot stand. It really is that simple.

That problem alone, is the most glaring from among our current problems. One cannot make a political career out of disparaging their counterparts, or the previous administration.