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Sunday, July 01, 2018

Run Away!

Russian threats against NATO and against Sweden as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine (on top of the attack on Georgia) are what caused weak Norway to ask for a larger American presence in Norway. Norway is not the guilty party here.

But Ted Carpenter, who has never seen any threat to America without claiming the best American response is to curl into a fetal position and beg forgiveness for scuffing the boots of the threat while it kicks us in that supine position, says Norway's request might "push" Russia to "retaliate":

The United States and its NATO allies continue to find ways to antagonize Russia. The latest provocation is a request from Norway to more than double the number of U.S. troops stationed on its territory and deploy them even closer to the border with Russia.

Yes, how dare NATO states be unwilling to remain vulnerable to a surprise Russian offensive! That just antagonizes the Russians!

The number of Marines would be about 700. The Russians should be embarrassed to claim that is a threat:

The Norwegians want more American Marines to remain in their country--and closer to Russia--just in case. The Russians proceeded to wet themselves at the prospect of a whole 700 Marines anywhere near Russia. Which pretty much guaranteed the renewal of the Norwegian TV series Occupied.

Europeans were happy to remain weak even after the Russo-Georgia War of 2008. It was only after Russia dismembered Ukraine in 2014 that the Europeans began to take small steps to reverse their military decline.

I really have zero respect for Carpenter's advice on foreign policy.