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Originally Posted by Raellus
And Obama is going to take Putin's word that the missiles are armed with conventional warheads? I guess I'm just a lot more cynical about this point.
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Putin could also use Facebook or Twitter and if he lies to Obama or becomes abusive he could have his account suspended
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
I don't know how he'd hit W. European targets. Belarus might allow the Russians military overflight permission. In my understanding, Belarus is still pretty tight with the Russians. The Soviets have some pretty capable strike aircraft but I don't think very many of them could get through NATO's air cover. Assuming the Russians would have taken Ukraine, their SRBMs could at least hit targets in Poland. I feel like I sound like a broken record but I just don't see Putin using conventional weapon-armed ICBMs because it could very well provoke a nuclear response.
As for hitting targets in the U.S., don't the Russians still have some submarine-launched cruise missiles that can carry conventional explosive payloads? That would be a safer option because it likely wouldn't set off the same kind of alarms that an SLBM would.
As far as NATO vs. Russia war in Eastern Europe, I think that with all of the Cold War baggage that both the U.S. and Russia still have, neither side is going to want to start slinging ballistic missiles. Now, if the war escalated to a full-blown WWIII-type scenario with fighting spreading across the globe, perhaps that reluctance would diminish. But for a war in Eastern Europe, I don't think so.
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Raellus I'm just playing devils advocate here and throwing out a few hypotethical facts. I could not see any of this happening either. But Russia has the capability to hurt Europe and North America if it wanted to without using its nuclear forces and I think most don't realise that fact. In the post-Cold War years we have become used to America blitzing its enemies with its military capabilities, but have forgotten the fact that Russia also remains a formidable military power.