OT? A New Cold War

[RN7]

Originally Posted by Raellus

I'm kind of curious as to exactly what you guys- Nowhere and CDAT- think the U.S./NATO should be doing to counter Russia, that they currently "lack the political will" to do.

In Europe, various measures are being taken to address Russian militarism/aggression. New basing agreements, more armor and combat air power oriented eastward, and even the possibility of new additions to NATO.

In Syria, what could be done to prevent Russian intervention that wouldn't lead to an armed class between Western and Russian forces?

What could be done to prevent Russian intervention that wouldn't lead to an armed clash between Western and Russian forces should have been done a year ago Raellus. Western troops on the ground in Syria with air support to hammer ISIL and kick the remnants back into Iraq and the mountains. Instead what has been done? Cyber and electronic eavesdropping, drone strikes and a few morale boosting air strikes to look good, while Obama goes and signs a nuclear deal with Iran. And all the good it has done. ISIL are still there slaughtering innocent people. The Russians have moved into Syria who borders a NATO country (Turkey) and Israel right under the nose of the West and are attacking anti-Assad rebels. Iran is also sitting back and now laughing at the West, Israel and the Sunni Arab world.

Russia's motives are not driven by helping Assad, but are driven by their own agenda to undermine Western influence in the region. And while doing so they now strategically threaten the entire Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean. If as I suspect Russia has S-400 SAM systems in Syria then they can threaten very effectively the entire air space as far as 400 kilometres east and west of Syria, and can hit aerodynamic targets up to 56 kilometres high depending on the missile variant. They also have anti-ballistic missile capabilities, and if Russia places anti-ship missiles and conventional ballistic missiles in Syria they can hit NATO warships and land targets in Europe. And they moved all of this into Syria via Iranian and Iraqi airspace right under the noses of NATO just after Obama signs a nuclear deal with Iran. What Putin thinks of Obama must be choice!