Russia holds war games in Venezuela, sending alarming signals throughout Latin America

[titan]

Russia holds war games in Venezuela, sending alarming signals throughout Latin America

Snipers from Russia and other countries hostile to the United States are competing in war games being held this week in Venezuela in events described as Olympic games for soldiers that were organized not only to show that Moscow still has friends but also that some of them are in Latin America. The international war games have been held yearly since 2015, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and Venezuela has participated from their beginning, but this year’s games are the first held in Latin America, and include participants from Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua. Forces from Burma, Belarus, Abkhazia, Uzbekistan, China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia, among others, also participate in the competitions.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/na...venezuela/article264660504.html#storylink=cpy

Cause for alarm in the U.S.?
"Held yearly since 2015"?
Nothing to worry about?
And how does China factor in to such potentially expansionist moves?

 

[Borg Refinery]

I read about this before, it's probably no particular cause for concern although alarming that these other countries are going along with it this time considering Russia's actions in Ukraine, which could signal deeper worries wrt who our allies really are and who they'd back in a theoretical future war.

We need dependable allies and these guys [mainly thinking about India and Pakistan] ain't it.

 

[titan]

probably no particular cause for concern although ...

In your brief tenure here Oran you've established an impression of a stable, prudent observer.
I'm confident you are right of course. I don't believe this specific case will directly result in war between the continents.

Your "probably no particular cause for concern" phrasing summons to mind the "slippery slope" metaphor. It's common for such actions to be used as probes, to identify the limits of what they can get away with.

I'm not inventing some brand new paranoia here. Such concerns are officially recognized as far back as the Monroe Doctrine.

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind." JFK

Monroe Doctrine, (December 2, 1823), cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy enunciated by Pres. James Monroe in his annual message to Congress. Declaring that the Old World and New World had different systems and must remain distinct spheres, Monroe made four basic points: (1) the United States would not interfere in the internal affairs of or the wars between European powers; (2) the United States recognized and would not interfere with existing colonies and dependencies in the Western Hemisphere; (3) the Western Hemisphere was closed to future colonization; and (4) any attempt by a European power to oppress or control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States source: Encyclopedia Britannica

 

[Borg Refinery]

I was thinking I contradicted myself:

"I read about this before, it's probably no particular cause for concern although alarming that these other countries are going along with it this time"

Yeah, I meant that the war games are an annual occurrence - so this shouldn't be surprising other than for the fact that Russia has engaged in the Ukraine war this time around.

You can expect regional neighbours who have even rough diplomatic relations with one another to engage in these things (and for it not to pose any particular threat to us) - but the issue is the war in Ukraine complicating things this time round - they should be on board with us - and boycotting Russia. That's the worry, IMHO.

I hope that clarifies my position a bit more; I think too much isolationism (ie US policy during the onset of WWII - pre Pearl Harbor), or too much interventionism, are both problematic in their own ways; it's also hard to judge calls in any case.

My belief is Biden should have declared a no-fly zone in Ukraine, to prevent the genocide of innocents - but that's suicidal on my part - I wholly accept my beliefs are suicidal in that respect - and not at all sensible - but to my mind letting a genocide occur is also not acceptable, but that's just me - most people disagree with me on all that and that's fine also.

 

[sear]

"boycotting Russia." O #4

Emotionally I'm with that like wet on water.
Problem is, the long term solution is to integrate Russia into Western culture. I hope I'm not too far out on a limb here, but I blame U.S. President GHW Bush (the elder President Bush. It was during his presidential tenure that The Wall fell. Before GHWB was president he was head of the CIA. He SURELY should have known the wisdom of the post WWII Marshall Plan. The U.S. was bitter enemies with both Germany, and Japan. BUT !!
President Truman understood that if we shunned Germany Russia would swoop in, befriend Germany, and then our headaches would multiply.

Former head of the CIA and president of the United States should have understood that, and when the Soviet Union collapsed GHWB should have been there to help Russia convert to a capitalist economy. BUT !! Instead GHWB let Russia languish, and here we are today still dealing with Cold War style Russia. ENTIRELY unnecessary!

Emotionally I agree O #4. I'd personally like to dope-slap Putin / Russia half way to Jupiter, and then leave him / it there. It's not a viable option. So our choices with Russia are:
- make war, or
- make peace.

Since there are multiple nuclear arsenals in contest, "make peace" seems to be the only viable long-term option.

"Biden should have declared a no-fly zone in Ukraine" O #4

Provided Ukrainian President Zelensky wouldn't object, otherwise it would be an act of war.

There are a lot of similar things that would seem to have made sense. The reason Biden / NATO are tip-toeing on egg shells is they're determined to not get drawn into a war with Russia directly.