War!

I confess I hadn't been watching the headlines much until a day or two ago. I opened up my RSS reader and found almost 1,000 messages waiting. Rather than sift through all of that, I thought I'd just start with wars and rumors of wars. This is major, major stuff.

First, Russia. In late December, Russia began preparing for another major offensive:

Following the August 2008 war in Georgia, which Russia considers its victory in its first major engagement of this century, Russian military has amped up its activity and preparedness schedule. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov recently toured key military garrisons across the country, and following his trip made an official announcement that the armed forces must be prepared to engage in three local or regional conflicts.

The defense minister called for the creation of fast-acting, mobile Army and Navy units capable of quickly engaging in such conflicts. Military experts were in agreement that two such conflicts may erupt in the Caucasus region and Central Asia, while the third region was debated: the top two choices were the Far East (Korean peninsula) or the Black Sea (Crimean Peninsula, home to a sizable Russian minority and currently part of Ukraine).

As predicted just weeks ago on this post, Russia is sure as heck looking like they're going to challenge Obama to a new arms race. The first direct confrontation is likely to be Ukraine:

A war of words has broken out in a gas supply row between Ukraine and Russia, amid claims that supplies to Europe could be under threat.

As a midnight deadline loomed, Russian PM Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of threatening to block supplies piped through Ukraine to Western Europe.

Later, Russian energy giant Gazprom said the talks had failed and it would cut gas supplies on Thursday.

Ukraine denies owning Gazprom money and says it has guaranteed gas transit.

A similar row between Gazprom and Ukraine in 2006 led to gas shortages in several EU countries.

This is also something that has been predicted on this blog, as far back as last August. It's no secret that Russia has had designs on the former Soviet states, and with Obama pledging to be weak on defense (i.e. gutting the military) and actually following through with his poor response to the Georgia invasion, Russia really has nothing stopping it from taking action. Raising gas prices is only the icing on the cake for Russian aggression. This is something that bears watching, because you can bet the U.S. will be dragged into this in some way.

Even more disturbing is the war that is already going on in Israel. Several days ago, Hamas began another campaign of firing rockets from the Gaza strip into Israeli cities. In the span of just a couple days, hundreds of rockets were launched, though Israeli casualties were minimal. In response, Israel unleashed a devastating series of airstrikes designed to wipe out Hamas' ability to conduct rocket attacks. Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the loudest voices calling for decisive action, and he seems to be gaining momentum toward becoming the next Israeli Prime Minister, so he's a person to watch. Hamas claims that hundreds of Palestinian civilians have been killed by the airstrikes, though the precise numbers haven't been confirmed by objective organizations. The airstrikes have taken out several key Hamas leaders. Despite the destruction, Israel is increasing its humanitarian aid to Gaza refugee camps.

Since Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza in 2005 -- a move that was supposed to guarantee peace with Hamas -- well over 6,000 rockets have been launched into Israel. As a sign of just how bass-ackwards this war is, international pressure is being brought against Israel to stop defending its own people! It is absolutely ridiculous to call for Israeli 'restraint' - no self-respecting nation would think twice about shooting back in the face of 6,000 rockets over the past three years. Do the math: that's an average of almost 6 rockets per day landing in Israeli cities, towns, and countryside! Israel has repeatedly offered Hamas and Palestinians the chance for real peace, only to be promptly attacked every time. They have every right to wipe the entire Gaza strip clean, in my opinion.

It may be coming to that now. It appears that Israel is intent on keeping up the pressure until Hamas is permanently crippled this time, and Hamas is pledging to 'unleash hell' on Israel. The violence isn't limited to men, though:

I'm sure Obama will be able to negotiate with them, though.

Here's the kicker - Hamas is now in possession of some new rockets that have greater range than ever before, thus placing more civilians and cities in Hamas' deadly reach, including Israel's nuclear facility in Dimona.

Things could spiral out of control here. Keep your eyes open.

Given all of these international challenges that Obama will face in just a couple weeks, here is another bit of news that should be cause for concern:

When asked how they feel about President-elect Barack Obama as commander in chief, six out of 10 active-duty service members say they are uncertain or pessimistic, according to a Military Times survey.

In follow-up interviews, respondents expressed concerns about Obama’s lack of military service and experience leading men and women in uniform.

“Being that the Marine Corps can be sent anywhere in the world with the snap of his fingers, nobody has confidence in this guy as commander in chief,” said one lance corporal who asked not to be identified.

Hopefully all this will be resolved with a minimum of bloodshed and violence. Regardless, you need to be aware of what's going on, especially as these boiling points continue escalating. We could find ourselves with another war on our hands whether we want it or not. Correct me if I'm crazy, but I don't relish the prospect of a potential nuclear war, especially when we have a President who has pledged to cut the military budget by 25%, discontinue our missile defense shield program, and has been ambivalent at best in support of our allies.

There's my two cents.


Sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/27/AR2008122700324.html?wpisrc=newsletter
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/world/middleeast/01mideast.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/58839.html
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/ladies-of-hamas-vow-to-blow-themselves.html
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/idf-strikes-home-of-second-hamas-leader.html
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/islamist-rockets-can-now-reach-israeli.html
http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/