BALTIMORE, Maryland May 9, 2014 - The Russian Strong Man wants to convince everybody just how strong he and his military really are. So on the day that annually strikes up the most patriotic fervor in Russian anyway - Victory in World War II Day - the Strong Man staged one of his biggest shows ever. Some of the venues caught a lot of attention.
In Moscow, of course, the biggest show of them all took place. Veteran Soviet watchers called it the biggest military extravaganza in at least 20 years. Tanks galore, high-stepping soldiers marching in like-step and high-step, faces like stone, Screaming Fighter Jets and loads of attack helicopters wowed the Moscow faithful. The first group into the Red Square were the soldiers. Then came the military hardware that has, over the years, been a sobering sight for people living in the west, always enough to make us realize that Russia is a formidable enemy. And it is clear, now, despite the misunderstanding foisted upon us by an overly optimistic President Obama, that Russia is and may always be the enemy of the West.
Putin lacks subtlety. Well, he doesn't lack it. He doesn't like it. Leading the shining military equipment, according to the New York Times, was "an armored personnel carrier from a Black Sea Marines brigade, fl[ying] a big Crimean flag." The New York Times article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/10/world/europe/russia-celebrates-victory-day.html?_r=0
The Times article is nothing short of wonderful. The Times domestic reporting has been deplorable in recent years, as it became nothing but a shill for the Obama Administration and the uber leftists who dominate it. Fortunately, its foreign service is still a shining light of journalism. They not only gather facts in an unequalled manner, they write the articles like they own the English language. You will know more about Putin, his stewardship of Russia, the history of Russia and its current conflicts with the west by reading this article than you will be reading all the grammar school textbooks currently in print. One example: when the Russian military swamped Crimea in March, they wore uniforms that did not declare themselves to be Russian. In fact, they had no insignias at all, and cynical reporters, who from the outset knew exactly who they were, took to calling them "polite people" and "little green men." A Russian military choir has begun singing a newly composed song remembering that time. I will not print the words, but you will know them if you read the article. Brilliant!
After the big show in Moscow, Putin was off to Sevastopol, where he reviewed the troops at the Russian Naval Base there, and continued to rub the face of the west into the ground. Putin has said that the Ukraine Navy's ships and submarine, which he has had "pinched" by his Navy, was nothing but a scrap of junk. But the Russians did not junk the Ukraine's ships and sub. Instead, they have allocated $5 billion to refurbish and update it. Putin entered a small boat and toured the harbor, stopping at each Russian ship, with Sailors two deep at the edges, and saluted them. People were also crowded on the shore to welcome Putin.
According to the Times, Russian spending on its military has skyrocketed. This year, it spent $80 Billion and it has already budgeted $100 billion for 2016. Does this sound like the kind of spending a country that is content within its borders will allocate for its military? I only ask the question?
Then, there is the parade put on for the benefit of the United Kingdom. According to Reuters, a Russian Naval Task Force sailed through the English Channel yesterday. According to the Royal Navy, it was by far the largest naval task force ever to sail through the Channel or anywhere else this close to England in anyone's memory. Not even during the Cold War did Russia do anything like this. And the naval task force, which included Russia's only Aircraft Carrier, was joined by Russian Airforce Flyovers in so high a number as to also be unprecedented. It concerned the British and the Royal Navy so much that they deployed their most up-to-date and modern Battleship, the HMS Dragon, to follow and keep close tabs on the Russians.
"What is different here is that a Russian task group of this size has not passed by our shores in some time," Captain Rex Cox, HMS Dragon's commanding officer, said in a statement.
Unless some unforseen health crisis takes out Putin, the West had better be ready to confront him on a regular basis as he rebuilds Russia to a time and power equal to that of the Soviet Union. That clearly is his goal.
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