Ralph Peters Spotlights The Darkness Of Putin

Ralph Peters, a former intelligence officer and current national security adviser to Senator McCain, is, without a doubt, an expert on military and world affairs. He has written several columns and books about such subjects and has contributed a column about Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, to this morning's issue of USA Today. Here is an excerpt:

[Does this ruthless, focused leader have a weakness? Yes: his temper. Despite his icy demeanor, Putin's combustible. He takes rebuffs personally and can act impulsively — and destructively. Instead of lulling Europeans into an ever-greater dependence on Russian gas, he angrily ordered winter shut-offs to Ukraine and Georgia, alarming Western customers. Rather than concealing the Kremlin's cyber-attack capabilities, he unleashed them on tiny Estonia during a tiff over relocating a Soviet-era memorial — alerting NATO.

Putin's invasion of Georgia was also personal. In addition to exposing the West's impotence in the region, he meant to punish Georgia's defiant president. The lengths to which Putin was prepared to go in a personal vendetta should worry us all....

...Meanwhile, our next president will have to cope with this brilliant, dangerous man. That's going to require the experience and skills to exploit every element of our national power; to convince Europe that appeasement will only enlarge Putin's appetite; and to draw clear lines while avoiding drawn guns. Above all, our president will have to take Putin's measure accurately and not indulge in wishful thinking. Managing Putin's Russia could emerge as our No. 1 security challenge.]

Read the rest of this insightful article HERE.

This is all the more important to consider, not simply due to the Russian invasion of Georgia, but how Putin might react if The Ukraine joins NATO and slips from the Soviet grasp forever. Putin has been trying to subvert this development for years in a kind of tug-of-war with the West, at times possibly manifesting itself in a mysterious poisoning of a certain pro-NATO Ukrainian presidential candidate in the not too distant past. I would not leave the matter to someone like Barack Hussein Obama. As Peters says, the matter must be dealt with by someone with the right mindset and experience who can both stop Putin in his tracks AND keep us out of a nuclear holocaust.

photo borrowed from the wise guys.