I was thinking about this:
If Americans hate Putin so much, why don't they invade Russia?
I mean...just a narrow strait separates Russia from Alaska...
Why do they need to pass through the EU who has been at peace for 80 years?
Thanks
A lot of people asked the same question, even including Generals Patton and MacArthur at the end of WW2. This was even before Russia obtained the ability to build atomic weapons, so we had a three-year window in which we could have done it.
I'm not saying that they should have done that, since my position is that the Soviet "threat" was wildly exaggerated by U.S. policymakers, although we can only guess as to the reasons why they would do that.
However, U.S. policymakers ostensibly believed there was a bona fide threat to U.S. territory, and they believed the U.S. needed to be militarily prepared for it, as well as actively work at containing communism/socialism wherever they could find it anywhere on earth. If it was truly the case that there was such a grave threat to U.S. national security, then one might well wonder why they didn't strike while the iron was hot.
It's almost as if they wanted to leave the Soviet Bloc alone so they could rebuild and get stronger - just so the US government can later claim they're a "threat" so they could justify huge defense budgets and wars around the world to defend against the supposed "Red Menace." Think of it: They actually fired Patton and MacArthur because they wanted to defeat the communists once and for all. Why would they do that, if they thought that they were dealing with a mortal threat to our precious bodily fluids?
Of course, now, it's a completely different situation. For one thing, Russia has a nuclear arsenal of its own, so if we attack them, they would likely retaliate with nuclear weapons. We could use nukes against them, of course, although this could also trigger retaliatory strikes from possible Russian allies (NK, or possibly even China).
But perhaps we might able to sustain the damage. Back in the Reagan era, I remember some people talking about the possibility of a "winnable" nuclear war. It seems like a demented idea to even consider, but we have to consider the possibility that it may very well come to that. I've read some speculation that Russia's nuclear arsenal is quite old and hasn't been properly maintained or serviced. But we can't make the same presumptions about China's or North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
Even setting aside the question of WMDs, such a war would also be a cyber war and space war. There have been notable incidents of cyber attacks on U.S. companies and government agencies, with the strong possibility that it could be Russian hackers. And who knows what they have up in space, other than a lot orbiting space junk?
As for the Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska, this is true. There are actually two islands, two miles apart: Big Diomede (Russian-controlled) and Little Diomede (U.S.-controlled). I remember an incident many years ago - even back during the USSR days. A U.S. citizen had made his way to Little Diomede island, and then decided to walk across the ice to Big Diomede, where some Red Army personnel were stationed. They didn't know what to do with him, and they could tell he was mentally disturbed right off the bat, so they sent him back to the U.S. Apparently, such things did happen from time to time.
I've never personally been up there myself, but I've heard that it's cold, with rugged terrain. Very sparsely populated. Few roads, if any. The Russian side is pretty much the same. Both sides had a military presence, obviously, and they kept a close eye on each other and over the Arctic - and they're probably still doing that today. I can't see either side being able to launch any successful invasion across the Bering Strait. There's no roads, no railroads going up there. They'd have to transport all the troops, equipment, and supplies by air.
I remember talking with someone who pitched an idea for building a tunnel from Alaska to Russia. It seemed interesting, although there's no railroads or roads going to the Bering Strait. They'd have to build thousands of miles of railroad track to get there. Since the Chunnel was possible, this seemed technically possible, too. It was an intriguing idea, since it would have meant that there would be direct ground access between North America and Asia, which would also entail direct rail and road access to Europe and Africa as well. It was speculated that it would be far cheaper in the long run to transport goods by rail, as opposed to sea transport. It would definitely change the face of world trade, and could make an obscure, isolated frozen wasteland into the most important trade route in the world.
It's a shame that it will never happen, all because we can't seem to make peace or be able to trust our neighbors. They don't trust us, either.
