Politics

The United States has announced plans to double its military presence in Europe as part of a move to support NATO against increasing “Russian aggression”. The plans are part of the European Reassurance Initiative outlined in the 2017 defense budget, which has been sent to congress for approval. Theepochtimes.com reports: “We’re going to move to a so-called heel to toe basis, where we’re over there consistently on the ground exercising,” said Under Secretary of Defense Mike McCord in a Feb. 9 briefing, according to a transcript.

“In the long run democracy will be judged, no less than other forms of government, by the quality of its leaders, a quality that will depend in turn on the quality of their vision. Where there is no vision, we are told, the people perish; but where there is sham vision, they perish even faster.” – Irving Babbitt, Democracy and Leadership

Rubio wants to use his supposed foreign policy experience to give him a boost against his rivals:

“The fact of the matter is Jeb has no foreign policy experience,” Rubio said. “He has no foreign policy experience and was governor a long time ago. The world has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Foreign policy has changed a lot in the last five years. No one on that stage has more experience or has shown better judgment or has shown a better understanding of national security threats than I have.”

Ross Douthat surveys the “Republican mess” after New Hampshire, and says this:

Submitted by JC Collins via PhilosophyOfMetrics.com,

For the first time in a long time I feel concerned and worried about the prospect of war.  The reaction of Saudi Arabia to the Russian intervention in Syria has always been the wild card in the shifting geopolitical power base in the Middle East.  Turkey and Israel, along with Saudi Arabia are the three countries with the most to lose because of a strong alliance between Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia.