Rattled?

So much is going on these days it is hard to keep up with it all. First off, I want to wish all my friends in Texas to stay safe and know that our thoughts and prayers are with you as Hurricane Ike comes ashore.

On the political side, tomorrow all over the country Obama supporters will be getting together for what are being billed "Cookouts for Change," a chance for supporters and those trying to make up their minds to get together, socialize, and do the political thing. In my case I will be working most of the day with the campaign in and around Cary, NC, and then joining everyone for the cookout late in the afternoon.

I don't know how much you caught of the Sarah Palin interview, but what I heard left me certain that while the Governor is many things, one thing she is not is ready for the job she is asking us all to give her. The thing that disturbed me most was her assertion that we may have to go to war with Russia over their invasion of Georgia. It didn't take long for her to start rattling the sabres, did it?

For those of us who grew up during the cold war our entire lives, and then watched in awe as the Berlin Wall came down and the USSR broke up, her words were sobering if nothing else. Many young people today simply do not know what it was like in the 1960s-1980s, with nuclear weapons being produced on both sides in obscene numbers and our two governments never far from being hostile toward one another. The greatest achievement by the politicians and soldiers of my parents' generation was that they managed to be on the verge of war for more than 40 years without unleashing armageddon on the planet. Russia today still has a formidable nuclear arsenal, and no one should be naive or stupid enough to try and pick a fight with them.

I grew up in military towns my whole life. My dad worked in the Civil Service for both the Army and the US Air Force, and as a computer programmer for the Strategic Airlift Command one of his duties was programming Titan missile launch codes. We knew when I was in school that if a nuclear war started, we were all certainly going to be very dead very quickly. We figured we had 20 minutes to live if a nuclear war broke out. We had missile silos all around us that the Russians were targeting with their missiles just like we had their cities and installations squarely in our sites. We knew, and we understood. And we did from time to time actively worry about it.

The United States armed forces are the finest in the world, but today our men and women in uniform are stretched to the absolute limit. We must end our involvement in Iraq and focus all efforts in Afghanistan. And we absolutely must rebuild our capabilities while letting our troops, their families, and the world catch a breather. Sabre rattling is unwise, and one observer noted recently that the American position on Russia right now seems to be "speak loudly while carrying a small stick." The danger we face in recklessly resuming the game of brinkmanship with Russia is that if any real fight broke out, whichever side starting demonstrably losing would be sorely tempted to use the nuclear arsenal. To do so would be certain suicide for our whole planet. The world itself is all that would be in danger. And the fact that since the mid-late 1980s we have not been in an active cold war with the Russians means both sides are out of practice in the art of restraint while harboring hostile feelings toward one another. It would be too easy for someone to screw it up.

Am I advocating that we do nothing against Russian resurgence and potential agression? Not in the least. We may one day find ourselves in open conflict with them, although that would be a terrible tragedy given the progress that has been made. What I am saying though is that American unilateralism must stop, and the last thing the world wants or needs is a fight between us and them. Whatever strategy is developed to deal with Russia must be crafted with input from China, Japan, the European Union and our other allies and trading partners. We dare not go it alone.

If you don't get that, then you just are not ready for that job.