Let's imagine Obama went ahead and put a missile up Assad's ass, pissing off little Vladdy... Now, let's make the wild imaginative jump and pretend that Putin actually declares war on the United States- because he sees the US actions as putting his own people in danger. Who's military force would prevail?
Due to our technology, America would prevail in a direct all out world-wide war. The situation is different in a regional confrontation where proxies and 3rd parties are involved. These situations depend of the political willpower of the antagonists, logistics, and a number of other factors. Let's take an example where Russia wants to take back some of the former Soviet republics using force - does the U.S. really have the political willpower to stop this type of aggression - much less the desire to immediately deal with the long distance logistics situation needed to put boots on the ground.
Lets hear some comments from the guys who kneeled before Putin the ''Emperor with no clothes'' . :eek: .
I realize these threads are just fun things and feel good social interaction But the reality of fighting a Nuclear Power that has 1700 nukes at touch of a button is very different thing from fun talk on the net, For one out of 400 launched nukes, only 3 would need to get through the shield to severely cripple the country US or Russia for 100 years Nuclear explosion doesn't just kill a city and anyone in it, the radiation spreads by wind EAST, and kills the state next to it, AND THE ONE NEXT TO THAT ONE Each of the 400 nukes launched in the first wave have dummy targets that separate from the ICBM to confuse and defeat the anti missile shield Have you ever tried to defend against 10 shot gun blasts at once, and tried to block all the little pieces from all direction, I hope you are never in that position, cause chances are YOU WOULD DIE. And to top it all of, Russians just like Israelis, have developed a strategy of killing everyone if they are about to die. In case of imminent defeat, Russians have a program of detonating at the same time Entire Nuclear arsenal at the same time. The radiation cloud and earthquakes would cause the nuclear winter. US would be destroyed 92% 8 % of Americans would be left alive, and they would envy the dead. So if you inform yourself on true nature of Nuclear war. You would realize that this is not a game of winners and losers. There are no winners.
For a good fictional account on realistic capabilities in a shooting war between the US and NATO countries that is not nuclear, read "Red Storm Rising".
America's abilities surprised us all when we went into Iraq. They certainly surprised Saddam Hussein. He went from talking about the "mother of all wars" to incoherent ramblings in the mother of all bunkers. The US has had decades to improve things and the Military Industrial Complex attracts the best and the brightest to a certain extent. I'm thinking that Putin might descend to some incoherent ramblings were war to break out.