Part of what persuaded Gorbachev and the Kremlin to play nice with us during Reagan’s presidency was reading Tom Clancy’s RED STORM RISING, in which 1/3 of Russia’s oil is destroyed by Muslim fundamentalists (the novel was written in 1986), after which the Russians begin to lust after Persian Gulf oil (which explains the war in –pathway — Afghanistan). As a distraction, the Russians provoke war with Germany, and the Germans hold on with their fingernails until the Americans with their greatest weapon — capitalism’s unlimited line of supply — arrive.

Clancy demonstrated that a major Soviet weakness is poor logistics. This is a nation that can hardly get its produce to market let alone supply an army in the field.

In CARNAGE AND CULTURE, Victor Davis Hanson tells of the battle of Rorke’s Drift in which a relatively small group of Brits defeat 3,000 Zulus who have just wiped out a much larger group of Brits.
The Zulus had no resupply of water or food and after 3 days just had to leave the field of battle. The story is told in the film ZULU, which marked Michael Caine’s film debut.

Then, there is Kremlin political interference with the military, and the fact that a lightning. surprise attack and quick victory is what the Soviets planned on. Is this what they planned on in real life with respect to Georgia? The Georgians have already beheaded the snake (killed the invading General) If they can hold on for a bit, things could get better for them. If we held training exercises with them in July and if the Georgians in Iraq can be released to come home and fight for their homeland, the now headless Russian military may find it’s bitten off a bit more than they can chew.

The Russians are said to have reacted with “shock and awe” to our initial march on Baghdad and determined to totally overhaul their military education. Was this ever done?

If Jerry Bruckheimer were to make a film of RED STORM RISING, a novel relevant once more, Putin and other Kremlin KGBers might think twice about further provoking the West.

Unlike the 1980′s the Russians are awash in oil, but lack of oil isn’t alone what defeated the Red Army in Clancy’s novel, and making this film would reinforce the public’s awareness of our urgent need for oil independence. In the film, MIDWAY, Nimitz is told that a carrier will require months to be repaired. He gives them days and the job gets done. We should approach oil independence with the same kind of sense of emergency.

Also, George Crile’s novel and the Mike Nichols/Aaron Sorkin film of CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR show how we could help the Georgians and do it without leaving fingerprints, as we did in Afghanistan.

Sending massive troops into Afghanistan (Obama’s idea) doesn’t strike me as a good idea. What won against the Taliban was special forces advisors and the fact that we weren’t seen as invaders. Things stopped going as well in Afghanistan after the “perfumed Pentagon Princes” with their staffs of 100 began arriving in Afghanistan. We need to get Pakistani approval for a bombing run on the 1000 Al Queda training camps in their no man’s land. Would they allow that?

I keep hearing paleo-conservative Patrick Buchanan’s voice buzzing in my ear. I have already heard him say we “shouldn’t needlessly provoke the Russians.” That means we shouldn’t stand up for Eastern Europe — or Israel. Just hunker down into island America.