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It was reported by Reuters’ news service; A Russian bomber aircraft approached a U.S. aircraft carrier off the Korean coast on Wednesday and was intercepted by American fighter jets — the second such incident in less than a month, U.S. defense officials said. Those operations come as Russian officials say they will revive some of the military power and reach allowed to collapse with the Soviet Union.

It has been asked of late “who is going to answer the Whitehouse phone?” HOW, not just WHO, would be a better question to ask! Will they answer with a steely resolve when the voice on the phone explains that the former KGB head, Vladimir Putin, once again continues to test our national resolve? Jimmy Carter tried to "appease" the Soviet leader of his day and was rewarded by the invasion of Afghanistan, this was just the first example of the Soviets emboldened by a weak U.S. leader. The very safety of the United States was again tested by the expansion of Communism in our southern hemisphere.

This former KGB head, Vladimir Putin, does he desire to recreate the Soviet Union as the “world power" that it once was?  Will the person answering the 3 A.M. phone call be someone that believes that "bad" people exist everywhere in the world and just like the thugs running the streets of America’s big and little cities, neither can this continuing provocative stance be ignored! Weakness, like that shown by Jimmy Carters is a greater perceived help to the thugs of the world than an all out assault on our military. Bullies, no matter the one in 1st grade or the one across the world must not be allowed to "push us around" lest we become the weak world leader!

Here is a snapshot of the Jimmy Carters presidency; In foreign affairs, Carter undertook to establish human rights as a tenet of American policy. His frequent criticism of nations that violated basic human rights and his pleas in behalf of Soviet dissidents angered the Soviet government, which viewed the statements as intervention in its internal affairs. Despite these differences, Carter and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) in Vienna in June 1979, setting limits on the numbers of Soviet and U. S. nuclear-weapons systems. In spite of his vigorous campaign, however, the treaty was not ratified by the Senate¹ and eventually was placed in limbo by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. That invasion also resulted in Carter’s insistence on an American boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow.

Domestic Affairs. On assuming office in 1977, President Carter inherited an economy that was slowly emerging from a recession. He had severely criticized former President Ford for his failures to control inflation and relieve unemployment, but after four years of the Carter presidency, both inflation and unemployment were considerably worse than at the time of his inauguration. The annual inflation rate rose from 4.8% in 1976 to 6.8% in 1977, 9% in 1978, 11% in 1979, and hovered around 12% at the time of the 1980 election campaign. Although Carter had pledged to eliminate federal deficits, the deficit for the fiscal year 1979 totaled $27.7 billion, and that for 1980 was nearly $59 billion. With approximately 8 million people out of work, the unemployment rate had leveled off to a nationwide average of about 7.7% by the time of the election campaign, but it was considerably higher in some industrial states.

Can we again afford to become some pitiful Superpower? Peace through strength is a better alternative for all.

Bookmark this page in case the country’s’ mind "goes missing" and votes in some weak kneed person so you can see history repeat itself, the results will no doubt be even worse this time, some of them now have nukes.  Of course, that is not to say that Jimmy Carter was the only weak president we have had of late! Clinton’s military chief of staff testified in 1998 that North Korea did not have an active ballistic missile program. One week later the North Koreans launched a missile over Japan that landed off the Alaska coast.

Now, WHO is going to be answering that phone call?

Ed

¹ Democratically controlled House and Senate