Article

2010-11-14 Europe

Singer James Blunt 'prevented World War III' with Russia

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Posted by tipper 2010-11-14 09:58|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 ...THIS twink was a Captain in one of the British Army's most elite regiments? Takes all kinds, I guess.

OTOH, still waiting to hear the full story of how that moron Clark damn near started a shootout (wouldn't have been war - think instead a REALLY good Tom Clancy scenario) between us and the ~~Soviets~~ Russians.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2010-11-14 10:37|| 2010-11-14 10:37|| Front Page Top

#2 Jackson's version of what happened.

Posted by tu3031 2010-11-14 11:17|| 2010-11-14 11:17|| Front Page Top

#3 Another attempt at re-writing WWII history.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-11-14 12:26|| 2010-11-14 12:26|| Front Page Top

#4 "Blunt prevents WWIII" - if everybody's stoned nobody can fight?

Posted by Glenmore 2010-11-14 13:17|| 2010-11-14 13:17|| Front Page Top

#5 "Weaselly" Clark had a bad reputation among his peers. One referred to him as a "gifted self-promotarian".

"Interviews with a wide variety of current and retired military officials reveal that Clark was disliked by only three groups: Those whom ranked above him in the chain of command whom he ignored, his peers at the same rank whom he lied to, and those serving beneath him whom he micromanaged. Other than that, everyone liked him."

"The simplest, most likely reason for the scathing, if vague, criticisms of Clark from former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Henry Hugh Shelton and Defense Secretary William Cohen, is this: As NATO commander, Wesley Clark had problems with the Pentagon's chain of command. When Clark's bosses didn't agree with him, he just went around them."

(Jumping the chain by going to Sandy Berger and Madeline Albright.)

More

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-11-14 13:54|| 2010-11-14 13:54|| Front Page Top

#6 I have first hand knowledge of this event on the day in question. Nobody had any idea that the Russians were anywhere near Kosovo, let alone Pristina Airfield. Early morning photos showed BMPs and other vehicles placed on the runway to prevent landings. Not sure what transpired between Wesley and the Brits, but the American forces were readying to take the place by force. Everyone was told to stand down before any shots were fired, but from my vantage point on the operations net, we were very close to attacking the Russians. Afterward everyone was thinking "WTF" but I suppose both of the stories (Blunts and Jacksons) make sense. On a side note I would add that since we saw no Russian columns or air traffic into Pristina IMHO the equipment was Serbian with Russian markings.

Posted by Cyber Sarge 2010-11-14 15:21|| 2010-11-14 15:21|| Front Page Top

#7 Might have done a lot of good if we could have gotten the Russians to take over the whole thing in Kosovo (with the knowledge that they would be held accountable before the world if their Serb friends did anything nasty). Such a move could have (a) Gotten Russians transport troops out of East Germany and into the Balkens (with our transportation help if needed) (b) stroked their fragile egos that they were still a great power able to protect their friends and (c) Kept us out of a conflict we really had no interest in.

At the same time we should have worked with the Ex-Warsaw pact to create a NEUTRAL military alliance that could act as a buffer between Western Europe and Russia making both sides happy. Such an alliance could have purchased Russian arms to ensure the Russians felt they had some interest in it. Such an alliance could also have kept the Russian paranoia down and provided Peacekeepers for UN missions that didn't have as much baggage.

Of course either move required a bit more forward thinking than anyone seemed to have during the day.

Posted by rjschwarz 2010-11-14 15:52|| 2010-11-14 15:52|| Front Page Top

#8 Someone with the name "Wesley" should never be a general.

Anyway, maybe we should remember this guy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov

Posted by European Conservative 2010-11-14 16:08|| 2010-11-14 16:08|| Front Page Top

#9 LOL Glenmore

Posted by ryuge 2010-11-14 17:39|| 2010-11-14 17:39|| Front Page Top

00:06 JosephMendiola
23:54 gorb
23:36 JosephMendiola
23:28 JosephMendiola
23:17 JosephMendiola
23:13 JosephMendiola
23:11 Pappy
21:52 crosspatch
21:34 Secret Asian Man
21:31 M. Murcek
21:20 ryuge
21:10 ryuge
20:45 tipover
20:27 Barbara Skolaut
19:49 CrazyFool
19:16 Mullah Richard
19:04 European Conservative
18:48 rwv
18:13 Steve White
17:54 European Conservative
17:39 ryuge
17:37 Glenmore
17:37 ryuge
17:27 Frank G