Robert wrote:
Fortunately, the Russians knew better, unlike yourself.Love Shack wrote:
agree with everything you say...except regarding Korea
Russia could have really hurt us if they wanted too.D
SDonell73@aol.com wrote:
In a message dated 12/30/02 10:11:02 AM Pacific Standard Time, Home@DanSources.com writes:
Russia had a massive army and air command that could have wiped us out at anytime.What nonsense! While they had the massive army and air command, the air command wasn't comparable to ours and the army was tied up with keeping the conquered countries in check and they didn't have an adequate transportation system to move troops and equipment without being noticed by NATO forces. They didn't have a Navy that could compete with ours. More specifically they didn't have any aircraft carriers.We had the Soviets surrounded and there was no way that they could have overcome all of our approaches to attack them.
They could have caused mischief in the Far East but regardless of the capability to do so, there had to be an intent. And it wasn't in the Soviets best interests to have such an intent. Some historians claim that they were probing our resolve all around the periphery of their bloc of nations, and whenever we stood our ground they backed down. Such a case was the Soviets closing down the ground access to Berlin, which resulted in the Berlin Airlift.
On the other hand it wasn't in the United States best interests to threaten the Soviets with the potential for war. We didn't have the bombers or nuclear weapons to attack them successfully.
All in all, it was a standoff in the 1950's. I recall being on the USNS William Mitchell on the way to Japan when the news came out about the Budapest uprising. The U.S. via the Voice of America and other agencies had long encouraged such an event, but when the Soviets moved in to crush the rebellion against Soviet domination, the U.S. did nothing to stop them.
Sandy