JR Nyquist Latest, 'Righteous and Unrighteous Power'.

Great analysis of current geopolitical situation regarding Russia, Ukraine, China, and America's weak leadership position politically and
militarily.
http://www.jrnyquist.com/
A small except follows;
I am very sorry to deny the existence of a political Santa Claus, or a non-aggression Easter Bunny, but the Allies only won World War II because they finally created superior military forces with which to stop the Germans and Japanese. The United States and NATO, after decades of weakening, are acting toward Russia today as the Indians acted in Tibet. They are pushing on Russia, subverting Russia’s position in Ukraine, without giving sufficient weight to the fact that Russia has the most modern nuclear forces on the planet and Europe is dependent on Russian natural gas. That is to say, we are threatening Russia with an unloaded gun; and that is dangerous, because Russia’s gun is loaded. As the example of India in 1962 shows, those who play at war without serious preparations are headed for defeat. In practical terms, we should have bombers in the air as Russia does. We should be matching them division for division. But we cannot do this because we believed in the “peace dividend” which we have spent. And we had conservative politicians like Newt Gingrich, who famously said, “I am a hawk. But I am a cheap hawk.”

Take the concerns over Pentagon weakness expressed by South Korea as a case in point (see the 21 March Washington Times headline, S. Korea worries over Pentagon’s budget woes.) If the new Air Force tanker program is $1 billion over budget, where will the money come from when every penny is going to Obamacare? Meanwhile the U.S. Army is slated to become smaller than at any time since before World War II. Is this the vibrant U.S. military that Europe is depending on during a crisis? Is this the Air Force that will allow Japan to prevail over China?

The Ukraine situation is noteworthy for one reason: First and foremost, Russia is mobilizing for war in plain view. Russia has loaded bombers with nukes and is keeping bombers on patrol over the Arctic. Several weeks ago the Russians turned on their phased array radars (See The Russian Woodpecker Returns). Both of these moves are pre-war WW3 moves. At the same time Moscow is positioning troops on its western frontiers. So far NATO has sent a token number of aircraft and troops forward, but America has not put bombers on alert or nukes into the air. No equivalent of the Russian Woodpecker has been activated on the American side.

We should consider that in a mobilization of this kind (taking place in Russia) the Russians are looking to see if we are willing to match their deployments. So far our reaction is weak and therefore an encouragement to aggression. The top Russian generals will be very happy, saying to President Putin, “The Americans are asleep. We can do anything and they will do nothing.” Next Russia will send forces to the Caribbean (as announced). They will take every pre-war advantage they can without penalty. This process might go on for months, even years. Only when we move to bring the process to a halt, like the Indian government did in 1962 with China, will Russia be forced to attack. In that event, they will say we were the aggressors – mobilizing against them (as they were already mobilized "peacefully").

An excellent essay on the trajectory of current events regarding Russia/China and their origins.
http://www.jrnyquist.com/