If Russia involves itself militarily in the Balkans (a big "if"), and even if they don't, the Balkans are a nasty snake pit that we should stay far away from.
Historically, Russia has been a powerful land power and pretty good with its Army.* Russia has generally been pretty lousy with its Navy. Japan severely beat Russia's *** in a sea war multiple times. We severely beat Japan's *** in the only sea war we've ever had with them. Even during the height of the Cold War, the Russian Navy had a difficult time putting most of its vessels to sea. Now it's even worse. They have had some interesting ship designs, and reportedly some very daring captains, but their sailor morale is in the basement and they've never been able to properly maintain a fleet. For an interesting, and slightly bizarre read for the Western mind, check out Aleksandr Dugin--a Russian mystic and historian who is Putin's good pal, as well as Steve Bannon's pal. He writes about Russia as a great land power, and America + England as great sea powers.
In any event, the Balkans is not our turf or our neighborhood to patrol. And it is an extremely dangerous and contentious neighborhood that we don't want any part of. It would be worse than Vietnam for us. If the Russians go there, it will be worse for them than Afghanistan.
*then there's that little known war, where the Polish beat the sh!t out of the "mighty" Red Army in the 1920s. The supposedly "mighty" Red Army required the Wehrmacht's help to take Poland.
Last edited: Dec 12, 2019
