Pentagon: Team Obama Is ‘Too Timid’ on Putin - The Daily Beast: America’s military brass keeps calling Russia an ‘existential’ danger to the U.S.—and the White House isn’t exactly thrilled.
Every time a U.S. military commander calls Russia the biggest threat to the United States, the White House fumes.
In recent weeks, there’s been a dramatic, if little noticed, shift in how the Pentagon talks about the world. Russia—once dismissed as a military has-been—is now being regarded as an enemy with the potential to do “existential” damage to America. Everyone from the incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on down is raising the alarm about a Russia that is revamping its nuclear arsenal, launching ultra-sophisticated cyberattacks, and, of course, stirring up trouble in Eastern Europe. And that talk is not sitting well with the staff at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Russia is just one of myriad threats, White House officials say—calling it a top threat is a step down a slippery slope toward the risk of conflict. And the talk from the Pentagon about arming the Ukrainians, so they can resist Putin? The White House is having none of it. Putting more weapons in the hands of Russia's enemies would only create an excuse for more Russian violence, the White House worries, just as they are trying to secure a sustainable cease-fire.
The Ukrainians and America’s NATO allies in the Baltics “need to see us take action right away,” a senior defense official said. But the administration’s approach is to avoid “getting involved in any kind of conflict…They’re being a little too timid.”
Of course, nobody wants a wider war with the Russians
