Without Firing A Shot

Time was when the chief strategic problem that we worried about in Europe was what would happen if the Soviet Union sent several tank battalions rushing through the Fulda Gap in Germany.

NATO would respond in force, all hell would break loose, there would be chaos throughout Western Europe, and given the amount of tactical nuclear weapons on the ground, possibly the beginning of the end of life on earth.

Of course, this never happened, except perhaps in the fever dreams of Tom Clancy.

Instead, using a more sophisticated method involving lots of money, women, blackmail, and the latest techniques in media manipulation, the Soviets, now going by the less threatening name "Russia", have managed to unleash chaos throughout the West without firing a shot.

Brexit, and all the other right wing "populist" movements in France, Hungary, and elsewhere that dot the continent like the pox, have been funded completely or in large part by the kleptocracy, founded by an old KGB agent, known as Putin Inc.

And let's not forget Putin's prime lapdog stooge, our own Traitor in Chief, whose empire was kept afloat all of these years by laundered Russian money, his election to the White House helped immeasurably by Russian bots, Russian hackers, even more Russian loot, and a handful of elected Republicans who consider treason a reasonable means to an end.

Turns out this was our Fulda Gap--amoral people who would literally do anything, including selling out their country, to win an election.

Without firing a shot.