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US Ships Approaching Sevastopol? Mapping US Naval Assets
Here's what is known with certainty:
Yesterday, US Aircraft Carrier CVN-77 George H.W. Bush crossed the Strait of Gibraltar.
This was largely expected, and the path of aircraft carrier into the Mediterranean was known well in advance. As of late last week, this is what was known about the distribution of US naval forces around the world (Source: Stratfor).
Here's what is not known with certainty:
It is not known if CVN-77 will continue to its scheduled final waypoint, the Arabian Gulf, or make a detour into the Black Sea.
It is also not known if as some suggested earlier on Twitter, and completely without confirmation, that a state of high alert was declared on the carrier.
#BreakingNews #US Navy USS George Bush nuclear aircraft carrier declares high alert in the #Mediterranean. #Syria #Ukraine #Russia
— Rami (@RamiAlLolah) March 1, 2014
Once again, this rumor has seen zero confirmation anywhere else so we assume it is false.
It is not known is if the report by Sevastopol News that the two US warships have already crossed the bosphorus and would arrive at the Crimean port shortly is real or fake. From the website:
The U.S. Navy will arrive in Sevastopol in four hours? As we have just learned from unofficial sources in the Naval Forces of Ukraine, headed for the shores of Sevastopol at full speed, are two ships of the United States Navy.
According to preliminary information, two destroyers carrier battle groups have already passed the Bosphorus.
Recall that part of the Black Sea Fleet warships are now off the coast of Sochi. Yesterday, a large landing ship "Kaliningrad" from the Baltic Fleet entered the Black Sea. And as we have previously reported, to Sevastopol is returning the Ukrainian frigate "Hetman Sahaidachny."
There has been no official comment.
Of the above, the most important unknown is whether indeed the US is entering the black sea in what would be a direct confrontation with the Russian fleet. Considering the earlier report of the defection of the Ukranian navy head, this would not be surprising as the US would certainly need naval presence in the waters close to the Crimean, especially following the report that the Crimean PM just announced the creation of a regional - i..e, non-Ukraine - navy.
Those who wish to do so can keep track of the status of CVN-77 George H.W. Bush on its facebook page located here.
Alternatively, a good place to keep track of who crosses in and out of the Black Sea is the Bosphorus Naval News.
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4 US Carriers Remain in port. The ones out are following procedures scheduled months ago. US naval forces clearly are not lurching towards war.
Please provide links and or descriptions of troop movements of those who allegedly are lurching towards war. My interwebs is not corroborating your position.
Oh, and good luck on your silver sales.
Obama is impotent.
He used the word "costs" because it could mean anything; not going to G8 summit, sanctions, harsh words, golf balls.
Obama was disgraced by his "red line" and Syria, so his tail is between his legs now.
Why did Obama wear a suit to the National Security meeting that he ended up skipping?
Because, 'If ima be impotent ima gonna LOOK impotent!'
Loose lips... such discussion of the location of naval assets would have resulted in the firing squad just a few wars ago.
How times have changed.
Your tax dollars at work.
I have already written of my tax Dollars as a total loss. I am worried about seeing their tax Rubles at work in my back yard though.
>> such discussion of the location of naval assets
Yer thinin' Russian intelligence (I use that term loosely) reads ZH to get a head start on carrier movements?
March 4th 2014 economic collapse. Looking pretty prescient.
All show, no go.
1) By the time this gets near the Black Sea, Russian troops will be partying in Kiev's bars.
2) Sounds tough, but what are they gonna do? No ground troops (or "uncontested arrivers") to support. No armed psycho nutjobs to back up like in Libya.
3) Obama doesn't have the balls, has zero to win, and everything to lose.
4) NATO troops won't get near Ukraine
5) Putin has the balls and can only win.
Sweet, this should work out well.
Should probably stock up on SPF National Debt
NATO Sec. Anders Fogh(gy) Rasmussen has just made a statement... basically making postures and demands, references to rule of law, etc, etc.
Wants the Russian Parliament to kneel down to the Ukrainian New & Improved Parliament.
Basically he wants Putin to "spread 'em" and to take it like a man from Barry. Otherwise lubrication may be optional.
Good luck with that, NATO Secretrary Rassmasshole.
NATO needs to check where their fuel supply comes from.
A US naval ship with a facebook page, MOOOEEAAWA.
Status: not married, single or so but deployed, undeployed, sunk.
Sometimes I have to repeat it to believe it true...our naval ships have Facebook pages. I've said it before and I will say it many times till the day they throw dirt on me..We are so cimpletely fucked as a nation if we do not turn this around and quickly.
God damn it yes they have facebook + twitter. The NSA MUST KNOW WHATS GOING ON AT ALL TIMES!
Target practice for the Russian Navy and Air Force.
Definitely an opportunity to try out some of the new Russian anti-ship missiles.
And they are wicked muthas...
Nice advertisement for those things at that link. They should run these on American TV. Every bankster needs one of those fully-equipped land mobile launch vehicles.
Russia's engineers are the best in the world:
http://www.56thparallel.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Winter-Olympics-1...
always wondered how much BP paid for that to happen ;)
An impressive engineering marvel. This class of ship is second to none.
An impressive engineering marvel. This class of ship is second to none.
That is impressively vulnerable to every type of ground and sea based missile that the Russian and Chinese military both carry.
"Sitting" second to none Duck!
And you think Russia wants certain annihilation via a US Counter Strike all for a small segment of land in the Ukraine? Not gonna happen.
Actions speak louder than words Brother
Let's see the U.S. give that one a shot!
The U.S. doesn't have the balls and Russia is not going to let NATO into their back yard any more than we would let a Sino/Russian alliance into Alaska.
Not trying to mix it up or pull it out of my ass at all.
I had a father and two uncles all navy fighter pilots and they said it 40 years ago, we (meaning the U.S.) would never want to start an engagement that close to Russia on the Black Sea. Well here the fuck we are!
It would be like Russia going after Newport News/VA Beach...
Good perspective, thanks.
A cursory study of a map of the region makes it clear this is their backyard and they will not let it go.
WWII was not that long ago, and whatever your sympathies Russia will not give up territory from fighting the Nazi's.
We are in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is also in their backyard; they will not cede any more real estate so close to them.
Yes moron, it's always a good idea to attack a power that has nuclear ICBMs.
You're the kind of jingoistic moron that would attack a hive of hornets with a billy club, right?
Moron.
Ditto!
Nuclear winter would not be fun. Tired of the polar vortex caused by global warming.
Ukraine's Strategic Importance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6jHhzj08yQ
Russia Leverage on Ukraine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNi32y1i-Ls
And so was the Titanic.
Can anyone confirm whether or not Yulia Tymoshenko is going to Moscow tomorrow? If yes, could calm things down.
You think Putin's going to listen to that Barosso-cock-sucking whore?
I'm sure deep down she's a nice girl
If she does, maybe they'll turn her over to the rightfully elected president of Ukraine for incarceration.
USSA better not poke around too much, end up getting that junk sunk!
If America's naval officers had any balls, like Ukraines officers who just "jumped ship", they'd turn the fleet around, head back to America and go on an extended R&R just off the coast from DC.
Russia is in trouble now...the USS Barack Obama is on the way...
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6637738855_1ded407276_z.jpg
http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/obama-skips-nat-sec-meeting/
Blackwater agents begin arriving to Ukraine:: bloggers report
Shadow paws over Ukraine.March 2nd, 19:35
According to our Ukrainian friends, this night in the cities of Borispol and Juliani airports charter flights began arriving carrying strong young men in ordinary civilian clothes - but each with several bulky field bags . In the U.S. Army which usually carry sets of equipment.
Strange way all these people are employed by private military company "Greystone Limited" - daughter of the famous "Xe Services LLC" - former "Blackwater USA". Just arrived already up to 300 people.
Objectives of these strong - and well-trained guys - can be very different from the protection of the new government from hundreds of self-defense units on "Euromaidan" to covert ops in cities in the East and South-East of Ukraine. The only question is how many of them eventually show up in Kiev - and who pays for this spectacular ballet is which is not cheap
Certainly not the upstart "Ukrainian" government, I guess.
Google Translate
? ???????? ? ? ????? - ???? ???? ??? ????????.
Good call, bro. Thanks
The problem, always, with stories like these . . . is where does their food come from?
Prediction: Putin gets a good deal regarding pipelines through Ukraine, Russian troops eventually leave Crimea and Russian speakers there get more autonomy from Ukraine.
They want war. Remember when they sent the aging USS Enterprise to get flase-flagged by Iran?
Anyways they want war. They need it to crash the currency and start over.
We are at total debt saturation. War is next - they'll have it no matter what excuse.
It really is that simple.
Always has been.
I'm a little confused here as to many of the ZH commentors positions. I'm certainly no big fan of Obama but what would you have him do, pull a Dubya? At best the U.S. can try to pull some sort of Nato blockade threat or perhaps test out a cyber weapon or two. At worst we can get involved in a destructive war. Which would be bullish for gold but bearish for humanity.
It seems to me that many here are are putting personal animus vs. Obama over the real politique of the situation. Or is this suddenly a forum where people think military action and interventionism is a solution?
"....war is the terrorism of the rich" (against the poor)
Will you ask this same question when China, seeing this weak response, decides the Senkaku Islands are theirs once and for all, and maybe the southern half of Japan, too?
And if China were to take over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islans what would you propose we do?
Deploy our unfortunately battered and bruised volunteer army half way around the world on the door step of a nation with over 2 million troops? Or perhaps financial action such as threatening to stop selling them our debt?
.
In that event, we should tell Japan to get over it. The islands are historically a part of Formosa (Taiwan).
Thank you for being reasonable. Russia hasn't fired a bullet yet, so to say that intervention is necessary is extremely immature and stupid. It's best to put our assets in a position to respond in the event that Russia does anything crazy. Let's just hope that Ukraine doesn't do anything foolish to instigate a violent reaction from Russia. Putin might be incredibly aggressive, but this is not the nazis invading poland. He knows how fine a line he is walking.
Refer to "Jackagain"'s post above - about perfect.
.
At best, the US can stop wasting money and resources trying to replace foreign governments with obedient puppets.
I hope they can avoid the shallow bits this time.
What a waste of gas and money.
Those U.S. Navy ships aren't going to do squat other than watch.
Of course Russia isn't going to let NATO into their back yard any more than we were going to allow Russian missles in Cuba.
If anyone knows where the American fleet is, it's Stratfor!
Men i don't understand how those morons are so blind !
I guess a little ultimatum could be the final nail in cunt putina cold heart !
If within one hour ,all troops are not peacefully halted it will be total anhiliation !
Mi piacce l'odore del tuo sangue pezzo di merda !
E=mc2 aircraft carriers rules !
????
USS Mount Whitney has started conducting SIGINT operations in the Black Sea?
According to this twitter feed
https://twitter.com/RamiAlLolah
The US can kiss it's fleet goodbye with a whiff of these. Just the impact from their surface speed, without the warhead, can go right through an carrier. (but then again, maybe that's what Barry wants)
The P-800 Oniks (Yakhont) (Russian: ?-800 ?????; English: Onyx), also known in export markets as Yakhont (Russian: ?????; English: ruby or sapphire), is a Russian/Soviet supersonic anti-ship cruise missile developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya as a ramjet version of P-80 Zubr. Its GRAU designation is 3M55. Development officially started in 1983, and by 2001 allowed the launch of the missile from land, sea, air and submarine. The missile has the NATO reporting codename SS-N-26. It is reportedly a replacement for the P-270 Moskit, but possibly also for the P-700 Granit. The P-800 was reportedly used as the basis for the joint Russian-Indian supersonic missileBrahMos.
Advantages
Over-the-horizon firing range, full autonomy of combat use ("fire and forget"), a set of flexible ("low", "high-low") trajectories, high supersonic speed on all phases of flight, full harmonization for a wide range of platforms (surface ships of all major classes, submarines and land-based launchers), low profile flight (sea-skimming), possible use of the missile in electronic countermeasures environment and under enemy fire.
demonstation launch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AW1XHUcAsQ&feature=player_embedded
hitting a target
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3zAolroOQs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iuw3rnkud4
Once again more rhetoric and bluster. The President has no cards to play with a nation that can fight back. Aircraft Carriers are overrated anyway in this age of military warfare..we are not steaming towards The Midway Islands facing off against Mitsubishi Zeros. Any mildly advanced or highly advanced military such as Russia possesses can put that floating structure on the bottom of the ocean along with its Tomahawks and all aircraft in 20 minutes with one well placed torpedo.
This is not like firing ballistic missiles at a bunch of "Hajis" in the Middle East as they like to refer to the brown people without the means to defend themselves and the Black Sea is a long way from home. We need to shut the mouths of our idiotic politicians who watched entirely too must "West Wing" & " House of Cards" and realize this is not fiction and none of our business especially since we orchestrated this Kiev takeover and CAUSED the instability now present. These guys really love playing heads they win and tails everyone loses..rigged game as always much like our markets.
Anyway should open up down 150 points and what is the over/under on when we go green on this ponzi ? 1pm?
Maybe President O should just write an executive order forcing Putin to withdraw and accept the continued banker takeover..oh wait..much like it should be here it would only be worth the paper it is written on.
All of this is bullish for stocks, right?
nothing fixes uncertainty better than moar qeternity.
I'm sure if the CIA contacted an 8th grade world history class, they could have learned of the potential threat of neo-nazi groups in Western Ukraine - the same organizations who allied themselves with the Germans when the German army was sweeping across the Ukraine...
The Ukrainians welcomed the Germans because they had been living under Stalin. Please catch up a bit on what Stalin did to the local citizenry. They eventually turned on the Germans after getting a taste of that occupation. When you sit between Stalin and Hitler, nothing good comes of it.
sorry, double post
Hey all you US Navy squids, keep flippin' those switches and saluting those orders.
What? The orders are illegal and unconstitutional? Fuck it! Disobeying the criminal class would take balls and you have none!
Yes, sir!
Wtf? Where did all the armchair warriors come from? Fucking pussies. Go volunteer for the Ukrainian army if this stupid shit is important to you.
Leave the USSA out of it.
And out of the Taiwan dispute, Senkaku Islands, etc. fucking little neocon faggots go spew your shit elsewhere.
Sorry it doesn't work that way, when viewed from the POTUS. We can be made to look very bad and little credibility if we do nothing. The Budapest memorandum requires security assurances, and was a legitimate treaty attempt at getting Ukraine to give up their nukes in 1993-94. If we do nothing, the rest of the world will know our past agreements don;t necessarily mean shit, and North Korea will only be the tip of the iceberg for other countries developing nukes. I don't want this stuff either, but there may be bigger problems this time by not doing something, or at least the appearance that we honor our treaty obligations. There is a difference between occupation and violence, it sounds like all Russia has done so far is assert their security over lawless areas in Ukraine/Crimea with heavy Russian population. Now if they invade and go to Kiev or other western leaning areas, that is another matter entirely. Easten Europe remembers the Soviet boot all too well, and I suspect they are just a bit nervous with all these Russian troop movements. Perhaps Putin is planning that there will be a civil war and he does not want it spilling to Russia, which is why the troop buildup. Putin I am willing to bet doesn't do this if Ukraine still had nukes.
The Russian parliament 'approval' to invade Ukraine is a sham, they will not do anything other than be a rubber stamp. This is what life is like with an alternative autocratic approach. Not all that from the North Korean mindset where the ruler is all powerful and can not be challenged. The alternative is to be jailed or perhaps killed for dissidence.
Ukraine certainly appears to be heading to a civil war and a Yugoslavia style breakup. It just is not viable to have Russians mix with non-Russians in one country. Come to an agreement, cede Russian areas to Putin and move on. But it won't be as simple as that I suspect. Ukraine will be giving up some territory, the question is if it is just Crimea, the Russian areas, or the entire country of Ukraine. I don't see a full invasion. The Soviets got punished in Afghanistan with one of those invasions, and terrorism will ramp up if Putin thinks he can just run in and invade with relatively little pain.
pretty accurate description of the situation. eastern europe is on alert and waiting for US/EU/NATO reaction as this can decide their future.
this is not only about ukraine anymore. if west doesn't back up their words then putin will start to reconsider russian federation borders accodring to russian ethnicity which would pretty much look like soviet union on a map.
keep track of aircraft carrier on Fraudbook...makes sense, same owners
Just so you know who some of the 'actors' are these assets are going in to protect.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-u-s-has-installed-a-neo-nazi-government...
According to the New York Times, “The United States and the European Union have embraced the revolution here as another flowering of democracy, a blow to authoritarianism and kleptocracy in the former Soviet space.” ( After Initial Triumph, Ukraine’s Leaders Face Battle for Credibility, NYTimes.com, March 1, 2014, emphasis added)
“Flowering Democracy, Revolution”? The grim realities are otherwise. What is a stake is a US-EU-NATO sponsored coup d’Etat in blatant violation of international law.
The forbidden truth is that the West has engineered –through a carefully staged covert operation– the formation of a proxy regime integrated by Neo-Nazis.
...
Composition of the Coalition Government
We are not dealing with a transitional government in which Neo-Nazi elements integrate the fringe of the coalition, formally led by the Fatherland party.
The Cabinet is not only integrated by the Svoboda and Right Sector (not to mention former members of defunct fascist UNA-UNSO), the two main Neo-Nazi entities have been entrusted with key positions which grant them de facto control over the Armed Forces, Police and National Security.
While Yatsenuyk’s Fatherland Party controls the majority of portfolios and Svoboda Neo-Nazi leader Oleh Tyahnybok was not granted a major cabinet post (apparently at the request of assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland), members of Svoboda and the Right Sector occupy key positions in the areas of Defense, Law Enforcement, Education, Justice and Economic Affairs.
Andriy Parubiy [right] co-founder of the Neo-Nazi Social-National Party of Ukraine (subsequently renamed Svoboda) was appointed Secretary of the National Security and National Defense Committee (RNBOU). (???? ???????????? ??????? ? ??????? ???????), a key position which overseas the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces, Law Enforcement, National Security and Intelligence. The RNBOU is central decision-making body. While it is formally headed by the president, it is run by the Secretariat with a staff of 180 people including defense, intelligence and national security experts. Parubiy was one of the main leaders behind the Orange Revolution in 2004. His organization was funded by the West. He is referred to by the Western media as the “kommandant” of the EuroMaidan movement. Andriy Parubiy together with party leader Oleh Tyahnybok is a follower of Ukrainian Nazi Stepan Bandera, who collaborated in the mass murderer of Jews and Poles during World War II.
In turn, Dmytro Yarosh, leader of the Right Sector delegation in the parliament, has been appointed Parubiy’s deputy Secretary of the RNBOU.
Yarosh was the leader of the Brown Shirt Neo-Nazi paramilitary during the EuroMaidan “protest” movement. He has called for disbanding the Party of the regions and the Communist Party.
The Neo Nazi party also controls the judicial process with the appointment of Oleh Makhnitsky of the Svoboda party to the position of prosecutor-general of Ukraine. What kind of justice will prevail with a reknown Neo-Nazi in charge of the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine?
Cabinet positions were also allocated to former members of the Neo-Nazi fringe organization Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian National Self Defense (UNA-UNSO):
The Lustration Committee is to organize the Neo-Nazi witch-hunt against all opponents of the new Neo-Nazi regime. The targets of the lustration campaign are people in positions of authority within the civil service, regional and municipal governments, education, research, etc. The term lustration refers to the “mass disqualification” of people associated with the former government. It also has racial overtones. It will in all likelihood be directed against Communists, Russians and members of the Jewish community.
It is important to reflect on the fact that the West, formally committed to democratic values, has not only spearheaded the demise of an elected president, it has instated a political regime integrated by Neo-Nazis.
This is a proxy government which enables the US, NATO and EU to interfere in Ukraine’s internal affairs and dismantle its bilateral relations with the Russian Federation. It should be understood, however, that the Neo-Nazis do not ultimately call the shots: Under a “regime of indirect rule” they take their orders on crucial military and foreign policy issues –including the deployment of troops directed against the Russian federation– from the the US State Department, the Pentagon and NATO.
..
Photographic evidence and more background in the article.
What a mess this whole thing is turning into. Yanukovych is a corrupt P.O.S. also but these clowns are even more dangerous. And of course the usual state department tactic is to send in the mercenaries for plausible denability. Someone might want to expose who is footing the bill for some of these State Department Visigoth mercenaries like Greystone Limited 'hint Mossad hint' to shut up all the it's the jooos are the root of all evil types.
And just like Syria we got pictures of John "Insane in the Membrane" McCain associating with these neo-nazis along with the added bonus of Victoria "Fuck the EU" Nuland doing the same.
Pictures here.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/there-are-no-neo-nazis-in-the-ukraine-and-t...
And like this couldn't get any more surreal or schizophrenic.
http://www.peoplesworld.org/ukrainian-communists-defend-constitution-vs-...
Ukrainian Communists: Defend constitution vs. ultra-right, privatizers...
A statement by the presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukraine (CPU) on Feb. 25 blamed both the "arrogant, self-confident, bankrupt" Yanukovych government and "foreign emissaries behaving as if the Ukraine were a mandated territory" for precipitating a crisis which has unleashed a terror campaign by the neo-Nazi ultra-right in Ukraine. The party expressed "deep concern over ... the stirring up of anti-Communist hysteria, ... bandit attacks on the offices of our party in Kiev and other cities, moral and physical terror against Communists."
The Communist Party of the Ukraine also called for restoration of "normal operation of all authorities and government, to stop any manifestation of lawlessness and tyranny, to prevent persecution of people for their political beliefs and ideological views, and to defend the Constitution of the Ukraine and the rights and freedoms of citizens."
...
Putin and the Russians are fast looking like the cleanest dirty shirt on the world stage in this mess and the Communists within Ukraine being the same.
'shakes head' This is why we shouldn't be involved in this shit....
The best outcome to aim and hope for, IMHO, is for Russia to force the US to prop up the Ukraine regime endlessly.
If they don't/can't function, their regime will fall and another one will arise. More "aid" will be needed, which the EU can't afford, and the US population won't support. Keep piling up the US Debt!
/ Endless fiat-Dollars-for-Debt. All else is 'negotiable' /sarc
The Bosporus is controlled by Turkey and in the past Turkey did not allow US capital ships to the Black Sea.
if we ground enough wessels around Sevastople this will create much fear in the collective Russian port fetish. The port fetish challenged of Russian descent will demand Putin sue for peace.
Chekov? Is that you?
Foodstamp's main battle right now is preparing the FSA for the mid-term elections.
Send snarling Dick Cheney to the Crimea to frighten off them Russians.
Oh, I forgot, he had a change of heart.
will it ever stop? I'm going to pee myself
Now we need a Chinese aircraft carrier to make their way over to Crimea.
If this happens, I am buying the double super pack of Orville Redenbacher.
by "a... carrier" you mean "the... carrier"
ror @ chinese navy
An up arrow for the chinese ror, hilarious!
The map sure doesn't match where the article states the ships are at. The map shows at present that CVN-77 is in the center of the Atlantic, not the straight of Gibraltor.
Yet it shows LHD-5 at present right at the straight of Gibraltor while stating that it's underway in the Atlantic.
Not a very accurate map from Stratfor who's supposed to know everything.
I wonder how the war in the Pacific during WWII would have played out back then if they all had the interwebs like they do today and everyone knew where all the ships were and were posting their pictures on a Fraudbook website???
Maybe one of these days a Navy ship is going to sustain a very horrible attack which will then be blamed on the internet. Of course then the internet will need to shut down or massively restricted for anyone not in "government", due to "national security" reasons, of course.
I guess I'm just being slightly cynical...carry on...
You're asking if a carrier will cross the Bosphorus? Ummm.
VERY stupid asinine pro-Russian bent on this blog.
The Ukraine has no importance to ordinary Americans, especially to those unemployed who have lost all their medical insurance. The drum beat of war to serve the Oligarchs and their shills follow.
Question for warmongers and peaceniks alike. A trillion dollars for the F35.....is that a real number. Can't we buy the countries we want to make war on for less than that? Really a trillion dollars? For a manned plane that will be (or already is) obsolete...? Help me understand. Are that many congressional districts making bank with this one plane?
Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Cost is only a constraint in the capacity to wage war. The cost is then weighed against the potential return on the investment (profit). Furthermore, even when a feasible plan can be produced to invest in peace- and which generates more profit than waging war, the cost in political capital can prevent the plan from being implemented.
I think you've got that right. The F35 is a disaster. As are the F22 and the Osprey. These programs are more about politics and money than viable weapons systems. We all pay the price. And the guys who have to fly (and die) in them pay the ultimate price.
One of the things the US does not fuck up at doing is building aircraft carriers.
You don't go pick a fight in someone else's turf, without knowing at least the geography... oops.
"Navy Relieves Commander of Ship That Ran Aground After Sochi Tour"
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/02/navy-relieves-commander-of-...
mine the shit out of the water or we win bitchez!