'It's evil:' Pence says U.S. may have to deploy troops against Russia

[Boats]

'It's evil:' Pence says U.S. may have to deploy troops against Russia
By: Gideon Rubin - Rawstory News 07-05-23
Re: https://www.rawstory.com/mike-pence-ukraine/

Mike Pence said Wednesday that American troops could be deployed to the battlefield should Russian troops get the upper hand in their war against Ukraine.

The former vice president, who last week made a surprise visit to Ukraine and has broken with some in his party over his support for U.S. aid for the Eastern European nation, raised the possibility of American troops fighting Russia during an appearance on the conservative Hugh Hewitt Show.

He said he views Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “evil,” and said it’s in America’s vital interests to stop the Russian leader from advancing deeper into Europe.

He said during his visit to Ukraine he visited the city of Bucha, the site of some of worst atrocities Europe has seen since World War II at the hands of Putin’s troops, who according to some accounts opened fire on hundreds of civilians including women and children.

“There was a mass grave that was built by the church. We laid a wreath last week. I mean, I must tell you that what’s going on in Ukraine right now is not just war, it’s evil,” Pence said.

“And frankly, I really left more resolved than ever that it is in our national interest to give the Ukrainian military the support they need to fight and to repel this Russian invasion. I have no doubt that Vladimir Putin is now facing profound divisions within his own country and his own military. I have no doubt that if Vladimir Putin overran Ukraine, it would not be too long, Hugh, before the Russian military crossed a border where we would have to send our fighting men and women to fight against them.”

Pence said he was relying on the “Reagan Doctrine” in his assessment of the crisis that called for backing democratic allies.

“So I’m a guy who believes in that old Reagan doctrine,” Pence said.

“If you’re willing to fight the enemies of the United States on your soil, we’ll give you the means to fight them there so our men and women in uniform don’t have to fight them. And I’m going to continue to be a voice for that in this campaign and all across this country.”
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THE REAGAN DOCTRINE:
Re: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_Doctrine

The Reagan Doctrine was stated by United States President Ronald Reagan in his State of the Union address on February 6, 1985: "We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives—on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua—to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth."[1] It was a strategy implemented by the Reagan Administration to overwhelm the global influence of the Soviet Union in the late Cold War. The doctrine was a centerpiece of United States foreign policy from the early 1980s until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

Under the Reagan Doctrine, the United States provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist guerrillas and resistance movements in an effort to "roll back" Soviet-backed pro-communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The doctrine was designed to diminish Soviet influence in these regions as part of the administration's overall strategy to win the Cold War.

The Reagan Doctrine followed in the tradition of U.S. presidents developing foreign policy "doctrines", which were designed to reflect challenges facing international relations, and to propose foreign policy solutions. The practice began with the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, and continued with the Roosevelt Corollary, sometimes called the Roosevelt Doctrine, introduced by Theodore Roosevelt in 1904.

The post–World War II tradition of Presidential doctrines started with the Truman Doctrine in 1947, under which the US provided support to the governments of Greece and Turkey as part of a Cold War strategy to keep both nations out of the Soviet sphere of influence. It was followed by the Eisenhower Doctrine, the Kennedy Doctrine, the Johnson Doctrine, the Nixon Doctrine, and the Carter Doctrine, all of which defined the foreign policy approaches of these respective U.S. presidents on some of the largest global challenges of their presidencies.
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also;

The Reagan Doctrine: To Wipe Out Communism
By: Robert Longley - of ThoughtCo. 05-08-19
Re: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-reagan...munism-4571021

The Reagan Doctrine was a strategy implemented by U.S. President Ronald Reagan intended to eradicate communism and end the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Throughout Reagan’s two terms in office from 1981 to 1989, and extending to the end of the Cold War in 1991, the Reagan Doctrine was the focal point of U.S. foreign policy. By reversing several aspects of the policy of détente with the Soviet Union developed during the Jimmy Carter Administration, the Reagan Doctrine represented an escalation of the Cold War.

Key Takeaways: The Reagan Doctrine

* The Reagan Doctrine was the element of U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy dedicated to ending the Cold War by eradicating communism.

* The Reagan Doctrine represented a reversal of the Carter Administration’s less proactive policy of détente with the Soviet Union.

* The Reagan Doctrine combined diplomacy with direct U.S. assistance to armed anti-communist movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

* Many world leaders and historians credit the Reagan Doctrine as having been the key to the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Functionally, the Reagan Doctrine combined the tense brand of Cold War atomic diplomacy as practiced by the United States since the end of World War II, with the addition of overt and covert assistance to anti-communist guerrilla “freedom fighters.” By assisting armed resistance movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Reagan sought to “roll back” the influence of communism on the governments in those regions.

Prominent examples of implementation of the Reagan Doctrine included Nicaragua, where the United States covertly assisted the Contra rebels fighting to oust the Cuban-backed Sandinista government, and Afghanistan, where the U.S. provided material support to the Mujahideen rebels fighting to end the Soviet occupation of their country.

In 1986, Congress learned that the Reagan administration had acted illegally in secretly selling arms to the Nicaraguan rebels. The resulting infamous Iran-Contra affair, while a personal embarrassment and political setback to Reagan, failed to slow the continued implementation of his anti-communist policy during the presidency of George H.W. Bush.

History of the Reagan Doctrine:

During the late 1940s, President Harry S. Truman had established a doctrine of “containment” in regard to communism intended only to limit the ideology from spreading beyond the Soviet bloc nations in Europe. In contrast, Reagan based his foreign policy on the “roll-back” strategy developed by John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower committing the United States to actively attempt to reverse the political influence of the Soviet Union. Reagan’s policy differed from Dulles’ largely diplomatic approach in that it relied on the overt active military support of those fighting against communist dominance.

As Reagan first took office, Cold War tensions had reached their highest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Growingly suspicious of the country’s expansionist motives, Reagan publicly described the Soviet Union as “an evil empire” and call for the development of space-based missile defense system so fantastically high-tech that Regan’s critics would dub it “Star Wars.”

On January 17, 1983, Reagan approved National Security Decision Directive 75, officially declaring U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union to be “to contain and over time reverse Soviet expansionism,” and to “support effectively those Third World states that are willing to resist Soviet pressures or oppose Soviet initiatives hostile to the United States, or are special targets of Soviet policy.”

The Strategy of "The Great Communicator":

Nicknamed “The Great Communicator,” Reagan made giving the perfect speech at the perfect time a key strategy of his Reagan Doctrine.

The ‘Evil Empire’ Speech
President Reagan first expressed his belief in the need for a specific policy to deal proactively with the spread of communism in a speech on March 8, 1983, during which he referred to the Soviet Union and its allies as the “evil empire” in a growingly dangerous “struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.” In the same speech, Reagan urged NATO to deploy nuclear missiles in Western Europe to counter the threat posed by Soviet missiles then being installed in Eastern Europe.

The ‘Star Wars’ Speech
In a nationally-televised speech on March 23, 1983, Reagan sought to defuse Cold War tensions by proposing an ultimate missile defense system he claimed could “achieve our ultimate goal of eliminating the threat posed by strategic nuclear missiles.” The system, officially called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) by the Department of Defense and “Star Wars” by pundits and critics, was to employ advanced space-based weapons like lasers and subatomic particle guns, along with mobile ground-based missiles, all controlled by a dedicated system of super-computers. While acknowledging that many, if not all of the necessary technologies were still theoretical at best, Reagan claimed the SDI system could make nuclear weapons “impotent and obsolete.”

1985 State of the Union Address
In January 1985, Reagan began his second term by using his State of the Union address to urge the American people to stand up to the Communist-ruled Soviet Union and its allies he had called the “Evil Empire” two years earlier.

In his opening remarks on foreign policy, he dramatically declared. “Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few; it is the universal right of all God’s children,” adding that the “mission” of America and all Americans must be to “nourish and defend freedom and democracy.”

“We must stand by all our democratic allies,” Reagan told Congress. “And we must not break faith with those who are risking their lives—on every continent, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua—to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth.” He memorably concluded, “Support for freedom fighters is self-defense.”

With those words, Reagan seemed to be justifying his programs of military assistance for the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, whom he had once called the “moral equal of the Founding Fathers;” the mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet occupation, and anti-communist Angolan forces embroiled in that nation’s civil war.

Reagan Tells the Soviets to ‘Tear Down This Wall’:

On June 12, 1987, President Reagan, standing under a larger-than-life white marble bust of Vladimir Lenin at Moscow State University in West Berlin, publicly challenged the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to dismantle the infamous Berlin Wall that had separated democratic West and communist East Berlin since 1961. In a characteristically eloquent speech, Reagan told the crowd of mostly young Russians that “freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things.”

Video link: https://youtu.be/5MDFX-dNtsM
Reagan - Tear Down This Wall 06-12-1987

Then, directly addressing the Soviet Premier, Reagan declared, “General Secretary Gorbachev if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Surprisingly, the speech received little notice from the media until 1989, after Mr. Gorbachev had indeed “torn down that wall.”

The Grenada War
In October 1983, the tiny Caribbean island nation of Grenada was rocked by the assassination of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and the overthrow of his government by a radical Marxist regime. When Soviet money and Cuban troops began flowing into Grenada, the Reagan administration acted to remove the Communists and restore a democratic pro-American government.

On October 25, 1983, nearly 8,000 U.S. ground troops supported by air strikes invaded Grenada, killing or capturing 750 Cuban soldiers and setting up a new government. Though it had some negative political fallout in the United States, the invasion clearly signaled that the Reagan administration would aggressively oppose communism anywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

The End of the Cold War
Reagan’s supporters pointed to his administration’s successes in aiding the contras in Nicaragua and the mujahideen in Afghanistan as evidence that the Reagan Doctrine was making headway in reversing the spread of Soviet influence. In the 1990 Nicaraguan elections, the Marxist Sandinista government of Daniel Ortega was ousted by the more American-friendly National Opposition Union. In Afghanistan, the Mujahideen, with the support of the U.S., succeeded in forcing the Soviet military to withdraw. Reagan Doctrine advocates contend that such successes laid the foundation for the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Many historians and world leaders praised the Reagan Doctrine. Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, credited it with helping to end the Cold War. In 1997, Thatcher said that the doctrine had “proclaimed that the truce with communism was over,” adding that, “The West would henceforth regard no area of the world as destined to forego its liberty simply because the Soviets claimed it to be within their sphere of influence.”
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Sources and Further Reference:

* Krauthammer, Charles. "The Reagan Doctrine." Time magazine, April 1, 1985.

* Allen, Richard V. "The Man Who Won the Cold War." hoover.org.
"U.S. Aid to Anti-Communist Rebels: The 'Reagan Doctrine' and Its Pitfalls." Cato Institute. June 24, 1986.

* "25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall." Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
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Memorial Day Quotes by Ronald Reagan - Praising the Valor of Fallen Soldiers
By: Simran Khurana - ThoughCo. 11-03-19
Re: https://www.thoughtco.com/memorial-d...quotes-2831788

Fortieth president of the United States, Ronald Reagan was a man of many vocations. Starting his career as a radio broadcaster and then as an actor, Reagan moved on to serve the nation as a soldier. He finally jumped into the political arena to become one of the stalwarts of American politics. Although he started his political career quite late in life, it took him no time to reach the Holy Grail of U.S. politics. In 1980 Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the president of the United States of America.

Reagan Was a Good Communicator:

It is a well-accepted fact that Ronald Reagan was considered to be a good communicator. His speeches inspired millions all over the world. He had the knack of reaching most Americans with his stirring words. His critics dismissed his achievements, claiming that he smooth-talked his way into the White House. But he surprised his critics by serving two full terms as president.

Soviet Union's Love-Hate Relationship With Reagan:

Ronald Reagan spoke regularly about the American values of freedom, liberty, and unity. He espoused these principles in his speeches. Reagan described his vision of a vibrant America, calling it "a shining city on a hill." He later clarified his metaphor by saying, "In my mind, it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace."

Though Reagan was widely criticized for building up the arms race with the Soviet Union, many saw this as a necessary evil to mitigate the Cold War. Reagan's gamble paid off when the Soviet Union, "encouraged" by America's flexed muscles, chose to pull the nuclear arms race into reverse gear. Reagan expressed his revulsion for war by saying, "It is not 'bombs and rockets' but belief and resolve—it is humility before God that is ultimately the source of America's strength as a nation."

Military Climate During Reagan's Tenure:

When Reagan became ​president, he had inherited a disheartened military, which had gone through the ravages of the Vietnam War. Many credit Reagan with bringing the Cold War to an end with his diplomacy and calculated military strategies. He oversaw the dawn of a new era in American politics. Reagan, along with his Russian compatriot, Mikhail Gorbachev, accelerated the peace movement by ending the Cold War.

Reagan's Famous Words on Memorial Day:

On many a Memorial Day, Ronald Reagan addressed America (or smaller audiences) with passionate words. Reagan spoke of patriotism, heroism, and freedom in moving words. His impassioned speeches spoke of Americans winning their freedom with the sacrifices and the blood of the martyrs who died defending the nation. Reagan heaped praise on the families of martyrs and veterans.

May 26, 1983: "I don't have to tell you how fragile this precious gift of freedom is. Every time we hear, watch, or read the news, we are reminded that liberty is a rare commodity in this world."

Arlington National Cemetery, May 31, 1982: "The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final, less heroic way—be willing to give of ourselves."

May 25, 1981: "Today, the United States stands as a beacon of liberty and democratic strength before the community of nations. We are resolved to stand firm against those who would destroy the freedoms we cherish. We are determined to achieve an enduring peace—a peace with liberty and with honor. This determination, this resolve, is the highest tribute we can pay to the many who have fallen in the service of our Nation."

Arlington National Cemetery, May 31, 1982: "Our goal is peace. We can gain that peace by strengthening our alliances, by speaking candidly about the dangers before us, by assuring potential adversaries of our seriousness, by actively pursuing every chance of honest and fruitful negotiation."

May 26, 1983: "We owe this freedom of choice and action to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. In particular, we are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free."

Arlington National Cemetery, May 31, 1982: "I can't claim to know the words of all the national anthems in the world, but I don't know of any other that ends with a question and a challenge as ours does: Does that flag still wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? That is what we must all ask."

October 27, 1964: "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, March 30, 1961: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We did not pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
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Personal note: Leaders like: Reagan & Kennedy - don't come around very often.
Even Roosevelt & Eisenhower were good President(s) & Leaders. Obama did a good
job as well. We need Leader's like these earlier Presidents - and it's been way to
long finding the right ones of late. Mostly military men who step up and look
for ways to lessen the waring elements - that take us into these wars.
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I'm disappointed in our current political conditions - which have taken us once
again and again into conflict with those foreign elements that disrupt the world
order.
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The cost of lives given for other's is difficult to justify. Moreso when it rarely gets
resolved - and takes more lives to stabilize the issues - but never really ends.
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The cruelty of the world powers - is never ending - and never resolved. The ideology of each Nation returns to its brutal habits - when we leave. Hence - was it really worth it?
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