Gaddafi ruled the place, possibly heavy handed, but well. Now it’s a mess and people of Europe are suffering boat refugees thanks to the mess created by the US and its lapdogs (UK, France).

Is your whole comment satire? The US doesn’t assassinate leaders? Shit, did someone tell Gaddafi?

My take: Putin can bluff (and call Obama’s bluffs) all he wants. We’re not going to engage them. The absolute only thing I can think of that would get us mixing it up with them would be to protect the Free Syrian Army, but even then I have a hard time believing we’re going to risk a wider war for the sake of the FSA.…

I can’t imagine a conventional conflict that we would realistically lose at this point, unless we had to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously (i.e., China in the Pacific and Russia in Europe/Middle East).

Depends where the conflict takes place. Somewhere where we have to use a long supply chain and they’re in their backyard? (Eastern Europe, most of Asia)