BY PRESTON CLIVE "Oops, my bad--were you threatening me? I'm sorry.. go ahead, I'll listen this time. I'm just a little sleepy." (IMAGE: capitalbay.com) Believe me when I say it. I'm a magic man, I'm a soothsayer, I'm a swami, I'm a magician. I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles (Oh Yeah)... for those to young to get the reference on that last bit I'm singing the great Who classic song I Can See For Miles. Of course the entire planet of policy-mongers are picking apart President Obama's statement yesterday at his joint press conference with Angela Merkel that if the diplomatic efforts with Russia fail, then the military option is going right on the table. The actual quote, for those unfamiliar or simply missed the news cycle, is as follows: “Now, it is true that if, in fact, diplomacy fails, what I’ve asked my team to do is to look at all options. What other means can we put in place to change Mr Putin’s calculus? ... the possibility of lethal defensive weapons is one of those options that’s being examined.” There are some out there among the world of political observers who believe that this is no idle threat, no mere public pronouncement before the eyes of the world to try and scare Russia (highly unlikely that Mr. Putin can be frightened or caused to blink) prior to a penultimate push for diplomacy on the subject of the East Ukrainian conflict. There are some who believe that Obama, by putting this option on the table as his tough talking likely next step, is not fooling around here. That the world very well may be teetering on the brink of an incredible disaster. That we would be mistaken to think that this is mere Idle Threat. At Globalreseach.ca, author Mark Slavo says: The world is now on the cusp of total war. This is the claim made by former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts in a recent editorial. And though doom predictions are quite popular given what’s going on in the world as of late, to disregard Roberts’ assessment as fear-mongering or hype would be short-sighted and dangerous. No, this time is not different, and if political leaders around the world, especially in the United States, Russia and Europe, don’t come to an agreement on the future of Ukraine then it is only a matter of time before we eventually cross the line into a scenario from which there is no return – for all we know, we may have already crossed it at this point. Let me tell you something--calm down, gents. It's just not going to happen. Number one, I guarantee you that Putin will especially not yield to the spoken threat of force, if he hasn't yielded to the implied threat of force. He is your classic thinking, maneuvering, quiet tough guy on the world's stage. Inscrutable. Even in the middle of an awful crisis he keeps his ominous poker face and remains looking like Russia is pure Peaches & Cream. In trying to corner Putin, Obama has actually cornered himself. He has almost guaranteed that, if/when this next round of diplomacy fails, the eyes of the planet will swing in unison onto him to study his next move. But I assure you this: The American people have no stomach to fight the Russians through the medium of the Ukraine. If the will wasn't there after the downing of Malaysian MH17--regardless of who is actually responsible, the fact remains that most Americans believe that the Russians had a hand in the action, even if it were just their hardware whose buttons were pushed by the rebels in the east--then there will be no will to fight now. Despite the urging of a few hawkish souls in his cabinet and those hoping for defense dollars to be spent in excess, the Average American Citizen is not looking for this fight. The situation will give baby boomers a major case of the creeps by feeling eerie deja vu, that they are back in the days of the Korean War or the Vietnam conflict by fighting the Russian army on some remote part of the world that is neither side's home soil. Two adversaries fighting each other on a host's soil. The cold war, relived. It's not going to happen. The implications are just too grave for the future. It would plunge the planet into a crystallization of a situation too similar to the old days of the Iron Curtain. The repercussions of this--politically, economically, militarily, para-militarily, and so many other 'arily's are too grave versus the disposition of the eastern sliver of the Ukraine, regardless of the direction that the territory heads. Believe me--trust me. Hear me--behold! Hearken ye to my words! There will be no Russia vs United States conflict. The most you will see is the shipping of some guns and rockets--hardware--to the region to prop up the Ukrainian forces. Of course there are, as someone else already noted on these pages yesterday, intelligence and paramilitary assets on the ground keeping a close watch on things to gauge the extent of the Russian involvement. That's natural status quo wherever there is a disruption of peace. Sometimes, it is our paramilitary assets who are fomenting those very disruptions. But American soldiers crossing that Thick Red Line to fight Russia directly? Never happen. The Fortune-Telling American Preston Clive 2/10/2015***