Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

4 Reasons Putin Is Already Losing in Ukraine (Oh, brother)
Time Magazine ^ | March 3, 2014 | Simon Shuster in Simferopol

Posted on 03/04/2014 2:07:29 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Even a week ago, the idea of a Russian military intervention in Ukraine seemed far-fetched if not totally alarmist. The risks involved were just too enormous for President Vladimir Putin and for the country he has ruled for 14 years. But the arrival of Russian troops in Crimea over the weekend has shown that he is not averse to reckless adventures, even ones that offer little gain. In the coming days and weeks, Putin will have to decide how far he is prepared to take this intervention and how much he is prepared to suffer for it. It is already clear, however, that he cannot emerge as the winner of this conflict, at least not when the damage is weighed against the gains. It will at best be a Pyrrhic victory, and at worst an utter catastrophe. Here’s why:

At home, this intervention looks to be one of the most unpopular decisions Putin has ever made. The Kremlin’s own pollster released a survey on Monday that showed 73% of Russians reject it. In phrasing its question posed in early February to 1,600 respondents across the country, the state-funded sociologists at WCIOM were clearly trying to get as much support for the intervention as possible: “Should Russia react to the overthrow of the legally elected authorities in Ukraine?” they asked. Only 15% said yes — hardly a national consensus....

(Excerpt) Read more at world.time.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections; Russia
KEYWORDS: crimea; obama; polls; putin; russia; ukraine
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last
Remind me if Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Tojo or Mussolini gave a rat's rear-end about polls.
1 posted on 03/04/2014 2:07:29 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Maybe Obama can scare Putin with his pen and phone..lol

I just wonder how far Putin would have to go to get a serious response from our wimpy leader.


2 posted on 03/04/2014 2:21:47 AM PST by Bobalu (Happiness is a fast ISR)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
"Audacity is 90 percent of the battle."
Karl Marx

"We dare not tempt them with weakness."
John Kennedy


3 posted on 03/04/2014 2:31:45 AM PST by Savage Beast (Hubris and denial overwhelm Western Civilization. Nemesis and tragedy always follow.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

These foreign policy morons clearly have forgotten Mao’s dictum that Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, and that the Russians have lots of them and other big toys too that go BOOM!


4 posted on 03/04/2014 2:35:07 AM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

These liberal intellectuals live in a cotton candy world where war is done by clever words. Obungu demagoguery and buzzwords fool the lo-info intellectuals and hypnotize the sheeple....

However Vlad Putin is immune and works in the world of military force when he wants to


5 posted on 03/04/2014 2:41:00 AM PST by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Timber Rattler; 2ndDivisionVet

2nd Div’s post about mobile artillery in Ukraine:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3129311/posts


6 posted on 03/04/2014 2:45:22 AM PST by JPX2011
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: Bobalu

These butt suckers are coming out of the woodwork fantasizing about all sorts of things Obama could do, what Putin can’t do, why Obama doesn’t need to worry, why Obama’s acumen and intelligence will whup Putin, and on and on and on and on.

They are playing word games. Polls and ‘feelings’, worthless threats of “we’re not gonna go to Russia” or “we’ll boycott G8 or G20 or the International Tulip Fesitval - whatever”.

It is really childishly pathetic - just like what we have to call President here.


8 posted on 03/04/2014 2:51:01 AM PST by Gaffer (Comprehensive Immigration Reform is just another name for Comprehensive Capitulation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

9 posted on 03/04/2014 3:01:42 AM PST by McGruff (Every night has it's dawn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McGruff

Not to break the subject but has anything serious happened yet up there? I served in Cambodia with a man that was from Winchester. I haven’t been able to talk to him lately. WE were door gunners on the same medevac.


10 posted on 03/04/2014 3:13:42 AM PST by progunner (no compromise)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

What’s next? “Obama Tricks Putin Into Invading Ukraine.”


11 posted on 03/04/2014 4:06:34 AM PST by gusopol3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gusopol3

Or Poland? Alaska? France? Detroit?


12 posted on 03/04/2014 4:13:08 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Sarah Palin's next run, what will you do?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Remind me if Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Tojo or Mussolini gave a rat's rear-end about polls.

I think there are two sides to this coin. Is Putin's Russia dangerous? Absolutely.

But many here on FR make the mistake of interpreting Putin's actions as sign of strength (because it makes for a nice juxtapposition: Strong Putin, weak Obama). Yet I believe there is some truth to the TIME article. In many ways Russia is weak.

Putin was so very afraid of a simply trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine, so very afraid of western market economies that he is willing to kill and go to war over it.

If it wasn't blatantly obvious before, it should be now: Putinism is morally bankrupt. Who would want to ally oneself with such a pathetic system? Didn't someone say with regard to Ukraine: "I'd boycott Russian goods if I could think of a single thing they made besides the rest of the world depressed."?

I'm not saying that Russian military isn't to be feared. It is. But at the same time the ruble is going down the toilet. I'm just saying that one should probably see Russia as it really is: morally weak and technologically outdated.

P.S.: Even the Russian government prefers foreign cars over Ladas: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1977004-in-russia-earning-an-olympic-medal-at-sochi-means-a-mercedes-and-pile-of-cash
13 posted on 03/04/2014 4:14:54 AM PST by wolf78 (Inflation is a form of taxation, too. Cranky Libertarian - equal opportunity offender.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Wow...betcha Putin is really concerned about polling...

I know for a fact all the former dictators in Russia watched the polling every week to adhere to the peoples will.../S

It’s hard to believe these “journ’O’lists are so stupid...to believe their own pablum..


14 posted on 03/04/2014 4:15:37 AM PST by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

Here's what $100 bought ten years ago for me.

15 posted on 03/04/2014 4:22:24 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Sarah Palin's next run, what will you do?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

Russia under Putin:weak; Obama under America: weaker.


16 posted on 03/04/2014 4:32:10 AM PST by gusopol3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: gusopol3

The Russian republic cannot exist without the Ukraine. If mother Russia allows the Ukraine to move into the European Union it will spell the end of the Russian republic. That is precisely what is at stake for Putin and all Russian nationalists. Putin’s actions are about the survival of Russia as a world power.


17 posted on 03/04/2014 4:54:48 AM PST by Louis Foxwell (This is a wake up call. Join the Sultan Knish ping list.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

State-sponsored commie media Time trying to spin a victory for Obuma and Kerry.


18 posted on 03/04/2014 4:55:29 AM PST by sergeantdave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

But...... possession is 0.9 of the law

Vlad has now once again secured the port and the dream of Peter the Great


19 posted on 03/04/2014 5:00:26 AM PST by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... History is a process, not an event)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

I don’t have the sense that many believe Putin is strong, rather that he is taking advantage of a world with a weak America. Putin is motivated and decisive in the face of a Coward president.


20 posted on 03/04/2014 5:07:47 AM PST by TalBlack (Evil doesn't have a day job.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson