[2ndDivisionVet]

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

[Bobalu]

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.

[Savage Beast]

"Audacity is 90 percent of the battle."
Karl Marx

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

[Timber Rattler]

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!

[dennisw]

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

[McGruff]

[gusopol3]

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

[wolf78]

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 I'm just saying that one should probably see Russia as it really is: morally weak and technologically outdated.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

[Popman]

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..

[sergeantdave]

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

[bert]

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

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

[Patriotism Populism Tradition]

So Putin responds to the establishment of a hostile revolutionary government on his border, in a country that hosts much of his nation’s navy, and now he’s Hitler?

Reckon he’d be perfectly happy with the status quo ante, i.e. the reestablishment of the lawful government of Ukraine and the early elections called by Yanukovych. That wasn’t good enough for the revolutionaries, since they know they couldn’t win a legal election.

If something like this happened on our border, I’d hope that the president—although probably not this president—would crush it posthaste. That’s why the Monroe Doctrine was formulated and applied, since from the Fathers on down, we’ve recognized the danger of letting an unfriendly regime get a foothold anywhere near the US.

[M Kehoe]

How old is this Shuster guy? Can't be more than 18 yrs old.

5.56mm

[Marguerite]

Time Magazine ... printing a lot of crap and lies, as usual.

[meatloaf]

One theory that’s been advanced is that the deposed Ukrainian government was exactly like the Russian government. They were both based on criminal activity. The show of force by Putin is really a show for the Russian people. Putin and his regime had to do something even if it flirts with severe financial impacts on the Russian economy. He knew Zero would piss his pants.

He could not allow the Ukrainian people to set an example for the Russian people. I think there’s more going on than we know. Putin is up against a people that won’t piss their pants, nor throw a temper tantrum.

“300 Soldiers of the Ukrainian 62nd Fighter Regiment were told to return to their base by Kiev after being confined to their quarters by the Russians. This morning their commander marched he’s soldiers up to the Russian line, where they have cordoned off the Control Tower and the MIG 29 fighters stationed around the airbase.

Whether brave, fool-hardy or whatever the Ukrainian soldiers marched up to their airbase carrying the Ukrainian Flag together with the Banner of the former 62nd Soviet Fighter Regiment, singing the Ukrainian national anthem
and other patriotic songs.

The Russian soldiers fired a couple of warning shots over their heads, as the Ukrainian soldiers approached. The Ukrainian officer promptly stepped forward and tried to negotiate with the Russians explaining that they need to return to their base containing all the maintenance shops, etc.

Note - The Ukrainian 62nd Fighter squadron was formally the Soviet 62nd Fighter Squadron based in Crimea before the breakup of the Soviet Union.”

http://www.expatua.com/forum/index.php?topic=13285.135

[cincinnati65]

In fencing, I believe it’s called a ‘feint’.

[Organic Panic]

Maybe Putin would be concerned if women and minorities were hardest hit.

[mosesdapoet]

While I’m not privy to the insider stuff that’s going on in the homeland I suspect Schuster is right by this not setting right with the average Russian. Plus by doing this Putin has confirmed what many leaders from the entities liberated from Russian domination felt. Their military are working up a bunch of “what if’s” and have their defences based on an assumption of a Russian threat.

What we should be doing besides working on getting energy supplies to those nations which are dependent on Russian supplies. Is aggravating the situation in areas where they have invaded such as Absetia and other regions in Georgia. Even providing safe escort to the remnants of Ukrainan naval units loyal to the government.

This guy can be brought down.