Posted on 03/10/2014 4:25:10 AM PDT by elhombrelibre
“Meet Viktor Yanukovych, who is running for the presidency of Ukraine.” Vladimir Putin and I were standing in his office at the presidential dacha in late 2004 when Yanukovych suddenly appeared from a back room. Putin wanted me to get the point. He’s my man, Ukraine is ours — and don’t forget it.
The “Ukrainian problem” has been brewing for some time between the West and Russia. Since Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, the United States and Europe have tried to convince Russia that the vast territory should not be a pawn in a great-power conflict but rather an independent nation that could chart its own course. Putin has never seen it that way. For him, Kiev’s movement toward the West is an affront to Russia in a zero-sum game for the loyalty of former territories of the empire. The invasion and possible annexation of Crimea on trumped-up concerns for its Russian-speaking population is his answer to us.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
You mean Putin has to take over Ukraine to have a bumper and the people of Ukraine should be fine with that? Obama has his zombies and Putin has his Putinistas.
Appeals to emotion are no substitute for facts, and the fact is the Ukraine is deeply divided between West & East. Neither you or the Obama regime’s media propaganda stories are going to change that reality.
It is not required that Ukraine become Russia as it was a part of the USSR.
I don’t think total control is necessary. Hegemonic status for Ukraine will likely be OK. Of course I really don’t know.
I think that NATO on the border, EU hegemony, is for Russia very undesirable to the point of not letting it happen.
If you look back a few years, the whole notion of the Iron Curtain was to provide a crush zone, a place to defeat invaders, before they could set foot on the Motherland. That concept is for a number of reasons reduced to Ukraine alone
If we would just ease up the permit process to liquefy and ship natural gas to Europe, we could crush Russia without ever firing a shot.
We could also help by giving European nations money to aid in developing the infrastructure to unload the natural gas at their port/pipeline facilities.
Oil and natural gas is where Russia makes all its foreign currency. If you lower the value of oil and gas we could collapse them just like we did in the eighties. The nice side effect would be hurting OPEC to. We could also crush Venezuela.
I remember seeing a map of the Ukraine and all the piplines going through there frome Russia a cople of weeks back.
“You are a threat to me, but I am not to you. Therefore, let me do what I want.”
When we no longer have a government wanting to put us into re-education camps, or worse, then, we can give a about Ukraines.
The European community has dictated that their electricity producers must lower their CO2 output by law. To do this they must lower the amount of coal they burn and increase natural gas and other carbon neutral fuels such as wood pellets. In addition they will build more windmills, solar, wave power, etc. This will increase the demand for natural gas in Europe in the next several decades as the older coal fired plants are fazed out. This is also why Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are so interested in controlling Syria. Syria is the route for Persian gulf natural gas to Europe.
As a side note there are several large wood pellet plants that are proposed to be built on the eastern coast of the US just to ship to Europe. I know of one in Maine and two in NC. These pellet plants are being built to supply European plants that currently burn coal.
I note your emotional appeal for Putin. I don’t understand it, but it’s noted. But I appeal for the Ukrainian people who are as entitled to their freedom as any other nation, especially since their own national history predates Russia, especially since the Russian Communist murdered so many Ukrainians in 1933, and especially since Putin is occupying their sovereign territory right now solely for his own self-aggradizement.
Yeah, it’s the bullies mantra. You’re threatening me, so I’ll beat you up. It’s schoolyard stuff, but the more feminine FReepers are smitten with Putin so much they cannot see past their bromance.
You’re being awfully generous with your planning for Ukraine and its nation by not forcing it to be part of Putin’s Russia. But Ukraine’s freedom is no threat to Putin; it’s an excuse, but it’s not a threat.
Exactly. Now, for bonus points, why does NATO/US want to have military positions right on Russia's border? It couldn't have anything to do with fossil fuels could it? Nah.
LOL. Mein Kamp made pretty clear that the Slavs neeed(ed) to make way to German Western will to power. They have the resources, we have the need.
If the majority of Americans and Euros don't agree with this policy, Neos have decided they can go pound sand.
I sense another reason why Iran, Saudi, and Qatar want to control Syria, because otherwise Russia could pretty much have control of Syria, not just to protect the Christians that are there, but also that natural gas pipeline.
Closer to the truth than most think.
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