Posted on 03/18/2014 2:45:10 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Christmas mass in the Hagia Sophia for the first time since 1452.
Slava Rossiya!
Turkey gets a little less than 60% of their oil from Russia, with Iran supplying most of the rest.About 10% comes from domestic wells. They've been moving for years to diversify their sources, not trusting the Russians.
That would be remarkable!
That’s McCain all right, cheers, time for another martini.
Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits (1936)
Article 19.
In time of war, Turkey not being belligerent, warships shall enjoy complete freedom of transit and navigation through the Straits under the same conditions as those laid down in Article 10 to 18.
Vessels of war belonging to belligerent Powers shall not however, pass through the Straits except in cases arising out of the application of Article 25 of the present Convention, and in cases of assistance rendered to a State victim of aggression in virtue of a treaty of mutual assistance binding-Turkey, concluded within the framework of the Covenant of the League of Nations, and registered and published in accordance with the provisions of Article 18 of the Covenant.
In the exceptional cases provided for in the preceding paragraph, the limitations laid down in Article 10 to 18 of the present Convention shall not be applicable.
Notwithstanding the prohibition of passage laid down in paragraph 2 above, vessels of war belonging to belligerent Powers, whether they are Black Sea Powers or not, which have become separated from their bases, may return thereto.
Vessels of war belonging to belligerent Powers shall not make any capture, exercise the right of visit and search, or carry out any hostile act in the Straits.
...Article 25.
Nothing in the present Convention shall prejudice the rights and obligations of Turkey, or of any of the other High Contracting Parties members of the League of Nations, arising out of the Covenant the League of Nations. "
Article 25 does give Russia a possible counter-argument where they could say that they were merely exercising their 'rights' as a high contracting power, (as there seems to be no actual obligation to annex Crimea, legally speaking) but that seems rather vague to me and Turkey could just as vaguely say that they were not or that they were also defending theirs.
Putin “Hey, as long as we’re on a roll and Obama continues to encourage us, let’s take the Bosporus and the Dardanelles and declare them ‘World Heritage Sites’ under the protection of Russia.”
Already happened to a well known activist Crimean Tatar who was disappeared earlier this month. My question is did Turkey know before they issued the threat? His body was just found. I think we have our dead archduke stand in.
The trap was set before the announcement. My guess is Putin’s getting lots of calls from oligarchs. Closing the straits shuts down shipment of a big chunk of the Russian grain harvest and traps their Black Sea fleet.
Sounds good to me. Time to show some Tatars up Putin’s butt.
The Pogues did the definitive version of that song.
But Turkey is NATO. The queasy Soros/neocon cabal will get their war.
More's the Pity...Yet another war to defend Muslims.
I guess Putin didn’t think through his clever plan, did he?
Precisely. There has been a thread of Islam running through all of this. They are this regimes’ weapon of choice, and I think the Eurinos are beholden to their influence as well.
Oh, I am sure he has. We’ll have a shooting war now over some damn fool putsch in Mitteleurope. The NWO couldn’t swing Syria. I think they will pull a hernia this time.
It is a truism that "no battle plan survives the first contact" because the enemy is fighting for his life and will do anything he can to kill you before you kill him. Anything. If you blockade a nation's ports and deny its free trade with the rest of the world, do not cry foul when he sabotages your ports, drops your bridges or ignites suitcase nukes in your cities. There is no "fair" in war, nor any war crimes prosecuted against the winners. If you aren't willing to do whatever it takes and to endure whatever it takes, for as long as it takes to win, put the war drums away.
Much of the world is waiting for the opportunity to gang up on America, which was once equipped and determined to simultaneously fight and win "two and a half Major Regional Contingencies" around the globe. That day is past; our military is worn out and our treasury is bankrupt after two decades of futile, far-flung wars against weak opponents. For us to stumble into a major war with Russia on its own doorstep would present the golden opportunity for all of Chaostan to erupt against the great infidel.
Whatever might happen to Crimea or Ukraine is not vital to the defense of the USA or even it's NATO allies. Put the drums away.
Yep, once the first bullet leaves the chamber, you are no longer in control of events.
The Tatar language together with the Bashkir language forms the Kypchak-Bolgar (also "Uralo-Caspian") group within the Kypchak languages, also known as Northwestern Turkic.
Enacting a blockade is an act of war, and justifies armed response.
Russia sunk a ship and naval blockaded Ukraine a couple weeks ago. How should Ukraine respond militarily?
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.