Posted on 03/24/2014 2:14:54 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
THE HAGUE—Leaders of the world's largest economies agreed Monday to effectively remove Russia from the Group of Eight nations in response to Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine.
The leaders, meeting in emergency session, also agreed that they would begin to exert punitive sanctions on Russia's energy, banking, finance and arms industries unless Moscow dialed back plans to seize the region of Crimea from Ukraine.
"This group came together because of shared beliefs and shared responsibilities. Russia's actions in recent weeks are not consistent with them," the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Canada, Japan and Italy said in a joint statement. "We will suspend our participation in the G-8 until Russia changes course and the environment comes back to where the G-8 is able to have a meaningful discussion."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Yeah, let’s exclude them from the G-7, no matter what the G-8 says!
That’ll show them!
Good. The true civilized nations do not need to let the evil vampire sit at its table.
This poem was written to memorialize a suicidal charge by light cavalry over open terrain by British forces in the Battle of Balaclava (Ukraine) in the Crimean War (1854-56). 247 men of the 637 in the charge were killed or wounded. Britain entered the war, which was fought by Russia against Turkey, Britain and France, because Russia sought to control the Dardanelles. Russian control of the Dardanelles threatened British sea routes.
Many in the west best know of this war today because of Florence Nightingale, who trained and led nurses aiding the wounded during the war in a manner innovative for those times. The War was also noteworthy as an early example of the work of modern war correspondents.
The Charge Of The Light Brigade
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Memorializing Events in the Battle of Balaclava, October 25, 1854
Written 1854
Half a league half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred:
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns’ he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d ?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d & thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world wonder’d:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack & Russian
Reel’d from the sabre-stroke,
Shatter’d & sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse & hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder’d.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
That’ll show them!
Yeah! And we already took away Putin's subscription to Netflix!
Oh hellfire, if you can’t beat em, join em. Let’s invade Mexico to protect the interests of American citizens there. Good enough excuse as any it seems. I mean, what’s the EU going to do about it, take our name off a list?
I did not think Merkel would agree to it. Hats off Angela.
Russia has already accepted the price. So its not going to be invited to be part of the West any more. Then again, it felt like it never belonged to the West. And it will simply have to live with the West’s fury but it will never relinquish Crimea.
We are cutting our own throats. The Dollar is done as the world’s Reserve Currency.
There are no plans left to dial back. Crimea is now part of Russia. All the voting had been done, and the Parliaments had prepared laws to that effect, and Presidents had them signed. There is nothing to dial back, as there is nothing to dial back if Indians want to revert the sale of Manhattan for 60 Dutch guilders. It's a done deal.
And it will simply have to live with the West’s fury but it will never relinquish Crimea.
Fury is a fleeting emotion. You cannot eat it; you cannot burn it in furnaces; you cannot make stuff out of it. Emotions cannot be a long term driving force in international relations. Countries want specific, clearly identified and very real assets from each other - gas, oil, timber, labor, skills, inventions, science.
Putin bets that this fury (which is constrained to politicians alone, and does not affect the people) will burn out in due course. And when some EU country needs something from Russia they will come and discuss those matters without ever mentioning their past opposition to the Crimea affair. He is most likely correct. Life has to go on, especially when this event only improved life of Crimeans. (Salaries and pensions in Russia are twice of that in Ukraine; but income tax rates are lower.) EU cannot wave the banner of this event for too long; their own people won't understand them.
/bingo
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