Posted on 04/15/2014 2:07:36 PM PDT by tcrlaf
The sharp escalation of the Ukraine crisis virtually puts the country on the brink of civil war, Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a telephone call.
Putin and Merkel discussed the upcoming Ukrainian crisis talks between Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the US, scheduled to be held on Thursday in Geneva.
Merkel’s press office noted that, despite some differences of opinion, the upcoming talks were the main focus of the telephone conversation.
(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...
Putin’s rhetoric reminds me of the democrats. It seems the Ukraine people are just sitting there minding their own business, but now that Putin wishes to invade them, they are the extremists for not approving it.
They overthrew their government by force... not sure if that counts as "just sitting there minding their own business".
He's been sending commandos and armed Russian goons into the Ukraine to collapse it, and he'll do the same to the Baltics and Poland. Kind of reminds you of the $60 million gold marks and the special train the Germans gave Lenin to hire an army to take over Russia—to get Russia out of the alliance with England and France.
For Germany, Communism in Russia was just a means to an end. I guess they lived to regret it.
Putie won't stop until somebody stops him—in the personal sense.
I’m with John Bolton on this, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
The Thursday 4-17 date is when the Ukraine are expected to parade their evidence of direct Russian intervention to the UN. Particularly Russian use of specialized forces taking over towns within the Ukraine’s eastern border region which also has potentially huge shale oil deposits.
Probably Putin was attemtpting to leverage to get the meet canceled or limited in scope. Instead he may after a arranging a barrage of Ukrainian attrocities begin blasting over Kremlin news sources which should begin about now.Move in his usefull idiots operating the artillary, tanks and air force who will be doing some blasting away of their own. And attempt to seize the oil soaked territory for his companies before they can stop him.
That could be interesting.
Give Matt Damon a knife and send him in.
No doubt we’ll have incoming Putinistas to tell us all how this is the fault of neo-cons, the Bilderberg Group, fascists, fiat currency, gold reserves, blah, blah, blah.
Putin is trying to rebuild the Russian empire. Period. He is not our friend and he is not the good guy here. We should be helping Ukraine with arms, intelligence support and tough sanctions against Russia whether the EU likes it or not. The American public may be tired of war, but that is not an excuse for feckless, idiot Obama not to lead and stop Putin in his tracks. If we don’t do it now, we are going to end up in a real shooting war when Putin tries these same tactics in Estonia and maybe even starts threatening Poland.
We know how this is likely to play out. The easier we make these land grabs on Putin, the more he is going to try for.
It's their government.
It's. Their. Own. Business...whether they were "sitting" there or not.
Putin keep out.
Still, it's hard not to be envious of the Russians. They have a totalitarian president who loves his country; we have a totalitarian president who hates his country.
Actually, Putin has been playing defense since the the February coup overthrew the elected Ukrainian government that had been friendly toward Moscow. Make no mistake about it, that coup was aided by the United States and our NATO allies with the intent of installing a West-friendly government in Kiev that would join NATO. Putin could not allow that to happen, as Russia's strategic naval and air bases in the Crimean peninsula are vital to its southern defense via the Black Sea -- and that's why Moscow immediately occupied Crimea to prevent its bases from falling into NATO's hands.
NATO tried a similar land grab six years ago in Georgia, and Russia thwarted us by invading Georgia and installing a friendlier government in Tbilisi. What many in the West fail to accept is that control of the Black Sea is vital to Russia's strategic defense -- which means Russia must and will do whatever it takes to retain its control. This is not unlike our own longstanding Monroe Doctrine, which declares that any colonization or interference in our hemisphere by a European power is viewed as aggression against the United States. NATO's expansion to Russia's borders is similar to one of our distant enemies signing treaties and basing its forces in Mexico, Quebec and British Columbia.
A little background into NATO's treachery... At the time of Germany's reunification in the early 1990s, NATO promised Russia that it would not expand eastward if Moscow withdrew its troops from former Soviet bloc countries. Then, in two batches in 1998 and 2004, NATO admitted 12 new Central and Eastern European members - right up to the borders of Russia itself. The Atlantic alliance that was founded to defend against Soviet invasion had morphed into an offensive alliance hell-bent on encircling and dominating Russia itself. Moscow pushed back when NATO began courting Black Sea nations, beginning with its Georgian invasion in 2008. NATO's hand was caught in the cookie jar in Tbilisi, just as it is now exposed in Kiev.
Frankly, I don't give a damn. I have nothing against any party in the fight, as it is none of my business. Likewise it is no business of the United States; contrary to all the War Party rhetoric, our security is not threatened one iota by the events along the Black Sea. Unless we choose to stick our nose where it doesn't belong, and we get bitten.
Yawn...
Cannot the same thing be said of the United States and NATO? Should we also keep out? Would you take the same position if Russia or China signed treaties with Mexico and the provinces of a divided Canada and based its troops along our borders?
Truthful post as I have ever read. I also totally agree.
If Ukraine invites NATO or the US to help defend itself against Russia, that's their right and certainly appropriate.
Would you take the same position if Russia or China signed treaties with Mexico and the provinces of a divided Canada and based its troops along our borders?
Do we threaten Mexico or Canada with annexation? Of course not. Ask that question when we do threaten Mexico and Canada.
Unbelievable.
If Georgia wants to belong to a defensive pact such as NATO, that's there right.
Meanwhile Moscow invaded Georgia, used Chechyan Muslims to ethnic cleanse Christian Georgians and then annexed Abkazia an N. Ossettia.
BTW they never did "installed" a government in Tbilisi although they have tried.
Putin loves his country because it's a totalitarian country. Obama will love this country when he is finished turning it into a totalitarian country.
And he's almost there.
~BTW they never did “installed” a government in Tbilisi although they have tried~
In fact Five Day War was one major point in a Georgian opposition campaigns since 2008. President Saakashvili has lost his last elections, fled Georgia and most of his administration are jailed or wanted by current government.
In fact Five Day War was one major point in a Georgian opposition campaigns since 2008. President Saakashvili has lost his last elections, fled Georgia and most of his administration are jailed or wanted by current government.
No.
Saakashvili served his full second term as president all the way to the end of 2013. The War was in early 2008. He didn't "lose" his last election. He wasn't eligible to run for a third term.
He didn't "flee" Georgia.
Most of his administration isn't jailed or wanted.
Russia didn't "install" a new president in Georgia.
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