You seem to forget that Obama told the Russian prime minister that he would have “more flexibility” after the No. 2012 elections.
Why do you think he said that?
As for Eastern Ukraine, let’s see how that plays out. All I see are Russian flags in the demonstrations. Kiev sends troops and armor, and they defect.
Most of the easterners remember being a part of Russia before 1994. They don’t identify with “Ukraine”.
Bottom line is that Vlad can pretty much do what he wants. The US is not going to interfere, and neither is the EU.
What we have now is all posturing. We are NOT going to get into a war with Russia over the Ukraine.
The American people have had enough of war for the last 13 years. Let the EU fight this one.
We’re broke, too.
As far as the sanctions go, Russia has all the gas and oil that the EU needs. that’s their bargaining chip and it is a huge one. The EU knows it, too.
The US Cavalry is not coming to the rescue this time.
In the other related thread Ukrainians said they can only pay their troops $45 a month. And they want them on duty for at least 12 hours daily. No soap and underware included.
You can make as muc flipping burgers with less hours at work just across a Russian border, daily.
That is one single reason why Russia’s popularity would only grow in E.Ukraine.