Posted on 04/26/2014 11:24:22 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Weak position. Weaker opponent.
The Russian economy is taking serious hits.
Putin doesn’t care if he make his people poor. He can blame the US and his people will believe him. When have economic sanctions ever worked? North Korea? Iran?
Obama is weak but the USA is strong. One day soon Obama will be nothing but a bad memory.
As long as the oligarchs remain fat, dumb and happy.
I’m curious...I visited with a woman from the Ukraine going to school here in the US. She has parents and a sister still in the Ukraine and speaks with them by phone regularly. According to her, our news has it all wrong. The Eastern Ukrainians want to re-join Russia and have been begging Putin to come in and rescue them from a murderous Ukraine government. They all speak Russian and want to be a part of Russia, not the Ukraine. I was flabbergasted because it seemed so contrary to all we hear. Has anyone else heard such claims?
What I can say is that there is no animosity between the people of Ukraine and Russia. I don't know of anyone who wants a war. I have several friends who have family and friends living in Ukraine. They say that what you see on the news is much different than reality.
I would question news reports on BOTH sides. This story was posted by NPR. NPR is nothing but a mouthpiece for the liberal left. It's goal is to make Obama look good.
Putin is focused on the military viability of Russia.
According to their doctrines in that area, unchallenged control of the Black Sea ports is essential.
As in not optional.
As in Russia could fall to outside armies without this.
People who studied Soviet Doctrine during the cold war predicted this turn of events months ago as the European Union pushed Ukraine for exclusive trade agreements. I was one. Have another “I told you so.” Its free.
Yes, this is a topic that most people (even a great number of military people) do not have the training and the experience to comprehend. Hard to debate a topic beyond one’s scope. None the less, Putin understands,
and he is making the textbook response to the European Union’s moves towards bringing Ukraine into their sphere.
This is not about Putin’s ego.
The Russians would be responding in the same way no matter who was in charge.
Ukraine as an independent buffer state = okay.
Ukraine moving to allign with the European Union = not okay.
Now, there are in this mess people who want to see realistic chances for peace and an independent Ukraine. But they demand that the European Union back off entirely as well.
So here is my point to you:
Yes it would be a better world if Ukraine is free. No, people who are critical of the Russians alone aren’t helping bring that about.
Because there are exactly two ways the Crimean region winds up not part of Russia. Count them.
1. Ukraine remains an entirely independent buffer state not alligned to the western European hegemony.
2. Russia loses an all out war, and all her armies, nuclear weapons, biological horrors, assassins, missiles, etc... have been expended and were not enough.
Those are it.
There is no third way.
He’s seeing what the radar eared twit will do.
And it’s not like Putin is Stalin who could simply murder away his opposition.
He knows if he’d let Crimea go, he would be thrown out of office faster than you could say “Brezhnev Doctrine.”
Did you ask her what language her family speaks at home? I’m betting Russian.
I wish Boehner and McConnell had half the spine Putin has.
Excellent advice.
The day I believe anything from NPR, will not come in my life time.
“I would question news reports on BOTH sides. This story was posted by NPR. NPR is nothing but a mouthpiece for the liberal left. It’s goal is to make Obama look good. “
They do, just only against conservatives.
Well put. I couldn’t agree more.
The Soviets lost an estimated 20 million lives in World War II, roughly 10% of their population. I suspect recreating a buffer between Russia and the armies to the west is a major strategic goal. Then there's the matter of controlling the pipelines that carry oil and gas to large markets. It seems there is no shortage of long term goals available to the Russians.
If Putin was up against a master chess player, then it would be bad strategy.
When you know you are not, you can take an otherwise bad series of moves and checkmate the chump you are playing against.
Think of the times you played chess against a newbie and that’s what this is.
No, Sevastopol is not necessary for Russia’s defense. Russia is not under any threat of invasion from any outside armies, nor would losing Crimea affect their military posture to any great degree. Russia is bottled up in the Black Sea by the Turks. Russia’s naval power is focused in the Pacific Ocean. Crimea is a sideshow. This is not about strategy, it is about symbolism. Putin wants to pretend that Russia is still great like in Czarist times, but he can’t admit than the EVIL EMPIRE he loyally served destroyed Russia’s greatness forever. Many, many more Russians must die because of Putin’s insane dreams of empire. Putin’s nukes didn’t save his beloved EVIL EMPIRE, and they won’t save the smaller weaker Neo-Soviet Russia either. Terrorist Russia threatens the world, so it is Russia which must be broken up unto buffer states, not Ukraine.
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