Posted on 01/15/2015 4:33:31 AM PST by elhombrelibre
The Western world has yet to figure out what to do with Vladimir Putin.
He has taken parts of Georgia, Moldova, and most notably, Ukraine, by force. He ignores treaties and diplomatic conventions. Angela Merkel of Germany claims he lives in an alternate universe in which white is black and blue is green. How should Europe and the United States respond to Putin’s aggression? That is the question.
According to the “cornered rat” theory, Vladimir Putin is more dangerous with his back to the wall. This theory says he is far from finished, despite sanctions, a collapsing economy, and international isolation. We know for a fact that Putin does not back down when faced with adversity. He doubled down on repression against the mass demonstrations of December 2011. He expanded his hybrid war into east Ukraine despite world outrage over Crimean annexation. Weapon and troop deliveries were not ramped down after MH17. Putin invaded Ukraine with regular troops in August as his proxy forces faced defeat in the Donbass. He has not given an inch at the bargaining tables of Geneva and Minsk, despite crippling sanctions.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
Same old West has no resolve issue...
I have no love for Putin, but it seems to me the financial elite are orchestrating a war against him - and he is a far less menacing enemy than others, in these times.
Bingo.
Even Glenn Beck himself has pointed out this week in his three-part series on the threat of Russia that there are extreme nationalists in the country that would make things worse if Putin were to be removed from power.
Peter Hitchens is worried in his columns about a war hysteria against Russia building and also points out that Putin is bad, but there are worse alternatives.
As for the events in Ukraine that began about a year ago in Maidan Square in Kiev, it was not in Putin’s interest to start shooting at protestors in the street during his showcase Olympics in Sochi.
If we remember our history even Adolf Hitler loosened up on Jews and backed down on his hostility to make the Berlin Olympics in 1936 look good to the world.
The events in Ukraine that transpired early last year were orchestrated by anti-Russian forces, maybe in Ukraine, maybe from outside Ukraine or a combination of both.
Somebody wants a war between Russia, the EU and the US.
John McCain is one of the guys who beats the war drums on Russia, not to mention the Islamic State, so maybe we should look at who gives him campaign money.
What trigger? what gun?
The truth seems to be that Putin is a success in his annexation of Crimea. The question remaining is the cost of sanctions adequate to induce leaving Ukraine alone and leaving the Crimea?
It would appear not
I continue to believe that Putin’s gambit in Ukraine was just a feint to allow himself to be chased out so the western powers could claim victory. Meanwhile Crimea is annexed and swept under the rug
Pooty Poot has plenty of proxies through which he can act to our extreme detriment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/world/seizing-assets-in-crimea-from-shipyard-to-film-studio.html?_r=0
I realize you may think they have it coming to them for having strayed outside the Putin Empire since 1954.
Property seizures on such a sweeping scale have not occurred since the Russian Revolution, owners said. Many have argued in court that the confiscations violate a clause in the Russian Constitution mandating compensation when the government takes property. But given the triumphant mood in Moscow about the annexation, the owners expressed little hope for redress.
“If you act like the Communists in 1917, and take everything away, you should just say it,” said Mr. Kuzmenko, speaking by telephone from Kiev. “If there is no compensation, it looks like robbery.”"
This one way to keep the kleptocrats in Putinstan happy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/world/seizing-assets-in-crimea-from-shipyard-to-film-studio.html?_r=0
Why do we care about Crimea? Did we want it to fall into the hands of encroaching Islamunism?
Actually, I’m neutral on the subject. What happens in Russia/Crimea is not my affair.
I observe and report my finding, taking no side
My gut feeling is that poor old Mother Russia has a cancer that Putin will never really cure
Denying the success of Putin is Europe’s way of whistling past the graveyard.
Russia is like Mexico which has just conquered and annexed Texas and is looking hard at California (Ukraine). Merkel is in the equivalent of Washington or Oregon. She wants a full out fight in the Ukraine like she’d like an ammonia enema.
Unless you know who will take his place I too would be hesitant and very careful about regime change. Recent history will bear this out.
Not so much cornered rat as verletzter Bär, and the Germans have a lot of experience with that.
And the Bundeswehr has burned all their maps showing roads to Kiev, with very good reason.
The reoccuring reference actually comes from a part of the Putin myth that he produced when he was creating his life story to sell himself to the Russian people as the new Tsar/Stalin.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/putins-way/
Russia is not part of Europe. Have Europeans forgotten this?
Vladimir Putin is nothing more than a blue-eyed Tatar ruler when the subject is democracy & human rights.
Maybe after we get a republican prez we can join forces with Russia against the moslums....provided that Russia stops attacking its Christian neighbors.
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