[bert]

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

[elhombrelibre]

Well, Putin and his proxies certainly agree with you. They're plundering Crimea with the same alacrity that their Soviet fathers plundered all of Central and Eastern Europe during the communist halcyon days. See:

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.

[elhombrelibre]

"Since Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula 10 months ago, more than $1 billion in real estate and other assets have been stripped from their former owners, according to estimates from the owners and lawyers. The assets include banks, hotels, shipyards, farms, gas stations, the major bakery, a vital dairy and even the storied lots of Yalta Film Studio, which 50 years ago made this now shabby seaside resort the Hollywood of the Soviet Union.

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

[Usagi_yo]

Why do we care about Crimea? Did we want it to fall into the hands of encroaching Islamunism?

[anton]

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.