Russia to Europe: We can do whatever we want

Foreign policy debates are usually a polite affair. Ideas may clash, but the exchange rarely gets personal. This was not the case on Friday (21 March) during the “Brussels Forum”, an annual gathering of European and American politicians and experts, including the Russian ambassadors to the EU and NATO. […]

… NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen cornered the Russian ambassador to NATO, asking why Russia is not respecting the international principle it subscribed to in 1999—that each country has a right to freely decide on its international alliances.

“This is true, but there is also the international law enshrining the principle of indivisibility of security. Nobody will improve their security at the expense of the security of others. NATO is free to take any decision. And Russia is free to take any decision to protect its legitimate security interest,” the Russian ambassador, Alexander Grushko, said.

“From the beginning, we said that if NATO will go on with enlargement, it will continue producing new dividing lines, moving dividing lines towards the Russian borders. We also said that in some cases, these dividing lines will cross inside countries. It’s up to you if you listen or not,” he added. …

We are now at home facing the fact the job is lost, the credit cards are maxed out, the home is being foreclosed, the neighbors are disgusted, and the rubber checks have now started to bounce

Agree with your overall sentiments but the fed and easy money bubble still hasn't popped. Case in point: My illegal alien neighbors who work at Chuck e Cheese and the french fry plant have somehow acquired a $35,000 Nissan Armada. Wonders of consumer credit and recycled SS#s. I drive old Geo Metro type stuff.

“We are now at home facing the fact the job is lost, the credit cards are maxed out, the home is being foreclosed, the neighbors are disgusted, and the rubber checks have now started to bounce.”

The neighbors are coming into our house, eating our food, stealing our money, and teaching our dog to follow spanish commands.

Russia is weak no longer. It is clear that Putin has been prepared for a long time to act in defense of Russian interests. The EU and the US engineered a coup in Ukraine by putting into power the worst set of thugs they could dredge up, and forced Putin’s hand. Putin’s moves will be studied as decisive actions of leadership by generations to come. His game plan was brilliant, nearly flawless.

Russia suffers from an inferiority complex, someone observed yesterday, and to prove its own worth to itself it must attack others. It’s always been this way.

That's true, as it is factual the Russians have seen themselves as 'lesser' for centuries. However, a response still needs to be arrived at. To use junior high as an example, the kid getting bullied and smacked around by the school bully may wax poetic about how the bully's aggression is an indication of inherent weakness, and be right, and all the same watch his lunch money pull a Houdini. A shepherd would be accurate in claiming the wolf marauding his lambs is weak and hungry and cannot catch wild game due to its overall inefficacy, and lose another five lambs that night.

Fact is the West did not do anything, and considering the treaty signed to protect Ukraine once it gave up its nuclear weapons, could probably NOT have done much anyways. There is weakness of leadership. Obama provokes no concern unfortunately.

Americans should consider that come the next elections.

An inferiority complex is one thing, and the Russians own that, but the West is proving that what it has is weakness. Weakness of will, and weakness of materiel (check how quickly munitions got exhausted during the Libyan campaign). Now, most people are assuming the only country that is learning this lesson is 'weak' Russia, but there's a bigger problem.

China, which has an economy over four times larger than Russia's, has a far more aggressive militarization program, and strong expansionist views, is ALSO learning much about the true 'strength' of the West.

If folk think Russia trumping Georgia and Ukraine is special then they'll get doubles when China starts to act.

For a preview read about the fall of Rome.

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