ukraine
 

putin has 'asked permission' (hilarious) to use military force in ukraine. i'm sure he doesn't want a pro-western govt installed there, so he's going to make sure that doesn't happen.

Question is what will Obama do now, he Jimmy Cartered the Russia problem

honestly, i'm not sure that obama should do anything. the first question must be what has it got to do with us?

it's too bad that we have foolishly behaved all these years in the middle east. we bogged ourselves down completely with rotten foreign policy.

and of course an update says that parliament gave permission. it's laughable to think he needed to ask. or that they would refuse.

It's about keeping Putin and Russia in check, that's what it has to do with us. Putin at anytime can say screw this and become a problem and a real threat. Russia and China can upset the world order at anytime

So a democratically elected leader gets ousted by rebels and asks a neighbor for help. If this happened in Mexico and we were asked for help would we expect the world to look at us as the bad guy?

We are never the bad guys, the perks of being "the" superpower

We certainly no longer "Walk Softly and carry a Big Stick". We now Talk loudly and hope we have the biggest stick and enough money to buy more sticks. :zz:

Agree...Ukraine was part of the old USSR...If dumya was still here he would invade!...I think we should stay out, by no means send troops or planes...let them settle unless we get 100% UN support...Look where they are located, what can we do other than talk?

Stay Out Period unless our dwindling allies get involved first and beg us for help.

Sneaky devils
 

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...lculating.html



obama, let the euro's call for the soviet...er russian withdrawal. it's not in our 'sphere of influence'. oh, for the days when we worried only about the america's.
let europe continue their petty bs fights. can we not learn from the middle east, also not in our sphere?

i think the author of the above article is on to something. this won't be easy for russia.
we should watch, listen, wait...but say and more importantly, DO nothing. see how things shake out. an immediate issue doesn't always require an immediate response.

The media can't even name the rebels as the Crimean Tatars (gypsy muslims). A 20% minority. Putin is answering the calls for help the Ukraine ignored.

Siberian prisons are too westernized for these people yet our narcissist media has it as a fight for independence and a yearning for the western life.

Of course all involved are far less bigoted/anti-gay than the people of Arizona. ;)

Our media is owned by the same folks that profit from ongoing state of war. Interesting that this spin comes just as we have MAJOR military budget cuts. I am not saying that the Ukraine issue was manufactured but the spin we are taking certainly could be.

Putin reportedly took over control of Crimea w/o a shot being fired and has secured weapons from being overtaken by the rebels on two bases.

In other news, travel agents have reported great interest in flights to Sevastopol from Pakistan and Yemen. ;)

Best two quotes I've read on it so far:

John Cole: "I guess watching the Russians do what they want in Ukraine is how the rest of the world felt when we invaded Iraq."

Dana Milbank: This is the point in an international crisis when we all wait silently to see what Obama does so we can criticize whatever it is."

My 10th grade World History teacher was from Ukraine. That was back in the USSR days and she got quite insulted if anyone called her "Russian." She was great. Won PA's Teacher of the Year that same year.

:tro:

just read about ukraine mobilizing after putin's 'declaration of war'.

here's hoping cool heads prevail. seems that right now, the answer is economic steps will be taken vs russia. since the first thing needed to wage war is money, this might be the best angle of attack.

someone far more intelligent than our current politicians warned us against entanglements in europe, warned us against perpetual allies....he was so right about what would happen if we took the steps we've taken, for years now.

http://news.msn.com/world/russian-ma...ns-crimea-grip


i saw the earlier report, that said there had been an ultimatum. as you can see, that is being denied by russia-but i'd take any of their pronouncements with a grain of salt.
fools rush in where angels fear to tread....

i have to think the people with the money will be hollering for putin to put his toys in his backpack and go home. i doubt they expected that kind of market hit.

You may not realize this but the people with money in Russia are all pretty much completely beholden to Putin, not the other way around like in the US.

This is guy is an example of what happens when you cross Mr Putin
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-12082222

That's a side effect of the command-and-control economy that Obama is trying to implement here. "Picking winners and losers" - that determines the direction and flow of influence.

Yeah its A new thing that just started with Obama:rolleyes::rolleyes::zz:

Not new - the Russians had it since 1917 - but an unprecedented push to bring it here to America.

bwahahahahahahahaha

so much for a thread about UKRAINE.

Now that you have hijacked the thread with you tired anti Obama, Rush Limbaugh Parrot act. Please infom us how Obama's policies on the topic you bring up are any different than those of the last 30 years.

joey still wears tighty whities, he hasn't changed his mind about anything in 40 years.

History repeats itself. Obama is trying to be Neville Chamberlain.

LOL - so that's supposed to convince everyone that Obama has the right policy toward the Ukraine situation??

Dana Milbank: "This is the point in an international crisis when we all wait silently to see what Obama does so we can criticize whatever it is."

exactly what do you think obama should do right now in regards to ukraine?

and staying pat for now does not make one neville chamberlain. but props to you for knowing the name.

:tro:


yep, he's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Craig Ferguson with some nice historical analogies.

http://www.cbs.com/shows/late_late_s...g-the-ukraine/

http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d28...1934b270d4697f


looks to me that putin is backing down a bit, of course while trying to bluster and talk tough. here's hoping things continue to calm down.

If your question was, "which Republican hawk", and" how long it would take before they suggested we need to stick our nose, militarily, into this quagmire"?


We do in fact now have a winnah!

Your answer would be Newt and 2 weeks.

We shoulda put up a poll and offered odds.... My money woulda been on McCain and 3 weeks :(

>>>on one of the 4 steps we need to ake against Putin....

Fourth, strengthen American military capabilities to show that we recognize that Putin is more dangerous than we thought and that we are prepared to strengthen our ability to deal with any threat he might bring to bear, particularly on our NATO allies in the Baltic.<<<


http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/06/opinio...ss_igoogle_cnn

On the week where we now celebrate the amount of interest being paid on the national debt now exceeding our DoD budget, no less...

I was dismayed the leading Dem candidate for President stated Putin was following the same plan as Hitler yet refrained from putting a military option on the table.


And we decide to punish the Russians by 'lending' a billion of borrowed cash on the backs of American taxpayers, many middle class, to the Ukraine. :zz:

gingrich is a fool.
for one, ukraine and crimea don't really mean much to the u.s.a. and it's interests. so, for him to suggest any action, anywhere on the globe demands our attention is pitiful.
putin and russia aren't powerful like newt makes them out to be. i know Putin thinks he's a world power/mover/shaker.
Putin is trying to expand his reach by keeping Ukraine friendly to Russia, rather than them going into the sphere of the west. his move into crimea won't win him many friends in Ukraine, and will only cause them to cozy up to the west that much more. this will backfire on Putin.


and i have to say, all this bs from the repubs regarding how 'strong' putin is, and how 'weak' obama is, is one of the worst exhibitions of cognitive dissonance i have seen in quite some time.
and ffs, who came up with 'mom jeans' as a slur? :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, it would not resonate so loudly if there weren't valid reasoning behind it. His foreign policy is an absolute, absurd, global joke - I don't know how that can even be debated - when you blindly authorize the bombings of civilians "in the interest of national security" and out of the other side of your face make pretend you're some sort of Mother Teresa when trying to solve everyone else's issues...Only Americans are the ones not getting it at this point.