Posted on 07/30/2014 1:58:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Today is not a good day to be Vladimir Putin. A game that the Russian president was winning so deftly in the spring has turned on him in summer: The Ukrainian military is bearing down on the pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine, and there’s word that it’s on the verge of splitting the rebel-held territory in two and that two major rebel leaders have fled.
Putin's supporting these guys because of a position he staked out months ago, even though they’ve just gotten him into a whole lot of trouble by mistakenly shooting down a plane full of Dutch people. Which is why the Europeans have finally stopped allowing Putin to divide and conquer them, and announced their toughest sanctions to date, slamming his finance, defense, and energy industries. That's unfortunate, given that Europe is Russia's biggest energy market and that Russia depends on Europe for some 40 percent of its food and medicine. And, in case that wasn't enough, the United States piled on, too, sanctioning three major Russian banks.
And yet, there’s very little Putin can do. He's trapped by a propaganda apparatus that has primed the Russian population to want blood and victory, so there’s not all that much room behind him to beat a retreat. Even if it weren’t for the media, he's spent his entire 14-year tenure establishing Russia as a counterweight to American and European foreign policy. Has he been pushing back on Western righteousness and lecturing all these years just to back down now?
This is Putin today: a brash and unpredictable man backed into a corner with little, if any, way out. And it’s not a good Putin to be faced with.
(Excerpt) Read more at newrepublic.com ...
I wouldn’t count Putin out just yet.
I’d actually have to agree. Logistics, logistics, logistics!
Putin can’t support the Crimea, what tourist will go there now? Now, even if he takes the Ukraine, what is he going to do with it? They were already dirt poor. Victory is defeat.
horrible propaganda
Their game is to get everyone all worked up over the Russian Boogey Man; that we then forget all about our own Bogey Men i.e. Obama, Reid, Boehner, Pelosi, McCain etc...
Yep, we’ve got him right where he wants us.
Putin needs to wise-up to reality.
I can’t pretend to know what’s really going on over in Ukraine.
It seemed to me (and still does) that the whole of Europe didn’t care what Russia did in Ukraine and that they saw it as a way to unload a country they never really wanted as part of the EU in the first place without looking like a bunch of French surrender Monkeys. The EU got what it wanted and so did Putin and no one really looked like a loser....except Obama.
Now, I don’t know what to think.
Maybe I am a bit rusty on my history, but did not Japan base its attack on Pearl Harbor in part upon the notion the US had effectively cut them off in the Pacific? IMO, it is never a good idea to back a dangerous foe into a corner unless one is willing, prepared and able to go to the mat. Freckless Barry would probably have a defication overload if he got some kind of war alert.
When his commander in the field [Strelkov] has to hold a fundraiser [Order 432] from the loot of MH17 in order to pay for the insurgency, then you know that things aren’t looking good for him.
What?
The West has cornered him?
What planet does the media and these pundits live on?
He has gotten “everything” he wants. He wins, we lose, and now we are trying to pretend as if he cares about what we say and think.
Ukraine
Republic of Georgia
Syria
Iran
Modernization of his armed forces and intell community
Modernization of Russia’s strategic forces
Massive Russian arms deals in the Middle East
Reversal of Russian declining birth rates
3.4 growth in GDP, better than the US! (we are the ones lying and only looking at the last quarter or some fictitious projections and pretending as if their economy is now imploding, it isn’t). They have things everyone wants to buy: gas, oil, platinum, uranium, weapons.
Look, while the Europeans are pretending to get tough and have a “united stance,” the French are moving forward with selling Russia an aircraft carrier. http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/russia-to-order-french-mistral-lhds-05749/
His plan, from day one was never to take over the Ukraine and occupy this place, rather like other semi autonomous regions within the Russian sphere of influence, Russia wants to assure that they remain the uncontested hegemony. The Ukraine that was advancing towards the EU and even NATO is history. That will “never” happen, and even the Ukraine knows this, we know this, Europe knows this. How is that “him being cornered?” He achieved 100% of what he wanted and he did so with practically no casualties and a very low cost in money. We are redefining what success or victory is in order to carve out some semblance in preserving face. This is moronic western self loving media garbage, fueled by Western politicians trying to “take action” and show their relevance, even though they are irrelevant and doing nothing. This is where we spin our failure into some success or at least partial victory...
I agree,
This is as if you’re watching a comedy show!
Politicians, media, so called experts that regurgitate the WH talking points... Holly crap man, it’s as if we’re in the East today and CNN/MSNBC being the new Pravda.
The Art of War comes to mind.
Good point. Russia is probably not the same amount as desperate as the United States or others would be if they were restricted in resources.
Japan wasn’t the same amount as reliant on imports as Russia is now. Russia is less. In fact, they have loads of domestic oil they can use. Plus, with plenty of their trading partners, we won’t do much more than complain. What are we going to do about China trading with Russia? What about Argentina or Brazil? What about India? Unless there is some drastic change, not much will be done about Russia’s trade, especially when a lot of the Russian trading partners want the money, and the U.S. wants the cheaper products.
I’d say it is pretty much BS.
You win some, you lose some. Some are rained out.
I have always believed the foray into east Ukraine was a gambit by Putin intended to be lost.
The Crimea is secure.
The overall score is win win for the politicos. The Euro politicos will win in east Ukraine and Russia has Crimea
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