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4 Reasons Putin Is Already Losing in Ukraine
TIME ^ | 03/04/2014 | Simon Shuster

Posted on 03/04/2014 8:16:04 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Even a week ago, the idea of a Russian military intervention in Ukraine seemed far-fetched if not totally alarmist. The risks involved were just too enormous for President Vladimir Putin and for the country he has ruled for 14 years. But the arrival of Russian troops in Crimea over the weekend has shown that he is not averse to reckless adventures, even ones that offer little gain.

In the coming days and weeks, Putin will have to decide how far he is prepared to take this intervention and how much he is prepared to suffer for it. It is already clear, however, that he cannot emerge as the winner of this conflict, at least not when the damage is weighed against the gains. It will at best be a Pyrrhic victory, and at worst an utter catastrophe. Here’s why:

At home, this intervention looks to be one of the most unpopular decisions Putin has ever made. The Kremlin’s own pollster released a survey on Monday that showed 73% of Russians reject it. In phrasing its question posed in early February to 1,600 respondents across the country, the state-funded sociologists at WCIOM were clearly trying to get as much support for the intervention as possible: “Should Russia react to the overthrow of the legally elected authorities in Ukraine?” they asked. Only 15% said yes — hardly a national consensus.

That seems astounding in light of all the brainwashing Russians have faced on the issue of Ukraine. For weeks, the Kremlin’s effective monopoly on television news has been sounding the alarm over Ukraine. Its revolution, they claimed, is the result of an American alliance with Nazis intended to weaken Russia. And still, nearly three-quarters of the population oppose a Russian “reaction” of any kind, let alone a Russian military occupation

(Excerpt) Read more at world.time.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Russia
KEYWORDS: putin; russia; ukraine; ukrainecrisis
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To: Turbo Pig

Both countries were left hanging by NATO


NATO is dead as a serious defense organization. Putler will use the Crimea playbook to snap off some place like Narva, Estonia (on the Russian border and 93% Russian speaking) and NATO won’t lift a finger. The west is rudderless and being run by soulless globalists.

Time to pray for those in people eastern europe. The iron curtain is coming down on them hard again.


41 posted on 03/04/2014 9:00:43 AM PST by lodi90
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To: Tallguy

It is a war of nerves now, who pulls the trigger first, and Russians are losing it quickly. They might be able to keep Crimea, to international outrage, but that is it. The result will be opposite to their goal: NATO troops stationed closer to them and another unfriendly neighbor.


42 posted on 03/04/2014 9:02:10 AM PST by Samogon (Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. - Plato)
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To: SeekAndFind

Let’s see....troops, planes, ships, helicopters...what were their four again?


43 posted on 03/04/2014 9:04:42 AM PST by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: SeekAndFind

“4 Reasons To Think Time Magazine Performs Journo-list-ic Fellatio On The Obama Administration”


44 posted on 03/04/2014 9:05:44 AM PST by pierrem15 (Claudius: "Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out.")
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To: listenhillary

Soros? He loves him a good war.


45 posted on 03/04/2014 9:06:16 AM PST by null and void (<--- unwilling cattle-car passenger on the bullet train to serfdom)
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To: lodi90
So far there appears absolutely no will to punish Russia economically for Putin’s Crimean adventure.

Economically, politically, nor militarily.

46 posted on 03/04/2014 9:09:03 AM PST by null and void (<--- unwilling cattle-car passenger on the bullet train to serfdom)
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To: marron

The Russians are in full Retreat!

47 posted on 03/04/2014 9:18:31 AM PST by VRWCarea51
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To: null and void
Not a fan of either man. Funny!


48 posted on 03/04/2014 9:23:44 AM PST by listenhillary (Courts, law enforcement, roads and national defense should be the extent of government)
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To: DonaldC

Yeah. I share your concerns. Perhaps if we survive the coming war, we’ll start fighting to win.


49 posted on 03/04/2014 9:26:00 AM PST by null and void (<--- unwilling cattle-car passenger on the bullet train to serfdom)
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To: SeekAndFind
If Time says Putin is losing, then Putin is winning.
50 posted on 03/04/2014 10:16:53 AM PST by Tax-chick (I've forgotten most of those languages, but I remember the joke.)
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To: listenhillary

LOL!


51 posted on 03/04/2014 10:17:38 AM PST by Tax-chick (I've forgotten most of those languages, but I remember the joke.)
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To: SeekAndFind

TIME, brainwashing America for decades seems to frown on brainwashing done by another entity.


52 posted on 03/04/2014 11:02:24 AM PST by cydcharisse (`)
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To: SeekAndFind
.. little gain ... ?

What idiots. Look at a map you dolts. Russia cannot give up the Crimean peninsula. No way. No how. And the thugs who took over the Ukrainian popular revolt, made the Russian language illegal. Putin had no choice.

53 posted on 03/04/2014 11:22:21 AM PST by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
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To: SeekAndFind

More brain-dead horse sh*t from Time Magazine.

Wow, shocker.


54 posted on 03/04/2014 3:02:51 PM PST by Jack Hammer
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To: SeekAndFind

If the Crimea leaves the Ukraine that would really dilute the Anti-EU sentiment.


55 posted on 03/04/2014 9:01:10 PM PST by Mike Darancette (Do The Math)
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