Posted on 04/17/2014 5:32:29 PM PDT by neverdem
Russia's willingness to violate Ukraine's territorial sovereignty is the gravest challenge to the European order in over half a century. The conflict pits a vast nuclear power against a state equal in size to France, an autocratic regime against a revolutionary government. The Russian intervention in Ukraine raises questions about the security guarantees that the West made to Ukraine after the country gave up its nuclear weapons in 1994, and it flies in the face of many Europeans' belief that, in recent years, a continental war has become all but impossible. The end result may be the emergence of a third Russian empire or a failed Ukrainian state at the center of Europe.
Russia's aggression in Ukraine should not be understood as an opportunistic power grab. Rather, it is an attempt to politically, culturally, and militarily resist the West. Russia resorted to military force because it wanted to signal a game change, not because it had no other options. Indeed, it had plenty of other ways to put pressure on Kiev, including through the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol, the Ukrainian city in which the force is based; playing with gas prices; demanding that Ukraine start paying off its government debt to Russia; and drumming up anti-Ukrainian sentiment among Ukraine's sizeable Russian population. Further, senior American figures had already noted that the Ukrainian crisis could not be solved without Russia, and European leaders had expressed their unhappiness about a new (and unfortunate) law that Ukraine's transitional government passed soon after it was formed, which degraded the status of the Russian language. In other words, resorting to force was unnecessary.
It was also dangerous: Ukraine is a big country, and its public, still in a revolutionary mood, is primed to fight for a patriotic cause...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearworld.com ...
You must have one hell of a weekend planned.
Thanks, but no. I’m on a seven day schedule. Any plans for yours?
Yes. I plan on spending the next three days talking to you.
Or I am going to get blind drunk for three days.
Same thing.
Well, if you choose the former, try harder.
now you think we’re married
Ummm, neither. The biggest threat is LIBERALISM
Again, please take that homo stuff elsewhere.
But abortion has decreased dramatically during his tenure
Nothing spurs investment and growth like threatening your neighbors.
How's that working out for Pooty-poot?
Ulyukayev told parliament national output fell 0.5 percent compared with the last quarter of 2013, although it grew by 0.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.
He said the downturn reflected "a substantial reduction in capital investment", which fell by 4.8 pct in the first quarter compared with a year earlier.
Weak Russian GDP growth highlights investment slump - Economy Minister
You are a bit intransigent tonite.
There is a stress factor in you that you really should elucidate.
Or just take a valium or ten and get some sleep.
Thank you for your post
Again, it just was a “regular question,” the kind you might see now and then on a bulletin board. The Russians couldn’t answer it, and neither could you.
Don’t forget socialism. I don’t see where Europe is this great bastion of freedom that deserves preservation. They are destroying themselves. Haven’t we bailed them out enough over the years?
People are people. You interpret my postings as some how relating to the homo agenda. Far from it. Putin exhibits many attributes Americans find lacking in their own leaders. America used to deal from a position of strength. Now we are dealt with.
I have strong doubts any one posting on this forum would for one instant embrace Putin.
They merely wish that the rule of law and the Constitution be upheld. They have too much to lose by out right rebellion, so they think. So it easier to make little animal noises by giving a shout out to perhaps the most dangerous animal on the planet.
Too many in this country are hailing a “strong” man who claims the trains are running on time.
But there are others who know the truth.
My tomcat thinks he is the most dangerous animal on the planet, but all he can do is say meow.
Russia has made it clear it will honor no laws passed by the EU regarding homosexual marriage, abortion or anything else. Russia already has problems with it’s muslim populations. Given that Russia’s military population is slated to be 40% muslim in decades to come, NOW is the time to push them back from Ukraines frontiers, not vice versa.
That's almost entirely due to the increased availability of contraception. The current Russian abortion rate is still double that of Europe's.
Could that not be an appeal to Putin’s conservatism? Putin rules over a conservative country, when compared with Europe, and Putin is one of the few leaders who doesn’t want to “fundamentally transform” his nation. He never talks about stopping the ‘rising tides’ or ‘wealth redistribution’.
Real Americans didn’t want leaders who would fundamentally transform America, and unfortunately we got just that, whether they stood idly by and let it happen or actively participated. I think some would have preferred a president with Putin’s attitude instead of Bill Clinton in the 90s.
Putin and Islam are only a couple of them. Chicoms could be the biggest. Any combination of them all hate the US.
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