I think the proper place to draw the line is the Baltic States and Poland, but not the Ukraine.
Just my 2 cents....
I think the proper place to draw the line is the Baltic States and Poland, but not the Ukraine.
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You may be right but not sure Russia would be deterred. The U.S. is not so good at drawing lines anymore. The weak and feckless Obama has no gravitas or credibility and I can’t imagine him initiating any serious form of military retaliation against any aggressive act on the part of Russia. I just don’t see that as a possibility.
After being re-elected, Obama now has “more flexibility” don’t you know. Putin is just beginning to stretch, twist and bend him. We are only in the first inning of this game IMHO.
Fortunately, there are ways to put the screws to Russia without going to war.
For example, Russia is totally dependent on oil revenues (90%), so simply by ramping up North American production, or just talking about it, we can depress the price of oil for years to come, which jacks Russia around like you wouldn’t believe. (The Athabasca Oil Sands are expected to double their output in the next 5 years to over 5 million barrels/day).
Similarly, Russian can be banned from all major sporting events. The World Cup will be revoked, and if you really want to drive them bonkers, kick all Russian athletes out of the Olympics. That will get their attention.
Bit by bit, Russia will be isolated in ways that it doesn’t want or like. And that’s how it should be - if Russia doesn’t want to behave like a civilized country, it won’t be allowed to be part of the civilized world.
You seem more aware of what’s going on than most.
Bad idea for 300 years. Don’t forget that the Swedes invaded Russia and were promptly exterminated about 300 years ago. Field Marshal Montgomery said that the two lessons of World War II were do not invade China and do not invade Russia.