Posted on 08/05/2014 5:52:09 PM PDT by annalex
Shibinsky’s faulty assumptions about Ukraine resources tells me that his assesment of the criminal corruption in states recovering from socialism are on mark. But any assesment of the reasoning behind Russian expansion is not.
Ukraine is loaded with gas and oil reserves as well as its Black Sea neighbors. Invasion of eastern Ukraine and the seizure of the Crimea prevent their exploration, expansion, and use of those shale oil finds which would diminish dependency on Russia.
Some of us tried to tell you Russia was just a shell but were poopooed.
I find this to be a great article that separates the not so bright society that couldn’t manufacture aspirin or Tylenol or most simply panty hose from a bright young faction.
The reason advanced for the Ukraine uprising as a threat was informative and believable.
Then there was this.....” internal mass propaganda machine”
America has one and it must be destroyed
In any war one can list something to be gained from the disputed territory. Yours is one theory; the other is that the Don basin has become a net welfare recipient for any state that is responsible for it, because the coal is no longer in demand and nothing else has been developed to replace it. That might explain the evident Ukraine’s and Russia’s reluctance to really fight for it.
But wars are primarily a spiritual crisis, not an economic one. It would be devastating for the Putin regime to have an ethnically indistinguishable neighbor rebuilding its national institutions and developing a diverse and open economy. This is why the geopolitical task for him, as he sees the world, is to foment as much war as possible. The fact that this policy meets with approval of the majority of Russians living in RF shows that the true extent of the damage done to the Russian people since 1917 has not yet been fully measured.
Yes. Still, America has a fighting chance.
07/20/2014
OP and Reply 2
bttt
Ukraine is loaded with gas and oil reserves as well as its Black Sea neighbors. Invasion of eastern Ukraine and the seizure of the Crimea prevent their exploration, expansion, and use of those shale oil finds which would diminish dependency on Russia.
This is absolutely right:
Metals and the invasion: Ukraine aims for critical minerals after the war. https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/metals-and-the-invasion-ukraine-aims-for-critical-minerals-after-the-war-74205684
Ukraine has Europe’s third largest shale gas reserves, at 1.2 trillion cubic meters (tcm)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas_in_Ukraine
and thank you for the link to the 10 year old article which is largely correct.
Ten years on, I would take one thing back.
Ukraine is not “ethnically indistinguishable” from Russia. Maybe they were once. But Ukraine is now an independent nation with its own, heroic spirit. Glory to them.
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