Posted on 11/24/2004 10:09:53 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
The United States is behind the opposition and funded the exit polls. Are you really so naive to think Soros was the only one supporting the anti-Putin forces?
We paid for the exits polls and released them prior to vote counting for a reason.
Come on, don't pretend you don't know what's really going on. Powell's statement was prepared month's ago.
I understand Powell's concern -
I think we demonstyrated just recently what "exit polls" are worth, right here in this country.
They ARE fine things for the losing side, though.
"Why did he wait till just before leaving the State Department to grow a pair?"
Maybe he borrowed them from Condi...
Moral authority in regard to matters of freedom and self-government.
Of course, you may be one of those ultra-social conservatives who think we "asked for" 9-11 due to moral decline. But even they can't deny that we still have some right to judge other countries with respect to freedom and self-government. That fact that you try to deny this suggests that you don't have much respect for your country.
You sound like a standard-brand liberal, and an especially dumb one, at that.
WOW!
I wouldn't worry about it.
Either Powell spoke prematurely, or he shouldn't have spoken in the first place. I am sure Bush and Putin are way ahead of things. We are not going to war with Russia over Ukraine.
LOL .....My first thought too......the Rats are whining......caaaaaaan weeeee dooooo thaaaaaat ?
Ukraine is the strategic lynchpin of Eastern Europe. It is the crossroads between Russia, Central Europe, the Black Sea, the Balkans, the Baltics, and the Caucasus. Its destiny has a crucial impact on the destiny of all those regions, and the reason that hasn't been more apparent in recent years is because Ukraine has still been reeling from the breakup of the Soviet Union and has remained tenuously in Russia's orbit.
Ukraine has the potential to be a force of stability and modernity or of disruption and antagonism. Russia desperately wants to reabsorb Ukraine thereby amplifying its influence dramatically once again in the Balkans and Central Europe. A hostile Russia in the future with Ukraine could easily rekindle the Cold War in the midst of Europe. A hostile Russia without Ukraine would be hemmed in, and even more so if Belarus is eventually pried from its clutches.
The progress of Ukraine also has a substantial impact on free market and free society reforms in Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union. A slide back toward an authoritarian satellite-state would not only expand Russia's geopolitical power but would also consolidate similar reactionary developments there. There is nothing trivial about the future of Ukraine, except that it was under the Russian boot for so long that most Americans don't have the independent historical background to appreciate its critical importance.
Also, I do not like Soros or Putin so there is another reason for me not to chose one of the crooks over the other. One is Putin's man and one is Soros'( like John Kerry here in the states).
How many troops does the USA have in the Ukraine? ZERO.
Gotta love our courageous Dubya!
BTTT
Yes, yes, yes, and yes.
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Good answer! A+++
You don't know that. You ought to know that we have allowed our international moral authority, which was unchallenged at the end of WW II to be steadily eroded. We have the power, but there are limits to that.
For someone who doesn't care, you certainly have expended a tremendous amount of effort advancing the cause of Putin and his efforts to effect the anschluss of Ukraine.
It's not all about exit polls. That's a red herring. There has been, as I understand it, lots of actual fraud that they know of. Ukraine has a great deal of corruption by all accounts.
Unfortunately, they will be unable to see the difference between this election and ours. At least the DUers and I suspect a lot of others. Actually, this worries me. They don't need to be given this kind of idea. They are dangerous enough now as it is.
I think if Powell makes such a statement it is - given the U.S. spying capabilities - surely not only based on some third party exit polls.
A few corrections: first, it's the second largest, since Europe ends at the Urals and the Caucuses, Russia is the biggest. Second, the opposition has every intention of joining those Euroweenies in the EU and their first concession to France and Germany is a promise (which they have already failed to do in the Rada) to remove Ukrainian troops (1,700) from Iraq. Oh and Ukraine is not part of Russia or Putin's Empire, which ever that is. But the EU is definitly the expansionist here.
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