[Truth666]

A definition of Russia's politics could be : the exact opposite of EU's politics.

[Johnnyboy2000]

Good.

[FreedomSurge]

The US has to back the Russians, unfortunately. The French led EU has declared itself to be the enemy of the US and has and will continue to oppose all US actions.

The Russians at least we can bargain with.

[Arkie2]

You could almost pull this headline from an 18th or 19th or 20th century paper. Some things never change and the competition between Russia and Europe is one of those things.

Wonder how fast France and Germany will scurry back into our arms now and remind us of our NATO commitment?

[theFIRMbss]

>It declared him the winner and boasted that he would "bring the Russian-Ukrainian strategic partnership to a new level"

Seems to me the press
is getting carried away.
Kiev is less than

500 miles from
Moscow. This isn't about
Russia and Europe.

It's about Russia
simply wanting buffer states
around its borders.

[cicero's_son]

I actually think there is a confluence of interests here.

Both the Europeans and the Russians want a peaceful resolution to this. Neither party wants an all-out civil war in Ukraine.

The solution? Partition. The east of Ukraine will be reabsorbed into Mother Russia, the west wil go freely into Europe.

Of course, there is still a little bit of time left for the Ukrainian people to weigh in on this...but not much.

[Danae]

In the sense that International Politics is more like a 3D chess game, this is good for the US for several reasons.

1) we have to opportunity to assist the Pro-Democracy movement in Ukraine.
2) We can use this as a marvelous pressure tactic against Russia in forcing them to assist us in Iran (the IAEA will be able to do little or nothing with out some pretty heavy backing from Russia and China both of whom are supporting Iran) and so far Putin has not really stepped up to the table to help us with that, Iraq and Terrorisism. It is a good stratgic barganing issue.
3) it keeps Russia REAL busy withinn it's own sphere of influence.
4) Pitting the EU and Russia against each other is a good thing. The Enemy of my enemy is my friend, and really both Russia AND the EU are not on our side, even if neither is totally against us. Better to have them ripping each other's throats out than messing with us.

As sad as it is, the Ukranian people are going to suffer the most. International Politics rarely benifits the people directly. Lots are going to get hurt, make no mistake. However, on the whole, it is better to have Russia and the EU at odds, it keeps them BOTH off our backs, AND gives us some much needed barganing capital.

Let's hope that the will of the people wins the day though. The Ukranian people deserve to have THEIR votes counted just as much as we here do. It is pretty clear that Russia's hand is very dirty in what is obviously a fradulent Election. I hope that justice wins the day for Ukraine's people!

[McGavin999]

I'll tell you what, I'm not even going to voice an opinion on what should be done in this matter. This is far bigger than what I can get MY little mind around, and the ramifications for making the wrong decision could be very, very costly for us. I'm leaving this one to Dubya.

[finnigan2]

Nows the time for Bush to stir the pot by announcing that the worlds security hasn't improved since France started trying to dominate the EU and eastern Europe in particular.

[MetalHeadConservative35]

my personal opinion is what we here in the press about russia's comments about our unilateralist behavior is a screen..i believe putin and bush talk often..and they both see the EU as a threat,

i do..france and germany and spain have made there intentions clear..The UK had better align with us. cause outside of russia..the brits and aussies are the only ones we can trust..

while ivan the bear looks to bring itself back from an era forgotten, there may come a time when the russians can handle the EU as needed and no one would dare say anything if bush is thinkin the same way i am. bush would "condemn" the action publicy but then tell putin good job,

The EU has much more to worry about than the "Pesky" yankees.

just my opinion

[fallujah-nuker]

Many EU leaders have been rather vocal about the need to balance the American hyperpower, perhaps we need Russia to balance the EU.

[SunkenCiv]

"Mr. Putin then openly denounced European efforts to negotiate a fair election result and said that the situation in Ukraine was not a European problem. By last night, EU foreign-policy minister Javier Solana had announced that he would travel to Ukraine today to try to reach "a negotiated diplomatic settlement" to the impasse."

IMHO, Putin had his own candidate in the Ukraine election poisoned over a period of months (with Dioxin) in order to cast suspicion on the opposition. He wants the pro-Russian candidate to win. He's already gotten away with manipulation in the former Soviet Georgia, and has intrigued regarding Belarus.