Posted on 02/20/2014 1:15:57 PM PST by The KG9 Kid
AMERICA and Europe, exhausted by futile wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and by their own financial crises, have over the past five years come to a tacit consensus that they lack the power and the political will to bring democracy to far-flung, failing authoritarian states. That seemed a sad but wise conclusion so long as those failing authoritarian states really were far-flung. Then, yesterday, the zone of failing authoritarian states arrived at our doorstep. The massacres of demonstrators in Kiev's Independence Square are as awful as anything that took place during the coup in Cairo last year or the initial crackdowns on demonstrations in Damascus two years ago. In Egypt and Syria, America and Europe have largely thrown up their hands, recognising that such states are simply too alien and too far away, in terms of political culture, development levels, and strategic importance, for intensive Western intervention to be promising or worthwhile. Ukraine is different, and the stakes are higher. For the first time since Yugoslavia in 1991, a European country bordering EU member states is on the brink of civil war.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
A: Back in the good old days, the CIA used to run guns to those opposing the regimes backed by the communist Russian potato-heads. Reagan would know what to do.
the author sounds nostalgic for “nation building”
Neocon warmongering, albeit with the realization that we can’t do that anymore.
Not our fight.
A:
Leave it alone.
not worth one drop of American blood or once cent of US treaure to mess around with anything outside of our borders.
Sounds familiar...
It would be an absolute disaster for the United States to involve itself in the Ukrainian crisis. A consensus must be achieved within the Ukraine however difficult the process. The economic reality is that eventually the German-Russian economic axis, which between 1870-1914 was one of the world’s most dynamic, is destined to revive. The Germans tired of their free spending, chronically indebted, non productive Western and Southern European partners will once again shift its economic focus toward the boundless resources and potential of Russia. Ukraine, Poland and Belarus lie on that axis and will inevitably be a part of it. The US has little or no real vested interest, need not be hostile or feel threatened.
It’s rumored that Yanukovich’s sons have fled the country. While the current Ukrainian administration seems to be trying to restrict travel to Kiev, it isn’t working. Kiev has become a magnet for protestors. The army has already bowed out.
Yanukovich has crossed the line with the killings. Whether that was at the insistence of Putin to get the next installment on the loan is a matter of conjecture.
Tell, Puty-Poot to let Western Ukraine go. Should they prove successful as a Society, they may provide a model for the rest of the Russian Empire.
Doesn't it though.
That is not why we elect our representatives.
There is nothing in the US Constitution or the job description and oath of office for presidents, senators or congressmen about extorting money from working people to finance crusades to overthrow other governments.
The irony is that this is supposedly about the US federal government bringing democracy to other countries while the same government is strangling freedom and perevrting democracy right here in the USA.
After the kill the remaining Jews there? My father is a Holocaust and told me the West Ukrainians were worse than the Nazis.
After they kill the remaining Jews there? My father is a Holocaust survivor and told me the West Ukrainians were worse than the Nazis.
Let the western Ukraine align with Poland.
If there are still Jews there who are at risk, do you trust Pooty-put to protect them?
Western Europe apparently is becoming inhospitable to Jews. I don't know the answer, but letting half of the Ukraine go doesn't seem all bad.
These Ukrainian protesters haven't got a declaration of their own; they're merely demanding that the Ukrainian Constitution of 2004 be re-adopted.
They need to get a declaration out to their supporters to define what they're fighting for. Create a new congress, and so on. Follow the American Revolutionary model. It works. Have Petrol-filled beer bottles used as Molotov cocktails ever changed a government?
I am begining to wonder if, once the winter olympics wrap up on Sunday in Sochi, Putin may do an invasion.
Svoboda is not the OUN.
Don’t believe the hype.
Yep. They were the best of collaborators and willingly embraced Fascism and genocide.
However you might be surprised at their disposition, the Germans rounded 'em up, and sent 'em to the same camps to share the same fate.
Ukraine has been and still is a mess. During WW II some welcomed the Nazis to counter the Russians. Others welcomed the Russians to counter the Nazis. Pick your poison. Jews, of course, have always been convenient scapegoats.
I had a Jewish great uncle that fought in the Russian army during WW II. Afterwards he had a hard time entering this country because he was thought to be a communist.
It would be very easy. Galicia was always a trouble for anyone. They were fighting on Nazi side in the World War II. The area does not have much of industry anyway.
It is likely that indeed we are seeing the last days of the united Ukraine. Some Crimean lawmakers already suggested that Russia should take their region back (it was reassigned from Russia to Ukraine by Communists.) If the violence spreads and becomes a serious issue, something similar to the Anschluss may happen - with cheers from both sides. Russia will simply say that it has to protect Russian-speaking population from terrorists; the separatists will be glad because this gives them the Western Ukraine.
But was there really a "massacre" of demonstrators in Kiev's Independence Square? What are the facts of the matter?
My thoughts exactly. Reports say protesters were throwing fire bombs. What is the appropriate response from police when this happens?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.