[goldstategop]

The lead paragraph says it all. Crimea will stay Russian. The West will get used to it and accept it as a fact of life as it has learned to get along with every other disputed territory in contention on the planet. There will be a compromise over Ukraine, Russia will be allowed to rejoin the G-7 and life will go on. In a century, no one will remember or care about the quarrel over Crimea. Time has a way of healing grudges and resentments. And this is likely to be the last territorial border change we're going to see in Europe in the present century.

[Paladin2]

Putin is still restricted by Turkey.

[doc1019]

Vladimir has a set, be he right or wrong, he has a set ... unlike our dear leader. Where oh where is our leader? ... Oh, wait, we don’t have one. My bad.

[allendale]

Putin’s real crime is that he performed a nationalist act. Globalism is the ideal of the progressive Left. That is a prime factor in the decline of the West. Patriotism is passe.

[Mount Athos]

Not a chance.

There are all kinds of provinces all over Europe that would like to split off, whether to be independent or to unite with a different country.

The Flemish would like to split from Belgium. Catalan would like to split from Spain. Venice from Italy. There’s the Basque, Bosnia, there are dozens.
It might not seem in the realm of possibility now, but a whole lot can change in a century, and things can change very fast.

The USA bombed the hell out of Serbia to forcibly strip Kosovo from their soveriegn territory.

This seismic change in international law means we should expect the same to happen all over the world.

Crimea isn’t the last, it’s just the beginning. Actually Kosovo was the beginning.

[nickcarraway]

People aren't looking at this right. Putin taking Crimea (and possibly Ukraine) is the EASY part. Now he has to keep it. He's got a lot on his hands. Let's see how that works out for him.

By the way, what does Russia have to crow about. They are, "conquering," something that had already belonged to him.

Putin is excellent at bluffing with a weak hand, but at the end of the day, he still has a weak hand.

[Thunder90]

Ukraine will become a puppet of Russia again... And this time with a ruler that has an iron fist similar to what is in Belarus now. And the Berkut will come back.

[Cold Heat]

Good grief...

More eternal optimists...

Ground up by the boots of eternal thugs.

[Monmouth78]

Exactly. There are all kinds of ridiculous borders that won’t last for ever.