Red Army masses on Ukraine border: 80,000 troops and missile launchers spark invasion fear

DailyMail: uk ^ | 19:25 EST, 12 March 2014 | Will Stewart and Tim Shipman

[ohioman]

No one here cheered for saddam. You have a few good points, but I get the feeling you must have non-Russian family from the Ukraine.

[newnhdad]

hey Barry called, the 70’s called and they want Jimmy Carter’s weak foreign policy back..

[elhombrelibre]

You’re right that no one here (on FreeRepublic) cheered Saddam. The Left has typically cheered and apologized for America’s enemies (Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Ho, Saddam, etc.). Now, a small clique of “rightists” is doing the same with Putin. And no I do not have any kin in the Ukraine.

[ohioman]

I think this “cheering” you see is really hatred for our President and grudging respect for someone who is exposing Obama as a weak President. The sad irony of this is that Obama’s socialist policies would even make the old USSR proud. I am also sure the current Russian regime especially loves the ongoing decimation of our military - it’s fag friendly too. (barf) In short, Putin makes Obama look like the ineffective/elitist and leftist scum that he is. Just remember that you can respect people you dislike, which I think is the case for some on FR and Putin. As Machiavelli said “it is better to be feared than loved.” For Obama, he has an engendered nothing but a supreme dislike and outright hatred not worth any respect.

[ohioman]

Please excuse my typos. It is difficult to type on this damn phone.

[familyop]

"Well, this will give certain FReepers something to cheer for and especially if there are a lot of Ukrainian victims killed by their hero Putin."

Yep--red hysteria.


How Dramatically Did Women's Suffrage Change the Size and Scope of Government?

JOHN R. LOTT Jr.
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) (download links for whole document at bottom of page)

September 1998

University of Chicago Law School, John M. Olin Law & Economics Working Paper No. 60
Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 107, Number 6, Part 1, pp. 1163-1198, December 1999

Abstract:

This paper examines the growth of government during this century as a result of giving women the right to vote. Using cross-sectional time-series data for 1870 to 1940, we examine state government expenditures and revenue as well as voting by U.S. House and Senate state delegations and the passage of a wide range of different state laws. Suffrage coincided with immediate increases in state government expenditures and revenue and more liberal voting patterns for federal representatives, and these effects continued growing over time as more women took advantage of the franchise. Contrary to many recent suggestions, the gender gap is not something that has arisen since the 1970s, and it helps explain why American government started growing when it did.

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Hysteria \Hys*te"ri*a\, n. [NL.: cf. F. hyst['e]rie. See
     Hysteric.] (Med.)
     A nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women,
     in which the emotional and reflex excitability is
     exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished,
     so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes
     the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into
     paroxism or fits.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The chief symptoms are convulsive, tossing movements of
           the limbs and head, uncontrollable crying and laughing,
           and a choking sensation as if a ball were lodged in the
           throat. The affection presents the most varied
           symptoms, often simulating those of the gravest
           diseases, but generally curable by mental treatment
           alone. Hysteric

[familyop]

Obama wouldn’t do anything about Russian expansionism, even if he wanted to. He’s a contemporary politician. Political regulator constituents on all sides, only wanting the pile of debt from renegade trade to continue flowing to each of their socialist factions, are against doing anything about it.

Europe’s similar constituents will stand idle to be gobbled up while waiting for the U.S.A. to get involved. Of course they all praise Putin while spouting fallacious arguments against doing anything about Iran nukes. Other Middle Eastern and African nations see the “progressive” gooshiness in today’s western politics and are joining the party with haste. Nuclear exchanges are far more likely in the near future than during the ‘60s, but political regulators don’t want to know that (might raise the prices of freight fuel, tourist fuel, and motivate people to do some real work).

“And don’t worry ‘bout tomorrow, hey, hey, hey
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today” —Grass Roots, entertaining aging anti-defense hippies

[Don Corleone]

Very reminiscent of what Hitler did when he decided to “protect” those German speaking peoples from Austria and Czechoslovakia from their oppressive masters.

[lodi90]

I think this cheering you see is really hatred for our President and grudging respect for someone who is exposing Obama as a weak President.

---

The cheering predates the kenyan’s appearance in the White Hut. There has always been a small Russophile/Slavophile element on FR. I avoided the back and forth fray but it’s always been here.

[Paul R.]

Yes, it may be that we will see now if the "West", who intervened in Libya, saying it was to prevent the defeat / killing of thousands of rebels and supporters, will do so when the stakes are much higher all around. I hope that you are right -- that the Ukrainians are buying time, and not just showing gov't paralysis. The more weakness evident, the more likely Putin will make his next move. On the other hand, I think Putin has had this planned for a long time, including the gutting of Ukraine's military by his puppets in power there until recently. Which brings up a question:

population is ready to take up arms against aggressors.

What arms?

[Samogon]

There is plenty of old Soviet stuff in storage, including infantry weapons, armored vehicles, artillery, etc. Nothing sophisticated, but enough to arm the populace to the teeth. Remember, we are talking about 46 million of very pissed off people - even sticks and stones will be effective in such numbers.

[Paul R.]

Interesting. I knew that Ukraine has a substantial arms industry of its own, but its all for export. Until now, anyway. Where are those factories located? I’d think they’d be prime targets for Russia to capture, or destroy if capture is not practical.

Strictly speaking, I think you’d have to peel maybe 10 million Russian leaning inhabitants off that 46 million your state, and then another 10 million just to balance against the pro-Russian group, then another 10-20 million unwilling or unable to effectively participate. So that leaves you with maybe 5 million really able to oppose the Russian military in some way. Assuming a 10:1 kill ratio in favor of the Russians, and a 50,000 fatal casualties figure for what the Russian public might support before they cry “no more”, Ukraine might lose half a million killed in a long struggle, before finally throwing off the Russian yoke for good. This is far less than Ukrainian deaths in WW2, but these are still grim, horrifying numbers. Other hardships would be incredible, too.

Are there 5 million Ukrainians willing to fight THAT hard, for a protracted period?

[Samogon]

It’s all pure speculation, the enthusiasm may diminish if standoff will continue, so it is really hard to estimate the level of resistance. Russians can’t afford a protracted conflict, so, after initial blitzkrieg with heavy toll on both sides, they will try to settle with limited territorial gains. Once occupied, the territories will be quickly cleansed from any potential insurrectionists.