[Jim Robinson]

CNN catching up.

[TangledUpInBlue]

It was gone the day after it happened.

[Star Traveler]

Yep, Crimea is gone. We knew that from the beginning - just knowing the two players, Obama and Putin!

[AU72]

Mission Accomplishment.

On to the next grab.

[ozzymandus]

The Crimea was Putin’s original goal. All his blabber about Ukraine was to distract the West. Putin then grabbed the Crimea and pretended he “backed down” over Ukraine, allowing the cowards like Obama to claim they forced Putin to back down.

[no-to-illegals]

They gone.

[Cyber Liberty]

The real question now is “what next?” I have “Estonia” in the pool (not the rest of Ukraine).

[DesertRhino]

Is Crimea gone? Man,,, not much gets by those guys at CNN. I understand their Sochi Olympic coverage will begin next week.

[Cowboy Bob]

All Obama’s horses and all Obama’s men couldn’t put the genie back in the bottle again... Or something like that.

The process of reunification continues in Russia, and nothing the US or EU can do will stop it.

[dfwgator]

[spetznaz]

Exactly! This is the unfortunate thing, that the narrative has shifted and moved away from the annexation of the Crimea.

I had written this (part of a longer post) on Monday:

....My view is that Russia will be pulling the South Ossetia/Crimea move every 4-5 years. As it goes stronger, and the US (depending on leadership) weaker, it will move from the 'Georgias' to the 'Ukraines.' It will pick up breakaway regions (Moldova will lose something soon ...although Transnistria is technically lost). The West will do nothing ....much. For example, the talks going on now have assumed Crimea is a part of Russia. That is not under discussion, just that Russia leave Eastern Ukraine.

Sanctions will be lifted in a week, Europe will breath a sigh of relief, Russia will smile, and Kerry and Obama will claim victory. Similar to the Georgia situation ...without Kerry and Obama to smirk. In essence, gain land, get hit with sanctions for a few weeks, threaten escalation, the West has talks to de escalate the situation, Russia agrees, every one is happy and says Russia has withdrawn, and Russia withdraws with the new territory that got ignored during the talks.

If that is losing it is a great thing Russia is not winning.

....America needs stronger leadership, or this will repeat again in 4 years. Only difference is China may also get on that choochoo train.