Posted on 04/16/2014 9:54:36 AM PDT by Siegfried X
Edward Lucas: I hope I'm wrong but historians may look back and say this was the start of World War III
It is about brute power. It is about whether Putins Russia a rogue state on Europes doorstep can hold its neighbours to ransom, and whether we have the will to resist him. So far the answer to the first question is yes. And to the second a bleak no.
The Russian leader believes the collapse of the Soviet Union was a geopolitical catastrophe. He believes Russia was stripped of its empire by the Wests chicanery. And quite simply, he wants it back.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Hope the Europeans enjoy learning Russian.
Here, we speak Spanish. /s
LOL ! “Western backed coup” wouldn't have happened If Yanuk hadn't made 180 degree strategic change on the key issue without referendum. Russians have been planning all of that for years.
"Moscow ... has also announced its right to intervene militarily across the former Soviet Union to protect Russian speakers, a new doctrine that has overturned decades of post-Cold War diplomacy."
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/russia-putin-ukraine-civil/2014/04/16/id/565985/
Bingo. We’re just exerting our Flexibility.
You could start with huge amounts of military hardware. Enough so that the Ukrainians could inflict heavy damage to any invader. Send in some Marines to train the Ukrainians if they need help raising a substantial army. Encourage them to raise a militia so that every male over the age of 18 and under 60 is armed and ready to fight. Give them RPGs, SAMs, whatever they need to inflict a lot of damage on Russian invaders.
Then, go gangbusters on oil and natural gas production, and reserve a huge chunk for Europe and Ukraine. Work to bring the price of energy down by 25 percent or more. That will hit Russia where it hurts.
Then, resume missile defense operations in eastern Europe.
Then, position shiploads of equipment in Germany, Poland and our bases in the Persian gulf, making it clear that we can move quickly if necessary.
We don't have to fight, or threaten WW3, we just have to give the Ukrainians the ability to fight, and we need to inflict economic damage on the Russians. Obama is not doing anything to deter the Russians, nothing at all. Why wouldn't they take the rest of Ukraine?
Not even that. Making it clear behind the scene that they will be hit really hard financially (mainly oil & gas issues) should do the trick.
“Obama is not doing anything to deter the Russians, nothing at all.”
Worse. He is drawing empty “red lines”, release “strongly worded statements” etc. Dude is really a new Chamberlain. Without that crap Ukrainians would just bow to the Kremlin and come back to business as usual (just like for the most of last +20 years) other countries in the neighborhood would keep a low profile increasing rapidly their military budgets at the same time. Now they think they have US backing when in fact there is nothing, totally nothing, just empty words. It is WW3 in the making. Perhaps this is “flexibility” he was talking about...
Seems to me that the EU is about as Marxist as Russia is, maybe more so.
Why is this our problem? Why is is our responsibility to defend Europe? They wouldn’t pee on us if we were on fire!
Furthermore, in case people haven’t noticed, the US is broke, the military is stretched to the limit, and after 11 years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American people want an end to sending our men and women to die for the sake of politicians.
Also, it’s fairly obvious that the US does not tangle with countries that have nukes, or we would have taken out the nutball in North Korea a long time ago. The idea of US troops going to the Ukraine is beyond insane.
That may be so.....but they still haven’t lifted a finger in their own defense.
KGB Putin is a psychotic mass murderer and war criminal and the world’s biggest terrorist.
Thugs are waiting with baited breath. They know we might fight the first guy but probably not the third. Each goon, each monster, each thug wants to be third.
The United States waits - sobbing - with blood running down her legs...
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