Posted on 05/19/2014 7:40:54 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
BOSTON—Following are excerpts of the interview on the situation in Ukraine with Admiral James Stavridis, who led the NATO Alliance in global operations from 2009 to 2013 as Supreme Allied Commander. Currently, he is Dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Q: How do you see the current situation in Ukraine?
A: We all need to recognize that what Russia has done is unacceptable behavior. We can’t change borders by use of military force.
NATO and the U.S. should help Ukraine economically and we also need to help them militarily. I do not advocate NATO troops going to Ukraine, nor do I advocate aircraft involvement or ship involvement in active combat. However, I believe that we should provide intelligence, information, cyber capability, logistic support—food, uniforms, fuel, ammunition, small arms, light radar, night vision devices, and advisers and trainers. The reason is that it will have a deterrent effect on deterring a further invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
We’re going to be in violent disagreement with Russia about their annexation of Crimea for a long time. We need to recognize the agenda between Russia and the U.S. and NATO is bigger than Ukraine. We’re going to need a new way to interact diplomatically.
My guess at this point is that Russia will not invade Ukraine more, because they recognize the high cost associated with it—diplomatically, economically, politically. Sanctions were applied. There are more sanctions yet in reserve, there are still many tools available to Western decision makers to punish Russia if they continue on this reckless course of action.
Q: The Russian military forces close to the border are a means of an objectivist course?
A: They’re trying to put pressure on Ukraine by threatening to invade. They are trying to cause the government in Kiev to back away from a relationship with the West. I don’t think they will succeed, but clearly the intent of keeping 40,000 troops massed on the border can only be to put additional pressure on the Ukrainian government.
Q: How capable is NATO of demonstrating deterrence?
A: NATO is the richest and strongest alliance in the history of the world. The question is how much of that capability we are willing to invest in this situation. I will tell you without a shred of doubt that if any of NATO nations were attacked or invaded, the response would be overwhelming against an invader. Ukraine, unfortunately for Ukrainians, is outside of the NATO alliance. There is no treaty obligation to defend it, but we should try to help.
Q: The Crimean port is important for the Russian fleet.
A: I think Crimea is somewhat valuable but in my view, it’s not as important as some observers feel. Sevastopol is an important port, but it is not an irreplaceable port.
Q: It’s the first time since the end of the Cold War that NATO has been seriously tested on a collective security issue.
A: That’s right. This is the first time we have seen a sense that the collective alliance is threatened by an action in the international world. I think NATO is at a crossroads.
I’m against Obama.
I’m also against the US meddling in Ukraine for ANY reason.
There is NOTHING that could happen in Ukraine that would cause me to change my mind on this...we must stay out of it.
It’s a European problem, if they want to meddle then let them. And if they meddle and get their ass kicked by Russia we should do nothing to save them...let them sleep in any bed they make. Europe needs to pull on their big-girl-panties and stand on their own...we can’t afford to borrow any more money to fight for them.
The fact that Obama want’s to and has meddled in Ukraine merely strengthens my decision.
’ No troops, but military aid. No aircraft but intelligence. No ...”
A job not worth doing is worth doing half-azZ$$ed.
Actually if you listen to the Russians, they will tell you that Obama, Soros and the CIA are behind the uprising in Venezuela just like in Ukraine. After all Communist Venezuela is KGB Putin’s ally. Putin supports and arms every single communist regime in the world.
The flame is already lit, you just don’t know it yet.
Nicolas Maduro: Ukrainian crisis is response to US and EU anti-Russian policy - March 19, 2014 - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused both the US and the EU of “double standards” over Crimea and recalled the Kosovo and Falkland Islands referendums as evidence. Maduro says the West is seeking to “eventually destroy” Russia.“There is a certain transnational elite that has been cherishing this dream for 300 years,” Nicolas Maduro said.
The Venezuelan leader criticized “the anti-Russian policy of the US and some European countries,”saying the crisis in Ukraine comes as a response to that.
“What has happened in Crimea is a response to the format that made Ukrainian democracy collapse. And there is only one reason for this: the anti-Russian policy of the US and some European countries. They seek to encircle Russia in order to weaken and eventually destroy it,” he said.
As sad as the Ukraine situation is...we don’t need to be there. We have enough problems here.
Putin is no Hitler. He's not even a Brezhnev. We didn't go to war with the communist USSR, and we don't need to with Putin's nationalist Russia over the Ukraine. We should pick our fights.
Kosovo proves one thing. Putin is afraid of NATO peacekeepers. Yeltsin sent Russian troops to Kosovo, but Putin pulled them out. He knows he doesn't want to fight NATO because it's a fight he can't win. Cowardly bullies like Putin never want to fight anybody their own size or bigger.
Many Ukrainians think we are behind all of this. My friends there tell me that America is being accused of disruption there
That's merely the by product of what he's going for. He's channeling his inner FDR now. The ghost of Lincoln is moving on. What better way to complete fundamental transformation than by nationalizing and centralizing every aspect of private industry and enterprise via a global conflict? What better way to deal with those bitter clingers than suspending rights guaranteed under the Constitution and instituting marshall law in the name of national security?
Never let a good crisis go to waste.
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