Riding a bear was just the opening act.
Posted on 07/26/2014 2:15:43 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Why would the leader of a powerful country in reasonably good standing want to risk everything by putting himself in the same league with Muammar Gaddafi? ...Since the crisis began, he has been taking on ever greater risk—not to mention serious damage to the Russian economy—with negative return. ....
So it appears that Putin is not only a poor chess player, he is an exceeding bad poker player, constantly raising the stakes while facing a decreasing expected return. If he ever could return Ukraine to the fold—an exceedingly unlikely prospect—he would accomplish no more than a return to the status quo ante. ....
The pattern of events shows a dangerous pattern. At almost every stage, Putin miscalculates and then raises the ante. He clearly did not expect the protests that broke out against the scrapping of the EU Association agreement, nor did he foresee that the crackdown would bring even more people to the streets.
Miscalculation. Failure. Escalation. The pattern continued with the separatist movement. While it gained some traction in Donetsk and Luhansk, it went nowhere in most of the industrial East. Russian actions were quickly put down in Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa, where most of Ukraine’s high level industry—not to mention a good bit of Russia’s military industry—is located.
After the election of Petro Poroshenko to Ukraine’s Presidency came more setbacks. The rebel strongholds of Slaviansk and Kramatorsk were retaken by Ukrainian anti-terrorist troops and they began moving toward Donetsk and Luhansk. So Putin escalated again, sending heavy artillery and more sophisticated weapons, including the one that shot down MH-17.
Miscalculation. Failure. Escalation. The downing of MH-17 is a logical consequence of the pattern.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Your anti-American trolling is the problem, trying to compare the incident the Navy was involved in to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and shooting a civilian airliner down from 33,000 feet for no reason.
Why you are working so hard for our enemies is puzzling, I guess you guys didn’t disappear after your last Russian empire collapsed.
This will likely result in a stronger position for President Poroshenko whose party will likely be a big winner in the new elections. Poroshenko is from Kiev, and he ran for President against Yulia Tymoshenko, who is from Dnepropetrovsk. The PM who resigned, Yatseniuk, is a member of Tymoshenko’s party. The collapse of the governing coalition therefore represents a victory of the populist Maidan forces in Kiev over the oligarchs of the Dnepropetrovsk clan.
You’re as loud and dumb as John McCain.
LOL, at least he and I were on the right side against Russia.
Here you are working for them.
He has torpedoed the US petrodollar and you nary hear a word of it. The BRICS are setting up free trade zones left and right. I never even heard of the term ‘de-dollarize’ before this year and now Turkey is the latest to de-Dollarize. Poor chess player, indeed.
For several years now, I’ve been harping about the danger of the U.S. greenback losing world reserve currency status — but, this is also the first I’ve heard of “de-dollarize”. It’s an awkward-sounding word; but, we’re probably going to hear a lot more about it (unless someone comes up with a better term soon). The only way the U.S. gets away with “printing money” to pay its foreign debts, is because of the reserve currency status. However, printing money to pay debts is a major abuse of the privilege of having reserve currency status. If more of the world “de-dolarizes”, Americans will get a painful lesson in real-world economics — i.e. economics where balanced budgets actually matter, and where you can’t inflate yourself out of debt.
This is long way from over.
Putin is a Russian locked into the Russian game plan, Crimea is just the first course he is going for all Russia sees as theirs and westerners are analyzing him like he is westerner.
Meanwhile Prez Dithers is working on the design of the new rainbow Marines flag.
What an idiotic question.
The Ukrainians have also not released the air traffic control tapes seized by their Security Services, which may shed light on whether another plane was nearby.
Exactly. Thinking the Dollar invincible is hubris.
Thanks for sharing, I used to watch ‘Gentle Ben’ and ‘Flipper’ both sweet programs.
You’re welcome. I never watched Gentle Ben, but Flipper was required viewing. I was born and raised in FL, and I recall as a little child the whole family gathering to watch the show about our state. I think it was filmed on location. Anyway, we loved that show; thanks for bringing back a good memory.
Riding a bear was just the opening act.
You have Preepmail.
I agree.
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