Posted on 02/14/2017 11:01:04 AM PST by elhombrelibre
Could be they don’t care which repressive regime they are under. My guess is that most of the Citizens of the Crimea are ambivalent.
China acquired Hong Kong through peaceful negotiations with the UK. No comparison.
http://www.russia-direct.org/opinion/what-are-implications-belaruss-conflict-russia
http://www.russia-direct.org/opinion/what-are-implications-belaruss-conflict-russia
Putin probably agreed as soon as Ukraine return it’s former legally elected president to office.
Except they had another election since then and a pro-putin candidate did not win, nor could one. Putin supporters are like the old Marxists true believers. The Marxists true believers only existed at Western Universities. The pro-Putin supporters exist mostly on the web.
a) Iran in the ME tries some gambit;
b) Russia moves on Ukraine and/or Baltics;
c) China and/or NK provoke something in East Asia.
In this scenario, he might think the US interest might be in cutting a deal with Russia to re-establish some 'sphere of influence' over Eastern Europe while confronting China/NK.
I would suggest strongly upping US forces in Europe and getting the Poles prepared to seize Kaliningrad as a prelude to some hard negotiating.
Trump could also jujitsu his political opponents here by saying, "I see know that Russia is really a threat-- give me the money and authorization to vastly increase our military manpower and station more troops in Europe." He wants the military expansion anyway. It would be hilarious to watch the media and Dems squirm over his new found acknowledgment of the "Russia Threat." Meanwhile he keeps the com channel open to Putin so he understands this is mainly a domestic political show, but with the implied risk that it isn't.
The Tatars certainly aren’t.
You're right.
People on the left say that Trump will be soft on Putin. And we have people here who think that Trump should like and does like Putin.
Both opinions I think are wrong. Trump will be appropriately tough on Putin.
Trump is going to increase the military anyway, and so are all of the NATO allies. They already are. Putin’s greatly alarmed even the neutral nations Europe. The collective wealth and potential power of all these nations is formidable, regardless of what people may think about the shirtless Putin he would not want to wage war on all of Europe.
This is probably step one. Restore the status quo. Give Putin a face saving exit ramp. Don’t humiliate him. He can claim he’ll be back if the people there are mistreated. Or things could get worse for Putin’s attempts to rebuild the empire on the cheap. Wars are easy to start and harder to stop. Putin hasn’t won in Donbass despite using regular forces.
That’ll be “Korea” to all you Mad Maxine Waters constituents out there.
Ain't gonna happen
Uh.....this isn’t going anywhere. DPR isn’t budging. For anyone.
Not that I side with then in any way, I’m just saying. Understand these people’s motivation and witness who it is that is the aggressor on the battlefield. They have ZERO fear of Ukrainian forces.
You have more respect for Putin than Trump then.
Yet with all that Russian aid they are not winning.
And who keeps killing their warlords, the FSB?
Nope - unlike Putin's years-old fan club here, I know he's a murderous, fully corrupt, dictator thug. Trump, on the other hand, is just plain fooling himself on this one.
They have won.
Pretty sure that’s going to turn out to be the Russians, but like lots of things the Russians do, the info never gets turned out.
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