Posted on 03/01/2014 12:53:21 PM PST by Jim Robinson
WASHINGTON — President Obama has warned Russia that “there will be costs” for a military intervention in Ukraine. But the United States has few palatable options for imposing such costs, and recent history has shown that when it considers its interests at stake, Russia has been willing to absorb any such fallout.
Even before President Vladimir V. Putin on Saturday made his first public gesture toward ordering Russian troops into the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, Mr. Obama and his team were already discussing how to respond. They talked about canceling the president’s trip to a summit meeting in Russia in June, shelving a possible trade agreement, kicking Moscow out of the Group of 8 or moving American warships to the region.
Armed forces block the Ukrainian naval border guard base at Balaklava Bay in Sevastopol.Kremlin Clears Way for Force in Ukraine; Separatist Split FearedMARCH 1, 2014 That is the same menu of actions that was offered to President George W. Bush in 2008 when Russia went to war with Georgia, another balky former Soviet republic. Yet the costs imposed at that time proved only marginally effective and short-lived. Russia stopped its advance but nearly six years later has never fully lived up to the terms of the cease-fire it signed. And whatever penalty it paid at the time evidently has not deterred it from again muscling a neighbor.
“The question is: are those costs big enough to cause Russia not to take advantage of the situation in the Crimea? That’s the $64,000 question,” said Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan, a retired Army officer who served as defense attaché in the American Embassy in Moscow and now, as a Harvard scholar, leads a group of former Russian and American officials in back-channel talks.
Mr. Putin has already demonstrated that...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
A limp-wristed slap across the hand from Obama!
Oh they’ll pay. They’ll almost die, doubled over with laughter! That’ll teach um.
Our affirmative action Muslim can do nothing.
I mean even Putin seems to be acting silly and taunting. Biker gangs! Chechens! Can he be serious?
The costs of Russia’s sending of it’s troops into Ukraine will be dealt in numerous five- and 10-yard penalties, all from the point of the foul. “Boy, will we ever,” Obama said when asked if he plans to initiate drastic penalties upon the nation of Russia. “We are going to give them such a hit.”
George Will once wrote, “America is an imperfect country surrounded by atrocious countries.
Those atrocious countries don’t worry about Obama and do whatever they please now. They will continue to do so until a conservative is elected, just as with Carter and Reagan.
What Obama should do today is announce that defense spending will not be cut and that various systems like the A-10 will not be mothballed. What Obama will do is dither and pass gas.
Maybe Putin will fax another bare chested picture to the White House, causing Barack and Slow Joe to faint and die. Then we will get President Boehner. Doesn’t that make you feel good.
Really. Barack is in for the embarrassment of his life.
This the same jackdaw , who 33 minutes later,
went to a gathering of Democrats and said"So, this is now officially happy hour with the Democratic party"
A green light signal to Putty!
He was too busy with the new Acorn figuring out how to punk the 2014 midterms.
Obama makes the late Rodney King look like a genius.
But I'll bet pRESIDENT Valerie Jarrett chaired the meeting.
I'm not convinced that's the case here. GW Bush was not adverse to the use of military power and he did jack sh!t to stop the Russians in south Ossetia...still occupied by the Russians and ostensibly part of Georgia.
It's the reality of geography and the fact the Russians have, essentially, strategic parity with us.
Anyone who would propose that we attempt to project military force into the Caucasus or Crimea...eve Western Ukraine, is either bat-sh!t nuts or naive.
We might be able to prevail...but that would be extraordinarily unlikely. Far more likely we'd have our ass handed to us.
Has anyone stopped to ask the question: What is the strategic national interest that would have us risk war with Russia in Ukraine? Or, Georgia for that matter.
This morning William Kristol was again advocating in NRO that we "solidify our security agreements with Ukraine and complete the addition of Georgia into NATO"
Don't people see the folly in this? To commit the USA to existential war in defense of the territorial integrity of either Ukraine or Georgia?
Really?
After we cleanse the GOP of the "RINOs", we should immediately pivot to the Neo Cons. They are not good Americans and they would lead us to destruction.
Report that Ukrainian Navy flagship has rejected orders from Kiev regime and is now returning to port under Russian flag.
Another report that the Ukrainian armed forces are not following orders from unelected Kiev regime and remain loyal to the elected President, Yanukovich.
You are 100% correct. But some people assume anyone asking for American help (such as neo-Nazi regime in Kiev) must be worth going to war far. Not so. And $17 Trillion in debt suggests we should only go to war when our vital interests are at stake. The entire world is not a vital interest.
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