For those of you suggesting that what is going on in the Ukraine is somehow justified, would you have the same opinion if the Mexican army invaded Southern California to “protect Spanish speaking peoples”, then promptly conducted a referendum giving Americans in those areas a choice between joining Mexico or having a “special” autonomous relationship with the US? I suspect that there are Democrats who would be ok with that scenario but no conservative would support such nonsense. Just because Ukraine doesn’t have the military might to defend itself from Russian aggression does not make the use of Russian force acceptable. There are many things that the US and Europe could do to support the Ukraine that do not involve immediate military intervention. These silly “sanctions” against a handful of Russian government officials are a complete farce.
What if Cuba suddenly decided that the US base at Guantanamo Bay is no longer valid and they are going to take steps to reclaim it?
Does the US simply sit back and let it happen?
“No conservative would support”
But lots of conservatives apparently support things like self-determination for all (self-identified) peoples, a profoundly unconservative idea.
What is happening in Eastern Europe is pure progressive Wilsonianism, and real conservatives should hate it.
i WAS THINKING OF THE SAME THING...
And what, pray tell, was your position on Slovenian and Croatian independence in 1992?
We (NATO) set the precedent so the Germans could get access to the Adriatic. Now the Russians want Crimea and used the exact procedure we set forward in Yugoslavia. No need for “what-ifs.”
I agree, and they've probably been pre-arranged between Obama and Putin, so Obama could appear to be "doing something" without actually affecting Russia to any extent. Post-election flexibility and all.
Will the Marxists around Obama and pulling his strings ever learn that when it comes to responding to foreign provocations with red lines or 11 of you guys can’t go to Las Vegas a few months that such actions make them (and US) look silly and small and timid and only encourage and embolden men like Putin?!
For certain, it would be wiser to do nothing!
Your example is not fanciful. That is EXACTLY the reason not to allow millions of illegal and unasimilated Mexicans into this country. Of course they can eventually do this to us.
Apples and oranges. The Crimean peoples WANT to align with Russia. So many here talk about State secession. This is what it looks like. I don't give one sh*t about Crimea wanting to be a Russian territory and definitely don't want the USA get involved in that mess, militarily or politically.
After Viet Nam, Iraq with it's growing insurgency, and Aftganiscrap that will never join civilization and other USA involvements, I'm done with watching too many of our youth come back in boxes or missing limbs or disfigured or families ruined because of our need to be the police force in the World. Let the EU deal with this.
Yes, I know, some say this is just the beginning of Putin's re-constitution of the Soviet Empire. I don't think so. MAD still works for the Russians. May not work for the Islamists, but does works for the Russians who care about their wives and children. Think Trident submarines all around the world, even with Bambi's downsizing. Even the "community organizer" would be forced by his generals and admirals to protect our nation if things got dicey.
Leave us out of this. Let Europe deal with it. They wanted their Union, so let them deal with Putin's ambitions. If we get directly involved, the next war will make WWII look like a turkey shoot. Is this what you want?
As for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), let all those Europeon countries take the lead. I think we should just kick back and let them fight out for a change. Simplistic? Maybe, but we can support them without getting our best deaded once again for a place that has little national security interests.
Last thought: Russia is not ALL powerful and while Putin and others may want to re-build the Soviet empire, those days are long gone. They may scoop up a country or two, but World economics dictate that not much more will happen if we just stay out of the mix, IMHO. Let them all kill each other. No one, I repeat, no one would dare attack us. We still have enough nukes to kill the World 3 times over.