Crimera has been part of Russia longer than Texas has been part of the United States. Kruschev, a Ukraneian, gave it back to Ukraine in the 50’s
Don’t know don’t much care about Putin being Hitler....
I know the Hitler we already have....is in the White Hut.
Mr.Hanson, you either need to SERIOUSLY rethink that hallucination, or include </s> next time.
On paper, maybe, but wars aren't fought and won and lost on paper.
VDH is right, of course.
A feckless Potus is in way over his head.
GOD WHAT A GENIUS...
Forget strength. There is only one calculation: Can I win?
I thin Crimea is a misdirection. I think Russia/Putin wants Estonia.
Red lines in Syria proved pink.Fraught with symbolism.
Obama the pampered prince hasn't a clue what the exercise of power is.
Though he was tutored on the "glorious Red Army" on Frank Marshall Davis' lap--or at his knee, or wherever--
Obama used CIA and NATO to empower the Muslim Brotherhood, to replace secular regimes with Islamist ones in the "Arab Spring"
Obama promised to be more "flexible" vis-a-vis ABM sites, and pursues disarmament and defense cuts--
Does he merely feign intellectual fecklessness?
Is he really nothing more than an enemy mole serving Saudi/Soviet/Sino/Soros ends?
Come, glib puppet, live a life of luxury as our surrogate--destroy the object of your twisted hate. . . .
I think these comparisons to Hitler are disingenuous at best and outright propaganda by the US/EU. Putin is not looking to shove millions of people into a furnace nor is he doing much more the a little flexing of Russian muscle along his border (which given Russia’s history they have good reason to worry about).
If you really want to look at who’s been the stirring up trouble then look no further than the US as far as stirring up wars and international discord. The Arab spring, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, etc. Our motives have not and never will be “pure” in any international conflict other than “purely for the US self interest” (or in the case of Iraq a Bush grudge match). Which is the same as any other country, people may like to think that we are different but based on the evidence we are not.
Given all that it’s about time the EU realized that the US will not always be aligned with their interests and start building up their own military, otherwise they are in for a very disappointing lesson in international relations.
Putin...saw a pattern of words without consequences, of actions that are ephemeral and not sustained, and so he concluded that a weaker power like Russia most certainly can bully a neighbor with access to stronger powers like the United States.
This is what I said from the beginning....when there is a power vacuum, something will fill that space. It won't just remain empty.
Team Obama announced troop reductions to below WWII levels, Putin's already-green light grew even greener.
I further think this weakness in American policy is even PART of the promised "flexibility" that was whispered to Medvedev.
But it isn't just Russian relations....BO is on a mission to weaken our nation's status in the world from EVERY angle. Why else would he engineer and increase in our debt burden two or three fold? Why else would he engineer a demoralization and perversion in our military? Why else would he foist upon the American people a socialized, unpopular and unworkable healthcare law?
He wants all this to happen because he hates America.
Three things are the enemy of the left:
(true, classical) Christianity,
(original intent interpretation of) the Constitution, and
(free market) Capitalism.
There were no mixed signals. The whole world knows that Obama is a bed-wetting wimp who will do nothing in the face of aggression other than hide under the sheets!
And since there seems to be little to no international outrage about Crimea being annexed by Russia, we should do that with the northerly 5 miles of Mexico and use it as a booby-trapped DMZ with multiple layers of walls and concertina wire. All the Rio Grande river will be ours and no foreign nation can say “boo” about it if they didn’t also speak up about the Crimean situation. And if they do pipe up, we cut off whatever foreign aid we might be sending them.
Power in the hands of cowards and traitors means nothing.
In the case of Obama, we have a twofer.
He is not working in the interests of the US.
Time people realize that and understand how much worse it could be in 3 years.
He is not, and will not, work in the interest of Americans. Face it.
While I certainly don’t mind seeing Obama beaten up over Ukraine, I do hope it doesn’t lead to war, as we will get our BUTTS KICKED, trying to stand up to his soldiers with a bunch of Trannies.
But I think that, overall, Putin is saying that, REGARDLESS OF THE PAST, you little countries better treat Russians there in a reasonable manner.
Remember, Putin has been the Russian president pretty much since 2001, but ONLY NOW did he take on Ukraine. Bottom-line - treat Russia well, they will leave you alone. And this is TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the Communist days when they wanted every other country to be “liberated”.
VDH is usually spot on, but he misses it in this essay.
Strength is a secondary consideration. All of the examples cited are a matter of Will. Putin correctly believes that at this moment in time, neither the US, nor the EU, nor Ukraine has the will to pay the price of stopping him.
Obama’s fecklessness has two roots: 1) he is an indecisive, weak individual (we’re back to a lack of Will); and, 2) his foreign policy is based on the idea that projection of power by the US or the West in general is the main source of conflict and trouble in the world. His Will, such as he has any, is focused on reducing US economic and military strength and avoiding power projection. Obama goes along with limited military action, when it has few immediate consequences (drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan). He has not slashed US military spending, because it is a permanent, huge Keynesian stimulus program for the US (and world) economy, intimately linked with too many political interests to touch.
Obama’s policy is wrong-headed, weak, and invites trouble. But it is deliberate and internally rational.
Putin’s policy is opportunistic, for Russia and himself. He is doing what he can get away with, based on a reading of Obama and the EU “powers”. Isolating Russia and his sphere from the West is precisely what Putin wants.
Is Russia seeking Lebensrum?
Hitler strived to regain parts of Germany that were surrendered by the treaty of Versailles.
Germany had to pay repartations for WWI till I believe 2009.
Russia is actually taking back territories that it gave up through Perestroika.
Baltic States Estonia, Latavia, Lithuania.
Rumania, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Finland
Russia is not seeking living space, but it is turning the clock back on its reforms and becoming more westernized.
The History of Russia is one that vacillates. Putin is going after the west because the west is weakened and has the inability to respond. The West(europe) has become dependent upon Russia for Oil, Natural Gas. Russian History will show its hand as the world is more volatile.
Russia to survive will isolate itself and bring the satellites around it to be a buffer.
Look what happened to Russia in history with pacts and treaties with the West Russia lost out.
Napleonic War fought in Russia devastated Russia.
germany signed a treaty with Russia than invaded Russia
A better comparison is Russia and Arab Countries (Oil)
Come again, VDH? They don't function by logic, and reason; their morality is the whim o' the will.
No more democrats... Democrats don't understand the above - they're gonna get us all killed. No more democrat Presidents...
The perception, not the reality, of relative strength and weakness is what guides aggressive states.