Well, it figured our resident right winger would weigh in in support of Putin.
But he's hardly the only one. John McCain and Sarah Palin were finger wagging that they told us Putin was going to invade Ukraine.
Well, obviously (in Palin's case) it didn't take a genius to see that. However, John and Sarah and Hole, what the hell would you have done to prevent it?
Ukraine is in Russia's back yard. On top of that, the previous regime was pro-Russian. So what could we have done to stop it, any more than anyone could stop Israel from invading Palestine or us from invading Canada?
Hole, there is no way the UN could do anything. Russia is one of the five permanent Security Council members that has veto power.
We could not have established a prior military presence in Ukraine. Their government was pro-Russian, and even if we had offered to help the new leaders, Russia would have considered that an act of aggression.
Hole, I think you vastly underestimate the power of economic sanctions. True, they cannot prevent Putin from doing what he wants to do, but they can guarantee that he pays a price. The value of the ruble fell 12 percent just today because of the Russian aggression.
A large part of the Russian economy depends on natural gas exports to Western Europe. It would not be easy short-term, but long-term, the U.S. could supply natural gas to Europe. We have vast supplies that are not being tapped now because the price of natural gas is so low and there is foreign policy debate on whether U.S. companies can export it. With a thumbs up from the government and an increase in prices, U.S. production could ramp up in very short order.
Frankly, the behavior of the U.S. right is absolutely SHAMEFUL. The decision to turn the Republican Party into the White People's Party is going to doom the GOP to the scrapheap of history.
http://www.daddydater.com/member/76528/blog/1/413 … and-the-EU
Mar 2, 2014 by DORIAN DE WIND, Military Affairs Columnist
As Russian troops entered neighboring territory the president of the United States, in an address to the nation, expressed his deep concern at reports that Russian troops have “invaded a sovereign neighboring state.” “Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century,” the President said.
Referring to how Russia’s actions have raised serious questions about its intentions in the region, the President said, “These actions have substantially damaged Russia’s standing in the world. And these actions jeopardize Russians’ relations — Russia’s relations with the United States and Europe. It is time for Russia to be true to its word and to act to end this crisis.”
NBC News reported that, while waiting for the results of a European Union initiative, the administration and its allies are debating ways to punish Russia for its invasion, including expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of wealthy nations and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise and that the President “and his top aides are engaged in urgent consultations with European and other nations over how best to demonstrate their fierce condemnation of the Russian operation.”
Meanwhile, as fellow blogger Janet Shan points out, Conservative pundits are wasting no time in slamming President Obama’s handling of the Ukraine crisis.
They are bashing the president for being “all talk and no action,” and are ridiculing his statements of “deep concern” and of “unacceptability” of the Russian actions that “jeopardize” Russians’ relations with the United States and Europe.
On Special Report, Charles Krauthammer explains that when the president says that the United States will stand with the international community he really means that “we are going to negotiate with a dozen other countries who will water down the statement” and that when the president affirms that there will be costs: “meaning in making a statement not even imposing a cost, but in making a statement about imposing a cost — for any military intervention” — whatever that means.
“What [the president is] saying is we’re not really going to do anything and we’re telling the world,” Krauthammer says.
AT THIS POINT I HAVE TO DISCLOSE THAT THE PRESIDENT MAKING THE REMARKS ABOVE ABOUT THE RUSSIAN INVASION IS NOT PRESIDENT OBAMA BUT RATHER PRESIDENT BUSH IN AUGUST 2008, DURING THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF GEORGIA.
However, Krauthammer’s remarks are indeed Krauthammer’s and are directed not at his ideological idol, President Bush, but rather at his favorite punching bag, President Obama, and the comments are in reference to the present Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
I really don’t know what Krauthammer had to say about President Bush’s “deep concern,” “fierce condemnation” and his desire to consult, confer and negotiate “with a dozen other countries” while Russian tanks were rumbling into the city of Gori and thrusting deep into Georgian territory and while, according to Georgian officials, “Gori was looted and bombed by the Russians.”
I don’t know what Krauthammer had to say about Bush debating with allies on “ways to punish Russia for its invasion of Georgia, including expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of wealthy nations and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise” while “waiting for the results of a European Union initiative led by French President Nicholas Sarkozy” and while Georgia was being trampled by Russian tanks and soldiers.
Today, nearly six years later, Russian troops remain in Georgia.
Mind you, all the presidential “deep concern” and cautionary statements were after “five days of fierce fighting that may have [already] killed 2,000 people” in Georgia. Not — as we are now — at the beginning of a Russian military intervention, where the Obama administration has already discussed a broad range of costs to the Russians — costs and measures that Krauthammer and his colleagues are berating in advance.
Finally, it has just been reported that Secretary of State John F. Kerry will visit Kiev on Tuesday to show support for the new leadership there in the face of Russian military intervention.
One wonders how Krauthammer will (mis)characterize this latest Obama administration action.
Read more at http://themoderatevoice.com/192167/ukraine-what-a … X1RCVmu.99
We truly are in a global economy now, so sanctions can have a much more serious impact than 40-50 years ago. I mentioned in the other post how the problems in Ukraine have managed to drag down the Russian market, but they have also affected global markets, including ours.
So if Russia wants to turn Ukraine into a puppet state, there isn't much we can do about it militarily.
And how about a history lesson. We can't just blame this on Bush and Obama. Does anyone remember Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968? Our presidents then (Eisenhower and LBJ) were not exactly pussies. But there was nothing we could do to stop the Russians. That's just as true today; however, because of changes in the global economy, economic sanctions would have a lot more bite now than in 1956 or 1968.