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Interpreting Putin's Decision
Submitted by Wei Zongyou via The Diplomat,
People around the world were astounded by Vladimir Putin’s rapid decision to annex Crimea in response to the latter’s referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia, which Kiev and the West view as illegal. The decision also drew worldwide criticism and vehement condemnation by the West and Ukraine, and triggered a second wave of economic sanctions from the United States, and soon afterwards Europe. Relations between Russia and the West are at their chilliest since the end of the Cold War.
So why has Putin risked Russia’s economic welfare and political space to swallow Crimea, push Ukraine out, and alienate the entire Western world? Is Putin “in another world” as German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed he is? In my opinion, there are at least two considerations behind Putin’s decision.
The first is the realist, geo-political consideration. In Putin’s world, since the collapse of the former Soviet Union, Russia has lost nearly one fourth of its geography, one half of its population, and more than half of its GDP. Among the “lost” territories are those that are strategically important or militarily advanced, such as Ukraine and the Baltic states. With the eastward expansion of NATO, and the integration of former Soviet satellite states and republics in Eastern Europe and the Baltics into Europe, the traditional buffer zone between Russia and the West is increasingly squeezed and Russia’s space for strategic maneuvering becomes smaller with each year. When Russia craved for entry into the West, this might not have been particularly worrisome or embarrassing for Moscow. But since Russian leaders decided long ago that joining the West was neither particularly helpful to Russia’s political standing nor particularly attractive in terms of economic gains, it has begun to view the expansion of the West at its own strategic expense as both ill-intentioned and threatening.
Ukraine holds a unique position in Russia’s geo-strategic consideration. First, it is crucial territory in the passage of Russia’s oil exports to Europe. Each year more than one third of the oil Russia ships to Europe travels via the Ukraine pipeline. Second, Crimea gives Russia’s Black Sea Fleet access to the Black Sea. If the pro-West Kiev government were to have decided to end its lease to the Russian naval base in Crimea, Russia would have lost its strategic gateway to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Third, Ukraine is deemed the most crucial member of Russia’s Eurasia Union project, an economic and strategic plan to closely connect Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Central Asia. If all goes according to plan, this union will integrate these former Soviet republics and now independent countries economically, politically, and diplomatically with Russia, and go some way to restoring the glory of the Soviet empire at its peak. The “coup d’état” in Kiev and the political orientation of the new government put all these things in jeopardy, if Russia remains disinterested and passive.
The second consideration is more psychological in nature. Following the end of Cold War, embracing the West was the first priority of Russian foreign policy. But to Moscow’s dismay, it found that the West still harbored strong reservations and considerable distrust. Years spent courting and wooing provided little of what Russia craved most: equal membership in the West and economic prosperity. Though Russia became part of the exclusive G8, it never enjoyed the full status and say of the other seven members, always remaining an “other.” Economically, the shock remedy proposed by the West and faithfully implemented by Boris Yeltsin didn’t bring the expected economic benefit. Instead, it took Russia’s economy into freefall, leaving the average Russian worse off than before. Russia’s look West ended in humiliation and disaster.
It was Putin who saved Russia from its miserable condition. He readjusted both Russia’s domestic and foreign policies, and distanced the country from the West, instead seeking opportunities to resurrect past Soviet glories. As the Russian economy improved, the West found that its time was passing. The 2008 economic crisis hit the U.S. and Europe hard and they found themselves more reliant on the emerging powers, Russia included. It is Britain, France, and even Germany who are now busy appealing to Russian oil bacons to buy more and invest more. The balance of power between Russia and the West has shifted. The small war in Georgia in the summer of 2008 only strengthened this trend and the response from the West impressed Russia greatly: Europe is rotten and the U.S. has become too weak to lead. Then came the Arab Spring and the Syria crisis. In the former case, the U.S. “led from behind,” and in the latter it was Russia that decided the course of the Syria civil war.
Russians, and especially Putin learned a hard lesson from the post-Cold War romance with the West: For all the talk of democracy and freedom, the fact remains that the strong dictate to the weak.
With Europe rotten and United States weakened, a resurgent and confident Russia will definitely not let a geo-strategically important former Soviet republic fall entirely into the West’s camp. By annexing Crimea, Putin not only secured Russia’s naval base and its strategic gateway to the Black Sea, he also sent a powerful message to Ukraine and the West: Ignore Russia’s legitimate strategic concerns at your own peril.
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To complete this thought I will just add that I would put much more faith in Alex than any of the primary sources you listed. IMO these two comparative parties exist in parallel universes.
Nope, all three entities are lying to you, We love our country, wish to restore confidence and trust on the global scale. As stated early, not an easy task. Things are unwinding quicker than finding a new war to intact. This pisses them off, we are winning the Banker War of Artificial Terrorism.
I truly hope we are winning but if we are it is only the start of the beginning.
My skeptical nature says it's not all lies nor all truth...deeds speak...may we record and write a just and noble history accordingly.
Sit tight, we love the US. Do you think will let a few fuck nuts destroy it? I think not!
I think at this point, the longer he waits, the more the US loses what little credibility it has left. I've often found that sometimes pointing out a problem with with a person who is doing dirty shit, then standing back and letting shit happen on its own works really well. Who do you think leaked the "Fuck the EU" phone call made by Victoria Nuland? My bet is Russia. Anyway, for now, my opinion is that Putin's best move is to give us some more rope. If the fuckwits in DC have half a brain, they'll do the same, and this'll all blow over, but not without a hit to Obama's and DC's credibility.
About the Nuland leak, I agree.
Putin's best defense is offense and the best offense is 'disruption'.
The level of 'disruption' TBD.
He needs to be patient though. The biggest wrecking ball of disruption that he potentially has is to break the dollar, but he needs to wait until the time is ripe for it. He needs to wait until we have made such fools of ourselves that nobody would bat an eyelash, and he might need China on board. It's one reason I do not like having the world reserve currency. If we show too much weakness, others will use our own currency against us.
It's all heading to an energy script showdown for sure.
Putin's achilles heel is, ironically, partnering with Iran and their petro/nat gas resources as part of the alternate to the present petro-dollar as Iran is the primary target/trigger to collapsing the whole petro-dollar construct.
Putin's alignment with China is fragile at best because from an endgame perspective they are hoarding gold as part of the SDR basket which, once the petro-currency wars ignite (literally), will serve China's ascendancy to global finance domination.
Putin needs to widen his alliance's outside of petro/energy alliances. I suspect he will play his India card rather soon.
[EDIT: Looks like he's played that card already as evidenced by an announcement preceding an upcomiing BRICS meeting scheduled this week http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Attempts-to-isolate-Russia-will...]
From what I can see, it looks like China and Russia have already decided to break the dollar. They're being very blatant about it, too. The hard part will be getting the Saudis on board, especially considering the goings on in Syria. But maybe the Saudis aren't as ideological as we've assumed them to be. They can read the writing on the wall as well as anyone.
The Globalists [translation: the BIS, KSA, Israel, City of London, the FED, China (?)] want to destroy the petro-dollar reserve. They have to because their ponzi is about to collapse and they need a distraction and perp to blame. Fingering Putin for that FF will just be the cherry on top of all the demonization to date.
Ordo Ab Chao
Completely agree, but I think the USA will be blamed,
After all who has the balls to tell the world that ZIO was in charge?
The USA will go down, PUTIN will not be blamed, the WORLD will blame the USA
ZIO's hae already exported all of the loot from the USA.
Good article. The west will not recover until the treasonous Elite are put into place. They have failed in their attempt to conquer the world and now need to be brought to justice.
Bringing in the theives. Bringing in the thieves.
We will come rejoicing bringing in the thieves.
The auhor summorized it fairly well. 'Europe is rotten and America is weak'. Unspoken is that Every presidential term since Eisenhower is increasiungly controlled by unseen power brokers until now we have a president that even in his second term is an unknown puppet with unknown agendas. His birth origin is uncetain as is his homosexuality, education, political origins, religion, true thoughts, racial views, love of america, and generally everything else is unknown. Russias Putin has a vision and is slowly getting there. Somehow the FED, IMF, ECB, and the Rothchilds for decades have been increasingly controlling all of the western leaders with their corrupt vision, and now we are paying the price.
"AMERICA is ROTTEN to the Core" and "Europe is Weak"
There fixed it.
When "THEY'RE" done destorying America, then EUROPE is next.
Fucking obvious, but somebody here has to state the obvious.
*
Fish rots from the head down
Shit always rises to the top
"When Russia craved for entry into the West,..."
Is this a good time to talk about the reasons why Russia changed its mind? Would it be the financial crooks that beset it practically from the moment the USSR fell? Or the pointless expansion of NATO post-USSR?
Only the droning, lying leader of the free world has the right to decide what is legal or not - overthrowing legally elected governments is completely legal when the Nobel Prize Winner does it:
Since Crimea voted last Sunday to secede from Ukraine and rejoin Russia, US officials and the American media have mounted a deafening propaganda campaign, posturing as defenders of world peace, the rights of small nations and international law in opposition to Russia. In this campaign, no lie told to justify support for the Ukrainian regime that emerged from last month’s fascist-led coup is too absurd.
As he announced new sanctions against Russia yesterday, President Obama denounced Russia’s annexation of Crimea. “Basic principles between governments in the world must be upheld in the 21st century,” Obama intoned, such as “the notion that nations do not redraw borders simply because they are larger or more powerful.”
Writing along similar lines, the Washington Post editorialized that “Mr. Putin’s claim that Russia should have a say in the political orientation of its neighbors, and whether they join alliances such as the European Union or NATO, is entirely unacceptable.”
Who is supposed to believe this nonsense? The governing principle of US foreign policy is that it has an unchallengeable right to determine the political orientation of its unfortunate “neighbors” in the Western hemisphere and that of every other country in the world.
As far back as the formulation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the United States claimed the entire Western hemisphere as its sphere of influence, dictating what relations it could have with European powers.
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/03/21/pers-m21.html
As Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland made clear in her speech last December and in the leaked recording of her telephone conversation with the US ambassador in Kiev, Washington spent $5 billion of US taxpayer dollars engineering a coup in Ukraine that overthrew the elected democratic government.
http://uncensored.co.nz/2014/02/26/the-crisis-in-ukraine/
Meh. U.S. is 6x wealthier than Russia. In truth Russians are much better than they used to be. Their ideology is not bad. Of course the leadership is corrupt but whose isn't. Americans appear as if more frightening with seemingly ever increasing moves that can be interpreted as attempts as increasing American hegemony.
Define wealth.
Russia has a lot more untapped raw resources, and a fair bit less debt.
Putin has leverage, because the USA people are severely deceived by omission
http://patrick.net/forum/?p=1230886
and Putin has a loud voice that he could use.
Zippity Zachary Zeck must be on holiday.
Why?
The United States deceived Russia with its pledge not to move NATO into Eastern Europe if the Red Army moved out.
In 1999, the US bombed Serbia for 78 days, ignoring the protests of a Russia that had gone to war to protect Serbia in 1914. And followed that up with Camp Bondsteel aka Kosovo.
The US exploited a Security Council resolution authorizing aid to endangered Libyans in Benghazi to launch a war and topple the Libyan regime.
The US armed and apparently "green lighted" the surprise military attack by Georgia against Ossetia.
The US has given military aid to Syrian rebels and demanded the ouster of a Syrian regime that has been Russia’s ally for decades
The US plotted and backed a violent coup in Kiev which only established a rump regional government that nonetheless asserted ownership over all Ukraine, even those regions hostile to the coup. The US, of course, immediately recognized the illegal Kiev coup against an elected government and backed the coup's exaggerated claims.
It is unreasonable to expect Russia to surrender its Black Sea base, severely degrade its navy, and abandon the Crimea with its majority population of ethnic Russians who favor alliance with Moscow.
Why? The USA is simply hard core nasty, evil, and wants world domination....like the Nazis but worse
You forgot psychotic. The neocons are mad yet seem to no longer believe in M.A.D.
They apparently believe that the US can survive a nuclear first-strike against Russia by using an anti-ballistic missile defense system. Poland, Czech, Turkey, Ukraine, etc.
.....and they will be in deep bunkers while the rest of us are nuke-fried!
Rotten Fucks.
That is easy to see if you understand the dual citizens run the show in the USA
Here is one of Israel's most revered Rabbi who you slave for, dont worry there is a Replacement Slave for you also but it wont come from Russia they have been liberated
For instance, in 2010 he said in a weekly Saturday night sermon that the sole purpose God put non-Jews on earth was to be servants to Jews.
"Goyim (gentiles, non-Jews) were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel," he said, according to the Jerusalem Post. "Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat. That is why gentiles were created." An "effendi" is a lord, or a master, in Arabic.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2013/1007/Rab...
to the Jews its all about masters and slaves, that is how they view society
They will always band together and pull their resources to accomplish this goal. And remember history is always filled of examples of very large armies defeated by much smaller armies that were well organized and cohesive.
...like the...
What do you mean..?
Operation Paperclip...
At least the Nazis knew how to run parades, and designed some snappy uniforms.
Putin has leverage, because the USA people are severely deceived by omission
http://patrick.net/forum/?p=1230886
and Putin has a loud voice that he could use.
Bathhouse Barry "LED FROM BEHIND", Who Could have guessed ?
"Europe is rotten and the U.S. has become too weak to lead. Then came the Arab Spring and the Syria crisis. In the former case, the U.S. “led from behind,” and in the latter it was Russia that decided the course of the Syria civil war." - wie-sum-cunt,
*
Well its a great narrative;
Who the fuck is this shit for? The NEO-RIGHT?
"Arab Spring" Came? We all know the CIA engineered the "Arab Spring"
"Syria Crisis"? Because the CIA dumped billions of US Dollars of weapons via Libya in that country.
First I thought 'led from behind' mean that Obama was led with a cock in his ass, think NETANYAHU's cock.
But now I know they mean that the USA "Leads from BEHIND the curtain", but not really the USA don't "LEAD SHIT", the USA just finances everything and supplys the MERC US-ML,
All is "LED" by TEL-AVIV.
Nuke 'em Yahoo: "You are my Bitch, Bath House! Squeal like a girl!!"
"*Squeeeeel!"*
"Bark like a dog for my big joo cock!"
"*arf! arf! Grrrr! Arf!"
Reuters is running a story about NATO being concerned about Moldova so I took a peek at some headlines running in news media over there, and saw a couple of interesting items but I cannot see any real problems.
http://news.yam.md/en/
Just wait until Mexico holds a referrendum for the Mexican people in the Southwest portion of the USA. Then the Mexicans will take back California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado! We are screwed! We will be stuck with stoners, minority whiners and liberals. Time to raise the Stars and Bars and bombard Fort Sumpter!
If they do that, the dum arz Christian red states wont have a tax base to steal from. LOL!!
I suggest they make Gerard Depardieu Ambassador to The Ukraine.
"..Ignore Russia’s legitimate strategic concerns at your own peril..."
this is precisely the folly of the obama ziocons. the usa long ago entered imperial over reach and is making a fool of itself everywhere....it has no business in the ukraine...but when it comes to pipelines and the petrodollar, the ravenous bankster ziocons bring out the war machine to maintain their exorbitant privilege.
one side benefit of obama's cloward-piven strategy of destroying the usa is that he has slightly weakened the hand of his bankster overlords. and by opening a 2d front in europe in their project for a new american century, they have spread themselves thin on exterior lines. in time the western ukrainians will see the usa for the cancerous terrorists that they are, but by then it will be too late.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk just a couple of questions
1.
How many conversations have you had with Victoria Nuland?
2.
Can you explain why Ukraine’s gold was transferred to the USA?
3.
Why do you seek nukes?
4.
How did snipers that killed Ukraine policemen get into their positions?
5.
Have you slept with Victoria (ok bad) but amerika like that kind of news!
6.
Are you a fascist (yes or no)?
7.
Do you expect that your death will be remembered in history?
8.
If history is all you have left then will you speak the truth?
9.
You have been played like a puppet !!!!!! Can you sing?
It’s not just that your history is a flash in the pan, most people will remember you as a traitor.
Israel owes your family safe passage, good luck.
Why ? Very simple answer - the loss of MAD parity
Going forward - if NATO tries to put missile defence shield in Ukraine then Russians will have no choice but to invade
There are always lots of side considerations in these matters but I remain fairly convinced that Putin decided that NATO will not be allowed to install itself in Crimea and probably not Ukraine either. He is well aware the West has betrayed the potential benefits of the end of the Cold War and has sought to expand ever further eastwards to essentially assimilate Russia and eventually China. He wants none of it.
Give me a f**king break, the only fools who are mystified by Putin are the dumb-asses that get their news from CNN, or maybe the psycho neo-cons who think Russia is going to bend over for their insane NATO gambit in Ukraine.
The “Western world” has surrounded Russia with NATO bases, where it is busying deploying US/NATO X-band radar and interceptor missiles. The US has repeatedly refused to give Russia legally binding guarantees that this integrated BMD will not be used against Russian forces. Who is alienating who?
And when Russia demands gold or rubles for its gas, we will find out whose economic welfare is in bad shape.
Yeah, butt.... Won't a new crisis be good for "the Markets"?
" Wei Zongyou '
not without my permission you don't!
:)
You gota hand it to the man, puttin handles power with a certain sense of class and exuberence.
The dude is like the "james bond" of leaders.... that certain sense of whatever the sitatuation he will handle it with full confidence.
Obama on the other hand is like a quivering baffoon who squirms and hides behind meaningless babble and teleprompters , constantly trying to play devils advocate to distract people away from his weakness, and put the focus on internal issues people feel.
Obama is so weak, that he can not handle the focus being on him, he can not handle constructive criticism and you can tell he holds a lot of internal anger and angst even resentment towards those that are better than him, this explains his aggressive anti - rich attitude, he would rather everyone in the country be poor than even have one rich or successful person, he literally resents successful people.
I really wish we had a president as awesome as puttin in the USA maybe then our government wouldn't be the laughing stock of the world.
Our government is like a 16 year old kid who got handed the keys to a brand new camaro, and instead of driving it well, he drives around hitting garbage cans, bumping into parked cars etc.
While puttin is running around driving a 1969 charger like a boss out of Fast and Furious while smoking a cig , drinking and getting a BJ all at the same, while driving BACKWARDS on a crowded highway flipping off Obama.
You're an a**hole to admire someone like Putin, whatever Obama's weaknesses may be. A common thug who makes his political opponents disappear, go move to Russia if you think this dude is so cool. And take the thumbs down idiots with you, the ones who question the prevailing pro-Russian sentiment often published in ZH comments and at times in the blog itself. Perhaps those folks are already in Russia trying to rationalize all of this from the Russian side.
If you think it is cool to alienate all of Europe just for a cheap land grab that can be negated easily with the bottling up of the Bosphorus from a NATO ally, more power to you. Putin's land has a lot of natural resources and bargaining chips, but he is not going to outsmart the rest of the world, OK. There are too many other sources for what Russia is selling, save perhaps for Palladium, and I would bet they come up with some kind of workaround to deal with a shortage of this PM, if it develops.
How many people actually want to emigrate to Russia, besides Snowden and perhaps Ron Paul eventually? There is no truer test of the worthiness of a country than to watch the flow of people either trying to get into or out of a country. Compare the ingress at the US border outlets for those trying to enter the USA compared to who wants to enter Russia, there will be no comparison. The USA has its faults, I do not dispute that, but go ahead and go to Russia if it is all that bad to you. LOL
.
what a fuckin' idiot.
ode to a simple mind living a simple life with simple faith in simple things, a simpleton.
Not just a Charger, but one with a 440 Magnum engine and a four-barrel carb, headers and a tuned exhaust.
Backdoor Barry is on a moped.
We had one...But the genius shadow gov't blew his brains out in 1963..
ok but if Bush Jr was still around we would all be Plutonium dust by now.
last week this
http://www.timesofisrael.com/syria-us-closure-of-embassy-arbitrary-illegal/
anyone remember certain jewish folks takin the day off on 911.
now maybe something wicked this way comes.
all will be shut down all.
strange yes no
For the first time in Israeli history, Workers Union shuts down ministry building in Jerusalem and 103 embassies worldwidefor the 1st time in israeli history A
http://www.timesofisrael.com/diplomats-call-full-blown-strike-shuttering...
Uh Oh.
Bath House: "While Vlad is tied up with Ukraine, I will invade Syria, heheheh!"
Has anyone noticed an increase in troop convoys on the Interstates?
Bath House can only handle (badly) 1 thing at a time. He does not consider Vlad may be able to multi-task.
Yes it is worrisome.
The Bear took the bait. Now it is US energy to the rescue. Kactching!
Yeah and the American people pay the premium. Get back to Israel!!
Yeah and the American people pay the premium. Get back to Israel!!
putin smells obama's twat.....
Bath House: "Slurp slurp slurp!"
Reggie: "Ahhhhh!!!"
I have been alive long enough to say, short of the Bush Jr. "Mission Accomplished" BS, this Ukraine thing is the funniest thing that have ever seen.
The Zionist controlled west tried to take the Ukraine and Putin watched and then swooped in and grabbed all the spoils.
"The DC US in the Ukraine is like Meredith Hunter at Altamont."
At some point I hope the American people wake up and realize who their real enemy is. And it aint Russia, China, North Korea or the Muslims!!
Or gays or people having or performing abortions either.
NO, I did not give an argumentative opinion for those things. I only said that they are not the "clear and present" enemy. The criminals of government are. Specifically the DC US government.
When the gay and abortion communities have millions imprisoned in a "prohibition gulag archipelago", or start flying Hellfire armed drones targeting me and mine or they have their own version of NDAA, then I will see them as the enemy.
Those hiding behind the gun and badge thugs are the enemy.
Hey, I would exempt the Norks and a few, not many, Jihadis from the list.
who is it then? Dick cheney?
I laugh that the Zionistas and their pals are left holding a wrecked nuke plant!
The US Goebbels Media is trying like hell to gin up a "Russian Invasion!!"
Some Congresstool was calling for weapons and troops yesterday.
Give me a break.
And, remember, you can't spell "Askenazi" w/o NAZI!
kchrisc I have been alive long enough to say, short of the Bush Jr. "Mission Accomplished" BS, this Ukraine thing is the funniest thing that have ever seen.
The Zionist controlled west tried to take the Ukraine and Putin watched and then swooped in and grabbed all the spoils.
---
Yet, you haven't alive long enough to realize that Putin is a Zionist. But then anyone in power can be considered a Zionist these days.
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/putin12.png
--
It's the second or third degree of separation or like how some say the ogliarchs control Putin, but the fail to realize that Putin is a Billionaire and an Ogliarch himself.
what high school does this guy attend? putin made it clear from the start he was working with china for a multi polar world, not because of some sensitive personal reason, but because the survival of his home was at stake, self preservation and all that. merkel is jealous if anything. she would ride putin's saddlehorn with the best of east germany if he could free her from her predicament. she doesn't want to support the west and has said so much, so many times but she has to.
Has anyone wondered if maybe, just maybe, all this has been planned out and agreed upon by all sides well in advance, at those G-number summits or wherever, and that the good guy bad guy routine is being played out for the benefit of keeping up the big delusion/ilusion of how "we", the minions, believe that the modern world is set up and functions ?
Each mayor big playre, though,paranoid that one of the others won't play ball and stick with the agreed upon planned sequence of events, gaming the set up to their own advantage, and that maybe some bit part players or group gets carried away, believing the big illusion taking things the wrong way and into their own hands and presses the wrong "buttons".
Yes.
OK, what if-if- Bath House is playing for Russia?
I mean, he does not work for America, so, who?
lakecity55 Yes.OK, what if-if- Bath House is playing for Russia? I mean, he does not work for America, so, who?
---
Finally someone starting to get a clue. As I posted earlier, link with pics and commentary suggesting that Putin is a Zionist. That kinds of debunks the Anti-Zionist theory that Putin is fighting.
Then I mention that Putin is a Billionaire and an Ogliarch of Russia (that controls all aspects of the Russian Government). That kind of debunks the idea that other Russian Ogliarchs control Putin. Do you not remember that Putin has had several Energy Magnates improsoned?
There is no red pill/blue pill. They are all the same. It's not just America. It is Global. It is the powerful and elite against the populace. Race or religion or whatever does not matter.
They work for themselves. And that often means sacrificing the cannon fodder of every day average citizens of whatever nation.
It was Putin who saved Russia from its miserable condition.
If "saving" meant stopping the freefall and then making the current bad situation permanent, then yes.
Yeah Putin the savior who sells most of Russias natural resources (which are vast) and still the county is a shit hole.
So USA/EU get 95% of Ukraine, Russia gets 5%. Putin really showed his stuff...
wankawanka So USA/EU get 95% of Ukraine, Russia gets 5%. Putin really showed his stuff...
---
And you expect Putin to stop at 5% because of what?
The business in Ukraine created the momentum for Russia to stake its claim. The West can blame itself for this. The EU forced Ukraine to choose between the EU and Russia. If they had any notion of geopolitics they would not have done this.
Fine. So they have a "strategic" piece of land. They are still dead poor, produce nothing. Russia is a shit hole and Putin knows it. Why do you think all rich Russians leave? Putin is now left with some former KGB buddies. That won't help him. They are just Sovjet scum.
He should have used the former openness to set up new industries, smart industries. He should have wooed the rich with investment opportunities and tax breaks instead of chasing them abroad.
He's still a former KGB leader, not a statesman. He fucked up.
He has two options left: track back, which will be an embaressment, or close off Russia (maybe annex some more "strategic" land first) and sit back and rot.
Don't even think China will play any role. China doesn't need Russia, and China doesn't want to need Russia. China will start focusing on itself soon, like everyone else.
Globalism is dead.
They did more than achieve control of a strategic piece of land. They proved to the whole world that when Russia decides to defend someone the West can do nothing militarily.
You can congratulate yourselves on being the preferred destination of all the thiefs of the rest of the world and their native countries will not miss them much and perhaps even thank you for taking them.
When the new global financial system is launched and all Western currencies excluded from it, the West will be in a far worse position than Russia is in today.
But you can gloat for the next few weeks about how great the West is. Feel free. It is quite entertaining!
the tower Don't even think China will play any role.
---
Well that is odd. China has already made several statements supporting Russia.
Additionally, China is now calling $3 Billion in loans to bankrupt Ukraine which further helps Russia.
Hmm. That doesn't seems to support your statement.
The article talks of potential loss of Sevastapol and Russia's access to the Black Sea, Mediterranean, etc. Why doesn't the writer take a look at a map? Russia has 200 - 300 km of Black Sea coastline of its own, and a large port at Novorossiysk which is already used the the Russian Navy.
Amerikan Hologram
RE
Remember how Putin used the Kosovo case for Crimea? Here is what happened 15 years ago when Serbia tried to hold on to its sovereignty and the integrity of its borders.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society.php?yyyy=2014&mm=03&dd=24&nav_id=89740
Kindergartens NATO?
Whereas the West supported Kosovo's break-away from Serbia (and NATO bombed Serbia "to make it happen") it refuses to acknowledge Crimea's break-away from Ukraine, despite a 96%+ vote by the Crimean people.
Duplicity, double standards and hypocrisy reign in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels.
[History repeats and rhymes: subsitute Poland and Ukraine in the following:]
From the Soviet note to the Polish Ambassador in Moscow, Mr. Waclaw Grybowski, 17 September 1939:
"...The agreements concluded between the USSR and Poland have therefore ceased to function. Left to her own devices, and bereft of leadership, Poland has become a suitable area for all kinds of hazards and surprises which may constitute a threat to the USSR. For these reasons, the Soviet Government, which until now has observed neutrality, cannot any longer preserve neutrality in view of these facts.
Furthermore, the Soviet Government cannot regard with indifference the fact that the kindred Ukranian and White Russian people, who live on Polish territory and who are at the mercy of fate, are now left defenceless.
In these circumstances, the Soviet Government has directed the high command of the Red Army to order the troops to cross the frontier and to take under their protection the life and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western White Russia..."
From Poland, 1918-1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic, By Peter Stachura, page 127.
Source: Republic of Poland: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Official Documents concerning Polish-German and Polish-Soviet Relations, 1933-1939 (London, n.d. [1941]), Document No. 179, pp. 191-2
Link: http://bit.ly/NJt6kN
Someone needs to ask: is this what 0bozo meant when he told Medvedev that he "would have more flexability after the election"?
A act of treason if ever there was one.
Nice, but conservative analysis. Vladimir Vladimirovich has decided to finish the West off, economically. Having proven their impotence at counteracting Russia militarily, the West has to use the only weapon which, they believe, they have, the financial system. But nothing will bring together the others fed up with Western financial hegemony than its use in what they believe to be an unjustified and unjustifiable manner. Few outside the West believe Russia acted in any unjustified manner with regard to Crimea.