Putin Starts Flexing His Muscles

Now that the Olympics are over, Putin has decided it was time to get back to business.

He is getting directly involved in the Ukranian crisis by sending troops to Crimea. He has no worry Obama will do anything in view of his past actions in Syria & Iraq .He know the U.S. has just announced a massive troop reduction so when Obama makes his grave announcements he barely breaks a sweat over it. He knows he has nothing to worry about from the U.S.


Everybody was worried and up in arms (& rightly so)re his treatment of gays. This is the tip of the iceberg. He is a former head of the KGB. This says it all. He is holding all the cards now and has recently sent ships to Cuba.

This is going to get very interesting (not in a good way) in short order. He is one smart cookie. He waited to start all of this until after the Olympics and he toned down his anti gay rhetoric for the same reason. All bets are off on all fronts now that the Olympics are over

He cares not a whit re either public or world opinion. He is and always will be one ruthless S.O.B. Obama vs Putin is not a fair fight. It is sort of like the 98 pound weakling on the beach going up against Charles Atlas. Total mismatch

Ok start the mud slinging.

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Updated On: 3/1/14 at 04:34 PM

Glad I got your positive feedback

I aim to please.

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Best I can figure, Putin is seeking to secure Sevastopol, Russia's lone warm-water Naval Base, which it has leased from Ukraine. Exploiting the Revolution, seeing a Crimea overseen by a Ukraine currently lacking a strong central government to revoke the lease, Putin is making his move.

It's a strategic gambit, and hopefully the diplomatic trials and successes have prepared Obama and Sec. Kerry for the tricky task of peacefully navigating these waters.

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Agree with paragraph 1

No hope whatsoever that Obama & Kerry will succeed.

A word of advice. Keep the name calling to a minimum lest the mods delete the post entirely as was recently done.

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Updated On: 3/1/14 at 05:08 PM

Why not sit everything out and crawl into a shell.

Let us give Obama a pass on everything while we are at it. The world is global so saying it is not our fight is a cop out. I would much rather have Mc Cain. We would not be mobilizing now as the Putin would have respected Mc Cain in a way he does not respect Obama as he respects strength and not weakness. Mc Cain would have not let it get this far. Appeasement like that practiced by Obama only emboldens Putin and others like him.

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As I understand it, unlike Syria, we have a pact to defend Ukraine in the event it is attacked. This was a result of Ukraine relinquishing its weapons at the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia agreed not to attack Ukraine. UK and US agreed to defend Ukraine in the event of attack.

This is serious ****in' ****.

And no Roxy I don't want to get into whether we will abide by our pact or not because you believe Obama is the AntiChrist. This is far too serious a turn of events to bother with you and your vitriol.

It's not about you. It's about war.

If we are basing the significance of these conflicts on geopolitical ties to America, there is no way you can compare Syria to the Ukraine:

"The Ukraine crisis has reminded us of an important geopolitical reality. While pivoting to Asia and coping with Middle East fires are priorities, Europe is still our largest trade partner and investor and home to our strongest alliance, NATO. Europe — its unity and continental peace — still matters greatly to Americans. And strong US leadership in the Ukraine crisis is vital to preserve the democratic peace in Europe."


Why Ukraine Matters

So, apparently Obama and Putin just spoke for 90 mins. 90 mins? Even with translators that is a long conversation. Perhaps that's a hopeful sign of them negotiating in some fashion? I mean, what else could take 90 mins?

To heinrik

Just because I disagree with his policies, I do not believe he is the anti Christ. I just think he is a bad president whose policies are a disaster. Oh I forgot you cannot criticize him in any way shape or form. He is above criticism .

Before his reelection, he asked Russia to be patient as he would have "more flexibility" after the election. I guess the flexibility means he will do nothing other than uttering meaningless tripe about how he will nhot stand for it.

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Oh I forgot you cannot criticize him in any way shape or form. He is above criticism

Stop it, Roxy. Just stop it. You have been told time and time again that Democrats and liberals criticize Obama all the time, whenever they disagree with his actions.

Yet you continue to spout the false accusation that people on this board give him a pass.

That is false.

That is a lie.

You are constructing a straw-man argument.

Do you know even what that means?

If you do, stop it. STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

If you don't, look it up, man.

But don't you DARE ever make that false accusation again.

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Updated On: 3/2/14 at 10:55 PM

It really seems like Putin is just itching for any war. He knows the US will get involved. I honestly haven't heard much about the EU's reaction to this. Obviously, The Ukraine is a member. Because of the treaty, it would mean Britain would be at war with Russia, both of whom are in the EU. Russia has been like the tweaked out uncle at the barbecue that no one likes, but are too scared to ask to leave.

This whole scenario does play into my father's conspiracy theory that Obama will get involved in a major altercation that will eventually end up on US soil, declare martial law and remain in the White House past his two terms.

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There's nothing the EU or the United States can do. The truth is there has never been a valid and independent government in the Ukraine and Putin can roll his tanks in, re-take the the military ports of the Crimea back into complete Russian control, divide the Ukraine into an Eastern and Western zones, slaughter a hundred thousand or so Ukrainians, as Russia usually does, and there is no one who can stop him.

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Another thing to consider is that Crimea was "gifted" to Ukraine by Khruschev in 1954. Its population is mostly Russian and it has much stronger historical ties to Russia than to Ukraine. Most of its populations welcomes Russian takeover. Ukraine is not a member of the EU and there is nothing that would compel Europe or America to intervene militarily.
While Crimea may be a lost cause for Ukraine, I doubt that Russia has designs on the rest of its territory. This is not our fight and I hope we stay out of it.