shot. Spoiler chaser. Spoiler <iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/A_Gzkx9yaig" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
of course, electing bloodthirsty, antagonistic Romney would help situations exactly as Demosthenes did. Preventing World War 3 may come down to a phone call, people, remember that as you're trying to score political points for domestic politics in an international situation that threatens to engulf an entire region into madness.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>But now watch the creation of Crimean Tatar jihadi movement being born right after the Russian flags go up in Sevastopol</p>— Simon Schama (@simon_schama) <a href="https://twitter.com/simon_schama/statuses/439786419733950464">March 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Syria, Chechnya, Crimea Pooty's got his hands on a hornet's nest. Russia is stepping up to be the new Great Satan. Tartars! I loved that movie : Taras Bulba (1962) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056556/
He won't do it. This is a back channel situation where the real talk is behind the scenes and anything public is to look tough for the home crowd.
exhibit A why CNN is in the ratings cellar: Putin isn't bullying Obama, it's even worse, he's ignoring him
He's not leaving the Western powers with much choice if he gets authorization to invade, and withdraws his ambassadors. Back channels or not, it looks like Putin is preparing for war, which may matter more than if he actually is.
Can you really not see beyond petty domestic politics? This is so much more than that. UNSC is convening an emergency meeting, requested by Britain, for 2 pm EST. I'm most interested in what China has to say. Seriously, this has to be really f**ked up for them. They're bound to the hip of Russia, but armed intervention in a "client state"? If China sees this like Taiwan, and has rhetoric as well, s**t goes to a new level. Let's hope they stay quiet.
there's a possibility that entire region will be engulfed in flames from the tips of Eastern Europe to the extreme ends of the Middle East. I don't think anybody sane is taking this lightly. Putin should know of the costs, especially with Chechen resistance still raging to an extent.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>POTUS on Romney: "A few months ago, when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia."</p>— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama/statuses/260549576199639040">October 23, 2012</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The only thing that will stop Putin is military force. Are you willing to start a shooting war with Russia?
Does it make you feel better that you're healing old wounds or something? Let the healing process begin. But you're seriously myopic if you're restraining your view of recent events to this petty need to assert some sort of dominance over domestic politics, on a throwaway point that was nowhere near the deciding factor anyhow. I hope you know that.
"After a day of escalating rhetoric and activity, a Kremlin spokesman says that Russia hopes there will be no further escalation and that Putin has not yet decided if he will send troops into Ukraine, Reuters reports." Let's hope they come to their senses.
fixed a POTUS with a strategic vision would have started taking action years before, like: How can we weaken Gazprom's market power (hint: fracking)? How can we get Russia removed from international organizations and isolate them economically? Let's bring Ukraine into the Western fold with economic alliance membership, joint military exercises, and perhaps foreign aide. GWB is as guilty as Obama in not doing these things.
1-Stop relying on fossil fuels. (Hint-give more rents to people like Elon Musk). The Obama Admin. has also been the one that has underseen the transition to America being a net oil exporter, for the first time since 1949. While there is a large credit to fracking there as a bridge (because, you know, greed moves slowly), this directly contravenes what you are saying. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-29/u-s-was-net-oil-product-exporter-in-2011.html 2-Oh right, economic sanctions would have prevented escalating tensions leading to a regional war. 3-You're going to be the first one to complain about foreign aid and the IMF giving money to Ukraine because it gets shelved out of your tax money. The Obama Admin. actually funded a lot of the NGO activity in Ukraine which before, under GWBII, led to the Orange Revolution and now led to these protests---so not sure what you're getting at here at all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation...racy#Ukraine.2C_Georgia.2C_Serbia.2C_Slovakia I feel like you're just canvassing random domestic assertions, and trying to score really nonsensical, but feel-good points now. Two of your points are actually agendas the Obama Admin. pursued really well---which leads me to believe you haven't done your homework. Let's hope the Russians are not of the same mind as you are.
http://www.eur.army.mil/RapidTrident/ Please, Commodore, do some basic research before you brandish wild thoughts in this thread.
Putin slapped the president around over Syria and he'll do the same over Ukraine. Obama just isn't on Putin's level as a world leader and I'm sure pretty much everyone knows it. Naïveté mixed with arrogance is a bad combination, but I guess it does make him the perfect US president, at least when it comes to fitting the stereotype.