This Russia/Ukraine/US story..

Thoughts?

 

The.paralympics should be suspended

 

sadly its not a story and we are more bothered about russians investing in the uk rather than looking after ukranians

 

It'll be interesting to see how far the US go with these threats to Russia regarding sanctions etc. I've a feeling this is the one nation even the yanks won't want a scrap with.

Fingers crossed our lame arse government keep it's beak out for once.

 

God knows what's going to happen but it has the potential to be a major political and military disaster. It's a big story over here as there is significant Ukrainian population in Calgary (80,000 or so). It just shows what an arse Putin is (if we didn't know it already) that he is threatening to land troops on Ukrainian soil (in Crimea).

From my limited knowledge on the subject, I don't believe that any of the western allies will have an appetite for any military action against Russia, so sanctions and/or expelling them from G8 summits is about all they can do. I'm sure other people out there know more about this than I do. I would think that [MENTION=6701]Merde Tete[/MENTION] has some knowledge on this subject.

 

The thing is, the Russians have the world by the short and curlies. They know that the Europe needs America to do anything, and the threats against them with sanctions mean **** all. They hold the power and the biggest gas supply in the world. There isnt a cat in hells chance of europe stopping Russia exporting, because that will stop the gas.

On top of all that, Russia also had billions of dollars in European tax havens protected by European politicians. The days of Russia being the noisy neighboutr have gone. They own the chateaux in France and the £10m town houses in the richest parts of London.

They will take Crimea and the world will stand by and watch it.

 

Interesting piece on the Andrew Marr Show yesterday with historian Max Hastings. Apparently Crimea only became part of Ukraine in the 1950's when it was handed to them by Kruschev, of course then it was all part of the USSR so pretty meaningless but now it has far more significance. It is also an autonomous region of Ukraine, so has it's only Parliament.
It's just a very complicated situation as most of the people that live there are Russian speaking. Though Putin wanting it based on that does have echoes of history.

 

anyone willing to tell me what Crimea is??????????

 

The same disturbing thought crossed my mind, too.

 

Rearm Germany, that'll give Putin something to ponder.

 

Or the Finns "Tomi"!!!!!

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26367786

I found this article pretty good. In a nutshell, Crimea is a republic within Ukraine, and adjacent to Russia. More than half of its people speak Russian as their first language so many of its people associate more with Russia than the west-leaning rest of Ukraine.

 

It was on the bbc news when I posted it.

I see now. Why is that place so important?

 

That's a question for a political scientist! This is a very simplistic explanation, but it's important because people live there who could soon be invaded by another country that is seeking to stamp its authority on the region (i.e. Russia wants to keep Ukraine leaning towards Russia and not Europe). At a minimum thousands of people could be displaced / forced from their homes to flee to the western parts of Ukraine (who are generally pro-Europe / anti-Russian influence). At worst there could be mass bloodshed.

 

Complicated. A very long history involving various wars, ethnicity and age old Soviet rule. Here's a brief history with maps that is really worth a look to see how that area has changed over hundreds of year...

However, there's probably enough evidence to suggest this is more US meddling, with some unsavory nazis and fascists used as the battering ram. The previous President of Ukraine wasn't popular, but there were agreements in place (via Polish & French talks) for changes to take place. This fact has been somewhat ignored by western propaganda institutions.

For the US to sit there and go on about 'Putin's 19th century aggression being out of place' is some bare faced cheek. But at the end of the day it's realpolitik - This is still Russia's backyard and as much as a horrendous ***** that Putin is, the US would be naive to think he'd sit and let nothing happen.

You don't prod the Russian bear without knowing it's going to get a grump on.

 

i've started storing tins of beans and corned beef in the cellar just in case

 

Notice that Ukraine v USA game tonight has been postponed. Probably Brek Shea's fault...

 

Apparently he gave a V-sign to Putin.