Russia escalates things

Could you imagine if this event was the trigger of WWIII?

With the west posturing as if they are actually going to do something, then somehow they get locked in.

I think Russia’s going to do what Russia’s going to do, and no one is going to say f-all.

I honestly don’t think that a U.S.-China war is really feasible; we’re too economically dependent on each other. Both of our economies would basically collapse.

This whole Ukraine thing sort of reminds me of WWI to be honest. Russia sees it as within their sphere of influence, Europe is trying to gain a foothold, and the U.S. has an obligation to Europe if they go to war because of NATO.

If the White house was run by McCain and Palin today then Russia would never dare this, so I blame this on the americans

@Razor:

If the White house was run by McCain and Palin today then Russia would never dare this, so I blame this on the americans

Must…resist…feeding…the troll…

Looking more and more likely that I won’t get my Russian port visit this year!  :cry:

They were quiet in 2010 and 2012, but Russia does like to throw its weight around the Olympics (see Russo-Georgian war the same time as the Beijing Games). Maybe the games have to be on the Eurasian Continent for them to act, so Vancouver and London didn’t qualify. Expect something in 2018 with the Olympics in Pyeongchang. Maybe Central Asia?

Maybe it’s best for Ukraine to split up, let the former Galicia side with the EU, and Western Ukraine remain a Russian client state.

Just got a update from a family member.

3 Russian warships docked in Cuba, with nuclear capability.

Russians have also recalled their ambassador from the USA unexpectedly.

Just Putin pushin baby Obama back to the crib and Kerry holdin the rattle. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

If Putin is ever going to be able to rebuild the USSR (which I am sure he dreams about), he will have to re-absorb the breakaway republics such as Ukraine.  He already intimidates his neighbors in many ways (such as by witholding gas during the winter), but intimidation isn’t going to be enough to annex them…it just pushes these nations into NATO, the EU, and other alliances.  He will, at some point, need to use military force to annex the fallen soviet republics.

Why not start in the Crimea, a part of the Ukraine which is majority Russian (sort of like the Czech republic Sudetenland) where he could make a somewhat legitimate claim that it should be Russian anyway?

@221B:

Thats what he’s doing now. Just saw video of the Russian people protesting with the troops behind them.

I mean, I don’t think the media is giving this one the attention it is due…of course, it is Oscar season  :roll:

Think about how the dominoes fall in this situation.

Russia invades Crimea.

The U.S. and the E.U. can’t really sit by and let that happen now that they’ve warned the Russians that there would be “grave consequences” for any violation of Ukraine sovereignty.

We send troops into Ukraine to protect further incursions.

WWIII.

Despite the corruption of the Ukrainian government, how do we allow the overthrow of a “democratic” government.  Yes, their processes have been notorious to much upheaval (hence the previous PM in jail, although I think she’s out now), but we can say it’s “ok” to overthrow the government? What kind of bad precedence does that set, especially with all the yahoos we have here at home?  Ukraine was taken to the brink of bankruptcy with its government and corrupt politicians?  Sound familiar?  I think we are overplaying this one, and should be encouraging a combined peacekeeping efforts with Russia.  By helping Russia keep it’s interests intact, don’t you think we could finally build a bridge.  The overthrow was illegal and violent.  There was blood on both sides.  The War hawks need to stop treating Russia as the bad guy in this case.  We’re trying to get involved in a situation that is older than the US itself…Bad juju.

If WWIII were to occur, I think we would be on the wrong side of history (but, that is written by the victors).

Good post, Mallery,
Don’t try to find any single side guilty here. I personaly blame everybody involved starting from comrade Khrushchev who gifted Crimea to Ukrainian Soviet Republic in 1954 and ending current US/Ukr/Rus leaders which politicks in Ukraine are focusing more on their own geopolitical interest rather than on Ukrainian people. 
There will be NO WWIII. You may want to understand that South - East Ukraine and particularly Crimea is more close to Russia than Texas and California to the rest of the USA because of the bloody history, culture, relatives/friend relationships, economy, and religion. Except west Ukrainian nazi, nobody wants to fight (or even can).  West releases that. As of yesterday NATO did not have a military plan of actions in the region according to the media I heard. Ukrainian army doesn’t exist as such. Russia is still weak with the economy based on the vodka, oil & gas export. I think US/EU will take it as they did it in 2008 (Georgia conflict). The worse case scenario is taking economy actions against Russia which extent will depend on the line where Putin stops in Ukraine.

@Mallery29:

Despite the corruption of the Ukrainian government, how do we allow the overthrow of a “democratic” government.  Yes, their processes have been notorious to much upheaval (hence the previous PM in jail, although I think she’s out now), but we can say it’s “ok” to overthrow the government? What kind of bad precedence does that set, especially with all the yahoos we have here at home?  Ukraine was taken to the brink of bankruptcy with its government and corrupt politicians?  Sound familiar?  I think we are overplaying this one, and should be encouraging a combined peacekeeping efforts with Russia.  By helping Russia keep it’s interests intact, don’t you think we could finally build a bridge.  The overthrow was illegal and violent.  There was blood on both sides.  The War hawks need to stop treating Russia as the bad guy in this case.  We’re trying to get involved in a situation that is older than the US itself…Bad juju.

If WWIII were to occur, I think we would be on the wrong side of history (but, that is written by the victors).

This would be the best solution, but for some reason I can see this won’t ever happen. The problem is that is isn’t as much about WWIII, it is more about selling weapons. We are slowly, but surely entering a new cold war. All for the benefit of the weapons industry in the USA. So personally I am rooting for the Russians. I utterly despise the American weapons industry and the hold they have on the US government and the US citizens should be ashamed for still allowing lobbyists to influence the US policy. Also don’t forget. In the end the only ones that benefit from war are large corporations. Look at WWII and which corporations (even German ones) managed to make huge profits and didn’t even have to as much as to atone for their sins.

Question. Given this topic is about politics (one way or another) and I just saw a topic “Why politics are not allowed on this board”. Isn’t this topic a violation of the rules?

I don’t think so. Were just talking about the issues with the 2 country’s and how there involved and any future country’s. I agree with Mallery29 but need to resolve peacefully. To bad there’s so much corruption involved in this world.

@Nozdormu:

Question. Given this topic is about politics (one way or another) and I just saw a topic “Why politics are not allowed on this board”. Isn’t this topic a violation of the rules?

I had thought this was a topic of a significant event in Russia and Ukraine, slightly different than a political discussion.

The moderators are the sole judge if a topic is too political (it is impossible to completely isolate politics in any discussion of geopolitical events).  As they have not yet taken actions such as warnings to participants, thread locking or the like, then this thread still falls within the bounds of acceptable discussion.  If you still think this it too political, feel free to report it to the moderators for their consideration.

One of the big items you are overlooking is that the conversation here, at least so far, is reasoned discourse without any flaming, name-calling, etc.

My deal with Russia would be simple….US/Russia security team…and you give us Snowden…

I’d agree you have to resolve it peacefully.  Unfortunately I do not seeing this end well for Ukraine.  I do agree this would not actually start WWIII, but more innocent people are going to get killed here. There are too many instances in history where two groups have met at a standoff (the infantry base for example) and somebody blinked or got scared and shots got fired.  Our history is rich with it.  Both sides of the aisle have fudged this up.  Either we’re doing to little or we’re not doing enough.  Well, all it would have taken Day 1 was call Russia and say, let’s work together on this.  What gain do you get from an illegal coup to a legitimate government just because you didn’t like the previous regime’s best friend?  Stop the chess game and learn to move pass the differences.  Some of our best work with Russia came in the 90s when we put the mistrust aside and looking what we have….a joint venture along with other countries on the ISS.  Why put so many eggs into one basket when the basket has very little to offer?  Ukraine is SO not worth the effort.  I support people wanting change, but their “revolution” against a legitimate government was incorrect and will be their undoing.  The guy had just over a year in office left.  This would be like the Tea Party revolting and kicking out Obama during the 2016 primaries…does that make any sense? No…so why should this.  If this was a dictatorship, then I could see a “possibility” for change.  But revolutions/drastic changes in government very rarely work out with no blood shed.