Sunday, March 2, 2014

"Kiev on Edge After Russia OKs Putin's Military Intervention Plan"

"Kiev was on edge Saturday after Russian parliament’s upper house unanimously approved President Vladimir Putin’s request for a military intervention in Ukraine, according to a Kremlin statement."
The approval came within two hours of Putin appealing to parliament, saying the move is needed to protect ethnic Russians and the personnel of a Russian military base in Ukraine's strategic region of Crimea, a peninsula the size of Massachusetts where three out of four people speak Russian.

However, the vote does not specify that Russian troops are authorized to enter Crimea; instead, it states Russia's military force can enter "Ukraine," giving themselves a legal cloak to target more than Crimea.
NBC

55 comments:

The Dude said...

So long, Ukraine, we hardly knew ye.

Shouting Thomas said...

The notion that the Ukraine is now, or ever was, in the hands of a democratic government, seems pretty dubious to me.

Which is not to endorse Russian intervention.

On one side, U.S. puppets, on another Russian puppets, in the middle gangster opportunists.

At least it looks that way to me.

Aridog said...

The recently deposed Ukrainian guy sent his former President/Premier to prison. Can we do that in 2017? Jan 21 and Fort Leavenworth here you go?

Say yes.

The Dude said...

Why wait?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Putin might just be looking for a pay day... ransom.

ricpic said...

Massachusetts for Crimea? Sounds like a good trade. Make the offer Hussein, maybe Putin'll take pity on you and accept.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Send him Miley Cirrus.

Aridog said...

Holder.

Need to send him too.

Sadly, we are already past the tipping point. No one to enforce laws as written or even acknowledge new ones.

If Obama doesn't declare an "emergency" in November 2016 so he can remain in office and change some more elemtns of the Constitution, I will be a bit surprised.

My hope is that he is greedy enough to realize he can make a real load as a speaker once he's an ex-President, ala' Big Dawg....so he'll go relatively quietly.

THEN is the soonest he can be prosecuted for diddly squat.

Shouting Thomas said...

What do you do when there aren't any good guys?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

What do you do when there aren't any good guys?

You back the strongest bad guy.

Aridog said...

Lem said...

Putin might just be looking for a pay day... ransom.

He's already had one...the $15 Billion he'd promised Ukraine in bailout money. Maybe Obamessiah can double that for him.

Putin knows he can do anything he wants and no one, least of all the USA, can or will stop him. Obama and Clinton/Kerry are possibly the worst poker players ever.

And here we are...no shots fired yet, but half the breadbasket of Europe is in Putin's hands as we speak. I know some Poles who outright say they expect Putin's Russian military to invade them next.

Peace in our time.

WE will stop who when?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I take it this will mean higher gas prices in the short term.

Shouting Thomas said...

I take it this will mean higher gas prices in the short term.

Nothing compared to the huge increases in electrical bills in the NE, as Obama's deliberate suppression of gas, oil and coal production kicks us in the ass.

Electricity prices have increased by 1/3 to 1/2 in the past few months.

The U.S. is in the midst of an oil and gas boom, but the greenies and Obama have enforced scarcity.

As the economic desperation deepens, can wage and price controls be far off?

Dad Bones said...

I'm thinking Condoleezza Rice would have known how to make Vlad listen.

Aridog said...

Lem, ST et al....

Let's be honest without selves. This entire administration and the 2nd term of the last one have placed us in the down position economically. We are now where The Soviet Union was when it collapsed in to the Russian Federation. It appears that they know this and we still deny it. WE still act against our own self interests and one party says that's a good thing...the suppression of fossil fuel mining and utilization is paramount to insanity...economic insanity and foolish endeavors that deface the country side. The prices that have wracked the North East are now hitting us in Michigan...even propane has gone from under $2.00 to just under $6.00 in less than three months, the country folk get reamed the worst I guess. All in all we seem to vote for administrations that like throwing good money after bad on projects that have huge negative ROI's.

As for wage & price controls? The $10.10 minimum wage proposal is the first volley. More to come. Now I have no problem paying people a wage, but mandating it by fiat without market evaluation is childish. Especially when you've just implemented a health care boondoggle that will suppress employment if it works the way planned. There will be people who CANNOT afford to go to work full time. Go figure how that genius idea ever saw light of day.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I agree with Aridog. Granted GW was a good soul but he was a bad president. Now, we have Obama, another bad president. That is 16 straight years of bad presidents IF we don't include Clinton's 8 years.

Come 2016, we need a "Property Brothers" type president- someone who will fix most of the importat things that had been neglected or were fucked up by his predecessors.

The Dude said...

Hillary! FTW!

Unknown said...

Obama and his administration of revenge seekers, donors and cronies have no idea how to handle this.

Putin has many of the former satellite states by the balls with his control of gas and oil.

Aridog said...

Hillary! ... the only worse President than Obama. Hell yeah, go for it!

Obama had zero qualifications. Hillary has less. WTF?

Aridog said...

April Apple ... why yes,he does...especially the Ukraine.

Mainly, he has an economic advantage now...one that we've given up voluntarily. WE act like it's not true...but it is true. If Putin acts up any more, why we'll smash him with a solar panel and wind turbine bomb! Oh, wait...

Unknown said...

The media are pimping the small percentage of those who have allegiance to Russia. I believe that number is less than 30%. So the 70% of Ukrainians who want to preserve their autonomy and freedom are screwed because the US hack protection racket media must give Obama cover for his fecklessness.
Pathetic.

Shouting Thomas said...

I try to stay the hell away from Althouse's blog, because... well... I want a peaceful life.

I play music. I'm not into fixing the world.

But, you can't help but notice when looking at the professor, the incredible decadence of our ruling Mandarin class.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Yeah, let's elect another "First" a woman right after another "First" a black man turned out to be totally incompetent.

Shouting Thomas said...

@AJ

Yes, but the strategy works very well for Dems. Competence has nothing to do with it.

Round 1:

If you don't vote for, or disagree with Obama, you're racist!

Round 2:

If you don't vote for, or disagree with Hillary, you're sexist!

The strategy is deliberate.

Desired outcome. 16 years of relative freedom from press criticism and institutional oversight.

edutcher said...

Sudetenland with our Chamberlain, but no Munich.

Who says history doesn't repeat as farce?

Unknown said...

Hillary is behind in the polls. She will not risk losing again. I'd love to see her lose and I think she will lose. She's old, she has the personality of a rotten tomato, and she and Bill have too many skeletons. Despite a lap-dog promotional media pushing her female firstyness, the nation is exhausted by these old radical leftists and leery of the hype. She has already exploited her time ruling over us for many years, and people want change. It is time for real change in America. The Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton era is a dead end.

AllenS said...

Those are very good and logical reasons for Hillary not to run, April, but this country now has more stupid people in it than smart people.

Unknown said...

AllenS - The Clintons are counting on stupid, no doubt. Even stupid people have moments of clarity. Media over-hype can back-fire. Especially when the candidate is an entitled power-seeker with the personality of soured milk. She cannot operate without hype and cover. She has nothing to offer but fence-straddling empty clichés. That is not a vision for America. It's old and tired, like she is.

I'm Full of Soup said...

April - agree but where is the Big Vision from the Repubs? They have none- hell they should hire a think tank to convene some real people to help them devise a 5-6 point plan that could convert a bunch of twenty-somethings and thirty- somethings into hopeful, inspired Repub voters.

Shouting Thomas said...

@Everybody

I'm not so sure it makes any difference whether the electorate, or parts of it, are dumb or smart.

I long ago ceased believing that effective control of anything rested with the electorate.

Zero confidence in Republicans. Or Democrats.

Result. Fend for one's self. Forget about political solutions. There aren't any available.

Unknown said...

I agree the R party needs to shed the old guard and appeal to younger voters. A simple message of "the government should not tell you what to do." would go a long way.

It's messy being on the right side of history. and we fist must make peace with each other in order to fight the larger beast. Dictatorship authoritarian leftism must be defeated.

Unknown said...

back to the subject: The media and the pundits get it wrong because the focus is always on protecting Obama.

Unknown said...

Sadly, so many of the former Soviet states still, to this day, do not know how to operate. The legacy of communism drags on like a wounded animal.

deborah said...

What Shout said, it doesn't rest with the electorate anymore. Democrat or Republican, it's the Neoliberals from both parties who will be riding us into the brave new world.

Unknown said...

Marco Rubio has ideas.M I'm sure the hack media will scoff and ignore.

How dare he actually offer leadership?

Michael Haz said...

ST: Stay away from TOP today. It features yet another 'men are stupid' essay.

Anyhow, take a look at the map of eastern Europe and tell me how long it will be before Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland remain independent nations. Barky has already taken the US armaments out of Poland.

Michael Haz said...

Wait. The situation is getting worse. Obama just unfriended Putin on Facebook.

Trooper York said...

Did you see the photo of President Obama wearing his most butch pair of Mom Jeans while he phoned President Putin before he went to golf?

Don't you feel safe?

Shouting Thomas said...

@Michael

Poland is not like the others.

Much tougher hack for the Russkies.

Known Unknown said...

Come 2016, we need a "Property Brothers" type president- someone who will fix most of the importat things that had been neglected or were fucked up by his predecessors.

Twin presidents! One helps craft the legislation and the other sells it to you!

Trooper York said...

Hey the Geico Lizard would be a better President than this douchebag.

rcocean said...

If only McCain was President. He'd have the missiles launched already. He would never let Putin get our "Precious Bodily Fluids" like Obama.

rcocean said...

Has anyone mentioned Hitler or Munich yet?

'Cause its never a real foreign policy crisis unless that happens.

rcocean said...

First the Crimea, next Georgia, and finally Khazastan.

I see the lights going out all over.

Can we live in a world without a free Khazastan? I think not.

Lydia said...

April Apple said...Marco Rubio has ideas. I'm sure the hack media will scoff and ignore.

The Washington Post's editorial today -- Spell out the consequences for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine -- picks up on some of Rubio's ideas.

Trooper York said...

It's always fun to make fun of people losing their freedom. It is just not so funny when we are losing ours to this lawless and unconstitutional behavior of this President.

We should pay attention to our own problems and let the Russians and Chinese take over everything in their sphere of influence. Right?

Lydia said...

rcocean said...If only McCain was President. He'd have the missiles launched already. He would never let Putin get our "Precious Bodily Fluids" like Obama.

How about you read McCain's actual statement on Ukraine:

“I am deeply concerned that Russia’s ongoing military intervention in Crimea may soon expand to eastern Ukraine. Yesterday, President Obama said that Russia would face ‘costs’ if it intervened militarily in Ukraine. It is now essential for the President to articulate exactly what those costs will be and to take steps urgently to impose them.

“Russia’s use of force in Ukraine is unfolding in clear violation of Russia’s own commitments to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. None of us should be under any illusion about what President Putin is capable of doing in Ukraine, especially now that he has requested, and the Russian Duma has approved, the deployment of Russian troops, not just in Crimea but in the country of Ukraine.

“Every moment that the United States and our allies fail to respond sends the signal to President Putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in Ukraine. There is a range of serious options at our disposal at this time without the use of military force. I call on President Obama to rally our European and NATO allies to make clear what costs Russia will face for its aggression and to impose those consequences without further delay.”

Aridog said...

"... political solutions ..."

Oxymoron of the century. And so early too.

Unknown said...

Lydia @2:00 - After reading that, it seems like everyone is out ahead of this except Obama. Where is he?

Aridog said...

April Apple said...

... Obama. Where is he?

In the White House Oval Office closet (of Clinton fellatio fame) jacking off to the Vogue cover for February 2014.

Aridog said...

Trooper York said...

It's always fun to make fun of people losing their freedom. It is just not so funny when we are losing ours to this lawless and unconstitutional behavior of this President.

Thread winner in my book, today, tomorrow and thereafter.

Unknown said...

My guess is he's on his way to Hollywood.

Methadras said...

Someone told me yesterday in the understatement of the year, "This won't end well."

Methadras said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcocean said...

"We should pay attention to our own problems and let the Russians and Chinese take over everything in their sphere of influence. Right?"

Right. Because the bottom line is we don't have the POWER to keep the Chinese and Russians from doing what they want to do - in their own backyard.

Do people like McCain even think? We just announced that we're cutting the army back to a Pre-WWII levels. We're 6,000 miles away. The Russians have an enormous Army and 10,000 nuclear warheads. What Precisely are we going to do to stop Russia?

TR said: "Talk softly and carry a big stick", McCain wants us to quarrel with everyone and get involved in every foreign dispute - with a little stick.