RM calm down and take down your DNC defense shield. What everyone has tried to point out is that the US President has lost face internationally with the way our country has handled most international incidents over the last 6 years. The President may or may not have made prudent decisions but they come off as weak around the world. Putin has been wanting to reform some form of the USSR for years and has slowly been working towards that. A weak international profile of the US has done nothing to give Putin pause but he may have reacted the same way if Reagan or JFK was President.

 

I DO NOT want the US to commit military forces to the Ukraine but we need to be strong enough to force Putin's hand diplomatically.

 

It's not a DNC defense shield. There is just no logic in these assertions. I also feel Putin is a different animal. I don't think diplomacy will have one iota of affect on him. He's (IMO) a more refined Sadaam Hussein.

I DO NOT want the US to commit military forces to the Ukraine but we need to be strong enough to force Putin's hand diplomatically.

 

I've been hearing this all day and I still don't know what it is. We're clearly not doing anything militarily because, quite frankly, we don't really have to care whether or not Russia is in Crimea. So we're stuck with this abstract concept of "strength" without a military option to back it up. What does that mean, exactly? What do we need to be willing to do to show this muscle?

I've been hearing this all day and I still don't know what it is. We're clearly not doing anything militarily because, quite frankly, we don't really have to care whether or not Russia is in Crimea. So we're stuck with this abstract concept of "strength" without a military option to back it up. What does that mean, exactly? What do we need to be willing to do to show this muscle?

I think some of the stuff that has been said diplomatically such as removing them from the G8.

Putin has said something about wanting to have a "Buffer Zone" around Russia for security which is why I think he is trying to regain control of the former soviet block countries.

 

Maybe he is on to something, maybe the US should invade Mexico and take about 50-100 miles of territory to make a buffer zone and keep the violence on the Mexican border further down in Mexico and not on our border.

Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 over South Ossetia. The US was courting Georgia to become a NATO member, expressed outrage and threatened consequences over the invasion, and joined the European Union in leading peace talks. Coincidentally, it was during the 2008 summer Olympics when Bush met with Putin over the conflict. Russia was undeterred and by all accounts got everything it wanted in the settlement.

 

The simple point is that the United States is not going to send its military into countries that have no strategic value or alliance just to fight the Russians for the sake of chest-thumping bravado. This is the domain of Hollywood or other fantasies. That is the only "credibility" that matters.

 

Who suggested any of this. I feel some of you are getting to defensive. I believe I already stated I do not want to go to war over this. The point has been simple and ignored by a few. Obama has lost credibilty on the world stage and that has given strength to people like Putin. His words do not hold any strength. He ignored the threat Russia is and even laughed at Romney in the debates for even suggesting Russia may be a threat and some on here even stated how great of a line it was in the debate.

 

It's simple

 

1. Obama lost credibilty by drawing red lines and then not acting on them

2. He lost credibility by being soft with Russia on many issues over the last 6 years.

3. These two main points have embolden Putin to make such dangerous moves.

 

It's that simple. If you ask me what my answer is I don't have one. I wish we had a time machine so we could go back and erase 6 years of Foreign policy blunders. But we don't so now as I stated in a earlier post I hope not only does Obama have the right people around him, but I hope he listens to the right people around him and not the wrong ones as it seems he has in the past.

The Ukraine is a central point for natural gas lines that feed Europe, I think the Europeans aren't too excited about freezing next winter.

 

UN Sec Gen on TV a little while ago denouncing the Russian move.

 

Russia is using the rationale that Russian Speaking Citizens in the Crimea are in need of protection and that's why they have moved in.

 

One point I will be fair with Russia on after watching a report on CNN last night is associated with what you stated here. There is real fear with what the current Ukraine adminstration will do to the 17% Russian population in the country. In a short amount of time they have passed legislation to wipe the Russian-Ukraine history,Language and other activities out of the country. There seems to be real fear with some of the Russian-Ukraine citizens on the intention of the new government with them. It was an interesting piece.

 

With that said I don't buy for one second that has anything to do with Putin's intentions and those concerns could be addressed through peace talks and not invansions.

It's not a DNC defense shield. There is just no logic in these assertions. I also feel Putin is a different animal. I don't think diplomacy will have one iota of affect on him. He's (IMO) a more refined Sadaam Hussein.

 

I wish Obama realized this a few years ago when people were complaining about deals he made with Russia and many people (myself included) said Russia would never live up to the terms .

I've been hearing this all day and I still don't know what it is. We're clearly not doing anything militarily because, quite frankly, we don't really have to care whether or not Russia is in Crimea. So we're stuck with this abstract concept of "strength" without a military option to back it up. What does that mean, exactly? What do we need to be willing to do to show this muscle?

 

There is no single solution to your question. You can't fix credibilty over night. Many of us pointed how are weak reputation around the globe contributed to this outcome. I don't want military action unless it's a last resort.

 

The only option I see on the table right now that we can play with a strong hand is aggressive talks with Europe and letting them know the reprucssions of turning a blind eye to the evil that is Putin.

 

Again my point was to point out how 6 years of bad policy with not only Russia but most the globe over the last 6 years has built up to this point. There is no single solution to erase 6 years of bad policy that I can think of.

I am do confused...what do you want from America? Are we the world's police? Or not? Should we continue to stretch our military thin, into action in every conflict in the world? Or bring our troops home? Some of you are just spoiling to blame Obama for something. You can't blame Putin on Obama, though. And, frankly, the EU is who needs to step in. They are directly affected by Russia's actions in Crimea.

 

What we want is leadership and with President liar we have none.

 

Are we the worlds police, we, I mean your political party sure acted like with the Arab spring when we backed the terrorist.

 

Should we stretch our military thin, what military, it's already been dismantled by Obama.

 

Blame Obama, uh excuse me, he is the leader isn't he. He is responsible for foreign policy and since he does about whatever he wants, with Congress approval or not or even if it goes against the constitution, he is supposed to be on the ball. So he gets the blame, but he as most liberals are, very good at passing the blame.

One point I will be fair with Russia on after watching a report on CNN last night is associated with what you stated here. There is real fear with what the current Ukraine adminstration will do to the 17% Russian population in the country. In a short amount of time they have passed legislation to wipe the Russian-Ukraine history,Language and other activities out of the country. There seems to be real fear with some of the Russian-Ukraine citizens on the intention of the new government with them. It was an interesting piece.

 

With that said I don't buy for one second that has anything to do with Putin's intentions and those concerns could be addressed through peace talks and not invansions.

 

Neither do I, but the mistrust is real. It goes back a long way, but the most powerful example of the mistrust remains from the Ukranian nationalists that collaborated with the Nazis before and during WWII. The lack of trust from that still remains 70 years later.

There is no single solution to your question. You can't fix credibilty over night. Many of us pointed how are weak reputation around the globe contributed to this outcome. I don't want military action unless it's a last resort.

 

The only option I see on the table right now that we can play with a strong hand is aggressive talks with Europe and letting them know the reprucssions of turning a blind eye to the evil that is Putin.

 

Again my point was to point out how 6 years of bad policy with not only Russia but most the globe over the last 6 years has built up to this point. There is no single solution to erase 6 years of bad policy that I can think of.

 

It's older than that. It's a mistake to point out that our policy toward Russia has been flawed since that point. They invaded Georgia under the previous president with no repercussions from that either.

 

This one is primarily on our European allies, who have chosen to enrich themselves via Russia's petroleum and mining wealth and turning a blind eye to the increased plutocracy and autocracy since Putin's first administration. There's only so much we can do so long as they choose to aid and abet Putin's economic policy.

Neither do I, but the mistrust is real. It goes back a long way, but the most powerful example of the mistrust remains from the .Ukranian nationalists that collaborated with the Nazis before and during WWII The lack of trust from that still remains 70 years later.

 

I've been so intrigued by that aspect of the story I've gone back and read on it. The majority of the people in Ukraine are the direct decendents of the people who supported the Nazi cause and wanted to cripple Russia. I read a story on Theblaze.com today about a Jewish-Ukriane citizen who in the 1990's was apart of an elite military unit in Israel then came back to the Ukraine. He has been organzing almost a police like unit on the streets to keep order for the current Ukraine regime along with a few other guys who were in the Israel military with him. He talked about how a lot of the Jewish community in Ukraine is angry with him because they see the new adminstration as Nazi supporters.

It's older than that. It's a mistake to point out that our policy toward Russia has been flawed since that point. They invaded Georgia under the previous president with no repercussions from that either.

 

This one is primarily on our European allies, who have chosen to enrich themselves via Russia's petroleum and mining wealth and turning a blind eye to the increased plutocracy and autocracy since Putin's first administration. There's only so much we can do so long as they choose to aid and abet Putin's economic policy.

 

So do you not see any Obama blunders and the lack of respect for the threat Russia holds leading to any of the problems of the past few days?

It's older than that. It's a mistake to point out that our policy toward Russia has been flawed since that point. They invaded Georgia under the previous president with no repercussions from that either.

Seems like there was something a little more pressing domestically that took up most of the US's attention in 2008. With everything going on in 2008 the Russians could have landed in Savannah Georgia and been half way to Atlanta Georgia before anyone would have noticed in the US.

 

So do you not see any Obama blunders and the lack of respect for the threat Russia holds leading to any of the problems of the past few days?

 

I believe Obama has been tentative in his Foreign Policy, and there have been some blunders. I also feel, though, that a dominant focus by an administration on Foreign Policy while Domestic Policy issues are more immediately concerning to American Citizens would be just as big a blunder. Given the interminable "non-war" we are currently involved in, I don't think the American Public would have backed overt action anywhere in the world.

 

As I said before, I don't believe Putin would respect or participate in diplomatic overtures. He has one concern: regaining the old Soviet Bloc. His personality is well known as outrageously egotistical and he seems to believe in his own invincibility. Human rights concerns in Russia are deteriorating under his leadership. I agree we should have been more concerned earlier on. But I don't know what we could have done that would have made any impact on this situation.