Russia gets Crimea

[Jaskalas]

NATO General: "We're all concerned about what Russia is doing on the border of Ukraine," "The size of the forces have a message that are not congruous with respecting the borders."

In other words, full scale military invasion and war is imminent.

Ukraine says 100,000 Russian troops near border

 

[PingviN]

the worst part is that they're sexually harassing Denmark... fucking Swedes.

Just the tip

 

[Genx87]

By the way that 'moral decline' storyline is taken basically verbatim from Russian state news and propaganda networks. That's one of their primary vehicles for trying to separate Russia from the west; decrying their supposed degenerate morals.

And if there is one thing about Russian history, it is a lack of degenerate morals.

 

[Texashiker]

NATO General: "We're all concerned about what Russia is doing on the border of Ukraine," "The size of the forces have a message that are not congruous with respecting the borders."

In other words, full scale military invasion and war is imminent.

Ukraine says 100,000 Russian troops near border

Let the games begin.

Nobody wants to go to war with Russia, and sanctions are not going to work. If Putin truly wants to reassemble the USSR, nothing short of military action is going to stop him.

Why is Putin making his moves now? Because obama has been weighed and measured, and found to be lacking. The people elected a community organizer rather than a true leader.

 

[fskimospy]

Let the games begin.

Nobody wants to go to war with Russia, and sanctions are not going to work. If Putin truly wants to reassemble the USSR, nothing short of military action is going to stop him.

Why is Putin making his moves now? Because obama has been weighed and measured, and found to be lacking. The people elected a community organizer rather than a true leader.

That's why Putin invaded Georgia, he knew Obama would be president someday.

We really desperately need to divert some military funding towards education in Texas. The kind of people it is producing are just scary in their ignorance.

 

[zinfamous]

You like it, don't you?



Actually it is. Just checked my wallet. The older coins only have the EU at the time and newer coins have most of Europe drawn.

---

It's spring time in Latvia and what that means is ethnic tension. Latvian nationalists are marching in remembrance of those who gave their life in fighting communism and red terror. The occupiers (Russians) accuse them of being fascists. Every year it's the same. In Ukraine Russia is using paid propagandists and thugs to spread disinformation to the media and promote violence. There's some speculation that it happens or has happened in Latvia as well. Couldn't say for sure and the sources weren't exactly top quality but it wouldn't surprise me one bit. Here's a good article. Anyone interested should read it.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26720549

What Russia needs to do is to have a good reflective look on their Soviet era history and get past it (Stalin was voted the 3rd greatest Russian by the Russian people in 2008). Forget this Greater Russia nonsense. Quit playing the victim and the martyr (after reading countless posts on other forums and the media from Russians, you'll know what I mean). Germans did it. Look at where they are now. Nazi-Germany 70 years ago which started a war leading to its and most of Europe's destruction, now they're one of the most respected and trusted nations on Earth and in Europe. The Soviet Union was a shithole and a scumbag, so is modern Russia.

Ah yes, the annual march of the Latvian Legion. I could write pages about this history (well, I did write very lengthy screenplay about it--SO's uncle fought for them to keep Russia out of Latvia, survived the Gulag, and died at the tender age of 93 only 2 years ago). The article is thin on details but it hits the highlights, as well as your comments.

Suffice to say, this has been one of those annual events that Putin has used to troll out his propaganda to slander Latvia. "These guys fought for Germany, therefore they are Nazis. Look what they do to insult our Russians living abroad! How dare they!" sure...NVM that the LL was officially recognized by the US and the UN as anti-fascist, and were, in fact, in charge of guarding Nazi War criminals during the Nuremburg trials.

At the same time, Russians living in Latvia convene to celebrate "Russian victory day" by holding massive drunken parties in public places, stomp on Latvian history, and basically complain about the fact that Latvians find this "holiday" distasteful. I mean, it's weird that they would, right? Why should Latvians feel insulted about a holiday that celebrates the day of their occupation and the murder/deportation of another 100k citizens?

How dare they!

 

[zinfamous]

Let the games begin.

Nobody wants to go to war with Russia, and sanctions are not going to work. If Putin truly wants to reassemble the USSR, nothing short of military action is going to stop him.

Why is Putin making his moves now? Because obama has been weighed and measured, and found to be lacking. The people elected a community organizer rather than a true leader.

your puppies are killing your chickens. methinks you have more pressing matters to attend to.

 

[werepossum]

NATO General: "We're all concerned about what Russia is doing on the border of Ukraine," "The size of the forces have a message that are not congruous with respecting the borders."

In other words, full scale military invasion and war is imminent.

Ukraine says 100,000 Russian troops near border

Could be. Scary times.

And if there is one thing about Russian history, it is a lack of degenerate morals.

+1

Let the games begin.

Nobody wants to go to war with Russia, and sanctions are not going to work. If Putin truly wants to reassemble the USSR, nothing short of military action is going to stop him.

Why is Putin making his moves now? Because obama has been weighed and measured, and found to be lacking. The people elected a community organizer rather than a true leader.

I think it's pretty clear that annexing Crimea was a result purely of events in Ukraine. If Putin does attempt to take the rest of Crimea, that MAY mean Obama (and the other NATO leaders, but especially Obama as the leader of NATO's muscle) has been weighed and measured, and found to be lacking. However, being weighed and measured and found to be lacking in Putin's judgement does not necessarily equate to being lacking in reality. We'll have to see how it plays out. And while we can't stop Putin from taking all of Ukraine, I'm fairly certain we can stop him from holding all of Ukraine. He has to know that if the West does exhibit a spine, invading the rest of Ukraine will result in his losing Crimea too, whereas if he does not invade the rest of Ukraine he will probably keep Crimea. It's all about raising the cost to above that he is willing or able to pay, whether by sanctions or by military force.

It's kind of funny that people are talking about how Putin is famous for wrestling bears where as Obama is famous for wearing mom jeans. I've seen a few people who wrestle bears, and I've never ever heard a suggestion that any of them should be our leader. Mostly I've heard disgusted comments about how they clip the bear's claws and muzzle it and then pretend they are doing something meaningful.

 

[TROLLERCAUST]

Ha, I bet this guy's pissed because his nation was subjected to "Finlandization".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization
Russia did admit to staging a false flag to engage Finland in the Winter war, so lets get past the name calling. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelling_of_Mainila

I'm pissed about Russia invading its neighbours and treating them like shit. Just like those Wiki-links show.

P.S. the Russians tried to be butt buddies with the west during the 1990s and they experienced high rates of abortion, alcoholism, prostitution, racketeering, and their women being brided by westerners. Heck, Russia back then and maybe today, could be considered the child porn capital [citation needed], or that may be, Japan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_therapy_(economics)
It was so bad that during Putin first election in 1999, the communist party gained the second largest popular votes.

what is this i don't even...

1 of the reasons Stalin is admired is because his 5 year plan, turned the Soviet Union from a piss poor peasant country like Maoist China, to an economic and industrial might within 4 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Five-Year_Plan. Without it, more Soviets/Russians, would have fallen casualty to the inevitable Nazi invasion.

Isn't it amazing what you can achieve with slave labour?

Socialism is murder.

 

[code65536]

100 nations thought the annexation was illegal.
11 nations did not.
57 nations explicitly abstained.
25 nations did not vote.

The Russian spin on this is that nearly half (11+57+25=93) didn't explicitly support the resolution.

 

[zinfamous]

100 nations thought the annexation was illegal.
11 nations did not.
57 nations explicitly abstained.
25 nations did not vote.

The Russian spin on this is that nearly half (11+57+25=93) didn't explicitly support the resolution.

Armenia
Belarus
Bolivia
Cuba
DPRNK (special )
Nicaragua
Russia (funny, how they include themselves in "what other countries thought" )
Sudan
Syria
Venezuela
Zinbabwe

that's a lot of lol right there.

OH, let me add some ATers to that esteemed list:

Texashiker
bshole.


who am I forgetting?
:hmm:

 

[norseamd]

Yep. Germany ruthlessly stamped out its Nazi element, making its attitudes completely socially unacceptable. Russia, with possibly an even worse record, increasingly embraces their Soviet past.

actually not true

soviets were athiest

also there was disrespect for stalin after his fall

 

[postmortemIA]

Armenia
Belarus
Bolivia
Cuba
DPRNK (special )
Nicaragua
Russia (funny, how they include themselves in "what other countries thought" )
Sudan
Syria
Venezuela
Zinbabwe

that's a lot of lol right there.

OH, let me add some ATers to that esteemed list:

Texashiker
bshole.


who am I forgetting?
:hmm:

there a lot that did not vote or abstained. there are also a lot of USA satellite countries who will always vote like US vote. Looks like Russia also has their own set of satellites.

 

[norseamd]

It's kind of funny that people are talking about how Putin is famous for wrestling bears

so me a video of putin wrestling a fully concious bear

 

[norseamd]

china knew the smart thing would be to abstain

 

[code65536]

there a lot that did not vote or abstained. there are also a lot of USA satellite countries who will always vote like US vote. Looks like Russia also has their own set of satellites.

The EU, US, and their usual allies voting yes was expected. Russia and her staunchest allies voting no was expected, too. There are a lot of countries (particularly in Africa and South America) that probably couldn't care less that abstained. That's all expected too.

There are a number of yea votes where I thought they'd be more likely to abstain. I haven't found, among the abstentions, any country that I thought, "gee, I really expected them to vote yea". But among the abstentions, there were two in particular that stood out:

* Kazakhstan: One of the three founding members of Putin's Eurasian Union pet project (which is basically Putin's attempt to rebuild the USSR). I mean, Armenia voted nay, and Kazakhstan is more buddy-buddy with Russia than Armenia is.

* Vietnam: One of Russia's strongest allies in Asia (much more so than China--remember that Chinese-Soviet relations during the Cold War had soured to the point of armed conflict, so their abstention is not really unexpected--they are competing against Russia for influence just as much as they're competing against the US)

 

[norseamd]

kazakhstan might be surprising but vietnam not really that much

they are their own country

 

[werepossum]

so me a video of putin wrestling a fully concious bear

Pretty sure this is Putin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVS1UfCfxlU

Well - that's what I heard.

 

[senseamp]

I am back!

Meaningless vote as usual, but this is pretty weak margin for a UNGA vote against annexation. The ones against Israel on Palestine are usually 165-5 or so.

Here is the real problem for Europe when dealing with Russia:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...g-twice-as-much-to-replace-russian-gas-energy

A halt to Russian gas supply this summer would double U.K. prices to more than $18 per million British thermal units, said Mike Fulwood, a London-based principal for global gas at Nexant Ltd., which advises utilities and governments. Increased competition for LNG supply would also mean about a 19 percent increase in costs for Asia, he said.

So Europe can get off Russian gas by doubling prices to attract sufficient supply from elsewhere, but of course if they do that, Russia will be forced to build a pipeline to China to sell gas there, which means China will be getting gas at half the price the Europe will be paying. This is the reverse of the present situation, when Europe has half the gas price of China.

With such a reversal, energy intensive and chemical industries in Europe would be at a severe competitive disadvantage, on top of the labor cost headwind they already face.
Europe's competitiveness relative to China depends on cheap Russian gas. Russia is not the king, but it is the king-maker.

 

[werepossum]

I am back!

Meaningless vote as usual, but this is pretty weak margin for a UNGA vote against annexation. The ones against Israel on Palestine are usually 165-5 or so.

Here is the real problem for Europe when dealing with Russia:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...g-twice-as-much-to-replace-russian-gas-energy

So Europe can get off Russian gas by doubling prices to attract sufficient supply from elsewhere, but of course if they do that, Russia will be forced to build a pipeline to China to sell gas there, which means China will be getting gas at half the price the Europe will be paying. This is the reverse of the present situation, when Europe has half the gas price of China.

With such a reversal, energy intensive and chemical industries in Europe would be at a severe competitive disadvantage, on top of the labor cost headwind they already face.
Europe's competitiveness relative to China depends on cheap Russian gas. Russia is not the king, but it is the king-maker.

Spot-on, and welcome back.

 

[norseamd]

they are already investing in renewables

maybe they also need to start investing in more nuclear power

like thorium

 

[norseamd]

Meaningless vote as usual, but this is pretty weak margin for a UNGA vote against annexation. The ones against Israel on Palestine are usually 165-5 or so.

this shows what a oligarchy can do

maybe we should get rid of the security council and transfer the power to the un general assembly

why should a few get to outweigh the rest of the world

 

[rpsgc]

maybe we should get rid of the security council and transfer the power to the un general assembly

why should a few get to outweigh the rest of the world

Russia and China have veto power, I mean, why even bother with resolutions? They'll just veto anything they don't like regardless of how much good it could do to the rest of the world. Why even bother at all? Security Council feels like a bad joke.

 

[norseamd]

feel the same way about nuclear weapons

not to promote nuclear weapons

but why should a few get to build them and not any one else

 

[senseamp]

this shows what a oligarchy can do

maybe we should get rid of the security council and transfer the power to the un general assembly

why should a few get to outweigh the rest of the world

General Assembly votes are not proportional to country's population. So a bunch of small countries could tell the rest of the world and America how to live if the GA was in charge. Notice that even for the Crimea vote, China, India, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. abstained, so if you count the population of countries who voted for it, it is likely less than half of the world total.
Also, look up UNGA votes on Israel, that country would be up the creek without US veto on the Security Council.