somewhat telling that all of those countries abstained
no problems here
how about we give isreal the west bank and then palistine gets the gaza and the southern half of isreal including the access to the red sea
China, India, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh
Also, look up UNGA votes on Israel, that country would be up the creek without US veto on the Security Council.
China abstaining is good enough for Russia. The rest is just gravy.
It would cost Europe a lot more money to get off Russian gas import dependency than it would cost Russia to get off European export dependency.
Russia just needs to build a pipeline to the East. It's expensive, but nothing compared to what doubling of gas prices and updating its energy infrastructure and industries would cost Europe. It's in Russia's interest to build such a pipeline in any case, to have EU and China bid competitively for Russian gas, so it can maximize the price. Right now Europe gets gas much cheaper than China because Russian gas exports are captive to Europe due to lack of pipelines to the East.
China would love to get its hands on cheaper Russian gas, so it can burn less coal to improve its pollution situation and make its chemical industry more competitive relative to Europe and the US.
Of course, US has no such issues due to cheap shale gas, so it has leeway to act tough. But Europe needs to consider its long term relative competitiveness if instead of paying half of what China pays for gas, it pays double.
Money talks, Crimea walks.
Maybe not, but his heart and liver are.Something tells me his hair really isn't that black.
China abstaining is good enough for Russia. The rest is just gravy.
It would cost Europe a lot more money to get off Russian gas import dependency than it would cost Russia to get off European export dependency.
Russia just needs to build a pipeline to the East. It's expensive, but nothing compared to what doubling of gas prices and updating its energy infrastructure and industries would cost Europe. It's in Russia's interest to build such a pipeline in any case, to have EU and China bid competitively for Russian gas, so it can maximize the price. Right now Europe gets gas much cheaper than China because Russian gas exports are captive to Europe due to lack of pipelines to the East.
China would love to get its hands on cheaper Russian gas, so it can burn less coal to improve its pollution situation and make its chemical industry more competitive relative to Europe and the US.
Of course, US has no such issues due to cheap shale gas, so it has leeway to act tough. But Europe needs to consider its long term relative competitiveness if instead of paying half of what China pays for gas, it pays double.
Money talks, Crimea walks.
you guys have to remember that there is wide discontent in russia with putin
His approval's skyrocketed, and he's clamped down even harder against dissident voices. There's nothing like a foreign adventure to drum up nationalistic sentiment and get people to ignore domestic problems. His domestic problems are one reason people thought Putin did this. This would probably wear off eventually, of course. But who knows how much more adventure he'll have before that happens.
those who are discontent are probably the types that are not impressed or amused with this at all. there were massive protests during the 2012 elections
Alexei Sokirko found a place on the pavement on Nikolskaya Street and unfolded his "Stop the war" banner.
Russian law allows one-man pickets to be staged without prior permission or advance notification so the police didn't do anything at first. In fact, they didn't need to as Alexei immediately started getting harassed by angry passers-by. To begin with they called him "fascist" and "scum". Then a woman spat at him. A few men started threatening him, and finally one of them snatched the banner from his hands and tore it up.
A scuffle followed - that was when the police intervened to arrest Alexei for violating public order. It was probably just as well, as he could have been seriously beaten. A woman then offered to fabricate a more serious charge against him. "I can testify that he was beating up a child," she suggested, enthusiastically. The policemen decided not to take her up on it.
This is the effect of good propaganda: You don't need the state apparatus to silence your opposition when your own brainwashed citizenry will do it for you.
many of them know what is going on
they feel no remorse doing any of those things and their psycology rewards them for it
like someone said before russians are probably more like americans than europeans. and they have both a victim and martyr personality. as one can see in both crimea and russia sometimes the soldiers and policemen have more of a soul than the citizens of russia themselves. it was not the soldiers in crimea who were attacking vice but the russian protesters themselves
they feel like they are both hardcore bad and righteously good and that they are surperior to any other ethnicity or race or nationality
Invasion of what? The $20B per year money pit also known as Ukraine? That would be doing Europe a favor.
Russia is already jacking up Ukraine's gas price, because they know the Europeans and Americans are going to make it rain.
Um, shouldn't the country in question decide which sphere of influence they want to be in? Instead of other countries deciding for them?
If, hypothetically, Russia should consider Finland to be in their sphere of influence (after all, Finland was once a part of the Russian empire before it won its independence), should we just stand by if Russia wants to dominate Finland against their will?
We're not forcing Ukraine away from Russia (if anything, Russia's belligerence is forcing Ukraine into our arms). Despite what the Russian propaganda may claim, the Ukrainian protestors who overthrew Yanukovych are not secret American agents. We're not forcing Ukraine to enter our sphere of influence. They don't want to be a Russian puppet. They asked for Western aid. Shouldn't their wishes count for something?
(On that note, I think Crimea belongs with Russia, and I'm fine with Russia taking Crimea, because that's what the Crimeans want. My beef with the Crimean takeover is the bullyish way in which Russia did it--sending in troops, shutting down opposition media, running propaganda campaigns claiming that Ukrainians are Nazis, etc.)
Secession isn't a new box, though. Look at Scotland's upcoming vote on whether to leave the UK. Or Quebec's seemingly frequent votes to leave Canada.This does seem to open a pandora's box. Why shouldn't any small state be able to join their neighboring nation if they vote in favor of secession? Maybe Michigan citizens vote to become Canadian because they don't agree with the federal government.
This does seem to open a pandora's box. Why shouldn't any small state be able to join their neighboring nation if they vote in favor of secession? Maybe Michigan citizens vote to become Canadian because they don't agree with the federal government.
I think the U.S. will be if war becomes a necessity.My concern is that the US is not socially able to conduct war at this time,
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.
This is the effect of good propaganda: You don't need the state apparatus to silence your opposition when your own brainwashed citizenry will do it for you.