Galt's Gulch

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  • Posted by freedomforall 12 years, 4 months ago
    A fair agreement should be easy. The Russians control the area at present and the UN should send in observers to assure that voting procedures are fairly done. If the people want to be an independent state, or to join Russia, or to stay in Ukraine, let it happen. If they choose Russia, then Russia should pay expenses of anyone that wants to relocate to Ukraine.

    I wish this procedure could happen in any of the 50 states. Maybe at least one would choose independence, and then there might be a place for objectivists.
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  • Posted by KevinSmith1281 12 years, 4 months ago
    From my understanding, covert western operations led to the overthrow of the government. We know this because of the leaked audio from maybe 6-8 weeks ago, the one that got bigger headlines because the lady said "F the EU" but the story it really told was that the west was orchestrating the uprising. So from my point of view, Russia is defending its interests, and was even asked to do so by Crimea. What I also don't understand is how Russia is doing anything different than the US would do to protect its own interests (aside from the covert operations intended to cause instability, uprising, and replace the government with another US/EU puppet government.) How would the US respond if Russia or China covertly caused uprising in Canada with the intention of installing an anti-American government there?
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    • Posted by iroseland 12 years, 4 months ago
      I think we were attempting to control the outcome. We didn't need to throw rocks at the hornets nest to get things going as the government there was corrupt enough to get the peoples attention. As for Crimea Russia is definitely protecting its interests.. Those being black sea Naval facilities built heck starting with the Czar then built more by the Soviets. Russia likes having ports that are not iced over for a chunk of every year. It goes beyond even that since Russian retirees kind of look at Crimea like New York retirees look at Florida. So, the Russians are stuck needing to make an excuse, and they have one.. The Crimea is mostly ethnic Russians. So Russia can claim they are worried about ethnic cleansing. Of course this does beg the question about what happened to the Ukrainians who used to live there. Now, as for the State Department being very able to steer a revolt in Ukraine.. Hell no, they lack the required competency and are also suffering from a serious case of not having any idea whats actually going on there. Especially since it really looks like Yulia Tymoshenko is on her way back to power. At least after she gets her back fixed.. I am also pretty sure that she is not one to let a few slipped disks get in the way of her view of a very independent Ukraine. While she is really not pro Russia ( except for doing actual business ) She is also not really all that much Pro US or Pro EU. She is very notably Pro Ukraine and more importantly pro Rule of Law. In the meantime we need to try to keep our hands off the mess as I said the State Department has no idea how to deal with things in that region. As our state Department is at a total loss pretty much anywhere east of Berlin or Vienna till we get to Japan.. As for what we would do.. There is a Democrat in charge, we would have probably nuked something by now.
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 12 years, 4 months ago
    Steps should have been taken long ago instead of thwarted that would have dissuaded Putin from even contemplating this action. The assistance with missile defense years ago immediately comes to mind. Now I fear it is too late. I would like to believe that the EU, NATO and even the UN would be of some assistance, but alas, I believe if it came down to it we would have to be at the forefront once again, when we should only be a small support player... The other nations will sit back and let us bankrupt ourselves in their defense, as long as we keep doing so. Their socialist economic policies, in place longer and more robustly than ours, have reduced their capacity and will even more than ours. We give too much away and forgive too much debt. With policies like this, soon we will be just as helpless.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 12 years, 4 months ago
    The administration has to realize that this is bigger than the stock market or frozen assets. Putin has a plan and we can't stop him. We need to stop escalating the rhetoric.
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    • Posted by mminnick 12 years, 4 months ago
      We (the EU, NATO and the US) could stop him. The risk of WW III breaking out is relatively low (less than 25% in my estimate). If we don't just consider what happened with Hitler and the Czechoslovakian issue in 1938.
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