Now the Long Knives are poised right in the back of Ukraine:

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26400035

Fucking brilliant approach, this. First the attempt to play divide and conquer in Ukraine pretty transparently crashed and burned with the retun of Ukraine's Benazir Bhutto to political influence. Then, the Russians decide evidently that they really did move in Russian Army soldiers into the Crimea. Because the proper instinct when a risky gamble fails is to raise the stakes. This is not going to end well by any means. Now I'm wondering how long Lucashenko will have a country to rule as dictator, and what might happen with Round II with Georgia. If Tsar Vladimir I of the House of Putin succeeds in this kind of thing, that will only encourage him to expand his wars of aggression further because Ukraine is rather larger than Georgia, and this would permit Russia to begin aspiring to regain aspects of the old Tsarist boundaries. I sincerely expected Russia would use Central Asia for this kind of thing, not Ukraine.

The EU wouldn't give a damn about invading Muslims in Kazakhstan, but invading an EU state? That's not going to lead Russia to do anything but decide to engage in still-larger wars of aggression in the long term.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/europe/ukraine-politics/

And one of the chambers of the Russian legislature just approved this request. Hoo, boy.

Shit got real-er:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26403996

The Ukrainian Army is now on full combat alert. The prospect that the centennial year of the First World War will see the first large-scale conventional European war in decades has risen exponentially.

Comments

[olegborisov.livejournal.com]

Crimea is the Russian land.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

The Tatars might disagree with that assertion.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

No it isn't.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Only brilliant if Russia wants to become the next Iran.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Iran played its cards right by not starting wars. Russia is engaging in major acts of aggression with a tremendous likelihood to backfire. This is 1940 in the Baltic all over again. Comrade Jugashvili would approve.

[peamasii.livejournal.com]

Crimea will return to Russia and the rest of Ukraine will eventually join the EU. Check back in 5-10 years and let me know if I was wrong.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Only Crimea?

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Hey, you could even join Sarah Palin in the pantheon of the most prescient sages of the ages!

[uglich-jj.livejournal.com]

the secession of Crimea Russians is possible, nothing wrong here.

but what we see now it`s another story, it`s not a secession, it`s an invasion, fearful Putin exporting his dictatorship

[olegborisov.livejournal.com]

Leaders of Ukraine: Klitschko, Yatsenyuk and Tyagniboka. :-)))

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Who's the one with the tattoo? :-D

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Oh goody...it's 2008 again in these parts wherein a flock of previously unheard from Russian bloggers descend to explain to us how every place a Russian has taken a dump in the past 300 years is part of Russia.

Ukraine let Russia have most of the Black Sea Fleet and gave up all of the nuclear weapons the former USSR had in Ukraine in the 1990s. Part of the idea of these moves was that the newly formed Russian Federation would recognize the existing boundaries of the former Soviet states. No good, I suppose. Putin wants vassals instead of neighbors. If I were the government of a Baltic state right now, I'd be very nervous.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

It's almost as if they're totally not being hoarded in this direction.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Next Russian-majority territory to "return" to Russia - Brighton Beach, NY?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Not likely.

:P

Most of the Ukrainians I know here despise Putin.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

It's kind of surprising that Putin would choose to up the ante so drastically in Ukraine, whereas he could've just left Ukraine to implode economically (possibly aiding the process by stopping the gas supply, or making it incredibly expensive), then pick the fruit of this blockade. He could've had all of Ukraine, now he's gambling it all on Crimea.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

More likely, he's creating a thorn in a neighbor's ass, as a source of constant destabilization, and a lever for exerting influence and pressure whenever needed. Like what happened in Georgia.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

In the mean time...

What could possibly go wrong (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/us/politics/pentagon-plans-to-shrink-army-to-pre-world-war-ii-level.html)? Likewise do not allow this moment of prescience (http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/10/22/russia_might_invade_ukraine_if_obama_wins_palin_warns) distract you from the fact that Sarah Palin is still a dumb bitch.

Gotta say though, "Uncontested arrival" is one if the best Orwellian euphemism for war since "kinetic action".

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

What could possibly go wrong with no longer outspending the next 27 countries on defense combined? Probably not that much. Don't worry, we'll still be armed to teeth.

Sarah Palin is still a dumb bitch, along with anyone who thinks that which party the American President comes from affects situations like this.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Sarah Palin's still there? I guess some "politicians" are like herpes; easy to ignore until they flare up again without warning.

So...we have a "strong" President willing to use force and...Russia invades Georgia. Now conservatives say we have the opposite of that I. The White House and...Russia invades Crimea. It's almost as if Putin knows NOBODY is going to fight a war on the behalf of the former Soviet Republics regardless.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

OMG! The Russians will sniff this sign of weakness and come a'knockin at the gates of Freedomlandia!!1!1

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Eh, how do you think shrinking the pentagon budget is going to change the dynamics exactly? Do you think the US should threaten full invasion mode on russia?

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Sarah Palin Was Sort of Right on One Thing in 2008 (http://www.thewire.com/politics/2013/08/sarah-palin-was-sort-right-one-thing-2008/68096/)

And wrong about pretty much everything else. Death Panels.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Maybe she meant Russian death panels in Ukraine. But she was misinterpreted by the Lamestream Media(TM).

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

In 2001, President George W Bush said of Vladimir Putin:

“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.”

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Well, he didn't specify what working for the interests of his country actually meant. ;-)

(frozen comment)

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

You can keep patting yourself on the back and preening for the court, it doesn't change the fact that the Emperor is naked.

Person is warned.

You're playing chess with a pigeon.

No warning .

What a joke.

(frozen comment)

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Done (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1831445.html?thread=145144085#t145144085).

The place (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1301765.html) for complaints/feedback/suggestions is elsewhere. Unless you insist burning yourself along with the rest.

I won't have a word of drama beyond this point. And yes, you may consider this a warning to you as well.