It's only a lull before the spring offensive.

Post #399,113 by a6l6e6x 2/12/15 10:06:01 PM Reply	It's only a lull before the spring offensive. Words are cheap and Putin is a certifiable pathological liar! Everyone, including the Russians, know they have troops and special forces in Ukraine. They deny this. The rebels have he most modern Russian weapons that were never before seen in Ukraine. In a couple months the Russians will push to take Mariupol and on to build a land bridge to Crimea. Then they'll say the "rebels" just didn't follow Putin's advice. The agreement is a charade. It's the Russian way. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #399,116 by Another Scott 2/12/15 10:50:12 PM Reply	I would suspect that as well, but... I think Vlad has been surprised by the economic sanctions. I think he thought the implicit fear of losing gas supplies would make the EU and NATO back off. But oil collapsed and the ruble continues to weaken (though it has stabilized a bit recently). What does Putin want? has a list. Maybe he just wants to appear to be a strong leader for domestic reasons. Maybe he has a grand plan to reconstitute a pseudo-USSR. Maybe he's demanding "respect". Dunno. The US and the EU still has a lot of economic sanctions knobs that can be turned, and NATO has had a relationship with Ukraine for a long time. The west doesn't have to fight Putin to make things painful for him. (And resisting the temptation to fight him may weaken him by making the "the West is trying to strangle innocent Mother Russia!1" rhetoric transparently silly.) I'm also reminded of China invading Vietnam to "teach it a lesson" back in 1979. They objectively lost in their aim of getting Vietnam out of Cambodia, but were able to declare victory after less than a month and get out. Putin should take that lesson and get out of Ukraine. I fear, though, that the longer this goes on, the more difficult he (and his puppet fighters in eastern Ukraine) will find it to make any political compromises. That's the main reason why I hope that stars are aligning to make this deal work. We'll see. Cheers, Scott.
Post #399,117 by a6l6e6x 2/12/15 11:05:36 PM Reply	Vlad is richer than Warren Buffett. So he doesn't personally care about economic sanctions. If he had a heart, someone from Kiev would get his daughter in London to drink some Polonium laced tea. But, it would make no difference. There's virtually to way to oust him from power. Someone very close would need to do him in. His greatest fear is to be ridiculed. Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #399,121 by Ashton 2/13/15 4:50:47 AM Reply	Interesting, that last.. I shoulda copped to that earlier (we're all amateur shrinks now/a necessity in the Land of the One-eyed sleepwalkers.) Those who lust after That-many 000,000s Rubles/$$ (beyond just the ordinary cupidity of our inner-Nazi) are all-about conspicuous affluenza; clearly such sociopaths presume that envy of their obscene-scale loot will trump the disgust engendered by their hubris. (Throw in KGB.. his early-on Seminary-training. and always in the background: all those nukes he can command.) Were his mask ever massively-pierced via general (thus local too) humiliation? ... ??? Methinks the Prez's official Head-of-State Psych-warfare cadre had best remind BHO that the phrase critical mass is not just about nukes per se: it's also ~ re Fahrenheit 451 kindling temp for his selling "The Russian Peeple" that Russia's Honor is at stake, and 100 Vindicator bombers are preparing to defend Mother Russia against these closing-in, conniving Yankee Imperialists. I well recall October '62 .. and Khrushchev had a personal-fuze too ... it is a Lousy time for the dis-US to be so permeated with its current lunatics in places high and low :-/ Light a candle.. even if you think you don't believe in meta- anything.

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