Russia is invading the Ukraine...........

[GeoFisher]

Nato is NOT the EU.We are not part of the EU.

Who said it was..............

[kygorski]

All this started with a proposal the EU offered the Ukraine last year, it was something about a guaranteed bail out with the intent of them joining that organization,

[HURRICANEBOB]

WE are obligated to support our NATO allies........good thing Ukraine is not a NATO Ally.

I never once said we need to send troops, or planes or bombs, or whatever. I too think Europe needs to handle this one.........

BUT I do believe if this escalates, we will obviously be involved.

Later,

Geo

I agree with ya GEO. We ought support the efforts of Nato, let our European allies take the lead, and provide support our allies request. And I think we'd all agree, we don't really want to end up in a "toughest guy on the block" match with the Russians. Not that we wouldn't will, I think the expense in life, money, and material would be enough to weaken us and make us that much more an attractive target to the terrorist middle east.

I think we need save our silver bullets. They cost lives to reproduce.

[Moveon]

They are destroying those chemical weapons are they not? Job well done Sir!.

I trust the President to do the right thing. We are not going to send in troops but there are other ways to put pressure on Russia.

Would Russia send troops to get the US out of Cuba? The Crimea situation is similar to the US having a Naval Base in Cuba. The Russians have their best and only warm water naval base/port in Ukraine. And most all the people in the area with the Russian Troops are Russians.

You could bet that if the Cubans revolted and stormed Guantanamo Base Cuba we would send in US troops to defend our Naval Base in that foreign sovereign country.

Oh waite we already did that back in 1962. We called it the "Cuba Missile Crisis".

I guess giving up the missile defense shield in Europe and then BO telling Putin that he would have more flexibility after the election, hasn't impressed Russia any. We have no say in the matter. Kind of like that line in the sand with Syria.

[SLP]

The Crimea situation is similar to the US having a Naval Base in Cuba. The Russians have their best and only warm water naval base/port in Ukraine. And most all the people in the area with the Russian Troops are Russians.

You could bet that if the Cubans revolted and stormed Guantanamo Base Cuba we would send in US troops to defend our Naval Base in that foreign sovereign country.

.

Added to that, wasn't Crimea actually originally always part of Russia? I think they just kind of deeded it or signed it over to the Ukraine when the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union in some form of ledger keeping reasons or something like that. But basically my point is that Crimea was always part of Russia and many of their people probably think of themselves more as Russians than Ukrainians, so this is just a messed up complicated situation and not quite simply a black and white issue. Putin is a thug and I certainly wouldn't count on him to just stop there, but lets hope this is the extent of their aggression. If Putin moves off the peninsula into the rest of the Ukraine it would be much more alarming than it already is.

[GeoFisher]

Added to that, wasn't Crimea actually originally always part of Russia? I think they just kind of deeded it or signed it over to the Ukraine when the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union in some form of ledger keeping reasons or something like that. But basically my point is that Crimea was always part of Russia and many of their people probably think of themselves more as Russians than Ukrainians, so this is just a messed up complicated situation and not quite simply a black and white issue. Putin is a thug and I certainly wouldn't count on him to just stop there, but lets hope this is the extent of their aggression. If Putin moves off the peninsula into the rest of the Ukraine it would be much more alarming than it already is.

Agree..........

[GeoFisher]

Here is a pretty good article about the Ukraine and Crimea, and what this Russian incursion means both short term and long term.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsate...n-into-crimea/

[GeoFisher]

They are destroying those chemical weapons are they not? Job well done Sir!.

I trust the President to do the right thing. We are not going to send in troops but there are other ways to put pressure on Russia.

Would Russia send troops to get the US out of Cuba? The Crimea situation is similar to the US having a Naval Base in Cuba. The Russians have their best and only warm water naval base/port in Ukraine. And most all the people in the area with the Russian Troops are Russians.

You could bet that if the Cubans revolted and stormed Guantanamo Base Cuba we would send in US troops to defend our Naval Base in that foreign sovereign country.

Oh waite we already did that back in 1962. We called it the "Cuba Missile Crisis".

One big difference is Guantinamo is sovereign territory, and the Ukraine didn't "storm" that naval base. I don't get why you're introducing stuff that didn't happen.

Putin wants TOTALITARIAN control over the Ukraine, mostly to control the pipelines........

I hope this doesn't become something else, because quite frankly, we cannot afford it, EVEN though NATO defense is one of our responsibilities........

Later,

Geo

[Mean Morone]

I think some of you guys might be right. We should trust Putin to do the right thing in that region. There are a bunch of Russians in that area, so Putin has every right to just go in and take it. Never mind that the reason the people revolted was because their Government went against the will of the people and decided to go with Russia over the EU. You know, there are a bunch of Russian speaking people in Alaska, and didn't Russia own it before anyway? Oh and what was it that BO said about the Russian military ship docked in Cuba? Oh thats right, what can he say. Putin is old school communist KGB. Bush was wrong about him and so is BO. Putin is not wrong about BO though. A feller once said, "speak softly but carry a big stick". Our "big stick" is now getting whittled down to pre WWII numbers. I think we might just be just left with the "speak softly" part of our history.

[GeoFisher]

I think some of you guys might be right. We should trust Putin to do the right thing in that region. There are a bunch of Russians in that area, so Putin has every right to just go in and take it. Never mind that the reason the people revolted was because their Government went against the will of the people and decided to go with Russia over the EU. You know, there are a bunch of Russian speaking people in Alaska, and didn't Russia own it before anyway? Oh and what was it that BO said about the Russian military ship docked in Cuba? Oh thats right, what can he say. Putin is old school communist KGB. Bush was wrong about him and so is BO. Putin is not wrong about BO though. A feller once said, "speak softly but carry a big stick". Our "big stick" is now getting whittled down to pre WWII numbers. I think we might just be just left with the "speak softly" part of our history.

Putin ran the KGB........enough said.........he's an evil SUM BITCH.......

Later,

Geo

[kygorski]

Putin said he was worried about Russian citizens in thearea. So he moved troops in to protect tem. Hmmm this sounds familiar, let me think ah grenada

[GeoFisher]

Putin said he was worried about Russian citizens in thearea. So he moved troops in to protect tem. Hmmm this sounds familiar, let me think ah grenada

Very good example...........

But I really think Putin and Crimea is more about controlling Ukraine and Natural Gas distribution.

What is really funny is that the area is distributed between 3 major ethnic groups. Crimean Tatars, Russian and Ukrainian.

Ukrainians dominate the population with 61% When you look at a demographic map of the region, the country is about 45/45 Crimean and Ukrainian and about 10% Russian my land mass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Ukraine

No my friends, this is all about TAKING Crimea and turning it into a Russian strong hold, even though they make up less than 10% of the land region........