As Russia Swallows Up Crimea… Obama Plans Yet Another Vacation for This Weekend

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• That's a misleading headline.

  full disclosure: I am 3/8 Russian, and 3/8 Ukranian. Or so.

  The parliament of Criema, an autonomous republic, voted to secede from Ukraine and become part of Russia.

  Some facts to consider:

  The majority of residents of Crimea speak Russian, not Ukranian, do not support the mob uprising (yes, mob- more on that later), and wanted to have closer ties with Russia, not tthe EU. BTW, pretty much all of eastern Ukraine also does not support this uprising.

  Historically, Crimea was always part of Russia. In the 50's, Khrushchev ceded it to the Ukranian SSR mostly because it was geographically expedient, and because the concept of "Ukraine" (along with Belorussia, Moldavia, Uzbekistan, etc), had little meaning, politically. It was all USSR, ruled by the Kremlin.

  There was no "invasion" of Crimea. I repeat

  No invasion.

  There was a treaty signed by newly independent Ukraine and Russia upon the breakup of the USSR that allowed Russia to Naval forces in Crimea. The Russian navy was always in compliance with that treaty.

  As for the "revolution". As far as I know, this is not some kind of battle against tyranny (yes, technically all gov't is tyranny, to a greater or lesser degree. In this case I mean that in the commonly accepted definition of the word). The gov't of Ukraine was as democraticlly elected as any western gov't, and there was no pretense that the PM was closely tied with Russia. He was elected because the majority of the citizens WANT close ties with Russia. Fo Chrissakes, they're the same people! Russia' birthplace is Kiev! They are as different as residents of Alabama are from residents of Connecticut, probably less so.

  Ukraine is not a homogenous society in the Japanese or Polish sense. It might more closely resemble Cyprus. The western part is close to half or maybe more Catholic, and the eastern half is 95% Russian Orthodox. The west culturally feels more a part of Europe, and the east, more Russian/Slavic.

  So then there's some pressure, from within or from the EU - that I dont know - to join the EU. All the utes, especially in the west, think this is peachy keen. Free cell phones for all! We're all going to be rich, with 32 hour workweeks and 8 weeks vacay per! Yay!

  But here's the problem. Ukraine is just a few steps behind Greece, Spain, etc. on the train to bankruptcy. Putin, who of course is not a fan of the EU, reminds Yanukovich of where his bread is buttered, and that is mainly with Russian oil money. Yanukovich does some quick arithmetic, and says, uhhh, never mind on that EU thingie, I'm going with the Russians (read: the money). The kiddies go "What? no new cell phones? Well fuck that, I'm going to go occupy Kiev!" And I don't use the word "occupy" by accident.

  Because that is pretty much what you've got in Ukraine. With the slight, minor difference that in that case, the occupiers actually forced the gov't into submission. But in essence, it's still a mob uprising. There is no Ghandi, no SImon Bolivar, no ML King, not even a Robspierre, or a half-drunk Boris Yeltsin standing on a tank.

  So now we have a country on the verge of absolute chaos, with a Russia-hating mob running around, and Russia has a ton of investments in it. Furthermore, with the majority of the people wanting no part of any protests or revolution, and wanting to remain closely tied with Russia, Putin is simply moving in to bring some order and protect the country at a time when the country is utterly incapable of doing so.

  • Andre, Don't be afraid to repost this on a "fresher" story on the Ukraine. This type of info needs to be disseminated. Thanks!

  • And here you go. At the rate we are going, we will not have enough troops to protect Michele's wardrobe, so we need to stay the hell out of these regional spats as much as possible. They have been arguing for centuries, under various flags and leaderships and we can't fix them. The atack (or threaten to attack) our allies, maybe. And we should watch this. But frankly, at this point, its not our business.

    • Agreed.

      I'm not against acting in our interest. Kicking Saddam out of Kuwait to keep the oil flowing was not a bad thing. Meddling in the former Yugoslav republics, not so much.

      The problem with the Ukraine/Russia thing is that it coincides with low approval ratings for Obmana. And there's nothing to boost approval ratings like finding a boogeyman and rallying the nation behind you, convincing everyone that you are the only one who can slay the dragon.

      I don't even think that Obmana consciously thinks that. It's just the natural thing for a pol to do. It's hard wired. And historically, Russia has been that boogeyman, so it's an easy one to resurect.

      The irony is that while Putin is being painted as a commie tyrant, Russia has never in history been as free as it is today, while the USA has never been less free than it is today. Just sayin'.

      And don't get me wrong. I am not singing Putin's praises. He is just another pernicious, power-hungry gov't animal just like all the rest of them. But at the same time, I am realistic .There are precious few in this world that are capable of living in Galt's Gulch, making gov't a necessary evil.

  • There was no pretense that Yanukovich was NOT closely connected with Russia, I meant to say.

• I'm glad I live in a part of Florida that King Barky isn't too interested in visiting. Traffic is bad enough here with the road construction.
  However, he's going to the Keys, which have basically one main road, which will be a complete disaster while this asshole is there.

• And when his pal Putin annexes oh let's say Latvia or Estonia, quagmire won't bother with the national security briefing. Damn even Cartet went to his during the Iran crisis.

  Guess the wookie need to escape the snow and cold of the WH, I mean DC

• Early one morning, an elderly retired fighter pilot yelled to his wife...
  "Honey...! Come see what I created...! It's an abstract panorama depicting the five years of the Obama presidency!"

  She yelled back, "Stop screwing around and flush the toilet and come eat your breakfast!"

• Now would be a good time for Time Mag to rerun the cover showing Obama being the first gay ptez.

  • Obama being the first gay ptez PUTZ.

    That looks better.

• http://liberallogic101.com/?p=8039

• So this is called leadership? Just leave it to Kerry and Clinton to muck this up more, they are doing pretty good so far. Putin is laughing himself silly right now.

• Wish he would vacation in the Crimea.

  • He couldn't show proper identification to get across the border.

    • Yeah, they'd never fall for that birth certificate.

• No problem, Valerie Jarrett and George Soro's will be camping out in the Oval Office.

• What - no fundraiser? BO really must be tired if doesn't have any time for separating rich Progressives from their money.

  • He's not running again, so he doeasn't need the cash. Next time he'll just write and EO that makes him President for life.