Ukraine sits at the epicenter of an increasingly contentious geopolitical situation with Russia. Vladimir Putin senses weakness in the west and is using Ukraine as a proxy to explore just how far Joe Biden’s historically unpopular administration can be pushed.
Is the Ukrainian about the Ukraine, or about America? Obviously Putin wants to project his authority, but why now? He is, if not conspiring with China, coordinating with them to engage in territorial take over. Likely with the bigger picture of both propagating totalitarianism and ecconomic dominance.
When does the pathetic western Europe come into play? Again.
This ends badly and our military, thanks to Obama, is not what is was.
If the US government and the governments of the West were just a tiny bit Christian, they would applaud Putin for bringing the worship of God back into the public life of Russia! They vilify Putin in the name of democracy, but the United States Constitution created a republic, not a pure democracy! In conflicts with the US government over Syria and Venezuela, God seems to have given the Russia leader a certain amount of wisdom.
Russia is not a great power and its GDP, approximately the size of TX and smaller than CA, and an economy which relies mostly on export of petroleum and natural gas there's little chance of Russia being a global power any time soon. But she has the power to impose her will on neighboring countries but that's about it. Whether that's enough to satisfy Putin's aspirations (delusions?) of being a player on the world stage is yet to be seen. Ukraine is in the unfortunate position of being a former state of the old USSR, and Putin's desire is to reassemble as much of the former USSR as possible, if only for the buffer those states would provide. The memory of past invasions is a key motivator in Putin's behavior. But realistically Russia under Putin is essentially the mouse that roared, or in this case, scratched.
One last thing: All this is serving as a bright, shiny object to distract us from our coming economic collapse and the real strategic threat, which is China - not necessarily over Taiwan, but rather over its desire for military control over the shipping lanes to Japan, Korea, and the U.S. West Coast.
Russia, Erick, is a gas station with nuclear weapons, not a true diversified economy as people normally understand the term. Biden managed to strengthen Putin's hand by lifting the sanctions on the Nordstream 2 pipeline, killing off the Keystone XL pipeline, and effectively ending fracking on Federal lands in the name of "climate change", thus destroying our newfound energy independence and status as a net exporter of energy.
You are right about the Crimea; few people realize the fact that Russia has exactly THREE ports outside of the Crimea which it can use year-round: Murmansk and Archangel in the far north, which require icebreakers for winter use, and Vladivostok in Eastern Siberia on the Pacific. That's why Putin has tried in the past to make nice to Vietnam for the use of Cam Ranh Bay and the Syrian ports of Baniyas, Jablah, Latakia, and Tartus. Since the days of the czars, Russia has been a nation in search of ice-free ports. That's why Sevastopol in the Crimea matters, and why it's trying to kiss up to Turkey; so long as the Turks stay in any way tied to the West, Russia's access to the Mediterranean is endangered; the Bosporus and the Dardanelles can easily be blocked, trapping the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Putin would really be upset were Turkey to join the European Union, but that won't happen under Erdogan.
There is one overarching reason why Russia, as the USSR before it, wants that sphere of influence in Eastern Europe which you overlook; Germany. The Germans invaded Russia twice in the 20th Century, one in each world war; the second one from 1941-1945 cost it 30 million dead. That's why the USSR, and now Putin's Russia, wants Eastern Europe - as a buffer zone against Germany. I guarantee you that the alarm bells began ringing and the red lights began flashing the day in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. NATO's expansion eastward has rekindled memories of the Cold War and the Western strategy of "containment" in which George Kennan envisioned the USSR surrounded by western allies. A Ukraine in NATO and the EU would put Western allies further eastward than Moscow, and Putin isn't about to countenance a de facto encirclement. That expansion of NATO is a bridge too far, IMO.
Fortunately, Russia's economic and political weakness makes it easy to deter it. While it may grab Ukraine and install essentially a puppet government there, the Ukrainians will make them pay a steep butcher's bill for it, and IF (a big if) Biden can manage to get the EU to cooperate in broad based sanctions against Putin, he may decide that the price is just too high. The real problem is that Biden's actions I listed above have managed to make Western Europe far too dependent on Russian energy for us to rely on it for any real help here.
My final guess: Putin wins, Ukraine loses - but not before it makes Russia bleed heavily.
In a 2012 debate, Barak Hussein Obama smugly told Mitt Romney that the 80's called and they want their foreign policy back. It was a huge hit. Yet 4 years later all we heard about was Russia, Russia, Russia. So was Obama wrong? My magic 8 ball says Yes Definitely. But he was articulate and clean so there's that.
I left a comment underneath Erick's video on Ukraine. Living in Philly, where the homicide rate continues to rise, and the DA and police are unable or unwilling to turn the tide, I wonder about America's ability to carry on any war. My hope is that there will be a growth of Christianity in Russia, in China, and even in the Muslim countries. I have no children, but if I did, I would not want them to go overseas to defend "gay marriage," something which the leaders of the West seem to want us to accept as a human right and "normal."
The argument Putin is putting forward is that ethnic Russians are being abused and mistreated. Therefore, they must be reunited with their Motherland. Change the area to Czechoslovakia, ethnicity to German, and reuniting with the Fatherland and we have seen this all before.
Ukraine matters now exactly like Vietnam mattered sixty years ago. The big difference now, of course, is that while China may have been sort of a paper tiger then, Russia is not a force to be trifled with now. Anyone who would entertain a war against a county that could incinerate Atlanta, Georgia in thirty minutes with the push of a couple of buttons either is an idiot or has a death wish. If it is the latter then do the rest of the country a favor and use a Glock.
1994 Budapest Memorandum: US promised to protect "independence and sovereignty" of Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine removing nuclear weapons. That promise proved worthless under VP Biden's term. Not expecting President Biden to honor US commitments either.
Sorry to break from the neoCon narrative...BUT, I could not care less if Putin absorbs the eastern provinces of Ukraine to get Russia’s bridge to Crimea (which had been part of Russia dating back to Catherine the Great, and, is majority Russian population which wants back into Russia). He will not try to take over Kiev.
I hope we are not seeing a Biden Wag the Dog distraction away from his disastrous domestic dilemma.
Weakness invites aggression. Do we really think Russia would be doing this if Trump were in office?
Is the Ukrainian about the Ukraine, or about America? Obviously Putin wants to project his authority, but why now? He is, if not conspiring with China, coordinating with them to engage in territorial take over. Likely with the bigger picture of both propagating totalitarianism and ecconomic dominance.
When does the pathetic western Europe come into play? Again.
This ends badly and our military, thanks to Obama, is not what is was.
If the US government and the governments of the West were just a tiny bit Christian, they would applaud Putin for bringing the worship of God back into the public life of Russia! They vilify Putin in the name of democracy, but the United States Constitution created a republic, not a pure democracy! In conflicts with the US government over Syria and Venezuela, God seems to have given the Russia leader a certain amount of wisdom.
Russia is not a great power and its GDP, approximately the size of TX and smaller than CA, and an economy which relies mostly on export of petroleum and natural gas there's little chance of Russia being a global power any time soon. But she has the power to impose her will on neighboring countries but that's about it. Whether that's enough to satisfy Putin's aspirations (delusions?) of being a player on the world stage is yet to be seen. Ukraine is in the unfortunate position of being a former state of the old USSR, and Putin's desire is to reassemble as much of the former USSR as possible, if only for the buffer those states would provide. The memory of past invasions is a key motivator in Putin's behavior. But realistically Russia under Putin is essentially the mouse that roared, or in this case, scratched.
One last thing: All this is serving as a bright, shiny object to distract us from our coming economic collapse and the real strategic threat, which is China - not necessarily over Taiwan, but rather over its desire for military control over the shipping lanes to Japan, Korea, and the U.S. West Coast.
Russia, Erick, is a gas station with nuclear weapons, not a true diversified economy as people normally understand the term. Biden managed to strengthen Putin's hand by lifting the sanctions on the Nordstream 2 pipeline, killing off the Keystone XL pipeline, and effectively ending fracking on Federal lands in the name of "climate change", thus destroying our newfound energy independence and status as a net exporter of energy.
You are right about the Crimea; few people realize the fact that Russia has exactly THREE ports outside of the Crimea which it can use year-round: Murmansk and Archangel in the far north, which require icebreakers for winter use, and Vladivostok in Eastern Siberia on the Pacific. That's why Putin has tried in the past to make nice to Vietnam for the use of Cam Ranh Bay and the Syrian ports of Baniyas, Jablah, Latakia, and Tartus. Since the days of the czars, Russia has been a nation in search of ice-free ports. That's why Sevastopol in the Crimea matters, and why it's trying to kiss up to Turkey; so long as the Turks stay in any way tied to the West, Russia's access to the Mediterranean is endangered; the Bosporus and the Dardanelles can easily be blocked, trapping the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Putin would really be upset were Turkey to join the European Union, but that won't happen under Erdogan.
There is one overarching reason why Russia, as the USSR before it, wants that sphere of influence in Eastern Europe which you overlook; Germany. The Germans invaded Russia twice in the 20th Century, one in each world war; the second one from 1941-1945 cost it 30 million dead. That's why the USSR, and now Putin's Russia, wants Eastern Europe - as a buffer zone against Germany. I guarantee you that the alarm bells began ringing and the red lights began flashing the day in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. NATO's expansion eastward has rekindled memories of the Cold War and the Western strategy of "containment" in which George Kennan envisioned the USSR surrounded by western allies. A Ukraine in NATO and the EU would put Western allies further eastward than Moscow, and Putin isn't about to countenance a de facto encirclement. That expansion of NATO is a bridge too far, IMO.
Fortunately, Russia's economic and political weakness makes it easy to deter it. While it may grab Ukraine and install essentially a puppet government there, the Ukrainians will make them pay a steep butcher's bill for it, and IF (a big if) Biden can manage to get the EU to cooperate in broad based sanctions against Putin, he may decide that the price is just too high. The real problem is that Biden's actions I listed above have managed to make Western Europe far too dependent on Russian energy for us to rely on it for any real help here.
My final guess: Putin wins, Ukraine loses - but not before it makes Russia bleed heavily.
In a 2012 debate, Barak Hussein Obama smugly told Mitt Romney that the 80's called and they want their foreign policy back. It was a huge hit. Yet 4 years later all we heard about was Russia, Russia, Russia. So was Obama wrong? My magic 8 ball says Yes Definitely. But he was articulate and clean so there's that.
I left a comment underneath Erick's video on Ukraine. Living in Philly, where the homicide rate continues to rise, and the DA and police are unable or unwilling to turn the tide, I wonder about America's ability to carry on any war. My hope is that there will be a growth of Christianity in Russia, in China, and even in the Muslim countries. I have no children, but if I did, I would not want them to go overseas to defend "gay marriage," something which the leaders of the West seem to want us to accept as a human right and "normal."
The argument Putin is putting forward is that ethnic Russians are being abused and mistreated. Therefore, they must be reunited with their Motherland. Change the area to Czechoslovakia, ethnicity to German, and reuniting with the Fatherland and we have seen this all before.
Ukraine matters now exactly like Vietnam mattered sixty years ago. The big difference now, of course, is that while China may have been sort of a paper tiger then, Russia is not a force to be trifled with now. Anyone who would entertain a war against a county that could incinerate Atlanta, Georgia in thirty minutes with the push of a couple of buttons either is an idiot or has a death wish. If it is the latter then do the rest of the country a favor and use a Glock.
1994 Budapest Memorandum: US promised to protect "independence and sovereignty" of Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine removing nuclear weapons. That promise proved worthless under VP Biden's term. Not expecting President Biden to honor US commitments either.
We started the troubles in Ukraine. We don’t have any vital strategic interest there, but Russia does. https://youtu.be/JrMiSQAGOS4
Sorry to break from the neoCon narrative...BUT, I could not care less if Putin absorbs the eastern provinces of Ukraine to get Russia’s bridge to Crimea (which had been part of Russia dating back to Catherine the Great, and, is majority Russian population which wants back into Russia). He will not try to take over Kiev.
I hope we are not seeing a Biden Wag the Dog distraction away from his disastrous domestic dilemma.
Weakness invites aggression. Do we really think Russia would be doing this if Trump were in office?
To understand fully the Russian Civil War is also crucial background. In U.S. we don't often study it.