MoonHowler

As Russian troops cross over into Ukraine, President Obama issued a stern warning to the Russian Federation: Stay out of Ukraine. The situation today is very critical. Will Putin withdraw the troops or will we have an international incident? Will the Ukraine remain independent? Can we trust Putin?

23 Thoughts to “Obama to Russia: Stay out of Ukraine”

  1. Wolverine
    March 1, 2014 at 4:44 am

    Looks to me like Putin is holding all the cards and there is not much we can do about it.

  2. Kelly_3406
    March 1, 2014 at 9:05 am

    Obama needs to stop giving “stern warnings” or defining red lines when he is not prepared to follow through. He is rapidly becoming the anti-Teddy Roosevelt by speaking loudly and wielding a very small stick.

  3. Starryflights
    March 1, 2014 at 9:47 am

    Russian troops have entered Crimea which is technically part of Ukraine but was already fairly autonomous. It has its own parliament. There have been Russian naval bases there since the days of the Tsars. Most of its population is Russian and are welcoming Russian troops. Frankly, if the locals want to be part of Russia, why shouldn’t they be?

    The rest of Ukraine is a different matter. There are no Russian troops in Kiev yet. Although the latest is that Putin has asked Parliament for permission to deploy troops to Ukraine.

    And I agree, Obama ought not to make comments like that unless he is prepared to back them up.

  4. Moon-howler
    March 1, 2014 at 10:08 am

    I didn’t hear any lines in the sand being drawn, Kelly.

  5. Cargosquid
    March 1, 2014 at 11:19 am

    STAY OUT OF UKRAINE……or I’ll send a harshly worded letter!

  6. Moon-howler
    March 1, 2014 at 11:33 am

    NYTimes:

    Putin Asks Russia’s Senate for Permission to Send Troops to Ukraine
    As Russian-backed armed forces effectively seized control of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula on Saturday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia formally requested that the Russian Senate authorize him to use military force in Ukraine.
    Mr. Putin’s request, largely a formality, acknowledged publicly for the first time the Kremlin’s readiness to intervene militarily in Ukraine, and it served as a blunt response to President Obama who just hours earlier had pointedly warned Russia to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.
    Even as Mr. Putin submitted his request to the Senate, formally called the Federation Council, it was clear that forces allied with Moscow were largely in control of the peninsula.

  7. Ray Beverage
    March 1, 2014 at 5:00 pm

    “Can we trust Putin?”

    You can’t trust him, although as an enemy, you can respect him. The same way those of us who served in the Cold War Era could respect the USSR. At least when Putin speaks, he speaks directly and with candor, not with wafflng or quibbling like Mr. Obama.

  8. Wolverine
    March 1, 2014 at 8:30 pm

    Another point to be considered. During the worst of the rioting in Kiev and other parts of western Ukraine, the Ukrainian military was held in their bases and not brought out to help the riot police. A number of observers remarked that the Ukrainian military forces were themselves split ethnically between “Russians” and non-Russians. That would seem to limit any possible use of the Ukrainian military in the Crimea and complicate any border clash with the Russian forces in other parts of the Ukraine itself. The question of loyalty raises another head.

  9. Wolverine
    March 1, 2014 at 9:21 pm

    I have a feeling that what is going on inside the Ukrainian military right now may not be much different than that which went on at West Point in 1860-1861.

  10. Cargosquid
    March 1, 2014 at 11:24 pm

    Russia is NOT going to let the Crimea go. It just isn’t.

    Crimea has the former Black Sea Russian Navy Base HQ. It has major ship building areas. Without this area, the Russian Navy is basically back to ground zero.
    And Crimea holds one half of the access to the Sea of Azov.

    The other towns on the Black Sea coast are……Socchi. and Novorossiysk. Socchi is NOT set up for a Navy base. Novorossiysk…. could be a minor base. Neither are satisfactory. Trading Sevastopol for Novorossiysk would be like trading Norfolk for ……Gulfport.

    And Chechnya is right next door to Socchi.

    I expect to see Ukraine divided…..at the least.

    1. Moon-howler
      March 2, 2014 at 8:17 am

      Can the Ukrainians accept a divided nation?

  11. George S. Harris
    March 1, 2014 at 11:55 pm

    The reason Crimea is most Russian is because Stalin drove most of the Crimean Tartars out and imported Russians. Interestingly, Crimea is not even attached to Russia–it is a peninsula off Ukraine. Perhaps Ukraine should physically divide Crimea from the continent and turn it lose to fend for itself. But get the native Ukrainians out.

    I doubt that we could really do anything militarily. We simply don’t have the $$ or the capability anymore. We have exhausted our military to the point that no land battle could be accomplished at this point. Perhaps some sort of naval blockade but we do so at the risk of a major sea battle, which we could win. But I suspect that things would simply blow up in Europe. Russia has stood by and watched us squander our resources on two senseless wars and now they may just be the cock of the walk in that part of the world.

    1. Moon-howler
      March 2, 2014 at 8:20 am

      Its like we have just worn it all out.

      It sounds like Russia might be world cock of the walk. Hell, they learned their lesson in Afghanistan.

      I would toss Afghanistan to the curb in a New York second.

  12. Ray Beverage
    March 2, 2014 at 9:48 am

    Afghanistan: we did not learn from the Russians….the Russians did not learn from the Brits. Only one who ever really got it right about that part of the world was Rudyard Kipling: “the end of the fight is a tombstone white, with the name of the late deceased. the epitaph drear…a fool lies here..who tried to hustle the East.”

    1. Moon-howler
      March 2, 2014 at 12:54 pm

      Great post, Ray!!!

  13. Cargosquid
    March 2, 2014 at 12:28 pm

    @Moon-howler
    Heck…the Ukrainians barely accept their undivided country.

    They have never had an actual working gov’t and their economy is the save level as Syria. Estimates in the foreign relations media state that they need an infusion of billions of dollars. We’re offering loan guarantees of 1 billion and the EU, even less. Its a basket case. That whole region is still recovering from communism. The sad part is that Ukraine may be one of the BETTER regions…..

    1. Moon-howler
      March 2, 2014 at 12:53 pm

      I was going to say, how could the Ukraine be anything but what you described. Most of those former satellite countries are very ghetto. The Ukraine has suffered more than most have.

  14. Cargosquid
    March 2, 2014 at 6:27 pm

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/12/09/this-one-map-helps-explain-ukraines-protests/

    How Ukraine is divided.

    Amazing how many foreigners can be settled in a region to transform it into another country….

  15. Rick Bentley
    March 3, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    I wouldn’t presume that we are carrying a small stick. We can, if properly motivated, blow the place to smithereens.

  16. Cargosquid
    March 3, 2014 at 7:41 pm

    Its a shame that the Ukrainians were civilized and gave up their nukes…..I bet Putin wouldn’t have invaded.

  17. Cargosquid
    March 5, 2014 at 12:44 am

    http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/184911/#respond

    AN UNFOLDING Crimean Cyber-War. They tested this out in Georgia.

    If I were a small country bordering Russia, I’d work hard to develop the ability to blow up some Russian oil and gas pipelines.

    UPDATE: Hmm.

    Go check out the “Hmm.”

  18. Cargosquid
    March 5, 2014 at 12:55 am

    The main reason why Crimea is so important.

    http://englishrussia.com/2014/03/02/black-sea-fleet-of-russia/#more-140172

  19. Kelly_3406
    March 5, 2014 at 9:40 pm

    @Rick Bentley

    It would appear that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff disagrees with you. Here’s the money quote: “Our loss of depth across the force could reduce our ability to intimidate opponents from escalating conflicts.”

    Translation:Forget the word could. In the typical understated manner of senior officers, Gen Dempsey makes it clear that we no longer carry a big stick.

    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/03/04/220134/militarys-top-general-offers-grim.html#storylink=cpy

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