War is in the Air!!!!

[zolace]

This may be the very BEST moment for Russia, China, Iran, etc., to move against the USA while we have a VERY weak president that Americans despise. LOL, time will tell.

It is NOT as though we would fight for such a slime.

If you mean by 'move' military wise directly at us, I don't see that.  Obama may surprise you - and them.

And even with other targets, the time may not be quite right there.  That is another reason to resolve our debt  issue - it is a huge security risk, among all the other  problems we have.

[sana8410]

The whole of Europe and the west needs to apply sanctions that will really hurt this sob and his minions.  Putin is trying to reconstitute the Soviet Union, piece by piece, with him installed as grand poobah for life. 

  Intervene militarily and it will be a bloodbath, all sides, including nuclear war with every crazy unstable country that has nukes...everyone will be drawn in, including Iran, Israel, and the rest of the ME.    Sanctions work if they're done right; look at S. Africa and the demise of apartheid. That took unity from the rest of the world, isolating and scorning them.  They got hit in the pocketbook and couldn't survive it.

[zolace]

yeah, not sure though that the proper sanctions will get off the ground - but yeah, a military solution would probably only make it worse.  Especially given that so many in Crimea seem actually glad to join Russia.  Maybe half of the people there, it seems, or more.

Europe seems depending on natural gas from Russia - but Russia also seems dependent on Europe - so as far as sanctions, not sure who would blink first.

[sana8410]

Crimea is done; over.  When/if he starts seriously encroaching on Ukraine the shit's going to hit the fan, and will require some serious decision-making from the west.

[bitsmichel]

yeah, not sure though that the proper sanctions will get off the ground - but yeah, a military solution would probably only make it worse.  Especially given that so many in Crimea seem actually glad to join Russia.  Maybe half of the people there, it seems, or more.

Europe seems depending on natural gas from Russia - but Russia also seems dependent on Europe - so as far as sanctions, not sure who would blink first.

I'm not sure if Ukrainians should be happy to either be part of EU nor Russia.  Cyprus is part of the European Union, but.. we all know how that went. Anyway, as for trade between Russia and Europe.

The European Union and Russia have a strong trade relationship.  EU imports from Russia are dominated by raw materials, in particular, oil (crude and refined) and gas. For these products, as well as for other important raw materials, Russia has committed in the WTO to freeze or reduce  its export duties.
The EU is the most important investor in Russia. It is estimated that up to 75% of Foreign Direct Investment stocks in Russia come from EU Member States (including Cyprus).

Source:
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/russia/

[Rigon]

When the agreement was signed NOBODY could imagine such a weak, paper tiger president as Obama.

It will get very interesting!

[noviapriani]

Hmmm...I mentioned the Baltic Republics and White and Blue Russias as his next targets.

I think he's grabbing too fast.

One thing Putin should remember. Security Council seats are not sacrosanct. Remember that Taiwan was exchanged for the PRC. (Just did a quick search, google has redone their search results page and I really like it, far less cluttered it seems.)
 

At the UN's founding in 1945, the five permanent members of the Security Council were the French Republic, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union. There have been two seat changes since then, although not reflected in Article 23 of the United Nations Charter as it has not been accordingly amended:
Leaders of the five permanent member states at a summit in 2000. Clockwise from front left: Chinese President Jiang Zemin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and French President Jacques Chirac.

    China's seat was originally held by the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China. However, the Nationalist Government lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to the island of Taiwan in 1949. The Communist Party won control of mainland China and established the People's Republic of China. In 1971, General Assembly Resolution 2758 recognized the Government of People's Republic of China as the legal representative of China in the UN, and gave it the seat on the Security Council that had been held by the Republic of China, which was expelled from the UN altogether. Both governments still officially claim one another's territory. However, only 22 states continue to officially recognize Taiwan's sovereignty.
    After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia was recognized as the legal successor state of the Soviet Union and maintained the latter's position on the Security Council.

Additionally, France reformed its government into the French Fifth Republic in 1958, under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle. France maintained its seat as there was no change in its international status or recognition, although many of its overseas possessions eventually became independent.

The five permanent members of the Security Council were the victorious powers in World War II and have maintained the world's most powerful military forces ever since. They annually top the list of countries with the highest military expenditures; in 2011, they spent over US$1 trillion combined on defense, accounting for over 60% of global military expenditures (the U.S. alone accounting for over 40%). They are also five of the world's six largest arms exporters, along with Germany[3] and are the only nations officially recognized as "nuclear-weapon states" under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), though there are other states known or believed to be in possession of nuclear weapons.The best policy that the world could take right now would be simply to say that due to the aggressive nature of Russia against Georgia, Ukraine and now Estonia, her security council seat is suspended and replaced by Brazil in the UN.

What is Russia going to do? Withdraw from the UN? Look how well that worked for her in the Korean War.

I highly doubt that Putin would consider the Baltic Republics worth losing his Security Council seat for.

Additionally, while this may seem a drastic threat, I think that we're at a critical juncture. Putin knows that he's running out of time, literally, and wants to secure as much as he can before he shuffles off the mortal coil, or is at least pushed out of the Kremlin by some younger rival.

I think that because he has no real designated successor, his removal will lead to a interregnum so to speak of five or ten years, and then we may have to go through it all over again, but by that time I think the Baltic Republics will have secured military support in strong affirmative terms from Europe, and will have probably built their own military into a shared tripartite army.

[zolace]

 He may indeed be grabbing fast - if the concern is has any merit.

http://news.yahoo.com/sizeable-russian-force-ukraine-border-nato-192111131.html?vp=1

Ukraine's Western-backed leaders voiced fears of an imminent Russian invasion of the industrial heartland, as NATO's top commander warned of a "very sizeable" Russian troop presence on Ukraine's eastern

[bryant.coleman]

China gets money/resources from both Russia and the US, war may not be in their interest. Full list of Chinese war involvement here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China  (not a lot since 1980)

The Chinese have stayed out of major wars for the last 3-4 decades (IMO, after the WW2 with the exception of the Korean war). That is why the American economy is in deep shit and the Chinese one isn't.

[Welcome to the machine]

China gets money/resources from both Russia and the US, war may not be in their interest. Full list of Chinese war involvement here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China  (not a lot since 1980)

The Chinese have stayed out of major wars for the last 3-4 decades (IMO, after the WW2 with the exception of the Korean war). That is why the American economy is in deep shit and the Chinese one isn't.

The Chinese are Vile. They have been raping the planet for decades.  The time will come when the communists pigs like China,Russia,North Korea,Iran and several other countries will burn in a reign of Ballistic Bliss.

Let it begin.

[noviapriani]

He may indeed be grabbing fast - if the concern is has any merit.

http://news.yahoo.com/sizeable-russian-force-ukraine-border-nato-192111131.html?vp=1

Ukraine's Western-backed leaders voiced fears of an imminent Russian invasion of the industrial heartland, as NATO's top commander warned of a "very sizeable" Russian troop presence on Ukraine's eastern

The funny thing is when the USSR was under communist rule it was a paper tiger.  Now that the capitalist Russians has the power to cut off its oil supply to Europe it has real power.  Just think of lives and the trillions of dollars we wasted to stop communism because communism does not work.

 Then when our goal is met and communism does fails we are now worse off.  Gee, most of the people we paid to be in our military could have gotten real jobs, made us stronger and could have been tax payers all this time instead of a drag on the economy.

 There is no danger of war, only the danger from Republicans.

[umair127]

He may indeed be grabbing fast - if the concern is has any merit.

http://news.yahoo.com/sizeable-russian-force-ukraine-border-nato-192111131.html?vp=1

Ukraine's Western-backed leaders voiced fears of an imminent Russian invasion of the industrial heartland, as NATO's top commander warned of a "very sizeable" Russian troop presence on Ukraine's eastern

The funny thing is when the USSR was under communist rule it was a paper tiger.  Now that the capitalist Russians has the power to cut off its oil supply to Europe it has real power.  Just think of lives and the trillions of dollars we wasted to stop communism because communism does not work.

 Then when our goal is met and communism does fails we are now worse off.  Gee, most of the people we paid to be in our military could have gotten real jobs, made us stronger and could have been tax payers all this time instead of a drag on the economy.

 There is no danger of war, only the danger from Republicans.

I think you may see the trees of the ideology rather than the forest of the imperial state since the USSR was, in fact, a great power, with the capacity equal to our own for projecting power. However corrupt the ideology--look at our own governing philosophy in this nation--a great power is still to be respected and feared by less powers: nothing paper about that tiger reality.

It seems to me that one of the things we've missed in our recent history is the credit deserved by George H.W. Bush for managing the breakup of that imperial state so successfully. It certainly didn't HAVE to be the case that that state dissolved peacefully rather than into a series of interregional wars, into which we might have been drawn. We take for granted that "well, it collapsed"...but rarely do such collapses come off with such little bloodshed and disorder. Credit really has to go to the Connecticut Yankee Bush, (as opposed to the southern Texan Bush, aka the Smirking Chimp) for the grace and skill with which he used American prestige and power to manage the dissolution.

[Rigon]

I do NOT believe China will make their move against the US until they have all three of their Aircraft Carriers fully operational, and their military fully trained with them and their new Stealth fighters.

Even then, I suspect they will block us out of all Asia before the begin taking Taiwan, etc.

[zolace]

I do NOT believe China will make their move against the US until they have all three of their Aircraft Carriers fully operational, and their military fully trained with them and their new Stealth fighters.

Even then, I suspect they will block us out of all Asia before the begin taking Taiwan, etc.

I did say it 'seems'.  It may be more a battle of bluffs between them.

Meanwhile, it is clear that if Russia wants all of the Ukraine, Russia could take it.  I don't think all is wanted - just those areas where there are primary Russians (and are more industrialized, perhaps).  Either way, Ukraine appears to be in no shape to resist.

What might be Putin's overall strategy in this is the bigger concern for the West.

 In anticipation of broader Russian expansion, it seems, it is reported that US troops are being sent to Poland (as part of NATO), and perhaps the Baltic states also.

Whatever happens to Crimea going forward, or to the rest of the Ukraine, the administration appears to be making it clear that such expansion will not be allowed to go farther.

It could, however, also anger Russia further.


http://news.yahoo.com/us-ground-forces-sent-poland-report-says-155733017.html

[Rigon]

I do NOT believe China will make their move against the US until they have all three of their Aircraft Carriers fully operational, and their military fully trained with them and their new Stealth fighters.

Even then, I suspect they will block us out of all Asia before the begin taking Taiwan, etc.

I did say it 'seems'.  It may be more a battle of bluffs between them.

Meanwhile, it is clear that if Russia wants all of the Ukraine, Russia could take it.  I don't think all is wanted - just those areas where there are primary Russians (and are more industrialized, perhaps).  Either way, Ukraine appears to be in no shape to resist.

What might be Putin's overall strategy in this is the bigger concern for the West.

 In anticipation of broader Russian expansion, it seems, it is reported that US troops are being sent to Poland (as part of NATO), and perhaps the Baltic states also.

Whatever happens to Crimea going forward, or to the rest of the Ukraine, the administration appears to be making it clear that such expansion will not be allowed to go farther.

It could, however, also anger Russia further.


http://news.yahoo.com/us-ground-forces-sent-poland-report-says-155733017.html

Yup, Obama's near perfect weakness, and the world laughing at Obama as Putin pisses in his face, just may be what Putin needs to start a Global world war. That  will cost a huge amount of money, however, the benefit will be to reduce the number of humans with a pulse.
China has long term goals, Russia has short term goals, and Obama has erased ALL American goals.

[tsoPANos]

Anything left out?

Well, you mentiomed most of the basics.
But the are many falkland-like hot-spots betweenmany many neighbour countries.

[bryant.coleman]

The Chinese are Vile. They have been raping the planet for decades.  The time will come when the communists pigs like China,Russia,North Korea,Iran and several other countries will burn in a reign of Ballistic Bliss.

What if I tell you that the United States is even more vile?

Sure, the Chinese are doing a lot of harm to the planet. But what about the US / EU? Per-capita CO2 emissions in the US is almost 3 times higher than that in China. Also, China has never invaded any country, after the 1959 invasion of Tibet.

[jaberwock]

The Chinese are Vile. They have been raping the planet for decades.  The time will come when the communists pigs like China,Russia,North Korea,Iran and several other countries will burn in a reign of Ballistic Bliss.

What if I tell you that the United States is even more vile?

Sure, the Chinese are doing a lot of harm to the planet. But what about the US / EU? Per-capita CO2 emissions in the US is almost 3 times higher than that in China. Also, China has never invaded any country, after the 1959 invasion of Tibet.

The sole reason China still not invading any nation because China is sure footed. China know the consequences, it will only give America reason to conquer the whole China.

But now China has become stronger, it is now started to flex its muscle in the Pacific. In the future when China is more powerful than US it will conquer more nations than USA conquered. China will even try to conquer the World.

[bryant.coleman]

But now China has become stronger, it is now started to flex its muscle in the Pacific. In future when China is more powerful than US it will conquer more than nations than USA did. China will even try to conquer the World.

Again unsubstantiated rubbish. The Chinese are interested in conquering the world. But they intend to do that economically, and not politically. They seems to be more intelligent when compared to those Americans.

[jaberwock]

But now China has become stronger, it is now started to flex its muscle in the Pacific. In future when China is more powerful than US it will conquer more than nations than USA did. China will even try to conquer the World.

Again unsubstantiated rubbish. The Chinese are interested in conquering the world. But they intend to do that economically, and not politically. They seems to be more intelligent when compared to those Americans.

Your post is rubbish, you don't know what China plan is. Do you know what happens in the pacific? China has already started conquering Spratly Islands that belongs to Vietnam and Philippines, Senkaku that belongs to Japan. They already harrassing with its powerful Navy. How much more if China gain more power. Without America, I'm sure China has already conquered Vietnam and Philippines.