Pretty interesting but it seems like it goes back to the 1780's. The Turks have claim to the Crimea based on somthing signed by Tsarnina Catherine II. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/vie...ey-caught-in-the-Russia-Crimea-snowstorm.html
The Crimea is probably non-negotiable from the Russian standpoint. It's their warm water port. As long as they had a puppet in place in the Ukraine there was no threat to their operational capabilities in the Black Sea and from there the Mediterranean. I don't understand exactly what anybody thinks the US can do right now from a hard power perspective. We can't just go into the Ukraine shooting because we don't have that capability short of starting WWIII. We're not going to be able to establish air supremacy over that area of the world any time soon. The Russians would probably just nuke any aircraft carrier that came into the area and tried to setup the kind of air power dominance that the US has fought under in every war since WWII. It's tempting to look at Putin as a more powerful version of Saddam and try to make the case for war. The problem is that Saddam would still be happily sunning himself in Iraq if he had actually had the kind of WMD's we accused him of having.
Crimea should belong to Russia as their You are right Barry Here is an excerpt from the article. Not sure if current Turkish government will get involved with the situation or not. That said Catherina was a fierce lady. The claim is she used her lady charms on the Ottoman Empire to get Crimea. Water under the bridge.
Looks like Russia wants to make sure there is no American existence in Northern Turkey. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/04/uk-turkey-russia-idUKBREA2314820140304
So far... this is much to do about nothing. The stock market barely flinched. Business as usual. If the world ever decides to fling nukes at each other the world ends.
The underlying issue isn't Crimea, it's that Putin knows he can push as far as he wants because short of starting WWIII there is nothing Obama can and will do about it. Why else would Russian fighter jets be in Turkish airspace? That's to send a message to the US and it's allies that we are going to do what we want and there is nothing you can do to stop us. Syria was a nice diversion by the Russians ultimately knowing that when the enxt power play came about they would score. My prediction is this doesn't end in Crimea. The US doesn't need to fire any shots, we just need to send some ships into the area to send a message to the Russians and more importantly Putin that you can't just bully a neighbor because you want to. If other nations had stood up to us in Iraq maybe the middle east wouldn't be a hot pot ready to explode right now
If Obama is serious about giving Putin something to think about, he should send Sixth Fleet from Naples to Black Sea. Then we can start talking about keeping Russia in order.
Russia, doesn't have an economy strong enough to support a major war effort. There Ruble was decimated in one day. Now, they are being cautious and stating they have no interest in annexing Crimea or Ukraine only making sure people of Crimea are protected. It's not over, but right now we have a strong upper hand in this. If the Russians want to play, we kill their economy first. If anyone decides to pull the trigger on a nuke, we're all fucked anyways.
We have a strong upper hand? what? How are we going to destroy there economy? A lot of Europe depends on them for oil and natural gas.
And then what? Putin probably wouldn't take that seriously either. So unless you plan on engaging or are at least willing to then what's the point?
You need money to support a war effort. Russia is back peddling now. http://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/04-03-2014/127019-russian_ruble_ukraine-0/ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...utin-s-ukraine-incursion-risks-sanctions.html After Putin backed away from his silence on the topic of invading Ukraine, the value of the Ruble increased 1.1%. The West dropped Russian economy in one day, careful, careful.
Aircraft carriers are not allowed to enter the Black Sea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreux_Convention_Regarding_the_Regime_of_the_Straits
They just spent over $50B on the freaking Olympics. Russia has shitloads of money these days. Thanks to all the countries buying their oil and natural gas.
Petro Did Russia follow any international laws while invading Crimea? Extraordinary situations require extraordinary measures. LTJF You are right it won't accomplish much but at least it is a start at this game. Putin means business and we somehow have to remind him who is the big dog in this world.
The issue is over the years the US has had a policy of taking out leaders who aren't pro west... look at the list. Noriega, Saddam, Qaddafi and that is just 3. How many times have we attempted to take out Castro? While Russia is just following the lead set forth by our leaders you are right, this is something that we cannot stand by and idly allow to happen.
Looks like Russia wants to play chicken game. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/...-intercontinental-balli-idUKL6N0M14IW20140304
The problem is a lot of citizens in Crimea are of russian descent. The last president was a nutcase, I dont support what Russia is doing though.
