[TheRealThing]

Russian troops now control nearly every critical service in the Crimea. And, on March 16, a public referendum is to be held to determine the people's wishes on seeing Crimea split off from the Ukraine in order to join the Russian Federation. LOL, right. And I heard today that North Korea held an election and Kim Jong-un got 100% of the vote. :please: Nobody is going to vote against a blood thirsty regime the likes of North Korea, and it will take a stout heart to vote against Putin's wishes on March 16th.

So, here we all are, waiting to see what the "Global Community" is going to do about all this. Of course, the answer is clear, NOTHING. And America? Well, we seem to be hiding behind the global community. Folks, the day we Americans lose the will to defend ourselves, is the day we will go down. Nobody will come to our aid. Heck, just as we all grew up thinking America is the supreme super power, so did the so-called global community. So now we're waiting for those who have followed our lead for lo, the last 5 generations, to take the point on things like this? They're not about to start doing our heavy work, that's for sure. Why?, the UN and all the rest of the talkers have been trained for over 50 years to get out of our way and let the big boys take care of the world's bad guys. There has never been anything like the USA, and we had better darn well get our act back together.

Now, am I saying we should go into the Black Sea with a carrier battle group? Well, we probably should have when this thing first started. Ever heard of the "Budapest Memorandum?" That's a little binding document we signed.

"A treaty signed in 1994 by the US and Britain could pull both countries into a war to protect Ukraine if President Putin's troops cross into the country. Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma – the then-rulers of the USA, UK, Russia and Ukraine - agreed to the The Budapest Memorandum as part of the denuclearization of former Soviet republics after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Technically it means that if Russia has invaded Ukraine then it would be difficult for the US and Britain to avoid going to war."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-05...louts.html

FTR, talk is cheap. There was a time that when one signed a treaty with the US it was like money in the bank. Now, not so much. Back in 1994 we talked the people of Ukraine into giving up their nukes, promising to protect them in the case of Russian aggression. I doubt some cat in Mom jeans talking all professorial is what the Ukrainians thought they were trading their nukes for. In short, in light of the Budapest agreement, if we were to roll in there with guns cocked, it would only be us living up to our word. I mean, there is a reason Putin's troops aren't wearing insignias of rank and proper uniforms.

[RunItUpTheGut]

Im beginning to think were heading toward the end of the UN and towards total isolationism. Quite, honestly, economy wise, I don't think that would be a bad thing. Id love to see everything made here, spent here, and used here.

[TheRealThing]

Im beginning to think were heading toward the end of the UN and towards total isolationism. Quite, honestly, economy wise, I don't think that would be a bad thing. Id love to see everything made here, spent here, and used here.

Agreed. The UN is nothing more than a who's who of America haters. And, we treat them like we can't live without them. This administration seems entirely happy to do the will of the UN in lieu of US sovereignty.

[vundy33]

We wouldn't be defending ourselves, but we'd be defending our interests which is good enough for me. I don't like how so many people have bitched about our war in Afghanistan, always talking about how we need to get out, yet those are many of the same people criticizing our government for not taking a tougher stance on Russia. It's either one way or another, we either fight for our interests and what's good in the world, or we only fight when our people are at risk. It can't be both.

I, for one, think we need to stand up to Putin with our military and punk him on the world stage. He talks a big game, but he doesn't have the power to actually go toe to toe with America, and never will.

[TheRealThing]

We wouldn't be defending ourselves, but we'd be defending our interests which is good enough for me. I don't like how so many people have bitched about our war in Afghanistan, always talking about how we need to get out, yet those are many of the same people criticizing our government for not taking a tougher stance on Russia. It's either one way or another, we either fight for our interests and what's good in the world, or we only fight when our people are at risk. It can't be both.

I, for one, think we need to stand up to Putin with our military and punk him on the world stage. He talks a big game, but he doesn't have the power to actually go toe to toe with America, and never will.

Totally agree. Nobody likes war and nobody wants to see young men go off to war. But, that won't stop the thugs and the tyrants like Putin from plunging the world into war. I'll tell you something, when the people of the world (not Americans) see one of our warplanes or one of our warships, they get chills. The power and dread such visions inspire are not limited to the common folk either. The Putin's and the Kim Jong-un's know all too well the power these machines wield. Even one fighter bomber could flatten any world metropolitan area and, a carrier could flatten a whole country. No, it's the mom jean sporting guy carrying the stick, that has the weak knees.

But, to your point, the one's who do all the criticizing with regard to US military influence in the world are referred to as doves. Which is a nice name for cowards and bozos who can't understand that there is no negotiating with bad guys who operate, under the flawed logic of using force to get what they want. Supposedly there is no appetite from the US citizenry for any sort of military action in the Crimea. Well duh, the sort of national appetite they're talking about only comes about as the result of something like a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. There is seldom any national accord for the dirty work involved as the requirement of protecting our national interests.

We have a representative form of government. I hate this polling business we do all the time. Legislators defer to poll numbers instead of voting their consciences. Intelligence committees and federal legislators (the congress) are the ones charged with being aware of threats and taking actions to mitigate those threats. We must remain decisive and strong if we are to survive. Democrats who politicize absolutely everything from hurricanes to war, in order to gain an elective edge with Americans are doing much more damage than they know. And, are at least partly to blame for this recent 'fog of controversy' about what direction our foreign policy should tack. When Pelosi et-al, denied their role in Iraq, making it look like Republicans were warmongering idiots who gladly killed off thousands of soldiers with the flippancy of a beverage choice at McD's, they began to engage in a kind of nationalistic cannibalism. A house divided against itself cannot stand. It really is that simple.

That problem alone, is the most glaring from among our current problems. One cannot make a political career out of disparaging their counterparts, or the previous administration.

[TheRealThing]

^ In the next to last paragraph above, I mentioned that the Dems politicize absolutely everything. The delusional Harry Reid is doing his best to prove that to be an accurate observation, as now we see that in addition to using the well of the Senate for gossip mongering during elections, (remember his charge that Romney hasn't paid income taxes for 10 years?), he is all too willing to blame the Russian invasion of Crimea on, you guessed it, the Republicans. Seriously, one cannot make this stuff up.

“It’s impossible to know whether events would have unfolded differently if the United States had responded to this Russian aggression with a strong unified voice, which we did not do. When a few extreme Republicans blocked action on this robust bill… it sends a very weak message to the Russians that we’ll work on this later, we won’t do it now.”-----Senate Leader Harry Reid, (D) Nevada
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/harry-reid-pa...struction/

:igiveup: I'm starting to feel like the coon hunter who treed a wildcat instead of a raccoon. "Just shoot up in here amongst us, one of us has got to have some relief!"