In my opinion, it is
already over for a united and free Ukraine. In 1999 the US, under Bill Clinton
and NATO bombed Serbia to support a Kosovo for the Albanian Muslims, an action
opposed by the Russians. Today, we reap the consequence. The US enforced the
rights of Albanians in Yugoslavia to self-determination. By precedent, others,
including Russians in Crimea, have the same right. If Albanians had to be
protected by US and NATO forces from their legal government, what is different
for the Russians in Georgia or Crimea? Is the EU going to boycott Russian gas
exports? - Deuce
Ukraine's population of 46 million has divided loyalties between Russia and Europe, with much of western Ukraine advocating closer ties with the EU, while eastern and southern regions look to Russia for support
Nearly 60 percent of Crimea's residents identify
themselves as Russian.
Prime Minister
Arseniy Yatsenyuk spoke a day after Russian forces took over the strategic
Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine without firing a shot.
So far, the new
government in Kiev has been powerless to react to Russian military tactics.
Armed men in uniforms without insignia have moved freely about the key
peninsula, occupying airports, smashing equipment at an air base and besieging
a Ukrainian infantry base.
Ukrainian soldiers were surrounded by Russia troops at Perevalnoe,
one of several stand-offs on the peninsula
Putin has defied
calls from the West to pull back his troops, insisting that Russia has a right
to protect its interests and Russian-speakers in Crimea and elsewhere in
Ukraine. However, there has been no sign of ethnic Russians facing attacks in
Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine.
Nato is conducting emergency talks on the crisis. Its secretary-general
has said Russia's actions
"threatened peace and security in Europe".
There are fools and knves that do no find this INTERESTING.
They would rather the discussion stay focused upon Apartheid in Israel.
While this situation in the Ukraine, a confrontation n Europe, where Russia is fulfilling its "Responsibility to Protect", well ...
The President of the United States skipped a meeting with his staff, instead he spent 90 minutes on the phone with Putin. The outcome of that conversation seems clear, Russian troops remain in the Crimea, the US has taken military action 'Of the Table'
The Russians showing the entire world the importance of maintaining a nuclear arsenal.
A lesson that was lost upon the Ukrainians in 1995.
Rest assured the Iranians are taking note.
Contributing to this post
http://2164th.blogspot.com/2014/03/back-to-spheres-of-influence.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26405635
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russian-troop-convoy-road-crimeas-capital-22736569
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/27/world/europe/ukraine-divisions-crimea.html?_r=0
Ukraine Calls Up Reservists
ReplyDeleteUkraine border guards report all the countries borders, apart from Crimea are stable, after the Russian parliament approved deployment of troops to Crimea.
But Ukraine's top security official, Andriy Paruby, says military reservists have been called up to
"ensure the security and territorial integrity of Ukraine."
Ukraine live: US condemns Russia's 'incredible act of aggression'
ReplyDeleteTelegraph.co.uk
• John Kerry condemns "incredible act of aggression" • US says Russia risks losing place at G8 •
Ukraine PM says Russia has made "declaration of war" • Ukraine asks for help to protect its nuclear assets
We are on the brink of disaster here, all right. Back to Spheres of Flatulence.
DeleteLOL I love this Pro-Russian Blog!
ReplyDeleteDown with the USA. Thank you for showing the truth how America is evil.
Your work will help defeat the corrupt, evil imperial, colonialist, occupying nation called the "United States".
You are on the RIGHT side of history!!! America, England and Israel will all die and many thanks to you for being honest about it!!
Nonsense. Name the last time that the US went eyeball to eyeball with the Russians. It was the Cuban Missile Crisis and the lesson, the real lesson, has not been forgotten.
DeleteThe lesson was the Russians got our missiles out of Turkey at the time, which was their real objective.
DeleteNow they are talking with Venezuela, Cuba again, Nicaragua.......
I like the Monroe Doctrine.
Who cares what a Farmer Bob likes or dislikes?
DeleteThose are feelings, not facts. Post some facts, or you're just another "Liberal" spouting off about their 'Feelings".
Why do you like the Monroe Doctrine, what do the people of Venezuela, Cuba or Nicaragua gain by it?
Or do you have no concern for the people, there?
The US is now paying the price for 100 years of aggression against those two of countries.
We called 'em "The Banana Wars", they called 'em Imperialism run amok.
The US is now paying the price for 100 years of aggression against TWO OF those countries.
DeleteOccupyAmerica
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/OccupyAmerica
We are TRUTH.
ReplyDeletehttp://anp14.com/about/index.php
I fail to see how it has anything to do with nukes and its relationship to Iran. Please explain.
ReplyDeleteSurely you are joking, asking for a coherent explanation.
DeleteBut I'll help you out.
Think Napoleonic Code System.
You are correct, Farmer Bob, in regards to the situation in Mexico and Venezuela.
DeleteThe colonial legal code, in those countries, has had a great effect upon their societies.
Most of which has been negative.
There are attempts, in Mexico, to reform the legal code, to bring in a Common Law based system.
The legal professionals, in Mexico, are resisting the reforms. Their golden goose will be plucked, if the reforms are implemented.
Glad that you are gaining an increasing awareness o the world around US.
Coming to grips with the reasons behind the differences 'tween US and 'Them', reasons that are not genetic, are not racial, but are more historic and cultural in nature.
That correlation seems pretty clear, Ash.
ReplyDeleteThe ABC News reports, on video, that there is NO discussion of a "Military Option' by the US or NATO to the situation in the Ukraine.
This in the face of what Mr Obama calls a violation of International Law.
When the Syrians were accused of the same, a violation of International Law, Mr Cameron called for an invasion of Syria.
While the Iranians are merely attempting to produce electrical power, from the 'Peaceful Atom' they are faced with substantial financial sanctions and threats of military action against them. All options are "On the Table".
Why the difference in reactions to the varied situations and scenarios?
The answer seems obvious, the Russians have a large nuclear arsenal.
The Syrians and Iranians, they do not.
The Libyans did not.
The lesson that the Iranians will take from this, seems pretty clear, at least from my perspective.
If a country has oil and gas reserves, the 'West" does not care, it will still threaten and bluster, make military threats.
But if a country has nuclear weapons, the West speaks loudly, by stands by, letting events 'Play Out'.
As is happening with regards to Russia, as is the case with Israel.
International law, norms and standards can be ignored if a country possesses nuclear weapons, if it does not, the threat of military aggression against it is ever present.
That's the lesson that the Iranians will learn from the class being held by Professor Putin.
... if a country has nuclear weapons, the West speaks loudly, BUT stands by, letting events 'Play Out'.
DeleteI think their large conventional forces and proximity to the field play a much larger role. That being said the us, un modern times will only fight a much smaller fie..
DeleteThat could be part of the mix, not doubt, Ash.
DeleteBut not the lesson the Iranians will take away from the classroom.
That is the point, reality is based upon perception and perspective.
From your vantage point in Montreal, it is the T90 and the conventional forces that intimidate the West.
From Tehran's perspective, after fifty years of Israel flaunting International Law, norms and standards, the view is more skewed to the nuclear angle.
Going bck to the "Sampson Option", when Israel threatened to attack the Soviet Union if the US did not bow down and do Israel's bidding. Israel never 'paid a price' for that nuclear blackmail, and the Iranians know it.
Now the Russians are committing 'aggression' and will not 'pay a price' for that, either.
That's the lesson, from the Iranian perspective.
Finally have it figured out, how the situation in Venezuela is due to breakup of its Napoleonic Code.
DeleteThe deal is - and it was a spark of memory recalling Jackrat's writings that did it - the deal is, it's a Hegelian Situation.
The Napoleonic Code is merely the thesis of the situation, not even the antithesis, much less rising to the synthesis.
Jackrat knows all about this stuff, having read about it in Wiki, and Will Durant one weekend.
So what we really have is - Napoleonic Code ---->Socialism of a very stupid variety ---->chaos
near as I can figure from Jackrat's highly informed scribblings.
Got it?
Here's Jackrat's Will Durant -
"Tired mothers find that spanking takes less time than reasoning and penetrates sooner to the seat of the memory."
Will Durant
I call this profound.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/will_durant.html#aCCGtUReX2ppcgpO.99
.
ReplyDeleteWe are TRUTH.
.
My, my. it looks like WiO has returned in his hermaphroditic state, Truth? and Truith?, a modern day Cybele, the Creatrix (not that there is anything wrong with that). However, it reflects the truth that the dichotomy that is our nature can be amalgamated under pressure and coalesces to the point that our intended nature is shattered, hormonal balance is in flux, with estrogens and androgens, testosterone and progesterone flying about willy-nilly, something that can leave this blog covered in an opaque miasma from which it struggles to recover. You know, like pretty much every other day here.
.
.
DeleteOne of the reasons I like this blog.
At what other blog would I have the opportunity to throw around words like estrogen and progesterone (I mean other than something like WedMD)?
.
Notice the ? mark, Q, it is an indicator that whom ever the contributor is, it does not know the meaning of the word.
DeleteThe question mark, a sign that our new contributor is unfamiliar with the concept of telling the truth.
.
DeleteHe did seem to project a bifurcated mind what with his choice of links and all.
Da boy/girl doesn't seem to know what he wants to say.
.
"A bifurcated mind is better than none."
DeleteWill Durant
This is Will's ghost speaking, in reference Jackrat, and sometimes Quirk too.
Do you understand now how the situation in Venezuela is due to the failings of the Napoleonic Code, Quirk?
Do you get even half of this profound theory?
bwabwabwahahahahahhahaha
By the way, Jackrat didn't know enough the other day to even put a question mark at the end of a question. But nobody made anything of it, it being expected.
Putin is one of the wealthiest men in the world. His "oil and gas" wealth is estimated at $40 Billion. That's the same oil and gas that flows through Ukraine in those EU bound pipelines. The same pipelines/gas that Ukraine has been troubling Russia over for years.
ReplyDeleteThis is all about "business." Putin's Business.
Now they are talking with Venezuela, Cuba again, Nicaragua.......
ReplyDeleteI like the Monroe Doctrine.
Then you will like the Monrovovich Dokrin
Farmer Bob has never understood the 'Goose and Gander Standard"
Deletebut he is coming around and beginning to appreciate the importance of a country's legal system upon their culture and societal norms.
Do not be to hard on him, his is making some progress.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAs long as the missiles to our south are only aimed at Philly and Phoenix I guess I have no problem with it.
DeleteI'd include Detroit but it has already been destroyed by the democrats.
Here's Will Durant, Jackrat's favorite, and only, philosophical source, on Jackrat and history -
Delete"History is mostly guessing; the rest is prejudice."
Will Durant
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/will_durant.html#aCCGtUReX2ppcgpO.99
Favorite philosopher after Jackrat's beloved Hegel, of course.
DeleteFrance 24:
ReplyDeleteUkraine’s newly appointed navy chief on Sunday announced he was switching sides, instead swearing allegiance to Crimea’s pro-Russia authorities.
Ukraine’s newly appointed navy chief, Denis Berezovsky, defects from his post and pledges allegiance with pro-Russian authorities in Crimea. Ukraine’s Security Council opens a criminal procedure against Berezovsky, accusing him of treason.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says his crisis-hit country is on the "brink of disaster", accusing Russia of making a “declaration of war”.
US Secretary of State John Kerry condemns Russia’s “incredible act of aggression” and warns of “very serious repercussions” from the United States and other countries, including sanctions to isolate Russia economically.
Britain and France follow the example of Canada and the US in suspending their involvement in the G8 preparatory meetings in Sochi, Russia.
Anti-war demonstrations are held in Kiev and several other Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine mobilises for war, calling up its reservists.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says his crisis-hit country is on the "brink of disaster", accusing Russia of making a “declaration of war”.
Hundreds of armed men on Sunday surrounded the Ukrainian military base at Perevalne, in the Crimea region. The vehicles carried Russian license plates and blocked Ukrainian soldiers from entering and leaving the base.
The "Vlad Doctrine"
DeleteDon't be fuckin' wit da Poot's Money.
Kerry Whines...
ReplyDeleteObama faces his own 'chicken Kiev' moment.......drudge
That last is really quite funny, as long as you don't live in the Ukraine.
O My Lord, I just got a secret communique from Quirk. It reads:
ReplyDelete"Bobbo, we are on the brink of disaster. I'm going in. Q"
I replied:
Delete"Where you goin', Quirk-O?"
He replied:
"Switzerland, to get my savings."
And a few minutes later:
Delete"Then to Argentina, with Maria."
The Issa Committee is going to grill Ms. Lerner on Wednesday in the House, but without immunity.
ReplyDeleteStill, this could be interesting. Maybe she'll point her middle finger towards Obammie.
Even the Hapless Jimmy Carter Wasn't This Bad
ReplyDeleteBy Jack Kelly - March 2, 2014
Email Print 358Comments
Leaders of other countries don’t respect President Barack Obama, said 53 percent of respondents in Gallup’s annual World Affairs poll, conducted Feb. 3-6. That only 53 percent of Americans think this is an indictment of the news media’s coverage of foreign affairs.
He would lead the world by “deed and example,” not try to “bully it into submission,” Sen. Barack Obama wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine in 2007.
In a major foreign policy speech in 2008, Mr. Obama said he would focus on “ending the war in Iraq responsibly; finishing the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban; securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states; achieving true energy security; and rebuilding our alliances to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
The key elements of his foreign policy were to be a “reset” of relations with Russia, and outreach to Muslims.
To symbolize “reset,” when they met in Geneva, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a red plastic button modeled on the “easy button” in the Staples ads.
“I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world,” Mr. Obama said in a much ballyhooed speech in Cairo in June, 2009.
No president has talked the talk so well, but walked the walk so badly.
The plastic button Ms. Clinton gave Mr. Lavrov was supposed to say “reset” in English and Russian. But “peregruzka” means “overcharged.” Relations went downhill from there.
To appease Russia, President Obama cancelled a ballistic missile defense treaty with Poland and the Czech Republic. But the more concessions he made, the more contempt with which he was treated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His Russian policy has been a total failure. But it hasn’t backfired as much as has Mr. Obama’s “outreach” to Muslims:
• Iran is closer than ever to a nuclear weapon. Mr. Obama weakened economic sanctions as a gesture of goodwill, so now the mullahs have the money to finish the job.
ReplyDelete• Saudi Arabia is so angered by Mr. Obama’s appeasement of Iran it refused a seat on the U.N. Security Council; so frightened by it the Saudis are talking quietly with the Israelis about joint military action.
• In what had been our foremost Arab ally, Egypt, the president’s dalliance with the Muslim Brotherhood has alienated both the military and the people.
• Mr. Obama waged war of dubious legality to oust Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, an evil, mean, nasty, rotten guy, but not, since 2005, a threat to the United States. (He gave up his nuclear weapons program because he was afraid what happened to Saddam Hussein might happen to him.)
In the chaotic aftermath, al-Qaida has established a stronghold there. An al-Qaida affiliate murdered U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
• Seventy percent of the 2,313 Americans killed in Afghanistan died after President Obama escalated the war. They died in vain. The Taliban is expected to take over when U.S. troops leave.
• The fighting in Iraq was over when Barack Obama took the oath of office. His inept diplomacy and premature withdrawal of all U.S. troops permitted an al-Qaida resurgence there.
• Worldwide, al-Qaida is as great a threat today as it was in 2001, the director of national intelligence told Congress last month.
• Peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians have gone nowhere, which is nothing new. But Barack Obama is the first U.S. president to lose the trust of both Israelis and Palestinians.
• More than 130,000 people have been killed in the civil war in Syria. President Obama threatened to intervene militarily on one side, then, after pressure from the Russians, in effect switched to the other, to the dismay of our European allies.
Because he so often has “led from behind,” blustered and retreated, our enemies don’t fear our president; our allies don’t trust him; neither do they respect him.
American influence has shrunk along with the president’s stature. During the crisis there, Ukraine’s defense minister refused to accept calls from our secretary of defense.
Not even the hapless Jimmy Carter made so big a mess. Relations have soured even with Canada, which is tired of being jerked around on the Keystone pipeline.
It’s time the news media noticed.
Jack Kelly is a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio.
Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/03/02/even_the_hapless_jimmy_carter_wasnt_this_bad_121779.html#ixzz2uqqB46It
Follow us: @RCP_Articles on Twitter
Sounds like the foreign policy of some of the deranged minds who post here.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteDo you understand now how the situation in Venezuela is due to the failings of the Napoleonic Code, Quirk?
No. No I don't.
.
Neither do I. No, neither do I.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI'm getting the distinct feeling the blog was being fed another line of bull shit.
DeleteFeelings, Farmer Bob, you are all about feelings, never about facts or data sets.
DeleteI have a 'feeling' you are lying about the cancer.
I know you lied about your wife being terminally ill.
I know you are ignorant.
I have a feeling everyone else knows the same thing.
Senate Republicans fillibustered another Veterans Jobs Bill, Friday.
ReplyDeleteAnd, the republican governor of Georgia has new healthcare idea. Close the Emergency Rooms to all w/o the cash, or insurance, on hand, to pay.
Yep, Alan Grayson had it right. The Republican Healthcare Plan for the working poor is: Die Quickly!
How're Obama's Death Panels ever going to do their job if those republican governors keep jumping in front of them, and beating them to the punch?
DeleteHere you go Farmer Bob, read this The Code Napoleon and the Common-law World: The Sesquicentennial Lectures
ReplyDeleteStart at Section 4, of page 59 then read to page 63.
When you have finished, with that, let me know, we will have an open book quiz.
When you pass the quiz, there will be another reading assignment.
Let me know when you are ready..
In the Persian Gulf Arab states of the Middle East, the influence of the Napoleonic Code mixed with hints of Islamic law is clear, even in Saudi Arabia (which abides more towards Islamic law). In Kuwait, for example, property rights, women's rights, and the education system can be seen as Islamic reenactments of the French civil code.
ReplyDeleteJust the simple, superficial shit at Wiki, but the Napoleonic Code dovetails, nicely with Islamic Law.
Must be why Farmer Bob is a fan of the Napoleonic Code and not a advocate of the superiority of Anglo-Saxon Common Law.
The next reading assignment, Farmer Bob ...
ReplyDeleteAnglo-American Jurisprudence and Latin America @
http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1512&context=ilj
Start on page 61 read through page 67, including the the footnotes, they are vital to an understanding of the issue.
Beyond page 67 the story moves to Europe and the challenges that they face there, based upon the basic premises that are codified in the Napoleonic Codes.
As stated, when you have read these BASIC primers, we will have an open book quiz.
DeleteWhen you can demonstrate a basic understanding of the primary issues, we will move on to more advance dissertations on the subject.
Until that occurs your comments on the subject of Napoleonic Codes and their effect of the societal and cultural mores of the countries that employ them will be considered "Feelings" and not worthy of further consideration.
Bwabwabwahahahahahahahahaha
DeleteYou stupid shit.
Just the simple, superficial shit at Wiki, but the Napoleonic Code dovetails, nicely with Islamic Law.
Anglo-American Jurisprudence and Latin America @
Go check out the CIA World Factbook.
DeleteSpanish Law - A type of civil law, often referred to as the Spanish Civil Code, it is the present legal system of Spain and is the basis of legal systems in 12 countries mostly in Central and South America, but also in southwestern Europe, northern and western Africa, and southeastern Asia. The Spanish Civil Code reflects a complex mixture of customary, Roman, Napoleonic, local, and modern codified law. The laws of the Visigoth invaders of Spain in the 5th to 7th centuries had the earliest major influence on Spanish legal system development. The Christian Reconquest of Spain in the 11th through 15th centuries witnessed the development of customary law, which combined canon (religious) and Roman law. During several centuries of Hapsburg and Bourbon rule, systematic recompilations of the existing national legal system were attempted, but these often conflicted with local and regional customary civil laws. Legal system development for most of the 19th century concentrated on formulating a national civil law system, which was finally enacted in 1889 as the Spanish Civil Code. Several sections of the code have been revised, the most recent of which are the penal code in 1989 and the judiciary code in 2001. The Spanish Civil Code separates public and private law. Public law includes constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law, process law, financial and tax law, and international public law. Private law includes civil law, commercial law, labor law, and international private law.
Venezuela civil law system based on the Spanish civil code
One can as easily argue that the legal system is Visigothic.
You dumb fuck.
And none of this has anything to do with current conditions in Venezuela.
One could just as easily call it the curse of the non nordic oil producing countries, if one wished.
You are an uncouth moron.
Look at his shit:
"Just the simple, superficial shit at Wiki, but the Napoleonic Code dovetails, nicely with Islamic Law.
Must be why Farmer Bob is a fan of the Napoleonic Code and not a advocate of the superiority of Anglo-Saxon Common Law."
What a bunch of obviously false SHIT.
bwabwabwahahahahahaha
If Deuce had the spunk he'd ban you forever for violating every one of his rules, serially.
Now I'm a fan of the Napoleonic Code cause it dovetails nicely with Islamic Law.
DeleteBWABWABWABWAHEHEHEHEHAHAHHAEHEHHAHAHEHAHHAHWEHHEEHAHHASEHHAHEHAHEHAHH\\\
S H I T
ROFLOL
Now I am farting, and giggling, I just can't help it.
I best go or I'll laugh myself to death.
g'nite
DeleteIf Deuce had the spunk he'd ban you forever for violating every one of his rules, serially, intentionally, with malice aforethought.
The only word I question in the above sentence is the word 'aforethought'. Anyone can scratch that word if they please and my meaning remains.
BobSun Feb 23, 10:56:00 PM EST
Delete"The argument that they are not native is amazing in light of the fact that neither are Europeans native."
Exactly.
Shoot the Arizonans as well, give the meat to the poor.
I used to argue endlessly with Quirk, jokingly maintaining that Cuba, for instance, would be better off if they'd have just kept the old Visigoth Laws, but he always said:
Delete"It wouldn't matter. There're all dicks."
Then he'd caress Maria.
We were always both heavily drinking at those times. And good times they were, too.
Maria would always coo and roll her eyes when he said 'they're all dicks'.
DeleteGenocide is not a laughing matter.
DeleteAdvocating it is not a joke.
Cannibalism is not funny, it is not humorous.
Neither is slavery, yet you defend the Slavers of India as well as advocating genocide of US residents.
Four million of US.
You advocate cannibalism as a welfare program.
If you think either of those subjects are funny or humorous, you are one sick puppy.
Which is in no way referencing your claims of suffering from cancer,
which are as viable as your claims your wife was terminally ill.
Farmer Bob, his only hope of winning a debate, censorship.
ReplyDeleteHe really is a fascist, at heart.
When at Deuce's, you play by Deuce's rules. Or should. And he should enforce them, and not allow you to continue to make a mockery of the place.
ReplyDeleteYou are an ape.
Goodnight.
BobSun Feb 23, 10:56:00 PM EST
Delete"The argument that they are not native is amazing in light of the fact that neither are Europeans native."
Exactly.
Shoot the Arizonans as well, give the meat to the poor.
When armr Bob completes his reading assignment, he will be given an open book quiz, based upon his answers we will continue the discussion of the Napoleonic Code and its effects on the cultures of the countries that utilize it. Kuwait, Egypt, Venezuela, Mexico and Cuba. To name just a few.
ReplyDeleteUntil then, his FEELINGS are of little matter to the discussion.
When FARMERr Bob completes his reading assignment, ...
ReplyDeleteBut,first, I was meaning to put up this - Spengler on the Ukraine -
ReplyDeleteUkraine Is Hopeless … but Not Serious
March 1st, 2014 - 4:54 pm
There isn’t going to be a war over Ukraine. There isn’t even going to be a crisis over Ukraine. We will perform our ritual war-dance and excoriate the Evil Emperor, and the result would be the same if we had sung “100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” on a road trip to Kalamazoo. Worry about something really scary, like Iran.
Ukraine isn’t a country: it’s a Frankenstein monster composed of pieces of dead empires, stitched together by Stalin. It has never had a government in the Western sense of the term after the collapse of the Soviet Union gave it independence, just the equivalent of the family offices for one predatory oligarch after another–including the “Gas Princess,” Yulia Tymoshenko. It has a per capital income of $3,300 per year, about the same as Egypt and Syria, and less than a tenth of the European average. The whole market capitalization of its stock exchange is worth less than the Disney Company. It’s a basket case that claims to need $35 billion to survive the next two years. Money talks and bullshit walks. Who wants to ask the American taxpayer for $35 billion for Ukraine, one of the most corrupt economies on earth? How about $5 billion? Secretary of State Kerry is talking about $1 billion in loan guarantees, and the Europeans are talking a similar amount. That’s not diplomacy. It’s a clown show.
Ukraine’s revolution is odd, even by recent standards. The deposed premier Viktor Yanukovych won the 2010 presidential election against Yulia Tymoshenko, after Tymoshenko’s “Orange Revolution” regime made a ghastly mess of everything. Yanukovich made matters worse. Clearly a lot of Ukrainians got together at Maidan square, ranging from democratic idealists to rent-a-mob demonstrators paid by Ukrainian oligarchs to the sort of hoodlums who think the other side should have won the Second World War. What sort of regime do we have now? As CNN reported Feb. 27, there is
Arseniy Yatseniuk, 39, named as Prime Minister and a practiced politician who has been the chief opposition voice at Maidan Square. While closely associated with former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko — who was freed from prison in the wake of last week’s protests — he can at least do business with the West and talk tough with hard-nosed IMF suits. A realist, on Wednesday he warned that the new government will need to invoke some very unpopular decisions, given the dire state of the economy. “We are a team of people with a suicide wish — welcome to hell,” he said.
Ukraine’s economy is close to Egypt’s in per capital GDP, and its governance is similar: desperately poor people can’t make it through the day without government subsidies, especially for energy. The oligarchs have looted the country so that it has to borrow money from foreigners to maintain the subsidies, leaving Ukraine with $137 billion in foreign debt, and a need to borrow an additional $20 billion a year. Putin offered just under $20 billion in cash and subsidies, and Yanukovych accepted his offer. The alternative was maybe $15 billion from the IMF provided that Ukraine cut subsidies first. Yanukovych, who is neither a Ukrainian patriot nor a Russian stooge, but a man on the make, decided he couldn’t sell the austerity package. That’s why he went with Russia. For the demonstrators at Maidan square, staying in the Russian orbit meant more of the same misery. Some of them decided they would rather die than live that way, which is perfectly understandable. But what precisely to they expect to get from the Europeans, let alone the U.S.? Finding $35 billion of taxpayers’ money has a vanishingly small probability.
DeletePutin bungled things badly: he thought a bailout would solve the problem. That blew up in his face. The West bungled things badly: it has a $35 billion bill on its desk and no intention of paying it. John McCain went to Maidan in December and said the American people were with the Ukrainian demonstrators. He meant in spirit, not in their capacity as taxpayers. The Ukrainian opposition didn’t bungle so much as take a collective bungee jump without a cord. Just what do they propose to do now?
As for the Crimea: Did anyone seriously think that Vladimir Putin would let the main port of Russia’s Black Sea fleet fall into unfriendly hands? Russia will take the Crimea, and the strategic consequences will be nil. We couldn’t have a strategic confrontation if we wanted it. How would we get troops or ships into the Black Sea area in the first place in order to have a confrontation? Perhaps the Belgiums will send in their army instead. I suppose we need to denounce the Russians for violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
What should we do (or what should we have done)? It’s obvious that the Ukrainians have no faith in their democratic institutions, having staged a coup against a democratically elected president. In that case, the next step is constitutional reform. The existing system has broken down and the people should choose a new one. But constitutional reform has to take into account the prospect of partition. Lviv and Sevastopol have about as much in common as, say, Bogota and Montreal. The West should encourage the Ukrainians to amend their democratic institutions in order to achieve a national consensus, which might mean a different sort of nation. If Crimea, for example, were to vote for partition, why object? If it voted against partition, that would put Putin on the spot. The West would have come off better by getting in front of the events rather than chasing them.
If the Ukrainians had any sense they'd adopt the Napoleonic Code.
DeleteFarmer Bob lies when he writes, he just can't help it.
DeleteSays he is leaving and then stays.
Always with some lame excuse for not living up to his word.
Usually the excuse has to do with his pissin' or shittin'.
And, I meant to put this up too, as I mentioned it before -
ReplyDeleteMarch 2, 2014
Darrell Issa: Lois Lerner has agreed to testify
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Darrell Issa revealed that Lois Lerner’s lawyers have indicated that she will testify before the committee, her previous claim of Fifth Amendment protections to the contrary notwithstanding.
“It’s going to be a good, fact-finding hearing,” he said.
Issa said he didn’t know why Lerner’s lawyers changed their mind, but suggested Lerner testifying was “in her best interest,” considering the recent evidence the committee had gathered.
This sounds as if evidence has been developed that might incriminate Lerner, and that she is angling for a grant of immunity or for reduced charges in return for cooperation. She potentially faces criminal prosecution, and doesn’t strike me as the sort of person who could handle prison very well.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed, but not let our hopes get too high. She is wily and no doubt has access to some pretty slick legal talent. There is a lot of power and influence that wants to insulate the president from culpability for politicization of the IRS. One of the impeachment charges against Nixon drawn up with the help of none other than Hillary Clinton was his alleged effort to use the IRS against his political enemies.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/03/darrell_issa_lois_lerner_has_agreed_to_testify.html
Deleteheh ,heh, heh.
Focus on Nigeria con't
ReplyDeleteNigeria: Muslim group murders at least 39 people in jihad attack on village
Robert Spencer Mar 2, 2014 at 3:05pm Nigeria 5 Comments
boko-haramThis is a different attack from the one I reported on yesterday evening. Clearly the jihadists in Nigeria can now operate with absolute impunity, and the government can’t do anything to stop them. Will the next step be out-and-out civil war, or will all of Nigeria descend into the darkness of Sharia?
“Nigeria violence: Many die as militants destroy village,” from the BBC, March 2 (thanks to King Dave):
Suspected militants have shot dead at least 39 people in an attack on a village in north-eastern Nigeria.
The attackers – believed to be from the Boko Haram group – destroyed the entire village of Mainok, about 50km (30 miles) west of the city of Maiduguri.
The incident took place late on Saturday, hours after two bomb blasts killed at least 50 people in Maiduguri.
Boko Haram has been conducting a four-year violent campaign to demand Islamic rule in northern Nigeria.
The morning after the latest attack, bodies were lying in front of the mosque waiting to be buried and buildings in Mainok were still on fire, the BBC’s Will Ross reports from Lagos.
An eyewitness described how the attack unfolded: “They started shooting everywhere, they started burning all the houses in the village.
“I don’t think that there is any house that is standing in the village and they have killed at least 39 people in the village.
“These people have guns – AK47, RPGs and so on and so forth, they can come and attack anybody and kill, including women and children, they kill everybody that can see them.”
Earlier two bombs exploded in a densely populated area of Maiduguri – a city which Boko Haram has often targeted.
Map showing Nigeria
The first bomb was concealed inside a truck full of wood. As people tried to rescue victims the second explosion occurred.
At the time many people were crowded in a video hall in the area watching football.
There was also a wedding nearby and many of the dead were children.
President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states last year in an attempt to curb the insurgency.
His critics say the move has been ineffective. Hardly a day goes by without reports of another deadly attack by militants, our correspondent says.
from Jihad Watch
DeleteHere you have islam in raw, doing what they so well love to do.
Again Farmer Bob is off topic and refuses to start a new thread for the new topic.
DeleteAgain he references a map and refuses to post it.
He just must not be smart enough to put up a thread of his own.
Yep, the lines on the map, in Africa, drawn by Europeons, they are just not workin' out.
Probably would have made more sense to let the Africans define the countries, in Africa, but colonial domination of that continent would not allow self determination.
The English created an 'artificial country, and Farmer Bob is shocked that it is falling apart, along the natural fault lines of geography and ethnicity. So he blames the easiest example of that divide, which is religion, and casts the blame there. Ignoring the root cause of the conflict, Colonialism by Europeons, which set up the artificial country, in the first place.
Look at what Churchill had to do, to secure Kenya, for domination by white supremacists from England.
Detentions without trial, murder, torture, concentration camps. All in the name of King and Country.
Same story in South Africa, but there the English use the techniques against white folk.
.
Same story in South Africa, but there the English USED the techniques against white folk.
DeleteOf one thing I am proud:
ReplyDeleteI remember clearly asking the (relatively) innocent question:
"What went Wrong in Venezuela?"
From which flowed this highly informative interchange of ideas, false queries, and personal insults.
What more could I have done?
This year's Oscars also generated the most re-tweeted post ever, as host Ellen Degeneres' selfie -- snapped in the crowd with Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Jared Leto, Nyong'o and Lawrence -- was shared more than 2 million times, crushing previous record-holder President Barack Obama's tweet after he won the 2012 election (it drew about 780,000 retweets).
ReplyDeleteMan, I wish I had all the Napalm we dropped on Vietnam...
The question of what, when and where I would deploy it, needs no exposition or explanation.
I get nauseous looking at pictures of those self-congratulatory worthless sacks of disgusting "human" Debris.
Delete...lifetimes "lived" (squandered) in the pursuit of fame, fortune and CELEBRITY.
DeleteYou asked for it, you got it, ASSHOLES.
One single drunk like Richard Burton puts you all to shame.
Or a genius like Dreyfus, politics be damned.
Maybe I'll get lucky and live to see the day Ellen Degeneres becomes the second, AND MOST FAMOUS, Caterpillar Girl, crusading for some impossible to imagine reward for Narcissistic Worthless C... Lesbos around the World.
DeleteI will now puke my guts out and get back to some USEFUL work forming yet another Napoleonic Class Turd in my rectum.
DeleteA shot of Ellen re-creating that shot in Vietnam of the pistol and the blown out brains...
DeleteA guy can dream, can't he?
Angelina Jolie: The most overrated "beauty" that ever mounted a stage.
Deleteyuk, and double yuk.
Gotta go:
Time for my fat injection to puff up my fuckable puffy lips, and purge off some calories to maintain my skeletal beauty.
...it's the least I can do to "give back."
A picture is obviously worth a thousand words once I get a hold of it.
DeleteVideo, sorry.
DeleteMaybe I'll watch.
Or not.
Oscar Selfie- Ellen DeGeneres Poses With Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o in Epic Photo
DeleteUPDATED: The photo has set a record for most retweets and features Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Lupita Nyong'o, Kevin Spacey and Jared Leto.
EPIC, Dude, for real.
NOT
...and the stupid old bitch with the most Oscars ever surrounded by a collective IQ of 9.
DeleteYuk and quadruple yuk.
I'd rather see Putin Topless.
Delete"NATO: EUROPE'S PEACE AT RISK OVER UKRAINE..."
ReplyDeleteCan anyone here explain to me how that follows?
Are the few remaining men in France going to join the Foreign Legion?
ReplyDelete