[credit: Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune]
Wackdoodle sez: And the Eurolites have none!
And we are not talking age-induced flatulence here. Czar Vladimir knows how to play the resource card, and it is the reason concerted western financial sanctions will eventually fail to convince Russia to give up Crimea which the Kremlin sees as essentially its own territory notwithstanding its sixty-year assignment to a former Soviet republic. Putin, a genuine despot as well as judo master expert in the use of leverage, is determined to restore the global influence of the former superpower, or as he terms it, Russian glory. The violent overthrow of a friendly elected government in Kiev gave him an opening. His bold move to reaffix the peninsula by force is proving popular with his people as the referendum in Crimea demonstrated. The West is left expostulating over legalities while the Ukrainian military in Crimea is disarmed or withdrawn, hopefully without much bloodshed.
[credit: Gary Varvel, Indianapolis Star]
It is clear from his speech to both houses of the Duma at the Kremlin on March 18th, Vladimir Putin is becoming increasingly frustrated with what he considers the West's unwillingness to treat Russia as a full partner in international relations. He pointedly accused the West of deceit: "they [the West] have lied to us many times, made decisions behind our backs, placed us before an accomplished fact. This happen with NATO's expansion to the east, as well as the deployment of military infrastructure [missile defense] at our boarders." Paradoxically, President Putin reminded freedom-loving Americans to respect the expression of free choice by the majority of Crimeans to return to the Russian fold. Perhaps more important to remember is that Putin controls a vast resource-rich country with the means, military and financial, to act decisively. Sadly, it seems the world is in for another period of Cold War between East and West.