credit: Michael Ramirez, Investors Business Daily
Wackydoodle sez: His next trick is gettin' his head out!
According to President Putin the Ukrainian crackdown has not yet reached "the acute stage" despite five pro-Russian separatists killed in gun battles with Ukrainian government forces at Sloviansk. The key point is that Moscow does not recognize the Kiev government as legitimate, so anything it does to restore order using the army is in Moscow's opinion, criminal. US economic sanctions, which are only lukewarmly supported by western Europe, are not going to stop Mr. Putin at the border if he thinks ethnic Russians are facing a pogrom of sorts at the hands of the corporatist-infiltrated Kiev government. Foreign Minister Lavrov made it clear during an English interview with FT that Moscow expects the Kiev leadership to clear out buildings in Maidan Square still held by fascist extremists, not just those held by Russian separatists in the east which he maintained Russia does not control. Of course the US propaganda campaign accuses President Putin of engaging in "fantasy" over who is responsible for destabilizing eastern Ukraine. The only fantasy involved in this ideological confrontation is the denial of US responsibility for encouraging corporatists in Kiev. Continued support of the separatists could get expensive for Russian elites however. The Micex Index has fallen 10% since the crisis began.
credit: Mark Streeter, Savannah Morning News
'BC' Idonwanna sez: Russian bear poops where it can and then drinks de wine!
What worries US Person more than the war of words is the potential for use of nuclear weapons if the situation escalates and gets truly out of control. Both sides maintain tactical nuclear weapons in the region. The US has about 200 non-strategic nuclear weapons in Europe and Russia about 2,000 non-strategic nuclear weapons in its active arsenal. According to the RAND Corporation which is paid handsomely to know these things, Russian military doctrine relies on the option of using tactical nuclear weapons to offset the western advantage in modern conventional weaponry. Russian doctrine also envisions using nuclear weapons to de-escalate a European conflict. Sizable deployment of conventional US forces in the Baltic, Poland, or even western Ukraine in response to a Russian incursion in the east could provoke an unintended and disastrous response from Moscow. During the Cuban Crisis a blockading US Navy warship was almost fired upon by a Russian submarine with a nuclear tipped torpedo. Fortunately for the rest of the world the Russian captain's order was countermanded by the vessel's political officer who awaited directives from the Kremlin that never came. Destruction of the US ship would have certainly triggered a nuclear holocaust. It appears that the Current Occupant is making the same mistake interpreting Russian resolve to protect what President Putin views as legitimate security interests that the previous administration made when it encouraged Georgian officials to crackdown on separatists in South Ossetia. The bear's teeth are no fantasy.