Crisis in the Ukraine

Yeah, it's really unfortunate when a leader in Congress decides to freelance on foreign policy.

 

Assad's thumb looks like a toilet handle.

 

Sounds like Obama has Putin right where he wants him:

Right now, Putin retains his familiar strut and disdain. His opposition at home is on tenterhooks, fearing a comprehensive crackdown, and the West, which dreams of his coöperation in Syria and Iran, is reluctant to press him too hard. But it may be that his adventure in Crimea—and not the American Embassy in Moscow—will undo him. Last month, a Kremlin-sponsored poll showed that seventy-three per cent of Russians opposed interfering in the political confrontations in Kiev. The Kremlin has proved since that it has the means, and the media, to gin up support for Putin’s folly—but that won’t last indefinitely.

In other words, Putin risks alienating himself not only from the West and Ukraine, to say nothing of the global economy he dearly wants to join, but from Russia itself. His dreams of staying in office until 2024, of being the most formidable state-builder in Russian history since Peter the Great, may yet founder on the peninsula of Crimea.

 

So should Obama.

 

He must be undefeated in thumb wrestling.

 

All you have to do is jiggle it to win.

 

Our government was founded on the rule of law.
It took centuries, from the Magna Carta on thru the Age of Reason, to develop the idea of self-rule and the structure for the rule of law.
Today's liberals and 'Progressives' claim to be of that bent, but they are not.
They are not sons of the Enlightenment,
they are not safe depositories of liberty,
they are not on the right side of freedom.
They are a menace to those very ideals.

 

Looks like an old curling injury.

 

Give Papa Fart a hug, fool.

 

That thumb may be why Asma Al Assad is smiling.

 

He gave his "answer," but he didn't answer anything. His point was that increased spending due to Iraq and Afghanistan meant the reduction really wasn't as bad as it sounded. I pointed out the cuts were to pre-WWII levels. Should the board try to state things a little more simplistic for you? Who are you, by the way? Why the new handle?

 

More than anything else, I’m here to say this to the Ukrainian people: Ukraine, as it continues on the path to freedom, democracy, and prosperity, the United States will stand by Ukraine. These are your choices, not ours. But rest assured that we stand with you as you make those choices.

The Obama administration will not waver in its support of a strong and independent Ukraine. Charting the future course of Ukraine is, of course, a decision to be made by all of you, not by anyone outside.

Based on my discussions yesterday with the bulk of your political leadership, we want for Ukraine what it appears Ukrainians want for themselves -- a democratic and prosperous European nation.

My visit to Kyiv comes soon after President Obama’s visit to Moscow.

As a matter of fact, they were planned simultaneously. And I know there was some speculation that our decision, as I said in a speech in Munich at the front-end of our administration -- to press the reset button with Moscow -- I know it created some speculations that improving relations with Russia would somehow threaten our ties with Ukraine.

Let me say this as clearly as I can. As we reset the relationship with Russia, we reaffirm our commitment to an independent Ukraine.

And we recognize no sphere of influence, or no ability of any other nation to veto the choices an independent nation makes as to with whom and under what conditions they will associate. We also do not believe in zero-sum thinking. We do not believe that a partnership with one nation must come at the expense of another. It has not. It does not, and it will not.

Joe Biden, July 22, 2009, Kyiv Ukraine

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-Vice-President-Biden-In-Ukraine