Crisis in the Ukraine

The cuts were already voted on, passed and signed into law.

They were part of the sequester. Defense spending is now capped, and would require Congressional authorization to exceed that cap.

 

I agree with the trimdown but, politically, it could be very risky for some this November. There isn't a Presidential race at the top of the ballot to provide political cover for some incumbents.

 

Former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia, Albania and Bulgaria offers an explanation:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/zolotoff/posts/10106118138787714

 

Unlike our idiotic foreign affairs minister, this guy seems to know what he's talking about.

 

Right, because President Obama always worries about Congressional authorization before acting on anything. That is the biggest load of crap I have ever seen.

 

I appreciate his objective point of view and feel more informed for it.

Remember though, who was in charge of the US's foreign policy during those key events that he writes about? Hmmmmmm.... (Yet the failure is on the Obama administration?)

 

Shhh, we're not allowed to talk about the past.

 

Yeah, it might trash Hillary's prospects.

 

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced new military operations in several regions near the Ukrainian border on Thursday, even as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany warned the Kremlin to abandon the politics of the 19th and 20th centuries or face diplomatic and economic retaliation from a united Europe.

In Moscow, the military acknowledged significant operations involving armored and airborne troops in the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions abutting eastern Ukraine, where many ethnic Russians have protested against the new interim government in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, and appealed to Moscow for protection.

A day after a deputy minister denied any military buildup on the border, the Defense Ministry released a series of statements beginning early Thursday that appeared to contradict that. They outlined what was described as intensive training of units involving artillery batteries, assault helicopters and at least 10,000 soldiers.

The operations confirmed, at least in part, assertions by Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday that Russia was massing forces, as well as amateur photographs that appeared to show columns of armored vehicles and trucks in a border village called Lopan, only 30 miles from the Ukrainian city Kharkov. One statement announced that another 1,500 paratroopers from Ivanovo, east of Moscow, had parachuted onto a military base in Rostov, not far from the Ukrainian cities Donetsk and Lugansk.

nyti.ms/1hfnTdx

 

I would love to see video of those 1,500 Elvises, err, paratroopers.

The games we play, and will always continue to play.

 

As badly as the Crazy Putin wants to do this, the Shrewd Putin is going to blink because he knows sanctions will destroy Russia's economy and him along with it.

 

The key to any negotiation is knowing who has the leverage, and when you have the leverage, you take advantage of it.

Now, maybe Putin doesn't have the leverage in this situation, but he seems to think he does. It may not turn out well for him, but I'm not sure he's going to blink.