Comments on: Putin’s problems persist.

By: ER

ER — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 23:58:00 +0000

I suspect that same thought may have crossed Putin’s mind. I’m sure he has political rivals who are taking very careful note at what can only be seen as a failure of his foreign policy. Ukraine was already closely allied and connected to Russia in many ways. Putin’s insistence on having it all his way now threatens him with losing the whole thing, and his only recourse, sending in the tanks, will be a propaganda disaster for him, even in the unlikely event it succeeds militarily. Ukraine is a big country, populated, advanced and rich–and armed to the teeth. It will be no pushover like Georgia or Chechnya.

And don’t forget, we did invade Cuba, and waged a nasty little covert war against Nicaragua. Isn’t that just a little bit “out-of-control”?

Of course, that was during the Cold War, but there’s a lot of nostalgia for that conflict, both here and in the old USSR.

Foreign enemies, both real and imagined, are a time-tested way of diverting attention away from foreign policy failures, or just plain bad luck.

By: FrankC

FrankC — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 23:13:34 +0000

but Ukraine is larger than any of those countries and Ukraine is as bonded to Russia as Canada is to the US.

We were not happy about the examples you cited but we didn’t spin out of control. Canada would be a far more bitter pill to swallow, as will the Ukraine for Russia if it works out that way.

I suspect that the party in power would not be re-elected if we lost Canada as our closest ally.

By: ER

ER — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 20:27:44 +0000

Or Cuba and Russia,
or
Nicaragua and Cuba.

By: FrankC

FrankC — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 20:07:50 +0000

Can you imagine Canada getting in our face and threatening to form a trade pact with Russia.

His popularity in Russia in trending down but is still over 50%.