Except that the Russians have boots on the ground. The Yanks have Obama trying to sound tough.
It’s a NATO border. That one will be defended if needs be.
Are people worried in Poland balbec? Whats the general view of things?
Silence and cunning
Uneasy.
Giving the weekend that was in it I picked up this book on the Crimean war on Saturday.
I will soon be expert in the politics of the region and will be happy to field all questions. My greatest fear at the the moment is that the whole thing will have passed by the time I’m finished.
Bit of a climb down from Putin overnight as troop exercises have been cancelled.
However some minister said Russia would default on all debts to the US & EU if any sanctions went ahead.
Putin giving a press conference to some select Russian journalists at the moment. Be interesting to see what he says.
It seems at the moment that they’ve taken the Crimea and will leave it at that for now. Putin is definitely something to be worried about.
Enda has spoken. He believes the situation in Ukraine is “dangerous” and that it “should be solved with diplomacy before it destroys the economies of Europe and beyond”.
Finally, the voice of reason 
id love to to get Vladimir Putin to post on here, his standard of Wumming is superb
impact of what is happening will be medium/longer term
Europe cannot rely on energy supply from Russia so needs an alternative. Putin’s actions now will see that accelerated.
Will Europe start to arm itself independently of the USA as it becomes clearer that US and European interests are not always aligned.
I suspect this will be solved for now but will result in policy shifts that play out over the next decade. Japan and China will also be watching with interest as to what the US does here - if US weak here then will that encourage China to be bolder and result in Japan thinking they too need to have military force independent of the USA to protect interests
It’s not about the Ukranian navy or Ukranian military capability in general. It’s about NATO. For the Russians, NATO presence in Ukraine is utterly unacceptable. That’s about as high a priority as they could have from a security perspective.
Bush starts wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and everybody moans.
Obama avoids getting involved in wars against Syria and Russia and everybody moans.
The lesson to be learned from all this is: when the US is at war they shouldn’t be at war, and when they’re not at war they should be at war.
Looks like we’re not going to get any war. Just a bit more bluster from both sides but I reckon there won’t be a single missile fired. :mad:
Could still be a bit of craic if they put sanctions in place.
Vlad the Imposter
Harmless stuff really, putting the Putin back in to Rasputin
Putin Out!
Who’s putin out?
Your Ma
Putin is not in the Ra.
That’s why he’s not called Rasputin.
That standoff today in Belbek was fucking epic.Fair play to the Russians for not allowing themselves to buckle under what was clearly a deliberate and planned provocation. That Russian commander will be getting a medal from Putin for keeping the peace:clap:
[quote=“TreatyStones, post: 911821, member: 1786”]Putin Out!
Who’s putin out?
Your Ma[/quote]
My one was snappier