Quote:
Originally Posted by Ponderosa
Oh my goodness. You all have really bit into the apple here. Putin has made a mistake. After riding high as Mr. Hospitality on Sochi, he invaded another country. He will gain nothing he would not have otherwise or could have achieved through peaceful negotiation at the expense of billions in lost wealth for his oligarchs, loss of esteem around the world (well maybe not with dim-witted nutters in the US), a Europe that no longer trusts him at all and will cleave to the west even more. Western Ukraine and the adjacent countries, especially, will detest and distrust Russia for generations. And you think he is so smart. Oh my goodness.
|
I love watching Obama zealots base success on how popular and well liked you are. Invading Ukraine is not about popularity, it's about a) land control and b) pushing limits and boundaries and seeing the result. Backing Assad was similar. Putin is testing the world, who mostly look to the US for an answer on what to do next, and finding out he can pretty much do whatever he wants. Russia has a military, it produces oil, it owns leases where a lot of oil is made, and it supplies half the bad guy world with money/arms/material. Putin wants as much of the old USSR back as he can get, and he's working on that plan.
And in his own country, Putin is wildly popular, and with a timid world that won't dare sass him, fear is far better than esteem and popularity. He has fear on side, in spades. The US is an afterthought, and Obama is not a leader anyone in the world, even a majority of Americans, takes seriously.
Europe doesn't need to trust him, because fearing him is so much more advantageous. And Germany is Europe at this point, so if Merkel doesn't care about Putin, and we know Xi Jinping is still on his side over in the east, well, being Vladimir Putin right now is a pretty good thing.
You crack me up with the world outside the media addicted US giving a rat's patootie about esteem and popularity. Only in America is loss of popularity even a remote concern.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
