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.
The US has one glaring problem, and it is energy dependence on other nations. We are an easy nation to cripple where energy is concerned. We consume a lot of it, and produce entirely too little domestically. The Putin vs EU thing is solved in a few minutes if the US is a net exporter of energy, specifically to NATO nations. It weakens the only real power that Putin has. But we declared war on cheap energy 5 years ago, and well, here we are. Only a few hundred pundits have said the same thing, and the peaceful, easy solution for Ukraine is the US going all drill baby drill. Thing is, who matters more to the DNC - Ukraine, or the enviro-nazi voting bloc of America?
China and Russia are both way more energy independent than the US. That actually matters...a lot. They also don't need 10 years of committees and new bureaucracies to make more energy. If they want more, they just go do it, kind of like we used to back in the 30s-40s. We built the Pentagon in 18 months. Now, it would take 10 years if it took a day.
So Russia has chips in play that we cannot easily weaken, and they are far more capable of waiting out an extended siege. Russia's economy is dependent on exporting oil, preferably for more than $100 a barrel, but the EU and US economies are dependent on IMPORTING that oil, and Russia is better friends and owns more oil right leases with the world's oil exporters than the US or EU. Same with China. What oil rights exist in the Middle East that aren't owned by the host nation are owned by Russia or China. And it is still a petrochemical driven world folks.
And not for nothing, but China owns the rare earth metal market, and between Russia's alliance with them and Kazhakstan, Russia sits in the cat bird seat for energy independence, 25% of the world's uranium, and a whole bunch of oil leases in informal alliance territory.
China more energy independent than the U.S.? lol Also the US us the world's largest natural gas producer and is have a natural gas boom.
^^^ We also have a huge reserve. Even with absolutely no import at all and no internal production, the country could go on being somewhat comfortable for 2 years.
We also have a lot of smart people making sure nothing disastrous could happen in regard to our supplies and resources. I'm not saying this as an Obama supporter. I would say the same thing with any other leader in charge (Romney, McCain, Palin, etc.).
My engineering firm has some of the brightest engineers I've ever known in my life. I'm sure the government has some very smart people on top of these things.
Russia may seem to be a joke but it now controls the Crimea and there is nothing any other country can do about it. Besides the people that live there seem to like their new political situation. I see no reason to make a fuss about a phony border set up a long time ago. I suggest we simply continue on as nothing significant has happened. We should not threaten or sanction Russia in any way over this event. BTW: RUSSIA is not and never has been a joke.
Russia may seem to be a joke but it now controls the Crimea and there is nothing any other country can do about it. Besides the people that live there seem to like their new political situation. I see no reason to make a fuss about a phony border set up a long time ago. I suggest we simply continue on as nothing significant has happened. We should not threaten or sanction Russia in any way over this event. BTW: RUSSIA is not and never has been a joke.
Crimea might welcome the Russians but a lot of the Ukrainian people want, would you welcome a race of people responsible for starving to death 7.5 million of your people back in the 1930's. Many Ukrainians detest the Russians and Crimea is not representative of Ukraine as a whole.
If Russia does any more invading it might face the prospect of resistance and long term terrorism and Ukraine is a lot bigger than tiny Chechnya and Dagestan.
But this is clearly a regional issue between EU and Russia has to power in the region. Clearly its not what people want in governing. Basically Ukraine overthrew the existing government and Crimea rejected the new government put in place by EU faction. Seems to me that the people in Crimea region where never part of Ukraine or rejecting the former government.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.