Quote: (07-18-2014 01:13 AM)Maciano Wrote:
Quote: (07-17-2014 08:28 PM)Big Nilla Wrote:
Quote: (07-17-2014 08:19 PM)Carlos100 Wrote:
Quote: (07-17-2014 07:01 PM)Big Nilla Wrote:
Quote: (07-17-2014 06:53 PM)Carlos100 Wrote:
If it's true that the separatists claimed responsibility then quickly retracted it, then that's fairly incriminating. If so, that kind of pulls the rug out from under Putin if he was hoping for a moral high-ground reason to provide more overt assistance to the separatists. Unless they really screw up, I think Kiev may have just won this thing.
I don't think it fundamentally changes anything.
It gives the West justification for escalated involvement and makes it harder for Russia to justify their involvement if the separatists are culpable.
Yep, I understand. But I don't think it will change anything on the ground. We'll see. Things on the ground can change fast. However, Kiev is certainly a long way off in regards to winning even though they appear to have the separatists boxed into a little corner.
The problem the USA has is Europe wants no part of this (justifiably).
Of course it changes everything.
Putin can't maintain or build alliances now. He'll be isolated. EU, US & UN will be all furious -- deservedly -- and tell their sanctions were morally just, even step it up. The result will be that Putin will be more isolated, he already had little maneuvering space with US & Germany picking the other side. Countries like China & India won't want to offend western euro countries over this.
300 innocent people isn't an accident like any other.
No, doesn't really change things on the ground or the fact Russia will still defend it's interests. All it may chance is the tactics with how Russia defends itself against encroachment.
The west likes to pump out the propaganda about Russia being isolated from the rest of the world, but I'm not seeing it. It's superficial. The rest of the world can see through the US propaganda and agitation. They understand Russia does have a legitimate interest in Ukraine that is being encroached on by the USA. Most are afraid to confront the USA on it now, but once it collapses you'll see how few friends the USA truly has. And the collapse isn't far off. Russia just needs to hang in there a little while longer. Russians are much better equipped at suffering than Americans and Euros.
Besides, any real sanctions will boomerang back on the west; mainly Europe. Plus Russia can simply do little stunts to agitate oil higher which will hurt the west while helping Russia.
Putin is patiently trying to pull Europe away from the USA's suicidal foreign policies (for Russia and Europe's benefit), but he's pivoting towards Asia since he can't trust continental Europe to do the right thing right now in the face of Anglo-American pressure. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it.
The American govt/elites are great and masterful bullies with friends and foes, but that's starting to come to an end thanks mainly to Putin and the arrogance on how the USA is treating (manipulating) it's allies (France/Germany/Bulgaria just to name a few countries with recent banking issues / fines courtesy of the good ol' USA).
The US dollar as the reserve currency is on life support and now the IMF will have a BRICs bank as competition. The US is desperate which is why they're pushing the pace on chaos around the world.