Putin Can't Stop

[Muzh]

Read this. It's from this gentle soul, God rest his soul, David Brooks. Among pundits, he is a lamb among hungry wolves. Anyway, here is his compelling argument why we should kick the living shit out of Putin and Co.

Putin Can’t Stop

Even cynics like to feel moral. Even hard-eyed men who play power politics need to feel that their efforts are part of a great historic mission. So as he has been throwing his weight around the world, Vladimir Putin has been careful to quote Russian philosophers from the 19th and 20th centuries like Nikolai Berdyaev, Vladimir Solovyov and Ivan Ilyin.

Putin doesn’t only quote these guys; he wants others to read them. As Maria Snegovaya pointed out recently in The Washington Post, the Kremlin recently assigned three philosophic books to regional governors: Berdyaev’s “The Philosophy of Inequality,” Solovyov’s “Justification of the Good” and Ilyin’s “Our Tasks.”

Putin was personally involved in getting Ilyin’s remains re-buried back in Russian soil. In 2009, Putin went to consecrate the grave himself. The event sent him into a nationalistic fervor. “It’s a crime when someone only begins talking about the separation of Russia and the Ukraine,” he said on that day.

To enter into the world of Putin’s favorite philosophers is to enter a world full of melodrama, mysticism and grandiose eschatological visions. “We trust and are confident that the hour will come when Russia will rise from disintegration and humiliation and begin an epoch of new development and greatness,” Ilyin wrote.

Three great ideas run through this work. The first is Russian exceptionalism: the idea that Russia has its own unique spiritual status and purpose. The second is devotion to the Orthodox faith. The third is belief in autocracy. Mashed together, these philosophers point to a Russia that is a quasi-theocratic nationalist autocracy destined to play a culminating role on the world stage.

These philosophers often argued that the rationalistic, materialistic West was corrupting the organic spiritual purity of Russia. “The West exported this anti-Christian virus to Russia,” Ilyin wrote, “Having lost our bond with God and the Christian tradition, mankind has been morally blinded, gripped by materialism, irrationalism and nihilism.”

You can hear echoes of this moralistic strain in Putin’s own speeches, especially when he defends his regime’s attitude toward gays and the role of women. Citing Berdyaev, he talks about defending traditional values to ward off moral chaos. He says he is defending the distinction between good and evil, which has been lost in the outside world.

Most important, these philosophers had epic visions of Russia’s role in the world. Solovyov argued that because Russia is located between the Catholic West and the non-Christian East, it has a historic mission to lead the way to human unification. Russia would transcend secularism and atheism and create a unified spiritual kingdom. “The Russian messianic conception,” Berdyaev wrote, “always exalted Russia as a country that would help to solve the problems of humanity.”

Russia is frequently seen as a besieged fortress. The West is thought to be rotten to the core and weak yet so powerful that it can be blamed for everything that goes wrong. Russia has immeasurable spiritual potential yet is forever plagued by a lack of self-respect, lack of self-assertion and unmet potential.

In his 1948 essay, “What Dismemberment of Russia Entails for the World,” Ilyin describes the Russian people as the “core of everything European-Asian and, therefore, of universal equilibrium.” Yet the West, he argues, is trying to “divide the united Russian broom into twigs to break these twigs one by one.” The West is driven by “a plan of hatred and lust for power.”

All of this adds up to a highly charged and assertive messianic ideology. If Putin took it all literally, he’d be a Russian ayatollah. Up until now, he hasn’t taken it literally. His regime has used this nationalism to mobilize public opinion and to explain itself to itself. But it has tamped down every time this nationalistic ideology threatens to upend the status quo.

The danger is that Russia is now involved in a dispute in Ukraine that touches and activates the very core of this touchy messianism. The tiger of quasi-religious nationalism, which Putin has been riding, may now take control. That would make it very hard for Putin to stop in this conflict where rational calculus would tell him to stop. Up until now, we have not been in a Huntingtonian conflict of civilizations with Russia. But with passions aroused and philosophic zealotry at full boil, it may temporarily appear that we are.

The implication for Western policymakers is that we may not be dealing with a “normal” regime, which can be manipulated by economic and diplomatic carrots and sticks. Threatening to take away inclusion in the Group of 8 or freeze some assets may become irrelevant because the Russian regime will have moved up to a different level. The Russian nation may be motivated by a deep, creedal ideology that has been wafting through the culture for centuries and has now found an unlikely, cynical and cold-eyed host.

NY Times

[Muzh]

Interesting. These two probably got together fro breakfast and compared notes.
 
The dangers of the Putin Doctrine

by Alexander J. Motyl  March 5, 2014
 
The international community must stop Russia’s president from destabilizing world order
 
In occupying Ukraine’s southernmost province, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin has simultaneously invaded a neighboring country that poses no security threat to Russia, unilaterally declared that he has a carte blanche to invade any country with a Russian population and even invited rogue states to develop nuclear weapons.
 
This new Putin Doctrine threatens to undermine the entire global order. His insistence that he is entitled to violate international law for the pursuit of his own ends is nothing less than a megalomaniacal claim that could, if implemented systematically, produce a world war.
 
Putin justified his invasion of democratic Ukraine on two counts. First, he claimed that Russians were being threatened by Ukrainian extremists and that their lives were in danger. There is no shred of evidence of such a threat. Quite to the contrary, Ukraine’s Russians have repeatedly stated that they do not need Putin’s protection. Indeed, even Putin’s own Human Rights Council concluded on March 2 that there “were no victims and wounded among the civilian population and soldiers” of Crimea.
 
Perhaps because the grounds for an intervention were preposterous, Russia then argued on March 3 that it intervened because Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s former president, requested that it do so. Russia continues to recognize Yanukovich, even though he lost all his legitimacy in the course of four years of mercilessly exploiting Ukraine and its population (the Ukrainian Treasury is empty, and the country is bankrupt, thanks to Yanukovich), committed crimes against humanity during the mass violence against the demonstrators in Kiev (almost 100 civilians were killed) and abandoned his office when he fled the country.
 
Even more destabilizing than the invasion of Crimea was Putin’s claim that he had the right to march into “the territory of Ukraine” in defense of Russian citizens. Here’s the entire statement of his request to Russia’s Council of the Federation, which immediately granted him his wishes:
 
In connection with the extraordinary situation that has developed in Ukraine and the threat to citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots, the personnel of the military contingent of the Russian Federation Armed Forces deployed on the territory of Ukraine (Autonomous Republic of Crimea) in accordance with international agreement; pursuant to Article 102.1 (d) of the constitution of the Russian Federation, I hereby appeal to the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of  Ukraine until the social and political situation in that country is normalized. (emphasis added)

The logic at the base of this extraordinary claim, which stands in violation of every international norm, enables Putin to invade not just Ukraine but any state with a Russian population. And since it is up to Putin to define a “threat” to Russians and to determine when the “situation” is “normalized,” he has in effect given himself a carte blanche to send troops to Georgia (where he intervened in 2008 on behalf of South Ossetia and Abkhazia), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan — in other words, into any country of the former Soviet space. Small wonder that Estonian officials have reacted with special alarm. They know their country, with a Russian population that accounts for almost a third of the total population, could easily be next.
 
   Finally, by invading and occupying Ukraine, in violation of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, Putin has signaled to rogue states with nuclear ambitions that they are free to develop them in violation of international norms. In that agreement, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for guarantees of its territorial integrity by the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia. By violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Russia has effectively denounced the Budapest Memorandum and its broader message that the nuclear powers will protect states that willfully disarm. As a result, there is no reason that a rogue states with nuclear aspirations should take the threats or assurances of nuclear states seriously.
 
The Putin Doctrine places Russia and Russia’s interests above those of the international community and world peace. In effect, it has transformed Putin’s Russia into a rogue state that should be treated accordingly. Every state near or bordering Russia must recognize that its security and integrity could be on the line if Putin gets away with his assault on Ukraine. By the same token, the international community must recognize that the structure of international relations could collapse if Putin succeeds. If the international community fails to act, it will be inviting further expansion, further aggression, and quite possibly war — by Russia and by states emboldened by Putin’s impudence. Russia’s violations of the international order should be of particular concern to the post-colonial states of Africa and Asia, which, like Ukraine, suffered decades of imperial rule and understand quite well the importance — as well as the fragility — of internationally accepted principles of nonaggression, sovereignty and inviolability of borders.
 
Although the Security Council cannot take forceful measures due to the certainty of a Russian veto, the United Nations General Assembly has the authority to act. As Humboldt University’s Christian Tomuschat points out:
 
On 3 November 1950, the General Assembly adopted resolution 377 A (V), which was given the title “Uniting for Peace” … The most important part of resolution 377 A (V) is section A which states that where the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, the General Assembly shall seize itself of the matter … To date, 10 emergency special sessions have been convened. The first one took place on the occasion of the 1956 war between Israel and Egypt and the British-French attack on the Suez Canal zone; the 10th emergency special session, dealing with the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, started in 1997 and has not yet come to its end …

As Tomuschat notes, the resolution empowers Third World states:
 
The seventh emergency special session on Palestine (1980–1982) was in fact initiated by Senegal, the eighth emergency special session on Namibia (1981) goes back to a request by Zimbabwe, and the 10th emergency special session was solicited by Qatar as the chair of the Group of Arab States at the United Nations. It stands to reason that in such instances the overwhelming weight of Third World countries can manifest itself to its full extent.

In other words, the international community need not sit idly on the sidelines and watch Putin destroy the foundations of international order. It can consider taking important measures within the U.N. framework to stop Russian aggression before the crisis leads to war in Ukraine, resulting in thousands of dead, and before Russian land grabs in the former Soviet republics destabilize Eurasia.

Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J. 

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera America's editorial policy.
 
Al Jazeera

[jone]

Just curious.

Do you consider Ukraine as a 3rd World State?

[Muzh]

Just curious.

Do you consider Ukraine as a 3rd World State?

At the moment? Yes.

[Gator]

When Mitt Romney stated in the Presidential campaign that Russia was America's most dangerous threat, many ignored if not scoffed him.

Personally I don't see what Putin can do other than make life miserable for his neighbors and freeze Europeans.  The latter is not good for the Russian economy.

I have sympathy for Ukrainians because Putin IMO will not relinquish Crimea.  Then the world will return to normal.

 

[krimster2]

bitch slap Putin

shut down South stream  pipe-line to Bulgaria for “technical and environmental concerns”
cost to Russia about  about 15 billion Euros plus lost revenue

shut down the North stream  pipe-line to Germany for “technical and environmental concerns” cost to Russia about 15 billion Euros plus lost revenue

kick GazProm USA out of Houston, Texas - cost to Russia 2 billion dollar gas export plus liquification plants

confiscate all Russian Oligarch bank accounts in Cyprus, Switzerland, Austria, and elsewhere (this will soon be done for Yanukovych and cronies) ,seize oligarch owned real estate in Europe cost to Russia, 10‘s of billions euros, cancel visas to oligarch’s and children, wahhhh!!

Western Europe to launch emergency gas conservation program to reduce consumption by 25%, USA to start massive LNG production/shipping to Europe

Ukraine to be given full membership status in NATO, begins military build-up with Western weapons. 

USA to scrap SALT-II agreement with Russia, since any treaty with Russia isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, begins deployment of MX missile and midgetman missile, Pershing II and new Pershing III missiles based in Poland, Hungary, Latvia/Lithuania/Estonia, Czech/Slovak Republics, and yes Ukraine

Ban shipments of technical goods like computers, etc. to Russia, China steps in, but this backfires as USA now moves production back home

moy dva kopec

[Misha]

USA to start massive LNG production/shipping to Europe

At the moment, LNG shipping facilities are being built in Canada with plans to shop natural gas to Europe. Even before this, Europe was moving towards guaranteeing other sources of NG and recent events will only accelerate this process.

[krimster2]

yes, there's a massive new gas field in the black sea owned by Romania, Europe/USA should move heaven and earth to get this into production ASAP, in addition two super huge deposits in the Mediterranean owned by Cyprus and Israel, we need a Manhattan program to rapidly develop this and just kick out GazProm, starve the beast, forgot to mention that Gazprom retail and marketing has offices all over Europe besides USA, all these "Moscow University" graduates who did post-graduate studies at Lubayanka need to return home...

I also wonder if the new gas leases given to Western companies by Ukraine have had something to do with what happened, if what was discovered in Romania is any indication, Ukraine would be a net exporter, but if Crimea belongs to Russia now, I guess so do the gas fields...

[Shadow]

Europe is selling 400 billion per year to Russian. The USA is selling 30 billion a year. So yeah, the USA can easily sever all ties, Euope has a bit larger issue.

And outside the big cites like Moscow and St PEtersburg all of Russia is self-sufficient and will not notice any trade sanctions.

However when China and Russia would unite to cahs the US bonds they posses there might be a bit of an issue....

[lordtiberius]

Read this. It's from this gentle soul, God rest his soul, David Brooks. Among pundits, he is a lamb among hungry wolves. Anyway, here is his compelling argument why we should kick the living shit out of Putin and Co.

Putin Can’t Stop

Even cynics like to feel moral. Even hard-eyed men who play power politics need to feel that their efforts are part of a great historic mission. So as he has been throwing his weight around the world, Vladimir Putin has been careful to quote Russian philosophers from the 19th and 20th centuries like Nikolai Berdyaev, Vladimir Solovyov and Ivan Ilyin.

Putin doesn’t only quote these guys; he wants others to read them. As Maria Snegovaya pointed out recently in The Washington Post, the Kremlin recently assigned three philosophic books to regional governors: Berdyaev’s “The Philosophy of Inequality,” Solovyov’s “Justification of the Good” and Ilyin’s “Our Tasks.”

Putin was personally involved in getting Ilyin’s remains re-buried back in Russian soil. In 2009, Putin went to consecrate the grave himself. The event sent him into a nationalistic fervor. “It’s a crime when someone only begins talking about the separation of Russia and the Ukraine,” he said on that day.

To enter into the world of Putin’s favorite philosophers is to enter a world full of melodrama, mysticism and grandiose eschatological visions. “We trust and are confident that the hour will come when Russia will rise from disintegration and humiliation and begin an epoch of new development and greatness,” Ilyin wrote.

Three great ideas run through this work. The first is Russian exceptionalism: the idea that Russia has its own unique spiritual status and purpose. The second is devotion to the Orthodox faith. The third is belief in autocracy. Mashed together, these philosophers point to a Russia that is a quasi-theocratic nationalist autocracy destined to play a culminating role on the world stage.

These philosophers often argued that the rationalistic, materialistic West was corrupting the organic spiritual purity of Russia. “The West exported this anti-Christian virus to Russia,” Ilyin wrote, “Having lost our bond with God and the Christian tradition, mankind has been morally blinded, gripped by materialism, irrationalism and nihilism.”

You can hear echoes of this moralistic strain in Putin’s own speeches, especially when he defends his regime’s attitude toward gays and the role of women. Citing Berdyaev, he talks about defending traditional values to ward off moral chaos. He says he is defending the distinction between good and evil, which has been lost in the outside world.

Most important, these philosophers had epic visions of Russia’s role in the world. Solovyov argued that because Russia is located between the Catholic West and the non-Christian East, it has a historic mission to lead the way to human unification. Russia would transcend secularism and atheism and create a unified spiritual kingdom. “The Russian messianic conception,” Berdyaev wrote, “always exalted Russia as a country that would help to solve the problems of humanity.”

Russia is frequently seen as a besieged fortress. The West is thought to be rotten to the core and weak yet so powerful that it can be blamed for everything that goes wrong. Russia has immeasurable spiritual potential yet is forever plagued by a lack of self-respect, lack of self-assertion and unmet potential.

In his 1948 essay, “What Dismemberment of Russia Entails for the World,” Ilyin describes the Russian people as the “core of everything European-Asian and, therefore, of universal equilibrium.” Yet the West, he argues, is trying to “divide the united Russian broom into twigs to break these twigs one by one.” The West is driven by “a plan of hatred and lust for power.”

All of this adds up to a highly charged and assertive messianic ideology. If Putin took it all literally, he’d be a Russian ayatollah. Up until now, he hasn’t taken it literally. His regime has used this nationalism to mobilize public opinion and to explain itself to itself. But it has tamped down every time this nationalistic ideology threatens to upend the status quo.

The danger is that Russia is now involved in a dispute in Ukraine that touches and activates the very core of this touchy messianism. The tiger of quasi-religious nationalism, which Putin has been riding, may now take control. That would make it very hard for Putin to stop in this conflict where rational calculus would tell him to stop. Up until now, we have not been in a Huntingtonian conflict of civilizations with Russia. But with passions aroused and philosophic zealotry at full boil, it may temporarily appear that we are.

The implication for Western policymakers is that we may not be dealing with a “normal” regime, which can be manipulated by economic and diplomatic carrots and sticks. Threatening to take away inclusion in the Group of 8 or freeze some assets may become irrelevant because the Russian regime will have moved up to a different level. The Russian nation may be motivated by a deep, creedal ideology that has been wafting through the culture for centuries and has now found an unlikely, cynical and cold-eyed host.

NY Times

This is a worthwhile read if you want to understand Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.  My own opinion is while the "I hate America" crowd on this forum is quick to point out the hypocrisy of the greatest nation on earth, I just wish they would apply the same scrutiny to themselves and others namely their patron saint - the ever so peaceful and ever so democratic  Vladimir Vladimirovich.  This man claims to be religious but was it not the Soviet  Union who declared war on religion and co-opted the Russian Orthodox Church?  The Russian Orthodox Church were couriers for the KGB and FSB.    So this idea Russia as the new Holy Land and Putin as the new Aytollah deserves some scrutiny.

We also know that a graveyard lines this path to the corridors of Russian power.  But as the litany of victims is a bit morose for some and though I myself am not free from sin, I just ask you reader that if you are going to accept the premise that    Vladimir Vladimirovich is as Dan Akroyd would say "on a mission from God," shouldn't our missionary man try to be holy?



We can stop him now or later, but that we must stop him, there is no doubt.

[Muzh]

Europe is selling 400 billion per year to Russian. The USA is selling 30 billion a year. So yeah, the USA can easily sever all ties, Euope has a bit larger issue.

And outside the big cites like Moscow and St PEtersburg all of Russia is self-sufficient and will not notice any trade sanctions.

However when China and Russia would unite to cahs the US bonds they posses there might be a bit of an issue....

Now you are showing a bit of ignorance here.
 
If China would cash their US bonds, it is China who would hurt itself. The US knows this.
 
The Chinese are not very good at capitalist take-all. Sure they have lots of money. Sure they have a trade surplus. Now, what would happen if the US cannot buy their shit anymore if the Chinese cash their US bonds. Who are they going to sell their shit? Themselves?
 
Get your books and start reading.

[Misha]

And outside the big cites like Moscow and St PEtersburg all of Russia is self-sufficient and will not notice any trade sanctions.

This would certainly not apply to most of Russians that I know in rural Russia. They too want their trips to Turkey, buy foreign cars or foreign made skidoos... They can survive as they did in the past, but they too want a better life.

[ML]

However when China and Russia would unite to cash the US bonds they posses there might be a bit of an issue....

You do realize that USA has the option to default on the bonds that China and Russia are holding . . . and they would certainly do it if under duress from an enemy.

[JohnDearGreen]

[JohnDearGreen]

Pro Ukraine rally in Simferopol

[JohnDearGreen]

[lordtiberius]

Pro Ukraine rally in Simferopol

A powerful piece, I don't understand why more people don't comment on it on this forum.  Maybe everyone is turtle-ling up - abandoning their conscience for cynicism, what do people really believe in anymore?  It's not justice or truth or the American way.  What the blue blazes is it?

Whatever it is I don't want to be part of it.

If you are cold or even lukewarm after watching this, I don't want to know you - because you are the problem - not these people on either side - you are the problem - the indifferent observer who needs to keep his curiosity entertained.

[lordtiberius]

scum

[lonedrake]

A powerful piece, I don't understand why more people don't comment on it on this forum.

It was just average. The video you showed after that was much more upsetting. But you know what? There are literally thousands of other videos from around the world that are more upsetting than that one.

What do you want us to do? What can we do?

I have always said talk is cheap. What are you doing other than talking?

Now truth be told....I am hoping YOU will go over and eliminate one man.

I am going to do nothing other than listen to and support my wife. My advice for you is to concentrate on your new marriage. You do not have the ability to be a leader....you are to emotional and wear your heart on your sleeve. You need to work on your ability to understand others have differing viewpoints and try to find common ground. Your current method is not working.


This is not meant to be a cheap shot. You have many great qualities that I respect,(honest,passionate,good morals,proudly served our country, etc) but you need to work on your delivery.

Now if you don't want to know me or others that differ from your beliefs.....that is your right......but I would think about it.

[lordtiberius]

It was just average. The video you showed after that was much more upsetting.

So far two people died in that attack.  It was Akhemtov's province.  Think anything is going to happen?

But you know what?  There are literally thousands of other videos from around the world that are more upsetting than that one. 

Post them!  Show me the money.

What do you want us to do?

If you want an excuse to do nothing, do what your conscience will allow.

What can we do? 

There's literally a million things you could do - most of it is not very hard - a lot of it you can do on your spare time.  Most of which JayH and JohnDearGreen are doing.  If you are really interested in having this discussion, I am willing to have it with you online or offline but not until you are really honest with yourself because you are blaming me for your own inaction.  Number 1, I did not start this crisis, but I did predict it.  I predicted that Euromaidan would become a revolution, that Yanukovych's days were numbered and that Crimea would be next.  I am telling you the invasion is coming in days not weeks.  The operation will go very well and then very badly for Russia and that Putin will leave Ukraine in disgrace and with his head on a platter.  Jone said that if Putin fails, he will share Mussolini's fate.  Right now the biggest thing you can do for yourself is map out an evacuation plan for your wife's immediate family to Lviv and the Polish border or Slovak border.  The second thing you can do is convince the Russian spouses that Putin is an evil madman and that it is in their interest too to stop this man.  That is the only way this crisis ends is with Putin's ouster hopefully by his own people and God forbid not with foreign troops because the man has nuclear weapons (though how capable his arsenal is - it is an open question.)

I have always said talk is cheap. What are you doing other than talking?

Talk is all Churchill did eventually people listened to him.  The best thing you can do - and the most effective thing you can do is pray.  I am told Putin is a religious man.  I doubt it by the way he treats his enemies.  But maybe the Almighty will change his heart.

Now truth be told....I am hoping YOU will go over and eliminate one man.

You are not the first person to ask me to kill myself.  I doubt you will be the last.

I am going to do nothing other than listen to and support my wife. My advice for you is to concentrate on your new marriage. You do not have the ability to be a leader....you are to emotional and wear your heart on your sleeve. You need to work on your ability to understand others have differing viewpoints and try to find common ground. Your current method is not working.

I thank you for your opinion.  But how can you lead people who always questioning you, doubting you saying hurtful things about you, lying about you.  You read the Bible and you read about the prophets and the great heroes.  When the people did not listen, the faithlessness, doubt and immorality  discredited the prophets.  Did the prophets turn  tyrannical or wrathful?  No, they continued to advocate the cause of the Lord and waited for the Lord to validate their position.  The Bablyonians enslaved Israel in much the same way.  Sometimes the cause is hopeless, but the hope against hope is that the few listen - that few survives and becomes a new generation of leaders that restores the fortunes of the nation.  I have very little hope that those listening here will become plaster saints.  But I do believe in miracles.  Maybe God will surprise me.  But either way, I will serve the Lord.

The Lord requires you to say and do and think the harder right over the easier wrong.  The Lord requires us to help the good people defeat the bad people.  The Lord has given us freedom and wealth not for us to lord over others or hoard it for yourselves.  Most of us work hard but few of us deserve to be or through any of their own efforts were born free.  By the God's good fortune we were born in the West and free, we have an obligation to share in that life with those that want it.

This is not meant to be a cheap shot. You have many great qualities that I respect,(honest,passionate,good morals,proudly served our country, etc) but you need to work on your delivery.

It was not meant to be a cheap shot, but let's be fair.  It's what it was.  I could easily lie about how hunky doory my life is and that me and my sweety cover up our problems with vacations but that's not reality.  The reality is that its work and a lot of the time it sucks and believe me if I could do it all over again different I would.  I use to worry and be afraid all the time about what happens but Jesus tells us three times not to worry so that's exactly what I am going to do.  If I am a fool for love, so be it.  It's better to be a blasted fool for love than to not to love at all.  In this day and age people are fools for a lot less.

Now if you don't want to know me or others that differ from your beliefs.....that is your right......but I would think about it.

You think about it.  These are the times that try men's souls.  The world needs strong men - good men.  It doesn't need milktoasts, never evers and ninnies.  If you respect my service, like you say you do, then you should treat me with respect.  If you can't do that, then you should be an even better stronger and even more articulate leader, because right now you are an ankle biter and the world has glut on those.

[lonedrake]

You are not the first person to ask me to kill myself.

That is not what I said or meant.



You have your beliefs and I have mine. I have no desire to get into an endless debate with you.....it is highly unlikely either one of us will change our minds.

[lordtiberius]

We agree that we want a peaceful and free Ukraine and no war with Russia.  Instead of nitpicking my personal flaws, I suggest you do one thing.  Speak up!  You don't have to be Bartleby the Scrivener to know that saying 'no' is actually a big deal.

[lonedrake]

We agree that we want a peaceful and free Ukraine and no war with Russia.

Yes.

How we /they achieve this is the difficult part. I don't have the answers.

[JayH]

We agree that we want a peaceful and free Ukraine and no war with Russia.  Instead of nitpicking my personal flaws, I suggest you do one thing.  Speak up!  You don't have to be Bartleby the Scrivener to know that saying 'no' is actually a big deal.

LT-different people have their own diferent ways of handling this crisis--you need to appreciate that.There can be a lot of reasons any individual may have -- so please make more allowance for that.

Yes.

How we /they achieve this is the difficult part. I don't have the answers.

Unfortunately none of us do-we can only hope and do what we can.
I have previously suggested a course of action-- I stand by that. A bully needs to be confronted-- and made to understand he is on a losing course-that is the only way to handle Putin. To turn and try and walk away will guarantee a punch in the back of the head.

[lordtiberius]

From BHO

Response to We the People Petition on Sanctions and Ukraine
 
 Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Ukraine with us through We the People.
 
 The people of Ukraine have the right to define their own
 future -- peacefully and in an atmosphere of stability. The
 United States stands with them, as we have for 22 years.
 
 The President has signed an Executive Order that allows
 the Secretary of the Treasury to impose sanctions on
 individuals and entities responsible for activities
 undermining democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine;
 threatening the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or
 territorial integrity of Ukraine; misappropriating state
 assets of Ukraine; or asserting governmental authority over
 any part of Ukraine without authorization from the Ukrainian
 government in Kyiv.
 
 In addition, pursuant to the President's guidance,
 the State Department is imposing visa restrictions on a
 number of officials and individuals, to deny visas to those
 responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty
 and territorial integrity of Ukraine. This new step stands
 in addition to the policy already implemented to deny visas
 to those involved in human rights abuses related to
 political oppression in Ukraine.
 
 We welcome your interest on Ukrainian issues: there is a
 lot of talk about Ukraine these days, and not all of what
 we're seeing reported is accurate. To continue this
 conversation on the United States' engagement with
 Ukraine, please visit the website of the Embassy of the United States in
 Kyiv, follow them on Facebook, or check out the Twitter feed of Geoffrey Pyatt,
 the United States Ambassador to Ukraine.
 
 Tell us what you think about this
 response and We the People.
 
 Stay Connected
 
 Stay connected to the White
 House by signing up for periodic email updates
 from President Obama and other senior administration
 officials.
 

This monster we call Putin did not develop overnight.  Others nourished and protected his evil nature to flourish.  If you will not stand with us in extinguishing this enemy to freedom will you at least acknowledge your complicity in his crimes?  To do nothing is to enable tyranny.