[BartSimpson]

CNN at noon reports that the US has sent a destroyer into the Black Sea.

No link from CNN but here's one from 'Zaman':

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-341427- ... elles.html

[BRAH]

Gunnair Gunnair:

BRAH BRAH:

Russia owns Crimea so it's lost and all this chest pounding from Western Leaders doesn't phase Putin at all because Europe is Russia's Bitch and the United States under Barry's leadership doesn't have the balls to do anything except draw a line everyone eventually crosses.

Russia hardly owns it, but they are trying to bluff with the sabre rattling. Unfortunately, we don't have someone in the west to rattle a sabre back to see how committed Putin is to this.

Russia's sabre rattling is all they need because no Western leader will stand up to them with the threat of military force so what's left is sanctions and Putin brushes those threats off because he respects power more than anything else which means he owns Crimea.

[BRAH]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

funny

The same could apply to Libya, John Kerry is a Boob!

[BRAH]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

BRAH BRAH:

Russia owns Crimea so it's lost and all this chest pounding from Western Leaders doesn't phase Putin at all because Europe is Russia's Bitch and the United States under Barry's leadership doesn't have the balls to do anything except draw a line everyone eventually crosses.

Well we know what side you're on then, comrade.

[Zipperfish]

BRAH BRAH:

[Zipperfish]

I heard if you exacerbate too much, you'll go blind.

[Jabberwalker]

saturn_656 saturn_656:

http://navaltoday.com/2014/03/06/russia-sinks-ship-to-block-ukrainian-navy-ships/

$1:

Russian Navy Ochakov Kara-class cruiser was sunk last night to block the Ukrainian Navy ships deployed in Novoozerne, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence said in a press release today.

The information was confirmed by the Ukrainian military of the South Naval Base who were observing the operation.
The RF ships blocking the Ukrainian ships in Donuzlav lake in the Crimea left the zone at 23.30 p.m. (March 5).
Then, the Russian military towed their ship Ochakov to the navigating channel and filled her with water. Then, there was an explosion. The depth in this area is 9-11 m, it is possible now to observe the upper part of the ship. Therefore, the ships cannot leave the Donuzlav lake. It is needed a lot of time and costs to refloat this ship, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense
Ochakov was stationed in the Russian Black Sea Fleet as of 2011, however it has not been operational since the early 2000.
In 1961 the Donuzlav Lake was connected to the Black Sea by inlet, in fact turning the lake into the bay of the Black Sea. It is the largest lake of Donuzlav Tarhankut group of lakes and the deepest lake in the Crimea and in Europe.

Did it sink on its own or did Crazy Ivan pull the plug?

[Gunnair]

BRAH BRAH:

Gunnair Gunnair:

BRAH BRAH:

Russia owns Crimea so it's lost and all this chest pounding from Western Leaders doesn't phase Putin at all because Europe is Russia's Bitch and the United States under Barry's leadership doesn't have the balls to do anything except draw a line everyone eventually crosses.

Russia hardly owns it, but they are trying to bluff with the sabre rattling. Unfortunately, we don't have someone in the west to rattle a sabre back to see how committed Putin is to this.

Russia's sabre rattling is all they need because no Western leader will stand up to them with the threat of military force so what's left is sanctions and Putin brushes those threats off because he respects power more than anything else which means he owns Crimea.

Pretty much paraphrased what I just posted.

[Freakinoldguy]

Maybe, but I heard that if you only do it long enough for your palms to turn hairy it's okay.

[BartSimpson]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

Did it sink on its own or did Crazy Ivan pull the plug?

Ivan blew the bottom out of it and broke her back to make sure it won't be easily removed.

I guess I really don't understand why this hasn't gotten more intense. This is no longer talking about 'acts of war' - this is war. Just that it's only one side doing the fighting so far.

[andyt]

All this bullshit about sabre rattling. Putin knew very well we would not go to war over Crimea, no more than we did Hungary or Czechoslovakia no matter who the president was. Even at the height of US power it couldn't control the whole world.

As for sanctions, they take time to develop and really only work with a united front. I don't think the EU is at all united behind this - they wanted to tempt the Ukraine but didn't think about consequences.

Supposedly we have a glut of natural gas in North America (among other places) Maybe we could build a pipeline east instead of west and send our dirty oil to Europe. Then, if they were serious about stopping Russia they could tell it to get lost with their energy. I doubt the Europeans are willing to pay for what that would cost them tho, and how much are we willing to reduce the price of our oil and gas to support Europe if they decide to take on Russia. We have lots of saber rattlers on this forum - any willing to send cheap oil and gas to Europe so they don't need the Russian stuff, can have an embargo that has some teeth?

[Jabberwalker]

As for sanctions, they take time to develop and really only work with a united front. I don't think the EU is at all united behind this - they wanted to tempt the Ukraine but didn't think about consequences.

Apparently, Russia is Germany's largest trading partner (something that I sure didn't know) so the Europeans are less than thrilled because of the economic consequences of acting against Russia ... never mind the energy blackmail issue.

[ShepherdsDog]

We could send andyt.....he seems to be a unending source of methane.

[BRAH]

Putin mocks the West and threatens to turn off gas supplies
Russian leader says does not want 'new cold war' but threatens to disrupt European gas supplies

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10684333/Putin-mocks-the-West-and-threatens-to-turn-off-gas-supplies.html
__

Europe is Putin's Bitch, good luck trying to get them to take a stand against him.

[Canadian_Mind]

Poland has been coming up a lot lately, but I never got the gist of why. Why exactly is Poland so much more vocal and concerned than the rest of the west, and what is their issue with Ukraine. I heard someone mention somewhere that Poland may be moving troops into western Ukraine???