BO is perceived as being weak, so.....

Right. Exactly. He saw GW do it.

 

Well we here in the UK might well have a answer to our own energy need for some time to come

http://www.newscientist.com/article...ale-gas-will-tempt-frackers.html#.U0hpPFVdWDs

 

What the frack?

 

It's back!
The time out is over?

 

Yes, apparently it has returned...

 

Now that Russia looks like they are trying to again expand their control even more, I will repeat my questions.

 

Putin will continue to exploit BO's weakness...

 

I guess that pretty much means he can do as he pleases.

 

Putin bailed BO out of the jam he created for us in Syria, now the question is who will step up & help us with Putin? Only 3 things can happen:
1) Putin is allowed to continue his takeover of Eastern Europe
2) Someone steps up to take the lead who Putin takes seriously & he capitulates
3) We go to war

Considering the corner BO has painted us into, none of these scenarios plays out to our advantage.

 

Again, our interest in the Ukraine is what? Unless you think we should be the world's policemen. I don't.

 

I don't give a damn about Ukraine, really. What if...and it's looking likely...Putin continues to march across Eastern Europe?

 

I don't know how you can even make that statement with a straight face. How exactly does it look like Putin, using your words, ...What if...and it's looking likely...Putin continues to march across Eastern Europe?
Has he made statements to that effect? Has he stationed troops on the border of Eastern Europe? What exactly makes it look "likely" to you?

 

Yeah, I guess you're right, Putin has absolutely no desire to rebuild the former Soviet Union. All he ever cared about was Crimea, right? That is what you believe, right?

 

So you have no actual knowledge of Putin's intentions but you'll use your lack of any real knowledge whatsoever as a justification to criticize the Obama Administration's actions in spite of actually knowing nothing? Hey, I'm convinced. Let's nuke 'em.

If you thought about Putin for even one second, you'd know that he has a lot to lose if he were to try and rebuild the Soviet empire. You have to know that Putin would never attack a NATO country. He knows what that would get him. If Putin actually was that crazy, his own people would hang him in the red square.

 

I know how much you guys HATE diplomatic solutions when we have perfectly good weapons to use.... But!

Russia: Agreement On Steps To Calm Tensions In Ukraine

| by JOHN HEILPRIN and LARA JAKES
Posted: 04/17/2014 12:25 pm EDT Updated: 04/17/2014 2:59 pm EDT



GENEVA (AP) — Top diplomats from the United States, European Union, Russia and Ukraine reached agreement after marathon talks Thursday on immediate steps to ease the crisis in Ukraine.
Reached after seven hours of negotiation, the agreement does not set out specific directions for Ukraine's future, but it requires all sides to halt any violence, intimidation or provocative actions. It calls for the disarming of all illegally armed groups and for control of buildings seized by pro-Russian separatists to be turned back to authorities.
The agreement puts on hold — for now at least — additional economic sanctions the West had prepared to impose on Russia if the talks were fruitless. That will ease international pressure both on Moscow and nervous European Union nations that depend on Russia for their energy.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the deal the result of a "good day's work" but emphasized that the words on paper must be followed by concrete actions. He said he had warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Moscow would soon feel the brunt of new sanctions should it not follow through on its commitments under the agreement.
"It is important that these words are translated immediately into actions," Kerry said at a news briefing. "None of us leaves here with a sense that the job is done because of words on a paper."
He added that if Moscow does not abide by the agreement, something that would be clear in the coming days, "we will have no choice but to impose further costs on Russia."
The agreement gives amnesty to protesters who comply with the demands, except those found guilty of capital crimes. It says Kiev's plans to reform its constitution and transfer more power from the central government to regional authorities must be inclusive, transparent and accountable — including through the creation of a broad national dialogue.

Monitors with the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe will be tasked with helping Ukraine authorities and local communities comply with the requirements outlined in the agreement.
Speaking at a separate news conference, Lavrov said the OSCE mission "should play a leading role" moving forward.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the U.S. and its European allies for having what he called a double standard concerning Ukraine and said he hoped he would not have to deploy troops to Ukraine.
But he also seemed to keep the door open for Russia to recognize Ukraine's presidential election set for May 25, softening his previous demand that it must be postponed until the fall and preceded by a referendum on broader powers for the regions.
Andrii Deshchytsia, Ukraine's foreign minister, said the "joint efforts to launch the de-escalation ... will be a test for Russia to show that it is really willing to have stability in this region."
Ukraine was hoping to use the Geneva talks — the first of their kind over the crisis that threatens the new government in Kiev — to placate Russia and calm hostilities with its neighbor even as the U.S. prepared a new round of sanctions to punish Moscow for what it regards as fomenting unrest.
Russia had honed a strategy of its own: Push the West as far as possible without provoking crippling sanctions against its own financial and energy sectors or a military confrontation with NATO.
In a television appearance in Moscow on Thursday, Putin denied claims that Russian special forces were provoking unrest in eastern Ukraine. He called the Ukrainian government's effort to quash the unrest a "crime."
In Washington, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the U.S. would send non-lethal assistance to Ukraine's military in light of what he called Russia's ongoing destabilizing actions there. He told a Pentagon news conference that the military assistance to Ukraine will include medical supplies, helmets, water purification units and power generators.
Ukraine has asked for military assistance from the U.S., a request that was believed to include lethal aid such as weapons and ammunition. Obama administration officials have said they were not actively considering lethal assistance for fear it could escalate an already tense situation.
The U.S. has already sent Ukraine other assistance, such as pre-packaged meals for its military.
In Brussels, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the military alliance would increase its presence in Eastern Europe, including flying more sorties over the Baltic region west of Ukraine and deploying allied warships to the Baltic Sea and the eastern Mediterranean. NATO's supreme commander in Europe, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, told reporters that ground forces also could be involved at some point, but he gave no details.
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace, AP National Security Writer Robert Burns and AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington, AP Writer Lori Hinnant in Paris and AP Television News Senior Producer Ed Brown in Geneva contributed to this report.

 

How's that "diplomatic solution" coming along, Little Joe? (Hint: The caption to the photo is 'CRISIS in Ukraine" if that will help you answer my question).

View attachment 2505



http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/02/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/

 

To be fair, Little Joe, I suppose it depends on what your definition of "diplomatic solution" is... is.

View attachment 2506

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/05/02/gunfire-blasts-in-insurgent-held-ukraine-city/

 

Are suggesting we go to war in Ukraine?

 

Are you saying that dozens of people dead and a country on the brink of hostilities is a "diplomatic solution"?

 

Or maybe he is just suggesting how badly Obama has F'ed the situation up.