Ukraine: military (Aug '14 to mid-June '15) closed

[OUTLAW 09]

Put the blanket in a dryer and run it at full heat for a little while. No more flea. If you have no dryer, boil a bucket of water and toss the blanket in. Been there, done that, both ways.

A "solution" in the Ukraine is a lot harder, and I'm not at all sure there is one, at least not in any sure or reliable sense. The current program of focusing on economic repercussions, gradually escalating them, and hoping Russia's economic elite can be hurt badly enough to pressure Putin is hardly ideal, but it has the advantage of being reasonably practical.

Despite many hundreds of posts, I'm not sure what solution you'd propose either. Enlighten us, perhaps?

Dayuhan---ah someone who understands fleas.

Obama summed it up in the last couple of days outside of oil/gas as a second rate developing country who has nuclear weapons so just really what is the need of Russia for the rest of the global market place and or global political arena? Think about it for a moment if Russia did not have nuclear weapons would we be really all that concerned?

If you really look at it from that perspective then understanding what to do is easy---what is difficult is understanding who to deal with inside the former and still Soviet Union.

http://en.delfi.lt/central-eastern-e...d1407158104477

I have written here often that they are four general legs of power---the following is a far better discussion of the inside groups that control the former Soviet Union ---the West really needs to understand them in light of what is going on in the Crimea and Ukraine.

Both you and AP had not done me the favor of going back and reading thoroughly the new Russian nuclear doctrine since 2012 and then looking intently at their INF violations and tell me Russia has a sane nuclear policy as stated since 2012?

Once in agreement that 1) Russia is a second rate developing country and 2) has developed some rather strange nuclear strike thoughts then we can discuss what should be done.

I am all for far more financial sanctions ie cutting all abilities to get short term credit lines of 90 days are less and cutting the ability to deal in investment quality bonds issued by Russian companies and sovereign fund bonds as a start.

The latest round of sanctions has hurt regardless of what Putin is telling his population and the Russia western sanctions are a farce---especially when they are stopping items like fruit, milk, pork and chicken which is now in short supply across all of Russia driving prices higher for the average Russian, and the bank sanctions have driven private credit interest to now 22%.