Ever notice that when an "international incident" pops up, the level of outrage in the US media ...

[Scuba]

... is in direct proportion to the oil and mineral reserves in the country in question?

Bonus question: How come McCain and his warmongering buddies don't advocate we invade North Korea?

[Warpy]

1. I hate it when they try to gin up a war

We're already nearly broke on the ones they already got because the last guy in office was stupid.

[malaise]

2. LOL but what is funny is how folks say what's coming from Russia is propaganda

It's freaking hilarious - these neo-con hacks are bawling for war.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Considering that Ukraine doesn't have significant oil reserves, not really?

I find it much more interesting and disappointing that so many on this forum are prepared to accept the Russian framing of the situation (what happened in Ukraine was a "Western-backed coup" by "right-wingers&quot and also to accept Putin's excuse for Crimean intervention ("protecting the rights and interests of the ethnic Russians"; apparently a lot of people here would have been okay with Germany annexing the Sudetenland).

I also haven't seen anyone advocating for US military involvement in the situation.

[sadoldgirl]

5. I don't really understand you

Who in the world wants war?? Let me tell you that I just spoke with relatives in Germany, and that is the last thing they want. None of the European countries want a military intervention, threat,or involvement. The Baltic states may want a bit stronger presence of Nato, which is understandable. Britain does not even want any economic interruption. Nato will be very loud, but if it does anything it will do so with extreme caution. Naturally the western part of the Ukraine would love some help, but the eastern part is quite happy to stick with Russia. All we can hope for is an avoidance of a civil war.

[Scuba]

6. ...

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/612921/Ukraine/30105/Resources-and-power

Ukraine has extremely rich and complementary mineral resources in high concentrations and close proximity to each other. Rich iron ore reserves located in the vicinity of Kryvyy Rih, Kremenchuk, Bilozerka, Mariupol, and Kerch form the basis of Ukraine’s large iron-and-steel industry. One of the richest areas of manganese-bearing ores in the world is located near Nikopol. Bituminous and anthracite coal used for coke are mined in the Donets Basin.

[Spider Jerusalem]

8. Which is strategically important to the West, how?

US imports of iron ore come from Australia, Canada, Brazil and India. Ukraine's strategic importance to the West (meaning Western Europe and the USA's NATO allies) lies not in its resource production but its role as a major transit point for Russian natural gas.

[Scuba]

10. Well, it's not important to the West, if by West you mean the US ...

But most of our military adventurism comes at the behest of corporations trying to make a profit, not for the benefit of our nation. Oil, minerals, bananas, you name it. We go to war so somebody can make a profit.

What international corporation wants those mineral rights, or pipeline routes, is not known. But I know damn well the war drums aren't banging because some newspaper editor is offended that Russia is meddling with Ukranian sovereignty.

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. Point to anyone calling for US military intervention over Ukraine?

I haven't actually seen it.

[Scuba]

12. To be honest, I hadn't read any ....

... but I figured they'd be out there, on the right-wing media. Sadly, I'm correct again...


http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/ukraine-russia-conservatives-putin/2014/03/01/id/555507

The criticisms of Obama mounted on Sunday, after conservatives slammed him on Saturday for "pontificating" without putting any muscle behind his threats against Russia.

"We have got to exert energy," former National Security Director Michael Hayden told Newsmax in an exclusive interview. "We just can't pontificate and condemn Russian activity.

Miller, who served in the Ukraine from 1993 to 1998, is now a senior policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington. He told Newsmax that the 1994 Budapest Memorandum — whose signers included President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister John Major, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin — required the U.S. and Britain to protect Ukraine.

The memorandum required the country to destroy its huge nuclear arsenal — bigger than that harbored by Britain, France and China combined — "and it was all aimed at the United States," Miller said.

"Clearly that has been violated," he said, adding that Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry "are obliged to tackle it head on."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10671729/Nato-warns-that-Russia-is-risking-Europes-peace-and-security.html

Ukraine has mobilised for war amid warnings from Nato that Russia's annexation of Crimea "threatens peace and security in Europe".

With tension nearing boiling point, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato Secretary General, vowed the organisation would stand by Ukraine, a nation of 46 million which occupies a vital strategic position between Europe and Russia.

And to ensure our men and women in uniform get themselves mentally prepared ...

http://www.stripes.com/news/nato-chief-says-russia-s-actions-in-ukraine-threaten-europe-security-1.270777

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen convened an emergency meeting Sunday of the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s top decision-making body, in response to Russia’s military action in Ukraine, and “because of (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin’s threats against this sovereign nation.”

“What Russia is doing now in Ukraine violates the principles of the United Nations Charter. It threatens peace and security in Europe,” Rasmussen said in a brief statement before the meeting.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. I don't see that as "calls for military intervention"

and I also think that NATO is a rather different thing to "the US"--and the UK, France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and more importantly NATO countries that share a border with Ukraine like Poland, Romania, and Hungary would probably agree here (since what's happening in Ukraine and the potential for conflict and a refugee crisis are of much more immediate import).

[Scuba]

14. Some of may be more tuned to nuance.

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. I doubt that

since you don't seem to be able to appreciate the "nuance" involved in the NATO statement (since this is a crisis on NATO's doorstep).

[Scuba]

20. This probably won't be at all nuanced ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024598485

[Spider Jerusalem]

21. Precognitive, now?

McCain's said "there's no military option for the US". Bolton is a neocon scumbag but he's probably just sane enough to realise that going to war against a nuclear-armed opponent is not the smartest thing. I expect a lot of talk about sanctions and such, but I don't think that there'll be much banging of the war drum.

[Scuba]

23. One needn't be prescient to know Bolton won't rely on nuance.

[dipsydoodle]

16. And if they are state owned

they may soon be denationalised not necessarily by choice.

[Scuba]

17. Somebody gets it. And it's you!

[Spider Jerusalem]

22. I think it's very touching that you believe "state-owned" means anything...

in a Russian-style gangster oligarchy like what Yanukovych was running in Ukraine.

[Scuba]

24. You must have intended that for another poster. I've never claimed any such thing.

[Spider Jerusalem]

25. Implied in the context of your response, given what you were responding TO.

[Scuba]

26. Perhaps it was inferred, but it wasn't implied.

[L0oniX]

4. Jerry Springerized news wants to push a military freak show for ratings. No surprise there.

They know the american idiot loves that run up to war patriotic bullshit.

[jsr]

7. They're so predictable.

[sadoldgirl]

9. Yes,that is obvious.

Why indeed did we not interfere in the Sudan? Ooops, that oil already belongs to China. I forgot, mea culpa.

[IsItJustMe]

18. Yes, I have absolutely noticed this

Because of our msm, I know quit a lot about Venesualla, but I don't know much about the other countries in South America. Why? Oil of course.

[Scuba]

19. Yes, this is especially true in Venezuela.