General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Wikileaks Ukraine cable proves US government knew of fascist threat [View all]Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)You got me and ProSense to talk from the same script. That hasn't happened since George Washington was a corporal.
To say this is all about US dealing with Ukrainian fascists is completely ridiculous (I'm not saying that the US isn't dealing with Ukrainian fascists). Putin has been driving this whole thing. And yes, he did the same thing in Georgia. He went in there with a pretext of assisting mistreated Russian minority (and I'm not saying there wasn't a mistreated Russian minority in Georgia) and ended up stopping construction of an oil pipeline through Georgia and Azerbaijan that would have competed with Russian pipelines. That was the real reason. Oh, by the way, Putin annexed a piece of Georgia, too. Just what business did he have telling a sovereign state what they could construct on their territory? There's a name for sending troops into foreign territory to tell the people who live there what they can and can't do: imperialism.
I view with some alarm Putin's popularity in some left wing circles. Just what are his left wing credentials? Scapegoating and persecuting gays? Turing a blind eye to Russian fascists beating them up? Jailing rock musicians with a passionate interest in human rights? He plays nice with oligarchs, unless one has wealth he covets. Then he brings phoney charges of tax evasion or treason against him, forces him to flee the country and then confiscates his wealth. He may do the right thing once in a while, but not because it's the right thing. He does it because it serves his immediate purpose.
If Putin is a benefit to the human race, then I'm a retired kamikaze pilot. If you think the US is the only country that plays "the Great Game," then you are terribly naive. On top of that, if you think Putin doesn't know how to play "the Great Game," plays it well and does so for the most cynical reasons, then you've got your head in the sand.