Kiev forced Putin to send troops to crimea. (-:\
Look Stratford, I know you're a Putin apologist who couldn't give a straight answer if you life depended on it, and I know Putin got into this spot by reacting to the West, and there is a very real move by the West to "defang" or deny Russia superpower status, and to prevent any re-emergence of the Russian/Soviet empire.
But this could end tomorrow if Putin stopped it. His game is carve out as much as possible. The questions are whether sanctions themselves will destabilize him, whether the West has the stones to arm the Ukranians and even send in special forces, or whether he'll outlast the sanctions.
But why is the West just sitting on its hands allowing Kremlin to invade Ukraine?
Well, there is the question of just what the West can do to oppose the invasion(s). First, I think we have to admit that Putin and Russia do have some historical and geopolitical claim to Crimea. But, what exactly are the ties to Ukraine are more debateable. The Czars did not control the Cossacks until fairly recent history, and the Poles .. and I think even the Latvians had a spoon in the soup, so to speak. Still, there's an economic argument, and Russia correctly perceives a Ukraine in the EU affecting its trade agreements with Western private corporations. But, no rational person wants Russian goods over Western goods, unless perhaps they are Volkswagens built by Russians under license.
To be clear, I think there are distinct differences between the US and the West on the issue. Britain is probably in the middle, as usual. The US doesn't really have any trade issue, but we do have a perception of whether Russia is acting as a strategic enemy in cold war terms. The Russians can, and do, still arm those who oppose free global markets. The invasions of Moldova and Georgia had an effect, and made the US question exactly what Putin's goals, and limits, were. Snowden was clearly a turning point. What would Russians think if the US gave sanctuary to a Russian defector who then spilled their secrets of dealing with terrorists from Chechnya, and it's ties to Syria and Iran ... and what secrets we knew about Russia's military? They'd be outraged and believe the US was a strategic enemy. It's the same here. Putin is not crazy, so why would he do this. The answer is he clearly thinks the US's goal is to harm him. The irony is that the last two presidents largely thought Putin was more or less irrelevant... so long as he didn't arm terrorists. He has no real economy, and no real govt. He's a Mafioso with an oil field. The reason the Saudis are supporting cheap oil is that they, unlike Putin, are invested in the West, and only succeed when the rest of us do as well. With Snowden, the US aim clearly became removing Putin.
The West perceived the end of the cold war differently than the US. Over here we love the myth of Reagan as being the guy who won the Cold War with American military might. That is a myth. The EU perceives it more as an economic integration, and that is really closer to reality. And, Merkel doesn't really want to remove Putin simply to that end.
I was going to post my question of how much longer Putin can wait to play the oil card?
Russia Preparing To Use Energy in Economic War DB
But, to answer your question, I'm sure a majority in the US congress wants to arm Ukraine yesterday. I'm pretty sure the intelligence and military want to do so too.
But Europe doesn't see this as the same military issue as the US. And Putin can shut off the gas. Sanctions are an effort to make him see cooperation can lead to both Russia and Europe having economic prosperity.
