When I was 8 years old, in the month of my birth, the United States and Russia almost got into nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. See http://en.wikipedia.org/....
At that time my family was living in Bethesda, Maryland, right outside Washington, D.C. We were doing regular duck-and-cover nuclear war drills in elementary school. At the peak of the crisis, my mother, scared out of her mind, made a long, emotional declaration to me and my brothers about how to die. I was 8. My brothers were 6 and 2. I remember her rounding us up into the car, trying to think of a place to retreat to, and realizing that was hopeless. I'm still traumatized, and I say that seriously.
I've got a bad feeling about this Ukraine crisis.
Hillary Clinton was correct to point out the creepy parallel between Putin grabbing a foreign territory, on the pretext that it was to save his ethnic nationals, just after his own Olympics, which is EXACTLY what Adolf Hitler did after the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (seizing the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia and seizing all of Austria through the infamous Anschluss). But here, Putin has done the exact same thing MUCH faster.
I've read that the Ukrainian interim government has claimed that Putin is by far the richest man in the world, controlling more than $100 billion. I don't know if that's true, but it's damn sure plausible, whatever the exact numbers.
There is no doubt that he is the most dangerous man in the world right now. I don't think there are any limits to his hubris and insanity.
Therefore, I think major conflict with NATO is almost inevitable. I sure hope I'm wrong, but that's what I think is coming.
World War III.
A few days ago, right after the first reports of Russian troop movements in Crimea, I posted several times here that I thought Putin was going to annex Crimea, and maybe more. I was mocked and treated like an idiot. Well, I was right, awful as that is to say.
Does Putin invade eastern Ukraine in the next few days? I hope not, but I think that's inevitable. And then Belarus. And then one of the Baltic states, which are NATO members. OR MAYBE NOT, let's hope!
It's bizarre beyond belief, and very discouraging, to see how the uber-lefties here are aligned with the super-righties in adoring Putin and denouncing Obama!!!!!
None of them seem to love their own country.
I detest the way Obama has handled many things, especially his cover-up of the Bush/Cheney administration's policy of large-scale torture and murder in the name of the "Global War on Terror." And his cowardly refusal to act as the boss after Dianne Feinstein called out the CIA for spying on her staff, and worse--which is a DIRECT AND OBVIOUS violation of U.S. law. For whatever reasons, Obama is the last thing from a courageous president.
But nonetheless he's been accurate so far on the Ukraine crisis.
God help us all. This is much more serious than most of us are recognizing.
And by the way, I'm really tired of reading comments to the effect that Putin can do whatever he wants because the Crimeans supported him, etc. I can't believe how many people on this supposed reality-based, liberal Democratic site are openly apologizing for, or whitewashing, Putin's aggression! It's disgusting!
I'd like to see Markos and Meteor Blades weigh in on that! I'm NOT advocating war with Russia or anybody. But the United States MUST stand up to this outrageous invasion in violation of all international law.