Given their history, I hardly think they're provoking Putin. Nor acting like drama queens. I think they're gearing up for a repeat of the recurring drama of their history - getting beaten to a pulp by whichever neighbor is feeling randy and expansive...
Where are the hoops? And which lowly grunt has to fish the ball out of the water? That pic makes we want to rewatch the climatic scene in Tin Cup again....
I quoted rogers... but I am not sure you are talking about him... as he seems to be in rough agreement with you. Rogers said the U.S. should simply pull out of the summit and, along with allies, âstart the processâ of kicking Russia out of the G-8 altogether. The U.S. should also consider other economic sanctions in response, Rogers said. Yet while noting his hawkish inclinations, Rogers said the U.S. should not move naval warships into the reason because it would, in all likelihood, not take military action. âThere are not a lot of options on the table,â Rogers said in reference to the military. Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/global-aff...g-circles-around-us-rogers-says#ixzz2uwPSXDbY Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
They reportedly moved troops to the border and have invoked NATO consultation, which is a prelude to commitment of NATO forces. There has been no hint of a threat to them from Russia or the events in Ukraine. In fact, the turmoil in Ukraine was fomented by the europeans, possibly Poland having a large hand in it. Russia could see their actions as provocative. How would we react if during a tense situation Mexico massed troops on our southern border? We'd be like WTF? The West needs to be doing everything possible to defuse this situation, not amp it up like a lot of Cold War nostalgists seem desperate to do. The residents of Crimea prefer Russia over Ukraine, just like the residents of Kosovo wanted out of Serbia.
So I just saw something rather funny, but quite sad as well... There was live coverage on Sky of a bit of an altercation between the Russian and Ukrainian soldiers arnd the Belbek airfield in Crimea. The Ukrainians wanted to return to their post, while the Russians weren't letting them. There were crews filming the whole thing. Among the various stuff that the Ukrainians were yelling, the most interesting one was when one of the Ukrainian soldiers yelled "America is with us!" How f*cked up is that, seriously, that people around the world believe that US owes them some sort of protection and support? You can see the clip here: http://news.sky.com/story/1220477/ukraine-russian-troops-fire-warning-shots
I was watching O'Reilly last night and, I swear, he had the dumbest people on to talk about this. One guy was on saying "we should freeze economic assets and prevent Russian oligarchs from sending their kids to foreign universities and other such restrictive travel sanctions so that the oligarchs pressure Putin. Then we need to work against the Russian economy so that Russian citizens rise up to pressure their government." The sheer ignorance of these commentators is astounding. The oligarchs answer to Putin, not the other way around. They have their money and power because Putin tolerates them. The people of Russia favor Putin with a 67% approval rate, which will go higher the next time it's polled because of actions in the Ukraine. You cannot get the Russians to rise up against Putin. It's an impossibility. Actually, it might be possible if Putin becomes a softie and backs down on the Ukraine and bows to the United States. That would do far, far more harm to his image in the Russian mindset than starting WWIII. I cannot believe that so many people of power and influence in this country have zero concept of what motivates/persuades the Russian mindset.
It's a convenient narrative that allows the American people to continue to feel good about themselves. Pandering, I believe, is the appropriate term...