Russian vassalization of Ukraine

[The Comrade]

[gla22]

This was an opportunity for the US to compromise and to work with the EU and Russia to find a solution and the U.S f**k up and became confrontational when it should have just given Russia Crimea.

[The Comrade]

yeah, that whole "should have" thing is problematic.

[Spider]

To be fair to the Ruskies, Tsar Vladimir really didn't have a lot of choice in this thing, strategically. Crimea is possibly their most critical naval base, and the lease was going to expire in a few short years. Once it became clear they weren't going to be bringing Ukraine into the fold, it also became clear they couldn't depend on getting that lease renewed. They've been digging in with anti-ship weapons there for so long...its a stupendous investment to lose.

Plus, if you look at the composition of the Black Sea fleet, its almost entirely composed of heavy missile cruisers and frigates...and those giant missiles have a range of about exactly the distance from Crimea to the Bosphorus. The whole thing is the best system they've been able to scrape together to attempt to make sure that US carrier battle groups are denied access to their private lake.

If the Tsar loses control of the Crimea, he loses control of the Black Sea. Right now he has a strong possibility of stopping US shipping through the Bosphorus if he has to, and he'd be a fool to lose that. Once its gone, he'd never get it back.

[Darkhorse]

[Spider]

Ya...I'm pretty sure setting a precedent where Putin just gets whatever he decides he wants to point a gun at without any argument is a bad idea.

[exploited]

[The Comrade]

[Thatcher]

[exploited]

Why the hell are you talking about Syria? I know with certainty that Russia will lose billions of dollars because of this. That is indisputable. The sanctions being considered are actually pretty tough... Some reports are suggesting upwards of 130 top companies and people being targeted. Their assets will be frozen and their travel privileges revoked. This will do enormous damage.