Putin To Ukraine - Leave The West Behind

A prosperous, democratic Ukraine with economic and political ties to the United States and the European Union?  Vladimir Putin has made it clear that that's the last thing he wants.

Controlling Ukraine - called "the Ukraine" by the Russians, as if were a possession to exploit for their own benefit (like its productive farmland, Ukraine having been the breadbasket of the old Soviet Union) - is the primary reason Putin sent troops into the eastern part of the country to aid pro-Russian separatists, and it's why he is rumored to be planning an invasion of Ukraine.  He's placed 127,000 troops along the border.  .  This would cause alarm for the Europeans, who rely on natural gas through a Ukrainian pipeline, and it would cause even more alarm for the Ukrainians, who are making a concerted effort to free itself from centuries of Russian domination and ally itself with he Western democracies.

The Russians are afraid of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expanding into Ukraine, which would put along their border a NATO member nation much larger than the three Baltic States (note to wise guys: a Russian administrative region not contiguous with the rest of the country borders Lithuania) and bring the Atlantic defense alliance that much closer to Moscow.  The Russians have been paranoid about other power encroaching on their homeland, and have fought for centuries to expand and preserve their sphere of influence, which is why Catherine the Great wiped Poland off the map and the Soviet Communist elite tried to do the same to the Baltics.  Putin isn't just making noise about invading Ukraine - he' more or less threatening to do it.  He does not want Ukraine to look westward as long as threaten Russian hegemony in the East.

So far, efforts to ward off a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, such as promise not to let Ukraine join NATO, and Russian demands that NATO pull military forces back to NATO countries that joined the alliance before 1999.   There hasn't been a breakthrough yet, but every little effort to preserve peace helps.  Because the last time a great power threated the sovereign of an eastern European country, it led to a world war.

When War With Iran Is the Answer

Iran has never forgiven the United States for supporting the Shah.  The United States has never forgiven Iran for holding 52 of its citizens hostage for fourteen months.  With both sides flexing their muscles, things are coming to a boil in the Persian Gulf, and the U.S. Fifth Fleet is on alert. 

Everyone says this would be nothing more than another war for oil.  Well, of course it is, because that's what Iran is best known for producing and that's what the U.S. so desperately wants, particularly under an administration that doesn't believe in solar power or electric vehicles.  But if you show up at an anti-war demonstration with a "War Is Not the Answer" bumper sticker on your car, you'd better be driving something like this . . .  

. . . not this!

Because if you drive a sport utility vehicle that could house a family of four, then war is the answer.

James Howard Kunstler happened to point this out the last time we got into a war in a country with a name spelled with four letters with three of them being "I," "R," and "A."    

Iran Amok Again

The Iranian leadership is scaling back on its commitment to the nuclear deal and may even pull out completely if the European Union does not do anything about sanctions imposed by the United States, which pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal one year ago yesterday.  Europeans are being forced to choose between Iran and the U.S.

What a difficult choice.  One country is led by a fanatic who delivers hardline rhetoric to promote his religious-fundamentalist base and presides over a sham democracy, and the other is led by a Muslim cleric. :-P 

The European countries have apparently decided, that in spite Trump, they can't let Iran get away with threats.  They have made it clear that they will not accept Iranian ultimatums but they will remain committed to the nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department is crowing about how the sanctions have hurt Iran, as its economy is tanking, and they expect the Supreme Leader and the Iranian president (not one and the same, of course) to come around and negotiate for a new deal.  They obviously don't understand the Iranians. The Iranians are too proud and refuse to give in, which may be why the U.S. sent a fleet into the Persian Gulf to intimidate them.

Trump must think a war will strengthen his position going into 2020.  Umm, a war in an oil-rich region with a country burdened by sanctions on its oil will destabilize the region and send petroleum prices skyrocketing . . . and crash the economy when gas prices rise.

But at least we will finally be rid of sport utility vehicles.