How does that legitimize forcible annexation of Ukrainian territory? At no point did Russia intervene in Ukraine to thwart a coup.
Crimea isn't historically Ukrainian, it's Russian. Nextly, that coup was clearly aimed at Russia - not at the Ukrainian people or improving their lives. The guys who seized power immediately outlawed the Russian language - effectively disenfranchising the Eastern half of the country.
If the US were to wake up one morning and find Mexico or Canada had suffered a coup, and was suddenly actively seeking membership in the Warsaw Pact, I can guarantee that the coup govt there wouldn't last a week. Those guys would be out on their ear very quickly, whether by covert action or by over US military invasion.
Hence the "significant challenge" part. I dislike Saudi Arabia's regime and believe that we may have to reckon with it at some point, but as of now it is not a great power or a potential superpower. Russia is.
Nonsense - Russia is NOT the USSR - it is no longer cultivating or exporting Communist totalitarianism around the world. Russia, like any other state, does have some basic legitimate national interests, though - and it would be foolishly myopic not to recognize that. Bringing NATO right upto Russia's borders would be a ridiculous provocation.
Communism is dead - the only totalitarian belief system actively spreading itself around the world is Islamism.That's why ISIS is still spreading strongly, and its violent terror attacks escalating, even while the AlQaeda hydra head has been eclipsed. Taliban are strongly on the comeback in Afghanistan, and once they fully take over, AlQaeda will be back in business as its international partner.
Chinese mercantilist expansionism is also a growing threat. Huntington famously predicted that China and Islam would eventually pair up to bring down the West, because he saw the greater demographic and economic trends lay inexorably in their favor. We can now see the Chinese are working hard to break through the flimsy local barriers that have previously contained them in East Asia.
How would us ramping up the rhetoric cause other countries to buy weapons from us? Do you think it's possible that those countries are rationally concerned about Russian expansionism?
NATO has become a gravy train. There's a need for NATO partners to pick up more of the burden. America is becoming a hollowed-out empire, sending too many resources to the NATO frontier while the American homeland core rots out from the inside out.
Since the events in Ukraine didn't directly concern NATO membership I fail to see where Ukraine comes into play.
Sure the new Ukrainian govt wants to join NATO - that's glaringly obvious. And their Amen corner in the US keeps claiming that NATO gravy train would help to rehabilitate Ukraine. Well, America itself has a greater need for rehabilitation than any interest in Ukraine. Let them rehabilitate themselves, along with Georgia - instead of thinking they can ass-kiss their way to prosperity. That govt have no economic plan, other than hoping the Cold War lobby will pay their bills for them.
Little did Woodrow Wilson know of the great gravy train political web of intrigue that would result from his creation of the Federal Reserve -- the great "Plastic Economy". It only fostered 2 great lobbies: the military-industrial lobby and the welfare state lobby. Now, across the many decades, these 2 great lobbies are inevitably consolidating into one -- thanks to Bill&Hillary "I Sell Out to Everybody" Clinton.
The Clintons have consolidated the mantra of "The Russians Are Coming!" with the mantra of "Tax and Welfare-Spend"
2 great tastes in one!
