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| Putin, taken today. Someone has either had some work done or had a number of liters of intravenous fluid with salt. |
First, I would like to say that I have spent time in Russia and have a great deal of admiration and fondness for the people of Russia and for the culture, and the Russian Orthodox Christian faith. I also have a number of Russian friends whom I admire. But just as Barack Hussein Obama's policies do not represent me or a great many of the people I know, Vladimir Putin does not represent everyone in Russia, despite the propaganda which is presently being spouted to the opposite.
I first heard of Crimea when I was a child. Florence Nightingale who was a pioneer in the profession of nursing practiced her craft as she created it, in the Crimean War.
I listen to news on a great many foreign stations because what passes for professional journalism on television in the US is sanitized to the point that very little real information is conveyed to us. There is bias in the foreign reports, but as I have said before, if something is stated on the Chinese News, and on NHK from Japan, and from Arirang in Korea, DW in Germany, BBC from the UK, and France 24, then it is likely true.
Today, an interview of Vladimir Putin discussing the Russian takeover of Crimea from Ukraine, which occurred a year ago yielded some frightening and unexpected news. Putin stated that he was ready and able to use use nuclear weapons had the US or Europe stopped him from reclaiming Crimea.
Putin has claimed that Crimea is historically Russian territory and that Russian people reside there. Therefore, he feels justified in reclaiming it. Of course, the rest of the world, Germany, Britain, Canada and the US if its leaders still had spines, all see this as a violation of sovereign territory of the nation of Ukraine. This is particularly shameful for us in the US because our present regime convinced Ukraine to give up its nuclear arms because "we would defend them" and then our present regime did absolutely nothing when they were attacked. Our present regime is still simply tossing around the possibility sending weapons to Ukraine.
The takeover of Crimea might be more understandable if it had not occurred in tandem with continuing Russian occupation of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. It also occurs during a time in which Russian jets are now violating both Canadian and British airspace intermittently. Russia has also paid down its debt and is building quite the military machine. They are also developing quite a propaganda machine using RT in Arabic, English and Spanish. Biased though it may be, much of it is better journalism than mainstream American news. There is also a growing nationalism in Russia. In Moscow there is a rude light display of Barack Obama which implies that he is homosexual. This is not being done for amusement. Alleging that our president is depraved in some manner is part of a formula of progressive readying of war against the US and the West.
These are very dangerous times indeed. Both Russia, the US and Europe are targets of militant Islamists. It makes sense for us to work together in order to vanquish or at least reduce the threat. Instead, our present regime is reducing military spending, retiring many of our sharpest high ranking military officers, stopping breakfasts for active military, providing second class quality weaponry for active military, and running our diplomatic corps like a hobby business. While Russia gears up, our nation gears down.
The saddest thing I see here is that although I disagree with the actions of Vladimir Putin, he consistently acts as someone who passionately loves Russia and what he believes she should be. Our primary leader dislikes our nation and calls for its "fundamental transformation" at every opportunity. And of course, we inch toward World War III.
About all we as citizens can do is prepare for very bad times to come, and work to be as self sufficient and perhaps as mobile as possible.
Information on Mr. Putin's willingness to use nuclear weapons
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-says-russia-was-preparing-to-use-nuclear-weapons-if-necessary-and-blames-us-for-ukraine-crisis-in-crimea-documentary-10109615.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/16/europe/russia-putin-crimea-nuclear/
