(In case you are wondering, the "stop" line is from an old joke about English Bobbies trying to stop a fleeing criminal.)
As the situation in the Ukraine (Or as I like to call it, Afghanistan
the Sequel) drags on, all of the major powers are making noises about
Russia's actions. Strong talk (okay sort of strong talk) about
sanctions and boycotts are dancing around the tables in both the EU
and the US. Everyone is rattling their sabers and sounding tougher
than nails. The question is just how much will be done and exactly
what it will accomplish.
Lets face facts boys and girls, there ain't a whole lot that any
nation/s can do in this situation short of out and out military
action. A good example of this are the member nations of the EU.
Sure, they can talk tough talk about “punitive measures” and
“strong economic steps,” but they have to face the fact that
there really isn't much they can do without really honking off
Russia. Since they import the majority of their natural gas from
Momma Russia, peeving off the source of the thing that keeps you from
freezing to death is a bad thing. So the EU actually doing anything
other than talking is slim.
Then we have the UN. Sure they can impose sanction after sanction,
but let us face the facts. Name a single time in UN history where
their sanctions and harsh (but diplomatically phrased words) have
ever really accomplished anything on their own? Once again, short of
some form of direct military action, there still ain't a lot they can
do.
Then there is the good old US of A. Now we are a tad more headstrong
than the older nations overseas so we might take a tad more direct
action. Scary Kerry has already announced that the US will be
sending money to the Ukraine to help them out. Since we are not as
dependent as Europe on Russia's largess, we might impose stronger and
louder sanctions against them for their “unprecedented” (really,
Russia invading another country is unprecedented?) invasion of the
Ukraine. Heck we might even toss in some “military advisors”
since we are kind of big on doing that. Still, none of this will do
much to stop Russia from moving further into the Ukraine if they
bloody well feel like it.
In short, if Russia decides to take back the Ukraine, there isn't
much anyone can do about it besides yell at least at this point.
Sure we can send in money and supplies to the people fighting against
them, but that is pretty much about it. So break out the strongly
worded letters, folks! Remember that the pen may be mightier than
the sword, but probably not as mighty as the AK-47.
End of Rant
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