Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) for geriatrics, according to some...
I am in general agreement with Roger et al about the U.S. not having any boots on the ground in the Ukraine, nor should any of the other signatories to the Budapest Memorandum of 1995 guaranteeing the Ukraine's independence. But countries in the area--Turkey, Poland & Hungary who rightly fear the intentions of the Bear (yes, I know they have conservative governments, but they are still right) would be justified in assisting in Marcy Kaptur's idea of a military cordon around the Crimea to prevent further Russian encroachment. Let Russia have Crimea, if they really want it. They used to have it until Kruschev gave it to the Ukraine. (Last night Rachel Maddow professed bewilderment as to why he would do that. Could it be because K. was Ukrainian himself?) I rather wish that the idea for such a military cordon had not come from somebody in the U.S., but it is a good idea & I believe the signatories to the Budapest Memorandum should provide materiel support to such a cordon. And freezing Russian assets and travel should be on the table, if not actually implemented in order to discourage any further encroachments.
I believe Putin is playing on the residual sympathy for the Soviet Union that remains because of the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazism--and even the nostalgia that some western lefties feel for the existence of the Soviet Union itself (I among them, even as a Trotskyist manque). What I'm referring to is Putin's alleged fear of a resurgence of Nazism in the Ukraine that he gives as his justification for his intervention. It's true that the Svoda (sp?) party is a nationalist anti-Russian outfit that has some bona fide Nazis on its right fringe & their numbers are sufficient to make trouble, but they are nowhere nearly influential enough to be in striking distance of power. And it should be noted that the exiled ex-prez is just as unpopular in the Russian ethnic majority sectors of the Ukraine as he was elsewhere in the Ukraine.
(I would also say that the apparently similar situation that obtained in Georgia a couple of years ago was quite different. There, it was clear that the Georgian President, egged on by irresponsible politicians like Mccain, was the proximate guilty party in instigating the conflict. These days, I trust that Obama's "cool head" (and self-interest) will keep him from being rushed into anything by the asswipes like Mccain and Graham.)
In short, I don't believe that Putin is motivated by any particularly progressive agenda in the Ukraine--just economics, Great Power politics and perhaps more than a dash of Great Russian Chauvinism.
That said, I've been pretty soft on Putin, heretofore. His regime is certainly better than the Yeltsin era of robber baron kleptocracy, the poverty rate is way down, he has re-nationalized critical resources and state enterprises reportedly are better run than their private counterparts. (Interestingly, keeping in mind the stereotypes about Russian gloominess, I saw a poll that indicated that during the Yeltsin era, 7% of Russians thought that "life was better." Under Putin, that figure has risen to a whopping 29%).
But the country is being run by a metaphorical "mafia," largely informal perhaps, of ex-KGB types who do not entertain particularly warm feelings about democracy, free expression and other forms of western "decandence" And he has allied himself with one of the most reactionary forces in Russia life--namely, the institution of the Russian Orthodox Church, a longtime incubator of anti-semitism and sympathy for despotism. (Although IMHO, Orthodox theology and spirituality independent of the institutional structure have some features that are at least potentially liberatory and humanist in their impact--but that's another conversation) I reckon I see Putin's Russia as a somewhat less corrupt and more efficient analog to Mexico as it was under the PRI before it had much serious competition--maybe Russia has even more of the trappings of democracy than Mexico's at the time. Though it's a start, it's not enough. Somewhat like the U.S. in that regard.
I hope this critique of Putin and his foreign policy vis a vis the Ukraine will not be taken as a defense of the current and probably increasing provocation of blanket anti-Russian popular sentiment by the media and politicians.
How can one not love a country that produces such beautiful figure skating? And I mean that in all seriousness. I was transfixed during the Olympics. Not to mention all the great art, music and literature the country produces to this day.
R.
