Ukraine calling for UN intervention
 

Not going to happen ....

I suspect the peacekeepers are on their way.

Blue helmets and impeccable Russian.

I really feel for them, they gave away there nuclear deterrent on false promises from ourselves and the USA... Had they not handed them over one would have doubted Putin wouid have done anything..

It also makes future promises to the likes of Iran, Pakistan etc worthless.

Send the Greeks and Turks, but leave us out of it please. :uhoh:

Well it's UK Government PLC writing cheques it cannot honour to make themselves feel like big players on the World stage.... We should never have guaranteed squat in the first place, unless we could back it up.

Just This once said:
I suspect the peacekeepers are on their way.

Blue helmets and impeccable Russian.

The Russians don't send peacekeepers anywhere, so won't do it here.
Peacekeepers are a Western ideology, and the Russians deploy peaceMAKERS.
This is why their troops get hassled less than toothless Western peacekeepers.

Err, Barnstormer - I think justthisonce was making a joke...

Me too.
And, if you stop to think it over for a second, the idea of Russian peacemakers (even though it's the correct term) is exactly what IS happening now.

Peacekeepers wouldn't have stormed police stations today, to be followed by locals loyal to Russia. Followed by the police swearing loyalty to Russia.

Sorry if you didn't realise I got the joke, but it's not a case of 'they will have impeccable Russian' but rather 'they do have impeccable Russian' :)

Perhaps the elected government should have requested UN peacekeepers several months ago.

Ahhh - sorry barn - way too subtle for me!

One, tinsey wincy problem with this suggestion - do you think Russia might exercise their UNSC Veto to block a resolution authorising an UN force into Ukraine. But nothing stopping an EUMS sponsored force, of course....

I still blame Tymoshenko; the second she was out of jail she started talking about getting friendly with the EU, which immediately threatened Russia's substantial interests in Sebastopol. Had she kept her gob shut and done it slowly, Russia wouldn't have been given the obvious opportunity.

Moreover America would do the same under any convenient banner if it found itself in a similar situation, and if I could list all of America's acts of hegemony over the last 100 years they've probably already done it at some point!

Like it or not, this is a taste of the next 50 years as land, resources et al run out. Good job the West reduced its militaries because of the peace dividend. :hmm:

Russia just needs to sit tight and it'll get its way while nobody is looking/reacting to another drama somewhere else.

This is where, at long last, we decide to stay out of this stuff! We no longer need to be involved! In a few months time we will be a divided union with little standing in the world.

So leave them to get on with it!:sad:

Thing is Newt we promised to defend their Country in return for them losing their nukes. That's the tragedy in it all.

Not long before we loose our nukes Nut! What did the person who made such a promise think we could do after years of defence cuts and reduction in manpower and equipment! Even the USA has been grounding squadrons due to shortage of funds!:ugh:

I think thats all been done before, ended in WW2. The fact is bullys are embolded by in action. Putin can be stopped in the early stages. All this is basic stuff that has all been predicted. Society's at certain stages of social evolution go down paths that will seem easy.

The world should have moved on from the confrontation path between big powers.

War - This is not a game theory
 

Interesting article in the Economist. The trouble is that Putin sees himself in a win-win situation whereas the EU/US/NATO...

I rather think you'll find that the promises were made in 1994, before many of the subsequent cuts had been thought about, let alone made. One of those promises that the people making the cuts in recent years thought would be un-necessary since that nice Mr Putin was our friend and the Cold War was "old-fashioned".

This is one of those situations where the maxim "capabilities are real, intentions can change in a moment" really starts to hit home. Not that I expect we'll learn that lesson. "Someone else" will do it is Defence Planning Assumption no 1.