And yeah, even the so-called non mainstream news channels can't stop with this f*cking plane already. Pretty crazy story but is it really a story until they find something? Bah...
Absolutely. If this has to be a story, then it should be on the families of the missing and, in particular, the way they're being treated by the Malaysian authorities. I've not followed this closely, but there does seem to be some suggestion that the Malaysians are holding something back.
What do you fine folks across the pond think of this Obama-Putin pissing match? Shouldn't the real story be that their may be a Neo-Nazi group in control of the entire Ukrainian gov right now? And in just a short months time they have done a complete 180 on almost all of the stuff that was said when they took over in what has been a called a "bloody coup". To me, this is a Russian issue and Obama should butt the hell out. Just who do we think we are exactly? I'm still waiting for the hordes of Russian and Ukrainians too for that matter; to come out and tell the world how messed up Putin is and how all this is wrong. But mostly it seems the Russians feel that justice is being done. So my question: Why the hell is the US involved. Who owes us money?
The whole situation has been mismanaged from the start. Not just the US and Obama, but from the EU, too. Both as a bloc and the individual counties. My own for a start. Ukraine is, essentially, a buffer nation between Russia and the EU. If you start making overtones to them, asking them to 'join your side', then you have to expect a reaction. Especially one from a 'new' nation, that feels defeated/emasculated and bullied.
From what I can tell, the 'old' regime had been proposed to and, was looking to accept, the invitation from the EU to join. Putin then put in a 'counter offer' accompanied with a bit of a threat and hard stare. 'Old' regime did a 180 and accepted the Russian offer. Cue protest. All of which escalated and went horribly wrong and ended up with the 'old' regime running for the hills (having robbed the nation blind) and a disgraced and rather dodgy set of people becoming the 'new' government. We, the West, seemed to've backed all this and thought it was good idea, despite the 'old' government having been democratically elected and that there was only a year to go before new elections which, had they so wished, the country could've thrown him and his government out of office. This is always what our declared aim is for the world. Democratically elected governments for nations. We don't mean it, of course, we mean ones we like and approve of and, mainly, will trade openly with us, but we should at least try to live up to it publically. It's difficult to maintain the moral high ground over Crimea given the behaviour of our nation over the last 13 years, let alone the rest of our history.
I don't think the annexing of Crimea was legal and neither do I think the question they were asked legal either, as there wasn't an option to stay as part of Ukraine, but then, I don't think the current Ukrainian government is legal, either, so it's difficult to argue for them. As I said at the start, I think the whole thing has been a huge, mishandled mess from the start. I don't see Crimea going back to Ukraine and, given its history and population, I don't know if they'd want to.
Just to make it clear, as my opinion isn't anything like the official mainstream news line, I have no time for Putin and he'd already shown his colours in his first stint in power, the way he maneuvered Medvedev into and out of power, but if you continue to poke a bear, you can't be surprised when it reacts. And poking that bear is what the US has been doing, pretty much since the wall came down and certainly since Bush's time. The 'lillypadding' policy aimed at warning off/ringing Russia was only ever going to annoy them and making them insecure and less trusting of what they were told. There's no point in doing it and claiming otherwise as, what's important, is the perception and not the intent.
I don't know if Putin will go into eastern Ukraine or not. Opinion seems to be that it's a distinct possibility, but last night I saw a guy, who's been involved with Russia and its economy since the early 90's, saying he'd been astounded if Putin went in. As I've said, I have no idea but, if Ukraine is as culturally divided as it seems, then an East/West split seems more than possible in the future.
Closed Thread
I think The Independent was the only British paper to have a picture of her on her own.
Story about it being hijacked to fly into a secret US island installation. At least, I think that's what it was. TBH I switched off before the end of the headline. Is there any point to The Star?
