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Russian State TV: Russia Could Turn US to 'Radioactive Ash'

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Dr Lizardo3/17/2014 10:23:22 am PDT

re: #28 Ming

It’s astonishing that anyone could have anything good to say about Putin’s Russia at this point, but both the Dudebros (Greenwald, Snowden) and the right-wing nut jobs are up to the task.

Of course, we should all be comforted to know that the adult in the room, President Obama, doesn’t want to escalate this Crimea crisis; it’s already bad enough. BUT, unfortunately, it seems to me that NATO may have no choice, right now, but to offer some increased assurances to various Eastern European countries that are “on the front lines”.

I’m thinking of Poland in particular, since I have some very small knowledge about that country. But I’m sure there are many other countries in Eastern Europe, who were formerly in the Warsaw Pact, who are looking for assurances that Putin won’t go after them.

One bad case would be if such an “assurance” is, for example, moving missiles into that country. This would be an “escalation”, even though it’s defensive.

My point is that we should all want to avoid escalation if possible, but it may be difficult to avoid. I’m very glad that Obama is President now, considering some of the possible alternatives!

The Baltic states are exceedingly nervous; they all have large ethnic Russian minorities, and a Latvian of my acquaintance refers to them quite openly as “fifth columnists”.