World News Korner

Some images of the Russian invasion into Crimea.

These are images that recently showed up on Reddit, of Ukrainians in Crimea having their pictures taken with the mysterious troops that have shown up to protect Russian interests.

Apparently Crimea has strong loyalties to Russia and clearly the citizens here do not consider their arrival to be threat.

However there are more overt actions being taken at the Ukrainian military bases in Crimea:

Amid signs of Russian military intervention in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, Russian generals led their troops to three bases in the region Sunday, demanding Ukrainian forces surrender and hand over their weapons, Vladislav Seleznyov, spokesman for the Crimean Media Center of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, told CNN.

Soldiers denying Russian troops access to Crimean military base.

In response Ukraine's new leaders have called up military reservists and are mobilizing troops, but as of right now not a shot has been fired, and there are no reported losses of life due to these actions.

Clearly Putin is attempting to use a show of force to bully the new Ukrainian government, which is a cobbled together patchwork or political neophytes, many of who have opposing interests, and who were behind the ouster of President Viktor F. Yanukovych, into some kind of negotiations.

Remember that these are the images that we have seen coming out of Ukraine for the last few months.

So by comparison the Russian forces have shown great restraint. So far.

How long that restraint will last, and whether Putin intends to move his troops past Crimea and further into the Ukraine, is the burning question.

This post is in no way meant to excuse Putin's actions. He is an opportunistic asshole, who cares little for, the people of Ukraine, or how he is perceived by the world at large.

I just wanted to provide a little perspective before the Right Wing hawks start beating their war drums even louder.

By the way for all of those conservatives claiming that President Obama is weak, and unwilling to do what is needed, they must be reminded that Russia invaded Georgia on President Bush's watch, and that he was unable to do a single thing about it.

While watching the various Sunday shows today there were plenty of conservatives who offered condemnation of what our President was doing, but none that offered any better options, or wanted to suggest military action.

And no Sarah Palin was not identified as being a political soothsayer.

Update: More pictures of Ukrainians with Russian soldiers in Crimea.

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