WTF, Malaysian Airlines?

Malaysian Airlines has re-routed its flight MH4 between London and Kuala Lumpur, which used to fly over eastern Ukraine  — the new flight path is over Syria.

Bad Writing of the Day

“Panic in Moscow is hard to spot, but even from 6000 miles away, it’s easy to smell, and the metallic stink of fear is rising off the palace offices of the Russian executive as if from the gurneys in a cancer ward on the morning of an operation.”

Tom Nichols, “Why the Russians Are Panicking Over Flight 17,” The Federalist

Unsurprising Headline of the Week

“Looters Stole Cash, Credit Cards, and Jewelry from Flight MH17,” Polly Mosendz, The Wire

In case you were wondering how that Ukrainian miner got a Rolex…

More Sanctions on Russia

President Obama has ramped up the sanctions on Russia for its intransigence on Ukraine — he’s added 7 more government officials and 17 companies to the list.

I think he’s right to save the “big guns” of sanctions on entire sectors of the Russian economy for an actual invasion of eastern Ukraine.

Kerry Buys a Clue

Secretary of State John Kerry said today that Russia “has refused to take a single step in the right direction” to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.

Time to forget more talks and apply more sanctions.

Headline of the Day

“U. S. to Hold Teeny Tiny Military Drills in Poland and Estonia”

Adam Chandler, The Wire

In our defense, I would say that Estonia is a teeny tiny country.

Karzai Cool with Crimea

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has joined the governments of Syria and Venezuela in recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Why are we still giving this guy billions of dollars and letting our sons and daughters die for him?  Talk about thick as thieves — Putin and Karzai are quite a pair.

Crimea in a Sentence

“In the end, Mr. Obama did not see how the pro-Western revolution in Ukraine that toppled a Moscow ally last month would look through Putin’s eyes.”

Peter Baker, “3 Presidents And a Riddle Named Putin,” NYT

 

Do You Want to Fight for Estonia?

Since under the NATO treaty, an attack on any of the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) is considered an attack on the United States, I went back to see how the Senate vote (May 8, 2003) went to admit those countries to NATO.

People, it was 96-0.  As if they were naming a post office.  No one seems to have thought about if we really want to go to war over the Baltic States.

What troubles me most is that Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were part of the old Soviet Union, and not simply Warsaw Pact countries like Poland or Bulgaria.  I see a distinction between adding former Warsaw Pact nations to NATO and adding former republics of the USSR.  The latter strikes me as in-your-face overreach, NATO on the Russian border, designed to infuriate the Russians and perhaps come back to bite us on the tush.

Okay, we “won” the Cold War, but there’s winning smart and winning dumb.  The Treaty of Versailles was winning dumb.  Expanding NATO as far as we did may have been winning dumb too.

 

 

Crimea? Snowden’s Fault

Okay, here’s a weird one for you.  Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan), Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is blaming Crimea on Edward Snowden:  “He’s actually supporting, in an odd way, this very activity of brazen brutality and expansion of Russia.”

Oh, please — If Snowden were still toiling away quietly for the NSA in Hawaii, Pootie-Poot would still have taken Crimea.