Ukraine To Hold Military Exercises With US, Britain

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

Russian forces seized military installations across the disputed Crimean Peninsula on Wednesday, prompting Ukraine's security chief to announce that his country will hold joint military exercises with the United States and Britain.

US Vice President Joe Biden was in Lithuania, trying to reassure nations along Russia's borders who were terrified by the sight of an expansion-minded Moscow.

"We're in this with you, together," Biden said.

Ukraine has been powerless to prevent Russian troops from taking control of Crimea, which Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed on Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11222945

[geek tragedy]

1. The Putin Doctrine--that Russia has the right to invade any country

with a sizeable population of ethnic Russians--has certainly got NATO's attention.

I wonder if he'll try to annex Brighton Beach.

[uncommonlink]

4. If he tries to invade a NATO member country, he'll run right into a buzz saw called

severe sanctions and the NATO military structure.
Russia's conventional military forces are still just a shadow of what the Soviet Union used to be, their Army is a shell of it's former self, their Navy is a joke, the Russian military couldn't stand up to NATO in a conventional conflict and Putin knows it.

This is all probably for domestic consumption.

[Berlin Expat]

6. Heh....any

of the NATO nations with sizable Russian ethnic minorities are concerned about the "Putin Doctrine", and with good reason. I can't say I blame them one iota. The Russian minorities act as agents provocateurs for Russian expansionism.

[geek tragedy]

7. He's probably willing to sacrifice their well-being as a price to justify

his imperialism.

Because the last thing any country wants right now is a bunch of Putin magnets living inside their borders

[Cali_Democrat]

2. Good

They got a crazy guy next door who just annexed part of their territory.

They may need some self-defense weapons. Anti-tank missiles, bombs etc.

Hopefully it won't come to that.

[KoKo]

3. That sounds like a "GREAT" idea.....for sure!

[Cali_Democrat]

8. Well it depends

If Russia continues to be aggressive toward Ukraine, NATO may very well arm them.

Something for Putin to contemplate.

The US and other countries can provide weapons that would cause quite a bit of damage to invading forces.

[ctsnowman]

10. Hopefully

we can dip just a bit more into the SS trust fund to pay for it.

[geek tragedy]

5. Oh, if he tried to invade and annex Ukraine, a whole host of

real gentle souls would find their way into Ukraine looking for a piece of Russia.

I imagine the jihadists who have been trying to unseat Assad would love to let Mother Russia know what they think of its support of Assad and his poison gas attacks.

And the Saudis certainly wouldn't fund such efforts to kneecap a rival in the oil selling world.

Not to mention Kosovars and Chechens and Uighurs etc.

I would be 1982 all over again.

[EX500rider]

9. Not to mention the Ukraine ain't little Georgia or Chechnya...

.......Ukraine manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 10,984,394
females age 16-49: 11.26 million (2010 est.)