td11 wrote:i love the patented, "jerz posts an article, people give him their takes, jerz comes back with a whiny tone that people totally missed the point, werthless comes in with a sarcastic/unfunny quip to seal the deal"

patent pending, we're waiting to hear back

It's best when the "takes" are based on the articles titles and ad hominems.

Of course, the WaPo's editorial board didn't see this, or brushed it off because they worked so hard all weekend on it and already had the Buzzfeed-friendly headline all ready to go:

Secretary of State John Kerry said that “all options are on the table” when it comes to steps the U.S. can take to hold Russia accountable for its military movements in Ukraine, including economic sanctions and potentially military action.

In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos today on “This Week,” Kerry said Russian troops moving into the Ukrainian region of Crimea was “a military act of aggression” and that the U.S. will move swiftly to impose penalties if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not withdraw his troops.

While military force is among the options President Barack Obama is considering, Kerry said the U.S. and its allies hope they can avoid such action.

“The hope of the U.S. and everybody in the world is not to see this escalate into a military confrontation,” he said.

More likely in the near term are economic sanctions on businesses and individuals – Kerry told Stephanopoulos that the U.S. is “absolutely” willing to impose such penalties, and that Congress should get to work on those sanctions along with a package of aid for Ukraine.
“We would call on Congress immediately, to the degree they are prepared to be helpful, that they immediately lay down with us an economic package in order to assist Ukraine,” he said.

As he and the White House have warned over the past two days, Kerry also said there is a “distinct possibility” that the U.S. will boycott the Group of Eight summit, scheduled to be held in June in Sochi, Russia – the site of the Winter Olympics – and encourage other G8 member countries to do the same.

Kerry said Russia’s invasion of Crimea will have an effect on its standing among the rest of the world’s largest economies.

“It’s a 19th century act in the 21st century and it really puts at question Russia’s capacity to be within the G8.”

'he's traveling to Ukraine as we type

I wrote way too many words that in politics threads past. I think we can agree that "less is more" from me.

td11 wrote:i love the patented, "jerz posts an article, people give him their takes, jerz comes back with a whiny tone that people totally missed the point, werthless comes in with a sarcastic/unfunny quip to seal the deal"

The responses didn't have to be so awful

pacino wrote:

td11 wrote:i love the patented, "jerz posts an article, people give him their takes, jerz comes back with a whiny tone that people totally missed the point, werthless comes in with a sarcastic/unfunny quip to seal the deal"

patent pending, we're waiting to hear back

this is pretty much the strategy of half the board too. good luck with the patent

The Dude wrote:

pacino wrote:

td11 wrote:i love the patented, "jerz posts an article, people give him their takes, jerz comes back with a whiny tone that people totally missed the point, werthless comes in with a sarcastic/unfunny quip to seal the deal"

patent pending, we're waiting to hear back

this is pretty much the strategy of half the board too. good luck with the patent

true. i would have to give massive royalty payments.

jerseyhoya wrote:

td11 wrote:i love the patented, "jerz posts an article, people give him their takes, jerz comes back with a whiny tone that people totally missed the point, werthless comes in with a sarcastic/unfunny quip to seal the deal"

The responses didn't have to be so awful

ok i didn't think they were awful. i think they highlight the perspective those people have on this issue (a naturally liberal bent) because there has been a persistent "obama is SOFT in his foreign policy" meme throughout all of these international conflicts in recent years. they don't want us to go in guns blazing, but the president can never do enough, even though is doing exactly what many other presidents have done. i mean kerry is doing exactly some of the things the WaPo editorial (2nd one u posted) called out, and yet here we are

oh but wait, he didn't freeze russia's assets yet

russia is doing a diplomacy, putin is unmatched

gotta do a kneejerk response before they discuss things on tuesday in Ukraine. if mccain was our president we'd be in 8 wars and thinkin' bout about 6 more


then again, Putin is good at diplomacy so I'm sure it'll all work out

pacino wrote:gotta do a kneejerk response before they discuss things on tuesday in Ukraine. if mccain was our president we'd be in 8 wars and thinkin' bout about 6 more

The Russian military has given Ukrainian forces in Crimea until 03:00 GMT to surrender or face an assault, Ukrainian defence sources have said.

The head of Russia's Black Sea Fleet Aleksander Vitko set the deadline and threatened an attack "across Crimea".

Russia's deadline for surrender or war is 5 AM Tuesday Ukraine time, 9 PM Eastern tonight.

Russia isn't following our timetable here.

jerz, do you think that honestly russia will be following absolutely anyone's timeline here other than their own?

can't speak for everyone else, but russia never even responded to my friend request

they've been on the horn for days. there's so much happening behind the scenes that we don't and won't know about until years from now. Russia is lashing out because their importance in the world has decreased. How we respond is important, IMO, because we need to show that while it's and urgent matter it is NOT in anyone's best interest to rush to puff up Russia in any manner, including acting like they are the be all and end all and our main enemy and whatnot. they are just another nation part of the global world, and may have to be dragged kicking and screaming into learning that, but i think they will. moving troops for WW3 and overt threats beyond economic sanctions make no sense. I dont even think we're disagreeing here; we're just disgareeing with the idea with who is in office while this is happening.

td11 wrote:jerz, do you think that honestly russia will be following absolutely anyone's timeline here other than their own?

No and I think that's the point of both Washington Post editorials. We should work within their timeline and the reality of the situation as it is unfolding.

I have to go to a lunch, but I'll write a much longer post with my hot take, and not just snarkily link to an article and say wow and then whine when people respond to the headline without reading the article.

jerseyhoya wrote:just snarkily link to an article and say wow and then whine when people respond to the headline without reading the article.

eh but this is the whole fun of it

i look forward to your long post

Europe and the US should just freeze the money of Russian rich folk around the world. That would end this in about 2 seconds. Of course, that would mean Europe doing without all that Russian cash that they enjoy but pretend not to.

I don't think it gets much play, but Russia has a ton of really rich people, even more than you would expect from a country that size. I guess it's all the natural resources which are basically free money. Go to any boarding school in europe and you'll see tons of russians, so much so that most schools actually charge them more than students from other countries (they are also notoriously difficult students).

Freeze the assets, that's my call. Let's see how Putin does when the money brokers around him start complaining about their finances being frozen.

Moscow has more millionaires or billionaires than any other city.