Crisis in the Crimea

(Image by Bob Gorrell)

Weekends are usually quiet for me and my on-line friends.

Not this one.

My e-mail inbox was flooded with message traffic--all of them about the Crisis in the Crimea.

Here's the latest from AP, via Yahoo News.

As a couple friends pointed out:

Russia dusted off it's invasion playbook--take the airports and key government buildings first, then get the local leader to request intervention.

This was all preceded by reports from "sources within the intelligence community" that Russia isn't about to invade the Ukraine.

One friend posed this question:

This is the same “US Intel” that said Iran wasn't working on nuclear weapons in 2007, right?  

To which another responded:

The same intel that said Iraq had WMD, the Bay of Pigs will work out just fine, North Korea is not going to invade South Korea, Japan is not going to attack east, etc etc etc...

The IC's [Intelligence Community's] failures are legion.

True.  Maybe they should have listened to Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney.

Despite my feelings about Obama, this crisis would tax any president and their administration.

However, Obama certainly hasn't helped matters any...

(Image by Michael Ramirez)

...not to mention all his foreign policy faux pas. 

The Diplomad, as usual doesn't cut this "misadministration" any slack. 

Charles Krauthammer makes some suggestions.  

While the world "scrambles" as Russia tightens it's grip on the Crimea, Bayard & Holmes put together a Timeline of the Ukrainian Conquest. 

A Reuters article asks:  How far will Putin go? 

Probably as far as he wants to until someone stops him.