March 1, 2014

Crimean problem practically solved

From the Kyiv Post:
Kadyrov: Chechens ready to keep peace in Crimea
     

50 comments:

Thugnacious said...

Kadyrov actually has alot of leverage with the Crimean Tatars who are Muslims.

Anonymous said...

If the Russkians know what dirt the neocons have on the British foreign minister then releasing it when he is speaking in Ukraine tomorrow would be interesting timing.

Caleo said...

Maybe Kadyrov can pose for another action shot with his gold plated revolvers and pet Siberian tiger.
It's getting more interesting by the minute.

Evil Sandmich said...

Russia has an impressive armed forces compared to their neighbors, but they're limited in scope and being run from a nation that is flirting with bankruptcy. Ukraine's best (though unlikely) play is to try and goad the other republics with an axe to grind to try and take a piece back from Russia while Russia's limited resources are tied up messing around with the Ukraine, Syria, and whoever else.

Anyway, didn't Ukraine inherit nukes from the end of the cold war? Be a shame if some Moscow bound Chechens happened to make off with a few....

fish said...

When I first saw the photo I thought we had found something else that Tim Tebow wanted to try his hand at. NFL not working out for you.....? How about the exciting world of Crimean security?

wiseguy said...

So now that Tim Tebow is out of the NFL, he's the head of Chechnya and goes by the name of Kadyrov?

Unexpected career move.

Henry Canaday said...

Putin is an economic genius. If you have a nation of drunks and a basket-case economy, you throw away 200 years of economic textbooks and combine with Arabs and western liberals to restrict oil production. This yields oil revenue at five times costs with the government pocketing the 80-percent profit margin. No, it doesn’t make your country rich, but it makes the government very powerful and keeps the people reasonably content.

It’s thug-o-nomics, but it works. It’s the way most of the world has been governed, historically. And 50 years from now, the way we are going, we may have to adopt some version of it.

Anonymous said...

I don't think I've ever seen so many healthy, relatively well-fed looking ethnic Russians from Russia as Kadyrov's retinue right there.

Anonymous said...

"If necessary, we are ready to go, to be observers. If necessary, we are ready to be peacekeepers and soldiers and protect the people," Kadyrov said."

Or else. Obviously. Kadyrov is pretty funny at times.

In case anyone is curious about the picture: that's Kadyrov at NASHI camp, a neo-komsomol pro Putin youth movement/party.

Paleolithic Power Lifter said...

I see Kadyrov is rubbing shoulders with Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.

Anonymous said...

One big pressure cooker.

Anonymous said...

http://youtu.be/mDzZlmVF2Ic?t=8m29s

Golf and power

Anonymous said...

Proverbially spit out my coffee. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

http://youtu.be/mDzZlmVF2Ic?t=45m27s

Bush shoulda been impeached for 'abuse of power'. Obama expanded those abuses but are libs calling for his impeachment?

Anonymous said...

It's funny how autistic paleos get when it comes to foreign policy. What's that got to do with me I've got my hi def porn and nachos who cares what happens in the Ukraine. George Kennan pssh haven't seen him in any porno who cares what he thinks.

Libertarians may be autistic when it comes to immigration and people to people interactions but paleos are completely autistic when it comes to international diplomacy who cares these things never spill over. Credibility? Who cares.


Even funnier is how the first poster takes this proposal seriously.

Anonymous said...

I hope that Putin will keep those Chechens away from Crimea. Chechens running amok anywhere doesn't sound like a good idea.
I wonder if the Chechens could radicalize their fellow muslims, the Crimean Tatars.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/books/review/dorothy-gallaghers-lillian-hellman-an-imperious-life-and-more.html?ref=review&_r=0

"One of the very few powerful figures to get a pass from Cockburn was, of all people, Gerald Ford. He praised the genial Republican as “America’s greatest president” because “he did the least possible harm.”"

ROTFL

Simon in London said...

It looks like it's all going up tonight. I was way too optimistic thinking Steve's talk of a tank war with Russia in Ukraine was unlikely. If the new Kiev regime tries to retake the eastern provinces it looks like war.

Anonymous said...

I have been watching Polish TV and they are absolutely in live with McCain. Polish media keeps rerunning clips with translations of McCain calling for intervention.

The Neo-Con media have landed in Poland.

majneb said...

Tim Tebow sure has a lot of girlfriends ...

Unknown said...

Check out the happy flower children in western Ukraine last April marching to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Galicia Division of the SS:

March in a day of 70th anniversary of founding Division Galicia in Lviv

A different kind of pride parade.

Anonymous said...

The NY Times is running a story about the Russians in Crimea. Many commenters are suggesting Ukraine ditch Crimea to check mate Russia. Then without Crimea, Ukraine can head West and not look back. But one of the comments struck me. I am sure it will resonate with regular iSteve readers.

If Ukraine wants to join the West, it is better off without Crimea. It should focus on reigning in its oligarchs and corruption, bringing in the rule of law, and building its economy. It wouldn't hurt if there was some acknowledgement of responsibility for the role many Ukranians played in the Holocaust and siding with Nazi Germany. It would demonstrate a degree of maturity that could be respected. True, Ukraine has been a victim of its stronger neighbors for centuries. However, victimhood is not a good positive foundation needed for building a new country.

Anonymous said...

Dmitro Yarosh, the leader of Right Sector has called on Doku Umarov, the Chechen rebel leader (terrorist leader to non-supporters), to join Right Sector in his fight against Russia. Kadyrov answered with a statement saying that Umarov is already dead and that if Yarosh admits that he fought in Chechnya, he will meet the same end. So both sides are claiming some Chechen support.

Anonymous said...

Good god, Steve. Please tell me you're not the secret planner of all this stuff. This is getting so weird, but if I had not been reading you, I would have had no idea how weird it really is.

Anonymous said...

Slight OT, but somewhat related to the situation at hand. In regards to Ukraine it appears there really is a divide between Ukrainian nationalists and ethnic Russians. And that divide is now threatening a separation at best, or a civil war at worst.

Question: Isn't diversity supposed to be a strength?

Too bad our side doesn't have the megaphone to point out stuff like this to the gullible American public. Diversity in Switzerland is the exception. Diversity in Ukraine is the norm.

MKP said...

I don't know about you guys, but for the last week, I've been getting a lot of mileage out of Kramer and Newman's conversation with the Ukrainian guy on the subway.

Difference Maker said...

It's funny how autistic paleos get when it comes to foreign policy. What's that got to do with me I've got my hi def porn and nachos who cares what happens in the Ukraine. George Kennan pssh haven't seen him in any porno who cares what he thinks.

Libertarians may be autistic when it comes to immigration and people to people interactions but paleos are completely autistic when it comes to international diplomacy who cares these things never spill over. Credibility? Who cares.


Even funnier is how the first poster takes this proposal seriously.


Who cares what happens in Ukraine?

Steve Sailer said...

http://youtu.be/mDzZlmVF2Ic?t=8m29s

Golf and power

I could answer the first question on the CIA hiring exam that Lewis Lapham took: What club do you hit from the tee on the 13th hole at the NGLA?

The last time I played the 13th hole at the National Golf Links of America, the Eden Hole (modeled after the 11th at St. Andrews, I hit a 7 iron pin high 25 feet to the right of the hole. (Unfortunately, I three-putted.)

Anonymous said...

It's funny how autistic paleos get when it comes to foreign policy. What's that got to do with me I've got my hi def porn and nachos who cares what happens in the Ukraine. George Kennan pssh haven't seen him in any porno who cares what he thinks.

Libertarians may be autistic when it comes to immigration and people to people interactions but paleos are completely autistic when it comes to international diplomacy who cares these things never spill over. Credibility? Who cares.


Even funnier is how the first poster takes this proposal seriously.


So you think we should go to war with a nuclear power over a piece of real estate in their backyard?

Anonymous said...

Have they hired you to work as an analyst for the CIA yet.

Anonymous said...

Crimea has been part of Russian Empire since the 18th century or so and was annexed to Ukraine for purely administrative reasons in the 1950s. With the overwhelming majority of population being Russian, it really makes no sense for it to stay in new Ukraine.

Now the situation in the "mainland" Ukraine is not as clearcut as you might think. There is a pretty straightforward divide along the Dniepro river between the Western part (mostly rural) and Eastern part (mostly industrial and thus wealthier). The Eastern part of Ukraine speaks Russian and does not identify strongly with the "Western values" (SS lovers, etc.). The question is: will the Ukraine follow this natural divide and separate itself into two virtually independent states. I think it would solve most of the current problems. The Western Ukraine will become a new Romania and eventually join EU as another provider of gypsies and cheap labor. Whereas the Eastern Ukraine will probably become a Moscow puppet state, if not a part of Russia as it has been for many centuries. I am really not sure which part will be better off. But nobody wants a war and that would solve most of the problems.

Anonymous said...

Is there any commonality between the word Crimea and the English sense of crime/criminal, the way there is between Barbary [Coast] and barbarous/barbarian?

Or is it just a coincidence?

Anonymous said...

That senile clown McCain is now running around saying "we are all Ukrainians now". Six years ago, we apparently were all Georgians. Heck I can even remember when "we" were all Berliners too.

...wonder who we will be next time...

Anonymous said...

"It wouldn't hurt for there to be some acknowledgement of the role many Ukrainians played in the holocaust and siding with Nazi Germany".

How would going on a false guilt trip help Ukraianians?

Will the tribe admit the role many of them played in the Holodomor? Not a chance.

Anonymous said...

Why, among all the women in the photo, is Steve Tyler standing directly behind Kadyrov?

Anonymous said...


OT, but Steve, let's keep an eye on this one: (Toronto)

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/16/gay-activists-have-met-their-match-with-muslim-barbers


Oh, Canada, what hath you wrought?

Hepp said...

"It's funny how autistic paleos get when it comes to foreign policy. What's that got to do with me I've got my hi def porn and nachos who cares what happens in the Ukraine. George Kennan pssh haven't seen him in any porno who cares what he thinks.

Libertarians may be autistic when it comes to immigration and people to people interactions but paleos are completely autistic when it comes to international diplomacy who cares these things never spill over. Credibility? Who cares."

Credibility to do what? I don't understand how the American government actually advances the interests of Americans overseas. I mean, we fight for a decade in Afghanistan and Iraq to prevent terrorism, while letting terrorists in on legal visas. Other countries have an incentive to engage in peaceful trade with us. No one is going to invade us. Exactly what do you want the United States to have credibility to do?

The term "national interest" has been rendered completely meaningless.

Anonymous said...

We are all "dreamers", i.e., Mexicans, now. Llamami Angeleno.

Reg Cæsar said...

Why, among all the women is Steve Tyler standing directly behind Kadyrov? --anonysmith



Steve Tyler is a woman?

5371 said...

However, victimhood is not a good positive foundation needed for building a new country.

Irony is dead.

ben tillman said...

It's funny how autistic paleos get when it comes to foreign policy.

What you call autism is what others call minding their own business.

Anonymous said...

Wow Ben Tillman that is verbatim what Bryan Caplan says. He's just minding his own business what does he care about immigration laws and frankly you Steve and the rest of paleos no longer have an argument against illegal immigration because borders mean nothing to you when Putin's tanks want to cross them.

It became our business when we made the Ukraine give up their nuclear missiles. Bucharest Memorandum. I know the history of foreign policy stops at the farewell address for this crew but for the rest of the world it doesn't.

It would be nice if the paleos came out and admitted that they are ok with the dollar no longer being the reserve currency and the outrageous energy costs and catastrophic decline in the standard of living thar would entail. You guys think you are underpaid and ignored by chicks now just wait till you have to take the bus new CCC make work job in the USA of perpetual 20 percent employment. What you call empire is only thing keeping you in the middle class.

Simon in London said...

anon:
"borders mean nothing to you when Putin's tanks want to cross them."

Just to point out that despite what the media are saying, Putin's tanks never left Crimea in the first place. It has always been a major Russian military base since the end of the USSR. If he sends/is sending more forces to reinforce what's there, it is in response to local demands. Which would not normally be a sufficient reason, but given the violent overthrow of the elected national govt I can see their POV.

Anyway, the 'paleo' position is that it's none of the US's) (or UK's) business. It certainly has zero relevance to the status of the dollar as reserve currency, which is far more threatened by imperial overstretch than by Russian actions in Ukraine.

Peter the Shark said...

The Western Ukraine will become a new Romania and eventually join EU as another provider of gypsies and cheap labor

Western Ukraine is poorer than Eastern Ukraine because the USSR and the "independent" Ukraine have starved it of infrastructure spending and generally made life tough there. The cultural level of people in Lemberg/Lwow/Lviv is much higher than that of the rest of Ukraine, and much higher than Romania. An independent Western Ukraine would reach Polish levels of economic development within 10 years.

Difference Maker said...

Wow Ben Tillman that is verbatim what Bryan Caplan says. He's just minding his own business what does he care about immigration laws and frankly you Steve and the rest of paleos no longer have an argument against illegal immigration because borders mean nothing to you when Putin's tanks want to cross them.


Ukraine is outside America's borders


It became our business when we made the Ukraine give up their nuclear missiles. Bucharest Memorandum. I know the history of foreign policy stops at the farewell address for this crew but for the rest of the world it doesn't.

And we have decided there are more important things to worry about.


It would be nice if the paleos came out and admitted that they are ok with the dollar no longer being the reserve currency and the outrageous energy costs and catastrophic decline in the standard of living thar would entail. You guys think you are underpaid and ignored by chicks now just wait till you have to take the bus new CCC make work job in the USA of perpetual 20 percent employment. What you call empire is only thing keeping you in the middle class.


I'm loved by pretty girls. We need waste no treasure in foolish wars on the other side of the world. Nor invite their pathologies here

Anonymous said...

"The cultural level of people in Lemberg/Lwow/Lviv is much higher than that of the rest of Ukraine, and much higher than Romania. An independent Western Ukraine would reach Polish levels of economic development within 10 years."

You base that on what? Based on events during WW 2 in Volhynia I would say that West Ukrainians are savages. Buy maybe their culture has evolved since then.

Anonymous said...

"Anyway, didn't Ukraine inherit nukes from the end of the cold war? Be a shame if some Moscow bound Chechens happened to make off with a few...." - they gave those up for a promise to respect their territorial integrity. Lesson learned: do not give up nukes.

Anonymous said...

I have a half Chechen/Russian ex of two years (yes, I lived; that's how badass I am); she had a calendar of this dude on her refrigerator.
He's quite a Russian nationalist of the old school. It's little appreciated that the Chechen thing was a civil war; Chechens historically have been extremely patriotic Russian people. They pretty much ran the NCO corps of the Soviet army.

Hunsdon said...

Anonydroid at 12:35 quoted another anonydroid: Based on events during WW 2 in Volhynia I would say that West Ukrainians are savages.

Based on events during 1917-1953 in the New Russian Empire, I would say that Russians are the savages.

Hunsdon said: Based on events throughout history, I would say that mankind are savages.

Anonymous said...

Semi-OT: Maybe Ukraine needs San Fernando Valley gangbangers, like Syria has attracted http://www.theblogmocracy.com/2014/03/02/armenian-gangbangers-in-syria/