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Sunday, December 10, 2017

We Have the Credibility to Make This Threat

The Secretary of State told the Russians that sanctions will remain until they withdraw from Russian-occupied Ukraine.

Good:

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held his tough line on Russia during a visit to Europe on Thursday, saying in front of his Russian counterpart that Washington would keep sanctions in place until Russian forces withdraw from Ukraine.

Unfortunately, Ukraine is defined only as Russian-occupied Donbas and not Russian-occupied Crimea.

But given the long Cold War when we opposed and resisted the Soviet Union until they withdrew from Eastern Europe, our pledge has weight behind it.

As for Crimea? Well, when NATO won the Cold War, not only did the USSR lose Eastern Europe, they lost large chunks of the USSR itself.

So when Russia finally does retreat from the Donbas, they will probably have endured so much loss economically that they'll lose Crimea and other parts of Russia, too.

I chuckle to myself when people claim America lacks staying power and can't think or act long term.