A wise old chainsmoker sees the problems in the Ukraine

[Locutus]

and compares them to today. WW1 did start 100 years ago. History always has a way of repeating itself.

Ex-chancellor Schmidt slams EU over Ukraine

Former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt said on Friday the Ukraine standoff recalls the lead-up to World War I and blamed the "megalomania" of EU bureaucrats for sparking the crisis.




"I think very little of talking up the threat of World War III, and especially of demands for more money to arm NATO," 95-year-old Schmidt told the top-selling Bild daily.
"But the danger that the situation gets ever more tense, as it did in August 1914, is growing day by day."

The outspoken elder statesman of German politics added: "The situation to me seems increasingly comparable" to the eve of war a century ago. "Europe, the Americans and also the Russians are acting the way author Christopher Clark describes the start of World War I in his very readable book, like 'sleepwalkers'."

The best-seller "The Sleepwalkers" by Australian historian Clark re-evaluates the eve of WWI, focusing on how clueless the leaders of Europe's great powers were about the carnage of the first industrialized war that would follow.

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Ex-chancellor Schmidt slams EU over Ukraine - The Local

h/t sda

 

[B00Mer]

Well didn't Hitler invade a few countries... and people just sluffed it off..

The problem is Russia has it's eye on the Great Canadian North and all of our oil.. so this time, it's not just Europe..

Look I think Putin is great, he made Obama look weak and stupid over Syria, and The NSA.. But I am starting to think the world needs to draw a line, not with talk, but with force.

Go into the Ukraine and take back the lands he stole.. give it back to the Ukrainian government.

Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace. - Benito Juárez

First the Ukraine, Guess who's next..

 

[Praxius]

What Ukrainian Government? The last legally elected one recognized by both sides was ousted in violent riots and the current one was put in place without any vote by the actual people.

Yet they're supposed to be handed the territory under pro-Russian forces because they claim to be the Ukrainian Government?

That's what created this whole mess to begin with. Meanwhile, Western nations support this fiasco as being legit and "the people have spoken" yet they didn't, not properly and not in a way that allows others with a differing view to not face intimidation.

This then created the problem in the East of Ukraine where the Russian speaking community feared what would happen to them, thus Russia stepped in to help bring some order in the area. Unfortunately this allowed for those in the East their own ability to do exactly what people did elsewhere in Ukraine and decide for themselves what they wanted to do, which was not recognize this new government they never voted for.

What's even more complicated is that Western society thinks what happened in the East is completely wrong, yet holds the original debacle under a different light. What's more, even though the Eastern areas are holding their own democratic votes, they can not be properly monitored and thereby isn't seen as legit either..... Even Putin has requested them to hold off on these votes and try and get an agreement on both sides for everybody in the nation to calm the hell down and hold properly monitored and respected democratic referendums on who wants to do what and go where.

Under those circumstances, this is the most logical course of action.

This guy in the OP certainly knows a thing or two and should at least be heard out. This isn't the EU's business, nor Canada's or the US's. This is an internal matter of Ukraine with unfortunate ties to Russia which makes Russia involved.

There are peaceful options out there for the West to go for and be involved, but tossing out sanctions and finger wagging at Russia while doing nothing to solve the actual problem doesn't help anything and is only making things worse.