Your Preferred Solution to the Crimean Crisis?

[Ed Anger]

I am sure Hitler already had tons of neo-nazi time travelers put into concentration camps for trying to tell him he was doing things wrong.

I need to lose some weight.

[Sheilbh]

Option 5, plus EU membership (when they meet the criteria) for Ukraine. Not NATO.

[sbr]

Which of the poll options has the Russian countryside glowing a nice radioactive green?

[Razgovory]

I don't buy the story of the entire eastern part of the country crying out to be liberated by Putin.  I want NATO troops there.  I want us to get tough on the Muscovites.  If we don't do it now, we'll inevitably have to do it later somewhere else.

[CountDeMoney]

I am sure Hitler already had tons of neo-nazi time travelers put into concentration camps for trying to tell him he was doing things wrong.

Ah, educated Jews.  Like Karl Marx himself.

[MadImmortalMan]

We should take the strategic reserve of mail-order brides in exchange for another guarantee of territorial integrity (minus Crimea).

[garbon]

I was counting the first generation as the one born here.  The ones that come here are the immigrants.

I think that varies. I also think in US we typically say 1st gen is the foreign born immigrants and their children are 2nd gen.

[LaCroix]

i read up on kennan awhile back ago. i'm not sure if he was entirely correct, but it makes sense that the US took too hard a stance with the USSR and prolonged the cold war. so, i went with "other." i don't think we should seriously militarize russia's neighbors and impose overly harsh sanctions on russia as that might just result in aggravating the situation. but i also don't think we should let it go entirely, either. or be satisfied with a divvied up ukraine

[Razgovory]

i read up on kennan awhile back ago. i'm not sure if he was entirely correct, but it makes sense that the US took too hard a stance with the USSR and prolonged the cold war. so, i went with "other." i don't think we should seriously militarize russia's neighbors and impose overly harsh sanctions on russia as that might just result in aggravating the situation. but i also don't think we should let it go entirely, either. or be satisfied with a divvied up ukraine

Why does that make sense?

[LaCroix]

Why does that make sense?

created "us v. them" mentality that possibly wasn't necessary, thus entrenching politics from both sides toward the notion that a cold war exists. this made it much harder to shake it off

[Razgovory]

Why does that make sense?

created "us v. them" mentality that possibly wasn't necessary, thus entrenching politics from both sides toward the notion that a cold war exists. this made it much harder to shake it off

But the Cold War didn't end because both sides fell in love with one another.  It ended when one side just fell apart.

[Tamas]

i read up on kennan awhile back ago. i'm not sure if he was entirely correct, but it makes sense that the US took too hard a stance with the USSR and prolonged the cold war. so, i went with "other." i don't think we should seriously militarize russia's neighbors and impose overly harsh sanctions on russia as that might just result in aggravating the situation. but i also don't think we should let it go entirely, either. or be satisfied with a divvied up ukraine

That makes no sense whatsoever.

I think the only reason why there are no Russian tanks yet at the Dniepr is that the Russians got surprised by the political and market reactions over the Crimea shit. With bullies like Putin's Russia (or the Soviet Union) you stand up to them, or submit to them. There is no convincing of them with kindness.

[celedhring]

Why does that make sense?

created "us v. them" mentality that possibly wasn't necessary, thus entrenching politics from both sides toward the notion that a cold war exists. this made it much harder to shake it off

But the Cold War didn't end because both sides fell in love with one another.  It ended when one side just fell apart.

I suppose one might make the case that the "us vs them" mentality protected the URSS from domestic criticism. But the gulags did the same job.

Personally I think the relatively peaceful unravelling of the URSS is one of the best possible outcomes the Cold War could have ever had. There's little case for "we could have done better".

[Beenherebefore]

It also created "the end of history".
While that piece by Francis Fukuyama wasn't particularly accurate, it said something about the state of mind we've been living in.

The Cold War was defining for many of us, and after the wall came down and the USSR ceased to exist, we just thought things would be all right.
Evidence points to the contrary. The geopolitical situation is more volatile and more dangerous. The Iron Curtain coming down led to a bloody war right on our doorstep in Yugoslavia that Americans had to end, because Europe couldn't. Sure, there have been movement in a positive direction, the inclusion of countries like the Baltic states, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary into the fold of democratic capitalist countries, and I think this is great. But the relative decline of the West in general, and Europe in particular after 1991 is worrisome. Now I'll shut up before I go all Oswald Spengler.

[Savonarola]

But the Cold War didn't end because both sides fell in love with one another.

It just never would have worked:

Red phone rings

Eisenhower:  Hello
Krushchev:  Ike, speak to me
Eisenhower:  I told you never to call me here
Krushchev:  I needed to hear your voice, it seems like we've grown apart since we defeated the Axis powers.
Eisenhower:  It's over Nikita (hangs up)
Krushchev:  Ooh, I will bury him!