# Russia has invaded Ukraine. How will the West respond? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513 "2014-02-28T15:06:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/61 "2014-02-28T21:05:28Z")
> [@](#): > > “Ukraine territorial integrity needs to be respected,” Carney said. “Ukrainian sovereignty needs to be respected. And it would be a grave mistake to intervene.” 😃 Genius. How he can say that without falling over I don’t know … ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/62 "2014-02-28T21:06:35Z")
^ that’s White House spokesman Jay Carney. De deserves some kind of comedy award for that line alone. ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/63 "2014-02-28T21:13:05Z")
Turchynovs envoy to Crimea Sergiy Kunitsyn " Ukrainian troops will not act. Russia’s troops in Crimea are 5 times Ukraine’s" Yuriy Sergeyev " Russian military helicopters have crossed the borders" “5 Ukrainian Naval Admirals left their posts claiming sick leave” provse.te.ua ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/64 "2014-02-28T21:16:30Z")
Plea by Ukraine Telecom regarding severing the connection [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhlpDCGCEAA78oA.png) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhlpDCGCEAA78oA.png) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/65 "2014-02-28T21:18:42Z")
So…you think Russia can take over eastern Ukraine with no consequences? Yes, nuclear warheads dropped on Moscow are off the table. So is sending American armored divisions to Kiev. I guess I don’t understand. This is how the American empire works? Like, we support the demonstrators, and Yanukovich runs to his master Putin, and Putin has to scramble to protect his vital bases in the Crimea? It would be kind of like if anti-American protests started breaking out in Canada, and the Canadian prime minister flees the country and begs America for help, and we send tanks to Ontario…that’s a big win for America? Or is it a big embarrassment for America? Just like Egypt, is Morsi being in power the embarrassment to America, or is Morsi being deposed the embarrassment? Or is it, any time anything anywhere in the world happens it’s an embarrassment to America, because America controls events all over the world? So any time anything happens it’s either because America is screwing over the rest of the world, or it’s because the rest of the world finally wins one against America? ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/66 "2014-02-28T21:19:52Z")
Israeli Militia Commander leads fighters in Kiev > [@](#): > > He calls his troops “the Blue Helmets of Maidan,” but brown is the color of the headgear worn by Delta — the nom de guerre of the commander of a Jewish-led militia force that participated in the Ukrainian revolution. Under his helmet, he also wears a kippah. > > Delta, a Ukraine-born former soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, spoke to JTA Thursday on condition of anonymity. He explained how he came to use combat skills he acquired in the Shu’alei Shimshon reconnaissance battalion of the Givati infantry brigade to rise through the ranks of Kiev’s street fighters. He has headed a force of 40 men and women — including several fellow IDF veterans — in violent clashes with government forces. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/67 "2014-02-28T21:25:07Z")
> [@Lion](#): > > The US has already painted a “red line” (saying that invasion of Ukraine would be a “grave mistake”), but this seems strangely similar to the administration’s bumbling response to Syria. It’s more of a very pale pink line. Given the US’ response to Syria (which basically amounts to looking the other way and whistling loudly) I’d say the US has pretty much zero leverage or influence here. Russia can & will shrug us off as irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/68 "2014-02-28T21:26:19Z")
😃 America wants a UNSC meeting I wonder if Russia is invited ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/69 "2014-02-28T21:31:27Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > It’s more of a very pale pink line. Given the US’ response to Syria (which basically amounts to looking the other way and whistling loudly) I’d say the US has pretty much zero leverage or influence here. Russia can & will shrug us off as irrelevant. Obama can draw as many red lines as he likes like his friend that other clown Netanyahu and Putin will just Cossack dance all over them. Obama shouldn’t bring a golf club to a game of chess with a master ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/70 "2014-02-28T21:32:06Z")
> [@BrokenBriton](#): > > 😃 Genius. How he can say that without falling over I don’t know … I’m wondering if he’s aware of just how transparently craven that statement is, or if that guy’s such a mindless administration robot that he doesn’t know or care. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/71 "2014-02-28T21:39:11Z")
Oh, I get it now. I knew I heard[this conversation](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j9qAhXfNAU)before. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/72 "2014-02-28T21:44:09Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Yanno, I really don’t mean to sound patronizing…but someone reading your posts in this thread could not be blamed for wondering if you are even a little bit interested in **your own OP**. **Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party** , please accept my humblest apologies; you were the OP, not **marmite**. I did not mean to lump you in with him in any way. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/73 "2014-02-28T21:46:17Z")
Hopefully we do nothing. I don’t even want America to make statements about how they shouldn’t do that. I don’t care if Ukraine gets taken over by Russia. I think the Ukrainian people will be fine under Russia as they are under an independent government of Ukraine ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/74 "2014-02-28T21:55:43Z")
I’d really like to see a foreign policy debate between **Marmite Lover** and **NotFooledbyW**. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/75 "2014-02-28T21:57:37Z")
I still can’t figure out what side the Jews are supposed to be on here. They’re on…Putin’s side? But since the Jews run America for the benefit of Israel, why didn’t they order Obama to support Putin’s Ukrainian stooge? This n-dimensional chess gets complicated for us gentiles. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/76 "2014-02-28T21:58:10Z")
The sad thing is that America and the West don’t even have any high moral ground left from which to chide Russia for its interference in the affairs of a sovereign nation. Russia is simply following the path laid down by the West over the last few decades. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/77 "2014-02-28T22:03:49Z")
> [@Marmite\_Lover](#): > > 😃 > America wants a UNSC meeting > > I wonder if Russia is invited So lots of ill placed gloating but not going to answer me I guess? Seeing as how this is actually not a particularly clever move by Putin I don’t blame you. Putin has to tread very carefully going forward. Something as simple as a few well placed pipe bombs by Ukraine Nationalists along the Russian oil pipeline could be devastating to the Russian economy. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/78 "2014-02-28T22:05:59Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I don’t care if Ukraine gets taken over by Russia. I think the Ukrainian people will be fine under Russia as they are under an independent government of Ukraine Possibly, but I’m not sure that such a thing can be achieved without bloodshed. Also I don’t relish the man who described the break-up of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century, thinking he can easily put it back together again. Still I do agree with your main point. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/79 "2014-02-28T22:10:28Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I’d really like to see a foreign policy debate between **Marmite Lover** and **NotFooledbyW**. Why - what did the Internet ever do to you? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513/80 "2014-02-28T22:11:59Z")
**‘Shut the f** k up, b\*tch!’ Notorious far-right Ukraine leader attacks prosecutor \*\*(VIDEO) > **[‘Shut the f\*\*k up, b\*tch!’ Notorious far-right Ukraine leader attacks...](https://www.rt.com/news/ukraine-radical-attacks-prosecutor-080/)** > > Ukrainian radical nationalist leader Aleksandr Muzychko went on with the rampage against regional authorities, lashing out at a local prosecutor with obscene language, punches and threats. The radical claimed the prosecutors were “sabotaging” their... People like this are why so many in the east are siding with Russia, and why little old ladies and men are gathering in crowds holding up banners begging Russia to step in and protect them. They have very good reason to fear the various violently nationalist factions currently attempting to wrest power in Kiev. I don’t blame Russia one bit for the steps they’ve already taken, which really aren’t all that much yet. The US may well have waited until the walls were breached and our people were hanging from trees before stepping in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-has-invaded-ukraine-how-will-the-west-respond/682513.md?page=5)